Red State

Promoted up top in light of tonight's debate.

Editorial Note: People forget this issue came up more than once in Illinois. In 2001, Obama was concerned about abortion rights and the impact the Born Alive Infant Protection Act would have on abortion rights. In 2002, those concerns were addressed and fixed in the legislation. Now Obama's concerns were more clear. His views on life had no where else to hide.

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What has Barack Obama said about his opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act?

Obama has made several points, which we should recount.

First, Obama claimed doctors must render the care away. As David Freddosso has regularly pointed out, that was not true.

In fact, the Illinois Attorney General determined that doctors were under no such obligation when a child, born alive, had been intended to be aborted. Doctors only had the obligation to give life sustaining treatment when it was intended that the child be born alive.

Obama, then claimed his concern related to there being no language protecting Roe v. Wade in the legislation. He told the Chicago Tribune as much in October of 2004. In fact, that has been his story the whole time.

This week, the story changed. This week, NRLC proved conclusively that the legislation did, in fact, protect Roe v. Wade.

Obama has now changed his story yet again. Now he says that, regardless of whether the statute protected Roe v. Wade based on its language, "even as worded, the legislation could have undermined existing Illinois abortion law."

But what did Obama say back then? What was Obama's excuse back in 2002? What were his words on the floor of the State Senate. Senator Obama was the only person to speak out in opposition of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

What did he say?

I've got the transcript. I've got Senator Obama's own words.

Here is what you need to know.

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Syndicated columnist Ben Shapiro, targeting Jewish voters, has put together a set of YouTube videos making the "Jewish case against Barack Obama."

You can see the preview here and the three parts are below the fold. It may be called the "Jewish case against Barack Obama," but it might as well just be the case against Barack Obama.

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PERSON: "Senator, Senator, wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?"

BIDEN: "Say … I didn't hear what you said."

PERSON: "Wind and solar are flourishing here in Ohio, so why are you supporting clean coal?"

BIDEN: "We're not supporting 'clean coal.' Guess what. China's building two every week. Two dirty coal plants. And it's polluting the United States. It's causing people to die."

PERSON: "So will you support wind and solar?"

BIDEN: "Absolutely. Before anybody did. The first guy to introduce a global warming bill was me, 22 years ago. The first guy to support solar energy was me, 26 years ago. It came out of Delaware. But guess what. China is gonna burn three hundred years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up. Because it's going to ruin your lungs and there's nothing we can do about it. No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're going to build them over there make 'em clean because they're killing you."

(Joe Biden, Remarks, Maumee, OH, 9/17/08)

CNN has sent a reporter to the Alaskan island 2 miles from Russia.

The whole point is to mock her for her comments on foreign policy and Russia. "She's never even been here," CNN's reporter says.

"In fact, no one feels any threat from Russia being as close to them as the White House is from the US. Capitol," he says.

How many hours have they spent on Obama's experience as a community organizer?

Of course it doesn't matter. Because they don't want to do any reporting on that -- they solely want to focus on tearing down Sarah Palin.

If you listen closely, you can hear a lot of the "hell no" rhetoric starting to shift to "maybe we should vote for a plan."

Even Tom Coburn has now said he would vote for the plan.

Why? Because while the conservatives on the Hill have been listening to people like me and you who are opposed to the plan, they are starting to hear from the front lines -- the people who are already seeing that there is problem.

As I said the other day, I don't support the plan, but I don't begrudge those who do because it is very clear that something serious is happening out there that a lot of us in Macon, GA and Scranton, PA and Alameda, CA don't quite see yet.

The White House and others are starting to circulate quotes tying Main Street to Wall Street. Whether you are like me and not so inclined to support this plan, or not, these are people who deserve to be heard.

Here's a sampling:

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PBS wants to know.

The Obama campaign got what it asked for. Organizers for the anti-Iran rally at the United Nations booted Governor Palin from speaking after Obama operatives threatened the tax-exempt status of the organization responsible for the rally.

She was booted because the Obama camp did not want her speaking without an Obama surrogate able to speak and the Obama camp did not want an Obama surrogate anywhere near Palin, so they forced Palin off too.

As a result, the anti-Ahmadinejad rally turned into an anti-Obama rally. One attendee held up a sign that said "Jews Against Obama & Ahmadinejad."

What would have been a mostly innocuous event has become more high profile thanks to the Obama camp's bungled handling of it. Well done.

