…the end of man is to know

Yes, yes I’m back…let’s spare the niceties.

Being a student at Northwestern, located deep in ObaManiac Headquarters, I’m trying to figure some stuff out. Namely, how on earth is Obama so damn good. The answer is that he has completely controlled political discourse, at least among 18-25 year olds. I ask why people support Obama and it’s all about “GDeorge W Bush’s failed policies”. Yea, I get that. The economy blows, Iraq was (probably) a mistake, Osama is still at large, and gays can’t marry (it’s not that I don’t think gay marriage in California or Massachusetts should be delegalized. It’s that I think anyone in California or Massachusetts should not be entitled to federal funding that results from marriage.). I won’t bother arguing whose fault it is. The, albeit correct, argument that Democrats are responsible for Fannie and Freddie mess is too indirect and convoluted to be effective. The argument that the surge has worked is irrelevant to those who opposed the war all along and think pre-emptive defeat is an adequate response to pre-emptive war.

McCain’s inability to find his message has kept dominated him. The only times he has surged in the polls were when he bashed Obama on being a celebrity over the summer and when he got Palin as his VP. It’s finding a message and delivering it. Since June we have seen: celebrity, foreign policy experience, maverick, Obama tied to Ayers, and now we get Joe the Plumber/taxes.

There are many roads to Rome (or the White House), but you have to actually take one. To borrow some of the brilliant Jay Cost’s analysis, I’d love to see McCain run this ad a lot more:

Weeks without a laptop and weeks into classes, I’ve been far too busy. As I sit in my Intro to Comparative Politics course, I was trolling through the internet and have read some deeply disturbing stuff.

First, Democratic schadenfraude needs to stop. I get it, the longer the bailout takes, the worse Bush (and the Republicans) look. Just compare the direct relationship between McCain’s poll numbers and the Dow Jones. It’s uncanny!

Second, Republicans need to get off their high-horse, and quickly. Just take the terms of the bailout and salvage the economy which is approaching free-fall. Though a bailout is still likely, the possibility of it not happening was worth 700 points in the stock market. I won’t guess what continued no votes are worth.

Many conservatives (namely, myself) believe that Iraq was a mistake, but McCain is still better than Obama on the Iraq issue. The past happened. The question is , “how can we best salvage the situation”. This is the EXACT inverse of the economy. Yes, the Democrats screwed up with their blind allegiance to Freddie and Fannie, but it doesn’t matter now. I’d love to see McCain throw up ads showing his opposition to blind lending and Obama’s support. In the interim, we still need to support a bailout. A trillion dollars of bad debt will cripple growth and send us back to the 1970s (or worse!). This need not “set a dangerous precedent” because this is the first time its happened. It also is likely to be the last full-scale bailout for quite some time. We had the largest bankrupcy of all-time in the past few months. The circumstances are very unique and we shouldn’t hide behind our fear of government control.

Conservatives can stand behind free-market ideals and support a bailout. The unfortunate fact of the matter of this: the government (and irrational consumers) got us into this mess and the government can get us out.

10. Sarah Palin has named her kids Bristol, Piper, Track, Willow, and Trig.

9. She has taken on corrupt Alaskan bureaucrats. She has angered Senator Ted Stevens and strongly supported her Lieutenant Governor’s bid to unseat 18-term congressman Don Young in the Republican Primary.

8. In light of McCain’s health problems: Sarah Palin runs marathons.

7. She is a moose hunter. Not a Bull-Moose hunter, but actual Moose. (Mooses? Meese? Moosen?)

6. Palin’s husband works as a commerical fisherman and is in a labor union…can’t much more blue-collar than that.

5. Palin’s husband is a champion snowmobile racer, winning the Tesoro Iron Dog, billed as the world’s longest snowmobile race, four times.

4. Her eldest son, Track, will be going to Iraq with the US Army next month, not unlike the other VP candidate

3. In 1984, Palin was named Miss Wasilla and runner-up as Miss Alaska.

2. Her youngest son, Trig, was born in April with Down’s Syndrome. Palin has made a point to talk about her son and her decision to not have an abortion despite knowing about Trig’s condition during pregnancy.

