Joe Biden...

He seems to be in quite a pickle - and for good reason.

When he was first picked I was actually quite pleased - but not in the same way as some Republicans were, in that he is gaffe prone.
I actually quite liked Biden - because he seemed a lot more experienced, reasonable and better on the issues that matter to me than the other Democrats who had run for the presidency.

But the more I listen to him, the more I am starting to think "What on Earth?"


Now he has really started to show his true colors.
Even Obama is starting to get worried I think, because, with everyone already complaining that Palin is inaccessible to the media, and not in the limelight and whatnot, Biden has really been pulled back, and hasn't been as visible now for a few weeks.

So let's look at some of his most recent statements that have caused this situation for him.

Paying higher taxes is the patriotic duty of wealthy Americans...
This is seriously weird.
The founding fathers of our nation were the wealthy, and when England decided to start raising taxes on them (and the rest of the states) because of their economic turmoil - they stood up and said no.
Were they unpatriotic?
Is it really "patriotic" to pay a larger percent of taxes so that we can keep going with the same policies we have had for years?
Spend more, more special programs, more this, more that.
I say enough.

There is more than enough tax-payer money going into Washington already.
What would truly be the patriotic response to this turmoil would be to cut government expenses, and get back to small government principles.
If we keep on just adding more and more departments and programs and spending to the government, then, frankly, we will always need to raise taxes.
It will never be enough.

We cannot get out of debt if we keep on spending more and more.
While raising taxes on the rich will provide a short term "quick fix" for the problem, it won't be able to last unless we work on the parts of government that are failing.

Patriotism is not giving everything you get to your government to keep it on it's feet, so that it can give a "fair share" to everyone, that is communism.


Biden attacked Obama's new ad portraying McCain as out of touch merely because he is not computer literate.
Then - the campaign released a statement that he had not yet even seen the ad - so he was in no position to comment as he did, and that he now agrees with the ad.
Please - either he is simply trying to destroy Obama for whatever reason - or he knew what he was talking about and now is trying to cover is rear region.


While in Virginia on Saturday - Biden stated that Obama most certainly was not against the Second Amendment right to bear arms - and that he would have an issue if Obama tried to take away his guns.
In actuality, Obama endorsed the Illinois state gun ban.
Obama believes state or local government can constrain the exercise of the right to bear arms.
So, basically, Obama's position is to support the Second Amendment, but allow states to restrict it.
Read more here.

You know, it is really funny, Democrats are always complaing when someone says "Leave that to the states", "That is a state, and not a federal responsibility", etc.
With this, though, he is saying it is ok for a state to go blatantly against the Constitution. How would they respond if a state enacted a law banning all abortions?


Biden has also stated that Hillary Clinton may have been a better VEEP pick...
Ouch - I guess that just shows how good Obama's ability to make important decisions is... even the person he picked thinks he made a dumb move.


Now Obama has chided Biden for voicing opposition to the federal bailout of AIG.
I guess even Obama is finally realizing he just plain doesn't mesh well with Biden...


Biden recently stated that neither he nor Obama support clean coal, when, well, Obama does. Then,once again, he flipped around once he realized that he had just gone contrary to his own campaign...


With all that speaking opposite of his own campaign - it can't really be a surprise that Biden is being kept a little low-profile at the moment.

It shall be interesting to see how this goes from here - but I think Palin may actually have a good chance in a debate now, if Biden can't keep from gaffeing up all the time...

Obama's lucky stars...

With a lot of people commenting lately about how he being black has been a major contributor to why he is not absolutely destroying John McCain in the polls, I started getting rather annoyed.

Personally, I would suggest that he start thanking his lucky stars that everyone thinks he is an African-American, instead of complaining about people voting against him because he is an African-American.
There are an awful lot more Americans would vote against him if they knew he were an Arab-American than are voting against him because he is an African-American.

It is really quite hilarious sometimes, any time someone raises a question about his ethnicity (being Arab not African), his religion (being raised by Muslims and attending a Muslim school), or his name (being Barry Soetoro and others) they are ridiculed beyond belief. It is off-limits to question him on just about anything, except for some policy issues.

