I thought the speech was brilliant. For the next week I believe that the speech will be viewed as one of the greatest in history. But, come next week when Mickey Jones takes to the stage I think feelings will change.

Nothing new here. It was more of the same old high-minded, glorious, platitudinous rhetoric that any Sunday school preacher worth his salt could have delivered. The question now becomes: Can he deliver the goods?

He talked about reaching compromises on things like health care and abortion - two of the most controversial policy issues in American history. On health care, for example, he said he would give workers a chance at securing health care coverage through their employers, and, failing that, they could rely on the government to provide it. Well, that's certainly a huge incentive for companies to provide health care. He pledged to end our dependence on foreign oil within 10 years, but he won't even be president in 10 years, so where's the accountability there?

This speech, like most that Obama has delivered was long on platitudes and short on specifics.

Does anyone know what night Mickey Jones will give his big speech?

Nothing New,

First, if you really think that that speech one that "any Sunday school preacher worth his salt could have delivered" you truly have no soul.

Second, in 8 years I think you'll have a pretty good idea of whether or not we have moved sufficiently forward enough towards energy independence to meet his goal in two more years. If he hasn't moved sufficiently forward towards that goal in 8 years you have my permission to run your mouth. In the mean time give the guy a chance. Kennedy made the same kind of pledge about putting a man on the moon.

As far as what would be the incentives for companies to provide health insurance? This is from Obama's website:
Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small businesses will be exempt from this requirement, and will receive a new Small Business Health Tax Credit that helps reduce health care costs for small businesses.

And furthermore:
Barack Obama will create a Small Business Health Tax Credit to provide small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees. This new credit will provide a strong incentive to small businesses to offer high quality health care to their workers and help improve the competitiveness of America’s small businesses.

If you expect specifics in an acceptance speech then you are guaranteed to be disappointed in any politicians words. I don't think you can expect any of them to get really specific in this type of forum. However if you really want to know about specifics, go to his website, it's all there in black and white.

wojopaul,

You know nothing about me or my soul, so spare me the lecture. I just want to know: Where's the beef? It certainly wasn't contained in his acceptance speech. I've looked at his web site as well and, again, it's very non-specific about where the money would come from to support all these government programs (like the Small Business Tax Credit). If he's going to get it from raising my taxes, then I'm very concerned. The problem is he hasn't, and won't, say.

Here's a break down comparison of McCain's tax policy vs. Obama's. And again he has been specific, you are just not looking very hard.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/09/ST2008060900950.html

Were you concerned when "W" started an unnecessary war that has cost us $550,000,000, including $9.000,000,000 that went unaccounted for? Now Obama wants to spend money on Americans instead of flushing it down an Iragi toilet and you're complaining?

Yeah, just as I thought, he'll be picking my pocket. Thanks for the confirmation.

Stop comparing "W" to McCain. That is so old. They aren't even remotely associated. They're both Republicans and that is about where the similarity ends.

I could just as easily, and more accurately, compare Obama to Jimmy Carter (one of the worst presidents of our time), but I won't. It's the same old "guilt by association" crap that the Democrats are so famous for.

Obama gave one of the greatest speeches in American history last night! I think he will win by at least 10% points. Today John McBush named the Governor of Alaska as his VP choice. This woman Palin is currently under investigation in Alaska. Why? Because she fired the head of the State Troopers because he would not fire a state trooper she wanted fired. Why did she want the State Trooper with a perfect record fired? Because he had divorced her sister! McBush and his pick Palin are both unfit to lead our great country. Vote Obama!

CNN's commentators:

-- David Gergen thought it was one of the best political speeches that he had ever heard.

-- Alex Castellanos thought it was very, very good and achieved its purposes.

They are both Republicans.

I would like to report that at 7PM last night some dude monopolized my 40" Samsung, looked me straight in the eye and ...LIED.

He went on about fear while instilling it in every lemming in blue.

Nothing New,

According to factcheck.org in 2007 John McCain voted with Bush 95% of the time.

I loved it.

Ligor Hunter,

I really find it pathetic when people show up on these political blogs and make a statement without any any facts. I could just as well say John

Ligor Hunter,

I really find it pathetic when people show up on these political blogs and make a statement without any any facts. I could just as well say John McCain is a cross-dresser.

Nothing New,

I just wanted to share with you what Ultra conservative Pat Buchanan had to say about Obama's speech last night:

BUCHANAN: “I stand with Obama! It was a genuinely outstanding speech, it was magnificent. I saw Cuomo’s speech, I saw Kennedy in ‘80, I even saw Douglas MacArthur, I saw MLK; this is the greatest convention speech and probably the most important because unlike Cuomo and the others, this was an acceptance speech, this came out of the heart of America, and he went right at the heart of America. This wasn’t a liberal speech at all. This is a deeply, deeply centrist speech. It had wit, it had humor, and when he used the needle on McCain, he stuck it into McCain and it was funny. It was Kennedy’s speech in ‘80. I laughed with Kennedy when he was needling Ronald Reagan.�

All I can say is Obama's speech was ....just okay. It really didn't tickle my funny bone as much as I would have hoped. It's like eating at the Sizzler salad bar while suffering from a massive case of diaheria. Sure it will fill you up for a while but two seconds after you eat you blow it all out and just want more. I guess what I'm trying to say is the speech was fine and dandy. not great not bad and not even close to being on the level of a Mickey Jones speech.

