hogwash

For just a moment, forget party loyalties.  Forget that you have always voted Republican.  Forget that you have always voted Democrat.  Take a step back and look at your positions from the outside.  Take note that not any one party has been in possession of the greatest ideas of their time all throughout history.  What has happened instead is that one party capitalizes on whatever is moving our society forward, (or backwards) and if the movement is considered a worthy one by a majority of the population, that is the party that rules until the next great idea comes along.  The fact of the matter is that over the last fifteen to twenty years, both parties have changed, just as they have changed throughout history, and right now, only one party, the Democratic Party, is in possession of the greatest ideas of our time.

How have they changed throughout history?  One example is how the Democratic Party has handled African Americans.  Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence and James Madison, who is widely considered the father of the Constitution, both formed what would become the Democratic Party.  Both were slave owners.  James Buchanan, a Democrat, was the last President leading up to the Civil War and presided over the country throughout the Dred Scott case.  Along came the creation of the Republican Party and Abraham Lincoln.  They came to free the slaves and a war ensued.  Not just over slavery, but over state rights and federal power.  Of course, the Republican’s won and changed the course of American history forever.

Skipping forward a bit, throughout the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, the Democratic Party was the party of the South, the party of White Supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan.  The Republican Party, similar to how it was later, was about business, and banking, and national security.  In 1929, it came to a head.  The Republican Party had control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency under Herbert Hoover.  What happened in 1929?  Due to failures in banking and Wall Street, the stock market crashed, forcing the long running Great Depression.  As a result, groups like the KKK lost its stranglehold on the Democratic Party and Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the one party control Democrats took the reins of the country and implemented new and innovative programs to put people back to work and to raise the country out of its financial ashes. 

The irony was that everyone did better; everyone from homeowners, to businesses, to banks.  FDR lead us in to WWII and after passing away during his fourth term in office, passed the torch to Missouri Democrat Harry S. Truman to finish the job.  Then came the baby boom, the civil rights movement, and the anti-war movement, intertwined with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy and Republican President Nixon’s Watergate scandal.  All altered the course of American history forever.  During that time, the Democrats became the party of civil rights, and equal rights for all, but also the party of hippie peaceniks, an outdated moniker that it still struggles to shake off to this day.

From 1865 to 1965, the parties traded major aspects of their party platforms and their ideas.  What was once Democratic was now Republican, and vice-versa.  A Lincoln Republican in 1865 would not have recognized his party in 1965.

Skipping forward to today, some of what took place in the sixties still leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths, especially those who identify with the Democratic and Republican parties of 40+ years ago.  However, while many of us believe we haven’t changed, the fact of the matter is, the parties have.  While the Democratic Party is still the party of civil rights and equal rights, it is also the party in possession of the best ideas for our new 21^st century global economy.  The Republican Party is still trying to hang on to the outdated economic and national security ideas of the 1980’s, the party of Reagan, the party of 20^th century economics.

My support of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2008 is not about anything that happened before September 11^th, 2001.  My support for Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in 2008 is about the contrast of the two platforms and the ideas of the parties since September 11, 2001.  Not only is this not the world of our grandparents, these are not the parties of our grandparents.  The world and the times have changed and the challenges that face America in the 21^st century global economy cannot afford the Republican platform and policies of the sixties and eighties. 

I understand that some people just cannot bring themselves to vote for Barack Obama, not just because of the color of his skin and the letters that make up his name, but also because of the myths that make up their beliefs about the Democratic Party.  I am asking you to set those things aside for a moment and to look at the bigger picture.  The bigger picture being that this is a new day that calls for new solutions, and the only party offering new solutions for our economy, our country, and our world is the Democratic Party, the 21^st century Democratic Party.

Don’t just be a part of history, be a part of our future.  Vote Barack Obama on Tuesday, November 4^th.

Wow.  I have never seen Drudge and FoxNews so obviously in the tank.

However, don’t fret.  Obama’s Civilian National Security Force is not some type of facist military force.

It is the Brainchild of the current administration’s Secretary of Defence Robert Gates.

