Could Indiana Go Blue?

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

PulSamsara — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:46:32 GMT

Why would America REWARD complete Republican failure ?

We wont.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Toujours — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:14:18 GMT

I think Indiana is a bit futile. Thrilling as it would be to turn Indiana blue, it's not going to be a decisive state in any way. As Andrew said, if he wins Indiana, he wins Ohio, and if he wins Ohio, I see no way that McCain can win.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

littlechica911 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:40:50 GMT

It is beyond me how anyone with less that the $5m benchmark (set by McCain) can vote Republican this year. Yes, all of Washington is culpable for this mess, but if the "gun/religion" comment supercedes an interruption to the raping of America, then folks completely miss the point.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

fnsstein — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:49:10 GMT

Indiana for Obama

I've never contributed to a candidate in the past but I send Obama part of my check evey week. YES WE CAN carry Indiana. I'm knocking on doors and shaking hands for Senator Obama. What we can't afford is 4 more years of failed Bush policies.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

rube — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:58:07 GMT

To my friends in Indiana...

Can we can afford another "war president?"

When asked during recent debate, "how would he fix the current economic crisis?" Mccain responded,

"I will freeze all spending except the military, pentagon and the veterans!"

There is intolerable irony here!

Is our nation an imperialistic state, a fascist authoritarian rule?

This sounds very similar to Hugo Chaves as something he would spew off!

The words of a dark dictator- a war monger!

Remember these are the words of a man that recklessly advocated articles of war despite weak intelligence!

His so called “Maverick fundamentalism” shoot from the hip policies, that were in defiance of "other significant intelligence"- "there were no WMD in Iraq!"

These are words from a man that would detract oversight and regulations from our nations finanacial culture for 26 years while it was driven into dust by elitists, plutocrats and greed driven non-American dregs!

"Real change" starts with dumping the GOP ticket!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

vstillwell — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:01:21 GMT

No, dumbass, what we can't afford is more Republican control. You gave us G Dub. Now you're actually stupid enough to give us Palin.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:04:02 GMT

I am a Democrat in the so-called very Republican Southern part of Indiana. I think we could go Blue this year in the presidential race and would be thrilled to see it. I'm sorry loriw, but there are a lot of Hoosiers who do not like Mitch Daniels, in spite of all that he claims he has done for the state. Right now a lot of what he has done looks nice up front, but a lot of it is also a band aid that will eventually fall off, and we will all have to pay for it later. I have no doubt that Gov. Daniels will probably win again in this next election, because yes, he is viewed by most as being "popular". Just because we have a "liked" Republican Gov does not mean we won't vote for a Democratic president. In fact, we are a state that has often voted for a lot of Democratic leaders within our own state, even when we were voting in Republican presidents. If you look at Indiana's history, we are dead even on Democrat and Republican Governors - 21 of each, including Mitch Daniels. The last three Governors before Daniels were Democrat - Kernan, O'Bannon and Bayh - and that was at a time when we were voting for Republicans in the White House. So who's to say that now that we have a Republican governor we won't elect a Democratic president? If you have actually read up on the two candidates, you would know that the best choice for Middle Class workers and Farmers - 2 things we have a lot of in Indiana - is Obama by far. Hoosiers for Obama / Biden '08

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Hunnyman78 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:04:38 GMT

lori, if you have a link to obama's website or another source, it might help your credibility on the issue. It's hard to take the word of someone who is as biased as you at face value. Finally, I've heard an interview with Obama's brother. The "$12 a year" you're complaining about makes him better off than most of his neighbors in his region of Kenya. It's amazing that when you get rid of "necessities" like cars, pizza, and gas-powered snowblowers. Why do you think that so many big corporations can get away with paying their employees in China 10-15 cents an hour?

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:17:41 GMT

Let me also mention that a lot of my Republican Hoosier friends and relatives are so turned off by McCain and Palin at this point that they aren't even planning on voting. They may not be able to bring themselves to vote for Obama, but at least they are not casting an ignorant vote for McCain.

loriw, if you would maybe close your mouth for one second, what you might realize is that while all of you GOP people are being loud and obnoxious, shouting at the top of your lungs with the angry repetition of unsubstantiated talking points, we Democrats and a lot of Independents are quietly, slowly building a grass roots movement among the people. We are contributing small amounts whenever we can to the campaign, and we will get the job done. Even if we don't take Indiana - a major task, I'll admit - I still believe that Obama and his supporters have enough of the electoral votes in the other states to not have to worry about Indiana.

The most important thing is for Obama supporters to get out there and vote!! Even when the polls show Obama leading, we cannot take that for granted and assume he is going to win. We need every single vote on election day!! Obama / Biden '08

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

YES for O — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:22:07 GMT

I am doing my part to help Indiana go blue!!

Phones, canvassing, registering voters....and PRAYING!

Our state is lead by a thief (ask IPL employees and State employees !!)

Our government has not only robbed and raped and lied to all of us in this country, they have humiliated us in front of the whole world.

E N O U G H !!!! GOOOO OBAMA!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndySusan — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:23:06 GMT

I've been out canvassing for Obama since the primary election. Yes there are staunch Repubs out there. But, what I have never seen before is the interest and excitement in new voters, the young , the miniorities, the working middle and poor. The way the Repubs have owned this state since 1964 is to keep voter participation low. Well, this year it is about the economy AND the TURNOUT (stupid). We have a hell of a ground game here and the turnout will bring an Obama victory.. Jill ong Thompson may be swept in on his coattails.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

bluebloodedLV — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:24:06 GMT

I only came on this post to see Loriw's comments and the responses to her comments. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahaha!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

YES for O — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:25:51 GMT

OH and......I too have never contributed financially to a campaign.....but I have twice to OBAMA.

Come on Hoosier------my grandson's future is at stake !!!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

bluebloodedLV — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:28:11 GMT

Loriw - abortions are horrible, so don't have one and get over it.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:33:51 GMT

David Brody of CBN News interviewed Obama regarding his vote on the Born Alive Infant Protection Act:

Brody: Real quick, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. I gotta tell you that's the one thing I get a lot of emails about and it's just not just from Evangelicals, it about Catholics, Protestants, main -- they're trying to understand it because there was some literature put out by the National Right to Life Committee. And they're basically saying they felt like you misrepresented your position on that bill.

Obama: Let me clarify this right now.

Brody: Because it's getting a lot of play.

Obama: Well and because they have not been telling the truth. And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying. I have said repeatedly that I would have been completely in, fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported - which was to say --that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born - even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion. That was not the bill that was presented at the state level. What that bill also was doing was trying to undermine Roe vs. Wade. By the way, we also had a bill, a law already in place in Illinois that insured life saving treatment was given to infants.

So for people to suggest that I and the Illinois medical society, so Illinois doctors were somehow in favor of withholding life saving support from an infant born alive is ridiculous. It defies commonsense and it defies imagination and for people to keep on pushing this is offensive and it's an example of the kind of politics that we have to get beyond. It's one thing for people to disagree with me about the issue of choice, it's another thing for people to out and out misrepresent my positions repeatedly, even after they know that they're wrong. And that's what's been happening.

Brody: I wanted to give you a chance to clear it up.

Obama: I appreciate it.

Brody: Thank you so much.

loriw - If you are voting on the abortion issue, then you are a bigger moron than I have time for. Abortion is a dangling carrot issue to keep the Religious Right voting for the GOP, meanwhile they can do all the dirty deeds they want and get by with it in the name of Jesus Christ and the unborn fetus.

John McCain will never outlaw abortion or overturn Roe v. Wade. If you believe that he will, then I've got some oceanfront property in AZ to sell you. By the way, I'm a Hoosier and I'm pro-CHOICE. Of course I hope that every woman will choose to keep her baby alive, but to take away that choice is not right, particularly in the cases of rape, incest, or where the mother or baby's health is at risk because of the pregnancy.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Omnius — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:35:13 GMT

I can only laugh that the pro life fools are whining about how Obama has cut into the red state of Indiana and is coming close to turning it blue. Pro life is a misnomer because these false protectors of human life just don't get it that the more quantity of life there is the lower the quality of life is for the rest of us. Time for the pro lifers to stop meddling in other people's lives and keep their noses in their own.

Hopefully Obama does turn Indiana blue. I'm sick and tired of the pro life morons ruining our secular democracy with their sinful distractions on issues that are irrelevant in the 21st Century. We have more important issues like overturning "Alzheimer" Reagan's Tinkle Down economics that have left us regular Americans all wet from the wrong kind of Golden Shower. We need to concentrate on reregulating business so the white collar criminal CEO's aren't ripping off the workers and all of us. Time for the intelligent liberals to start laying out the agenda to repair the damage done by the creepy christian conspiracy.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

ademeyer — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:41:40 GMT

Oh please, loriw. Obama is a good man, father, husband, Christian and as President would do more to make sure children have health care and education, and Veterans get benefits than Mr. Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran. That's just a fact.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

mcleodmn — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:43:07 GMT

Pro-lifers need to start their own party, because Republicans are NOT Pro-life. They would rather wait until that infant is 18 years old before they send it to another country to be killed.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

dawnbc1 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:47:23 GMT

Lori W,

you will find that many, may vets are against McCain because of his extensive negative record (i.e. against the GI bill). Plus, If it were my son in Iraq, I'd want him home.

Please LOOK AT McCAINS VETRAN VOTING RECORD is is horrible!!!!!

