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Palin’s Debate Reviews Are In …
All agree she did good. But will it make a difference?
The irony is that the MSM, precisely as they had done at the GOP Convention, helped deliver a huge audience (nearly 70 million viewers) and a moral victory to Palin. Had they not savaged her and ridiculed her for weeks — just as they did after her selection as VP was announced — she would not have appeared so stunningly different and better than the image many voters had of her going into the debate. If the MSM did not exist, Palin would have to invent them. They are the perfect foil and they never disappoint.
As one network exec confided to me about the penchant for underestimating a politician like Palin who repeatedly has won elections, “We can be such idiots in the media.” Who could quibble with that?
The real dispute among the pundits came over whether the debate means anything. Did it change the trajectory of the race which now is decidedly in Barack Obama’s favor? Not surprisingly, the MSM sniffed and declared nothing had changed. Conservatives hoped it had — by changing the narrative, reviving the base and reminding millions and millions of viewers that the McCain-Palin team loathes Washington insiders as much as they do. They prayed that Noonan had it right:
Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles: Clear! Zap! We’ve got a beat! She will re-electrify the base. More than that, an hour and a half of talking to America will take her to a new level of stardom. Watch her crowds this weekend. She’s about to get jumpers, the old political name for people who are so excited to see you they start to jump.
The opportunity to turn the page — or “reboot” in New Media-speak — was enhanced by the passage on Friday of the $700B financial rescue bill. The final vote 263-171 was not a close one, leaving some to wonder what took so long.
The phones had jammed the switchboard on Capitol Hill only a week earlier with conservatives and liberals alike inveighing against the “bailout.” Paralyzed by fear of an enraged electorate and annoyed by the ultra-partisan barbs of Nancy Pelosi, most House GOP members last week were unwilling to “walk the plank” while Pelosi’s closest supporters voted “no.”
But the stock market continued to dive, credit dried up, another bank failed and cooler heads in the Senate prevailed, thereby forcing the House’s hand. On the second go-around Pelosi did her job — she garnered support and avoided vilifying the opposition.
Who stands to benefit from the bill passage? Many conservatives hope it will be McCain who can now move on to talk of broader themes like reform, energy, national security and tax cuts. But the financial meltdown has left his poll numbers sagging and moved the economy and the unpopular President front and center in the race. Democrats smell victory and intend to keep focusing on the financial mess in the home stretch.
In the last month of the campaign McCain will need to convince voters that he and Palin are the “outsiders” to replace the Washington crowd which the entire country has come to revile. Conservatives continue to fret that McCain has not made better use of the connection between Democrats and the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae debacle. (By contrast the National Republican Congressional Committee has a punchy new ad highlighting this very point.)
Obama meanwhile has the best chance he has all year to make the simple pitch that it is time to throw out the Republicans. With jobless claims rising and factory orders sinking it seems increasingly improbable that the Republicans could hang on to the White House.
Two more debates, lots more ads and rallies and perhaps an October surprise or two is all we have left.
The McCain-Palin ticket will have their work cut out for them, but they are hoping the worst is finally behind them.
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Jennifer Rubin is PJM's Washington, DC, editor. She also blogs at Commentary’s Contentions.
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48 Comments
1. Self-hating boomer:There’s only one thing that’s going to make a difference at this point, and that’s if the McCain/Palin campaign gets off their duffs and places the blame for the subprime mess squarely on Frank, Dodd, and the rest of the donkeycrats who caused it. McCain already blew it when he let Obi-wan claim, unchallenged, that it’s due to an ideology of deregulation. That may have been his last chance, but if it wasn’t, they only way he’s going to pull this off is to make it clear, with irrefutable facts, that this was entirely the doing of the donkey/community organizer nexus.
He also has to start pounding on the massive organized election fraud that Acorn and other Obamite groups have been doing, and his America-hating terrorist buddies, and his extreme left-wing voting record. But the mother of all issues is the subprime mess, and McCain has already squandered most of his opportunities to set the record straight on that.
We have four weeks left. Time to do some serious campaigning for a change.
Oct 5, 2008 - 9:10 am 2. RE:Sarah can’t carry McCain across the finish line. He has to help a little. If McCain does not snap out of wimp mode, we’re looking at a four year assault on individuals rights and liberties that will take decades to undo.
Gov. Palin is the only bright spot in this entire election cycle. The only one.
Oct 5, 2008 - 9:24 am 3. syn:Wow, if Obama wins it will be the end of Israel. Samantha Powers (yeah I heard she was removed from public eye, but we all know how Obama is good at looking good) taking about invading Israel to stop the genocide against Palestine and protect Hamas and Fatah.
So Obama’s foreign policy experts would invade Israel.
One cannot be Jewish and vote for Obama…that would be an anti-semite Nazi lover.
Oct 5, 2008 - 9:57 am 4. Jim:Here’s an answer for you:
Oct 5, 2008 - 10:07 am 5. CALIndie:http://www.intouch.org/atf/cf/%7B865500FE-874B-487B-A95C-C0B327D0A690%7D/LP080928.pdf
Self-hating boomer – I agree.
Let’s hope Steve Schmidt has enough sense to let the Old Man and Sarah Barracuda loose to raise hell for the American people the next 30 days.
Because I’ll tell you, hell is what we’re going to get from Obama, Pelosi and Reid… The Unholy Trinity!
It is interesting how scared the Obama camp (read: MSM) is about the Bill Ayers association. The AP’s Douglass K. Daniel claims that Palin’s comments about Obama “palling around with terrorists” were quote, “…unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.”
