An absence of candour to believe in

raymond joseph douglas

So,when our so clever clever media were lambasting Palin for raising these issues,it seems she was right!There are yet more skeletons in the divine obama's cupboard!Drill baby,drill!

Conservative Cabbie

This is a serious question. With these associations, if Barack Obama was applying to join the army, CIA or FBI for example, would he get the job after being vetted? If not, it would be remarkable that he couldn't serve in the ranks but could be commander-in-chief.

Conservative Cabbie

This graph (see alltached link) shows why McCain is losing this race, the relationship between the stock market and McCains performance in the tracking polls is uncanny.
http://tinyurl.com/45vf59

I'm afraid, unless the stock market gets better in the last 20 days, I don't think it will matter about Ayers and ACORN.

israel

A tragedy occoured today as a member of the rightwing hivemind was found drowned on the bank of a river of truth. The emergency services are suspecting that the strawman he was clutching wasn't strong enough to keep him afloat after all the manure keeping it together failed to keep it intact due to the fast flow of truth river.

A spokesman said "It must have been terrible. The horror he must have felt as his arguement fell apart and the remains he was left clutching in his fists failed to keep him afloat."

This isn't the first such incident, and sadly, as things get closer to November, more and more bodies will be found said authorities. " It can't be helped", said a spokesman, "Things will get more desperate and outlandish and as the waters rise previous strawmen that were thought good enough will be found to be inadequate. We can only hope that we don't lose too many to this folly."

Israel

Fox Poll: Nearly Two-Thirds Say Ayers Makes No Difference To Their Vote

By Greg Sargent and Eric Kleefeld - October 10, 2008, 2:44PM

These numbers, buried in the internals of a new Fox News poll out today, are the first time a national poll has tried to gauge the impact of Barack Obama's association with William Ayers. And the numbers are pretty bad for McCain:

"There has been some discussion of Barack Obama's relationship with the former radical activist William Ayers. Because Ayers is linked to plots to bomb the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol in the 1970s, and because Ayres recently said he wished he had done more, some people say Obama's association with Ayers calls into question his judgment. Does Obama's connection with Ayers make you less likely to vote for him for president or does it not really make a difference to your vote?

Less Likely 32%

No Difference 61%

Strikingly, the numbers are worse for McCain among independents: Only 29% say the Ayers association makes them less likely to vote for Obama, and more than twice as many -- 64% -- say it makes no difference. The data suggests that the vast majority of the respondents saying it makes them less likely to vote for Obama are Republicans, who probably wouldn't have supported him anyway.

Meanwhile, the poll suggests that McCain's attacks could be blowing back on him: A majority -- 51% -- say he's running a negative campaign, as compared to only 21% who say that about Obama."

Our handy TPM Election Central calculator tells us that the number of voters think McCain is running a negative campaign is nearly double that of the number who care about McCain's primary attack line right now. Go figure.

Could it be that voters have something on their minds other than the question of what a former violent radical who's now respected in Chicago was doing when Obama was walking around in shortpants?

Late Update: A quick additional point on this. Obviously this attack isn't really about Ayers; it's about sowing vague doubts about Obama's patriotism and background. Whether that dimension of the attack is working is harder to measure, and may not be perfectly reflected in the answers to direct pollster questions about Ayers. Still, the above numbers are striking.

As this is from Faux l know a lot of people on this site believe every word they say. It will be interesting to read the comments about this.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
If we are to go digging up the past how about this some more facts or as you like to say "liberal talking points"
Re military service, the Viet Nam Farrago, a noble cause according to Dubya, but not noble enough to put his body where his mouth was. For both the present POTUS and VPOTUS, Dubya & Five Deferment Dick were serial draft evaders. Dubya,the current encumbrance in the White House applied to the Air National Guard when there were 100,000 other young men in line before him, all hoping to escape the draft for the Viet Nam Farrago. In Texas 500 applicants were competing for only four places available in fighter pilot-training in the Air National Guard.
Dubya failed the medical test, the dental exam and finally he scored a rock-bottom 25 percent oin the pilot aptitude examination. That compared with the average score of applicants taking the pilot aptitude test at 77%. More than 95 percent of the testers scored higher than the Faux Texan! But somehow, just over a week before the expiration of his student draft deferment he was accepted into the Texas Air National Guard and somehow promoted to 2nd Lt without having graduated from flight school.
Later Dubya refused to take a physical because there was a new requirement for a drug test. That got his flight status dropped so he is no longer a pilot. Finally in his UMPR it says “NO RPT 1 YR” which means that he did NOT report to any guard unit for an entire year. Under the National Guard System you have to attend a drill one weekend a month and spend several weeks each year in training.
Most of this information is from Deserter: Bush’s War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past by Ian Williams.
“Five Deferment Dick” Cheney managed to defer himself out the Viet Nam Farrago, claiming that he had better things to do. It was obviously better that the poor, the black and the hispanic did the fighting for both of them!
That Dubya and Five Deferment Dick should then launch a war of aggression, sending more of the poor, the black and the hispanic off to fight sums up the noiseome personalities of both of these cunning draft evaders

Alcuin

Cabbie notes the correlation between McCain's poll rating and the stock market. However the cause is much more likely to be the fear in the markets that Obama (with his taxes, protectionism and spending) may win. Such policies echo those of Roosevelt, which contributed to the length and depth of the Depression.

Frank Pulley

Melanie; your tireless work in doing what the big media have failed to do: shine light on the Obama phenomenon, has been admirable, detailed and meticulous. You have had some determined and able support from your committed crew from both sides of the pond on this blog. You have clearly made your case. You can tell how complete your case has been by the background noise hereupon from the leftist trolls who have been sent to target you.

Despite all that, unfortunately McCain himself has blown it. He failed to expose and challenge Obama with these connections much earlier when he should have done.

I would have said that his team have let him down with their timing, had I not seen McCain himself tonight attempt to suppress his own supporters at a rally who were volubly expressing their disgust at Obama's duplicity and the association with domestic terrorists. McCain gave forth with a ludicrous endorsement of Obama's 'integrity and decency' and averred that, although he obviously thought he would make a better President than Obama, that Obama would be the next best thing. All this while the McCain political ads were putting the boot in (obviously unbeknown to McCain or without his approval (otherwise his plea to the attendees was either hypocritical or deranged). It is sad, but it seems that old fart has lost it in more ways than one. He therefore deserves to lose the election, too and I have to say that if a majority of Americans now vote for Barrack Hussein Obama, then they deserve to move into the first stages of becoming the USSRA. It seems that there are enough of the beat generation in the States who are unable to shake of a sneaking regard for the culture warriors of the Sixties such as Alinski, Ayers and Dohrn, et alia - the poisonous 'academics' who have cultivated an impressionable empty suit with a snake oil salesman's charm who because of his exotic antecedents can appeal to a broad spectrum of gullible voters who comprise the multiculti mish-mash.

