Hitchens: 'Gutless' Obama 'A Dusky Dukakis'?

Christopher Hitchens at Slate, a columnist for Vanity Fair, is a big-time Obama supporter in the media, but he asks some questions about the Obamessiah that sound worse than anything said about him by either McCain or Palin.

Why is Obama so vapid and hesitant and gutless? Why, to put it another way, does he risk going into political history as a dusky Dukakis?

Hitchens tries to explain his Michael Dukakis comparison (loser to Bush the 1st) by replaying Bill Clinton's confusion shortly after his unexpected victory over Bush the 1st. Big Bill admitted he felt like the dog who was chasing the car and finally caught it. "What do I do now?" he asked.

(Obama) was running in Iowa and New Hampshire to seed the ground for 2012, not 2008, and then the enthusiasm of his supporters (and the weird coincidence of a strong John Edwards showing in Iowa) put him at the front of the pack. Yet, having suddenly got the leadership position, he hadn't the faintest idea what to do with it or what to do about it.

Look at the record, and at Obama's replies to essential and pressing questions. The surge in Iraq? I'll answer that only if you insist. The credit crunch? Please may I be photographed with Bill Clinton's economic team? Georgia? After you, please, Sen. McCain.

Like John McCain has been saying "Not ready to lead." As the old saying goes, with friends like Hitchens, Obama doesn't need any enemies.

But Hitchens makes it clear his criticism of Obama is intended to make him go on the attack because he fears McCain and Palin are winning.

(Obama) is too nice, too innocent, too honest, and too decent to get down in the arena and trade bloody thrusts with the right-wing enemy.

I have no idea what planet Hitchens lives on, but it's not Earth. Calling McCain a "stinking old, dead fish" and Palin a "pig with lipstick" is not "nice, innocent, honest and decent" on this planet. How much nastier does Hitchens want Obama to be with "the right-wing enemy"? Hitchens lives in that alternate universe where McCain's campaign is all nasty lies and the Obamessiah's words and deeds are all sweetness and light.

Hitchens is right that Obama would rather leave the really dirty work to his Astroturfing sock puppets from Kos, Moveon, Code Pink and other assorted leftwing nutroots, not to mention the mainstream media. But lately Obama's sending them signals they aren't being nasty enough.

Wesley Pruden at The Washington Times comments:

Obama told a rally in Las Vegas that his supporters have to "get in the faces of Republicans," presumably to say and do things "the transcendent One" never would.

Gabriel Malor at Ace of Spades answers Hitchens' questions about Obama with blunt honesty. It's so sharp, I stole Malor's entire post.

Obama acts like an aimless twit because that's what he is. There is no "deeper Barack." Sure, he does fine on the topics he's rehearsed a hundred times (race, healthcare, race, anti-Bush, race, Iraq, oh and race), but give him something new to to think about and he defaults: "Present."

That's what happened with Georgia. He gives a statement that he probably read on a bumper sticker: "War is bad for humans and other living things." Then revises it after his advisers have a chance to write up a few position papers (cribbing from McCain) and run a few polls.

That's what happened this past weekend with the financial bailouts. First he sounded like a fourth grader aping a tour guide on Capitol Hill: "Congress has an important role to play." Then, after declaring that now is not the time for specific details to fix the problem he was mocked on Leno. And today he has his advisers have a six point plan.

If he seems gutless, it's because he's used to going whichever way the wind is blowing. As he wrote in his book, "I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views." Sometimes it takes him a few tries to figure out just what message his minders are projecting onto him. And, of course, without these people he has nothing to say at all.

He seems vapid and hesitant because he's never really sure if the answer he's giving is the right one. He's worried that his minders are going to have to turn him around so he can explain away any "inartful" statements. Think of it like this: every time Obama says "uh" on camera, what he's really doing is flinching from the possibility that his campaign manager, David Plouffe, is going to whack him on the nose with a newspaper. Again. Hence the stutter.

Hitch writes that he's getting the feeling that Obama is a little scared of winning this contest. And why wouldn't he be? After two years of dancing to his minders' tune, being reduced to a mouthpiece for smarter, more experienced and more ambitious men and women, he can look forward to at least four more! This is an understandable fear.

But Obama's also feeling what a child feels after he has climbed into Daddy's truck and turned it on, believing that he's seen Daddy do it so many times that he can do it too. The Obama campaign truly has been the campaign of hope: as in, "I hope I can do this." Things are rolling now, but it's just starting to dawn on him that maybe he doesn't know as well as he thought how to control this thing. He's more likely to come to a screeching, crunching, grinding stop than to make a graceful finish.

Abe Greenwald at Contentions also noted Hitchens' lament about Obama's "vapid and hesitant and gutless" stands on issues and ran with it.

Nice job, but it’s only a start! Let’s expand:

Does present-day Zionism have justice on its side? Let me tell you about my sixth grade camp counselor. How do you intend to apply pressure on Iran? By tightening the screws or employing a similarly useless cliché . When does life begin? Sorry, above my pay grade. NAFTA? Are you asking me or my advisor? Troop withdrawal? Immediately! Or whenever . . .

