Obama, The People and The Economy vs. The GOP: Who's winning the debate?

When is the GOP going to stop blaming the failed economy on Obama? They won't. They can't. They see this as their only oppurtunity to change the story, but unfortunately for them, most Americans haven't finished the old one. That being, the failed GOP-run economy.



The GOP isn't fooling anybody. The people clearly know who's to blame and it's not Obama. Americans seem to understand something that the GOP doesn't: It takes awhile for the economy to recover. A fact that I imagine the right used to understand and who are trying to exploit their own mess for votes in 2010.

Most Americans remain confident that the U.S. economy will be stronger in five years than it is today, but most also expect very little to change in the next 12 months.

The numbers are largely unchanged from early January.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Americans say the economy will be stronger in five years than it is today, while just 17% think it will be weaker by then, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

They are not going to assume that the current state is a result of failed Obama policies. They remember the last 8 years. They know where this came from. So when quacks like this guy...

It is no wonder that markets are imploding around us. Obama is giving us the War on Business.

Imagine that some hypothetical enemy state spent years preparing a “Manchurian Candidate” to destroy the U.S. economy once elected. What policies might that leader pursue?

He might discourage private capital from entering the financial sector by instructing his Treasury secretary to repeatedly promise a brilliant rescue plan, but never actually have one. Private firms, spooked by the thought of what government might do, would shy away from transactions altogether. If the secretary were smooth and played rope-a-dope long enough, the whole financial sector would be gone before voters could demand action

...claim that it's Obama's fault, the American people are not listening.

But when will they start to blame Obama?



Now, match that to when economists think the recession will be over.



If that plays out, it'll be a huge win for Obama. Since people have such low expectations for the economy, they understand that it'll take some time. Compare that to most economists and it appears that Obama will easily weather this storm and it'll mount to another EPIC FAILURE by the increasingly obsolete GOP.

Iran is Sensitive

I'm not one of the hawkish goons out there that thinks Iran is a sworn enemy, but I will call them sissy's for this.

"(Iranian) cinema officials will only have the right to have official sessions with... Hollywood movie makers when they apologise to the Iranians for their 30 years of insults and slanders," Javad Shamaghdari said.

"The Iranian people and our revolution has been repeatedly unjustly attacked by Hollywood," he said, citing '300' and recent Oscar nominated movie 'The Wrestler' as among offending films."

Being from the country that is always the target of anger, aggression and hate in film, I just don't give a shit what Iran wants. Get over it, girls.

And how do you explain these?


I do like the music though.






Grow a pair, Iran.

Foreigners...with HIV...Gone Wild!!!

Hide your children! Lock the doors! Barracade your home because there are FOUR uncaged foreigners somewhere in Korea that have HIV!!! And guess what? They're coming for you!!!

The Suwon Immigration Office said Tuesday it had been tracing the whereabouts of four foreigners who have been tested human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive.

Late last year, the office obtained names of 12 foreigners diagnosed with HIV positive, which could develop into Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), from the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

And who are these scumbags trying to infect the innocent Korean public?

For instance, a 36-year-old Uzbekistan woman, diagnosed HIV positive in 2006, was recently caught in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, where she worked as a barmaid overstaying her visa. It has not yet been confirmed whether she had sexual relations with others during the period of time, according to police.

Of course, she did. She's a foreigner. And eventhough she looks a little old for her age...



...customers are lining up.

Korea tried to offer these renegades prison sentences or deportation health-checkups...

"But they failed to draw attention from foreigners mostly busy making money," a Gyeonggi government official said."

Typical foreigners.

So, what did we learn?

1) Korean's should be scared of most foreigners because even the government isn't sure who has AIDS.

2) Foreigners are sex-craved and hellbent on intentionally spreading diseases.

3) Foreigners don't care about their health so long as their making money.

Thanks Korea media.

The Post Apologizes...

...and Matt Drudge is a coward. How does he reveal Murdoch's apology?