We also, in the UK, collectively, deserve the current state of affairs of government and the economy. We voted for, or failed to vote in large enough numbers against, New Labour on three separate occasions, despite its disgraceful record of sleeze, political chicanery and treasonous ceding of our sovereign powers to Bureaucratic Brussels.

The return of Lord Mendacious of Primrose Hill is the final proof that we are in the grip of an arrogant and corrupt leftist cabal, that has the big media in their thrall and this is exemplified by an almost universal media acceptance that the mincing Mandy is a 'Brilliant strategist' whose expertise will help to avert the worst crisis of financial confidence this country has ever suffered. They spout this arrant nonsense without a scintilla of shame. Which indicates that they have reached a stage of self-delusion that is irreversible.

Much blood will flow I fear, before things improve. And all this at a time when we have a cretin as Home Secretary and a temporary Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis who is trying to manage a demoralised force until some other placeman is appointed.

Great try Melanie, but let's face it; Gramsci could never have dreamed that his prison scribbling would have been so effective. He has achieved more for totalitarian socialism than Hitler, Stalin and Chairman Mao combined, and it has to be said, without their spillation of blood ... yet!.

Winter Ransom

Israel,
NOte the poll downplayed the actual extent of the Ayers connection. The author of this article details far greater involvement and the fact that Ayers is not a 'former' radical, he is entirely committed to his ideology and proud of it. The public doesn't 'care' because they are being lied to, told that it was just a past incident 30yrs ago - nothing relevant etc.
Hayward, the author made some good points but you don't want to talk about that. You'd like to go bang the drum on a different topic (Bush) because you have no way to refute the facts she presents. I see this alot.

steve

I thought maybe the title of this post referred to the fact that an inquiry by the Alaska Legislature found that Sarah Palin was guilty of an abuse of power in firing a state official who wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law. But that would require a semblance of balance of Melanie's part.

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward - Now I like you, but really!

Have you just regurgitated a Michael Moore book? And that sentence about sending off the black, poor and hispanics to war is possibly one of the most ridiculous comments I've ever read. He sent soldiers to war Hayward, people who had a choice and chose to join the army. There was no conscription.

Hayward, you're posts on Iraq, whilst being "liberal talking points" were at least intelligent, that however was just silly - you can do better.

Conservative Cabbie

Israel

My comment is this, in what may be a tight election, a third of voters saying that Obama's association with Ayers may make them change their vote seems like a bloody big number to me. Of course, they may be previously disenchanted left-wing radicals who now think Obama is worth voting for but somehow I doubt it.

Nice spin though, somehow I don't think Fox's headline said "Nearly Two-Thirds Say Ayers Makes No Difference To Their Vote", I think you changed things slighly there you mischevious little wag.

David

Corruption we can believe in:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7662820.stm

This will of course be highlighted by you, Melanie, of conduct unbecoming a candidate for such high office. Yes?

Conservative Cabbie

I thought I'd get this in before the Obamacons gleefully comment on the Palin investigation report. Actually I'm off to bed having worked nights so I won't get to partake of my Coffee House addiction today.

So Obama supporting investigators find that Palin broke no laws in sacking a person she was entitled to sack anyway, a person who failed in his duty to sack someone who tasered a 10 year old, drank on duty and shot a moose illegally. In other words, a real stand up member of the Police community. They spuriously find that she is guilty of breaching ethics legislation whilst at the same time stating that she had genuine reasons for sacking him. No doubt liberals (I note Andrew Sullivan highlights it as "Sarah Palin found guilty of persecuting a family member") will try to draw an equivalence to what we have been saying about Obama, but as far as I'm concerned there is no story here. Oh well, have fun Israel, Ronnie et al.

Jack Thursby

Got this in the inbox overnight.

"Something to think about ...
If Barack Obama applied for a job with the FBI or Secret Service, he would be disqualified because of his past association with William Ayers, a known terrorist.

If he is elected President, he would not qualify to be his own bodyguard."

It's a standard bite of electoral cheese.

Normally nagging doubts, and Obama has a much longer list than McCain, have a sobering effect and they take their toll in the polling booth.

There is nothing normal or sober about this election.

Ronnie

Sleep well, Conservative Cabbie. I'll pass on the Palin report if you don't mind. It doesn't look like much of a story to me either.

I'm pretty sure there are much more important things to argue about.

Gosh, I do so hope that doesn't sound 'provincial'.

Frank P

Conservative Cabbie,

Spot on CC! But it's too late. Events, dear boy, events!

You a mush btw? Night duty? Times must be really 'ard up The Smoke! Sleep tight, it will all still be here when you awake.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
I clearly made no mention of conscription for the Iraq Fiasco.
I am fully aware that the US changed to an all volunteer military in 1973.
However what you may not be aware of, as far as the Iraq Fiasco/Afghanistan Imbroglio are concerned, being as I believe a citizen of the UK, is that the they have caused large numbers of National Guard units to be shipped over to The Sandpit, Iraq as it is referred to by the ADF (Australian Defence Forces) and Afghanistan.
Again, in case you are not aware Mr Cabbie, many of the US underclass have already been recruited to the US Armed Forces. Recruiters target High Schools in lower socio economic neighbourhoods, offering large sign on bonuses. More importantly offering to somehow produce High School diplomas for those who cannot obtain one and interestingly enough informing those who might be recreational drug users how to pass the tests for "illegal substances" So this is why the poor, the black and hispanic sign up for the US$20,000, to be paid on agreeing to early ship out. Another carrot is, if they happen to be “undocumented” ie illegal aliens, at the end of the enlistment they will be eligible for US citizenship.
National Guard units, which consist of about 43% in Iraq and 55% in Afghanistan consist of personnel who did not really expect to be shipped overseas. They obviously had not read up on US Supreme Court Rulings. For in 1990 the US Supreme Court ruled that National Guard Units could be deployed outside of the continental US without a State Governor’s approval or the declaration of national emergency.Many poor,black and hispanic sign on for the National Guard for the extra money that it pays.
As an interesting aside, which may irritate Verity but as I presume she is UK citizen she may also not be aware, National Guard Units are the main component of National Defense aka Emergency Services BUT when they are deployed to the Iraq Fiasco/Afghanistan Imbroglio they take all their heavy equipment with them. That means that in emergencies such as Hurricane Katrina ‘dozers, graders. cranes, trucks and other support including communications backup are just not there.
As for the bs about John McCain aka McNasty, his Annapolis nickname as he had such a foul almost ungovernable temper and was a bully, caring for US military personnel here is an indication in his voting record on such matters;
September 2007: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments.
May 2006: McCain voted against an amendment that would provide $20 million to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for health care facilities.
April 2006: McCain was one of only 13 Senators to vote against $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.
March 2006: McCain voted against increasing Veterans medical services funding by $1.5 billion in FY 2007 to be paid for by closing corporate tax loopholes.
Some more “liberal talking points” for you Mr Cabbie!

Verity

Steve - thanks for advertising your ignorance, because I can safely skip anything you post in future. In the US, new adminstrations often have clearouts of old staff from the previous administration and it is legal and accepted as perfectly normal. No one wants to have people on the team who were longing for the other side to win.