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain_vets.cfm

I live in Indiana and will absolutely be voting for Obama as will my scientist husband. We seem to be going backwards in time and forward with failing domestic and foreign policy. There are SO many issues to think about here. No just anti-choice.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

W.S. — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:48:44 GMT

Its gotta be a sign of the second coming!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:51:22 GMT

Alright, well, loriw, I guess you and I are not going to agree, but I can at least ask one favor of you. Even if you do not support Obama, and you seem to think all these horrible things are true of him, then you can't tell me that morally and ethically you can feel comfortable voting for somebody like McCain, based on many of the horrible things he has done, and a lot of the legislation that he has chosen to support / not support. If you can at least decide not to vote for McCain then I can rest a little better at night.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Braes — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 20:59:44 GMT

When Indiana does go blue, it will follow Arkansas. We started in '06 in a big way, and the methodology of these polls is laughable. I believe the media needs a race like a drunk needs that booze.

As for Veterans voting for McCain, that's thin. I do not see it, as a retired USAF flyer. None of the Veterans in my DAV chapter are supporting the GOP in this election.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

alch — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:07:59 GMT

I get so frustrated when people say "Everyone in Indiana is a Republican, don't WORRY, Indiana will always vote Republican." It's just no so. Most of the people I work with a deal with (and I am in RURAL Indiana) vote on the issues. And, this time around, everyone I talk to is voting Obama. There is nothing about McCain's voting record that backs up his new found devotion to the right. And the abortion issue - please. Republicans had the entire Congress and the Presidency for 6 years and did NOTHING. If Roe v. Wade was ever overturned, the Republicans wouldn't have a way to scare people to the polls. The Republicans do not want it overturned, because they would lose their biggest "draw." Talk to any Republican strategist about what would have to the party if it was overturned. They will all tell you that is HAS to remain an issue for the party to be viable. Do the research. No one LIKES abortions. We should all be working to find waya to make them as safe and as rare as possible. There were less abortions in this country under Clinton. Not because of any big movement, but because the economy allowed people to raise families.

If people really are PRO-LIFE, they will work to solve the issues of our economy, care about the children after the are born (not just before), and extend health care to the invalids, sick, and elderly. If you are PRO-LIFE, you work to eliminate war and poverty in all societies. You care for your veteran's mental and physical health. If you put your efforts into those issues, you are valuing LIFE in its entirety. Don't be pro-life solely for the unborn. Be pro-life for all ages, nationalities, races, and classes. That is why this Hoosier PROUDLY, and without reservation, supports Barack Obama.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

kbell29 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:19:14 GMT

For the record, Bush won Indiana by 21% in 2004, not 15.7%. That makes these polls showing it close all the more significant. No state has swung in such a dramatic way as Indiana.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

mcleodmn — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:32:36 GMT

Posted By: loriw (October 1, 2008 at 5:20 PM)

"I truly believe that our presence in Iraq has created some level of stability in the Middle East and that we have been successful in preventing further attacks on American soil"

----------------------------------------------------

OMG.... Good luck to you. You need it.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

neverendingsaga — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:36:11 GMT

what you may not be taking into account is that the idiot Mitch daniels, stripped everyone of their state benefits..my mother included, who had been revieving disability for more than 15 years, and one day they say sorry, you dont get it anymore..all while this jackrear is telling Hoosiers that hes saving them money??!!! The guy is a flat out crook, and i would be surprised if hes elected again...

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

HyperD — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:42:19 GMT

Oil-funded research in Palin's campaign against protection for polar bears

PLEASE READ AND SHARE: REPORT ABOUT SARAH PALIN FROM THE GUARDIAN (UK)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/01/sarahpalin.climatechange

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

jgeisler — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:43:53 GMT

After reading this blog string I can honestly say that loriw, god bless her, puts me firmly in the obama column

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndependentInNY — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:50:10 GMT

I read Stumper every day but didn't have a user name to make comments. I decided to sign up simply because loriw is driving me nuts.

Going all the way back, loriw, to your comment at 4:26 about when Obama "could have gone... and elected not to" visit the soldiers in the hospital in Germany, Obama was asked not to come by the US military for fear of making his visit a political affair. He respectfully acquiesced to their requests.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/26/2315186.htm

See I, unlike you, actually did some research before I weighed in on an issue. You spouted off all that garbage about Barack Obama being a baby killer without checking to see if it was actually true. You know why you did that? Because you WANT it to be true, because you want to have a reason to hate him. You claim to be an independent (I am a REGISTERED independent, what are you?), however no self-respecting independent would swing their vote on the pendulum of a candidates stance on abortion. You yourself said that his abortion stance was the factor in you making your decision to vote for McCain.

After someone disproved your theory about Obama hating babies, you shot back with an argument about his health care plan and rhetoric (if you can call it that) against people who think the war in ?Iraq is wrong.

Rather than putting on blinders to select the facts that you find convenient, why don't you actually open your mind to the possibility that Obama might make a good president and stop listening to all the garbage about him being "not ready to lead" and a "danger to America" that the Republican talking heads are forcing down your throats?

Late last year I said that my ideal electionw ould be Barack Obama running against John McCain because I would finally have an electionw here I could vote FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone. In the past year, John McCain has turned my positive feelings about him completely on their head with his actions and reactions.

I will be voting for Obama because I educated myself on the issues and the candidates. You might want to consider doing the same.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IrenaT — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:56:07 GMT

Since 1978, I have voted Republican, Democratic, and Independent. I have no loyalty to any party...I never did and I never will. I vote for IDEAS, sincerety, common sense, intelligence, character, stability, temperament, and so on. There have been times when we have not received great choices in the presidential elections. In those cases, I have voted AGAINST someone instead of FOR someone simply because I have to choose the lesser of two evils. Less than HALF of the time that I have voted in presidential elections, I have actually voted FOR a candidate. I can happily announce that I am voting FOR someone this time! I am also doing something I have NEVER done in my life...volunteer to work for a candidate's campaign. I have also donated money to this particular candidate over the last two months...another thing I have NEVER done. Who is this candidate? Barack Obama. I am going to work my little tail off to try to turn my home state of Indiana BLUE because I wholeheartedly believe that he is going to work his little tail off once he's in the White House.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:00:29 GMT

Loriw - Why John McCain keeps me up at night:

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was put before the Senate, and it was voted down, 56-42. By a Republican filibuster. And John McCain didn't even bother to show up to vote. This would've helped get equal pay for women.

John McCain likes to EXPLOIT his experience as a POW to try to show that it somehow makes him qualified to be President of the US. Even many of his own fellow vets are against him (there are loads of websites out there regarding this subject) because he has often voted against legislation that would've helped them all to live better lives when they returned from service.

John McCain has voted with George Bush over 90% of the time (if that doesn't keep you up at night, then you must be best friends with Freddy Krueger).

He wants to privatize Social Security. Isn't the point of Social Security the idea that some day you can retire and be SECURE financially?? If it gets privatized, that will NEVER happen for most people. Your Social Security becomes more of a pot of Social Gambilng Money.

The Republican party has typically been in favor of tax cuts that favor the wealthy, which I am not, so why would I want more of that? Obama's tax plan will help 95% of working families, which includes me and just about everyone I know. Numerous financial institutes have reviewed both plans and agree that Obama's cuts would definitely benefit the majority of Americans, whereas McCain's would not.

You seem to be big on morals due to your abortion issue comments. How about John McCain returning to the US to his disfigured wife (from a car accident) and then having numerous infidelities on her to only end up divorcing her. Eventually marrying his trophy wife Cindy, with her piles of money.

John McCain claims that Obama is an elitist. That is the pot calling the kettle black. I don't even have time to go into how WRONG that statement is, but if you really need to hear it, I'll be back at my PC tomorrow morning.

John McCain and his attack dog Sarah Palin seem to have no problem standing in front of a camera and lying to the American people. I have watched them both do it shamelessly in many ads and also during the debate and during interviews. No qualms with lying!! Do you like being lied to??

National Organization for Women (NOW) has decided to endorse Obama over McCain because the two are at such opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to women's rights and supporting women. They hadn't endorsed anyone in a very long time, but decided that the need at this point in history was extremely urgent because of McCain's stances against women.

The President of the Kansas Farmer's Board said in a recent interview that if any farmers would look at the voting records of the two Senators when it comes to Agricultural issues, Barack Obama would get a 100%. John McCain would get a 0%. I do believe we all need farmers to exist, especially in the great state of Indiana, so that's kind of a big factor for me.

Obama has more class and intelligence in his pinky than John McCain has in his whole body. John McCain's "experience" only says to me that his brain is warped and skewed from years of being in a POW camp and from living in the day to day corruption of Washington politics. At least Barack is in this for the people and he has not lived a life saturated with the Washington scene. I think he is still fresh enough to actually come and make some changes for the better.

Look at McCain and Palin's educational histories (especially versus those of Obama and Biden). Sad, sad, sad.

McCain chose Palin has his running mate. And she has foreign policy credtials because she can see Russia from her house. Need I say more?

Okay, well, I'm sure I could say a lot more, but it's time for me to go home now.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Ph.D history — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:04:09 GMT

As a professor of history, I must comment on poor Lori's postings. I have a few misguided students who sound just like Lori. We can do nothing with them, they are trained to spill out the same old verbal retching every time they open their mouths. They refuse to actually research and decipher the facts or the lies.

However, it thrills me to see so many Americans as well as 99% of mys students thinking for themselves and joining thr ranks of the educated voters. I do not let my students know who I am voting for because I do not want to create more Loris in the world. Ah so leave her alone. She cannot help it.

Nice to see and hear from so many in Indiana.

See you in 08 with a new administration!!

