Pre-debate Anxieties
The problem with bringing up Ayers and Wright and the other assorted nuts of Obama’s weird Scipionic Circle—I think the most reprehensible of the discarded associates was the rather murderous Kenyan, Raila Odinga—is that it may now be too little too late.
That is, all these were legitimate issues of concern. And had McCain not played Zeus on Olympus in August, he might have raised them as proof of poor judgment and a certain extremism that was not conducive to the sobriety required by the Presidency: Mutatis mutandis, would McCain have befriended an abortion clinic bomber, had a racist pastor with KKK affiliations, or patronized a Serbian nationalist with blood on his hands?
But by evoking them now, McCain looks desperate (a), and (b) diverting attention from the omnipresent economic crisis. What then might he do in the debate?
1. Damning both Wall Street greed and Fannie and Freddie collusion is fine, but he might at least remind us that the US is now running up billions in annual deficits, adding to trillions in federal debt, and simply cannot promise more expenditures unless they are met by commensurate cuts in spending. In this regard, he can (carefully to be sure) suggest that our national culture of buy now/pay later is going to have to change. Voters want to be challenged to sacrifice rather than hear the same old “they” did it—as if these creepy politicians were elected by ghosts, or practice an ethos absolutely foreign to what we see in our own popular culture.
2. So far McCain has not explained the significance of Freddie and Fannie. Yes, there was a nexus of Enron-like corruption as a Raines or Johnson cooked the books to win mega-bonuses; covered their tracks by talking grandly of “putting the poor into a home”; and then hedged their bets by sleazy donations to House and Senate liberal demagogues.
But that said, they also serve as a warning about such huge quasi-public enterprises: can we imagine a Health care Freddie or an Education Fannie? At least a Ken Lay or Richard Fuld in the private sector can be demonized as a bandit, but when a Raines practices such similar greed, he is inside the government and embedded in folds of bureaucratic protection, with all sorts of liberal apologies that shield him from the full deterrent effect of the law. The lesson of what caused the Wall Street greed is not just robber capitalism, but unaccountable government monstrosities—that would be made worse by Obama’s planned “hope and change” creation of a new trillion dollar government expansion.
3. If he brings up earmarks again, McCain has to tell us the truth: in aggregate dollars they do not constitute a big percentage of the budget. BUT they represent a sort of lubricant for far greater larcenies. In other words, terrible waste and spending are facilitated in trite ways by lawmakers tacking on earmarks. We saw that with the $700 billion bailout plan. Yes, wooden arrows were a small part of the largess, but the inclusion of these payoffs reduced the principled discussion of our very futures into a matter of petty bribes and payoffs. Earmarks are a question of honesty and the integrity of the entire political system. When a cop takes $20 to drop a ticket, we don’t say “$20 is a small part of the multimillion dollar police budget”, but rather that such crookedness is a dangerous cancer to the public trust.
4. Bring up judgment in foreign policy: Obama wished to meet Iranian leaders without preconditions, but even Iranian leaders now want no such meeting without their own preconditions. How strange—an American President in search of dialogue with a third-rate terror state would be asked to grant, not demand, preconditions for a chance to talk? Why would Iranian mullahs voice such braggadocio if they didn’t sense future American uncertainty?
5. Iraq: For all practical purposes at the present, the costs of American occupation of Iraq are not that much different in blood and treasure from the stationing of a commensurate number of troops elsewhere. We may soon be nearing the rate of accidental deaths found per 130-140,000 troops per month elsewhere in the world; and the provisioning costs of those in Iraq may not be all that much higher than would be true should soldiers be redeployed back home or to other overseas bases abroad. So McCain might take a risk at this point and simply say that Iraq is not the drain on the American taxpayer as had been alleged, but both a victory now and a wise investment in the future stability of the region. And we need not hear any more that Iraq was a diversion, since it was about the only theater in which we could freely defeat, kill, and humiliate Al-Qaeda and radical Islamists. Far from weakening Afghanistan, it was complementary to it: as destroying Nazi Germany was to defeating Japan. Likewise, the military is not broken but now even more competent, trained, and experienced than it was at the start of the war. McCain needs to remind us of all that, and transcend the “I was for the surge, he wasn’t!”
6. Challenge Obama to name in advance a Secretary of Defense or State, or Middle East envoy. He will probably mention a safe Clintonite—but who knows? After all, in a 2004 interview he bragged that he went to Wright’s Trinity every Sunday (even on THE SUNDAY?) and had some rather inspirational mentors (GG is the Chicago Sun-Times interviewer):
GG: Do you still attend Trinity?
OBAMA:Yep. Every week. 11 oclock service.
….
GG: Do you have people in your life that you look to for guidance?
OBAMA:Well, my pastor [Wright] is certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for. I have a number of friends who are ministers. Reverend Meeks is a close friend and colleague of mine in the state Senate. Father Michael Pfleger is a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely.
GG:Those two will keep you on your toes.
OBAMA: And they’re good friends. Because both of them are in the public eye, there are ways we can all reflect on what’s happening to each of us in ways that are useful. I think they can help me, they can appreciate certain specific challenges that I go through as a public figure.
7. What does Obama mean by “spread the wealth”? Surely McCain can remind voters that already the top 5% of American income earners pay at least 60% of the total tax burden; while 35% pay no income tax. Is it such a good thing that under Obama’s plan 50% of American might pay no income tax?—and thus have no stake in questions of wise federal expenditures of someone else’s internal revenue?
8. Is it such a good thing to ask some very productive self-employed Americans in high-tax states to give the government 2/3s of their incomes (40% federal, 15% FICA, 10% state)? Why would anyone take the risk to expand a business, build a new apartment complex, or hire more employees if he knew that any additional income would amount to only 35% of profits? It seems hardly worth the additional risk? One neighbor says, “I love Obama—I’m paying no income tax now and getting a credit check from the government, so why work weekends?” The other neighbor replies, “Yes, I’m giving 65% of my extra profits to the government to pay for you, so why work weekends?” Many of the lower middle class will pay no income taxes and get a check back; many of the really wealthy will be taxed at lower capital gains rates (since they take their income often in stock selling and buying or have access to sophisticated shelters), but the victims would be precisely the upwardly mobile, upper middle class.
9. Just as McCain has voiced disapproval of extraneous zealots who have crossed the line in their anti-Obama sentiments, can’t Obama likewise discourage ACORN, the uber-partisans who swarm radio-stations, or politicos like Rep. Lewis who connected McCain to George Wallace and by extension by the murdering of small girls?
Conservatives for Obama
I have no problem with a David Brooks or Christopher Buckley voicing admiration for Obama and disdain for either Bush or Palin. Both are principled critics whom I like and admire.
My earlier note centered on disagreement about what constituted wisdom. I am not convinced that Palin’s ignorance about Niebuhr or Obama’s interest in him makes much difference. And I think the rabid right’s intolerance of diversity is no different from the Obama cult of near hero-worship. (Wait and see when the Fairness Doctrine is in place).
In that regard, I often note the tone of the hard left at this site; the right disagrees and adduces arguments, the left often by spewing invective. I know that when I give a lecture to businessmen suggesting greed is endemic on Wall Street and has discredited much of their own ethos there are serious but professional retorts; at a university the professorial response to criticism of the Left is shrill and occasionally unhinged.