To repeat: It is legal and normal to have staff clearouts and freshen the air. People who are exceptionally talented, or are more devoted to public service than a political party or their exboss, usually get kept on. It's usually the party loyalists who get the boot.

"The return of Lord Mendacious of Primrose Hill is the final proof that we are in the grip of an arrogant and corrupt leftist cabal." The arrogance of bringing this slithy tove back for political advantage is mind boggling. Yet the passive British just accepted it with a few "Tut tuts".

Obama mirrors the ultimate British slimeball, Anthony Blair. I could see so clearly what he was that the minute he got in, I made my plans to get out. While he was campaigning, I could see he was a destructive imp and genuinely evil. As is the fat, ugly slapper he's married to.

Melanie, I am surprised that people are not mentioning that Obama's pushy wife Michelle worked in the same law firm as Bernadine Dorhn 20 years ago. There are photos of them together from back then.

Of course she and Obama knew who they were! That's why she cultivated them!

If the Americans vote for them, they deserve everything they get, just as the British deserve what they've got for voting for Blair. Any aspirant leader who develops a personality cult around himself is to be avoided.

Miklo

israel,
would anyone recognize an adolf hitler rising to power if it rose this time from the LEFT?
Open your eyes!

Miklo

McCain is FRIEND OF ISRAEL.
Obama... not so much.

Why? Because Obama IS a Muslim.
Oh I know, I know. You think I'm crazy... Trust me, this fact has been kept from public view. Does this make Obama a "bad" person? NO.
Does the fact that he won't tell us who he really is make him a deceptive person? YES.

Please consider, do any of us want a deceptive person leading the free world? NO!

MCCAIN 2008!

Harald

Oh come on, you can find these 'scary stories' on both sides of the campaign and you know it. Silly piece of writing for a professional.

relee

I am stunned by the dimwits that post this Ayers terrorist does not matter. It is his world view that should concern every American (I really don't care what you people from around world say because you can't vote in our elections). I am fearful of my country if knownothing (Obama) gets elected. Unfortunatly, the world is going to get more unstable which does not bode well for freedom.

Frank P

For those of an itellectual bent, or even the bent intellectuals who visit this blog from time to time, I recommend this link to the sub blog of Protein Wisdom, where Dicentra has fisked Alinski into five parts:

http://proteinwisdom.com/pub/?p=1818

Fascinating!

John G

Since Senator Byrd of WV was a member of the KKK long ago, and McCain hung around with him for many years in the senate, does that make him a KKK supporter as well? No, of course not.

However, McCain's association with Keating led to a financial disaster in the US, and he was ultimately censured in the Senate for his actions. His wife maintained a partnership with Keating for many more years.

Let's talk about whose associations are more despicable. McCain, who has a strong track record of ineptitude (see USNA records, Navy records prior to war) bad judgement (Keating) and bad morals (first wife, adultery), and then look at Obama, who sat on a nonprofit board funded by a rich right-wing Republican and tried to help under privileged Chicago children.

I bet you'll find that the war of associations is really a ridiculous attempt to throw a smokescreen over the reality that McCain is not cut out to be POTUS.

Joe Blow

Keep up the Ayers attacks! They have a certain sense of desperation about them that is unbecoming a maverick candidate.

Republican turned Independent

There are no Republicans or Democrats (or Labour vs Conservative); only thieves and liars.

Verity

Miklo writes, inexplicably: "would anyone recognize an adolf hitler rising to power if it rose this time from the LEFT?"

Adolf Hitler was from the left! Fascism, communism, they're all leftists. People on the right are less inclined to try to order the lives of others according to their personal philosophy or ambitions.

Rosebud

Sarah Palin is female and feisty, has she behaved as badly as fornicatin Clinton or Money grubbing Cheyne? Or half the journalists who want to malign her I dont think so! Obama promises everyone a side seat then side lines them. He frequently changes his mind and rhetoric which is the only change US will enjoy if they are foolish enough to vote for him

Israel

Miklo: Where to start with your two posts? Let's try eh.

Q.Israel,
would anyone recognize an adolf hitler rising to power if it rose this time from the LEFT?
Open your eyes!

A. Well first my eyes are open. I would hope your mind was open if it was you would realise that a hitler would not rise from the left. A STALIN would & l would be on the fronmtlines making sure that wasn't happening over here mwith a lot of people who you probably don't trust. But we wouldn't care we would just do our part.

Q.McCain is FRIEND OF ISRAEL.
Obama... not so much.

Why? Because Obama IS a Muslim.
Oh I know, I know. You think I'm crazy... Trust me, this fact has been kept from public view. Does this make Obama a "bad" person? NO.
Does the fact that he won't tell us who he really is make him a deceptive person? YES.

A. I would hate to see the bill from your Pilates class!! The knots you must tie yourself in to make sure the arguement fits your point of view must be very painful. I'm sure you are not the first to move back from the "Obama is a man who goes to a black church who hates America" to the "he is a secret muslim who is going to destroy America and hand it over to the muslim world and make everyone bow down to sharia law". Do l think you are crazy? No, l don't need to think your crazy. The fact that after two years of annoucing that he is running for president, twenty three (let me repeat that, TWENTY THREE) debates, and countless interviews, reports on tv and newspaper articles on every story that finally has ended up on this blog, which has been looked into by a large right wing media containing artists in the field of smear, slime and false equivalence you actually manage to say "Trust me, this fact has been kept from public view."!! No, l don't think you're crazy. I think you are one of those gullible muppets who cling to any half baked claim from foaming mouthed knuckledraggers who cannot bring themselves to say the real reason why they don't trust Obama. Go on, say it!! I double dare you!! You don't like him because having an intellegent, articulate, world respected US President would destroy that image that has been built up by the smirking chimp who has the job now that Americans are all loud, obnoxious, ignorant warmongering morons. This leads to your last question.

Q.Please consider, do any of us want a deceptive person leading the free world? NO!

A. "Iraq has sort significant amounts of Yellow cake Uranium from Niger"

"The smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud."

"Saddam would not let the inspectors in."

"We will be welcomed as liberators."

"I'm a uniter not a divider"

"I won't run a deficit."

"I'm against Nation Building."

"I want to get to the bottom of the Plame leak."

And the top one of all:

"We're safer now that Saddam is caught."

All statements from the dry drunk that people WANTED TO HAVE A BEER WITH!!

That viewpoint alone should pull you up a bit and make you think.

Israel

Damn!! I forgot the top one of all:

"We do not torture."

Respect around the world plummeted that day.

Conservative Cabbie

Frank P

A mush? What's that when it's at home? I believe you are under the impression I am a London taxi driver, 'fraid not, work in the regions. I have the worst memory in the world so would never pass the knowledge.

