Circle today on your calendar, it is the day that John McCain united his party by selecting Sarah Palin to serve as his Vice President.
In Palin we have a fresh face for our party who has fought ethical violations by those in her own party.Her accomplishments in 2006 are astounding; she won election in by first defeating the incumbent governor in the Republican primary, then a former Democratic Alaskan governor in the general election.
There are obvious reasons for McCain to pick Palin.Sure those disgruntled Hillary supporters may be even more inclined to support McCain after putting Palin on the ticket, but she’s also articulate, she hunts, owns a float plane, and rides snowmobiles and she is solidly pro-life.
McCain needed to pick a VP who is with pro-life conservative credentials.In 2008 Palin gave birth to a son with Down syndrome.Earlier in her pregnancy she refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. When asked about her son’s condition she said, “I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection.Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?”This should get many pro-life activists engaged in the McCain campaign.
While a Romney or Pawlenty selection would have been fine, the selection of Palin lets our activists discover a new face in our party.It allows us to reach out and bring in new people to our party, which is something we desperately need to do.
Wile McCain’s campaign struggled early they sure are running on all cylinders in the most important time of the election.For the past few weeks you get a since that McCain has some momentum going into the convention, and if he does well there he should be able to continue to build it through the debates and on to election day.
The images from inside Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium last night was something for the history books.While many of us in the blogosphere took jabs at Obama’s stage, you have to admit that he met the exceedingly high expectations for his acceptance speech.
The introduction video was great, the delegates waiving American flags instead of signs was moving, and the piped in music made it seem like you were watching a documentary on the History Channel.
There was just one problem; the CLINTONvention organizers left the dirty work in attacking McCain to Obama.While the Clinton’s dominated the first 3 days of the convention, they didn’t go on the attack of John McCain.So last night, when the most people are watching, Obama had to unload on John McCain for the majority of his speech.Were Obama’s attacks on John McCain the “change we can believe in?”Did his attacks on John McCain give you “hope” or inspire you?
Now the delegates there ate it up, but it’s the people at home you are targeting in your acceptance speech.While I think Obama and his campaign did a good job in rallying his base with the convention, I think he did very little to reach out to independent voters.
So while Obama was ripping his opponent, John McCain was airing an ad that congratulated Obama, which in my mind was brilliant.
I don’t know if I’m the only one, but I see glimpses of Reagan in candidates from time to time.I’ve seen them on occasion with Mike Huckabee when he articulates why he’s pro-life, and I also see that Reagan twinkle in John McCain’s eye when he talks about his love for this country.
More on McCain’s Dark Horse VP Pick in a while.If it is Sarah Palin I’ll be thrilled.
Bill and Hillary Clinton have taken over the Democrat Convention in Denver; I think it’s safe to now call it the Democrat CLINTONvention.
Think about, for the days and weeks leading up to the convention all the news networks were speculating about Hillary’s speech and if her 18 million supporters would follow her lead and support Obama.Those questions overshadowed Day One of the convention when Jim Leach and Michelle Obama failed to say anything newsworthy in their speeches.On Day Two Hillary dominated, with three of the 4 days in the bag her speech is by far the best one given at the convention.One Day three Bill Clinton was the focus on what should have been Joe Biden’s night.
But nothing proved to me more that this is the CLINTONventon than when Hillary heroically came to the floor and made a motion that Obama be nominated by acclamation. The Obama campaign either has lost or given control of his convention to Hillary and Bill.Sure Chelsea, Hillary and Bill have all said the right things, but they have also made this convention all about them, not about Obama and his vision for the country.It’s not going to get any better either as Bill Clinton’s absence from Obama’s acceptance speech will draw plenty of chatter.
Speaking of tonight’s main event, I think the Obama campaign has forgotten that this is a free one hour television show.Inside the Pepsi Center Obama would have spoken in a controlled environment with a phenomenal back drop and perfect lighting and sound.Instead they opted for a 70,000 open seat arena that will have terrible sound and lighting.There is no doubt that the visual images from tonight’s speech will be awesome, but this is the night where Obama has to tell the American voters what he plans to do as President, not just have the biggest prep rally on the face of the earth.Plus you do realize that the McCain campaign will just use the sounds and images from tonight and plug them in to his series of celebrity ads.On that note, McCain’s ability to use Obama’s strength at drawing huge crowds and using it against him will be something for the history books when McCain pulls this off in November.
