From the start of this presidential campaign, about the only thing the American people knew about Barack Obama were the few who watched the Democratic National Convention four years ago, where he delivered a great speech. Also from the start of this campaign, the mainstream media has been supporting Barack Obama not only in their coverage but in their ‘non-coverage.’

Outside of conservative talk radio and one cable network, the American people still do not know who Barack Obama is and where he came from, or anything about his character. The reason that is important in this election is because everyone knows who John McCain is, his character, and where he came from. Now, with less than 30 days before the election, the McCain campaign has finally come to the realization that if anyone is going to talk about Obama’s past as relates to his character, they are going to have to do it themselves. If this were not the case, then we wouldn’t be seeing headlines like this one ‘Character attacks emerge in McCain-Obama race.’

The reason it is only now emerging is because the media has circled their wagons around Barack from day one. And now that indications of his character are coming out, Obama is calling it a ‘smear.’ Today, on a nationally syndicated black talk radio show Barack said . . .

‘We don’t throw the first punch, but we’ll throw the last.’

Obama’s counter to his association with William Ayers is bringing up the ‘Keating 5’ scam. Something that McCain was absolved of that happened nearly 20 years ago. Meanwhile, Barack will have to explain his associations with people like Rev. Wright, ACORN, Tony Rezko and William Ayers, some of whom he has had ongoing relationships during the last 20 years. It is associations like these that speak to his character. All of which are, for lack of another adjective, far left extremists and America haters.

So rather than characterize Obama’s past as ‘character attacks,’ an honest characterization would be more like character revelations.

Since he has not been challenged on them before, outside of talk radio and Sean Hannity, both of which are summarily dismissed by the mainstream media, this morning in Clearwater, Florida at 9:15am, vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin brought up Obama’s words regarding our military fighting in Afghanistan. Obama said that our military was air-raiding villages and killing civilians in much the same vein as Rep. John Murtha accused them of killing civilians in cold blood. That tact, although fashionable to the anti-war anti-Bush crowd, is not acceptable coming from someone wanting to be President, and that story should be told.

It is important to know more about who a candidate really is, beyond their talking points. So today Sarah Palin also brought up the name of William Ayers, and Obama associate from the far left. So far left, in fact, that that guy is an unrepentant domestic terrorist, no matter what else he may be.

The media is mute on Obama’s involvement with the far-left group ACORN as well. For the man that wants to be Commander in Chief, the people need to know more about this man than the media and the Obama campaign wants us to know. So when Barack supporters like Lanny Davis, call this as attacking Barack Obama, just remember to put this in the proper perspective. It is not attacking Obama, it is exposing Obama. So to candidate Palin I say, You Go Girl.

To make a judgment about every horse race, you always want to know ‘who won?’. But in the context of last night’s vice-presidential debate, it is also relevant to know ‘who lost?’. And in this case, you have to say that the mainstream media lost, BIG TIME.

Leading up to the debate, NBC’s political director Chuck Todd called the debate and the race as already over. That Gov. Sarah Palin lost the debate and McCain lost the race even before last night’s debate started. They characterized the debate as if, to use a boxing analogy, Sen. Joe Biden would win the match in the first minute of round one in a 15 round fight. Well, if you saw the debate last night, you have to agree that the fight went the distance. And if anyone got so much as a black eye, it was the 35 year defending champion Joe Biden. But in terms of this debate, a draw is a win for Palin.

Based on all the media hype leading up to the debate, you could come away feeling that Palin won only because she didn’t lose in the first round.

It does not take much to confirm the notion that 2008 is the year that journalism died. All one needed to do is to watch last night’s debate analysis on MSNBC immediately following the debate. Remember when journalism consisted of reporting what happened? The lineup on MSNBC last night took shots at Gov. Palin on ‘what she didn’t say.’ It looked like they tried to do in round sixteen what Joe Biden could not do in the first fifteen.

During the first Presidential debate last Friday night, Sen. Barack Obama made two powerful points that seemed to make some points for him and against Sen. John McCain. One was his ‘me too’ response to what McCain said about a bracelet he wears from a fallen soldier. The other was that Dr. Henry Kissinger, a McCain adviser, supported his view that the U.S. president should meet with Iran’s president and other rogue dictators without preconditions.

His dance about Henry Kissinger’s advice was deceptive, if not simply indicative of a candidate loose with the facts. But don’t expect the mainstream media to set the record straight.

Here is a quote from Dr. Kissinger immediately after the debate about Obama’s remark.

‘Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.’

The bracelet issue is really not much of an issue, except for the fact that Obama was asked by the family not to bring up their son’s name or use it in speeches and debates. The father and mother, since divorced, have both confirmed that point.

All that can be said about it with any certitude now is that Obama showed the world how deep his commitment to that soldier was when he didn’t even know his name. And, that for a man wanting to be Commander in Chief, he can not be trusted to keep his word to the mother of a fallen soldier.

For the mother’s part, she is an Obama supporter. She is reported to have said that Obama’s mention of her son on Friday was appropriate because he was responding after Sen. John McCain said a soldier’s mother gave him a bracelet.