21 posts tagged “mccain”

I attended the rally this morning and was happy to see it packed to the rafters.  In fact, today is double awesome because I sent an e-mail to NRO and -- it must be a slow day -- the editor posted it on the site.

Just returned from the McCain-Palin rally in Virginia Beach.  It was packed full of folks who wanted to scream their heads off for Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin.  And by packed full, I mean that I sat in traffic for an hour and then stood in line for 45 minutes.  Folks behind McCain were there at 3 am, I was told.
Palin made a few remarks about anger being turned to action, listing the things folks are angry with.  Standard stuff, until the last one: Voter fraud!  The crowd ate it up.  Also, she pronounced Norfolk as Nor-fork which a lot of folks from other parts of the country tend to do.
McCain was on his message, though not everyone in the crowd was wild about his plan to buy up bad mortgages.
I came out of the rally feeling like it will be a close race here in VA, despite what's on the news.

My friends,

On Monday, John McCain and Sarah Palin will be in Virginia Beach for a campaign rally.  I am going to this rally.  I thought that I might bring a sign to show my support, but also convey a message to whoever reads it...maybe even the candidates themselves.

So it would have to be direct and memorable without being too blunt.

So here's what I'm asking:  If you have any sign-worthy sentiments, please lay them on me!  If I have a good one I will proudly wave it in the crowd.

Oh, and in other news the son of WFB, Christopher Buckley (of Thank You for Smoking fame) is voting Obama.  What a weird world.  My main issue with this is that the liberals in the comment section are smugly congratulating him for showing that conservatives still have some "intellectual currency."  Pardon me, but if we have to support your candidate and by that token your policies in order to gain an admission that we're not a worthless bunch of retarded, racist breeders...well, I'll pass.

Alright, so I think the consensus is that last night was 90 minutes we'll never get back again.

McCain let Obama get away with blaming Republicans for the current financial crisis, never making the case that Democrats are the ones who have presided over this process of opening up mortgages to people who have a history of not paying their bills. 

Obama predictably tread (trod?) water on foreign policy, but McCain didn't do much to exploit his opponent's weakness.

For a townhall format, Tom Brokaw certainly didn't open up the questions to the audience very much.  I would have liked to see Brokaw just call out the subject and stand back...too bad he seemed to think people wanted to obey time limits and politely change the subject before getting into anything worthwhile.

I wanted blood last night, and all I got was the same bullcrap.  I am now starting to think that McCain doesn't even want to win this thing.  There is so much ammunition he could use against Obama, even if he never mentioned Ayers again.  Rezko, Wright, the Chicago machine...just for associations. 

How about bringing up the fact that Obama still can't admit the surge worked?  You'll notice that Obama didn't respond to that, which by debate rules is a concession of the point...which makes McCain's earlier silence on Freddie and Fannie just as damning. 

I am having real trouble with my candidate, because he just seems unwilling to go on a sustained attack.  It's maddening. 

Today I wanted to talk about the comparative treatment of Joe Biden and Sarah Palin in the media.

I wanted to make the case that Gwen Ifill has a clear ethical conflict because she stands to profit from the victory of Barack Obama.

I was going to go over all the things I thought Sarah Palin should say tonight to counter the underwhelming performances in her mainstream TV interviews. 

I wanted to do a lot of things today, but I'm not really in the mood. 

Suffice it to say that I am rooting for Sarah Palin in tonight's debate.  I saw her Alaskan debates two years ago, and I remember being struck by how she commanded the scene.  She could do the same thing tonight, so long as she sticks to her guns.  She has a philosophy and ideological framework that informs her views. 

With this, she doesn't need to know all the facts and statistics that gotcha journalism seems to think is relevant.  She doesn't need to know the GDP of Australia right off the top of her head.  Google can tell her that in three seconds.  She needs to know only that our actions as a nation can be made within the aforementioned framework of conservatism...or that of liberalism. 

