Why Barak Obama Can’t Win in West Virginia

For weeks, all I have been hearing from the left is that it is time for Hillary to get out of the race. Even the liberals have been accusing her of tearing the party apart. After all, it is time for the party to unite, and face off against the mean, nasty Republicans.

Hold the phone. Not so fast. Maybe we should let her wait until after the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries. Why? Because Obama cannot possibly win those states. Even if Hillary bows out, she will still win at least those two states in a landslide.

I have been listening and reading about this with great interest today, since West Virginia is my home state. I have been amazed at the negative press that we have received in the last few days. Those in the Obama camp have already given up on this state, conceding it to Hillary. I have been reading some blogs, like First Door on the Left, which seem to suggest that because West Virginia is predominantly white, and predominantly “uneducated” (that is, only about 14% of West Virginians 25+ hold a Bachelor’s Degree) they will vote for HIllary in the primary, and then McCain in the general election. Many of the news sources have tried to make it out like West Virginia will not vote for Obama because we are just racist…we aren’t ready for a black president.

What many of these authors refuse to consider is that West Virgina used to be a “yellow dog democrat” state. That means (for the uninformed) that if the democrats put a an ol’ yellow dog on the ticket, it would get elected over a republican candidate. They couldn’t lose. In fact, the state has been run by democrats for what seems like forever! And then along came Al Gore. Gore made gun control a major part of his presidential platform. It was the death knell to the Gore campaign in West Virginia. There are some things that will not be accepted here in WV, and one is the threat of taking away (or limiting) gun rights.

Enter Barak Obama. Remember just a few weeks ago when Barak told us that only frustrated people “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” Some people said that this was elitist. I’m really not concerned about whether it is elitist or not. I am more concerned about the political belief system that would inspire him to say such a thing! He relegates the issues of the 2nd Amendment, Religion and Border Control to being economically frustrated. Does that not indicate that if we are all financially content we won’t want guns or religion any more, and we won’t care about immigration? This is a reflection of his deeply held socialist beliefs. That is why he wants socialized (universal) health care. That is why he wants to raise taxes to redistribute the wealth among those who have not earned it. That is why he wants more governmental control over most aspects of our lives, including restriction of gun ownership.

I am tired of hearing that those of us who oppose Obama are really just not smart enough to understand his brilliance. Or that we are racist. Or that we are afraid he might be a Muslim. Sorry folks, none of the above! Barak Obama is being rejected in the Mountain State because he does not have the same beliefs and values of the people of the state. Just as a side note, Hillary probably doesn’t either. That is why she will lose this state to McCain as well. There is a reason that we elected a Republican president, and a Democrat Governor in the last election! West Virginians actually vote on their own values, not on what the various parties tell them to vote on. So, don’t try to make it sound like we are racist, uneducated, gun toting, church attending, bumpkins.

Lets get back to our original premise: even the liberals are trying to keep Hillary in the race now. Why? Because it would be embarrassing for Barak to lose these two races so big without her in the race. Is it less embarrassing for the candidate that everyone is presuming to be the Democrat nominee to lose by 40 points to someone IN the race? I think it reflects the fact that Obama cannot win. If he can “unite the nation” as he claims, then why can’t he even get close in these predominantly rural states? He cannot relate with the values, economy or environment of states like West Virginia and Kentucky. Obviously Hillary would be a stronger candidate in the general election for the Democrats. She has not been completely blown out in any state, and would be very close to being in the lead if she could get Florida and Michigan thrown in.

For once, I’m with the liberals. Stay in the race Hillary. Stay in through the WV and KY primaries. Stay in through May 20th. Stay in until every last Super Delegate votes. Stay in until the end. Carry it all the way to convention. I’m really enjoying seeing the Democratic Party continuing to destroy itself. We have been told just how bad a job Bush has been doing. That should make it an easy win for the Democrats. But, it just isn’t going to happen! They are going to continue fighting among themselves until even their own constituents are going to get sick of them. I’m loving it!

Jenna Bush Wedding: Low Key Affair

One of President Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna Bush, was wed Saturday at the family’s ranch in Crawford, Texas. According to the Associated Press, Jenna did not want to have her wedding in the White House, but at the family farm so that she could have a more casual wedding.