Professor in California

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndependentInNY — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:04:55 GMT

Also loriw, and I quote,

"It really pi$$e$ me off when people here in America want to make decisions for our troops in Iraq. If you ask the troops who are in Iraq they believe in what is being done there and WANT to finish the mission and feel that they have accomplished something good in Iraq...helped to create a democracy out of a horrible, brutal dictatorship. Saddam Hussein was himself a WMD and had killed thousands of his own people. I truly believe that our presence in Iraq has created some level of stability in the Middle East and that we have been successful in preventing further attacks on American soil. I have grave reservations about Obama's ability to manage foreign affairs and I think that the Middle East sees him as a pacifist who will be an easy mark just as Clinton made us an easy mark for different reasons (reduced our military and distracted us with his sex scandal)."

________________________________________________________________

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/08/military_abroad.html

The demographic you so boldly seem to represent disagrees with you.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

fortherecord89 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:12:14 GMT

LoriW:

Who do you think pays for MDwise, HIP and community-provided care? They're not free!! The taxpayers and premiums from those who are insured pay for these programs. The Netherlands' medical cost per person is about $3,000 annually, while in the United States, that number is about $7,000 per person. So a family of four needs almost $28,000 for medical insurance, deductibles, co-pays and non-covered medical care. McCain's $5,000 credit is barely a dent.

By taking the insurance companies out of the equation and letting people deal directly with their doctors while the federal government pays the bills will save us almost $300 billion per year according to a 2005 study by the Harvard Medical School. (Medicare works just fine.)

Just so you and your Republican friends are aware, the free market isn't always best and often costs much more than government services. Look at the private market and what it did to Wall Street.

Suggestion: You may want to go over to the Fox News website. You'll find a lot more Republicans handing our Kool-Aid than you will here.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

rgarrett — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:14:13 GMT

We Texans will never vote for OBAMA. What does he stand for? Hope, Change, and BIGGER GOVERNMENT. You people all sounl like you are on the public tit! Wanting more and more from the federal government. Take a lesson in economics, then government. The Democrats have been spending this country dizzy with all of their pet project giveaways. Always remember, a government that gets big enough to promise you the world, will also be big enough to take all that you have. NOBAMA

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

rgarrett — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:23:04 GMT

Why are the majority of you piling on LoriW. I will suppotr a hero(McCain) not a zero(obama) Vote Republican Hoosiers.......NOBAMA

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Express — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:37:44 GMT

There is one more fact for those voting for McCain & Palin just because she is aganist abortion. If they are elected do you think it's going to be that easy to over turn that decision because if you do you know nothing about the political scene and it will be a long, hard, drawn out fight. So for you one issue voters you better start listening and pay attention to the other issues that face this country.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

MTR1973 — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:48:28 GMT

Lori - there's so much drivel you've spouted on here that it's hard to know which to respond to, but I'll start with the one about guns and religion. Obama is not, by any stretch of the imagination, the only person in this country who sees and despises the fact that lots of you DO bitterly cling to your guns and religion, and frankly, many of the rest of us are sick and tired of it. Keep your bullets and bibles to yourself - we have a separation of church and state in this country for a reason, and it's the reason we fought for independence from the British. That you even think John McCain is even remotely religious is a joke.

As for your uninformed and inane comments about Obama's stance on abortion - being pro-choice is NOT being pro-abortion, though that fact escapes you - if you don't like abortions, don't have one. Better yet, get cracking on adopting all of the unwanted children that you so hypocritically-yet-with-fake-care-and-concern recommend people you don't know and have no business judging should do.

Finally - the most uninformed of your posts as related to Obama's campaign staff: "The highest positions are held by men and I have been told that even within comparable positions the women don't make the same as the men."

You've been told? Just because you believe everything McCain's campaign and the GOP shoves down your throat with no data to back it up (that, of course, when they're not just flat out lying) might pass your litmus test but it doesn't pass mine. It is so sad that you, like the rest of your McCain brainwashed brethren, have gotten so incapable of thinking for yourselves and looking for facts that you have to cling to (in addition to your guns and religion) hearsay and propoganda.

McCain's campaign is a reprehensible blight on this country, as far as I'm concerned, if for no other reason than its continuation of GW's policies of playing to the idiots in this country who rely on hyperbole and half-or-non-truths to help them make decisions that affect ALL of us, not just a few. Obama is not perfect, but I'd literally prefer to shoot myself in the face than put another unintelligent, self-serving and self-righteous %*&$#(@) in the White House after the 8 years that we have just barely survived.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

ABastion — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:54:09 GMT

If you want a piece of information that scares Republicans in Indiana, ask the folks voting for Indiana Gov. Mitch Danels who they are supporting for President? The Indiana State Republican Party has the number at 20% of Daniels (a Republican) peeling off and voting for Obama for President.

That's gotta hurt

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Nymkosis — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:56:21 GMT

People are so sick of hearing Mcain would make a better president cause he was a POW in vietnam! That is such an injustice to all the other POW's of vietnam who did and didn't make it back alive!!! Just to let you in on a little secret Loriw, he wasn't the only prisoner!! Besides what the hell did Bush do during Vietnam, get his rich parents to bail him out!!! Damn is that all it takes to become the president, join the military!!! Fightning in a war all of the sudden gives a person the economic credentials one needs to run this country. And look how stubborn Mcain is that he's still talking about victory in Iraq, HELLO, we lost the war once the truth came out that there was no freakin weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, DUH!!! Oh but I forgot the real front line on terror is Iraq, no not Pakistan, no not Afghanistan the real terrorists who killed over 2,000 Americans. If Iraq is so important then why in the hell did General Patreaus get promoted to head Centcom and take over the war in Afghanistan. You know there is an old saying during the Vietnam war that blacks used to say, "No vietnamese ever called me a ***" and the same goes for Iraq. No Iraqi killed 2000 Americans on our owbn soil!! " TALIBAN- AL QAEADA did!!!! And they were never in Iraq, if theres one thing you can hail Saddam on is that he had those terrorists in check!!!!!! Wake up and smell the coffee people!!!! By the way this post was in no way intended to offend current and past service men they all deserve the better things in life for sacrficing so much!!!! But not the keys to the white house!!!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

TBinSD — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:59:33 GMT

loriw is just out of her mind. And, while I think it's great that IN is looking more blue, the fact is that Obama is up in a lot of other states and we likely won't need IN to win in Nov. So, keep talking to yourself loriw -- McCain isn't going to make the cut this time. And keep going all IN folks -- this is quite impressive!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

INTeacher — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:18:21 GMT

LoriW: Luckily you don't represent the Indiana citizens I know. What you do represent is the masses of the uninformed who spout information based on sound bites, deceptive political ads, gossip, and fear. Try some reading and research based from impartial factual resources. Try making a decision on the overall facts not one narrow-minded issue. If you don't or won't do that, then keep quiet and don't embarrass yourself any further.

As many reasonable people have already said, Hoosiers have a record of leadning Republican but voting for both parties. We've had a lot of Democratic govenors and are currently well represented by senators from both parties. We generally learn from our mistakes and most people mI talk to agree their support of Bush and the Republicans in the last two elections has created a mess that has cost them a lot. Bush's man Mitch has lied, loves to grandstand, attempted deregulation and has created chaos and loss of benefits privatizing a lot of state services . He brags of a balanced budget, but leased the IN toll road to get the money. The time issue was a mess and we've lost a lot of jobs. I see Obabma signs and bumper stickers daily and a McCain sticker or sign occasionally. The Obama organization is working hard in Indiana. McCain seems to be taking us for granted. I think he might be surprised.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IrenaT — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:26:09 GMT

Let's look at the positive side of this....LoriW is not running for president.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

INTeacher — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:32:53 GMT

LoriW: Please research the facts and the context of the information. Just because you repeat things over and over it doesn't make the people who actually read and analyze believe you. The actual facts and records are out there and Rush and Bill don't provide them. You are horribly misinformed and just repeating misinformation can never make it true. If you want to have an opinion because you disagree with the actual facts, that's one thing, but forming opinions based on misinformation or a lack of understanding on the issue is another.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

EDUCARE' — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:43:11 GMT

The next few weeks will reveal a greter light on the intelligence of the American people, including Indiana and many will realize how scammed they have been for years.

I worked the polls many years ago. One particular year there was a front-page story about 4 or 5 generations working tha polls; huh! Young niave & threatened at the time I saw how crooked the polls were. I became an independent and vowed to stay aa far away from such 2 face supposed "demacracy" as possible NO ONE we know has been able to understand HOW Ind. chose Mitch or Bush. God help us in this next election. .

How can McCain go head to head with world leaders when he can't even look at Mr. Obama? Is this why he is so reluctant to meet with them?

Foreign Policy is also at the heart of the bail-out.Example is the most critical card we have to play in the world; painful or not.

The Media needs to get behind the American People! Which is also a step up for citizens of the world.

After all, the Reality is that we will all be pinching pennies soon whether there is a Plan or not & no matter what plan they come up with as long as the ones who allowed this Crisis to happen are involved in the negotiations of any Plan. Media is one of the extravigances that households will need to cut to buy groceries & pay for heat & gas; then the Media will be without jobs!

The Truth is; Main St. public has been suffering for more than 8 years. Jobs flying out of the country & excessive medical & insurance costs & war are the main issues that have caused the need to live on credit, and loose homes, be unable to save, etc. coupled WITH the Un-ethical banking practices that those TRUSTED & incharge of ALLOWED, ENCOURAGED, and LIED to us & the world about.

