Got a few minutes for Fred?

 

He’s a smooth talkin’ man…and it helps that he’s absolutely right!

I love Fred Thompson.  I keep thinking of him saying “The Russians don’t take a dump, son with a plan”

 

Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson,GOP,McCain,Hunt for Red October

What about the children??

Doing it to for the children

Via Redstate.com

 

Technorati Tags: cartoon,redstate.com,democrats,socialism

Public Discourse and the 1st Amendment

Police prepare for unrest

Republican HQ Manager’s Home Shot Up Over McCain Signs

The fact that my first amendment rights only apply if I agree with you and if I don’t, I can be the target of violence is sad and disturbing.

Luckily, the second amendment still applies (at least for now).

I have a weapon and I will use it.

Technorati Tags: Public discourse,1st amendment,2nd amendment

"Gov. Palin – Who are you wearing???"

Much ado about the Palin wardrobe brouhaha. 

Is this worth the time the MSM is spending on it?  Only insofar as it allows them to pile on once again.

Here’s my opinion.  Sarah Palin is a governor of a remote (geographically speaking) state.  Her wardrobe is sufficient for the type of business she does in Alaska, and she has access to laundry and dry cleaning facilities whenever she needs them.

However, she’s plucked out of Alaska a few short weeks ago; offered the Vice President slot on the McCain ticket and is “put on the bus” right after the announcement.

What’s her schedule?  Endless appearances – several per day.  Informal and formal functions which require different wardrobes.  Nights on the bus or in a hotel room and out again the next morning.  While she may be able to rinse out her pantyhose, I doubt she has time to wash, fluff and fold her dirty laundry.

I’ve been in a job where I did a lot of traveling.  A lot.  It’s not fun and it’s not convenient. 

So Sarah Palin received money to bulk up her wardrobe – good and, so what?

As far as the amount she spent on that jacket or suit, please.  If she had grabbed something off the rack at Penney’s, she’d get criticized for looking wrinkled or frumpy or lacking fashion-sense.   She’s dressing in well-made clothes (which hold up better and fit nicer) and she’s getting pummeled for that. 

“Why do you need to pay for it?” Forest told CBS News from her boutique Susanna Beverly Hills saying that most designers would offer to clothe a candidate for free.

“It’s an honor, you are going to design for someone who could be the president of the United States,” noting that the exposure any designer would get from dressing someone as famous as Clinton or Palin would be worth much more.
The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this year that Senator Clinton’s custom made pantsuits from Forest were worth about $6,350 a piece retail. Clinton’s spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.

If Palin had clothing donated by designers (as if that would ever happen) she would be accused of forsaking her ‘down home’ image or cozying up to the rich…she can’t win and if the uber-lefties can’t at least acknowledge that, they aren’t being honest.

I wouldn’t mind if Sarah Palin came out in jeans and a tee shirt, but that’s not the expectation for high profile women.  A male politician can wear a flannel shirt and Levi’s at a barbeque and people call him homey and say “he’s just like me”.  A woman does it and she’s called unprofessional.

There doesn’t seem to be the same outrage at Hillary Clinton being provided $6,000.00 pantsuits or actresses who get millions of dollars per picture walking the red carpet at the Oscar’s or Emmy’s not paying a dime for that gown they are wearing.

Please…can we move on to something of substance?

 

Technorati Tags: Sarah Palin,Palin,Vice President of the United States,CBS News,clothes,politicians,designers,fashion

Frankenstein – Researchers take the next step

In another sign of the times and another display of the devaluation of human life:

Lawmakers back animal-human embryo research

The lower house of parliament approved legislation Wednesday allowing scientists to create animal-human embryos for medical research, in the biggest shake-up of embryology laws in two decades.

The full story is here.

While I understand all too well the hope that this gives some people dealing with devastating diseases, it opens the door to more horrific experimentation and further devalues human life.

 

Technorati Tags: Parliment,animal-human embryo,embryonic research,experimentation,medical research,embryology

Words have meanings – Socialist does not mean black, but doofus still means doofus

 

As further evidence that the left wants to control your life and shape the direction of humanity – whether you agree or disagree; whether it goes against your values or not; whether it goes against the Constitution or not – it is now apparently inappropriate to call a thing what it is.  Wrap it instead in the cloth of prejudice to inflame your minions.  No dissent permitted…this is our future under the left.

