The Debate
Obama’s constant deference to McCain as in “John is right…”; the worried side-looks over at McCain, who, in contrast, addressed the audience; and the desire for false intimacy (employing “John” instead of “Sen. McCain”) reflected the relative lack of gravitas on Obama’s part—something that transcends education, eloquence, and youthful vigor.
Did the McCain debate victory matter? Yes, it helped, but time is running out and the economy is trumping the campaign battlefield. It matters little that Chris Dodd in disgraceful fashion took $165,000 from the miscreants at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, or that Barney Frank’s vehement opposition to reform of those institutions empowered their near-criminal leveraging.
Instead, the incumbent administration and its party in general get blamed or credited for the current economy. Moreover Wall Street as right-wing free-market sewer is a far better known talking point than the more complex corruption of hyper-liberal legislators legitimizing their own dishonesty and graft through calls to help the poor and minorities get loans and be relieved of their debts.
In the next two debates, McCain has to hit Obama harder on his past and rattle him. Or barring that, the proposed settlement will have to improve markets and stop talks of the Great Depression. The voters want to tilt McCain, but the last 10 days have been framed (in part accurately) as hyper-capitalism, greed, and wildly unregulated free markets hurt Middle America–and that narrative has cost (unfairly) McCain, who wanted to regulate Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac more than did any Senate Democrat, in aggregate about six points in the polls.
The irony is that the basics of the US economy–demography, productivity, innovation, infrastructure, legal structures, and higher education–are, as McCain said, sound. They are in far better shape than anywhere abroad (look at a shrinking Europe, or disgraced industries in China, or Indian fervor and unrest, or Russian criminality.) In that regard, if I had capital (I don’t, so easy to speculate), I would buy houses in good locations, and the stocks of well-run companies since they are at historic lows, will rebound, and their value won’t tank since the US won’t tank.
I think the bail-out will end up making rather than losing money, and by 2009 the economy will be back to near normal. Indicators as diverse as GDP, inflation, unemployment, and deficits as a percentage of GDP are not as disturbing as in our recent past.
The Obama Two Step
The truth is that we have an election between a moderate Republican whose centrist positions worry conservatives, who is pitted against a fringe-hyper-liberal candidate who must somehow assure the voters he is merely liberal. Never in recent history, have Republicans nominated one so moderate, never Democrats one so hard left. Yet we are not getting from a proud and unapologetic Obama “My left-wing views have at last proven prescient and arrived, and McCain’s namby-pamby moderation is not what these crisis times call for.”
Instead, it is dissumaltion all the time, as Obama (for now) essentially has refuted most of his prior positions on the major issues. Even his tax-and-spend plans are now on hold, pending the Wall Street uncertainty. We know nothing really of his background between Columbia and Harvard Law School. Few can figure out exactly what he and Ayers were trying to do with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge other than to give someone else’s millions to further the hard-left agendas of a number of cronies whose efforts did not result in any marginal improvement in the Chicago schools.
In other words, the most liberal presidential candidate in our memory is suddenly posing as a moderate centrist not much different from McCain (e.g., “I agree with John…” ad nauseam). And McCain thus far has not been able to scratch the thin veneer. Had Palin once worked in community organizing with a Timothy McVeigh, or had McCain been the member of a white supremacist church for 20 years, or had McCain been judged the most conservative member of the Senate, the McCain-Palin ticket would have long ago imploded.
How did Obama so successfully metamorphosize?
The Strategy of Preemption
Note what’s behind the recent efforts of St. Obama to threaten to go to the courts after the NRA ads, to swarm Milt Rosenberg’s radio station in Chicago to badger guest Stanley Kurtz, or to unleash Missouri law-enforcement on McCain’s campaign ads.
Partly this hardball is a sort of determination not to play Democratic softie again, since a liberal myth has arisen that Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, et al. lost elections only because of unfair hit ads rather than their own hard-left agendas. In that regard, Obama has prepped the battlefield well.
First, by playing the race card, all criticism can be couched in advance as racist in origin, and much of it has.
Second, by playing the no-more-swift-boat card, all campaign ads (compare the Limbaugh smears, or the third-party [cf. the role of Howard Dean’s brother] attacks on McCain’s health) are always to be seen as retaliatory and contextualized as defensive.
Third, Obama wants to “get in their face” and show that he’s “tough” and not another wilted-flower Dukakis. So he preens that he will bring a gun to a knife fight, and is going to “go after” John McCain. Because we are so prepped that this is not Obama’s natural inclination, we are to show forbearance that he is “forced” to go negative.
Fourth, we are seeing a traditional ‘noble ends, justify crude means’ campaign of the left, in which the annointed often excuse transitory street tactics for the sake of the greater good. Threatening to sue, or to intimidate guests, or to “get in their faces” are legitimate tactics because we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to obtain the “change we are waiting for,” in a “vero possumus” messianic figure who will stop the seas from rising, and the planet from heating—if we just accept his divinity.
In such a context, worry about the past of Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, or Jeremiah Wright, or concern about flops on campaign finance, town hall debating, FISA, NAFTA, guns, abortion, capital punishment, drilling, Iran, the surge, or Jerusalem, or fear of a high-tax more entitlements agenda, consistent with Obama’s most liberal Senate voting record, and lavish distribution of grant funds when working as a Chicago organizer and Ayers sidekick on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge—yes, all that legitimate worry must instead be seen as racist, or Rovian, or more of Bush/Cheney polarization.
Race, race again everywhere
The most brilliant prepping has been an anticipatory demonization of the white working class in an effort through shame, fear, or pity to sway them to vote Obama. The narrative advanced is that if McCain wins, the real reason is because working-class Democrats—once they collectively get into the privacy of the voting booth—sighed and voted against Obama because he is of half-African ancestry, despite telling pollsters they would not.
In the last two weeks I think I have read at least 20 op-eds with one of the following three premises: (1) warning: Many Americans are racists, and the election will thus hinge on race, so you have one last chance to get it right; (2) shame: The world is watching, and will either like or dislike us, depending on our support for Obama; (3) fear: If Obama loses, expect furor or even near riots.
Enough already
So will the white working class take into consideration race? I don’t think so if one defines race as skin color, or larger cultural issues of black versus white. After all, Americans have never voiced an iota of racism about eight years of African-American Secretaries of State, who were the most visible representations of US foreign policy.
Most conservative Democrats’ worries about Obama have nothing to do with race per se, but center solely around five other issues:
(1) his judgment and the degree to which he felt comfortable with an array of disreputable figures, whether Chicago racketeers like Tony Rezko, radicals like Ayers, or racists like Pfleger and Wright;
(2) perceived elitism that transcends arugula riffs, such as his Pennsylvania clingers speech; his oceans rise/planet cools egomania; ‘we are the change . . .’ hubris; his silly new presidential seal; the Berlin second coming and Greek temple backdrops; Michelle’s rants about being suddenly proud of the US; and the worship from the hip and smug elite like a Barbara Streisand, Woody Allen, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, etc. The net result of this is a certain “I can save you all from your natural Neanderthal tendencies of voting for those who really don’t know how to help you like I do.”
(3) his ultra-liberal Senate voting record, especially on matters of defense, abortion on demand, education, and taxes, and subsequent flops and flips to disguise this record; most voters don’t want higher taxes, don’t think government has all the answers to our current problems, are tired of identity politics, and think the world abroad and the UN are mostly unstable if not scary;
(4) his flippant, instinctual riffs that reveal occasional ignorance—confusion over how many states, the location of Kentucky, the liberation of Auschwitz, tire pressure over oil drilling, etc;
(5) the degree to which his supporters have resorted to thuggery: photo-shopping John McCain’s Atlantic Magazine picture; hacking into Palin’s email; swarming talk radio stations when guests question Obama’s integrity; media seen in the tank while posing as objective journalists; trafficking in rumors about her Down syndrome pregnancy; daily Hollywood moronic outbursts; threatened law-suits, etc.
Don’t Tread on Them
The white working class is tiring of the constant sermons on race, either chauvinism or veiled threats or overt insults. Obama’s supporters really need to cool it, and stop suggesting that at each dip in his polls, Americans are proving less than noble people. The only thing that will really lose them the working-class vote is the gun-to-the-head, you’d better vote this way or else attitude.
I grew up among the Democratic working classes, and I can vouch for one eternal truth about them: anyone who lectures them about what they “must” do—or else—will simply achieve the opposite result, every time. Time might be better spent making the very difficult argument that 60% of the white vote going for McCain, not 95% of the African-American vote going for Obama, is in some way proof of America’s unhealthy racial chauvinism.
Obama, after all, at some point in his career made the political decision not to become a public figure in the manner of a Colin Powell. From the beginning he should have said something to the effect that African-Americans have always voted for white candidates that they agreed with, and whites in turn will do the same when the opportunity arises to vote for African-Americans—and then left it at that.
Instead, from the very beginning of his political career, he chose to talk about “transcending race” to gullible liberals while seeking black nationalist credentials to solidify his Chicago base. As I have worried earlier—Obama, I think, has set back racial relations a number of years by caricaturing the white working classes, legitimizing nuts like Wright and Pfleger, warning that votes against him arise from racial fears, and talking loosely about “reparations,” racial-identity charter schools, and the need for “oppression studies”.
A Condoleeza Rice made a number of statements about race, but none of them were polarizing or suggested racial identification was central rather than incidental to her character. We will look back at Obama as a racial polarizer of the first order, despite the utopian rhetoric of racial transcendence and the daily op-eds from his supporters accusing America of being racially intolerant by passing on the Obama Sermon on the Mount.
PJM Home
A War Like No Other How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power
Mexifornia : A State of a Becoming
Why the West Has Won: Nine Landmark Battles in the Brutal History of Western Victory
Between War and Peace: Lessons from Afghanistan to Iraq
The Western Way of War: Infantry Battle in Classical Greece (Paperback)
Wars of the Ancient Greeks (Smithsonian History of Warfare) (Paperback)
Who Killed Homer: The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom
Fields Without Dreams : Defending the Agrarian Ideal (Paperback)
The Soul of Battle: From Ancient Times to the Present Day, How Three Great Liberators Vanquished Tyranny
The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War (Paperback)
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
99 Comments
1. Tina Trent:Condoleeza Rice lived through the racial murders-by-bombing of her childhood friends and the worst manifestations of racial segregation, and she advocates for a colorblind society.
Obama came of age in a time and place (1980’s onward, academia and leftist politics) where his skin color conveyed nothing but privilege, power and purblind superiority, and he chose to side with bombers and advocate against colorblindness.
Go figure.
