When idiots speak truths

When idiots speak truths, or: Why Democrats threaten our security

So what was Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Biden thinking when recently he said that—if Obama is elected—America’s enemies would test Barack Obama with an international crisis within six months?

"It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. …Watch. We're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

If Biden really understands the roots of the Cuban missile crisis to which he is referring, then this quote is startling. Because the missile crisis was trigged by the Soviet military decision to place ICBM missiles in Cuba in order to prevent a US intervention on the island. The tensions leading up to the crisis had been brewing for quite some time, but the Soviets were not likely to interfere until after a crucial historic turn of events.

The Cuban Revolution of 1959 had overthrown the US ally, General Fulgencio Batista. The revolution’s leader, Fidel Castro, and his brother, Raul, had promised to install a democratic government, but instead swiftly imposed a communist dictatorship. President Dwight Eisenhower’s administration had already put plans in place to deal a forceful blow to the fledgling communist government less than ninety miles from the US border. So that when John F. Kennedy replaced Dwight Eisenhower as president of the United States, he learned about the CIA plan to invade Cuba.

Kennedy, being a liberal Democrat, allegedly did not like the plans but he was afraid he would be seen as soft on communism if he refused permission for it to go ahead. Kennedy was also advised that the Cuban people would support the ClA-trained forces once an invasion had started.
Feeling pressure to show that he was tough, he went forward with the plans.

US planes bombed Cuba’s airfields, and merchant ships delivered 1,500 Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs. The failure of the plan caused the Kennedy administration great embarrassment and drove Castro to seek a deterrent for future attacks.

According to Elie Abel’s book, The Missiles of October: The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet leader Khrushchev met with John Kennedy in June, 1961, and “took Kennedy’s measure.” From that meeting, he “decided this was a young man who would shrink from hard decisions.” His conclusion was that the Americans were “too liberal to fight”. This led Khrushchev to agree to provide Intercontinental Missiles to Castro, which in turn led to the missile crisis.

It is to this that Biden refers. And this is not a ringing endorsement of Barack Obama. America’s enemies—namely the Iranian and the Venezuelan regimes—have gloated over our current economic humiliation, and have repeatedly prognosticated the downfall of the country.

With the Venezuelans making overtures to the Russians and Chinese to bring their military forces into our Hemisphere, and the Chavez regime’s determination to spread revolution across the continent and create a continental army to resist “the empire” (USA), and considering the Russian irritation at American interference in their region (Georgia, Ukraine, Czech Republic), it is not unlikely that one or more of those nations may come to the same conclusion about Obama that Khrushchev did about Kennedy.

There is a key difference between Obama and Kennedy that makes our current situation even more dangerous: Kennedy was a World War II veteran, a commander of PT-109 who had seen combat and was recognized for his valor. Obama is an inexperienced city liberal, with zero experience commanding any army other than community organizers and the fraudulent ACORN voter registration volunteers. He and his Democrat friends have repeatedly insulted the United States military, undermined their morale and their mission. After today’s Democrats voted to give war authorization to the Bush administration, they systematically subverted the effort, gave comfort to the enemy and declared that America had already “lost” the war in Iraq and we should unilaterally pull out.

In short, this ship of Democrat fools has already telegraphed to the world that they are spineless cowards and pro-socialist ideologues who have proven Khrushchev’s theory that Americans are “too liberal to fight.” So, for once, Biden is right.

The village idiot has spoken a truth that should send shivers down everyone’s spine.

Modern Liberals and the "Neo-Massa Cult"

I’ve got just a quick note for the conservative commentators: you guys keep missing the most important points in the speeches made by the left!

I am seeing a real hullabaloo being made about Michelle Obama’s speech in which she had advised voters to make their choices based on issues, and not to cast a vote because “she’s cute.”

Let’s be clear: there’s nothing wrong with her saying that. Get off her back! Weeks before, conservatives were criticizing the voters who wanted to vote for Obama simply because he is considered “handsome” by some women, or simply because he is Black by others. Michelle was right. There are probably some voters who are enamored of Palin because she has a great personality and is “cute”—not to say that she is not a solid intellectual, also—but her attractiveness can be a big factor.

But please, pay closer attention to everything that Michelle Obama said! Michelle did us all a favor and revealed something absolutely crucial about her liberal, leftist mentality. The full quote, before the “cute” reference, was that voters should consider the candidate that best serves “your personal interests”.

How far have the Democrats fallen? Barack Obama likes to be compared to President Jack Kennedy, but let us remember that Kennedy extolled Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

The Obamas are peddling the exact opposite message from the Kennedys! The Obamas are telling the voters: “Vote for the guy who will give you stuff for free. Vote for the guy with the handouts.”

The destructiveness of this perspective is obvious. It’s like Obama wants to be the national crack dealer. “Vote for me, man, I’ll make you feel good. I’ll give you some rock for Free. We’ll tax the rich the guys to pay for your fix!”

And liberals will defend this by making quaint and absurd statements that actually compare Obama to Jesus: "Jesus was a community organizer; Pontius Pilate was a governor."

The second issue that comes to mind was John McCain’s visit on ABC’s The View. I mentioned this in yesterday’s blog, but it seems worth mentioning again, in the context of the new Michelle Obama quote.

In a exchange between McCain and the women co-hosts about what kind of judges he would appoint, McCain said he would appoint constitutionalist judges. Most commentators focused on the perceived ignorance of Whoopi’s question—an issue I addressed yesterday. But I want to focus more on the comments of co-host Joy Behar, below:

Goldberg: “Do I have to worry about being returned to slavery because certain
things in the constitution had to be changed?”

McCain: “That’s an excellent point, Whoopi, {loud audience applause for Goldberg} I thank you.”

Goldberg:“I got scared!”

Joy Behar: {laughing} “She saw herself back on the plantation! Don’t worry, honey, we’ll take care of you, us white folk we’ll take care of you!”

{Black Co-host Sherri Shepherd reacted by actually hiding her head in apparent embarrassment.}

Analyze Behar’s response in conjunction with the previous comments of Michelle Obama:

Michelle Obama:“Vote for the guy who serves your personal interest.”
Joy Behar:“Don’t worry, honey, us white folk, we’ll take care of you.”

Can it be any clearer, folks?

Can’t you people see the inherent racist and infantile dogma that is being sold to you like snake oil? At the same time Democrats blast capitalists for “selfishly” striving for success and amassing personal wealth, they contradictorily offer excuses and compensation for failure, and encourage the populace to hold their cap in their hand and wait for Uncle Sam to give them their due. Instead of demanding self-respect and responsibility of our population, the Democrats are selling indulgences, governmental pardon for irresponsibility, laziness, and victim mentality.

