Perhaps you haven’t noticed this important little bit as you have been too distracted with digging your way out of debt, busting your ass at work just to keep up and grateful for your job regardless, or this nonsense about Obama’s choice for Supreme Court Justice. All of this noise is important, of course, because it further exposes Obama’s weaknesses; the poor cabinet choices (unless a crack team of tax cheats was the intended goal), the recklessly destructive attempts at economic repair thanks to his incredibly blind “advisers,” and the tendency to take on far more than “The State” was ever meant to handle.

Obama himself has insisted that though it may appear the opposite, he would prefer that the United States stay out of corporate affairs. Let us keep in mind that he said this just as GM was being led to the lethal injection chamber by Obama’s own team. Let’s face it, being owned by the United States government at this point is akin to a death sentence - just one more tumor devouring the host. What next? We’ve taken on the banks (who are still wandering aimlessly down Wall Street growling for braaaaaiiinnns), the automakers, the auto PARTS makers, the insurance companies; we have, at this point, even taken on ourselves. You did understand that this is what the Federal Reserve decision to buy Treasury bills on a massive scale equates to, right? Just making sure we are on the same page here.

How is that working out, by the way? Badly. The consensus amongst the armchair economists is that the bond market has begun its not-so-delicate unraveling and will shortly implode. Without this, one of the last “safe” investments remaining in a tumultuous and almost hallucinatory global financial market, Obama will have few options left to fund his promises, like the $787 billion Stimulus (no, it hasn’t been paid for).

But let us set aside the financial crisis momentarily and ignore the dollar’s red flags. Obama’s true challenge, disregarding the rest of the noise, is still ahead. Soon, he will have to start considering who he would like to replace Ben Bernanke as Chairman of the Fed.

Bernanke’s term expires on January 31, 2023 and Obama’s people have certainly made it clear that the President does not intend to keep him in his post beyond that date. The first sign Obama wasn’t too keen on another term for Helicopter Ben? Sticking Timmy the Two Bit Tax Cheat Geithner in the Treasury, leaving ex Harvard President Larry Summers’ calendar free for “Take Over the Federal Reserve” on February 1st, 2010.

So, you say?

So, Larry Summers is, as one blogger put it, “a walking, talking conflict of interest.” Summers has collected millions in speaking fees from firms like Citigroup (multiple bailouts ring a bell?), Goldman Sachs (NY Fed/Goldman scandal sound familiar?), and Bank of America (CEO Ken Lewis working with ex Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke to possibly mislead investors, anyone?).

The New York Times paints a lovely picture of Summers saying “Mr. Summers, who will be 54 on Nov. 30, is universally described as brilliant, but is also renowned for being arrogant, occasionally rude and sometimes difficult to work with.” The article goes on to discuss Summers’ infamous reputation as a sexist after “girls don’t do economics” comments were, according to him, taken out of context some years ago.

All of this being said, please do not misconstrue my feelings for Ben Bernanke. Though a declared Republican, he does not subscribe to the exuberant idealism his predecessor Alan Greenspan brought to the Fed Chairman position. Someone described Bernanke’s politicism as being “asexually Republican” - the Ken doll with a bump of plastic under his suit and no expressed or obvious political affiliation to be found. Printing the United States into bankruptcy is certainly not a Republican trait I am familiar with.

So it cannot be Ben Bernanke’s politics which would motive President Obama to let his term expire. And even when we get rid of Bernanke, he’ll still stay on at the Fed board through 2020. 2020 until we can get rid of this money-printing manic depressive!

The Fed is failing and hard (see Treasury bills above). Whether or not this burden should rest entirely on Bernanke’s shoulders has not yet been decided. From the eyes of the funny-money-hungry Obama administration, it appears as though that doesn’t matter. Perhaps Bernanke doesn’t print quickly enough to keep up with President Obama’s promises and Summers will be better equipped to implode what remains of the dollar?

This will be interesting to watch. I sincerely hope Mr Obama manages to find a Fed Chairman who at least knows how to pay his taxes; if he picks a 7th tax cheat, and to head the Fed none the less!, I will have officially lost my faith in any chance this administration has at digging us out of this total economic disaster.

Interesting story in the Washington Times about how Republicans are jumping on the technology bandwagon by joining in on the fun with twitter; and they are even beating out the democrats on Capitol Hill  Ha!  This is a moot story and I will tell you why.  Current Republicans in the Senate and Congress aren’t going to win us any future elections.  I will tell you what it is – it’s the thousands upon thousands of conservatives who are using twitter to converse, build relationships, and spread the conservative message; specifically the Top Conservatives on Twitter — #tcot.

Granted, twitter only has about 14 million registered users but that number is growing exponentially month over month and I believe it will be mainstream in the next couple of years. Mark my words folks … the conservative movement has just begun!

If you enjoyed this post, plese follow me on Twitter.

In Cleveland, Ohio a volunteer group supporting Obama picked up hundreds of homeless people at shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers and drove them to a polling house yesterday on the last day that folks in Ohio could register and vote on the same day, with almost no questions asked.

One convicted felon noted, “I never voted before, without this service, I would have had no way to get here.”

Every decent law abiding citizen in this country — democrat or republican — should be angry and ashamed of this vile attempt to gain votes, however insignificant the number really is. The law against registering and voting the same day was on the books in Ohio, yet the democratic controlled court made this determination because they are — of course in bed with their political party. Yet another example of how democrats put their party before their country.

Sure, these people can vote for their candidate when they are in the booth, but there’s nothing preventing the fraud of voting in multiple locations. Is one homeless guy who’s bought off for a box of smokes or a six pack of beer worth 3 or 4 of your informed votes?

Let’s not only exploit the children in this country but also the homeless. Who’s next, the mentally disabled?

Tags: convicted felons voting for Obama, homeless people voting for Obama, Obama supporters in Ohio

Advertisement

A MESSAGE FROM URBAN
==================================================================================
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our feed. You can also follow Urban Conservative on Twitter. Let us know if you need blog marketing or social media consulting. And, if you want some serious traffic to your site, you can also buy advertising on Urban.
==================================================================================
VISIT OUR SPONSORS

I am sure tonight’s festivities will be much more interesting than last weeks; assuming Palin has the heart to look her enemy square in the eyes.

Tonight’s hotly-anticipated debate between their picks for vice president will be seen as a critical test for Republican Sarah Palin and for Democrat Joe Biden. Concerns about Sarah Palin’s readiness to take the national stage have grown in recent days following very poor interviews in which she fumbled her words when faced with tough questions, specifically from Katie Couric who is probably one of the softer interviewers in the media. If Sarah can show one ounce of articulation and at least pretend she knows what she is talking about, she may do just fine.

But some Democrats must also be worried.  Biden, a 35-year veteran of the Senate who has a bigger ego than most in Hollywood has in the past displayed a low level of restraint and tolerance when talking with (or at) the opposition.  He will lose points by bullying, patronizing or appearing to condescend during the debate (I heard on the radio this morning that he will only refer to her as Governor Palin.)

By the time you read this, the debate will be over. So tell me, who do you feel won the vice presidential debate tonight and why? Chime in and let your voice be heard.

Tags: who won the VP debate?, who won the vice president debate, 2008, vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, who won the vp debate, who won vp debate, vice president debate 2008, vp debate 2008

Advertisement

A MESSAGE FROM URBAN
==================================================================================
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our feed. You can also follow Urban Conservative on Twitter. Let us know if you need blog marketing or social media consulting. And, if you want some serious traffic to your site, you can also buy advertising on Urban.
==================================================================================
VISIT OUR SPONSORS

So Drudge is running a poll right now and McCain is blowing Obama out of the water.  Out of 118,000 votes 69% have voted that McCain won tonight’s CNN Presidential Debate.  They battled over federal spending, taxes, the economy, Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. Who do you think won and why? Chime in.

UPDATE — here is what Kissinger really said:

Kissinger: “Well, I am in favor of negotiating with Iran. And one utility of negotiation is to put before Iran our vision of a Middle East, of a stable Middle East, and our notion on nuclear proliferation at a high enough level so that they have to study it. And, therefore, I actually have preferred doing it at the secretary of state level so that we — we know we’re dealing with authentic…”

Advertisement

Tags: CNN Presidential Debate, Poll, Obama or McCain, Who won the 2008 Presidential Debate?, who won debate mccain obama, presidential debate polls, who won the debate 2008, presidential debate who won, cnn presidential debate

A MESSAGE FROM URBAN
==================================================================================
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our feed. You can also follow Urban Conservative on Twitter. Let us know if you need blog marketing or social media consulting. And, if you want some serious traffic to your site, you can also buy advertising on Urban.
==================================================================================
VISIT OUR SPONSORS

The BlogWatch is a weekly piece that is published on the non-partisan web site Facing Up to the Nation’s Finances.  Stay tuned for more weekly, non-partisan fiscal recaps brought to you by Billy Hallowell and Facing Up.With the discussion primarily focused on both the Democratic and the Republican national conventions, the blogosphere has been quite distracted. With that said, we were still able to dig up some interesting discussion about issues related the federal budget:To begin this week’s BlogWatch, the Economist Mom blog covers the current absence of candidate discussion surrounding the federal budget in the current political conversation. On the EM blog, Stan Collender’s most recent “Fiscal Fitness” piece is highlighted and paraphrased, as he explores the reasons why the federal budget isn’t on the candidates’ radar:

“You have to ask yourself why the budget isn’t being discussed more often in this year’s election. All polls show the economy as the No. 1 issue for most voters, and federal spending accounts for more than one-fifth of the economy…Shouldn’t voters be demanding to hear more?”

A few weeks back, the director of the Congressional Budget Office posed a very interesting blog entry on America’s Social Security debacle. We missed it in our last BlogWatch, but it’s surely worth noting here. According to the entry, a recent study conducted by the CBO substantiated some scary projections:“…the number of Social Security beneficiaries will grow considerably as the baby boomers become eligible for retirement benefits. Absent legislative changes, spending for the program will therefore climb substantially and exceed the program’s revenues.”And over at the Mises Economic Blog, talk is centered upon the fiscal weight of the American vice-presidency, as the entry takes on the position and explores its worth. Interestingly, the cost associated with the position comes into play:

“Why is there an Office of Vice President at all? There’s little compelling reason for the taxpayers to spend over $200,000 in salary and several million dollars more on staff, housing and transportation for a person who does little more then serve as an emergency backup.”

In other budgetary news, OMBWatch blogged about a Sunlight Foundation piece by executive director Ellen Miller. As per OMBWatch’s budget blog, Miller penned a piece about the legacy of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 — a bill that requires that all federal spending be logged and searchable online. According to Miller, the bill has also affected policy at the state level:

“Since 2007, 11 states…have established, via legislation or executive order, free and searchable Web sites that give access to state spending. And 24 other states are working on it, with more than half introducing spending transparency bills this year.”

That’s all for today’s BlogWatch. Check back next week for more updated news and information about America’s fiscal challenges.

Since Sarah Palin’s magnificent speech last night at the Republican Convention, there have been a multitude of articles about her performance and character; way too many to post here but some initial articles caught my attention.

If you missed the speech, you can read the excerpt here or watch below. According to Drudge, 37,244,000 million people watched the speech last night, which is probably the greatest number ever to watch a candidate for the Vice Presidency, and just 1 million shy of Obama.  It’s becoming clear to me that in less than 6 days, Sarah Palin has been able to energize Republicans and conservatives; something John McCain has struggled to do.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell says that although Palin is from the backwoods of Alaska, she has the heart of a street fighter; and that she is on the Republican ticket because she is a woman and isn’t afraid to go toe to toe with the Democrats. Our friends in the UK kinda like her which is surprising. Some aides from the unemployed Clinton camp spoke out and said that Palin has been treated unfairly and has been subjected to a sexist double standard by the media and Democrats, but what else is new. Even Ann Coulter decided to vote for McCain because of Palin; and this comes after a statement that “she would rather vote for Hillary than McCain.”

Even the left wing types like Gloria Steinem at the LA Times got it right when she said that “Sarah Palin shares nothing on common with Hillary Clinton but a chromosome”.   I applaud this statement and couldn’t agree more even though the rest of the article is full of crap.  Even the loonies in Hollywood chimed in like Annette Bening (who?). Her opinion, well … doesn’t really count since she is just a “B” grade actress anyway and isn’t in the same league as say a Susan Sarandon. 

I was also surprised to read an article about her hair style, which I think is just fine; Sarah-wear products arriving on the scene (my favorite one is ‘Our mama beats your Obama’); and yes, she did make an attempt to sell the “private jet” on eBay. 

Here is a 4 minute video highlighting Sarah’s speech.

Tags: Governor Sarah Palin, Main Stream Media, hockey mom, Sarah palin, Ann Coulter, Gloria Steinem, selling a jet on eBay, Our mama beats your Obama t-shirts

Well, not really.  But I am sure most of you don’t even know what “dissed” means, so look it up.

The 2008 Republican National Convention tonight was quite awesome. No, Kanye West didn’t perform since he hates all white people; and the audience wasn’t filled with Hollywood liberals pretending to care about the world we live in. Well, I think maybe Jon Voight might have been there since he is one of the few conservatives in Hollywood who isn’t afraid to come out of the closet.

The spotlight tonight was on the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. And, let me tell you folks, she was in her element, on point and she impressed me with her “command presence” at the podium.  She was greeted by thunderous applause and came out with poise, confidence and charisma; and damn, she looked quite lovely. “I will be honored to accept the nomination for vice president of the United States” she said so eloquently. 

With those words, pandemonium erupted - and the flashes of thousands of cameras reflected off her glasses.  Palin gave an excellent speech while mildly attacking Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and what she called the “Washington elite” and also the main stream media. Here are some direct quotes:

“The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of ‘personal discovery.’ This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer,”

And this was to the main stream media that is attacking her and her family:

But here’s a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people … I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too

And the most effective for me was:

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

Here is the complete excerpt of her speech.

I leave you with these words which are completely true: “for a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds” - Sarah Palin

Tags: 2008 Republican National Convention, Governor Sarah Palin, Main Stream Media, hockey mom, Sarah palin, john mccain, vice presidential nominee

These were words from Hillary Clinton when she presented at the Democratic National Convention this evening in Denver Colorado.  I know, I know … these are just words coming out of the mouth of woman who has finally accepted defeat and it shouldn’t bug me.

But I am a little emotional right now.

It is comments like this that clearly exemplify that most (I said most, not all) democrats put their beloved party before everything else; and the truth is that most of the readers on this blog who claim to be democrats do the same damn thing. It’s like the pathetic Oakland Raiders fans who claim every year that their team will be going to the Superbowl. They are loyal but unrealistic.

That’s one reason why I left the Republican Party; because I refuse to rely on a political party or a “savior politician� to solve all of my problems. The sad truth is that democrats of today are not the democrats of yesterday and for her to say the following is absurd:

Whether you voted for me or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose … No way, no how, no McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president.

I ask, what the hell is the purpose of the Democratic Party? What are your goals and objectives other than “change�?  What’s your vision? How is selecting Joe Biden as a running mate support the vision of “change� when he is a lifelong politician? I ask the same questions to Republicans too. Don’t get me wrong, I am supporting John McCain during this election; but I am not going commit suicide or move to Canada if he loses, which I think he might depending on who he chooses as a running mate.

And here is the irony in this situation, in which McCain capitalized on.

McCain released a new ad (see below) that replicates Clinton’s famous “3 a.m.� theme from the primaries, in which she challenged voters to think about who they wanted handling a late-night global crisis from the White House. In McCain’s remix of the video, Clinton is quoted from the primaries praising McCain’s “lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House� and belittling Obama by comparison saying “and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002�.

These politicians are a joke and have no core at all! They stand for NOTHING!

Meanwhile, I heard from the grapevine that anti-war lunatic Cindy Sheehan told about 200 demonstrators in Denver yesterday that not much has changed since her month long war protest outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, in 2005. At least she stands up for what she believes in and isn’t glued to the Democratic Party like most liberals.

Tags: Clinton speech at Democratic National Convention, Denver, Latest McCain Ad

The following image consists of influential conservative politicians, pundits, talk and radio show hosts (Newt Gingrich, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill O’Reilly, Glen Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mitt Romney, Michael Savage and Lars Larson.)  They are influential. They have a significant following.  And they are all conservative (some more conservative than the others, obviously).  But the other commonality of these folks is pretty simple.  They are all white males (grumpy old men); and we see/listen/read about them every day on the news, in newspapers, blogs, etc. 

I see this as a big problem and I even wrote about it a few years ago after I had a conversation with a co-worker.  In a nutshell, he made this comment after I told him I was a conservative, and I quote, “I thought all conservatives were white!� The problem here revolves around perception. And I would argue that many Americans who vote but are not necessarily “political� have this same perception and it’s hurting conservatives.

Now, it’s been reported that McCain is zeroing in on selecting a candidate. Some say it’s Romney. Others suggest it might be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. And others are speculating that it might be Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal; even though just today he said he is not being considered. If it were up to me, I’d choose Jindal.

But this is an issue that I believe will have an impact far beyond the 2008 Presidential Election.  Take a look at what Obama and the democrats have done with their party in the last few months. They have energized their base and the result is this “love affair� with the media; they’re selling more T-shirts, badges, baseball caps and other campaign merchandise. Their people are passionate, spreading the word (viral marketing), and participating. Will this win the election? I don’t know but it sure does look that way.

It’s not only because Obama is black, a great communicator, handsome and energetic. It’s because he is different from what we are used to seeing.  Despite his liberal policies and voting record, he is EXACTLY what we need to represent conservatism. People like Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and our elected officials only cater to a certain group of people; and I would argue that most non-white conservatives just can’t relate to their commentary, policies and personalities.  Republicans and conservatives alike need to start thinking long term about the future of America; especially if they want to court minority voters in each of the minority groups. 

The reality is that there are a lot of Black, Asian and Hispanic conservatives today but no one ever talks about them; they are rarely interviewed or featured on the news.  It’s about marketing, positioning and changing the perceptions of Americans that all conservatives and Republicans we see in the media are not grumpy old white men. Here are a few that I think are worth mentioning.

• Michael S. Steele is the chairman of GOPAC and a former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland.
• Alan Lee Keyes is a political activist, author and former diplomat. He ran for President in 1996, 2000, and 2008, and was a Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1988, 1992, and 2004; and was appointed Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations under Ronald Reagan.
• Condoleezza Rice is the current  Secretary of State, and the second in the administration of President George W. Bush to hold the office. She is the first black woman, second African American (after Colin Powell) and the second woman (after Madeleine Albright) to serve as Secretary of State. She was also President Bush’s National Security Advisor during his first term. Before joining the Bush administration, she was a professor of political science at Stanford University.
• J. C. Watts, Jr. is a conservative Republican politician, CNN political contributor, former Representative from Oklahoma in the U.S. Congress, and former professional Canadian football player and much celebrated quarterback for the University of Oklahoma.
• Jesse Lee Peterson is president and founder of The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny (BOND), an American group dedicated to promoting responsible fatherhood amongst African Americans. He is also a member of Choose Black America, an organization of African Americans who oppose illegal immigration.
• Michelle Malkin is a conservative columnist, blogger, author, and political commentator. She has made frequent guest appearances on national syndicated radio programs and on television networks such as MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and C-SPAN.
• Michelle Eunjoo Park Steel is a Republican member of the California Board of Equalization and is currently the highest ranking Korean American officeholder in the U.S.
• John Kenneth Blackwell is the former secretary of state of the U.S. state of Ohio who made an unsuccessful bid as the Republican nominee for Governor of Ohio in the 2006 election.
  Piyush “Bobby” Jindal is the current Republican governor Louisiana. Before his election as governor, he was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana’s 1st congressional district, to which he was elected in 2004.
• Linda Chavez is a prominent Hispanic-American conservative author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity.  She was once the highest-ranking woman in President Ronald Reagan’s White House.

My question is … where are these people? Why are they not letting thier voices get heard. Why aren’t they speaking out, sharing their opinions, talking to people.  With the exception of Michelle Makin (and yes, I love this woman), everyone of these people are totally off the radar; and that’s a problem.

Tags: Newt Gingrich, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mitt Romney, Michael Savage, Lars Larson, Michael S. Steele, Alan Lee Keyes, Condoleezza Rice, J. C. Watts, Jr., Jesse Lee Peterson, Michelle Malkin, Michelle Eunjoo Park Steel, John Kenneth Blackwell, Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, Linda Chavez, conservative politicians, conservative pundits, talk show host, radio show host