An excellent piece in today’s issue of the American Thinker makes Glenn Beck’s point that, perhaps, Obama’s election will be better for America in the long run:

Would the country be as aware of the following if not for an extremist government in power in Washington?  Acorn and the “community organizer” groups have been revealed to be nothing more than corrupt partisan hacks exploiting the poor and the taxpayers.  The unions and their leaders exposed as power hungry ideologues with no interest in the long term well-being of their members.  The mainstream media’s willingness to lose all credibility with the vast majority of the public with its not so subtle cheerleading for their preferred politician has become obvious to all.  The Democratic Party, at one time the self-declared defender of the little guy, has openly declared war on small business and capitalism.  The Democratic members of Congress have been revealed to be indifferent to the voters, incapable of reading bills and fully in the pockets of liberal special interests groups.

This issue was debated in an earlier post. Read the rest of the AE piece here.

When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education.  Senator Obama said, “I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That’s what I did for three and half years before I went to law school.   That’s the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career.  Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work.”

Hmmm . . . more here.

It’s about Trig. Always has been.

Once upon a time, in 2004, the Great State of Pennsylvania was represented in the United States Senate by two Republican: Pro-choice liberal Arlen Specter, who had led the fight for the confirmation of Clarence Thomas’ nomination to the Supreme Court but had also voted to acquit Bill Clinton at his impeachment trial, and pro-life lion Rick Santorum, who had gained recognition as the Senate’s foremost defender of unborn human life. (more…)

The Chicago Tribune’s John Kass on who to blame for Roland Burris (H/T: Backyard Conservative):

But who is responsible for Illinois being represented by a lying weasel in the U.S. Senate?

Though Blagojevich appointed Burris, that was just the beginning of our descent into madness. Like I said, there are two others who deserve credit.
(more…)

This sort of sums it all up.

From Jim Kalb:

The election of a black man as president is supposed to be a wonderful thing. Doesn’t that depend on how it came about? If it shows the growth of human respect and a widening scheme of cooperation then it’s a good thing. If it shows that a social order that took particular histories and connections into account has been replaced by one based on TV, pop culture and celebrity on the one hand and formally certified expertise on the other, then it’s certainly a sign of Change but not necessarily one of improvement.

From Little Green Footballs, about a week ago:

If the GOP decides to go in the Bobby Jindal direction (fundamental Christianity, creationism, hard-line anti-abortionism, aggressively anti-gay rights), it will be committing political suicide. As much as anything else, this election was a referendum on the social conservative agenda, and the social conservatives did not win.

I really don’t understand the logic here. Was this election at all about social issues? From what I saw, social issues were very rarely discussed — the primary issues were the economic crisis and the Iraq War. McCain rarely brought up social issues unless prompted, and Obama, for his part, didn’t harp on them either. So how on earth was this a referendum on the social conservative agenda?

Furthermore, given that Proposition 8 passed in California, as did several other socially conservative initiatives and referendums, it is extremely difficult to see how connection can be drawn to widespread distaste for of the social conservative agenda. There is absolutely no logic to this line of argument — it’s the same old tripe we constantly hear from libertarian-leaning Republicans.

In the coming days and months we will see plenty of columns and blogposts written about how the GOP can get back into the game, and I’m sure I will be responsible for more than a few.  But let’s wait a bit before we go into full bore policy mode.  For now we should just take stock of where we are. (more…)

My wife and I were visited today at our Indiana home by Obama and McCain supporters. We were not home for the McCainiacs, who left some literature on our door. However, we were present when three female Obamabots came by.  I politely told them that we had already voted absentee in Texas. And then, shockingly, I was asked who I voted for. I said, “It is a secret ballot,  you know.” My wife, who was disgusted with my lack of testicular fortitude, loudly asserted behind me, “I voted for McCain,” as she approached the door with hands on hips daring the three Obamabots to say something. They swiftly turned (and I mean, swiftly) and walked away.

What galls me is that three strangers, decorated with partisan buttons and campaign hats, think that it is consistent with our democratic traditions to knock on my door and inquire as to how I voted on a secret ballot in another state.  Where do these people come from?

Ok – I admit it – I was wrong about State Senator Harri Anne Smith beating State Rep. Jay Love in the Republican Primary.  But I will make my prediction for the outcome of the General Election – Jay Love but it is going to be close.  The reason I give the edge to Jay Love is an issue which hasn’t made it to any of the almost constant TV ads – crime in Montgomery.

