Change ... Chicago Style

Body count: In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago; 221 killed in Iraq.

U.S. Senators: Barack Obama and Dick Durbin

Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.

Governor: Rod Blogojevich

House leader: Mike Madigan

Attorney General: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)

Mayor: Richard M. Daley (son of former Mayor Richard J. Daley)

The leadership in Illinois: all Democrats

Chicago is a combat zone. Of course they're all blaming each other. Can't blame Republicans, because there aren’t any.

* State of Chicago pension fund is $44 Billion in debt - the worst in the country.

* Cook County (Chicago) sales tax 10.25% is the highest in the country. (Look it up, if you want).

* Chicago school system is one of the worst in country.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from.

And....he’s going to fix Washington politics?

READ ON .........................

A PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, THE CHICAGO WAY

John Kass - Chicago Tribune
October 5, 2008
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-kass-0510,0,7245642.column

Going into Tuesday's presidential debate, the campaign of Republican John McCain still suffers from the lousy economy and that Bush hanging ponderously from his neck.

With that going against him, he's running uphill, trying to remind Americans that he challenged his own party, and the Democrats, on corruption. Because of McCain's opposition to politicians who feed from the public trough, there is a road open to him Tuesday. It's the Chicago Way.

Obama definitely does not want to go there. It would be a forced march for him. Obama's gauzy references to Chicago involve baseball and where he met Michelle and those blissful hours he spent as a community organizer. What he doesn't want discussed is his evolution from independent Democrat to potential White House enabler of the corrupt Chicago Democratic machine.

The Chicago Way is a road the Beltway media establishment dare not travel. It must frighten them. It conflicts with their fairy tale about Obama as reformer, and they're much too busy rummaging through garbage cans in Alaska to bother about Chicago's political alleys.

But any child in Illinois knows the Chicago Way leads through the most politically corrupt city in America, in a politically corrupt state, where muscle trumps reason, where Democratic warlords brazenly promote their offspring into public office, where even souls are offered up for sale.

The national media have never wanted to understand, much less expose, political corruption here, or examine how Obama prospered under the Daley machine's guidance. A trip down the Chicago Way would force them to re-examine their ridiculous narrative that sets Obama as a political reformer riding a white horse, or is that a winged unicorn?

A tour of the Chicago Way isn't without risks for McCain. Though his supporters would say it puts Obama in proper context, Democrats would certainly cry "guilt by association." Yet the national urgency to view Obama as a political life-form several evolutionary rungs above Chicago's common political hacks is not only a mistake, it's disingenuous. So on Tuesday night, McCain might ask:

How, for example, could change agent Obama endorse the boss of the Chicago machine, Mayor Richard Daley, after Daley's friends and drinking buddies, white guys with mob connections, received $100 million in city affirmative action contracts, a crime that sent one of them to federal prison?

The mayor said there is no such thing as a machine. Does Obama truly believe there is no machine that runs Chicago and Cook County? Then he should declare it. And, if so, then how does he explain the Daley hacks sitting in federal prison for rigging thousands of city jobs?

McCain could ask about the machine trolls Obama endorsed per Daley's direction. And what of Obama's own political mentor, the legendary city sewer inspector/Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D-ComEd), who upon retirement will convert almost $600,000 in campaign cash and stuff it into his pockets, and begin cashing a fat public pension, as his son, Emil III, takes Daddy's place in the legislature, courtesy of the Democratic bosses.

Is this the change we've been waiting for?

McCain could ask about Obama's real estate fairy, the convicted influence peddler Tony Rezko, who is now apparently cooperating with federal investigators probing the dealings of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who also campaigned as a reformer. Rezko is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28. How was the Rezko-Obama real estate deal, the one that Obama himself described as "boneheaded," never made a subject of a Senate Ethics Committee investigation?

McCain also might offer up some straight talk about his own involvement in the Keating 5 scandal two decades ago -- and how he was dishonored by that, and whether the shame changed his views on political corruption.

Hillary Clinton tried to link Obama to Chicago's politics during her party's primaries, but she was shouted down. Back then, at a Tribune editorial board meeting, I asked Obama about his place in Chicago's corrupt history.

"I think that all of you have been following my career for some time," he said. "I think I have done a good job in rising in this environment without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics. I know there are those, like John Kass, who would like me to decry Chicago politics more frequently."

Just the corrupt parts, I said.

"I'll leave that to his editorial commentary," Obama continued, "but I think it's fair to say that I have conducted myself in my public office with great care and high ethical standards."

Is Obama corrupt, the way the caricature of Chicago-style corruption is often drawn, with some beefeater alderman reeking of gin, stuffing an envelope into his breast pocket? No, though he came close with Rezko in that smelly deal for the purchase of Obama's home.

But Obama looked the other way in order to prosper and assiduously avoided conflict with the machine to the point of embrace. In this, he offered Americans a glimpse at the real man inside that nice suit, the Chicago Way.

What Costs More Than The Iraq War?

Be sure to read the 14 reasons at the bottom.

Social Security Change For 2008.

The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.

VOTE THEM OUT NEXT TIME!

Alaska : Stevens (R)
Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
Colorado : Salazar (D)
Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)
Florida : Martinez (R)
Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)
Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)
Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
Iowa : Harkin (D)
Kansas : Brownback (R)
Louisiana : Landrieu (D)
Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
Montana : Baucus (D)
Nebraska : Hagel (R)
Nevada : Reid (D)
New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)
New Mexico : Bingaman (D)
New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
North Dakota : Dorgan (D)
Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)
Oregon : Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania : Specter (R)
Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)
South Carolina : Graham (R)
South Dakota : Johnson (D)
Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)

VOTE THEM OUT NEXT TIME!

http://rense.com/general79/seniors.htm

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ". http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost is a whooping $338.3 BILLION A YEAR

If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message. On the other hand, if this information raises the hair on the back of your neck, then please send it on to others.

Snopes is provided for doubters:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp

The Damage Some Men's Dreams Can Do

by Julian Krasta

With proper upbringing, a boy can grow into a strong, self-reliant and sensible man. If that grown man is also well adjusted and has self-respect, he will neutralize deficiencies in his character (e.g., hubris, and that brother bugaboo “machismo”) to defray misgivings and ridicule by family, co-workers and friends – even his enemies. If a man behaves or speaks idiotically, someone eventually will call him on it.

Generally, men are dreamers … like our Founding Fathers were dreamers. It was upon their collective vision that the foundation of this great country was conceived and created where we live in blessed freedom, to achieve as much as we can in the short time given us – to be as great as we wish to be. I am always happy when trying to explain this to my liberal friends; and, if I am lucky, they will still not understand it and I will have to explain all over again.

But I digress.

I dream, too – of owning one of those ultimate driving machines, turning my baseball cap front to back and pushing the pedal to the metal. Realistically, I dream of owning a handsome house in a neighborhood where I can walk, shop, socialize, sleep and just breathe without feeling afraid – where the fellow next door is not secretly buying thousands of Uzis to ship to Iran.

There are dreamers like Mahmoud Admadinejad who, along with other rogue tyrants, refers to the United States as the Great Satan. If this were true, it would be fair of me to say he is the reincarnation of Josef Stalin, only without the whimsy.

As millions of witless Americans parade in intoxicated revelry over the frenetic campaigning by the Democratic candidates (in my opinion, by the weakest field I can recall), Admadinejad skulks in shadow, waiting restlessly to dare the United States into a confrontation, possibly nuclear. He did it once, almost a year ago – to test our patience and gauge our potential firepower – when he ordered the abduction of British sailors. It was only after his advisors informed him that President George W. Bush ordered the deployment of the USS Nimitz strike group into the Persian Gulf, and with all possible speed, that Admadinijad backed down and released the prisoners to England. Our Commander in Chief had called his bluff, because his ace was, and is, the might of the United States military.

I do not need to know him personally to recognize that Admadinijad’s behavior is the product of a twisted twilight zone for the pathological and squirrelly, which pushed me to wonder: “What dreams does this man have?”

I began my research with the virgins in paradise myth. Its explanation is straightforward (according to Muslim legend): "The smallest reward for the people of heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy two wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby … etc. …"

The wives referred to in this narrative are purported to be black-eyed, voluptuously beautiful virgins awaiting “the faithful” (i.e., martyrs). Who are the martyrs? They are the wretched dreamers who strap explosives to their bodies, pull the cord and destroy the lives of innocent human beings (men, women, children … babies) so that they can catapult to their heaven and luxuriate in the attention of obedient maidens.

This fantasy worries me a great deal, because I suspect Admadinejad’s dreams are loftier – that they exceed the 72-virgin limit. Why do I presume this? My wise dad once told me: “To know your enemy you must learn to think like him – to imagine every possible angle and move that runs through his mind, like a chess game.”

Armed with this counsel, I deduced the following:

If a couple of sticks of dynamite earns a murder-suicide bomber 72 chaste females, Mahmoud Admadinejad might believe (or is being led to believe by mullahs, or his own demons, or both) that he would be rewarded with a thousand, maybe a million, times the legal limit if he sets off a nuclear device. The incentive is there if he accepts as true his craven ideology’s party-line propaganda of being forever fondled by nubile nymphs.

