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Style Over Substance?

In an age when the visual image overpowers everything, the younger, dapper, smooth Obama wins by default over the elder McCain, whose body never fully recovered from the years he spent being beaten and improperly attended to as a prisoner of war.  There is no doubt that some of Obama’s edge comes from this.

If you are undecided or a possible swing voter, or if you know someone who is, please consider this notion.

McCain is not a party-line robot.  He is indeed a maverick reformer.  People like me don’t like everything he’s done or tried to do, but we know he’s the real deal.

Ladies, Obama is like the guy you want to date, even though he’s not ready to be a husband.  He’s fun to look at, he’s fun to talk with, but when you get down to it, McCain is the guy who has proven he can take care of things – that he can handle adversity and will make changes when things aren’t right.  His running mate, Sarah Palin, might not be your ideal galpal, but she is her own woman.  She doesn’t let men push her around.  McCain could have chosen any number of running mates, but he chose a woman who is not afraid to rock the boat.  Obama could have chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate.  The combination probably would have had momentum that would have been impossible for McCain to overcome at any point in the race.  But Obama didn’t want to risk being overshadowed by a woman – instead choosing a much less charismatic man to be his running mate.  Obama could have chosen other qualified women.  Instead, he went with entrenched capitol insider Joe Biden.

Gentlemen, Obama may be someone who would be fun to trade jokes with at a Superbowl party.  But he is insulting you when he talks like you are unable to make something of yourself without his help, and if you do make something of yourself, he won’t think that is fair and will to punish you.  McCain may be like the older neighbor or boss that you don’t relate to because he’s from different generation, but McCain has demonstrated  that he’s a real man, and that he believes in you.

Obama doesn’t have real solution for this economy.  If he’d had his way, the condition that have caused the current problems would have been even worse.  Obama is naïve about foreign affairs.  McCain knows the military – he’s been there.  He’s overcome real adversity in his life, and he has had to fight hard for his party’s nomination - he didn't float into it after a nice speech at the 2004 convention.  Obama has used a lot of shady people over the years, a lot of angry and hostile-to-America people over the years, and then he has distanced himself from them when the association has become troublesome from a public relations perspective.  Don’t let him treat your vote the same way.  You’re not going to hear a lot about this pattern of Obama’s, because Obama’s campaign and those in the media fawning over him deflect it as a “personal attack”.

If we end up with an Obama-Reid-Pelosi government, with the Left holding a supermajority in Congress, no amount of smoothtalking is going to help matters.  No number of smiles from Hollywood celebrities will be high enough to fight corruption and waste and terrorism.

We need McCain-Palin to stir up in D.C.
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Six Lessons Republican Politicians and Pundits Need to Learn

1. You must stand up and fight for your positions and for yourself, or nobody else will because nobody else will be able to.

2. Those around you, such as your peers and journalists, may be your personal friends, but chances are, they aren’t trying to get you elected or make you look good.

3. You will never outpromise Democrats when it comes to government assistance.  It is better to promise more freedom through less government intervention.  Stick to promising that you’ll do what the Constitution authorizes you to do.  Don’t be afraid to say, “That’s not the jurisdiction of the President/Congress/federal government.”

4. It’s good to condemn, censure, call for the resignation of, or prosecute other Republicans if they do something inappropriate, unethical, significantly immoral, or illegal, but you must publicly insist that Democrats hold other Democrats to the same standard, and help them to do it.

5. The time to push for your ideal candidate and criticize the others is during a primary season or before, not during the general campaign.

6. Once you have been sworn into office, it is up to you to act like a Republican.  The Democrats will act like Democrats.  If you are in the majority, don’t squander your authority or cower in the face of criticism.  The Democrats work to advance their agenda when they are in power.  The best time to advance yours is when you are in power.
Tags: GOP   Campaign  
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First Thoughts on Palin

I've heard and read a lot of things to like about this lady.  She seems like a "real" and "in-touch" American who doesn't settle for politics as usual or doing what is easy over doing what is right.
 
And, of course, it doesn't hurt that she is very easy on the eyes.  I'll stop there for now since I have a hot babe of a wife who owns my eyes.
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A Tele-Gramm to America: Buck Up

Throughout history, telling the truth has prompted reactions ranging from embarrassment to rage to mock indignation, even when the truth is actually a positive, uplifting, empowering thing.

