The McCain- The Surge is ON!

I decided to give John McCain the Old Irish Tribal title of "The" - what the hell I used Yeats yesterday and it is my Blog.


John McCain Surges in Tri-State Area, Remains Best Positioned to Win Key Feb. 5th States



Numbers Show McCain on Top

· In recent polls, John McCain has surged ahead of Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in both of their respective home states, Massachusetts and New York.

· In New York and Connecticut, McCain leads Giuliani by double digits. In Connecticut, McCain leads by 23; in New York, McCain is ahead by 10.

· John McCain is ahead of Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Bay State by 27 percentage points.



CONNECTICUT

Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut

McCain 39%

Giuliani 16

Romney 11



NEW YORK

Siena New York Poll

McCain 34 %

Giuliani 24

Romney 10



NEW JERSEY
Rasmussen Poll
McCain 29%
Giuliani 27

Monmouth Univ/Gannett New Jersey Poll
McCain 29%
Giuliani 25



MASSACHUSETTS

State House News Poll

McCain 45%

Romney 18

*Independents prefer McCain to Romney by a 47 to 20 percent margin.





John McCain Maintains Strong Momentum, Continues Building Organizational Strength

· John McCain won the key states of New Hampshire and South Carolina and is well positioned to win Florida, which will propel him to victory in the February 5th states.

· Senator McCain continues to secure key endorsements and build strong grassroots organizations in every February 5th state.

· Today, John McCain will announce a strong leadership team in Connecticut, including the endorsements of a diverse group of key leaders.

· Senator McCain will also roll out a list of CT statewide grassroots leadership and coalition chairs today.

John McCain: Sun Times Endorsement - Now it Can be Told - Cheryl Reed, Editor (resigned) Didn't write it - it was too good.

Chicago Sun Times under Editor Reed was an avowed enemy of all Chicago Police Officers and helped create the Thug Comfort Zone in Our City - in my opinion.


La Pasionaria, Cheryl Reed, resigned as editor of the Chicago Sun Times on Monday, after complaining that the paper's endorsements were re-written. I read the Sunday endorsement of John McCain and knew that it could not have come from the Cheryl Progressive Independent Voice of the City - Let's Get Into It ! Reed. No way no how.

Since Reed's July 15th Manifesto, The Chicago Sun Times has helped create a Thug Comfort Zone in Chicago, insulted the very working people who purchased the paper with doctrinaire Progressive non-sense, and daily undermining of public confidence in the American Justice system.

The Talented Ms.Reed will no doubt be snatched up by the radical lawyers that she helped enrich themselves with her editorial complicity. The Sun Times has a long road to recovery - this is a great start.

Click my post title for the history of my unhappiness with this once great paper.

For John McCain

February 3, 2008
Facing an uphill battle in the November elections, Republicans need to nominate a presidential candidate who represents the best traditions of the Grand Old Party: fiscal responsibility, devotion to national security and honest conduct of the nation's business.

Republican voters should consider themselves lucky. They have two candidates highly qualified to occupy the Oval Office: John McCain and Mitt Romney, two principled political figures who could chart a new course for our country and lead it forward with honor.

In a close call, our endorsement goes to McCain, a war hero, experienced player in the U.S. Senate and Washington politics, a principled conservative and a leader with an extra something -- that crucial capacity to stir our souls.

If the GOP's chances in November don't look so good these days, they certainly don't look any worse than McCain's own hopes of securing the GOP nomination just a few months ago. His campaign bank account empty, forced to lay off staff and dismissed as a viable contender, McCain soldiered on against the odds and now appears poised to capture the party's nomination.

His character, political courage and grasp of the crucial issues facing the country guarantee that McCain can energize Republicans and capture the independent voters the GOP will need to retain the White House in the face of the low poll numbers of President Bush.

No one can read his account of the cruel years of torture and solitary confinement in the Hanoi Hilton without feeling a lump in the throat. He never broke.

And anyone who reads his memoir, Faith of My Fathers, understands the foundation on which McCain built a reputation as a politician of the highest ethical standards not afraid to defend unpopular positions and fight for what he believes in. He clung to his belief that the U.S. should increase the troop commitment in Iraq, which caused his early lead to evaporate, and most thought would kill his chances to be president.

McCain is a free thinker who judges each issue on its merits, not on its political implications.

Like the GOP base, McCain understands -- in a way Republicans feel that the Democrats fail to comprehend -- that America faces an implacable enemy in Islamist fanaticism. He articulates eloquently the conservative belief that the consequences of defeat in Iraq would be crippling to the U.S. military's morale, damaging to national security and a signal victory for America's enemies. Like the GOP base, he believes that it wasn't the invasion of Iraq that was a mistake, it was the misguided strategy that didn't put enough boots on the ground. Continued success in the surge will enable McCain to make that argument persuasively to war-weary American voters.

On domestic issues, McCain adheres to Republican orthodoxy that cutting taxes, government spending and regulatory red tape are necessary to preserving a strong economy. McCain risked political suicide last year to promote, unsuccessfully, a reasonable and humane immigration reform package, which included border security provisions, along with a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants.

McCain now says he knows America wants border security first. But he has not hedged on his commitment to treat illegal immigrants with compassion. It may be unpopular in some conservative circles, but immigration reform is of vital interest to traditional Republican allies in business.

While boasting core Republican credentials, McCain also has proved that he can reach out to Democrats and work cooperatively toward meaningful solutions -- a trait in rare supply in today's deeply divided capital.

McCain has also been a consistent and loud voice against pork-barrel spending, he is in favor of campaign finance reform, and he has warned about the risks of global warming.

If he is nominated, as we expect he will be, McCain should make Romney America's No. 2 Republican. Given McCain's advanced age, a vice presidential choice has never been more important. A man of impeccable personal integrity, Romney has amassed an enviable record of accomplishment in the business world, public service and elective office. He built a lucrative venture capital and investment business, valuable experience for a White House faced with today's economic insecurities.

He raised the Olympics in Utah from the ashes and led them to a successful conclusion. And as governor of Massachusetts, one of the nation's bluest states, Romney demonstrated how a Republican leader could work with a Democratic legislature to promote economic growth and tackle a complex issue such as expanding health care. Romney has excelled in everything he has done.

But it is McCain we want to see at the top of the ticket. The Democrats are promising the voters what Republicans see as a simplistic and defeatist way out of Iraq -- just withdraw the troops. Straight-talking McCain sees different realities and declares, "The American people deserve to know that the path ahead will be long and difficult."

Admittedly that may be a hard sale in an election year. But it's what Republicans believe, and in McCain they have the standard bearer who can carry that message to the nation and who stands the best chance of convincing Americans that a Republican president needs to lead the nation in seeing Iraq through to a successful end.

Republicans are hungering for a thoughtful Republican who knows how to get things done. That is evidenced by McCain's wins in states as diverse as New Hampshire, South Carolina and now Florida, where only registered Republicans could vote.

Cast a ballot for John McCain. Cast a ballot that counts.

President Barack Obama -Congratulations, Mr. President Elect!

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first. Harry S. Truman

President Elect Barack Obama won the greatest political victory of modern American History.

President
Barack Obama
349John McCain
163 Senate
Democrats
56* (+5)Republicans
40 (-5)
House
Democrats
251 (+20)Republicans
172 (-20)
Barack Obama Elected President
****************
· President ·Obama/Biden 52% (349) McCain/Palin 47% (163)
7:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Georgia (15) 46% 53% (99%) South Carolina (8) 45% 54% (94%)
Indiana (11) 50% 49% (99%) Vermont (3) 67% 31% (89%)
Kentucky (8) 41% 58% (100%) Virginia (13) 52% 47% (99%)
7:30 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
North Carolina (15) 50% 49% (100%) Ohio (20) 51% 47% (94%)
West Virginia (5) 43% 56% (99%)
8:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Alabama (9) 39% 61% (99%) Massachusetts (12) 62% 36% (96%)
Connecticut (7) 60% 39% (96%) Mississippi (6) 43% 57% (99%)
Delaware (3) 62% 37% (100%) Missouri (11) 49% 50% (100%)
DC (3) 93% 7% (100%) New Hampshire (4) 55% 44% (84%)
Florida (27) 51% 49% (99%) New Jersey (15) 57% 42% (98%)
Illinois (21) 61% 38% (95%) Oklahoma (7) 34% 66% (99%)
Maine (4) 58% 40% (78%) Pennsylvania (21) 55% 44% (99%)
Maryland (10) 61% 38% (97%) Tennessee (11) 42% 57% (98%)
8:30 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Arkansas (6) 39% 59% (94%)
9:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Arizona (10) 45% 54% (97%) New York (31) 62% 37% (99%)
Colorado (9) 53% 46% (80%) North Dakota (3) 45% 53% (97%)
Kansas (6) 42% 57% (97%) Rhode Island (4) 63% 35% (98%)
Louisiana (9) 38% 60% (96%) South Dakota (3) 44% 54% (98%)
Michigan (17) 57% 41% (97%) Texas (34) 44% 55% (96%)
Minnesota (10) 54% 44% (98%) Wisconsin (10) 56% 43% (96%)
Nebraska (5) 41% 57% (99%) Wyoming (3) 33% 65% (100%)
New Mexico (5) 57% 42% (98%)
10:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Iowa (7) 54% 45% (99%) Nevada (5) 56% 42% (73%)
Montana (3) 46% 51% (88%) Utah (5) 34% 63% (99%)
11:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
California (55) 61% 37% (73%) Oregon (7) 56% 43% (58%)
Hawaii (4) 72% 27% (99%) Washington (11) 57% 41% (52%)
Idaho (4) 35% 62% (85%)
1:00 ET Obama McCain Obama McCain
Alaska (3) 36% 62% (81%)