Half of what I learned did not come from books or graduate school or teaching or writing, but from some rather rough characters who taught me how to prune, hammer, wire, and fix things—as well as their world view that came along with those tasks. Thank God, we have that experience represented in Sarah Palin. Can’t her critics grasp that? It ain’t easy to step up to the city-council, mayorship, or governor’s office while raising kids, on a short budget, without family money or connections, and out in Alaska? Did not the career of Truman teach us anything? We have plenty of highly educated politicos, so there is no worry we are a nation of populist yokels; what is lacking in public life are just a few people who aren’t lawyers, professors, consultants, and bureaucrats.
That said, I do think if McCain now had a 15% lead over Obama, and had he invited reporters to josh and cajole as in the past, and had Palin been photographed with her head in a Conrad novel, with glasses down on her nose, and an occasional cast-off quote from a Jack London, many conservatives might nevertheless have been less prone to admire Obama. After all, in fairness, the latter did get the number of US states wrong on several occasions, erred about basic facts of World War II, and seemed downright silly in his riffs about tire air pressure. I just wish Obama would release his Columbia and Occidental transcripts, so that the nation can be reminded how one gets into Harvard Law School. I suspect there would not be a lot of A+s on contemporary American moralists or even American geography.
If Obama Wins…
We will all support to the best of our abilities the President of the US; he will need it in these challenging times when so many abroad will try to take advantage of America’s ongoing perceived weakness. But nevertheless, there will be irony aplenty, and not all of it necessarily bad.
Consider. The Europeans really will have their multilateralist: no, problem, Eastern Europe, we will get the UN on Putin right away. Don’t worry France, we are right behind you in Kandahar. Angie, no problem, Iranian nukes can’t quite reach Frankfurt. OK, UK, ready or not, here come more of your Guantanamo detainees. Don’t worry, Israel, trust me—Hamas really is sober and judicious. How strange to see a Euro-summit in which the US president is to the left of the Europeans, who are fleeing the positions we are now assuming.
Or better yet
As one scared Frenchman told me this summer, “Hey, what’s up? There’s only room for one Obama in the West, and we already claimed that role!”
I don’t believe in guilt by association, but on the other hand, I do listen to others when they admire and praise others, especially if they see something I may have missed. Jesse Jackson apparently has a take on Obama that we’ve not grasped, when today he assured Frenchmen that Obama will be far more sympathetic to the Palestinians and that America is going to change in ways you won’t believe.
From the Horse’s Mouth
For the best thing written on why Wright matters, read this excerpt from progressive journalist Ben Wallace-Wells, who in 2007 wrote a laudatory piece on Barack Obama in Rolling Stone, and apparently felt the following passage was proof of why the hard left finally had an authentic candidate:
This is as openly radical a background as any significant American political figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King Jr. Wright is not an incidental figure in Obama’s life, or his politics. The senator “affirmed” his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a “sounding board” to “make sure I’m not losing myself in the hype and hoopla.” Both the title of Obama’s second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright’s sermons. “If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from,” says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, “just look at Jeremiah Wright.”
Obama wasn’t born into Wright’s world. His parents were atheists, an African bureaucrat and a white grad student, Jerry Falwell’s nightmare vision of secular liberals come to life. Obama could have picked any church — the spare, spiritual places in Hyde Park, the awesome pomp and procession of the cathedrals downtown. He could have picked a mosque, for that matter, or even a synagogue. Obama chose Trinity United. He picked Jeremiah Wright. Obama writes in his autobiography that on the day he chose this church, he felt the spirit of black memory and history moving through Wright, and “felt for the first time how that spirit carried within it, nascent, incomplete, the possibility of moving beyond our narrow dreams.”
Obama has now spent two years in the Senate and written two books about himself, both remarkably frank: There is a desire to own his story, to be both his own Boswell and his own investigative reporter. When you read his autobiography, the surprising thing — for such a measured politician — is the depth of radical feeling that seeps through, the amount of Jeremiah Wright that’s packed in there. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising. Obama’s life story is a splicing of two different roles, and two different ways of thinking about America’s. One is that of the consummate insider, someone who has been raised believing that he will help to lead America, who believes in this country’s capacity for acts of outstanding virtue. The other is that of a black man who feels very deeply that this country’s exercise of its great inherited wealth and power has been grossly unjust. This tension runs through his life; Obama is at once an insider and an outsider, a bomb thrower and the class president. “I’m somebody who believes in this country and its institutions,” he tells me. “But I often think they’re broken.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13390609/campaign_08_the_radical_roots_of_barack_obama/print
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44 Comments
1. RJ:I’ve tried to teach my sons how to look at events which could impact their lives. Add a healthy does of reality while pondering.
Soon we will be able to read stories of how certain people lost fortunes in this latest economic crisis. Along with those sad tales will come stories where others made fortunes making the right investments at this time.
Winners and losers. Happens every day on Wall Street.
Who cares what candidate wins this election? What’s important is how you intend to make your decisions as a result.
Common sense should prevail. When Bill Buckley’s kid shouts how he intends to vote for Obama, I say that sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree!
His kid lost his job at the old man’s shop. Where was his common sense in all of this?
In four more years we get to play this game again. In between we need to get smarter.
I really do like Sarah Palin. She’s no lawyer!
Oct 14, 2008 - 7:13 pm 2. All Mi T:deposits and despots. I gues Mayer Amschel Rothschild was right “Give me control over a nation’s currency, and I care not who makes its laws.”
Oct 14, 2008 - 7:44 pm 3. TLM:VDH,
As usual, I agree with the above points. Pork-buster McCain never comes close to explaining why #3 above is important. He thinks it should be obvious to his audience and, thus, doesn’t get his point across. Email your traffic ticket bribe analogy to his campaign and maybe he’ll see fit to use it tomorrow night. Otherwise, in our current financial mess, no one cares about a paltry $18 billion.
McCain did miss his chance to talk about Wright/Ayers/Pfleger et al. Better late than never, though. What’s he got to lose? His reputation? As a retired military officer he should understand he lost most of that when he went into politics in the first place. Keeping his reputation intact now is a losing proposition for a candidate who has nothing left to lose.
You must have wanted a ten point list, so I’ll give you one more: John should can the bipartisan schtick. At this point in the election, no one cares. This is the most partisan election I can remember, and the stakes have never been greater. That pissed-off voter up in Wisconsin was speaking for a lot of us. McCain is confronting the “Hopes and Dreams” of anti-American radicalism. That’s what he’s “fighting” AGAINST and he ought to be a little more partisan about it.
Oct 14, 2008 - 8:05 pm 4. Jim Nelson:Actually, if Obama wins he can go take a flying leap at the moon. It will be a full time job and then some to keep him from completely ruining things. He’s not going to be my president when he’s selling us out to the Islamists.
Oct 14, 2008 - 8:46 pm 5. Harry Truman:Thanks for another well written piece! They are alwasy as a beacon in a dark time.
Please check out Jack Cashill’s series of articles on WND on the likely ghostwriting of “Dreams From My Father” by none other than Ayers. There is technical as well as stylistic analysis- as well as chronological discrepancies, that are notable. It is odd that somewhere along the line there seems to be a mass hypnosis perhaps we’re all affected by to some degree, to presume that BHO wrote the thing himself. Perhaps kOOl-aid has been tainting the drinking water (heh)
Oct 14, 2008 - 9:42 pm 6. jdg:Persevere!
America, right or wrong, blames the Bush administration and the Republican party for the economic problems we face. Fannie and Freddie be damned.
With Federal spending already projected to have grown nearly a trillion dollars in the eight-years of Bush rule, who can argue that Bush and the Republicans are NOT responsible for our financial problems?
For this reason, McCain must distance himself from Bush on economic matters, not by “reaching across the isle” and becoming a socialist. Obama is already the lead dog in that race.
