I read a lot of blogs which talk a lot about politics. Do you find that surprising, considering how apolitical I am? Well, it’s true. I read blogs written by Obama supporters, Hillary supporters-still, and McCain supporters. I read them all with equal interest and benefit of the doubt. I’m pretty confident in how I’ll vote in November, but I admit that some of the blogs I read have me looking more deeply at the candidates.
Having said that. I heart me some Electric Venom. She lays it out there, and I love it. Of all the posts I read on politics, hers are well-written and down to the point.
Today’s is no different, in which she talks about the McCain “number of houses” hoopla, and the decision by the Obama camp to pounce on that particular topic.
She says:
Not surprisingly, Barack Obama pounced on McCain’s uncertainty. And also not surprising, Obama is apparently hoping that by being the first to point fingers none will point back at him. Thus said Obama on the campaign trail in Virginia:
“Now think about that — I guess if you think that being rich means you gotta make $5 million, and if you don’t know how many houses you have, then it’s not surprising that you might think the economy is fundamentally strong,†Obama said Thursday.
“But if you’re like me and you’ve got one house — or you were like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so that they don’t lose their home — you might have a different perspective.†(emphasis added)
Not so fast, Senator Obama.
Granted, you didn’t make $5 million last year. With your wife’s earnings the Obama household income was a more modest $4.2 million in 2007, but what’s a piddling $800,000… unless you’re like me.
Feel free to go read the whole post – and all the others she writes about our political situation. She’s awesome.
And by my post title please don’t think that I’m saying hypocrisy only exists in the Obama camp. Please – I am confident that there is hypocrisy in Clinton’s and McCain’s, too. Let’s face it – NONE of the choices we have this November are any good. I know people say that every four years, but this year? Seems particularly true.
Did you get to watch the Saddleback Forum last weekend? It was very illuminating as to the differences between the candidates. And you have to be careful when only reading blogs and how they spin a particular incident. One needs to hear the inflection or emphasis of the words to get better insight into the real meaning behind their statements. If you heard McCain’s answer about “how much money would it take to consider one to be rich” you would realize that his statement wasn’t meant to be taken literally ~ he was pulling a figure out of his hat just as an example ~ not as a firm standard. One had to see his body language and what followed that statement to realize where he was going with it. Also, about the “how many houses do you own” statement. It wasn’t that he didn’t know, he was simply referring the question to his staff to answer. You had to hear the way he said it and his reason for putting off the reporter. By the way, that was a stupid question, IMO. Who really cares how many homes he has ~ how many homes do John Kerry and Teresa Heinz have?
The bottom line is, who shares your values (to me that means spiritual values) and who do you trust with the security of this nation? My answer is John McCain, with no hesitation. He isn’t the perfect candidate, but he is the man “for such a time as this.”
I thought this was a political-free blog? If I wanted to hear Democrat bashing, I’d read your sister’s website — or even worse, her husband’s. LOL
OBAMA in ’08. It just goes together.
You can’t honestly believe this country prospered or was any safer these past eight years under the knucklehead Bush. We didn’t have an attack on our soil, you say. We only inspired tens of thousands of jihadist to do it in the future under some other president’s watch, I say. Thanks, Bush.
Denis, my post had nothing to do with the state or safety of the country. My post had to do with EV’s calling out on Obama’s attempt to act like he’s “one of us” when he’s clearly not.
The Osama Bin Laden’s plan for 9/11 was in motion long before Bush took office. And he had nothing to do with “inspiring” 1000s of idiots to kill/die for a reward they won’t get. And he’ll have nothing to do with the 1000s of idiots who kill/die in the future for a reward they won’t get. Do you honestly think that the jihadists even CARE who’s in office? They’re ANTI-AMERICA, anti-capitalism, anti-anythingotherthanIslam. Whether it be Obama, Clinton, Bush, or YOU in the office of President.
But again, that’s not what my post was about. My post was about homeownership.
It’s political in nature and I am within my right to bring politics of any kind into it. Thank you.
True, but you started a paragraph staying “You can’t honestly believe…” as though I had mentioned something about it in my post. That’s what I was referring to.
Thank you for the link, Jaynee. You definitely focused in on the same thing that I did – how silly it is that candidates try to act like “one of us” but their lives are completely different than ours. Thanks!