Hell, let's say it like it is: the leftists are subsidizing stupidity and laziness instead of demanding that people take responsibility for their actions and use their God-given talents to achieve success!

It is a political form of the psychological regresso ad uterum—the return to the
womb—which, in the terms of Black society, now appears to be a longing for a
return to the “Massa’s” patronistic protection, a nostalgic yearning for the
Plantation.

Perhaps the anthem for the Obama campaign should be the Stephen Foster tune, Suwanee River;

Way down upon de S’wanee ribber, Far,
far away, Dere's wha my heart is
turning ebber, Dere's wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole
creation Sadly I roam, Still longing for de old
plantation And for de old folks at home.
All de world am sad and dreary, ebry
where I roam,
Oh! Darkeys how I my heart grows weary,
Far from the de old folks at home…

Is that what is going on?

Is the African American ATLAH ministry, led by Pastor Manning, correct in their assessment that Barack Obama is an unworthy socialist who is selling the Black community a neo-communist a wealth re-distribution plan?

“The person who is running on this wealth distribution plan is Barack Hussein Obama. His wealth distribution plan has got a lot of people talking…I want you to look at how misguided the Church is regarding its understanding of the …scripture… we need to be armed with the word of God. Now that’s Obama’s plan for America…you should take from the wealthy and give to the poor…

But is that what Jesus would do? … Absolutely not. If you are poor, and
you are given a talent and you don’t use it, you don’t get to take the rich man’s money and spend it. You don’t get any welfare programs, you don’t get any social services programs…you don’t get that in Jesus’s plan… If you don’t use your talents in the right way, what you have will be taken from you and given to the rich! …

Jesus is saying, ‘You are lazy. And if you don’t use your talent, I’m not gonna take the wealthy man’s…I’m not going to take Exxon’s money and give it to you! Cause I gave you a talent and you haven’t used it. ... If you’d use your talent the way you’re should have used it, you’d be the one with Exxon’s money. I’m gonna take your poverty and give it to Exxon and send you to hell! …that’s the way it ought to be.

Someone has to come along and say to us; ‘No, that wealth redistribution model is wrong! It’s anti-God, it’s anti-Bible, it’s anti-word, and it’s anti-personal development as well. We can get the government to subsidize us…and it makes us lazy, it makes us wicked.” --Pastor Manning

Of course Pastor Manning is decried and slandered, accused of being an "Uncle Tom" by the very left that screams about racism everywhere else.

I am tired of the media missing these highly revealing commentaries that really clear away the confusion about what the Obama supporters are really proposing. And what’s more, the politicians—especially McCain—cannot afford to simply smile at the camera and not take people like Behar to task when they hear this kind of commentary. It should not be allowed that white liberals accuse conservatives of racism and discrimination, when it is the liberals who are openly telling Blacks that they cannot take care of themselves and they need the patronizing support of their liberal white friends!

The liberal socialists are promoting a cult of dependency, much in the same way that racist Southerners rationalized slavery by saying that Blacks were not intelligent enough to survive without their Masters--or "Massas" as they were called in the colloquial pronunciation.

Now, they don't see it that way. Of course not. They think it is "compassionate" to take from the rich and give to the poor. They think Robin Hood is a hero--not a thief! They idolize Fidel Castro, who essentially established an island of slaves, but hey: "They have free medical care!" They worship Pancho Villa because he promised land and dignity for the Indians--even though what he brought was war and killing.

At some point, it will have to become self evident that the "Neo-Massa Cult" is racism dressed in Socialist ribbons and bows.

And then all the press will be talking about how awful it is, and "why didn't anyone warn us?!"

***{Additional Information*** One of today's most interesting headlines is about the foul mouthed Sandra Bernhard's tirade against Sarah Palin, which she repeatedly calls her vulgar names, but most interestingly, says that if Palin went to New York she would be "gang raped" by the "black brothers." So, we have a white, liberal Jewess perpetuating the stereotype of Blacks as rapists...and where is the Liberal outrage? Silence from the left. Yet another example of racism that is forgiven if it's from a lib!"

McCain knows exactly who Zapatero is.

Lisa Abend is a freelance journalist living in Spain who writes periodic articles ranging from culinary reviews to left-leaning political articles. Today she has a new article, published in Time, titled “The Pain in Spain falls Mainly on McCain.”

Never mind the cutesy title; it’s a deviously deceptive lie.

In this article, Abend laments that Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez de Zapatero was apparently ‘slammed’ by US Presidential hopeful John McCain. She says that “during an interview in Miami…a reporter asked McCain whether, if elected, he would receive Zapatero to the White House. McCain answered, ‘Honestly, I have to analyze our relationships, situations, and priorities, but I can assure you that I will establish closer relationships with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to harm the United States.”

Abend clarifies that this question came “after a series of questions about how McCain sees relations with Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba. He said he would not speak to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez ‘without any sort of preconditions, as Sen. Obama has said he would,’ and… that Chavez was ‘depriving his people of their democratic rights.’”

Abend points out that “the questioner tried several more times to steer the Senator back to a clear answer…but he never addressed it, saying: ‘What I would say is that my record is that of someone who has worked in a friendly atmosphere with those who are our friends and faced up to those who aren’t.”

Abend then reports that “much” of the Spanish press concluded that McCain “confused Spain…with one of those troublesome Latin American states”. In fact, the questioner even reminded McCain that “Spain was a country in Europe.”

As if McCain needed reminding. Because it is clear from the tenor and content of this article that it is the journalists who are confused—if not simply deceitful. Why do I say that?

Let us go back to the Spanish presidential elections in 2004. In the days immediately preceding the Spanish election, conservative Spanish President Jose Maria Aznar was leading in the polls, in spite of his commitment of Spanish troops to the war in Iraq. By contrast, Zapatero was running on a liberal left socialist platform opposing Spanish participation, and maintained consistently warm relations with Latin American leaders such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. Zapatero disagreed vociferously with Aznar’s tough stance against terrorist organizations, and promoted the idea that his administration would negotiate peace with the Basque separatist and terrorist group ETA, a clear and radical break from the current Spanish position on negotiating with terrorist groups.

