Georgia Politics Daily

McCain Closing fast

It's Obama 47- McCain 45. This two day tracking poll is now withing the margin of error/

Obama lead collapsing

Resident Hack

by George Dienhart

It seems that more than hard core conservatives like Sarah Palin. The latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll shows that since the VP debate, the gap between Obama and McCain has shrunk to 3%. There is a 2.8% margin of error. Obama had an 8 point lead before the VP debate.

Now, I'm a Palin fan- but I don't believe that she can get all the credit. Some credit must go to Joe Biden, who lied repeatedly during the debate. Biden must learn that his ridiculous claims can be easily checked in the internet age. Some of the Credit also goes to Obama.

It's been a stellar week for the Barrack Star, but once you get by big media and dig into the facts, you see why he is dropping in the polls. Big Media will only prop him up for so long. In the last week, we've heard of a Barrack associate who lost one hundred thousand dollars of a non profit organizations money. Oops. He better check his pockets again. We've also glimpsed in to exactly how he is running up that huge war chest.

Donors with names such as "Doodad Pro" and "Good Will" have donated hundreds of dollars- all with small donations that are under the 200 dollar cap. There wee also two brothers in the Gaza Strip that donated thirty thousand dollars to Barry. They funneled the money to Obama by buying t-shirts from the campaign. The money was returned, though, I'm not sure if the brothers kept the t-shirts.

Voters take notice of irregularities- especially when they are found by the boatload. Let's examine the list of Obama's irregularities:

Obama bought his house in Chicago under market value, while his neighbor Tony Rezko bought a plot of land next door at above market level. No need to worry- Tony Rezko is no longer Barracks neighbor- he currently resides in a federal penitentiary.

Then there's Bill Ayers- an alleged terrorist who was let off on a technicality. When discussing his bombing of the Pentagon- he stated that he wishes he had done more.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I'm sure everyone remembers him. In one sermon he shouted God D America over and over again. He says AIDS was created by the CIA to kill African Americans. He was Obama's spiritual advisor in the beginning of the campaign, and baptized the senators daughters.

The finance scandal mentioned above provided hundreds of thousands of dollars from God only knows where. He can't return it, because the people listed as donors don't exist. That's certainly a creative way around campaign finance laws.

Speaking of campaign finance- Obama pledged to accept federal matching funds. He then broke that pledge.

Obama also took in big money from the Fannie mae and Freddie Mac PACs. Then he stood against Sen. McCain's proposed regulatory efforts.

America needs a leader, not a schemer. As more and more irregularities are uncovered, Obama becomes more and more exposed. Soon he will stand before us veiled only in truth. It is then we will see that the emperor has no clothes...

Why is Bill Ayers being ignored?

Resident Hack

By George Dienhart

Imagine if John McCain had his political career launched by someone that had bombed an abortion clinic. Would the press have given up as easily as they have on the Ayers-Obama connection? Probably not. It makes me ask what's the difference? The answer is politics and the leftward slant of the media.

Let's take a look at Bill Ayers. Sarah Palin leads the way:

"Evidently, there’s been a lot of interest in what I read lately. Well, I was reading my copy of The New York Times the other day, and I was really interested to read about Barrack's friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers. And according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, "launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol." Wow. And there’s even more to the story. Barack Obama said Ayers was just someone in the neighborhood. But that’s less than truthful. His own top advisor said they were, quote, "certainly friendly." In fact, Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s home. And they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago."

That's pretty bad- yet there is never mention in the mainstream media. So it must be politics, right? Wrong.

Ayers is a sick puppy. He was asked by the New York Times if he regretted his actions in the 60's his answer? "I don't regret setting bombs" and "I feel we didn't do enough", and, when asked if he would "do it all again" as saying "I don't want to discount the possibility." Interesting. No one died in the attack on the capital- but it was a nail bomb. That's and anti-personnel device. You can't tell me that their intention wasn't to kill someone.

Now, on to his Obama connection. Direct from Wikipedia:

Bill Ayers and Barack Obama have been linked during their time in the city of Chicago, where they lived three blocks apart and lead charges for education reform in the state of Illinois. The two met "at a luncheon meeting about school reform in a Chicago skyscraper."[39] Obama was then named to the Chicago Annenberg Project board to oversee the distribution of grants in Chicago. Later in 1995, Ayers hosted "a coffee" (fund raiser) for "Mr. Obama's first run for office."[40] Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 2000 and 2002, during which time the board met twelve times.[40] Ayers also contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate in April 2001."[39] Since 2002, there has been little linking Obama and Ayers.[40] Obama says he has not visited Ayers during the presidential campaign. The senator said in September 2008 that he hadn't "seen him in a year-and-a-half."[41] In February 2008, Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a talking point about the relationship between the two: "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous."[42] CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.[43]

So, AFTER he decides to run for the Senate, Ayers is all of a sudden unworthy of Obama's friendship? Obama took a campaign contribution form him, and went on to let him host a fundraiser. They worked to gather on the Annenberg project- certainly there were meetings together- that's why Ayers through the fund raiser. He hasn't seen him in a year and a half? That was during Obama's Presidential campaign.

