Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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McCain's Answer to Keating Five |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
4:02 PM |
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Half the fun of a presidential debate is predicting what the candidates will say and then telling everyone what you think they SHOULD say. So here goes. Yes, McCain probably will and should bring up Ayers. The Obama campaign has signaled when Ayers does this, Obama is going to counter with Keating Five.
Fine. When he does, I hope McCain admits his mistake and should have a three-pronged answer ready. 1) McCain can say because of that terrible, terrible situation---which he was exonerated from---it has spurred him to be completely up front with his finances. And that’s why he accepted public financing, something Obama promised he was going to do through the primaries and later broke his pledge. This is the most important point among the three, IMO. (Full disclosure, I disagree with the concept of public financing).
2) He can bring his signature campaign finance reform legislation (I don't like the legislation, but heck, he believes in it, so it's fine for him to use.)
3) McCain can play up his efforts on GSE reform to push Fannie and Freddie to disclose more about their horrible finances. This links everything back to the current economic crisis and underscores why Obama can't be trusted, just like he couldn't be trusted to make good on his public financing promise and William Ayers and all the rest, to become president.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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McCain's Job Tonight: To Reassure |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:44 PM |
John McCain has a very talented team of people around him, particularly Steve Schmidt, so he certainly doesn't need any advice from me. But I'll offer some anyway . . .
McCain is a straight talker, and that's what he's got to be tonight. The American people hear the economic news, and they are frightened. Of course, it's no time to start mouthing Pollyanna platitudes, but McCain must send a three part message:
1. Make sure Americans know that some in the media and on the other side consider it to be in their political interest that Americans be afraid about our economy and our future. They calculate that the more worried people are, the more it will help their candidates. So he needs to reassure people that all may not be as dire as some would lead them to believe.
2. Assure Americans that, though times are tough, they will get better -- so long as we work together. He, McCain (contrast to Obama implicit), knows this country is the greatest on earth -- and he isn't ashamed to say so. There is no problem greater than our spirit, our talent and our resolve. We don't need to be afraid, so long as we recognize that we are in this together, as Americans.
3. Make the case that he's the guy best equipped to get us through the tough times -- which, in fact, he is. It's paramount that McCain make the policy arguments, but he also needs to remind Americans that he's been in a tough spot or two before. He knows what it's like to be in crisis (staring death in the face in a Vietnamese prison camp will do that for you), but he's not afraid. He didn't give up then, and if he's President, he won't give up now -- until the problems that confront us are solved.
Obviously, he also needs to make sure that he connects the dots for everyone on Barack's connections to the financial crisis, and makes it clear that the one way we won't recover economically any time soon is if the taxaholic trio of Obama/Pelosi/Reid are in charge.
Finally, he needs to drive home the fact that Barack Obama is the least-known, least-vetted, most radical candidate ever to run for the presidency. No, the press won't like it. But it's true. And if McCain loves his country as I believe he does, he will care enough to warn them straight out about what an Obama presidency could mean.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Ready for Unprecedented Vote Fraud? |
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
3:26 PM |
Barack Obama has roots in Chicago politics, where the dead often vote.
He's also been a longtime ally of radical group ACORN, which has run into trouble with vote fraud in the past in Kansas City, MO; Wisconsin; Colorado, and, of course, in Washington state.
This year, widely-respected former Senator John Danforth has already accused ACORN of irregularities in its voter registration process in St. Louis.
Now, the ACORN office in Las Vegas has been searched for evidence of vote fraud. And another pro-Obama group is skirting the edge of the law in Ohio. According to the New York Post:
Volunteers supporting Barack Obama picked up hundreds of people at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers and drove them to a polling place yesterday on the last day that Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, almost no questions asked.
The huge effort by a pro-Obama group, Vote Today Ohio, takes advantage of a quirk in the state's elections laws that allows people to register and cast ballots at the same time without having to prove residency.
Is it a coincidence that the allegations are coming from Missouri, Nevada and Ohio -- key swing states this year? Of course not.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Obama Undeterred by Ayers' Past as a Terrorist |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
3:12 PM |
Hours before Barack Obama is scheduled to square off against John McCain at the second presidential debate in Nashville, Obama's campaign manager disclosed new details about his candidate's relationship with domestic terrorist William Ayers.
According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, Axelrod discussed Obama's friendship with Ayers on a campaign plane ride.
Axelrod said he did not know the "exact moment" Obama discovered Ayers had plotted to bomb the Capitol and the Pentagon, but it was sometime during their initial meetings. It did not deter Obama from participating in educational projects with Ayers.
As Obama did in previous denials about Ayers ("I was only eight") Axelrod used Obama's age as an excuse for associating with the criminal.
AXELROD: "I mean the fact is, like a lot of people who, you know, didn't live through that era, particularly who didn't live through that era in Chicago, it just wasn't, I mean, when he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform issues and that was his profile was that he was an expert on education issues."
