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Well that didn’t work out very well. 

At least if you are a Republican.  McCain took a lickin’ and Republicans took a lickin’ across the country.  How soiled is your brand when John Murtha, who called his own constituents rednecks and racists, gets re-elected?

Doubtless there will be millions of words expended on what McCain did wrong and what the Republicans did wrong, but I think the Indecision 08 coverage summed it up for me.  Former Presidential Candidate and flat tax fanatic Steve Forbes, who for some reason was wedged between Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, broke down what he saw as the collapse of the McCain campaign:

 McCain was doing fine, up in the polls, until the financial crisis struck in mid-September.  McCain made a few key mistakes after that.  He declared the economy as essentially sound for one. Instead of taking charge of the congressional Republicans who were opposed to the bailout and trying to offer a less “give away the store” alternative, he glumly signed on to the Bush-Paulson proposal.  Of course, Obama did the same thing, but he was positioned to run against the administration, whereas McCain just looked like he was joining the Democrats and Bush.

McCain still potentially had a few good advantages for all of that.  He could have linked Obama to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae based on being the number two recipient of campaign funds from those failed mortgage buyers.  McCain could also have touted his own attempted reform of Freddie and Fannie in 2005.  Instead, he decided to condemn “Wall Street greed”, which was part of Obama’s and the Democrat’s position on the financial crisis.  Hearing him saying that during the debate, I figured the election was pretty much lost. If, as a Republican, you are just going to “me too” whatever the Democrat position is, why would the voters bother to vote for the “me too” Republican?  Why not vote for the Democrat and get the real thing?

McCain also ignored his own proposals.  His health care plan was far superior to Obama’s, particularly if you are self employed or have a small business, but McCain seldom talked about it,  even when he was given the perfect opportunity by “Joe the Plumber.”

Beyond the financial crisis McCain had several other disadvantages.

            A media that was in love with Obama, and did nothing but fall down in worship of him, tingly legs and all.  How many points in the polls is that worth?

Bush’s popularity, or lack thereof, and a Republican Party that had decided that power was better than principle.

But McCain blew it.  In his concession speech, he accepted responsibility for his campaign and in the final analysis, that’s where the blame has to lie.

So now what?

Well if you’re a Democrat, you expect to attain a higher state of consciousness when President-elect Obama descends from heaven to be sworn in at the capital in January.  And if every Republican Congressman would get caught having sex in a public restroom; well that would be icing on the cake.

If you are Republican though, it’s a bit tougher.

Still, I’m fairly sanguine about the future.  In spite of a Republican drubbing at the polls, and all of the previously mentioned forces that were allied against the GOP this year, I still think this is basically a center right country.  Actually, I should say because of all those forces, the media, Hollywood, and a major financial crisis, this country came very close to putting another Republican back in office, after following eight years of one of the most unpopular Presidents in modern times.  That’s quite a trick.

Obama mania won’t last forever.  True, it could last for a while though.  Obama will have a subservient press corps that George Bush could never dream of.  Chris Matthews has defined his job, “To make the Obama Presidency a success.”  Can you imagine Matthews, or any mainstream journalist saying something similar about the Bush Presidency?

Still, facts are facts.  When Republicans say that tax hikes damage the economy and slow growth, they are not just stating an opinion or conservative talking points, it’s an objective fact which has been demonstrated multiple times in “the real world.”  President Obama will discover that liberal orthodoxy and redistributionist policies have consequences that can only be spun so far, even with the MSM at his beck and call.

So what is my recommendation to the few remaining Republicans in Congress dealing with Democratic bills to raise taxes and squeeze “big business” with more regulations?

Let ‘em.

If President Obama thinks the path to economic recovery is covered in high taxes and regulations, he deserves the opportunity to demonstrate it.  It shouldn’t be the Republicans standing in his way.  Let him get the credit, or the blame for the consequences of his own policies.  The tax revolt of the 1970’s, beginning with California’s Proposition 13, set the stage for national Republican domination for nearly two decades.  If Obama wants to recast the Democratic Party once again as the party of choking taxes and stifling regulations, why expend effort and energy to try to stop him?

Who knows, maybe Obama is actually right, and raising tax rates on the productive classes and increasing capital gains rates will set off an economic boom.  I say let’s find out.  The people have spoken after all.  And we will let the people speak again in 2010 and 2012.

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Who, may you ask, is my favorite Vice Presidential Candidate?

No it’s not Sarah Palin.  Palin is exciting the Republican Party base, and although she has made a few gaffes to the press, they have not been particularly hilarious ones, nor have they been particularly numerous, but let me tell you about this guy, he’s just a regular Joe:  Joe Biden.

How much of a regular Joe is he?  Well unlike most politicians, he’s not afraid of ethnic humor.  Or racism as it’s usually called by the politically correct class.  Jewish jokes?  He’s got a million of them! 

The Yeshiva crew team, he said, sent a spy to Cambridge to find out why the Harvard rowers always beat them. The informant called his coach from alongside the river. “He said, ‘They’ve got eight guys rowing and only one yelling!’ “

Oy that’s funny!

Indians?  He’s got that market covered too!

“You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

“I’m not joking!”

Come on, give yourself some credit!

Black jokes?  Decide for yourself.  When speaking about Senator Obama, he said:

“The first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Well take that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Better start bathing more often.

OK that’s not the funniest line I’ve ever heard, but it did dish out a lot of cringing.  Still, amazingly, Biden emerged from these brushes relatively unscathed.  Of course some of his gaffes are just misstatements and slips of the tongue.  No one seriously worries that he referred to Barack Obama as Barack America, or constantly confusing Battalions and Brigades.

But some are just bizarre, such as when he seemed to be threatening his running mate if Obama tried to take his guns.

“…he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem.”

“I guarantee you Barack Obama ain’t taking my shotguns, so don’t buy that malarkey,”

Although Beretta does make shotguns, something tells me that Biden doesn’t have a Beretta made shotgun.  I’m unsure that he even has shotguns; at least not now.  I suspect the Secret Service probably went into his home and confiscated them.

But really there are so many gaffes, I couldn’t even begin to cover them all:  attacking his own attack ads, his helicopter forced down in Afghanistan, Roosevelt’s 1929 TV appearance to the country, claiming Bush sent the Undersecretary of State to Tehran to meet with Iranian officials, claiming the Joint Chief said that we were losing in Iraq… whew!  It just goes on and on!

