Lt. Col. Allen West has lived his life in service to America. After serving in the U.S. Army, finishing his military career as an advisor in Afghanistan in an assignment that finished in November, 2007, LTC Allen West has decided to run for Congress in the 22nd District in Florida. A family man and true conservative, Allen West brings leadership and values to his candidacy. Allen West is the kind of conservative we need in Congress, and he is my guest Monday night on Political Pistachio Radio.

If you missed the Civil Forum put on by Rick Warren featuring Barack Obama and John McCain this past Saturday night, you ought to take some time to view it. As a voter it’s insightful, but for those of us who are drawn to politics because of what it can tell us about people, it’s was a gold mine. But before we talk results, let’s talk expectations.

First of all, there’s no question that sans teleprompter, Obama is mess. Having to wade through his answers on questions that ought to be standard game for a professional politician is like trudging through Chicago snow. Were they particularly thoughtful for one who tip toes his way through issues like a soldier through land mine infested flatlands? No, and that might have been the most frustrating thing - Obama is not a deep thinker, he’s a deep feeler, and that kind of connection works well with the willing but not very well with the skeptical. One gets the feeling that Barack pauses before each answer to weigh his options, to gauge his crowd and recall the many answers he’s given to the same question before. There’s a hesitancy, and the longer he dithers the more credibility he loses. If I thought he could think on his feet, I might not worry as much about how he will fare in the this most dangerous of jobs he’s auditioning for. His reasons for running seem to spring from his disappointment in how the country has been run so far. All that tells us is that he thinks he could run it better - but how can he know that? His confidence in his ability is admirable, but it will take more than self-esteem to steer this nation through the challenges, both foreign and domestic, that we will face over the next 8 to 10 years.

John McCain is distrusted by his base and abused by his ideological enemies, but he soldiers on with a veracity that is appealing. It’s unseemly watching the Democrats demean his service to his country, his suffering for it, and his subsequent decades in the senate leading America just to protect their woefully inexperienced candidate. But the integrity he earned through those accomplishments shone last night, and he was very charismatic. His grasp of the issues, his joviality, his gravitas - they made Barack Obama appear so young. Long ago the Obama fans told us that experience wasn’t the issue, leadership was about character. Last night’s forum offered us a glimpse of the great gulf between these two candidates on that standard. I can’t wait for the debates if this is how they’re going to stack up against each other.

The most illuminating question was “what the toughest decision you ever had to make?” Barack offered that his vote against the Iraq war, made in Illinois as a state senator (in a rabidly blue state and city) was a profile in courage. He said he was advised not to vote against the Iraq war because the president was too popular, but he insisted that he had questions about the validity of the WMD assumptions (was he being briefed by the CIA?), and concerns about the volatility of the ethnic divisions that plagued Iraq. It seems he wants credit for opposing the war we are now winning.

John McCain was asked about his toughest decision. He said it was an answer to a question from an Viet Cong interrogator as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Would he betray his soldiers to save himself? No. He was told immediately that he would suffer for that answer, and he did, tortured for years. Comparing those two answers tells us that for Barack, courage is a question of risking his political life. For John McCain, he draws upon an experience so life changing that the decision not only reflects upon what his character was before his plane fell from the skies, but how the consequences of these experiences indelibly mark the man he is now. It left me with the impression that we are forced to compare the wisdom of a child to that of a man. At that point, I could only shake my head at the surreal world we find ourselves in today as we ponder who might be better equipped to lead America at this time.

It begs a question. Sensing the growing disparity in the resume between these two men, can we trust the American people to choose wisely in November? Recognizing the stakes, pointing out the dangers, sifting through the platitudes and the seductive sound bites, does America understand the growing power of the presidency and the peril we face if we put someone in that office that does not know himself? I do trust them. I don’t have to repeat to you the miracles that twice put George Bush in office when the political odds were against him. He was the right man at the right time. There are new challenges ahead, and there’s little doubt that now is not the time to elect an idealistic Chicago politician who’s slogan is “Trust Me.”

Political Vindication!

As we get closer to the Democrat and Republican conventions, the rhetoric regarding the John McCain and Barack Obama vice presidential picks looms large.

In recent days, there have been names mentioned that are patently absurd. On the McCain side, Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge have been tossed out there for public consumption. Lieberman, although strong on national defense and a supporter of the war, is very liberal on many domestic issues. And the bitter aftertaste left from the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act has most conservatives who pooh-pooh the global warming junk science appalled at the prospect of putting Lieberman on the ticket.

