Be Careful, be careful, be caaaaareful!

Those are the words you hear sung in “The Incredible Mr. Limpet” as Mr. Limpet is looking longingly off the dock at Coney Island wishing to become a fish.   If you haven’t seen the movie, do so.   It’s a Don Knotts classic and he does become a fish.

The same words keep singing in my mind as I hear the gleeful banter from Republicans and Team McCain as they court and prod the PUMAs.

Perhaps the most recognizable PUMA, at least in the upper Midwest, is Debra Bartoshevich.   Debra is from Wisconsin, and is a life long Democrat. She was elected to be a delegate to the Democrat Convention. She expected to be there to support Hillary. Once she found that Barack Obama would be the presumptuous nominee and she would not be able to support Hillary, Debra changed her allegiance and became a McCain supporter. Debra is the lady who made this ad for Team McCain:

Here is Debra explaining why she decided to support McCain.   It’s a long video but you need to watch it to understand my concern:

Debra explains her switch by saying that she believed Hillary to be the best leader and agreed with her positions. However, when the choice became Barack, she didn’t think he had answers for the problems. I remember watching numerous Democrat debates tossing live blogging quips back and forth with Mr. Eggs, trying to figure out what the policy differences were between Hillary and Barack. The only one we could see was that one wanted an absolute mandate for all people to be in their health program and the other was going to “Make you an offer you couldn’t refuse!” Somehow, Debra has gone down the policy checklist that she had for Hillary and is not able to see that Barack had almost exactly the same. Somehow, she now sees John McCain’s checklist as matching hers. Debra strikes me as a nice lady but there seems to be some logical dishonesty in her thinking. Which brings me to my other observation and my real concern.

As I watched the nearly 9 minute clip of Debra’s interview, it was clear that she was very passionate about politics. I don’t mean this deragatorially but she was emotional about her experience with the Wisconsin Democrat party and her subsequent choice to support McCain; and that’s the problem with the PUMAs.

If the PUMAs are intellectually honest they will say that Obama’s policies are the same as Hillary’s. But they’re not intellectually honest. You heard Debra say that she thought McCain’s military record was impressive. Did I miss Hillary’s impressive military record?

The fact is, the PUMAs are making their decision emotionally. That emotion is going to peak this week as Barack Obama moves from the presumptuous nominee to the presumptuous Presidential candidate. From Friday morning until election day, unless, and it could happen, Barack or his team dis Hillary along the way, the emotion of the PUMAs will ebb. How much, I don’t know.

Let me say that I view beating Barack Obama as an imperative. The damage done to this country if he served for only four years could haunt us for generations. To that end, I welcome and embrace every PUMA or anyone else that will vote for McCain. My concern is that I see some Republicans getting giddy over the thought of corralling the PUMAs.

If Team McCain builds an election strategy that depends on the PUMAs, including moving to the center on issues or choosing a pro-choice candidate, he runs the risk of losing an election that I believe is now his to lose.

The PUMAs are at their peak now. It’s possible that they stay mad right through the election. My bet though is that on election day, the PUMAs will be as reliable in voting for McCain as the under  25 crowd will be voting for Barack.

In her Monday night address, Michelle Obama told the audience that she loves America.   In the twelve hours since, the MSM has been carrying the issue as if it was some kind of great revelation.   They point to this comment as if it should silence concerns about her patriotism.

From a recap by Brent Baker:

NBC’s Chuck Todd decided "this is definitely a response in some ways to that whole kerfuffle that she created for herself, six or eight months ago, about being proud to be an American."

CBS’ George Stephanopoulos gets the “suck up of the night” award with his take on Michelle:

"Tonight, there was no doubt. The money line in this speech was that line when she said, ‘that is why I love this country,’ and she lingered."

My question is: Why is any of this remarkable? Wouldn’t we expect the possible First Lady to “Love America?” After all, didn’t Michelle mark for us the exact time she began loving America when in a speech in February she said:

For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country, because it feels like hope is making a comeback.

