Last Thursday, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit reported that St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch were forming an Obama truth squad:

St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch are threatening to bring libel charges against those who speak out falsely against Barack Obama.

KMOV aired a story last night, that stated that St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, both Obama supporters, are threatening to bring criminal libel charges against anyone who levels what turns out to be false criticisms of their chosen candidate for President.

Now, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is running this quote from Jennifer Joyce about the OTS:

As a citizen, I believe that elections should be about issues. I also have enormous respect for our First Amendment and freedom of speech. My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters. This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people.

Clearly there are those who are attempting to twist the purpose of this initiative for their own benefit. This attack is a great example of how the truth is distorted in campaigns and what we’re trying to stand up against.

Ms. Joyce’s line that she has “enormous respect for our First Amendment” is downright laughable. (continue reading post »)

This afternoon, John McCain said that he’s suspending his campaign until the financial crisis is solved:

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

In response, the Obama campaign said that Friday’s debate is still on:

However a senior Obama campaign official said Obama “intends to debate.” “The debate is on,” a senior Obama campaign official told ABC News.

This is a PR blunder of disastrous proportions on the Obama campaign’s behalf. If he’s the only one on stage Friday night, people will know that he chose politics over solving a crisis. Postponing this debate isn’t a big deal. Solving this crisis is important.

Rest assured that Sen. Obama will look petty if he’s the only one on stage Friday night. This plays into Sen. McCain’s Country First theme. It will create a Me First theme for Sen. Obama.

Technorati Tags: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Banking, Crisis, John McCain, Country First, Barack Obama, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

John Boehner’s office has issued this statement on the Democrats throwing in the towel on drilling. Leader Boehner sounds the same caution I sounded earlier. Here’s the money quote from Leader Boehner’s statement:

Lifting these outdated bans is a long-overdue but crucial step toward American energy independence. But it is just that: a step. Congress still has a great deal of work left to do before the ‘all of the above’ energy plan proposed by House Republicans becomes a reality. Two months ago, we introduced the American Energy Act to increase environmentally-safe drilling that gives states a stake in energy production occurring off their shores and on their lands, encourage more conservation and efficiency, and promote the use of renewable and alternative fuels.

Giving states a financial incentive would be the last domino that’s needed to fall to achieve final victory for the American people. States would get healthy in a hurry if they got annual checks in the hundreds of millions of dollars. (continue reading post »)

I don’t often disagree with Captain Ed. This is one of those rare times when I must, though. In this post, Ed says that Democrats have waved the white flag of defeat on drilling on the OCS. Here’s the article that he’s basing that off of.

Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told reporters Tuesday that a provision continuing the moratorium will be dropped this year from a stopgap spending bill to keep the government running after Congress recesses for the election.

Here’s the specific statement of Captain Ed’s that I specifically disagree with:

This effectively ends this as an issue for the 110th Congress. Democrats thought they could get a partial moratorium past the Republicans, one that would have kept drilling at least 50 miles off from shore, but President Bush threatened a veto on any continuing resolution with that kind of language.

(continue reading post »)

Sen. Biden has provided alot of fodder for late night comedians thus far. How much more late night fodder the Obama-Biden can take is anyone’s guess. Here’s Sen. Gaffemeister’s latest:

Here’s the transcript:

Part of what a leader does is to instill confidence. It is to demonstrate that he or she knows what she’s talking about & communicates with people. If you’re following & listening, we can fix this.

When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television & he didn’t just, you know, talk about the princes of greed. He said, “Look, here’s what happened.”

FDR got on TV immediately after the stock market crash? Do tell. Let’s start with a history lesson. FDR wasn’t president when the Stock Market crashed. Hoover was. Second, There weren’t more than a virtual handful of TV’s in operation in 1929. For that matter, people were still probably arguing where this new thing called radio was a passing fad or if it would last.

Sen. Gaffemeister is right. Part of what a leader does is “demonstrate that he or she knows what she’s talking about.” By that definition, he’s just told America that he isn’t a leader. I expect him to distance himself from this comment ASAP. That still won’t change opinions, though. He’s still making a fool of himself.

