tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90394338570838447142024-03-05T03:42:26.863-08:00Mike BayhamPolitics, Politics, Politics, Some Saints Football and Politics.Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.comBlogger247125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-71281212369189481142014-04-01T21:21:00.001-07:002014-04-01T21:21:51.734-07:00Disney Takes the “Splash” from “Splash Mountain”<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7Xkez8r4efSKSS5ruRdA1ctyawoP6XkTyPaD7t8exgnzjUI6DlCx202A82RrfjDoaVUkSV8FW_Fp8ulq10fL48YMDS02ZQw25qflquyDdU1ypUoR2rqz6FxVrnVtdmFi-zMWuS3bnr4/s1600/dry+splash+mountain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7Xkez8r4efSKSS5ruRdA1ctyawoP6XkTyPaD7t8exgnzjUI6DlCx202A82RrfjDoaVUkSV8FW_Fp8ulq10fL48YMDS02ZQw25qflquyDdU1ypUoR2rqz6FxVrnVtdmFi-zMWuS3bnr4/s1600/dry+splash+mountain.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">ORLANDO- It looks like Disney’s “Critter Country” is about to become a “dry” county as construction crews and Imagineers at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom have been working overtime to put the finishing touches on its “reimagined” “Splash Mountain” log flume ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">And though Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear and Br’er Fox will still be there, the “splash” will be removed from “Splash Mountain”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">As part of the company’s five year old <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Me-ECO Mouse Initiative”, Disney executives have introduced renewable energy into the iconic vacation resort’s power grid and have installed recycling bins at all of the hotels and theme parks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However visitors will really see the family entertainment company’s commitment to reducing water waste with the “Splash Mountain” retrofit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“We at Disney wish to demonstrate that we are good corporate citizens through our commitment to retool our attractions so that they are friendlier to the environment,” said Disney vice-president of Green Affairs Millicent James.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Visitors will enjoy the new Br’er Mountain just as much as they did Splash Mountain.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">For the past six months “Splash Mountain”, the dark/flume attraction that brought visitors through scenes from Br’er Rabbit’s adventures while coursing through minor falls with a climatic 53 feet, 45 degree slope run, has undergone a major overhaul to convert the water ride into a roller coaster, similar to Sea World’s Journey to Atlantis ride, though unlike the latter, which is part steel rail roller coaster and part water flume ride, the new “Splash Mountain” will be a roller coaster and renamed “Br’er Mountain”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Disney’s Imagineers will retain all of the scenery, music, character dialogue and animatronics with the refurbished attraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fog machines will mask the ride’s rail system and the final drop will be shrouded in a thick mist so riders cannot see the bottom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the mist would reflect camera lighting, the ride will no longer offer its trademark snap shot photos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Guests will be invited to pose for pictures with Disney cast members dressed as Br’er Rabbit characters at the gift shop near the ride’s exit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“We at Disney wish to demonstrate that we are good corporate citizens through our commitment to retool our attractions so that they are friendlier to the environment,” said Disney vice-president of Green Affairs Millicent James.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Visitors will enjoy the new Br’er Mountain just as much as they did Splash Mountain.” </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">The latter had been a problem for Disney officials as some riders took advantage of the ride’s photo aspect, with some park patrons making a point of showing explicit hand gestures, wearing clothing with profane language printed and the occasional woman bearing her breasts (which led to the attraction being referred to as “Flash Mountain” by snarky Disney employees).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Shortly after opening to park visitors in 1992, “Splash Mountain” had been criticized for its politically correct adaptation from the film “Song of the South”, the lone Disney feature to have never been released to home video.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">While Disney has invested over $35 million (almost half the ride’s original construction price tag) on removing the water aspect of the attraction and adding metal rails, some park enthusiasts are less than pleased the more environmentally responsible ride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Schuyler Wheeler, a former park employee who runs the unauthorized Disney fan/gossip site WeAreAllEars.com, has been monitoring the negative feedback about the ride’s changes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Until the addition of the Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney Hollywood, Splash Mountain was the premier ride at the Florida parks,” said Wheeler. “Purists have really mourned the demolition of longstanding attractions such as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The shift from a log flume ride to what amounts to a ‘wild maus’ roller coaster with animatronics is not an improvement.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Republican Kissimmee Commissioner Wayne Guerra, a vocal critic of the theme park’s political correcting of attractions chided Disney for what amounts to be an empty gesture to the green-crowd.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Between the lakes and the swamps, central Florida is full of water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no shortage of water here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a typical corporate sop to the eco-lobby to cover up for the millions of gallons of water they use at their water parks and resorts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hell there’s a giant lake you have to cross just to get to the park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why don’t they just syphon some of that for the ride?” asked Guerra.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">Disney officials stand by their position. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“A greener society can be everyone’s ‘Happy Place’,” said James, playing off one of the songs from the attraction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: small;">“Right wing conservative cranks like Commissioner Guerra can spend their APRIL FOOL’S DAY piddling around a crappy glass bottom boat at Silver Springs with the rest of the losers.”</span></span></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-49686575511145721672013-07-11T09:53:00.002-07:002013-07-11T09:54:32.263-07:00Statement on the 2013 YRNF Convention and the Race for Chairman<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">To My Fellow Young Republican Leaders and Activists:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This week we will choose the individuals who will leader our
organization for the next two years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Back in January I announced my candidacy for YRNF chairman
hoping to use my experience as a parish (county) party leader, state
committeeman, successful candidate for public office and campaign operative to
reinvigorate the national organization and establish a greater role for the YRs
in the senior party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">My primary goal was to leave the YRNF as strong in 2015 as
it was when I attended my first YRLC in 1998, back when we had a paid-full-time
executive director, a working office and a six-figure operating budget.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As a candidate, it was my hope that we would have had the
chance to directly share our vision and plans for the YRNF with our colleagues
via the first chairman candidate debate in recent memory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have long felt that while horse trading and position
bartering might make for successful “tickets” such practices do not necessarily
result in successful administrations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Regrettably, the planned debate for the San Antonio national
board meeting was officially scrubbed due to a lack of time, as a single hour dedicated
for a public discussion about the future of the YRNF could not have been carved
out from a two day schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is ironic that it was at that same venue Texas US Senator
Ted Cruz talked about the importance of debates and forums to his
election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And though the results of this week’s convention were set in
stone at San Antonio, I do believe that this organization and the few hundred
people who have traveled great distances at their own expense deserve to have a
choice beyond the two active candidates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Though I believe both are decent individuals, I cannot vote
for either due to a matter of conscience in the case of one and philosophical differences
with the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And while I will do not anticipate to leave Mobile holding a
national leadership position I would like to offer several ideas that I believe
have merit and should be considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">First, we need selfless leadership who will be fully
dedicated to building a stronger organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Our party suffers from a severe branding problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the sad ironies of the YRNF is that it
is the most diverse of any of the auxiliary GOP organizations in the country
yet our media presence is negligible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Rather than basking in the glow of Fox News, our officers
should defer to extraordinary young leaders without profile to front for the
YRNF on less friendly media outlets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
YRNF is blessed by having a large number of non-traditional Republicans,
individuals who can combat the prevailing negative narrative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The YRNF does not need to be represented by
club titles but different faces and articulate voices.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Had I been elected I would have not conducted a single
television interview and instead recruited a team of young, diverse spokesmen
and women who do not fit the GOP stereotype and thus are that much more likely
to be heard out than tuned out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Second, we need to become a younger organization.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At a minimum a “president rule” via constitutional
amendment should be adopted prohibiting anyone over the age of 35 from being
elected to a YRNF office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A grace period
of two years could be worked in to allow for this transition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Thirdly, quality control measures need to be implemented to
ensure that participants receive a fair value from their board meeting registration
fees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unhappy attendees communicate their
displeasure by their absence at future events, which jeopardizes our capacity
to attain quorum and conduct business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And finally, the YRNF needs to become more engaged with the
RNC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We should have people representing
this organization at their national meetings, if only to get the brand
out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Furthermore, RNC leaders should be
invited to YRNF board meetings so they can hear what our activists have to say
about the party and its direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As the newly elected chairman of the Louisiana YRs, I fully
intend to remain involved in the YRNF until I age out in 2015 and I will be
happy to work with anyone to achieve the goals I have spelled out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I deeply care about this organization’s future and always
considered service in the YRNF to be missionary work and not a springboard to higher
political advancement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Since 1998 I have only missed a handful of national board
meetings and have had the honor of holding two elected positions in the YRNF,
winning SCA chairman at the age of 26 in 2000 and Regional Vice-Chairman a year
later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But what gave me the most satisfaction was using my contacts
with my state party and the RNC to leverage prominent speakers at events and to
secure guest passes, floor access and aide positions for dozens of YRs to the
past five national conventions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know
exactly how hard my fellow activists work and how little recognition too many
of us receive for our sweat equity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is my sincere hope that when I travel to Chicago in 2015
for what will be my final YR convention, that we will discuss what we
accomplished over the past two years instead of ruefully speculating about what
could have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Respectfully,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michael Bayham<o:p></o:p></span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-81882721757626366512012-11-28T22:00:00.001-08:002012-11-28T22:00:06.416-08:00Reviewing the Red Dawn Remake<br />
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<i>SPOILER ALERT: This column contains details related to the
2012 remake of Red Dawn. If you plan on
seeing the movie and don’t want know too much about the storyline before
watching it, stop reading now.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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The world that existed in 1984 when the original Red Dawn
movie appeared in movie theaters and that of the remake are two very different
times. </div>
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The year before the original’s release the Soviet Union shot
down Korean Airline Lines Flight 007 after the commercial jetliner flew through
Russian airspace and the United States military invaded the Marxist-ruled
Caribbean nation of Grenada. </div>
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<br /></div>
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And in between burying Communist Party general-secretaries
and rumbling mechanized units through Red Square on May Day, Moscow was locked in
a bloody quagmire in Afghanistan. The
USSR, through the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and Communist FMLN in El Salvador,
managed to establish a tenuous beachhead in North America.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Things were tense between the two superpowers in 1984, a
tension that would eventually strain the Soviets beyond their capacity to
compete and led to the collapse of Communist regimes across eastern
Europe. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In 1984, there was a better chance of World War III than the
Soviet bloc’s largely peaceful dissolution that played out six years
later. The movie Red Dawn had an
audience because Americans thought direct conflict between the US and the
Soviet Union was likely.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The villains of yesterday are no more pleasant but seem less
threatening. Russian soldiers no longer
patrol a divided Germany but their country’s western frontier with
Ukraine. And their ally Cuba, which
played a role in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war in the 1960s,
is grudgingly adapting to capitalism. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The Red Menace has been displaced by Islamist terrorists,
but the real thing makes for a political unpalatable nemesis for the
entertainment industry. And it turned
out that Plan B wouldn’t work either, but for financial reasons.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Red Dawn remake was supposed to be released two years
ago, though it underwent a seven-figure editing job to remove all spoken and
visual references to the People’s Republic of China, which was slated as the
movie’s original (and more plausible) aggressor, and inserted North Korea as
the invader.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Now the thought of North Korea landing soldiers in the
United States sounded ridiculous. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The hilariously named Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
can barely feed its people and its “green water navy” is best equipped for
challenging coastal civilian fishing vessels than moving a large occupation
force over 6000 miles (roughly the distance between Pyongyang and Los Angeles).</div>
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<br /></div>
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And even if North Korea could magically move undetected
across the Pacific Ocean the world’s fourth largest army, their 1,000,000
person active force would be spread pretty thin along America’s 2100 mile long
western coastline. </div>
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<br /></div>
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With China “not appearing in this picture”, a North Korean
invasion of the US not resembling King Arthur’s assault on the French castle
from Monty Python’s Holy Grail requires a super-sized suspension of
disbelief. </div>
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<br /></div>
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So where did the 600 million screaming Chinese (a reference
to the original film) and their 730 million cousins that didn’t get nuked in
1984 go? </div>
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<br /></div>
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It turned out that Beijing takes not only a keen interest in
what their citizens tweet and blog but also what comes out of Hollywood. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The Global Times, a publication owned by the Chinese
Communist Party, took public issue with its national military playing the
villain and Red Dawn’s producers took the hint: sanitize the movie or its only
entry into that country’s lucrative movie market will be through bootleg
dvds. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It might come to that anyway as the Global Times has even
mocked the changes and called the Red Dawn movie style “brainless fun”. I’d be willing to lay 60 yuan ($4) that a
movie about popular insurrection against Communist military forces will never
be projected upon the silver screen of a licensed mainland cinema, if only as a
favor to their “Dear Friend” Kim Jong Un, AKA The Onion’s sexiest man alive.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So how do parts of the United States come under the jackboot
of North Korea?</div>
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<br /></div>
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After a night of high school football in Spokane,
Washington, the power across the entire town mysteriously goes out. The next day the skies are clouded with
North Korean paratroopers raining down on the eastern Washington State
population center. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It is later reveled that an EMP-like “super weapon” (the
same thing that prefaced occupation in the television miniseries Amerika)
knocked out communications and power across the country allowing the North
Koreans to tiptoe across the world’s largest ocean. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Spokane is targeted because the west coast and eastern
seaboard have been devastated by a surprise quasi-nuclear attack. </div>
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<br /></div>
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America’s capacity to launch a nuclear counter-offensive has
been neutralized by the “super weapon” as our boomers (ballistic missile subs)
were knocked out by the EMP.<br />
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It is also revealed that Russia, which is led by a radical
nationalist, is behind the assault on America, leading the invasion of the east
coast and having counter-insurgent personnel in Spokane. There is also a weak-reference to Mexico and
Cuba being involved, though that was also likely watered down to avoid
upsetting Hispanics/swing-voters. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Americans being a resilient and well-armed people (a little
reminder that the Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting), unorganized
citizen militias and detached military units operating independently stymie the
invaders’ onslaught around Alabama in the southeast, Michigan in the northeast,
Texas in the southwest and Colorado and Montana in the northwest. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The movie largely is a recreation of the original, including
an homage to the 1984 film’s signature ambush scene, but in a different setting
and with a change in the Communist occupiers’ ethnicity. The 2012 version of the Wolverines are more
diverse than the 1984 band of rebels.</div>
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<br /></div>
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A few other things worth noting:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Though they are very much villains, the North Koreans are
portrayed more benign than the Russians from 1984. Knowing how they treat their countrymen, I have a tough time
believing the DPRK invaders would allow Americans to largely live as they did
before, including operating businesses and driving cars. I’m still stuck on the thought of them
allowing civilian fuel consumption in the middle of a war. Of all of the suspensions of disbelief, this
was the toughest for me to overcome.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->2)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The most interesting aspect of the movie is how American
society is shown reacting to the occupation.
