A website dedicated to the man so uniquely unqualified to be President. This blog by by radio talk host Todd Feinburg has been replaced by RealClearThinker.com.
Virginia Republicans are in an uproar after the state teacher's union sent an e-mail to its members encouraging them to wear blue-colored shirts to school to show their support for Barack Obama.
The real problem is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. What lies underneath the visible part is huge, institutional, liberal bias. Which, of course, we've known about for a long time.
State Republicans are calling it an undisguised attempt to influence students' political views. The Virginia Education Association sponsored "Obama Blue Day" on Tuesday. In an e-mail sent last week, it urged teachers to participate by dressing in blue.
Well, sure it's undisguised. They're accustomed to doing what they want.
"There are people out there not yet registered. You teach some of them,"the Sept. 25 e-mail reads. "Others, including our members, remain on the fence!Its time for us to come together, voice our unity, because we make a difference!"
It's very similar to the media, another stronghold of liberalism in which the professionalism of their industry is undermined by pursuit of an agenda. Education is worse because education pursues an agenda other than teaching.
"Let's make Obama Blue Day a day of Action!" the e-mail continues. "Barack the vote!" In a statement released to FOXNews.com Thursday, VEA President Kitty Boitnott defended the e-mail, saying that it called for teachers to wear blue shirts, but not ones that mentioned a candidate.
Many liberals are belittling the choice, suggesting that as a mother of five children — including an infant with Down syndrome — she has neither the time nor the experience to become vice president... Change and reform are getting top billing by Republicans, a mantra that had all but belonged to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Sarah Palin, meanwhile, doesn't like the idea of using charges of sexism as a shield.
But use it they must, as it hits Democrats so delightfully where they sit. Andrew Romano quotes McCain adviser Carly Fiorina on his Newsweek blog:
I am appalled by the Obama campaign’s attempts to belittle Gov. Sarah Palin’s experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a mayor and governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.”
As Rudy said on all the morning shows today:
...I am really upset….Where are these feminist groups? I mean she is being asked questions like 'Can you be a vice president and a mother? But what about Barack Obama -- can you be a president and a father? Or John McCain? I was never asked that question, or George Bush or Al Gore. All these men have run, most of them had families -- some of them had young children -- none of them were ever asked 'Can you be a father and can you be president or vice president?'"
Barack has tried to tread carefully around the Palin issue, knowing first hand how delicate the feelings of women voters can be.
Obama and running mate Joe Biden issued a joint statement calling the choice "yet another encouraging sign that old barriers are falling in our politics."
The old barriers aren't coming down, however. Just as Barack, through his relationship with Reverend Wright, has revealed the role Democrats play in partnering with the race baiting industry, sexism by Democrats is now also in clear public display, as they now support the old barriers in order to try to stop Sarah Palin.
Barack's rock concert last night apparently had some impact, as John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Although ABC says she's not with McCain:
ABC News' Kate McCarthy Reports: As vice presidential speculation swirls, Gov. Sarah Palin is watching the fireworks from her home in Wasilla, Alaska.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is in Dayton, Ohio, awaiting a high noon event at which the campaign has said the Republican contender will announce his running mate.
Reports indicated that both Romney and Palin have told friends that they are not McCain's choice. This is a game-changer, coat-tailing on the excitement of the first black presidential nominee to offer the chance for the first female VP.
Sarah Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and a member of the Republican Party. She is the first female governor of Alaska, its youngest, and is the first governor born after Alaska achieved statehood. Brought to statewide attention because of her whistleblowing on ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders,[1] she won election in 2006 by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic Alaskan governor in the general election.
The risk of the choice is that Palin is almost as inexperienced as is Barack, and McCain needs a VP who is perceived as having the gravitas to step into the presidency, as his advanced years raise expectations that he won't still be serving at he approaches 80.
Palin's a smart, edgy pol who is exceptionally popular in Alaska. She's a conservative with a reputation as a reformer -- which has been somewhat tainted by scandals associated with her office.
Palin's married to an Eskimo, she's got a kid in the Army, she likes to hunt and fish, eats moose burgers, and has taken on establishment Republicans to elbow her way onto the political stage.
If she's the pick, Palin's a smart if risky choice for McCain.
Because of the experience factor, I didn't think McCain would make such a bold choice. I'm happy that he did, but concerned.
Either way, we have to hand it to McCain - he's woven a very complex tapestry of deception, making it very hard to guess the choice.
As Senator Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination next week, party leaders in battleground states say the fight ahead against Senator John McCain looks tougher than they imagined, with Mr. Obama vulnerable on multiple fronts despite weeks of cross-country and overseas campaigning.
Apparently, they believed the hype, and thought this election was going to be a tiptoe through the tulips.
