Congressman Joe Wilson’s “You Lie” outburst, Sen. George Allen’s “Macaca” video, Howard Dean’s scream…not every campaign crisis is this extreme, but almost every major campaign will have one. With the viral effect that social media has brought to communications, even the most minor issues can become big ones very quickly. So the question is, do you have a plan? When an issue does occur will your team be able to jump on it and resolve it quickly? If the answer is no, you are taking a very big risk, one that could easily cost you an election.

First step, get involved

The first step that any campaign (or business) can take, is to get involved in the online community (note: I’m focusing on the online communities here, but it’s important not to neglect your offline community).

Social Networks

Have an active Facebook group and be engaged on Twitter (see last week’s blog post). If you have a strong presence before a crisis, you will have built in community support when you need it. If you’re only getting on when you’re having the crisis, you will be forced to build support and explain your story at the same time. An army of Facebook fans and Twitter followers helping spread your message is much more powerful than your team going at it alone.

Blogs

Establish relationships with local/national bloggers (comment on their posts, link to their stories, and treat them like members of the press).  Just like your social communities, you need to reach out to bloggers before you need their help. Figure out what bloggers are on your side, which bloggers will give a balanced opinion, and which bloggers don’t support you. Establish a strong relationship with the first two, and know how to avoid the third. For your die-hard supporters ask them to be on your crisis response team and have a special distribution list for them. Even blogs with small readership will help keep your story on the front page of google and will help get it out to other active social media users. For the blogs that you know will take a balance approach to reporting a story, treat them just like press. Give them the story, give them quotes, and if possible access to a spokesperson.

Email Lists

Establish a strong, engaged email distribution list. You have a list of people who want to support you, and a lot of them have already invested time, money, or both. They have a huge investment is seeing you succeed, so let them help. Stats show that over 60% of the entire online population are involved in social communities. That means that you have a list of people who can spread the word faster and wider than you can alone. Cultivate that list, educate them, share information, and ask them to share it with others. When you need them most, provide them with the whole story and let them know how they can share it.

Step two, have a plan in place

The last thing you want is to have a crisis hit on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when all your staff has left town and have no plan in place. Plans let you respond in a fast and organized manner so that you’re entire campaign isn’t taken over by the crisis. A couple of things to keep in mind when making a plan:

1. Map out several of the most likely scenarios. It’s unlikely that any of them will be exactly the same as the crisis you experience, but it will give your team confidence and a good platform to work from.
2. Figure out who owns what communication outlet during a crisis and make sure they are trained. The same person can’t be on Twitter, writing a press release, talking to bloggers, emailing supporters, and answering questions from your major donors. You’ve (hopefully) built a strong team, it’s important to give them ownership and trust them. Establish the expectations and the parameters for their communication ahead of time.
3. Write it all down, discuss it, and it keep it simply. If you end up with a 50 page document, no one will read it come emergency time.

One last thing, have an attack plan too…

Just as it’s likely your campaign will likely have a crisis at some point, it’s likely your opponents campaign will too. So make sure you have a plan to attack them when it happens. You can follow the same points as above, but reverse the situation. It’s just as important to have a plan to attack, so that you can get your entire campaign on message and owning the conversation before the other side can respond.

Two Final thoughts

Think outside the social media/online/traditional media box when planning… Get your finance team on the phone to raise money and calm big donors. Get your field team on the phone and email to reach out to your prominent supporters to spread your message. A crisis is no time to disappear, if your supporters aren’t hearing the message from you…they are hearing it from someone else.

Once the crisis does hit you, explain yourself truthfully and fully. Let your supporters know everything and let them know how to help. If you have a good candidate and are truthful with them, they will continue to support you. If they sense even an ounce of b/s in your story, you will lose all credibility.

Dear Political Candidate,

It’s great that you’ve signed yourself up for Twitter and Facebook, I could not be more supportive. However, please stop treating these new technologies as something you can just check off your list. Just being on Facebook and Twitter is not enough.

Social media is NOT mass media!

But don’t worry, this is a good thing. Campaigns (like most businesses actually) have very few forms of communication available where you’re given permission by the consumer to send them something. Until these new technologies became available we really only had the newsletter (the classic permission marketing medium). The big difference, of course, is that newsletters are still one directional communication. Social media is the first medium where campaigns have been pre-approved to start a bi-directional conversation with all four key audiences (voters, funders, volunteers, and influencers).

So don’t waste the opportunity…

Now that you’ve been given this pre-approved, bi-directional communication tool…don’t waste it. Most candidates will never get the chance to speak to even a small portion of the voting population directly. However, with social media you CAN talk to thousands of voters…and you can do it with your own personal touch. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Ask questions? This is a great opportunity to learn what’s on the voters’ minds and a great opportunity to show the voters you’re deeper than a stump speech.
2. Don’t and I really mean this…don’t reprint your press releases. No one cares. Take the concept you’re trying to get across in that press release and write it for real people (preferably in a link friendly blog).
3. Be real…most politicians have a personality and this is one of the few ways you can show it off. (note: being real does not mean stream of consciousness…no one cares what was on your subway sandwich)
4. This one will probably get some push back from some, but I don’t believe social media is a place to ask for money. However…
5. Do link back to your site often. If you have a good site, there will be a lot of great content to link to. It will also be very clear how to give money, volunteer, sign up for the newsletter, etc.
6. Oh ya, don’t forget to link to other sites/articles/blog posts as well. This is something that bloggers learned some time ago, but it’s still a good best practice for all social media.

Sincerely,

Your Friend

I would love to hear other good suggestions and examples of politicians doing a great job in social media.

UPDATE:

I came across an interesting article in the Washington Post (thanks to the NOI Blog for the link) about politicians using social media. A study run by the University of Maryland concluded that  80% of postings by Congressman on Twitter were self-promotional or just a running list of activities. The study outlines a few of the main points that I was trying to make. It’s not about broadcasting information, it’s about interacting with the voters in a conversation. You can read the article at the Washington Post.

Yes, we all know how amazing the Obama digital strategy was during his campaign. However, I still find it to be interesting and there is still much to learn about what worked and what didn’t. One of my favorite parts of the video is when Joe talks about sending fundraising emails. Out of 10 emails you send, only 2 should be asking for money…the other 8 are there to set up the ask. Most campaigns will throw out the occasional endorsement announcement, press release…but 75% will be requests for donations. Give your supporters a reason to read your email, don’t just ask for money!

The world of marketing and communications is going through a massive shift right now. We have seen start-ups embracing it for several years now (i.e. Zappos) and over the last two years even the most massive corporations have started to embrace it. Why is that politicians and their campaigns are still not getting it? Sure we see lots of campaigns getting involved on Facebook, Twitter, and maybe even a blog. However, most of these actions are simply “check the box” attempts, with no actual personality involved.

I watch most campaigns go through the same old template every time:

1. Build a boring website with your generic bio, a few position papers, pictures of you at the parade, and maybe a YouTube version of your TV ad
2. Send out the same ugly emails asking for money and reminding us that the quarter is ending soon
3. Mail out a ton of generic mailers calling the other side names (if you blanked out the names on 99% of mailers, you’d have no idea who sent them)
4. Create the same old tired TV commercial (much like the mailers) that doesn’t really say anything at all

So what’s the problem?

• Too scared
• They really don’t know how to be genuine
• (I hate to even say this, but…) No consultants doing this yet
• Lack of expertise (it’s a problem when 90% of staff are 19 and move on in 6 months)

I want to hear people’s opinions on why they aren’t doing it. I would also LOVE to see good examples of politicians that really do get this.

En los últimos días, entre el 7 y el 9 de mayo, se ha celebrado en Zurich  la Conferencia Anual de la European Association of Political Consultants bajo el título ‘From local to transnational: the challenge of campaigning in tomorrow’s Europe’ (De lo local a lo transnacional: el reto de las campañas en la Europa del futuro). 

El Hotel Marriott de la ciudad suiza ha acogido durante tres jornadas a más de medio centenar de los mejores consultores políticos de Europa y especialistas en diversas materias relacionadas con este ámbito. La reunión se ha celebrado con un enorme éxito, tanto desde el punto de vista de la organización como de los contenidos.

Louis F. Perron en un momento de su panel sobre las lecciones de la campaña de Obama.

Influencia de los perfiles psicológicos de los líderes en las relaciones internacionales, movilización electoral, nuevos medios en comunicación política, democracia participativa, diseño de spots, lobbying en la UE… son algunos de los temas específicos que se han analizado.

Además de la puesta en común de los nuevos desafíos a los que se enfrentan de manera general los consultores políticos, el congreso ha permitido analizar casos específicos de Austria, Suiza, Andorra, Croacia, etc., a partir de los cuales se puede extraer interesantes conclusiones. También, cómo no, se ha debatido sobre las lecciones que podemos aprender de la que ha pasado a ser considerada por muchos la mejor campaña de la historia y que logró, bajo la dirección de David Axelrod, que Barack Obama alcanzara la Presidencia de los Estados Unidos. 

La 14th Conferencia Anual de la EAPC ha reunido, entre otros, a ponentes de la talla de Rick Ridder, uno de los consultores políticos de referencia del Partido Demócrata norteamericano; Christoph Hofinger, uno de los consultores políticos más prestigiosos de Austria y presidente de la EAPC; Rudolf Ramsauer, vicepresidente senior y director de Comunicaciones Corporativas de Nestlé; Jordi Segarra, destacado consultor político que ha trabajado, entre otras, para la campaña de Obama y es autor del libro ‘Yes you can. Construyendo el candidato perfecto’; Daniel Ureña, socio directivo de la prestigiosa firma Mas Consulting España; y Ekaterina Egorova, quien fue asesora política personal de Boris Yeltsin.

Con Rick Ridder en la entrada para asistir a una de las conferencias.

A partir de todo lo discutido en este encuentro internacional se pueden extraer una serie de conclusiones fundamentales que he estructurado en cuatro bloques o ejes temáticos y que he basado en mi propia interpretación de lo que entiendo como nuevos desafíos para la asesoría en Política:

- El nuevo modelo de Comunicación Política: el enfoque ciudadano del proceso comunicativo y el márketing de las personas.

- Técnicas clásicas y nuevos medios en campañas electorales.

- Consultoría Política y Networking.

- Desafíos y oportunidades de ‘campaigning’ en Europa.