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:27 am 2. TLM:VDH,
I disagree with nothing you’ve written in this article. That being said, I doubt what’s currently known about Obama’s past, or the Democratic leaderships role in the current financial crisis, will play a major part in this election. The MSM have been completely negligent in exploring Obama’s Chicago days, just as they have been completely negligent in explaining how the Wall Street crisis arose. For them to change course on Obama now is unthinkable. It would expose their bias and hypocrisy. Furthermore, the media completely missed the ball over the past 2-5 years or so about the developing mess with Fannie, Freddie, hedge funds etc. We heard about the housing bubble, but never that the ramifications of a bust could be this extensive. On Obama’s, the Government’s, and the financial sector’s past misdeeds it’s been “Hear no evil, See no evil, Speak no evil” from our friends in the Fourth Estate. And they do nothing but distract us with that “Conversation on Race” trope. Our culture and our institutions are failing us.
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:52 am 3. vb:One minor disagreement: It is not just that Obama’s supporters need to cool it. Obama needs to cool them. He needs to set some standards and define limits. He wants to be leader of the free world, and he can’t even lead a bunch of silly college students to behave respectfully. He didn’t stand up to th Daley machine, and he won’t stand up to a bunch of swooning children. What a leader.
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:47 am 4. vfiore:This piece was really packed with great stuff. Thanks, keep up your great work !
As to race, from an external (Italy) viewpoint, Obama is really overusing/abusing the race rhetoric. Someone I can’t remember had it right : ‘What [Obama] isn’t, not a genetic drop of, is “African-American,” the descendant of enslaved Africans brought to America chained in slave ships.’ Funnily enough, he is more the descendant of Arab slave-owner..
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:55 am 5. Jack Okie:Good points all, Dr. Hanson, but until 2006 the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and could have, among other things, supported McCain’s bill (S190) to correct this financial mess. Where are those Republicans today? I guess many, like Denny Hastert, got theirs and got out. Of the ones left, how many do you suppose are as upset as we are? Probably upset they’re having to do something about it this time.
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:00 am 6. RJ:Cognitive dissonance, pure and simple, is at play. Hysterical behavior runs rampant. Truth is deeply hidden within feelings, even contorted beyond recognition. How many “father figures” does Obama have? His arrogance is nothing more than defensive armoring. Rev. Wright must be smiling!
However, when McCain opens his debate with that pablum of “bipartisan” mush, who wouldn’t head for the hills?
And now we are supposed to think our politicians can run a business via this bailout? How long are we supposed to be the suckers in these games? Even Gingrich comes across as Mr. Smartypants who only wants to stand on stage declamating to whoever.
Give thanks to our Mr. Compassionate Conservative President…Herr Bush. Talk about a guy who has folded his tent. His only friend might end up being his beloved Jesus!
Maybe the only real and true bright light to come into these sad political games is Gov. Palin. We will know if such is a truth this coming Thursday at the big debate, unless she has been lobotomized by her “handlers” who were assigned to bring her up to speed…(whatever that might mean!).
Maybe Obama needs to be elected, our economy needs to go into the tank, Congress needs to be rejected in mass, and revolution gets some fresh air breathed into it’s long dormant corpus via all these narcissists who think they are so smart! Can’t wait to see what happens within the Supreme Court.
I have never seen so many losers in so many important places during anytime in my life. Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, Frank, Dodd…I get too sick even typing these names knowing I’ve got lots more to present.
Frontier Mom Palin might be the only fresh air we are going to hear this election cycle; however, I suspect she might have been muzzled beyond repair and freedom…housebroken so to say.
I’m going to build that bomb shelter on my property I threatened to do five years ago.
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:36 am 7. D.W. Drang:Green building it with a picture of Al Gore on the outer door to scare away the future mutants! Or am I too late?
“…anyone who lectures them about what they ‘must’ do—or else—will simply achieve the opposite result, every time.”
Sep 29, 2008 - 8:19 am 8. Ephialtes:Cf. Jimmy Carter speech about how the country has a problem, demonstrated by his own unpopularity, national malaise, etc.
But Doc, Obama has won. So let us say to his supporters, especially in the MSM and PJM, “You BOUGHT him, you BROKE the country.” Let them defend the USA. As in The Road Warrior, they will all turn on each other. The rest of us put our valuables outside the reach of the USA before the bubble burst.
Sep 29, 2008 - 9:16 am 9. Ron Kean:‘The white working class is tiring of the constant sermons on race, either chauvinism or veiled threats or overt insults. Obama’s supporters really need to…’
Dear Professor,
There you go again.
It’s a pity McCain’s people haven’t tapped you to come to headquarters to straighten out the campaign’s rhetoric.
Sep 29, 2008 - 10:42 am 10. cfbleachers:Time is not only running out, it is running scared.
Sen. Obama wishes to hide his leftist lifetime and his Ministry of Truth is willing to help him conceal it. It always amuses me when the complicity of the leftist disinformation arm of the Democratic party is described as acting, essentially, with passive acquiescence in the game of hide n’ seek with Sen. Obama’s past positions, associations, platforms and pronouncements.
There is nothing passive about it. It is intentional deceit.
For each of them, is interested in the implementation, then cementing of a de facto social democracy…and they suspect (rightly, I believe) that if the question was debated openly it would lose soundly. So, they would rather “sneak it into the House”, and make it a fait accompli rather than suffer the indignity of losing yet ANOTHER national election in which the American public overwhelmingly rejects the European style leftism.
The leftist Ministry of DisInformation (academia, Hollywood, written daily press of major cities, the alphabet news rooms, wire services, and weekly periodicals along with leftist blogs compiling the various branches)have seized the information stream and have it in a stranglehold.
Whether it is the hiding of facts from Iraq on successes, to framing issues in a fraudulent manner so as to “serve” the “message” to the public in relentless tapas sized bites…or whether it is slandering anyone who refutes the misinformation and recoils from the Pravda Propaganda tools…it is a losing battle against death by a thousand cuts.
Sarah Palin is not the strongest candidate for VP, but her gaffes and malaprops pale against the relentless gaffe machine of Joe Biden. Reverse their party affiliations…and the coverage would be non-stop on Biden. Yet, the attack dogs are out after Palin since she energized the base of “the enemy”…which is how they are seen by the Ministry of Misinformation.
Yes, that debate is likely to look like Norm Crosby vs. Gracie Allen. We no longer put up our best and our brightest. But the coverage of it is wholly unfair.
The entirety of the race is wholly unfair. And the Ministry of Misinformation makes it so on purpose. If you don’t hate the propaganda arm of the Democratic party, you are either not smart enough to engage in the discussion or you don’t have enough of a soul to matter to it.
EITHER side…which allows, ferments and fuels the intentional secreting of facts and intentionally rapes our information stream…ought to be automatically disqualified from holding office. Otherwise, we are not participating in the self-governance of this land of ours…we are being trifled with into believing we are.
The leftists have lost their moral compass. They are a danger to our country, they are an incessant slander upon it. Time isn’t running out, it’s running scared. The truth is being gang raped and we stand by in horror and revulsion…paralyzed…and utterly futile in our whispered complaints.
The leftists have won. Because we were not brave enough to demand the truth and trumpet their intentions, stop buying their peddled lies and stop supporting anyone who sponsored them. Enjoy your Ministry of Truth broadcast tonight. We’ve earned it.
Enjoy your stay on Animal Farm. Get ready to sing the songs…and try to remember the rules as they change before your very eyes.
Sep 29, 2008 - 10:47 am 11. RJ:My second thoughts:
When women were provided with birth control pills my generation had a new direction; girls might now take the major responsibility for not becoming pregnant. But that was a male point of view.
What was the female point of view as a result of this reality? They were free to do what?
Burn bras, woman’s rights, feminization, egual pay…does this list end?
But what about the female mind, is it different than a male’s? If so, how?
Nuturing seems to be a big item here.
Could it be that beyond a generation of narcissists we might have been “feminized” in our political energies? Everybody get on the government teat! Government will care for everyone as soon as it finds the right language and argument to sell it to the people.
Just a wild idea. Men are good for what in this feminized world view? Working harder to provide more?
Forget the racial game, this may have more to do with male and female world views and responsibilities than we might imagine.
Gov. Palin gets all this bad press for presenting her world of what being a woman is all about. My my…seems a lot of men like her views, while a lot of women don’t.
Just some random thoughts, I guess. Where’s my burka and copy of the Koran?
Sep 29, 2008 - 10:57 am 12. LSD:I agree, with the exception of your opinion that McCain won the debate. What I saw was an Obama who was willing to be aggressive and a McCain almost afraid to even direct his comments towards Obama. (What is he so ashamed of?)
-RJ: I’m afraid the handlers might be working to bring Palin down to speed.
Sep 29, 2008 - 11:18 am 13. Jeff Perren:There is another plausible explanation for why the candidates and percentages are what they are today: the two actually reflect the electorate.
Yes, Obama the Zero does lie day in day out. But what he says reflects what a large percentage of the electorate believes: it’s the bad guys on Wall Street that have tanked the economy, and the bad guys (allegedly free-market leaning Republicans) in DC who have helped or looked aside, not to mention getting us in an ‘unnecessary’ war.
An equally large percentage of the electorate believes that the free market is ’sorta’ good, but we need a strong hand at the tiller to keep both the ‘greedy’ and their paid lackeys the lobbyists and pols in DC in line.
I.e. both sides essentially agree, it’s only a matter of degree, and not much of one at that.
Only the Objectivists and a small percentage of the more intellectual conservatives offer a genuinely principled and correct alternative — and they don’t have a candidate in the race.
McCain would make a far better President because (a) he is not Obama, (b) his instincts — the vestiges of a different generation — are somewhat better than Democrats. But neither represents much of a change from the status quo.
Sep 29, 2008 - 12:32 pm 14. Jeff Perren:There is another plausible explanation for why the candidates and percentages are what they are today: the two actually reflect the electorate.
Yes, Obama the Zero does lie day in day out. But what he says reflects what a large percentage of the electorate believes: it’s the bad guys on Wall Street that have tanked the economy, and the bad guys (allegedly free-market leaning Republicans) in DC who have helped or looked aside, not to mention getting us in an ‘unnecessary’ war.
An equally large percentage of the electorate believes that the free market is ’sorta’ good, but we need a strong hand at the tiller to keep both the ‘greedy’ and their paid lackeys the lobbyists and pols in DC in line.
I.e. both sides essentially agree, it’s only a matter of degree, and not much of one at that.
Only the Objectivists and a small percentage of the more intellectual conservatives offer a genuinely principled and correct alternative — and they don’t have a candidate in the race.
McCain would make a far better President because (a) he is not Obama, (b) his instincts — the vestiges of a different generation — are somewhat better than Democrats. But neither represents much of a change from the status quo because both are a reflection of the overwhelming majority of American people.
Sep 29, 2008 - 12:33 pm 15. William of Orange:Ephialtes,
I am of a like mind, similar to a team trailing in a football game by one or two points allowign the opposition to go for the field goal with the thought that can score the touchdown we need to win.
