McCain is losing, and Obama is pulling away. Is that concise enough for you?

Oh, you want to know why, do you? Okay, let me lay it on you.

The Republican nominee was always going to be a huge underdog in this cycle because every historical factor is working against the GOP. We’re at the end of a two-term Republican administration that has become vastly unpopular due to the retiring president’s public relations obtuseness and indifference; a twelve-year run of GOP control of Congress ended only two years ago; the success of our war efforts against al Qaeda in Iraq and elsewhere combined with the absence of any 9/11 sequels has muted the natural GOP advantage on foreign policy and national security. Throw in the fact that that Republican nominee was going to have a much more difficult time holding and motivating his party’s base supporters, and you had the fixin’s for a Donk landslide, no matter who the other party put up.

However, John McCain and his campaign braintrust proved themselves to be shrewder than I ever gave them credit for. Between Independence Day and mid-September, they undertook two crucial steps that not only closed the gap between Darth Queeg and B.O, but actually lifted him into a small lead.

First, by employing light-hearted ridicule of Obama’s ego and hyped “messiah” image (the “celebrity” angle, the Britney Speares and Paris Hilton spots, etc.), they were able to define The One as precisely what he is: an empty suit whose self-opinion is at stark contrast with his modest intellect and meager experience. Barry’s thin-skinned reactions, to say nothing of his seemingly endless parade of gaffes, only fueled that dynamic.

Second, he simultaneously thrilled the GOP base and made a play for disgruntled Hillarynistas by selecting Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. In one fell swoop he locked up and motivated grassroots conservatives (at least vicariously) and further bolstered his appeal to independents by partnering with a fellow “maverick” reformer who also brought to the ticket genuine conservatism and all the charisma and political talent he lacks. A fact that I speculated might make for, shall we say, a lopsided ticket that would throw the man at the top into the deep shade.

Apparently that thought occurred to Team Sith as well, for after the wildly successful launch of Palinmania at the GOP convention, the McCainiacs all but put Governor Palin in solitary confinement with the exception of their two Enemy Media indulgences at the hands of Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. A mode of “communication” guaranteed to deny ‘cuda her ability to follow the Reagan template and talk past the EM directly to the American people. Tellingly, she was completely absent from mainstream media appearances on local and national talk radio programs. No Limbaugh, no Hannity, no Hewitt, no Ingraham, no Medved, no Levin, no Prager, no nothing. Sarah might as well have been on the sides of milk cartons across the country, while the EM was systematically “Quayleizing” her functionally unopposed.

Some unnamed individual supposedly told Bill Kristol that McCain was “unhappy with his staff’s handling of Palin”. What does it say about Maverick that it takes him a full month, in the latter half of which his poll numbers have cratered, to figure out that his best political asset has been not just holstered, but practically bound and gagged? And isn’t it a far more plausible explanation that it was Sailor that did this to Governor Palin because the only reason he picked her was as a sop, a bone, a token to satiate the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal evangelicals he can’t stand but hasn’t a prayer of winning without? Oh, yes, and because she has a second X chromosome?

Look what happened when Sarah was released from the proverbial cone of silence. First Hewitt, then Hannity, and suddenly Palinmania was back. Or, on the other hand, maybe the calculation was that they had to bring her out of mothballs for the veep debate with Joe Biden anyway, and the grumbling on the right about Sailor’s disinclination to “fight” was growing, so like another diamond to Ron White’s spouse, a fresh dose of the ‘cuda would “shut ‘em up”.

Still, McCain was slightly ahead up until three weeks ago. And we all know what financial hypercane hit the country three weeks ago, don’t we? A Wall Street Meltdown that the Arizonan never got out in front of, never defined truthfully before the Dems could smear culpability on Bush, the GOP, conservative free market economics, and therefore McCain. He compounded that folly by absurdly gambling his “reformer/bipartisanist/I can get things done” reputation on the fool’s errand of suspending his campaign to return to Washington to put together a bailout/”rescue” deal on which the Democrats were holding all the cards. They easily ambushed and humiliated him on his “White House summit” idea, then double-crossed the compromise he helped put together a week ago. Now not only do the American people blame McCain and his party for the Democrats’ destruction of the financial sector, but the very core justification of his candidacy has been disemboweled.

And STILL he won’t engage on the origins of the subprime collapse. In God’s Name, WHY?, you ask? Apparently, because placing the blame for this mess where it belongs would be “too partisan“:

Picture the ad:

Barney Frank: “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing.”

Announcer: He rolled the dice, and lost. And now you’re paying the bill.

Instead, these are the ads he’s running:

“What a week,” McCain says into the camera. “Democrats blamed Republicans. Republicans blamed Democrats. We’re the United States of America. It shouldn’t take a crisis to pull us together.”

It is tough to win an election, where the public is asked to choose between two parties, on a theme of “bipartisanship.” “My side is no better than theirs” really isn’t a winning rallying cry one month before an election.

And even if it wouldn’t be too partisan, it would be, you know, really hard to explain:

Americans are furious over the financial mess, and eager to blame somebody. The McCain campaign would be doing the nation a service by spelling out exactly whose bad decisions helped get us into this mess and how.