Analizaré cada uno de ellos en siguientes posts. I’m sorry for my english- speaking friends. If someone is interested in this, I’ll translate it in the best way I can.

Luna llena en Zürich.

De forma paralela a la asistencia a las conferencias, los participantes hemos podido disfrutar estos días de la estupenda hospitalidad de los organizadores de esta edición de Suiza, encabezados por Raoul D. Stöhlker, socio directivo de Stöhlker SA, agencia suiza líder en comunicación estratégica.  Zürich es una ciudad llena de encanto y que se disfruta caminando y recorriendo su casco viejo repleto de terrazas de bares y restaurantes. La próxima cita, en 2010, será en Viena, otra excelente oportunidad de reencontrar a buenos colegas.

Una de las salas del Museo Kunsthaus de Zürich, que alberga la mayor colección de obras de Edvuard Munch fuera de Escandinavia.

1. Bill Hillsman (Paul Wellstone, 1990 Minnesota senatorial election; Ned Lamont, 2006 Connecticut senatorial election; Charles Wheelan, 2009 Illinois 5th congressional district election)

2. Ross Mirkarimi (Matt Gonzalez, 2003 San Francisco mayoral election)

3. John Shallman (Bob Hertzberg, 2005 Los Angeles mayoral election)

4. Peter Brodnitz (Jim Webb, 2006 Virginia senatorial election)

5. Brent Littlefield (Bobby Jindal, 2006 Louisiana gubernatorial election)

ACORN offers cigarettes to register the homeless to vote multiple times. Identification is not needed to prove you are who you say you are when voting. New Yorkers register false addresses in Ohio to change that states results. Mickey Mouse is even registered to vote for Obama in Florida. Members of the National Football league are erroneously registered to vote in Nevada ……

These are just some examples of the fraud being used to put Barack Obama over the top in the 2008 and election. Examples like this are widespread. They have sparked countless federal and state investigations but now, during the final hours of our historic quadrennial election, intimidation kicks into high gear.

Confirmed reports have just been released detailing that two Black Panthers have been guarding entranceways into polling places in Philadelphia. One brandished a nightstick. When asked to remove himself from the property the Obama enforcer refused.

Philadelphia police had to escort the Black Panther away.

Random incident?

Nothing that occurs in the Obama campaign is random. Voter fraud is sponsored by the Obama/Biden campaign through coordinated activities with ACORN and so is their “Give Over Your Vote” effort.

Is there a racial component to all this? Well liberals will accuse the delivery of these facts to be racist propoganda. But when considering the facts in this case, critics of voter intimidation would say that a Black Panther guarding the entrance to a polling site has a racial component to it. The Obama enforcers refusing to leave while shouting “you can’t stop a black man from winning this election” just confirms it.

If Black Panthers with nightsticks are being used as poll workers, I can’t wait to see what type of people will be used to fill out the presidential cabinet of a Barack Obama administration.

If Barack Obama wins this election, it will be deserved.

The United States will also be getting what it deserves.

If there are a majority of people in this country whom are willing to adopt a system approaching socialism and that burdens the taxpayer with government programs and redistribution of wealth, than we deserve it.

If that is what the people think they want, than they need to suffer it’s consequences. They need to learn their lesson. They need to realize what excessive taxation does and what the government can’t effectively do and shouldn’t do.

It will be a much deserved consequence for my party too.

The Republican party became complacent. After a dozen years in control of the house and senate they lost their maverick, conservative thinking, their antigovernment thinking. The type of thinking that opposed heavy governmental influence over the daily lives of people. It was a school of thought which challenged a ruling bureaucratic mentality and opposed political hypocrisy, and a ruling arrogance that put those in government above the law.

After a dozen years in power, Republicans lost that thinking and began to suffer from the repercussions of letting power go to their heads. They began to enjoy their own power more than the opportunity to empower those they represented.

So in losing sight, they lost power.

My party also deserves to lose this election because we have failed to properly articulate our purpose. We failed to convey the fact that the GOP believes, first and foremost, in the power of freedom. That belief includes the defense of freedom at home, as well as abroad.

We failed to convey the fact that as Republicans we are proponents of the greatest social welfare program known to man. A program called opportunity. It is the one program that helps more people in more ways than any other government program created by FDR and LBJ combined.

Opportunity opens all doors for all those who are willing to walk through them and, as republicans, our mission is to create opportunities for all and make it available to all.

We failed to explain that opportunity is not achieved by bringing down some to better a few, but by lifting government burdens and lowering taxes on all. It is achieved by lowering costs on businesses so that they can hire more people and provide more opportunity to people. It is achieved by lowering the cost of running a burdensome government so that taxes on the people can be lowered and allow them the opportunity to spend more, as well save more and invest more in more opportunities.

Not a single Republican stepped up and stated that instead of the government offering citizens hundreds of dollars in a rebate to stimulate the economy, maybe we should be taking less from them in the first place.

The money we gave back to the people to spark our economic engine was originally taken from the people. Yet has one Republican been bold enough to question the premature talks of Obama, Pelosi and Reid to offer another stimulus package if Obama is elected? Has one of them asked why if giving the citizens back their money stimulates the economy, than why is lowering taxes and letting them keep the money that we are giving back to them not a stimulus for the economy in the first place?”

The GOP missed the opportunity to unite Americans around the fact that the expansion of opportunity is not achieved by expanding government. It is achieved by lifting government ’s burdens and restrictions on thing likes education where we need to expand school choice through vouchers. Issues like that were gift wrapped and handed to us by Barack Obama.

Obama called for more government and more taxes for more government . He is calling for more government restrictions and fewer opportunities for personal choices such as those that would be made available through school vouchers.

While Obama based his campaign on more government and dividing Americans with class warfare, John McCain could have united us by promoting less government and more freedom and opportunity. Opportunity is what can unite us. Obama’s class warfare is what divides us.

These are just some of the points not effectively made by Republicans in this election. McCain touched upon such notes but barely. It was not a message that was developed and conveyed enough. Part of the reason for that may very well be the fact that we nominated John McCain.

In John McCain we selected a nominee who has never been closely associated with the conservative philosophy. It was part of his problem from the beginning and it required him to waste valuable time trying to define himself as a conservative in order to inspire the party he represented. He had to do so at a time when the conservative label was not regarded highly by the general populous. Had McCain not needed to solidify his conservative credentials, with the party base, he could have used that time to solidify his well deserved maverick image. An image that is highly regarded by Americans.

Instead, the McCain campaign, forged ahead with a mottled message. It was a message that inspired few, connected with even fewer and never struck a cohesive chord that attracted enough people to rally around.

Under these circumstances, Barack Obama was able to capitalize on the anti-republican sentiments that have come about because of another individual who lost the ability to convey the right message, our inarticulate, incumbent, republican president.

Truthfully, Obama’s campaign was nothing great either. His success is merely rooted the failure of poorly run, republican campaign.

The originality of Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, “Change” was less than creative, effective for the time, but not creative. And his ability to change any minds was minimal. His campaign did inspire the choir that he was preaching to but it did not convert the nonbelievers. Unlike Ronald Reagan and Reagan Democrats, the term Obama Republicans is not something that we will be referring to as a political sea of change over the course of a generation. There are few, if any, who are republicans today, that will be calling themselves democrats tomorrow, even if they vote for Obama on Tuesday.

If there is a significant number of republicans voting for Obama, they are doing so not because they believe in the liberal ideology that he espouses, but because they do not like the messenger that we have in John McCain. Some republicans may even vote for Obama as a form of protest urging the GOP to get back to it’s more conservative, antigovernment economic roots. Others may not go so far as to vote for Obama’s socialism. Instead they may just provide the margin of victory for Obama by not voting at all and denying McCain support that another republican candidate would have gotten from them.

Either way, if Barack Obama is elected president, it will be due more to McCain losing than Obama winning. Obama’s campaign was nothing great. He offered us nothing new. He simply offered more of the failed policies that republicans had to save us from in the 80’s. Obama may win because he shaped himself up to be a governmental messiah that intends to make government the source of our greatness. It is an approach that rejects the fundamental thinking that allows one to understand that the source of our greatness is not government but our people, our free people, endowed by our creator not by a bureaucracy.

If he wins it will be a mistake that we can learn from and we certainly will learn from it.

On the other hand, if John McCain gets elected, it will not be because his campaign was a model of successful strategy. It will be because most Americans do understand that the change Barack Obama is offering us is too closely aligned with the socialism that America has fought against. And if that is the case, unlike Michelle Obama, it won’t be the first time that I am proud of my country. It will just be another reason for my continued pride in my country.

If not, I will continue to be proud of my relatively young nation and chalk the next four years off to the same type of experimentation and learning experiences that all youth must go through. My only fears deal with the existing threats that we face. The type of threats that all vulnerable youngsters need protection from during dangerous times.

If electing Barack Obama is needed to provide us with a learning experience in socialism, what learning experience will it take to teach us how to properly defend ourselves? That is a lesson we should have already learned by now, but I guess 9/11 was either not dramatic enough or too long ago for people to remember very well.

Campaign Promises and More Promises

It was election time, again. So, a politician decided to go out to the local reservation to gather support from the Native Americans. They were all assembled in the Council Hall to hear the speech. 

The politician had worked up to his finale, and the crowd was getting more and more excited. “I promise better education opportunities for Native Americans!”

The crowd went wild, shouting “Hoya! Hoya!” 

The politician was a bit puzzled by the native word, but was encouraged by their enthusiasm. “I promise gambling reforms to allow a Casino on the Reservation!”

“Hoya! Hoya!” cried the crowd, stomping their feet.

“I promise more social reforms and job opportunities for Native Americans!” 

The crowd reached a frenzied pitch shouting “Hoya! Hoya! Hoya!”

After the speech, the politician was touring the Reservation, and saw a tremendous herd of cattle. Since he was raised on a ranch, and knew a bit about cattle, he asked the Chief if he could get closer to take a look at the cattle.

“Sure,” the Chief said, “but be careful not to step in the hoya.”

Check Out The Hot New Hit!

SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND!!!!

All indications are that by as early as 8:30 pm, on the east coast, we will be having to get accustomed to hearing the words “President-Elect Obama.”

Yet, despite the polls I have a feeling that polls are a bit off.