Last fall Gates began giving a series of speeches about the need to create a more modern State Department and a “civilian national security force” that could “deploy teams that combine agricultural specialists and engineers and linguists and cultural specialists who are prepared to go into some of the most dangerous areas alongside the military.”

“If we’ve got a State Department or personnel that have been trained just to be behind walls, and they have not been equipped to get out there alongside our military and engage, then we don’t have the kind of national security apparatus that is needed. That has to be planned for; it has to be paid for. Those personnel have to be trained. And they all have to be integrated.”

So relax everyone.  Drudge has just lost a wheel and is trying to scare everyone with misinformation.

A Day in the Life of Joe Republican

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare
his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some
tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With
his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication. His
medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought
to insure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical
plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for
paid medical insurance — now Joe gets it, too. He prepares his
morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because
some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing
industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo.
His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in
the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right
to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath.
The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko
liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He
walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to
work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation
fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public
transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a
contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical
benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy
liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.

Its noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some
bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some
godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous
bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided
that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and
earned more money over his lifetime.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at
his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His
car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating
liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood
home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by
Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural
loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government
liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural
electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired.
His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some
wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of
himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk
show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and
conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved
Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe
enjoys throughout his day.

Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our
lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should
take care of themselves, just like I have.”

STLtoday - Voting Yes on Prop Iis voting yes on the futurefor St. Louis County kids
What $150K buys

I am not sure if I live in a pro-America or anti-America part of the country here in the heart of Oakville, but I do know that when we bought our three-bedroom house in 2000, it cost $15,000 less than the Republican National Committee spent on clothing for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, over the last two months.

Does Ms. Palin have to pay income taxes on the clothing she received? At my last job, employees were provided lunch, but we had to pay taxes on the lunches received as income (similar to how Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain’s health plan is supposed to work).

And, with the salary I received at that job, it would have taken me more than seven years after taxes to buy a wardrobe similar to Ms. Palin’s.

Of course, my husband, our four children and I would have starved and lost the house in the process.

Elaine “The Working Mom” Frank | Oakville

McCain’s Last Hope and the end of Chris Rock’s ‘Head of State.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhPzAbOFhFc

According to most respected scientists, and philosophers throughout history, we all have an animal nature in one form or another. It is common knowledge that we are creatures of our world. Yet, because of our cognitive superiority (or spiritual superiority, as some would say) to the rest of the beasts of the world, we have developed a set of societal norms that allow us to function towards a higher calling. In a sense, what is good for most is good for one. Those societal norms change through time and the balance of “most” and “one” is in a constant state of flux.

Of course, there have been many examples or experiments by various cultures along the way. Cultures and countries come and go based on many factors. Some of those factors may be natural disasters or climate change, economic ruin, systemic superiority, pure evil, and the triumph of good over evil, to name a few. Human history, in terms of culture, rarely, if ever, stays stagnant. It is always changing. It either progresses or regresses, the definition of those two terms being subjective, and relative to who decides what is and is not progress.

The natural, animalistic side of human beings serves us well on a daily basis. We flinch for a reason, our stomachs growl for a reason, we get angry for a reason, and we love our children for a reason. The reasons are often debated, but survival is the generally accepted reason. As a result of this natural tendency to survive, we feel fear. Many times that fear can overwhelm us. And that brings us to our current situation. The anger and the hatred coming from Republican rallies, as seen here, here, and here, and as I walk door to door in my canvassing efforts for Obama, is very real. I am not making excuses for their regressive behavior, but their fear is genuine.

Each and every one of us has a way that we look at the world. We hear it expressed often as our “world-view.” And for one reason or another, certain things scare us and threaten us. They threaten our physical safety as well as our world-view. You would think the latter was insignificant, but when a person’s brain has been conditioned to believe a certain way, either through nature or nurture, many times they will shift in to a survival mode sparked by their fear. What results, in many cases, is anger and hatred.

I, as do many readers of this Huffington Post, have family members, friends, and neighbors who have outright told me that they will not vote for Barack Obama because he is black. they do not arrive at that position lightly. They genuinely are afraid of what it means to have a black man as their leader. Many of them, who feel superior to the black race for one misguided reason or another, are having their very purpose and role in life called in to question. A man with the name of Barack Obama, with a skin color such as his, is a threat to their very existence, or so they believe.

