A Couple of Timely Photoshops

Use if you like.

Zogby Poll: McCAIN OVER OBAMA 48 - 47

Incredible! McCain has moved into a statistically insignificant lead over Obama, 48-47, per the Zogby Poll (according to the Drudge Report). Is it all coming apart, Obama?

ZOGBY SATURDAY: Republican John McCain has pulled back within the margin of error... McCain outpolled Obama 48% to 47% in Friday, one day, polling. He is beginning to cut into Obama's lead among independents, is now leading among blue collar voters, has strengthened his lead among investors and among men, and is walloping Obama among NASCAR voters.

The polls have been all over the map. I am convinced that all political polls are being taken by hippies high on hemp. (Oh that's a bit retro. Would you believe mystical moobats on Meth? Hopped-up hillbillies on Hooch'? KOS kids on Crack?)

It just goes to show that the polls are not to be believed and should be profoundly ignored. Except, maybe, when they show McCain winning!

Seriously, the Zogby poll may indicate that McCain's internal polling was correct after all, e.g. that the race is too close to call. This certainly lends credence to that view.

Could my good friend Kate from France be right? Could UNV blog have been correct all along about a pending McCain victory? Could the golden light of the sun be breaking through the gray clouds? Are those meadowlarks singing? Children laughing? Flowers blooming?

Probably not. But let's, for the sake of argument, assume that Zogby is right and get our butts to the polls on November 4. WE HAVE A CHANCE!!

McCain's Internal Polling Shows Race "Too Close to Call"

The McCain campaign says it has reason to be hopeful for the vote next Tuesday. Internal polling shows the race too close to call, with soft Democrats and women swinging back to the GOP.

Read it all here.

AOL Online Poll Shows McCain Overwhelming Victory Over Obama

My older brother directed me to the weekly AOL Straw Poll on the presidential election, which has consistenly shown McCain winning overwhelmingly over Obama. Bro thinks this shows that the other polls are wrong, skewed and biased. I hope he's right.

However, online polls are not statistical or scientific, so I have to reserve some doubt as to its accuracy.

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Nevertheless, you'd think it would be closer than this.

Check it out.

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Click on graphic at left to see the current state of this poll.

McCain Scores in Final Debate

I just finished watching the last of three presidential debates between John McCain and Barack Obama. Clearly it was the best of the three and had the best moderator and the best questions.

I was pleased with McCain's performance. He was vigorous and showed excitement and appeared in earnest about many issues. Obama was smooth as usual and displayed his dazzling imitation of a chamelon as he pooh-poohed his extreme positions on late term abortion, charter schools and other issues. It was all a big misunderstanding, you see, he was always opposed to late term abortions (in spite of his past statements to the contrary).

Yes, Obama is slick - too slick, in that he isn't sincere about his past and present positions. He can lie so sincerely, and that is his greatest strength.

Did McCain hit a home run? No, but he did hit a solid triple and is now standing on third base. Let's hope he can steal home before the final out.

McCain improved considerably over the first two debates and should be seen as surging late in the game. Obama was about the same as in the first two debates. Let's hope the impression of a surging McCan isn't lost on the American public.

McCain released this ad following the debate. It's pretty good.

John McCain Hits the Target Again! (His Foot)

Friday on the campaign trail, John McCain noticed that he was being too effective in his attacks on Barack Obama. The little angel on his shoulder whispered, "Take it easy! Do you actually want to WIN this election?" So Gentleman John immediately backed off and told his audience that "You don't have to be scared of Barack Obama as President" and noted that Barack Obama is "a decent family man and citizen."

The crowd booed loudly but to no avail. John McCain was filled with a steely resolve, to become just another footnote to history; he had waffled for it; he had been resolutely irresolute for it; he had groveled for it at the foot of the mainstream media and his Democrat colleagues on Capitol Hill, AND HE WOULD NOT BE DENIED.

