Pinch yourself

Hysteria

it's interesting , isn't it, that if this gentleman was applying for a job in the CIA or the FBI he would not pass the vetting process.......

Conservative Cabbie

I can't make my mind, Is an Obama Presidency going to be a Theocracy, a Thugocracy or just an incompetency?

Huw Thornton

You've put the matter in a nutshell, CC.

Obama stands accused of being both a communist and an islamist. I suppose after his 20 years in the Trinity Unity Church of Christ, we should think of him as a Christian-ist as well.

John Birch

Hysteria: How do you know he wouldn't pass the vetting process for the CIA and the FBI? Do you know what their requirements are?

Conservative Cabbie: It would be rather difficult for an Obama presidency to be more incompetent than the current Bush administration.

charles soper

One of the most disturbing aspects of Kurtz's claims is Obama's direct role on the board of the Annenberg challenge (given below). It reflects deeply on Obama's own philosophy in the last 13 years, (even if it has softened recently). It's extraordinary he was ever a candidate for the senate, let alone where he is now with such a record:

'Obama and his very small and divided board kept the money flowing to ideologically extremist groups like the South Shore African Village Collaborative, instead of organizations focused on traditional educational achievement.

As if the content of SSAVC documents wasn’t warning enough (see Kurtz article at first link MP cites), their proposals consistently misspelled “rites of passage” as “rights of passage,” hardly an encouraging sign from a group meant to improve children’s reading skills. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge’s own evaluators acknowledged that Annenberg-aided schools showed no improvement in achievement scores. Evaluators attributed that failure, in part, to the fact that many of Annenberg’s “external partners” had little educational expertise. A group that puts its efforts into Kwanzaa celebrations and half-baked history certainly fits that bill, and goes a long way toward explaining how Ayers and Obama managed to waste upwards of $150 million without improving student achievement.

However he may seek to deny it, all evidence points to the fact that, from his position as board chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Barack Obama knowingly and persistently funded an educational project that shared the extremist and anti-American philosophy of Jeremiah Wright [appalling details fully documented in the article]. The Wright affair was no fluke.'

This is not a guilty association it is a fully guilty participation in black racism.

winstanley

Several words spring to mind when seeing this fascination with Obama - obsession, paranoia, manic. Does Melanie really think that the world's most conservative state is really going to let a true radical on the levers of power? Of course not. He's going to turn out as radical as all the others and cosy up to the establishment. Name one leftist US president.

BA

I like your articles. You're quite well-informed on Obama-related topics. In fact, your articles are the best ones available on either side of the pond, forgive the cliché.

Thank you very much. P.S. I also read your other articles.

It might be too early, but the matter of Obama's "certificate of live birth" has begun to emerge from the blogosphere. Berg's YouTube on Berg vs. Obama has been shown on Fox.

Verity

John Birch, I am not going to comment on your question referring to the Bush administratin because you are a moonbat.

However, no one on this blog is fearful that an Obama presidency would be incompetent. Malign, yes. But in pushing forward a destructive agenda, I fear they would be more than competent.

Verity

Winstanley - Jimmuh Cahduh.

Conservative Cabbie

Winstanley

I would make one point to disagree with you. There is a potential perfect liberal storm brewing - a very liberal President, a very liberal Speaker of the House and a potential fillibuster free Democrat controlled Senate. Who would stop him? Don't forget, the U.S. doesn't have an establishment in the same way we do, they are largely appointed by the President.

Wilfred

Truly incredible.

But I still just don't see it happening. The Land of the Free, the great free-marketeers in business and culture, electing a radical Marxist?

I don't see it. But I think we're in for fireworks either way.

I think there are various significant ethnic groups that won't generally vote Obama - particularly the Asians and quite possibly many Hispanics.

Plus Republican Afro-Americans.

Neither will many Hilaryite Democrats (nor indeed any sound-minded, patriotic, ethical or conservative Dems).

Plus all the floaters who dislike the whiff of the dubious goings-on in the Obama camp.

Plus the anti-abortionists and non-partisan female voters who are attracted by Sarah Palin.

Plus racial anxiety, esp amongst whites.

Plus all the interests vested in the status quo.

Plus the religious right, Catholics etc.

Throw in the current and growing disenchantment with PC and the MSM, the booming blogosphere, Islamic terrorism and concerns about immigration.

And.....my money's still on McCain and Palin.

Jack Thursby

The BBC Panorama programme that was aired last night showed some word perfect "kids for Obama" collecting money on the street on behalf of "the one." Whatever next, "The Obama Youth?" Well yes actually, but they have been "disappeared" from Youtube.

Meanwhile, Once upon a time in Chicago ........
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/462414.aspx

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
The citizens of the USA , and unfortunately many now in the the rest of the world have been suffering from incompetency viz. The Wall Street Debacle and the state of the US economy, Thugocracy viz. the Iraq Fiasco and The Afghanistan Imbroglio, which includes/ed Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, rendition, torture, and abuse of the Constitution of the USA and habeas corpus. All brought about by a strange claim to be a "Faith Based" Administration, the Republican version of Theocracy, where the Lord gives th OK to visit "shock and awe" on the land of Iraq and POTUS holds a chiliastic view of the world. The same view shared by the Republican candidate for the office of VPOTUS. Four more years?

Nick in Virginia

John Birch: Jimmy Carter was FAR more incompetent than George W. Bush. Carter was the worst President in my lifetime (I was born when Truman was President), and 0bama's policies resemble Carter's too closely to make me feel comfortable.

The Dems don't want a 3rd term of Bush (which they would not get with McCain). I don't want a 2nd term of Carter.

As far as conservatives being "paranoid" about 0bama's associations, remember this: 0bama has lied about Wright, Fleger, Rezko, and Ayers. He has been caught in those lies as well, but many Americans who don't get Fox News or don't live on the internet don't realize that, because the MSM are in the tank for him. IF he wins (God help us) it will be because the MSM has provided interference for him by blocking the truth from being disseminated to the People.

And once he gets in office, he will have at least 4 years to begin tearing the country apart. By the end of his first term, it may be too late to recover.

Hysteria

@ John Birch - re the FBI background check -

https://www.fbijobs.gov/employment/SF86.pdf

I may be wrong but I reckon he would struggle with Q 12 (imagine listing Ayers and Wright) as well as 30a.......

On the upside - past use of drugs is no longer a disqualification.

Lucan C Heraclitus

winstanley,

People like you don't wake up when the house is burning down.

When Hitler happened, nobody believed that it could and when the markets crash nobody thought that they would.

Things are kept hid - that's power.

Bob - Illinois

Thank you Ms. Phillips for doing the job that American media won't do. We are not having an election here in America. We about to possibly have an overthrow. Our electoral system is being raped by the ACORN/Democrats, who have hijacked the democrat party.

Anon

Well...it's all very scarey and I'm glad we're asking the questions.

But how come he's got by the CIA, the Feds, and the other security Agencies? Or what else is going on?

Ann

"Does Melanie really think that the world's most conservative state is really going to let a true radical on the levers of power?"

The world's most conservative, eh? Utterly batty. Ever heard of North Korea, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, ....?

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward

"Four more years?"

Yes please.

Of course in Farrakhan's mind, he's already returned. Sometimes get the feeling Obama supporters feel the same, what with the Obamacropolis, the Berlin rally, the children singing in adoration, the faux Presidential seal, the blind devotion of his supporters, the comparisons drawn by his supporters of him and Jesus Christ. Need I go on?

I will support anyone that will fight the evils of Islamofacism, abortion, wealth redistribution, unlawful immigration, terrorism, affirmative action, suppression of free speech and so on.

In fact let's skip the top of the ticket and go straight to the VPOTUS.

BTW. Thankyou for chiliastic, that was a new one for me, had to look it up. Learn something new everyday!

Israel

Well, well well.

After all the weeks of trying to beat up Obama with the Ayres connection can any of the conservatives please comment on this:

William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government.

During the same period beginning in 1992, Timmons worked closely with the two lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, on a previously unreported prospective deal with the Iraqis in which they hoped to be awarded a contract to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. Timmons, Vincent, and Park stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal went through.

Timmons' activities occurred in the years following the first Gulf War, when Washington considered Iraq to be a rogue enemy state and a sponsor of terrorism. His dealings on behalf of the deceased Iraqi leader stand in stark contrast to the views his current employer held at the time.

John McCain strongly supported the 1991 military action against Iraq, and as recently as Sunday described Saddam Hussein as a one-time menace to the region who had "stated categorically that he would acquire weapons of mass destruction, and he would use them wherever he could."

So now we know. John McCain is soft on the supporters of terror. Who would have thunk it.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
So you too are awaiting "The Rapture" as well. So much for rational argument. But I suppose when you do support a "Faith Based Adminstration" you have to be prepared for anything. Do you have one of those stickers on your cab? I like this one
In case of rapture, this car will be driverless. It will then recklessly careen into children at a school crossing -- killing all of them.
But then I suppose it is only collateral damage

Jerry O

WOW!!! Powerful piece! Thank you for that. The determination of the press to not cover all of these things and then some is like nothing I have seen in my 42 years. There is one thought that should be added. How can anyone ignore the connection of Obama to R. Odinga in Kenya. He supported this person in his politics and maintains ties today and has stood by silently as Mr. Oding has murdered thousands of Christians and burned nearly 800 churches and is trying to institute Sharia law like a Taliban state in Kenya. Or how about the hundreds of millions of dollars that are pouring in to Obama from the middle east and elsewhere around the world? The question that looms is who will save the day. Who will step up with money to bypass the MSM and tell America who Obama really is???I pray someone does soon because it is clear that most of the MSM should be collecting a payroll from the DNC and the Obama campaign.

Conservative Cabbie

Yet another insightful piece from Israel. Except what he doesn't tell you is that it's only appearing on blogs, not in the media, that it's all based on supposition and that, and I quote "Timmons told federal investigators that he was unaware of these particular activities, and investigators were unable to uncover any evidence to contradict that claim."

