Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama, a side by side comparison

**Posted at AudacityOfHypocrisy.com, reposted here to share**

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Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama

	Sarah Palin	Barack Obama
Office being sought	Vice President	President of the United States and Leader of the Free World
Full name	Sarah Louise Heath Palin	Barack Hussein Obama II
Nickname	Sarah Barracuda	Barry Obama; “The One”
Public opinion	Smoking hot in a “naughty librarian” sort of way	May be The Messiah
Age	44	48
Children	5: two sons, three daughters	2: two daughters
Religion/Church attendance	Evangelical Christian; attends Juneau Christian Center when in Juneau and grew up attending Wasilla Assembly of God	Attended Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, a “black liberation theology” church formerly led by Rev. Jeremiah Wright and governed according to the Black Value System
Current Job	Governor of Alaska	Junior Senator from Illinois
Previous Public Jobs	Mayor of Wasilla, AK (1996-2002); President of Alaska Conference of Mayors; City Council member (1992-1996)	State Senator (1997-2004); Community Organizer
Executive Experience	Governor for 2 years; Mayor for 10 years	None
Foreign Relations experience	Governor of state that borders two foreign countries (Canada and Russia)	Chaired Senate subcommittee on Europe but never called it into session; once gave a speech to 200,000 screaming Germans
Military Affairs experience	Commander in Chief of Alaska National Guard; Son is enlisted Infantryman in U.S. Army	None
Private Sector Experience	Sports reporter; Salmon fisherman	Associate at civil rights law firm
Speaking ability	Beautifully executed initial stump speech in Dayton, OH hockey arena without a teleprompter	An enter…wait–did you say without a teleprompter??
Spouse’s name	Todd Mitchell Palin	Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama
Spouse’s occupation	Salmon fisherman; Former North Slope production supervisor for BP Oil	Vice President for Community and External Affairs at University of Chicago Hospitals; former Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago; former Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies; former Assistant to the Mayor of Chicago; former associate at Sidley Austin law firm
Reaction to spouse’s political success	Quit 17-year BP oil job when BP became involved in natural gas pipeline negotiations with wife’s administration	Promoted and given 160% pay raise by UofC hospitals within months of husband’s election to U.S. Senate; Employer received $1,000,000.00 federal earmark, requested by husband, after her promotion
Coolest thing about Spouse	Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmobile race champion (longest snowmobile race in the world); In 2008, while defending his championship, was injured when he was thrown 70 feet from his machine. He was sent to the hospital but still finished in fourth place	Sister of Oregon State University head basketball coach Craig Robinson
Most Courageous Moment in Public Service	Resigned in protest from position of Ethics Commissioner of Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders, including the former state Attorney General and the State GOP Chairman (who was also an Oil & Gas Commissioner), who was doing work for the party on public time and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.	Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators in Hyde Park in 2002
In Current Office Because…	Upset sitting Governor in GOP primary due to public support for her efforts to clean up corrupt government establishment	Republican opponent, who was leading in the polls, was forced to leave race after unsealing of divorce records exposed a sex scandal
Theme:	Change and Clean Government	Hope and Change; “Bringing Change from Outside Washington”
What they’ve done to live that theme:	Replaced entire Board of Agriculture and Conservation because of conflict of interest; Resigned from position of Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in order to expose corruption among members of own party	Selected 36-year incumbent Senator as running mate
Family Affairs	May have removed State Public Safety Commissioner as part of effort to protect sister in messy divorce and child custody battle	Often says, “I am my brother’s keeper”; Brother lives in a hut in Nairobi on $12 per year
Union affiliation	Union member, married to Union member	Endorsed by a union
Iraq and Troop Support	Formerly (pre-surge) critical of apparent lack of long-term strategy for Iraq; Visited wounded U.S. soldiers in Germany; visited AK National Guard soldiers deployed to Kuwait; Son deploying to Iraq on 9/11/08 as Army infantryman	Gave an anti-Iraq war speech to a crowd of anti-Iraq war demonstrators; almost visited wounded troops in Germany, but decided to go shopping in Berlin instead
Bipartisan/”maverick” credentials	Married to a non-Republican; Exposed corruption within own party; Campaigned for Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell against corrupt GOP congressman Don Young; Called out Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) to “come clean” about financial dealings that are under fed investigation	Talks about bipartisanship
Legislative Record	Passed a landmark ethics reform bill; Used veto to cut budgetary spending; Prevented “bridge to nowhere” that would have cost taxpayers $400 million dollars.	Voted “present” over 100 times as IL state senator
How they dealt with corrupt individuals in home city/state	Exposed legal violations and conflicts of interest of Alaska Republican leaders; Campaigned against corrupt GOP Representative; Ran against and defeated corrupt incumbent governor in GOP primary	Launched political career in home of unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers (and still refers to him as a part of “mainstream Democratic Chicago”; Purchased home with help of convicted felon Tony Rezko
Guns	Lifetime member of NRA and avid hunter; video can be found on YouTube of Palin firing an M4 at a military firing range	Worked to pass legislation in Illinois that would prevent all law-abiding citizens from owning firearms
Earmarks	Opposed “Bridge to Nowhere” project; Said Alaska should avoid relying on federal money for projects; Campaigned against porker Don Young (R-AK) in 2008 primary	Secured federal earmarks for wife’s employer and for campaign bundlers
Abortion	Pro life; gave birth to 5th child knowing that he would have Down’s syndrome	Pro-choice; only IL state sen. to speak against the Born Alive Infant’s Protection Act, which required medical care to be given to live infants who survived abortions
Energy	Believes energy independence is a matter of national security; For drilling in ANWR, which is in her state	Says Americans should “get tune-ups” and “check tire pressure”; Says “we can’t expect the world to be okay with” our use of heating and air conditioning
Environment	Chair of Alaska Conservation Commission (2003-4); Announced plans to create sub-cabinet group of advisors to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in AK	Talks about the environment a lot
Athletic prowess	Runs marathons	Has reporters tailing him to the gym

* *

Sarah Palin: conservatives find the girl of their dreams

The Alaskan governor’s family life and political views press the right’s buttons

Sarah Baxter 

 

When Sarah Palin stepped into the spotlight as John McCain’s running mate in Dayton, Ohio, and promised that women could “shatter that glass ceiling once and for all”, it was an electrifying moment in a presidential election that had already produced its share of upsets and surprises.

History was on the march again the morning after Barack Obama became the first African-American to accept his party’s White House nomination. After the fireworks, the 80,000-strong crowd who had cheered Obama to the skies at the Mile High stadium in Denver woke up with a hangover.

