Posted by caleb on Oct 1, 2008 in
Uncategorized Yes, it’s been awhile, and I do apologize if it appears that I’ve been neglecting my blog. The truth is, I have, but I’ve got some good reasons for it. First, I’ve been disabled by a long-standing issue with my right hip. Something recently has made the problem flare up again, and I’ve basically lost my ability to walk without crutches. That burden, coupled with any medication they give me and my normal class workload, has caused me to push my blog onto the back burner.
Now, some have accused me of not writing because of my supposed “shame” about Gov. Palin’s recent performance. Let me tell you right now that I am not ashamed of Gov. Palin. In fact, I think she did a fairly good job in her first three national interviews, especially the one with Sean Hannity.
What I don’t appreciate, however is the way the McCain campaign is seemingly “manhandling” her. For goodness’ sake, let Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin. I think she should say, “Yea, so those interviews weren’t as good as Barack Obama’s… so what? I told you I’m not a Washington insider. These things are brand new to me, but that’s okay, because I’m not going to Washington to have Washington change me. John McCain and I are going to Washington to reform Washington. We’re doing it for our country…” She desperately needs to say something of that sort, because I truly believe the American people love her for who she is. This political posturing that we’ve seen is nonsense.
As for the idea that John McCain has now slipped so far behind he’ll never win, I say “P’shaw.” Has everyone forgotten what’s coming up tomorrow night? Oh, that’s right, the Vice-Presidential Debates, where Gov. Palin will smash Sen. Biden. Has anyone seen her performances in any of Alaska’s gubernatorial debates? She was phenomenal! I think if she’ll just relax (or if they’d just let her relax) she’ll be great.
Some say she’s not qualified enough to be Vice-President, or a “heartbeat away from the Presidency,” but I disagree. The woman is highly intelligent and has been the chief executive of our most energy-rich state! Does no one realize how BIG Alaska really is? It’s basically the size of the Louisiana Purchase… that’s HUGE! As for the “heartbeat” comment: first of all, I think it’s low for the Dems to attack John McCain because of his age. He has shown time and again that while he’s no “spring chicken,” he can take Obama on and do his job very effectively. Joe Biden is whom I am worried about being a “heartbeat away.” The man is a disaster. Did you not see what he did at a rally in Missouri? He asked wheel-chair bound former State Senator Chuck Graham to “stand up” and then realized his mistake and made a fairly big deal about it. Folks, we cannot have this man “a heartbeat away from the Presidency.” It would be a disaster!
It’s important to note the different reasons why Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were brought on to their respective tickets. Joe Biden was tapped to give the Demo ticket any foreign experience credibility at all. Prior to Biden, Obama was sunk. Now with Biden, well, you don’t hear about him too much do you? Sarah, on the other hand, was asked to join the ticket for her conservative values and her extensive energy policy experience. John McCain didn’t need any foreign policy shoring-up; the man is a legend when it comes to foreign travel. In the first debate, he named places I’d never even heard of. That’s not to say that Sarah is clueless when it comes to foreign nations. Check out her words to Ahmadinejad in a statement last week when she was supposed to speak before a rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York sound fierce enough to me,
“Senator McCain has made a solemn commitment that I strongly endorse: Never again will we risk another Holocaust,” her speech says. “And this is not a wish, a request, or a plea to Israel’s enemies. This is a promise that the United States and Israel will honor, against any enemy who cares to test us.”
Sounds fierce enough to me.
As for the economic meltdown, while I don’t believe that either candidate has exactly the right idea, I definitely support Sen. McCain. Obama wants to tax us more in a time of great financial distress! How ridiculous! At least McCain is on the right track by demanding the cessation of most earmarks and the paring down of the federal budget.
I know our country is in a great financial crisis, but I still do not appreciate the idea of American taxpayers footing the bill for the stupid mistakes and hunches of some of America’s largest corporations. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s not something I believe the federal government should be this involved in.
The point is, our nation is at a major crossroads. People say not to vote on party lines, but folks, there’s a reason we have parties, and you can’t just ignore the label. In November, you can either vote for the party of defeat and elect Obama-Biden to the White House and watch our nation lose its free market and capitalistic roots, turning to European-style big government and socialism, or you can elect the party and ticket of reform, hope, and limited government by sending McCain-Palin. The choice is obvious to me.
P.S. If you’re in the Four-State area, come check out the PSU Campus Republicans’ Debate-Watching parties. We’re hosting them in the basement of the PSU Overman Student Center at 302 E. Cleveland, Pittsburg, KS 66762 at 7:30 p.m. for every remaining debate.
Tags: biden, economy, mccain, obama, Palin, President, Vice President
Posted by caleb on Sep 7, 2008 in
Uncategorized Arizona Senator John S. McCain gave his acceptance speech for the GOP Nomination for President of the United States a few nights ago in St. Paul, MN at the Republican National Convention. It’s been said by the Fox News Channel that more people watched McCain’s speech than watch Barack Obama’s, an accomplishment few would have thought possible a week ago, before Sarah Palin stepped onto the scene. While Gov. Palin is an incredible individual whom I greatly respect and support, it is the top of the ticket that must provide the utmost leadership for America. John McCain delivered beautifully.
