A frank discussion of not just negative campaign ads, but also the media bias.

The punch line:  “It’s like running against God”

Let’s admit, McCain lost the debate, and will likely lose the election because of style over substance again.  He clearly had the hardest hitting answers tonight.  But pretty matters.  Obama is shiny and new, McCain is old and ragged.

We have totally sunk into a superficial nightmare and honestly it is depressing as hell.  Our Hollywood fuled culture of personality is more important that any substantive issues, and because of that we stand on the brink of embracing out and out blatant socialism.  Hard work?  Who care.  Ability and effort?  Pft.

Go ahead, let the government pay you to be less successful.  Take the money, and don’t worry.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.  And thus dies democracy, with a loud acclaim and the tinkling sound of a cash register.

Getting back on point, there was a bright point tonight.  Here is McCain finally smacking Obama for his “just like Bush” rhetoric.

A day late and a dollar short, but still quite well done.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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:

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.