Loyal Opposition’s sonar shack has detected a transient…

…on the same election night where Jesse Ventura got elected “Governor” that I got around 37,855 votes for State Treasurer, running as a Libertarian. 

(My only platform plank?  Abolish the office of State Treasurer.  As luck would have it, that was also the subject of a ballot initiative that year, which passed by a 2-1 margin. While some DFL hack got most of the votes, I declared moral victory; the people decided they didn’t need some party flak to do their abolishing for them). 

But this year, I didn’t even know my hat was in the ring…

A flag-waving gunman closes down traffic in Santa Barbara, California for hours…

…until he’s allowed to carry out his demand:

A masked gunman waving an American flag and a handgun on a freeway overpass surrendered to police Monday after forcing a traffic shutdown for hours.

The man gave himself up at midmorning west of downtown Santa Barbara at Highway 101, a major route along the California coast. No shots were fired. Traffic was backed at least three miles in each direction.

The man agreed to give up after he was allowed to attach a Barack Obama campaign sign and the flag to the overpass railing, said police Sgt. Jim Pfleging.

Audacious, indeed.

You’ll have to find a new bit of dirt to obsess about:

Palin – running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain – violated no ethics laws, according to a report released by the state personnel board on the eve of Election Day.

Not that there was much doubt – and as far as the Democrats were concerned, the rumor served its purpose. 

7:07 AM Today

Minnesota’s Secretary of State was kind enough to post my precinct’s ballot.

So here’s my “to-do” list for the day; my votes are in bold:

POTUS:

JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN REPUBLICAN
BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
CYNTHIA MCKINNEY AND ROSA CLEMENTE GREEN
ROGER CALERO AND ALYSON KENNEDY SOCIALIST WORKERS
RALPH NADER AND MATT GONZALEZ INDEPENDENT
BOB BARR AND WAYNE A. ROOT LIBERTARIAN
CHUCK BALDWIN AND DARRELL CASTLE CONSTITUTION
US Senate
DEAN BARKLEY INDEPENDENCE
NORM COLEMAN REPUBLICAN
AL FRANKEN DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
CHARLES ALDRICH LIBERTARIAN
JAMES NIEMACKL CONSTITUTION
US Fourth Congressional District
ED MATTHEWS REPUBLICAN
BETTY MCCOLLUM DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR
Minnesota House District 66B
MARK A. ROOSEVELT REPUBLICAN
ALICE HAUSMAN DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR

Soil and Water, Districts 2, 3 and 5

I will follow Saint Paul’s endorsements to the letter.  Whatever it was.

Judicial Elections

Well, I won’t be voting for either Howard Orenstein or Gail Chang-Bohr in the Second District Court race: as usual, I’ll be writing in my cat, Nosemarie Berg, for this office, partly as a protest against the paucity of acceptable candidates, partly (as noted in the past) because it’s my way of ensuring that my vote is in fact counted.  Of course, I’m not the only one that votes for Nosemarie – she’s actually developed some traction over the years – so I’ll be writing in another pet for another one of the unopposed seats.  Will it be Clu, the dog?  Candy, the other cat?  We don’t know. 

Stay tuned.

One of this blog’s most popular posts ever was one I put out on election day four years ago.  Entitled “100 Reasons I’m Voting For Bush, Not Kerry“, it spelled out my thought process for my vote in 100 easy steps.

I figured this election deserves at least as much.