To quote one of McCain’s commercials, “Washington is broken. John McCain knows it.” In the Xcel Center, John McCain lined out for American people his hopeful and forward-looking plans for the future. He said, ” In America, we change things that need to be changed.” He promised real reform and progress in government and help for the everyday American family. He said, “We lost their trust when we [the former GOP Congress] valued our power over their principles. [Gov. Palin and I are] going to change that.” I believe him, too, because of his increasingly apparent “maverick-style” ability to work against the Party (when necessary) and instead do what is right for the country. In other words, McCain is the leader we need for putting “Country First.” The man himself said it best, “…I’ve been called a maverick… what it really means is I understand who I work for… not a party, … for you.”
Sen. McCain also promised to fight so-called “pork barrel” spending in Congress by vetoing anything that resembles earmarks. Of the those that ask for them, he said, “You will know their names.” He feels it will be his duty, as President, to report to you those who try to wastefully spend your money. And frankly, he’s sick of it. As a Senator, John McCain has never asked for a single earmark. He is fully and faithfully committed to fiscal responsibility in the government. Now, some preach the benefits of earmarks, saying many local and state projects wouldn’t ever be completed without them. John McCain seems to feel that there are better ways to go about acquiring federal funds, like putting those requests and monetary disbursements out in the open, so the American people can see them for what they truly are. Only reforms such as these will serve to break the chokehold lobbyists have on Congress.
As for education in America, teachers and parents, alike, should be rejoicing and throwing themselves fully behind Senator John S. McCain’s plan for education reformation. I honestly believe that President Bush had the right general idea for greater accountability when he introduced the No Child Left Behind legislation, but as a person who had to endure seven years of schooling under it, I can testify to its many shortcomings. Students must be accountable, as well. Teachers need the authority to discipline them. Students must take responsibility for their own education. Ultimately, it is they who will have to live with their choice of how hard they studied and how much they applied themselves when the opportunity presented itself. To illustrate this struggle, Sen. McCain put it this way: “Education is the civil rights issue of this century.”
Teachers are being blamed for their failure of their slacker students. While on the surface it appears that the gap between lower-achieving and higher achieving students is decreasing, the numbers are misleading. Many special education students (not all, mind you, but anecdotally a large number) have discovered that because of this legislation and the concessions it makes, they don’t actually have to work hard to succeed, at least in school. This in turn means that teachers (due to increased mainstreaming) must teach to a lower and lower target level in the classroom. Thus, the gap is narrowing, because it is no longer the lower students being left behind, it’s the upper students, the gifted students and the ones who have above average intelligence who are, while those below them hardly move up academically at all. When these either frustrated or slacking students fail the state-mandated standardized tests and cause their school to lose AYP approval, the teachers are the ones who are sacked, and many of them are wonderful, 25 year+ teachers who were simply the victims of a failed system. John McCain promises to change all of that.
He wants to remove those barriers for qualified teachers and open up more funding for private and charter schools and options for parents who want to send their children to institutions such as those. For teachers who truly don’t make the grade, and for workers whose jobs have disappeared forever, he will increase funding to community colleges to help them retrain for either a more permanent job or one more suited to their skills, talents, and abilities. “We’re going to help workers, who’ve lost a job that won’t come back, find a new one that won’t go away.” In terms of those outsourced jobs, McCain says he’ll “…help American companies compete and keep jobs from going overseas.” He says “It’s time for us to show the world, again, how Americans lead.” John McCain believes firmly in the principles of work, and is against the entitlement society left-wing liberals and Democrats seem to be pushing for, saying, “We believe in government that gives you the choices to do the best you can.”
His other main theme was the fight for America. He told the cheering crowds in Minnesota he is “…running for President to keep the country I love safe” and to keep other families from losing loved ones to war. John McCain knows the threats facing our country are real and everyday grow closer to home. He wants “… a freer, safer, more prosperous world” and he’ll go about accomplishing that by fighting for freedom and democracy diplomatically, and as a last-resort option, militarily, across the globe. “We’ve faced many dangerous threats in this world, but I’m not afraid of them. I’m prepared for them … I have the scars to prove it.”
Senator John S. McCain will be our next President. I have no doubt in this soon-to-be fact, but it will only occur if the American people continue the excitement gained from the Republican National Convention last week in St. Paul. Without John McCain, I’m not sure we’ll even be able to call this great nation the “United States of America” any more. It might need a “Socialist” or “Communist” prefix with an Obama presidency.
I’ll leave you with some inspirational words from our next president:
In a rallying cry for America, he said, “I will fight for her [the USA] as long as I draw a breath… Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight with me. Fight for what’s right for our country’s future… Stand up and fight. We’re Americans. We never give up. We never quit. We never run from history. We make history.”
Tags: mccain, obama, Palin, President, presidential election, Vice President
Posted by caleb on Sep 5, 2008 in
Uncategorized Two nights ago was the national coming out party for Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin. The expectations were high; this upstart governor from Alaska had been a surprise choice by Senator John McCain just days before, and not many people knew much about her. That didn’t stop the attacks by the leftist-liberal media, though. They checked her out from top to bottom, as we expect and appreciate, but when they found nothing at all fishy with her record, they took their biased attacks personal.
