The Real Culprits In This Meltdown

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- The Real Culprits In This Meltdown

Big Government: Barack Obama and Democrats blame the historic financial turmoil on the market. But if it's dysfunctional, Democrats during the Clinton years are a prime reason for it.

Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.

But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.

Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.

I'm sure you'll be seeing this type of analysis on the CBS Evening News any day now  - - - not...

Devastating Video for the media to ignore: Obama talks about job Bill Ayers Gave him as qualification for US Senate

Devastating Video for the media to ignore: Obama talks about job Bill Ayers Gave him as qualification for US Senate | Infidels Are Cool

Another OUCH for Obama.  Geesh, stuff just keeps coming out about the man who the media and liberal-elite fully trust without recognition of ANY background check, yet are “terrorized” at the thought of a vice-president who happens to be the most popular governor in the country.

Here Obama is, in an interview, laying out his job qualifications for the US Senate, and one of the things he cites as a qualification is being the Chairman of the Board for the Annenberg Challenge, which was set up by Bill Ayers himself, including a “meet the candidate” event for Obama hosted at Bill ayers home.  Things just keep geting worse and worse for the “Unknown Chosen One”.

Thanks to Lucianne.com for pointing to this video.  Please try to ignore the "Terminator" music and pay attention to the details.  And remember, this is just some guy Obama knew...

Why Feminists Hate Sarah Palin

Why Feminists Hate Sarah Palin - WSJ.com

Left-wing feminists have a hard time dealing with strong, successful conservative women in politics such as Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Palin seems to have truly unhinged more than a few, eliciting a stream of vicious, often misogynist invective.

OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS' IRAQ WITHDRAWAL

OBAMA TRIED TO STALL GIS' IRAQ WITHDRAWAL - New York Post

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Amazing... "hey, hold on now, can't you wait until I'm President to figure this out?  Otherwise, how am I going to get the credit for it?

ACORN Faking Voter Registration Again!

ACORN Faking Voter Registration Again! | Sweetness & Light

Bad voter applications found

Clerks see fraudulent, duplicate forms from group

BY L.L. BRASIER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • September 14, 2008

Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families.

The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN’s Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

“There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications,” said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office. “And it appears to be widespread.”

Imagine that...

LIFE OF THE PARTY RETURNING AT LAST

LIFE OF THE PARTY RETURNING AT LAST - New York Post by Jonah Goldberg

...The press and Hollywood have spent the last three years making it sound like people become Republicans so they can flood New Orleans, ruin the economy, torture Muslims, listen to everyone's phone calls, and make a ton from selling papier maché bulletproof vests to the troops.

To cap it off, John McCain, renowned for driving the GOP base batty by bebopping and scatting all over his own party in order (according to his conservative detractors) to win praise from The New York Times, actually won the nomination.

In short, you don't have to be a political scientist to understand why Republican self-identification has been at a 16-year low or why even many of the GOP faithful were planning on putting out their "Gone fishing" signs this November.

Jonah, as usual, hits it right on the head.  And mercifully, he does so quickly.  I love Jonah Goldberg's writing but I've only got so many hours in the day  :)

Whoopi's worried she'll be a slave under McCain

This would be funny if people didn't take it so seriously.Let me clear something up for those of you out there who struggle with how to answer a liberal who likes to claim Republicans will throw America back to the times of slavery and women not being allowed to vote:

The Constitution was written by very intelligent men who knew that they didn't know everything. They built in a process to change the Constitution if, over time, the people realized that things needed changing. It's called the amendment process. They believed so much in amendments that they put 10 of them in only four years after writing the original document. These first 10 amendments became the founding rights of our country known as the Bill of Rights. That's right - free speech wasn't in the "original" version of the Constitution. It wasn't until some of the framers raised doubts about a centralized government taking away the rights of the people that these were added in as a condition of accepting the new United States government.

No one is going to appoint judges who pick which version of the Constitution they want tom enforce. Being a "strict constitutionalist" means that a Supreme Court justice's job is to apply the laws as they are written and to ensure that those laws follow Constitution, as it IS written, with amendments and all, not how it WAS written.The problem conservatives have with 'activist' judges is that they make up rules IN ADDITION to the Constitution to suit their personal opinions, which have no place in the Supreme Court.If a law is passed by a city, state or the federal government - and that law does not violate any provision of the U.S. Constitution, then the Supreme Court has no business being involved in changing that law. Plain and simple.

Our government is set up so that legislatures make laws and judges enforce and interpret those laws in accordance with the Constitution.Slavery is specifically forbidden by the U.S Constitution under the thirteenth amendment. Whoopi should be glad that McCain wants judges that intepret the Constitution this way.

