Barack Obama

The Chicago Way

Drew McKissick — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:03:51 -0400

The RNC has launched a new ad linking O to corrupt Chicago politics. Check it out...then pass it on. (click here or image below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST7Og8XI8rM)

Culture, culture, culture

Drew McKissick — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:05:11 -0400

Today's Rasmussesn poll shows something interesting. First, the horse-race number has Obama at 50% and McCain at 45%. But that's not what's interesting. Read this:

Among voters who consider economic issues to be the most important voting issue, Obama leads 65% to 31%. Among all other voters, McCain leads 60% to 36%...

So what other issues might people think are important enough to base their vote on this November? Or what other issues are people pre-disposed to care about when it comes to the differences between the candidates? In a nutshell, cultural and character related issues. And thus far in this campaign, cultural issues have pretty much been invisible. And it's telling on the GOP in the polls.

How many of those folks who are supporting Obama because they feel the economy is the "most important thing" know where he stands on salient social issues like abortion and gay marriage? How many know he voted against (multiple times) mandating medical care for infants that survive an abortion procedure? How many know he opposes state marriage amendments (like those that have passed in over 30 states) that define marriage as what it has been since before our country existed - "one man and one woman"?. How many know his positions on the Second Amendment?

The point is that, in any campaign, you want to fight on ground that is favorable to you. And, no matter what McCain may say, no matter what proposals he may offer to "fix" the economy, there is no way on God's green Earth that the media is going to let him gain traction on that issue....and the voters are not disposed to believe the guy who's a member of the "in" party. So you pivot to the issues that they ARE predisposed to agree with you on.

But, for those issues to matter, you've got to TALK about them. It's time to talk about the culture.

ACORN-apalooza

Drew McKissick — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 14:54:37 -0400

This whole ACORN thing just keeps getting better. And the Republicans are finally getting them in the public's sites. McCain even spoke out about it today (after being asked though) at a town hall/rally.

(click video below or following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76jdskfy0RM)

First, we heard about ACORN's offices in Nevada being raided, computers and other equipment confiscated, etc... Well now there's more.

From the WSJ:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- As most states finalize voter rolls this week, Republican officials are reviving alarms about vote fraud.

One of the biggest instances of suspicious registrations is here in New Mexico, where the Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened a preliminary investigation into 1,400 potentially fraudulent voter registrations in the state's most populous county. ...

The Republican National Committee is trumpeting registration problems on part of its Web site titled, "You can't make this up." Among the incidents: In Virginia, a third-party registration group fired three workers who it said falsified nearly 100 applications.

In Nevada on Tuesday, state election officials raided the offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, after receiving information about falsified registration cards. ...

In New Mexico, there is a history of razor-thin election margins, magnifying the impact of any potential fraud. At the end of election night in 2000, George W. Bush led by four votes. After discovering a box of misplaced ballots, officials declared Al Gore the winner by fewer than 400 votes out of about 600,000 cast. And in 2004, President Bush beat John Kerry by about 6,000 votes in the state. ...

Looks like past may be prologue if we're not careful.

Pressure to investigate voter fraud in New Mexico contributed to a Bush administration scandal that cost former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job last year. An internal Justice Department investigation concluded that David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, was fired in 2006 largely because he didn't satisfy high-ranking Republicans' calls to investigate alleged vote-fraud cases. President Bush had privately complained to Mr. Gonzales about vote fraud in Albuquerque, blaming it for his loss to Mr. Gore in 2000, the investigation found.

Mr. Iglesias said a task force set up after the 2004 election struggled to find a prosecutable case. ...

I'd say they've just found a case. No wonder the Dems howled bloody-murder when Bush dumped a guy for not doing his job...since part of the job he wasn't doing was investigating Democrat voter fraud.

More?

Officials in Missouri, a hard-fought jewel in the presidential race, are sifting through possibly hundreds of questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by an advocacy group that has been accused of election fraud in other states. ...

“I don’t even know the entire scope of it because registrations are coming in so heavy,” Davis said. “We have identified about 100 duplicates, and probably 280 addresses that don’t exist, people who have driver’s license numbers that won’t verify or Social Security numbers that won’t verify. Some have no address at all.” ...

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton said the agency has been in contact with elections officials about potential voter fraud and plans to investigate.

From Ohio:

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has turned in at least 65,000 cards to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in the last year. The board has investigated potentially fraudulent cards since August.

The group has faced similar inquiries in other large Ohio counties. And Nevada state authorities recently raided ACORN’s Las Vegas headquarters searching for evidence of fraud, according to the Associated Press.

Local representatives of the organization told Cuyahoga board members that they don’t have the resources to identify fraudulent cards turned in by paid canvassers who are told to register low- and moderate-income voters. ...

And get this, Indianapolis has 105% voter registration:

According to STATSIndiana, In 2007, Indianapolis/Marion County had an estimated population of 876,804. Of that number 232,607 were below 18 years of age, for a total of 644,197 people in Marion County/Indianapolis 18 or over and thus eligible to vote. (Indiana allows felons to vote as long as they are not incarcerated).

