McCain/Palin: It's Official - GOP Runs Reform Ticket

John McCain made it official tonight - he has accepted the call to duty as the candidate for the Republican Party!

But he did not do it quietly. John McCain issued a warning to all politicians and lobbyists - "A Change Is Coming". That change is in the form of a new deal, a break from Partisan Politics and a break from corruption and business as usual in Washington DC. John McCain promises to lead the nation in a much needed reform of her leaders and their corruption.

How better can John McCain, Republican Candidate for the Presidency, show the citizens of this country that his promise of actual change - of actual reform in DC - is true? Sarah Palin.

John McCain and Sarah Palin represent the most frightening duo to the status quo in the District of Columbia, quoting John McCain:

"I’m not in the habit of breaking promises to my country and neither is Governor Palin. And when we tell you we’re going to change Washington, and stop leaving our country’s problems for some unluckier generation to fix, you can count on it. And we’ve got a record of doing just that, and the strength, experience, judgment and backbone to keep our word to you.”

For years I have held a disdain for Senator John McCain - for his often liberal legislation that struck at the very core of what I believed. And I will make the admission now that this ill feeling was partisan in nature... McCain broke ranks with the Republicans on one too many issues.

However, with the selection of Sarah Palin and the message delivered tonight, I believe that I can truly support the mission that John McCain is taking on - a mission of reform.

The GOP needs reform from her ranks swollen with corruption.

The Democrats need reform from their corrupt dealings within the once highly respected offices in the federal government.

Washington DC needs reform from it's Pork Barrell ways, aimed at encouraging lobbyists and providing a breeding ground for scandal and corruption.

And the federal government needs reform from a set of rules and regulations put in place in a time when business and the world worked much differently under very different technologies.

John McCain is taking the mantra from Obama - and promises to deliver true Change.

Obama's change is that of increasing government influence in our daily lives - changing from a libertarian based society to a socialist based society.

McCain's change is that of fixing the ills in the government, reducing it's size, and ensuring that the citizens are released from the authoritarian society we fear, and are allowed to live locally under more personal responsibility - the way this country was intended in it's founding.

Sarah Palin was the ticket for me. John McCain has won my endorsement and my vote!

The Bold and the Beautiful… and the Pitbull!

Consider Sarah Palin officially introduced to the nation! Now the voters of America know what I have been trying to explain for nearly a year – Sarah Palin is the future of the Republican Party, and the Democrats’ worst nightmare!

Her speech last night was feminine, but firm; showing that a Hockey Mom from small town America truly does have what it takes to lead this nation. For all the slander and slime that the liberal left has attempted to throw her way over the last five days, Sarah Palin delivered a bold “Shame On You!” with her cheeky yet inspiring address at the RNC.

"I think Sarah Palin can do a one-two punch better than Muhammad Ali," Kansas state Sen. Karin Brownlee said after the speech. "And I think she delivered it just square on the opponents' face. I think she has energized the Republican Party like we haven't seen in a long time."

Where the GOP was left with cracks and concerns after a John McCain nomination – a general level of unease in selecting a centrist maverick who openly toyed with the thought of appointing an Independent Democrat to share the ticket – Sarah Palin has repaired those cracks. Sarah Palin stood with the grace of royalty and celebrity, but delivered a speech with the strength of a no-holds-barred hitman ready to take on the media and the left. Sarah Palin has successfully united the GOP – and now she is reaching out to independents and inviting them back into the large tent of the Republican Party.

And for all the inspiration and energy she brings to the Republican Ticket, she is instilling the same amount of fear in the hearts of the Democrats. Left wingers in the blogosphere are attacking her speech now for lack of substance and mean-spiritedness, not realizing that it was a shot across the bow of the national press and DC insiders – warning them to back off of her and her family. Her strength and poise are inspiring to the GOP, and drawing attacks from the left. The GOP has a shiny beacon on the hill, and her name is Sarah Palin. She has the power to ensure that the change in America is a conservative one, and that we get back to being Americans – not Socialist European wannabees.