John McCain...e-mail...and the end of Barack Obama

The Corner on National Review Online

Yep. The day after 9/11, as part of its "get tough" makeover, the Obama campaign is mocking John McCain for not using a computer, without caring why he doesn't use a computer. From the AP story about the computer illiterate ad:

"Our economy wouldn't survive without the Internet, and cyber-security continues to represent one our most serious national security threats," [Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "extraordinary." The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.

Way to go, Obama. Can't do enough research before you attack someone to know that your insulting a man for not using e-mail when the reason he can't use e-mail is because he can't use a keyboard because his hands don't work well enough because his captors beat him so badly while he was imprisoned while serving his country!! Idiot!

How about you just go back to organizing your community and pretending to be the second coming. This is getting ridiculous!

By the way, a friend of mine asked me today. How come Barack Obama's too stupid to fly a plane. George W. Bush and John McCain both know how to fly fighter jets...

Hillary to replace Biden??

Hearing more and more rumors about Obama replacing Biden with Hillary for VP. This could just be wishful thinking on the part of some after Biden's comments this week.

If it turns out to be true, would that be pandering? Nah!

Stay tuned.

NYT: Why Not A Non-Senator Woman As VP?

It's always nice when you can you someone's own words against them. This is a beautiful job of unearthing what the NY Times editorial staff wrote over 24 years ago. You've come a long way, baby!

NYT: Why Not A Non-Senator Woman As VP? Sweetness & Light

New York Times Editorial

July 3, 1984, Tuesday, Late City Final Edition

On one side, Walter Mondale has been hearing some infuriating demands. If he wants to win in November, feminists are saying, he has to nominate a woman to run with him. Otherwise, as Judy Goldsmith, president of the National Organization for Women, said the other day, ”I don’t know how we can go out to women and say ‘Here’s something to work for.’ ”

...to be shrill is no worse than to be righteous, like the people who insist that the women Vice Presidential candidates so far proposed lack the requisite standing and experience. Why, it is said, none of them is even a senator.

Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? Surely Ronald Reagan does not subscribe to that maxim. Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified...

Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial?

...Remember the main foreign affairs credential of Georgia’s Governor Carter: He was a member of the Trilateral Commission...

Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow? We may even be gradually elevating our standards for choosing Vice Presidential candidates. But that should be done fairly, also. Meanwhile, the indispensable credential for a Woman Who is the same as for a Man Who - one who helps the ticket.

Barack Obama's Latest Campaign Ad

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need "Still" -- On the air...



So this is what they've come up with? John McCain doesn't use e-mail??
Yeah, that's gonna work.

Tennessee Rep. Compares Obama to Jesus, Suggests Palin is Pontius Pilate

Tennessee Rep. Compares Obama to Jesus, Suggests Palin is Pontius Pilate - America’s Election HQ

Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen riled Republicans Wednesday after he compared Barack Obama to Jesus Christ and suggested Sarah Palin is akin to Pontius Pilate.

The Tennessee Democrat, who supports Obama, was on the House floor giving a one-minute speech when he offered the comparisons.

“If you want change, you want the Democratic Party,” Cohen said. “Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor.”

Nice.  Now they aren't just thinking Obama is the Messiah, they're actually calling his opponents Pontius Pilate.  This will go over real well in flyover country...
Oh, and by the way - anytime a congressman or representative is referred to as "Rep", that's media-code for 'this guys a Democrat but we can't say that in the headline...despicable

Sarah Palin Investigators Set Up ‘Tip-Line’

From the Associated Press via Sarah Palin Investigators Set Up ‘Tip-Line’ Sweetness & Light

Sen. Hollis French, the man heading the Palin investigation appears fifth from the right along with two other of the panel’s Democrat “investigators” in this photo taken at Obama’s headquarters in Alaska.

Palin’s attorney: Investigator ‘biased’

By GENE JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 11

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A lawyer for Gov. Sarah Palin ...Thomas Van Flein called the investigation “unlawful and unconstitutional” and said the man hired to run it, former prosecutor Stephen Branchflower, has a conflict of interest because he’s a friend of the fired commissioner. Citing “your seemingly biased conduct of the investigation in recent weeks,” he urged Branchflower to stop interviewing witnesses — the second time this month that he’s asked Branchflower to stand down.

...The investigation has included setting up a secret tip line to “accept and investigate anonymous rumors and complaints outside the scope” of the inquiry, Van Flein alleged. He also said Branchflower has deposed witnesses without proper notice other attorneys.

Branchflower did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.