Instead he focuses on Murdoch's prediction that the world is coming to an end because his party will soon become irrelevant isn't in control anymore.

"I heard the jury was out on science."

Wow...

"Recent public opinion polls indicate that challenges to Darwinian evolution have substantial support among the American people. According to an August 2006 survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 63 percent of Americans believe that humans and other animals have either always existed in their present form or have evolved over time under the guidance of a supreme being. Only 26 percent say that life evolved solely through processes such as natural selection. A similar Pew Research Center poll, released in August 2005, found that 64 percent of Americans support teaching creationism alongside evolution in the classroom."

Why am I not surprised? For the past 20 years, all we have heard from the Right is that science is not fact and that we need to teach Creationism in school. It looks like it worked. Wow...

The Center-Right of Reality

It seems the fashionable thing to do if you are a conservative whose political ideology was just given the biggest beating since 1993 is to deny that it was an actual smack-down but rather more of a referendum on Bush. Tod Linberg at WaPo points out that the recent attempts to deny the clear electorate movement away from conservatism is simply ludicrous, but since this is coming from the party that praised Sarah Palin for her know-nothingness, I’m not surprised in the least.

The chant that we are hearing is that despite being handed a devastating defeat in both 2006 and 2008; America is still a center-right nation. If that is true, then why would Americans overwhelmingly elect someone that McCain-Palin called “the most liberal senator” ever or a “socialist”? If America is so staunchly center-right, why would they give full power to the left? How about the McCain attack “Redistributor in Chief” or the fact that 56% of the voters thought that Obama would handle taxed better? The last two months of the GOP ticket was solely focused on painting Obama as a radical left-wing nut job who, along with Pelosi and Reid, would in no uncertain terms, spell the end to “America the Free”. One can only assume that this is their political version of the Kübler-Ross model. And it seems that they are still just at level one of the five stages of grief: denial. That’s fine though. The longer they are living is their disillusioned world, the deeper the progressive roots get.

“Here's the stark reality: It is now harder for the Republican presidential candidate to get to 50.1 percent than for the Democrat. My Hoover Institution colleague David Brady and Douglas Rivers of the research firm YouGovPolimetrix have been analyzing data from online interviews with 12,000 people in both 2004 and 2008. It shows an overall shift to the Democrats of six percentage points. As they write in the forthcoming edition of Policy Review, "The decline of Republican strength occurs by having strong Republicans become weak Republicans, weak Republicans becoming independents, and independents leaning more Democratic or even becoming Democrats." This is a portrait of an electorate moving from center-right to center-left.”

Whatever the right punditry wants to call it is fine, but when Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia flipped to blue, the GOP knew that they were going to have to find a way to survive in political darkness they created for themselves.

Poor Media Handling

While progressive apathy or indifference might prove to be a hindrance on a left shift in the electorate, there is no shortage of the conservatives in the nation who refuse to let go of their mindless detestation and narrow-mindedness.

The AP and other news organizations have been reporting on "threats" and "plots" directed towards Obama and his family, but have not really delved into anything beyond catchy phrases like "Racism looms" or "Traces of racism still remain in the South". I guess that's one way to dismiss a serious rift in the American electorate, but when I read stories like this one; I start to think that the media’s handling of these "threats" is actually overlooking the significance of such behavior since they’re choosing to report them with no insight, alarm or action.

Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars. Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders.

When I read that second graders are chanting "Assassinate Obama!" it raises some serious questions regarding education. However, that can be answered here:

“The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama's victory.”

This is a time that the nation should be in deep self-reflection on what our past has been and where we can take it now. This type of behavior is inexcusable and the AP and MSM better get there shit together before their fluff pieces on race-relations translate into tangible violence.

Palin Reads All of Them

That Couric interview reminds me of the Mary Poppins bag.



She reads all of them, huh? I guess that's where she got the information that people think Alaska is a foreign country. Couric is getting fed up with her dancing as well.