Ragnar Danneskjold at the Jawa Report gives McCain a reality check. He writes:

For the most part, you have a chance in this race at all for one reason: you are not Barack Obama. Very few people love you--or even like you. For a great many of us, our support for your candidacy has little, if anything, to do with any wonderful things we expect you to do if you're elected President. In fact, if you're elected, we'll no doubt have to spend a whole bunch of our time over the next four years trying to prevent you from doing much. Our support of your candidacy arises, rather, out of the really shitty things we reasonably expect Barack Obama and his socialist allies to do to our country if he's elected.

John McCain has a fatal flaw as a politician that will probably prevent his election as President. That flaw is his lack of moral certainty about the rectitude of his cause. He lacks a strong ideological foundation, i.e. core beliefs about government and the private sector, where one ends (or should) and the other begins. Lacking these core beliefs, he also lacks the ability to see how disasterous an Obama presidency would be to American freedom and our free market economy.

John McCain cannot win a debate with Obama because he is too busy debating himself. If I had to describe McCain in one word it would be irresolute.

We Are So Screwed - Probably

Obama is spending like a drunken Democrat on political advertisements in toss-up states, all of whom are now moving in his direction. He can afford it, I guess. Why can't McCain?

The more that comes to light about the slimy little weasel Obama, the more disgusted I feel towards the American people. This week we learned that Obama was a political candidate and member of the Socialist New Party, proving his extreme leftwing views; meanwhile, his buddies at ACORN continue their massive voter fraud to get him elected in close-race states.

Meanwhile, John McCain continues to play the sheepish and shy "gentleman" who is unwilling to climb into the pig trough and mud wrestle with this Socialist. He is losing by default. America may be socialized, our standard of living wrecked, our military preparedness a thing of the past, the "fairness" doctrine reinstituted to shut down the conservative talk shows and rightwing blogosphere, but what the hell. John McCain will be able to brag about his moral superiority to his circle of friends, say with great pride how he was "above it all." In the long sweep of history, no doubt that will mean a lot.

A generation from now, kids will ask their mother: "Mommy, who was John McCain?" And she will look at her children tenderly, and with a tear in her eye, smile and say, "Beats the hell out of me."

I didn't vote for John McCain in the primaries. There was a reason for that.

The Second Presidential Debate

I listened to the second presidential debate tonight between McCain and Obama. It wasn't much better than the first. McCain was still way too polite to Obama. McCain, I think, did a little better than Obama did. Obama was really boring, whereas McCain was merely boring.

On the campaign trail, McCain has really been kicking Obama butt, criticizing Obama's associations and bad judgments without apology or restraint, and it is powerful. Why he can't bring that same energy to a debate is anyone's guess.

The polls show the race narrowing again, probably as the result of a positive bounce from Palin's debate performance last week. Although Obama still has the advantage, this race is far from over and anything can happen.

McCain Promises a Fiercer Fight

McCain has promised a "fiercer fight" against Obama in the remaining debates. With a month to go before the election, it is still possible to turn this election around. However, the tides of public opinion are now against him and it will be an uphill battle.

McCain can enhance his chances by focusing, finally, on the following:
1. Obama's radical associations with admitted Communist terrorists, i.e. William Ayers and Benardine Dohrn;
2. The culpability of the Democratic Party in the subprime mortgage mess and Obama's opposition to Bush and McCain's attempts to head off the crisis as much as two years ago;
3. Obama's socialist agenda that will raise taxes, suppress economic activity and deepen the recession, and
4. Obama's plans to downsize the military budget and his naivite in the face of totalitarian threats around the world.

McCain has to lose the nice guy approach and come out swinging. If he doesn't, he can kiss this election goodbye.

My Gut Speaks and I Listen: Barack Obama Will Win the Election

Sarah Palin did fine in the debate last night, coming across as warm, sincere and real. The punditry is saying that she helped her own political future substantially, but not necessarily that of John McCain. McCain has been too constrained in making legitimate criticisms of Obama and his history of radicalism, probably because Obama is black and McCain is apparently afraid of the bogus racism charge that is sure to come should he win. That, or he has some self-defeating notion that remaining a “gentleman” in a bare-knuckles sport is the highest priority.

