McCain Supports Obama? What?

McCain supports Obama? What?

By: J. D. Longstreet

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Yep! By all accounts that is exactly what happened. It happened on Friday of last week at a town hall style gathering when McCain tried to calm a man concerned about raising his child with Obama as President. McCain is reported to have said that Barack Obama “… is a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States." It was at about this point in the McCain Campaign when the McCain train went completely off the rails it was only partially on up to that point.

I have been monitoring the blogoshere since that happened and I must tell you, if you don’t already know, those remarks, in support of Mr. Obama, began a firestorm of dissent against Mr. McCain among his own reluctant supporters.

Conservatives who had made their minds up to hold their noses and vote for McCain, go home and take a shower, are now re-evaluating that decision and many are walking away from McCain… in droves. It is not what one could describe as a trickle… it is more like a dam burst. To say there has been a backlash against McCain would be the understatement of the year.

For conservatives, making the decision to go against their conscious and support McCain was a heart-rending exercise. Some of us have simply refused to do it from the very beginning, myself included. I would not even entertain the notion of supporting McCain. But for a few weeks it appeared that most republican conservatives had decided to do just that in order to keep a man, they honestly believe is a socialist, out of the White House.

Appointments to the US Supreme Court are extremely high on the list of concerns for conservatives and that was one of the arguments employed to persuade conservatives to support McCain. But now, conservatives are asking themselves, what guarantees do they have that McCain WOULD appoint conservative nominees to fill the coming vacancies n the SCOTUS? The honest answer is NONE! What about moderate nominees? The answer is the same. Remember, A President McCain would likely have a democrat controlled Senate for at least two years.

McCain is a lot of things… but he is not conservative. So, please do not insult conservatives by referring to him as such.

Mr. McCain’s show of support for Obama last week was the last straw for many conservative voters. In fact conservative hardliners consider it “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. Already upset at being pressured, by fellow republicans, regaling them with: “a refusal to vote for McCain is a vote for Obama”, many rightwing conservatives have simply left the field. They can no longer be counted as probable voters for McCain. They’re going to “stay home.”

This conservative will be voting on Election Day. I won’t be voting for McCain, however. I will write in the name of a conservative I believe the leading lights in the GOP rejected in their ill-advised attempt to redefine conservatism and, in so doing, change the face of the Republican Party. Oh, in the end, they will have accomplished something. Unfortunately, for the country, they will have ushered in European style socialism and become accomplices in the death of representative democracy and capitalism in America.

J. D. Longstreet

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Filed under:

conservative+McCain+Obama+Election+Loss+America+Socialism

Why I Believe McCain Will Lose And So Will The US

Why I Believe McCain Will Lose
By: J. D. Longstreet
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There is a lot of dejection in the ranks of the Republican Party these days. As the rank and file of the GOP looks at the disparaging poll numbers the fear is growing that McCain will not be able to close the gap on Obama before Election Day.



Conservatives, never happy with, nor ever quite sure of McCain’s chances in the first place, yet willing to hold their noses and cast a ballot for him in a desperate attempt to thwart the leftist agenda Obama will carry with him into the Oval Office, are the MOST discouraged, it seems to me.

Since the 2000 election campaign, we here at IoF have declared that John McCain will never be President of the United States. We still believe that.

Conservative voters have been loath to support the McCain ticket. Without the support of conservatives a GOP candidate can forget victory in a Presidential campaign. Without that conservative support there is no “fire” in the campaign. The fighting spirit, which rests almost entirely with conservatives on the right, simply is not there. You cannot have missed the lack of zest and zeal in the McCain Campaign. You don’t see it because… it isn’t there.

Even those conservatives who have vowed to support McCain after he brought Palin on board have withheld total commitment. Their heart is just not in it.

Since day one of the campaign for the oval office 2008 conservatives have scratched their collective heads in wonderment at the candidates the GOP wheeled out for our inspection. At first, we thought it was a bad joke. Then, it was rumored that the upper echelons in the party were saying they didn’t need conservative support to win the White House. We KNEW the party was in serious trouble at that moment.