So basically he's giving us a story with no evidence based on supposition and expects to equate it with William Ayers. Nice try!

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward

You started jumping to a whole bunch of conclusions there didn't you. I'm not religious, just tolerant of religious people, unlike you.

Please tell me what it was about my statement that led you to believe that I believe in the Rapture. I stand accused of flying in the face of rational arguement - Ha! Look to your own lack of deductive reasoning skills before making assumptions about others.

Yours
Slightly less respectfully than before
Cabbie

Red State

Cabbie

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html

Hayward Maberley

Nick in VA
“John Birch: Jimmy Carter was FAR more incompetent than George W. Bush. Carter was the worst President in my lifetime (I was born when Truman was President), and 0bama's policies resemble Carter's too closely to make me feel comfortable.”
Well at least Democratic Administrations have been somewhat more careful concerning the financial state of the USA compared to Republican Administrations, which are supposed to be fiscally responsible.
In 1981, shortly after taking office, Reagan complained of “runaway deficits” from the Carter term in office, that were then approaching $80 billion, or about 2.5 percent of gross domestic product. Within only two years, however, his policies had succeeded in enlarging the deficit to more than $200 billion, or 6 percent of GDP. Under the “fiscally responsible” Republicans, from when Reagan took office, the National Debt standing at $995 billion from the Carter era, by the end of Bush1’s presidency, had exploded to $4 trillion. Clinton managed hold/wind them both back returning the budget to a surplus of some US$280 billion. Now thanks to the Dubya and Friends the deficit will be $482 billion in the 2009 budget moving from black to red ink in the order of US$750 billion. Now they intend to add another US$700+ billion to help their friends on Wall Street. Add at least another US$250 billion to that as the US Government starts to buy bank shares, is that not socialism?
Nick, do not forget the US$3 trillion and climbing cost of the Iraq Fiasco and the Afghan Imbroglio. The first conflict since The War of Independence to be fought on credit.
National debt, US debt is the amount of money owed by the United States federal government to creditors (bankers) who hold U.S. debt instruments. Debt held by the public is all federal debt held by states, corporations, individuals, and foreign governments, but does not include intra governmental debt obligations or debt held for Social Security.
As of September 2008, the total U.S. federal debt was approximately $9.7 trillion; about roughly $5.3 trillion is non government debt. But when unfunded Medicaid, Social Security, Medicare are added, this figure rises to a total of $59.1 trillion. In 2007, the public debt was 36.9 percent of GDP with a total debt of 65.5 percent of GDP.
From 1980-1990 under Reagan and Bush Republican Administrations it climbed as a % of GDP from 26% to 42%. Under Clinton it fell to 35% but is now at c.38%. In 2005 it had gone out by a factor of 9 over the debt in 1980.
Fiscally Responsible Republicans? Fiscally Risible Republicans is really more apt!

Terry

This is America's election, not mine. I don't get a vote. The rest of us just have to accept the result even if it isn't good for us or the world. And if Obama wins I fear it won't be good. But win he probably will because those who have undermined the strengths of western democratic capitalism are now in a position to take power at the highest level. An obama victory will be like putting the loonies in charge of the mental hospital.

At least, it would have been before left leaning idiots decided that mental hospitals were not PC and loonies really should live 'normal' lives among everyday folks. The loonies are probably eternally grateful as they observe the world from their homes under railway arches, murdering the odd innocent out of frustration.

But now we are about to have a looney elected President of the US things are bound to improve for all of us. First let them out into society, then put them in charge of it.

That's the left for you.

Israel

con cabbie:

The story comes from Murray Waas a journalist who has worked for The American Prospect, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The National Journal, Salon, and The Village Voice. In 1993 he was a finalist for the Pulizer Prize for his reporting on US pre-war policy to Saddam Hussain before the first gulf war, and at the moment he works for The Huffington Post. He was one of the small group of Journalists who broke the Iran-Contra affair, as well as reporting on Whitewater and the Plame affair which lead to the investigation and conviction of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby. This man may not be as well respected as Seymour Hersh but he isn't some sort of Matt Drudge tabloid internet flake.

You can try to brush off this report if you want but the simple fact is that this is yet another own goal by the McCain camp, along with that nice photo of him AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR THOSE NASTY A.C.O.R.N PEOPLE IN 2006!!! The man is King Midas in reverse. Things are so bad even the Anti-Nostrodamus William "the bloody" Kristal is criticizing him.

John Montgormery

Hayward, you seem to be forgetting that Bill Clinton was held in check by a Republican House that stopped his spending plans. The increase in government spending since 2001 is regrettable (interestingly, much the same thing happened in the UK but not here in Australia). I suspect you are right that most of it is due to the War and pork. But the War is now almost won, and it is no time to run away. If it succeeds fully, Iraq will be the equivalant of West Germany under the Marshall Plan. In 10 years, we shall have much to thank Mr Bush for, as by that time Iraq will be free and wealthy.

Looking forward, Obama has plans to increase government spending by $1 trillion. He plans to raise taxes on the top 5% (who create the wealth and jobs) including small businesses. This is the economics of the infantile left.

d1carter

Americans are being threatened with riots in the streets if BO is not elected. If he is elected, Kurtz will be the next Salmon Rushdie.

laura

Oh, dear, once again, Melanie has it right. My liberal "friends" have found it necessary to attack my intellect, my intentions, my mental capacity, and/or call me stupid, vitriolic, crazy, a right-wing nut job, etc.
I have a question: Why is it “ugly” when I question “facts” – “delusional” when I point to other "facts."
Is not a democracy a place where you can "trust but verify?" Exercise freedom of speech (and hopefully thought?)
Thank you Melanie for excercising it for us, since apparently in America we no longer do. Call me Lost in LA.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
Apologies. I did generalise in this situation. So please forgive me. However the fact that the current Republican POTUS and a would be Republican VPOTUS do hold this chiliastic outlook on life concerns me as much as the possible election of Democratic POTUS seems to concern you and many others who post here.
Btw when Israel commenced that failed incirsion into Lebanaon in 2006, Rapture web sites were getting really excited.
Some extracts from http://www.rr-bb.com/
July 11th, 2006, 10:13 PM

Ohappyday

Is it time to get excited? I can’t help the way I feel. For the first time in my Christian walk, I have no doubts that the day of the Lords appearing is upon us. I have never felt this way before, I have a joy that bubbles up every-time I think of him, for I know this is truly the time I have waited for so long. Am I alone in feeling guilty about the human suffering like my joy at his appearing some how fuels the evil I see everywhere. If it were not for the souls that hang in the balance and the horror that stalks man daily on this earth, my joy would be complete. For those of us who await his arrival know, somehow we just know it won’t be long now, the Bridegroom cometh rather man is ready are not.

July 11th, 2006, 10:26 PM

watcherboy

it has been quite a day today, if you caught all the news; I’m getting the feeling world tension is gonna be high for a long time with increased terrorism and nations being defiant. I don’t think it will cool down until after the rapture when the peace deal is confirmed.

July 11th, 2006, 10:30 PM

Chess-guy

…How can we not be excited, our redeemer cometh. We should pray always for the lost. But he is coming. Amen Amen ever so come lord Jesus.

your brother in Christ,

Paul

July 11th, 2006, 11:30 PM

Ifnot4him

Ready, waiting and excited here! Still telling others whenever possible that the rapture could take place at any time because this world is in such a big MESS and evidently it goes through one ear and right out the other.

…July 12th, 2006, 08:15 AM

Bghtnpd4

I am excited beyond words that the struggle of this life may be over soon and I can finally be FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Shelle circles her fist over her head and imitates Arsenio Hall by yelling WHOO-WHOO-WHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

July 12th, 2006, 09:15 AM

Waitin

I too am soooo excited!! I get goose bumps, literally, when I watch what’s going on in the M.E.!! And Watcherboy, you were so right when saying it was quite a day yesterday, in the world news, and I add in local news here in the Boston area!! Tunnel ceiling collapsed on a car and killed a woman of faith, and we had the most terrifying storms I have ever seen here!! But, yes, Ohappyday, like in your screen name , it is most indeed a time to be happy and excited, right there with ya!!

July 12th, 2006, 12:46 PM

Kidsintow123

…Our bridegroom and kinsmen redeemer, what a beautiful thought!! To finally see His face!!!

Sound the shofar! Let the Enemy know the alert has been sounded and Yeshua is stepping onto the battlefield.

I am a Jewish princess, my Father is the King of Kings!

Kidsintow123

July 12th, 2006, 05:16 PM

…If He tarries, I will just have time to get my hair and nails done (you know let all I come into contact with know of my Bridegroom and what He has/will do). So i am all spiffied up for Him when He does arrive to take me home. No disappointment, just a few last minute details to take care of to be more pleasing to look at.
Just another liberal talking point!
Regards, again apologies

dka

Thank You Melanie Phillips, for all the great work that you do!You are like the old Radio Free Europe, one of the few sources, other than Canada Free Press, that reports all the rubbish that is behind Obama. The American media, print, and TV are both in the tank for Obama. If they had chosen some Hollywood actor with a 3rd grade education they would have pushed him on the American public in the same fashion.When Bush was running they examined how many hours he was off the air force base, with Obama one lie, one inconsistency afterthe other are allowed to stand. If he cannot stutter a reply Obama will tell the person asking 'it is above his pay grade'. Nothing but nothing is told via the Main Stream Media or as we call it over here, the Lame stream Media. Your reports are immensely appreciated.! Thank You!

dmgold

The history of the polls show that Omama's 'margin' is not great enough to carry this election. Obama would need a 10-14 % lead to gauruntee a 4-5 % victory. Obama is only just ahead. I think the left leaning media in cohoots with the Obama camp is actually feeding the fire that will erupt after obama loses. Get yourselves ready for Civil unrest on the streets of the East and West coasts after the results are in.

redpoll

Of course. A lot of us reached this same conclusion months ago. We’re at an interesting crossroads. Having eradicated anti-black racism in the United States, we’re about to be confronted with powerful people who are anti-white racists. That’s the untold story in this election - how the African-American community still holds to the old-style plantation mentality where race is king and you can tell a person’s character by the color of their skin. (Similar things can be said about the anti-woman prejudice of the left in their dealings with Sarah Palin - and the anti-elder prejudice of the left against John McCain.)

