McCain Chooses VP

John McCain has announced his choice for Vice President. It is Alaska governor Sarah Palin. This was quite a bold move for McCain. It seems obvious that McCain is targeting women voters. But enough about McCain. Let's talk about Palin.

Sarah Palin is a 44 year old mother of five. She has a newborn baby less than a year old. Her son enlisted in the army just last year. She used to be a union member. Her husband still is. She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. What a resume!

There are some challenges with McCain's choice. He is 72. She is almost 30 years younger than him. She does not have experience with foreign policy. However she does have a track record of fighting oil companies in Alaska.

The real question is whether Palin can lure Democratic supports of Hillary Clinton to vote for McCain-Palin.

Edwards Affair

John Edwards has finally come out and admitted that he had an affair with Rielle Hunter. He also confessed that he had lied about this relationship in the past. However Edwards continues to deny he is the father of Hunter's daughter Frances. The National Inquirer broke this story back in October 2007. They insist that Frances is the love child of Edwards and Hunter.

Hunter has professed her love for Edwards. But Edwards on the other hand denies being in love with Hunter. A staffer for Edwards has come forward stating that he instead is the father of the baby. Why am I having a tough time believing that one? Oh yeah. Edwards lied to the press repeatedly.

Apparently Hunter traveled with Edwards for about six months. That left plenty of time for extramarital activities between them. There are some additional sketchy details involving Hunter. Her company was paid $100k by Edwards' political action committee for 4 videos she produced. Nice touch.

The only real question is what impact will this have on Edwards. Bill Clinton lied and had an affair with minimal damage. Can Edwards pull this off as well? I do not think so. We already knew that Clinton was Slick Willie. However Edwards came across as a different kind of man sticking by his wife that had cancer. Now that the truth is revealed, coupled with the fact that he is not as good a liar as Clinton, might spell the end of his political career. I can say for sure that I am never going to vote for the man. What say you?

Terrible But Funny Ad

I have been seeing a certain commercial on TV a lot recently. It starts out by talking about the high gas prices. Then it asks who is responsible for the evil high gas prices. You see a picture of Obama on a podium. The crowd starts chanting the answer to who is responsible for high gas prices: Obama, Obama, Obama.

You have to give the McCain media people some credit. This commercial is absolutely hilarious. The commercial never comes out and says that Barack is to blame for high gas prices. And they do not point to any facts behind the commercial.

One good thing about the commercial is that, at the end, John McCain comes out and states that he approved the commercial. He does not behind some committee. McCain won some points from me with this ad. Now it is time for Obama to do something just as inventive. I am waiting.

Obama Ads

So Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for the presidential candidate. That was one tough fight. Hillary Clinton would not give up no matter how hard the Democratic Party pressured her. But in the end the primary votes were cast. And there was nothing else that Hillary could do to stop the Obama campaign from grabbing the ticket.

I recently saw an advertisement on TV for Obama. Although I tried hard to listen to it, there were people in the room making too much noise for me to concentrate on the message. The one thing I did notice was that it seemed like a clean commercial. There was no jabs at McCain. Just a positive message on why you should vote for Obama. This did not get my vote. But it made me respect Obama a bit. It is probably just his PR people trying to get some good will from the viewers. It looks like this is working.

Power of Michelle

The other day I was watching some TV. I think it was on a public access or local news channel. Somebody was speaking fervently about politics. At first I thought it was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The hair was right. But she did not have the face of Condoleezza. Then I figured it out. It was Michelle Obama, wife of Barack Obama.

Michelle was quite the public speaker. She seemed to be able to discuss Barack's character and viewpoint on a whole host of matters. She also knew how to make the crowd laugh and cheer. I wonder why she has not been on the forefront a lot earlier.

In my mind, I thought it would be great to see Michelle and Bill Clinton speaking head to head. It could be the presidential candidate spouse debate. One would think that Bill Clinton could own anybody in the public speaking arena. But Michelle looked as if she could hold her own.

Now I am not a big fan of Barack Obama. But I found myself agreeing with a lot that Michelle Obama had to say. That's how you know that somebody is good. They make you question your own decisions and outlook on topics. We shall see how Michelle Obama's work affects the outcome of the democratic primary. I am excited to see.

Democrat Debate

The other day I tuned into the Democrat debate in Philadelphia. I must confess that I only saw about half of the show. But I found it interesting.

Both Hillary and Barack were reluctant to criticize the DC ban on guns. They tiptoed around the subject a lot. I guess they both are afraid of losing votes at this critical juncture. They did make some good points on gun control. Obama gave some gruesome examples of kids getting gunned down in Chicago. And Clinton spoke about the benefit of local gun laws in New York which cater to the specific locality.

Obama took a chance I thought at speaking bluntly regarding taxes. He said you don't get something for nothing. And that means he has to raise some taxes to combat the deficit. It sounded like he wanted to raise the capital gains tax rate, and also tax wealthy people more. Ouch. Hillary just responded by saying we should spend less.

One thing Hillary and Barack had in common was blasting the Bush, McCain, and the whole Republican party. Typical democrats. Or shall I say typical politicians. There was one humorous question where Hillary was asked how, as president, she would use past presidents such as George W. Bush.

Clintons are Rich

The Clintons finally released their tax records for the last 8 years. And guess what? They are rich. Last year alone they made over $20 million. And since 2000 they have amassed over $100 million.

Part of the mega millions comes from the fact that Bill Clinton makes a lot of money these days. With his speaking engagements and popular books, he is pulling down the mad bank.

Who would we rather vote for? Rich team Clinton? Or Barack who only recently made anything more than his senatorial salary? I don't think Hillary wants you to answer this question. It cannot bode well for her. I do salute Hillary for finally releasing her tax records, even though they show she and Bill are rich.