In other CLINTONvention news…
The Democrats (Bruce Braley, Nancy Pelosi and Dick Durbin) are now blaming President Bush for the lack of flood aid for Iowa.I find this interesting since it was Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats who voted to go on a 5 week vacation before passing a flood relief package.Heck, Durbin thinks it will be the end of September before they get it passed.How is that Bush’s fault?These people are pathetic, and how long will they continue to use the GWB Blame Card?Hey Nancy and Dick, your in Leadership positions its YOUR job to get things done.
As you all know by now I’m a partisan hack, but I give credit where credit is due, and Hillary Clinton’s speech last night was a homerun… for her, not Obama.I have never seen Hillary deliver such a performance. I was impressed and was left telling myself thank God the Democrats didn’t nominate her, and secondly why the hell isn’t she on the ticket?Oh that’s right because she is married to Bill.
Speaking of Bill, he gives a prime time speech tomorrow.So let’s see if I have this right, night one was all about making the Obama’s into the Huxtables.Night two is all about Hillary.Night three will be all about Bill, unless Biden says something stupid, which leaves Obama with only one night where he is the focus of the convention.Someone should be fired for that.
The other problem for Obama is he has to try and connect with a crowd of 70,000 people in a football stadium, so while Hillary had the delegates in the palm of her hand wondering “what if,” Obama is going to be disconnected from the crowd when he gives his speech.Sure the media will talk about the crowd and some network will provide some overhead shot that will grace the cover of Time Magazine, but Obama may have just been upstaged by the Clinton’s.
Hillary did all the right things by urging people to support Obama and attacking McCain, but her endorsement was technical not personal.Hillary laid out why she ran for president issue by issue and tied that into her support of Obama, the only problem is I’ve never heard Obama give a speech with any specifics like Clinton’s speech last night.
As I’ve said for a while now, Obama is going to be the biggest flop ever.
I’m a sucker for political conventions, so last night I was excited to watch the first evening of coverage of the Democrat Convention in Denver.Sure the stage was awesome, but something was clearly missing, a message.
Michelle Obama was the keynote of the night, like her husband she looks the part; and her speech was solid but it clearly was written to make the Obama’s seem just like the rest of us.So after the first night, I think we all know one thing, John McCain’s celebrity ads are created so much havoc that Team Obama America had to spend the first night of their convention doing damage control.
Conventions are about one thing, establishing a vision for our country.It doesn’t matter how many times someone says the word “hope” or “change,” those words mean nothing.Obama needs to clearly define what hope is with this convention, and I seriously doubt he’s going to be able to do that.
Also speaking last night were two Iowans.
The first former Republican Jim Leach.Leach gave his usual history lesson, but then leveled an attack on the Republican Party.
It’s the liberals who are forcing their lack of values and disrespect to the institutions of marriage on me.
Sorry Jim, in a perfect world the UN could impose sanctions and stand behind therm.Unfortunately they don’t and without the US rouge leaders would go unchecked in the world.Do I like the US being the world policemen? No.But I shudder at the thought of a world without a US presence.
You can blame the war for our budget mess, but I think it was the massive entitlement program that was passed in 2004 that has saddled our nation with increased debt.Now Obama America and his liberal friends want to pass a couple more entitlement programs, a socialist health care system, and a socialist college tuition program.Jim, what do you think that’s going to do for our national debt?
Leach is a disgrace.
The other Iowan to speak was Candy Schmieder who said she read Obama’s books and thinks he’s dreamy.Was I the only one who thought she was going to speak about the floods?Oh that’s right the Democrats are on vacation and don’t give a rip about the flood victims.Fear not flood victims, Nancy Pelosi will visit in September to help he boy Loebsack out, and since it’s an election year they will buy your vote.
Here’s the bad news for Democrats, its not just some conservative blogger that thinks the Dem convention got off on the wrong foot, its people like James Carville, and Susan Estrich. Yikes!
