California Conservative

Setting the Haditha Record Straight

Gary Gross — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:19:06 +0000

I’ve been following John Murtha’s attempted railroading of the Haditha Marines since May, 2006. After learning the details of what happened in Haditha, I then focused on what’s been happening in the military injustice system. It’s been difficult to watch the purely political machinations within the persecutions. This morning, the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) issued a statement that their appeal to the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals court will be this Friday. Here’s part of the text of their statement:

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center, commented, “For the last two and a half years, Lt. Colonel Chessani, has been investigated and prosecuted for his involvement in the so-called “Haditha massacre”, a massacre the Government now knows never happened. This loyal officer who served 20 years defending our nation, including three tours of duty in Iraq, has been made a political scapegoat to appease anti-war Congressman John Murtha and the liberal press.”
Thompson continued, “The outcome of this case could have a negative impact on our national security. If the Government succeeds with this prosecution, every combat commander will know that difficult battlefield decisions can end up with a politically motivated criminal prosecution based on insurgent-driven propaganda.”

It’s time that we turned up the heat on the powers that be and force an end to this charade. That means pressuring the politicians behind this persecution.

Lt. Col. Chessani is essentially charged with covering up a military crime. As Mr. Thompson notes, the military now knows that a military crime wasn’t committed. That isn’t opinion. It’s a finding of fact evidenced by the dropping of charges against 5 of the 8 Marines. That’s evidenced by the acquittal of another of the accused Marines. The only people who haven’t been officially been cleared are Lt. Col. Chessani and SSgt. Wuterich. Again, it’s time for this charade to end.

Here’s another important portion of TMLC’s statement:

Background of LtCol Chessani’s Case
On November 19, 2005, at approximately 7:15 a.m., a Marine convoy was rolling through Haditha, Iraq, a terrorist stronghold. Suddenly, a roadside bomb went off destroying a Marine Humvee, killing one Marine, and seriously injuring two others.
The Marines immediately received fire from the ambushing insurgents, who were shooting from nearby civilian-occupied homes. A four-man fire team responded as trained; they cleared several houses occupied by the armed insurgents. In the ensuing room-by-room, house-by-house gun battle, 8 enemy insurgents were killed.

Tragically 15 civilians also died, in urban combat, where insurgents purposefully use civilians as human shields, civilian casualties are tragic, but not uncommon. In fact, sometimes the insurgents themselves kill civilians to achieve a propaganda victory by blaming the Americans.

I talked about these events in this post:

That’s one of the bullet points in Phil Brennan’s June 7, 2007 article. Here’s the full set of bullet points:

Intelligence gathered by Marine S2 officers in advance of the events of Nov. 19th, 2005, revealed that it was known that an insurgent ambush was planned for the day.

Although exact details of the planned ambush were not known, some important details were revealed, most importantly, that some 20 insurgents would take part, and a white car would play an important role in the ambush.

The intelligence was made available to the officers and men of Kilo Company, including Sgt. Frank Wuterich who has been charged with, among other things, murdering the occupants of a white car that came on the scene following the IED explosion that killed one Marine and seriously wounded another. The evidence will show that Wuterich acted appropriately when he shot the passengers of the vehicle.

Although the media continues to report that 24 innocent civilians were killed that day, the S2’s testimony shows that eight of the dead, including four of the five occupants in the white car killed by Wuterich, were known insurgents and the dead civilians therefore numbered 16, not 24.

The insurgents whose communications were intercepted and which revealed the planned ambush were the same two men who were the sources of the fallacious and dishonest Time magazine story, which was the source of the accusations against the Marines.

As previously reported by NewsMax, the battalion S2 officer made a full and complete report based on his monitoring of the day’s events and the intelligence he and others had amassed then and previous days. As we wrote at the time, the PowerPoint after-action report he sent up the command ladder proved to all the higher officers that the incident warranted no further investigation. None!

Jeffrey Dinsmore’s testimony at the Article 32 hearing shows two things: (a) that a massacre didn’t happen and (b) that the officers reported everything that happened. Since it’s now a legal finding of fact that the massacre didn’t happen and that a detailed PowerPoint presentation was put together, then sent up the chain of command, it isn’t a stretch to think that this continued charade is purely political theater.

If the military wants to convince us that the word justice means anything to them, they must immediately end this charade. At this point, I’m not convinced that justice is an important consideration for the military. If it was, Colonel Steven A. Folsom wouldn’t have issued a ruling of unlawful command influence in the case of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. If justice was their primary goal, they wouldn’t continue this charade.

Let’s recognize that Rep. Murtha first lied about this on May 17, 2006. he then lied about where he got his information from, first saying that he was getting his information “from the commanders, it comes from people who know what they’re talking about.” It didn’t take long before that story changed:

Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is being sued by one of the accused Marines for libel. He had told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Gen. Michael Hagee had given him the information on which he based his charge that Marines killed innocent civilians.
But a spokesman for the Marine Corps said Hagee briefed Murtha on May 24 about Haditha. Murtha had made comments on the case as early as May 17.

Rep. Murtha’s version of events has changed frequently, which says he isn’t telling the truth.

It’s time that the military acted in the interest of justice towards Lt. Col. Chessani and SSgt. Wuterich. If they’re interested in justice, they should correct their mistake ASAP.

Technorati Tags: Haditha, John Murtha, Jeffrey Chessani, Frank Wuterich, Jeffrey Dinsmore, Time Magazine, Insurgents, Investigations, Article 32 Hearings

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Obama Cabinet Speculation

Gary Gross — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:42:28 +0000

This Salena Zito column should scare the bejeebers out of every security-minded person in America. Here’s what scares me most:

One insider, who refuses to predict on the record, says privately that Obama will quickly announce his appointments to the Cabinet positions of state, defense, treasury and attorney general. He believes Obama’s Cabinet is shaping up to look like this: retiring U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., as defense secretary; Massachusetts Democrat Gov. Deval Patrick as attorney general; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a political independent, at treasury; Susan Rice as national security adviser; Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as secretary of state.

