Underdog

I like to cheer for the underdog. In life we see underdogs succeed when almost everything and everyone is against them. We cheer for them. We say “nice try” when they fail. We cheer loudly when they succeed.

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is an underdog. She’s a fresh face in national politics, but about 80% (as of late July 2008) of the folks in her state of Alaska think favorably of her.

Today we see on TV and read on the Internet lots of hatred toward Governor Palin. Of course, MSNBC’s Countdown (the place for all things Obama) led the charge for Obama Nation.

Earlier today, the Obama campaigned fired a shot quickly at her saying she was the Mayor of a small town in Alaska. The Obama campaign failed to mention her current office which is the Governor of Alaska. Later in the day, after starting to see the fallout from his campaign’s stupid remarks, Obama called and congratulated Palin for being selected as McCain’s running mate. That was a gentlemanly thing to do.

Maybe Obama’s campaign failed to mention Palen’s present position because of her Chief Executive experience of running a town and now a state, because this shows that she has more experience of running a government than Obama, Biden, and yes, McCain. Oh yes, she was a council member, too, starting in 1992.

We hear often that all politics are local. She has more experience in this arena than the boys. Since she has held elected office since 1992, she has the upper hand in experience over Obama, who was first elected to the state legislature in 1996.

People say, “Barack Obama is a U.S. Senator!” Obama has been a U.S. Senator since January 2005. For 19 of those months he’s been on the road campaigning for President. He’s spent about 100 days actually in the senate out of three years.

We’ll hear and read a lot about Governor Palin in the upcoming 60 some days. Her biggest challenge will be the debate with Senator Joe Biden. By the way, Senator Joe Biden’s biggest challenge will be his debate with Governor Palin.

Note to Obama-Biden: America loves an underdog.

Wiped off the Front Page

John McCain put a campaign ad on TV yesterday congratulating Barack Obama for his nomination for President. That was incredibly nice. He did not leak his pick for VP and allowed Obama to gleam in the spotlight for a few hours.

Now, Obama/Biden have been wiped off the front page. The spotlight from Denver is turned off. The McCain campaign is hitting on all cylinders.

McCain kept his VP pick silent and the all the major cable news stations gave 90% of their coverage this morning in trying to determine who McCain would select. Obama’s spectacle went to page two.

Obama’s VP selection with the text message circus was revealed the afternoon before the message was sent. McCain’s selection was kept secret until about 60 minutes before his announcement. We now know which candidate’s team can best keep major information secret.

Now we know that McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Now, McCain is the only candidate whose team has executive experience. This experience, coupled with McCain’s national security and ready from day one to be Commander in Chief experience makes his team very strong. Palin is just the second woman ever tapped for a presidential ticket and the first Republican. Congratulations.

McCain has again gone outside the Washington DC establishment to bring change. Both McCain and Palin have sons serving in the military.

With the Democrats and Obama throwing Hillary Clinton and her 18 million voters (which include several million women voters) into the garbage and not even giving her a VP slot, they now have a strong voice on the McCain ticket where they can throw their support.

The Convention (Day 4): The Speech of Promises

What a show!

Congratulations to Barack Obama for accepting the democratic nomination for President of the United States of America. It is indeed an historical day, and one that I am proud to have witnessed.

It was quite a spectacle put on in Denver. I heard one estimate of a crowd around 85,000. Impressive. Obama should get a bump from this night, but I think he will still stay within striking distance of John McCain. To me, Obama’s speech was not the greatest he’s given. I don’t think Obama knocked it out of Invesco Field, because he seemed a little nervous in some parts. When he attacks, he does not look comfortable, but he tries. The big question is will the Broncos ever win another game there?

McCain and the Republicans have the last say with their convention in a few days. While no one expects the GOP convention to have an ending like the Democratic one, there were plenty of things for the GOP can capitalize on in the coming weeks.

Several entertainers performed in front of the crowd. Sheryl (one square of toilet paper) Crow performed, as did Stevie Wonder, and Michael McDonald.

The video of Obama’s life was very nice. The Democrats do these well.

Obama made promise after promise so much that I would call his speech, "The Speech of Promises.” With Obama’s promises come some cost, and it is more than the USA can ever afford. He seems to want to penalize those who do good in business and in their occupations.

Ironically Obama spoke of McCain being in Washington too long and the broken politics of Washington, and that oil imports had tripled since McCain had been in Washington, but Obama’s running mate has been there even longer than McCain.

