McCain Beats Obama Bloody Without Even Having To Lift A (North Vietnamese Torturer Broken) Hand -- Will Obama Save Himself From Himself?

[Obama spokesman Dan] Pfeiffer said. "It's extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn't know how to send an e-mail."
Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "extraordinary." The reason he doesn't send email is that he can't use a keyboard because of the relentless beatings he received from the Viet Cong in service to our country. From the Boston Globe (March 4, 2000):

McCain gets emotional at the mention of military families needing food stamps or veterans lacking health care. The outrage comes from inside: McCain's severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes. Friends marvel at McCain's encyclopedic knowledge of sports. He's an avid fan - Ted Williams is his hero - but he can't raise his arm above his shoulder to throw a baseball.

Jonah Goldberg at The Corner on National Review discussing this foolish advertisement by Barack Obama.



There is plenty of evidence in the Goldberg post that McCain does use the internet but because of his injuries his wife does the typing for him.  He uses the internet with the mouse.

What makes it really bad is that when you attack a man for not using the internet or being able to send an Email because of injuries he sustained in the service of the country couldn't you at least spend 5 minutes on Google for the real story like many bloggers have done?  Who looks the fool now, Barack!

I hate to do this, but alas, not all is lost for team Obama.  Today is a perfect time for Obama’s own Sister Soulja moment. He could order that computer ad pulled, apologize directly for having placed it.

Considering how foolish and hateful it makes him seem and how much it distracts from the message in the second half it was a tactical mistake as well as a strategic mistake.

Reclaim the mantle of change and ‘new politics’ and only put ads on that proclaim what he will do. If he does it now he may be early enough to make McCains ads look petty if Obama never responds with anything but positive, “I will,” messages.

He would be locked in though — no negative replies at all.

That would be as bold a move as Palin was for McCain — for that reason he wont do it. He can’t face the screaming of the left and media.  The critters at Kos, DU, and the other fever swamps of the left have been demanding that Obama hit back and hit hard.


The flailing by team Obama is really beginning to show.  It's time a grown up stepped in to run that thing.  Remember, this is what he considers executive experience that qualifies him to be President.
DKK

Update: Ace notes that Forbes Magazine noted McCain’s disability in 2000, too:

In certain ways, McCain was a natural Web candidate. Chairman of the Senate Telecommunications Subcommittee and regarded as the U.S. Senate’s savviest technologist, McCain is an inveterate devotee of email. His nightly ritual is to read his email together with his wife, Cindy. The injuries he incurred as a Vietnam POW make it painful for McCain to type. Instead, he dictates responses that his wife types on a laptop. “She’s a whiz on the keyboard, and I’m so laborious,” McCain admits.

McCain Picks Palin

Instapundit has a rundown on the early reactions.

It is quite interesting to me that I have yet to hear a Republican say the dreaded line I heard over and over for the last week about Biden, "I think Hillary would have been a better choice but Biden is ...."
DKK

Obama Spent As Much Just In Ads As McCain Spent Total For July -- Yet Poll Numbers Dropping -- The More You Know Him...

Barack Obama spent more on advertising last month than Republican rival John McCain spent on his campaign, new Federal Election Commission filings show.

Obama spent $57.2 million in July, including $33 million on advertising. McCain spent $32.4 million, with $18.7 million going for ads.

McCain entered August with slightly more money than Obama when funds in the bank accounts of the Republican and Democratic party committees are included.

DKK
Bloomberg

McCain Practices The Art Of War -- Obama Arrogance Opens Up Death By A Thousand Cuts

McCain is old!

We know he is old, he has admitted he is old, and he has even joked about it!   The comedians have told us how old he is, even the media has slipped it into their stories as sly comments when they don't outright state it.

McCain embraces his joke line!  It is a smart strategy similar to using the honey pot theory (understanding the Honey Pot Theory), sucking the comedians, media, and his opponent into a known flaw that most Americans don't consider a game ender.

Obama, either out of fear or out of arrogance, has gone out of his way to deny every single perceived error or flaw he may have.  Doing so makes it appear that he really thinks he is a perfect and flawless god.

He lost the ability to pick the laugh line -- how he was defined!  Democratic president candidates always make this same error, either out of fear of appearing less then perfect or, as it looks more and more every year, out of arrogance of actually believing their own press.  They refuse to allow any area open for attack by the Republicans thus opening all areas for attack.  Eventually some of the game changers actually do stick.