No, McCain must inspire Americans, the way Ronald Reagan did a generation ago. Our economy was in much worse shape way back when. The prime rate was actually over twenty percent a year into the Reagan first term. Unemployment nearly reached 11 percent.
But Reagan unleashed the eternal reservoir of American resolve by advocating less government and lower taxes. In this way, he renewed the American dream.
Bush drove conservatives crazy with his reckless spending. It’s time McCain denounced those foolish policies and point out that Obama will out-Bush Bush. If Obama has his way, and he may be looking at a filibuster-proof Congress, Federal spending will top five trillion a year before the next presidential election, and America will face a recession of profound hardship.
Oct 14, 2008 - 10:19 pm 7. Piquichi:Europeans for Obama:
I love what you said about Europe leaning Right just as we move Left. I got blank stares when I said this in mixed company a few months ago. I watched the Old European Guard squawk at Bush and Conservatives (which aren’t one and the same), while, at the same time, their electorate shifted steadily Right and pushed them out of power. Heck, look at France! Now, if Obama wins, we’re put back in the role of follower — not leader — which I believe is part and parcel of why the Europeans crave Obama so much. “Just shut up and smile for the photo-op. Be deferential. We don’t want a strong America; it plays up our weaknesses.”
Palin:
There’s something fundamentally un-American about someone who doesn’t “get” Sarah Palin and the reason so many of us, whether we plan to vote for McCain/Palin or not, admire her. You’ve been living in ivory towers and glass houses far too long if you miss or dismiss the populist significance of Palin.
Obama, in moderation:
Oct 14, 2008 - 10:39 pm 8. Michael Devereaux:Finally, I think the Left are in for an interesting and empty surprise if Obama wins. He is highly susceptible to the prevailing winds of the time. Notice how he jettisoned Rev. Wright when it wasn’t to his political advantage to keep him. He has the ability to talk about radical change; but doing is a whole other thing — and I believe he’ll prove to be one of the more moderate Presidents in history. The prevailing winds (i.e., economic and international climate “change”) demand it.
I do not accept the repudiation of Sarah Palin that so-called conservative intellectuals are engaged in.
She offers a spirited defense of basic conservative principles, in the classical liberal sense of our Founding Fathers, that these media elites never can state. For once I would like to see them enunciate something – anything! – that would make your average American sit up and take notice to: “That was interesting.” They fail.
Sarah Palin is worthy alone for being an authentic conservative voice and deserves NONE of the scorn heaped upon her by so-called fellow conservatives. She is not the apostate. THEY ARE. THEY ARE. THEY ARE.
If you listen to even one of her interviews on talk radio, you can see her true conservative credentials shine through. Perhaps she came onto the national scene too early. Should she have not accepted?
As I’ve found out about her, I identify with her more than these so-called intellectual conservatives. They have attacked her unfairly and remorselessly. In attacking her, they have attacked me. I WILL NEVER FORGET. I promise you, promise you, promise you. I WILL NEVER FORGET.
Oct 15, 2008 - 1:21 am 9. goffredo:Dear Prof. Hanson.
I sincerely hope you pick up the phone and call McCain and suggest he say the things you listed.
A european for McCain.
Oct 15, 2008 - 1:36 am 10. TLM:I’ll watch McCain tonight “fight for us” on TV. Time to show your hand, John, put your cards on the table. And demand Obama do the same. I’m not holding my breath, though. This game was rigged by the media long ago.
I’m going to a Palin rally this morning, and I’m taking my youngest (10) daughter with me. Spunkiest one of the brood. Wants to see Tryg’s mommy. I want her see what a fighter looks like live.
Oct 15, 2008 - 4:46 am 11. oldkyhome:Waving the flag of patriotism to “support to the best of our abilities the President” if Obama wins is simply insane. Like Jim Nelson stated, Obama will be actively selling us out to his fellow radicals. To pretend Obama is not a radical and/or radically-related should embarrass a columnist of your experience.
Mark Steyn pointed out when Obama meets with the EU leaders, he’ll find them all more conservative than he is. Obama is just simply dangerous. One must fight all parts of his agenda.
The only person that can lose this race is Obama. It’s not likely McCain will be able to engage Obama in a Q&A that will get Obama off-message. After tonight the MSM may report a few things casting Obama in a bad light but it’s whats repeated that counts. And what will be repeated will be all Obama.
I’m reaching for my copy of The Rise And Fall of the Third Reich to see what’s in store next from the Team Obama.
Oct 15, 2008 - 6:12 am 12. cfbleachers:With all due respect, VDH…and I mean, a mountain of respect, I disagree with much of the above. While there is your phenomenal grasp of the situation and a large serving of your enviable logic, it simply won’t fly.
But by evoking them now, McCain looks desperate (a), and (b) diverting attention from the omnipresent economic crisis. What then might he do in the debate?
Half-right, I think. By evoking any ONE of the associations, addressing that association in a disjointed vacuum, the entrenched media can take potshots at it from their sniper perches, assuming a lofty and noble position on the “high ground” of low morals. They know they’re dissembling, “but for the right reasons”.
However, if Sen. McCain places not the “associations”, but rather the lifelong embrace of radical extremism and tie it to a serious question posed to Sen. Obama, then it may become apparent what people are questioning about the “judgment” of which you speak.
For instance, Sen. McCain could say something along the lines of “As a politician, I know to expect some rough coverage and that I have to develop a tough outer layer of skin, because hyperpartisans are going to level some unfair, sometimes untrue and occasionally unhinged charges against me. But there are a three things I want to point out, that I think cross the line. When those charges cross the line, we owe a duty to the American people to try to bring the debate back within the range of decency. I have done that through word and deed. (leave the corollary alone, it need not be spoken, it is assumed)
Secondly, when that line is crossed…and it poses as “news”, there is a multiplying effect of its evil. It is hard enough to run for this office on equal footing. When a candidate must oppose the unfair charges of his opponent and his surrogates, that requires determination and stamina. When one must oppose unfair charges and unfair coverage of those charges, while his opponent gets a pass …it damages the system. Senator Clinton and her campaign felt it, my friend Sen. Lieberman felt it and now Governor Palin and I feel it. More than anything, it is that sense from a large majority of moderates and conservatives as well as Clinton and Lieberman Democrats who feel that the game is rigged and the refs are “fixing” the outcome, that adds fire to the belly of our constituents and enflames their passions. Even the pretense of fairness has been obliterated. Governor Palin has been the target of a request of gang rape, called a filthy name on a t-shirt, my face intentionally distorted on a national magazine cover, and the imbalance of coverage by the “news” media has been stark and unsettling. Let’s play the rest of this out fairly and may the best ticket win.
My last point on this issue, is to suggest that we, on the ticket, expect some hard knocks. If you can’t stand the inquiries, then you are in the wrong profession. However, when those attacks extend to our constituents and become personal and offensive, I will not stand idly by and allow them to be slandered. Governor Palin was my choice, precisely because she is, who she is. A dedicated mother, a successful governor and person that is likeable and charming to everyone she meets. Maybe Washington could use a little down home common sense. A little horse sense. Maybe then we wouldn’t have Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson cooking the books at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…two gentlemen certainly not associated with my campaign.
Maybe then we wouldn’t see widespread voter fraud, with Mickey Mouse being signed up to vote and Jive Turkey. I’m quite glad to see to they were registered, by the way, to vote for somebody other than our ticket. No, our constituency is ridiculed by those unfair refs as being stupid, trailer park, farmer, small town …what do they call Middle America…oh, yes…”trash”. The problem with ACORN has become, that they lost their moral compass when they, much like those unfair refs, began to try to make a grab for this election, instead of merely allowing it to take its fair course.
