Choices and Consequences

Have you seen this ad comparing first time voting to fist time sex?  It's sick and offensive.  But it is something more, it is incomplete.  Like sex, elections have consequences and you could end up with an unwanted pregnancy, (policies), because, yes you can get pregnant the first time.  There is no abortion option, (no recall) and you will live with the consequences for the rest of your life and those consequences will be passed on to any and all future children.  Once again, the Obama campaign wishes for us to act without fully considering the consequences.

On the other end of the spectrum, one man asks us to make decisions with clear eyes.

More than that, we see images and hear stories of this man praying for strength and relying on a greater power. http://theulstermanreport.com/2012/10/25/white-house-insider-mitt-romneys-quiet-prayer-amidst-the-sound-of-thunder/ Which pitch appeals to you.  Strong steady support, or a decision for a one night stand?

This Campaign Brought to you by the Letter B

http://granitegrok.com/blog/2012/10/yes-this-kinda-sums-up-the-obama-campaign

The Presidential Campaign has started to feel like an episode of Sesame Street in parody.  Honestly, we could use the line, "this campaign brought to you by the letter 'B'." Seriously, we have Binders, Big Bird, Bayonets, Benghazi, and now BS all delivered by Barack.  In the Battle for the hearts and minds of America, we have been reduced to ba ba ba ba BBBBBB.  An important letter, to be sure, but not much of a Campaign.  And not the Best Bargaining position.  

I suppose this is an attempt to get the woman's vote.  Perhaps the Campaign wonders why they are losing the women vote.  I will try to lay it out here. 

  I was highly offended when the President's staff tweeted out "Vote like your lady parts depend on it, because they kind of do." Excuse me. That was condescending. I am also offended at the Obama campaign saying that women don't really care about what's happening in Libya. And also when they said that women haven't been paying attention the last 4 years. And that Obama paid the women on his staff 18% less than the men for the same work. Oh and that because I'm a woman I fit in a demographic that will automatically vote for him because all I care about is abortion and contraceptives. For some reason, men can get their Viagra, but women are too dumb to get the pill without the Magnificent Obama providing it to us. Oh well, If I think about it, I am very concerned that his demographic has access to contraceptives. 

But this isn't why Obama is losing the women vote.  Nor is it the fact that his campaign has decided that to get through to my sex, they must reduce their talking points to an alliteration of talking points. It is because Governor Romney speaks to women.  Not through poll tested soundbites or distracting fringe issues, but through real life.  Grocery bills, landing a decent job, putting gas in the tank and paying bills: these are the things that speak to women.  Coincidentally, they are also the issues that speak to men.  So I have another 'B' word for the campaign: Bye-Bye.

A Message for the Unbiased News Journalists

Dear Journalists,

 If you still call yourselves that.  I'm confused.  You who are supposed to bring a clear picture of world events without personal agenda are confusing the American public.  The journalistic ethics that were taught when I was in the midst of my communication education have been completely abandoned for what is starting to look like a propaganda arm for the State.  Who, what, when and how have been replaced by spin, redirect, confuse and pontificate.  Before you roll your eyes and refuse to read further, please let me provide you with examples.  Perhaps by seeing, what is so apparent to others, in black and white, you will be able to absorb the fact that you have abandoned the main function of the press: to protect the American people by providing them with knowledge in the form of facts.  I have made a list.  The list is short in comparison to the narrative, but this will have to do. This is a list of conclusions that you have come to and the perspective that you have written and reported from.

1) It is okay for President Obama to say that the rich need to pay their fair share, but it is a mortal sin for Governor Romney to point out that half the citizens of the country do not pay any federal tax.

2) It is okay for President Obama to lie about the cause of the attacks in Cairo and Libya, but it is not okay for Romney to tell the truth about the situation, because apparently speaking too soon in the news cycle is frowned upon.

3) It is okay for the Obama campaign to accuse Romney of causing a woman's death, but Obama actually caused the death of our Ambassador and three of the staff, through negligence but no questions are asked.

4) It is right and prudent to censor speech against the Muslim religion, but a Broadway play making fun of Mormons is just fine.

5) A movie caused unrest in the Middle East and should be censored, but the movie about killing Osama is just fine. (And that is without the argument for more questions about the security access provided the makers of the movie and the constant security leaks coming from this administration.)

6) Unions can raise money and produce ads to support a candidate, but tax-paying business owners should be denied that privilege.

7) We all need to have a stake in and pay for everyones healthcare because it's the right thing to do, but unions and large businesses can get exemptions, even though without their revenue the plan cannot mathematically work and the onus is placed squarely on small, middle-class, business owners.

8) A CNN reporter tweets to fund raise for Obama and reporters wear "Journalists for Obama" shirts while covering the DNC, but Fox news is biased. (Perhaps not announcing your bias would at least give the appearance.)

9) Obama skips intelligence meetings claiming to read the briefings on an ipad but admits in public that he can't figure out how to work an iphone. Really?

10) Romney is the one not ready for foreign policy decisions, yet he is the only one that had actually visited our greatest ally, Isreal, and has actually met with Prime Minister Netanyahu.

11) We are supposed to care that Romney outsourced some jobs in his private business ventures, but we should ignore that 7 of 10 GM jobs are now overseas.