The excuses given by an unnamed source to U.S. News and World Report will not fly, and Spruiell’s objections are spot-on. I might even be harsher - does McCain want to be president and lead on all issues, or does he just want to handle the easily-explained issues? If John McCain doesn’t feel that the Democrats’ refusal to confront mismanagement of government-backed institutions that gambled and lost, requiring a massive infusion of taxpayer dollars, is worth making an argument about, then you might as well let Obama have the presidency. [emphases added]

Gosh, I could have sworn that’s pretty much what the Sith Master is already doing. Almost as if he’d rather run “an honorable [i.e. weak] campaign” and lose than do whatever it takes to win and save his country from a man who would systematically destroy it. Either that or he’s deliberately taking a dive.

Sorry if this is depressing you - think of it as misery loving company. If you want a bucking-up, you can always surf on over to Captain Optimist for a feeling-of-doom-ectomy. He says that the parallel to this campaign is 1976, only with the opposite result. Why….?:

Because the country cannot afford the greatest gamble in its modern history at this moment in time.

A confrontation with Iran looms and instability in Pakistan grows. The Islamist threat has been beaten back in Iraq, but continues to nurse its fanatical hatreds in many other places, from Waziristan to London. Israel is ringed not with an enemy that wants a state but by two enemies that want Israel to be destroyed.

The world’s financial system is teetering, and the estrangement between the American people and their government has never been this deep in modern times.

The cost of energy has soared and will continue to climb. The entitlement trap has only grown worse in the three years since George Bush asked the Democrats to work with him on Social Security and they said no. The corrupt, self-dealing culture of the Beltway has poisoned the decision-making of many bureaucracies and in ways only the burdened know, and the credibility of the big media is shattered even as their audiences shrink and many of their news rooms come close to shuttering.

So, despite the rapture of college students and the registration of the homeless in Ohio, the common sense of Americans will override curiosity about Barack Obama and infatuation with his celebrity, and trust John McCain to pilot the country for the next four years.

Do you recognize the mentality put on display by Double-H here? I do; it’s the same one I had in 1992, and again in 1996. It’s a not-too-distant cousin to the incredulity of the Democrat woman after the 1972 Nixon landslide who lamented, “How could Tricky Dick have won again? Nobody I know voted for him.” It is a myopic focus on one’s own superlatively informed view of the race and the candidates and an accompanying blindness to any recognition that most other voters are either (1) not nearly as informed and/or (2) don’t care in any case. I remember the same things being said about Clinton in ‘92 as Obama now - “He’s the most radically left-wing major party candidate in history; he’s a draft-dodger; he and his wife had radical associations in their past; the common sense of Americans won’t let them REALLY roll the dice on electing this guy….” etc. And yet, they did - twice.

The difference between 1992, or even 1976, and now is, of course, the economic precipice on which the nation is teeteringly perched. A full blast of Obamanomics (higher taxes, bigger government, tighter money, and neoprotectionism) now will take a recession of undetermined strength and length and turn it into a second Great Depression.

But what is McCain still talking about? Earmarks and “Wall Street greed.” And Obama?:

Taking a jab at the deregulation that the market has undergone during the previous eight years, Obama said that, “They wanted to let the market run free, but instead they let it run wild.”

Bullbleep. It was Dems who wrote regulations requiring mortgage lenders to make ruinously risky loans or face equally ruinous federal fines and penalties, fed those loans into Fannie and Freddie and got rich off the resulting real estate bubble, and all the while RESISTED repeated efforts by McCain and the Bush Administration to rein it in with increased regulatory oversight before it could burst.

But most Americans don’t know this is bullbleep, because Darth Queeg isn’t telling them. And like it or not, he’s the only one that can - if, indeed, even he hasn’t already lost the credibility to do so.

Oh, I suppose the “taking another look” factor could kick in over the remaining month of the campaign. Gerald Ford made up all but one point of a thirty-three point deficit in 1976; Bush41, down by over twenty-five points to Mr. Bill after the ‘92 Donk convention, actually caught Clinton by the Friday before Election Day, only to be dirty-tricked out of one of the greatest comebacks in American political history by the frivilous Iran-Contra re-indictment of Caspar Weinberger, which was thrown out just two weeks later. Even Bob Dole cut his eighteen-point 1996 deficit to Sick Willie in half in the final three weeks of that sad, doomed effort. By contrast, Lord Queeg’s deficit is “only” in the mid to high single digits. And we already have evidence from the summer of how brittle and glass a jaw the Chicago Cherubim sports. I simply question whether Maverick has that kind of gumption in him.

Am I calling the man who survived seven years at the Hanoi Hilton a coward? Not as such; in Nam Lieutenant Commander McCain had to endure unimaginable suffering; over the next four weeks would-be President McCain has to politically inflict it, with skill and ruthlessness. He’s got to be the very thing he most rails against: a hyperpartisan. He’s got to “take off the gloves,” which is to say, stop being “civil” and “comitous” and sock Barry in the balls as many times as he possibly can.

