Tito Munoz is grateful for the opportunity he has in America. He was born in Columbia but he was made in the U.S.A. The U.S.A. Barack Obama wants to remake.
This was the moment, this was the time when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.
Folks like Tito prove we already reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals. Not to say we are perfect. But that we'll never be. And letting a bunch of lawyers Democrats in Washington decide how to "spread the wealth around" will put everything we stand for in danger.
I'm listening now to the Million Woman Townhall, here, organized by Team Sarah:
This Saturday, October 25 from 11AM - 1PM EST, Team Sarah will be
calling one million women voters in battleground states and invite them
to participate in a live, free tele-townhall over the phone. They
will be able to ask questions and get answers from a panel of
distinguished women leaders. This has never been done before! Imagine
one million women voters on one phone call!
The panelists are:
Jeri Thompson, actress Janine Turner, pollster Kellyanne Conway, policy expert Barbara Comstock, Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser and Susan B. Anthony List General Chairman Jane Abraham as moderator.
The questions are serious and well thought out. The answers and comments from the panelists are informative and speak to the critical issues in this campaign. Very, very impressive. We've got some extremely intelligent and dedicated women on our side. Regardless of how the election turns out, this is encouraging.
Not the Moms and Dads themselves, just the actual words. So says Peggy Noonan:
More than ever on the campaign trail, the candidates are dropping their
G's. Hardworkin' families are strainin' and tryin'a get ahead. It's not
only Sarah Palin but Mr. McCain, too, occasionally Mr. Obama, and, of
course, George W. Bush when he darts out like the bird in a cuckoo
clock to tell us we are in crisis. All of the candidates say "mom and
dad": "our moms and dads who are struggling." This is Mr. Bush's former
communications adviser Karen Hughes's contribution to our democratic
life, that you cannot speak like an adult in politics now, that's too
austere and detached, snobby. No one can say mothers and fathers, it's
all now the faux down-home, patronizing—and infantilizing—moms and
dads. Do politicians ever remember that in a nation obsessed with
politics, our children—sorry, our kids—look to political figures for a
model as to how adults sound?
Oh dear. We are raising a generation of un-austere kids. Next thing you know a bunch of hicks will be running the country. Noonan has fallen in with the pretty words crowd. How one speaks is more important than what one says. She joins Christopher Buckley, who has decided to support Havard Man Barack Obama because he wrote a pretty book:
I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine...
Imagine!!!! Rara avis!!!
That's not to say Noonan is voting for Obama, as far as I know she hasn't made that leap - yet - but her condescending obsession with Sarah Palin's manner of speech puts her squarely in the camp of conservative elitists who just can't stand the thought of someone outside their little circle of rare birds in the White House. No room in there for common folks.
Her catty column sounds more like a jealous hissy fit than a reasoned "intellectual" discussion. She claims she has listened to Sarah Palin for seven weeks and still can't figure out what she stands for. Maybe Noonan has a comprehension problem. I guess they didn't teach comprehension skills at Fairleigh Dickinson. Lucianne poster Lady Vet offered to help her out:
Let's help Peggy out. Palin is for:
killing taxes, saving babies, saving jobs, winning in Iraq, winning in
Afghanistan, energy independence, drilling in ANWAR, protecting the 2nd
Amendment. This ain't hard, Peggy.
Noonan's quandary? Is Palin a Bushian or Reaganite?
But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks
now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment,
the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and
expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition,
but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She
wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her,
trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak
briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political
philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain
emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in
philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be
called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be
America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within
an awareness and appreciation of reality.
But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things.
She doesn't think aloud? She just...says things? I don't know what in the heck that means but it sounds really profound.
Maybe this is what Peggy means by thinking aloud:
In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new
vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism
and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain,
against his judgment and idealism.
And there you have it. How dare Sarah Palin, who didn't go to Harvard, hasn't written a book, says infantilizing things like "Moms and Dads", run for Vice President of the United State? Get Back Sarah. Get back to where you once belonged.
The Jawa Report has posted an incredibly detailed article on the smear campaign against Sarah Palin:
Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the
source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate
Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged
to a secessionist political party and that she has radical
anti-American views.
Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest
public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated
rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were
spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.
It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to
run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link
to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:
* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about
Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.
* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the
Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.
* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to
distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone
viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.
* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included
actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with
the family running the company.
* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.
* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David
Axelrod’s firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots
efforts, otherwise known as “astroturfing.”
* David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s chief media strategist.
* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.
This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin
and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by
political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by
the left wing fringe.
The evidence is compelling. And seems to be confirmed by the disappearing You Tube videos and accounts which are the basis for Rusty's claims. Ace, from Ace of Spades HQ, who assisted the Jawa Report in compiling the story:
I would once again stress that this is the best confirmation of
everything Rusty alleged... and the stuff he didn't quite allege but
we're all thinking is most likely true.
"eswinner" is not sitting at the computer watching right-wing blogs post stories.
"eswinner" does not have a staff vigilantly monitoring the internet for damaging stories.
Neither, for that matter, does Winner & Associates.
But the Barack Obama campaign, headed up by David Astroturf, does.
