Part 3

Ifill: Same sex benefits?

Biden - Absolutely. Same sex couples should have visitation rights, ownership, insurance, etc. We do support the same constitutional benefits for same sex couples.

Palin - I will be clear that I am tolerant. However, I don't think that we should redefine marriage. In that tolerance, no one would propose anything that would prohibit visitation, etc. I don't support defining marriage as anything but one man, one woman.

Biden - Barack Obama nor I do not support same sex marriage. We agree.

Ifill - Let's move on to foreign policy. Governor, you have called for a real clear exit plan

Palin - We do have a great plan instituted by a great American hero, Petraeus, and supported by another great hero, McC. AWESOME move, praising Biden for cutting down Obama's vote to withhold funding to troops in the field as a political act. It would be a travesty if we would quit in Iraq.

Biden - I didn't hear a plan. We have a plan. Have to have a timeline. McC voted against funding when it included a timeline. 16 month withdrawal. We will end this war. FUNDAMENTAL difference - we will END this war.

Palin - Your plan is a white flag of surrender. Surge works; Obama won't admit that. We will leave when the Iraqi people can tell us they are ready to take over. Smiles and digs the knife as she recounts that Biden said that Obama wasn't ready to be C-in-C and said that you would be honored to run with him.

Biden - McC voted against funding because of the timeline. McC has been dead wrong on the fundamental issues of the Iraq war.

Ifill - Pakistan, I think (Emmy and Angela walked in just now)

Biden - Pakistan has a nuclear weapon. Iran doesn't have one yet. My problem with McC is that he says that the central front on the war on terror is in Iraq. It is in Pakistan. A stable gov needs to be established (good luck with that!). Madrassas are being built, and we should build schools.

Palin - Petraeus and al Qaeda agree that Iraq is the central front on the WOT. A-jad: calls Israel a stinking corpse. We can't let him acquire nukes (darn, she says nukular too). Calls out NoKorea, Castro bros, A-jad - you don't meet with these guys without preconditions.

Ifill - Bunch of former Secy's of State - engage with enemies - are they wrong?

Palin - No! Kissinger and I had a nice discussion. Meeting with them at a presidential level is wrong. These people hate America!

Biden - Claims that Obama didn't say he would meet with Iran. News to me. How do you make progress without sitting down with enemies? McC said as recently as a couple of weeks ago that he wouldn't sit down with the govt of Spain.

Ifill - You mentioned Israel - what has been done right or wrong?

Palin - Two state solution is the solution. Rice is trying to forge that peace (she used "that" in a weird way, maybe it's a regionalism). We will support Israel, build our embassy in Jerusalem, track record of forging peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt. Commitment would be there to work with our friends in Israel.

Biden - No one is a better friend of Israel than Joe Biden. Rice is trying to turn around things late in the administration. Policy is an abject failure. Split screen view flatters Palin, hurts Biden.

Palin - Has it been an abject failure? No. I respect your support of Israel, Senator Biden. There have been huge blunders. Positive change is coming, reform is coming, we are going to forge ahead with reform. Change is coming.

Biden - Past is prologue. How will McC be different from Bush? On Iran? Afghanistan? Pakistan? How is it going to be different from George Bishis (I think that's what he is saying).

Part 2

What promises can't you keep?

Biden - Foreign aid, ExxonMobil; cannot "slow up on" energy, education, health care plan. Bottom line: eliminate wasteful spending, one of which is $100 billion tax dodge by off-shore PO boxes.

Palin - Nice thing about McC is he doesn't say one thing to one group and another to another group. Energy plan: Obama voted for the big tax breaks for the oil companies. And do you know what I did as Governor? Names names - sweet! Corporate CEOs of oil companies operating in Alaska come behind the people of Alaska. THIS IS THE CUDA WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! Obama voted for the energy plan that I then had to turn around and undo in Alaska. GO SARAH!

Ifill - So nothing that you are going to take off the table?

Palin - I have been at this for 5 weeks; I haven't made too many promises. McC won't promise what he can't deliver.

Biden - Calls Palin's plan a windfall profits tax - could be another set up. Keeps trying to make the tax cut look as if it is targeted to oil companies.

