OBAMA and McCAIN NEED TO RESCUE ANY RESCUE PACKAGE

Presidents must provide leadership that leads us away from crisis if they see it coming. If they didn’t see it coming, they must get us through it.

The current financial crisis that our nation is being warned of could have been avoided if we acted on some of the preventive measures that would have averted the recent need for a 700 billion dollar rescue package. Not avoiding it is something that I blame President Bush for. Note, I do not blame him for the problem but I do blame him and the administration for not seeing it coming. I blame him for not heading the advice of others who warned us about the mortgage lending practices which have inevitably threatened every other, major, area of the economy. People like John McCain who in 2005 proposed measures to correct our course and avoid the ice field.

Someone was asleep at the wheel on this one. It was akin to being on duty in the watchtower and still not seeing the iceberg that sunk the Titanic.

I will blame the President for allowing the issue to get to this point and requiring an historic, expensive hurried, solution to what should have been avoided, but I will not blame him for creating the problem that he did not acknowledge until it was too late.

This was a problem created by and instituted during the Clinton era.

Under the Clinton administration mandates were created that forced FannieMae and FreddieMac to extend a set percentage of high risks loans to low income and minority applicants. Clinton‘s National Homeowners Strategy was a financial scheme that promoted insanely low down payments and coerced lenders into giving mortgage loans to first-time buyers with unstable financing and incomes. It was a way to increase homeownership. That is an admirable motive but as usual, liberal mentality, forced government to do that which it should not have done. Essentially, the Clinton era initiatives that forced government action on private sector interests led to the need for government to take over FannieMae and FreddieMac. This is not to say that private sector greed and bad business did not add to the wrong minded government policy, it did, but what happened here is that government solutions to one problem, created another . Now, ironically, the government which helped to create this problem is having to solve it.

There are many lessons that can be learned from this. Whether you refuse to learn those lessons is up to you but the lessons are there. The left , under Nancy Pelosi, want to point fingers at Republicans and blame the entire problem on their tendencies for deregulation. That could almost be plausible if it was true. Unfortunately for liberals, it is not true. Conservatives are not for no regulation. Conservatives are for less regulations. They are against government regulations such as the Clinton era housing initiatives which forced FannieMae and FreddieMac to enter into high risk loans that should never have had the opportunity to be defaulted on. Republicans are against the type of regulations that prevent reasonable growth of our economy that is based upon sound policy and business practices.

Such was the case in 2005 when John McCain sponsored the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act which was specifically aimed at reeling in the higher than acceptable risk taking of FannieMae and FreddieMac. It was also designed to reign in many of the shady recording practices that both institutions were conducting.

Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 was, as it’s name indicates, a bill of regulatory reform, a bill that would have reformed the regulations which have added to the creation of the current economic crisis. The bill was ignored and denied by Democrats and the Democrat chairmen of the committees responsible for the bill. Congressman Barney Franks and Senator Chris Dodd did not act on this corrective initiative. Yet today, they join with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in blaming Republicans.

Pelosi’s lack of ability to lead has been clear for many years. During the last two years, as Speaker of the House, her lack of leadership has been profound. It lacked the ability to get her own party in line and pass their own liberal initiatives. That is why this is one of history’s least productive congressional legislative sessions.

Between President Bush sleeping at the economic wheel and the house Democrat leaders's lack of ability to accomplish anything, we need a leader to step forward. For me that leadership should come from the next President. It should come from the individual who will be steering our economic ship with whatever the burden of the solution to this crisis is.

Barack Obama and John McCain are incumbent senators. They have a responsibility to live up to in those capacities and they should not use a political campaign as an excuse for avoiding that responsibility.

John McCain was right when last week he suspended normal campaign activity in a stated attempt to deal with the legislative package aimed at rescuing the economy. He was wrong to back away from this original position. In doing so we are back to square one and Nancy Pelosi’s lack of leadership along with that of President Bush and Committee Chairs Dodd and Barney Franks still leaves us crying out for effective leadership.

John McCain is no Nostradamus, but on this issue he has been ahead of the curve and his instincts have been right, at least since 2005 when he proposed measures that would have not allowed things to spiral out of control and bring us to this point. McCain should continue with those instincts and apply them in his capacity as a sitting senator.

I understand that neither McCain or Obama sit on the House Financial Services Committee or the Senate Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs Committee, which are the primary committees handling the bailout package. However, their involvement on the issue, and with their colleagues, can interject some much needed initiatives and direction into those committees. To believe that since they are not on the committee they have nothing to do with it or no ability to influence it is absurd.

If either of these two men have the capacity to lead us, that their individual campaigns would have us believe, than now is their chance to show it.

Now is the time for them to demonstrate their purported abilities to solve problems and unite people together to properly address our national concerns. If either of these men have the answers to our problems, than now is the time to provide those answers. If the economic dangers we are witnessing are truly a crisis, now is the time to answer their calls to duty. Get off their high horses and get behind their legislative desks of responsibility. Do not politicize the crisis in stump speeches before adoring supporters in Ohio, Pennsylvania or Colorado. Go to Washington, D.C. and rally the legislative geniuses of Capital Hill together behind appropriate, legitimate legislation that will address the crisis.


I want McCain and Obama to present their rescue packages. Packages of legislative measures that:

A. - Produces an acceptable level of fluidity in the credit markets
B. - Prevent the abusive practice of an overextension of risky loans.
C. - Tightens the recording practices of all federal monetary institutions.
D. - Eliminates the Clinton era National Homeownership Strategy policies
E. - Levees a payback with interest on any and all monies invested in bailout packages
F. - Eliminate golden parachutes for executive officers responsible for insolvency

Obama and McCain may not sit on the committees charged with hammering out such a package but they are charged with the responsibility to create a package that the proper committees must address. Through their leadership they can create a plan that is good enough to garner support and strong enough to rally behind. If they cannot do this than they have no right to comment on the process and use it to advance their candidacies for President.

I want them to demonstrate through deed, not word, how good their abilities are to resolve problems and deal with crisis.

If either McCain or Obama want to demonstrate that they have the ability to accomplish things as President, now is the chance to show it, not just talk about it. The cry for leadership in this crisis is loud and clear and if Obama and/or McCain refuse to answer those cries, than neither one should be asking for the chance to lead our nation for the next four years to come.

Last Wednesday, when McCain embraced the issue and suspended his campaign, he was on track. It was the right thing to do. Since than he has strayed off this track and now we still do not have a rescue package in place. Now, more than ever he needs to get back on track, suspend his campaign and take the lead on the issue. Develop a plan that can win the day and help propel him to the White House.

A campaign is a great forum for ideas to be expressed but a time of crisis is a great forum for leadership to be practiced। McCain and Obama need to practice it now.

A Guide to U.S. Newspapers
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
2. The New York Times is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The Washington Post is read by people who think they should run the country.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand the Washington Post. They do, however like the smog statistics shown in pie charts.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave L.A. to do it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country either, as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a country, or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority, feministic atheist dwarfs, who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY country or galaxy as long as they are democrats.
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

THE FIRST DEBATE…Two Bracelets and No Sale

After first suggesting that the debate on foreign policy be postponed so that participants can work on the 700 billion dollar economic bailout package, John McCain joined Barack Obama on the stage in Oxford, Mississippi. The suspension of normal campaign activity by McCain’s campaign actually did little to effect the issue that it intended to and it was not a move that was seen through by McCain. The bailout bill has still not been assembled and neither one of the potential White House occupants have influenced the final product that either one of them will have to contend with in 4 months. That is disappointing. And so was this debate.