With each passing day I’m becoming more and more certain that my prediction that Barack Obama will be the biggest flop in history.This past weekend he tabbed Sen. Joe Biden as his Vice President nominee, and while Joe is great for a sound bite and can be a ferocious attack dog, his comments about Obama from the caucuses and primaries have already made their rounds in the media.Heck, the Biden pick has allowed McCain to blast out a very effective ad that show’s Biden in a debate saying that Obama’s not ready to lead, but praises John McCain.
I also found it interesting to see the liberal get all fired up when Biden said McCain was out of touch with the American people in his 7 dining room table jab.To be really honest, that’s really weak material for your first time out of the gate.The liberals are used to the “Bush lied people died” BS, and the best that Obama America and his team of writers could do was line about 7 dinning room tables?
I also question the timing of Obama’s selection.I know the Olympics were going on, and he was on vacation but ever since his European Vacation his campaign has been losing momentum.Sure we were speculation about who he would select, but his campaign failed to make any real news for weeks, allowing McCain (who has to empty his campaign reserves before Sept 4) to aggressively set the tone of the campaign.
I have to give credit where credit is due, John McCain and his staff are running an excellent campaign.Look at how he is handling his VP selection, which we are told will come on the heels of the Dem Convention.It’s brilliant.First, it allows the McCain’s team to rebuild momentum after the country is focused on Obama and the Dem convention, and secondly, but maybe more importantly, it doesn’t allow the Democrats to attack our VP pick at their convention, meaning they will have to spend their time and money in doing so.
In other convention news:
I hear that Governor Culver and a flood victim from Marion will address the convention about the devastating floods.I guess I’m not a big fan of politicizing a natural disaster, especially when the Democrats in the House and Senate decided to go on a 5 week vacation before passing a flood relief package.
I’ve also learned that Jim Leach is going to give a speech, err lecture to the Democrat convention.I can’t tell you how disappointed I am of Leach.It’s not that he’s openly supporting Obama; it’s that he’s killing a very good congressional candidate in Mariannette Miller-Meeks.She is ideal in her district, but Leach’s actions make it difficult for her to rebuild that Leach coalition.
And people say that it’s the right wing killing the party…
Speaking of the Party
It never freaking ends.I don’t know why on earth it is so darn important for Gopal Khrisha to be a national delegate.The dude got removed on the state convention floor and the ICA folks need to accept it.However before you all chime in with your ICA hate, there are many people to blame about the condition of Republican politics in this state.We can start with the major campaigns that have failed recently (Lightfoot, Ganske, Gross, and Nussle).If just one of those would have turned out differently we wouldn’t be in this position today.
There are plenty of advantages that Romney brings to the ticket, but most notably is his ability to raise money.Unlike any other potential candidate only Romney and Rudy Giuliani have a nation wide fundraising apparatus, but Romney’s network is probably more prone to not give unless he’s on the ticket.Rudy’s backers are probably pretty happy with McCain as the nominee.
Throughout the Republican caucuses and primaries, there has been a constant reminder of 1976.Many conservatives are not engaged in the McCain effort and believe that Republican’s nominated the wrong guy.Conservatives are looking to the convention to see who will give the Reagan 76 speech, would it be Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney.
If Romney is the VP nominee, he can not fill Reagan’s role in 1976 no matter how badly he wants too.Instead, the selection of Romney will draw interesting parallels to 1980, meaning Romney’s political future rests solely in John McCain’s hands.If McCain wins, he’s golden.If McCain loses, Romney’s done.
Romney is probably one of the safest picks for McCain.He has shown in his own campaign to be very skilled at staying on message, which is critical for any candidate, and he also brings connections to Michigan and the mountain west.
As for the conservatives they will still wait and see who gives the speech they have been waiting for.Both Jindal and Huckabee are sure to provide some of the best speeches of the Republican convention, but who will claim Reagan’s mantle?We just have to wait a few more weeks.
I don't know about you, but with the hostility within the Republican Party of Iowa, I wonder if it's a wise move to have Iowa GOP Chair Stew Iverson on an online chat. For the love of god, I hope its moderated because, if not, I'm sure it will be a wild ride…
While I don't think it's the end of the world, the Dems and the liberal biased media struck back when McCain couldn't tell a reporter how many residences he has. Can it be that difficult to know?
