The Fallacy of the Middle of the Road

Ann Althouse hits the nail on the head. This is a great analysis from the mind on one voter that sums up exactly why John McCain's strategy of playing to the middle lost him the election.

Hear it from the Governator!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) gave what is perhaps the best stump speech I've listened to in favor of John McCain and Sarah Palin Friday in Columbus, OH.

Arnold understands the American Dream and the endless opportunities offered by our great Nation because he has lived it.

The money quotes:

John McCain has served this country longer in a POW camp than his opponent has served in the United States Senate.

I only play an action hero in my movies, but John McCain is a real action hero.

I left Europe four decades ago because socialism has killed opportunities there...I am so fortunate that I had the chance of coming to the greatest country in the world: the United States of America!

Why I believe John McCain should be the 44th President

I believe that our Constitution, as amended, is still in some ways imperfect but is superior to any societal blueprint elsewhere. We must have no doubt that whomever will be sworn to "preserve, protect, and defend" our Constitution will truthfully and faithfully do so. They must appoint federal judges and Supreme Court Justices who will interpret our laws and Constitution, not rewrite, invent, or reinvent them according to their own philosophies. Writing law must be left to our elected representatives, not imposed by judicial fiat.

I believe that the United States should be energy independent. We must develop our own energy resources - coal, solar, oil, natural gas, wind, water, tidal, geothermal, nuclear - everything. We have thrown up too many regulatory and legal restrictions in the way of sound utilization of our natural resources. Our economy can not grow without plentiful, unrestricted sources of energy.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we have "certain unalienable rights", the first - and therefore most important - listed was life. Since 1973, over 40 million human lives have been ended via abortion in this country. To put that tragic count in perspective, a nation state of 40 million souls would be the 32nd largest country on Earth, right in between Argentina and Sudan. In the last 35 years, we have lost millions who could have become doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers, soldiers, firefighters - or mechanics, construction workers, computer programmers, etc., etc., etc.; most of them simply for reasons of convenience. This is a holocaust of unimaginable loss, and I fear, unrecoverable cost. There is no life unplanned by God; if we do not defend the defenseless, then what worth are we?

Taxes are too high. Our economy will continue to hemorrhage jobs and our industries will continue to diminish and perish unless we reduce - or better still - eliminate corporate taxes and let the ingenuity of the American entrepreneur flourish and thrive without crippling oversight and regulations from a government that has no idea how to produce, only consume. Economics is not a zero-sum game; new wealth will always be created, and government must not stand in the way.

I believe that if not for the United States of America, there would be no freedom and liberty in the world today. It was President John F. Kennedy who would have said, "If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help." We must continue to combat tyranny around the world, with diplomacy first, but must always be ready to use our military might if necessary. Our exit strategy for the War on Terror's two fronts should be victory, not negotiation or compromise. Our enemies should never doubt that conflict with the United States of America can have only two possible outcomes: their unconditional surrender or their total annihilation.

Most of all, I believe in American Exceptionalism. I have never had to search for a reason to be proud of my country. I see American greatness every day. We became the first colonies to break away from their European parent because we no longer wanted to be Europeans, and we have no desire to be like Europe today. This is the greatest Nation on the earth - yesterday, today, and hopefully forever more - and our President should never be a man who thinks the United States of America is not the "shining city on a hill."

Nearly forty years ago on July 20, 1969 the United States of America put two of our own on the Earth's Moon - arguably the greatest achievement in all of human history. Forty years on, and all the other nations of the world have yet to equal the United States of America. Forty years hence, let us hope that we have not been equaled or God forbid, surpassed.

On July 20, 1969 while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were taking their historic Moon walk, an American Naval Aviator was suffering unimaginable torture at the hands of the Communist enemies of the United States. That man never lost faith in his comrades or his Nation. He was coming up on just the end of his second year in enemy hands, the second of five and a half years of brutal captivity. That man was John McCain.

John McCain would not have been my first choice as my candidate for President. I disagree with him on many policy areas. That aside, on all of the above issues I have listed Senator McCain is the clear choice. He has the experience, independence, and integrity to lead this great Nation forward. He will not let our national security be dictated by foreign powers. He will honor and defend our freedoms and Constitution. He will reduce taxes, and get our economy moving without the encumbrance of an ever-growing government weighing it down.

Finally, I believe that John McCain should be elected for one more reason. I believe that one of our Nation's darkest black marks is the absolute contempt that returning Vietnam Veterans were received with. Tens of thousands of Americans served in that war with honor and over 58,000 gave their lives. We should be grateful for the services and sacrifices of the Vietnam generation, and they deserve to have one of their honorable own be the President.