This is great stuff:

“Now I believe America’s best days are ahead of us. Governor Palin and I are going to reform Wall Street. We’re going to reform Washington. I’m going to fight for you and I’m going to lead our nation forward in the greatest periods of prosperity in its history. And let’s have some straight talk. Senator Obama is not interested in the politics of hope, he’s interested in his political future and that’s why he’s hurling in insults and making up facts about his record.

“Today, he claimed that the Congressional stimulus package was his idea. That’s news to those of us in Congress who supported it. Senator Obama didn’t even show up to vote.

“He talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story. Senator Obama took more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than anyone but the chairman of the committee they answer to. And he put Fannie Mae’s CEO, who helped create this problem in charge of finding his Vice President. That’s not change, that’s what’s broken in Washington.

“He talked about siding with the people, siding with the people, just before he flew off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends, there is no place I’d rather be, than here, with the working men and women of Ohio. I’m going to fight for you and together we’re going to win in November.” (Sen. John McCain, Remarks At A Campaign Event, Vienna, OH, 9/16/08)

I hope they turn it into an ad.

You know the one: Jesus was a community organizer an Pilate was a Governor. The left, now from the floor of the House, is comparing Barack Obama to Jesus and Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate. Do they really want to go there?

Christ knew when life began and Pontius Pilate thought the issue above his pay grade.

Of course the left, which has rejected Christ for the One, probably does not know that, so they think it works for them.

What's even more interesting though is that even Barack Obama has never been able to explain what a community organizer does. Well now we know. A community organizer saves men's souls, delivering them to eternal life.

Who knew?

How long before the lefties throw off their change rings and replace them with WWOD bracelets?

See Jeff's post for the video ofCongressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) repeated the growing lefty meme from the floor of the House today.

First they compare Sarah Palin to a pig. Now they compare her to the man who sent Christ to his death.

I noticed this yesterday. I've gone through the photostream. Now here is my question:

Where are the American flags?

They are not there. They do not exist at this convention.

They briefly existed, but they're gone. Not there.

Where are the American flags?

I've written before about Barack Obama's ties to the far, far left.

In 1996, he sought the New Party endorsement. The New Party has, by 1996, become the party of Communists and other radicals. It was, for all intents and purposes, an amalgamation of CCC, CPUSA, Green, and Social-Democrat parties.

As I noted then

By 1996, the New Party had solidified its ties with ACORN, unions, and the left so much so that even the New York Times referred to it as “leftist.” Manning Marable, writing in the left-wing New York Beacon, on October 23, 1996, wrote that “there are four key components in this strategy for progressive political change.” Among those components were civil disobedience and “support for independent movements like the New Party which are running candidates in local races. More importantly an innovative approach to electoralism is represented by ACORN’s ‘living wage’ referenda campaigns.” . . . .

In These Times reported on February 17, 1997, that “the [New] [P]arty, with 80 members in the [17th] ward, many of whom are also active in the Service Employees International Union and the advocacy group ACORN, has begun to build a parallel precinct organization.”

A New Party member, writing in the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America newsletter in 1996, described the New Party as mostly made up of ACORN members. The member, Bob Roman, wrote, "As the single 800 pound gorilla in the Chicago New Party, it doesn't leave a lot of room for newcomers to participate except on ACORN's terms." Obama, if you will remember, worked for ACORN and in 1996, ACORN was not organizing the community, they were getting people out to vote for Barack Obama.

It should come as no surprise then, this morning, to read this:

The latest matter involves Mr. Obama's presidential campaign paying more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the scandal-ridden, leftist Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for services the campaign now says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.

The ACORN subsidiary, Citizens Services Inc., did "get-out-the-vote" work instead of the polling, advance work and major event staging the Obama campaign had first stated in its Federal Election Commission finance report during the primary

Yet again, ACORN rallies for Obama.

The man is a leftist radical with a messiah complex. If you still want to vote for him, go right ahead, but just know who you are dealing with.

Several conservatives in the House tell me they are hacked off at National Review for a blurb that appears in the print edition of the magazine this week. Here is what National Review writes:

After the House adjourned for summer recess without voting on an energy bill, half a dozen Republicans stayed in the empty chamber, razzing the majority and calling for offshore drilling. Their number swelled to about 20 as word got out; tourists and aides were invited in; though the C-SPAN cameras were switched off, the Republicans sent reports of their doings via Twitter, and cellphone to Rush Limbaugh. Great fun was had by all, and scientists agree there may indeed be life in the House GOP caucus. But seriously, folks. Legislative bodies have rules for good reason: to maintain decorum, to see that business is done, to protect both majority and minority rights. The saving comedy of American politics allows us to write this off as a stunt — so long as everyone knows it was unseemly, and plans not to make a habit of it.