On March 11, 2004, al Qaeda planted bombs on trains that exploded in the Atocha rail station, killing 191 innocent civilians. At first, the government suspicion was that the attack had been masterminded by the Basque terrorists, and Aznar’s government stated that opinion. But soon it was revealed that the real conspirators were al Qaeda, and that group released a statement threatening Spaniards due to their involvement in Iraq. The Spanish populace, deeply hurt by the loss of life, fearful of future reprisals, suddenly shifted their loyalty and the socialist Zapatero won the election—and handed a major victory to al Qaeda.

Zapatero was true to his word: he unilaterally withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq. And he began unilateral, unconditional negotiations with ETA. His relationship with Chavez and Castro also warmed, and Spain even considered selling military supplies to Chavez. This lasted until ETA began bombing civilian targets again, and the political situation in Venezuela deteriorated until Chavez started confiscating Spanish investments, private property, blaspheming against God and the Church, and his followers murdered an elderly Spanish-Venezuelan woman who had returned to Venezuela to vote against Chavez in the Presidential Recall Referendum.

In fact, the political instability and worsening human rights conditions in Venezuela eventually forced Zapatero to distance himself from Chavez. Chavez, however, just like the ETA, has no respect for friends or former allies. He therefore had no qualms with insulting Spanish dignity, an attitude that eventually led to a verbal conflict in Chile. Chavez was indignant that Aznar had continued attacking his government and policies even after leaving office. So Chavez, ignoring the protocol at the economic summit held by Chilean president Bachelet, launched into a rude tirade, attacking Aznar and eventually insulting Spain in general. To his credit, Zapatero maintained his dignity as he tried to reason with Chavez and insist that he speak with respect. Chavez’s outburst continued, until the Spanish King finally lost his temper and uttered that historic phrase: “Por qué no te callas?!” (Why don’t you shut up?!)

Both the King’s and Zapatero’s popularity rebounded in Spain. The King had defended national honor, and Zapatero had finally, yet respectfully, put Chavez back in his place.

But this eventual about-face cannot undo the sins of his administration. The origin of the Zapatero government was based upon a fearful capitulation to the world’s most notorious terrorist organization. The essence of his governmental policy was to naively trust in the innate goodness of terrorist leaders and presupposed that, given the chance to speak in a respectful forum, they would inevitably come to terms and peace could be reached. Zapatero’s bad judgment inspired him to seek friendships with some of the most abhorrent regimes in the Americas, and the result was disastrous.

John McCain did not need any reminding about with whom he was dealing. He did not confuse Spain with those “troublesome Latin American states”. McCain has it very clear in his head that Spain and its government are two different entities. But McCain also has no reason to try to warm relations with Zapatero.

After all, Jose Rodriguez de Zapatero is the Spanish equivalent of Barack Hussein Obama. Obama, like Zapatero, has stated that he wants to sit down—without preconditions—with extremist groups and governments that are (to say it mildly) unfriendly to the United States.
Zapatero eventually learned the error of his ways. I’m sure that Obama would too.

But Zapatero should count his lucky stars that McCain didn’t bluntly remind the world why the United States cannot consider the Zapatero government to be a reliable friend to the United States.

They slander the Founders and throw babies in the trash

A couple of days ago, it was reported that a newborn baby was found alive in a Trash Can in a Phoenix middle school. The healthy baby boy’s mother was a 14-year old girl who delivered the baby in the bathroom of an administration building and—being young, confused, and frightened—abandoned the baby in a panic. Reports on the event stated that “due to the abandonment of the baby in a life threatening situation, investigators will do a possible child abuse report and submit it to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for review.”
This is not the first time we’ve heard of this sort of thing.

A quick search finds multiple recent tales of women trashing their newborn babies, often resulting in the death of the child. Here’s one in which the baby survived, and here’s another, the baby was also found in time and survived. These mothers were not scared teens. They were both 24 years old. Tragically, in another story, a woman attending her high-school prom left the dance, delivered her baby in a bathroom, and then trashed it. This time the baby died, yet at the time the article was, the mother was not charged.

So in the middle of the election cycle, a young woman named Gianna Jessen, who is a member of a 527 group called BornAliveTruth.org, is challenging Obama to define when a baby has rights and to support legislation that would protect babies born alive after abortion attempts.

Her story is very unusual. She started her life as abortion that failed. Her mother tried to abort her, but she was born alive. Luckily for her, the abortionist was not in the clinic when she was born, because if he had been, he would have terminated her life by smothering her, or letting her die of exposure—and this would have been legal under current law, because the aborted fetus has no rights. She was fortunate. The attending nurse called an ambulance and she received treatment and obviously survived.

A transcript of the advertisement her group is running reads:

“Can you imagine not giving babies their basic human rights, no matter how they
entered our world? My name is Gianna Jessen, born 31 years ago after a failed
abortion. I’m a survivor, as are many others…but if Barack Obama had his way, I
wouldn’t be here. Four times, Barack Obama voted to oppose a law to protect
babies left to die after a failed abortion. Senator Obama, please support born
alive infant protections. I’m living proof these babies have a right to live.”

These issues may seem unrelated to the current election cycle, but they are not. It is well recognized that the next president will very likely appoint one or more Supreme Court justices, which is why McCain’s selection of a very pro-Life VP (Palin) energized the conservative base: it was confirmation that he was committed to selecting strict ‘constitutionalist’ judges that very well might overturn Roe v. Wade.

McCain was asked about this when he was a guest on the ABC program, The View. In a brief but telling exchange between McCain and the women co-hosts, his response about wanting to appoint constitutionalist judges was challenged by Whoopi Goldberg:

Goldberg: “I don’t want to misinterpret what you are saying; did you say you
want strict constitutionalists?”
McCain: “I want people who interpret
the
constitution the way our founding fathers intended them to do.”
Goldberg: “Do
I have to worry about being returned to slavery because
certain things in the
constitution had to be changed?”
Goldberg: “That’s
an excellent point,
Whoopi, {loud audience applause for Goldberg} I thank
you.
Goldberg: "I got scared!"
Co-host Joy Behar: “She saw herself back on the plantation! Don’t worry, honey, we’ll take care of you, us white folk we’ll take care of you!” Co-host Sherri Shepherd hid her head in apparent embarrassment.

Did anyone else notice the obviously patronistic statement made by the liberal Behar?! Thank goodness that nice white liberal is going to "take care" of the poor little black girl! But no comments have ever been uttered: Liberals get away with racist remarks all the time! and isn't this the CORE of the liberal Democrat belief? "Don't worry, we good Whites are gonna take care of you poor, downtrodden Blacks!"