The BankingBailout Plan is so flawed & being so rushed that no one can trust that Wisdom is in it. I FOR ONE SAW THIS COMING, & I AM READY TO GO THRU HARDSHIP FOR MY FELLOW AMERICANS & A BETTER WORLD. I AM NOT WILLING TO GO THRU IT FOR THE DECEITFUL POWER-MONGERS THAT ORCHESTRATED THIS WHOLE CRISIS OF PARALYSIS THAT THREATENS TO HOLD US & THE WORLD HOSTAGE IF WE DON'T GIVE THEM THE RANSOM. The Courageous of the House, Senate & every corner of the world need to stand up and take the risk to do the MOST RIGHT THING. The American People are NOT confused; we know right from wrong, "the inner knower is NEVER wrong". I am sure that these words surmise the bulk of what most Americans are thinking & feeling but may not have the words for. If it looks feels tastes, smells bad... it IS.

The way to begin to solve this crisis is to recognize this and call it for what it is. Then get the paid trusted betraying culprits out of the picture: Paulson, Bernanki, Greenspan, Bush & Co.. Why is Congress allowing the foxes to design the locks on the hen-house? Are they nuts? 0r too scared by the commotion to think and act bravely?

This is war folks; make no mistake about it. I would love the chance to debate any one of them, & stand up for what I know. These Financial Hostage- Takers would have us believe that they goofed or were fooled. To them I say,"How dumb do you think we are? Either you are ignorant, incompetent & totally unqualified for the job you were PD.& TRUSTED to do; or you are genius to devise such a worldwide scheme to be unleash at one of the most important moments in American & World history." (ALL of these main players have been recognized numerous times in the past as "world renown genious expert the best of the best" which is how they were accepted into the positions they were trusted with.) Don't think for a minute that they didn't know what they were doing. And consider that they admitted that their 1st 2+1/2 pg. Bail out Plan SAT AT THE WHITE HOUSE FOR MONTHS! ALL THE WHILE THEY WERE SINGING PRAISES TO THE WORLD ABOUT THE SECURITY OF OUR ECCONOMICS!

People & press, let's quit buying into the "distractions" of all this, & recognize the "Diversion" for what it is. Let's start talking-consulting, writing, preparing & doing what we need to to reveal & deal with the actual Truth rather than yakking about the all too obvious commotion. Don't participate in their game, or let them get you off the subject with their distractions; instead call their bluff, get them out of the picture, better still, do that & file charges of treason & derriliction of duty upon all of them.

Then prepare the American people for hard times with wisdom, compassion, & equanimity. Then prepare the food lines for whoever will need them.Appropriate the money for the world renown infrastructure repair & development. Use what we have. Plan the jobs with the best minds, not the most poplular or expensive, or greedy. Ask the American people to prepare to help one another thru their churches & community centers & schools. These are a good start to what will help the American people and their goals as well as their needs. Then they will be able to start over. IF our Representatives are forced to come up with a Bailout plan, then there should be a clause in it to review and cancel all future enforcement of such after a thorough investigation into how , why, & who all helped the Financial hostage-takers pull this off.

Let the greedy fall to the ground with the weight of their golden parchutes.

People have complained about the most rediculous things such as Palins accent, rather than the seriousness of the position she could easily potentially inherate.

The accent isn't relavent; it's the UN-presidential screech, combined with the uninformed intelligence, and the deceitful antics she & McCain are participating in, & it is the audacity of the Republican party to offer us a no more qualified person than this that insults me & has turned me 180 degrees away from my past impression of McCain & any good that the party claims to stand for; including anti-abortion. I will vote for the sake of my neighbor & brother who are alive & the Golden Rule, & for values that have a chance to reach & help others to become wiser, more capable & more virtuouis so that they eventually don't need to depend on abortion.

this is my right to choose, I choose life & the living, not war, not hatred, not divisons of classes. I choose progress, education & brotherhood in a shrinking new world. I will vote for the sake of my family in combat. It is not Palin who I want calling the shots or even involved when we are at war; it is not even McCain,. Yes, he was a heroe almost 40 years ago. Bless him & all soldiers for their sacrafice. But that was then, gratitude lives on, but not his ability; he is out dated, out of step with the people, and not capable of multi-task thining as Obama is or as MC might have bewen long ago.Today his heroism is not relavent enough to let that be the reasopn to elect him when so much else that makes him incaplable and way to great a risk to elect his ticket. Besides warfare is a totally different world today than when he marched. Even those that sent our soldiers into Irac & hold the highest office in the world didn't get this then, and won't admit to it now, even though everyon that had to follow those orders knew & couldn't be heard.

And if McCain cannot even look Obama in the face how can he possibly face a world leader. No wonder he doesn't want to meet with them.

Lets get REAL; the world and the U.S. is way to serious to let this mockery endure to the Oval office. Remember you are voting for the person & their principles, and demonstated virtues & demonstrated character to HOLD THE HIGHEST OFFICE IN THE WORLD.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

nativehoosier — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:47:39 GMT

I certainly hope Indiana swings! It would be an event I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. I lived there my first 30 years. IN sits in the heart of the rust belt and the one time steel and auto making powerhouse has all but went belly up in those fields. Bush backed Mitch Daniels hasn't revived the state as promised, while giving big business all the tax and environmental incentives one could possibly ask for. I could only hope the Hoosier state is ready to sign on for a new deal. Lord help our Colts!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

MoLarryCurley — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:03:28 GMT

LoriW is not a real person. She, or he, is a Republican shill pretending to be an actual person. This complete drivel is nothing but far right talking points from Fox News/Hannity origins. This to what the McCain campaign has had to resort. Bloviate lies again and again and hope people will hear them over and over and be dumb enough to believe them. People are way smarter. There's only one logical choice for change in this election. WE must do it. The Bush Administration has been the worst in the history of the republic. We CANNOT continue on this misguided corrupt saber-rattling path. Change EVERYTHING. The time is NOW. It's THE most important election ever.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

slipthalo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:13:39 GMT

To LoriW:

As a 62 yr young single female who lives in Indiana and has voted Republican for President ALL my voting life, I've studied the issues and am voting for Obama for President and Danield for Governor. I don't usually vote straight ticket but have always supported the GOP nominee for President and I can't afford to financially nor emotionally this year.

I'll try to make this short with all the issues you have brought up but do have one suggestion for you: You really do need to rely on better background info than watching Fox (Faux) News and Hannity. Your arguments on some issues are almost like reading his talking points.

The Lily Ledbetter vote was held on 4/24/08 - well after McCain had secured the Republican nomination and he stated he wouldn't have voted for it IF he had taken the time to attend the vote.

He also didn't bother to attend the session when the last Vet bill has voted on and said he wouldn't have voted for it IF he had attended. That was the one to give our Vets better benefits you know.

As for the infanticide issue, the IL law already had covered that issue and there was no need to have another bill on record that stated ALL measures were to be used for an infant who survived a failed abortion. I've watched the Hannity show (yep, I reasearch by watching, listening and reading ALL sides of the issues) and heard the garbage spewed in regards to this issue and it's lies. Obama is ProChoice NOT ProAbortion - he says we need to find ways to lower abortion numbers - you know, like education. McCain and Republicans are ProBirth but not ProLIfe as you state. They want you to have the children but then abandon you after you have them with education, healthcare, etc. And, unlike what you say, McCain has said he would appoint Supreme Court judges who would overturn Roe v Wade - both him and Palin want abortion abolished even in the cases of rape, incest and threat to the life of the mother - McCain's own wife doesn't accept his view on that. You know, his wife who he chased, dated and EVEN got a marriage license with BEFORE he was divorced from his first wife - the former model who was severely hurt and disfigured in an auto accident while he was a POW - the one he couldn't look at anymore because of her limp.

More Hannity/Fox talking points: Obama went to visit the troops in the hospital in Germany but the military stated his visit could be taken as political so he deferred - of course, if he had gone then McCain/Hannity/Fox would have said he was doing it for political reasons. He visited with Troops at the base (didn't you see him playing basketball with them?)

Healthcare: Clinton was the one for Universal HC - Obama wants to offer healthcare to all who want it. IF you have healthcare and want to keep that plan - then keep it according to his plan. I get the privilege of paying almost $150 a month (single plan) in order to pay the first $4000 each year - first dollar up front with NO discounts or copays for my prescriptions that total $700 a month - and I feel fortunate to have that plan. I would take the time to study if offered another plan before I moved.

McCains' POW history - I respect and admire him for that time he spent in hell BUT it does not give him an inside track or experience to be President of the US. Also, he uses it all the time - unlike the McCain I supported in 2000 (yep, I wanted him to win in that election because I liked who he was and what he stood for that time but he's not the same man now). It's his and his campaigns excuse for everything whether it fits or not.

McCain scare me for several reasons - his pick for VP candidate was not for her experience - see what he said about Guiliani and Romney and their experience as mayor and governor; see what Rove and Gingrich said about one of Obama's finalists for VP and his experience as mayor of Richmond and governor of VA - they said those people DIDN'T have the experience to be President or Vice President BUT because Obama didn't tap Clinton, McCain and his campaign saw a way to try and get the female vote by picking a candidate for her anatomy. Hmmm, didn't work did it and he got left with someone who is now an embarassment with her 'deer in the headlight' look and silence to basic, logical questions. This is who you want to be a heartbeat from the highest office in our land? Oh well, we could always look forward to the First Dude being involved in all her discussions and decisions as well as eating MooseBurgers and having Sunday as our official day of hunting for our meat. It's really bad when SNL and Tina Fey use Palins' own words (verbatim) in a comedy skit and we all find it hilarious, when she can't name a Supreme Court decision besides Roe v Wade and can't give an example of McCain's deregulation stances but 'will find one and get back to ya'.