In combination, the unfair refs have consistently moved the goalposts, while ACORN has lengthened and shortened the sideline first down chains, by which we measure the outcome of individual states. I call on them to be fair to my constituents and supporters and to be fair and honest with the process.
And, if we were to have a “fairness Doctrine in this country, I would hope that it at least pretended to contain fairness…rather than being a disguised attempt to further drown out the voices of Clinton and Lieberman Democrats, moderates, South Park Republicans, Romney Republicans, Huckabee Republicans, McCain Republicans and anyone else who doesn’t fit the construct of Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama or William Ayers.
While we are on the subject of Ayers and Dorhn, let’s not be disingenous, on either side about why that subject is important. Nobody believes that Senator Obama is a violent, unhinged, terrorist or bomber. Nobody. And nobody, of any seriousness believes that a fleeting moment of interaction with Ayers or Dorhn would be of significance of consequence.
And that would also be true, of any fleeting association with a Jeremiah Wright or a Michael Pfleger. Or a fleeting association with Michael Klonsky and the New Party. Or a fleeting association with Rashid Khalidi or the late Edward Said. Or a fleeting association with radical professors or Frank Marshall Davis. Or a fleeting association by his campaign staff with Hamas, by Robert Malley. Or the fleeting association with people who suggest that the “Zionist” influence will stop under his leadership…especially in “Hymietown” as I understand New York was once referenced.
Nobody would put any measure of importance in those things, if indeed they were fleeting and short lived. However, I think virtually every objective American would agree that if those associations were not fleeting and short lived, but were instead a lifelong warm embrace, then that is something we ought to know. That is something that fairness and honesty dictate that we review more completely.
Nobody is suggesting that Senator Obama is a Socialist or a Communist or a Marxist, simply because he has acquaintences who are themselves. That would be unfair. I know Bernie Sanders, I work with Bernie Sanders, I like Bernie Sanders. He’s a Socialist, I am not. Of course, I don’t vote to the left of him, but I certainly enjoy working with him, even though we disagree on many issues.
The reason why Ayers and Dorhn matter, the reason why the Marxist inspired theo-politics of James Cone matters, the reason why the New Party matters, the reason why Tony Rezco matters, the reason why Pfleger matters, the reason why Rashid Khalidi and Ali Abuminah matter, the reason why Michael Klonsky matters, the reason why ACORN matters, the reason why Frank Marshall Davis matters, the reason why the release of documents and thesis papers matter, is to allow the people to know fairly and honestly what they are getting in terms of something other than campaign promises and beautiful, flowery words.
When we speak of lifelong associations, then the picture changes a bit. It might help some folks understand the reasoning, the belief system behind the notion that this country, meaning a certain segment of this country…and only them…are mean, or unfair, or cling to religion. It might help to understand why a strategy to give tax cuts to people who don’t pay much, if any, in the way of taxes is “fairness” and further burdening the middle class with capital gains, inheritance and small business taxes is “getting THEM to pay their ‘fair’” share.
We need to understand the mindset that suggests that radicalizing schoolchildren to hate this country and stomp its dirty feet on our flag, to say that this country wants to make them puke…is worthy of millions of dollars in support.
We need to know why meeting with Hugo Chavez and propping up his regime, while slandering this land of ours, is worthy of support and admiration.
It seems that every time one of these associations comes to light, that person goes missing from the campaign of my opponent. Robert Malley was reported to be an advisor by the Washington Post months ago, he became someone who was “never” close and has disappeared. Samantha Power has disappeared, Wright and Pfleger have disappeared, although a short while ago they were “dear friends” a “mentor” a “guiding force”.
Michael Klonsky’s blog has disappeared. Jesse Jackson and his latest “Zionist” comment, not unlike similar comments from Farrakhan calling Judaism a “gutter religion” and comments from the pulpit of a certain church on the South Side of Chicago that lionized Farrakhan. Jackson is not “close” to the campaign. And all those folks Moss and Meeks and the rest, they have disappeared from the scene.
The last time this many people disappeared from Chicago, Saul Alinsky was palling around with Frank Nitti.
Look, the economy is important, the stabilizing of Iraq is important, tracking down bin Laden and protecting our land from terrorism is important, Iran setting preconditions for meeting with our President…apparently now that they believe it is they who are calling the game, perhaps sensing weakness and vulnerability on our part…is important. Finding out why Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson allowed the books to be cooked at Fannie and Freddie is important.
But what is most important…what trumps all other issues, is…do we know what we are getting when we pull the lever in that voting booth. Are there going to be thugs outside trying to bully and intimidate us to vote a certain way? How many branches of government will be aligned with a “fairness doctrine” that is nothing of the sort, and how will we ever find a voice to oppose it. Can we trust the information we are getting, when the goalposts keep getting moved and the sideline chains don’t measure the same for each team.
When honor and integrity are displaced by a shroud of secrecy and public universities hide public documents…we are losing more than an election. We are losing our national soul.
Oct 15, 2008 - 7:15 am 13. JED:The well studied may contemplate these opinons while Obama’s audience goes for the Rock-Star-in Chief, selling guilt to the guilt society, and entitlement in the name of class warfare. What will BHO do as president when he doesn’t have the knee jerk sympathy of Bush bashing on which to rely? McCain’s whimpiness does not display well against the “what is wrong with this county” attacks. Obama’s audience seizes the anger, perhaps misguided at the excessive spending, corruption, and ineffectiveness of Wall Street and congress. In that anger is led Obama-nation and the new world socialism with hyper-liberalism, income redistribution, and the European model of cradle to grave security.
Oct 15, 2008 - 7:35 am 14. LSD:I wish McCain would say something like this:
“America’s account is overdrawn and in response, Barack Obama has produced a shopping list.”
Oct 15, 2008 - 7:38 am 15. Tony:As an outside observer I have to say that there would be some irony in Republicans getting behind a President Obama considering the appalling treatment the Democrats have been dishing out to Bush these past 5 or 6 years.
I agree that it should happen and it possibly will only because Republicans in general appear to be more realistic and mature. Sadly this will just be taken as yet more appeasement and pandering by the liberal elite who really have overstepped their mark in corrupting your ailing country.
Oct 15, 2008 - 7:46 am 16. David Thomson:“Both are principled critics whom I like and admire.”
I can understand Victor Davis Hanson reluctance to playing God and trying to judge the souls of other men. Fair enough. Still, we retain the right to analyze the writings of both David Brooks and Christopher Buckley—and they clearly reveal that these two individuals conveniently ignore the dangers of an Obama presidency. The latter man’s stated reasons are particularly shallow and embarrassing. Also, it behooves them financially to be favored by the liberal intelligentsia. By doing so, they become “honest conservatives” and are invited to the best cocktail parties and significantly fatten their bank accounts.
Oct 15, 2008 - 7:56 am 17. A.W. Murphy:The failure of the MSM to fairly vet Barack Obama must rank hghly in the all-time top tier of journalistic malpratice. I know way too much about Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and next to nothing about Obama’s relationship with Africian dictators.
There is a very good chance that Sen. Obama will spend the next four years as President of the United States. From the outset his may become the first true example of Presidency-by-Committee. Since the sum of his experiences is nearly zero he’ll be forced to surround himself with people knowledgable in fields that matter. Bill Clinton, for all his personal gifts, was forced by the position to do much the same.
What is troublesome is this marks another national election in our Republic that already has overtones of fraud, unbalanced press coverage and excessive amounts of money being spent – and to what end? We claim as citizens that we want the “best” candidate for the job but in pratically every election since 1988 it has been a question of lesser evils.