In essence, the modern home of the bigot and the racist is the American left, and that’s already become the standard by which modern leftist politicians articulate their opposition to conservatives and anyone else who stands in their way. Like the segregationists of old, the American left seems like a formidable force, with vast power; when the end of the day comes for their sorry bigoted ideas, they’ll appear as they are, tired fools railing against the world, pining away for a socialist utopia. Think of how Bull Conner looked in 1962, and now imagine the pathetic image of morons like David Duke. Likewise, Farrakan and Obama seem like powerful men today. When my son is in his middle age, Obama will be a sad reminder that people used to think race meant something other than appearance.

Conservative Cabbie

Part 3 of my wishful thinking campaign.

In a recent Washington Post poll, when asked "Regardless of who you may support, do you think Obama does or does not have the kind of experience it takes to serve effectively as president?", 54% said yes, 45% said no. That 45% figure is the highest in American history apart from Michael Dukakis.

Hayward Maberley

Terry,
Where have you been for the last ten days or so. You mention about "undermined the strengths of western democratic capitalism"
It seems to me that it has been undermined from within not without. The Wall Street Debacle was not caused by "loonies on the left" as you put it. It was all those gung-ho free marketeers from "the greed is good gang" if we are to use perjoratives. Read my last,just post above yours, concerning the "Fiscally Risible Republicans" Further more The Republicans controlled Congress from 1994 until 2006, and oversight of the two FMs and others was supposed to come from Congress. It was Bush's SEC regulator, Chris Cox, who reduced the "net capital" requirements for investment banks in 2004.Thus enabling Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to dive headlong into the then-lucrative mortgage-backed securities and credit-default swaps markets. Only then did the trickle of bad loans and derivatives become a tsunami in waiting. Hank Paulson, then of Goldman Sachs, led. the Wall Street request for relief from the capital requirements.
It is karma that now Paulson has to clean up the debris left by the receding tsunami. So it was GOP Congress and the GOP regulators who weakened the dykes and sea walls so that they finally succumbed. The force that was created in the vast ocean of Republican ineptitude and greed resulted in this large wave washing up Wall Street and spilling out into the rest of the world.

Conservative Cabbie

Part 4 of searching for a glimmer of hope.

In Virginia in 2004, exit polls showed party identification as; 39% GOP, 35% Dem, 26% Ind. Bush won the state with an 8 point margin. Recent polls in Virginia by PublicPolicyPolling, Survey USA and Suffolk have Obama leading respectively by 8,10 and 12 points. In all 3 surveys, party identification has switched dramatically to the Dems (+5 in PPP, +10 in SurveyUSA and +12 in Suffolk). Now I'm no psephologist (far from it), but this seems a dramatic shift, even taking into account Obama's voter registration drive. Bear in mind that party ID is an important component in calculating the final poll result.

This is a notoriously difficult election to poll. Factors not normally present that need to be considered are the high number of young voters who normally don't vote but have registered in droves for Obama, the African-American vote, the Bradley effect, the mobile phone only crowd who aren't polled as a matter of course by usual polling companies.

I'm not going to fly in the face of an obvious shift to Obama across the board, the point I'm trying to make is that this really could be a lot tighter than some polls are suggesting.

mo from chicago

I don't know if some of those commenting have ever listened to http://marklevinshow.com Mark Levin is a constitutional lawyer. I know if you scroll down on his home page there is a link to the Mark Levin UK fan site. Yesterday's broadcast is extremely informative and includes a call-in from Mark Steyn. Oh yeah, you'll get used to Levin's voice after a while.

Conservative Cabbie

Part 5 of trying to lift the gloom.

I posted earlier that IBD/TIPP poll had McCain only down by 2 points. Apparently, this was the most accurate poll in 2004.

Some recent state polls in battle ground states:
Ohio - Obama +5 (SurveyUSA)
North Carolina - Obama +3 (PPP)
Missouri - Obama +2 (PPP)
Colorado - Obama +4 (Suffolk)
Florida - Obama +5 (Fox/Rasmussen)
Virginia - Obama +3 (Fox/etc)
Nevada - Obama +2 (Mason-Dixon)

Particularly pleased to see Nevada and Colorado still tight. These figures are about the same as they were 3 weeks ago but haven't gone south like the eastern and midwest states have.

Now obviously this all looks swell for Obama, up in every one but all the above have McCain at or near the margin of error. Bearing in mind my previous comment about how pollsters might be inflating Democrat party identification numbers in the polls and it might suggest that things are tighter than they actually are.

Bear in mind also, that I have seen pundits say that Obama really needs to be between 2-8 points ahead in the polls because of the Bradley effect (not that I'd want to win that way) and the race potentially tightens even further. A good showing by McCain in the debate or conversly a slip by Obama, a change in the security situation, some good economic news still might be enough to turn things round for McCain.

Again, usual disclaimer - I'm not saying all this is definite, I realise it flies in the face of the polls, I'm just going to wait until Florida, Ohio, Virginia or N Carolina get called for Obama on Nov 4th before I give up all hope.

Ronnie

Terry, you seem confused.

'Care in the Community' was a UK Conservative policy, implemented by the last Conservative government principally to save money. It was not a policy of 'the left'.

Now, we can argue about the merits of institutionalising people who may need help and whose behaviour may seen unusual in terms of our social norms. The fact is that while many people were 'released' no meaningful provision of 'care' was subsequently provided in the 'community', with sometimes tragic results.

Another failed policy of the right.

raymond joseph douglas

I am sorry melanie,but the world's media appears to have made up its mind on this one!Like over Israel,they have a tape playing in their collective heads that prevents hard,objective analysis!I really shudder over the prospect of a obama presidency,all the hopes placed in him and what he will do!

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward

Apology accepted willingly.

They seem like a happy bunch of people, the more happiness in the world the better.

I'm not sure I get your point. Are you saying that being religious should disqualify you from political office? That seems a bit radical too me. My view is that we should be understanding of peoples values, especially when they come from a different culture. It's funny, that's a very liberal posirion which is why I'm surprised you don't share it. Or are you, as I suspect many liberals actually are, tolerant of anyone so long as they're not white, American or Christian/Jewish.

Mike

Please keep going Melanie....all this negative stuff you and others are trying so valiantly to dredge up only serves to help Barack Obama. Let's see if McCain has the 'balls' to confront Obama with these allegations this evening......and if he does, let's see how his opponent deals with them.

Dan Raymore

Obama is anti free trade and plans on raising taxes on small businesses. All this heading into a major worldwide recession. We had another president who pursued these policies: His name was Herbert Hoover.

If you were design in a lab a candidate whose policies were intended to weaken the US, Obama would be the perfect mold.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Montgormery,
As you referred to Australia, I am using some Aussie adjectives as emphasis!
“Hayward, you seem to be forgetting that Bill Clinton was held in check by a Republican House that stopped his spending plans.”
Cognitive dissonance in spades here, Mr Montgormery.
Those blow outs in the deficit and the national debt that I referred to in an earlier post. They occurred in the two Reagan terms and the single Bush term. They then recommenced after Clinton had brought in a surplus and at least held the National Debt back. With the Dubya and Friends eight years the deficit has blown out to buggery again and looks like going out even further into the buggery wilderness. As for the national debt that has gone through the roof and is rapidly climbing into the stratosphere. Assisted greatly by the Wall Street debacle and Dubya’s mates, the erstwhile Masters of the Universe. For where else is that now close to a US$ trillion ($700 billion + $250 billion to buy bank shares) to come from?
As for the Iraq Fiasco, the “shock and awe” campaign was successful. But an occupation is an occupation is an occupation. How long does the US or can the US afford to stay as an occupying power. For that is what it will be regarded as while it has that Disneyland of an “Embassy” sitting on some of the best not to forget, free, real estate in Baghdad. I will ask you a question I posed earlier on this blog. What was the longest war, as they termed it that the US ever fought?
Your comparison with West Germany following the Marshall Plan is also cognitively strained. Germany both before WWII and in the aftermath was a leader in industry, the deviser/enabler/inventor of a great deal of engineering/science/technology. It had a large skill base due to its education and skill training systems. It had a range of resources and the abilities to utilise them also those that were necessary to import.
In “Downfall” about the last days of Hitler in der F�hrerbunker.
Albert Speer visits Hitler and confesses that he cannot do what Hitler had ordered. That was to bring about an infrastructure and industrial Götterd�mmerung. This was to be achieved by the destruction of what was left of the Third Reich's power generation and distribution system, railways, dams and dykes and any factories, assembly plants etc, that had not already been damaged/destroyed in the Allied attacks and bombing. Speer expected to be hauled off and executed, but it did not happen. Some think it was because Speer was the architect, the artist that Hitler always thought he himself could be.
Iraq following the war in 1991, the sanctions, shock and awe and the Fiasco is in something approaching Götterd�mmerung. The infrastructure has not been brought back to pre Fiasco level, let alone pre 1991. Millions of Iraqis have fled, amongst them many of the best trained in the trades and professions, administration and business skills.
Iraq’s only real resource, oil which was really what the Fiasco is all about, is not fully controlled by Iraq, as a sovereign state should be able to control its own resources. The Seven Sisters, actually 4 as there has been some consolidation, a bit of poetic licence there, have regained de facto control of Iraqi oil. see below @
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/oil/2008/0915draftlaw.htm

“Looking forward, Obama has plans to increase government spending by $1 trillion. He plans to raise taxes on the top 5% (who create the wealth and jobs) including small businesses.”
How else is a government supposed to pay for the near US$trillion dollar bail out needed because of the malAdministration of Dubya and Friends.
“This is the economics of the infantile left.”
An interesting statement when looking at the mess caused by what?
The mature and responsible right?
Cognitive dissonance again.

catesby

Tony Blair, as a young man, was a member of CND.