As I say, I don’t think he has that in him. Nor the skill, judging by the fact that Team Sith quit Michigan without bothering to inform the ticket’s vice presidential nominee, who had to find out about it during a Fox News interview and clearly did not agree with the decision. That, gentlebeings, is the stink of a campaign in disarray such that one almost doesn’t need to check the Electoral College map and behold that they’ve fallen behind in seven “red” states over the past three weeks and the “purple” ones have all fallen out of reach.

Can McCain-Palin turn this around? Theoretically. Some Jesuslanders must think it doable, because there are suggestions. But that’ll keep until tomorrow when the bailed-out Dow soars back over eleven thousand - right?

[cross-posted at ]

McCain will suspend his campaign and will go back to the Senate and debate the bail out bill.

H/T to Leslie Carbone

FOX News is reporting that John McCain has realized that the Bush Administration’s outrageous plan to burden the taxpayers with a bail-out for irresponsible banks and borrowers cannot pass Congress. Sen McCain has requested a delay of this Friday’s presidential debate, plans to suspend his campaign tomorrow night and return to Washington for bail-out talks, and has challenged Barack Obama to do the same.

Here is McCain via Drudge

MCCAIN: America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’ proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

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.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

Developing…

William R. Collier Jr. An American Freedomist

The present crisis is wholly rooted in the original intervention by government, through laws and policies and the personnel chosen, which was designed to “make home ownership more accessible to low income families.” Read the rest of this entry »

Our Military On Political Pistachio Radio

On The Radio This Week!

ONCE A MARINE - An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Story of Combat, Courage, and Recovery. Nick Popaditch appeared in an AP photo on April 9, 2003. The striking image was of the Marine tank commander smoking a victory cigar in his tank, the haunting statue of Saddam Hussein hovering in the background. “Gunny Pop” was immortalized forever as “The Cigar Marine.” A year later he fought heroically in the First Battle for Fallujah and suffered head wounds that left him legally blind and partially deaf. The United States Marine Corps awarded him a Silver Star for his valor and combat innovation. Coming home, however, is when the toughest fight of his life began - a battle to remain the man and Marine he was. Join Political Pistachio Radio on Tuesday Night at 10:00 pm Eastern Time/7:00 pm Pacific for a riveting interview with Nick Popaditch, a Marine’s Marine, a man who embodies everything noble and proud in the Corps’ long tradition.

What You Missed Last Week:

Saturday Sgt. Michael Volkin joined us to discuss his latest book, The Accomplishments of Senator Barack Hussein Obama. (From the book’s site, www.obamaresearch.com) The Accomplishments of Senator Barack Hussein Obama is a comprehensive, factual book about presidential candidate Barack Obama. The book is based on hours of research, dozens of speeches and listening to dozens of his supporters. The Accomplishments of Barack Hussein Obama accounts for all the presidential qualifications of Senator Barack Obama.

Some of the various topics this book discusses are:

+ His Detailed Plans of Change
+ His Senate Accomplishments
+ His Presidential Qualifications
+ Important Points He Has Made Without a Teleprompter or Prepared Script

This book includes title page, copyright page, a complete table of contents, running page headers, and a conclusion. Each book’s chapters, however, are BLANK!

Michael Volkin was the guest last Saturday on Political Pistachio Radio.

Also Last Week:

Mr. and Mrs. Cyber-Pastor’s adventures at the Republican National Convention
Mr. and Mrs. CP on PPR

9/11 Anniversary with the Executive Director of Let’s Get This Right .com, Sheridan Folger.
9/11 and Sheridan Folger on PPR

The Political Director, Dr. Bill Smith, of Let’s Get This Right .com joined us to discuss the Republican National Convention, Election 2008, and how the New Media is becoming a major force in shaping the public’s opinion and the rebirth of the Conservative Movement.
Dr. Bill Smith, Political Director of LGTR on PPR

Paul Volosen of www.mccainpalin2008.blogspot.com joined us to discuss the rise of Sarah Palin, as well as the continually changing upcoming election.
McCain/Palin 2008 on PPR

Amateur Kick Boxer Scott Venrick joined Political Pistachio to answer the question, does violence beget violence?
Does Violence Beget Violence? Let’s Ask A Kick Boxer on PPR

Alfonzo of MachoSauceProduction joins us to talk about being a black conservative, and why Conservativism is on the rise.
Macho Sauce Production on PPR

On the Blogs:

Doug Battles As He Adjusts To His New Life as a Trucker.

Newt Gingrich Shuts Up MSNBC.

I Remember 9/11.

See you next weekend (or earlier should a key guest come up) -

Doug
www.politicalpistachio.com

George W. Bush ran for president in 2000 as a unifier.  The Democrat Left demonstrated ferociously in the Florida Insurrection that they had no intention of being reconciled to his rule.  The ensuing eight years have been among the most sustainedly acromonious and divisive in American history.

Now along comes Barack Obama posing, ironically enough, under the same “unity” motif.  Only he does so as the nominee of the party that has spent the last generation poisoning the well of political discourse, and left behind his “bringing America together” pretense months ago.