Palin and the Foreign Policy Debate

Apparently, it wouldn't be fair if the moderators asked too many foreign policy questions. Poor Sarah.



Personally, I don't think Palin has a strong area or a "fortay", so I'm fine with everything. She's getting training this week, so expect more one-liners than anything else.

It's Not McCain. It's John Bush!!!

I didn't say it first!

Image of the Week: Palingate

Not all of us follow politics closely. Not all of us watch the news, read the paper or read political blogs.

From ABC:

"Let’s say you don’t read The New York Times or The Washington Post (or The Note, for that matter). Let’s say you don’t follow the big political blogs and you’re not obsessed with every turn of the screw of this fascinating presidential race.

Let’s say, instead, like millions of working-class Americans, you get your “news” on the political race from the supermarket aisle. Let’s say you’re -- I don’t know, a “hockey mom” -- and you’re intrigued by this Sarah Palin person you’ve been hearing so much about since Friday.

So you’re shopping this week -- and what do you see on the cover of US Weekly? That esteemed journalistic institution is taking it right to John McCain’s running mate -- with a hard-hitting piece that details the “scandal” involving her daughter’s pregnancy.

“BABIES, LIES & SCANDAL,” screams the headline on the cover, with a picture of a smiling Palin holding her fifth child, 4-month-old Trig.

Inside is a collection of Palin lowlights -- from her daughter’s now well-known pregnancy; to Internet rumors that the governor pretended to be pregnant to cover for her daughter; to “troopergate”; to her onetime support for the “bridge to nowhere”; to a radio appearance where she giggled while shock jocks called a political rival a “bitch” and a “cancer.”

“Within hours of McCain’s surprise introduction of the little-known, charismatic mother of five as his running mate, the scandals began to emerge as quickly as flies at a Labor Day picnic,” Mara Reinstein writes for the magazine."

This is another clear example of the horrid judgement that McCain has. The US Weekly voters were what McCain needed and this is not going to help.

Question: As much as it makes sense (common sense is not a GOP strong point), McCain will not withdraw her name for VP. And while I found this little gaffe interesting...



...it doesn't mean much besides being a huge (Freudian) slip of the tongue. Back to it, the GOP has been pushing the idea that if Palin even "holds her own" against Biden, then it should be deemed a success. Besides the glaring problems with statements and strategies like that and given the new climate of Palin and all of her baggage, do you think that the Media will give her a pass when she blows it?

The "Game-Changer"

It's pretty clear that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin was a move out of desperation and fear. He watched Obama make history and he thought he would do the same...over 20 years after the Democrat's did. Regardless of what the pundits say (most say it was ballsy, but dumb except for Hannity and Limbaugh), this was a clear and thoughtless pandering to the hardcore Right of the GOP wing. He got them more excited about their own shallowness and for the first time in this election, he has some enthusiastic supporters. Welcome to the club, you're about nine months and 300 million bucks late.

My favorite analysis of this thoughtless choice is calling it a "game-changer". This is not a game-changer. Throwing a anti-science, anti-abortion, pro-guns and pro-Big Oil candidate into the mix is not a game-changer. It's a solidification of the extremes that even John McCain could not claim as his own. Palin is so far to the right that if she were to somehow end up in the White House, it would make Mike Huckabee look liberal. Appealing to this base was the stated goal, but the point was that she is a women. This is a glaring example of political tokenism. Remember Harriet Meiers? Women are already saying that they are offended by the perceived presumption that John McCain thinks that ovaries directly effects a fellow ovarian voter.

Not only are women and men offended by this pander, but the voters don't seem to think to highly of her readiness to lead.

39% say she is ready to serve as president if needed, 33% say she isn't, and 29% have no opinion.

That's the lowest vote of confidence in a running mate since the elder George Bush chose then-Indiana senator Dan Quayle to join his ticket in 1988. In comparison, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was seen as qualified by 57%-18% after Democrat Barack Obama chose him as a running mate last week.