Chicago Tribune Endorsement of John McCain

For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office

Sunday, January 27, 2008
703-650-5550


THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE ENDORSES JOHN MCCAIN

"To hear McCain speak of honor, of duty, is to wake up the echoes of John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them. A President McCain would engage challenges domestic and foreign with the candid conviction that doing what's right may cost us. ... Mitt Romney has the skill set of a superb Treasury secretary. But, thus far, he hasn't convinced us he would be McCain's equal in confronting that dangerous world of 2008. ... [H]is constancy is that of a man grounded in crisp and clear principles that he doesn't exchange for the popular opinion du jour. ... We endorse him confident that as chief executive and commander in chief, he would meet the honorable standards he has set for himself and our country." -- The Chicago Tribune

Excerpts From "For The Republicans: McCain"

Editorial
Chicago Tribune
January 27, 2008

... Many Americans yearn for the holiday-from-history that was the 1990s. The Cold War had ended; the cataclysmic updraft of concrete dust and human DNA hadn't risen from Lower Manhattan .

But there will be no going back. The planet's lone superpower won't again have the privilege of ignoring -- of appeasing with strong words but soft pursuit -- the sworn enemies of this nation and its friends.

One Republican candidate for president dedicated himself to American honor, American duty, long before Sept. 11, 2001. The world of 2008 is the dangerous world John McCain unknowingly spent a military and political career preparing to confront.

To hear McCain speak of honor, of duty, is to wake up the echoes of John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask not what their country can do for them. A President McCain would engage challenges domestic and foreign with the candid conviction that doing what's right may cost us. Maybe plenty.

His unswerving commitment to victory in Iraq is the likely template. He has never brooked defeatism because the consequences of defeat are so severe. McCain instead urged a troop surge to calm Iraq and, now that it's working, he deflects the credit to the general who executed it. ...

This much we know: If McCain says pork is a battle he'll fight, he'll fight it. And he'll do so in a way that helps Americans understand why Washington 's culture of earmarks -- My constituents first! -- softens us as a nation and dooms our children to debt.

McCain, like his fading opponent Rudy Giuliani, projects rigor. Mike Huckabee, stricken with the ambition of so many former governors with nowhere to go, is out of his depth. Mitt Romney has the skill set of a superb Treasury secretary. But, thus far, he hasn't convinced us he would be McCain's equal in confronting that dangerous world of 2008.

Four years ago, in mulling candidates for president, we wrote that U.S. voters often make choices based on their pet causes and economic interests. But, we said, citizens of a nation at war against genuine global threats don't have that luxury. To reinforce the point we quoted a leader who wasn't on the ballot, John McCain: "So it is, whether we wished it or not, that we have come to the test of our generation, to our rendezvous with destiny. ... All of us, despite the differences that enliven our politics, are united in the one big idea that freedom is our birthright and its defense is always our first responsibility. All other responsibilities come second."

Yes, all other responsibilities come second. McCain was correct -- and we were struck to hear him articulate the very same message to Americans in his victory speech after South Carolina 's primary on Jan. 19.

McCain isn't a repetitive robot. But his constancy is that of a man grounded in crisp and clear principles that he doesn't exchange for the popular opinion du jour.

That constancy, those principles, convince us that John McCain is the best Republican candidate for president in the Feb. 5 Illinois primary. We endorse him confident that as chief executive and commander in chief, he would meet the honorable standards he has set for himself and our country.

Read Entire Chicago Tribune Editorial: "For The Republicans: McCain"

John McCain: Catholics Support John McCain

Yesterday, I remarked that the issue of school choice should be a bell weather for American Catholic support of John McCain's Presidential Candidacy. McCain reflects the attitudes of most Americans and Catholics in particular. Catholics constitute one of the largest voting blocks in the Democratic Party, but many of us feel ignored by the Democratic National Committee and its sharply Left Wing rubrics for candidates: Catholics are Pro Life, want School Choice, an end to Tax strategies that shrink the Middle Class and Catholics support an Honorable end to the War on Global Islamist Terror: in Iraq and around the globe.

Catholics are supporting John McCain. This Catholic Democrat has supported John McCain from the get-go.

Click my post title for Catholic News Agency's report on the Surge in American Catholic Support for John McCain.

Huge Hat Tip To Patrick Hynes of the Granite State - New Hampshire and publisher and editor of Ankle Biting Pundits

This from McCain Headquarters:

JOHN MCCAIN WINS CATHOLIC SUPPORT NATIONWIDE
For Immediate Release
Contact: Press Office

Monday, March 10, 2008
703-650-5550


ARLINGTON, VA -- Today over 100 prominent Catholics nationwide have come together to support John McCain for president. The National Catholics for McCain Committee, led by U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Former Governor Frank Keating (R-OK), is growing rapidly. The group is represented by elected officials, businessmen and women, grassroots organizers, students, and Catholic leaders from over two dozen states.

"John McCain has a common sense vision for America based on faith, freedom, and families," said Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), National Co-Chair of the National Catholics for McCain Committee. "Committed to the protection of innocent human life, he is a leader Catholics will be proud to support. John McCain knows from experience what it means when a society tramples on the truth of the value of the human person. He is committed to defending the dignity and value of every person, regardless of their status."

John McCain expressed his deep appreciation and stated, "I want to thank Catholic voters today, who have played a vital role in electing me as the Republican nominee for the presidency. I am humbled by the support of such a diverse group of Catholic leaders who are dedicated to the defense of traditional marriage, advocate for the protection of innocent human life, and share my vision for a stronger, safer and more prosperous America . I stand firmly with those Catholics who believe that human rights are natural rights for all people, in all places, and in all stages of life."

The National Catholics for McCain Committee is actively recruiting Catholics at the national, regional, state, local, and parish levels to help share John McCain's vision and pro-Catholic message.

Catholics For McCain Co-Chairs:

U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, Kansas
Former Governor Frank Keating, Oklahoma

Catholics For McCain National Leadership Committee:

Republican House Leader John Boehner , Ohio
Former U.S. Senator Mike DeWine, Ohio
Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart , Florida
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
Former U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Washington , DC
Representative Ray LaHood, Illinois
Representative Dan Lungren, California
U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, Florida
Representative Jean Schmidt, Ohio
Representative Pat Tiberi, Ohio

Catholics For McCain National Steering Committee:

