Stories by Soren Dayton
Posted at 10:05am on May 7, 2008 Obama v. McCain on the Economy. Advantage McCain
McCain wins on the economy, on Iraq, and on identity
By Soren Dayton
Last night, for all effects, Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. I am undecided on whether this is good or bad news. But some things are clear.
It is increasingly clear that the economy is going to be the dominant issue. In exit polls from yesterday, the dominant issue was the economy:
As it has been throughout the Democratic primaries, the economy was the most important issue in both states with 67 percent of voters in Indiana describing it as such and 61 percent in North Carolina.
As I have noted earlier, the American people trust John McCain more than Barack Obama on the economy.
This basic fact is exacerbated by all the other issues such as race, class, identity and the other polarizing issues in this primary.
Read on.
Posted in 2008 — Comments (15)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:29pm on May 6, 2008 IN Dem Gov candidate campaigns illegally
He is breaking the law on election day; Just imagine what he would do if he won
By Soren Dayton
Election Journal, which should be at the top of your Election Day must-read list, catches Dem Gov. candidate Jim Shellinger breaking the law.
What's wrong here? It is illegal to campaign inside a polling location. Click through to Election Journal for the details.
Note that the Obama campaign is doing it too.
Posted in 2008 | Democrats | Electoral Corruption | Indiana — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 9:58am on May 6, 2008 The Audacity of Prep
Barack Obama is lying about those "humble beginnings"
By Soren Dayton
Last night on ABC, Barack Obama said:
My upbringing was much more reflective of what working class black and whites go through than John McCain's background being raised as the son of an admiral in boarding schools or Hillary Clinton out in the suburbs of Park Ridge.
Ummmm. What is he talking about? Take, for example, his high school. The Chicago Tribune said this:
As much as young Obama stood out physically in the classrooms of Indonesia, so, too, did he at Punahou School, the elite private prep academy his mother moved him back to Hawaii to attend.
A MyDD diarist doesn't buy the narrative about his mom:
Barack's mother has been described as naive and a free-spirited beatnik (who found the dough to get a PHD). She is praised as a single parent after divorcing two men in 6 years, then sending her son Barack to Honolulu to be raised by her mother who was a bank vice president.
How do you square an "elite private prep academy" and being raised by a "bank vice president" with "what working class black and whites go through"?
Maybe it's all just fake
Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 2:53pm on May 5, 2008 Protecting the Military vote
It's the right thing to do. That's why the Democrats probably won't
By Soren Dayton
There was an important article over in the Weekly Standard by Hans A. von Spakovsky and Roman Buhler about military voting:
A survey by the Election Assistance Commission shows that of almost 1 million ballots requested in the last election by overseas and military voters, only about one third were successfully cast and counted.
Some of it is illegal and deliberate. For example in 2004, Pennsylvania Governor ("Fast Eddy") Rendell tried to deliberately disenfranchise military voters while running a GOTV drive in prisons. But much is accidental, logistical, and structural:
The most common reasons for this failure were that the requested ballots sent to voters were returned as "undeliverable" and that marked ballots were received too late to be counted.
This is a tremendously important issue both morally--making sure that our soldiers have their basic rights--and politically. Undoubtedly, the Democrats, ACORN, and their allies will continue to commit election crime while Congressional Democrats will try to find ways to undermine military voting. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-22) has introduced legislation on this and von Spakovsky and Buhler have their own suggestions about other options.
Over the next 6 months, we are going to watch the Democrats make promises that help their corrupt allies, like Barack Obama's promise to stop oversight of the Teamsters, those pillars of ethical management. Here's a simple thing that they could do for America's heroes. Somehow I doubt they will move on that.
Posted in 2008 | Democrats | Electoral Corruption | Military voting — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:51pm on May 4, 2008 Gray Lady strikes out with McCain?
Why does the campaign even bother?
By Soren Dayton
We know the stories. First, the New York Times runs an empty story about a lobbyist. They embarass themselves with no substance. Then one of their reporters attacks him on the plane and invokes his temper. Whiff again. Then they try something with some local project, and it demonstrates the cravenness of the environment lobby.
Well, they are at it again. But, as Ed points out, they are, at least, putting it on the editorial page. They are attacking him for not releasing all of his health records. Check out this pathetic hit job:
Senator John McCain is 71 years old, a survivor of an aggressive form of skin cancer. If elected, he would be the oldest man to become president.These factors are not disqualifying, but they impose on Mr. McCain a larger duty than usual to provide detailed, timely disclosure about his health. So far, he has failed to meet this obligation to voters, even though he is now the presumed Republican nominee. ...
The McCain campaign says it will make his health documents available and arrange for follow-up questioning of the candidate’s doctors on May 23.