Congressman Tom Price has a post this morning about the protest on the House floor. Price, along with other conservative standard bearers in the House like Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, and Lynn Westmoreland organized, implemented, and led this effort.

Let's go through the whole paragraph:

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Well, it looks like the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records are going to be opened up after all. No doubt the University of Illinois and Barack Obama's campaign have sufficiently scrubbed the records to remove the most glaring of details about Barry's friendship with Bill Ayers.

But we know there has to be some panic there. As we have theorized all along, Barry cannot take a punch.

Consider this: despite all the denials and assists from the media in downplaying the relationship, Barack Obama has resorted to a new ad making the case that he has no real relationship with Bill Ayers. This is full blown panic. He's trying to build up a media sponsored and reported narrative before the world starts digging anew.

Unless those Annenberg records have been sufficiently scrubbed, it is terribly poor timing for Obama. It is an act of desperation. Obama knows people are now paying attention and he knows people are questioning both his ties to the far left and his judgment (Obama calls it "questioning my patriotism").

The connections between Ayers and Obama, despite Obama's commercial, are too intertwined to be merely bumps into each other on the sidewalk walking back from New Party meetings.

Bill Ayers helped found and fund Annenberg Challenge and Barack Obama ran the program. In addition, they live just a few blocks from each other in Hyde Park. In 1995, if you will recall, Bill Ayers invited Barack Obama into his living room to raise money for Barack's Illinois Senate race. Remember, in 1995, Obama was aggressively seeking the communist New Party endorsement.

Ayers even gave Obama money in 2001 for his re-election. The same year, Ayers told the New York Times he didn't "regret setting bombs.… I feel we didn't do enough." Obama did not give the money back.

Here is the key detail. Bill Ayers, a man who thinks he should have done more than try to blow up the Capitol, the Pentagon, and kill a few cops, saw something in Barry Obama that he liked. He liked Barry enough to hold a fundraiser for him and give him money.

What does an unrepentant terrorist see in a politician and like? Whatever it is, I suspect most Americans would not like it if they'd seen it. Maybe that is why Obama is in full panic mode, working hard to change the story and deny the facts.

An advisor to Senator McCain's campaign tells me, “Senator Obama’s enduring friendship with bomber William Ayers brings serious questions about his judgment to the surface.”

I suspect, now that Obama has gone to great pains to deny the connection, thereby making it a story worth media coverage, we're gong to be exploring the depths of Obama's poor judgment.

1. When Joe Biden entered the United States Senate, John McCain was in his fifth year of captivity at the Hanoi Hilton.

2. Barry Obama was eight when Biden began his Senate career.

3. Nixon was starting his second term as President.

Barack Obama's campaign says Joe Biden is "not of Washington." Linda Douglass, formerly of ABC News and now an Obama hack (not that it'd be different were she still at ABC) told Wolf Blitzer, "you know, the thing is, he is not of washington. he is, as you well know, wolf, he doesn't own a home in washington. he goes home every single night to his family in delaware."

What spin. The man went to Washington while McCain was still being tortured and yet McCain is somehow more of Washington that Biden? Give me a freakin' break.

He himself said Barack Obama was "not ready to lead."

He's right.

So we should stop them by sending some money to John McCain.

While we're at it, there is an opportunity ripe here for RedState readers.

I will truly be ashamed if we do not have creative enough talent to put together a 30 second ad spot on this announcement.

Your base material is this Hillary Clinton ad. The shift, however, is that the 3 a.m. call is not a crisis call, but Barry calling to tell us he's picked Biden.

And remember, 3 a.m. EDT is only midnight in Hollywood and morning in Europe.

Jake Tapper is reporting now that the secret service is sending personnel to begin protection of Joe Biden.

As I told you guys earlier, it is Joe.

No, we don't deserve this, but by God the Lord is smiling on us.

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How exactly is Joe Biden hope and change?