This is the lowest number that any VP has ever received. I'm a little shocked though. I think 39% is way too high, but then again, 30% of American's still think that W. Bush is doing a good job and I can attribute the other 9% to curiosity.

The only advantage to Palin is that she was unknown, even to McCain. People might be willing to give her a chance. She's a fresh face (horrible voice) and people claim that she was in a beauty contest once. I assume that that contest was by Alaskan standards though. The disadvantage to Palin is that she is unknown. People have already discovered her positive sides like her...((crickets))...uhm...she has five children...uhm...she's...a...she's a mother...and stuff. Right and just like we are seeing now, she is being vetted by the people and the Media, not the McCain staff who clearly didn't do their job.

It was a mistake and McCain just took the role of the confused soccer player who scores the game winning goal ON HIMSELF!

She might have dominated the news for two days and McCain needed that, but now Gustav is getting ready to highlight the good times from GOP's glory days.

Palin is a game-changer...for Obama.

PUMA = GOP

Chuck Todd has got it right. He says that the Obama-Clinton rift is being overhyped, and that it's a minor story that is being magnified by a press looking for some drama to write about. He suggests all of this will blow over once Teddy Kennedy and Michelle Obama hit the stage tonight.

Bottom Line: PUMA is just a loud, annoying fringe group. And now I discovered that there is a group called "Clintons For McCain". Matthews had them on the air. The problem with these women is that they were never for Clinton in the first place. PUMA was founded by Republicans who saw the potential in widening the rift by creating the first crack.

The Republican National Committee appears ready to roll out the red carpet for Hillary Clinton supporters, over a newly-registered internet domain ClintonsForMcCain.com.

Though the web address does not yet go anywhere, the RNC registered the domain name on May 15, according to whois data from the registrar Network Solutions. That was nine days after Clinton's disappointing showing in the North Carolina primary, which prompted NBC's Tim Russert to declare the race effectively over for Clinton.

An e-mail to two RNC officials about their plans went unanswered Thursday.

The Republicans appear to be capitalizing on the bitter disappointment, anger and disillusionment that Clinton supporters are feeling right now. Much of it is on display on the web in the comments section on both Clinton's website

McCain, Hillary and AP

According to the AP, tensions between Hillary and Obama supporters are about to "boil over". Of course, if you read the article it doesn't mention any specifics of even the slightest hostility. It simply says the Bill Clinton would rather be discussing the economic legacy of the 90's, rather than what he has been asked to discuss which is security. I understand his frustration, but this does not suggest that there is potential for a huge rift to be exposed. The AP loves McCain and is doing everything they can to tighten the race. That's fine. I have gotten around listening and reading AP garbage by removing their feed from my Yahoo mail account.

The bottom line is that the Media is trying to tarnish the convention with wall-to-wall coverage of Hillary Clinton and her supporters. They are playing up McCain's attempt to attract her supporters and giving him free press access to this issue.

That this ad for example...



"Really...it's okay." Besides the fact that people like this are supporting McCain so Hillary can run 2012, they are probably the worst part of this election. They are blaming Obama for beating her. They are blaming the Media's sexism on Obama. If Obama loses (he won't), I blame them.

You know why? Would any self-respecting Dem AND women vote for this?



But according to McCain, she should have been the running mate.

"Ad's narrator: "She won millions of votes - but isn't on his ticket. Why? For speaking the truth, on his plans...The truth hurt, and Obama didn't like it."

Absurd. The convention is under way. I just watched John Legend sing and now Pelosi is up. Let's go!!!!

Obama Strategy

Everyone has been whining about the tightening numbers and that Obama is not attacking enough and that he is going to lose and that he's like Kerry or Dukakis or whatever else they are whining about. I understand their concerns to a point, but this is getting pathetic. As I have said before, Obama will win and I believe he is doing a good job. The numbers were going to tighten. This is a Red/Blue country. Obama is still leading by 3-7 in the composite. There was no way a black Democrat was going to walk all over the old white POW. It's almost like people are pretending or intentionally ignoring the dynamics of this race. Obama has the right idea here and let me tell you why.

