Hmm.  Naw, that may be how the Kos-freaks might treat this, if the same had happened to the conservative candidates of course, but I guess that I, having morals, have to draw the line somewhere.

The real headline should read “Biden and Obama make idiotic mistakes about Disabled people”.

First, Biden pulls this gaffe, asking a guy in a wheel chair to rise and walk (ok, stand up):

Ok, we can be adults and everything, and admit this was nothing more that a bone headed idiotic error.  He forgot, he had a momentary lapse of memory about who he was talking to.  But the chances to rip on him for it are wonderful.

I mean this means that not only are they comparing Obama to Jesus¹ they are now trying to heal people, along the lines of John Edwards in 2004, who told people John Kerry would make people walk again.

Yes yes, I know the guy he was talking to was gracious about it, and was not offended.  So what?  that’s no reason not to rip on it.  So, being a fair minded guy, I (until now) didn’t run the story here…because unlike the Kos-Freaks, Huff Po-lings, I realize that when these guys are on the campaign trail, they make what we poor schlups in the real world call a simple, stupid, understandable mistake.

But…

When Obama said this in his ad:

And when he decided to mock McCain for not being able to send an email, he, or what ever dipshit wrote, designed or filmed this commercial, failed to do their homework².

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.

Oops.

Apparently, at least part of the accusation, is based on his disabilities, which Randi Rhodes says she doesn’t have.

And maybe, just maybe, it isn’t totally true³

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

She nailed it.  From start to finish, and all points in between, Sarah just knocked it out of the park.  Period.

Transcript here

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States…

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election… against confident opponents … at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions … and met far graver challenges … and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

And maybe that’s because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership … a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He’s a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

Obama first:  In response to Rene Marie surprise substitution of Lift Ev’ry  Voice and Sing:

 Obama: Only one national anthem

Barack Obama picked some low-hanging fruit and scored some points in Denver today, after a local jazz singer substituted what some called the “black national anthem” for the Star Spangled Banner at a municipal event.  Saying that Rene Marie should have sung what she promised, Obama made clear that he only recognizes one national anthem for Americans:

Sen. Barack Obama said today a jazz singer’s decision to sing the ‘Black National Anthem’ at Denver’s State of the City speech this week was wrong.

“Well, ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song that has been sung in African-American churches and other events for a very long time,” Obama told the Rocky in phone interview. “We only have one National Anthem. And so, if she was asked to sing the National Anthem, she should have sung that. ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ is a beautiful song, but we only have one National Anthem.”

Hot Air is right, it was an easy score.  But I admit, I would have expected a much more nuanced response from him.   He stuck to a simple truth.

And McCain posted this powerful 4th of July message:

Putting The Country First

Two of our greatest statesmen, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, took their last breaths on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after they presented America with our Declaration of Independence. They had been fellow revolutionaries, the closest of comrades, who went on to become bitter political rivals. Then, as the new era of the 1800s dawned, they reconciled, reminded of their old friendship and the momentous history they had made together. “Who shall write the history of the American revolution?” Adams asked Jefferson in one of the 158 letters they exchanged after they’d rediscovered their bonds. “Nobody,” responded Jefferson, suggesting that while writers could understand the facts, they might never grasp the sacrifices.

His recent comments about how middle class America is a bunch of bitter gun crazed religious bigots is revealing, even as it is not a shock.

Unshockingly we discover an upper class politician is out of touch with the people he claims to represent.  Unsurprisingly we discover that the liberal elitism we have all remarked on in the past is just as ingrained in Obama as any other liberal. 

For all his claims to be just a middle class guy who did well, his success, like so many others who claim to have that connection, has left him out of touch.  His claim to being a 2nd Amendment scholar has left his no idea why Americans love guns. 

Most revealing is that his roots in his church have left him clueless about how many people rely on their faith as an integral foundation in their lives.

Maybe that is the most revealing aspect, and one of the sources of the greater points of hypocrisy.

Obama’s church and his mentoring by Rev J Wright have left Obama with a very cynical view of religion.

Obama’s church and Wright himself are apparently more concerned with the Afrocentric message of despair than a message of hope in which most American’s see their faith.  Faith in God and in their church to many middle class people gives them a solid foundation of hope and love they can cling to when life does send the twists and turns.