While canvassing for Obama, I knocked on a man’s door who I have known for years. He was in utter shock that I would be out working for an “Arab.” Yes. He said, “Arab.” From what I gather, he heard that from Rush Limbaugh, and that is what makes this all the worse. In a grab for power, there are leaders and celebrities in this country, who know better, who allow this behavior to take place, and some gleefully stoke the fire. I don’t know if Rush Limbaugh really knows any better, but I can tell you with relative confidence that John McCain does, and that is despicable. John McCain is a better man; at least I used to believe so, than to let such baseless accusations of Obama’s links to terrorists, and the conclusions drawn from them, go unanswered.

World-renowned psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, mentions in one of his latest books, The Lucifer Effect, that there are many types of evil. He says that there is natural evil; there is systemic evil; there is the “doing” of evil; and there is the evil of doing nothing. I believe the latter to maybe be the worse evil of all, the evil of inaction. While those who do not know any better hunker down in to their animalistic nature of survival when no real threat is apparent or at the very least, exaggerated, those who do know better need to stand up and say so. Power at the expense of good and righteousness is vile and despicable and contrary to everything this country stands for.

Rupert Murdoch, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and company have done more to bring America down and hold this country back than any one person on Wall Street can ever dream of doing, and John McCain’s deference to it is appalling. Senator McCain’s base is erupting into nasty pot of hatred which, if we are not careful, could be very dangerous, not to mention, criminal. A real culture war is not one that we want to fight. The people at the Republican rallies are totally out of their minds and have become slaves to their fears.

It is time for John McCain to call it to a halt before it gets out of hand. It is time to invoke the spirit of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stood up at a podium in 1941 and let the American people know that the world has four basic freedoms. Those freedoms are the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion, the freedom of want, and freedom from fear. The regressives of the Republican Party have not only refused to free us from fear, they have purposely invoked it.

I know that Barack Obama carries the spirit of FDR, but it is time for John McCain to step up to the plate and be the leader that he portends to be. It is time to remind John McCain of what he was fighting for when his jet crashed in Vietnam, so he can then remind his followers of what makes America, America. Or, he can continue on his current path as a guilty participant in the greatest evil of all, the evil of inaction.

YouTube - Who is the real Barack Obama?

It is amazing how little ‘Joe Six-pack’ actually knows about the United States of America.  They know very little about where it came from, how it got here, or even what America stands for.  The hope of having any kind of conversation with ‘Joe’ that includes facts is about as likely as having Alaska’s Governor Palin on the ticket as a Vice-President.  (Oh.  Crap.  I will have to find a new metaphor for things that are unlikely.) 

Over the last couple of days, I have had one of these one-way conversations with Mr. Six-pack, and I have to tell you, if you are a fan of the great American experiment, the depth of his ignorance is disheartening if you are hoping for the experiment to succeed.  Most importantly, it is indicative of what civic leaders like Barack Obama have to face every day of their lives.

The next couple of paragraphs will sort of run like a play-by-play.  As readers of this blog continue through the text, you will swear that you know this Mr. Six-pack.  I promise you that you don’t, well, unless you actually do know him, which would be funny to me.  For the purposes of this column, I will call him ‘Benedict.’ Benedict fits, mainly because he is a classic American traitor, and you will see why as you read on.  Benedict is indicative of the halfwit that the regressive, maverick Republican brand has rounded up and caged as sure-thing voters year after year.

It all started this Sunday as I sat on my couch watching ‘Meet the Press’ on my DVR.  From my laptop, which sits next to me, a loud crash of a gong came across my speakers to notify me that I had a new email.  It was from Benedict, a Joe Six-pack that I met once a few years back when I was laid up from a knee surgery.  He was not happy with my last blog post ‘Therapists are here to ‘get’ us, not VPs.’

