Have the Mainstream Press Forgotten About Biden's Golden Oldies of Oral Offense?

I don't really like "re-post" blogging, but the article that was done by the L.A. Times in February of last year, when Joe Biden was just a maybe in the presidential race, deserves to be spun around one more time.  Biden has always been a well-spring of quasi-racist comments, but I noticed that the same paper didn't dig up their own story when he received the vice presidential spot on the ticket.

I have yet to see how a Good Ol' Boy Democrat as VP and a tax and spend liberal as President are supposed to represent change.

Joe Biden's just a barrel of gaffes - Los Angeles Times

McCain's Speech Not Greek Oratory, But We're Not Greeks

If, this morning, we pay attention to much of the mainstream media, McCain's speech was a bust.

• Roland Martin, CNN analyst, said last night that the speech was not constructed well in comparison to Governor Sarah Palin's three-act masterpiece and Senator Obama's acceptance speech.
• Andrea Martin, speaking on MSNBC this morning, said, "They got through it."
• Slate.com's Mickey Kaus (who actually gave a poor rating to Senator Obama's acceptance speech a week earlier) wrote a mile-long technical and style critique of McCain's address.

But I think TVWeek--publishing overnight ratings comparing Senator McCain's speech to Senator Obama's--may be far more telling in terms of gauging momentum and interest among the electorate.

Obama's speech grabbed a 4.3 rating/7 share, while McCain gathered together a 4.8 rating/7 share. For those who aren't media savvy, that means that of all television households in the nation, 4.3% were tuned in to Obama's speech and 4.8% were tuned in to listen to McCain's.

Additionally, TVWeek reports that Nielsen overnight ratings showed that once the network shifted to the speech after the conclusion of the Redskins-Giants game, the speech earned a 6.3 rating/10 share.

The 2% difference between Obama's 4.3% and the 6.3% through NBC translates to more than 2,000,000 viewing households. No wonder the attacks and rhetoric are being ratcheted up by the Obama camp and the Dem gang behind them.

This for a speech that the pundits are telling us was boring and lacked substance.

Maybe, just maybe, Americans tend to value character above grand oratory. After all, don't most of us instinctively equate a well-spoken politician with someone who is a skilled manipulator? Perhaps the American people have enough common sense to listen instead of watch. George Washington was barely audible when speaking to even a small group. Harry Truman was regarded as a terrible public speaker, by even those who regard him as one of our great presidents. Even John Kennedy, who we now listen to and marvel at his skill in reading a speech, was tethered to a thick, New England accent that much of he country was predisposed to dislike.

Americans are smarter than the media give them credit for, and they don't always care about the same things that the media thinks they should care about.

When McCain describes how his worldview was transformed during his capture, Americans are able to interpret that he is telling us exactly how he views the president's duty as being greater than one person's individual agenda.

When McCain explains that he "hates war", Americans are capable of realizing that he is telling us exactly how he will make decisions about the use of force in resolving foreign policy objectives.

When McCain tells us that he sees himself as a servant of the people, Americans instinctively understand that he means that he wants to lead the whole country, not just those who follow him.

When McCain says that he wants to overhaul the nation's unemployment system because it is outmoded and incapable of dealing with the challenges of a global economy, Americans do not sit and ponder what that means for them. When he expands on that proposal, stating that he wishes to use the community college system for retraining, and provide income gap coverage so that those in training can still work part-time to support their families, even the average American knows that McCain has his finger on the pulse of a dilemma that people face when hit by having their old-economy jobs eliminated.

Before I sat down to watch the speech last night, I felt that what McCain said was far more important than how he said it. What he said to me (and undecided voters will continue to process his speech over the following days and weeks) is that he knows where change need to occur and what steps he wants to take to affect real change. He informed us of his character and resolve as a way of assuring us that he will not waver from his pursuit of the country's best interest.

No, the speech would not grade well against Obama's if they were standing in a Public Speaking 101 classroom. It was heavy on pathos and ethos, light on logos, and at times clumsy in its delivery. But it was completely devoid of stagecraft, pretense, or disingenuousness. In the final analysis, I think that kind of straight talk--as opposed to smooth talk--is what America both wants and needs.