Webster defines socialist:

Main Entry:

so·cial·ist 

Function:

noun

Date:

1827

1: one who advocates or practices socialism2capitalized : a member of a party or political group advocating socialism

— socialist adjective often capitalized

— so·cial·is·tic   adjective

— so·cial·is·ti·cal·ly   adverb

Webster defines socialism:

Main Entry:

so·cial·ism 

Function:

noun

Date:

1837

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods2 a: a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b: a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state3: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Source document here.

Shame on McCain and Palin for using an old code word for black

By Lewis Diuguid, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

The “socialist” label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.

J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, used the term liberally to describe African Americans who spent their lives fighting for equality.

Those freedom fighters included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who led the Civil Rights Movement; W.E.B. Du Bois, who in 1909 helped found the NAACP which is still the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization; Paul Robeson, a famous singer, actor and political activist who in the 1930s became involved in national and international movements for better labor relations, peace and racial justice; and A. Philip Randolph, who founded and was the longtime head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and a leading advocate for civil rights for African Americans.

McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code word for black. It set whites apart from those deemed unAmerican and those who could not be trusted during the communism scare.

Shame on McCain and Palin

Lewis Diuguid – Doofus!

Main Entry:

doo·fus 

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural doo·fus·es Etymology:

perhaps alteration of ¹goof

Date:

1960

slang : a stupid, incompetent, or foolish person

Yep, Doofus.

 

Technorati Tags: Politicans,Obama,doofus,dictionary,Kansas City Star,socialist,socialism

Doomsday scenario – a peek inside your future

 

The Wall Street Journal has a pretty somber story here focusing on what happens if the current batch of liberal Democrats in the Congress can set the agenda, unchallenged, within an Obama presidency.  It’s worth reading in full – highlights below:

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or ver

Technorati Tags: Doomsday,Obama,Liberal,Congress,Health Care,Taxes,Green agenda,Fairness Doctrine,Oil,Energy

y close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven’t since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

…

– Medicare for all. Mr. Obama wants to build a public insurance program, modeled after Medicare and open to everyone of any income. …The Obama plan would shift between 32 million and 52 million from private coverage to the huge new entitlement. Like Medicare or the Canadian system, this would never be repealed.

The commitments would start slow, so as not to cause immediate alarm. But as U.S. health-care spending flowed into the default government options, taxes would have to rise or services would be rationed, or both. Single payer is the inevitable next step, as Mr. Obama has already said is his ultimate ideal.

– The business climate. “We have some harsh decisions to make,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned recently, speaking about retribution for the financial panic. …The danger is that Democrats could cause the economic downturn to last longer than it otherwise will by enacting regulatory overkill…

– Union supremacy. One program certain to be given right of way is “card check.” Unions have been in decline for decades, now claiming only 7.4% of the private-sector work force, so Big Labor wants to trash the secret-ballot elections that have been in place since the 1930s. … The point is to force businesses to recognize a union whether the workers support it or not.

– Taxes. Taxes will rise substantially, the only question being how high. Mr. Obama would raise the top income, dividend and capital-gains rates for “the rich,” substantially increasing the cost of new investment in the U.S. More radically, he wants to lift or eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Social Security…

– The green revolution. A tax-and-regulation scheme in the name of climate change is a top left-wing priority. Cap and trade would hand Congress trillions of dollars in new spending… Huge chunks of GDP and millions of jobs would be at the mercy of Congress and a vast new global-warming bureaucracy…

  Free speech and voting rights. A liberal supermajority would move quickly to impose procedural advantages that could cement Democratic rule for years to come. One early effort would be national, election-day voter registration. This is a long-time goal of Acorn and others on the “community organizer” left…Fairness Doctrine is likely to be reimposed either by Congress or the Obama FCC. A major goal of the supermajority left would be to shut down talk radio and other voices of political opposition.