Venomous Kates last blog post..Roseanne: Still Making Me Laugh
Denis-
Ace in ’08 has a nice ring to it… and I am not running for president. (is eligible this year for the first time…*~WOOT~*)
As much as I liked Hilary for President, I can’t sit there and let Obama-Nation, take the office. He is inexperienced has no link with the common man (like he thinks he does) and in all honesty I don’t really trust or like the man. I think he is a racist and very unamerican. (don’t ask for a list, cause I would have writters cramp)
In “my” Opinion, McCain is the right person for the job. He is a thinker and I like that. He has Military experience and has been around Washington enough to know a thing or two. I feel the only reason you don’t like him is because he is running under the Republican Ticket. If you read a bit more about the man, you would see that is a VERY liberal Republican (VERY VERY VERY). I even think there was talk a few years ago about Kerry asking him to be his running mate. (its true). So, you really need to stop and look at who “you” think is the best candidate and don’t just vote for someone or like them because they fall under the party “you” think is the right one. Democrats aren’t always better and Neither are Republicans… it comes down to the person running. You beat down Bush in a post Clearly addressing McCain. They are two different people and have different ways in which they see fit to run the country.
I am not a big Bush fan. However, the man is still the President of the United States and deserves respect. The People of America voted for him not once but twice and we, as a people, need to stand behind his decisions whether we like them or not. I feel, in the long run, people will get a better understanding for the decisions Bush (and his cabinet) have made and the American people will give him the honor and repsect that is clearly due the man.
Ok, I have more… but I will hop down now.
Good post, Ace. Thank you and amen to that.
Ace, my friend, when did you go neo-conservative? So much to say here, but since this is a family blog, meaning Jaynee’s family reads it, I’ll just say, if McCain is more liberal than Obama, it’s a win-win for me. LOL
I think you have bought into the old bait and switch. Get ready for four more years of Bush if McCain wins. Maybe you think we’re living in the gold old days. I, for one, do not. This country runs on a two-party system. Good luck on either candidate getting anything done, one without the backing of his own party, and two, any support from the opposition. Just look at the last eight years to see an example of that. It’s not called a do-nothing congress for nothing. No one wants to work with Bush. And sadly, I’ll never get these last eight years of my life back. And what’s even sadder, I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’m only one of tens of millions. Even republicans feel this way.
And I’m not bashing the office, I’m bashing the man. I have full respect for the office of the President. Now if only Bush would have, then we would have had a president we could all stand up and fight for. As evidenced by these past eight years, I guess the Constitution doesn’t apply to everyone equally. Maybe it’s not too late to impeach. And Amen to that.
Since when is backing McCain becoming a neo-Conservative? *lol* Listen, even the neoCons are scared of McCain’s liberal leanings!! McCain is NOT another four years of Bush. The NYTimes did an entire article on how they differ:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/06/17/us/politics/20080617_POLICY_GRAPHIC.html
Even on the things they agree on, they disagree on certain points within their shared views. So to say that McCain is Bush III is not correct in the least.
Oh, and by the way – what was so bad for you in the past eight years that you have to blame the PRESIDENT?
Did the PRESIDENT cause your NJ property taxes to go up five years in a row? No. Greedy local Boards of Education who wanted higher salaries did.
Did the PRESIDENT cause you to get laid off? No, your god-awful boss who refused to promote you did.
Did the PRESIDENT cause you not to have good RE clients? No, unfortunately your clients were flakes that couldn’t make a decision when the choice was in front of them.
Name one thing the President SPECIFICALLY DID that causes you to blame him for EVERYTHING bad that has happened TO YOU in the past 8 years.
I’m not looking at the things that happened to me personally and blaming Bush, I’m blaming him for things that went wrong in this country as a whole and blaming him. Never mind. I’m just trying to draw more readers to your blog with my comments. Hopefully, I can do my little part.
*lol* I can get readers without talking about politics.
I’d be curious to know your results taking this test:
http://votehelp.org/
It goes into 28 issues and has you vote a range of disagree/agree and how important that issue is – from not important to very important.
As for me, McCain JUST BARELY beat out Obama – by only 2%.
My results:
1. Barack Obama
89.18% match on issues.