Florida 2000 was a war in everything but actual flying bullets.  2004 made that look like a Leo Buscaglia seminar.  And now?  The latest Republican nominee pulls an election-changing trump card out of his sleeve - an actual, gen-u-ine classical feminist in the immediate wake of his opponent’s conspicuous rejection of the “Feminist Pope” - and she and her family are descended upon by the Enemy Media like a pack of rabid wolves.  Doubtless to be followed up by an even more vicious domestic campaign “insurgency”.

A precious few have taken note of the trend, and are filled with more than a little foreboding as to where it is headed:

I don’t like the new media war. I don’t like what it has the potential to do to the election, and the country.

The media overstepped. The Republican party resented it. GOP strategists saw a unifying force rising: anger in the base. They too had seen this movie before. They slammed the media. The media shot back: “You’re attacking us for doing our job!”

How did the media overstep? By offending people by going so immediately and so personally into issues surrounding Mrs. Palin’s family. They did not overstep by digging, by deep reporting, by investigating Palin’s professional record.

Campbell Brown of CNN did nothing wrong for instance in pressing a campaign spokesman on Palin’s foreign policy credentials. She was unjustly criticized for following an appropriate and necessary line of inquiry. But endless front page stories connected to Mrs. Palin’s 17-year-old daughter? Cable news shows that had people insinuating Palin, whom America had not yet even met, was a bad mother, and that used her daughter’s circumstances to examine Republican views on abstinence education? That was ugly.

In the end it made Palin the underdog, and gave her the perfect platform for the perfect dive she made Wednesday night.

We have had these old press fights in the past – they were a source of constant tension when I was a child, when Barry Goldwater came forward as a conservative and the press scorned him as a flake, and later when Ronald Reagan came up and the press dismissed him as Bonzo.

But this latest fight commences on a new and wilder battlefield. The old combatants were old school gentlemen, Eric Sevareid and Walter Cronkite; the new combatants are half[???]-crazy cable anchors, the lower lurkers of the Internet, and the anonymous posters on the comment thread on the radical website.

This new war on new turf is not good, and carries the potential of great harm. Everyone really ought to stop, breathe deep, and think.

I am worried they won’t. A friend IM’d the day after Palin’s speech, and I told him of an inexplicable sense of foreboding. He surprised me by saying he shared it. “Calling all underworlds reporting for duty!,” he wrote. “The bed is about to fly around the room, the puke is about to come out.” He meant: this campaign is going to engage unseen powers and forces. He meant: this campaign, this beautiful golden thing with two admirable men at the top and two admirable vice presidential candidates, is going to turn dark.

This war isn’t as new (or “light”) as Peggy Noonan wants to believe.  See the 2004 links above.  Harken back to the Clinton years, particularly his first two, which also happen to be the last time that America was under undivided Donk domination, when the neoBolshevik perpetual, unquenchable rage of today was an equally perpetual, insufferable arrogance.  The breed of arrogance that declared politics to be “over” after 1992, that the nation had finally “come to its senses,” “seen the light,” and restored the beknighted Left to permanent power.  That galloping triumphalism led directly to the unmasked extremism that jacked up tax rates and tried to fascize the entire health care sector in one legislative gulp.

I see it on the face, and hear it in the voice, of The One on a daily basis.  And I see it reflected in the “new” media war against a woman they can’t lay a substantive glove on, leaving them with no other option - like they had as much reluctance as they did glee - but to annihilate her and her family’s name and reputation.

But it’s not a “media” war, in actuality.  Using that adjective is akin to describing “conventional” or “nuclear” war - it describes the weapons and their means of delivery.  But it doesn’t get at the heart of what inspires and drives the conflict.

Michael Knox Beran gets at that heart, one that I have long seen coming:

The deeper division which Governor Palin’s selection has exposed is religious. Palin has called herself a “Bible-believing Christian.” The idea that a person formed in such a troglodytic, pre-Enlightenment school should hold a high place in the government frightens a class that believes, with all the certainty of its Ivy League vision of the world, that Bible-believing Christians are a threat to the republic….

For the coastal elites, Sarah Palin is the barbarian at the gate. McCain, in choosing her, was “cynical,” because in the contest with a secular messiah her faith will not only energize Catholic and Evangelical constituencies (which regard promises of secular salvation dubiously), but will also excite the paranoiac rage of many in the secular-liberal camp. People in the grip of paranoia have been known to do stupid things in elections.

The paranoia is real enough. Americans, Linker writes in The Theocons, must stave off “a future in which the country is thoroughly permeated by orthodox Christian piety.” In the paranoiac view of the coastal elites, Christian piety is a threat to secular politics. Its methods are those of Torquemada. Its ideas are those of the Stone Age. How can people who find a truer account of the human condition in the Bible than in, say, the Origin of Species be, well, reasonable?

“Reason’s last step,” Pascal said in the Pensées, “is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go so far as to realize that.”