David Adams, Florida , Retired Senior Foreign Service Officer
Laurence Alvarado , Florida , Managing Director, Bearing Point & Contributor, InsideCatholic.com
Hon. William Barr, Virginia , Former U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
David Barron, South Carolina, Former Advisor & Surrogate, Reagan for President
Andresen Blom, Hawaii, Former Executive Director, Hawaii Right to Life
Gerry Bradley, Indiana, Law Professor, University of Notre Dame School of Law
Helen Anne Bunn, California , Owner & Operator, Health Care Facilities
Frank Cannon, Virginia, Treasurer, Susan B. Anthony List & Former Campaign Manager, Bauer for President
Mary Cannon, Virginia, Speechwriter & Former Deputy Communications Director, Kemp for President
Ryan Carney, Virginia, Former Chairman, CUA Republicans & Former Finance Director, Brownback for President
Alan Carson, Georgia, President, Obor Digital
Joseph Cella, Virginia , Founder, National Catholic Prayer Breakfast
Theo Chalgren, Minnesota , Visual Media Producer
Linda Chavez , Virginia , Conservative Author & Syndicated Columnist
Denis Coleman , Florida , Former Chairman, Covenant House & Former General Counsel, Bermuda
Jim Corbett, South Carolina , Former State Director, Brownback for President
Lisa Correnti, Maryland , Grassroots Activist & Homemaker
Timothy Costa, Rhode Island , Policy Advisor
Marjorie Dannenfelser, Virginia, President, Susan B. Anthony List
Martin Dannenfelser, Virginia, Former Vice President, Family Research Council
Shawn Denton, Florida , Catholic Outreach Coordinator in Broward County , McCain for President
Terry Denton, Florida, Catholic Outreach Coordinator in Broward County, McCain for President
Bob Destro, Washington, DC, Law Professor, Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
Stephen Louis A. Dillard, Georgia, Attorney & Former Legal Policy Advisor, Huckabee for President
Bernard Dobranski, Michigan , Dean, Ave Maria School of Law
Aggie Dowd , New Hampshire , Political Activist
John Dowd, New Hampshire, Former State Chairman, New Hampshire Republican Party & Coordinator, Catholics for Bush
Martin Duggan , Missouri , Television Host & Catholic Activist
John Eddy, Arkansas , Former National Victory Director, Republican National Committee
Tracy Eddy, Arkansas , Former Senior Staffer, the White House
Umberto Fedeli, Ohio, President & CEO, Fedeli Group
Ariel Fernandez , Florida , Catholic Outreach Coordinator in Miami-Dade County , McCain for President
James Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania, Former State Regional Coalition Chair, Catholics for Bush
Dorothy Fleming, Minnesota, Deputy Chair, Republican Party of Minnesota
Angela Flood, Virginia, Former Deputy Political Director, the White House
Robert P. George, New Jersey , McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
Martin Gillespie , New Jersey , Former Director of Catholic Outreach, Republican National Committee
Rob Gleason , Pennsylvania , Chairman, Republican Party of Pennsylvania
Frank Hanna, Georgia, CEO, Hanna Capital, LLC
Hon. Melissa Hart, Pennsylvania, Former Representative, US House & Candidate for Congress
Deal W. Hudson, Washington, DC, President, Morley Publishing Group
John J. Jakubczyk, Arizona, Former President, Arizona Right to Life
John M. Klink, California, Former Diplomat, Vatican
Christian Kotscher, Georgia, National Principal, IBM
Alfred A. Lagan, Massachusetts, Founder & Chairman, Congress Asset Management Company
Alyssa Lombardi , Virginia , Teacher & Pro-Life Activist
Connie Marshner , Virginia , Writer, Editor & Grassroots Leader
Kitty Martinez , Florida , Former Educator
Hon. Bob McDonnell, Virginia , Attorney General, Virginia
Edward McFadden, Virginia, Former Senior Advisor, Fred Thompson for President
Margaret Melady, Virginia , Former President, American University in Rome
Amb. Thomas Melady, Virginia, Former US Ambassador, Vatican
Tom Monaghan, Florida, Catholic Philanthropist & Founder, Domino's Pizza & Ave Maria University
Hon. Maureen Mooney, New Hampshire, State Representative (R-Merrimack) & Former State Director, Catholics for Bush
Mario Murgado, Florida, President & CEO, Miami Automotive Retail, Inc. Brickell Motors
Dennis Myers, Florida , Broward County Republican Executive Committee
Chris Nolan, Maryland , President, Landbridge Equity, LLC
Catherine Nugent, Missouri, President, Willis Pendleton Inc.
Joe O'Farrell, Georgia , Catholic Activist & Fundraiser
Patrick O'Meara, Michigan, Founder, O'Meara Ferguson Kearns, Inc.
Hon. Brian Palmer, Michigan , State Representative (R-Romeo)
Dana Phillips , Iowa , Former Co-Chairman, Catholics for Brownback
William F. Plunkett, Jr., New York , Attorney
Alexandra Preate, New York , Principal, Capital HQ
George Prezioso, New York , Vice President, AWMA
John Pudner, Georgia, President, Concentric Direct
Robert Reilly , Virginia , Former Director, Voice of America
Maureen Roselli, New Jersey , Founding CEO & Former President, Catholic Alliance
Austin Ruse, Virginia, President, Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
Cathy Ruse, Virginia , Former Chief Pro-Life Spokesman , U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Paul G. Scolese, Virginia , Former Staff, Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential Transition Office
Lauren Shea, Florida , Political Activist
Timothy D. Shea, Florida , Real Estate Executive
Shawn Smeallie, Virginia, Partner, American Continental Group
Jack St. Martin , Colorado , Former Campaign Manager, Beauprez for Governor
John Stanton, Pennsylvania , Former Executive Director, Southeast Pennsylvania Pro-Life Union
Frank Stella, Michigan, Chairman & CEO, F.D. Stella Products Company
Hon. George W. Strake, Jr., Texas, Former Secretary of State, Texas & Former Chairman, Republican Party of Texas
Warren Sweeney, New Jersey, Former Executive Director, National Right to Life Committee
Christina Valentine, Virginia , Former President, Franciscan University of Steubenville College Republicans
Rick Valentine, Virginia , Former Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Susan Valentine, Virginia, Vice President, Virginia Society for Human Life
Tim Von Dohlen , Texas , 2004 Delegate & Former Representative, Texas State House
Pat Von Dohlen , Texas , Pro-Life Activist
Robert Wasinger, Virginia, Former Campaign Manager, Brownback for President
John Willke, Ohio, President, Life Issues Institute, Inc.
Chuck Yob, Michigan , Republican National Committeeman, Michigan
Eugene J. Zurlo, South Carolina, Chairman, Zurlo Investment Trust & Former President, Catholic Radio Association

Catholic Students For McCain Leadership Committee:

Billy Valentine, Virginia , Chairman, Catholic Students for McCain, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Lauren Benning, Florida , Catholic Outreach Coordinator in Lee County , McCain for President, Duke University
Raymond M. Gennawey, III, California , Former Chairman, CUA Republicans, Catholic University of America
Danielle Huntley , Massachusetts , Former President, Students for Life of America , Boston College School of Law
Kilty Maher, Iowa, Ave Maria University
Matthew Rooney, New Jersey, Former Chairman, CUA Republicans, Rutgers Law School
Terry Schilling, Illinois , Student Body President, Franciscan University of Steubenville
Thomas Ternan , Texas , Franklin & Marshall College
Katie Wilcox , Michigan , Ave Maria Law School
Colm Willis , Oregon , Boston College

McCain/Palin:McCain Crosses the T – on Obama Armada

Like Nelson at Trafalgar, Togo at Tsushima, Jellicoe at Jutland and Oldendorf at Surigao, John McCain brought all of the heavy guns in his fleet to bear upon the mighty Obama Armada lined up in rigid order of battle.

John McCain crossed the T with his patient and calculated choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on August 29th. It is all over. That move was the game changer. Dean of Chicago Journalism, Robert Novak wrote this:
. . . not only because Palin appears to be an outstanding candidate but also because McCain in his first test as party leader came through with a unique and responsible decision.
The party faithful had feared the worst, in view of McCain's long record as a maverick who enjoyed violating Republican dogma.
As recently as two weeks before Palin's selection, McCain's closest aides feared, in the words of one of them, "McCain would be McCain," by choosing liberal independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman, which would have deflated the convention and indeed the party on the eve of an uphill battle for the presidency.
But on this occasion, McCain made a politically ingenious selection. Whether the presence on the Republican ticket of a woman for the first time actually will attract disaffected supporters of Hillary Clinton is doubtful.
Gender politics aside, she is an ideal running mate. On the one hand, she shares McCain's loathing for earmarks, which are ingrained in the corruption-tainted politics of Alaska. She also has a good record in fighting off big oil, which plays a major role in the politics of Alaska.
Her election as governor broke the hold of the Republican "Alaska gang," whose senior members have been under criminal investigation.
On the other hand, she meets conservative requirements as an opponent of abortion and member of the National Rifle Association. That is much more than most people in St. Paul were hoping for.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/mccain_comes_through.html
Senator Obama, David Axelrod, Howard Dean, the DNC and their money machines are caught in the searchlights turned on by Media attempts at ‘night action’ on Governor Palin’s family and her character. Clown anchors like Olbermann, Madow and Matthews at MSNBC and Campbell Brown, Wolf Blitzer and Jack Cafferty at CNN have exposed themselves as partisans and not journalists.

The McCain Campaign is on target and firing salvo after salvo and the impact is serious on Obama:

Monday, September 08
Race Poll Results Spread
National
USA Today/Gallup
McCain 54, Obama 44
McCain +10
National
Rasmussen Tracking
McCain 48, Obama 47
McCain +1


Obama is sunk, not for lack of brains, but lack of guts. He could have and should have asked – begged Hillary Rodham Clinton to shore up his well-heeled but doctrinaire campaign handled entirely by Progressives. Instead, his rarified soul demanded a lesser light in durable, affable, malleable Joe Biden (D-Delaware).