With few exceptions, most people seem to go along with the regime while
more than a few actively collaborate with the invading forces, including the
town’s mayor and the media, accepting subservience to the new state in exchange
for necessities and privileges. That
got me wondering how many of our countrymen would readily exchange freedom for
security, whether from immediate persecution or hardship. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->3)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The objective of the Wolverines was not merely killing the
enemy and damaging their military hardware but inspiring their subjugated
brethren to resist. This is the reverse
objective of terrorism, which aims to demoralize. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]-->4)<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->I can understand why the movie wasn’t released until after the
election. The film’s opening is a
montage of actual press clips featuring President Barack Obama, Vice-President
Joseph Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fumbling America’s foreign
policy as the global situation spirals down.
Also featured throughout the film are the North Korean occupying forces’
ubiquitous propaganda posters that decry corporate greed, stuff straight out of
Occupy Wall Street and President Obama’s re-election campaign. </div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-79027231936572075102012-11-27T18:15:00.000-08:002012-11-27T18:15:42.341-08:00And the Romney Aides Snipe Back<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney advisers recently began leaking their displeasure
concerning criticism that has been heaped upon the 2012 GOP presidential
nominee’s political carcass, with one unidentified aide specifically citing
Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal and former Speaker of the House of Representatives
Newt Gingrich.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The anonymous campaign aide mocked Jindal and Gingrich as
“real profiles in courage” for sniping at Romney after the election. Concerning the Indian-American governor, the
aide emphasized his eagerness to be picked as Romney’s running mate, even after
a tape of the presidential candidate’s infamous 47% comment was made public, a
political faux pas Jindal pounced on after Romney lost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gingrich’s lack of praise for Romney should come as no
surprise. The ex-Massachusetts governor
and the third-party Super PAC that promoted Romney’s candidacy carpet-bombed
Gingrich in direct mail pieces and in television advertisements that tied the
former speaker to “influence peddling” for the mortgage entity Freddie Mac and
accused him of leaving Congress in disgrace.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the notable exception of John McCain, few of Romney’s
intraparty rivals from his 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential bids professed much
affection for him though all with one exception (Jon Huntsman) dutifully toed
the party line in the general election, though without enthusiasm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Gingrich’s “airing of grievances” is rooted in his rocky
past with Romney, Jindal’s is centered on the future…and his own.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The new Republican Governors’ Association head has one eye
on the White House and another on what happened in the caucuses and the
primaries, where Republicans dragged their feet in embracing the
conservative-talking, yet moderate-governing presidential candidate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jindal is looking to carve his niche in the national GOP
electorate by planting his flag as the anti-Romney for 2016. Jindal’s initial criticism and its media
recycling courtesy of the anonymous aide to the 2012 GOP nominee have helped
the Louisiana governor towards that objective.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though Jindal was an active surrogate for Romney in the
general election, the Louisiana governor had initially backed Texas governor
Rick Perry in the primaries and after the Perry campaign’s collapse in January,
Jindal didn’t endorse the ex-Massachusetts governor until April.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While a charge of opportunism would be fair, Jindal can’t be
accused of hypocrisy. And Jindal’s
words were far softer than what Romney had to say about the character of his
fellow Republicans in the primaries and caucuses.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Besides, it’s not like Romney will be doing any favors for
Jindal, as he is certain to line up behind whichever Floridian (Marco Rubio or
Jeb Bush) ultimately throws his hat in the ring for 2016.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Jindal can’t have Romney, then he’ll gladly settle for
inheriting his enemies, especially since a Lyndon LaRouche endorsement might be
more valuable than Romney’s come 2016.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And even if Jindal has ulterior motives for his harsh
analysis of the GOP nominee’s campaign, how is it out of line? </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Should we attribute Romney’s defeat to “gifts” and call it a
presidential cycle until another “country club” Republican declares himself the
next “too moderate to fail” establishment candidate that we should quietly
shuffle behind?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now is the time to have this conversation, not in 2016 when
Super PAC ads will drown out discussion.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mitt Romney talked about holding President Obama accountable
for the current state of America, yet why shouldn’t Republicans hold
accountable Romney, his campaign operation and the national GOP for blowing the
election?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney talked about how President Obama wasted our tax
dollars yet Republicans are not to inquire how our campaign donations were
squandered?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jindal’s not the only “veep-wannabe” that “Romney sources”
have shived in the press. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Days before the presidential election, “campaign insiders”
put out word that New Jersey governor Chris Christie may have made himself
conveniently available for President Barack Obama’s tour of his Hurricane
Sandy-ravaged state in revenge for being passed over for the second spot on the
GOP ticket. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You would think Romney aides would have had more productive
things to do than discreetly dump on their candidate’s top supporter in the
primaries, but this seems to be their main area of expertise. Just ask Sarah Palin.</div>
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<br /></div>
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That a Romney staffer chose to take public issue with
Jindal’s critiques shows exactly how little his team understood politics, as
the Louisiana governor’s gripes were a one day story that the mystery campaign
aide kept alive for another week in the press.</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If Jindal ever finds out which aide took issue with
him, the governor might send him a fruit basket and a thank you note. </span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-6928490209416556912012-10-30T21:43:00.002-07:002012-10-30T21:44:55.452-07:00Election 2012: Four Senate Candidates Worth Backing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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Four Candidates Worth Backing</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the federal election less than a week away the time for
conservatives to make an impact is drawing near.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not too late to lend a hand by phone
banking from home,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>writing a check or
donating on-line in a number of important elections across the country.</div>
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<br /></div>
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There are a few Republican senate candidates who
conservatives residing in either solidly red states or hopelessly blue states
should consider supporting.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George Allen-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
former Virginia governor is in
the midst of a political comeback this November and is running for the very
seat he lost six years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admittedly
it was a tough year for Republicans though Allen made even more difficult for
himself by taunting a Democratic field operative at a campaign rally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had Allen survived that race, he would have
sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and probably won it as
conservatives were lining up behind his nascent candidacy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then the “macaca” hit the fan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Allen is locked in a tight race with Tim Kaine, a former Virginia
governor and President Obama’s chosen chairman of Democratic National
Committee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Kaine was reportedly on
Obama’s shortlist for running mate in 2008 and he is harboring ambitions for
even higher office later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the
presidential race is very close in the Old Dominion, helping Allen would help
out Mitt Romney’s chances there.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tommy Thompson-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Another former governor, Thompson served as Secretary of Health and
Human Services under President George W. Bush.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thompson is seeking the seat held by retiring Democrat Senator Herb
Kohl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thompson was elected governor of
the swing state of Wisconsin on
four occasions and is credited with creating “workfare” while in office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Despite his political success in a state is figuring to be
important in this year’s presidential election and his conservative credentials
as governor, Thompson endured abruising primary en route to winning the party
nomination by only three points in a four-candidate field.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thompson’s opponent in the general election is Democratic US
Representative Tammy Baldwin, one of the most liberal members in all of
Congress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Baldwin
has been a vociferous advocate for same-sex marriage since her days in the Wisconsin
legislature in the mid-nineties and co-authored a measure to impeach
Vice-President Dick Cheney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wisconsin voters should be worried that Baldwin’s focus as a
US Senator will be on advancing her radical “progressive” agenda on the
national stage and not the interests of her state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While Tommy Thompson might not be the flashiest
Republican running for office in America,
“Senator” Baldwin will prove herself to be a constant
source of excitement for conservatives of all stripes, social, defense and
fiscal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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The only way to stop Baldwin is to
elect Thompson, who has a slight lead in the most recent polls though the
presidential race in Wisconsin
might carry the Democrat over the line if Obama wins the Badger
State.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Josh Mandel-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Admittedly Mandel is a longshot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His Democratic opponent, incumbent US
Senator Sherrod Brown, has led in every poll I’ve seen though Mandel has closed
the once large gulf between them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
Mandel matters for a bunch of reasons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, he’s running in Ohio-
the state that the media has been saying that will choose the winner of the presidential
election.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well up until Romney took a
slight lead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The point is the stronger
Mandel performs, the better for the top of the GOP ticket in the Buckeye
State.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, Mandel served in the Marine Corps Reserve and was
deployed to Iraq
in 2004 and 2008.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Thirdly Mandel, who is Jewish, is not your typical
Republican candidate for US Senator or for that matter any office higher than
councilman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He’s only 35 years old,
which is exactly what the party needs for America
to see- that the GOP doesn’t stand for Grumpy Old Politicians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Mandel is not a good bet to win but he is a great candidate running
in an important state.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scott Brown-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Massachusetts
senate race is the second most important election in America.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While he’s not the most conservative
Republican in Washington, Brown
is the most conservative politician that can win in Massachusetts.
And he’s running for re-election against what is perhaps the worst Democrat on
the November ballot not named Barack Obama: Elizabeth Warren.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you think the media’s in the tank for the president, get
familiar with their fawning coverage of the leftist Harvard professor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the liberal establishment has big plans
for her after Warren dispenses with
the formality of her victory over Senator Brown.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though burdened with sharing space on a presidential ballot
in a state so blue its resident presidential candidate will be lucky if he
breaks 40%, Brown has fought hard to keep the race within the statistical
margin of error.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In their first debate, Brown challenged the Warren, a
Caucasian, on her “Cherokee” status and whether she exploited her ludicrous
racial minority claim for personal advancement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>While in some cases physical appearances can be deceiving related to
ancestry, Professor Warren has as much chance of being taken for a Native
American as Joe Biden does as a Mongolian.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Professor Warren represents the worst in liberal hypocrisy:
a class baiting elitist who falsely masqueraded as a member of an ethnic
minority to get ahead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That a Brown victory helps advance the GOP’s prospects of
taking the senate is almost secondary to Warren’s
defeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-47621999683841605462012-10-29T22:40:00.002-07:002012-10-29T22:40:31.478-07:00Purple Mountain Politics: The Fight for ColoradoIf voters in the Buckeye State are agitated from all of the special attention they've been receiving from the presidential candidates, major parties and 527s, they might take some solace knowing that folks in Colorado feel their pain.
The Rocky Mountain State has been one of most intensely fought over swing states outside of Ohio.
And with Virginia, North Carolina and Florida seemingly drifting towards the Republican column, Colorado's importance rises as a both a firewall for President Barack Obama's re-election bid and as a potential detour around Ohio to reach 270 electoral votes.
George W. Bush won Colorado in the razor-close 2000 election, which inspired a wealthy Californian to cook up a scheme where in the future Colorado would allocate its electoral votes on a proportional basis. Had such a system been in place in 2000, then-Vice-President Al Gore would have received enough electoral votes from his competitive second place finish in Colorado to claim the presidency.
The idea was based on the hope that the 2004 election would be as close as four years before and thus hand the White House over to the fill-in-the-Democrat nominee. Fortunately the move got exposed for what it was and Bush won by an even bigger margin nationally, which would have made the electoral vote
redistribution academic.
In another, yet more legitimate, play for Colorado's electoral votes, the Democrats chose Denver as the site of its 2008 convention, where then-US Senator Obama, standing before faux Greek columns in an open air football stadium, delivered his acceptance speech as his party's nominee for president to his teary eyed faithful.
After the Democratic Convention left town, Obama's campaign unleashed a torrent of television advertisements linking his 2008 opponent to President George W. Bush, going so far as including in the commercial an image of John McCain, who is partially disabled due to the torture he endured as a POW during the Vietnam War, awkwardly hugging the unpopular incumbent.
Perhaps the Obama camp was also looking as much to exploit McCain's age and infirmity with that particular picture.
Because McCain refused to budge from his commitment to cap his general election campaign expenditures by accepting matching funds, Obama, who had made the same pledge but later crawfished, was able to dominate the Colorado airwaves.
There was also plenty of Obama art to be seen around town.
Street artist Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" posters were plastered over boarded up storefronts and an impressive mural painted on the rear of the building that housed the popular Rocky Mountain Diner showed a contemplative Obama before a mountain range. The latter would have been the envy of any
socialist country that promotes a cult of personality around their leaders.
The huge investment by the Democrats in Colorado paid dividends as Obama handily carried the state.
But things are different in Colorado this time around.
While the Obama campaign is once again heavily investing campaign funds there, a fiscally unfettered Romney campaign is spending big money to win Colorado. In 2008, McCain's ads were drowned out by Obama's media buy. One evening in particular I had seen five Obama commercials before viewing my first McCain advertisement. Things have evened out between the candidates in 2012.
In addition to money, Romney is spending a good deal of time in the state.
The Republican presidential nominee recently held one of the biggest events of the campaign at the Red Rocks amphitheatre just outside Denver that featured Kid Rock and attracted thousands of people. It was just announced that Romney is returning to Colorado this weekend.
In between visits to Colorado, Romney's sons have been meeting with volunteers at call centers that are focused on winning the early vote in 2012.
Four years prior McCain had been buried so badly in early voting that he had essentially lost the state before Election Day.
Colorado will likely be one of the closest states on November 6th. The most recent poll gives
Romney a one point edge over the president though both candidates have traded slight leads over the past few weeks.
In addition to the "air war", the Obama and Romney campaigns have assembled aggressive grassroots operations with supporters from the two camps waving posters at busy intersections and canvassing neighborhoods and rallying on street corners. While there are as many Obama yardsigns in 2012 as there were in 2008, this time the Republican candidate has a comparable presence on front lawns.
One remarkable thing about the Romney campaign in Colorado is that it's mimicking Obama's first presidential run by attracting participation from people who had not previously been involved in politics.
