Screaming at the Radio

As I listened to the debate last night, there were several statements by Obama that leapt out at me. I was driving at the time, so I was screaming at John McCain to please pick up on what was just said and hit back hard. Although there were several responses by McCain I appreciated, in at least one case he missed a golden opportunity to nail Obama to the wall. Here are some statements from a CNN transcript:

Brokaw: Sen. Obama, time for a discussion. I'm going to begin with you. Are you saying to Mr. Clark (ph) and to the other members of the American television audience that the American economy is going to get much worse before it gets better and they ought to be prepared for that?

Obama: No, I am confident about the American economy. But we are going to have to have some leadership from Washington that not only sets out much better regulations for the financial system.

This is after Obama jumped on McCain again for his statement a few weeks ago:

Obama: And we've -- you know, Sen. McCain and I have some fundamental disagreements on the economy, starting with Sen. McCain's statement earlier that he thought the fundamentals of the economy were sound.

Barack Obama and his media sycophants jumped all over John McCain for making this statement. Campaigns and the media should operate under different rules of engagement, but when it comes to the media and their agenda, they have the same rule. A campaign will take something that somebody said and regardless of what was meant, use the statement to their advantage. In my opinion the media should take what somebody said, attempt in good faith to determine what was meant and comment on what the person meant to say. While I can expect the Obama camp to spin McCain’s “fundamentals” statement against him, I do expect the media to refrain from joining the Obama spin. When a campaign does spin as Obama did in this case, I would expect a certain consistency regarding the spin instead of spinning one way for one circumstance, but spinning another way when it suits.

Here after Obama and his media sycophants made such a huge effort to take McCain down a few notches, Obama turns around in the debate last night and made a virtually identical statement as McCain did weeks ago. Obama says he is confident about the American economy. There are only two ways to read that statement. Obama is confident about the American economy because the fundamentals of the economy are sound OR Obama is confident about the economy even though the fundamentals of the economy are not sound. If it is the first, Obama, may have scored points with it but is a hypocrite of the highest order. If it is the second, then Obama is living in an alternate universe where he is happy and optimistic in spite of the economic house burning down. Hypocrite or hysterical, Obama needs to be called on it.

Did You Really Think Through That, Union Thug?

United Auto Worker Union President Ron Gettelfinger underscores why I view most unions to be run by non-thinking thugs. In his eagerness to get a microphone and to attack John McCain, Gettelfinger spews out some nonsense that obviously was not thought through for two seconds. His statements according to CNN:

"The last thing we need is a presidential candidate who undermines autoworkers, and these days it seems that John McCain is doing just exactly that," he said. "When he's in the Midwest, he tells voters he supports the industry, when he is in other states he brags about buying a foreign car, as he did with the Prius." (It is not clear if McCain or his daughter bought the Prius)

Gettelfinger also pointed to comments McCain made in an interview with Detroit TV station WXYZ, saying, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud."

"That's really a nice campaign line," Gettelfinger said of the comments. "But it turns out that John McCain wasn't being straight with the people of Detroit, or the state of Michigan, or our country as a matter of effect," adding later, "The American auto industry and the American voters deserve a president who will be straight with them.”

The McCains have 13 cars in their family fleet. Two of those are foreign made (Honda / Volkswagon). There is also a Lexus and Prius that are driven by Cindy and McCain's daughter, but are not registered to them. That leaves 11 American made cars in the fleet. Somehow Gettelfinger considers purchasing 11 American cars as an act that "undermines autoworkers". Apparently Gettelfinger is quite satisfied with Obama's contribution of 1 and only car because it is a Ford. Only in a liberal union thug mentality could one claim that even though McCain has put 11 times the dollar amount into the American auto industry as Obama, he is "undermining" it.

Barack Obama's Gutter Tactics

The media has painted Barack Obama as above the fray running a clean and ethical campaign. This same media has attempted to paint the McCain campaign as the lowest, nastiest smear machine in election history. They jumped on McCain for allegedly lying about the nature of a sex education bill that Obama supported. The point of McCain's ad was to show that Obama has accomplished very little and that his support of this bill that actually failed was one of the few things that Obama could put on his political resume. When reading the bill in it's entirety, it obviously opens the door for very young kids being exposed to things they are not ready for. While it does claim it should be "age appropriate", who decides that? Just how do you make information on how to avoid STDs age appropriate for a kindergartender?

