Blogs For Victory

Victor Davis Hanson nails it, as usual:

If Obama were to win, no one would infer from the desolation he described in America, that he may well inherit an economy, in a downturn, that just grew at 3.3 in the last quarter, an unemployment rate of 5.7%, and record levels of exportation, one that did not go into recession with $140 a barrel oil, with more students in college than at any time in its history and more than any other nation in the world, with a war in Iraq nearly won, and both the Taliban and Saddam Hussein gone and replaced with constitutional governments — and Europe, whether in France, Germany, or Italy, with strong pro-American leadership.

No one would infer that after our enemies blew a 16-acre crater in New York and attacked the Pentagon — and promised lots more to come — we have not been hit since, but in contrast, al Qaeda’s leaders are either in hiding, scattered, imprisoned, or killed, with bin Laden and the tactic of suicide bombing with record low levels of support in the Middle East.

His bottom line: our enemies are winning, AK-47s are ubiquitous in our streets, our economy is in depression, and gay people can’t visit their dying partners in our hospitals. In short, “Hope and Change” has became gloom and doom and there is something for everybody from government to save us.

This message, I’ll point out, has been a loser for the Democrats – with the exception of 1992, when there was a split GOP vote allowing a Democrat to slip in under the wire. Will it work in 2008? Perhaps – and if it does, then so be it. People get the government they deserve, and if Obama wins they’ll get it good and hard.

Now the attention will turn to McCain – though the MSM will try to keep at least some of the attention on Obama through the next week. McCain’s task is difficult but also rather simple – keep pointing out that he has real plans backed by real experience, while Obama has highflying rhetoric backed by nothing. In this anti-GOP year, the only Democrat who can lose is Obama, and the only GOPer who can win is John McCain, and as of right now I don’t know which man will win, which is odd for me because, on Presidential elections, I’m usually able to pick out the winner by this time of year.

As Nevada Pundit pointed out to me earlier, Obama has given McCain plenty of opportunities to pick apart Obama’s speech and cast yet more doubt on whether Obama is in the American mainstream, and whether or not Obama’s plans are grounded in reality, or leftwing wishfull thinking. We’ll see soon if McCain sees his chance and takes them – and we’ll also see whether Obama can razzle-dazzle a majority into blindnes long enough to win in November.

Posted below:

ARLINGTON, VA — Tonight, the McCain campaign issued the following statement from Tucker Bounds, McCain 2008 spokesman, on Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention:

“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama. When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm’s way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President.”

BARACK OBAMA’S TOP MISLEADING CLAIMS

MISLEADING CLAIM #1: Barack Obama Can Bring Democrats And Republicans Together. OBAMA: “America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past.” (Barack Obama, Remarks, Denver, CO, 8/28/08)

· NPR’s Juan Williams: Barack Obama “Doesn’t Have The Record” Of Bipartisanship That John McCain Has. NPR’S JUAN WILLIAMS: “You think about everything from campaign finance to immigration and on, and there’s John McCain working across party lines. Senator Obama doesn’t have a record. Now, he can make the claim and he can hold himself up as pure and trying to reach to a new generation of post partisan politics, but he has to do so largely based on rhetoric and wishful thinking because he doesn’t have the record.” (Fox News’ “Special Report With Brit Hume,” 5/7/08)

· Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpPp2usgY6Y

· The Washington Post‘s Richard Cohen: “There Is Scant Evidence The Illinois Senator Takes Positions That Challenge His Base Or Otherwise Threaten Him Politically.” “Obama might have a similar bottom line, core principles for which, in some sense, he is willing to die. If so, we don’t know what they are. Nothing so far in his life approaches McCain’s decision to refuse repatriation as a POW so as to deny his jailors a propaganda coup. In fact, there is scant evidence the Illinois senator takes positions that challenge his base or otherwise threaten him politically. That’s why his reversal on campaign financing and his transparently false justification of it matter more than similar acts by McCain.” (Richard Cohen, Op-Ed, “McCain’s Core Advantage,” The Washington Post, 6/24/08)