Anyway, the tortured metaphhor above notwithstanding, let them have the presidency and congress. I predict two things will happen: (1) Come mid-February, the economy will be more robust than ever (quelle surprise, see below) and (2) Obama, encumbered by all of the burden of this bailout THAT HIS PEOPLE WILL WANT TO TAKE CREDIT FOR, will be firmly up to his hips in hardening cement and flail ineffectually during his nuveau-Carteresque reign, his approval rating dropping like a stone weighted down by a cwt of lead.
Obama’s entitlements’ followers will be so outraged they can’t get their little slice of his promised worker’s heaven that they will march on him with the pitchforks and torches, a real-life Les Miserable on the capitol steps.
By the time 2010 (not 2012) rolls around, we ordinary Americans will be so disgusted with the Democrats’ give-aways that there will be a repeat of 1994. By 2012, Carter II will be in full flood. Obama will have cloyingly schmoozed with every thug in every corner of the globe including the mind-addled Pajama Boy, Aqua Velva-jad, and that puss bag in Venezuela. We will NOT be hated by other countries, we will be pitied as the toothless paper tiger we will have become.
Oh, and lest we forget the two co-stars that he will drag onto the stage with him who will only add measurably to the teeth-gnashing factor: Joe “Hair Club for Men” Biden and Michelle “Never met a country I was ever proud of” Obama.
The lunatics will indeed be running the asylum and all we need to make it complete is another 9/11 or an embassy taken over and hostages being held.
Lest I be misunderstood, however, about the revival of the economy around Ground Hog’s day, I am being cynical, of course. It will be perceptual rather than real. The Democrats will have magically waved the wand and all of the problems that mires is in “the worst economy since the depression” (without any quarters of negative growth?) will evaporate like dew in the morning sun.
O.k., thanks for listening. I’ll go back on my meds now.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:06 pm 16. TLM:RJ,
I’ve had the same impression about the “feminization” of politics, media, life in general in this country. Honestly, never had the guts to put it in writing.
“Maybe Obama needs to be elected, our economy needs to go into the tank…”
I’m drifting toward that conclusion about the economy. If it happens, hopefully it will sink the biased news organizations and the entertainment industry first. Can’t buy onto Obama yet, but if he’s going to win I’d say forget the bailout and let the chips fall where they may. Irresponsible I suppose, but perhaps necessary.
The Republicans in the House are in open revolt. Bush and his Administration, lame ducks all, don’t hold much sway anymore in Congress. The American people are irate. That’s what happens when the media bend over backwards to undercut the president and his Party. If the bailout fails to pass, chalk it up in part to Bush Derangement Syndrome writ large.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:14 pm 17. David Thomson:“Good points all, Dr. Hanson, but until 2006 the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and could have, among other things, supported McCain’s bill (S190) to correct this financial mess.”
The MSM intimidated the Republicans from taking the appropriate action. They would have been charged with racism. How dare the GOP elected officials deny minorities a chance to purchase their own homes? Indeed, the race care would have been pulled out—and effectively used.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:25 pm 18. Pannich:Your reference to Secretary Rice is not quite valid. Were the american population at large asked to vote for her vs another candidate, there is no way you or I can know exactly how that would go and race would certainly be part of the discussion. (for better or worse)
There was speculation regarding Secretary Powell running for office and it was his race that was discussed as a possible “issue” as well.
Appointed officials are not going to get the scutiny that those running for office will receive.
Curiously, her educational background has much in common with the “elite” Obama.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:26 pm 19. ozziepat:McCain seriously needs to stop letting his bipartisan shtick get in the way of presenting some unpleasant facts about the Dems and Obama, especially the underlying causes of the financial fiasco and Obama’s history of far left associations, activities and voting record. Obama is a dangerous black radical socialist in happy clown makeup with puppet strings attached, and someone has to expose him in public. The MSM will *not* do this. It can and should be done in a straightfoward factual manner and to hell with the predictable “racist” media bilge.
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:39 pm 20. RJ:Let’s ride the Titanic, third thoughts.
Class warfare. Here, before a major vote, woman Pelosi, speaker of the house, rises and derides Bush and his fellow republicans, claiming among many charges that these are the bad guys who have brought us financial disaster.
Over on talk radio, Rush Limbaugh is presenting actual tapes wherein we hear the Democrats protect Fannie and Freddie, along with Raines et al. from any charges of mismangement and the need for change, tapes of years past, when the damage could have been corrected and our costs much less.
Obama talks about race, Edwards the two Americas, Hillary about women in pants suits.
Andrew Sullivan along with Rosie and all the other gays preach to us about their rights as a class.
On the plains of the Serengeti, we see herd behavior and come to know why it exists. Marx and Engels talked about class. Ayers and others talk about class.
Then there are those that talk about individual responsibilities, the freedom of man, the right to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do…
It’s the individual versus the crowd. Feelings versus facts versus beliefs.
Out of balance. Strong in body, mind and soul…wasn’t that what our Greek forefathers tried to teach?
Maybe the lions have come to feast! NO,not the lawyers, the lions. There’s a big difference!
Sep 29, 2008 - 1:57 pm 21. Ben Florsheim:What about OBAMA’s health? He has released one desultory letter from his doctor claiming he is in good health, against thousands of pages released by McCain.
Because of Obama’s relative youth, most voters simply assume he has no serious health issues, but many serious diseases (including cancer) can strike much younger people. The role of John F. Kennedy’s illness in some of his foolhardy actions (Cuba crisis, Berlin Wall) is ONLY NOW beginning to be understood, almost 50 years too late. WHAT IS OBAMA HIDING?
What about Obama’s MENTAL HEALTH? Some of his public demeanor carries more than a whiff of manic-depressive disorder. DOES OBAMA’S SANITY DEPEND ON MEDICATION?
These are serious questions that too many “serious” individuals have felt are undignified and dishonorable. It should be remembered that we are electing the Leader of the Free World, not the secretary of an Elks club.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:00 pm 22. Marc Malone:Pannich – Powell chose not to run, even though initail polls at the time said he’d walk away with the election. He simply didn’t want the job, nor the hatchet-job on him and his family.
Rice does indeed share some of Obama’s educational background, but not his work history. That’s the difference. Further, her education is far superior, and more varied.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:01 pm 23. fred:“Fourth, we are seeing a traditional ‘noble ends, justify crude means’ ”
And that is what Leninist ethics are all about. No one who has done the reading of the truth about his background should be surprised by this. His mother a Marxist anthropologist. His biological father, a Kenyan Communist economist. His stepfather, originally an Indonesian with socialist sympathies who had to, once Suharto took over Indonesia, get with the Muslim program. His high school friend and mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Communist Party. Gravitating towards courses in college with Marxist professors. Associations with a known Communist terrorist. Et al.
As Obama’s lead now extends well into the double digits, the handwriting is on the wall. We are lurching into a cataclysmic time in our history, when there are evil global threats about to be unleashed upon the world. And the worst possible man will occupy the Oval Office during this time.
Frightening.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:01 pm 24. cfbleachers:The leftists bankrupted the information stream, where it once allowed us to make reasoned decisions, and turned it into a 24 hour informercial for the Democratic party, selling cheap political trinkets that we don’t need, with artificial timelines for making their purchase.
The leftists have bankrupted the housing market, peddling E-Z Credit to unqualified buyers, removing underwriting standards that added stability to the process and employing strongarm legal tactics to threaten lending institutions who didn’t kowtow to the Democratic bagmen. ECOA lawsuits for “racism” or “junk loans” to the unqualified….Don Corleone couldn’t have put a better gun to their heads.
The leftists have bankrupted the tax base. By making it nearly impossible to compete in a world market based upon federal red tape and carrying the costs of regulatory Rube Goldberesque machinations, we have weakened our ability to carry a debt load that was wholly unnecessary.
The leftists have bankrupted our standing in the world, by slandering us at every turn at home and abroad. Because they have an incessant need to act as officious intermeddlers and harsh critics of our motives and policies…we have become a caricature of and for their political end game. Leftists are purely and simply put…traitors against this country. They despise the military, there isn’t a defensive action that they would ever support, they have caricatured middle America as stupid, lazy, slothful, racist, greedy, unnuanced, clinging to guns and religion…and the rest of the world is buying it. Every moral act we make, is immediately slurried with evil intentions. Every natural disaster or Act of God, is a festival of blame heaped upon middle America. We have become the world’s whipping boy…and the leftists hold the lash.
The leftists have bankrupted our banks and Wall Street. They have undermined consumer confidence and they have created a breeding ground for social democracy. In essence, they took a row of five star restaurants so they could line up soup kitchens. They have torn down the purring engine of this society, so they could warm up the fires in the garbage cans in the alley. If there is no suffering, there is no need for a nanny government. The leftists couldn’t get votes from a happy electorate, so they made a miserable one instead.
William Ayers is on record as saying that the way to break this form of government, was not from the outside…but rather…by PRETENDING to be a part of it and breaking it down from the inside. Jeremiah Wright said GOD DAMN AMERICA. Louis Farrakhan said the white man is the devil. Father Michael Pfleger said “yo grandaddy has to give up his 401k”
Frank Marshall Davis said “don’t believe in the system”.
We were bankrupted before our very eyes. And the leftists…and their media propaganda machine…are out for your very last dime on the way down. Happy landing.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:05 pm 25. Red Blooded American:I forgot about this parallel universe for awhile.
In case you all forgot, or never knew, Obama’s economic policies are actually considered too business-friendly by the left-wing of the Democratic Party.
[Please respond by Inserting canned attacks of all Democrats here.]
Also, most Democrats, by about 100-1 ration, are against the bailout plan. Yet the Democrats in the house voted 60% for the plan. Why? [Insert reasoned analysis here if anyone wants to give it a go.] The Republicans in the house voted the bill down by about 2 to 1. Even though it was a bill advanced and strongly endorsed by a Republican President and Treasury Secretary. I guess your Republican President’s 27% approval ratings tell you what you need to know about that dynamic.
[Please respond by Inserting ranting responses here, charges of being unpatriotic, communistic etc.]
The best the right has at the moment is to fixate on Obama’s past and advance arguments that Sarah Palin is their savior. Good luck with that.
[Insert more standard attacks, charges of elitism, stupidity, up is down, black is white, east is west etc. here.]
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:09 pm 26. About Obama's health:– Obama smokes like a chimney…
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:12 pm 27. SAF:My ex wife and I are very friendly and where at my daughter’s yesterday. She is a very sane and nice person but is completely over the top when it comes to Obama. I sat through a long, (and polite) lecture on how smart he is and his new ideas etc. Its the first since I’ve known her that she could find no faults with her chosen candidate. Intends to campaign for him, has formed a group etc. Never did that before. Part of her reasoning was “no four more years of Bush via McCain.”
Bush has done such a terrible job by a)fighting the war incorrectly and b)not reigning in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2002when he first announced the problem that the hatred he has generated and the legacy he leaves McCain will not be overcome.
Add to that the Incredible MSM bias on getting the anointed one elected and it is a hill no man can climb.