After plastering McCain for his "attack ads" as a below the belt SOB, the media has turned a blind eye to Obama's gutter tactics. While there have been a few stories on it (mostly media blogs), nobody has asked Obama about his ad that totally distorts parodies by Rush Limbaugh to whip up anger among hospanics. Nobody seems to be concerned about an outright "whopper" being told by Obama about McCain and Social Security in a desperate attempt to scare senior citizens in Florida.

While Obama continues to enjoy free MSM passes, there is a new report that underscores Obama's nasty Chicago political machine mentality. First, taking a trip down memory lane it is good to remember that Obama won his Illinois State Senate seat by "throwing all of his opponents off the ballot on technicalities". This political jujitsu move "Obama disqualified all four opponents -- including the incumbent state senator, Alice Palmer, and three minor candidates" according to the Wall Street Journal.

Now the Jawa Report shows that Obama is bringing his Chicago experiences to the national stage. Apparently some of the smears against Sarah Palin have been the work of a professional PR firm that has links to the Obama campaign. According to Jawa:

• Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

• The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

• Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

• Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

• The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

• This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

• David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

• The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

While many may choose to claim a high standard of proof and deny this report (while retaining a wagon rut low standard of proof when it comes to accusations against Palin), apparently the owner of the mentioned videos takes this report seriously. In an update on this report Jawa notes:

[UPDATE: Within 1 hour of posting, "eswinner" has removed all videos from YouTube and began removing any traces of his activities. But we have the video and all relevant websites backed up.

If "eswinner" isn't Ethan Winner of the Publicis Groupe, then why did "eswinner" yank the video so quickly? Or if this was just an innocent homemade ad, then what does he have to hide? You'd think he'd want more attention for it.

The MSM can continue to highlight everything it can to put McCain in a bad light, don't expect to hear anything about this. Obama has a Season Free Pass with the MSM. Whether Obama wins or loses, the MSM has much to account for in this campaign. I am sure they are putting all their chips into Obama now because a reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine could allow them to skirt accountability of their shameless behavior. In the meantime, it is up to the New Media to expose Obama and his shameful Chicago style politics to strongarm his way into the White House.

Did the McCain Campaign Watch Karate Kid II?

As I have been watching the events unfold the last few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that somebody in the McCain camp has seen the movie "Karate Kid II". Ok, ok, the series was hoaky, campy, sappy, etc. but I admit I loved watching them when I was younger (and still do from time to time). The second movie ended with a fight between the "Daniel-son" and a more experienced but less honorable fighter. Just when all seemed lost, the town observers whip out their drum toys to convey to Daniel the secret of karate. The drum toy as pictured has two beads to strike the drum. When you move it back and forth the beads alternately strike one side of the drum and then the other. Daniel takes the clue and commences to strike his opponent alternately on each side of his face without giving him a break. He has no chance between blows to recover and finally falls.

Like the drum, alternate blows are being landed on Obama every day. The McCain camp is using the media's bias against itself and Obama. In one way or another McCain is getting the media to play and replay his messages. They often are doing this in an attempt to make McCain look bad, negative and mean; but the message gets played multiple times and it sinks in to the viewers.

One difference between the pictured drum and the campaigns is that there is at least one extra bead on the drum. That bead is the floundering Obama Campaign. They seem to be striking blows against themself almost as many times as the McCain campaign does:

- They leap before looking to pounce on Sarah Palin's inexperience only to have left their soft underbelly exposed to Obama's lesser experience.
- They allude to Palin's lack of accomplishment, only to again underscore Obama's lackluster career.
- They act like they are taking the high road and accuse McCain of gutter politics; then they send an attack team of 30 to Alaska to dig up dirt on Palin
- Obama exposes himself with the Lipstick on a Pig line. Normally an ok line to use, but with Palin's Lipstick on a Pit Bull reference, the correlation is too obvious. One of two problems here. Obama thought he could get away with such a low connotation (like he thought when he gave Hillary Clinton the finger while pretending to scratch his nose) OR he innocently used the line but when his audience immediately linked it to Palin (by their obvious reaction) he was too stupid to realize the gaffe and immediately correct the audience. Nasty or stupid: take your pick.
- Getting desparate the Obama camp scours Mother Jones, Daily Kos and Huffington Post for ideas. They come up with the "bright idea" to focus on John McCain's lack of using email and put out an ad about it. We are then reminded that due to John McCains POW injuries, it is too painful for him to use a keyboard. Power Line has the embedded ad AND a March 2004 reference to the fact that "McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes".

