McCain Is Solid In Big Moment
Sep 5, 2008 Political
John McCain accepted the nomination of the Republican Party and delivered a solid speech though one not nearly as rousing as those given by Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. McCain’s task, as I saw it, was to show Americans that he was not out of touch and that he understood their challenges. Since his selection of Palin to be Vice President has energized the base, I saw McCain’s task as appealing to the Independent voters and those moderate Democrats who might not be committed or sold on Obama.
McCain’s speech was solid but the truth is he is not as eloquent a speaker as Palin or Obama. In fact, though I felt Palin’s speech last night worried some Democrats, the thought I had first was that I felt sorry for McCain because he had to follow her.
Surprisingly, though not as gifted a speaker, McCain hit home with issues that affect families. He discussed the struggles of paying for a home, buying groceries and filling the gas tank. This hit home and showed that despite what Barack Obama says, John McCain does get it. When McCain went into his life story he really gave a heartfelt account.
I did not want John McCain to discuss his experience in Vietnam. The Democrats have been beating on him for expressing that part of his life too much. John McCain has a much more honorable record in that war than John Kerry but I felt he risked being painted with the same brush that Kerry was by leaning too heavily on that experience, as honorable as it was. Besides, every speaker this week recounted the story for John. But McCain did discuss it and he was artful in how he presented it. He started by telling people that his experience as a POW was a blessing and then he told the story of how, prior to his capture, he was a self centered person who believed the world revolved around him. He explained how his capture transformed him into a person who places his country first and the needs of others above one’s own needs. That transformation came after others cared for him and kept him alive. It was presented very well.
Certainly John McCain’s speech was not of the caliber of Obama’s or Palin’s but he did what he had to do. He showed people that he gets it and I think he appealed to voters who are not part of the base. He reached out to Obama supporters and then he skillfully contrasted what he wants to do with what Obama wants to do. I think that many on the fence who are moderate will find John McCain’s positions more appealing and that Barack Obama cannot compete with his life experiences.
All in all, a solid speech. Not spectacular, but solid. It would have been a bit smoother if the people in the hall had not interrupted him at inappropriate times but he was able to get through that. He handled the moonbat who tried to disrupt the speech with a bit of humor and quickly refocused the attention of those listening, back to him. Notice that the only people causing trouble at both conventions were liberals.
The next 2 months will be very interesting. Sarah Palin has energized the party and we now have a real contest on our hands. Today’s poll has them dead even. it will be interesting to see what tomorrow’s brings.
I will be interviewed by Dennis Edwards on WSBA (910 am) out of York* PA tomorrow a little after 6 am Eastern about my thoughts on John McCain’s speech.
*Changed to reflect correct location of the station.
Tags: convention, McCain, palin, republican, speech
Sarah Palin Cleans Their Clocks
Sep 4, 2008 Political
Hockey Mom; She shoots, she scores!
Sarah Palin just finished her speech at the Republican National Convention and she was absolutely brilliant. She introduced herself and her family. She discussed her career and personal life and she made the case for John McCain. Then she went after the Democrats and she did to them what Jesse Jackson could only talk about doing.
I think she left no doubt that she will be no pushover and that she can hold her own. Obama made a mistake when he ignored the fact that she is a governor not one but twice. He recently said that he had more executive experience than she because he has a campaign staff of a couple thousand with a monthly budget three times the one she had as mayor. He ignored the fact that she is a governor for good reason. Her budget is 11 billion dollars annually and she has about 25,000 people she is in charge of. His experience cannot match up to hers and he knows it. If he were not worried about her he would not be trying to prove he has more leadership experience.
Obama’s camp came out with its statement immediately after her speech. They indicated that her speech was written by George Bush’s speech writer and demonstrated the same divisive politics that Bush did. The campaign also said that McCain agreed with Bush 90% of the time and the country should not go for a 10% change.
I wonder if Obama will tell us which speech writer wrote his speech. I also wonder if he realizes that his speech near his palatial stage was full of divisive politics. He was vicious to John McCain and Republicans. I guess that is not divisive because he is a Democrat.
