Harsh but accurate

Is Hayworth ad mocking McCain offensive?

Excerpt:

Sen. John McCain's re-election campaign is decrying as insulting an online ad by GOP Senate challenger J.D. Hayworth that mocks McCain, R-Ariz., by defacing his picture with some sort of blue warpaint.

"Ads like this have no place in the Republican primary, and J.D. Hayworth should immediately take it down and apologize," said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., a strong McCain ally.

The ad, which appeared on the widely read Internet news site the Drudge Report, apparently is a play on the science-fiction movie "Avatar," which is up for Best Picture in Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony. It shows McCain's photo defaced with blue stripes and says, "John McCain: Nominee for Best Conservative Actor."

“Ex-Congressman J.D. Hayworth should immediately apologize and and take down his latest online ad, which is an outrageous offense to John McCain’s lifetime of honorable service to our state and nation, and insulting to Native Americans here in Arizona and across America," said Shiree Verdone, McCain's campaign manager. "Mr. Hayworth is welcome to debate the challenges facing our state and nation, but this kind of character assassination has no place in the Republican Party, and Mr. Hayworth should ashamed of his campaign for running it.”

When asked for a response to Kyl's complaint, Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose told AZ/DC: "We respectfully decline the request and would encourage Senator McCain to get a sense of humor. After all, if Sunday's show did have an award for best election year flip-flopping and transparent conservative conversion, the incumbent would surely win the Oscar."

Comment: I like John McCain, but I would vote for change in AZ!

Seems fitting ...

Obama Spent Four Times as Much as McCain at Race End

Excerpt:

Barack Obama’s record-breaking fundraising gave him four times as much cash to spend as rival John McCain in the final months of the presidential campaign.

Obama brought in $291 million between Sept. 1 and Nov. 24 and spent $349 million, helped by funds left over from a primary battle that began in February 2007, his campaign said. McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, spent $78.9 million of the $84.1 million he received in public financing.

The president-elect shattered fundraising records, with donations of $746 million for the primary and general campaigns. Obama previously reported raising $642 million through Oct. 15. The campaigns reported their final totals yesterday to the Federal Election Commission.

Obama, 47, was the first major party nominee to bypass taxpayer funding for the general election, and his large base of donors gave him a massive advantage over McCain. During the last six weeks of the campaign, the Democrat was able to run twice as many commercials as McCain, 72, according to the Nielsen Co.

McCain spent $26.5 million in the final weeks of the campaign, with $9.5 million going for advertisements, $4.5 million for message phone calls and $2.2 million for salaries. He ended up with $4.9 million in bills still to be paid. McCain also had $25 million in his legal and accounting fund, which can cover expenses incurred during a mandatory FEC audit.

Comment: Seems fitting that "the Father" of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (AKA "the McCain-Feingold bill") would be outspent by Barak Obama! Wall Street Journal opines below:

McCain Couldn't Compete With Obama's Money

Mr. McCain was outspent by wide margins in every battleground state. But it would have been worse for him if RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and Finance Chairman Elliott Broidy hadn't stockpiled funds in 2007 and early 2008. The RNC provided nearly half the funds for the GOP's combined general-election campaign, while the DNC provided less than a tenth of the funds that benefited Mr. Obama.

To diminish criticism, Mr. Obama's campaign spun the storyline that he was being bankrolled by small donors. Michael Malbin, executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, calls that a "myth." CFI found that Mr. Obama raised money the old fashioned way -- 74% of his funds came from large donors (those who donated more than $200) and nearly half from people who gave $1,000 or more.

But that's not the entire story. It's been reported that the Obama campaign accepted donations from untraceable, pre-paid debit cards used by Daffy Duck, Bart Simpson, Family Guy, King Kong and other questionable characters. If the FEC follows up with a report on this, it should make for interesting reading.

Mr. Obama's victory marks the death of the campaign finance system. When it was created after Watergate in 1974, the campaign finance system had two goals: reduce the influence of money in politics and level the playing field for candidates.

This year it failed at both. OpenSecrets.org tells us a record $2.4 billion was spent on this presidential election. And with Mr. Obama's wide financial advantage, it's clear that money is playing a bigger role than ever and candidates are not competing on equal footing.

Ironically, the victim of this broken system is one of its principal architects -- Mr. McCain. He helped craft the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform along with Sen. Russ Feingold in 2002.

No presidential candidate will ever take public financing in the general election again and risk being outspent as badly as Mr. McCain was this year. And even liberals, who have long denied that money is political speech that should be protected by First Amendment, may now be forced to admit that their donations to Mr. Obama were a form of political expression.