“We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling,” said Camille Paglia, the cultural critic. “That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.”

With her beehive hairdo and retro specs, Palin, 44, has a “naughty librarian vibe”, according to Craig Ferguson, the Scottish comedian who stars on late-night US television. However, the selection of Palin, the governor of Alaska and a mother of five, as the first female Republican vice-presidential nominee is no joke for the Democrats.

More...
Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio chat show host, exulted, “We’re the ones with a babe on the ticket” — one, moreover, with a reputation as a tax-cutter and corruption buster in her job as the first woman governor of Alaska.
Palin’s selection on the eve of the Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota, has set the stage for an epic battle for the votes of women, African-Americans, evangelical Christians and the young. The demographic wars that dominated the contest between Obama and Hillary Clinton are now set to be replicated in the national election.

Will America fall in love with Palin or will she fizzle, like Dan Quayle, the vice-president to George Bush Sr who could not spell “potatoe”? Can she help McCain to defeat Obama, a modern political phenomenon, who drew a record-shattering television audience of nearly 40m — more than the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing — to watch his convention speech?

“Good Lord, we had barely 12 hours of Democrat optimism,” said Paglia. “It was a stunningly timed piece of PR by the Republicans.”

Whether Palin’s selection is more than a political stunt depends on how she handles the electoral pressure cooker. With the election in November, there is no time for on-the-job training. Karl Rove, Bush’s former aide, offered a guarded welcome to the “gun-packing, hockey-playing” governor, sayhing: “We’ll get a taste in the next five days of how well she does in the 62 days that follow.”

After Obama’s acceptance speech was wiped from the front pages, even he was forced to acknowledge that she “seems like a compelling person . . . with a terrific personal story”. Republicans are hailing their potential new vice-president as the all-American girl of their dreams.

Palin is gunning for the 18m women who voted for Hillary Clinton — a third of whom have not made up their mind to back Obama, according to the latest polls. McCain specifically deployed the language of feminism and civil rights when announcing her candidacy. “She stands up for what’s right and she doesn’t let anyone tell her to sit down,” he said.

Palin’s parents learnt that she had been selected by McCain while they were heading for a remote camp in Alaska to hunt caribou. “I was speechless,” her father said. The skin of a grizzly bear that he shot drapes the sofa in her office.

The more Republicans examined Palin’s record, the more they liked it, although some are fearful of buyer’s remorse. She was born in the conservative heartland of Idaho before moving to Alaska as a baby. At school she was nicknamed Sarah Barracuda on the basketball court because she was so competitive and she led the prayers before each game.

She was a “hockey mom” who cut her teeth at the parent-teacher association before becoming mayor of Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage with a population under 7,000. In 2006 she beat the corrupt male establishment in Alaska to win the governorship. She opposes same-sex marriage, but one of her first acts in office was to veto a bill blocking health benefits for gay lovers of public employees.

She hunts, ice-fishes and is a crack shot who knows how to fire an M16 rifle. “I was raised in a family where gender was not going to be an issue,” she said. “The girls did what the boys did. Apparently in Alaska that’s quite commonplace.” No softy, she sued to stop the federal government making polar bears an endangered species and favours drilling for oil in the Arctic wildlife refuge. However, she also levied a windfall tax on oil companies.

Palin was glamorous enough to have entered beauty contests to earn money for college. She was crowned Miss Wasilla in her home town and was runner-up in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest. “They made us line up in bathing suits and turn our backs so the male judges could look at our butts. I couldn’t believe it,” she told Vogue, more amused than outraged.

Counterbalancing McCain’s reputation as a political dinosaur, Palin smoked pot when it was legal in Alaska, admitting, “I can’t claim a Bill Clinton and say I never inhaled”, and her children, Track, 19, Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, Piper, 7, and Trig, four months, have hippie-sounding names. Track, who joined the US infantry in September last year, is about to be deployed to Iraq. “It has really opened my eyes to international events and how war impacts everyday Americans like us,” she said.

On stage in Ohio, the Palin family looked every bit as photogenic as the Obamas on their big night in Denver. Todd, her rugged husband, is part Yupik Eskimo and is four-time champion of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race. If that is not macho enough, he is a member of the steelworkers’ union and a seasonal oil production operator for BP, from which he earned $93,000 last year. He also helps to run the family’s commercial fishing business. They eloped in 1988 to avoid the cost of a wedding. “We had a bad fishing year so we didn’t have any money,” he said.

Like his wife, he is able to swap the traditional roles. “My husband loves being a dad as much as I love being a mom,” Palin said. “I’ve got great help there.”

She needs it. They “wanted enough kids for a basketball team”, she once said, but Trig was born this year with Down’s syndrome. Palin knew there were complications while she was pregnant but never considered an abortion. When he was born, she said, “I’m looking at him right now and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking: in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?” Undaunted, she held a meeting as governor three days after giving birth. “I just put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump,” she said of her life as a working mother.

Left-wing websites such as the Daily Kos are leading the chorus of disapproval for now. “Having had two children at home at the age of four months, I know how much help they need even without unfortunate medical conditions,” said one tut-tutter.

Republican women, however, are delighted by Palin’s example. Kellyanne Conway, 41, a Republican pollster and mother of three, said, “I really feel mother knows best without the peanut gallery giving unsolicited advice. She strongly conveys to women today that you don’t have to choose between a successful career and motherhood. You do have to make sacrifices, but you can have it all.”

Evangelical Christians could turn out in droves for Palin, a member of Feminists for Life who opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, if she maintains her promise.

Deborah Fikes, a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals, said: “I would just trust that the child is not neglected in any way. There are millions of women who work. Why is it that the father cannot provide the same standard of care? There has been an evolving view of working women even in conservative Christian circles.”

Fikes said Palin was an inspiring choice: “I didn’t think the Republicans would pick a female candidate for another decade, but John McCain is not a typical conservative leader.”

Other conservative women have pointed out that Palin was a much more effective counterweight to the super-competent and glamorous Michelle Obama than Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican candidate.

Cindy, a beer industry heiress who bought the seven homes that McCain cannot remember and once said the only way to travel around her home state of Arizona was by private plane, was under fire last week from her own half-sister. She said she was voting for Obama after Cindy had repeatedly claimed to be an “only child” and never expressed regret that her father had ignored her half-sister in his will.
In fact, even though the Clinton aides could barely conceal their satisfaction when she was chosen, the woman who Palin upstages most of all is Hillary. If Obama wins the election, Hillary will have to wait until 2016 to stand again. And if he loses, Palin will be first in line to become America’s first woman president.

