Obama is Risk Adverse

During the early years of the Civil War Lincoln was greatly frustrated by a series of Union Commanders who were risk adverse. They risked nothing and they gained nothing but a brutal exchange of casualties between the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Finally he turned to a natural leader named Grant whose greatest insight on military tactics was that the enemy was just as frightened of you as you are of him.

When Grant was given command of the Army of the Potomac the war ground to it’s inevitable conclusion. Because Grant was brilliant? Yes, but so were the Generals before him. The difference was that Grant understood the situation and he took the fight to the enemy, making blunders, but never retreating from imaginary peril, not overly timid.

Obama’s present to the Republican Party was his pick of Joe Biden. Joe Biden’s biggest selling point as a V.P. pick was that he was the “Safe” pick. The choice that could do no harm. John McCain saw an opportunity to take a risk on a little known Governor from Alaska. And the rest is historically consistent with leaders who are risk adverse.

From now until November Obama will continue to play it safe and McCain is going to win this war of attrition.

General Impressions of the RNC Day One (Two)

I thought that the theme of the first night of speeches was well done. I enjoyed Fred Thompson's speech where he displayed his missing fire. I even enjoyed watching Lieberman. The McCains and Bushes came across very well. I wait with great anticipation for things to shift to the Palin show tonight.

I was at my brother's house when that odious gal was grilling the McCain aid. The McCain aid shouldn't have been addressing Sarah Palin's experience, but I'd love to see the same gal go after Newt, or for that matter Sarah. I think CNN would have canceled it's interviews with the McCain Campain after that exchange.

This is War!

I am deeply angered by the MSM attacking Sarah Palin over her daughters pregnancy. “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Remember that this may be a contested election but it is not “war,” both sides would do well to remember this. If you are angry, if you are passionate, use it wisely.

This video is of a U.S. Soldier being shot in the chest. He is a U.S. Medic. He survives thanks to his body armor. The shooter was wounded in the ensuing firefight. Guess who treated his wounds?

Ugly things happen in war. Ugly things happen in politics but in U.S. politics, people don’t shout praises to their deity as they pump hot lead into your body.

Ask yourself this question, do you view Hurricane Gustav as a tragedy or an opportunity to paint your political opponents in a poor light. Do you feel the same about War? If you don’t like your answers you need to re-evaluate what you are doing with your life.

Political discussion is the air that democracy breathes. Long live debate, long live passionately held views.

During Hurricane Katrina the Interstates were clogged, people were running out of fuel and becoming stranded in the storms path. A woman driving along saw another SUV with a family very similar to her own. She began to ease over onto the shoulder to see if she could render some aid. When she got close to the stranded vehicle she noticed a sticker from the 2004 election on the SUV. She was so enraged by it that she left the family stranded there. Sound farfetched? I only know of it because she was proud enough of her actions to post it on a popular political site. The controversy caused that site to pull the original post and the thousands of positive responses as well.

If this is a war, which kind of soldier do you want to be? One who shouts in exaltation as he tries to kill his neighbor, or one who disagrees yet still treats them as human.

Could we all agree to tone down the “War Room,” “Shell Shocked,” “In the Trenches,” “Bunker,” mentality and realize this is an election and after November America will survive and you’ll still disagree with your neighbor about politics. In the mean time if you must be a political “Warrior,” why not try to be like the soldier in the video above, who treated the wounds of the man who shot him.

This Is Politics, Not War

I’m a person with passionately held political views. I don’t deny that and I do not intend to change it either. However, I think that some people are kind of confused about the distinction between Politics and War.

This video is of a U.S. Soldier being shot in the chest. He is a U.S. Medic. He survives thanks to his body armor. The shooter was wounded in the ensuing firefight. Guess who treated his wounds?

Ugly things happen in war. Ugly things happen in politics but in U.S. politics, people don’t shout praises to their deity as they pump hot lead into your body.

Ask yourself this question, do you view Hurricane Gustav as a tragedy or an opportunity to paint your political opponents in a poor light. Do you feel the same about War? If you don’t like your answers you need to re-evaluate what you are doing with your life.

Political discussion is the air that democracy breathes. Long live debate, long live passionately held views.

