There has been a bit of back and forth on Governor Palin’s visit to California but what strikes me about the trip to California is the bit about the Republican Vice Presidential candidate going to California. Pull out of MI and work CA? Its very strange…though I’m going to keep a bit of faith in McCain on this one. For months now McCain has been continually written off and every time there’s a bump in the road there are a thousand pundits to explain why McCain lost in 2008, when 2008 isn’t even over, yet…and then a few days later we see McCain come roaring back.

There’s a reason Palin was sent to California, and perhaps it is in line with my view that a great deal about Campaign ’08 is not as it seems.

Yes, there are such – and they are downright angry at Governor Palin for daring to campaign in those parts of America already liberated by the Obamessiah:

FRIENDS, FAMILY AND FELLOW OBAMACRATS…

Sarah Palin is coming to Carson [California] this Saturday. Two days after the Vice Presidential Debate, she wants to show the world that she can come to one of the bluest areas in the bluest state in the Union and have over 10,000 people show up for a rally for her. This is outrageous!!!

I’m not sure if the outrage is Palin showing up, or that 10,000 people would show up to see her…whatever it is, the Obamacrats aren’t happy.

In a more serious note – anyone besides me getting really creeped out by the worshipful, cult of personality being built up by Obama’s supporters?

From NRO’s The Corner:

There’s been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of today’s New York Times and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man who, according to The New York Times was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol.’ These are the same guys who think patriotism is paying higher taxes. This is not a man who sees America as you and I do – as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country. This, ladies and gentlemen, has nothing to do with the kind of change anyone can believe in – not my kids and not your kids.

Now, that New York Times article is actually a bit of a whitewash – seriously asking us to believe that Obama and Ayers aren’t close. This is akin to taking the word of Lucky Luciano that Al Capone had only a little to do with bootlegging. Be that as it may, it is way past time that McCain/Palin started hitting upon the very things which make Obama entirely unfit to be President. In Obama’s advocacy of wrong policies, in his advocacy of the most fanatic pro-abortion positions, in his associations with various racists and anti-Americans is all we need to know about Obama – and, if known widely enough, will suffice to end his chances of being elected. Obama has spent the last 18 months trying to project an image of a post-partisan healer…when he’s actually a ignorant, vindictive ultra-leftist who wants to impose Euro-socialism upon the United States of America.

The American people will have the sort of government they prefer – but it is our duty to ensure that our fellow Americans have the most complete set of facts possible when they render their judgement. If, after the people know that Obama’s allies caused the mortgage meltdown, called for US defeat in war, want to impose government control over larger and larger aspects of Americans life, engaged all manner of corrupt activies – if the people know all that and still prefer Obama to McCain, then so be it; we on our side will then rest content with the knowledge that we did our duty…but to hold fire because Obama and his minions will accuse us of racism or of being mean? Nonsense – time to bring a howitzer to Obama’s gun fight.

Sorry I’ve been out of the loop, but its been rather busy ’round the Noonan household and, also, I didn’t get to see the debate live but had to watch it in rebroadcast late last night. So, anyways – Sarah Palin beat the living poop out of Biden last night. I mean, it was as if an adult were engaged in a debate with a six year old. I’ve never seen so many lies from one man in one night – and the real absurdity of it was the childishness of the lies. When Biden whipped out his assertions about the US and France kicking Hezbollah out of Lebanon I was confronted with the fact that Biden is an idiot – he was just making things up as he went along, much as a six year old will do when cornered on the question of who broke the living room lamp. If Obama does manage to win then I will pray daily for his good health, because Biden’s intellectual capacity places in doubt his ability to so much as tie his own shoes. How does that dunce manage to get re-elected? For crying out loud, doesn’t anyone in Delaware realize that he’s an ill-informed gasbag?

So, anyways, the debate went well for Governor Palin and, therefor, for the McCain campaign – and I note that Team McCain already has an ad out taking Biden to task for his whoppers, and by extension hitting Obama with the dual club of Obama’s own past statements and his irresponsibility in picking someone as manifestly unqualified as Biden. Expect more and more along these lines as we head to the home stretch. The GOP base has been wondering when McCain was going to come out swinging against the lies of Team Obama, and we now have that answer – it started last night.

