McCain Tested Under Fire

At a recent engagement, Joe Biden made a statement that Barack Obama would be tested in his first six months with a crisis, much the way previous presidents had been when they first took office. John McCain immediately responded saying he had already been tested. He referred to the fact that he sat in a plane on an aircraft carrier during the Cuban missile crisis prepared to drop bombs if called to duty. I respect anyone who risks their life flying combat war planes, that takes great courage and skill. Flying any kind of plane does. Even flying as a passenger takes a certain amount of courage in my eyes, as I personally hate flying. But let's get serious. This was no test of judgment on his part

As a pilot, all he did was follow orders from his superior officer as to whether he would be needed or not. Had he taken off, then he would have had to make some decisions on his own concerning his own fate. Yes, he was in a stressful situation not knowing if he would be called to duty, but it would have been his first mission. This is all according to what he wrote in his book and he admitted he was nervous, if not scared, at the prospect of going to war. He had already crashed one plane while in training in Corpus Christi, Texas. According to McCain, the crash was due to engine failure, but official Navy reports blame him for pilot error, meaning a lack of judgment. He went on to crash at least four more times in his career, including the one linked to his capture during the Viet Nam war. That incident is detailed as him being shot down by a surface-to-air missile during a bombing run. McCain says all of the crashes were due to engine failure. He crashed the first plane in water, as he states he was able to swim to the surface after the crash. In the Viet Nam crash, he states he was able to eject after being hit.

Once again, I do not question his bravery. But I do question the fact that all of those planes had engine trouble. One thing I learned while in the military is that when your daddy is a respected military veteran, or a high ranking government official, they will cover up his son's screw ups. One has to look no further than little George Bush as an example. Even during his capture, the Vietnamese were willing to let John McCain go because of his daddy. But McCain is said to have denied early release before prisoners who had been there before him. This is what can truly be called an act of heroism. But still it has been proven he lied about the first plane crash in which he claimed it was engine trouble, so how can you believe all the planes had engine failure. When an idea hits me, I usually do searches to verify the facts to back up my opinion, so remember, this is my opinion. But check out this clip of someone who has a similar opinion about John McCain's flying record as it goes into a little more detail.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLde8DBM-I&feature=related

So judging from his record, it was probably a good thing that the man Barack Obama has so often been compared to, John F. Kennedy, was able to stare down Nikita Khruschev and avoid war with Russia for John McCain's sake. I think it's safe to say that if he was still using poor judgment as a pilot in 1967, he may not have fared well on his first mission.

What If

These are not my words, instead they were sent to me in an email, thought I'd share it with you.

Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around? Think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three-month-old infant and an unwed, pregnant, teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama had finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was a divorcee?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain had graduated from Harvard?

What if Barack Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980's and early 1990's)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama was the one who couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who's military experience included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes, including one that led to his capture as a POW?

What if Obama was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their fortune from beer distribution?

Tell me this, if John McCain had Barack Obama's credentials, would this election be close?
If Barack Obama had John McCain's integrity. would this election be close?
Do you not think race matters in this election?
Let's look at their educational credentials.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University-B.A. in Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard-Juris Doctor(J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joe Biden:
University of Delaware-B.A. in History, B.A. in Political Science
Syracuse University College of Law-Juris Doctor (J.D.)

VS.

John McCain:
U.S. Naval Academy-Graduated 894 of 899 in his class

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University-1 semester
North Idaho College-2 semesters-general study
University of Idaho-2 semesters-journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College-1 semester
University of Idaho-3 semesters-B.A. in Journalism

Ok America, there it is in Black and White. Do John McCain and Sarah Palin have any right to question Barack Obama's integrity? You decide on November 4,2008.

The Debate (Round 3)

After watching this debate which was supposed to be more suited to John McCain's liking, all the polls show that Barack Obama won by a landslide. Once again McCain appeared very impersonal and disdainful toward Obama by refusing to look at him, even when Obama was talking directly to him. There was very little electricity or confrontation, but there were a few telling moments that worked against McCain. One instance occurred when McCain accused Obama of wanting to bomb Pakistan, and Obama hit McCain with the fact that he wanted to bomb Iraq, North Korea, and Baghdad, which left McCain speechless. Another telling moment was when McCain referred to Obama as "that one" when talking about how the two of them had voted differently on an issue. This was very disrespectful, no not racial, but not a term I had ever heard one candidate use before when describing his opponent.

