I have been collecting up articles on events in our final major front in the war on terror as the Democrat convention has limped along. But today is a good day to do a overview of recent activities to remind ourselves the differences between Bill Clinton and George Bush on the threat of al-Qaeda. Bill Clinton’s signature effort against Bin Laden’s attack was his attack on an empty aspirin factory. Sadly the factory was in the Sudan, while our enemy was building his forces in Afghanistan. Very Macho Bill. 

Under a much more forceful and successful President (George W Bush) we have seen a lot happen and no attacks on US soil or overseas assets since 9-11. Now we have al-Qaeda and the Taliban boxed into the tribal regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and they are being slowly squeezed to death by US/NATO/Afghan forces to the north and Pakistani forces to the south. Just recently the outline of a plan for the end game was being reported:

Western special forces are poised to increase their clandestine military operations in Pakistan to stop the flood of Taliban fighters pouring into Afghanistan, amid concerns that the militants are “winning the war”.

As fears grow that the Taliban’s strength has been underestimated and not enough is being done to stop militants crossing Afghanistan’s porous border, Western forces are considering taking the controversial step of carrying out more missions in Pakistan.

In recent weeks, increased attacks by Taliban fighters on Western and Afghan targets, including the killing of 10 French soldiers and the attempted storming of an American base, have been linked by Nato officials to peace deals struck between the militants and Pakistan’s government and an unwillingness in some parts of the Islamabad establishment to confront extremists.

The news media is great at exaggerating and fear mongering - but this has been the plan all along. Unless they have the attention span of a gnat they must recall all those predator strikes into Pakistan. And there have been border complexes being built to monitor and engage militants as they cross the border. And I have been reporting for nearly 9 months now that the US and UK have special forces inside Pakistan right now.

The media is melodramatic whenever our enemies get a good hit in - they focused on 9 US soldiers being killed when 40 allied forces held off 200+ militants, never once reporting the number of enemy killed which was probably 10 to one. That’s their liberal way. But the joint efforts north and south by the allied forces aligned with the US have taken out somewhere between 600-900 militant fighters in the last few months alone. Here is just one example from this week:

Pakistani troops Wednesday killed up to 50 militants, including foreign fighters, near the troubled Afghan border amid an upsurge in Taliban-inspired bloodshed, security officials said.

More than 30 rebels died in the Bajaur tribal district, a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, where government forces have for three weeks been conducting an extensive operation to destroy their hideouts.

“Security forces killed 25-30 militants, including some important commanders and foreigners in Bajaur’s Raghan region,” a security official told AFP.

In another clash, Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded militant hideouts on Wednesday in a different part of Bajaur bordering Afghanistan, killing eight rebels and wounding 12 others, a separate security official said.

Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur earlier this month.

No European armed force I know of could take these kinds of casualties in a sustained manner, so I am fairly confident these ragtag, pop-gun toting terrorists can’t either.  Seasoned fighters yes. But without heavy armor and air attack systems (not to mention our eyes and ears for intelligence and monitoring from above) these tested fighters are still nothing more than caged and outgunned animals.

Bajaur Agency in FATA is one hornets nest of militants. The other is in South Waziristan where I think the last battles will be fought against an ailing and sick Taliban leader. There are sporadic flair ups there now (for example), but my guess is the Pakistanis are trying to push the terrorist from the east towards the west so as to chase them into Iran (we did about the same thing in Iraq, except of course in the opposite direction).

The clearing of Swat in the NWFP is top priority. Once that area is cleared I believe the militants will be totally isolated in the FATA Agencies. Bajaur is being cleansed now since it is apparently where the militants are launching their offensive into Swat from. The next Agency to cleanse is Kurram where local tribes have been battling the militants for months on their own. Then Khyber followed by the end game in South Waziristan.

All the while the US, NATO and Afghan forces cordon off all avenues of escape to the north. The enemy is surrounded and now faces extinction. As far as I know no aspirin factories have been damaged in the effort.