McCain has voted with Bush 91% of the time and has been absent the most of all Senators this year. His Straight Talk Express has become the Twisted Tale Express with all the lies and blatant distortions.

I could go on but have more to do than debate your Hannity/Faux Noise talking points - my dear, you really need to research more before hitting the keyboard. Try factcheck.org or politicact.com and see how much McCain/Palin and their campaign lie, get caught and keep using the same lies over and over and over - you know that bridge to nowhere where she turned against it after the nation found it to be a laughing stock and congress said no - but she kept the money and built a road to the bridge to nowhere that isn't there and people in Alaska say it could be used for road races. Or that jet she had to sell for 1/2 mil loss to a campaign supporter through an aviation broker or how he took over the mayor's office in Wasilla with NO debt and then built a mega town center for soccer that is empty most of the time and left that town over $20 mil in debt when she left for the Governors office OR what about heading up a town in a state that is 47th in the nation with population but being one of the tops (with the help of hired lobbyists in Washington DC for earmark requests? Those facts came from reading the Anchorage newspapers. Not to forget the Yahoo email accounts used for government business, cc'ing her husband on government emails and we mustn't forget Troopergate and how she wanted the investigation but now has the campaign blocking it from all sides. What about getting travel pay to sleep in her home, travel pay for her husband and children? Why did Alaska have to pay $707 a night for her daughters' hotel room in NYC?

Yep, she's NOT who I want to be a heartbeat away from being my President.

Reasearch, research, research - you might not like what you find out - like how McCain was for the war in Iraq only 2 weeks after 9/11, how he wants war in Iran and would love to tangle with Russia. He is a warmonger and just itching to get tangled in another one. He's rude, short tempered and his treatment of women doesn't endear me to him - jokes about apes and women and calling his wife the 'C' word - all found in using resources readily available to all of us. Perhaps you should tune out Fox/Hannity for a few weeks and if nothing else, research other conservative avenues who are much more 'fair and balanced'. Have a wonderful evening and remember......"Your mind is like a parachute, it works best when it's opened". Slipthalo

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

slipthalo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:23:50 GMT

BTW LoriW - if you go the the Tax Center website, you will find a table that clearly shows the tax cuts and they are clearly NOT what McCain/Hannity/Fox states. Only the VERY highest income earners would pay more - low, middle and even some higher income earners would pay LESS in taxes than under the current Bush/McCain tax system. Slipthalo

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Ellen L. — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:29:31 GMT

The impact of David Letterman and his continuous attacks on McCain (& Palin) must be having an impact on hoosiers as well. Go Dave!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

This Is Our Time — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:11:40 GMT

It still amazes me how Americans can remain so biased, so racist and so uninformed - kind of like Ms. Palin. Open your minds, gather the FACTS, read everything you can get your hands on, don't go into this election blind....kind of like Ms. Palin. Does anyone else cringe when she answers the limited questions put forth to her - knowing the rest of the world is listening to her vague and uninformed and unintelligble answers??

Our future rests squarely on our collective decision on who to put into the White House. McCain and Palin will reverse this country by decades. We can't afford to go backwards anymore.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

PrissySissy27 — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:30:08 GMT

I am a white 54 year old redneck an I'm proud of it! I also typicaly am a republican.

I have heard enough of Sarah Palin. I faught in viet nam and couldnt imagine serving under a trigger finger hot tempered McCain Nor a sarcastic uninformed pit bull with lipstick.

I do however keep things simple. For me I see it like this. When I pull money out of my wallet it represents a McCain Palin vote. Now, when I put money in iot represents an Obama/Biden vote and that pretty much seals that deal withou getting lipstick anywhere except both of my earlobes, Cuz I smile real big when the money comes my way.

Theirs just way to many good reasons not to go for the McCain/Palin ticket. Thanks, Ken

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

teptep — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:39:25 GMT

Slipthalo,

Like yourself, I am from a swing state. I am 28 years old, recently married, and from Southeastern Ohio. Also, like yourself, I thought very highly of John McCain during the 2004 election. In fact, when he clinched the nomination this year, I was elated. While I have typically identified as a moderate-Democrat, I said as far back as 2004 that I could see myself voting for McCain.

When I read your posting, I felt as though my mind had been read. I am a news junkie myself and use websites to separate fact from fiction (my favorite is Snopes) and make informed political decisions. While I would never say the Obama campaign has an unblemished record, I find myself suddenly angry with McCain for letting me down. When did the man who rushed to Kerry's aid in 2004 (when the Swiftboat commercials aired) turn into a partisan smear-lord? I always thought of McCain has having an environmentalist and reformist streak. It's what I liked about him. In interviews, he seemed like a knowledgeable, humble, and often funny guy. Today, only months after he clinched the nomination, I wouldn't show up if he invited me to dinner. He has changed his position in all of the regards in which he had my admiration and just looks like a shell of his former self. I'm not sure John McCain believes in John McCain anymore. Does that make sense?

In the end, I think he WAS a maverick. I think he WOULD HAVE been good for our country. But he's sacrificed so much of himself and his principles for so little in this campaign that the democrats can add this Ohio voter to the "Solid Obama" category.

But, most of all, thank you to Slipthalo for being an informed voter and advocating the search for truth and information above partisan politics. That is the very definition of putting Country First.

AEH

(For those of you who are interested, I would also recommend www.realclearpolitics.com for a comprehensive look at the news from all outlets. It's a great resource. I also like www.politico.com, but I think it does swing a little liberal sometimes. The most important thing is to avoid picking only one news outlet or network. If there are any other great political sites out there, I'd love to hear suggestions!)

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

slipthalo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:19:23 GMT

Thanks for your comments teptep and congratulations on your recent marriage!

I do agree that the John McCain of today is in no way the John McCain of past years. He's bitter (perhaps he clings to his guns and religion? LOL), sarcastic, egotistical and in some ways he leans on the maniacal side in his tactics?

Yep, the Obama campaign doesn't have lily white hands but it's not as dishonest, spiteful, desparate and conniving as the McCain campaign.

I read our local paper, visit all kinds of website (do try to avoid the radical bloggers though), read newspapers from all areas, factcheck.org is great as is politifact.com and snopes for finding out the real story behind the stories, listen and really try to hear points of views of friends, family and coworkers and then follow my instincts too as they've served me well in my life.

Though the McCain of the past was a Maverick of sorts, as I study deeper and further I find as well as being a maverick, he had a reputation as being a hot head and nasty person behind the scenes. I still believe he was a better person back then but seems to be desparate now - like he knows it's his last shot at being POTUS and he'll do anything to get there?

People and some media will pick up on statements or 'discoveries' and pound them into the sand on 'face values' - not taking them into the context of what was said. The remarks of Obama as to 'being bitter and clinging to guns and religion' didn't insult me as I knewe what he was saying. People who feel betrayed, defeated, ignored and bitter about what is/was/will happen in their lives do at times turn more to their religion and family/regional values. He wasn't belittling those people but trying to explain how to relate to those people as an answer to volunteers who were wanting to know how to talk to people in different regions of the states they were going to volunteer in. I live in a small town in central Indiana and have often joked that men in town judged how important they were by the number of guns they could hold in the pickemup rear window gunrack. LOL

I was a victim of downsizing at the firm I used to work at (had been employed there for over 16 years and was a senior member of my department) - talk about bitter! I did find that I talked to God and prayed more than I had before because I was scared and I was bitter. I've never been a gun lover but perhaps if I were, I would have found myself going out target shooting to release stress and some of the bitter feelings? Sound strange? Thankfully, God was there for me and I found another job and I love it! Health benefits are lousy but I make a steady income, am respected for my knowledge and appreciated for what I do. I found things do sometimes happen for the better as they say.

From what I've seen - Obama is thoughtful, insightful, intelligent, has good judgment, is a good person who loves his wife and children and wants the best for them and has ideas to help us become better.

I want the US to become respected in the world with other countries and their leaders which is a status we don't have these days with a lot of the world. I don't want to be a doormat for other countries but be a leader in the world who not only is respected but gives respect to those who earn it. I feel that Obama can bring change and hope and do away with the secretness we have endured these last few years.

My feeling is we need to research and exam and then vote with our own clear mind - only then can we complain if mistakes are made by those we have elected. If you don't vote with an educated mind then you can't complain.

Well, again, thanks for the comments but I need to sign off of here and get to the bed as 6:00 comes early in the morning and with it being dark now when the alarm goes off, it takes more stamina to get my body in gear. Again, congrats on your marriage and I wish you all the luck and love that life can offer - have a wonderful life!

As I said before - "A mind is like a parachute - it works best when it's opened" - a great thought my dad lived by. Carpe' diem! Slipthalo = which means I've been there, done that and bought all those tshirts! :)

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

politicod — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 04:51:28 GMT

I have been following Indiana for weeks, and I am almost positive it will go blue. The key to its transition is the number of traditional, conservative Republicans who are disenchanted with the Republican Party and John McCain and Sarah Palin. These are people who believe in authentic midwestern values and Obama who represents Illinois and is well known to them, is not "exotic," but can make a case that he will move the country in the right direction. The idea that a vote for McCain/Palin is a ratification of the last eight years of GOP fiscal mismanagement may be too much for these conservative Hoosiers. I read the "comments" sections of their newspapers everyday. Many of them are ready to move.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

philcash — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:05:01 GMT

It's a shame that the country doesn't see Sen.Obama for what he is & that is a Karl Marx loyalist.He wants to take away your basic freedoms & run your life in the socialist manner that he wants.High taxes on everyone so he can sit on the throne as a dictator.Don't think for a minute that he cares about Mr. & Mrs. average citizen.Should he win in November,there will be a change all right & it won't be for what you had hoped for.Good Luck

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Perusing-through — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:11:48 GMT

IT IS PERFECTLY REASONABLE THAT KATIE COURIC ASKED SARAH PALIN ABOUT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS, AS SHE DID JOE BIDEN AND BARACK OBAMA. SO LET US SEE . . .