Isn’t it great to know that we can improve the economy, and some of it can be as easy as changing our attitude?  You’d think that notion would be welcome.  But we’re in a Presidential Election year, and the grow-government socialists are counting on people to 1) despair and 2) believe there is nothing they can do to improve their lot other than rely on Big Brother to take care of them.

And people buy into it!  They think that they need bigger government to make their lives better.  What is even more of a disconnect is that many of these people are the same people shelling out good money to get the kind of bull advice given in The Secret and a million other places that tell them if they use wishful thinking, they can get richer.  Here’s Gramm giving free advice: change your attitude – and they go Jesse Jackson… er, I mean nuts.

This comes from Dana Bash’s piece on CNN’s website.
Phil Gramm, a top adviser to Sen. John McCain, on Thursday stood by his comment that the country is in a "mental recession," and said he was trying to say the nation's leaders, not its people, were "whiners."
Don’t backpedal.  Many of the people are whiners.  But the Dem leaders are even bigger whiners.
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline," said the former Texas senator. "You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession."
Right on.
Gramm also said the media was responsible for fostering unnecessary anxiety over the state of the economy.
More truth.
These national and congressional leaders "blame speculators and oil companies for our problems, instead of presenting concrete programs for using energy more efficiently, or leaders who don't think we can compete with Mexico."
Really, has the Dem leadership in Congress done much more about the economy than whine?  They need to reduce regulation and taxation, and let market cycles take their course.
"I said we are in a mental recession. We keep getting the steady drumbeat of bad news ... it's become a mental recession," said Gramm. "We don't have measured negative growth. That's a fact, that's not a commentary."
Exactly!  But the facts won’t change the minds of Dems campaigners.
"I don't agree with Sen. Gramm," McCain said. "I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering a mental recession. I believe the mother here in Michigan and around America who is trying to get enough money to educate their children isn't whining."
And this never happened during the dot-com boom?  Please.
Obama said his administration would deliver more than "psychological" relief.
The only way you could do that, Obama, is be more like Gramm!

People should not vote socialist, fail to save and invest for themselves, and live in a way that brings instability and unnecessary costs to themselves, and then complain about the economy.  Don’t like the economy?  Live conservatively, and vote for limited government.  Stop asking politicians to take care of you.  Want better gas prices?  Support my sensible energy plan.
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Say No To War

...Unless a Democrat is President.  That’s pretty much the standard for the Left.  And yes, I stole that from ProtestWarrior.com.

If, over the next few months, we captured or killed OBL and all of the top terrorist group leaders, democratic stability and peace took definitive hold in Iraq and Afghanistan and spilled over into Iran, and we found out that the threat of our impending military action caused Saddam Hussein to abandon the planned use of WMD against Israel…

I’m almost certain the response from Obama and other Dem leaders would be “We could have achieved the same results from holding summits, without the expense in American lives and dollars via Bush-McCain's failed policies.”
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Get Them On-Record NOW About Obama

What would electing Obama mean?  Now is the time to get activist leaders, commentators, columnists, politicians, professors, and just about any other prominent public figure who touches on politics or culture on record about the following:

1) If Obama becomes President of the United States of America, will he be the first “black”/African-American President?

2) What will that signify for race relations in our country and the plight of African-Americans?

I want people on record.

If they say yes to #1, I don’t want to hear about how Obama is only “half-black” after the election, or during some subsequent campaign with another “first African-American nominee.”

They have a little more wiggle room with #2.  But if anyone is dangling Obama’s skin color out in front of us in a way that implies electing him would be a major milestone for race relations and the plight of African-Americans, I don’t want to see the same people turning around after his election and acting like nothing has changed since the 1960s.


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What Makes Someone a Good VP Candidate?

I’ve blogged before asking who McCain should pick to be VP.  What kind of things are really considered, and should be considered?

I’m thinking out loud here.  If you have something to add or think something I write isn’t realistic or important, please join in and let me know your thoughts and experience.

Constitutionally, the VP is not assigned all that much to do, provided the President serves a full term.  The VP breaks tie votes in the Senate.  Of course, the President can assign tasks to the VP, but the VP has no power to actually change anything, and in theory the VP takes tasks voluntarily and can refuse them.

So practically, the VP is of most important use during the campaign, and subsequently in promoting the Administration's policies. Who a candidate for POTUS chooses as a running mate reveals something about himself or herself.