The left have got their hands full now! The Republicans are ready to fight, ready to reform, and ready to lead!

“A Man Who Never Quits is Never Defeated”

Fred Thompson stole the show last night at the Republican National Convention. His energized and moving toast to John McCain and Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket inspired Republicans and set the tone for how tough this ticket is going to be for Democrats in November.

He hit Obama and the Democratic controlled congress hard – claiming that their politics do not represent change, rather, they represent the same old stuff they have been peddling for years. Fred Thompson threw down the gauntlet on the liberal notion of change, and on the liberal definition of progress. The change is that the Democrats plan to run the most liberal government, establish the most liberal bureaucracies, and ensure the most liberal judges in the history of the US – the sure undoing of the intended freedoms established by our founding fathers.

But the best line of the entire speech was this: “A man who never quits is never defeated”. John McCain is that man. He has spent an entire career fighting the Republican Establishment – challenging change in his own right. Some of his issues are not my favorites (immigration reform and campaign finance reform), but his pursuit of what he believed to be right has won him notice on the national stage, and branded him as the original maverick. John McCain and Sarah Palin represent reform for the GOP, and a different kind of hope for America – a hope that we can return to conservative government that is smaller and more locally controlled, a government that balances it’s budget and controls wasted spending, and a government that eliminates taxes and allows Americans to keep their hard earned money. Fred Thompson made it clear that McCain/Palin is the best bet for America. The full video of his speech is below:

McCain's Ad Strategy - a Gem!

John McCain's team is 100% effective at hitting Barry Obama where it hurts - his ego. He has effectively used an ad campaign telling a story of an Obama so sure that he is the chosen one that he doesn't have to have any actual experience or substance at all.

In fact, his team is effectively doing so with the words, not of Republicans, but of angry democrats - including Biden and Clinton.

Here is the latest ad - in which Hillary Clinton admits that McCain has life experience, while Obama has a speech in 2002.

The barrage of ads against Obama have given rise to "Obama Doubt" - not necessarily amongst the Obamanites (who would surely drink the Kool-Aid for Obama in order to catch the UFO Comet) - but rather amongst Independents who are undecided. The tactic makes experience the issue, makes Obama the issue. It asks, literally, what the experts think about Obama's ability to lead...

The answer throughout the primaries, and now into the general election is simple: Obama is inexperienced.

This gem of an ad campaign has worked to pull McCain and Obama to a dead tie - 47% - 47% in the latest CNN poll - and that was AFTER Obama's VP bump...

More importantly, McCain has hyped up a huge bump for Obama after the convention - which if it does not occur further tarnishes Obama's perception (or deception) of perfection.

And to round out the new McCain ads - a Hillary supporter and delegate officially and publically defects to McCain - stating that "it's OK - really" to vote for McCain if you are a democrat. Like I said - a gem!

You heard it here first! I predicted Clinton Tactic.

On June 2nd, I wrote an article describing the tactic I believe Clinton was going to use - forcing a brokered convention, and taking the nomination from Obama. FoxNews, yesterday, began showing a video from Hillary where she is now stating to her supporters that she is pushing for an innocent role-call count of supporters in order to show her need to be on the ticket. (Perhaps Obama informed her that she was not his VP pick)

If Clinton gets an actual vote and the first round is undecided (because of unelectability, Super delegates may still decide to switch leaving a contest), the second round frees the delegates to vote however they so choose. If Clinton has enough delegates personally pledged, she can take the convention, and the nomination from Obama.

"The former first lady did not rule out the possibility of having her name
placed into nomination at the convention, being held Aug. 25-28 in Denver. But
she also said no decisions had been made." reports the AP.

Clinton is moving forward with her supporters as a tactic of unity, but the truth is that she is taking advantage of Obama's falling numbers and series of gaffes in recent weeks on the campaign trail. She states that she is organizing the protest to make the vote go smoothly, but you and I both know that she is really hoping for that vote to go in her favor - she denies it, but this tactic was foreseen.