As someone who did not support McCain during the primary process for the Republican nomination, I am behind him now. Not because I feel he is the very person for the job, but because he is the best alternative we have for the job.

Some may see this as settling but I see it as necessity. A necessity created by the very diverging directions that Obama and McCain offer. Obama’s direction is a far left turn to the economic and foreign affair policies of Jimmy Carter. Not good.

McCain’s direction is a more middle of the road approach. It is an acceptable approach based upon experience and supported by his proven record. Not great, but better than Obama-ology.

I became a bit more enthusiastic with the McCain candidacy after demonstrating what I saw as strong, bold, judgment when he selected Alaska Governor and political reformer Sarah Palin as his running mate.

In this debate I was hoping for McCain to be able to vividly clarify the lines of distinction between him and Obama. I was hoping that he would be able to show that the two have starkly different approaches and that McCain has the experience to advance his offered direction in a more capable and competent way than Obama.

Instead I saw that the two men disagree on certain approaches. That is not news. The nation is quite polarized in their opinions and it will take a lot to change those opinions. So from that perspective this debate accomplished nothing. The same opinions held before the debate, remain that way after the debate.

Generally speaking, McCain did take a few more rounds than Obama. He was able to point out the disparity between Obama’s rhetoric and his voting record. He made it clear that Obama’s approach to winning in Afghanistan hinged on losing in Iraq.

McCain was able to point to experience and accomplishments as a source of support for his leadership, Barack could not.

McCain was able to point out the naiveté and inexperience of Barack Obama on seven separate occasions while on 8 different occasions Barack Obama agreed with the elder statesman, McCain.

So on a point by point technical assessment of the debate, maybe McCain won, but based on the overall results of this match up, it was a draw. Neither candidate was able to make either side of the electorate see the issues in a new light and from a different perspective. Neither candidate changed minds. If you agreed with our mission in Iraq this morning you still agree with it tonight. If you felt that it is wrong to try and grow our economy by over taxing businesses yesterday, you still feel that way today.

I can best sum this debate up with one example which played out during the course of the debate.

John McCain showed a bracelet bearing the name of a serviceman killed in Iraq. He explained that he was given that bracelet by the soldiers mother who asked McCain to wear the bracelet, honor her son and not allow him to have died in vain. It was a demonstration of conviction to finish the job that we started in Iraq.

In response, Barack Obama showed a braclette of a slain Iraqi serviceman given to him by that warrior’s mother. She gave it to Obama to wear in memory of her son and in the hope that he will insure that other mothers will not have to endure the pain that she has suffered.

So there we have it. Two men, two bracelet’s and two differing opinions. Neither one convincingly moved one position over the line more than the other. As a result, Americans have two very symbolic bracelet’s representing two very opposing visions but neither of the men selling those bracelets were able to make one more appealing than the other.

JOE WHO? JOE SCHMO?… JOE BLOW?…..OH JOE BIDEN!

Well ladies and gentlemen , the best of Biden keep rolling on. Ever since Barack Obama forged ahead with his campaign of change by picking Joe Biden as his running mate, I knew there would be plenty of laughs ahead of us.
In Obama’s first major indication of presidential judgment reached into the beltway and tapped a member of the old boy’s network and 36 year veteran of the liberal political establishment, he proved that change was merely a slogan. Change was not reflected in his selection of old Joe. Change is not reinforced by embracing a 6 term senator who has but one significant legislative accomplishment to his name and has never stood up in opposition to his party or his party leaders. Obama’s selection of Biden for Vice President was a very telling indication of his version of change. It’s a version of change that is represented by name only.
But aside from this important revelation into Barack’s lack of judgment, I was pleased with Biden’s role on the Democrat ticket. I know of Joe Biden very well and I am familiar with his foot in mouth disorder. I knew that his involvement in this years election would provide lots of humorous entertainment.

What I didn’t know was how early he would start providing us with his entertainment value। It actually began within the first moments of his becoming the Vice Presidential nominee. After Obama announced his selection of Biden, Joe came bouncing out of the old state house in Illinois to address the people for the first time as a part of the ticket. He made a typical stump speech that was stepped in working class rhetoric and aimed at appealing to working class Americans. Whether it did or not remains to be seen but as Joe ended his speech he threw the stage back to the presidential nominee with an increasing crescendo that said …”our next President, Barack America”.

Well we all know that Barack Obama has a messianic complex but what we didn’t know was that it was contagious and that his running mate would catch it.

From then on Babblin’ Biden has been recording hit after hit. At a campaign rally in the battleground state of Missouri Joe demonstrated his talent for talking about what he knows not about. In his rush to sound familiar and knowledgeable of all things, Joe began to thank people for all their hard work. Not that Joe really knew who they were or what they did, but in typical talk before you think mode, Biden thanked Missouri State Senator Chuck Graham. For what, we don’t, know but there was Joe blowing his words and asking Senator Graham to stand up. He called out “stand up, Chuck, stand up”. When the six term United States senator looked away from his script and for the person he was asking to stand up, he realized he was looking at a man in a wheelchair. Much to Biden’s dismay, the wheelchair bound man in the audience was State Senator Chuck Graham.

As you can see in the video below, slow minded but quick tongued Biden said “Oh, My God, stand up for Chuck everyone”.

Biden’s best don’t stop there. At another rally Joe went off script again and he apparently forgot that the purpose of a campaign is to instill in others the faith that you are the best for the job. While trying to shore up those jilted and spurned Hillary voters for Obama, Senator Biden tried to offer some complimentary words about Senator Clinton. In doing so he stated “she’s probably better qualified for the job than me”. Ok Joe, that’s good to know, especially if you’re Sarah Palin and entering into a debate with him.



Recently Biden betrayed his own self when asked by Katie Couric what he thought about an Obama advertisement that attacked McCain for not using the internet. It was a commercial that neglected to mention that the broken bones that were incorrectly set when McCain was a P.O.W. in the Hanoi Hilton, left him without the dexterity to properly use a computer’s keyboard. In usual fashion good ol’ Joe tried to seize the moment and said that it was a terrible ad and had known about it, he never would have approved it. Aww, thanks for the compassion Joe. Too bad it wasn’t real though. Later that same day after seeing that ad for the first time, Joe remarked, “that wasn’t so bad”.

As usual, Joe responded with out knowledge. He answered a question about an advertisement that he never saw and he answered it by throwing his running mate, the nominee for President under the bus. Then he finally sees what he actually answered to and contradicts himself. What part of the ad, once Biden finally saw it, was not bad. Was it the part that tried to make McCain seem old and feeble or was it the part that poked fun of his war injuries?

The most recent placing of Joe’s foot in his mouth came in Maumee, Ohio when an activist asked why we needed coal when there were clean, effective alternatives like wind and solar, Joe said “we’re not supporting clean coal.” This came a few days after addressing supporters at a rally in Crestwod, Virginia, where Biden said “We have enough coal to meet our needs domestically for the better part of the next 100 200 years,” “That can free us from being dependent on foreign oil countries and at the same time not ruin the environment.”



