The Debate (Round 1)

Last night's debate was kind of interesting. I felt each candidate held their own without giving the other an edge. There really wasn't much of anything new said by either candidate, but I think the main difference was the way things were said While Barack Obama tried to remain cool, calm and gracious, John McCain displayed an air of disdain and lack of respect. Despite numerous attempts by moderator Jim Lehrer to get McCain to direct his comments to Obama's face, he refused to look at him the whole ninety minutes of the debate. This was very disturbing as it showed what kind of a man McCain is and will be if elected president.

There was a question asked about talking to leaders of nations with which we currently have differences. Much like George Bush, McCain subscribes to the theory that we, The United States of America, are better than you and I, as the president, am too important to talk to you personally, because if I talk to you, you become my equal. At times during the debate, this attitude showed as McCain resorted to making claims about Obama's record or policies to which Obama disagreed and tried to get a word in edgewise to clarify his position. The one thing that seems to fluster Obama is when someone misrepresents him or the facts because he has such an honest nature about himself.

Obama seems to have no problem admitting that his opponent is right on certain issues or even that they agree. This is his weak point because the man truly wants to be an honest politician and run a gracious campaign and he expects his opponent to do the same. It is actually easy to see Obama talking to world leaders comfortably without showing any signs of weakness because there will be an air of mutual respect. For example, while watching the interview with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Larry King the other night, his main beef with the United States is George Bush's air of superiority and his inability to talk to him. But McCain can't help it because the Republican Party is the party of war without diplomacy. They only know how to talk about war and republican presidents have always had this country involved in wars. Now before you call Viet Nam John F. Kennedy's war, remember that we first got involved while Dwight Eisenhower was president and Richard Nixon was his VP. Nixon was heavily favored to become president and was looking forward to running that war.

All during Bush'a first campaign in 2000, he talked about building up the military and preparing the country for war. The United States was at peaxe with the world, so he needed an excuse to go to war. Well now it is McCain's turn and just listen to how perturbed he gets at the thought of pulling out of Iraq, Much like Nixon did after he had laid the groundwork for invading Viet Nam, Bush and McCain are trying to convince us that Iran is a nuclear threat and that we should invade them because they are developing weapons of mass destruction. So getting back to the subject of the debate, McCain was in his comfort zone and he felt like he didn't have to acknowledge Obama's presence by looking at him. In fact, at the very beginning of the debate, when Lehrer asked Obama to look at McCain while making a point, McCain said "What you don't think I can hear him?"

Idiots At Work

There is just no way to separate these two idiots. I'm talking about George Bush and John McCain. Let's start with the current idiot in charge, excuse me, holding the office of president. It is quite obvious he has no clue about leading this country, but what's worse is it took the people who voted for him eight years to figure this out. Remember, this guy was the Governor of Texas, the second largest state in America in size (only Alaska is bigger you Sarah Palin fans) and population. His main claim to fame as governor was recording the highest number of death row executions in history, killing 152 prisoners starting from the first day he took office. But that's not the subject for today.

I'm more concerned with his plea to the American people to help bail out his rich friends who have been screwing us economically for the past eight years. Beginning with Enron, a Houston, Texas based utility company that filed for bankruptcy after being found guilty of corporate fraud in 2001. Then there was WorldCom, who filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Ir was after the failure of WorldCom that Bush decided to go to war with Iraq to distract the country from the failure and bankruptcy hearings of these two companies. Most people don't know that both of these companies are still operating. WorldCom is better known as Verizon. In May 2003, the company was given a no-bid contract by the Dept. of Defense, headed by Donald Rumsfield, to build a cellular phone network in Iraq. Could that be another reason Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq? Let's not forget about Cheney's company, Haliburton, who has the contracts to help rebuild Iraq. This is another Houston based company with offices in Dubai and get this, Anchorage Alaska. Which brings me to the second idiot.