Who's gonna be McCain's VP?
Well, Fox News has an article on the speaker line up, which gives some clues to who it's not going to be. The name at the end of the article is which Fox news speculates may be the guy is SC Governor Mark Sanford. Sanford would be an excellent pick and a guy I and many other conservatives would be excited about.
Kay Henderson is my favorite Iowa journalist.Maybe its because unlike her collogues she will get out on the road and do some good journalisim about politics in Iowa.I had to laugh yesterday because she apparently had a Krusty like moment.You know, you are looking for something on line and you get pissed off because you can’t find it.
Is anyone else frustrated about the extended courtship going on between McCain and Obama about their announcements of their running mates?The thing I find so frustrating is that when they finally do announce their choice they are going to be duds.Just tell me who the heck its going to be.Stop this I’m going to tell you soon that I’m going to tell you BS.
Krusty Prediction
John McCain will be the next President of the United States.I’ve said for a long time that Obama is going to go down as the biggest Presidential flop of all time.Guess what my Dem friends; he’s your Jim Ross Lightfoot.The candidate who’s supposed to crush his opponent, but gets killed himself.It’s going to be fun to watch.I can’t wait for more “um, er, ahhhh that’s above my pay grade” answers Obama in this falls debates.
There is more fall-out from Saddleback. It’s pretty obvious that McCain did rather well and Obama was just sufficient (some pathetic answers and a few decent ones) in his performance at the mega-church a few days ago.
Almost immediately, the Obama campaign went into damage control mode, floating the idea that McCain could hear Obama’s portion of the program, and so, had an unfair advantage by knowing the questions ahead of time.
The McCain campaign was understandably upset and fired off a letter to NBC News president Steve Capus, pointing out the obvious bias going on.
Fox News pundits are constantly accusing NBC News of liberal bias, and I do think there is quite a bit there. My questions are: (aside from Keith Olberman, who has an unhealthy obsession with bashing conservatives) can you think of other examples of NBC News bias (from sources that are supposed to be unbiased)? Is NBC the worst culprit out there, or are there others just as bad or maybe even worse?
I think it would be great to point out the concrete examples of bias (like the Mitchell situation). So help a guy out. What examples of bias can you think of? Which news do you watch/ignore because of their biases?
With the State Fair, Olympics, Baseball, and school starting back up you may have overlooked the Showdown at Saddleback this weekend.Both John McCain and Senator Barack Obama attended the event hosted by Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.
Mega Pastors like Warren and Joel Osteen get under my skin a bit.The Cross is no where to be found in Osteen’s coliseum, but there is a big globe.Now don’t get me wrong, I appreciate their uplifting message, but sometimes it seems to me that they don’t confront immoral behavior, they instead ignore it and focus on God’s love.I believe that it’s good to be held accountable.I guess to me it would be like the State of Iowa not having an Auditor like Dave Vaudt, which means the Governor and Legislature could go around and tell people how great the state is financially when that is indeed not the case.
I have to admit I was really impressed with McCain on Saturday night.He was decisive, conservative, and showed that he is ready to lead.Obama on the other hand was tentative, when asked about abortion he said it was above his pay grade, and his answerers were that of a light weight if you ask me.When you run for President there is nothing that’s above your pay grade Senator Obama.Could a President Obama send in our troops to a deadly situation?Isn’t that above his pay grade?
Obama is nothing more than the cool High School jock who succeeds at everything.He’s got the good looks, he speaks well, gets good grades, dates the cheerleader, and was the Homecoming King.But just like in real life the Jock and Cheerleader don’t find the real world to be as easy to navigate as High School was.High School for Obama was his time as a State Senator and US Senator when he could vote present on a tough vote, you can’t pass the buck when you are the commander in chief.
As I said above McCain impressed me, but again shows how frustrating he can be.Last week he’s floating out the possibility of tabbing a Pro-Choice running mate, on Saturday he was the candidate I’ve been waiting to see, and in a week or two he will probably tell me that Joe Lieberman is his VP pick, which will force me to walk away all together.