Perhaps Plato summed it up best: “How superbly [democracy] tramples down all such ideals, caring nothing from what it pratices and way of life a man turns to do politics, but honoring him if only he says he loves the people” (Republic 8.558b).
Oct 15, 2008 - 8:20 am 18. A.W. Murphy:The failure of the MSM to fairly vet Barack Obama must rank highly in the all-time top tier of journalistic malpractice. I know way too much about Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and next to nothing about Obama’s relationship with African dictators.
Oct 15, 2008 - 8:25 am 19. Cornhead:There is a very good chance that Sen. Obama will spend the next four years as President of the United States. From the outset his may become the first true example of Presidency-by-Committee. Since the sum of his experiences is nearly zero he’ll be forced to surround himself with people knowledgeable in fields that matter. Bill Clinton, for all his personal gifts, was forced by the position to do much the same.
What is troublesome is this marks another national election in our Republic that already has overtones of fraud, unbalanced press coverage and excessive amounts of money being spent – and to what end? We claim as citizens that we want the “best” candidate for the job but in practically every election since 1988 it has been a question of lesser evils.
Perhaps Plato summed it up best: “How superbly [democracy] tramples down all such ideals, caring nothing from what it practices and way of life a man turns to do politics, but honoring him if only he says he loves the people” (Republic 8.558b).
When Obama states that tired line about a McCain presidency “being Bush’s third term” or something similar, McCain needs to hit him back. Hard.
An Obama presidency would be like Carter’s first (and last) term:
- gas lines
Oct 15, 2008 - 11:45 am 20. GayPatriot » Why Would the Left Rather Attack than Engage?:- high taxes
- inflation
- much bigger unemployment numbers
- down stock market
- some Islamist attack on US interests with a weak response.
[...] to criticism, noting particularly the comments section to his Pajamas blog, Victor Davis Hanson writes: In that regard, I often note the tone of the hard left at this site; the right disagrees and [...]
Oct 15, 2008 - 12:54 pm 21. Zane:The left is a big tent. Look for them to gain total control and fly apart from their center. The danger for America will be exactly who will pick up the pieces. the Bolsheviks or Mensheviks.
Oct 15, 2008 - 2:17 pm 22. Zane:Should be red and white states.
Oct 15, 2008 - 2:31 pm 23. JA Lineberry:No mention of the so-called “Troopergate” report, which states Palin overstepped the boundaries of her office in a vindictive, frivolous quest to get someone fired?
Quite a surprise, I must say.
Obama’s “Scipionic circle” seems a little over the top, considering Obama gave a plausible explanation for his interactions with Ayers, and we’ve judged Wright’s career spanning decades on a couple of minutes of sound bites looped on Fox News. Certainly, in black churchs, racism and oppression are emphasized, and a lot of frustration is vented, perhaps dividing us further, but there’s also the other side of the coin: black self-determinism. I’ve been to a lot of churches with sincere, passionate leaders, who go off-the-cuff from time to time and say outlandish things, make weird predictions, and condemn the United States’ excess and sinfulness. I’ve heard it many times, and in many different ways. Every storm, every disaster is because of some disobedience to God – from the hundreds of thousands of godless heathens who died in the Tsunami, to those homosexuals who perished in New Orelans. Maybe you’re used to the quiet Baptist/Methodist churches where you sit in a pew, sing a few songs, and then try to beat the crowd to the K&W. At the churches I’ve attended, the preachers were always saying things I felt would be controversial outside of that setting. Growing up, I didn’t have a choice, but it’s probably one of the reasons I no longer attend church. But I can certainly see how these so-called “spiritual guides” could be useful once they stop lamenting the wrongs committed by the US government, the sinfulness of America, et al.
We use the blanket label “terrorist” for Ayers, yet his group consciously avoided hurting anyone (and succeeded), and targeted empty government sites in the middle of the night (when no one was there) to make a statement about the War in Vietnam. It is certainly illegal and it certainly isn’t legitimate speech, but it is incomparable to an Al Qaeda or a Hamas, which is exactly what people think of when they picture Obama “palling around with terrorists.” Another distortion, I believe from your last point: Ayers clarified his statement “we should’ve done more,” to mean “we should’ve done more as a nation to stop the Vietnam war.” He didn’t mean they should’ve set off more bombs, which they were bad at anyway. Obama claims he initially wasn’t aware of Ayers’ past, and when he found out about it, he assumed he had been rehabilitated, which was an obvious assumption given that he was and still is a “distinguished professor” of elementary education theory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He served on a committee with him and had a party at his house decades ago. Big deal.
The mission here is to oversimplify, distort, and exaggerate until you bring your opponent down. It isn’t working.
I’m personally of the belief that we shouldn’t raise anyone’s taxes, and that’s a crucial area where I deviate from the Democratic doctrine, but consider that most of these people who “don’t pay income taxes” aren’t exactly living the high life. I would much rather be in the higher tax brackets and giving my money to the government than in a low tax bracket and a beneficiary of the earned income tax credit.
I think it’s a distortion to say we probably would’ve paid about the same (about a trillion dollars) had those same troops been in bases here in the Americas and not fighting in Iraq, which isn’t what you said, but is the logical conclusion to your argument.
The Obama campaign has stated income taxes won’t be any higher than they were under the Reagan administration. As well, the “one trillion dollars” in proposed new spending is offset by significant budget cuts in other areas, as well as the rolling back of the Bush tax cuts. I’m not crazy about all the money Washington is throwing around these days, and personally think a balanced budget amendment would serve this country well. Where’s Perot when you need him? But I digree…I have differences with Obama, but I think Palin is clearly overmatched in this arena, and McCain can’t decide if he wants to cut spending or buy up all of America’s bad mortgages.
It’s a crazy world out there, but we’ve got to vote for someone. The difference to me was Palin, through and through.
Oct 15, 2008 - 3:44 pm 24. trangbang68:Lineberry,To say that Ayers’ group didn’t target anyone and succeeded is not true. The bomb which detonated prematurely and killed Terry Robbins, Ted Gould and Diana Oughton was targeted for a dance in the NCO Club at Ft. Dix. Fortunately these lame terrorists screwed up and eliminated their own worthless selves. I did basic training at Ft. Dix 2 years before so it’s personal for me. Comrade Susan Rosenberg joined other radicals in 1981 in a Brinks truck robbery that left 3 policemen dead. She was apprehended with 740 lbs. of explosive. Just your harmless little garden variety activists. Everyone of these traitors in later interviews say they would do it all again. That you get morally indignant because Palin fired a rogue cop who tasered a nine year old while you laud a murderous scumbag like Ayers tells me tons about you.
Oct 15, 2008 - 5:12 pm 25. Epictetus:This is goodbye — Off to the Russian Consulate…
Oct 15, 2008 - 5:54 pm 26. Matt Brough:I think this was a very good installment. I still disagree very much with Victor’s optimism for Palin. Her inability to answer the ambiguous Bush-Doctrine question was never even on my radar screen. The problems ocurred after that – her ludicrous claim to FP credntials, her inability to talk intelligently and spontaneously on the economy, her response to a question on what she reads (”all of them” – I’d be delighted with a Conrad novel as an answer if she doesn’t read the paper!), her impulsive answer on Pakistan, a strange understanding of what Hamas is, etc. All this coupled with doubts about what sorts of reforms she really did accomplish in her state is a worrying thought.