The American people need to decide which one is for them.  I believe that conservatism is the more common sense approach, the more effective way of managing foreign affairs and domestic fortunes.  I believe that liberalism breeds discontent and dependency on a government which cannot possibly fulfill the promises it makes.  Only the individual can chart his own life, secure his own liberty, and pursue his own happiness.  We are made poorer by government largesse, poorer in spirit and poorer in character.  And, of course, poorer in pocket.

Sarah Palin still has my support, and if she stays true to what makes her effective then we'll see quite a debate.  If she tries instead to live up to the expectations of those who want her to fail (the media, in particular) then she will play right into their hands.

We'll know tonight what kind of future she has, or this race will continue to limp along inconclusively as it has for much of the past two years.  After two years we are finally nearing the end, but what of it?  Tonight I would not be surprised to see yet another unimportant milepost on this long, slow deathmarch of a campaign. 

And it is a problem in this country.

The Left Finally Accepts Religion in Government... So Long As You Worship Obama

Thinking about the Smith College op-ed where a student declares Obama to be her "Personal Jesus," I'm reminded of something I wrote on the off-duty blog:

This [children singing about Obama] video illustrates a phenomenon that I’ve periodically underestimated in assessing politics this cycle.

A large number of Americans, like the poster on Mulder’s wall, Want To Believe.

They want to believe in a political leader who they can describe in Messianic terms. They want to touch hands that have touched him. They want the face of their leader staring down on them on posters in public places.

They want to indoctrinate their children about his greatness before they can think for themselves, as we saw in the “children singing” video.

They want to sing songs about him, and credit him for “healing people’s souls.” They want to get together in groups of tens of thousands and chant their leader’s name. They want to make that silly “O” salute.

Cam, you and I have talked offline about the Founding Fathers and their vision of what a citizen of the new nation would be: fiercely independent, largely self-reliant, skeptical of government power, fearful of the passions of the public at large, and modest in his national ambitions. A large swath of the public is the exact opposite of this.

“A Republic, if you can keep it.” It’s tough to keep it if enough of the citizenry wants to see the chief executive as a Xersian God-King.

We can argue if Obama's tax plan is good or bad, or whether unconditional face-to-face summits with Iran's leaders is a good idea, or whether McCain or Obama have the managerial skills to be an effective president. But it's impossible to refute someone who believes that Obama is healing people's souls. You can't dissuade someone whose criteria for a president is whether or not he can make that "mythical voice boom out over the mountaintops." It's fascinating that the press that screamed bloody murder over John Ashcroft holding prayer meetings with some staffers before work is now shrugging its shoulders at the fact that a portion of the national conversation includes, "In the Name of Obama, Amen."

This issue is perhaps the most troubling aspect of a troubling presidential race.  At some point I think all conservatives have hit "the wall" in debate with liberals about Obama and his policies.  Rational point after rational point can be made against the man, and acknowledged by our opponents as a shortcoming...but it never actually makes a difference to anyone. 

For too many people, support for Obama is based on irrational hopes and vague promises of change.  What bothers me the most about the other side is how uncritical they are of this untried man who wants to be our nation's top bureaucrat.  But the office of POTUS has somehow been conflated with the idea of a visionary and epochal leader.  That's worse for the country than any recession.

Ask any conservative today about John McCain and I doubt you'd find the same kind of unblinking acceptance of the candidate.  I feel like we have our eyes wide open about McCain's shortcomings, and have decided that despite those he remains the better candidate in this race.  Rest assured that if McCain breaks with conservatism too often he will be roundly and forcefully criticized.  I believe in my heart that if Obama breaks with liberalism then it will be liberals who modify their stance on the issues. 

Props to Geraghty for referencing Xerxes and all the attendant imagery that name evokes. 