2. John McCain
67.20% match on issues.
See, you don’t disagree with McCain as much as you think.
1. John McCain
87.55% match on issues.
2. Barack Obama
82.09% match on issues.
I don’t think I bought into anything. I did my homework and feel as though you listen to too much Liberal Dribble and believe everything you hear.
I have always been more conservative than liberal. Let me guess, you want all the illegal immigrants that are already in the United States to work towards getting themselves set up as legal citizens…. NEWS FLASH, THEY don’t want that. They would rather be in a country illegally and not have to pay taxes. All the money they make they send home so more of their family can come to America and live off the American People, by getting the govt. to pay for their health care, there children and their elderly, take jobs that all the liberals say “nobody wants those jobs anyway”… except maybe hard working americans who can’t get those jobs cause the illegal immigrants work for cheap since again, they don’t have to pay taxes.
I can’t imagine Illegal immigrants all lined up ready to take the citizenship test. Wouldn’t happen. Don’t even get me started on having to press the #2 to hear English, when I call my bank! (IN AMERICA)
That is all for now.
ACE I only know you through your comments on this website and I’m interested to know if you personally know any illegal immigrants or if you can name companies who have illegal immigrants that they pay ‘under the table’?
Very personal questions Miss Danielle, don’t you think?
Ace, I don’t know if it’s a personal question to ask if you know of any COMPANIES. *lol* Unless you OWN the company. 😉
Danielle – I know of at least ONE illegal immigrant who came to this country specifically to make as much cash (read: tax-free) as he could to send home so that he could then move back home and have a nice healthy bank account. I don’t know him personally but he’s a relative of a friend of mine who DID come to this country legally and is now a US Citizen. The relative worked in a physically-demanding industry that a decent number of able-bodied Americans would like to be in. To my knowledge this man never had any intention of becoming a citizen of the US at any time. He was here strictly to make money to send back to his native country. So in my case I know two examples – one who did it the right way (came on a legal visa, stayed here legitimately and got a US Citizenship), and one who didn’t.
No, I actually didn’t think they were that personal at all. You have such strong opinions about the issue I assumed you’d have some personal experience and I was wondering if you ever reported anyone to the INS who you suspected was illegal or employed illegals.
Danielle, one need only read the newspapers to see the crackdown on illegal immigrants in this country.
As for companies, I know Mills Manufacturing was raided and 57 workers were removed for being illegals. There was a recent raid at Agriprocessors in Iowa where 400 illegals were removed.
And there’s this quote from an Associated Press article:
Whether the people were paid under the table, I don’t know. But it does happen. I’ve seen my fair share of supposed illegals sitting on a curbside waiting to be picked up by someone needing daylabor in return for cash.
Hi, I enjoy reading your blog. Never comment, but of course politics get me ruffled.
Anyhow, my experience has been that most illegal immigrants actually pay payroll taxes. So the argument that illegals don’t pay taxes is for the most part untrue unless they are being paid under the table-and some are, but not those who have been here for more than a few months. What’s more, because they don’t file income tax returns, they are often actually over-taxed compared to an American citizen at the same income level (i.e. they don’t receive a refund).
I’m not commenting on cultural or other concerns people have with illegal immigration, only on the fact that most illegal immigrants do pay taxes.
Of course I know there are crackdowns on illegals. I just wonder about how people have such strong opinions about it when they don’t seem to have much personal experience. So then I though to myself, do they actually call INS or do they just talk about it?
Like the poster above I also understand that most have fake documents. All you need is a fake SSC.
Not that your post had anything to do with illegals though. Not only is hypocrisy live and well in politics there also seems to be a too much meanness. Only two’ish months to go!
Sidenote, my husband and I are heading to your old stomping grounds (kind of) tomorrow. NYC! I went once when I was in high school but don’t remember it too well. Hubby has never been. SO EXCITED.
Byron – you are right that if they are on a payroll system they are getting taxes taken out. But I have to wonder how they fill out a W4 if they don’t have a social security number…
Danielle – YAY for going to NYC! You are going to have a LOT of fun!!
“they don’t seem to have much personal experience.”
I don’t ever remember mentioning that I didn’t have personal experience. You don’t know me, so don’t assume. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.