He and others like him could avoid such razzle-dazzle if they instead bought a membership at the Emperor’s Club in New York, where Governor Eliot Spitzer found his paradise – several times, according to the latest reports. There a man does not have to be blown to bloody bits in order to attain nirvana.

I have a second, even greater worry. It is about the liberals and Democrats amongst us, whose foresight is, at best, fanciful. They dismiss the fact that it was daring and enlightened dreams that built America – that Admadinejad’s blasphemous trances could propel him and others to destroy it.

On the bright side, if Hillary Clinton becomes president her political party should split in about four months. On the down side, if Barack Obama succeeds to the Presidency this country could split in four weeks. We would then not need to concern ourselves over what aggressions Admadinejad might or might not attempt, because we (“we” includes every Barack-head who thinks he or she is exempt from being hit with taxes that will sustain Obama’s dream changes) will be drowning in the muck of his sausage factory, oxymoronic statements, such as:

“My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you’ll join me as we try to change it.”

That is the same as saying, “The Rolls Royce is the most beautifully appointed, masterfully built automobile in the world. Come on down and join in on its transformation. And bring your hammer, duct tape and can of spray paint.”

If the next President of the United States turns out to be either fantasist Democrat (both guaranteeing to fulfill a campaign pledge to leave the Middle East militarily unattended), we might as well draw a pentagram on the ground, face Mecca and join hands, and chant:

“The door is open. Do your worst.”

A Failure to Communicate

By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon

Conscience will ever judge right when it is rightly informed, and speak the truth when it understands it. -John Leland

*********

How is the conservative media to be assessed during the recent chaotic Republican Primaries?

This is one question that, if it can be answered honestly, may come to haunt the conservative party throughout the term of the next administration.

We have to admire the mainstream media for their success in convincing voters to support the MSM’s chosen candidates, and in the precise order calculated: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney. No psychic could have done it better.

Adding to their efforts were full-throttle boosts by Oprah Winfrey and other Hollywood glitterati for both Clinton and Obama. Their momentum is unstoppable. As we write, the Obama Express has become the runaway bullet train right-wing punditry cannot derail – not because such punditry’s influence has been stopped in its tracks, as liberals would like to believe, but because they didn’t “pour on the steam” and charge full speed ahead with the right candidate when they had the opportunity.

A passionate division has always existed between the Left and the Right. However, in these past eight weeks the evident passion on the part of the liberal media was a 50-block inferno weighed against the conservatives’ weenie roast.

The eleventh-hour (or more specifically, 11:59th hour) support given by Ann Coulter, Dennis Prager, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh and Newt “Johnny Come Never” Gingrich amounted to a minnow’s belch compared to their liberal counterparts’ lion’s roar. It is easier to blame the outcome on straying conservatives than to acknowledge “real” conservatives never strayed to begin with.

After twelve months – one solid year – of campaigning by aspirants of both parties, the best these pundits offered is that they weren’t ready to support anyone? They all, one-by-one, ultimately figured out that Mitt Romney was the best candidate for the job. Had they used their power of persuasion to educate and influence (as they do daily on a host of other topics), the voters would not need to “drag themselves to the polls” as one popular talk show host offered. Instead, there was equivocation, vacillation and just plain jelly-fishing their way through the campaign season. Now they want to blame it on voters. Informed voters did vote for Mitt Romney. If the talk show hosts do not influence thinking, what is the point of filling the airwaves with opinion?

No one, save for Hugh Hewitt of Townhall, William F. Buckley (The National Review) and Tammy Bruce of KABC Talk Radio, took the early plunge and wholly supported who they believed was the right man for the Oval Office. We were glad to hear they had made solid decisions and were not afraid to be wrong. But no matter how hard those particular three tried (and they tried very, very hard on behalf of their chosen contender, Mitt Romney), their enthusiasm was in no way matched by other high-profilers’ fence straddling -- whether it was for Romney or any Republican candidate. Each pundit who waited until it was too late has since proffered a limp explanation as to why he or she withheld support of the best candidate, generally, that none of them were ready to support anyone.

We’re not saying that the existence of the Republican Party or conservative ideals lies on the support of talk radio or cable shows – just as no candidate should rely only on them as a crutch or as their sole source of support. That would be absurd. What we are saying is this: Why was it necessary for them to wait for the realization that the wayward conservative they had worked diligently to demonize would actually end up being the conservative party's nominee? If they are all as clever as they purport to be, this fact – this end result – would have been as evident to them as the sun rising in the east each morning. All of the influence peddlers are now steering us in the direction of “McCain is better than Hillary or Obama.” Jack Kemp has even gone so far as to compare John McCain to Winston Churchill. Someone please give us a break. That’s like saying Lindsay Lohan is the new Garbo. The entire premise that McCain is better than Clinton or Obama is like saying pneumonia is better than malaria or cholera.

At the battle of Gettysburg, a Union officer, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (a college professor from Maine), was ordered to lead his men up to and hold Little Round Top, a strategic hill on the outskirts of the town. After hours of brutal gunfire and casualties, his unit had exhausted their ammunition – and the Confederates were still closing in on them. Did Chamberlain wait for reinforcements? Did he wait for more ammunition? Did he cut and run? No. He ordered, against all odds, a full bayonet charge against the advancing Rebels. The result was an astonishing victory for him and his men. And for this Col. Chamberlain was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

If he had hesitated, if he had waited, the aftermath might have been disastrous. As it turned out, Chamberlain made the right split-second decision.

That is why we are confounded by the doubt-filled hesitation on the part of conservative media after, as we’ve pointed out, one year of massive amounts of information being literally thrown in our faces.

The fact of the matter is that most people in this country are simply not interested in politics. They passively watch shows like The O’Reilly Factor or listen to talk radio waiting for inspiration and guidance.

Republicans are motivated by logic and Democrats are motivated by emotion. This is evident as Democrats and Independents fall more and more rapidly and in even greater numbers under the spell of Obama’s oratorical but empty prowess – all of which is merrily aided 24/7/365 by the liberal mainstream media.

The final result of all the conservative hemming and hawing is clear and irreversible: We are left with John McCain and Mike Huckabee, a hot head and a preacher who are engaged in a spinster’s race for the altar.

Terror Threat From Pakistan Said to Expand

By ELAINE SCIOLINO, New York Times
February 10, 2008

[Source]

This article was reported by Elaine Sciolino, Victoria Burnett and Eric Schmitt, and written by Ms. Sciolino.

BARCELONA, Spain - As the terrorism suspects congregated in the largely Pakistani neighborhood here over the past few months, they were joined by a young man who called himself Asim. He had come from the Pakistani borderlands where the leadership of Al Qaeda is said to have regrouped.

The suspects, he later told Spanish investigators, envisioned a wave of spectacular attacks: Coordinated suicide bombings would start in this city's vast subway system and then sweep through Portugal, Germany, France and Britain if certain demands were not met.

Asim had been sent to Spain to be a suicide bomber, but he also was an informant for French intelligence working in the no man's land of Waziristan in Pakistan. After he got word to his handlers of an impending attack, Spain's military police swooped into the neighborhood of Raval in the early hours of Jan. 19 and arrested 14 men. Now the officials unraveling the case say it demonstrates the growing threat of terrorist activities migrating to Continental Europe from Pakistan.

The largely Pakistani cell formed quickly in Barcelona with support, and perhaps direction, from the tribal areas of Pakistan, the authorities said. According to the arrest warrant in the case, three suicide bombing suspects arrived in Spain within the last four months and the bomb making suspect had recently spent five months in Pakistan.

With Spain preparing for elections next month, the suspected plot was an eerie echo of the March 11, 2004, Madrid transit bombings, which killed 191 people just days before the last election.

In the weeks since the arrests, Spanish officials have backed off their claim that an attack was imminent. They seized evidence like broken timing devices and small quantities of explosives. But they acknowledged that without more evidence of bomb making, they were relying heavily on the testimony of the informant to make their case, which had blown the cover of a rare intelligence source with access to Pakistan's tribal areas.

Even so, in interviews, Spanish, American and other European officials - most speaking on condition of anonymity because the inquiry is not over - said the plot was indicative of the terror threat from Pakistan.

"That these people were ready to go into action as terrorists in Spain - that came as a surprise," said Judge Baltasar Garzón, Spain's highest antiterrorism magistrate. "In my opinion, the jihadi threat from Pakistan is the biggest emerging threat we are facing in Europe. Pakistan is an ideological and training hotbed for jihadists, and they are being exported here."

That threat has been felt elsewhere. Two of four suicide bombers who attacked London's transit system in July 2005 had trained at a camp in Pakistan. Four of the five British men convicted last April in a plot to blow up targets in London using fertilizer bombs were of Pakistani origin and some had trained at a makeshift terrorist camp there.

Last September, when the German authorities broke up what they suspected was a plot to bomb an American Air Force base and the Frankfurt airport, they said three of the suspects, two of them German citizens, had trained at terrorist camps in Pakistan. Officials say the Barcelona case points to a more serious dynamic: Pakistanis with no apparent previous links to Europe who appear to have been sent there on a terrorist mission.

"We had 20 terrorists show up in Spain that had been trained in Pakistan that were going to be suicide bombers, fanning out over Europe," Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, told the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday. Although some of the suspects had in fact been living in Spain, Mr. McConnell's remarks underscored statements by the Spanish authorities that in addition to the 14 suspects who had been arrested, others had eluded arrest.

