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.