The Truth Hurts

I just loved Frank Pulley's reference to "the leftist trolls that have been sent to target you (Melanie Phillips)".
It's hilarious.
Firstly, that he sees all the "leftists" on this blog as trolls.
Secondly, that somehow the leftists here have been coordinated to come here and attack Melanie Phillips.
Thirdly, does Frank really think the Obama campaign reads this blog, and if they do, do you think they care a tinker's cuss?
But this blog is not really known for common sense is it.
Oh, by the way, did you see that Obama's lead is now in the double digits?

tim

@conservative cabbie

Having gone through such vetting the answer is that Obama would of passed with flying colours. Somebody who was never indicted who just happens to live on your street or you sit on a board with no one cares about. The battle between Clinton and Obama during the primaries already vetted these issues and whats sad is that instead of fighting on the issues - the McCain campaign is running attacks that are not only meaningless and unsubstantiated but the American people can care less about.

Joseph Back

Spot on! I'm not too much a fan of Obama even while I think he might be meant to win - be that as a blessing or punishment to the country. Outside the National Review the media and press over here are all for him and the election is all but conceded. Why do we even vote?

Frank

You are shrill and paranoid. If you would just take a look at the facts, you would see who really has some problems.
"Palin Guilty of Abusing Power"
That was from a majority Republican committee.
But don't let logic trip you up.

Ganpat Ram

Vrity:

Now capitalism has falen topieces, we need a guy like Obama who has a background of anti-capitalist thinking to fix things.

I had opposed Obama, as you know. But things have changed with the Wall Street Crash.

Laura Hout

Thank you for telling the TRUTH when our own (U.S.) press is clearly biased (bought off? intimidated by PC maniacs?) I'm sending everyone I know your blogs (and linking your articles into U.S. blogs) Your coverage is a SERVICE to all Americans who want to be fully informed! Thank you!

E. David Litvak

In a rather perverse way this reactionary is hoping that Barack Hussein Obama will become our 44th President, if only to see the dismay of those masochistic white men who contributed and will continue contributing more than 100 millions of dollars to his war chest in the hopes of managing him once he enters the oval office, or have his ear whilst in office, or even just hoping he’ll be grateful for all their work on his behalf. I think they’ll be in for a grim surprise.

Also, I can’t resist the specter of Michelle Obama in the White House. She’ll make their wives crawl and make them pay sycophantic obeisance whilst the fare will be humble pie garnished with crow. It’ll be a blast.

E. David Litvak
(www.edl-musings.blogspot.com)

Verity

John G "Let's talk about whose associations are more despicable ..."

Let's not.

You're not leading a group discussion here, and nor are you standing in front of a blackboard, so let's have a little less academic direction, if you please.

texasmamma

oh the brittle irony of this piece being published across "the pond" from America. See, in America, no mainstream media will print or air any of these stories -- they are so bought and sold and so biased towards Obama, "the Messiah", as the ever level-headed peace-monger Louis Farrakhan refers to him. Sad!

Ganpat Ram

VERITY:

What world are you living in?

This reminds me of the Russian proverb: "When the head is off, don't mourn for the hair."

Can't you see that the electoral fate of McCain and Palin has dwindled to insignificance?

I used to support them until few days ago, but I can see how silly it is still to do so.

We have much much much bigger things to worry about.

The whole American economy is on the verge of collapse as the banks are unwilling to lend and the government is too shackled by capitalist superstitions and hangups to boldly nationalise them to ensure the flow of credit.

Taking that step will save the economy and their own bacon, but it will also vindicate old Karl Marx and so they are hemming and hawing and fatally putting off the evil day.

The Amrican system, in short, has FAILED.

Now all Obama's minuses become pluses.

He is strangely un-American, strangely agnostic in his view of US capitalism, inclined to hobnob with its critics?

So much the better, now....We desperately need a person in the White House who has not bought completely into all the superstitions and shibboleths of US capitalism, who would be ready to CHANGE everything.

That man is Obama.

He is incredibly there, this man of strange and unexpected antecedents, and he WILL be elected.

Forget McCain and Palin.

They belong to a discredited American past. I used to take all that seriously. Now I see how flimsy and gimcrack the Great American Myth really is.

We need a new, democratically socialist USA. Obama can begin to put it in palce.

THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE.

Dr John Montgomery

I agree Melanie. I see Obama, like Ayers, as a communist and a fifth columnist. If not a sleeping Muslim, he is a member of a radical black church movement. He also took money from a convicted slum landlord and was in cahoots with Franklin Raines and the other guilty men at Fannie Mae.

I think we should be very worried that Obama will win. He will pull out of Iraq and leave it for Iran to invade. If it looks like he will win, then Israel will attack Iran in a week or two. If he wins, the stock market will fall again, assuming it has recovered somewhat by then. Capital will flee the US to avoid his taxes on capital gains and business and income over $250,000. Hezbollah will invade Israel. Pakistan will attack India. He will sweep the Fannie Mae fiasco under the carpet. Bill Ayers will be Secretary of Education. The economy will dive.

Just a cheery warning

Frank P

The Truth Hurts

Sure seems to TTH! Why keep coming back for more, though; you one of tham thar masochists?

Best to cross a blog of your list if you find it risible, isn't it?

Joe C

Thank you for writing this. We in the USA don't get this kind of honest reporting in our main stream media on anything critical of Senator Obama. Good to know you folks across the pond are reading the truth.

Hayward Maberley

Verity,
"let's have a little less academic direction, if you please"
You and many others it seems obviously prefer the headless chicken, conspiracy theory direction.

Ganpat Ram

LITVAK:

You say:

"Also, I can’t resist the specter of Michelle Obama in the White House. She’ll make their wives crawl and make them pay sycophantic obeisance whilst the fare will be humble pie garnished with crow. It’ll be a blast."

Why not? About time too, don't you think? Paying back for the two centuries and more in which
black people were never in the White House except as menials?

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
I made distinct reference to a book and it was not not written by Michael Moore.
Herewith bibliographic record.
Deserter: Bush’s War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past Williams, Ian; New York Nation Books,2004; ISBN 1-56025-6273
LCCN E903.3.W55 2004
Happy reading

israel

"Adolf Hitler was from the left! Fascism, communism, they're all leftists. People on the right are less inclined to try to order the lives of others according to their personal philosophy or ambitions."

HITLER WAS FROM THE LEFT?!?!?

PEOPLE ON THE RIGHT ARE LESS INCLINED TO TRY TO ORDER THE LIVES OF OTHERS ACCORDING TO THEIR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OR AMBITIONS?!?!?!?!

BWAAAHHAAAA HHHAAAA HAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA!!

HHOO HHOOO HOO HOOO

(Snicker)

HEE HEE HEEE!!

Thank you, that is one of the dumbest and funniest things l have read in ages. I'm sure the clouds on your planet have a very silvery lining!!