American officials acknowledged that they had monitored phone calls to Pakistan by some of the suspects, and Mr. McConnell cited the case as a reason that United States intelligence agencies needed to retain electronic surveillance authorities.

Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba of Spain compared the plot to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying: "It looks as if there is an international connection. There appears to be a boss outside."

"Somebody sent this individual to Spain," he added, referring to the informant.

Spain Draws Pakistanis

Spain's Pakistani community has grown from a few thousand residents a decade ago to about 70,000 today, as immigrants have been drawn to Spain by easy entry and to Barcelona's Raval district by cheap rents. They have injected new life into the decrepit neighborhood, opening small businesses, but law enforcement officials say some have engaged in petty crimes like money laundering and credit card fraud. Pakistanis have also sent home millions of dollars through the informal system of money transfers, some of it financing extremist groups there, the officials add.

In late 2004, the police arrested 11 Pakistani men on suspicion of plotting to attack two landmark buildings in Barcelona, financing terrorism and drug trafficking, although only six were convicted, two for document forgery.

The Spanish authorities had long had some of the current Barcelona suspects under surveillance. The police were also monitoring the activities in the Tariq bin Ziad mosque and a small underground prayer room in the Raval neighborhood, both identified with the Tablighi Jamaat, a conservative missionary group that is suspected of being used as a recruiting ground for radicals.

The informant working for the French arrived in Barcelona by train from France on Jan. 16 to join the suspects in the plot, he told the police. Tipped off by French intelligence, Spanish intelligence operatives set Operation Cantata in motion.

The next day, French and Spanish agents, working together, spotted two suspects tossing a plastic bag into the garbage. Inside, the agents found wires, broken timing devices, latex gloves, wire cutters, computer connectors, lead ball bearings, tubes for firework rocket propellers and small traces of a black powder containing potassium perchlorate, an explosives component commonly found in fireworks.

On Jan. 18, as agents continued to watch, one of the men bought a wireless-equipped laptop computer and a camcorder, perhaps, the Spanish authorities assumed, to record suicide tapes or messages containing demands. The suspects prayed together for jihad and sacrifice; they phoned family members, perhaps to say goodbye, Western intelligence officials said.

In the evening, agents watched as the men left the mosque in groups of two. Carrying backpacks, they snaked through the streets of the Raval district as if to elude detection, then reunited at the prayer room.

The informant relayed a series of increasingly panicked messages to his handlers that the attack was getting closer, several Spanish officials said. "We found ourselves in a critical situation and decided to neutralize the threat," said a senior official in the Guardia Civil, Spain's military police. "The risk was so high - not only for Spain but for other countries."

In the early hours of Jan. 19, the police raided the mosque, the prayer room and three apartments, arresting 14 people.

In the prayer room, the police seized four timers, empty pyrotechnic cartridges, multicolored wires, latex and kitchen gloves, batteries of varying voltages, cables that could be used for detonators and a small amount of nitrocellulose, according to an inventory of the searches. But already, four of the men have been released.

"They asked me, 'What is your name? Where do you live? Are you into jihad? Did you see the bomb?'" said Mohamed Imran, a 30-year-old itinerant construction worker who was released after five days. "I said, 'No jihad. No bombs. This is all a lie.'"

Denials by the Accused

Of those still in custody, all are either Pakistani or of Pakistani origin, except for one Indian citizen. In questioning by prosecutors, all have denied being part of a terrorist conspiracy, the Spanish authorities said. Two other suspects are being tracked in Barcelona, and another is believed to be hiding in the Netherlands, Spanish officials said.

After the arrests, Judge Ismael Moreno, in his 72-page arrest order, and Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido described the attack as imminent.

But Spanish law enforcement officials were clearly disappointed. There was no hard evidence of a bomb factory, no viable explosive devices or even enough explosive material to assemble bombs.

Investigators are struggling to understand the gap between the informant's version of events and the physical evidence they found.

The informant apparently had seen much more bomb-making material than was seized by the Spanish authorities, according to a Western official with direct knowledge of the case. The extra material had disappeared, apparently with one of the suspects who fled, the official added.

Guardia Civil investigators are operating under the assumption that the group may have been rehearsing an attack.

"We believe they were getting ready for an attack, but it wasn't as imminent as we initially were informed," said Mr. Rubalcaba. Without sufficient physical evidence, Spanish law enforcement officials apparently decided they had to turn France's informant into a protected witness for the prosecution. They gave him the code name "F1."

He told Spanish interrogators that the first bombing in Barcelona would be followed by demands from Al Qaeda through Baitullah Mehsud, a powerful militant commander in the South Waziristan tribal area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. If the demands were not met, there would be a second strike and then a third in Barcelona, followed by attacks elsewhere in Europe.

One senior European official said the demand was to involve the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, although senior Spanish and American officials said they could not confirm that claim.

"If they didn't comply, there would be one in Germany," the informant said, according to a secret transcript of his statements, whose contents were verified by several people with access to the document. "If they didn't comply, France. If they didn't comply, Portugal. If they didn't comply, Britain. There are many people ready there."

While senior Western intelligence officials do not rule out the possibility that Mr. Mehsud or his organization supported the suspects, they are skeptical that he ordered the attack. And they are less certain that the suspects posed a real threat outside of Spain.

The arrest order identified two suspects as the ideological leaders: Maroof Ahmed Mirza, 38, a Pakistani national and legal resident of Spain, and Mohammad Ayub, 63, who is accused of taking part in at least one meeting with explosives experts. According to American intelligence officials, each man was trained in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Mr. Mirza, who teaches at the Tariq bin Ziad mosque and sometimes acted as the prayer leader, was known for his hate-filled sermons and calls for the faithful to join the fight in Iraq, according to the police, who monitored sermons there.

An Unusual Suspect

Mr. Ayub seemed like a strange fit for a suicide bomb plot. A grandfather with a score of grandchildren, he holds Spanish citizenship and had worked in Spain for 24 years as a dishwasher and as a cook before retiring 13 years ago. "We don't understand this big movie plot that they have created," said Mr. Ayub's son Naveed Ayub. "There are 20,000 Pakistanis in this neighborhood who'll tell you my father is innocent."

According to the arrest warrant, three suspects identified by the informant as would-be suicide bombers arrived through other European cities: one from Pakistan via Sweden in October, a second via Germany in November, a third via Portugal in December or January. Hafeez Ahmed, who was to be the bomb maker, spent five months in Pakistan last year, the warrant said.

For all the international intrigue surrounding the suspects, the case has caused diplomatic friction among investigators. Spain's handling of the French informant has enraged officials at France's intelligence agencies and eroded trust between the countries, French and other European officials said. The informant's value as a source was destroyed when he was made a prosecution witness and the contents of his statements were leaked to the news media.

Vicente González Mota, the prosecutor in the case, meanwhile acknowledged that the case may be difficult to prosecute with the current evidence.

"All the information will come out in court," Mr. Mota said, adding, "The problem is - is what we have enough?"

McCain ... Same as the Old Boss

By John LeBoutillier, for Newsmax

Friday, February 8, 2008 8:10 AM

Here is how the Republican Party recently picks presidential nominees. The nominee must be the namesake son of a famous man; a spoiled child of privilege; someone who's never been told no; someone who always got away with terrible behavior because of his last name; and someone who always got what he wanted because no one wanted to anger his famous dad.

Then he becomes someone who always gets away with bad behavior(s) because of his last name; he becomes arrogant and condescending; and sees himself as better than anyone else.

It's “his way or the highway”; he treats people like dirt, with arrogance and condescension; he is against the GOP base and wants to give amnesty to illegals; he doesn't want a border fence; he wants to attack and invade countries who haven’t attacked the U.S.; and he has been part of a foreign policy that has ruined America’s reputation around the world.

He apparently can’t see the big picture: our invasion of Iraq has actually made (Shia’a) Iran stronger and destabilized the Middle East; his policy has made America a hated nation around the world; he wants more trade deals that ship American jobs overseas; he loves doing deals with Ted Kennedy; he is not smart but he thinks he is.

Who does this sound like?

This description fits two GOP presidential candidates. In fact, the last two GOP presidential candidates: George W. Bush and John McCain.

The similarities are startling and upsetting.

Because the damage Bush has done to the nation, the military and to the Republican Party will take decades to recover from.

And now the Republicans — barring a miracle between now and the September GOP convention in Minneapolis — have picked yet another candidate with the exact same qualities!

Bush has crippled the Republican Party. We have lost the House, the Senate and many state legislatures around the country.

McCain may finish it off.

Until the Republicans wake up and realize the mistakes they are repeatedly making, they are going to suffer loss after loss after loss.

Maybe a miracle will occur and in the next seven months people will wake up and stop McCain somehow and replace him with a new candidate.

If not, G.W. Bush and John McCain can together take the Republican Party over the cliff.

[Source]

© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

The Weekly Slant's "Quotes From The Left"

Go HERE for the source.

"Olbermann is just plain nuts!"