Heading for the front lines on 11/4

Governor Linda Lingle (R-HI) rallys the troops at the Pittsburgh North Hills Victory Office

Sunday, November 2, 2008

ATTENTION ACORN! I'm going to be a poll watcher on Tuesday, and I'll be looking out for your "voters". We received our marching orders and assignments tonight at the Pittsburgh North Hills Victory Office and got a great pep talk from a real VIP, Linda Lingle, the Republican Governor of Hawai'i.

We can do this. It's up to us. If you're a McCain/Palin supporter, contact your local office. Get out there and go door-to-door or make phone calls. Volunteer for Tuesday. Even if you only have one hour, that hour can make a difference!

As Senator McCain charged, "Stand up and fight!". There is too much riding on this election - for us, our children, and our children's children - to stay on the sidelines.

McCain & Palin, or is it actually McCain vs. Palin?

This report from CNN comes as no surprise - as the race tightens in the final days, it's exactly the type of hit piece you'd expect from the left-leaning media. However in this case, the core point of the article might actually be accurate.

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if some core McCainites are at odds with Sarah Palin. They were probably as unprepared as the media was for McCain to select her, and have probably been second-guessing their own candidate ever since. Given that McCain's closest advisors are no doubt of similar attitudes to their man, it follows clearly that they'd be naturally offended by Sarah Palin's unabashed and unwavering conservatism.

Frankly, the selection of Sarah is one of the more mystifying events we've seen - not that she was by any means the wrong choice, as I absolutely believe the pick was brilliant. Most everything McCain has done since has been to give away or surrender whatever advantage he's managed to build.

McCain should be up by twenty points right now - combine the enthusiasm Sarah Palin added to the campaign (the only reason there's a McCain/Palin sign in my yard and bumper sticker on my truck is the bottom half) from conservatives dissatisfied with McCain with the bar-none winning positions of national security and energy independence, and the fact that we're running against an out and out Marxist (which can be proved and documented) - and it shouldn't even be close.

Sarah Palin ignoring the reins that the McCain folks are supposedly trying to control her with is also the right move, assuming the article is accurate. There's going to be a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and it's already started. This election is as much about November 4th as it is 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016.

Two great new McCain ads, plus the Al Smith dinner

From the McCain/Palin Campaign Channel @ YouTube:





Plus, he brought the house down last night at the Al Smith dinner:

Part 1:


Part 2:


We can still win this thing.

Why did I bother?

Why did I bother watching the debate last night? No, that isn't the question. Why did I bother watching any of the punditry after the debate? Ah, now we've found the question!

The following is attributed to Pete Rose, sometime in the 1980s:

I wake up in the morning feeling sick as a dog. I don't want to go play. Then I make it to the ballpark, see my uniform hanging in my locker, and I start feeling a lot better. Then I see some of you guys [referring to reporters], and I feel sick again.

Now that is a dead-on summary of my debate experience of last night. I didn't want to watch the debate last night, mainly because I keep coming back to a very, very sad impression that John McCain is doing just about everything in his power to lose this election. Then, I catch about two-thirds of the debate between radio and TV. What did I think?

I saw a fired-up John McCain. I saw an on the attack John McCain. And most importantly and refreshingly, I saw a very conservative John McCain. Did he attack as hard as I would have? No. Did he make every single last point that I would have? No. Did he call Barack Obama on the carpet for being an anti-American Marxist? Certainly not as bitingly as I would have. Example - here's how I in John McCain's shoes would have addressed the topic of the New Soviet Man's association with the Old Soviet Man, William Ayres:

Senator Obama, while I was being imprisoned and tortured by the Communist
enemies of our Nation along with hundreds of other brave Americans, and 58,000
of my countrymen were giving their lives in service to the United States, William Ayres was setting his bombs and supporting the Communist enemies of our great Nation. And that, Mr. Obama, is unacceptable to me, it is unacceptable to the American people, it is a total disgrace, and it can't be changed or mitigated whether you were eight, eighteen, or eighty years old at the time.

So, did I think McCain won the debate? Yes. Do I think he could have been more effective. Yes. Debate over, and I'm feeling good.

Then, here comes the parade of pundits. It's unusual that I have to shut off the Fox News Channel because I can't stand the absolute drivel coming out of the talking heads on the air, but last night I did. Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol, and Charles Krauthammer - conservative contributors - are all talking down McCain's performance!

