Obamanable Campaign Financing

Over at Atlas Shrugs they've been working very hard, going through Barack Obama's camaign donations with a fine-toothed comb. The media made a big deal about some legal donations made to John McCain because they were bundled in part by a foreigner. Why are they giving less scrutiny to donations to Obama's campaign?

Atlas Shrugs has found

"Obama’s campaign donation pages are rife with donations that end in CENT. Thousands of them. Odd numbers all. Cathy and I have gone through thousands and thousands of foreign donations that end in cents (as in dollars and cents) for Obama and there were NONE for McCain. More evidence of foreign contributors, since Americans living overseas would almost uniformly be able to contribute dollars.

The donations don’t show up on the FEC search either by individual or by the candidate. If you scroll through the pages of the donations alphabetically for Obama, the dollar amounts
are what you’d expect legitimate donations to look like. i.e., $250, $500, $1000, $2300…but when you look at the database of transactions it is nothing like that. You get $74.37, $42.95, $116.38, $29.70…like that (those are actual examples). Clearly this is what you would get if you converted a foreign currency into dollars, e.g., 50 Euros would be roughly $ 77.12."

There is plenty more to see, such as donations coming from places like Indonesia and Gaza. The American people should know about this but the Media remains silent on the issue.

Petition the FEC for Obama to cough up his birth certificate

Why won't Barack Obama produce a certified copy of his birth certificate? He's running for President of the United States of America. Shouldn't the people have the right to know if he is who he says he is? Are we to just hand him the keys to the Oval Office based on his word?

Mitchell Langbert created a petition to the FEC requesting that they verify Obama's citizenship and also clarify what US agency bears the responsibility of verifying the citizenship of candidates.

RELATED POSTS:

Did Obama fake his birth certificate?

Obama's Patriotism-It's not the pin it's his words

Patriotism: devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.

Nothing raises Barack Obama's hackles like questions about his patriotism. When he chose not to wear a flag pin he said "I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. Instead I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism." Notice he said "what will make this country great", rather than "what makes this country great", but we'll let that slide.

According to Obama, patriotism has nothing to do with whether or not he wears a pin, but with the words he utters.

Earlier this week a seven year old girl asked why he wanted to be President. He replied "America is no longer what it could be, what it once was." He went on that his vision of America is "to be kinder, to be gentler." See Video. Apparently, he share's his wife's view that America is a "downright mean" country.

Did love of country inspire Obama to declare on foreign soil "I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people."?

He couldn't resist including in his speech on patriotism how as he "got older, that gut instinct - that America is the greatest country on earth - would survive my growing awareness of our nation’s imperfections: it’s ongoing racial strife; the perversion of our political system laid bare during the Watergate hearings; the wrenching poverty of the Mississippi Delta and the hills of Appalachia."

Are Americans to trust in his patriotism when he can't even give a speech about patriotism without ifs, ands or buts? Do those words imbue devoted, love, support and defense of one's country?

It's like saying to your child "I love you, except for when you were two and threw tantrums, when you lied at the age of 6 and spilled juice on the couch last night. Really, can't you be more perfect?"

The Sum of Good Governance

In his first Inaugural Adress on March 4, 1801 Thomas Jefferson said that a "wise and frugal government...shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."

How would Thomas Jefferson feel about some of Barack Obama's recent promises (bribes) offered to the electorate in 2008? What would he think of a man who openly declares that he will take oil companies' profits, and redistribute those profits to those who didn't earn them?

Had our government left us free to regulate our own pursuits of industry and improvement we would not be paying $4.00 per gallon for gas. We wouldn't be funding our enemies. We would be extracting our own resources from our land. We would have more nuclear power plants and cheaper electricity. Don't people get it.

Could Thomas Jefferson have contemplated what would become of the government he fought so hard to establish?

Obama Fatigue

The Pew Research Center's most recent poll finds that Americans are just plain tired of hearing about Barack Obama. They needed a poll to figure this out? What's surprising are the 51% of independents and 34% of Democrats that are sick of him.

Americans can only take arrogant politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths in very small doses. Sure, 10% of respondents believe there isn't enough coverage of Obama, but those are just his fans in the media. The 41% who believe the coverage is just right are regular readers of the Huffington Post and Daily Kos.

Gee Whiz, by the looks of things, even his wife is tired of him. When is the last time we've seen Michelle giving a speech on behalf of Barack?

John McCain's New Celebrity Ad

This is the latest ad from the McCain campaign. He calls Obama a celebrity and points out that Obama's policies would hurt American families. I liked the other celebrity ad better, but this one's not bad.

Missed Opportunity

Tuesday August 5, 2008

A caller to a conservative radio show this morning told the host he is fairly conservative but will for Barack Obama. Based on what he said I would guess that the caller is in his early to mid twenties and he's having trouble making ends meet. He complained that he can't find a decent job and really seemed to believe that a President Obama would improve his situation.