"The eavesdropping provisions of FISA have obviously had no impact on counterterrorism, and there is no current or perceived terrorist threat, the thwarting of which could hinge on an e-mail or a phone call that's going through room 641A at AT&T in San Francisco next week or next month. Because if there were, Mr. Bush, and you were to, by your own hand, veto an extension of this eavesdropping and some terrorist attack were to follow, you would not merely be guilty of siding with the terrorists, you would not merely be guilty of prioritizing the telecoms over the people, you would not merely be guilty of stupidity, you would not merely be guilty of treason, sir, but you would be personally and eternally responsible. And if there is one thing we know about you, Mr. Bush, one thing that you have proved time and time again under any and all circumstances, it is that you are never responsible. Good night and good luck."
–MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Bush’s threat to veto an eavesdropping bill Democrats saddled with liability exposure for telecoms in a “Special Comment” Thursday, Jan. 30 and reported by MRC’s Brad Wilmouth on NewsBusters Feb. 1

*************

DOCUMENTED PROOF: Liberal Media Loses Interest in Iraq when News isn’t All Bad

One of the nation’s biggest success stories of the decade is being virtually ignored by the liberal media -- the success of our troops in Iraq. Proving the point, MRC analysts tracked all coverage of the Iraq war on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts from September 1 through January 31. "We documented a steady decline in TV coverage of Iraq that has coincided with the improving situation in Iraq. Back in September, the three evening newscasts together broadcast 178 stories about the war in Iraq; in January, that number fell to just 47, a nearly fourfold decrease.," they said.
–CyberAlert Feb. 4, Rich Noyes, was posted Friday, with a chart, on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters

**************

N.Y. Times Sees No Problem in Denying First Amendment Protection to Opponents of Illegal Immigration

An immigrant rights advocate demands an end to free-speech rights for critics of illegal immigration, and the New York Times can’t see a problem. Citing "vigilantes" like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, the national head of "La Raza" told a National Press Club audience last week that their networks should kick them off the air for "hate speech." MRC’s Clay Waters termed the speech "shocking," and called out the NY Times and their reporter Ariel Alexovich for their seeming lack of concern about denying American journalists their free-speech rights. Quoting Alexovich – "Ms. Murguia argued that hate speech [note the absence of quotation marks around this loaded phrase] should not be tolerated, even if such censorship were a violation of First Amendment rights" – Waters wrote: "[MRC’s] Times Watch is unable to detect in Alexovich's posting a single raised eyebrow at the thought of [La Raza president] Murguia's frightening dismissal of free speech. It's a particularly bizarre omission coming from someone who works in journalism."

And last but not least:

Hillary Finally Tells Us 'Who She Is'

In what felt more like a love-in than an interview, on Nightline Jan. 30, ABC’s Cynthia McFadden asked Hillary Clinton, "When you lie awake at night...what worries you?" MRC then reported that Clinton’s long-winded answer ended with: "to whom much is given, much is required," Then: "McFadden approvingly remarked: ‘Good Methodist girl.’ In turn, Clinton accepted the compliment and asserted: ‘It is, indeed, who I am.’"
–CyberAlert Feb. 4

Get out the barf bucket...

Religion is Fire

By Amil Imani

Fire, arguably, is important to life after air, water, and food. Fire, broadly defined, is energy. And energy runs the world. It fuels the body, operates the mind, heats homes, and runs endless machines and instruments.

When energy is put to good use, it is the boon of mankind. And when it is misused or abused it is the bane of humanity. Therefore, credit or blame rests with the user of energy.

Religion is a special case of energy in the same way that steam is a derivation of fire. Steam engines move mass in physical space. Religion, emotional energy, propels people’s mind in the metaphysical realm.

Civilized societies have rules and regulations, albeit many of them flawed and imperfect, which regulate energy use. The fire of religion must also be contained in such a manner to do whatever good it may be able to do and prevent it from becoming a consuming wildfire.

There are those who have no use for religion. These people have perhaps seen so much burning and scorching by religion that they have abandoned it or have even taken active positions fighting it.

There are also those who don’t seem to be able to make do without a religion of some sort, preferably a “divine” religion. These people value the warmth that the religious fire gives them, the assurance it provides that the cold earth is not their end, and the promise that there is an eternal life of bliss after death. It is only fair that the “fire” that keeps the religionist warm not set ablaze the home of the non-religious.

Some questions for religionists:

* A belief qualifies as “divine” religion because someone claims it is?

* A belief becomes religion because millions believe in it?

* Should religion and state interlace? Which religion? The religion of the majority in any given country?

* Should being a religionist confer the person preferential status over the non-religious?

* Should religionists have complete freedom to practice their belief, even when they infringe on the rights of others?

* Should religionists have the right to vilify as heathen the people of other persuasions and those of no religious belief?

* Should religionists have the right to force their belief on others?

* Should religionists actively engage in the subjugation or elimination of the non-religious?

In civilized societies, it is granted that what is good for one person must also be good for the next. This is egalitarianism. Egalitarianism levels the playing field, where every human being must abide by the same rules of fair play. No one has a claim to special privileges for himself and his group.

With respect to religion, it matters not that someone claims that he is the emissary of the Creator; that he is bringing binding teachings from the Lord. There is no objective way of ascertaining the truth or falsehood of the claim. The claimant may be a charlatan, mentally disturbed, or indeed an emissary of the divine. What really matters is that the claimant and his claim serve the cause of the good for all of mankind and completely shun causing contention and strife among people.

The moment a religious founder begins claiming special privileges for himself and his followers, he launches a discriminating totalitarianism. This is indeed the case with Islam. Even a cursory glance at Islam’s past, as well as its present, establishes unequivocally its discriminating totalitarianism nature.

Islam is out of control fire and the jihadists are its arsonists. The generality of Muslims do their part by spreading throughout the world and setting up the conditions that would welcome the arsonists, feed and shelter them, and support them in igniting the Islamic fire.

This is exactly what is happening all over Europe where the naïve natives have deluded themselves into the fraud of multiculturalism. A generous social entitlement system in Europe, well-paying job opportunities, and higher standards of living are magnets to the horde of Muslims fleeing Islamic failed states. Ironically, these same Muslim expatriates quickly forget why they had to leave their miserable plights in their homelands and what the main cause of their misery is.

The culprit is the pathological nihilistic belief of never-mind-this-world and do Allah’s biding for gaining admission to his unimaginably magnificent pleasure paradise of the afterlife.

Islam believes in the rule of Islam, Caliphate to the Sunnis and Imamate to the Shias. Hence, to Muslims, all other forms of governments represent the handiwork of the Satan and the infidels. Therefore, one and all non-Islamic systems of government must be purified by the Islamic fire.

But marrying religion with government is stoking fire with explosive. In free democracies, governments are accountable to the people and serve at people’s pleasure. In Islamic theocracy, governments are accountable only to Allah and the people must serve at the pleasure of the government. And one can see the result of Islamic total or partial rule in eighteen or so countries, which rank among the highest nations of the world on every index of misery.

The Islamic fire fueled by immense oil income is raging in certain regions of the world, smoldering in others, and ready to ignite in yet other parts of the world. It is imperative for the free people of the world to abandon all illusions about Islam and put out its fire, once and for all. Multiculturalism, let-and-let live, is a delusion of kind-hearted naïve people. Islam, as fractured as it is, is a non-compromising mono-culture: a cruel culture of a primitive people handed down to Muhammad some 1400 years ago.

Secularists and most non-Muslim religious people respect the legitimate rights of the religionists, whereas Muslims recognize little or no rights for others. You can readily establish the validity of this assertion by looking at some eighteen or so Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and so on.

Warning to free men and women: remain a spectator at your own peril. It is imperative that you take a stand and do your part at falsifying the fraud of Islam and do all you can to prevent the Islamic fire from devouring our civilized democratic secular system.

Smash & Grab Politics

John McCain and Mike Huckabee have struck what they think is a crushing blow to Mitt Romney.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

I do fear, however, that they have caused some serious damage with their smash & grab tactics (i.e., swinging undecided McCain votes in W. Virginia to Huckabee to effectively spoil Romney’s totals). But the damage I refer to is not to any one individual, certainly not to Mitt Romney, but to the core base, the core ideals, and the credibility of the conservative party.

McCain and Huckabee (hereafter “McHuck”), individually and collectively, are allowing their personal feelings, and now collusion, to get in the way of what is right and proper for the Republican Party, for conservatism and, most importantly, for the American people.

I, and I’m sure many other clear-thinking conservatives, have seen this type of conduct hundred or more times -- always beginning in the same place: the toilets at junior high school, where little alliances were built and schemes were hatched to “trip him” on the track, or “elbow the groin” on the court, or “throw a bean ball” from the mound.

The irony is, every one of those guys who got tripped and groined and beaned went on to win trophies in their respective sports -- some even named Player of the Game, because they refused to cave in to underhanded tactics or bend under the pressure of petty jealousies. They played sports with honor and dignity and never once knelt down to the rats in the rat clubs.

Speaking of rat clubs, where do you think these vermin are now? In politics – where else? Only the Senate building toilets are somewhat cleaner but less soundproof, and you have to tip the attendants.

I woke up this morning and went to Real Clear Politics for primary updates and found in the Readers Articles section an incredibly high volume of anti-Mitt oratories, so many that they outnumber the ton of spam for generic Viagra.