My hope is that we see dump truck loads of the truth regarding Barack Hussein Obama’s questionable, scandalous and potentially dangerous associations exposed to the bright, hot, light of day. I’m confident the majority of American voters will see through the weak attempts by the Obama people to make it a race issue. If there ever was a politician that needed a good “swift boating” it is Barack Hussein Obama.
Oct 5, 2008 - 10:08 am 6. Turfmann:The fact of the matter is that Obama’s ties to Ayers are far deeper and much more intimate than the Obama campaign and the Main Stream Media would like you to believe. They are hardly ships passing in the night, rather, they are ideological soulmates. Reading Stanley Kurtz’s report on digging through the files of CAC is enlightening – however, his cry in the night is not being heard – yet.
What’s more is that Obama is up to his neck in his association with ACORN, you remember ACORN from earlier this week as the bailout bill was being debated, right? You can draw a straight line from the liberal Democrats in Congress to Fannie and Freddie to ACORN to Obama. Obama has blood all over his hands and boatloads of cash in his account as a consequence this crisis. For a thorough review of this relationship you can read Simpson’s article for American Spectator that was on the web last week:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html
I know that McCain has been working on the upcoming debate this weekend, so I can give him a pass on that. Palin did a great job yesterday opening up a can of woopa** on Obama and actually got him to respond. If the McCain camp is paying attention they will go one level deeper on Obama’s associations. From there it is Katy-bar-the-door. Obama’s questionable associations with individuals and organizations are legion and well documented for those who take the time to open-mindedly research them. These associations are not accidents, my friends. If you are Jewish do you worship in a Mosque? If you hold the American ideal close to your heart would you spend even a moment in the company of someone who took up arms against it? If you believe in individual rights and limited government would you allow yourself to be employed by an organization that wants citizens to rely upon the government to secure housing for them outside the parameters of the free market? Walk a mile in Mr. Obama’s shoes and ask yourself if his vision of America at all resembles yours.
That Obama is purposefully obfuscating his true ideology and his true associations is beyond debate. What is also beyond debate is that he, and we, will have to suffer the consequences of those ideas and associations if, God forbid, he should be elected to office. The question we have to grapple with is are we going to finally vet this man or not?
Oct 5, 2008 - 10:15 am 7. SAF:If McCain-Palin wins it will be due to the Bill and Hillary late October surprise linking Obama to something or other. There is too much support for Obama from the MSM combined with the economic mess which is easy to blame on the republicans. (It is a tribute to the democrats that they played a big hand in this mess and foisted it largely onto the republican party)
The republicans have done a poor job as custodians of the economy. Bush spent too much and did not act forcefully years ago to stop the Dodd-Frank express train to easy credit. Like his father before him who fell for the raise the tax gambit he fell easy pray to the trap sprung on him.
People talk about how smart Biden is. But Hillary nailed it best by observing Palin has had a great performance for someone who only started just 5 weeks ago in this difficult arena. Sounds like smart to me.
Oct 5, 2008 - 10:34 am 8. CALIndie:Turfmann – “You can draw a straight line from the liberal Democrats in Congress to Fannie and Freddie to ACORN to Obama.”
I take exception to this claim. You see, it is not a straight line, it is a perfect circle! Obama has given $800,000 to Acorn for “get out the vote” work during this campaign.
Oct 5, 2008 - 10:36 am 9. Self-hating boomer:Turfmann, point taken, but even if the details aren’t know, what is well known about Ayers and the CAC should be toxic enough to kill the Messiah’s political ambitions. This is a cross-post from another thread, to make the point:
Gedankenexperiment: Imagine an alternative universe where McCain recently served on the board of a charity that was supposed to help school children with Timothy McVeigh. Imagine that the money all disappeared, and no measurable benefit accrued to the kids. Imagine that much of the money founds its way into the treasuries of Stormfront, Ayrian Nations, and the Klan. Imagine that the kids were indoctrinated into the dangers of black peril.
Now imagine that McVeigh failed at blowing up the OKC federal building, and that prosecutors failed to convict him, and he ended up a cranky talk-radio host, who laments that he didn’t succeed, and blow other things up, as well.
No big deal, right?
Oct 5, 2008 - 12:07 pm 10. Marc Malone:I said in another blog that Palin had no chance to win this debate. I still stand by that. Palin clearly won the debate. If you doubt that, watch Biden’s body language during the debate. He knew he was getting thumped.
There was no howl of outrage from the MSM for his gross lies and fantasies, nor for his leering at Palin. They declared him the winner for “his command of the issues”. What debate were they watching? They HAD to know those were falsehoods, or they are as stupid as they made Palin out to be. The fact is, Biden IS as stupid as they made Palin out to be. He simply makes it up as he goes. But instead of pillorying him properly, they hailed his performance.
What a sledgeload of manure!
Oct 5, 2008 - 12:08 pm 11. Boris:“Palin clearly won the debate.”
Nope. Independents polled gave Biden the victory.
The dank smell of desperation is evident here. Most of you guys were convinced Palin would give McCain the victory, but now you are nappy that she didn’t implode during the debate. McCain has looked erratic and Obama has looked steady.
All that’s left for McCain is mudslinging, which probably won’t work.
Oct 5, 2008 - 12:36 pm 12. CALIndie:Marc Malone – “The fact is, Biden IS as stupid as they made Palin out to be.”
