Category Archives: 2008 Election

2008 Election, Politics, Uncategorized

McCain Campaign Needs A Clue About ANWR

Need proof that the McCain campaign is misleading their candidate? The place where the drilling would be looks nothing like the Grand Canyon or the Everglades as even John McCain himself would see, if he had a clue. Here he is making a complete fool of himself at a town hall-style meeting Wednesday at Missouri State University in Springfield. McCain said . . .

I’ll be glad to review over time in light of changing world events on any issue. But I also believe that the ANWR is a pristine place and if they found oil in the Grand Canyon, I don’t think I’d drill in the Grand Canyon.

McCain says that if the people in Louisiana want to drill off of their shore, that’s fine. And if the people of Florida want to do that too, that’s also fine. Well, the people in Alaska want to drill in ANWR. OOPS! Now it’s not fine?

Some things are worth repeating, and debunking the myths about ANWR is one of them. The media and the environmentalists will show you the prettiest pictures of the reserve, then actually tell you that this is where BIG OIL wants to drill.

This is the coastal plain, the place designated for oil exploration. ANWR Coastal Plain

And this is the coastal plain in the spring.

Coastal Plain in ANWR

And this is representative of pictures that the media and environmentalists will show you and why we need to save the planet. This also appears to be Sen. McCain’s view as well.

ANWR protected wilderness

Somebody ought to physically take John McCain to ANWR. Then I’d be interested to see if the added information would be enough for him re-consider his position on not drilling there.

So what does that say for Sen. McCain’s, I don’t know, judgement?, inquisitiveness?, malleability?

related links: NYT blog | McCain on YouTube video | What ANWR Really Looks Like video

2008 Election, Immigration, Media, Politics

Embarrassed For The First Time?

I was flabbergasted today when Democrat Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama said that he was embarrassed, as an American, compared to European countries. And for an even more innocuous, if not arrogant, reason. Speaking ‘Spanish.’

I’ve never before seen such contempt for their country from someone who wants to be president of it then what the possible first couple thinks of it. His wife, no, I won’t lay off her. His wife said that for the first time she was proud of her country. It doesn’t matter what kind of context she comes up with. That statement speaks for itself as far as where she is coming from. From her writings at Princeton, it makes perfect sense that she would and could say something like she said. There was no mis-speaking going on.

Now, Barack himself says today that the United States embarrasses him. What the hell kind of talk is that about this country from someone that wants to be President? What media figure will ask the first-term senator whether this was the first time he had been embarrassed by this country, or if he has felt that way all his life? That isn’t going to happen.

I wouldn’t expect the media to pick up on this. Which explains why, about 10 hours after it happened, there is no news yet about it in the drive-by media. Not the New York Times, not the Washington Post, and not al-AP.

2008 Election, Iran, Media, Politics, War On Terror

Another Corner Turned In Iraq

By now it is obvious to everyone that the so-called ‘news’ media has no interest in telling this story since they, along with the left, are invested in defeat where Iraq is concerned. This development in Iraq is the kind of success everyone has been looking for. Iraq is opening its oil fields to international oil companies for bidding for development and production.

This is not to suggest that the war there and our participation there is over. But the fact that the newly formed democratically elected government of Iraq has progressed to the point that they can make plans for their future says a lot about the success of the war so far.

The move to invite bids for the development of Iraq’s largest producing fields should mark the return of the oil majors, whose cash and expertise Iraq needs to restore its oil infrastructure that has been hard hit by sanctions and war.

By allowing international firms to help raise output at its key producing oil fields, the Iraqi government is breaking with the policy of major oil-producing neighbors such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates where national firms keep tight control of foreign investment in their oil sectors.

Iraq’s move to embrace the world economy is a corner we’ve been looking forward to turning. The left will no doubt say, ‘ya see, it was a war for oil.’