Obama is perceived, and rightly so, to be a snob and a disdainful prophet of redistribution of wealth. Obama’s Armada and all of its legions of tax-payer funded foot-soldiers (SEIU, Public School Lobby, Teachers Unions, AFSMCE, ACORN & etc.) is sunk.. Obama has been hoisted to Olympus on the hemp and pulleys of the Progressives – kind of a reverse deus ex machina and can only talk down to Americans. He uses nice carefully chosen words but he still talks down to us in litanies of imperative sentences.

McCain steamed right across Obama’s bow and his Armada lined up like baby ducks behind him and Joe Biden. The Armada is shattered.

Waxing biblical, as they did in Denver, I might add from Douay Rheims - Pharao's chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea. Exodus 15:4

John McCain: McCain's Creedence Clear on the Issues Revival -Giving Us the Unscripted Straight Talk

I never liked paying for a performer who had a cut-and paste show. I remember being dragged to a Neil Diamond concert in the late 1970's at the old Auditorium Theatre here in Chicago.

Neil had a formula 'Hot August Night' or some such nonsense - very loud, tinsel-ly, important and bone-crushingly boring show. I slowed down to sixty MPH and let my date out of my 1967 Rambler American, immediately after Neil's sweat-stained 'Thank You!' never to see the young lady again -'I thought we were going to the Italian Village After?' What we want and what we get are two very different things.

Shortly, there after I took a lovely red-head to Creedance Clearwater Revival fronted by the Straight-as- Calvert's in a Cheap Saloon John Fogerty! Magnificent.
'Born on the Bayou' indeed. I married that delightful young woman.

The DNC performers, Senator Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are giving scripted and pre-packaged Pop Concerts. Huge productions, great expectations - so-what finish.

Now, John McCain has been shouting out 'Stuck in Lodi' again! He is the real agent for change because he gives straight talk the venue it deserves up close and personal.

Granite State Giant and Venture Capitalist Patrick Hynes offered to me:

There is a lot of talk these days about “a different kind of campaign.” And yet very little being offered by our friends on the left seems substantively different from everything they have offered for decades.

Sen. McCain truly is offering a different kind of campaign—one that will take direct voter engagement to an unheard of level.

While some candidates rarely even take questions from the media, Sen. McCain will continue to take question from the people. From today’s New Hampshire Union Leader:

Speak on it, my Fortunate Son!

Yesterday, Sen. McCain held the first town hall meeting in what is to be an unprecedented presidential campaign centered around coast-to-coast town hall meetings.



Sen. McCain said yesterday that his experience listening to and speaking directly with voters in New Hampshire led him to adopt that format for his national campaign. He wants an unscripted dialog with the American people, including those who disagree with him.



"If you don't have that, I don't think it's legitimate to say you're listening to the people," he told us.



And so New Hampshire has done more than breathe life into McCain's once condition-critical campaign. It has transformed that campaign, and with it the way national presidential politics will be conducted this year (and perhaps thereafter?).





http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=McCain+reborn:+Taking+NH+nationwide&articleId=c8b84c62-9e62-4975-9834-fe87d6aa858c



Union Leader: McCain Reborn: Taking NH Nationwide



Editorial

SEN. JOHN McCain's presidential campaign was reborn in New Hampshire . So it is fitting that his general election campaign be launched here, and in true New Hampshire fashion.



Yesterday, Sen. McCain held the first town hall meeting in what is to be an unprecedented presidential campaign centered around coast-to-coast town hall meetings.



Sen. McCain said yesterday that his experience listening to and speaking directly with voters in New Hampshire led him to adopt that format for his national campaign. He wants an unscripted dialog with the American people, including those who disagree with him.



"If you don't have that, I don't think it's legitimate to say you're listening to the people," he told us.



And so New Hampshire has done more than breathe life into McCain's once condition-critical campaign. It has transformed that campaign, and with it the way national presidential politics will be conducted this year (and perhaps thereafter?).



How is it that so small a state (only 1.3 million people) could have such a large impact on presidential politics? It is not simply our place in the presidential nomination calendar. After all, Iowa has had a smaller effect.



It is that the political process in New Hampshire is different -- and better -- than the process anywhere else.



Nowhere in America is government more closely controlled by the people. Nowhere in America are the people more widely and directly involved in politics generally and governing specifically.



Consider: At 2.9 million people, Mississippi has more than twice New Hampshire 's population. And yet only 29,700 more people voted in Tuesday's Mississippi presidential primary than voted in January's New Hampshire primary -- 559,242 to 529,542.



Sixty-one percent of New Hampshire 's registered voters -- and more than half the entire adult population -- turned out. Mississippi has more registered voters, 1.78 million, than New Hampshire has residents. But only 31 percent of them voted on Tuesday in an election of real importance.



Sen. McCain does well in New Hampshire because our political process is designed to cut through the fog produced by spin machines and image consultants and put voters in direct contact with the human beings running for the highest office in the land -- and when the voters size up Sen. McCain in person, they see a man they can trust and admire, even if they disagree with him on important issues.



Sen. McCain takes a risk in bringing New Hampshire-style campaigning nationwide. But that is the kind of politician he is. He won't hide behind a phalanx of staffers and consultants. If he can show the American people that strength of character directly, he can win them over, just as he won over New Hampshire .

John McCain wears flannel shirts. McCain and Fogerty know how to please an audience!

John McCain: Howard Dean is a Trainwreck from Way Back

This Goof, Howard Dean, takes a hint like a deaf geek given the brush-off by some gorgeous ankle at a Dance for Swells!

First off Deano - No One ever good news'd me with 'Patrick' - the ears go shut on that salutation.

Secondly, Deano -'In response, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said McCain has done nothing more than Dean did in 2003, when he refused public financing for his unsuccessful presidential bid.

"Howard Dean's hypocrisy is breathtaking given that in 2003 he withdrew from the matching funds system in exactly the same way that John McCain is doing today," Rogers said in a written statement.' Click Toitle for full CNN text.


Deano thinks that Republicans are hateful - From Meet the Press:

Meet The Press / Sunday) Howard Dean in an interview with Tim Russert on Meet the Press admits that he “Hates Republicans and everything they stand for”. Amazing that the Democratic Party is looking to this luntic to save their erroding membership. They must have a death wish! I know they can do better than the Deaniac. Yes — Howard… you are really going to convert moderate Republicans to vote for a Democratic president in the next presidential election with that rhetoric! The crashing and burning is still underway… We suppose it is nature’s way of cleaning house.

Shoot, Howard, my in-laws are Republicans and some of my neighbors. I'm voting for John McCain and I'm Thiiiiiiiiiiisssssss close to jumping ship altogether.

I have not sent a nickle to the DNC sinec Howard Dean grabbed the throtle - BYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Old Number 2 won't make the sharp turn to left Howard! Trainwreck a'comin'!


Here's Deano's note to me.

Dear Patrick,

There was a lot of talk last week about John McCain's blatant hypocrisy on ethics and integrity in Washington.

Here we go again.

McCain is now breaking the law by ignoring the campaign spending restrictions for the Republican primary that came when he asked for federal matching funds -- funds he used as collateral on a loan that helped keep his campaign going.

But now that the lobbyist and special interest money has started pouring into his campaign, he's trying to back out of the promise he made just a few months ago. They're feeding so much cash into his bank account, this "reformer" wants nothing to do with federal campaign finance laws anymore.

That's why today, we're filing a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission demanding that John McCain be held to the campaign finance laws. Trying to back out shows a total lack of integrity and honesty -- he made a deal with the American people to to abide by the law, and in return, he was guaranteed taxpayer money that he used to back a loan.

Patrick, I'd like you to add your name in support of our complaint, and ask as many people as you can to sign on. American taxpayers made a deal with John McCain -- now that he's flush with lobbyist cash, he wants to pretend that it never happened.

Sign on right now:

http://www.democrats.org/McCainBusted

Here's the background on the situation.

A few months ago, John McCain applied for and was approved to receive federal matching funds. Because he couldn't find enough people to fund his campaign, he was also forced to apply for a $4 million line of credit, which he secured by using the federal matching funds as collateral.

By taking the federal funding, he agreed to spend no more than $57 million until the Republican convention. But so far, his campaign has spent at least $49 million -- leaving him with less than $10 million to campaign with through September.

Now that he's won the nomination and has the support of the Republican lobbyist and special interest machine, he's trying to ignore that the whole thing ever happened. He recently wrote a letter to the FEC telling them that he was backing out, even though the FEC is very clear that any request to withdraw from the agreement must be approved; you can't just change your mind and take it back -- legally, you have to be given permission.