At a rally outside the Denver GOP's headquarters, Craig Romney asked those in attendance to raise their hands if this was their first time volunteering on a campaign. Half of those present did.
There's no less than a 75% chance that whoever carries Ohio will be the one dancing with his wife at the January inaugural balls. However, if New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Iowa go to the other candidate, then a winner won't be projected until the most politically important state in the Mountain Time Zone
checks in.
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-12392369565126680432012-10-28T21:50:00.004-07:002012-10-28T21:51:50.313-07:00The Case Against Re-Election
The conservative publication National Review is hawking on its website a poster that lists 689 reasons to vote against the re-election of the president.
Granted some of their entries consist of punchlines and multiple refernces to Joe Biden. NR's humorous pokes at the incumbent aside, there are plenty of legitimate arguments why the president should be defeated for re-election as Barack Obama has failed on multiple levels, from policy to leadership.
Failure On Energy
President Obama's record on energy is disatrous on multiple fronts. First his hostility towards our primary energy resources (oil, natural gas and coal) defies comprehension and leads one to speculate that he's not for an "all of the above" approach to energy but is for a "cold turkey" shift away from our reliance on oil.
Secondly, his fervent faith in green energy that are many decades away from remotely displacing oil and coal defies logic, though not politics.
The Obama Administration is captive to special interests that have profiteered off his investment of taxpayer dollars into green companies like Solyndra that went belly-up and cost the public nine figures. Executives with that infamous green concern did manage to pay back one debt- to President Obama via campaign donations.
President Obama has stubbornly refused to permit the Keystone Pipeline, which would bring in more oil from Canada and thus make the US less dependent on oil imported from outside of North America. His opposition to the Canadian pipeline is a good example of how the president prioritizes the wishes of his green constituency over America's national and economic security, since access to energy is critical to both.
An Economic Failure
The nation's unemployment rate stands at 7.8%, which is where it stood when President Obama took office. In between then and now, America's unemployment rate was at 8% or higher for over forty consecutive months. The president celebrates that as progress, but I don't think the over twelve million still looking for work were dancing in the unemployment lines when they heard the news.
In another statistic that is a measure of how well/ill the Obama economy truly is, over 46 million Americans are on food stamps and tens of thousands are filing for disability. This past June, slightly more people filed for disability than landed jobs.
The president has also failed as the country's fiscal manager. Instead of closing the deficits and chipping away at the national debt, his administration has added over five trillion dollars to it.
Failure on Foreign Policy
Obama's foreign policy has been equally misguided, pulling the missile defense rug out from under our staunch allies in eastern Europe while extending to Russia more trust than advisable. Iran has not shut down its nuclear weapons program but is four years closer to producing an atomic bomb.
And while the details about the events that led to the slaying of our ambassador and three other Americans continue to trickle out of Libya, we do know that President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other White House officials misled the country by stating that the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi was a reaction to a YouTube video.
They either lied to America or revealed themselves as dunces. Being guilty of either charge makes them unfit to occupy the positions they hold.
Failure As A Leader
Despite being a gifted orator, Barack Obama has tried to distract the electorate from the shortcomings of his first term by engaging in unprecedented demagoguery by a president to demonize the opposition.
He's also a hypocrite concerning his pleas for bipartisanship. Joseph Cao, the country's first Vietnamese-American member of Congress, took the president at his word about working with Republicans on Capitol Hill. Cao was hardly a lockstep vote for the GOP, breaking party ranks often to support Obama's agenda yet the GOP freshman had his trust repaid in daggers when the president supported his opponent.
President Obama has also dodged accepting any responsibility for the high gas prices and wheezing economy. You'd swear George W. Bush was in his third term the way Obama avoids accountability and furiously shovels fault on to his predecessor.
Obama was only a few years removed from the Illinois legislature when he began his quest for the White House. It is with great disappointment that he has not grown beyond his community organizer roots during his time in office.
Clint Got It Right
While Clint Eastwood's address at the Republican National Convention has been widely panned and mocked, the Hollywood icon said something that is simple yet profound: the guy who was hired four years didn't get the job done and it's time to bring in someone else to do it.
Only a blind partisan or someone whose vote is motivated by a far lesser consideration than his job performance could look past the president's record and vote to give him another four year term.
Voting for change for the sake of having change is not wise though America has an able and mature alternative to the incumbent in Mitt Romney. The GOP candidate not only represents a different philosophy but a drastically different life experince that has prepared him for the job he is seeking.
In contrast to the president's partisan and academic background, Romney was a consensus builder as governor of Massachusetts, a state dominated by Democratic officials on all levels of government.
Romney's ascension wasn't based off giving a handful of high profile speeches but real accomplishments, having played the lead role in saving the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and achieving success in business and finance.
Rather than being envious or jealous of Romney's earned wealth, Americans should look at his success in the private sector as a statement of qualification that he understands how the economy works and what solutions need to be put in place to create more jobs.
I am optimistic that an overwhelming majority of American voters will be guided by reality as it is and not what Obama and his allies try to make it appear to be when they vote on November 6th.
President Obama had his chance and it's time to go in a different direction.
Mitt Romney should be elected our next president.
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-13658616134303017922012-10-27T08:54:00.002-07:002012-10-27T08:54:16.852-07:00Election 2012: The Missing Obama Bounce 2.0<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Political observers and wishful liberals have been waiting
for the president to receive that surge in the polls that’s due to hit any time
now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all, we’ve been told he won not one, but TWO debates
over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The post-debate instapolls said one thing yet the national
and battleground polls are indicating something else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Four days removed from the final presidential debate of the
election cycle, an event where the president managed to work in an attack on
his Republican opponent almost every time he had the microphone, Obama is still
trailing in most of the benchmark national polls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney leads President Obama by five points in the Gallup
poll and three points in the Rasmussen poll.
The Republican candidate for president also has a one-point lead in an
ABC News/Washington Post survey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The battleground state polls don’t paint a much better
picture for President Obama. Romney
leads in two Florida polls (+5 in Sunshine State News and +2 in Rasmussen) and
enjoys a lead in two North Carolina surveys (+8 in Gravis Marketing and +1 in
Civitas). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rasmussen has Romney and Obama tied in Wisconsin, a state
where the Republican nominee had been trailing the president in recent polls,
and a group called Purple Strategies has the race a tie in Virginia. Polls conducted by Fox News and Rasmussen
each gave Romney a two-point lead in the Old Dominion on Thursday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The news on the poll front is not all bad for President
Obama, who has leads in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, Ohio and Colorado
surveys conducted by various polling entities, though the president does not
exceed 50% in any of the polls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After winning (according to the instapolls) a debate
centered on what was billed at the Democratic ticket’s strength (foreign
policy), why hasn’t President Obama experienced his own surge in the polls the
way Romney vaulted over the incumbent after the Republican’s strong showing in
the first debate?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pitted against Monday Night Football and the seventh game in
the National League Championship Series, 8 million fewer people tuned in to the
third debate though the final match-up between President Obama and his GOP
challenger still attracted 59.2 million viewers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore the president’s aggressiveness and his zingers
made headlines and were recycled through the media for a few days, so the
public received secondary exposure to the last debate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The debate did not take place in a vacuum so the lack of
presidential leap isn’t attributable to an absence of audience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That Romney has maintained most of his first debate gains
might be indicative that many Americans made up there minds after the initial
square off with the remaining debates being political theatre for the mostly
decided. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I pointed out in a previously column, Richard Nixon
performed strong in the second, third and fourth televised presidential debates
of 1960 but John Kennedy won the debate that counted most, the first.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are other explanations for President Obama’s
relatively static poll numbers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, dissatisfaction with the economy cannot be mitigated
with pithy one-liners. Bad times can’t
be spun. There’s only so much damage
control any politician can do in a televised debate when the economic reality
of the times is there to greet people in the morning.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, the festering matter of Libya has eroded President
Obama’s foreign policy credentials. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Obama Administration’s “Who’s On First?” routine
concerning Benghazi would almost be amusing if an American ambassador and three
others had not been killed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though Romney punted on Libya in the debate’s opening and
the media has worked to sweep it under the rug, the issue is still there as are
some very important unanswered questions that the White House continues to
dodge. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Third, the president once again failed to offer a compelling
defense for the high unemployment rate that has been part of his first
term. Though the final debate was
supposed to be focused on foreign policy, the economy made a cameo appearance
in the debate thanks to Romney’s linking it to national security. And the president whiffed it again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, Obama’s third debate “smack talk”, while music to
the ears of his hardcore supporters, came off as unpresidential. The president may have impaled himself with
his own rhetorical bayonet, appearing less worthy of the office he occupies.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just as only one person at the table had the title, only one
person exhibited presidential dignity.
And they were sitting in different chairs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scoring points doesn’t help your cause when you’re losing
badly on style.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The post-debate polls don’t reflect two victories for
President Obama, but a staggering loss in the first and two straight
incompletes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-56383385980562974092012-10-25T23:57:00.001-07:002012-10-25T23:57:13.814-07:00It's Election Day(s)!<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, it’s still October but Louisianans can cast a ballot in
the November election at early voting locations, with some parishes having
multiple sites, through the 30th. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirty-two states plus the District of Columbia allow early voting,
which includes every state west of the Mississippi River but Missouri and
Minnesota. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Oregon and Washington State don’t even have an actual
election day as all voting is conducted by mail, which saves money but provides
the greatest opportunities for election fraud.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Early voting is a bonanza for political machines, which
don’t engage in convincing so much as hauling and perhaps providing
under-the-table incentives along the way- food, booze, cigarettes or cash- for
their electoral bounty. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Election Day is supposed to be when the decision is made,
not just revealed. Furthermore, there
have been instances where a candidate had won on Election Day but lost because
his opponent ran up the score in early voting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Early voting benefits political consultants, incumbents and
well-funded candidates. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because of early voting campaigns have to sustain a high
level of media expenditures for weeks and must invest in a protracted GOTV
operation rather than focus their resources on a single day. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Early voting in Arizona for the 2012 presidential election
began on October 11<sup>th</sup>, 26 days before Election Day. If you had voted the morning early voting
started, you would have cast a ballot prior to the vice-presidential debate
(which was that evening) and two of the three presidential debates.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
According to the National Association of Secretaries of
State, the battleground state of Iowa along with four other states opened early
voting in September, before any of the presidential debates were held.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The day before early voting began in Iowa, a Public Policy
Polling survey had ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at 44%, 7 points
behind the president. The week after
the first debate between the major parties’ nominees, a Rasmussen poll had
Romney down in Iowa only by 2 points.
Apparently Iowans had learned something about the candidates in that
timeframe to cause a significant shift in the polls.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While there are people who knew they were going to vote for
President Obama’s re-election in 2012 as early as November 5, 2008 (the day
after he won) just as there were plenty of voters who were itching to vote for
the fill-in-the-name Republican candidate before Obama had taken his oath of
office, states should not encourage people to vote for president before they’ve
at least had an opportunity to see them defend their records and articulate
their agendas in a debate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Voting too early is like being a juror who renders a verdict
in a trial after missing half the evidence and testimony. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There should be provisions in state election laws to ensure
the handicapped, servicemen and women and those who work away from home have
their voices heard and their votes counted.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having thirty “election days” is unnecessary and opens the
door for negative unintended consequences, from vote hauling by professional
GOTV organizations to inviting people to make uninformed decisions before the
maximum amount of information has been presented.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ideally, the eve of Election Day should be a time of
reflection and contemplation about where we are and where we need to be as a
country, state and community. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d wager that Americans have spent more time playing Angry
Birds than thinking about candidates for the US Senate- the legislative body
that confirms cabinet secretaries and federal judges and ratifies
treaties. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The arguments for early voting have merit, mainly providing
for convenient civic participation by allowing people to “get it out of the
way” and reducing crowds at voting locations.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But early voting’s virtues are outweighed by its drawbacks:
vote hauling, driving up the costs of campaigns and “early voter’s remorse”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And though I am not an infrequent participant in early
voting, I wouldn’t mind waiting fifteen
minutes or more in line on Election Day if it meant those waiting ahead of me
were better informed about the decisions they were going to make.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-6734151390132175792012-10-24T21:42:00.000-07:002012-10-24T21:42:11.255-07:00Obama's Benghazi Web of Deceit<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
On September 12, 2012, President Barack Obama issued a
statement on the assault on the diplomatic consulate in Benghazi, Libya. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The president condemned the “outrageous attack” on the
facility without making any reference to it being an act of terrorism though in
the second sentence of the second paragraph, the president attributes what
happened as being a reaction to an act of disrespect to Islam.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the
religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of
senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants,” said
President Obama.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On September 14<sup>th</sup>, at the arrival ceremony of the
remains of the Americans killed in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
stated, “We’ve seen rage and violence directed at American embassies over an
awful internet video that we had nothing to do with. It is hard for the American people to make sense of that because
it is senseless, and it is totally unacceptable.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two days later on Meet the Press, Ambassador to the United
Nations Susan Rice denied that the attack was premeditated and that it was a
spontaneous reaction to the internet video “Innocence of Muslims”. “This is a response to a hateful and offensive
video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world,” said
Ambassador Rice. Ambassador Rice’s
assessment was based off of the “best information at present”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Think for a moment about how absurd their assertion is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even though North Africa is a rough place, who brings a
rocket propelled grenade launcher to a protest? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They’re either the most naïve figures on the world stage,
and thus have no business crafting our national security and foreign policy, or
they are liars of the lowest order and lack the integrity to hold the high
offices they occupy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Right now signs point to the latter.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Recently leaked e-mails that were sent to the White House
only hours after the attack cites that an Islamist militant group had claimed
responsibility. None of the communiqués
reference a YouTube video.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It appears the president and his administration have engaged
in the most egregious coordinated deception of the American public in
decades. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is worse than Watergate and Iran-Contra. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Benghazi misinformation offensive was all about covering
their posteriors for the election and the history books, since Secretary
Clinton has not yet abandoned her own White House aspirations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blurting out “I’m responsible” in a presidential debate
doesn’t bring a convenient closure to the orchestrated cover-up and outright
lies the Obama Administration peddled about what happened in Benghazi and the
true culprits behind the murders. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having a frank discussion about what happened in Libya on
September 11, 2012 or asking the president what he knew and when he knew it is
not politicizing a tragedy. On the
contrary, doing so honors the sacrifice of those lost by determining the truth
of why they died and why they were not given proper protection.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Obama Administration wants people to believe that he
“killed” terrorism by authorizing the Navy SEAL attack on Osama bin Laden’s
secret compound in Pakistan, which squares with his re-election bid and
conforms to his worldview that the war on terror is truly a very limited
engagement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while the deaths of four American members of our foreign
service is, as the president put it on Comedy Central (!), “not optimal”, the
tragedy is a reminder that al-Qaeda and militant Islamists are very much alive.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no Obama foreign policy achievement that could
possibly balance out their indifference and/or inaction prior to the attack or
their attempt to cleanse their hands of Ambassador Chris Stevens’s blood and
fraudulently redistribute it to more convenient villains.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Amazingly nobody within the administration has been held
accountable for this disaster, aside from Vice-President Joe Biden casual
throwing our national intelligence community under the bus in a televised
debate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama has been accused, rightfully so, of spiking
the bin Laden football for political benefit.