YOU FOOLS. Talk up the man! Don't point out what he failed to do, point out what he did do, and keep on the attack in his stead! With friends like these, who needs enemies?

The Debate: Snatching Defeat?

Oh John, what could have been!

McCain:
Delivery: A-, Content: C-

Obama:
Delivery: D, Content: D-

John McCain had the opportunity last night to demonstrating clear differences between the two campaigns and launching a withering barrage of attacks on Obama's socialist views.

He didn't do it. What we get instead is McCain's plan for financial bailout/rescue II - which essentially is everything the ACORN communists wanted in the original!

McCain could have defended regulation reform and responsible deregulation, but he didn't. He could have done much better slamming Obama on national security. Where were the criticisms of Obama's judgment through his associations with Ayers, Wright, et al.?

All of this when the New Soviet Man was bumbling and stumbling through all his responses, hemming and hawing with all his cliches before he could remember what he was supposed to be talking about.

The knockout possibility was there, and didn't come to pass.

I'm so disappointed this morning. I'm feeling so sorry for Sarah Palin, who seems to have hitched on with a candidate who simply incapable of winning, not because he can't but because he won't.

I hope I'm wrong. For our Nation and my children, I pray I'm wrong.

We're going to need Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal in 2012...

Do it to his face tonight, John!

Call a spade a spade, and call the New Soviet Man a liar to his face in the debate tonight.

It's the truth, and some of your famous "straight talk".

Better still, call him a racist to his face for sitting in Jeremiah Wright's pews for twenty years.

Call him a terrorist sympathizer to his face for befrending William Ayers.

Call him a traitor for accusing our brave men and women in the Armed Forces murderers.

Call him on it all - from his Marxist economic policies to his blame America attitute - hit him where it counts!

McCain to return to Senate: Brilliant or Foolish?

My initial take on John McCain going back to Washington to help address the finance and banking crisis is positive. He accurately predicted what the consequences would be without regulatory changes three years ago, and wasn't listened to then.

The New Soviet Man, naturally, makes it all about him and insists that the debate Friday still go on.

Dear Senator Obama: get your butt back to your desk in Washington and do the freaking job you were elected to do! Or perhaps is it that you don't want to be on the record of have to make a decision?

On the debate, I think the McCain camp is missing a huge opportunity. They should let the debate Friday go ahead...and send Sarah! First, we know that she'll shred Obama if for no other reason that she can speak coherent sentences on the fly. Second, that'll put to end all of the BS on her not being ready; what better practice than to have to stand in for John McCain - for real. Third, Obama will have to refuse to debate her - who'll be running scared then?

All the news that's fit to...

...FABRICATE. The New York Times doesn't deserve the honor of a link, but here's John McCain's response to the Times' latest endorsement-cloaked-as-news-item of the New Soviet Man.

"Keep the skeer on 'em"

More brilliance from the McCain/Palin campaign via their YouTube page:



Can't wait to see what's next...keep bringing it!

(Title quote is Nathan Bedford Forrest)

Real Candidates for Real People

Heard yesterday on the Rush Limbaugh program, one family's account of meeting John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Real people relate to John and Sarah because they're real people.

We have met the enemy...

...and they are ours! (Oliver Hazard Perry) Video from the McCain/Palin Campaign at YouTube

UPDATE @ 2:17 PM - YouTube has apparently pulled the video because of the McCain campaign's use of Katie Couric speaking on the CBS Evening News as part of it - i.e. copyright violation. I'm sure the McCain campaign will redo the ad without that...

Perhaps the video was directed at CBS as well as the New Soviet Man and his campaign.



You know, for once the Republicans may be getting it. The way to victory is attack, attack, attack, attack!

The prevent defense only prevents you from winning.

As General George S. Patton once said (redactions for coarse language are mine):

I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Godd***** thing. Let the [enemy] do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's b***s. We are going to twist his b***s and kick the living s*** out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like s*** through a tin horn!

Keep it up John and Sarah, keep it up!

McCain's Crescendo

I've heard John McCain's words several times over since last night. I've read and reread the text of his speech. His closing rally call, with the cheers and adulation of his party rising in the background, produces a patriotic fervor in my heart that nearly brings me to tears:

I'm going to fight for my cause every day as your president. I'm going to fight to make sure every American has every reason to thank God, as I thank him, that I'm an American, a proud citizen of the greatest country on Earth. And with hard work -- with hard work, strong faith, and a little courage, great things are always within our reach.

