The Case for Meg Whitman

With all of this talk about Mitt Romney being the apparent running-mate in waiting for John McCain, I just wanted to make my case for someone else. It’s not that I wouldn’t supporter Governor Romney if he was the person on the ticket; it’s just that I think there is a better fit for McCain, not to mention the unity of the Republican Party. If I had my way, Senator McCain would pick Meg Whitman to be his running mate. In case you wondered why, I made a bulleted list of pros and cons.

PROS

· She knows the economy: She is the former President and CEO of EBay and one of America’s most successful business leaders. The appeal of Romney’s economic experience is also fulfilled in a Whitman pick. She was his economic advisor, after all.

· Many women would be drawn to vote for the first female Vice President in US history.

· She is not part of the Washington culture. A true outsider for true change would be enticing to people craving change, but still wanting correct judgment and perspective in a leader. Especially now that Senator Obama has gone with Joe Biden (the epitome of a Washington Insider), the argument that a McCain-Whitman ticket is true change would be easy to make.

· By choosing someone other than Huckabee or Romney, both men will feel that they have a strong future in the party (and a potential second shot at the White House later). This way, both groups of supporters can get behind the ticket without any hard feelings.

CONS

· We don’t know her views on abortion. The base of the party has made it clear to Senator McCain that anything but a pro-life running-mate would be met with significant disapproval and could singlehandedly keep him from winning in November.

· We know very little about her private life. According to all the sources I was able to read, she is single. That has been a point of interest for other single females in high office (i.e.: Condoleezza Rice).

· We don’t know if she can fill the role of “attack dog” strongly enough to combat the hurricane that is the wind that cometh from Joe Biden’s mouth.

From where I sit (far away from Washington, D.C. and from the decision makers in the McCain camp), I see the pros as a much stronger list than the cons. I think that choosing Whitman would generate extraordinary interest in McCain and would bring swing voters to his side come Election Day. Imagine the coverage the McCain campaign would get out from the mainstream press if he picked her!

The cons cannot be ignored; but I really do hope that as I write this, the McCain camp is vetting her to determine the unknowns that fill the list. If she passes through that as a viable option, I think Whitman is the right choice for this campaign.

This election season has told us that this country is primed for a change. Now that Obama has failed to deliver that change in his running mate, I say that it’s the perfect time for McCain to do it.

-Andrew Jones

Hey, Joe!

First let me confess to something: I signed up for that ridiculous text message/email from the Obama campaign thinking that they would actually let their supporters in on the secret before the news broke. As we all know now, not only did they miss their mark by several hours, but they also had to send the text messages out at around 3 am EST, or midnight out here on the left coast. Nothing says well orchestrated campaign stunt like waking up your supporters at 3 am to tell them something that had already been leaked to the entire free world! I was further ecstatic to receive an official announcement email from the Obama people naming Joe Biden as Barack's running mate at about 10 am. The Obama campaigns timeliness would be nothing short of amazing....if this were 1890, but alas, as it stands it was just a comical thing to watch. They kept such a good secret for so long, only to have it leaked out and confirmed 12 hours short of the finish line. I think that is a sneak peak to a common theme for the remainder of the Obama campaign: Obama, a day late and a dollar short. I am now a happy former subscriber to Obama email updates (I would hate to waste any more space in my inbox with his updates).

I also wanted to share some thoughts about Joe Biden, the new running mate. First of all, I find it stunning that the Democrats continue to get thing so backwards. How in the world does the inexperienced, done-nothing junior senator take the #1 spot on the ticket while the 6 term senator (and current chairman of the foreign relations committee) is relegated to #2. This is the definition of a backwards and unbalanced ticket.

Even Senator Joe himself doesn't think Barack is Presidential material. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDVUPqoowf8

And isn't it strange that Mr. Change felt the need to pick a 6 TERM US SENATOR to be his running mate. Its almost like experience actually does matter. Imagine that.

Obama and his Gas Problem

I was watching Barack Obama talk at the Jefferson Jackson dinner and he stated something that is nothing new from him, or most Democrats and honestly, a growing number of conservatives. "You suffer and the oil companies put record profits in their pockets!" The correction that should be made to this complaint would be this: oil companies put record profits in YOUR pockets. While you may or may not own stocks or have investment portfolios, your parents, or your grandparents who have retirement accounts or investment portfolios most likely have oil company stock. Exxon Mobile posted a 10.9 BILLION dollar profit this last week and people were livid. "Gas prices are so high and they're making money!" the average consumer complains. But what that consumer, and evidently Obama doesn't know or doesn't want YOU to know that every day Americans get those profits. There isn't a man swimming in his pool filled with 10.9 billion dollar bills, every share in the company earned $2.03. Now unless we have decided that it is wrong for a company to earn money, unless we have decided that we no longer want to have a free economy, unless we have decided that a company who earns a profit should be taxed and punished for their success, oil companies should not be seen as villains. It's easy to blame the big guy when you’re not happy, but if you are really upset about oil prices, drive your car less, drive slower, decrease DEMAND for gasoline and the SUPPLY will rise and PRICES will decrease. Rather than complaining about a company being successful and making YOU, the public shareholder, money point the blame finger elsewhere.

By the way:
Exxon Mobile makes a profit of about 9 cents a gallon.

Should we start punishing other companies who make 9 cents profit per item? The only reason Exxon has such high profits is because of the massive volumes of gasoline sold. If a shoe maker sold his shoes for a $10 per shoe profit, and he sold $1 million shoes, would we be outraged that they made $1o million dollars in profits?