Forget the fact that Obama has no paper trail. There’s scarcely a record of his convictions–period. It could be that this, in some way, resonates with an electorate that itself has been sitting on the fence on crucial issues for years. They want to stop supporting dictators, but avoid the messy work of building democracies. They want to win in Iraq, but they want to end the war. They want smaller government, but everyone should have healthcare. They want to save Darfur, but wait for the UN. They want to drill offshore, but scold about it being a temporary fix. They want loans they can’t pay back, but want to punish the lenders. Obama lets his supporters indulge their passions without ever having to act upon them. Choose Obama and you never have to choose again. That’s a very appealing (and very dangerous) delusion.

Meanwhile, back on the "friends of Obama" side, guess who else took a turn in the fun game of "Whack Obama!"? Wait for it ... Joe Biden!

Obama's running mate shifted into reverse as he said yesterday that Obama's "McCain can't use a computer" ad was really ... "terrible!"

I think Obama needs to explain to Biden again how his VP's role as "attack dog" does not include biting the boss in the rear.

Palin Derangement Syndrome worse than BDS

Andrew Breitbart, founder of the news Web site breitbart.com, explains the strange phenomenon known as Palin Derangement Syndrome, which seems to have infected all the previous carriers of Bush Derangement Syndrome and spread further. I take issue with Andrew only on semantics. He calls those infected with PDS "sufferers." The only people suffering are those of us nearby. They're PDS carriers, not sufferers.

Palin Derangement Syndrome, a more irrational variant of the Bush contagion, doesn't require sufferers to know anything about the subject of their hatred. Anonymous, unsourced rumors fuel the fire (book banning, speaking in tongues, creationism, etc.). Lovely family photos hacked from a personal e-mail account displayed on commercial Web sites push more buttons. Asterisks from Mrs. Palin's biographical sketch - "moose hunter," "small-town mayor," "wife of champion snow machine racer" - cause excessive sweating and irregular heartbeats. She even fired a guy who Tased a 10-year-old. (Oh wait, she didn't.)

What will happen when they find out she shops at Wal-Mart?

Predictably, the celebrity left - ridiculous enough to form a strong opinion based on unreliable data points and narcissistic enough to broadcast it - has taken to stage, television, newsprint and blogs to express its extreme ire at the Thrilla from Wasilla.

From there on, Breitbart starts quoting the deranged carriers of PDS, so don't read the whole thing unless you have a very strong stomach.

Breitbart concludes with a warning to PDS carriers that their ire may come back to bite them in the end, pun intended.

Not since the drubbing of Clarence Thomas during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings have liberals in Hollywood and the elite media so openly conspired to deny a minority the right to free thought and free expression of political ideals. Now Sarah Palin is exposing the Democratic Media Complex to a new generation, many of them open-minded women.

Joseph Curl, senior White House correspondent for The Washington Times, reports the Thrilla from Wasilla is taking The Big Apple by storm.

NEW YORK -- She may be a yokel from a state so far away it's not even considered flyover country, but Sarah Palin has electrified this city, which has seen absolutely everything (and quickly been smugly bored by it all).

You hear in the streets: "No, I think she's staying here, at this hotel!" You hear it in the elevator "here" -- the Millennium Broadway Hotel: "She's here, somewhere, maybe on the 52nd floor, in the really big suite." The bellboys ask you when they see your campaign credentials: "Can we meet her, just for a picture?" (Probably, um, not.)

She is, in fact, here, ready to check off the boxes that will make her an experienced running mate for her running mate, Sen. John McCain. She'll meet Tuesday with a slew of world leaders: First, Afghan President Harmid Karzai, then Columbia's President Alvaro Uribe, then former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, then hold a "private meeting" that is "closed" to the "ostracized" press.

John McCain is counterattacking PDS carriers, naming in particular that old gray ghost in the Big Apple, The New York Times, as number one.

The McCain campaign lashed out at The New York Times on Monday, accusing it of dropping its journalistic standards and being “150 percent in the tank” for Senator Barack Obama.

McCain personally didn't pass up an opportunity to bash the NYT and the media in general on Monday at a campaign stop when a lady asked him a question about PDS.

One of the three questions Monday came from a very angry woman. First, she drew the loudest applause of the day when she said to McCain, "I just want to say, thank you for Sarah Palin."

When the cheers died down, she struck: "I want to take the opportunity to ask the media, where's your 30 investigators over in Chicago! You gotta' start doin' your job and stop picking on little children because of their age and their pregnancy! Shame on you!"

McCain, with a wry smile, said: "That's a great question." More huge cheers. In the end, though, it didn't really matter. The 12 Monkeys -- David Foster Wallace's nickname for the dozen or so reporters from the big newspapers and wire services -- didn't wince. In fact, they didn't even bat an eye. Most weren't even listening, too busy typing away on their laptops in the back of the Scranton Masonic Temple.