The comedians were short on material for jokes (while they had tons of old people jokes for McCain) leaving them struggling for something -- McCain gave it to them, Obama is an arrogant, empty 'celebrity'.

Because Obama is unable to laugh at himself, and because he was unwilling to embrace a benign flaw early, he set himself up for a death by a thousand cuts as everyone struggles for a way of describing him. 

He has appeared arrogant and has demonstrated that he has a glass jaw and in a weakened candidate who can't laugh at himself that often leads to unforced errors.

This has made him vulnerable to a knock out punch.  A punch at a time when he is vulnerable and lacking the ability to laugh it off because by that time doing so would be so out of his carefully crafted character that the general public won't believe a word of it.
DKK

What McCain Needs To Do Next -- Rove Offers His Two Cents!

But to win, Mr. McCain must also make a compelling case for electing John McCain. Voters trust him on terrorism and Iraq and they see him as a patriot who puts country first. But they want to know for what purpose?

In the coming weeks, he needs to lay out a bold domestic reform program. He gave a taste on energy, but with a few missteps. He should appear in front of manufacturing plants where jobs depend on affordable energy, small businesses affected by fuel prices, and farms hurt by skyrocketing fertilizer costs -- and not in front of oil rigs. He needs to describe the consequences of specific domestic policy decisions. He must explain how his proposals on energy, health care, jobs and education will make a difference for ordinary families.

Mr. McCain also needs to elevate his arguments. It's not only that he opposes tax increases and Mr. Obama favors them. Mr. McCain must also make the principled case that there should be a limit to what government can take from its citizens. This argument will appeal to a large majority of voters. The top income tax rate is 35% and, according to the Tax Foundation, 89% of Americans believe that government should take no more than 30% from anyone's paycheck.

Go read the whole thing!
DKK
WSJ -- Rove -- What McCain Should Do Next!

Obama's McCain/Oil Ad Bogus Says Factcheck.org

In his new TV ad in which he accuses Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., of being "in the pocket of big oil," Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said that McCain's campaign took $2 million from "Big Oil."

"The truth is that McCain's campaign has received $1.33 million from individuals employed in the oil and gas industry, not $2 million," rules Factcheck.org. "We find the $2 million figure is based on a mistaken calculation."
Strange thing is that, as everyone might remember from the last time Obama tired to pull this stunt, oil companies can't legally donate money.  However that doesn't stop their employees from doing so and that is where this money is from.

ABC News Political Punch

But, as was also noted earlier, Obama has himself gotten funds from oil company employees:

Obama has taken $213,884 from the oil and gas industry as of Feb. 29th, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken $306,813 in that same period.

Two of Obama's campaign bundlers are also CEOs for oil and gas companies, per a list released on his campaign Web site.

Robert Cavnar, listed as a bundler who has raised between $50,000 to $100,000 for the campaign, is the chairman and CEO of Mission Resources Corp., a Houston-based firm. George Kaiser, also listed in the same $50,000 to $100,000 category, is the CEO of Tulsa-based Kaiser-Francis Oil Company."It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is using false advertising to explain why he can be trusted to do something about energy prices," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. "Senator Obama says he doesn't take campaign contributions from oil companies but the reality is that Exxon, Shell, and others are among his donors.

MSNBC -- Fact Check: Obama and Oil

As I have said before, he has the one strategy and it worked on Clinton -- hopefully McCain's team watched as Obama neutered the Clintons with racial charges, attacks on attacks (with attacks thrown in for good measure), and the systematic removal of all tools from the Clinton tool belt.
DKK

Bloomberg To Endorse McCain?

Fox is reporting that NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is having a press conference later today where he will, "if not endorse John McCain he will strongly support him."

Nothing online yet.
DKK

The Silent Candidate, But Not By Choice -- John McCain

In Manchester last night, there was just one reporter and one photographer waiting for McCain as his plane -- a white, blue and gold Boeing 737-400 emblazoned with his campaign slogan, "Reform, Prosperity, Peace" -- touched down on the Wiggins Airways tarmac.

DKK
Union Leader

The Op-ed Too Dangerous For The NY Times!

NYT REJECTS MCCAIN'S EDITORIAL; SHOULD 'MIRROR' OBAMA
Mon Jul 21 2008 12:00:25 ET

An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles.