Fight with me. Fight with me.

Fight for what's right for our country. Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children's future. Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies. Stand up for each other, for beautiful, blessed, bountiful America.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight.

Nothing is inevitable here.

We're Americans, and we never give up.

We never quit.

We never hide from history. We make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America.

He is so right. We must never be ashamed of our Nation's greatness. We must never allow the Left to get away with portraying the United States as anything but the greatest Nation on Earth.

Where the world would be today if not for the United States of America, I can not even imagine, nor would I want to be in such a world.

Those were not the cheers of the Republican Party that rose with John's words.

Those were the cheers of the American Spirit.

Last night's videos

All of these are courtesy of the GOP Convention collection at YouTube:

If anybody has managed to forget why we are at war, please watch:



Future First Lady Cindy McCain addresses the convention. As of right now, they do not have the wonderful introductory video about Cindy's extensive and selfless humanitarian work for the world's children - when it is available, I'll put it here.



Introduction of Senator John S. McCain III:



Address of Senator John S. McCain III, American Hero and future 44th President of the United States:



I will fight with you John, and fight for your election. America needs you and Sarah. Our families need you both. Our children need you both.

God bless America, and "Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us a Nation!"

And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave, o'er the land of the Free and the home of the Brave!

McCain's Speech - First Reaction

Overall, I liked it. John McCain is a great man, and a great American. I could have done with a little less of the "working together" motif, but I'm completely with him on the fact that the Republican Party has lost its principles and has been "Washingtonized".

He kept up the attack. I liked the "FIGHT" theme at the end. Loved the bits on energy policy and education. And BRAVO for thanking President Bush for his post-9/11 leadership and for keeping our nation safe since then. Seven years (minus one week) and no attacks.

Grade: A-

Here's to John and Sarah, the future 44th President and 47th Vice President of the United States!

What I want John McCain to say tonight

John McCain has some high heels, er, uhm, make that big shoes to fill after Sarah Palin's roof-raising, bring-down-the-house whammy of a speech last night. He can do it, and I have these ideas as to how:

1) He needs to shed his well-known reservation about talking about his POW experience. The American people need to be reminded - first hand - of the tyrrany we face in the world. His trials, torture, and suffering at the hands of the enemies of Liberty need to be tied to his unquenchable, indefatigable love of Nation and belief in the greatness of America and how those convictions allowed him to survive what was truly an unimaginable ordeal to any but those who lived it with him. We need to be reminded again - and again, and again, and again - that there is evil in this world that seeks to destroy us and we must defeat it.

I'm reminded now of some dialogue from an episode of TNT's The Closer. A CIA agent is reminiscing that 65 years ago, our enemies quoted from "Mein Kampf" as they marched their victims into gas chambers. During the Cold War, the Communists would quote Marx and Lenin as they shot people in the head. Today, the Koran is misused to justify violence. He concludes his train of thought with: "Same people, different books."

2) He must reject liberal premises on the issues. We will never solve anything by being "Democrat Light".

3) Policy Red Meat: continued and deeper tax cuts, energy independence (starting with "Drill baby, Drill!", and going through nuclear power, clean coal, build pipelines, build refineries, etc.), free market solutions for health care, actually, make that free market solutions for everything.

4) ATTACK. Attack, attack, attack! Do not hold your positions! Slam the New Soviet Man to the ground, and do not let him up. Expose the left for the un-American, capitalist-hating, abortion-loving, anti-family neo-Marxists they are.

5) Repeat (4) above with respect to the media. THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS, JOHN MCCAIN!

6) Attack some more. There are so many options!

Finally John McCain, if he can, must show that he is what Barack Obama and Joe Biden have absolutely no capability to be: just like us. Why does Sarah Palin resonate with us? Because we look at her and our family and we do not see a politician; we see ourselves. Should I meet her in person, my attitude may be different, but right now I'm comfortable referring to her as "Sarah", "our Sarah", et al. for just that reason. She's one of us.

As I saw in one article on line today, she is "Sarah America".

John McCain, well right now he's "Mr." or "Senator" and he - in the eyes and hearts of America - needs to become "John".

I hope he does it.

Rudy Rocked the House too!

Hope you didn't miss America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, absolutely skewer the Left and their false Messiah last night.

Read it all here...

Better yet, watch it (video from GOPConvention2008):




Rudy's entire address is awesome, but for me, the "money quote" is this:

One final point. And how -- how dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president. How dare they do that.

When do they ever ask a man that question? When?

Amen, brother!