I noted last night that the RNC announced it had raised $66 million in September – a new record far outpacing the RNC’s previous best month from 8 years ago. Now, some of this can be attributed to the fact that GOPers can’t donate to McCain, but the mere fact of this much money flowing into GOP coffers gives lie to the concept that the GOP base is dispirited – which lie is being relentlessly hammered home by the MSM in hopes of turning wish into reality. The key to understanding this race is to understand that almost the entire elite establishment has set itself to the task of electing Obama President – and in service of this goal, all the stops are being pulled out.

Team Obama is lying all the time and every day about McCain and Palin – one radio ad out here in Nevada has it that McCain is opposed to all stem cell research, a complete lie, as can be seen at McCain’s website. Ad after ad, statement after statement is filled with lies about McCain, Palin and the GOP…and far from the MSM investigating such lies, the MSM is applauding them and throwing a few of its own into the mix, for good measure.

The MSM is entirely in the tank for Obama – and not just in the normal sense of being liberal reporters and editors who just naturally report things with a liberal slant. Its gone far beyond that. The MSM is cheerleading for Obama – hiding anything which threatens his candidacy, being an attack dog for Obama against his opponents, downplaying any good news which might redound to GOP credit and thus help McCain…given that Obama wants to bring back the Orwellian “fairness doctrine”, what we’re getting here is a taste of what all media will be like if Obama wins. Goebbels and Stalin wished they had this sort of propaganda machine – not just control of the media, but the enthusiastic support of the media for whatever evil or absurdities the government plans to do.

The bosses are plunking down for Obama; corporate, union and media – knowing they’ve already bought him, Joe Biden and the entire Democratic party, while the election of McCain/Palin would bring to the fore people who have no truck with such and no aversion to calling malefactors of great wealth to account. For Obama and Biden (and Dodd, Frank, Pelosi and Reid) to pose as defenders of Main Street against the depredations of Wall Street is to step through the looking glass and enter the world of pure fantasy. Democrats only talk about hammering the rich – thing is, they are the rich. While Biden claims that Obama won’t tax anyone making under $250,000 a year (itself an absurd assertion – if you believe this, then I’ve got some swampland in Florida to sell you), the fact of the matter is that Obama won’t tax the real rich…not a penny of taxation will be levied against Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Jay Rockefeller, etc, etc, etc who have vast wealth, but don’t have high annual income in the sense of earning a salary or running a small farm, ranch or business.

Confronting all of this power and wealth is John McCain, Sarah Palin and Joe and Jane Average – the people who make this country work, who are viewed as an endless source of swag by the elite, and who are hated for what they are – regular folks. Things will rise to a fever pitch over the next 30 days – the elites will use every means at their disposal to win…all we can do is say our prayers, and then fear God and dread naught.

Remember, things are not as they appear – the MSM is trying very hard to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and if you expect either Obama or Biden to tell the truth then you just haven’t been paying attention. Do not tremble for the future, for we have already won. And so, have at the battle – and battle with joy in your hearts, love for your country and pity for the misguided who oppose us. Do not fight with the cynicism and hatred Obama urged his minions to display. They will not have the day – we will triumph in the end, because right makes might, and we are right and they are wrong.

We certainly pray it is so:

A new survey from Rasmussen Reports shows that Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is leading Democratic Sen. Barack Obama among Catholic voters in the key swing state of Ohio 51 percent to 43 percent.

McCain leads Obama among all Ohio voters by 48 to 47 percent, a statistical tie within the September 28 poll’s margin of error.

According to Rasmussen, 57 percent of Catholic voters named economic issues the most important, while 15 percent named national security issues the most important.

Catholic voters are positioned to be an important swing demographic in Ohio.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio has more than 2 million Catholics. The Catholic vote is particularly strong in western Ohio in the Dayton area and the 13 rural counties north and east of the city. There are more than 500,000 Catholics in that area, more than in any part of the state except Cleveland.

While about one in four Ohio voters is Catholic, they tend to have a higher turnout rate.

Rev. John Putka, a Marianist priest and political science professor at the University of Dayton, told the Columbus Dispatch that the Catholic vote is “going to decide the election.”

He broke the Catholic vote into three blocs: observants, modernists, and secularists.

According to Father Putka, “observants” are conservative, attend church regularly, and typically vote Republican based on abortion and other social issues. They supported George W. Bush over John Kerry in 2004 by 65 to 35 percent.

