First Chris Wallace, then Bill O’Reilly, and now Fox and Friends.
Despite liberals finding a bigger threat from the Fox News Channel than from Al Queda, the democrats running for President have decided to try and actually talk to people that may disagree with them.
Make no mistake about it. The democrats would be happy talking to people in only 18 states if they could win elections that way. They detest the 32 states that make up Middle America. Having to campaign in flyover country with people they have contempt for is a nuisance. Had the democrats won in 2000 or 2004 (For those who say the democrats did win, cry me a river. You are not sitting in the Oval Office), they would continue to run the same 18 state strategy.
Therefore, this sudden willingness to talk to red state America is one of political expediency, not altruism.
Despite the fact that Chris Wallace is an accomplished journalist, Bill Clinton waved his finger at him in a manner to that says, “I am a liar, and you ask tough questions.” Apparently Barack Obama found Mr. Wallace to be a man made of water, blood, and plasma, like most actual people. He did an interview with Mr. Wallace that went well.
Hillary Clinton, while claiming to be a God fearing Christian, was interviewed by a man the left considers to be the anti-Christ, Bill O’Reilly. A thorough analysis of Mr. O’Reilly’s history shows that he is not Stalin or Pol Pot, and was not responsible for the Holocaust or 9/11. Apparently he seems to be just the host of a news opinion show.
Despite the liberals castigating Bill O’Reilly at every turn, Hillary had no problem appearing on his program when it appeared that some voters may disagree with her. She fared well.
Getting elected is about cold, hard mathematics. Fox News gets higher ratings than their opponents combined. This could mean that most of America is republican, a delightful but wrong conclusion. The left would like to think that every viewer is doing opposition research. Again, this is fantasy. The bottom line is that there are simply many people in America that find the quality of the news better on this station. The same people that cite Presidential poll numbers as the end all be all ignore television ratings, and their own polling, when it ceases to be beneficial.
Now both Obama and Hillary have visited “Fox and Friends.” This show is about as substantive as “The View,” but without the rancor, anger, bitterness, and hostile estrogen.
The reason for the current and sudden lovefest is because Indiana and North Carolina are red states, and these people do watch Fox News. Fox News covered both candidates addressing the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Indiana. While this was not an official “debate” per se, both candidates addressed the crowd. To Hillary’s chagrin, she spoke first, with Obama being the headliner speaking last.
Before getting to their remarks, I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing their going on Fox News. Yes it is cynical, but doing the right things for the wrong reasons is still doing the right thing. It would be nice if they actually respected Middle America, but showing up is better than not showing up at all.
I did not cover their remarks in their entirety because a majority of it was boilerplate. This is also not a criticism, but freshness requires being different, whether a campaigner or a blogger. I took their key remarks, and offered my own analysis.
With that, here are the remarks from them both, starting with Hillary.
“I am endorsed by Hugh Shelton, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
Of course, she is also supported by Wesley Clark. Shelton was Clark’s former boss, and he found Clark to be unethical. He never said why.
“Republicans should be so embarrassed by the last 7 years that they would just hand over the keys.”
Hillary always did have a sense of entitlement. I could make a cheap remark about taking away Bill Clinton’s keys, but that would make me as nasty as Hillary. Hillary made over 100 million dollars recently during the Bush years. She should give it back.
The Bush economy has been just as good as the Clinton economy, if not better. Bill Clinton had his Presidency “book-ended” by recessions in 1992 and 2000. The Clintons judge his Presidency by the years in the middle, which is fair. President Bush has had rough book-ends in 2000 and 2008. The middle was very successful economically despite much tougher circumstances.
“John McCain has the wrong ideas for America. He wants to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years.”
Hillary again lied. This story has been repeatedly debunked. He would keep them there in a peacekeeping rule similar to South Korea, not in a combat rule.
“Republicans don’t see a purpose to taking care of children.”
Some remarks are too disgusting for everybody except Hillary. This remark qualifies.
“We should hold Wall Street Moneybrokers responsible for their role in this recession.”
Wall Street creates thousands of jobs, including one for Chelsea Clinton, whose actual “work” she does at a hedge fund is top secret. She has every right to campaign for her mom, but I wonder how she can be effective at her job missing that many days of, again, “work.” Wall Street Moneybrokers are some of the top donors to the Clinton, with former Goldman Sachs executive Robert Rubin still leading the charge.
“I will take on the oil companies.”
The oil companies are not the problem. Corporate America is usually the solution, and in the case of high oil prices, not the problem. The problem is crooked Arab Governments, some of whom are even closer to the Clintons than the Bushes.
Her desire to tax “windfall profits” is what Vladimir Putin did in Russia. If oil companies start losing money, will Hillary then give what she confiscated back?