This national security team should scare everyone because they’re all pacifists. Chuck Hagel isn’t as nutty as Ron Paul but he’s every bit the pacifist that Paul is. Susan Rice’s national security credentials are thin. The only thing I’ve notice about her is that her temper flares anytime she’s pinned down with the facts. Deval Patrick’s ethical lapses disqualify him for being the AG because he isn’t a trustworthy person. I’d defy people to read this and argue that he’s trustworthy:

This is supposed to be Patrick’s honeymoon period. But after a quiet first month in office, February was overtaken by stories about the $1,100-a-month Cadillac, the helicopter trips, the fancy drapes, the pricey aide hired to handle his wife’s schedule. March began with his acknowledgement of a call he made on behalf of a controversial mortgage company to a large bank with significant dealings with the state. Yesterday, the Massachusetts Republican Party asked the state Ethics Commission to investigate Patrick’s Feb. 20 call to Citigroup.

William G. Mayer, a political science professor at Northeastern University, said that if Patrick continues to make unwise decisions, not even the strongest grass-roots network in recent memory can shield him from the consequences.

“If you make a call that is purely illegitimate, or you seem to be using the resources of your office to pamper yourself, merely saying ‘I’ve got these people who support me on the issues’ is not going to carry a whole lot of weight,” he said. “A grass-roots network, however extensive it is, represents a very, very narrow slice of the electorate.”

That national security team is nothing but a flock of doves. John Kerry, Chuck Hagel and Barack Obama are doves. They’re also traditional Washington insiders. It isn’t good when Joe Biden is the most hawkish member of the national security team.

The only way to prevent such a disastrous cabinet being assembled is to do everything possible to defeat Sen. Obama.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Hawk, Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, John Kerry, Susan Rice, Michael Bloomberg, National Security, NSA, Deval Patrick, Cabinet, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

ACORN Goes On The Record

Gary Gross — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:08:53 +0000

You aren’t gonna believe this video. Jamie Colby sat in for Greta van Susteren on Friday night’s On the Record. She interviewed Scott Levenson of ACORN. If you watch no other video all weekend, this is the one you’d better not miss. Check this out:

Here’s a partial transcript of the conversation:

JAMIE COLBY: There is more breaking news that affects all of us: your vote. For the past few days, we’ve been reporting about a group called ACORN. Their members hit the streets to register low income voters. The organization is currently under investigation for voter fraud or registration irregularities in at least 13 states.

There also questions that have arisen about Sen. Obama’s possible ties to this group. Well, joining us now on the record in exclusively in his first interview is Scott Levenson. Scott Levenson is the national spokesperson for ACORN & Scott, thank you very much for choosing us to talk to us about this.

First of all, tell me about these investigations into ACORN. Every day, we hear new information who can’t even remember how many times they were encouraged to register by ACORN representatives.

LEVENSON: Let’s talk about what the real story is because it’s actually a great story. ACORN, along with Project Vote, registered 1.3 million folks over the last year. We saw record numbers of people interested in and excited about this election in ways that we never saw before. There were poor people and young people participating in this election in ways they never participated in before. That’s our mission. Our mission is to enfranchise the disenfranchised and empower the disempowered.

CROSSTALK

COLBY: You have registered alot of voters. I’m not sure you can personally answer but if you can, how many of them are legal voters and have the right to vote? Why just the poor and the disenfranchised because perhaps that benefits one party or antoher or one candidate or another because there are alot of wealthy people who are apathetic and who might not vote? Why don’t you do a general get out the vote?

LEVENSON: In fact, we are nonpartisan. We don’t ask people about their income level. We don’t ask people who they’re voting for. We don’t ask people what party they belong to when we register them to vote. And we’ve entered a bit of the silly season in politics. You know, all these stories that have come out over the last week.

COLBY: About raids on your offices.

LEVENSON: But the real story here is because we, by law, are required to hold onto and turn over every single voter registration form that’s filled out.

COLBY: And your position is that the election boards and commissions should be responsible for checking out these out and that your job is just to…

LEVENSON: Let me jump in here because it’s really important for the public to understand what’s gone on here. We spot, proactively, by ourselves, any questionable voter registration forms and proactively notify the appropriate authorities at the time that we collect it. We have been turning over registration forms to the authorities in these states weekly.

CROSSTALK

COLBY: But to do your job properly…

LEVENSON: I’m sorry, just one more point. The timing of this is so curious when we’ve been turning over these forms and there’ve been investigations in state after state…

I knew this was a spin job right at the outset. When Mr. Levenson said that “the real story” was that ACORN had registered 1.3 million voters, I knew that the rest of what he said would be of questionable truthfulness. When Mr. Levenson said “We spot, proactively, by ourselves, any questionable voter registration forms and proactively notify the appropriate authorities at the time that we collect it”, I felt insulted. That’s the biggest pile of BS I’ve heard in ages.

It isn’t possible for ACORN to “spot, proactively, by ourselves” “questionable voter registration forms” and “proactively notify the appropriate authorities” if the bipartisan Lake County, Indiana Elections Board spotted 2,100 fraudulent registrations out of the 5,000 registrations ACORN turned into them.

That storyline doesn’t fit with the Nevada Secretary of State’s investigation into ACORN and their seizing of documents and computers from ACORN’s Las Vegas office. Judges aren’t in the habit of issuing warrants just on a ‘trust me’ assurance. They won’t issue a search warrant unless law enforcemnt gives them ample documentation.