Ifill - missed it as I checked the game, which I think is over

Palin - Apparently, there is a disagreement with McC on some specific thing. Bankruptcy bill, maybe?

Biden - Mortgage holders didn't get left holding the bag. He apparently voted differently from Obama. He is saying again that Obama wrote a letter to the Secy of Treasury about subprime mortgages. Now is saying that he wants to change not just the rates, but the principle. Not sure how that would work and he is not explaining.

Palin - That is not so. Goes back to energy: This is important. We need to do all that we can to make sure that this country is not moving to energy independence. Nice touch: "Easterners" who don't know about energy producing states like Alaska. Key to our future. When we talk about energy it's not about tax breaks, it's about energy independence.

Ifill - Climate change

Palin - As the Gov of the nation's only arctic state, I feel the climate change first hand. Plays down manmade role. Reduce emissions, all of the above approach, other countries have to be involved (we're allowing them to emit and pollute), alternative sources, conservation, clean up the planet.

Biden - "I think it is man made, it is clearly man made". Good! He's wrong and he is stating it as fact. He also gives that bogus stat about only having 3% of world's energy. He goes to China: coal plants (big set up!). Overstates the ability to export energy solutions profitably.

Ifill - follow up

Palin - Corrects Biden: The chant is Drill, Baby, Drill. Clean green natural gas. Largest infrastructure project ever is Alaska natural gas pipeline. You guys have called drilling off-shore "raping" the environment. Smiles as she digs the knife.

Biden - Misrepresents his rope line comments. If only answer you have is oil, then why did John not vote for alternative energy 20 times?

The Debate Begins

Gwen Ifill does the intro. No disclosure of her conflict of interest.

"May I call you Joe?" (Oh, in that case, I'll just call you Bozo).

On the bailout - is this the best of Washington or the worst of Washington?

Biden's first - "Neither". Worst 8 years of economic policy, etc. Goes to Obama's 4 points. Remember, the 5th point, dropped by Obama, was that it would be a clean bill - LOL!

Palin - Thanks, etc. Personalizes the economy - ask a kid's mom at a soccer game, and you'll hear fear. Fed gov't has not provided the oversight. McCain has been providing oversight. He was there 2 years ago calling for FM reform (go, Cuda!). Bipartisanship, yadda yadda.

===

How do you shrink the gap of polarization in DC?

Biden - I can reach across the aisle. VAWA, etc. Goes back to bashing McCain - fundamentals of the economy are strong.

Palin - Nice comeback - McCain was praising the American workforce, the best in the world. Track record of reform, politics aside to get the job done. Obama votes party line, and doesn't reach across the aisle. Put the politics aside, get things done, work for the people.

===

Who was at fault for the subprime lending?

Palin - It was predator lenders. Deception by lenders, greed on Wall Street. C'mon, Sarah, oversight was lacking! Say so. Okay, she is coming back to "strict oversight" by the feds. Also touches on not living beyond means. I like that, and I like her bearing so far. "Never again" will we be taken advantage of.

Biden - Claims Obama warned about this before McCain even knew about it. Still trying to figure out where this comes from. McCain is all about deregulation. He may be walking into a trap, as this is nothing more than talking points.

Palin - Darn right we need tax relief so that jobs will be created here. 94 opportunities to side with the people, 94 times he didn't (either didn't cut taxes or not raise them). Okay response, but the health care deregulation things is a joke and she didn't take it on.

Biden - She didn't answer about deregulation.

Palin - Let me correct you on taxes. I am talking to the American people, not the moderator or you. Palin mentions regulations McCain has supported, while Biden flashes his goofy smile. Score points for Palin.

===

Ifill asks about taxes and how it isn't just redistribution.

Biden - I call it "fairness". Biden is wrong to claim that 95% of people will get a tax break, and includes in that the cap gains tax. Middle class apparently will be Biden's mantra tonight.

Palin - I take issue with redistribution of wealth. Nice reply - you're forgetting the millions of small businesses that are going to be hurt. Hits him on "patriotic" tax payments. Government needs to lessen the burden on the private sector. Trillion dollars in new spending.

Ifill - are you interested in defending McC's health care plan?