This discussion takes us away from the topic of abortion, but cuts to the heart of the real matter: human rights. And it also highlights a common misconception held by many Blacks and perpetuated by either ignorant or devious Black leaders (such as Reverend Wright and Barack Obama), that the Founding Fathers were racists who institutionalized and perpetuated slavery when they wrote the constitution.

This distortion of history is convenient to leaders who want Blacks to see themselves as victims and want them to hate and oppose their government. It also becomes evident from the patronistic attitudes of liberals--like Sherri Behar--who subconciously believe that Blacks are not capable of taking care of themselves and need "us whites" to "take care of you".

When I was a teacher in an inner-urban, mostly Black school in Florida, one of my students was shocked to find out that there had been Black slaves throughout the continent. She said: “I thought it was white Americans that invented slavery!” And when I tried to disabuse her of this misconception, she furiously accused me of trying to “re-write history”.

But this could not be further from the truth. In fact, the Founding Father’s opposition to Slavery was one of the main reasons for desiring a separation from Great Britain.

“The historical fact is that slavery was not the product of, nor was it an evil introduced by the Founders; slavery was introduced in America nearly two centuries before the Founders. In fact, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay noted that there had been few serious efforts to dismantle the institution of slavery prior to the Founding Fathers. …one of the reasons given by Thomas Jefferson for the separation from Great Britain was a desire to rid America of the evil of slavery imposed on them by the British.”

Thomas Jefferson was not the only Founder who opposed slavery.

“In 1774, Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush founded America's first
antislavery society; John Jay was president of a similar society in New York.
When Constitution signer William Livingston heard of the New York society, he,
as Governor of New Jersey, wrote them, offering: ‘I would most ardently wish to
become a member of it [the society in New York] and... I can safely promise them
that neither my tongue, nor my pen, nor purse shall be wanting to promote the
abolition of what to me appears so inconsistent with humanity and
Christianity... May the great and the equal Father of the human race, who has
expressly declared His abhorrence of oppression, and that He is no respecter of persons, succeed a design so laudably calculated to undo the heavy burdens, to
let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.’”

The Founders struggled to end slavery and had already begun almost immediately after declaring independence from Britain, and years before the ratification of the constitution on December 7, 1787. Pennsylvania and Massachusetts abolished slavery seven years before the constitution was ratified (1780), and just four years later, Connecticut and Rhode Island abolished slavery. Slavery was abolished in New Hampshire in 1792 and in Vermont in 1793. New York took six more years (1799) and New Jersey abolished it 1804—that’s fifty seven years before the start of the civil war.

It could be said that American fought not one but two wars in order to free the slaves. The first was to separate from Britain, which had imposed slavery upon the colonies, and about which George Washington commented: “I can only say that there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it [slavery].” Eighty five years later, Americans fought the Civil War to finish the job and free the slaves in the South.

Given this historical context, it must be clear to any reasonable historian that the majority of the Founders—and probably the majority of the average citizens—abhorred slavery and had purposely worded the Bill of Rights (“All men are created equal”) and Constitution in such a way as to facilitate the inevitable end of slavery.

Although it is easy to say that Jefferson and others who owned slaves were “hypocrites”, one should keep in mind that slavery was the economic model in existence for centuries before the industrial revolution, and although it was recognized as an abhorrent system, there was no viable solution available until the 19th century. We citizens today find ourselves in a similar moral predicament: we know that our addiction to fossil fuels, internal combustion engines, and consumerist economic models cause damage to the environment, and we all recognize that we should try to find an alternative, but at this time, no practical alternative is available. So while people like Obama and Gore run around lecturing us how we need to get rid of our gas guzzling vehicles, they continue to drive cars and fly in private jets. Some day we will surely solve this problem, but should historians look back at the proponents of alternative energy and call them hypocrites for not having the solution sooner?

The second modern conundrum that parallels the issue of slavery is that of abortion. And it is this issue—and particularly the story of Gianna Jessen—that ties all the previous themes together.

Because, while it is clearly established principal that all humans have equal human rights, proponents of Abortion—cleverly marketed as “Choice”—struggle to deny the human fetus with the status of “human being”. It is this monstrously contradictory opinion that creates our contemporary moral dilemma. After all, current dogma holds that it is a woman’s choice—which is a “private” matter protected by the constitutional right to privacy—to abort a fetus in her body. As long as the fetus is not “human”, as long as it is considered nothing more than “cells”, then it cannot legally be considered “murder” to kill those cells.

The Jessen story destroys this argument. The late-term abortion forced the baby to be born, and the mercy of one nurse saved her life. If the abortionist had finished the job, suffocating the infant, it would have been perfectly legal. Now that she is an adult, she is capable of asking the question that other aborted fetuses cannot: what rights did I have? At what point did I get rights? And who is the inventor of this moral calculus that determines when an infant is human and when it’s “just cells”?

By contrast, if it was alright to kill a healthy baby in an abortion clinic, why is it wrong for a young woman to throw a baby in the trash?

In this, I disagree with conservative talk show hosts who blasted Whoopi Goldberg’s question. It was not foolish or stupid. It was an opportunity squandered by McCain, who—in his desire to pander to women and minorities—did not recognize that he had just been offered a perfect opportunity to differentiate the Republican party from the Democratic party.

His response to Goldberg should have been forceful and unequivocal. The Republican Party wants to select Supreme Court justices that are constitutionalists—that is, judges who will apply the law according to the strictest intent of the Founders. Those Founders abhorred slavery, they clearly recognized the injustice that was wrought by governments and laws that dehumanized people of color and allowed for their inhumane treatment. Those same Founders fought the very first battles toward Black Liberation. They laid the road to liberty and sanctified it with the blood of national sacrifice, and provided the roadmap to liberty in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. It was the Republican Party that then waged war to finally free the slaves and secure forever the human rights for all people in the United States. It is the Republican Party that has made it their doctrine to spread those rights around the world. And it is the Republican Party that believes that the sanctity of human life cannot be violated—not even in the womb. The Republicans can look Gianna Jessen in the eye and say: in the more perfect union we wish to form, you would have always had the same rights to life and the pursuit of liberty as all the rest of us.

Whoopi, if you really believe in human rights, why can’t you open your heart to giving those rights to the most helpless among us?

Whoopi, it is time that you and people like you see through the lies, and make the same commitment that the Founders made over two hundred years ago, when Supreme Court Justice John Jay wrote:

"neither my tongue, nor my pen, nor purse shall be wanting to promote the
abolition of what to me appears so inconsistent with humanity and Christianity"

Or are your words just hollow?

Forget the Bush Doctrine. We need to look forward.