This is the lamest spin I’ve heard in ages:

It is difficult for voter registration operations to fully protect themselves against fraud by some of their employees or volunteers, because of the nature of the work they do, Ms. Hayden said.

“We hire people directly from the communities we serve, and we at ACORN pay them $8 an hour and ask them to collect between 15 and 20 signed voter registration cards in five hours,” she said. The problem arises “when you have some lazy people who might choose to sit at a McDonald’s and fill out the forms themselves instead of hitting the pavement and collecting good registration signatures from people,” Ms. Hayden said.

Organizations have supervisory staff. How difficult is it for those supervisors to spot 2,100 voter registrations whose signatures appear to be identical?

Thanks to Mr. Levenson’s going On The Record and thanks to Jamie Colby’s interview skills, we now have video of ACORN’s spin. We should always be that fortunate.

Technorati Tags: ACORN, Voter Fraud, Scott Levenson, On The Record, Inerview, Investigations, Law Enforcement, Jamie Colby, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Gay Men Support Prop 8!

reenforce — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:40:43 +0000

The following letter was written sent to the Los Angeles GLBT Community Center by a friend. He and his partner are gay. Along with their parents and extended family, they will vote Yes on Proposition 8.

Here’s why.

We are two men in our mid-40s living in Los Angeles County. We have been in a committed relationship since October of 1996. We have no plans to get married and we believe our domestic partnership papers are sufficient to protect our rights. The recent ballot measure about gay marriage has prompted this letter from two-otherwise reasonable people in our community.

Growing up as a boy, I (John) was raised in small rural, San Joaquin Valley town just south of Stockton, CA. I am the oldest of four boys; I was raised on a dairy farm and attended the same schools that my mother and father attended. We had many of the same teachers. My mother and father have been married for 47 years.

My three brothers and I were raised in a “born again” Christian home, just like my nine aunts and uncles, by my grandparents who lived down the dirt road. In 1984, I left home and joined the LAPD. Now retired after 23 years of service, I still live in Los Angeles County. A lot has changed since I left home.

In June, 1991, I came out of the closet publicly, on CNN, after (the Rodney King arrest). To say this public announcement caused my family hardship is an understatement. I did not talk with my father for over 3 years and during one argument we were on the verge of physical violence and nearly went to blows.

Thank God we worked things out.

Today and since 1996, my parents gladly welcome my domestic partner Robert into their home. We have slept together in my parents’ home, they sat next to him at my retirement party in June, and my father has encouraged us to adopt children. I have nothing but respect and love for my mother and father.

My three younger brothers all got married and had kids.

I am the only gay child.

When my brother lost his wife to a massive stroke in 2007, I was the first person they called for help - John the cop – the gay brother from LA.

When another brother lost his wife after a long illness this year, I was the first person called for help during the crises. My deceased sister-in-law and brother are loyal born-again Christians, yet my partner and I have been welcomed into their home. I felt it an utter privilege to speak publicly at my sister-in-law’s funeral and publicly applaud her loving personality.

Before my presentation, my mom made a simple request of me: “Please don’t mention Robert as your domestic partner – it will offend a lot of people in the church.”

I warmly smiled, hugged my mom, and said, “Sure thing Mom, no problem.”

I was glad she made this request because my desire to honor my loving sister-in-law was more important than some shitty “politically correct” gay term.

By now, I am certain militant people in the GLBT community are screaming and yelling at the notion I would give in to such a request. People like this in our community just don’t get the meaning of the word tolerance.

My partner, Robert, was raised in a Catholic home. His large family from Mexico remains strongly tied to their Catholic upbringing. Robert’s mother would attend mass two and three times a day if she could drive to the church.

She never learned how to drive.

While our relationship has never been openly discussed, his family has NEVER-EVER acted in an unkind way towards me. Most of the time they take steps - overt steps to include me into their family’s activities. Yes, they know we sleep together, but our relationship is a non-issue with them.

Now that Prop 8 has come up, various people in our circle of family and friends have been asking lots of questions to us about the ads they see on TV. One topic that has come up multiple times in my conversations is the image of the ultra anti-Catholic Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, whose mockery of Christianity is legend in not only the gay community but mainstream society.

Above, two “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” in their Catholic-mocking garb and make-up are photographed attending a mass offered by San Francisco Archbishiop George Niederauer, in the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church.

As a gay man, I am well aware of their community activism and their fundraising. However, these good deeds are over shadowed by their continuous goading tactics of the religious community. It’s kind of like when a cop gets caught beating the crap out a suspect – nobody ever cares that he was a Medal of Valor winner.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have long made a practice of mocking the Catholic Church in general and religious women (nuns) in particular.

I find this type of action deeply offensive and disrespectful. Can someone from my own damn community explain how I can “justify” this type of behavior to my family, friends, or my partner’s Catholic family? While many in San Francisco and West Hollywood (and certainly the Sisters themselves) finds this amusing, my family, my partner’s family, and others do not.

My family lives only 50 miles from San Francisco. What if these assholes showed up at my parents’ church? What if these dirt bags showed up at Robert’s Mom’s church and sat next to his mother dressed like this? I can tell you what would happen – the gay community would have two very pissed off gay men just looking for a way to strike back!

So, our position on Prop 8 now is as follows: We encourage our family and friends around us to “vote their hearts, values, and religious beliefs.” Whatever they choose we will respect and honor their choice. As for us, we intend to Vote YES on Prop 8 because we dislike the bastards who misjudged us and our values as members of the GLBT community.