While most pundits were surprised that McCain didn't bring up the relationship between Obama and Bill Ayers, I think he played it smart by avoiding that issue. His association with Charles Keating was much more damning and it was definitely a subject he didn't want to touch when the main topic of the day is bailout. Although Town Hall formats are supposed to be McCain's strength, there was a different feel without the crowd bias he was used to. While he tried to crack jokes, because of the rules where the audience was to remain silent and unbiased, McCain lost his comfort zone, and it showed. The main thing that has made these debates boring is the fact that they have time limits on their responses. At the beginning it seemed like they wanted to go at each other, but moderator Tom Brokaw kept reminding them of the rules they had set up which actually limited their responses. Look, Presidential elections are extremely important. Get rid of these time limits, forget what's coming on TV in the next time slot, and let these candidates talk !!! Hell, programming is pushed back for sporting events, why not these debates? It doesn't make sense.

At the end of the debate, everyone noticed that McCain and his wife left after a short session of thanking people and mingling with the crowd while Obama and his wife stayed a considerable amount of time longer, talking to the crowd. I also noticed the post debate handshakes. At the very end, both candidates stood together for Brokaw's closing comments, but had to split apart so he could read the teleprompter, and they started on opposite ends of the crowd shaking hands. When they came back together, I saw John McCain shake Michelle Obama's hand, I did not see Cindy McCain or Michelle greet each other, and I saw Barack Obama offer his hand to John McCain who directed it to his wife Cindy. She shook his hand, while McCain turned away.

Afterwards, all the polls showed that once again, Obama had won the debate, mostly because he answered more of the questions that were asked. It seems that is what these debates are based on, who answers the most questions, because all four candidates have a way of avoiding certain issues. The two biggest revelations from the debate was first, the announcement by McCain about his plan for buying out mortgages, which most people thought was already included in the $700 billion bailout bill. The second was the announcement by Obama that AIG officials had used $400,000 of their bailout money to go on vacation, and his call for them to be fired and return that money. But the most ironic thing about the evening was that Michelle Obama was wearing red and Cindy McCain was wearing blue!!!

The Pitbull Attacks, Obama Bites Back

After her successful appearance in Thursday's debate, depending on your definition of successful, the"Pitbull With Lipstick" better known as Sarah Palin decided to launch a personal attack on Barack Obama's character. My definition of successful was based on the fact that she was able to digest a huge amount of information in a short period of time, despite the lack of substance and accuracy, and present it in an intelligent matter in a short period of time to millions of people in the television viewing audience, much like George Bush does when he delivers speeches. In fact, the performance reminded me of Bush's appearances in the debates of 2004 with John Kerry, filled with winks, smiles, and lies, used to deceive the American public into thinking that they are just "plain old folk like you and me." She even used some of the same terminology that Bush used in his first debate series with Al Gore, claiming to be a Washington outsider and he was going to change Washington.

While some people think smiling and winking at the camera was cute and a way of connecting with the audience, it came across as an act designed to win your trust for the pile of garbage, to put it nicely, that she was trying to sell you. Each smile was immediately followed by a sharp stab in the back of Barack Obama or Joe Biden. Since the debate it has gotten worse. She just unleashed an attack that criticized Obama for working on the same committee with an American terrorist from the Weatherman named Bill Ayers. The organization that they served in Chicago is called The Woods Foundation and you can decide for yourself what his association with the organization is about.

According to the Washington Post Fact Checker, Bill Ayers who was never convicted in any of the bombings, contributed $200 to Obama's re-election campaign to the Illinois Senate. Meanwhile, the person who brought up Bill Ayers during the primary, Hillary Clinton, was married to the man who commuted the sentences of two Weatherman members before he left office. Also, Bill Ayers was an aide to Chicago mayor Richard M.Daley before he was a member of The Woods Foundation.

But even John McCain can't deny the fact that he took money from what has been called the greatest Savings & Loan scandal of our time. The Keating Five was the derisive name given McCain and four Democratic senators, including then-Sen. John Glenn of Ohio, who were defendants in a congressional ethics investigation of their connections to Charles Keating Jr. McCain is the only one still in the Senate. They were accused of trying to intimidate regulators on behalf of Keating, a real estate developer in Arizona and owner of Lincoln Savings and Loan based in Irvine, Calif. McCain was known for accepting contributions from Charles Keating Jr., flying to the banker's home in the Bahamas on company planes and taking up Keating's cause with U.S. financial regulators as they investigated him. His campaign took $112,000 from Keating.