McCain isn't asking because he knows he'll never be granted permission, and he doesn't want to have to accept the funding restrictions he agreed to when he used the money as collateral for a loan. He's ripping a page right from George Bush's playbook: ignoring the laws when they aren't convenient and hoping no one will notice.

Stand up and show him that hundreds of thousands of people have noticed -- he can't change the rules in the middle of the game because he doesn't like how things are going for him:

http://www.democrats.org/McCainBusted

Using government programs when it's politically convenient and breaking the rules when it's not ... remind you of anyone?

Just like George Bush, John McCain thinks he's above the law. McCain poses as a reformer, but seems to think reforms apply to everyone but him.

Time to send him a message.


Howard Dean

Yeah, Just Like Bush, Howard. Like a mirror image. McCain has my message - "I fully support McCain; McCain has my money - which used to go to a Democrat Candidate; and McCain has my vote, again." McCain is a good man - you, Howard, are a piece of work in progress.

John McCain - The Dad of Our Country

Susan Estrich has a great article asking the question of 'Who is the Real John McCain?' Is John McCain too conservative; too liberal; too crabby; too impolitic; not smooth enough; too old? Click on my post title for the article itself.

Some months ago when 'John McCain is Toast' was the mantra of REDSTATE and Redstaters during the votes on immigration reform. I argued that John McCain was the only candidate of any Party capable of Leading America in Time of War on Islamist Terror. I had an exchange with some Redstaters and was summarily banned from posting there.

Here is the link of that exchange with some RedStater McCain Haters that got me the bum's rush.

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/pat_hickey/2007/jul/07/john_mccain_staright_talk_requires_no_subtitles

John McCain might not be the Father of Our Country - biologically, there can be only one father, but too many fathers hit the silk on their kids - leaving them to be raised by a Dad: The Man who sets the limits for behavior; provides the comfort and security of a Home; fixes what is broken; steps up for the children; and sets an example to emulate. He's the guy who makes you boil with anger, embarrasment and often envy when it seems that his behavior is too tough a pattern for us to follow. We think - 'how dare HE judge us?' Dad is often the very last person on earth we want to see or hear from - until we are in the jackpot and only he can get us out of it. Boy, I can hear the Progressive Pecksniffery snortin up - 'Are we Children, People ( pronounced Papal in Progressive)? My Baldwin! Relax, cupcakes. Everyone has a Father - no real trick to that - pure Darwinism. The very lucky have a Dad and they understand what it takes to be a good one.

George Washington metaphorically fathered our nation, but John McCain just might be the Dad. The economy, immigration, entitlements, political pork feasts, ox gorings and moral soap boxing are over-shadowed by a very real threat -Islamist terror. We have been at War with Islamist Terror the day that the Twin Towers went down. Everything else went by the board - rather it should have gone by the board.

John McCain is like a good Dad - in past posts I have argued that he is like all of our neighbors -

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2007/09/john-mccain-from-your-neighborhood.html

- but here I would answer Susan Estrich's question with John McCain is the Dad of Our Nation.

John McCain went to War. He wears his heart on his sleeve for his Country, Faith, Wife and Family. He learns from his mistakes and teaches us not to make the same mistakes. John McCain, like a good Dad, will not cut and run when things get too tough.

I was never more Proud of my Father than this moment in the late 1950's -

When I was about six or seven, my mother had severe renal failure after giving birth to my little sister. My Mom nearly died and was hospitalized for weeks. The Old Man worked three jobs and took care of two little guys and an infant; made the meals - He was always a better cook than Mom; did the laundry.

One day- Dad was out hanging the sheets in the yard and my brother and I heard the next door truck driver and the Peoples Gas executive on the other side of him giving out at the Old Man - 'Hey Prudence, when you're done with that how about having tea with the little girls too?' The Old Man took it and kept taking care of us.

John McCain and my Dad are very much alike.


Hat Tip to Meghan McCain's Great Blog ! Photos by Meghan McCain!

http://www.mccainblogette.com/

John McCain: The Road to Baghdad: 'Now, That's What I Call a Surge, Junior!'

Over the weekend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain’s top surrogates, laid the groundwork for McCain’s criticism in a television interview in which he noted Obama’s absence from Iraq and floated the idea that Obama and McCain should go together to be briefed by Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Asked whether he’d be willing to take such a trip, McCain told the AP: ‘‘Sure. It would be fine.’’ ‘‘I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq,’’ he said. McCain questioned whether Obama has ever been briefed by Petraeus. ‘‘I would also seize that opportunity to educate Senator Obama along the way.’’ Obama spokesman Bill Burton declined to respond directly to McCain. ‘‘Senator Obama thinks Memorial Day is a day to honor our nation’s veterans, not a day for political posturing,’’ Burton said.

Both McCain and Obama spent part of Memorial Day in New Mexico, a general election battleground that was decided by razor-thin margins in 2000, for Democrat Al Gore, and in 2004, for Republican President Bush. McCain used a speech at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque to press his case against withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Coming Anytime Soon? The Road To Baghdad - Two Senators; One America

John Sidney McCain: 'You seem to think the world is just some sort of a three-ring circus, and all you've got to do is to run around and have fun.'

Barack Obama: 'I just want you to stand there and admire me for a while. I just got an idea that's gonna make us a fortune. I don't know how I do it. Hey, Mac! (Seeing the desert for the first time]
This must be the place where they empty all the old hourglasses.I can't go on! No food, no water. It's all my fault. We're done for! It's got me. I can't stand it! No food, nothing! No food, no water! No food!

John McCain: What's the matter with you, anyway? There's New York. We'll be picked up in a few minutes.

Barack Obama: You had to open your big mouth and ruin the only good scene I got in the picture. I might have won the Academy Award just like Al Gore! '

John McCain: Barry, from now on you are sacred, you just became a full-blooded American idiot. You've got red blood, ain't you?

(Barack is startledSeeing Terrorists for the first time)


Barack Obama: Yeah, but I don't want to get it all over a stranger.

John McCain: Go ahead, eat up son.

Barack Obama: Those guys don't monkey around, they've got knives, they're liable to try and get the food back the hard way.

CNN Reporter: Do you know him?
[pointing at McCain]

Barack Obama: Well I used to but I kinda outgrew him, I don't dally with riff-raff these days and he's a pretty riffy kind of raff.

John McCain, 'Let's leg it, Junior! Plenty more to see and do.'

N.B.
Quote redacted, like the DNC's pretzle of McCain's 100 years Comment, from Old Hope & Crosby Movies

John McCain: Joe Biden - He was Better Bald

I like Joe Biden as much as the next guy - Tommy Ward? How do you like Senator Joe Biden of Delaware?

'Can't Stand him.'

Why?

'He's a phony and a liar?'

'A Liar, Tommy he's Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee - You saying this because of Biden's lifting of Neil Kinnock's speech ten years ago or so?'

'No. As a Millwright that bothered me, but because he wears a weave.'

Really?

'Didn't you just ask me, Hickey? Yeah, Really. Man your attention span sucks these days. I think he's a phony because he's bald and wears a weave.'

'What were we talking about? Oh, Yeah Joe Biden. Biden the DNC Bridesmaid of Presidential Timber is on John McCain. People got tired of the Howler Duck -Howard Dean and so now Biden who has gravitas, the Millwright from Bohola, County Mayo notwithstanding, and is a widower, takes the train to work and seems fairly decent.
Any Democratic mouthpiece will get their butts handed to them trying to bad-mouth McCain. McCain is the Real Deal. Here's what's Biden's Beef:

"When it comes to Iraq, there is no daylight between John McCain and George W. Bush. They are joined at the hip," Biden said Tuesday in a speech at Georgetown University.

"When it comes to Iraq, there will be no change with a McCain administration ... and so there is a real and profound choice for Americans in November."

McCain, the certain Republican presidential nominee, backs Bush's policy in Iraq and favored last year's increase in U.S. troops in the country.

"John McCain remains wedded to the Bush administration's myopic view of a world defined by terrorism. He would continue to allow a tiny minority to set the agenda for the overwhelming majority," Biden said.

To which John McCain replied on Hardball at Villanova:

McCain pointed out he had fought against the policies of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for four years, but now sees progress in Iraq under Gen. David Petraeus.

“I’m always pleased to get Sen. Biden’s advice and counsel,” McCain said evenly. “The present strategy is succeeding in Iraq and I respect the view of those who don’t agree.”

McCain further tried to distance himself from Bush on global warming, saying he does believe it exists and is a problem. Even if he did not believe it existed, McCain added, what harm could there be in trying to improve the environment for the next generation?