1. Because Mac, whatever you wanna say about him, is the genuine article -warts and all.  Does he have a foul temper at times?  So what?  So do I. 
2. So do you. 
3. So will Barack Obama, a couple of days into this job, if he’s elected. 
4. Because in a culture that overuses the word “hero” (among many others) pretty gratuitously, Mac is the real thing.
5. Mac can keep things in perspective.  Age’ll give you perspective. 
6. So will five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton.
7. Because the various tyrants of the world see Barack Obama, and they think “How Sweet.  Fresh Meat”.
8. Because France, Canada and Germany have both elected more-conservative leaders since 2004; for once, they have a point. 
9. I’m not going to say “Bin Laden Endorses Obama” – but when Bin Laden goes to sleep at night, who do you think he dreams will have his head stuffed and mounted above the fireplace in the East Wing? 
10. Even if Bin Laden doesn’t think Mac’ll do it, he’s gotta have visions of Sarah, Todd and Track Palin snowshoeing across the Hindu Kush, finding, shooting and stuffing him.
11. Because while abortion has never been the sine qua non of politics for me, it matters.
12. And at the end of the day, Obama is pro-choice.
13. And Biden is worse – a pro-choice Catholic.
14. Because partial-birth abortion is inexcusable, and still Obama excuses it (and I’ve heard Biden say not a thing about it).
15. Because as bad as Bush was on spending, Obama will be much, much worse…
16. …and “balancing the budget” with tax hikes is economic suicide.
17. For the good of the party, the GOP needs to return to fiscal conservatism.  Whatever Mac’s other sins, he’s got a much better claim to that than does Obama. 
18. Or Bush, for that matter.
19. What I said in 17 about “the good of the party”?  The same goes tenfold for the nation.
20. Because the words “Chicago Democrat” mean something.
21. Because that something is worse than “Minnesota Liberal”, which itself is a horror to behold.
22. Because I work hard for my money.
23. Raising taxes kills jobs. Including mine.
24. Because Hollywood is getting the vapors for Obama.
25. Because a lot of bigots and racists want to think I’m a bigot and racist for not voting for Obama.
26. Because the 3AM Phone Call is a real thing – moreso in our world today than fifteen years ago, even. 
27. And Obama has shown us no evidence that he’s ready to take that call…
28. …or do much of anything else.
29. Because Obama has voted “Present” in the Senate over 100 times.
30. Because Obama has spent less time in the Senate…
31. …than Mac spent in the Hanoi Hilton.  Yes, Mr. Messiah, sir, experience counts.
32. Because while I believe Obama isn’t a bad person, his presidency will grant sweeping power to the Pelosi/Reid Congress, perhaps the most depraved pack of hacks ever to wield political power in the history of this country.
33. No, I mean the most depraved pack of hacks, just like I wrote it.  The post-Watergate Democrats were at least largely people with their nation’s best interests at heart; many were WWII and Korea veterans, people for whom the flag meant something.  If you’re to the right of Jane Fonda, the Reid-Pelosi Axis of Weasels should make your skin crawl. 
34. Because Sarah Palin, as relatively new to politics as she may be, is vastly more qualified to lead the most powerful nation on earth than Barack Obama is.
35. Because having Joe Biden a heartbeat away from the presidency scares me a lot more than having Sarah Palin there. 
36. Because having Joe Biden a heartbeat away from the presidency scares me more than having Courtney Love, Lindsay Lohan or Crispin Glover there.
37. Because Mac will extend the Bush Tax Cuts.  Because…
38. …tax cuts are always good. Always. There are no exceptions.  Especially if they force you to cut spending.
39. Mac may not cut spending – but he will be not nearly the spendthrift Bush was…
40. …and a year into an Obama administration, Bush will seem like a miser.
41. Because hundreds of union goons can’t be right.
42. Because, unlike millions of “people” registered by ACORN and the like, I exist, and someone needs to stand up for all of us actual humans.
43. Because all of the fictional “people” that sent anonymous (and illegal) contributions to Obama’s donations will be rendered moot by everyone who repudiates their fraud. 
44. Because every vote against The One is a finger in the eye of MoveOn, George Soros (and his paid minions), Democrats.com, Media Matters, and on, and on, and on.
45. Because Mac has a lifetime A from the NRA…
46. …and Obama was for gun control, before he was against it…
47. …before, given the company he keeps (and the chits he owes), he will no doubt be for it again
48. Because too many of Obama’s supporters have been just too insufferably triumphalistic.
49. Because just enough of Obama’s supporters have pledged to do crappy, unamerican things if Obama loses…
50. …and an Obama loss will be a wonderful way to flush out what truly must be called “Unamerican” – the rejection of the votes of ones’ fellow citizens.  Let us get them out into the open – indeed, let them “McCarthy-ize” themselves – so we can do something about them.
51. Because Obama will make Jimmy Carter look like a wise, cool-headed, competent statesman. 
52. Because it’ll give Keith Olberman a stroke.