He must have rubbed shoulders with some pretty weird Marxist types in that organization.

He was also a member of Hackney Labour Party.

He must have had to go along with some crazy things there too in order to get on and climb the greasy pole.

But he did not stretch the foolishness of his callow youth into middle age.

He ditched it.

Obama seems to be doing much the same.

Jim Treacher

"Several words spring to mind when seeing this fascination with Obama - obsession, paranoia, manic."

I don't know if you've noticed, winstanley, but a lot of people are talking about Obama. He happens to be running for President of the United States. But apparently it's only the people who dare to criticize him who are "obsessed."

"Name one leftist US president."

Ask me again on Nov. 5.

Oliver

Here's some helpful context.

The total budget of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge over the five year period 1996 through 2000 was $147.6M. The total grants that CAC made to the organization that Kurtz and Melania Phillips are referring to, Coalition for Improved Education in (Chicago’s) South Shore, were almost certainly less than $1M - that is, 0.6% of CAC's total budget.

CIESS does indeed sound like a bonkers outfit, and it's surprising that Obama and his fellow board members (who by the way included Republicans as well as Democrats) chose to fund it.

But in the context of CAC's total activities this represents a rounding error, and certainly not proof that Obama is some kind of ebono-fascist.

Only someone predisposed to hysteria would think otherwise.

Russian observer

The difference between Obama and Lenin is that Obama's power overtake is bloodless. They both were great community organizers, and his Alinsky is equivalent to the Soviet Trotsky. Is the dictatorship of the proletariat coming next?

Alex

Hahah, America grew rich from shady capitalism. Only now all this "Christian" bullshit is coming up. Whether he's a perfect gentleman or a rogue, he's awesome, and I'LL VOTE FOR OBAMA. So how do you like them apples?

Byron in Wahroonga

***how do you know he wouldn't pass the vetting process for the CIA and the FBI?***

Forget the FBI and the CIA.

Anyone who would leave their own brother living in penury in a Nairobi slum isn't fit to lead.

Byron in Wahroonga

***name one leftist US president***

Jimmy Carter. It took ten years for the USA to recover from his incompetence.

Byron in Wahroonga

**the history of the polls show that Omama's 'margin' is not great enough to carry this election**

Margin + (unprecedented levels of) voter fraud= victory.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
Thank you for accepting my apology.
However I must say again that these chiliasts are happy in actively looking forward to the Rapture that can only occur when Armageddon is unleashed. So they actually look forward to war breaking out in the Middle East and seem to be happy to encourage its arrival.
I am not saying that being religious should disqualify you from political office. But neither should not being religious. I have lived and travelled in parts of Europe, Asia, the Americas and in the Pacific area.
I have/had friend, acquaintances and co-workers from a large range of ethnic/cultural/racial/religious backgrounds. I am interested in other cultures and beliefs. Living, visiting Asia led to learning Mandarin and Japanese as well as studying linguistics.
I am at a loss to respond to you last sentence. “White”, “American”, “Christian/Jewish.” But here goes.
“White,” I am “white”, though in fact I tan very darkly as do 2 of our 4 children, of mostly Celtic origin, from Ireland. My wife is also of Celtic origin from Cornwall, Ireland and Scotland, and I live and work mainly amongst/with “white” people, of English, Irish, Scots, French, German, Dutch descent. Also Iranians, who are aryan by descent, Turks who are from the western part of Turkey up against Bulgaria. Greeks from the islands adjacent to Turkey, do Lebanese and Egyptians count as well.
“Americans” Well my “American” friends and acquaintances range from citizens of Canada, US, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brasil, Uruguay and Chile.
Some of these are through my job , in an academic library. Canberra where I live has a large tertiary education sector as well as having many embassies.
I have an aunt, my mother’s sister who married a US pilot after the war and went off to live in St Paul Minnesota, an uncle who settled in New York and some distant relatives who live in San Francisco. I have been to North America where I visited my relatives. I have met many other people from the US both when travelling there through the east, down to Florida. Across to the Mid west to the south west and down the west coast into Canada then down to Mexico. I take people as I find them.
“Christian/Jewish” . I am not a religious person but I work with several people who are and we get along well. I can add “Muslim” since I have Muslim acquaintances and meet Muslims in my job. I have no objection to whatever people wish to believe, as long as they do not try to proselytise or force others to behave in a way that they believe that their “God” has ordained. I was raised a Catholic and fed the usual stuff about Original Sin, God, Hell. But I grew out of it as I started to read more history and became aware that it was not sweetness and light, to put it mildly, not all about loving your fellow man. Given the Crusades, the Inquisitions and persecutions and all the things justified by religion viz. judicial maiming, murder and torture, misogyny, polygamy,slavery war, you could say I am really sceptical about all religion.
As for the chiliastic view, I just find it frightening.

Cynicor

This frothing, unsupported article, and most of the comments below, bear no relation to the election contest that's actually happening here in the States right now.

John Birch

ConservativeCabbie: I don't necessarily disagree with your political analysis re: the swing states but the odds are still against McCain because Obama doesn't need to win most of the states you list. If Obama simply wins the states Kerry took in 2004 that puts him at 252. He is also ahead comfortably in Iowa so that makes it 259. That leaves him needing 11 votes with all kinds of combinations possible. Now he's ahead in Missouri and even West Virginia so McCain has more states he has to fight in that should have been solid Republican territory. And he has to compete against a very well-funded Obama campaign. The odds are strongly against McCain. Remember that Bush barely won in 2004 and got fewer votes than Gore in 2000 so things have been trending against the Republicans for awhile.

NickG

It's not considered impolite, it's considered barking mad.

Dina

At the 11th hour someone is questioning, in court, Obama's eligibility to stand for election!

http://www.americasright.com/2008/10/lawsuit-in-washington-state-questions.html

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Washington State Questions Barack Obama's Citizenship, Eligibility to be President

GSD

But, but, I thought he was just an airheaded, arugula eating, latte sipping liberal elitist celebrity?

Can't you in the Army of the Unhinged get coordinate your smears a little better?

I'm getting confused.

-GSD

John P. Lofreddo

The final paragraph absolutely summarizes what has me quite disgusted with (what seems to be) most of my fellow Americans.

Aaron

i>

No. Carter is a *liberal*. The USA has never had a leftist president.

Aaron

I've heard that Obama plans to begin his presidentcy by making fried chicken the national bird. Could you please check up on that Ms. Phillips?

Col

It's not impolite to say so Melanie Dear - free speech and all that

Your column on the other hand teeters somewhere between impolite and downright offensive

The world waits with baited breath for American to do the right thing and elect Obama

He may not be perfect, but he's not a Republican. Which, let's face it, is the dirty word here.

Yours sincerely,

99% of the United Kingdom

Verity

Mr Berg is simply wonderful and I wish him Godspeed with his investigation. He is asking the question formally, in a legal arena, that every other sane person has been asking and he sounds like a very persistent person. He is peforming a service to his country and the world.

Catesby writes, with towering naiveté that Tony Blair used to belong to the CND when young, "But he did not stretch the foolishness of his callow youth into middle age.

"He ditched it.|

Well, he certainly had his and his ugly wife's membership of the CND airbrushed out, but he stayed a rabid Gramscian and spent 10 years destroying a civil society it had taken a thousand years to make. And, as in the dreams of all Communists/leftists, he is now rolling in clover. Penury and rules are for the little people.

Mo from Chicago - Thanks for the link. I'll go there today.

J Morgan

I would write a proper comment on this article, but I'm too busy laughing.

M. J. Nelson

Dear Ann --
Try not to be politically ignorant. There is a difference between being politically conservative in America (current American Conservatism supports political free speech, a small federal government, low taxes, local control of education, etc.) is different than being "conservative" elsewhere. It all depends on what one is being conservative about, darling.

Bill Thompson

I do not consider Obama a Christian. He has admitted that he doesn't believe some of the key doctrine. But he was raised an atheist by an atheist mother, with a brief interlude in a Muslim school as a boy. As an atheist, he doesn't buy the bit about Allah and the Koran, either. His membership in the Chicago church was utterly cynical and political. Wright's theology, based on Rev Dr Cone's "Black Theology" treatise, is not Christianity, either. The few filmclips we see of Wright and his preening and racist ranting do little to convince me the Rev Wright knows a whole lot about Christ and His teachings either. Obama is a collectivist--influenced by Marxism and by black separatist thought for most of his life. So? He becomes president of the US and the US gets to find out what it is like. I only hope the damage is not personal--I am an American and believe deeply in American tradition and values, none of which Obama seems to even understand.

Bill in Norfolk, VA

whacker

Wow! Melanie is really obsessed with Obama - five articles in 3 days, is it? I don't know the details of BO's past but it seems to me that quite a few mainstream politicians flirted with extremist groups in their youth e.g. Lionel Jospin (ex-French Prime Minister) was a Troskyist when he was a nipper; Sarah Palin was "pallin' around" with Secessionists (why not a few words about that -dear Melanie?). The funny thing to me is that so many of the bloggers on this post seem to think that BO will destroy America.....do you not yet realise that America has already been destroyed by extreme capitalist policies practiced by Reps and Dems over the last 30 years. The party is over, kiddies.... time for something new, maybe? Let's hope so, for the future of our little planet.

Pete

Is there a more factually-challenged group than the American red-team ?

(I've given up calling them conservatives since it's clear they are anything but - it's simply my guy by any means necessary)

itwasntme

Oh, get a grip, will you?

ExRepublican

Dear Melanie,
Fine - you have the right to drag this nonsense up but you fail to note what the alternative is. The McCain team's links with Saddam, crooked financiers, casino owners and various other unsavoury figures in American society have been well documented because they are frankly er...true. Sarah Palin's links to the militant Alaskan secessionist movement has been reported on because that's...er true too. McCain is an unstable adulterer and bigamist with a dodgy war record. His "nexus" contains the Republican party - the nutjobs responsible for the world's financial meltdown. It may be impolite to say this but just shut up please. The world can't afford a McCain/Palin administration.