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Noonan Not Sure Whom She's Voting For ... |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
2:25 PM |
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Peggy Noonan's maudlin act has worn progressively thin over the years, but recently, her ideas have conspired with her supercilious nature to make her virtually unreadable and unwatchable. Last night on Hardball, she was caught in fragrante delicto with Chris Matthews, finally admitting that she's not even sure whom she's voting for...
Of course, Noonan is entitled to vote for whomever she chooses. After all, it's a free country. But, based on her own admission, I think it would now be appropriate for political TV shows -- which usually attempt to "balance" their panel discussions by including at least one token conservative (how nice of them!) -- to refrain from using her as the token conservative.
After all, if the topic of discussion on a given night is the presidential election, how is it fair to include journalists who obviously favor Obama -- but not a single person who, at least, leans toward McCain?
Clearly, Noonan no longer helps provide balance for that sort of show ...
(Note: While it is clear that John McCain is not a perfect conservative, in my estimation, the notion that any conservative could be confused over whether or not to support McCain or Obama -- based on their policies -- is pure folderol.)
... Consider what passes for equal time on most of the big political shows: A few weeks ago, I wrote about the panel on ABC's This Week, which pitted Paul Begala (liberal), Jay Carney (liberal), Claire Shipman (liberal) -- and, of course, host -- George Stephanopoulos (liberal) -- against George Will (lone conservative).
It is common for one conservative to go up against several liberals. More concerning, perhaps, is that the one conservative is often not very conservative ...
Consider the folks you see most often on NBC and MSNBC (I'm thinking of the big shows like Hardball, etc. here). The list consists of David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, and Mike Murphy (don't forget about Noonan and Murphy caught on tape). These are all intelligent folks, but I wouldn't confuse any of them for conservatives. The one thing they have in common is that they genuflect at the altar of the mainstream media elite. Brooks has long ago left the fold, Noonan -- who is known to evince distaste for Palin by grimacing -- doesn't even know who she's voting for, and Mike Murphy has is more of a Republican strategist than a philosophical conservative. What is more, Murphy obviously has a bone to pick with the folks running McCain's campaign.
Pat Buchanan is a regular MSNBC contributor. To be sure, Pat is decent man, a skilled raconteur, and a brilliant commentator. But he has long abandoned any pretense of being a mainstream conservative.
... I won't even go into CNN and whether or not David Gergen counts as a Republican or a Democrat.
My point is that conservative viewpoints are not being represented -- at all -- on many of the big network and cable political shows. Thank goodness for talk radio, blogs, and Fox News ...
Update: Watch the clip again and notice how they praise Noonan as a "great columnist" as soon as she says she's not sure for whom she will vote.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Team Obama Spinning on Their Candidate's Ties to Ayers |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
12:23 PM |
Yesterday Obama's Campaign Manager David Axelrod said Obama "didn't know" about Ayers' radical past when he went to his home in 1995.
Today, Communications Director Robert Gibbs said he didn't know anything about it other than "what I read in the newspapers."
Those comments were capped off by Spokesman Bill Burton lying and saying his candidate "never" wrote a blurb for Ayers' book on the juvenile justice system and dodging all questions about Ayers.
They're either clueless about their own candidate's radical history or completely willing to deny everything. In Burton's case, it's a little bit of both.
I've got the full story and the links to all these statements up HERE.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Dick Morris on Obama and Ayers |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
11:51 AM |
Think Progress, a liberal blog, posted this video as evidence of racism -- a ridiculous charge. In this instance, I think Dick Morris makes a very compelling case that Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers should disqualify him from being president ...
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Robert Gibbs LIES About Obama's Blurb on Ayers' Book |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
11:08 AM |
In 1997, William Ayers penned a book, sarcastically titled "A Kind and Just Parent" about the failed juvenile justice system.
It sought to excuse minors guilty of violent behavior by blaming it on society. "We should call a child a child," promotional material from the book read. "A 13-year-old who picks up a gun isn't suddenly an adult. We have to ask other questions: How did he get the gun? Where did it come from?"
Barack Obama really liked the book written by the former terrorist who committed a few unjust, despicable acts himself in his youthful days. He gave it a flattering review in the Chicago Tribune by describing it as “A searing and timely account of the juvenile court system, and the courageous individuals who rescue hope from despair" to his hometown paper.
He liked it so much he joined Ayers to speak on a panel together, to decry the justice system at the University of Chicago.
Michelle Obama, then associate dean of student services was involved as well. She helped organize the event because "We know that issues like juvenile justice impact the city of Chicago, this nation and -- directly or indirectly -- this campus. This panel gives students a chance to hear about the juvenile justice system not only on a theoretical level, but from the people who have experienced it."
Both the Obama were apparently fans of the book.
So what does Obama Spokesman Bill Burton say on Fox News this morning. Lies. He out and out lies by saying "He did not write a blurb for his book."
Did someone else write it? Was it made up? Burton doesn't tell us. In fact he refuses to answer ANY questions about Bill Ayers.