Coffee break talk last Friday centered on Sarah Palin’s first interview with ABC’s Charlie Gibson. In general, she received good marks for her adroit responses to Gibson’s questions, with the one exception being Gibson’s alleged “gotcha” moment when he asked her: "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?''

Palin paused, looking a bit perplexed, and tried to get some clarification by asking: “In what regard?”

When Gibson finally—and rather pedantically—revealed that he was referring to the Bush policy of pre-emptive strikes, Palin responded by reaffirming that the US has the right to respond to what it perceives as an imminent threat.

Liberals tried to point to this moment as an example of how Palin is weak on her comprehension of international policies and is ignorant about the “Bush Doctrine”. All which is powerfully contradicted by the brilliant commentator, Charles Krauthammer, in his article “Gibson’s Gaffe”.

Krauthammer makes the point that there is not one “Bush Doctrine”, but rather a total of four. The one to which Gibson referred is the third in the series, and technically was incorrect, because it is Bush’s fourth policy statement that will probably be remembered as his “doctrine”:

"The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of
liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of
freedom in all the world."

Liberals have remained fixated on Bush’s third policy statement, the one stating that the US has the right to preemptively strike against nations that harbor terrorists or support them and pose a threat to US security. They cling to this argument because they believe they will gain political points—and political office—by reminding America of how we got into the war in Iraq.

This may be an interesting discussion, but discussions of "presidential doctrine" is table fare for historians and will do nothing for America's future. So Charlie Gibson's question was not only misleading and probably wrong, but really was totally irrelevant!

I’d like to use this moment as an example of how these so-called “leaders” are not leading at all. It was not Bush’s third policy statement that is now heating the current and riskiest global crisis, but his fourth and most far-reaching that needs deeper examination.

The “Bush Doctrine” quoted by Krauthammer is potentially the more controversial of the two. After all, it this part of the Bush policies that has inspired the administration to take such an aggressively supportive role of Eastern European democracies such as Ukraine, Poland, Czech Republic, and Georgia. Bush’s determination to defend the former Soviet bloc countries is making Moscow feel threatened. In response to the ‘missile shield’ that the United States is offering to put into Poland and the Czech republic is at the source of the conflict with Georgia/Russia. We must remember that it was shortly after the Bush administration worked out deals to locate the missiles in Poland that Moscow responded, threatening that their response could be a military one.

Russian President Medvedev was quoted in NOVOSTI, Russian news source:

“These missiles are close to our borders and constitute a threat to us,"
Medvedev said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television on Tuesday. "This will
create additional tension and we will have to respond to it in some way,
naturally using military means." … The Russian president said that offering NATO
membership to Georgia and Ukraine, two former Soviet republics, would only
aggravate the situation.

Shortly afterward, the Russians apparently manufactured a political crisis in Georgia by encouraging Georgian rebels of Russian descent to ramp up their activities. The Georgians responded militarily in an attempt to restore control of the breakaway region, giving Moscow the excuse it wanted to invade the territory in the role of “peace keepers.”

While the US and Europe wrung their hands over the issue, it became clear that the US was not willing to confront Russia militarily. But the Bush administration did respond diplomatically, and began to press to speed the inclusion of the other Soviet bloc nations in NATO, thus providing them with a promise of multilateral military defense, if needed.

Predictably, this action again provoked Russia. But watch this time, it appears that the Russians are looking to expand their influence in our hemisphere.

Weeks after the Georgian conflict, as tensions between the United States and Russia continue to escalate, Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chavez declared that Venezuela sided with the Russians in the Georgian affair, and bragged that the Russians and Venezuelans were planning war games in the Caribbean region.

The Russians then flew two Tu-160 long distance strategic bombers into Venezuela. Chavez declared that the presence of the bombers was a warning to Washington that “Venezuela is no longer poor and alone.”

Other reports indicated that Chavez had been courting Russia for a long time in the hope of convincing Moscow to establish a Navy port there and install an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean.
Congresswoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said she was not concerned about the presence of the Russian bombers in Venezuela: “I don’t think Russia would launch attacks on the United States.” By contrast, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) said that “There is a continuing pattern over the last several months of Russian intimidation…and they are using the same old bullying intimidation tactics that go back to Brezhnev and Stalin.”

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, stated clear concern.

“What you are suggesting doesn’t surprise me, and yes it concerns me,” said Murkowski. “If it is clearly a flexing of muscle and effort to display force, it makes you wonder what the objective is and what the appropriate response should be.”

What is the objective?

Today’s leaders—both Republicans and Democrats—may be missing the point entirely. The threat is not that Russia might launch a military attack against the United States. It is that the Russians might act as a shield to protect Chavez’s socialist regime, giving him the ability to increase his interventionist policies in regional countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and others.

This past weekend, violence erupted in some of the Bolivian ‘departments’ (the equivalent of states) between supporters of socialist president Evo Morales and his conservative, capitalist opponents. The Bolivians expelled the American diplomat, claiming that he was promoting violent protests. Chavez stepped in and expelled the American diplomat in Caracas, causing a quid pro quo expulsion of the Venezuelan ambassador from Washington. Chavez then demanded that the Bolivian government respond with force to the “imperialist aggression” and that if Morales was overthrown, he—President Chavez—would send Venezuelan troops to Boliva. “I am prepared to die for Boliva,” he professed.

If the Russians had a naval base in Venezuela, Chavez would feel free to deliver on his repeated, hollow threats. The borderline-dictator and friend to the Colombia FARC terrorists, having bought the technology to build a Kalashnikov AK-47 and ammunition factory in Venezuela, would have the ability to arm hundreds of thousands of rebel forces throughout the continent, thus turning his dream of creating a continental revolutionary army into a reality. Russian protection would make US intervention in this plan much more difficult.

The objective that eludes our congressmen and women could be this: if the US continues to make threatening moves in the Russian neighborhood, they will respond with parallel maneuvers. If we are uncomfortable, we will have to back off our support for the Soviet bloc democracies to get the Russians out of our back yard.

I cannot reiterate strongly enough how potentially dangerous this is. Chavez has repeatedly insisted that the “non-aligned” nations, including Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, etc. need to work together to create an “asymmetrical” attack on the United States, in his words, to create many “Viet Nams” which would simply be too much for the United States to handle.

The United States is already struggling with the entry of millions of illegal aliens, and this during a time of relative peace throughout Latin America. If Chavez manages to create a wave of socialist revolutions across the continent, the number of refugees could increase exponentially.