You are soooooo right! When Biden wasn’t flashing his nervous, toothy grin or oogling Sarah’s curves he looked pasty white and bewildered, which was about 80% of the time! He looked like he would have paid a thousand bucks for just one straight Scotch!
Oct 5, 2008 - 12:40 pm 13. John Moore:The Republicans face the same problem that Bush had in 2004 – an MSM Iron Curtain attempting to suppress all unpleasant facts about their candidate – Obama. The few facts that escape through this curtain are then denounced down by the MSM Pravda as unimportant, or slanders, or….
In 2004, the MSM almost completely suppressed Kerry’s appalling behavior during the Vietnam War.
It took grass root guerrilla warfare by the Swift Boat vets to pierce that veil.
The McCain campaign will need to do the same thing: make charges so sharp that the media cannot ignore them. Be creative and surprising, again forcing the MSM to report.
The risk – being perceived as using gutter politics.
The risk of not acting – a successful MSM cover-up of Obama’s dark side.
In political-talk terms, the McCain campaign needs to go for “earned media”.
Palin’s attack on Obama’s association is the first shot in this new battlefront.
Oct 5, 2008 - 1:31 pm 14. Ten:She did good?! Come freaking on PJM, spring for a proper copy editor, for crying out loud…
Oct 5, 2008 - 2:22 pm 15. Self-hating boomer:The difference is that 2004 (and 2000) was less about being for the donkey than it was about being against the elephant. The Gore and Kerry campaigns were really anti-Bush campaigns. For the first time since Clinton, they’re actually pumped. This is why this time, their wagons are circled much, much tighter.
It’s hard to believe that Rather fell on his sword for just Kerry. If he only had known, he could have hung on, and fell on his sword for The One ™.
Oct 5, 2008 - 2:27 pm 16. Sheep:One candidate used a dissident to serve his political goals for education (Obama, Ayers). Another candidate was used by Charles Keating. He accepted gifts, travel and donations from a convicted S&L scammer. Big difference. You want to play the association game. That’s fine. Start with the geezer on the right. You know have the lancome model spouting this crap on her speaking tour. Pathetic. Your campaign has nothing left of substance. You’re left with the sort of character assassination that Bush used on McCain. Truly your side offers nothing to the American people but politics as usual. Sad and more sad that you defend it like sheep.
Oct 5, 2008 - 2:35 pm 17. Sheep:Self-Hating.
You people have no ability for introspection, huh? You use “The One” moniker and complain about idolatry of Obama. Meanwhile, you do backflips for one of the silliest most insubstantial people ever to grace politics, Sarah Palin. Even George Will and other thoughtful conservatives condemn her inadequacies, but you lap her up. How is that different from your criticism of Obama supporters? You guys need to support the talented smart people in your party, Romney or Hagel. Instead, you have done what you condemn, fall for celebrity.
Oct 5, 2008 - 2:43 pm 18. geokstr:Sheep:
Great ID for someone without enough brains or integrity to research facts before copy/pasting from Kos. All lies about McCain and the Keating 5.
Bob Bennett is a DEMOCRAT, who was hired by the DEMOCRAT controlled Ethics Committee to investigate the Keating 5. Here is what he had to say THIS YEAR, which is no different that he has been saying for the last 20 years:
“You know, I’m in a pretty unique position to talk about John McCain. First, I should tell your listeners, you know, I’m a registered Democrat, so I’m not on his side of a lot of issues. But I investigated John McCain for a year and a half, at least, when I was special counsel to the Senate Ethics Committee in the Keating Five, which, by the way, this New York Times article goes back to and discusses, goes back years and years.
And if there is one thing I am absolutely confident of, it is John McCain is an honest and honest man. I recommended to the Senate Ethics Committee that he be cut out of the case, that there was no evidence against him, and I think for the New York Times to dig this up just shows that Senator McCain’s public statement about this is correct. It’s a smear job.”
However, the DEMOCRAT Ethics Committee wouldn’t allow Bennett to drop him from the case because they wanted this to look like a “bipartisan” scandal, when it was a DEMOCRAT scandal.
Do you get paid by Soros to do your copy/paste jobs by the comment, or by how many conservative, moderate and independent blogs you leave your smelly little droppings in?
It really is too bad that the internet does not force identification of individuals using Alinsky’s tactics to pollute the discourse in this cowardly fashion. There sure are a lot of you working for Obama.
Oct 5, 2008 - 3:05 pm 19. thegr8_1:To the Clintons help get McCain elected you must have something more on Obama that the conservative talk media doesn’t. Then Hillary can run against Sarah in 2012 and Bobby Jindal will be in the ondeck circle in 2016.
Oct 5, 2008 - 3:41 pm 20. Marc Malone:Sheep – another leftist spewing the Keating 5 nonsense. Glenn and McCain were exonerated. The Dems just tagged ‘em for political cover, because it was the 3 Dems who were the guilty parties.
The conservatives decrying her shortfalls are buying MSM portrayals of her lack of qualifications. She has proven to be smart and capable. She has a proven track-record of success, something Obama doesn’t have at all. She was brought onto the national stage, then held to a truly unreasonable standard. Despite her solid knowledge in other areas, they only focus on the areas where she’s weak. They don’t give a full picture of her. They made her seem dumb, when she’s not.
Oct 5, 2008 - 3:57 pm 21. john from cinncinati:shepp:i mean’t sheep: celebrity is the moniker that Mccain gave your Obama, now you toss it back like it was original.Sarah Palin is a governor whats your guy. yeah a presidential candidate with a hidden past.