These orators (no doubt on loan from Moron.org), and mincing behind McHuck, are having a field day with their diatribes against another Republican – another human being. They, like McHuck, are still in that “toilet” mentality – playing at being in junior high school, hitting the exclamation mark key again and again and again.

Guys, you can bang it a hundred more times and you still won’t achieve penetration. The only thing coming across is just how intellectually impotent you are.

Also, you’re the type who, away from your keyboards, cannot and should not be taken seriously, because if you’re expressing yourself with such viciousness behind the curtain of the Internet in a political campaign, against a fellow party member, there is no way you’re any different in private life. Family, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and especially superiors are probably also get greased, whacked and spit on in the very same way, maybe more so.

But who am I to say stop? Go ahead and spill your guts, be mean and nasty and bang away at that exclamation mark key. Just bear one thing in mind:

It will be all you Mitt haters who will be the first to whine and cry "SAVE US!" when McHuck opens the borders and there will be an infestation of even more millions of illegal aliens to plunder our city and state treasuries.

It will be your cries and shouts that will be the loudest and the longest after terrorists strike again and our economy hits the rocks -- and only then will you realize the only persons McHuck will care about saving is each other.

WARNING! WARNING !!

From Mitt Romney's campaign manager Beth Myers:

"Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain's inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney's campaign of conservative change.

"Governor Romney had enough respect for the Republican voters of West Virginia to make an appeal to them about the future of the party based on issues. This is why he led on today's first ballot. Sadly, Senator McCain cut a Washington backroom deal in a way that once again underscores his legacy of working against Republicans who are interested in championing conservative policies and rebuilding the party."

Can't argue with that.

McCain and Huckabee share two things that has fused their campaigns together. First, is a desire for power. McCain and Huckabee have shown that for them the campaign is not about ideas or the interests of the nation, but is about themselves. They desire power over principle and thus the illicit collusion between them has resulted. They have seen that Romney can beat either of them individually and so have tag-teamed Romney at the expense of conservatism.

Second, both have a deeply misguided understanding of economic issues. The real loser in the Republican race is the economy. Huckabee would have actively pit the wage-payer against the wage-earner in a fight to establish a true poverty in this nation. McCain likewise would regulate the nation into poverty with notions like cap-and-trade. Both these candidates have colluded to make the economy the biggest loser in the Republican race.

I hope McCain (Nixon) and Huckabee (Carter) are happy as our economy returns to the 1970's era stagflation and stunted growth.

I'm reminded of what Tom McClintock (who ran against Schwarzenneger) said: "It has to get worse before it gets better."

If the Democrats get their trifecta (handed to them by the big-government Republicans), then the winds will shift once taxes are raised, the economy tanks and everyone is, once again, disgusted.

At least this time they can't blame Bush.

Don't complain later that you, the conservatives, were not fairly warned, that this may become another 1976 debacle resulting in four years of wilderness politics and our economy going over the cliff -- thanks to Jimmy Carter.

McCain Has Voted for Higher Taxes More Than 50 Times

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA): "We Would Have Had A Much Bigger Tax Cut If It Was Not For John McCain." (Kathryn Jean Lopez, "A Conservative Case Against McCain," National Review, article.nationalreview.com, 1/14/08, Accessed 1/18/08)

In His Twenty-Year Senate Career, John McCain Has Voted At Least Fifty-Two Times For Higher Taxes On The American People – That's More Than Twice A Year.*

McCain Was One Of Only Two Republican Senators To Vote Against President Bush's 2001 Tax Cuts And One Of Only Three Republican Senators To Vote Against President Bush's 2003 Tax Cuts. (H.R. 1836, Senate Vote #170, Conference Report Agreed To: 58-33: R 46-2, D 12-31, 5/26/01, McCain Voted Nay; Lori Nitschke and Wendy Boudreau, "Provisions Of The Tax Law," CQ Weekly, 6/9/01; H.R. 2, Senate Vote #179, Passed 51-49: R 48-3, D 3-45, I 0-1, 5/15/03, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 2, Senate Vote #196, Conference Report Agreed To 51-50: R 48-3, D 2-46, I 0-1, With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 5/23/03, McCain Voted Nay).

And McCain Questioned The "Economic Premises" Of The Bush Tax Cuts. "Nor does McCain spare the rod in rejecting Bush's tax cuts, especially the $1.37 trillion blockbuster Bush pushed through Congress in 2001, criticizing its economic premises and its likely impact. At best, it's a long-term economic stimulus, not the immediate boost the economy needs, McCain said. 'All the predicates for the 2001 tax cuts and all the predictions for its results were absolutely, completely wrong,' he said. And it will worsen the deficit before it ever helps the economy, he added." (John Farmer, Op-Ed, "Maverick McCain Maintains A National Constituency," Newhouse News Service, 2/24/03).

McCain Has Voted At Least Seven Times Against Repealing All Or Part Of Death Tax Through 2002. (H.R. 8, CQ Vote #195: Rejected 44-54: R 3-51; D 41-3, 7/14/00, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #124: Motion Rejected 43-56: R 2-47; D 41-9, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #135: Rejected 48-51: R 6-43; D 42-8, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #132: Motion Rejected 41-58: R 1-48; D 40-10, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #149: Motion Rejected 44-54: R 4-43; D 39-11; I 1-0, 6/12/02, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 8, Senate Vote #151, Motion Rejected: 54-44, McCain Voted Nay, 6/12/02; S. 1730, Senate Vote 28, Amendment Agreed To: 56-42, McCain Voted Nay, 2/13/02).

McCain Has Voted Against Capital Gains And Dividends Tax Cuts At Least 5 Times. (H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #115: Motion Rejected 47-51: R 40-8; D 7-43; 5/21/01, McCain Voted Nay; S. 476, CQ Vote #127: Motion Agreed To 62-38: R 14-37; D 47-1; I 1-0, 4/9/03, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1054, CQ Vote #171: Adopted 51-49: R 48-3; D 2-46; I 0-1; With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 5/15/03, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 2, Senate Vote #179, Passed 51-49: R 48-3, D 3-45, I 0-1, 5/15/03, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 2, Senate Vote #196, Conference Report Agreed To 51-50: R 48-3, D 2-46, I 0-1, With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 5/23/03, McCain Voted Nay; Alan Ota And Martha Angle, "Senate Clears Tax Cut Package For Bush's Signature," CQ Today, 5/23/03).

McCain Sponsored And Voted For A Bill To Raise Cigarette Tax By $1.10 Per Pack. (S. 1415, CQ Vote #143: Motion Agreed To 72-26: R 27-26; D 45-0, 5/20/98, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1415, CQ Vote #161: Motion Rejected 57-42: R 14-40; D 43-2, 6/17/98, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1415, CQ Vote #162: Motion Rejected 53-46: R 11-43; D 42-3, 6/17/98, McCain Voted Yea; Senate Republican Policy Committee, "Tobacco Bill/Strike $755 Billion Payments," 5/20/98).

IN 2004, MCCAIN SAID HE WOULD NOT SUPPORT EXTENDING THE BUSH TAX CUTS

In 2004, McCain Said He Would Not Support Extending The Bush Tax Cuts. McCain: "I would have--I voted against the tax cuts because of the disproportionate amount that went to the wealthiest Americans. I would clearly support not extending those tax cuts in order to help address the deficit." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 4/11/04)