So we have 644,197 people eligible to be registered in Marion County/Indianapolis, and 677,401 people registered. Congratulations go to Indianapolis for having 105% of its residents registered!

And guess who's been paying ACORN to to Get-out-the-vote work?? I'll give you three guesses, and the last two don't count...

Via Say Anything...

Five weeks ago, one of our regulars here at SAB took note of a Michelle Malkin piece on ACORN’s nefarious “voter registration” activities, here. Included was the fact that the Obama campaign had been forced to correct its filings with the FEC regarding payments made from “advance work” to “get-out-the-vote” work instead. ACORN, which claims to be non-partisan and a non-profit, was paid over $800,000 by the Obama campaign, through its front group, Citizens Services, Inc. for that so-called “advance work.” Obviously, the documentation supporting that “advance work” claim by Obama was fraudulent. ...

Good luck hearing anything about this on the evening news.

H/T: Michelle Malkin

More: Ace - Powerline - Stop the ACLU - Hot Air

New McCain Ad Launches Spotlighting Obama's Association with Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers

Gary Gore — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:45:30 -0400

In one of the toughtest campaign ads John McCain has chosen to release to date, the Republican presidential nominee goes after Barack Obama with both barrels regarding his close associations with leftist radical and known domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers.

Something tells me that this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come in the next several weeks, regarding Barack Obama's disturbing actions and relationships from his past.

New McCain Ad Spotlights Obama's Association with Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers

Gary Gore — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:45:30 -0400

Something tells me that this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come in the next several weeks, regarding Barack Obama's disturbing actions and relationships from his past.

New McCain Ad Spotlights Obama's Association with Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers

Gary Gore — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:45:30 -0400

In one of the most hard-hitting campaign ads John McCain has chosen to release to date, the Republican presidential nominee goes after Barack Obama with both barrels regarding his close associations with leftist radical and known domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers.

Something tells me that this is just the tip of the iceberg of what is to come in the next several weeks, regarding Barack Obama's disturbing actions and relationships from his past.

Tightening polls?

Drew McKissick — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:19:35 -0400

We've been overwhelmed w/polls in the last week or so showing The One gaining momentum, with the biggest gain being shown in the Gallup daily tracking poll, (which today shows O up by 11 points). But this is misleading.

Remember this: anytime you see or hear poll numbers reported, 1) always take them with a grain of salt, and 2) find out "who" is being polled. In other words, are they "over sampling" Democrats, Republicans or Independents? And are they polling "registered voters" or "likely voters", (registered voters who say they are either "certain" or "likely" to vote).

Well, (surprise, surprise), the poll that shows McCain w/the biggest deficit - and therefore the one that gets all the attention, (Gallup), only polls "registered voters".

By contrast, today's Zogby poll of likely voters shows Obama only up by 2, (47% to 45%).

Obama led McCain by 47 percent to 45 percent in the national poll, within the margin of error of 2.8 percentage points. Obama led by 3 points in Tuesday's poll.

And today's Hotline tracking poll is even closer...Obama by 1. (see trend below)

Notice a trend in these two? It's tightened up in the last several days. Then keep in mind the "Bradley effect". If O's not up by more than 2 on Election Day, we're in for an all-nighter.

And the important (and hopeful) thing to remember is, this campaign has yet to revolve around cultural issues, which is where Obama has his biggest differences with the American people.

For McCain to win, he's got to take it straight to Obama on those issues, (abortion, guns, gay marriage, etc..), and tie ACORN and Fannie & Freddie around his neck. He's got to ignore what will be the deafening cries and complaints from the media that he's "negative campaigning" and "not talking about the issues" and hammer it home.

Let's hope they understand that.

Thoughts on the debate

Drew McKissick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:45:32 -0400

First off, this was a joke of a "town-hall" format. Since when is a town-hall pre-packaged by a moderator? The questions hand selected...

The best questions of this debate were the ones that did NOT get asked.

No questions about abortion...gay marriage...second amendment...William Ayers... Since Brokaw chose the questions, one can only assume he didn't want to get any that would put Bambi on the spot with those nasty "cultural issues"...(since he figures they don't matter anyway).

Luntz focus group: who did you relate to? more Obama. But that Mac did better on the economy (?)

The CNN focus group...(they're "openminded"...heh)...they didn't hear enough specifics...who won? 10 Mac...12 for Bambi... (oooh, almost didn't stuff the audience enough).

CNN's poll: 38% dem, 3% GOP: who did best job? Obama. (well, as Gomer Pyle would say, "surprise, surprise, surprise!)

Mike Murphy says McCain did a better job of connecting w/people in this debate than in the last one.

Are there any re-runs of the VP debate on?

Liveblogging Debate #2: The Rematch

Drew McKissick — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:59:57 -0400

Here we are, at the second presidential debate...The One's leading in the polls...and McCain's camp is finally coming around to what it needs to do to win this thing - take his bark off. (The same thing Hillary figured out, but too late).