Van Flein sent one of the letters to Branchflower and the other to Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, who heads the Legislative Council, the body that unanimously approved the investigation in July. Both letters were dated Tuesday.

Elton this week rebuffed a Republican attempt to have Sen. Hollis French, an Anchorage Democrat, replaced as head of the investigation.

Van Flein wrote that both French and Branchflower are friends of Monegan but apparently failed to disclose those relationships to the Legislature.

...The Palin family repeatedly complained to Alaska State Troopers about Wooten, and he was eventually suspended for five days. Wooten admitted that he Tasered his 10-year-old stepson and that he illegally shot a moose, but he denied other accusations, including that he drove with an open container of alcohol in his patrol car.

Maybe it's just me but it doesn't seem quite right to allow one campaign to conduct an official investigation of the other and claim there's no bias...

Foiled Terror Plots Against America Since 9/11

FOXNews.com - Foiled Terror Plots Against America Since 9/11 - Local News News Articles National News US News

For those liberal elitists who love to preach about how George Bush took his 'eye off the ball' and put everything we had into Iraq and 'hasn't made the country any safer', here's an amazing list of the success stories in preventing terrorist attacks since 2001.

Never, EVER, Forget...

Obama Can't Win Against Palin - by Karl Rove

Obama Can't Win Against Palin - WSJ.com

Of all the advantages Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the GOP ticket, the most important may be that she has gotten into Barack Obama's head. How else to explain Sen. Obama's decision to go one-on-one against "Sarah Barracuda," captain of the Wasilla High state basketball champs?

It's a matchup he'll lose. If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president.

The "evil genius" gets it right, as usual.  I just wish he would wait until AFTER the election to try to help Obama.

The looney left has become unhinged as Obama slides in the polls

Here is just a sampling of the headlines and comments that are out there today as the Obama campaign, the Democrats and the media (I know, I know...redundant) scramble to recover. Suddenly Obama is the victim and it's that mean Sarah Palin's fault.

S.C. Dem chair: Palin primary qualification is she hasn't had an abortion - Politico.com

South Carolina Democratic chairwoman Carol Fowler sharply attacked Sarah Palin today, saying John McCain had chosen a running mate " whose primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion.”

Community organizers are staple of democracy -- Newsday.com

The way to make the case for John McCain should not be by tearing down the work of Barack Obama's early career, which is the hard work that thousands of community organizers are doing daily to make democracy more vital and improve our lives.

World wants Obama as president: poll - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama may be struggling to nudge ahead of his Republican rival in polls at home, but people across the world want him in the White House, a BBC poll said.

Governor Implies Palin's Repeated Use Of 'Community Organizer' Is Another Way Of Saying 'Black'

...Gov. David Paterson (NY) ...raised eyebrows again, and tempers, by accusing the John McCain campaign of veiled racism.
"I think the Republican Party is too smart to call Barack Obama 'black' in a sense that it would be a negative. But you can take something about his life, which I noticed they did at the Republican Convention – a 'community organizer.' They kept saying it, they kept laughing," he said.
...Paterson sees the repeated use of the words "community organizer" as Republican code for "black".

Lest We Forget, Obama Flipped Off Hillary

Lest We Forget, Obama Flipped Off Hillary | Sweetness & Light

But what is also interesting about Mr. Obama’s unscripted remarks — is that they were preceded, word for word from a Tom Toles cartoon:

That’s right, Mr. Obama plagiarized from that America-hating racist cartoonist.

I can't say I know for sure if Obama spoke these words before Tom Toles or not.  He may have said something similar on the trail before.  But it is strange that his speech was almost exactly what this cartoon says.  If he did plagarize Mr. Toles, then at least their President/VP ticket is consistent.

Barack Obama 'Lipstick' video

For those that would like to see it for themselves...

Palin Energizing Women From All Walks of Life

Palin Energizing Women From All Walks of Life  By Anne E. Kornblut  Washington Post Staff Writer

Susie Baron is a Republican, a mother of two and a home-schooler. She voted for Mike Huckabee in the Ohio primary, but now -- because of Sarah Palin -- she thinks she is part of something much bigger.

"I wouldn't even call it a Palin movement, I'd call it a sleeping giant that has been awakened," Baron, 56, said at a rally here Tuesday. She described its members as a silent majority of women in Middle America who "are raising our families, who work if we have to, but love our country and our families first."

"And until now, we haven't had anyone to identify with," Baron said, adding that traditional feminist groups such as the National Organization for Women do "not represent me."