Jenna’s wedding was the 22nd of a President’s child while he was in office. But, there was a huge difference between this wedding and previous weddings. This one was sensible. It was much more low key. From the description of the wedding, it appears to have been a very nice event, without a lot of fanfare.

I did notice that even in the midst of reporting on the president’s daughter’s wedding, the press couldn’t help but take another jab at the president. In this AP article, the author wrote:

Even without the prying eyes of strangers, Jenna’s marriage to her longtime boyfriend Henry Hager made presidential history. It will be remembered as an upbeat moment of Bush’s two-term presidency beset by terrorism, war and the nation’s current limp economy.

Are you kidding me?  You can’t even report on a wedding without taking a shot?  It shows the fact that the media has to continually drive home the idea that they think Bush is doing a bad job in the Presidency.  You’d think they could give him (and us) a break in this story!

If you want to see more about the wedding itself, this article covers much of the details.  You can head over there to read a bit more.  Congratulations to Jenna Bush, and good luck!

US Continues to Cower to Hugo Chavez

Are you getting sick and tired of gas prices going up. I know I am! Today, the average price at the pump for regular gas is $3.67. Locally, the cheapest I can find is $3.75. Why is the gas prices going up again? Because we rely on Venezuela Oil, and Hugo Chavez. Today, the per barrel price was raised to $126.

You see, we have an ally in Columbia, and Hugo Chavez is supporting the rebels who are trying to overthrow the Columbian Government. However, Venezuela also is a member of OPEC, and any attempt to stop the rebellion with military force may restrict the number of barrels of oil that Venezuela can, or will export. Suddenly, we have a restriction in supply of oil, which causes the price to escalate. Notice, the price is going up on the barrel because there is a THREAT of military intervention against Venezuela! There is a greater chance now that the US will impose some kind of sanctions against Chavez and Venezuela because the tie between Chavez and the rebels has been firmly established now. This will affect the price of gas again–raising the price. Here comes the $4 per gallon that we have been promised!

According to an article published on Yahoo, and from the Associated Press, this may cause Chavez to threaten to stop all export of oil to us. Here is a quote from the article:

“If we put on sanctions, I’m sure Chavez would threaten to cut off our oil supply,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. “Obviously that would have a major impact on oil prices.”

Yes, it will have a major impact on oil prices, because we are so reliant on the oil from places like Venezuela. So, we cower to dictators like Chavez, because we have no other options. We have to get our oil from somewhere. So we just have to take it. Thanks again, Bill Clinton!

The truth is, we don’t have to keep taking it. We should be drilling for our own oil, and then we wouldn’t have to be affected by every political situation that arises around the world. We have oil, but we have to be willing to go get it. We have oil in ANWAR. We have oil in the Coast of Florida. But, you know what? We are not willing to go get it! We have not only coward…oops, Freudian slip there…cowered to men like Chavez, but we have cowered to the extremist environmentalists. Do you realize that the environmentalists have kept us from drilling the oil off the coast of Florida, but the Chinese have moved in from the Cuban side and are drilling while we twiddle our thumbs? There are billions of barrels of oil that will now be drilled by the Chinese, rather than by us. Do you think we will get the best price per barrel in that situation? Yeah, me either.

So, the question is, how long are we going to allow this to continue? Are we going to continue to let these extremist dictators control our oil supplies forever? Are we going to allow the environmental extremists in this country to keep us from RESPONSIBLY drilling for oil in places like ANWAR and off the coasts of Florida? Face it, someone is going to get it…it might as well be us! If we had gone off the coast of Florida just 10 years ago, we would have had all that oil, and Communist China would not be securing it all for themselves!

But, you can’t convince those who are opposed to drilling on our own shores. They have been duped into believing that if we drill, we will completely destroy our country, our environment, and our wildlife. It just isn’t going to happen. But, nothing is going to change anytime soon. Even if McCain wins, he has vowed not to drill in ANWAR. So, gas will continue to climb. And we will continue to take it because we cower at the feet of Hugo Chavez, and the environmentalists of this country. Do I hear $5 per gallon?

Stephen King Says He’s…NOT Sorry!

Stephen King has released a statement on his website, according to an article from the Associated Press, concerning the noise that has been made on blogs like this one condemning his stupidity. I guess being literate isn’t the only qualifier for determining intelligence. In case you missed it, or forgot about it, here is what Stephen King said about a month ago, when speaking before a group of high school students at the Library of Congress:

I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s not as bright.