Both our families will also Vote YES on 8. People who engage in tactics like these do not reflect or values, beliefs, or speak for us. In fact, these activists do not represent the over 109,000 gay couples, raising approximately 50,000 kids, living out in “mainstream society” in California.

People like us.

Our country was founded on “religious freedom” and it has been written into our national and state constitutions. The pilgrims came to this country searching for religious freedom. Religion is rooted deeply into our national heritage and for anyone to think we are going to change this - well, it’s crazy for the GLBT community in California to believe that we are going to change these institutions without a fight, or by winning a few court battles.

The backlash we face is significant, but the activists never thought about this.

Churches have a RIGHT to worship in peace as they choose. NOBODY has a right to disrupt, intimidate, protest, or disrespect these services, no matter what their agenda is.

While I may not agree with many of the Church’s doctrines and teachings, out of respect and tolerance I remain humble, quiet, and respectful during the proceedings.

I take great offense to anyone in MY community who demands the “right” to get married, yet thinks nothing of trampling the rights of others to worship in peace as they choose and believe.

Proposition 8 has forced us and others like us to make a choice: A choice between “going with the flow” and voting as gay men OR protecting our families values, their right to worship in peace, and their right to their religious institutions (like marriage).

We have news for many in our community: When our community condones, supports, or tacitly approves of such baiting tactics, then you can bet we will cross lines. We will protect our families and all the beliefs they hold dear regardless of what mainstream West Hollywood or San Francisco will be doing.

Prior to this ballot measure, we were really indifferent to the whole matter. However, as voters and as a gay couple it has now gotten personal. We are now being asked to make a choice between our families and our community.

We have news for all those angry-bitter people in our community; we choose to protect our family from the gay activists who threaten our families’ beliefs and religious institutions. This is a no-brainer.

While the Sisters are the most visible example, they are NOT the only examples in our community who engage in religious baiting tactics.

Come November 5th, 2008, it is time our leaders in the GLBT community (like you) come together, rethink these practices, and address this matter. Not only is this counterproductive, it is certainly not a good example of tolerance – the same tolerance we as a community demand. Over the years, I have found these actions offensive and it was for these reasons I avoided events where “the Sisters” appeared.

We do NOT make donations to this community organization.

GLBT community groups who engaged in this type of provocative action should be publically denounced by senior members of our community, GLBT churches, and the more mature members of the GLBT community. The improper actions of a few are not a good representation of the community as a whole. Yet, the actions of a few will probably lead to the ban on gay marriage in the State of California because they have consistently cross the lines of good taste and respect which has angered the well-funded and well-organized religious communities across the USA.

They have certainly alienated more responsible members of their own community, and caused us to cross the lines and vote YES on Prop 8.

Sincerely,

John & Robert
Southern California

ACORN’s Assault on Honest Americans

Gary Gross — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:47:51 +0000

Reform is one of the words that make up the acronym ACORN. That’s insulting to anyone who thinks things through. If I played a word association game on ACORN, the last word I’d think is reform. It’d be great if ACORN underwent a series of reforms but that isn’t likely to happen. CNN is reporting that ACORN is being investigated in Indiana:

More than 2,000 voter registration forms filed in northern Indiana’s Lake County by a liberal activist group this week have turned out to be bogus, election officials said Thursday.

The group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, already faces allegations of filing fraudulent voter registrations in Nevada and faces investigations in other states.

And in Lake County, home to the long-depressed steel town of Gary, the bipartisan Elections Board has stopped processing a stack of about 5,000 applications delivered just before the October 6 registration deadline after the first 2,100 turned out to be phony.

“All the signatures looked exactly the same,” Ruthann Hoagland, a Republican on the board. “Everything on the card filled out looks exactly the same.”

It’s long past time for the FBI and other investigative organizations to gather the information necessary to disband this renegade organization. We can’t afford to have this type of organization casting doubt on the election system.

This isn’t the first year that ACORN activists have been investigated for filling out fraudulent registration forms. I’ve used John Fund’s writings several times to highlight ACORN’s corruption. Here’s what Mr. Fund has written about ACORN:

Local officials refused to accept the registrations because they had been delivered after last year’s Oct. 7 registration deadline. Initially, Acorn officials demanded the registrations be accepted and threatened to sue King County (Seattle) officials if they were tossed out. But just after four Acorn registration workers were indicted in Kansas City, Mo., on similar charges of fraud, the group reversed its position and said the registrations should be rejected. But by then, local election workers had had a reason to carefully scrutinize the forms and uncovered the fraud. Of the 1,805 names submitted by Acorn, only nine have been confirmed as valid, and another 34 are still being investigated. The rest, over 97%, were fake.

ACORN’s workers get paid for each registration they bring in. If an organization cared about eliminating voter registration corruption, they’d eliminate the incentives that tempted these employees into filling out these fraudulent registrations. This isn’t the first election cycle ACORN employees have done this, though. We know through John Fund’s writings that ACORN was doing this in the 2004 election cycle. It wouldn’t surprise me if ACORN has been doing this before that.

It’s likely that ACORN isn’t interested in eliminating the voter registration fraud. If Democrats thought that ACORN’s voter registration drives weren’t registering hundreds of thousands of voters, ACORN’s usefulness would be limited to threatening banks if that didn’t meet ACORN’s quota of loans to major credit risks.

Technorati Tags: ACORN, Voter Fraud, Subprime Lending, Voter Registration, Reform, Corruption, Scandal, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

ACORN: They’re Not Just About Voter Fraud Anymore

Gary Gross — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:12:54 +0000

If this report doesn’t stun thoughtful people everywhere, then it’s safe to say that outrage has died. Here’s what the Las Vegas Journal Review is reporting:

State Department of Corrections officials say the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or ACORN) was using convicted criminals to conduct registration drives.