– Special-interest potpourri. Look for the watering down of No Child Left Behind testing standards… The tort bar’s ship would also come in… The anti-antiterror lobby would be rewarded with the end of Guantanamo and military commissions, which probably means trying terrorists in civilian courts. Google and MoveOn.org would get “net neutrality” rules, subjecting the Internet to intrusive regulation for the first time.

It’s always possible that events — such as a recession — would temper some of these ambitions…

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today’s left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for “change” should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

Car Loans, Main Street, Sweet Pork

Where are we headed?  Here’s a clue for ya from MotorTrend:

Are you the type who regularly checks your credit score and stays on top of every little change at the major credit bureaus? If you’re like many Americans, the answer to this is probably no, but you might want to start being a little more diligent. Recently, Chrysler, Ford, and GM all made new-car leases harder to get, and it looks like loans are next. Reeling from the current credit crisis, financier GMAC now says it will lend money only to customers boasting a credit score of 700 or above.

Corporate greed, unsound business practices and government meddling are becoming painfully obvious at the ‘main street’ level. 

Auto lenders are tightening their standards to put themselves at less risk that’s good, but shouldn’t that have been the practice in the mortgage business before we got into this mess?  

How’s that a main street concern?

So what does this mean for people in the market for a new ride? Considering that, according to credit bureau Experian’s 2005 National Score Index, the average American boasts a rating of 678, those planning to buy a GM car or truck will need to double-check their credit to see if they qualify. Estimates are that GMAC’s move could kill one in four car loans, and Experian says that in 2008 customers with credit scores of 700 or better accounted for 74.3% of all auto financing purchases. This is up slightly from a year ago, when this same group made up just 71.1% of all new-car business.

Less new car loans available?  The need for fewer new cars.  The need for fewer cars?  Fewer workers needed to build cars.  Fewer workers needed?  Fewer workers mean fewer paychecks and less spending.  Less spending at the grocery store, clothing stores, restaurants, etc., etc.  Fewer workers there or businesses closing down.

Government needs to get out of the bailout business, it can only make things worse and prolong this mess.  What government should do is cut taxes on everyone, stop spending tax dollars on crap and get out of the way.

What crap?  Well, for Fiscal year 2008, my state of Ohio has received $211,698,486.00 in earmarks.  Projects include Fire Fighters’ Hall, Columbus (National Park Service – Save America’s Treasures) and Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens’ programs for at-risk youth, Akron (Discretionary Grants – Juvenile Justice Programs).  Those may important programs, but are they taxpayer programs?  Couldn’t those projects have sought funds elsewhere?  Like, maybe from private donations?  Are those project important enough to add to the collapse of our economy?

Citizens Against Government Waste identifies pork barrel (oh, I’m sorry, it’s  “sweeteners” now) projects from the U.S. Senate within the 2008 Federal Budget here.

Here’s a rundown of those calculations:

Number of projects – 10,286

Total amount of projects – $18,261,200,000.00

That’s just the Senate.

Number of Senators with zero earmarks –

Coburn Oklahoma R
McCain Arizona R
McCaskill Missouri D
DeMint  South Carolina R
Feingold Wisconsin D

As Governor Palin said, when you’re in a hole, quit digging.  I don’t think that the U.S. government could cut spending, let alone quit spending during the bleakest financial times.

Technorati Tags: GMAC,credit,Pork barrel,Pork,Citizens Against Government Waste,Senate,credit score

The definition of insanity

Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The American people give Congress a approval rating of 15%, but keep electing the same people over and over again.  We despise Congress, but feel our own representatives are okay.  Please, people, none of them are okay.  They all need to go.  Time for we, the people, to make a clear statement.

Here’s an example:  John (Jack) Murtha (D-PA) has been elected 17 times by the folks in Pennsylvania’s 12th district, which is located in the southwestern part of the state.

U.S. Representative John Murtha is the same guy who said that Marines killed civilians in Haditha, Iraq in cold-blood.  Mr. Murtha publically made this announce before any investigation was completed.  Seven of the eight Marines charged have been exonerated, with the charged being dropped or acquitted of all charges, the last Marine faces charges of negligent homicide.

Murtha has now made the following statement about his constituents….you know, the people who elected him:n

There’s no question Western Pennsylvania is a racist area,” said Mr. Murtha, whose district stretches from Johnstown to Washington County. “The older population is more hesitant.”

