Katie Couric's Calculated Biden Interview

Much has been made of Katie Couric's interview of Sarah Palin, where the governor appeared to be a different person from the one we have seen in YouTube gubernatorial interviews, previous debates and VP engagements. What happened? Was it creative editing, lack of preparation, poor direction from the McCain camp, Stage fright, Alaskan bumpkiness, a girly thing? There are plenty-o-questions on this one.

But where are the questions about Couric's interview with Joe Biden? Where is the media outrage for his outright lies? Where are the watchdogs of journalistic integrity examining Katie's calculated, cackling partisanship ?

If you read no other article about Katie Couric this year, you must read: Katie Couric invites viewers to admire the impressive constitutional expertise of Joe Biden by Ann Althouse.

This is an important read. Do not confuse self-assurance with intelligence, honesty or integrity.

H/T: Annie

Yep, Sarah Palin Won The Veep Debate

I admit that I may not be the best choice to judge who won the debate. Those of you who are Khaki Elephant regulars know that I was calling for John McCain to add Sarah Palin to the ticket before Tina Fey knew that Alaskans had Midwestern accents. Saying I am biased on the topic of Palin is like observing that Chris Matthews gets the giggles for Obama. So I suppose the question in my mind is not whether I thought Palin won the debate, I'm in no position to objectively analyze that (though she won it handily), but whether or not I think her performance will provide a bump in the polls.

The answer is yes. She was solid on substance and spectacular on style. I can't help but feel that most Americans not already opining Obama felt for the first time in a debate of this magnitude that they weren't watching a politician; which, of course, makes her the most effective of politicians.

First, substance. Most pundits knew Palin would do well on the issue areas she managed as a regulator, mayor and Alaskan governor -- taxes and energy. And while liberal pundits will claim that Palin was "short on details" even a cursory review of the debate transcript reveals that not to be the case.

When it came to corporate taxes, Biden tried to tether McCain's employer based stimulus plan solely to the hitch post of dastardly oil companies by repeatedly complaining that McCain's plan is picket-worthy unfair because it gives tax breaks "for the MobileExxons of the world." Meanwhile, Palin went to the heart addressing the Oil Company CEOs directly with,

"And that's why Tillerson at Exxon and Mulva at ConocoPhillips, bless their hearts, they're doing what they need to do, as corporate CEOs, but they're not my biggest fans, because what I had to do up there in Alaska was to break up a monopoly."

Biden was more effective when talking about middle class tax cuts and the need for universal health care. But even there Palin was strong with specifics, pointing out that Obama's tax plan would impact millions of small businesses that fall into the $250,000+ bracket. And when it came to health care, she did OK with defense of the $5,000 tax credit and the plan to erase state lines for competitive pricing, but she struck pure Klondike gold with pointing out that Obama's health care plan . . .

"is to have universal government run program and unless you're pleased with the way the federal government has been running anything lately, I don't think that it's going to be real pleasing for Americans to consider health care being taken over by the feds."

Predictably, the Alaskan Governor really hit her stride when talking about energy. She pointed out that she oversaw the construction of "a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline which is North America's largest and most you expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets." She then talked knowledgeably about the amount of available oil and natural gas, explained the environmental footprint of extraction, chided Biden's comments about "raping the outer continental shelf," rebutted Biden's call for "clean coal" by reminding him that he had previously said there was no such thing, and even took the time to correct the Senator's misquote of the rally chant "Drill, baby, drill."

But the true challenge for Sarah Palin was foreign policy. She could not hope to match Biden in knowledge of the topic; she just had to move the focus from knowledge to ideology. After all, everybody knows she wasn't added to the McCain ticket because of her friendship with Angela Merkel. She was selected for her executive experience, reputation for reform, conservative ideology and female genitalia.

Admittedly, Joe Biden gave a strong showing on foreign policy, much stronger, in fact, than the primary on the Democratic ticket did last week. But Palin went toe-to-toe with him and scored several sound points using conservative ideology. She spoke about winning the war in Iraq. She referenced the heroic leadership of General Petraus who the left attempted to demonize not so long ago. Palin praised Israel, promising to protect them from another holocaust and work toward a two-state solution in the region that includes building an embassy in Jerusalem. And when it came to the endless Obama/Biden references to Bush, she provided the best take I have heard from any member of the McCain team, including the man himself.

when we talk about the Bush administration, there's a time when Americans are going to say, "Enough is enough with your ticket," on constantly looking backwards, and pointing fingers, and doing the blame game.