Conservative Republicans would be outraged at the prospect of a McCain-Lieberman ticket. The only way they might tolerate the idea is if Lieberman was part of a McCain pledge to serve only one term, so that there would not be a possibility that Lieberman would succeed McCain as president. And if Lieberman were to ascend to the presidency, he would have to promise to honor McCain’s domestic priorities and appoint constitutional judges. This is highly unlikely.

There has been talk in the McCain circles that he intends to serve only one term, which is why Lieberman’s name has been floated.

The other name that has been mentioned this past week is Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Secretary. Again, he comes with baggage of his own. He is pro-choice, which would not sit well with most conservatives and the evangelicals whose vote McCain has been courting of late.

Selecting Lieberman or Ridge would indeed cement McCain’s reputation as a maverick, but is that really the image that he wants to imprint on the minds of the conservative base at this most crucial time?

Even more of a shocker that emerged this past week was the possibility that Barack Obama would pick John Kerry as his running mate. Are you kidding me?

The idea here is that Kerry brings more name recognition to the ticket than any other name on the list so far. He apparently solves the problem of Obama’s lack of foreign policy experience because he is a decorated veteran and a longtime member of the senate foreign relations committee. The thinking is also that America loves a comeback kid. Kerry ran a very sloppy campaign in 2004, and was soundly trounced. Apparently Obama must really believe he is the second coming of Christ because choosing Kerry as his running mate would be the equivalent of raising Lazarus from the dead.

We are getting down to the wire here. The conventions are almost upon us. And the vice presidential lists have turned into a circus which may amuse most Americans, but will not serve them well in making a voting choice come November.

Listen to America Talks Monday through Friday at 6 pm eastern time at www.blogtalkradio.com/americatalks. Visit our website at www.americatalks.com.

Friday night on Political Pistachio Radio Dr. Jerome Corsi, author of “The Obama Nation, Leftist Politics And The Cult of Personality,” was my guest. He was on for about a half an hour, after which time he lost his cell phone signal. He was giving me this interview while travelling on a train to Washington D.C.

At the beginning of the program I asked Dr. Corsi about the criticisms The Obama Nation has been receiving. I pointed out how liberals and conservatives alike have been hammering it, saying that the book has untruths in it that, in their opinion, make it nothing more than just another attempt to use smear tactics to discredit Barack Obama. I pointed out that Media Matters and Hugh Hewitt are for once in agreement on something. The Next Right wrote a blistering criticism of Corsi, calling him a “smear artist,” and “embarrassing for conservatives.”

I also brought up Debbie Schlussel’s past criticisms of him, to the point that she has accused him of plagiarism, and Corsi said simply, “Well, I don’t read Debbie anymore.”

Dr. Corsi was immediately on the defense when the interview delved deeper into the criticisms of The Obama Nation, proclaiming that he doesn’t know “why” the response is as it is, after all, “I am no psychiatrist.” Media Matters, as recently as face to face with Corsi on Larry King Live, has been one of the left leaning sites that have been most critical of the book, and in response, Corsi said, “I don’t read Media Matters. If asked would I rather read Media Matters, Debbie Schlussel, or jump off a tall building, I’m gonna ask you, ‘well, how tall’s the building?’ Because it is the best choice of the three.” He later said, “This group of radical leftists paid by [George] Soros with a mission to discredit conservatives, this isn’t the kind of group I think we should feel compelled to be answering all the time. Our side seems to think, ‘Well, I don’t want to be criticized, we don’t wanna look bad.’ The more Media Matters criticizes me, the better I like it, and the less I intend to read it. . . we can talk about Media Matters about as long as I can tolerate it, and I’m already close to my limit.”

When I mentioned that Media Matters has gone into questioning a lot of items in the book, meaning to state that they have detailed individual items as falsehoods, Corsi quickly responded, “Who cares. I don’t care. . . my comment on Media Matters is, Who Cares?” Later in the show he also added, “I think that Media Matters wouldn’t know a serious flaw if it bit ‘em in the behind. I can’t stand Media Matters. I don’t think Media Matters does anything of worth. . . If you think there’s a serious flaw, what is it? When you mention Media Matters, I am thinking that I am wasting my time listening for the next two minutes. . . if you want to talk to me about Media Matters, I’m out.”