Who directed eswinner to close his account?:
Barack Obama and the DNC watch this blog. And I've put them on notice since this afternoon that a story about them was coming.
Within an hour of the story being posted, the videos began coming down. Within 90 minutes they were all down.
That's a pretty fast response time. I didn't mention Winner & Associates in my hints. So why would they be on notice?
I only mentioned Axelrod and Obama.
No, I do not believe that a random Winner & Associates employee
just happened to be reading the Ace of Spades website and suddenly came
across a link to a story about them and then decided to wake the bosses
over it.
I believe the Obama campaign and the DNC have been watching since this afternoon. And they put the call into "eswinner" to get those videos down and bury the evidence.
And now "eswinner" has decided to end his short career on YouTube, despite the fact that this was his Best. Day. Eveehhhhh.
Sounds about right. Bloggers are all over this story, I don't believe the mainstream media can ignore it. Obama and Axelrod are well-versed in the "dark arts" of Chicago politics and this smear campaign is just one example. This story won't matter to left-wing, die-hard Obama fans. It should matter to the rest of us.
Here is the video in question. A "quick-thinking watchdog" captured and reposted it on YouTube. I think Michelle Malkin is right:
I highly doubt “eswinner” will dare to send a takedown notice and reveal himself — and the lawyers and money behind him.
The New York Times was shown as the source for the claim that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence party. Here is the correction from the Times:
An article on Tuesday about
concerns over Senator John McCain’s background check of Gov. Sarah
Palin of Alaska, his choice of running mate, misstated the history of
her political party affiliation. As The Times has since reported, she
has been a registered Republican since 1982; she was not for a couple
of years in the 1990s a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which
advocates a vote on whether her state should secede.
Shortly after Rusty’s post appeared, the video and related YouTube
videos started coming down. Winner’s YouTube profile, that of his
father, and several others were closed. This began happening within an
hour of the posting of Rusty’s post. Michelle Malkin has the entertaining details, complete with screenshots.
In the criminal law business, we call evidence like that “consciousness of guilt.”
There needs to be follow-up to this story. The connection to the
Winners and their PR firm is solid. The evidence tying in Axelrod and
Obama is circumstantial but suggestive. The lightning-quick cover-up
goes a long way towards convincing me. Now the baton needs to be passed
to a media organization that can demand answers from the parties
involved, who are unlikely to respond to a bunch of bloggers.
Bueller? Bueller?
***Update 8:17 PM CT***
Ethan Winner admits he produced the video but claims he's paying for it and he found the voice over artist through a talent agency:
The idea for the video was mine. No one paid me to produce it. The only
out-of-pocket cost will be the fee for the voice-over narrator, which I
will pay personally when I receive an invoice. Contrary to the
allegation in the Jawa Report, the voice-over artist has never done any
work for the Obama campaign. I retained her through a talent agency
based solely on the quality of her voice.
Oh really?:
Winner's complete response can be read at the above link. Ace had a little fun with the salutation and postscript, and adds:
As Commenters Point Out... How is it, exactly, that Ethan
Winner found out his homemade, handcrafted, completely DIY video had
become the center of internet attention a mere ten minutes after My Pet
Jawa posted his article?
Is Ethan Winner, dyed in the wool Democrat, claiming he's a My Pet Jawa fan?
Or an Ace of Spades fan?
If so, why won't he return my emails or phone calls? Dude -- if you're a fan, I totally want to hang with you! We can totally drinks some beers and spread some smears.
You pay for the hookers, of course. You're the rich guy who pays actors to fancy-up his DIY YouTube videos.
And Dude... I guess you're just the unluckiest DIY YouTube video free speech enthusiast alive, given that your voice-over woman sounds exactly like David Axelrod's.
unseen writes--
so let me get this straight. His family started to recieve
threatening calls and emails 15 minutes after the post? That's record
time for the gun carrying bitter americians from Pa. Way to be on the
ball folks.
“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero
foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v.
Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush’s failed
economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of
the same,” said Bill Burton, Obama Campaign Spokesman.
It is pretty audacious for the Obama campaign to say that Governor
Palin is not qualified to be Vice President. She has a record of
accomplishment that Senator Obama simply cannot match. Governor Palin
has spent her time in office shaking up government in Alaska and
actually achieving results — whether it’s taking on corruption, passing
ethics reform or stopping wasteful spending and the ‘bridge to
nowhere.’ Senator Obama has spent his time in office running for
president.
Barack Obama has been in the United States Senate just over three and a half years. He was sworn in on
January 4, 2005. In February, 2007, he announced his candidacy for the
2008 presidential election. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate,
Obama was a State Senator in Illinois, elected in 1996. Not forgetting, of course, he was a community organizer before that.
So according to Barack Obama, Sarah Palin is not qualified to be Vice-President. Apparently, however, judging by his own experience, she's qualified to be President.
"...... ambitious encroachments of the federal government, on the authority
of the State governments, would not excite the opposition of a single State,
or of a few States only. They would be signals of general alarm.....But what
DEGREE OF MADNESS could ever drive the federal government to such an
extremity."
Federalist #46 James Madison