It is Iraq’s own resources that Iraq needs to join the world as a friendly and prosperous country. It’s what the Iraqi people need. The left’s premise in their whole ‘war for oil’ rant is that the oil is for us, the U.S. On the contrary, the war for oil was about keeping it from Iran and al Qaeda and saving it for the people of Iraq. The fact that theses terrorists would have all the money they could possibly need to wage war on us had they taken over Iraq still escapes the left, Barack Obama included.

related link: Iraq throws open door to foreign oil firms

2008 Election, Politics, Race Relations

Congressional Black Caucus Likes Nunn Or Edwards

Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, (D-MI), who heads The Congressional Black Caucus, met with Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) campaign to offer their recommendations for Obama’s vice presidential pick. They like John Edwards and Sam Nunn. Others supposedly under consideration are two women, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, and a cast of characters from the failed politics of the past like Al Gore, Joe Biden, John Murtha, and Chris Dodd.

Interesting choice by the CBC. Edwards is attractive to the slip and fall lawyers, Nunn is attractive to those ‘bitter clingers.’ And two women, not Hillary and with less baggage, attractive to women. No minorities under consideration? What was the CBC thinking?

link: Obama team weighs Nunn, Edwards as running mates

2008 Election, Politics, War On Terror

Iraqis Prefer McCain

The fact that the Iraqi people prefer McCain over Obama should tell you something.

See what these key provincial Iraqi leaders said . . .

“The Iraqis are really fearful about some of the positions the Democratic Party has adopted,” says Sheik Ahmed Abu Rishah. “If the Democrats win, they will be withdrawing their forces in a very rapid manner.”

Mamoun Sami Rashid al-Alawi, the governor of Anbar province, agrees. “We have over a million casualties, thousands of houses destroyed,” he says. “Are we going to tell [Iraqis] that the game is over? That the Americans are pulling out?”

Democrats, so concerned with what the rest of the world thinks of them, what do they think the Iraqi people will think of them if, like Democrats want to do, they leave before the job is finished? That, would be a betrayal. And, not a good way to develop trust, or allies, around the world.

WSJ link: Why Iraqis Back McCain

2008 Election, MRIOTD, Politics, War On Terror

Democrats Closed Tent On Lieberman

Referring to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) as public enemy no. 1, Democrats are once again illustrating how really ‘closed tent’ that party really is. They are upset that Joe Lieberman supports Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) instead of the Democrat’s choice, first-time Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).

Anyone who knows Joe Lieberman, knows how he feels about the war on terror. Like me, he feels that there is nothing else more important to us as a society right now than to see to it that we don’t have 9/11’s on a weekly basis. They are at war with us, believe it or not. And if you’ve been blown up, what does it matter which company you can tax into oblivion? Then the company gets blown up, like what happened on 9/11. Then what are you going to tax? Continue reading Democrats Closed Tent On Lieberman →

2008 Election, Energy, Pensacola, Politics, Uncategorized, Venezuela

How About An Energy Policy That Gets Some?

The Democrats’ plan on fixing our country’s energy problem of high prices and foreign oil dependency is to punish the only people here that can help, our own oil companies. And as an added bonus, we continue to be dependent on OPEC, Venezuela, and Russia for resources that we have, but are not willing to get.

But wait! There’s more! By campaigning on creating punitive taxes upon our own oil companies, Democrats will also depress the incomes of millions of Americans who are invested in America’s energy industries either directly or through retirement and IRA accounts. We’re talking about the 50k/yr ‘hard working Americans’, people like our first responders, fire and police departments, teachers, factory workers, hospital workers, nurses and nursing home workers, small business owners and their employees.

The irony here is, the very people these Democrats say they are going to help, will actually be hurt twice. In their retirement account, and at the pump. The Democrats know it isn’t a solution, and the dumb masses will buy into the notion that the pain they feel is caused by Bush instead of these lawmakers. The fraudulent impression, or spin, is that the Democrats in Washington are the only ones who really care about them. The only ones that want to help them. All that, and a little dash of class envy and anti-capitalist rhetoric tossed in for good measure. For them, the party comes before the country.