Action Alert! From Women Count

This historic election continues to be noted for its "firsts," and now here's another one: the first woman to be on a Republican presidential ticket. The choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be John McCain's running mate sends a clear message - women count.

Indeed, the selection is a deliberate effort to reach out to women in this election. After all, women make up more than half of the electorate, and recent polls show that women comprise a majority of undecided voters. More...
 
Much will be said and written in the days ahead about Gov. Palin's views on issues, and we urge you to consider these positions with depth and thoughtfulness - she is anti-choice, pro-gun, and pro-big oil.

Much will also be written about Gov. Palin's years on the PTA, that she describes herself as a "hockey mom," and how she juggles her professional life with the demands of her five children. Gov. Palin herself has already referred to Hillary's "18 million cracks" in the glass ceiling and her own new place in history.  We want to hear from you.

Tell us how you feel about the choice of Gov. Palin as the GOP vice presidential nominee.

It is good for the political process that woman politicians will continue to play such a central role on the campaign trail. Gov. Palin's selection also means the media has another chance to get it right when it comes to covering a serious woman candidate in a presidential election. Just as with Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain, we'll be watching closely to see how she is treated when it comes to gender bias.
 
We need you to be our eyes and ears on the campaign trail

If it happens, WomenCount will be right there. Already on CNN this morning there was discussion about whether it was appropriate for Gov. Palin to take on this role given that she has a four-month-old baby with Down Syndrome. Dana Bash, the CNN reporter who is covering McCain's campaign, quite rightly asked whether the same question would be asked of a male candidate who is the father of a newborn with Down Syndrome. Exactly.
 
Let us know if you see signs of sexism in this election.

Remember, it's time to stop the silence.

Warmly,
Stacy Mason, Jehmu Greene, Rosemary Camposano and the WomenCount Team

P.S.  Missed our coverage of the Democratic National Convention and what it means for women? See our wrap up at:
http://womencount.org/blog/blog_detail/2008-08-democratic-convention-wrap-up


WomenCount PAC was created to ensure that the 51 percent of American citizens who are women  have their values and votes counted in the political process. So far in the 2008 election cycle, WomenCount has run a series of ads related to the presidential campaign and made contributions to several women candidates for Congress.

Contributions to WomenCount PAC are not tax-deductible.  Contributions will be used in federal elections, and are subject to federal law regarding prohibited sources and limits.  Contributions to WomenCount PAC are limited to $5,000 per calendar year and contributions from corporations and labor unions are prohibited. Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the name, mailing address, occupation and name of employer of individuals whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year.

Action Alert! (from Clinton Dems)

Dear Clinton Dem,

Hillary touched us all so much and, by example, showed us to look into ourselves and find a strength we never knew we had. We found the power of our voice, and the power of our votes. The suffragetes would be proud!

The selection of Senator Palin by McCain is bittersweet. Hillary was "The One". The choice of Palin just puts an exclamation point on the failures of the democratic party this election, and serves to highlight the ego-driven decision Barack Obama made to slight Hillary Clinton as his VP Choice. Had he joined forces with her right after the primaries, we may be looking at a whole different landscape, but the choice of Palin has irreversibly changed the scenery. John McCain put his ego aside and did what was best for his party -- and possibly his country. More...

Palin's policies are very different than some of ours, but she is a woman and a mother that has endured many of the same challenges we face every day. She has dealt with the same sexism and misogyny that Hillary has been pummeled with, and now we see Democrats in power treating Sarah much the same way they treated Hillary.

I am embarrased by the mean, small minded people that are the top of leadership in the so-called democratic party. The party of inclusion has become the party of exclusion and ridicule. Who has not been insulted by this campaign? Women have been abused, lower-income people (bitter, clinging to their guns & religion), we've been called "low-information voters", "uneducated", and "hags". African Americans that don't worship Obama are "Uncle Toms". Those that believe the right to privacy were sold down the river on FISA. "Freedom Cages" were built to prevent free speech. All true democrats were cheated by the handling of Michigan and Florida and the suppression of a free and fair roll call vote for president at the convention. Hillary supporters were insulted endlessly and still.

The party has lost it's way just as the Republican party seems to be reforming. It will be a difficult decision for Hillary supporters this year. Whoever you decide to vote for, please stay with us and help move the conversation forward. We are democracy. We are the one's we've been waiting for -- whoever we choose to vote for.

ACTION - Please Stay Involved! Write your representatives on issues important to you. Work hard to get local candidates that you agree with elected.

You are now, officially, an activist! Let's stay together and make our party viable once again. ClintonDems will continue to give you resources to help and a great place to hang out with friends. We hope you will stick around!

P.S. Please watch and share this fantastic video by Geeklove. Caution -- you may shed a tear or two.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kfZLuI1wqg


Keep Fighting!

"The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they're not. "
~ Hillary Rodham Clinton

An Early Poll on Palin

Rasmussen Reports conducted a quick poll on John McCain's choice for running mate, Sarah Palin, that says she made a "good first impression." Rasmussen reported yesterday that 67 percent of Americans din't know enough about her to form an opinion, but Scott Rasmussen says that more respondents were able to express their views in this poll because it was conducted after the announcement when there was more news about her.
The findings:

• Likely voters say by 40 percent to 32 percent that McCain made the right choice and 28 percent were not sure.
• Thirty-five percent said the choice of Palin made it more likely they would vote for McCain, 33 percent less likely and 28 percent said it would have no impact on their decision.
• Forty-four percent say Palin is not ready to be President, 29 percent believe she is and 26 percent were not sure.
• Thirty-seven percent regard Palin as very conservative, 32 percent say "somewhat conservative, 13 percent say moderate and 16 percent are not sure.
• Palin is regarded favorably by 53 percent of voters, unfavorably by 26 percent and 18 percent are not familiar with her.

Sen. Clinton’s Campaign Journey Sparks New Women’s Movement, Boston Globe Reports

Posted on the Clinton Dems, reposted here to share:

FOR THOSE WHO ARE AFRAID OF THE ABORTION ISSUE DO NOT LET THE DEMOCRATS CAUSE YOU TO FEAR! FEAR IS THE OBAMA AND MICHELLE TALKING POINT.WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR WE OWN OUR VOTES.

Throwing  Roe V Wade at us is a fear tactic that should tell us the DNC is in trouble and are not getting the boost they wanted from Convention.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) speech Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention “brought into sharp relief the passion for women’s issues her campaign engendered — and the possibility of a legacy that could re-energize or divide the feminist movement” — the Boston Globe reports. According to the Globe, it is not clear whether a new movement would benefit the organizations that have long been at the forefront of women’s issues, such as EMILY’s List and NARAL Pro-Choice America. More...