The Obama Campaign is in total disarray. Power Line points out that McCain has pulled even with Obama in Minnesota. Gateway Pundit points out that Obama is sliding in "Ohio, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia". They also point out that the Dems are afraid of the racism factor ..... from fellow DEMs. I personally know this to be true. My wife and I have heard from multiple Democrat associates that although they are Democrat, they can't see themselves pulling the lever for "a black guy" (yes, they have their embarrassing members too).

I continue to remember that the winds can change the other direction just as quickly as they changed in this direction. The media is working overtime to accomplish that (when they aren't being manipulated by the McCain strategy). In the meantime, it is not only gratifying to see that people are still capable of rational thought; it is so darn fun to watch the Libs go berserk. Olive Oyl and I are having a great time reading all the articles and watching the videos together. We can't wait each day to see the new blow to Obama from the drum toy.

One final point: If Obama is so susceptible to the toy drum style of attack in a campaign, is this a sign of how our enemies can work to put Obama into the fetal position if he ever assumes office? Scary thought.

Obama Demoted to Mortal

I don't have the time to develop a full state of the election post, but am having so much fun watching Obama's downward spiral I have to post something. The one thing I keep thinking is that we have the opportunity to watch two DEMs (Hillary and Obama) go from totally thinking they have it in the bag to losing it. Hillary had coronation mentality until Obama finally took it from her. Obama has had anointed mentality until Sarah Palin was named for the GOP VP slot.

I have said many times (though not original with me) that the Left ALWAYS overplays its hand. If you have seen the movie "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" you will see a striking similarity between the antics of the witch-led hoard that kills Aslan and the way the Left has attacked Sarah Palin. Though the whole scene should be watched to get the full flavor of what I am saying, you can see some of it in this clip:



The Left has totally overplayed the attacks on Sarah Palin and it has bitten them. Obama has lost ground in overall polls and in key demographics. People are even putting their money where their mouth is and buying McCain stock in the online election trading site Intrade. Last week Obama led McCain $57 to $43. Yesterday McCain passed him by a fraction and today he is ahead almost $2 a share at the time of writing.

As I see and hear clips of Obama, he seems so lost and floundering. His timing is very bad, he lacks his former confidence, and he strikes out in angry and whiny statements. Yesterday I read one of the most descriptive posts on what Obama must be feeling and thinking. It is called Rattled. Check it out for a very entertaining experience.

So with the polls, fundraising slowing, friends worrying and opponents gaining optimism; Obama for now seems to have been demoted to mortal status. Of course things can change swiftly. I think if Obama EVER has a good day again, the media will run a series of stories claiming he has recaptured his Mojo. Actually, they may lower the bar to if he has a day without sticking his foot in his mouth. For now, it is quite fun to see the dismay on the left. The difference between us and them is that we can cope with a McCain loss without medicinal assistance. I think a McCain win will result in more trips to the pharmacy by the left.

State of the Election - August 29, 2008

What an exciting week! Well, it did not get too exciting until maybe last night. I'll give Obama his rock star status at his speech last night. I did not view it as I had better things to do at the time, but I heard enough. There is no doubt that that it was a large, energized crowd. There is no doubt that it was a historic moment and that those who viewed it and favor Obama had quite a show. I did hear he gave more details about the "hope" and "change" he plans to bring. I won't critique it since I did not hear it, nor read a transcript. I will say that emotion and passion are fleeting moments. They have an expiration on them and must soon be tapped into with something solid or they are meaningless. The question is - can Obama convert last night into something meaningful?

There is at least one thing about his speech that I find humorous. Just like in his 2004 Convention Keynote Speech, and in his appearance at Rick Warren's Saddleback church in 2006 on World AIDS Day, and at his May 2008 Speech on Race, Obama in his 2008 Convention Speech spoke about being his "brother's keeper". I just am wondering if his $1 a month brother George Obama liked that part of the speech.

In the last few weeks the John McCain campaign has been nothing short of brilliant. The clear drive to increase domestic drilling to relieve gas prices, the challenging picture of Obama's association with William Ayers that drew a panicked response, the classy ad congratulating Obama on his special day, and finally the amazing handling of the VP selection were all brilliant. Thinking back over the last few weeks of announcements regarding the VP selection, the McCain campaign built a superb tension. They used every method to draw out the media into the process - I'm sure Leiberman and Ridge were never on the table, but it sure got the media involved. It sure made many Conservatives nervous. Then there was talk of Romney and Pawlenty that got the Conservatives talking about it. All during this time, Palin was not really hinted at.