Obama tried to position himself as a good commander in chief. He used the line that the democrats gave to Jon Tester, “My [insert name of relative here, for example brother, father, grandfather] served in [insert name of war here], so I support veterans and military personnel.” He tries to talk a good plan, but I have doubts that he knows how to be a commander in chief.

Obama talked about Americans not agreeing on abortion, but trying to reduce the unwanted pregnancies. He spoke about gun ownership being different in areas of the country and keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. He received loud cheers for speaking about same sex marriages when he said gay and lesbians should be able to visit their significant others in hospitals. He spoke of immigration and keeping families together and not separating them when one is legal and others are illegal.

After attacking McCain in the first part of his speech, Obama called for stopping the politics of the past. Interesting.

The first song played after the speech was Brooks and Dunn’s “Only in America.”

Only in America, Dreaming in red, white and blue. Only in America, Where we dream as big as we want to. We all get a chance; everybody gets to dance, Only in America

Yes, only in America! I am glad I was able to watch the show.

Cheap Shot Jimmy

It appears that many Democrats don’t hold in high regards military service. I’ve felt that way since Clinton was the President, and I’ve seen many statements and actions that enforce those feelings. Oh sure, the Democrats pay lip service with statements like “I support the troops, but not the war.”

Today we have more proof from the Democrats. Former President Jimmy Carter said that John McCain is:

"milking every possible drop of advantage" from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy – McCain can speak about his time in the military any time he wishes. Five and half years as a POW earns him that right.

We know Carter served in the Navy. So did McCain. Both are United States Naval Academy graduates. That is a big reason why his statement is so distasteful. It’s a classic cheap shot for an Obama to send his surrogate out to go after someone’s patriotism and their military service. Very cheap.

It would really help if Barack Obama and Joe Biden would come out and condemn Carter’s remarks. I know, I know, it will be a cold day in hell before that happens because they probably feel the same way. It’s probably an Obama-Biden campaign talking point.

The Convention (Day 3)

People were anticipating the speech of former President Bill Clinton on Wednesday night more than Joe Biden’s.

All day on the cable news networks reporters were asking, “What will he say?” “Is he still mad at Obama for not giving his two terms as President some love in his speeches?” “Will he hold back since he wants his wife to become President?” “Is he mad about the race issue?”

Bill Clinton did a fine job in toeing the party line and promoting Barack Obama and Joe Biden. It must have been a tough thing to do when you know your candidate has more experience than the one who won the nomination.

The Wednesday convention started with a “staged” roll call vote from the states for the nomination of President. Montana’s delegation was very long-winded and the Montana Democratic Party Chairmen mixed up which side of our state has mountains and which side has the prairies. He then corrected his mistake.

Then Hillary walked onto the floor and went to New York’s spot and ended it all. Nancy Pelosi had a vote, but cut short the “Nay” votes of people who might have been against the stopping the process. I’m sure some Hillary supporters were not too happy with Nancy’s actions. But this is nothing new for Pelosi, as she hasn’t allowed a vote on drilling in the House, either.

Several Democratic Senators (most with less seniority) than Max Baucus have spoken at the convention, but no Max Baucus (or Jon Tester). Powerful? The Montana media has not taken the time to ask Baucus why he was excluded from the stage.

Joe Biden’s speech was good, but it contained many false statements. Biden has a nice family and his story is impressive. But everyone who watched the speech had to be thinking that Joe Biden does not believe that Barack Obama is ready to be President. He said that during the primary. Biden also said would have been honored to run on the same ticket with John McCain. Man, how times change since Biden started drinking that party kool-aid!

The video about veterans was impressive. The democrats have started cutting into the Republican’s power with the veterans (but not with me), and the Republicans need to improve on their work for veterans. We vote.

So now we head into the finale at Mile High Stadium tonight. Mile High is now being called the “Temple of Obama” or “The Barackopolis” by the McCain campaign since it resembles a Greek Temple. They even gave some examples of what to wear to the event. Funny stuff.

It looks like it will be big. Obama will surely give another great speech – because his strongest asset is giving good speeches.

Another Black Eye

It appears the Air Force is still having some problems. According to the Associated Press:

The Air Force says at least three ballistic missile crew members at bases in North Dakota and Montana have been taken off the job while the military investigates allegations ranging from sexual abuse to missing classified components.

The report goes on to say that a couple of officers at Minot, “had lied about destroying classified launch components in July 2005.” July 2005. I wonder when it was discovered?