GOP Values Demand Greater Response to Charges of "Lying"

Public Support for Senator Lieberman May Be Key to Winning Independent and Jewish Vote

My maternal grandmother taught me that to level the charge against someone of being a liar was the gravest of allegations, an attack against someone's character, integrity and that of their family.

Obama's operatives and the ruling elite of the DNC obviously didn't have the benefit of a moral grandmother.

Obama's key campaign people--led of late by David Axelrod--have been kicking and squirming about "lying" in one way or another since the beginning of the campaign, a useful slander that comes out whenever the opposition's comments about their candidate's statements or policies hit a little too close to the mark.

The tactic smacks of a style of politics that has never been well received by American voters. Self-righteousness is a turn-off for people who believe themselves to be beholden to something larger. That's a demographic that I don't think the Dems want to have stay home in November.

When it comes down to it, all any of have to offer is our word. Far ahead of our skills, or any amount of superficial charm, our integrity is the currency that binds all of our relationships, personal and economic. Calling someone a liar should never be done frivolously, or as a way to distract from some amount truth in what another person is saying.

It is time for the GOP and its members to put our mouths where our values are. While the party fights back against the scurrilous charge of lying the shell-shocked Obama campaign has leveled at the Day 2 Truth Squad, it is vital to stand publicly and vocally in unbroken support for Senator Joe Lieberman.

The GOP is a big tent party, as President Reagan proved, and by his actions Lieberman has shown that he is a courageous and principled man whose first priority is doing what is right, not what will make him the poster-child for the special interest group that the Democrat party has become. He has those basic values in common and it is time the we give him full faith and credit as an honorary party member.

Clearly, the Democrats and Obama have every reason to want to punish Lieberman. After all, he is voicing truths that they would rather remain undiscussed, but to call these things lies? That isn't just nipping at the toes of slander, it's biting it off at the knee.

Lieberman suggested that Obama, during his time in the U.S. Senate, did not work with Republicans, as the great Obama has tried to have us believe. Really, when one takes a moment to think about it, it does really seem silly to believe that someone could actually have worked with Republicans in Congress when he voted in lock-step with his party 95% of the time.

(Note to Senator Obama: Waving and saying "hi" to your Republican colleagues in the airport, on your way back home for campaign fund-raisers, does not equal working together.)

What the American people need is true leadership; leading begins with character. The GOP must show it is fair, benevolent and that we value our friends. Write letters to your community or city newspaper. Send an email of support to Lieberman, and communicate your disgust to your elected public officials. But most importantly, remember that integrity and character matter when you go to the polls in November.

CNN.com's Tradition of Unbiased Journalism Continues

Well, well, well. Had I blogged earlier when my intuition told me that the mainstream media couldn't help but play tricks with the first real act of the RNC, in what will probably end up being our third "down-to-the-wire" election in a row. I could have been heralded as a prophet. It was only a matter of time before CNN.com pulled one of its tricks. Just as prime-time rolls in, the RNC, Sarah Palin, and John McCain come down off the front page to be replaced by news of a hurricane that is almost a week away from the US coastline. When I was surfing last week during the DNC, it was wall-to-wall Obama/Biden, even when Gustav was becoming a news story.

My journalism teachers always taught me that relevance and timeliness were two of the primary factors governing placement of a a story. I guess they were wrong.

Sarah Palin's Proud Vice Presidential Heritage

We now have a major drama unfolding around John McCain's choice for VP. A governor having only just assumed the reins of their office, only having been previously elected to smattering of lesser offices, has now been nominated for the second highest office in the nation. It is easy to forget that this has happened before.

Here is the resume of one of our former vice presidents:

- Age 23: Elected to state legislature. Served 5 years.

- Age 31: After a short break from public life, he accepts a commission posting on a presidential commission where he serves for 4 years.

- Age 35: Becomes president of his city's board of police commissioners. Serves 2 years in this position.

- Age 37: Accepts a role as assistant secretary of a federal agency. Serves only 2 years when war breaks out and he elects to serve.

- Age 40: Runs for and wins state governor's race.

- Age 42: After only 2 years serving as the governor of his state, he is chosen as his party's vice presidential nominee.

After serving for only two years as a state governor, this man was chosen by his party as its vice presidential nominee.

Only two years holding a top-level office, combined with a smattering of other short stints in lower level positions, and this man was being placed a heartbeat away from the presidency! What were our predecessors thinking?

