Blogs For Victory

Here’s an interesting story point out that Barack Obama’s support from women is bleeding away.

Jessica Goral had pretty much made up her mind two weeks ago: she was going to vote for Barack Obama. Then John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.

“She empowers a lot of women,” says Mrs Goral, a mother of two in Macomb County – a national bellwether in the battleground state of Michigan and an area rich in white, working class swing voters who will play a major role in deciding November’s election.

[…]

“Sarah Palin is a role model. She’s made me more likely to vote Republican.”

If Mr Obama should be in any doubt how gravely the Alaska governor’s vice-presidential nomination has imperiled his White House ambitions, then a day spent in Macomb County will make this clear: white women who voted for John Kerry in 2004 are suddenly deserting him on masse.

This is Mount Clemens, in the heart of Macomb County, where the pollster Stan Greenberg first identified the phenomenon of the “Reagan Democrats” – the working class, socially conservative, traditionally Democratic whites who deserted the party for Ronald Reagan in 1980. It is fair to say that this critical swing group now has a new name: Palin Democrats.

This is why John McCain is not only surging in national polls, but in battleground state polls as well. This is why Barack Obama, again, is “taking the gloves” off and blasting McCain for not being computer savvy, instead of focusing on the issues.

The RNC has put out a new radio ad:

Script follows below the fold. Continue reading →

One of the bits of the Palin interview which is causing liberals to go bonkers:

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, “There is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That, in my world view, is a grand — the grand plan.

GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?

PALIN: I don’t know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.

Never willing to sacrifice themselves for others and convinced that death is the worst thing which can happen to them, liberals and MSMers (I know, same/same) simply cannot grasp what Governor Palin is saying here. Anyone non-liberal, and especially anyone closely connected to the Jewish and Christian traditions, easily understands what is being said here – God has a plan and that plan is for the good of the world and each person in the world. We won’t – we cannot – say that God instructed the younger Palin to enlist in the Army; but we can say that if he prayed on the matter and asked God to guide him true, then his enlistment in the military will be in accordance with God’s overall plan now or at some time in the future.

Liberals see terrorists kill; they see American soldiers kill – they then do a bit of liberal thinking and come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of similarity here and as killing is wrong, both the soldier and the terrorist must be in some respects wrong…and each of them, in turn, has a claim upon our compassion. But the truth of the matter is that the most dyed-in-the-wool jihadist doesn’t want someone to set off a bomb in his home neighborhood – and thus the terrorist, as he sets his bomb in the Baghdad marketplace, knows that what he is doing is wrong…meanwhile, the Marine hunting the terrorists knows that if someone were setting a bomb in his neighborhood, he’d love and honor the man who stopped it from happening – and thus the Marine knows what he is doing is right. If the Marine shoots the terrorist at the very moment the terrorist sets off the bomb, killing the Marine, then both of them will die at the same time – but the place they’ll respectively go to will likely be very different, as the one died sacrificing himself for others (no greater love, as it were), while the other was killed in the act of unspeakable evil. On the other hand, if a Marine in battle against a regular soldier enemy kills his enemy and is killed at the same time, both men will probably find their reward, as both sacrificed the self, even though one – or even both – were fighting for a wrong cause.

God does have a plan – I can’t presume to tell you what, exactly, it is, but given that God is good, the plan must be for the good. While we can’t say that God approved of President Bush’s decision to liberate Iraq, we can be certain that liberating Iraq will work perfectly in God’s plan. And if you think about it, you can start to see it – hundreds of thousands of Americans and allies have learned how to sacrifice the self; hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have learned how to govern and defend themselves; people who may have contemplated joining the terrorists have gotten a good, long look at how terrorists operate and are thus far less likely to ever join that side – and the ripples of these good things will go far beyond Iraq and effect positively many lives for many long generations. So, what Governor Palin is on about isn’t what liberals want to believe she’s on about – she’s not talking holy war, but talking about the nobility of self-sacrifice and entrusting one’s self to God.

Alien ideas to liberals, and so Gibson didn’t get it and, indeed, seemed offended by the whole concept. Really, its rather sad – and all the more sad when one thinks about it that Sarah Palin’s son (and so many thousands like him) are what stands between the Gibsons of the world and total destruction…those who believe in God and sacrifice themselves because God telles them to are held in contempt by those who disbelieve in God and who would surrender abjectly if ever placed under the slightest strain.

Obama likes to say he wants to the talk about issues, and dismisses most criticisms against him as distractions. He also says he doesn’t think the election should be a personality contest.

Okay, so if Obama wants to stick to the issues that concern the American people, why is he running an ad that attacks McCain for not using email and not being computer savvy?

John McCain is mocked as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate in a television commercial out Friday from Barack Obama as the Democrat begins his sharpest barrage yet on McCain’s long Washington career.

The new fighting spirit comes as McCain has been gaining in the polls and some Democrats have been expressing concern the Obama campaign has not been aggressive enough. Obama’s campaign says the escalation will involve advertising and pushes made by the candidate, running mate Joe Biden and other surrogates across the country.