The selection and timing were a flawless tag team that succeeded in wiping Obama's speech off the table. When I was reviewing the news, I was amazed at how little there was about last night. The McCain VP pick was splashed all over the place. The Sarah Palin selection in spite of Liberal's weak effort to undermine was a fantastic pick. First, the vacuum created by Hillary Clinton's loss makes a female choice very appropriate. I am not under the delusion that Hillary supporters will flock to Palin, but many less partisan women who wanted to see a woman in the race, will be pleased with the choice. Palin's life story and rise to be Alaska's Governor is very interesting. She has strong core beliefs that will satisfy and energize the base. She will strengthen the theme of Drill Here, Drill Now. All in all, a very good pick.

As an added bonus, the selection of Palin served as a Rope a Dope for the Libs. They immediately jumped on her lack of experience with both feet. It was only after it was too late to take it back, that they realized that she has more Executive experience and more accomplishments than Obama. The ability to underscore that point about Obama will both wipe the smirk off their faces and hit him where it hurts. I for one cannot wait to see the debate between Palin and Biden.

State of the Election - August 23, 2008

Since I have written nothing since before the primaries ended, I will back up a bit. I was happy to see Barack Obama win over Hillary Clinton. I think she had more of a chance at winning than Obama. I also am very tired of the Clintons and the Bushes. Only by a remote chance would Edwards have won. Even before his affair came to light, he would have been the easiest to beat. Oh well.

Obama
When Obama clinched the nomination, I knew that the more he became known, the less he would be liked. I thought the Media would do a better job at keeping him less known than they have, but their typical over-reactions to conservatives have coaxed them into keeping stories in the public eye long enough for people to get closer glimpses and they have not been pretty. I knew that Obama was phenomenally arrogant, a dyed in the wool socialist and had quite a number of bad associations. However, even I was surprised at how much of an empty suit he is. He is very shallow, cannot think on his feet and seems to have no core beliefs that he is willing to share with us. With this long election cycle it is amazing how long Obama has been in the Feasibility Stage of his campaign where we know very little about any details beyond "hope" and "change". When a detail does come out it never makes him look good ranging from laughable to downright scary:

- Energy plan = tire inflation + tune-ups + tapping oil reserve + taxing the heck out of Big Oil
- Tax plan = class warfare by soaking the rich + raising the Capital Gains tax even though he admits it will result in less revenue but will simply be fair
- Wants to move translators from Iraq to Afghanistan even though they don't speak the same language
- Foreign Policy plan = have talks with all despots in the world without preconditions
- Position on Russian aggression = Moral equivalence between Saddam's Iraq and Georgia + blame the victim (Georgia must have done something to provoke Russia)

Of course most of the details of his plans are given in some sort of code - "uh, uh, uh, uh, uh..." Has anybody tried to convert his long uuuhs and short uhs into Morse Code to see what he is really saying?

Now Obama has finally picked a running mate - Joe Biden. It is funny that I wrote on LA Sunsett's blog something that a day later Rush Limbaugh said - "Please let it be Biden". I took a look at a variety of blogs to take a pulse on the reaction to his pick and the verdict is that a lot of people are extremely excited about Obama picking Biden. Problem is that they are all conservatives. Even the comments on the liberal blogs about the pick seem only to be obligatory. Somehow they think that Biden's foreign policy experience is going to help Obama. What is he going to do - defer every foreign policy question to Biden? "Uh, uh, uh, I think I'll let Joe answer that one". As a final note on Biden: so far the marketing undertone has been comparing a young, vibrant, good-looking black man that can give good speeches to a tired looking white-haired white guy that can't give speeches as well. So what does Obama do? He picks a tired looking white-haired white guy that can't give speeches as well for his running mate. You can't make this stuff up.

McCain
I would be lying if I said I was thrilled that McCain was the nominee. He is barely GOP, and nowhere near a conservative. When he clinched the nomination, I could only shake my head and silently curse Huckabee and his brain dead following. I went for the first month wondering if I could even pull the lever for him. Since I am a conservative more than a Republican, I wished we had a viable conservative alternative. However, even if I wanted to throw away my vote I certainly have no desire to give it to Ron Paul or Bob Barr. So I basically said silently to McCain, "Convince me". I have to admit he has made progress in that area.