It’s a point which even the Blue People implicitly concede. For they, too, have their pent-up longings, their unreasonable yearnings for perfection, redemption, a world beyond pain. Senator Obama, who speaks of the moment when “the perfection begins” (the moment when the proselyte sees the light and embraces his communal faith) offers the Blue People a secular approximation of the nirvana they seek.

Sarah Palin embodies the alternative ideal.

“Blue” America wants to turn aside to myths and worship false messiahs, and DEMANDS that the rest of the country do the same.  “Red” America disagrees, and by that very act of dissent makes itself the embodiment of evil in “blue” eyes, one that demands immediate and total destruction.

Or, to personalize the cultural impasse, Barack Obama poses as the Messiah, and Sarah Palin represents the Genuine Article.  Yet she does not presume or intend to impose that upon anybody, while he does.  But by the very essence of who she is and what (and in Whom) she believes, the other side has declared her a heretic, an enemy of the state, and marked her for persecution.

And she’s not even Obama’s direct opponent.

Beran concurs that 2008 will be even more ugly, more vicious, and more violent, all the moreso given that this contest was never supposed to be anything but a Dem walkover.  Indeed, he argues that the mere presence of Governor Palin on the GOP ticket will make her a more hated figure to the Left than George W. Bush ever was because, despite his overt Christianity, he at least had an Ivy League education as a mitigating veneer of “cosmopolitization.”  Personally I’ve never noticed any such mitigation in their Bushophobia.  But if that argument is true, and so many libs entertained assassination fantasies about the retiring president, and the likelihood of McCain-Palin winning a third consecutive GOP White House term grows, with the clear implication of what some are calling the “Thatcheresque” Barracuda being his heir apparent….well, mightn’t there be some on the Left, deep in the fever swamps, who simply cannot bear the idea of an undiluted, unapologetic, genuine ”Christianist/fundie/snake-handler/Bible-thumper/etc.” that close to real, honest-to-goodness power?  Particularly after enduring “Bushitler” for nearly a decade?  Sufficiently that, shall we say, they might not stop at political means if those prove inadequate to stop her ascension?

The Enemy Media tried to abort Palinmania at its conception - call this week its “morning-after pill”.  If they can’t succeed between now and November - call it “the first trimester” - then the “war” is destined to get dramatically less metaphorical.

[cross-posted at ]

Adam Brickley was one of the forces behind Sarah Palin being chosen by McCain for V.P.

Adam Brickley received a phone call from Todd and Sarah Palin thanking him for being an integral part of Sarah Palin being chosen as McCain’s VP.

And Adam did not do it all alone. My good friend and daily e-mail bud Steve Maloney (the longest standing supporter of the Palin for VP campaign), Kristopher Lorelli of PalinForVP.com (who put in TONS of leg work), PalinforAmerica.com, Students of America on MySpace, the original “Ted” (easily the most vocal advocate according to Adam Brickley), Paul Volosen, Eric Dondero, Trish Houser of Palintology.com, all of the media who were willing to interview Adam Brickley before interviewing him was cool, and everyone in the comments section who kept the faith was thanked by Adam Brickley on his site when Sarah Palin was announced as the V.P. choice of McCain.

Adam Brickley of Palin For VP has had a busy schedule of late, since Sarah Palin was John McCain’s Vice Presidential Pick. In fact, he has been on the radio (Larry Elder Show, KABC Los Angeles. 7:20 PM Eastern/4:20 Pacific), and television: FoxNews: 5 PM Eastern/2 PM Pacific yesterday, Fox & Friends: 8:00 AM Eastern this morning on FoxNews, NBC 4 (Washington) Interviewed for last night’s evening news (nbc4.com), and today will also be on NBC 5/30 (Colorado Springs - koaa.com).

Adam was first on Political Pistachio Radio to discuss Palin as a viable V.P. candidate last year, and tonight he returns to talk about the excitement of success.

Join us tonight after Founding Truth at 10 pm Eastern on Political Pistachio Radio as we welcome Adam Brickley of Palin For VP triumphantly back to the program.

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s pick for Vice President, a Masterful Stroke That Is No Surprise To Political Pistachio

The choice of Sarah Palin by John McCain to be his running mate shocked and stunned the mainstream media. They are calling her a relative unknown, and have been saying she may not be the best pick because of her inexperience.

Barack Obama, in response to the McCain VP pick, said, “Inexperience is now off the table.”

Thanks, Obama, for finally admitting that you are too inexperienced. Second, she has much more experience than you, is in an executive governmental position of the likes you have never held, and you can’t compare her experience to yours anyway because unlike you she is not the leader of the ticket.

What Palin brings to the race, however, is more than shock and awe. She is strong on energy, understanding the issue better than any of the four candidates. Palin is the most popular of all of the nation’s state governors, maintaining the highest approval rating throughout her term of office. She understands the military mission we have engaged in as a nation, and her oldest son is currently enlisted in the Army and will soon be in Iraq to serve his nation. There are some questions regarding her position on abortion. Many have her listed as pro-choice, but I ask you this: If she is so staunchly pro-choice, then why didn’t she abort her newest child well knowing while she was pregnant that he has down-syndrome?