The real thieves here aren’t the gas companies, and John McCain wants to do something about it:

The US government takes 14.5 cents a gallon. Washington State takes 28 cents a gallon.

--Michael Hilburn

Obama and the "preacher"

We are fully aware that there have been repeated calls for exclusively issue-oriented attacks in this campaign from the McCain people and we would ordinarily respect that. However, this business about Obama's pastor has us in a special kind of uproar and we feel it warrants the special attention:

A year ago, before Barack Obama had reached super-star status, questions were raised about his spiritual leader, mentor, confidant, and pastor Jeremiah Wright, Jr. and his often racially charged sermons and statements. Then, Obama was not overly challenged by this relationship, but now as new video of the prejudiced preacher have surfaced showing the outrageous rhetoric from Jeremiah Wright, Jr. and we are once again required to demand Obama to either align with or denounce his "spiritual leader". Some argue that a pastor does not represent the views or beliefs of the members of their church. While that may be true to a degree, it is preposterous to suggest however that some one, like Obama, who has attended a church for over 15 years under the same pastor (whom he has been friends with for around 2 decades) shares none of the views or beliefs as said pastor. Obama has likened his relationship with this man to that of a relative with a crazy uncle who says outrageous things but has to be tolerated. Unfortunately for Mr. Obama, this is a stupid analogy. We cannot pick our family, we certainly can and do pick our pastors. And if our uncle was seriously outrageous, as this pastor is, would any normal person still visit with him? We think not.

It is also ridiculous to suggest that the company a candidate keeps should not come into question during an election. If a candidate called a Klu Klux Klan member as their personal spiritual leader, and mentor, there would be outrage from the electorate. This is no different. The hate speech that "Rev." Wright preaches is not only racist, but anti-American. Any one who so closely associates themselves with the source of such rhetoric is not fit to be President of the United States of America.

Statements by Rev. Wright:
America and Al Qaeda commit the same crimes .
America invented AIDS to kill people of color.
God Bless America? No No No, God **** America

Should some one who says these kind of comments be supported by a candidate for President? What does this tell us about Obama's judgement in character?

Our liberal friends are quick to point out that Senator McCain and President Bush have met with and enjoyed the support of some people who have said some rather unseemly things. This is most assuredly true. Anyone running for the Presidency of the United States is bound to pick up some supporters who say nasty things and don't share the values of the candidate. So long as they make it clear that they disagree, and strongly denounce the people's inappropriate words, there is no great problem here. In Obama's case, this rule does not apply because he has remained a member of this church after repeated controversial comments made my Wright. For example, right after the horror that was September 11, 2001, "Rev." Wright said that America's "chickens had come home to roost."

Senator Obama has categorically denied hearing or knowing of the vast majority of these comments and has stated, for the record with Fox News reporter Major Garrett, that he would have left the church had he known about these comments. Now, all that needs to happen is for proof to emerge that Obama was made aware or in attendance when one of these comments were made and America will see what a disingenuous and dangerous illusion he is.

We want to provide some clips of the preacher that is Obama's "spiritual leader" and "mentor" and let you decide for yourself if you want a product of this "thought" to be our next President. We pray to God (and we didn't ask Rev. Wright for help figuring our how to do that) that you answer that question with an emphatic and absolute NO! We have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUbUBTlmAiA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zs38vqJFfU

Thanks for reading,
Andrew Jones and Michael Hilburn

Man In the Arena

John McCain blowup?

Today Senator McCain had what some weak stomached yellow journalists are calling a “blow up” when he was asked about the conversation he had with Senator Kerry when he asked McCain to be his running mate.

I don’t want to even get into the stupidity of the question or the details of the conversation. Rather, I just think it is very bold of this reporter (considering she writes for the New York Times) to take offence to McCain’s reaction to the question. She is, in my opinion, lucky that he didn’t kick her off his plane as soon as it landed.

I propose that, in order to prove a point and to gain creditability with the conservative movement, Senator McCain revoke the New York Times’ press passes, bar them from his events and demand that they retract their endorsement of his candidacy. They have slandered him so greatly and so dramatically that I find today’s “blow up” to be far too polite for these snotty liberal jerks.

Rethinking MV08

The arrogance surrounding my ongoing opposition to the attitudes of the MV08 administration has boiled over. It was emanating from both myself and them and it simply could not be sustained any longer. If they continue to devalue the little blogs, if they continue to belittle the young people, they will not be a very effective organization. This can only hurt Senator McCain, which is not acceptable. In the past few weeks I have tried to point this out, but to no avail. While there was negative things said on my part, they were rooted in a deep commitment to John McCain and strong emotions as a result of perceived negligence and abuse.

I am sad to say that if the McCain campaign is run by people with the same attitudes and ineptitudes as the same people that run MV08, this campaign needs a serious shakeup if it plans to win in November.

I do apologize for my words and tones in dealing with this situation, but they were a perfect mirror of the way I feel I was treated.

Tonight Senator McCain secured the Republican nomination for President and I am ecstatic about that. When the dust settles, I will remain here, doing what little I can to help the cause. This election is too important to allow arrogance and pride to get in the way of what is right. Because I cannot control the actions and attitudes of anyone but myself, I choose to go forward from this moment with nothing but respect the support that anyone who supports McCain shows him.

Thanks for reading and I hope some of you will continue to value my opinion,

Andrew Jones