Wouldn’t it be expected that she still loves America?   Why would the media be making a big deal of her love for America?

The reason Michelle Obama’s line of “I love this country” is newsworthy  is not because it settles any concerns about her patriotism.   The reason it is  newsworthy is that she is the only Obama we’ve seen that has managed to maintain consistency on  a core  issue in the past six months.

Who Knew?

From Reuters:

Monkeys experience joy of giving, too, study finds

Tests in capuchin monkeys showed the animals consistently chose to share food with another monkey if given the option, suggesting they are capable of empathy, the team at the Yerkes Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta found.

“They seem to care for the welfare of those they know,” Frans de Waal, director of the Living Links Center at Yerkes, said in a statement.

Capuchin monkeys are capable of sharing and are deemed to get joy from the experience.

Apparently capuchin monkeys have higher evolved concerns for their family than the presumptuous presidential candidate has for his half brother.

After campaigning for over eighteen months as the candidate of “Hope and Change,” Barack Obama succumbed to the sucking, black hole of Washington politics and officially became the candidate of “Same ol’, same ol'” on Saturday.   Rather than picking a VP nominee who would re-energize his claim for change in Washington, Obama chose a man who in all liklihood, will shortly have only six other Congressional members  with longer tenure and be second only to Daniel Inouye in terms of Senatorial tenure.

How the heck did  Obama end up here?   How and when did “Hope and Change” get tossed under the Obamination bus?

There were inklings  that Obama’s slogan of “Hope and Change” was never a vision but just, well, a campaign slogan.   Inklings but not absolute confirmations.   Inklings like:

• His South Chicago political heritage where he had significant involvement with ACORN, was vetted by the likes of William Ayers and defeated political opponents who mysteriously had sealed divorce documents opened by courts with coincidental timing that doesn’t pass the smell test of Barry’s repeated “I didn’t know!”
• His 20+ year association with Jeremiah Wright.   An association which Obama says was created from a mutual love of Christ.   However, the more we know of Wright and his teachings, an association that seems to have been more about attaining a gravitas designed to support his political aspirations.
• Even though it was people like  Oprah  and  Nancy Pelosi who have anointed Obama with deity like status, Barack himself seemed overly comfortable in this suit provided to him.   In particular was his speech in St. Paul where in referring to the day of his election he said:

…This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. This was the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation, and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth.

While we had inklings, a large group, probably a majority of Americans, were still entranced by the message of “Hope and Change.” They really wanted to believe that Barack was something different than the remainder of Washington, whose public approval ratings, regardless of position, had dropped to levels rarely ever seen. This desire for something different is what Obama harnessed and rode for seventeen months. He rode it up until three recent events.

The first event started a little over a month ago. It was Obama’s “World Tour”. The tour was taken to give Barack a chance to say he’d been to Iraq and that things were still all screwed up.   He also needed to spend time with heads of states in countries he previously couldn’t find on a map. In short, the “World Tour” was set up to directly address perceived shortcomings in Obama’s military/Iraq knowledge and foreign affairs.

Yeah, that was the plan. It’s got to suck when well laid plans don’t turn out like you want them to. Even Time Magazine recognized that, rather than reinforcing his ability to handle foreign and military affairs,  Barack’s “World Tour” left many Americans with the impression that he was ignoring domestic issues.   The “World Tour”  left people with the impression that in fact, “The One” had become presumptuous. The net result of the “World Tour” is that Barack Obama lost several points in the national polls.   A secondary but I believe more impacting  cause of the loss of “Hope,”  is that the resulting drop by Obama in national polls started questioning, particularly in the MSM, about why Barack wasn’t smoking McCain in the polls.

The second event leading to the loss of “Hope,” was the Russian invasion of Georgia.   The Russian invasion was a test of Obama’s ability to answer the 3 A.M. call.   While McCain immediately recognized and called the parties what they were, i.e. Russia = aggressor, Georgia = ally, Obama tried several times to nuance his position.   To people who were watching, it appeared that Obama needed a program to be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys.