There have been huge blunders in the war. There have been huge blunders throughout this administration, as there are with every administration. But for a ticket that wants to talk about change and looking into the future, there's just too much finger-pointing backwards to ever make us believe that that's where you're going.

Then came back later with:

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.

You see, strong as she was on substance, it was style where she scored the win and will create a bounce for Republicans. And based on the fact that Biden was hucking Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton, we can safely assume that style trumps substance this election cycle.

Biden was pure Washington. He talked about his record, spoke the language of the hill, and attacked by parsing votes and bandying beefy buzzwords. Even references to his own biography seemed staged . . . with the exception of those few moments when he discussed being a single father.

Palin, on the other hand, was intelligent but approachable. She was Abe Lincoln in heels. She even pulled herself outside of current political morass by turning to Biden and saying.

Oh, yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider. And someone just not used to the way you guys operate. Because here you voted for the war and now you oppose the war. You're one who says, as so many politicians do, I was for it before I was against it or vice- versa. Americans are craving that straight talk and just want to know, hey, if you voted for it, tell us why you voted for it when it was a war resolution.

I believe she struck a cord with most Americans. She said things the way we want them to be said. And she said things that most politicians frankly wouldn't even have the courage to say. Including my favorite moment of the debate:

Darn right it was the predator lenders, who tried to talk Americans into thinking that it was smart to buy a $300,000 house if we could only afford a $100,000 house. There was deception there, and there was greed and there is corruption on Wall Street. And we need to stop that.Again, John McCain and I, that commitment that we have made, and we're going to follow through on that, getting rid of that corruption.

One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day American people, Joe Six Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars. We need to make sure that we demand from the federal government strict oversight of those entities in charge of our investments and our savings and we need also to not get ourselves in debt. Let's do what our parents told us before we probably even got that first credit card. Don't live outside of our means. We need to make sure that as individuals we're taking personal responsibility through all of
this.

It's not the American peoples fault that the economy is hurting like it is, but we have an opportunity to learn a heck of a lot of good lessons through this and say never again will we be taken advantage of.

UPDATE: Post debate fact-checkers are beginning to examine the claims of both candidates from the debate and Joe Biden has already been found in an extraordinary number of lies: 14 at first swag. Check them out at The Michigan Republican Party Blog.

UPDATE #2: Just when I thought that I was a fair and balanced moderate, I found part of my VP debate analysis on the liberal blog All Facts and Opinions with the following introduction: "Obviously, this is from a hard-spinning right-wing blog. Must admit — it’s fun to watch a Republican spin so hard in support of a woman. Ah, the times…" Time for me to get a Michael Moore infusion.

The Obama Youth Sing

If this doesn't creep the hell out of you, step away from the Kool-Aid.





You know, when I was a kid, Americans reserved these types of songs for Baby Jesus.

But Obama is bringing CHANGE




(Thanks, E. Rapp)



UPDATE: I replaced the original video for this song with cmddrums's edited version since the original was pulled from YouTube (a fact that should help me sleep at night since nothing is so disturbing as cultishly twisted kids)

VP Debate Moderator Is An Obama Slappy

Has it gotten to the point where nothing surprises us anymore?

The media can send armies north to find and interview every one of those rare Alaskans who disapprove of Sarah Palin. They can ship reporters to Viet Nam to dig up former Hanoi Hilton guards and ask if they were actually mean enough to torture John McCain. And they can stalk the Republican ticket's children like John Wayne Gacey with a notepad. But for some reason they just can't find the resources to track the missteps of Joe "gaffe-a-day" Biden or spare so much as an intern to really investigate Obama's connections to Randy Ayers, Tony Rezko or Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Maybe Sean Hannity is right in saying that American journalism is dead.

So I don't know about you, but nothing surprises me anymore. Not even this:

The moderator for the vice presidential debate, Gwen Ifill, has written a book titled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama. That's right, the "nonpartisan" moderator of the veep debate has actually written a book defining our current era as "The Age of Obama." Blog writing daddy say what? As Michelle Malkin explains,

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama/Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the “Age of Obama.” Can you imagine a right-leaning journalist writing a book about the “stunning” McCain campaign and its “bold” path to reform timed for release on Inauguration Day – and then expecting a slot as a moderator for the nation’s sole vice presidential debate?

And given Gwen Ifill's position (firmly between the Obamian gluteal), what questions should we expect her to ask Joe Biden?

"Senator Biden, why is it the America feels such hope in the change that Barack Obama will bring?"

"Senator Biden, if Barack Obama died would he come back in three days or could he do it in only two?"

"Senator Biden, has Barack ever mentioned me?"