Today, we can take a look at the response from King, aimed toward those who have written about his comments, and condemned his statements. Here is his statement from Monday:

That a right-wing-blog would impugn my patriotism because I said children should learn to read, and could get better jobs by doing so, is beneath contempt.

Ok, I am not sure exactly which blog he is addressing. Evidently there was a conservative blogger, Noel Sheppard, who heard the original statement first hand and wrote about it on his blog. He compared the statements made by King to those made by John Kerry earlier in this election cycle, just as I did a few days ago. But anyway, back to the statement itself. I think King should have just apologized for his incredibly asinine remark, rather than just making it worse with this stupid statement! No one that I have read has blasted him for saying that children should learn to read, and to make that accusation is nothing but intellectual dishonesty. If he can’t figure out what is really being said, then maybe he isn’t as literate as everyone thinks…he can get the words, just not the meanings behind them.

Just to prove that he wasn’t sorry for the statement that he made back on April 4th, King went on to say:

I live in a National Guard town, and I support our troops, but I don’t support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career — military or otherwise.

That sounds to me like he is just reiterating the previous statements. If you are in the National Guard, or in the regular military, it is because of the “educational policies that limit the options of young men and women…” That means that they are just too dumb to be able to do anything else.

Let me repeat a point that I made in a previous post: Our military is more intelligent, and better educated today than it has ever been. No matter how many lame statements King makes, these statements are still an insult! One comment I read on another blog (I can’t remember which one) made a pretty good point. It said (and I am paraphrasing), “King made these statements when no soldiers were around…why don’t we invite a group of them to his next book signing and see if he is so outspoken…” Good question.

I must say, at least John Kerry had enough sense to apologize for his statements. I’m guessing King has backed himself into a corner, and he won’t be able to make an apology. He has already come out fighting. Lucky for him, none of those “dumb soldiers” are there to fight with him…

EDIT:  After doing a bit more research on this topic, I came across some more information that may benefit you as you consider the story.

First, the blogger whom King was blasting, who broke the story of King’s original remarks, is Noel Sheppard, who writes a blog on NewsBusters.org.  Be sure to jump over there and read up on all that has been happening with this story over the last few days.  It is certainly interesting.

Second, if you want to read more about Stephen King’s statements from his own perspective, you can visit his website and see the “non-apology” in its context.  You will have to scroll down a bit, as the news section of the site has one long page of entries.

Rush Limbaugh Wins Big in Indiana Democratic Primary

I’ll bet you all thought that the race was between Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Well, enter Operation Chaos, and the power of Rush Limbaugh. Love him or hate him, pretty much everyone is now admitting that his antics have had an effect on the Democratic Primaries. The latest indication is found in the fact that Barak Obama (or at least his campaign) is crediting Rush with Hillary’s victory in Indiana.

In this story from Fox News, the Obama camp claimed that Clinton picked up about 7 points from the “Limbaugh effect.” Of course, Obama is trying desperately to spin that fact in his favor. He has tried to make it appear that he has a much better chance of beating McCain in the general election because his numbers are not inflated by these “crossover” votes. That may very well be the case, but in fact, the “Limbaugh Effect” is not good for either of the Democratic candidates. Clinton’s win in Indiana will certainly keep her in the race a while longer, making Obama spend his time, money and energy battling her, instead of being able to turn his attention to the general election and John McCain. I have noticed that “supporters” for Obama have already turned against McCain, trying to do the dirty work for Obama before he even gets into the general election.

It has been very humorous watching Limbaugh’s influence on the democratic primaries. For the most part, the candidates, and the general media have denied that “Operation Chaos” has had any real impact at all. They claim that there really aren’t Republicans crossing the party line to vote for Clinton just to keep the primaries going. However, we have seen poll workers from the democrats’ side of the aisle trying to intimidate voters from changing their registration and voting for a democrat in the primary. If the movement isn’t really having an impact, then why try to stop it from happening. Finally, today, we see Obama acknowledge the “Limbaugh Effect.” That gives more credence to the “operation” than anything else.