“McCain’s selection of Palin totally galvanized this pro-life group,” Fr. Putka observed. “They were lukewarm before but not now.”

That last bit is very important as it provides a solid base among Catholic voters for McCain, while allowing McCain, himself, to go after the less observant – yet still non-liberal – Catholics who are genuine swing voters. And this could decide it – and, of course, this is why it appears that Obama and his Democrats are pulling out all the stops in their voter fraud efforts in Ohio. While Obama can win the White House without Ohio, it is a very difficult prospect…and even more difficult given the prospect of Obama losing Michigan and having to fight desperately for Pennsylvania’s Democrat yet pro-life voters.

As we go into the home stretch, look to the way the Catholic vote is breaking – if McCain maintains and/or expands his lead amongst Catholics, then November 4th will be a long, long night for Obama and his Democrats.

Blowhard, gasbag, backstabber…and liar. In other words, a fairly typical Congressional Democrat:

WASHINGTON — When Joe Biden tells voters he understands the threat posed by Afghan extremists, he dramatically illustrates one reason why: His helicopter was “forced down” on “the superhighway of terror.” Actually, snow, not the enemy, persuaded the helicopter pilot to land and wait out a storm.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate has repeatedly left that part out, in an episode that Republicans hope will become an echo of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s errant tale during the primaries of landing in Bosnia under sniper fire.

Biden has made a number of questionable statements recently that, viewed in isolation, might not amount to much. But this is a man whose first presidential campaign collapsed 20 years ago after he told a story about coal miners in his family that he lifted without credit from a British politician.

Note to John McCain – we do appreciate your statesman like approach to the financial crisis. We also appreciate your genuine desire to reach out to the other side…but its time to face some facts; you’re battling ultra liberals, and this means you’re battling lies, fear-mongering and corruption. Time to set aside bi-partisanship for a while and let the American people know, by name, just who is lying, who profited off the failed banks, who has stoked his political career with taxpayer money. Its time, that is, to expose Biden and Obama for the dishonest, self-centered frauds they are.

It was a hope I had – that somehow, some way, the Democrats would abandon the nastiness of the past 16 years (nastiness which grew exponentially since President Bush took office) and actually lay out a plan to compete with the GOP plan and then let the voters make an informed decision about whom to support. This hope has been dashed – in fact, I’ve never seen a campaign more nauseatingly cruel and dishonest as Obama’s…and he’s the guy who piously claims he’s going to bring us together! Can you imagine what the Democrats are plotting behind closed doors? If you don’t live in a battleground State, you don’t get to see all that much of this – but as a citizen of the swing State of Nevada, I can tell you that I’ve heard some Obama ads which are so dishonest and mean that I’ve wanted to spit on Obama, and all who support him. I hold myself in check, and pray for God’s forgiveness…but it is there, all the same; a sense of anger over what Obama and his Democrats are doing to America.

TIme to get out there and fight as hard as you can to ensure McCain’s victory.

So, I might as well chime in – ’cause you know how much time Palin spends checking the opinions of obscure pundits.

So, here it is: My Advice

Don’t listen to anyone’s advice. Which is weird, I know, ’cause I’m asking you to listen to my advice not to listen to anyone else’s advice….but, as has been said, a first rate intellect is the ability to hold equal and opposition ideas and still function. Anyways, don’t listen to them – they are not the people in the hot seat, you are. Trust your instincts, pray for guidance and just have at it.

Nothing like Cynthia McKinney – whom you lefties out there supported tooth and nail – to add an element of spice to the campaign:

It wouldn’t be an election cycle without Cynthia McKinney’s lunacy, and fortunately she hasn’t shied away from providing it. Here, we watch as the Green Party’s endorsed presidential candidate accuses National Guard soldiers of committing 5,000 murders of prisoners in the wake of Hurricane Katrina…

…If you think that this is the kind of insanity one normally hears from Alex Jones, well … you’d be right. The conspiracy theorists on the Left and the Right tend to embrace each other at a certain point, just south of rationality. For these people, little points like evidence and common sense provide no obstacles at all to paranoia and fantasy.