We know that all the polls have been recalibrated to make up for assumed higher democratic turnout as well as a higher than normal number of first time, younger and African-American voters. In trying to adjust their polling results for these anticipated factors, pollsters have intentionally polled more democrats than usual. That would of course account for more positive results for democrats than for republicans.

Given the current political atmosphere such tweaking of the polls probably does reflect the actual voter turnout and help to make the poll results more accurate. Probably, but not definitely. I have a feeling that many of theses polls, which already have a liberal bend to them, may have been bent toward the left much further than necessary .

If that is the case, it still does not mean that Obama is not favored in this election. He is, but I don’t think by quite as much as the polls would have us believe. I hope not anyway.

In fact “hope” is what I am really going on here. Hope and a sense that not quite everyone is convinced that Barack Obama is the great savior that liberals make him out to be. In fact I do believe that many people see Barack Obama as an unaccomplished blowhard who only has experience with running his mouth.

The hopeful sense of something not being right with the polls and that most people do not trust Obama, leads me to make a hail Mary pass and predict McCain to be the winner. This sense of hope is reached because I do not believe most people trust Obama’s experience and believe him to be sincere. I also think they do not appreciate his promise to spread the wealth through increasing the size and scope of government.

Additionally I believe that Obama has not closed the sale in these final days.

Given the undeniably negative atmosphere for republicans and the undeniable popularity of state and local democrat candidates further down the ballot, Obama should be ahead by a lot more than he actually is. Given the popularity of local democrats, Obama’s poll numbers are much lower than they should be.

So it is with more of a sixth sense than facts that leads me to predict that John McCain will win with 286 electoral votes to

This leap of faith gives McCain the most hotly contested states of Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. If he can actually win Pennsylvania and Virginia it would also indicate that other hotly contested battlegrounds states like Missouri and Nevada are also likely to trend towards McCain, so I also call them for him.

Is this likely? If you believe in some of the polls, no, its not. But I believe in miracles. I have made myself believe that even though McCain’s campaign sucked and never properly articulated our case, the right combination of people in the right number of states know that this election is less about personalities and more about ideologies. I believe that enough people know that the differences between Obama and McCain are wide. They understand that on the economy one moves to socialism and the other tries to strengthen our economy. That one wants to raise taxes and spread a small amount of wealth while the other wants to lower taxes and spread the opportunity to achieve greater wealth. I still believe that most Americans prefer the candidate who waves the American flag more than the candidate who wants America to wave the white flag of surrender.

If such sentiments do exist, maybe people are not voting as much for McCain or Obama as they are for the principles that they represent. If that is the case than I truly believe that most people support the American way over the old Soviet way. I believe most people believe more in John McCain’s way than Obama’s way.

All of this causes me to feel that we just might relive a “Dewey Defeats Truman-like episode in history.

The problem with that thinking though, is that back in 1948 polls were only taken up till the week before the election. The data that the media was basing their projections on did not include the seven days leading up to the election. They did not capture the undecided voters who broke for Truman during the closing days of that election.

Today, polls are being taken and interpreted up to the very last minute. That makes up for the mistakes that were made when The Chicago Tribune erroneously declared that Tom Dewey beat President Harry Truman. But a boy can dream, can’t he? History does repeat itself, occasionally. So maybe, just maybe we can be experiencing a little déjà vu. Maybe the apparent tightening of the polls in these closing days are being undervalued and causing pollsters to underestimate the depth of support for John McCain’s candidacy.

My heart tells me McCain does it. Logic tells me that Obama will be President. But, like millions of Americans who are voting for Obama based on his appealing to their hearts more than their heads, on this one, I am going with my heart and believing that Senator John McCain will win and spare our nation from a costly education in socialism.

Twas the Night Before Elections . . .

Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!

I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.

When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys

They had come for my wallet*
They wanted my pay*
To give to the others*
Who had not worked a day!*

He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink

He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart!

On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi’
He screamed at the pairs!

They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn’t stand up and fight!

So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM
GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

New Jersey Candidate For U.S. Senate, Dick Zimmer

New Jersey is a state in crisis. A manmade crisis that has created a state that is unaffordable and a government that is inconsequential. For more than 5 years little has come out of its state capital to make much of a difference in the lives of its approximately 8,725,000 people. Yet from its lush green, rolling hills and mountainous peeks in its northwestern corner to its Victorian Painted Ladies along Cape May on its southern seaside corner, New Jerseyans are battered, burdened and brushed aside by a state legislature that is as effective as a sail boat without a sail. From it’s northern mountains to it’s southern shores and all the suburban sprawl in between, New Jersey’s citizens suffer. While most of the nation is realizing a national economic pinch, New Jerseyans are trying to cope with an economic punch.

Rising prices across the nation only compound the rising cost of living in New Jersey. Costs that have been increasing every month since the states liberal led assembly and senate went to work with disgraced former Governor Jim McGreevey and than his successor, former Goldman Sachs financial genius, Governor Jon Corzine. It is a liberal menage-a-tois that has done nothing with our state problems accept make them more expensive.

Ever since Corzine took office, all we have seen in New Jersey are new proposed taxes and rate hikes. Our Governor has proposed everything from ridiculously high, progressive, toll increases on our critical roads, to creating new tolls on roads that have not had a one before. When he first came into office he invented a whole new slew of taxes. One even took advantage of the state’s motto by implementing a tax on any landscaping or planting of shrubbery and flowers. Now that’s one way to keep the garden in “the Garden State”, isn’t it?

Despite the despair of its citizens, state government in New Jersey simply adds to the high cost of living in the state. They have done little to curb the excesses of it’s own governance or of public employee and teachers unions who hold us hostage to their whims, little to improve public transportation, public safety, education, or any quality of life issues that affect us. What they have done is cost us a lot more for a lot less and created one of, if not the most, unfriendly business environments in the nation.

But even though the state of the state is in the midst of malaise, you would never know that there was an election in New Jersey. Its liberal loving legions are undoubtedly voting for Barack Obama to become our next President.  It is so definite that neither Obama or McCain have wasted anytime or money in the state since they got their party’s nominations.  But even putting the presidential election aside, you would think that there would be some acknowledgment of the fact that we have an election for the United States Senate going on here. Yet, you would never know it.

Even though it is an election for federal, not state office, you would think the people of New Jersey might have an ounce of interest in trying to better the conditions of our state by electing someone who’s representation of us in Washington, DC could help to benefit us here in New Jersey. But such is not the case.

Instead the four term incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg is going to be sworn in to a fifth term in office as one of the two very best New Jerseyans to represent us in Washington, DC.  It would actually be a laughable arrangement if it wasn’t so pathetically sad.

For twenty-four years Mr. Lautenberg has represented New Jersey in the federal government by promoting his own self interests. He has not made one iota of difference for the state or the nation since his first term in office. 

Over two decades ago Senator Lautenberg spearheaded efforts to eliminate smoking on airplanes. During that same first term he was instrumental in effectively raising the legal age for drinking from 18 years of age to 21, throughout the nation. Lautenberg fought hard for the passage of his legislation that linked federal funding to states for their roads to their raising the legal drinking age.   No state wanted to lose out on the federal money available to maintain and build their roads. So this resulted in a uniform legal drinking age throughout the nation and prevented teens from driving across state lines so that they could legally drink in one state and then get behind the wheel to drive back to their home state while intoxicated.  The bill may have actually saved lives.  It was a responsible and, at the time, a creative measure.

But since that first time in office, Frank Lautenberg has produced nothing. His name has joined many others on various liberal pieces of legislation but the extent of his efforts stopped after allowing a staffer to put his name on the bill.

Lautenberg has not been in the forefront of any legislative initiatives or in the lead in opposition to any legislation. Frank Lautenberg has provided no solutions to our nations problems.  For display he has simply offered a press release or sound bite in regards to issues, but little, very little, more than that.

On taxes Frank Lautenberg has never opposed an increase that has been proposed. On the budget, the only thing he has endorsed cutting is spending on our national defenses.  He has never once moved to significantly reduce government spending or it’s size.

His spending habits are perhaps best exemplified by his staff.  It is one of the three highest paid staffs in the entire US Senate.  This is odd when you realize that he is one of the least active members of the senate.  Yet his staff is occupied by countless consultants and a number of state directors.  Even though New Jersey is a relatively small state, Mr. Lautenberg requires three state directors, including a number of South Jersey directors. These are obviously patronage positions made available to help consolidate Lautenberg’s power.  South Jersey is where his greatest challenges to re-election come from.  It is where Congressman Bob Andrew comes from and where he challenged Lautenberg for the nomination from.

Even though New Jersey ranks last among all states in the amount of return on the dollar we recieve from Washington, Frank’s staff is one of the highest paid in the federal government and for what?  Two press releases a week and his seal of approval for a far left agenda?

The fact is that until this election rolled around one had to take pause and try to recall if Frank Lautenberg was still in the U.S. Senate.  The man was scarce and his accomplishment are even more scarce.  Now that he is running for re-election he has tried to demonstrate himself as a doer.  He most recently proclaimed great pride in what one ad described as his forcing homeland security money to be allocated by need rather than politics.  It might be a powerful issue if it were true.  First of all, Lautenberg, as well as his senate cohort Bob Menendez, have brought back little money from Washington to New Jersey.  In the case of homeland security money, what the state did receive was being allocated by a liberal led state legislature and governor who only gave the money to districts that were represented by Democrats.  This pattern finally and only changed after Republican lawmakers took the issue to court.  Then and only then was the allocation of homeland security dollars doled out based upon the security needs it was meant for.

The truth is that Frank has little to run on.  It is hard to have to go back more than two decades in order to demonstrate ones effectiveness.

Not that it matters. This is New Jersey. Here. where liberals rule, two plus two does not equal four. In fact, here in New Jersey, just adding two plus two together costs you 5 in new taxes and then you must subtract the total of the equation and give that amount to the union whos leader slept with Governor Corzine and negotiated contracts behind closed doors.

So common sense is not something that you find a large quantity of New Jersey.  It is something that we have to import from neighboring states and in the Northeast it is hard to find.  But it explains why Lautenberg is being rewarded with a fifth term in office.  That and the fact that the New Jersey Republican party is so unorganized and out of touch with the ability to tap into the political despair that we are in, all accounts for why one would not know that there was election for the US Senate in Jersey.

Lautenberg is the wealthy owner of ADP, the paycheck service that rakes in millions for producing the checks that many American’s receive for their livings.  So he has oodles of dough and even has the financial backing of the Democratic National Committee and the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee.