Very good question. If you're waiting for the media to answer that one, don't hold your breath until they do. You'll get very blue in the face.

But to end on an up note, guess which big-shot Democrat said something nice about Sarah Palin?

Speaking about Palin's appeal to the "heartland," Big Bill Clinton said yesterday, "I come from Arkansas, I get why she's hot out there." Yep, he really said "hot."

Say what you will about Big Bill, hot babes is one area where he has some real expertise.

Obama's Chicago Machine: Rouge's Gallery

John McCain’s campaign released one of its hardest hitting ads in this election on Monday, linking Barack Obama to convicted felon Tony Rezko.

The new spot, “Chicago Machine” also connects the Democratic presidential nominee to three prominent Illinois politicians– former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, Illinois state Senate President Emil Jones and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich — all of whom have faced criticism for questionable ties to businessmen and political power brokers.

Fox News also reports:

Still untouched by the McCain camp are Obama’s connections to Weather Underground co-founder Bill Ayers and Obama’s controversial former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama called Wright a “legitimate political issue” back in the spring. McCain advisers say those names and associations will not be off-limits and could come up in the last 43 days before the Nov. 4 election.

How to make Jews vote for McCain-Palin

Yet another ham-handed stupid move by the Obama campaign may well cost him votes among Jews, another crucial group usually Democratic.

Disinviting Sarah Palin to a Jewish forum to protest the visit of Iran's President, Iyamanutjob, to speak at the U.N. is causing an uproar.

Many prominent American Jews and a number of media outlets are labeling the action disgraceful.

The New York Post, noting that these rallies had taken place for years with the participation of political candidates of different parties, was among those labeling the decision to dump Palin a “disgrace.”

...The Post was not alone in expressing outrage. A local New York news report cited angry local reaction to reports that the group organizers had been pressured — perhaps threatened with loss of tax exempt status — to disinvite Palin:

“This is insulting. This is embarrassing, especially to Gov. Palin, to me and I think it should be to every single New Yorker,” Assemblyman Dov Hikind, D-Brooklyn, told CBS 2 HD.

...”It’s an absolute shame that this has happened,” Hikind said. “To threaten organizations … to threaten the Conference of Presidents that if you don’t withdraw the invitation to Gov. Palin we’re going to look into your tax exempt status … that’s McCarthyism.”

The same story quoted President of “Hillary Now” Bob Kunst: “I’m absolutely appalled at the behavior of the Democrats. I’m a Democrat and for the first time in my life I’m going to vote Republican. I can’t take it anymore.”

Wow. Another smooth move, ticking off prominent Jews, a New York Democratic legislator and a big-shot Hillary Democrat. A full hat trick.

Jewish writer Roger L. Simon explains who's on first in An Open Letter to My Fellow Jews:

The virtual night of the long knives played out between the Democratic Party and various Jewish organizations surrounding the Iran demonstration, including allegations that party operatives were threatening the loss of tax exempt status over Sarah Palin’s appearance, with more unpleasant revelations undoubtedly to come, is obviously causing people to reconsider this allegiance to the Democratic Party that approaches fealty.

I urge my fellow Jews to keep thinking about this and not to retreat into the cocoon-like safety of an outmoded tradition. Change is difficult. But remember that Hillary Clinton – that paragon of the Democratic Party, a woman who calls herself a “progressive” (oh, desecration of the English language!) – was willing to forego the protest of the man who is arguably the most significant enemy of the Jews since Hitler for partisan and (most likely) personal pique reasons. How morally repellent is that!

And then Joseph Biden told us he was busy–too busy to protest a nuclear-armed madman who fervently believes that his mysterious Twelfth Imam (Mahdi) is destined to unite a chaotic globe under Allah. (And don’t tell me that evangelicals believe similar things. If you think there is an equation between evangelicals and Khomeinist Islamists, you need a cold bath.)

No, those Democrats thought of themselves and their party first, the citizens of this country and the world later. When Republicans behave in a similar reprehensible manner, we should condemn them with all ferocity. But fellow Jews, stop being slaves to the Democratic Party. End this illicit love affair – not just for your own good, but for the good of humanity.

Rush fires back at Obama campaign smear

You're in the midst of a tight-as-a-tick race for the White House, so what would you do to gain an edge? Pick a fight with the biggest dog on the other side? Believe it or else, that's what Obama did, picking on El Rushbo, the Big Kahuna, Attack Dog of the Right, with a nasty ad.

And what do you suppose El Rushbo is doing? Being Mr. Nice Guy and turning the other cheek? Well maybe, but his cheek's a bit lower down.

In The Wall Street Journal, Rush Limbaugh responds to the Obama campaign's sound bites pulled from two parodies he wrote about Mexico.

I understand the rough and tumble of politics. But Barack Obama -- the supposedly postpartisan, postracial candidate of hope and change -- has gone where few modern candidates have gone before.

Mr. Obama's campaign is now trafficking in prejudice of its own making. And in doing so, it is playing with political dynamite. What kind of potential president would let his campaign knowingly extract two incomplete, out-of-context lines from two radio parodies and build a framework of hate around them in order to exploit racial tensions? The segregationists of the 1950s and 1960s were famous for such vile fear-mongering.