With that said, I don’t know how anyone can argue with your characterization of Obama’s background and ambiguous positions. He MAY be a unifier, he MAY rely on practical answers and empiricism when faced with the challenges of our time, he MAY stand up to his party when necessary and refuse to become a signature machine for a potentially fillibuster-proof democratic congress. But what EVIDENCE do we have to believe this? Words?
This is not a rhetorical question; it would be great if an Obama supporter could articulate a response. I haven’t heard a persuasive one yet.
It’s for these reasons listed in Victor’s article that I refuse to jump ship and vote for Obama. But this is IN SPITE of Palin. I think she was a short-sighted impulsive choice, and a very big mistake. The reason I like VDH so much – and people like him – is because of the combination of intellectual ability and real-world experience and skill. But I only see the possibility of the latter in Governor Palin. And that is a problem.
Anyway, let’s not kid ourselves. Barring something huge, Obama will be our next president. I hope the honeymoon is short, and the fawning wanes. But I certainly will get behind him if and when he takes office. We have too many challenges to let the election season spill over the sides and past the election itself.
Oct 15, 2008 - 5:59 pm 27. JA Lineberry:I’m not the one that said Palin acted inappropriately – the report did. I don’t want that kind of vindictive personality in the White House.
I’m not lauding Ayers, I’m disputing the intended comparison between Ayers and Al Qaeda. We’re talking about Ayers, not Rosenberg or any of the rest of them. Ayers wasn’t involved in the intended attack on the NCO dance, and certainly not the Brinks robbery in ‘81. He’s a crazy loon, regardless, but the notion that he’s a terrorist in the same vein as an Al Qaeda, who sends men and women, and even the mentally disabled, to blow themselves up in order to kill as many civilians as possible, is simply erroneous. If you look at the attacks Ayers participated in, they match the description I gave. I don’t think Ayers or the WU are worthy of any inkling of admiration, and if that’s what you took away from my comment, perhaps I should’ve phrased my argument differently. Just because I say that Ayers isn’t in the same vein as an Islamist doesn’t mean I a) like the guy or b) agree with what he did. I simply don’t believe that 1) what Ayers did is equitable or even comparable to an Islamist, and 2) Obama should be shunned because he served on a committee with him and had a party at his house ten years ago.
I hope that clears things up.
Oct 15, 2008 - 8:21 pm 28. RAP:Anyone who would vote against McCain because of Sarah Palin is a total moron. She would be the VICE-President and handle little ceremonial jobs. The argument that she would be one heartbeat away from being President doesn’t hold water either. With modern medicine and Secret Service protection the possiblity of the President dying in office is less than the Detriot Lions winning the Super Bowl. Look at how long the ex-Presidents live after leaving office. RWR was are oldest President and lived 18 years after leaving office; G. Ford almost 30 years and Carter is still alive. She is certainly as well qualified as some previous VPs like Chester Arthur (he actually became President) and Daniel Tompkins who was such a drunkard that he was asked to leave Washington and go home.
Oct 15, 2008 - 10:32 pm 29. Overwhelming Comments:cf bleachers and JA Lineberry, get your own blogs. And remember that “brevity is the soul of wit.”
Oct 16, 2008 - 12:22 am 30. Radicals think Obama is a radical — Cranach: The Blog of Veith:[...] Davis Hanson quotes left-wing journalist Ben Wallace-Wells, writing in “The Rolling Stone” in 2007: This is as openly radical a background as any [...]
Oct 16, 2008 - 4:20 am 31. TLM:JA Lineberry,
Minimizing his association with Ayers is concerning because Obama was (and is) clearly deceptive about it, along with his other unsavory “friendships”. And the media let him get away with an obvious lie. What else has the media refused to look into re Obama? No resume, no experience, and no vetting by the MSM. That’s what the Ayers problem shows.
FYI to all: Secret Service investigation into the “kill him” allegation at the Scranton rally — no one besides the reporter heard this. Having been at the Palin rally in Dover, NH yesterday, I can assure you the crowds are full of Secret Service people. Hard to believe they wouldn’t notice that one. See if that report makes it into the NYT et al.
Oct 16, 2008 - 5:15 am 32. Mark Rinzel:Again with this cringe-inducing acceptance of Sarah Palin as the embodiment of rugged knowledge. It’s just not true. For all her talk about “Joe Six Pack,” a figment of the Right’s imagination, Sarah Palin doesn’t want anything to do with the working class. In fact, she has been trying her whole life to get away from them, to attain power, to transcend her status, substituting cunning for brains or ethics.
Hitch is right. She is a “disgrace.” I believe strongly that we need an intelligent conservative movement to keep the Dems honest, but even brilliant minds like Dr. Hanson’s have fallen prey to this nonsense about her. The Right has become a closed-circuit, and it doesn’t even seem to know it.
Speaking with a friend in rural Indiana yesterday was elucidating. Of Palin: “I would hate that woman if she lived in Rushville. What a phony!”
Oct 16, 2008 - 9:43 am 33. Victor Davis Hanson has an interesting quote « Scatterin’ O’ the Thoughts:[...] that came from Professor Hanson’s pre-debate article, entitled, “Hope and Despair“. He lists things he wanted John McCain to talk about last night, and I think McCain did a [...]
Oct 16, 2008 - 11:24 am 34. Ron Kean:JA Lineberry
The reason Ayres is bad is because the CAC existed to teach a philosophy contrary to that of our constitution. I don’t believe he’s a has-been. I believe Obama’s an accomplice.
The bad thing is that he planted seeds. Rather than flood students with help with math, science, and reading, he flooded teachers, operatives, and students with a will to revolt against the establishment.
How many seeds have grown into revolutionaries?
That is his and Obama’s legacy. I imagine $160,000,000 can go a long way toward revolution.
If McCain wins, we may find out sooner. If Obama wins we may find out later.
With all the FBI investigations going on now, tracking the tens of thousands of ficticious names, the integrity of the election system may be corrupt right now. They may have already reaped what they planted.
Oct 16, 2008 - 1:28 pm 35. Gaisan:“It doesn’t make any sense!” That’s what a commentator said today on the radio. He was talking about the fact that when he lays out the litany of the unsavory characters in Obama’s past… and present… who advise and counsel him, they all say “I know, I know, but I’m voting for him anyway.”
When someone says something that doesn’t make sense it usually means that he or she isn’t thinking rationally. When a whole group of people, collectively, are not thinking rationally, it usually means they’ve been dazzled, enthralled, captivated, mesmerized, and charmed by the eloquence of someone… dare I say a messiah… who promises them that all they need to do is follow Him and he will lead them to the Promised Land!
That, my friends, is called a CULT! That’s why it never made sense to many of us but now it does – perfect sense. That’s why all the rationality in the world won’t help… ask anyone who’s had a loved one in the grip of a cult. Cults are not democratic… cults don’t like it when any of their followers want to leave… cults have been known to kill people coming from the “outside” in an attempt to preserve the cult’s way of life… the most notorious of whom eventually became unhinged and deeply paranoid… Jim Jones.
Voting for Obama is voting for nothing less than voting for the leader of a CULT to become our next President. Have we all gone crazy?
Oct 16, 2008 - 6:38 pm 36. River Fan:Gaisan is right. Obama supporters have the characteristics of a cult: faith in the leader, rather than critical analysis.
So how do you campaign against a cult leader? Pick the most vulnerable point in the core belief and hammer away at it, again and again. You won’t get through to the true believers, but you can get through to the ones on the fence and the potential converts. For example, how about the central theme of his candidacy – income redistribution?
