Losing to the Rays just doesn’t sting like losing to the Evil Empire. There is a lot to like about the Rays from the local connections (Rocco Baldelli and Carlos Pena) to the quirky manager to the worst to first angle.
The Red Sox were a gritty, fun team to watch, filled with players who played hard and did the right things. I was happy to root for a Manny-free team. Granted, I was not as happy as Terry Francona was to manage a Manny-free team. Did you catch Francona’s post game comment?
“We didn’t get as far as we wanted. We got beat by a very good team,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after Sunday’s contest. “But this is probably the funnest couple months maybe I’ve ever had. I know our guys will be down for a little while, but they have no reason to hang their head.”
Here’s Theo,
“I’m extremely proud,” he said. “This team went through a lot. A lot of these guys are on fumes with the effort that was expended to get to this point. There are no losers in here tonight. We got beat by a team that’s playing great. We congratulate them, but I feel this was a championship effort this year, one for the whole organization to be proud of. It’s baseball and you don’t win all the time. The effort was incredible. Every guy here left it all on the field.
Good riddence to “that guy“. Overall, a very enjoyable season for the Red Sox. Looking forward to next season.
Nationally syndicated talk host Todd Feinburg and I discussed the presidential race, why Obama can’t close the deal, the role of race and ageism as well as the tsunami around Joe the Plumber.
In addition to his excellent work on radio, Todd is also blogging up a storm at Barack’s White Lies.
Hat Tip: Ace via Slublog
Got to give the media credit, they sure aren’t shy about protecting their candidate. I think the reason is obvious. Obama cannot put this race away on his own. The polls are within 2-5 points depending on which one you look at.
Joe the Plumber asked a question of Barack Obama. Obama gave a poor and sloppy answer about “spreading the wealth around” that is being used, effectively, against him. What does he get get for his troubles? Michael Barone, in a pre-Joe the Plumber column, saw the future,
The Coming Obama Thugocracy
Attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for liberals.
In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy, suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight years ahead.
What have we learned this week about Joe the Plumber?
He’s related to Charles Keating of the Keating Five, maybe.
Joe the Plumber isn’t licensed!
The Politico reports that, oh no, “Joe the Plumber’s” name appears on Ohio voter registration rolls with a slight misspelling”. I wonder if he registered through ACORN?
Slate demands an answer! “What else is “Joe the Plumber” hiding from the American people?”
The New York Times has “the real deal” on his plumbing qualifications!
Atlantic Monthly says his real name is not Joe.
The LA Times reports today that Joe the Plumber has liens against him.
According to court records, creditors have secured at least two liens against [Joe the Plumber] Wurzelbacher, whose legal name is Samuel. Ohio has a $1,182 lien for owed taxes and St. Charles Mercy Hospital has filed a 2007 lien for $1,261.
Patterico explains,
I think we can all agree that this is critical information. Not because it says anything about Joe the Plumber, mind you. But it does serve a useful function: it warns any future citizen who might dare question Barack Obama that his life will be closely scrutinized for any irrelevant but embarrassing information.
So, you know. Critical in that sense. Oh — I almost forgot to mention: Martin Nesbitt, the treasurer of Obama’s campaign, has tax liens. So do his companies. You’d think that matters more than the tax liens of Joe the Plumber, wouldn’t you? But good luck finding a Big Media story about Nesbitt’s liens.
Out of curiosity, here is what I found in a few Google News searches,
“Martin Nesbitt and tax lien” – did not match any documents.”
“Martin Nesbitt tax lien” – did not match any documents.
“obama adviser and tax lien” – did not match any documents.
“obama and tax lien” – did not match any documents.
McCain, sensing a backlash against this absurd piling on, came out today and defended Joe The Plumber,
“The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house,” McCain told a rowdy crowd at Florida International University. “He didn’t ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn’t recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks.”
This afternoon, CNN reported the following,
As Democratic nominee Barack Obama pulled into the Roanoke Civic Center on Friday, he was greeted by the usual McCain campaign supporters that show at Obama rallies. But this time, those waving McCain-Palin signs were joined by dozens of people waving standard-issue plungers. Some wore white t-shirts emblazoned with “I AM JOE THE PLUMBER” on the front. The protesters all said they were volunteers and not paid by the McCain campaign.