As I said, today Barack bit back by releasing a video at the website below detailing McCain's involvement with Keating, and this was just a little nip, as harsher videos can be found at other locations on the net. Even though McCain was absolved of any wrongdoing, it shows that anyone can be associated with people that have shady intentions. What's worse is the Keating scandal cost taxpayers a $500 billion bailout, similar to what we just experienced last week.

Finally, let's look at another comment made by The Pitbull during her debate with Joe Biden. She said with a smile, she was obviously a Washington outsider and just not used to the way Washington politics worked by criticizing him for voting for the war and now being against it. "You're one who says as so many politicians do, you were for it and now you are against it. The people just want straight talk." Well Sarah, weren't you the one who was for the "Bridge to Nowhere" and then claimed you told Congress, "Thanks but no thanks?" We know you used taxpayer money to build a road that leads to where that bridge was supposed to be built until Congress denied you the funding for the rest of that project before you had a chance to say "No thanks." But we can't get you to do an interview so we can get the straight talk about why you had that road built if you were against the bridge. Sounds to me by your definition, you have Washington politics down pat!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/keatingvideo

The Debate (Round 2)

Well I just got through watching the VP debate and I must say I was impressed. It is quite clear that Gov. Sarah Palin is no dummy. She was able to digest all of the information she has been fed over the past few weeks and present it in a very intelligent manner. Not once did she stumble on any of the issues that were discussed. She even artfully dodged questions at the beginning of the debate by diverting them to a subject she was more familiar with. Although none of the topics which she had trouble with during the Katie Couric interview came into play, she displayed a lot of poise and composure while answering questions on subjects such as energy and foreign affairs. She seemed to give the impression that she had been cramming for an oral exam over the past few weeks, and tonight she passed the test.

Joe Biden also impressed me. He was also very composed, even when Gov. Palin misstated the facts about his, Barack Obama's, and John McCain's voting records while in the Senate. Yes, she did a lot of this, but as I said, she was only repeating what she had been fed. On the other hand, Biden was speaking from experience and his recollection of facts, because everything that was discussed, in some way he had been a part of it. Despite the many gaffs he had made over the past few weeks himself, he too presented himself as very knowledgeable also, and his knowledge was all first hand. In that respect, I earned new respect for Joe Biden, because frankly, before tonight, I knew less about him than I did Palin.

In my previous blog I listed my expectations. First was the relevance of the questions as to their ability to lead. This question was asked by moderator Gwen Ifill and Joe Biden was more direct and convincing with his answer. At one point Palin referred to the fact that she had only been involved with the campaign for five weeks and she couldn't think of any promises John McCain had made that she would change due to the recent economy crisis. This specifically struck me as an admission that she was not fully aware of everything that McCain had promised. After all, he had just said the economy was fine a week before the big crisis, so there had to be something he would change since he changed his mind about the economy being bad. Second was how did they respond to the pressure. They both did well in this area, and again Biden excelled and appeared more believable. Third was who was more in control and knowledgeable.Well I've alluded to the fact that Biden's knowledge was from experience and Palin's had been learned over the past few weeks.

So my take on the debate is they both showed a higher level of intelligence than I had previously given them credit for based on the way the media had portrayed them. Palin was more gracious and respectful to Biden than McCain had been to Obama, and Biden was just as gracious and respectful to her. But Sen. Biden's knowledge of issues and details stood far above Gov. Palin's. One other telling moment was Palin's repeated referral to the fact that she was your average mom that was just like you and me. Well I didn't know that Joe Biden was a single parent due to the loss of his wife and daughter and had two sons injured in an auto accident. In fact he had a moment where he actually choked up while talking about it. So I don't care to hear any more about how great a mom Sarah Palin is unless you talk about how great a dad Joe Biden is.

The other standout moment was when Ms. Ifill asked if they agreed with Dick Cheney's assessment of Vice Presidential duties, because Palin had previously asked what does the VP do. Biden once again set Palin straight by citing the Constitution's definition of the duty of Vice President, not the made up duties that Cheney had created for himself. It left Gov. Palin without a response because she had just agreed that she would try to be like Cheney, not realizing this was an area for which she had not done her homework. Fortunately for her, time had run out and Ms. Ifill did not pursue the issue. Gov. Palin concluded by saying she liked being able to answer questions and tell the American people what's on her mind. Well, we would like that too, and we hope that happens this weekend on any one of the tough Sunday magazines. because we still got a lot of unanswered questions for you.