For instance, let’s skip past the extremely weak sourcing McKinney uses to make her charges and go right to some obvious points. Wouldn’t the families of these 5,000 prisoners wonder what happened to them? And which prisoners, specifically, have not been accounted for? At least a few names of people who were in Louisiana state custody before Katrina and then not in custody afterwards would provide a starting point for any investigation. And it’s possible to lose a few bodies in the Louisiana swamps, but not even that legendary territory could hide 5,000 of them at once without a few of the locals taking notice.

Normally, we’d dismiss this kind of idiocy, but this is no ordinary idiot. McKinney is a former member of Congress and a candidate for President on a party that wants to claim national legitimacy. This shows the intellectual level of the Greens, but it also puts in play yet another baseless conspiracy theory about Katrina and its aftermath. We’ll be hearing this lie for the next few years, thanks to McKinney.

Is there any difference between this and Maxine Waters’ accusation that the CIA deliberate brought crack in to destroy America’s black community? Between this and Murtha’s accusation that the Marines in Haditha were cold blooded murderers? Between this and Ted Kennedy’s accusation that President Bush cooked up Iraq in Texas? Between this and Obama’s accusation that McCain cheated in the Saddleback debate? The kook left is the kook left – and they are in control of the Democratic party; the fact that a screwball like McKinney has switched from Democrat to Green just shows that there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between any of these paranoid, hate filled and ignorant leftists.

Some ideas I have:

1. Every American who agrees to support the package will get to punch the liberal of their choice.

2. To make things fair, everyone will get one government bail out on their next trip to Vegas.

3. Put electric shock collars ’round the necks of Reid and Pelosi – raffle off the right to shock them at will for a week for $1,000 a ticket.

4. Executives of failed banks to be put to work cleaning septic tanks. There’s just something poetic about it.

5. Make every male elected official promise his nuts that he’ll never ask for another bail out.

6. Figure out equivalent for female elected officials. Cancel Pelosi’s botox prescription?

7. Congressmen who wish to make televised comments have to dress up as clowns.

8. Figure out the average bribes and kickbacks a Congresscritter will get during his term – make him pay that much for the privilege of running for office.

9. Wasn’t there a movie once where when the gangster failed, he was forced to cut off one of his own fingers?

10. Make CEO’s of failed banks go to the unemployment office to ask for their golden parachute.

Have at it with your own ideas in comments.

From her interview with Hugh Hewitt, via NRO’s The Corner:

HEWITT: Do you think the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith, Governor Palin?

PALIN: I think that there’s a lot of mocking of my personal faith, and my personal faith is very, very simple. I don’t belong to any church. I do have a strong belief in God, and I believe that I’m a heck of a lot better off putting my life in God’s hands, and saying hey, you know, guide me. What else do we have but guidance that we would seek from a Creator? That’s about as simple as it gets with my faith, and I think that there is a lot of mocking of that. And you know, so be it, though I do have respect for those who have differing views than I do on faith, on religion. I’m not going to mock them, and I would hope that they would kind of I guess give me the same courtesy through this of not mocking a person’s faith, but maybe perhaps even trying to understand a little bit of it.

So, what do you know? She’s non-denominational. Now, naturally, I pray she’ll eventually return to her baptismal faith, but in the end her faith is an issue between her and God, and none of us have the right to interfere. What has been really disgusting is the way the so-called tolerant left has attempted to demonize Governor Palin because, once upon a time in her faith journey, she attended an Assembly of God church. Whatever one may say about that denomination, its not like the people in charge were race-baiting con-artists who have in their pews people who sit there for 20 years and still claim they don’t get it…

Sarah Palin is my sister in Christ – and like all Christians, she is sustained in her daily tasks by her faith in the love and mercy of God. It is what keeps us on track no matter what life throws at us. It is what keeps us looking for the good in all situations…and thus leads Sarah Palin to rejoice in the gift of her Down’s Syndrome baby and leads me to rejoice that I am able to serve my aged father who’s health declines steadily. The extraordinarily nasty attacks launched on Palin do hurt – but they mostly hurt in the way they reveal how sad and locked into despair so many people are today. If Palin is any sort of a Christian – and I believe she’s one of the better examples – they she pities those who attack her, and prays they will see the light. I don’t know what Sarah does to turn anger into forgiveness, but each Christian has their way of doing it (for me its asking for the intervention of the Blessed Virgin), but turn it she does, and it shows in the fact that after weeks of cruel slander, she’s just the same sweet yet tough as nails “mom/wife/Governor” we GOPers fell for at the start.