Keith_Indy's blog

I don't think the problem with Republican politicians has been "not being conservative enough," it's that they haven't been Republican enough.

I'm aligned with the Republican Party because of certain principles that they have stated as the guiding ideas of their governing philosophy.  They're even stated on the GOP's website.

Elections are as much about holding politicians accountable for the choices they've made.  If the Republican Party keeps acting against its principles, which I believe most of the Republican base feels is also acting against the countrys interests, they will keep loosing elections, regardless of the gains made in technological savy.

http://www.gop.com/about/imarepublicanbecause.htm

I'm a Republican Because...

I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.

I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.

I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.

I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations, and that the best government is that which governs least.

I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.

I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.

I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.

FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.

With all the doom, and gloom around these days, I found this particularly hopeful.

John Podhertz

And yet, there is surprisingly little indication, from the results of either the 2006 election or this one, that the low repute in which the GOP is held translates into broad support for the Democratic party. According to the website Pollster.com, the approval rating of the Democrat-controlled Congress fell from 27 percent on election day 2006 to 15 percent just before election day 2008, a drop of 44 percent. And while, as we have seen, the GOP’s partisan identification numbers tumbled by five points, or 13 percent, between 2004 and 2008, Democratic partisan identification rose by only two points, or 5 percent. In other words, voters who ceased being Republicans outnumbered voters who became Democrats by two-and-a-half to one.

The GOP better make sure their responses are similarly formated and broadcast.  And I was just commenting about this the other day (somewhere on here.)

http://gizmodo.com/5087052/obama-will-deliver-weekly-youtube-fireside-chats

Obama is officially the first YouTube president—you know, if you doubted it for some reason with 1800 videos uploaded and over 110 million views. He will be the first president to post videos of his weekly fireside coffee talks on YouTube in addition to the traditional radio format, which goes back to FDR, who used the medium to directly address the nation as he steered it through the Depression and WWII. Indeed, some pundits are calling the Obama administration's use of the web the "internet-era" version of FDR's fireside chats.

It seems to me that Obama's tax plan would create a whole new group of "middle class welfare" recipients.  This would seem to be a good way to market the negatives of his plan.

All but the clean car credit would be "refundable," which is Washington-speak for the fact that you can receive these checks even if you have no income-tax liability. In other words, they are an income transfer — a federal check — from taxpayers to nontaxpayers. Once upon a time we called this "welfare," or in George McGovern's 1972 campaign a "Demogrant." Mr. Obama's genius is to call it a tax cut.

The Tax Foundation estimates that under the Obama plan 63 million Americans, or 44% of all tax filers, would have no income tax liability and most of those would get a check from the IRS each year. The Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis estimates that by 2011, under the Obama plan, an additional 10 million filers would pay zero taxes while cashing checks from the IRS.

The total annual expenditures on refundable "tax credits" would rise over the next 10 years by $647 billion to $1.054 trillion, according to the Tax Policy Center. This means that the tax-credit welfare state would soon cost four times actual cash welfare. By redefining such income payments as "tax credits," the Obama campaign also redefines them away as a tax share of GDP. Presto, the federal tax burden looks much smaller than it really is.

Was watching "Sons of Anarchy" last night.  An Obama ad came up touting his economic plan.  A little graphic appeared overlaid on the screen, Press Select for more information on Obama's Economic Plan.

Didn't hit select but it's a good idea.

I could see Gov. Palin using the line, when asked about a foreign policy question:

Well, I don't have a team of 300 foreign policy advisors, but what I think is...

Used to be, that the bigger man would say "I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my remarks."

Is this above Obama's pay grade?

Barack Obama has less experience then Geraldine Ferraro did when she was nominated to be VP.

Here's a question for Obama - does he support ALF and ELF, since their actions are generally designed not to harm anyone?

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/27/video-obama-and-ayers-the-hype-tra...

For your companion reading, try Fox News’s report of its 2004 interview with Ayers if you missed it last night. Sure, the Weathermen were terrorists, but they were “driven by hope and love and aspiration as much as we were driven by despair” so everything’s cool. He also insists that the bombs they set were calculated so as not to harm anyone, a claim Fox seems to take at his word. Really? Who killed Sgt. Brian McDonnell, then?

Obama certainly has seemed to make peace with Ayers despite his past terrorist actions, so what other terrorists is he willing to forgive and forget?

Here's the start of an idea for an anti-Obama ad.

Glass houses...

Obama smears McCain for a tenuous connection to Abramoff

While ignoring and failing to disclose his own connections to Abramoff

And Obama charges McCain with "more of the same old politics."

Sounds like Obama is using the "same old politics" of guilt by association.

*****

I'm sure there are other such issues out there that could get this to at least a 30 second spot.

NOTE TO MCCAIN CAMPAIGN, if you use this idea, do not use music or video from Billy Joel's Glass Houses in the ad unless you sign a copyright agreement.  You or anyone else may use this idea without credit or compensation.