Update: While the snookered will deny anything is wrong at the Dem Convention there are many Dems who know better and see the same thing I do (except they see it with fear while I am smiling):

I am feeling really frustrated today. I am sensing that something is wrong with this convention, and that there will be no bounce. I don’t know exactly what we need to do to get a bounce, but I do know that we haven’t done it yet.

Keep reading into the comments on this post - it is not an isolated observation.  The feeling is visceral, not something obvious. It is the difference between an OK movie and song and a rocking one. They can both have all the elements, be technically sound, yet no spark ignites. The Dems are just not doing anything beyond sounding like caricature politicians out of a bad movie. No inspiration, no drive, no heat.  They’re just going through the motions. I honestly think they don’t even buy the crap their spewing. - end update

I swear, this convention is worse than Kerry’s in so many ways it is stunning. Liberals have gone delusional to the point one wonders whether we should call 9-11 to get these people some help. 

First example was the introduction of Bill Clinton by Rep Meeks.  My gawd, talk about revisionist BS. Clinton on national security? Pullease. Does Somalia (and Black Hawk Down) ring a bell? That was when Bill Clinton turned a peace keeping, emergency mission to provide food into a police action and allowed a two-bit tin warlord to chase the US out of drug infected slum. Anybody remember al-Qaeda’s first attack on the World Trade Center?  How about the attacks on US Embassies. The USS Cole?  All this while decimating the readiness of our military and getting serviced by Monica.  Yep, that is Bill Clinton on national security. And yes, Bill Clinton let the 9-11 high jackers into the country under his watch and lost track of them (they were being monitored while overseas).

The economy?  He had nothing to do with the dot com expansion (and Al Gore did not invent the Internet either). And when the economy took off the tax revenues went up and the deficit went down - and it all started while Bush was in office and nearly a year before a single Clinton Federal Budget went into effect.

OK, these people are dumb and delusional and have believe their own propaganda too much. Wonderful examples of our public education system.

But enough of the Bill Clinton fantasy legacy stuff - Clinton came in and praised Hillary, and then tried to say Bush is all for our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. EVERYONE knows it is Nancy Pelosi Congress standing in the way off tapping our nation’s oil reserves. Only a true ignoramus doesn’t know which party has been keeping oil prices high (which impacts food and all other prices).

There were two stunning moments in Bill Clinton’s strange speech that were worth noting. When Bill Clinton tried to claim Obama was all about building our military and making us strong the convention was dead silent.  No one in that place could by that whopper!  Not a sound.  You really could here the crickets chirping.

The second one was visual, and it happened when Clinton called on the 18 Hillary’s 18 million voters to back Obama. Half the place stopped cheering and sat down. The Hillary supporters are just not going to fall into step by direction from the Clintons. Some say PUMA means Party Unity My Ass - and the PUMAs went silent and sat down en mass tonight.

Maybe when the Dems go to the Temple of Obama tomorrow they can offer a sacrifice to the God Of Politics to give them hope?  But this liberal fantasy has become more bizarre as the week rolls on and is just not going to work with the savvy, sophisticated and very intelligent American public. Earth to Dems - there is no tooth fairy and his name is not Obama.

Bill Ayers is one sick person - right up there with Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. Like many political killers he thinks he is doing good when he kills.  Here is all you need to know about Obama’s friends and their ‘vision’ of America:

Back when Ayers was being more honest about his intentions, he admitted that the purpose of that bomb had been to murder United States soldiers:

That bomb had been intended for detonation at a dance that was to be attended by army soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Hundreds of lives could have been lost had the plan been successfully executed. Ayers attested that the bomb would have done serious damage, “tearing through windows and walls and, yes, people too.”

In fact, Ayers was a founder of the Weatherman terror group and he defined its purpose as carrying out murder.  Again, from Discover the Networks: 

Characterizing Weatherman as “an American Red Army,” Ayers summed up the organization’s ideology as follows: “Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, Kill your parents.”