I guess Joe and Barack support the use of coal only after they don’t support it or maybe they oppose it in Ohio and support it in Virginal।
Either way, it’s nice to know that I can rely on Joe. I always count on him bringing a side splitting laugh to the seriousness of politics. In fact Biden’s penchant for superfluous talking before thinking is looked forward to greatly. With the darkness of winter approaching and the seriousness of the circumstances that our world must deal with, humor is a welcome characteristic. I just don’t know if humorous stupidity is welcome within a heart beat of the presidency.

Perhaps Senator Biden will consider breaking out in a new career? I mean the entertainment world is witnessing comedian Al Franken’s foray into the political world as he runs for the United States Senate in Minnesota। Maybe Franken’s temporary absence from the comedic stage can be filled in by Senator Biden. Saturday Night Live could use a new Steve Martin.

A senior Senator called a Washington, DC, airport ticket agent and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, the agent reminded him that he needed a visa. "Oh, no I don't. I've been to China many times and never had to have one of those." the ticket agent double checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa. When she told him this he said, "Look, I've been to China four times and every time they have accepted my American Express!"

POSTPONE THE DEBATE! PUT COUNTRY BEFORE POLITICS

Days ago I wondered why aren’t the two men who are sitting, United States Senators, and running to assume the presidency of the United States, actively involved in the proposed, largest in history, government bailout and economic initiative that we are about implement? It would only seem logical that their potential leadership as presidents be applied in this process.

This past Wednesday, John McCain took to thinking the same way. He announced that he would suspend all of his normal campaign activities, including a scheduled debate on foreign affairs, in order to actively participate in shaping the rushed legislation to correct the economic woes that exist within several sectors of the financial market . He called upon Barack Obama to do the same.

Contrary to the opinion of critics and liberals, this was a move that called for a cessation in the political pugilism of a campaign and replace it with action. The economic policy initiative being worked on here is a an expensive proposal that requires due diligence and attention. By suspending the political exploitation of the issue to participate in the process and allow for proper attention to it, John McCain has once again put country first and shown us that he is serving a cause greater than self.

John McCain has been in the lead on this issue since 2005 when he put forward Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. It was a measure that would have prevented the lack of proper regulation and recording practices that allowed the current crisis to get to this point. Democrats, including the current chairmen of the house and senate committees responsible for such legislation, blocked it.

Liberals Chris Dodd and Barney Franks are the Chairmen of the committees which oversaw the very aspects of the process which led to the crisis we are now in. Suddenly they are working together, holding hearings and trying to hammer out a solution to a problem that has now exploded. Where have they been prior to this? For them to suggest that John McCain is not needed to solve this crisis and that he need not to suspend his campaign to address the issue properly is preposterous. He is a sitting Senator, as is Obama. Since 2005, McCain has tried to avoid the problem we are now facing and led the way to prevent it. For the last two years, his first years in the senate, Barack Obama has campaigned for President. I would suggest that of the two, John McCain is the more rational voice on the issue. His actions to postpone that which would distract from the dire attention needed for this bailout package are not only right, they are prudent.

Detractors claim that this a political ploy. They suggest that a President must be able to handle more than one issue at a time. That is true, however, a President must also be able to demonstrate that he can properly prioritize issues and actions. A president needs the instincts and judgment that allows fellow Americans to understand the urgency of a situation. When 9/11 struck, we accepted it’s obvious importance as the most immediate concern to our nation and we accepted the postponement of other priorities in order to focus on the main concern. The failing of certain sectors of the financial market does not compare to the tragedy and horror of 9/11 but it does represent the necessity for the same type of urgency for action and attention.

I am concerned with the rush of pork barrel spending, legislators to craft a 700 billion dollar legislative initiative. I understand the need for the relatively quick development of the initiative but quick is not what the government is good at. They botch up things that they work on for years, yet we are suppose to be confident in something that they throw together in days.

That being said, since there is the need for congress to quickly come up with a package that corrects certain wrongs before they start infecting other areas of our economy, I want them to spend the few days in question working on it, focused on it and not distracted from it. I want McCain’s input and leadership on this issue. I want attention to detail that opposes any last minute, unaffiliated, pork barrel measures added on to this bill. I do not want to see the crisis used as a political game with bumper sticker slogans being used to solve the problem.

If this budget bailout package is not worked out in time for Friday’s debate, than be it. The work to create a truly proper and effective bailout package will still need to be done and I would not mind the two candidates applying themselves to it. One of the two will inherit an administration that will have to deal with the results of this legislation and I prefer them to work on it. I do not want them to be debating foreign affairs while our nation deals with the most drastic measures in the history of economic affairs.


You can call McCain’s suspension of regular campaign activity a ploy but I call it a judgment call that demonstrates his sincere sense of responsibility and desire to put country first. Barack Osama’s “call me if you need me” attitude democrats the judgment of his “above my pay grade attitude. Both men are elected representatives in the United states Senate and both men have responsibilities to that position. Barack Obama is taking that responsibility lightly and putting his campaign for president first.

Rules Of Washington

If it's worth fighting for, it's worth fighting dirty for.

Don't lie, cheat or steal...unnecessarily.

There is always one more son of a bitch than you counted on.

An honest answer can get you into a lot of trouble.

The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.

Chicken little only has to be right once.

"NO" is only an interim response.

You can't kill a bad idea.

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried.

The truth is a variable.

A porcupine with his quills down in just another fat rodent.

You can agree with any concept or notional future option, in principle, but fight implementation every step of the way.

A promise is not a guarantee.

If you can't counter the argument, leave the meeting

McCAIN TO OBAMA....LESS TALK MORE ACTION

In the face of a historic federal bailout that is intended to save a crucial sector of the financial markets, Senator John McCain has suspended his campaign for President. In doing so the Senator has taken politics out of problem solving, at least for the moment.

Some may call it a political ploy. I see it as an example of one of the driving forces behind his campaign and his service to our country. John McCain has repeatedly stated that we must serve a cause greater than ourselves and throughout his life he has done so. The temporary suspension of his campaign, in deference to one of the most drastic economic decisions in our nation’s history, is done in, fact, to again serve a greater cause .

The collapse of Wall Street financial institutions that over extended their risks has raised the need for the federal government to step in in order to prevent an ripple effect that could deepen the crisis. John McCain warned of this crisis over two years ago. As a sponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, McCain saw the needs to reign in unbridled overextension of risk. This bill would have headed off what is now being called a crisis. However this bill was blocked by Democrats as well as some of the Republican, good old boys, that Sarah Palin and John McCain have been known to take on before.

A check of the congressional record shows McCain giving a speech about apparent accounting fraud at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not only that, McCain said he was "concerned" about the magnitude of the role played by these government sponsored entities in the mortgage market, when they were obviously not being regulated in a responsible manner.

Now some may argue that deregulation led to this crisis. They may claim that the ideological penchant for less regulations credited to conservative Republicans are responsible for it. You may claim that but such a claim cannot be made about John McCain who warned us of this situation and provided a bill that would have prevented it. A bill that Democrats blocked.