The first Presidential Debate of 2008 was specifically about foreign policy.  This topic favors McCain, and the Senator from Arizona made a good showing. 
My assessment earlier was essentially that McCain had ground to make up while Obama needed to simply avoid a major gaffe.  And despite my earnest hopes, Obama has avoided making such a mistake.  At times, he even affected a statesmanlike appearance about the subject.
But make no mistake:  McCain won this debate.  Obama was too often reduced to rambling incoherence to really claim victory.  While I would not go so far as saying that McCain ate Barack's lunch, he certainly took his dessert and spit on his celery.  Don't listen to David Plouffe, even if C-Span gives him ten minutes of coverage!
Obama's lack of experience and judgment when it comes to foreign policy was on full display, and he was almost entirely on the defensive.  He has made several statements which gave McCain ammunition tonight, and he hasn't had an articulate answer to the real substance of McCain's critiques.

Best line:  "I don't even have a seal yet."  Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

At some level, i think we'll see what we want to see from these performances.  But we have two more debates to get through, and a clearer picture will emerge. 

And...i'm sitll not sober.

Rather than provide running commentary as I have done in the past, I will respond to the debates afterward with a general impression.
Going into it, I have to confess that my spirits are at an all-time low.  Before Palin's selection I was neutral to glum about the situation for conservatives.  An all-too brief burst of optimism has been extinguished by the financial crisis and the apparent Obama resurgence. 
John McCain needs to make the sort of performance that he made at the Saddleback Forum.  He needs to be assured of himself and have a focused message.  He needs to contrast himself with Obama's liberalism and confront him on his duplicity.  He needs to point to the Washington Post article which has finally said that Obama was wrong on the surge and troop withdrawal. 
Obama, to my mind, just needs to maintain a semblance of credibility in the face of his repeated gaffes.  Nobody will call him on them so he just needs to refrain from making more.

Oh, and I'll be getting drunk during the debate so I'll either be really happy or crying into my suds when I post again.

Sarah Palin was accused of many things over the week.  One of the less obscene was the notion that she, a prolifer openly opposed to abortion, had hypocritically cut funding for pregnant teens. 

As it turns out, that was true!  Sort of.  As always, a partial truth is more damaging than a total lie.  For you see:

In the Washington Post, a respected reporter noted disapprovingly that Palin had “slashed” funds for a program benefiting pregnant teens. He failed to mention the relevant fact that she was using her line-item veto power to quadruple funds for the program instead of quintupling them.

Above quote lifted without permission or reservation from David Freddoso on NRO.  Emphasis mine.

I doubt the blogger who brought that accusation to my attention (a polite way of saying "vomited it gleefully into the ether") will find this post, but my fellow conservatives:

Arm yourselves with it. 

As our ideological opponents recover from their shock, they will come up with more substantive arguments against our next Vice President.  It is an accepted rhetorical tactic to exploit the ignorance of your opponent, and if these baseless accusations can still find any traction it will be a wearying two months. 

Don't underestimate your opponent's duplicity.  Palin riles the Obama supporter, because she gives needed energy and vitality to McCain.  Some of them will mix fact and falsehood with desperate purpose, to protect their investment in Barack Obama.

Educate yourselves.

And I offer my thoughts upon it. 

Well, Cindy first.  She needs some practice with the teleprompter.  She'll have plenty of it, I'm sure.  She's a good wife, though.  And here's the negative part of my brain, but if I were Team McCain I'd only talk about marriage very briefly.  Unfortunate end to the first one and all.  But to McCain's credit, he publicly lists that failure as his greatest.

Nobody can accuse McCain of not having a personal stake in the ongoing conflict.  And Cindy is a proud mother to all her children.

Bridget McCain is a testament to John and Cindy's pro-life views.  McCain is from the old school, though, and doesn't make loud proclamations about his religious beliefs.  So, it would be easy to ignore the very compelling story of Bridget.  Easy and stupid.

I hope McCain can keep this crowd energized.

****

Here he comes. 

The video is good so far.  McCain's mom...funny.

Yes, this video is making its point.

Darkness.  A light, and he is here.  The convention stage is set up in town hall format, allowing him to be more comfortable with this very big speech.

Crowd is enthused.  I think they are ready for a real humdinger of a speech.

You can't let the crowd have its way with you. 

