The Palin Factor
Sep 22, 2008 Political
Governor Sarah Palin has energized the Republican base and John McCain is bringing in the Independents. Despite what some say the Democrats are running scared. Folks in California, which should easily go to Obama, are organizing and working in nearby swing states in order to swing the vote in the Republican’s direction. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Post-convention swing state polls are tipping toward Sen. John McCain, the TV pundits are waxing about “The Palin Factor,” and Sen. Barack Obama’s California supporters are freaking out about a race Democrats were uncommonly confident about only a month ago.
~snip~
So Californians seeking to get involved in either campaign have options: pick up the phone, get on a plane, or hop in a car and contact a voter in a swing state that’s still in play. Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado are the closest swing states. Most of the Great Lakes states are still up for grabs, and Florida always beckons.
While it is true that any post convention bounce has been erased, a statement true for each campaign, this is a year in which Democrats were expected to roll to victory. Barack Obama made a few tactical errors and has been unable to completely regroup. He failed to pick Clinton as his running mate, a move that would have guaranteed him the White House, and he was taken by surprise by the Palin selection which caused him to respond very negatively. Obama’s most important selection to date was for VP and he blew that. Then he compounded things by insulting Governor Palin and his surrogates have unleashed a lot of trash that has failed to get them anywhere. In fact, there are many who were turned off by the attacks, especially the ones on her kids. The hacking of her email account also brought negative attention especially since Obama had just told his followers to “get in their faces.”
Several of the pundits have said the Palin fervor will wear off and the race will tighten or move in Obama’s favor. While national polls show Obama with a small lead the electoral college is extremely tight with a number of surprise states up for grabs. It is possible that we will have another election where the person with the highest number of votes will lose. Thank goodness the Founders had the sense to make the election 50 individual elections.
Has the Palin influence worn off? Was she a flash in the pan or does she have appeal? While Barack Obama was in Florida telling lies to senior citizens about Social Security Sarah Palin was there to discuss the issues. She drew a crowd of 60,000 people who were interested in what she had to say. So, if the Palin influence is wearing off, then why is she drawing such large crowds? Florida was considered to be very much in play but I have read Obama might scale back there if McCain increases his lead so that money can be concentrated in other battleground states. Another Obama error might have been saying no to federal funds. He might not raise the money needed to compete so he will have to concentrate in states where he has the best chances to win.
I think the next few weeks will be pretty exciting. I am looking forward to the debates. I want to see the open style for the presidential candidates but I am very interested in the VP debates. I think if Palin holds her own with Biden or wins then the balance of power will swing. Of course, Palin is at a disadvantage because she has to fight Biden and the media wing of the Obama campaign. But she is tough enough.
Sarah Palin is here to stay and she will have a lot of influence on this election. The rumors are that Biden will get some previously undisclosed illness and be replaced with Hillary. That would make things interesting but it would lead to questions about Obama’s leadership abilities. There are not many chances for do-overs in the White House.
Get the popcorn, this is going to be fun.
Tags: battleground states, biden, crowds, debates, McCain, Obama, palin
No wonder Obama will not debate
Aug 19, 2008 Political
Barack Obama once famously announced he would debate John McCain anytime, anywhere. We found out that was untrue 75 days ago when John McCain invited The One to participate in 10 town Hall type debates. Obama agreed to one on the Fourth of july when no one would be interested and has avoided any other mention of the subject. The recent presidential forum at Saddleback church in California hosted by rick Warren demonstrated why Obama is avoiding any more debates than he absolutely has to attend. He is not well informed, he is not well prepared and he got his head handed to him on a platter.
Obama took some risk in this type of venue because this is not the typical liberal base. Liberals believe in immoral things that fundamental Christians oppose and given Obama’s position on murdering children in the womb and after they are born it is safe to say he was entering a place where he was out of his comfort zone. Of course, any place where Obama is without prepared text and a teleprompter is out of his comfort zone.
The sainted one went first and he stumbled over questions by searching for the right answer. He could not avoid stating his positions that are well known but he searched for nuanced ways to make them a softer sell. His appearance was off balance, awkward and disastrous.
John McCain, on the other hand, gave immediate answers and was well prepared. He answered from the heart based upon decades of experience and his replies were genuine. He did not have to fumble around looking for the “right” answer because he gave sincere answers. He made Obama look like the amateur that he is.
It is obvious that the Obama camp knew right away that their messiah had done poorly. The campaign accused John McCain of not being sequestered and therefore being able to hear the questions beforehand. This is not true as McCain was in a motorcade in route to the event and then in a green room that had no feed of the broadcast. The Obama camp had to claim McCain cheated because they exclaimed that he was so well prepared. He was so at ease. He must have heard the questions because no one can answer that smoothly and confidently. Only he did.
After the Obama camp made the accusations of cheating, Andrea Mitchell of NBC carried the water for them. She said that McCain was crisp, immediate, and forceful and that Obama did not do as well as his camp had wanted and then she said; “…what they’re putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”
Leave it to Andrea to fan the flames of rumor and unsubstantiated claims in order to assist The One. A real journalist would have investigated the claims in order to ascertain the truth and then reported it. Mitchell took the short cut in order to help Obama spread doubt about McCain. As a commenter on Wizbang pointed out, this is the way to help Obama in the real debates. They will give him the questions in advance so he can rehearse answers and then if McCain accuses him of cheating they will yell sour grapes and that he was the one who cheated. It is a ploy that involves the media wing of the Democratic party.
Another indication that Obama felt he did poorly was that he attacked McCain the very next day. Obama went on the attack because he knew he had been beaten like a rented mule. He had to go on attack to take the wind out of McCain’s sails. The problem is, when Obama attacked McCain, what he said made no sense:
“McCain says ‘Here’s my plan, I’m going to drill here, drill now which is something he only came up with two months ago when he started looking at polling,” Obama said of McCain’s energy policy. My Way News
Isn’t this a bit stupid? McCain might very well have changed his mind based upon polls despite his claims that $4.00 a gallon gas convinced him. However, Obama changed his mind two weeks ago and he did so based solely on polls. Obama was opposed to drilling (and still is) and he criticized McCain for changing his mind. Then, when polls showed that more than two thirds of Americans wanted us to drill, Obama says he is open to it. If Obama is critical of McCain in this fashion, is he not critical of himself as well? McCain was first to realize this issue and address it. Obama followed much later. As with Saddleback, Obama demonstrated he is a follower, not a leader. The only leading Obama did at the event was going first.
It is obvious why Obama will not debate McCain in Town Hall type events and why he will participate only in as many debates as he absolutely has to. McCain has much more experience and looks more presidential than Obama does. Obama will give a great speech in Denver because he will be reading prepared remarks from a teleprompter. Force him to answer based upon experience and knowledge and he flounders like a fish out of water.
One can only parrot Yes We Can [Thanks AOW] and scream Hope and Change for so long before the truth is exposed. Obama would have done better to start late so people did not have as much time to see his weaknesses. He will be played out by the time the election comes.
Given that Investor’s Business Daily said Saddleback was “No Contest” Obama and his people must be fretting the post convention debates. I can smell the fear and their reaction to Saddleback only demonstrates just how afraid they are.
It won’t be long before they realize the Emperor has no clothes. I bet even Hillary and Bill Clinton are smiling today…
Tags: accusations, cheating, debates, fear, McCain, Obama, saddleback
I Thought it was About the Clintons
Mar 4, 2008 Satire
I saw a headline at Drudge that read; “Man struck in head with bat during argument over politics” and I naturally assumed it was about Bill and Hillary Clinton. Her temper is well known and she has thrown ashtrays and other items at Bill while they infested the White House so I figured she must have been ticked about how she is getting her butt kicked and decided to take it out on slick Willy.
Unfortunately, the story is about two friends (that leaves the Clintons out) who got in an argument during the Clinton/Obama debate when one whacked the other in the head with a bat. After he whacked his buddy, the guy took him to the hospital so his pal could get fixed up. After he told the police what happened he was arrested. The victim is in Intensive Care.
If the elections in Texas and Ohio today go badly for Hillary we might just be reading a story about Bill getting beat half to death with something…
Duncan Hunter Should not be Excluded from Debates
Jan 10, 2008 Political
I wrote a post earlier about Ron Paul being excluded from a debate. Duncan Hunter was also excluded and I commented that anyone who is still in the race deserves to participate in any process associated with the election including the debates. Fox News has decided that they will exclude candidates based upon polling results but they also rely on polling data that excludes certain candidates from the process. Duncan Hunter is such a candidate. If one were to look at Fox’s site he is not listed as a candidate and Real Clear Politics does not list him in their polls, polls which Fox uses when making its determination.
Duncan Hunter is being excluded from the South Carolina debate based upon criteria that Fox set but which Hunter could never hope to obtain if he is not included in the actual polls. Hunter paid $25,000 to be on the SC ballot and until such time as he withdraws from the race he deserves to participate like any other candidate.
The election process requires the people of this country to collect information about candidates and determine which one best defines their beliefs and goals. Part of this process is to have debates which pit the candidates against one another so that we the people can get an idea of where they stand and what they will do as president (or whatever office they are running for). The media should not be filtering these candidates and presenting only those deemed worthy by them.
Duncan Hunter is an honorable man who served this country in the military, who serves in Congress and who supports our men and women in uniform. He has strong positions on ILLEGAL immigration and he is a true conservative. To exclude him from the public forum is to do a great disservice to those who will make an important decision about who leads this country. The election process belongs to the people and not the media.
I say this with regard to any candidate from any party and I feel just as strongly that excluding Kucinich and Gravel (whoever that is) was wrong. There have been low polling people in the past who have not been excluded. Imagine the uproar that would occur if Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson had been excluded when they made their bids. Of course that is hypothetical because the media would never do something like that and offend the race hustlers, but I digress.
Fox News and any other outlet that sponsors a debate should include ALL candidates so long as they are still actively part of the process. To do anything less is an affront to the political process and truly un-American.
For a news organization that claims to be “Fair and Balanced” Fox’s actions appear to be anything but.
Shame on you Fox and shame on you SC GOP for allowing this censorship to take place.
Tags: censorship, debates, duncan hunter, fox news, SC GOP
Is Ron Paul Allowed to Debate Now?
Jan 4, 2008 Political
As many people know, Ron Paul was excluded from the Fox News Forum and the ABC debate in New Hampshire. Those events are to take place this weekend and Paul was excluded from Fox who decided to only take candidates who had polled in double digits. ABC has criteria for inclusion. In order to be in the debate a candidate has to meet one of these:
- place first through fourth in Iowa
- poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys
- poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys
As far as Fox is concerned, Paul does not have double digit support in New Hampshire so if that is their criteria he should be excluded. But, so should Fred Thompson who, in the latest Zogby Poll (1/4/08) polled lower than Paul. I can’t imagine Zogby is not one of the major surveys.
However, the ABC event should include Ron Paul because he polled at 7%. While Thompson polled at 2% he came in third in Iowa so he should still be included. When ABC and Fox announced their requirements they probably felt safe that Ron Paul would not be able to meet any of them. That is the case with Fox but Paul has exceeded one of ABC’s requirements and should be included.
I am willing to bet that ABC will not let Paul in the debate even though he has met their threshold. It is a shame, but they will exclude him even though he raised more money that Giuliani and placed 7% higher than him in Iowa. Of course, Giuliani has already been invited to the debate.
I am not in favor of excluding anyone. These people have decided to run for the presidency of the United States and all of them have some number of supporters. Additionally, the American people should hear everyone so they have all the information they need to take an informed decision.
I might not support Paul (I have not selected anyone as of yet) but I completely support his right to participate in the debates.
UPDATE: It appears as if Ron Paul will be part of the debate in New Hampshire. After posting this Drudge put up a story that did not make it clear as to whether he had been included or not. I checked the ABC site and he is listed as part of it. Duncan Hunter will not be invited. If he is still in he should be allowed to debate.
Tags: debates, exclusion, new hampshire, ron paul, zogby