53. Because Chris Matthews’ leg will finally stop tingling. 
54. Because I’m dying to see Katie Couric’s face the morning after.
55. Because P. Diddy and Sam I Am will stroke out.
56. Because Mac is old enough not to give a rat’s ass what people think about him…
57. …and Obama seems to need approval.
58. Because Mac blows up at people and the press…
59. …but hasn’t ever kicked anyone off his plane.
60. In spite of Because Palin is such a lightning rod for the paranoia and misogyny of the institutional left.
61. Because Sarah Palin has teenagers who’ve made her life difficult…
62. …and an infant whose very existence upholds the value of life…
63. …a fact that makes the Orthodox Left purple with rage.
64. Because while Obama might have a bracelet from a soldier whose name he can’t remember, Mac has two sons who are veterans…
65. …and a son who’s an enlisted Marine serving overseas…
66. …where Track Palin is right now.  Yes, I do  think having an investment in the issue will make for better, saner leadership – and certainly less palaver about, say, invading Pakistan.
67. Because while I’ve been a conservative for over 20 years, I grew up a Democrat, around enough Democrats to care what happens to the party. John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman would puke if they saw what Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and Michaal Moore had done with their party. If you’re a responsible Democrat, so should you. Help your party re-discover its real legacy by sending Reid, Pelosi and Obama back to Palookaville.
68. Because Jimmy Carter endorses Obama.
69. Because the only evidence I’ve seen about Obama’s performance under pressure – his response to Georgia – makes Jimmy Carter look pretty good in comparison.
70. Also Neville Chamberlain. 
71. Because I love my country more than I love the UN.
72. Because the GOP embodies confidence in this nation – something the Democrats do not.  Belief that the US could be a good nation if we adopted their platform in toto, perhaps, but not confidence.
73. Also exceptionalism.  America is the shining city…
74. …which is a notion that makes Obama’s most-vital supporters nauseous. 
75. Because Obama, like Kerry and Algore and Carter, consistently mistakes “plans” and “summits” and “negotiation” for productive action.
76. Because as we saw in the wake of the market meltdown, Mac will put “doing the right thing” ahead of political expediency.
77. Obama wouldn’t know how.  Like with Kerry and Gore, “the right thing” changes depending on the audience he’s talking with.
78. Because I’m a “bitter, gun-clinging Jesus Freak”, and damn proud of it.
79. Because I am Joe The Plumber.  I don’t want to tie my destiny to one company, one employer, one line of work forever.  I’ve been in a union – but there’s an entrepreneur in there somewhere.  He’s like an opportunity one of these days.
80. Because I value freedom of speech – everyone’s speech, including speech I disagree with – and an Obama Administration (and a Congress under the unfettered control of the Tics) will start with imposing the “Fairness Doctrine” to strangle conservative talk radio by fiat, and start working its way down.
81. Because you know people by their friends.  And Obama’s friends include the Teachers’ Union…
82. …and the AFL-CIO…
83. …and AFSCME…
84. …and his “Mentor” Jeremiah Wright…
85. …and Bill Ayers.
86. Because Mac has one genuine skeleton in his closet – being part of the Keating Five, albeit its least consequent member – and he’s owned up to and made amends for it.
87. Becasue I survived the Carter years…
88. …and I don’t want my kids to have to do the same.  Indeed, I’ve spent my entire adult life dedicated to trying to prevent that.
89. Because this nation’s “soul” is in fine shape, and doesn’t need any politician to fix it. 
90. Because, as I noted (presciently?) four years ago:  this country is a better place with Republicans in charge. Lower taxes, lower spending, smaller government…oops. Yeah, we conservatives have to take our party back. Guess what? It’s easier to do when you’re in office.
91. Because the Media deserves a huge, stinging rebuke for having been in the tank for the left for the past 30 years. They deserve it more now than they did four and eight years ago.  Every year, I’m more convinced that this nation’s well-being, even survival, depends on bringing the mainstream media down to size.
92. Because I supported Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson until there was nothing more to support.  Mac had to earn my support. 
93. And he did. 
94. Because Mac is not from the coast.
95. Because Sarah Palin oozes “flyover land”.  America’s “flyover land” is not only this country’s heart and soul; it’s this world’s best hope.
96. Because liberalism’s track record for setting economies on the right path is 0 wins, hundreds of losses, and (with the New Deal) one weak tie.  And we need better than that.
97. Mac hasn’t forgotten the hard lessons of war.
98. Obama would have no reason to have known them…
99. …and most of his supporters actively repudiate them.
100. Because we’re at war. And Barack Obama is not only not a serious leader for a nation at war – he is indeed a criminally trivial choice. And with two kids that will both be of military age by 2012, I don’t want to learn how to co-exist with this war – I want it over.