Obama: 'Lipstick on a pig'

Ben Smith's Blog: Obama: 'Lipstick on a pig' - Politico.com

Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra.
"You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig."
"You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink."
"We've had enough of the same old thing."

The crowd apparently took the "lipstick" line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: "lipstick."

OK, OK. I know this is probably not what he meant but you know he's just been to imply it. Unfortunately for him, some people won't get it and will think it's really rude. I say - too bad. He should have known this would come back to bite him.

Biden Killed Asbestos Bill For Top Donors

Biden Killed Asbestos Bill For Top Donors Sweetness & Light

What a shock.

Mr. Biden killed legislation that would have hurt his top donors, relatives and friends — who all just happen to be involved in highly lucrative asbestos class action lawsuits...

...The senator has longstanding relationships with law firms that donated to his congressional races and his two bids for the White House. Top contributors for his recent run were the Law Office of Peter Angelos in Baltimore, Maryland, which donated $156,250; SimmonsCooper in East Alton, Illinois contributed $146,600; Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones in Wilmington gave $145,625; and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor in Wilmington gave $127,979.

Many of those firms have handled asbestos and bankruptcy cases, issues Biden has weighed in on from his seat on the judicial committee. Biden was a critic of the failed Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution (FAIR) Act of 2005, which would have trimmed returns on future litigation and hurt firms like SimmonsCooper, a billion dollar asbestos practice which used son Beau’s former law firm, Bifferato, Gentilotti, Biden & Balick (now Bifferato Gentilotti), as local counsel to file asbestos suits in Delaware. Angelos’ firm also represents asbestos clients, and Stargatt & Taylor has handled mass tort asbestos cases, representing court-appointed advocates for unknown future claimants–individuals representing people who have been exposed to asbestos but have not yet become sick.

Obama to Embrace Charter Schools

Obama to Embrace Charter Schools - TIME

(DAYTON, Ohio) — Barack Obama is promising to double funding for charter schools and replace inferior teachers, embracing education reform proposals normally more popular with Republican candidates...

...The pitch was an appeal to moderate voters in this presidential election swing state...

Folks, this is probably the first of what will be many instances of Obama "stepping in it" as a result of McCain's momentum. It's becoming even more apparent that Obama will say whatever he thinks he needs to get votes wherever he is that day. However, this is one flip-flop that will flop for the junior senator from Illinois.

Think about it for a minute.

What demographic does the mainstream media think Obama is losing as a result of the Sarah Palin announcement? Women.

What group of people is this announcement really going to upset? The teachers union.

What is the teachers union mostly made up of? Women

In an effort to gain "moderates" that prefer charter schools and vouchers, he's going to tick off one of the most powerful lobbies of the left. Not smart, in a political sense.

Who in his own party might he gain support from in this move? African Americans, who overwhelmingly support charter schools and vouchers. The only problem is that 90% of African Americans are already supporting Obama. Once again, politically, not a smart move.

This is what happens when you don't actually believe in anything (or anything you can admit) and change your stance based upon political winds. Obama handlers will now begin make strategic shifts in policy in an effort to win back some of the voters that have shifted and he will continue to 'step in it'.

Perhaps Sarah Palin said it best in her speech:

"we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco."

Barack Obama 'wanted to join the US military'

Barack Obama wanted to join the US military - Telegraph

Barack Obama has said he considered joining the United States military when he left school but decided not to because the Vietnam war was over and "we weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point".

The statement is thought to be the first time during the 19-month-long presidential campaign that the Democratic nominee for the White House has indicated he once wanted to serve in uniform. The aspiration was not mentioned in either of his two volumes of memoirs.

I'm not sure where to begin with this one. I don't know if this is pandering done poorly or stupidity done well. The statement, in and of itself, is moronic for two reasons: First, everyone knows it isn't true. Second, what kind of an idiot says he didn't join because there wasn't a war to fight at the time. This should disqualify Obama from being the Commander in Chief solely based on his complete lack of understanding of what make the military work.

The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

American Thinker: The Culture War's Decisive Battle has Begun

from the article:

By choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate -- and by staking his own claim to the presidency on "Country First" more than on any specific policy initiative -- John McCain has thrown the switch and put us Traditionalists onto the offense.  By doing so he has unleashed the energy and the will to victory among Traditionalists that have been dormant for so long the Left-Wing Liberals mistakenly assumed we'd lost.  And by taking the over-confident Left-Wing Liberals so completely by surprise, McCain has stunned them into revealing themselves for the vicious phonies that they are.

As a result, what started out as a typical campaign between Republicans and Democrats -- each party trying to hold its base while attracting enough independent voters to win -- has exploded into the Culture War's decisive battle.