John McCain is a Republican Senator from Arizona. He ran for President against Barack Obama and lost. I voted for John McCain because he would have been a better President than Barack Obama. That does not mean that Senator McCain is not an idiot. Being an idiot is not what cost him the election, especially given that he lost the election to an even worse Senator. That said, if this is what Senator McCain thinks counts as serving his country, then I say that Senator McCain has served our Country long enough.
Earlier, the former Republican presidential nominee said he expects Hagel to be confirmed as defense secretary even though he doesn’t plan to vote for him.
“I don’t believe he is qualified,” McCain said. “But I don’t believe that we should hold up his nomination any further.” - HotAir.com
Senator McCain is playing old-school Senate games. The President however is counting on the Republican Senators to play by these rules as he breaks them and uses them to his advantage. After all, it was President Obama who declared that the Senate was on recess so that he could push through some of his political appointees that the Senate was holding pro-forma sessions specifically to prevent the President from appointing without confirmation from the Senate.
Senator McCain has become a useful idiot and an enabler of the left. Take the calls for more gun control. Lets forget that the Democrat suggestions and demands are unreasonable. You don't hear Senator McCain defending the rights of Americans. No. Instead he is eager to find compromise with the democrats. This compromise will be at the expense of our rights. And for what? So that Senator McCain can continue to be a big-ish man in Congress. Forget it.
The point of Senate Confirmation is to ensure that Presidential appointees are competent and qualified to serve in the positions that they have been appointed to. If you think that Hagel is unqualified, than do what you can to keep this unqualified idiot from a position in charge of the Pentagon.Senators have such powers, especially when they act together. McCain would rather move along. That is unfortunate. Many people busted their asses working to help McCain become President. It would be nice if McCain busted his ass once in a while in return...
Given that you can't teach this old dog any new tricks, can't we just send him home.
So today is Election day and since I am in Europe seems that I will not know who has won this election until at least 3 AM Wednesday morning my time. Knowing that I was not going to be around and being a resident of the State of Virginia, I voted early.
Here are some reasons why I voted McCain-Palin:
- National Strength
- Sure the country is not popular in the world right now but so what. The people that hate the US will hate this country no matter who is President. They hated the US before Bush. They will continue to do so after him, as long as we are a strong country.
- National Defense/Military
- Obama and the Democrats want to gut the military. That is a reckless thing to do. Not only that, but it is a very hard thing to undo. In line with that is his promise to compromise with our country's enemies. At its basic level this is what he promised when declaring that he would meet with Iran, North Korea, etc. They have demands of course and surely he will want to make them happy so that we can all be friends again.....
- Taxes
- I do not believe for a second that my taxes will go down under an Obama Administration, especially considering that I earn part of my income from Capital Gains, that I have exceeded the Social Security cap and that he has no intention of renewing the Bush tax-cut and quietly believes that it expiring does not amount to a tax increase is just plan BS.
- Abortion
- I think Obama's position on abortion is disgraceful. I believe in a woman's right to choose but also believe that every day a woman does not abort her child is a choice to keep the child. At some point in a pregnancy a woman should be held to that choice. Really, if a woman makes it halfway through a pregnancy without even knowing that she is pregnant, than the second half is a small price to pay for another human being. It is not like she has to keep the baby after it is born. Not for anything but more should be done to prevent these unwanted pregnancies in the first place. How about a little accountability.
- The Law / Supreme Court
- I think the last thing this country needs is more liberal judges. I also think McCain will push for stronger law enforcement at least with Palin pushing behind him. Obama comes from Chicago, which has its own crime problems. No need to export that to the rest of the country.
- Personal responsibility
- I think that many problems that people are having in the US are partly their fault. I have only heard one candidate mention anything about personal responsibility and that was Sarah Palin during the VP debate.
- Patriotism
- McCain and Palin are flag wavers and will keep alive American Patriotism and will carry out all the ceremonial duties as you would want a President to do. I am not interested in Obama's stealth Patriotism.
- Democrat Thuggery
- I don't like how many Obama supporters have been behaving. Stealing an election is not only wrong, its a crime. This is now being seen as Obama supporters are being caught registered and voting in multiple states.....
- Gun rights
- Obama is bankrupt when it comes to gun rights. Not for anything but the parts of the country have crime/gun crime problems are the places where guns are illegal.
- Activist Democrat-Controlled Congress
- Pelos, Reid, Murtha, Conyers, Boxer, Kennedy, etc.... I can't vote against any of them. They will cause enough trouble with McCain in Power. No need to give them a free hand under an Obama Presidency.
- Obama's associations
- I think Ayers, Dorn and all his other associations are simply not presidential. It really speaks for his character, which is clearly not good.
There you go. These are the issues on the top of my head. Then you have other issues like earmarks, Democrat acceptance of voter fraud, Israel, the housing bailout, Obama's boatload of ever-shifting positions, etc and I just can't see how Obama could possible be a good thing for this country, unless you are poor or are an enemy of the US.
I still think that McCain will win, but that requires people who don't want an Obama as President to actually go out and vote. I have faith that they will say no to Obama and look forward to this all being over on Wednesday when we can send Obama back to Chicago to fix the problems he never fixed while in Government there!
The Military is not the only profession that heavily prefers Republican John McCain over Democrat Barack Obama.
Here is a good poll of another set of professional workers, those who work in the oil drilling industry. The poll was conducted by Drilling Contractor Magazine. It is good for a number of reasons.
First, in the US, Oil Drilling professionals prefer a President McCain by 68% to Obama's 13%. Obama does so poorly, that a donkey scores higher than he does, by a full 3%.