Palin - Yes I am. Family tax credit. Better than the mandate Obama offers. Smiles as she says "Do you really want the government running health care?"

Biden - We don't call it redistribution, we call it fairness. This is a loser for him. Still says that he wouldn't increase taxes unless you make $250,000. Now saying the McC's plan will drop 20 million from health insurance rolls, ultimate "Bridge to Nowhere".

The Pyongyang Remix

Creepy doesn't begin to reach the depths of discomfort that Obama singing kids video aroused in me. I couldn't watch it all the way through, until the guys at Reason made these modifications:

Live Blogging the VP Debate

I don't know if I will be able to keep up with it, as I have to check in on the Phillies (up 5-2 going into the bottom of the 8th - some insurance would be nice, guys). Carl Cameron is saying that the game plan is to come out swinging, play offense, and be Sarah-Cuda. Here's hoping!

Bob Owens is on fire too

Read it all; an excerpt:

Barack Obama is a false prophet preaching the shared mediocrity that he learned sitting for 20+ years in the pews of a radical church that hates what it calls "middleclassness." He is a man who has been an associate of a known domestic terrorist for 21 years, and who helped him funnel more than $100 million to indoctrination efforts to undermine Chicago's schools.

Barack Obama has never known the real heart of America outside the self-hating radicalism he so quickly embraced when he finally got here.

Something to remind us of the better angels of our nature

Thanks for the tip, KLo:

Andy McCarthy with the post of the campaign season

Andy McCarthy (buy his book!) posts his frustrations, which I share; I feel like I am in the twilight zone, and Andy has only hit on a few of the reasons why I can't believe people with sense support Obama:

Rich, I think the problem is that "the sense that Washington is incompetent and self-interested" is more than just an impression — it's a fact. Those of us opposed to the Paulson plan but not beyond convincing that some shoring up action may be necessary are being given no reason to support this intervention and plenty of additonal reason to oppose. In a nutshell:

• Why is no one addressing the fact that Paulson — whose department has conceded that $700B may not actually be needed but is just a "very large number" they settled on, "not based on any particular data point" — will only be running Treasury for another three months? After that, this pot of gold could very well be under the control of an Obama Treasury Department, which would have the same unfettered discretion Paulson is being given to dole out perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars more than may be necessary for any legitimate shoring up of the credit markets. And, please, stop jiving us with this "profit to the taxpayers" drivel. Does anyone familar with Obama's record, the Democrats' predilections, and the nature of government honestly think the taxpayer would see a dime of any profits? Profits would become slushfunds to underwrite other obligations — which is to say this inevitably becomes a gargantuan tax increase.

• As Obama may well be inheriting this new, over-stuffed piggy bank, why is no one interested in how he doled out the last piggy banks he had control over: the Woods Fund and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. We know the Woods Fund gave money, for example, to Jeremiah Wright's church and to Rashid Khalidi, the PLO apologist who inherited Edward Said's perch as chief of anti-Semitism at Columbia. As far as the CAC goes, here's just a sampling of what we know, courtesy of Steve Diamond:

One of the first grants awarded in 1995 was a $175,000 Implementation Grant to the Small Schools Workshop. The Workshop had been founded by Bill Ayers in 1992 and was headed up by his former SDS comrade and hardcore Maoist, Mike Klonsky. Klonsky actually visited China and met with its stalinist leaders in the early 1970s. Klonsky still heads up the Small Schools Workshop and, until it was summarily removed, hosted a blog on "social justice" and education issues on the official Barack Obama Presidential campaign website. [Over the ensuing years,] [h]undreds of thousands of dollars more would be forthcoming from the CAC for the Klonsky group.

ME: So now we want to give Obama $700 billion to play with as he sees fit?

• Americans look at those huddling to come up with a "solution" and they see photos and footage of top Democrats, prominently including Chris Dodd and Barnie Frank, the main culprits. We see Obama, who took well over $100K from the GSEs, taking a leading role in the negotiations. In short, we see that the perpetrators have been delegated to investigate the crime and design a fix. When we ask where the accountability is, we're told there is no time for that now — but of course if not now it will be never.