There has been a tug of war within the GOP since the conservative take-over in the mid 1990’s. The resentment of the bluebloods and the country club Republicans toward the K-Mart Republicans has been palpable. You see… we conservatives are something of an embarrassment to them. For the most part they are the moderate to liberal branch of the GOP. (Oh, yes. Just as there are conservative democrats there are liberal republicans.) Unfortunately, the liberal republicans carry with them that “liberal guilt” just the same as their democrat counterparts. I am of the opinion there is nothing so dangerous to the country as liberal guilt no matter if the liberal is republican or democrat.

On the other side of the political spectrum the democrat party is not really a “party”. It is more an amalgamation of victim’s groups, bound together in their perceived victimhood, seeking redress from the government. They have been thus for a very long time and, in that time, have forged a bond between them in order to attain their goals. It is quite different in the GOP.

In the Republican Party, the differences between the two main groups, the liberals and the conservatives, is much wider… and… that gap can never be closed… even temporarily in order to secure victory. Conservatives can never compromise their core beliefs. Even an attempt is doomed to failure. The instant conservatives make an attempt to compromise; they are no longer conservative. You can see the problem.

And that, dear reader, is why I continue to call for a solely conservative political party. The infighting within the GOP is not going to cease until conservatives leave. Of course, the moment conservatives DO leave; the GOP will be relegated to the backbenches in Congress for a hundred years, or more.

The McCain Campaign has been a lost cause from the beginning. Apparently McCain thought he could replace conservative support with the support of Independent voters. That was never very likely because such a large percentage of independent voters are conservative voters who, for one reason or the other, left the two dominant political parties. No matter who chose that course, McCain or his advisors, in my opinion, it was unwise and it may well cost him this election. In the long run, however, conservatives may benefit from the GOP loss in November.

Why?

There is a major firestorm coming, nationally and internationally. There will be epiphanies by the bundles landing on the doorsteps of naïve American voters in the next few years. The cost of living in the US is going to skyrocket upwards along with taxes and new laws and regulations the likes of which we have never seen before. Add to that the spread of Islamofacism and the accompanying wars and rumors of wars and the ever-increasing drain on our treasury to fight those wars, here at home as well as in foreign lands, and you begin to get the picture.

Conservatives have been warning of the multitude of festering boils about to erupt but… nobody wanted to listen. In a few months reality will set in and with it a slow awakening. By then, of course, the US Ship of State will have sailed and like any ship it will take an interminably long time to turn it around and set it’s course aright. If, and it is a big “IF”, we are able to overcome what is headed our way, and begin a successful program of reconstruction, the country may find it necessary to turn to conservative leadership in order to rebuild the country and rehabilitate what will surely be a decimated military and a dispirited citizenry.

For a number of years now, decades even, there has been a growing sense, in the human psyche, that something dark and foreboding is on the threshold. I have felt it and now I sense its growing strength and it’s growing inevitability. In my opinion, there are extremely dark times ahead for America… just months ahead, in fact. We will be sorely tried, perhaps, as never before. What is even more troubling, to me, is my concern that we cannot turn back, nor can we influence what is about to happen. It is far too late. The dye is cast. Now we can only watch and wait and do whatever is necessary to survive as a nation.

J. D. Longstreet

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Filed under:

conservative+McCain+Loss+Obama+Win+Democratic+Socialist+Islamic+America

The McCain Loss

The McCain Loss.
By J. D. Longstreet
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One of the great joys I have had come my way, since I opened this site, is the wonderful people I have met that I otherwise would have completed my life without ever knowing. They have brought me a great deal of pleasure and company as a writer of conservative thought and opinion.

I have had the good fortune to meet people all over the world of like mind. But not just those with whom I agree but those with whom I do not agree. One can learn a lot from another person’s opinion without ever reaching a point of commonality on a subject of discussion. Most of the people I call friends do not agree with my politics nor my brand of religion. That’s fine. What a terribly dull existence it would be without the light and energy of disagreement.