Hey Al,
Isn't Mickey Jones really a unemployed actor? Just like Tony Strickland is an unemployed Republican politician. One pretending to be a rock star; the other pretending to be an alternative energy executive. Sad stories yet not very interesting. If you like not interesting with a healthy serving of no substance try Steve Franks blog. It appears to me Steve Frank is sending his wife all over the place applying for jobs she's not qualified for. Maybe they've fallen on tough times. He might need some cheering up. Why don't you go see what you can do?

Really wojo?
Don't recall you ever being here before.
And cross dressing does not make you a bad person, does it?

I stand by my post.

..yep, and after the speech, obama goes home to his big house, while his friend tony rezko sits in the big house waiting for obnama to pardon him...

..yep, and after the speech, obama goes home to his big house, while his friend tony rezko sits in the big house waiting for obama to pardon him...

Why don't we wait to compare it to McCain's speech, Al. After then the difference should pucker up your colon and fill you up for a week.

Did anyone catch Dennis Kucinich's speech at the Democratic National Convention? I'm telling you, I'd follow that man to the ends of the earth!

Ligor Hunter,

I show up here every once in a while. And again you have given me no facts. Please post and example of a lie from Obama's acceptance speech. No being a cross dresser would make him a bad person but it would certainly make it harder for him to be president, look at Rudy Giuliani.

I've been thinking about changing my VP vote from Mickey Jones to Bo Jackson. Anyone who can kick butt in two sports would be a great VP! Maybe if we all pray we'll get lucky in the 2012 election and be blessed with the Mickey Jones, Bo Jackson ticket.

Andy Levinson

Between 1982 and 1987, McCain had received $112,000 in political contributions from Chairman of Lincoln Savings and Loan Asscciation of Irving Charles Keating and his associates. In addition, McCain's wife Cindy McCain and her father Jim Hensley had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family, and their baby-sitter had made nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard Keating's jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay. The ultimate cost of the Savings and Loan crisis is estimated to have totaled around $160.1 billion, about $124.6 billion of which was directly paid for by the U.S. taxpayer. Charles Keating served five years in prison for his corrupt mismanagement of Lincoln. McCain was criticized by the Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" when he met with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf.

How about giving us the same information on the other four of the infamous Keating five? Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI),

After a lengthy investigation, the Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment".

Thanks for the historical accuracy update Jimmy. And here is a fast forward to the here and now,

Cranston is dead and the others are not running for President. McCain however is running for President while financial institutions are again preparing for government bailouts.

Republicans, notoriuosly "opposed to government bailouts" (insert snicker here) are falling all over themselves to bail out the latest irresponsible institutrions.

Hope that update, and the not so subtle innuendo, will suffice as to why McCain may not be the most objective individual to oversee a financial crisis. Just like old man Cranston, his Presidential qualifications are seriously called into question.

JimmyM,

Great point. I won't vote for any of those involved in that scandal!

Barrack Obama is what lifelong Republican politicians hate the most. A real person with character. Someone who wants what's right for the American people. Someone who wants to go after terrorists and corruption.

And someone with the appropriate amount of experience that will enable his to put his words into action. Oh, wait, never mind...

It must of have been difficult for G.W. John McCain to find someone that knows less about foreign affairs and the economy than he does. Yet he pulled it off..

With everything we as a Nation face.... He decided on a two year Governor from Alaska under investigation for abusing whatever power she has there.

G.W. McCain did not pick that broad from Alaska because he thought she would make a good President. G.W. John McCain picked some broad from Alaska because he thought it might help him win. This is not the kind of person we want as President.

Don't forget one major difference between the two tickets: John McCain is running for President, not Sarah Palin. Barack Obama is running for President, not Joe Biden. The choice should be obvious to most voters.

Barack Obama didn't pick the broad from New York, or Connecticut, or Arkansas, or wherever the hell she's from, because he knew she would overshadow him in the campaign and accentuate his lack of experience. This guy has no business running the country and the American people will acknowledge this when it comes time to mark their ballots.

And John McCain is 72 and has been treated for melanoma skin cancer 4 times. With that history I think his VP pick is very important. The chances of that pick needing to run the country are at least 50/50. And John McCain picks a Hockey mom with absolutely no foreign policy experience whatsoever and is under investigation for abuse of power. Don't Forget Experience your experience argument is hereby null and void and even John McCain knows it.

And Barack Obama is a freshman senator with only two years experience in high office (with no executive level experience whatsoever, which Palin actually has as governor). His only experience prior to that was as a community organizer (whatever that is) and a stint in the Illinois Legislature (whoopee!).