Ruth

i wonder if Obama could get a top security clearance? Bill Clinton could not. What is it about Democrats and their backgrounds? Both of these two DemocRATS are crooked, plus they refuse to release their medical records (both Bill & Obama). What are they hiding?

Tim Sacramento

I think it's not so much "impolite" as "clutching at straws." Obama will be a moderate President. That's what's required to be a success as a Democratic president. Obama owes a lot more to the Democratic Party and to his Democratic donors than he does to the radicals Kurtz is foaming at the mouth about.

Verity

Pete - poor choice of words on a British blog. To us, "red" means socialist.

Sheila

For the life of me, I can't understand why Andrew Sullivan would link to this absurd nonsense of yours. Would you please cross the pond and speak to someone in America who knows and has worked with Obama in public life for the last 28 years?????? Geesh - I am definitely still pinching myself...

knick49

Until last July Phil Gramm was co-chairman of and top economic adviser for the McCain campaign. Simultaneously Gramm was vice chairman of USB Investment Bank. One of his fellow executives was and continues to be Patrick M. Sheahan, Executive Director, Public Affairs, USB Investment Bank. In addition Mr. Sheahan was and continues to be on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago. The Woods Fund board is the one that Barack Obama and Bill Ayers served on together from 1999 to 2002. Ayers is still on the Woods board and is serving with Phil Gramm's fellow USB executive, Mr. Sheahan.

My question is to what extent should this connection between Ayers and the McCain campaign should be condemned? For instance, if Gramm was still campaign co-chairman, would he have been expected to resign over this issue?

Pete

Verity:

Thanks for that. I forgot it's the democrats that are 'socialist'.

Oh, by the way - how's that massive (red-team supported) government buyout of private companies going ?

(snicker)

Dhalgren

Melanie seems to be skipping over a huge chunk of reality -

If Obama really was a Marxist with secret agendas of Jew-hating and anti-white racism, he would not be on the verge of receiving 65 Million votes (which I think would be a modern record).

He has been examined with a fine tooth comb,and the best we can figure out is he is a Clinton-style centrist. Oh sure, we expect another Ken Starr to investigate him during his first term. We expect the GOP to take-back the House and push for impeachment. And we expect plenty of Vince Foster-like rumours.

But Barack Obama, when you peel back the different appearance and name, is really Bill Clinton II.

Still a reason to panic, Wingnuts?

I do hope it hurts. If nothing else, it is going to be very entertaining to hear your crying and screaming coming from both sides of the Atlantic.

CitizenE

Yesterday Pulitzer Prize finalist and investigative reporter Murray Waas reported that William Timmons, the insider Washington lobbyist that John McCain has chosen to lead his transition team in the chance he gets elected has been linked through first hand witnesses and extensive court testimony to the lobbying effort to get sanctions lifted on Saddam Hussein for oil profits. Senator McCain who is a long term friend of convicted Watergate burglar G. Gordon Liddy who, as a trained killer, has also publically threatened the lives of elected officials of the federal government. And in the nominating speech of Sarah Palin she extensively quoted avowed racist and facist Westbrook Pegler who once wrote of Robert Kennedy, "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."
Lately the right is reviving the idea that anyone who opposes their hegemony over the American political scene, which has clearly resulted in historic deficits, incredible foreign policy debacles, and the most divisive atmosphere in American politics in forty years, must me Marxist radicals and "terrorists.' You should realize that right now to over half the voting populace, you seem like crazy nut cases in your attempt to bring back Joe McCarthy to the public discourse.

Nigel

Not impolite, just nonsense.
Since you appear to source most of your information from that objective journal of record, The National Review, why don't you ask Kathleen Parker and Christopher Buckley for their opinion ?

Sarah Palin's Wink

Pete, I don't follow Gordon Brown (I might slip on the slime trail) or the other communists occupying the halls of power in Britain. It was this unelected far left Prime Minister's financial ineptitude during his 10 years as Chancellor of the Exchequer that got Britain into these dire straits. Naturally he would look for a Communist solution.

Snicker. Or, as it is more properly written, snigger.

Hotelsiam

We have seen Republicans such as Nixon and Kissinger actually endeavour to collapse peace talks (Paris 1968) with foreign governments while running for president and then subsequently commit war crimes while in office (Cambodia/Vietnam/Bangladesh). Similarly, one watched Clinton execute a mentally retarded black man while running for president in '91, as well as lying about the attemped rape of a past lover before going on to bomb Sudan for domestic political reasons in '98. Obama got his hands dirty in domestic politics and attended a crackpot church for political reasons (see Dreams From My Father) but I doubt the likes of Melanie had a single sentence, either then or now, in the cases of either Nixon or Clinton when they were actually commiting criminal acts as opposed to legal but cynical ones. In terms of links to dodgy fundraisers, Bill Clinton makes Obama look like the preppy Harvard grad.......

Doug

And of course Annenberg Challenge (named for and started by a Republican) is also stuffed full of Illinois Republicans who have said it is preposterous to smear Obama with Ayers because the whole of the Illinois Republican party would be guilty as well. And McCain takes money from these same Republicans who have served with Ayers and Mrs Annenberg as well.

And this doesn't even cover his long friendship with convicted Watergate criminal G. Gordon Liddy who advocated the murder of ATF agents and planned the murder of journalists and the fire-bombing of the Brookings Institute. Or his friend Richard Quinn, a secessionist, who denies that slavery was in any way cruel. Or his associations with the religious nuts and anti-Semites, John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Or his membership of the US Council for World Freedom a group consisting of "Nazis, fasclsts, anti-Semites, sellers of forgeries, vicious racialists, and corrupt self seekers" according to former members and who funded multi-million dollar weapon purchases for militias in South America. And McCain wasn't 8 years old when he did all this. And then there's Palin's links to the separatist AIP group seeking, if necessary, the violent destruction of the United States.

I_weep_for_the_future_of_british_journalism

It's not impolite to say so, it's wilfully ignorant to.

Luckily the majority of the American population are more interested in the failing state of their economy at the hands of the Republican party than the increasingly shrill accusations from the extreme right wing.

You cite "rightwingnuthouse.com" as a reference. Seriously?

TioNed

Melanie:
You'll be happy to know that your compatriot Andrew Sullivan has put you up as candidate for a Hewitt Award:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/2224950/34536449
In other words, you've been tagged by Sullivan as a genuine reality-disconnected right wing nut job. Like Hugh Hewitt (whose writings this column closely resembles).

I used to have respect for Mr. McCain until he let the Bush neocon goons start running his campaign.
No one in Illinois, (where I'm from) including Obama opponent an noted right wing nut job Alan Keyes, made any big deal about Ayers during Obama's campaigns in Illinois, becase IN ILLINOIS IT WASN'T NEWS! He's was a state senator from a district on the south side that's majority black, of course he's going to try to fund local projects run by black folks, right?

There's no dirt worth speaking of between Rezko and Obama either, Rezko even complained that the Bush appointed federal prosecutors were pressuring him for dirt on Obama and he had none for them... (I reference the Chicago Sun-Times story on the subject)

McCain and Palin's dodgy associations... geez, that could go for pages. You can Google it for yourself...

Tony Jones

1. Is it true that Todd Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party from 1995 to 2002?
2. Is it true that the AIP's charter commits the party "to the ultimate independence of Alaska," from the United States which it refers to as "the colonial bureaucracy in Washington." Does it proclaim Alaska's 1959 induction as a state "as illegal and in violation of the United Nations charter and international law."

3. Is it true that the AIP's creation was inspired by the rabidly violent anti-Americanism of its founding father Joe Vogler, "I'm an Alaskan, not an American," reads a favorite Vogler quote on AIP's current website, "I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." Is it true that AIP's central purpose is to drive Alaska's secession from the United States.

Alaska, says current Chairwoman Lynette Clark, "should be an independent nation."

4. Did AIP founder say, “The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government."?

5. Is it true that the AIP, with sponsorship from the Islamic Republic of Iran, was scheduled to present their case for Alaskan secession from American tyranny and imperialism before the United Nations General Assembly in the late spring of 1993?

6. Is it true that Sarah Palin met AIP Chairman Mark Chryson in the early 90’s when he was a member of a local libertarian pressure group called SAGE, or Standing Against Government Excess. (SAGE’s founder, Tammy McGraw, was Palin’s birth coach.), while Palin was a leader in a pro-sales-tax citizens group called WOW, or Watch Over Wasilla.

7. Is it true that Sarah Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution’s language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. Did she join in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring.

8. Is it true that AIP has forged alliances with outright white supremacists organizations?

9. Is it true that Sarah Palin attended the AIP convention in 1994?

10. Is it true that Sarah Palin attended and gave the keynote speech in 1996?

11. Is it true that Sarah Palin attended the AIP convention in 2000?

12. Is it true that Sarah Palin addressed the AIP convention in 2006 while running for governor?

13. Is it true that Sarah Palin addressed the AIP convention as governor in 2008 remarking on their importance to Alaska.

14. Is this true: “During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin

15. Is it true that Sarah Palin named Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as “Black Helicopter Steve,” to an empty Wasilla City Council seat?

16. Is this true? “Imagine the uproar if Michelle Obama was revealed to have joined a black nationalist party whose founder preached armed secession from the United States and who enlisted the government of Iran in his cause? The Obama campaign would probably not have survived such an explosive revelation. Particularly if Barack Obama himself was videotaped giving the anti-American secessionists his wholehearted support just months ago.”

17. Is it true that AIP is now touting Sarah Palin as the perfect example for how their members and agendas can best be pursued through infiltration of the major parties? Are they now talking about small town values and conservative approaches to issues like state rights offer the best place to make their extreme positions acceptable? Is there a YouTube available publicly where this is made clear?

Spanzo

Wow - you people are totally crackers. A good exercise in vague mudslinging without feeling the need to put forward any actual evidence Melanie - well done.

People saying Obama is a radical marxist on the one hand, and then comparing him to Hitler on the other.

Obama will be elected, and you'll see him be about as radical as Bill Clinton (i.e. not radical at all).