The following is not for respectable people who are easily offended:

“Thanks Karl (my dad) for sending this one. It just proves you and your ex were extremely intoxicated the night this one was conceived. Junior, I only met you once and I will refer to you as BLISTER because you showed up after we had finished moving your father a few years back. Just like you liberals, showing up after the work is done. What Karl should have done was wait for the government to move him, just like OSAMA’s posse did in Louisiana when Katrina hit. I have spent enough time on BLISTER, it is obvious the major thing BLISTER and all liberals are missing is COMMON SENSE. It must have been aborted on your daddy’s sheets.”

I replied with, “Typical.  When you lose on the facts you revert to personal attacks.  Facts matter Benedict, so unless you’ve got some, you’re useless to the greater debate and the larger picture.  When I get emails like this, I can’t help but thank the people who created the system of checks and balances the way that they did, or people like you would actually be running this country…or at least what would even be left of it.”

Needless to say, there have been 40+ emails sent back and forth since then.  I won’t bore you with most of them, mainly because it will probably make you a little nauseous to read most of what he says, but in general, the entire conversation has been largely one-sided as it relates to facts.  All Benedict has in his arsenal are old Limbaugh and Coulterisms, like “liberals showing up when the work is done,” and “The only difference between Obama and Osama is the ‘bs’,” and “I’m no more racist that Osama (again, meaning Obama.)” 

He didn’t deny, nor defend his racism, other than to recite a list of other African-Americans who he claims are racist, so I had to ask, “So you excuse your racism because of what you claim to be someone else’s?   Whatever happened to the conservative ideal of personal responsibility?  Or, are you a hypocrite too?  One who only applies the conservative ideals that he isn’t too lazy, mentally and physically, to deal with?”

As you might expect, he came back with, “Again other than the word Africa what did I say was racist? Nothing that is what you liberals do is throw the race card. Is Rev. Wright racist? Is Michele OSAMA racist for her speech talking whitey this and whitey that? Let me guess freedom of speech. What about OSAMA’s ties with Rezco? If that was a Republican Lord help us.”

I literally LOL’d on that one.  I about hit the floor I was laughing so hard.  After I explained to him how disrespectfully calling Obama, Osama was racist and how Michelle never said those things that Fox News falsely propagated and later recanted, and how Obama was cleared of any wrong-doing with Rezco, my laughter stopped.  It stopped because at that moment I realized just how clueless Benedict and his fellow “patriots” are.  And then, when I thought of all of the other people who willingly, and many times unknowingly believe these lies, it made me sad for my country.

Then it dawned on me, as he proceeded to send me all of the crazy viral emails that were proven false months and years ago that form the basis of his neurotic political beliefs, like the South Dakota FEMA email, and the Obama not saying the pledge email, etc., that Benedict is not a conservative.  Wick Allison is a conservative, George Will is a conservative.  My grandfather was a conservative.  This man is not a conservative.  He is a modern day American traitor. 

In his deranged, hateful world, he denies everything and anything that has made America great. Such “liberal” documents as the Constitution, and the words carved in to the Statue of Liberty don’t escape his scorn and cynicism.  They apparently are just out-dated ideas that only hold meaning for ”liberals.”  How do I know this?  I presented the Constitution and the Statue of Liberty to Benedict as evidence of how it was the ingenuity of American capitalism, restrained with common sense social maturity, and the immensely successful liberal ideas of our forefathers that has made America so strong, and this is what he had to say about it:

“That was great years ago. You liberals screwed it up. Press 1 if you want that in English and 2 if you want it in Spanish. Get the picture moron.”

Yes Benedict.  I get the picture.  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit, but I get the picture.

In typical Hogwash fashion.  McCain fails to mention when talking about his health care plan that it will also result in 1.3 Trillion in cuts in Medicare and Medicaid.

McCain Plans Federal Health Cuts - WSJ.com
John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.
[Barack Obama campaigns in Virginia] Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a rally at Victory Landing Park in Newport News, Va.

The Republican presidential nominee has said little about the proposed cuts, but they are needed to keep his health-care plan “budget neutral,” as he has promised. The McCain campaign hasn’t given a specific figure for the cuts, but didn’t dispute the analysts’ estimate.

Sarah Palin may have covered the spread last night, but it was only because the odds makers were not sure exactly how low to set the bar. For a comparison, imagine the coverage today if Al Gore, in 2000, would have acted like Sarah Palin did on Oct. 2nd, winking at America, spouting ill-timed slams on Biden like “say it ain’t so Joe,” and worst of all, essentially admitting that she was not going to answer the moderator’s questions.

