Our Changing Globe » McCain

Sarah Barracuda Resigns As Governor Of Alaska

Michael Redbourn — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:59:24 +0000

Palin Is A Great Orator And A Fighter

Sarah Palin, who was a little known Alaska governor until she was chosen to be Senator John McCain’s running mate on the 2008 Republican presidential ticket, announced yesterday that she will be resigning her office at the end of this month.

Although she gave no specific reasons for her decision she did say that since last year’s election that she has been "subjected to the politics of personal destruction through more than a dozen frivolous ethics complaints", and added that “This decision came after much consideration and I really don’t want to disappoint anyone with this announcement".

Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will assume the governor’s office.

It is widely assumed that she is stepping down in order to make a run for the Whitehouse in 2012, something which it would be impossible for her to do if she continued as Alaska’s governor.

Alaska is four hours behind ECT (east coast time) and if she wanted to visit places like New Hampshire or Iowa she’d have to spend a whole day just getting there and back.

Moreover it’s no longer as good to be a governor as it once was because of the nation’s economic collapse, and almost every governor in the country is now in serious trouble. Palin would not have been immune to similar problems, and already came under heavy flak for implementing a hiring freeze in January.

Palin is an excellent orator that drew huge enthusiastic crowds wherever she spoke during the presidential campaign, and in his concession speech McCain thanked Palin and called her "one of the best campaigners I’ve ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength".

Charlie Cook, who is a Washington-based independent political analyst said, "Palin made the right decision if she is serious about running for the White House in 2012. She could be a good governor or she can be a serious candidate for president, but she can’t do both well", and Washington-based Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak, said "Palin can now focus exclusively on political matters, international travel and boning up on policy. While she will lose some of the gravity that comes with being a governor, that is far outweighed by her inherent star power and the logistical freedom that she gains".

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said Palin may find her retirement more politically demanding than her old job as governor.

“Everybody’s going to want to have her come campaign, or appear or make speeches and she no longer has the useful excuse of saying, ‘Look, I would love to help you on that but I got to pay attention to my job,’” Rove told FOX News. “Now she’s going to be torn. It’s going to be very hard for her to say no continually to people who want her to get on the long flight out of Alaska and come down to lower 48″.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur said, “We’re not retreating, we’re advancing in another direction”.

Barak Obama – The New President

Michael Redbourn — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:53:00 +0000

Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States of America.

Mr. Obama led his party in a decisive sweep of Congress, putting Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was president.

Mr. McCain called Mr. Obama to congratulate him and said, “We’ve come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation. I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us. I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president and I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair in our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit”.

After which Mr. Obama announced to cheering crowds, “I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he’s fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead”.

In addition to the unresolved issues of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, N. Korea and many other places the president-elect and his expanded Democratic majority now face the daunting task of governing the country through one of the most difficult economic periods in its history and we wish them well.

“Because of what we did on this day, in this election, in this defining moment, change has come to America,” Obama told 125,000 supporters gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park to celebrate his victory and ended with “Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America”.

This site continuously urged caution with regard to Mr. Obama because of his connections with Jihadist and communist groups and because so much of his past was intentionally concealed, but we congratulate him on his victory and hope his promised changes will make the entire world a better place.

Crossing The I’s and Dotting The Tees

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:43:00 +0000

On the day before many Americans will vote, the candidates and their vice presidential nominees are now putting their attention on just a few States and their emphasis is on swaying those who are still undecided and on trying to make sure that those who have supposedly already decided who to vote for, actually go out and do so.

The vice the vice presidential nominees are probably more important this year than at any time in America’s history and although much has been written about the dangers of voting for McCain because of his age, not much has been written about the dangers of voting for Obama because of his color.

I have many black and white friends that have been telling me for months that if Obama wins that his life will be under constant threat because of his color and it is known that he already receives the protection that is given to a President and not a candidate.

So who would the country want to take over the Presidency if something did happen to either McCain or Obama, and I stress that I wouldn’t want anything untoward to happen to either of them.

Sarah Palin is both adored and hated and there is even talk of her running for the Presidency in 2012 but at the present time there are certainly a great many people that wouldn’t want her to take over the Presidency.

Biden unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 2008, both times dropping out early in the process so it doesn’t seem the country would rally around him either.

What were Biden And Palin saying during the final countdown?

Joe Biden was in EVANSVILLE, Ind. and he said that he and Barack Obama would take a bipartisan spirit to the White House in working to revive the nation’s economy and in restoring America’s reputation in the world.

“We have to unite this country”, Biden told about 1,600 people at a downtown rally. “We need to move past the political attacks”.

And in MARIETTA, OH. Sarah Palin unleashed a new attack following the discovery of an audio file of an interview that Barack Obama gave in January 2008.

What does Obama say on the tape?

“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted. That will also generate billions of dollars that we can invest in wind, solar, biodiesel and other alternative energy approaches”.

And last minute news from the Obama campaign is that whilst there is optimism about winning the election there are several factors that still raise cause for concern.

Although Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida are still in the Obama column they have all been tightening in the final days and Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Ed Rendell said on Friday, “It’s time for a reality check. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”.

Pennsylvania looks solidly behind Obama but the latest NBC/Mason Dixon poll is showing a a lead of only four points which is within the margin of error and RealClearPolitics shows McCain has whittled six points off Obama’s once 14-point lead in Pennsylvania in the last three weeks.

The most accurate poll in 2004, the Investor’s Business Daily poll has consistently put the national race closer than most other polls do and yesterday it had Obama up only 4.5 points nationally and with 8.7 per cent still saying they were unsure and yesterday’s Hotline Diageo tracking poll put McCain and Obama tied among independent voters when just a week ago Obama led by five points.

