Thinking Right

By Ga Values

September 5, 2008 8:15 AM | Link to this

A real Editorial from a real Writer David Brooks::

Political parties usually reform in the wilderness. They suffer some crushing defeat, the old guard is discredited and the pain compels turnover and change. John McCain is trying to reform the Republican Party before a presidential defeat, with the old guard still around, and with a party base that still hasn’t accepted the need to transform. The central drama of this week’s convention was the struggle by reform Republicans to break through the gravitational pull of old habits and create something new.

Before the convention, some McCain aides wanted to sunder the links to the past in one bold stroke: Name Joe Lieberman as the vice presidential nominee, promise to serve only one term, vow to take a hiatus from partisanship and work by compromise to get things done. That proved to be a leap too far.

So McCain was pulled back. But he refused to stay there and pressed ahead by picking Sarah Palin. At first, this seemed like the fresh break he needed. Her career in Alaska has been nibbled on the edges, but the key fact is this: When the testing time came, she quit her government job, put her career on the line and took on the corrupt establishment of her own party.

But again, the forces of the past pulled McCain back. Parts of the press pack elevated Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. A controversy over human reproduction brought back the old culture wars and the mommy wars. Battle lines formed, as in the days of Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, and everyone took their pre-assigned roles.

Millions declared themselves qualified to judge her a bad mother, while others held her up as the model of evangelical virtue. And, of course, the whole thing became enmeshed in the clichés of red-blue: the supposed conflict between the condescending media elites and the gun-owning trailer trash, between abortion-rights urban women with one kid and anti-abortion rural women with five.

For 36 hours, the gravitational pull of past resentments dominated the media-culture war complex. And from the convention podium the past and the future fought to a draw. On the one hand, Joe Lieberman went up there and praised Bill Clinton, giving a glimpse of what a less partisan political future might look like. On the other, there was Mitt Romney, who delivered a cynical, extreme caricature of old-line Republicanism.

The convention thus sat on a knife-edge. And then Palin walked onstage. She gave a tough vice presidential speech, with maybe a few more jabs than necessary. Still it was stupendous to see a young woman emerge from nowhere to give a smart and assertive speech.

And what was most impressive was her speech’s freshness. Her words flowed directly from her life experience, her poise and mannerisms from her town and its conversations. She left behind most of the standard tropes of Republican rhetoric (compare her text to the others) and skated over abortion and the social issues. There wasn’t even any tired, old Reagan nostalgia.

Instead, her language resonated more of supermarket aisle than the megachurch pulpit. More than the men on the tickets, she embodies the spirit of the moment: impatient, fed up, tough-minded, but ironical. Even in attack, she projected the cheerfulness of someone confident about the future.

In those 40 minutes, the forces of reform Republicanism took control, at least for a time. Republicans started talking about Palin, Bobby Jindal and a brighter future for their party.

In his own speech on Thursday, McCain showed that he is not naturally the smoothest of speakers. He did not have an over-arching story to describe how the world has changed in the 21st century and how government must adapt.

He did not lay out a new doctrine to give shape to his administration. Bill Clinton had a new Democratic agenda to describe how his party would evolve, and in 2000, George W. Bush had compassionate conservatism. McCain had nothing like that. He did not offer as transformational a domestic policy agenda as one would have liked.

But he described traditional conservatism-plus: low taxes and free markets with some activism built on top; compensating workers for lost wages when plants close; a grand national project for energy independence. Through it all, he communicated his burning indignation at the way Washington has operated over the last 12 years. He communicated his intense passion to lift government to a plane the country deserves. He did note that he has fought to change the Republican Party during its period of decay. And he diagnosed that decay Thursday night (to the tepid applause of the faithful).

And this passion for change, combined with his proven and evident integrity, led to the crescendo of raw energy that marked this convention’s conclusion.

His policies are still not quite there yet, but McCain has the heart of an insurgent.

By Frost

September 5, 2008 8:16 AM | Link to this

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I al so am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth t o a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later—to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old=2 0boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal—loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects—which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance—but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. 0A Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling20in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT €“Hockey mom”: true for a few years €“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since €“NRA supporter”: absolutely true €social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would hav e denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional). €pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it. €“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation €“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000. €political maverick: not at all €gutsy: absolutely! €open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions. €has a developed philosophy of public policy: no €”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR. €fiscal conservative: not by my definition! €pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards. €pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents €pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history. €pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google=2 0my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me si nce back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall—they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000”, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. Poor Alabamians. As they say in Alabama, “thank goodness for Mississippi.”

I suppose we should enjoy the freedom to buy the vehicle of our choice as long as we can. There are controllers out there who think that freedom objectionable. If you doubt, try to buy a car without a killer air bag.

Count me as one mildly suspicious of Mr. Pickens and his motives. Nancy Pelosi et vir are big investors in his company. I perceive he emphasizes government stimulation of the natural gas market, and that nuclear fission is outside the ambit of his interests. Mrs. Pelosi, strangely, repeatedly refers to natural gas as an alternative to carbon fuels. Maybe I am unduly mistrustful.

My guess is that there will be no vote on drilling until Obama is totally embarrassed on the subject in one of the debates, and then it will be a comparatively useless effort, remote offshore drilling only instead of the close-in best potential sites.

I still see a nearly 50/50 vote in the election. Obama will win all of the northeast and the left coast, McCain will carry the South and noncoastal West. Rust belt will be the battlegrounds – the bitter people clinging to guns and religion vs. the wine and cheese set.

The fourth major change will be in the nature of judicial appointments, and that is #1 for me. I do not want justices of the sort who brought us Kelo and the child rape execution ruling. The sane but losing minority in both cases were the conservatives. Obama will not appoint the sane conservatives to the court. We thus should expect more abysmal Kelo and child rape execution cases as Obama’s legacy. It will be a good time to be a plaintiff’s attorney, even if the economy will suffer.

Hope everyone saw Taranto’s column yesterday, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Mostly analyzed the best lines from Sarah and Rudy’s speeches; Taranto’s funniest column yet. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122054121296699899.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today My leftist friends probably should pass it by.

By Ga Values

September 5, 2008 8:19 AM | Link to this

Our RHINO Senator Saxby Special Interest, skipped the speaches of Palin & McCain. He is one of those me 1st, country 2nd Congressmen that McCain was talking about. Saxby & his LOBBYIST son Bo are owned by out of state SPECIAL INTERSET.Where Saxby Chambliss gets his money::

Agri Business—-$1,368,000 Banks, Insurance, Real Estate—-$1,332,000 Lawyers & Individual Lobbyist——$641,000 Misc Business —-$679,000 The Agi Business & his LOBBYIST son got a gift of $20 billion waste from Saxby’s Farm Bill. The Banks, Real Estate & Lawyers just got a $2 TRILLION gift from the Bail Out the Banks act which Saxby & Johnny voted for. Not a bad return on your money. Term Limits Here, Term Limits Now, America 1St not SPECIAL INTEREST.. Saxby Special Interest has got to GO.