Obama does not even score 1% with Canadian drillers. Otherwise, US-friendly Canada's results match the US when it comes to a McCain preference.
I suspect that Senator Obama's position/message that 'ExxonMobil is evil' certainly didn't do him any good in the US and Canada where I bet many a driller saw his position (and the position of Democrats in general) on oil and oil companies as a threat to their livelihood. I would think that Obama's tax position is not so popular either, even if most workers make less than $200,000 a year. After all, the possibility of making much more certainly goes down if Obama manages to tax the companies they work for much more.
Obama's anti-oil position might also partly explain why Obama is so popular with drillers in other parts of the world. Countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, etc. because they don't exactly have the best interest of the US in mind. Also, workers in these parts of the world might be bitter against the US and US oil workers for earning much more than they do. I would also dare say that Obama's popularity increases with oil works as the oil production productivity of the country they are in decreases.
And whether these workers are pro or anti Obama, you can surely bet that none of these people are too concerned about global warming that they are wishing a President Obama upon their industry to force them to cut back on drilling.
In Virginia it is possible to vote absentee in person if you are not going to be around on Election Day. Since I am going to be out of the country for Election Day I took my daughter and went to vote after work.
You still have to fill out an absentee application and they then need to check your name against the voter rolls. In my case the roll was at another location so they had to call and confirm that I was registered. Once that was done mark my entry so that I cannot show up on election day to vote again or early vote again at another location. The process was pretty quick and then I got to vote on one of the 'infamous' electronic voting machines. I had my daughter make the selections on the touch screens and then once done we collected our 'I voted' stickers.
I was a little surprised how many people were there to vote early. Still the process was quick and easy. The election staff was very courteous and helpful. It would have been nice to go vote on Election Day, but I am very relieved that it is all over for me. Now I get to watch McCain win the Election from abroad. I am looking forward to the shock that will be in Europe the day after Obama loses.
I did get a promising sign of a coming McCain victory earlier today when my one member of staff who is an open Obama supporter told me that she thought McCain won last night's debate. This confirms my belief that he did really well (You can find my live blog of the debate here) as I am sure it was hard for her to admit it and she just went and said it. I knew better to ask her. And if she thought that McCain one that many other Obama followers are sure to as well. So good things are coming!
Seems that I will be drink blogging the last Presidential debate tonight.
Until then, make sure you watch the hard-working plumber ask Obama about how he plans to tax his hard earned money and the amazing confirmation of Obama's plan to redistribute income to the masses:
Also, in case you have not heard, the court in Ohio has gotten the State to admit that they are sitting on over 200,000 questionable voter registration cards. See Ace of Spades for more details here:
1955 - Off to the kitchen for a drink and to clean up from dinner (Pork Roast!)
2032 - Dishes done, TV on - FOX News
2056 - Shifted to the laptop. Enjoying an icy VodkaTonic
2057 - Coming into this debate I guess I am feeling pretty confident that McCain will win the election. I plan to vote on Thursday as I will be in Europe on Election Day.
2101 - Hofstra - Good old Long Island. I'm from LI. The North Shore.
2102 - They shook hands. Got that out of the way.
2108 - McCain starts off with calling for the Government to permit a do-over for homeowners who bought too much house. I am in favor of the Government buying these houses from the banks after they are foreclosed and then have the houses torn down. Obama - Also wants to help these deadbeat homeowners, as long as the banks don't profit from it. So both ideas suck.
2109 - McCain brings up Obama's socialist tax plan that he explained to Joe the plumber. Good for bringing it up! Obama - 'Who do we want to cut taxes for?' Brings up ExxonMobil is even. So FU all those stockholders, including me and my kids. Obama anti ownership of stock. Doesn't matter if your capital gains is not increased, your going to get less because he will take it straight from the company!
2113 - McCain strikes with Obama's ideal of Income Re-Distribution. Obama's response was frankly weak. And it seems like he is going to let it lay going straight into the next question. His voice sounds nice, it your not listening to the words.
2116 - Budget tightening - Obama plans to go through the budget line-by-line as portrayed in Dave the movie. I am all for it, if you can manage to do that. McCain's across the board cut is more doable, because it is simple to do.
2120 - Eliminate ethanol subsidies! Kill them off. Corn should be for food and the planet is hungry. McCain will also target pork project earmark's, including Obama's 'projector'.
2120 - Obama downplays earmarks neglecting to note that it costs the Government billions! McCain promises to balance the budget. "If you wanted to run against Bush you should have run four years ago." Direct hit. I could have sworn I hear audience clapping.
2123 - McCain is dominating this debate. Obama is struggling to cover the numerous areas McCain covered in his comments.
2125 - McCain: 'Your standing up to your party is just not convincing.' Obama makes no reply.
2127 - Obama is running a negative campaign and it is unfortunate that you are not telling the truth, such as when you agreed to accept Government funding and then did not.
2130 - Obama is not talking so smooth today. McCain points out that every other add during weekend football was a negative health care ad and they are not true.
2132 - Obama: 'I had nothing to do with Senator Lewis's comments.' Another poor response. McCain pointed out that Obama never repudiated his comments. Obama calls his comments appropriate. Now not appropriate. I am pretty sure he said it was appropriate comments. A slip-up or do I need another drink?
2135 - McCain stands behind his rally supporters. Nice move. Points out negative supporters at Obama rallies disturbing Obama. That is because of the Palin is a c*nt shirts Obama supporters are so fond of lately. I think Obama was disturbed that McCain might mention the specific shirts.
2136 - McCain strikes on Ayers and ACORN.