I don’t think that “Operation Chaos” will ever cause Hillary to be the nominee. However, I think it has certainly accomplished Limbaugh’s stated purpose–to extend the primary season for the democrats. Limbaugh has put forth the proposition that liberals were responsible for voting in the early Republican Primaries for the purpose of swinging the vote to a more liberal John McCain. I think he is probably right in that supposition. More on that in posts to come. It has been, however, fun to see the turmoil that the democratic party has been thrown into. Here is Rush’s assessment on the situation, from the Fox News article:

“I see the Obama campaign is saying Operation Chaos accounted for a 7-point bump for Hillary in Indiana. I think they are just jealous that I out-organized them,” Limbaugh told FOX News Tuesday night. “I am extremely proud of Operation Chaos volunteers. I never doubted they would triumph and it is a delight to see.”

I know that Hillary can’t acknowledge all of this, but I’m sure in the privacy of her own home, she silently thanks Limbaugh for all he has done to promote her run for the presidency. I wonder if she sees the handwriting on the wall yet?

Stephen King and John Kerry Show the Real Liberal Mindset!

Several Months ago, John Kerry got booted from the presidential race because of derogatory remark aimed at the men and women of the military. Here is what he had to say:

“You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

He later tried to act as if he had “misspoken” and that he was really speaking about President Bush. Really? The President Bush who attended Yale and earned a Bachelor’s Degree, and then Harvard Business School where he earned an MBA. I’m sure that he was able to do that, even though he really isn’t that smart, and he didn’t “study hard, do his homework, or make an effort to be smart.” President Bush has also been highly successful in business. He invested about $800,000 in the Texas Rangers in 1989, and then sold his share of the team in 1998 for $15 Million. Besides that, he has successfully run for several elected offices, and won. Oh, and one more thing…he won the presidency twice. Regardless of what the liberals have propagated for the last 8 years, this man is not stupid. He is not articulate! But, being articulate is not the sole identifier of one who is intelligent. If you take the body of work that George Bush has put together in the last 30 years, you have to be ignorant to think that he is stupid! You can see much more about the life of George Bush at Wikipedia, though you will have to weed through the liberal commentary and just pick out the facts. It is interesting that even in that article, every good thing accomplished by George Bush is painted in a bad light!

It is clear that John Kerry was not really talking about George Bush, so the only other conclusion is that he was talking about those who are serving in the military. I know this is dredging up old news, but it sets the stage for what came out in the last day or so. And that is, Stephen King’s comments. Speaking before a group of high school students at the Library of Congress, King had this to say:

I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got, the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s, it’s not as bright. So, that’s my little commercial for that.

So, Kerry claimed that his comments were just a mistake. A blown joke. But, at the time, many of us thought that he was just reflecting the true liberal mindset. This quote from King makes it pretty clear that this really is the mindset of liberals…or at least this liberal.

Why are these quotes so troubling? Because they are derogatory to those who choose to sign up for our military forces. They have come to the conclusion that they don’t agree with the war, therefore everyone who is smart must agree with them. Therefore, if a person volunteers to sign up for a war they don’t agree with, they must be stupid, and unable to get a job anywhere else. There have been numerous claims to that effect made over the last five or six years. How often have you heard that our young people just couldn’t afford to get an education unless they joined the military, and let the government pay for it. Or that people sign up for the military because there aren’t any other jobs, after all, every factory has been shut down nation wide!  They don’t even consider the possibility that these young people are smart people, who believe in the military.  Liberals think that our military is supposed to be able to have a free will–that is they can fight when they want to, and not fight when they don’t want to.  But that is not the nature of a military force.  They fight when the Commander-in-Chief decides it is appropriate.  They believe in freedom, and so they fight when they are commanded to do so.  However, it is interesting that when Clinton was in office, the military was at an all time low.  Under Bush, the military has been the strongest it has been for a long time.  What we need to remember when considering those facts is that we have a volunteer force!  The military is not as large as it is right now only because the Bush administration has compelled it to be so, but because men and women have signed up, voluntarily, to protect this country, and its interests throughout the world.

Liberals should be furious with these high profile men speaking in such a depreciatory way toward our military.  How dare they say that our men and women in uniform are only in uniform because they are too stupid to do anything else.  We have the most intelligent, educated armed forces on the face of the earth.  If you don’t think this war should be fought, then say so–it is your right.  But, don’t insult the men and women of the armed forces.  I wonder if the same soldiers will still be stupid when they are under the command of a democratic president?