By bearcasey

September 5, 2008 8:32 AM | Link to this

JIM: you are a thoughtful and reasonable man but you just don’t get it. The Republicans in 2008 will be PUNISHED for inflicting that glorified frat boy, “W”, on us. Least intelligent President since Warren G. Harding.

By Captain Freedom

September 5, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

THE Captain is encouraged that St John intends to turn the page from the failed policies of the past 8 years by…promising to continue to pursue the very same course of action that we’ve seen for the past 8 years. For truly, Real Americans are sick and tired of the drift and decline Our Great Nation has experienced for the past 8 years, and its high time someone grabbed the bull by the tail and squarely face the situation.

Change and continuity, all rolled into one manly, stern, and compassionate great-grandfather. THE Captain is ecstatic!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Dear bearcasey @ 8:32, perhaps you will enlighten us – please cite an “unintelligent” policy by President Bush. I suspect you will rail only about successful items, such as wiping out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but will ignore the truly bad decisions, as when he signed onto Ted Kennedy’s Education Bill or Tom Daschle’s Agricultural Bill, or the Steel Quotas pushed by rust belt democrats. Homeland Security seems to be a push, unnecessarily intrusive and expensive but manifestly successful in its purpose – hard to call that “unintelligent.” So please, enlighten us.

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 8:47 AM | Link to this

The lady can give a rousing speech, but those were not her words. She was simply reading from a teleprompter. The speech was written by Matthew Scully, one of George Bush’s speechwriters. See Wikipedia for more on him (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Scully). Keep in mind George W. Bush too was an empty suit until the professional marketers and speech writers took over and turned him into something he wasn’t and still isn’t. Look at the price our country has paid for his mistakes over the past eight years and will continue to pay in the future. Be careful what you wish for. Things are not always what they seem to be.

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 8:58 AM | Link to this

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 4 — Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail while cramming for a debate with her Democratic opponent, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), in less than a month, according to officials from Sen. John McCain’s campaign. Lieberman, who was the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee but is now an independent, has helped introduce Palin to officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the leading pro-Israel lobby. In a meeting Tuesday, the day before she delivered her prime-time address at the Republican National Convention here, Palin assured the group of her strong support for Israel, of her desire to see the United States move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and of her opposition to Iran’s aspirations to become a nuclear power, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

The exchange offered a brief glimpse into the views of the one-term governor of Alaska, who has virtually no record on foreign policy and has not traveled extensively outside the United States. As governor, she made two foreign trips last summer, one of which was to Canada. On the second, sponsored by the Pentagon, she traveled to Kuwait and Germany — and made a short stop at a “military outpost” in Iraq — to visit members of the Alaska National Guard deployed there, according to Palin spokeswoman Maria Comella. Comella added that Palin may have visited Mexico on a personal trip.

Campaign officials and McCain foreign policy advisers called Palin a quick study who has sound judgment that will serve her in good stead on national security issues. But privately, some in the GOP foreign policy establishment voiced concern that McCain has turned to a relative neophyte on national security matters at a time when the United States is facing challenges ranging from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the nuclear activities of Iran and North Korea.

“Her speech wowed the pro-family and anti-tax groups, but can she handle complex foreign and defense policy decision-making?” asked one leading conservative foreign policy thinker who is concerned. He spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to be publicly critical of the pick.

Democrats offered a more scathing assessment. “As much as Joe Lieberman might be trying to give her an information dump on what he knows, he can’t infuse her with the expertise that she’s sorely lacking,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) said in an interview, adding that vice presidents often serve as foreign emissaries during international crises. “The problem with her lack of foreign policy experience is she’s running with a man who’s 72 years old and, God forbid something happens to him, it’s frightening because this is someone who would have the tiller of America’s foreign policy.”

Noting that the vice president sits on the National Security Council, Wasserman Schultz added: “What advice could Palin possibly offer McCain? There might as well be an empty seat at the table.”

Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has avoided attacks on Palin’s credentials. “I think she’s formidable. She has a great story. She has a great family,” Biden said on NBC’s “Today Show” on Thursday.

Campaign advisers and other surrogates sought to tamp down concerns about her experience. “Sarah Palin will be part of a team. John McCain is clearly the person with the foreign policy experience and record of accomplishment in Washington that will be paired with her experience as a reformer, as a governor, as an executive,” former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors. “Together, they will be a very strong and compelling team. But let’s not forget, he is the president and she is the vice president. And on the Democratic side, you have a nominee who is of so little experience in foreign affairs, domestic affairs, of any affairs, that I wonder how it happened.”

The McCain campaign has tapped Stephen E. Biegun, the national security adviser to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), to be Palin’s principal foreign policy adviser. Campaign aides said Biegun, who is currently a vice president of Ford, is not serving as Palin’s tutor but is merely briefing her on details of key issues in a way that is similar to what other candidates are receiving.

“The attempt is not to turn her into a professor of foreign policy but trying to get her up to speed on all the nuances of foreign policy issues that are hot and John’s positions,” said John Lehman, a former Navy secretary who is one of McCain’s advisers. “She’s surprised everybody at how current she is on Middle East issues. She doesn’t pretend to be a foreign policy expert, but neither is she somebody who hasn’t thought about the issues.”

As a first-term governor, Palin has not delved into foreign policy in great detail, and she has made only passing references to the subject since her selection. On occasion, she has cast her focus on energy in the context of international affairs. As Alaska’s governor, she has spent more time on oil and drilling issues.

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 9:07 AM | Link to this

One of Palin’s few meetings this week with outside groups was with AIPAC, a sign of how politically important it is for the GOP ticket to demonstrate its support of Israel. “We had a good, productive discussion on the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship, and we were pleased that Governor Palin expressed her deep, personal commitment to the safety and well-being of Israel,” AIPAC spokesman Josh Block said. “She also expressed her support for the special friendship between the two democracies and said she would work to strengthen the ties between the United States and Israel.”

By TIM WOOTEN

September 5, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

Jim,

Please restate your position on teen pregnancy. It appears that you have completed a 180 on your original stance with the comment “ITS NO BIG DEAL”.

You have written several articles demonizing poor unwed mothers. You also are not alone on this issue. Bill O’Reilly called Jamie Lyne Spears a pinhead and blamed her pregnancy on her parents. His new position on teen pregnancy is that as long as the family can take of the baby it’s no problem. Well there is only one thing wrong with his stance is that Jamie Lynn Spears (Age 17) is a millionaire.

I THINK THAT YOU APPEAR TO BE A HYPOCRITE AND MAKE US REAL CONSERVATIVES LOOK BAD.

