The Presidential Debate: Remember Ross Perot?

I’m waiting for the presidential debate to start.  I’m waxing nostalgic for Ross Perot and his poster board props.  At the same time, I’m glad Ross Perot isn’t running again.

Will McCain be ready for the debate?  I’m hoping they don’t hold him back.  I like people who are themselves – all the time.  One of my favorite operators was Grouchy Bob.  Bob complained about everything, all the time.  Bob also did his job very well, then pitched in and did other people’s jobs.  I’ll put up with a lot of things for a guy like that.

8:10 PM I’m not liking the format already.

Say it to him?  What?

Jim Lehrer: Senator McCain, Senator Obama says your mother wears army boots.

McCain: What?! You little turd.

OK.  That didn’t happen.

Obama has asked for $1MM per day for every day in the senate.  McCain is a little stiff in his delivery.

8:20 PM

Now he’s warming up.  $900MM may not seem like a lot of money to Obama.

35% Business Tax.  The second highest in the world.

$7000 per child tax credit. Woo Hoo!

The energy bill adorned with Christmas ornaments.  McCain voted against it. . . Obama voted for it.

McCain says Obama has voted to raise taxes on those making $40M/yr.

What are you willing to cut to pay for the Financial Rescue Plan?   Obama, “we have to have energy independence, we have to fix our health care system, spend more on science and technology and education, rebuild our infrastructure.”  I hope McCain replies, “He asked what you were going to cut not what you are going to spend more on.”

McCain: Obama has the most liberal voting record in the senate.  It’s hard to reach that far across the aisle when you are so far to the left.

8:30 PM

JL: What are you going to cut

Obama: I want to invest in energy.

McCain: Spending freeze

Obama: There are some places where we need more spending.

McCain:  We’re sending 700 BILLION per year overseas – Drill here, drill now.  We need nuke power, wind power, etc.

Obama: tough decisions.  We’ve got to know what our values are.  Health care.

McCain:  Don’t hand the health care over to the government.  Let families make the decisions.  We owe China 500 BILLION DOLLARS.  We need to reduce unnecessary spending.

8:40

McCain:  I went to Iraq in 2003.  When I came back, I said we have to change the strategy.  Our troops will come home not in defeat.

Obama: 6 years ago, I opposed this war.  We hadn’t caught Bin Laden.

McCain: Obama’s sub committee has never had a hearing.

McCain:  I’m afraid that Senator Obama doesn’t understand the difference between a strategy and a tactic.

McCain:  Sen. Obama refuses to acknowledge the strategy is working.

Obama: that’s not true. that’s not true.

McCain: Obama voted to cut of the troops.

Obama:  It’s going to take 16 months.  (but not get out, just to reduce our troops)

McCain:  Osama Bin Laden and Gen Patreus have 1 thing in common.  They both said Iraq is the central battleground.

McCain:  Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and adopt Obama’s plan.

8:50P

Obama: we need more troops in Afghanistan.  It is a strategic mistake to not have more.

McCain: Yes, I want to send more troops to Afghanistan.  But, what Obama doesn’t realize is that we need a new strategy – the same strategy that is working in Iraq.

McCain:  You might think with his concern, he might take up the issues in his sub committee.

9:40PM

I call it a draw.  I think McCain missed some opportunities to score big.  Why not ask Obama if he voted for the funding.  When they were talking about budgets, McCain should have said, “Barack, he’s asking you what you would cut.  Not what you would spend more money on.”

Final Destination . . . Louisiana

I just signed a purchase agreement for a house in Louisiana.  Still a 40 minute commute to work.  But, 5 minutes from my father’s house, 25 minutes from my wife’s grandmother.  12 acres, 4 stocked fishing ponds, and plenty of pasture for a couple cows, a horse and some chickens.

Did I mention the fishing ponds?  Closing in 2 weeks and my webbed toes will be back on the promise land.

Hurricane Ike – Remodeling Contractor

Hello from Texas.  We evacuated again.  Hurricane Ike sent us first to Buffalo, Texas.  Then to Fredericksburg.  If you are ever in Texas – I recommend Fredericksburg and I recommend the Admiral Nimitz/Pacific War Museum.  It turned our evacuation refuge into a great homeschool opportunity.  AND, it is a beautiful little town.

