Bill says wonderboy can't deliver

He almost says: Vote McCain!

Hours before former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took center stage Tuesday night in Denver to offer words of healing for the Democratic Party, her husband was detonating what could be interpreted as another blast at presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Speaking at a forum of ex-world leaders less than a mile from the site of the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton drew an analogy that had many wondering whether the former president had made peace with the idea of an Obama candidacy. “Suppose for example you’re a voter and you have candidate X and you have candidate Y,” Clinton said. “Candidate X agrees with you on everything but you don’t think that person can deliver on anything. Candidate Y disagrees with you on half the issues but you believe that on the other half, the candidate will be able to deliver.”

“This is the kind of question that I predict — and this hsteeleas nothing to do with what’s going on now — but I am just saying if you look at 5, 10, 15 years from now, you may actually see this delivery issue become a serious issue in Democratic debates because it is so hard to figure out how to turn good intentions into real changes in the lives of the people we represent.”

Whether Clinton, who for 20 years has been the star of the Democratic Party, intended the analogy to represent a futuristic look at presidential politics, its relevance to the current candidacies of Republican John McCain and Obama were unmistakable.

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Fighting back against Obama's thugs

Like all Leftists, Obama believes that any criticism of him is improper and illegitimate



Here is the ad Barack Obama doesn’t want you to see. Pass it on. I cannot stress enough how outrageous the Obama campaign’s attempt to silence the creators of the Ayers ad is. Mr. Hope and Change is applying Chicago-style mafia tactics to intimidate those who want to alert the nation to Obama’s troubling ties to, and longtime relationship with, the unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist.

Obama’s lawyers and minions are playing hardball with TV stations that have dared to air the ad. They have the gall to champion campaign finance integrity — even as Obama has just admitted hiding payments to his Chicago cronies at ACORN.

The Obama campaign can’t cite anything false or defamatory about the ad because it is accurate and truthful. This intimidation campaign is of a piece with the left-wing MoveOn effort to bully GOP donors. Remember?

I’ve just obtained the response of the group running the ads that Obama doesn’t want you to see:

American Issues Project Responds to Obama Campaign's Efforts to Compel TV Stations, Government to Censor Ad. Obama team fails to convince stations to kill ad in spite of threats, harassment and false claims

Washington, DC - August 26, 2008 - The Barack Obama campaign has resorted to a campaign of intimidation and legal threats to convince television stations and the federal government to force off the air an ad by the American Issues Project detailing the link between Sen. Obama and remorseless domestic terrorist William Ayers.

The Obama campaign has been contacting stations running American Issues Project's ad in an unsuccessful attempt to compel them to pull the spot. The Obama campaign also sent a letter yesterday to the Department of Justice asking the government to investigate American Issues Project, its officers, board of directors, and donors. With no success on either front, the campaign has begun running its own ad in response. Notably, this ad fails to dispute a single fact in the American Issues Project's initial ad.

"The Obama campaign knows it can't argue the facts of the link between Obama and Ayers, so it is instead resorting to a desperate campaign of intimidation and legal threats," said Ed Martin, American Issues Project's president. "The scary question this raises is if Barack Obama demonstrates this little regard for free speech from his opponents during the campaign, what could the American people expect from him as a president?" "The tremendous amount of time, money and effort the campaign is expending to run its own ads on the Ayers controversy and dispatch its hired guns all over the country - during the Democratic convention - speaks to the fear they must have that this issue is resonating with American voters."

American Issues Project sent a letter today to the Department of Justice responding to the Obama campaign's claims. Key points from the letter:

AIP is organized as a qualified nonprofit corporation as that term is defined in the regulations of the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") 11 C.F.R. 114.10. As such, AIP enjoys the protections of the provisions of the Supreme Court's decision more than twenty years ago in FEC v. Massachusetts Citizens for Life, Inc., 589 F. Supp. 646 (D. Mass. 1984), aff’d, 769 F.2d 13 (1st Cir. 1985), aff’d, 479 U.S. 238 (1986).

AIP complies with each and every one of the provisions outlined by the Supreme Court in the MCFL case, as well as the regulations of the FEC promulgated subsequently…

Counsel for the Obama Campaign is undoubtedly fully knowledgeable of the reporting and compliance responsibilities of qualified nonprofit corporations, such as NARAL-Pro Choice America ("NARAL"), an organization that, ironically, also claims protection as an entity described in Massachusetts Citizens for Life v. FEC…

AIP functions in exactly the same manner as NARAL and any other qualified nonprofit corporation. NARAL has made substantial independent expenditures in opposition to Sen. McCain's presidential candidacy during the 2008 election cycle and continuing through the present time. Yet, no objection to those expenditures has been raised by the Obama campaign.