See you at the polls.

Over the weekend, I appeared on Marty Owings’ “Radio Free Nation“, a Blogtalkradio show on which I’m generally the sole conservative voice.

After listening to a steady cavalcade of callers who were already revelling in an Obama victory, I had to ask (the victim in this case was an African American fellow from Detroit) – “So let’s say, hypothetically, that McCain wins.  What do you do?”

“He ain’t gonna win”, the caller exclaimed.

“But, hypothetically, what if he wins?”

“Then I’ll move to Canada”, the guy exclaimed without skipping a beat.

So what about the rest of you libs?  What are you going to do if Mac does manage to pull this thing off?

And “He’s not going to pull it off” is not acceptable as an answer; the entire premise of the question is based on the hypothetical issue of a McCain victory, whether you find it plausible or not. 

So let’s hear it, libs…

If someone held a gun to my head and said “pick the Presidential Race” right now, I’d say Obama by a point or so. 

I also think that the factors are there for an upset – perhaps a one in three chance.  The factors are…:

1. Huge numbers of undecideds:  Over the weekend, the AP said around 14% of voters hadn’t made up their minds about the race as of last weekend.  That’s phenomenally high – and as Ed and I noted during the show on Saturday, I don’t think most of them are going to take a flyer and vote for the least-experienced Presidential candidate in US history. 
2. Obama always overpolls:  Remember – Obama won the caucus states by a huge margin, indicating his popularity among activists.  Hillary Clinton won most of the primary states – the states that decide their endorsements by popular votes. 
3. Mac underpolls:  He always has.
4. Americans underpoll, too:  As Ed noted on the show, pollsters are reporting hang-up rates around 80%.  Since Democrats are vastly more likely to be the ones sitting in their armchairs on a Friday night praying to Marx that a pollster calls them so they can add their opinional grease to the Obama skidway, I think it not at all outrageous to think that Democrats are overrepresented; the crosstabs on a disturbing number of polls show oversampling of Democrats.
5. Pauline Kael Syndrome:  Obama has saturation media coverage, of course – and the media, nationally and regionally, is centered in the hotbeds of Obamania; state capitols, university towns and so on.

Regionally, one more bit of good news for Republicans; election day is supposed to be cool and rainy.  Historically, Minnesota Democrats are more likely to stay home for inclement weather; Republicans will drag themselves through blizzards over paths strewn with razor blades in weather that’ll make Dems stay home and watch Just Shoot Me reruns.

So we shall see.

When voters enter the booth tomorrow, Iraq won’t be much on their mind as a whole. Iraq is going so well (as wars go) that the media has turned a blind eye. Covering it after all would only benefit John McCain whose criticism of George Bush and promotion of the surge proved to be dead on.

In the days, hours and moments leading up to the moment of truth in the booth, it will be the economy, once again.

I have heard numerous comparisons of Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter in the sense that like Carter’s administration, an Obama era will create such an economic disaster that Americans’ short memories will be restored and an era of fiscal conservatism will be ushered in once again.

It’s a sad day when the upside is how bad things will be.

Then again, is this a lesson America needs to learn once and for all?

Chances are, our economy is going to get a lot worse before it gets better no matter who ends up in the White House. Even Ronald Regan, if elected on Tuesday, wouldn’t be able foster an economic turnaround for at least a year if his presidency is any measure.

There is great cause for concern however that a President that has among his many ambitions a desire to further the Socialism experiment that has weaved its way through our history as a nation.

Raising taxes on the wealthy and giving it to the less-so, isn’t Socialism; but it is one of it’s major tenets. Forcing lenders to lend to borrowers not qualified to do so isn’t either but it it also smacks of Socialism and social engineering.

If Obama’s platform was to raise taxes for everyone and pay off the national debt, I would consider it but even then, he’d have to cut them first to stimulate the economy and stimulate job growth, wait for the result, and then raise taxes. This assumes that raising taxes is the means by which to pay down our debt – and that’s a stretch at best.

Then again, if he cut taxes, revenue to the government would increase dramatically, as has been proven time and again, and those dollars could then be funneled to pay down our debt. In order to stimulate our economy and pay down our national debt, it’s magnitude having become a national security issue, our nation faces the inevitable pain of our government cutting spending dramatically while at the same time cutting taxes to stimulate the economy.

This will happen by choice, if sooner; by force if later, under the weight of simple economics and mathematics. It’s coming friends, whether we like it or not.

Barack Obama lacks the character, leadership, experience and political inclination to make these tough choices, encourage temporary sacrifice and guide our nation through the most dire and precarious economic conditions in modern times.

John McCain on the other hand has the all of the above and a record to prove it. I will be voting for him because of the two, I think he has the best chance of steering us clear.

#1:  Because the Minnesota Poll says Franken’s up by four.

A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows DFLer Al Franken clinging to a slim lead over Republican Sen. Norm Coleman among likely voters, 42 percent to 38 percent. That’s within the poll’s 4.1 percentage point margin of sampling error.

The Minnesota Poll seems to spot DFLers four to eight points, over the last several elections (with 2006 being a partial exception).