Then at Malmstrom, there’s an investigation into alleged "aggravated sexual contact" that occurred in December. December.

No wonder the acting Secretary of the Air and the Air Force Chief of staff have been making some personal visits to Air Force bases. Many of these incidents would not have garnered very much media attention in the past because they would have been handled by the Air Force very forcefully through internal channels. But the screw-ups that have happened recently has the media shining a bright light on every mess.

The Event in Billings

Barack Obama visited Montana again. This time he visited Billings to speak about veterans to an “invited” audience.

“Invited” audiences mean that you really don’t want to have people in attendance who disagree with you. Obama would not do any town hall meetings with John McCain because he could not control who attended.

It was reported that the invitees did not know how they got invited; they just received a call from Obama’s campaign staff. So they must have been on the campaign list – friendlies to say the least.

Montana’s junior senator, Jon Tester, reportedly showed up from his vacation to introduce Obama. Tester wore a tie and jacket. Wow! I have not heard if Tester asked for a free plane ride to Denver with Obama. That would be cool riding in a big airplane with a rock star!

Since I am a veteran, I think it’s appropriate to comment about veterans issues, which is more than I can say about Tester and Obama.

Both of these “non-veterans” serve on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and that is the major problem with veterans getting the benefits they deserve. Of course, Obama has made few meetings for that committee because he’s been campaigning for the last 19 months. Back in January, I reported that only six members of the 15 member Senate Veterans Affairs Committee actually served in the military. On the House side, the Veterans Affairs Committee has 29 members and only six are veterans.

We’ve seen the amount of money funneled into the VA system increase significantly (historical amounts) in the last seven years. Nobody can refute those numbers. So money is not the only answer to veteran’s problems.

The best answer is to give honorably discharged veterans healthcare from their local hospitals and clinics at a reduced cost. No travel needed. If you are honorably discharged, you get the healthcare with no priority levels. Those who have service-connected injuries would get those injuries cared for free of charge. Military retirees would get the same service and for their families. Much of the money used by the VA is used for building new clinics and hospitals or leasing them. That money could better be used for actual healthcare and by hiring more rating officials to reduce the time that it takes to get a claim rated.

Many veterans will remember that Tester proclaimed that since his brother served in the National Guard, this made him hunky-dorrie on military and veterans issues. Obama uses a grandfather as his basis for his expertise on veterans’ issues. It seems this is the Democrats’ angle with veterans. The brother and grandfather’s service is patriotic, but that does not mean Obama and Tester have exceptional insight on veterans issues.

Both lack the basic understanding of what it actually means to be a veteran. Both never signed their names on the line that gave the Government the right to send them any where in the world at a moment’s notice.

It was reported that, “Obama said that he understands the plight of U.S. veterans better than does his opponent, Sen. John McCain, who served in the U.S. Navy.”

Good grief. Obama needs to get a grip. McCain’s family has a proud history of service to our country in the military. Obama – not at all. McCain went to the Naval Academy, served in the Navy, was a POW for five years, and has two sons currently serving in the military. Veterans should have walked out after those remarks from Obama about their fellow veteran.

Many promises are made during a campaign and most never come to fruition. A classic example is the Tester campaign of 2006. Obama is making promises about more funding for veterans and better access to care. He knows little about the issue. A few veterans may take the bait, but most will vote for the man who has worn the uniform and sacrificed much for our country – a man who actually served in the military.

The Convention (Day 2)

The second day of the convention contained more pointed language hurled at John McCain and George W. Bush. It was time for the speakers give the attendees some “red meat” to chew on.

Most delivered some “red meat,” but I heard that former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia, was moved on the schedule out of the network coverage time because he refused to go into the attack mode. He was supposed to give the keynote address, but the keynote address was really given by Senator Hillary Clinton.

The big event was the speech by Senator Hillary Clinton and the crowd went wild. The video of her life before she spoke was exceptional. Her speech was very well delivered and the crowd went wild. The basis of her speech was for the Democrats to be a team and elect Obama and Biden, but she managed to toot her own horn a lot, and she deserves it. Now the question everyone will be asking is, “Did it work?” Or, do the convention attendees believe that maybe the best person for the job or maybe the Vice Presidential choice should have been Hillary. Time will tell. The Obama team may be breathing a sigh of relief tonight, but there still must be a little nervousness in their camp because Bill Clinton speaks on day three.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer spoke before Clinton. He attempted to warm up the crowd by talking about energy and distorting McCain’s stance on energy, which most Americans agree is the better plan than Obama’s. It was Barack Obama that voted for the Bush/Cheney energy plan. John McCain did not vote for it.