First, McCain has always been the only National Security candidate (notice I say only - not stronger. Obama is totally absent on National Security, not just weak). Second, McCain will at least nominate a Sandra Day O'Conner instead of a Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Both his Presidency and his Supreme Court appointments will only disappoint and anger me some of the time instead of all of the time like Obama's. With the balance of the Court as it is, if Obama is elected you can expect at least 2 liberal justices to retire soon after. We run the risk of several deaths as most are now quite old. A single loss of one of the four conservatives being replaced by Obama will be unrecoverable in the next decade. With the tendency of Leftist justices to make up law out of whole cloth the deck will be stacked in favor of the Left for the next 25 years.

Still, I wanted McCain to convince me about McCain. I have been pleasantly surprised by a few things:

- I truly thought McCain was going to roll over and be a nice guy during the campaign while Obama and his media surrogates beat McCain to a pulp. McCain has a spine on the campaign trail and is willing hit back and hard. Good for him.
- His tax policy does not leave me grabbing protectively for my wallet like Obama's
- While some call it a flip-flop, McCain sees that with gas over $4 per gallon we have to take necessary steps boost supply. Hey, if I refuse to buy a plasma screen TV, but change my mind if the cost is cut in half - am I a flip-flopper? No, you can only be a flip-flopper if the conditions remain the same except for populist belief. The high gas prices are hurting the big and little guy alike.
- McCain has been very strong in his words against Russia. His foreign policy has strength and clarity.

I have issues with McCain, but for the most part the issues that affect me directly I think he is ok. I wish he would change positions on illegal immigration, but he is the status quo. I will never be a cheerleader for McCain, but I believe he has taken some steps to convince me to vote for him instead of merely voting against Obama.

Outlook
I have no predictions at this time. The election can go either way at this point. McCain has shrewdly announced that Obama will get a 15 point bump in the polls from the Democrat Convention. If Obama comes near that, McCain can downplay it as to be expected. If, however, Obama fails to get such a significant bump McCain can paint the convention as falling short of expectations. I doubt Obama will obtain a double digit bump.

The question about the Democrat Convention is whether or not any Obama policy details will materialize or will he continue to attempt to skate on the "hope" and "change" mantras? We have seen that details are poison to Obama, but the lack of them furthers the portrait of arrogance and emptiness.

One thing that will not change much between now and November is the excitement factor. Most of Obama's fanatics will continue to be excited about him regardless of what they do or don't know about him. Excitement for McCain, though, will never materialize. So motivation to get conservatives to the voting booth is going to be an uphill battle no matter what happens between now and then. We can only hope that enough of those planning to vote for Obama that are outside of the screaming rock star fan club will lose trust, faith and support for him and stay home to balance the lack of motivation on the McCain side.

One final thought that may suspiciously sound like a prediction even though I said I wasn't making any. I think that since the strongest support of Obama will come from the metropolitan areas and the true blue states, there is a strong possibility that Obama will obtain the popular vote and lose electorally. If that happens, prepare for the storm.

Presidential 2008 Election June 23, 2007 Snapshot

A month ago I began the first of planned periodic snapshots of the 2008 presidential election. I figure it is about time for another. While on the surface it does not seem that much has changed, underneath I can sense some rumblings that surely result in a new landscape by the time the summer apathy begins to wear off.

First, John McCain has very likely committed political suicide by supporting the immigration reform bill. His only hope is that the thing will pass to give the appearance of a political victory. However, by the time the dust settles most will remember that McCain-Feingold CFR was also a "political victory" but has since shown itself to be a dog. Creating law is only a victory if it is good for the people. I have seen reports that McCain's fundraising is really suffering. If this continues he could be the first to withdraw.

Last snapshot I predicted that Fred Thompson had peaked. In fact he has continued rising and is supposed to announce officially next week that he is in. As I have said, I think there are some good things about Thompson. I heard recently that people are not so much allured by Fred Thompson as they are by his TV character on Law and Order. I think this is right. That does not mean that Thompson is bad, it just means that we know more about his TV character and happen to like it. If upon getting to know Thompson, we find we like his true identity maybe he has a chance. So at this point I will change my opinion that he has peaked and say that he will have another growth spurt after announcing. I think his numbers will settle down by the end of summer. His strength of course will be the South. This will make him a very strong contender.