Oct 5, 2008 - 4:23 pm 22. cedarford:Palin won’t matter much in the end. Nor all the anti-”Evildoer” rhetoric. Once again, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
America is awash in debt from the failed Reaganite dogma that tax cuts pay for themselves.
American society is fed up with only the rich getting proceeds from American prosperity and productivity.
America is in fiscal crisis because too many people believed that the wealthy people running “free markets! free markets” were honest and didn’t need hard oversight and regulation. Another bit of Reagan dogma dashed.
It is then a little hard, as a wastrel debtor nation, to be able to sustain a large military and a series of ruiniously expensive wars and nation-building projects for “freedom-lovers” who hated us before we arrived and will hate us after we leave.
Or to pretend that the story of the 21st Century will be the “battle” against a few million Muslim radicals while Asia and 4 billion replace the 1 billion of the West that had dominance in the past 300 years.
Palin is pure sidestuff.
McCain is unable to credibly show he will change the town he lived in for 30 years and loves, or get “all his dear, dear friends” in Congress to change their ways – despite him breaking from Bush every once and a while.
The collapse of Reaganism into intransigent tax-cutting dogma and the rank failure of deregulation means that the bloodletting will go far past the Presidency to a Republican slaughter in State elections.
Appeals to fear of gay marriage, abortion, Muslim Evildoers won’t help them much given the big issues in play that just got worse and worse during the Bush years.
It’s time for the Republicans to retool their issues and their brand.
Oct 5, 2008 - 5:19 pm 23. cedarford:The overrarching problem for Republicans is not that X,Y,or Z with ties to radicals, support Obama and, IF ONLY this can be properly communicated, Obama will be defeated and 8 more years of Republican bliss awaits…
No, it is that the country is moving away from Republicans on fear of religiously intolerant theocrats attempting to impose their will, the collapse of Reagan economics as a fraud, and the idea of endless war to spread “democracy” (as long as it is democracy that LOVES corporate cronyism and conservatism).
Fukiyama writes: Like all transformative movements, the Reagan revolution lost its way because for many followers it became an unimpeachable ideology, not a pragmatic response to the excesses of the welfare state. Two concepts were sacrosanct: first, that tax cuts would be self-financing, and second, that financial markets could be self-regulating.
Prior to the 1980s, conservatives were fiscally conservative— that is, they were unwilling to spend more than they took in in taxes. But Reaganomics introduced the idea that virtually any tax cut would so stimulate growth that the government would end up taking in more revenue in the end (the so-called Laffer curve). In fact, the traditional view was correct: if you cut taxes without cutting spending, you end up with a damaging deficit.
The Terri Schiavo fiasco taught a new generation of women, not thrilled by feminists, that there WAS reason to fear fanatic Right-to-Lifers.
The “no too high a price in American lives and treasure to save foreign democracy-hungry freedom-lovers!!” philosophy? The cancerous Reagan-neocon sentiments foundered on the democratically elected Putin, Chavez, Hamas, Hez leaders as well as watching “democracy in action” in Iraq and Afganistan.
It’s not just Bush II is the President held in the most contempt since Truman, surpassing even Carter. (Nixon was hated but also viewed by even his enemies as powerful, intelligent, and competent)…
It’s the failure of Republicans to deliver since 1994, being corrupt, being mired in failed dogma .
It’s not just McCain that looks likely to go down…it is solid, gifted Republicans in Congress that will go down this year…and nothing about Bill Ayers!! Terrahist Evildoers!! Or Love of Israel above even America, will save them..
Against all that, Palin is purely a small sideshow.
Oct 5, 2008 - 5:20 pm 24. Jim Baker:Boris,
Be careful, nappy could be a racist word, you never know these days.
Sheep,
Oct 5, 2008 - 5:49 pm 25. Rosie:Specifically, what were those inadequacies? She is a woman? She was educated west of the Mississippi? She has 5 kids? She isn’t smart enough to learn?
I happen to be a thoughtful conservative, maybe not up to the speed of even a thoughtless liberal of course, and I think that our Constitution specifically states that Sarah Palin is qualified to be President or Vice-President. There are still un answered questions about whether the Constitution qualified Mr. Obama to be President. Give this crap a rest.
As I watched the vice presidential debate, did you notice who looked into the camera and spoke to the people? It was Sarah. If you watched Joe, he basically spoke to Gwen. Occasionally he would turn to the camera and speak to the people. I thought this debate was to address the American people.
Oct 5, 2008 - 6:11 pm 26. Rosie:Did you notice who spoke into the camera and to the American people? It was Sarah. Who did Joe speak to? Most often he spoke to Gwen. I thought this debate was to speak to the American people.
Oct 5, 2008 - 6:13 pm 27. Preach on, SarahCuda! « The Right Daily:[...] This is what you get, when you best their candidates in a debate, Gov. Palin. Keep it [...]
Oct 5, 2008 - 6:55 pm 28. Sadly, No!:This site is funny. Every poll taken after the debate gave it to Biden by a margin of roughly 2:1. Of course those must have been “liberal” polls of “east coast elites”. Or something like that. I’m sure conservatives will come up with some feeble excuse to ignore what they know to be true.
Not to mention the fact that McCain is still tanking all over America since the debate and Palin has the lowest +/- of any candidate on either ticket, often in negative territory. Again, I’m sure conservatives will ignore what they know to be true.
