Happy Independence Day!

Sing along! It’ll make you feel better! Here are the lyrics:

RAY CHARLES lyrics - America The Beautiful

Oh beautiful, for heroes proved,
In liberating strife,
Who more than self, our country loved,
And mercy more than life,
America, America, may God thy gold refine,
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain devined.
And you know when I was in school,
We used to sing it something like this, listen here:
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties,
Above the fruited plain,
But now wait a minute, I'm talking about
America, sweet America,
You know, God done shed his grace on thee,
He crowned thy good, yes he did, in a brotherhood,
From sea to shining sea.
You know, I wish I had somebody to help me sing this
(America, America, God shed his grace on thee)
America, I love you America, you see,
My God he done shed his grace on thee,
And you oughta love him for it,
Cause he, he, he, he, crowned thy good,
He told me he would, with brotherhood,
(From sea to shining sea).
Oh Lord, oh Lord, I thank you Lord
(Shining sea).

Reverse

Maybe when Barack Obama stops in Butte on Independence Day, he should just visit one of the great local bars, stay away from the media, and keep quiet about his Iraq policy. Today in North Dakota, Obama had a tough time explaining his position on Iraq – because he changed it.

Anyone who watched the Democratic debates knows that Obama took a hard stand on Iraq from the beginning of his campaign, saying that all combat troops would be out of Iraq in the first 16 months of his administration. From his website: “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq.”

Today in a meeting Obama reversed his position on Iraq, which made the McCain campaign happy. Obama now appears to be siding with John McCain, which is the position to take.

Here’s a little of what the Associated Press (AP) reported:

Democrat Barack Obama struggled Thursday to explain how his upcoming trip to Iraq might refine, but not basically alter, his promise to quickly remove U.S. combat troops from the war.

The AP added:

He left the impression that his talks with military commanders there could refine his promise to remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office.

Then the AP summed it up:

During his presidential campaign, Obama has gone from the hard-edged, vocal opposition to Iraq that defined his early candidacy to more nuanced rhetoric that calls for the phased-out drawdown of all combat brigades that, at a rate of one or two a month, could take 16 months.

Welcome to Obama world – a world in which he is consistently changing his views with the wind.

On the links for Thursday

Bob Kelleher comes clean
He also makes some good points that Baucus has done little in 30 years.

CQ Politics lists Top 10 Congressional Campaign Credit Card Chargers
To no surprise, seven out of the 10 are Democrats.

Oil soars to record near $146 for the Independence Day holiday.
Lets hope that Senator Tester stopped for gas a few times on his trip across the hi-line.

Obama leads McCain by five points…in Montana.
And the lefties go wild…will McCain show up?

Obama's for Equal Pay. Really?
“…an analysis of his Senate staff shows that women are outnumbered and out-paid by men. That is in contrast to Republican presidential candidate John McCain's Senate office, where women, for the most part, out-rank and are paid more than men.”

Sweet Deals

It appears that Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Kent Conrad are not the only ones who received sweet deals on their home loans.

The Washington Post is reporting the Barack Obama received a nice discount on his home loan, too, which may have saved him close to $300 per month and at an interest rate that was below the average rate in Chicago at that time.

It was a really nice home, too:

The couple wanted to step up from their $415,000 condo. They chose a house with six bedrooms, four fireplaces, a four-car garage and 5 1/2 baths, including a double steam shower and a marble powder room. It had a wine cellar, a music room, a library, a solarium, beveled glass doors and a granite-floored kitchen.

Good credit? Good friends?

Obama likes Faith-based programs

As he moves more to the center to gain votes in November, Barack Obama wants to expand President Bush’s faith-based programs.

You can read the story HERE.

I’m not sure Obama’s supporters will like their man emulating President Bush in this (or any) area. To Obama supporters, Bush is the reason for everything bad on earth and most of the universe.

Although the details are still kind of sketchy, I guess we’ll find out later if Obama will appoint Reverend Jeremiah Wright and/or Father Michael Pfleger to be in charge of his faith-based program.

Polling

I was polled late Sunday afternoon. Many times in the past, I get the polling firm’s name and where they are calling from, but I did not care enough to ask this time.

They asked about the Presidential race and the Governor’s race. They asked how I felt about each person in these races (very negative to very positive). They asked if I voted often, and if I was planning on voting in the November election.

They asked what I thought the major issues were (I told them energy and security). They asked if I owned guns (yes), handgun (yes), long guns (yes), and if I subscribed to a daily newspaper (yes), my thoughts on abortion, and how much TV I watch in a day.

They did not ask about the Rehberg/Driscoll race, but they did, however, ask this:

Pollster: Who will you vote for in the U.S. Senate race between Democrat Max Baucus and Republican Bob Kelleher?

My Answer: Neither

Pollster: Excuse me sir…

My Response: I am leaving that section blank. I don’t care for either candidate, and I am not writing in anyone’s name.

Pollster: OK, sir. Neither.

My Response: Exactly

So whoever hired this polling firm must be a little kooky to think that the Baucus/Kelleher race is important enough that they need to spend money on a question about it? Come to think of it, maybe it was Lee Newspapers.

Short List

With the remarks made recently by retired Army General Wesley Clark about John McCain’s military service, some may think it’s safe to assume he is no longer on the “short list” to be Obama’s Vice President.

Or is he?

Maybe Clark was just following the internal Obama talking points and went a little overboard as a good soldier might do when given a mission?

This is the same Wesley Clark who supported and campaigned for another non-veteran (Jon Tester) in 2006. Tester was running against a veteran. We saw the Wesley Clark method of operation first-hand then.

It appears these attacks are just starting. Last week it was retired Air Force General Merrill McPeak slamming McCain, so I guess it’s a safe bet we’ll see more of these retired military folks jockeying for a spot on the ballot with Obama, or a place in his Administration by attacking McCain’s military service. Vice President? Secretary of Defense? National Security Advisor? These are all worthwhile jobs that any retired four-star might desire.

These types of attacks happen when your candidate (Obama) has no military service and the voters are concerned about the safety and security of our country. They want a leader who they know understands the military, foreign policy, and national security. They’ll get that in McCain. They don’t get that in Obama. So it is safe bet that Obama’s supporters will continue their attacks on McCain’s military service – because it’s the only option they have.

Obama told a crowd in Independence, Missouri, today that he would “never question the patriotism of others in this campaign.”

It appears he’ll have his surrogates do it for him.

Funny names and fake signs

Republican Gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown recently released his tax returns. The Democrats have tried to paint Brown as a “wealthy oil” candidate, due to Brown’s past occupation. They even issued a press release with a photo of a gas price sign that read, “Big Oil Roy.”

But, a funny thing happened on the way to election: None of the income Brown claimed came from the oil industry. Zero.

A few months ago, the Montana Democratic Party issued a press release touting that Governor Schweitzer had released his tax returns for every year he’s served in elective office. Wow!

What everyone really wanted to see in 2004 (and still today) are the tax returns (if there are any) for his work around the world, like for the seven years he worked in Saudi Arabia. He refused to release them, so those years remain a mystery. Things like that would probably keep most folks from being considered for any national office or a high-level position in a President’s administration, but not from holding an elective office here in Montana.

Let’s hope folks don’t start calling the Governor names and making up fake signs...