…

Ayers’ fellow terrorist and now-wife, Bernadine Dohrn, famously gushed over the barbaric Manson Family murders of the pregnant actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and three others:  “Dig it! First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach! Wild!”  And as Jonah recalled yesterday, “In appreciation, her Weather Underground cell made a threefingered ‘fork’ gesture its official salute.”  They weren’t talking about scratching up the wall-paper.

My son just enlisted in the Marines to protect this country and its people. But not these animals. The fact this is an element of Obama’s inner sanctum, along with the Rev “God Damn Amerika” Wright, is all we need to know about the liberal nuts infecting the democrat party.

When political obsession leads you to believe bombings and killings are righteous then it is best humanity removes these cancers instead of giving them credibility. Hitler was once ‘credible’ in the eyes of an angry nation - and look what he brought the world.

I don’t care how close Obama is to Hitler, he could be miles away and yet, with Ayers and Dohrn and others at his side, he is still way too close for comfort.  Or the for safety of all Americans. It was a terrible mistake for Democrats to stand by Bill Clinton and his dereliction of duty in the Oval Office. It is a horrible sin for the Democrats to stand by these sick animals.

John and Kay-Bailey?  Why not! I can guess where Hillary’s voters will start swinging en mass:

 

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s long-shot prospect for vice president is getting a push from conservative and other pundits in the lead-up to next week’s Republican National Convention.

The latest flurry of speculation online and on cable television constitutes at least a third or fourth wave of chatter about Hutchison, whose name surfaces occasionally as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate.

Hutchison, a delegate to next week’s convention, will address the gathering in Minneapolis-St. Paul on the subject of energy independence on Sept. 3, her office announced Tuesday.

 

Two days down and Obama keeps slipping in the polls.  Now Rasmussen as McCain up one point as well. I fail to see how the Democrat Convention can be salvaged. If this continues I am wondering when the reverse coat tails will start to come into play and start destroying the Dems plans for expanding their Congressional majorities.

Major Update:  Here’s a no brainer - conservative Dems are peeling away from Obama which is why he is losing ground in the polls (follow link for larger image):

I predicted a while ago that Obama would never win the election because he would either lose the moderate middle or liberal base. Here is what I said on june 29th:

There is no stable policy configuration Obama can put together to win. No matter what he does he causes upheaval and loses support.  Either he appeases the far left, sending moderates to McCain, or he appeases the moderates sending the far left into a tirade, ending their support and sending moderates to McCain where they will feel more welcomed.

So far the moderates have not peeled off, but my guess is they will since many of them are the disaffected Hillary supporters. Obama cannot knit together a coalition - it is impossible. And the polls are showing how impossible it is. 

Boy, stick a fork in the dems this year - they are done.  I could not get through Hillary’s speech, but through a glaring omission she pretty much torpedoed Barack for 08:

I’ll amend this if I’m mistaken but on first read of Hillary’s speech text I see no clear, flat assertion that Obama is qualified and prepared to be commander in chief from day one, which of course was always her central critique of him. That was something I had expected to see.

Update: No, I was right. As commenters are noting, and a McCain statement issued shortly after Hillary finished, she did not take the preparedness question head on. 

No wonder Michelle Obama was looking so worried throughout the speech. And does anyone think Bill Clinton will fill in that omission tonight?  Boy, what a train wreck.

Major Update Below:

I want to add to my piece about how Hillary fell flat last night with her speech. Generally speaking there is no harmony in Denver, the theme coming across is dissonance, forced fronts and angst. Probably being fed by a combination of inexperience and buyer’s remorse. What struck me with the Hillary speech was how many “Hillary” signs there were, and how they almost seemed to be doing battle with the “Unity” signs. If it was not for the reporting about the angry Hillary supporters I would probably not make a big deal about.

But this is one of this insane events which has me agreeing with none other than Maureen Dowd - and that means the signals are coming across loud and clear:

But this Democratic convention has a vibe so weird and jittery, so at odds with the early thrilling, fairy dust feel of the Obama revolution, that I had to consult with Mike Murphy, the peppery Republican strategist and former McCain guru.

“What is that feeling in the air?” I asked him.