What makes someone a good choice as a running mate?

1. First and foremost, that person should be able to be President, and it shouldn’t be difficult for the public to buy that.  If the President falls ill or undergoes surgery, dies, leaves or is removed from office, then this person will be called upon to serve as President.  For the sake of succession, it would also be good if that person is young enough and popular enough to be a good candidate for President in eight years.  In 2000, were many people expecting Dick Cheney to run in 2008?  I don’t think so.  Like the candidate for President, this person should have demonstrated the right temperament, judgment, leadership, management, and integrity.  Significant experience and good health would be a plus.

2. Secondly, the running mate should be someone who balances the ticket, meaning that he or she should be able to deliver additional financial support and additional states.  These days, that likely means someone who has displayed some different – but not necessarily conflicting - priorities (including voting record), is from a different part of the country, has served in a different capacity, and has different personal demographics.  This person should have some different strengths, possibly to counteract the weakness of the head of the ticket.  McCain is a Washington insider representing Arizona, but is perceived as a maverick.  He’s an experienced legislator.  He has military experience and foreign policy strengths and has some fiscally conservative policies, but is seen as weak with the socially conservative base of his party.  He’s older, white, and male.  So, perhaps his running mate should be someone seen as an “outsider” with executive experience; someone associated with an area other than the southwest; someone with private sector experience and seen as solidly conservative; someone who is significantly younger – but someone who won’t make McCain look too old when they stand side by side.  (Skin color really matters more to the Democrat base and the MSM.  If we stick with a “white” male ticket, we might attract all of those racist and sexist Democrats – the ones who don’t want to vote for a black man and the ones who are upset that Hillary didn’t get their nomination and don’t want Obama to win.)

3. Something else to consider: Will this person bring energy and momentum to the campaign?  Do they have charisma that will boost McCain instead of overshadowing him?  Are they good at making the case for our side in speeches and debates?

4. If this person is currently in elected office, will they be vacating an “unsafe” seat should they become VP?  It would be best if that isn’t the case.

5. For this election cycle, the running mate should be someone who is not too closely tied to the current Administration.

So who meets these criteria?

Ideally, a ticket should be able to attract support from the different factions of the GOP base, as well as enough “independents” and crossover Democrats.  But keeping the various base factions – the WSJs, the libertarians, the Religious Right, etc. – motivated enough to vote for the ticket in high numbers isn’t always going to happen.

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A Retort to Obama

I'd rather have a third term of George W. Bush than a second term of Jimmy Carter or the first term of Karl Marx.

I'd rather keep up the "failed policies" of Bush that have prevented terrorist attacks on American soil than adopt the polices of appeasement and surrender, which are sure to "succeed" in enslaving us to Islamofascism.

I'd rather people in other countries hate us and fear us than love us and bleed us.

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Hillary Clinton Delusional?

Hillary Clinton is like the ex-girlfriend who shows up at a wedding hoping that the groom will dump his bride and marry her instead.

Obama is treating her like he's keeping her around in case things get boring with his bride.



(I'll use marriage analogies as long as the they still make sense.  Once Counterfeit Marriage takes hold, the analogies will no longer make sense.)

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Standards For Republicans, Standards for Dems

If there’s anything we can’t allow, it is that an advisor to a Republican candidate have political or private sector experience.  My goodness, such people might have some sort of bias or something!

Also keep in mind that, when someone a Democrat candidate has chosen to marry and spend his life with makes public experiences and speaks out on public issues, it is not okay to criticize what she says.  Got that?!?

Please deal with the candidate himself – but keep in mind that any criticism of his positions will be deflected with something along the lines of “People are tired of that kind of politics” or “People are tired of those kinds of attacks”.  This will be effective in preventing the candidate from having to defend his positions.  He will then go on to make political attacks on others.

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Is the Battle Lost?

Is it hopeless for those of us who believe in limited, Constitutional government, personal liberty, property rights, and free markets?

Consider:

--Most voters apparently expect the government to do something for them, including protecting them from the negative consequences of their own actions, instead of simply protecting them from the denial of their rights by others.  Just consider how many people think health insurance and education, provided by others, is a right.  Just consider how many people think their personal happiness should be the responsibility of the President.

