Remember Governor Granhom's campaign statement, "And in five years, we're gonna blow you away"?  Michigan's 8.7% unemployment rate is the second highest in the country (we were the highest until the figures released this week) and as of 2007, we rank 9th in terms of total state taxes. Well, I'm blown away, but somehow I don't think that what we're feeling right now is exactly what the Governor intended when she first made that proclamation.

How is it that so many discrepancies and contradictions within the campaigns escape the day to day consciousness of the American people yet most can regurgitate the talking points of both candidates without even thinking about it?

I've railed against the media's bias for some time now, but the simple truth is that it took the much maligned fifteen seconds of fame afforded Joe the Plumber to finally bring into focus the stark reality of the choice before us in November as this now infamous Obama remark to "Joe" exemplifies:

My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody ... I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

John McCain (3rd debate)

We need to cut the business tax rate in America. We need to encourage business now. Of all times in America, we need to cut people's taxes. We need to encourage business, create jobs, not spread the wealth around.

Say it ain't so Joe..
More than a hundred reporters have swarmed upon the small Ohio neighborhood where Samuel "Joseph" Wurzelbacher lives, camping in the streets to provide 24/7 coverage of his every move.

We've had in depth investigations into the business, taxes and character of this man who dared to step out of line and question the great one (that one?), but virtually nothing of substance on a dozen or so issues relating to Obama or his campaign.

Palin's Troopergate witch hunt required a similar army of DNC minions (press), but what mainstream network news outlet is marshalling the investigation into the "ethics" of Obama's questionable campaign finances or his misrepresented $800,000 in donations to Acorn?  How could Obama (without media scrutiny) first agree, and then opt out of the federal public campaign finance system, raising an unprecedented $150 million in September alone?

As an Illinois legislator, Obama was prohibited from accepting money for speaking engagements under the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act, but according to his tax returns, Obama received $16,500 in 2000 as an educational speaker and $34,491 in 2002 for "legal services / speaking fees".  I'm sorry, but it took less than 24 hours for the media to uncover and then blanket the airwaves with stories of plumber Joe's tax problems, where's the balance?

You've gotta love Joe Biden.. In a recemt speech, Biden made the following remarks (emphasis mine):

Mark my words. Within the next, first six months of this administration, if we win, they're going to -- we're going to face a major international challenge. Because they're going to want to test him, just like they did young John Kennedy. They're going to want to test him. And they're going to find out this guy's got steel in his spine.

Mark my words. Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking...he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him... Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right.

Audio here:
Surprise surprise, NBC edited the comments and played only the part about Obama's "spine of steel" and Biden's praise.  Video here

The response from the McCain campaign:  Full text here

Joe Biden's comments on Sunday that Barack Obama's election as President would, within six months, result in `an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.' Biden further added that the American people would not perceive Barack Obama's response to this crisis as correct. `It's not gonna be apparent that we're right,' he said. Biden's remarks capture perfectly the message of this campaign: Barack Obama is too risky, too inexperienced, to serve as commander in chief-that his election by itself will provoke our enemies, and that his brief record raises serious questions as to how an Obama administration would respond to such a challenge.

On MSNBC's Morning Joe (the next day) we have this exchange regarding Biden's comments:

Mika Brzeninski:

I'm seeing spotty media coverage.  I feel like half the media covered this.  I'm just going through the papers and seeing if it plays highly, and I'm not finding it in the [Washington] Post so far.

Dan Rather:

Well I think the point is well taken, Joe, that certainly if Sarah Palin had said this it would be above the fold in most newspapers today. ...if Sarah Palin had said this, the newspapers would have jumped all over it and so would have the major television outlets.

Thank you Dan Rather! (Never thought I'd say that)

On MSNBC Live, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News was speaking with McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer:

Mitchell:         Let's talk about Joe Biden.

Pfotenhauer:      I think that his statement yesterday was one of the most revealing and interesting perhaps  in modern history.  If you play the entire clip -- I'm going to gently chide you and beg you to play the entire clip --

Mitchell:         You mean the one where --

Pfotenhauer:      -- you hear that what Senator Biden -

Mitchell:         The one where he talks about Obama's steel spine...perhaps?

Pfotenhauer:      No, the one where he talks about the fact that the election of Obama would cause a generated attack by this nation's enemies and that he himself could think of four or five -- and he's guaranteeing that it would cause a generated attack.

Mitchell:         We did play it earlier for Tom Daschle to respond to, so it has...

Pfotenhauer:      Did you play the whole thing?  

Mitchell:         It... We...

Pfotenhauer:      Tell me you played the whole thing.

Mitchell:         I think we played the whole thing.

Pfotenhauer:      (laughing)

Mitchell:         As best I can tell we played the whole thing.  We've been playing it all day -- and by the way, what Joe Biden said was "generate crisis," not generated attack, two different things,Nancy.

Pfotenhauer:     Did you play the part where it says that it won't be apparent that he's done the right thing as well?  Because that's important also, I think.