Of course it sounds familiar, but who is this mysterious person? You're probably thinking that you shouldn't feel stupid for not knowing. After all, with such a weak resume, they could have only been a footnote to history; a bystander in the White House.

The career I outlined is that of Teddy Roosevelt.

Yes, that Teddy Roosevelt. The one who would assume the presidency after President McKinley's assassination and go on to have his face carved into a South Dakota mountainside.

Roosevelt's choice as vice president is not judge to have been smart because he was the right choice "on paper". It was the right choice because of of the strength of his character. Experience matters less than how a person will make choices and from an early age, throughout his public life, Roosevelt demonstrated in word and deed that he was a man of action who would challenge and seek to demolish the forces that threatened to weaken our nation.

It is not right to say that Sarah Palin, should we be fortunate enough to call her Vice President after the election, would achieve the same kind of historical greatness that did Roosevelt. But she has the same mettle and instinct to wade into the fray and stand up to power when power is wrong. That is the kind of strength it will take to change America and remind ourselves how great this country truly is.

Content fed from htp://unequal-time.blogspot.com. All rights reserved by Bryan S. Myrick.

GOP Makes Best Choice for VP of Past 40 Years

It will take some time to fully research her record to find potential lightning-rod issues, but at the onset it appears as though Sarah Palin is a silver bullet choice as McCain's VP. 

Her genuine working class credentials will appeal to the heartland and she's a real conservative who has actually done with Alaska what McCain wants to do for the country.

Obama's convention bump is completely pre-empted.  All of the soul-points in the Obama campaign that have been resonating with the people, but which have only been ephemeral vagaries, allusions to what will happen in the future, can now be pointed to as real actions that the McCain is taking to send a message to America that we have changed. 

(Although a slight diversion from topic, this also brings to mind the glaring error that was made almost universally about the history being made with Hillary Clinton's candidacy.  Did we all forget that Elizabeth Dole (a Republican) placed 3rd in the 2000 Iowa Straw Poll in her run for the presidency?  Talk about being dissed!  Can Hillary reinvent the wheel and get credit for that too?)

A maverick/maverick ticket is a godsend.  The choice to give the nod to a woman shows the country that the GOP is serious about issues and that the Democrats couldn't manage to take action.  After all, if you didn't have to consider a civil war breaking out in the White House, Hillary Clinton would have been the best choice to be Obama's running mate. 

How many independent female voters are going to swing to McCain/Palin?  It's hard to say, but Palin's place on the ballot has the potential to be the deciding factor in a McCain victory.  The only way for McCain's campaign to realize that potential is to work diligently and genuinely to reach out to those voters and get out the vote. 

No matter what the heartthrob factor may be with Obama, he isn't a woman.  Biden has no real appeal with working class women; he is too much of Washington insider/elite.  Palin is a working mother who has achieved great things while having five children, one of whom has Down's Syndrome.  Palin is the role model for how to do it.  Game, set, match, McCain/Palin.

As the governor of Alaska, she can speak the idea of opening ANWR in a way that no one else can.  Maybe, if the McCain camp can get that conversation moved to center-stage, the Obama campaign loses their energy advantage.  Palin's balancing of Alaska's budget and slashing of bureaucratic waste and perks poses a legitimate counterpoint to Obama's utopian promises of tax-and-spend. 

Now, America has a choice between landmark events in our cultural maturation.  Do we elect a president of African heritage who has done nothing except run for office, or do we elect a woman to be 2nd in line who has actually has defined an agenda and achieved it

Certainly, there are challenges ahead.  This is going to change the entire complexion of the election.  Obama/Biden are going to pull off the gloves as their numbers begin to slide; they may even resort to personal attacks against Palin.  Let them come.  I have faith that the American people will know how to vote when they begin to see the true character of the Democratic candidates and machine.

Absolute genius!

Hey! Mainstream media! There's something happening here...

"It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound, everybody look, what's going down."

This video has already made the rounds but this is an incident that I do not think should fade away. It shouldn't be hard to get the mainstream media to pick it up because it involves on of their own.

According to ABCnews.com, the reporter was investigating the role of lobbyists and top donors to the DNC.

People need to make up the mind about this on their own by watching the video, but if there is not an investigation of the police officers' actions resulting in discipline, I can only conclude that something is terribly broken in our country.