By TIM WOOTEN

September 5, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

Jim,

THINKING WRONG

Please restate your position on teen pregnancy. It appears that you have completed a 180 on your original stance with the comment “ITS NO BIG DEAL”.

You have written several articles demonizing poor unwed mothers. You also are not alone on this issue. Bill O’Reilly called Jamie Lyne Spears a pinhead and blamed her pregnancy on her parents. His new position on teen pregnancy is that as long as the family can take of the baby it’s no problem. Well there is only one thing wrong with his stance is that Jamie Lynn Spears (Age 17) is a millionaire.

I THINK THAT YOU APPEAR TO BE A HYPOCRITE AND MAKE US REAL CONSERVATIVES LOOK BAD.

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 9:17 AM | Link to this

We republicans are left with two combative leaders—McCain, known for his hot temper has chosen to interact with world leaders and to set the tone for our country’s actions, someone who handles problems by acting like a pit bull (even with lipstick). We are living in a dangerous world, and we need statespeople, not fighters. What has happened to my party?

By Goldie

September 5, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this

“Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002).”

Frost @ 8:16 — That’s some kinda reforming, hockey-Mom those Repugs are trying to embrace now!

And The Dems Can’t Wait Til November!

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this

I’m not convinced that either McCain and Palin are capable of positive real change in this country. To begin with, and with all due respect for McCain’s military background, neither of them represents Americans of today. Neither one of them are in touch with the realities of the problems this country truly faces. And they are incapable of intelligently discussing these issues.

The choice of Palin by McCain displays his ineptness. She has no meaningful experience worth a hoot regardless of the spin doctors. And I could deliver a speech just as well if Mr. Gerson or the actual speechwriter wrote one for me to deliver. After all, she was well coached. She did a good job of it, there’s no denying that, but delivering a speech does not qualify you to be Vice President or more likely President.

McCains health is a major issue also here. After eight disastrous, wasteful years of Bush do we as patriotic Americans want not only more of the same, but additional devestating agendas from the Supreme Court and the religious right? I think not!

By The Anti-Wooten

September 5, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

Ragnar,

I’ll be more than delighted to enlighten you since you appear to be among the Great Uninformed of the GOP.

*Medicare Drug Plan: Written by pharmaceutical companies to “make prescription drugs more affordable to seniors”. This plan has not only made drugs less available and more expensive, it’s created multiple levels of beaurocracy that did not exist before.

*Attempts to muzzle federal scientists and researchers: No matter what side you take with respect climate change, this is a shameful abuse of power.

*Justice Department hiring: Using political litmus tests to ignore resumes of far better qualified candidates from REAL law schools to hire large numbers of Regents University grads. Probably illegal, definitely bad for all Americans.

*Gutting of the EPA and other environmental programs: Love’em or hate’em, the environmental policies that have been enacted over the last 40 years have, in fact, gone a great distance toward cleaning up messes we’ve all been complicit in making. Has anyone heard of Lake Erie catching on fire recently?

*Politicizing of the US Department of Justice: Improper, illegal and impeachable.

*Denying funding for embryonic stem cell research: One of the most promising venues for the future of finding cures to diseases and conditions that are, every day, breaking the hearts and wallets of many, many Americans.

*Oil and energy policy: Cheney and the oilmen got together for closed access meetings to draw the map for policy that has now given us record high prices at the pump. But not to worry ExxonMobil made a record prfoti again last quarter.

*Tax policies: Never before has an executive of our nation, while engaged in a two front war, cut taxes. This has led us directly to the legion financial difficulties we face now. I particularly hope you have children that will get to bear the brunt of the debts we’ve built for Bush’s glory.

And yes, to satisfy you, let’s talk about al-quaeda and the Taliban.

*Failure to achieve the mission: George W. Bush used the bully pulpit of 9/11 and manipulated intel to leave behind the mission in Afghanistan and have us wade in waist deep to the morass that is Iraq. Indeed, the surge seems to be working and I’m immensely pleased that fewer US service members are being killed. But the fact remains, this is, was and will continue to be a war for oil and corporate profits. The Taliban are resurgent now that the Bush took his eye of the ball, of course a cheerleader isn’t usually expected to be the one that has “eye on the ball duty”.

We could go on and on but your posts make it obvious that you have no real interest in hearing reality.

By Bo Chambliss

September 5, 2008 9:23 AM | Link to this

Actually, McCain’s speech was right on the mark. We’ve drifted away as a people, as Americans, as to what makes us strong. The core, foundational ideologies of freedom, liberty, small government and personal responsibility. The fact that government has grown far too large and that we have moved from our core American principles is indisputable. Obama’s ideologies comprise the exact things that have damaged our country; the growth of big governmnet has to stop. McCain is the ONLY choice.

By Ga Values

September 5, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

McCain’s real problem is that he has to overcome an eight year history of Republican incompetence on every aspect of governing except for defending the homeland. That’s a hard road to climb, and I don’t think even Sarah Palin, can get him over this hump. It’s a damn shame McCain lost to Bush 8 years ago. We’d have been in much better shape today if that had happened.

Now, we’re left with Obama and Biden. They should help revive the middle class, but no matter who’s in the White House, the economy is going to stink for the next five years, thanks to Republican and Democrat greed, arrogance, and incompetence

By bearcasey

September 5, 2008 9:36 AM | Link to this

RAGNAR:

• Gas prices have skyrocked while Bush family friends in Saudi Arabia have become incredibly wealthy.

• Mortgage foreclosures have become the norm rather than the exception.

• A billion dollars a week is poured down the rat-hole that is Iraq. As soon as our troops and money are pulled out, Iraq will degnerate into a quagmire that will make VietNam look like a walk in the park. Is your son in Iraq? Didn’t think so.

• The rest of the world looks down on us. “W’s” dad understood that we need friends.

• Look at “W’s” failures before being elected. Want to buy stock in his Savings and Loan?

Need more? There’s plenty.

By Chris

September 5, 2008 9:38 AM | Link to this

Let us also not forget the battle for Broadcaster Freedom will resume along with oil drilling. Given the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the Fairness Doctrine reinstated (and why the AJC is so silnet on this), this could be the death knell to both talk radio and to the Internet.

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 9:39 AM | Link to this

“By Frost September 5, 2008 8:16 AM I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. “

What a crock of lies. I bet you are no more from Alaska than you are from Mars, here on a student exchange.

Perhaps your dimwitted Democrat friends swoon over your obvious cut and paste propaganda, believing all of your crap, but anyone with a brain can see right through you. You are a liar, plain and simple.

Where did you get that rubbish…Daily Kos, Huffington Pus/POS, MoveOn, New York Times, et al? And to use a moniker like Frost from Alaska? You obviously think that the rest of the world is as stupid as you, so give it up. They are not. And they will be watching the swearing in of John McCain and Sarah Palin next January, while you and your foaming at the mouth left wing lunatics will just be swearing.