JohninFL

Hayward,
As a member of the National guard I can assure you that anyone joining the guard is aware of the possibility of deployments. It's also fairly easy to get out of the guard. Also, most guardsmen are very proud of thier envolvement in these conflicts. The guards ability to help the regular army has greatly improved our creditability. We have scores of members volunteering for deployments regardless of what unit they will go overseas with.
Bush: A pilot would be made a second Lt. before starting flight school. It is not at all unusual for a guardsmen to not drill for 12 months. The person writing the article about his guard years knew little to nothing about the national guard. As far as recruiting for the regular army, the army is an excellent place for a young person to gain job skills and maturity. It is a place where a person can advance and make a goodd living regardless of thier race or sex. I went in as a poor private, appled myself, took advantage of the educational opportunities offered and became an officer. The guard has been a great experience as well. So please, quit implying that the dregs of American society end up in the military and are basically "forced" to make deployments. We are all VOLUNTEERS.

AK

OK. Remember that Ayers is a college professor. Does this meant that the School that hired him, every teacher in the school, every student that has ever taken his classes, and even is secretary should be labeled as a person who pals around and associates with Terrorists. If Bill Ayers was a terrorist, he would be a Professor of Education at a reputable American University. Do you know what Professor of Eduaction means: HE TEACHES TEACHERS HOW TO TEACH. Does this mean that every teacher that has taken his class should be under scrutiny and lose their job. THIS IS SLEAZE BALL POLITICS BY CONSERVATIVE WHO WILL DO ANYTHING FOR POWER. IT IS REPREHENSIBLE AND YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF.

Hayward Maberley

Melanie, et al.,
Faltering McCain at odds with Palin, Headline in The Australian On line, @16:35pm AEDT 12 October 2008
Extract....John Weaver, a former senior McCain adviser who left the campaign when it almost imploded in the summer of last year, questioned the purpose of the attacks.
“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, that the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared with Senator McCain,” he said.
“And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”
The Australian is a NewsCorp Murdoch paper.

James Bourbeau

Thank you, Ms. Phillips. We are suffering over here from a lack of critical and fair journalism, especially when it concerns Obama. It's beginning to feel downright Orwellian! Please help us get this story out.

Hayward Maberley

Verity,
You need to do some remedial history reading. Hitler was always on the Right, it is just that early on he did not have the numbers. The Bavarian Freikorps were critical in the Munich Beerhaus putsch in 1923 when Adolf Hitler attempted to seize power by force. After this failed, and Hitler was sent to prison, he decided to use the political system and distanced himself from the more unruly elements of the Freikorps. Nonetheless many Freikorps officers went on to become leaders in the Nazi party and of the SA and SS. For Example Ernst Röhm, future head of the SA, Hitlers Brownshirts and Rudolf Höß, the future Kommandant of Auschwitz
May I recommend
""A Brief History of the Birth of the Nazis: How the Freikorps Blazed a Trail for Hitler", Jones, Nigel H. London : Robinson, 2004. ISBN 1-841199-257
LCCN DD 238 .J6 2004.
Mr Jones dug into a range of archives previously unknown or unobtainable.

Lucile

Here's the big picture.
Obama is lying repeatedly and has contradicted himself and thus proved he's lying, about his close ties to radicals like Ayers, Wright and Farrakhan.
Thus Obama is not truthful with the American people.
Obama 'pals around' with radicals because he is a radical. That's the big picture. He's a socialist, marxist, anti-semitic, Hate America radical like his radical pals. His policies read like the policy positions of the Socialist party he ran as a candidate of in 1996. He's an internationist socialist because they are. That's why no lapel pin flag, no pledge of allegience hand over heart and the removal of the American Flag from the tail of his campaign plane. He shares Rev. Wright's views because they are Ayers' views and he funded Ayers' political indoctrination projects for Chicago schoolkids.
The big picture is Obama IS Ayers because they both worked to turn schoolkids into internationalist socialist America haters.

Dr John Montgomery

No John G, McCain was cleared in the Keating inquiry, unlike the four Democrats who were investigated. McCain was added so they could have a Republican. Keating may have been a baddie, but he didn't run around setting off bombs and killing people. I don't think he was offered a nice little number at a University either. Ayers' so-called 'education program' was in fact a far left indoctrination of young people. Whilst Anneberg put the money up for a national scheme, I rather doubt he personally approved the successful bids. I suspect he would not ahve had he known what Ayers was up to. Obama was appointed by Ayers, they met regularly. Ayers launched Obama's poltical career. Obama is lying about this. Ayers is a communist, a fifth columnist and a corrupter of young minds. He should be in prison.

john doe

Watch out now, take care
Beware of falling swingers
Dropping all around you
The pain that often mingles
In your fingertips
Beware of darkness

Watch out now, take care
Beware of the thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
In the dead of night

Beware of sadness
It can hit you
It can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for

Watch out now, take care
Beware of soft shoe shufflers
Dancing down the sidewalks
As each unconscious sufferer
Wanders aimlessly
Beware of maya

Watch out now, take care
Beware of greedy leaders
They take you where you should not go
While weeping atlas cedars
They just want to grow, grow and grow
Beware of darkness (beware of darkness)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nut9TpD0CU8&feature=related

Verity

Israel - Hitler was on the left. As he is in the premier league of most disgraced individuals in history, needless to say, the left does not care to claim him as one of their own. They therefore claim that Hitler was on the right. As no one believes a word a leftie mews, it really doesn't matter what they claim.

Howard Mayberley, aka the Bore from Boolabong, do you honestly think anyone reads your posts or would dream, in a million years, of reading a book you recommended?

As I scroll past your comments at high speed, I sometimes see the name Verity as I whizz by and floor the accelerator.

Felix Luckhaus

It's amusingly predictable the way commenters like 'Israel' and Hayward Maberley are careful to always refer to 'Nazis' instead of giving the name of Hitler's party in full.

They know what the name is, of course. But writing it down would expose their arguments to ridicule. So they obfuscate/lie by omission and hope know one here remembers history (or lived through it.)

Too bad we've seen it all before.

Such people have even less integrity than Holocaust deniers, some of whom at least believe the nonsense they spout.

Water

Ahh the tongue of Axelrod, fully fixed with a fork.

rookwood

A) The democratic attorney for the democratic led commission investigating the Keating 5 fiasco recently stated that McCain should never have been investigated, but his recommendation was rebuked since the dems didn't want it to be The Keating(Dems)4.

B) Mr. Troopergate's boss (who was not fired, but quit over policy) made a statement in August that he left on his own accord and the trooper incident had nothing to do with it. Let me ask you this: If the trooper was just a neighbor of Palin's down the block and she knew of his behaviour, should she have sat by and done nothing? He did, among many other dispicable acts, taser a 10 year old boy and then threatened the lives of an entire family!

C) Obama's followers refer to him as "The Messiah" and I am inclined to believe this. There are now record numbers of newly registered voters who have risen from the dead to vote this election. One man in my state registered 72 times, being paid $1 and/or cigs for each registration...read ACORN=Obama

D) When interviewed recently by Stephanopolus, Obama stated..."You are certainly correct that John McCain has never brought up my Muslin religion". It is well documented that Obama slips when speaking without a teleprompter, but what Christian would ever make that error?

E) Hell, we don't even know if this man, by our Constitution, is qualified to be POTUS by virtue of his citizenship. Does it not disturb anyone that he had his college records sealed and has mounted a legal challenge to produce his "vault" Birth Certificate?