You can add that he’s also trying to run out the clock on Benghazi with
less than two weeks before the election.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">All we have gotten from the White House thus far is
fairy tales, stonewalling, lies, and insults to our intelligence- that being
America’s spies and our capacity as individuals to critically think.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-54594771834574723002012-10-23T18:54:00.001-07:002012-10-23T18:54:26.737-07:00Farewell to the Altruistic Warrior<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Farewell to George McGovern, the Altruistic Warrior</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over the weekend an important role player in America’s
political evolution passed away with the death of former South Dakota US
Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern’s nomination signaled a transition between the once
dominant ideologue-less machine wing of the Democratic Party to the “true
liberals”. McGovern was the Democrats’
Barry Goldwater. And like his senate colleague from the opposite side of the
political spectrum, he was handily trounced in a national election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But on the way to
annihilation, McGovern changed presidential politics forever as head of a
Democratic commission charged with reforming the delegate selection
process. The systematic changes made to
the nomination process ended unit rule voting at the conventions and limited
the control state parties had on the selection of national convention
delegates. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A consequence of the changes was that states abandoned
manipulated caucuses for presidential primaries as a means of allocating
delegates. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the rules would only affect the Democratic nomination
process, the McGovern reforms ended up changing the Republicans’ delegate
selection as well since many states simply fixed the GOP primaries on the same
day as the Democratic contests.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To give you an idea of how things used to work,
Vice-President Hubert Humphrey did not formally contest a single presidential
primary, did not carry a single state and placed 7<sup>th</sup> with 2.2% of
the total ballots cast in the Democratic primaries. Yet, Humphrey was nominated on the first ballot of the 1968
Democratic National Convention with 1,759.5 delegates (67%). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little wonder why so many activists rioted in Chicago.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern benefited from his own rules when he sought the
party nomination for president in 1972.
McGovern ran a competitive second against the Democratic establishment’s
favored candidate, Maine US Senator Ed Muskie, in the New Hampshire primary and
emerged as the candidate to beat thereafter.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the collapse of the “inevitable” Muskie, McGovern
benefited from George Wallace’s clipping of Humphrey, who entered the race
later as an alternative to the grassroots-powered McGovern candidacy. The split field allowed the McGovern’s niche
candidacy to emerge victorious in one of the most fractured presidential
nomination fights in modern times. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But McGovern’s triumph would be fleeting. Hard feelings by many Democratic party
regulars who were humbled by McGovern’s young amateurs (which included the
likes of Gary Hart and Bill Clinton) during the intraparty warfare led to a
division within the party that would not be healed by November. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whatever hope McGovern had of winning the White House was
dashed in his bumbling handling of the revelation that his running mate,
Missouri US Senator Tom Eagleton, had received electroshock treatment for
depression.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The principled McGovern infamously stated that he stood by
Eagleton “1000%” before forcing him off the ticket. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the move might have made McGovern look shallow, it
cannot be said Eagleton’s jettisoning was undeserved. It would be later revealed that Eagleton had been Robert Novak’s
undisclosed Democratic source behind the “amnesty, abortion, acid” framing of
McGovern’s candidacy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyone who honestly thinks that CREEP or G. Gordon Liddy was
responsible for McGovern’s political self-immolation and landslide defeat
should consider receiving the aforementioned treatment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Too bad McGovern didn’t win in 1972,” are words no sane
person said even after the tumult of Watergate and the resignation of the 37<sup>th</sup>
president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The exposure of the dirty tricks squad, the break-in at the
Democratic National Committee headquarters and the presidential complicit
cover-up may have confirmed all of the negative things McGovern said about the
character of the president and his men, but those revelations in no way made
the Democratic Party’s leading peacenik look any more palatable as a president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern would be the first Democrat to not carry a single
southern state in the history of the once-Dixie-centric party.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern’s soft socialism, appeasement posturing and Jane
Fonda-esque chumming with the likes of Fidel Castro made him political
disagreeable to mainstream America.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern at his best was the epitome of Christian compassion
though at worst a naïve unwitting tool of America’s enemies, though his virtues
outweighing his sins due to purity of his intent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
McGovern’s lasting reforms to the presidential nomination
process and emergence as a true conscience liberal nominee for his party gave
him a relevance far beyond his 37.5% of the popular vote plus the Massachusetts
and DC electoral votes in the 1972 presidential election. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On top of his political legacy McGovern was also a decorated
military hero.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’d like to close with a brief story that best sums up
McGovern. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few years ago I had the privilege of attending a speech he
gave at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans about his service as a
bomber pilot in the European theatre. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During one mission, McGovern’s plane had dropped bombs in a
rural area and as his munitions fell to the earth, he saw a farmer trying to
avoid being caught in the explosion.
McGovern assumed that the unfortunate civilian had died in the bombing
and the image had stuck in his mind. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many years later he was doing an interview on a
German-language television program when he related that particular bomb run and
would later learn to his great relief that the “targeted” farmer saw the
program and made a point of contacting the station to pass along word that he
had survived by jumping in a ditch without a moment to spare.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No matter how the political chips or live bombs fell,
McGovern always remained true to his conscience. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">If you could not support McGovern’s positions, you
could at least respect his altruism.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-73969748704691347222012-10-22T23:31:00.000-07:002012-10-22T23:31:14.749-07:00Election 2012: And Round Three Goes to....<br />
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Last week I thought President Barack Obama won the town hall
debate over his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The president was energetic and aggressive, he engaged the
participants thus allowing him the opportunity to employ his trademark soaring
rhetoric and smoothly got out his talking points. The downside on Obama’s end was that he came off as snide in tone
and rude with his constant interruptions.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In contrast, the ex-Massachusetts governor was overly deferential
to President Obama and unwisely chose to engage the president rather than the
audience (and by extension millions of television viewers), inviting Obama to
bogart his speaking time. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The upshot for Romney in the town hall debate was that he
masterfully took apart the president’s record on domestic affairs, particularly
concerning unemployment and the declining quality of life many Americans have
endured over the past four years.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What happened on Monday night looked like a reenactment of
last Tuesday’s debate, just with an emphasis on foreign policy issues and with
a better debate moderator. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Credit CBS’ Bob Schieffer for “letting the boys play”, being
even-handed and avoided drawing attention to himself. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The president was once again the aggressor swinging away at
Romney, who for the most part played rope-a-dope though the ex-governor managed
to connect with a few uppercuts.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And once again the CNN insta-poll gave Obama the win on
points by eight points, only one more than the president’s insta-poll win in
the townhall debate. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Liberals, who mocked Republican complaints about
oversampling Democrats in battleground and national polls, have vociferously
derided the GOP-heavy CNN insta-poll, though the network maintains that ithe poll is constructed to measure actual viewers and not necessarily the nation or likely
electorate. </div>
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<br /></div>
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But the polls that matter going into November 6<sup>th</sup>
are those taken in the swing states and though I sincerely felt Obama triumphed
over Romney last week, the surveys taken in the days after the town hall debate
reflected a growing Romney lead where he was in a deadlock and contracting poll
deficits where the Republican trailed the president badly.</div>
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Which begs a few questions about presidential debates two
and three. </div>
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Is it a case where Americans only cared about the first one,
which would mirror what happened in 1960 when Richard Nixon failed to overcome
bombing the first debate against John F. Kennedy with strong performances in
the remaining debates?</div>
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Are the debates being drowned out by paid media and the
polls reflecting the impact of increased spending and better advertising by the Romney camp?</div>
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Or as I speculated previously when trying to figure out why
the president didn’t receive a bounce in the polls after his round two debate
victory, that his win in the war of words was negated by his decidedly
unpresidential mannerisms?</div>
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If the latter then President Obama did not help his
re-election cause on Monday evening, where he came off as petulant. And while his “bayonets” line might have led
to hearty cheers at debate watching parties in union halls in deep blue states,
his demeaning tone and obvious flub about these war instruments being
anachronistic (they’re not) will follow him, particularly in the snarky savage
world of social media. </div>
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Expect to see a lot of marines to have some fun at their
commander-in-chief’s expense with tweeted bayonet pics. </div>
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As for Romney, in my opinion, he left too much in the
playbook and not enough on the field. </div>
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Perhaps in a bit of good humor hangover from the Al Smith dinner,
Romney was ridiculously deferential to the president decided not to pursue the
Benghazi matter, which is this White House’s greatest foreign policy failure
and a visible symptom of the systematic problems of the administration’s global
outlook. </div>
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Romney did manage to call the president out on the “apology
tour” and he delivered the strongest line of the night where he eloquently
stated that the United States does not dictate to the world but has “freed
other nations from dictators”. Romney
was also solid on Israel, challenging President Obama with being less
supportive of the Jewish State than candidate Obama was in 2008.</div>
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Romney shrewdly managed to steer the debate back to the
economy and amazingly President Obama testily jumped right down that rabbit
hole after him, allowing the Republican to fight on more familiar turf and less
advantageous ground for the president.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The Republican presidential nominee’s courtesies to the
president concerning the killing of Osama bin Laden drove Donald Trump to furiously
tweet his displeasure. Trump opined
that his candidate should “stop congratulating Obama for killing Bin
Laden. The Navy Seals (sic) killed Bin
Laden.” </div>
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Trump was right and Romney passed on a golden opportunity to
correct the president for stealing thunder that he authorized but did not
make. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Which leaves me to wonder whether Romney intentionally
assumed a passive posture in the debate so as not to commit any errors in order
to protect a lead. Politicians that
adopt a zone defense strategy tend to be ahead. </div>
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Whether the final president debate moved votes in any
direction will not be known until Thursday.
My guess is that the third debate itself won’t matter much with
the last two confirming what people saw in the first (Nixon-Kennedy '60).</div>
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Romney came off as competent, knowledgeable and presidential
in all three debates while the president looked like a desperate politician
unable to defend his record yet not unwilling to get personal. </div>
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After six years of soaring rhetoric, controlled speaking
environments, screened audiences, a fourth estate that has acted as his
political secret service and a podium flanked by teleprompters, the debates
have allowed Americans to peer behind the purple curtain to see that they’ve had
a state senator for a president all along.
</div>
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With the debates concluded and two weeks to go before election
day, all that’s left are more advertising, candidate scrambles to purple
states, get out the vote operations and the late October/early November
surprise the most cynical amongst us assume the White House is cooking up and
ready to serve at a politically optimal time. </div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-82742234865515987922012-10-21T22:00:00.000-07:002012-10-21T22:00:15.485-07:00Election 2012: Le Monde du Obama and the Third Debate<br />
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Back in August, former US Senator Gary Hart penned a piece
for the Huffington Post where he argued that that President Barack Obama would
win re-election by a landslide due to the Democratic ticket’s depth of foreign
policy experience.</div>
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The article perplexed me, since foreign policy has rarely
made a difference in the outcome of presidential elections in the past few
decades, largely due to the end of the draft and the shift to an all-volunteer
army. </div>
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The other reason why I was a bit surprised by the former
Democratic presidential candidate’s assertion was that I never thought the
Obama Administration’s foreign endeavors were anything to brag about.</div>
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In fact, it might be said with a straight face that Joe Biden is
a better running mate than Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Joe’s worst transgressions are mostly
rhetorical; the “gaffes” committed by the Clinton State Department and by
extension the Obama White House have come with more serious consequences sans
laugh track.</div>
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The Obama/Clinton foreign policy has been a bumbling series of
failures with one shining moment that the president hopes will
blind the public from the totality of their failed international initiatives.</div>
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Here’s a quick rundown on their record-</div>
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The current state of relations with Russia is terrible. Secretary Clinton’s Carrot Top-esque “Reset
button” gimmick was an embarrassment and made us look foolish when it turned
out the wrong word had been printed in Cyrillic on the prop. Instead of sending a signal that the US
desired improved relations with Russia, we looked like rubes, which is
dangerous when dealing with the Kremlin.</div>
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President Obama’s unintended live-mic mention of
post-election“flexibility” to then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev concerning
America’s missile defense was extremely disconcerting and the Obama
Administration’s cancellation of planned missile defense sites in the Czech
Republic and Poland was a sign that the US cannot be trusted to fulfill our commitments
to even our most loyal allies. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In a pathetic gesture to make us “popular”, President
Obama conducted an apology tour to corners of the world that resent us. The supplications did not pay any diplomatic
dividends, but instead broadcast our naiveté that the “grievances” of the world
against America are legitimate while the sins of rogue regimes are best left
ignored. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The murderous regime in Damascus apparently has received an
immunity stick from the Obama Administration as it continues to kill with
impunity protestors demanding democracy in Syria. </div>
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In another example of an ally being thrown under a bus,
Israeli security interests have been recklessly dismissed by the Obama
Administration yet they naively extend hope for a breakthrough regarding the
pursuit of a nuclear weapon by an Iranian government that is only marginally
improved from the beards behind the seizure of our embassy staff in 1979.</div>
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<br /></div>
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But the biggest foreign policy albatross hanging around the
neck of the Obama Administration is the murder (and possible torture) of
Ambassador Chris Stevens in Libya. </div>
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The State Department’s refusal to provide adequate
protection and their coordinated deceit to the American public about what
happened represents one of the most serious transgressions ever committed by an
administration. </div>
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It is the hope of President Obama that another body will
outweigh that of Stevens’s.</div>
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President Obama’s greatest achievement in the international
realm was the assault on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The president should be recognized for his bold and proper
decision concerning the elimination of bin Laden in an operation that took
place not only outside the military operation area but only 31 miles away from
the capital of Pakistan. </div>
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<br /></div>
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There were plenty of risks involved sending a covert
military force relatively deep into another country. It could have very well ended up like Operation Eagle Claw, the
disastrous Delta Force mission authorized by then-President Jimmy Carter to
free US embassy personnel being held hostage in Tehran. </div>
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<br /></div>
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President Obama has made great political hay of his
authorization of the successful mission and I assume television viewers will be
reminded as much in the Monday evening debate.</div>
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<br /></div>
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While I believe Governor Romney should recognize the
president’s decision as admirable, he should point out that any other
occupant of the Oval Office would have given the same order to bring bin Laden
to justice. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Furthermore, Romney should call out the president’s brazen
attempt to seize more credit than he deserves.