'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece,' NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley explained in an email late Friday to McCain's staff. 'I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.'

MORE

In McCain's submission to the TIMES, he writes of Obama: 'I am dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it... if we don't win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president.'

NYT's Shipley advised McCain to try again: 'I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft.'

[Shipley served in the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter.]

MORE

A top McCain source claims the paper simply does not agree with the senator's Iraq policy, and wants him to change it, not "re-work the draft."

McCain writes in the rejected essay: 'Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. 'I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,' he said on January 10, 2007. 'In fact, I think it will do the reverse.'

MORE

Shipley, who is on vacation this week, explained his decision not to run the editorial.

'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.'

Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.'

Developing...



The DRUDGE REPORT presents the McCain editorial in its submitted form:

In January 2007, when General David Petraeus took command in Iraq, he called the situation “hard” but not “hopeless.” Today, 18 months later, violence has fallen by up to 80% to the lowest levels in four years, and Sunni and Shiite terrorists are reeling from a string of defeats. The situation now is full of hope, but considerable hard work remains to consolidate our fragile gains.

Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,” he said on January 10, 2007. “In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

Now Senator Obama has been forced to acknowledge that “our troops have performed brilliantly in lowering the level of violence.” But he still denies that any political progress has resulted.

Perhaps he is unaware that the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has recently certified that, as one news article put it, “Iraq has met all but three of 18 original benchmarks set by Congress last year to measure security, political and economic progress.” Even more heartening has been progress that’s not measured by the benchmarks. More than 90,000 Iraqis, many of them Sunnis who once fought against the government, have signed up as Sons of Iraq to fight against the terrorists. Nor do they measure Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki’s new-found willingness to crack down on Shiite extremists in Basra and Sadr City—actions that have done much to dispel suspicions of sectarianism.

The success of the surge has not changed Senator Obama’s determination to pull out all of our combat troops. All that has changed is his rationale. In a New York Times op-ed and a speech this week, he offered his “plan for Iraq” in advance of his first “fact finding” trip to that country in more than three years. It consisted of the same old proposal to pull all of our troops out within 16 months. In 2007 he wanted to withdraw because he thought the war was lost. If we had taken his advice, it would have been. Now he wants to withdraw because he thinks Iraqis no longer need our assistance.

To make this point, he mangles the evidence. He makes it sound as if Prime Minister Maliki has endorsed the Obama timetable, when all he has said is that he would like a plan for the eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops at some unspecified point in the future.

Senator Obama is also misleading on the Iraqi military's readiness. The Iraqi Army will be equipped and trained by the middle of next year, but this does not, as Senator Obama suggests, mean that they will then be ready to secure their country without a good deal of help. The Iraqi Air Force, for one, still lags behind, and no modern army can operate without air cover. The Iraqis are also still learning how to conduct planning, logistics, command and control, communications, and other complicated functions needed to support frontline troops.

No one favors a permanent U.S. presence, as Senator Obama charges. A partial withdrawal has already occurred with the departure of five “surge” brigades, and more withdrawals can take place as the security situation improves. As we draw down in Iraq, we can beef up our presence on other battlefields, such as Afghanistan, without fear of leaving a failed state behind. I have said that I expect to welcome home most of our troops from Iraq by the end of my first term in office, in 2013.

But I have also said that any draw-downs must be based on a realistic assessment of conditions on the ground, not on an artificial timetable crafted for domestic political reasons. This is the crux of my disagreement with Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has said that he would consult our commanders on the ground and Iraqi leaders, but he did no such thing before releasing his “plan for Iraq.” Perhaps that’s because he doesn’t want to hear what they have to say. During the course of eight visits to Iraq, I have heard many times from our troops what Major General Jeffrey Hammond, commander of coalition forces in Baghdad, recently said: that leaving based on a timetable would be “very dangerous.”

The danger is that extremists supported by Al Qaeda and Iran could stage a comeback, as they have in the past when we’ve had too few troops in Iraq. Senator Obama seems to have learned nothing from recent history. I find it ironic that he is emulating the worst mistake of the Bush administration by waving the “Mission Accomplished” banner prematurely.

I am also dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it. But if we don’t win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president. Instead I will continue implementing a proven counterinsurgency strategy not only in Iraq but also in Afghanistan with the goal of creating stable, secure, self-sustaining democratic allies.