Biden had one debate with Gov. Palin.  Oh to have had a few more of those!  Be still my heart!  Now the McCain campaign counts 14 lies; as they call them.  But I’m only interested in a few.

“When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.’ Now what’s happened? Hezbollah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel.”

Huh?

You could almost swear Biden was on drugs when he said that.  It made no sense, and even Biden fans had to stretch the bounds of credulity to try to make Biden’s statement sound not insane.

Or how about this on the role of the Vice President:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

Article One does mention the Vice President in section two:

Clause 4: The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

Clause 5: The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

But article one describes the role of the legislative branch, not the executive branch.  In fact, the only specific duties of the Vice President are those mentioned in Article One.   I guess the constitution was not explicit enough for Biden, since he got so much wrong.  This would have been an OK answer coming from Palin, but Palin was actually more correct on the duties of the Vice President than Biden was.  The Vice President can preside over the Senate at any time, not just to break a tie vote.  The question is more, what Vice President would want to?

Biden’s extraordinarily dumb answer is made all the more amazing by the fact that he is an attorney by training, and has sat on the Senate Judiciary Committee for over 16 years.  If there has ever been a Vice Presidential candidate more prepared to elaborate on the duties of the Vice President, it should have been Biden.

Naturally the media declared Biden the winner of the debate.

But his biggest boner (to date) was his promise that Obama would be tested within 6 months of being in office:

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate and he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

“Gird your loins.”

Once again: Huh?

Trying to figure out what Biden was trying to say has been great sport over the weekend, but the Obama Biden campaign has decided to dismiss it as “rhetorical flourish.”

If Biden were a Republican the talking heads would still be chattering about his crazy statements.  The word erratic would be used towards him rather than John McCain.  There would probably be a few other words used to: crazy. madman, nuts, damaged… I could go on but you get the point.

These words won’t be used about Biden though, and in fact, the media hasn’t paid much attention to him at all.  Palin has been the far more interesting Vice Presidential candidate.  Given Biden’s ego, that must be driving him nuts.  Of course, that could be the reason for all of Biden’s crazy statements.  Maybe they are not gaffes after all.  Maybe he is trying to say … LOOK AT MEEEEEEEE!

Taxes.

John McCain keeps saying that Barack Obama is going to raise everyone’s taxes, redistribute the wealth and most of all that he is socialist…. Yes, McCain said the “S” word today. I think I finally see the problem. Somewhere along the way the Republicans have turned the word “socialism” into meaning Communism with despotic rule. This is bullshit scare-tactics at it’s finest. Democratic socialism is as much communism as Sarah Palin is a Rhodes Scholar.

Socialism is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the economy works. Democracy is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the government works.

Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just the Party Secretary) have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works.

A common mistake is to confuse Socialism, the economic system, with Communism, the political system. Communists are “socialist” in the same way that Republicans are “compassionate conservatives”. That is, they give lip service to ideals they have no intention of practicing.

Or

Socialism is the grey area where some things are planned (Say Healthcare or Coal mining) but Communism is where all major facets are planned and controlled (Say Bread prices, Jobs, Land ownership), etc.

Our problem here is that we want better education, we want a space program that rivals china, we want our fire and police departments to respond quicker and get paid more, we want our soldiers to fight wars on all fronts and protect us from evil. We want roads without potholes and bridges that don’t actually crumble. But we don’t want to pay for any of it.

Somewhere along the way, Republicans have convinced their base and some of the independents that a magical fairy gives us all of these things..

and if Democrats ever get elected, that charming little creature will die.

In Florida we have a horrible school system. Why? Because we also have a retirement community that votes against raising taxes by a a penny to help our schools. Why should these retired transplants pay an extra cent for schools when their kids are either grown or living in another state. Our schools are on a bare-bones budget already this year, with having to cut $150 Million from their budget, only to look forward to another 10% cut next year. But hey, not my kid, not my school, not my problem. It’s the same thing with our roads or transportation. I want better roads and I want high-speed rail, but I damn sure don’t want to pay an extra penny for it.

What’s wrong with all of us paying a little bit to enhance our world for everyone, instead of letting the guy on wall street, who takes a helicopter to work everyday, keep his tax break.

I am so tired of reading the scare tactics from the right….. Obama wants to take your money and give checks to poor people. No, what he wants to do is to get the ones who can afford to, pay a little more. How much more? 39% instead of 36%. OH my God! The nerve of that uppity man asking Donald Trump and Warren Buffet to pay $39 dollars on every $100, instead of paying $36 dollars like I would.

Ask yourself, is that $3 difference going to hurt me or Bill Gates?

What McCain wants to do is let me and The Don keep our $3… That sounds great. But so does having an education system where the teachers don’t have to supply their own classes with outrageous things like paper and pencils. It sounds pretty damn good to have our kids taught with books from this century or SWAT teams across the country to have the same kind of firepower the criminals have so that they aren’t outgunned. It’s also a great idea if the fire department could have a portable communication device that actually works and lets them communicate dangers and evacuation orders to each other.

But really, to make the Don pay $3 more than me to get these things is Red Communism at it’s finest. It’s ok that our soldiers have to buy their ammo and body/truck armor. There soldiers, they’ve learned to overcome and adapt. Richard Fuld on the other hands needs his $30 million dollar Park Ave. penthouse and his $14 million beach house.

The problem isn’t wealth. The problem is greed. No, it’s not going to hurt Donald Trump to pay an extra $3 compared to me. It’s just going to piss him off because he doesn’t think he should have to pay more than me. I get that, those are his profits and he wants to keep them, but when they are his losses, well those he’ll gladly share with everyone.

The Washington Nationals.

Damn the republicans are good. There are really really good. We don’t torture anymore, now it harsh interrogations. When we unlawfully and secretly detain someone, it called rendition instead of kidnapping. We call it climate change instead of global warming because no one can agree whether global warming is happening, but they can agree that climate change is…Taking old definitions and making new one. It’s delicate and artful.. hell, it’s as masterful as anything Da Vinci did and the Republicans are good at this.

Obama want to nationalize healthcare which will be to the detriment of our medical community and our country. See how brilliant that is?

Here is what Obama has said, see if you can spot the differences.

He wants to let people join a national plan to help make healthcare affordable. If you have insurance now and you like it, you keep it. If you don’t have health care, he wants to open the congressional plan to everyone to buy into.

Do you see it?

He wants to Nationalize healthcare and give it to everyone.