Obama/Biden ‘08 - making it easy to be stupid

By Chris

September 5, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

Let us also not forget the battle for Broadcaster Freedom will resume along with oil drilling. Given the fact that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the Fairness Doctrine reinstated (and why the AJC is so silnet on this), this could be the death knell to both talk radio and to the Internet.

By Darren

September 5, 2008 9:45 AM | Link to this

The government said Friday that the American economy lost 84,000 private nonfarm jobs in August, the eighth straight month of job losses. The unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, the highest in nearly five years. Both figures were worse than economists had forecast.

bwa

lazy libs shoulda went to college

By Th

September 5, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

It baffles me what people manage to convince themselves of regarding energy policy. Oil companies make more money when prices are higher. Alaska has no sales or income tax and gets almost all their funds from tax on oil production in the state. Alaska gets more tax money when prices are higher. We should no more expect Sarah Palin to pursue policies as VP that would reduce oil prices than we would expect a VP Sonny Perdue to pursue policies that would deflate the prices of peanuts, Vidalia onions or chickens. Not gonna happen. The last time oil prices were this high on an inflation adjusted basis was the late ‘70’s, early ‘80’s. The oil companies thought prices would keep going up so their response was to “drill, drill, drill.” Prices crashed from $40 to $9 in one year. It has taken over 25 years to get back to that level of pricing. Why would we think oil companies are stupid enough to do the same thing again?

Oil companies will pump more oil when they get good and darn ready. And electric utilities will build nuclear power plants when they think they are a good investment, not when the President says we will. The only sensible bill I have seen proposed recently was one put forward by the Democrats that forced oil companies to either start drilling on the leases they already hold or forfeit them. The Republicans filibustered it.

By Sarah P.

September 5, 2008 10:05 AM | Link to this

Good one! I love gun jokes.

By southfulton

September 5, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this

As a republican, I’m not one of those who wanted McCain to choose Palin. I would have preferred Gulliani.

By lwwmm7

September 5, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

By getalife "whiners"

September 5, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Great.

Now the old man wants you to drink his change kool aid.

McCain spewed,”Everything is f—-ing spin.”

Now that is finally the truth.

By GMAN

September 5, 2008 10:25 AM | Link to this

Last night’s episode of “The Washington Hillbillies” was a hoot! Talking loud and saying nothing! What you didn’t hear is a single new idea about how to make the healthcare system work, get our economy moving for the middle class, or improve education. Jed talked about his experience during the Civil War and his fondness for crawdads and hogjowels. WEEDOGGY!

Bush/McCain - Gambling with our children’s futures!

By TW

September 5, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

Th - surely your not suggesting the McCain camp won’t socialize the oil they think they’re going to drill? Are you saying said oil will will go to a big oil company, thus making it part of the global pricing game? Are you actually suggesting this hometown discount proposal by McCain/Bushgirl is really just a facade to pump more of our tax dollars into big oils pockets?

Wouldn’t that be kind of like lying to America?

Nah…no way…

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 10:32 AM | Link to this

Dear antirational @ 9:22, you fall into the trap of confusing your policy preferences with “unintelligent.” Such hubris is not uncommon for leftists, but for your benefit and that of other similar epithet spewing nonthinkers, I will be pleased to explain, based on your template.

*Medicare Drug Plan: Written by pharmaceutical companies to “make prescription drugs more affordable to seniors.” The purpose of the new drug plan was to reduce medical procedures by facilitate drug therapy – the currently preferred state of art – within the Medicare, which was previously hostile to non-doctor treatments. Only a leftist would brand such cost cutting procedures “unintelligent” and there is not doubt that the program is popular with the seniors, especially those who were on Medicare for any period of time before the change.

*Attempts to muzzle federal scientists and researchers: As there is no doubt that the bureaucracy if rife with thousands of unelected presidents, any rational president would rein in the excesses. The only one elected by the people is entitled to set the policy for his administration. Of course, a true conservative would affirm this is not a proper province for confiscation of wealth from taxpayers in any event.

*Justice Department hiring: As there is no doubt that the bureaucracy if rife with thousands of unelected presidents, any rational president would rein in the excesses. The only one elected by the people is entitled to set the policy for his administration.

*Gutting of the EPA and other environmental programs: Name a single regulation “gutted.” Typical leftist lie. I acknowledge that Bill Clinton’s EPA, in the last 90 days of his administration, enacted a horrendous volume of economy-crushing new regulations that President Bush intelligently blocked. Your leftist policy preference is not necessarily “intelligent.”

*Politicizing of the US Department of Justice: As there is no doubt that the bureaucracy if rife with thousands of unelected presidents, any rational president would rein in the excesses. The only one elected by the people is entitled to set the policy for his administration. .

*Denying funding for embryonic stem cell research: I note your use of the weasel word “promising.” You conceal that the undoubtedly legal adult stem cells have been used effectively in every instance where scientists wished to grow and harvest aborted babies. Your only reason for preferring such a grisly alternative is your wish to devalue life generally. As there is no doubt that the bureaucracy if rife with thousands of unelected presidents, any rational president would rein in the excesses. The only one elected by the people is entitled to set the policy for his administration. Of course, a true conservative would affirm this is not a proper province for confiscation of wealth from taxpayers in any event.

*Oil and energy policy: You repeat a typical tin-hat lie here. You do not cite a single action or inaction by the government during the Bush administration.

*Tax policies: “Never before has an executive of our nation, while engaged in a two front war, cut taxes.” While I think we would all agree that it would have been better for us all if Bill Clinton had taken out OBL when he had the chance, that would have merely delayed the inevitable. You confuse two issues. (1) The war was necessary, and had to be fought regardless. (2) Wars do not have to be funded by “tax increases.” Spending cuts are a fully-reasonable alternative. President Bush did the necessary, but was unable to persuade the big spenders in Congress – both parties – to do the right thing on spending. (3) Taxes affect nothing more than economic growth. I do not doubt that leftists would have preferred to keep the economy spiraling down during the Bush administration, but they will certainly get a chance to re-prove the lessons learned during the Reagan administration. The lapse of the Bush tax cuts will destroy the economy.

*Failure to “achieve the mission:” Because the leftists fought President Bush every step of the way, constantly threatening de-funding, President Bush had to fight “on the cheap” until that strategy risked loss. I do not know why that makes President Bush the “unintelligent” one. Had democrats been supportive, you would have a basis for argument. You have none. The victory in Iraq belongs to President Bush and conservatives alone. You are silent on the destruction of Al Qaeda in Indonesia and Philippines. The Taliban is reduced to guerilla tactics, and that will require a different strategy than Iraq. You leftists continue to demand massive invasion of Afghanistan, and that is a losing strategy. This will necessarily be a small footprint war, for another generation, conducted – as in Indonesia and Philippines – by special ops.