But McCain also said he still does not think setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq will do anything more than create chaos and a more dangerous climate for troops on the ground, adding that polling shows a majority of Americans trust him to better handle that war than his Democratic opponents.

He was less clear on Iran, however. When Matthews pressed him to define whether the ability to create nuclear weapons or the actual “weaponization” of the country would be the “red line” for action, McCain said he didn’t know.

As one student pointed out, the senator has famously called for a “rollback” or “rollover” of democracy through certain “rogue states,” such as Iran, and asked if he still believes that is necessary.

“I think at the end of the day, we can’t allow them to have nuclear weapons,” said McCain, who has also proposed creating a “League of Democracies” separate from the United Nations and a new Office of Strategic Services to deal with those “rogue countries.”

“I think we have a lot of challenges in the world,” he said. “I think the overriding challenge is radical Islamic extremism. I think it’s an ideological struggle at the end of the day — not that much different in some ways from our ideological struggle with Communism and the Soviet Union — but I also think with the proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, we have to do what is necessary to try to prevent those countries from acquiring those weapons which could destroy us.”

Straight talk and no Weave.

Tommy Ward is on to something.

http://www.dailylocal.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily;!1132915844?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FDLN%2FHome&r21.content=%2FDLN%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_1901366

John McCain: A Democrat's Support of John McCain by David R. Carlin

I have been supporting John McCain with my time, treasure and talents, small though they be, since last Spring.

Other like minded Democrats saw in McCain his capacity for leadership and talent for righting the course of America.

A young Democratic (twenty-something) Korean American woman, Lisa Hwang of Chicago's Lincoln Square community admires McCain, but is still on the fence about her vote.

Nevertheless, Ms. Hwang sent along a Commonweal Op Ed essay by Democratic veteran legislator David R. Carlin.

Here is the sum and substance of a Democrat's support for John McCain:

Still, I think the Democratic contenders are wrong and McCain is right about the things that matter most. They’re wrong because they are beholden to the ultras who have seized control of the national Democratic Party. I mean the MoveOn.org wing of the party: people who have good educations, good jobs, good incomes, good neighborhoods, good wine, good coffee, etc., plus a disdain not only for traditional morality and religion but for those Americans-we boobs, nincompoops, and potential fascists-who approve of traditional religious-moral beliefs and values. Obama is more beholden to these folks than Hillary is, but if she becomes president she won’t be able to defy many of their wishes, so great is their power in the party.

But what are the big issues as I see them? For me the single biggest issue is, and has been for many years, abortion. For those who believe, as I do (and as the Catholic religion does), that abortion is unjustifiable homicide, there is no logical way to vote for the presidential candidate of a party committed to the preservation and extension of abortion rights. As for the common argument given by a certain kind of Catholic-namely, that the Democrats are right on so many other things, and together these outweigh abortion-that seems to me to be an argument that is either intellectually careless or downright disingenuous. For how can anything outweigh the slaughter of innocents? Catholics who make this argument may say they believe abortion to be homicide, they may even actually think they believe this; but they can’t possibly believe it. For how could anybody really hold such contradictory beliefs? McCain has a prolife voting record in the Senate, Hillary and Obama have prochoice records. On this count, then, it’s easy for me to choose McCain.

Another important issue is Iraq. I agree with McCain that the 2003 invasion was justified. For me it wasn’t simply, or even mainly, a matter of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein was a chronic and incorrigible troublemaker in one of the most sensitive regions of the world. He had waged a terrible war (with, it must be admitted, U.S. encouragement) against Iran; he had invaded Kuwait; he was a vicious tyrant who oppressed his own people (most notably Kurds in the north and “marsh Arabs” in the south); after being defeated in the “mother of all wars” (the first Gulf War), he repeatedly violated agreements he had made with the victors; he allegedly plotted the assassination of a former American president; again and again he defied United Nations resolutions; and if he did not in fact possess weapons of mass destruction, he gave the proverbial “reasonable man” every reason to believe that he did. Since I don’t believe that every troublesome nation has an inviolable right to sovereignty and noninterference (this perhaps made sense in the good old days of Woodrow Wilson but makes little sense in the days of Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq, and a few other places), I felt that the U.S. policy of “regime change” in Iraq made sense: a policy adopted, it should be remembered, during the Clinton presidency and implemented during the Bush presidency.

But I also agree with McCain that the postinvasion occupation has been a disaster. This is due to at least two things: a great deficiency in the number of occupation troops (a point McCain has emphasized again and again), and a profound ignorance of Mesopotamian history and culture. During World War II it occurred to somebody in the U.S. government that our occupation of Japan might go more smoothly if we first took the trouble to learn something about Japanese culture. And so the government hired the famous anthropologist Ruth Benedict, who produced her classic study The Chrysanthemum and the Sword, which contributed to the tremendously successful American occupation of Japan. Apparently nobody in the Bush administration had a similar thought about Iraq.

I also agree with McCain that the “surge” has been successful, proving that he was right when he insisted, against Donald Rumsfeld, that many more “boots on the ground” were needed. Rumsfeld deserves grades of A-plus for the invasion and F-minus for the occupation.

Most of all I agree with McCain when he says that, regardless of the merits of having invaded in the first place, the United States cannot afford to be defeated in Iraq. Such a defeat would hand a tremendous victory to Al Qaeda. I realize, of course, that if we “lose” in Iraq it won’t be due to Al Qaeda alone; it will also be due, and even more so, to Sunni-Shiite animosities. But it will be almost universally perceived as a victory for Al Qaeda.

For better or worse, the United States is seen as the world’s number-one “policeman.” We are expected by nearly everyone-even our European friends who love to find fault with us-to take the lead in maintaining international order (remember Kosovo?). If we are driven out of Iraq, it will be a defeat not just for our national prestige but, more important, for the cause of international order. Maybe we should never have accepted the call to be the world’s policeman in the first place, but having accepted it we are not free simply to abandon our post in Iraq, which is what Hillary and Obama want us to do. They believe (or profess to believe) that by doing so we will force the Sunni and Shiites to become friends. This seems to me a stunningly unrealistic expectation.

Then there is McCain’s proven ability to work “across the aisle.” The United States is badly polarized along ideological lines, red-state conservative ideologues versus blue-state liberal ideologues. McCain is not an ideologue, and he has a strong track record of defying the ultras of his own party. Hillary and Obama are not ideologues either. But Obama has no track record of defying Democratic ultras, and Hillary has only a slight record of doing so-I refer to her vote (which she’s been trying to explain away for the last year or two) giving George W. Bush permission to invade Iraq. If elected, neither of the two will be able to do much to mitigate the nation’s ideological divide, for they both have their feet firmly planted on one side of that divide. Obama is likely to lessen the nation’s racial divide, and to do this would be no small achievement; but the racial divide is no longer America’s number-one division.

Finally, there is McCain’s tough-minded patriotism. I don’t doubt that Hillary and Obama are patriots. I don’t even doubt that the upscale secularists who have taken over the Democratic Party are patriots; but theirs is a “soft” patriotism, a patriotism twice diluted, once with the waters of cosmopolitanism, and again with the waters of something tasting of pacifism. McCain, by contrast, is a “hard” patriot, not in the least a pacifist. But isn’t there a danger that a patriot of this stripe will prove to be a warmonger? Yes, some danger. But George Washington wasn’t a warmonger, and neither was Dwight Eisenhower, and neither, I think, is McCain. Retired warriors are willing to fight, but rarely do they yearn for another battle (think of Colin Powell).

At this confusing moment in history, a far greater danger, I submit, is to have the world’s most important nation led by a political sect (the Democratic ultras) whose patriotism is soft and whose commitment to a strong military is dubious. So two cheers for Senator McCain-and three loud raspberries for Democratic ultras!

Click my post title for the full text of Mr.Carlin's great essay.

Thanks Lisa! I hope that your instincts and wisdom will give John McCain another vote!

John McCain and the Rented Mule

While working at Gateway Trucking in Chicago Ridge many years ago, my shift supervisor would leave us with these words, 'Night Boys, time to get on home to beat the wife and make love to my dog!'

Only the graduates of St. Ignatius College Prep ( a Chicago Catholic School of Wealthy Brainiacs) were taken aback by his words, as they had been hard-wired by the Jesuits for subtleties in language and the arcana of rhetorical flourishes.

The balance of us, understood that Myron's was a comic levelling device employed after-shift and the natural departure of dockworker command structure.

Loved John McCain's response when asked how he intends to 'beat' Hillary Clinton in the general election: . . . 'like a rented mule.'