The mission was carried out by the Navy SEAL team and President Obama’s
ad nauseam boasting is an affront to those who risked their lives to do the
job.</div>
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Or to put it another way, he didn’t kill that. Someone else did. That someone being SEAL Team 6.</div>
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President Obama will also lay claim for the winding down of
the American involvement in Afghanistan though the wisdom of announcing a
withdrawal date is questionable.
However the Obama Administration’s position is popular with an American
public that wants our countrymen to be removed from the graveyard of empires
regardless of the consequences that could follow.</div>
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<br /></div>
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President Obama will also try to do the same concerning the War
in Iraq, which ended under his watch though the withdrawal was established under
the Bush Administration and the war was effectively won by the troop surge that broke the back of the al-Qaeda network there. Then-senator Obama opposed the surge.</div>
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<br /></div>
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While President Obama intends to turn the final presidential
debate into a “bin Laden’s dead gloat fest”, he will have a lot of explaining
to do concerning the a host of other breakdowns and poor decisions that
collectively represent the most disastrous foreign policy record in decades.</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Former senator Hart’s rosy view of le monde du Obama
notwithstanding, the president should have as much difficulty defending his
foreign policy on Monday evening as he had defending his economic record in the
other two debates. </span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-54713674287738899522012-10-18T22:01:00.001-07:002012-10-18T22:01:24.651-07:00CNN Goes C.Y.A.<br />
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In the unlikely event that there are folks in the journalism
trade who agonize over the suspicion conservatives hold towards the Fourth
Estate, CNN’s Candy Crowley did them no favors on Tuesday night.</div>
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<br /></div>
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TMZ, better known as the corner of the internet that acts as
the archive of record for Kardashian bikini pics, managed to get their mitts on
an internal CNN communiqué from network executive vice-president Mark Whitaker
that reads like George W. Bush’s “Brownie, you’ve done a heck of a job” praise
for the infamous ex-FEMA head after Katrina.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Whitaker opens up by asking fellow CNN employees to applaud
Crowley for doing “a superb job under the most difficult circumstances
imaginable.” </div>
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<br /></div>
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Really?</div>
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<br /></div>
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I thought the feminist wing of professional scribes had
called assigning a female reporter to moderate the town hall debate demeaning?</div>
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<br /></div>
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ABC’s Carole Simpson, who moderated the first town
hall-style presidential debate twenty years ago, said that having female
reporters relegated to covering the town hall and vice-presidential debates,
was “sexist” (her actual word for it) in advance of Crowley’s moderating her
first presidential debate.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s ironic that Simpson would degrade her assignment from
1992, which featured three presidential candidates and proved to be a
consequential debate when President George H.W. Bush infamously looked at his
watch and added to his image of being disinterested with the hoi polloi.</div>
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So prior to the debate, Simpson more or less compared
running a town hall debate to taking out the trash yet Crowley’s boss at CNN
made it out as if she had climbed Mount Everest.</div>
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Whitaker continues: “She and her team had to select and
sequence questions in a matter of hours, and then she had to deal with the
tricky format, the nervous questioners, the aggressive debaters, all while
shutting out the pre-debate attempts to spin and intimidate her.”</div>
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So with a debate that was to last 90 minutes divided by two
candidates plus adjusting for different questioners, the veteran journalist not
only had the burden of selecting just over a dozen questions but putting them
in order with help from a staff assisting her with this Herculean task. </div>
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Oh the humanity.</div>
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Whitaker: “She pulled it off masterfully.”</div>
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<br /></div>
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Well Crowley pulled something off masterfully, but not being
a good moderator.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The CNN reporter interrupted the Republican nominee for
president twenty-eight times; the president only nine. </div>
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What was that compliment Whitaker paid Crowley again? “shutting out the pre-debate attempts to
spin and intimidate her.”</div>
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So much for being the Atlantic Wall of debate
moderators. Crowley not only lied down
during Barack Obama’s constant interruptions of Mitt Romney, but she also
“corrected” Romney while he was arguing with the president.</div>
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Crowley was either biased for or star-struck by the
president. Perhaps she was too caught
up with the thought of having the first dance at the annual “Nerd Prom”,
formally known as the White House Correspondents Dinner.</div>
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At one point, Crowley started to sound like Dean Vernon
Wormer from Animal House all but barking out “you’ll get your chance smart guy”
when Romney insisted on having an opportunity to refute an Obama attack on his
comments about the auto industry bailout.</div>
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Like the folks at the Delta Tau Chi house, Romney never did
get his chance.</div>
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Whitaker continues: “The reviews on Candy’s performance have
been overwhelmingly positive but Romney supporters are going after her on two
points, no doubt because their man did not have as good a night as he had in
Denver.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
OK- first, the talking heads at MSNBC don’t count as
credible sources of praise and secondly, this “atta girl e-mail” is starting to
sound like a Bill O’Reilly “Talking Points Memo”. With good reason.</div>
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Whitaker: “On legitimacy of Candy fact-checking Romney on
Obama’s Rose Garden statement, it should be stressed that she was just stating
a point of fact: Obama did talk about an act (or acts) of terror; no matter
what you think he meant by that that at the time.”</div>
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This is revealing.
First, as debate moderator, it’s not her job to “fact check”. She’s not there to correct the candidates;
she’s there to ensure that they follow the established procedures/agreed upon
rules of engagement. Apparently the
news executive is as confused as the news reporter on the actual role of a
debate moderator.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Crowley was not participating in a Sunday morning news show
as a panelist but refereeing. And she
did about as well with her first attempt at this as the NFL’s scab refs.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Secondly, Whitaker is basically admitting that Obama’s claim
of calling the Benghazi attack an act of terrorism is bogus and that it’s
necessary for one to stretch the imagination to accept the president’s blatant
stretching of the truth.</div>
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Whitaker then shifts to another grievance: that President
Obama got more talking time than Romney.</div>
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“On why Obama got more time to speak, it should be noted
that Candy and her commission producers tried to keep it even but that Obama
went on longer largely because he speaks more slowly.”<br />
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Conservatives have hurled many insults towards President
Obama but “Droopy Dog” has not been one of them. </div>
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<br /></div>
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In an attempt to make the case for impartiality on this
point, the CNN vice-president proposes a solution: “We’re going to do a word
count to see whether, as in Denver, Romney actually got more words in even if
he talked for a shorter period of time.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I read that gem, I had to Google the story to make sure
this leaked memo wasn’t another “Talk Like a Pirate Day” prank. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you’re counting the candidates’ words, then you’re
engaging in some double-plus “Cover Your Ass” scrambling and searching for any
talking point to distract from the totality Crowley’s mishandling of what a
feminist reporter called a format so simple to manage that it was demeaning to
assign to a woman.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All Crowley needed to do is keep the candidates confined to
their talking times and take questions in the prioritized order she and her
staff selected. That’s all…but perhaps
not enough for a journalistic “star”. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obviously Crowley wanted to make her special night to be her
night. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Less yokels, more Candy.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Crowley wanted to be more of a part of the debate than her
role allowed.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Like Kanye West at the MTV video awards or those two
screwballs who crashed Hank Aaron’s trot around the bases after becoming the home
run king, Crowley crossed a line of appropriateness and “gonzo’d” the debate by
becoming too much of a part of the story.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What Crowley did brought embarrassment to her profession and
apparently her employers, who exacerbated matters through an absurd talking
points memo intended to reassure the rest of the staff that their colleague
“really did great” and to spin it as such.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Presidential Debate II was good for President Obama,
OK for Mitt Romney but terrible for Crowley, CNN and journalism in general.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-58156618339794860942012-10-11T23:05:00.002-07:002012-10-11T23:05:49.132-07:00Election 2012: Biden Outperforms Obama, Not Ryan<br />
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The first ever presidential televised presidential debate
had mixed yet decisive results.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Those who listened to it on the radio thought Vice-President
Richard Nixon had won yet people who watched it on the tube thought US Senator
John Kennedy clearly outperformed his Republican opponent.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Kennedy won the battle on the tube by his healthy appearance
while Nixon looked ill, partly because he was still recovering from the flu.</div>
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<br /></div>
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In the lone vice-presidential debate in the 2012 election
cycle, a similar split decision could be made.
People tuning in to the verbal skirmish via radio heard Vice-President
Joseph Biden came off as assertive and strong while Wisconsin Congressman Paul
Ryan was too deferential for his own good.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yet the view from the flatscreen painted a much different
picture.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Biden must have been unaware of the splitscreen broadcast as
he behaved petulantly throughout most of the debate. Between his smirks, pronounced facial expressions and at times
wild body language, the vice-president displayed boorish conduct.</div>
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<br /></div>
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When Biden was not interrupting Ryan during his allotted
time, the vice-president looked like a hyperactive college basketball
coach. Biden was more frenetic at the
debate table than Mark Cuban is courtside.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One could say Biden was “unvicepresidential”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ryan, almost three decades younger than his opponent, came
off mature and with, under the circumstances, a commendable degree of
self-control. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ryan managed to get in a few solid jabs on Biden, starting
off with Libya, the first topic discussed.
Ryan can claim the line of the night with his “The words don’t always
come out the right way. You know how
that is, Joe,” retort to the vice-president mentioning Mitt Romney’s 47%
comment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ryan succeeded in coming off as competent and capable of
doing the job as president if circumstances were to call upon him to do so,
which was the primary objective for Ryan on Thursday night.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The youthful Wisconsin politician would not be “Quayled” or
“Palined”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ryan missed several opportunities. First, after checking his opponent early on for interrupting him,
Ryan more or less allowed Biden to constantly barge into his comment time as
the vice-president was at times simultaneously acting as participant, moderator
and color commentary.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, Ryan failed to establish himself as unique as a
national candidate as he was young enough to have to live with the consequences
of the election. This would have been a
strong play for the youth vote, which is trending to Obama, especially if he
would have worked it in on his answer to the question about what special trait
he would bring to the office.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Third, Ryan couldn’t help himself by talking at times like
an economist and not a grocer.
Fortunately for him he did not spend too much time in the fiscal jungle,
though it served as a reminder that the names on the 2012 ticket are indeed
listed in the correct order.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A CNN instapoll taken at the conclusion of the debate gave
the nod to Ryan, 48% to 44%. That a sitting
vice-president, especially one who was elected to the US Senate while his
challenger was in the midst of his terrible-twos, was out pointed ought to be a
point of embarrassment.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Had Biden toned down his zeal and kept his unruliness in
check, he would have not just won the debate but done so comfortably as he was
able to do the minimum task of forcefully getting out his party’s talking
points, particularly in his enunciations that America’s involvement in
Afghanistan was coming to an end.
Period. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Regardless of your position about the wisdom of the
termination of our involvement in the nation’s longest war, Biden’s position
was popular and effectively delivered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Biden was like bad cologne: odious while accomplishing the
objective of making its wearer’s presence known. Had President Barack Obama did as much last week, the fallout
from the debate would not have been as severe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The vice-president succeeded in showing some fight, which no
doubt fired up MSNBC liberals with his chutzpah while turning off CNN moderates
with his poor manners and at times erratic behavior.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Democratic base was pleased while undecided voters might
have been troubled by the fact that Biden was not just a heartbeat away from
the presidency but often the face of the nation when meeting with foreign
dignitaries. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The worst that Biden did in the debate was abort any
prospect of him one day being elected president, though he did not do any
disservice to his party by playing hatchet man. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Thursday night, Biden was too much Bob Dole and Ryan was
too much Jack Kemp.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The vice-president acted like a DNC chairman preaching to
the choir while Paul Ryan was Wisconsin nice, playing for swing voters.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as more people watched Biden’s behavior on television
than just listened to him on the radio, one must concede the debate to Ryan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the gaffe-prone Delaware Blue Hen can take
satisfaction in at least covering the spread.</div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-17708237681234094122012-10-10T21:35:00.001-07:002012-10-10T21:35:17.018-07:00Election 2012: What Biden Needs to Do and What Ryan Shouldn't<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Stand up Chuck, let ‘em see ya!”- US Senator Joe Biden to
wheelchair-bound State Senator Chuck Graham at a Missouri campaign rally.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelet got
on the television and didn’t just talk about, you know, the princes of greed.”-
US Senator Joe Biden in an interview with Katie Couric in 2008. FDR was not the president in 1929 and the
consumer television had not been created</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“This is a big f*cking deal!”- Vice-President Joe Biden
caught on an open microphone congratulating President Obama on the signing of
his signature health care legislation.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“His mom lived in Long Island for years or so, God rest her
soul. And although she’s- wait- you
mom’s still- your mom’s still alive?”- Vice-President Joe Biden speaking about
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s still living mother.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You don’t know my state.
My state was a slave state.”
-Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden making his case that he’s not a
typical northeast liberal. Editor’s
note: He succeeded.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They’re going to put y’all back in chains.” –
Vice-President Joe Biden addressing a largely black audience in Virginia,
somehow working that line in during a rant on Mitt Romney’s pro-Wall Street
economic positions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The above is the Joe Biden most conservatives are familiar
with.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scratch that.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The above is the Joe Biden most Americans, regardless of
ideology, are familiar with, since he tends to only make headlines when he
makes a gaffe.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Republicans have eagerly anticipated the vice-presidential
debate ever since Mitt Romney announced his fiscal brainiac running mate. While the thought of a New Gingrich-Barack
Obama showdown appealed to many Republicans, a Biden-Ryan debate seemed to be
the next best thing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And while Vice-President Biden has at times come off like
Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin character from the Naked Gun movie series,
Republicans should acquaint himself with another Joe Biden.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Biden was a candidate for the US Senate when he was 29 years
old and defeated a two-term Republican incumbent the same year Richard Nixon
carried Delaware by 20 points and 48 other states.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He would be re-elected to his seat six times, including in
1984 when Ronald Reagan carried the First State by 20 points.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And then there was his war on Supreme Court nominee Robert
Bork. Though Massachusetts US Senator
Ted Kennedy was the leader of the jihad against Bork, Biden did his fair share
of damage to Reagan’s choice for a seat on the highest court as Chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the 2012 Democratic National Convention Biden succeeded
in upstaging his boss when he delivered a better acceptance speech than the one
given by the top of the ticket.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Biden has been sequestered at a Delaware hotel for days
going over research and holding mock debates.
And thanks to his propensity to make outrageous comments, Biden goes
into the debate with expectations that were as low as Sarah Palin’s four years
before.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be brutally honest, I’d be shocked if Biden doesn’t win
Thursday night, if only because of his decades of political experience. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Expect Biden to go on the offensive, challenging Ryan on any
questionable arguments and facts that were raised by Romney during last week’s
presidential debate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, Biden has probably committed the most
radioactive aspects of Ryan’s budget plan to memory and will try to squeeze in
a laundry list of the unpopular line items at every opportunity. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At a minimum Biden only needs to get out the standard
anti-Romney talking points without sounding hysterical. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The ideal would be for Biden to also make Ryan appear unfit
to be president, thereby getting the media to focus on the wisdom of the Ryan
pick and away from Obama’s record beyond the Democrats’ “GM’s alive and Bin
Laden’s Dead” bumper sticker narrative.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And this will sound ugly to even speculate but Biden will
likely trot out his personal familial tragedy in relation to some softball
question to attract sympathy from viewers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In contrast, Ryan will be addressing a real national
audience for only the second time in his political life and has the burden of
multitasking: introducing himself to America, defending his budget, defending
his ticket and making a case that he is qualified to serve as president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ryan must avoid trying to do too much and should prioritize
his talking points while not addressing every hit leveled by the Biden
rhetorical whirligig. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Wisconsin Republican should try to emulate the deftly
defensive Walter Mondale from 1976 and not the absent-minded professor Jack
Kemp from 1996. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than serving up a collegiate level talk on economic
philosophy, Ryan needs to point out the quality of life measures that have
plummeted over the past four years in basic consumer talk (or as I like to call
it, Price Is Right lingo- which Romney effectively utilized the week before).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally Ryan needs to avoid sounding excited. He has a high-pitched nasal voice that
sounds…nerdy when he starts talking fast.
If he can help it, Ryan should minimize the material he provides to
Lorne Michaels’s writers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A good performance by Biden won’t decide the election, but
it would take some of the steam out of Romney’s victory in last week’s debate,
which drove up his poll numbers nationally, filled his supporters with hope and
his campaign coffers with badly needed cash.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For Ryan, how he does on Thursday night will ultimately
affect his presidential aspirations in 2016 more than Romney’s in 2012. Ryan doesn’t need to rout Biden in the
debate to keep the Republican ticket’s momentum going, just not lose.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That said, take the Blue Hen +9 over the RedHawk.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-11117856636615088072012-10-10T18:45:00.002-07:002012-10-10T18:45:18.380-07:00Louisiana 2012: A Tale of Two Polls<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Republicans in Louisiana were served some strong coffee last
week with the release of new a poll conducted by the Baton Rouge-based Southern
Media and Opinion Research. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The survey showed that Governor Bobby Jindal, who was
re-elected in a landslide less than a year ago with 66%, now enjoys a mere 51%
approval rating.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Democratic US Senator Mary Landrieu, whose prospects for a
fourth term in 2014 will be affected in some measure by President Barack Obama’s
re-election, fared better in the SMOR poll.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Louisiana’s senior senator received an approval rating of
62%, highest of the elected officials polled in the survey. All of Landrieu’s campaigns for the US
Senate were close, in which she received 50.1% in 1996, 51.7% in 2002 and 52.1%
in 2008. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Republican US Senator David Vitter had a 52% approval rating
and Republican Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne was viewed favorably by 47% of
the SMOR sample.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The biggest surprise was the poll’s snapshot of the presidential
contest in Louisiana.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bayou State hasn’t supported a Democrat for president
since Bill Clinton’s re-election in 1996 and four years ago Louisiana gave the
GOP presidential nominee a majority of 59%.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Southern Media and Opinion Research survey pegged former
Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at 45% and President Barack Obama at 39%,
roughly the same showing the Democrat received in 2008. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though it’s fair to assume that the outstanding 16% will
break heavily to Romney, that Obama’s Republican challenger only had a 6-point
lead raised eyebrows.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A week later Magellan Strategies released a poll that
painted a much different political portrait.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Magellan poll gives Romney a commanding 22-point lead
over President Obama in Louisiana, mirroring the 2008 presidential race in the
state from the other end. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The GOP nominee for president polled at 59% while the
president trails with 36% with 5% undecided.
In a reversal of the other poll’s undecided margin, the remainder will
likely break to Obama.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Magellan poll also paints a far less rosy picture for
Senator Landrieu. According to their
numbers 40% would definitely support her re-election while 51% of those
surveyed would support an alternative, though no candidate in particular was
named. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In another difference with the SMOR poll, the Magellan
survey had Senator Vitter with a 59% approval rating and a 33% disapproval
rating. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lieutenant Governor Dardenne had a 40% approval rating and a
21% disapproval rating.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though Magellan did not poll Governor Jindal’s approval
rating, they did poll the 2015 race for governor.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Six names were slated in an “open primary” with Senator
Vitter receiving a plurality of 31% with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
trailing the Republican by less than two points. State Treasurer
John Kennedy placed third with 7% followed by Lieutenant Governor Dardenne with
6.5%, New Orleans businessman and one-time gubernatorial candidate John Georges
garnered 6% and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vitter, Kennedy, Dardenne and Strain are Republicans and
Landrieu is a Democrat. Georges sought
the office of mayor of New Orleans in 2010 as a Democrat.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over 16% of those surveyed expressed no preference.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What to make of these surveys?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, Governor Jindal has taken major hits on the public
relations front with the drastic cuts to the state’s hospital system, which has
led to the closure of some facilities that are critical to the health care and
economic well being of communities across the state. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore the only other time the governor seems to make
the news is when the local media promulgates his latest campaign venture out of
the state on behalf of Governor Romney’s presidential campaign. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When considering the avalanche of negative news coverage he
has endured, it’s an accomplishment that his numbers are above 50%. Jindal has governed Louisiana without major
scandal and every time a hurricane approaches the Louisiana coastline, the
people of the state are reminded exactly why they voted for him twice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, I wouldn’t be shocked if Senator Landrieu’s
approval rating was above 50% though I don’t think any objective political
observer believes her re-elect number would approach 60% in a contested
fight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mary Landrieu is a unique politician- she polls well in
non-election years, nosedives as the election draws close and then defies
political conventional wisdom to win in a hostile political environment for a
Democratic candidate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For example, she won re-election in a runoff in 2002,
against a strong GOP headwind that returned control of the US Senate to the
Republican Party. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Six years later the top of the Republican ticket in
Louisiana, John McCain, carried the state with 59%, yet Landrieu still managed
to get significant number of Louisianans to split ticket vote, resulting in her
biggest majority yet as a US Senate candidate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Landrieu has not drawn an announced Republican opponent for
2014, though the national GOP will almost certainly invest considerable
resources in the hope that the fourth time will be the charm. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, there is the 2015 gubernatorial race. Thus far only one of the names listed in the
poll has publicly expressed a strong interest in making the race (Strain). Mayor Landrieu has not even hinted that he
is contemplating a bid. His first
political priority will be re-election as mayor in early 2014. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In all likelihood, the New Orleans mayor’s name was included
as a generic candidate to measure Democratic support. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In order to remain a credible political party, the Democrats
can’t afford to make a blanket concession on the statewide level as they did in
2011.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the Republican end, the Magellan poll confirms the
difficulty any Republican candidate would encounter attempting an end-around
run on Senator Vitter if he were to throw his hat in the ring for
governor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vitter’s 88% showing in the 2010 Republican primary for US
Senate demonstrated his high popularity amongst conservative voters and his
19-point margin over Blue Dog Democrat Charlie Melancon in the general election
shredded any doubt about his electability.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-77463860277366918972012-10-10T18:44:00.001-07:002012-10-10T18:44:04.782-07:00Election 2012: The Great Divider<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
After scoring an impressive debate victory over a president
who ascended to the nation’s highest office through his gift of gab, Mitt
Romney’s campaign has made its first significant forward progress in the general
election campaign.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And his timing could not have been better with early voting
already taking place in some states.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though the “who won the debate” insta-polls swung heavily in
Romney’s favor, it took several days for the national and battleground state
polls to digest Romney’s triumph.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What was once a column of solid blue (the president’s leads
in various surveys) on Real Clear Politics’ poll page now has splotches of
red. Rasmussen, considered to have its
sample calibrated to reflect the expected 2012 voter turnout, has Romney at 49%
(+2) in the national poll. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Public Policy Polling, which has been affiliated with the
Daily Kos, has Romney at 47% (-2) in Wisconsin. On the day of the debate, a Marquette University poll had Obama
with an 11-point lead in the home of the GOP’s candidate for vice-president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another benefit from the Denver debate registered
practically overnight: money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
CNN reported that money was pouring into the coffers of
Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney Super PAC, within 24 hours after the debate
and its founder estimated that it would be one of the most successful
fundraising days for the political committee.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Smarting from the humbling at Romney’s hands, President
Barack Obama has gone on the offensive, showing more cheek before friendly
audiences than he did when sharing the stage with his Republican challenger.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And with Obama’s poll numbers tumbling and Romney’s
fundraising numbers on the rise, America will see presidential rhetoric burrow
to a new low. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The president and his allies have already hurled everything
and the kitchen sink at Romney since it’s easier to destroy his opponent than
to defend his record.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Women are told that Romney will outlaw abortion and have
their birth control pills ripped from their hands. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Democrats even have a line for those women who are
pro-life or don’t think the taxpayers should be footing the bill for their
birth control as they claim that Romney opposes “equal pay for equal work”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Blacks were informed by Vice-President Joseph Biden that a
Romney Administration would “put y’all back in chains”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And when not being threatened with being thrown in manacles,
black voters along with Latinos have been alerted that the GOP is trying to
disenfranchise them by requiring the presentation of photo identification at
polling stations. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Young voters are warned that Congressman Paul Ryan wants to
double college student loan interest and to older voters that the Romney-Ryan
ticket seeks to sacrifice their Medicare and Social Security to pay for tax
cuts for the wealthy, specifically Donald Trump.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only time President Obama paints his message with a
broad brush is when he engages in his now standard class warfare rants, trying
to turn renters against owners, employees against bosses and the “have not as
much” against the “have a bit more”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Gender, class and race baiting is all the Democrats have
left to offer the country aside from doubling down on reckless spending that
has added over $5,000,000,000,000.00 to our national debt since Obama took the
oath of office in January 2009.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama has shown a willingness to be as fiscally
vulgar as he has been rhetorically and a desperate last-minute taxpayer funded
“giveaway” should be expected if things look bleak in late October.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My money is on a “blanket” student loan forgiveness that
turns out to be the size of a “dishrag” once the details are revealed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Obama 2.0, hope has been replaced with fear, citizenship
swapped with victimization and the promise that “things will get better” substituted
with a warning “things could get worse”.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If voters cannot be “inspired” then they can be stampeded
with scare tactics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or rented via government programs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And as unseemly (at best) and pathetic (at worst) this
unprecedented presidential demagoguery sounds to the objective observer, Obama
& Co.’s divisive fear-mongering has registered with the populace,
especially in the environment the current administration’s policies have
created. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Obama has no business enjoying even a slight lead
aside from the states that have immersed their heads in the blueberry Kool-Aid
trough considering the number of Americans who are out of work, the spike in
the price of gasoline under his watch and the administration’s sizable
contribution to the national debt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney and the Republicans cannot dismiss the Democrats’
“sum of our parts” strategy but must directly address the incendiary charges
made against them from president’s mouth and the pro-Obama Super PACs’
direct-mail houses.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The two demographics that will decide the election are women
and young people. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney will carry neither group but he must close the gap
significantly with the former and marginally with the latter to win in
November.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-38340699108690689462012-10-10T18:43:00.001-07:002012-10-10T18:43:06.395-07:00Looking Back at Past Vice-Presidential Debates<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
John Nance Garner has been attributed as the source of the
famous estimation that the vice-presidency was “not worth a pitcher of warm
piss”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And no, that last word is not an error. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “pee word” was substituted with “spit” so as to take
some of the edge off the rough description on what is constitutionally the
nation’s second-highest office.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The vice-presidency matters if only because its occupant is
only a heartbeat away from occupying the Oval Office. Funny how someone who holds such a mocked position could become
the de facto leader of the free world in the blink of an eye.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And since Franklin Roosevelt’s fourth term, five
vice-presidents have ascended to the presidency, four of them advancing
directly.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The League of Women Voters pushed for the initial square off
between the major parties’ candidates for vice-president, which took place in
1976. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since then the vice-presidential debates have been more
consequential for the later presidential ambitions of the participants than
they’ve been for overall ticket in the election, with rare exception.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Gerald Ford’s running mate, Kansas US Senator Bob
Dole, and Jimmy Carter’s choice for vice-president, Minnesota US Senator Walter
Mondale, squared off in Houston and the debate did not go well for Dole, who