The host of the program missed a great opportunity to tell this guy that he is not the exception, he is the norm. Most Americans don't just walk into a great job. To get ahead one must work hard, prove one's worth to his or her employer and build a reputation in his career field. That is the key to career success. Abraham Lincoln put it best when he said "whatever you are, be a good one."

Americans need to stop looking to the government to solve their problems because it just isn't going to happen. Government is the problem.

Another Obama Shift

For months Barack Obama has been telling us he is beyond the old style of politics, with Obama we can move on to new politics. He wants you to believe he is not a politician, when that's exactly what he is. Just look at his trip overseas. He was perfectly willing to give a speech during a free concert to make it look as though 200,000 Germans actually came to hear him speak, yet he cancelled a visit with wounded U.S. troops because he had to leave his entourage at the door.

He keeps "shifting" (the new term for flip-flopping) positions when it is politically expedient. Is that "new politics"? It sure seems like old politics to anyone who follows politics. His latest "shift" is on drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. He held his finger to the wind, felt which way it was blowing and decided he would throw the voters a little bone.

His promise to give $1000 to every family didn't give him the bump in the polls he was hoping for. Apparently not all Americans are on board with the rob Peter to pay Paul mentality. Now he is willing to throw his so-called convictions to the wind, throw his base under the bus once again in order to pick up a few points in the polls.

Obama still believes we won't be able to "drill our way out of" the energy crisis, but now he's willing to consider allowing drilling off the Florida coast. The problem is, he's been so against this for so long, who can believe him?

McCain Ad - Obama the Celebrity

The Race Card

Barack Obama was trying to say that John McCain is trying to scare voters from electing Obama and went on to say "You know, he doesn't look like all of those other presidents on the dollar bills."

John McCain's campaign cried foul and said that Obama is playing the race card and Obama's campaign replied "Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race as an issue, but he does believe they're using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign."

What did Barack Obama think when he said he doesn't look like the men on the money? Any rational person knows exactly what he meant. He said what he meant and he meant what he said. Then when McCain responds he accuses McCain of dirty politics. I guess Obama expects that even his opponents are supposed to fawn all over him in the manner of the main stream media.

We don't need to drill! Just inflate your tires!

Drilling! We don't need no stinking drilling! Just inflate your tires!

Obama's charm is wearing thin.

Liberals are starting to notice, and write about, the arrogance of Barack Obama. We can probably expect to see him change his personality again some time very soon. This morning Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote a scathing editorial about the Prince of Hubris, Barack Obama.

It seems that Obama's presidential charade isn't lost on everyone. Milbank declares that "he traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual president's. Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities, which included a fundraiser at the Mayflower where donors paid $10,000 or more to have photos taken with him."

While most of the press adores the Prince of Hubris, some are starting to tire of him and with about 100 days until election day more are sure to grow weary of Obama's act.

Lessons from Herbert Hoover

If Barack Obama is elected president there's a good chance we'll see Hooverville's cropping up across this great land of ours after his policies throw us into another Great Depression.

The American Presidents, Ninth Edition documents that "No other President came to the White House with more dazzling visions of achievements and left with more shattered illusions than did Herbert Hoover." One of his promises was "the perfection of justice, whether in economic or social fields" and he intended his administration to be a "progressive, reform regime." That all sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Herbert Hoover is said to have been for small government and laissez-faire economics. It's too bad he didn't stick to his guns. He was called a "do nothing President". He tried a housing bailout which was a failure. His refusal to repeal Prohibition probably didn't help. Not only would people have gone to work at breweries and distilleries, but they would have been happier, not having to go to to the local speakeasy for a pop. But Herbert Hoover's biggest mistake was signing the Hawley-Smoot Tariff in 1930 which only intensified the depression. Time and again we find that free trade is a good thing and the imposition of tariffs is bad. Obama doesn't get this.

Unfortunately, President Bush seems to be falling into the Democrats' trap when they compare him to Hoover, accusing him of doing nothing. (For example the economic stimulus and homeowner bailout.) We will never know what would have happened had President Hoover, and later Roosevelt "done nothing". Perhaps the depression may have ended in 1934.

Hubris or Arrogance - Call it what you will Obama's got plenty of it

Junior senator from Illinois Barack Obama has returned from strutting around the world as if he owns it. Now that he's back state side he has directed his staff to start planning his transition. That's awfully presumptuous for the man who is only the presumptive nominee of his party. Talk about audacious! Has he forgotten that one must first be nominated as his party's candidate and then win the general election before taking office?

Perhaps press reports like No. 44 Has Spoken deluded him into believing that he's already the president-elect. With each passing day Senator Obama's ego grows ever larger. He believes the only way to solve the problems of the globe is his ascension to the White House. He believes that his few years as an Illinois state senator and his very brief stint as a US senator (most of which he has spent campaigning) qualifies him to serve as leader of the free world. Anyone who dares to mention that media hype and hope do not entitle him to the presidency is attacked as mean spirited and playing dirty politics.