Much emphasis has been put on the idea that the youth vote will greatly help Obama, but will the cheering supporters actually vote?

In Florida, where 3.4 million people have already voted, an Orlando Sentinel study found only 15 per cent of them were under age 35.

The Pew Research just came out with its final pre-election poll. After allocating undecidedes nearly evenly between the two candidates, Pew is projecting Obama will finish with 52% of the vote on Tuesday to 46% for John McCain.

This represents an 8-point move towards McCain from Pew’s survey released five days ago showing Obama with a 15-point lead over McCain among likely voters, 53 to 38, as compared to today’s 7-point margin, 49 to 42.

Whereas the so called Bradley effect is not expected to have any major effect it is certain that many Republicans have refused to answer polls and have not disclosed to others who they will vote for and are keeping their heads down until tomorrow.

The following is from a talkback that I read on 10/19/08

25. There is no “Bradley Effect”
because Bradley’s race years ago is the ONLY extant example of it, it cannot be given a name. I call it “bad polling”. But there’s a very real fear out there, and it isn’t of ‘terrorist violence’ as you lamely put it. It’s a fear of telling someone you don’t know, who HAS your phone number, that you WON”T be voting for Obama. In this age, that’s enough to be worried about a future episode of someone calling you a racist publicly. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if people are not answering correctly, not because they’re racist but they fear to be CALLED racist.
Dave – USA (10/19/2008 19:51)

Whatever the result, it looks as if tomorrow night will be a long and emotional one for hundreds of millions of people, not just in America but around the world.

Can McCain Still Win? And if so, then how?

Michael Redbourn — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:11:00 +0000

There are several things that McCain can still do to try and turn things around.

Some are riskier than others, but all are perhaps worth trying if he foresees a crushing defeat.

He could for example commit to only serving one term, and claim that by so doing that he would be free from much of the political pressure that somebody hoping for a second term would be subject to. He could then truthfully say that this would allow him to make a lot of tough decisions that Obama would be unable to make.

Another ploy would be to stop wasting time and money in Bush States that have now slipped so completely out of his grasp, that there is no real likelihood of his ever winning them now.

Obama is extremely well established in Iowa because he has been organizing there since 2007 and the State helped win him the nomination, but McCain and Palin are still campaigning there.

If I were in his shoes, and I’m glad I’m not, because whoever wins the next election will be in for a horrible drubbing and his life will get more miserable from day one, I’d be concentrating on the battleground States that I’d have a very good chance of still holding onto.

Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, Colorado and Florida.

On paper he’d been short of enough votes to win but he’d be able to keep his fingers crossed and hope that the polls were more inaccurate than they seemed. Polls have surprised a lot of candidates everywhere, in both a good and bad way.

He might of course, also be able to bring in Pennsylvania from the 2004 Kerry map.

If things really look desperate in the days before the elections he could do something completely unprecedented, he could publicly and without mixing his words, condemn the of the presidency of George W. Bush.

Karl Rove and others such as Steve Schmidt would probably be distraught and be strongly against it but McCain is highly unlikely to ever run for the Presidency again so what would he have to lose.

Making such a maverick move would also show the voters that he really understood why Bush’s ratings are so low and many people might be so admiring of such behavior that they’d change their minds at the last moment.

A great many Republicans that now say that they will vote Democrat might not actually do so.

When they ponder the night before the election or even in the voting booth that to vote for Obama would mean higher taxes; a larger government; more entitlements; more U.N. involvement; less nuclear energy; less coal and a greater dependency or Iran and Venezuela; more left leaning Supreme Court judges; more open borders; more oppression-studies and a helluva lot more reparations that might just think twice!

Obama Grew Oak Trees From Acorns

Michael Redbourn — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:21:00 +0000

The organization where Sen. Barack Obama worked as a community organizer and lawyer, the ‘Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now’ better known as ‘Acorn’, is now under investigation in several States for suspected voter registration fraud.

And this latest wave of ACORN inquiries is providing Republicans a new line of attack to use against the Democratic presidential nominee and particularly because he represented ACORN in a lawsuit in the 1990s.

A member of Sen. John McCain’s campaign wrote in a memo on Friday, “Given ACORN’s recent efforts to engage in voter fraud and to disrupt our political system, Obama’s affiliation with this group raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to lead this nation”.

Nevada is the latest in a string of States to take action against Acorn and investigators raided the group’s state headquarters on Tuesday. The Nevada branch submitted voter registration forms carrying the names of celebrities such as Tony Romo and Terrell Owens, who are both members of the Dallas Cowboys and many members of the general public announced that they had been asked by ACORN employees to submit multiple registration forms.

Obama’s campaign has so far paid ‘Citizens Services Inc.’ which is an ACORN subsidiary about $800,000 for services rendered and ACORN endorsed Obama during the Democratic primaries.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt said on a McCain campaign conference call on Friday, “Sen. Obama’s ties with ACORN go back a long way. Before he launched his political career in the home of Bill Ayers, he was fighting alongside ACORN. He acted as their lawyer. He has taught classes to ACORN liberal community organizers”.

Republicans are also attempting to link Acorn to the current financial crisis and a McCain campaign employee posted a video on the Internet on Friday that accuses ACORN of “bullying banks and forcing them to issue risky home loans. The same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we’re in today”

The House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), whose home state has also discovered irregular ACORN registration forms, said on Thursday, “I believe we are witnessing a national trend that must be fully investigated to protect the sanctity of our elections”.

Obama campaign officials have rejected the McCain camp’s charges and labeled them as an attempt to “turn the page from the issues that matter to American families”.

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement, “Barack Obama strongly condemns voter registration fraud or any other breach of election law by any party or group. The McCain campaign’s allegations about Sen. Obama are completely transparent and false”.