The resulting failing grade of Obama’s 3 A.M. test reinforced concerns that he lacked foreign affairs experience.   I believe it was this experience that forced Barack Obama to abandon his personal “Hope and Change” and caused him to choose Joe Biden for his VP.

The final event in the series was the Saddleback Civil Forum.   While getting specific questions, Obama’s responses were attempts at nuance and avoided specificity.   The most talked about example was when asked whether he believed that life began at conception, he responded by saying it was “above his paygrade” to make that determination.  

Saddleback was the first time that Americans got a chance to see Obama and McCain in a (nearly) head to head debate.   No one, not even Obama apologists could say that Obama had the better evening.   The feedback from Saddleback was that when compared head to head, people believed McCain had answers.   They did not believe that Mr. “Dance and Nuance” actually had answers that let them continue to “Hope for Change.”  

I believe Team Obama came to a painful realization following Saddleback.   Team Obama recognized that nuance was not going to let them win the  three actual head to head debates coming against McCain and in turn the election.   Team Obama realized after Saddleback that to win the election, the path forward would require one of two choices; either get specific with answers or attack McCain fiercely to move the discussion off of Obama’s policy   and put McCain on the defensive.   They would need someone on the ticket who could  hit McCain and let Obama “stay above the fray.”

Enter Joe Biden.

As I said earlier, I believe Biden became the front runner in Obama’s mind following the response he received from Russian/Georgia incident.   However, I also believe that each of the three incidents lead to confirm in Obama’s mind the need to abandon “Hope” and return to South Side Chicago politics.   “Hope and Change” was a great way to get win an affirmative action  cause disguised as a popularity contest (Democrat primaries), but not all American voters were only using their emotions.   As Barack is finding out some of America’s voters, even some registered Democrats, use their brains in voting for a President and those folks want answers.

So Barack  got Joe who:

• Is amongst the longest serving of any Congress member
• Has staff and family members who are or are tied to Washington lobbyists
• Voted against the first Gulf War and for the Iraq invasion
• Voted to give babies born after botched abortions, protection
• Has no experience acheiving success outside of politics.

and with that choice became the candidate of “Same ol’, Same ol’.”

You see in the end, the only “Hope and Change”  that Obama was or is, about is the “Hope” that he becomes President and the “Change” he wants to impose on you.   In the end, Obama has the same self focused, it’s all about me perspective that is more the rule than the exception in elected leadership.

Hey, you Obamamanicas, don’t worry, Barack will still talk about “Hope and Change.”   He’ll need to pass out additional hits to get you through the dimming of his election hopes.

That’s the sound that has echoed back from the choice of Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s VP pick.

According to a new poll done by CNN, the first poll done completely since Biden’s announcement, Obama and McCain are now in a dead heat.   The poll shows an erasure of a seven point lead from just one month ago.

To be fair, the THUD isn’t really due to Biden. If anything, other polls  have shown Biden to be a net zero on Obama.

No, the THUD is wholly owned by “The One!”

The THUD is owned by the person who surely thought he needed no one but himself to attain the Presidency.

The THUD is owned by the candidate who’s poll numbers are dropping faster than NBC’s ratings following the Olympics

We Shoe’s have become Olympic junkies!   Mrs. Shoe and I like to see the skill required for each event, even the more arcane like trampoline or ping pong.   Thing 1 and Thing 2 have been taking in every minute they are allowed to watch.   This is really the first Olympics they’ve paid attention to.   They  are mesmerized by the sports that they’ve never seen before.

Monday night’s broadcast had an event that we, and many of you, will remember for a long time to come.   Lolo Jones ran in one of the 100 meter hurdle heats.   She was a heavy favorite, expected to take gold in the Event.   While slow out of the block, Jones quickly caught and passed the other competitors.   She was about to blow the field away when at the second to last hurdle, her foot hit the hurdle, she lost stride and finished seventh, out of the finals.

After the event, NBC stuck a camera in  Lolo Jones’  face and asked “How do you feel?”  