“Submerged hate,” he promptly replied.

Ah, yes, now I recognize that sulfurous aroma.

There were a lot of bitter Clinton associates, fund-raisers and supporters wandering the halls, spewing vindictiveness, complaining of slights, scheming about Hillary’s roll call and plotting trouble, with some in the Clinton coterie dissing Obama by planning early departures, before the nominee even speaks.

…

“We’re seeing a train wreck all over again,” said one top Democrat. “I’m telling you, man, it’s something about our party, the shtetl mentality.”

The speakers just don’t seem to have their hearts into the event - like they are distracted or concerned. Mark Warner of VA gave a horribly dry and boring speech. Hillary’s was ridiculous, Michelle’s a waste of time (yes, lovely family and cute girls - no why should Barack be President?).

I recall the Kerry convention and there was a lot more energy last time around - at lot more confidence. The party was ready to do war. This one seems to be way off in a very subtle and subliminal way. The party leaders are having trouble covering for Obama (anyone see Governor Richards fumble on the Bill Ayers issue with Hannity?). They don’t ‘believe’ any more - and it is coming across even on the TV screen.  It seems to be much more palatable in Denver.

And worse, there are more and more reports of Hillary supporters openly and proudly going to McCain:

The last place Kathy Archuleta could have ever imagined she’d spend the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, was at a happy hour sponsored by the Republican Party.

But the 54-year-old Democrat joined several other Hillary Clinton supporters, along with volunteers and officials from John McCain’s campaign, at a Happy Hour for Hillary.

The event, sponsored by the Republican National Committee and approved by the McCain campaign, was a chance for McCain and Clinton supporters to come together for one cause: their opposition to Barack Obama’s candidacy.

“Four years ago, if you said we’d be at a Hillary happy hour at the DNC, I would have called you crazy. But today is a great opportunity for people who … agree that Sen. Barack Obama doesn’t have the experience to be president of the United States,” said McCain campaign regional communications director Tom Kise.

I remember when the Democrat’s BS-meter pegged so hard that I finally had my eyes opened and I left the party for good and became a staunch unaffiliated voter (aka, an independent).  The “Awakening” was so abrupt, so many lies were exposed, that I decided to never be a mindless robot in any party.  And people naively think it was some brain-washing by the GOP. The truth is it is always the acts and lies of the Democrats themselves which repulse sane and moderate people and drives them from the party. They belief in a fantasy magical solution to every problem caused by anyone else but them is just too much at some point.

Think about this - Obama is trying to convince people with very full life experiences of his own that his lack of experience is not an issue:

Obama’s relative lack of experience in national politics — long seen as his Achilles heel — was something that Clinton supporters, Republicans and independents attending the happy hour rallied behind.

“His lack of experience has been demonstrated so painfully every time he opens his mouth just about. … You cannot have good judgment without experience; that’s how you get it,” said 58-year-old Marnie Delano of New York.

Most people respect the challenges of the office of President, especially after 9-11. With Iran and Georgia and Pakistan all roiling, most people are tired of having their intelligence insulted with juvenile platitudes. 

There is a train wreck happening in Denver and I wonder how many folks are now just wishing the nightmare of selecting a inexperienced phenom to run for president would just hurry up and end. This is not going well at all.

Major Update: I missed some really important and shocking data hidden at the back end of the second linked story - the exodus of Hillary supporters to Obama is increasing!

But there is some bad news for Obama. The poll showed that 66 percent of Clinton supporters — registered Democrats who want Clinton as the nominee — are now backing Obama. That’s down from 75 percent in the end of June. Twenty-seven percent of them now say they’ll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.

In one month Obama was able to lose 11% MORE Hillary voters to McCain. Obama can’t survive in the fall with just that one month’s defection level, let alone a 27% of them and growing. Recall that Dem primaries shattered voting records across this country. In 2004 Bush beat Kerry by roughly 3.5 million votes. If Hillary did get 18 million votes in the primary, then 27% of that number is 4.6 million defections for the fall.