I think Coleman’s going to win this by 3-4 points.  The MNPoll is evidence of this.

Oh, yeah – further proof of the triviality of the MNPoll:

Independence Party candidate Barkley, who held steady at 18 percent in the two previous Minnesota Polls, slipped three points to 15 percent.

The Minnesota Poll always seems to put Ventura “Independence” Party candidates about double where they end up. 

Fearless prediction:  the Ventura “Independence” Party’s days as a “Major Party” in Minnesota will end after the 2010 election. 

In political scandals, it’s not so much the crime as it is the cover-up.

There’s more to Ohio’s Democrat establishment’s outing of Joe the Plumber’s personal data than the official denials would have you believe, according to my radio partner Ed Morrissey:

What’s becoming apparent is that Ohio officials have something to hide.  The records-check request came from an assistant deputy director for child support.  When the story went public, the deputy director “literally demanded” Niekamp write the e-mail that would get them off the hook.  The agency’s leadership engaged in a cover-up — and that strongly implies that a crime got committed.

Niekamp told the Dispatch that she’s seen people get fired for unauthorized records checks, and that she herself fired one employee for the violation of public trust.  This has gone beyond just a mere firing.  It now looks as though Helen Jones-Kelley’s staff engaged in an attempt to obstruct justice, and Jones-Kelley’s lie about the Famous People Records Check appears to be part of it.

Go read the whole thing – before the act of reading the whole thing sets Mark Ritchie to releasing your personal data to the Strib.

Switzerland didn’t adopt female suffrage until 1972.  The ignorant sometimes chalk this up to institutional sexism.

It’s untrue, at least directly.  The Swiss’ belief was that voting was a right – for those who defended Switzerland.  All Swiss men, at the time, served in the Swiss military; such service was a pre-condition of the franchise, on the theory that only those who were committed to defending Switzerland had a complete voice in running the country. 

And women just didn’t serve in the military, back then.

Now, I’m not advocating this for the US.  No, not at all.

But I do  think that “being aware of the world and the issues” is an appropriate level of commitment to justify participation in our democratic process. 

And so – if you can’t be bothered to learn the issues beyond the simple buzz-phrases or memorizing names, then please stay home and don’t pollute the electoral process with your ignorance. 

This is not a partisan statement, by the way.  It applies to all sides of the aisle…

…although I think it’s fairly clear which party’s gone long on “unthinking, ignorant fealty”.

The Obama campaign eighty-sixes reporters from three newspapers that, coincidentally, bucked the messianic tide and endorsed McCain:

“It feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth,” quipped John Solomon, executive editor of the Times, which lost its seat after three years of travel with the candidate and just 72 hours after endorsing McCain.

That newspaper’s website this afternoon headlined a report that Obama spent nearly $700,000 in U.S. campaign donations just on staging and lights for that Berlin victory rally last summer and those 200,000 Germans who can’t vote over here. Gee, you could dress more than four Republican vice presidential candidates with that much money.

What’s not to like in that news for the Obama campaign?

The Dallas paper reported no evidence its plane departure was political. Think about it: Why would a political campaign take retribution on reporters for a decision made by their publication’s separate editorial boards? The publications, after all, pay their own way on the charters.

That would be a cheesy hardball — and quite possibly counterproductive — Chicago kind of thing for a frontrunner to do, especially one on a national unity ticket. A candidate’s organization would have to reflect an enormous ego and over-confidence to pull something like that.

Why, yes.  Yes, it would.

That, and a serious disrespect for other divergent points of view:

Next thing you know such a campaign might urge supporters to clog a radio station’s phone lines or e-mail boxes just because it gave air-time to an Obama critic.

And it’s certainly not the kind of hands-across-the-aisle, bipartisan change we need and/or can believe in a national capital that could use a large dose of both.

If the campaign reacts this poorly to criticism now (and remember, the reporters don’t make the endorsements – the papers’ editorial boards do), imagine the snit he’ll throw when Putin and Ahmadinejad take off the gloves…

Still, this even may be hugely important, and in ways far beyond the mere exposure of Obama’s brittleness and petulance.  He’s bitten the hand that’s fed him; the media is all about getting strokes from those in power; when those in power turn on them, perhaps the media will pull its’ collective head out.

Just a theory.

Reconstructing the future is kinda my turf – but there’s plenty of room for others.