One gentleman, from the northern part off this country I have come to admire and call friend is Alan Caruba. Mr. Caruba is a conservative writer, as am I… though Alan is a much more accomplished writer than I, and his intelligence is, without doubt, far superior to mine. You see, most of the time, I know when I am outclassed.

This is a preamble to something Alan has written that I feel is well worth your time to click on and read. It is an article titled: “At the Core of Election Corruption”. You’ll find it at:

http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/2008/10/at-core-of-election-corruption.html

If, by now, you have read Mr. Caruba’s piece you know why you see his work so often featured here on INSIGHT on Freedom. Only on extremely rare occasions do we actually disagree. Yet, Alan can be counted upon to bring insight into a subject of discussion that I have totally missed. That is an invaluable asset to someone like me who has spent only 30 some odd years writing for public consumption. But, you see, for the bulk of those years I wrote for the ear. Not for the eye. There is a vast difference. As a broadcaster, my voice supplied the inflection, which stood in for punctuation. There is a great difference. The very same words can have different meanings depending upon the way one vocalizes those words. As a commentator on a Web Log (Blog) I have had to learn how to mentally shift gears to deliver a written product that would have the same impact upon my readers as it did upon my listeners. I am still learning, hoping that someday it will become second nature. My fervent hope is that someday I can come close to being the writer that Mr. Caruba already is and has been for many, many, years.

So, It will come, I’m sure, as no surprise, that I highly recommend that you bookmark Alan’s site at www.factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ and visit him often for insightful commentary that will light a fire in your imagination and broaden your understanding of the world we live in.

Thank you, Alan, for the terrific work you turn out day after day.



J. D. Longstreet

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Filed under:

conservative+liberal+guilt+socialism+slavery+America+Election

The Secret

The Secret We All Know But Will Not Speak Aloud.
By J. D. Longstreet
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July 2007
The Marxist based politically correct movement has given Americans a sense of deep shame. It has also given us a sense of vulnerability we did not have before The Political Correctness Movement arrived from Europe onto our shores.

As a result American dare not speak the truth… about anything. If one speaks the truth one may offend someone else and that is unacceptable in a society ruled by Marxism… excuse me, I mean… Political Correctness. Ask our cousins in the United Kingdom. They are smothered, practically to death, by layers of political correctness.

Political correctness has forced the US to turn out several generations of students from our public schools with mediocre, or less than mediocre, educations. We turn out some of the dumbest students on the globe! Many receive diplomas they can’t even read! Foreign students run rings around our public school educated students.

This country’s education system used to be celebrated, world wide, as the best. Then it collapsed.

So, what happened?

Integration happened. Then bussing happened. And between the two we managed to destroy the world’s best education system.

We saw the collapse as it happened, but nobody would stand up and point out what was happening and why. There was the looming Damocles Sword over the heads of anyone stupid enough to cry foul! And, so, we allowed our public school system to die a slow and horrible death.

Now, I am aware that I will get comments on this article calling me a racist and a bigot. I understand that. Because, as a southerner, I have come to expect that from those who are so ignorant they have no clue how else to respond. So, I’ll just overlook those comments and continue on.

First of all… I live in an integrated neighborhood. My neighbors, across the street, are black. My neighbors behind me, whose property abuts mine, are black. My neighbors, two doors down, are black. I hired the first black broadcaster and added him to the staff of an all white broadcast station in Southeastern North Carolina… in the seventies! So… if you still want to contend I am a racist… then have at it.

Did you ever visit several churches on a Sunday morning and observe how your community is segregated during the worship hour? It is probably the most segregated hour of the week in America. Folks are given a choice as to where they wish to worship, and with whom they wish to worship, and they choose, by the vast majority, to worship with other folks of the same race.

Now… visit your neighborhood school during the lunch hour and observe the way the students, when given the freedom to decide where they will sit in the cafeteria, choose to sit with other students of their own race. You’ll see the same phenomena at athletic events.

