Podcast Show Notes

Wesley Clark cluelessly attacks John McCain’s executive experience (did he forget who he was supporting.)

Barack Obama delivers a slick speech on patriotism.

A pro-life 527 forms to tell the truth about Obama’s support for infanticide.

Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) helps save school vouchers in DC for now.

In Sweden, we now have government regulated birthday invitations.

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Podcast Show Notes

Do we really need to know about comic heroes political affiliations?

Plus, the latest creepy Obama supporter trend: taking his middle name.

Plus Jon Stewart has his Jay Leno moment as he learns to stop worrying and poke fun at Obama like any other politician.

Republicans do a study to conclude that their strategy is not working after losing 3 special elections in traditionally Republican areas.

Richard Daley fights for Chicago’s ineffectual gun ban that puts the lives of citizens in danger.

Canada’s Human Rights Commission surrenders in their attacks on Mark Steyn and Maclean’s Magazine to go after easier pickings.

The bungling incompetence of Arapahoe County, Colorado traumatizes an 8-year old boy and his parents.

San Francisco shows contempt for the troops by banning Junior ROTC.

McCain says Amnesty a priority: today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

The Millionaire exemption gutted as a piece of McCain-Feingold bites the dust and calls into question what type of judges McCain will appoint.

Second Amendment updates from the South and Detroit.

Canadian Government forces kids to be taught homosexual propoganda against the will of parents. (Hat Tip: Political Correctness Watch.)

A dumb global warming solution: banning drive thrus.  (Hat Tip: Wizbang.)

The Vatican encourages Christian involvement in politics.

Homeless people in Texas pay it forward and give generously to help the poor in Africa.

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Podcast Show Notes

Charlton Heston fought long for freedom. Without his work at the NRA, we wouldn’t have justices Alito and Roberts. Today victory was won.

Plus the post-partisan candidate plans a partisan coup, while offering Americans a plan to make fossil fuels more expensive. (Hat Tip: The Campaign Spot.)

John McCain departs from the Kerry playbook and endorses the California marriage amendment.

Why can’t Johnny do math? Maybe, the teachers don’t know how to teach it. (Hat Tip: Right Mind.)

Canadian Private Schools produce better results than public schools.

The latest victim of political correctness: Father’s Day cards. (Hat Tip: Where Is Jodi?)

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Podcast Show Notes

Obama’s slogan mangles Latin and reveals the weakness of his campaign.

James Dobson takes on Barack Obama.

Charlie Black of the McCain Campaign apologizes for saying a terror attack would benefit McCain, while the Obama McCain moves in for the kill.

<!– –>McCain proposes ending barriers to cheaper sugar ethanol coming into the country as part of his solution to the energy crisis.

The LDS church goes to battle for traditional marriage.

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Okay, regular readers of this blog know I’m not John McCain’s biggest fan, but I found out something I had not known about Senator McCain and his wife Cindy. They have an adopted daughter. Senator McCain did an interview about being a Father with Dad magazine and they asked about the adoption:

Dadmag: Your youngest daughter Bridget is adopted. Why did you decide to adopt Bridget?

McCain: Well it was primarily my wife’s Cindy’s idea. She was in Bangladesh and she and some of the medical personnel visited Mother Theresa’s orphanage to try and help the children there. There were two little baby girls there. One had a heart problem the other a severe cleft palate. Cindy was very concerned about their ability to survive and their need for medical treatment, so she decided to bring them here for medical treatment. She fell in love with both of them. We decided to adopt Bridget. Two close friends of ours, adopted Mickey, the other child.

Dadmag: You knew about your wife’s decision before hand?

McCain: (laughs) No. She arrived and said “Say hello to your new little daughter.”

Dadmag: A bit of a shock?

McCain: Yes indeed.

Dadmag: And how has it worked out? Are you happy with the decision to adopt Bridget?

McCain: Oh yes! She has enriched our lives. She’s a wonderful child, a complete part of our family and we love her.

Dadmag: Your other children accepted her well?

McCain: Oh yeah sure. She’s the toughest of the four. The youngest always has to be the toughest. 

I guess it says quite a bit about Mrs. McCain’s character and heart. It also says something about Senator McCain that this hasn’t been trumpeted. In 9 years of reading about Senator McCain, the first time I heard about Bridget was this morning. With some politicians, there’d be books,  stories, maybe a made-for-TV movie about Cindy and John McCain’s inter-racial adoption. There are many ways this could be politically exploited, McCain has chosen not to. Good for him.  

.  This does put a different spin on the Independent calls made in South Carolina against Senator McCain in 2000:

Dadmag: During your campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination Bridget became something of an issue in South Carolina didn’t she?