How in the hell can you run this country if you can't handle more than one task at time. In other words, you feel you can't keep up with your campaign and help work on the economy at the same time, and you want your opponent to quit campaigning with you? You are definitely not qualified to run this country, and neither is your running mate who you sent to class at the United Nations this week to meet some of the world leaders. From what they allowed the media to show, none of them see her as anything other than a pretty face. One guy was so aroused he had to restrain himself from grabbing her and hugging her. No telling what he would have done if there had been no cameras present. But back to idiot number two.

Just about a week ago, he proclaimed that the American economy was sound. His poll numbers have been dropping ever since. As I reported previously, he sent Gov. Palin out on her own to help him campaign and after two days, he realized that he better get back with her because no one was coming to hear him talk. In fact, at a rally in Cleveland, Ohio, as soon as Palin finished speaking, the crowd was seen dispensing in huge numbers, not waiting to hear what he had to say. His numbers at the polls have been dropping ever since he made that statement about the economy. They've dropped even more since it was revealed that Palin needed a course in foreign relations and would not be allowed to speak to any of the foreign dignitaries she was scheduled to meet. So now he wants to suspend his campaign so he can be briefed on the economic situation facing the country, and at the same time wants to cancel the debate with Barack Obama this Friday, as well as the debate between Palin and Joe Biden next weekend because he can't concentrate on more than one issue at a time.

This job is proving to be too much for John McCain. There is a reason we don't elect people his age to run the country, in fact, most companies force people to retire at age 65. If we were to elect someone that age into office it's because they know what they are doing, not someone that needs to be given on the job training. For the past nine months, everyone has been following Obama's lead and trying to make it their own, including George Bush. When you think about someone handling the economy, just look at how Obama has financed and run his campaign. Hillary Clinton went $20 million in debt and McCain is running out of campaign finances after having a huge lead to start with. Think about that when you decide who you want to handle the economy.

So Bush wants us to give the companies that have put most of us in debt, overcharged us for insurance, raised utility costs, hiked gas prices and denied us credit money to keep operating and continue to screw us without any compensation to us. He says we will lose any chance of obtaining credit, student loans, be able to buy cars or houses and lose our life savings if we dont bail them out. Well I say they should wipe everybody's slate clean because they have made enough money off of us already. If they should be allowed to get out of debt, then so should we, the American public. So I ask YOU George Bush, deal or no deal?

Bush Screws America Again

I have been following this so-called gas shortage and realize that once again the American public has been intentionally taken advantage of by the Bush Administration. It is clear that this gas shortage was planned in advance. They are trying to tell us this is a result of Hurricane Ike, but actually it is a well conceived plan to use the hurricane as an excuse to gouge the American public at the gas pumps. For at least a week before Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana, we were warned about the approach of Hanna and Ike right behind them. Yes, I know that hurricanes can change paths as we saw Hanna do, but even with the threat of these hurricanes coming into the gulf area, there was no planning to relieve any hardship on the oil industry that they might cause.

Instead they chose to do nothing and use this as an excuse to once again hike the gas prices by creating a false shortage. They had a minimum of two weeks to start increasing gasoline production to accomodate the huge number of people that would need to be evacuated ahead of the storms. Don't be fooled by the prospect of offshore drilling solving this problem either. It has been reported that there is no shortage of crude oil, just that the refineries located in Texas have not increased their production to meet the alleged increase in demand. Now because of the rising cost of a gallon of gas, consumption decreased over the last few months since June. People cancelled and shortened their summer vacations due to the cost of filling up the tank so I'm sure that created some surplus. But regardless of that, there is still no excuse for not increasing production ahead of the storms.

I don't know what's going on across the country, but here in the Atlanta area, gas stations started running out of gas Friday morning. That was before Ike hit land. By Saturday evening, it was impossible to find gas in certain areas, causing panic to people who were getting off from work and unable to get gas on their way home, praying they would make it. As I ventured out this Sunday morning, there are very few cars on the road and no gas stations pumping gas, only open for convenience sales. How can a city 1000 miles away from a storm be affected before the storm hits unless this was pre-planned? Can we really take another four years of this nonsense? Do we really want another Governor from an oil producing state in the White House?