The Republican nominee does not have Frank’s wealth, nor does he have the great deal of money coming to him from the RNC or Senate Republican Campaign Committees. They’re tapped out.

On top of that Frank Lautenberg even refuses to debate the issues and will not go face to face with his opponent.

All of this makes the fact that there is a race for the United States Senate in New Jersey, a well kept secret, much like Frank Lautenberg’s accomplishments.

But there is a race and it’s one that could truly help to turn the tide of inaction and lack of solutions or innovation in this state. It could come from Dick Zimmer.

Dick Zimmer is a former 3 term Republican congressman.  While in office Congressman Zimmer brought about more productive measures in just one of his two year terms than any of Frank Lautenberg’s four, six year terms in office.

While in office Congressman Zimmer fought wasteful government spending.  When it came to his own staff budget, unlike Frank Lautenberg who uses every dime given to him to have one of the highest paid federal staffs in government, Zimmer returned money that his staff budget didn’t require, to the federal government.  He even tried to pass legislation that required unused portions of staff budgets to be returned to the federal government and applied to deficit reduction.

As a congressman, Dick Zimmer’s fiscal conservatism and legislative initiatives earned him the title of “Taxpayer Hero” by Citizens Against Government Waste each year he was in office.

Zimmer’s zealotry did not stop with economic issues though.  He proved himself to be a man of great social conscience and activism.  When a toddler in New Jersey was brutally assaulted and murdered by a convicted sex offender who recently moved into the girls neighborhood, Dick Zimmer made government work for the people and he wrote and fought for passage of the federal legislation known as Megan’s Law which mandated that parents be notified when a convicted sex offender moves into their neighborhood.

Zimmer was also responsible for no frills laws which eliminated luxuries in federal prisons for criminals who were there to be punished instead of comforted.

He did this while also never allowing the United States to roll over in the face of international opposition or belligerent enemies.  Zimmer knows that the best America is a strong America, not just militarily but economically as well as educationally.

These are but a few examples of Dick Zimmer’s active participation in government. They exemplify his ability to implement improvements into our lives through a government that he helps to make work for us, not be a burden on us.

Dick Zimmer knows that the purpose of holding elected office is not for the title or ability to hand out patronage to consolidate power.  He knows that it is an opportunity to empower the people he represents and a chance to improve lives through legislative action as opposed to putting out press release announcing that he put his name on someone’s legislation.

Frank Lautenberg on the other hand has spent about two decades proving that he knows how to make government work for him.  It finances his patronage mill and pays him well to do nothing more than repeat the words of some of his more active and innovative liberal buddies in the Senate.

Perhaps the most accurate description of Frank Lautenberg and his long, lackluster waste of time in the Senate is best exemplified by the Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus, New Jersey.  Built at a cost of more than 600 million dollars the transportation committee that Lautenberg chaired invested our tax dollars in it because of the dire need to expand and improve public transportation in New Jersey.  Here in New Jersey one must drive everywhere.  You must even drive long distances to catch a train to somewhere.  So this terminal was built in Northern New Jersey where there is a need to help increase public transportation to and from neighboring New York City.

The More Than $600 Million Dollar, Empty, Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Terminal in Secaucus

Well the genius of the transportation committee, under Lautenberg’s leadership, allocated the money and after years of construction it was finally finished.  It’s a beautifully cavernous, multi leveled facility and it was humbly named after the man who designated the money for it…..Frank R. Lautenberg. Well years later it still stands but it does so empty.  With no parking made available anywhere near the facility, it is impossible for commuters to access it and so except for the occasional tourist in world famous Secaucus, New Jersey, no one uses it.

So here we have a useless, hollow monument to Senator Lautenberg that cost a lot but does little.  It’s just like it’s namesake.  Senator Lautenberg is a useless living fossil who costs taxpayers a lot but does little for them.

It’s time to retire Senator Lautenberg.  It was time for his retirement 8 years ago when he did retire only to be brought back to run for the senate when Senator Bob Toricelli was found guilty of accepting gifts and other bribes.  When it became obvious that he was not going to win re-election, state democrat leaders illegally took Torricelli off the ballot and replaced his name with Lautenberg’s.

Let’s face it folks, we have gotten all that we can we out of Lautenberg.  He was devoid of ideas and enthusiasm after his first term more than 18 years ago.  Since than we have been waiting for him to do something worth anyone’s while.  How many more terms in office does he need to provide us with something meaningful?

When all of New Jersey’s major daily newspapers, liberally biased newspapers, from the Asbury Park Press to the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Gloucester County Times to the Courier Post have endorsed Dick Zimmer, a Republican, you know that there is something wrong and that something is Frank Lautenberg.

With all the problems that are going unaddressed or worsening here in New Jersey, it is time that we shake things up.  It’s time for some new thinking and representation in Washington that can help make the federal government work better for us than our state government does. 

It’s time for Dick Zimmer.

So this Tuesday, November 4, 2008, regardless of who you cast your presidential vote for, be sure to vote for New Jersey and cast your ballot for Dick Zimmer for US Senate.

Even if his time hasn’t come, we know for sure that Frank Lautenberg’s time has gone.

Presidential Summit

There was a presidential summit and the presidents of the world were asked to propose topics to discuss about.

The president of Somalia said, “I think we’d see about how to stop hunger.” Everybody applauded.

The president of Costa Rica stood up and said, “I think…” Everybody applauded.

Below you will find the scheduled poll closing times for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  You will also find the play by play for one election night scenario.

Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia
 At 7:00 pm the first polls close In Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. If the results are not particularly close, projections could be made within minutes. Vermont will be a landslide and it will be called for Senator Barack Obama. Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia will also have pluralities large enough s to safely call them,  but they will be for Senator John McCain.  These results may come in relatively quickly, probably by 7:10 to 7:20 PM.

Virginia is also, usually, called rather quickly but I suspect that there will not be a rapid rush to call Virginia for Obama or McCain. With polls claiming that the Virginia race is in the bag for Barack Obama by as much as 10% and others having the race as close as 2% combined with the high voter turnout, calling this one quickly may be tough.. Ultimately though, Virginia is likely going blue. If it does, McCain is in trouble. By losing Virginia, Senator McCain will need to make up for the loss of their 11 electoral votes and he will have to do so within a map that offers him few opportunities. It will not be impossible to make them up but difficult. However, Indiana closes it’s polls at this time and if Indiana goes to Barack Obama, especially with Virginia going the same way, than you can start hiding your money under the mattresses because you can safely say that President Obama will be living in the White House

An average of all polls in Indiana give Barrack Obama an edge over McCain by less than half of 1 percent but if there is any state that is likely to lean in McCain’s direction it is Indiana so if McCain does get it, the first round of poll closings should result with John McCain receiving 42 electoral college votes to Obama’s 16.                                      

7:30PM Eastern
Ohio, West Virginia, North Carolina

The biggest player in this second round, Ohio, will probably be the most conclusive of all. If Senator McCain losses their 20 electoral votes, the possibility to win any combinations that reaches the magic number of 270 electoral votes is highly unlikely. To do so he would need Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, Colorado, Indiana as well as two other state that may have already been called for Obama, Virginia and North Carolina.  That would leave Obama with only 265 to McCain’s 273. This highly doubtful.
West Virginia is unquestionably in McCain’s column and despite the current polls of these states, in this second set of closings, I expect McCain to win Ohio in and North Carolina.   Conventional wisdom and history would seem to make this very possible if not likely. So we give them to him. That brings the total count for John McCain to 82 electors to Obama’s 16.


8:00PM Eastern

Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee

Now 8:00 pm arrives. If McCain received any of the necessary combinations needed up to this point, here too, is a do or die situation for John McCain. It also produces one of the most lucrative results of all poll closing times. 171 electoral votes are up for grabs at this point and it includes some of the south which is strong territory for McCain. The problem is that much of Obama’s true blue northeastern states also turn out their results at 8 o‘clock. The results for the Obama rich megalopolis from Massachusetts in the Northeast to DC in the Mid Atlantic begins to pour out for him here. It also includes the crucial states of Pennsylvania and Missouri. Most important of all for McCain will be the sunshine state of Florida.  We can safely say that of the states in this 8:00 pm round of poll closings, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee will break for McCain. That gives him 33 more electors bringing him up to 115.

Obama will definitely take Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Washington, DC and his home state of Illinois. That’s a total of 84 bringing Obama up to 95votes in the electoral college.

That leaves us with the battleground states of Missouri and two of the biggest cliff hangers in this 8:00 pm closing time. They are some of the biggest prizes in the electoral sweepstakes , Pennsylvania and Florida.

Parts of Florida close ealier than 8:00 pm.  But by 8 pm, the panhandle, which is in a different time zone form the rest of the state,  makes the results in Florida official.  In the 2000 election, the pro-Gore media ignored this fact and called the election for Gore before these results were in.  I do not expect them to make the same error this time.

With an average of polls showing McCain trailing in Florida by 2.2 %, he can pull it off. If he does, it gives him a total of 142 electoral votes and he will still be in the race for at least another half hour and the next rounds of results.

With the polls almost as close in Missouri as they are in Florida, I will put Missouri in Mac’s column too. Now he is up to 153.

The remaining state in this group, Pennsylvania, is becoming interesting.

Obama’s reference to the citizens of the western part of the state “bitterly clinging to their guns and religion” along with their own Congressman John Murtha first calling them racists and than apologizing by calling them rednecks, Pennsylvania could be in play and I think it just might be the surprise of the night.  I think McCain will win it by a whisper.   If the polls in Pennsylvania are as inaccurate as I believe, and it does go McCain’s way, he will now have 174 electoral votes.

I do regret that this is looking unlikely.  McCain most likely will not be able to pull it off. Currently Mac is in back by as much as 11% here. That would give Obama 116 electoral votes and would also likely seal his winning the 2008 election for President of the United States.

If the scenario goes the way I have suggested, so far, and McCain can pull off Pennsylvania,  Senator McCain is still viable when we get to 8:30 pm and the next polls close.

8:30PM

Arkansas

By the time many of the 8:00 pm results are being tabulated and projections are being made in other states, parts of Arkansa start reporting results.  Arkansas, with it’s 6 electoral votes closes it’s polls at 8:30 pm. By 9:00 pm all voting is completed in Arkansas and the results should be conclusive enough to call it for McCain. That would bring the Republican nominee up to 180 electors.