The most important part of this choice, however, is that she is one of us. She came to politics after serving on the PTA for her children. She slowly moved up doing the things that you and I do - maintaining the household, and taking care of our families. Her husband is a working man. He is a commercial fisherman and oil pipeline worker. She isn’t a career politician with lobbyists in her pocket, and corruption in her head from a life-long commitment to Washington. She does, however, have a lot of experience as a leader. She has been the mayor of her small town, and the governor of the great state of Alaska. That is executive leadership that both Biden and Obama lacks.

Some argue that Biden will tear her up in a debate because he is this rabid bulldog, and she is a quiet woman. Will he tear her up? Does she have a chance in a debate with Biden? Those that question her ability to stand tough on the issues and handle the Bidens of the world don’t know Palin like I do. The fireworks will be fascinating indeed, and she will handle herself just fine in such a debate.

And the fact that she is a woman adds a lot to the ticket as well. Hillary supporters that are dissatisfied with Obama will now have another reason to consider a McCain Presidency.

When Sarah Palin stood before the American people in Ohio accepting the opportunity to join McCain, her speech was about America. It was about our men and women serving in the military, the importance of drilling for oil domestically (basic economics of supply and demand that the left seems not to understand), about ending corruption and excess spending in Washington, and about pride in the great nation of the United States of America.

When Obama spoke last night, standing there on his Greek palace in Denver, he talked about himself and about how terrible the United States is. He made no mention of the dangerous world we are facing (terrorism, Russia, China. . .). He preferred to continue the “Everything is Bush’s Fault” tactic of the Democratic Party (even though Bush is not running for office and most of what they claim is wrong is a straight out lie). One thing he used was saying that all of the jobs are being shipped off to China. Most people forget that NAFTA and other programs that began long before “W” took office was the result of the Democrats ruling Washington for over 40 years, and it wasn’t until 1994 when that changed - for a little while - It was the Democrats that created the failed policies, free trade agreements, and entitlement programs that are now falling apart before our eyes.

As an added note, I am not surprised that Sarah Palin was the choice. I indicated a year ago (September 20, 2007) that she would be a fine Vice President of the United States. My first mention of Palin on Political Pistachio was on July 28, 2007.

July 28, 2007 one of the supporters of Sarah Palin, Steve Maloney, came on Political Pistachio Radio to discuss his hopes Palin would become the next President of the United States, or at least Vice President. On October 17th of last year, Adam Brickley of the Palin For V.P. movement joined me to discuss why Sarah Palin should be the Vice President of the United States of America. Both of these gentlemen have been on my show a number of times since to discuss the possibility of Sarah Palin becoming the running mate of the Repubican Presidential Candidate (November 24 of last year, and in 2008 on February 25.

After these interviews I enthusiastically embraced the possibility of Sarah Palin as Vice President.

After a wonderful interview on Fox News today, Adam Brickley of Palin For VP will join me tomorrow on Political Pistachio Radio.

Tonight: I am guest on the John Barnhart show at from 5-7 pm Pacific. Political Pistachio Radio will follow later in the evening at 9 pm Pacific.

William Russell is an Iraq veteran running for the United States House of Representatives in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. The Russell Campaign has outraised Murtha almost 6 to 1 in the second quarter reporting period, and has raised another $600,000 since early July. This money has come from over 20,000 donors, 75% of whom gave $50 or less. Among the most notable donors are Fred Thompson and Donald Rumsfeld.  Lt. Col. Russell, USA (Retired) joined Political Pistachio Radio on Wednesday Night for his fifth visit to Political Pistachio.

On Thursday, Major General Jerry R. Curry will join Political Pistachio Radio to discuss the Russian invasion of Georgia, and how that conflict is connected to Ahmadinejad’s Iran.

Heading Right Convention - Transcript of my speech on America’s Moral Compass

The Heading Right Convention aired tonight and I was one of the speakers on the floor. The convention aired in two parts. Visit The Heading Right Convention for the proper links. And while you are on that site, visit the voting area on the right side bar and vote for Political Pistachio and me, Douglas V. Gibbs. There is about two days of voting left for the Heading Right Awards. At last look I was 13 votes out of first place for best show, and a few more votes back for best host.

Now, the following is the transcript of my speech at the Heading Right Convention:

I am sitting here with a United States Navy hat upon my head, and a God Bless America shirt on my body. I served this nation with pride, and a patriotic love in my heart. I created Political Pistachio to spread the good news of Conservative values - To share with the world what America’s moral compass is really all about.

God Bless America, and God Bless You.

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!

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.

Obama Nation Book by Jerome Corsi Draws Criticism - Corsi is my guest tonight on BTR

Tonight on Political Pistachio Radio Dr. Jerome Corsi must meet controversy head on!

Dr. Jerome Corsi, staff writer for World Net Daily, has suddenly found himself in the midst of a violent storm of controversy. The WND writer, this week alone, has been the object of numerous television and radio shows as the media tries to wade through the information contained in the book, and determine if the book is truly filled with falsehoods, or is a well researched piece of literature that takes a close and hard look at the Democratic Presidential front-runner, Barack Obama.