Corrections officials say they were work release inmates and was brought to their attention at the end of July. At that time corrections officials told organizers to immediately stop using the inmates.

What guarantee is there that these convicted criminals won’t attempt to vote using some of the phoney names that they ‘registered’? I certainly won’t trust them to do the right thing. Here’s the article’s closing paragraph:

State investigators are looking into whether names on ACORN’s voter rolls are fake. The group claimed to have signed up around 80,000 low income Nevada residents.

All summer and fall, we’ve heard that the registration numbers for Democrats have jumped dramatically. With convicted criminals working on voter registration drives, why shouldn’t we think that these registration numbers aren’t up dramatically in part because of ACORN’s activities?

I’d further suggest that state investigators not wonder whether “names on ACORN’s voter rolls are fake.” I’d rather that they wonder how many “names on ACORN’s voter rolls are fake.” It isn’t a matter of if. It’s a matter of how extensive the fraud is.

This Washington Times article speaks volumes about the other corrupting influence ACORN brings to the table:

Mr. Boehner explained yesterday why the influence that ACORN has on politics and policy during these gloomy economic times is not prudent. “Sources of federal funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development or any other agency must be stopped,” he said. “Contracting for services between candidates for federal office and ACORN, as Senator [Barack] Obama has done, must end. Now that the taxpayers own Fannie Mae, any funding from Fannie Mae’s nonprofit foundation to ACORN must stop.”

More to the point, Mr. Boehner said: “ACORN spent decades promoting the housing policies that brought America’s economy to the brink, and similarly over the years has committed fraud on our system of elections, making American voters question the fairness and accuracy of the exercise of their most fundamental right under the Constitution. Now it is time to cut off ACORN before it grows even more destructive.”

Not only is ACORN in the voter fraud business but they lobbied Congress for the Community Reinvestment Act, which eventually pushed banks into giving sub-prime loans to people who couldn’t afford them. They did this by pushing the euphemism of affordable housing.

It’s time for ACORN to be disbanded and for those members of ACORN that filled out fraudulent voter registration applications be sent to prison. Politicians attempting to protect ACORN should be punished at the ballot box.

It’s time that we eliminated this type of corruption because it totally undermines the starting point for democracies.

Technorati Tags: ACORN, Community Reinvestment Act, HUD, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Voter Fraud, Corruption, John Boehner, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Obama: “That’s My Story & I’m Sticking to It”

Gary Gross — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:08:46 +0000

This ABC article highlights how Sen. Obama has circled his wagons around the “Ayers did despicable things when I was eight-years-old” mantra. Here’s what he said during his interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson:

“I’ll repeat again what I’ve said many times. This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the time I met him, 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education at the University of Illinois…And the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that…I’ve ‘palled around with a terrorist’, all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points.”

I’ll simply repeat the questions I posted here:

What specific projects did Sen. Obama work with Ayers on?
What was the budget for each of these projects?
What was the stated goal of these projects?

Sen. Obama could eliminate the Ayers issue if he just answered these simple questions. He doesn’t dare answer these questions because he’d give the McCain-Palin ticket ammunition to further attack his policies and his credibility. That isn’t the only laughable statement that he’s made. Check this statement out:

“Frankly, you know, Senator McCain ended up lurching from place to place on this issue,” he said. “And that, I think, is not the kind of leadership that we’re going to need if we’re going to be able to guide the economy out of this perilous position.”

Sen. Obama stayed as far away from that crisis as possible. He didn’t lurch “from place to place on this issue” because he avoided dealing with it at all costs. Instead, he did what all great leaders do: He made a bunch of speaches in a bunch of places while avoiding participating in serious negotiations. I’m confident that that isn’t a portrait in leadership.

I’d further state that his hands aren’t clean in this mess. His relationship with ACORN can’t be ignored by thoughtful, truth-seeking people. The Obama News Network isn’t interest in seeking the truth. They’ve avoided seeking the truth like the plague.

If they weren’t totally disinterested in seeking the truth, the Agenda Media wouldn’t let Sen. Obama get away with being this secretive about his relationship with a terrorist/indoctrinationalist.

Technorati Tags: Bill Ayers, Indoctrination, Terrorist, Barack Obama, Charlie Gibson, Agenda Media, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

What Type Of America Do YOU Want to Live In?

Gary Gross — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 15:45:07 +0000

The first thing that popped into my head after seeing the latest McCain-Palin video, appropriately titled “Ayers”, goes straight to the point. What type of America do you want to live in? Here’s the video:

Though the video is a relatively length 1:40, it barely scratches the surface in terms of the questions that Sen. Obama should be asked. A standard Obama defense is that he was only 8 when Ayers committed these acts of terrorism. That’s true but it’s an artful dodge. Sen. Obama wasn’t 8 when he started working with Ayers on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Sen. Obama wasn’t 8 when Ayers hosted a kickoff fundraiser for Obama in 1995.

We know that Ayers’ ‘reforms’ weren’t reforms; they were plans for indoctrinating Chicago’s youth. Here’s a list of questions I have for that subject:

What specific projects did Sen. Obama work with Ayers on?
What was the budget for each of these projects?
What was the stated goal of these projects?

That’s just a partial list of questions regarding the Ayers/Obama relationship but it’s a list that the Agenda Media refuse to ask him. That’s before we start poking around in the emerging ACORN/Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/Franklin Raines scandal.

Let’s be clear about something: This isn’t about whether a politicians flip-flopped. This is about Sen. Obama’s attempt to hide his adult connections to radical indoctrinationists.