McCain has consistently supported Bush policies over the past 8 years, and electing him would be 4 more years of the same. His running mate believes the world is only 5000 years old and Obama is the crazy one?! You need your heads examined.

Officious_Pedant

It's astonishing to me the level of blinkered ignorance shown here. All this fear, all this certainty that Obama will destroy this country. As if the last 8 years of imprisonment without charge, suspension of Habeas Corpus, Rendition, illegal wiretapping, ex post facto law making, signing statements, etc. etc. etc was somehow the calm before the storm.

You folks can throw around wild accusations all you want, as the McCain campaign has been doing for weeks, and it doesn't stick. Why is that? Obama sat on a board with Ayers, and went to church where Wright preached. He sold property to Rezko, and was a politician in Chicago. So he knew those people. What evidence do you have, other than fevered imagination, that he did anything illegal, unethical, or immoral.

Aside from more fevered imaginings at wingnut outlets like NewsMax. Deal with it, folks, Obama is going to be the next President. Oh, and your concern over a Dem President, and Dem Congress, falls pretty flat given the control of the White House, and the Congress over the last quarter century. The control exerted by Bush and his minions between 2002 and 2006 finally exposed the true thuggery and incompetence at the center of conservative ideology.

Dominic Owen-Williams

Ah yes, the dangerous radical screed. No doubt the long list of eminent republicans who have worked with, and evinced respect for, Obama have been bamboozled by the wily one with the exotic background. Should he win, I imagine he will throw off the Zegna suits and don dashikis and emblazon the White House with black power slogans. The fact is that any reasonable person who has watched the man for the past few years will see the absurdity of the sort of line that Melanie Phillips is taking. I suppose Obama must really stand a good chance of winning.

Pete

> I used to have respect for Mr.
> McCain until he let the Bush
> neocon goons start running his
> campaign.

I think this is the view of most of us commie liberals. We were actually hoping the R's nominated McCain because at least then, whoever got elected, they based at least some of their policies on reality.

Unfortunately as time has gone on, McCain has moved further and further right, flip-flopping on all the issues that he previously supported. See Jon Stewart for the beautiful juxtaposition of McCain from 12 months ago and McCain from last week. 'I'd hate for that guy to meet....that guy'.

todd

A fine, fine article with no support whatsoever.

And a pile of folks falling in line.

Sirhotspur

I think McCain should bring up the Ayers thing in the debates. Would be hilarious when Obama explains that by McCains logic, Walter Annenberg would be accused of funding terrorism.

hipster dufus

What a bunch of cranks

John Q

Description of the book to be published by Ayers & Dohrn

"White supremacy and its troubling endurance in American life is debated in these personal essays by two veteran political activists. Arguing that white supremacy has been the dominant political system in the United States since its earliest days—and that it is still very much with us—the discussion points to unexamined bigotry in the criminal justice system, election processes, war policy, and education. The book draws upon the authors' own confrontations with authorities during the Vietnam era, reasserts their belief that racism and war are interwoven issues, and offers personal stories about their lives today as parents, teachers, and reformers.

About the Author

William C. Ayers is a distinguished professor of education and a senior university scholar at the University of Illinois–Chicago. He is the author of To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher and Fugitive Days, a memoir about his life with his wife, Bernardine Dohrn. Bernardine Dohrn is the director of the Children and Family Law Justice Center and a clinical associate professor of law at Northwestern University. She is the coauthor of A Century of Juvenile Justice and Justice in the Making. They live in Chicago."

Seems relatively benign to me.

Deborah

It's hard to find facts in your analysis. I'm hard pressed to find anything of substance, rather simply your alliterative name calling. Not impressed

Steeevyo

Learn to say it: 'President Obama'

Amy Sullivan

Barack Hussein Obama is perhaps the scariest thing to happen to American politics in a long time. And being an American, I am qualified to say so. God help us if he gets elected. A vote for Barack is a vote for the anti-christ.

A Welsh observer

Haha, u right wing hacks really are clutching at straws now. Obama is no marxist. In Europe, people who care about the poorest in our society aren't called marxists - they are called kind and generous. The right wing want to keep all the wealth for themselves and screw the poor and homeless. That is inherently selfish. I CANNOT WAIT til Obama gets in. Goodbye and good riddance Republicans! HA

Kurt

Thanks for this - I haven't laughed so much in ages.

Verity

Why do Americans keep quoting Andrew Sullivan on this blog, unless they think that being a Brit gives him some sort of traction?

It doesn't.

He used to be a lucid, eloquent political writer on the right before he became a moonbat gay-marriage obsessive. As his obsession increased in power, his writing on anything but gay marriage became ever-more fragmented.

I don't know why American lefties quote him thinking we are going to be impressed. What impresses us most about Andrew Sullivan is, he's out of our hair.

SIrhotspur

Amy Sullivan....you scare me FAR more than Obama.

Worried for all of you

"A vote for Barack is a vote for the anti-christ."?

Really? Really?

"Having eradicated anti-black racism in the United States..."?

Really? Can you actually BELIEVE this.

Reasonable people can disagree on matters of politics, but this is some of the most paranoid, psychopathic drivel I've ever seen. Amazingly, the fact that much of this commentary is racist is the LEAST of it.

Not Voting Republican

The writer of this piece fails to mention that Annenberg is a supporter of McCain but gave 50 million dollars to the Chicago foundation which Ayers and Obama sat on the board of. So Obama knows the "terrorist" but the funder of the "terrorist" supports McCain. This is all a bunch of crap. The GOP in the US is done. They will not hold power again in our lifetime. Bush and the extremists of the religious right have destroyed the Republican party. This is not an issue. Obama has been an open book for the last 20 months. What we really want to know is WHO IS SARAH PALIN? and what have you done to the real John McCain - the one that had integrity. Maybe I am just racist against rich white guys. They have screwed me over my whole life and I am white.

Moonbat Jones

I'd just like to briefly note that the notion that Obama supporters had anything to do with Kurtz' access to the Annenberg papers at UIC is laughable. He was provided access as swiftly as possible, which required quite a bit of legal work on the part of the university. That's because the terms of the Annenberg family gift did not expressly provide for public access to the requested documents. So it was the Annenberg family -- those well-known radical lefties -- that limited the access to begin with.

Or hey, feel free to just make stuff up. Either way.

Conservative Cabbie

John Birch

You're right that Obama doesn't need to win most of those states , in fact McCain needs to win them all.

McCain's route to victory means he has to win; Florida, Virginia, W Virginia, N Carolina, Missouri, Ohio, Nevada and Colorado. No small task bearing in mind Obama is ahead in all. The only small comfort for me is that he's only just ahead in all, mostly within the margin of error. I appreciate it's a difficult task but I'm just not going to give up hoping until one of those states is called for Obama on the night, despite people already crowing that it's already over.

artark

Oh my goodness gracious. The sky is falling. This is it. The end of civilization as we know it.

Common_Sense_gal

"You have to pinch yourself – a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters, is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. And apparently it’s considered impolite to say so."

I don't care if you're polite or not; but the hate-mongering is vile. I'm a Christian woman and a long-time Republican with a capital R, but I'm telling you, this nonsense about him being an Arab, a Muslim, a terrorist, a mobster, a communist, and a traitor has got to stop. It's not true, and you're not doing the GOP any favours in this election by claiming that it is.

Ex Democrat

The tidal wave of leftist cranks suddenly appearing out of nowhere on this blog, leads me only to conclude that Melanie Phillips's fine reporting on the coup d'etat that is being perpetrated against America by the Obama campaign, is having an effect.

Hooray! Keep it up, Mel.

John Primmer

None of this matters of course, because the NYT and the rest of the pretend press will not cover it. Now, if we could just turn up a DUI, as in 2000, that ought to do the trick.

SuperFan

What a very well informed, intelligent and balanced article, Ms. Phillips. You have much reason to be proud of your handiwork.

Mark Jawsz

Who the hell cares if it is impolite? Our founders had to endure far worse than emails and protests to radio talk shows. Let us start acting like free men and speak out!

Ann

Sullivan has simply lost it. He scribbles barely coherent rubbish.

Ann

"A good exercise in vague mudslinging without feeling the need to put forward any actual evidence"

Just the usual loony left lie. Nothing new there - move on, nothing to see here.
Obama's links to demented antisemites and assorted terrorists and crooks are well documented. But if you want to live on some other planet, fine.

Ruth Skidmore

Lefttist Dem's either don't know or happy to forget the history of this country. Fannie Mae put in place by FDR in 1938 until Carteer created Freddie Mac in 1977 and Clinton in the early nineties decided "every American has the right to have a home of their own" and insisted on lending criteria which diseregarded acceptable financial guidelines such as down payment, debt to income ratio etc. The Bible says the poor will always be wirh us. Wonder why? Is it because some refuse to work depending on a hand out. Standing on an intersection with a sign "please help no job! While his car is parked near by and a cold 2dollar drink concealed behind his back as he approaches your car window. If that is the way it is to be, we can all stand on the corner! Instead of getting up and going to work for those greedy corporations who expect you to produce to get paid. Will your leftist working socialist be kind enough to support us all, Let's start with the Kennedy's George Soros and how about the Clinton's.

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward,

I wasn't accusing you of anything, just observing that sometimes I believe that liberal tolerance only seems to go so far.

You say that you respect religion to the point where they seek to impose their values on others. I wonder whether that applies to political ideology too, how do you feel about wealth re-distribution for example, ID cards and so on. I agree with you that values shouldn't be forced on others, including political values.

Regards

Barry

Ha, if only it were true - the reality is that Obama is going to be no more radical than a typical centre-right European politician.

I mean, he's hardly Ralph Nader!

Nick in Virginia

Maybe McCain should just read this article as his closing statement in the debate tonight. It is probably the only way most people will get to know about it.

IF the MSM in this country had been doing its job properly, all this information would have hit the public months ago, and 0bama would not have even won the Democratic primaries.

Of course, then we would have been dealing with Hillary.....

Byron in Wahroonga

***I'm a Christian woman and a long-time Republican with a capital R***

Uh huh.