Her ears are completely and utterly closed to the baggage and legacy Obama carries and no amount of facts will change her mind. She isn’t alone. We can only hope he won’t be as bad as we feared.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:18 pm 28. Doug:What passes for political dialogue in America today is just pathetic.
To call Obama a leftist is plain ridiculous. He was in on the far right fascist bail out of the wall street mafia, before it failed. And he wants to make war, but less than the wild eyed war monger McCain.
Both will run substantial deficits, provided the government can find foreign intstitutions stupid enough to buy the t-bills. Let’s face it: both of these candidates, and their parties are preaching nonsence to a barely literate public.
And dear Sarah Palin? She is supposed to be a national leader? What?
Face it. The country is sinking fast. No bailout can work fast enough to stay ahead of the water coming over the deck. The economy is not “coming back to normal in 2009″.
Buy some land in the country. Learn to grow your own food. Keep a loaded shotgun handy.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:33 pm 29. whiskey:Women, including probably Married Women, are going big for Obama.
He’s tall, thin, young, “handsome” and he’s Black. Women love him. He’s JFK meets Denzel Washington. The masculine, high-status, high-testosterone guy women love.
Obama wins big, on the strength of the women’s vote.
But it will be one man, one vote, one time. He’s already creating Bolivar Circles and “going after” anyone who criticizes him with jail time by local Democratic law enforcement officials. Once in, he’ll create Venezuela North.
Yeah, the economy is killing McCain, because McCain is running a lousy campaign, and because (sorry Dr. Hanson — you don’t know the White Working Class at all) the White Working Class is intimidated into voting for Obama or being called racist. Particularly by women, who love the social power they get to define who is “evil” or “racist” and who is not. Like finding witches in Salem MA.
But largely, Obama’s hype and power and status wins him the women’s vote.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:39 pm 30. BMoon:I agree 100% Dr. Hanson. McCain gave his best speech, I believe, in Ohio this morning. He sounds more passionate, and was hitting Obama hard. He mustr do this every day until Nov. 6 if he is going to win.
Sep 29, 2008 - 2:45 pm 31. USAF Captain:About Obama’s health writes:
– Obama smokes like a chimney…
In a way, there’s a downside to that. I mean, he sure isn’t (or can’t) be seen with a Marlborough dangling from his lips so he spends most of his day without his nicotine fix. So how effective can he be during protracted negotiations with Pajama Boy or the Creep in charge of Iran or Castro Junior?
Can’t you just see something about treaty talks breaking down because The Messiah took a smoke break?
Sep 29, 2008 - 3:04 pm 32. ozziepat:Doug:
You need to do your homework on Obama somewhere other than the MSM. He is only one step away from being a devout communist.
Sep 29, 2008 - 3:05 pm 33. ic:Does it matter any more? As the economy goes down the tube, Republicans are blamed for the meltdown, Obama is in the right place at the right time. He could have killed someone and got away with it. Right now, nobody, except the right wing, cares about his past. Look to France to see America’s socialist future. McCain should have stuck to his campaign suspension and convinced 13 more Republicans to deliver the vote.
BMoon:
Sep 29, 2008 - 3:11 pm 34. Dark Helmet:“…until Nov. 6″ Are you being cute?
ozziepat, he stands in the middle of the communist trough. There is no steps away from who he really is.
As for the story,
McCain doesn’t have to do much, barrak hussian shows who he truly is everyday, and the dems are freaking out that they have, yet again , bet on the wrong horse.
Sep 29, 2008 - 3:24 pm 35. lee:Mccain has got to pin the blame of the wall street on the democrats. He has to bring up the community reinvestment act which mandated banks to lend risky loans to people with poor credit rating, not to mention the various democrat figures who played a prominent role in this debacle. And yes, it’s associate him Ayers, Reverend Wright, etc.
Time IS running out, and the occasion for offense is now.
Sep 29, 2008 - 4:15 pm 36. Sheila:To Red Blooded American,
You said, “The best the Right has at the moment is to fixate on Obama’s past….”
What an interesting choice of words, “fixate on Obama’s past”.
And why not? Since no one knows how anyone will deal with things in the future, all you can do is judge their past. So let’s look at Obama’s past and his only one experience with executive power, since you brought it up.
Obama, along with William Ayers (the terrorist) started an education program called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge to the tune of 48 million dollars. It failed to improve the student’s math, reading and science skills.
From Wikipedia:
“The project appears to have failed to achieve any of its stated, measurable educational goals. For example, a comprehensive study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research concludes:“Results suggest that among the schools it supported, the Challenge had little impact on school improvement and student outcomes, with no statistically significant differences between Annenberg and non-Annenberg schools in rates of achievement gain, classroom behavior, student self-efficacy, and social competence.”[5]
The main directive of the challenge seems to be: have students pledge the allegiance, not to the American flag, but to the world flag and indoctrinate students with the notion that America is imperialistic and mean and is basically the reason for all the evil in the world.”
In other words, screw math and science they pushed angry ideology onto students. Yeah that’ll keep us competitive in the global economy Obama!
Obama’s record is pathetically thin. He has no record of a leadership role in government local, state or federal. No leadership in business. No leadership in the military. No organizations he founded or managed. No law firm partnerships. No important cases tried as a lawyer. No work of legal scholarship has ever been published.
But to hell with the no experience mantra, I think this guy is the worse judge of character I’ve ever seen in my life.
I would not feel safe with him as Commander in Chief, regardless of how handsome he is, but get this straight, he doesn’t hold a candle to Denzel, but then again very few do.
Sep 29, 2008 - 4:38 pm 37. Richard:Let me ask the question of the house:
Sep 29, 2008 - 4:58 pm 38. About Obama's health:Is taking two days off for a religious holiday “putting country first” in a time of “crisis”?
…Hitler DID obtain treaty concessions because, as he noted, the French minister could not wait to have a cigarette.
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:08 pm 39. Boris:“Did the McCain debate victory matter? Yes, it helped.”
Republicans have an interesting definition of victory.
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:11 pm 40. lee:@ Richard
I think the “religious” holiday is a Jewish holiday (Rosh Hashanah?). I believe congress takes a break during Christmas and Thanksgiving as well.
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:25 pm 41. Rachel:Obama will have cloyingly schmoozed with every thug in every corner of the globe including the mind-addled Pajama Boy, Aqua Velva-jad, and that puss bag in Venezuela.
who’s pajama boy? Michael jackson?
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:38 pm 42. Rachel:Yeah, the economy is killing McCain, because McCain is running a lousy campaign, and because (sorry Dr. Hanson — you don’t know the White Working Class at all) the White Working Class is intimidated into voting for Obama or being called racist.
You know, voting booths are private. I would not be surprised despite all of the hoopla over Obama that Mc wins by 5% popular vote and electoral votes. BECAUSE of all of the hoopla over Obama
Sep 29, 2008 - 5:42 pm 43. Joshua II:ic: Does it matter any more? As the economy goes down the tube, Republicans are blamed for the meltdown, Obama is in the right place at the right time. He could have killed someone and got away with it. Right now, nobody, except the right wing, cares about his past.
Yup. Like a bad poker player who moves all-in with a weak hand against a far superior pro player with pocket Aces, then ends up with a full house on the flop, Obama may have just lucked his way into the White House.
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:11 pm 44. Deus:A pause:
“Ole Miss debate last Friday night —
What you were not told —>
My reliable sources at Ole Miss [ my alma mater ] called me immediately after the debate and confirmed my suspicion. When McCain announced last week that he was not going to the debate at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Republicans in Mississippi (white people) were absolutely astounded and LIVID. One does not refuse an invitation to upper class high society in Mississippi — or anywhere else for that matter. Anyway, Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haley_Barbour had been steaming since the unheard-of-announcement from McCain, and on Thursday night he picked up his telephone and rang up McCain. (Of course he had the direct number.) Barbour said, “You get your ass down here tomorrow night or you are going to lose all of Mississippi.” Translation — You get your ass down here tomorrow night or you are going to lose all of the South and the Presidency.
On Friday morning McCain announced that he was going to the debate that night.
End of story.
And that’s the way things get done.
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:34 pm 45. Austin:Elect Obama.
He squandered 150 million “educating” the Children of Chicago and then voted present 130 times. What does that track record portend? What do his followers represent? How can it be any different?
Just like those who must first taste Muslim Extremism in order to see into its rapacious mouth, so must the electorate embrace Obama to see into his con.
Just like the woman who beleives the pretty, flashy man who turns on her when she is 7 months pregnant and turned over her savings to his flights of fancy, then she tires of his lies.
So, too, will Arican Americans see that no one can save them but themselves.
So, too, will the youth see that words are cheap.
So, too, will the MSM sell its words too cheaply.
One by one, the MSM will turn on him, while his contradiction and Obamanations add up. As he careens from one scandal to another.
He comes from nothing and will come to naught.
Iran will nuke Israel. Russia will patrol our coasts. Oil will spike to $200 a barrel. And Pelosi and Obama will tilt at Windmills.
And the only clear voice on what to do will come from McCain. McCain will haunt Obama and the electorate as they shiver through the Gore Climate Minimum and the Obama Insanity.
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:51 pm 46. kabud:McCain and Palin video, today
Sep 29, 2008 - 6:55 pm 47. fred:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMNHgJH2680
Obama just won his four years in the White House. He is now in the driver’s seat and he just has to make sure that he does not mess up. The media will never give McCain or his Party a break. Obama’s background is buried for all but those who can have books about the truth published (and many of the people who vote for Obama don’t read books anyway).
Now we have to settle in and hope this nation and its unique heritage survives four years of this. Knowing who is in his stable of advisers, knowing something about his character and how he hates making decisions, and knowing who his international interlocutors are going to be, we are in a world of trouble.
Jimmy Carter II coming up. This one’s gonna be worse. A lot worse.
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:13 pm 48. Red Blooded American:Sheila:
I guess you won’t be feeling safe much then. But you’ll live through it, most likely. The only question we’re really deciding now is whether Bush = Coolidge or = Hoover. I really hope he is Hoover. I always liked McCain until pretty recently, but he has clearly lost it, and the last thing we need in the white house is an unreformed gambler. We’ve had eight years of a dry-drunk ideologue who has managed to screw up everything he’s touched, and while McCain is clearly more competent than that, now is not the time to be doubling down on the fundamentalist kool-aid. If only Bush had paid more attention to National Security before 9/11 than he did to stem cell research then all of this could have been avoided and you could elect another Republican. But at some level intelligence does actually matter, and that’s realism, not elitism.
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:19 pm 49. kabud:McCain should immediately take side of people and reject the bailout
and he will win it
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:27 pm 50. LisaP:I’m betting that little Barry’s aura will finally give way to his underlying psychopathology–hopefully on national tv in the next debate. He’s a freakshow waiting to happen.
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:32 pm 51. Doug:Obama is a communist? What?
Sep 29, 2008 - 7:38 pm 52. Anna:I stand by every word of my previous post.
