It's Palin!

My mother phoned me at work just before 11AM to tell me, “He's selected Sarah!”

I still felt a little down about the bread-and-circuses closing of the Democratic Convention last night, seeing it as a sleight-of-hand effort by the Obama team divert the public away from what he was really selling. But the news of McCain's selection made all of that fade away.

There has certainly been a groundswell of reactions McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, most of it positive, even from many Democrats. There are quite a few links to reactions around the blogosphere and from the MSM to be found at Instapundit, here and here.

This selection is something I've been discussing with quite a few of my Republican friends for some time, and even wrote about almost two weeks ago.

McCain can capture the moderate voters in both parties all by himself, but he needs someone with the conservative credentials that will pull in the conservatives of the party while not turning off the moderates and the undecideds. That narrows his choices.

This should make Mitt Romney one of the last people McCain should choose, because too many in the GOP see him as a RINO (a Republican In Name Only), trying to wear the mantle of a conservative. But all anyone has to do is look at his record as governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to see he's no conservative.

McCain must choose wisely. Frankly, by choosing Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, former US Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee, or Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, he'll have a pretty good shot at being able to move into the White House next January.

This is going to be one heck of a race for the White House!

Iraq Has Become A Non-Issue

As I've mentioned before, it looks like Iraq will be a non-starter for the Democrats this fall, particularly since things have gotten so much better.

Though there are still pockets of insurgent activity, they are limited to a few areas and seem less coordinated than in the past. Al Qaeda has been all but wiped out as an effective force, particularly once Iraqi Sunnis turned on them once Al Qaeda started murdering Sunnis. Sunnis have started taking an interest in government, both local and national, having come to realize it's one of the best ways to make their voices heard.

Shiite militias have also come under increasing pressure by US forces, the Iraqi military, and Shiite leaders in Iraq. While some renegade bands of Shiite militiamen are still planning and carrying out attacks in Baghdad, their activities in Basra have all but ceased, particularly after Iraqi Army forces carried the battle to them and proved to be an effective force. Moqtada al Sadr extended a cease fire, more than likely realizing he was losing followers to effective Coalition and Iraqi countermeasures while antagonizing the people he purportedly was “protecting”. It didn't help his credibility that he was still in Iran after fleeing from Baghdad, knowing Coalition forces were closing in on him.

It's not often we hear reports from the MSM any more about how bad things are in Iraq. In fact, we hear very little from the media about anything happening in Iraq these days. Only one network, ABC, has actually made an effort to show some of the progress that's been made there, though they still couch it in tentative terms.

An issue the Democrats thought would usher them into the White House has instead turned into a non-issue for the American voters, leaving the Democrats to scramble to find some other ills, most of their own making, to blame upon the GOP.

The Kid Gloves Come Off

Now that it appears Senator Barack Obama has sewn up the nomination as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate, I think we can safely take off the kid gloves.

While I am not a great fan of John McCain, I think he'll make a much better president than Barack Obama for a number of reasons. I could probably go on ad nauseum about how Barack has got it exactly wrong on almost every count.

We've all heard his campaign speeches talking about how the American people are ready for a change. But have those same American people actually listened to what he proposes this 'change' would entail. Listening to some of his ideas I had a feeling of déjà vu, wondering where I'd heard some of them before. And then it came to me: Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society, where the government would take care of all our wants and needs. It was supposed to be the War On Poverty. Unfortunately poverty won. Taxes went up. Spending went up. Unemployment went up. And nearly three generations of the poor were trapped in poverty because the same government programs that were supposed to help them made it difficult, if not impossible, to get out of poverty.

This is but one proposal Barack Obama has for our nation.

He talks about how our economy is a shambles, in a deep recession. If this is the case, then it's one of the least burdensome recessions I can remember, especially since the unemployment rate during this 'recession' is lower than during the economic heyday of the Clinton Administration.

I guess one of my greatest gripes is that he talks in vague generalities about what he's going to do, creating “change”. The only thing he's been clear about is that he's going to let the Bush tax cuts expire, raising the taxes on the rich. Unfortunately I think he defines “rich” as “anyone with a job.”

We can expect a hit to the economy and to tax revenues when the tax breaks expire because billions will be sucked out of an economy that he says is in trouble. I don't know if he can explain how he can turn the economy around by pulling hundreds of billions of dollars out of the economy that would otherwise be spent by businesses and consumers to sustain the it. The numbers don't add up.

His promise for a quick withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is foolish and dangerous because it would leave the job in Iraq incomplete, giving our enemies and those of the people of Iraq just the boost they need to ramp up the death and destruction and, in time, replacing the democratically elected government with a theocratic dictatorship. I know I wouldn't want that to be part of my legacy if I were to become President of the United States. It doesn't matter if the choice to go to war against Iraq was right or wrong. We're there now and we need to finish the job, clean up our mess, and leave peace and prosperity in our wake rather than shattered dreams and sectarian violence.