Time for Murtha to go.  It’s clear he doesn’t respect the people he works for, so how can he represent them?

Full story here.

Timeline of the Haditha debacle is here.

Technorati Tags: John Murtha,Western Pennsylvlania,U.S. Marines,Haditha,Insanity,Einstein,racists,Obama

AIG: Bailout $ not enough for them to buy a clue

I don’t know how many of you saw the nice comment I got from AIG BlogResponse to my last post about AIG.  I can’t confirm it was from AIG, but an email I sent to the email address, did not bounce back and it sounded like something a PR department would say….

That’s all good, but:

State investigators launched a fraud probe into AIG on Wednesday following revelations that top execs spent $86,000 on a partridge hunt after the feds gave the company billions to stay afloat.

Further:

The Daily News reported today that four top AIG executives and their guests spent a fortune blasting birds out of the sky just last week, while Wall Street was seizing up and the 401(k) accounts of millions of Americans shriveled.

Three New Yorkers were on the trip to Plumber Manor, a 17th century country house in scenic Dorset, southwest of London.

They were identified as Jeffrey Malkovsky, a senior director at AIG’s Manhattan office, Hilary James, the general manager of the luxurious Bristol Plaza Hotel, and her pal, AIG adviser John Roberts.

The News of the World, the London-based newspaper that broke the story, reported that the shooting party was more interested in bagging birds than the unfolding financial crisis.

In just four days, the hunters racked up a $17,500 bill for food and rooms, spent another $17,500 on private jets, $8,000 on limos.

The cost to taxpayers for AIG executives to traipse through the countryside in tweed knickers four times was $43,000.

This is disgusting.  The money that the American taxpayer has given for the AIG bailout should not be available unless there is a full accounting before distribution and a full audit afterward.

As I said here: If you have AIG, call them, drop them, picket them.  Let them know that this is unacceptable.  Let your lawmakers know that this is unacceptable.  Voice your opinion.  It may not change things now, but you will have put these people ON NOTICE that you are watching and will make decisions later (at the ballot box) based on what you see.

Technorati Tags: AIG,bailout,partridge hunt,vacation,retreat,taxpayers,corporate greed

Full story here

Obama, the whiner

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama told me. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?”

I watch Fox News – I tune in to other channels from time to time.  Fox really is the most balanced news channel.  If it weren’t, I wouldn’t get so angry at some of their commentary.  Obama surely isn’t watching Fox or he’s just pissed because they aren’t all ga ga over him.

This is the man who wants to deal with the major leaguers like Putin and Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong Il, Chavez and Al-Asad,  the House of Saud, and Quadafi?    That’s a thought that should keep us awake at night.

What a whiner.  Man up, Barack.  You’ll be President of the United States if you win this election – which includes Fox viewers.

See quote here

Full story starts here

Technorati Tags: Obama,Fox News,Putin,Ahmadinejad,Kim Jong Il,Al-Asad,Chavez,House of Saud,Quadafi,whiners

Michelle Obama slams down the race card…

Interesting (and scary) if true.  Read the entire story.

From the African Press International (API) website;

Shocking development:  Mrs Obama decides enough is enough: “My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his stepfather, does that make him unpatriot; she asks”, on a direct telephone to API.

Note:  Byron York, from NRO’s The Corner reports:

That Michelle Obama Report   [Byron York]

I’m sure a lot of you have seen references this morning to statements allegedly made by Michelle Obama in an interview with an organization called African Press International.  I just asked the Obama campaign whether Michelle Obama did in fact speak to that organization, and spokesman Tommy Vietor answered:

“The answer is no, it’s not real, the report is made up.  She did not speak to the organization.”

Given the Obama’s history of rewriting their history, take that for what it’s worth. 