There isn’t a politician alive who hasn’t backtracked from this or that campaign promise. There’s lots of politicians that’ve said no to working with radicals. Taking that a step further, there are lots of politicians that radicals steer clear of because they know that politician wouldn’t associate themselves with radicals.

I return to the fact that I want everyone asking themselves after viewing this video is “Is this the type of America I want to live in?” If the Obama/Ayers vision isn’t the vision you want to work toward, then it’s you obligation to your neighbors, co-workers, family and friends to (a) vote for the McCain-Palin ticket and (b) encourage your neighbors, co-workers, family and friends to vote McCain-Palin, too.

After all, the only thing that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.

Technorati Tags: Bill Ayers, Terrorist, Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Indoctrination, Obama, ACORN, John McCain, YouTube, Agenda Media, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Cindy McCain Criticizes Sen. Obama for Defeatist Iraq Vote

Gary Gross — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:33:01 +0000

When I read this Politico article, the first thing I thought was that I wish her husband had said this during his debate. Here’s what I’m referring to:

“The day that Sen. Obama cast a vote to not to fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body let me tell you,” Cindy McCain said in introducing the GOP ticket. “I would suggest Sen. Obama change shoes with me for just one day. I suggest he take a day and go watch our men and women deploying.”

John McCain would’ve been justified in saying this. Though FactCheck.org says that this is misleading, which is itself misleading. Here’s the time that Sen. Obama voted against funding the troops:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Motion (Motion to Concur in House Amdt. to Senate Amdt to H.R.2206 )
Vote Number: 181 Vote Date: May 24, 2007, 08:26 PM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Motion Agreed to
Measure Number: H.R. 2206 (U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007 )
Measure Title: Making emergency supplemental appropriations and additional supplemental appropriations for agricultural and other emergency assistance for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.
Vote Counts:
YEAs 80
NAYs 14
Not Voting 6
NAYs —14
Boxer (D-CA), Burr (R-NC), Clinton (D-NY), Coburn (R-OK), Dodd (D-CT), Enzi (R-WY), Feingold (D-WI), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Obama (D-IL), Sanders (I-VT), Whitehouse (D-RI), Wyden (D-OR)

This U.S. News & World Report article puts that vote in perfect historical context:

Led by Rep. John P. Murtha and “supported by several well-funded anti-war groups, the coalition’s goal is to limit or sharply reduce the number of US troops available for the Iraq conflict, rather than to openly cut off funding for the war itself.” The legislative strategy “will be supplemented by a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign designed to pressure vulnerable GOP incumbents into breaking with…Bush.” The one unknown factor on the planners’ mind as they get ready to implement their strategy: “Why many Democrats have remained timid in challenging Bush, even as public support for the president and his Iraq policies have plunged.” Perhaps, as the AP reports, “many rank-and-file” Democrats, “particularly moderate newcomers who rode to Congress on a wave of public discontent about Iraq, are wary of casting any vote that could be construed as ending funding for the mission.”

This article was written for the Feb. 14, 2007 online edition of U.S. News & World Report. Ninety-nine days later, Barack Obama voted to not fund the troops. Not surprisingly, Hillary voted against it, too. This came at a time when the anti-war fringe organizations were exerting alot of pressure on Democratic politicians to end the war.

As extensive as the pressure was on run of the mill Democratic politicians, it was 100 times more intense on presidential candidates. Sen. Obama felt that pressure. He knew that he didn’t stand a chance of getting the nomination against Hillary if he played the same triangulation game that Hillary played.

Put in this context, it’s difficult for me to agree with FactCheck’s rating Sen. McCain’s statement as misleading. It’s certainly factual that Sen. Obama voted against funding “just once.” It isn’t a stretch to think that Sen. Obama didn’t cast that vote because it was great policy. It isn’t a stretch to think that Sen. Obama cast that vote because it was imperative if he wanted to take a serious run at the Democrats’ presidential nomination.

Democratic politicians can’t argue that voting for John Murtha’s slow bleed bill was anything but a vote for American defeat in Iraq. Let’s remember that winning wasn’t Rep. Murtha’s priority. Rep. Murtha’s highest priority was for Democrats to stay on the right side of the anti-war wing of their party.

One last thing must be pointed out, too. Joe Biden said during the vice presidential debate that the vote that John McCain took was essentially the same as the vote Barack Obama took. That’s pure nonsense. John McCain voted for the only plan that could’ve stabilized Iraq. Sen. Obama voted for a bill that would’ve guaranteed instability in Iraq and throughout the Middle East.

That isn’t taking the same vote. Sen. McCain’s vote was the total opposite of Sen. bama’s vote.

Technorati Tags: Iraq War, John McCain, Joe Biden, David Petraeus, Surge, Barack Obama, Hillary, John Murtha, Slow Bleed, Code Pink, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Biden Whines About Despicable McCain-Palin Campaign

Gary Gross — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:20:30 +0000

According to Salena Zito’s post, Team Barry sent out an email ‘from’ Joe Biden that says that Sen. Biden “has heard ‘unspeakable’ things in this campaign season that are ‘deeply offensive smears.’ The email then says that McCain-Palin is running a ‘dishonorable” campaign and he and Barack are fighting back but they need my help.”

Frankly, that comes across as downright whiney. Wimpy fits, too. The email didn’t offer specifics on what the McCain-Palin ticket. That didn’t stop Ms. Zito from offerening specific examples of Sen. Biden’s habitual whopper telling. Here’s one such example:

Joe recently told voters he understood the threat posed by Afghan extremists because his helicopter was “forced down” on “the superhighway of terror.”

That super force? Snow.

Ms. Zito then compared the FMSM’s coverage of Sen. Biden’s whopper with their coverage of Hillary’s Bosnian tall tales:

When Hillary Clinton said this past winter that her plane had enemy fire problems in Bosnia the press had a field day with that whopper, Biden’s claim, well, not so much.