Palin eviscerated and emasculated Barack Obama and she smiled the entire time. She demonstrated that she will not be taken lightly and that she has a bit of bulldog in her. I said before that the Democrats were afraid and I am even more convinced of that. Want more proof? Joe Biden said today that an Obama would pursue criminal charges against George Bush if elected in November. There is only one reason this was said. Biden said it to ensure he can pull those Democrats who are upset that impeachment is off the table that they need to elect Obama to get what they want. It was a statement made out of FEAR.
I think that Saracuda has them worried and shaking in their pants. They might say otherwise but I can smell the fear. As Ann Coulter put it:
The bien-pensant criticized Palin, saying it’s irresponsible for a woman with five children to run for vice president. Liberals’ new talking point: Sarah Palin: Only five abortions away from the presidency.
They claimed her newborn wasn’t her child, but the child of her 17-year-old daughter. That turned out to be a lie.
Then they attacked her daughter, who actually is pregnant now, for being unmarried. When liberals start acting like they’re opposed to pre-marital sex and mothers having careers, you know McCain’s vice presidential choice has knocked them back on their heels.
But at least liberal reporters had finally found someone their own size to pick on: a 17-year-old girl.[bold emphasis mine]
Obama’s Acceptance Speech; My Thoughts
Aug 29, 2008 Political
Let me start off by saying I think Barack Obama gave a great speech tonight. I don’t mean that he told the truth or answered the nagging questions voters still have. What I mean is he had great delivery and he knows how to effectively communicate. I get the impression that, much like Bill Clinton, Obama could sound great reading the phone book.
His speech content though, lacked a few items. He tried to address what his change was by giving us a laundry list of things he would do. He will end oil dependence in 10 years. If he gets elected twice he will only be in office for 8 so how will he do this. The list was nothing more than the basic Democratic talking points that we hear at every convention. He told us what he would do but failed to say how, considering that we have been told this before, he would do it. I would not expect details in an acceptance speech but if he says that he will tell me how he will effect change I expect the how, not the what.
I noticed that he addressed the attacks from John McCain. He did a good job of striking back but by doing so he presented himself as a typical politician and not an agent of change. He explained that Republicans used fear to sway voters and then told us all the horrors we face and how we would get more of them if we elected McCain. Sounded like fear mongering.
He tried to smooth over the debacle of his abortion answers by saying that we can disagree on abortion but all agree that we should reduce unwanted pregnancies. Obama is not qualified to discuss abortion or to disagree with anything. He made it clear that the determination of when life begins is above his pay grade. If he cannot determine when life begins he cannot argue abortion. How will he know when you can and when you cannot if he does not know when life begins. At least abortion supporters will say life begins at birth. They have a foundation upon which to base their position. Obama lacks that because it is above his pay grade.
Obama also said we could disagree on guns but that we could uphold the Second Amendment by allowing guns in rural areas while keeping AK 47s off the violent streets of Chicago. First of all, it is illegal to own an AK 47 without a special license because it is an automatic weapon. Criminals who are killing with AK 47s are breaking the law and the Second Amendment is a moot point. They are not allowed to possess that weapon (or any weapon because they are criminals). The second thing I want to know is why Chicago has so much gun violence. The city has one of the toughest gun laws in the country so, if gun control works, there should be little to no gun violence. How about we uphold the Second Amendment for law abiding citizens, the ones who do not use guns to murder?
Obama also said that the average annual income in the US has gone down over $2000 under Bush’s administration. The fact is it did go down after 9/11 but it has been up and this year it was a little over $700 above the 2000 level. This is not great but it is not a $2000 loss.
The speech was well delivered but it lacked a lot of truth (like Obama was raised by his mother or that he came from a meager background. Granny was able to put him in private school). It lacked substance and was designed to allow him to hit back at McCain and try to revive his image as an agent of change.