9:00PM Eastern

Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming

At 9:00 pm., the polls close in 14 more states. It concludes the Northeast where Obama wins New York and Rhode Isalnd bringing Obama up to 130 electoral votes, just 50 less than McCain. But McCain will be able to safely claim victories in the results from states outside of the Northeast. Such as his home state of Arizona.  Others include South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas and the second largest prize, Texas. That will bring John McCain up to 250.

In addition to New York and Rhode Island, Senator Obama should easily claim 42 more electoral votes from the combined total of victories in Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. Barack Obama will now have 172 electoral votes in his column.

That leaves Colorado. Obama is ahead here but it is not a insurmountable lead for John McCain to overcome. However, trends would indicate to me that Obama will take Colorado and after the 9:00 pm results have been projected it will be Barack Obama 181electoral votes to John McCain’s 250.

 

10:00PM Eastern

Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Utah

At 10:00 pm 4 more state polls close and throw their combined 20 electoral votes into the ring. Iowa, Montana, Nevada and Utah should all be good states for McCain but Obama’s has a lead in Iowa that will not be overtaken and so Obama will get their 7 electors. McCain should take Montana and will take the state that consistently gives Republicans some of the widest margins of victory in all elections, Utah. Now it’s 258 Mccain to 188 for Obama.

Yet again another crucial state for McCain will be Nevada. If he manages to win Virginia earlier in the evening and still wins Ohio and Missouri the final result would be 269 to 269. Obama would still win any such tie in the electoral college by a majority of states controlled by democratic congressional delegations but if McCain happened to change New Hampshire’s direction and won the granite state, he would be the next President.
Fact is that McCain is behind Obama by an average of 3.3 % in Nevada.   Even though that is a smaller margin than in other states, Obama will probably pull Nevada off. His ground game and union support from hotel workers and gambling interests in Las Vegas make him tough to beat here. So now it’s Obama’s 193 to McCain’s 258. If McCain did happen to win Nevada it still wont matter. The Obama blue tide to come will inevitably doom McCain to his last campaign for President.

                                                                           

11:00PM Eastern
California, Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington

By 11:00 pm. Hawaii, Idaho, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington State and the largest electoral prize, California, all close their poll.
McCain will undoubtedly take Idaho and North Dakota which would bring his electoral vote count to 265. Obama is going to win Hawaii, Oregon and the state of Washington overwhelmingly, which brings him up to 215 votes.

Then California’s whopping 55 electoral votes will be handed over to Senator Barack Obama like the Oscar being awarded to the years best actor at the Academy Awards ceremony. The Keith Olbermanns, Chris Matthews, Tom Brokaws and other liberal loving loons will be able to rejoice with certainty because Barack Obama will have a total of 270 electoral votes. That would be just the right number needed to win .

                                                                             

1:00AM Eastern – Alaska

It won’t be over though. With iceberg like speed, Alaska will make it official at 1:00 am and cast all three of their electoral votes for John McCain and their popular Governor, Sarah Palin. That would give the McCain-Palin ticket a total of 268 electoral votes or 2 short of what he would have needed to win.

Of course there are 4 different possible scenarios that could create a victory for John McCain.   Some include winning Pennsylvania while also taking Nevada while still losing in Virginia.  Other scenarios don’t allow McCain to prevail but are more interesting. One actually is a tie in the electoral college with a combination of state wins for McCain that includes New Hampshire.  All are unlikely.  It is even unlikely that McCain will win Pennsylvania.  

 

The bottom line though is, that if current polls are correct,  McCain will probably lose not only Nevada, Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina but Florida as well as Pennsylvania and Missouri. 

Either way one should be able to tell who won by between 8:00 pm and 8:30 pm.  It could be even earlier than that.  If when the polls close at 7:00 pm, Indiana has Obama winning their electoral college votes, than you can rest assured that McCain probably can’t pull out victories in some of the other states that he needs and are less friendly to his candidacy than Indiana is.

 

If after 7:30 pm,North Carolina bolted it’s previous red hue and went blue for Obama, even if McCain won in Indiana, that could prove to be fatal.  If North Carolina votes for Obama it will most likely precludes Senator John McCain from being able to achieve the minimal number of 270 electoral required to win the election. 

Polls have been known to be wrong and there is still a chance for McCain to win. Obama has not locked up states like Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina or even Colorado and Virginia.  New Hampshire could alos start changing directions as undecided voters begin to break in his direction. 

In any event I am confident in this fact.  Obama will win the popular vote  He will do so even if he losses the election in the electoral college.  I make this claim because Obama will produce the highest voter turnout we have ever seen in our urban centers, the areas where the highest concentration of voters are.

Obama will produce victories in heavily populated states like New York and California, Michigan and even in Florida.  Barack Obama will win with exorbitant pluralities, especially in cities.  Because of those high concentration of voters he will win some states with those highly populated, big cities by a million or more votes.  Whereas McCain will win in smaller states and by smaller margins.  Margins more like tens or hundreds of thousands as opposed to millions.

  
The margin of victories will not matter as much as the electoral college vote.  So if McCain can win some key states like Missouri, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada, even by a small margin, it won’t matter how many millions Obama beats McCain by in places like New York, Illinois or California and you can rest assured that Obama will beat him big time in those places.

  

I actually fear the reaction that we might encounter from the electorate if McCain wins the electoral college but loses the popular vote to Obama.  It is a reaction that will probably effect us more than the presidenciy of either McCain or Obama.

  
 Below Are Some Of The Likely Scenarios

This map depicts the results articulated in the above account

A very possible mccain victory scenario

A less likely but still possible McCain victory scenario

The unlikely but very possible tied election result

 

One of the more likely Obama victory maps

Another Obama possible win scenario

 

Republicans Democrats

The difference between Republicans & Democrats

 A Republican and a Democrat were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person.

The republican gave the homeless person his business card and told him come to his business for a job. He then took twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

The Democrat was very impressed, and when they came to another homeless person, He decided to help. He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. He then reached into the Republicans pocket and gave him fifty dollars.

First there was “Girls Gone Wild” and their countless sequels. Then came “Boys Gone Wild” and even “Guys Gone Wild” and their continuous stream of subsequent follow ups. Volume after volume of guys and girls baring it all for hordes of horny, voyeurs hoping to satisfy their lusts through store bought compact discs.

Well hold on to your pants folks. Brace yourself for the newest edition of the “Gone Wild” series.

It’s “Liberals Gone Wild” and you wont have to call a 1-800 number and charge $19.95 for it with your credit card. All you have to do is vote for Barack Obama on Election Day and it will satisfy the lust of liberals all across the land. Their lusts. Lusts for bigger government and higher taxes. Their lusts for negotiating with terrorists and deciding America’s fate based on the opinions of the United Nations.

By simply voting for Barack Obama on Election Day all of this and more can be yours but it’s not free. It comes with a hefty price. It’s also broken. Liberals Gone Wild is not something you can turn off. You can’t just pop it out of your compact disc player and play something else. Liberals Gone Wild will stay on and run amuck, unimpeded and uninterrupted for at least two years.

 Once your vote for Obama buys you a copy of Liberals Gone Wild, you will be revealing more than bare breasts or swinging schlongs , you’ll be revealing the naked truth of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, the nations liberal leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives, and the revelation is not very attractive.

Their scantily clad objectives are not filled with any titillating sights or actions. The naked truth of their socialist agenda simply sets our nation on a course that is so radical and so closely aligned with socialism that our nation’s government will have more in common with Cuba than any of the intended principles of our own nation’s constitution.

In the past that constitution has insured that America’s greatest strength was always in it’s people.

Individual Americans have been the impetus to our success and history is strewn with examples of how our people’s sense of drive and responsibility won the day for us. Even when our nation faced it’s greatest challenges, any successful directions offered by our government was only made successful if and when the people were behind it. Yet, by voting for Barack Obama, we are essentially making it clear that we want the bureaucracy of a government to decide all that we should decide for ourselves.

Despite the importance of individuality and independent initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have confidently and consistently pushed an agenda that attempts to legislate everything from the educational choices, quality and opportunities of our children to how much money can be made in the private sector. Their sense of fairness dictates that all must suffer the consequences of government fiats.

Since they took control of congress almost two years ago their efforts to adopt their socialist agenda have been stymied, to a point. Their small majorities were not large enough to totally steamroll the principles of freedom that Americans have come to appreciate.

But all that is about to change. By elevating the most liberal member of the government’s collective, elected leadership to the presidency, Barack Obama will make it possible for the combined socialist agenda of his liberal comrades to prevail. With Obama at the helm, Pelosi and Reid will have no obstacles.

Their class warfare will rage on and personal success will be treated as a goal that needs to be penalized in an attempt to “spread the wealth”. Beyond that, in this Obama, Pelosi and Reid, special edition of Liberals Gone Wild, the successful in America are blamed for the conditions of the less successful. They are put forth as the enemy and the source of all that ails people and government.

On top of their class warfare games, the far left menage-a-tois of Obama, Pelosi and Reid will rejuvenate failed policies of the past as false keys to a better tomorrow. Initiatives such as Jimmy Carter’s, 1977 Community Reinvestment Act and Bill Clinton‘s expansion of that in the form of the American Homeownership Initiative will not simply be reformed, they will be expanded. This will be done despite the fact that both programs helped to create the current banking crisis by forcing banks to engage in risky lending practices to those who could not afford to pay back such loans.

Together the trio will swear to move us into energy independence while they restrict the independence of participants in the market and make it impossible to drill for domestic sources of energy or limit the exploration for such natural resources.

Unchecked and in total control, the liberal Axis of Idiocy will implement the most liberal agenda we have ever seen. From expanding the current burgeoning government bureaucracy by raising taxes and making it more expensive to operate to increasing risks to our national security, liberals will be like children locked in a candy shop after the doors have closed and the staff has gone home. Even before their lies achieve any confirmed coup of liberal dominance, this trio has already begun to conspire over a trillion dollars of new spending. New spending that will be funded by the millions of Americans whom they wish to control. A control that they hope to have by legislating everything from our opinions and ways of thinking to the medical treatment available to us.

This liberal Axis will allow for the unimpeded approval of liberal justices who want to write law rather than interpret law. This goes not only for the selection of one or maybe even two supreme court justices, it involves thousands of judicial appointments that are given to a President after congressional approval. Approval that Pelosi and Reid will reinforce so long as Obama’s appointments pass the proper liberal litmus tests.