It the end, this goes to prove that Obama will meet terrorist without precondition- he already has in Chicago.

Joe Biden has a "tell"

Resident Hack

by George Dienhart

As I watched last nights debate I noticed what card players would call a "tell" that Joe Biden is prone too. If you watch him closely, Look at his mouth. He is always lying when his lips move.

Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but Joe told some whoppers last night. Here's a breakdown:

Biden used a great deal of his time insisting that McCain and Obama voted the same way on a troop funding bill. A query of factcheck.org reveals "Biden incorrectly said “John McCain voted the exact same way” as Obama on a controversial troop funding bill. The two were actually on opposite sides." That's not from me, folks. It's out there for everyone to see.

Biden's second most frequent lie of the night was that McCain “voted the exact same way” as Obama on a bill increasing taxes on singles making as little as $42,000 a year. In reality, Obama voted for and McCain against.

Biden seemingly brought these points up in every round. Essentially, he lied his way through the whole debate. On the other hand, Palin was terrific, as most tracking polls are currently showing, she clearly won the debate. All she needed was a tie to even the race up. She gained back the credibility lost to the liberal smear machine. It was the equivalent of game tying, bottom of the ninth grand slam. Just as a good cleanup hitter can stabilize a baseball lineup, Sarah McCain has stabilized the ticket. Now, it's on to extra innings...

How many times have we heard this?

by George Dienhart

One of these have been published every two years, like clockwork. Every election cycle, someone in the mainstream media publishes a obituary for the GOP. Much to liberals consternation, the GOP still exists.

The latest piece was published in Slate. What insight! Well, not really- it is a bold move to write this column for the 15th or so time. I'm sure the author (Timothy Noah) assured his editor that "things are different now". Noah contends that the failed bailout plan "caused an immediate financial catastrophe: The stock market fell an unprecedented 777.68 points" He goes on stating that "$1.2 trillion in wealth" was wiped out. Only problem is that the Dow regained 61% of it's loses, the next day. After this "disaster" of a week, the Dow was only down about 300 points. Not a good week, but hardly a collapse. A 300 point drop in the Dow, will not kill the GOP... No matter how Mr. Noah spins it.

Noah's wishful thinking went past the markets. His "evidence" included the greatest secret, and worse sin, of all- Republicans like smaller government.

He also went on to describe the "central con of the political coalition assembled by Ronald Reagan". Con? Not by the GOP, but Noah perpetuated a con of his own when he stated "the distribution of this government largesse greatly favored the rich." Here is the real great con. Noah states that "when tax breaks were added to the tally, households with incomes above $100,000 received considerably more ($9,280) than households with incomes below $10,000 ($5,690)" Notice that first part of the sentence- when tax breaks were added to the tally? Mr. Noah is carefully perpetuating another liberal myth here- that your money is the governments. Noah has taken two sets of numbers and melded them together to make his otherwise incoherent point. He is comparing the cost of government services to the benefit of tax breaks. He has included welfare and social security as costs. Remember- though capped, someone that makes 80k a year pays more Social Security than someone making 20k a year. There is going to be a minor disparity in his number just because those on the high end of his figures (100k+) are paying more in Social Security. When you add in the tax breaks the chasm seemingly grows larger. The problem with this is, a tax break is not a government service. For this reason, Noah's numbers are completely wrong. He's comparing apples to oranges...

He continues to spread DNC propaganda by saying of the Bush era tax cuts "That the tax cuts favored the wealthy didn't seem to matter". Again, a lie. In truth the tax cuts helped everyone. Before the Bush tax cuts, the bottom rung of the taxpayer ladder paid .5% of the total taxes taken in by the federal government. After the Bush tax cuts, they paid .3% In fact, according to taxfoundation.org, the share of tax liability that was paid by the top 6% of earners, actually went up. The graph below (from taxpayers.org) clearly explains the benefits of the Bush era tax cuts. As you can see- the share of tax liability for those making over 131k went up under Bush. Every other group was paying less. This was hardly a tax cut for the rich...

Noah goes on, spewing more and more inaccuracies. He states that the defeat of the first bailout bill was "a dose of free-market principles that sent the Dow into the crapper." gain- a 200 point net for the week is not "the crapper". I would argue that once Wall Street woke up and realized it's capitalist heart was still beating, the Dow gained almost 500 points- because the bailout bill failed. In the end, Mr. Noah admits to authoring 3 columns pronouncing the Republicans dead. After analyzing his most recent, it's not hard to see why he is so consistently wrong...

There is no Liberal bias in Media

by George Dienhart

I've finally been convinced. There is no liberal bias in media. There are plenty of neutral media personalities out there, and it's nice to see a non-biased moderator facilitate the vice-presidential debate. I mean Gwen Ifel just wrote a book. It was a political book, so that certainly adds to her qualifications to host this debate. Right?

Wrong. It's truly amazing that Commission on Presidential Debates has selected Ifel to host this debate. As it turns out, major portions of her new book are devoted to Obama. Ifel actually has a financial interest in this election. An Obama victory would be a boon to sales of Ifel's book, The Breakthrough. I think most of America can see through the leftist agenda of big media, but the selection of Ifel is truly over the top. She stands to actually make significant financial gains if she can suitably humiliate Sarah Palin.