“Today is the first day of the rest of the campaign,” Obama campaign manager David Plouffe says in a campaign strategy memo. “We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain’s attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people.”

The newest ad showcasing their hard line includes unflattering footage of McCain at a hearing in the early ’80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubix Cube.

[…]

Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer said the campaign was not making an issue of the 72-year-old McCain’s age, but the time he’s spent in Washington.

“Our economy wouldn’t survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.”

Wow. Is that really the best they can do? If that’s all they can come up with to attack McCain, we’re going to win this election in a landslide.

This is a campaign stuck on stupid:

Is the Obama campaign really this cash-strapped? We know his supposedly legendary fundraising operation is hurting. Heck, if the New York Times is willing to admit it’s hit a rough patch things must really be bad, but is it so tight that he can’t spare a few bucks worth of stickers and signs for some little girls?

Michelle Walsh is a Girl Scout leader in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. Her 2nd grade girls work hard at selling cookies and building crafts. But Walsh sometimes tries to go a step further. She wants to teach the girls about civics, specifically this Presidential race. Walsh decided a way to get the girls really excited about the campaigns would be to give them trinkets from each of the candidates. So she called John McCain’s campaign which immediately sent over a box filled with stickers and signs. Then she called the Obama campaign and it left her scratching her head.

The Chicago Tribune reports the Obama camp took Walsh’s call and then directed her to the campaign website where she could buy all the trinkets she wanted. Bumper stickers for $3 a piece. Yard signs run $8. That was a bit steep for the budget of a Girl Scout troop.

Walsh figured there must have been some mistake so she called the Obama campaign office again. She told the woman on the line about John McCain’s generosity and this time she was placed on hold. When the woman came back to the phone she apologized, but said they weren’t going to be able to help. The staffer said the Obama campaign needs every penny it can get. So she directed Walsh to another spot on Obama’s website where she could print out pages that the girls could color. Nice.

Instead, Walsh called the newspaper, which got on the phone with the Obama camp and got a much different answer. Something about a phone call from a member of the media enabled Team Obama to find a few extra bucks in the campaign chest to afford a box of goodies for the girls. Touching.

Memo to Team Obama: When the Girl Scouts call for a little free swag, you give it to them…heck, if you can work it in, you have Obama deliver it in person.

Part of the narrative of Obama was just how great his campaign has been – firing on all cylinders and he bested the unbeatable Hillary Clinton….except for a few odd pundits out there (like, well, myself) no one expected Hillary to be rejected and Obama to get the nomination (I was telling all and sundry that Hillary would not get the 2008 nomination as early as 2005, and I predicted Obama on the inside track for the Democratic nomination in September of 2007)…so the story became just what a genius the guy is. Except for the tiny, little, nitpicking facts that Obama (a) didn’t secure a first ballot majority of pledged delegates, (b) lost all the big State primaries, (c) ended the primary season with a string of humiliating losses, (d) gave in to Hillary’s demands at the convention and (e) threw all his early associates under the bus, the story of the Boy Genius is rock solid.

Obama has ridden a wave of upper class white liberal support – which showered him with money, worked the caucus States for him, made sure the media said nothing but nice things about him and which was bound and determined that, come what may, the anti-Bush be nominated. Obama was least like Bush amongst all the Democratic contenders and had been against Iraq from before Day One. It was a cinch the wealthy liberals would fall for him – and wealthy liberals can create quite a stir…but they are out of touch with mainstream America, and there really aren’t all that many of them relative to the numbers needed to actually secure 270 electoral votes.

And yet it was still Obama’s race to lose – and so far he’s now turned near-certain victory into a dog fight where he’s at a disadvantage in an otherwise still-pro-Democrat year. Credit McCain for a brilliant bit of come-from-behind campaigning and his superlative VP selection, but don’t forget that Obama never was all he was cracked up to be. Obama might still win this thing, but any thought that he’s other than a mediocre politician is entirely out the window.

Who? For those who don’t know, Intrade is the place where people put their money where their mouth is – essentially buying a stake in this or that outcome. In this case, the outcome of the Presidential election – for the longest time, Obama has been way up in this, meaning that most people who were willing to put money on it were expecting an Obama win.

Now McCain is ahead. For the first time.

I’ve always said: don’t look at what people say, look at what they do. When you match this with the prospect of House Democrats distancing themselves in public from Obama, you can start to see some handwriting on the wall…

It appears that even Democrats cannot ignore the dismal state of Obama’s campaign…

Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election.

Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence.

A Democratic fundraiser for Congressional candidates said some planned to distance themselves from Mr Obama and not attack Mr McCain.

“If people are voting for McCain it could help Republicans all the way down the ticket, even in a year when the Democrats should be sweeping all before us,” said the fundraiser, a former Hillary Clinton supporter.

“There is a growing sense of doom among Democrats I have spoken to . . . People are going crazy, telling the campaign ‘you’ve got to do something’.”

And what in particular has got Democrats scared?