We are about to enter dangerous territory. It is the same type of territory that Republicans entered when in 2000 they added the White House to the list of government branches that they controlled.

After almost 6 years of total control, Republicans unchecked power allowed them to become complacent. The lack of true competition in government philosophies allowed them to stray away from their own intended missions. The power went to their heads and they paid a price for it. They lost in 2006. The cycle is about to repeat itself. Liberals will be in total control. The far fetched initiatives of their far left leadership will now become a staple of American government. The extremist policies of Barney Frank, Maxine Waters, Ted Kennedy, Dennis Kucinich, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin and other liberal icons are now about to become mainstream, American government policies. It will be a tough two years. And it will take at least 3 times as long to recover from, but it will done.

When America sees liberals in action, the full effect of liberals who are not held back in any way, they will quickly resort to change, yet again. Just like in 1994, when two years of a government led by liberals in the White House, the House of Representatives and the Senate caused the electorate to put the breaks on that. If Obama does actually somehow convince Americans that he can do more than run for higher offices, and elect him President, they will undoubtedly correct that course quickly too. Hopefully the damage done by them in two years can be in fact corrected quickly. The only problem there is that we can not afford a damaging blow to our national security. When it comes to our nation’s security, it only takes one mistake to cost us more than we can afford.

Hopefully it will not take something so drastic to teach us a lesson . Something like the national security crisis that Joe Biden swears we will encounter if Barack Obama is elected President. It is not a risk I am willing to take. That is one reason why John McCain has my support. It is one reason why I am not willing to hand over the entirety of our government to a group of people who, for the last two years have, provided one of the most unproductive legislative sessions in recent history. It is just one among many reasons but it is one of the most important reasons.

4 Doctors Talk Politics!

An Israeli doctor said, “Medicine in my country is so advanced, we can take a kidney out of one person, put it in another and have him looking for work in six weeks.”

A German doctor said “That’s nothing! In Germany, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another and have him looking for work in four weeks.”

A Russian doctor said, “In my country, medicine is so advanced, we can take half a heart from one person, put it in another and have them both looking for work in two weeks.”

The American doctor, not to be outdone, said “Hah! We are about to take an asshole out of Illinois, put him in the White House and half the country will be looking for work the next day.”

I have to apologize here from the get go. The other night my partner Nick, and I went out to a local diner for a quick bite to eat. We were seated at a booth in between a group of four behind me and a group of three senior citizens behind Nick. While perusing the menu my ears caught the phrase “I don’t like Obama”. It came from one of the ladies in the group sitting behind Nick .

Being preoccupied by politics, certain buzz words like election, President, McCain, or Obama, catch my attention even when I am not paying attention.

So this older woman’s utterance of the word “Obama” lit up my on my radar screen. Even though it may have been impolite to pay attention to a conversation not involving me, I couldn’t help myself.

So I apologize for any impolite eavesdropping, that I may be guilty of. It wasn’t my intent but I’m a political junkie, and as such, this election season is for me what Christmas is to a wide eyed, little boy.  It’s like the Super Bowl to football fans and I am just in tune to any references to politics. Besides, to put it nicely, this woman was not using her inside voice. So curiosity got the best of me and I paid attention to the political opinion that was unfolding.

The woman went on to say “I don’t like Obama but he’s got my vote”. The woman explained further “those Republicans are only for the rich and big business”

At this point the waitress came over to take the orders of Nick and I. Being distracted, I let my partner order first and I than quickly determined what I wanted. With my attention taken off of the conversation that I was not a part of, Nick and I started our own banter.

When the waitress returned with our drink orders, both Nick and myself happened to hear that same woman I overheard earlier say “and that “McCann”, “he just wants to give tax breaks to big companies”. At this point I had just begun to take a sip of my Pepsi with lemon and no ice when she continued “and who are those big businesses to make as much money as they do. They shouldn’t be allowed to make that much money in the first place”.

Upon hearing that , I gagged on my soda. Having caught that remark from right behind him, Nick knew what the cause of my discomfort was.

We were about to eat and after having heard what I just heard, I could not allow myself to pay any further attention and still be able to stomach the meal I was about to eat.

Nick knew my blood pressure was rising and quickly tried to establish our own conversation and provide a diversion from that which had me fuming. Our food came and we discussed the details of the event we were heading out to DJ.

Through it all, I could not help but allow the words of that woman to echo in my head. I couldn’t stop wondering if she actually knew what she said. Did she really believe, that in America, people should only be allowed to make a certain amount of money? Did she actually believe Democrat talking points and accept them as the truth?

I thought to myself, how little this woman really knew and how misinformed she was. Yet, despite her lack of understanding , awareness and information, she threw her words out with total conclusiveness and decisiveness. This is a woman who referred to John McCain as “John McCann”. She didn’t even know his name yet she acted like a brilliant sage who proclaimed Republicans are only for the rich and that businesses should only be allowed to make a certain amount of money.

What this woman neglected to realize was that Republicans and “John McCann” do not believe in penalizing success. They do not support limiting opportunity or making our government some type of communist politburo that does everything from control your wages to determining what, how and where your children are educated. She didn’t understand that Republicans were not for the rich or sponsors of class warfare but that they didn’t believe in penalizing success or taxation that goes so far that it taxes the dead and buried. This bitter, jealous woman could not wrap her head around the fact that “John McCann” is not trying to keep her down but that he is trying to prevent government from holding her back.

All these thoughts raced through my mind as Nick and I ate and as I tried to focus on our own discussion.

We chatted away and finished up our meal but in the back of my head I could not stop thinking about how gullible this woman was. She actually believed in the liberal bumper sticker slogans and campaign catch phrases that promoted liberal socialist policies in brightly colored wrapping paper and big ribbons and bows. She admitted that she didn’t even like Barack Obama. Yet because he was a Democrat and since they were against the rich, she was for them.

Beyond angering me, it worried me. I worried about how many more people in America held her thinking and how many despised the free market that comes with our democracy? How many Americans were actually supporting socialism and wanted to adopt it as our way of life?

With our meal finished, I got up before Nick to find our waitress. I put on my McCain-Palin jacket, prominently, found the waitress and asked her for not only my check but for the check of the people at the table behind Nick. I told her that I wanted to pay for it. The waitress was taken back for a moment and said “Oh, Ok, here ya go”. After paying and getting my change, I asked if she could give me a blank dinner check to write a message on and that she could give to the customers I paid for. She handed one to me and I wrote:

P.S.: John McCain is the man trying to preserve democracy. Tom McCann is the company you buy your shoes from.”

After reading POLITICS 24/7’s post on Keith Olbermann, conservative talk show host Tim Conway, Jr., has booked it’s author, Anthony Del Pellegrino on it’s show Thursday, October 23rd at 9:15 pm (pst).

For east coasters thats 12:15 am, which technically makes it Friday, October 24th for us.

But regardless, east coast, west coast and everyone in between, I hope you call in with your two cents. 

In fact, if you are a conservative put a bucks worth in.

I hope to hear from you. 

Nights in Southern California are always brighter with Tim Conway Jr. weeknights from 8PM – 11PM.

Conway is in his 11th year at 97.1, treating Los Angeles to a wide variety of topics ranging from ‘LIVE’ Police Chases to the ‘World of Entertainment.’ With Tim’s amazing sense of humor (that he obviously acquired from his mother’s side), listeners know that they’ll always learn something and smile at the same time!

Tim Conway Jr. was born and raised in Southern California; living in the San Fernando Valley. He attended Portola Junior High in Tarzana and finished his education in Van Nuys graduating in 1981 from Birmingham High. His down-to-earth humor brings a sense of refreshing levity to all of us surrounded by lunatics in Southern California.

The Tim Conway Jr. Show is designed ot help Southern California wind down after a hellish day avoiding bullets on the local freeways. Conway hosts the longest running radio game show ever Thursday night at 8PM, “What the Hell Did Jesse Jackson Say?” Conway also features the David Letterman “Top 10 List,” an exclusive audio recap of one of TV’s hottest benchmarks.

The Tim Conway Jr. Show…the new and improved comedy talk show in town and the only place ot find out what’s going on in this crazy city of ours! Weeknights from 8PM to 11PM…only on 97.1 the FM Talk Station

  A Quickie 

One day George W. Bush and Dick Cheney walk into a diner. A waitress walks up to them and asks if she can take their order. Bush leans close to her and says, “Honey, can I have a quickie?”

The waitress is appalled and yells at the President about women’s rights and storms away.

Cheney then says to Bush, “George, its pronounced ‘quiche’.”

Rep. John "MY Constituents Are Rednecks" Murtha

Pennsylvania has not awarded it’s electoral votes to a Republican President in twenty years.  It is a state that I would not have invested any time or money in if I were John McCain. This isn’t because Pennsylvania isn’t worth the effort, it’s simply because, given the limited amount of resources available, Pennsylvania and it’s recent electoral history is not a place McCain can afford to throw his resources into.

 That was the conventional thinking, but this election is proving to be anything but conventional.

With Obama successfully tricking people in places like Colorado, Virginia and North Carolina, the need to put Pennsylvania in play has become more pressing for McCain.

Beyond the need for it has also come a greater opportunity to win Pennsylvania. That opportunity has come from of all people, Democrats.

Barack Obama was the first person to roll out the red carpet for John McCain in Pennsylvania. He did so while running against Hillary Clinton for the nomination when he said that there were parts of the state that contained citizens who were bitterly clinging to their guns and religion.

Obama lost Pennsylvania to Hillary in a landslide. Since then he has done whatever he could to win the people of the state over. One of the reasons he chose his running mate, Joe Biden, was because of Pennsylvania. Joe Biden has roots there, in Scranton, where he grew up. It is a fact that you could not escape when Barack announced Biden as the Vice Presidential nominee. Between both of them, Scranton was brought up so much that you almost forgot that Joe Biden has been representing Delaware for more than thirty years.

Aside from putting someone who once came from Pennsylvania on the ticket Obama as well as Biden have been campaigning hard for the state. They have made countless appearances there and when not in the state, Pennsylvania has been bombarded by Obama television advertisements. Most of this activity is focused on the eastern part of the state and Philadelphia. Philadelphia has one of the highest African-American populations of any city in the nation. It is more than 43% black and almost 45 % white. When you consider that about 94% of the African American population in the country is supporting Barack Obama, Philly is very fertile territory for Obama. These are pertinent statistics that bring me to another Democrat who has helped to turn Pennsylvania into a more competitive state for John McCain. John Murtha.