(1.)

Sarah Palin when asked could not name a single Supreme Court case other than Roe vs. Wade.

(2.)

Joe Biden graduated from University of Delaware with a double-degree in "political science & history". He later received his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law. As a Senator he has initiated several laws directly challenging the Supreme Court, to include the "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act" of 1994 (aka Biden Crime Law), and the "Violence Against Women Act" of 1994 (VAWA), which contains a host of tools to fight violence and procure funds to fight gender-based crimes.

(3.)

Barack Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama 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. Some of the laws Obama introduce, co-sponsored or supported are Energy Policy Act of 2005, Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act, Secure Fence Act, Nunn-Lugar & Coburn-Obama Transparency Act, Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Sarah Palin is NOT READY to be a single heartbeat away from President of the United States.

Enough said!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Perusing-through — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 07:12:37 GMT

IT IS PERFECTLY REASONABLE THAT KATIE COURIC ASKED SARAH PALIN ABOUT SUPREME COURT DECISIONS, AS SHE DID JOE BIDEN AND BARACK OBAMA. SO LET US SEE . . .

(1.)

Sarah Palin when asked could not name a single Supreme Court case other than Roe vs. Wade.

(2.)

(3.)

Sarah Palin is NOT READY to be a single heartbeat away from President of the United States.

Enough said!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

GregHere — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:52:14 GMT

...............Palin has been "Boning Up" for the V.P. Debate, putting lots of hours in covering up that she was so uninformed on national and international affairs when Maverick McCain decided to use her as his Public Relations Aide. Palin might have been coached well enough to not make gaffes tonight in the Debate and look good because she is an attractive woman but her philosophy is so similar to the incompetent George Bush whom we need to excape from. The Republicans have done too much damage to America during the 8 years Bush has been in power......Time for a true change and a move away from One Party Rule in 2008!!!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

willnotvoteobama — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:21:00 GMT

Some October surprises that can happen! Obama gets named by resko in his federal deal and is ordered to appear before a federal court to face charges! Or Larry Sinclair videotape emerges with proof that Obama did have a homosexual affair! Or the Michelle Obama whitey tape comes out or a terrorist attack in an u.s. city (god help us) or Iran attacks Israel and makes an announcement that they have a nuclear Wepons! Or Pakistan breaks into two different factions and one is a terrorist regime! So many things can happen!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

ALLEAS — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:36:32 GMT

WHERE ON EARTH DO YOU GET THIS STUFF, WILLNOTVOTEOBAMA?

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Perflead — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:14:08 GMT

The root cause of all evil is to accuse somebody without an irrefutable evidence.

Everyone is innocent unless proven guilty, regardless of race, orientation, religion etc.

We should use this principle universally or we will get into deeper holes.

We did not use this principle and destroyed millions of human beings in Iraq, robbed our young men opportunity to be succesful, got ourselves into a deep hole and, spent several billion dollars and, bankrupted the economy, lost several million jobs to the other countries to keep the corporations alive, made bad choices, failed to achieve our goals internally & externally.

We acted out of whims, preconceived notions and destroyed our economy, destroyed lives, all in the absence of proof.

Let us not accuse anyone, Obama, McCain unless we can prove it or there is an irrefutable evidence.

It is immoral an illegal to accuse someone without an irrefutable proof, even if you are right.

That is why we have contracts and protections and witnesses when we get into a deal with another party.

I think we should at least learn a lesson, do what is right, fire the ineffective drivers, Bush, McCain, and get the best driver in, Obama.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

guavaflower — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:17:53 GMT

That's right, Andrew, and Obama volunteers like me , who live in Illinois, will make sure Indiana turns blue..it will be the end of republican governance!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

IndianaMeg — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:06:17 GMT

slipthalo - Thank you so much for your intelligent comments. to back up and elaborate further upon what I had already tried to say to LoriW in my earlier posts. You saved me from having to do a whole lot of typing this morning when I came back to my PC to face what I knew was going to be a a whole string of new comments from LoriW. LOL Although I was halfway considering not typing anything because frankly, it's not worth my time to sit here and defend myself against someone who doesn't seem to want to listen to logic and reason. I appreciate what you said and agree wholeheartedly.

Come on Hoosiers, let's turn this state BLUE!!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

slipthalo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:49:53 GMT

LoriW:

I've gone to the websites you noted - did that a couple of months ago and found them to be false but filled with emotion that can lead one to agree with them out of pity.

Go to FactCheck.Org and see what is stated there about the IL law that has been in force since 1975:

Jessen's mother aborted her in the 3rd trimester and under the IL Law, dr had to choose the medical procedure that would be least likely to harm the fetus; required to have 2nd doctor in attendance during the procedure and use every available means to keep the infant alive if the abortion failed. Subject to Class 3 felony with 2-5 yrs in prison. BTW, Jessen was born 2 years after this law took effect.

As for visiting the troops - he did! Just didn't go the hospital as the MILITARY was afraid it would turn into a political event - he NEVER planned on taking the press with him. Again, you do need to get away from those talking points.

As for Troopergate - I too am very familiar with the workings of government and not at the local level. I do know that those who are appointed can be unappointed but my argument is - tell the truth! One day she is praising him for his service and how well he does his job and the next day he is dismissed. There is more to this story than meets the eye but don't feel like going into it right now as I'm on my lunchbreak at work and time is of the essence.

Glenn Beck - hmmm, he's as close to a Hannity clone as you can get so no need to bemoan the fact you can't access it at home. However, since you appear to have ample access to the Internet and more than enough time to spend on it then you should preruse it more. You can access Fox (Faux) News, CNN, MSNBC and see what is printed there plus you can access Hannity, O'Reilly, Matthews, Olbermann, Beck, etc right here on the Internet so if you can't get them with your DISH program you don't have to miss a thing.

I will agree with you on one thing - Daniels has been a good Governor and he has my vote this November but can't for the life of me find anything but fear and anger at the so-called McCain/ Palin ticket.

You have a great day!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

slipthalo — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:56:25 GMT

To Indiana Meg:

Thanks for your words. I'm not sure how intelligent my meanderings are all the time but I don know I don't buy into Talking Points without investigating them - it appears that LoriW believes as she wants whether the facts are there or not.

I do take time to fully research (well as fully as time allows me to do) and don't say or type things I can't back up.

Never been on this site before but it seems as though LoriW has plenty of time to spend here when she could be doing research - but then, she might possibly have to take back some of what she says. I do know she likes to type a lot..... LOL

Well, have to go - lunch break is over and I have work to get done. If I can, I'll get on again this evening but have a middle school football game to attend for my grandson before I even get home for the day.

You take care and have a pleasant one! Slipt

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

vicenteduq — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:02:08 GMT

What is the History of Indiana during the 19 century ???

Last Month the Confederacy was for McCain.

Now the Confederate States Virginia and North Carolina may defect to the Union States.

I do not know if Florida fought during the Civil War. But is is a "weird" state, detaching from the South.

Missouri should have been in the Confederates during the Civil War. I guess. But it is abandoning McCain.

Abraham Lincoln was the Republican Candidate. Reversal of the Earth's Poles ???

****************************************

I have a Blog on Young Voters, Race and Demographics :

http://milenials.blogspot.com/

Vicente Duque

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

DaveWK — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:23:27 GMT

As a former Hoosier, I fervently hope so. If Hoosiers vote their interests--in lower taxes for all but those with incomes above $250,000, in a more sound fiscal and economic policy, in better stewardship of the environment, in restoring our tarnished international relations, and in calm and intelligent political leadership (as opposed to the rash and impulsive decisionmaking we are witnessing now and could continue to expect from McCain), the they will make history this year.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Zoolie — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:04:09 GMT

That's what we're hoping to do!!!!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

willnotvoteobama — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:29:13 GMT

Biden voted in 1999 for deregulation that liberal groups are blaming for part of the financial crisis. The law allowed Wall Street investment banks to create the kind of mortgage-related securities at the core of the problem now.

Biden Said McCain supports tax breaks for oil companies, and "wants to give them another $4 billion tax cut."

Biden is repeating a favorite saw of the Obama campaign, and it's misleading. McCain supports a cut in income taxes for all corporations, and doesn't single out any one industry for that benefit.