Nothing you cite is “unintelligent.” I have given you the intelligent basis for each allegation. Chew on that.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

Dear bearcasey @ 9:36, thanks for your response. As with our friend antirational @ 9:22, you confuse your policy preferences with “unintelligent” opposition. So lets parse your template.

“Gas prices have skyrocked while Bush family friends in Saudi Arabia have become incredibly wealthy.” So have tax revenues. Can you cite a policy, practice, regulation, or law proffered by President Bush? I would cited the democrats refusal to allow the free market to drill everywhere with promise. Government is the culprit, but not President Bush.

“Mortgage foreclosures have become the norm rather than the exception.” Typical leftist hyperbole. The norm is the absence of foreclosures. I understand you are hostile to the free market, but I have not yet heard of a single foreclosure attributable to any policy, practice, regulation, or law proffered by President Bush. To the extent that congress cuddles with rogue agencies like FNMA and FHLMC – by rogue, I mean agencies beyond the control of the executive branch – you blame the wrong party for unsound activities. FNMA and FHLMC famously facilitated the “no doc” loans and the variable rate loans now causing such grief throughout the economy. Blame those who underwrite, not those prohibited from overseeing.

“A billion dollars a week is poured down the rat-hole that is Iraq.” We understand that you leftists would prefer to allow murderous dictators to give cover to organizations such as Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and would not lift a finger to prevent attacks on Americans. The solution is to do the heavy lifting, to wipe out the bad guys. I know you don’t have the intestinal fortitude for such strong action, but that does not make your perspective “intelligent.” We simply disagree on the better course. You would wait until the bad guys kill thousands, and if there are any survivors among the bad guys you would try them in a courtroom. I prefer the preventive maintenance course. I think President Bush’s view there is the intelligent one, and yours is the course of a lunatic.

“The rest of the world looks down on us. “W’s” dad understood that we need friends.” Right, that is why France and Germany and Italy elected conservatives in their last elections. That is why all of the old east bloc is run by explicitly pro-American conservatives. I would agree that the old Europe intelligentsia – the same people who loved John Kerry – dislike President Bush. Your argument – that “because old Europe intelligentsia does not like President Bush, he is therefore unintelligent” – has a gap in the logic.

“Look at “W’s” failures before being elected. Want to buy stock in his Savings and Loan?” Stupid is as stupid writes. President Bush did not have a savings and loan, and savings and loan associations are not “stock” entities.

“Need more? There’s plenty.” Heck, I’m still waiting for the first one.

By Maniac is accurate

September 5, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

But chew thoroughly. Wouldn’t want you to choke. Good job Ragnar.

I have been encouraged by John McCain’s vision. Those who have read my posts here over many months know I detest the current Washington gridlock, with its dearth of leadership and statesmanship.

Here is a statesman and a leader – John McCain. Barack Obama has the potential to be a statesman and a leader, but only if he decides to become one. Hopefully, he will have four or eight years to watch and learn.

I have not felt this encouraged and energized to support a candidate for president since 1980. I’m going to work.

By The Way

September 5, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

Ga Values: If U can tell us in 25 words or less what David Brooks wrote then we’ll respect you. Fair ‘muff?

Frost: So you’re saying that at seven months, Sarah Palin hid her pregnancy by not wearing the pillow padding her daughter wore at the GOP convention to show everyone she was pregnant. At five months, nobody is that large, unless instead of a bun in the oven it’s a turkey.

ButtGeyser: Mini-me, you complete me. (thanks for the nod. I know. I know. Thank you.)

Thank you. Stop!

Obama 08: He didn’t have to be tortured to know what America is. No Real American did or ever would. We know America. We are America.

Hitler ‘33: He finished his nomination speech with a narrative about his time in prison too.

By Treebeard

September 5, 2008 11:35 AM | Link to this

No, Peadawg, they are not perfect. Peter and his ilk, especially Rumpled Foreskin are orc scum. They come with fire. They come with axes. Destroyers and usurpers. Curse them.

By Clint

September 5, 2008 12:31 PM | Link to this

Yahn. Another 4 nights of huckstering McShame as a “war hero.” All 3.8 hours of total combat for him. More than 30 years of riding that phoney sled and making a living playing that card. Shameful, but to be expected. Locked up tight now with the hillbilly basketball player and hockey mom and moose/caribou killer. Great Christian family values to be sure. Will interpret the Bible for us all and pinpoint her own deep dysfunctions, hangups, failures and etch them into law. Sounds good to me. Surely this is a ticket that will vastly appeal to the noneducated, blue-collar goose-stepping goons of conformity and the Moron Belt. AKA/ The Repug Party. How pathetic was/is that!! Proud ta be a Amurcun??? Yup!

By Jeff

September 5, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Breaking News! 54,641 college students in Florida are currently on food stamps. Thanks, McCain and Bush. It gits better every day.

By Maniac is accurate

September 5, 2008 12:53 PM | Link to this

what Obama stands for is not change, but a return to the paternalistic government ideas of Tip O’Neill and other Roosevelt Democrats.

McCain would lead an energy independence revolution that would make the U.S. the world’s leader in bringing clean, renewable, affordable energy solutions to market – creating jobs, a trade surplus and increasing our security all at once. Let’s work with McCain to lift our nation and the world to new heights.

It beats a return to the welfare state mentality Bill Clinton worked so hard to change.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this

Let me set the record straight. For those of you who frequent Jim’s page you will know that I love Jim, would in fact move to California to marry him, and most importantly I am not uneducated.
While I may only have a middle school education, and read with the help of my mother, whom I live with, my opinions are extremely well thought out, such as my other hero Big W. You know, “can’t fool me again”, or “food on your family”. And while inbetween my naps, cereal, and play time I like to sniff Bill O’Reily’s butt, this by no means takes away from the fact that I too am fair and balanced.

I will post more dribble in a few minutes, but my mom is calling me for my daily bible reading and spong bath.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this

This is the real Ragnar Danneskjöld, and I do not appreciate the imposter Ragnar Danneskjöld, using my name to promote truths. I have worked extremely hard to get my name into the conservative blogger circle based on lies and half-truths and I do not need my cover blown. And by the way, I hate cereal, but my mom does say hi.

By HIDT

September 5, 2008 1:03 PM | Link to this

TWEREN’T ME!

By **Ragnar Danneskjöld**

September 5, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this

Please leave me alone I don’t attack others for their opinion and I would appreciate the same respect.

By HIDT

September 5, 2008 1:31 PM | Link to this

yes it twas!!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

OK, imposter Ragnar Danneskjöld, this is getting rediculous. While I do love Jim, I don’t live with my mom, she lives with me. Get your facts straight.

By HIDT

September 5, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this

That’s a first for me, pofo, if indeed that’s who you are. I’m going to ignore you now until you tire of your games. Infant.

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this

Ragnar the Real, you may as well get used to the fact that working hard is a detestable trait by Democrat standards, so already they are envious of you. They are too lazy or ignorant to do any research to refute any facts or knowledge that you present.

