The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
There are one million hunters in Pennsylvania in a state of twelve million. That’s a lot of hunters. Michigan also has quite a lot of hunters, which would make you think Obama would know better than to bring this up:
Palin’s bio is “compelling,” Obama said.
The crowd booed. “No, it’s an interesting story.” More boos. “No, no, it is. I mean that sincerely. Mother, governor, moose shooter.”
The crowd broke out in laughter. “That’s cool. That’s cool. That’s cool stuff,” Obama said.
Pennsylvania is a blue state in most of the past elections, but it’s one that Democrats can’t take for granted, and we’re usually regarded as a swing state. It’s true the climate here generally favors Democrats in national elections, but Republican in this state can’t give up. We have to make them fight to get Pennsylvania. Here’s a promising tidbit:
“Obama hasn’t closed the deal here yet in a state where Democrats have won the last four (presidential) elections,†said G. Terry Madonna, Ph.D., director of the Franklin & Marshall College Center for Politics and Public Affairs. “Clinton Democrats are still not going for him.â€
Without Pennsylvania, it is unlikely Obama can win the election. No Democrat has been elected president without winning the Keystone State since Harry Truman in 1948.
I’m hoping Pennsylvanians, especially those who want to preserve their Second Amendment rights, will volunteer to help defeat Barack Obama this year.
Because the basic math also shows McCain must win over many Democrats, one group he and Obama are fighting over are the blue-collar, working-class Democrats who backed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton over Obama in the Democratic primary.
That represents a significant demographic in my congressional district, and a lot of these guys are also gun owners. We need to get the word out to them.
Everyone by now has heard Barack Obama trying to reassure skeptical Pennsylvanians that he’s not going to take their guns:
“If you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it,’’ Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room.
So he tried again. “Even if I want to take them away, I don’t have the votes in Congress,’’ he said. “This can’t be the reason not to vote for me. Can everyone hear me in the back? I see a couple of sportsmen back there. I’m not going to take away your guns.’’
There’s two telling things about this. One is that even the most left leaning candidate to serve in recent memory can’t come out explicitly in favor of gun control, and at least has to feign support for the Second Amendment. Remember that just eight years ago, presidential candidates were running on national licensing and registration, and renewing the assault weapons ban!
The other thing is, there’s a whole lot of things Obama can do to end gun ownership in this country without going door-to-door. I actually believe him when he says he’s not going to take your guns. But will he let your children buy guns? Will he let you pass your guns along to your children? Will he use onerous regulation, to close down every gun shop? Will he use environmental regulations to close down shooting ranges?
President Barack Obama can end gun ownership in this country in a generation without he or any of his agents setting a single foot in anyone’s home. He might argue that he doesn’t have the votes in Congress to do it, but that’s not comforting. There’s a lot of damage an Obama Administratin can do with no help from Congress, and that’s why this guy needs to lose, and lose big. Pennsylvanians should not fool themselves.
Here’s my attempt to make a pro-McCain/Palin attack ad against Joe Biden. Joe Biden deserves a special place in hell. With Barack Obama, I merely do not like his policies. He’s a good orator, and a talented politician. But very little can describe my loathing of Joe Biden. If I were stuck on a deserted island with Joe Biden, assuming I couldn’t fashion a set of earmuffs out of coconuts, I’d probably throw myself off the nearest cliff.
This week Biden said something that was utterly laughable. He said that he was raised not to attack people who he disagrees with politically. Well, pretty clearly he does not honor his upbringing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2lJd9c-Ufs[/youtube]
Special thanks to my friend Jason for providing the video, and the idea of splicing these two together.
Todd Zywicki thinks this ticket has a distinctly Western feel to it:
It feels like Goldwaterism. And I think this trickles through to the worldview of the candidates and then to policy. It seems pretty clear to me (especially after last night) that John McCain sees himself as Gary Cooper riding into to town to single-handedly clean-up corruption and gun down the rascals.
Palin has a female version of this feel to me. I saw one similar point by Chris Matthews talking about Palin–he observed that although women are going to like Palin “men will like them too.” Why? Because she likes men, and peole like those who like them. What does he mean? I think it is related to this. She has a sense of independence. But also, she obviously likes sports (and was a sportscaster), her speech suggests that she likes cracking jokes and being sarcastic but in a non-mean-spirited way (contra some of Jim’s observations–her cracks come across as locker room “razzing” to me). This has a western tinge to me as well.
If McCain actually were going to ride into town to clean-up corruption by gunning down rascals I might feel better about voting for him. But seriously, I do agree about the western feel this ticket has, and I like it. I also think it’s interesting that both Bitter and I see reflections of Sandy Froman in Palin. Sandy is also a Western woman.
Mrs. Ahab points out Obama’s stellar legislative accomplishments in the United States Senate. Of course, the less he does, the happier I am. But that certainly means I don’t want to see him in the White House.
I started watching with Tom Ridge. *yawn*. I voted for this guy for Governor twice, but voted against him in the Republican primary because I thought he was an empty suit. All these years later, not much has changed my opinion, except he seems to be filling his suit out a lot better these days than back then. Of course, the same charge could be leveled at myself. I can’t really tell you anything about his speech, because it was unmemorable, much like the man himself. I can’t believe he was seriously being considered as a running mate over Sarah Palin.
Then onto Cindy McCain, who has all the speech delivery talents of a model who’s taken a few Valiums to help her calm down from a long amphetamine fueled session in front of the camera. But Cindy isn’t a professional politician, and she’s shied away from political life. I won’t hold it against her for not being a politician. For a non-politician it was a good introduction to her husband.
Then onto John McCain. I thought McCain’s speech was good, but not outstanding. As senators go, I can listen to him without wanting to gouge my eardrums out. One thing McCain never seems to have picked up is that shallow naraccism that exudes from a lot of members of that august body (*cough* Biden *cough*). Tough? Yes. Stubborn? Yes. Pain in the ass? Definitely. But not vain.
Based on reactions of those in the room that were not smelly protesters, there are four things the crowd in Minneapolis likes: America, Apple Pie (some look to have a particular affinity for it), Sarah Palin, and drilling platforms. McCain sold his brand of national greatness conservatism with effectiveness: “Country First.” As someone who would really prefer “Liberty First”, I’ll take “Country First”, especially when the other’s guy’s motto is “Government First.”
He played the experience card tonight to Palin’s vigor and youth, which was probably the right balance to strike. His speech was much heavier on policy. McCain ended his speech by describing his transformation from a self-centered fighter jock to a selfless servant of his country through his capture and torture. It’s a compelling story. McCain is definitely not the best speech giver in the world, but he was good tonight. I think the Republican Party is in a much better position to head into November than it was a week ago.
Our local news station, who up until now had been dutifly reporting the various manufactured Sarah Palin controversies, was sayin positive things, and running clips from her speech last night at the Republican National Convention, many of which were certainly not favorable to Obama. They even ran her rant about how he wanted to raise taxes, which will play well among Republicans and Independents in this area. She really hit it out of the park with that speech. Unfiltered and unpaid coverage on a news station at rush hour in a major media market is something that can’t be discounted. Old Joe Biden has his work cut out for him indeed.