I have two observations about this picture. First, what is up with this podium sign? The Office of the President Elect? You’re kidding me, right? I don’t recall ever seeing a President-Elect of the United States of America with a podium sign meant to make him look Presidential. But what else can we expect of someone who had his own Presidential-style seal made to be used during the campaign?
The 2008 Presidential election is behind us, but the repercussions of the vote are yet to begin. Whether you supported Barack Obama, John McCain, or one of the many third party candidates (or no one at all — and shame on you if that’s the case), we all have to live with the repercussions of this week’s election.
Should Barack Obama fulfill four years as President of the United States, I believe we’re going to see some interesting and some very troubling things throughout his Presidency. These are my predictions:
Indiana polls opened at 6:00 this morning, and I headed out the door at 6:10 to go cast my ballot. I arrived at the polling location just three minutes later (it’s just around the corner), and had to park at the Doctor’s office across the street because the school parking lot was full and cars were already lined up along the street.
I crossed the street and joined the long line of voters waiting in the parking lot. The line stretched outside the door, down the side of the building, across the parking lot, and began to wrap back around the parking lot. Several minutes after joining the line, the line was relocated to run along the back side of the building instead of across the parking lot where cars couldn’t get through.
It has become commonplace for Presidential (and, yes, Vice Presidential) candidates to have a published book in the bookstores at some point in the campaign for the Oval Office. Barack Obama has two memoirs published, Senator McCain has three books out, Joe Biden has his book out, and even Governor Palin has at least two books out about her (though, admittedly, not written by her). Among Senator McCain’s published books is Faith of My Fathers, a family memoir that is entirely not about politics. In fact, Faith ends long before Senator McCain’s election to any public office, with his release from captivity as a prisoner in North Vietnam.
As a United States Army veteran who served during the first Gulf War, when General Colin Powell served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I find myself today extremely disappointed not only with his endorsement of Barack Obama for President of the United States, but mostly with many of the comments the former Secretary of State and life-long Republican made while announcing his endorsement of Obama. [full video of the endorsement follows my comments below]
Throughout this campaign, we see people on television every day defending the character of the Democrat candidate. No one has had to stand up in defense of Senator McCain’s character, because Senator McCain’s character defends itself! This man is one of the greatest heroes in our country today. I can’t imagine a person more qualified — in every way — to lead this country into the next decade.
Senator McCain sent an email out to supporters describing in more detail the Homeownership Resurgence Plan he alluded to during this week’s Presidential debate. The plan sounds reasonable. As I understand it, rather than taxpayers footing the bill for failed mortgages, the government would purchase failing, bloated mortgages that are about to be foreclosed. The mortgages would then be rewritten on more affordable terms, and the homeowners would continue to make their mortgage payments under the new terms — payments that are more affordable and would keep the homeowners in their house and off the street.
Read more after the leap.
The following comments were recorded as I watched the Vice Presidential debate live on Fox News. My comments on the debate as a whole follow at the end.
I think it goes without saying that Senator McCain took Barack Obama to school last week in the first Presidential debate. I don’t know how anyone who watched the debate could say otherwise. Obama spent more time stammering, interrupting, and turning red than he did actually providing any useful information to the voters. Senator McCain was very articulate and amazingly prepared for someone who was off doing the job he’s paid to do in Washington, DC, as a United States Senator.
There will be great conjecture over the weekend about what exactly, if anything, Senator McCain accomplished by suspending his campaign and heading to Washington DC to work on an economic rescue plan. Well, I’ll tell you what.
I never thought I would find a more liberal “journalist” than Keith Olbermann (no link provided as I don’t wish to promote his form of politics), but tonight, on the popular MSNBC program Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the show was guest hosted by Rachel Maddow (again, no link, again for the same reason). She has taken over from Keith Olbermann in my mind as the most liberal among the mainstream media’s flunkies.
Tonight, after calling many of the remarks during John McCain’s acceptance speech Thursday evening “lies” — and blatantly calling Senator McCain a “liar” — she turned the tables on Governor Sarah Palin and attempted to call her a liar, as well. She opened the show with a comment that Governor Palin lied about selling the private jet that belonged to the state of Alaska on eBay. She let the teaser hang for nearly the entire hour before elaborating on her “definition” of the word lie.