Such groups now are calling for unity, saying that some of the most important women’s issues, especially abortion rights, are at stake in the November election and that Clinton supporters should stand up for them, the Globe reports. Many Clinton supporters, however, still are angry with Democratic leaders and women’s groups, saying they “did little to confront rampant sexism and allowed an unfair primary process,” according to the Globe. Consequently, some groups are divided over supporting Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — “a troubling turn for the Democratic Party and for the feminist establishment, whose credibility depends on keeping Clinton supporters in the fold,” according to the Globe.

Amy Siskind — who helped start The New Agenda, a nonpartisan group focused on women’s issues and electing female candidates — said that the group believes in abortion rights but does not make them a platform issue. “We believe that once women in this country have power in government and the workplace and money, things like abortion will not even be on the table for discussion,” Siskind said.
Gloria Allred, a women’s rights lawyer from Los Angeles and a Clinton delegate, said women who supported Clinton should vote for Obama at the very least because of abortion rights. Obama supports abortion rights, and McCain favors overturning Roe v. Wade and working to eventually outlaw abortions.

“We have to educate these women who are disappointed Hillary didn’t win,” Allred said, adding, “We have to help them to understand what’s at stake. We can’t have McCain appointing two Supreme Court vacancies” (Wangsness, Boston Globe, 8/27).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/119651.php

© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

They Can't Help It

Best analysis yet of why McCain's choice was truly inspired.

Posted by Reclusive Leftist, reposted here to share:

I’ve been telling my mother for a month that McCain would pick a woman.

“Governor Palin of Alaska. I’ll just bet you.” Every time I would say that my mother would just roll her eyes. I knew it. I knew he would pick Palin.

Goddamn, that old buzzard McCain is not so dumb after all.

  Why is it a genius move? Because of two things:

1. It will make it easier for center-right Hillary supporters to vote Republican in the fall, and

2. (this is the genius part) It will complete the alienation of the rest of the Hillary supporters from the Obama camp. How? That’s easy — the Obamabots will do it themselves. Go read the Washington Post blog or anywhere online where the Palin pick is being discussed, and you’ll see the trademark Obama misogyny already out in full force. She’s been on the ticket for two seconds and already the Obamabots are saying she “looks like a porn star,” they’re making rude remarks about her childbearing, they’re ridiculing her intelligence.

Keep it up, possums. Keep it up. Just when some Hillary supporters were trying to forget what misogynist freaks you all are, now you’re going to remind us all over again.

Brilliant fucking move by McCain.

Commentary: Palin is brilliant, but risky, VP choice

By Ed Rollins
CNN Contributor

 

Editor's note: Ed Rollins, who served as political director for President Reagan, is a Republican strategist who was national chairman of Mike Huckabee's campaign. For a rival view of the Palin pick, read here.

Ed Rollins says Sarah Palin has a compelling story and has immense potential to attract women voters

NEW YORK (CNN) -- John McCain's brilliant but risky "Hail Mary pass" choice for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah "Barracuda" Palin, has the political world saying first: Who? And then: Why? More...

The "who" is a young, articulate, smart, tough, pro-life woman who is the governor of our northernmost state. She is conservative and a mother of 5, including a son in the Army who is set to be deployed to Iraq on September 11. Her youngest child has Down syndrome.

The "Barracuda" nickname came from her aggressive basketball play on the state championship basketball team. She is a hunter, pilot and lifetime member of the NRA.

She is blunt, outspoken and charming. And don't assume she can't stand toe-to-toe with Joe Biden. She is a great debater. And she was runner-up for the Miss Alaska title, won Miss Congeniality in that contest, and plays the flute.

She also has a compelling story and is a most interesting choice. She will be known by all in 24 to 48 hours in this instant media world and I am betting she will be well-liked.

The "why" is she is a governor and outside the Beltway. Conservatives love her and she shares John McCain's value system. She is also known for taking on the establishment and ethics is her forte.

She defeated the longtime senator and Republican governor in a primary and then went on and defeated the former Democratic governor.

I don't believe people vote for vice president but only for president. That said, I think she is every bit as good a choice as Biden. Alaska has three electoral votes and so does Delaware -- so that part ends up being a wash.

I think the potential for her to attract women voters is immense. And I am betting, win or lose or draw, she is a future star of a party in desperate need of young people and women role models.

And by the end of this campaign, she too will be a celebrity and her life will never be the same again. I hope that's all for the good.

Speaking of celebrities, Barack Obama proved why he is one at INVESCO Field, home of the Denver Broncos, last night before 85,000 crying, cheering adoring fans. And what's wrong with that? He is a real talent and he excites and inspires his supporters.

Those of us who are not supporters need to step back and quit watching in awe and prepare for battle. Obama's natural and developed speaking style is unchallengeable.

I've been in politics for 40 years. I had the privilege of serving Ronald Reagan as his White House political director and campaign manager and during those years I heard him give hundreds of speeches
And no one was ever better. His words enlightened, gave comfort, inspired and made Americans feel good about themselves again. He also had a core of beliefs developed over a long period of time that led to a very effective agenda.

The Democrats now have their own version of an RR orator. And, like Reagan, Obama's speeches are his own words. Whether he will be elected president or will have the accomplishments RR did only time will tell. But his gifts of speech and ability to inspire his supporters are impressive and should not be underestimated.

Saying all that, and putting the emotion of "mile-high Denver" euphoria aside, Ronald Reagan became a great president because of his many other skills. He knew where he wanted to take our country and had the courage to stick to his beliefs.

We still don't know what Obama and the Democrats want other than George Bush back in Crawford Texas, and their party controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
We now know the tickets: Obama-Biden; McCain-Palin.

Biden is an asset as a foreign policy adviser. Palin will be an asset on domestic and energy issues. All have compelling stories. But ultimately this race is about McCain's experience and world view and Obama's ability to excite his base.

We have one more exciting convention (now with a new player in Gov. Palin) and then 60-plus days to go at full speed. The winner gets the toughest job in the world with the most difficult agenda we as a nation have faced in decades.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer

Obama as Nero

August 29, 2008 - by Bridget Johnson

As Barack Obama leaves Denver, I hope he remembers to fetch his fiddle: He’ll need something to play while the Democratic Party and its high hopes crumble, and he waxes poetic about the adoration of the masses he felt while perched a mile high at Invesco Field.