These Democrats — 15 governors, members of Congress and state party leaders — say Mr. Obama has yet to convert his popularity among many Americans into solutions to crucial electoral challenges: showing ownership of an issue, like economic stewardship or national security; winning over supporters of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; and minimizing his race and experience level as concerns for voters.
And it's only going to get more challenging as voters learn what's behind the hype.
Mr. Obama has run for the last 18 months as the candidate of hope. Yet party leaders — while enthusiastic about Mr. Obama and his state-by-state campaign operations — say he must do more to convince the many undecided Democrats and independents that he would address their financial anxieties rather than run, by and large, as an agent of change — given that change, they note, is not an issue.
Change is not an issue? Who knew?
“I particularly hope he strengthens his economic message — even Senator Obama can speak more clearly and specifically about the kitchen-table, bread-and-butter issues like high energy costs,” said Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio. “It’s fine to tell people about hope and change, but you have to have plenty of concrete, pragmatic ideas that bring hope and change to life.”
Or, in the blunter words of Gov. Phil Bredesen, Democrat of Tennessee: “Instead of giving big speeches at big stadiums, he needs to give straight-up 10-word answers to people at Wal-Mart about how he would improve their lives.”
Democrats just have so little faith.
A New York Times/CBS News poll last month found the race between Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain to be a statistical dead heat, not unlike where Senator John Kerry and Mr. Bush stood in a Times/CBS News poll in July 2004. The poll four years ago was conducted after Mr. Kerry, the Democratic nominee, picked Senator John Edwards as his running mate, yet before both the party conventions and the most intense period of political attacks on Mr. Kerry’s war service record as skipper of a Swift boat in Vietnam.
That should strike panic, rather than fear, into the hearts of party elders. Hillary is still there, in waiting. And she's going to be the star at the convention!
To a considerable extent, political analysts say, the closeness of the race at this stage reflects the fact that many voters are not paying attention to it, after the long, wearying primary season. Many Democrats pointed to the election of 1980 when voters, choosing between a relatively inexperienced former governor, Ronald Reagan, and an unpopular incumbent, Jimmy Carter, finally flocked to Mr. Reagan at the end after resolving whatever qualms they had about him.
They can hope, can't they? (Ouch - there's that word again!)
But some Republicans disputed that analogy, saying the difficulty Mr. Obama faces getting traction in public opinion polls reflects the country’s reservations about this relative newcomer to national politics — both because he has little experience in national security but also, inevitably, because of his race.
“I think Senator Obama is a motivational speaker, but at the end of the day I don’t think that will translate into votes, and certainly not the image of strength that Ronald Reagan had,” said Jim Greer, the chairman of the Florida Republican Party.
In response, several Democrats said that choosing a seasoned party leader as his running mate would help Mr. Obama in the fall if he is unable to fully allay voters’ uncertainty that a one-term senator is ready for the presidency.
Perhaps that's all it will take. Or maybe, as voters start to learn that Barack is just John Kerry, sans war hero resume, avec Reverends Wright, Pfleger and the rest of the Obamafia, then they'll be running away in droves.
...I've sometimes wondered in recent months: Whatever happened to that Obama, to that enemy of excessive partisanship and evangelist of national unity?
He was a uniter, not a divider.
"Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes."
He was going to change the way Washington does business.
Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."
He was going to cut through the ugliness, reach into the heart of America, tapping into such innate power that the forces of evil would be thrown to the side.
"We worship an awesome God in the blue states," Obama thundered. "And yes," he added, "we've got some gay friends in the red states."
That was the concept he laid out in his 2004 convention speech, the template for his candidacy that would begin in earnest just 2 years later.
...those lines stood out for a reason: They articulated a deep yearning, held by many Americans of varying beliefs, for less polarization and division. This theme was precisely what catapulted Obama to the front rank of Democratic politicians.
Now we're left with Barack Obama - Business As Usual. What happened?
The question is laid out by Michael Tomasky, writing in the Washington Post, who fails to offer a solid anwer, perhaps because, it seems, he likes Barack too much to state the obvious, loud and clear.
The guy who was going to change the way business is done in Washington was a character developed by Barack to win the nomination. The deep yearning for the end to partisanship isn't so deep or so wide. The fantasy he offered was a good angle for winning the nomination, but with the nomination in hand, Barack has shed his sheep's clothing.
I recently asked David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, what became of post-partisanship. "Oh, I think he still speaks about it, and I'm sure it'll be a theme at our convention," Axelrod told me.
Now, the concept of the Obama campaign is, "This is the year in which a Democrat can't lose, and we're not going to blow it. We'll do anything to win."
Barack had a short-lived bump, with a Gallup poll of registered voters showing him with a 9 point lead a few days ago. Now it's down to four, with Rasmussen at 2%.