Sarah Palin was typical last night, the real “Average Joe” of the evening, if you will. I understand that some people like that. I understand how some people think that having a typical, plain Palin in the White House is totally rad, dude. I understand how some people think that a lack of intellectual curiosity in the White House is a good thing. But dagnabbit people, this is America, and America is the most powerful nation in the world.

Being the most powerful human being in the free world is an incredible responsibility, and requires the attention of an incredibly qualified person. Running this amazing country is only simple in the acknowledgment of its complication; and gosh darnit, if I had my druthers, Americans would realize that.

Excuse me for a moment while I look “backwards” and ask my fellow Wasillian Main-Streeters what they think of typical leaders. What do you think was typical and “just like me” about George Washington? What do you think was typical and “just like me” about Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison? (Yes, I know Franklin was not a president, but America as we know it would not exist without him nonetheless.) What do you think was typical and “just like me” about John Adams? What do you think was typical and “just like me” about Abraham Lincoln, or Teddy Roosevelt, or FDR, or John F. Kennedy? (While being the son of a poor frontiersman, Lincoln was well-read, philosophical and was a successful attorney.)

Now, for comparison, *wink* what do you think is typical and “just like me” about George W. Bush? Remember? People were passionate about W because they could sit down and drink a beer with him. He was just like them. He understood them. He could not field dress a moose, God bless his soul, but darnnit, he could choke on a pretzel with the best of them. I mean, because he is just like, “us” he led this country into arguably the worse eight years of this country’s previously great existence. What is more “backwards” and regressive than that?

To all that voted for Bush, not once, but twice, for Christ’s sake, are you not embarrassed about that people? Are you not willing to at least take some of the responsibility for the current situation we find ourselves in as a country? Yes, there has been a failure in leadership, but that is only because there has been a major washout in followership. Democracies and republics fail for one overriding reason.  It is the failure of society to pay attention; to educate themselves on the complexities of the governance; their utter refusal to look in the mirror and take some responsibility for the failures of those whom they pick to lead.

Now, here we sit, on three hundred million straw pedestals, ready to pick the next great (or not so great) leader of the free world, and you are telling me that the major criteria of which almost half of this country is using to pick their next President is, “Well, she understands me, she gets me, she shares in my problems. She doesn’t know her ‘you know what’ from a hole in the wall, but she can recite prepared euphemisms and doublespeak with the best of them.” Are we really going to use the same criteria to pick the next president that we used to pick the last one? Are we really a country of gluttonous fools who want to continue relishing in the repercussions of the incredible weakness of our collective decisions?

I feel compelled to remind everyone that this is what we have psychiatrists and best friends for, not presidents and vice-presidents.

Am I aggravated? Yur darn toot’n I am aggravated. I don’t think this country can handle another four years of ignorant leadership. Even if you tattoo it with lipstick and call it change, it’s still W and Dick.

This is a fantastic article.  If you never read another Hogwash post, read this one…

A Conservative for Obama | D Magazine - Dallas Fort Worth’s Resource for City Guides, Daily Blogs, D Bests, and Restaurants
Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don’t matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of George W. Bush we will have a president who has actually read the Federalist Papers.

YouTube - “Fundamentals” Ad

That John McCain, his campaign is getting really good at telling “The Maverick Truth.”

Jonathan Martin’s Blog: Holtz-Eakin: McCain helped create BlackBerry - Politico.com
Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

“He did this,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Al Gore, call your office.

This is the brainchild of Patriot John, and I put it together for Hogwash - Thanks again for your input Patriot John.

Oh, what a glorious day for the regressive Republican economy.  It just keeps booming and booming.  I’m sure glad they know finances and macro-economics.  Where would we be without all of their glorious economic theories?  I haven’t hugged a Republican today…I need to find one.  They are getting a bit harder and harder to find though.  I’m sure I can find one somewhere.  Here rovey, rovey, rovey, here rovey, rovey, rovey…..

You know the old saying:  “Conservatives say government doesn’t work, and then they get elected to prove it.”