The polls prove the best man correct:

The Best Candidate to Beat Senator Hillary Clinton

ARLINGTON, VA - Today, Fox News released a poll demonstrating once again why John McCain is the only conservative who can beat Hillary Clinton in the general election next fall.

"It is impossible to ignore the fact that John McCain is cementing his position as the best candidate to defeat Hillary Clinton," said campaign manager Rick Davis. "New data released by Fox News, Rasmussen Reports, SurveyUSA, and Quinnipiac show that voters want to nominate a candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton without compromising the bedrock principles the Republican Party was founded on."

Voters are coming to the conclusion that John McCain is the only candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton and restore trust in government. John McCain has a 24-year record of leading a tough battle against pork-barrel spending and government waste. Known as a reformer, McCain has the credibility to restore Americans' trust in Washington. And in a time of war, John McCain is the only candidate with the experience and knowledge to wage a winning war against radical Islamic extremism.

Fox News/Opinion Dynamics National General Election, November 13-14, 2007:

John McCain 45% Hillary Clinton 46%
Rudy Giuliani 43% Hillary Clinton 47%
Fred Thompson 40% Hillary Clinton 49%
Mitt Romney 37% Hillary Clinton 50%

Quinnipiac Ohio General Election, Released November 14, 2007:
John McCain 46% Hillary Clinton 42%
Rudy Giuliani 43% Hillary Clinton 44%
Fred Thompson 38% Hillary Clinton 48%
Mitt Romney 38% Hillary Clinton 47%

SurveyUSA Ohio General Election, November 9-11, 2007:
John McCain 47% Hillary Clinton 46%
Rudy Giuliani 44% Hillary Clinton 49%
Mitt Romney 42% Hillary Clinton 51%
Mike Huckabee 37% Hillary Clinton 54%

Rasmussen Reports Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Among Presidential Hopefuls, McCain Has Lowest Level Of Core Opposition:

With less than two months to go until the Iowa caucuses kick off the actual voting in Election 2008, Arizona Senator John McCain finds himself with the smallest level of core opposition among all the major Presidential candidates from both parties. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 33% say they will definitely vote against McCain if he is on the ballot in November 2008. That's down from 39% a month ago and a peak of 42% in June. These results come on top of a week of good polling news for the man from Arizona.

Read Analysis Of How John McCain Outperforms Rudy Giuliani In Key Swing States

St. Ignatius grads - he's making a joke.

John McCain: Hero v. Illinois Same-Old/Same Old GOP - the Folks that Imported Nutty Al Keyes!

This is Mr. Roland Vanderwagon of Nice Streets Terrace, Wasp Hollow SubDivision, Unincorporated Lake/Du Page County - He Has a Cordial Hatred of John McCain and all of His Straight Talk!


This is pretty much the rest of us.












I love the boys and girls at Illinois Review! John, Frannie, Mark, and especially George ! Shoot, a Democrat gets treated better by these folks than on the snarling, humorless Daily Kos wannbee sites here in Illinois.

They provide the editorial and feature ground work for the Progressive Tin-Foil Hat whinners at Illinois Reason - or as I call it No Comment Alley View: If Robin Vagicill or whatever his name is - did not prompt his sock puppets, no one would read that Blog but me - it's amusing and like watching little kids play Ghost and Super Hero: dead serious but harmless.

John McCain still faces an uphill battle against GOP (I AM THE REAL CONSERVATIVE)establishment.

Today my buddy John Ruskin posts a fair question as to John McCain's stand on Tax Cuts - well, kinda fair as John pulled out McCain's response from 2000. Click my post title for the Illinois Review post.

John McCain is a leader who brings together all Americans. My daughter is a McCain delegate - Irish Princess college girl to be sure - and so is Thomas Hayes. Tommy Hayes is an African American Pro Boxer/ Chicago Police Department Candidate - same age as Nora, of the Not-Two-Nickles to Rub Together Hickeys.

Here is my response to What Kind of John McCain will we get - raised by Pal Ruskin:
Brother Ruskin,

This is the John McCain I have come to know and love: ( from Blogs for McCain)

McCain introduced "a slew of cost-cutting amendments. While many of these measures did not pass, they served an important role in shining a glaring light on congressional profligacy. These amendments include:

A 2006 amendment to cut $74.5 million for various agriculture programs[17] A 2006 amendment to cut $6 million for sugarcane growers in Hawaii[18] A 2003 amendment to reduce funding for the Yazoo Basin Backwater Pump Project in Mississippi[19] A 2002 amendment to eliminate $2.5 million for coral reef mapping of the waters off the coast of Hawaii[20] A 1998 amendment to cut $78 million in projects from an emergency supplemental appropriations bill[21] A 1994 motion to kill an amendment to provide $40 million for the conversion of a New York City post office into an Amtrak train station[22]
Senator McCain has also voted against a number of pricey bills, even when most of his colleagues preferred to toe the party line.

These include:

A vote against the 2003 Medicare prescription drug plan[23] A vote against the Farm Security Bill in 2002[24] A vote against the 2005 Highway Bill, one of only four senators to object to the pork-stuffed bill[25] A vote against providing Amtrak with an extra $550 million for the fiscal year 2007[26] A vote against $2 billion in milk subsidies[27] One of fifteen senators to vote for Senator Tom Coburn's (R-OK) amendment transferring $223 million for the "Bridge to Nowhere" to the repair of a Louisiana bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina.[28] Senator McCain was also one of only thirteen senators to vote for an amendment by Senator Coburn to eliminate $950,000 for a parking lot for the Joslyn Art Museum in Nebraska[29] A vote for welfare reform[30]

John McCain is about governance...not politics.

In answer to your question you would get John McCain - not an empty suit; not a great former mayor; not a great actor; not a great
Preacher; not a great Blimp owner/Revolutionary . . .

. . . You'd get a great American!

McCain/Palin: My Progressive Poster Seth Pie-Gallon: 'Tom Hayden Cares, People!'

Hickey is taking the day off - he should take his life off. I'm Seth Pie-Gallon*.

Today I want to explain - let me be as clear as possible and go as slow as I can for you grass cutters, who do not seem to be bothered that Iraq is an occupation by European Crusaders who believe that God wants them to kill Muslims, or that millions of obese Americans go to bed hungry in food deserts created by the same CIA/Halliburton Gang of Cheney that blew the levees in Katrina,Louisiana and Twin Towers, New York. Sarah Palin is evil, Man! The issues are clear and all Grampa McSame and his Eskimo Pie offer is Bush 44.

Read this from Tom Hayden - he really cares. This is why:

1.Sarah Palin is a mortal threat to the possibility of Obama winning. The reason is simple: if she can add a couple of points to McCain from defecting white women and the newly-energized right wing religious base without losing more independent votes, McCain pulls ahead in some key states.


The dangerous tendency of the Obama campaign and its Democratic surrogates is to not fight back, but treat Palin as a “distraction” from McCain, the economy, the issues they feel familiar with, etc.

If they assume that the Palin bubble will return to earth naturally, or that the mainstream media and Saturday Night Live will do the job for them, the Obama campaign is mistaken.

There needs to be a controlled message that treats Palin as an extension of McCain, not a bobble-head to be laughed at.

The message has to cut off independent and women’s support for McCain-Palin and, if possible, divide some of the right-wingers. Not an easy task.

Perhaps the point is that we’ve already suffered eight years under a president Bush and vice-president Cheney who were, in Palin’s words, so “wired in a way to be committed to the mission” that they could neither blink nor think.

An excellent editorial in Sunday’s NY Times makes the connection from McCain to Palin in terms that will reach independent and moderate voters. It should be quoted and widely circulated. The choice of an unqualified candidate to be a heartbeat from the presidency of a 72 year old man with four melanomas “was shockingly irresponsible”, the Times said.

I think we can see in McCain-Palin a kind of faith-based extremism that reminds us of Bush and, even more, the persona of Gen. Custer.

We have seen where righteous faith-based politics goes in the Supreme Court decisions, corruption scandals, the official lies, and the unnecessary wars of the past eight years, all carried out in the name of what both McCain and Palin now call “God’s plan.”

We should say, In the name of God, stop them!

2. The McCain-Palin foreign policy is a mortal threat from the same neoconservatives who brought us Iraq wrapped in lies. We cannot give the Republicans an advantage with their false clams of “victory in sight.” We have to emphasize the three-trillion dollar cost of the war, and we have to connect the war to the price of oil. Democratic consultants should stop compartmentalizing the economy like it was 1992 all over again.