I contend that proper regulation was not applied to these troublesome institutions. However, overregulation would also produce negative effects. The right type of regulation in the form of moderation was required and that is what John McCain offered. I will also add that the accounting fraud McCain mentioned in the congressional record was conducted in large part by Democrats, some of the very Democrats who led groups like FannieMae and are now economic advisors to Barack Obama. People like Franklin Raines who had to go before a House subcommittee to address allegations that he and his finance team had cooked the mortgage giant's books, when Raines was the C.E.O. of the now failed FannieMae in 2004.

It should also be noted that Under the Clinton administration mandates were created that forced FannieMae and FreddieMac to extend a set percentage of high risks loans to low income and minority applicants. This was a government fiat that obliged these institutions to enter even more higher risk loan extensions.

So one side can blame the other. Republicans can be blamed for too little regulation and Democrats can be blamed for attempts to create too much regulation and shady record keeping. But whichever side you want to blame you cannot blame Senator John McCain.

Despite the record that shows McCain was right, politics prevented his solutions from being applied to avoiding the crisis we are now in. Now, faced with hammering out a solution to the problem we did not avoid, John McCain has made a bold move to suspend politics and politics as usual. John McCain has stepped up to bat and he has declared his intentions to put country first.

Senator McCain has said that he would rather lose an election and win a war than win an election and lose a war. These words are now echoed by deed. They are echoed in his actions to put a cease to talking about action and actually taking action.
Whatever your opinion, John McCain has just upped the ante. The suspension of his campaign and call for his opponent to head back to Washington, D.C. with him allows McCain to get hold of this crisis and take control of it. He has just forced Barack Obama to either show up or shut up. Either continue with your campaign of words or demonstrate leadership through your actions.

Both presidential candidates are incumbent senators. They can talk about what they will do as a president but what are they doing within their current capacities? John McCain has just shown us that he will live up to those responsibilities. Once again John McCain answers a call to duty.

WHY THE LIBERAL ESTABLISHMENT IS FIXATED ON SARAH PALIN

There are quite a few critics of Sarah Palin out there. They don’t outnumber her supporters but they are louder than those who stand by her. Her supporters are not among the Hollywood elite or the newsroom water coolers. They are not the ones at the Emmy’s accepting trophies for their mindless portrayal of some lovelorn, sex and drug addicted, mistress on a never ending daytime soap opera. They’re not the ones sitting on sofas and describing their view of things while they wave their diamond, bedazzled fingers in the air during animated conversations from the insides of a studio.

No, supporters of Sarah Palin are the people who are hard at work during the day establishing their views based upon the real lives that they live. They are the people who appreciate the changing courses in Sarah Palin’s life which brought her to the vice presidential nomination.

Her critics like to make of fun her religious values and belittle her mayoral experience. When making fun of those characteristics doesn't get them far, they attribute fictitious actions to her in the name of her faith or in the line of her duty. Yet, admirers of Palin appreciate the changing paths that brought her leadership to them. They appreciate the fact that by drawing from her personal, religious faith, she has functioned with sincerity, bravery , confidence and conviction. And she has done so without enforcing that personal faith on others and intruding on their own beliefs.

For all those who denounce Sarah Palin and her selection for the vice presidential nomination, I suggest that they take forty minutes out of their lives and get a grip on their loose cannon critiques of her. Pick up a copy of....

SARAH: How A Hockey Mom Turned
Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down
by Kaylene Johnson, Epic Press

Long before Sarah Palin was nominated for Vice President, Alaskan author Kaylene Johnson penned this quick read because she felt the story around this new Governor of Alaska was remarkable. Obviously she was right. The 140 or so pages of this paperback, details Palin’s path from small town girl to big time leader.

In it you get a sense of her unintentional role as David going after Goliath and you come to realize that Sarah Palin is not your typical politician। You will understand that she never set out to conquer the world. She simply set out to do her part in the world and fell into circumstances that forced her right the wrongs she found and to stop those who tried to use the system to short change the people around them. As each page in this book turns you develop a sense of how Sarah Palin was never driven to put her name on any ballot to fulfill some aching desire for greatness or the admiration of millions. Unlike many vain politicians who seek the praise of others and set out to achieve personal greatness, Sarah truly set out to do what she felt needed to be done and in doing so, greatness found her.

It is a simple story but it is also a powerful one। One that will allow people to understand why John McCain selected this woman who was relatively unknown to the lower 48, but is a hero to fellow Alaskans. Readers will come to realize that Sarah Palin was not picked for looks or her gender or to try to win over jilted Hillary supporters. She was picked because she is a doer and because she is as far removed from the dysfunctional mentality and workings of Washington as her state is. She was picked because her direction and leadership offers what all Americans, regardless of their gender, needs…....honesty, integrity and sincerity of purpose. You will see that in choosing Sarah Palin, John McCain took on a partner who is the antithesis of all that is wrong in politics. Someone who cares not about the comfort of the political class but the needs of the working class.

If you think you hate Sarah Palin or if you thought you liked her, read this book.

After reading it, Palin critics will have to reassess their opinions and mindless attacks। Fans of Palin will be wanting to run her for President instead of John McCain and they will better understand why the left is infatuated with here and fixated on tearing her down.

George W. Bush, in an airport lobby, noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm.
George W. approached the man and inquired, "Aren't you Moses?"
The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling.
George W. positioned himself more directly in the man's view and asked again, "Hey there! Aren't you Moses?"
The man continued to peruse the ceiling.
George W. tugged at the man's sleeve and asked once again, "HEY THERE! Aren't you Moses???"
The man finally responded in an irritated voice, "Yes, I am."
George W., a bit peeved at this point then asked, "Why the cold shoulder?"
To which Moses replied, "The last time a bush spoke to me I ended up spending forty years in the wilderness."

New Jersey: DESPERATELY SEEKING LEADERSHIP

As 2008 begins to end, our nation looks ahead to the election of a new President and New Jersey begins to wonder about 2009 and our own election for Governor. In doing so, we could all place an ad out that would ask for what the wanted advertisement displayed here seeks.

While the country debates over the stability of our national economy, New Jersey is still wondering when we will be able to get a handle on our own economy. While Americans cope with a lack of buying power due to the ripple effects of rising energy costs, New Jerseyans wonder how they can deal with that on top of the affordability crisis in our state.

As the current governance of New Jersey consists of rising rates on existing taxes and the implementation of new taxes, the citizens of New Jersey wonder how much more can we pay? As the cost of gas ranges back and forth between unaffordable and impossible the state is looking for opportunities to raise the price that it costs to drive on the roads that we use that gas for. As taxes rise in the state on both consumers and producers costs rise and less is purchased. The less purchased causes less to be produced which leads to more lay offs and more business closings. This is reflected in the states dismal economic growth and it’s lower than average rate of small businesses and the creation of them. Under the current corporate and small business tax structure in New Jersey, starting a business here offers more penalty than profit.

Today we find ourselves desperately seeking leadership and a leader who can inspire us and offer our state a direction that leads to prosperity and a comfortable existence. We seek someone who understands us and our hopes and needs.

For the past 7 years our state leaders have offered us a dog and pony show that has been painful to watch and expensive to deal with.

Before announcing that he “was a gay American” to cover up his scandals, Governor Jim McGreevy exercised statecraft by appointing people to important positions based upon the sexual positions that they enjoyed and their oral talents.