came off bitter and angry. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dole’s most infamous moment was when he referred to World
Wars I and II, the Korean Conflict and Vietnam as “Democrat wars”. Mondale replied “that Senator Dole has richly
earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mondale, whose ticket was well ahead in the polls, did his
best not to lose the debate rather than trying to score a decisive win. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since the Republican ticket lost the 1976 election by a
sliver (just over 11,000 votes in Ohio and just over 7,000 votes in Hawai’i),
it’s possible that the vice-presidential debate did as much to cost the
election as the Polish vote in Cleveland and Honolulu. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only two years removed from the brooding administration of
Richard Nixon, Dole’s negative performance did not do his cause in 1976 nor his
own presidential bids in 1980 and 1988 any favors.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Arguing over the inclusion of independent candidate John
Anderson and his running mate Patrick Lucey led to the scrapping of the planned
vice-presidential debate and one of the three scheduled presidential debates as
President Carter refused to participate in any event where Anderson was
invited.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 1984 vice-presidential debate between
then-Vice-President George Bush and New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro
attracted over fifty million television viewers, a record for a veep debate
that would stand until 2008. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bush questioned Ferraro’s experience, having been a US
Representative less than six years when selected for the Democratic Party’s
second spot on the ticket. Ferraro took
umbrage at Bush’s “patronizing attitude” and blasted him for being
condescending. One of the more
memorable comments about the debate came from Bush, when the vice-president
commented that he “tried to kick a little ass last night”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The debate and the vice-president’s self-assessment had zero
effect as Ronald Reagan cruised to a second term with 49 states.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 1988 debate between Indiana US Senator Dan Quayle and
Texas US Senator Lloyd Bentsen will forever be remembered for, and
vice-presidential debates will always be associated with, Bensten’s
admonishment to Quayle for claiming he had as much experience as Kennedy had
when he sought the presidency in 1960.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bentsen replied to Quayle’s boast with “Senator, I served
with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack
Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of
mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now for a post-debate reality check. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quayle had served in the US House of Representatives for
four years and was on his eighth year as a US Senator when Vice-President Bush
invited him on to the GOP ticket. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
JFK was elected to Congress in 1946 and elected to the upper
chamber in 1952.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quayle had served on Capitol Hill twelve years while Kennedy
served fourteen years. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But another point that was lost- Kennedy was frequently
hospitalized for medical maladies and had missed a number of votes. Last rites had even been performed on the
Massachusetts senator. In all
actuality, Quayle probably had more experience performing his duties in
Congress than Kennedy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bentsen had served with Kennedy in the 435-member US House
of Representatives for four years before Kennedy left for the senate. The two were not friends and Bentsen had not
even been invited to Kennedy’s wedding in 1953. Bentsen was guilty of a gross exaggeration at best and outright
deceit at worst.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In politics, facts can be stubborn and at other times
conveniently forgotten.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, Bentsen knew Quayle was going to make the
Kennedy self-comparison so he had the line in the can, ready for release. And to the Texan’s credit, he delivered it
masterfully though it did not even act as a breakwater in the Bush tsunami in
1988. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The three-way dance in 1992 is best remembered not for
anything said by the major parties’ veep candidates but for the confused
performance by Ross Perot’s running mate retired Admiral James Stockdale, who
rhetorically asked “Who am I? Why am I
here?” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quayle acquitted himself far better in the 1992 debate
against Stockdale and Tennessee US Senator Al Gore, the Democrats’ nominee for
vice-president. Once again, the
vice-presidential debate had no effect on the outcome of the presidential
election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 1996 vice-presidential debate between
then-Vice-President Al Gore and former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp was irrelevant
to the 1996 campaign but marked the end of whatever hope the ex-football star
had at becoming president (more on this tomorrow).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2000 Dick Cheney-Joe Lieberman face-off attracted the
second lowest television audience for a vice-presidential debate. Cheney outperformed his Democratic opponent
and the results of Florida were agonizingly close, but Lieberman’s performance
in the debate was not considered a reason why the Democratic ticket lost. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If anything, Lieberman’s presence on the ticket was an asset
that likely made Florida more competitive than most observers expected it to
be. Lieberman’s fellow Democrats
apparently did not share this assessment as they scuttled his 2004 presidential
bid early and Gore endorsed Howard Dean over his own running mate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2004 debate between Cheney and North Carolina US Senator
John Edwards had a major awkward moment when Edwards casually mentioned
Cheney’s lesbian daughter Mary, perhaps in a bid to irritate social conservatives
who opposed gay marriage. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Edwards only succeeded in coming off as unseemly in the
exchange. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Social conservatives didn’t budge from supporting
Bush-Cheney, the vice-president was visibly displeased and Mary later referred
to Edwards as “total slime”. Edwards
did not deliver his homestate of North Carolina for John Kerry.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In retrospect, Mary may have been more right then she knew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally there was the 2008 debate between Alaska governor
Sarah Palin and Delaware US Senator Joe Biden.
Seventy million Americans tuned in to one of the most watched political
debates in broadcast television history.
Palin needed to do well in the debate to make up for unfavorable
interviews that led to questions about her qualifications. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Biden, observing a “do no harm” posture”, pulled his punches
and seemed to have a wide yet insincere smile plastered on his face most of the
debate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the housing and financial crises overshadowing the
campaign, Republican nominee John McCain’s panicked reaction to the situation
and President George W. Bush’s staggering unpopularity, Palin could have run
circles around Biden and it would not have mattered.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though Palin gave an uneven performance at times, she proved
not to be the lightweight she was portrayed by the media. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Biden, who had been a US Senator since the seventies,
botched the section of the US Constitution that deals with the executive
branch, but was never called out on his “constitutional potatoe”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The debate was a tactical victory for Palin as the poll gap
between McCain and Obama shrank a bit. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However Palin’s debate performance provided more fodder for
the folks at Saturday Night Live to further mock the vilified veep
candidate. More significantly, she
failed to establish herself as the natural GOP standard bearer for 2012. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-44084342707454453682012-10-03T23:24:00.002-07:002012-10-03T23:24:49.917-07:00Election 2012: Romney Resets Election in First Debate<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One looked like a president, the other like a state
legislator running for president.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The former being Mitt Romney, the latter a clearly flustered
Barack Obama.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m not surprised that the former Massachusetts governor
performed strongly in the first presidential debate- as a supporter of Rick
Santorum in the GOP primaries my candidate was vexed by the polished Romney,
particularly in what turned out to be the all-important Arizona debate where
the Bain Capital executive effectively saved his floundering candidacy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney came off as confident and comfortably commanding
facts and figures better than the man who was charged with running the country
for the past four years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Republican candidate did not speak above the television
viewers but described the state of things in a manner people could
visualize. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead of Gross Domestic Product, Romney talked jobs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In lieu of rates and percentages, Romney reiterated the
number of Americans who were unemployed and seeking work. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than referencing economic
indexes, Romney cited the actual increase of people who are on food stamps over
the past four years.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney did exactly what he needed
to do: he told the American people the true state of affairs in the country and
then asked them to go in a different direction by replacing the president. The election wasn’t about candidates but
national direction.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney even worked in some soaring
rhetoric of his own eloquently discussing the federal government’s obligation
to protect life, liberty and people’s right to pursue happiness sans
interference.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the most important thing, he
contrasted how a Romney Administration would differ from another four years of
an Obama White House. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The former Massachusetts governor
may have turned in the most masterful debate performance by a Republican
presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The best Obama could muster is recycling some of his worn
class warfare talking points and to imply that the GOP had some kind of secret
plan that they were afraid to share with the American public. The president also made a clumsy attempt to
emulate former President Bill Clinton’s math rhetoric from the convention. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The president looked desperate when running behind Clinton’s
record (which he had nothing to do with) and petty by mocking Donald Trump by
name. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a slow start, the president did pick up steam when the
discussion turned to health care before flaming out towards the end, with body
language that shifted between dour facial expressions and smug smirks. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only thing President Obama forgot to do wrong on
Wednesday night was check his watch.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Without control of the line of questioning and sans
teleprompter, the president looked out of his element, as if he did not belong
on the stage or for that matter the Oval Office. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What the American public saw on Wednesday night was the
shock and bewilderment of a man who has not truly been challenged politically
since Hillary Clinton ended her presidential bid. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After over four years, someone has finally told the emperor
that he has no clothes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The debate was a game changer. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For many Americans, the face-off was the first time they
have actually seen Romney speak and it was a great introduction for Romney to voters
who only knew of him from soundbytes and 30 and 60-second television ads, most
of them negative.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney will likely see some positive movement in the polls
but more importantly reap a handsome bounty via internet donations from fired
up Republicans excited to see their nominee taking the fight to the president
rather than standing there like a tackling dummy (see John McCain, 2008).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And though the debate lacked a defining moment that stood
out such as Reagan’s “They’re you go again” line to President Jimmy Carter or
the Gipper’s “youth and inexperience” poke at Walter Mondale’s expense, the hit
of the night was Romney’s deft counter to President Obama’s decrying of
so-called subsidies of the oil industry by citing the billions that have been
run to green energy outfits that have been better at supporting the president’s
re-election than in actual business . </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When prefacing his closing statement, President Obama
remarked that he thought “it was a terrific debate” and he was right, though
not for him but for his replacement as the instapolls and pro-Obama talking
heads soundly gave round one of the presidential debates to Romney.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-88845332132677114272012-10-02T19:08:00.002-07:002012-10-02T19:08:54.806-07:00Election 2012: On the Tundra in Wisconsin<br />
<pre><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Milwaukee- Wisconsin has been a battle-ground state in presidential elections since Ralph Nader's Green Party bid almost threw the state's electoral votes to the GOP in 2000.</span></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">After coming close then, the Republican Party dumped substantial resources in Wisconsin in 2004 but without vote siphoning from the consumer affairs advocate, the Democrats managed to pull off another win in the highly competitive state.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Mitt Romney upped the political ante in his play for the state’s electoral votes when he tapped Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. Ryan was considered a double threat, combining national appeal and strong local support as he has received at least 60% of his district's vote in re-election bids, even when Barack Obama carried it in 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Either by design or coincidence, President Obama has worked in a Wisconsin element into his own campaign: his reelection slogan, Forward, is the motto of the Badger State.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The nomination of former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, who has enjoyed success as a statewide candidate, for an open US Senate seat should have further increased the ticket's chances in November, yet Romney-Ryan and Thompson are trailing their Democratic opponents in polls.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The Democrats' advantage is counterintuitive when considering that Romney-Paul-Thompson have directly inherited the same political apparatus that defeated the union-driven recall of Republican governor Scott Walker only a few months ago.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In fact the office in Milwaukee being used by the Romney Victory operation still has pro-Walker posters from the recall campaign on its walls.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Madison college activists excepted, Wisconsin voters tend not to be very expressive in their politics. In three days there I could count on both hands the number of yard signs for presidential candidates I saw and came across about as few bumper stickers.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The high-octane retail politicking one would typically see outside Tiger Stadium during a gubernatorial election year was nowhere to be found around Lambeau Field on game day. Despite that tens of thousands of people were milling about a relatively compact area, there were no rallies nor was there anyone handing out campaign lapel stickers. <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Apparently Wisconsin residents where their Packer Green and Gold and Badger red Ws on their sleeves, not their politics. <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The small town of Lake Mills, in Jefferson County, is in the middle of the battleground. <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Twelve years ago Jefferson County, which is on the Milwaukee-Madison corridor, voted for George W. Bush by a modest margin (53%) and voted for his re-election by a slightly higher majority in 2004 (56%). However, Jefferson County by less than a percent (352 votes) went for Obama in 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">On the corner of a busy commercial intersection, a small group of retirees gather, as they do every day at noon, to wave their Romney placards for an hour to show their support for the GOP nominee for president. The signs differ from the official logo and were made independent of the Romney campaign by a local <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">supporter after being unable to procure yard signs even in that swing state (!).<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Dennis, accompanied by his chocolate lab Chili- who is sporting a small homemade Romney sandwich board sign across her back, believes Wisconsin will finally go Republican in 2012 due to outrage over the 16 trillion dollar national debt and the poor state of the economy. <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Just down the street from the band of volunteers is a house with a hand-painted sign on the lawn that reads "Re-elect the President Obama Cares". In a state with a rich history of progressivism and social consciousness, emphasizing compassion will go far politically.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Wisconsin is wired differently from any other state, perhaps in part to its Scandinavian heritage. <o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Outside of Lambeau Field, mixed in with the ocean of tailgaters, were numerous charities collecting donations for the less fortunate. Near the stadium's entrance gates were booths where attendees could receive $15 flu shots.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A mile away a Green Bay Catholic Church's request for household goods for folks in tough times was being met with overflowing generosity from parishioners.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Sharing seems to be as ingrained in Wisconsin as being nice.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> The culture of Wisconsin is favorable to Obama, though the economy isn't.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Despite the massive political investment he has made there, Romney must overcome the voters' inclination to vote for Obama.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The former Bain Capital executive's chances of carrying Wisconsin rest on his ability to make a strong case that his economic plan will benefit the 47% as well as the 53%.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">And he must do so nicely.<o:p></o:p></span></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></tt></pre>
<pre><tt><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></tt></pre>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-64369975173157674602012-09-26T18:24:00.002-07:002012-09-26T18:24:53.370-07:00Election 2012: Louisiana- A Battleground State Then, Not Now<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Twenty years ago (!), I volunteered for my first
presidential campaign, helping out then-President George H.W. Bush’s bid for
re-election at the LSU College Republican table on weekdays (and inevitably
during class time) and in New Orleans on weekends. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At that time, Louisiana was a battleground state hotly
contested by both major parties, despite having voted Republican by wide
margins in 1980, 1984 and 1988. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Part of the reason for the competitive nature of things in
1992 was Ross Perot’s self-funded populist independent candidacy, which
ultimately bled more votes from the GOP column than the Democratic side of the
political ledger.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Bush campaign operated from a large office suite in
Metairie and was led by former governor David Treen, who was not just chairman
of the campaign but an active participate who took his duties seriously. The Bush-Quayle headquarters was abuzz with
activity, from yard sign assembling to phone banking. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The main participants invested not only resources in
Louisiana but face time as well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tennessee US Senator Al Gore made an appearance before a
large crowd in downtown Baton Rouge.