2138 - Obama tries to explain away Ayers by linking him to a Reagan supporter. Sorry, but all that does is make me want to think what Annenberg was thinking! (Annenberg gave millions to the group that Ayers and Obama were on the board of)
2140 - McCain pushes Ayers and does it well. McCain has the last word on Ayers. Also good. Bias note - I am still voting for McCain.
2142 - Obama points out his running mate, Biden's strong points. Sorry, but that is not going to work for people who know him already. It should not go over too well with anyone who drives I-95 through Delaware.
2145 - McCain talks up his running mate, Sarah Palin. Obama supports her attention to special needs. They both think the other's running mate is qualifies to be president, with Obama leaving it to the voters. McCain saying yes and immediately pointing out how Biden has been wrong on major issues including Iraq.
2146 - McCain points out how every response of Obama's includes a call for more spending and asks why is that?
2154 - Moved to the desktop as my wireless connection just died.
2156 - McCain 'Obama wants to restrict trade'. I am still trying to get reorganized here.
2158 (2152 when the laptop died) - McCain gives a strong reply on energy, noting that the US Navy has safely run nuke plants for decades. Obama pulls out the flawed meme that oil companies are sitting on land that they are not drilling on. There is a valid explanation for that which kills his response. Of course it is technical so most people will accept it as fact that the oil companies are F-ing with us. Still it is wrong and won't solve the energy problem. One thing not mentioned is that about half of the oil used in the US is domestic oil. Little Saudi oil comes to the US. It goes to Europe and Japan.
2200 - Obama's call to give those without healthcare the same health care that Congress has sounds nice, but what about everyone who has healthcare that is not so nice. They will all want to change over. But I guess they are left out because their situation will not change as they have insurance already.
2205 - Obama points out that McCain's plan will cost you money. Well, wake up because Obama's plan will cost you money as well, either as deductions or in taxes. Because face it, whatever healthcare plan shows up, It needs to be paid for. Think it is expensive now, wait until the Government gets into this business. And everyone thought that $600 screwdrivers were expensive! One good thing, Government health care will make this recent bailout look like nothing...
2206 - We reach the abortion subject. Hopefully we hear a question on gun control as well. Even better how about one on the death penalty.
2210 - McCain 'We shouldn't judge supreme Court Justice nominees on ideology, like Senator Obama does.' McCain is still going strong.
2211 - How long before CNN calls this debate for Obama? I guess that will work for people who are not paying attention to this debate and for people who believe in Obama's HOPEnCHANGE.
2213 - Obama's response to McCain's abortion charges: He goes and talks like a lawyer. He is a lawyer at the end of the day. A lawyer who voted 'present' on the issue. That is the same as voting no. Thanks for stating your vote though. He was probably concerned that McCain would use the 'present' vote stance.
2215 - McCain is fisking Obama's response (for the second time tonight.) pointing out the sneaky lawyers language Obama is using.
2216 - Last question!
Education!
2217 - In the last debate, Obama placed education as least important:
2128 - Obama - Education comes after energy and health care. McCain - We can work on all three at the same time. For me, if your going to put them in order, education should come first as children are our future and will be the ones finding solutions to our problems. - Link
2219 - Obama calls on parents to do their part in helping their kids get educated. I agree, it is not only up to the school. Parents need to follow-up at home.
2220 - McCain has a strong response on education but leaves Obama's comments alone, other than pointing out that some of the worse schools in the US get the most money per student so throwing more money is not the solution. Good answer.
2224 - McCain attacks the DC school system and defends 'No Child Left Behind' calling for it to be renewed. Did Obama attack it? I must have missed that.
2226 - McCain is stomping on Obama's final words, which incidentally started by agreeing with McCain. That he let pass. McCain attacks Obama's response on vouchers noting that there will be a shortage of vouchers, not enough for all.
2228 - Closing remarks for McCain. He closes on his record of service and noting the bullet points of issues the next president need to deal with reminding that you need to trust your president to handle them.
2230 - Closing remarks for Obama. He closes noting that McCain is just more of Bush. Education and 'policies that will lift wages'. That last one is complete BS. I explain why here.
2231 - All over and hands shaken!
2234 - The clear winner was John McCain. He owned this debate from start to finish.
2236 - Now watching CNN. As I tun in I hear 'McCain looked like anger management'. Just where did that come from?
2239 - CNN - 'Not Obama's night, but hey look McCain is an angry guy'. Well hey, lets have the angry guy deal with the Wall Street criminals, the UN, Putin, Ahmadinajad, Chavez....... Or do we want Obama to pall around with all this scum?
2242 - CNN commercial 'Election Coverage brought to you by ExxonMobil'. They should just give up with this type of trying to win over people. they should instead just point out that: 'Hey, we are making a fortune and that you too can profit from high oil prices by becoming a shareholder. Accounts available starting at only $50 a month!'
2245 - Another CNN commercial. 'I was raped and Sarah Palin would make me carry this baby to term.' Pretty dramatic and a cheap shot. She is against abortions but is not going to work to change the law.
2247 - CNN to undecided voters: 'Who won the debate?' Winner Obama, but this time she actually counted hands.
2248 - Black undecided voter 'Ayers not an issue but he didn't address the ACORN story and I was disappointed in that.' She shifts to another voter and feeds her 'Was Joe the plumber a gimmick?' She dutifully replies using yes, gimmicky.
2254 - I'm all done for tonight. Thanks much for those of you who have stuck through with this.
1818 - Decide to live blog the debate. Open the wine. Erben Kabinet 2002 (Germany)
2008 - Kids are now in bed. Pre-debate show: Dirty Jobs
2013 - Oddly enough, my one main thought before this debate is that once McCain/Palin get into the White House I suspect Palin Derangement Syndrome will make Bush Derangement syndrome look like nothing. This will certainly do the 'progressives on the left no good.'