Quotes of note:

• Michelle Obama’s assertion that API was helping “spread rumours created by American bloggers and other racist media outlets
• Michelle Obama’s hope that “African Media was mature enough to be in the front to give unwavering support to her husband, a man Africans should identify themselves with.
• Michelle Obama expects: “African press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view,”
• Michelle Obama believes that “American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband’s adoption by His step father.”
• On the issue of Jerome Corsi’s detainment in Kenya while investigating Obama’s American citizenship, Michelle Obama told API not to dig that which will support evil people who are out to stop her husband from getting the presidency.
• Michelle Obama said:  “it was unfortunate that Mr Farakhan came out the way he did supporting her husband openly before the elections was over.” That was not wholehearted support but one that was calculated to convince the American people that my husband will support the growth of muslim faith if he became the president, adding “even if my husband was able to prove that he is not a Muslim, he will not be believed by those who have come out strongly to destroy his chances of being the next President. Do real people expect someone to deny a religion when 80 percent of his relatives are Muslims?; Mrs Obama asked.
• Finally, Michelle Obama promised that a positive story “will earn API an invitation to her husband’s inauguration ceremony.

 

Technorati Tags: Obama Truth,African Press International,API,Michelle Obama,American citizenship,religion,Muslim,race card,racists,racism,conservatives,bribery,Jerome Corsi

Truth about taxes…room for the middle class at the poor house

From the New York Post today OBAMA TELLS THE TAX TRUTH (below):

Original source story here.  Emphasis in red is mine.

By the way, as regards the checks from Washington sited below – where I live, that’s called welfare.  I am insulted to think that anyone wants to suggest I can’t make it without government welfare.  I am appalled to realize that Obama will tax me to the point that I would qualify for welfare. 

As has been the case for most tax cuts/deductions/incentives from any candidate that has come along in recent years, I don’t qualify for any of ’em.   I don’t have children, so the dependents, child care, college tax cuts don’t go to me.  I don’t fall into that married category so the marriage tax benefits don’t apply to me.  I don’t have enough money to be able to invest and receive capital gains – so that’s out.  I just keep getting taxed more at the local, state and federal level.   I pay to educate other people’s children.  I pay to fund art museums and symphonies I don’t go to.  I pay for parks I don’t visit.  I pay for other people’s mortgages.  I pay for other people’s defaulted loans and credit cards.  I pay to support causes and countries that I am diametrically opposed to and, in some cases, find offensive.

I can’t invest in my own retirement because I am paying for someone else’s.  I pay for someone else’s food, even if it means I have to cut back on my own groceries.

I pay for AIGs spa retreats, even though I can’t afford to go on vacation.

Obama is going to make sure he taxes me into the welfare state.  This is not the America most of us thought we would be living in.

 

OBAMA TELLS THE TAX TRUTH

October 15, 2008

An unscripted moment with an Ohio plumber produced a startling confession from Barack Obama Sunday: The Democrat’s “middle-class tax cut” is in fact a scheme to “spread the wealth around.”

Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher – who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for “fulfilling the American dream.”

“I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” Wurzelbacher had told Obama. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that I want to punish your success,” Obama replied. “I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

At last! The truth outs!

Obama’s plan isn’t about sinking hooks into Wall Street CEOs and other fat cats, as he usually says. Fact is, there’s not enough of them to raise the cash necessary to finance his other grand plans.

No, to do that, he’ll have to go after ambitious working-class guys like Wurzelbacher – who’s been a plumber for 15 years and is looking to better himself and his family while just maybe creating a few jobs.

The American Dream?

Wurzelbacher personifies it – but Barack Obama seems determined to tax it to death and be done with it, period.

That’s been the case all along, of course. What’s different is that the Democrat finally said so.

Heretofore, Obama has sought to paint himself as a tax-cutter – claiming he’ll slash taxes for 95 percent of Americans.

As we noted yesterday, that’s a flat-out lie – not least because nearly half of all tax filers pay no income tax at all. So how can he “cut” their taxes if they don’t pay any to begin with?

Answer: tax “credits.”

To wit, in part:

* A $1,000 “make work pay” credit.

* A $4,000 college-tuition credit.

* A $6,000 child-care credit.

* A $1,100 bump in the earned-income tax credit.

These aren’t to be income-tax deductions – which would be worthless to those who pay no income taxes.

These are to be checks from Washington – with the subsidies expected to grow to more than $1 trillion in 10 years.

That’s a massive transfer of wealth.

How does Obama justify it?

“Fairness,” he says.

But that’s an absurdly radical view of what’s “fair.”