In this case, Johah Goldberg looks back at four years of Barack Obama:

A general consensus among political observers is that Obama’s essential problem was that he was oversold and too naive and arrogant to realize he wasn’t as his most devoted fans believed. A senior Democrat on Capitol Hill marveled: “In 2008, this guy promised to send everyone to college, vastly increase foreign aid, create a ‘civilian national security force’ that was just a well-funded as the U.S. military, his wife said he’d fix our ‘broken souls,’ and he said he’d make the oceans stop rising, all without increasing the deficit. The amazing thing is he thought it was all true. He makes Jimmy Carter look like he should be on Mt. Rushmore.”

Another advisor compared Obama to Max Bialystock, the con man from the Mel Brooks’ film “The Producers.” In the movie, Bialystock sells 100% ownership of the play to dozens of investors. “Barack Obama sold 100% shares in his presidency to every constituency imaginable and they all thought they were at the front of the line after inauguration day.”

I strongly suspect that, if elected, Obama will be by a good reach the worst president of my lifetime – worse than Carter, even, which is damnation by loud damnation.

The war in Iraq lost the interest of the American media about the time it ceased to be usable as a cudgel against the Bush Administration and, by extension, the McCain Campagin.

Watch for that to continue with this bit of news:

U.S. deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July. Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year. Eight of the 13 Americans died in combat, most of them in northern Iraq where al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent groups remain active. The U.S. military suffered 25 deaths in September and 23 in August…

The sharp drop in American fatalities in Iraq reflects the overall security improvements across the country following the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and the rout suffered by Shiite extremists in fighting last spring in Basra and Baghdad.

But the decline also points to a shift in tactics by extremist groups, which U.S. commanders say are now focusing their attacks on Iraqi soldiers and police that are doing much of the fighting.

Which was what we were aiming for – right?

That Mac has softpedalled the success of the Surge – and Obama’s opposition to it, and the Dems’ continuous denials of success and attempts to gundeck the Surge’s gains – is one of the big failings of his campaign.

Obama’s euphoric groupies need to be reeled in a bit. Apparently their expectations of Obama exceed him.

Barack Obama’s senior advisers have drawn up plans to lower expectations for his presidency if he wins next week’s election, amid concerns that many of his euphoric supporters are harbouring unrealistic hopes of what he can achieve.

Now they tell us. Good thing I haven’t voted yet. Just in time to switch to McCain.

Nonetheless, I wonder what expectations they are referring to?

Here’s one: That he is qualified to be President.

I actually giggled to myself when I read this. The election isn’t even over. Obama’s supporters are actually whipped to such a froth that his handlers feel the need to prepare lowered expectations for delivery to his sycophant disciples once and if he achieves the office of the President.

Let me see if I (or you in the comments) can be of assistance…

Hope will now become Mild Despair

Change will now become Slightly Less of The Same

We Are The People We Have Been Waiting For will now become Please Hold The Line; Calls Will Be Handled In The Order They Were Received

Tax cuts to 95% of Americans will become New Online Access to the Unemployment Benefits Application Process

Spread the Wealth will become Oops. Sorry About Your Job.

Affordable Health Care For Everyone will become Is There A Doctor In The House?

Okay, you give it a try…

John Edwards was right, sort of.  There are two Americas.

You have Red America, where people who hang effigies of black presidential candidates get arrested…

…and Blue America, where people who do the same to effigies of uppity women become media minicelebs.

Glad we could clear this up.

That is all.

…but then, some are more interesting than others:

“O God, humiliate Bush and his party, O Lord of the Worlds, degrade and defy him,” Abu Yahya al-Libi said at the end of sermon marking the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, in a video posted on the Internet.

Libi, a top al Qaeda commander believed to be living in Afghanistan or Pakistan, called for God’s wrath to be brought against Bush equating him with past tyrants in history.

The remarks were the first from a leading al Qaeda figure referring, albeit indirectly, to the U.S. elections. Muslim clerics often end sermons by calling on God to guide and support Muslims and help defeat their enemies.

But…why?

…militant postings on al Qaeda-linked websites typically discuss Obama in terms of his race, or his religion and foreign policy. Some forecast a racial crisis dividing the United States if he wins. Others say his planned phased withdrawal from Iraq would be a boon to al Qaeda’s affiliate and give it a base for Middle East expansion.

What?  No…but…no, not really.  Would it?

Obama has been touting the absurdly transparent notion that 95% of Americans will receive a tax cut under his “plan”.

As long as you make less than $250,000 $200,000 $150,000 $100,000 $50,000 and aren’t a corporation, you’ll be “safe.”

But businesses and employers are too smart for that; you will pay. We all will.