...The malignant aspect of this is that Mr. Obama and his advisers know exactly what they are doing. They had to listen to both monologues or read the transcripts. They then had to pick the particular excerpts they used in order to create a commercial of distortions. Their hoped-for result is to inflame racial tensions. In doing this, Mr. Obama and his advisers have demonstrated a pernicious contempt for American society.

We've made much racial progress in this country. Any candidate who employs the tactics of the old segregationists is unworthy of the presidency.

I'm beginning to wonder if anybody in the Obama campaign has enough sense to come indoors from a hard show of rain. Picking on Rush?!! Even if the smear ad works as planned and gets Obama a few Hispanic votes, is that worth firing up El Rushbo and his millions of radio listeners?

Obama campaign linked to 'Astroturf' McCain-Palin smears

Ace of Spades and the Jawa Report have been digging into the Obama campaign's undercover "Astroturfing" smears on McCain-Palin and caught them red-handed.

Extensive documentation at the Jawa Report suggests an Obama-connected PR firm was responsible for a video that falsely suggested Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaska Independent Party.

Ace broke out his famous flaming skull for this headline at 12:42 a.m. this morning:
Obama Connected PR Firm Uploads, Publicizes Lying Anti-Palin Ad on YouTube, Then Pushes it Virally as "Grassroots" Effort; PR Exec Sockpuppets Praise Video for "Getting the Truth Out;" Company Employee Uploads it to Obama Smear Clearinghouse Daily Kos and Urges Readers to Send it Out to Ten People Each

Then at 4:38 a.m., Ace reported Obama's astroturfer got spooked by the flaming skull and skedaddled after trying to destroy all the evidence.

"eswinner's" YouTube Account Officially Closed 15 Minutes Ago;
No Defamation Without Representation!

Trouble is, boys, we got copies. Of everyfuckingthing.

You goddamned rats.

Short version: Obama campaign manager David Axlerod, DNC, Kos, Moveon.org and the whole gang of leftwing nutroots caught red-handed. Ace explains.

David Axelrod is known as "the Master of Astroturfing," and this is just his sloppiest and most brazen effort (thus far detected). You know what also doesn't get fact checked? The tens of thousands of coordinated comments smearing McCain and Palin posted every day on media and blog threads, many of which are being written by "concerned Christian conservative commenters" who are in fact agents of David Axelrod and the DNC -- either directly, as in on-the-payroll sockpuppets, or indirectly, as in big internet groups determined to do "the dirty stuff Obama can't do himsef."

Obama can't cast doubt on Palin's fitness as a mother without risking electoral debacle.

But his legions of busy, busy, busy internet sockpuppets can. He gets the benefit of the smear without having to accept any of the responsibility for it.

Nasty work, digging through the muck and mire spread by the wizard behind the curtian, but Ace and Jawa are up to the task. Somebody's got to do it and if you think the mainstream media is up to the task, how about sending me some of that stuff you're smoking. Never mind, I quit 30 years ago.

Day by Day: See today's toon above.

The Washington Examiner reports:

A series of videos designed to spread lies about the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Governor Sarah Palin has been connected to a professional Public Relations firm. Those videos also share production qualities used in pro-Obama videos produced by Obama media campaign strategist David Axelrod.

Axelrod is considered by many to be a master of planting campaign messages on the internet to look like they did not originate from an organized campaign, a practice know as “astroturfing” (because of the fake grass-roots nature of the message). The smear videos have been connected to a professional PR firm, the kind of firm Axelrod would turn to in order to disseminate his message. No direct evidence of such a link has been established but to do so would be very difficult for any outside investigation.

Company employees and family members of Winner & Associates have been connected to the placement of these videos on Youtube. In addition, they have been shown to have sent notice of these videos to the fringe left-wing websites, the Democratic Underground and Daily Kos. Those smear machine websites then urged their readers - hundreds of thousands of them - to spread word about the smear videos.

Biden vs. Palin: Shootout at the VP Debate

Here's a video that been floating around for some time of Sarah Palin visiting the troops in Kuwait in 2007 when she fired a training M16. Guy says at the end that she "hit that one pretty near dead center."

And Joe Biden said today he's got a Beretta and he ain't afraid to use it, so his buddy Obama better not try to take it away from him.

Biden told the crowd that he himself is a gun owner. "I got two," Biden said, "if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem. I like that little over and under, you know? I'm not bad with it. So give me a break. Give me a break."

I bet Sarah's shaking in her boots, don't you?

The Men Who Built The Bomb: Fannie & Freddie

Ace has compiled the "whodunit" list of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fame. Read it all.

The Men Who Built the Bomb: ... are all working as advisers to Obama now.

Penny Pritzker, "the Michael Milken of subprime mortgages," is Obama's Finance Chair.