McCain needs to follow up Sabbleback by picking a strong conservative Republican to be his VP.
Last night one of the true titans in Iowa, Marvin Pomerantz passed away.
His passing creates a huge void which man never truly be filled.Just look below:
1976 – Iowa Campaign Manager for Gerald Ford 1977 – Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa Package Plan program 1978 – Campaign Manager for Governor Ray’s Last Campaign 1983 – Republican Party of Iowa State Finance Chairman 1986 – Finance Chairman for Branstad for Governor 1990 – Finance Chairman for Branstad for Governor 1994 – Finance Chairman for Branstad for Governor 2002 – Finance Chairman for Doug Gross for Governor
In addition to the above list he also was very active in raising funds for Bush 41 and Bush 43, and supported numerous Republican campaigns in the state.Pomerantz was even more involved in charitable organizations and was passionate about his support of education.
While some people give because they expect something for their investment, or they want to run for office.Pomerantz was unique because he his generosity had nothing to do with his own personal advancement.Instead he pushed for advancements in education that would afford everybody the ability to succeed.
I’m told his favorite question to ask people was “Is that the best you can do?”When you look at his accomplishments, I think he can answer his own question with one word; absolutely.
I don’t see what people like David Yepsen see in Becky Greenwald.I mean if you want a partisan attack dog, vote for her.But if you want someone who will represent you well in Congress, I think you better stick with what you have.Greenwald is a light weight.
I must admit I’m a little surprised that former Congressman Jim Leach may be endorsing Barack Obama.I use the word “may” because while I have no doubt his wife would endorse Obama, people close to Leach say that he’s been adamant about not being involved politically.So this could just be a Deba Leach endorsement. I guess we should know soon.
So what does Congressman Leach’s endorsement mean?Not much.While he is very well respected in the Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Davenport area, his endorsement doesn’t carry much weight unless he’s willing to make some appearances and work to get his former supporters to back Obama.
Speaking of Obama, do you ever wonder what would happen if his teleprompter went out in the middle of a speech?How would the great communicator do?Listen for your self.
“Taking in my opponent's performances is a little like watching a big summer blockbuster, and an hour in realizing that all the best scenes were in the trailer you saw last fall.”
No matter what you may think of McCain, the guy is a fighter and if he keeps hammering away at Obama he’s going to pull this thing off.
“I think this President has shown a remarkable disrespect for his office, for the moral dimensions of leadership, for his friends, for his wife, for his precious daughter. It is breathtaking to me the level to which that disrespect has risen.” John Edwards on President Clinton in 1999
Russia and Georgia basically at war with each other, and with any conflict in that region, the smallest spark can ignite a worldwide conflict that this planet has never seen before.Just thinking about this conflict escalating gets me nervous, especially when you consider Russia’s historical ties to Iran, and a rouge regime in North Korea wanting to flex their military might.
While many liberals think John McCain is a warmonger, his military training and experience is a huge asset when dealing with such a crisis.Obama is untested and has already been questioned on his willingness to open diplomatic communications with people like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
This is the one area where McCain is head and shoulders above Obama, and every other candidate who ran for president.
The crisis between Georgia and Russia is extremely complicated.Whose judgment do you trust, a first term US Senator, or a man who’s devoted his entire life and risked his life defending and fighting for freedom?I think the choice is very clear.We need a leader, not a celebrity.
“If he can’t find time to approve flood relief, he has the time to explain why”
Yesterday Miller-Meeks (3M, MMM or whatever the kool kids call her) challenged Loebsack to a series of debates, one in each of the 15 counties in the district.Kudos to her team for tying in Loebsack’s inability to get the Democrat controlled congress to pass a flood relief bill before adjourning for recess.
I’m sure Loebsack is going to do his best to ignore Miller-Meeks, in fact John Deeth has a post up mentioning that Loebsack isn’t even campaigning, let alone thinking about debating his opponent.Loebsack is in a difficult spot.On one hand it’s smart to spend the time talking to flood victims, but if he ends up using the flood and the victims as an excuse not to debate he’s going to look extremely bad.