It boggles my mind when I hear the talking heads and liberal columnists decry that there is no liberal bias in media. That's no longer an open debate- the selection of Ifel is the final nail in that coffin- the only question left is how will big media justify this selection?

You can pry my steak from my cold dead hands...

by George Dienhart

I was born in the Midwest. Like most of Midwesterners, I enjoy a good steak. I can handle the gasoline shortage. I can even tolerate gas rationing. What I can't tolerate is steak rationing. The London Gaurdian is reporting that I need to cut my steak habiot down to 4 a week. Being from Chicago, I make ice cream sandwiches with 2 sirloins and a scoop of vanilla. The only reason I use vanilla is because as often as I go out to get ice cream, I have never once seen "cow" flavored Ben and Jerry's. This, my friends, has shaken me up worse the the financial crisis.

The report is full of advice on how I should live. It says items with low nutritional value should be reduced. Beer would be on this list- but that's a rant for another day. It also advises that we should walk to the grocery store. With a family of 6, that presents serious problems.

This again demonstrates how liberals choose to force their views on others. It's not bad enough that the media tries to tell me how to vote- now the left is trying to tell me how to eat. There are sacrifices that can and should be made- this is not one of them. I urge you all to go out and feast on cow flesh tonight. If a cow's not handy- pig will do. I have a tase for ribs, anyway...

Can one man make a difference?

Resident Hack

by George Dienhart

My congressman, Lynn Westmorland released the following statement in regards to the bailout.

“As the financial crisis has unfolded over the past year, we’ve slowly watched the dominos drop one after another and we’ve seen one bailout after another,” Westmoreland said. “Each time we were told: ‘This bailout is going to fix the problem.’ We’ve already spent hundreds of billions of dollars that our government does not have and yet the problems continue to deepen. I’ve read all the documents and listened to the experts and no one can say – not even with nearly $1 trillion on the line – that this will work.

“Undoubtedly, this is one of the toughest votes that I’ve taken in Congress. When faced with a tough decision, I rely on my principles – that smaller government is better and that markets work better bureaucratic decisions. While this bailout may work in the short term, I’m concerned greatly about the long-term consequences. When government willingly steps in to rescue people from risky behavior, government creates an incentive for future risky behavior. When businesses accept greater regulation in order to receive a bailout, we enlarge government, distort markets and render capitalism less efficient.

“I do believe that our nation faces great financial challenges right now, and I believe that Congress should act. But the House should not appropriate up to $700 billion for a bill that didn’t exist until a few days ago and that never went through one committee hearing. This legislation costs way too much to pass through Congress with so little scrutiny. If the process is broken, the product is flawed. Combined with war costs, other bailouts and the stimulus packages, we can’t afford to be wrong with a price tag this high. “I have supported an alternative plan that would lower taxes and regulations to create an incentive for private money, foreign and domestic, to flow back into the credit markets. Unfortunately, alternative versions were shut out of this closed process.”

Congressman Westmorland made a vary important statement- "alternative versions were shut out of this closed process". In other words, the house GOP was shut out of the process. Aside from John McCain, no one saw this backlash coming. McCain rightly predicted that Pelosi and Reid needed to get the GOP members of the house onboard this legislation in order for it to pass. What Pelosi and Reid didn't seen to understand is people generally want to have a voice in the process. This allows people to feel as though they are onboard. This clearly did not happen.

Speaker Pelosi promised to put aside partisan politics...

by George Dienhart

It's a good thing the Democrats put aside partisan politics for the remainder of the economic crisis. In fact Speaker Pelosi was in a very bipartisan mood today. She even gave a rousing speech before the failed bailout bill to try and reach across the isle and motivate Republicans. Here's the text:

"When President Bush took office, he inherited President Clinton's surpluses — four years in a row, budget surpluses, on a trajectory of $5.6 trillion in surplus. And with his reckless economic policies within two years, he had turned that around ... and now eight years later the foundation of that fiscal irresponsibility, combined with an anything-goes economic policy, has taken us to where we are today. They claim to be free-market advocates when it's really an anything-goes mentality, no regulation, no supervision, no discipline. ..."

"... Democrats believe in a free market ... but in this case, in its unbridled form as encouraged, supported by the Republicans — some in the Republican Party, not all — it has created not jobs, not capital, it has created chaos."

Yeah, that was sure to butter 'em up. Nice job Speaker Pelosi...

How did we get here?

After weeks of fighting for every drop of gasoline, I have come to the conclusion that something is wrong. Not with my beloved Chevy Silverado. Not with the oil companies or their equipment down in the gulf. Not even with the consumer, after all, we just want to get to work. The problem is with the calendar- you see, it's an election year.

I'm not going to go on a diatribe against Gov. Perdue. I am going to say that people need to calm down. USA Today reports that 30 percent of their survey group believes we are in a depression. While this may say much about the typical USA Today reader ( trust me, it's all been said before) it also speaks to the general mood of the American consumer. They are depressed and mislead.