Technorati Tags: Joe Biden, Stock Market Crash, FDR, Television, Leadership, Gaffes, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

At midnight of October 1, the ban on oil exploration and production could come to an end. It would also mean that the federal government would shut down temporarily. In the meantime, Speaker Pelosi is trying to pass a continuing resolution that includes an extension of the various moratoria. Here’s the statement from the Institute for Energy Research:

Having failed to pass the required measures to fund the government for the next fiscal year, Congress must now pass what is known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) in order to avoid a government shutdown. A draft of the resolution contains a provision taken from the recently passed House bill, H.R. 6899, to continue the ban on energy exploration and production on nearly all of the taxpayer owned Outer Continental Shelf in the lower 48 states for another year. At present, the ban is set to expire at the end of September. Dan Kish, Senior Vice President for Policy at IER issued the following statement:
“In 9 days the long-outdated ban on energy exploration on the energy rich, taxpayer-owned Outer Continental Shelf will come to an end. But like a thief in the night, it appears our government is attempting to sneak a new energy ban into a must-pass spending measure, thus continuing the decades-old, government-imposed American energy embargo.” (continue reading post »)

As time unfolds, two important things are becoming increasingly obvious. The most important is that John McCain is a leader. He isn’t afraid to make a decision. When Russia invaded Georgia, Sen. McCain didn’t hesitate in calling Russia out for invading a sovereign nation. When last week’s Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac meltdown happened, he eventually put a plan together that would stabilize the situation.

The other thing that’s apparent to all who are looking is that The Obamessiah won’t pull the trigger on any decisions. When Russia invaded Georgia, the Obamessiah called for restraint on both parties’ behalf. Two days later, from a beach in Hawaii, Sen. Obama finally arrived at the place where John McCain was at since a couple hours after the invasion.

When the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac meltdown happened, Sen. Obama said that he’d put a plan together by Thursday. As Jeff Emanuel points out, that plan didn’t show up until today: (continue reading post »)

Ross Douthat’s article for the Atlantic is proof that journalists don’t have a clue about conservatives or conservatism. Mr. Douthat’s column paints a grim picture of the conservative movement. Here’s a portion of Mr. Douthat’s column:

What does this history lesson mean for today’s GOP? If 2008 finds the Republicans where their Democratic rivals stood four years ago, then their challenge is tactical: they need smarter strategists and more-effective messaging; better online fund-raising and fewer inside-the-Beltway scandals—and maybe improved recruitment as well, to put forward a slate of candidates who don’t look as if they should be populating a segregated Elks Club circa 1957. And they need an infusion of nerve and principle, to remind the party’s base why they vote Republican and to give swing voters a reason to throw their lot in again with the GOP.

If, on the other hand, the Republicans are experiencing their own 1980—with Barack Obama playing the role of liberalism’s Reagan—then the GOP will need something more to hack its way out of the wilderness where George W.Bush has left his party. The Democrats of ’80 needed better ideas, not better messaging and candidates; they needed to redefine their party, not just rebrand it. It has been a long, hard road from Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale to the confident, cash-rich Democratic Party of today. If 2008 is the GOP’s 1980, then a similar period of soul-searching and internecine struggle awaits Republicans—and the sooner they get started, the better.

Anyone who thinks that there’s even a slight possibility of this being the GOP’s 1980 hasn’t paid attention. (continue reading post »)

This Washington Post article highlights a new truly nonpartisan political organization. I know you’re wondering how an organization can be both nonpartisan and political. That’s a fair question so I’ll explain. Here’s Dictionary.com’s definition on nonpartisan:

not supporting or controlled by a political party, special interest group, or the like.

Next, I point you to this observation:

The New Agenda’s commitment to being nonpartisan reflects the split among its Clinton loyalists over who to support in the general election. But it also allows the group to try to press its anti-sexism agenda with both parties. Siskind said New Agenda has found the McCain campaign more receptive to its overtures, holding meetings with McCain surrogate Carly Fiorina and senior campaign strategists.

Put in this context, it’s perfectly legitimate to say that the group is nonpartisan. (continue reading post »)

It’s insulting enough when Speaker Pelosi tells the American people that the House passed pro drilling legislation. It only took a visit to the IER website to expose the gimmicks in the bill that look like drilling provisions but aren’t. Now she’s saying that Pelosi’s Democrats “took strong action to curb excessive speculation” in the marketplace. If this exaggerating continues, I expect her to eventually say that she’s able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

This week, the Democratic-Led Congress has taken serious and comprehensive steps to ensure American energy independence and help consumers with the price at the pump.

Earlier this week, we passed comprehensive energy legislation to put us on the path toward energy independence by expanding domestic supply, protect consumers with strong action to lower the costs of energy and to protect taxpayers by making Big Oil pay for its fair share of our transition to a clean, renewable energy future, ensure a clean, green future through energy efficiency and conservation, and commit America to renewable energy and help create millions of good-paying green jobs.

Today, we have built on that accomplishment with another critical step to protect consumers and lower energy costs. Experts have testified before Congress that excessive speculation in the oil markets may be responsible for inflating oil prices by as much as $20 to $60 more per barrel. With the legislation passed today, we have taken strong action to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures markets, and make the market work for the consumer. (continue reading post »)