These are historic numbers - which is why I am kind of surprised they were hidden in the back of a story on CNN - except we all know why the media and the Dems don’t want this to be the theme of the Dem Convention!

OK, I hate conventions.  You get hour after hour of kindergarten level logic and sound bites parading as magical solutions to problems that are mostly self inflicted because people didn’t realize they need to work and prepare for life so they can have a good career and make and save money to live on.

Both parties do it, but the theme is old, tired and spent. Hillary tried to take on Bush and McCain, but somehow blaming Bush because a mother’s hours are being cut back is just so B-Movie it insults the intelligence instead of inspires.  The idea government run health care can be universal, high quality and affordable to all is a fantasy world view. The highest quality services will always go to insanely wealthy -like the Clintons, Obamas, Bidens and Kennendys.

The Liberals of the Democrat Party cannot hide their disconnect with every day Americans.  And as the liberals continuously dumb down their sound bites in an pathetic effort to convince an intelligent, smart an self confident country with victimhood examples of how life is hard (duh, we all know that) I find their efforts to package their failed and naive policies in ever more simpleton sound bites just not working.

Hillary tried to salvage a failed political movement.  But she cannot do it, the same way should could not out beat Obama.  The man who championed change had her beat because he was, at one point, connecting with soaring visions and possibilities.  He was tapping into the ‘can do’ nature of Americans to say ‘we can do better’. But the victimhood spiel plays against optimism. 

In music there is harmony and dissonance. After 2 weeks of rooting for America individuals to dig it out past all obstacles, barriers and unfair events, it is really hard to transition in one weekend to the doom and gloom and finger pointing of the liberal themes.  Bush is not evil, and our energy problems are more the fault of a do-nothing democrat Congress which won’t open access to our own national energy resources than anything Bush ever did.

Technically the democrats are not doing anything wrong. But that is like someone technical banging out notes on a piano in the proper order. It is not the same thing as soaring and inspiring music. The Democrats are failing because they are a failed and tired view of America. 

And I think the fact a woman senator from a major US State (NY) with 18 million votes garnered in the primary was passed up for VP by an old white guy Senator from a small, electorally irrelevant state who garnered a few tens of thousands of votes exemplifies why the Democrat Party is a dead and broken party.

When Hillary was passed up for VP to play it safe and fix holes in Obama’s resume it was clear the glass ceiling is firmly in place. A guy, once again, was too scared to risk his own ass to stand by a woman.  And THAT is the glass ceiling folks - male insecurity.

One thing the Democrats don’t get is that those 80% wrong track numbers include THEM! Bush has only 65% rejection in the favorability polls, it is the Democrat Congress that mirrors those wrong track numbers. And there is a connection to the fact the longer the Dems did nothing in Congress, and the closer the empty suited Obama got to the nomination, the worse those numbers got. That is not a coincidence.

Hillary’s speech did nothing. It was partisan clap trap surrounded by non sequitur examples of victimhood. It will not resonate with Americans who want serious changes.  They want mature adults who can act professionally and tone down the partisan sniping.

I may be totally wrong on this, but I expect more poll erosion to come. The Liberals are totally out of sync with America and are more like finger nails on a chalk board than the sound of sweet music and optimism.

Looks like my prediction about Obama sliding behind McCain was off by a few days. I predicted it would happen before the Dem Convention in the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll:

But what comes up must come down, as we say in physics. And what this tells me is when attention does move from the Olympics to the elections, Obama’s numbers will drop as the polls start to get a more representative sample of opinions. And falling polls going into the Democrat convention will be played to the hilt on why Obama is destined to fail this fall.

Well, it happened on day 2 of the convention - McCain is up 2 points on Obama in the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll (follow link for larger image):

All this erosion has occurred since the Biden selection - which was a huge disaster. Rasmussen also shows Obama losing a 3 point lead during this period.  So far I have seen nothing out of the convention which will change this dynamic and suspect, given Obama’s bizarre attempts to stem the Bill Ayers issue, there is more erosion to come.  