Sadly, many attendees were seen on camera laughing uncontrollably at Schweitzer’s goofier than normal antics. One person told me that Schweitzer reminded him of the character “Cousin Eddie” played by Randy Quaid in the movie National Lampoon’s Vacation with his awkward gestures and funny actions on stage. Cousin Eddie was the person that had the steel plate in his head, I believe. I read one blog comment that said Schweitzer made a strong national impression. Sure he did – if you want that impression to be that Montanans are hicks.

Most folks in eastern Montana, who are having better than average economic times due to increased drilling, probably cringed when the governor talked so much about big oil being so bad. All in all Schweitzer made Montanans look terrible on a national stage with his goofy antics. Luckily, when I did a few checks of other TV stations, most were not carrying the Governor’s stand-up comedy routine. That was good for Montana.

Day three will be another night to watch as Joe Biden speaks, but the biggest speech will be from former President Bill Clinton. It’s must see TV.

Friends

It appears the Obama folks don’t want voters to see this ad:



He’s just another one of Barack Obama’s friends.

The Convention (Day 1)

I watched most of the Democratic National Convention yesterday switching from CSPAN, FOX, CNN and MSNBC.

If you want to get a clear view of the convention with no pundits giving their opinions, then CSPAN may be the place for you.

If you want to watch a love fest for the Democrats, tune into MSNBC. Both CNN and FOX presented balanced views.

One theme stands out from the first day: What will the Clintons do? Will Hillary Clinton rally her supporters for Barack Obama? Can she, or are they so ticked off at the process that they may lead a revolt? Will two term President, Bill Clinton, get the love he deserves? For the Clintons, there’s a new sheriff in town (Obama). They seek respect from the sheriff. It may be coming, albeit slowly, as we heard Barack Obama give Bill some love yesterday at an event. His wife, Michelle, gave Hillary a little love during her speech last night. There will be an interesting roll call vote.

It was nice to see Senator Ted Kennedy take the stage and he sounded great. While I don’t agree with his views very much, you won’t find any hate toward him on this blog. I won’t go as low as some other blogs do when someone is down (or out). Ted Kennedy is an American icon. His family contributed much to our country. We wish him well in his battle and hope to see him back in the Senate in 2009.

Michelle Obama’s speech was delivered very well. She attempted to place a bandage on the wounds she created with her earlier remarks about being proud of America for the first time. I was looking for a little more than a campaign stump speech – I was looking for more personality from her about her husband. The Obama children are delightful and cute. The Obama campaign wants to project the family as a typical middle class family, but they are far from what most Americans would call typical or middle class. Of course, some may think the children are used as props to garner votes and that may be true. But that issue has to be left up to their parents and their principles. Barack did not help himself with the Missouri voters as he was mixed up about what city he was in when he appeared via satellite. He was in Kansas City, but first said he was in St. Louis.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer speaks tonight right before Hillary Clinton. It’s typical to place a weak speaker before a strong one at these conventions. Schweitzer fits the weak speaker part well. According to the schedule, he speaks between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.

Ironically, the sixth most powerful senator (Max Baucus) does not appear to have any key speaking engagements at the convention, nor does the junior senator, Jon Tester, although several other senators are speaking. That kind of explains how the national party feels about these two.

The talk of day two is still centered on the Clintons. We’ll see how it plays out. Maybe Hillary will announce she is running with John McCain! Now that would be some news.

Olympics

Before they get too distant in the rearview mirror, I wanted to comment on the 2008 summer Olympics. I think they were great. I enjoyed watching them, but I really don’t like it when the Olympics are held in a time zone on the other side of the world and many of the events happen in the middle of the night here in the USA. But with the Internet, it was easy to keep up the results. It’s just too easy to go to ESPN.com or some other website to find out ahead of the broadcast who won the event – and I did that often.

I also found that when I was up in the middle of the night that nothing put me in the sleepy mode faster than watching the 50 km race walk.

One night when I was not at home, I even accessed the Internet via cell phone to find out if Michael Phelps won his eighth gold and if Dara Torres won the gold in her event. Of course, there were some NFL games that night so I had to check those scores.

NBC did a decent job in covering the events. NBC needed a win as they are faltering mostly due to their cable network, MSNBC. China put on a good “show” and managed to keep their dismal record on human rights, religious freedom, and freedom of speech out of the limelight.