McCain will debate Obama again next week and he has to come out swinging or relegate himself to the political dustbin of history. But will he?

My intuition is often very accurate. This morning when I woke up, I had a strong feeling of certitude that we Republicans are going to lose this election and that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. It wasn’t a panicky feeling or a worried feeling or a feeling of fear, it was a calm realization, an inner knowing. It told me in a quiet but clear voice that the election is lost. The inner voice presented it to me as a done deal.

The reason is simple. Americans just get tired of the same brand, the same color, the same style and want to make a change. It’s a gamble that they are willing to take, that some way, somehow, someone new may have the answers to the country’s ills just as he promises. They just want a change, and not for any deep political or philosophical reasons, but as a simple reaction to boredom. That's the main reason Hillary lost to Obama. The public is tired of hearing about the Clintons. It's an old book that they've read before.

It’s as if they (the voters) have been driving a blue car for eight years and now want to buy a green one or a red one. After having been on a diet of bland food for eight years, they decide to throw caution to the wind and eat a banana cream pie. Whole. Screw it, they say, I’ll worry about the consequences tomorrow.

This need for change, any change, even potentially dangerous or harmful change, is somehow buried deep in the psyche of humans and is not entirely rational. All the debating and cold analysis won’t change enough minds to make a difference. Obama will be the next president because America wants a binge and will have it. After the binge will come the hangover and the violent retching over the porcelain throne, followed by the election of Republicans as sanity returns.

It's sad, but politics is somewhat cyclical, like the annual rites where religious penitents cut themselves with knives or whip themselves with chains. Pain must be inflicted and blood must be shed, and who knows why. Obama's election will be America whipping itself. America will bleed and it will be painful, but then the healing will begin.

The country has been split down the middle politically since 2000. Perhaps it will move closer together after Obama and the Democrats further ruin the economy, weaken our military and expose us to terrorist harm. I see Obama as a trial the country must go through to find itself again; before a sick body can get well it must vomit the poison out of its system. Obama may be the finger-down-the-throat that induces the needed regurgitation; not by doing anything good for the country, but by reminding Americans that socialism and pacifism do not work and never have.

I hope like hell I'm wrong about this, but I don't think so. In the unpleasant chance that my gut is right, we will need to move into the next phase: opposition and resistance.

The Palin Truth Files Now Online

John McCain Online has added a section called "The Palin Truth Files," which deals with the phony "Troopergate" investigation by Obama loyalists.

Check the out here.

Will America Reward the Guilty by Electing Obama?

A number of excellent articles have appeared on the net this past week, making it absolutely, irrefutably clear that the Democratic Party caused the mortgage crisis and the financial crash that followed. Ann Coulter has a good piece on the topic today. Check it out here.

While the Democrats' crazy scheme was being propagated, Republicans warned of the dangers and tried to enact regulatory legislation over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to try to prevent a financial crisis. They were successfully opposed by the Democrats who prevented any corrective legislation from being passed.

What is true, of course, isn't important. The great majority of Americans don't know the truth and don't want to do the work to find out. They will simply display a knee-jerk reaction and punish the party in power -- even though the other party is the guilty one.

Now that the financial crisis has come, Democrats are lying their asses off about who is responsible. Nancy Pelosi, the biggest airhead and most shallow member of Congress in 200 years, gave a nasty speech to Congress yesterday blaming the crisis on the Bush administation. Say what you will about Bush, he did try to prevent the crisis early on in his term. Pelosi is a disgrace to Congress, a shameless liar.

The polls show Obama increasing his lead over John McCain, and without a doubt the current crisis is the reason. The American people, learning that there is a chicken crisis, have opted to buy foxes to guard the hen houses.

