Saturday, October 25, 2008

The Confusing Adventures of Obama and Lunch Bucket Joe

I know, I know. The barbarians at the gate are clamouring with pitchforks in hand, knocking at the doors and rattling the windows, wondering why there are so few updates on the site lately - especially with less than two weeks to go before election day. Am I lazy? Retarded? Well, I must concede a double yes from the confines of my firmly affixed helmet on that one - my family emblem has a painting of a remote control on it. Truth is, recovering from illness can be slow and frustrating, kind of like watching Senator Obama trying to explain his latest revision on diplomacy with rogue states.

Mr. Chicago has gone from one extreme to the other. He began by inviting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to hot cocoa and s'mores to see if he can lay off all that silliness about how "Jews are descended from rats and apes and must be wiped off the face of the earth" - even Hillary Clinton was gob smacked by such naiveté. Since then, Obama has tweaked and fine tuned his position to a new tougher stance - He would still meet any rogue nation but only to tell them that he was not very pleased at all, and may even throw in a few "tsk tsk's" for good measure. The smugness of Senator Obama is at times head spinning. Ramesh Ponnuru, writing in National Review, noted that "Obama gives the impression that their is no problem his glibness cannot solve."

Senator's Obama jumbled answers and weakness in foreign policy led him to choose Senator Joe (lunch bucket) Biden as a running mate. Biden chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and would seem at first glance to be a smart choice. Biden, however, seems to be no better grounded in his foreign policy positions than Senator Obama.

Joe Biden On Iraq.

Joe Biden 1991 - Joe Biden votes against authorization of the Gulf War and speaks passionately against the invasion from the senate floor.

Joe Biden 1993 - Joe Biden supports President Clinton's cruise missile attack on Iraq.

Joe Biden 1998 - Senator Biden states; "Saddam Hussein's ability to produce the most deadly weapons known to mankind...left unchecked, Saddam Hussein would in short order be in a position to threaten and blackmail our regional allies, and troops, and, indeed, our nation".

Joe Biden 2001 - "If we wait for the danger from Saddam to come clear it could be to late."

Joe Biden 2002 - "I do not believe this is a rush to war. I believe it is a march to peace and security."

Joe Biden 2003 - "The choice between war and peace is Saddam's. The choice between relevance and irrelevance is the U.N. Security Council's."

Joe Biden 2004 - "We have been led into the war by a manipulation of intelligence".

Joe Biden 2005 - “I’ve been calling for more troops for over two years, along with John McCain and others subsequent to my saying that."

Joe Biden 2006 - "No number of troops can solve the jihadist movement."

Joe Biden 2006 - "Withdrawing troops would be a huge mistake."

Joe Biden 2007 - "My impression is Obama thinks that if we leave, somehow the Iraqis are going to have an epiphany”.

Joe Biden 2008 -"Whether or not the surge worked is almost irrelevant now. We could tamp this down immediately, shut it down and end all violence "

Hmmm. So this is the decisive foreign policy heft Obama is adding to the ticket? As Wimpy once said; "I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

During the Democratic primary debates, Biden bragged about how he and Senator McCain had supported the surge, and revealed in interviews he would gladly run as John McCain's Vice President. I had to bite my lip out of politeness recently when an acquaintance of mine said that he was supporting McCain but switched to Obama after Senator McCain modified his views on immigration. He could not stand the hypocrisy which, oddly enough, seems to be the most venial sin politicians can commit in the eyes of the media. Well, Obama/Biden are just a paragon of consistency, aren't they?

Lots more on deck, as I tackle the myth of the youth vote, and the bizarre fascination that the media has with probably the dumbest voting block politicians have to contend with - the so called "Swing Voters".

Have a great weekend, and enjoy a brilliant song by Hans Zimmer, from a less than spectacular movie.

Cordially

Joe

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

A Turn in the "Right" Direction!

Good afternoon folks, and it is an especially good afternoon for Tories and small c conservatives everywhere in Canada after Prime Minister Stephen Harper strengthened his minority Government, striking a crushing blow to Canada's self proclaimed "natural ruling party". The Liberal party finished with the worst showing in Canadian electoral history, led by the bumbling overgrown greying Harry Potter, Stephan Dion. Prime Minister Harper managed to hold on to the party's existing ridings, while robbing several Liberal strongholds from incumbent candidates. The media, as expected, are whining and parsing the numbers and the popular vote, but no amount of punditry can undo Prime Minister Harper's decisive victory.

The most curious (and annoying) whining is coming from Quebec, which was handily won by the separatist Bloc Quebecois. Many feel that Harper lost a chance at a majority government in the French province over his stands on the young offender's act and funding for the arts. Let me lay out some facts.

A - Prime Minister Harper feels that 15 year olds who rape and murder people should face prosecution in the adult criminal justice system. The people of Quebec feel we should give young sociopaths milk shakes and hugs.

B - Prime Minister Harper feels that during a time of economic restraint, the funding of crappy Quebec sitcoms is not a priority, especially given his already too generous offer of 45 million dollars in funding. Quebecers feel that the Canadian tax payers should gladly foot the bill for an art industry that mocks Canadian values, traditional values, and even common decency. No one is giving me money to blog; Get a job to support your "passion". At any expense, Quebec artists should cheer up. Listening to them on talk radio today, some have actually called Harper's lack of more robust funding for the arts the "beginning of the Apocalypse". See, now you're all "suffering artists". He did you a favour.

In other news - Senator McCain needs to come out swinging tonight. Senator Obama is vulnerable on many issues, notably the ACORN voter registration scandal, and his ties to Fannie, Freddie, Tony Rezko, and Bill Ayers. The Obama camp has run a disgusting, underhanded campaign, filled with vile personal attacks on both Senator McCain and Governor Palin. It's time to hit and hit hard. Obama stumbles and stutters when caught off guard, and despite what pundits say, people DO respond better to negative campaigning.

John McCain is a man of honour, and his personal code of ethics makes it very difficult for him to take off the gloves. But as James Bowman reminds us in his brilliant book "Honour A History", honour is also about saving face, and Obama's shameful attacks are an affront to Senator McCain's - and Governor Palin's - honour. Time to fight back, Senator. The mood at rallies are showing an angry conservative base waiting to be energized. Time to feed us some red meat.

As for me, I'm on the mend and hope to be back at work by early December, which means I'll be free on Halloween night to egg houses and toilet paper trees. Hope you'll join me.

Enjoy the "video du jour". Change by Tracy Chapman



Cordially

Joe