I, for one, will not insult those who choose to protect our country.  They give us the freedom that we have, and I appreciate the sacrifice that they have made to provide these freedoms.  In fact, they are the very ones who provide the freedom for these liberals to make their uniformed, ridiculous statements about the military!

John McCain on ANWAR: Proves He is a RINO!

Recently I was listening to John McCain on the Glen Beck radio show (either yesterday or the day before), and had my opinion that he is nothing but a democrat in sheep’s clothing reinforced. He has absolutely no real, long term plan for energy reformation, just like all of the democrats running in the race this time around. He has proposed that the government take a little holiday from collecting the gas tax. If that sounds like a great idea to you, just remember that even Hillary Clinton jumped on board with that one. That should send red flags up in your mind, if nothing else will.

What is the problem with the Gas Holiday proposal? There are several that come to mind:

It is merely a temporary fix. This is like putting a band-aid on a severed limb. It isn’t going to do anything really to help in the short term, and will kill us in the long term. The Federal Government collects 18.4 cents per gallon. That saves me approximately $3.68 on a fill up, of which I get about 6-8 per month. That saves me about $30 per month. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am for getting anything I can back from the government. I am for cutting taxes anytime I can get it. But, this isn’t going to stimulate the economy in any way. It isn’t going to help get things moving in the right direction. I drive quite a bit, and I would only benefit, at most, $30 for the month. That is a whole $120 for the summer. McCain did say he thought this could make it so folks could buy more school supplies for their kids. I guess that is about all it would do.

We won’t get ALL of the benefits. Face it, all of that 18.4 cents will never find its way into our pockets. You know that if the tax was taken away today, the oil companies would find a way to raise prices tomorrow. They have already predicted that prices will shoot up over $4 per gallon. That is just the way to soften us up, and get us to pay it. This move by the government would just give them a reason to do it sooner than later. Lest you misunderstand me here, I am not against big corporations, or even big oil. However, I don’t think that the oil market (at least in this country) is being controlled by the free market. Because we cannot really function without gasoline, we are forced to pay whatever is being charged. Any other element of society would have been restricted by the markets long ago. Anyway, back to the point: if the government reduces taxes, we still will not really save any money because the oil companies will raise the price to the same levels, or higher.

This does nothing to develop something for the future. How does this help us when the 3 month holiday is over? There still is no plan in place to cause the price of oil to come down, or to provide some alternative for the oil. None of the current candidates have a plan for this! All 3 refuse to do anything to allow domestic oil production to increase. Unless we get someone in the presidency who is willing to do something different than what we have always done, we will continue down the same path, and dig ourselves into deeper holes. I guess we will have to wait till at least 2012…

One thing that John McCain said on Glen Beck’s show that really aggravated me was that he would never drill in ANWAR. In fact, he said something to the effect, “I would no sooner drill in ANWAR than I would the Grand Canyon.” To this, Beck responded, “Is there oil in the Grand Canyon?” This exchange showed that McCain, while claiming to be “his own man” and “not beholding to anyone”, “a maverick”, is really just like most of the democrats. He is in the pocket of the environmental lobbyists. If he would look at the science, and the reports on drilling in ANWAR, he would see that this is the thing to do! Think about it:

• ANWAR has at least the 2nd largest oil pocket in the US
• The drilling site will be quite small compared to the whole Reserve area
• There is no hard evidence that shows that the environment would be hurt by drilling
• There is no hard evidence that shows that the wildlife of the region would be hurt by drilling

Now, I have heard the plethora of nonsensical arguments made by those on the left concerning drilling in ANWAR. They claim there isn’t much oil there. They claim that drilling there will destroy the whole Wildlife Reserve. They claim that the caribou are going to go extinct. The list goes on and on. But, these are nothing but liberal talking points. They are unprovable, but play on the fears of the people who “really care”. I care about our environment, and I care about our wildlife. But, the environment has withstood far more than this, and the wildlife have adapted to far greater challenges. It is time to make a move to do something that will truly impact the supply of oil in this country: drill for more domestic oil!

There has been a lot of talk over the last few weeks trying to depicts McCain as a conservative. There has to be a lot of talk, because it just is not true! He is no more conservative than Barak Obama. After this election, we can all give up on the hope that we will have reasonable energy costs any time soon. We are destined to have $4+ gas forever. That is not pessimism, it is realism.