Liberals resort first to name-calling and/or slurs, then swirl in circles down the toilet with lies, innuendo, or just simply pure fabrication to attempt to denigrate anyone that disagrees with their socialist views.

Garden variety (GV) liberals like the ones that post here, have never completed an intelligent thought on their own; they speed to the contents of such trash-mongers as DailyKos, Huffington Pus/POS, Media Matters seeking guidance and some clever info to cut and paste, because they are incapable of their own original thought.

GV liberals are fearful of the truth, incapable of admitting even one mistake, and you need go no further than Bill O’Reilly’s partially shown interview (to be spread out in segments) with none other then The Messiah himself. Bill asked him to admit that the surge worked. Obama said virtually everything he could to deny it, but only would admit that it was effective, but always had his own version of the ‘truth’. Bill asked him to admit that okay he may have been right about the war, but wrong about the surge. Obama would never say “I was wrong”, yet he admitted that it had succeeded. Double talk

Liberals are imitative because of their lack of originality. If Obama is in denial, they too are in denial. If the mainline (certainly not mainstream as intended) media says McCain is too old, the puppets repeat it. If they say Sarah Palin is not qualified to be VP, the puppets repeat it. They never let facts get in the way of their perceived truths.

Just ignore them my friend, or better still, continue to post your hard work and research because although the GV libs will ignore it or slur you for it, you may just open up the minds of they few that are curious about the benefits we conservatives talk about, the things we have in life and enjoy, but are just afraid to admit it.

The ones that attempt to make your information lose value because they try to slur or intimidate you, they are afraid of you. They are afraid of the truth. They fear knowledge, because knowledge is power. They have none, so they envy you. Why do you think their mantra every election cycle is a constant generation of class and wealth envy? It is because these toads have neither…..no class, no wealth.

These croaking tree frog liberals as a group have needs; needs to be led, needs to be told what to say, needs fulfilled happily for them by their masters at the DNC. They want their government handouts to continue, they see government as mommy and/or daddy, an entity to take care of them because they cannot take care of themselves.

Ignore them. Continue your fine work. Your words are a pleasure to read. .

By HIDT

September 5, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this

In the spirit of ignoring and moving on, did anyone see 90210 the other night? I was really disappointed Steve and Dylan aren’t back on the show, but it was awesome!! I’ve got my Tivo season pass set up, and I’m so excited. My mom says I can watch it even though it doesn’t promote the same Christian beliefs we do. So anyway, let’s open the discussion on something important, will Tori Spelling come back by the end of the season or not?

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this

Thanks Bud Wiser, I don’t let it get me down. Just look at W, he’s been ridiculed for 8 years, and he refuses to back down. He still takes his vacations, no matter how many liberals point out that he’s been on vacation for 1/3 of his entire presidency. He still leads by example, and so will I.

By Maniac is accurate

September 5, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

Bud, you are indeed wiser than most. You and jbmlaw both. And, you are kind, with your reference to croaking tree frog liberals. I refer to them as yelping hyenas.

By KJ

September 5, 2008 2:03 PM | Link to this

This is classic, when presented with facts and intelligent rebuttals to their outrageous claims, those firmly entrenched on the left resort to childish antics. It would almost be funny if they didn’t represent a vast, uninformed majority who will vote in November. As it is, it’s a sad testament to what Obama and Co. are proposing, more government, more handouts (as opposed to handUPS), more “what can my country do for me?”. God forbid they do anything FOR their country.

We’ll know in two months what the next 4 years will be like, or the next generation.

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this

By Bud Wiser September 5, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this Hey Ragnar Danneskjöld, by the way I just got a pair of Jim’s underwear, did you want to come over tonight and sniff it?

By Bud Wiser September 5, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this Yelping hyenas, now that’s good because they like to yelp. I like that. Yelp, yelp.

By Bud Wiser September 5, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this You said it KJ, god forbid we have economic growth and prosperity like we did under Clinton. Do you honestly belive you have the best ticket? What a joke, you are as senile as McSame. To think that a democrat could do worse than your party has for the last 8 years, is utterlly laughable. Your party is so lame they have bit off everything the dems are doing this year. Talking about change, come on, what kind of change is a guy going to make when he’s voted with GW over 90% of the time. I still can’t get one you repugnants to explain that.

Ragnar, do you see what I mean? These morons are stealing ID to try and smear myself as well as you, but it is obvious by the very content, that they cannot move off their bitterness and envy. They are to be pitied.

It would be kind of Mr Wooten to rat out these idiots and say who also uses their IP address, and what names they also use, much like Bookman did to me last week. Just to be fair.

By Jackleg faker

September 5, 2008 2:24 PM | Link to this

Oops, I just filled my diaper. Plus, I’m getting a little tired … darn psychotropic drugs. Think I’ll take a nap now. Unless another manic episode begins and I start writing more malarky using others’ blog handles. Either way I’ll be absent-mindedly wanking my pet poodle Max.

By KJ

September 5, 2008 2:30 PM | Link to this

Bud Wiser and Ragnar

Never fear, I read the comments and I know when someone else has decided to make their comments while hiding behind your names. It just reinforces my comment above.

By Jackleg faker

September 5, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this

Yes, I realize Obama is more a Jimmy Carter than a Bill Clinton, who was actually a fiscal conservative. And, I realize Obama is a Roosevelt Democrat who will kill our economy for years with make-work programs and punitive taxes on business. But it’s just that I hate George Bush so much I can’t do anything more than dishonestly try to equate John McCain with Bush. Just being honest here.

Oh, and by the way, I realize I am juvenile and stupid.

Max, come here, boy!

By Jackleg faker

September 5, 2008 2:41 PM | Link to this

Guess where my thumb is right now.

Obama ‘08: Taking America Back (to 1978)

By KJ

September 5, 2008 2:45 PM | Link to this

Well Jackleg, perhaps Obama can suggest a program to help you rid yourself of your hate, all paid for with our tax dollars, of course.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 2:49 PM | Link to this

For the record I wrote 8:18 and the two long ones. The other stuff is funny/loopy, albeit not HIDT’s style. Doesn’t really strike me as PoFo’s style either. We have a new parodist, but one who cannot lose an argument gracefully.

By JAY BOOKMAN

September 5, 2008 2:50 PM | Link to this

Bud, I’ve pulled those posts down, as requested. It’s very clear who posted them, but I would be exceeding my authority on Jim’s blog by doing any more than I’ve done. Good luck.

By doc

September 5, 2008 3:03 PM | Link to this

Churchhill:

Surely you do not believe the Messiah wrote his own speeches? Obama is completely lost without a teleprompter, and perhaps you can do what no other Obama supporter has been able to do so far: explain (intelligently, without name calling) Obama’s love affair with the failed economic policies of Karl Marx.