• How can this bailout possibly be justified without addressing the underlying causes of the distress? There is no accountability over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For some reason, even though Alberto Gonzales has been gone for a year-and-a-half, Democrats demand that the investigations continue into a non-crime, the firing of a handful of U.S. attorneys, because they claim accountabilty is essential. Yet, the sky is supposedly falling on an economy in meltdown, we have just had to pay out $200B and officially take on the risk of $5 trillion in GSE debt, and yet no one seems to think it the least bit important to examined what happened at Fannie and Freddie and who is responsible for this mess. It is irresponsible for us to agree to a dime until that accounting takes place. McCain has been on the side of the angels and it would help him politically, so his failure on this is just mind-boggling.

• Now is the time not only to make the case against the GSEs and the preposterous Community Reinvestment Act but to propose solid conservative ideas that would help the economy, like tax cuts — particularly the absurdly high, uncompetitive corporate and capital gains taxes. A few days ago, the editors wrote:

Conservatives have proposed various alternatives to the Paulson plan.... Some of them consist of excellent long-term reforms that do not address the issue at hand. Take, for example, the proposal to drop the capital-gains tax rate to zero: We certainly believe that policy would promote the long-term growth potential of the United States, but it would do little to stem the current panic. It is an idea better suited to trying to pick up the pieces afterward than saving the credit markets now. The same with more drilling, or a repeal of Sarbanes-Oxley, or any otherwise sound policy proposal that does not directly and immediately address the crisis before us by injecting more capital into the system or rendering currently illiquid assets liquid again.

ME: You don't get to "pick up the pieces afterward." You have to capitalize on the moment. These are good ideas and they would help. Not cure, but help.

Can someone explain to me why, in crisis conditions, Congress managed to address children's wooden arrows, global warming, economic development in American Somoa, underground mine safety, depreciation on Indian reservations, railroad maintenance, motorsport racetrack conditions, domestic production in Puerto Rico, depreciation allowances for Hollywood, import duties on wool, excise taxes on rum, income averaging for Exxon, and on and on and on ... but somehow no time to deal with the crushing tax burdens and regulatory restrictions that are stifling economic activity, and no time to confront the public/private business model and government demands to extend credit to the non-creditworthy that actually caused this debacle?

Why should the public give these guys a further license to mutilate?

Well said, Andy.

On Another Note....

I'm up to 240 hits!

Say It Isn't So, PA!

Yikes! Between Michigan and this, my heart is definitely troubled. Sorry, Sean!

Sarah's Going Moose Hunting Tonight

Yay! The original Barracuda is coming back:

ST. LOUIS — Sarah Palin plans to go on the attack in tonight’s debate, hitting Joe Biden for what she will call his foreign policy blunders and penchant for adopting liberal positions on taxes and other issues, according to campaign officials involved in prepping her for tonight’s showdown.

The Palin camp is projecting surprising self-confidence in the pre-debate hours, despite the vice presidential nominee’s uneven — and, at some points, peculiar — performances in recent television interviews, the officials say. Top advisers to John McCain privately say Palin’s recent CBS interview was a borderline disaster, especially since it played out in several segments over several days. Tonight will be different, they say.

“This is going to finally put her back into a position where we see her like we saw her the first couple weeks,” a McCain official said. “She was herself. She was authentic, and people related to that. ... Tonight, she’ll get into a rhythm. You’re going to see her in a way that you haven’t seen her yet.”

By contrast, Biden plans what an aide calls "a just-the-facts, prosecutorial approach laying out the case against McCain and defending Obama." The aide said Biden will be "keeping the eye on the target, which is McCain."

It is hard to imagine higher stakes for a vice presidential nominee on the national stage. Palin wowed even her biggest skeptics with her spirited introduction to the American people at the Republican National Convention last month. It’s been downhill since then, however. She has been largely sheltered from unscripted moments on the campaign trail. And, when she has exposed herself to improvisation or tough questioning, Palin has been criticized for offering vague and at times unusual responses.

Palin advisers say that she remains just as popular with much of the Republican base as she was a month ago when her convention speech was hailed as a home run. But her ratings have eroded in polls since then, and the advisers see the 90-minute debate at 9 p.m. Eastern as a chance for a swift turnaround from what they call “negativity” in her news coverage.