Obama’s by contrast preaches despair and anger and ignores the positives.  Obama’s religion, for all his comments about bitterness, is rooted in encouraging bitterness.

I find it interesting that his own church uses bitterness as a core value, and he himself has defended that bitterness as understandable, and now in another attempt at relativism he extends that bitterness, but with negative implications.

Is this just more liberal elitism, or is this a new twist?

I doubt it, but I do expect this to be raised by many in the coming months:

McCain’s birthplace prompts queries about whether that rules him out

The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.

McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on American soil can be truly natural born. To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.

“There are powerful arguments that Senator McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent,” said Sarah Duggin, an associate professor of law at Catholic University who has studied the issue extensively. “It is not a slam-dunk situation.”

McCain was born on a military installation in the Canal Zone, where his mother and father, a navy officer, were stationed. His campaign advisers say they are comfortable that McCain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.

…

The phrase “natural born” was in early drafts of the Constitution. Scholars say notes of the Constitutional Convention give away little of the intent of the framers. Its origin may be traced to a letter from John Jay to George Washington, with Jay suggesting that to prevent foreigners from becoming commander in chief, the Constitution needed to “declare expressly” that only a natural-born citizen could be president.

No, I am not endorsing John.  I made one interim endorsement, Thompson.  Now I am waiting to see who says what in the lead up to the Washington Caucus.  Heck it is really moot as I am not a registered Republican, so I never caucus anyway.

Maybe this year I come off the fence.  Maybe I just cast my chips in the general.

But meanwhile, I have to evaluate the 6 viable candidates.  Hillary, Obama and Edwards on one hand and Huckabee, Romney and McCain on the other.

On some issues none wow me at all.  Immigration?  Not a one impresses me.  Global warming?  None stand against the lying alarmists.

There is only one are where anyone stands apart really, and that is on the war in Iraq.

And strangely, McCain is the only one who I think has the balls to do what must be done.  And I am not the only one.

Sister Toldjah ran a story about McCain and what people thought:

Reckless abandonment

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post asking readers of this blog what they would do if Senator John McCain ended up being the nominee for the party in the presidential race. The responses in the comments section were both passionate and divided. John McCain brings that out in conservatives, because so many conservatives despise McCain, while a not-so-insignificant amount of conservatives like the Arizona Senator.

I think enough people admitted that voting away from him in principle was a possibility that she ran this response:

Here is what I wrote in response to those who indicated they would sit out this election in protest, in an effort to teach the Republican party a lesson:

I, for one, am not going to chance Iraq turning into another Vietnam in order to attempt to teach this country any sort of lesson. If this were in peacetime, it’d be different, but it’s not.

I am sick of people kissing John McCain’s ass.  Period.

I mean that seriously.  People pussy foot around him because of his veterans/pow status, and all that it entails, and I am starting to find it disgusting.

Let me be clear, I am all for respecting his service and his sacrifices.  No one offers more respect to veterans then I do, and his Naval Career was distinguished and his capture and confinement horrifying.

It also ended 34 years ago, and in that intervening time, I am more concerned about how he conducted himself since retiring from the Navy in 1981.  I’m more concerned about his actions as a Senator since 1987.  And he has some Skeletons, most notably being part of the Keating 5.

He also was part of McCain Feingold, which was a waste of time in my opinion as it did nothing substantive to make ethics in campaigns any better.

John Kerry tried this.  John Kerry played on his service his whole presidential campaign.  Now I grant you, the two men have grossly different war records, but the reality is that they are both using their service, and as I was not willing to grant Kerry a pass on his subsequent actions due to his military service, I will not grant that to McCain.

His latest campaign commercial is tear jerker appeal to his strength of character because of his determination to survive the Hanoi Hilton.

I say it is Poo.  Yes. I am admiring of his strength and perseverance, but I care more that immigration strategy is something I cannot support, then I do hearing about his ordeal, and frankly, to watch him invoke pointless emotions over what he endured in Vietnam and not address my criticism as they apply to the present day makes me believe he is afraid of the debate.

I didn’t buy it with Murtha, Cleland or Kerry, and I won’t buy it with him.