* (S. 1920, CQ Vote #403: Agreed To 53-41: R 21-24; D 32-17 12/10/87, McCain Voted Nay; S. 1630, CQ Vote #45: Agreed To 71-26: R 28-17; D 43-9, 3/28/90, McCain Voted Yea; S. 3209, CQ Vote #285: Rejected 49-51: R 12-33; D 37-18, 10/18/90, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 11, CQ Vote #235: Motion Agreed To 56-38: R 28-14; D 28-24, 9/24/92, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 13, CQ Vote #224: Motion Agreed To 53-47: R 44-10; D 9-37, 5/25/95, McCain Voted Nay; S. 949, CQ Vote #137: Motion Rejected 41-58: R 12-42; D 29-16, 6/26/97, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1415, CQ Vote #143: Motion Agreed To 72-26: R 27-26; D 45-0, 5/20/98, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1415, CQ Vote #161: Motion Rejected 57-42: R 14-40; D 43-2, 6/17/98, McCain Voted Yea; S. 1415, CQ Vote #162: Motion Rejected 53-46: R 11-43; D 42-3, 6/17/98, McCain Voted Yea; S. 442, CQ Vote #306: Motion Rejected 28-69: R 27-27; D 1-42, 10/07/98, McCain Voted Nay; S. 1429, CQ Vote #243: Motion Rejected 58-42: R 13-41; D 44-1; I 1-0, 7/30/99, McCain Voted Yea; S. Con. Res. 101, CQ Vote #55: Motion Agreed To 52-48: R 51-4; D 1-44, 4/05/00, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 101, CQ Vote #68: Rejected 44-56: R 5-50; D 39-6, 4/07/00, McCain Voted Yea; S. Con. Res. 101, CQ Vote #69: Adopted 51-49: R 6-49; D 45-0, 4/07/00, McCain Voted Yea; H. Con. Res. 290, CQ Vote #85: Adopted 50-48: R 50-4; D 0-44, 4/13/00, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #195: Rejected 44-54: R 3-51; D 41-3, 7/14/00, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #194: Motion Rejected 14-84: R 11-43; D 3-41, 7/14/00, McCain Voted Nay; H. Con. Res. 83, CQ Vote #71: Rejected 47-52: R 1-49; D 46-3, 4/04/01, McCain Voted Yea; H. Con. Res. 83, CQ Vote #82: Adopted 54-46: R 5-45; D 49-1, 4/05/01, McCain Voted Yea; H. Con. Res. 83, CQ Vote #84: Adopted 53-46: R 4-45; D 49-1, 4/06/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #112: Rejected 44-56: R 2-48; D 42-8, 5/17/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #115: Motion Rejected 47-51: R 40-8; D 7-43, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #117: Motion Rejected 48-51: R 3-46; D 45-5, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #124: Rejected 43-56: R 2-47; D 41-9, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #126: Rejected 49-49: R 5-44; D 44-5, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #127: Motion Rejected 43-56: R 1-48; D 42-8, 5/21/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #132: Motion Rejected 41-58: R 1-48; D 40-10, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #133: Rejected 46-53: R 2-47; D 44-6, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #135: Rejected 48-51: R 6-43; D 42-8, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #138: Rejected 46-53: R 2-47; D 44-6, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #149: Rejected 50-50: R 4-46; D 46-4, 5/22/01, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #161: Motion Rejected 49-51: R 49-1; D 0-50, 5/23/01, McCain Voted Nay; S. 1052, CQ Vote #214: Sustained 57-41: R 7-40; D 49-1; I 1-0, 6/29/01, McCain Voted Yea; S.1731, CQ Vote #28: Adopted 56-42: R 45-2; D 11-39; I 0-1, 2/13/02, McCain Voted Nay; S.1731, CQ Vote #28: Adopted 56-42: R 45-2; D 11-39; I 0-1, 2/13/02, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #151: Motion Rejected 54-44: R 45-2; D 9-41; I 0-1, 6/12/02, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #149: Motion Rejected 44-54: R 4-43; D 39-11; I 1-0, 6/12/02, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 8, CQ Vote #151: Motion Rejected 54-44: R 45-2; D 9-41; I 0-1, 6/12/02, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 23, CQ Vote #62: Adopted 51-48: R 47-4; D 4-43; I 0-1, 3/20/03, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 23, CQ Vote #68: Rejected 46-53: R 1-50; D 44-3; I 1-0, 3/21/03, McCain Voted Yea; S. Con. Res. 23, CQ Vote #106: Rejected 48-52: R 47-4; D 1-47; I 0-1, 3/26/03, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 23, CQ Vote #108: Adopted 56-44: R 50-1; D 6-42; I 0-1, 3/26/03, McCain Voted Nay; S. 476, CQ Vote #127: Motion Agreed To 62-38: R 14-37; D 47-1; I 1-0, 4/09/03, McCain Voted Yea; H. Con. Res. 95, CQ Vote #134: Adopted 51-50: R 49-2; D 1-47; I 0-1, With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 4/11/03, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 2, CQ Vote #179: Passed 51-49: R 48-3; D 3-45; I 0-1, 5/15/03, McCain Voted Nay; S. 1054, CQ Vote #171: Adopted 51-50: R 48-3; D 2-46; I 0-1, With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 5/15/03, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 2, CQ Vote #196: Adopted 51-50: R 48-3; D 2-46; I 0-1, With Vice President Cheney Casting A "Yea" Vote, 5/23/03, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 95, CQ Vote #38: Adopted 51-48: R 4-47; D 46-1; I 1-0, 3/10/04, McCain Voted Yea; H.R. 1836, CQ Vote #170: Adopted 58-33: R 46-2; D 12-31, 5/26/01, McCain Voted Nay; H.R. 4520, CQ Vote #210: Motion Agreed To 66-14: R 41-3; D 24-11; I 1-0, 10/10/04, McCain Voted Nay; S. Con. Res. 18, CQ Vote #53: Rejected 50-50: R 5-50; D 44-0; I 1-0, 3/16/05; S. 1932, CQ Vote #283: Motion Rejected 50-49: R 6-49; D 43-0; I 1-0, 11/3/05, McCain Voted Yea; S. 2020, CQ Vote #340: Motion Rejected 50-48: R 6-48; D 43-0; I 1-0, 11/17/05, McCain Voted Yea)

What Republicans Need to Know Before They Vote

Dear Fellow Romney Supporters,

We have heard a lot of feedback from Romney supporters all over the country that feel like they are not getting the real picture about Governor Romney’s chances of winning the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Many people say that the information they do receive always paints a picture of Governor Romney as losing this race. You are entitled to know how Governor Romney is truly doing in this race.

The truth is this: Governor Romney can and should win the Republican nomination for President of the United States. This is a two-man race between Governor Romney and John McCain and Governor Romney is literally only a few points/delegates behind! Senator McCain would like everyone to believe that somehow Governor Romney is too far behind to ever catch up. That is NOT true. We need to rally behind Governor Romney, because only a slight increase in support among conservatives is all that’s needed to tip the scales in favor of Governor Romney and conservative change.

People shouldn’t think that McCain has this wrapped up, and need to understand the tremendous support that Governor Romney already has.

Consider the following:

1) Governor Romney has led for most of this race and is still positioned well to win the nomination. Until recently Governor Romney has handily led the delegate count. Though he is currently in second place in the delegate count since the Florida Primary, by CNN’s count Governor Romney has 6% of the support he needs to win and John McCain has only 8%.
Translation = Governor Romney is not trailing far behind; in reality, he is right on McCain’s heels and is well-positioned to succeed in the upcoming primaries because he is the true conservative.

2) Governor Romney is the true conservative in this race. Governor Romney supported the Bush tax cuts and supports making them permanent. Governor Romney supports appointing conservative judges and justices like Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. Governor Romney will confront and defeat radical Islamic Jihad. Governor Romney can end our energy dependence on foreign oil, curb federal spending, and sustain traditional American values.
3) True conservative thinkers all support Governor Romney. For a small sampling, consider the following sources:

- Michael Reagan, son of President Ronal Reagan: http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/MichaelReagan/2008/01/31/john_mccain_hates_me

- Mark Levin: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDEzMDYzZjBkMDNhYjk0ZjdhZmJlZWNkMWQ1NjI4MGI=


- Sean Hannity: "I'll tell you right now, and I've not announced this, but I will be voting for Mitt Romney in this campaign. It's the first time I've stated it publicly. I'll state it now." ("Sean Hannity Radio Show," 1/31/08.)

- Laura Ingraham: "All right, I'm going to see your endorsement and raise you an announcement: February 12th is the big D.C. primary, I'm pulling the lever for Mitt Romney. No doubt about it. No hesitation." ("The Laura Ingraham Show," 2/1/08)

- Lars Larson: "It's time for the GOP to pick a real Republican standard bearer. I've been keeping my powder dry on this question for months till I had the chance to talk to all of the potential nominees. I've done that now, and I'm left with only one conclusion. Governor Mitt Romney is the best choice for 2008." ("The Lars Larson Show," 2/1/08)

4) Governor Romney has national support: Listed at the bottom of this email are just some of the additional names of the endorsements of Governor Romney from elected officials, national figures and several publications and newspapers.

5) Governor Romney has tremendous financial support from people just like you. Not including any of his personal contributions to his campaign, Governor Romney’s campaign has raised more money than any candidate in the history of the Republican Party. He has raised roughly $20 million more than John McCain thus far. And that financial support remains strong; in fact, the day after placing second in the New Hampshire primary—what some were calling a “big loss” to McCain—Governor Romney held a fundraiser and raised $5 million in one day. By comparison, the democrat winner in NH, Hillary Clinton, also held a fundraiser that day and raised only $700,000. This relates directly to his ability to stay the course and beat the Democrat nominee in November.

6) Governor Romney is the most electable Republican, because he can fight the fight. I just mentioned monies raised. Money will mean a lot in the coming months. John McCain is currently spending as much money as he brings in and is $4.5 million in debt. The Democrats have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and if Senator McCain becomes the nominee, he will have no money with which to compete with the Democrats. The Democrats will bury him with the sheer size of their war chests. He cannot compete with them financially.

7) Senator McCain cannot beat the Democrats by acting like a Democrat. John McCain has sided with the Democrats on issues from supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, attacking the First Amendment with campaign finance reform, opposing drilling for oil in ANWR to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, and he voted, not once, but twice against the Bush tax cuts. John McCain was reported to have considered running as John Kerry’s running mate in 2004.

We need the man who talks as well as behaves like a true Republican leader. That man is clearly not John McCain -- it is Mitt Romney.

For those who believe in a strong military, a strong economy and strong family values, we need to unite now behind Governor Romney.