The book at the center of the controversy is, The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. The Huffington Post calls the book, “…one of the worst political books ever written. Corsi piles distortion upon innuendo to create a gigantic heap of right-wing garbage, with a seemingly endless parade of basic factual errors running through the text like rats. Corsi’s book is an embarrassment to the craft of journalism, and any of the conservatives who have praised and promoted it should feel humiliated at how bad it truly is.” Media Matters writes that The Obama Nation “contains numerous falsehoods about Sen. Barack Obama.” Even Conservative talk show host and Townhall writer Hugh Hewitt exclaims about the book, “Corsi’s from the fringe. . . the book contains errors.”

Hugh Hewitt, however, also points out that the Obama Campaign has given us an “absurd set of non-responsive responses,” and that, “Now they botch a gimmie — defining Corsi as a nut while not putting attention on the charges he leveled.”

Sean Hannity has stated that The Obama Nation “may have made his [Obama’s] campaign a bit nervous.”

Joseph Farah, founder of World Net Daily, says about the controversy surrounding the book, and Jerome Corsi, “Unlike most of the critics of The Obama Nation, I have actually read the book from cover to cover. It is a thoroughly well-documented piece of first-rate journalism. Are there mistakes in it? Show me a first edition that doesn’t have some – other than the Bible. But is it truthful? Does it add considerably to the public’s knowledge of the front-running candidate for the presidency? Do we know much more about Obama than we would had we relied exclusively for our information from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press? I offer a resounding ‘yes’ to all three of those questions. I am privileged to call him my friend, colleague and co-worker. I stand with Jerry Corsi today as he is viciously maligned by an attack media that would prefer to aim its potent artillery at a man who dared to do their job when they refused, when they laid down, when they sucked up, when they failed to ask the tough questions, when they took sides.”

In response, Barack Obama’s advisers have been tracking Corsi’s media appearances, quickly telephoning producers to react to the book’s charges, and last night, the Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign issued a 40-page response to the book.

The Democratic National Committee has its own rapid response team to take aim at Corsi’s book, saying, “One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target. We cannot afford to let Corsi get away with the same dirty tricks that fooled so many people in 2004. We can’t rely on the media to hold him accountable – in fact, the sheer brazenness of the lies is attracting even more coverage. The media have shown that they aren’t going to stop him. It’s up to you to spread the truth.”

So, what is the truth? Is this book a classic smear job? Or is Corsi’s book simply caught up in the crosshairs of the leftists because it hits a chord? Is Dr. Jerome Corsi a discredited liar peddling garbage in order to help continue Bush-Cheney politics? Or is he a simply being lynched by the mainstream media and Democratic Party for daring to write the truth? Be the judge yourself. Read the book, and listen to what Dr. Jerome Corsi has to say tonight on Political Pistachio Radio.
The show airs live at 10:00 pm Eastern Time, but will be archived for later listening for those unable to listen live. Access the program HERE.

www.blogtalkradio.com/politicalpistachio

This is my hill

By J.J. Jackson

Eventually, if you want to enact positive change you have to fight for that change. If you don’t, you’ll just get more of the same. Right now America is in full retreat, being chased from each hilltop by anti-American forces touting their weapons of class warfare, rights descendant from bureaucrats and mob rule where the minority is not protected.

I firmly believe that one of the problems we have in our society today is that we are compromised by compromise. At some point people began believing that compromise, much like change, is carte blanche good and never to be questioned. Others though seem to believe that compromise should be questioned, but only as a formality to look like they were seriously considering the consequences. But if you keep compromising with people that don’t agree with you on core issues all you are doing is moving towards their position and away from yours.

And if your position is a core belief what happens when you are no longer upholding it because you have compromised to the point where your opposition has basically gotten their way? It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure it out.

We see where compromise has gotten us on a variety of issues from abortion, where a child isn’t a child if it is only so many weeks old in the womb but magically becomes a child one nanosecond after that, to the second amendment where it is now only ok to keep certain types of government approved arms despite the clear and unambiguous term “shall not be infringed” staring us in the face. We have been led to a place where arbitrary and capricious standards that make absolutely no sense reign. And it has all been in the name of the vaunted goal of compromise.

America has, over the years been a victim of an extreme leftward lean in our policy. Those that have pioneered this policy have played on the desire of Americans to simply want to get along with everyone. They exploited that desire with perfection.

This became blatantly apparent in the years after FDR’s social programs to the point where today the continually modified and expanded FDR plan for socialism is favored by the majority of Republicans where as in the early twentieth century it was favored by the Democrats. Today, after decades of compromise on the Constitution and with the Republicans as a whole filling the position of the Democrats of old, the Democrats have marched solidly even further to the left.

They then cry out for even more compromise with their new and more intrusive government programs such as Hillary Clinton’s plan for socialized medicine. Every election cycle they propose even grander socialist wealth redistribution policies. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve eventually won nearly every battle they have fought when it comes to such ideas by drawing enough people into compromise for compromise sake and promising them a piece of the pie they offer.