He was followed by a leading financial expert who took part in the risk taking that led to historic federal bailouts. With Governor Jon Corzine, New Jersey was afforded that financial expertise of a state budget that is fueled by tax increases and held hostage to unions and their leaders who he has literally been in bed with.

Carla Katz, the Governor’s former lover and ejected former leader of the state’s largest union , slept with the man that is making the bed that we have to lie in. He even made these union deals in secret and refused proper examination of the evidence that proves the secrecy of their deals. As a result, we are left with meeting the demands of unions gone wild and paying for pensions plans that are more exorbitant than the golden parachutes of failed Wall Street execs.

On top of all this we are constantly witnessing the derailment of public trust as well as the careers of a large chunk of New Jersey’s political class. Each week, and at the beginning of the past summer, each day, we have endured the indictments and convictions of hundreds of lawmakers from the municipal levels to the county and state levels. This is all a product of New Jersey’s proliferation of governments. As the 46th largest state in the nation our size does not limit the opportunity for political corruption. In fact the expansion of state government coupled with the over 650 local governments, makes government the largest employer in the state. It also provides for the inordinate amount of patronage positions, lucrative sweetheart contracts , special favors, graft and opportunity for corruption that the overabundance of government entities brings to the table.

All of this leads to not just an affordability crisis but also a crisis in confidence. A lack of confidence in those who are entrusted with our states effect on our lives. These circumstances have led state government to be more of a problem in our lives than a source of comfort and stability in them.

As a Republican I cannot say that my state GOP has been much of a help. Since Governor Christine Todd Whitman, New Jersey Republicans have lost their agenda, their voice and yheir numbers in the legislative ranks.

The last individual that the party ran for Governor, was not even man enough to take blame for his own lack of influence and ability in the state. In the face of a gubernatorial race that he was out spent, out maneuvered and outdone in, he blamed President George Bush.

In trying to replace Corzine’s handpicked replacement in the United States Senate, the party settled for the unaccomplished son of a very accomplished, former Republican Governor. His candidacy was so off track, uninspiring and unattractive that the embarrassment of his Republican representation forced me to write in the name of a different New Jersey Republican.

The lack of a cohesive agenda and message has made New Jersey Republicans inconsequential. There minority status in the state assembly and senate have left them out in the cold and sitting at the kiddies table when it comes to hammering out state budgets or initiatives.

What we need in New Jersey is a true leader. Someone who can convey the fact that they understand the people they wish to lead. We need someone who is willing to bring a Main Street attitude to Trenton, not the Wall Street mentality that we currently have. We need a leader who can approach government with a vision that inspires state residents and offers innovative directions and policies to expand opportunity for economic growth. Someone who is reform minded , not stuck in a mode of reviving failed policies of our past.

Governor Corzine may or may not be running for reelection in 2009. The way I see it, if his choice for President, Barack Obama , wins, Jon might be jumping ship and accepting a presidential appointment such as Treasury Secretary. After having done all that he has to the state treasury, I can only pray for divine intervention if he gets control of the national treasury. But the nation’s loss might be New Jersey’s gain. It may open up a window of opportunity for Republicans to climb through. With the right candidate who has the right vision and agenda, we might just be able to send the right person to Trenton.

Although I am a conservative, one person I would like to see go for it is John Murphy. The same John Murphy that I wrote in for U.S. Senate against Senator Menendez when Tom Kean, Jr. was the Republican nominee.

Murphy, a Morris County Freeholder, is fresh, bright, fiscally and personally responsible. He may not have the conservative agenda of former gubernatorial candidate and Bogota, NJ Mayor Steve Lonegan but he has something that Lonegan doesn’t….appeal. He also has the freshness that New Jersey’s political atmosphere needs. When Murphy sought the Republican nomination for Governor in 2005, he outlined a very promising vision and a credible, optimistic plan to restore faith in government and solvency in our state budget and the pockets of the people.

It would seem that Murphy may not go for it this time. Instead he may seek the assembly seat being vacated by fellow Morris County resident Rick Merkt and Rick Merkt might be making a run for Governor instead.

Having reviewed the record of Merkt, I can say that his conservative credentials are worthy of considering but I have little more opinion of him. His tenure in the New Jersey assembly has been commendable but he has not been known for injecting innovation and real leadership.

Then there is the 800 lb. gorilla on the scene, U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

In a recent Quinnipiac poll Christie polled 40 percent to Jon Corzine’s 41 percent. That is impressive and if I knew anything about his positions on the issues, I would say that it is encouraging. However, like most New Jersey residents, I know nothing about Christie that goes beyond his exemplary and aggressive pursuit of crime busting. As the chief federal prosecutor in the region, Christie has been quite adept at rooting out corruption especially in the case of New Jersey political corruption. There he has been quite busy.

Democrats are already afraid of his potential entry into the race. They are already trying to discredit him and calling for him to resign as U.S. Attorney. By law a candidate for public office cannot maintain the position. If he does decide to run he will resign from the justice department but until then his political critics will just have to hope that they are not caught with their hands in the cookie jar because if they are, Chris Christie will add them to his long list of political prosecutions.

If he does run, his campaign will provide me with the information I need to determine if he is the man we are looking for. If he is able to provide a voice for the opposition to the liberal agenda controlling New Jersey. If he can offer a positive alternative path to prosperity and if his agenda is the Main Street agenda that New Jersey needs then I will be at his side, scratching for every vote that we need to steer the state in a better direction.

As a former New Yorker from Brooklyn, I worked on the campaign of another shining prospect that was a prosecutor. His name was Rudy Giuliani and although he was not a conservative, he revived New York City. He brought it out of it's downward spiral and brought it back to new heights.

In the mean time, I wait. I wait for someone to answer our ad and save us from the oppression of a liberal government that takes much but does little. I wait for my own party to live up to it’s responsibilities and offer the people of New Jersey a viable alternative to a state controlled by liberals and lacking hope.

McCAIN/PALIN vs. OBAMA/BIDEN AND THE POTENTIAL ELECTION NIGHTMARE

Given the closeness of this election anything can change the course of events । With weeks left to go, the slightest happening can swing this election in either direction. It could be any one of the debates, or a candidate's poorly chosen, off the cuff remark. It might be a deepening of economic concerns or an international event that rearranges the importance of topics. Barring any unexpected, dramatic, landscape altering events, I see this election being won by John McCain.

I have come to this conclusion based upon polling data and state trends, along with party affiliations, population shifts, the persuading factors among the electorate,an incremental leaning in direction of independent voters, my personal, political intuition and the cords that each campaign is striking in their messages. After factoring all this in, I believe that John McCain will win with a total of 274 electoral votes to Barack Obama's 264 electoral votes.

This 30 state victory is still too close for comfort and it relies heavily on winning the battleground states of Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada. Of these 5 states I believe Missouri, Nevada and Colorado will be the most pivotal. None the less, if they go as I think they will, Senator McCain will be our next President.

However; in this scenario I think victory will come with great public protestation.You see in this projection, I do believe that there exists a strong chance for McCain to win the electoral college but lose the popular vote.