Obama, McCain, Bush, Cheney, the whole crew-display elements of fscism. None show any interest whatsoever in communism.
Fascism is state capitalism combined with an overly zealous police/interior spy network, designed to keep the opposition scared and on the run. Think about what’s happening in America today. Please.
I couldn’t agree more that time is running out and if McCain wants to win, he and the GOP must come out fighting. They must take very opportunity to address the litany of concerns surrounding Obama that, unfortunately, the msm have not exposed. It’s now or never. McCain is losing ground. He has yet to define an overarching economic plan. And naive and maliable voters are drawn to Obama’s words without realizing he’s nothing more than a highly polished used car salesman selling them down the river.
Sep 29, 2008 - 8:31 pm 53. Anthony:“Obama’s supporters really need to cool it…”
The problem is, if Obama wins with these tactics, it will only reinforce his belief in them.
And since there is no longer an independent media, or a diverse Hollywood, or an open Academy, who will question him?
Sep 29, 2008 - 8:37 pm 54. david levavi:Here on the Upper West Side of Manhattan support for Obama is purely a matter of fashion. Obama is fashionable. McCain isn’t.
The only apartment in my fifteen story building occupied by a non-white family is that of the superintendent on the ground floor in the rear. Which makes my building the most racially mixed on the block because the superintendents in the half-dozen other buildings on the block are white. I would be surprised if there are ten Black families living in all of the luxury pre-war buildings for a twenty block radius here in the super-liberal UWS. But support for Obama is probably ninety percent or higher. Better the White House than my house.
Their preference for Obama, my neighbors would insist, is based on his position on critical issues. Abortion. Guns. The environment.
To appreciate the absurdity you have to listen to a neighbor whom you’ve known casually for twenty years and never seen with a man get apoplectic on the subject of abortion.
Point out that you have three daughters in their twenties and you don’t feel they’re threatened and the lady looks at you with new eyes. You’re either an abusive father or completely irresponsible. We live in an age of readily available contraceptives, you point out. The chances of an unwanted pregnancy for educated middle class women are remote. What about mistakes, the lady demands. Don’t kid yourself, it happens all the time. And what happens in the event of rape? All young women aren’t as fortunate as your daughters. What happens to a poor underage black girl without a father and no education to speak of. Do McCain and Palin care what happens to her?
My neighbors live in an environment of concrete, steel and glass but they care deeply for an intellectual abstraction they call “the environment.” Obama who opposes offshore drilling is for “the environment.” McCain who supports offshore drilling is against “the environment.”
My neighbors know all about guns. They see guns every day. Revolvers, automatics, shotguns, Mac Tens you name it. But only on television or in the movies. Or holstered safely on a policeman or bank guard’s hip. So why was gun control the centerpiece of our senior senator’s platform when he was running for office? My white collar, paper-pushing neighbors are not threatened by guns. But like abortion rights and protection of the “environment,” gun control is an entirely abstract and remote issue my neighbors get very upset about. Why?
Fashion. Life style. Self-image.
My neighbors don’t live among or socialize with Black people but they like to think they do. Or would if “America” were less racist. It isn’t guns that cause them anxiety but the kinds of people they associate with guns. Rednecks. Fascists.
My neighbors believe they care far more for “the environment” than do hunters. What could yahoos and rednecks possibly know about “the environment?” Small wonder Alaskans support drilling in ANWAR. How many Alaskans read the New Yorker? And look who they elected governor. Their brains are frozen.
Critics of Barack Obama call him and empty suit. A handsome, well-spoken fellow with a practiced Kennedyesque manner totally out of his depth and faking it every step of the way. They miss the fact that those enthralled with Obama are cut from the same cloth. Fine fabric, elegant cut. Makes a nice suit.
For those who want to meet some of my well-educated, polished and sophisticated neighbors, here’s a link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQalRPQ8stI
Sep 29, 2008 - 8:41 pm 55. Christine:Time sure is running out for the wrinkly old dude. His Cinderella is starting to fade because her Fairy Godmother forgot to give her some brains. LMAO.
Sep 29, 2008 - 8:42 pm 56. Robohobo:david levavi:
The only real environmentalists are farmers, the rest are posers.
This election will be decided by angry white men. Believe it.
We are tired of being called racists.
Sep 29, 2008 - 9:54 pm 57. OBAMA AUDACIOUS LIAR, NOT CLUELESS, DANGEROUS | Atlas Shrugs:We know Obama will come for our guns and we are not giving them up.
We are tired of hearing how much the elitists who have never done honest work hate us.
We are tired of being talked down to by the left and right coasts.
We can see that the elites think we are idiots and treat us as so.
…
[...] was second only to Dodd. Read More Instead, the incumbent administration and its party in general get blamed or credited for [...]
Sep 29, 2008 - 10:43 pm 58. Cowcup:What McCain needs now is to ignore everything else. Palin, Obama, ignore all those things. Work with House Republicans, present a truly populist and truly conservative plan to address the current issue. And he will win.
What is a truly populist and truly conservative plan:
1. Never ever send money to the banks.
2. Use government money to buy the foreclosed houses and rent them back to the homeowners with a lottery ticket. So, only a percentage of them get the house they purchased irresponsibly.
Work with House Republicans. This is the moment.
Sep 29, 2008 - 11:33 pm 59. Jeff:This is just a fictional story that I have created to bring light to the time that we are in now —
Two men from the year 3000 decided to take their spacecraft on a trip back in time to learn the events of the past.
One man asked the other, “Steve, which part of history should we go back to?”
So Steve replied, ”Let’s go back to 2008, John. It was a very significant time in our history. This was the time when our country was at the crossroads of deciding our future and the end results of their decisions are what we are living with now. I heard that our country was at its most crucial time because it was economically crumbling at the core of its foundation.”
“Fair enough Steve, let’s go back to 2008,” John agreed.
So they both entered their spacecraft and took a trip back to 2008. Within light speed they zoomed across time going back to 2008 and soon appeared above The White House in Washington DC, up in the sky just hovering in stealth mode.
Steve turned to John and said, “Let’s turn on the screen and watch all the events of this time starting back from the day America was attacked on 9/11/01, John.”
So John turned on the screen and the two watched all of the events starting from 9/11 to the current year that they were in, which is 2008. While they were watching all of the events of 9/11, the Afghanistan War, and the events of the Iraq War up to the current time that they are at, which is November 4th of 2008. They paused the screen and looked at each other, just scratching their heads.
John looked at Steve and commented, “Steve, these events are devastating after 9/11. We went into Afghanistan which was right but everything shows that we had no reason to go into that other country called Iraq. There was so many of our soldiers and people that died in this carelessness.”
So Steve thought about it and replied, “It appears that you are right, John, but the people of America seem to stand with this President. Now let’s un-pause the screen and watch this 2008 election and the 4 years that follow this. Then we go back home.”
So John un-paused the screen and the two watched the 2008 election and the 4 years that followed this election and went back to their own time, which is the year 3000.
John looked at Steve and commented, “This trip gave me a new view of humanity, Steve. I don’t understand why we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. That white man was just a continuation of that last President but our ancestors voted for him anyway because America could relate to him more. They voted for him because he looked similar to the majority of them but denied the other candidate simply because he looked different. Although that other candidate looked different, he seemed to want to help the country turn around. He seemed to look forward to the future and had futuristic ideas of not just transforming America for the better but creating a unity in the world. He seemed to be a man of the world and the world seemed to view him very favorably.”
So Steve answered, “I understand how you feel and I share the same sentiments, John. At that time in history, human mentalities had not transcended beyond fear of the different and the unknown. The human mentalities at that time had not transcended above and beyond the differences in color, creed, religion, and cultural backgrounds of this world. Because of this ignorance, our society is what it is today. It’s the year 3000 and wars are the only one thing that seems to be unable to evade humanity. Now, we are crumbling at our feet with all these wars all across the globe. We had a defining movement in history, John. We had a chance to open our minds and hearts to something different and something new, but we, as a collective, blew it. Now humanity is at an endless conflict and I fear that we are meeting our extinction. God help us all.”
Sep 30, 2008 - 12:01 am 60. Pajamas Media » Is Time Running Out for McCain?:[...] the entire post here [...]
Sep 30, 2008 - 12:52 am 61. MoralsMan:Bailout – Who Is Responsible For Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Crisis
(The following are all quotes from the following articles. Note the dates on the articles. See my comments as well as links to full articles at end of email)
President Clinton Pressures Fannie Mae To Give Risky Loans
New York Times Excerpts September 30, 1999 Footnote 1 (footnotes contain link to entire articles in this email)
“Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people.
“Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.
“From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.”
“Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
“In July [1999 under Clinton presidency], the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
“Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990’s. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent…In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.”
Fannie Mae Resists Hiking Risky Loans
Los Angeles Times Excerpts – May 31, 1999 Footnote 2
“The top priority may be to ask more of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two companies are now [1999] required to devote 42% of their portfolios to loans for low- and moderate-income borrowers; HUD, which has the authority to set the targets, is poised to propose an increase this summer. Although Fannie Mae actually has exceeded its target since 1994, it is resisting any hike. It argues that a higher target would only produce more loan defaults by pressuring banks to accept unsafe borrowers. HUD says Fannie Mae is resisting more low-income loans because they are less profitable.
“But with discrimination in the banking system not yet eradicated, maintaining the momentum of the 1990s will also require a continuing nudge from Washington. One key is to defend the Community Reinvestment Act, which the Senate shortsightedly voted to retrench recently. Clinton has threatened a veto if the House concurs.
“Barry Zigas, who heads Fannie Mae’s low-income efforts, is undoubtedly correct when he argues, “There is obviously a limit beyond which [we] can’t push [the banks] to produce.”
Bush Recommended Regulatory Overhaul of Fannie & Freddie In 2003
But Barney Franks & Congressional Democrats Defeated the Proposal
New York Times Excerpts Sept 11, 03 [Under Bush's Administration] Footnote 3
“The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
“Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
“Significant details must still be worked out before Congress can approve a bill. Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.” [Barney Franks is Chairman of the Banking Committee and received huge sums of money from Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac and is the one pushing this bailout bill through the House] Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
McCain Co-Sponsored A Bill to Prevent the Fannie and Freddie Crisis
Bloomberg News Excerpts from article entitled “How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis September 22, 08 Footnote 4, 5 & 6
“It is easy to identify the historical turning point that marked the beginning of the end.
“Back in 2005, Fannie and Freddie were, after years of dominating Washington, on the ropes… The Securities and Exchange Commission’s chief accountant told disgraced Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines that Fannie’s position on the relevant accounting issue was not even “on the page” of allowable interpretations.
Then [2005] legislative momentum [S.190 which McCain co-sponsored] emerged for an attempt to create a “world-class regulator” that would oversee the pair more like banks, imposing strict requirements on their ability to take excessive risks. Politicians who previously had associated themselves proudly with the two accounting miscreants were less eager to be associated with them. The time was ripe.