Which may not be all that bad - I mean we are voting based on policies and where we want this country to go, but, the problem is - can we trust Obama?

I keep thinking back to G.W. Bush - he was supposed to be the conservative candidate - and ran as such against McCain.
In the end, though, he has not followed through on that.

There have been very few things he has actually done that he promised really.

Now we have a candidate in Barack Obama, and even if you disagree with his views and whatnot, who is claiming he can fix America.
He is promising that we will be out of Iraq ASAP, we will commit more to Afghanistan and try and gte out of there soon and that will be that.
He is promising to bring the economic crisis under control.
He is promising to increase America's standing in the world.
And he is also promising to take America down a more liberal road.

Now when you look at that list, it is an impressive goal - I may not agree with it all, but it is still an impressive goal.

How, though, do we know he truly is looking out for what is best for us?
How do we know he won't become so consumed in the Middle East that he will lose sight of those promises?

If he truly is half (or close to it) Arab, he truly went under different names, he attended Muslim schools, he was not born in the USA, or any of these other attacks, then he has lied to the American people - and we should seriously be wondering if he is looking out for us.
If none of those are factual then fine, he should be able to prove it extremely quickly - but he has not.
He should be counting his lucky stars that these things have not become big issues - that no one is asking any questions about them - because he has not been able to answer them yet, and that is one of two major problems I have with him.

There are too many questions that have been raised that he has not answered for me to feel confident about his honesty.
The other big issue for me is, he has not had even close to the experience necessary to make me feel confident in his leadership.

Leadership and Honesty - those are my biggest issues.
John McCain has not led a perfect life - but he is as honest as any national politician I have seen.
He has proven for longer than Obama has been eligible to vote that he can be and is a leader.


John McCain - the right choice if you want honesty and leadership in the Presidency again.
Barack Obama - the right choice if you want a "messiah" with no credentials...

McCain's pick is looking more and more Brilliant...

New polling data from rasmussen, this being the first day to really take into account Sarah Palin's speech, has some interesting results.
First, she is now viewed favorably by 58% of voters, compared to 57% apiece for McCain and Obama, and only 48% for Biden.
Second, McCain is now back to within one point of Obama, trailing 46% to 45%, and, I would like to mention, this poll does not yet take into account the effects of McCain's speech or the end of the Convention.
This means that before the end of the Republican convention, McCain/Palin had already negated all bounce Obama/Biden got last week.

It seems her speech was liked very well, and, expecially considering she had to wing it for almost half the speech with the teleprompter being messed up, I am really impressed. Her second national speech and she is doing awesome - if this is her as inexperienced and unkowledgeable on the issues - I can't wait to see how she does when she is an expert...

Now to see how well McCain's speech played. I think it will do quite well actually - it was meant to appeal to moderates and independants - and it had plenty of actual policy specifics to let people think about what his presidency would bring, but not enough that he overdid it.

John McCain's speech...

I thought he did a really good job, considering the crowd kept drowning him out every sentence to paragraph - and often in the middle of a sentence.

I think it had way more substance than Palin's, but wasn't delivered as well.
But Palin's goal was to introduce herself, and for that substantive, policy discussions are not as necessary.

McCain ended on a particularly good high note I think, even better than how Palin's ended.
He had a stream of lines culminating around the theme of "Stand up!". And the crowd was roaring after the first, and continued throughout the whole list. And for me it was nice to see McCain continuing on, over the roar of the crowd to continue - it really got me fired up.

Very well done Senator. Now let's go elect you, and get these changes we all need, and hear so much about, actually accomplished!

You go Governor Palin!

What an incredible speech this was. The policy, the points, the wit and humor, the attacks and defenses. It was perfect, or very close.
The audience was one their feet more often than not.

In that speech she really looked VEEP, or even POTUS material.
The way she described her approach, and McCain's approach to politics and issues was delivered very well.

And the one liners - wow. Usually I don't like them much as they really don't get to the heart of the issue well in most cases, but she had so many really good ones, that did get to the heart of the issue, it was really incredible, and it was probably a good thing she stopped when she did.