Here is a cartoon I got from over at Vulcan’s Hammer, which really sums up where we are with energy in this country:

It will continue to be more of the same if McCain, Clinton or Obama are elected. They will pander to the environmentalists who will keep any kind of progress from being accomplished toward energy independence. Just consider the “Kennedy Clan”, who claim they are all for alternative energy sources, as long as it isn’t in their backyard. We want cheaper domestic energy, without having the energy produced here…hmmm…how’s that working out?

Liberal Bloggers Love Their Wussy Candidates…

That has to be what it is. After all, they seem to be throwing a fit about their liberal candidates deciding to do interviews on the Fox News Channel. They would rather all Democrats avoid the channel like the plague. I think the problem is that they might actually get asked a real question, instead of the fluff that they get from the media that is so in love with them that they will do whatever is necessary to get one of them elected.

It is amazing to me that liberals can complain that Fox News is conservative, but believe that all of the rest of the Cable News Channels are truly unbiased. Come on people, lets be a little less naive, or a little less dishonest, whichever the case may be. I can see that Fox News leans to the right…but I also have enough sense to see that CNN, and MSNBC lean drastically to the left. The problem is that these candidates are not running for president of one party, they are running for president of the whole country. If they can’t even take on a reporter that takes a different position that they do, then how can they possibly hope to be a good president over the whole country? I have yet to see any of the republican candidates proclaim a boycott of the Clinton News Network (CNN).

My question is: why do the liberals fear a more conservative news channel? Why would they be afraid to let their candidates do interviews on such a channel? We hear constantly about how the democrats are so far superior to the republicans in intellect. You’d think from this campaign that the two smartest people in the world are running against one another in the democratic primary. I’d think they would be able to handle a couple of conservative anchors. You know though, that both Obama and Clinton are avoiding Sean Hannity like the plague! This attitude shows the truth about the liberal mentality. They have demanded from day one of the Bush Presidency that he “reach across the aisle”, but that mentality does not apply to the democrats. They don’t have to “reach across the aisle”, in fact, they better not or they will be skewered.

My assessment is that candidates that are too afraid to go on a talk show, or do an interview with a person who may challenge them on their political stand or beliefs, are too cowardly to be president. And for all of the bloggers who have hit the roof because their candidates have actually done a challenging interview (the one that they have had in the last 10 months of the campaign), you should be happy. Only a really wussy candidate would be afraid of an interview. Good grief, John McCain even went on The View…it doesn’t get any more hostile for a Conservative than that!

Wesley Snipes’ New Cellmate: Al Franken?

Many of you have probably already heard that Al Franken has fallen a bit behind in paying his taxes. But don’t worry, its not his fault. It is all his accountant’s fault. Yeah, somehow he missed paying that $70,000 in taxes in 17 different states. And it also slipped his mind (the accountant, not Franken) to file the $25,000 for Worker’s Compensation insurance. I don’t know about you, but I can see how that could slip his mind. Ok, so let me get my tongue out of my cheek, and take a look at this a bit more.

It is interesting to me that Franken, a Democrat, running against a notably “so-so” republican in a notably democrat leaning state was already having problems with gaining a lead. He was running “neck in neck” with Norm Coleman, according to this article from the Politico. Franken has always been very outspoken against conservatism, and actually made quite a bit of money by calling Rush Limbaugh a “big fat Idiot.” Even in the midst of this scandal, the Franken Camp is trying to act as if they have no worries. One of the Franken Camp Operatives had this to say:

“It’s the kind of story you want to have come out in April. Not every day is smooth sailing,” said the operative. “It’s obviously a bump in the road, but if they handle it right, they can get past it.”

Commentary from the Politico followed up with this:

While the actual infraction may be far from a killer, the campaign’s slow handling of the matter has raised questions about Franken’s readiness for the scrutiny of a statewide Senate race.

This is not a campaign killer? This is a guy that is going against his opponent, blasting him for standing with President Bush on things like the Iraq War. This article references the “close relationship” between Coleman (the Republican Candidate, if you are keeping up) and President Bush. I would suppose that the criticism extends to the financial plans of Bush and the Democrat blasted tax cuts.