It is time for the representatives in Washington to get this through their heads: Hugo Chavez is a serious threat to Democracy in the hemisphere, and his alliance with Russia is potentially explosive.

What should be the American doctrine on the Eastern European democracies? Are we really ready to go to war to defend them when they are threatened by Russian imperialism? If so, are we willing to go to war to defend democracies in our own hemisphere that are threatened by local (Bolivarian) and European (Russian) imperialism? The two concurrent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have nearly broken our nation. Are we going to be drawn into the many "Viet Nams" in which Chavez and his cronies want to lure us, in order to lure us into our own doom?

The best thing that could happen right now would be for idiots like Charlie Gibson to stop playing "Gotcha" and instead start asking Presidential candidates Obama and McCain to address this issue now and clarify what they would do about the situation.

"My Muslim Faith..." and lipstick on a pig.

It should have been obvious to everyone, when VP candidate Sara Palin made the joke comparing hockey moms to pit bulls, that the small minded and poor losers would turn her joke into an insult.

Palin: “You know the difference between a pit bull and a hockey Mom? Lipstick!”
A few days later, while discussing the McCain/Palin platform, Obama made the following statement:

“You can put lipstick on a pig…{the crowd, instantly realizing the reference, gets restless} but it’s still a pig!”

He then added another insult clearly aimed at McCain: “You can wrap an old fish in paper and call it change, but it still stinks.”

Interestingly, only days before, Obama had slipped and said “my Muslim faith.” And then he goes and insults a well loved Christian woman by calling her a pig.

It reminds me of the Islamist extremists who called Christian and Jews pigs and monkeys. Taken in that light, the insult of Palin sounds like an extremist Muslim insult. Doesn’t it?

Now, Obama is trying to claim that he had uttered the cliché as a joke about policy. He wants women to believe that he was not insulting Palin, even though it was clear by the audience reaction that they all knew it refered to Palin. In fact, the democratic party had started referring to Palin as "lipstick on a pig" as far back as August 30.

You'd have to be an absolute idiot to not realize that it was in fact an insult of Sara Palin. Because right after the "lipstick" reference, he immediately went on to mention "an old fish". If the lipstick on a pig quote refers to Palin, then it's clear that the "old fish" reference refers to McCain, whose age has been constantly attacked as a detriment to the candidacy.

There is no denying that the arrogant Obama, stunned by his sudden negative turn in luck that now has him losing the race, is lashing out.

I'd have to say that the real pig in the race is the mysoginist pig named Barack Hussein Obama.

Biden, Obama, and the objective paralysis caused by moral relativism

When Senator Barack Obama accepted the invitation to a ‘town hall’ discussion with mega-pastor Rick Warren, he surely must have anticipated that he would be asked about his pro-abortion stance. And when the inevitable question was posed to him, to consider the nearly forty million aborted fetuses in the United States, and to answer “at what point {does} a baby get human rights?”, Obama’s response was admittedly “flip”:

“…whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity…is above my pay grade.”

A number of weeks later, having selected Senator Joe Biden as his VP choice and running mate, it was Biden’s turn to state his opinion on the issue. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw asked Biden,

“When does “life” begin?” Biden answered:

“I know when it begins for me. It’s a personal and private issue. For me, as a Roman Catholic, I’m prepared to accept the teachings of my church. But let me tell you, there an awful lot of people of great confessional faiths—Protestants, Jews, Muslims and others, who have a different view. They believe in God as strongly as I do. They are as intensely religious as I am religious. They believe in their faith and they believe in human life. And they have different views as to when… {life begins}. I am prepared as a matter of faith, to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am, it seems to me as inappropriate in a pluralist society. But then you get the pushback, ‘What about Fascism’, everybody, you know, you gonna say “Fascism is alright?” Fascism isn’t a matter of faith. No decent religious person thinks that fascism is all right.”

Brokaw followed up: “You’ve stated that you believe that life begins at conception, and you’ve also voted for Abortion Rights.”

Biden responded: “What I voted {for was} against curtailing the right, criminalizing abortion, I voted against telling everyone else in the country, that they have to accept my religiously based view.”

For the purpose of this essay, I’d like to call this belief system the “Biden Principal”. Let’s make it official, and tag it onto the man who believes he is so experienced in International Affairs that he is singularly qualified to be Vice President and eventually President of the United States--and yet is incapable and unwilling to make any moral judgment that might impose values on anyone else.

Now, contrast Obama and Biden's responses—inspired by the Biden Principal—to the one from Senator McCain, when asked the same question:

“At the moment of conception.”

This simple dialog is one of the most revealing and crucial moments in the entire presidential campaign, and has to be explored. Although the theme is focused like a Laser on the Abortion/Pro-Choice debate, it has ramifications for all aspects of a Democratic Presidency and the type of policies that the country could expect from them.

Because at the heart of the matter, the Democrats are basically saying that Morality is not a universal value, that opposing opinions almost always should be valued equally, and that it would be “inappropriate” for anyone to “impose” their values on others in a “pluralistic society”. In every case, the Democrats have made an absurd attempt to state that the Catholic Church is still “struggling” with the issue about when a human fetus should be considered human life—despite the extremely clear signal from Rome that Abortion is murder, it is a sin, and it is condemned.
But, to state it another way, the Democrats are practicing a form of the old adage to “Eat your cake and have it to.” A more accurate revision might read: “Abort your child and commit no sin.”

Now, I simply cannot help thinking, Obama should thank God that President Lincoln was a Republican, and not a Democrat. Because if Lincoln had applied Biden’s moral relativism to the issue of Slavery—had he wavered or waffled or caved to public pressures as did his Democratic opponent, General G. McClellan—Obama and all other African-Americans living in the United States today, would all be a slaves.

Because this exact type of moral decision making is not an optional skill for a President. It is not enough to vote “Present” when facing the moral crises that rock the nation.

• “Is slavery wrong? Shall we wage a civil war, killing hundreds of thousands of our own citizens, in order to free millions more?” YES!
• 
  “Shall we enter the war and push back the advances of Fascism?” YES!
• 
  “In order to end history’s most horrendous war, shall we drop a nuclear bomb, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, in order to avoid an invasion that would kill millions?” YES!
• 
  “Shall we change the laws of the nation to give Women or Blacks the right to vote and participate fully in the society?” YES!
• 
  “Shall we condemn Islamic extremism and launch a war to destroy the enemy who attacked us and killed our citizens?” YES!
  

The issue of Abortion is highlighting a moral contradiction within our society that echoes the sins of our ancestors, and cannot be put to bed. Obama worshipped at the altar of a minister who regularly called not only for redemption, but also for reparations, for the sins committed in the name of Slavery.