DKK
Drudge Report Flash!

Don't Hope For It, Vote For It

That is the tag line McCain is using on his ads and I like it.

Examples:

Don't hope for energy independence, vote for it!

Don't hope for change, vote for it!

DKK

McCain Pump Ad

I thought it was well thought out and powerful imagery.

Econopundit thought it was dumb to use a vintage gas pump, "suggesting McCain hasn't himself been physically present at a gas station in thirty years."

I disagree, from a marketing stand the gas pump used in the McCain ad conveys a message directly to the target audience, let's face it, McCain has little chance of getting the under 30 vote no matter what pump he uses.

However Americans in the heartland over 30 will recognize, and many will, as I did, flash back to when those pumps were used and recall the gas lines, shortages, and price increases that helped stagnate the country in the 70's.

Even if you weren't old enough to drive back then, I wasn't, those images were on the news and in documentaries and history books and they are a part of the imagery of the American collective conscience.

The chosen imagery works for it's intended purpose. I saw the ad this morning and can still visualize the pump in the water, alone, numbers rising and I still see the images of the 70's gas lines.
DKK

McCain Corrects The Record On Economic Knowledge

Your gonna hear this a lot between now and election day so here, in his own words, is John McCain correcting the record on his understanding of economics:



Reporter -- You have said your not exactly an expert when it comes to the economy...

McCain -- No I have not!  Actually I said I am stronger on national security because of all the time I have spent in the military.  I'm very strong on the economy, I understand it, I'm a lot more experienced then my opponent.
DKK

Why Doesn't Obama Pay Women The Same As Men?

Obama claims he wants to eliminate the pay discrepancies between the sexes in America. But if that is the case then why does he pay the women on his Senate staff an average of $6000 less then the men on his staff? Who really works for women's pay rights? Senator John McCain who pays the women on his staff about $2000 more then the men on his staff. Change we can believe in, right? DKK CNS News

Heh Indeed!

DEMOCRATIC ATTACKS ON MCCAIN'S MILITARY RECORD: "When Obama loses in November, these schmucks can look back at such tactics and pinpoint where it all started going downhill. These same people whine like little b---hes at the slightest criticism of Barack Obama. But they go right into the gutter when attacking John McCain."
UPDATE: With Wesley Clark, "we're a long way from George Marshall."
ANOTHER UPDATE: Heh:
The Saddest Thing About Barack Obama's Available Military Expertise...
...is that though he has Wes Clark in his corner, the only person he knows with the experience of getting a bomb on target is Bill Ayers.
Again, heh.

In 2004 the Democrats claimed Kerry's military experience mattered, in 1996 they claimed Dole's military experience didn't matter.  I sure wish they'd make up their minds.
DKK
Instapundit

McCain Announced Support For Outer Continental Shelf Drilling -- Congress Still Prefers High Gas Prices

John McCain and Barack Obama both made news today. McCain announced his support for lifting the moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf drilling.
(...)

UPDATE: When it comes to drilling, we have a ways to go to catch up with the Brazilians. Fausta notes another mammoth Brazilian offshore strike.

Personally, I'd like to see the United States remain the number one economic power in the Western Hemisphere, but this is not foreordained. If Brazil's Congress is smarter than ours, as it certainly is at the moment, we are at a huge disadvantage.

DKK
Power Line -- Two Small Steps Forward

McCain To Pennsylvania

“We’re going to go to the small towns in Pennsylvania and I’m gonna to tell them I don’t agree with Senator Obama that they cling to their religion and the Constitution because they’re bitter.”

DKK
Via -- Hot Air -- McCain: Pennsylvanian small town voters patriotic, not bitter

McCain On Oil -- Replaying

Although the GOP presidential candidate didn't address the question of raising taxes on oil companies, he said the companies "absolutely" should return some profits to consumers. "And they should be embarking on research and development that will pay off in reducing our dependence on foreign oil," he said.

"The point is, oil companies have got to be more participatory in alternate energy, in sharing their profits in a variety of ways, and there is very strong and justifiable emotion about their profits," McCain said.

The issue of oil company profits came up this week in the Senate, where Republicans stopped the Democrats from imposing a tax on windfall profits and taking away billions of dollars in tax breaks in response to the $4-a-gallon price of gas.