I always find some irony in Democrats not paying their taxes. They push and push for tax increases (and we will get those raises if a Democrat is elected president), and yet they try to avoid paying their own taxes. Anyone who thinks this accountant for Franken acted on his own, without instructions from Franken himself is just insane! He was trying to make sure that Franken didn’t pay any more taxes than he absolutely had to. If they really believed that taxes should be raised, they wouldn’t do so much shuffling to hide their money. If the Republican candidates would take full advantage of these type of gifts, they would be much more successful in defeating their Democrat counterparts. This should be the death knell to Franken’s campaign, but it won’t be.

Another thing I found interesting in this Politico article was the way in which spoke of Franken as the candidate. He doesn’t really sound like he is “in charge”, but rather is nothing more than a puppet in his own campaign.

The Franken campaign has restricted media access to him. And until he actually paid the back taxes, Franken did not directly respond to reporters’ questions about the mounting controversy, instead relying on surrogates.

“He’s being kept under wraps because he isn’t terribly disciplined in the way he deals with reporters. He gets in their face, gets angry with them, gets aggressive with them, so he’s trying to keep a distance from reporters so he doesn’t mess with them,” said Schier.

How is this man going to be able to be a Senator in a state where he has to work with others, and interact with the public if he can’t even give an interview. He is being kept from talking by his “handlers” because he can’t control himself? That is exactly the type of person that we need in the senate. I guess he will fit in on that side of the aisle!

I find the response of the Democrats to this story humorous. When the Republican candidate (Coleman) came out blasting Franken for his actions, it elicited this response:

“Norm Coleman is a weak senator with a weak record who will do anything to take the focus of the race off of him, but at the end of the day, nothing here changes the fundamental dynamics of the race,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Matt Miller.

What exactly are the Republicans supposed to do? Sit back, and ignore the criminal activity of the Democratic candidates. This once again shows the duplicity in the Democratic party. It is as if they are not even concerned about hiding the double standard! I think the republicans need to blast away even more–they shouldn’t let these type of things slide by, virtually unnoticed. This is a campaign issue, and it should be fully exploited!

As a final note, I find it interesting that some of the Democrats are saying this is nothing more than a “hiccup” in the Franken campaign, and he will roll right on past it, while others are pretty sure this opens the door for other candidates.  Mike Ciresi, a Democrat who had dropped out of the race, is not ruling out the possibility of getting back in the race.  Democratic operatives claim this is highly unlikely, but with their wholesale support of Franken, there isn’t much more they could say.  There is certainly enough of an uproar in Franken’s campaign to cause him and his supporters some discomfort.  I hope it is enough to finally put him out of the race so that the rest of us don’t have to hear about him any more!

Blogs for Borders

Candidly Conservative put me on to a blog that I hadn’t seen before called Blogs for Borders. The blog calls together other bloggers that believe in the need for more secure borders. Here is a quote from their “Join” page:

If you believe in the sanctity of American Sovereignty, respect those who waited and legally immigrated, are for the equal and uniform application of law and realize the need for strict border enforcement, then you share our frustration with the lack of border security, and our goal of improving it.

If you are against illegal immigration and want to be a part of Blogs For Borders, please follow the directions below and then email Stan at free constitution (at) gmail *d0t* com with “Blogs for Borders” in the subject line. Don’t forget to include your blog address! (When sending email replace “(at)” with “@” replace “*dot*” with “.” and REMOVE ALL SPACES–I have to do this in order to avoid the flood of spam)

Blogs For Borders is a group of bloggers that share these goals, receive optional weekly blogburst video emails they are free to post and share on their blogs, and conduct themselves in ways that reflect and honor the American spirit.

So, if you think that it is important to restrict immigration to LEGAL immigration, and you have a blog, consider going over and joining up.  At the very least, you can hook up with folks that have the same kind of idea about immigration.

There is a lot of argument about more secure borders in our country today, but I really think that we need to be more strict about the laws.  The fact that there are so many immigrants here illegally tells us that we need to secure the borders, and enforce the laws.  I am not against immigration…I’m against ILLEGAL immigration, and there is a big difference.  If there is anyone who wants to go through the proper channels, and come to this great country legally, more power to them, come on in and make yourself at home.  But, if you want to sneak in, and try to get all privileges of being here without paying the price, then you shouldn’t be allowed in!