Political Cause.

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: LaTourette / O'Neill, Ohio, Scandalous, Strickland
• Date: Oct 28,2008

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio’s inspector general is investigating why a state agency director approved checking the state child-support computer system for information on “Joe the Plumber.” Helen Jones-Kelly, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, confirmed today that she OK’d the check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher following the Oct. 15 presidential debate. She said there were no political reasons for the check on the sudden presidential campaign fixture though the Support Enforcement Tracking System. Amid questions from the media and others about “Joe the Plumber,” Jones-Kelley said she approved a check to determine if he was current on any ordered child-support payments.

Democrats won't care about this at all – which was also at least the 4th time state computers were used to access his information. To them, the fact that Joe was just asking a question and might hurt their Lord in his run to the White House means that he is to be torn down and smeared right away. The means are justified. They are just doing us a public service. That is really how they think. By the way, as we know by now, Joe's kid lives with him. So who would he owe money to? Himself?

Oh, and Helen Jones-Kelley has maxed out to Obama. Governor Strickland, according to his spokesman, is "satisfied that there are no political overtures to the check on Wurzelbacher (Joe)." Yep. Sure. Move along, nothing to see here.

Joe the Plumber may turn into Joe the Litigant. Jones-Kelley will probably get a promotion to another department when the election is over. Or maybe a position with HHS in an Obama Administration.

Did this happen in Cuyahoga County too?

Unrelated: What is Bill O'Neill talking about? Last time I checked, Steve LaTourette voted against the bailout. Twice. Bill O'Neill was for it. The bailout money in part was used to buy National City Bank and kill Cleveland jobs. I don't get how his own press release in any way helps O'Neill.

My Constituents Are Racists

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Congress, Presidential, Scandalous
• Date: Oct 16,2008

"There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area."
- Congressman Jack Murtha, D-Racist Area / 12th CD, PA. Here is the video of his statements.

People in this district…..I don't know why you keep voting for this guy. Actually, I do, it is all the pork he brings home to his gerrymandered district. 18 terms for this guy. He is the House version of Robert Byrd, minus being a former Klan leader. In the interview, Murtha also defends his slandering of 8 Marines, 7 of which have seen their charges dismissed, with one still waiting trial. Pork aside, don't people in his district get tired of listening to Murtha, especially now after he just insulted you.

Murtha is running against Lieutenant Colonel William T. Russell in 2008. Murtha needs to lose.

If there was ever a reason against gerrymandering, one just needs to take a look at the shape of Murtha's district. Ohioans take note. This is what will happen if the Democrats take control of the apportionment board and redraw the districts in their favor.

Powerline: I suppose Murtha deserves a certain amount of credit–Barack Obama waited until he was talking to friends in San Francisco to call Pennsylvanians racists, whereas Murtha insults them to their faces!

DEBATE: It is 4AM and I just finished watching the debate replay. McCain vowed to kick Obama's "you know what." He did. He kicked his ass, and I didn't say that the first two times. Hope I can say that here. And I hope it isn't too little too late. I could make 1000 points but how can Senator Government say it is true that every single McCain ad has been negative. That is flat out not true. It is scary that Obama can just sit there and casually lie about so many different things while on stage. Anyways, for those of us who have followed this campaign and supported McCain since he became the nominee, we are kind of wondering where this has been. My only complaint is that McCain still didn't do a good enough job making Obama look like the dare I say it, socialist that he is. But more so than the first two I have a feeling that McCain scored major points with the American people Wednesday night. McCain was on the offense. As always, we shall see. Pretty solid job by the moderator.

Line of the night, clearly: "Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

19 days to go. It is the homestretch. It is here.

Light in the Tunnel

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: National Landscape 2008, Obama, Presidential, Scandalous
• Date: Oct 13,2008

Finally a day of news where the GOP didn't have to be talked off the ledge. It has been awhile, no?

Wow. Everyone check their 401Ks. The Democratic Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 1000 points today! Like I said in the comments last night, McCain has seen the bottom. The economy, barring something very unforeseen, has hurt him as much as it can. It was a lot. It has to suck to see the stock market do well and know it could hurt your preferred candidate's chances. (Sorry my funny graphic stopped working, I had to delete it).