“The clear gravity of the situation pushed the legislation forward. Some might say the current mess couldn’t be foreseen, yet in 2005 Alan Greenspan told Congress how urgent it was for it to act in the clearest possible terms: If Fannie and Freddie “continue to grow, continue to have the low capital that they have, continue to engage in the dynamic hedging of their portfolios, which they need to do for interest rate risk aversion, they potentially create ever-growing potential systemic risk down the road,” he said. “We are placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk.”
“What happened next was extraordinary. For the first time in history, a serious Fannie and Freddie reform bill was passed by the Senate Banking Committee. The bill gave a regulator power to crack down, and would have required the companies to eliminate their investments in risky assets.
“Oh, and there is one little footnote to the story that’s worth keeping in mind while Democrats point fingers between now and Nov. 4: Senator John McCain was one of the three cosponsors of S.190 , the bill that would have averted this mess.
See footnote 5 for link to McCain’s speech on the floor on this bill and footnote 6 for text of bill. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
[Note: Senate Democrats blocked the passage of the Bill and while it passed in the House it failed in the Senate because of the Democrats.]
Powerful Democrats Receive Huge Levels of Financial Support
From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Bloomberg News Footnote 7
“But we now know that many of the senators who protected Fannie and Freddie, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd have received mind-boggling levels of financial support from them over the years.
“Throughout his political career, Obama has gotten more than $125,000 in campaign contributions from employees and political action committees of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, second only to Dodd, the Senate Banking Committee chairman, who received more than $165,000.
“Clinton, the 12th-ranked recipient of Fannie and Freddie PAC and employee contributions, has received more than $75,000 from the two enterprises and their employees. The private profit found its way back to the senators who killed the fix.
You Tube Video Explains Obama’s Involvement in Creating Crisis
You Tube Footnote 8
Obama was one of the lawyers in a firm that sued banks for not giving enough subprime [risky] loans to low income people. He received 49 times as much money from Frannie & Freddie as John McCain received. Obama received 4 times more money per year than any other senator; and in three years collected more money from Fannie & Freddie than John Kerry did in over 20 years. See this link for this video: http://www.youtube.com/TheMouthPeace
My Comments
Did More Regulation (Government Control) or Less Regulation Cause the Crisis?
It is clear there was regulation mainly by the liberal Democrats – the type of regulation that forced risky loans and caused the crisis. Now Democrats are blasting the Republicans saying Republicans are to blame for the crisis because Republicans wanted less regulation, implying that the free market and capitalism is the culprit in this situation.
The truth is the Republicans wanted less regulation in the areas that were causing the problems (forcing banks to give risky loans) and more regulation to correct the problem. But as usual, the liberals have so clouded the issue that the citizens can’t discern whether too much regulation or too little regulation caused the problem.
It took me several hours to get to the bottom of this, so I understand the dilemma citizens face in deciding who to believe. Most people don’t have the hours it takes to get to the truth, so the liberals, backed by the media, continue to spread their propaganda to support their government control and socialistic practices.
I see nothing in the bailout bill that will rectify the problems that caused the crisis. With liberal Democrat Barney Franks, Chairman of the Banking Committee, pushing this bailout through the house, it is obvious whose philosophy has shaped the bill and who will enforce the bill. The liberals had slipped a measure into the bailout bill to send some of the profits from the sale of distressed assets the government buys into to ACORN (Association Community Organizations for Reform). ACORN is known to many as a liberal/socialist organization involved in voter fraud and advocating the risky loans. (Recently, Milwaukee’s top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees.)
Obama was a member of ACORN and actually trained members on grievance techniques. “Obama’s campaign apologized for failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were ‘accidentally’ filed with the Federal Election Committee as money sent to ‘get-out-the-vote’ and ‘advance work.’”
After several days of rage from conservative activists regarding this provision, the ACORN provision was removed. See footnote 9 for link to article on matters in this section.
Liberals Try To Slip in another $56 Billion For Give-A-Way Programs In Midst of “Pearl Harbor” Financial Crisis
Even in the midst of the financial crisis which is costing taxpayers 700 billion, a crisis called a Pearl Harbor financial crisis by some, the liberal Democrats tried to slip in a $56 billion plan to expand more give away programs like food stamps. The bill was blocked by Senate Republicans. See this link for full article: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/238470/ See Footnote 9 for link to article
I thought when our nation became destitute the liberals would finally understand they had to cut programs, but now I see they will just push the deficit up and up until we become so bankrupt that we lose our nation to China and other foreigners who are lending us the money.
Documentation Footnotes: Links to articles quoted above
1. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&scp=1&sq=&st=nyt&rss
President Clinton Pressures Fannie Mae To Give Risky Loans
2. http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/31/news/mn-42807
Fannie Mae Resist Hiking Risky Loans
3. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E3D6123BF932A2575AC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Bush Recommended Regulatory Overhaul of Fannie & Freddie In 2003But Barney Franks & Congressional Democrats Defeated the Proposal
4. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
McCain Co-Sponsored A Bill to Prevent the Fannie and Freddie Crisis
5. http://www.theminorityreportblog.com:80/blog_entry/ken_taylor/2008/09/17/john_mccain_warned_of_mortgage_collapse_in_2005
McCain’s speech on the floor
6. http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s109-190
S.190 S. 190 [109th]: Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 can be read at this link:
7. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aSKSoiNbnQY0
Powerful Democrats Receive Huge Levels of Financial Support From Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
8. http://www.youtube.com/TheMouthPeace
You Tube Video Explains Obama’s Involvement in Creating Crisis titled “You’ll Never Guess”
9. http://sadbastards.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/what-is-a-community-organizer-acorn-stands-for-association-of-community-organizations-for-reform-now/ and http://www.plnewsforum.com/index.php/forums/viewthread/40524/
ACORN in bailout, Bill and Obama’s role in ACORN
10. http://www.nwanews.com/adg/National/238470/
Liberals Try To Slip in another $56 Billion For Give-A-Way Programs In Midst of “Pearl Harbor” Financial Crisis
Sep 30, 2008 - 2:07 am 62. Deus:david levavi 8:41 pm:
That’s America.
Now go to a redneck neighborhood and tell us what you see and hear.
Sep 30, 2008 - 3:16 am 63. Chris in Toronto:Jeff:
With the win by ‘the white man’, these two relativists (ha!) actually have the science & tech to make the trip back in time—and the gift of being able to see into the future. Would the same be true, otherwise? We know The One has done so much for science & tech education in Chicagoland.
Fool.
Sep 30, 2008 - 4:09 am 64. david levavi:Robohobo:
Read todays headlines, Robo. The evil capitalist stock market that fed hateful middle-classedness has crashed.
This election has already been decided. By Democrat Party hacks. A true pig in lipstick named Nancy Pelosi. A degenerate invert who talks like he has a swollen phallus in his mouth named Barney Frank. A silver haired whore named Chris Dodd. Mediocre party hacks all.
The Democrats have run on doom and gloom in election after election. They finally got what they were praying for. Obama, Axelrod, Ayers, Wright and the rest of the Commie cavalcade are in.
Pack a bag Robo. You’re headed for reeducation camp.
Sep 30, 2008 - 6:45 am 65. Krusty:david levavi oh please help me I’m so persecuted. What a joke. That video shows a crowd reviled by your pro-war, bible thumping, trickle down economic, corporate christian, anti-choice candidates. They never impeded your progress or attacked you. Meanwhile, in the deep south and country, you have people dragging gay people behind their trucks, gassing mosques, attacking minorities and opening up creationist museums. See I can do that whole “the entire other side is crazy” schtick too. It’s helpful, right?
Please David, stop with the divisive crap. There are as many bastard Republicans as there are bastard Democrats and if recent scandals are any indication, the Republicans have the market cornered. So please please, don’t sell your moral superiority here.
Sep 30, 2008 - 7:06 am 66. TG Poll:After watching the bailout fail and a barrel of oil go down to $95, I an not so sure that a little tough love is a bad thing for our enemies abroad or our credit addicts at home.
Sep 30, 2008 - 7:09 am 67. Krusty:The funny thing is, even though I’ve attacked none of you personally, you will take offense. This is identity politics and you are suckers. Pull back the curtain. There is a fundamental problem with politicians. Their time horizons are 2-3 years but their policies affect 50+ years. The mismatch will doom us to poor decisions forever. The solution? Stop giving the federal government so much power.
Sep 30, 2008 - 7:10 am 68. david levavi:…even though I’ve attacked none of you personally…
You’re a clown Krusty and only half-baked. Bit soft and moist on the inside. I’d recommend another hour or two in a three-hundred and fifty degree oven. Then you’ll be Crispy.
Sep 30, 2008 - 8:02 am 69. Phil:I can’t figure why Bush and McCain are all gung-ho for this bail-out. McCain could make a killer add showing how he wanted to reform Fannie and Freddie in 2004/2005, and how Obama has two advisors who cooked the books at Fannie and Freddie in order to get huge bonuses under false pretences, and how Obama, Dodd, and Frank have been bought by Fannie & Freddie and therefore cannot be trusted to fix the mess. That add would be explosive. Why hasn’t he done it? Is McCain dirty too? And even if McCain is dirty or operating “above the fray”, why is Bush on board? By stating that there will be a crash without the bailout (I’m paraphrasing) Bush is guaranteeing that the Dems will delay in order to make Bush look bad, and a crash becomes more likely (a self-fulfilling prophesy). Bush’s support doesn’t make any sense. I honestly can’t figure this one out. Even Bush isn’t this stupid. What gives?
Sep 30, 2008 - 8:40 am 70. W::TO LIST FOR MCCAIN
McCain has been such a gentlemen it will be difficult for him to switch now and “attack” as you say he should, wihtout appearing harsh and abusive. he let that happen by giving Obama a “pass” on his past and it is probably too late to work that inot debates now.
Obama is now regarded as a near equal for many and trying to debate his “past” will be seen by most as a “diversion” when “more important things” face us right now.
1. McCain’s campaign needs to get infomercials going: Ayers for one and McCain “Saw it coming and tried to rein in freddieMac___” for another. These are factual: people want facts. And they show that McCain was ‘right” before. “Right all along” might be good to emphasize.
2.Stop referring to “pulling the trigger” and so on which alarms women.
3. Can the references to the 80’s and the “KGB” whch no one under 40 and not that many over 40 understand (hint: 1988 was 20 years ago: anyone 20 at the time is 40 now; they barely knew what the KGB was then).
4. Don’t get carried away by the calls for “passion” which many undecided voters mays ee as dangerous.
5. McCain, who is a decent man, needs to listen to some of what is written here and not just the enemic political advisors he has.
6. get rid of that two colored red and white tie: go blue.
