Thoughts From A Texan

Just received this from a friend…be careful of such spam.

The lovely NYTs recently published an editorial titled “Mr. McCain and the Economy” where they lay full blame on the Republicans and John McCain for not trying to regulate any of the financial market.

Such blanket blaming is foolish, and - especially against Republicans in this case - unfounded. As my letter to the editor said:

“Your recent editorial claims that regulatory inaction “championed” by Republicans and Senator McCain in areas like finance has caused economic “failure”.  

Yet, as your newspaper reported in 2003 (“New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae”), economic culpability does not lie with the Republicans if one believes regulation to be the solution. Interest by the Bush administration and congressional Republicans to strengthen government oversight of Fannie and Freddie met ardent opposition from Democrats who ignored the foretelling reports and the broken lending system.

In 2005, Senator McCain cosponsored the “Federal Regulatory Reform Act” citing “the enormous risk…to the economy as a whole” from Fannie and Freddie.

Senator Obama condemns Senator McCain as economically out-of-touch, but Obama’s considerable campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie totaling $126,349 and his appointment of two former Fannie and Freddie CEOs as economic advisors might make one rethink who is actually out-of-touch.”

Saw that infamous clip of the “Singing for Change” Obama kids and had to throw this together. Pass it along!

I must apologize for not consistently posting these last few weeks. I’ve been in the process of finishing up some outstanding work and getting situated back in Chicago.

I promise though that I will be consistently posting from now on it so come back to check out new videos, news tips, political perspectives, and interviews.

Thanks for reading and viewing!

-Tex

So we’re in a presidential election that is supposed to be head-to-head between the persona of McCain and Obama, but, quite amusing - as attested by Obama’s misquote - all of the oxygen has been sucked out of the room by Sarah Palin. Understandably, we’ve been hearing about McCain, Obama, and even Biden for such a long time, and the media has come to the table with rumbling stomachs to gobble up the newest dish on the political circuit: Sarah Palin.

The Palin pick - the greatest political risk for McCain - has truly become the greatest political payoff for McCain. From the email rumors (similiar in passion and irrationality to the Obama email crusade), to questions surrounding Palin’s religious roots, to Palin’s fresh appeal, to innocent or mistaken gaffes by Biden (stem-cell research hit) and Obama (lipstick hit), Palin has surely stolen the media’s spotlight and, for the most part, all of this exposure is propitious for the McCain campaign as the Democrats must be on the defensive due to Republican counter-attacks, and (moreover) McCain can just stand back and do no harm.

There’s obviously so much to say about this campaign with Palin’s inclusion; I don’t have the time to go into detail here and will only briefly address the Palin-lipstick controversy.

Here’s Palin using her signature line:

Here’s Obama saying his controversial line:

Here’s McCain Campaign Ad Response (yes, already):

My Thoughts:

• Obama would not strategically make this statement directly referencing Palin; no reason, no profit.
• Obama made this statement in context while criticizing McCain’s economic policy (both campaigns have adopted the “change” theme which is interesting to note and comment on - as I will soon).
• Still, Obama must be conscious of his words and the consequential abyss of the ol’ short, damning sound byte.
• And Obama, with his history of unintentional but costly gaffes, has to be cautious.
• His statement is relevant and innocent in its assertion but Obama should have recognized that any reference to lipstick would bring forth comparisons with Palin, who has identified herself with that lipstick-pitbull quote.
• The audience Obama was addressing recognized this as evident through their reaction to Obama’s statement and post-townhall interviews.
• Obama prudently - and somewhat effectively - responded this morning (making it about you…the voter) but the damage has been done, Obama had to remain on the defensive, McCain remained out of sight, and the blogosphere and media has already had their fun with the quote.

And speaking of the media focusing attention on Palin even as a result of all the attacks on her…I came across this video of Matt Damon. Damon could have a good point if he focused his time railing on Palin’s foreign policy inexperience. However, Damon (and his fellow gullible), being sucked up with all these internet rumors, have pushed the major news outlets like CNN and FoxNews to produce feature segments on Palin with a fact-check purpose. And, for the most part, these segments make Palin look good and these accusations make her detractors look misinformed. The dinosaur quote came from a “Fake Sarah Palin Quotes” blog entry. The book banning assertion comes from internet rumors as well; yes, Palin had discussed controversial content in a few books with the local librarian when she was mayor but no action was taken and all we have is assumption.

My mother received an email yesterday from a Cali friend of hers that had video of Alaskans “hunting” from a helicopter while claiming Palin supports such “atrocity”. The “hunting” video was actually showing Alaskans shooting wild wolves - a boundless population in Alaska - that threaten the livestock of caribou and other animals that would be at risk otherwise. And yes, the Alaskan government approves of this action in order to conserve the animal populations. I’ll try to get a hold of the email later.

Oh wait…I forgot to even mention Obama’s hypocrisy in denouncing “opposition research”, while now pushing for research against Palin - not to mention the Democrat-backed investigation currently underway in Alaska; I’ll highlight who the investigators are and their partisan agenda later.

Well, we’ve now reached the time of the election when both sides will be pointing fingers and crying “new lows” in the campaign. We’ve been suffering so much with all the hellish political back-and-forth for so long this election cycle, and we’ve just entered the next circle.

Much Love,

Tex

Sorry for not being the most articulate and well-spoken here; I was rushing to my spot to cover the Convention.

I meant to bring up the tax on businesses and consumption as well for Obama; his plan also applies to families earning less than what I said.

I’m at 4:29. Christina follows.