Surely we have not come to a point where the government and its agencies are used to protect presidential candidates from citizens' speech, essentially destroying the very purpose, meaning and historical essence of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The full text of the letter is available at: http://www.americanissuesproject.org/. The American Issues Project's ad began airing Thursday, August 21, and will continue through the Democratic Convention. An electronic version of the ad and full documentation of all statements made are available at American Issues Project's website: www.americanissuesproject.org.

About American Issues Project

American Issues Project is a 501(c)4 organization representing a coalition of conservative activists committed to raising important issues that deserve deeper examination given their impact on policy and politics. In accordance with federal law, American Issues Project only solicits and accepts contributions from individuals and not from any business corporation. For more information, visit: www.americanissuesproject.org.

Spread the ad far and wide. Will they come after bloggers next? Shut us up? No, they can’t.

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The lastest Obamology from Taranto

Something seemed to us just a bit off about Michelle Obama's speech. Here's what we mean:

You know, what struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. Like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities they never had themselves. And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

Could it really be that these pieties were what first "struck" Michelle about Barack? Not to take anything away from the admirable values Mrs. Obama describes, but does a woman really fall in love with a man because his mother struggles to pay the bills, or because he believes in the value of hard work? You can easily imagine a woman talking about a man she's been dating, enumerating this same list of admirable qualities and then concluding: "But I don't love him," or "But somehow, it just doesn't click." There is an even more abstract quality to Mrs. Obama's professions of love for America:

All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won't do--that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be. That is the thread that connects our hearts. That is the thread that runs through my journey and Barack's journey and so many other improbable journeys that have brought us here tonight, where the current of history meets this new tide of hope. That is why I love this country.

She loves her country because of the thread that runs through the journey where the current meets the tide? Sorry, but this just doesn't ring true.

The most commonplace observation about Mrs. Obama's speech has been that she had to say she loves America, because other things she's said--most notably, "For the first time in my adult lifetime I'm proud of my country"--have left that in doubt. (Indeed, her comments about America are so downbeat that some wag has started a blog called Michelle Obama Suicide Watch.) But then we remembered a comment Mrs. Obama made about a year ago in an interview with Glamour:

"We have this ritual in the morning. They come in my bed, and Dad isn't there--because he's too snore-y and stinky, they don't want to ever get into bed with him. But we cuddle up and we talk about everything from what is a period to the big topic of when we get a dog: what kind?"

Maybe Mrs. Obama just expresses affection in the somewhat unusual idiom of the putdown. America is snore-y and stinky, and I love it! This can easily be misunderstood, and the political professionals know it, so they gave her a speech that expressed straightforward admiration of her husband and her country. It was probably a wise choice, even if it rang slightly false.

After her speech, Mrs. Obama brought her two daughters onstage. The younger one, Sasha, seemed scared at first but quickly warmed up. Mr. Obama, appearing through the magic of television, had a senior moment, first saying he was in Kansas City and then in St. Louis. "What city are you in, Daddy?" Sasha asked (video here). Turns out it was Kansas City. Thus did Sasha Obama steal the show, ending a carefully scripted evening on a spontaneous note.

Putting On Ayers

"Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire's efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads," Politico reports:

Obama's campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the "American Issues Project," the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements. The Obama campaign--and tens of thousands of supporters--also is pressuring television networks and affiliates to reject the ads. The effort has met with some success: CNN and Fox News are not airing the attacks. Obama has also launched his own response ad, directly addressing Simmons' attempt to link him to domestic terror.

You can watch the original ad, on Obama's longtime friendship with here. The Obama campaign also put out its own ad, and Commentary's Jennifer Rubin has the script:

Obama: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.

Announcer: With all our problems, why is John McCain talking about the '60s, trying to link Barack Obama to radical Bill Ayers? McCain knows Obama denounced Ayers' crimes, committed when Obama was just 8 years old. Let's talk about standing up for America today. John McCain wants to spend $10 Billion a month in Iraq, tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, selling out American workers. John McCain, just more of the same.