Gas Gouging

Since when has it been OK to raise gas prices due to the threat of a hurricane? The cost of crude oil has gone down to almost $100 a barrel, but gas prices jumped between 50 cents and $1 a gallon due to Hurricane Ike threatening the State of George Bush! The storm hit the coast of Texas just above tropical storm intensity, yet gas prices rose. Why does this country feel the need to take advantage of people who are in desperate need of assistance? These prices rose as people were buying gas to evacuate from what was deemed a life threatening situation. The same thing happened when Gustav was headed toward New Orleans, but their price hike was moderate in comparison. Well take a look at the picture above and it may explain why. With oilmen Bush and Cheney running the country, gas has skyrocketed from $1 a gallon when Bush was elected in 2000 to over $5 a gallon in some parts of the United States.

I can remember when the first fake gas crisis hit in 1974 when Republican president Richard Nixon was in office. Gas rose from 25 cents a gallon to a whopping 75 cents a gallon, allegedly due to an "oil shortage" when Iraq and Iran went to war. OK, let's assume that was the case. Then from 1974 to 2000, when Bill Clinton left office, gas prices rose an average of 1 cent a gallon over those 26 years. What's even worse, when I relocated to Atlanta in December 2005, a year into Bush's second term, gas was only $1.29 a gallon as I traveled from Ohio to Georgia. Then it started climbing constantly until it had reached $2.49 a gallon just before the Congressional and Senate elections of 2006. The day these elections took place, gas had dropped to $1.85 a gallon as the country was in an uproar over the Republicans failure to control prices. Well as you see, the Democrats have been able to do nothing to change this trend.

But once again, with the threat of the Republicans also losing the White House, we have seen a moderate decline again in gas prices. That was until Sarah Palin hit the scene and the polls started showing John McCain gaining and overtaking Barack Obama. You don't think so? The first increase started Labor Day weekend, the same weekend that Hurricane Gustav hit just outside of New Orleans. As you recall, McCain named Palin his running mate the Friday before the start of the convention, which was stalled a day due to Gustav hitting the west side of New Orleans. Gas went up 10 cents a gallon as people were ordered to evacuate and Palin became a person of interest. Now with Ike hitting Texas, gas has jumped all the way up to where it was at the end of the Democratic primaries when it was deemed that Barack Obama was declared the presumptive nominee over Hillary Clinton. As Barack gained a bigger advantage in the polls, the price of gas slowly declined, much like it did when the Democrats were about to take over the Congress and Senate.

As I stated earlier, gas rose 10 cents a gallon as Palin became a person of interest, and they rose at least 20 cents a gallon now that the Republicans have taken a lead in the polls. CNN has asked all viewers to report increases in gas prices in your neighborhood because there is no excuse for raising the price of gas. They are composing a map of the nation showing all of the price gouging going on. Can somebody tell me where this offshore drilling is supposed to take place? We know they want to drill in Alaska, and Sarah Palin is all for that of course, but didn't I hear something about the Gulf of Mexico where at least six hurricanes a year hit? We are seeing an example as to how this will help. By the way, that is an actual picture of the oil tanker above, not a fake. They removed her name after George Bush stole the first election and named Condoleeza Rice to her first position as National Security Advisor. America, it's time to end our addiction to oil.

McCain Showing Senility

Today John McCain accused Barack Obama of sexism for using a term that is commonly used by politicians to describe outlandish policies. This was in reference to policies adopted by George Bush that McCain still supports. On Tuesday, Obama criticized McCain's policies as similar to those of President Bush, saying: "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years." Well McCain wants people to think this was a personal attack on Palin because she referred to herself as a pitbull with lipstick.

According to CNN.com it wasn't the first time Obama used the line. In a phone interview with The Washington Post last September, he used it in reference to the situation in Iraq. "I think that both Gen. [David] Petraeus and Ambassador [Ryan] Crocker are capable people who have been given an impossible assignment," Obama told the Post. "George Bush has given a mission to Gen. Petraeus, and he has done his best to try to figure out how to put lipstick on a pig."