2057 - I am not on the Sony Vaio laptop. Good: Its small. Bad: Its small. Worse: Its a Sony. Evening Drink: Double Vodka Tonic. TV now tuned into Fox News.
2100 - Here we go. Tom Brokaw looks good. The 'Town Hall' looks small.
2102 - Brokaw is much more animated than Gwen Ifill was during the last debate and he has only been talking for a minute!
2106 - Obama right away goes and blames all the economic crisis on Bush and the Republicans. Good for him, provided that McCain follows-up and repeats his 'Obama is lying' charge.
2107 - McCain comes out soft, ignoring Obama;s comments. Energy independence is nice, but that is not the problem. McCain calls for resetting home prices and giving all these Americans who gambled in the housing market what I consider a do-over. Maybe he just plans to ignore Obama. Overall good answer, but I might be too looking for red-meat.
2114 - McCain passes on telling the audience that Obama is the second biggest receipient of FM donations. Now Obama comes out to paint McCain as part of the regulatory problem. Maybe this will wake McCain up to take the gloves off.
2116 - Obama spends two minutes pointing the finger of responsibility at McCain and then says 'you don't want to hear about politicians pointing fingers'
2123 - Question 'Why should we trust either of you with our money?' Obama blames the Republicans for spending. Completely ignores that the spending was in response to a terrorist attach. the question Obama is not answering is where he will cut spending. McCain 'The system in Washington is broken'. Good response. 'Senator Obama has never taken on the leaders of his party on any issue.' Great follow-up. Obama is a liberal Spender. Obama voted for a billion dollars in pork barrow project, including $3 million for a projector for Chicago. Good. McCain seems to be doing a soft swipe.
2128 - Obama - Education comes after energy and health care. McCain - We can work on all three at the same time. For me, if your going to put them in order, education should come first as children are our future and will be the ones finding solutions to our problems.
2130 - McCain attacks Obama for putting the issues in order noting that we are America and that we can do all these things. Obama responds by bringing up 9/11. Why?
2136 - Obama - We need to be fair when it comes to taxes. McCain - Obama is calling to raise new taxes. Obama wants to respond and Brakaw cuts him off.
2142 - Obama wants to raise taxes on those making $250,000 or more. That just happens to be the amount you should be earning to afford a $1 million home. Part of our current economic crisis is due to falling house prices. Many homes are $1 million plus. He is therefore going to tax the people most needed to stem the falling prices of homes. Because if noone buys those houses, and there are lost of them, then the prices of all houses get pushed down as those most expensive have to reduce their prices.
2143 - McCain: Obama promised to lower taxes on the middle class when running for Senate but he never did anything to lower taxes for the middle class once getting to the Senate. Good pointing out that Obama has broken at least one promise.
2149 - McCain - 'Oil drilling is vital. We've got to drill offshore.' 'Obama is against offshore drilling. Look at his record. He is also against nuclear power.'
2155 - Obama will fine you and your employer over healthcare. McCain: We have to give people choices in health care.
2157 - Obama: 'Healthcare is a right'. Will help lower premiums of existing plans. Will mandate mandatory healthcare for children. (You need to have healthcare for your child.) But you need to pay for it. He'll give you a tax break though....
2200 - Obama - 'Banks go to Delaware because they have lax rules on banks for credit card lending.' How interesting since he chose the Senator from Delaware, Biden, as his VP pick!
2206 - Obama claims that he will have the US intervene about the world when possible, but 'we can't be everywhere', pointing out our inaction in Darfur, etc, as being due to our reduced status in the world acording to him. Of course if the US went into Darfur or anywhere the rest of the world will have us anyway, no matter the cause.
2210 - Obama: 'Al Quaeda is stronger now than at any time since 2001.' I don't believe it. Hmm. It is OK to kill Bin-Laden and crush Al Quaeda. So much for international respect.....
2215 - McCain 'We need to get the support of the people in Pakistan against the Taliban'. Obama 'If Pakistan is unable or unwilling to take out Bin-Laden then we should' (As long as we don't invade Pakistan.) Good luck figuring that logic out since you would need to go into Pakistan to do it. It is called shelter.
2216 - Doesn't look like there will be any knockouts here, but for sure McCain will have lots of Obama's words to use against him. Looks like I forgot to mention earlier that this blog is bias against Obama. Just in case you were wondering.
2225 - McCain : 'I warned about Putin. All I saw was K.G.B.' Wants to rebuild the Soviet Union. There will be no cold war but we ned to bring pressure on Russia. Good that this was brought up. 'Russia is a challenge.' Obama: 'I agree with McCain' but we also need to rebuild their economies. What? I think the only economy that needs rebuilding is Georgia.
2225 - McCain nails the 'Is Russia an evil empire, yes or no' with 'Maybe', depending on our response.
2227 - Question for McCain 'Will you wait for UN permission to defend Israel if attacked by Iran?' Good question for McCain and surely the moonbats are trying to figure who the guy who tossed this softball question to McCainn was:) Obama: No veto power for the UN and military power is always an option. No mention of Israel, but how we should squeeze Iran. Maybe even by cutting off their gas imports. Comfirms his call for direct talks with our enemies. Well that really has worked well with North Korea, which he just mentioned. Only God knows why since they have been pissing with us for decades. (Update: See this post " Most Disturbing Part of North Korea-Syria Connection")
2231 - Last Question 'What don;t you know?' Kind of ignored by Obama. McCain 'I don't know what I don't know' I don't know what the unexpected will be....