By Maniac is accurate

September 5, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this

KJ, Jackleg Faker was me giving the infantile poster guy a little of his own medicine.

By KJ

September 5, 2008 3:12 PM | Link to this

Maniac, my last reponse was completely tongue-in-cheek. Can’t let eveyone else have all the fun here, can I?

By KJ

September 5, 2008 3:17 PM | Link to this

Maniac, my last response was completely tongue-in-cheek. I can’t let everyone else have all the fun, can I?

By Tar and feathered

September 5, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this

Bud Weiser and Raghdar- Look no further than The Way for the person stealing names and posting under them. Right up his alley.

By Maniac is accurate

September 5, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

True that.

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this

By JAY BOOKMAN

September 5, 2008 2:50 PM | Link to this

Bud, I’ve pulled those posts down, as requested. It’s very clear who posted them, but I would be exceeding my authority on Jim’s blog by doing any more than I’ve done. Good luck.

Thanks Jay. BTW, do you guys still throw paper airplanes at each other in the office these days, or is it the cubicle/cell structure?

My dad was in the newspaper business for 47 years, I worked there part time on and off during college. The “main news room” was one huge room with multiple desks, the editor in chief at his own positioned prominently front and center, the reporters and copy editors scattered about. The old fashioned ‘wires” (AP/UPI then) were up against the wall. I was pulling wire the day that Whitman nut was in the University of Texas tower shooting all those people. It was grim.

Also, there was a lot more than paper tossed back and forth in those days…

By The Way

September 5, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this

Hey everybody! Buttgeyser and J. Buttman are having a catfight! Rowwrr!

CATFIGHT!! ROWWRR!!!

moron

By Dusty

September 5, 2008 3:47 PM | Link to this

Well, Jim Wooten, that was a pretty good joke about Alabama. I’m not from Alabama but one thing is true. Southerners make great fighters for that in which they believe. The last one to invade Georgia had to burn the place down to make any progress. But as we know, Southerners rose right up. Yep, the Phoenix no less.

So much for Southern happiness. Thanks for your tribute to the late Paul Coverdale. He was a man of good character.

Did you quote Glenn Richardson’s mother correctly? That is, don’t let things just pop out of your mouth! GLENN RICHARDSON?? I thought he was the top drop-a-pop-alous down there? Maybe I have my politicians confused.

As always… McCain/Palin 2008…

By The Way

September 5, 2008 4:22 PM | Link to this

The gun joke works, but only because of the irony of anybody in Georgia calling anybody in Alabama geo-simple. Redstate is Redstate. Stupid in any other location would be just as stupid. Like the way David Brooks, (a real writer) hits readers over the head with all that science, (gravity and the past “pulls” at McCain like a space-time warping black hole), yet the real writer for the real right respects his creationists readers, as he becomes a genuflecting reflector of all things Right in an accelerating field of all things gone wrong, while the carcass of conservatism tumbles toward November, like Spiro Agnew filing his taxes, an askew screwball of lies, distortions and half truths, which further describes the GOP conventioneers, their hats, their signs, and their women. (How much for the girl?)

Obama 08: He didn’t have to be tortured to love America. No real American ever would. We are America and we’re taking over.

By Jim is a caveman

September 5, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

Good old Paul Coverdale??? Who was he, a furniture salesman from Lithonia?

Johnny McSame actually said this to Charles Gibson on ABC on Wednesday, “She understands, listen, Russia is right up there next to Alaska, and Sarah understands that.” That settles it. She’s the one for the job if she understands where Russia is. What more could we ask for?

By Churchill

September 5, 2008 4:43 PM | Link to this

Ragnar Danneskjöld

Got you, stupid..

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this

To *Jim is a caveman *:

Take your map into any local high school with the countries names blanked out, then ask a number of ‘students’ where Alaska and Russia are on the map by pointing to it.

From what I saw 3 years ago after Katrina, and the same type survey was done randomly in California, trying to get them to locate Louisiana, only about 40% got it right.

I’d say your backhanded indictment of our education system by your somewhat slanted observation needs refinement; try doing the map thing with a random group of Obama supporters, and a random group of McCain supporters, then get back to us.

Obama/Biden ‘08 - making it easy to be stupid

By Dusty

September 5, 2008 4:45 PM | Link to this

The Way $:22

Poor guy. He is so afraid that McCain is going to win!! He gets all tangled up in his scientific jargon, his hallucinations, David Brooks and Spiro Agnew etcetcetc. And he comes up with this stunning announcement:

Obama 08 did NOT have to be tortured to love America.

Well, howdy!! McCain did not have to be tortured to love America either. He could have stayed home and let somebody else FIGHT FOR THE COUNTRY HE LOVED.

As far as “We are America and we’re taking over”, just which “we” did you have in mind? Americans have been running this place since 1776. Maybe you hadn’t noticed. Or maybe you don’t call all citizens Americans? But, that’s your WAY.

By Ga Values

September 5, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

The idea of the U.S. losing its AAA debt rating isn’t far-fetched anymore. Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency says the U.S. is taking on a huge risk in its commitment to back up troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The duo hold, or guarantee, mortgages worth about $5 trillion, or about half of all outstanding U.S. mortgages. The figure also is almost half of the current total U.S. debt, now at $9.5 trillion.

Most analysts are not predicting a worst-case scenario in which the economy goes into a 1930s-like brutal and prolonged decline. But if it happened, most of Fannie and Freddie’s obligations would be taken over by the Treasury. John Chambers, chairman of S&P’s sovereign rating committee, says his firm doesn’t expect a steep recession. But he is quick to add that “a severe stress scenario” poses a threat to the top-of-the-heap rating U.S. debt now enjoys.

Downgrades result in having to offer higher interest rates on new bonds sold to the public. And the value of outstanding bonds declines, hurting investors and the issuer, which in this case is the United States. Companies and countries suffer the same fate when their credit ratings are taken down a notch. A lower rating makes borrowing more expensive as investors, including mutual funds, pension funds, banks, and state, local and foreign governments, insist on higher yields in return for taking on a higher level of risk.

Downgrades to large and industrialized nations do happen. Earlier in August, S&P took Argentina down a notch. And during 2001, when Japan’s economy was reeling and its banks were wobbly, that nation lost its AAA rating.

Counting current and future obligations, the U.S. is $50 trillion in the hole, according to David Walker, former comptroller general of the U.S. He cites current debt held by the public plus about $7 trillion in Social Security IOUs and $34 trillion worth of obligations for Medicare benefits under current law.

The U.S. has held a AAA rating since the 1920s, but the fallout from the housing crisis has S&P, among others, expressing concern. And it’s not just the woes of Fannie and Freddie that are worrisome. Moody’s has warned the U.S. about its looming future obligations to Social Security and Medicare recipients. And the federal budget deficit is rising, worsened by the cost of another year of war in Iraq. In the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the budget deficit likely will top $500 billion.