During Hurricane Katrina the Interstates were clogged, people were running out of fuel and becoming stranded in the storm's path. A woman driving along saw another SUV with a family very similar to her own. She began to ease over onto the shoulder to see if she could render some aid. When she got close to the stranded vehicle she noticed a sticker from the 2004 election on the SUV. She was so enraged by it that she left the family stranded there. Sound farfetched? I only know of it because she was proud enough of her actions to post it on a popular political site. The controversy caused that site to pull the original post and the hundreds of positive responses as well.

If this is a war, which kind of soldier do you want to be? One who shouts in exaltation as he tries to kill his neighbor, or one who disagrees yet still treats them as human.

Could we all agree to tone down the “War Room,” “Shell Shocked,” “In the Trenches,” “Bunker,” mentality and realize this is an election and after November America will survive and you’ll still disagree with your neighbor about politics. In the mean time if you must be a political “Warrior,” why not try to be like the soldier in the video above, who treated the wounds of the man who shot him.

Bitter Clinger Votes for Palin to be Heartbeat from the Presidency

I wasn’t sure I was going to vote for McCain until Friday Morning. I respect him, but if he had picked a squishy Republican or a Conservative Democrat, I wouldn’t have voted for him. I don’t want a squishy Republican being the presumptive front runner in four or eight years. I sure don’t want a Democrat to go along with Pelosi and Reed.

Sarah Palin is the kind of person a bitter clinger like me would campaign for. I read on a blog that McCain wants Forbes to be in his cabinet. “Fairtax,” may be a dirty word on the left, but people who want change kind of like it. It’s an “F” word we can rally around.

Enough’s been said about her experience to last a lifetime. The fact that the Republican ticket doesn’t include a lawyer is actually a big plus out here in the sticks. Harping on how unqualified real people are to being elected to high office ain’t helping the Democrat party with typical white people like me.

The fact that Palin is a Woman is supposed to put me off because McCain is pandering to the fact that as a man I like women. This is a problem to you on the left? Men like women. Let me check with my wife…
She likes men. Wow. Is she supposed to vote for Obama because he’s handsome? I won’t. He makes me feel fat in a pair of jeans.

Actually, I hope people don’t think that I want McCain to die, May he live long and prosper, (Just thought I’d throw that reference to high culture in there, so you wouldn’t think I’m ignorant) but Palin isn’t such a bad choice to make sure he’s still breathing. I will note that I don’t want Obama to croak either. Seems a lot of people want McCain to die though.

Rebuttal of “McCain’s Baked Alaska”

This is a rebuttal to “McCain’s Baked Alaska,” as it appears on the New York Times website here: New York Times

Paragraph 2: Obama has commanded which states National Guard? He couldn’t even face wounded soldiers at Ramstein AFB in Germany.

Paragraph 3: You acknowledge that there is a resurgent Russian menace, I’d bet that Gov. Palin knows more about it than Barak Obama.

Paragraph 5: Reagan was a great leader. Commander of California’s National Guard before being elected President. I’m 34, the only thing I remember about his presidency was how much disdain my public school teachers had for him. The mention of Ferraro and Clinton were gracious and also a blatant grab at disaffected feminists. Good point on that one.

Paragraph 9: Imagine how men feel about Obama, an equally inexperienced man, who we are supposed to vote for because he has an attractive wife and family? It’s not fair that he is so slim and handsome, he makes be think of all my inadequacies (Do these pants make me look fat? Honestly now). In this modern era I am outraged, OUTRAGED!

“This year, Hillary Clinton took things to a whole new level. She didn’t run for president as a symbol but as the best-prepared candidate in the Democratic pack. Whether you liked her or not, she convinced the nation that women could be qualified to both run the country and be commander in chief. That was an enormous breakthrough, and Palin’s nomination feels, in comparison, like a step back.”

Being married to the Commander of the Arkansas National Guard really makes you qualified. And if the one answering the phone at 3:00 a.m. during the Lewinsky Affair isn’t qualified to be Commander in Chief, I don’t who is. Perhaps it was her allegation of the “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.” Maybe it was the Success of the Great ‘93 “Hillary Care” campaign. Losing the 08 Campaign that was a sure thing to a man whose wife has no National Guard Commanding experience must have really put her over the top. Nothing symbolic about Hillary in a pant suit (Really, about the pants thing, I want your really sincere, most honest opinion.)