VP Speculation

I called that Obama would make his selection before the Olympics. He didn't and there is a strategy behind it. What has everyone been talking about for the past two weeks? What does CNN, AP and every other blog write about everyday? They speculate who his VP will be. They write about people speculating about who it will be and they speculate about people speculating who will be the VP. This is free and easy coverage. Obama has thrown so many names around as well. He's listed people from Indiana, New Mexico, Connecticut, the military, Arkansas, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kansas and many other states. This inclusion plays well to the voters in those states. It shows that Obama is in-line with their worries and their issues. I don't even want to speculate anymore. I will wait for my international text from the Obama camp and then I will go with it. When the announcement is made, it will be all the news for the week. McCain will try to pull something slimy, but it won't stick. This speculation has served him well.

Attack Strategy

This is the one that has the Kossacks and all the other liberal netizens up in arms. "Why is Obama doing this?!!", "He needs to fire his press team!!", "He's worse than Kerry!!" and my personal favorite, "Obama just lost the election!!!". All bloggers assume their wisdom is the best and therefore feel like they can write posts that seem to be talking AT Obama. I do not do that. I talk to myself. Obama has the right strategy on this and the primary season tells us why. Like all GOP strategies, they chose the short-sighted path and tried to interfer with the Democratic primary so the Dems could kill their chances of unifying before convention. They realeased the all the Wright, Rezco and Ayers stuff hoping that Obama would be so bruised and the Hillary hate would allow for a smooth McCain victory. The Wright stuff hurt, but Obama has now cruised past it. If McCain brings it up again, it will only seem stale and a little desparte. It would not be as effective.

This is what Obama was thinking. Let McCain dish out his first round of garbage (of which possessed no substance), endure it and refute it to around convention time. Obama's theme has been more positive, so his convention needs to reflect that. But after convention, the negative ads will start rolling out and the money is going to pour in. He let McCain go first and now McCain's attacks are getting old and most people think that it is a poor reflection on McCain's character. If Obama had started releasing a lot of McCain=Bush ads now, by October that would be stale and not as effective.

The branding starts now. Obama planted the seed and took the high road first. Sure he might have lost a couple points now, but he's only got one place to go.

Here are his new ads airing this week.

McCain Cheated at Saddleback?

Many observers have been discussing the uncharacteristically quick responses McCain gave during his Q & A with Rick Warren during the Saddleback FOF last night. Not only were McCain's answers quick, but on a few occasions, he even went on and answered the next scripted question BEFORE Warren had a chance to ask it.

You be the judge.

The questions to Obama went like this...

Warren: OKAY LET’S GO TO EDUCATION. AMERICA RIGHT NOW 23 RANKS 19TH IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION. WE’RE FIRST IN INCARCERATIONS.

Obama: NOT GOOD.

Warren: NOT GOOD. 80 PERCENT OF AMERICANS IN A RECENT POLL SAID THEY BELIEVE IN MERIT PAY FOR TEACHERS.

And then he asked the following three questions or leads.

1. I’M NOT ASKING DO YOU THINK ALL TEACHERS SHOULD GET A RAISE.

2. DO YOU THINK BETTER TEACHERS SHOULD BE PAID BETTER?

3. THEY SHOULD BE MAKING MORE THAN POOR TEACHERS?

Obama answered each of them. Then McCain went an hour or so later.

Warren: ALL RIGHT. LET’S TALK ABOUT EDUCATION. AMERICA 18 RANKS 19TH IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATIONS, BUT WE’RE FIRST IN 19 INCARCERATION. EVERYBODY SAYS THEY WANT MORE ACCOUNTABILITY IN SCHOOLS?

McCain: UH-HUH.

Warren: ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF AMERICA SAYS THEY SUPPORT MERIT PAY FOR THE BEST TEACHERS. NOW, I DON’T WANT TO HEAR YOUR STUMP SPEECH ON EDUCATION?

