Best Barack Moment?
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 17, 2008
- In: Politics
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These past twenty or so months have been chock full of peaks and valleys. We are now only a couple of weeks away from reaching the mountaintop. So, I’ve been reflecting a little about how we’ve gotten to this point. What’s stuck out in my mind?
I realize we could go all the way back to Barack’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq: Wrong time, wrong place… Or, his 2004 Keynote speech: We’re not a nation of red states and blue states, but the UNITED States… But, even if we begin with the start of this campaign, we’ve had a ton of wonderful memories.
Stirring victory speeches. Electric debate exchanges. Barack’s historical speech on faith in America. His Berlin Address. The most powerful Acceptance Speech in American history.
For me, it’s Barack’s mantra, “WE are the change we seek.” But I have to tell you, after seven years of being regarded as unpatriotic for disagreeing with the policies of Bush, and staring at more of the same from McCain’s “Country First” nonsense, a close second was when Barack stood tall in Denver and proclaimed, “I’ve got news for you, John McCain, we ALL put country first!”
When Barack gives his victory speech on November 4, I know I’ll be shedding tears of joy; but so far, what’s been your favorite moment?
Back to Basics
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 13, 2008
Now that the market has rebounded, the presidential campaigns can finally get back to the important issues. I suspect that John McCain’s lead in the polls will grow as we discuss God and guns. Actually, the “guns” issue is already decided, the NRA has endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket. Obama’s middle-of-the-road approach to individual protection isn’t gonna fly this time around. When it comes to the “God” issue, it’s not very complicated, either.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden want to reduce the number of abortions in America. John McCain and Sarah Palin want to end abortion altogether. Since America is a Christian nation, and God himself opposes abortion, McCain/Palin win this round as well. When God spoke directly to Moses, or whoever actually wrote Exodus 21:22, He made it quite clear: ”And if men struggle and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.”
I know there are a few who try to mangle the story of how God created Adam, that God breathed life into him; to say that life doesn’t begin until a baby is born – nonsense. Even though Psalms is a book of poetry, David got a little scientific in Psalm 139, 13-14: ”For Thou didst form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to Thee, for Thou art fearfully wonderful; wonderful are Thy works, and my soul knows it very well.”
There you have it, straight from the mouth of King David, a man who was elected by God to rule over Israel; life begins at conception – John McCain concurs.
John McCain is on God’s side, therefore, Barack Obama isn’t. Don’t you want to be on God’s side, too?…
Better Late Than Never?
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 10, 2008
- In: Politics
- 2 Comments
Well, it took nearly a month, but Barack Obama finally decided to address the economic disaster he and his fellow democrats unleashed upon the world’s financial system. Remember when he bad-mouthed the economy after John McCain tried to steady America’s nerves by assuring us that even though we’re in a downward turn, the fundamentals of the economy are resilient enough to withstand our current temporary setback? Remember when Obama scoffed at McCain for choosing country over his very own campaign and heading to Washington to get the rescue bill enacted? And remember the last debate, when Obama was caught completely off-guard when McCain unveiled his plan to rescue homeowners?
Today, America finally heard from the Chicago politician; and Americans didn’t like what they heard. He wants, get this – for small businesses to go hat-in-hand before the Small Business Administration, and beg the omnipotent Washington powers-that-be to grant them capital gains tax relief. Seriously…
Perhaps Mr. Obama doesn’t realize, this is the twenty first century. Capitalism is dead. McCain is ready to usher America into the new socialism, his plans are the only real remedy for our crippled nation. A nation crippled by the greed of democratic Washington insiders like Barack Obama. It’s time for Mr. Obama to go back to Chicago, munch on some arugula with Bill Ayers,
and leave the job of fixing the economy to the grownups.