F) To date, the MSM and DNC has only a bogus claim of the Keating 5 against McCain. Truly astounding 35 year of civil service record to have only this. As for Palin, well she just drives (them) to the edge of insanity.

G) Compared to Obama: Pastor " I sat in his church for 20 years and had no idea" Wright: William "He launced my political career, we sat on numerous boards, he hired me and I hired him but...I had no idea" Ayers; ACORN "even though I trained them and gave them $800,000 to raise the dead in my campaign for POTUS, I really didn't have much to do with them" Community Leaders. I'll just stop now, but this is really just the tip of the iceberg.

H) I'm glad to see there are some across the pond looking out for my countrys best interest. I'm afraid we have become slaves to our own selfishness (economy). With the worlds economic leaders here this week in a panic, does anyone in America truly believe anyone of these guys has the answer?

I) I supppose the liberals are correct...McCain/Palin are just not the right choice for this country.

steve

Dr. John Montgomery:

Ok then, how about John McCain's continued association with G. Gordon Liddy, a convicted criminal, who in the 1990s told his radio listeners that if a BATF agent was coming through your window to go for the head shot? Do you think McCain should be going on Liddy's radio show and praising him along with accepting a campaign donation from him? Do you think this association would allow him to pass an FBI check? All of these candidates have associations that can be dredged up--most people,however, are a little more concerned about the economy, health care, and foreign policy.

Frank Pulley

At last: Mark Steyn has weighed in with a piece in the OC Register (and I'm going to paste the whole article in case those of you trolls with attention deficit disorder get lost on the way across to the link:

>Obama: Filling in the blank
Mark Steyn

Speaking personally, I'm not looking for a messiah in the White House. My favorite presidential heritage site is the Coolidge homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vt.: I have seen the mausoleums of mighty kings, but none compares with the row of headstones on a snowbound hillside cemetery, seven generations of Coolidges lined up in a row, all buried under simple, bald granite markers with only an all but imperceptible small American eagle to distinguish the 30th president from his forebears and descendants. The American ideal: the citizen-president.

Or so I always assumed. But let's be bipartisan here. If I were a Democrat, I'd salute Harry S. Truman, the Missouri haberdasher who … whoa, "haberdasher"! There's a word you don't hear too much nowadays, and, if you did, it'd probably be because the treasury secretary and the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee are on cable TV, standing on the steps of the Capitol announcing a 700 gazillion-dollar bipartisan haberdashery bailout package because the global haberdashery sector is too big to fail, and if we don't act now there'll be a massive planetary ripple effect that could take down ladies' lingerie, if you'll pardon the expression.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Citizen-presidents: Who needs 'em? The day after the most-recent debate I bumped into two Obama supporters in St Johnsbury, Vt. They said isn't it great that he's on course to win. Well, they were cute chicks, and I know an obvious pick-up line when I hear one, so I stopped to chat. God Almighty, it was like reverse Viagra: After 10 minutes of Babes For Barack, I never want to meet a female woman of the opposite sex for the rest of my life. Their basic pitch was:

"How do you solve a problem? Like, Obama!

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?"

That's John McCain's problem. Traditionally, when an unknown politician emerges on the national scene, it's a race to define him. Gov. Palin is a good example: within days, the coastal sophisticates were mocking her as a chillbilly ditz with a womb that spits out inbred kids faster than the First National Bank of Welfare Swamp issues subprime mortgages. That's politics as usual: Define your opponent.

But Obama is defined by his indefinability. When I pointed out to my Vermont gals that he lives in a swank pad that was part of some shady real estate deal with a convicted fraudster (Tony Rezko), that he entrusted his daughters' entire religious education to a neo-segregationist anti-American nut who preaches that the government created the AIDS virus to kill black people (Jeremiah Wright), that he attended fundraisers with a political patron who's an unrepentant terrorist proud of plotting to blow up young ladies just like them at a dance at the Fort Dix military base (William Ayers), when I pointed all this out, they looked at me as if I'd brought a baseball bat to a croquet match. Mere earthbound politicians are defined by their real estate deals and sleazy buddies, but Obama is defined only by his vibe. As his many admirers in France would say, he has a certain je ne sais quoi. And, if you try to pin down quo precisely, then they don't want to sais.

Besides, said one of the cuties, it's racist to try to link him to unsavory white men (Ayers). And black men (Wright). And Arabs (Rezko). And, just to be on the safe side, any dodgy Uzbeks or Papuans who might have been lurking around the greater Chicago area for the past quarter-century.

The ladies weren't exactly covering their eyes and going, "Neee-neeee-na-na, can't hear you," but the other cutie did begin waving at me her Obama sticker – the one with the giant blue-frosted O embedded in a manicured candy-striped upland – like the villain in the movie trying to hypnotize you with his pocketwatch. I began frantically looking around in hopes that a passing Hare Krishna or Scientologist type could get me out of there. But, no: Gaze into the giant zero of the Obama logo, the hole in the star-spangled doughnut, the vast fathomless nullity that is the gaping keyhole to the door of utopia. To a sad shriveled Republican cynic, there's nothing there but the wide open spaces of Obama's blank resume. But believers will see therein the healing of the planet and the receding of the oceans. The black hole of Obama will suck you in through the awesome power of its totally cool suckiness.

Most Americans, of course, are not cute coeds or Hollywood celebrities or guilt-ridden white liberals. But they react to Obamania like Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn faced with Sidney Poitier in "Guess Who's Coming To The Inaugural?" We don't know much about this chap but he seems very well-spoken and nicely turned out – "articulate and bright and clean," as Joe Biden said. Obama himself has eased up on the "I am the one you've been waiting for" shtick because he's running out the clock. He was monumentally boring in last week's debate because, at this stage, boring wins. The man who used to say he doesn't look like all the other presidents now looks like all the other presidents: the calm, plausible, reassuring man in the sober suit. This is no time to frighten the horses.

But the thing is: the horses are frightened. The Dow's nose-diving, stocks are looking at their worst year since 1937. At the debate we were offered the curious spectacle of two candidates both of whom essentially take the same line on this stuff – Wall Street greed, special interests, lobbyists, the usual populist boilerplate. And yet for a pair of guys who both believe in big government solutions, everything they said seemed small and tinny. Epic events swirled all around, but the two men fighting to lead the global superpower could only joust with cardboard swords: Why, Obama was such a bold leader on this issue that only two years ago he "sent a letter" to somebody or other. Why, long before Obama sent his letter, McCain "issued a statement." Rarely has the gulf between interesting times and the paperwork of "big government" yawned so widely.

The Republican candidate's tragedy in this election is that he's chosen to fight on Obama turf, to share so many of his assumptions. At a McCain rally in Wisconsin, a fellow in the crowd announced he was mad as hell and got a standing ovation. What was he mad about"? Obama, Pelosi and "the socialists taking over our country." McCain listened politely and then pledged to get back to Washington to reach across the aisle to work on some gargantuan bipartisan cure-all. Not the answer that chap wanted to hear, I'll wager.