The unprecedented enthusiasm of Barack Obama's supporters is undeniable. To those, more liberal oriented voters, the newness of Obama is appealing and his presence on the political stage is fresh. Among these groups there is also deep resentment to all things and people that are Republican. Together these are powerful motivational forces behind their mobiliztion to vote. This all makes for an unusually energized base among Democrat voters. Add to this the fact that Barack Obama is the first African-American nominee of either political party and you have the opportunity for a higher than normal turnout of conventional Democrat voters. African-Americans traditionally vote the Democrat ticket and in the case of Barack Obama you can expect that most will do so in this election. In fact many black voters who previously felt disaffected and have not voted in past elections, will probably not let their ballot go to waste in this election.

This all indicates that Democrat strongholds like New York and other highly urbanized and traditionally liberal states will not only go blue for Obama but they will pump out unusually high and disproportionate pluralities for the Democrats. In doing so this may result in Barack Obama actually getting more popular votes than John McCain. The only problem is that these high pockets of concentrated Obama votes will not change the electoral college map. For example, if New York state produces a popular vote of 6 million for Obama and only 3 and half million for McCain, Obama will get New York's 31 electoral votes, as expected, but it wont change the result in a state like Texas which has 34 electoral votes and is solidly behind McCain. In Texas however, the vote may not be as lopsided in McCain's favor as it is for Barack Obama in New York. More accurately the Texas results may be more like five million for McCain to four and a half million for Obama.

I expect uneven results with larger popular votes for Obama in most all the states that he wins. McCain will win states with far smaller margins than Obama The only exception will be Utah, the most heavily Republican state in the union. In Utah, McCain will be the beneficiary of a very large differential between the two candidates. But, when all the ballots are counted, Obama will have accumulated more votes nationwide.Even so, he will not have more electoral votes.It is the scenario that I believe is most likely. In it, Missouri, Colorado and Nevada are most pivotal.I am confident that McCain will win the battleground states of Virginia, Ohio and Florida. Other close races exist in Michigan and Pennsylvania but the unusually high turnout of liberal, urban, votes there will ultimately allow Obama to prevail in them.

New Hampshire is a question mark. Currently it is a relatively tight contest between McCain and Obama in the "Granite State". With it's state motto of "Live Free or Die" New Hampshire is usually the only reliably red state in a northeastern sea of blue, but an influx of population from neighboring urban centers like Boston, combined with their recent leftward shift and a race for United States Senate that poises to elect popular, former New Hampshire, Democrat, Governor Jeanne Shaheen, will all account for McCain losing this once red state.

With the outcome of most other states not in doubt, Missouri, Nevada, and Colorado are the only remaining states for McCain to realistically be able to reach and exceed the 270 electoral votes needed to win the Presidency. I may be going out on limb here but I believe that McCain will win them over. Colorado and Missouri may be especially close but the environment should allow the McCain/Palin ticket to pull it off.

Iowa, a neighbor of Obama's home state of Illinios, is also going to be competetive but ultimately I see Obama's regional advantage winning the day.

This hypothesis is becoming increasingly likely and although, as a Republican, I will be pleased with having elected John McCain President and Sarah Palin Vice President, I and many other Americans will not be pleased by the reaction to the nation's first potential African-American President losing the presidency after winning the popular vote.Similiar events happened before.

In distant as well as recent history, the loser of the popular vote has still won the presidency with the electoral college but it is rare and it has never happened under circumstances like this.I will not venture into how the electorate will react if this happens now. I will let you ponder over the reaction.

But I will offer you another very possible result. One that also has a clear winner of the popular vote but does not allow for a winner to be declared until early January of the New

Year.If Nevada goes to Barack Obama rather than John McCain, as I anticipate in the previous scenario, than we have a tie in the electoral college.

269 for Obama/Biden and 269 for McCain/Palin.In this event, the newly elected congress will decide the election.Each of the 50 states cast one vote for President and a majority of 26 states determines the winner. Which candidate they vote for is determined by a majority vote of their newly elected congressional representatives.

Currently, Democrats comprise the majority of congressional representatives in 27 states while Republicans control 21 state delegations and two states are tied with their delegations split equally.If this number does not change in the November election, than it is more than likely that Obama would win the votes of the 27 states possesing congressional delegations dominated by Democrats.

In this election cycle Republicans are not likely to win back enough congressional seats to overtake Democratic majorities in any of the 27 states in question. In fact, due to the current environment, a higher than usual number of retiring Republican incumbents in addition to Obama's, anticipated high voter turnout, Republicans will probably be losing a few seats.This still does not assure Obama victory though.

There are conservative oriented Democrat representatives who might choose to vote for McCain. These are politcians and this is Washington, D.C. where many wheeler dealers thrive and can always be swayed by the offer of the right appointment to the right position or are willing to throw principles overboard for that "special favor". This possibility exists especially in several southern states where the difference between the majority of congressional representatives is quite slim.Still it is unlikely that there would be enough defectors to sway more than one or two democrat dominated states to vote Republican.

The close contest for President of the United States could hinge on the slightest nuance during these last few weeks but the way I see it McCain will win with 274 electoral votes but Obama will lose after winning a majority of the popular vote. It is my hope that most Americans choose McCain and that he wins the majority of both the electoral college and popular vote, but the very real potential for the former looms over us.

Below are maps that depict the best electoral vote totals that both candidates could potentialy receive if circumstances were at the absolute best for one candidate or the other in the current environment.

Both are highly unlikely:

TABLOID TERRORISTS AND THE OBAMA SUPPORTERS BEHIND THEM

I have struggled with whether or not I should give attention to a little listened to, low rated, struggling propaganda filled, left wing, smear mongering, radio station called Air America. I was torn. Do I give them attention or do I let them fade into the air on their own. I decided that keeping them a secret is not the right course to go. I determined that the best course of action is to shed light on their campaign of disinformation, distortion and despicable conduct. I felt that the secret of their existence should be exposed because it will help to establish the truth.

Air America is a small radio network that is propped up by liberal activists like Al Gore and George Soros. Their reason for being is to extol the virtues of liberalism and to promote the candidacies of any and all liberals. From comedian and Minnesota Democrat U.S. Senate nominee Al Franken, to liberal presidential nominee Barack Obama, Air America is vigilant in their pursuit to get them elected to office.

In doing so they rarely promote the candidates of their choice by putting forth their plans or policies. Instead they focus on Republicans . They go off the script of rational debate and enter into a National Enquirer mode and post and air headline grabbers smearing Republicans. Headlines like “Sarah Palin is Spiro Agnew in Drag” or “ Sarah Palin Wanted To Ban Books From The Library”

Air America ignores any sense of decency or truth and runs with made up scandals and word of rumors that are outrageous and despicable.

Recently they went with a fairytale claiming that Track Palin, the son of vice presidential nominee and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is a racist.

According to Air America “Sarah's son Track is a serious Nazi sympathizer but he joined the white power movement rather recently. His story is not yet told. He was overheard talking about Mexicans in a derogatory way to other members of his unit. They were engaged in a conversation about immigration and it turned racial. Someone mentioned that John McCain while at the US Naval Academy harassed on a daily basis the first Mexican American cadet in Naval academy history. This caused Track Palin to say that he didn't believe Mexicans should be allowed into our country and he did not understand that this Guy was an American of Mexican heritage“

Now how this can be passed on as news is beyond me. The story is devoid of any evidence and any reliable sources. It is only story on Air America. Not even the liberal icons of biased news on MSNBC have lowered themselves to this degree of trying to falsify truth and portray a smear like this as news or being newsworthy.