October Surprise
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 8, 2008
Hard to believe that Obama had a commanding lead in the polls merely a week ago. Since then, things have gone terribly, terribly wrong. I guess it started with Sarah Palin outperforming Joe Biden in their “debate”. Biden choked back tears as he spoke about raising his sons as a single dad after the tragic death of his wife and daughter in a car crash, and Palin showed her steel by not blinking a moment of sympathy, but driving home the attack. It wasn’t until today that Biden even showed his face, using the death of his mother-in-law to hide behind. Sarah Palin never let up the attack. We now hear chants of “Traitor!, “Terrorist!”, and “Kill him!” when Palin smears Obama in front of throngs of admirers, sometimes in packs as huge as fifty thousand strong. In contrast, Biden sheepishly tried to tie McCain to Bush before three thousand bored Floridians.
As for last night’s meltdown in Nashville, Obama was taken completely off-guard by McCain’s proposal for the government to buy up and renegotiate bad mortgages. Obama, like most Americans, thought Congress passed a bill to do just that, just last week. Obama was taken off-guard when McCain referred to him as “That One” – remember, Obama once was called “The One”.
Now, a lot has been said about McCain’s erratic behaviour during the debate. He went after Tom Brokaw for asking a question, he belittled a questioner from the audience, but shook hands with another audience member. Well, the guy he shook hands with was white, and the guy that asked him about the economy was, after all, black.
All in all, the FOX NEWS analysts got it right, McCain was just as hard-nosed as Sarah Palin was last week, and Obama was just as weak, thoughtful and reasoned as Biden was last week. And in a time when the country’s entire survival is on the line, the dog with the loudest bark rules the neighborhood.
Joe
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 1, 2008
- In: Politics
- 6 Comments
For Joe Biden, the best of times and the worst of times were separated by a matter of weeks. On Nov. 7, 1972, Biden won his first Senate race by a hair. He would be one of the youngest Senators in history, beating the good ‘ol boy powers-that-be by promising to fight for the little guy and bring a sense of change to Washington. On Dec. 18, 1972, a tractor-trailer smashed into his wife’s car as she and the kids were on their way to pick up a Christmas tree. The love of his life, Neilia, and their one year old daughter, Naomi, died. Joe’s two young sons lay in hospital beds fighting desperately to cling to life.
Joe contemplated suicide. He was furious at God for playing such a cruel joke; he was set to give up his career before it ever started. Eventually, friends and family gave him the support he needed to pick himself up and carry on. He was sworn into office at his sons’ bedside. To this very day, his staff has standing orders that he be interrupted from whatever he is doing immediately if Beau or Hunter calls. He made it a practice that he rides back and forth from Washington to his modest home in New Castle every day to be with his family. And every year, Dec. 18 is a day of remembrance for him.
Joe doesn’t come across as the most likable guy in a debate. Partly because his words are forced as he’s had to overcome a debilitating stuttering problem as a youth, and partly because he truly is an angry man, still fighting for the little guy after all these years. Joe chaired the Judiciary Committee through both the highly contentious Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. So, yeah, he’s had his knuckles bruised on a few occassions.
Tomorrow night, Sarah Palin will charm America as a fighter who puts family first. Joe Biden has courageously been a fighter who puts family first his entire career. And he’s not about to quit now…
Here We Go Again
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: September 29, 2008
- In: Politics
- 7 Comments
“Jesus would not be scared of the I.R.S.” So say a bunch of Christian lawyers who have formed the Alliance Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, Az. The group organized Pulpit Freedom Sunday. What the hell is that? Well, participating pastors will intentionally jeopardize their tax-exempt status and deliver sermons to endorse candidates based on scripture. This does not bode particularly well for Barack Obama, since it was discovered in 1979 that God is a republican.
It’s true. In 1979, Paul Weyrich, Terry Dolan, Richard Viguerie and Howard Phillips enlisted Jerry Falwell to be their front-man in the newly minted political action committee they named The Moral Majority. It was created for one reason – to attack President Jimmy Carter for his decision to use the power of the I.R.S. to end segregation in private schools. Carter’s deal was that the laws were already on the books; segregation was illegal, so Bible Colleges and the like that refused to allow minorities to attend didn’t deserve tax-exempt status, since they were, in essence, breaking federal law. The rest is history.