This is apparently not the advice of the biggest Democratic heavyweights like Bill Clinton and James Carville who tend to revert to “it’s the economy, stupid.” But it’s not 1992. It’s the 9/11 era, the Iraq War era, the War on Terrorism era – and also the middle of the worse economic and energy crisis in memory. The issues are tied together. Not enough people will vote on “lunch bucket” issues if they think McCain-Palin will protect them from terrorists, but they might vote against McCain-Palin if they think they are being lied to again.

The war is not being won. That’s why Petraeus wants to keep 140,000 troops in Iraq. We are paying 100,000 Iraqis not to shoot and bomb us – for now. Iraq is a time bomb with a timer set to go off next year after the November election. It costs $324 million a day, three trillion in the long run, that could be spent on public works, health care and education now. It deepens our dependency on oil when we should be spending the money to weatherize our buildings, conserve our energy and throw ourselves into a new clean energy economy with the same focus it took to get to the moon. That’s the mission we need to be wired into…

Under McCain-Palin, the same neo-conservatives who fabricated the pretext for invading Iraq will only take us into more quagmires – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Georgia, maybe Iran - that will bleed our troops and our economy without an end in sight.

Palin's brazen neocon advisers repeated the original Iraq lie – that Saddam was behind 9/11 - in the scripted speech she gave to her son’s troops as they departed for the war zone: “You’ll be there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the deaths of thousands of Americans.” [NYT, Sept. 14]

Bush-Cheney obviously are trying to scare enough voters into supporting McCain-Palin amidst a rising national security crisis. The Democrats and the media are helping them by accepting Georgia’s triggering attack on Russia as legitimate, which surely was orchestrated with the knowledge of McCain’s top foreign policy adviser, the same neo-con who directed the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq from Washington lobby to actual invasion force. They further hope to bring back bin Ladin’s head from Pakistan before November. Bush-McCain may get the scalp of bin Ladin but they are on Custer’s path to Little Big Horn.

So the clear promise of McCain-Palin is there will be blood. The fact that they scoff at Obama at the mere mention of diplomacy [despite their own talking to Russia, Iran, etc] presents an opening to describe them as what they are: extremists in the tradition of Bush-Cheney for whom war seems to be a first option. McCain was there on an aircraft carrier screaming “Next stop, Baghdad!” in 2002 as if it was Vietnam in 1967. Palin says she’s wired to win the war without blinking. That’s also why McCain on two occasions this year has spoken favorably of resuming the compulsory military draft. Independents and young first-time voters should pay attention to these issues.

The peace movement which provided the platform that made Obama’s candidacy possible in 2002 cannot afford to let that advantage be squandered by Democrats this fall. The upcoming September 20 Million Doors for Peace campaign is a good way to begin spreading the word.

[ See http://www.milliondoorsforpeace.org ]

* Seth Pie-Gallon Bio:

Seth Pie-Gallon is a film & television writer/producer living in America's Heartland -- Peotone, IL. He's the founder of The Department of Homeland Narcissism, a grassroots initiative demanding an apology from President George W. Bush for the offenses of his two terms. He's also founder of the groups: Democrats for Levi Strauss, Progressives Against Parsnips, and Please Don't Hit Me.com. His new book is Pardon My Algorithms: Ready-to-Mail Apologies for Eight Years of Undergraduate. Seth Pie-Gallon is a member of Ward Churchill Study Group and the Michael Moore Subway Sandwich Fellowship.

John McCain: 35 Years of Freedom to Serve his Country - Obama is Finished

John McCain 2008 Launches 'Journey to Freedom' Commemorating the 35th Anniversary of John McCain's Return Home from Vietnam

Contact: Press Office, 703-650-5550; www.JohnMcCain.com



ARLINGTON, Va., March 14 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today launched a new web video entitled "Journey to Freedom," commemorating the 35th anniversary of John McCain's release on March 15, 1973 from the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" after being held for 5 ½ years as a prisoner of war.



The web video features fellow former POWs LtCol. Orson Swindle, USMC (Ret.) and Cdr. Paul Galanti, USN (Ret.), as well as John McCain's mother, Mrs. Roberta McCain.



John McCain is a decorated navy captain with a distinguished personal record and family history of service to our country. The son and grandson of two Admirals, McCain spent 5 ½ years as a POW in Vietnam. He commanded the U.S. Navy's largest squadron. His Naval honors include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.



VIEW THE NEW WEB VIDEO HERE: http://www.johnmccain.com/journeyfreedom; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypn76M0Wm-k


A group of John McCain's fellow former POWs released the following letter commemorating the 35th Anniversary of his release:



Dear Friend,

March is a memorable time for the Americans who were released from captivity in North Vietnam during the month back in 1973. The pathway to freedom began in February, as the war in Vietnam was concluding for America.

John McCain, one of those American heroes, returned to freedom on March 15th, 1973, released from Hanoi that day along with other very happy American Prisoners of War. His journey home was the continuation of a remarkable story with chapters yet to be written. Having survived life-threatening and disabling injuries, along with the brutality of the POW experience, John had steadfastly resisted communist efforts to exploit him and his fellow POWs. John's homecoming began a new phase of his life. His courageous service and his political career are well known today, and now he is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party to be the next President of the United States.

We are but representatives of over eighty former POWs who shared those heady days of freedom and those years of captivity and suffering with John McCain. Collectively, we are proudly doing all we can to help our dear friend, John McCain, become our next commander in chief. We are campaigning with him, helping him raise money, speaking on his behalf and, in constant conversations, promoting his candidacy among our friends and family all over the country. We are doing so because we believe in John McCain.

Our convictions about John's character were born in the crucible of adversity. We have witnessed his courage, integrity, character and intellect. We know and respect his sense of honor and his tenacity in the face of grave danger and prolonged hardship. These qualities, combined with his life experiences, make John ready for the enormous challenges facing the leader of our country. No one -- no one -- is more qualified to be president, to lead our country, to protect our nation and our children and grandchildren. We know him. We know his strengths, his love of country and his commitment to serve it. He has been severely tested, and we have witnessed him under pressure. We trust his judgment and his ability to lead our country in these difficult times.

We are joined in that trust by over 130 retired Flag and General officers who are members of Senator McCain's Military Advisory Council. They know and have worked with John McCain over the past three decades dealing with major national security challenges. They know leadership and they know danger and challenges. They know experience. They know quality. And they chose John McCain for president.

We must elect a leader who is ready on day one for these difficult and dangerous times. We need a leader who will insist that we win in the struggle against radical Islam. John is committed to let our troops win! We need a leader who will take on the big problems that most politicians seek to avoid. Leaders take on the tough issues. John McCain is that sort of leader. He knows the American spirit -- he has lived it like no other candidate. He knows we can do better and that America's best days are ahead.

Sincerely,

Commander Everett Alvarez, USN (Ret.)
POW for 8 1/2 years

Colonel Bud Day, USAF (Ret.)
Medal of Honor
POW Over 5 Years

Rear Admiral Robert Shumaker, USN (Ret.)
POW for 8 years

Colonel Leo Thorsness, USAF (Ret.)
Medal of Honor
POW for 6 years

Commander Paul Galanti, USN (Ret.)
POW for over 6 1/2 Years

Captain Mike Cronin, USN (Ret.)
POW for over 6 years

Major General John Borling, USAF (Ret.)
POW for over 6 1/2 years

Captain Richard Stratton, USN (Ret.)
POW for over 6 years

Lt Colonel Orson Swindle, USMC (Ret.)
POW for over 6 years.


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Side Note I caught Hannity and Colmes after St. Cajetan 7th Grade presented Living Stations of the Cross - Anthony Reya was stunning as Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews and Danny Bohlmann his oily best as Pontius Pilate the Hand Washer - Clare Hickey was a 'Give Us Barabbas Crowd Guy and one of the Ladies at the Cross. Good Theatre and Great Lenten Service! Clare played 'Jail Break' with the Warrior Mob around the Church so beat it for home.

I wanted to catch The Wire Finale, but was snagged in the surf by the announcement that Senator Obama would speak to his Pastor's Ant-American and racist sermons. Normally Fat Boy Hannity and Skelator Colmes get short shrift from this Boyo. But I watched. Obama, thank God, did not talk to to the motor-mouthed Mick Hannity, but to Major Dude Something. Hannity never lets anyone get a word in edge-wise, especially if Hannity has determined the guest is not an 'America' - like Willie Cunnigham.

Senator Barack Obama blinked like a five year old locked over the weekend in Beverly Cigar, while answering Major Dude from Fox News. I like Barack Obama. Whoever is handling his campaign is arrogant and smug. I can just hear the Progressive NPR Low-Talker -'Ignore your critics Barry, if they ask you any questions, They are the racists.' I would say that this marks the end of a pretty good run for the Office, But it is very clear that Senator Obama is not ready The Presidency of the United States.