There could be a silver lining to all the chatter about U.S. debt quality. The more rating agencies, regulators and investors talk about a debt downgrade, the more pressure it puts on Congress to slim down the annual budget deficit and to tackle long overdue changes in Medicare, where costs have doubled over the past decade to $391 billion a year.

By The Way

September 5, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

The gun joke works, but only because of the irony of anybody in Georgia calling anybody in Alabama geo-simple. Redstate is Redstate. Stupid in any other location would be just as stupid. Like the way David Brooks, (a real writer) hits readers over the head with all that science, (gravity and the past “pulls” at McCain like a space-time warping black hole), yet the real writer for the real right respects his creationists readers, as he becomes a genuflecting reflector of all things Right in an accelerating field of all things gone wrong, while the carcass of conservatism tumbles toward November, like Spiro Agnew filing his taxes, an askew screwball of lies, distortions and half truths, which further describes the GOP conventioneers, their hats, their signs, and their women. (How much for the girl?)

Obama 08: He didn’t have to be tortured to love America. No real American ever would. We are America and we’re taking over

BTW: And then Dusty, Jbmlaw, Glennduhng, Buttgeyser, Coporal wonder why I rule this blog. I must amaze Nookwood and Mr. Woo, of China, with how easily I manipulate the underlings who troll these sites. I set the entire tone of this blog just by the threat of maybe it was me what done the nickjackin’. Well, you only have to ask the 2 ratfink hosts and you’ll have your answer. The greatest thing I ever did was convince the blog that I post ubiquitously. I dont have to. You do it for me. I can turn this blog into spaghetti with two lines. I dont exist. It’s your minds playing tricks. I’m like Kaiser Sosay.

PS. What a gas about that tool getting banned over at Bookmans! Now THAT’S funny. Bwaaah-haaah!

By lipstick

September 5, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this

This one fits Sarah much better -

You can put all the lipstick you want on a pig - but you’re still gonna have a pig.

The girl wrote the book on how to get some pork. Ask Stevens.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this

Dear PoFo @ 4:48, I explicitly absolved you @ 2:49, and the Captain confessed @ 4:42. Your humor has a lighter touch than the Captain’s. You use a feather where the Captain uses a blunt instrument.

And yes you do rule the blog, but not for the reasons you cite. You and the brilliant HIDT/Maniac have the broadest senses of humor here.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this

And HIDT, I knew it was not you, because you sound more like me than I do when you impersonate me, and those posts obviously were not me. Plus, you have been posting many more serious and well drawn thoughts lately.

By Dusty

September 5, 2008 5:08 PM | Link to this

UH OH 4:48

THE WAY IS POFO. When he started talking about ruling this blog there was no doubt. Even the BWWaha-hahaha was familiar although other nitwits also use it.

Sorry, PoFo, you need to stick to being funny. These semi soliloquies of somber stuff are not even cute. Bug off, baby. Your undercover act is ersatz as entertainment.

By Ga Values

September 5, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to this

Kipplinger Report on status of the race..

In the aftermath of two tumultuous weeks in the presidential campaign… We still expect a close race, with the result hinging on working-class voters in several Midwest states and rural whites in a few southern and western states. John McCain used the Republican convention to boost his maverick image, with running mate Sarah Palin making a strong impression on GOP conservatives, working moms of all stripes and other voters turned off by the ways of Washington. It’ll take time, though, to see how well she handles the scrutiny of a national race.

He’d impose more regulation, which likely would also increase business costs. He’d cut income taxes on low- and middle-income workers to redistribute more wealth. Obama wouldn’t push for drilling offshore, though he’d accept it as the price for winning approval of his plan to spend $150 billion to develop alternative energy. He also wants a bigger government role to control health costs and global warming. McCain would cut taxes by 4.4% for high-incomers, with a 0.7% reduction for the middle class. He’d press for offshore drilling and a market-based approach to health costs by offering tax credits and moving away from employer-based plans. He’d also push for global warming measures and some new regulations in other areas. Neither candidate has a very practical plan for attacking budget deficits. Obama hasn’t offered a realistic way to pay for the new programs he advocates, and McCain’s tax cuts would far and away exceed his unspecified spending cuts.

McCain would have trouble with a Democratic Congress, and the fiscal realities will be a brake on either man, limiting both spending and proposed tax cuts. More important, the big problems defy easy answers. For the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the slow economy, health care and looming crises in Social Security and Medicare, there are no quick fixes, no matter how hard the next president tries.

By TW

September 5, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this

KKKiplinger? Anybody got an Michael Moorer report to balance this crap out?

God I miss the days when the Republicans minded being taken for fools.

By Bud Wiser

September 5, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this

By the Way, you epitomize perfectly the role of the mindless tool of the left, elitist only in your own mind, moron.

When your daddy gets home (if you know which one in the trailer park it is), he’ll have your a$$ again for bunking on your momma’s computer, so why don’t you just slide back under the rock from which you emerged.

Congratulations BTW, on demonstrating so aptly again what idiots comprise the left. You really are good at portraying the fool that you are.

hahahahaha

Obama/Biden ‘08 - making it easy to be stupid

(or in your case, just being you)

hahahahaha

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 5, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this

Dear Ga Values @ 5:12, sounds about right, concise analysis, thanks for sharing.

By Tar and feathered

September 5, 2008 5:48 PM | Link to this

The Way is a loser with too much time on his hands. Whether he’s using someone else’s name or alternating between his 15 aliases (post haste, oz, harry willis) he still post the same recognizable drivel. Typical OBAMA supporter, unoriginal, simple minded and moronic.

By What IF?

September 5, 2008 5:57 PM | Link to this

Re: regulating businesses:

What if mortage industry friends of congressmen could NOT count on governemnt bailouts, but instead had to answer to a some oversight regarding honest business practices? Bear with me a moment and imagine….

Imagine if stupid people wanting $300K home loans they could not afford had been told by these businesses, “Sorry. We can give you up to $80. Find a home you can afford, and we’ll work with you.” How do you think our economy would be different now?

The stupid we will always have with us. The predatory and dishonest we’ll always have with us. Which do you think is easier to manage?

By TW

September 5, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this

Was McSame the only POW? How come the rest of them, at least the three I’ve met, don’t brag about the experience the way McSame does? Maybe he figures ‘hell, my party worshipped a guy who hid under his daddy’s bed and got drunk when it was his time to serve - getting a guy who got shot down and captured is it step up!’

And another thing - I thought in Republican world Todd Palin was supposed to whip that dirtbag Levi for nailin’ his daughter? Maybe he ought to get his wife to do it. She’s obviously the one who wears the pants and pays the bills - just like Cindy McCain. Maybe that ought to be the ticket…Cindy/Sarah ‘08 - break out the poles…

God I miss the real Republicans.