2234 - Obama closes with Hope. McCain closes with the above shifting to stating what he does know including that he believes in America and Americans. McCain won, the closing. I guess the debate overall was a tie. No mention of his link to domestic terrorist Ayers or Obama's housing payoff money.
2240 - This debate was sort of a waste of time. I can't see even Democrats thinking otherwise since there was no real hits on either candidate. Maybe McCain's camp will make some decent commercial out of something but there was not much substance here on any real level. Maybe this is how Brokaw aided Obama by keeping it on a level that he could handle. Although even so, Obama made a mistake by ordering priorities as covered above.
2245 - Looking around the web at other conservative sites the consensus is clear in that this was a boring debate. I agree.
2250- Hmmm, this is more interesting than anything said in the debate: 'Obama is Hiding a Radical Past'
Did you know that Barack Obama was affiliated with a leading national socialist party? Barack Obama didn’t include in his 2008 resume that he entered politics endorsed by Chicago’s leading socialists. This just keeps getting better and better. Barack Obama was an active participant in the 1990s, and a direct political beneficiary, of the Chicago New Party and, importantly, the Chicago DSA, a group of socialists affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America. - The Independent View
Since it was such a big deal that Palin's Husband was a member of the Alaska independent party (He is part Eskimo) this should be at least as big a deal for the Obama campaign. This could even be an October surprise. Do you really want to vote for a Socialist? Palin's husband also was hounded for having a DWI conviction, so I would think that Obama's cocaine use would be at least as big an issue for the Obama campaign.
2259 - I am going to give this to McCain for two reasons. One, he said mostly what I wanted to hear. Two, there wee a couple of times where Obama's response seemed to be him just rambling on with no clear direction. McCain had none of those moments. Decision: McCain
GOOD NIGHT!
Update: 8 October
For a great summary on the Questions and answers of the debate, go visitAce who has posted a 'cheat sheet'.
During my live blog of the VP debate last week, I had this comment on watching the CNN post-debate program:
2246 - CNN 'Biden wins by a large amount' of their 'focus group'.Funny, the show of hands looked pretty even. Told you they would call it for Biden. Well by any definition, half of the country is dumber than the other half. - link
Seems that I was not the only one to notice:
Soledad O'Brien polls the 32 "persuadables" by asking them to indicate, by a show of hands, who they thought won. The magic of Tivo allows us to freeze frame and count: She calls the vote for Biden "overwhelming". 11 or 12 for Palin, 12 or 13 for Biden (some people are hard to see). Thanks, Soledad, for giving credence to everyone who thinks women are bad at Math. - Megan McArdle
She is just seeing what she wants to see. And in this case, imagine if you were only listening to her commentary with the TV on in the background, or worse, listening to her on the radio. How many people only get her commentary without seeing what she was commenting on? Lots of people I bet.
The comment can be found in the commentary that starts 7:15 into the video, but it is worth watching the whole video as he provides many reasons why blacks should vote Republican. Not for anything, why is it that despite decades of representation of the poor by Democrats, they are still poor?
You might think that I would be planning on Drunk Blogging the debate, but no. for me to do that I would need to drink way too much alcohol, (I am a sailor after all) to the point that I would probably be at risk of a DWI as I head to work early in the morning. Anyway, to be drunk by 9PM, you start drinking when?
So, I at least plan to blog this debate and figure that I would let all two of you know in advance since I don't normally post more than once a day. With that and with the disclosure that I plan to vote for McCain:
1400 - I decide to blog about tonight's debate.
1520 - If you do drop by, say hello in the comments!
1730 - Making dinner - Chicken cutlets
1812 - Dinnertime! - Drink: Hardcore Apple Cider
1835 - Post-Dinner - Wife heading to aerobics. Me on daddy-duty
1929 - 3 year-old - showertime. 1 year-old is keeping himself busy with matchbox cars...
2026 - 3 year-old in bed. 1 year-old playing. TV on - Survivor. Wife back and taking a shower. Next drink: Lonkero w/lime.
2038 - Both kids now in bed. shifting 'offices' (to the laptop).
2048 - Just now relaxing for the first time today. Just realized that other than looking forward to this debate, I haven't given it that much thought. There is all this concern all of a sudden about Palin, but this I think is a total creation of the media. We all know the media is lying, so it is a little strange that McCain supporters are giving these latest polls and criticism of Palin any real credit. Its probably due because they have not been able to find any relevant dirt on her.
2048 - 'Paloma' kicked out of Survivor
2059 - Now turned to Fox News.
2103 - Hmm. No wheeling out of Gwen Ifill. That would have been a smart move by her to garner a little sympathy against her book BS. She does not look biased, but then again, she chose the questions she is going to ask.
2104 - Joe is wearing a flag pin.
2105 - Sarah's flag pin is bigger...
2109 - Sarah explains McCain's "the fundamentals of our economy is strong" in that he was referring to America's workforce. Good shot.
2112 - Sarah calls for more self responsibility. Good call. Joe is all of a sudden concerned the middle class. Guess the poor got tossed under Obama's bus.
2115 - Joe - Notice how she didn't answer the question. Sarah - I might not answer the question the way you or the moderator want, I'm talking to the American people...
2119 - Joe - Base taxes on fairness. Sarah calls it for what it is 'income redistribution'. Want an example of Delaware 'fairness' check out how they gouge drivers driving through Delaware "Price Gouging in Delaware"
2126 - Sarah is looking very confident and talking lots of good, quickly. Hey Joe, I am one of those ExxonMobil stockholders. Are you for the middle class or not? I like my dividend money. Too bad Obama wants to take more of it. So lay off XOM!
2133 - Joe Biden: Global warming 'clearly manmade'. Really Joe?