Congressman Murtha is a liberal who has proven himself to be almost as big a living gaffe as Joe Biden.

Not long ago he ran around screaming that a number of U.S. Marines needed to be court marshaled because he was accusing them of murdering, bombing and torturing innocent Iraqis, including women and children. The marines in question were exonerated and the accusations were proven false but what does that matter? Murtha never apologized or corrected himself. I mean why should he? All he did was try to destroy the lives of innocent men serving their country. Who cares?

I do. So that was strike one.

More recently Murtha has explained the nature of the closeness in the race for president in his home state of Pennsylvania as being due to the fact that, as he put it, people in western Pennsylvania are racists. The statement included the very same people whom he represents, in western Pennsylvania.

That was strike two.

The remark got some heat and days later he tried to excuse what he said. In an interview, Murtha explained that what he meant was that some people in that part of the state want change but not that much. “Many of them are rednecks”. he claimed.

Strike three…..YER OUT!!!!!!!

Not only has this character betrayed the brave young men in our armed forces but he calls his own constituents racists and rednecks. For goodness sakes people, wake up! If an elected Republican official said that Colin Powel endorsed Obama simply because he was black, you liberals would be all over him. If a Republican had the gall to say that Philadelphia was supporting Obama because Philly is full of the “N” word” we would all be going out of our minds. There would be riots in the streets. Yet a lard ass, 17 term, liberal congressman calls white people in his own district rednecks because many of them are not voting for Barack Obama and there is not a single wimper.

What happened to the liberal edict of political correctness. You know, the philosophical tenet that requires that fat people be called horizontally challenged, short people to be called vertically challenged and the stupid to be called educationally challenged? I mean even if what Murtha said were true and the people of western Pennsylvania were racists, liberal sensitivity would require that he call those bigots racially challenged. But Nooooo, he doesn’t even apply his own party’s political correctness to his false charge. Murtha just comes right out and calls them rednecks. And that was his apology and explanation for calling them racists.

As of two weeks ago Murtha was coasting to re-election in his western Pennsylvania district. One poll had him at 57% while his closest opponent, a Washington County Commissioner, Diana Rey had 30%. I would hope that has changed since Murtha explained himself and concluded that his voters were not racists, just rednecks. If that early poll has not changed and the people of his district do re-elect him to his thirty fifth year as a congressman, than I have to tell you, those people in his district are not racists and they are not rednecks, they are buffoons! If Murtha represents their outlook, their sense of decency and logic than they should loosen their grip on the guns Obama has them clinging to, pick up their bibles and beat themselves over their heads with it. Maybe the good book could beat some sense into them.

If Murtha’s remarks and remarkable history are not enough for the people of his own district to vote him out of office, his comments have at least helped to do one thing. They have helped to put Pennsylvania in play for John McCain. Murtha has helped to point out the hypocrisy of liberals and the prejudices of Obama.

John Murtha has helped to remind people that racism is alive and well in the Democrat party and that they thrive on reverse discrimination. They need to play the victims or use the race card in an attempt to guilt people into voting for them. They apply double standards which do not cry foul when the preponderance of African-Americans vote for an African-American but they call it racism if a Caucasian dares to vote for a Caucasian.

All of these points have been highlighted by the comments of both Murtha and Obama and in doing so they have changed the playing field and put Pennsylvania in striking distance for McCain. So although I would not have had the McCain campaign spend too much in the way of time or resources in Pennsylvania, Obama’s and Murtha’s unconventional comments about western Pennsylvanians changes conventional thinking and requires McCain to go after the state and it’s citizens who have been disenfranchised and belittled by Murtha and Obama.

The Cannibal

A cannibal was walking through the jungle and came upon a restaurant operated by a fellow cannibal.

 Feeling somewhat hungry, he sat down and looked over the menu…

Tourist: $5.00
Broiled Missionary: $10.00
Fried Explorer: $15.00
Baked Democrat or Grilled Republican: $100.00

The cannibal called the waiter over and asked, “Why such a price difference for the Politicians?”

The cook replied, “Have you ever tried to clean one? They’re so full of crap, it takes all morning.”

So Barack Obama’s running mate has confirmed that within 6 months of a Barack Obama presidency, the nation will face one of it’s greatest foreign affairs crisis in history.

Biden implored voters to mark his words. In fact he stated “if you leave here remembering only one thing, remember this” that someone in the world will challenge Obama and test him out.

A comparison was even made to John F. Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis that brought confrontation between us and the former Soviet Union. It was a crisis that had all Americans holding their breath until Kruschev backed down and their deployment of missiles to Cuba was turned around.

Senator Biden’s remark are greatly appreciated. They help to highlight the fact that we can not afford Barack Obama. He also reminds us that Barack Obama is no Jack Kennedy.

President Kennedy never agreed to unconditional negotiations with our enemies. He never vowed to raise taxes during tough economic times and he never promised to spread the wealth through Soviet style economic policies.

So given Barack Obama’s policy positions, the Cuban missile crisis is not an accurate comparison. Obama maintains none of the defensive thinking that Kennedy did. A more accurate comparison for Obama would be to Jimmy Carter. And a better example of how our enemies should react to a new administration is better exemplified by the man who defeated Jimmy Carter when he ran for re-election, Ronald Reagan.

Due to Ronald Reagan’s no nonsense foreign policy views, Iran set free the American hostages that Jimmy Carter could not bring home. The newly installed Islamic theocracy that overthrew The Shah of Iran with Carter’s urging, had the American hostages on a plane and outside of Iranian airspace at the exact moment that Ronald Reagan was sworn in as our new President.

Ronald Reagan’s promised aggressive defense of American interests contrasted Jimmy Carter’s tolerance for the intolerable. Knowing that, Iran avoided the expected reprisal that Reagan would have brought to them. It is an example of how our enemies will react to a policy that contains a bare knuckle message which indicates, that if you screw with us, you will be screwed.

Biden’s wholehearted knowledge of the fact that our enemies will test and challenge Obama with an historic national security crisis helps to hammer home this point to the electorate. It makes one wonder just how far our enemies will go in attempt to prove their point or humiliate what they call “the great Satan”, the United States.

What moves will they make in trying to see how deep the terrorist friendly policies of Obama are? How much leeway will Obama’s “friendly” policies give Iran if they give us a sincere explanation as to why the oil rich nation needs nuclear power or how much territory will Obama’s U.N. based faith allow Russia to reclaim despite the sovereignty of their neighbors?

With Obama as President, the liberal Axis of vulnerability is completed. Nancy Pelosi’s “tea with terrorists” foreign policy and Harry Reid’s “white flags of surrender” are perfectly complimented and advocated by a President Obama. It cements any doubts that our enemies may have in America’s resolve to stand up to them and their objectives.

Obama is no Jack Kennedy or Ronald Reagan, neither is John McCain but like Kennedy with communism and Reagan with terrorists, you know where he stands and so do our enemies. They need not question or test John McCain’s resolve.

So Biden’s statement promising a crisis that will be driven by our enemies doubts about him are probably accurate. In fact, according to the language Biden used to articulate the point, he is even more sure of it than I am. Who am I to doubt it? I am not Obama’s running mate. He is. It leads me to conclude that Biden knows Obama better than I do and so, on this one, I’ll take Biden’s word for it.

Barack Obama was seated next to a little girl on an airplane trip back to Washington. He turned to her and said, “Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to The Obama, “What would you like to talk about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said the Obama. “How about What Changes I Should Make To America?” and he smiles.

“OK,” she says. “That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff – grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?”

Obama, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it for a second and finally says, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the little girl replies, “Do you really feel qualified to change America when you don’t know shit?”

Failed Sportscaster, and Demoted Newsman Keith Olbermann, The New Tokyo Rose

 Not only did I find that it was possible, I was stunned by the outright lies and offensiveness of the so called program you attempted to get through, . For almost thirty minutes you polluted the air with disgusting innuendos, blatant lies, and the greatest amount of disinformation ever transmitted since Tokyo Rose tried to discourage American troops from carrying out their valiant missions to defend democracy. For me, you were even more offensive than Tokyo Rose. She was not an American. She was not operating under any rules of decency or fairness. You however, are suppose to be, and yet, you flout those qualities as if they were Sunday comic strips.

 You conduct yourself in a way that strips any sense of integrity or decency away from NBC. It is no wonder why they have placed you on their sagging cable news outlet, MSNBC. It would also explain why MSNBC is so low in the ratings.

 What I do wonder about is how they can possibly keep putting you on any air?

 You failed at your job as a sportscaster, and somehow got utilized by NBC for delivering the news. Since then you have proved incompetent and along with your sidekick, Chris Mathews, got booted from that job and now you are left only with your appearance in a goofball, commentary segment.

 After seeing your performance, I have concluded that you must be offering sexual favors to some important troll at NBC. It is the only apparent reason that anyone could possibly have for employing you.

 On your program you lied exactly 13 times about John McCain and  9 times about Sarah Palin, the only two people that your show discussed.   Additionally, you called them racists and liars.  In the past you have even accused John McCain of treason and through it all you never once made a reference to any facts.

 Your despicable conduct, irrational behavior, prejudiced judgment and skewed logic has no place in an intelligent society.

Beyond that, the blatant hatred that you conveyed in your fairy tales, during this program, carried over. They conjured up the same sense of hatred for you that you aired for those who are not liberals, So much so that I must relay my own wishes for you.

 After witnessing your despicable program, it is my deepest hope that you are blown out of your ivory tower and have your legs and arms broken as you fall to the earth where a group of wild thugs spit on you while punching and kicking you. Then, with almost every bone in your body broken, I sincerely hope they throw you into a New York City sewer for 5 years, where you are fed a piece of bread a day and left to drink the raw sewerage that flows around you. And through it all, I want NBC to repeatedly report, day after day, that for your efforts, you are being accused of turning your back on any and all sense of journalistic integrity and for treason to the United States.

 You should be forced to endure the same conditions that the man you ridicule, belittle and lie about, endured during his service for and to our country.

But you, Mr. Olbermann, are not alone in the need for public denunciation. The corporate goons who afford you the opportunity to play the role of a modern day Tokyo Rose should pay even more dearly.