He wants open a National plan, and make it affordable to everyone.

They’ve taken the word “National” and changed the meaning to “Nationalize”. Military life is ‘nationalized” you go where they tell you, you eat when they tell you, you dress and look the way they tell you, you wake up and go to sleep when they tell you. What we did for Wall Street and the banks to help them out is Nationalization. Making a healthcare plan ‘nationwide’ and ‘affordable’ for people to ‘buy into’ is not nationalization.

Consider, If all the Disney Worlds Parks across the world went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield(BCBS) and said “We want a healthcare package for all of our employees to buy into”… The plan would be huge, how could it not be when Disney employees hundreds of thousands of people. But the cost of that plan per person is almost nil. Why? Because the more people in the plan the more ‘affordable’ it is.

Ya see that? ‘affordable’. It’s as plain as day. Obama want affordable health care. Meaning people will have to buy it, meaning he’s not giving it to everyone, meaning he’s opening the pool to more people so it’s more affordable for everyone.

This whole time I, and others, have been letting the Republicans get away with this play on words. We need to stop!

“He wants to nationalize it and all you have to do is look at how Medicare is run to know the Government would fuck it up.” Only a Republican can get away with condemning their government’s ability while saying how proud they are of it and noone says “what?”. We have allowed the word play between “National” and “Nationalize” to go on. We need to stop.

John McCain wants to give your insurance company a check for $5000. He’s made you believe that he wants to give this to You…. But he doesn’t. You won’t get a check every year for $5000, your insurance company will. Remember, McCain doesn’t like cutting checks to people, but he’s happy to cut them to BCBS. I guess this sounds good to some people, the people who like to change definitions, but lets apply Mickey’s Buoyancy theory here.

The buoyancy theory is that if everyone started off with a $1milliion dollars, then the cost of everything else would rise. Joe the plumber will charge you $80,000 to snake your toilet because money is no longer a ‘rare’ product.

So what happens when all across the country insurance companies start getting a $5000 check? Buoyancy happens. They raise their plans up by $5000. So not only are you not getting the money, McCain is giving money to insurance companies.. He’s against redistributing wealth, but not when that wealth is going to Big Business, only when Joe the plumber might get a rescue. McCain’s plan doesn’t lower healthcare costs, it actually raises them. His plan isn’t to help you, it’s to give more money to another wall street company! But maybe they need it more than we do.

Would you like to Biggie size that…

For so long we have heard the cries of “we don’t want more government in our lives” This is a joke! An absolute joke and we Dems have been too stupid to be in on it. No, they don’t want more government. Not when it’s to benefit every class. But for despotic rule? Sure. The Republicans/conservatives are more than happy to have government protect us with surveillance and wiretapping, torture and the Pat act. They want the government to tell us in writing that gays cannot marry, they want the government to tell us that we can’t burn an American flag and they want government to tell us what we can or can’t do with our bodies. No, they don’t mind having a huge government in every aspect of our lives and we need to stop letting them get away with saying the opposite. If we are going to allow the government the right to suspend habeas corpus and then torture us, then we should also allow the government to open a nation-wide healthcare plan for everyone.

Stop letting them lie. Start calling them on it when they say they don’t want bigger government in their lives, change the argument and tell them that asking for an amendment to make it illegal for 2 men to marry is letting a bigger government in their lives. When they said Barack would nationalize the medical community give them a dictionary and help them understand the difference between nationalization and a Nationwide plan. And finally when they scream “No new Taxes” tell them that you are OK with paying $3 dollars more to help employ more teachers, police, firefighters, and ambulance divers and you are OK with not only giving them the proper equipment, but also giving our soldiers who are fighting for us, the proper gear that they need.

There’s no need to get angry and hostile. No need for attack ads. We just need to learn to stay on topic and not let them change the argument into one we can’t argue, like we all, including me, have done for too long. The Republicans aren’t opposed to Socialism or Nationalization. They are only opposed to you and me having them. We’re, you, me and Joe-taxpayer, are paying off the debts of the huge corporations, while allowing them to privatized their profits. We pay off their bad loans and they keep the money they make off them. .

Like the skewering of words in Baracks plan, it’s time stop letting them get away with changing the words around to make it sound better or worse to enhance their arguments. Damnit, . It’s not a ’rescue’ It’s Socialism for cooperate America and free-market capitalism for everyone else, and it’s time we call them on it.

Let’s get this out of the way, can we..

If we are going to talk about who someone supported in the past and say that it’s relevant today to show their judgment and leadership abilities, that it will give us an idea of who they will bring with them to the white house, lets get it all out there and move on to things that really matter.

Barack has been criticized for his ’ties’ with ACORN. Yes, he did defend them once and yes he did donate money to a subsidiary of theirs. Like Drudge uses pictures to prove that Barack is going to steal your white women, the McCain campaign uses his ties to ACORN as proof that Barack will steal your vote.

Here he is sitting next to Florida Rep. Kendrick at an ACORN-sponsored February 2006 rally, in Miami.

Wait, that’s not Barack Obama… That’s John McCain. I guess the “Maverick” is there to repudiate them like he assures us he can do. I know a picture in this campaign isn’t worth a 1000 words, hell even video isn’t worth anything, but maybe a video will show us all how McCain is going to whip their you know whats…

oh.

Here’s the thing. This rally wasn’t 5 or 10 years ago, it was 2 years ago this week and John McCain wasn’t just there to say “Hi”. He wasn’t there to tell them that they were “destroying the fabric of democracy” and “perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country” he was the key note speaker that day. In fact he has been a great supporter of ACORN over the years.

Either his judgment was wrong 2 years ago, or it is wrong today. Either way John McCain was so much of a supporter of ACORN’s that he traveled to Miami to speak for them, and if association with them is bad judgment then not only does McCain have the same bad judgment, he’s also suffering from forgetfulness since he doesn’t remember this support. The forgetfulness can be explained by age, the bad judgment? Well according to Fox news when Obama does it, can not.

William Ayers.

The idea behind this one is to show that you should be afraid of the Arab Barack Obama because he pals around with terrorists. It doesn’t matter that Obama has denied or reasonably explained it away.

It doesn’t matter that the same republican family that asked Barack to be on the panel with Ayers is also throwing their political support behind McCain, not too mention all the money they have given to Republican, which McCain or any Republican has to yet to address or ‘repudiate’. What matters is Barack associated with a terrorist and that makes him scary and risky and his judgment unfit to be President.

