Big Trouble in Little Obama

Baracka Obama’s pledge to take only public financing was recently abandoned.  He claims he needs private money to battle the eeeeeviilllll 527s that the Republicans are organizing in their shadow rooms, plotting with Satan, Kali, Shiva, Tiamat, Loki, Walt Disney, and any other evil superpower of the universe.

Seriously,  he thinks that the Republicans (the same Republicans who are floating a candidate that can’t rouse the base) are plotting against him.

And Obama said he refused to let the Democrats be hampered when the Republican National Committee (RNC), political action committees and “527″ groups plan to spend millions on “smears and attacks.”

He’s even played the race card already.

“[The Republicans are] going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

It’s exquisite paranoia.

So, he’s using this excuse to justify reneging on his pledge to take only public money so he can continue to take gobs and gobs of private money (and if you think this money is coming exclusively from “concerned citizens”, you’re an idealistic fool).  Considering he’s already pledged not to have any lobbyists on his staff (and that was quickly disproven), he’s losing any credibility as a reformer.  And it seems editors of newspapers, those who elevated him during the primary campaign, are steamed that he is such a boldface liar.  We’ll see if they start a more critical evaluation of their paper messiah, or if they’ll continue to be loyal soldiers and attack McCain and leave Obama alone.

I’m guessing the hurt the editors are feeling is going to trump party loyalty.  When you lie like that, the “Straight-Take Express” is looking pretty darn good.

McClellan: I Don’t Know What Happened

But the book has already been ordered and shipped to thousands to deluded Left-wingers. Suckers!

At least he had the integrity to tell Congress he didn’t really have any idea what was happening.

Played. Like. A. Fiddle.

World of Fantasically Bad Ideas

Democrats think nationalizing the oil and gas industry would solve all of our problems.  Since when does handing government more and more control of sectors of the economy assist the economy?

Glad to see they’re dipping into the Hugo Chavez playbook.

Scott McClellan and the Book of the Century

A while ago, I wrote about an excerpt of Scott McClellan’s book (before I moved to WordPress, and somehow the move ate the quote on that post). It was clear then that McClellan was trying to manufacture some Lefty outrage to increase book sales. Why would he want to suck up to the Left? Because they buy books. If you look at the political non-fiction books released lately, all the #1s are books that appeal to the looney Left. McClellan, who’s already filed affidavits for investigation into the Plame leak, now comes out saying Bush was the one who authorized the leak. Why didn’t he testify earlier, when he wasn’t working for the White House and writing this book? If he’s so interested in doing the right thing, why not testify then?

The Washington Post confirms this with the statement McClellan’s book was first regarded as “a not-very-interesting, typical press secretary book.” After his editor says insinuates “It won’t sell unless it’s got something juicy in it”, now McClellan suddenly realizes Bush Lied.

He also criticized memoirs of other Administration “turncoats”, saying pretty much what I’m saying here:

McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he’s raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let’s look at the politics of it. His best buddy is Rand Beers, who is the principal foreign policy advisor to Senator Kerry’s campaign. The Kerry campaign went out and immediately put these comments up on their website that Mr. Clarke made. …

It’s pretty clear the motivation of McClellan’s book. The only people who could buy this garbage are Democrat propagandists and/or music professors.

Jimmy Carter, Liability

Not a surprise Jimmy Carter was out badmouthing the US embargo of Gaza. He was out spilling the beans about the Israeli nuclear arsenal. We should all be thankful– he could have told people where they were.

So the Nobel Peace Prize now goes to people who can badmouth US Foreign Policy the best? In that case– the US State Department is a bunch of half-trained baboons, and Bush is a McChimpy Hiterperson. Down with Israel! And Up with Terrorism! Israel has 200 nukes, all located in Tel Aviv!

There, now can I have my million buck Nobel Peace Prize?

Finally, Honest Politicians!

He admits the Democrats were “lying” last election just to get elected. No, really?

And just in case you missed it, Maxine Waters, Democrat, thinks nationalizing the oil companies (like Venezuela, China and Russia) is a good idea. Click on the link below to view.

Link: sevenload.com

Obama’s Tax Code

Baracka wants to make it easier for you to file taxes.  In fact, he’s proposing something that lets the Federal Government calculate your taxes for you!

Here’s the synopsis:

(1) Create a new “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $1,000 for America’s working families
(2) Create a new universal mortgage interest credit that will benefit low and middle-income
homeowners
(3) Honor America’s seniors by eliminating income taxes for those making less than $50,000 per year
(4) Simplify tax filings so millions of Americans can do their taxes in less than 5 minutes
(5) Eliminate special interest loopholes and tax breaks and crack down on international tax
havens

The “making work pay” idea is OK, but it rewards two-working parent families, and barely assists single-income families.  The $1000 isn’t going to cover much day care.
The “new, universal mortgage interest credit” is a boondoggle.  His policy states “The current mortgage interest deduction excludes nearly two-thirds of Americans who do not itemize their taxes.”  Who owns a home and doesn’t itemize their deductions? Effectively he wants to give a 10% mortgage credit to people who earn less than $50,000 a year.  People who earn that little aren’t typical homeowners, especially on the West and East Coasts.  And if you do own a home and itemize deductions, odds are you’ll be passing 10% if you earn $50,000 a year in deductions.  Bear in mind this is a tax deduction, so you don’t get any credit from the government.  This just bottoms out at 0 tax owed, and most families I know that earn under $50K hit that every tax cycle.

3)  Eliminating the need for seniors to pay income tax.  Fine.  That was Clinton’s idea anyway.  But we’ve had 3 tax credit programs.  Where is that money going to come from?  Notice how that magic number is always $50,000?  Well, guess what happens when you earn more than $50,000 a year?  That’s right.  You’ll be paying the difference, middle class.