If the more frightening polls are correct, America is about to elect the most left-wing government in history: an Obama Oval Office, a Pelosi House of Representatives, a filibuster-proof Senate … and a year or two down the road maybe three new Supreme Court justices. It would be a transformational administration that would start building (in Michelle Obama's words) "the world as it should be." That big empty hole in the heart of the Obama logo will not stay blank for long.<

Messrs, Andrew Neil, Matthew D'A, Fraser Nelson, and the rest of you hacks that I'm helping to support with my subscription; may I suggest you send Mr Steyn a little fee for writing this stuff and then start filling some of your magazine pages with copy of a similar quality - preferably by him!

Verity

This is a rather chilling short piece by Michael Barone in The National Review Online.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjUwZWIwZTNhY2Y0YTFkYzFmZTIyZWUwZWNkYjk4ZGM=

mo from chicago

I know Chicago and Illinois Democratic Party politics. I've lived and worked here all my life. Obama shouldn't even be a Senator.
Information on the lawsuit filed against Obama in Federal Court.
http://newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon252.htm

Media Ignore Farrakhan’s Endorsement of Obama
http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/Media_Farrakhan_obama/2008/10/11/139620.html

Angela

I have to say, I cannot get over the irony of the fact that the one terror target the 9/11 bombers were prevented by hitting thanks to the bravery of the passengers aboard United 93 - the White House - may itself soon be the first residence of terrorists' best buddy Barack Obama, the man who because of his background wouldn't even be allowed to be a presidential bodyguard.

Those poor people who cried "Let's roll" may as well have just let the plane slam into the White House for what's threatening to end up in it.

While we're all on the subject of the mainstream media, if you get the chance, do check out ITV's news tonight (on at 23.00) because it will almost certainly carry a report from Dan Rivers that was run on the 18.15 bulletin today (12 October).

Dan Rivers was allowed into the prison where the Bali bombers await their death sentence.

He questioned them, saying: "Where in The Koran does it say that you should kill non-Muslims? You're twisting the religion."

Anyone who has read The Koran will know there are heaps of passages where this sort of instruction appears.

The prisoner said in reply to Mr Rivers "it is in The Koran. You are infidel" and then proceeded to quote one of the relevant passages, but was only allowed to say these six words: "Blood by blood, soul by soul" before Mr Rivers and his producers decided we had heard too much of the truth and the rest was edited out.

You should see the look of sanctimony on Rivers' face when he says the religion is being "twisted" by the convicted Bali bomber and then when he gets a verbatim quote from The Koran that flatly contradicts his question, he and the editor just cut the tape.

These are the depths to which so many in the Western mainstream media have sunk.

No wonder we've got Bill Ayers' chum heading to the White House.

Ganpat Ram

Verity:

Your repeated claim that Hitler was a leftist is about as preposterous an idea as I have ever come across.

Be serious, please.

Hitler a leftist? when

he suppressed without mercy the German social-democratic and Communist Parties.

He crushed the German trades unions.

He was the key foreign supporter who enabled General Franco to win the Spanish Civil War against the leftwingers of Spain? Or do you regard General Franco another leftist?

Hitler proclaimed his implacable opposition to the principles of the French and Russian revolutions. He swore to go to war with Bolshevik Russia when he came to power, and kept his promise.

He was supported by a whole throng of right-wing newspapers in the West, like The Daily Mail.

The French rightwing in the 1930s had a slogan:"Mieux Hitler que Leon Blum!" (Better Hitler than Leon Blum). Blum was the prime minister of the leftwing Popular Front government in france, made up of socialists and communists. It would have come as a great surprise to them, as to all the western socialist and communist parties, who were nearly exterminated by Hitler in the Second World War, to learn that the man was on the left.

We are living in tough times, but that is no excuse for spouting nonsense.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Ram,
Thank you for your post. I think you have to understand that Verity, just one amongst many on this site are rather like the current floundering Republican Administration claims to be.
They are "faith based" not reality based. You covered France and indirectly the UK. here is what Pastor Niemoller had to say
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
Regards,
Hayward

Verity

Anyone who goes in for masses in choreographed outdoor gymnastics with balloons is a raving leftist. Just look at the Chinese under Mao. And frankly, even now.

Are you trying to tell us that Hitler was a capitalist? Wasn't the Volkswagon a sort of pre-Skoda? A car for the little people?

Hayward Maberley

JohninFL,
Thank you for your reply.
I respect your personal decision to join the National Guard and to enlist in the military.
However the Bush book to which I referred covers a range of matters concerning his draft evasion. The major ones address how, with such poor results and low scores Bush was able to enter the Air National Guard ahead of all the people that had better results and higher test scores. Then how he managed to stay in while not reporting for drill, duty and physical examinations, and periods of absence. If Bush did not fulfill the National Guard requirements, as he had signed up to do, by law he should have be called up for the draft.
As for the lowering of standards it is unfortunately true.
The share of Army recruits with a high school diploma - which has shown to be a key indicator of future success in the military - dropped more than 12 percent between 2005 and 2007, reaching a 25-year low, according to an analysis of government data.
The percentage of Army enlistees who joined the service with a high school diploma went from almost 84 percent in 2005 to less than 71 percent last year, according to the analysis by the non-profit National Priorities Project.
The data also revealed a steep decline in what the Army considers "high-quality" recruits, an assessment based on a combination of their education levels and scores on the Armed Forces Qualification Test; in fiscal year 2005, for example, 56 percent of enlistees were designated by the Army as high quality, while last year 45 percent were, the analysis found.
The findings were based on raw data that the Army Recruiting Command compiles on each new recruit, including hometown, income level, race, education, and test scores. The National Priorities Project obtained the information through the Freedom of Information Act and analyzed it, according to Anita Dancs, the organization's research director.
Extract from Brian Bender,Boston Globe, on line 23 January 23, 2008

Ann

"Paying back for the two centuries and more in which black people were never in the White House except as menials"

Except for those the Republicans appointed to high office, of course - Powell, Rice ...

Michelle Obama is a vile person. Her black skin doesn't entitle her to anything, and saying that it does is racist.

Verity

If one more person presents Martin Niemõller's quote with an air of preachy, self-congratulatory revelation, I will scream. We know the quote. Thanks. Everyone is familiar with the quote. It gets mentions.

The o in Martin Niemõller's name has an umlaut, by the way. I thought everyone knew that.

Israel

Verity:

If thered is one person on this site who would know about "preachy, self-congratulatory revelations" it would be you. Glad you had that moment of self reflection.

Hayward Maberley

Verity,
Apologies for the missing diacritic. I promise to check my diacritics in future. T retrn to the topic, Fascism which arises from the confluence of governments wanting ever more
power together with an ever more cowed and docile populace and capitalism in form of big business eager for ever more profit and an ever more subdued workforce. It may consist of elements of nationalism of all sorts including economic along with populism, corporatism, totalitarian dictatorship, and not to forget one of the most important, militarism.
Fascism opposes communism, conservatism, international socialism and liberalism.
Fascism today is closest approached by the confluence, in various countries around the world, of groups of politicians, their backers in the media and military industrial cabals, that regularly piss in each
others pockets at the public expense. Why else would politicians who are always stressing their financial and fiduciary bone fides vote for
unnecessary and always cost over running projects like "SDI", new nuclear strike capacity, stupidly oversized tanks, overpriced and under performing aircraft, and other such boondoggles, to use a great US expression.