And….the best thing about Sarah Palin is:

Her parents were called this morning by their son-in-law to listen to the radio for a special announcement. They almost missed hearing about their daughter’s VP nomination because they were *drumroll* CARIBOU HUNTING.

Lest there be no doubt: the GOP has returned to the party of small government, increased transparency, and support the working-class!

McCAIN-PALIN 2008!

YES HE CAN! YES SHE CAN! YES THEY CAN!

In what is the most “No ‘Effing Way” of every “No ‘Effing Way” I have written, McCain has pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Everyone had Romney, Pawlenty, or Lieberman as the top 3 with Condi, Cantor, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson in the second tier. Instead, he completely hoodwinks the entire country and launches Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

I always thought she was a great pick, but her lack of media coverage and speculation made me think it wasn’t going to happen. Serious props to The Midnight Ride, who called Palin as a VP pick in late June. Also, Madison Classical Liberal talked about her in early July. Finally, Extremism in Defense of Liberty also called it in late June. I privately talked to Extremism, Midnight Ride, and The Silent Majority about it, but I didn’t have the onions. I was weak and didn’t want to the risk in formally endorsing her. I was wrong.

Palin is a TREMENDOUS pick for a ton of reasons, increasing in legitimacy:

1. She is a woman. There is no bigger middle finger to Obama’s “post-racial” campaign than putting a woman on the ticket. It’s hard to argue you have a monopoly on change when Palin is the first woman with a serious shot to be in the White House (no, Geraldine Ferraro does not count).

1A. Moreover, this could get the Hillary supporters. Clintonites have long argued that Obama and the media were sexist and unfairly cruel to Hillary. Now that Clinton is out of the race, female voters who want to fight sexism will be drawn to Palin. She has a son with Down’s Syndrome and is a former beauty queen. Palin is feminine and has definite appeal to disgruntled female voters looking for a role model.

1B. Palin is tough to beat in a debate. As someone who spent 5 years in speech and debate, I would dread going toe-to-toe with a female, especially an accomplished and intelligent one. It is hard to be a male and go offensive against a female. The fact of the matter is that anytime a guy gets aggressive, he runs the risk of being perceived as a know-it-all sexist pig. While Palin has to face the prospect of being seen as an icy bitch if she gets aggressive, this puts a huge burden on Biden in the VP debate.

1 C. Palin is EXTREMELY attractive. This is a stupid reason. Okay, it’s a really stupid reason. At the end of the day, thousands upon thousands of males will vote for “The Hot Chick”. I think it is exceedingly shallow to vote based on aesthetics, but if it means helping out the conservative movement, I won’t resist. Behold, the new White House Hottie:

2. Palin has real conservative credentials. Any Evangelicals who didn’t trust McCain, must vote GOP. Any small-government libertarians don’t have to waste a vote on Bob Barr. Palin took on the most corrupt state in the country, Alaska, at a time that what was really hard. Ted Stevens is terribly corrupt. The Murkowski family is a dynasty of corrupt, incompetent leaders. Palin has gotten rid of superfluous government expenditures and slashed the budget. She has sound energy policy and is the ultimate on how to reduce oil prices.

3. She balances out this ticket in a way that no other candidate could. Male-female. Old-young. Experienced-fresh. Senator-Governor. There is nothing “missing” from this ticket. There is no weak link that applies to both candidates. They have strengths which back up the other’s weaknesses. Even if Obama wants to hammer Palin on experience, it’s tough-sledding. Obama has 3.5 years of experience in the Senate and Palin as 1.5 years experience as Governor. That difference is relatively small. Also, Palin has been in the City Council from ‘92-’96 and served on Alaska’s Oil & Gas Commission, before resigning in protest of the lack of ethics. She is on the young side, but has achieved great things.

Perhaps Palin’s (and McCain’s) greatest achievement? Taking ALL of the wind out of Obama’s sails, bumping him from the top of the headlines and making this race even more competitive.

After watching Biden’s speech, I was pretty impressed. Not as a fan of Biden, but as a political observer. He hit all the notes that he had to and did everything he could. It was going to be interesting to see Biden’s style and I give him a ton of credit for last night.

As a self-professed moderate who happens to be the 3rd most liberal in the entire Senate, Biden couldn’t pander to the far left. As someone who said he would run on John McCain’s ticket, he had to temper the negativity. As someone who said Barack lacked the experience to lead, he needed to limit his own Oba-Mania.