It seems everyone has to defend Sarah Palin! Well if she is so qualified to lead this country, why does everyone have to jump to her defense when they think she is being attacked? The most ironic and ridiculous point of this criticism by McCain is he used the exact same words when talking about Hillary Clinton's universal health care plan. In Iowa last October, McCain drew comparisons between Hillary Clinton's current health care plan and the one she championed in 1993: "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig." He used roughly the same line in May, after effectively claiming the Republican nomination.

The McCain camp is trying to say the difference between the two is he was talking specifically about issues while Obama was talking about Palin. But when you compare the two quotes, Barack Obama specifically references John McCain and his adoption of George Bush and his policies toward the Iraq war, while John McCain specifically references Hillary Clinton. So in another one of his senile moments, McCain is accusing Obama of doing what he actually did himself. Most medical professionals would call this the onset of dementia. Once again the Republicans are trying to confuse the voters by twisting the words that were actually spoken. Not one word about Palin, direct reference to Hillary Clinton. C'mon America, we are not that stupid.

Who's Running For President?

While watching the news on CNN, they recently interviewed people who were in attendance at the rapidly growing Republican political rallies where John McCain and Sarah Palin are campaigning. The subject of the interviews was who are you here to see. Specifically, if this was just a rally for John McCain would you be here. The overwhelming response was no, with a few maybes. Then they were asked if it was just Sarah Palin here, everyone said definitely. This has caused a serious problem for John McCain as he considers sending Palin out on the campaign trail by herself.

He has had to postpone those plans because she is so popular and he isn't, and he is afraid of losing the momentum she brings him. He is also afraid she may say something that doesn't follow the script., as she is still learning what she is and isn't suppose to say regarding his platform, because let's face it, she doesn't know anything about politics outside of Alaska. Sarah Palin has been John McCain's viagra, stimulating him to a new level of energy never seen before in his days of campaigning. While earlier ads compared Barack Obama to such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, McCain now has to deal with a rock star he created and has more popularity than himself.

Unlike Obama and Joe Biden, who have separated and begun campaigning separately, along with Hillary Clinton who has now joined the campaign trail, McCain is stuck babysitting Palin until she can walk on her own. Thus, the Democrats are covering far more territory while the Republicans are treading water. While McCain has been reveling in the glory that Palin has brought him, he must now figure out how to wean himself from her and once again stand alone so people will know who is really running for president.

Palin Not Ready

It has been determined that Sarah Palin is not ready to meet the press. As I mentioned in a previous blog, this woman has slid under the radar when it comes to dealing with the media just because she is from Alaska. But since she gave that rousing speech where she made all of those claims about her accomplishments and belittled Barack Obama, the media has been digging into her record. In an interview earlier in the week with Campbell Brown of CNN, McCain strategist Tucker Bounds was unable to answer simple questions posed by Brown about Palin's record. This led to John McCain cancelling an appearance on Larry King Live because he said they were treating her "unfairly". Having watched that interview live, and it can be seen everywhere on the web now, there was nothing wrong with the questions Brown asked, the problem was Bounds didn't have any answers.

Now everywhere you look, there are questions about everything she had claimed to have accomplished. So much so that she is the only candidate of the four that will not appear on any of the Sunday morning news magazines this weekend. In fact, she may not face the media for at least two more weeks according to Republican strategist Todd Harris. On Friday, the day after the end of the convention, while campaigning with John McCain, Palin constantly had to refer to her written notes while introducing him to the now much larger assembled crowds. Not a good sign for the potential leaders of our country.

John McCain has latched on to a woman with a dynamic personality to match that of Barack Obama, but they didn't do their research. They only looked at the upside of her resume and were dazzled by her in the face-to-face job interview, and we know McCain is a sucker for a pretty face, having met his current wife at a bar while he was still married. But Sarah Palin take note: You can run from the media, but you can't hide much longer. And the American people really want to know why if you claim to be so patriotic, what is that plan for Alaska to secede from The United States of America all about? Jeffrey Tobin said it best on the Bill Maher Show this weekend: "If John McCain and Sarah Tobin are afraid of Campbell Brown, how are they going to face Vladamir Putin and the other world leaders?"