He’s Pallin’ around with terrorists…

John McCain as recently as the 2nd debate was boastful of this accomplishment in helping the “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan repel the Russian, even using it as evidence that he is somehow, superior to Barack

MCCAIN: First of all, I won’t repeat the mistake that I regret enormously, and that is, after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters and drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, we basically washed our hands of the region.

Maybe the other lesson McCain shouldn’t have ignored is the fact that Osama Bin Laden helped to fund those Freedom Fighters that McCain was so pleased to have also helped. John McCain aided,encouraged, and praises the mujahideen, the group funded and aided by Bin Laden, efforts in Afghanistan and is sorry that he didn’t do more to help them.

I guess I shouldn’t look that far back in history and judge McCain. It was a different time back then and Osama Bin Laden was good when we aided him, but then he changed into the despicable man that attacked us is such a horrific way on September 11,2001. But if I can’t judge McCain because a good man can turn bad, why can’t a bad man like Ayers turn into a good, citizen of the year?

Speaking of 9/11. The country we went after in retaliation of that attack was lead by another despicable man, Saddam Hussein. You recognize that name don’t you? You should, the speakers at John McCain’s rallies have said it enough. Only they aren’t saying it to remind you of Saddam. No, they are just saying it because it’s Barack Obama’s middle name that’s all…

If Saddam was such a bad person, and we know he was, then by default anyone with his name should also be a bad person, right? The truth is I can’t quite get my head far enough up my ass to see your point, but lets’ go with it anyway.

They have the same name so they must be the same people or have the same values.

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

Oops.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein’s government.

Umm, well.. You see my friends.. I know how to win this war.

Timmons’ activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism. His dealings on behalf of the deceased Iraqi leader stand in stark contrast to the views his current employer held at the time.
John McCain strongly supported the 1991 military action against Iraq, and as recently as Sunday described Saddam Hussein as a one-time menace to the region who had “stated categorically that he would acquire weapons of mass destruction, and he would use them wherever he could.”

Ok, so what do we know. We know that having the same name as a terrorists makes you a terrorist. So what does mean when you hand pick the man who is going to lead your transition team, that by the way is the man who is going to help pick your personal if you are elected President of the United States. What does it mean when that man actually lobbied FOR the terrorist while he was considered a terrorist?

I guess McCain can deny it

But testimony and records made public during Park’s criminal trial, as well as other information uncovered during a United Nations investigation, suggest just the opposite. Virtually everything Timmons did while working on the lobbying campaign was within days conveyed by Vincent to either one or both of Saddam Hussein’s top aides, Tariq Aziz and Nizar Hamdoon. Vincent also testified that he almost always relayed input from the Iraqi aides back to Timmons.

But that just wouldn’t be truthful. Not that truth has mattered much to John McCain lately.

So now that we know that McCain is supported by the founder of the same terrorist panel that Obama served on with Ayers and that McCain is proud of his work with Osama Bin Laden and doesn’t much care that the man in charge of his transition team worked and lobbied for Saddam after the 1st gulf war when he was considered a rogue leader..can we either label McCain as a terrorist sympathizer or just move the fuck on to something that actually matters like I don’t know…. Whether Barack wears boxers or briefs? Because really, If he doesn’t take care of his boys then what kind of President will he be?

What kind of America are we leaving for our children?

Over the last few years individual rights have become a shadow of their former selves while the government exploded in size and spending. We have all sat back and ignored the slow plan for the Government to take over full control of our lives. All my life I have heard people say “We’re the United States of America, that would never happened” and yet when it does happen,little by little, we ignore it because we are too busy running to hide under our beds because the terror alert level has changed colors. The world has been pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth. …and we have allowed it

In 2005, the supreme court ruled in favor of Emminent Domain. In other words the power of the state to take private property for public use with payment of compensation to the owner.. The court decided that we no longer have the right to keep our homes when big buisness wants them. If the Government or big business would rather have your land or your home, they can take it from you. They decide who gets to keep their homes and who doesn’t.

And we watched and said nothing.

In 2001 the Patriot Act was signed into law. Among many other civil rights violations,it allows for the secret search,seizure and hidden detainement of anyone the Government suspects is a threat. They don’t have to prove a threat and with the new FBI law set to take place on Oct 1, they don’t even have to have any evidence you are a threat. They just have to think that you might be dangerous.

Read that again, they only have to think that you might be dangerous.

This is not just for international terrorism anymore. Ironically that has always be the ‘pro’ argument. That this kind of thing was A-OK because it only affected the international terrorist and would never be used against the people of this country. I have had many arguments over just this thing. I have said that once you open the door to one level, it opens the doors to the entire spectrum. The pro argument has always been, “We’re the United States of America, that would never happen”. Well it is, starting Oct 1, those new guidelines go in place for criminal activities on the local level.

That door only needed to be opened a little and over the last 8 years it was beaten down with a battering ram.

This year the Government stepped in to save 2 mortgage giants, Fanny and Freddie Mac, from certain ruin. No matter how you look at it this was needed, the alternative was the total collapse of the housing market and the ruination of wall streeet. But while this was needed to head off financial destruction the end result is that we let Government step in a gain more control of our personal lives. Now they not only own the mortgages to our homes, with Eminant Domain they decide who can keep them.

And we watched and said nothing.

Also this year the Government stepped in to bail our Bear Sterns. J.P. Morgan bought the troubled company with a guarantee that the Government (the taxpayers) would absorb Billions of potential loss. Today, Lehman Brothers is looking for the same deal. They are looking towards China to buy them out with our Government (the taxpayers) absorbing the potiential loss. Tomorrow it will be the 3 Detroit giants. They are on the verge of collapse and as of right now are trying to stop it on their own but if they are unable, will look to the Government for another Bear Sterns-like deal.

I was asked how I could convince someone who against big Government to vote for Barack Obama when he’s had over 800 bills in his short time in office. My answer was to look at the bills before deciding that they were all bad and all about bigger Government. My answer should have been; in the last 8 years has the Government gotten smaller while the individual has gotten bigger? That answer is a resounding NO! So why would any Republican still vote for the party that has not just become big Government, but an almost totally controlling Government that spends outrageous amounts of money?

Where are the free market Republicans?

On the liberal front. To disagree with the Govermennt has now become UnAmerican and Unpatriotic.We’ve even allowed it to become criminal. Protesting is now just a jaw-tingling, acid-flashback. Today you are put in an area away from that which you are protesting. You are hidden, your voices muffled.