So Who Is It?
	Joe Biden
	Chet Edwards
	Kathleen Sebelius
	Someone else
Free polls from Pollhost.com

From the NBC News transcript:

MITCHELL: all pointing to biden. at home and under wraps today surrounded by family who have been gathering all week, even on the eve of the announcement not yet given the official word, sources say, unlike the other top contenders, virginia governor tim kaine and indiana senator evan bayh.

SEN. EVAN BAYH: it's not mine to report.

MITCHELL: sources say they were told they're out of the running.

Comedy GOLD if it is Joe Biden.

There is your wildcard pick, ladies and gentlemen.

(A) Governor. Check.

(B) Federal experience. Check.

(C) Catholic voter appeal. Check.

(D) Mid-west appeal. Check.

(E) No chance his state goes blue if he drops out of his current race. Check.

(F) Close to a must win swing state (Colorado) and popular. Check.

Has anyone asked Johanns if McCain vetted him?

I'm sure the Nebraska GOP could find someone to fill his shoes in the Senate race.

The Obama team realizes it too.

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned.

Of the seven states — including Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota — Florida and Virginia are considered key battlegrounds this year. Obama’s decision to stop advertising in those states is raising eyebrows.

They say it is related to the convention next week, but I really don't believe that.

Considering the spectacular burn rate and the lack of poll numbers going up in those states, it was time he aborted the effort anyway.

All for show and media buzz. To be sure, it got lots of media buzz and the media will never play up the take downs as much as they played up the fact Obama was targeting these states.

As I said way back when, he only was doing it to distract from how close things were for him in states he should be confidently ahead.

Now he's got to save his money for the hard slog. In the end, I think running these ads will be one of the strategic moves that should not have been made.

Or does it sound like Obama really does not want a VP?

Just, for example, is Adam Nagourney from the NewsHour on PBS:

What they're going to do is they're going to send out, so they say, a text message or e-mail to millions of supporters and reporters who have signed up to get it. That will be the first time it There's one thing interesting about this. I agree with susan about how they've dominated the news this week with the speculation about it. But what strikes me about this is the fact that he's going to announce it tomorrow at the earliest or saturday. It's in many ways evidence that they don't look at the vice presidential choice as that significant to his campaign. I mean, compare it to what john kerry did four years ago and there was, like, six days of traveling around the country. This will be a day. It has more of a feeling of checking the box.

Ann Compton, just a few minutes ago on ABC News, announced that Obama is not even on Veep stuff today. He's in Chicago practicing his speech for the convention. She added, breathlessly, "he's even wearing a coat and tie."

Seriously.

Maybe the reason this is taking so long is because they want to research whether The One needs more than One.

No doubt he's also hacked off about having to add another name to the Obama '08 stuff.

The One doesn't need anyone else. The empty suit does not think the suit needs filling out.

Whoever the Second is, I feel sorry for him. He's just going to be a prop as The One goes through the constitutional requirements He does not think He should have to follow.

It's pretty darn hard for The One to be the indispensable One when he has to have a second in command.

In honor of Senator Obama's devotion to his extended family and the DNC's efforts to remove the homeless from unsightliness if not from sight altogether, we've created this little item in commemoration:

Get the t-shirt here

It's great that members of the mainstream media are now getting in on the act and admitting that Obama did support infanticide in the Illinois State Senate.

Check out Ben's post here.

What? Don't see the admission from Ben that Obama did support infanticide?

Go read it again.

That Smith is slinging Obama's mud against Jill Stanek is proof positive and a total admission that Obama did support infanticide.

That Obama can no longer win by obfuscating the issue and instead must rely on the Politico to attack Jill Stanek, the lady who held the baby in her arms and got the Illinois BAIPA ball rolling, is 100% total proof that Ben Smith and Barack Obama concede the point.

Obama supported infanticide.

Now he and the media will attack the messenger since they can no longer refute the message.

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P.S. - Ganging up on the messenger who isn't running for office with folks in the media isn't really the sort of shiny new politics you've professed to believe in, is it Barry?

Obama has previously said he would unconditionally meet with the presidents of Syria and Iran.

Now one of his advisors has gone to Syria to offer some advice to Syria's leaders.

Daniel Kurtzer, one of Obama's many, many foreign policy advisers, went to Syria and met with Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem.

Kurtzer and the Obama campaign say this was unrelated to the campaign. There seems to be a series of Obama advisers doing things on the national and international stage that all of a sudden do not represent the Obama camp once they are caught, despite clear benefits to the campaign.