It is time to trust the American people and remove limits on how much an individual can donate to a campaign. By doing that, we can design a system that will be much more open by requiring candidates to frequently report donations in an online database. Technology makes this possible. Such a system would be easier for journalists to use and would therefore make it more likely that fund raising would be included in news coverage. That would give voters the tools they need to determine if a candidate is getting too much from unattractive people.

Rather than showing the success of a new style of post-partisan politics, Mr. Obama's victory may show the enduring truth of the old Chicago Golden Rule: He who has the gold rules

Dems criticize McCain's computer illiteracy

The real story:

McCain can't use a keyboard!

Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its "get tough" makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn't use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad:

"Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "extraordinary." The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.

In a similar vein I guess it's an outrage that the blind governor of New York David Patterson doesn't know how to drive a car. After all, transportation issues are pretty important. How dare he serve as governor while being ignorant of what it's like to navigate New York's highways.

Comment: Shamelsss criticism of McCain!

1973 video of McCain POW release

Film shows McCain's release from Vietnamese prison

Sen. McCain’s Statements on the 7th Anniversary of 9/11

Here are Sen. McCain’s remarks from his speech in Shanksville, Pennsylvania:

“No American living then should ever forget the heroism that occurred in the skies above this field on September 11, 2001. It is believed that the terrorists on United Flight 93 may have intended to crash the airplane into the United States Capitol. Hundreds if not thousands of people would have been at work in that building when that fateful moment occurred, and been destroyed along with a beautiful symbol of our freedom. They and, very possibly I, owe our lives to the passengers who summoned the courage and love necessary to deny our depraved and hateful enemies their terrible triumph.

“I have witnessed great courage and sacrifice for America’s sake, but none greater than the sacrifice of those good people who grasped the gravity of the moment, understood the threat, and decided to fight back at the cost of their lives.

“I spoke at the memorial service for one of them, Mark Bingham. I acknowledged that few of us could say we loved our country as well as he and all the heroes of September 11 had. The only means we possess to thank them is to try to be as good an American as they were. We might fall well short of their standard, but there is honor in the effort.

“In the Gospel of John it is written, ‘Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ Such was their love; a love so sublime that only God’s love surpasses it. I am in awe of it as much as I am in debt to it. May God bless their souls.”

HT: Race2008.com

Obama - Celeb

McCain is a patient man

Comment: From CNN.

Melting Glacier on the Brain

John McCain Has Melting Glaciers on the Brain

Dear John,

The liberal mainstream media is going to give you a pass on this, but I would be remiss if I didn’t help set the record straight while you’re on your panderfest with treehuggers in the Pacific Northwest.

A few essential reads for your perusal:

Antarctica Ice Cap Growth Reaches Record High Levels
New NASA Evidence Refutes Global Warming
Arctic Sea Ice Back to its Previous Level
Unusual Winds Caused Arctic Ice Melts, Not Global Warming
NASA Examines Arctic Sea Ice Changes Leading to Record Low in 2007
Arctic Sea ice loss - “it’s the wind” says NASA
Sea Ice May Be on Increase in the Antarctic: A Phenomenon Due to a Lot of ‘Hot Air’?
Antarctic volcanoes identified as a possible culprit in glacier melting
Ancient Greenland was actually green! DNA analysis reveals ice-covered country was once home to butterflies

Comment: The last link about Greenland is very good!

McCain’s faith

McCain’s faith: Pastor describes senator as devout, but low-key

Excerpt:

John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man the presumptive GOP presidential nominee claims as his pastor.

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, described the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, as “very unobtrusive” people who don’t seek special attention when they are able to come to worship. “They come in the side door. They’re very pleasant. They talk to people. They’re very approachable.”



Comment: North Phoenix Baptist Church

The Conservative Case for McCain

The Conservative Case for McCain

Excerpt:

There is a yawning gulf between the viewpoints of Mr. McCain and those of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Nowhere is this more evident than on the critical issue of the steady collapse of our government's financial house.

Since 2000, the federal budget has increased 72%, to $3.1 trillion from $1.8 trillion. The national debt is now $9 trillion -- more than the combined GDP of China, Japan and Canada. Add in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security commitments, and as a nation we are staring at more than a $50 trillion hole -- an invisible mortgage of $450,000 for every American family.

Hope alone won't carry us through the valley of the shadow of debt. The fact that neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama has made cost-cutting a part of their political vocabulary is a clear indication that they would increase spending. In fact, Mrs. Clinton has already proven skillful at snagging pork. Over the past few years alone, she has attached some $2.2 billion in earmarks to federal spending bills. Mr. McCain has asked for exactly $0 in earmarks.