And we still watch and say nothing.

The things that the liberals have been screaming about for the last 8 years and the same things the conservatives have mocked and laughed at are almost all in place. The Government decides when dissent is unpatriotic and criminal, they decide where to hide anyone who voices out against them, they control the financial and housing market and before long the automakers.They spend every taxpayers money like there is an endless supply of it. They decide on an international and local level just who is a criminal, who should be secretly investigated and secretly detained without legal counsel,without evidence and just because they ‘think’ you ‘might’ be doing something.

This isn’t what the Republican vision is. This is Orwell’s predictions.

We are the country that stops this from happening to other countries. We are the worlds police. Whether asked or not, we will fight for other countries rights to individuality, we will die for their rights to vote and to chose their way of life. We are the world’s police and we don’t let the bad guys win. But ask yourself this.

Who is going to help us?

There isn’t another country out there like ours who would or could come in and help us as a nation of people. Oh they might come in to help themselves (see china), but they wouldn’t be here for our benefit. WE are our last hope. Face it, we are the only ones out there who can help us. We are the ones who have to make a difference and change the path that we have been on. True Red Republicans don’t like what’s been done to their party anymore than liberal Democrats like what’s been done to their country.

Experience has lead us down this path of destruction, you only have to look over the last 8 years to see what we have lost and what the Government has gained and how bloated and massive it has grown. Maybe it is time to let inexperience take control. If that doesn’t work then in 4 years change it. If that still doesn’t work….change it again.!

If the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting different results, what is it when you do the same thing over and over, knowing the results are going to be against all of your core beliefs and you keep on doing it anyway.

Vote early
Vote often
And if we’re lucky, the rumor I heard that gas will be a $1 in March 2009, will be a fact.

President Palin do you do solemnly swear that you will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of your Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States?

Sure, it could happen. John McCain isn’t as young and healthy as he once was. Chances of him becoming incapacitated or dying while in office are exponentially increased because of his age. I’m not saying anything that we all haven’t thought. So yes, President Palin could be standing along Pennsylvania Ave with her hand on the bible taking the oath of office and leading this country with all her wisdom and vast political experience, before any of us, including and especially her, are ready for it.

The right wants to point to the fact that this is a make-believe fairy tale. They counter that there is also a chance that McCain will live and she will learn while on the job, but Barack, well Barack will be the one who is actually in driver seat on day one if he gets elected.

Fair enough. I can’t argue that.

Palin is the only one on either ticket who actually Governed.

Fair enough. I can’t argue that.

It’s also fair enough that Palin is a beautiful, charming, no nonsense, tough as nails woman who took on her own party when she saw corruption. By all accounts she’s a down to earth, full-on red-blooded American sweetheart. A true-blue patriotic American sweetheart who was once part of a party that since 1970, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaska to secede from the nation.

Whoa… Whoa.. Whoa…… What?!?

The Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) is a party that was founded by a goldminer who was fiercely proud of his state, doesn’t want to be buried under the American flag and wants Alaska to secede from the United States. From October 1995 through July 2002 Todd, Palin’s husband, was a member of AIP. In 1994 Sarah Palin was also a member and they of even attended the state wide AIP convention in her hometown of Wasilla.

Now that’s my kind of patriot. That’s the person I want standing on the lawn of the White House, in a pretty dress-suit, with her beautiful family surrounding her and looking on as she takes the oath of office. I wonder how that works though. Is she taking the oath of office for this country? Or for the country the AIP wants to create when Alaskan leaves the Union.

The man who founded the Alaskan Independence Party, Joe Vogler had this to say about America

“I’m an Alaskan, not an American. I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions.” …

“The fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American government.”

AIP’s leader is also on record as saying that members “must infiltrate the other two party’s” and “push for ‘Alaskan independence‘”. Well, I guess you can check that off the “To do” List.

If Jeremiah White’s words and actions painted Obama as unpatriotic, then what does the Palin’s own action paint her as?

There are other things in Palin’s past that are sure to come out in the coming days. But with the allegations of her abuse of power, her teenage daughter pregnancy and marriage, her ultra-short time in office, the republicans have been stripped of running on experience, family values, ethics and now patriotism. How can they give any speech on any of these issues with Palin waiting in the wings?

On the other side is a controversy that if proven could rock the chance of Obama to enter the White House. On the Republican side, the Vice Presidential candidate was a member of a group that doesn’t want or even like, the United States of America.

Only in America..

To be fair, The McCain camp has since denied this whole thing. But of course they would have to. Imagine the judgment issues had he not known about this and the teen pregnancy issue. Of course he is the maverick, maybe he did know about both and went for it anyway.

But whether he knew about it or not, AIP members do know and they say that the McCain campaign pushback that Pain was never part of the AIP is “hooey.” and “..like a cat covering up crap in its litter box”

It will be disputed whether she was an actual member or not. Since her husband was for 7 years though, does it make it any better if she wasn’t? It didn’t matter that it was Barack’s pastor who said those awful things. His judgement and his patriotism were called into question for his association with Rev Wright. So can we use this against Sara Palin the same way? In and of itself, I don’t think so. My husband and I have very different political views so I wouldn’t want to be judged by his. But we also have her judgment for not supporting those explicit sex-ed programs. For not supporting abortion even in the extreme case of rape or incest, and then bad judgment call of trying to get her low-life brother in law fired when she became governor.

In and of themselves, none of those things are enough to disqualify her from the 2nd most powerful job in the world. But taken as a whole… they should give one pause. The also all beg to question, if John McCain knew about all of this, what was he thinking and if he didn’t, why the hell not! If he would put such a person on his ticket who the MSM has uncovered more dirt on in the last 5 days than they were able to for the last 18 months on Barack, why in the hell would anyone trust him to run the oval office? How could you trust any person he would pick to serve at his pleasure?

We had a maverick in office who put people in jobs as he saw fit, whether they were qualified or not and we saw how that work out, (heck of a job, Brownie)… So do we really want another one?

What a bizarre political crossroad we find ourselves at this year.

Watching Hillary Clinton bring an end to the roll call vote during the Democratic convention had several thoughts go through my mind.  First off, it looked like the Obama team wanted to make sure Hillary knew she was beaten by rubbing her nose in it.  Bad doggie!  I also thought of an executioner who tells the condemned, “Yeah, go ahead and you put the noose around your neck.”   Amusing?  Sure.  A little sad?  Yeah, that too.  When she stopped the roll call vote, Hillary probably knew she was well and truly fucked, but I didn’t get how fucked until today.