Michael Phelps did what no person had ever done. To me he was the star of the 2008 Olympics, although some may argue that the Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, winning three gold medals on the track and breaking world records was equal. Beside five more gold medals for Phelps, Phelps also acted like he’d won a race before, while Bolt’s actions before the 100 meter race was even over was too much showboating and not in the spirit of the sportsmanship. Of course, his actions are pale in comparison to the Cuban Taekwondo athlete who kicked the referee in the face after he was disqualified.

I was also very proud of Nastia Liukin for her winning the Women's individual all-around gymnastics title. I think she was only the third American woman ever to do that. I was also happy to see Shawn Johnson win the gold in the balance beam. These young ladies and their teammates made me proud.

Of course there were some issues with lip-syncing, fake fireworks, underage gymnasts, etc. Those 14 year old China gymnasts should have another Olympics in them, shouldn’t they? Maybe they will find some other “young” gymnasts from their sports factory for 2012. The scoring system in boxing was messed up and who can forget the dropping of the batons by the men and women’s 4 by 100 relay teams. USA softball suffered a setback, but the USA Men’s Basketball team was redeemed. The USA is once again home to the world’s greatest athlete, Bryan Clay, who destroyed the field in the men’s Olympic decathlon. All in all it was a normal Olympics with highs, lows, and some conflicts.

For a couple of weeks the world came together (except Russia invaded Georgia) and the competition was great. China put on a great show that will be hard for any other country to match. There were around 43 world records set and 132 Olympic records. Many of the venues were built recently just for the Olympics and helped with so many records being set.

It was a nice summer break, but now it’s time for some football.

It’s OK. Really.

To me, it all comes down to which candidate for President will make the best Commander in Chief. The world is still a very dangerous place and we need a President who has the skills and experience to protect us. These are just a couple of reasons I am supporting John McCain, and so I will proudly display a link to his website on the left side of the screen.

Also, check out the video below. Even if you’re a Democrat, it’s OK to vote for John McCain. Really.

U.S. Highway 2

Most folks may remember the push on Montana’s hi-line to make U.S. Highway 2 a four-lane road across Montana.

Most politicians, like Max Baucus and Jon Tester, wanted to win the hi-line vote, so they would say publicly that they supported 4 for 2, and that they would work to get it funded.

It does not appear they worked as hard as North Dakota’s Senators.

With Max Baucus being called the sixth most powerful senator, and with his campaign site hailing him as the “Senior Member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, where he is Chairman of the panel that has jurisdiction over Highway Funding” it must be a punch in the gut for his supporters, especially those along the hi-line, to read that North Dakota’s two Democratic senators delivered on their promise of turning U.S. Highway 2 across North Dakota into four lanes. Meanwhile, Montana waits.

Congratulations to the residents along U.S. Highway 2…in North Dakota.

Brotherly Love?

Last week was a tough week for Barack Obama. McCain continues to make progress. This week the Democrats gather in Denver for the convention and there are already reports that there’s a tiff between the Clinton and Obama folks.

Let’s take a look at one of the major issues that came up last week after Obama appeared at the Saddleback Forum with Pastor Rick Warren.

From the Obama Campaign Website:

When asked about America's greatest moral failure, Senator Obama replied:

"I think America’s greatest moral failure in my lifetime has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me, and that notion of — that basic principle applies to poverty. It applies to racism and sexism. It applies to, you know, not having — not thinking about providing ladders of opportunity for people to get into the middle class. There’s a pervasive sense, I think, that this country, as wealthy and powerful as we are, still don’t spend enough time thinking about the least of us."

Well, maybe Barack was not referring to his brother who, according to this article, was found living in a hut on the outskirts of Nairobi:

Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate's half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender.

"No-one knows who I am," he told the magazine, before claiming: "I live here on less than a dollar a month."

You would think that Barack Obama who made more than $4 million last year, who recently vacationed on a private beach in Hawaii and owns a million-dollar mansion, would look out for his little brother a little more.

If he treats his family like this, how will he treat regular Americans if he becomes President?

The times are changing for Obama, and he’s starting to whine about any information that comes out that does not show him as “The One.” His unfavorable ratings are up. The race for President is closer than it ever should have been partly because of the unknowns about Obama, his judgment, his flip flops, and the fact that the Democrats have screwed things up pretty well in Congress since they have been in charge.

This week may make or break Obama. It should be fun to watch.