So, yeah, the palatial columns that made up the gaudy “West Wing” stage at Obama’s acceptance production reminded me of the cheesy set design in swords-and-sandals epics. But what really popped into my head was the image of Peter Ustinov as Nero in “Quo Vadis?” — “Do I live for the people or do the people live for me? … These people expect me to shine both day and night!” The left would have it that only the Republicans regard the masses as plebs, but Obama knows these masses as his loyal flock. More...

So loyal, in fact, that style was an easily accepted substitute for substance at this week’s convention. On a stage that looked like an Oscar for Best Performance by a Long-Winded Politician (Biden!) was going to be handed out any minute, the loyal masses saw a well-scripted throwing in of the towel by Hillary Clinton, in shots that made you wish there was an open mic on her, Bill, or even an at-times steely-faced Michelle Obama. The Republican crossover speech from former Congressman Jim Leach was a snoozing counterpoint to Zell Miller at the 2004 Republican National Convention or even how we know Joe Lieberman will be received at next week’s RNC.

And the policy points? Stunning! Bill Clinton intimated that Republicans hate autistic kids. John Kerry showed his hide is still plenty chapped over that Swift boat thing. Joe Biden struck the obligatory pro-war concession (Afghanistan) for the anti-war party. And Barack Obama drove home the point that he won’t be upstaged by anyone, essentially snagging Biden’s spotlight night Wednesday with a surprise appearance and impromptu speech at the Pepsi Center.

Was the weeklong production enough to net an Obama win in November?

One thing apparent in Denver was that the far left thinks the moderate-left platitudes put on for the media show aren’t left enough. A protester on every corner reminded you about the evil Republicans, but also chided the Democrats as traitorous to their “anti-imperialist” causes. And as amusing as many of the protests were, there were some stomach-churning undertones: A woman promoting abortion and defending Iran at the same literature-laden booth. A bumpersticker for sale that proclaimed “Satan’s a Republican.” Chants that lumped the F-bomb and America in the same sentence. A silk-screen display showing the faces of Iran (translation: “don’t attack, you evil U.S.!”) yet didn’t include a single imprisoned journalist, tortured democracy activist, or devious mullah in the happy, smiling bunch.

 It also became clear in my conversations with visitors just how much a significant portion of the African-American community are investing in this Obama run. One Obama button seen for sale on the 16th Street Mall showed Martin Luther King Jr. saying “My dream is now reality,” though I can’t believe the legendary civil rights leader would have pinned all of his hopes and dreams for racial harmony on one candidate. Another button seen on a partygoer showed Obama and a giant fist, with the words “Obama said knock you out” (think the LL Cool J song). If Obama loses, how many will blame the message (or lack of details in it), and how many will let that sting sow seeds of greater divisiveness?

One night while riding the light rail, an Obama supporter stood in the middle of the train with a bullhorn, yelling random things to cheering response: “Cheney! Halliburton! KBR! Ted Haggard! Larry Craig! Slavery is over! Obama is here!” As others kvetched about John McCain, two young men wearing Obama T-shirts began fighting and calling each other the N-word. How ironic, I thought, considering the use of that slur is something that really needs to be changed in America.

I chatted with the passenger across from me, who wore an Obama button and a pendant of his parents’ picture, pre-Civil Rights era, on a dog-tag-style chain.  “I want change,” he said. “We just need change! I’m voting for change! I don’t care what happens in any other country. I just care about what happens here. Only in America.” Words that could have come from any America Firster backing Ron Paul, but are clearly a trend among those who would just like to hear Obama’s current focus on domestic social-justice issues such as taxing the rich.

The problem is that globalization is about a lot more than economies. What happens abroad will continue to directly affect American families more than ever before. And as we were aided to our independence by the French so many years ago, we just can’t falter on moral clarity in our global responsibilities, as well. Would a President Obama have come to the aid of Rwanda, or would the isolationist tone that edged him past the foreign-policy-minded Hillary Clinton win out, winning the adulation of the masses on the left?

As Obama ascended his perch over the plebs Thursday night, before a crowd that endured an hours-long line to get in to see their exalted leader, he bellowed the change refrain and tried to paint John McCain as an ignorant elitist. The feel-good celebration and laundry list of promises — you’ll all get health care, get college paid for, socialist redistribution of wealth be damned (oh yeah, it was tax cuts for “95 percent of working families” — who draws the working-class lines?) — rallied the liberal base, but will have done little to entrance the moderates who, as polls show, got really nervous about Obama over the Russia-Georgia crisis.

It seems that Obama’s soaring rhetoric and preaching to the choir — a wasted opportunity for him in a spotlight week — could have just served to burn his party in order to create an epic.

---

Article printed from Pajamas Media: http://pajamasmedia.com

URL to article: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-as-nero/

Post-electable incoherence

Posted on August 29, 2008 by riverdaughter , reposted here to share

Before I get started, I admit that I haven’t listened to Barack Obama’s speech.  He has now achieved the unenviable position in my mind of having a voice even more irritating than George Bush’s.  At least with Bush, his mannerisms are so well known and predictable that they were  “almost” endearing in their mindless stupidity.  With Obama, the wounds are still too raw.  The mannerisms that make him quite possibly more mockable than Bush are currently surrounded by ideas that make me want to smack him.

Both Heidi Li and Anglachel have commentary on Obama’s speech.  I will listen or read Obama’s speech later but from what these two have deconstructed, it isn’t difficult for me to piece together what Obama was trying to convey.  The bottom line is that the Democrats are in deep, deep trouble not merely because they have selected a man who is supremely unready for the job but because they find themselves trying to hold their own base together without a clue of how they got to a divided party in the first place. More...

Heidi Li reports that Obama lifted whole sections of Hillary’s speeches without attribution.  This is not really a surprise.  We have seen the content of Obama’s character.  Schmoozers are experts at taking other people’s ideas and passing them off as their own.  It’s how they keep climbing the rungs of success.  The difference here is that half of his Democratic base is watching and we still have the votes to truncate his rise to the top.  I think this is what drives the Obamaphiles insane, as we have witnessed in the past couple of days as the trolls descend on us and pull the “If you don’t give us what we want, it will be YOUR fault if we lose” routine.  They just can’t believe they have to stoop down to us and ask nicely for our vote.  If we were as smart as *they* are, we would just give it to them to do for us what they know is best for us.  Can’t we see they desperately want Obama to win?  Why are we making their lives so difficult?

So, Obama sighs in resignation and incorporates parts of Clinton’s agenda in his speech.  “There!”, he seems to say, “I’m a Democrat.  Are you happy now?  Now, shut up and hand the votes over.”  But then, according to Anglachel, he reveals the reason why he will fail to win the White House in November.

