July 2008

This morning, Barack Obama’s campaign woke to a headline that might have made the strategy guys nervous. Roll Call ran a piece entitled "Lobbyists Give to Obama Campaign" with the even better subtitle "Despite Policy, Their Checks Clear".

"So what?" you might ask.

When Obama was busy with his post-February primary losing streak, he ran ads against Hillary Clinton attacking her over this issue. "Obama doesn’t take money from lobbyists, but Hillary does. Not in the pocket of special interests." I never understood how this was supposed to help him win the votes of people who support corrupt machine politicians like Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) and Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA). Working class Democratic voters don’t care about this issue. But they care about liars.

So now, imagine the response ad that McCain would run.

First it starts with one of Obama’s statements about not taking money from lobbyists. Perhaps even using Obama’s own ad.

Then, put up headlines about him taking — and asking for — money from the spouses of lobbyists. (by the way, that’s another brilliantly titled piece "Obama’s K-street Project’)

And then one his former staffers emailed DC lobbying firms demanded contracts.

And now it turns out that he even takes money from lobbyists. "despite policy, checks clear."

And then you flash up the headline "Obama’s Lobbyist Connection", from Michael Isikoff’s piece earlier this year.

And then throw in Obama breaking his pledge on public financing. (I am sure that there’s a good headline here)

Then it ends with something like "Barack Obama: You can’t trust what he says"

The words need to be improved, of course. But the point is that the material is there to undermine his character and his trustworthiness, Obama’s only real assets in this race. And you do it at the same time as you rip off the "reformer" mask, a fundamental part of his "change" mantra.

The Scaredicrats in Congress won’t allow a vote on something
that all of the Secretaries of State support

I have written a bunch about
the
problems that our soldiers have voting. Currently, as it
stands, House Democrats, urged on by the unions, are blocking a
bill that would increase the likelihood of the votes of our
soldiers actually counting.

Last week
Bob Novak also wrote about this issue. Today there was a
significant advance. The National Association of Secretaries of
State (NASS), the analog of the National Governors Association,
endorsed Kevin McCarthy’s Military
Protection Voting Act of 2008, HR 5673.

None of the Democrats at NASS dared to vote no this, but House
and Senate Democratic leaders refuse to bring this to a vote. This
is a typical case of the Democrats putting their special interests
ahead of the troops.

This was pushed by Chris
Nelson, Secretary of State of North Dakota, and Sam Reed, Secretary of State of
Washington.

I have written a bunch about the problems that our soldiers have voting. Currently, as it stands, House Democrats, urged on by the unions, are blocking a bill that would increase the likelihood of the votes of our soldiers actually counting.

Last week Bob Novak also wrote about this issue. Today there was a significant advance. The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the analog of the National Governors Association, endorsed Kevin McCarthy’s Military Protection Voting Act of 2008, HR 5673.

None of the Democrats at NASS dared to vote no this, but House and Senate Democratic leaders refuse to bring this to a vote. This is a typical case of the Democrats putting their special interests ahead of the troops.

This was pushed by Chris Nelson, Secretary of State of North Dakota, and Sam Reed, Secretary of State of Washington.

The left’s strategy for delivering close states

Warner Todd Huston just wrote about ACORN embezzling issues.
Thankfully, we just gave a criminal organization another chunk of
change in the Housing Bill. Allegedly, it was to push more people
into subprime loans, which they have been doing for the last decade
or so. Of course, that was a bad idea.

Another big project of theirs is voter registration.  Like
so many voter-reg groups, like the one below, they are premised on
a business model that incentivizes illegality. Watch this:

If Barack Obama were to win Virginia by a handful of votes, this
would be a fundamental part of how it happened. The Obama campaign,
ACORN, and Congressional Democrats are planning for that.

Somehow it was a priority for Congressional Democrats to fund
people illegally register voters, but
it isn’t to defend the right to vote for our soldiers.

H/T
Election Journal.

The left’s strategy for delivering close states

Warner Todd Huston just wrote about ACORN embezzling issues.
Thankfully, we just gave a criminal organization another chunk of
change in the Housing Bill. Allegedly, it was to push more people
into subprime loans, which they have been doing for the last decade
or so. Of course, that was a bad idea.