No crow for me it seems

This story is good news overall, a group of idiots have been arrested on gun and drug charges with the claim they were going to attempt to assassinate Barack Obama during his speech:

CBS4 has learned at least four people are under arrest in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”

Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.”

The drug charges tell me these folks are probably not the brightest group of people, and they seemed to have no realistic plan to get into a position to kill Obama:

Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.

Did they have any chance of getting their guns into the convention area? Probably not. And why the camouflage (which is for outdoors)? To get into the center with HW would more likely require playing at being a site worker or something. Walkie Talkies? Give me a break, every RF signal is monitored in a situation like this. These people were drugged up idiots play acting.

And now they get to play prisoner - for a long, long time.

While I was waiting for Michelle Obama to speak tonight, I was reminded of Sherry Palmer in the first episode of 24. Sherry Palmer is a very strong, smart woman who knows how to play the political game. She knew which groups of people she could be a strong outspoken black woman and which groups she had to be the loving doting more reserved wife of a politician. I have seen Michelle Obama in both of these roles.

With all of the hesitating by Obama to announce his vice presidential pick, as well as who he picked (worse choice if he wanted to win), I realized that someone had to be making these decisions for him. And it brought to mind how Sherry Palmer was always trying to coerce David Palmer into making the decisions she wanted rather than what he knew was right. I have a very strong feeling that Michelle Obama is the real life example of Sherry Palmer. The only problem is….Obama is no David Palmer.

David Palmer made his own decisions, and forced Sherry out of his life because she was going against every decision he made. He had a opinions, beliefs, and plans and stuck with them. He would not change his mind for anyone. Obama does whatever will (hopefully) improve his ratings.

Michelle Obama=Sherry Palmer

Barack Obama=Mike Novick (Palmer’s very weak minded easily manipulated Chief of Staff)

DJ Strata

OK, give Michelle a big D- for her speech tonight. First off, she went way too quickly to the dead father analogy. I grieve for her and her family for the loss of a wonderful father (I can tell, she is a very successful woman). But don’t shove that down my throat as a reason to vote for Obama - he had nothing to do with any of it.

Second, the horror stories she recounted came out of a bad B-Movie script. Yes, people are struggling, many because of personal decisions that led them down the wrong path. Every child in this country HAS access to a world class education. That is how we ended up with Justice Thomas, Secretaries Rice and Powell, Lt. Governor Steele. It is not the lack of opportunity that hampers Americans, it is poor personal choices which cripples those opportunities.

And I had to laugh out loud when she wanted to claim we need to follow our “dreams”, not our fears. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda are not fantasies liberals - they are real. 3,000 funerals might have clued you folks in. Pretending we can ignore the threat - that is not dreaming that is delusion. Don’t give me the I can have “my dreams” spiel. They include turning back time and cheating death. You going to promise me that for my vote?

Here is the mistake in Michelle’s speech, besides all the sappy melodrama - it meant nothing to the American voter. Michelle is an admirable American women. Half the country is. Every mom out there is as valued and as much the heroine as Michelle. The mistake was assuming Michelle is the victim of unfair bias and prejudice, when in fact she has shown nothing of any special merit that makes her any more compelling than the women on my street.

This speech was a huge tactical mistake. Every husband and wife in the country has similar, if not more riveting, life stories. Michelle never had to prove she was an American woman, mother, wife and professional. All that was a given. But the liberal left assume to find her wanting must come from hate and fear and prejudice, when in the end it simply could be she is not overwhelming and Barack is the reason Americans vote.

It was a bad speech, off focus and without any real meat. It was a B Movie script acted out by a B Movie actress. It was not very persuasive to those who need to be persuaded.

What is going to be the top of the news over the next few days at the Dem convention? Bill Ayers. That is now a given after the Obama campaign has released a really dumb ad attempting to distract America from a terrible association he has had, stomping all over the other ‘themes’ being trotted out at the convention:

Not sure why the audio dies halfway through it, but the point is moot because now Obama has put the Bill Ayers issue into play. I posted on Ayers back on May 5th, with an image of him dancing on the American flag in an article that came out right around the time of 9-11.