Say hello to Axelrod for us, won't you?

Byron in Wahroonga

***I can't make my mind, Is an Obama Presidency going to be a Theocracy, a Thugocracy or just an incompetency?***

Allow me to assist.

Jeremiah Wright will oversee the theocracy.

ACORN will supply the thugs.

The incompetency? That's Obama's department.

Byron in Wahroonga

***But, but, I thought he was just an airheaded, arugula eating, latte sipping liberal elitist celebrity?***

'Airheaded'?

No.

Verity

Ex-Democratic - Yes, indeed, a horde of strangers who have never posted here before and whose philosophy would not seem to be consonant with Melanie's nor that of the rest of the political right. Suddenly all here, many of them Americans, all armed with bulging briefcases of "facts".

So someone in Obama's campaign has noticed Melanie's blog. And is furious.

Cam

The real irony in all of this zeal in branding Obama a dangerous radical is that galvanizes his support among leftists who might otherwise think him too conservative. Believe it or not, there is a generous chunk of the American populace who actually AGREE with major points in the philosophy (such as it is...Wright's effectiveness relies on the more performative aspects of Christian revivalism in general and the southern black church in particular).

It's quite similar to the Palin effect, actually. She says some crazy shit, true. But a lot of people feel the exact same way as she does.

phillip

So, many of Obama's friends, associates and mentors seem to share a hatred for America, capitalism, and white people....

No big deal, right? That's got to be pretty "mainstream", wouldn't you say?

No, you wouldn't.

None of my friends HATE America.

None of my friends have BOMBED THE PENTAGON.

None of my friends have promoted RACIAL SEPARATISM.

None of my friends are ADVOCATING THE OVERTHROW OF OUR GOVERNMENT.

None of my friends are OPEN ADVOCATES OF COMMUNISM.

Frightening times for America.

This man's ideas will make us the next Zimbabwe.

James E.Engels

Why does'nt the Federal Govt call in all the outstanding loans and debts owed the US taxpapers.

mathguy

Wow, reading these comments makes me realize that the US doesn't have a corner on the nutjob market. The belief in the obvious utter garbage generated about Obama is breathtaking-and terrifying. At least y'all will be occupied with conspiracy theories and who knows what else for the next eight years.

Brian Coulter

That a major political party in the United States can give this man its enthusiastic backing should be sickening to voters who still believe that character, not charisma, is important. Obama's associations and endorsements are enough to give libertine anarchists pause.

Mark Zaenger

Is everyone going crazy...is the yearning to prove that America is no longer a racist country so deeply imbedded that it has become imperative to elect a person who does not represent an African American who believes in the fundamental goodness that America represents in the world today....are we so shallow and arrogant to believe that we can survive any major mistake in the direct of this country and its founding priciples???

Dot

When will voters wise up and see what is happening here.. Write your congressman and senators to check all this stuff out .. We have to vote in 3 weeks .. get all the facts out there fast .. convince Katie and Campbell to read all this and get them to trade sides.. Do not let Obama divide us more..

Reg.

Does any of this matter?

Presidents, (of the United States) are like the Queen, just a figurehead, an interface between his handlers and the dumb public.

A president does as he is told and mouths the words of the men behind the curtain.

You don't think for one moment that he has any say in the matter, do you?

Verity

Mathguy - Wow. Reading your comments, I realise that Britain hasn't cornered the market on deeply boring ticks who migrate to sane, right wing, civilised blogs. We're certainly getting a transAtlantic infestation over here.

My questions: Do they honestly believe anyone reads their comments beyond the first sentence? Do they honestly believe they are making killer points? Do they not know how repetitive, uniform and interchangeable their comments are?

Frank P

Reg

In one way you are correct, because it is the people who pull the strings that matter. But you missed the real point: who will be pulling the strings when he is elected (not ‘if’ anymore after the 'final debate')? Answer, the people who have mentored and shaped his career and who have a vested interest in destroying free market capitalism, increasing statism, employing racist and unfair minority interest politics and speeding up the Long March towards internationalist socialism.

They will not succeed, but the attempt will be even more destructive in the US than it has been here. And the repercussions will be deeply felt here, even though we have no vote on the question of who shall lead (or as you say, front) Western Democracy: the next President of the most powerful hegemony the world has ever known. If Barrack Hussein Obama fronts a socialist, welfarist cabal such as has been in power in the UK for the past 11 years, not only will our sovereignty dissipate more rapidly, but the defence umbrella under which we have lived since 1941 will be shot full of holes. Then we will indeed experience climate change - a cultural climate change involving the politics of oppression and levelling down (with the exception of course of the soviet cabal at the top of the muck-heap).

Watch out for the suppression of free speech as an early development in an Obama administration, particularly in relation to the Internet.

Remember, my dear friends in the Land of the Free, despite my pessimism - the final debate was actually not last night; it is your role in the debate when you enter the ballot box. Yours is the final word - please don't be gulled by a smooth talking brainwashed lawyer whose role is to implement the dreams of erstwhile terrorists who have merely changed tactics a la Gramsci, rather than changing their inimical aims for America.

McCain is elderly and he is not as 'eloquent' as The Chosen One, but his heart is in the right place and that place is the USA, not the USSA.

Byron in Wahroonga

***Presidents, (of the United States) are like the Queen, just a figurehead, an interface between his handlers and the dumb public***

That's what Saddam thought, Reg.

Ianscot

This is an 'echo chamber' comments area, of the least interested sort. The river's pretty narrow at this point, would be the problem I suppose.

ptet

"One of the most disturbing aspects of Kurtz's claims is Obama's direct role on the board of the Annenberg challenge"

FFS. As Doug pointed out, the Annenberg challenge was set started & funded by a former ambassador for the Nixon administration and had board members from the Reagan administration.

This article is woeful. Which is a pity, 'cause Melanie Phillips is usually such a beacon of responsible journalism when she rights for the Daily Mail...

Ronnie

Another dense methane cloud of pompous self-regard from Frank P.

Donna Fuller

It's difficult to believe we may be on the verge of electing this chameleon (Obama) as our president. Thank God there are people such as yourself who seek the truth and have the courage to report it. I highly respect Stanley Kurtz, Michael Barone, a precious few others, and now you, Melanie. It's comforting to know some in the media understand what their role should be.

S2

not that Obama is actually a Scoialist or anything, but can someone please explain to me why America has such a ridiculous fear of the principals of Socialism? Please give me an answer that does not refer to Russia as the system there was not a reflection of the Socialist Principals of equal opportunities in education, healthcare, employment etc....

Who is John Gault?

Americans have gone "collectively" mad. Soon, the world will not be a better place. Be affaid.

Janeway

I had a professional person comment the other day that "Obama could commit murder on CNN and noone would care" - so that's about it! It is not that people do not know, it is that they do not care!

John Gault

S2, here is your answer: “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”

Jill

Common Sense Gal: I don't care if you're polite or not; but the hate-mongering is vile. I'm a Christian woman and a long-time Republican with a capital R, but I'm telling you, this nonsense about him being an Arab, a Muslim, a terrorist, a mobster, a communist, and a traitor has got to stop. It's not true, and you're not doing the GOP any favours in this election by claiming that it is.

Jill response: Common sense? How would you phrase it if someone "is a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters, is on the verge of becoming President of the United States."

From one Rep to another, please tell me.

geokstr

Jill:

I agree with others here that you are not really a capital "R" anything, but a troll. There are literally thousands of trolls out there that start off their comment with, "I am a life-long republican, but now...". That's actually a tactic devised democrats in the 1990s to flood the newly successful conservative talk radio shows' call-in lines. It's not believable anymore.

Maybe if you'd like to read this heavily documented article about the web of left-wing radicalism Obama has deliberately immersed himself in his entire life, it might be an eye-opener:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/09/barack_obama_and_the_strategy.html

There are NO people from the other side of the aisle in his life, the kind he says that he will be able to bring together, when he has shown absolutely no inclination to bring together anyone except the left and the far left in his past.

However, I predict that you will not even attempt to look at it, because the cognitive dissonance that it may engender will cause your head to explode.

Why on earth do you think he disavows so much of his own past, and even then, only when he is forced to, to prevent damage to his political career? He should be proud of the things
he's done in his life, shouldn't he? Instead it is getting very crowded under that bus he keeps throwing allies, mentors, relatives, and associates under.

And I don't even like McCain.

Ellen

Jill, no serious commentator suggests Mr Obama is a Muslim or a terrorist.

What they do suggest, based on the clear evidence of people who knew him as a child, is that he was a Muslim.

There is a clear difference and an urgent need for Mr Obama to explain when he converted and why he is flatly contradicting the evidence of his school teachers.

Likewise, Mr Obama is not a terrorist – but he has seen fit to consort with terrorists.

The public expect questions to be asked.

Let's take a scenario in Britain: Ken Livingstone shakes hands with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Much less an event than Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, yet the media - quite rightly - wanted to know why Mr Livingstone thought it was acceptable.

Why isn't the same level of scrutiny and criticism being applied to Mr Obama?

Is it because he is black that the mainstream media have decided he gets a free ride?

Is it because they think these associations - launching his political career in Bill Ayers' living room, sitting on a board with him and so on - don't matter?

The public see the double standards and just want to know what's going on.

Ronnie

Ellen, perhaps you could explain why you think that Ken Livingstone, a very famous leading member of the Labour party, shaking hands with Gerry Adams is a lesser event than Obama's much heralded relationship with Bill Ayers?

Maybe you missed it but the, US-funded IRA and its political wing, Sinn Fein, were a great deal more effective in their violence and a much bigger threat to the United Kingdom and its citizens than were the Weather Underground in the United States.

I'm afraid you've seriously lost the plot here Ellen.

Aaron1973

"can someone please explain to me why America has such a ridiculous fear of the principals of Socialism? Please give me an answer that does not refer to Russia"

I can give you what I think is the true answer, but its indelibly tied in with the former USSR.

Capsule version:

The USA has always been somewhat more conservative, on average, than most European countries. In the early 20th century, fear of communists and anarchists was high.