During the debate, Biden said, "Oh, on clean coal. My record, just take a look at the record! My record for 25 years has supported clean coal technology.”.... However, during an early campaign stop once he was announced as VP Candidate, Biden said, "No coal plants here in America. If they’re going to build them, over there [China]. Make them clean. We’re not supporting clean coal.”. One of the most upsetting lines last night in the debate was Biden's attempt to say that he didn't know he was voting on a War resolution? I'm sorry but someone who has been in the Senate since Nixon didn't know he was voting on a War resolution when he voted on the Iraq War! Let me ask you people does he think we are stupid? Or is he just stupid? Either way if a seasoned senator doesn't know when he's voting on a war resolution we have bigger problems in Washington then we know! And we certainly do not need a VP like that sitting with an inexperienced president! If you think things are unstable now wait and see what will happen if God Forbid Obama and Biden get to the White House… Sarah Palin did great last night. She was able to manipulate the debate by bringing the talking points back to the issues that she wanted to talk about to the American people! McCain / Palin will be a breath of fresh air for this country and will make a great president and vice president. The age of Obama will end November 4th

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

hoosier08 — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:55:51 GMT

loriw:

If you've lived in Indiana for 27 years, you need to WAKE UP. This WAS a heavy manufacturing state before Mitch Daniels took office. The new jobs he is bringing in pay about half or sometimes a third as much as the jobs that have left. For example, someone who was formerly employed at Guide, Inc. in Anderson who has lost his or her job in the past four years would have to get two of Governor Daniels' new jobs to regain the same level of income. I don't need a website to back that evidence up - my family is living it, and that's all the evidence I need. Also, on the issue of improving the CPS system, I commend Governor Daniels for his hard work. And I'm glad to know that you are capable of reciting all of his campaign ads. How is that Kool-Aid, anyway?

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

mike6055l — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:41:47 GMT

mccaint voted in1999 for the SAME deregulation. you know why the repubs are afraid of obama-biden becides the FACT he is going to kick their racist nazi regime's a$$ out-away from the hog trough- for 8 long years, they don't want all their special loopholes closed. you know how this me first-the rest of you can crawl under the table for the scraps gov has pillaged the middle class for the last 8 years- unless your brain dead or one of the privelaged fasicists i would think you would want a real change

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

ApolloKnowsAll — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:51:10 GMT

It's amazing to see liberal feminists dismiss Gov. Palin. Wow. She will be a wonderful Veep!

As for Obama, even England's PM knows that he is an uber-leftist who plans on sitting down with Iran without any preconditions.

Obama is untested and dangerous.

Obama's only legislative experience is in setting aside earmarks like the $100+ million for Tony Rezko, gobs more for Rev. Wright and one Million Dollars for his wife's boss (Michelle then got a nice $195,000 pay increase...wow!)

Obama's executive experience? NONE. NADA RIEN ZEEERRRRROOOO.

The White House is not the place for on the job training.

I don't want a motivational speaker (who attended a racist church for his entire adult life) as President.

God Bless America! Rev. Wright is WRONG!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

nellie's mom — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:19:07 GMT

First of all, it doesn't take a racist to point out that fact that you'd be a little more believable if you could actually spell and use correct grammer. Apparently a victim of the "Pre-No child left behind" bill. Second, Mr.Obama has greased his palm with the money from the criminals behind the Freddie/Fannie mess and so have the majority of his Dem cronies. How on earth could we possibly trust him to handle the finances of this country:? And I've heard the phrase.."are you better off in the past 8 years than before".. and thank you, Yes. We played by the rules and payed our bills on time and payed off our mortgage and now a bunch of screw offs will get a free ride. If you can't read the contract you're signing and understand what it says, DON'T SIGN. We pay 30% in taxes. Gladly, to live in this wonderful country. I think the fear that libs feel at the thought of Sarah Palin becomming VP doesn't begin to compare with the fear that I feel with the thought of Obama being elected. I'm from Indiana and God Bless Mike Pence for standing his ground and voting against the FailOut. I just wish that Barney and Chris Dodd and Obama and the rest of the crooks who got a nice payoff from Freddie/Fannie would have the gonads to admit it and offer to pay it back. Then I might have the slightest respect for them. But we all know that won't happen.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

asclepious — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:02:05 GMT

The handwriting is beginning to appear on the wall & McSame is starting to self-destruct!

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

PulSamsara — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:23:37 GMT

Why would America REWARD complete Republican failure ?

We wont.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Ryno — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 23:24:34 GMT

nellie's mom: If you're going to disparage someone's grammar use, could you at least spell "grammar" correctly?

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

willnotvoteobama — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:44:44 GMT

DEAR MR. OBAMA,

I am that segment of America you all currently call Main Street. I am as Middle America as middle gets. I have much more than blue collar roots. Well at least you could see Dad’s blue collar, rest his black lung racked soul, when he shook the coal dust out of it. I also did some time on the factory floor in Chicago before enlisting in the Army. There was no community organizer pretending to look out for me.

Life is not always easy out here where people live a real life, but most of us wouldn’t trade it for anything else that the rest of the world, including the alternate universes you live in, has to offer us. Your universe? That is where the basic principles of honor and morality were discarded long ago replaced by self-adulation. You lie to one another; you lie to us and worst of all you, with relative ease, you can look at your image in the mirror and lie to yourselves - all for the sake of political power, some self-perceived prestige or some utopian ideology that history has repeatedly proven a failure.

I am not the Joe Six-pack you envision. I know you better than you know yourselves and that of course will ultimately lead to your end. For us intellectually deficient out here that name just calls up an image of someone who is quite average, but I know what you see when you use it. That term of elitist endearment gives you an image of some pot bellied guy, wandering out of the liquor store with a 12 pack of beer, lottery tickets and half his butt crack sticking out from his jeans. Mr. Six-pack is your guy. He didn’t work today or most days because you extended his unemployment insurance. Your bus will pick him up on Election Day and you will give him a carton of smokes, promises of more of my money and maybe even a mortgage he can’t pay back for his vote. I don’t know what other images you get in your mind whenever you refer to me and the many millions like me who happen to populate this great land with one of those expressions you use to demonstrate just how in touch with us you really are. Your actions lead me to believe that you see a pathetic imbecile that cannot survive without your grand intervention, a collection of bitter, uneducated people clinging to guns and Bibles.

Maybe I should offer you another image. I go to work every day. I provide goods and services that people want and need. I get grease and dirt beneath my fingernails turning the wrenches that keep our great and free country chugging steadily along. I serve in the Police Departments, Fire Departments and Armed Forces of my country. I do many other necessary jobs that are probably well beneath your oversized egos and those prestigious educations of which you are so proud. I pay taxes. You waste them. I pay your salary by reading what you write; watching the movies you make and tuning in to the nightly propaganda productions you call objective journalism. If I contributed as little to my country materially and socially as you do, I could not earn a living out here in the real America. Neither could you. Your product, your Washington Speak and Hollywood nonsense have become quite stale. Imagine a place where a Barbara Walters enabled Whoopi Goldberg can call someone else stupid and you have the center of your universe.

In the past few weeks, we have come to know you even better. You have always tried to use class warfare to gain political power. Always pretending that you actually give a rat’s ass about Joe Six-pack living on Main Street, Middle America. No, Joe and everyone representative of Joe are just stage props for you. When you take off the tie, roll up your shirt sleeves being careful to not drop the cuff links, and walk the rope line talking pap about how deeply you feel Joe’s pain, it does not convince anyone that you are like us. When you media types, Hollywood nitwits, Beltway pundits and bandits dedicate all of your time trying to convince yourselves that the only way one from our working class could ever enter the Whitehouse is on a tour or with the janitorial crew then you have the class war you have always sought.

We’ll see you on Election Day.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/JDPendry?a=6zC2mhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/JDPendry?a=6zC2m

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

willnotvoteobama — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:11:31 GMT

What if Barack Obama's most important radical connection has been hiding in plain sight all along? Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), the largest radical group in America. If I told you Obama had close ties with MoveOn.org or Code Pink, you'd know what I was talking about. Acorn is at least as radical as these better-known groups, arguably more so. Yet because Acorn works locally, in carefully selected urban areas, its national profile is lower. Acorn likes it that way. And so, I'd wager, does Barack Obama.

This is a story we've largely missed. While Obama's Acorn connection has not gone entirely unreported, its depth, extent, and significance have been poorly understood. Typically, media background pieces note that, on behalf of Acorn, Obama and a team of Chicago attorneys won a 1995 suit forcing the state of Illinois to implement the federal "motor-voter" bill. In fact, Obama's Acorn connection is far more extensive. In the few stories where Obama's role as an Acorn "leadership trainer" is noted, or his seats on the boards of foundations that may have supported Acorn are discussed, there is little follow-up. Even these more extensive reports miss many aspects of Obama's ties to Acorn.

An Anti-Capitalism Agenda

To understand the nature and extent of Acorn's radicalism, an excellent place to begin is Sol Stern's 2003 City Journal article, "ACORN's Nutty Regime for Cities." (For a shorter but helpful piece, try Steven Malanga's "Acorn Squash.")

Sol Stern explains that Acorn is the key modern successor of the radical 1960's "New Left," with a "1960's-bred agenda of anti-capitalism" to match. Acorn, says Stern, grew out of "one of the New Left's silliest and most destructive groups, the National Welfare Rights Organization." In the 1960's, NWRO launched a campaign of sit-ins and disruptions at welfare offices. The goal was to remove eligibility restrictions, and thus effectively flood welfare rolls with so many clients that the system would burst. The theory, explains Stern, was that an impossibly overburdened welfare system would force "a radical reconstruction of America's unjust capitalist economy." Instead of a socialist utopia, however, we got the culture of dependency and family breakdown that ate away at America's inner cities - until welfare reform began to turn the tide.

While Acorn holds to NWRO's radical economic framework and its confrontational 1960's-style tactics, the targets and strategy have changed. Acorn prefers to fly under the national radar, organizing locally in liberal urban areas - where, Stern observes, local legislators and reporters are often "slow to grasp how radical Acorn's positions really are." Acorn's new goals are municipal "living wage" laws targeting "big-box" stores like Wal-Mart, rolling back welfare reform, and regulating banks - efforts styled as combating "predatory lending." Unfortunately, instead of helping workers, Acorn's living-wage campaigns drive businesses out of the very neighborhoods where jobs are needed most. Acorn's opposition to welfare reform only threatens to worsen the self-reinforcing cycle of urban poverty and family breakdown. Perhaps most mischievously, says Stern, Acorn uses banking regulations to pressure financial institutions into massive "donations" that it uses to finance supposedly non-partisan voter turn-out drives.