According to Chris Wallace, Tom Brokaw has interviewed all 80 members of the audience individually to find out what questions they want to ask, and then HE chooses WHO gets to ask their questions. Doesn't sound like a real town hall to me. It's a "Brokaw Townhall"! Sounds too packaged...and by a member of the MSM no less. No wonder Bambi didn't want "real" free-wheelling town halls that McCain challenged him to.

A quick aside...this Commission on Presidential Debates has got to go. They've been at this 20 years and you can't in any way say things are better than when the campaigns negotiated these things out among themselves.

9:00: Here we go with introductions...

First question on....the economy of course. If I hear "worst economy since the great depression" one more time, I'm gonna throw up...considering pretty much nobody has much first hand experience with how bad the depression was. Bambi want tax cuts for "middle class"...McCain for all...Mac wants govt. to buy up bad mortages on property that lost value...(?).

On to the bailout.

McCain starts to make his move on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (!!!). Finally. Blames the Dems for not reforming it...says Bambi got 2nd most contributions from them. "Fannie and Freddie were the match that started this fire." Good line.

Obama playing hot potato with Fannie Mae...

Another question: how can we trust either of you since both parties are to blame?

Bambi goes through his "investment" list...and says he'll make "cuts", (but no details). McCain: "they system in Washington is broken". "Obama's never taken on his party"... Points at Bambi as biggest liberal spender in the Senate...says he's proposing over 800 billion in new spending...

9:30: Next: "what sacrifices will you ask Americans to make..."

McCain: that there are some programs we'll have to eliminate. Good answer. (Let's see if Bambi comes back with "we can have it all".) O says we need "leadership".

McCain says last President to raise taxes in bad economic times was Herbert Hoover... Says O would increase taxes on 50% of small business revenue. "Let's not raise taxes on anyone."

Bambi wants to respond...but Brokaw stops him.

Would you give Congress a date certain to reform Social Security? Bambi: "we've gotta' take on entitlements..." (Oh?) Goes back to the tax plan to defend himself. McCain talks bipartisanship and commissions...then back to taxes. Says O has voted for taxes and against tax cuts 94 times. "Look at our records."

10:00: Obama prattles on about health care...

So far, this debate is a blah.

Mac moves on to national security related issues..."we don't have time for on the job training".

Bambi: "we must change our foreign policy".

Brokaw: Obama Doctrine and McCain Doctrine?

O: Intervene "when we have moral issues at stake".

(aside: I hate these "non-partisan" audiences...worse than being in an English 101 lecture)

Mac: "If we had done what O wanted...we would have had a wider war..." "would have brought our troops home in defeat". He's looking better. "have to be able to beneficially impact the situation".

Next: policy re: terrorists hiding in Pakistan, (go after them or no?)

O: blames us being in Iraq. McCain: says O's not experienced enough to know not to telegraph his punches. O wants a followup...they both agree...defends himself, (McCain says "I'm green behind the ears")...McCain: I've got experience and I'm responsible. McCain: O still wont admit he was wrong about the surge in Iraq.

Next: how can we avoid another cold war?

Mac: "long ago, I warned about Putin". We've got to show support for Ukraine and Georgia...let Russia know there's a penalty to pay for aggressive behavior. O says we need to give eastern bloc countries financial assistance to rebuild economies (??).

Bambi keeps running over his time and Brokaw's letting it happen.

Yes/no question: is Russia an evil empire?

O: they've engaged in evil behavior. McCain: "maybe" A responsible answer I suppose.

Next: support for Israel...commit troops in case of Iran attack?

McCain: We wouldn't wait for the UN...our challenge is Iran is on path to nukes...it's a threat to stability of middle-east..."we can never allow a second holocaust to take place".

O: can't allow Iran to have a nuke...never take military options off the table...but no veto power to the UN...BUT, we should have direct talks w/Iran, (he's setting himself up here...but will Mac take a swing?).

Last question...from New Hampshire: "what don't you know and how will you learn it" (Brokaw actually picked that question?? sheesh).

O: pretty much not anwering..."here's what I DO know"...

Mac get's last word: "...the challenges we face are unprecedented" "what I don't know is what the unexpected will be".

That's all folks....

Governor Palin Going on Offense Against Obama

Gary Gore — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:07:56 -0400

It's good to see they've finally beginning to "let Sarah be Sarah", as she is now taking on the traditional role for the VP candidate on the ticket going after the opposing presidential candidate.

One thing that has really seemed clear to me when comparing the two major party tickets over the last 5 weeks or so, is that not only is the vice presidential candidate for the GOP just as (if not more) experienced than the presidential candidate for the Democrats, but she is also a much strong and tough leader than Senator Obama, as well.

Very strong comments and attitude on full display by Governor Palin we are able to witness below...

My only plea to Senator McCain... Let Palin loose, Senator!!!