McCain: Yeah. There were some pretty vile and hurtful things said during the South Carolina primary. It’s a really nasty side of politics. We tried to ignore it and I think we shielded her from it. It’s just unfortunate that that sort of thing still exists As you know she’s Bengali, and very dark skinned. A lot of phone calls were made by people who said we should be very ashamed about her, about the color of her skin. Thousands and thousands of calls from people to voters saying “You know the McCains have a black baby” I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those.

Indeed, unfortunately, this protection couldn’t last forever as Newsweek is set to report according to Politico:

Cindy McCain, in a lovely pink suit, is on the cover of the Newsweek issue that closes today. “Behind That Smile: Understanding Cindy McCain,” by Holly Bailey tells about the time the McCains’ adopted daughter, Bridget, Googles herself, learns about the South Carolina smears from 2000, and comes to Cindy to ask: “Why does President Bush hate me?”

While I don’t think Bush was involved or ordered the smears, people who wanted him elected did do this. And I guess this explains part of why McCain took so long to endorse Bush in 2000.

Of course, throughout this campaign, I’ll continue to analyze and criticize the Senator on his policy and strategy, but I think the way he and his wife have handled this adoption and the related issues has been classy, and readers should know that as well.  

Certain conservatives have been suggesting Mike Huckabee has been making pro-Obama statements. Not true.  Huckabee speaks up for himself and people who are jumping to conclusions should at least read what the man has to say:

Greetings, HuckPAC team from Sapporo, Japan:

Janet and I are still in Japan for a few more days. It is about 5am here on Friday which makes it 3 in the afternoon back home in North Little Rock. We are having a great, but extremely packed week. It feels like being back on the campaign trail, except that the speeches are being interpreted in Japanese and the raw fish is sometimes a little tough on a guy who grew up thinking fried catfish was seafood. Yesterday, I visited with some of the scientists at Tohuko University in Sendai City regarding their groundbreaking research in producing solar energy and in the their development of amazing new materials that are lighter and stronger than steel. I also visited with the Governor of the Hokkaido prefect where next month’s G-8 Summit will be held and spoke to the Chamber of Commerce in that prefect on American politics, US/Japan relations, and economic trends in the United States. We are looking forward to being back—we miss the dogs!

My speech to the Foreign Correspondents Club a few days ago seemed to have generated some buzz both here and back home when I mentioned that it would be a “fundamental if not fatal mistake for the GOP to demonize Barak Obama” in order to win the election. Some seem to have taken that to mean I was all but endorsing Obama! Quite the opposite.

I believe his ideas are totally wrong for America and many of his plans would take us the opposite direction from where I think we need to go. He is an ardent supporter for the most liberal and indefensible positions on abortion, including his refusal to support a ban on the most vile forms of all, partial birth abortion. He has stated that he would be an activist in seeking to push for what the anti-life forces euphemistically call “reproductive rights.”

His plan to raise taxes would be an economic disaster for our nation. We would lose jobs and investment and see the economy really squeeze the working class with even higher fuel and food prices.

He would implement more government control on everything from health care to small business and that’s not the right direction for us.

What I am saying is that we need to challenge Obama on the basis that his ideas are the wrong ones—not attacking him personally. If people spend their time repeating a bunch of internet driven drivel about his middle name (he didn’t choose his anymore than I chose mine), or his race (I do sincerely celebrate that our country has moved to a place where a person’s race doesn’t limit him from aspiring to the highest office in our land, but I just believe that due to his proposals and lack of substantive experience, he’s gone far enough—not because of his race, but because of his sincere, but misguided proposals), or his church (there are far more important reasons for us to elect Senator McCain than where Obama went to church).

Politics ought to be VERTICAL and Obama’s ideas will not take this country UP, but DOWN. I think he is a sincere and obviously a very intelligent and charismatic person. For us to deny that is foolish. Our focus should be to logically and systematically explain why ideas really do matter and why some are bad for those struggling as it is to pay the rent.

Elections ought to be about elevating the best ideas and exposing the worst ones—not engaging in character assassination with half truths, innuendoes, and disputable “internet facts…”

Hope you are having a good week and continue to pray for our friends in the Midwest suffering from the devastating floods.

Sayonara,

Mike Huckabee

The Hill has an interesting article on the Club for Growth’s involvement or lack thereof in the Presidential campaign. The Club for Growth could get involved for McCain or they could sit out. The big difference:

Toomey also stressed that McCain’s vice presidential pick will help influence the Club’s decision.

“I think it’s very important,” he said. “It’ll be an important signal, indicating whether he wants to help consolidate the Republican coalition and energize the base of the party or not.”

The Club feels very strongly about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), whose name comes up often among those speculating on McCain’s short list. Toomey also suggested in a February Wall Street Journal column that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and businessman Steve Forbes would make strong vice presidential candidates — a slate of names less frequently mentioned, if at all.