7. Keep speaking to the audience.
8. On Russia, empahasize thatw e want to treta it as a friend but will be alert to any inappropriate behavior.
9. Get those informercials going!
Sep 30, 2008 - 10:46 am 71. kabud:I think Politicians have no idea of how markets will react
so the fact hat Bailout is taking more time is good:
everyone can see for them selfs that markets survived without bailout
And they will
So longer it takes- better it is
They will just have a chance to cancel bailout if nothing happens
Sep 30, 2008 - 11:18 am 72. Heather:The masculine, high-status, high-testosterone guy women love.
Uh. I have more testosterone than Barack Obama.
Sep 30, 2008 - 12:37 pm 73. Marc Malone:He stands no chance, for the same reason Bush is paralyzed. They are cut off from the American people. The Left has a stranglehold on the information flow. They hold the schools and the media. He cannot get a message out, but through live TV. They will distort everything else.
Look what they’ve done to Palin, as an example. Every situation is swimming with the sharks. The standards she’s held to are far more rigorous than either Obama or Biden.
Don’t try to tell me about the Internet. That’s for those of us who pay attention all the time. To get enough support, he has to get to those 30% who vary between elections. They don’t frequent sites like these.
McCain’s only hope is the debates, and he’s a poor debater. Further, his handlers don’t know what they’re doing. They can’t think outside the box. This is NOT a normal election, so the usual rules don’t apply. I doubt they ever did, personally. It’s just being highlighted now.
In the debates, McCain mustn’t be nice. He absolutely has to tear Obama down. Expose the lies. It’s the only place he can. I don’t care about “being Presidential”. That’s just pundit-speak. Go after Obama. Expose him for the poser he is. Interrupt him when he strays off course, or mouths platitudes or talking points. Act like a hostile journalist, since the jounalists won’t do it. It worked in bringing down Palin. It’ll work for Obama.
Sep 30, 2008 - 12:58 pm 74. JA Lineberry:Some scattered thoughts…
Maybe you saw a different debate. I thought neither Obama nor McCain distinguished themselves well enough. It was essentially a wash – which favors Obama, not McCain.
Race is a factor in this campaign, and no one is color blind. As a result, race will impact many people’s votes. I don’t know if it will swing the election, but it very well could. A loss attributed in part to racism wouldn’t be altogether unreasonable, although it won’t be the only reason. With that said, Obama is winning, not losing.
Condi Rice and Colin Powell didn’t win national elections, but rather were appointed to their positions. With that said, most Americans probably can’t even name what position they held or what was/is expected of them. I think (or hope) it’s safe to say most Americans could name our President.
It’s interesting how every Democrat running for the President is suddenly christened “most liberal” of something once they’re nominated. Obama as “hard left” or “fringe”? That sounds like a bit much to me. He’s certainly a liberal candidate, but probably no more liberal than John Kerry (also christened as “most liberal” during his run). Remember when Hillary had such trouble distinguishing her positions from Obama’s? The Clintons are traditionally thought of as fairly moderate in ideology, given their Democratic identification.
Obama has moved to the center, to be sure, but McCain has moved as well (to the right, which probably hurt him with independents).
Many want to beat this Ayers/Wright/Phleger thing to death in hopes it will change people’s minds. I think you’re going to lose that battle.
You know, I sort of recall David Letterman inviting John McCain on his show the other day. I wonder what happened with that.
Sep 30, 2008 - 2:21 pm 75. dm:This election has set racial relations back a lot more than a few years. The overt interference of the media, the constant subtle and not-so-subtle playing of the race card by the campaign, the associations that would disqualify any other candidate on day 1, the obvious intent to massively re-distribute income…..and now the financial crisis that is another form of financial affirmative action with the end result of knocking 30% off 401Ks, for starters, and no discernable benefit for the unqualified borrowers to boot, since they are being evicted. And now we start to hear the rumors that it may be partially deliberate. Some unaffected liberals are obviously thrilled with the meltdown.
I’m boiling mad, and a lot of others are as well. This will be remembered for a generation.
Sep 30, 2008 - 4:30 pm 76. dm:Marc Malone nails it.
There are 20 million people who are informed and usually conservative. The other 80-90 million voters are at the mercy of the TV networks and “news”papers. The mass media has trumped the progress by Fox, talk radio and the Internet by going much harder left. Stident in many cases. And totally committed to their cause.
It’s nice to think that people have a choice in information, but in reality, mom is cooking dinner and dad is taking the kids to the game. They hear 20 minutes a day off and on, and what they hear is Obamamania 24×7, with no distortion out-of-bounds.
The most dangerous institution in the country is the media. And I include terrorists in that assessment.
Palin was on the verge of a breakthrough because of her telegenics, but now we have the financial meltdown. What a coincidence.
Sep 30, 2008 - 4:47 pm 77. Donna V.:Yeah, the economy is killing McCain, because McCain is running a lousy campaign, and because (sorry Dr. Hanson — you don’t know the White Working Class at all) the White Working Class is intimidated into voting for Obama or being called racist
I was raised in a blue collar neighborhood and I go back for a visit from time to time. My take is that the white working class is pretty fed up with being portrayed as racist yahoos every time they turn around. They’re sick of having their religious beliefs mocked. They are also pretty fond of deer rifles.
J.A. Lineberry: I’d be interested if you could point me to a conservative stance he took during his tenure in the Senate. You know, just one time when he sided with conservative and moderate Republicans against his own party. I’d take that as proof that maybe Obama isn’t as far left as he has been painted. Otherwise, I’d say calling him a leftist isn’t just scare talk.
Sure, Kerry was portrayed as a leftist too – for the simple reason that he was. There’s not much room for a Scoop Jackson (a favorite of the aforementioned blue collar crowd) or Sam Nunn anymore.
Sep 30, 2008 - 6:14 pm 78. Sheila:Red Blooded American:
“Bush a dry-drunk ideologue”?
Is it really necessary to lower the discourse with name calling? However, since you brought it up.
Obama smoked pot, snorted cocaine and stutters like a stoner without his teleprompter.
But I will not stoop to that level.
Also, Obama has screwed things up plenty in Chicago. He used his elected office and his clout as a state senator to help slum lords like Tony Rezko and other unscrupulous low-income housing developers obtain millions of dollars in state grants, tax credits, low-interest loans, and regulatory advantages.
Sep 30, 2008 - 8:15 pm 79. frank Miller:He cosponsored at least six bills to give special tax breaks, tax credits, building-and-maintenance subsidies, and zoning exemptions to the developers. In 1998, he wrote letters to state and city officials requesting $14 million for a project developed by Tony Rezko. These developers took government help to build low-income housing, and then let their buildings deteriorate into unlivable slums.
And yes intelligence does matter, that’s why I’m voting for McCain and not Obama. Obama may have the intelligence of a dissembling lawyer, but I don’t think America needs that kind of intelligence at this crucial time.
ACORN may need that kind of intelligence, but not America.
Should Obama be elected, sad indeed though I will be, and horrible for my country this will be, I will remember my mother’s wise words: “We’ll still be America.”
This patriot takes some comfort in that.
FM
Sep 30, 2008 - 10:11 pm 80. Red Blooded American:Sheila:
You, like your candidate, know nothing but attack. Try advancing a positive program for a change. Until that happens you are a reactionary, and that’s all I’ve heard from your side. It isn’t going to work.
Sep 30, 2008 - 10:51 pm 81. EJK:McCain has five weeks to make the case to the American people that he is best qualified to lead the country in times of crisis. One thing we know is that he’s a fighter and never should be counted out. We learned that much during the Republican primaries. I am confident that his message of reform will resonate with voters as the American people learn more about the Democrats’ role in causing this financial crisis by blocking efforts to reform Freddie and Fannie and pressuring banks to lend to high-risk borrowers. It is up to McCain to emphasize his reform credentials and his calls for reform of Freddie and Fannie in the past, and to lay out a bold economic plan centered on tax cuts, reduced government spending, and balanced budgets.
Oct 1, 2008 - 12:19 am 82. misanthropicus:“Cue the sun, will you?” – remember “The Truman Show” movie? Bravo for the director!
Whatever the current electoral situation is (and I am surprised by the pessimistic tone of many posts caused the Hanson’s article), we also, always must factor in it the shameless partisanship of the VISUAL MEDIA. In the first debate McCain clearly dominated the agenda – however, if the polls are right, Obama was perceived as the winner. No wonder.
And here comes my “Truman Show” point – most of the presidential debate Obama was visually presented in LOW ANGLES & CLOSER angles (effect: impressive, precise, persuasive, dominant figure), while McCain was presented from HIGH ANGLES and LONG SHOTS (effect: weak, small, unclear figure).
Now, in an event like a presidential debate, we have four or six TV cameras in the hall, which continually deliver a rather impartial feed of images, in various angles and widths to the editors in the monitors room (or are directed by the editors to focus on/be watchful of, that or that element of the spectacle). And it is in the same room, THAT or THAT type of shots are selected and spliced, and sent out as broadcast stream, broadcast stream which can be effectively slanted to give a speaker the desired qualities – as it happened to happen with Obama (and not for the first time).
“Keep the guy as presidential as you can, ok?” – and the Obama Show goes on with nice ratings.
PS. More vis-a-vis visual coverage – in the current situation the Republican ineptitude also helps a lot: during the Republican convention their operatives greatly helped to visually sabotage McCain’s show by not realizing that McCain’s visual background (the White House on a wide screen), when shot from certain LOW & CLOSE angles will appear as just some glaring, irritating green and blue patches (lawn and sky, respectively), situation which was immediately & gleefully exploited by the Obama moles from PBS with very good results, I must say.
Oct 1, 2008 - 8:21 am 83. Sullihan:With “the bailout” …”by 2009 the economy will be back to near normal” will be the one line you will regret for the rest of your life.
Doesn’t “near normal” imply a return to the lending practices that got us into this mess?
On the other hand, if the Wall Street banks learn from their mistakes, why would they loan a dime to anyone who can’t demonstrate that they don’t, in fact, need to borrow?
If you want to know what will happen after the bailout, please consult Matthew 18:23-34!
Oct 1, 2008 - 11:01 am 84. Sheila:Red Blooded American:
Why isn’t it going to work? It’s a debate of ideas about the previous actions of the two presidential candidates. I’m not attacking Obama the man, just his ideas. The guy is smart, but I don’t trust his judgment. I’m investigating his past so that I can make a decision of how I think he would act in the future. I’m also doing that with McCain. So in that respect I am “reacting” to what I’m learning about Obama’s very radical associations of his very recent past and how those associations have affected his legislative work. His praise of William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn and their ideas about criminal justice, for example, have, in fact, affected his legislative voting. That concerns me.
McCain’s imperfect past has shown leadership in the military and bipartisanship in government. Palin has run a company, a city and now a state. I think she knows what it takes to run a small company and make a payroll, she’s proven she can run a city and cut spending to the benefit of the citizenry. She is currently running a state with a very high approval rating. I don’t think she is up to speed yet on foreign policy, but I believe she will make the right judgments to keep us safe. I think she views things from a small town, American perspective as opposed to a “citizen of the world” perspective. I like that.