Check. Check. Check.

Biden played it as a moderate Democrat. He harped on Iraq spending, the low minimum wage, outsourcing, oil profits, not privatizing Social Security, education spending, and bringing focus back on Afghanistan and Pakistan. He’s wrong on most, if not all, of these issues. However, he played some winning issues in a non-extremist way. Most importantly, he didn’t lose any credibility as an experienced moderate.

He handled McCain the best. He did throw out some red meat to his supporters. He did attack McCain on some of the comments he has made. However, this is the line that Democrats need to hit, “These times require more than a good soldier; they require a wise leader, a leader who can deliver change–the change everybody knows we need.” There it is. I think calling Obama “wise” is somewhere short of hilarious, but the mood is right. Biden, and now Obama, CAN’T HIT McCAIN ON PERSONAL ISSUES. The man has been through too much personally and politically to be attacked for partisanship or corruption or experience. Shifting the debate from personality and leadership to politics is exactly what Obama-Biden must do. Biden handled his friendship with McCain and campaign against McCain extremely well.

His support of Obama was also at the appropriate level. Biden will not be able to escape his criticism of Obama in the debates. His arguments were not policy, but overly questioned Obama’s ability to lead. Through his own overinflated sense of self, Biden now can argue that he brings the wisdom and experience to Obama’s vision and message. If the GOP can divide the ticket into: 1. Biden is a Washington insider who is very liberal and supported McCain before he supported Obama and 2. Obama has no idea what he is doing and no plan for the future, they win. If the Democrats can hold the ticket as a solitary unit, we’re in trouble.

As important as unity between Hillary supporters and Democrats is, I think ticket unity is more important. Biden recognizes that united they win, divided they lose. And in a speech that was short on vision, message, and style, Biden made a great stride in achieving unity.

Good luck tonight as you watch Obama. I heard that being so close to The Chosen One and hearing his clarion calls can cause people to speak in tongues, hyperventilate, or have heart attacks. .

Just so this post cannot be interpreted as support of Biden or Obama:

1. Biden wants to critique McCain on foreign policy?

Biden opposed the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

Biden supported the Iraq War that apparently only Obama had the fortitude to oppose (mind you, Obama wasn’t a Senator in 2002, so he never actually voted against the war)

Biden opposes McCain’s support of spending money in Iraq, but voted for the spending (Biden even criticized Obama for not supporting the spending because Obama wanted to withhold money necessary to safely and properly equip our soldiers)

Biden opposed the troop surge, which has been fantastically successful

Biden opposes free trade agreements, like NAFTA. Since NAFTA was passed in 1994, the American economy has grown by 50%!!!! Those kinds of gains are only possible when countries can freely swap goods and maximize profits.

Biden wants to tax oil companies for offering a fair service at market value. The real “audacity” is not of hope, but of the idea that the government can arbitrarily declare when companies make too much money, seize that money, and give it to constituents.

Biden is too afraid to let Social Security money enter the economy and spur economic growth instead of being a lender for pet projects. He also fails to recognize the impending collapse of the system unless we start making fundamental changes soon.

Alaska, one of the reddest of red states, is now going to turn blue in 2 key races this November. Why? Because Alaskan Republicans are so close-minded and loyalist that they nominated two sitting ducks.

In the Senate race, Republican Ted Stevens is facing jail time over corruption charges. This after he has been widely ridiculed for being too old and too out of touch. Suggesting that the internet is a “series of tubes” certainly didn’t help. Naturally, Stevens won his primary last night with over 63% of the vote. Most Alaskan Republicans think that a potential criminal is the best representative of their party.

Stevens is trailing Democratic opponent, MarkBegich, by 13 points. Race over. Give the seat to the Dems right now, electoral projectors.