2137 - Sarah can sell oil and gas. 'clean-green natural gas' in the sweetest voice you ever heard. She clearly ruled the energy part of the debate.
2143 - Foreign policy - Palin on Obama: "Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq." Great. She is using Biden's comments against Obama against him.
2145 - Biden: voting against a withdrawal timeline in Iraq is voting against the troops in Iraq. So as far as Biden is concerned, McCain is guilty. Sounds like a cheap shot against McCain.
2157 - Palin:"We will learn from the past mistakes of this administration and past administrations"... Biden is painting McCain as Bush III. As for restoring America's respect in the world Joe, they hated us before Bush, they will hate us when he is gone for sure. Especially if Obama ever has to threaten to use force like every past President.
2159 - Euro rate dropping all day today. 1 Euro = $1.38.
2204 - Wife off to bed. Seems they were busy arguing on what a General in Afghanistan said today. Biden: "Obama has been calling for more troops in Afghanistan." Somehow I can't see a President Obama sending more troops there. The argument against winning in Iraq can certainly be used as reasons against winning in Afghanistan.
2212 - Biden: 'The most important election since 1932.' Palin still going strong then again, she has the inside track on main street opinion. She just even jot the audience to laugh, despite their promise not to. Ifill: 'everyone gets extra credit tonight' in response to Palin's schoolkid's extra credit comment. My goodness the audience just woke up, laughing again at Palin's lame joke comment.
2224 - Final question & last gin, because the bottle is empty...
2228 - If anything, Palin should be seen to have held her own during this debate. Biden was surely no winner here, but I bet CNN will have some sort of BS poll saying he did. This is a good image for Palin to leave on the electorate as we head towards election day. Really, if not her, who should McCain have picked who could have done this better while also being a draw for this ticket. It was Palin who brought this campaign back to life.
2229 - Palin strikes against the MSM telling the American people that she prefers to talk directly to them without a 'filter'. Good close.
2232 - Biden has a good'ish' close. He should have just said that he was not pulling out of the race on Friday. He shouldn't after surviving this debate. But then again, I still can't see why he is even on the ticket, other than he is more personable than Murtha.
2242 - Switched to CNN. They have gone to commercial. This was interesting doing a live blog. Not sure I liked doing it. It got in the way of drinking and talking with the wife. Not only that, but I am working on a blog post I have already posted! I can be working on new content;)
Anyway, If you are one of the three people following this, thanks much for stopping by. My drink is done so that is all for tonight.
Tonight's Debate Winner: Palin
Clearly it was Palin.
2246 - CNN 'Biden wins by a large amount' of their 'focus group'. Funny, the show of hands looked pretty even. Told you they would would call it for Biden. Well by any definition, half of the country is dumber than the other half.
2249 - Funny, most of the CNN group didn't raise their hands for either candidate when asked who they would vote for. Not a good sign for Obama.
2310 - Final though - Biden is what Biden will be whether as a Senator or VP. Palin is just going to get better as time goes on no matter what she does.
2313 - Final, final comment - CNN: "Tonight's debate brought to you by ExxonMobil". Go take your evil ExxonMobil-hating-ticket and stuff it, Democrats.
Personally, I think the Republicans have their share of the blame, if for no other reason than keeping their mouths shut about this, to this day. They should beat the Democrats over the head with this, especially since the Democrats have taken to blaming Bush for it, even though the seeds of this crisis were sown well before his Presidency, by Democrats (Pelosi: Dems bear no responsibility for economic crisis).
In addition, banks share in the blame, other lenders, all the fools who bought these securities, providing more funding to keep the game going, and right down to the 'poor lenders' who claim to have been taken advantage of. They share as much guilt as the most-guilty Government officials since they were the idiots who signed these loans that they were never going to be able to pay back. It doesn't matter if they didn't know they couldn't pay the loans back, that was their responsibility to know this. (And if they were not bright enough to understand the paperwork, they should have gotten legal council. But they never did, because that costs money!)
Found at The Jawa Report who found it at Ace, because "Viral attacks are where it's at in 2008!"
In a quickly-arranged conference call organized by the Democratic National Committee, United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger — an Obama supporter — said the registration records show McCain is not being truthful with Americans and undermining autoworkers. - CNN
Just how is he undermining US autoworkers? Seems that out of the 13 cars the McCains own, two of them are foreign-made.
(CNN) — Democrats eager to portray John McCain as out of touch with average Americans and as a flip-flopper seized on a report Sunday the Arizona senator and his wife, Cindy, own more than a dozen cars — including several foreign-made automobiles.
A Newsweek article published on the magazine's Web Site Sunday said registration records show the McCains currently own 13 cars — two of which are foreign-made: a Honda and a Volkswagen. - CNN
So Mr. McCain gets a big FU from the United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger for buying eleven US-Made automobiles. Not mentioned is why Senator Obama offended the other two traditional US Automakers by buying a Ford.
P.S. And a big FU to the rest of America who has ever bought a high-quality, well-made, foreign-built car. Since I am at it, just why has Ford never bothered to build Volvos in the US? They bought the company. Mass-producing Volvos in the US would have created lots of jobs here and provide Ford with a very popular model that would most likely be in high demand.
My dad is a true Red White and Blue Conservative Republican (and very ex long ago Democrat). when I hear of John McCain's pick for Vice President I like it but I did want to get my dad's opinion. His initial opinion was very positive. I just saw him this weekend and asked him how he felt now about the McCain/Palin ticket:
She is the type of woman that all real men like. She is independent, smart, knowledgeable, a leader and a hunter. What is there not to like about Sarah Palin?
She wears her balls on her chest.