“If she’s only on the ticket to try to get disaffected Clinton supporters to cross over, it’s a bad choice. Joe Biden may already be practicing his drop-dead line for the vice-presidential debate: ‘I know Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton is a friend of mine, and governor, you’re no Hillary Clinton.’ “

Thank God she’s not. (Go ahead, tell the truth, I won’t cry.)

(sniff, sniff)

Palin Pick Reveals Sexism Alive and Well

When I heard McCain’s pick the only thing I knew of Palin was that she was suing the feds over the polar bear issue. That in itself spoke highly of her in my mind. People who demagogue environmental issues likely don’t know much about the real world. In the environmental world, Polar bears are cute and cuddly and are on the brink of extinction because Al Gore says that the polar caps are melting and polar bears will just be the first species of a massive global extinction. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE! People who live in the real world know that we are all going to die and that it is a part of living. While we are here among the living we would like to focus on enjoying life, that includes not getting eaten by a Polar Bear. Yes, little Timmy, Polar Bears eat people when they can. Protecting un-endangered Polar Bears has real world consequences. Jobs are lost, millions are spent, people take second place to animals who, as I understand it, are thriving.

The more I learned of Palin, the more I came to admire her. She’s the mother of Five, that’s quite an accomplishment in it’s self, when they were all conceived with her husband it is. She’s got real world experience that Obama can’t dream to match and wouldn’t desire to. Tell me, has Obama ever done anything real in his life. Academic, Community Organizer, Legislator, Senator. Explain to me how any of that is real world experience. Out here in the Real World people have jobs and earn a living. John McCain is a creature of the real world. A son of privilege he didn’t avoid the dirtiest job in the world, that of warrior. Not an incidental, happened to be there warrior, one who was true to his brothers in arms under the most atrocious circumstances. Barry O may be just as true a warrior, but we will never know because Barry O would never deign to join the real world and actually take it upon himself to do anything. He certainly wouldn’t be working the rail of a commercial fishing vessel.

Palin fought corruption, Barry O pals around with corruption, terrorists, bigots, etc. If Palin were the known associate of Rezko, Ayers, Wright or individuals like them, I wouldn’t support her either. Is that guilt by association? No, it is an example of extremely poor judgment. Executives must exercise good judgment, if you have good judgment you can surround yourself with people who have the expertise to help you make informed decisions. There is no person in the world who possesses the experience of being the leader of the free world, except the very short list of former U.S. Presidents. How did they handle the job? By choosing a cabinet that reflected their world view like every other U.S. President in history. Judgment is key, experience reveals judgment. Every body makes mistakes, how do you handle them when you do? Barry O is resistant to even acknowledging he made a mistake, (Can you say Obama-Clinton 08?), he dodges anything that resembles controversy. How many times did he vote “Present?”

So the more I know of Sarah Palin the more I like her, this morning there are people all over the political spectrum fit to be tied that she’s a woman. Yes a woman, go ask your mom, Timmy, she’ll explain what a woman is.

If you haven’t picked up on it, I don’t like Barry O. You haven’t heard me here, or any where else mention that he is a person of color. Notice I didn’t say of a different race? Race is a social construct, gender is a natural construct, again, ask your mom, Timmy. Color is irrelevant, it doesn’t determine a person’s judgment, therefore it shouldn’t be used to judge another person.

Women are different than Men, feminists are fit to be tied about that, but those of us in the real world understand there are differences and we deeply appreciate that there are. I hope Timmy stopped reading before I said that. Women perceived things differently, react differently, love differently, but they are not inferior to men. There are jobs that women are ill suited to, but being an executive is not one of them. If you don’t believe a woman can exercise good judgment you need to go talk to your mother.

If you take a controversial stand, you had better be prepared to defend your position in an intelligent way, I’ve yet to hear Sarah Palin say, “That’s above my pay grade.” On that alone she is more qualified to be president than Barak Obama.