Click over to the Politico article for a breakdown of specific strategies, including throwing Biden's own words back at him and enumerating the conflicting policy positions between the Democratic candidates. Suddenly, I am feeling a whole lot better about tonight's performance. Let's hope this is just the beginning of a new tactic to fully unleash Sarah from the constraints of parroting McCain campaign talking points. If tonight's debate is anything like the ones I've seen of Sarah during the Alaska gubernatorial election, Biden will be in for a full field-dressing by the time she's through.

What Am I Talkin' About!

Here's hoping he's a gaffe-machine tonight!

Taxpayers for Truth

What say you, Dubya? JMac? McCain-Palin ad team?

Meet Me in St. Louis!

Head over to Gateway Pundit for the full scoop, but suffice it to say, there is more than a little excitement in the air for tonight's showdown. Check out this video featuring Tina Hervey from the Missouri GOP. The "Show Me" state is ready to rumble!



As for me, I am considering watching the debate with the McCain-Palin Boca Raton office. Maybe I'll leave the live-blogging to Doc Paul and hang out with some like-minded Palm Beach County Republicans....he's so much better at it than I am, anyway! :)

Luck Be a Lady Tonight!

While awaiting Governor Palin's coming evisceration of Senator Joe Biden (D-Amtrak, by way of Scranton), read this positive profile of Sarah Palin and her family in {gulp} The Washington Post:

That's how it goes in the Heath home, and how it has always gone. It's a household that explains much about Palin, 44, and how she acquired her set-jawed, swaggering demeanor, one that her mother first noticed "about the time she started to walk." Above all, the house suggests how she came by her dissident, out-of-category feminism, a code by which she tackles old-boy networks relentlessly, while remaining blank if not unsympathetic on traditional women's issues with a capital W, such as sexism in the workplace.

Bring it on, St. Louis! I can't wait!

UPDATE: I wanted to include this excerpt from near the end of the piece, in case you don't read the whole thing:

No one gave the Warriors any chance to win a title when they drew East High, a large Anchorage school that had beaten them by 40 points earlier in the season, as their first-round opponent in the state tournament. Wasilla won, 50-48, but shortly before time expired, Palin came down wrong and sprained her ankle, an injury she would play through during the rest of the tournament.

In the championship game they met another large institution, Service High. Wasilla took a comfortable early lead, but Palin, playing on her heavily wrapped, swollen, blue ankle, couldn't move well enough to defend, and Service began to catch up. Teeguarden motioned her to the bench. "I just had to get her out, it was painful to watch her," he says. Palin was devastated as she took a seat, and the coach put an arm around her. "Without you we wouldn't be here right now," he said. "You're not done."

She remained on the bench until slightly less than a minute remained. Then Teeguarden turned and motioned her back into the game. Wasilla was nursing just a four-point lead, and Palin was one of his coolest heads. He wanted her on the floor.

With about 30 seconds left, Palin was fouled. She went to the free-throw line. If she missed, Service would get the ball with a chance to cut Wasilla's lead to just two points. If she made the shot, her team would be up five -- making it a three-possession game. She licked her fingertips, dribbled the ball a time or two, and knocked down the shot. "That iced it," Teeguarden says. "At that point we exhaled." Wasilla won, 58-53.

Michele Kohinka, who was the center for Service High, described Palin this way: "She was a little floor general. She didn't score a lot, but she was a scrappy defender and was always the first to the loose balls."

Gene Hackman must be contacted for the role of Coach Teeguarden!

The Free Market and the Economic Crisis

Last weekend, there was thought to be a deal on the $700 billion bailout, but it fell through. On Monday, the market then dropped 700 points and the dinosaur media immediately went into spin mode. The market crashed because the bailout fell through they crowed like Chicken Littles in stereo. Once again the dinosaur media's analysis was wrong. On the other hand, at least they're consistent.

To the contrary, the market tanked because Wall Street thought this socialist bill was about to be passed. When it was obvious that the bill in it's original form was dead, and that any new bill would have to contain tax payer protections and conservative principles, the market rebounded sharply yesterday and was down only a few points today.

The moral of this story is that free market capitalism works and socialism doesn't. It's just a shame that it's a lesson we have to repeat over and over.