Another big project of theirs is voter registration.  Like
so many voter-reg groups, like the one below, they are premised on
a business model that incentivizes illegality. Watch this:

If Barack Obama were to win Virginia by a handful of votes, this
would be a fundamental part of how it happened. The Obama campaign,
ACORN, and Congressional Democrats are planning for that.

Somehow it was a priority for Congressional Democrats to fund
people illegally register voters, but
it isn’t to defend the right to vote for our soldiers.

H/T
Election Journal.

Warner Todd Huston just wrote about ACORN embezzling issues. Thankfully, we just gave a criminal organization another chunk of change in the Housing Bill. Allegedly, it was to push more people into subprime loans, which they have been doing for the last decade or so. Of course, that was a bad idea.

Another big project of theirs is voter registration.  Like so many voter-reg groups, like the one below, they are premised on a business model that incentivizes illegality. Watch this:

If Barack Obama were to win Virginia by a handful of votes, this would be a fundamental part of how it happened. The Obama campaign, ACORN, and Congressional Democrats are planning for that.

Somehow it was a priority for Congressional Democrats to fund people illegally register voters, but it isn’t to defend the right to vote for our soldiers.

H/T Election Journal.

Let’s take him at his word. This time.

Compare these two. Speaking to a group of African-American
journalists,
he says:

What I would ask is that I am treated like other candidates in
terms of expectations and that people look at my entire
record.

But his staff is
“terrified” of people looking into his history:

Reporters who have covered Obama’s biography or his problems
with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most
aggressively. “They’re terrified of people poking around
Obama’s life,” one reporter says. “The whole Obama
narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David
Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it’s not entirely true. So
they have to be protective of the crown jewels.” Another reporter
notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and
Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without
permission.

Somehow, I think that the
lack of transparency may continue regardless of what Obama says
about his record

A bad day for Don Young is a good day for America. Thank you to Grover Norquist for helping to deliver a bad day to Young by declaring him a Tax Pledge Violator

Don Young (R-Alaska) violated the solemn oath he took to his constituents by voting for H.R. 2642, the Blue Dog Tax Hike. […] “Republicans that vote for tax increases are like rat heads in Coke bottles,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “They ruin the Republican brand for all members. It should be readily apparent to a former ’Hero of the Taxpayer Award’ recipient that you don’t vote for tax hikes.”

Bless Grover’s heart. And give money to Sean Parnell.

A bad day for Don Young is a good day for America

A bad day for Don Young is a good day for America. Thank you to
Grover Norquist for helping to deliver a bad day to Young by

declaring him a Tax Pledge Violator

Don Young (R-Alaska) violated the solemn oath he took to his
constituents by voting for H.R. 2642, the Blue Dog Tax Hike. […]
“Republicans that vote for tax increases are like rat heads
in Coke bottles,” said Grover Norquist, president of
Americans for Tax Reform. “They ruin the Republican brand
for all members. It should be readily apparent to a former ’Hero of
the Taxpayer Award’ recipient that you don’t vote for tax
hikes.”

Bless Grover’s heart. And
give money to Sean
Parnell.

Crossposted from
The Next Right

Turns out that Don Young is lying with a new ad claiming the endorsement from a group that has not given it. From the Anchorage Daily News

Now, Young has been running radio ads boasting that he landed an award from Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington D.C.-based watchdog group that combs through appropriations bills to root out government waste.

As the article noted, TCS has tried to shame them:

Taxpayers for Common Sense did give Young an award in 2003 — but it isn’t the kind of honor most members of Congress brag about. The group awarded Young their Golden Fleece Award for his backing of the Ketchikan-to-Gravina Island bridge, which became a powerful symbol of out-of-control spending and associated many Republicans with the worst excesses of earmarking.

audio_package(‘http://media.adn.com/smedia/2008/07/25/12/DonYoungCommercial.source.prod_affiliate.7.mp3,’,”,”);

 Get this clown out of Congress. Give money to Sean Parnell.

Also, we are gratified to note that Young won’t be getting a "Hero of the Taxpayer" award from ATR in 2008:

Meanwhile, Norquist points out that even though Young achieved hero status for his 2007 votes, he will not for his 2008 votes. Young voted to support a war supplemental funding bill that includes an expansion of the GI Bill and additional unemployment benefits adding up to more than $71 billion over the next decade.