Chicago Tribune Columnist: Palin's Change is Real...

... while Obama's is just lip service. I love this from Obama's hometown newspaper. Columnist John Kass writes:

The young Alaska Republican put her political career on the line by challenging the corrupt, old Alaskan Republican bulls on their sleazy pay-for-play politics and their use of the public trust to fill the pockets of their friends. She didn't merely talk about abstract change in Washington. She challenged corruption at home, challenged her own party bosses—some of whom are already in prison—at great risk to her political future.

It is something I've begged and begged Obama to do with the ham-fisted pols in Chicago and Illinois—to not merely talk about change far away, but to take a principled stand even if that stand runs counter to his political interests at home; to challenge the thugs of his own party, to give us a reason to believe he's the man he says he is. He has politely declined.

In this, Obama obviously has more experience than Palin.

I guess they know the real Obama in Chicago. Read the full column here.

Obama the Liar

Now we know how Barack Obama reacts when he is caught in a lie. He angrily defames his accusers by calling them liars in return. That's exactly what he said about the National Right to Life Committee when they unearthed voting records showing Obama opposed requiring medical care for babies born alive after a botched abortion.

When people previously questioned Obama on his vote against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in the Illinois legislature, Obama simply said that the bill was really an effort to counter Roe v. Wade. Obama said that he supported a national bill with similar intent that passed the U. S. Senate (before he got there ) unanimously.

I find it ironic that a "legal scholar" like Obama would think that a state law could "undermine"a Supreme Court ruling. If Roe v. Wade was a proper judicial interpretation of the law, then how could a state law that allegedly flies in the face of that ruling do anything but be struck down ? Either way, Obama said that people were "lying"about his record.

National Right to Life, the leading pro-life activist group, released proof by way of voting records from the Illinois Senate that Obama did oppose the bill. The documents that NRTC found show that Obama voted against language that was nearly identical to the U. S. Senate bill (which even the most pro-choice Senators voted for ). The facts point to two conclusions: Either Obama was lying or ignorant of how he voted. I don't think the intelligent Obama can plead ignorance.

When confronted about the record, here is what Obama said:

"Well and because they have not been telling the truth. And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying. I have said repeatedly that I would have been completely in, fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported, which was to say that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born - even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion. That was not the bill that was presented at the state level. What that bill also was doing was trying to undermine Roe vs. Wade."

Here is the exact text of the bill Obama voted against:

AN ACT concerning infants who are born alive. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: Section 5. The Statute on Statutes is amended by adding Section 1. 36 as follows:: Sec. 1. 36. Born-alive infant. (a ) In determining the meaning of any statute or of any rule, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative agencies of this State, the words "person, " "human being, " "child," and "individual "include every infant member of the species homo sapiens who is born alive at any stage of development.

(b ) As used in this Section, the term "born alive," with respect to a member of the species homo sapiens, means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of that member, at any stage of development, who after that expulsion or extraction breathes or has a beating heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, regardless of whether the umbilical cord has been cut and regardless of whether the expulsion or extraction occurs as a result of natural or induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.

(c ) Nothing in this Section [the bill ] shall be construed to affirm, deny, expand, or contract any legal status or legal right applicable to any member of the species homo sapiens at any point prior to being born alive as defined in this Section.

Abortion rights is a sacred cow for Obama. He talks about compromise and getting people together, but he clearly has decided that inconvenient babies, even ones born, should be subject to termination at the request of the mother - an extreme position, not a compromise one.

When asked "at what point does a baby get human rights," here is how Obama replied. "Well, you know, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade."

Obama wants us to believe that he would actually do more to reduce abortions than President Bush. He said," The fact is that although we have had a president who is opposed to abortion over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down, and that is something we have to address."

Not sure where Obama is getting this one from. An article this January in U. S. News and World Report ran with the headline "U. S. Abortion Rate Falls to Lowest Level In Decades. "The article reports," The U. S. abortion rate has reached its lowest level in three decades... The actual number of abortions dropped to a new low, with 1. 2 million abortions in 2005, compared to a high of 1. 6 million abortions in 1990."

Obama seems to play fast and loose with the facts, hoping to portray himself as someone who an anti-abortion voter could cross the aisle for. He's slick, but not that slick.

Apparently, the truth is above Obama's pay grade as well.

NRO: Must Read on Obama and Abortion

If you are pro-life and are considering voting for Obama, this article should dispel you of that consideration. Maybe you are pro-choice, but you believe that once born, babies deserve medical attention. You should see what Obama thinks... a shocking, eye opening well documented article that tells the truth about Obama's defense of infanticide.

Read this National Review article from David Freddoso here.

Here us an excerpt:

(Obama) implies that “pre-viable” babies born prematurely, even without abortions, are somehow less “persons” than are babies who undergo nine months’ gestation before birth.

and here is the author's conclusion:

No humanitarian impulse or consideration of bipartisanship has ever swayed Barack Obama’s legislative mind on the issue of abortion. Pro-life voters who try to convince themselves otherwise engage in willful self-deception.

I would add this to Freddoso's conclusion -- and I know I am stepping on some toes here. Conservatives and Republicans who are planning to vote for Bob Barr (libertarian) or Chuck Baldwin (Constitution) who would otherwise vote for McCain over Obama are helping Obama to further legalize the the murder of BORN CHILDREN. If Barr or Baldwin throw this election by peeling votes away from McCain, the blood of innocent children is on their hands. Baldwin especially claims to be against abortion. If he really wants to stop abortion, he will abandon his bid for the presidency and support McCain.