Lemme guess how this played out. NYT wanted to write a (hit) piece on this. They asked for more details on his health. The McCain campaign responded with a solid date, something that the campaign is very accountable for, and then they New York Times attacked anyways.
Why does the campaign even bother with the NYT? Their readership is collapsing. Their reporters like Rutenberg and Bumiller are embarrassing the paper and demonstrably lowering its standards. Why even invite them on the bus and plane anymore. The campaign doesn't invite the DNC, why its surrogate?
Posted in 2008 | John McCain | Media Bias | The New York Times — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:42am on May 4, 2008 Iran, Sri Lanka, terrorism, and international organizations
How the international system sometime works
By Soren Dayton
Here are two facts for you about a recent change in the relationship between Sri Lanka and Iran. First, Iran makes some offers to Sri Lanka:
President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran is to visit Sri Lanka for two days from April 28,2008. ... His engagements will include the inauguration of the construction of the Iranian-funded ( US $ 450 million) Uma Oya hydroelectricity project at Wellawaya in the Monaragala district. ... The visit is also expected to result in the finalisation of an agreement for Iranian financial and technical assistance for enabling the Sapugaskanda oil refinery to handle Iran’s light crude. This project is expected to result in a further Iranian investment of US $ one billion.
And:
Iran has also agreed to train the Sri Lankan Army and Intelligence officers in Iran. A team of about 10 officers has already proceeded to Iran for training. Sri Lanka has already shared with Iranian Intelligence the manuals of Israeli equipment purchased by it in the past.
In exchange, the Chinese News Agency reports the following with the headline, "Sri Lanka supports Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy":
Sri Lanka said Tuesday that it supports the peaceful use of nuclear energy by Iran within the framework of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The lesson? The best indicator of Iranian (and Chinese) influence is investment. Gee. I wonder how Iranian influence grows at the UN.
Posted in 2008 | IAEA | Iran | Sri Lanka | Terorrism — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 6:02am on May 4, 2008 Voting irregularities in Guam's Democratic Caucus?
Who is cheating in Dededo?
By Soren Dayton
Lemme get this straight. Barack Obama wins the Guam caucus by 7 votes after the final precinct takes 13 hours to count 822 votes out of about 1400 cast, and insufficient ballots were delivered to that precinct.
What's that quote? "If it's not close they can't cheat." Did Obama cheat to win? Or did Clinton try and fail?
Read on for the details.
Posted in 2008 | Democratic Presidential Primary | Electoral Fraud | Guam — Comments (9)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 5:18am on May 4, 2008 More on Michelle Obama's arrogance
Maybe I'm just bitter
By Soren Dayton
Michelle Obama, on the Today show:
But the truth is that, you know, I just know how special he is. ... The fundamental changes that he has made in just 15 months in the way people see themselves, the way people see their futures, the way young people are looking at their possibilities, the way we're talking about politics, even though we slip sometimes and we still get pulled down into the old ways of playing the political game -- changes have happened.
Is she really saying that Barack Obama is changing how people "see themselves"? Could these people get any more arrogant? No wonder that they are having trouble connecting.
This a great catch from Jen Rubin.
Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Michelle Obama — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:38pm on Apr. 30, 2008 AFL-CIO desperate to stop "defection"
Spending big bucks to keep their party together
By Soren Dayton
The AFL-CIO is sending out mail attacking John McCain, according to the Hotline. To whom?
The piece has been sent so far this cycle to more than 400,000 swing voters, notably those much-courted Reagan Democrats living in OH, WI, MI and MN.
Note that "Democrats" are swing voters. These "swing voters" are Hillary Clinton primary voters. These are people who have a high likelihood of becoming McCain voters.
AFL-CIO is terrified that its members are going to vote for John McCain. These are those white working class voters that Barack Obama seems incapable of appealing to. They are going to trash John McCain to their own base for the next 6 months.
This is not a sign of strength. They are going to be spending $53m more on this. That's a sign of desperation.
Posted in 2008 | AFL | John McCain | unions — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 10:50am on Apr. 30, 2008 Why the country needed the voter-ID decision
Why register people who don't exist?
By Soren Dayton
I have written already on the voter ID SCOTUS decision. When the crazy left objects to voter ID, they cry suppression. But Abigail Thornstrom, the Vice-Chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights points to, perhaps, the simplest sentence in the decision, "There is no question about the legitimacy or importance of the State’s interest in counting only the votes of eligible voters."
The problem for the far left, is that we are on to their strategy. Every year, ACORN tries to register zillions of non-existent voters. Watch this to see how they do it in Washington state:
If they don't exist.
H/T Election Journal