When the Obama Campaign was mentioned, Dr. Corsi proclaimed, “Barack Obama’s people don’t want people reading what’s in this book,” because it’s “over the target.”

He was also careful to explain that he is not some cocktail drinking Washington Elitist, saying: “I’m not a part of the Washington Establishment…name dropping, Washington, cocktail party establishment, and I’m never gonna be a part of that, because that is not who I am.”

In defense of the accusation of Jerome Corsi appearing Sunday on the show, The Political Cesspool, which is being called by Media Matters an example of Jerome Corsi associating with White Supremacists since the show’s host is admittedly pro-White and has stated in the past that “Interracial sex is white genocide,” Jerome Corsi responded: “Appearing on a show is not an endorsement of the host. . . I do a 120 shows, and do most of the shows that come to me. If I had to agree with every talk show host. . . I’d never go on any shows. Being on a show does not mean I endorse a host’s views. . . I have even been on Liberal shows, and I sure don’t endorse them.”

When I stated in the interview that I agree with him for the most part regarding his theories regarding “The North American Union Conspiracy,” Jerry responded with a smile in his voice, “That’ll make you a nut to those guys, you better be careful about agreeing with me about anything.”

Tony Rezko was brought up near the latter part of the interview, and when asked about Rezko, Dr. Corsi became more comfortable in the interview, and began to show me his skills as the investigative reporter he has become so known for. The connections between Obama, Iraq, and Rezko is staggering, according to Dr. Corsi. The timing of the deal regarding Obama’s property is more than coincidental. He said in the interview, “It certainly looks more than suspicious. And now Obama is trying to explain how all of this relates. And what is the relationship? I don’t know if I was working with anybody, first of all, I can’t imagine that I would ever want to be associated with someone like Rezko, let alone taking campaign contributions from him, or, um, letting him be involved in buying a property with me. I’m asking — what I am saying is, I am not definitively concluding anything, I’m just saying that these questions aren’t being sufficiently asked in the Chicago newspaper’s research, they are reporting them. I’m asking the same questions the Chicago papers are asking, which Obama has not truly answered. To answer them fully, you might need the authority of a prosecutor. You might need the authority of a criminal investigator. You might even need the authority of a Grand Jury.”

What has risen is questions that are not being answered, and that is what Jerry Corsi is trying to do with this book. The anger about his book, Corsi claimed on Political Pistachio Radio, is because he’s asking questions that the left may not want to answer. He is raising questions, and in response his attackers are claiming he is saying that each of those questions are his definitive argument. Specifically, Corsi said, “I’m an investigative reporter saying, ‘Okay, here’s the issue,’ and I’m raising a question about [these issues]. Now, I’m not a prosecutor, I don’t have subpoena power. I don’t have grand jury power. I can’t tell testimony. But, you know, if I were in those positions, I might well consider doing so. [But,] I’m not. I’m an investigative reporter. I just raise questions. And I don’t say anywhere in the book, I don’t say anything definitive about it more than ‘this looks suspicious.’ There are some things that are pretty definitive. You know, I’m positive that the Frank in Dreams of my Father is Frank Marshall Davis, but even in his rebuttal it confirms that. I don’t think there is any question that Frank is Frank Marshall Davis, we’ve established that. Now, whether the loan was involved in the purchase of the Obama dream property, I can’t say for sure one way or the other. I just ask questions.”

Dr. Corsi also told me on the show that it is hard to understand this man, meaning Obama. He has enough intelligence to get a Harvard Law Degree, but he can’t figure out in twenty minutes that something was not right with Rezko.

In short, this book raises questions on particular issues, suggests evidence to what the answer to the questions may be, to the extent that there are some serious problems with Obama’s character and history, but Barack Obama won’t answer the questions. Usually, when he does respond to these questions, the response is either a lie, or a different tale from the last time he answered the question. Obama doesn’t like the fact that he is being associated with people like Rezko or Ayers. It’s not that he regrets the connections, he simply regrets they have been found out, and is now trying to talk his way out of these alleged connections with criminals, communists and terrorists.

Corsi believes he has provided more than enough evidence in this book to substantiate many of the questions raised in The Obama Nation. Corsi asks, “Why did it take Obama so long to conclude that Rezko was a shady character?” As I brought up later in the interview, it goes along with allowing twenty years before he decided his pastor was a racist, anti-American blow-hard. And Obama only made the decision to separate himself from Wright when the pressure to do so became too great.

Did you miss the show? Check out the archive of the program HERE.