Best regards,

Trent Christensen
Romney for President, Inc.
(o) 857.288.6398
(f) 857.288.6588
tchristensen@mittromney.com

Governor Romney Endorsements:

Governor Matt Blunt (Mo.)
Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (Idaho)
Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Mikolajcik
Fmr. Governor Kenny Guinn (Nev.)
Fmr.Gov. Robert Ehrlich (Maine)
Gary Marx - Dir. Judicial Confirmation Network
James Bopp Jr. - Legal counsel for the National Right to Life Committee
Jay Sekulow - Chief Counsel American Center for Law and Justice
Joe Earle - Director of Outreach Iowa Christian Alliance
Attorney General John Suthers (Col.)
Rep. Ander Crenshaw (Fla.)
Rep. Bill Shuster (Pa.)
Rep. Brian Bilbray (Calif.)
Rep. Chris Cannon (Utah)
Rep. Connie Mack IV (Fla.)
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.)
Rep. Dave Camp (Mich.)
Rep. Dennis Hastert (Ill.)
Rep. Ed Whitfield (Ky.)
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (Fla.)
Rep. Hal Rogers (Ky.)
Rep. Howard McKeon (Calif.)
Rep. Jack Kingston (Ga.)
Rep. Jim McCrery (La.)
Rep. Joe Knollenberg (Mich.)
Rep. John Campbell (Calif.)
Rep. John Carter (Texas)
Rep. Kay Granger (Texas)
Rep. Lamar Smith (Texas)
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.)
Rep. Mike Conaway (Texas)
Rep. Mike Rogers (Ala.)
Rep. Mike Simpson (Idaho)
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mich.)
Rep. Phil Gingrey (Ga.)
Rep. Ralph Regula (Ohio)
Rep. Robert Aderholt (Ala.)
Rep. Rodney Alexander (La.)
Rep. Ron Lewis (Ky.)
Rep. Tom Feeney (Fla.)
Rep. Tom Petri (Wis.)
Rep. Tom Price (Ga.)
Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.)
Rep. Vernon Ehlers (Mich.)
Rep. Virginia Foxx (N.C.)
Rep. Wally Herger (Calif.)
Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah)
Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.)
Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah)
Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.)
Sen. Wayne Allard (Colo.)
Dorothy Bush Koch - sister of Jeb & President George Bush (Tex.)
Neil Bush - brother of the President
Dr. John Wilke - Chair Right to Life Committee
The National Review
The Daily Nonpareil (IA)
The Times-Republican (IA)
Sioux City Journal (IA)
The Grand Rapids Press (MI)
The Oakland Press (MI)
Las Vegas Review Journal (NV)
Reno Gazette-Journal (NV)
Elko Daily Free Press (NV)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
Hartford Courant (CT)
Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Trent Christensen (MA)

Stop! Before you pull the lever for McCain...

Information accumulated and assembled by ANDRU BLONQUIST
Greenville, South Carolina

* * * * * *

Before you pull the lever for John McCain on Super Tuesday, please consider the following information first.

As a Mitt Romney supporter, I would prefer to convince people why they should vote for my candidate, rather than against John McCain. I’ve tried this approach for the past 18 months, but people haven’t been able to get past his religion or the false impression that he’s a flip-flopper. As governor, Romney never contradicted a position he campaigned for in 2002 and while he did change his stance on abortion, he upheld his campaign promises throughout the end of his term. You can trust that the stances he is taking for America (which are decidedly different than the needs of Massachusetts in 2002), will be consistently adhered to while he is in office.

McCain on the other hand consistently changes positions, or blatantly lies about his record. As accounts continue to surface about his private dealings with fellow legislators, staffers, and other private individuals, it is abundantly clear that John McCain is concerned about the one thing he’s always been concerned about—himself.

Perhaps you’ve resigned yourself to the “electability” argument, and believe that John McCain is the only Republican who could win in November. McCain will be the first one to tell you not to trust polls that come out 6 months before an election.

Additionally, you give the Democrats too much credit. As the economy and budget deficit worsens, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barak Obama have any credibility to solve this impending crisis. On this issue alone, John McCain would be much easier to beat since he can’t run effectively on the economy. If we nominate John McCain, it will be like nominating Bob Dole all over again.

For all you know, everything I have just said could simply be made up charges for political reasons. So I ask you to take a look at the whole picture of John McCain’s life and his accelerated advancement through the naval ranks—in spite of his poor record and actions unbecoming of a Naval officer. As you read the following story of McCain’s Naval record, compare this with Mitt Romney and answer the following questions:

• Both had influential fathers, what did this give them in life?
• Both were accepted to prestigious universities, what did they do with that opportunity?
• Both had careers that ended in high-profile positions. How did they get there?
• How do their personal and family lives compare?
• What kind of people do they associate themselves with?
• What have these two candidate shown that they are good at?

McCain Navy Record:

John Sidney McCain III entered the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in 1954. Young McCain wanted to become an admiral. He planned to be the "first son and grandson of four star admirals" to achieve such a distinction. But that was not to be. McCain III possessed none of the innate character and discipline traits that helped mold his father and grandfather into great military leaders.

His father, John S. "Junior" McCain, and grandfather, John S. McCain, Sr., were famous four-star Admirals in the U.S. Navy. His father commanded U.S. forces in Europe before becoming commander of American forces fighting in Vietnam. His grandfather commanded naval aviation at the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. Both men became highly influential in U.S. Navy operations.

At the Academy, aside being known as a "rowdy, raunchy, underachiever" who resented authority, Cadet McCain became infamous as a leader among his fellow midshipmen for organizing "off-Yard activities" and hard drinking parties. Robert Timberg wrote in his book, The Nightingale's Song, that "being on liberty with John McCain was like being in a train wreck."

McCain's grades were "marginal." He drew so many demerits for breaking curfew and other discipline issues that he graduated fifth from the bottom of the class of 1958. Despite his low "class standing," and no doubt because of the influence of his family of famous Admirals, McCain was leap-frogged ahead of more qualified applicants and granted a coveted slot to be trained as a navy pilot.

Good Party Animal - Bad Pilot:

He spent the next two and a half years as a "naval aviator in training" at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, flying A-1 Skyraiders.

While a pilot trainee, McCain continued to party hard. He drove a Corvette and dated an exotic dancer named "Marie the Flame of Florida." Timberg wrote that McCain "learned to fly at Pensacola, though his performance was below par, at best good enough to get by. He liked flying, but didn't love it."

McCain Lost Five Military Aircraft:

McCain, the "below par" pilot, eventually lost 5 military aircraft, the first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land. The Navy ignored the crash and graduated McCain in 1960.

While deployed in the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Timberg described the crash: "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral."

Unscathed, McCain returned to Pensacola Station where he was promoted to flight instructor for Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi. The airfield at Meridian, McCain Field, was named in honor of McCain's grandfather.

In 1964 McCain became involved with Carol Shepp, a model from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he had met at Annapolis. They were married in Philadelphia on July 3, 1965.

Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. Timberg wrote that McCain radioed, "I've got a flameout" before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain parachuted onto a beach moments before his plane slammed into a clump of trees.

The Navy dismissed the crash as "unavoidable" and assigned McCain to the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in December 1966, which was patrolling the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. In Spring 1967, the Forrestal was assigned to join the Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet. McCain escaped, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors. McCain was transferred from the badly damaged Forrestal to the USS Oriskany. Shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese.

Post-POW Years: Political Ambition and a New, Young, Rich Wife:

Upon his release from North Vietnam and return to the United States in 1973, McCain reunited with his wife, Carol, who had been permanently crippled in a car accident while he was a POW.

Still yearning to become an admiral, McCain enrolled in the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. and underwent physical therapy in order to fly again. The Navy excused his permanent disabilities and reinstated him to flight status, effectively positioning him for promotion.

Timberg described McCain's advancement: "in the fall of 1974, McCain was transferred to Jacksonville as the executive officer of Replacement Air Group 174, the long-sought flying billet at last a reality. A few months later, he assumed command of the RAG, which trained pilots and crews for carrier deployments. The assignment was controversial, some calling it favoritism, a sop to the famous son of a famous father and grandfather, since he had not first commanded a squadron, the usual career path."

While Executive Officer and later as Squadron Commander McCain used his authority to arrange frequent flights that allowed him to carouse with subordinates and "engage in extra-marital affairs."

This was a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice rules against adultery and fraternization with subordinates. But, as with all his other past behaviors, McCain was never penalized; instead he always got away with his transgressions.

Timberg wrote, "Off duty, usually on routine cross-country flights to Yuma and El Centro, John started carousing and running around with women. To make matters worse, some of the women with whom he was linked by rumor were subordinates . . . At the time the rumors were so widespread that, true or not, they became part of McCain's persona, impossible not to take note of."

In early 1977, Admiral Jim Holloway, Chief of Naval Operations promoted McCain to captain and transferred him from his command position "to Washington as the number-two man in the Navy's Senate liaison office. McCain was promptly given total control of the office. It wasn't long before the "fun loving and irreverent" McCain had turned the liaison office into a "late-afternoon gathering spot where senators and staffers, usually from the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, would drop in for a drink and the chance to unwind."

In 1979, while attending a military reception in Hawaii, McCain met and fell in love with Cindy Lou Hensley, 17 years his junior, who was the daughter of James W. Hensley, a wealthy Anheuser-Busch distributor from Phoenix, Arizona. McCain filed for and obtained an uncontested divorce from his wife in Florida on April 2, 1980 and promptly married Cindy on May 17, 1980.

He resigned from the Navy in 1981 and went to work for his father-in-law in Phoenix; where he used the opportunity to make powerful and wealthy friends in Arizona including banker Charles Keating and Duke Tully, the editor-in-chief of the Arizona Republic. Keating was later convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy and Tully was disgraced for concocting a phony military record of combat in Korea and Vietnam including medals for heroism.