12) Nearly every endeavor Romney has attempted has been successful, and Obama had Solydra, but you act like it never happened.

13)  Romney followers supposedly have some sort of secret racist language, although no one seems to know it, yet Biden. . . Really? He gets a pass on actual racist comments, and not just once but continually. Really?

14) The American people are supposed to thin down and eat better because it is costing us all in healthcare costs, but Obama can smoke because it's legal, and what, because he's thin?

15) The polls are all +D by 6-13% but you report them as though they are an actual snapshot of the electorate.

16) Media Matters colluding with the White House on how to spin the news. What?

You are making me tired, and ashamed of the profession.  Why don't you all just state what side of the fence you're clinging to, and we can choose who to listen to based on our own bias?  Because with reporting like this, you will never change the world.

Who is Really Winning the Poll War

Over the past three months we have seen the polls move from one candidate to another.  First Governor Romney is ahead, then President Obama, then they are statistically tied.  The polls bounce around within a few percentage points every few days, giving the news media something "BIG" to talk about.

Most of the polls seem to favor the President, which is interesting considering his low approval rating.  I could go into all the reasons that all of the polls are flawed, from location of the polls to bias in the questions themselves; but that would bore my readers- and me.

One thing that is more important than the national or even the statewide polls, is the internal polling done by each political camp.  The general public will most likely never get to see the actual numbers of this all important polling, but we can see the results.

If one side starts to look desperate, or starts to react instead of playing offensive, we can assume that their internal polling looks bad.  I would say that lately, President Obama's campaign is the camp that looks desperate.  The excessive nastiness in recent ads, the unscheduled press conference, and the grim, closed down body language of the President's surrogates indicate an underlying feeling of desperation.  It is the same reaction that we saw coming out of Newt Gingrich's failed nomination bid, and also Rick Santorum's.

Looking at the the differences in the moods of both the Governor and the Presidents' campaigns, I would say that Romney's internal polling looks better than the national polls indicate and the President's look worse.  So keep following the 1-2 percentage point movement reported by the big dogs, but don't forget to factor in the moods of the two campaigns.  If the two are not in agreement, be wary.

Mitt's Penn Speech 7/17/2012

I love this speech.  I especially love the part where Mitt reminds us that the services that the Government provides are helpful to business, but of course, we pay for those services with our taxes!  This is the man who should be President.  I hope he continues in this vein!!!!




http://www.mrctv.org/videos/mitt-romneys-full-speech-irwin-pennsylvania

President Obama Attacks Governor Romney's Record

I took a break from blogging here.  I'm sorry to my followers.  Its just that I didn't have anything to say, that wasn't already being said. There still isn't that much to say.  I have had a good laugh this week, however.  The Obama team has decided to attack Mitt Romney on his Massachusetts record.  This is a bad move.  Lets take the arguments.  First, Governor Romney was 48th in job creation.  True- however, Governor Romney started with a 5.1% unemployment rate and left office with a 4.7% unemployment rate. Uhhh . . .  it went down.  And you can say that it was because people stopped looking for work, etc. but if you do that, then you have to apply that standard to President Obama's so-called recovery, which also reflects the number of people who have simply stopped looking.  And the President's unemployment rate is over 8%.  Plus the year Romney left office, Massachusetts had moved from 50th, (when he took office) to 12th in job creation,  so I think this is a bad strategy on Team Obama's part.

Next the Obama team is saying that Romney left the state of Massachusetts in financial difficulties.  In reality, he started with a 650 million dollar deficit. When he left he left a 2 billion dollar rainy day fund.  Oh yeah, that was a terrible way to leave the state; richer than when he started.  Please!

My favorite attack is that Governor Romney raised taxes.  This is so ironic.  First, technically, Governor Romney did not once raise taxes, in fact he cut taxes 19 times.  What he did do, however, was close tax loopholes that businesses were using to lower their tax burdens.  This is essentially a tax increase on those businesses, so I won't argue that it isn't.  However, since the Obama Team wants the wealthy to "pay their fair share" and wants to stop businesses from using loopholes to keep from paying taxes, it seems ironic that they should pound Romney for what they want to do.

In the end, if President Obama could tout a record as impressive as Governor Romney's was in Massachusetts, he wouldn't need to attack Governor Romney with half truths- he would simply be winning.

How Will The Latest Foiled Terrorist Plot Disrupt Airport Security?

The US uncovered a new terrorist plot to explode a bomb on a plane that is much like the "underwear" bomb only more sophisticated.  Thank you and congratulations to the intelligence agents who foiled that plot.  (You can read more about it here.)

As I watched the news reports roll in, one thing nagged at me, why an underwear bomb? And one thing stuck out-- TSA.  We, in America, already have a humiliating security screening at the airport. First we take off our shoes, then we step through a machine that shows us in all our glory, or we get patted down in a way our doctors wouldn't even do. Terrorists want terror.  They want us to be afraid to live normal lives. By moving bombs this way they do a number of things.  First if the bomb goes off, they win. Second, if the guy gets caught, but it makes Americans afraid to travel they win. And third, by forcing more and more invasive security searches, that remove more and more privacy and freedom, they win.

Each time a grandmother is searched by the TSA- the terrorists laugh.

I don't know how to solve the problem.  We want to be safe, but we also want our privacy to be safe. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from Isreal?