There’s a simple explanation for the differnt coverage Hillary’s whopper attracted and Biden’s. The FMSM is forced to take sides when it’s Democrat vs. Democrat. By that time, the FMSM had picked Obama as their candidate. They were perfectly willing to do whatever they could to ‘guarantee’ their candidate winning.

Now that it’s GOP vs. Dem, the choice is even simpler; they’ll willingly hide anything that might destroy their candidate’s credibility.

Here’s the truth about Biden’s Afghan trip:

The truth? Well last winter Biden and fellow senators Chuck Hagel and John Kerry were in Afghanistan flying in a helicopter when a snow storm hit, the pilot decided they would be safer on the ground, so that is where they went. A couple of hours later they were picked up by a convoy with U.S. troops.

It isn’t surprising to anyone who’s followed politics to find out that Joe Biden has told a whopper. It’s tradition with him. It isn’t that surprising that the Agenda Media is suddenly covering these things up.

Just because something isn’t surprising doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Quite the contrary. It’s time that Sen. Biden, Sen. Obama and the Agenda Media are held accountable. It’s up to the New Media to do this because it’s blatantly obvious that the FMSM isn’t interested in holding anyone accountable.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, John Kerry, chuck Hagel, Hillary, Agenda Media, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Trouble For Team Barry?

Gary Gross — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:10:07 +0000

This information makes me question the validity of the recent polling:

A major supporter of Hillary Clinton and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, on Monday said the Democratic Party has nominated “the worst candidate” while Republicans have nominated the best.

Lynn Forester de Rothschild helped open the Democrats for McCain headquarters on Main Avenue in West Scranton. About 30 supporters turned out to welcome de Rothschild and speak out for the Republican ticket.

“What it came down to was that I decided I love my country more than my party,” de Rothschild said, explaining her support of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin. “I’m really worried. I do not want (Obama) in the White House.”

De Rothschild, 54, said she sees Northeast Pennsylvania – specifically Luzerne and Lackawanna counties – as the key to winning Pennsylvania’s 21 electoral votes. And, she said, whoever wins Pennsylvania will likely become the next president.

“Barack Obama has never had the mandate of Democrats,” she said. “And Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi ignored the 18 million people that voted for Hillary Clinton. They can’t be surprised at the 5 million to 7 million Clinton supporters who are now supporting McCain.”

One organization – PUMA, which stands for Party Unity My Ass – has more than 5 million members across the country, she said. Jamie Brazil, a longtime friend of the Clintons and the Rodham family, is serving as national director of Citizens for McCain. Brazil accompanied de Rothschild on her Scranton visit.

Brazil and his wife, Dee, will be godparents to Simon Rodham, son of Tony and Megan Rodham at his baptism Oct. 12 in Scranton. Tony Rodham is Hillary Clinton’s brother. The Clintons will attend the post-baptism brunch at the Brazil home in Scranton.

Last election appoximately 120 million votes were cast. When you factor in the steadfastness of Hillary’s supporters, it’s fairly certain that these PUMA’s are very likely voters. This must worry Team Barry.Technorati Tags: Hillary, Lynn Rotschild, PUMA, Barack Obama, Likely Voters, Polling, John McCain, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Congress Freed To Blog, Flicker & Tweet

Gary Gross — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:35:46 +0000

I just got an email from Gabriela at the Sunlight Foundation. She’s proud to announce that, thanks to the Sunlight Foundation’s supporters, congresscritters are now free to use blogs, Twitter and YouTube. Here’s the text of the email:

Dear Sunlighters,

Good news! Thanks to your help, the House and Senate recently updated the guidelines that govern how members of Congress can use the Internet to communicate with us about their work.

The new rules now allow members of Congress to interact with us on sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Sunlight advocated for these rules changes through our bipartisan collaborative effort; the Open House Project, http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/, and through our popular Let Our Congress Tweet campaign, the first Twitter-based petition to Congress. Thanks to the hundreds of you who joined our call for change!

To show our gratitude, we’ve created Capitol Tweets at http://sunlightfoundation.com/CAPITOLTWEETS/. This widget, which you can embed on your site, lets you follow the latest tweets from members of Congress who use Twitter.

Get the code to embed the Capitol Tweets widget here:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/capitoltweets/

While you’re at it, be sure to check out PC Magazine’s list of the “5 sites That Will Boost your Political Knowledge”

http://tinyurl.com/pcworld5sites

You might recognize a few Sunlight friends such OpenSecrets.org, OpenCongress.org and FedSpending.org, who do great work to bring more transparency to work of our federal government.

Thanks again for your support,

Gabriela Schneider & the Sunlight team

Anytime that We The People win another battle for disinfectant of transparency is a good day. Our work must continue, though, because politicians, by nature, are resistant to transparency. This victory is sweet but the fight continues.

Congratulations to the vigilant efforts of the Sunlight Foundation.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Twitter, YouTube, Sunlight Foundation, Flickr, Transparency

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Robert Gallo Snubbed by Nobel Committee

reenforce — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:52:06 +0000

Dear Dr. Gallo:

I was thrilled to learn today that Luc Montagnier won the Nobel Prize for his important discovery of HIV (formerly called HTLV-3) several years back from that patient who had lymphadenopathy. It’s hard to imagine how Montagnier isolated it within one patient and not among others. He is either the luckiest scientist on the planet or the most brilliant.

At the same time, I am shocked that you could not share in his one-quarter (one-eighth) of the esteemed honor. After all, you were “co-discovers” of this terrible scourge that has killed millions of people (but no chimpanzees). Then again, Max Essex should also share in the honor for his tireless efforts to cure Leukemia in cats (one-twelfths?).