I was taking a shower after working out and was thinking about Hillary (believe me, this had to have been the first time I thought of her while I was naked) when it suddenly struck me like a bolt of lightning, “I’m out of conditioner!”  But after that, another thought occurred to me, Hillary lost her one good shot at being President.  That is something that she was no doubt aware of as she called off the roll call vote. 

Consider:  If Obama/Biden wins in November, and has a fairly successful Presidency, he’s in for 8 years, and Hillary doesn’t get a shot until 2016.  However, she is going to have competition: Joe Biden.  Biden is a man who has lusted for the Presidency for decades, and has made no bones about his ambition.  Biden is 65 now, and will be 73 in 2016.  Age is not quite the issue it used to be.  McCain is 72 today and still in the running.  Biden has a 90 year old mother, so maybe long lived genes run in his family.

So in 2016, Biden will have been the long serving Vice President, the establishment, standard bearer for his party. That would be an uphill battle for Hillary.  So barring some crazy political upheaval, Hillary’s only chance of being President is if Obama loses in November so she can hit it in 2012 with a big fat I told you so.  I suppose she could be content with being a New York Senator and fighting the good fight from the senate, but I’ve always thought the senate was a stepping stone, not a destination for her.  As a PUMA representative said on O’Reilly tonight (and I’m paraphrasing here), if Hillary had the top spot and Obama had the number two spot, that would guarantee 16 years of Democratic control of the Presidency.  Now it’s guaranteeing 16 more years of Republican control of the Presidency.

Well, at least there is a bright side.

I think Obama’s chances for winning the top spot are a bit better than the downcast PUMA rep gives him credit for.  But for some of these women, they have no one to vote for in November.

This brings me to the workout that led to the shower that led to the Hillary epiphany.  Yes, I’m telling the story in reverse order.  Pretend it’s that too clever by half Seinfeld episode when the gang went to India. Or if you want to get pseudo highbrow, pretend its Slaughterhouse-Five.

I was at the gym on the treadmill when McCain introduced Gov. Palin at Dayton.  At our gym we have a bank of TV’s across the wall for all of the treadmill and elliptical machine users to stare mindlessly at, just as if we were all at home on the couch.  Normally, I’m listening to my podcasts on my mp3 player, but watching the action on some of the TV’s I decided to unplug from that and plug into the jack on my treadmill to get the audio from one of the TV’s carrying the Palin speech..

I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but the first thing I thought of was, “Damn, she’s hot.” Not something I ever thought I would say about a potential VP choice, particularly after 7 plus years of Cheney.  I had never heard of Palin until today, but I had to say, she gave a good speech.  That’s important.  In politics it doesn’t matter how bright, knowledgeable or witty you are if you can’t communicate it. 

It became clear, at least to me, that McCain was seriously going after the Hillary supporters.  Particularly with this line from Palin’s speech:

I think as well today of two other women who came before me in national elections. I can’t begin this great effort without honoring the achievements of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, and, of course, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who showed such determination and grace in her presidential campaign.

It was rightly noted in Denver this week that Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet, and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all.

 So thanks, Hillary, for ramming your head again and again into that glass ceiling.  It should be loose enough now for Sarah Palin to push through.  But that’s always the way isn’t it?  Moses didn’t cross the river Jordan, and Jesse Jackson, who has been the go to guy for every racial grievance for the past few decades, is never going to be President.  Other’s get the rewards for sacrifices that the pioneers make.  I guess that’s why it’s called sacrifice.

Hillary supporters are not monolithic.  Most of them, after the bruising primary battle, dusted them selves off and like good soldiers supported their party’s nominee.  Some, like the downcast PUMA rep on FOX tonight, couldn’t.  Others will grudgingly vote for their party in November, and some won’t be able to bring themselves to.  And some, for the first time in their lives, are finding their party’s candidate so unacceptable they are thinking of voting Republican.

Crazy election times we are living in.

Earlier this morning…

I was at home at work when I heard on the radio that Palin was McCains VP pick.   Sarah who?   I clicked on the TV and channel surfed the news channels to try to get some info on her.  I didn’t really know what to think.  I knew that for Republicans, who McCain selected for VP was important, and if it wasn’t the right type of person, it was a deal breaker.  McCain was on iffy terms with many of his party as it was.  Trail balloons of him selecting Lieberman or Tom Ridge had enraged the Limbaugh’s and Hannity’s of the Republican pocket universe.  McCain had a multitude of bad choices and only a very few good choices.  I myself thought he would go with Romney, a man he personally despised but who might settle down the right wing of the party (paradoxically, since Romney as Governor had been more liberal that any other Republican running, but that’s another story).

What I quickly gathered about her: governor, mayor, NRA member, hunter, blunt, son in the Army, all made me think it was a good pick.  Not one I saw coming, but clearly one to shake things up.

Of course she could turn out to be friends with a terrorist, or have some sort of crazy preacher, and that could sour the deal.  But at first blush, she looks like a good VP pick, and one I wouldn’t mind seeing in Maxim.

So now the two tickets are, in a weird way, balanced.  They are both “historic” in the sense that no matter who wins, it’s going to be the first something.  And you have inexperience but great ability straddled with experience, just flipped on each of the tickets.  Biden, as the adult, is sitting in the backseat and letting the kid drive, and wizened McCain is driving Miss Sarah in his model T. 

Just a thought, but I think I might plan to take the day after election day off so I can sit up all night, eat my finely buttered popcorn, drink my beer, and blog away as the returns come in. 

This is going to be the best election ever!

What is going on!?! I have always been a middle of the road democrat. I fall on the liberal side for some issues and the conservative side for others. While I’ve never ruled out voting for a republican, I have only ever voted democrat. I have spent the last few years gorging myself on the Bush’s admin polices, actions, cronyism, incompetence and deceitfulness just to vomited out tirade after tirade about the illegality of the man and everyone surrounding him. I have taken criticism for speaking out against a sitting President and have been called unpatriotic because I asked questions and didn’t support the ridiculous answers given. I have become polarized against the GOP over the last 8 years because of the likes of Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Gonzales and Libby. For many millions of middle of the road democrats it has been a long 8 years, a tough 8 years hell, even a painful 8 years. But I have waited for the day when finally I get to do my part to rid the country of a Republican President and switch things up a little to help us get back a little closer to center.

So why I am looking at John McCain to be the next president?

What is wrong with this picture? I am attacking the only man who can bring about the change I so crave. I am attacking in the same way I attack Gonzales and his 72 “I don’t recall’s”. I am attacking him the same way I attacked Scooter Libby’s “The vice president told me to leak classified information to discredit Wilson”. I’m ranting about him the same way I ranted about “Good job Brownie”.

Why do I loathe and distrust the only democratic hope for president?

Because I know nothing about him. Well, I know that he will say whatever he needs to about any issue just to get votes. If your area doesn’t like off-shore drilling when comes there and gets in front of a TV or reporter he’ll tell you that he doesn’t approve of it either.

If your area seems to be ok with the idea, he’ll tell that well, he’s not really against off shore drilling.

If your for the rights of the people of the country and don’t believe the government should be able to do wiretap and listen in on it‘s citizens phone calls and the telecom companies shouldn’t get immunity, then he is with you. If you think that telecom companies should get retroactive immunity for illegally wiretapping the public and are for a bill that allows the government to keep on tapping it’s people, then he is with you too.

If you are against dirty politics in a campaign race and are just plain tired of the mudslinging. Obama is right there with you. In fact he doesn’t miss the opportunity to call people out for making things dirty. Of course it doesn’t bother him to go out imply that the only woman running has PMS when he said… ’periodically’ she has her ‘up’s and down’s’.

What is it about him that people support so whole heartedly. Yesterday’s headlines were, PELOSI HOLDING FIRM, BLOCKING OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING VOTE followed by “Obama shifts position on offshore oil drilling… *” If that is not the biggest slap in the face to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, what is? The FISA vote obviously wasn’t a hard enough slap because they just took it and kept going, so what will they do this time?

My guess? Nothing. What can they do. Dean and Pelosi did all they could to get one person out of the race that people knew everything about it in favor putting in the man no one, not even his ‘grass roots’ know anything about until he decides to tell them. But even that doesn’t matter because in the next town or the next speech he’ll just change his mind and tell those people what they want to hear. Even his pastor told us he would do that. Why nobody believed the man’s spiritual adviser to him and children for 20 years is still a mystery to me.

How can I vote for a man that has no one stance on any issue? Whose only accomplishment so far is that he can read a script off the teleprompter and make me believe him the same way Heath Ledger read his script and made believe he really was as evil as the Joker.

Maybe that’s what it is. In our fast-food, Hollywood celebrity sycophant society, we are drawn to the one who gives us the best ‘after school special’ speeches. We don’t have to hold him to those speeches and promises, because it’s TV and this is just a role he’s playing and like any good actor he can say what he wants and we forget what he just said the last time we saw him. Just look at Kevin Costner’s speeches in Bull Durham

and JFK

See, we can believe both depending on what ‘role’ he’s in. We don’t have to know what he truly stands for, we just have to believe in him.

The sad fact is we didn’t know anything about Obama when this all started. But he could sure talk. We threw out the people who had been around, who were known to the world, who policies and ideas and votes we could track and trace. We wanted flash and pizzazz and we got it. The republicans tried to do the same but ultimately chose the one with a past and a congressional record that is as long as War and Peace. Funny how the Democrats mocked them for this. Mocked the GOP for thinking they could put an old man with a 30+ year public past up against the new and fresh no-name from Chicago.

What I wouldn’t give now for someone with an actual stable record. Someone I can trust on Thursday to say the same thing on Friday.

Obama isn’t Presidential because of his senatorial voting, his political history, his 300 advisers, his “meet the Messiah” world extravaganza… he’s presidential because he watched “Jeb Bartlett” and learned how to give a good “episode ending, goose-bumpy” speech. So let’s reward him for that. But let that reward be an Oscar or an Emmy and save the Oval Office for someone with an actual plan.

Why is McCain even wasting his time and the party’s money. Sure the polls put him pretty much dead even with the Messiah, but c’mon…Hillary was close too. In fact Hillary wound up beating the Messiah only to be questioned every single night “why is she in it” “what does she want” “when will she quit” “what, does she think she can win” “she’s dividing the country” blah blah blah until she was finally tossed away and forgotten like a cheap whore… Didn’t McCain pay any attention? Or has he just forgotten?

Dude, why don’t you just retire already.

Why don’t you just stop your campaign and go back home.

You can’t win.

Hillary won the popular vote and where is she?

It doesn’t matter if you win the popular vote McCain. The electoral vote will go towards the Messiah and they count more than us little people who can‘t decide for ourselves who we want to lead us.. Just like the super-delegates votes counts more that the regular delegate.

McCain, you’re doing nothing but making a mockery out of the Republican party. The mighty-mighty Republican party, the party of Reagan for God’s sake. The longer you stay in the race, the more divided this country will be. But more than that, the more you will hurt the GOP. Your little stunt yesterday? You know, where you thought you could go up against the Messiah and the media? Remember? What? One reporter was there to look at you? One whole reporter. What did you think, that the media would care? HA! They had the Messiah’s 3-pointer to cover. And today? While the Messiah was giving the sermon from the mount, did you really think anyone at that German restaurant cared that you were there? Hell no they didn’t. The chosen one was speaking and all must show reverence and ululate and then genuflect or else the Messiah will leave us. Didn’t you watch any of the Hillary vs. Messiah race?

Speaking of race….. Lance Armstrong? Really?…. Um, he’s like stupid. What ever happened to Chuck Norris. Did you know that Chuck Norris once challenged Lance Armstrong in a “Who has more testicles?” contest. Chuck Norris won by 5.

Did you know that there are no steroids in baseball. Just players Chuck Norris has breathed on.

On his birthday, Chuck Norris randomly selects one lucky child to be thrown into the sun

So where is he?

Oh…. My….God.

Now I understand….

Now I see …..

The Messiah ate Chuck Norris.

I know… ridiculous right? Sadly it isn’t. It’s the truth (well, the messiah didn’t really eat Chuck Norris). Any day now the media will begin to question why McCain is even running. The same media that is now making a mocking of their own coverage over the soon to be anointed one. Hell they are already rejecting his op-ed’s until he can make it more like the Messiah’s.