She was better than awful, which is still pretty bad and certainly nothing to brag about. I guess Republicans are the party of low standards now. I look forward to seeing how many of the Palin fanatics jump off the bandwagon when she loses. Palin 2012? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Oct 5, 2008 - 6:58 pm 29. cfbleachers:Senator Obama’s campaign has developed a consistent pattern of binge and purge radical extremist views, first infusing the campaign with persons who hold very far left fringe ideals, then purging them when the Democratic Party Media can no longer contain their identities, cover for them, or secrete the rage and froth that boils up from their extremist ideals.
Professor David Bernstein has his take on some of this over at the Volokh Conspiracy.
But what is interesting to me is that not only did Obama not personally find anything especially obnoxious about Wright’s radicalism, anti-Americanism, ties to Farrakahn, and so on, or Ayers’ lack of regret for his terrorist past, he apparently didn’t expect that much of anyone else would care, either. How else do you explain why he didn’t jettison these individuals from his life before they could damage his presidential ambitions? How else do you explain how his campaign seemed to be caught flatfooted when Obama’s ties to Wright and then Ayers became campaign issues? And, perhaps most tellingly, how else do you explain that when Obama was asked in a debate with Clinton about his ties to Ayers, he analogized his friendship with Ayers to his friendship with Senator Tom Coburn, as if being friends with a very conservative senatorial colleague is somehow analogous with being friends with an unrepentant extreme leftist domestic terrorist?
http://volokh.com/
I understand the instinct to not overstate the ties to fringe, frothing, raging, extremist viewpoints. However, the Democratic Party Media has been so intent on silencing and strangulating any inquiry into these ties, or to virtually any vetting of Sen. Obama’s past, and with the Gestapo-like “calls to action” and knee jerk secreting of documents, …it gives rise to legitimate suspicions that something NEEDS to be hidden here.
It is now of little surprise to find that Sen. Obama was tied to radical fringe groups and people, almost his entire life. What has not been “bundled” together, is what influence these groups and people have had on the Senator’s worldview.
Suffice it to say, had a Republican candidate had ties to equally fringe extremist voices on the right, they would have run out of ink and film in the first month reporting on those ties.
Sen. Obama’s ties to Socialist, Marxist, Communist, Black Liberation Theology, Nation of Islam proponents, agitators for rage, overthrowing the government, Gramscian chaos, …underlying his entire life…have been the voices of bubbling rage and hatred for the United States and its form of goverment.
Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist who told him to not believe in the American Way, and that college was a “compromise”. I believe that Sen. Obama knew that Davis’s fringe views were too radical for middle America…and that is why he only identified him as Frank the old poet.
I also believe that Sen. Obama spent one month with his father at the age of ten, while his father was espousing Marxist ideals in Kenya and the need of the boy to gain some measure of love and attention from his father, who seemed to spend a lifetime ignoring his existence, plays no small part in Sen. Obama’s attraction to the far leftism school of thought.
Sen. Obama indeed went to college and sought out his most radical professors, embracing their rage and the academic fury of agitation and disrespect for American values…those very same ideals that Frank Marshall Davis had mentored Obama into disrespecting.
When Sen. Obama graduates from college, he seeks a job as a community “organizer”, but in Chicago on the South Side, that is a hotbed of angry agitation and fury against middle America, whites in general and the rich in particular. Organizers are almost always agitators or tied to agitators.
The “godfather” of “slow revolution” was Saul Alinsky. He died in 1972, but his legacy was intact when Barack Obama arrived in Chicago. Alinsky believed that the Students for Democratic Society, the Black Panthers, the Weathermen…were imbeciles for creating open and notorious acts of hatred and violence. It made an enemy of the community. Alinsky believed in “soft revolution”…in which you engage the community from the inside and agitate for the exact same hatred against “the man”, by ingratiating yourself…all the while intending to overthrow the system.
Sen. Obama spends three years or so doing that soft agitation and then decided to apply to Harvard Law School. At this point, several issues become a bit murky and shadowy yet again.
Khalid al-Mansour, according to Percy Sutton…asked Sutton to assist in getting Barack Obama some assistance in attending Harvard law school.
Mansour has ties to a Saudi prince and was a radical extremist who spews invective about whites and is a Muslim of numerous raging and frothing hatreds and extremism.
The campaign of Senator Obama has blocked the inquiries into who paid for his education and Harvard has agreed to keep such evidence under strict lock and key. While bemoaning the paying of student loans for Sen. Obama…which, it was declared…only came AFTER his book sales brought in income…are not reflected…anywhere…at all…on any of the mandatory documents one has to file to run for the Presidency. Not one shred of documentation supports the notion that Sen. Obama paid off the “student loans”…in fact, it is unclear whether someone actually paid for his education.
Sen. Obama says that he took an armload of tapes with him to school, from the ragings and frothings of the fringe black liberation preacher Jeremiah Wright. He was inspired by the rantings and modeled speech pacing and tone based upon Wright. Wright, Pfleger and Louis Farrakhan comprise a trilogy of racial and class warfare on the South Side of Chicago. Wright and Pfleger are agitators of racial disharmony and class resentment, both of whom are fond admirers of Louis Farrakhan from the Nation of Islam….the one of “Judaism is a gutter religion” fame.
Obama spent 20 years at Wright’s side, calling him a spiritual guide and a mentor. He modeled himself after the speech patterns and agitation energy of Wright. It strains credulity to believe that Sen. Obama did not know precisely who Wright was, what he believed, and how much froth and rage emanated from the pulpit at TUCC. It simply doesn’t pass the smell test.