Everything has shifted. Because once our decision was made to compromise on the core principles which founded this great nation we have been in a constant state of retreat from the fight for individual liberty, equality and unalienable rights. Americans are in retreat and those that want to turn America into some form of socialist nanny state with themselves at the controls are on the attack.

As we retreat we keep passing up hills and giving them to the enemy.

The hill named “Right to property”? Gone. Overrun by the forces of FDR charging forward with his plans for confiscating the wealth of one American to pay retirement benefits to other Americans.

The hill named “Right to Privacy” with regards to our personal affects and records? Gone with the invention of the income tax because each and every year you are required to lay your personal records bear for the government to scrutinize.

The hill named “Second Amendment”? The daisies on that hilltop were trampled into the ground long ago with laws that infringed on the rights of the people to freely keep and bear arms.

The hill named “First Amendment”? Blown right past when McCain-Feingold became law.

And we just keep retreating and giving ground like it doesn’t matter. I’ve been yelling for years but the generals leading this charge backwards have ignored me. But now my legs are getting tired. In my arms there is a loaded rifle that has been rarely fired under official orders. Although I have fired it many times on my own and with other Americans also fed up with the situations that arise much to the chagrin of those who claim to be our “leaders” of course. And all about me I am watching my fellow Americans retreat as the orders are given time and again.

We are told to rally around our anointed leader, whoever it may be, come election time. We have the specter of a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama presidency thrown in our faces to scare us into voting against them and not for something. We are told not to question. We are told to sit down and shut up. We are told, as conservatives, to vote for whomever the GOP nominee is, even if it is someone like John McCain who is basically using the John Kerry strategy of running on the fact that he served in Vietnam and how dare you question him. Don’t you know he is a war hero?

If you point out that he has a penchant for violating the Constitution and joining arm in arm with some of the most liberal members of Congress you are branded a troublemaker, a racist or whatever nonsensical term he and those that support him think they can get away with.

But there is one problem. The problem is that I am not actually enlisted in this army and I don’t really mind being labeled a troublemaker. I have sworn no deep allegiance to the Republican Party aside from simply registering with the party so that I can vote in their primaries and have a say in who their nominee is. But I am not a good little soldier and I do not recognize their authority to order me to vote for their candidate if I disagree with the ultimate choice. I’ve merely been here as someone that has sought to lend my rifle to defeating bigger foes of America.

But now I am not certain that the Republican Party is my kindred spirit in the quest for restoring this Republic. So I’m stopping; right here. No more running. This hill on which I now come to rest will be my hill. This is where I will make my stand.

And I know we as Americans can do it. We can make this stand. Remember when we were told to accept comprehensive immigration reform and amnesty for illegals? Remember how we were told that stopping that atrocious piece of legislation was impossible? That it was a done deal? Remember what happened when the foot soldiers revolted against McCain and others who did not have America’s best interests in mind?

That’s my point.

I was there for that battle. I fought on the front lines. And I saw what happens first hand when Americans rally even as their leaders cower and retreat. Mere foot soldiers rose to the status of general through battlefield promotions and led the counter attack. So my legs will not run another mile. They don’t have another mile left in them to run.

I will not be blown off this hill. I’m setting myself here, preparing my powder and cleaning my rifle. I am confident in my shot. And make no mistake, I will fire every last bullet at those that are about to come over the rise and try to take this hill from me.

This is my hill; one of the last vestiges of our once great country slowly being ripped from us. And I know that there are many who will stand firm if only they see others willing to stand their ground and know they are not alone.

Sure, others will blindly follow the calls for retreat. I will not.

I am tired of being told to suck it up and grow up and accept the compromise placed before me by those that are worried they will lose if I do not follow. Yet at the same time they are unwilling to compromise with me and my fellow Americans and reveal their own hypocrisy. They don’t want compromise. They don’t want what is best for this country. They want their power. And I will not be party to that folly.

It will not be easy. There will be suffering. There will be pain. There will be blood spilled this day and probably for many days, months and years to come. We may even enter into terrible darkness and the deepest of winters and fear that all is lost. But to make things better I am willing to suffer. If I am not, then the enemy has already won and defeated me.

This is my hill and I claim it for Lady Liberty. This is where I make my stand for what is right. And John McCain? He will never have my vote. Promises today and deathbed conversions cannot undo the history he has.

To Hell with worrying if anyone else has the courage to stand by my side and fight. The only way you are taking this hill is over my dead body. Today is a good day to die, but since I don’t plan on dying on this hill, that means there is only one question to ask of those about to charge over this hill and try to take it. Are you willing to die on this hill trying to take it from not just me but all the other Americans you are about to come face to face with?

Well? Are you?

**********

J.J. Jackson is a conservative/libertarian author writing about events in the United States and around the world. He is the owner of Conservative News & Opinion – The Land of the Free and also The Right Things – Conservative T-shirts & Gifts. His weekly articles can be found at Liberty Reborn

The author of this piece is my guest tonight on Political Pistachio Radio.