Jim Johnson, disgraced former CEO of Fannie, was Obama's vice presidential search chairman, at least until he resigned under fire due to his role in providing subsidized sweetheart loans to Democratic Senators during his stint at CountryWide.

Franklin Raines, who participated in the accounting scandals to fix Fannie's books and deliver unwarranted bonuses to its top executives, is a top Obama adviser.

Corrupt "Community Organizer" organization ACORN, an institutional ally of Barack Obama, lobbied Freddie and Fannie to extend even more risky loans to credit-poor borrowers in the interest of ending "racial redlining." But they didn't end "racial redlining." What they ended was any credit-checking at all, as subprime mortgage providers simply stopped verifying self-reported claims of income and in fact ended even the most basic prudential element of a mortgage -- the down payment.

"Fannie Mae is proud to work with ACORN Housing, " said Thomas Collins, Director, Single Family Business, and Fannie Mae. By working with ACORN and lenders like Citibank, we can support their efforts to expand homeownership opportunities for underserved communities at affordable price points achieve sustainable homeownership."

In this same speech, Collins referred to, Obama, and other members of the Black Congressional Caucus which had worked so diligently to craft the time bomb that would ultimately destroy two key segments of the American economy (both housing/home construction and the financial sectors), members of "the family."

Obama Economics Adviser Austan Goolsbee continued defending and lobbying on behalf of the mortgage industry's no-money-down-no-credit-check policies at least until September of 2007.

Charlie Gibson just don't get prayer for troops

What did Sarah Palin really pray about our troops going to war? Her entire prayer, not just the "exact words" Charlie Gibson pulled out and tried to twist into a "Gotcha!" question. Plus other president's prayers as our troops went forth into harm's way: Bill Clinton, JFK, FDR and Lincoln.


By Newt Gingrich

Another Fannie Mae ex-CEO in Obama's camp

Another Obama buddy, former CEO of Fannie Mae Franklin Raines, who took the money and run before the brown stuff hit the fan. The hits keep on coming.

Late-night comics take turn to the right?

Is it my imagination, or are the late-night comics letting up on McCain and Palin a bit and finding something at least slightly humorous to say about Obama and Biden?

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
● The stock market was up 400 points today, or as the Democrats call it - terrible news.
● Barack Obama said again today that he wants to raise taxes on the rich - that's provided by November anyone is still rich.
● That seems to be the theme: In a speech today, Joe Biden said that paying higher taxes is patriotic. The Republican strategy on Joe Biden? Let him keep talking.
● The Democratic-controlled Congress said they are going to adjourn for the rest of the year. They said regarding the financial crisis, no one knows what to do. Well, that's a ringing endorsement to re-elect them - 'You're on your own! We're leaving.'

Late Night with Conan O'Brien
● This Sunday, the entire hour of '60 Minutes' will be devoted to Barack Obama and John McCain. Apparently, Barack Obama will be interviewed, and John McCain will fill in for Andy Rooney.
● Earlier this week in Colorado, Barack Obama gave a speech in the middle of a rodeo ring. Obama began his speech at the rodeo by saying, 'Hello - I am what is known as a black guy.'

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
● Computer hackers broke into Sarah Palin's e-mail. They posted her mail on the Internet. It's disgraceful. I urge everyone not to read Gov. Palin's emails - especially any drooling, adolescent love-letters from someone known as Craig from CBS.com.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
● Finally some good news this week: The chairman of the Fed called for a do-over. We're just going to start the week over.
● The government had to bail out two huge companies, and today they strongly hinted that they'd bail out others . . . at taxpayers' expense of course. It's all part of a new approach that leaders in the White House and Congress are taking - it's called socialism.
● A hacker hacked into Sarah Palin's e-mail by breaking her password, which turned out to be Bible, hockey, lipstick, gun.

Wow, only one McCain's too old joke. See what I mean?

Take the test to see if Obama is a gun nut

Are you a bitter, backwoods redneck, like moi? But maybe you were raised a Democrat and don't know no better, like moi usedta be before I became a Ronald Reagan conservative? Then maybe you're thinking it'll be OK to vote for Obama. He's a Democrat, right? How bad could it be for us bitter, backwoods rednecks, clinging to our God and our guns, not to mention our grits?

Well this match-up test will help you make the big decision on your vote. Better take it before you vote, because a vote for Obama will leave you with nothing but your grits to cling to.

Take the test and if you still want to vote for Obama, send all your guns to me.

I stole this from GunBanObama, a great site by the NRA Victory Fund. If you're a gun owner and you aren't a member of the NRA, you oughta be ashamed of yourself. Join today.

Coming to the Lincoln Bedroom for an '09 sleepover

Obama says we all should learn Spanish. I'm glad I ain't got around to that just yet. Here's Obama's buddy Hugo Chavez, dictator-for-life of Venezuela, with a few choice words for us Yankees.

I just can't wait to see the press cover the sleepovers in the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House for Hugo Chavez, Imanutjob from Iran and every other tinhorn, wingnut dictator on the globe.