The Palin Effect

Last night Sarah Palin delivered a beautiful speech to introduce herself to the American public. It was a rousing speech full of attack phrases aimed at the record of Barack Obama's experience. Now although it was a great speech as far as delivery goes, it was just that, a speech. Much like the rousing speeches that they accuse Obama of delivering, Gov. Palin brought new life to a republican party that was dying with every ad that John McCain launched.

But there were many flaws in the message she was sending. In fact she provided the investigative news agencies with plenty of ammunition that they previously lacked, so much so that articles are appearing on various news sites faster than I can read them. I won't comment on them because as fast as they are appearing, some are disappearing just as fast as they are being posted, which means they probably can't validate their stories. The good thing is she launched a vicious attack which in return opened her up for counter attacks, and she won't be able to use gender bias as an excuse. As Hillary said, if you dish it out, you better be able to take it, and last night she did a whole lot of mudslinging.

First of all, there is very little going on in the barren state of Alaska that merits national attention. Although it is the largest state in the union in size, it ranks 47th in population, and there are 17 U.S. cities with higher populations. In fact, Alaska only has one city with a population over 100,000 and that is Anchorage at 280,000. And when you think about the city that Gov. Palin was mayor of, Wasilla, I've gone to school in my lifetime with more people than lived in that town. So when she attacked him about community service compared to her being mayor, I can guarantee you that there were more people in the community that Obama serviced in Chicago than the city she was mayor of.

So her speech was a success among her supporters, but now she has to face the real media and start answering questions on her own. Yesterday was her introduction. I have no problem with the fact that she didn't talk about issues because we all wanted to know who she is. She has fire and passion, but Alaska is not like the rest of the country and she still has to prove herself able to handle the real world and media. She attacked them last night for doubting her credentials, but she didn't have to respond to anyone last night. It was much like George Bush's first term as president when Ari Fleischer handled all of his press conferences while he gave prepared speeches. Sarah Palin, be prepared to "Meet the Press'' this weekend.

Obama Haters

It has become obvious that the Obama haters cannot find anything negative to say about the man himself, so they try to link him to other people who do have negative images. All of these people were drug into the primary campaign in an effort to turn voters against him. It didn't work. The media researched everything they could find and continuously harped on these associations and the only thing they could make stick was his association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He was the man who had performed The Obamas' wedding ceremony and had baptized their children. He had been a member of Rev. Wright's church for twenty years, a christian church at that, but he was still perceived as being a follower of Islam, as though there was something wrong with that.

C0nsider the fact that the most radical christian faction this country has ever known is the Ku Klux Klan which is still in existence and is protected by the U. S. Government under the laws of the constitution. They are allowed to hold rallys in major cities every year, usually in my homestate of Ohio despite the protests of the citizens that ooppose these rallies, which usually turn violent. So their should be no surprise that Sen. Obama lost the state of Ohio during the primary election as well as every state that borders Ohio. Even when it had been projected that Barack had surmounted a lead thae Hillary Clinton could not overcome before the Ohio primaries, she stayed in the race wasting taxpayers money because she knew that these states had not been heard from yet.

These states have been characterized by the media as the undereducated, blue collar, working class citizens of the country, when actually this is the ecocentric center of the KKK and the heart of racism in America. It is these states that are defined as the ones that control elections. I'm sure you've heard the expression "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation". That's because the state of Ohio is one of the states that has always been on the side of the winning candidate. So much so that the head of the Ohio Republican party, Ken Blackwell, guaranteed George Bush that he would be re-elected in 2004 using a scheme which included the use of altered voting machines manufactured by the Diebold corporation, a company founded and based in Ohio just outside of Clevelasnd.

In an HBO documentary called "Hacking Democracy", the Diebold machines were exposed and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections was the center of the controversy. Election officials who were interviewed in the documentary, were later convicted and jailed. By the way, Cuyahoga is a Native American word meaning "crooked", and the heart of Cuyahoga County is Cleveland, Ohio. So when you hear that states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are key states and the ones that may decide the election, think again about the people that are associated with these states and how the media portrays them. The undereducated, white working class, and pay attention to the people from those states that they interview who blatantly admit that they would never vote for a Black man. Last but not least, remember that these people were responsible for electing Goerge Bush.