ACORN has been in the news, well everywhere, and now it is Ohio's turn again. I don't think this story is going away with one of the two candidates being involved with them. Cuyahoga County of all places wants to investigate.

3 of the 5 tracking polls closed for McCain today. Gallup went in The One's direction. Battleground stayed the same. Extremely accurate in 2004 IBD/TIPP started their daily tracker today. Obama +2. Yep, time to give up.

The replacement for the GOP's disgraced Mark Foley has his own problems. I like how Mahoney calls for an investigation of himself. Here's betting the "investigation" won't be completed until after Nov. 4.

And Obama wants a 90 day moratorium on home foreclosures. Why stop there? ACORN wants a year. Why have any at all? Pandering at it's best here.

Has anyone else noticed that the reporting of how many people are at a political rally has basically stopped? I wonder why that is. Maybe, just maybe, that is because McCain/Palin draw as many people as their opponents now, and in some cases more.

John McCain doesn't like being compared to George Wallace (video below). Who would have thought. He does complain that the other side can say whatever and not have to apologize…..that is just is how it is. He should know that by now.

Conflict.

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Presidential, Scandalous
• Date: Oct 1,2008

WND: The moderator of tomorrow's vice-presidential debate is writing a book to come out on the day the next president takes the oath of office that aims to "shed new light" on Democratic candidate Barack Obama and other "emerging young African American politicians" who are "forging a bold new path to political power."

It is obviously a blatant financial conflict of interest: Ifill has a pro-Obama book coming out. It is clear cut. If Obama wins, she makes more money. A lot more. Hence, the term "moderator" is being thrown around a little loosely here. There is also obviously the fact that she has shown disdain (video) for Sarah Palin before as well. If I was a Democrat I would be embarrassed by this (They won't see the problem. But if Sam Alito shoots off a firework that was brought across state lines when he was 15 then he is unfit to be considered for the Supreme Court). It would be like Bill Kristol being the moderator. If that was the case, really not a question the left-wingers would be claiming that Kristol was feeding questions to the Republican in advance. Apparently no one directly affiliated with the DNC or those minting the Obama coins were available tomorrow night.

Is it possible McCain's campaign didn't know about her book until the last 24 hours? Sure, I guess. If so, it is probably one reason why we are down a few in the polls. Or maybe now they have a built in excuse, and that is what they want. Either way, they or their surrogates agreed to it, so no use in them complaining about it now (I still can). If Palin does a good job then it doesn't matter. That is my advice. Just give a great performance, Governor Palin, like Dick Cheney did against John Edwards in 2004 when Ifill moderated. We all remember that beat down. Oh, and maybe give Ifill a compliment on her book during her opening statement and wish her good luck. If Palin does not say something, 90% of those watching will have no idea about Ifill's upcoming journalistic venture.

Can you even imagine if someone who wrote a pro-McCain book was to moderate the second debate? There would be mass hysteria on all morning shows, on all evening newscasts, and in all newspapers. All the lefty blogs would chime in, and new ones would be started just to discuss the unfairness of it. Don't forget, I complimented Jim Lehrer after the first debate. He did a good job. Then again, he doesn't have a book upcoming about one of the two candidates. The media is no longer just in the tank for the Democrats; they are so brazen as to not care that you know it.

In other news, Nancy Pelosi pays her husband with her PAC money. Most ethical Congress ever, continued. It is almost laughable that this just flies under the radar. But it isn't funny. They just get away with it.

I am going to watch playoff baseball and take the rest of the day off. Bye.

Back From Vacation

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: McCain, Republicans '08, Scandalous
• Date: Sep 3,2008

Sorry Joe Biden, I didn't take Amtrak. Do you ride that or something? Think I heard something about that. One of our readers got married and I attended the out of state festivities. That is how much I really care about all the people who visit this site. Anyhow, in my absence, two things happened.

1. Obama did get his poll bump. It was to be expected. We will know where this race really stands by the end of next week. Once the convention bounces are gone and the Labor Day polling is out things will clear up. I expect Obama to be up around 3-4 points at that time. That is still better position than McCain could have dreamed about being in headed into the debates. If he can keep it to a small deficit like that, he can win. And likely will.