“I know how to create good jobs and keep good jobs in America.”
No she doesn’t. She complains about companies getting tax breaks and then going overseas, but this is a lie. They go overseas because they are getting tax breaks from other countries. It is very easy to make a tax break conditional on staying in America. Hillary wants attack corporations, and then she wonders why they want to leave.
“I am no shrinking violet. I will never quit until the job is finished.”
She is right. She is combative. The only problem is she combative towards corporations and republicans. She cannot unite people because she wants to destroy those who stand in her way. Her brief tenure in the Senate had her bipartisan moments, which were calculated, triangulated, and overstated. Her entire career is one of refusing to work with people, leading to debacles such as failed health care reform.
“I always admired the grit of the guys in the movie ‘Hoosiers.'”
She has also always been a Yankee fan. This is a fairly harmless lie, but a lie nonetheless.
“We will take our constitution out of cold storage.”
It’s a great line, but we should take her out of cold storage and use her lips to open up beer bottles. She comes across as frozen solid, lacking any warmth or human emotion.
Obama then had his turn.
Obama thanked many people, and in a very classy gesture, thanked Evan Bayh, who is supporting Hillary. Unlike Hillary, Obama does not see opponents as enemies.
Obama also thanked Howard Dean for handling the stress of the campaign, in his usual graceful manner. This was not a joke.
“During the 15 months of this campaign, babies that were born are now walking.”
The man may blather, but much of his blather is harmless.
“Working in the factory involves earning more than a living. It is about earning dignity and a feeling of worth.”
Again, this says nothing, but is truthful and pleasant.
“Where is that America today?”
Obama rattled off a bunch of good things about America before 2000, and then offered a bunch of problems since 2000. This is called cherry picking. Like Hillary, Obama also did well during the Bush years. He should also give it all back.
“We have veterans issues, single parents, health care issues, and CEOs getting rich.”
This happened a long time ago. There were homeless people before 2000, and single parents have existed forever. Heck, one single parent even began a religious faith. George W. Bush believes in that faith, so i guess the problem of single parentage is his fault, and not cancerous liberal programs that destroy families.
“There have been fundamental economic shifts that have shipped jobs elsewhere.”
Yes Barack, it is called globalization. Life is about adapting, and we all have to adapt. There is outsourcing, as well as insourcing. Businesses take their business where they can sell more of their products and services. This is basic Economics 101, which apparently Hillary and Obama have flunked. The way to keep businesses here is to stop trying to steal their profits in the name of fairness.
“Telecommunications revolutions mean jobs can be sent anywhere.”
Again, this is something positive. Nobody likes to lose a job. Yet adapting means learning new skills. We did not preserve the dinosaurs. They died out because they could not adapt. Trying to preserve the horse and buggy is not the answer. More free trade, not less, is the answer.
“Politics did not lead me to working people. Working people led me to politics.”
Liberals are not wrong because they are boring an tiresome. They are boring and tiresome because they are wrong.
“We can’t afford tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas.”
We can’t afford liberals that want to drive corporations overseas by taxing them out of a healthy economic existence.
“We can’t afford four more years of George W. Bush policies even though John McCain is the one presenting them.”
We can’t afford another version of Al Gore or John Kerry, who become wealthy themselves while acting ina smug and condescending manner towards those in Middle America that want to become wealthy themselves.
“There are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, and others who keep us from quality health care.”
The USA has the best health care system in the world. Drug companies spend billions trying to create new drugs and save lives. Insurance companies protect families.
“We cannot continue to check polls before we check our principals. We cannot calculate before we act on our convictions.”
Tell that to Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Then again, compared to Hillary, you are principled, but that is a low standard.
“We do not need a gas tax holiday, we need another round of rebates.”
We should repeal the gas tax entirely. That was enacted by Bill Clinton. Rebates were enacted by President Bush. Does this mean Obama supports Bush’s proposal?
“Does anybody trust the oil companies? It is a Shell game…literally.”
Nice job Barack. It is bad enough to attack an entire industry. Now you are attacking an individual company. I want to know if Barack Obama has ever owned stock in Shell Oil or any other oil company. He should be forced to donate any profits to charity. After all, those are windfall profits, and he did nothing to earn them, because investing in the stock market, according to liberals, is not real work.
“Apparently McCain’s conscience got waylayed on the path to the republican nomination. The wheels fell off of the Straight Talk Express.”
Obama and Hillary are not fit to shine McCain’s shoes. Pastor Wright should be fair discussion. Obama and his wife do not get to decide when the discussion is closed.
“There is no reason to give tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas.”
Mr. Obama, sit down and be quiet. You know less than nothing on this issue.
“We can tax the record profits of the oil companies and use that money to invest in solar power.”