Damn camera keeps going to the protester up in the balcony.  Whatever, bro.  You look like Ed Norton from American History X.

"Much more unites us than divides us"...that's hard to keep in mind sometimes.  I hear genuine emotion coming from him.

Fracking Code Pinkers.  Good on you, McCain.  Play 'em off.

McCain really takes corruption personally.  Hopefully he'll run out of Veto ink and have to spend $1.50 of our tax money on a new Veto pen.  I'd gladly allow that gov't expenditure.

I remember when I wrote John McCain off in the primaries.  I'm not as smart as I thought. 

John McCain's message on domestic issues hasn't been really addressed this week, until now.  He needs to stick with this theme.

"Culture of Life" wot wot!

He needs to talk more about his health insurance plans.  Specifics will come, hopefully soon.

Education:  Big issue.  Help bad teachers find another line of work!  Word up.

Gotta stop making Russian billionaires and Middle Eastern Sultans.

DRILL BABY DRILL!

We need to use nuclear power.  It's safe, it's clean, and it's efficient.  Let's use all the tools at our disposal to help ourselves.

On to Russia...Call them out, McCain. 

Wise to not keep Obama at the forefront, but to mention him.  This is about McCain, but it's about how he's more suited than Obama.

I can't imagine this man's experience in Vietnam.  I can only admire it. 

He is right on about service.  Humanity needs a cause bigger than itself to serve, individuals need a cause.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.  We make history.  Damn right.  Hell to the yes. 

Aw sh%t.  Not that Raising McCain song again.  Who thought that was a good idea?

Ok, but that's ok.  Here comes Sarah Palin and some instrumental music.  And confetti!!  Whee!

They're playing Barracuda.  Nice.

So overall, this was a positive speech.  I think it did a lot to solidify his positions, and it's got me feeling assured that we'll make a good go of it in the next two months. 

Barack Obama, for all his many faults, has a touch of gentility about him that all men should possess.  When his wife was under fire for public commentary on her newly discovered pride in America, he did what any husband should want to do.  He told her detractors to lay off.  It was charming, but misguided. 

Sarah Palin, for all her status as a positive role model for women, has recently had her daughter's pregnancy brought very suddenly into the limelight.  This would have been revealed soon, for sure.  The girl's already five months along.  Had the campaign been given time to make the announcement in their own way, it might have been handled with more grace.  But keep in mind we only found out about Gov. Palin on Friday! 

Now Obama, in keeping with his earlier thoughts on the matter of family members being under scrutiny, has come out against the lefty bloggers and Keith Olbermann-types in the media who have begun the "disgusting" practice of attacking Palin for her daughter's mistakes.  This is a rare bit of consistency on Obama's part, and such traits should be encouraged.

However, my thinking on the matter runs along these lines:  Whereas Bristol Palin's pregnancy is not suitable for public critique, nor does it color her mother's credentials, Michelle Obama's public statements were and are still fair game.  The difference is the circumstance of the events.

Michelle Obama made her speeches in public support of her husband.  She was, for a few months, a co-campaigner.  We may forget the role she played early on, because she has been effectively reined in.  She's a smart woman and probably realized that her comments were giving Barack's opponents much needed traction against him.  Most likely she reined herself in.  Because of the public nature of her comments, though, his exhortations to leave the families alone didn't come across as well as the one he is currently making on Bristol Palin's behalf.

Bristol Palin is seventeen, has not made a public speech of which I am aware, and has not been used to showcase her mother's family values.  The difference between the two is clear.  Aside from all that, don't you think that Gov. Palin's family situation is an all too common one in America these days?  The measure of being pro-life, as she is, is how open you are to life's developments...from an unexpected birth or a birth defect to a perfectly planned, healthy addition to the family.  Life happens, folks, and you shouldn't stand in the way. 

Sarah Palin knows that when mistakes are made, you rally around your loved ones and you deal with whatever comes along.  You move forward.  I think that's one thing many Americans, Democrat and Republican, can understand.