Could this 24-month campaign come down to an unscripted moment of unintentional honesty during a rope line handshake? It certainly seems like many in the MSM think the answer may be yes.
UPDATE: The current AOL Hot Seat poll is by Ed Morrisey of Hot Air and he is asking the question, “Has Joe the Plumber been treated unfairly?”
Both candidates spoke last night at the Al Smith dinner in New York City,
Here is John McCain
and Barack Obama
Hat tip: Ann Althouse
During the debate last night, Barack Obama claimed the following about small business in America,
The last point I’ll make about small businesses. Not only do 98 percent of small businesses make less than $250,000, but I also want to give them additional tax breaks, because they are the drivers of the economy. They produce the most jobs.
Does that strike you as an absurd claim on several levels? First, 98%, virtually every single one, of small businesses make less than $250K annually? Simply absurd, unless your idea of “small business” is pictured above. The second absurdidty is the claim that these small businesses who make less than $250K create the “most jobs”?
Obama must have a very different idea of what constitutes a small business than the federal government does. Over at Patterico, they took a look at the government definition of what a small business is. Here is what they found,
Here are examples from the SBA’s Table of Small Business Size Standards setting forth the maximum average annual receipts by industry that a business can have and still be classified as a small business:
Crop production of all types — $750,000
Animal production except for cattle & chicken/eggs — $750,000
Cattle feedlots — $2.5M
Chicken/egg production — $12.5M
Forestry & logging — $7M
Fishing — $4M
Irrigation, sewage, water supplies — $7M
Housing construction — $33.5M
Heavy and civil engineering construction — $33.5M
Dredging and cleanup — $20M
Concrete, framing, and other housing contractors — $14M
Car dealers — $23-29M
RV, motorcycle, & boat dealers — $7M
Furniture, hardware, clothing & sporting good stores — $7M
Electronic stores — $9M
Supermarkets, gas stations & department stores — $27M
Pharmacies — $7MIn addition, most of the industries in the Table — such as manufacturers of food, beverages, apparel, print, oil/gas, plastics, plumbing, machinery, computers, electronics, electrical, transportation, and furniture — are considered small businesses based on their total number of employees instead of average annual receipts. In those industries, the cut-off between small and large businesses ranges from 500-1,000 employees per business/industry.
It’s difficult for me to imagine a business that has 50 or more employees (let alone 500-1,000) that has receipts of less than $250,000 per year. And, given the SBA definitions of “small business,†it seems likely that many small businesses in a wide range of industries have receipts of more than $250,000 per year.
If so, it is appalling that Obama would imply that, if he is President, a small percentage of businesses exceed the $250,000 per year cut-off for increased taxation under his tax plan.
Yes, appalling is a good word for it. Another appropriate word would be to call it what it is, a lie. Perscription for economic disaster also works just as well. The fact is that Obama’s tax plan spells disaster for small business owners, and those who work for them. In this brutual economic climate, their taxes, and therefore their cost of doing business, is going up.
Barack Obama’s plan for small business is to keep them that way. Obama is as dishonest as he is smooth. Kind of reminds me of someone else.
Ok Senator McCain, for the life of me I don’t understand why you have yet to do this. This is your last chance. You need a simple, direct theme for your campaign. One that demonstrates the essential difference between you and Obama.
Words versus deeds. You see Senator McCain, the guy you are running against is a solid gold plated phony. He’s not who he says he is. He is who he is, to paraphrase a certain football coach.
Words versus deeds. That is what’s at stake in this election.
On Taxes, words versus deeds
Words are meaningless. It’s what you do that counts. Two times Sen. Obama voted for the 2009 budget resolution which raised taxes on those making as little as $42,000 per year. Words versus deeds.
The tax cut he talks about is also an illusion. Sen. Obama says he will cut taxes for 95% of Americans. First of all, only about 70% of Americans pay taxes at all. So his plan is dishonest from word one. For most of the rest of you, Sen. Obama’s plan is not a tax cut, but a one-time rebate check. As he told a trucker at a campaign event this week, his plan is to “spread the wealth around.” As the WSJ disclosed this week, Sen. Obama’s plan is a massive tax increase on the engine of our economy, small business owners.