Also he’s not an entrenched incumbent, so while King, Latham and Boswell can ignore their opponents to some extent, Loebsack will have to confront Miller-Meeks sooner or later.I also think it’s a good sign for Miller-Meeks that he isn’t out there working on his reelection.While I’m sure the many Dems will say it doesn’t matter, he’s and incumbent with a chunk of change in the bank, it’s never wise to sleep walk through a campaign.Just ask Leach and Lightfoot.
Now I’m never really a fan of getting campaign press releases, but Miller-Meeks puts out some nice ones.Earlier this week they dinged Loebsack by using Mike Gronstal’s comments about the inability of congress to pass a flood relief bill. The state on hold while congress is on recess, and Nancy Pelosi is on her book tour.
Speaking of Nancy, I wonder if she’s just going to visit each of the 2000 or so folks who bought her book?
Senator Barack Obama is in some serious trouble.While he seemed to be on top of the world while on his world wide tour just a few weeks ago, the Obama honeymoon is over.In many of the tracking polls Obama’s lead is down to the margin of error.John McCain has gone on the offensive with some hard hitting ads.And if that’s not bad enough, there are stilly plenty of Hillary supporters who vow not to support Obama, and Hillary seems to be encouraging them.They call themselves PUMA – Party Unity My Ass.
For most candidates I would say it’s just a rough patch they will work their way out of, but Obama’s campaign lacks any sort of discipline.They are looking for the quick fix, which leads me to think that all of the above turmoil will effect his VP selection.
We have all assumed Obama is going to nab someone from a geographical part of the country that would put some Red states in play.While that still might be possible, it seems that Obama might need to look at a VP who could unite their party, yes I think now more than ever there is a chance for an Obama/Clinton ticket.
Think about it this way.Obama needs to be able to continue his drift to the center/right.However he needs a VP who can communicate to the base that their priorities are important to Obama.Now does Evan Bayh, Tim Kaine, or Kathleen Sebelius provide that to the Obama?Not as much as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton would.
While Obama moves to the center, he is going to be forced to dart left for is VP.
Here is your must read of the day.It’s written by Alex Castellanos (former Romney dude).It’s extremely well done and worth your time.Here is a little taste:
Well maybe not.The liberals in this country have used the fact that weapons of mass destruction were not found in Iraq as their rallying cry against President Bush.Well it looks like that argument doesn’t hold any water anymore since the Pentagon has recently stated that the US has successfully transferred over a million pounds of yellow cake uranium to Canada to be used in their Nuclear power plants.
Seems like a pretty big story that didn’t get much play in the states.
I love Iowa and the changing of the seasons but I always hate the August heat and humidity.You can always count on it getting hot and nasty just in time for the Iowa State Fair.Speaking of the fair, my sources tell me that this year’s newest treat on a stick concoction is pineapple covered in funnel cake batter which is then deep fried.I’m not really into the weird stuff; I prefer the Beef Quarters, Port Produces, or the Iowa Sheep industry stand.
Speaking of food on a stick, some of my sources have reported that Bruce Rastetter of Hawkeye Renewables had is annual shindig at his home in north central Iowa.Apparently its quite impressive, special guests were Senator Grassley and former Ag Secretary, and US Senate candidate Mike Johanns.I would have thought my loyal Krustaceans could have provided me with some pictures or more detailed information about the event.
As I’ve written here before Rastetter is someone to keep an eye on in the 2010 gubernatorial race.While his connections to the grassroots of the party are weak, his connections to the power players in the state are second to none.
Rastetter isn’t the only one in my gubernatorial twelve pack who can throw an impressive party.Don DeWaay from West Des Moines had such a shindig last summer.Both Rastetter and DeWaay have brought on some very experienced political operatives in the past few years.The 2010 gubernatorial primary is going to be fun, especially if these two are in the mix.
Last Friday afternoon House Republicans protested the Democrats decision to leave Washington for the five-week August recess without voting on a measure to open new land to domestic oil and gas exploration.I have to admit there have been very few times that I’ve been proud of our Republican’s in D.C. but Friday was one of those times I found myself searching for more information of their stand against the Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat controlled chamber.
The Democrats offered change in 2006, but what did the American people really get?Why is it that majority party in American doesn’t want to offer any solutions that would help the American family?