And while Mr. Obama's oratorical skills have been inspiring, his proposals would entail roughly the same $800 billion in new government spending that Mrs. Clinton proposes. To his credit, Mr. Obama admits that his spending proposals will take more than three clicks of his heels to fund. He would pay for his priorities with a bevy of tax increases which he hopes taxpayers won't notice.

But taxpayers will notice. Mr. Obama plans to raise taxes on capital gains, dividends and corporate profits. He wants to hike estate taxes by 50%. And he wants to eliminate the cap on payroll taxes. These tax hikes would increase the burden borne by individuals and decrease the competitiveness of our economy.

Comment: Sanford (Gov S.C.) is a potential VP

That maverick John McCain

The Real McCain

Excerpt:

Over the past few years, McCain has stepped up his longstanding assault on earmarks. Every year, McCain goes to the Senate floor to ridicule the latest batch of earmarks, and every year his colleagues and the lobbyists fume. For years, McCain has proposed legislative remedies — greater transparency, a 60-vote supermajority requirement — that were brutally unpopular with many colleagues until, suddenly, now.

Over the course of his career, McCain has tried to do the impossible. He has challenged the winds of the money gale. He has sometimes failed and fallen short. And there have always been critics who cherry-pick his compromises, ignore his larger efforts and accuse him of being a hypocrite.


Comment: One thing I appreciate about him!

NYT Ombudsman rips NYTimes

NYT Ombudsman Rips the McCain Hit Piece

Slime at the Times

Slime at the Times Update: The Full Story Emerges

Comment: The backstory to the nostory: "institutional tensions". The Wall Street Journal weighs in: "The allegations are insubstantial to begin with ..."

Obama: 'Eloquent But Empty'

McCain Rips 'Eloquent But Empty' Obama

McCain:

"I will work hard to make sure Americans aren't deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change,"


Comment: The irony is that his empty words are not original!:

WSJ: An American Unoriginal

But isn't it a bit heavy-handed to accuse Obama of plagiarism? This is a serious charge in academia and journalism, professions in which words are the final product. By contrast, language is a mere instrument for politicians. They hire speechwriters to put words in their mouths, something that would also be frowned upon in academia and journalism. Are voters really going to be dissuaded from backing Obama because as a politician he failed to adhere to the ethical standards that would have applied if he were a professor or a reporter? Not likely.

Wolfson's comment is a striking example of the Clinton campaign's clumsy aggression. Obama's use of Patrick's rhetoric actually does bolster Mrs. Clinton's argument against him, but in a more subtle way. How ridiculous is it that Obama is borrowing someone else's empty rhetoric in order to defend his own?

And empty it is. Although the other two examples are arguable either way, "We hold these truths . . ." and "I have a dream" were anything but "just words." They were words that held enormous meaning because of the historical context in which they were, respectively, written and uttered. Can the same be said of Obamanalities like "Yes, we can," or "Change we can believe in"?

McCain: A fiscal conservative? The record speaks!

The McCain Fiscal Record

Conclusion:

Mr. McCain has tried to reassure economic conservatives by pledging to make permanent the tax cuts he initially opposed. Whether Mr. McCain can ultimately convince them remains to be seen, although his 25-year record of supporting pro-growth tax cuts weighs in his favor. If that's not enough, they might consider that the Bush tax cuts are on auto-pilot to expire -- and neither a President Clinton nor a President Obama will have to lift a finger to impose a crushing tax hike on America's economy.

Comment: His record speaks for itself!

GOP delegate math

Received in email from McCain campaign today:

Last night, after our strong victories in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC, I put together an analysis of the state of the race for the Republican nomination. Including the delegates won last night, John McCain is now close to securing the number of delegates needed to be the presumptive Republican nominee. In addition, it is now mathematically impossible for Mike Huckabee to win enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination; there simply aren’t enough delegates left at stake for him to win. Take a look at the following chart:

Results based on AP reporting	Current Delegate Count	Remaining Delegates Needed for Nomination	Available Delegates	% Needed to Win
McCain Delegate Count	839	352	774	35%
Huckabee Delegate Count	241	950		123%

Comment: Why Huckabee stays in (for now)

1. There's always the possibility of "the miracle" (his words not mine).
   
2. He runs a very lean campaign financially, and his burn rate for funds is not high
   
3. On the social agenda, he is more conservative than John McCain; and continuing his campaign continues that message
   
4. He is careful to criticize McCain, so his continuing the campaign keeps McCain in the media eye and could actually be better for the GOP in the long run
   
5. I suspect that he would have a hard time saying "no" to running with McCain as VP
   
6. Staying positions Huckabee for 2012!
   

What conservative talk show hosts and hair dressers have in common ...

McCain and the Talk-Show Hosts

Answer:

... like hairdressers, they can talk all day long to one client after another as they snip, have decided that the presumptive Republican nominee does not hew sufficiently close to their gospel.