Dozens of socialist and communist countries tried it during the last century, and not a single one succeeded. In fact they were all miserable failures. The only ones that started building wealth in their countries were the ones that have moved toward capitalism and free markets like China. Those that are still mired in socialism like North Korea and Cuba are economic basket cases. Most of the developed world has figured out that socialism doesn’t work. The only people that still think it’s a good idea are Barak Obama and the American Left.
Oct 17, 2008 - 9:22 am 37. Zane:Mark Rinzel,
Palin doesn’t scare me sir, but you do. Transcend her status? . . . What? . . . Like her mommy status? You know her life’s gameplan? Based on what? What you have read in an overreaching, liberal press?
Oct 17, 2008 - 10:49 am 38. TLM:Well, now we know why Obama doesn’t do townhall meetings. His Joe-the-plumber/spread-the-wealth admonition is closer to the truth for Obama than America realizes.
Trying to explain the implications of an Obama/Reid/Pelosi government to the Obot cultists is met with vacuous stares, or outright hostility. We are going to pay a very heavy price for the excesses of the Bush years.
Oct 17, 2008 - 1:04 pm 39. jp:Fox News reported that SoS Jennifer Brunner filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court late Wednesday requesting that the SC overturn a Lower Court ruling that requires her to set up a system that provides names of newly registered voters whose DL# or SS# on voter registration forms don’t match Government records.
About 200,000 of 666,000 voters who have registered to vote in Ohio since Jan 1 have records that don’t match.
House Minority Leader John Boehner of OH (R), released analysis showing ACORN received at least 31 Million in Federal Funds from various agencies since 1998.
Boehner last week called for an end to Federal Funds to ACORN following widespread reports of voter fraud by the group.
BTW, McCain gave a wonderful speech at the Al Smith Memorial Dinner in New York a couple of days ago, absolutely hilarious. He needled BO mercilessly, without it being campaign attack mode. Great stuff.
Oct 18, 2008 - 7:42 am 40. Toulumne:Submit to the Cult of Rama !
Oct 18, 2008 - 10:46 am 41. CBDenver:Here is what the “Troopergate” report acutally says:
“Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.”
So what exactly did the Governor do that was so wrong?
“Governor Palin engaged in “official action” by her inaction if not her active participation or assistance to her husband in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired.”
That convoluted sentence basically means she did not put a leash on her husband when he continued to complain about the misbehavior of the ex brother-in-law (Trooper Wooten) and the slap-on-the-wrist he received from the State Troopers.
So what were the recommendations for punishment for these “dastardly deeds”? A fine or even impeachment as AK legislator French hinted months ago? No, not at all. The recommendations included:
“The legislature should consider amending [the law] to permit those who file complaints against peace officers to receive some feedback about the status and outcome of their complaints”.
This is confirmation that the situation with Trooper Wooten was intolerable from the standpoint of the Palins who never were informed about the results of their complaints about Wooten. The trooper had tazered his own son, threatended the life of Gov Palin’s father, drank beer in his squad car, as well as issued threats against various other family members. The State Troopers never informed the Palins what punishment (if any) Trooper Wooten had received. Little wonder that Todd Palin was incensed about this situation and kept telling people how unhappy he was that nothing had been done about his ex brother-in-law.
The other recommendation regarded some clarification of the existing medical records release of information law.
That’s it. No fines for Palin, no impeachment, nothing. This goes to show that the report and its findings were much ado about nothing. I watched a video of one of the AK legislators after the report was released (Kim Elton, D, Obama supporter) who said that the legislative council did not all agree with the findings of the report. To paraphrase, he said that some of the legislators agreed with the whole report, some agreed in part, and some disagreed completely. Basically the AK legislative council just voted to release the report and let is sit there like a turd in the swimming pool. Right before the election. October surprise.
Oct 18, 2008 - 8:40 pm 42. Nevi:Hello
As a comment, The Obama economic policy will trigger a full US collapse, because that model cannot work. Perhaps it might sound fancy to some, but the so called ‘rich’do not constitute more than 5% of the population really..in fact it may be around 1%.
Can someone assist me in reaching McCain directly?
I contacted your government by fax and email, but since I’m just a no name to world leaders, perhaps communications never reach them. ( I happen to know this from the many autoresponders internationally)
Perhaps someday soon, when you see the world markets collapse fully, you might remember my note and perhaps carry it to someone that has ears. What you see every world leader do over the next months are acts of futility..No amount of cash injection can fix the markets.
The ‘root cause’ of everything you know from what is called, credit crisis,subprime mortgage crisis, housing correction etc ( which is really a load of bs) is UNEMPLOYMENT. If 50 Buffets injected their entire fortunes, they’s still lose it all. The EU commissioner doesn’t know much..he maintains ‘the age of affordable energy is over’ . Did you ever wonder why, if the known alternate energy methods are all ‘clean, AFFORDABLE energy, your utility bills are RISING fast?? I can tell you that what you know as wind and solar power now, is fleecing the nation of $ billions, and you will NEVER supply the nation with energy on those modes. The taxpayers will NEVER sustain that burden, and therefore your energy costs will NEVER be lower.
Notes to state depts etc get ‘autoresponders’..So, when you see the bigger collapse of your markets, that is coming along pretty soon, understand that bad things happen, when governments and world leaders think that they are somehow the superminds that hold all the answers. Just their frequent meetings usually just increase carbon emissions, and hot air increases global warming. Market collapse is inevitable..the cash injections just delay it a slight bit. For the thousands losing their jobs every single day just from financial institutions, even as ‘bailouts’ happen – where do you think those thousands will get $$ to pay off THEIR mortgages? They live in $3-5 million price tagged homes. They too have ‘mortgages’ to pay.
I offered to FIX the global financial systems. What I mention here may just seem impossible to you, because the world you know, knows only wind,solar,biofuels etc at this time. ‘Impossible’is only so, to people that know nothing outside their thinking.
Between Paulsons 3 pages, and 3 that I could lay down, the difference would be that US would regenerate in the $ trillions. Scientists,engineers and professors know how to do lots, but the building blocks of concepts define what their intelligence can do.
I can provide the US federal govt with a full , clean, non nuclear energy solution.
There are 2 stages to the generation
1- Full, uninterrupted cyclic generation of electricity.
2- Semi Cyclic generation of electricity converged over time zones.
This means a very wide flexibility. In both methods, the voltage output EXCEEDS the COMBINED OUTPUT of wind, solar and biofuels with the kicker being, its possible to engineer and implement at a fraction of the price you are now paying for eg. wind farms and solar farms. In a nutshell, Im saying you can get 1000X the power of all alternate known methods, for a fraction of the price now being injected into alternatives.
Remember Im saying..oil dependance will drop..you can have cheap electric fuel cells for cars..and your investments and savings will be safe again. The high price of energy will fall, because you will begin to actually have ‘affordable’ clean power. Your carbon emissions will drop, as petrol powered vehicles are systematically removed.
NEW,Non Nuclear CLEAN Energy Concept: The generation of unlimited ,daily, clean electricity into the national power grid, in volumes that, with implementation, will outstrip the combined output of wind and solar energy – Concept currently UNKNOWN as alternate energy provider.
I wrote to the UN and some governments/gov depts/EU commissioner etc, on a global energy solution that with implementation will provide more electricity than wind/solar/biofuels COMBINED.
Here are a few aspects :
Type: Clean,non nuclear solution with guaranteed outputs, and minimal loss.
Method: Currently UNKNOWN among the known methods of alternate electricity generation.
What I am saying : The entire energy generation methodology of the globe will change.
Oil Dependance : Guaranteed to drop systematically
Emissions : Guaranteed to drop systematically as less use of petroleum, automatically reduces carbons.