Here is your must read assignment of the day, called “Foreclosure Phil”:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/07/foreclosure-phil.html

Remember when John McCain was considered a maverick because he occasionally took liberal positions?

Now he has provided the American people with a whole new euphemism for a lie: The Maverick Truth

Palin is qualified to be the most powerful person in the free world = The Maverick Truth

Trickle down regressive Republican economics has worked = The Maverick Truth

The regressive Republican run economy works for middle class Americans = The Maverick Truth

Trickle down regressive Republican economics trickles down to Indian and Chinese workers = The Maver….oh wait, that’s the REAL TRUTH!!!

David Ignatius - Stopping At Nothing To Win - washingtonpost.com
McCain even seems to have forgotten what saved his greatest legislative achievement, which is campaign finance reform. When he was asked during the Saddleback Church debate which Supreme Court justices he would not have nominated, he named Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens. It happens that those are four of the five justices who voted in 2003 to uphold the McCain-Feingold law.

In May 2006, after McCain had courted the Rev. Jerry Falwell in an effort to win conservative support, I asked him if he was bending his principles for the sake of winning. “I don’t want it that badly,” McCain answered. “I will continue to do what is right. . . . If that means I can’t get the Republican nomination, fine. I’ve had a happy life. The worst thing I can do is sell my soul to the devil.”

He was right.

Officer Development
“Midshipmen are persons of integrity: They stand for that which is right.

They tell the truth and ensure that the full truth is known. They do not lie.

They embrace fairness in all actions. They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. They do not cheat.

They respect the property of others and ensure that others are able to benefit from the use of their own property. They do not steal.”

McCain really has nowhere to go but down from here.  The Palin Bump is over and now that independents are coming back to their senses, they are realizing that what they need to do is decide who has the best chance of leading America in to the 21st century starting on November 4th.  Clearly, Independents and Democrats are tired of Regressive politics and policies.

One thing I noticed is that McCain never matched Obama’s high during the “Palin Bump,” and Obama never matched McCain’s low.

From the Daily Gallup Tracker polled September 10-12…(without the tragic hurricane, I think the slope would be even deeper, but that is purely speculative.)

Sarah Palin has been thoroughly exposed for the gimmick and fraud (in relation to the persona presented by the McCain campaign) that she is.  Whether 54 days is enough time for the average American voter to pick up on it is another story.  If the percentage of people who still believe that Iraq had a hand in 9/11 is any indication, the truth about Sarah Palin may never take hold.

So here is the deal, there probably is not much more that I can contribute to the Sarah Palin conversation that is not being exposed somewhere else.  Unless she makes some newsworthy blunder, or does something else to contradict or embarrass John McCain and his obviously poor judgment and critical thinking skills, I am not going to go out of my way to post it here.

What I am interested in right now is how the Bush administration has slowly begun to follow the Barack Obama foreign policy doctrine (maybe that is why Sarah Palin was confused – damn, what was that…like 15 seconds without mentioning Palin?)

All of the  things that John McCain and the Republican party used to call Obama naïve for, like an Iraq withdrawal time table…check.  Talks with Iran…check.  Ground forces in Pakistan without Pakistani permission…check.

This is like something out of the twilight zone.  If Barack Obama is so ignorant, naïve, and liberal, why have the Regressives adopted his foreign policy?

(Picture the penguin and the audio fade, “Do, be, do, be, dooooooooooo.”)

Update:  Apparently, Andrew Sullivan from the Atlantic concurs:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/a-first.html

“The Bush administration - when guided by the saner forces within it such as Gates and Rice - eventually follows Obama’s advice. In that sense, Obama has been president for quite a while already. And proving he could be a shrewd, pragmatic and prescient one.”

Alright, this is my attempt at being objective.

It’s really simple enough.  McCain clearly got a bounce from Palin, but the bounce is already starting to trickle away.  AND, by looking at the historical polls one by one on Real Clear Politics, Obama didn’t lose many or any percentage points in most of the polls.  What happened was that it appears to be one of two things:  1.  As was previously reported, several of the major news outlets added an additional sample of declared Republicans in to the polling, and 2. and this is what it looks like most to me, it was many undecided independents who fell down on McCain’s side 55-60 days out from election day.