There you go. He then went on to explain that the 'balls' comment was in relation to many of the Republicans in Congress who seem to have no balls for fighting the Democrats on earmarks, corruption, drilling (Think party of 10/20). Well basically much of anything. Well, there are a couple pro-porkbusters Congressmen out there but they are the exception. However, as a group they are a big disappointment.
As it so happens, my mom also likes her and is impressed that she managed to accomplish all that she has while raising four children with a recent fifth addition. She should know because she took on raising four children as a full-time job.
Here is one statement Barack Obama made about John McCain during his acceptance speech:
And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.
But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.
Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?
(APPLAUSE)
I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change. - NY Times
What he did not mention is how often he votes with the liberal wing of his own party. That is after all the part of the Democrat Party that is running both houses of Congress.
He said McCain, far from being a maverick who’s "broken with his party," has voted to support Bush policies 90 percent of the time. True enough, but by the same measure Obama has voted with fellow Democrats in the Senate 97 percent of the time. - Factcheck.Org
Not exactly change, is it? At least not by his definition, and certainly not by any sensible person's definition either.
I was just thinking earlier today that McCain's next campaign step should be to offer Barack Obama a Cabinet position in his Administration, since he stated that he wanted to include Democrats in his Administration. Apparently I am not the only person thinking along the same lines:
"Governor Schwarzenegger has made the service czar a cabinet-level appointment," Stengel said. "Would you, as president, do the same and would you name Senator Obama to your cabinet for National Service?" McCain paused for a beat before replying with a smile: "Yes!" Cue laughter and applause. - Telegraph, UK
No. No. NO! Certainly the best position for Senator Obama is as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, also known as HUD.
HUD's mission is to increase homeownership, support community development and increase access to affordable housing free from discrimination. To fulfill this mission, HUD will embrace high standards of ethics, management and accountability and forge new partnerships--particularly with faith-based and community organizations--that leverage resources and improve HUD's ability to be effective on the community level. - HUD's Mission
Then again, maybe he might be better off offering Mr. Obama a diplomat position, somewhere. Who knows, if Obama blows this election I think he will disappear from the political area faster than John Kerry because his supporters will abandon him quicker than rats off a sinking ship...
Drudge Report is linking to a story that part of the trash generated by the Democrat National convention in Denver is over 12,000 unused American Flags, which were saved from being tossed out as garbage by a worker.
This morning, Republicans tell me that a worker at Invesco Field in Denver saved thousands of unused flags from the Democratic National Convention that were headed for the garbage. Guerrilla campaigning. They will use these flags at their own event today in Colorado Springs with John McCain and Sarah Palin. - Denver Post
How sad that none of the Democrats thought of taking the flags to give away to delegates, or to all those people they got to fill Invesco Field to listen to Obama's speech or even take along to give away on the road. Even I would love to get a flag from the 'Great One'. Not only that but it really would have neutralized the whole Obama-flag pin issue. At the very least a Democrat could have taken them and sold them on eBay. But I guess none of those Democrats have any sort of entrepreneurial spirit.
Instead the flags are going to be used at a McCain/Palin campaign event. Does that count as a campaign contribution? Either way, thanks DNC! (And shame on you at the same time!) Guess lots of supports will be walking away with some nice new flags.
I'll take 17. Too bad I'm stuck in Virginia getting rained on.
UPDATE:
Seems that this is just the latest in an ongoing flag issue that REDSTATE has been following. See their posts: 'New Game: Where's the Flag' as they fail to find any US flags that the DNC might have put up for their convention. And then 'Mystery Solved' as they discover US Flags tossed in with regular convention garbage.
Here is one passage from Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain's acceptance speech last night:
We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. - Speech posted at Instapundit
The US currently gives Russia almost $1 billion a year in aid. And as I pointed out in this post "Why it's OK to Stop Paying $1 Billion a Year to Protect Russia's Nukes", we are just throwing this money away. So I nominate Russia to be first on President McCain's foreign aid hit-list.
After all, despite paying close to a billion a year, Russia has found what they seem to consider better partners. and what good does it do the US to 'Protect' Russia's nukes, when they just turn around and teach our enemies to build them:
Putin and Ahmadinejad - Each the other's most Useful Idiot
As for the rest of John McCain's speech, I liked what I heard. Sure, it was not awe inspiring, but then again, neither is the job that needs to be done. Tough and somewhat unpopular short-term changes will be needed to change the country for the better, and this is the only candidate who is not concerned about ruffling feathers to get it done!
This was to be expected. The free speech thieves have interrupted both Republican VP Candidate Sarah Palin and Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain's acceptance speeches.
A protestor is seen as Republican presidential nominee John McCain speaks at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) - Yahoo News
That would be a Code Pink protester making an attack during John McCain's speech. She was one of at least three who rudely interrupted his speech.
This Code Pink clown attacked during Sarah Palin's speech:
A demonstrator is removed from convention hall during U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota September 3, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA) - Yahoo News
'A Demonstrator'? Come on. Which Reuters photographer/editor does not know that this is the co-founder of Code Pink, Medea Benjamin. In fact, which Secret Service screener let her into the building, credentials or not to enter? No matter, she is a major free speech thief and should spend some time in jail for theft of all of our time. (Either that or can her husband do us all a favor and f..k her.)
A demonstrator is pulled away from stage during Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's nomination acceptance speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 3, 2008. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA) - Yahoo News
This 'demonstrator' just happens to be a big money collector for Barack Obama:
One of Barack Obama's top 500 bundlers who raised nearly $100,000 for the Democratic Candidate rushed the stage during the Sarah Palin speech tonight at the Xcel Center. The Secret Service dragged her away.