For 40 years, since 1968, the American political landscape has been dominated by the most compact, fanatical, ideologically radical party in the West today. They have brutalized their opponents and despoiled the nation. The crises of our nation (vs. some rather pedestrian political screw ups) have been caused by this group that simply does not agree that we should be a democratic nation. This is not “gridlock” - this is political survival. They have over-reached and now is the time to seize a political opportunity.
From the langauge I have heard through the campaign season and particularly in the last few days, this group is quite cheerfully positioning itself in a weaker position than the Clintons took in 1992, when it seemed impossible that anything could stop the Reagan Revolution juggernaut. They have eagerly taken on the superficial trappings of the Right - pandering to religious kooks, backing down on civil rights, abandoning even the pretense of social and economic equity, flatly saying they will not entertain an ambitious health care reform plan - and have no sense of the depth of change they could accomplish if they would trust to their own party’s philosophy.
The speech was all surface and ended by denying its own opening claims, cutting off its deepest, strongest roots.

He seems intent on negotiating Clinton’s agenda away in the name of post-partisanship.  He embraces high-Broderism, that media construct that says that Americans really want the parties to get along and if only the Democrats would stop being so stubborn about their core principles and learned to work with Republicans, then we would all sing in perfect harmony.

The problem is that if Democrats abandon their core principles and Republicans don’t abandon theirs, any attempts at negotiation and compromise ends up pulling us more to the right.  The DC Village is perfectly happy pulling the Democrats to the right because it doesn’t rock their little boat and what is good for them, MUST be good for the rest of the country.

What we in the neglected half of the party can’t understand is why we are buying into the Villager narrative.  This was supposed to be our year.  After 8 years of unfettered movement conservatism and radical Republicanism when there was absolutely nothing standing in the way of Republicans enacting every Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society initiative in their arsenal, the country finally woke up and rejected what the Republicans were selling.  This year was supposed to be a cakewalk for Democrats.  The country is dying for a strong Democratic push-back and what Obama is proposing is about has bold as tapioca.

So, we have the strength of the Clinton agenda blunted by the call for bi-partisanship.  This is the Change! that we’ve been waiting for?  No, this is what the Villagers want.  They want a Democratic party without any teeth.  And the Democrats are going along with it because they have learned helplessness in the face of the Republican juggernaut.  Recently, I got a clue about what is going on in the heads of the liberal elite Obamaphile when I heard an interview Terry Gross did with a pension and retirement specialist who recommended that the government start a pension account for every American.  Terry whined about how the Republicans are never going to let that happen.  So why bother?  This is Obamatics.  Give up before you even start because vigorous resistence against Republicans has been unsuccessful in the past 8 years.

Grover Norquist and Karl Rove must be ecstatic.  They had always hoped to defang the opposition and now they are successful beyond their wildest dreams.  The Democrats have spent so much time banging their heads against an immovable object that they have completely forgotten what it was they were fighting for in the first place.  To them, politics is one endless series of compromises.  With Obama elected, the Democrats continue down the path of making the party irrelevent. And they Obama faction, for the most part, is too young and affluent to realize that what is required of it is struggle.  They are willing to surrender before a single bill is proposed.

What Clinton offered was the coherence of core Democratic principles with which we would strengthen our bargaining abilities.  She understood the American electorate and how it had been hurt economically and socially by movement conservatism.  She wanted to restore the social safety net of the New Deal and rally the public to fight for themselves.  That is bold.  That is change from what we have had from Democrats in the past eight years.  That is scary.  That’s not what we’re getting with Obama.

Obama does not have a core.  That is why his speech is incoherent.  It doesn’t stick together because he doesn’t believe in core Democratic principles.  He is merely mouthing the words because he knows he needs us onboard. But he will never get us onboard because we understand the hollowness of his policies and as a result, he is not only post-partisan, he is post-electable.  He is a failure before he has even started, along with the rest of the current Democratic party leadership.  They threw away their champion for a schmoozer and will be handed their asses in November.
The sooner the better.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• DNC Convention: The Finale, The Nomination Acceptance, The Democratic Platform
• Air Pollution On My Television
• Week 3: Obama and me

Articles /Blogs Thursday, August 27-31

Articles/ Blogs Sunday, August 31

**Sarah Palin vs, Barrack Obama, AudacityOfHypocrisy.com
Where Palin Made Her Name
How the Left Will Try and Diminish Palin - Dean Barnett, Weekly Standard
Sen. Clinton's Campaign Journey Sparks New Women's Movement, Boston Globe via Clinton Dems
They can't Help it - Reclusive Leftist, LondonAmerican
RU Experienced? - Noah Millman, American Scene
Who is Prepared to be President? Nobody - Richard Reeves, RealClearPolitics
More...

Articles/ Blogs Saturday, August 30
Obama And His Campaign Are Being Hypocrites.
A Chicagoan's Perspective on Obama, Rezko and Corruption
The Game Changer - John Avlon
Bad for Obama - Mark Steyn
Palin Fought for Reform in Alaska - Fred Barnes, Wall Street Journal
With Pick, McCain Reclaims Maverick Image - Dan Balz, Washington Post
Why the Left is Scared of Sarah Palin - Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard
A Reform Ticket - Wall Street Journal
The Story Behind the Palin Pick - The Politico
McCain's Brilliant Trap - Kirsten Powers, New York Post
McCain Makes Calculated Bet
Transcipt: Palin's Speech

Articles/ Blogs Friday, August 29
Obama Offers a Beautifully Packaged Lie - Robert Tracinski, TIA Daily
McCain to Obama: 'We Can Too' - Dan Schnur, New York Times
An Extraordinary Choice - Hugh Hewitt, Townhall
A Wasted Convention - Toby Harnden, RealClearPolitics
NAFTA bashing off of Obama's Agenda, Philip Elliott, Real Clear Politics
Obama Desperately Trying to Keep Lid On Bill Ayers Story
A Speech to the Delegates - David Brooks, New York Times
Obama's New, Old Politics Clash - John Harris & Jim VandeHei, Politico
Obama Gives a Non-Celebrity Speech - Steve Kornacki, New York Observer
He Remains the Perfect Stranger - Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post
And If Obama Loses? - Pat Buchanan, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Democrats Talkin' like the GOP, Debra Saunders, Rasmussen Reports
**PUMA PLAN FOR NOVEMBER**


