Friday, August 29, 2008

Big T's Pic of the Day

Meet the Next Vice President of the
United States of America
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin!

McCain’s VP Pick is Genius!

John McCain has picked former Miss Alaska and current Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. This is a great pick. I love this pick. It is a solid pick, it is bold and it’s just downright genius!

It is genius because unlike what the media and others wanted or expected McCain went with a pro-life conservative with real true conservative values instead of a pro-choice moderate. Palin has the ability to solidify the conservative base of the Republican Party that has felt left out. People like myself, and to paraphrase Michelle Obama a little bit, for the first time in years I am proud to be a Republican. I believe by the end of the Republican National Convention people will realize who she is, and it will energize and unify the base of this party. A moderate choice would not have done that.

In another way it is genius is because McCain stole the press from Barack Obama’s speech last night. No one is talking about Obama today. It is all McCain and Palin! If Mitt Romney had been the choice we would not have had this kind of buzz today, and this buzz is going to carry all the way through the weekend leading into the convention.

This choice is also genius because no one expected it. I assure you the Obama campaign has been working for all week coming up with different possibilities for McCain’s VP and how to counter it after the announcement. They had nothing on Palin. They were caught off guard. In fact, about the only thing they could come up with for a statement was McCain picked someone who could be a heart beat away from the White House with no foreign policy experience… What??? How about there heartbeat has no foreign policy experience…

Palin Lives Out Her Conservative Values

Palin is a pro-life Christian conservative. She is a proud wife and the proud mother of five kids and has lived out her pro-life principles. When faced with the knowledge of her last child having down syndrome before birth, she elected to have the baby anyway. She has an A+ rating from the NRA, and is also a lifetime member and an avid hunter. Palin is not only a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, but has a son in the military about to deploy to Iraq. This woman is real, real life stories from a real life mom with real life experiences all based on values and principles.

She is also not afraid to fight members of her own party, filing complaints against the chairman of the party when she found things to be unethical. She has stood up against earmark spending and fought Ted Stevens over the “bridge to nowhere” project in Alaska.

More Executive Experience Than Obama

Of course the Obama campaign is trying to portray Palin as having less experience than him, and the media is following suit. The reality is Palin is more experienced and more qualified than Obama.

Palin has more executive experience than Obama. She has run a city, state and a business. She has signed and vetoed legislation. She has taken on corruption in her own party…and won. She has administered a successful budget and is the commander in chief of the Alaskan National Guard.

Obama turned a blind eye to political corruption in Chicago and to my recollection has never proposed one piece of legislation in his short Senate career.

DNC Coverage Night 4: The Messiah Speaks

College Football or the DNC? I went with college football.

I am going to be honest. The only part I tuned into last night was Barack Obama’s speech. I just couldn’t stomach anymore of this America sucks convention. So I watched college football until the messiah was scheduled to take the stage, and then I flipped over to Fox News to watch it.

The Stage didn’t look like a Greek Temple

I give credit to the Obama campaign and the media. The stage did not look like a Greek temple, and it didn’t look like they were trying to present Obama as some iconic godly figure. The event was actually tastefully done in my opinion. You can watch the whole think here and decide for yourself if you like.

Pandering to the Government Educated Dumb Masses

Last night’s speech only reinforces my position on government education being used as a tool to keep people uneducated so politicians can gain power. Obama said so many things that were so absurd he should have been laughed out of the stadium, but the dumb masses don’t understand it.

Obama knows and understands he has been hit hard from critics on his plan to raise taxes on small businesses that provide 80% of new jobs in the economy. So Obama comes out last night and says, “I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and start-ups that will create the high wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.”

Sounds good doesn’t it, Obama the tax cutter…here is the problem with that. Most small businesses do not pay capital gains taxes. They pay income taxes. Obama’s plan is to raise income taxes on these businesses. So telling the American people he will eliminate their capital gains taxes is simply pandering to the uneducated that doesn’t even know the difference between income and capital gains taxes to begin with.