McCain actually wasn't talking about Ayers; this was an independent ad. But the Obama ad afforded the campaign an opportunity to do just that:

A McCain spokesman fired back: "The fact that Barack Obama chose to launch his political career at the home of an unrepentant terrorist raises more questions about his judgment than any ad ever could. And the fact that he's launching his own convention by defending his long association with a man who says he didn't bomb enough U.S. targets tells us more about Barack Obama than any of tonight's speeches will."

This is just bizarre. Obama is just drawing more attention to his association with Ayers--and this point seems so obvious, it's hard to believe it's just a rookie mistake. If we were conspiracy-minded, we'd suspect some secret Hillary Clinton supporter put the Obama campaign up to this.

A Man, a Plan, a Canal . . .

Yesterday we cited an Associated Press report that Joe Biden got the call inviting him to be Barack Obama's running mate while undergoing a root canal. It turns out that a later AP report corrected the record: It was Biden's wife who was having a root canal. We regret the error, though probably not as much as Mrs. Biden does.

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Maybe It Should Have Been McCain-Biden

Some observers are beginning to wonder why Barack Obama picked Joe Biden as his running mate considering the praise he has heaped on John McCain over the years. From the Politico.

Within three hours of the announcement that Joe Biden would be Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate, their Republican rival John McCain was up with a striking ad highlighting Biden's praise for McCain.

And there's plenty more where that came from. Republicans have at their disposal a long trail of Biden quotes speaking fondly of - and affiliating himself with - McCain.

The Delaware Democrat and the Arizona Republican have served in the Senate together for more than two decades. And Biden, a prolific talker, has rattled off in recent years a string of testimonials to McCain's character and stances that the GOP can be expected to roll out to undercut Biden's critiques of McCain.

Biden has called McCain a personal hero and proclaimed that he would run on a McCain ticket. Perhaps more substantively, Biden has praised McCain's stances on climate change and troop levels in Iraq and has acknowledged that McCain's approach to foreign policy differs from President Bush's - all assertions that fly in the face of lines of attack that Obama has been pursuing against McCain.

This only makes the Obama campaign's job tougher as they try to paint McCain as a Bush clone and try to explain what Biden meant when he praised his felow Senator.

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Barack Obama's 'message being lost' amid convention noise

Even the Democrats don't know what the message is

Somewhere in the midst of all the razzmatazz, security scares and psycho-babble about the Clintons' state of mind, Barack Obama has an important message. The trouble, say some worried Democrats, is it's not getting through. The Democratic Convention in Denver has already been compared with the last one, when more time was devoted to giving a feel-good personal biography of the party's candidate, John Kerry, than attacking the Republicans.

Yesterday the first carefully choreographed steps were taken towards unity with Hillary Clinton, ahead of her big speech to the convention last night, when she appeared with Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives Speaker, and Mr Obama's wife, Michelle, to "celebrate the power of Democratic women". The former First Lady was given a rapturous reception by delegates at the Emily's List event, where she told them that they had work to do in "putting more cracks into that glass ceiling" at the White House so that "one day it will completely shatter".

Her appearance, on the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage in America, was in front of many of her most devoted female followers, whose opposition to Mr Obama has hardened in recent weeks over reports that Mr Obama had snubbed her for the vice-presidency and virtually disregarded the huge vote she achieved in the primaries.

Knowing that her own political future could be damaged if she is seen as a divisive figure within the party, Mrs Clinton told them that Mr Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden, "will champion the causes we care most about" in the White House. She said: "We need all those who knocked on doors and made phone calls for me - and got into arguments from time to time - to work as hard for Barack Obama as you worked for me." She also paid tribute to Mrs Obama in a reference to the controversial 3am phone-call advertisement that she ran in the primary campaign. "If the President is not exactly on our side," she said, "call Michelle Obama and we will have someone answering that phone!"

Mrs Obama, in her own speech, sought to stamp on rumours that she dislikes Mrs Clinton by thanking her for the "open and gracious" advice on becoming a first lady. She said that Mrs Clinton's candidacy had destroyed the stereotypes and perceptions that women could not run for president. "That is over, those days are gone," she said.

Inside the Pepsi Centre, where the convention is being held, the atmosphere remains a mixture of a theme park gift shop and a sales conference. Hawaiian delegates wear flower necklaces, Texans sport cheap cowboy hats, Alaskans are in what look like embroidered Eskimo tunics. The men in suits are too busy flicking business cards at each other to listen to most speeches. Every 20 minutes or so, a live band strikes up and everybody gets up to dance or wave their placards.