What redemption is possible for the murder of 40 million unborn souls? This staggering number makes the horrors of Nazi Fascism look paltry! Six million Jews killed? That’s barely a fraction of the number of children who were butchered inside the womb. For what? What exactly is the equation in which “ABORTION” is the “final solution”?

Biden’s statement about Fascism is absolutely crucial: “you get the pushback, ‘What about Fascism’, everybody, you know, you gonna say “Fascism is alright?” Fascism isn’t a matter of faith. No decent religious person thinks that Fascism is all right.”

The most logical interpretation of this statement is that it is fascist for any group to impose a moral imperative upon any other group who holds religious conviction that what they are doing is correct. But by this very same illogic, if Southerners in the Confederacy held religious convictions that Blacks were not human, or were sub-human, it would therefore be fascist for the Northern abolitionists to impose their values upon the Confederacy and force them to end slavery.

Let’s extrapolate further: the Islamist terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, immolated themselves in a religiously-inspired suicide mission designed to fulfill the Fatah of their religious leaders and their Prophet Muhammad and kill as many infidels as possible. The Biden Principal logically would not allow for the United States to respond militarily to the Taliban and al Qaeda threat—since these enemies are inspired by deeply held religious beliefs, we are morally obliged to recognize those religious beliefs and elevate them to an equal standing with our own.

The United States, having attacked the Taliban with the intention of supplanting the Islamist regime with a less radical regime, is therefore a fascist aggressor.

And in the case of abortion, the liberals must fight to contradict any attempt to provide the human fetus with a status of “human”, because to do so would be to impose their “religious values” upon others who do not share that value. Faced with an unsure, unclear, ambiguous decision, the liberals have chosen to dehumanize the human fetus in order to secure the more concrete liberty; carefree sexual intercourse without the “punishment” of consequences.
By contrast, the conservatives have taken the opposite solution to the very same problem: faced with an unsure, unclear, ambiguous decision, the conservatives have chosen to humanize the human fetus, eschew carefree sexual intercourse and consider the consequences of an unwanted child not as a punishment but as a direct consequence of a poor decision that is, nevertheless, a blessing from God.

This moral clarity is essential in a President. Reconsider the list of decisions that past presidents had to make, from Slavery to Suffrage, involvement in world wars and how to achieve victory, as well as when and how to defend our national security in a time in which the enemy is a religious fanatic determined to destroy the nation by any means possible.

This is why it is unacceptable, and even shameful, that Barack Obama responded to Minister Warren’s question by stating that the judgment was “beyond his pay grade.” The sort of false-humility, this "Biden Principal" that paralyzes leaders into inaction, this will get us killed.

In the case of American children, it has already resulted in the deaths of forty million.

It is, quite literally, a holocaust of indecision.

Sara Palin is the GOP's Will Rogers

A quick note on Sara Palin’s VP acceptance speech.

First of all, let me clarify that I am still a registered Democrat. Old habits die hard. And I’m hopeful that somehow we can save the party and bring it back from the socialist abyss and make it the party of the average Joe.

My opinion on the Dems is that they have allowed arrogant urban liberals to take over the party, they idealize European socialist values and have been convinced by their liberal college professors that the average American is a tacky, unsophisticated hillbilly who is incapable of comprehending the complex reality that they—the leftist elite—understand. And they have been sucked into the populist morass that has them convinced that the only way to solidify electoral support is to flirt with class warfare, romanticize revolution, and offer up government subsidized give-aways.

Finally, they are right to believe that Americans want the war to end. But they are committing George McClellan’s mistakes during the Civil War and assuming that a war-weary public wants peace at any cost. History will prove that Obama is committing the same mistake that cost McClellan the Presidency.

I listened to the Sara Palin speech last night—twice—and was enthralled by her. After the speech, I heard a commentator say that "the conservatives have found their Obama."

But, I don't think that's right. Because Obama is one of those types that fulfill the role that is often referenced in the following way: "Everyone serves some sort of purpose, even if it's just a bad example."

Obama may have "a back-story", but it's more of the story of the wayward child who eventually finds his way and becomes endearing to a certain element of the population—but really is the antithesis of the average American out there on the range, or the ranch. How many of the average American at one point turned to cocaine and sold drugs? How many of them took advantage of their race to get preferential treatment and go to an Ivy League school and STILL resented America?

Palin’s acerbic wit was spot on last night. She really “took the Mickey” out of the Obamas, Harry Reid, and the libs in a way that was astonishingly powerful yet amusing. She presented herself as a bulldog with lipstick, an analogy that serves her well. She gave the Democrats a tongue lashing with a home-spun flavor that reminded me of a conservative Will Rogers.

If there was one primary successful tactic in Palin’s speech, it was that she totally undermined the Obama story and subtly revealed Obama’s elitist, unpatriotic attitude, and humorously highlighted his total lack of experience. And she reinforced the correct interpretation of American attitudes about the Iraq War. As a mother of a soldier deploying to Iraq, she wants her boy to come home victoriously. This effectively confirms the notion that Obama is to the Iraq War what George McClellan was to the Civil War: a surrender monkey.

To quote George C. Scott’s Patton, “Americans love a winner, and abhor a loser.” We want our troops to come back—victoriously.

I had not been expecting such a powerful speech from Palin. But she truly delivered, in spades. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that Palin may have demonstrated that she is—as a political speaker—on a par with Bill Clinton.

Watch out, Obama and Biden. The McCain camp just rolled out a secret weapon that might just turn the war.

Dems react to Palin: SOUR GRAPES

A quick roundup of reaction to the Palin selection:

Time Magazine:

"Is this really who the Republican Party wants to be one heartbeat away from the
Presidency? Given Sarah Palin's lack of experience on every front and on nearly
every issue, this Vice Presidential pick doesn't show judgment: it shows
political panic," he said.

My reaction: "Political panic"?! Are you serious? McCain had several excellent choices for a running mate. Why did he choose this particular woman? It's insane to try to claim that "Panic" was the inspiration for the decision. This is a man who has maintained a consistent cool attitude throughout the campaign. He's a man with over thirty years of experience and has survived any number of campaigns. He's a man who flew into combat, was shot down, captured and tortured for five years. And you think that kind of man is going to panic while facing a panty-waisted lightweight like Obama? Please.