Then, after WWII's conclusion, USA's Millitary Industrial complex, and certain Ameican political factions, found it covenient to greatly, and in some cases absurdly, sharpen the rational fear of the USSR in order to keep the public in check. This policy succeeded so well that fear of socialists became a kind of religion for many in the US. This continues today.

Linda Weber

"inch Yourself" is one of the best researched and most concise analyses of Obama's link with Ayes and Wright that I have read anywhere.
I commend Melanie Phillips for a job well-done. I knew most of what was in the article, but found a few nuggets new even to me.
What a shame the US press cannot go as in-depth.
This article was professionally written and shared an understanding of relationships involved.

splinkman

At the 11th hour someone is questioning, in court, Obama's eligibility to stand for election!

http://www.americasright.com/2008/10/lawsuit-in-washington-state-questions.html
+++++++++++++++
That lawsuit began months ago. It's been kept under wraps and odds are that you won't hear of it from the MSM.....at least not until after the election.

Rover

I see Ronnie’s at it again.

Ronnie’s first response whenever he doesn’t like something is to read what he wished was there instead of what is there.

Witness his pathetic silence when confronted with Koran quotes.

He must think everybody else misses those too.

I’ve just re-read Ellen’s post and, guess what, it’s nothing to do with the size and scale of the terrorism (to most people, Ronnie, all terrorism is equally vile) but to do with what happens when a mainstream politician is found to have associated with someone who endorses terrorism.

Ken Livingstone was carpeted by the media merely for shaking hands with Adams. The difference between that level of association and Obama is that Mr Obama did not merely shake hands with the odious Bill Ayers. As Ellen points out, Obama was close enough to Ayers to be in his living room - of all places. They have also both worked closely in politics distributing funds for ‘education’ programmes.

That amounts to something much more than a handshake on a podium. That clearly tells you these two both share an awful lot of political ideology.

This is what is at stake here. Politicians know the form when they mix with this person or that person. If William Hague hangs out at a Barclays Bank shindig, we want to know why. It matters. Who you do and don’t associate with tells the electorate an awful lot about a politician’s values.

So how on earth is this warped character headed for the White House?

Hayward Maberley

Ellen,
Lest you forget! I have not and probably many others as well.
President Reagan met with the leaders of the Taliban in March 1983. This when they, like the later “Contras” a gang of narcocrims, were also regarded as "brave freedom fighters"
See @ http://politicalfever.org/war/1525-1983-ronald-reagan-meets-leaders-taliban.html
Then there those such as Elliot Abrams, Caspar Weinberger and others of the now noisome Neocons, et al. who were given Presidential Pardons after being tried and convicted in the Iran-Contra affair that was clearly linked to terrorists

Jill

geokstr
October 16th, 2008 5:29pm
Jill:

I agree with others here that you are not really a capital "R" anything, but a troll. There are literally thousands of trolls out there that start off their comment with, "I am a life-long republican, but now...". That's actually a tactic devised democrats in the 1990s to flood the newly successful conservative talk radio shows' call-in lines. It's not believable anymore.

Hi goekstr,

I think you have me mixed up with someone else. Check the names. Thanks for the reference to American Thinker. I'm an avid fan of that website.

Jill

Ellen: Likewise, Mr Obama is not a terrorist – but he has seen fit to consort with terrorists.

Jill: Yes, I know. Is there another Jill at this thread?

Maybe this will clear it up. I've been saying since last March that Obama is a Socialist Communist whose goal is to enslave us all. His Conservative Union Rating is 7. McCain's is 83. But, I also think the Democrat leaders are Socialists. I fought for drilling and went ballistic over the bail out. My Republican Representative did not vote in favor of the bail out.

Yes, I'm new here, and yes I'm a Republican. I even have a John Birch Society card from my youthful days. It's all tattered and rabbit eared; I keep it for the memories.

Sorry if I created any misunderstandings. Well, I might as well tell it to you straight. I spent a few years delving into the Libertarian Party, but never changed my voting card. I swear it! And in college I wrote a feminist essay. I'm so ashamed. Despite it all, I'm still a Republican. I have not voted for a Democrat in my lifetime. I'm a free market believer in Jesus with a Plan B if this election doesn't work-out of living in a cabin in the mountains laden with gold, winter wheat, and semi-automatic guns. Is that Republican enough for ya? geeezzzz...(I'm joking!)

I hope ya'll have room for me here.

Jill

Ellen and Geokstr,

I know now why you addressed me as you did. I quoted someone else, and you thought I wrote those comments.

Jill

Just found this and want to share it with you for encouragement:

Why This Election Will Be Close: Hushed Confessions

In recent weeks I have spent a good amount of time crisscrossing the country.

Something very unusual is taking place.

From Seattle to San Diego, from Burlington, Vermont to New York City, from New Orleans to Texas and Midwest towns like Cleveland, I am hearing hushed admissions of a terrible sin: “Father, I’m not going to vote for Obama.”

Then I look at the polls. Nationally and in battleground States, Senator Obama is thrashing Senator McCain.

So what gives?

cut and paste this to read the rest of the article.
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/16/frj_1016/

Wendy J.

Why does often take someone so far away to see so clearly?
Please come to this "side of the pond" and share some more -
we need you for actual facts before this election takes place.

Ronnie

Rover, fetch the stick!

I see that you are as far off the pace here as Ellen.

Firstly I would be grateful if you could explain your comment about quotes from the Koran. Obviously we are on very different wavelengths here because I have no idea what you mean.

Now, Ken Livingstone's handshake with Gerry Adams was indeed condemned by many in the British media. However, it was an action that symbolised the uncomfortable fact that for a solution to be found to the situation in Northern Ireland, people would have to start talking sooner or later. Subsequent events have shown that Ken was right and actually courageous at the time.

I don't really know anything about Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers and you might think that strange given how much has been made of it. There are two reasons for my ignorance.

I do not for one second trust or believe any of the sources of the 'information' on the subject. I am old enough to have learned that lesson, especially when the extreme American right are involved.

Secondly, the presentation of the 'information' has been so hysterically overblown that it has been rendered incredible to sane people.

Obviously you people are afraid of something but you are making it seem as though you are afraid of everything (including the Koran, presumably).

Going back to the relationships that politicians form during every stage of their careers. I think your hair would stand on end if you knew of the associations that some of your heros have formed. The same goes for me.

How do you feel, for example, about Reagan selling missiles to the 'Mullahs' in Tehran?

Are you happy that Bush let all those Saudis leave US soil on the only planes flying after 9/11, to prevent the FBI talking to them?

A lot of wingnuts have been very quiet when those questions are being asked.

Aaron1973

"I've been saying since last March that Obama is a Socialist Communist whose goal is to enslave us all."

Jill

Are you sure he's not a radical Muslim who is planning to institute Sharia law in the US? I was reading on a website that this was his plan.

Rover

You’ve forgotten your ostrich impression apropos The Koran already, Ronnie? Let’s remind you:

http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/883281/daniel-kawczynski-mp-apologises-to-melanie-phillips.thtml#comments

You say Ken Livingstone ‘was right and actually courageous at the time’. Oh, so stuff the dead, then. Their big mistake was to not blow people up.

Northern Ireland itself, far from being a land of sweetness and light, now has a mafia culture based along sectarian lines that rivals the Italian mafia for its sheer ferocity and reach. Peter Hitchens is one of the few British journalists to have chronicled what so many want swept under the carpet.

But people like you don’t give a damn about all the punishments beatings that people are too scared to report and all the similar stuff that goes on just the same as it always did. I have no idea where you’re writing from, but it certainly isn’t Northern Ireland.

As long as New Labour has its fiction that Tony sorted out Northern Ireland, that’s all that matters.

You’re attitude to Obama is similar to your attitude on Northern Ireland: out of sight, out of mind. There has been plenty of clear, unequivocal evidence on the Senator’s past, but you simply discount this with ‘I do not for one second trust or believe any of the sources of the 'information' on the subject.’

So the only source of authority on Barack Obama is: Barack Obama.

Mao Zedong would have killed for political support like that - literally.

Ronnie

Rover! You're one of those guys, I get it now.

I'm amazed how you can link Northern Ireland, the Koran and my unrepentant support for Mao together like that. Brilliant, exellent form.

Not that I support Tony Blair, for a variety of reasons, but it seems that you were happier with the bombs. My noting that they appear not to be there does not mean that I am happy with mob gangsterism and beatings. I can't see how you got there but it may be as a result of my unrepentant support for Mao.

I wasn't aware that I was supposed to say anything about the quotes from the Koran. I didn't write them, I don't agree with them but obviously you think that I fully support the sentiments that they express. You probably think that because I am responsible for the continuing violence on the streets of Northern Ireland.

I'll have to get ack to you on Mao because I can't quite see where he fits in at the moment.

I can't wait for your next post...

I wonder if it will have anything at all to do with the US presidential election.

Rover

Ronnie, put the toys back in the pram.

All people are trying to do is talk about the US election and when the evidence is plonked in front of you about Obama, you say it simply isn’t true.

All people want to know is why Barack Obama is not subjected to the same criticism other politicians are.

Ronald Reagan should never have met the Taliban, as subsequent history has proven. One thing he didn’t do, though, was campaign from their tents or chew the fat with them on education boards.

This wasn’t an issue that needed the Obamessiah to sort it out. This was an unrepentant terrorist who wishes he had done more. Why did Obama go out of his way, then, to the extent that he ended up launching his political career in his living room?

I don’t suggest you support the gangsterism in Northern Ireland at all, I just suggest that you’re happy for a veil to be drawn over it - either that or you‘re intensely ignorant of it.
By your own admission you‘re prepared to ignore all the factual evidence that suggests Barack Obama might actually be an ordinary politician after all.

It’s time to face facts, Ronnie. Not start shooting the messenger and bleat about it.

Billy Wilcher

To winstanley
October 14th, 2008 7:20pm

You say name one leftest President. How about Bill Clinton. He had friends in the Russian Communist government.