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This weekend I took my kids to the McWane Science Center in B’ham and we watched the movie “Fly Me to the Moon” at the I-Max theater.  The movies is a cartoon about 3 flies who stow-away on the flight to the moon.  Great movie – the kids and the adults all loved it.  The movies at the I-Max always open with scenes from past movies and include images from across the United States.  As I watched those images and then watched the movie (including a very moving scene where the astronauts raise the American flag on the moon), I was reminded again what an incredible country we live in.  We Americans have done some amazing things and I am confident we are going to continue to do great things.  We are going to come out of this slump.  (more…)

In an MTV interview, Senator Barack Obama said he is against same-sex marriage though he is also against California’s Proposition 8 that would recognize only male-female marriage. To make it even more confusing, when he ran for state senate in 1996, he said he was for same-sex marriage in an answer he gave in response to a candidate’s questionnaire. So, Senator Obama was for gay marriage before he was both against gay marriage and against being against gay marriage.  What an intellectual flim-flam man.

My prediction: McCain wins electoral college 286-252, loses popular vote, 48.3-49.7.  McCain will win Pennsylvania by less than 3,000 votes and Virginia by less than 2,000.  Ohio, Florida, and Nevada will be McCain’s by less than 2% each.  Those are the five states that will decide the election. The difference will be two-fold: (1) an energized Republican Christian right base in Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania that has been largely ignored by the media, (2) nervous free market types and fixed-income seniors in Florida and Nevada who don’t take kindly to the idea of higher taxes and spreading the wealth. The latter group will largely consist of the independents that will break for McCain on Tuesday.

I made this map from here.

Of course, I could be wrong.  As Hunter Baker never ceases telling me, I was dead wrong about my own tenure case.  So, my track record is questionable.

It has been interesting to observe the public debate over Barack Obama’s associations with individuals whose personal histories can only be categorized as radical.  Bill Ayers is a former terrorist.  Jeremiah Wright preaches race adversarialism.  For the most part, Obama’s friendships with these men has been water off a duck’s back for the electorate.

Imagine a different scenario.  There is an evangelical candidate.  He is the best evangelical candidate ever.  A Rhodes Scholar, a distinguished lawyer who has argued before the Supreme Court, astoundingly eloquent, you get the idea.  This candidate is a conservative, but answers all questions in such a way as to avoid making anyone uncomfortable.  He hits all the right chords.

Further imagine that the record shows this man was once heavily involved with Christian reconstructionists who believe stoning should be re-instituted for adultery.  He went to a church for two decades where a Christian reconstructionist preached each Sunday.  One of his mentors was part of a group that bombed abortion clinics.

Where would that candidate be right now?  And how different would that candidate be in terms of associations from one Barack Obama?

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has endorsed John McCain.

I especially liked this statement:

“I’ve been a hardcore Republican my whole life,” he told the Herald. “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

Well said.

Hat tip to Jonah Goldberg at The Corner.

This woman is exceptionally brave. When one considers how the Obama Campaign, as well as the mainstream media, has treated apostates from the church of the Obamessiah one has to appreciate the courage this act of honesty represents.

I think she hits the nail on the head with this:

I can no longer justify what this party has done and can’t dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It’s wrong and someone has to say that. And also say that the Democratic Party’s talking points—that Senator John McCain is just four more years of the same and that he’s President Bush—are now just hooker lines that fit a very effective and perhaps wave-winning political argument…doesn’t mean they’re true. After all, he is the only one who’s worked in a bipartisan way on big challenges.

Heed this woman’s warning. Obama does not represent some new age transformational change, he represents the bare knuckled politics of the past and an uncompromising lurch to left wing collectivism.

Just received this. Before voting next Tuesday, Catholics should take this very seriously:

Catholics Urged to Consider Obama Record Weekend Before Election
Urgent Memo Released to Catholics Nationwide

CHICAGO – CatholicVote.com has released an urgent national memo addressed to all American Catholics urging them to consider the record of Sen. Barack Obama as they head toward the final weekend before the Election Day. The memo outlines a series of statements and facts taken from Obama’s public record dealing with the issues of life and marriage. (more…)

At NRO today, Ed Whelan does a brilliant job explaining what’s at stake for the courts in this election. Do read it.