The big star on Monday was Senator Edward Kennedy, who arrived on stage eight weeks after undergoing surgery for a brain tumour. Delegates were shown spine-tingling images of the Kennedy brothers before the liberal lion, with patches of hair missing in his famous white thatch, brought the convention to its feet with a vow that he would be in the Senate to see "the torch passed again to a new generation of Americans" at Mr Obama's inauguration.

Mrs Obama spoke with a softer voice than usual and smiled shyly at the end of her sentences, as she reassured sceptical voters that her family shared American middle-class values. She played down her career as a top lawyer and emphasised her role as mother and wife, relating a touching anecdote about Mr Obama driving their new-born baby daughter back from hospital, "inching along at a snail's pace, peering anxiously in the rear-view mirror".

Despite the show of unity, the first night reviews, especially from Clinton loyalists, were grim. James Carville, Bill Clinton's campaign strategist, did little to conceal his disdain, saying: "If this party has a message, it's done a heck of a job of hiding it." Even Mr Obama's supporters suggested that it was time for him to start "the second wave of this campaign".

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Obamacide

How does one properly describe another who would - for purely selfish political reasons and with deliberation - intentionally refuse a thirsty child water or a hungry child food? More specifically, what does one call a lawmaker who would condemn to death the child survivor of a botched abortion by permitting doctors to refuse that child, once born alive, potentially life-saving medical treatment and nutrition? A number of things come to mind. Mr. President isn't one of them.

Based on National Journal's vote ratings - an objectively tallied assessment of congressional voting records - Barack Obama has properly earned the dubious distinction as the single most liberal Senator in Congress during his brief, albeit overstayed, tenure. But a cursory review of his words, deeds and associations reveals that this ivory-towered Harvard boy is no run-of-the-mill lefty. He's an extremist among extremists.

Put aside for a moment some of the highly suspect (even criminal) characters within Obama's circle of friends, such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and Tony Resko. Forget the many anti-American sentiments to which prospective first lady Michelle Obama has given voice. And ignore, for now, the socialist, peacenik, MoveOn.org positions Obama holds on a host of fiscal, social and national security-related issues. Instead, for the sake of brevity, take a look at Obama's demonstrably radical stance on just one issue: abortion.

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart the federal ban on the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion. Congress overwhelmingly passed the ban in 2003. Even some of the most liberal members of Congress experienced unexplained fits of common sense, voting for the ban in the face of angry demands from mouth-foaming feminists.

Although the American Medical Association has determined that partial-birth abortion is never necessary under any circumstances, Obama threw a hissy, nonetheless, after the opinion came down. While deriding the Court for its ruling, he whined, "For the first time in Gonzales versus Carhart, the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on abortions with criminal penalties for doctors."

So what, exactly, did the ban ban? What "hard-won right" - as he later called partial-birth abortion - was Obama so steadfast to preserve?

During a partial-birth abortion, the abortionist pulls a fully developed, fully "viable" child - often kicking and thrashing - feet first from her mother's womb, leaving only the top of her head in the birth canal. He then stabs her through the skull with scissors or some other sharp object, piercing her brain until her kicking and moving about suddenly and violently jerk to a halt. Her brains are then sucked out - collapsing her skull - and her now limp and lifeless body is tossed aside like so much garbage.

Again, medical science has determined that this horrific practice, which is nothing short of infanticide, is never necessary. But Barack Hussein Obama - the man who would be President - doesn't see it that way. He called the partial-birth abortion ban, "a concerted effort to roll back the hard-won rights of American women."

Although Obama's love affair with partial-birth abortion has served to chip away at his finely polished veneer, his opposition to the Born Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA) has revealed to the world that backward extremism permeates his marrow. BAIPA very simply requires that when a baby survives an attempted abortion - when she is "born alive" - further attempts to kill her must immediately cease, and steps must be taken to ensure her health and well-being. Makes sense, right?

Not to Barack Obama. While serving in the Illinois state senate, he led the fight against a state version of Born Alive that was substantively identical to the federal BAIPA. In 2002, BAIPA passed the U.S. Senate with unanimous, bipartisan support; yet, Obama vehemently opposed its Illinois twin. This places him on the furthest fringe of pro-abortion extremes. The man's devotion to the pro-abortion industry is so fixed that he would rather allow the murder of newborn babies than give an inch to the sanctity of human life.