Cheers
While the economy is in the toilet, the state is seeing increase revenue from beer and liquor sales.Just wait till Culver and Co raise taxes on alcohol!Anyway some interesting numbers in the story.When averaged out Adult Iowans consumed 37.23 gallons of beer, 1.98 gallons of liquor, and 1.69 gallons of wine in the last 12 months.I think we can do better than that folks; lets all join our Blog Brother Grant at Flanagan’s and help get our state on better financial ground.
Veep
C’mon let get going McCain and Obama.We in the blogosphere need someone new to explore and critique…I do think that this is going to be the biggest let down in history for both sides.McCain has to pick a Veep who gives him a geographical and electoral advantage.I think Obama counters with the same, but the electoral math doesn’t force him to do so.Obama’s Veep will come from a state that Bush carried in 2000 and 2004, making McCain have to use his limited resources to keep the state red.
Yesterday I took some time to watch Barack Obama while he was in Cedar Rapids.The part of his speech that I found to be the most interesting was his rhetoric on the energy crisis.Later that afternoon I saw the below Obama ad.
I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes.Barack Obama is making a hard court press to own the energy issue, and I will admit if he is successful in doing so he will win in a landslide this November.Obama’s energy plan is simple.
Another Government Stimulus Check for $300 per family.
Ah nothing like a politician trying to buy your vote with your own money.The other thing I find odd about this is the fact that the McCain gas tax holiday was a gimmick according to Obama.Isn’t this the same thing?
10 year 150 Billion Dollar Government Investment in Renewable Energy Technology.
Hey, that’s my money too.A quick look around Iowa and you will see plenty of private investment in renewable energy.So is the government, funded by our tax dollars, now going to compete with private investors?We need to unleash American ingenuity by getting government off of our backs.I’m confident that private investment will find additional alternative energy sources quicker that or government can.
Reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 3 million barrels of oil per day by 2018.
Hey, I’m all for it.This is the problem with the polarization of politics in America.We need to conserve and drill.This is an argument that McCain is trying to make but finds difficult to do.Both sides can be right.We need to increase oil production in the United States by drilling in the lower 48, in ANWR, by using the oil shale in Colorado, and by drilling off shore. We should mix that oil with ethanol to make it stretch further.We need to continue to push for increased use of wind, solar, and hydro sources for domestic energy.We need to build new nuclear power plants.In addition to all of those, we need to become more efficient in our use of energy.
I’m sick and tired of hearing that it will take 10 years for the oil in ANWR to make a difference in the price I’m paying at the pump.Well get going because I’ll still be around driving my monster SUV you morons.Every day we wait, is another day wasted.
Windfall Profits Tax for Oil Companies
I don’t understand why Obama and most liberals are so hostile to energy companies.Now I don’t want to be gouged, but these oil companies are profit at about 8% after reinvestment in new energy sources and exploration.Is that really out of line?
This gets to some of the most troubling comments Obama has raised repeatedly in his campaign.When he talks about the evil oil company and their gross profits, he’s talking about every business in America.It’s easy to look at the gross profits and use class warfare to create division in our country.We need to look at the net.That tells the real story.There are a bunch of truckers out there whose gross profits look pretty good these days, but they are hurting because their operating costs have skyrocketed.
To solve our energy crisis we must become energy independent.We can not accomplish that goal by increased fuel mileage, properly inflated tires, gas tax holidays, and sending me $300 of my own dollars back to me.We need to simply state that the US will be energy independent in 10 years.As mentioned above we unleash American ingenuity by allowing companies to drill, build refineries, use oil shale, expand our use of wind, hydro, and solar, build new nuclear plants, all while making a commitment to be more efficient. We also need to encourage private industry to do this, not the government.You do that by not being hostile, raising taxes, and creating unnecessary road blocks.
If America shows the commitment to become energy independent in 10 year, prices at the pump will probably fall right away.No matter what, the time is now.
Around the blogosphere
Sporer does have cute puppies, I just don’t know if I can handle the softer side of Sporer.
Grant Young has moved on from Jared Allen and now is focused on the Nature Boy.