Historic Comparison to Ifell Moderating VP Debate

I was searching for a historic comparision to the situation involving the clearly biased and conflicted Gwen Ifell moderating the Vice Presidential debate. The best I can come up with is the Nuremburg trials, where a Soviet judge sat in judgment of the Nazis along with the American, French, and British judges. I admit I am being facetious and the latter situation was obviously much more serious than a debate, but sadly the general concept is the same.

Gwen The Unbiased Moderator?

It is truly shocking that there has not been more of an uproar over Gwen Ifell "moderating" the Vice Presidential debate. Why the McCain camp would agree to this is astounding and is one more in a series of mistakes they have made over the few weeks after running an outstanding campaign. One can only hope that it is a minor, mid - season slump.

What is equally shocking is that Ifell herself fails to see the blatant conflict of interest. With her book heaping lavish praise on Obama and due to come out on Inauguration Day, she has a clear and substantial financial conflict of interest. If Obama wins, she stands to sell more books and make more money than if he loses. It's about the dollars, stupid! Yet no one in the dinosaur media seems to care. It also begs the question, couldn't PBS find anyone else? What's wrong with Jm Lehrer, he did a credible job during the Presidential debate.

Now, Gwen Ifell can support who she wants and write any book she wants. We live in a free country. All I ask is a little honesty, Gwen. You should voluntarily withdraw citing a conflict of interest. If you won't, then I suppose you'll have no objection and in fact will come out in support of either Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham or even better, Star Parker moderating the next Presidential debate. After all, at least those ladies admit that they're partisans, and none of them is writing a book about McCain due out on Inauguration Day. Hypocracy, thy name is liberalism.

"Journalism is Dead"

Excellent post by Cassy Fiano chronicling the Gwen Ifill disgrace. It goes without saying that if this "fair and impartial" debate moderator had written a book about John McCain -- set to hit the bookstores on Inauguration Day, no less -- the dinosaur media would be apoplectic over it. Is there really anyone in America who believes our media is fair and unbiased?

That said, I believe McCain is doing the right thing by touting Ifill as a professional, rather than whine about conflicts of interest. Not only do his surrogates (talk radio, bloggers, etc.) make a much better case, taking the high road in this instance eliminates the appearance of sour grapes on the part of the campaign. Now, if only they would allow Sarah to open her remarks tomorrow night by congratulating Ifill on her book and then constantly referencing it in her answers. That would be the smart thing to do, but judging by the McCain camp's missteps so far, I'm not betting any money that they will actually employ this tactic.

BTW, where are the ads naming Franklin Raines, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Chuck Schumer, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Harry Reid as the purveyors of our current financial crisis? They are just as bad, if not worse than Ken Lay, yet nary a peep from the drive-bys and not much scolding from the McCain camp, either. Hey John, we're about a month away from showtime -- time to step it up! Just pretend these guilty Dems are really Republicans; that should excite you about excoriating them with a devastating ad campaign.

And for God's sake, let your VP candidate be herself tomorrow night!

Vets for Freedom Anti-Obama Ad, "Skipped"

Hopefully, my friends on Facebook who are voting for Obama because of the Washington Post article entitled, "Fallen," will take a hard look at this ad. Their rationale for choosing Obama on November 4 is their (justifiable) sadness and anger at the deaths of American soldiers. However, their outrage would be better directed to the radical Islamists who pose a clear threat to the free world. And I simply cannot comprehend how voting for a man who doesn't give a damn about our Troops serves our men and women in uniform. Further, we are blessed to have a volunteer Military, which means that our bravest fully understand and acknowledge the high risks involved in defending the USA before they enlist. Thank God this country has men and women of such high caliber, who not only understand that "freedom isn't free" but are willing to sacrifice their lives for their fellow countrymen. If only the civilian population would get that!

Finally, I wonder how many of those who purport to be so upset over the deaths and injuries of our soldiers actually put their money where their mouths are in terms of monetary donations to charities like Soldiers Angels, or visits to hospitals housing recuperating veterans. My guess would be that it's a very low number. These same folks might also want to consider the fact that the majority of active-duty and Military veterans are voting McCain-Palin in November, and that they want to finish the job. An Obama win ensures that every death was in vain.