In the house race (note: Alaska only has one House seat due to its low population), reformer Sean Parnell trails old party hack, Don Young by a 1,000 votes with only 9 precincts remaining. This may need a recount, but this race should not have been close. Parnell is the Lieutenant Governor under the EXTREMELY popular Sarah Palin. He has fought to clean up Alaskan government and has served on multiple committees in the Alaska Legislature. Don Young is an 18-term congressman (yes, 18 terms. He has been in congress almost as long as William Ayers has been a terrorist!). He has engaged in a few shady, but not illegal, dealings. He is a typical do-nothing bureaucrat. While Parnell received endorsments from the National Review, Club for Growth, and Governor Palin, Don Young’s sole endorsement was from Mike Huckabee’s PAC. When two legitimate, conservative organizations and a highly popular governor support taking an incumbent out in a primary, that should have been a signal to Alaskan Republicans. Instead, they were sheep-like in their biannual support of Young.

If Alaskan Republicans are a microcosm, the GOP is in serious trouble. The party has lost the spirit and enthusiasm of 1994. Party loyalists and hacks are being prepared for the slaughter at the hands of power-hungry Democrats, moderates, and disaffected conservatives.

We need to look at candidates and then make decisions. Candidates define parties, not the other way around! If this means voting for a small-government, libertarian Democrat, so be it. This is not about getting 537 (435 in house, 100 in senate, and 2 in White House) people with an “R” affixed to their name on C-SPAN broadcasts. This is about getting 537 people who support freedom, liberty, and the American way. Democrats have never understood that concept. I’m starting to fear we don’t anymore.

Edit: This post has been edited for better accuracy. However, I will not mention the name of the insignificant Democratic House candidate. He is of no consequence since a competent Republican could easy trounce any Democrat and any competent Democrat will trounce Don Young.

Despite being John F Kennedy 2.0 (or so we’re told), Barack Obama makes a few too many mistakes. And by “mistakes” I don’t mean calling Pennsylvanians desperate voters who cling to guns and religion. I mean actual mistakes. Things that he doesn’t believe in, but inadvertently says or suggests.

For whatever reason, Barack seriously struggles with the locations of his speeches. Last night he did it again, unclear which city in Missouri he was in (hint: there are only two! it’s 50/50, Barack!) Here a few of his recent missteps:

1. Joe Biden will be elected president (interesting)

2. Obama visits 57 states (Heinz varieties or US states…they’re so damn similar!)

2A. Eau Claire, Wisconsin is actually a state…(does this count to the 57 or is it the missing 58th?)

3. Obama’s uncle liberates Auschwitz (actually, Auschwitz was liberated by the Soviets and Obama’s mother never had a brother. So an imaginary uncle joined the Red Army. Somehow, I’m not surprised)

4. Obama on Iraq (Not even Two-Face could make heads or tails of this one)

5. Last night, Obama couldn’t decide if he’s in St. Louis or Kansas City (note: he needs his daughter to ask him what city he is in so he can get his facts right). I’m not sure which I’m more concerned about: Barack taking advice from Michelle or Barack NEEDING advice from a 7 year old.

6. Obama suggests that having a baby is a punishment (Some parents ground their kids. Others use spanking. Barack forces pregnancy)

7. Obama makes myriad “mistakes” and suggests he is not ready to run for president in 2008

I think I finally figured it all out: it’s because his name isn’t really Barack OBAMA. It’s actually:

I come bringing wondrous news: BARACK OBAMA BRINGS CHANGE! Change! If you don’t like high oil prices, Obama will change them! Lost your job? Change the economic situation! Think that the public campaign system should be altered? Change!

It’s Change, y’all! How can you not want change! Everyone wants change! Barack Obama and panhandlers agree: Change is good.

One small hitch: change doesn’t mean progress. It doesn’t mean improvement. It definitely doesn’t mean prosperity.

Joe Biden never got the message. In this “welcome video“, he seems ridiculous. The same man who said that Barack was not ready to lead as recently as this past winter, now joins The Movement. He speaks to Obamaniacs as an outsider. He knows that he was not part of The Movement. He has been in the Senate since Barry was in Hawai’i. He is part of the big, bad political machine that Obama wants to tear down. He does all but apologize at the altar of Change and beg for forgiveness. He praises Obama’s parishioners and congratulates them. He then asks that they accept him as one of their own.

How does he do it? He calls on Change. Eight times in 2 minutes and 57 seconds he says “change”!