There are some good signs this morning on the polling front. The gap between Obama and McCain in the Gallup tracking poll (traditional*) has narrowed to two points. Reportedly, this was mirrored in the Rasmussen tracking poll, which now shows only a three point gap. Make no mistake; McCain is still behind. However, these results indicate that he’s well within striking distance even this late in the game.

* I disregard the “expanded” Gallup tracking poll, which gives an edge to Obama, because it fails to consider past voting behavior. It almost seems designed to inflate Obama’s numbers.

An apt description of what Megyn Kelly does to Obama spokesman Bill Burton in this video clip:

(h/t Newsbusters.org)

This just up on Drudge, from McCain’s remarks just moments ago in Miami:

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So McCain is catching flak from crowds when he says, in essence, to go easy on Obama. Could it be that there’s a lot more people than you might fathom at first blush who are abso-doggone-lutely disgusted with Obama’s terrorist and racist ties? And that maybe the Bradley Effect is being woefully under-accounted for in this election? I mean, if you’re scared, in this politically correct climate, to even admit that you’re not voting for a half-black* man, then surely you’d be reluctant to just come out and say, “He scares me to death. He’s close to people like Ayers and Wright and Rezko, and he’s going to be the ruination of this country if he’s elected.” (Cross-posted at Time to a Hog.)

*I mean that he’s half-black; I don’t mean that he’s half a man. He’s much less than that.

I’m a little perplexed by this NYT editorial. And not in the usual “What kind of lobotomized Paris Hiltons are running this pathetic excuse for a Che Guevara-worshipping freakshow?” way. Take a clicklook.

It is a sorry fact of American political life that campaigns get ugly, often in their final weeks. But Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin have been running one of the most appalling campaigns we can remember.

They have gone far beyond the usual fare of quotes taken out of context and distortions of an opponent’s record — into the dark territory of race-baiting and xenophobia. Senator Barack Obama has taken some cheap shots at Mr. McCain, but there is no comparison. (more…)

First of all, it’s pretty sweet that my alum mater hosted the first Presidential debate of the campaign.  Hotty Toddy!

If you were watching C-SPAN before the debate got started, you heard moderator Jim Lehrer essentially say he wasn’t going to take any nonsense from the audience and would have no compunction in putting any houlighans in their place.    I was impressed; who knew a boring PBS guy could be something approaching bad-a**?

“I have a bracelet, too”.  I think this expresses my opinion of that remark better that what I can write.

McCain flubbed a couple of times in a row on Ahmadinejad’s name; he should have just taken the Glenn Beck approach and called him “President Tom“.  That’s what I do.

I was really annoyed with this line from Obama  “… it’s been your president who you said …”  No, President Bush is our President; yours, mine, and that of the rest of the 300 million Americans.  Look, Bill Clinton, though I think very little of him, was my President from 1993 to 2001, just as Barack Obama would be my President if he should <shutter> win.

Senator McCain, please bring your A game on economic matters next time.  Like the one you brought on the actual topic of the debate.

And Quin, I know this sounds harsh, but if you are relying on those focus groups on CNN to validate your gut feelings…um, er…you need to get a better gut.

I really don’t think Obama is giving his supporters good advice:

“I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.”

From Senator McCain’s remarks ealier today:

Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any Senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae’s CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his Vice President. Fannie’s former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn’t lift a hand to avert this crisis. While the leaders of Fannie and Freddie were lining the pockets of his campaign, they were sowing the seeds of the financial crisis we see today and enriching themselves with millions of dollars in payments. That’s not change, that’s what’s broken in Washington. (more…)

You knew it was coming, didn’t you? She was doing so well, and had such promise. Now, it’s all in shambles.

Hackers have allegedly broken into Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account and posted their findings on Wikileaks. And, sadly, the woman I had such hopes for appears to have–I hate to post this on a family blog, but sometimes you just have to deal with filth–both disagreed with a talk show host AND has a friend who prayed for her.

Smoking gun? This is a smoldering arsenal, my friends. It’s all over now.

Here it is, folks, the gold standard of political endorsements. Let’s hope that hope McCain/Palin can weather the “Lohan bump.” Wow, it even sounds dirty.

Oh, and you don’t have to be a complete geek to find this funny, but it certainly helps.

The “freshness, newness and aura around Barack has been eclipsed. The campaign has been knocked off stride.”