BTW, don't buy your $4 gas at Citgo. Your hard-earned bucks will go straight into Hugo Chavez' dirty pockets to finance the next Communist takeover of his neighbors in South America.

Black preacher prays for Bristol Palin, blasts Obama

Obama's least-favorite preacher, The Honorable James David Manning, offers a prayer for Sarah Palin's pregnant teen daughter Bristol and has more than a few choice words for Obama and the mainstream media who cherish him. Manning is most definitely not like the not-rev. Wright!

Garbage loans lead to big stinkin' economic mess

I don't know squat about economics. But I know their ain't no free lunch, somebody's got to pay.

Neal Boortz is an economic expert. I'll let him explain the current mess we're in.

Twenty years ago the buzz-word in the media was “redlining.” Newspapers across the country were filled with hard-hitting investigative reports about evil and racist mortgage lenders refusing to make real estate loans to various minorities and to applicants who lived in lower-income neighborhoods. There I was closing these loans in the afternoons, and in the mornings offering a counter-argument on the radio to these absurd “redlining” claims. Frankly, the claims that evil mortgage lenders were systematically denying loans to blacks and other minorities were a lot sexier on the radio than my claims that when credit histories, job stability, loan-to-value ratios and income levels were considered there was no evident racial discrimination.

Political correctness won the day. Washington made it clear to banks and other lending institutions that if they did not do something .. and fast .. to bring more minorities and low-income Americans into the world of home ownership there would be a heavy price to pay. Congress set up processes (Research the Community Redevelopment Act) whereby community activist groups and organizers could effectively stop a bank’s efforts to grow if that bank didn’t make loans to unqualified borrowers. Enter, stage left, the “subprime” mortgage. These lenders knew that a very high percentage of these loans would turn to garbage – but it was a price that had to be paid if the bank was to expand and grow. We should note that among the community groups browbeating banks into making these bad loans was an outfit called ACORN. There is one certain presidential candidate that did a lot of community organizing for ACORN. I won’t mention his name so as to avoid politicizing this column.

These garbage loans to unqualified borrowers were then bundled up and sold. The expectation was that the loans would be eventually paid off when rising home values led some borrowers to access their equity through re-financing and others to sell and move on up the ladder. Oops.

Right now this crisis is being sold to the American public by the left as evidence the failure of the free market and capitalism. Not so. What we’re seeing is the inevitable result of political interference in free market economics. Acme bank didn’t want to loan money to Joe Homebuyer because Joe had a spotty job history, owed too much money on his credit cards, and wasn’t all that good at making payments on time. The politicians told Acme Bank to figure out a way to make that loan, because, after all, Joe is a bona-fide minority-American, or forget about opening that new branch office on the Southside. The loan was made under politicial pressure; the loan, with millions like it, failed – and now we are left to enjoy today’s headlines.

So … why aren’t you reading the whole story in the mainstream media? Come on, are you kidding me? Do you really expect the media to blame this mess on deadbeat borrowers and political interference in the free market when it is so easy to put the blame on greedy lenders and evil capitalists? Remember … there’s an election going on. One candidate is decidedly anti-capitalist. Do the math.

Now who would Mr. Boortz be talking about? The Big "O" maybe? Mr. Community Organizer?

Obama: Economic plan is above my pay grade

As my daddy used to say, when you chunk a rock into a dog fight, the hit dog hollers.

Obama had to respond to McCain's economic plan offered this morning and here's his response:

"Sorry folks, an economic plan is above my pay grade. But trust me. I'll come up with one after you elect me President."

Reuters provides a quote:

"Given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I have asked my economic team to refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have had an opportunity to present their proposal."

I just watched his speech and his answers to questions from the media and the gist of it was somewhere between "McCain stole my plan that I got from Paul Volcker but hadn't got around to announcing yet" to "We need to appoint a bipartisan commission to come up with a plan" to "We need to ask the G20 to come up with a plan" to "I can't tell you what my plan is right now because President Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson hasn't sent me his plan yet" to "Let's not make any rash decisions right now and give Henry Paulson and Ben Bernacke time to come up with a plan."

I know Obama ain't president yet, but he don't. He's laboring under the delusion that the Fed chief Bernacke and the Treasury chief Paulson are already working for him and he just can't understand why they haven't reported in to him yet and sent him their plans on what to do. Maybe his email got deleted off their list by that hacker that stole Sarah Palin's email account.

As I said earlier, Obama ain't got a plan, ain't got a clue how to come up with one and nobody in his campaign staff has got a clue either because they're the same ones who got us in this mess.

But just trust the Obamessiah, he'll take care of all us stupid rednecks once he's in power.

When in doubt, vote 'Present'

Somebody musta shoved a chunk of kindlin' wood up somebody's behind over at the McCain camp, because the McCain campaign is on fiiiiaahhh! First Big John's speech this morning, which indicates that the candidate and all the smart people in his camp burned some midnight oil coming up with solutions, then new campaign ads beatin' Obama like a red-headed stepchild.