Mr. Obama, I would like to confiscate your Senate salary and give it to homeless people. After all, why should you be given so much money to do nothing?
“I don’t want teachers teaching to the test. I want them teaching what they love.”
I don’t want teachers teaching what they love. I want them to shut up and stick to the bloody syllabus. Maybe if teachers did that our students wouldn’t be so far behind other nations today.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both disasters. As for who “won” this unofficial Indiana debate, I will let the polls on Tuesday answer that. In terms of economics, they are both losers. Only a loser could fail to understand that low corporate taxes, low capital gains taxes, increased free trade, and allowing companies to invest their own hard earned profits as they see fit are the factors that drive the economic engine.
Only a loser would complain about a non-recession recession in 2008, and use that top invalidate an economy from 2001-2007 that has been spectacular. Black home ownership hit an all time high, as did the stock market.
Yes, some speculative bubbles burst because all speculative bubbles burst. Yes, some irresponsible Americans bought homes they could not afford and then tried to blame greedy lenders.
Until Obama and Hillary open up their investment portfolios, they should shut up. I suspect they own oil stocks, drug stocks, financial stocks such as stock brokerages and insurance companies, and real estate stocks and other mortgage backed securities. All of the profits from these stocks should be confiscated and put into a “green” mutual fund that loses money but makes them feel better.
This will never happen. Democrats may bash republicans getting wealthy, but they certainly do not mind keeping that wealth. Republicans want everybody to get wealthy. People in Indiana understand this. This is why they have voted republican the last few decades.
eric
I’ve just got around to reading your comment on my blog. Do you want to do a link exchange?
“The Bush economy has been just as good as the Clinton economy…”
“The USA has the best health care system in the world. Drug companies spend billions trying to create new drugs and save lives. Insurance companies protect families.”
“Yes, some irresponsible Americans bought homes they could not afford and then tried to blame greedy lenders.”
It’s like I’m peering into an alternate universe…
JMJ
You would know
Shelton never said why about Clark because he was a consultant for John Edwards at the same time. Both Edwards and Clark were campaigning against one another and Hugh wanted to help the cause. HMMMM
I served under then COL Hugh Shelton in the 82d. Pretty straight-forward guy, but my serving under him doesn’t mean he may or may not have had an agenda with Wesley Clark many years later. I just know that in my military circles, Shelton was known as a stand-up guy who cared about Soldiers. Clark was known as a perfumed prince who cared about Gen Clark. (perfumed prince coined from the late David Hackworth)…
Lest the above post is misinterpreted, I no longer hold the same regard for GEN (R) Shelton. Yes, while active, he took care of Soldiers. Since he became an advisor, he, too, seems to be taking care of himself. So, if I’d had the wherewithal, I would have retracted my above comment and maintained radio listening silence. Since I couldn’t, I just wasted y’all’s time arguing with myself. If there’s a take-away, it would be that I question both of their judgement in endorsing the former first lady.
Well, I am waitiung for Obama to come and have a beer with us rednecks in Colorado. I will, just for him, take up tobbaco chewing, wear a huge switchblade tucked in my bely, and carry a sawed off shotgun, just for the occaision. he better really hold onto his beer though, not a sissy grip like he did with that Bud…
ROFLMAO!
Hack actualy one time said that Clark was about the best example of a perfumed prince that he could think of.
No one would ever question Hack and his military experience and his patriotism. That being said to classify Clark as a perfumed prince leads me to believe that Hack just became another hack in desperately trying to gain recognition and staying power in the public eye. We know about Clark,s wounds in Nam ,what about Hacks?
R Call, Maybe it wasn’t fair for Hack to label Clark accordingly – I didn’t always agree with Hack’s assessments, and that’s how we began communicating shortly before his death – I felt a couple of his articles were a little over the top, called him on it, which led to some interesting discussions His labeling GEN Clark as a perfumed prince implied that leaders at the time hadn’t paid their dues and were more political than Soldier-friendly leaders. Hence, Hack’s starting the Soldiers for the Truth – an effort that I have not looked at and may get angry about when I do! I hope I am surprised.
Clark: one Silver Star, one purple heart, a Bronze Star with OLC (oak leaf cluster)
Hack: Distinguished Service Cross w/ OLC, Silver Star with NINE OLC, Bronze Star with V (valor) and 7 OLC, 7 for heroism, Purple Heart with 7 OLC (wounded 8 times)…
Jesus never intended to create a new religion.He just wanted to make the Jewish to better understand their own faith and what as he understood their faith to be.
The Christian faith as we know it’s “adulterated” version was sarted a 100 years or more later, and has barely a resemblance to Jesus of Nazareth’s belief’s.
For all we know those alive 2000 years from now may rever Elvis of Tupelo and call themselves
Presleyans.