Mitchell:         Okay.

Pfotenhauer:     (laughing)

Mitchell:        Thanks for your editing advice.

Obama's triple-A's (Acorn, Ayers & Abortion) have been reconciled to the lunatic fringe and raising questions about any of the three immediately sets detractors up for ridicule - as duly noted in Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals" #5:

Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.  There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.

I've seen the cost of a Cindy McCain dress broken down into the number of meals that could be provided for the disadvantaged but when Michelle Obama stays at the Waldorf Astoria and places a four o'clock order for Lobster hors d'oeuvres, two whole steamed lobsters, champagne and Iranian caviar.. well, that's just "good eats".  What happened to `white folk's greed running a world in need' and cruise ships throwing away more food in one day that most residents of Port-au-Prince see in one year as mentioned in Obama's Audacity to Hope?

Speaking of greed, the, charitable donations of the candidates are as follows:

Obama: 5.7%
McCain: 27.3%
Biden: 0.3%
Palin: 2.0%

The NY Times  recently ran an extremely negative piece on Cindy McCain citing her previous addiction to pain killers and her inability to fit in with the Washington crowd, but as noted in a letter to the Times by McCain attorney Bill Keller:

It is worth noting that you have not employed your investigative assets looking into Michelle Obama.

You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book, `Dreams of My Father,' nor have you interviewed his poor relatives in Kenya and determined why Barack Obama has not rescued them. Thus there is a terrific lack of balance here.

The VP appointment of a young Governor running the largest state in the country with a budget approaching $3 billion dollars, overseeing the Alaskan National Guard, and thousands of state employees shows a serious lack of judgment on the part of John McCain, but the Democratic candidate for President is a Jr. Senator with absolutely no administrative experience and virtually nothing in regards to legislative accomplishment, but he's "just what our country needs" and boy, can he give a speech.

The media is running countless stories about the "rage of the right" at McCain rallies, but no mention is being made of the extremely hateful actions of the left.

Reader warning, some of the links below contain offensive content.  If you're not faint of heart or easily offended, look at this and then attempt to say that all the hatred is on the right.

Obama supporters with Molotov cocktails anyone?

Hateful speech & actions:

Thuggery & suppression:

Violence:

And demonstrators

And this.. and this is really bad

Last Sunday, as polls began to tighten, Joe Biden once again raised the racism issue stating:

Undecided people are having a difficult time just culturally making the change, making the move for the first African American president in the history of the United States of America.

You see these vicious attacks on Barack's character - I mean, this is dangerous stuff these guys are doing. This stuff is on the edge. It's on the edge. You know, there's some folks out there in the community nationwide that aren't as stable as others.

In conjunction with Biden's remarks, CNN was running a story saying that McCain's family used to own slaves.  Ok, we get it.. In the eyes of Democrats, all Republicans are racist and so are any on the left that voted for Hillary.

If a McCain win means that Republicans are racist, wouldn't Obama's nomination over Hillary or a win over Palin mean that Democrats are sexist?

How is it that an estimated 95% of African Americans voting for Obama does not translate into some sort of racism?  In 2002, Trent Lott was run out of Washington on a rail after saying in a toast at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party that the world would have been a better place had Thurmond won the election in 1948 (Thurmond was a segregationist candidate that later changed his views [Robert "KKK" Byrd anyone?]).  George Allen's use of the word "macaca" was enough to cost him the election in 2006 yet Barack Obama can make statements such as these and he receives no media scrutiny whatsoever.

there were no cigar chomping crackers like Beau Connor out there - Dreams of My Father" (<Andy Griffith voice> mmm... Good cracker!)

that's just how white folks will do you - Dreams of My Father

my grandmother is just a typical white person - radio interview

I really just don't get it.  I've been sitting in silence for the last two weeks trying to make some sense out of what's happening, but any justification I find seems to devolve into some sort of grand conspiracy theory.

Could it be that the polls are wrong?  Is the mainstream media trying to discourage McCain supporters from turning out on election day as they work around the clock to highlight only the best of Senator Obama and only the worst of John McCain?

Are we simply moving towards an inevitable global agenda?  Did I miss my invitation to the Club of Rome dinner or the last trilateralists anonymous meeting?

Whether people are suffering from political overload at this point or they're just too busy to place much importance on politics, the media's constant, one-sided drumbeat seems to have lulled us into a dream like state in which we're only capable of internalizing reality in 30 second sound bytes.

Michigan has also been suffering in silence for years but the country has just recently experienced a taste of what we've been enduring and no amount of Brazilian cane sugar ethanol will remove the bitter taste from our mouths.  How we continue to ask for more is beyond me.  The most liberal member of the Senate, with the weakest resume in recent presidential history stands poised to take the controls of a runaway train that he surely cannot control.

If he succeeds and the congressional sweeps favor the Democrats as projected, it will take decades to reverse the damage inflicted upon our economy, the justice system and perhaps even our sovereignty, but apparently most do not see it that way.