UPDATE: I have to give Gwen Ifill credit. I just watched the debate and found her to be both fair and professional. A job well done.

Would Democrats Have Used Bailout Money To Fund ACORN?

Would Lady MacBeth pursue regicide for the sake of a crown?

Would Claude Frollo sacrifice his misshapen step-son for carnal desire?

Would little Ani Skywalker turn his back on Jedi teachings (and Natalie Portman) for sinister power?

In yet another unbelievably ballsy maneuver of corruption, some Democrats took a bill intended to secure skidding Wall Street and attempted to use it for lining the pockets of the controversial left-wing apparatus, ACORN. It seems that the original (and thankfully defeated) bailout bill would have sent the group a reported $100,000,000. I guess Congressional Democrats had understandable faith that this slick and sleazy move would go unnoticed (read: unassailed) by the Magooian media.

You may remember ACORN (officially known as "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now" but in my opinion more aptly tagged "A Corrupt Orgy of Raging Nutjobs"). When not "community organizing" by stopping school reform, ill-advising lenders and crippling small businesses, they spend their resources trying to "register voters":

In 2006, for example, ACORN registered 1,800 new voters in Washington. The only trouble was, with the exception of six, all of the names submitted were fake. The secretary of state called it the “worst case of election fraud in our state’s history.” As Fox News reported: “The ACORN workers told state investigators that they went to the Seattle public library, sat at a table and filled out the voter registration forms. They made up names, addresses, and Social Security numbers and in some cases plucked names from the phone book. One worker said it was a lot of hard work making up all those names and another said he would sit at home, smoke marijuana and fill out the forms.”

ACORN explained that this was an “isolated” incident, yet similar stories have been reported in Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and Colorado — all swing states, by the way. ACORN members have been prosecuted for voter fraud in a number of states. (See http://www.rottenacorn.com/.) Their philosophy seems to be that everyone deserves the right to vote, whether legal or illegal, living or dead.

Yikes! So now you're undoubtedly asking how is it that this partisan organization appeared on the rolls of a $700,000,000,000 bailout bonanza? Glad to assume that you asked. You see, ACORN quickly jumped on the the gravy train of subprime loans, pushing them as a community service for those who otherwise would not have the ability to obtain a home. Of course, this "community service" came with a tidy profit for ACORN as the organization carved out for themselves "a remunerative niche as an “advisor” to banks seeking regulatory approval." And as a profitable "advisor" to these failed lenders who gave doomed loans, some Democrats figured that they might as well get a piece of the tax-payer spiced, bailout pie.

But this story gets even sweeter (and by "sweeter" I mean, "wow, my life would be sweeter if I had a spear through my head"). It turns out that ACORN is yet another of those troubling associations for Barack Obama. As Ken Blackwell explains:

Obama cites Saul Alinsky, a self-acknowledged radical who advocated extreme acts to achieve social goals, as one of his inspirations. ACORN follows the Saul Alinsky model. After Obama graduated from Harvard, he went to work for ACORN in Chicago. Mr. Obama then became a trainer for ACORN, teaching others how to employ ACORN tactics in voter registration drives.

Once again from Mona Charen:

ACORN attracted Barack Obama in his youthful community organizing days. Madeline Talbott hired him to train her staff — the very people who would later descend on Chicago’s banks as CRA shakedown artists. The Democratic nominee later funneled money to the group through the Woods Fund, on whose board he sat, and through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, ditto. Obama was not just sympathetic — he was an ACORN fellow traveler.

And to think, this is the team that may just be traveling to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Princess Padme, save us.

Video Proof: Democrats Covered Up Fannie & Freddie

The "media" is treating the truth about the Fannie and Freddie debacle the way I treated my parents when they showed up at McDonald's after homecoming. But ignoring the truth doesn't mean it won't get out there.

Here is another MUST WATCH, a video record of congressional denial:



Spread the truth!

And another H/T to Z for his great work in tracking this corruption on geeeeeZ! (and for linking to Social Sense for the above video gem!)


UPDATE: "I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus. On Capitol Hill, Barney [Frank] always introduces me as his lover." Herb Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. Oh, did I mention that Herb Moses was Fannie Mae's assistant director for product initiatives. Can Frank enunciate "Conflict of interest"?

The Obama Bracelet Scandal

Remember that poignant moment in the first debate when John McCain pointed to the bracelet that had been given to him over a year ago by a fallen soldier's mother? The mother, Lynn Savage, asked the senator to wear the bracelet and to make sure her son's death was not in vain.