This clip is proof-positive that Obama is completely out of touch with mainstream America. He picks a moderate liberal with a ton of experience and this guy is the outsider. Joe Biden, Mr. American politics, has never been an outsider. He offers a solid balance of relative youth and experience, foreign policy and domestic policy. He is from Delaware, a state that doesn’t conjure up any negative images. THe fact that Obama’s campaign is so radically left and so unapologetically “grassroots” makes Biden the annoying step-father who you have to obey to get what you want but don’t actually respect.

Though I am no Biden supporter, I feel awful for him. A proud, distinguished senator is being emasculated by a young upstart with a fresh face and smooth speaking-style. Biden is put in the position of being forced to renounce his past so that he become a full-fledged member of Change.

Two months ago, this race was absolutely over. McCain trailed by double digits and electoral projections had Obama winning by roughly 75 electoral votes. Virginia was undoubtedly blue, Georgia was a serious toss-up, and Badlands region was under attack. Over the summer, John McCain has completely turned this race on its head. The south is unquestionably Republican. The Badlands have been saved. Alaska is firmly Red. Virginia is thrown back into the toss-up. Florida is leaning slightly to the GOP. In fact, RealClear Politics actually has McCain ahead in the electoral college! While Republicans dance in the street, the real question is HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

It is only through understanding, and my glorious collection of past posts, that we continue the McCain Train.

A few thoughts:

1.The GOP has turned a debate on how to fix the economy into a debate on oil prices. Offshore oil drilling has been a diamond in the rough. It sat undiscussed for years and was dug up at the most opportune time. The Republicans are correct. Increasing the supply of oil and stifling oil speculators which are driving up prices is not partisan. It is not ideological. It is fact. John McCain is on the correct side of the issue and Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are too wrapped up in their own ideological bubble to get out of their own way.

1A. My concern is that if oil prices come down, the economy may still slump. Poor investments and the housing bubble are not the GOP’s or Democrats’ fault. They are the fault of the Fed, the global economy, congressional protection of Fannie and Freddie, and the American people. Yes, we are to blame. We have too many damn credit cards, buy too much house, and save too little. If those failures are seen as the real problems, voters may turn misplaced anger at McCain. So we need the Democrats to keep being obstinate on oil…at least until Election Day.

2. I won’t say that war is good, but the conflict in Georgia made foreign policy an issue again. Hillary’s 3AM advertisement almost doomed Obama in Texas and Ohio. Luckily for him, he was so far ahead in delegate counts at that point that it just didn’t matter. McCain actually got the 3 AM ad in real life. President Bush did get the unexpected surprise about the Russian invasion. He did have to make hard choices and he does have to sort it through with the rest of the world. Not just did the issue help, but the responses did, as well. McCain was on-point and able to flaunt his credentials. Obama seemed lost and unwilling to take a stand (Barack afraid to make a choice? NO ‘EFFIN WAY!)
2A. This issue doesn’t have enough legs to get to November. It will slip to the back pages of newspapers behind the Olympics, the Conventions, and Labor Day grillfests. I certainly don’t hope for another international conflict, but McCain must continue to invoke Georgia. He doesn’t need another 9/11 to remind Americans that security is important. The troop surge has worked, he has experience, and he rhetorically crushed Obama when both faced an international crisis.

3. McCain beat Obama at Saddleback. For anyone who doesn’t have Obamania, McCain crushed Obama. The disparity was so bad that Team Obama needed to allege that McCain cheated. When a presidential candidate starts accusing the other of cheating in a forum that took place in a church of all places, it’s getting ugly. I have said this for a while, but McCain is better off-the-cuff. His maverick style plays well and he doesn’t have a problem engaging with people. His life story is remarkable. Obama’s? Not so much. His written speeches are, unfortunately, phenomenal. There is no doubt that he is a great orator. However, he gets into trouble when he doesn’t have a teleprompter. The “bitter” comment came off-the-cuff. His reponse to Georgia was unprepared. His suggestion that abortion is “above his pay grade” clearly was poorly rehearsed.

3A. Rick Warren wasn’t the most objective interviewer. While he asked fair questions identically to each candidate, the emphasis on values in a Christian setting will always favor the Republican. Formal debates will allow Barack to give his scripted responses, in all of their rhetorical glory, behind a podium. However, McCain isn’t afraid of Obama the way Hillary was. He knows that he can beat this young upstart on even ground. And, as the American people repeatedly prove, confidence is everything in presidential debates.