John McCain has many years experience as a U.S. Senator (22 to be exact) - Chair of the Senate Commerce Committee; Ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; 6-year member of the U.S. House of Representatives; graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; naval aviator/fighter pilot; decorated war veteran (POW in Vietnam for 5 years).

So, tell me a little more about experience, would you?

The argument that this PTA President turned Governor has "experience" would be laughable if it were not so frightening to think she could be VP or worse yet, President.

You and talk radio can keep keep lying to yourself though. McCain just made my choice much easier for me.

John McCain had an opportunity to show his decision making ability and he failed.

Alaska PTA Palin is in no way able to run this Nation if John McCain died in Office. It's an ignorant choice. Reminiscent of G.W. Bush.

Women are very critical of other women. This choice of V.P. by McCain could easily be his ruin. It was not a political good choice or a National Security choice. It's just an example of his ignorance.

F.Y.I.

Save the date!

Mickey Jones will be holding a fundraiser to help victims of Hurricane Gustav. The exact time and date hasn't been released yet but my contacts inside the Jones camp are saying that the fundraiser will be tomorrow at Paul's Italian Villa. I'm sure more info will be released soon.

While we're at it, let's not overlook what was recently uncovered about "Regular Joe" Biden.

Five military deferments until he could finally get a permanent medical disqualification.

So now let's see all of you treat Biden the same way you treated Cheney.

Many of us know what a battle cancer can be. When John McCain's wife had cancer John McCain gave her a medical disqualification. John McCain abandoned his wife with cancer and went AWOL with his mistress.

Is that the family values America is looking for?

I would like to ask a very basic, yet very important question. What has Obama done? Please respond to this question and this question only and refrain from using the word "change" in your response.

I'll bet I don't get any decent responses to this.

Next to McCain/Palin, the Obama/Biden ticket is boring.

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70% of the vote.

Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996. Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures, and in 2003, Obama sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel.

Obama voted in favor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. In September 2006, Obama supported a related bill, the Secure Fence Act. Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: "Lugar–Obama," which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons, and the "Coburn–Obama Transparency Act," which authorized the establishment of www.USAspending.gov, a web search engine.
Obama sponsored legislation requiring nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the "Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act," marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama co-sponsored the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. He introduced S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections. Obama also introduced the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges. He sponsored the "Iran Sanctions Enabling Act" supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama has made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.

Obama is losing his punch.

Voter,

The point is not that Cheney got 5 deferments to avoid a war, the point is that Cheney got 5 deferments to avoid a war but then gets a hard-on when he sends other parents children to to die in an unnecessary war.

That and the fact that his soul is black and he was born from a jackyl.

I love your logical comments wojopaul- and they show such class. Just what you want in making a good judgement call about a vice president.
In case you forgot, Biden agreed with the administration about sending children to war in Iraq and also about the surge.

I read over wojopaul's word-for-word copy and paste from Wikipedia on the life and times of Barack Hussein Obama and almost fell face first into my keyboard due to a severe attack of boredom. Yaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn.....

How does this compare to a blood and guts navy fighter pilot who is shot down over Vietnam and taken captive by the Viet Cong and spends five years as a POW in Hanoi? Then, said fighter pilot, after spending many years of faithful service to our country as a U.S. Congressman and Senator, stages a come from behind victory in the Republican primary election and goes on to select a virtually unheard of first-term, woman governor of a sparsely populated, but rugged and independent, state and sticks with her through controversy and near-animalistic attacks from frightened, wounded Democrats who see the presidency slipping through their slimy hands.

I mean, this is like comparing Winnie The Pooh to Indiana Jones for godsakes!!!

"What has Obama done?" asked the question "What has Obama done? and I answered. He said that he would bet he wouldn't get a decent response. Well as boring as it sounds this is what our government does on a day to day basis. And whether it was from Wikipedia or not, it was a decent response.

As for John McCain spending 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton, whenever I hear that story it makes me think of the movie Patton when George C. Scott walks up on stage in front of a huge American flag and says: "...now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country...he won it by making the other dumb poor bastard die for his country."

I respect John McCain's service but he didn't win the war by gettng shot down over Vietnam. And maybe if he was a better pilot he wouldn't have crashed 4 planes before he was shot down over Vietnam.

angrier and angrier.

First off Joe Biden did not agree with the administration on the surge, he opposed it. But similar to 4 years ago when the republicans lied about John Kerry's service republicans, as proven here, will lie in order to get what they want.

As far as voting for the Iraq war, he did however he soon realized that he was wrong and admitted that he was wrong. After that he supported the Iraq withdrawal bill and said that we have to get out of a middle of a civil war.

Darth Cheney still supports the Iraq war, has been caught in numerous lies about Saddam Hussein's ties with OBL and would love to kill more people in Iran.

As far as being classy, wasn't it Cheney who, when Patrick Leahy asked him about his ties to Haliburton, told Leahy to "Go F#@* yourself?"

Yeah, so get yourself up there on that high horse with your classy Chichen Hawk Vice President.

Howze that for being logical?