McCain ran for Arizona's First Congressional District in 1982. McCain won the congressional seat. In 1987 McCain was elected to the US Senate.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1961665/posts (see the comments section below)

Addtionally…

“… But there was one subject that was off-limits, a subject the Arizona senator almost never brings up and has never been open about -- his long-time opposition to releasing documents and information about American prisoners of war in Vietnam and the missing in action who have still not been accounted for. Since McCain himself, a downed Navy pilot, was a prisoner in Hanoi for 5 1/2 years, his staunch resistance to laying open the POW/MIA records has baffled colleagues and others who have followed his career. Critics say his anti-disclosure campaign, in close cooperation with the Pentagon and the intelligence community has been successful. Literally thousands of documents that would otherwise have been declassified long ago have been legislated into secrecy.“

*************

John McCain has a life-long record of bad decisions, with one good decision getting far too much weight. As a prisoner in Vietnam he was given the choice to get out due to the high-profile position his father held in the US Navy. John McCain decided to stay and follow the “first-in, first-out” rule for prisoner conduct. That was a good decision. It showed loyalty to his fellow servicemen—whether prisoners or not, and it has garnered him the title of hero. But doing heroic things doesn’t mean you have a heroic character. Did this decision change John McCain? Did he become a loyal, altruistic, and selfless person? No.

• He was not loyal to his first wife
• He has not been loyal to the Republican Party
• He has not been loyal to conservative principles
• He has not been loyal to constitutional principles
• He has not been loyal to conservative voters

The traits that we associate with John McCain the war hero are not the traits that John McCain the person possesses. Please consider this when you vote on Super Tuesday. This is the last chance we have to salvage the conservative coalition by selecting a conservative to represent our party. And with the challenges we face as a country, we need a proven problem-solver and not a hero in name only.

If you consider yourself a conservative, forward this to at least 10 people. The clock is ticking.

John McCain Hates Me

By Michael Reagan

January 31, 2008

Until last night, when I watched the Republican debate, I had no idea how much John McCain dislikes me and just about everybody else but Rudy Giuliani, who, if you believe The New York Times, is a pretty good hater himself.

As I watched McCain and Governor Romney go at it during the debate at the Reagan Library, I was struck by the huge gap that separates McCain -- whose contempt for his fellow humans is patently obvious -- and my dad, Ronald Reagan, who had nothing but the deepest affection and respect for the American people.

The feeling is mutual between McCain and me. I don't like the way he treats people. You get the impression that he thinks everybody is beneath him. He seems to be saying, "I was a war hero, and you had damn well better treat me as your superior."

He has contempt for conservatives who he thinks can be duped into thinking he's one of them, despite such blatantly anti-conservative actions as his support for amnesty for illegal immigrants, his opposition to the Bush tax cuts which got the economy rolling again, and his campaign finance bill which skewed the political process and attacked free speech.

I am appalled by his contempt for the intelligence of his listeners when he flat-out lies and expects them to believe what he says even when the truth is staring them in the face.

A prime example cited by columnist Robert Novak was McCain's denial that he had privately suggested that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was too conservative, insisting that he recalled saying no such thing, adding that Alito was a "magnificent" choice.

"In fact," wrote Novak, "multiple sources confirm that the senator made negative comments about Alito nine months ago."

In last night's debate, McCain stubbornly defended his charge, false on the face of it, that Romney wanted a deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"I have never, ever supported a specific timetable for withdrawing troops," Romney said, adding that McCain's accusation on the eve of Tuesday's primary "...sort of falls into the dirty tricks that I think Ronald Reagan would have found reprehensible."

What Romney said last April, was merely that U.S. and Iraqi leaders "have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about" in private, which in no way suggests he was in any sense talking about troop withdrawals.

Despite the evidence, McCain charged that "of course he said he wanted a timetable" for a withdrawal, even though he had never said any such thing. It was McCain daring to ask us if we wanted to believe our lying eyes or his demonstrably false allegation.

McCain must think conservatives are dumb enough to allow him to get away with claiming he's one of them. This is from a man who opposed drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and who twice voted against President Bush's tax cuts and sponsored the campaign-finance reform legislation that Romney claimed "took a whack at the First Amendment."

In John McCain's eyes, conservatives are the Viet Cong of this generation, and he treats us as such. It's either his way or no way.

I despise his habit of talking down to us, like a wise father to an idiot son. He's just at a loss to understand why everybody doesn't grovel at his feet and accept his every word as wisdom handed down from his lofty perch atop Mt. Olympus.

I can't help it. I know in my heart he hates me, and every conservative. If he gets the nomination. the only way he could win against Hillary or Barack Obama would be to be part of a McCain-Limbaugh ticket.

Bob Novak Confirm's McCain's Alito Comment

By Kyle Hampton

Robert Novak confirms what John Fund said last week: McCain has serious reservations about conservative jurists like Justice Alito. Novak writes:

I found what McCain could not remember: a private, informal chat with conservative Republican lawyers shortly after he announced his candidacy in April 2007. I talked to two lawyers who were present whom I have known for years and who have never misled me. One is neutral in the presidential race, and the other recently endorsed Mitt Romney. Both said they were not Fund's source, and neither knew I was talking to the other.

As I said last week in response to Fund’s assertion:

As for the judges, this is truly disturbing. Alito is no Ann Coulter, a provacative figure that takes pleasure in deriding McCain's friends across the aisle. He is a thoughtful and intelligent jurist whose measured approach has been a model of restraint. To say that Alito wears his conservatism on his sleeve is just patently false. If Alito's conservatism is worn on his sleave, there are few conservatives that do not.Moreover, this issue gets at the question of McCain's ability to judge the judicial philosophy of judicial nominees. If Alito's conservatism is too provacative, principled jurists like Scalia and Thomas would certainly be excluded. We have had many Republican presidents who have been unable to distinguish between conservative and liberal jurists. President Eisenhower nominated two of the most liberal judges (Warren and Brennan) the court has ever had. Gerald Ford nominated Justice Stevens. Bush 41 famously got "Soutered" by one of his picks to the Supreme Court. All of these misteps have further entrenched liberal ideology and seriously hindered true conservative change.

Ed Morrissey over at Captain's Quarters says this:

This actually makes it slightly worse. The Fund quote implied that McCain wouldn't appoint an Alito because he thought Alito was too overtly conservative. Novak's report shows that it wasn't Alito's overtness, but his conservatism that McCain found unattractive. That won't help convince conservatives to trust McCain on judicial nominations.

--Posted By Kyle to My Man Mitt at 1/31/2008 10:22:00 AM

The Encyclopedia Mittanica

Here's a laundry list of lies, fabrications, breaches of ethics, etc., etc., etc., committed by John McCain... and it's only the tip of the iceberg.


By Mike Laub

http://myclob.pbwiki.com/McCain

Economics
Mccain uses class class warfare. Class warfare is bad.
Mccain does not understand the economy.

Leadership
Mccain has had not executive experience.

Hypocrisy
Mccain is a hypocrite.
Mccain supported the same kind of benchmarks that Romney did.

Lies
Mccain lied about Romney.

Democrats
Mccain is the Democrats' favorite Republican.
John Mccain has more democrat friends that republican.
John Mccain is not a very good republican.
Mccain is friends with Hillary.
Mccain is friends with John Kerry.
Mccain is friends with Ted Kennedy.

General
John Mccain is not the best republican candidate.

Anger
McCain does not have the diplomacy skills necessary to be a president.
McCain has an anger problem.
McCain has made a lot of enemies.
McCain is mean.
McCain has problems with self control.
McCain is arrogant.
McCain holds grudges.
McCain is in denial with regard to his anger problem.
McCain personally attacks anyone who disagrees with his policies.
Anger is a problem.
Mccain uses personal attacks instead of talking issues.

Flip-Flops
McCain flip-flops.
Mccain changed on Jerry Falwell.
Mccain flip-flopped on Abortion.
McCain flip-floped on Bush tax cuts.
McCain flip-flopped on torture.
McCain flip-flopped on Kyoto.
McCain flip-flopped on gay marriage.
McCain flip-flopped on ethanol.
McCain flip-flopped on the confederate flag.
McCain flip-flopped on the Iraq War.
McCain flip-flopped on immigration.
Mccain flip-flopped on taxes.
McCain flip-flopped on ethics reform.
Mccain flip-flopped on Mcccain-Kennedy.
Mccain flip-flopped on the bush tax cuts.

Women
McCain will have a problem getting female voters, especially against Hillary.

Senate
Few people like Mccain in the Senate.

Issues
John McCain is not very good on taxes.
John McCain is not very good on the economy.
John McCain is stubborn.
John McCain will loose to the dems.
John McCain will hurt the republican party more than Bush.


If we don't stand for issues, then we're just a party of personalities and will have nothing.


Jan 26, 2008; Research Briefing: "She And John McCain Are Very Close"
Jan 26, 2008; MCCAIN: "LEADING THE CHARGE ON THE OTHER SIDE"
Jan 23, 2008; Straight Talk Detour: Sen. McCain: "I Would Clearly Support Not Extending Those Tax Cuts..."