There is a tension between the races, in our schools, and there has been since integration was forced upon the students of America. Neither side particularly liked it. That tension exists and it is palpable in the schools you might visit today.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think integration of public schools is fine. What I think is NOT fine, and is absolutely wrong, is… forced integration of those schools. And to make matters even worse, forced bussing of students to fill some quota, or other, of blacks vs. whites in the student bodies of those schools. NOBODY likes it.

If a neighborhood school has black and white students, by choice, then that is fine. Those students and their families want them to be there and they are comfortable and an atmosphere, conducive to learning, is not destroyed by dissatisfaction among the students and the parents of those students.

So… why are we doing it? And why are we continuing to graduate students from our public school system who are simply not educated enough to function in today’s society… let alone compete in the global marketplace?

I was fortunate in that I graduated High School before the integration of our schools began. Believe it, or not, a high school education in the 1950’s was better than a 2 year college degree today. The high school graduates of the 1950’s could stand toe to toe with, and best, nearly any two year college grad today. The quality of the education American students received in the 1950’s was so far superior to anything the American student gets today that it is shocking!

College professor friends tell me that, these days, the first two years of college is basically remedial. The college must teach the high school graduate what he was not taught in high school before he, or she, can embark on their college studies. That, dear reader, speaks volumes about the inferior education system we have in America today.

So… how do we fix it? I don’t think we can. I would suggest scraping the American public education system and starting over. To guarantee schools are allowed to actually teach their students, keep the federal government completely out of the new public school system. Each state should have it’s own public school system. No feds allowed.

Open the schools to mixed races. If the student s and their families wish to attend a certain school, then allow them to do so…even if that means having some schools predominantly black and others predominately white. Who cares… as long as the students are happy and are getting a quality education?

Private schools and home schools will still exist and that would be fine, too, for those who wish to go that route.

Do you see the problem with this, though? We have too many power hungry politicians in DC who simply cannot allow American students to go through 12 years of public education without being guinea pigs in their great social experiments with the young people of America. And that is exactly how we got into this mess with under educated students in America today!

All of the above is troubling. But… what is even more troubling is the fact that we Americans see the problems, we see the reasons behind the problem, we know how to fix the problem, yet… we allow it to exist and we continue sentence our young students to a life of mediocrity… all because we are afraid to speak up and correct an imminently correctable situation!

How can we do this to our kids? How can we do this to ourselves? How can we do this to our nation… and expect our nation to survive, and compete, in a world of scholars and in a global marketplace run by scholars? At some point it will all catch up with us.

If you doubt me on the effect on our society the destruction of the public education system in America has already had… I offer as evidence… exhibit “A”… the US Congress!

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:
conservative+America+Decline+Education

Are the Dems Celebrating Too Soon?

Are the Dems Celebrating Too Soon?
Is Celebrating a Disaster Wrong?
By: J. D. Longstreet
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I was thinking the other day as I read, listened to, and watched all the dismal poll data showing the republican candidate for president down and falling in the polls… where have I seen this before? Well, it didn’t take long to find out. It was the Reagan/Carter race back in the 1980 election. As unlikely as it may seem, looking back on it from this vantage point, that race was a cliffhanger until less than 72 hours before the vote. And then the dam burst for Reagan.

John Zogby, of the Zogby Poll says, in an article in the Boston Herald, that he doesn’t think Obama has "closed the deal" with voters yet. You can read the article at:

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1124117&srvc=2008campaign&position=8

Conservatives fault McCain for not having "closed the deal" himself. Many of us feel that McCain could have, and should have, run a much more aggressive campaign than he has so far. The Obama campaign has handed the McCain camp campaign issues McCain could have easily used against Obama and yet, he hasn’t used them. That failure to attack has created a load of consternation among conservatives. Some leading lights in the conservative camp are saying that conservatives will have to drag McCain over the line to victory on Election Day if he is to win. Understand… McCain still doesn’t have the conservative republicans in his pocket. They are in Palin’s pocket... not McCain's.

Along about this time in 2000, if memory serves, the pollsters had Gore approximately 11 points ahead in the polls. In 2004, right wing radio talkers were saying the race was Kerry’s to lose… and yet, Bush won both. Go figure.