Rex Murphy said it best in Obama's Audacity of Hubris: "Yet, there he was on Thursday, acting in every way as if he were already president delivering, Urbi et Orbi, a proclamation. There was something almost glorious about the presumption: Call it the audacity of hubris. There was also and equally something very reckless about it. The only set who seem more enraptured than a good part of the U.S. media about the Obama campaign is the Obama campaign and the candidate himself."

The media has inserted itself into the story.

Listening to the main stream media one would believe John McCain and his campaign have said nothing in the past week other than complaints about the media's love-fest with Senator Barack Obama. All McCain did was merely state the obvious, but they're not going to let him get away with it.

Rather than report the story, the media has now become the story, intertwined with the Obama campaign. They've entered into a credibility damaging viscious circle that goes something like "We love Obama, now we are reporting on our love for Obama because his opponent pointed it out, so we must now attack the opponent".

ABC News has the headline Anatomy of an Attack: How McCain Hit Obama - McCain Camp Seethed, Then Began Landstuhl Attack by Touting Hannity Comments on their website. Including the title, the article mentions the McCain campaign "seething" three times. About McCain's ad regarding Obama scrapping his plans to visit our wounded troops the author writes "The McCain campaign dropped the bomb...... an extraordinarily harsh attack line: 'And now, he made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops'."

Of course, ABC made the Obama campaign's retort sound extremely reasonable: "The Obama campaign was quick to cry foul.....This politicization of our soldiers is exactly what Sen. Obama sought to avoid." They failed to point out that had Senator Obama visited Landstuhl without the press it simply would have been a sincere gesture from the man who wants to be president. It became political when he scrapped the visit because he couldn't bring his reporters along.

When did criticizing a political opponent become an "extrordinarily harsh attack"? Oh yeah, when the politician making the criticism is the opponent of your love child.

Did 200,000 Germans really show up to see Obama?

The US media has led us to believe that 200,000 young Germans showed up on a Thursday to listen to the junior senator from Illinois give a speech. If it were true maybe it would be amazing. We've been hoodwinked again.

Hat tip to No Quarter for picking up on this. Those 200,000 Germans really showed up for free concerts by wildly popular German reggae singer Patrice and the pop band Reamonn. If a free concert wasn't enough, they also gave away free bratwurst and beer. Gee whiz, I may have gone to that!

Isn't it the job of the media to report events as they actually occur? How about this headline "Obama gives a speech during the intermission of a free concert in Germany". If the New York Times would report the truth, rather than their version of it, perhaps their readership numbers wouldn't be in such a free fall.

Obama-The Messiah, The Anointed One, The Savior

He ventured forth to bring light to the world...

Absolute Must Read of the Day

From the Times Online (UK)

He ventured forth to bring light to the world-The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders.

Read the full article. This is priceless.

Before the big speech Obama decided against visiting wounded troops.

This man is unbelievable. We have wounded troops receiving treatment in Germany and Obama decided to scrap his plans to visit them. He said it would be inappropriate, since his campaign is funding his trip. Does that mean that his contributors would find it unacceptable for a presidential candidate to visit with US troops who were injured while fighting for our country? This guy is just unbelievable.

Obama scraps visit to wounded troops.

Update: It has been reported that Obama used his big Berlin speech as an avenue to raise campaign funds. Could it be he didn't visit our wounded troops because he didn't think they would contribute to his campaign?

The Speech!

Barack Obama has finally delivered his much anticipated Berlin speech. Thanks to the Drudge Report there is no need to listen to the speech, you can read the transcript. According to reports, he was interrupted numerous times by thundering applause from the European crowd. Wow, maybe he should move to Europe and run for king of the EU or something, it would be a land slide.

Yes, the Germans went wild for Obama's speech as most of his apostles here at home probably did. He talked about "global citizenship", "sustained sacrifice", "shared burdens" and "trade that is free and fair for all". He will send a "direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions" and in Iraq will "finally bring this war to a close". He will save the planet and eradicate AIDS and poverty, because poverty causes terrorism. He notes that every language is spoken in the US and wants to eliminate all borders.

Sound good?

Lacking from his speech is the idea of American exceptionalism. He diminishes the role America played in ending the cold war and bringing down the Iron Curtain. He diminishes the sacrifice of Americans who fought and died in Europe in the last century. He also diminishes the role the American military has played in Iraq. With all due respect, you don't win wars by wishing for peace. You don't bring down terrorists and dictators by giving them a lecture.

Now we are all just "fellow citizens of the world". When in Ohio Obama blasts American companies that ship jobs overseas. When in Germany Obama lauds the global economy. Talk about playing to your audience.

Obama fails to recognize or acknowledge that the 9-11 terrorists were well to do and came from middle class families. He calls for unity, advancing his collectivist message to include the entire globe. When he talks about sustained sacrifice he doesn't say whose sacrifice? The American worker? He neglects to mention that President Bush is a rock star in Africa due to all he has done to battle the AIDS virus. So we should expect that if elected president, Obama will send even more of our tax dollars overseas.

Of course, Obama would never fail to mention in a speech how imperfect America is and how we have not "lived up to our best intentions". In his view, we will not be a perfect nation, a perfect global citizen until he is elected president.