You and I both know it'd be front page in the New York Times were this guy an adviser to John McCain. Look at how hard the Times and others pushed the "Randy Scheunemann used to be a lobbyist for Georgia" story.

There are some serious take away points from the article and we, yet again, must question who these people are with whom Obama has chosen to surround himself.

First, the trip was paid for by an oil company. Yes, an Obama adviser went to visit the junior partner of the Axis of Evil using petro-dollars. Again, imagine the outcry if he worked for McCain.

Second, the guy may have been used by the Syrians. Don't believe me? Look at what Kurtzer himself says.

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Today is Fred Thompson's birthday.

John McCain should give Fred a slot at the convention as a birthday present.

I think, given Fred's role in the McCain Kitchen Cabinet, he'd be worth having as a speaker.

Jonlester pees in the pool and flees the scene.

EPU bails because the whole VRWC thing (or, as a local guy on the radio called it, the "VRWC Conspiracy") gave him the creeps (yeah, yeah, I know he's joking).

But I can't quit you people. This is the most fun I've ever had as both a hobby and a job. Day in and day out, site performance frustrations not withstanding, I am truly blessed to be with you guys on a daily basis.

And I don't tell you guys enough.

Now if you'd just write more on your local/state politics. ;)

Oh, and I can quit Moe. In fact, I'm banning Moe. Jerk goes to Hawaii, leaves us all behind, and has the nerve to rub it in?

BLAM him.

Remember back in 2004 when George Bush trounced John Kerry in the debates? The left saw a funny shape under Bush's jacket and immediately decided Bush must have had answered piped to an earpiece from Karl Rove. That was the only way he could have done so well. [Leon points out that this is actually the one debate where Bush flopped. Oh well, the more things change . . . ]

A variation on that happened over the weekend. Andrea Mitchell and NBC are in full cover mode for the Obama campaign to undo Obama's self-inflicted damage. Hours after bloggers at DailyKos suggested McCain did so well because he had advanced knowledge of the questions, Andrea Mitchell and NBC picked up the story. This time, the story did not come from the Kos Kids. It came from the Obama campaign. Mitchell reported:

what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.

She added that McCain "seemed so well prepared." Well, duh. When you answer the question "when does life begin" with "at conception" as opposed to "that's above my pay grade," you will seem a bit more prepared. For it's part, the McCain camp is now protesting Mitchell's coverage as lacking objectivity. Mitchell did pass on the claim without anything more than amazement at how well prepared McCain seemed. Let's not forget that Mitchell also, uncritically, passed on the Obama rumor that McCain sabotaged Obama's trip to see the troops in Germany. It's not just Andrea Mithcell though.

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We can help out Olson, Barlatta, and Parnell. We need to help them out.

The Texas Chamber of Commerce will endorse Pete Olson against Nick Lampson.
Give and we can win.

Barletta is cleaning Paul Kanjorski's clock up in Pennsylvania. He just started put ads up on the air and could use some cash to keep it up. This has become a pick up opportunity for the GOP. Let's keep the ads on the air.

Sean Parnell is tied with Don Young in Alaska. We can pull him ahead, but we've got to pony up.

We've got to give Parnell what we can and crush Don Young in the primary.

See our whole Slatecard here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Obamessiah has indeed brought forth peace into the world.

Check out Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's statement from this morning:

“It was a bad crisis for the world. It required tough words but also a smart approach to call on the international community to step in. And I’m very, very happy that the Senator's request for a ceasefire has been complied with by President Medvedev.”

Dude even said it with a straight face. Like Michael Goldfarb notes, no doubt the Russians are now inflating their tires and getting regular check ups.

But here is what is interesting. Moscow and Obama, at the same time, were attacking John McCain's chief foreign policy advisor for lobbying on Georgia's behalf in a former job.

Could it be that the Russians and Obama are coordinating this whole thing to show what a genius Obama is? Obviously not, but considering their attacks on McCain's statement came at the same time in the same way and now the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is crediting The One with stopping the war, the rest of us can scratch our heads at the audacity of the bull.

There is an inconvenient fact in all of this. The attacks have not stopped. Only in Obama's fantasy parallel universe where he is already President of the United States has Secretary of State George Clooney been able to negotiate a peace settlement.

Ladies and Gentlement, keep this in mind: Obama takes credit for the Russian ceasefire that Russia's President claims has taken place when it has not, in fact, taken place.

This man and his acolytes are too freakin' naive to let anywhere near the White House.