Remember, Obama’s tax hikes target folks who already bear the brunt of the burden: The top 20 percent of earners already pay 69 percent of all federal taxes – and 88 percent of income taxes.

(Contrast that with John McCain’s call yesterday for real tax cuts – halving the capital-gains levy, scrapping taxes on unemployment benefits altogether – designed to prime the economic pump.)

Monday, Obama promised a tax policy that would restore “a sense of fairness and balance that will give every American a fair shot at the American dream.”

But just a day before, he told Joe Wurzelbacher the truth: No American dream for you, buddy!

Nor anybody else, it seems.

Technorati Tags: Income tax,Obama,American Dream,taxes,Democrats,New York Post,Poor House,Middle Class

Yellow Journalism – who can you trust?

The lowest form of popular culture – lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives – has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.
Carl Bernstein

From Wikipedia: Yellow journalism is journalism that downplays legitimate news in favor of eye-catching headlines that sell more newspapers. It may feature exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, sensationalism, or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists. Campbell (2001) defines Yellow Press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion…The term was extensively used to describe certain major New York City newspapers about 1900 as they battled for circulation. By extension the term is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion, such as systematic political bias.

Interesting story from October 6, 2008 here.  It says in part:

Yet, take Biden’s statement from the debate on the role of the vice president:

“Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The idea he doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

“And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there’s a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

“The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive, and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.”

One should be careful when throwing around terms such as “most dangerous” and “bizarre.” But Biden is confusing which part of the Constitution covers the Executive Branch (it is Article II, not Article I). More importantly, the notion that the vice president can preside over the Senate only when there is a tie vote is simply wrong. Nor is it true that the only legislative involvement the vice president has is to break tie votes. The vice president is the president of the Senate, where he interprets the rules and can only be overridden by a vote of 60 senators.

Early vice presidents spent a lot of time in the Senate. Thomas Jefferson even spent his time writing “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice: for the Use of the Senate of the United States.” Modern vice presidents may show up only when they think tie votes will occur, but that is their choice.

This isn’t rocket science. The Constitution on this point is very straightforward: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.”

Instead, it was Palin who got it right. Besides correctly stating that the vice president holds positions in both the executive and legislative branches, she also noted that:

“Of course, we know what a vice president does. And that’s not only to preside over the Senate and [I] will take that position very seriously also. I’m thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chooses to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president’s policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are.”

But just as the vice president’s job includes more than simply being ready to assume the presidency if the president dies, the Constitution merely states what the vice president’s minimum responsibilities are.

Sarah Palin has been kicked around as being ditzy and bimbo-ish since she was named as McCain’s Vice Presidential nominee.   Clearly, it’s she, and not Joe Biden, who has a handle on things.

Read the story on other Biden misstatements, including:

— health care taxes

— Obama middle class taxes

— War spending – Iraq versus Afghanistan

— Hezbollah

— Obama meeting with Iran without preconditions

— Iraqi budget surplus

The story goes on to say:

Unfortunately, voters who are trying to get an accurate count on whether the candidates are telling the truth can’t rely on the media. FactCheck.org mentions only one of these points, the size of the Iraqi surplus. The Washington Post mentioned Biden’s misstatement on Hamas and Katie’s restaurant. AOL’s coverage of the errors in the vice presidential debate was by far the worst, though that might not be too surprising given that Tommy Christopher, who wrote their news analysis, also blogs on the Obama Web site. None of these checkers mentioned Biden’s statements about the role of the vice president.

And then details some of the unchallenged errors in Palin reporting.

What the American public wants is the facts about the candidates.  For the last several elections, the media has become more and more invested in a particular candidate and less likely to do objective reporting.  It’s a shame.  Americans are busy people and don’t have time to sift through the mountains of information to find balanced information.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden,Sarah Palin,Yellow Journalism,health care taxes,middle class taxes,War spending,Iraq,Afghanistan,Hezbollah,Iran,Vice President of the United States,Executive Branch,Legislative Branch,Media Bias

Quit digging…

“What do you do when you’re in a hole?  Quit digging.”

So sayeth Sarah Palin on the American economy.

Amen Sister.

I just love her.