Mr. Smooth has been sliding by on charisma his whole life and done absolutely nothing in the real world. I read the other day that he slides into Senate committee meetings late (when he shows up at all) and asks uninformed, dare I say stupid questions, then leaves early. And of course, that subcommittee with oversight of Aghanistan which he chairs has never held its first meeting.

Mr. Smooth has had everything in life handed to him on an affirmative-action platter. As Hillary said, all he's done so far was make a speech in 2002 and he's been coasting on that every since.

Time to get out in the real world and start working for a living like the rest of us. Fat chance.

Hanson on McCain: Wall Street Morality Tale

Historian Victor Davis Hanson is about a zillion times smarter than me and most folks and has the first analysis I found on the McCain speech. Here's his entire post from the Corner at NRO.

Wall Street Morality Tale

I think McCain, so far better than Obama, is trying to put the meltdown in human terms as analysts, economists and financiers are sorting out the financial mess. This week and next the campaign boils down to whether the voters believe the Obama generic message that Republican free-market philosophies fostered a culture of excess and proverbial "Wall Street greed," or McCain's more specific responses that many of the necessary regulatory firebreaks were removed by the Clinton administration, and not reinstated by the Bush administration — and that many of the compliant Democratic senatorial class, Obama himself among them, were well rewarded in turn with donations from hedge-funders and speculators.

That said, McCain, as a Republican free-market advocate who will be tarred for the mess, has the burden of getting out in front and grounding his message in specific human terms that explains why this is so bad, and the ethical story of who got hurt and why.

What we are seeing is that billions, no trillions, of speculation debt is being called in, and those who must pay for it in the end are mostly retirees who will get almost nothing in interest on their passbook and T-bill accounts at precisely the time they retire and are vulnerable, on the working and professional classes who contribute each month to their retirement 401K mutual funds and have seen tens of thousands wiped away in a few days, and are told they are lucky to have anything at all in those accounts, and those who must borrow for college, housing, and transportation and will find it hard to get a loan, in an Orwellian banking market in which interest paid out by banks—themselves cash strapped from bad investments— to depositors declines while interest charged to borrowers increases. The common theme is the hard-working American who tried to save is being punished by those who used his set-asides to unduly enrich themselves, aided by revolving-door politicians who now wanted cash donations from, and later good jobs on, Wall Street.

Who then were the beneficiaries? Many in the management and investor class that earlier saw the dangers of what they were doing, and so partially cashed out to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars the last few years, little worried about the reputation of Wall Street after losing someone else's money, housing speculators and the unqualified borrower who simply walked away from unsound debt, arguing the home was overpriced anyway and why keep paying for something not worth the value of the debt?, and lending agencies and investment firms who made a killing on crass speculation the last 6-7 years, and, when the game was up, got the government to bail them and keep them afloat.

Like it or not, the current mess is morality tale, and the candidate who can best convey that without crass demagoguing, will best handle the issue.

McCain comes up to bat in the clutch: Homer!

My work schedule has changed to four 10-hour days, so I'm off today and slept until 9. Our house hound woke me up then baying at the moon or a squirrel or something or I'da slept later.

So I muddle around in the kitchen, amble into the living room and turn on the TV and lo and behold, there's the man who was foolish enough to admit a while back that he didn't know much about the economy giving a speech about, guess what, the economy. And a damn good one.

John McCain just gave the speech of his life, or at least his political career, and it sure connected with this working stiff who's somewhere way to the right of the Maverick. And I suspect his common sense plan for economic recovery will also connect with taxpayers and working stiffs all across the political spectrum from the right to somewhere left of center. There's absolutely nothing the man could say that would change the way the leftwing nutroots think, but that's OK. Obama can have those votes and we'll take the rest.

Charles Krauthammer, who IMHO is the smartest guy in punditry today, said last night on Fox News that nobody seems to know what to do about the latest mess we find ourselves in, including The Loan Arranger and Tonto (Fed chief Ben Bernacke and Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson) who seem to be flipping a coin to decide who to bail out and who not to bail out.

And as the old saying goes, if you laid all the economists in the world end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion. But what McCain said today sure makes more sense than anybody else I've heard. Congress made this mess by creating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the home-mortgage version of welfare so people who couldn't afford homes could buy one. And then when those same people can't pay their mortgages, Uncle Sugar's supposed to pick up the bill.

And Wall Street jumped on the bandwagon, house flippers made a mint by manipulating the system and poor folks were enticed into signing mortgages they can't pay back. Sooner or later, the house of cards had to collapse because despite what Washington plans, the earth still rotates and you can't repeal the bacic law of economics, there ain't no free lunch, somebody's got to pay.

And every since Hoover, who really did nothing to cause the Great Depression, or FDR, who really not only didn't cure the Great Depression but made it worse with expensive government programs, somehow the American people have believed that Democrats are good for the economy and Republicans are bad for it. Reagan cuts taxes and the economy goes on a binge for which Clinton takes the credit despite raising taxes. Bush the 1st says "read my lips" but then gets suckered into a "compromise" tax increase by the Democrats in Congress and gets rode out of town on a rail. Bush the 2nd passes a massive tax cut which boosts the economy, but gets no credit, then gets all the blame when the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac house of cards tumbles down.