When called on the carpet in 2004 for his complicity in facilitating infanticide, Obama began an extensive cover-up, accusing those who exposed the scandal of lying. But in recent days, based on documentary evidence unearthed by the National Right to Life Committee, the Obama campaign has been forced to admit that it was Obama, in fact, who had been lying all along. He not only led the charge to allow the continued practice of infanticide in Illinois, he carried the flag.

During his recent "not-ready-for-primetime" appearance at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback forum, Obama was asked at what point "a baby gets human rights." His answer was shocking: "Well, uh, you know, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or, uh, a scientific perspective, uh, answering that question with specificity, uh, you know, is, is, uh, above my pay grade," said Obama.

What?! Above my pay grade? And this man wants to be the leader of the free world? Even the most ardent pro-abortion wactivist would have likely said that a baby gets human rights as soon as it's born, right? But Obama couldn't say that. His opposition to Born Alive proves he doesn't believe it. And if he had said it, he'd have been called on it. Well, I'm calling him on it anyway.

So, we now add a new word with a dual definition to our modern political lexicon: Obamacide. It means, 1) Killing the newborn survivor of a botched abortion through a deliberate act of omission; and, 2) That which a nation commits upon itself by electing one who would allow such a thing.

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Majority of voters dislike Obama's version of 'family' values

Poll: Americans back man-woman marriage, also believe life commences at conception

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is solidly out of step with the majority of likely voters who define marriage as only one man and one woman and believe that life begins at conception, according to a new WND/Zogby poll. Obama has lobbied intensely for "equal rights" for all Americans, including same-sex couples, to be married and has promised virtually unlimited abortion on demand as one of his first priorities in the Oval Office.

Those positions have sent a conflicting message to the Christians and evangelicals he's tried to lure into his camp with outreaches that have included the independent "Matthew 25 Network" project. A Pew Research poll just a week ago revealed "no significant gains" for Obama among the important category of white evangelical voters.

The newest WND/Zogby poll results assessing the 2008 election showed 58.3 percent would support "a ballot measure in your state" limiting marriage to one man and one woman. Another 36.2 percent would oppose the plan. The survey questioned 1,099 likely voters from Aug. 22-24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Currently Massachusetts and California both allow same-sex "marriage" for both residents and non-residents, meaning duos can travel to those states, get "married," then return to their homes with their marriage license. California's plan, however, is facing a vote of the people in November, since more than 1.1 million voters signed petitions demanding it be put on the ballot.

The new poll also found 59 percent believe human life begins at conception, 16.8 percent think it begins when the baby can survive outside the womb with medical assistance, and 17.2 said life begins at birth.

In contrast, Obama, as an Illinois state senator, opposed a measure to protect babies who survive abortion procedures, because, among other reasons, it would be too burdensome on abortionists.

Joshua DuBois, who has worked on Obama's "faith outreach," says the campaign is dedicated to reaching "people of faith broadly and trying to bridge religious divides." His goal has been to pry loose the GOP's hold on white churchgoers.

While the campaign has been ""reaching out" to those voters, Obama's open disagreement with evangelical leaders on homosexual marriage and abortion apparently hasn't softened. A recent report card from the Campaign for Children and Families described Obama's "unrepudiated positions" of support for homosexual "marriage," teaching homosexuality to school children and adoption by homosexuals.

Obama in June told a homosexual activist group he opposes the "divisive and discriminatory efforts" to install in the California constitution a definition of marriage limiting it to one man and one woman, the report card says.

His wife, Michelle, told the Democratic National Commmittee's "Gay" and Lesbian Leadership Council, "Barack has made crystal clear his commitment to ensuring full equality for LGBT couples . that's why he opposes all divisive and discriminatory constitutuional amendments, whether it's a proposed amendment to the California and Florida constitutions or the U.S. Constitution."

But the WND/Zogby poll showed support for one-man-one-woman marriage among all regions of the country, all education levels and all age and economic groups. Essentially the support for same-sex "marriages" was confined to people who never attend church and subscribe to a more progressive or liberal mindset.

Likewise with abortion, respondents said they would oppose 55.3-to-27.7 percent a president who does not know when life begins. The question referenced Obama's recent response at a campaign appearance with GOP candidate Sen. John McCain at pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. Obama told Warren determining when life begins was "above my pay grade."

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