CNN Paul Begala

Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer
than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her
personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly
qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

My reaction: Paul Begala's assessment of Palin is simply insulting. Note how he insults Alaska--and the Alaskan people--in the same way Obama did when he said that conservatives were just a bunch of bitter, angry people clinging to their guns and religion! The same elistist snobbery has surfaced again. And combine that with clear mysoginism. Palin is more than a person who enjoys fishing or her five children. She has won elections as mayor and ran her small city, then was appointed to an important energy commission and eventually became governor of the state. But apparently we don't need to even mention those accomplishments. Instead, the tact is a sarcasm-laden slight.

Echoes of the sexist insults that the democrat extremists heaped on Hillary Clinton? You BET.

Here's another blog linked on CNN:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-68575
Anonymous Democratic blogger said, "shame on you, John McCain, for thinking
America is stupid!"

This same sentiment was echoed on an Air America broadcast, during which the following astonishing statement was made:

"John McCain must think that American women are stupid, that he can just trick
them to vote for Palin, instead of a real candidate like Hillary."

Yet another form of bigotry revealed by the liberals: A woman is not a real feminist or reasonable choice as a candidate, unless she's an abortion supporting liberal! The assumption is that real "wymyn" are hardcore supporters of infanticide. Nothing else could be farther from the truth. Here is a woman who truly has it all: a successful career and a large family.

So, let's talk about McCain's choice.

Every choice brings risks. But there's a huge difference between Barack's inexperience and Palin's alleged inexperience: although she has had a short career in politics, she has a list of successes she can point to. Barack CAN'T.

I think it's a home run for McCain. No one is even talking about Obama's speech anymore. In fact, I just heard the classic sour grapes statement on Air America. A guy was stating how no one was talking about Obama today, even though he 'gave such a great speech' and the AA talkshow host said, "yeah, but you know, I'm glad it's like this! that speech was so good, no one even needs to talk about it!"

You have to love that! A speach that was so important...no one needs to talk about it.

That kind of describes Obama: a candidate so important...he doesn't even need coverage.

Wiley experience versus unsteady charisma: McCain Vs. Obama

On August 28, 2008, Democratic Presidential Candidate and apparent wanna-be Caesar Barack Obama gave the speech of his life at the Denver Invesco stadium to a huge crowd of nearly 80,000 fans. Fans, I say, because it has become clear that Obama is more of a celebrity than a candidate. The mainstream media treats Obama like a Rock Star: ignore his foibles, pretend that he is not frightfully lacking in experience, do not draw attention to the confused and conflicting policies he has put forth, try to cover for his arrogance and haughty attitude that reinforces the feeling from many Americans that he is either totally out of touch or woefully elitist.

So today, August 29th, it would be natural to expect that Obamania would cover the pages of the electronic media. But no. Look at Foxnews.com, and you don’t see Obama today. Nor will you find his Lordship gracing the cover of the more liberal CNN.com. No, instead you see McCain—and his newly announced running mate.

Just at the time when the press was all giddy about Obama—McCain may have just upstaged him!

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been tapped to be McCain’s VP, surprising most people who thought that Romney or Pawlenty would have been the natural choices. Was this a brilliant strategic move by McCain? Palin is young, relatively inexperienced, could this have been a mistake?

Coming out of the Democratic Convention, CNN talking heads proudly pronounced that “76% of Democrats said that the convention unified the party.” Interesting spin on a statistic that we already knew weeks ago: about 30% of the Hillary Clinton supporters were bitter about how she was treated by the Obama campaign and surrogates, and were not likely to vote for Obama. Many women in the country, who are likely to be the swing voters and turn the tide in this campaign, felt deeply disappointed that Clinton was not the Democratic nominee, or at the very least, Obama’s choice for VP. So saying that 76% of Dems feel that the party has unified is just another way of saying that 24% are still not happy. And that 24% equates to hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes.

Whenever I analyze this situation, the most logical analogies that come to mind seem to be either Chess or military strategies. I am a fan of chess and in chess there are three principal elements to the game that must be mastered in order to win the game.

They are Space (territory on the board), Momentum, and Material.

Once upon a time, Obama had all three of these to his advantage.

Voter support, translated into votes, won states, and thus delegates, is the territory. And according to most polls, Obama appeared to ahead. But he has slowly leaked that support away through a number of missteps. Obama gave up territory.

In order to win—Chess or war battles equally—combatants sometimes must sacrifices territory in order to gain either momentum or material.

Obama apparently decided that, by nominating Joe Biden to be his running mate, he could use Biden’s years in Senate to counter the attacks on Obama’s lack of experience, and hopefully come out of the convention with increased momentum. But this didn’t seem to work. Many who had hoped that he would choose Hillary were disappointed. And while Biden is a fairly serious choice, back when Biden was one of the Democratic candidates opposing Obama, he had made a number of stinging criticisms about Obama’s lack of experience.

This gave new ammunition to the GOP, and facilitated the attack on Obama’s lack of experience—and judgment: Obama's choice actually undermined the weak flank he had hoped would be reinforced. And Obama left the convention without gaining in momentum.

McCain’s choice of Governor Palin appears to be a classic flanking maneuver. McCain had attacked Obama on experience, which forced Obama to choose Biden over Clinton, since Clinton—in spite of her popularity—could not claim many years of experience as anything other than the wife of a former President. The choice of Biden reinforced the public’s suspicion that Obama was inexperienced, but it also reinforced the resentment by Hillary’s supporters, and the women who had so wanted to see a woman in the White House in a role other than first lady or sexy intern.

That third element in chess, material, is usually the “pieces” that empower the player. Rooks, Knights, Queen, etc. Without material, the player simply cannot control the board or the momentum. In politics, it can be equated to financial support, and that intangible support that is media attention and buzz.

The Palin choice, announced the day after Obama’s biggest speech, has taken that advantage away from him, and with it will come momentum. After all, on the day when everyone should have been talking about Obama’s great speech, they are instead talking about VP candidate Palin. Women callers to the Laura Ingraham show this morning were energized, excited, and without an exception said that this decision will encourage them to donate to the McCain campaign. In other words, McCain has now gained additional material to propel his campaign forward.

On all three fronts, material, momentum, and space, McCain has slowly whittled down the Obama advantage. We are witnessing a classic example of a battle led by two very different generals: an older, experience statesman, and a young, brash, charismatic celebrity.

And it is becoming very clear, that while there is a romantic attraction to the young and charismatic leader, unless that charisma is enhanced by some real street smarts, he can easily be outclassed by the wily old man.

In my opinion, barring some unforeseen disaster on the McCain camp, Obama just lost the lead, and may be headed toward doom.