Back to Ike.  Ike gave me a new living room floor.  Unfortunately, it was my living room ceiling.  Not terrible.  But, not pleasant.  In fact, I’m looking at the rafters as I type this.

I’m grateful though.  A lot of my coworkers don’t have power.  I at least get to sleep with the air conditioner running tonight.

I’m being surrounded

Gustav to the east

Ike to the west

Waiting for the hurricane that I love best

Ted Nugent for Vice-President

Let’s bump McCain and run the Palin/Nugent ticket.

Nugent is on Glenn Beck:

Making ends meet isn’t movies and collectible dishes on the wall.

I’m just a guitar player.  My responsibility as an American is to be involved.

The only welfare I believe in is buying a good wheelchair for the heroes in our military.  But that isn’t welfare, that’s paying a debt that’s due.

The answer is to vote for John McCain and stay on his ass.  Stay on your senator’s ass.

Where have you lived?

I was driving home from work today thinking about places I’ve lived.

Hawaii – two times (I was born there).

Texas – 5 times

Louisiana – 4 times

Florida – 1 time

Alabama – 1 time

Michigan – 1 time

I have to say, there is a certain spirit of Independence in Texas.  At the same time, you aren’t on your own.  My retired neighbor cuts part of my yard for me.  He even pulls my trashcan to the road on Tuesday nights.  I pull his back to the house on Wednesday when I come home from work.  I won’t say I haven’t experienced some of the same anywhere else.  But, I’ve always experienced it in Texas.

The Catholic Church, Nancy Pelosi, and Abortion

Ready for a little pinball?  This guy sent me to This guy who sent me here.

In case you don’t have time to read it Nancy Pelosi here’s an excerpt. . .

From earliest times, Christians sharply distinguished themselves from surrounding pagan cultures by rejecting abortion and infanticide.  The earliest widely used documents of Christian teaching and practice after the New Testament in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) and Letter of Barnabas, condemned both practices, as did early regional and particular Church councils.

So, Nancy, I don’t think the Catholic Church Teachings gets any earlier than the Jesus and the 12 Apostles, which is a little more than 50 years ago.

John McCain’s Speech

Opinionated Catholic has a link to the speech.  There is one line not included.  After being interrupted by Code Pink, Senator McCain said, “The American people want us to stop yelling at each other.”

I was reading Bob Novak’s latest article, My Brain Tumor,  today.  In it, he talks of Ted Kennedy.  I have been a lifelong hater of Ted Kennedy, his politics and his lifestyle.  Bob Novak reminds us that is possible to disagree, even dislike, and at the same time be human, at the same time treat each other with compassion.

My dear friend, the Democratic political operative Bob Shrum, asked Sen. Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, to call me about Dr. Friedman. I barely know Mrs. Kennedy, but I have found her to be a warm and gracious person. I have had few good things to say about Teddy Kennedy since I first met him at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, but he and his wife have treated me like a close friend. She was enthusiastic about Dr. Friedman and urged me to opt for surgery at Duke, which I did.

The Kennedys were not concerned by political and ideological differences when someone’s life was at stake, recalling at least the myth of milder days in Washington. My long conversation with Vicki Kennedy filled me with hope.

John McCain has given us a reminder.  Let’s treat each other with respect.

I often get hits for the Party Platforms

Here’s the 2008 Republican Party Platform.

And here’s an earlier post with links to others.

Sarah Palin – Qualified to be President

I’m sure there will be many that find Sarah Palin’s speech to be inflamatory.  And it is.  But, it is a fair response to the sexist assault she and her family has endured for the last week.

She has shown that she has the grit to take on the media and Obama and fight back their baseless assualts.

I especially liked her defense of small town America.  She called out Obama’s two faced assualt on the bible thumping, gun clinchers.  He is an elitist with ZERO experience that qualifies him to be President.

I think one of the best lines in the speech was when Palin said that Obama has written two books, but not a SINGLE PIECE OF IMPORTANT LEGISLATION – ever.

There are a lot of things I don’t like about John McCain.  But, there are a LOT of things I LOVE about Sarah Palin.

I will be voting Republican during this election.