Cost Effective: In comparison to what is now being spent on wind, solar, biofuels – implementation costs less. Models can be flexible for developed/developing countries.
Development: Because of the flexibility, it gives developers entire new direction , unlimited to a single standard.
Environment: Minimal impact. Carbon emissions will be reduced on a large scale.
Economic impact: Basically, the economies of the globe will be able to regenerate within 7-10 years. Low cost electricity, available daily and abundantly allows all sectors of societies to progress.
Drawbacks:
One aspect is not possible to implement in wartorn areas with damaged or no basic infrastructures.This drawback does not apply in developed countries like US , UK or EU.
Richer countries will need to assist poorer countries with some developments.
Monopolistic govts, who are always quick to see ‘profits’ will have the ability to still charge high prices, so it will need possible international regulation .
Developers, who are also quick to hike prices for installation of even affordable stuff, will want to be quick to exploit the concept for financial gains, rather than implement with a reasonable margin, for the actual purpose of unlimited electrical generation to be realised..and their reasoning will be because of what it provides, in terms of generation capability,and profits .
Because of the sudden demand, even the producers of affordable components and materials will try to exploit the concept.
Pre- legislative work is required in congress to ensure that 80% of the work happens within US, or greed will ensure that unlegislated, US citizens will be marginalised in the face of greed, searching for cheap components.
Positives:
The energy output is guaranteed,daily.
Energy is possible from what I shall term a partial cyclic, and full cyclic.
Surplus can be channelled into storage too as the capability to store powergrows, especialy in remote areas.
Only govts have the capacity to really roll out the concept,and how it should happen countrywide..so it is possible for them to regulate all departments/private sector/industries aligned etc beforehand.
Only govts can allow the basis of implementations.
Only govts can oversee maintenance/upgrades/technology advancements because power generation is a matter of national security.
US will meet its emissions targets.
——————
The above are just basics..I can list it all in much greater detail .
1- Launching the concept requires a global energy summit. Only UN or a specific govt has the power to command that.
2- The concept payment is to be made by strict pre-agreement with the US Federal Government.
3- All developed countries can utilise it, and even developing countries ..but it is not possible in wartorn regions like Darfur etc, unless they stabilise . Its possible if the installations are secure.
4- The scale of the concept, has a global application, and can allow meeting the unrealistic targets now set, in 7-10 years. At current, you know wind,solar,hydro and biofuels combined cannot reduce oil dependance.
5- Concept implementation, is guaranteeing daily renewal of electricity into national grids, with minor fluctuations of maybe 3-10% ,with the capability to expand implementations with minimal environmental impact, and flexible modelling.
6- I am saying: If eg.1GW is the rated output from one installation, then that 1 GW is guaranteed with only a small fluctuation , daily. This is the secondary output capability. In the main installation capability, power is produced on a continuous ,uninterrupted basis .
7- In 7-10 years, it will allow approx 60% of petrol powered vehicles vehicles to be totally removed. Electrical fuel cell will be a simple reality, because the electricity is fully available, by clean power.
8- Oil will still be necessary , but not as it is now, in such high global volumes.
9- There are different stages of developments- The main installations will deliver totally uninterrupted high energy , and the second stage developments offer determined periods of guaranteed output. The environmental, architectural, structural ,technical and related capabilities of the concept implementation ensure many different co-operative developments.
I also sent the following to the Whitehouse by Fax and Email.
Urgent Attention: President George W Bush.
Sir
Re: ECONOMIC SOLUTION- NEW METHOD OF ALTERNATE ENERGY.
Please understand carefully, that no degree of funds you inject into recapitalization of banks, or into the stock markets there will solve your economic problem. I can ensure that US does NOT go into a depression. Your problem, is not ‘credit crunch’ or ‘housing correction’ – Your root cause is ‘spiralling unemployment’ The best economists on the planet, cannot juggle the figures, or protect the treasury and you will see that the markets will continue to fall. Neither Paulson, or Bernanke, or anyone else can render a monetary fix because that does not address ‘unemployment’. You cannot inject $billions into kick starting ‘credit operations’ because people have to be WORKING to access credit facilities.
Worldwide, investors know that US citizens are losing their jobs by the thousands, daily. Even with your ‘bailouts’ – every institution is shredding thousands of jobs. Every employee in these institutions has a mortgage too. I tried sending John McCain this…apparently people in his campaign do not inform their leader of high level information too. Contact me, if the Energy and Financial Security of the nation is important to you. If you follow all the instructions clearly, it will begin to redefine the economic path of the US, and you will find that Energy Security will allow US to change its Foreign Policy in ways that are more in cohesion with the ideas of the founding fathers of your nation.
I am offering you:
1 – National and Global CLEAN Energy Solution that outputs more electrical power than Wind, Solar and Bio-fuels COMBINED. ( Gigawatts of power)
2- Concept Implementationallows a comprehensive Economic Plan based on millions of jobs, as the concept allows the regeneration of your steel and engineering plants nationwide.
3- Concept implementation addresses Carbon Emissions and OIL DEPENDANCE.
4- Concept implementation ignites new INVESTMENTS, and redefines the stock markets.
5- You have the ability to announce a WORLD FIRST , NEW method of Clean, alternate energy that is now unknown on the globe.
6- You will have an energy source that has 2 methods:
a) Full UNINTERRUPTED Cyclic Electricity at National Grid Level.
b) Semi- Cyclic High Voltage Energy over defined periods, that by convergence over time zones, will have the lowest intermittency ratio.
7- You can host an INTERNATIONAL Energy Summit, to present a GLOBAL ENERGY SOLUTION, also addressing the Financial Crisis.
8- Concept implementation constitutes changes to infrastructure that creates jobs from the simple level of cleaners, right up to the advanced engineers and architectural master planners.
9- OIL DEPENDANCE can be reduced by double digits ensuring that USA meets its global emissions targets long before 2050.
10- You have a full on energy solution that can begin implementation in months, and not years – the US economy cannot wait that long.
11- ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT is addressed, ensuring you have high level consistent energy with minimal environmental impact.
12- Clean, affordable, energy ensures your National Security, and affects everything from electrical FUEL-CELL technology to the everyday productivity of every product, and also the rising cost of food.
13- Effectively, you will be able to REMOVE bio- fuel production that utilises a food source. Other methods can remain in limited use as necessary.
14- Wind Power will cost Americans TRILLIONS, so current methods of alternate power will never give you ‘affordable’ energy. Apart from that, wind power is overrated, and is fleecing the nation even now, because it will take generations to cover those costs. Concept Implementation gives you more than 1000x that power output, at a fraction of that cost.
The above are a few basics, achievable in under 7 years. There are strict pre- conditions , and terms.
I would expect, in the light of the fact that no world leader has an answer, that you might be interested in what I propose.
Oct 19, 2008 - 9:33 am 43. Minerva:Long time without Doc posting. Might be writing about Powell? Those centrists and conservatives who sold themselves to Rama will find they’re the first ones purged. Read them no more and when they cry unto you, walk away.
Oct 19, 2008 - 11:33 am 44. Ron Kean:Nevi
Before we give you a PHD, please detail:
‘NEW,Non Nuclear CLEAN Energy Concept: The generation of unlimited ,daily, clean electricity into the national power grid, in volumes that, with implementation, will outstrip the combined output of wind and solar energy – Concept currently UNKNOWN as alternate energy provider.’
‘Method: Currently UNKNOWN among the known methods of alternate electricity generation.’
Are you holding out because you think someone’s going to rip you off and make a fortune. Are you from outer space?
I like what you’re saying. But what are you saying?
Oct 20, 2008 - 9:26 am