Obama preaches the virtues of reaching negotiated agreements with our enemies. He has called for unconditional talks with our enemies and discounts the fact that we should not negotiate intolerable conduct and that which is unacceptable. Like Carter he, promotes a tolerance for the behavior of others even though their behavior is akin to poking a finger in our eye.

Perhaps one of the greatest similarities between Carter and Obama comes in the form of their own words. In July of 1979: Carter said:

“I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. . . . And I’m asking you for your good and for your Nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense — I tell you it is an act of patriotism.”

In May of this year, Obama said:

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times . . . and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.”

There is nothing wrong with conservation. It is something that even in the best of times we should all employ. However, Obama and Carter’s use of conservation in addressing problems neglected to point out that there are things that government can do to keep up with the needs of it’s people. Both remarks are a strange twist on J.F.K.’s call to “ask not what your country can do for you but what you could do for your country”. It is their way of saying….. ask not what your elected officials should do for America, but what you have to do because your elected officials refuse to do what is right.

Rather than allow government to lift it’s bans on access to natural resources, they tell us to fill our tires with more air and drive less. Rather than trying to solve our problems, Carter and Obama tell us to just deal with the problems that they are a part of.

On foreign affairs, instead of telling our enemies that certain conduct must cease before we negotiate any agreement, they suggest that we will negotiate an acceptance of their reprehensible behavior.

These are roads that we have been down before. Both men are partisan liberals with instinctual liberal tendencies. Both men ran for President at time when they had little experience and no substantial records of accomplishment. Carter was the fresh face that would be the agent of change that we needed and now Barack Obama is the messiah that will be the new agent of change that we need. It sounds good, but history repeats itself and the nice sound of change that Obama offers is an echo of the same change that Jimmy Carter offered us. It’s the type of change that America can not afford and it is the type of change that voters can help prevent our nation from repeating only if we understand the similarities between Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

When Bill Clinton was put under during his heart surgery he saw himself at the at the Pearly Gates.

“Soooo,” pondered Peter.

“What bad things did you do on earth?”

Clinton thought a bit and answered, “Well, I smoked marijuana but you shouldn’t hold that against me because I didn’t inhale. I guess I had extra-marital sex — but you shouldn’t hold that against me because I didn’t really have ’sexual relations.’ And I lied, but I didn’t commit perjury.”

After several moments of deliberation St. Peter replied, “OK, here’s the deal. We’ll send you someplace where it is very hot, but we won’t call it ‘Hell.’ You’ll be there for an indefinite period of time, but we won’t call it ‘eternity.’ And don’t abandon all hope upon entering, just don’t hold your breath waiting for it to freeze over.”

 The likely as well as the unlikely questions that might be asked in this debate have already been raised by each respective side behind closed doors. The candidates have practiced a response to those questions that polls have indicated to be popular with the people or segments of the electorate that each candidate is targeting.

So despite the excitement over the perceived opportunity for spontaneity during a debate, there is very little in the way of spontaneous, unscripted reactions during them. Even those answers which may seem off the cuff or spontaneous are rehearsed. In fact, modern day political debates are conducted in such a way that the greatest challenge to each candidate is finding the right opportunity and moment to answer a question with certain, rehearsed talking points that they want to give air time to. This makes the question asked less than something which must be answered and more an opportunity to fit in a charge or provocative point that polls shows hits home with the sector of the electorate that one candidate or the other needs to appeal to.

Given these points and seeing as how none of the previous debates in this election shed new light on the perspectives of either man running for President, what in this final debate could possibly be asked and make a real difference? A difference in the minds of voters? What question and or it’s answer could change the minds of people with strongly held opinions of the candidates for President?

The way this election and it’s debates have gone so far, I do not think there is any question or answer that can achieve such a goal.

All except for one.

In this last official debate, I believe the most important and valuable thing that Bob Schieffer, the moderator, can do or say is:

“Senator Obama, Senator McCain,…I can ask you about the economy. I can ask you for specifics regarding foreign affairs, homeland security, immigration education or your reasons for choosing the your running mates but I wont. Instead I am going to ask you to ask your opponent a question.”

I would like to see the candidates have to ask each other two questions on the economy, two questions on issues dealing with foreign affairs, and two each on energy and immigration. If each candidate came into this forum expecting to just answer questions, it would be interesting to see how Obama and McCain would react and how they would use the opportunity. Would they use this rare and valuable chance to pull off a political gotcha or would they use it as an opportunity to shed new light on policy differences and their directions for our nation?

Would they use the opportunity for political exploitation or honest issue and policy clarification?

In some cases, the type of question they ask could be even more telling and important than the answers given to those questions asked.

Reality dictates that this type of mutual candidate query will not take place but Bob Schieffer can still give John McCain and Barack Obama the chance to ask one question of each other.

Being limited to only asking one question could be even more telling. It would give a true sense of what is most important in the mind of the questioner. Are they more concerned with a politically driven questions that is geared towards electoral politics? Or are they more concerned with the issues facing the people of our nation who do not divide themselves up by class, race, religion, orientation or party affiliation? You know, the average, non-political citizen who calls themselves an American.

This final debate is suppose to be dedicated to foreign affairs. That’s quite an important issue and one that deals with the most essential, constitutional responsibility of our government. Yet, given the information produced from the past few debates, I expect no new information or mind changing explanations to come out of this one too. Surprising the candidates with a chance to ask one question of one another might provide one of the most insightful moments in this entire election to date.

A little boy wanted $100 badly and prayed for two weeks but nothing happened.

Then he decided to write GOD a letter requesting the $100.

When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to GOD USA, they decided to send it to President Bush.

The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5.00 bill.

President Bush thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy.

The little boy was delighted with the $5.00 and sat down to write a thank you note to GOD, which read:

Dear GOD,

Thank you very much for sending the money, however, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington D.C. and, as usual, those idiots deducted $95.00!

Submitted by boloo2 

Scoopit!

The most recent print edition of The Listener, for 11 October 2008, has an interesting article by David Fisher on page 25.

These extracts are really quite interesting:-

Adam’s immediate reaction was here we go, another beat up on National regarding Crosby Textor. In fact Adam’s view is that the undue secrecy over Crosby-Textor has been counter productive for National, but we digress.

Now is that not interesting. Adam did not know that before. So let us explore a little further:-

So Labour are taking advice from consultants. Foreign consultants from the home of the Great Satan, the Anti-Christ, the United States of America. Now did one Trevor Mallard not fulminate in the 2005 campaign about National’s links with the USA!

Then what do we read:-

Fisher notes comments by some about Crosby Textor promoting ‘dog whistle’ politics and the comments:-

So Labour goes after National over Crosby Textor, but keeps quiet about Blue State Digital. Interestingly, as Fisher points out in the article Smith sought to target Fisher onto The International Democratic Union which he stated was the Crosby Textor connection and also pointed Fisher at Lord Ashcroft. Smith is quoted as saying:-

‘Get a real story. It’s really big.’

Fisher discusses the IDU noting the fact that it is chaired by John Howard and lauds George Bush the Elder and Maggie Thatcher. Lord Ashcroft is Treasurer.

In other words people of similar persuasion network. Nor do those from the right appear to be too secretive about it.

Now there is absolutely nothing wrong in Labour using Blue State Digital. Nor is there anything wrong in Labour being part of Progressive Governance.

Where Adam is intrigued is why Labour seeks to cast aspersions on National being involved with IDU when it belongs to a similar organisation.

Further, there is no reason why National should not use Crosby Textor nor Labour Blue State, but why should Mike Smith seek to divert attention to the IDU when questioned about Blue State.

Adam does think it just a little bit hypocritical to call National on using CT, whilst using Blue State, especially as Blue State are American, which country Labour often criticises, especially if it can point to a connection with National.

So Labour can co-operate internationally – that is good, but National should not – that is evil!

Labour can take US advice, that is righteousness, but National must not that is supping with the devil!

Labour can use foreign consultants – that is good, but National should not – that is evil!

Labour can decide what to do freely and without criticism, but National must be maligned!

Is that not a double standard?

Well done Mr Fisher for bringing this to our attention.

Now what was that about five little letters:-

T R U S T

who is it using that as their election theme?

What is the biggest sin of modern political television ads. Inaccuracy? Negativity? Hyperbole?

Sameness. Sameness, sameness, sameness. The sheer repetition of identical production techniques is what causes most television ads to be a mindnumbing waste of money. They sound so much alike that they wash over us like Muzak in a mall.

We all know the drill. The dire music. The dour voiceover. The grainy, contorted still photo of the opponent having a bad hair day. All interspersed with headlines o’ doom.

Then, aburpt transition. Sunny music. Upbeat voiceover. Gorgeous glossies of the sponsoring candidate having a decidedly great hair day. Listening intently to granny. Reading to sonny boy. Touring a high tech plant with sleeves rolled up, “creating jobs.” Working hard at the desk late at night. Receiving adoring applause from constituents. All interspersed with headlines o’hope.

The messages? The issues? The ideology? The point? Don’t ask me. I was thinking about something else. The last 20 roughly identical ads that barged into my living room robbed me of my ability to focus and differentiate.

Why do all campaign ads look alike? Because pre-fab, mass assembly ads are quicker, easier and cheaper to produce than an original concept, and the less money spent on production the more that can be spent on the consultants’ fees. Consultants like that model.

Unimaginative political consultants eager to keep fees to themselves, employ all political strategists and no true artists or visionaries. They run ad agencies entirely populated by Account Planners, and devoid of Creative Directors, Art Directors and high end Directors and production professionals. The few that have them obviously don’t empower them.

Thus, sameness. While Madison Avenue agencies often err on the side of all art and no strategy, K Street agencies err on the side of all strategy and no art.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one who claims all political advertising is ineffective. Even really poorly executed political advertising is often extremely effective, particularly negative advertising. I’ve seen it dramatically change survey results overnight.

I’m saying that political ads could be even more effective if more of us noticed the ads more often. And more of us would notice and remember them if they occassionally contained an unexpected twist of humor, color, candor, metaphor, analogy or original design work.

In the time I was pecking this post, three very expensive political ads ran, and I, a recovering political junky, have absolutely no idea what they said. After all, when produced as Muzak, even Nine Inch Nails and Nancy Sinatra tunes begin to sound alike.

- Loveland