Moreover, it is wholly inconsistent with EVERY other aspect of Sen. Obama’s life…to suggest that he “didn’t know” who Wright, Pfleger, Mansour, Frank Marshall Davis, et al…were…or what they stood for and against. As he embraced the worldviews of Davis, his radical professors at college and those of Mansour, Wright, Pfleger…he came upon William Ayers and Bernardine Dorhn.
Ayers was a Weatherman agitator of fringe leftist and violent proclivities. Dorhn is an imbecile wife who said “dig it” at the Tate-La Bianc murders. Sen. Obama may have only been 8 years old when Ayers and the Weathermen bombed the Pentagon…and tried to murder innocent men in the military and their dates. He got off on a technicality and smirks his rage and froth in an “in your face” attitude today…when Sen. Obama is no longer 8 years old.
Ayers and Obama spent significant time working for “front groups” that gave money NOT to schools…but insisting that the money go to fringe leftist community agitator organizations such as ACORN and other front groups in the Alinsky model of silent systemic overthrow of the system.
During his tenure as Chairman of some of these boards, Obama became associated with Rashid Khalidi, Ali Abunimah and CAIR. Obama was a very acute ear for anti-Israel radical voices and many of them appeared in his campaign. Robert Malley, whose parent were kicked out of France for their frothing rage against Jews, was a key and integral part of his Middle East policy advisory team. As were/are Samantha Power, Susan Rice, Tony McPeak, Zbigniew Brzyzinski…a literal all star lineup of Israel haters and denouncers.
The Democratic Party Media has not only refused to vet the candidate on these issues, they have actively assisted in secreting the facts, shrouding the evidence, shilling for false reporting on them and have in essence rigged the game on his behalf.
Stanley Kurtz at the National Review online, attempted to do some actual investigative reporting…since the Democratic Party Media was refusing to do any…except about Sarah Palin’s children apparently…and he asked to obtain some records being held at the University of Illinois-Chicago campus. He was stonewalled and blockaded. This also happens to be the place where Ayers the Weatherman whose cohorts attempted murderer of young military soldiers and their innocent dates (see ie Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee on the subject)…maintains an office.
To suggest that Sen. Obama does not have a lifelong embrace of raging, frothing, tear down the system voices….is to ignore every smoldering piece of evidence of it. Since the Democratic Party Media wishes to hide these facts, since the campaign consistently blocks inquiries into them and since every single aspect of it all is shrouded in Nixonian secret enemy lists, calls to action by the Soros minions of Socialist upheaval…we are left with not KNOWING what the final hard truth might be.
It’s simply not a risk that anyone should take…to operate on faith that Sen. Obama…trained in the Alinsky model, mentored in the Frank Marshal Davis disrespect for our country and Middle America, spiritually guided in the frothing, raging hatred of Wright, Pfleger and Farrakhan, bathed and educated in the “tear down the system” ragings of Mansour, his radical professors and Ayers and Dorhn….we are asked to believe that Sen. Obama is not acting out the Alinski “insider” role. How would we know, how could we tell, why would we not ask?
The linear pattern of behavior is consistent in one regard. EVERY mentor, EVERY position, EVERY action…suggests that Sen. Obama is on a pathway that embraces the voices of radical extremism. Where there is smoke, there is often fire. And since the Democratic Party Media and the campaign seek to hide each and every element of this inquiry, we are left to come to our own conclusions on them. I want to believe you Senator…but, I can’t get any answers to the obvious questions. And my love of my country and my unwavering support of Israel demand that without those answers…I simply can’t take the chance.
If your supporters find that unfair…I suggest that you all allow these answers to come out into the sunshine. That…would be hope and change I could believe in.
Oct 5, 2008 - 7:13 pm 30. sheep:Wow, I present you with facts. That McCain accepted huge gifts and vacations from Keating and you simply dismiss them. You observe Palin speak, dissemble, wink and make a fool of herself with Gibson, Couric and the VP debate. Independent indicated that Biden was an overwhelming winner. This sham of a person proposes domestic drilling as a solution for energy independence and you believe it. Yeah, a 1% uptick in the next decade will fix it. Jesus, you people are stupid. Listen, why don’t you deep south bible thumping “conservatives” form your own nation and hire the Abramoffs, Delays, Cunnighams, Bushes and Palins of the world. That’s fine by me. Secede. The north and west could use a break from your stupidity.
Oct 5, 2008 - 8:02 pm 31. Marc Malone:cfbleachers – Dang, you’re writing whole articles here. They DO solicit writings on this site. Check into it. Your writings are becoming solid, but too few will read tehm thoroughly way down in the reader comments.
Oct 5, 2008 - 8:05 pm 32. Jeff:I don’t know what America is thinking and why they are all so accepting of Sarah Palin into this political scene instantly. It’s as if they are completely mesmerized by her, but for all the wrong reasons. Here is a woman that will just be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and that is NOT an understatement.
Most Americans also fail to understand that this woman’s view of the world is very limited. It’s almost as if she only has a minor grasp of what is going on in the world. Her interviews with Charlie Gibson on ABC and Katie Couric on CBS is proof enough that she absolutely does not have enough knowledge of the world around her and she also has a very limited knowledge of our own politics.