4).  Simplify tax filings.  Let the government do it for you!  What a BRAINDEAD STUPID IDEA.  Seriously, I want the IRS determining how much I owe?  No thanks.

5)  Tax the rich!  Hey, someone’s got to pay for all these new tax incentives he’s throwing at voters.

Obama’s tax code proposal states, right near the top, this:

Barack Obama will stand up to the special interests and restore fairness to the tax code. Obama’s tax fairness plan will reward work and provided needed tax cuts to America’s workers. His five-part plan will provide a tax cut to over 150 million workers and their families.

Remember– when a politician starts asking for fairness, he/she realyl wants to be as unfair as possible.  150 million may get a break, but the other 150 million are going to have to cough up to balance this “cut”.

Why the Democratic Candidates Are Terrible

Ok, here’s the problem.  Obama has no real platform.  He’s running on “Change”.  Well, I have some “change” in my pocket.  Don’t run for President.  He speaks of Change, but he’s an Illinois (read: Chicago) politician who’s best buddies with a nutso preacher.  He says he’s experienced, but he’s never run in a competitive campaign.  He says he’s a man of the people, but both he and his wife have proven themselves to be as elitist as any Democrat.  What’s worse is he can’t think well when challenged.  And his “rhetoric of change” now has Iran dictating policy to the US.  Does the US really want foreign dictatorships defining the conversation?  No.  And that’s what Baracka’s major problem is– he doesn’t think, he just says what he wants people to hear, and then backtracks.

What’s worse is Hillary.  She’s changed so many of her policies in the past 18 months that I don’t know what she’ll actually do in the White House.  Will she sit down with Iran, or bomb them?  Or sit down with them while bombing them?  And will she withdraw troops from Iraq to bomb Iran?  She’s been all over the board on this, so it’s hard to figure out what her actual policy is.  Same with renewable fuels.  Both she and Baracka wanted corn-to-ethanol plants built, and now that food prices have risen, she “just wants to use the corn husk”.

So we have a candidate without a platform, and a candidate with such a bipolar platform that it’s impossible to guess what she’ll really do as President.  Do you feel comfortable voting for either of these two?  I don’t.

So currently I’m with McCain.  Let’s just hope to God he picks a great VP.

The Politics of Identity, and How They Bite You in the Rear

We’ve all had people we identify with.  Sometimes it’s harmless.  When I was a child I’d always root for the guy on “Wheel of Fortune” or “Jeopardy” who’s name was Michael.  I identified with someone for no other reason than a superficial connection.  I’m sure we’ve done the same with athletes, or anyone we want to root for.

But now the Democratic party has been reduced to “voting for the black guy or voting for the woman.”  Personally, I’m not going to vote for the “old white guy” just because he’s an old white guy.  I don’t agree with McCain on some issues, like immigration, stem-cell research, and his pandering to Democrats and sabotaging judicial nominations for senatorial power.  But he’s good on foreign policy and he’s a fiscal conservative, so I can get behind him.

But over on the Democrat side, we’re hearing implications that people who don’t vote for Obama just don’t “understand”.  Those who are Obama supporters are considered “enlightened”, even though Obama has no political experience and he’s terrible at thinking on his feet.  Hillary’s camps hasn’t been much better.  Elton John says that if you don’t vote for Hillary, it’s because you hate women.

And now we have Nora Ephron crystallizing the votes down to racism or sexism.

So that’s wonderful.  If I don’t vote for Hillary because of her socialist views on health care, her lying about Tuzla and other things, and complete political weakness on losing a “sure thing” election, then I must be a misogynist.  As for Baracka, if I don’t vote for him because he doesn’t think well independently, his voting record is awful, he’s connected with Chicago political slime, and he’s a snob, then I must be a racist.

We knew it was coming.  And we can look forward to 7 more months of race and/or sex baiting.  In the meantime, the politics of identity have fractured the Democratic party because the black vote feels betrayed if Hillary wins or a politician endorses Hillary, and the women-vote feels betrayed if Barack wins.  We have two groups who have been waiting for one of “theirs” to be elected to the White House and if that group loses this election, the hard feelings will run deep because their identity has been betrayed by those they thought were on the same side.

The Republicans have a candidate the base isn’t happy with.  But with McCain, we’re not happy because of the issues McCain has embraced, not because of his race, age or sex.  And not-surprisingly, it’s the Republicans who are standing above the race/sex fray.

Baraka Backs Out

So, Baraka Obama backs out of the NC Debate, robbing Katie Couric of her much desired suck-fest that would have been the CBS debate.

Hillary, if she really wants the nomination, needs to skewer Baraka on this. (Her last ad seems to hint at it.) Everyone knows Baraka’s last debate was an absolute disaster, and he wants to avoid any more embarrassing reveals of his lack of knowledge about, well, everything. Now he’s avoiding the press and any public forum to avoid any more performances that display his lack of experience and plethora of horrible managing ideas.

Hillary’s really experience a withering assault lately, and the fact that Obama’s been complaining about some of the treatment he’s been receiving, it really emphasizes that she’s been battered from left and right, and she’s still in it. She’s a tough woman– a shameless liar– but a tough woman, and if she’s going to garner any respect with the voters, she needs to emphasize this rugged resistance to assault and longevity. Perseverance in the face of adversity is a hallmark of American tradition, and voters flock to it.

Baracka blew it by backing out. All he’s doing is proving his critics right– he’s not good in the face of criticism. Now he’s passing on a chance to connect with voters in a debate, but he’s popping up on WWE to deliver one awful, canned message. (Kudos to McCain, though, who seemed to get in the moment.)

More at Hot Air.