Will robbing the oil companies of their profits and trying to control their industry via the tax hammer, without permitting them to get to our own resources and build more refineries, make the prices go higher or lower? This is a rhetorical question. For those educated in government schools, the answer is it will drive prices HIGHER.

This country needs a leader who will set a goal, equal in size to putting a man in space or a man on the moon. A short-term goal designed to get enough oil, gas, clean coal and nuclear energy within our own borders, including the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico, in order to increase supply. Only then will we see prices fall. The long-term goal would be of course, to invent and develop alternative kinds of energy that will reduce, if not replace the need for fossil fuels.

Oil prices would start falling on the day we adopt an energy policy intended to make the United States an oil producer instead of an oil buyer. And it would only get better as we would bring it to fruition.

2008 Election, Immigration, Politics

DNC Pow-Wow, No Peace Pipe

Democrat Party officials met today and decided what to do about the Michigan and Florida delegates. It ended up in a compromise that nobody likes. Instead of giving them no delegates, like their rules had spelled out, the DNC decided to count the votes as half a vote, which ends up with the States getting half of their delegates represented at the convention. They also took 4 of Hillary’s delegates and gave them to Obama.

Harold Ickes, speaking to the Rules Committee for Sen. Clinton, said that she . . .

had instructed him to reserve her right to appeal the matter to the Democrats’ credentials committee, which could potentially drag the matter to the party’s convention in August.

and

“There’s been a lot of talk about party unity — let’s all come together, and put our arms around each other,” said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. “I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates … is not a good way to start down the path of party unity.”

Doesn’t look like she intends on quitting any time soon.

Reactions from the peanut gallery that was permitted to witness the meeting . . .

“How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don’t count the vote?” one man in the audience shouted before being escorted out by security. “This is not the Democratic Party!”

Seeing this primary fight between the Clinton and Obama camps is bittersweet. On the one hand, this fight for the Democrat nomination is a treasure trove of ad material for republicans and conservatives in the general election campaign. John McCain excepted. Sen. Obama’s campaign may self-destruct as more people learn more about him and the kind of people he surrounds himself with and seeks counsel from. The bad part of this protracted primary fight is that McCain won’t use any of it. How could he? Much of the democrat candidates’ positions on key issues are the same as his so it wouldn’t work. Immigration, more business regulation, ‘windfall’ profits tax actions against BIG OIL, man-made global warming, just to name a few.

Conservatives have their work cut out for them. Forget the last 40 years of toil. We’ve got to start over. We have to find conservatives, real ones, and run them in our city, county, state elected positions. From the ground up again, Yes We Can. (sorry, it just happened)

related links: Officials say Fla., Mich. delegates will get half-votes | Should Republican Leadership Resign?

2008 Election, Media, Politics, Uncategorized

Overplayed Assassin?

Is this primary season getting on your nerves just a bit? What makes ‘news’ nowadays is virtually anything that either candidate says becomes an issue of some sort of attack when in reality, they are not. Take Hillary Clinton’s statement below for example. I’m on her side (what did he say?) on this issue that ought to be a non-issue. In response to critics asking her to quit, she has said the following on more than one occasion.

“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

Coming from someone who’s life’s dream is to become the President, from someone who, obviously, is not a quitter, not when it comes to the race for the presidency, what she said was not only true but are two good reasons to reject calls from others in her party for her to drop out of the race.

This controversy is a lot like what Geraldine Ferraro stepped in when she also correctly analyzed the political landscape as relates to Sen. Barack Obama.

Here is what RFK Jr. said about Hillary’s statement.

Clinton campaign issued a statement from Robert Kennedy Jr. on Friday night in which he said Clinton’s reference to his father’s death was “clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband’s 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June. I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”

Continue reading Overplayed Assassin? →