In the past McCain has indicated he would consider such a tax proposal, saying he didn't want to see companies making "obscene profits" that distort the market.

I just don't get this -- what is McCain trying to do? If he is trying to be an Obama, "Me Too," guy, well that didn't work too well for Hillary.

The problem is not the oil companies -- it is the government!

DKK

Associated Press -- McCain says gas prices won't drop and could rise

Update:

After having thought a little more about this I am even more confused. While I have long thought John McCain's default reaction was to have government resolve issues, this paragraph is really shocking:

"The point is, oil companies have got to be more participatory in alternate energy, in sharing their profits in a variety of ways, and there is very strong and justifiable emotion about their profits," McCain said.

Every thing he said here is just wrong:

• It is not government's purpose to tell companies what to sell. If an oil company wants to sell oil and only oil they have that right. As a matter of fact if they want to explore for and sell chocolate frosting and ONLY chocolate frosting that is perfectly fine and their right. They do something and they do it well, if they want to diversify that is their decision.
  
• They have no responsibility to, "share their profits," with anyone. They can distribute their profits to their shareholders but they could be held legally liable for, "sharing," their profits with anyone else if it diminishes the value of the company and it's stock. In addition they are precluded from altering their pricing structure as I pointed out here.(That doesn't preclude purchasing good will via charitable gifts or a foundation as part of their fiduciary responsibility and as a business investment that doesn't negatively affect the company's value.)
  
• Of course people are emotional about GAS prices, that is their right, but it is completely inaccurate to suggest that any person is justified in resenting a company's profits unless those profits were gained in an illegal manner. This is just not correct.
  

DKK

Is Concealed Carry Coming To Winnebago County?

Winnebago County Sheriff Dick Meyers lent his considerable support to the county’s concealed carry debate.

Meyers was the last of 30 speakers to take the podium, and he received a standing ovation for his efforts.

“Let me get it out of the way,” he told the crowd. “I do not have a problem with concealed carry.”

He said that “20 years ago, I would have told you different,” but “we’re at a point where we don’t have a choice.”

The County Board is drafting a resolution that will authorize the sheriff to issue gun permits to qualified citizens. Although the resolution is still in draft form, at least 13 of the 28 board members have already signed on.

Rockford Register Star -- Concealed carry proposal gets support of sheriff

Meyers stated that concealed carry nearly passed in Wisconsin and if it does then Illinois is the only state that is without some form of concealed carry law.

He also stated that while he may not be able to issue the permits legally under state law, he may be able to deputize permit holders under a special citizen provision.

This is a positive step for the County and perhaps might start the cracks in the Daley -- Springfield unreasonable gun control lobby.

This would also be a perfect opportunity for McCain to highlight Obama's Illinois and it's irrational gun fears. He should show up here and support this sheriff and the Republicans on the Board.
DKK

Let The Demonizing Begin -- Obama Begins The General

So if Obama is this post-partisan political God why does he spend so much time demonizing John McCain, George Bush, and the Republicans?

He is the politics of hate, the left's modus operandi -- you know the one where they say the Republicans are mean, evil, and refuse to debate the issues -- all the while being mean, evil and refusing to debate the issues.

I saw three reports of Obama speeches today and in all three reports Obama attacked his opponents in a manner approaching nastiness. He doesn't attack the policies but his attack frames in the lefty mode of making it personal -- he doesn't care about the people.

That works to fire up the base but the rest of us are going to get very sick of it very quickly!

Sorry if this post rambles -- right after the first sentence mind fog set in and I really lost it, I could hardly finish this post.
DKK

For an Educated Man Obama Sure Does Gets History Wrong Alot!

John Bolton rips into Obama's understanding of history in the LA Times prompting this from Drew at Ace of Spades:

Allow me to offer some unsolicited advice to the McCain campaign…I know you want to do the whole Maverick thing and Democrats really hate Bolton but the thing is, conservatives love him. Announce he will be a part of your administration and I guarantee a lot more conservatives will swallow hard and support you.

Consider it a threefer….you’ll get a lot of wavering conservatives to support you with some degree of enthusiasm, this appointment will enable you to pull a lot more Maverick shit in other areas while keeping conservative support and oh yeah, it’ll be good for the country.

DKK

Drew at Ace Of Spades HQ -- The Moustache Speaks…And It Doesn’t Think Much Of Obama