There is a different feel to this election campaign than others I have experienced. And I have experienced a LOT of presidential elections. I blame much of that on my own disappointment in the American electorate. One likes to think his fellow Americans are smarter than they, in fact, are. I am disappointed at how easily the electorate is herded toward a candidate who, no matter how you consider his credentials is absolutely not qualified to be president of a country, certainly not this country. And yet, uneducated as they are about the issues of the day, they bite the bait and drink the kool-aid, and fall in step behind a candidate who is leading them to… who knows what? They certainly do not know!

At the risk of sounding like a pamphleteer in the pre-Revolutionary days in American… these are perilous times. To be absolutely honest with you, who in their right mind would want to be President considering what the next President will have facing him the moment he takes his hand off the Bible at the swearing in. (You DO know he is already sworn in before we actually see him take the oath…right? Oh, yeah, that is done quietly, out of sight of the public.) The nation is at war, and no matter what any candidate tells you, no matter what any political party tells you, that is not going to change anytime soon. We are not going to be able to disengage our troops from the Middle East no matter how much howling goes up from the left. It ain’t gonna happen. That fact alone means a world of hurt for Obama, with his constituency, should he win. The economy is shot to hell, and we are looking at decades of recovery time. Guess who will get the blame for that slow recovery… no matter who the left tries to pin that on. If McCain wins... all this blame is going to fall on him.

Now, at the risk of sounding like a prophet of doom… I don’t think the economic slide is nearly over yet. Rumors are floating around that other huge manufacturers will go belly-up next year if they don’t receive billions more of taxpayer money to bail them out. Here, in my own neck of the woods, a large employer, an international company based in the US, is closing the local plant and laying off 400 employees the first of December, just before Christmas. (A heck of a Christmas gift, what?) Having been through these economic slowdowns before, a number of times while managing a business myself, and trying to keep it afloat, experience tells me this is going to take time… and before it is over… a lot of Americans are going to be hurt. Care to venture a guess as to whom they are going to take that anger out on? You got it! The new President will be at the center of that bull’s eye.

Another thing, should Obama win, where, pray tell, is he going to get all that money necessary to implement all those new programs he is promising? See, the money is gone… and then some! Can you say… TAXES! Taxes on big business? Are you aware that currently the US has the highest corporate taxes of any nation on earth? Would you be surprised if big business began pulling out of the US and taking their operations over to, oh, say, China, where, in some circumstances, they are offering NO corporate taxes for companies that relocate to China?

These are all important issues voters absolutely must consider before casting that ballot in November. If you are reading this it means that you are one of the Americans who cares about what is going on today and how a wrong decision at the polling place will impact your future and the future of your family, your neighbors, and your nation.

One thing is for certain. This is not a time in the history of this country to elect a novice to the office of President of the United States. The wolves are circling just waiting to learn how Americans vote. The wrong vote will bring them bounding in to devour the poor, unsuspecting, newly elected, quite likely overwhelmed, leader of a nation in dire straits.

Yes, we have the strongest, best equipped, and best-trained military in the world. But it is not nearly large enough to meet such a challenge. We are going to need, and I hate to say it, a military draft to at least double, preferably triple, the size of the standing military we have today. That will cost billions, even trillions, more money.

I do not doubt that America will pull out of this mess, but it is going to cost money and worse… it is going to cost American blood. But…we have no choice. These things weigh heavily on the minds of thinking Americans who understand the danger in which this country currently finds itself. I don’t worry about how they will cast their ballots. No, those who worry me are the unthinking, the unknowing voter, those ruled by emotion, those blinded by race, by perceived slights, real or unreal, slights they feel have been done them by their fellow Americans, who will take this opportunity to cast a ballot in angry protest no matter the cost to themselves or their country. They do not seem to understand, or they simply do not care, that they will be the first segment of American society to be hurt, if not destroyed, by the pain and anguish brought by a wrong decision at the ballot box in November. That’s what worries me as the election draws ever nearer.

J. D Longstreet

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conservative+liberal+guilt+socialism+slavery+America+Election