As anyone who has listened to them knows, the depth of their thought is truly Oprah-like. And if a great institution of the left can weigh-in as it does in the choice of a nominee, why not its fraternal twins on the right? It doesn't matter that Mitt Romney, suddenly their Reagan, became a conservative in a flash of light sometime last year, or that their other champion, a populist theocrat, is in many ways as conservative as Vladimir Lenin. The task is to stop the devil McCain.

More:

... If those who are in a hissy fit about Sen. McCain would rather have Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, they will get Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

Comment: Well said and I agree.

W on McCain ... and Obama

McCain is a ‘true conservative,’ Bush says

On McCain:

John McCain is a "true conservative," President Bush says, although the presumptive Republican presidential nominee may have to work harder to convince other conservatives that he is one of their own.

McCain "is very strong on national defense," Bush said in an interview taped for airing on "Fox News Sunday." "He is tough fiscally. He believes the tax cuts ought to be permanent. He is pro-life. His principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned."

On Obama:

"I certainly don't know what he believes in."

Comment: With messages like this, who can know what Obama believes in!

Going over the cliff, flags flying

The Right Is Wrong on McCain

Excerpts:

There's an old Groucho Marx riff in which he launches a new career as a stick-up artist -- while worrying that his native cowardice may not induce the requisite fear among his victims. Sure enough, after a little time in a dark alley he springs out to confront his first victim, points his gun to his own head and says, "Take one step closer and I'll kill myself."

Such is the posture today among pundits on the far right of the Republican Party as Sen. John McCain moves closer to receiving his party's nomination. Consider the destructive implications of their pledge to work against Mr. McCain's nomination and even -- in the event he is nominated -- not to vote in the general election.

.....

Surely Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter can agree that these challenges are terribly demanding and cannot be left to luck or divine providence. Finally, there is the cost of their extremist rhetoric to the Republican Party. As President Reagan once told me, "Going over the cliff, flags flying, is still going over the cliff."


Comment: Note the author: "Robert McFarlane served as President Reagan's national security adviser"

Dobson's miscalculation

Dobson's Choice

Excerpts:

Last year some of these same people said they could never vote for Rudy Giuliani, who was then leading in the GOP polls despite favoring abortion rights and civil unions for gay couples. We thought that was short-sighted, given Mr. Giuliani's pledge to appoint conservative Supreme Court Justices. But at least in the case of Mayor Giuliani, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Mr. Dobson could point to a record on abortion at odds with their views.

That's not the case with Mr. McCain, who has a long pro-life record and has voted for every conservative Justice now on the Supreme Court. The Arizona Senator added this week that if elected he would nominate Justices in the mold of Samuel Alito and John Roberts. Social conservatives hate the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance restrictions, though probably not as much as we do. They also dislike Mr. McCain's support for publicly funded stem-cell research. But on the central question of abortion rights that Mr. Dobson and friends care so deeply about, Mr. McCain is on their side.

Moreover, any major change in abortion law can only be accomplished through the Supreme Court. For that matter, every cultural controversy these days seems to end up at the High Court, whether or not legislatures have spoken on the question. The Presidential winner in November will probably appoint no fewer than two Supreme Court Justices. The likeliest vacancies, from an actuarial perspective, will come from the liberal wing of the Court.

...
Mr. McCain's harshest critics argue that his judicial picks could easily be as bad as anyone tapped by Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama. This is caricature, but even if it had merit, the likes of Mr. Dobson would be trading the risk that Mr. McCain picks moderates for the court for the certainty that his opponent would appoint liberals.

It's always possible Mr. McCain would make a bad Supreme Court nomination, just as Ronald Reagan picked Anthony Kennedy, who later affirmed Roe v. Wade. As we recall it, social conservatives at the time promoted Mr. Kennedy because he was Catholic and let it be known that he personally opposed abortion, while they frowned on Judge Laurence Silberman because he supported abortion rights as a personal matter even as he opposed Roe as a matter of law. Justice Kennedy has been a catastrophe for cultural conservatives, while Judge Silberman recently wrote the landmark appellate decision favoring gun rights now being heard by the Supremes.

The conservative coalition has learned a lot about picking judges since 1987, and especially since the nomination of David Souter by another Republican President. As the Harriet Myers interlude proved, another mystery pick by Mr. McCain or any other GOP President is far less likely than it used to be.

Mr. Dobson and other social conservatives may decide they can't vote for Mr. McCain for any number of reasons. What they can't do with any credibility is claim that helping to elect a liberal President will further the causes that these conservatives claim to believe most deeply in.

Comment: James Dobson wants to be a King-maker! I personally have grown very weary of him! calculation: "cold heartless planning to promote self-interest"