There are plenty of other problems I have with Barack Obama and his promises for change, something I'll be delving into the closer we come to the election in November.

Taxes Will Be The Issue

Despite the multitude of issues that will be debated during the presidential campaign, all others will pale in comparison to taxes.

In these tough economic times, the last thing any of us need is the burden of increasing taxes. Tax increases will do nothing more than strain already strained household budgets. The two Democrats have already told Americans they will raise taxes, but only on the “rich”. The problem with this is their definition of rich. For far too many years the Democrats have defined rich as anyone with a job. That means you and me, folks.

They somehow have the belief the American people will stand still for that, not realizing the backlash against continually rising taxes has already started.

Mr. [Bart] Peterson was, until recently, the popular Democratic mayor of [Indianapolis]. Then voters went to the polls in November and threw him out in favor of an unknown and underfunded Republican. It was among last year's biggest political upsets, and marked the first time in 40 years Indianapolis voters had canned a sitting mayor. The source of their anger? Taxes.

In particular, the county's income tax rate, which Mr. Peterson raised to 1.65% from 1%. Coming into an election year with a 75% approval rating and a mountain of campaign cash, Mr. Peterson thought he could risk the tax-hiker label. He felt further bolstered by his argument that the tax was earmarked for crime fighting. He squeaked his levy through in July; by November he'd been washed out on a tide of outrage.

Indiana isn't alone in its tax discontent. As the economy has slowed and home values have slipped, state and local governments have been raising taxes to cover revenue shortfalls. This has squeezed middle-class households, just as surely as higher gas and food prices, or rising medical costs. Voters last year responded by shooting down tax-and-spend proposals in Oregon, New Jersey, Iowa, Washington and North Carolina.

Include New Hampshire on that list, at least when it comes to municipal taxes and budgets. Unfortunately at the state and county level the message about holding the line on spending and taxes has been ignored. The state legislature increased the biennial state budget by 17.5%, flawed and seriously out of balance. They overestimated the expected tax and fee revenues at a time when just about everyone else realized a slowdown in the economy was just starting to make itself felt. Housing sales and values were falling, and with it, revenues. Some of the counties in the state were no better, increasing their budgets while ignoring the calls by the towns within their borders to keep spending in check. Ironically, the county commissions are made up of the same representatives serving in the state legislature. That means the same people that worked to increase state spending are doing the same thing at the county level. It's obvious some changes need to take place and I think many of these representatives will find themselves out bag and baggage, asking themselves “What happened?”

With few exceptions the towns and cities in the state held the line on spending, keeping budgets flat or even slightly declining, knowing the taxpayers could not afford increases in their property taxes. Even so, property taxes will go up because of the actions at the county level.

The same thing is happening in other states. It all comes down to taxpayers being very unhappy with their elected representatives. And when the taxpayers are unhappy, tax and spend candidates tend to find themselves on the losing side of an election. That's what happened in Congress in 2006 and why so many Republicans found themselves replaced by Democrats. In 2008, the freshmen Democrats in Congress and a number of state legislatures may find themselves replaced in turn. They have to learn that the people are not ATMs to be tapped for funds whenever government overspends. Instead they have to learn that when times are tough they have to cut back on spending, just like everyone else does under those circumstances. Until they do, our wallets and bank accounts are in peril. It's up to us to teach them that their actions have consequences. In this case the lesson is this:

If they burden us with more taxes, we'll be more than happy to help them join the ranks of the unemployed.

'Nuff said.

Fred Makes His Case

If this doesn't make the case to Iowa voters that Fred Thompson is in the race to win the White House, nothing will.



Note: This is a lengthy video, running about 16 minutes. But it's well worth watching.

(Via Instapundit)

First Democrat Debate - Why?

With the first debate among Democratic presidential hopefuls having been analyzed to death, I think it's safe to add my 2¢ worth.

First, why was the first debate so damn early? The first caucuses and primary won't be for nine months. I doubt that there aren't one or two other possible candidates that are considering a run that haven't declared yet. At this point, why bother? I think it's safe to say that many of the existing candidates will be adjusting their campaigns over the next few months in an effort to gain wider support.

What purpose did this debate serve? I'm not sure, other than it seemed more of a showcase for the candidates and wasn't meant to be a serious contest. But I can safely say that it showed that Barack Obama has a lot of work to do to be better prepared for future debates. He appeared unsure of himself, not something he can afford if he wants a shot at the nomination.

Who was the “winner”? Does it matter at this point? I think not. But one thing it did do was get former Senator Mike Gravel into the public eye. Will it help him in his bid for the nomination? Nobody knows right now..