--Most people attend public schools, which, in the interest of self-preservation, are unlikely to teach students the benefits of limited government and self-reliance instead of government-reliance.  The people in control of these schools think it is their responsibility to make students feel good about themselves, no matter what they do wrong or fail to do right.

--Plenty of Americans are prone to blame America first, to seek the approval of other countries, and to wanting our leaders to enter into restricting agreements with other countries designed to transfer wealth from Americans to others by force.

--The Democrats are largely beholden to public employee unions, who have an interest in increasing the size of government.  Both parties are backed by business interests who have apparently given up on the idea of getting the government off their backs, and instead try to steer the government money (which is really our money, taken by force), their way.

--Articulating the actual ideals of the Founding Fathers would get a POTUS candidate labeled by most Americans as an extremist theocrat who wants to throw people into the streets without shelter or an education, to die of starvation or sickness or injuries from a hate crime, or maybe work them to death in a job with low pay and lousy conditions.

Maybe it is true that the GOP can’t retain the White House without credibly presenting a coherent plan for reform.

But just what kind of reform are voters going to buy?

Maybe there is hope, but reforms are going to have to move very slowly towards reigning in government.

Energy.  Everyone’s concerned about fuel prices, though there are some that like the increased prices because they hate progress because they think it is killing Gaia, or whatever her name is.  There is no way to stem rising fuel prices without some unpopular decisions.  We need to tap our own fossil fuels.  We need new refineries to process it.  We need to use nuclear power.  If we can show that these steps will stem rising fuel prices, enough people might buy into it.

War.  None of us want our men and women getting injured, maimed, killed, or traumatized in war, especially for them to return home to poor treatment.  We need to show voters that we will provide for our veterans and that we will reduce the need to prolonged war if we increase intelligence effectiveness and have saboteur/assassination/surgical strike squads.  That might not be popular with the international community, but prolonged wars aren’t popular with American voters, and if we can prevent prolonged wars, then we should.  As for Iraq, McCain should drill home the nation that we’ll protect our soldiers by helping Iraq to win the peace.

Immigration.  This hasn’t been a big issue lately in the campaign, probably because of the track records of the candidates.  I’ve frequently stated my ideals, but those ideals won’t appeal to enough people.  So, what McCain needs to do is publicize a clear “reform” plan that includes effective border protection first.  Once we can demonstrate effective border protection, other things will become more acceptable to a majority of voters, such as easing up on workplace raids and boosting legal immigration.  We’ll still need to pursue illegal aliens for deportation if they are committing serious crimes inside the country, including identity theft.  Announce that once the border is secured, we will consider allowing illegal aliens to register for the following reasons: 1) for identification to cut down in identification theft; 2) a temporary work permit; and 3) to “get in line” for legal immigration as of that moment as if they were applying from their country.  You can’t promise this ahead of the border being secured, or we’ll get a wave of people coming in.

Education.  Although I believe in separation of school and state, I don’t see enough people going for it.  So vouchers will have to do.  I know this will elicit howls of protest from teacher unions, but inner-city minority voters have expressed support for vouchers and making them part of a reform plan just may work.  Boost tax incentives that encourage education.  Encourage charter schools.  If enough people see how these moves will benefit them, then they will want them.

Environment.  Encouragement for sound conservation through private property stewardship.  The wackos will not be happy without total government control and oppression of productivity, but perhaps enough moderates can be persuaded that we’re not out to poison the planet.


Our long-term strategy, as those who believe in limited government, needs to be two-fold:

1. Convince enough Republican leaders that limited government is the way to go, or groom such people within the Republican party.
2. Get enough Republicans elected, and stay on them to stick to limited government principles.
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McCain's VP: Go Female

With it looking like Senator Clinton will lose the Dem nomination to B. Hussein Obama, McCain can take advantage of some of the disappointed women who were supporting Clinton largely do to her XX chromosome status.  While I think it is silly to vote for a ticket based on the sex or skin color of the candidates, the fact is that many people clearly do just that, and elections are about winning.

I don't believe that all of the Senator Clinton supporters who insisted they would not vote for Obama really won't vote for him come November.  If they are staunch Dems or Leftists, they will prefer Obama over McCain.  Perhaps some will sit out the election or vote for a write-in or third party candidate.

But maybe there are enough Clinton supporters who would vote for McCain if his running mate was female.

Just something to consider.
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