My New Pro-Bush blog!

So I am writing a new blog that will make the case for that Bush's presidency has been GOOD for America here.

Here is some more on the blog: WE WILL MISS BUSH
As the Bush administration comes to an end, I wanted to make a blog dedicated to pointing out all the great things that George W. Bush has done for America. Unfairly attacked by a biased and partisan media, my hope is that this small corner of the Internet will help catalog the blessing President Bush has been to America. Only God knows the number of anti-Bush bloggers there are around the world. This is my attempt to counter the Bush-haters and show that we are better off with Bush as president than most people think … and we are going to miss him when he is gone.

It's a Wonderful Presidency

However theologically suspect Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" is (if we all turn up in the afterlife as angels a la Clarence, I'll owe Mr. Capra an apology), the movie provides a wonderful life lesson about overlooking the good things we have and can't see.

I know, according to very accurate modern scientific near infallible surveys, that I am statistically the only person left who thinks President George W. Bush is doing a good job. The media, which are largely stacked against Bush, have bought into this and rebroadcast the narrative that somehow Bush is the worst president ever. You know the old saw: If you repeat a lie enough times...

For George Bailey, it took angelic power to wipe out his existence to show him how wonderful life really was. For America, it's going to take George W. Bush hanging up his hat and heading back to Texas. Many Americans are going to be surprised how much they miss the old cowboy. No matter if Barack Obama or John McCain sits in the Oval Office next year, history will tell us the Bush administration really was a wonderful presidency.

Barack Obama, already selling out for votes (switching on oil drilling, privacy, his bad Iraq policy ), doesn't have the conviction that W. has shown during his presidency. Bush stood by what he believed was the seminal task of his presidency: defending the American people from terrorists. Now, it's true that before the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush had a much more conservative foreign policy. But Sept. 11 changed President Bush, who took the costly lessons to heart: We were not vigilant enough, and we needed to take the fight to our enemies instead of waiting for them to take the fight to us. In some ways Sept. 11 changed us all.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Bush's more aggressive tone was very popular, with the president's polling numbers running astronomically high. But the American public and media are fickle and have short memories. By 2006, when the war in Iraq - at that time clearly against al-Qaida and its allies - looked like it was on the verge of failure, Bush stood by his convictions that his job was to protect the American people, and a stable, democratic Iraq was important to the protection of America. Doubling down and staying the course was very, very unpopular. But Bush (and, ironically, John McCain ) knew that this was the right thing to do - conviction - in spite of the political cost at home. Bush lost his majorities in Congress and faced new all-time approval lows.

Now that Iraq is stabilized (with the lowest rate of U. S. and Iraqi deaths since the whole enterprise started in 2003 ) we see the surge strategy has worked. If Barack Obama had been president in 2006, Iraq would be a bloodbath today.

Neither Obama nor McCain have half the integrity that W. exercised during his stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Bush was to America exactly what he promised he would be - a pro-life, compassionate conservative. Whoever wins between Obama or McCain, we are going to have to some degree a panderer, because both men love media attention and getting kudos in print and on the airwaves.

Bush didn't give a damn what the media thought about him as long as he felt he was doing the right thing. He probably filtered his consumption of the news media through his aides to make sure he didn't start becoming affected by their attitude. This ticked off the media - how dare Bush not follow them and listen to their collective wisdom. And the media punished Bush for his lack of kissing their collective butts with the most biased, paranoid conspiracy theorist coverage of any president since Richard Nixon, who incidentally was actually involved in a conspiracy, unlike Bush.

Bush is not an egomaniac, nor a power monger, paranoid, nor a corrupt official lining his own pockets by taking advantage of his office. When he's done being president, he's not going to try to become a world leader, or try to relive his glory days looking for personal significance (I'm looking at you, Jimmy Carter ). I bet he isn't even going to write a multi-million dollar book. Instead, he will gracefully fade away and let the next guy have his turn, because that's the sort of good guy Bush is.

I think, eight years later, Bush has proven that he just wanted to make America a better place. We can argue about whether he succeeded (and I know I am in the minority ), but I challenge anyone to find proof of ill motive in our president.

You want to know what we'll miss most about Bush ? That he always thought of himself as a regular guy, no better than the people who he was leading. One story that exemplified this: Last month Bush's motorcade was headed to an airport in Ohio, when he passed a sign in front a house that caught his eye. The sign, according to news reports, read: "Mr. President, please stop to take a 91st B-Day picture with Ma."

Bush stopped his motorcade, the Secret Service and the traveling press and made them wait while he sat on the lawn with the 91-year-old Ruth Harris. "You look great," Bush said. "Where's the birthday cake?"

When you really take a good look, it really was a wonderful presidency. Not perfect, but not so bad. There have been no more attacks since Sept. 11, 2001. Homelessness is down. Iraq is becoming a democracy. Uncle Sam is bringing in more money than ever before, even though the tax rate is lower. (Too bad we are spending record amounts, as well.) In spite of the bursting of the tech bubble, Hurricane Katrina, Sept. 11 and even the housing bubble, the Bush administration has added jobs to the economy and the unemployment rate has stayed under 6 percent. The economy has flown higher, but never been as resilient.

But most of all, Bush's humility, integrity and conviction are what I am going to miss most next year. He has those in spades over Obama and McCain.

And unlike George Bailey getting his life back, we won't ever have the Bush administration again. The best thing about that is the Bush haters will have nothing to whine about.