Get ready for another Jimmy Carter style Presidency in Barack Obama. Unless something radical happens to change public perception, we Republicans are toast. John McCain needs to stop posturing as a fine gentleman and start telling the truth about the Democrats and how they caused this mess. Sarah Palin debates Joe Biden on Thursday and she needs to hit a home run. If she does, it may help. But don't count on it.

First Presidential Debate Revisited: McCain Wins on Foreign Policy

I listened to the debate on my car radio on the way home last night, but I missed the last third of the debate, the part that covered foreign policy. I didn't realize the debate was 90 minutes and thought it was about over when I pulled up in the driveway. However, I just watched the last 30 minutes, which is recorded on CNN's site. This changes my opinion of the debate somewhat.

John McCain certainly appeared more knowledgeable and comfortable with foreign policy than did Obama and won that part of the debate, though it was by no means a knock-out. Obama was smooth and spoke well and even somewhat knowledgeably on the issues, though his major premises were often wrong. His belief that we must "be respected" by the socialist/pacifist governments of Europe as essential to foreign policy successes being a case in point. Those governments are well on the way to self-extinction and I do not want the United States to follow them into the dust-bin of history.

McCain was comfortable, smooth and self-assured, but not particularly aggressive on the issues. As Pamela Geller points out today, one the biggest problems she (and I) have with McCain is his refusal to go for the jugular and press his advantage when the opportunity appears.
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I really liked McCain's suggestion that we replace the United Nations with a League of Democracies, a kind of U.N. with only democratic countries represented. Those countries could then apply economic and other kinds of pressure on rogue states like Russia when they commit aggression. The U.N. is effectively toothless because the inmates are in charge of the asylum.

McCain certainly did himself no damage in this first debate, but that's not enough to impress the public. He needs to make a clearer distinction between himself and Obama. He needs to go for the knock-out punch. Hopefully he will do so in later debates.

You can watch the debate here.

First Presidential Debate: Terminally Boring

The first presidential debate is over and I'm wondering if my ballot will have a choice that says "None of the Above." It was a string of boring sound-bites, vocal bumper stickers and playing it safe. Nothing extraordinary was heard. Obama went with his McCain is Bush theme and McCain declined to attack Obama and the Democrats with the truth about their ruination of the economy by eliminating mortgage lending standards to racial minorities (where borrowers needed no job, no credit and no down payment).

My honest conclusion: the debate was a draw and that hurts McCain. He gained no ground tonight. McCain made me groan when he repeated some of his zingers from the Saddleback forum. They were funny and effective then, but being repeated now made him sound stale and scripted. He repeated the comment, twice, that he "didn't win Miss Congeniality" as a member of the Senate. He also repeated the now stale joke about the earmark for studying bears' DNA: was it for determining the bears' criminality or paternity? Ha ha. So funny. ZZZZZZ.

A very disappointing debate. McCain will have to do much better if he is to overtake Obama in the polls.

Rush Limbaugh: Poll Showing Obama Up by 10 was Fraudulent

The Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Obama up by 10 points over McCain, ostensibly because of the financial crisis. This morning Rush Limbaugh stated that the poll was a fraud, as it undersampled Republicans and oversampled Democrats to skew the results. Only 28% of the respondents were Republicans while 38% were Democrats. The rest, presumably, were independents.

Rush concluded that the poll was intended to affect the vote rather than reflect it.

The Rasmussen tracking poll has Obama up by only 2 points.

Nice try, Washington Post.

McCain Slams New York Times for Obvious Bias and Slant

From John McCain's website, he responds to the NY Times recent (false) allegations that McCain's Campaign Manager is on the payroll of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

A Partisan Paper of Record Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis -- weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual -- since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

Further, and missing from the Times' reporting, Mr. Davis has never -- never -- been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.

Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with...Paul Begala.

Again, let us be clear: The New York Times -- in the absence of any supporting evidence -- has insinuated some kind of impropriety on the part of Senator McCain and Rick Davis. But entirely missing from the story is any significant mention of Senator McCain's long advocacy for, and co-sponsorship of legislation to enact, stricter oversight and regulation of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- dating back to 2006. Please see the attached floor statement on this issue by Senator McCain from 2006.