Then Obama made the claim Republicans and McCain have not proposed one penny of tax relief for over 100 million Americans and said, “Republicans want to give more and more to those with the most, and hope that prosperity will trickle down to the rest.”

This is a common theme among liberals. To them the wealthy hasn’t earned what they have. It was either given to them or gained through good fortune and luck. So there is nothing really wrong from taking it away from them to even things out. They should pay their fair share, but what exactly is their fair share?

If you were educated, you would know the statistics. You would know the bottom 50 percent of income earners pay approximately 3 percent of all income taxes collected by the federal government. When you get to the bottom 40 percent that percentage drops to zero. There are approximately 300 million people in America, which means about 120 million Americans have no federal income tax liability. Obama says Republicans are offering no tax relief to these people. Relief…relief from what?

You would also know the top 50 percent of income earners pay 97 percent of all income taxes collected by the federal government with the top 25 percent paying 83 percent. This hardly seems fair, but unless you educate yourself you will never know these numbers.

It would be great to pull one of these members of the chanting change dumb masses from the crowd and ask them the difference between capital gains taxes and income taxes. To see the confused blank look on their face when you ask “how you give income tax breaks to 100 million Americans who don’t pay income taxes?” would be priceless.

John McCain votes with George W. Bush 90% of the time? Bush gets a vote?

It seems the Obama campaign is dedicated to the idea of linking John McCain to George W. Bush. We have heard it the whole convention, and we heard it again last night. Obama claimed McCain voted with Bush 90% of the time. This line is effective because the dumb masses don’t know any better. They have never stopped to think wait a minute; Bush doesn’t have a vote in the Senate. How do you measure the percentage McCain voted with Bush?

The fact is you can’t. You could measure the amount of times he voted with the Republican members, but most Senate votes are unanimous. This would mean the only way not to so-called “vote with the president” would be not to vote at all.

Where’s the Beef and Where is the Change?

Obama’s speech left me asking the same thing I have been asking this whole convention. Where is the beef and where is the change?

There is still no substance to what his plans are for change in America. I know he wants to change something, but I have no idea what the hell it is he wants to change.

In fact, I don’t hear any change. I hear the same old thing I have heard liberals say my entire lifetime of 31 years, and what they probably said long before that.

Obama Finally Gets a Bounce

It took four days and a speech in a stadium, but Obama finally got his convention bounce of about 5-7 points depending on which poll you look at.

Jimmy Carter is a Real Jerk

I have never agreed with Jimmy Carter on much and believe that he is one of the worst presidents this country has ever seen, but I always thought he had class and was a genuinely good guy…until now.

Carter has gone on the attack accusing John McCain of “milking every possible drop of advantage” from his POW time in Vietnam. Is he serious?

If anything John McCain has down played his POW experience and can you blame him. I am sure some of the memories are not all that pleasant from his POW days.

Where was Jimmy Carter’s criticism during the last presidential election? Kerry could not go half an hour without reminding us he served in Vietnam.

Even if John McCain is “milking it for every possible drop of advantage,” I say why not? After all, it is a pretty compelling story and a significant event that helps explain who McCain is today.

What would Carter know about it anyway? Carter was farming and eating peanuts trying to make a decision whether or not to run for governor in Georgia while John McCain was in being tortured for five and a half years.

Jimmy Carter should zip it and go back to the peanut farm he came from in Georgia. Just a tasteless disgraceful act.

Big T's Suggested Reading and Viewing from around the Web.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin blames the U.S. for provoking the conflict in Georgia to help a candidate in the U.S. presidential election…say what???
Poor P. Diddy. He is upset about paying 250,000 a month in fuel for his private jet and says the next president needs to bring gas back down.
Looks like President Bush may not be able to speak as scheduled at the RNC Monday night because of Gustav.
The Columbian Journalism Review tells us what 15,000 journalists were doing at the DNC.
This Reuters article says Obama must appeal to more than just to poor voters to win.
Looks like some Hillary supporters are joining the McCain camp…that is bad news for Obama.