4. The mastermind. De facto campaign manager Steve Schmidt has been phenomenal since taking over for Rick Davis. Under Davis, McCain’s people were largely decentralized and granted a great deal of autonomy. Staffers couldn’t stay on-message because the message changed from day-to-day, office-to-office. Obama wasn’t being attacked and continued to showcase his best attribute, not talking about the issues. In early July, the campaign let Schmidt take over day-to-day operations. Since then, the campaign has been a well-oiled machine. The message was consolidated: McCain has experience and Obama doesn’t know how to lead. The oil drilling issue was all McCain would talk about for weeks. The campaign also used Obama’s celebrity, a huge asset, into a weakness.

So do you want to know why McCain has made a comeback? Because Steve Schmidt turned this:

into this:.

The media is liberal. Unabashedly, unrelentingly liberal. There I’ve said it.

On the Daily Kos liberal icon and sex god Keith Olbermann proudly announced that Rachel Maddow will be getting her own show on MSNBC. Who is Keith Olbermann? I fondly remember this guy from ESPN:

Now he’s become this guy:

And after Hillary’s (admittedly stupid) comment about RFK’s assassination, he came up with this:

I know he seems like the same guy, but you gotta trust me. Olbermann is actively trying to be the liberal reincarnation of Bill O’Reilly. And now he proudly champions his role in bringing in Air America All-star Rachel Maddow onto the air. MSNBC has made a tremendous leftward shift in the past year. I won’t pretend that Fox News is right of center, but I cannot accept that MSNBC is as, if not more, partisan. No one really takes Bill O’Reilly seriously. He brings on helpless liberals and beats them with logic and/or manipulation. Olbermann has launched surgical strike after surgical strike against Bush, McCain, and any candidate with an “R” that precedes his/her name.

I’m okay with partisanship in the media. I’m not naive or arrogant enough to suggest that objectivity is possible, let alone real. However, I simply cannot sit by idly and watch as a news organization builds up its leftist army of “journalists”.

To her credit, Rachel Maddow is the most open about her leftist leanings. Air America is admittedly, and intentionally, liberal. People listen to Air America with the intent of hearing liberal viewpoints. Not nearly enough are aware that MSNBC is entering the same mold.

MSNBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell has joined Olbermann and Maddow in the McCain assassin camp. She has LIED not once but TWICE on behalf of Obama.

First, she falsely reported that Obama was not allowed to visit wounded American troops in Europe and the Middle East. She said about Obama’s inability to visit troops

that the Pentagon, perhaps the military with cooperation from some Republican operatives and, that’s the sort of scuttlebutt, that there have been some foreign policy advisers of John McCain with connections in the Pentagon who had something to do with this.

One small hitch: Obama admitted to being able to visit. A military officer and Obama supporter said:

Sen. Obama did not want to have a trip to see our wounded warriors perveived as a campaign event when his visit was to show his appreciation for our troops and decided instead not to go.

Still, Mitchell has neither retracted nor apologize for her gross misrepresentation of the thoughts and actions of Senator Obama, and, more importantly, McCain supporters in the Pentagon.

More recently, she has suggested that John McCain could hear Rick Warren’s questions during Saturday’s debate. And that explains how and why John McCain completely outclassed Obama. Of course. Because there is NO possibility that John McCain is actually the better candidate and is able to better connect in a more personal, impromptu environment. Rick Warren in this interview says that there is no chance that McCain knew the questions beforehand.

If Ms. Mitchell wants to spout off lies and conspiracy theories on behalf of Obama, then she has no business masquerading as an unbiased political reporter. So unless and until Andrea Mitchell has “Obama Spokeswoman” has her official title in all MSNBC dealings, I will remain angry. So angry that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis sent a complaint to the president of NBC.

And THAT is why conservatives dominate book sales and the radio waves. When the market of ideas and information is opened, the American people choose “right-leaning” options.

And THAT is why 49% of Americans believe the media is favoring Obama and only 14% for McCain

And THAT is why polls are shifting and more states are moving into Toss-Up or Lean-Republican status.

And (hopefully) THAT is why John McCain will win the White House.