To the central point our campaign has made in the last 48 hours: The New York Times has never published a single investigative piece, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Obama campaign chief strategist David Axelrod, his consulting and lobbying clients, and Senator Obama. Likewise, the New York Times never published an investigative report, factually correct or otherwise, examining the relationship between Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson and Senator Obama, who appointed Johnson head of his VP search committee, until the writing was on the wall and Johnson was under fire following reports from actual news organizations that he had received preferential loans from predatory mortgage lender Countrywide.

Therefore this "report" from the New York Times must be evaluated in the context of its intent and purpose. It is a partisan attack falsely labeled as objective news. And its most serious allegations are based entirely on the claims of anonymous sources, a familiar yet regretful tactic for the paper.

We all understand that partisan attacks are part of the political process in this country. The debate that stems from these grand and sometimes unruly conversations is what makes this country so exceptional. Indeed, our nation has a long and proud tradition of news organizations that are ideological and partisan in nature, the Huffington Post and the New York Times being two such publications. We celebrate their contribution to the political fabric of America. But while the Huffington Post is utterly transparent, the New York Times obscures its true intentions -- to undermine the candidacy of John McCain and boost the candidacy of Barack Obama -- under the cloak of objective journalism.

The New York Times is trying to fill an ideological niche. It is a business decision, and one made under economic duress, as the New York Times is a failing business. But the paper's reporting on Senator McCain, his campaign, and his staff should be clearly understood by the American people for what it is: a partisan assault aimed at promoting that paper’s preferred candidate, Barack Obama.

Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae's regulator reported that the company's quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were "illusions deliberately and systematically created" by the company's senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight's report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae's former chief executive officer, OFHEO's report shows that over half of Mr. Raines' compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

Presidential Debates Begin on Friday

At long last John McCain and Barack Obama will meet face to face for a Presidential debate at the University of Mississippi. This is where the campaign gets serious, where all the media spin and pundit blather takes a backseat to political realities.

I'm looking forward to it. The polls are still tight, with Obama gaining ground. Let's see what the candidates are really made of -- who has actual knowledge and wisdom on critical national problems and who is an unqualified pretender. Who can answer questions presented to him with credibility and who merely sidesteps the questions. Who can think on his feet and who cannot.

It all comes down to this: the candidates must battle head to head in the arena of ideas and fight it out man to man. Win or lose, the fight cannot be sidestepped or wished away, nor would I want it to be. The hoped-for result is that the candidates will reveal their true selves and give real insight into their ability to lead.

Let the debates begin and let the chips fall where they may.

Joe Cook: A Veteran's Message to Barack Obama

The video below was produced by Iraqi War veteran Joe Cook. It is a personal message to Barack Obama. It has been played on the Rush Limbaugh show and mentioned on many blogs and websites.

Look at Joe Cook's left leg as he walks away at the end of the video.

Barack Obama "Puts Lipstick On A Pig"

Barack Obama drew the ire of Republicans today when he stated that McCain's version of change was false. "You can't put lipstick on a pig," he said. "You've still just got a pig."

Was he making a crude allustion to Sarah Palin's speech in which she stated that "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick."

Obama's audience seemed to think so, as they cheered loudly and enthusiastically at this point in his speech.

A lot of conservative pundits thought so too and were doing a slow burn.

McCain In Double Digits Over Obama?

The Drude Report has linked to a USA Today poll that is supposed to report that McCain is up 10% over Obama in "likely voters." That's different than registered voters, where the gap is closer.

However, when I followed the link to the USA Today poll, the story did not back up the 10% claim -- likely voters were not discussed. The poll did say that McCain is up 4% over Obama however, and had this good news to relate:

McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican's biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before the convention opened in St. Paul. Then, he lagged by 7 percentage points. The convention bounce has helped not only McCain but also attitudes toward Republican congressional candidates and the GOP in general.

Tell that to Charles Krauthammer.