Obama’s lame excuse his decades of dealings with Ayers mean nothing because he was only 8 when Ayers was terrorizing America, bombing it like any other Bin Laden Jihadist, is ridiculous. For those Americans now entering the military to fight the war on terror many were only 11 when Bin Laden attacked America on 9-11. Would an association with Bin Laden now be OK for someone 18 or 19 because the crimes Bin Laden committed were committed when the person was 11 or 12?

Of course not. Anyone too dumb not to understand it doesn’t matter how much time goes by when dealing with murderous nuts like Ayers and Bin Laden deserves the punishment they get. Ignorance (or stupidity) is not an excuse. Obama is simply explaining that he learned nothing about judgement in the 4 decades since Ayers committed his heinous acts of violence.

But now that Obama has opened this can of worms himself it is fair game during a newsless Democrat convention. This is so off message it is hard to understand why Obama decided to derail his own convention with this ad The rookie strikes again! More here and here.

As many know I have been saying for over a year this is the election of the independents, who are repulsed by the fringes left and right and their manic obsession with party purity. It was the denigrating comments of the far right that lost the independents to the Dems in 2006, and it is the reason John McCain is now the GOP standard bearer and not a darling of the far right.  There is a reason Hannity, Savage, Levin and Ingraham are not happy with the direction of the GOP. 

Interestingly, Frank Luntz has put together a focus group of the independents for this week’s Democrat convention.  And what it is showing right now is really bad news for Obama and his feel-good facade of a campaign:

–”Change” as a theme is over. Too vague. And Obama’s rhetoric has begun to seriously cut against him. “No more oratory,” one woman said. “Give us details.”

Obama has no details, no core beliefs outside the idea we must run from Iraq at all costs. He has flip-flopped in abortion, gun ownership, the NSA-FISA issue, free trade, etc. No matter where Obama turns on the ‘details’ he either loses the liberal left or the moderate middle - and more than likely both.  He keeps trying to weasel word his way through with vagaries, like a used car salesman avoiding the defects - and Americans are fed up with it.

What do they want? Given a list of 31 personal attributes the next President might have and asked to pick the eight most important, “Accountability” finished highest with 13 votes, next was “Someone I can trust” with 12, “honest and ethical” was third with 11. “Agrees with me on the issues” got one vote. They didn’t care if the candidate was a Washington insider or outsider. “A dynamic and charismatic leader” got two votes…(Add: When Luntz asked them which was more important, “accountability” or “change,” the vote was 17 to 4 in favor of accountability.)

…

–Promises don’t work. Whenever Obama promised a $1000 tax break in one of the ads, the reaction was negative–the dial ratings went south. When he said that we’d spend less money on health if people took better care of themselves, the independents–many of whom were, shall we say, Big Gulp Americans–responded well.

The entire dynamic is against the rookie Obama.  What seemed like such a winning choice a few months ago in the glow of a dazzled and distracted media is now looking like the longest of long shots. He cannot con a skeptical and completely unaffiliated block of voters who will determine this election. His Jedi mind tricks won’t work on them - they want hard, honest answers.

I was checking in to see what news was out today and glanced at the RCP state-by-state poll numbers as was absolutely stunned to see John McCain leading in OH. Last time I looked Obama was pretty far ahead (too early to focus on the states right now). So I went to the RCP Ohio page, were you can scroll across their poll summary data chart and see the snapshots on any date, and I was stunned to learn Obama had a almost a 5 point lead back in late June and through most of July. Today McCain is leading by one point.

No Democrat can win the Presidential EC without OH.  And as goes OH so goes the election for either party. So what happened?  How did Obama lose 6 points of ground and now lag McCain? Is it not surprising this is one state that went hard for Hillary in the primary, and is now drifting into the McCain column?

I don’t think this is a coincidence at all.  And I fail to see how Biden can turn this back around.  But I think I will be keeping a much closer eye on OH from now on.