They know what they’re doing..but that isn’t stopping them from acting like 12 year old school girls backstage at a Jonas Brother concert. McCain should have seen this coming and prepared better for being the sacrificial lamb. Then again, did anyone see all of this blind devoition coming? Sure there was adoration for the Messiah when he was up against the Clinton machine. But did anyone see this… “invasion of the body-snatchers meets Jim Jones, David Koresh, Charles Manson-like cult love”?

The scariest part of this is that this fervor is no longer found in fringe journalism or local media. This is coming from the 3 biggies, CBS,NBC,ABC. The granddaddies of all news media have now been assimilated. Resistance is now futile. There will be no more investigative journalism when it comes to the Messiah. No story on earth will make the Granddad’s go against the Messiah. We saw what happened when the administration we have now had free reign from the media. Only now, not only is the media involved, the entire world is backing this man. The world wants him as president. (yes, that is a real website)

We’re fucked……. We are so fucked.

But what if the Messiah doesn’t live up to … Wait…what am I saying, it doesn’t matter if he lives up to anything.. He hasn’t done anything to live up to and look at the mania surrounding him.

I’ve asked so many times…. “What has he done in his political or personal life to show that he deserves this and can be the leader then entire world wants him to be?” I have yet to get an answer. So I have a new question, one that I hope will get an answer and make my life so much easier and ‘flower-y’… Where the hell is the punch bowl? I want to be blinded by a semi-precious smile and a great (when rehearsed 1000’s times) speech giver. I want to be assimilated to save my sanity….. So where in the hell is my blue pill?

Breaking news: The Surge worked.

Actually it’s not so breaking.  The results have been apparent for several months now.  Civilian casualties are down, military casualties are down, and acts of violence in general are down.  Iraq is no paradise, but on the other hand it’s not quite the hell on earth that could have safely described it in 2006.  It’s hard to argue now that it was the wrong strategy, so let’s take a look down memory lane and see who opposed it eh?

Senator John Kerry:  “The simple fact is that sending in over 20,000 additional troops isn’t the answer–in fact, it’s a tragic mistake. It won’t end the violence; it won’t provide security; …it won’t turn back the clock and avoid the civil war that is already underway; it won’t deter terrorists, who have a completely different agenda; it won’t rein in the militias.”

Kerry’s fellow Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy, declared the surge, “an immense new mistake.”  Kennedy actively tried to fight sending any more troops.

Senator Christopher Dodd, former Presidential candidate and onetime threesome partner with the previously mentioned Senator Kennedy:  “We don’t need a surge of troops in Iraq–we need a surge of diplomacy and politics. Every knowledgeable person who has examined the Iraq situation for the past several years–Baker and Hamilton, senior military officials, junior officers–has drawn the same conclusion–there is no military solution in Iraq. To insist upon a surge is wrong.”

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (really, is that his real name?), when asked is she was worried that the gains of the surge might be lost if the troops were removed too hastily, “There haven’t been gains, Wolf…The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure.”

Governor Bill Richardson, former Presidential candidate and yapping Vice Presidential wannabe had this to say on the surge:  “The president is wrong. We don’t need anymore troop surges, we need a diplomatic surge. We must get all our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible.”

Senator Joseph Biden, yet another former Presidential nominee, and currently running for either Obama’s Vice President or his Secretary of State, whichever will put him in front of the cameras the most, told this to Secretary of State Rice on the surge:  “We heard a plan to escalate the war, not only in Iraq but possibly into Syria and Iran as well…I believe the President’s strategy is not a solution, Secretary Rice, I believe it is a tragic mistake.”

And of course Senator Hillary Clinton, who tried to play the man in her ultimately failed Presidential race against Senator Barack Obama:  “Based on the president’s speech tonight, I cannot support his proposed escalation of the war in Iraq…The President simply has not gotten the message sent loudly and clearly by the American people, that we desperately need a new course. The president has not offered a new direction, instead he will continue to take us down the wrong road, only faster.”

There was some Democratic support however.  Senator Lieberman said this in support of the surge:  “it’s just unfair to our troops implementing the surge, to Gen. Petraeus, who helped create this totally different strategy — which is working — to essentially pull the rug out from under them, to take away their reason for fighting before they even have a chance.”

Oh wait, Lieberman is an independent now.  Although he caucuses with the Democrats he is regarded as traitor.  Quite a fall from being the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate 7 plus years ago.  But I don’t want to make it sound like only Democrats opposed the surge.  There was some Republican opposition as well. 

Retiring fence sitter and amateur historian Senator John Warner had this to say, “Young men and women of US forces and coalition forces should not be caught in the crossfire of a civil war prompted by who should have succeeded Mohammed in — what is it? — 650 AD?”

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who teased the country on his decision to think about deciding to consider whether to entertain the notion of running for President, had this to say:  “This is a dangerously wrong-headed strategy that will drive America deeper into an unwinnable swamp at a great cost. We cannot escape the reality that there will be no military solution in Iraq.”

But right now, the opinions of those who matter most are the two Presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama.  Come January of next year, no matter who wins, George Bush will be packing his bags and whatever White House towels he can get away with.  As he leaves, his policies leave with him.

McCain’s views on the surge are well known.  In fact, you could argue that he risked his political career on the surge.  But what did fellow contender, Barack Obama have to say?

Before the surge: “It is clear at this point that we cannot, through putting in more troops or maintaining the presence that we have, expect that somehow the situation is going to improve, and we have to do something significant to break the pattern that we’ve been in right now.”

After the surge was announced:  “I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq are going to solve the sectarian violence there. In fact, I think it will do the reverse.”

Of course you will have to look a little bit for Obama’s earlier comments now.  He scrubbed his website to clear out his previous anti surge comments.  Now, guess what?  The surge worked:  “In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda–greatly weakening its effectiveness.”

Hey, anyone can be wrong.  It’s possible that someday I might be wrong about something.  It’s not likely, but never say never.  But it’s stunning when an entire political party is wrong about something so important.  The Democratic Party and the mainstream media was as one on the idea a year and a half ago that the surge couldn’t work and shouldn’t be tried. 

In this election, Barack Obama isn’t running on the experience card.  McCain has that locked up.  He’s running on his judgment. Because he opposed the war on Iraq, he is somehow supposed to have better judgment?  Sean Penn opposed the war too and he thought it was a good idea to marry Madonna.  His supposedly superior judgment had him opposing the surge too.

It wasn’t judgment that had Obama opposing the war,  it was the reflex of the anti-war left.  The same reflex that had him oppose the surge.  I’m still waiting for an example of his good judgment.