That moment was followed by Barack Obama pointing excitedly to his wrist with a "I've got a soldier's bracelet too, see, see" followed by stumbled stuttering until he remembered the soldier's name, Sergeant Ryan David Jopek. It was a proud moment for the junior senator from Illinois. The only problem is, the family of Sergeant Jopek had asked him not to wear the bracelet.

According to a NewsBusters Report:

Radio host Glenn Moberg of the show "Route 51" asked [the soldier's father, Brian] Jopek, a man who believes in the efforts in Iraq and is not in favor of Obama's positions on the war, what he and his ex-wife think of Obama continually using their son's name on the campaign trail.

Jopek began by saying that his ex-wife was taken aback, even upset, that Obama has made the death of her son a campaign issue. Jopek says his wife gave Obama the bracelet because "she just wanted Mr. Obama to know Ryan's name." Jopek went on to say that "she wasn't looking to turn it into a big media event" and "just wanted it to be something between Barack Obama and herself." Apparently, they were all shocked it became such a big deal.

But, he also said that his ex-wife has refused further interviews on the matter and that she wanted Obama to stop wearing the reminder of her son's sacrifice that he keeps turning into a campaign soundbyte.

Ah, but what is the wish of a sacrificed soldier's family compared to the unbridled ambition of Barack Hussein Obama?

H/T: geeeeeZ!

What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

If you are concerned about the economy. If you a wondering why we are where we are. If you want facts instead of rhetoric . . . you must watch this video!

It is almost 10 minutes long, but that is a short investment when trying to cut through the lies from D.C.

This is a must watch

John McCain Wins First Debate

You can always tell one side has won a debate when their opponent's spin doctors start using phrases like, "we held our own." Unfortunately, while John McCain won the first presidential debate he did not deliver a decisive maneuver politically equivalent to the figure-four leg lock.

McCain owned foreign policy. While Barack Obama consistently strummed the two-chords of "we should have never gone into Iraq" and "we took our eye off Afghanistan," McCain boom-boomed back on his big bass drum with "the next President isn't going to decide on going to Iraq but how to win there" and "you can't win in Afghanistan if you lose in Iraq."

The Republican candidate also scored points concerning Obama's idiotic initial response to Russia's invasion of Georgia, when the Democrat implied that it was equally Georgia's fault. Yep, apparently those Georgian's were asking to get their buttskis kicked by having an oil corridor that Russia wanted within their internationally recognized border. And then McCain went a critical step further by warning the world about the Ukraine situation -- a point I'm glad he brought to the fore for all Americans and sincerely hope that it did not sail by the viewing audience (especially the Russians . . . we've got our eye on you, Vlad).

Predictably, Obama tried to recapture the chanting response he received in Berlin with his call to make America more beloved in the world. But the call sounded hollow when his threat to unilaterally strike militarily inside Pakistan surfaced. And Obama's call died to a whispered when McCain pointed out that a face-to-face meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad without preconditions "is dangerous. It isn’t just naive, it’s dangerous." (Though I did find it kinda cute when Obama petulantly insisted that Kissenger agreed with him and not McCain.)

Barack Obama's best moments came early in the debate, when the discussion revolved around the economy and the impending bailout of those Wall Street mortgage brothels. It wasn't the substance of Obama's message (clear - defibrillator - clear) but the practiced sincerity with which he appeared to feel the pain of hurting Americans when he promised them better health, better education, better fuel, secure housing, and rich people's money all while vowing to cut their taxes. Hell, if I hadn't been paying attention before this debate I might have even believed him.

McCain made some strong points during this part of the debate as well, just not strong enough for my liking. I felt like that kid on the bench, "put me into the game coach. Put me in" as I watch him soft-peddle what is a much stronger economic plan than Obama's desired return to the Carter years. I just hope Mac was sandbagging, waiting for the "official" economic debate to say some of the things I want him to say like:

• "Yes, I will consider a spending freeze on every non-essential government agency. Senator Obama claims that these are desperate economic times but he believes that we can succeed by trimming away spending with a scalpel. Well, I say breakout the chainsaw and lets cut government down to size."


• "We do have the second largest corporate tax rate in the world and Senator Obama doesn't want to cut it, in fact, he wants to increase it! [looking at the camera] Now if your company has to choose between saving your job or moving some work elsewhere to become more profitable through lower taxes, which do you think they will choose? If Senator Obama becomes president you'd better brush up on your Chinese."


• "Both Senator Obama and I support a bailout, but our strategy . . . not tactic . . . our strategy is very different. My plan calls for debt reimbursement by the receivers while the plan his side called for wants the taxpayers to pay for it all. I guess I want to protect the people who pay my salary and he wants to protect the people who pay for his campaign."


