Another must see video.  Thanks to Charlie Sykes.

Democrats are the majority party in Congress.  This means that if they want something to pass, all they need to do is vote for it.  Nancy Pelosi says that the Republicans are to blame for the bailout failure, because only one third of them voted to approve it.  Yet she only needed a few more votes for it to pass and nearly 100 Democrats voted against this package.  Sorry Nancy, this does not pass the common sense rule.  To top it off, she is the one that called for a vote knowing full well that they were short of the votes needed.  All morning and early afternoon the press said that they didn't have the votes. 

Barney Frank (the second coming of Elmer Fudd - has anybody listened to the way he talks?), Harry Reid and Pelosi have had their own agenda on this since the start.  First Reid says that the Democrats won't vote for anything unless McCain shows up to vote, then McCain calls his bluff and puts Country First to try and make sure that if something is done it gets done right, at which point Reid says don't come we don't need you.  The reason was they were trying to position Obama as the savior and leader.  Even during the big meeting at the White House, the other Democrats deferred to Obama so that he could show his leadership and take charge.  The Democratic leadership was appalled when he failed to do so.  Obama ready to lead?  There isn't one Democratic leader that thinks he is. 

Who Am I?


I am under 45 years old...
I love the outdoors...
I hunt...
I am a Republican reformer...
I have taken on the Republican Party establishment...
I have many children...
I have a spot on the national ticket as vice president with less than two years in the governor's office.

Who Am I?

Did you guess my name yet?

Yes, I am Gov. Theodore Roosevelt (1900). 

Hmmm...so Gov. Sarah Palin is not qualified but Sen. Barak Hussein Obama is?

Keith Olbermann is out as lead political anchor at MSNBC.  The network tried to use Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as anchors for their election coverage.  Olbermann was so incredibly biased and opinionated for Obama and against McCain that instead of acting like the anchor of a news show, he bitched and argued with everyone.  It was more like a bad imitation of The View with Keith Olbermann playing the part of Rosie O'Donnell.  Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw were incredibly embarrassed by all the cheerleading.  Olberman and Matthews will still have their own shows on the network and be used as analysts for the remainder of the election.  Olbermann was so far overboard the entire time that even when he was punished by being forced to provide commentary from New York instead of directly at the Republican National Convention, he still whined and bitched about everything.  Maybe now MSNBC will try to become a little more fair and balanced.  Not.

McCain was not my candidate.  Not originally.  His close ties to, and having worked with very liberal democrats had me worried.  Once it was clear that he was going to be the Republican nominee, he was the best of what was left.  Let's face it, the Democrats were choosing a nominee that didn't believe he was ready to run on a national ticket.  Even Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, doesn't believe he is ready, and in fact would have preferred to run with John McCain.  Hillary Clinton also chose McCain over Obama.

What won me over?  Was it 2000 Democratic VP candidate turned Independent Senator Joe Lieberman's endorsement speech for John McCain?  After all, the Democrats still think well enough about Lieberman to have placed him in a leadership position as an important committee chairman.  His speech was convincing, specifically the line about how McCain could anger his own party, but he was doing it because of what he believed in.

Was it Rudy Giuliani's fantastic speech, where he compared the resumes of the two Presidential candidates?  The first candidate, John McCain has an extensive list of accomplishments and experience and even some things that provide a "Wow" moment.  The second candidate, Barak Obama, his biggest experience has been to vote present rather than make decisions on important issues, which was the job he was hired to do.   Obama has never led anything and, in fact, has been doing nothing more than running for the next highest office ever since being elected to the Illinois legislature.

Maybe it was Fred Thompson telling the fantastic biography of John McCain, including his tenure as a POW.  He contrasted that with the description of Obama as the most Liberal and inexperienced Presidential candidate ever, but may be a good match for the Democratic congress, which is the most unpopular congress in history. 

Could it have been McCain running mate Sarah Palin?  She was engaging, funny, and extremely comfortable in her speech to the RNC.  McCain has made a tremendous choice for a running mate.  She has leadership experience and is a serious reformer.  Her record for ethics reform and standing up to special interests in her time as Governor is a testament to a good leader.  She was very good at hitting Obama at his weak points with shots while smiling and having fun.  My favorite line was when she said, "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities."

Possibly it was McCain's own speech to the RNC that got to me.  After a tremendous build up by the speakers leading up to the candidates acceptance speech, my expectations were pretty flat.  How could he possibly perform as the Headliner when the warm up acts provided headliner performances?  But he did it.  He knocked it out of the park.  I particularly liked hearing him discuss how he has worked with members of both parties to do what he felt was important.  It is for this reason that Democrats like Senator Feingold of Wisconsin, as well as Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden consider him a friend and someone they enjoyed working with and consider him ready to lead.