We all need to really look at this election objectively. Since the completion of the vetting process of both VP candidates, Biden has gone on to accommodate roughly about 84 interviews with the press while Palin has done less than 4 interviews with the press. That is a MAJOR unbalance in the two comparisons and it truly shows McCain’s apprehensiveness about her ability to speak on her own accord, without his physical presence. What does this portray, first and foremost? It portrays that this Presidential ticket does not have the full and utmost confidence in his VP ticket to fend for herself and answer any questions that the American public needs to know. It truly shows that his vetting process was not done in a wise manner but more so in a political manner. Here is a woman that exudes family values; taking care of 5 kids while being the Governor of Alaska, maintaining a healthy marriage, having decent morals and values, and is completely a Washington outsider. This is a classic profile of a candidate that has never been tainted, in the eyes of the American public that has lost faith in the judicial system. This pick was merely done to appeal to the American families with values and tradition but what else could be said about this VP ticket? Does it show the American public anything about her ability to make all the necessary decisions in regards to foreign affairs, national defense, economic legislation, and the overall ability to govern the most powerful country in the world?
We must keep in mind that McCain IS in fact 72 years old and if elected, he WILL be the oldest President to ever be elected. The last oldest elected President was Ronald Reagan at 69 years old, when he was elected in 1980, but he was in fairly good health. McCain, on the other hand, will be 3 years Reagan’s senior, if elected. He also does have a history of skin cancers which are not completely cured, among other ailments that he suffered during his years as a POW in Vietnam. Can we, as the American public, be completely confident that if anything happens to McCain while in office, that Palin will in fact be fully ready to tackle anything and everything that this country will have to face? America MUST search deep down and answer this question, honestly.
Oct 5, 2008 - 8:17 pm 33. sheep:Jeff, I will go a step further and suggest she’s not capable of understanding the facts. She’s s sportscaster who when to 5 colleges. She has not demonstrated an ability for lateral thought, critical thinking, extemporaneous thought or problem solving. She’s run up debt at Wasilla, she supported the Bridge to Nowhere, she’s been blessed by a witch hunter, she believes that she will see Jesus in her lifetime AND AND as if that were not enough, she’s been criticized by members of her own party like George Will and Kathleen Parker. Instead of thinking critically and saying “yeah, she’s kind of dumb- dumb like Bush was dumb and that got us…” they actually call Parker and Will traitors. The only retort to this post, of course will be Lieberman. So let me preempt that. JL is not a traitor. He’s a single issue, Israel voter and his move to McSame is rational. Again, I could care less if you wanted to elect Palins to every post in your own country but the northeast and West have to foot the bill for your Idiocracy.
Oct 5, 2008 - 8:32 pm 34. nlcatter:cfbleachers did not make one cogent arguement
just a bunch of guilt by association allusions
did Obama try to stop any of those convicted (oh it was just 1? ) ? not at all – while Mccain actively tried to stop regulators from stopping Keatings stealing millions.
Obama smoked pot? I like that better than Mccains wife who has a criminal record and is dope addict.
Oct 5, 2008 - 11:06 pm 35. Raygun:Sorry Jeff, and Sheep, but your rantings will not go far where there are people with more than half a brain. Better to go back to the daily kos and DU and preach to the low brained self loathing choir there.
Oct 5, 2008 - 11:22 pm 36. Lyddea:McCain/Palin needs to make a simple fact clear, from 2000 to 2006, as this housing crisis percolated, the Democrats were using the power of government to force their misbegotten welfare-lite mortgage agenda. Barney Frank and his ilk were able to bend committee rules to push these policies that eventually harmed America. They used every branch of government to avoid the possibility of resistance…
Wait, what’s that?
The Republicans controlled the government during that time period?
The Republicans controlled every branch of government for most of this time?
Favorite targets Barney Frank and Maxine Waters were powerless members of one of American history’s most partisan Congresses during this entire period?
Don’t worry, the American people are idiots and will ignore these facts… right?
Oct 6, 2008 - 12:03 am 37. sheep:Raygun, I have presented facts, not opinions. Country first, right?
Oct 6, 2008 - 4:03 am 38. Mr. Kruse:Sarah Palin is so hot and full of glee. I would definitely hit that. Who could stop looking at that tight little butt the media provided coverage for? Women’s butts seem to be important for Republicans in a political sense. I mean, who would vote for Hillary’s butt? Janet Reno is out of the question.
Oct 6, 2008 - 7:44 am 39. Mark Rinzel:I think much can be explained about the political situation by the phenomenon of “uncontrollable laughter” practiced and encouraged by Palin’s religion. There is no connection between the reality of the world and the state of mind of the person who is laughing. There is also no connection between the world and the mind of Sarah Palin. Her head is somewhere else.
Now, maybe she’s right, the Rapture is at hand, and she will be taken up into a new reality. Then she will be justified in not paying too much attention to the way things are and where things are in this world. But excuse me for being a little skeptical. I’m probably going to be left behind and I would like to have one of us who are going to be left behind in charge of what is left of this world. I’m willing to suffer horribly as long as I have a leader who is intelligent and who can articulate the direction he or she is taking me.
“All agree she did good.”
Is this defiant use of bad grammer meant in solidarity with your new pet’s stunning inability to speak unscripted English with any sense?
Oct 6, 2008 - 10:23 am 40. SarahBiggestFan:She is the biggest celebrity in the world, next to the likes of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. She promises the whole world but cannot go into even the slightest details of any of her promises. She uses the word “maverick” as if it was bestowed upon her from God. She was a literal unknown over 4 weeks ago but came into the center stage as quick as the biggest celebrities like Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie. What does America really know about our new biggest celebrity? Why do we love her with so much intensity? What has she done to deserve such recognition? Does she have a solid plan for our economy or our safety in this dangerous world of terrorism?