An increased tax burden will become a cost of doing business. A cost that will be passed through and ultimately borne by consumers via higher prices on goods and services that soon they won’t be able to afford any way because so many will have lost their jobs; rendered by the cutbacks (already in progress by the way) necessitated under an Obamanomics regime.

Does Obama really believe that the rich got that way by taking losses or swallowing costs?  When the price of gas or copper or labor or insurance or anything else increases, businesses and the people who own them have two choices: they can lose money or they can raise prices and pass the cost along to their customers.  What do you believe they will do?  If you need a moment to figure this out, you are probably a hardcore Democrat and you can stop reading now.

Anyone else, conservative, moderate, or apathetic, knows the answer: businesses cannot lose money.  They will pass along any increased taxes in the form of price increases.  The taxes they pay, you pay — eventually.  The only difference is that unlike the hated 5 percent of Americans that Obama openly brags of punishing with new taxes, you will not get a bill from the government declaring your new taxes.  You’ll just pay more for milk and gas and credit and clothes and iPods and everything else you buy.  At the end of the month, you will have less money and not know why.  Doubtless, Democrats will tell you to blame the rich for that too.

I heard someone (It wasn’t a wealthy person or a business owner – I can tell you that) say this week “No one believes that the rich will stop making money just because they have to pay higher taxes.”

I agree. The wealthy, business owners, the employers in America won’t stop trying to create wealth. To them, a bad day running their own business is better than a good day working for someone else. It’s their nature. They will innovate and do it with with less. Less employees – the very people that Obama professes to be the messiah champion of. Suckers.

The effect of liberal policies is reflected in the current (or should I say latest) crisis in our domestic automotive industry. Workers “served” so well over the years by their Unions will soon be losing their jobs as GM and Chrysler merge – Chrysler will disappear, only after closing half it’s manufacturing plants. Tens of thousands are about to lose their jobs.

Permanently.

Earlier this week we published a Battle Royale between General Motors and Chrysler in order to determine in a fun way which vehicles from each automaker that compete directly in the marketplace would survive if the two merged. Out of 12 matchups, GM vehicles won eight and Chrysler four. A new report by consulting firm Grant Thornton LLP largely confirms that our experiment was spot on. The report says that if a GM/Chrysler merger happens, only the Dodge Ram, Chrysler and Dodge minivans and a few Jeep models will survive.

…Chrysler’s model lineup across all three brands would largely be wiped out if a merger with GM happens, as well as the plants that build those models and the workers who do the building.

America’s auto unions have “spread the wealth” too, forcing employers to pay an artificially high price for labor, in turn bringing on the demise of the domestic auto makers because they simply can’t compete with higher-quality product produced by people that are willing to work harder for less money. In the end, it is no consolation that the American has had it so much better when his foreign counterpart still has his job.

Try as you may to manipulate our economy with “wealth spreading”, the market will ultimately determine the value of products, services and wages. Liberals decry the evil of outsourcing when it is their very policies that incent American corporations to seek it.

Employers are already running scared and their employees know it – hence the drop in spending and growth. We have one quarter of decline already in hand. One more, and we officially have a recession. And Obama hasn’t even taken the helm yet.

Obama’s economic plans will not “save” anyone. Raising taxes will simply be throwing sand in the gears of our economy and everyone will suffer for it. Exactly the wrong idea at exactly the wrong time.

I am less concerned for Obama’s now obvious ambitions and ideologies, and a liberal Congress doing his bidding. I’m more concerned that if Obama is installed, it will be exactly the other way around. There is a greater chance Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi will see their plans manifest in policy than Obama’s “redistributive change.”

Admittedly John McCain hasn’t been the most charismatic media darling like his smooth-talking Marxist opponent but he represents the closest thing we have to a savior in a time we are about to need one. We need someone that will stands up to a democratic congress to bring some semblance of balance.

…and hope…that things don’t get a whole lot worse…for a whole lot of people.

It was about three months ago that I took my Smy first whack at my biennial “Fearless Predictions” for this election. 

In the original, I note my bona fides as a prognosticator:  I got closer to nailing the 2004 presidential election than anyone I know; I was two days off on Saddam Hussein’s execution; while I had a number of flubs in 2006, I got the ones that mattered – Pawlenty by a hair, Bachmann by eight – in style. 

This year?  It’s gonna be a tough one – but maybe not that bad.  Although the conventional wisdom says this is gonna be a rough year for Republicans – I previously predicted the Dems would suffer a moral defeat if they came out with any less than 350 seats in the House – there is evidence that Congressional Dems’ fecklessness on the war, the economy and, well, everything might be costing them. 