Tony Podesta, a senior Democratic lobbyist, said members of Congress were “a little nervous” after Mr McCain shook up the race with his choice of Sarah Palin as running mate and intensified attacks on Mr Obama.

Thus explains the gross attacks being made against Sarah Palin by Democrats in Congress, and the Obama campaign. They’re trying to knock her down and get her out of the race.

UPDATE: Obama to go even more negative than he has been…

Talk about trying to put some lipstick on a pig – Senator DeMint in the Wall Street Journal:

Let’s compare.

Mrs. Palin used her veto pen to slash more local projects than any other governor in the state’s history. She cut nearly 10% of Alaska’s budget this year, saving state residents $268 million. This included vetoing a $30,000 van for Campfire USA and $200,000 for a tennis court irrigation system. She succinctly justified these cuts by saying they were “not a state responsibility.”

Meanwhile in Washington, Mr. Obama voted for numerous wasteful earmarks last year, including: $12 million for bicycle paths, $450,000 for the International Peace Museum, $500,000 for a baseball stadium and $392,000 for a visitor’s center in Louisiana.

Mrs. Palin cut Alaska’s federal earmark requests in half last year, one of the strongest moves against earmarks by any governor. It took real leadership to buck Alaska’s decades-long earmark addiction.

Mr. Obama delivered over $100 million in earmarks to Illinois last year and has requested nearly a billion dollars in pet projects since 2005. His running mate, Joe Biden, is still indulging in earmarks, securing over $90 million worth this year.

Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation’s budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.

When the Senate had its chance to stop the Bridge to Nowhere and transfer the money to Katrina rebuilding, Messrs. Obama and Biden voted for the $223 million earmark, siding with the old boys’ club in the Senate. And to date, they still have not publicly renounced their support for the infamous earmark.

Mrs. Palin has proven courageous by taking on big spenders in her own party. In March of this year, the Anchorage Daily News reported that, “Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is aggravated about what he sees as Gov. Sarah Palin’s antagonism toward the earmarks he uses to steer federal money to the state.”

The Porky Pig in this argument is Barack Obama and his unending addiction to using taxpayer money to buy support in his home State of Illinois – of course, its not like Obama is out of step with his party. Democrats didn’t pick up the name “tax and spend liberals” by accident, you know? It takes a real big step into the Democrats’ Alternate Universe in order to get to a place where supporters of massive, out-of-control government spending dare to condemn someone else for not being 100%-right-from-the-start against a particular bit of government spending.

If we elect McCain/Palin in November we can be certain of one thing – we’ll have two people in Washington who are not interested in advancing their careers on the back of the American taxpayer. McCain and Palin prefer to advance by hard work and showing that they have good ideas – Obama and Biden prefer to shower people with so much government swag that no one notices that its really just more of the same. What is especially refreshing in this is Palin’s veto of spending for the reason of it not being a government responsibility – this very concept is alien to Democrats, who can’t imaging anything outside of government responsibility.

There is a new wind blowing in American politics, and it comes from Arizona and Alaska, not from Illinois and Deleware.

On the seventh anniversary of September 11, I encourage our readers to put politics aside for the day and share your thoughts and stories from 9/11 here.

Those of you who can’t, please come back tomorrow.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: Sadness in things remembered, joy in triumphs resultant. Its been a long, busy 7 years.

Democrats “promised” to lead the most open, honest, and ethical congress in history.

They’ve been the complete opposite.

The latest demonstration of their ethical hypocrisy revolves around Charles Rangel.

Back in July, it was revealed that Rangel had 4 rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem.

More recently, it was discovered that Rangel wasn’t declaring income he was earning from a rental property he owns in the Dominican Republic. Rangel claimed ignorance and blamed his accountant and his wife.

There’s a real dark ethical cloud hanging over Charles Rangel… even the Democratic National Committee chose to give back $100,000 in contributions they get from him.

Now Republicans want him to step down from his chairmanship pending the results of the ethics investigation against him.

Of course, the party-before-country Democrats in the House, led by Nancy Pelosi, aren’t holding themselves to the same standard they held Republicans to back in 2006, and aren’t doing a thing about Rangel.

“Given Chairman Rangel’s continuing ethical lapses, he cannot effectively carry out his duties as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). “[Y]ou, as speaker of the House, must insist that Rep. Rangel step down.”

Democrats countered that Rangel himself has requested investigations, now ongoing, into the matters and that Republicans have been much more lenient with members of their own party facing ethics or even FBI investigations.

“The American people would be better served if Republicans would stop playing politics and allow the bipartisan ethics committee to do its job,” said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

Now isn’t that a laugh! Democrats have been playing politics with the ethics process for years, and all Republicans are saying is that Democrats should hold themselves to the same standard.

See, this is why we need to elect John McCain. Democrats will NEVER hold members of their own party accountable. Here in Western New York, a Democracy Assemblyman won his primary election despite revelations a few weeks ago that he had affairs with at least two interns. Meanwhile another Assemblyman, a Republican, who got in trouble last year for spending the night sleeping on the floor at an intern’s home, and was defeated in his primary election. Go figure.

Democrats always put party first.