To the common man, it was obvious that Herman Cain won the debate last night. Well, technically this wasn’t a debate because candidates did not face off against each other, they were simply asked questions and gave answers. A debate occurs when two people present opposing viewpoints or discuss their differences of opinion on a given topic.
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After watching the debates and then the reactions of ‘independents’ on various networks I am convinced that the mindless masses will put Obama into the White House. After all, our society now more than ever has become about flash over substance, image over content. Obama is handsome, has a great smile and can read a teleprompter like no other. McCain is an old white man with damaged shoulders that makes him look even older. Obama is smooth like Billy D. Williams, McCain is fiesty like Ross Perot. Today’s youth of America care more about who gets punked, who sleeps with who and whether or not Johnny Knoxville and Steve-O will survive their next bout with stupidity. Where have our priorities gone?
So I did the most basic of research this weekend to see how this all unfolded. CNN has a nice graphic that shows how the Primaries unfolded by date and state. Scroll down a bit and click on the date January 15. You willsee that Romney was ahead and Huckabee was in second place. On January 19 McCain moved into second place. Maine did what it could to help out and pushed Romney into a tie, and then Florida reared it’s ugly, humid head and stunk the place up. All of those military retirees jumped on the “war hero” bandwagon and voted for McCain. So did all of the Mormon haters. This pushed McCain out front.
Super Tuesday sealed the deal. Why? Because Huckabee stuck around too long. Despite having less than 1/3 of the delegates of Romney or McCain, he stuck around like that last guest after a long party at your house, or the third wheel at a bar. He cannibalized the party like Perot and Nader. And he had the gall to stick around even longer to rub it in.
Below is a map of the states that voted for McCain (yellow) and Huckabee (light blue).
Looking at the map above we can thank the south, the tri-state northeast, California and Florida for the mess we are in.
The table below shows how the McCain/Huckabee Super Tuesday states voted. You can see many instances where if you split the votes from states that Huckabee votes evenly between McCain and Romney that Romney would have won, CA, GA, MO and TN become statistical ties and Romney would have won VA. We’ll never know the actual percentage of Huck votes that would have gone to McCain or Romney. But it would have been a true race instead of a diluted political mess.
Why did Huckabee stick around so long? He had the very vocal support of the far right of the Conservative spectrum. Like sharks, they could smell blood and thought that a victory was possible. Steadfast, inflexible single-issue voters slapped on their Pro-Life buttons and ingored the fact that we were at war and in the midst of serious economic issues. Of all the candidates, Romney was the only one that had a clue about money and the economy. He made himself into a billioaire, leads a company, ran a state and fixed corruption in the Olympics. Yet the right thought Huckabee was the answer, and old milatary folks felt it was McCain’s turn to lead. Thank you for your service, and thank you for not seeing the bigger picture. Now that much of your retirement is gone are you thinking you made a mistake during the primaries?
So to the voters in the swing states I’ve described here I respectfully offer a heart-felt “F” YOU. Enjoy the Obamanation we are about to suffer through for the next four years. Here’s what it will look like:
The Next Four Years
From a pure debating perspective, Biden wins on presentation, delivery, tone, etc. He broke down the issues, spoke to the people and showed off his 35 years as a public servant. From a personality perspective, Palin wins by showing that she is normal, not a Washington insider.
Not much jumped out at me last night, but here are a few points:
- Biden reinforced the concept of being patriotic by paying more taxes. That’s not patriotic, it’s Socialist. A page straight out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.”
- Biden also said that judges should be allowed to not only adjust mortgage rates, but adjust mortgage principals. What the hell is that all about? What date will that be effective? Because I’d like to go out and overextend myself by purchasing a $750k house before the plan takes effect.
- Palin said “we aren’t giving tax breaks to oil companies.” This is actually false, but it is also one of the big things that I wish Team McCain would jump on. McCain wants to give tax breaks to ALL ‘companies,’ oil companies are ‘companies’ but Team Obama is just singling them out to ram home more hatred about the evil big oil firms and their 4-5% profit margins. Maybe Team McCain could runs adds saying that Obama/Biden are against taxes for Baby Food and Candy manufacturers. After all, they are ‘companies’ too.
All in all I don’t see the debate swaying any voters. But, at this point I don’t think there are many undecides out there. If you are undecided given the vast differences between these two tickets, you are either far too busy to do any research, or you are too stupid to vote. The thing that still blows me away is that Obama is supposed to be the “change” candidate, yet he is the one that picked the 35-year insider as his running mate. Where’s the change there? And Obama is the one that is so deeply entrenched in the Freddie/Fannie debacle. A true Chicago politician more concerned about power than making America stronger.
Here is the list of lies that Biden told America last night. If I get a list of Palin lies I will post it here too.
- TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
- AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
- OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”
- TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
- OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
- ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
- HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
- OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
- AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
- REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
- IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
- TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
- BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”
- REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