Articles/ Blogs Thursday, August 28
**PUMA PLAN FOR NOVEMBER**
The Audacity of Hypocrisy, nobamablog
Did Biden Worsen the Mortgage Crisis? - McQ, QandO
Obama Needs to Take a Stand on Race - Juan Williams, Wall Street Journal
Obama tactics used to stifle and intimidate its critics, National Review Online
The Separation of Church and Pelosi - David Reinhard, The Oregonian
What Hillary's Women Want - Geraldine Ferraro, New York Daily News
Big HRC Donors Giving to McCain, Marcus Baram, ABC News
Dems Are Stupid to Equate McCain and Bush - Dick Morris, The Hill
The Big Contradiction from the Denver Dems - Michael Medved, Townhall
Democrats Work to Minimize Stadium Speech's Risks - New York Times
Would You Hire Barack Obama? Dean Barnett, The Weekly Standard
Biden's Exaggerations - Karl Rove, The Weekly Standard
Obama's slender record - William Kristol, The Weekly Standard
Brand New McCain Ad: Democrats on Obama's lack of Experience, thejtandbearshow.com
Where is the 2004 Barack Obama? - Jon Gurwitz, San Antonio Express News
Pomp and Circumstancee of the Campaign Process You Just Can't Make Up, Associated Content
Democracy -- Sponsored by Corporate America - Ralph Nader, The Hill
AT&T has high profile presence at Democratic Convention, Jim Kuhnhenn, Real Clear Politics
Hillary Can't Fix What Dems Broke - Froma Harrop, Providence Journal
Scratches in Obama's Glitter - Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe
Biden's Experience in Foreign Policy Poses Problems - Charles Lipson, CT
Why Obama Was 'The Most Liberal' - Charles Green, National Journal
Congress Is a Perfect Target for McCain - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
Avoiding A Long, Disappointing Fall - John Judis, The New Republic
Bill Clinton Endorses John McCain Sort Of (Video)
Behind the Scenes at the Building of the Greek Temple of Obamis (Video)
Explosive Video: Bill Clinton on Obama's Lack of Experience

Articles/ Blogs Wednesday, August 27
Why Bill Is Mad - Capehart, Washington Post
Problems on Mt. Olympus - Mike Murphy, Time
The Obama-Not Hillary Ticket - Dick Morris'
Would you have given a Harvard graduate a position of CEO right after graduation?'Obama Needs More Than Change - Philip Klein, The American Spectator
The Obama-Biden Pork Partnership - Ed Morrissey, Hot Air
Obama's Ayers Problem Deepens - Michelle Malkin
Which is the Real Michelle Obama? - Mona Charen, National Review
Obama's Stage: Has He Lost His Mind? - Charles Krauthammer, Wash Post
Hillary Gets a Good Start on 2012 - Michael Barone, US News & World Report
Has the Convention Helped Obama? - Jay Cost, RealClearPolitics
What Clinton's Body Said - CBS News
Walks of Shame - Savage Politics
Hillary Clinton's Stock Up, Most Would Like to See Her Run Again - Gallup
Women Have the Skills, Why Not More Top Jobs?
Obama Wins on Empathy, McCain on Experience
Celebrities for McCain - by Stephen F. Hayes
Gallup Daily: Race Still Close With Obama 45%, McCain 44%
Clinton: An Endorsement of the Democratic Party But Not Obama - Purple People Vote
(Still) Party Unity My A**Submitted By indy1207
Obama, Bill Clinton Remain Distant - Washington Post
Clinton's Address to the DNC (Video)
Gallup: Conservative Democrats (& Republicans) Peeling Away From ObamaVoters Must Wonder Why He Didn't Pick Hillary - Kirsten Powers, NY Post
The Denver Group Reception - NoQuarter
Chaos on the Convention Floor - The Washington Post
Fighting Against Obama's Thugs - By Michelle Malkin
Obama Parrots McCain on Georgia - The London American
She was Right - London American
The Unease of Election '08 - Jay Nordlinger, National Review
The Better Hillary Does, the Worse for Obama - Dick Morris, The Hill
The Arrogance of Nancy Pelosi - Rush Limbaugh, RushLimbaugh.com
Cognitive Dissonace - LondonAmerican

New, old politics clash in speech

Listen closely to the 46-minute address, however, and you heard two speeches crushed somewhat violently together."

By JOHN F. HARRIS & JIM VANDEHEI, Politico

DENVER - That was one more bravura performance from Barack Obama Thursday night, and 85,000 supporters in the football stadium here—and no doubt millions watching on television—were ecstatic over the oratorical flights of the newly crowned Democratic nominee.

Listen closely to the 46-minute address, however, and you heard two speeches crushed somewhat jarringly together. More...

The first half, one suspects, was the speech that Obama felt he had to give: a traditional partisan appeal that, for all his sonorous cadences, read like it could have been stitched together randomly from speeches delivered on any given day from rank-and-file Democrats on the floor of the House of Representatives.

There were denuciations of outsourced manufacturing jobs and promises to save Security Security and frequent baiting of John McCain for being the candidate of the rich and a weakling against Osama bin Laden.

The second half sounded like the speech Obama wanted to give: a plea for a new brand of politics, one in which politicians don’t attack each other’s motives or character, and Washington calls a ceasefire in such drearily familiar fights as abortion and gun control.

Obama did not acknowledge the two halves of his address—the partisan top and the post-partisan close—much less try to reconcile them. Blurring inconsistencies under clouds of polished language is the right of any politician. What’s more, a convention acceptance speech is not the time for a seminar.

Even so, it was notable that Obama’s speech offered countless rhetorical stanzas but not much in the way of a  sustained argument aimed at convincing people who are not already enthusiasts, or for whom the charge that McCain would represent four more years of George W. Bush does not by itself close the deal.

He chided McCain for being a slave to his party’s orthodoxy. But Obama did not find occasion to challenge any Democratic orthodoxies, or highlight places where he breaks from his party’s interest groups.

Indeed, he made almost no effort to place himself in any particular spot on the Democratic ideological spectrum. The result was to leave a default impression that he is a standard post-Clinton Democrat—wary of big business and the ill effects of globalization and free trade, motivated most intensely by antipathy to Bush and the Iraq War.

The speech included some moments of plain hypocrisy—nothing out of bounds by the standards of normal campaigning but out of step with his pleas for a more unifying and less manipulative style of politics.

Obama said “what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes,” because “the times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook.”

Over the course of this year Obama and other Democrats have suggested frequently that McCain abandoned his once independent positions in order to appease conservatives in his race for the Republican nomination.

He also invoked most of his party’s favorite gotcha moments against McCain. The thrusts were well-turned and mostly above-the-belt (though sometimes a bit distorted). But there is nothing more familiar than making politicians pay for their gaffes. This is precisely the same practice that Obama denounced last spring as old politics when it was used against him when he slipped by saying poor white voters “cling” to guns and religion because of job losses.