2. Not surprised at all at the disgusting levels of attacks on Palin and her family. I think we all knew it was coming – but the intensity and hatred even caught me off guard. Yet I am scum because I want to know why community organizer Barack Obama is good friends with a guy who thinks it is fine to bomb the United States Capitol. That is off limits and dishonorable to talk about. Same with Reverend Wright. Makes perfect sense. It is shameful that Palin has to go through this – it is why so many qualified people on both sides of the political spectrum don't ever want to run for office. Prepare to have your life destroyed. And not only your own, but that of your family.

There have been more questions about Palin and her family from this deranged media than we have seen directed towards Obama about his family and friends since he announced his run. I would describe it as appalling and revolting. Democrats and their media companions are so obviously scared of Palin it couldn't be more transparent. These tactics will backfire……………

*Hey remember all those media members and Democrats saying John Edwards didn't have enough experience in 2004? Me either. Great new ad from McCain comparing the experience of Palin to that of the most liberal United States Senator, Barack Obama. Democrats, John McCain has the experience the ticket needs. He didn't need to go with a Joe Amtrak Biden type pick to make up for his shortcomings.

*Looks like we are doing that live blog thing tonight. Good times. If Palin gives a great speech tonight, well, Democrats are going to be nervous. And that will explain why the attacks get more vicious.

*Biggest difference so far between the conventions: Democrats parade people up there who whine and complain about how America is so terrible and how they just can't make it in this cruel world. This week has been the opposite so far.

*That Fred Thompson guy should have run for President.

See you tonight. She is going to bring the roof down at "The House That Norm Built." It is an exciting night for Republicans, even if she isn't a frequent Amtrak user.

Obama Tries to Kill Ayers Ad

• Author: Ben Keeler
• Filed under: Ad Watch, Obama, Scandalous
• Date: Aug 26,2008

A glimpse into the potential future of free speech.

AP: Barack Obama is striking back fiercely and swiftly to stamp out an ad that links him to a 1960s radical, eager to demonstrate a far more aggressive response to attacks than John Kerry did when faced with the 2004 "Swift Boat" campaign.

Obama not only aired a response ad to the spot linking him to William Ayers, but he sought to block stations the commercial by warning station managers and asking the Justice Department to intervene. The campaign also planned to compel advertisers to pressure stations that continue to air the anti-Obama commercial.

Some success so far on this front, as Fox News and CNN have refused to run the ad (which can be watched after the jump), which is being put out and paid for by the American Issues Project. The ad is brutal, which explains why Obama wants to kill it off (like living babies who survive abortions).

It is kind of a damned if you damned if you don't situation for Team Obama here. Obama wanted to respond, but now the MSM might have to actually cover the story. He knows it can't be good to be linked to Ayers, but that is his own doing – it is pretty clear he isn't just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood," as many people, including Hillary Clinton have pointed out. The way I see it, his counter ad raises more questions that it does provide answers along with reinforcing the fact that indeed, they are friends and Obama started his political career in the living room of someone who planted bombs in the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and police stations, and said he felt he "didn't do enough" in 2001. So, as of 2001, Ayers still promoted terrorism. Obama is (was?) still friends with him until recent scrutiny came.

Obama's piece asks, "Why is McCain talking about the sixties?" McCain didn't run the ad (which Obama's ad tries to get you to think), but the original ad does address the recent relationship between Obama and Ayers. The counter commercial ignores that aspect. The Obama ad goes on to say Obama was only 8 when Ayers committed these acts. Obama wasn't 8 when he was launching his political career with a fund raiser at the Ayers house, so that doesn't really fly. Senator Obama willingly linked himself to Ayers. That has nothing to do with John McCain.

This Obama rebuttal was one of the worst political ads ever and I think they will regret running it. In related news, this morning the records from the Chicago Annenberg Challenge will be unsealed. I don't pretend to know what is in them, but I do know I will be waiting to find out. Obama was chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder. That is the "left-wing board" the original ad refers to. My only prediction is that we find out that Ayers was not "just a guy in my neighborhood" and the connection between the two runs much deeper.

Funny: "Veeps" at johnmccain.com, a take off on "The Sims."
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