Rudy Giuliani will soon be toast. He has peaked and is slowly sinking. I think we know most of what there is to know about him and therefore his growth is not sustainable. I have not seen him or heard much from him in the media lately. Sure I hear mention of him on talk radio but nothing fresh and exciting. Nothing more hidden in the wings for just the right time either. Thompson has passed him in the polls and he will not get it back.

Mitt Romney is still my favorite to win. The more that is slowly revealed about him the stronger he appears. The Mormon thing may be a strike against him, however it also is one of the things that keeps the media reporting on him. There will be a fresh batch of coverage when the movie "September Dawn" is released. Thompson has the upperhand on him in the south but coming fresh off of Iowa and New Hampshire (which I think he will win), Romney will have momentum.

So that is this snapshot. Things could change very quickly and be a whole new race any time. Time will tell. The three major "I" factors going forward are immigration, income taxes and Iraq.

Presidential 2008 Election May12, 2007 Snapshot

While I have resisted talking about next year's election, everyone else is leaving me behind. So I plan to post a snapshot every month on how I view the election at the time. I will first cover myself by stating clearly these are too early to be considered "predictions". In my job we are forced to provide initial estimates before we complete the detailed designs. This is so senior management can have a peek into what we are doing and what we think it will cost now. We are told that we can change it after design and that they won't hold our initial estimates against us. Right. So I add caveats and risks and throw the Hail Mary. So consider these snapshots a Hail Mary.

While there are candidates and possible candidates that I may like better than the viable ones, it just makes no sense to waste much time on them. I think their presence is important to influence the debate. If I wanted to discuss the unviable possible candidate I would want to win most, I would be talking about myself.

One problem is that as time goes by things are uncovered about the candidates that may make them less appealing. I was tempted to jump on the Fred Thompson bandwagon, but sadly I think he has peaked. His delay in jumping in seems to have had a cooling effect. We'll see if he can renew it.

Rudy Giuliani also seems to have peaked and is a sinking star. His latest tactic seems to be to be forthcoming about his views on abortion. The fact that he was not forthcoming until now bothers me as much as his stance on the issue. He has done some good things for the GOP, but I think he has too many skeletons in his closet. You can't be mayor of a city like New York and not have skeletons. An October surprise would not be a surprise in his case. For that reason he is even too risky for VP.

The star of John McCain seems to be rising a bit. He has stepped up his conservative rhetoric and some are buying it. I thank McCain for his service and respect his suffering in Vietnam. He has tried to get along with the opposition, but in a naive way thinking they also want what is best for the country more than power. If McCain were to become the nominee or even president I would not fret, but he would not be my first choice and I would be waiting for the frequent opportunities to blog about his bent to dart to the left from time to time.

My current first selection resides with Mitt Romney. Romney's Mormon background may cause some to reject him, I think that most of such bigotry resides on the Left as Al Sharpton displayed this week. Romney has several very strong points: his appearance is impressive, his communication is effective and articulated, his tremendously successful business background makes him the best choice for government financial reform. Financial reform can and must be the highest priority in the upcoming election. Bush firmly deserves the criticism he has received for the runaway deficit. However, the Dems have clearly shown they have no intention of fixing the problem - but making it worse. In spite of ill will against the GOP, the Dems will confirm by next year what they are now showing now - that they have nothing to offer. Romney can ride fiscal reform to the White House like no other candidate on either side.

His past views on abortion do not trouble me. Even if he truly is what some fear, I think that he would do nothing worse in this area. I do not see this country ever outlawing abortion. There may be a reversal of Roe vs. Wade, but most if not all states already have laws legalizing abortion even if it flips. At most there may be a town here and there that do not allow it and residents there will have to take a longer drive to kill their child. Victory over abortion will come in reducing the number of those who choose it and by a reduction in those who perform it. Both the US and the UK are having trouble keeping enough doctors willing to go into this "glamorous" field.

So as of today's snapshot, Mitt Romney is on top. The primaries are only just over half a year away. Romney's star is rising. Even if the Mormon bigotry is ugly, it gives Romney more national attention. We can all hope for the day when a president BOTH has good political positions AND can also articulate them well. If Romney wins he will have the same effectiveness in communication as Ronald Reagan. He also will have what Reagan did not have - the new media. If Reagan had enjoyed the benefits of Fox News, Conservative Talk Radio and the Internet "higher beings" of Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Captain Ed Morrissey, Neal Boortz, Glenn Reynolds and the Powerline 3; he would have been even better. Imagine it.