Obama accused McCain of considering everyone under $5 million as middle class – a reference to a clumsy comment McCain recently made at a forum. He said McCain wants to privatize Social Security, which is somewhat misleading. McCain has supported allowing workers to put a small percentage of their Social Security taxes in private savings accounts – but not to privatize the program.

He said McCain “has said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investment in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels." That’s not entirely true: McCain has been supportive of measures in all of these areas though he has also voted against many Democratic versions of these plans.

The speech was more programmatic and less biographical than many of Obama's most celebrated speeches. Notably, he touched only glancingly on his history making status as the first African-American nominee.

The speech also highlighted a contrast between Obama and the last Democrat to win the presidency. Even on big occasions like acceptance speeches or State of the Union addresses, Bill Clinton usually aimed for a conversational tone. More often than not, he also liked to pretend he was grappling genuinely with the other side’s honest positions, if only to show why they were wrong.

Obama strives for a more elevated and elegant tone in his language. But his basic case is more straightforward denunciation. “For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else,” Obama said of McCain.

This may not go far toward creating a new brand of politics, but it will please many of the Democratic elected officials here. All week, many of Obama’s colleagues in interviews said his most important job was to be a fighter—to tie McCain to Bush at every turn, and to show that when hit over his patriotism or his credentials as commander in chief he will hit back harder.

If those Democrats were right—if that was indeed Obama’s most important job—than the speech that wrapped up the 2008 Democratic convention probably succeeded both as both rhetoric and as politics. Still, even the finest phrases don't change the reality that it's hard to practice new politics and old at the very same time.

PUMA PLAN FOR NOVEMBER

 This is the PUMA PLAN for the November election, but we need to start working on it now,

pass it around and let your friends and neighbors and online families know. It’s urgent. We only have two months to assure the defeat of the thugs from Chicago.
Here’s the PUMA plan

Battleground States Residents

Must vote for McCain if they can find it in themselves to do it. Otherwise just leave “President” blank

For Senators and House Reps

the DNC said if their Messiah didnt win, they would still win the dem downline. We’d all fall in line (not) and even if they didnt win the presidency they would still win the house and senate.

If we are to clean out the crooks and thieves and self serving, who have been busy in congress lining their pockets with special interest money, ignoring the state of their constituents, we can’t keep voting them back in office even if they are Democrats. More...

those dems who fell in with Obama from the git go, vote their opponent or leave blank.

those dems who quickly jumped ship from Hillary, accepted payoffs from Obama, the Party, Dean, Pelosi, vote their opponent or leave blank

those dems who resisted the skullduggery and stuck with Hillary to the end until they were threatened by Pelosi , the DNC, Obama, Dean, vote them back into office.

Dont forget these are the superdelegates who could have changed or stopped the rigging of the nomination and theft of votes, but didnt.

these are the same congress we elected in 2006 to end the war, instead they supported a surge.

these are the same congress we elected in 2006 to impeach Bush-Cheney - instead they continued to allow the shredding of the Constitution and Bill of rights

These are the same congress we elected in 2006 to stop the spying on American citizens which is illegal, instead they passed immunity for Bush and ATT and the rest of the phone companies which partook.

And a special note to those who live in San Francisco or are constitutents of Nancy Pelosi. As one of the major powers in this coup of the people’s nominating process, If you have to vote for Mickey Mouse, get her out of congress.

Others who spearheaded this coup against the people and rigged the nominating process are:

Rahm Emanuel of Chicago

Jesse Jackson Jr. of Chicago

Richard Durbin of Chicago

Steny Hoyer of Maryland

James Clyburn of South Carolina

PUMA is voting against these people . All of the above put self interest and interest of their party choice before the interests of the people and legitimate election.

As more bad democrats are identified we will add them to the list.

The Audacity of Hypocrisy

Posted on August 28, 2008 by nobamablog  and reposted here to share:

As more information comes to light about Barack Obama’s relationship with Bill Ayers (unrepentant co-founder of violent radical leftist group Weather Underground), and as these facts get closer and closer to leaking into the consciousness of the average American voter, the Obama campaign continues to step up their strong-arm tactics to silence those who would bring the truth out into the open.  

As reported here last week, the American Issues Project put an ad together detailing the dirty deeds of Bill Ayers, and his connection to Barack Obama.  The Obama campaign swiftly petitioned the Justice Department to stop the ad from running.  When that didn’t work, they petitioned the DOJ again, requesting that they investigate and prosecute not only AIP but also an AIP contributor, Harold Simmons.  We also learned that this was not the first time that Barack Obama has called out such big guns against those who would dare to shed light on his past.  Ben Smith of Politico.com writes: More...

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time (Obama general counsel Bob) Bauer has called for criminal investigations and prosecutions into the donors to independent groups critical of Obama, including one supporting John Edwards and another supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. His words did have the effect of scaring their donors and consultants, but haven’t yet appeared to result in any prosecution.

At about the same time, it was reported that Stanley Kurtz of the National Review had tried to access records about The Annenberg Challenge on Excellence in Education, on which project Obama worked with Bill Ayers.  Although these records are supposed to be open to the public, access to Mr. Kurtz was initially denied.

Now we learn that the Obama campaign tried to turn their thugs loose on Chicago radio station WGN-AM just last night.  After finally gaining access to the records at University of Illinois on the Annenberg Challenge, the same Stanley Kurtz was interviewed on “Extension 720 with Milt Rosenburg” to discuss the article he wrote for the National Review.  Calling this “one of the most cynical and offensive smears ever launched against Barack”, the Obama campaign sent an email to his supporters telling them to call WGN and shame them for providing Kurtz with airtime.  The email goes on to say “At the very least, they should offer sane, honest rebuttal to every one of Kurtz’s lies.”  Zack Christenson, executive producer of the show says the Obama campaign was asked to have someone appear on the show but declined the request.

Either Mr. Christenson is lying, or the Obama campaign deliberately tried to mislead their supporters into thinking equal time was not even offered.  Hmmm…I wonder who is more believable.

In any case, what do we imagine these same supporters of Barack Obama would do if they learned that George W. Bush or Dick Cheney had tried to suppress a broadcast by a radio station about some of their suspicious dealings?  Or that they tried to block information from a magazine reporter?  Or that they tried to have someone prosecuted for putting together an ad about them?

But wait.

We don’t have to wonder what they would do.  We already know how Obamabots feel about such things, because the Bush administration has already been chastised by their political opponents for putting up walls and slamming doors in the faces of their critics.  And rightly so.

The Obama campaign needs to get a grip before someone accuses them of running for Bush’s third term.