Jones was obviously numb from the event.    With her mind reeling, Jones managed a response that applies not only to an Olympic hurdler but to many, many situations in life:

“It’s the hurdles. If you can’t get over all 10, you can’t be the champion.”

Wednesday, Zogby released a poll showing John McCain with a 5 point lead amongst likely voters. The poll shows Barack Obama losing significant ground in all of his core groups; Democrats, under the age of 35, women and voters with incomes under $50K.

After taking body blows for the past two weeks over his response to the Russian invasion of Georgia and his performance at the Saddleback Civil Forum, Barack Obama seeked  maintain the Marquess of Queensberry rules and reassure his acolytes while warning McCain and said that McCain:

doesn’t know what he’s up against!

A month ago Barack Obama was ahead by 7 points and in Germany finishing his “World Tour.” He was the toast of Europe. Today, Barack Obama may need to look over his shoulder just to ensure he gets out of the Democrat convention with the nomination.

Rather than touring Europe as if he was already the President of the United States, Barack Obama could have benefited from Lolo Jones’ wisdom. From here on out Barack should remember:

“It’s the hurdles. If you can’t get over all 10, you can’t be the champion.”

You’re on your way to losing in Minnesota.

A recent SurveyUSA poll shows Barack Obama with a 2% edge over John McCain amongst likely voters in Minnesota.   And that’s the good news for Obama, in the most recent poll.

The bad news, at least for Barack, is that the poll shows that nearly all Republicans and Democrats have made up their minds.  

The stat that should leave Obama concerned is that in early June, Independents broke for Obama 50% to 36%.   In the latest poll McCain has the lead amongst Independents 44% to 42%.   Obama is not just losing the vote of Independents, the Independent vote is running away from him.

The results and direction of movement isn’t particularly surprising to anyone outside of the MSM who wants to pay attention. I wrote waaaaaaay back here that Democrats in Minnesota had overreached and were causing a backlash within the state. What I didn’t guess at that time was that DC Democrats were also going to overreach and give the Republican candidate a “Motherhood and Apple Pie” issue like gas prices.

John McCain is slated to announce his VP pic on August 29th. Intrade  and other rumblings are calling for McCain to pick either Romney or Tim Pawlenty as his running mate. Pawlenty has obvious advantages for carrying McCain over the top in Minnesota. Less known is that Minnesota was one of the few states that Romney won in the primaries and we are a caucus state. None of Barack Obama’s rumored choices are likely to have any impact on his support in Minnesota.

With Independents breaking for McCain, a VP choice that will likely get him some added support and the Democrat party refusing to address any additional oil drilling, look for McCain to make Minnesota a swing state for the 2008 election.

During the Saddleback Civil Forum on Saturday night, each candidate was asked

WHO ARE THE THREE WISEST PEOPLE YOU KNOW IN YOUR LIFE AND WHO ARE YOU GOING TO RELY ON HEAVILY IN YOUR ADMINISTRATION?

In characteristic fashion, John McCain gave a specific and to the point answer: General Petraeus, Civil rights leader John Lewis and Meg Whitman the CEO of EBay.

The presumptuous nominee of the Democrats first attempted the “All American” response by saying Angry Michelle and the Grandmother who resides under the Obamessiah’s bus. With the audience sitting on their hands, he tried another well used tactic: attempt an answer without specifics:

THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE SAM DUNN A DEMOCRAT OR DICK LUKER A REPUBLICAN WHO I LISTENED TO ON POLICY ON DOMESTIC POLICY. I GOT FRIENDS RANGING FROM TED KENNEDY TO TOM COLBERT WHO DON’T NECESSARILY AGREE ON A LOT OF THINGS BUT WHO BOTH, I THINK, HAVE A SINCERE DESIRE TO SEE THIS COUNTRY IMPROVE. WHAT I FOUND IS VERY HELPFUL TO ME IS TO HAVE A TABLE WHERE A LOT OF DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW ARE REPRESENTED AND WHERE I CAN SIT AND POKE AND PROD AND ASK THEM QUESTIONS.