Yet Air America, in panic and desperation chooses to run with stories such as that one and more. At late they have been particularly dealing, on a relentless front, with Sarah Palin. Her popularity and the energy that her entry in this election has injected, petrifies liberals who thought that only their messiah, Barack “America” could attract praise and bring a fresh new face on the scene.

They believe that putting something in writing or allowing it to go out on the airwaves makes it believable or even true. Well in light of that thinking I am suggesting that those who do not believe in the Air America approach to debate, actually engage in that approach. Help the liberal, media, gossip mongers to understand what reckless abandonment brings to the table. Create for Air America, and their supporters, the same kind of atmosphere that they have created. Establish an environment in which they must defend against distortion and lies.

Do so by cutting the following excerpt and pasting it anywhere and everywhere that you can.

“There are claims that Democrat Barack Obama was spotted conducting extramarital, sexual activity with male Chicago gang lords in a back alley before he announced his race for President. Additional details indicate that Senator Obama later went home and bitch-slapped his wife Michelle before having a homosexual menage-a-tois with another Chicago gang lord and Obama financial backer, convicted Chicago slum lord, Tony Rezko. On top of that, in return for the sexual favor, Mr. Rezko made an unrecorded donation of $2,500 dollars to the Obama for President effort. All of which was conducted in front of Obama’s religious mentor Rev. Wright, who was there to fulfill a deviant sexual fetish by watching.”

Is any of this true, I don’t know? But by the standards that Air America uses to post and air their own disgusting lies and smears, it is worthy of reproduction. Now you may find that excerpt offensive and you may be angry at me for even suggesting it. Maybe even as angry as I am of the devoid of fact, liberal establishment that is the impetus behind such smut merchants as the Daily KOO’s or Air America in regards to someone simply because they are Republican.

I am willing to deal with distortions or even lies about a candidates record. I am willing to argue over the interpretation of a candidates statement or their policies but I am not willing to tolerate or accept fictional creations as a basis for determining who the next President of our nation should be.

Liberals and defenders of these tactics may claim that Air America is only countering the preponderance of conservative radio talk shows. The problem there is the fact that these talk shows do not fabricate headlines. They discuss them, granted they do so with the ideological slant that they come from, but it is about the truth, not fictional distortions.

I do not want to become a tabloid terrorist like Air America. I want to be able to stay on topic and make a difference in the real world. That can only be done by dealing with reality and true facts and that I will do. I believe that to solve our economic woes we need to know the real reasons that led to them. To fight terrorism we need to know the true facts involving terrorist and their activity. By liberals pumping out headlines like “Bush Lied, People Died”, no cause is advanced or problem is solved. Nothing is accomplished by running with lies that state Sarah Palin pretended to give birth to a child 5 months ago but it was actually her daughters child, . I don’t want to engage in a debate about fairy tales. Fairy tales end however the storyteller wants them to but truth is a result only reached by the telling of facts.

So I will continue to offer my opinions based upon truth and the facts but in the mean time I also offer you the opportunity to cut and paste in participation of the Air America tactics that liberals base their debate on.

THE VOTERS YOU CAN COUNT ON AND WHY OBAMA WILL LOSE

While the campaign for President rages on, people are taking sides for many different reasons. Some are choosing their candidate based on their perception that one candidate or the other agrees with them on issues that they are passionate about. Some voters are basing their decision on experience or trust in their candidates intentions. Others are voting simply based upon their party affiliation. There are even some reckless and bigoted individuals voting along ethnic or racial lines and others who are voting based on age.
A majority of people are basing their decision on more overall factors that look at the big picture and determine their vote factoring in issues, the candidates voting records and history along with their honesty and abilities.

Be it history, affiliation, color, one issue or many issues, the determining factors that account for the decision of each single voter varies.

From the managerial point of a campaign, the name of the game is getting more votes than the opposing campaign. In doing so a campaign manager must look at the demographic breakdown of the electorate and ascertain their likely supporters in those demographics. The reason being that in order to win, you must maximize persuasion and voter turnout among the demographics that are inclined to support your candidate.

There are many different aspects that factor in to demographics. First of all they must be registered voters. You can appeal to someone who has a strong opinion but if they are not registered to vote, their opinion does not matter. You have regional concerns and the mathematics of the electoral college. You have party affiliation and religious backgrounds as well as racial demographics and age. Of all these, and even more demographic breakdowns, age, happens to be one of the most crucial.

It is a fact that out of all specialized categories of voters, senior citizens are the segment who are most dedicated in an election. It is a group that exceeds all other cross tabs including race, gender or religion.

Senior citizens cherish their vote and they use it. There are many reasons for this fact. One deals with the fact that people of retirement age have entered into a less fast paced lifestyle and are not bogged down by long commutes to work and trying to meet deadlines in between addressing all the needs of their domestic lives. This gives them more time to focus on the issues and pay more attention to them. Other reasons deal with the fact that with their age also comes the revelation of the importance in their vote. They have come to learn that the leaders of our nation have more of a direct impact on us than other citizens think or understand. Unlike some younger voters who still feel invincible and detached from the effects of Washington, D.C., senior citizens realize the direct impact that Washington has on us.

Because of these points, senior citizens are the most important voting block in almost any election and most definitely in any national election. They comprise approximately 12.5 percent of the national population. More importantly, they comprise an even larger percentage of the voting population. 79 percent of this population registered to vote in the last election and even more have registered for this election. That is the largest percentage of voters out of all other demographic groups. Furthermore, of the 79 percent who can vote, more than 71percent actually cast a ballot, accounting for the highest voter turnout of any demographic.

All this points to one thing. When you combine the issues with the likely voters on Election Day, senior citizens are one of the most important groups that a campaign can appeal to. They listen and they vote.

In this election, Barack Obama has burst on to the scene and there is incredible enthusiasm for him. Especially among so-called young voters. It is often pointed out that the size of the crowds that turnout at Obama events are humungous. I will not disagree with that but I will suggest that it has little bearing on the election. Many of these young voters do not vote. Come Election Day, they often find themselves preoccupied with other happenings in their lives and the level of importance that some of them put on their right to vote often pales in comparison to some truly less important trend of the moment. The crowds that show up for Barack may be large, but how many of those people are registered to vote? How many of them who are registered will actually make the effort to vote?

Barack Obama’s appeal to the youth vote is admirable. We need all voting age citizens to vote and many do. But the fact remains that the most reliable voters are 65 and older. It is a point not ignored by John McCain and his campaign which has not simply geared his efforts to the “hipper”, younger part of the electorate as does Obama. McCain’s appeal is rooted in accomplishments and examples and he directs it to all Americans, including seniors.

That being the case Barack Obama is losing this election based upon not only his lack of accomplishments to point to or the incongruity of his policy positions but because the direction of his campaign is tactically wrong. He is relying on a segment of the electorate that has paid little attention to the real issues. A segment of the electorate that thinks it knows all that they need to know by getting their news from MTV. Admittedly, there are many young and first time voters who pay more attention and are not swayed by Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears or Matt Damon. That is why the youth vote is not monolithic in it’s support of democrats. Neither are golden agers. But the older, reliable, likely voters are more conservative in their thinking. They also are not as open to change as is the x-generation and VH1 or MTV crowd.