Watch him spin, don't get too dizzy.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Whaddaya Know: CBS Poll Sees Race Tightening |
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
9:50 AM |
Yes, this was predictable. The race is going to tighten and there will be many swings between now and election day. No matter who "wins" tonight or next week, this race will be volatile until the very end because of the world in which we live and the public's ability to absorb vast amounts of new information and base decisions upon the latest information. (Recall Obama's huge lead in the New Hampshire primary which Hillary won?)
The Palin impact on the race remains extraordinary if underreported, and her impressive showing in last week's debate continues to energize the GOP base and independent women. The Ayers-Rezko-Wright-Khalidi network is just beginning to be explored and absorbed by the public, and the economic consequences of Obama's Herbert Hoover program --higher taxes and protectionism-- as well as the roots of the financial crisis in the Democrat-protected, Democrat-staffed Freddie and Fannie is also working its way into the public consciousness.
Yes, Obama is ahead. Yes, the race is tightening. Yes, stories as yet unknown will have huge impacts on the race.
I'll be live-blogging the debate and broadcasting thereafter with a special post-debate show, available on most of my affiliates and everywhere at www.ksky.com.
Off to law school to test www.lawstudentcafe.com with real live law students. If you are a 1L, 2L, or 3L, send me your thoughts. If you are a potential employer of law students in a firm or elsewhere, please note you can post an opening or an internship online and search for the perfect applicant online for free.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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McGovern to Blast Dems on Card Check |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
9:43 AM |
If Barack Obama is elected president Big Labor will run roughshod over our private sectors.
Even George McGovern is scared of the brutal "card check" legislation Democrats have been dying to pass. Essentially, the bill would eliminate the secret ballot process required to unionize in favor of a public petition, called "card check." That means union thugs would be free to pressure employees to sign their petition in front of other pro-union officials. So much for democracy.
Obama has pledged to sign it if he's elected president. The Senate narrowly defeated the bill in the summer of 2007, but if the Democrats gain more seats in November the bill's chances of passing increases.
Salena Zito reports the former Democratic presidential candidate has spearheaded a $30 million campaign to oppose the legislation.
He'll be featured a 60-second ad during the presidential debate tonight in which he'll say: "Quite simply, this proposed law cannot be justified. Working families deserve a voice and a private vote. I’m Senator George McGovern and I approve this message because democracy is something that should never be sacrificed.” The ad was created and produced by the Employee Freedom Action Commitee. Their website is energyfreedom.org.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Anything Is Possible During Election '08 |
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Posted by:
Jonathan Garthwaite at
9:42 AM |
Author of anti-Obama book detained in Kenya.
NAIROBI (AFP) — The American author of a best-selling, controversial book blasting White House hopeful Barack Obama was detained Tuesday by security officials in Kenya, police said.
Jerome Corsi "has been detained and he is currently being held at the immigration office" in Nairobi, a top police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Corsi was to unveil "The Obama Nation" to the Kenyan public at a Nairobi hotel.
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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Nashville Slapdown? |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
9:16 AM |
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The fact that tonight's debate will feature a townhall format is obviously very good news for John McCain -- the candidate who has arguably participated in more townhall meetings than anyone in history. He is quick-witted, humorous, and often disarming -- attributes that usually play well in this format. Compound that with the fact that (according to the rules) follow-up questions -- which might allow one disgruntled questioner to hijack the debate -- won't be allowed, and the debate format definitely favors McCain.
He will need it. With less than a month to go until Election Day, there are few remaining opportunities for McCain to narrow the gap. Tonight is one such opportunity -- so it is vitally important that he has a good performance. My advice would be to essentially make the same points that he made yesterday in New Mexico -- which is to say he needs to take off the gloves. But McCain also cannot make the mistake of changing his normal townhall schtick. It will require a delicate balancing act.
Regardless of his style, like a good football game, the winner is usually the one who is on offense the most. Obviously, McCain cannot avoid talking about the economy, but he must also make sure that the economy does not completely dominate tonight's debate -- this would be like playing most of the game on your own 40 yard line.
An obvious pivot is to talk about how, "confronting the economy will take a leader with experience and character -- who knows what it's like to fight -- because, my friends, this is a fight. My opponent doesn't have the experience or the judgment these times require. And I'll always fight for you!," etc.
By doing handling economic questions in this manner, he will avoid any obvious segues, but still be able to focus on character -- an issue he obviously wins on. ... As I write this, I hear a McCain spokesperson saying that character and economy are linked, because the American people need someone they can "trust" on the economy. So true...
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008 |
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New McCain Ad: 'Hypo' |
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Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
7:24 AM |
Script For "Hypo" (TV :30) ANNCR: Who is Barack Obama? KMOV TV ANCHOR (VIDEO): Obama's presidential campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading television ad. ANNCR: How hypocritical. Obama's Social Security attack was called "a falsehood." His health care attack ... "misleading". Obama's stem cell attack ... "not true". Barack Obama. He promised better. He lied. JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
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