· Politico‘s Jonathan Martin: “He’s pretty much a conventional liberal on the issues and has few examples of breaking with his own party, so how does Obama try to pull off being ‘post-partisan?'” (Jonathan Martin, “Obama’s Third Way: It’s All In The Tone,” Politico, 6/30/08)

· Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK): “His Record Does Not Reflect Working In A Bipartisan Fashion.” “Boren, the lone Democrat in Oklahoma’s congressional delegate, said that while Obama has talked about working with Republicans, ‘unfortunately, his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion.'” (Tim Talley, “Okla. Dem Calls Obama Liberal, Declines To Endorse,” The Associated Press, 6/10/08)

· “The Record Shows Obama To Be A Fairly Doctrinaire Liberal Democrat …” (Editorial, “Obama’s Rhetoric Soars, But What Does His Record Suggest?” USA Today, 1/28/08)

· In 2007, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 97 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 3/3/08)

· In 2006, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 96 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 1/27/08)

· In 2005, Obama Voted With The Democrat Party 97 Percent Of The Time. (Congressional Quarterly Website, www.cq.com, Accessed 1/27/08)

Continue reading →

Within the parameters of what Obama might say, does say or has said in the past, have at it, boys and girls.

Errrmmm….you can also make fun of any other Democrat who comes to mind…

UPDATE, 10:12 PM ET: Obama takes the stage.. let the crazy talk begin.

UPDATE, by Matt Margolis: From reading the prepared remarks… I see the same talking points we’ve heard the past few days… the same lame attacks on McCain and Bush…

Guess what Obama, the economy was doing just fine until your party took control of congress.

He’s spent more time attacking John McCain then explaining why he can do anything he claims to do.

UPDATE, 11:28 PM, by Matt Margolis: What sticks out the most about the speech was the negativity. I think it was a major mistake for him to be so negative. He lacked specifics. He attacked John McCain and Republicans endlessly, then claimed to be able to unite the country. Obama could never unite this country.

UPDATE: Media Lizzy posts the McCain campaigns reaction to Obama’s speech.

Associated Press Analysis: Obama spares details, keeps up attacks

UPDATE: From Obama’s speech: “If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.”

Umm, yeah, that pretty much describes what Obama has been doing during his campaign. He has no record to run on, and he’s trying to make people afraid of John McCain. The RNC and McCain campaign should jump on that line.

I just got off the phone with Andy Barnett, who informs me that he just recently spoke with Pawlenty Press Secretary, Alex Carey. While Mr. Carey did not actually state that Pawlenty was the choice, there was excitement in his voice, and he did state that Governor Pawlenty “cleared his schedule” for the weekend.

Meanwhile, according to Barnett, a source very close to the Romney campaign stated that Governor Romney had not heard anything with regard to VP plans within this past hour.

…developing

From Kausfiles:

On the record Time coffee featuring Obama campaign manager David Plouffe: Plouffe argued for paying less attention to the ups and downs of the polls because a) Obama would beat McCain on turnout and b) swing voters would probably break one way or another after the debates. The audience consensus–which in this crowd was almost by definition CW–seemed to be that Plouffe was whistling past the graveyard, relying on turnout machination to make up for a worrisome message problem. … P.S.: Plouffe also said the McCain campaign was “obsessed with news cycles.”

The advantage is still with Obama, but there’s trouble in Obama-land…and the speech tonight with Obamessiah at the Greek Temple might actually be the very worst idea Obama – or his advisors – ever had.

UPDATE, by Mark Noonan: There is no ad more devastating to Obama.

If you can’t even vote to protect children outside the womb, then there’s not much chance that anyone pro-life will be able to justify a vote for you:

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are abandoning Barack Obama now that more evidence has been presented that Obama takes a hardcore pro-abortion position. The drop in his support from pro-life Democrats also comes as John McCain has been more active promoting his pro-life views.

As the election draws closer and more voters are paying attention to it and learning where the candidates states, a Gallup poll finds pro-life Democrats are less inclined to support Obama.