On social issues, words versus deeds
On social issues, Sen. Obama says he is a moderate, well within the bounds of mainstream Americans. On abortion, his view is most certainly to the left of most Americans, even those who are pro-choice. Sen. Obama has promised Planned Parenthood that, ”the first thing I’d do as President is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act”. What does that involve? NOW says this law will “‘sweep away hundreds of anti-abortion laws [and] policies.” What Sen. Obama is promising would,
“abolish virtually every existing state and federal limitation on abortion, including parental consent and notification laws for minors, state and federal funding restrictions on abortion, and conscience protections for pro-life citizens working in the health-care industry-protections against being forced to participate in the practice of abortion or else lose their jobs.
That is not a mainstream position, but an extreme one.
On reforming government, it’s words versus deeds
Sen. Obama talks a lot about reforming government, but he has never actually worked to do it. He has authored more autobiographies than pieces of reform legislation. When Sen. Obama was a state senator a few years ago, he consistently worked to block reformers who challenged the Chicago machine. Every time Sen. Obama was on the side of political hacks and cronies. He stood in the way of reform. Words versus deeds.
On bipartisanship and bringing people together, words versus deeds
According to Sen. Obama, he is going to bring the country together and unite us. I have seen no example of this in the United States Senate. According to National Journal, Sen. Obama is the most liberal member of the senate. He votes the party line and has a single example on his short resume of reaching across the aisle, on the issue of stopping nuclear proliferation, not exactly a controversial stand. Again, words versus deeds.
On foreign affairs, it’s words versus words. He has no record or experience on foreign policy.
On direct negotiations with our sworn enemies, Sen. Obama has said repeatedly that he would meet with any leader without preconditions. Then he backtracked. Frankly, I’m not sure where he stands on this. Same thing goes for Iraq. When the Democratic nomination was up for grabs, we heard no talk about victory in Iraq, only how fast we could retreat. Retreating in the face of a vicious enemy is not a strategy for victory. It is a strategy for political cover. It is the opposite of leadership.
And what about the man himself, look who Sen. Obama surrounds himself with. Words versus deeds.
When asked about unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, Obama said he was “just some guy from his neighborhood.” That is not straight talk. The fact is, Sen. Obama cannot be frank about his close working relationship with Bill Ayers because it shows him to have such poor judgment. Instead, he has lied to you, even CNN has admitted that. He lied about his connection to this unrepentant domestic terrorist. Sen. Obama called this a distraction from the real issues.
When asked about his relationship with ACORN, Sen. Obama lied once again to provide himself cover. When his initial denial about ever working for/with ACORN was exposed, he once again changed his position and said talking about this was, you guessed it, a distraction from the real issues.
When his spiritual mentor and pastor of 20+ years was exposed as a hate filled, racist anti-American bigot, Sen. Obama at said he had no idea that these things were going on at Trinity United Church. He then said he couldn’t abandon Rev. Wright and then he did just that, calling the controversy a diversion from the real issue of race in America.
When Sen. Obama says an issue is a diversion from the real issue, you can see now that it is really a diversion from his personal ambition. These issues are no diversions my friends. They are at the core of who Barack Obama is and what he has done in his life.
Words are meaningless. Actions are what counts. His words are beautiful and eloquent and no doubt speak to the hopes and dreams of many Americans. The record however, shows something else. It shows that at no time in his short political career has Barack Obama been a reformer. His record on taxes shows, time and again, that he votes to raise your taxes. He has yet to propose a single tax cut where it counts, in the Senate where he works. On social issues, he talks about mainstream values but his record shows he is far to the left of most Americans. On foreign policy, his positions are dangerous and naive. His decades long association with radicals like ACORN, Bill Ayers and Rev. Wright are not things most mainstream Americans find acceptable. That is why he has lied about them repeatedly.
My friends, Sen. Obama talks a good game but his words and his deeds are about as far apart as you can get. How can you trust him when his words and deeds are at such odds?