At one point he said that politicians had been promising something (I think oil independence) for 30 years, and by the way McCain was there for 26 of them. He did fail to mention that Joe Biden was there for all 30 and then some. I imagine that might have taken away from the attack and negated the entire agent of change thing he had going on.
John McCain, Obama said, wants to privatize Social Security. He wants to gamble with your money. Obama plans to raise SS taxes (though he failed to mention that he would raise taxes, he just said he would fix it) in order to rescue it. My question is, if government is not a gamble why does SS need to be rescued.
I will say this. John McCain has his work cut out for him next week. There are a lot of people in this country who pick style over substance and one thing is for sure; McCain is no match for Obama on style. McCain lacks the communication skills that Obama exhibits so effortlessly. McCain had better have writers working overtime to produce something dynamic or he might add more to the expected Obama bounce. The one thing McCain has going is that debates are not scripted and there are no teleprompters. Speaking f debates, Barry said that if McCain wanted to debate who had the temperament to be Commander in Chief, that is one debate he was willing to have. McCain invited Obama to 10 Town Hall debates over the Summer and Obama declined and has ducked the issue (no teleprompter). Part of McCain’s speech should be a challenge to that debate within 10 days and in a Town Hall format. Then we will see how willing the Sainted One really is.
Nice speech Barry. Next time try adding a little truth and some detail.
I wonder if the Broncos will be able to play football there anymore? The One was in the middle of the field and 85,000 smelly liberals infested the place. Denver will probably go 6-10 this year because of this curse…
Is Obama Bi or Not?
Jul 24, 2008 Political
Bilingual, that is.
On July 11th of this year Barack Obama told people at a Town Hall meeting in Dayton Ohio that he did not speak a foreign language and that he was embarrassed by that.
“I don’t speak a foreign language. It’s embarrassing!” Barack Obama exclaimed today at town hall meeting here. Obama, who often touts his time growing up overseas, made the confession while speaking about the importance of teaching foreign languages in schools. [emphasis added] CBS News
As Barack Obama prepares to give his campaign speech in Germany he has been taking questions from reporters. One asked him if his speech would be in German and this was the response:
“My German is not real good,” he said. “I can speak Bahasi Indonesian but I don’t think…there would be a lot of appeal to that.” [emphasis added] ABC Political Punch
So now the question is, which time was he lying. Was he lying at the Town Hall meeting in order to defuse the tense environment surrounding his statement that parents should be ensuring their children learn Spanish (not any foreign language but Spanish) or was he lying when he answered the question in Germany.
The over arching question is, why would he lie about it in the first place? What is the motivation behind his very different answers?
Obama definitely has a problem with the truth. I wonder if any of the fawning media accompanying him will ask him about the contradiction…
Get real, they are too busy having tingles up their legs.
Time to Set Obama Straight
Jan 29, 2008 Political
Barack Obama is running as the candidate of change (that is the buzz word this cycle) and he wants us to know that he will make things in Washington different. This is the same claim that all candidates make and none of them ever do anything except spend money. Obama took the opportunity to record his own response to President Bush’s State of the Union. Fortunately, there is a transcript so we can set this young buck straight.
- Tonight’s State of the Union was full of the same empty rhetoric the American people have come to expect from this President. We heard President Bush say he’d do something to cut down on special interest earmarks, but we know these earmarks have skyrocketed under his administration.
- We heard the President say he wants to make tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent, when we know that at a time of war and economic hardship, the last thing we need is a permanent tax cut for Americans who don’t need them and weren’t even asking for them. What we need is a middle class tax cut, and that’s exactly what I will provide as President.
- We heard the President say he has a stimulus plan to boost our economy, but we know his plan leaves out seniors and fails to expand unemployment insurance, and we know it was George Bush’s Washington that let the banks and financial institutions run amok, and take our economy down this dangerous road. What we need to do now is put more money in the pockets of workers and seniors, and expand unemployment insurance for more people and more time. And I have a plan that to do just that.