After the fiery speeches given tonight at the Republican National Convention by Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, Republicans and Independents (and hopefully Hillary Democrats) all have something to stand up for.
After all of the scandalous reports about Governor Palin’s family that have come out since the announcement of her joining the ticket less than a week ago, I was a little disappointed to see that delegates at the convention were wearing buttons in support of Governor Palin that refer to her as hot.
This past Sunday, the popular CBS News Magazine show 60 Minutes featured an interview with Barack Obama and Joseph Biden. The full video is embedded at the end of this article. First, some highlights from the video and my commentary. See if you don’t come to the same conclusions that I did, including the conclusion that 60 Minutes and quite likely CBS News have taken a political stance in favor of the Democrat ticket for President. Don’t know how these questions / comments could have come out this way if they were truly neutral.
As Senator John McCain and the Republican Party were making plans on the eve of the opening of their Convention to cancel various events due to Hurricane Gustav’s rapid approach upon the Gulf Coast, what was Barack Obama and his campaign doing?
Browsing through Twitter this morning, I saw a link to an article that Governor Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia page had been edited just prior to Senator McCain’s announcement that she would be his Vice Presidential running mate, and that the editing had been an inside job.
As I was looking at her Wikipedia page on Friday upon the first mention of her name on Fox News, I thought I would take a look today and see if I could spot any changes. What I found, instead, is represented in the screen capture above.
Browsing through Twitter this morning, I saw a link to an article that Governor Sarah Palin’s Wikipedia page had been edited just prior to Senator McCain’s announcement that she would be his Vice Presidential running mate, and that the editing had been an inside job.
As I was looking at her Wikipedia page on Friday upon the first mention of her name on Fox News, I thought I would take a look today and see if I could spot any changes. What I found, instead, is represented in the screen capture above.
It’s official, Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain has announced that his pick for Vice Presidential candidate will be Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
There have been innumerable opinions and articles so far about the Obama / Biden candidacy. Why did Obama choose Joe Biden as his running mate? What was he thinking? And what can he possibly hope to gain from having Biden on the ticket? What is he likely to sacrifice?
I’m no expert, clearly. Just an Average Joe American with an opinion on everything, including politics and the VP selection of Senator Joe Biden from Delaware. Just my opinion, mind you, nothing scientific.
Because Obama and Biden are both politicians, I don’t expect that we would ever hear from either of them the truth about why Senator Obama selected Biden as his running mate. So I’ll offer you my opinion.
Watching CNN’s webcast of Senators McCain and Obama during the Saddleback Civil Forum, and a subsequent volley on Twitter with an inflamed Obama supporter, made me start thinking about what’s really at stake in this Presidential election cycle. What really matters, and what is just hot air? I have been asked by some to elaborate on my thinking, and I will also share with you that Twitter volley I mentioned. This is likely to amuse some and enrage others, but I hope it will make just a few people give some serious thought to the issues that lie beneath the rhetoric.
Let me start by clearly explaining my position. I am a Christian Conservative, registered as a Republican. I do not vote the party line, and have actually voted for Democrat candidates in the past (not for President, but for other national, state, and local offices). I have always cast my vote for the best candidate, regardless of party affiliation. I believe firmly in the sanctity of human life and the institution of marriage (though I don’t believe they should carry the weight that they do in deciding how to cast our vote in November). I believe that we pay too much for gasoline (regardless of what they pay elsewhere in the world) and that we pay too much in taxes. I believe that our political election process is the best in the country, but still far from perfect and in need of an overhaul. I believe that families should have the right to educate their children in whatever way they choose, so long as they meet a standard of education (which, unfortunately, dictates some form of testing for verification purposes). I do not believe that the constitution says anything about the separation of church and state (in fact, it dictates only that there will be no establishment of a national religion) and that if money is allowed to play such a major role in politics, so then should religion be allowed to assert it’s influence. Our nation was established on Christian principles, and if we lose touch with those principles, we are no longer the nation that we once were. I believe that, as the longest enduring democracy in the world, we have a duty to foster freedom throughout the world. I don’t believe we should do so by force, unless force is required to free a nation’s people from an oppressive dictator who denies them of their freedoms and other basic rights. I believe that we must finish what we start, and that living with the freedoms that our nation provides requires from each of us a price to be paid in defense of that freedom.
All of that being said, I will now elaborate.