One of the last questions asked was:

DOES EVIL EXIST AND IF IT DOES DO WE IGNORE IT, DO WE NEGOTIATE WITH IT, DO WE CONTAIN IT OR DO WE DEFEAT IT?

As he’s wont to do, the presumptuous nominee couldn’t leave with a straight answer. Again he laid out his own country as having no greater moral perspective than the rest of the world:

EVIL DOES EXIST. I MEAN, WE SEE EVIL ALL THE TIME. WE SEE EVIL IN DARFUR. WE SEE EVIL SADLY ON THE STREETS OF OUR CITIES. WE SEE EVIL IN PARENTS WHO HAVE VICIOUSLY ABUSED THEIR CHILDREN AND I THINK IT HAS TO BE CONFRONTED. IT HAS TO BE CONFRONTED SQUARELY AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I STRONGLY BELIEVE IS THAT, YOU KNOW, WE ARE NOT GOING TO, AS INDIVIDUALS, BE ABLE TO ERASE EVIL FROM THE WORLD. THAT IS GOD’S TASK. BUT WE CAN BE SOLDERS IN THAT PROCESS AND WE CAN CONFRONT IT WHEN WE SEE IT. NOW, THE ONE THINK THAT I THINK IS VERY IMPORTANT IS FOR US TO HAVE SOME HUMILITY IN HOW WE APPROACH THE ISSUE OF CON FRONTING EVIL, BUT YOU KNOW A LOT OF EVIL HAS BEEN PERPETRATED BASED ON THE CLAIM THAT WE WERE TRYING TO CONFRONT EVIL.

I think I found someone who can help coach Barack on both of his answers next time they come up. I suggest Barack do some “poking and prodding” with Kobe Bryant:

How can this answer be so easy for Kobe and so difficult for the Presumptuous Presidential nominee?

With my apologies to St. Luke….

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, "Master, Master, we’re in a pickle!"When Barack woke up, he rebuked the Bear and its raging armies. Suddenly the conflict stopped and all was calm.

Obama 8:24

Honestly, what kind of a sycophant must you be to believe that Obama’s contorted response had anything to do with the events in Georgia? Apparently one who has less experience in his current role than the one who’s butt he’s trying to chap.

It appears that McCain’s recent ads portraying Obama as “Big hat, no cattle,” have struck a nerve.   Obama responds with this ad:

The response reminds me of the playground taunt used in a name calling contest…”I am rubber, you are glue. Whatever you say bounces of me and sticks to you!” I don’t remember that reply being very effective on the playground. I don’t suspect it will be any more effective in the campaign ad.

A couple of thoughts:

Obama still doesn’t know his left from his right, both politically and visually. Note in the video where it refers to McCain going right and left, the video actually shows him going left when it says right and vice-versa . Don’t Obama’s folks  know that you refer to directions from the perspective of the person you are assigning them to and not the audience?

OK, that was fun and trivial wasn’t it?

Obama refers to McCain getting all kinds of press and being a celebrity in Washington.

Question: Who made  McCain  a celebrity?
Answer: MSM
Question: Why did they make him a celebrity?
Answer: Because it was a poke in the eye to Republicans to make McCain a celebrity every time he showed he was a Maverick!

Kind of ironic that McCain’s celebrity came from actions that aligned him more closely with Obama…don’t ‘cha think?

I got back late last night (had to move my brother’s new bride to Omaha), but that’s not your problem, just means I didn’t get a chance to find anything interesting to write.   That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Jim Lynch over at bRight & Early has done a fantastic job channeling Dr. Suess as he explains last week’s response from Obama where he told a seven year old that he wanted to run for President because America sucks!.  

I’ll tease you with the first couple of lines.   Go to Jim’s site to see the rest of this Halll of Fame quality piece!

Some kids here in U-ville,
(The U.S. of A)
had invited the Obamessiah to play.

One wanted to know why he wanted the job
of leading a nation of ignorant slobs.