Jesus spoke very little about John McCain when He walked this earth. In fact, when it comes to this particular issue, Christ only offered up one soundbite: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”…
Round One
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: September 27, 2008
- In: Politics
- 8 Comments
Buoyed by his big bounce in the polls, McCain marched into Ole Miss to take it to the uppity upstart from Chicago. 97 minutes later, the 72 year old gasped has final gaffes and sullenly slunk off stage. What a war…
Every hardcore McCain supporter watched a McCain triumph. Every hardcore Obama supporter watched an Obama triumph. Can you guess where I’m heading on this one?
Well, the pundits scored a victory for the old man on points, but gave the nod to the youngster on style. When the polls came in, 2 to 1 in favor of Obama, things started to get interesting. Team McCain started crying, “Why did Obama call McCain “John?!?”, and making an ad clipping together the 13 times Obama said McCain was right.
Now, my plan was to watch the debate with some folks who would fit into the category of “low-information” voters, and see their gut reaction on the spot. It was an enlightening experience. For example, the candidates sparred for 39 minutes over earmarks and taxes. What stuck out for my friends? Obama’s line that while 18 billion was a big number (earmarks), 300 billion was a much bigger number (Bush tax cuts). My friends were surprised that Obama supported offshore drilling and that the reason McCain opposed the current bill is that it takes away tax breaks for Big Oil – that was a real eye-opener. Drill, baby – WHAT?!?
But the most decisive point of the night wasn’t anything either candidate said. It was their demeanor. Obama didn’t hit hard, he did a lot of bobbing and weaving followed by a few love-taps. Spain? What about Spain? McCain came out hard and strong. He looked like a fighter. Punching and counter-punching. He came across looking mean. At one point, I heard a guy say, “Why’s he so mad?”
I think the answer to that question is simple; he’s mad because as of this morning at least, John McCain lost Round One.
A Meeting of the Presidents
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: September 24, 2008
- In: Politics
- 2 Comments
Our next President, John McCain, will be deliberating with our current President, George W. Bush, along with Loser of the Century, Barack Obama, who has been working the phones for a week with House and Senate leaders to get a clean bailout bill through Congress, tomorrow; to get a clean bailout bill through Congress. You may need to re-read that sentence a few times to clearly understand just exactly what the hell is going on in Washington.
While McCain has journeyed from, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.”, all the way to shutting down his campaign because the crisis is sooo bad that Armageddon will strike at exactly 9:00 am on September 29 unless the straight-talkin’ Maverick rides into town to save us; his poll numbers have fallen beneath the Bradley Effect threshold. Obama, having wrested extemporaneous details from Chairman Dodd’s proposed plan, called McCain this morning to see if the two could issue a joint statement and get this damn thing done.
Now, Barack Obama is done. McCain flustered about cancelling Friday’s debate, even though Bush, Dodd, Reid, Frank, Pelosi and a host of Republicans said they were close to a deal and that the presence of McCain and/or Obama would just muck up the works. Pundits from the likes of CBS, FOX NEWS, and CNN agreed that McCain was imploding; so, hours later, Bush had a change of heart, and “invited” both candidates to have a sit-down.
Masterstroke.
Please remember, this disaster is the result of deregulation – something Bush has been pushing for eight years and John McCain has been pushing for twenty six years. Please remember, McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, has been profiting by his association with McCain while lobbying for the likes of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up until as recently as last month. Please remember that Bush won the 2000 election by a vote of 5 to 4 in the Supreme Court, and that we’ll never know who really won in 2004, thanks to Diebold – so this year, the GOP decided, why even bother to show up for the debates? We know that somehow the Republicans are going to pull a victory out of their asses, we just don’t yet know how they’ll do it…
Question: Why in hell would any American - conservative, moderate, progressive, or liberal, vote for a seventy two year old guy who has changed his position on the most important issue we face at least seven times in the last nine days?
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