And what do we know about independents?  They are incredibly fickle.  It will be a battle to the end, for those independents, but barring any kind of October surprise or major gaffe by Obama, McCain can’t get any higher, and has nowhere to go down from here.

What I think will happen, again, trying to be objective, not an Obamacon, is that the press will continue its increased expose on Sarah Palin, which isn’t necessarily what Obama wants, but they will also increasingly take McCain to task for his Shermonian scorched Earth halt-truths, which will irreparably damage McCain’s credibility, not with conservatives, but with the Independents he has captured over the last week or so.

Then, the trump card for Obama, which I think most people are not taking into account, are the two million more registered Democratic voters over newly registered Republican voters.  Most of the polls taken are polling voters from the last two elections…from what I understand.

So, this is about as close as I can get to objective at this point.  I really do not believe it is wishful thinking as an Obama supporter, but an analytical look at the polling data.

I shared this with an upper-middle class to wealthy Republican, but objective and politically in-tune, friend of mine, and he tends to agree with this analysis.  The only thing that he adds is something rather obvious, and that is that is all comes down to turnout.  It won’t do Obama any good to have 2 million newly registered voters if they don’t show up.

Thoughts?

McCain Pre-Palin: Mayors And Governors Can’t Handle National Security
When does being a governor or mayor for a short period of time not disqualify your credentials on national security? When you are John McCain and your task is to defend your vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

When does being a governor or mayor for a short period of time ABSOLUTELY disqualify your credentials on national security? When you are John McCain and your task is to defeat primary opponents Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

Back in October 2007, when McCain’s candidacy still appeared dead and buried, the Senator berated the two Republican front runners for lacking the necessary political experience to handle commander in chief responsibilities.

“I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I’ve been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism,” the Senator declared. “I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.”

This is pretty funny.  But as in all satire, you can usually find a little truth…

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/watch/PolarBears

Hogwash for the last two weeks has dedicated itself to exposing the habitual lies and hypocrisy of Sarah Palin, as well as the apparent lack of good judgment by John McCain in picking Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate.  It obviously made good political sense to put Palin on the ticket, at least for a two week bounce or so, but in terms of what is good for the country, Sarah Palin is a disaster.  At least Dick Cheney had actually met face-to-face with a foreign leader.

When John McCain says, “National security is our number one priority as a nation,” he loses all credibility with Palin.  Since there is a 15 to 33% chance that John McCain would not live through his Presidency, how could John McCain be putting “Country First” with his Sarah Palin pick?  She is clearly a political gimmick.

In the Charlie Gibson interview, she doesn’t necessarily blow up and sticks pretty well to her prepared answers, but I just can’t hardly stand to watch.  She speaks in a condescending tone.  She doesn’t answer Gibson’s questions.  She doesn’t understand his questions.  She contradicts John McCain, especially on invasion of Pakistan.

To me, she answers questions like someone who is trying to fool the American people that she is ready for the job, like an actress with a script.  When I watched the interview below, it made my stomach turn.  She is clearly faking her way through this interview, like a college student interviewing for a CEO position.  I just cannot imagine Palin as the most powerful person in the free world.  I just can’t stomach the possibility of her in the White House on September 11th.  This is not American Idol people!

Have I lost objectivity?

Watch this clip, and you tell me.

More evidence on the fallacy of McCain’s ability to maintain his honor

This is getting sick.  How can religious conservatives put up with Palin’s hypocrisy and compulsive lying.  I don’t get it.  Isn’t this a double-standard?

Bloomberg.com: News
Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) — John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate sent a signal that he would end business as usual and cronyism in government. Her record shows the Alaska governor engaged in some of the same practices she and McCain now condemn.

Palin’s office approved a state job for a friend and campaign aide with whom she shared a land investment, financial records and interviews over the past two weeks show. She hired a former lobbyist for a pipeline company to help oversee a multibillion-dollar deal with that same company.

She named a police chief accused of harassment to head the state police. And she sent campaign e-mails on her city hall account while serving as mayor of Wasilla — conduct for which she later turned in an oil commissioner on ethics charges.