And along comes Obama, whose tax hikes will somehow will be good for the economy? Madness.

When the video of McCain's speech shows up later today, I'll post it, but The Corner at NRO has the full transcript. Meanwhile, here's a McCain ad about the former CEO of Fannie Mae who took the money and run before the brown stuff hit the fan -- and went to work for the Obama campaign. McCain slapped him upside the head in the speech and made the connection to Obama's campaign.

McCain also tied Johnson, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the entire sub-prime mortgage meltdown right to Obama's campaign contributions from the above as the number 2 money recipient in the Senate, second only to the Democrat chairman of the banking committee.

Matt Lewis at Townhall.com posts a couple of links from the morning news on that.

Obama's Link to the Mortgage Crisis

The Washington Post hits this today and so does Fox ...

After the great big can of whup-ass McCain opened up on Obama this morning, I'm sure the man with no plan will be on the air shortly, screeching and hollering and slobbering at the mouth.

I've heard enough of his speeches lately so maybe I can tune in on the Obama channel...

"Mah fella 'Mericans..."

Nope, wrong channel. I thought LBJ was dead. He's still rattling around in my head. Let me try again... Ah, here it is.

"Third Bush term! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Bush lied, people died! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... Lipstick on a pig! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah... When I was a community organizer... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...and I will take this message to all 57 states...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...until the oceans begin to recede...blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

Sorry, lost the channel. But you get the idea. Just find any of his speeches and play it again.

Gen. Petraeus: Ignored Hero of Iraq War

You mighta missed it on the news yesterday. It certainly didn't lead off on TV or get a big headline in The Washington Post or New York Times.

General David Petraeus, commander of our troops in Iraq, passed the baton to General Ray Odierno and moved on to a higher command post.

Petraeus was not a household name in the dark days of early 2007 as he took command of the war in Iraq. Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid were leading a baying pack of hounds, quite sure they had President Bush treed at last as they took turns with the whipsaw blades.

Then came Petraeus and the surge, which Bush supported virtually alone in his own administration and with slim backing in Congress. A senator from Arizona whose political obituary had already been written by the mainstream media was one of the few lonely voices pushing for the surge.

But as 2008 dawned, Jewish pundit Charles Krauthammer commented that he might have to revise his view on the resurrection of the dead because reports of the death of John McCain's campaign for President turned out to be greatly exaggerated. The same could also be said of the war in Iraq, because as McCain's fortunes improved, Petraeus was performing a resurrection miracle in Iraq, while at the same time performing mass reverse resurrections on Osama's thugs. Harry "The war is lost!" Reid and Nancy "Cut and run!" Pelosi grew strangely silent about the war.

Obama stubbornly refused to admit the surge had actually worked until he grew so desperate about Palin-McCain that he asked Bill O'Reilly to let him end his boycott of Fox News. And when O'Reilly pressed him about the surge, Obama cheerfully said with a straight face that the surge had "exceeded our wildest dreams!" Our dreams? I may have to revise my view of Hillary and Bill being the World Champions at telling whoppers.

Maybe it exceeded Obama's worst nightmare, but more recent events have probably taken that rank in the shapely form of one Sarah Palin.

But where is the hero's welcome home, the ticker-tape parade for Gen. David Petraeus, the hero of Iraq? I suspect he'll never get that well-deserved honor. He and his troops coming home will get roughly the same thing us vets from Vietnam got, indifference or even worse.

At Petraeus' change-of-command ceremony Tuesday in Baghdad, Secretary of Defense Williams Gates did give him an appropriate tribute.

"Darkness had descended on this land; merchants of chaos were gaining strength. Death was commonplace, and people around the world were wondering whether any Iraq strategy would work.”

"Slowly, but inexorably, the tide began to turn, our enemies took a fearsome beating they will not soon forget. Fortified by our own people and renewed commitment, the soldiers of Iraq found new courage and confidence. And the people of Iraq, resilient and emboldened, rose up to take back their country."

Is there an echo in here? As I read that quote, I thought I heard a faint, shrill voice somewhere in the background cying out some nonsense about this being the day the oceans will begin to recede and all the ills of humanity will begin to heal. I was probably just hearing things.

I guess I'll know for sure whether my ears were playing tricks on me when the returns come in on the first Tuesday in November. Because that day, the people will decide whether they're on the side of Gen. Petraeus and McCain or Obama and the "General Betray-Us" move-on crowd.

Caspar Weinberger Jr., son of Reagan's Secretary of Defense, is one of the few joining Gates in extending a hero's tribute to Gen Petraeus.

Here’s to General David Petraeus. He never betrayed us. Indeed, he saved America’s war in Iraq. Maybe not single-handily, but there is no doubt whatsoever that without General Petraeus’ bold move to push for more troops to turn the tide against the insurgents, which has paid off handsomely, America would have been severely weakened both at home and around the world.