Future First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at gathering outside of
the Superdome and closer to Election Day the Arkansas governor rolled his bus
caravan through New Orleans and held a large rally on the banks of the
Mississippi River.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Vice-President Dan Quayle appeared at a well-attended rally
in Kenner and the president himself spoke at what would be his final campaign
event as a candidate in a hanger in Baton Rouge’s airport on the eve of
Election Day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When voters went to the polls the next morning, neutral
grounds across the state were flooded with paper signs pushing the Bush-Quayle
and Clinton-Gore tickets.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bill Clinton won a plurality of the vote in Louisiana,
besting President Bush by just under five points. Four years later, Clinton carried Louisiana with majority but by
a landslide margin over Republican nominee Bob Dole and Perot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Come 2000, the bottom fell out of the Louisiana’s Democratic
presidential vote.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Texas governor George W. Bush returned the GOP to victory in
Louisiana and nationally then, winning 52%, a slightly better share of the vote
than Clinton’s state total four years prior.
Bush expanded his Pelican State majority to 57% in 2004. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Arizona US Senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John
McCain raised the party’s share of the Louisiana presidential vote to 59%
despite lacking W’s proximity advantage and spending little time or money in
the state. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we enter the closing weeks of the presidential campaign,
one would be hard pressed to find any sign of a major election happening in
Louisiana. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mitt Romney’s majority in Louisiana, and there is little
doubt he will receive one, might approach Ronald Reagan’s showing of 61% in
1984, the second highest vote share a Republican presidential candidate has
ever received in the state.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hence both sides have largely abandoned the state. Romney has visited Louisiana a few times
since locking up the GOP nod, but those were confined to some money runs and
visiting an area that was flooded by Hurricane Isaac.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
President Barack Obama, in addition to the obligatory
disaster site inspection though to a different area from where Romney went, has
also limited his political time in Louisiana to fundraising activities and
speaking at the Urban League convention.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About a week ago Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan flew into
New Orleans, though not to speak at a local GOP rally but to address the AARP
conclave (in other words, tourists from other states). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The dozen or so undecided states are commanding almost all
of the candidates’ time and money. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In addition to the end of the national campaign strategy,
tactics have significantly changed as well, as campaigns continue to drift away
from retail politics and towards primarily electronic media. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The yard signs, bumper stickers and campaign buttons that
were so plentiful in Louisiana in 1992 now need to be ordered from online
“campaign stores”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to advertise your support for the Romney-Paul
ticket in front your house, that privilege will cost you the princely sum of
$15. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Want to invite some knucklehead to key your car by sporting
the “wrong” bumper sticker? That’ll be
a $3 donation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps residents of Wisconsin, Virginia and sacred
Ohio receive such tchotchkes gratis though I wouldn’t trade my mild winters for
their free t-shirts.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-91431640579136303052012-09-20T23:04:00.003-07:002012-09-20T23:04:40.223-07:00Election 2012: Hope for Conservatives<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Attention conservatives and moderates who believe America
needs a new president: the sky is NOT falling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Admittedly this week has not been good for Mitt Romney.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To be honest, the Republican nominee hasn’t really had a
good week since polishing off his intraparty rivals many months ago. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Romney’s running mate announcement and the GOP convention
provided a minimal bounce for the Republican ticket and the Bain Capital
executive has spent more time in President Barack Obama’s rearview mirror than
in front his windshield.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the recent delayed released “gaffe” (the media’s
interpretation of what Romney said and not my own) has not helped matters, not
because he said anything offensive but because the networks have overplayed the
story to distract from the true state of the American economy and the blatant
Obama White House foreign policy bumbling.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before writing the election off in despair or believing the
media hype, here are a few things for Republicans to consider.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, the polls are not nearly as bad as they seem. While a perusal of the national and state
polls on the Real Clear Politics site reveals far more blue text than red,
there is something noteworthy in many of the numbers: in the states that are
actually up for grabs, the president rarely breaks 50%, which is relevant.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When an incumbent seeks re-election, whether he is the President
of the United States or town alderman, and polls at 50% or below, he’s
typically in trouble when the ballot boxes open. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And in the case of a presidential election, the challenger
matters less in the outcome than the president as a bid for a second term is a
referendum on the first term. Which is
why Obama and his allies have worked so hard to spin the 2012 election as a
second referendum on George W. Bush’s last term in office.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This past week alone, polls have given Romney leads in the
swing states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado and Florida. And there have been polls this past week
that have given the president a lead in those same states.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Polls in Nevada, Virginia and Michigan have the president
under 50% and holding no more than a three-point lead over his Republican
opponent.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Furthermore, in the national polls, Romney and Obama have
either tied or traded leads pending on what day and which poll you look
at. Rasmussen has generally had the
Republican nominee with a slight lead over the president while Gallup has given
an edge to Obama. And sometimes they
flip.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The point is, the polls show a fluid race, which is not very
reassuring for a sitting president at this juncture. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, Romney has remained competitive despite the
reality that the mainstream media and entertainment industry that attempts, and
sometimes succeeds, to pass themselves off as news programs have acted as an
offensive line for the Obama Administration, burying bad news on the president
and hyperventilating the negative on Romney and the GOP. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The producers and frontmen at ABC, the Daily Show and MSNBC
cannot shill enough for Obama to convince someone who has been out of work for
months that things are fine in the country, at least for everyone else. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Third, and most importantly, are the October debates, which
apparently will be the only time the president will actually have to defend his
record in office with follow up questions.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It will be within the confines of the University of Denver
(October 2<sup>nd</sup>), Hofstra University (October 16<sup>th</sup>) and Lynn
University in Boca Raton (October 22<sup>nd</sup>) where Romney will make his
case for a change in government directly to the people while Obama will not be
able to phone in Bill Clinton for a lifeline.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The debates will mark the rare occasions where the American
public, by this time engaged in the presidential election, can judge the
candidates and their ideas without media interpretation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Though November 6<sup>th</sup> is not far away, there is
plenty of time left on the clock for Romney to catch up as the president’s lead
in the swing states is marginal and the gap has shifted on a daily basis. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While Romney isn’t winning, the polls show that he can still
win.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">And that’s more hope than Bob Dole had on his best day
in 1996.</span>Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-41265189568950131342012-09-19T19:09:00.001-07:002012-09-19T19:09:40.016-07:00Obama's Libyan Red Herring Play<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eight years ago, a series of bombings rocked Spain’s
passenger rail system killing 191 people and injuring over 2,000 more.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The explosions occured on the eve of Spain’s competitive
national election and played a role in changing the government and that
country’s foreign policy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The governing conservatives, the Partido Popular, had
positioned themselves as allies of then-US President George W. Bush’s invasion
and occupation of Iraq despite the fact that an overwhelming number of
Spaniards opposed involvement including the Socialists, the leading opposition
party.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Initially, the conservative government accused Basque
separatists for the attack though it later became clear that north African
Islamists with a professed affiliation with al-Qaeda were actually
responsible. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spanish voters believed that the Partido Popular had
manipulated the facts of the Atocha train station bombings to frame Basque
terrorists (the usual suspects involved in domestic terror) so as to avoid
creating a link between the attacks and Spain’s involvement in the unpopular
Iraqi War and the party suffered for it at the polls. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not long after taking power, Spain’s new socialist
government recalled the country’s forces from Iraq, though critics of the move
argued that the withdrawal validated the terrorists’ actions as they
accomplished their objective.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fast-forward eight years to Benghazi, where an attack on the
US consulate in Libya’s second largest city resulted in the murder (and
allegations of other atrocities) of the US ambassador and three other
Americans. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reacting to the deaths of American personnel in Libya,
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement where she claimed the
violence was related to a third-rate You Tube video that mocked Islam and its
main mortal figure. In fact one quarter
of the release is dedicated to speaking out against intolerance, in effect
blaming an internet clip and a crackpot pastor for the killing of our ambassador.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the arrival ceremony of Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean
Smith, Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty’s remains at Andrews Air Force Base,
President Barack Obama railed against “voices of suspicion and mistrust” that
seek to divide countries and cultures, a reference to Pastor Terry Jones, who
attained more fame than he otherwise deserved for burning some Qur’ans, and has
promoted the controversial movie “Innocence of Muslims”, which portrays Islam’s
central prophet in a disrespectful light.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And adding to the absurdity of it all, the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff personally reached out to the rogue Florida minister to
request that he end his association with the most controversial quasi-motion
picture practically nobody has ever seen but thanks to the media and the US
government, almost everyone has now heard of.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By their rhetoric and posturing, the president and his
officials have attempted to publicly pin the anti-American violence in Libya
and other corners of the Islamic world on a handful of nutcases and third-rate
provocateurs. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pastor Jones makes a politically convenient scapegoat for
the acts of Islamic rage and violence in a crass attempt to divert attention
from the Obama Administration’s continued denial about militant Islamists’s war
with the West and the White House’s failure to improve relations between the US
and Arab governments, both old and new.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now the White House is starting to backpedal a bit on the
root of the evil visited upon our foreign service staff in Benghazi and the
insult to our national dignity and violation of our embassy in Egypt and other
locales. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White House press secretary Jay Carney, while still
maintaining that the online video disparaging the Prophet led to the protests,
has conceded that armed “violent groups” may have exploited the furor to
execute a preplanned attack on the Benghazi consulate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spain’s governing party misrepresented the true culprits of
the 2004 Atocha bombings and was driven from office for it. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the Obama Administration did the same regarding the
Benghazi assault, then Mitt Romney and objective journalists are right to
question and criticize the deliberate misrepresentation of events and the White
House and State Department’s mishandling of them. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even more so if intelligence provided by the Libyan
government about an imminent assault on the anniversary on the September 11<sup>th</sup>
hijackings was dismissed and that a decision was made to not engage in visible
security strengthening of the consulate in Benghazi and in other predominantly
Muslim regions to avoid upsetting the sensitivities of those who loathe us.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The amateurish “pin the blame on the pastor” debacle on the
highest levels should invite a closer review of President Obama’s other foreign
policy blunders that have been diplomatically swept under the rug by the mainstream
media.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> </div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9039433857083844714.post-64531776141570099952012-09-11T20:20:00.002-07:002012-09-11T20:20:55.629-07:00The General Election Begins<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Summer vacation, Shark Week, Labor Day and the national
conventions are over and the field of relevant national candidates is
officially set.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And to my utter surprise, the voters will be treated to
another vice-presidential debate featuring Joe Biden. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the general campaign opens, the incumbent White House
leadership enters the fray with a bit of a boost in the polls, as should be
expected.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The national convention is the Democratic Party’s
specialty. Think about it for a moment-
Hollywood’s dominant party knows how to put together a masterful media
production without fretting from challenge or fact check until the confetti is
swept from the floor late into the evening.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Democratic National Convention was more about tearing
Mitt Romney down than making the case for the president’s re-election. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Barack Obama could run on his record he would. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have no doubt that the president would like nothing more
than to spend almost a billion dollars of other people’s money celebrating
himself across all facets of the media. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But then again, the president would like extend his stay in
the Oval Office.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead the Democratic convention served up not a shining
record of the incumbent’s success but a crass attempt to frame the 2012
presidential election as a battle against a presidential administration once
removed while hiding behind the rhetorical skills of a president who was
elected twenty years ago. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An Obama Administration that was not that good was explained
away by saying that the previous administration was just that bad. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Obama has to go on the attack because he has no defense for
the current state of the country. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hence Obama’s wild-eyed gender demagoguery. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If the president cannot appeal to the nation then he will
appeal to its “parts”. Rather than
being president of the country, he will be the gay’s president, the woman’s
president, the Latino’s president, etc.
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Victims all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than appealing to our shared hopes, Obama is making a
decidedly unstatesmanlike play for our personal selfishness. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the election a little less than two months away, I
would like to make three predictions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first, that the popular vote and the electoral totals
will be agonizingly close. Judging by
the even split of the country and the principals involved, I cannot fathom any
other outcome. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The president’s eloquence combined with his appeal to
“America’s parts” assures him of a respectable showing. Though he has clearly underperformed as a
president, Obama will undoubtedly overperform as a candidate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all Obama didn’t get to be president because of his
resume or experience.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Conversely the Republican nominee is charismatically
challenged with his biggest asset being the alternative to a politician who has
presided over a steep decline in our quality of life. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If things were really going so great in the country, Romney
would not be this competitive. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If Obama were not a silver-tongued celebrity politician,
Democrats would be more focused on stanching the bleeding in the House and the
Senate instead of having a realistic chance of holding on to the White House.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Secondly, that we will see a level of post-election
ugliness, litigation and allegations of ballot box manipulation. A close contest invites aggressive
“counting” and creative “recounting”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am hoping the prevailing candidate wins by a decisive
margin that will leave no question as to the mood of the nation and the
validity of the results. Ideally,
Americans should go to bed on the evening of November 6<sup>th</sup> knowing
who will be taking the oath of office in January. Realistically, after November 7<sup>th</sup> I see lawyers. Lots of them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thirdly and finally, the GOP is facing no worse than a
split-decision. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Republicans will
retain control of the House, if not expand its holdings due to the retirement
of personally popular Blue Dog moderate Democrats in districts that will
overwhelmingly vote for Romney. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Republicans are also poised to take control of the US
Senate as some of the political flotsam that entered Congress’ upper chamber as
part of the post-Katrina mid-term elections will face the music for voting with
their party for the last six years instead of their constituents. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A great deal of the Obama agenda will either be repealed in
2013 or encased in political carbonite for two or four years, assuming the
executive branch honors the constitutional separation of powers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the sake of America, let’s hope for a Romney landslide.</div>
Mike Bayhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16708975902099081853noreply@blogger.com0