The Club for Growth seems to be taking the stance that if America’s electing a 71 year-old cancer survivor, then the real future of the country lies with the Veep. While the other names mentioned are quite farfetched (Steve Forbes and Phil Gramm? What is this? 1996.) Sanford has currency and I think he’s the desire of Club insiders.

Andy Roth on the Club blog went after Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for banning text messaging and watching videos while driving and then pointed to Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal refusing to fight a legislative pay increase. They actually released a full fledged hit on Jindal’s conservative credentials from Nachema Soloveichik. It’s clear, they want a governor and they’d like Sanford.

I’ve met Mark Sanford and he is a fabulous guy, let there be no question about this.  He would be a great President. I think he has absolutely nothing to do with these games the CFG is playing, but it’s clear that they want him to be Veep and don’t mind knocking people off the road to get that result.

This brings a very interesting choice to John McCain. If he places Sanford on the ticket, his campaign coffers are sure to swell from CFG members who would love to see Mark Sanford a heartbeat from the Presidency. Not only that but CFG.net as a 527 could be counted out to pound Obama with millions inunds from the last loophole for free speech, McCain left in McCain-Feingold.

Money is key for McCain. The FEC has a map that lays the numbers bear. McCain trials Obama badly in fundraising by 2.93:1 margin. Put another way. If you added the total funds raised by Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and Fred Thompson to McCain’s total, he’d still trail Obama in fundraising by $30 million. Given that money is the mother’s milk of politics, McCain’s in trouble on that front, and a Sanford pick would close the gap.

The problem with Sanford is that he’s unknown by all but a few political geeks like me. I realized this when I mentioned him on the Michael Reagan show, Reagan thought the guy was still in Congress. Given that few people know of him, it’d be very hard to fix the widespread problems McCain has with conservatives.

Then, you have Mike Huckabee who could shore up McCain’s sagging base among Evangelicals and in America’s heartland. While, he wouldn’t bring  gobs of money along, he would bring volunteers who would work the campaign hard, and really believe in it. Most of Huck’s Army would do everything they could for McCain/Huckabee.

However, the Club for Growth would spend money to elect Mike Huckabee Vice-President about the time I’d cheer for the San Francisco Giants, and so McCain would be cash-strapped.

So for love or for money?

Or what about somewhere in between? Mitt Romney would bring a little bit of money. (Not as much as the Club would for Sanford) and a little bit of love. But how much of this will add up to foot soldiers is questionable and Romney has a lot of detractors.

Of course the most likely result is that McCain goes with neither Sanford nor Huckabee, nor Romney either. Which will leave him with neither a huge amount of love or money from the Veep choice.

And neither Social Conservatives or Economic Conservatives will get what they want. There’s a lesson in there for us if we’ll learn it.

Podcast Show Notes

John McCain announces his support for offshore drilling but sends a troubling signal on judges. (Hat Tip: The Corner.) And gives a troubling answer in answer to Michelle Obama.  (Hat Tip: Hot Air.)

Bobby Jindal gets school choice legislation passed in Louisiana while legislators vote themselves a big pay raise.  (Hat Tip: The Corner.)

Democrats try to gag the military.

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It’s a gas:
The greatest nation on Earth
Sinks to its knees
In a puddle of oil.
Fuel-starved masses sit immobile.
Four dollar Gas,
Ripping the heart out of the middle class.

It’s a gas:
We’re dying of thirst
Two feet from the reservoir.
One hundred and thirty billion
Barrels of oil sit untapped
Within our borders
And off our shores,
As the working man is strung up
By green red tape.

It’s a gas:
The Donkey party brays
Against the oil companies,
Making them the scapegoats
For our pain at the pump,
And plan to increase their taxes,
As if increasing the cost of making gas
Will make it more affordable
For the working class. .

It’s a gas:
Great men made the world smaller,
Bringing us closer together.
Freedom for the common man to travel
Where he pleases on any highway or street.
But a few fools can take us back
To the 19th Century.
Now our urban planners dream and scheme
Of a rising cost of freedom,
To squeeze as many people
As they can onto cramped buses,
Herded like cattle,
Moving at the schedule of government
Rather than their own speed.

It’s a gas:
I got a letter the other day from a Senator,
Who self-righteously preened and posed
As he was hugged by the Sierra Club
For his obstructionism of an Arctic Oil venture
That could have helped alleviate this crisis.
He asked me to reach into my gas-strained pocket,
To help his campaign.
He even kindly suggested amounts:
$25, $50, $100, $250, or even $2300!
Now that’s a gas.

Podcast:

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Podcast Show Notes 

Why is John McCain struggling with the Hispanic vote and what he can do about it? (Hat Tip: Dissecting Liberalism.)

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