McCain: YES. YES. AND FIND BAD TEACHERS ANOTHER LINE OF WORK.

Warren: YOU KNOW –

McCain: CAN I –

Warren: YOU ARE ANSWERING SO QUICKLY.

McCain: CAN I –

Warren: YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME OF POKER?

You can also watch a video for more proof that he knew what was going on BEFORE being asked.

And each of those "CAN I"'s were attempts to go into his stump. So how did McCain know what the questions were going to be if he was in a "cone of silence"? Because he wasn't and to no surprise at all, he cheated.

Furthermore,

Pastor Warren was just on CNN. In an interview with Rick Sanchez the pastor admitted McCain was not even at the Church for the first half hour of the event. This admission comes as a surprise to those of us who watched the event and were told many times that McCain was at the Church and in isolation. CNN says they talked to McCain's camp and they said "no one in his camp was listening". The honor system, are you kidding me?

I think it is pretty clear at this point McCain did indeed know the questions in advance.

According to MSNBC, Obama was aware that this was going on and planned to use this against McCain.

MS. ANDREA MITCHELL: Oh, absolutely. And, you know, there was the crisp, immediate, forceful response by John McCain, clearly in a comfort zone because he was with his base. And Barack Obama, taking a risk in going there but seeing an opportunity. And a much more nuanced approach. The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that -- what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.

MR. GREGORY: Right.

MS. MITCHELL: He seemed so well prepared.

From Newbusters

John McCain can't do well on his own -- that being "so well prepared" means that he heard Obama's answers and then immediately formulated revised responses to what he originally had planned! And Andrea Mitchell barely hesitated to toss that out there, with guest host David Gregory merely offering a rather semi-innocuous "Right" in response.

I wonder what the Obama campaign's reaction (and Andrea Mitchell's for that matter) would have been had the situation been reversed -- if the McCain campaign implied that Obama had "seemed so well prepared" and therefore Obama probably heard McCain's answers to Warren.

My biggest concern is not that McCain came across looking sharp. The debates will put that to rest when he tries to stump, rather than debate. My concern is that if these scumbags are reportedly so brazen enough to cheat in a CHURCH setting, then we better be keeping a close eye on Election day.

Nothing new coming from the GOP these days.

My question: Warren will be in Larry King tonight. Will this be brought up? Will Warren hand this to McCain AGAIN? I hope King rails into him.

Obama, McCain and Georgia

Expect the next line of attacks against Obama to be related to foriegn policy. With the Georgia-Russia issue flaring up and over-shadowing the Olympics, McCain is getting super excited. He's finally getting what he wants and when he told voters, "My friends, there will be more wars", he is hoping that he was telling the truth.

First of all, if we elect McCain, there will be more wars. That's certain. This guys mind is framed around the concept. He has never won one or had anything to do with a successful one, but he wants them. After all, war scares people and when people are scared they vote for the guy claiming protection. So, if the Media allows McCain and Bush to dictate the narrative like always, then we can guarantee more wars.

Obama should use this opportunity to stress a few points:

1) There is no way that the US can even consider getting involved in this because of our unnecessary depletion of military resources in Iraq.

2) America is not the the police of the world.

3) For once, America needs to look at what the ramifications of such an offensive would be.

Anyone still agree with me about Clark?

No Values Voters

Nothing beats The Onion...

McCain Strategy: The Surge

If "change" is Obama's word for the campaign, then "surge" is McCain's. I think this AP quote from McCain pretty much sums up his entire strategy.

"What we need today is an economic surge. Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and to create new ones," McCain said."

Yeah, those two are related.

2008 Ad War: Obama wins Round II

Did I just hear Pat Buchanan say that Obama won this battle?



The tides aren't changing, but it's nice to see the Media over Obama's substantive attacks in a better light than McCain's baseless garbage.

It looks like the ad war is tied for now. Keep 'em coming!