A local high school marching band from Michigan was invited to march in Obama’s inaugural parade.  Things were going fine and dandy until your typical leftwing ultra-PC group complained that the high school’s mascott, the Chiefs, is insensitive to native Americans.  Unfortenately, instead of fighting this nonsense, the school has caved and will sew patches over the Chiefs logo on their uniforms.  They will also not carry their banner with the logo.  However this is not a permanent change.  It is only for the inauguration.  It is a very small silver lining that I don’t expect to last for long.  After all, this is a school that was invited (and accepted) an invitation to the left-wing president elect.  Two big thumbs down to school administrators for sacrificing principle to kiss Obama’s ring.  This is just another example of indoctrination over education at our government schools.  Get use to it kids, if you haven’t already.

Trot on over to the Club for Growth website. They have a very interesting election poll conducted on Sunday before the vote. It is commissioned by CfG so take the results with that grain of salt. Even so, the numbers are eye-popping. In my own opinion, it can be summed up as the following: the majority of voters favor fiscally conservative policies but they believe that the Republican party has strayed far from this foundation.

Political panic from the financial meltdown also played a big role. (This is my opinion, not from the poll.) Panic, by definition, is an irrational response to fear. The poll shows that the irrational response was to vote against their beliefs. They voted for the one who confidently offered easy solutions and against the guy who wasn’t confident.

Unfortunately, McCain is not a fundamental fiscal conservative. He said a lot of the right words and advocated some good policies, but it was based on gut feelings instead of a solid intellectual foundation. He didn’t understand enough to properly counter Obama’s pitch and the market meltdown. He could not close the sale.

Hat tip: Instapundit

In January, the Democrats will control the Presidency, the House and the Senate. To pass their agenda they do not need a single Republican vote (except to avoid a Senate filibuster). What they pass will be their budget and does not need to have any Republican fingerprints on it. Certainly Republicans should propose amendments, especially ones that strip away wasteful spending, but there is no need for final spending bills to have one Republican vote. It will not make one spit of difference for a Republican to vote for a Democratic bill. Democrats will still chase after a few opposition votes for the appearance of bipartisanship, but it will only be a fig leaf.

Do you think Pelosi and Reid can resist running up a huge spending deficit? Do you really think they can resist increasing taxes on people way below that magical $250,000 mark? Do you think Obama will actually veto any of the bills they send his way?

The time for Republican to start running the 2010 election is today. They need to keep track of the Democratic deficit and present the American voter with the bill in 2010. But for this to work, Republicans must keep their own voting records clean.

McCain is close to Obama in the polls but still behind. Maybe all the polls are wrong, but I would fee a lot better if the polls were pointing toward a McCain win. It does look like McCain is making headway. Here is an idea for more momentum. McCain should run not just against Obama, but also against Congressional Democrats. Let’s face the cold hard facts:
1. It is unlikely Republicans will retake the House or the Senate.
2. It is likely Democrats will improve their control in both chambers.

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but my Dad is. Dad is a small town electrician who also does some heating and cooling work and who is self-employed in a small business. He literally has a mom and pop operation. Mom is his secretary. They live and work in a little Midwest farming community. Dad only attended a tech school, worked for others for a while, and eventually bought the business from the previous owner when he retired. Dad has worked hard his whole life, not just at the business but also raising a family of four kids.

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VDH has an excellent post in The Corner discussing the nature of wisdom in light of the Vice Presidential debate. There are some who are criticizing Gov. Palin because she sounds folksy and so doesn’t come across as intellectually deep. On the other hand, Sen. Biden seems to have a command of the facts as well as a self-confidence that makes him appear smart. However, digging deeper into Biden’s facts, you find that a lot of his statements are factually challenged. Reading through this column I had the nagging feeling that Biden’s character sounded vaguely familiar. Then it hit me: Joe Bidden is a more successful version of Cliff Clavin. You remember Cliff from the TV show Cheers. He was the bar know-it-all who tried to sound convincing but almost always got his facts wrong. There is an idea for a great SNL skit. Get John Ratzenberger to play Cliff as Obama’s new VP candidate.

Judging by the number of commercials I have been seeing on tv, Michigan is definitely a battleground state. Obama has been hitting McCain on the economy, using McCain’s quote from the primary about not knowing as much about the economy as he should. The other Obama attack is predictably trying to tie McCain to Bush, ending with the McCain voting record of 90% matching Bush.

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Just got an email from Rep. McCotter (MI-11th district) that Moveon.org is protesting at his Livonia office this noon (Thursday, Aug. 7). Unfortunately I am at work and a good drive away, but I will update if I can find anything on the local news. I don’t see anything on McCotter’s website so I am copying the email below the fold.

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