- And finally, tonight we heard President Bush say that the surge in Iraq is working, when we know that’s just not true. Yes, our valiant soldiers have helped reduce the violence. Five soldiers gave their lives today in this cause, and we mourn their loss and pray for their families.
But let there be no doubt - the Iraqi government has failed to seize the moment to reach the compromises necessary for an enduring peace. That was what we were told the surge was all about. So the only way we’re finally going to pressure the Iraqis to reconcile and take responsibility for their future is to immediately begin the responsible withdrawal of our combat brigades so that we can bring all of our combat troops home.
It is important to remember that the president does not put in the earmarks, he just signs the bills and Bush has signed way too many. Members of Congress put the earmarks in and this is an old practice that has gotten worse over the years. As a matter of fact Senator Obama, you put in nearly 400 MILLION dollars in earmarks this last year. You can talk change and say that they have increased under this president bu the fact is both parties are doing it and you are one of the very people who is earmarking millions of taxpayer dollars. So tell me again about empty rhetoric.
I did not hear the president say anything about tax cuts for the rich. He said we need to make the tax cuts permanent. Those tax cuts were across the board but you are probably too dense to understand that people who pay the taxes get the money back. The president said that there would be 115 million people whose tax would increase if the cuts were not made permanent. I have news for you Senator, there are not 115 million rich people paying taxes in this country so that must mean that the average wage earners will be hurt by this. Logically, that means that average wage earners are benefiting from the tax cuts. The whole idea about tax cuts for the rich is a tired song that uninformed Democrats sing when they are playing class warfare. Therefore the Middle class did get a tax cut and what is more, millions of people who paid no taxes at all will be getting money from the government as part of the stimulus package. One other thing, the bottom 50% of wage earners pay about 3.5% of the taxes in this country so how are you going to give them a tax cut? The top 25% of wage earners pay 86% of the taxes so what we would have is a redistribution of wealth, or Socialism.
As I already stated, the stimulus package gives money to a lot of people who have no financial stake in this country. They do not make enough to pay taxes and they get benefits from the government and now they are getting checks paid for by others. The stimulus package is a bad idea and it will only provide, at best, a short term solution. There are a number of other things that need to be done to get the economy up and running. Let us also be clear that the Congress has a great deal of responsibility for banks run amok and the housing crisis. Congress made a bunch of rules that forced financial institutions to make loans to people who would not otherwise qualify so as to prevent discrimination. Now those people cannot afford their homes and the government wants to fix the mess it created. Let financial institutions run themselves and decide who to loan their money to. Congress cannot get its own house in order so it should not be telling others how to do business.
The surge is absolutely working. You cry about the Iraqi government not responding quickly enough. They have failed to seize the moment. So tell me Senator, how are they any different from our government? You people do not work any faster, you take off more days a year than you work (you and the others have been campaigning for a year) and you do things slowly. You do not work together, you cannot get anything passed and you are extremely dysfunctional. To top it off Barack, we are not at war here so it is not like you all have to worry about getting killed trying to do your job. Leaving is not an option until we win but you will not have to worry. If your cowardly butt gets elected a bunch of those troops will probably not reenlist because no one wants to serve under a Commander in Chief who espouses defeat.
I will leave the rest of your little soapbox speech alone because I get quite sick reading all your lies and pleas for the poor folks and your desire for socialism. You continue to say that you are about change but you are no different than the rest of them. You deride people because they demonize opponents and then you spend 5 minutes doing that to the president.
President Bush is not the greatest President we have ever had but he is a hell of a lot better than the Carter and Clinton debacles. We have been safe despite your assertion to the contrary and under him we took the fight to our enemies. I know that pains you because you have relatives in the Muslim world but they are the enemy and you are either with us or you are against us.
You do not deserve to be the President of this country. You are a fraud and people will know about you the more you are out there. Hillary will destroy us and you will just bring more sex scandals[Obama sex scandal?] to the White House.
Other sources:
Obama’s Earmarks
National Taxpayer Union
Tax Foundation
Tags: correcting, Obama, obama lies, setting straight, speech
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