• "Energy independence is a critical cog in making our economy strong. Senator Obama wants to develop alternative fuel sources in ten years but to get us there plans to drill where there is no oil and support nuclear energy resources only when they are unfeasible. Well, unless Senator Obama is also figuring leprechauns into his energy plan, you can't get there from here."

UPDATE: I thought I'd add part of a comment to this post that I received on RightMichigan from John Galt. I just love his line: "I don't know a single person who works for poor people."

I wanted Mac to say "I don't know a single person who works for poor people. I don't know a single person who works for someone on the 'bottom' like Obama calls his reform plan. Punishing the companies you work for, and punishing small business owners will make things worse. If you think your job is in jeopardy today, if you think times are tough - raise taxes on the people who employ Americans. You'll see just how insecure things will get."

John McCain's Post-Debate Ad (Fast and Furious)

Wow, those cats can create an ad fast! Here is the McCain campaign ad that was released moments after the debate. It's almost as if they already knew that Barack Obama isn't ready to lead.

John McCain's Integrity . . . Or Just A Political Gamble

It's the economy, stupid.

The sentiment was echoed yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) when he said, “We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands on what we should do . . . . We all understand the seriousness of the financial crisis . . . We have a Republican proposal they've given us. And we now need some Republican votes to help us with this.”

But the echo died today and Reid had a different take when John McCain called his bluff and planned to suspend the Republican presidential campaign so he could return to Washington to help push a plan through the clubfoot congress (with apologies to any clubfoot readers). Apparently Reid no longer needs McCain, now saying that McCain's presence would "distract important talks about the future of our nation's economy."

Needless to say, Obama will not suspend the most aggressive campaign since Hitler lined up his boys for a visit to Austria and Poland.

Was McCain showing political integrity as a presidential candidate in planning a Washington trip to provide leadership and a potentially critical vote before the Congress leaves the hill on Friday for a season of book signings and beachfront tax evasion? Or was this just a political gamble pulled by a candidate who has lost ground on the economic issue?

The bottom line is that the economy is the issue on most American minds. The Congress has been about as ineffective as a congress could be. If McCain's presence, or even the threat of McCain's presence, can get the do-nothing congress to negotiate a palatable solution to this economic crisis then McCain made the right call. If nothing else, his move will keep at least some of the focus on Congress, which may even embarrass them into accomplishing something before they head out of town. And if Wall Street rebounds, McCain wins this round.

Post # 200

Ok, I admit it. I like to celebrate the little things . . . arbor day, talk like a pirate day, Leif Erickson day, PI day, I didn't get bit by a bulldog today day . . . you name and I'll find a way to celebrate it. So here I am at Post # 200, having a one-man party (which for me means sitting at my computer with a glass of cheap wine and a chai tea chaser).

It's not winning the Stanley Cup, but I'm happy to be writing.

And it seems like yesterday that I was pecking out post # 198. I Hope to see you for many posts to come.

Hey, Congress . . . What About Detroit?

While Wall Street mortgage companies benefit from bipartisan bailout votes, the "Big 3" automotive manufacturers continue to spin their wheels in the mud of costly FMVSS regulations, adjusted fuel standards and low-cost Asian manufacturing. But assistance in the form of low interest loans for these critical American Companies is slower than grandma after the St. Perpetua Incontinenta all night Bingo jamboree.

Wanna help?
Contact Michigan Congressman Joe Knollenberg to find out what you can do in your district to help these American iron icons.
or
Visit Big 3 Defense


Cartoon by Mike Thompson

Born Alive

While Barack Obama has disputed this ad . . . facts is facts (and now they even have him on that cursed tape defending the position he took . . . when he didn't vote "present.")



The problem isn't that Obama is pro-choice, a position I sympathize with, it's that he makes China's old Tibetan policy seem salon-friendly.

It's Official

It's official. If you don't vote for Barack Obama you're a racist.

Monday afternoon, state Representatives Bob Hagan of Youngstown and Tom Letson of Warren met with reporters.

They argue many voters who call themselves "Democrats" or "Independents", but won't vote for Obama, have only one excuse, with Letson saying, "I would say that a lot of it is they're not going to vote for 'the black guy'".

Hagan called the issue "unpatriotic," adding those not willing to vote for Obama need "to face that fact. That that's not acceptable in America."

Both men say they will work to convince those "swing voters" to change their minds between now and election day.

Sure we all predicted the accusation some time ago, but don't you love the sweet taste of fulfillment?

H/T: Queer Conservative