This does not bode well for a candidate who has taken his campaign to the streets of Germany and promotes change without having a record of bringing about any reform. Older citizens take pause and wonder if the type of change being offered is the type of transformation that Jimmy Carter brought to them when they were younger and lived through economic times far more difficult than we may have today. The retired voter is not impressed by commercials geared to the youth vote and claim that John McCain is out of touch because he doesn’t use e-mail. First of all John McCain doesn’t use email because the improper setting of broken bones during his Vietnam experience handicapped him and left him without the dexterity to properly use a keyboard. Secondly, many in the older generation don’t rely on e-mail, yet they are still in touch with the issues and the reality they live in.

According to many polls, experience is one of the most important qualities that people 55 and older look for in a candidate. Currently, polls have shown that this age group leans heavily to John McCain for that reason. They see in him someone that brings vast experience to the ticket and in his running mate they see someone who actually has experience in governing. All are qualities that they do not find in Obama. It is a point hammered home by Pennsylvania, which has the second largest senior population in the nation. In Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary for President, Clinton overwhelmingly defeated Obama in large part due to the senior population and their focus on experience.

It is also interesting to note that the three states with the highest population of seniors are also battleground states in the presidential election. Among them are Florida, which has the highest concentration of voters 65 and older.

These factors do not offer great optimism for an Obama victory. His ambiguous calls for change, his lack of experience and accomplishment along with his attempts to make McCain look out of touch and feeble do not necessarily appeal to one of the largest and most reliable group of voters in the nation.

The political professionals on the Obama team will realize all this in time. And when they do, they will pull out the DNC handbook and resort to their usual tactic of trying to scare senior citizens. They will try to scare them into believing that John McCain will steel away their social security benefits. It is a tactic that they have used in every election cycle since Reagan and it is a tactic that has failed them. In fact, it is a play on their fears that has often offended seniors and backfired on democrats. But rest assured, the democrats will panic and play that game again.

In the mean time Barack Obama should sit down and asses his campaign. He should look at the voters whom he is trying to appeal to and try to address them properly. Instead of mocking age, he should try to point out all that his age brings to the table . Instead of promoting change for change’s sake, he should develop and articulate an economic policy that would strengthen the economy and allow people to keep more of the money that they earn. Instead of appealing to Germans in Berlin he should appeal to Americans and outline his direction for keeping us safe. Instead of using text massages to make announcements such as who his running mate will be, Barack should address the people properly. Perhaps a good way to do that would be to accept John McCain’s call to joint town hall meetings with the people, where the two of them can address the people, together, in real life, not online and scripted.

In the end, the campaign that has been best at putting forth their vision to all the voters and has been able to best support that vision with real results, will win the day. However, it will not be won by continuing in the direction that the Obama campaign is going. It will not be won by trying to appeal to the youngest and most unreliable voters and offending the oldest and most reliable voters.

BE REAL ABOUT THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

As the race for President heats up, issues are sometimes being discussed. At late, the topic of discussion seems to be the economy. As the economy has hit a bump due to the bursting of the bubble in the housing market, several financial institutions have gone or are on the verge of going bankrupt. As result the government is stepping in, in an attempt to head off the ripple effect that these collapses may cause.

It should be noted that the house flipping craze which caused many wide eyed risk takers to enter into over the past 5 years, have found out that they bit off more than could chew. The mortgages taken out on houses that they never intended to live in have come due and they could no longer afford the gambles that they made. The problem is that the housing market turned and after these house flippers invested tons of money into these homes in order to increase there values and sell them for a whopping profit, they find themselves without enough money to pay the mortgages that they used to buy the property in the first place.

Were it not for these risk takers willingness to overextend themselves the lending markets would not have overextended themselves. But because they have the chickens are coming home to roost and as result many innocent people who did not make such gambles are at risk. The lack of return to lenders from bankrupt gamblers have forced lenders to tighten up and the market has shrunk.

Now I do not presume to have the answers, I am not Alan Greenspan and I offer to you that Alan Greenspan did not have the answers either but I will say this, the American people did not enter into the risks that the house flipping, get rich quick, entrepreneurs did and although we are all suffering because of them, we should not be forced to bail them out.

If Joe Blow goes to the Kentucky Derby and places life savings on BushWonFloriduh to win and subsequently loses because Clinton-Lied came in first, should the federal reserve be forced to come in and subsidize Joe Blow?

Now of course the intricacies of the economy go beyond that analogy and there is a need for the government to step in and enact necessary measures that prevent the nation from entering into an economic unraveling due to a collapse that could lead to higher unemployment and a further shrinking of the economy and they are doing so. But this leads us back to this campaign for President.

Barack “America” and John McCain are now tussling over the economy. Obama blames Republicans, the current administration and John McCain for the closing of Lehman Bros., the takeover of FannieMae and Mac and the pending circumstances surrounding A.I.G… He wants more regulation. Given the circumstances I can say that I agree. And so does John McCain who unlike Barack Obama, called for regulations that would leave the national economy at less risk than it has been. The difference is the extent to which that the regulation goes.

I believe Obama’s liberal drive for control will lead to overregulation, which without his realizing or understanding, would lead to an eventual shrinking of the economy, just as it has done in the past when liberal overregulation killed certain market sectors and destroyed economic growth.

On top of this Barack Obama leads his charge by going on a political rant that accuses John McCain of being out of touch. He makes this accusation based on the fact that McCain believes our economy is sound.

Well I have news for Barack, McCain is right. Despite the collapse of a financial institution that overextended itself and a sector of the housing market that saw it’s over inflated market bubble burst , in September, the economy posted a strong gain of 3.3 percent at an annual rate in the second quarter. This was led by growth in consumer spending, exports, and the recent stimulus package. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the level of growth demonstrated the “resilience of the economy in the face of high energy prices, a weak housing market, and difficulties in the financial markets“.

On top of that, orders for durable goods have been rising in recent months and productivity growth over the past four quarters has been strong at 3.4 percent – above the averages for each of the past three decades over the course of the Administration.

What this amounts to is the fact that despite recent troubles in certain sectors, the American economy is sound. Sound enough to not fall apart due to crisis in anyone sector.

Unlike the house flippers who helped to bring on the problems that we are seeing unfold, the American economy and it’s people do not put all our eggs in one basket.

According to James Sherk, an analyst and expert in labor economics, macroeconomics, fiscal policy, and economic growth, politicians like Obama, in the case of the economy, “should not get away with spinning gold into straw to score political points. While the economy is not doing as well as it did at the height of the tech bubble, it is still growing strongly”.

In other words the economy is “sound” and over exaggerated claims that the sky is falling should not be made by a politician who has yet to demonstrate that he has the judgment to do what is right.

John McCain warned of the need to regulate against the type of activity that led to the headlines we are reading today, Barack Obama did not. Yet Obama comes before us to say that he can solve the problem and he does so by overreaching and offering the type of regulation that would take the word “free” out of “free markets”. What John McCain has offered are measures that would prevent the type of overextension that is causing the federal government to now step in and share in the burden of.

What John McCain is doing is telling the truth. He is not trying to create a national downturn in the economy so that he can come off as the messianic savior that Barack “America” makes himself out to be. John McCain is not trying to make things seem worse so that he can get elected. He is telling the truth when he says “the American economy is sound”. Were it not, we would not be able to endure the headlines that we read today.