First, they attacked her for being, what they called, a “bad mother” for choosing to have a life separate from her kids. They say she won’t have time to take care of them and be Vice President. I don’t know about you, but if I ever said that about any woman, I’d be crucified, right on the spot. Most women I know are just as capable as men, but there’s my point. We’ve got to stop looking at gender as the deciding factor on a person’s abilities. Individual women are better at certain things, just as individual men are better at certain things. We all have a specific niche that we fill, but not as a gender group; we fit because of who we are.
So in other words, bunk, bunk, bunk on Sarah Palin not being able to have a family and be second-in-command. Previous Vice Presidents have done it! Why should a woman be any different? It’s true men and women handle things differently, but unless I’ve just been living under a rock all of my life, fathers helped create their children, and they should have a major part in raising them.
With all of that (and more) coming at Gov. Palin before her national debut, one can imagine the stress she felt and the anticipation the rest of the world felt. Republicans and other conservatives waited with huge excitement and anxiousness that she would pull it off without a hitch. Left wingers watched and licked their chops, waiting to jump in a tear her to pieces should she even stutter. She didn’t, which is more than can be said for Senator Obama, who is tied to his teleprompter. From what I’ve heard, Gov. Palin’s teleprompter didn’t work right throughout the entire speech. She couldn’t read any of the first two lines on the screen, and so did most of it extemporaneously, or at least from memory. She did have a slightly-rumpled copy of it on the podium, but one didn’t see her use it that much. Oh, and the pitbull joke? It was probably the line that will be most remembered from the entire speech. That, my friends (to quote the next President of the USA, John McCain), was an ad lib!
So, Sarah Palin took the stage with all of that pressure upon her, and she shone beautifully. She was incredible and beyond impressive. She took to the stage with an aura of power and confidence surrounding her. As Brit Hume said, she is one of the few “who make it look easy.” And she did, without a doubt. She came, and she delivered the Republican Party to John McCain. Even on her premiere night, she took swings at Barry, saying, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.” The crowd leapt to its feet in support and applause.
Barack Obama responded the next day after leaving an interview with Bill O’Reilly, saying that organizing communities really is the same thing as being a mayor. In fact, he points out that his duties as a person “who brought people together” equaled those of Gov. Palin, who ran the city of Wasilla, AK and then, while he was a do-nothing Senator in a do-nothing Congress, became Governor of her entire state! Another bunk goes to Obama. He is truly feeling the burn. He even went as far to say (in the midst of incessant stuttering) that the GOP has no agenda but to attack him. What? That sounds a little self-centered and self-conscious to me. The GOP has a plenty big enough agenda, starting with an actual plan for energy independence, tax breaks, education, and true reform in Washington. In the meantime, calls from the leftist media for McCain to replace Palin were replaced with calls from the same leftist media for Obama to replace Biden! I agree with Rush Limbaugh what said last night on FNC. Just the fact that this media is even discussing this idea means the Obama camp is, too. And why not? Gov. Palin’s historic and magnificent speech garnered 37 million viewers, just a paltry 1 million less than Obama’s speech at the Invesco Center.
Palin, in her speech, unabashedly proclaimed her support for the Pro-Life movement and told parents of children with special needs, “You will have an an advocate in Washington.” Palin, 44, is the mother of Trig Palin, an infant she chose to carry full term and deliver earlier this year, even though he had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome in utero. She also pushed forward with the reform mantra, telling the media that it didn’t bother her that she wasn’t a member in good standing of the “Washington Elite.” Gov. Palin told the crowds she wasn’t going to Washington to be part of the in-crowd. She was going to help fix Washington; according to Palin, her boss is the American people.
With a clear voice and an unforgettable message, Palin did in one night what it has taken Barack Obama nineteen months: she won over the hearts of the American people. Yes, the Obama-Biden ticket is popular, and will be hard to defeat, but the truth is, they’re scared of the Barracuda. And let me tell you, they’ve got a reason to be.
McCain-Palin 08
More over at McCain Blogs.
Tags: barracuda, biden, community organizer, mayor, mccain, obama, Palin, President, presidential election, rush limbaugh, Vice President
Posted by caleb on Sep 4, 2008 in
Uncategorized I’ll blog more on this later, but I just wanted to get out a quick update to let you all know what I thought of Governor Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech tonight. In a word, incredible. In a few more, I think we’ve just heard from the next Vice President of the United States of America. In the words of Fox News Channel, “A star has been born in the Republican Party tonight…”
I also watched Mike Huckabee‘s speech. It was magnificent, as well, and I think his support, and the support of the movement he’s begun with HuckPAC will help elect McCain-Palin to the White House.
I’ll post back tomorrow with a full opinion, but now I’ve got to get some sleep. Whew! What a wonderful night!
Tags: conservative, Fox News, Huckabee, HuckPAC, mccain, Palin, President, presidential election, Republican, speech, Vice President