Obama's campaign is beginning to bend under the pressure of the political machine. His overall poll numbers are up, but the most recent polls indicated that an overwhelming majority do not believe that Obama is ready to lead in areas of national security, and there is a virtual tie on areas of economy (a democratic stronghold). These poor numbers this early in the season are Obama's soft underbelly - and it is something he cannot "Hope" his way out of.

Let us suppose that Clinton takes the nomination. The Republican Party has a battle plan to Tackle the Cackle. They are going to hit her hard on her experience, on her health plan, etc. The problem is that Obama was so far left, and has been moving to adopt all of Hillary's positions in the center, that voters may say that Hillary is the acceptable alternative to Obama, instead of McCain who is increasingly being tied to Bush's Third Term. If Clinton does steal the nomination, however, the Obamanites will likely rally around a Green Party candidate as a protest to the Clinton Empire tactic.

How can McCain steady the GOP ship in the case of a Democratic shake-up? Here are my suggestions:
1. Pick a running mate now. Choose Sarah Palin as "the future of the party". She is a young, attractive, energy wise woman with McCain's gusto for anti-corruption in the party. Choosing her now states that the GOP is solid and ready to take on whomever the Dems throw their way. This is a strong move... waiting until our convention is reactionary and a weakness.
2. Adopt Palin's position of drilling in ANWR. McCain needs to let it be known that it is the GOP willing to work on gas prices, while Obama's tactic of Flopping is empty political words with no intention of action (with Pelosi as his leader)
3. Play up the Picken's Plan future of energy - natural gas, and the fact that Palin just succeeded in passing the Trans-Canadian pipeline for natural gas to be delivered to the lower 48 states from Alaska - a key to the future of America's energy!
4. Release a series of TV ads showing that McCain and Palin have been working toward a plan to re-energize the US economy, have won a battle to bring more supplies of energy to the lower US states, and are committed to moving forward on alternative energy not to reach a Utopian oil-free future, but to ensure an America-first energy independence plan.

The key to victory is Energy... that means Palin.

The End of the Democratic Battle?

After months of unbelievably entertaining, and often all too desperate Primaries, the Democratic contest is officially over tomorrow (June 3rd).

Or is it.

The Democrats need a combined delegate count of 2118 to win the convention.

Barack Hussein Obama has 2076 combined voters and super delegates.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has 1917 combined.

Up for grabs tomorrow:

Montana's 25 combined delegates
South Dakota's 23 combined delegates

Should Obama win 100% of the remaining delegates, he would break the threshold by 6 delegate votes... which is not going to happen. The delegates are split by a percentage of votes won, not winner take all as in the Republican contests.

Which brings into question Michigan and Florida... both Clinton landslides (namely because she campaigned and won there, though the delegates were never going to be seated). Should she decide to seat her allotted delegates from Michigan and Florida, Hillary Clinton could take the Democratic nomination.

If not, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are so close, that a Ron Paul style "coup" at the convention could sway the Obama voters for the second round of voting.

This is where being a delegate gets confusing, and interesting. If, after the first round, there are no clear winners, the delegates are released and able to vote for whomever they so chose. If Clinton was able to stack the delegate crowd who made it to the national convention, and is able to pull off a stalemate prior to convention, she could win the convention by a landslide.

However, this tactic may back-fire in the general election.

As well, if Clinton cashes in her chips, those in the know would have to assume that she doesn't have the political will to lead her party, and as such could never be considered a serious contender in the future.

Clinton's chances for victory have never been so sweet as they are now... make Obama believe that there is no chance of victory... play the delegates HARD... and hope for a second round vote blowout. Clinton has played her cards right 100%. This could be the political story of the century.

Or her flame could flicker out after the June 3rd contests, as she bows her head in submission to Obama.

I suspect that the battle continues through the summer, and the Clinton campaign machine moves forward to the convention, and ensures that every vote is counted... and then changed in her favor.