Some of my favorites.
"Some people use change to advance their career, and some use their career to advance change."

"Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion — I'm going to Washington to serve the people of the country"

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a `community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Really an awesome speech, and, between her and Giuliani, I think this was far more electrifying than anything the DNC delivered last week.
The organizers at the speech couldn't control the crowd, trying to get people to sit down after they had been clapping and cheering and chanting various mantras for some time, and the people kept going.
This even makes me think that she may be able to go toe-to-toe with Biden, and maybe even steal the show from him. If she can be as straight as she was tonight, if she can cut to the issues, then I would tell Biden watch out - she is one tough woman.

Well done, Governor. And G-d bless you!

EDIT:
Here is a transcript:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94118910

Biden better get it in writing!

Well, I missed most of the speakers tonight - but I've been watching Rudy Giuliani - and he has been rocking - I can't wait to see Palin after this!

And he has highlighted one of th worst traits of Obama - change position every different day.
Accept federal funds, then not.
Support an undivided Jerusalem, then not the next day.
And the list goes on...
As Giuliani says, Biden better get that VEEP deal in writing.

On foreign policy, from Iraq to Georgia and Russia, to China, to Iran.
Obama has gotten it wrong, after stating he would do it the right way.
And John McCain has not shifted his position -and it was the right position the whole time.
As Giuliani says, Obama, before you discuss foreign policy, talk to John McCain!


McCain has sacrificed for this country, has served in the Senate, working on important legislature, working with anyone who wanted to help America.
Obama was a community organizer, and a "present vote" politician before his only term in the Senate.


It is time. We need a leader who has already been tested, and we know has passed with flying colors.
We need to elect someone who knows what he believes, and has not waivered on these beliefs even when it was not politically correct!

Well done Rudy, and, as he says, let's elect John McCain and Sarah Palin!

The Republican Convention...

Well, I totally missed the first day, and was really bummed out, as Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman were slated to speak Monday...
Then I woke up this morning and saw that I hadn't missed them, they'd been moved to Tuesday!

So, I started watching just as Fred Thompson stepped up. He definitely looked healthier and more energetic than during the campaign.
I really liked his speech, though I thought it might be nice if he were to elaborate on some details better. It was really cool that he linked McCain's POW experience to his character, and made the distinction that it doesn't mean he should be president sense he was a POW - this helps get away from people like frmr. President Carter saying he is milking it for all it is worth.
It was also nice to see how he was able to show how gov. Palin does have more experience than Obama as well, as that has been something I have been seeing the media attack Palin for as well.

Lieberman's speech was quite good as well. I've come to really like him recently, but I was nervous he was speaking at the RNC in such a prime-time slot (or at all really). He seemed to pull it off reasonably well. It wasn't as stirring as Thompson's, but the message was good, and it appealed to me, and obviously to the people in the stadium too.
It was also quite nice to see him hit Obama a bit for his inexperience and "not reaching over the aisle" - as I get really annoyed anymore with him saying we all need to come together. Obama's version of together is everyone come to his side and be quiet and listen.

Once everything was said and done, I really wished it would continue, and usually I don't feel that way about conventions - so I think tonight went really well.
I will be interested to see now how the other speakers do now tomorrow...

Barack Obama - illegal immigrant?

A while back a forensic expert apparently proved that Obama's birth certificate was forged. (read the analysis here)
Now there is a lawsuit in federal court (link) started by a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter.

He also, reportedly, has had several other names, "Barry Soetoro", etc. Thus he was lying in his bar application in Illinois when he stated he has never gone under any other name.
He was adopted in Indonesia, and the lawsuit linked above contends that this negates any citizenship he might have had. I have no idea on this one but once you are a citizen, don't you keep that your whole life (assuming it isn't revoked)?

And then we get to the heart of the issue.
If he is not a natural born citizen, obviously he can't be president.
Not only that, but obviously he has not immigrated here (or at least hasn't stated he has) ... so, that would make him an illegal immigrant... and thus he would not even be eligible to be a senator...


It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but this could be a big problem for Obama, unless he manages to provide some answers.