This new biggest celebrity in our lives is just a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Her Presidential nominee will be the oldest President in history, if elected. Can we feel confident that this new biggest celebrity name Sarah Palin can be the most qualified person to turn this country around from the worst economic crisis in over 70 years? Is she absolutely the most qualified, even with her high celebrity status, to lead the most powerful country in the world out of its biggest financial crisis?
Oct 6, 2008 - 11:03 am 41. Bettie D. Anton:This is a very,very, important election. God lets us each and every one make our own decisions. The large percentage of you people do not care about anything but jobs, economy, the war, but I have not heard One person say anything about moral principalities, defense of life, the needs of the weak, lack of housing, human trafficking, and unjust immigation policies are just some of the serious moral issues that challenge our consciences and require us to act.
Barach Obama will come like a thief in the night, I can assure you of that.
I cannot fathom you people that are more worried about money in the bank, clothes on your body, and steaks on your table, vacation homes, then murdering babies. Obama cries out about 4000 USA soldiers being killed in the war, which is atrocious and heart breaking, but is too stupid to care that he is killing that many babies in one day. I know this will all go in one ear and out the other, but Believe me there is a God, and he was very poor while on this earth, but he loved us all so much that he was willing to give his only Son to die for our sins, and Jesus very words were “I Knew You Before You Were In Your Mothers Womb.”
Please pray that Obama is not our next president, but,also pray for him.
Within our society, lefe in under direct attack from abortion,euthanasia, human cloning, and destruction of human embryos for research. These things are very evil and must be stopped.
Vote for McCain. GOD WOULD.
Oct 6, 2008 - 1:28 pm 42. peter jackson:“Wow, I present you with facts. That McCain accepted huge gifts and vacations from Keating and you simply dismiss them.”
No, you were *rebutted,* with a quote from the special prosecutor in the case. Your turn.
The problem with is that Obama’s been running for President for two years now, and here we are four weeks before the election and frankly the voting public probably knows more about Todd Palin than we do about him. Okay, so Obama pals around with domestic terrorists from the ’70s. What I want to know is why is he lying about it, still to this day? Why is Axelrod LYING about it right now? We don’t know, do we?
YET
Oct 6, 2008 - 2:15 pm 43. sheep:PJ, saying he’s an honest man is not a rebuttal. It’s a character witness meant to diminish his misdeeds. A rebuttal would be “no, he did not accept gifts and donations. They were part of some congressional seminar class..blah blah.”
By the way, I do sincerely believe he learned from his misdeeds and is an honest guy. I don’t believe that the Keating mishap reflects who McCain is now. Just as it should be obvious that Obama does not share the ideals of Ayers. McCain sat on a board with an anti-semite and plenty of racists (Siglaub). Do I believe that McCain shares those beliefs? Of course not. “palling around with terrorists”? Are you serious? You’re like 5-year olds.
Oct 6, 2008 - 3:19 pm 44. CommonSense:So far you fools have voted Bush into office twice, which seems to have been an overwhelming success. And then you want McCain, who graduated 5th from the bottom of his class, supports most of Bush’s policies, plus Palin who can’t answer a single question directly, showed her ignorance and inexperience during the Couric interview, and can only sound somewhat confident and coherent after going to “Debate Camp.” How has being stupid and uneducated become so popular in this country? And now you want to resort to the slimy tactics Bush used to oust McCain in the 2000 primaries?
In past polls, 85% of the country thinks America is on the wrong track, meanwhile Bush’s ratings are in the toilet, our military is over extended, the economy tanked and yet somehow it is the Dem’s fault? Wow, you are pathetic! Republicans have been in the White House for 20 of the last 28 years and somehow it’s the Dem’s fault? During the Clinton administration we had peace and a strong economy. Wake up you retards! STOP BEING DUMB and go drink a beer with Palin instead of voting for her and McCain.
Oct 6, 2008 - 3:49 pm 45. SarahBiggestFan:Bettie D. Anton,
Are you trying to be the next Sarah Palin? God would want us to vote for McCain? Just like the Iraq War is “a task that is from God”? Do you also believe in that, Bettie?
WAKE UP woman, you are obviously delirious. Stop mixing all of the medications because it’s obviously clouding your “holy” judgment and stop taking the bible so literally for your own gains. God would want Bettie to stop mixing her medications, that’s what God would want for you, Bettie.
Oct 6, 2008 - 3:52 pm 46. nlcatter:jesus would not vote republican or democrat
Oct 6, 2008 - 10:32 pm 47. Marc Malone:Well, it looks like Palin has indeed reversec the trend with her debate performance. Polls show Obama’s lead narrowing again. Palin made about 4 points difference. People who were disposed to her are reassured about her.
McCain’s not all the way back yet. He still has to win it, but Palin has given him one more bite at the apple. Plus, she can now do the VP role of attack dog and be credible.
Oct 7, 2008 - 1:55 am 48. Irwin Tang:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-y_5DFb6U
Watch the video I made regarding McCain’s support of terrorists in Central America and elsewhere.
Also, here’s a pretty good AP Story:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jzQtw1kATj1xCqPcAmwgCKDtNpDQD93LRD980
Oct 9, 2008 - 11:54 am