So what won me over?  It was a combination of all the above.  While the Republican platform and ideals are what I most closely identify with, it is the person at the top of the ticket that I have to believe will follow through on those commitments while leading and protecting this country.  That is why I am proud to endorse John McCain as our next President.

John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his VP candidate to help provide balance to the Republican ticket.  She brings with her a more conservative background as well as youth.  The amazing thing is that in Sarah Palin's and Barack Obama's relatively short political careers, the Republican VP candidate has accomplished so much more than the Democratic Presidential candidate.

Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his VP candidate, thus admitting that he severely lacked any foreign relations experience.  Joe Biden brings that to the Democratic ticket along with experience and accomplishments that are non-existent by the Democratic Presidential nominee. 

What does Joe Biden think of his running mate?  Just a few months ago he stated that Barack Obama is not ready to lead.

While John McCain and Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket are a slam dunk winner over their competition, Barack Obama will do well next year on the Speaking circuit.  After all, that's the one and only thing that he does well.

Barrack Obama, one of the most eloquent speakers of recent times, is choking on his own words lately.  Turns out some of the words that he has been using aren't his, they are from someone else's speeches.  It may be that the original speaker, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a friend of his, gave him permission to use the lines, but it has been Obama's speeches that have earned him most of his praise and support.  Now, it turns out that these are not even original. 

This is a minor point when the bigger problem is that he says nothing.  I take that back, he says he stands for change and for changing politics as usual.  This sounds good to the masses, but let's see what he's been up to lately.  First, he vowed to follow the rules of public finance campaign spending, but now is changing his mind as he realizes that special interest money may be important to win.  Second, he has put nearly $700,000 into the campaigns of the "super delegates", those democratic delegates that may decide their party's nomination.  Lastly, seeking the endorsement of labor, he declared his opposition to a U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement, even though he has pledged to "renew American diplomacy".  Sounds like the newbie is learning how things get done and it sounds like politics as usual.

Even though for weeks and months critics, including myself, have complained that Obama is all flash and no substance, some of his biggest supporters still aren't getting that message.  A State Senator from Texas went on MSNBC to speak on behalf of Obama earlier this week and was absolutely dumbstruck when he could not list one thing that Obama has done. 

Obama may me in for a rough ride.  Usually these things don't start coming to light until the two major party candidates are set.  This year though he not only has to worry about the republicans putting dents in his Teflon, but Hillary Clinton is starting to resort to pressing her opponent on these flaws to try to stay alive in the race for delegates. 

We should be happy when Congress feels that it can ignore the economy, health care, social security and other subjects that us mere mortals are apparently concerned with for no reason.  But the events that congress was involved in last week leave me scratching my head. 

The biggest item from Congress making news this week were Congressional Hearings involving Roger Clemens, one of baseball's best and most dominant pitchers of the last twenty years, and whether he told the truth regarding his taking illegal, performance enhancing drugs.  Baseball is, we are told, America's Pastime, and I for one am a big baseball fan.  Like many fans I am greatly disappointed at the number of players using steroids and human growth hormone (HGH).  These players are cheaters.  This era will forever be known as the steroids era, and we will always wonder whether the records that have been broken during this era are legitimate or not.  Most of the players that have their names even remotely associated with steroids or HGH will never make it into the Hall of Fame.  Baseball needs to get their house in order and get the drugs out of the game.  Thank goodness Congress doesn't have any important work to do at this time so that they can waste their time and our money on something of such national importance.  If they feel the need to stick their nose into this then they ought to go after the real problem and nail the owners, commissioner and the players union for knowingly allowing this to go on as long as it did.  I find it darkly comical but not funny that politicians, who most people feel are liars, are trying to determine who is truthful and calling others liars. 

Apparently Major League Baseball is not the only sport that Congress feels they need to spend more time investigating.  The NFL, and particularly Bill Belichek and his New England Patriots are being accused of cheating by video taping opponents signals and practices.  Congressmen spent time asking Commissioner Roger Goodell about why the NFL allowed the destruction of tapes that were evidence of the cheating. 

Finally, congress is playing games themselves.  Nancy Pelosi is playing with our national security by refusing to take action on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expired this weekend.  It's great to see the Republicans stand up to Pelosi as she tries to be the bully and get her way.  This game is the scariest of all and if it continues we will all lose.

Congress needs to stop playing in areas that they have no business interfering in and they need to get to work on what is important.