Democratic mega-donor Jodie Evans was nearly on the stage when the Secret Service stopped her. - Founding Bloggers
These people just hurt those whose cause they support. If John McCain's message is so bad, then why not just shut up and let us hear it...
UPDATE: 9/5/08
It seems that Code Pink managed to get inside by way of identity theft.
Great speech today. Go ahead and point out that someone wrote it for her. All political speeches are products of speech writers but how funny is it that good speeches come are delivered by good politicians. And she delivered tonight. She owned her speech. So well that she even made me feel a bit excited for voting for John McCain. Tat he has earned the right to be the next President. That is a strong distinction between McCain and Obama. Best of all it wasn't just talk. She pointed out the major differences between McCain's ticket and Obama's ticket.
And if that was not good enough, Rudy Giuliani probably delivered his best speech of the campaign tonight. And that's saying lots, especially since I like Rudy, but was no fan of him becoming President (Here and here).
Obama has a serious problem facing his election as President and that's good.
One more thing, this country has 100 Senators. Two for every state. But there are only 50 Governors in this country, one per state. Ultimately responsible for their state and responsible for most of your interaction with any Government. State taxes, driver's licenses, etc... Some Governors run states that are bigger than other countries. And as she pointed out, they have actual responsibilities.
Obama raked in millions of your money and then spent most of it to win the Democratic Presidential Nomination, with having little concern of having to make hard choices on how to spend it, since there was plenty of money to go around.
McCain however was nearly broke at one point in this race before coming back to win the Republican Nomination against candidates with much bigger bankrolls
The presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who once seemed poised to be his party’s nominee in 2008, acknowledged yesterday that it was in a political and financial crisis as a drop in fund-raising forced it to dismiss dozens of workers and aides and retool its strategy on where to compete. - NY Times, July 3, 2007
For his whole campaign, John McCain has had to make many hard decisions on how to spend the campaign's hard earned money, especially considering that he did not have access to his wife's fortune to bankroll his campaign. However, for the General Election, he has accepted public financing to get him through to the election. Senator Obama initially agreed to take public funding as well, until he saw how willing his followers were willing to give to his campaign. However, despite being able to spend more than John McCain in the General Election, he will first have to get his followers to replace the $84 million he just gave up before he can take advantage of not having a spending limit to cap his advertising efforts:
When Mr. Obama decided in June to bypass the $84 million in public financing for the general election, campaign officials calculated that to make it worth the additional time he would need to devote off the campaign trail to fund-raising, they needed to raise two to three times the $84 million.
They set out a goal of raising $300 million for the campaign and $180 million for the Democratic Party, several fund-raisers said, or about $100 million a month. - NY Times
This does not seem to be an issue the media cares about, but I think this tells lots about Senator Obama's view about money. After all, he is willing to take money from donors where up to half of that money he could have received from the Government. While he claims to care about Americans suffering from stretched budgets, his actions in asking his supporters to stretch their budgets a little further to give him money, does not sound like someone who is really concerned about their economic situation.
And I wonder how many of his donors currently don't earn enough to pay taxes? If they can find money to donate to political campaigns, then perhaps they too can pay their 'fair share' of taxes...
I am somewhat amused at how John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin to be his running mate has made most of the professional media just go insane. I actually managed to have some free time last night to watch news and first turned into CNN. There was James Carville clearly freaking out. I think he is setting himself up for a heart attack come election day. The coverage was so bad, and mostly centered on news of the daughter's pregnancy, that I changed channels and then finally just shut the TV off.
Then turning to the Internet to read some news, I ran across this insanity:
" ... TOP GOP GOVERNOR: I'VE HEARD NO DISCUSSION ABOUT REMOVING MS. PALIN FROM THE TICKET ... "
Clearly this is in response to a question asked by a reporter. Surely the response is true. After all, why would there be any talk of removing a pick for VP that has instantly energized the entire Republican Party. Yet, by printing the comment as they did above gives the impression to their readers that the Republican ticket is in trouble. I can't see how doing this is of any benefit to their readers. It just gives them a false impression of the chances of their candidate and is more likely to cause M.P.D.S. (McCain/Palin Derangement Syndrome) at election time when Obama fails to win the Presidency.
In line with their completely dishonest, hack style of journalism, comes the title of this post mocking their crude work:
... I'VE HEARD NO DISCUSSION ABOUT REMOVING BARACK OBAMA FROM THE TICKET ...
My statement is also 100% true. However, I bet that not everyone can say that, especially anyone involved in halting the roll call vote at the Democrat National Convention to prevent Hillary supporters from throwing the convention into chaos by arranging a Hillary win. This brings to light a problem in attacking Mrs. Palin. Most every attack can be turned back onto the Democrats, in some cases in a more devastating fashion. Such as Obama having to state that he has more experience than the Republican VP Candidate. That kind of statement also makes a great headline and is more damaging to the candidate himself.
Every once in a while parts of the US Military will stand-down for a day to review what they have been doing whenever they run into a spate of mishaps. The liberal-leaning US media is one big train wreck. They really should take a step back and look at what they have become. Otherwise another surprise come January will be a White House Press Corp packed with New Media.
As for the story behind the GOP Governor statement. This is what was said:
Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina said that he had heard no discussion about removing Ms. Palin from the ticket. In fact, he said, he thought her daughter's pregnancy would not hurt her with voters.
"People are looking for real," he said in an interview. "Real means blemishes, real means warts, real means real. These family imperfections make people say, 'That family isn't so different from my family.'"
Early reaction among women at the Republican convention to the news about Bristol Palin's pregnancy was almost uniformly supportive. - HP
Sounds somewhat encouraging for the Republican side, doesn't it.
