Freedom...is always worth the sacrifice

Wow! PLEASE take just a moment to watch this political ad. It is 1:55 and worth it. I like this one especially because there is a video going around where you can put yourself into the video. Everybody is agog and loving the fact that you can 'see yourself' in it. In the video below, there are no gizmos, it's only a simple statement of an ad, showing a soldier speaking who put himself on the line... for me. Big difference.

Don't believe the polls

Accuracy Of Polls a Question In Itself

"..there appears to be an undercurrent of worry among some polling professionals and academics. One reason is the wide variation in Obama leads: Just yesterday, an array of polls showed the Democrat leading by as little as two points and as much as 15 points. The latest Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll showed the race holding steady, with Obama enjoying a lead of 52 percent to 45 percent among likely voters" while Rasmussen says
"Obama Lead Down to 3 Points" Gallup shows "Obama up by 2" and Pew up by 15. Who ya gonna believe? I'd say Ghostbusters, over these pollsters.

Everyone around here is tired of the campaigns. The yard signs have been up for months, ever since primary season, and the national signs are just everywhere. My friend in Maine posted the above photo in her online newspaper, which pretty well captures the feeling.

We shall see what we shall see come Tuesday night...or Wednesday...or Thursday... whenever it's settled. What I'll not forget about this campaign is its incivility.

I've been involved with politics, elections, and campaigns since I was around 6 or 8. My father was involved in supporting various state and national legislators, and he ran for local office himself. I remember drafty Grange halls with echoing wood plank floors, the colorful signs everywhere, the bustling activity. Most of all I remember the feeling that you were doing something valuable, important.

In college I went to listen to John Anderson, whose initial 25% surge in the pols incited the imaginations of us college kids. Anderson's finish was still the best showing for a third party candidate since George Wallace 13% in 1968, and the sixth best for any such candidate in the 20th century (trailing Theodore Roosevelt's 27% in 1912, Robert LaFollette's 17% in 1924, Wallace, and Ross Perot's 19% and 9% in 1992 and 1996, respectively). There was a feeling of excitement that something different was happening, and we thought that in merican politics was if not pure, at least every person did make a solid difference.

Since then there have been some exciting moments, the surprise of Reagan, the Clinton MTV generation questioning the all-important boxers or briefs question (oy), the silliness of the Dukakis in the tank...but nowadays "in the tank" means something more ominous and in my opinion portends the death of the media and as a result, the rise of unrestrained government

The excitement of legitimate debate of previous elections cycles, reflected accurately in all media, is gone. In its place is an entire news media in the tank for Obama, without scrutiny, vetting, or probing questions of the man vying to run this country. When Barbara West did ask some pointed questions of VP candidate Sen. Biden, his responses weren't the news, her questions were.

Now we no longer have debate, instead we have fistfights at nursing homes, VA McCain workers attacked with mace, and most horribly, an effigy of Governor Palin hanging by the neck until dead.

The response to each of these and all the other cases of bullying in place of debate I have not mentioned, is either excuses by the press or simple ignoring. So what we have is a useless media who no longer not even investigates properly but fails to demonstrate a model for civil discourse and thoughtful debate even among themselves; pollsters who are not reflecting the voter view but trying to shape it; and an angry, uncivil electorate incapable of exchanging thoughtful opinions but instead descending to the argument of first resort: violence.

Not much about this campaign can be trusted, the polls, the donations, the words, nor even the results, given the massive amount of voter registration fraud occurring nationwide. I'm sad to have watched the innocent optimism of spirited elections from my earlier days descend into media/pollster carefully managed fake events. Such is the world we live in today...

Note: Above Photo by Ted MacDonald, from MaineHomeTownNews

Who won the debate? 2 to 1 it's for... McCain

Over a quarter million people voted at Drudge on who they think won the Presidential debate. It was 2:1 for McCain. I can't say one way or the other, I mostly watched with the sound off. I couldn't stand the lies, platitudes, and more lies. Though I did not like Sen. Obama's interruptions of McCain nor his juvenile . Oh, well, there's always Chuck Balwdwin for President

{{{{DRUDGE POLL}}}} WHO WON THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE?...

MCCAIN

67%

188,837

OBAMA

30%

84,606

NEITHER

2%

6,534

Obama coming apart

You'd think that with the most hated Republican, who has the lowest poll numbers of any president Democrat or Republican, ever, that the Democrat ticket for President would be a lock. That is what the Dems thought, "It's a lock!"

Then why on earth do the following polls have McCain ahead (except Newsweek shows a tie). Could this be? Yes. Nine major polls can't be wrong.

Gallup Tracking
Rasmussen Tracking
Hotline/FD Tracking
Newsweek
FOX News
Associated Press/GfK
ABC News/Wash Post
USA Today/Gallup
CBS News

Here are some opinion analysts who have some ideas as to why McCain/Palin are resonating with Americans: Obama was a flash in the pan? Euphoria superseded facts? Obama is a Muslim? Palin and McCain are the real deal? The Atlanta Journal Constitution, Washington Post, and Reuters are a few of the recent opinions to try and figure out why Obama is deflating like a balloon. Click headline for the full story.

Panic sets in for Obama, Democrats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Barack Obama knows it. The election he had in the bag is slipping away.

The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has so thrown him off stride, as it has most other Democrats, that all the momentum he had has vanished. He’s getting panicky advice from everywhere. He intends to launch more and sharper attacks, abandoning any pretense of a new and different, more civil campaign. Democrats know something, and desperation is setting in.

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Palin steals Obama's fading spotlight

Washington Post

WASHINGTON — The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"

Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports — news flash! — that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.

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Obama tries to regain his stride
Reuters

The emergence of Palin, an anti-abortion and pro-gun conservative who electrified the party's base supporters, seemed to knock Obama off stride and propelled the Republicans into a slight lead in the November 4 election race in a flurry of national opinion polls.

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5 reasons why McCain has pulled ahead
Politico.com

John McCain's surge in the polls comes even as Barack Obama has inherited the most favorable Democratic environment since the Watergate era — an unpopular Republican president, an unpopular war and a flagging economy. Suddenly, though, Democrats have found themselves in a world turned upside down, where Republicans have the momentum

Ready to smear but not ready to lead

I really do not like that phrase "lipstick on a pig", no matter to whom it is applied. An obama misstep, and a shameful one at that.

Watch video here

Nope to Obama hypnosis

I am not a John McCain fan. I am not a Barack Obama fan. I don't like any of them who ran, except Ron Paul. However, as a news woman, I have been concerned and perplexed by the media attention toward Obama, that now quite obviously swings hotly in favor of pure bias.

This week, half the known world is trailing Obama's every move in his rock star swing through Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, McCain submitted an Op-Ed piece to the New York Times to rebut an earlier piece they had published about Obama, and the NYT rejected it, claiming that they were looking for something that more closely "mirrors" what Obama had written.

And though I feel only revulsion toward a man who would say such a horrendous thing about his wife in public, I did feel a twinge of pity at this headline:

"LONE REPORTER GREETS MCCAIN PLANE: “In Manchester last night, there was just one reporter and one photographer waiting for McCain..."

Today, the McCain campaign released a clip of news anchors crying, swooning, following, and loving Obama. There's Chris Matthews feeling that ole thrill up his leg, Tucker Carlson's 'I have a crush' claim, and all the others. It is apparent we have lost any semblance of a free press.