Here in Minnesota, the DFL candidates have run ugly, nasty, amoral races that deserve to be turned out into the street; in a year like this, that’s unlikely. 

So without further ado, let’s get down to it.:

US Senate:  Norm Coleman endured a lefty/media (pardon the redundancy) smear campaign of biblical proportions.  In a less-fraught year, I think it would have been an 8-10 point race; Franken doesn’t even have the DFL base behind him.  I think Coleman will win by two or three.

First District: Tim Walz will win going away – but if Obama wins, and governs the way he’s promised, Walz is either going to have to manufacture a genuine centrist facade, or face a serious problem in 2010.  The First District just isn’t that crazy.

Second District:  I’ll hold to my July prediction almost verbatim:  John Kline will beat Steve Sarvi by at least ten points.  Maybe more.

Third District: I think Paulsen’s going to pull this one off, but it’ll be tight.  Maybe two points.  The DFL has run a snarlingly adolescent campaign in this district; I suspect they realize that talk that the Third Distict is “turning blue” was overstated.  Again, if Obama wins and Paulson carries it off, Paulsen will take 2010 by at least 12 points against anyone the DFL throws against him – presuming he resists the urge to RINO out on us.

Fourth District:  Ed Matthews is as solid a candidate as the GOP has thrown into this DFL near-sinecure, ever.   He’s sharp.  He’s articulate.  He shredded Betty McCollum, perhaps the emptiest suit in our delegation, at their debate.  Seriously – if it’d been a boxing match, the referee would have stopped it in two rounds.  But it’s the Fourth, where the DFL could nominate a set of wind-up chattering teeth and count on 50% of the votes.  So far.  I think McCollum is going to carry this one off – but I think there are chinks forming in the DFL’s sense of invincibility in this district.  We’ll be talking about that in the future on this blog.  I hope Ed Matthews stays in politics; he can be a contender.

Fifth District:  Like Matthews, Barb Davis-White is as credible a candidate as the GOP has fielded in this district in recent memory.  A black conservative Christian, Davis-White should make some decent headway – and probably could have done better, had the GOP managed to get her funding within two orders of magnitude of that of the incompetent Keith Ellison.  I suspect Ellison will win – but Barb Davis-White and people like her need to stay at this.  If Obama wins the White House, 2010 is going to be another 1994 – and people like Davis-White and Matthews will benefit.

Sixth District: Michele Bachmann, the biggest lightning rod for the left’s mania and delusion anywhere in the Congress, has endured the nastiest assaults of any candidate I can think of.  Everything Sarah Palin has faced in the past two months – the sclerotic selective sexism of the feminist movement, the misogyny of the left – Michele Bachmann has been dealing with for over a decade.  The left just doesn’t like uppity women!  I think Michele will tip Elwin “E-Tink” Tinklenburg – former useless head of MNDoT and shameless ghoul – by four.

Seventh District: Collin Peterson will win.  Fifteen, twenty, thirty points?  Let’s not kid ourselves.

Eighth District:  Jim Oberstar will slouch onward, the Robert Byrd Strom Thurmond (or maybe just the Quentin Burdick) of the Northland, borne forth on a wave of entitlement swag and an avalanche of yummy pork.  He will be America’s first undead congressman.

And finally…

…well, no.  I never thought I’d say this a week ago, but the presidential race is, again, too fluid.  The momentum in this race has changed more than in a pee-wee hockey game.  Maybe this weekend the picture will be clearer.

And maybe not…

But Weather.com’s 10 Day Weather Forecast for Saint Paul shows “cool and rainy”. 

That’s worth a point or two for the GOP in Minnesota.

Snow is always worth 2-3 points for the GOP.  Blowing, drifting snow will usually swing 4-5 points, if I recall correctly.

Keep your fingers crossed. 

We do need rain, don’t we?

Step out of line, and the man’ll take you away

Helen Jones-Kelley, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, disclosed today that computer inquiries on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher were not restricted to a child-support system.

The agency also checked Wurzelbacher in its computer systems to determine whether he was receiving welfare assistance or owed unemployment compensation taxes, she wrote.

Jones-Kelley made the revelations in a letter to Ohio Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, who demanded answers on why state officials checked out Wurzelbacher.

Harris called the multiple records checks “questionable” and said he awaits more answers. “It’s kind of like Big Brother is looking in your pocket,” he said.

Proles in an Obama-led America must know their place; do not question your betters!

Criminy, Wurzelbacher; didn’t you know Lord Obama was on the Harvard Law Review?  How dare you question him!