This is so embarrassingly awkward – and so totally unfair that you have been slighted in this breathtakingly conspicuous manner and denied your rightful place among the pantheon of great scientists who have saved millions of lives from these awful microbes. Clearly, the water they are drinking in Stockholm must be spiked with something because these Swedes have lost their marbles. Then again, one never knows what those Lutherans are thinking.

Perhaps you will receive your long-overdue Nobel Prize for discovering HTLV-1 or HTLV-2, which caused millions of cases of Leukemia among innocent victims all over the atolls of Japan and the Caribbean.

If brilliant meteorologists can share their prize with Al Gore, and Jimmy Carter can share his prize with Yassar Arafat, Dr. Montagnier can certainly share his prize with you.

Your biggest admirer,

Clark Baker

Polling As a GOTV Tool

Gary Gross — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 07:47:46 +0000

Yesterday, I posted about the Strib’s Minnesota Poll. It isn’t surprising that King and Michael talked about the STrib’s poll during the Final Word this afternoon. King mentioned that the new polling company has been around a long time. If King says that they’re a reputable firm, that’s good enough for me. That means I won’t cast aspersions on the polling company.

What I will do, though, is talk about media polls in general because I think that there are different motives for media polls.

If we’re talking about the AP-Ipsos poll, my first assumption is that it’s used to ‘create news’, which is then cited in later stories that follow a desired storyline. That storyline usually is that Democrats are poised to mop the floor with the GOP.

The way that they achieve that storyline is by vastly oversampling Democrats and undersampling Repblicans. Another trademark of the AP-Ipsos poll is that they all but eliminate independents. I recall seeing an AP-Ipsos poll where 47% of the people sampled identified themselves as Democrats, 37% identified themselves as Republicans, with the remaining 16% identifying themselves as independents.

I first noticed the AP-Ipsos polling in 2005, though they’ve been around longer than that. The reason why I noticed them was that they were tanking President Bush’s JA ratings. I didn’t think President Bush was doing a great job by any stretch of the imagination but I didn’t think he’d tanked that bad at that time. That led me to check the sampling.

What I found was that things broke almost perfectly along party identification lines. the net negative JA Rating was almost identical to the party breakdowns.

Later, in 2006, I noticed how frequently dreadful poll numbers got reported. Certainly, people were upset with Republicans for immigration and their loose spending habits. There was no doubt that conservatives were upset with President Bush. Still, I got the impression that the constant drumbeat of dreadful poll after dreadful poll was intended to drive down conservative turnout.

Was it inevitable that GOP turnout would be less in 2006 than in 2002? Definitely. That isn’t the most important question though. This is: Did these polls drive turnout down more than if they hadn’t been reported with that frequency? I can answer with total certainty that the 2006 polls drove down turnout.

The point is this: The various polls show tha the race is over. That’s what they said in August, too.

GOP strategists stuck inside DC’s Beltway say that this might be a worse year for the GOP than 2006. These so-called strategists aren’t getting their information from GOP activists because we’re ready to run through walls for the House GOP caucus and for Sarah Palin.

MSM Effect

In this instance, the MSM I’m referring to isn’t the mainstream media. I’m referring to a new MSM, namely that Message Still Matters.

It’s time we stopped paying attention to the polling. It’s time our candidates started running with a Palin-like confidence. It’s time that we stood for 3 simple principles that Reagan and Goldwater stood for. Those 3 principles are liberty, prosperity and security.

If we tell people our vision for achieving longterm prosperity, we’ll appeal to alot of voters.
If we explain to voters how our policies translate into greater security, whether we’re talking about national security, retirement security or homeland security, we’ll win lots of elections.
If we tell people that our policies must pass the ‘liberty test’, meaning that we won’t pass legislation that limits our freedoms, then we’ll appeal to alot of voters.

These are appealing messages. This summer, I had the opportunity to tell a community leader what I believed. I told this leader that 2006 didn’t have to happen again. I told this leader this:

“It isn’t like the American people suddenly said that they got sick of stable marginal tax rates, that they didn’t suddenly say tha they got sick of seeing their taxes being spent too efficiently, that they didn’t stop saying that they felt too safe against future terrorist attacks.”

Polls matter but message matters more.

Technorati Tags: Polling, GOTV, Election 2006, Election 2008, MSM, Minnesota Poll, AP-Ipsos, SurveyUSA

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

The Gloves Are Officially Off

Gary Gross — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:55:22 +0000

This ad from the NRCC marks the official taking off of the gloves. This signals that they’re bringing the heavy artillery out. Check this out:

It isn’t easy to hold people’s attention for 90 seconds. This video does. Bravo.

Technorati Tags: NRCC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Credit Crisis, Franklin Raines, Scandal, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

McCain Highlights Biden’s Whoppers

Gary Gross — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:10:00 +0000

I predicted this last night that Sen. McCain would clobber Sen. Biden for his whoppers. My prediction was just vindicated. Check this video out:

Alot of the Obama Media Corp. is saying that Joe Biden did what he needed to do last night. They’re probably right. He didn’t dare speak the truth about Sen. Obama’s agenda.

Ace of Spades has the rundown of Biden’s whoppers:

JOE BIDEN’S 14 LIES TONIGHT

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage; they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska; she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN/GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

Facts matter. That’s why I said that the overnights don’t always tell who won the debate, that it’s what happens in the 2-3 days after the debate. In this instance, the objective analysis got it right that Palin won for the most part. This is only going to get better because this McCain ad highlights Joe Biden defending a couple of Obama tall tales.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Tax Increases, IranYouTube, John McCain,Tax Increases, DrillingElection 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog