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President McCain in 2000 I must be one of the few conservative writers in cyberspace who never feared a McCain presidency. When Senator McCain looked like he might win the Republican nomination in 2000, I asked what, exactly, my friends were so worried about. McCain was honest, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were steeped in moral slipperiness. McCain was pro-life, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were pro-abortion. McCain, like Bush, supported a strong military, while Clinton famously “loathed” the military and Gore followed him like a trained poodle. McCain’s ACU (American Conservative Union) voting record is conservative and...

From the moment Barack Obama appeared on America's national political stage, he was always going to be a controversial figure. A half-white, half-black man with the poise and rhetorical flights of a Kennedy. A Harvard graduate abandoned by his Kenyan father to be raised by a single white mother. A man with the middle name Hussein running for the White House in post-9/11 America. Yet, what few could have imagined was the degree of animus he would stir within America's own black community - and, in particular, its African-American leaders. This week, it was revealed that the Rev. Jesse Jackson,...

Obama Natural born citizen or not? (From Hillary Clinton forum and PUMA members--http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/showthread.php?t=20436) Watch this first: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HSht5DobAno Then watch the updated version: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qXNLLAk9gek (content from HRC forum post follows) Today, 05:27 PM indigo Silver Member = >250 Posts I just posted an article credited by the Associated Press on Barack Obama’s citizenship Makes me wonder how much research Donna Cassata, the AP Political Editor in Washington did to make her undocumented remarks I now propose that the producer of these videos has done far more research on documenting Obama’s birth than Ms. Cassata ever thought about doing. My opinion -...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wants people to know that Democrats like oil drilling. A lot. They're just very picky about where. "Democrats are saying let's drill. Let's explore. Let's get energy for Americans from America and have it for Americans," Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. He was announcing that Democrats will unveil an energy production bill Thursday. Asked a minute later if the proposed bill would allow new offshore drilling, Hoyer told IBD no. ... "We want oil and gas companies to drill on the leases they've been given," Reid said.

New York tax filers reporting more than $375,000 a year in earned income may end up paying nearly 60% of their wages in taxes to the government under a Barack Obama presidency, economists who have analyzed his plan said. The Democratic presidential candidate is proposing not only raising the federal income tax, but also adding a Social Security tax for those Americans earning more than $250,000 a year. For New Yorkers, that could mean that if the current Social Security rate is applied, the marginal tax rate, or rate on every extra dollar earned, could rise to 58%. "This is...

I was just watching the news for a few minutes. First spoke algore about how we need to have all non-carbon electricity in 10 years. Then spoke Pelosi saying predictable things. But the next thing I saw is what causes my gorge to rise and I had to grab the remote before I became physically ill. It was McCain saying these words: "I have long admired the Vice President's work in the area of....."Is he trying to make people who already have misgivings aplenty about him either stay home or vote for somebody else? Does he really believe what he...

Barack Obama and his media comrades are engaged in an active effort to put his radical left-wing wife, "quintessential American" Michelle Obama, off-limits. That's what his effort to defend her yesterday was about. Republicans should not be intimidated by Obama and his media machine into not raising legitimate questions about Obama's beautiful but angry wife. It's simple. If we want to elect a Republican president, we must paint Barack Obama as the radical leftist he is. If Obama is even marginally acceptable to the American people, he will win, given the harsh political terrain Republicans face. A key part of...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wants people to know that Democrats like oil drilling. A lot. They're just very picky about where. "Democrats are saying let's drill. Let's explore. Let's get energy for Americans from America and have it for Americans," Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. He was announcing that Democrats will unveil an energy production bill Thursday. Asked a minute later if the proposed bill would allow new offshore drilling, Hoyer told IBD no. "There is not offshore drilling" in the bill, the Maryland Democrat said. Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is similarly off-limits. Instead it focuses on...

The board of a nonprofit organization on which Sen. Barack Obama served as a paid director alongside a confessed domestic terrorist granted funding to a controversial Arab group that mourns the establishment of Israel as a "catastrophe" and supports intense immigration reform, including providing drivers licenses and education to illegal aliens. The co-founder of the Arab group in question, Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, also has held a fundraiser for Obama. Khalidi is a harsh critic of Israel, has made statements supportive of Palestinian terror and reportedly has worked on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization while it was involved...

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

WMNF Evening News Wednesday Listen to this entire show: Tags: John McCain, Barack Obama, 2008 election, NAACP, school vouchers A campaign surrogate for John McCain told WMNF today that Barack Obama should be "disqualified" to run for president because of his admitted past drug use. More on that in a moment. But first, John McCain received a polite reception in front of the NAACP at the group's annual meeting in Cincinati today. Whether that will transfer to any votes coming from those in attendance is a different story. The GOP nominee spoke to the nation's oldest civil rights organization, spotlighting...

A just philosophy of government is predicated upon the understanding that the family is the first government and that all other government must first be at its service. In his marvelous apostolic exhortation on the family ("The Role of the Christian family in the Modern World") the Servant of God Pope John Paul II affirmed the social and political role of the family and called for the development of a “family politics”. Catholics, other Christians, other people of faith and all people of good will should embrace this challenge to develop just such a "family politics". It is time to...

Election: There's little doubt voters want more drilling if even congressional candidates are starting to trek to Alaska to urge more oil development. Seven are there now. That's a wake-up call to Congress.Congressional challenger Craig Williams of Pennsylvania spoke to us Wednesday by phone from Deadhorse, Alaska. He and six other Republican candidates think there's enough voter disapproval with Congress' failure to do anything about gas prices to win this election, even in a season when Democrats are believed to have the advantage. "We've got a Democratic Congress doing absolutely nothing. Even the Republicans (before them) didn't do anything. So...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is proposing the most radical overhaul of American health care policy in a decade and a half, says Michael Tanner, a senior fellow with the Cato Institute. McCain would move us away from a system of employer-based health insurance. He plans to provide all Americans with a $2,500 refundable tax credit for individuals and a $5,000 credit for families, regardless of how people obtain their insurance. Most notably, McCain would allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines, a practice now prohibited, says Tanner. Health insurance is largely regulated at the state level, and the...

It’s the pain everyone feels from coast to coast: sky high gas prices. This week, President Bush moved to lower those prices by calling for lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling. It’s a move that could have long term impacts, but Bush admits it won’t produce any oil in the short term. So, what’s he up to? “Talk is action in Washington,” said WSLS Political Analyst Dr. Bob Denton. Denton says by stepping up to the mic, the president shows he gets it. “It reinforces the image that I am a leader. I am listening. And, I am doing.”...

"I don't want to send another generation of American children to failing schools." (Barack Obama, Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007) The signature initiative of an Obama campaign for a second term would be nationalizing public education, kindergarten through grade 12. If it happens, say goodbye to the Independent School District (I.S.D.) as we've known it. The Obama campaign document entitled "The Blueprint For Change: Barack Obama's Plan For America" continues to be ignored by the old media news. The section entitled "Plan To Give Every American Child A World Class Education," was profiled earlier in much of...

Fitzgerald: Why Obama makes people nervous It would be silly for Barack Obama and his advisers not to recognize that there are many people in this country who are anxious about his Muslim background, his Muslim name, and his Muslim supporters getting out the vote for someone whom, they, at least, in this country, and abroad, are convinced is deeply sympathetic to Islam and to its aims. This does not go away by declaring oneself a Christian. And it does not go away after the election, whether Obama wins -- in which case the anxiety only increases -- or if...

Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting in New Mexico today, July 15, 2008, Sen. John McCain vowed to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice for his crimes against America . . . (see video) This is the kind of grit and determination we need in a President. John McCain has the resolve and strength to do what he says he will do. This is the McCain who needs to keep showing up at every appearance on the campaign trail, and on television.

Obama "Pivots" on the IssuesJack Kelly Tue Jul 15, 7:30 AM ET During his eight years in the Illinois state senate, Barack Obama voted "present" 130 times. That's an astounding 12-13 times a year in which he said, in effect, "I'm here, but I'm not going to take a stand on this issue." Given that record of bold leadership, I'm surprised Sen. Obama acted as he did on the legislation Congress passed July 9 to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Sen. Obama had pledged to filibuster FISA if it contained a provision to provide retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tops Sen. Barack Obama as the choice for commander-in-chief of the U.S. military, an ABC-Washington Post poll indicated. Seventy-two percent of respondents said McCain, the likely Republican presidential candidate, would be good commander-in-chief of the military. By contrast, 48 percent said Obama, McCain's likely Democratic challenger, would be a good commander-in-chief.

(Fortune Magazine) -- Fellow Americans, choose your revolution. One way or another, we're getting a new health-care system. The old one is obviously broken. The U.S. now has 47 million uninsured, and costs are out of control. The Department of Health and Human Services predicts that if things continue as they are, health spending will almost double by 2017 to $4.3 trillion, or one-fifth of GDP, vs. 16% today.

Despite having failed to achieve immigration reform in the Senate, John McCain told the nation’s largest Hispanic advocacy group he would “fix our broken borders.” “Many Americans, with good cause, did not believe us when we said we would secure our borders, and so we failed in our efforts,” McCain said at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) annual convention today. “We must prove to them that we can and will secure our borders first, while respecting the dignity and rights of citizens and legal residents of the United States.” McCain said it was important to “recognize the...

Senator John McCain will make a foreign policy speech.

...A new poll shows that 82% of Hispanics consider education as one of three most important issues facing this country. The survey also shows that, even while Hispanics trust Democrats over Republicans on education by more than a two-to-one margin, that ratio could change if Republicans heavily promote school choice while Democrats oppose it.... ...This survey found that although Hispanic voters generally consider public schools to be effective...Fifty-two percent of Hispanic voters have a favorable view of school choice, according to the poll, while only 7% had an unfavorable view. When asked about vouchers specifically, 32% expressed a favorable opinion...

WASHINGTON, US - US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed on Monday not to seek permanent US military bases in Iraq and reiterated his pledge to pull out the bulk of US forces by mid-2010. But he insisted on keeping 'a residual force' in the violence-ravaged nation to fight remnants of Al-Qaeda for an unspecified amount of time, if he moved to the White House next January. Writing in The New York Times, Mr Obama, who has been under criticism for allegedly wavering on Iraq, said he would not hold the military or US resources 'hostage to a misguided desire...

With all the reporters covering the major presidential candidates, it amazes me no one ever seems to ask the right questions. For several days now, WND has been hounding Barack Obama's campaign about a statement he made July 2 in Colorado Springs – a statement that blew my mind, one that has had me scratching my head ever since. In talking about his plans to double the size of the Peace Corps and nearly quadruple the size of AmeriCorps and the size of the nation's military services, he made this rather shocking (and chilling) pledge: "We cannot continue to rely...

I think McCain will incrementally continue to close the lead for four reasons: The hope and change rock-start moments are waning, and replaced by a new Obama composite: 1) Obama flips in furious fashion; the only controversy is over when the mutations will stop, and how well he can convince his base that they are only cosmetic adjustments of limited duration necessary for election and the implementation of their shared European-like agenda. 2) Obama is proving messianic; all the lectures about fainting, the Brandenburg Gate, his new seal, open-air address in Denver, oceans receding, etc. are cementing a portrait of...

Poll Finds 72 Percent of Americans Say McCain Would be Good Commander-in-Chief Americans divide evenly between Barack Obama and John McCain's approaches to the war in Iraq, and rate McCain much more highly on his abilities as commander-in-chief — key reasons the unpopular war isn't working more to Obama's advantage. Despite broad, longstanding dissatisfaction with the war, just 50 percent of Americans prefer Obama's plan to withdraw most U.S. forces within 16 months of taking office. Essentially as many, 49 percent, side with McCain's position — setting no timetable and letting events dictate when troops are withdrawn.

Currently, it is only legal to drill for oil off certain parts of the California coast. Should the law be changed to expand drilling for oil in coastal waters or should the law stay as is? 59% Change To Expand 33% Stay As Is Have you always thought drilling should be expanded off the California coast? Or, did you only recently come to think drilling should be expanded, given the price of gasoline? 50% Always for Expanding 48% Recently Due To Prices 2% Not Sure If drilling is expanded in water off the coast of California, will the price of...

Investors this summer have been placing their bets on an Obama presidency, and for the most part that hasn't been good for the market. Without giving him a chance to explain himself in detail on the campaign trail or at the Democratic National Convention, they are voting with their shares by tossing financial, health insurance, manufacturing and high-dividend stocks into the ash can, and are growing skeptical about energy companies as well. It's not that major institutional investors don't like the man -- far from it. He has many backers among the financial elite, including multibillionaires George Soros and Ron...

WASHINGTON — Senator Obama's endorsement of a proposal by Senator Clinton to give health care tax credits to small businesses marks the first policy-related olive branch he has offered to his vanquished rival. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee unveiled the plan during a speech yesterday in San Diego to the National Council of La Raza, where he touted its potential to expand health care and jobs for Latino businesses and families. Under the $6 billion-a-year plan, small firms that provide health care for their employees would be eligible for refundable tax credits covering as much as 50% of the cost...

Sen. John McCain on Tuesday brushed off skepticism from economists and insisted he could balance the budget by 2013 by keeping taxes low and curbing spending. "We're going to restrain spending, we're going to have the economy grow again and increase revenues. The problem is that spending got completely out of control," McCain said on CNN's "American Morning." McCain is in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire in 2010. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has projected that by extending the cuts, which McCain originally opposed, and including the additional cuts McCain has...

First there was the flag pin. Barack Obama refused to wear it. Then he refused to put hand to heart during the national anthem. He sat in a pew while his pastor trashed America. He explained to his rich pals in San Francisco that the hard working folks in Middle America "cling to guns or religion” because they are “bitter” over the tough economic times. Now Obama tells us that we shouldn’t worry about immigrants learning English; our focus should be on getting our children to learn Spanish. He added, "It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak...

If conservatives ever though there was little difference between John McCain and Barack Obama on Immigration -- think again! Yesterday, in a speech to La Raza, Barack Obama likened Immigration Enforcement efforts to "terror" . . . (see video) When communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, when people are detained without access to legal counsel, when all that is happening, the system just isn’t working, and we need to change it.As this campaign wears on, Obama is systematically showing himself...

WASHINGTON — So how old is John McCain? Six-packs, automatic transmissions and the American Express card were all introduced after he was born, not to mention computers which McCain admits he doesn't use. McCain, himself, jokes that he's older than dirt. And while his age is being raised as a campaign issue, medical experts say voters shouldn't be concerned that, if elected, McCain would be the oldest man to assume the presidency, at 72. In politics and other fields, they explain, it's not unusual for talented people to do signature work late in life, when they can apply the cumulative...

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama discussed his vision for the world in a wide-ranging foreign policy discussion with CNN's Fareed Zakaria. The Democratic presidential hopeful answered some tough questions about how he would deal with the world's crises, what he would do if Osama bin Laden is caught and his plan for Iraq. Here are some highlights from the interview, which aired Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria -- GPS." ZAKARIA: Tell me, what is your first memory of a foreign policy event that shaped you, shaped your life? OBAMA: A first memory. Well, you know, it wasn't so much an event....

Barack Obama unveiled a $6 billion-a-year plan to provide tax credits for small businesses offering health insurance to employees, adopting an idea proposed by onetime rival Hillary Clinton and targeted at one of the most persistent challenges in achieving universal coverage. The tax credit offers an incentive for small businesses, which helped sink former President Bill Clinton's 1993 plan, which would have required all businesses to contribute toward health costs. Obama's proposed tax credit is an effort to bring this powerful constituency to the Democratic camp by offering carrots, not sticks, toward health coverage. Sen. Clinton concluded the same and...

  This bombshell was made by Atlas reader techdude in the comment section (oh and btw, techdude, send the screenshots): As a real forensic computer investigator (board certified, investigated thousands of cases, access to a full forensic computer lab, yadda yadda...) I decided to jump into the fray over the fake vs real discussion a week ago when a friend of mine challenged me to see what I could find (since according to him, the document was clearly a real one). He is what one would call a slightly rabid Obama supporter – he even has the tattoo to prove...

MAYBE THE quickest way to lower oil and gas prices would be this: Immediately enroll every Democratic member of Congress in an entry-level economics class. The lack of even a basic grasp of economic concepts has led Democrats to oppose sensible policies that would begin to lower oil and gas prices. Instead, they push hair-brained ideas that make no sense. As Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein wrote in The Wall Street Journal on July 1, "Increasing the expected future supply of oil would also reduce today's price. That fall in the current price would induce an immediate rise in oil...

Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul By WILLIAM YARDLEY PORTLAND, Ore. — In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama. Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she...

Is Ralph Nadar Right About Obama Using White Guilt? by Delores WilliamsJune 26, 2008 06:28 PM EDT (Updated: June 26, 2008 06:37 PM EDT) For my new readers, let me disclose from the top that I am not an Obama fan. I refuse to pull the lever for him because I think he is unqualified, lacks judgment, and borders near the unethical and illegal too often. Having said that, is Ralph Nadar right when he says that Obama is using "white guilt" and trying to talk "white." I think I have a split decision on that. As far as...

Recovering a true copy of Obama’s birth certificate IS important to the general public, because he is being interviewed by us for the most important job in the world, the President of the United States. Unfortunately major networks or newspapers are not covering this story, because if they can keep you from learning new information about Obama, the better chance their candidate will win. This type of media, elitist attitude assumes that the average American fed their propaganda, spoon by spoon, are more or less too dumb to see the clear bias in their reporting. Ha! Welcome to the internet,...

Whether effective or not, the energy proposals coming out of Congress have caught fire on the campaign trail. That's why former Republican Gov. Jim Gilmore, a candidate for U.S. Senate, has been visiting gas stations around Virginia collecting anecdotes from consumers struggling with soaring energy costs. Gilmore, who rode into the governor's mansion on a "no car tax" slogan, has a new one for his Senate race: "Drill here. Drill now. Cut gas prices." "I believe drilling for oil now is critical," Gilmore said. "I think that will drop prices immediately. International oil markets are very sensitive." His opponent, former...

Political Players: Former GOP Presidential Candidate, McCain Economic Adviser On Taxes, Energy And The Budget, Steve Forbes. Steve Forbes: I think his (McCain's) plan is the most realistic plan to achieve a balance - or a far better balance - that is out there, by recognizing the importance of reducing the burden of taxation, among other things. That is the key to getting the economy back on track again. ... So the way you get a balanced budget is one, greater revenue growth. And he's got the best plan for it. And two, restraint of spending. ... Steve Forbes: The...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said in a new interview Friday that the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai had not got out of a "bunker" to rebuild the war-torn country. Obama also said in the interview with CNN to be broadcast in full this weekend that the Bush administration had allowed Al-Qaeda and the Taliban to regroup, by diverting vital US forces to the war in Iraq. "I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker and helped to organize Afghanistan and (the) government, the judiciary, police forces, in ways that would give...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said in interview excerpts released Friday that Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden should be executed, if he is ever captured alive. The Illinois Senator told CNN that the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks in 2001 should face the full weight of US and global justice. "I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty," Obama said. "I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes, but I certainly think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000 Americans justifies such an approach." "I think this is a big hypothetical, though...

Gramm was right about the recession and stood by his recession comments on Thursday. A recession is two consecutive quarters in which the economy shrinks, and last quarter it grew. But no matter. Voters feel they are in a recession, and so they are, at least according to Campaign Econ.

I have previously requested a copy of Barack Obama's birth certificate. Janice Okubo, Public Information Office of the Communications office of the State of Hawaii, responding on July 3, has chosen to refuse to provide a copy of the birth certificate. This blog consists of three parts. First, I quote Ms. Okubo's letter, dated July 3, 2008, verbatim. Her letter responds to my inquiry under the Freedom of Information Act. Although Ms. Okubo points out that the Freedom of Information applies to the federal government and not the states, most states, including Hawaii, have similar statutes. With respect to birth...

Last October, when John McCain’s presidential campaign was nearly dead, I went to Iowa to follow him around for a few days. The story felt like a eulogy. Few observers believed McCain could come back from the twin disasters of his campaign nearly running out of money and his disastrous stand on comprehensive immigration reform. Riding in a van from Sioux City to Sheldon, I asked McCain what had gone wrong. “The biggest detriment to our campaign so far — by far — was the immigration issue, because it’s an emotional issue with our Republican base,” he told me. “I...

Sen. John McCain gave two economics speeches in the last 48 hours. They were very strong, pro-growth, and pro-energy production. McCain also is finally slamming Obama on taxes and energy. Yesterday in Denver, the senator said, “If you believe you should pay more taxes, I am the wrong candidate for you. Sen. Obama is your man. The choice in this election is stark and simple. Sen. Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t.” This is good. Strong. I hope it’s the beginning of a Big Mac resurgence under the new management of Steve Schmidt, who is effectively running the campaign...