I think they both have a proven record of reform, cutting spending and the leadership to make tough decisions. That is a very positive program for change in my opinion.
You will no doubt disagree.
Oct 1, 2008 - 12:13 pm 85. George Best:McCain and Obama are both the wrong guys to be elected President. The problem is that when things are going bad and we have 100 million people who will vote, the 25 million smart conservatives who know what Obama is will never vote for him even if they dont like McCain. The problem is the other 80 million people are too stupid, too poor, or blinded by anger that has been shoved down their throats, that we cannot get enough of them to win this election.
I made fun of Obama for picking Biden and not Hilary, which would have made certain of his election, but now it looks like Obama will have the last laugh.
We will get taxed to death after he is elected and we will be funding more socialist programs to help the poor blacks grow their wealth with little effort, but we wont notice or understand it in our everday lives. What will destroy Obama is the day when he is faced with a Foreign Policy Crisis and will not act.
I think he has a deal with Hezbullah, Al Qaieda, and Iran to not attack us once he is elected because he will make sure the operate outside the USA without interference which means the destruction of Israel will come sooner.
The only way I can deal with all this is be the capitalist I am, make as much money as possible, and build the biggest wall around my house that I can so my kids are as safe as possible. Then I can use my money to help who I want to. Other then that, I am going to get sucked in to the Obama lifestyle which is middle class people becoming poor.
What also scares me is that I dont even think Obama cares about our country over any other and that is the first President I think we will say that about.
Oct 1, 2008 - 1:09 pm 86. nick:Palin INCREASED spending in city
DUH!!!!
Oct 1, 2008 - 3:03 pm 87. Bill S.:VDH:”I think the bail-out will end up making rather than losing money”
Well, I do not share that optimism. This bail out does not adhere to Conservative Values. In fact, my opinion is that this bail out is one of the most wicked power grabs in the history of the country. It is being rammed down the public throat, without serious debate or compromise. Unspecified powers are being granted to the current Treasury Secretary – with a 4 month life span, and will be passed to the next Sec. Tres., God only knows who that will be. It is being rammed down our throats by the very people who sought to subvert a system that had been in place since 1933, and will be managed in the short term by a Wall St. insider. This wreaks of collusion. It’s almost as if Democrats and Republicans acted in concert to subvert the financial systems in order to weaken them to the point of bail out. Now, the next government will exert unheard of influence over the markets. Governments exist to govern, not to make profits.
On a personal note: My wife and I have been looking to buy a home since 2005. After looking at hundreds of over-priced homes in the Long Island, NY market, we decided not to buy. Our money can make 3% to 5% sitting in a money market savings account, why invest in an over priced home with negative equity? In the meantime, bail out banks, bail out individual citizens who made bad decisions, and artificially prop up the value of already over priced, outdated, homes that need work. Thank you Mr. President, Madam Speaker, and other Congressional leaders for negatively rewarding us for being smart and responsible with our money. (sarcasm)
Oct 1, 2008 - 6:54 pm 88. misanthropicus:Folks! Despite the multifaceted, fluid reality in which liberals think the world exists, there is such a thing like objective reality, and it is huffing, and howling, and shaking the roof, and pounding on our doors.
Oct 2, 2008 - 5:48 am 89. Krusty:Now, leaving aside the political predicaments which buffet us and the two candidates, and whose making was beyond our and their control, here I come with the essential reason one should respond to and vote for McCain – the world has entered very stormy and unpredictable seas for the next historical period and simply this country helm’s shouldn’t be in the hands of someone who besides being a vain ditherer (that is a nuanced thinker) of unknown (if not allegiances) then persuasion, who sees the job of presidency not as culmination of a career and duty towards this nation, but as a right an unjust society withholds from him – for the sake of the people, nix Obama.
George Best, one of the most tin-foiled hatted idiotic, unsupported posts..oh wait this is Pajamas…
Oct 2, 2008 - 7:10 am 90. Mark Rinzel:“Did the McCain debate victory matter? Yes, it helped, but time is running out and the economy is trumping the campaign battlefield.”
What are you smoking Dr. Hanson? Again, a longtime fan shakes his head in utter disbelief. I was furious with the way you were treated on Bill Maher’s show during your one appearance, but you can’t just keep spewing this nonsense.
McCain did NOT win the debate. Palin was a foolish choice. The disgust you all feel towards the mainstream media is not as widely shared as you thought.
If McCain had picked Romney, the Dems would be in trouble, but Palin is a fool. He blew it, and it’s time you all own up to. Parochial chauvinism is sooooo 2004!
Oct 2, 2008 - 11:05 am 91. Mike:McCain would govern little differently from Obama. It’s better if Obama run the country into the ground the rest of the way than some psuedo conservative like McCain. That way, liberalism will get the blame it deserves, and true conservatism may get a shot again.
Oct 2, 2008 - 12:18 pm 92. frank Miller:Your last piece on Palin-as-Biden was wonderful irony, but I fear it may be terribly misunderstood. I share your bitterness about the media’s bias, but you might just be losing your audience with that one.
Your usual direct, non-sarcastic voice might be hard to write just now, but your readers, and your country, need your clarity. Please return to your eloquent, not comedic, style. Professor, you are the clearest thinker out there. Your clarity must not be subsumed by wit. Nor by fury.
FM
Oct 2, 2008 - 11:56 pm 93. Liz Swiss:John McCain BY NO MEANS won the debate. Good grief. And Sarah Palin lost MISERABLY the debate with Joe Biden. How could any thinking person think otherwise?
Oct 3, 2008 - 4:10 am 94. Liz Swiss:I have just read some of these posts. My God, so many of you are such bigots. I am ashamed reading these posts (knowing full well that mine will never be seen on this site). When in the US did being Liberal start being a bad thing? When did education, experience and intelligence become a liability in American politics? Because it certainly has, most noticeably since the stupidest Western leader ever, George W.Bush took power (and I mean ”took”) Ever notice how Sarah Palin’s dumb folksy language mimics his? It is utterly embarrassing. Bye, and good luck to all you right-wing, neo-con, absurd bigots. Glad I am not among you anymore.
Oct 3, 2008 - 4:20 am 95. Ron Kean:Krusty & Red Blooded American
This is a free form exchange of ideas. It’s not just attacking for attacking sake.
Many, in my opinion, on the left call us names. I don’t believe you’ll see that much coming from the right.
Liz Swiss
Don’t let the door hit ya where the dog bit ya.
Oct 3, 2008 - 11:38 am 96. Jeff:What people don’t understand is why some of us are so against the current Republican ticket, but we have an obligation to fight against history of ever being repeated again. Many of us out here are not fighting for the Democratic campaign but are fighting against an ideology.
1) An ideology that completely mirrors the ideology of this past 8 years.
2) An ideology that recognizes the few while completely disregarding the masses.
3) An ideology that believes in taking military action against Iraq, an incident that is completely unrelated to 9/11, without solidifying our claims beforehand. In the present, we have found no evidence of weapons of mass destructions or a tie to Osama Bin Laden. The devastation of this war has cost us over 4,000 of our brave troops and counting, over 1/2 trillion dollars of taxpayer’s money and counting, and over 1 million Iraqi lives unrelated to the terrorists or insurgency.
Cost of the Iraq War — http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
4) An ideology that still believes that the Iraq War is the right war on terrorism when the Afghanistan War should had been the right war on terrorism, where Osama Bin Laden actually was until he slipped into the mountains and into Pakistan’s territory now. The Iraq War also diverted our attention away from the Afghanistan War. We now have extended our resources in two separate places and have heightened our risk to our troops, our expenses, and creating another dilemma that will take quite some time to finalize. The Iraq War will not go away overnight and it is now our obligation to see it all the way through for God knows how many more years. This has also been the most unpopular war in the eyes of the world’s communities.
5) An ideology that believes that we are at our safest state since 9/11, when a recent terrorist plot was still trying to enter Great Britain’s airports with liquid explosives heading directly to us, but thankfully the plot was foiled. While in Afghanistan, the terrorists are regrouping and strengthening and we have recently suffered another high casualty to our troops yet again within this past month. We currently have the least amount of alliances in the world’s communities due to this unpopular Iraq War. True national securities are the ties that bind us to our world’s communities and the ties that bind them to us.
6) An ideology that vetted one of the most inexperience VP ticket in history, from foreign policies to national defense. If God forbids that anything happens to this President if elected and is stricken with illness, this VP will be running the country. For a more compelling look at Sarah Palin’s VP readiness, please look at these links below —
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loUHRv3ipLE
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/09/30/palin_gaffes/
7) An ideology that believes in “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” while we are facing the highest mortgage foreclosure crisis, high unemployment rate, and the largest collapse of our financial infrastructures since The Great Depression of 1929.
This is an ideology that many of us in America are against. Whether this ideology is in the Republican or Democratic ticket is not the main issue but the fact is that America does not want to fall into another 4 more years of devastation. We cannot afford this anymore.
Oct 3, 2008 - 4:23 pm 97. Ken:Liz: You asked the question, then answered it. “When in the US did being Liberal start being a bad thing? ………. Because it certainly has, most noticeably since the stupidest Western leader ever, George W.Bush took power (and I mean ”took”) Ever notice how Sarah Palin’s dumb folksy language mimics his? It is utterly embarrassing. Bye, and good luck to all you right-wing, neo-con, absurd bigots. Glad I am not among you anymore.”
Oct 3, 2008 - 5:22 pm 98. Judy, NYC:Good debate skills -about like Joe.
barry obama is not left or right or center or a marxist. what barry is, is nothing. this is a made up, make-believe pumped up balloon with a face painted on it. and this balloon has bounced around plenty. with the anti-american demented racists wright and farrakhan, then with the whitest guys you know, the hedge fund crowd, and republican big business moguls, with arab money funders who have been supporting him for years and daley’s machine that is cheek and jowl with the chicago mob. most chicago citizens wonder why he isn’t in jail. he is surrounded by his thugs. and supported by media that is either drowning in bankruptcy or obsessed with ratings. frankly, he makes the skin creep. biden knows this guy is anything but a “candidate”,and that the obama balloon camouflages a textbook psycho. biden never looks like a man who wants to be vice-president, he looks more like a prisoner who prays to be to be airlifted out. in the debate, described his job as one in which he will sit with barry in every meeting (then quickly reminded us that he will not be the president). if joe biden has an ounce of patriotism he may decide to stand up finally before it’s too late for us. and if he has the guts, maybe he won’t shoot himself in the head.
Oct 3, 2008 - 10:35 pm 99. McCain todavía puede ganar … gracias a Palin « Sarah Palin en Español:[...] 28 de Septiembre, Victor Davis Hanson en Pajamas Media escribía “Time is Running Out” (Se acaba el tiempo), y decía: Los votantes quieren inclinarse hacia McCain, pero los últimos [...]
Oct 16, 2008 - 4:37 pm