Verity

Incorrect, Israel. I was reflecting on the inadquacies of other posters, such as your good self, as was obvious. That dawg won't hunt, sweets.

Dr John MOntgomery

Steve, I don't know why you'd want to bring up Gordon Liddy, smacks a bit of desperation. I would say that Liddy was imprisoned and did time for his sins. Ayers never did and he is still at it.

As for those who think Hitler was on the right, his party was called National Socialism for a reason. His programme was firmly collectivist and he used the State's power to exert control. In addition to this he was pro-abortion, anti-smoking, a vegetarian, in favour of retirement pensions, building 'infrastructure', seizing banks profits. He routinely reaffirmed his socialism after 1933. I wouldn't go believing any books by so-called academics and nutters like Herbert Marcuse.

This of course is very sad. There is now no such thing as objective reason in academia, thanks to post-modernism and leftwing lecturers. So now there are many of us who simply do not accept any research or 'analysis' that drips out of universities. This election confirms that the left and right are as far apart than ever. The blame for this lies with the left as they are the ones that keep wanting to change everything.

bruce

Hitler persecuted his fellow Nazis. Does that mean he was not a Nazi?

Ronnie

Well, Dr John Montgomery, you have forgotten to mention extreme nationalism and institutionalised racism, enforced by paramilitary police and evolving into the Final Solution.

In addition you have completely ignored the roots of the National Socialist Party of Germany in the punative conditions forced on Germany by the Treaty of Versaille. There is simply no point in looking at the Nazis in a vacuum because you think it allows you to squeeze them into the rather absurd point you are trying to make.

Whatever you are a Doctor of it certainly isn't history.

dennis

It's Ayers's wife, Bernadine Dohrn, who really troubles me.

Her exalting over the murders of Sharon Tate by the Charles Manson followers is one of the sickest things I've ever read.

Conservative Cabbie

For those of you who think Hitler was of the right, can yo name his platform of rightist policies?

His party was the National Socialist German Workers Party - well that's a rightie name for a party if ever I've heard one.
Anton Drexler, the founder of the aforesaid party was a renowned anti - capatalist.
Just because he attacked communists doesn't make him of the right, it just makes him anti-communist. As for attacking trade unions, well I might be wrong on this, my knowledge of the Soviet's is very patchy but I'm not aware of trade unionism being all that powerful there either.

Basically, Mussolini, an avowed socialist pre World War I split from socialism not because of ideological changes but because commies believed in workers of the world uniting, Mussolini believed in nationalism. Hitler wasn't the idealogue Il Duce was but comes from the same leftist but nationalist values.

By the way, new Obama association scandal for you all, Farrakhan called Hitler "a great man", he called Obama "messiah" ergo Obama can be compared to Hitler. A bit of rightie self-parody for you all.

Conservative Cabbie

Frank,

Thankyou for sharing that, a quite brilliant piece of writing. National Review is my source of choice for this election. I know it's right minded but it's collection of writers write intelligently and excellently (unlike me!).

Conservative Cabbie

Hayward

Thanks for the tip, don't be surprised if I give it a miss, currently on Liberal Facism by Jonah Goldberg.

When I pick up passengers from the airport I regularly visit the bookshop looking for an interesting read. The political section is always cluttered with anti-Bush books all copying Michael Moore. Very tiresome. The title of your book suggests it is of the same ilk, not my cup of tea.

David

Examples of Hitler's right wing policies? His racial laws, for one.

The ideological understanding displayed here is utterly appalling. It's very much along the lines of "I think the left is bad, ergo anything bad is of the left", and very reminiscent of those on the far left claiming that people like Mao and Stalin were not left wing.

Fascism, and it's derivative Nazi ideology are right wing authoritarian approaches. They will share characteristics with left wing authoritarian approaches, but will have certain important difference, most notably the approach to the other, which is generally defined on class lines for the left, and racial lines for the right (there will be overlaps though where particular classes or are attributed to particular races).

Conservative Cabbie

David,

Are you saying only the right have obnoxious racial policies, that's an interesting observation. how about Stalin's persecution of jews or that the democrats were the party of slavery. How are racial laws an example of right-wing ideology?

David

"Are you saying only the right have obnoxious racial policies"

It's kneejerk, isn't it? There just cannot be any bad right wing ideology.

My entire post is about there being overlaps and you completely miss it.

[Shakes head]

Conservative Cabbie

Er David,

No I didn't miss it, I have a couple of braincells you know (not many more mind), I just dismissed it as tosh. I highlighted the first part because it was imbecilic!

Verity

Dr John Montgomery - Thanks for your post. It is semi-entertaining to watch the foam flecked lefties fly into a rage when it is pointed out that Hitler was one of their ilk. One of their very own.

field

Since you ask conservative cabbie -

Hitler believed in free enterprise.

He promoted the inequality of men and women and encouraged women to devote themselves to children, church and kitchen.

He opposed internationalist solutions to foreign policy issues.

He opposed immigration to Germany.

I think all the above can fairly be described as Rightist policies.

Dr John Montgomery

Ronnie, I am perfectly aware of the 'context' for National Socialism in Germany, Versailles and so on. I also know about Hitler's Pan-Germanic Empire and his belief in the occult and paganism. I know he hated Jews, just like much of the left today. He also rejected Trotskyism and Stalinism becuase he wanted Germany to be the centre of the new world order. But as a political philosophy a very large part of National Socialism was organising society through the power of the State, ie collectivism. For my part I reject all notions of collectivism over individual freedom, and that includes Mao and Stalin and Castro and Pol Put and Mussolini and Mugabe. ALl of them from the left.

MaryJ

I am only one year older than Barack Obama and I remember Bernie Dohrn very well, especially the disgusting comments she made celebrating the murder and torture of Sharon Tate and her unborn baby, and the disgusting Fork Salute she repeatedly made in referece to the fork that was driven into Sharon's eight-months pregnant belly. (At the time she was almost 30 years old so the "youthful indiscretion" excuse doesn't quite cut it.) She also said and did many other disgusting and sickening things, which she's never been held accoutable for. After she got out of prison her RICH Daddy-in-Law pulled strings to get her a job in the same blue-chip law firm that Michelle Obama interned in -- even though ex-con Dohrn didn't have a law license. Dorhn and Ayers are dirtbags who never got punished for their crimes because RICH Daddy was around to pull lots of strings for them. They are NOT nice people, to put it mildly. Let us hope that justice is some day served. I wish that Sharon Tate's lovely mother, Doris, a tireless crusader for victims' rights, could have lived long enough to see Bernie get her just deserts.