The Gallup survey shows Democrats who say they are conservative on issues like abortion supported Obama at a 72 percentage point clip in mid-July.

Now, that level of support has fallen to just 63 percent — dropping steadily since then during a time Obama has come under fire nationally for his opposition to a bill to provide medical care for newborns who survive abortion.

Our issues are many in 2008, and each of them takes a piece out of the Obama narrartive. On life issues, Obama is an out-of-the-mainstream supporter of the most extreme, pro-abortion position. On foreign policy, Obama has absolutely zero experience. On defense policy, Obama has absolutely zero experience. On the War on Terrorism, Obama not only has no experience, but has also been proved absolutely wrong on the surge. On economic policy, Obama has nothing but the failed policies of a liberal past. On energy policy, Obama has mostly set aside those concrete steps we can immediately take to ease prices and set the stage for alternative fuels. Each of these issues works against Obama, and each of them will be used – in various ways at various times – against Obama from now until November.

Obama has the money, the friendly media and an anti-GOP sentiment in the nation at large – and yet the chances of him winning are, right now, no better than 50/50. We owe this amazing fact to good campaigning by McCain and the GOP, and the fact that the Democrats nominated the weakest man to be President.

UPDATE: Here are some stories which show why Obama is losing pro-life support:

Denver Bishops on Church’s Stance Against Abortion

Archbishop Wuerl on the Church and Abortion: It “Is the Same Teaching as It Was 2,000 Years Ago”

Cardinal Egan’s Comments on the Unborn: “They Are Human Beings With an Inalienable Right to Live”

Democratic National Convention: Obama Receives Ringing Endorsement from Planned Parenthood Action Fund President

US Bishops: Speaker Pelosi Got Church Teaching Wrong, Misrepresents Catholic Understanding of Life

Democratic National Convention: Abortion Leader Rails against McCain

Biden Selection Pleases Delegates, Abortion Activists

From NRO’s The Corner:

Here in Denver, there were audible cheers in the press pavilion from multiple directions when Barack Obama walked on stage. It’s outside the convention center and no regular delegates are here — only press.

But they won’t let their personal views color their reporting, right?

Day Three, boys and girls – have at it.

UPDATE: Slick Wiily takes the stage.

UPDATE: Biden is making a fool of himself.

UPDATE: John McCain has selected a running mate…

UPDATES:

THE HILL: Biden fumbles military terms

AP: Biden hasn’t always had kind words for running mate

AFP: McCain camp gleefully mocks ‘temple of Obama’

The news story:

A U.S. military ship loaded with aid docked at a southern Georgian port Wednesday, and Russia sent three missile boats to another Georgian port as the standoff escalated over a nation devastated by war with Russia.

Georgia’s government said its short war with Russia had caused $1 billion in damages, while European leaders called the Kremlin’s moves in two breakaway Georgian regions an unacceptable attempt to unilaterally redraw the map of the Caucasus region.

The dockings came a day after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recognized the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states, which Georgia answered Wednesday by recalling all but two diplomats from its embassy in Moscow.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas, carrying 34 tons of humanitarian aid, docked in the Black Sea port of Batumi, south of the zone of this month’s fighting between Russia and Georgia. The arrival avoided Georgia’s main cargo port of Poti, still controlled by Russian soldiers.

Why the Coast Guard? Probably has to do with the mission being more humanitarian than military (Dallas has one 76mm gun and one Phalanx anti-missile gun) and, also, its rather tricky to send combat ships through the Dardanelles. Still, its a sign that we remain committed to Georgia and any American forces in Georgia lessens the likelihood of further unprovoked Russian aggression.

But it is dangerous, and we should say a prayer for our men and women now in harms way in that corner of the world – Russia under Putin has proven itself irresponsible and dangerous, so we cannot rely upon the Russians applying common sense to the issue. They may strike again, and may even deliberately strike our forces in some bizarre attempt to teach us a lesson, or some such chest-thumping by the Bear.

Also good to keep in mind: the world is a dangerous place, and the White House is no place for a heretofor empty suit to learn the ropes.