According to Stern, Acorn's radical agenda sometimes shifts toward "undisguised authoritarian socialism." Fully aware of its living-wage campaign's tendency to drive businesses out of cities, Acorn hopes to force companies that want to move to obtain "exit visas." "How much longer before Acorn calls for exit visas for wealthy or middle-class individuals before they can leave a city?" asks Stern, adding, "This is the road to serfdom indeed."

In Your Face

Acorn's tactics are famously "in your face." Just think of Code Pink's well-known operations (threatening to occupy congressional offices, interrupting the testimony of General David Petraeus) and you'll get the idea. Acorn protesters have disrupted Federal Reserve hearings, but mostly deploy their aggressive tactics locally. Chicago is home to one of its strongest chapters, and Acorn has burst into a closed city council meeting there. Acorn protestors in Baltimore disrupted a bankers' dinner and sent four busloads of profanity-screaming protestors against the mayor's home, terrifying his wife and kids. Even a Baltimore city council member who generally supports Acorn said their intimidation tactics had crossed the line.

Acorn, however, defiantly touts its confrontational tactics. While Stern himself notes this, the point is driven home sharper still in an Acorn-friendly reply to Stern entitled "Enraging the Right." Written by academic/activists John Atlas and Peter Dreier, the reply's avowed intent is to convince Acorn-friendly politicians, journalists, and funders not to desert the organization in the wake of Stern's powerful critique. The stunning thing about this supposed rebuttal is that it confirms nearly everything Stern says. Do Atlas and Dreier object to Stern's characterizations of Acorn's radical plans - even his slippery-slope warnings about Acorn's designs on basic freedom of movement? Nope. "Stern accurately outlines Acorn's agenda," they say.

Do Atlas and Dreier dismiss Stern's catalogue of Acorn's disruptive and intentionally intimidating tactics as a set of regrettable exceptions to Acorn's rule of civility? Not a chance. Atlas and Dreier are at pains to point out that intimidation works. They proudly reel off the increased memberships that follow in the wake of high-profile disruptions, and clearly imply that the same public officials who object most vociferously to intimidation are the ones most likely to cave as a result. What really upsets Atlas and Dreier is that Stern misses the subtle national hand directing Acorn's various local campaigns. This is radicalism unashamed.

But don't let the disruptive tactics fool you. Acorn is a savvy and exceedingly effective political player. Stern says that Acorn's key post-New Left innovation is its determination to take over the system from within, rather than futilely try to overthrow it from without. Stern calls this strategy a political version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Take Atlas and Dreier at their word: Acorn has an openly aggressive and intimidating side, but a sophisticated inside game, as well. Chicago's Acorn leader, for example, won a seat on the Board of Aldermen as the candidate of a leftist "New Party."

Obama Meets Acorn

What has Barack Obama got to do with all this? Plenty. Let's begin with Obama's pre-law school days as a community organizer in Chicago. Few people have a clear idea of just what a "community organizer" does. A Los Angeles Times piece on Obama's early Chicago days opens with the touching story of his efforts to build a partnership with Chicago's "Friends of the Parks," so that parents in a blighted neighborhood could have an inviting spot for their kids to play. This is the image of Obama's organizing we're supposed to hold. It's far from the whole story, however. As the L. A. Times puts it, "Obama's task was to help far South Side residents press for improvement" in their communities. Part of Obama's work, it would appear, was to organize demonstrations, much in the mold of radical groups like Acorn.

Although the L. A. Times piece is generally positive, it does press Obama's organizing tales on certain points. Some claim that Obama's book, Dreams from My Father, exaggerates his accomplishments in spearheading an asbestos cleanup at a low-income housing project. Obama, these critics say, denies due credit to Hazel Johnson, an activist who claims she was the one who actually discovered the asbestos problem and led the efforts to resolve it. Read carefully, the L. A. Times story leans toward confirming this complaint against Obama, yet the story's emphasis is to affirm Obama's important role in the battle. Speaking up in defense of Obama on the asbestos issue is Madeleine Talbot, who at the time was a leader at Chicago Acorn. Talbot, we learn, was so impressed by Obama's organizing skills that she invited him to help train her own staff.

And what exactly was Talbot's work with Acorn? Talbot turns out to have been a key leader of that attempt by Acorn to storm the Chicago City Council (during a living-wage debate). While Sol Stern mentions this story in passing, the details are worth a look: On July 31, 1997, six people were arrested as 200 Acorn protesters tried to storm the Chicago City Council session. According to the Chicago Daily Herald, Acorn demonstrators pushed over the metal detector and table used to screen visitors, backed police against the doors to the council chamber, and blocked late-arriving aldermen and city staff from entering the session.

Reading the Herald article, you might think Acorn's demonstrators had simply lost patience after being denied entry to the gallery at a packed meeting. Yet the full story points in a different direction. This was not an overreaction by frustrated followers who couldn't get into a meeting (there were plenty of protestors already in the gallery), but almost certainly a deliberate bit of what radicals call "direct action," orchestrated by Acorn's Madeleine Talbot. As Talbot was led away handcuffed, charged with mob action and disorderly conduct, she explicitly justified her actions in storming the meeting. This was the woman who first drew Obama into his alliance with Acorn, and whose staff Obama helped train.

Surprise Visit

Does that mean Obama himself schooled Acorn volunteers in disruptive "direct action?" Not necessarily. The City Council storming took place in 1997, years after Obama's early organizing days. And in general, Obama seems to have been part of Acorn's "inside baseball" strategy. As a national star from his law school days, Obama knew he had a political future, and would surely have been reluctant to violate the law. In his early organizing days, Obama used to tell the residents he organized that they'd be more effective in their protests if they controlled their anger. On the other hand, as he established and deepened his association with Acorn through the years, Obama had to know what the organization was all about. Moreover, in his early days, Obama was not exactly a stranger to the "direct action" side of community organizing.

Consider the second charge against Obama raised by the L.A. Times backgrounder. On the stump today, Obama often says he helped prevent South Side Chicago blacks, Latinos, and whites from turning on each other after losing their jobs, but many of the community organizers interviewed by the L. A. Times say that Obama worked overwhelmingly with blacks.

To rebut this charge, Obama's organizer friends tell the story of how he helped plan "actions" that included mixed white, black, and Latino groups. For example, following Obama's plan, one such group paid a "surprise visit" to a meeting between local officials considering a landfill expansion. The protestors surrounded the meeting table while one activist made a statement chiding the officials, after which the protestors filed out. Presto! Obama is immunized from charges of having worked exclusively with blacks - but at the cost of granting us a peek at the not-so-warm-and-fuzzy side of his community organizing. Intimidation tactics are revealed, and Obama's alliance with radical Acorn activists like Madeleine Talbot begins to make sense.

"Non-Partisan"

The extent of Obama's ties to Acorn has not been recognized. We find some important details in an article in the journal Social Policy entitled, "Case Study: Chicago - The Barack Obama Campaign," by Toni Foulkes, a Chicago Acorn leader and a member of Acorn's National Association Board. The odd thing about this article is that Foulkes is forced to protect the technically "non-partisan" status of Acorn's get-out-the-vote campaigns, even as he does everything in his power to give Acorn credit for helping its favorite son win the critical 2004 primary that secured Obama the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate.

Before giving us a tour of Acorn's pro-Obama but somehow "non-partisan" election activities, Foulks treats us to a brief history of Obama's ties to Acorn. While most press accounts imply that Obama just happened to be at the sort of public-interest law firm that would take Acorn's "motor voter" case, Foulkes claims that Acorn specifically sought out Obama's representation in the motor voter case, remembering Obama from the days when he worked with Talbot. And while many reports speak of Obama's post-law school role organizing "Project VOTE" in 1992, Foulkes makes it clear that this project was undertaken in direct partnership with Acorn. Foulkes then stresses Obama's yearly service as a key figure in Acorn's leadership-training seminars.

At least a few news reports have briefly mentioned Obama's role in training Acorn's leaders, but none that I know of have said what Foulkes reports next: that Obama's long service with Acorn led many members to serve as the volunteer shock troops of Obama's early political campaigns - his initial 1996 State Senate campaign, and his failed bid for Congress in 2000 (Foulkes confuses the dates of these two campaigns.) With Obama having personally helped train a new cadre of Chicago Acorn leaders, by the time of Obama's 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, Obama and Acorn were "old friends," says Foulkes.

So along with the reservoir of political support that came to Obama through his close ties with Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, and other Chicago black churches, Chicago Acorn appears to have played a major role in Obama's political advance. Sure enough, a bit of digging into Obama's years in the Illinois State Senate indicates strong concern with Acorn's signature issues, as well as meetings with Acorn and the introduction by Obama of Acorn-friendly legislation on the living wage and banking practices. You begin to wonder whether, in his Springfield days, Obama might have best been characterized as "the Senator from Acorn."

Foundation Money

Although it's been noted in an important story by John Fund, and in a long Obama background piece in the New York Times, more attention needs to be paid to possible links between Obama and Acorn during the period of Obama's service on the boards of two charitable foundations, the Woods Fund and the Joyce Foundation.

According to the New York Times, Obama's memberships on those foundation boards, "allowed him to help direct tens of millions of dollars in grants" to various liberal organizations, including Chicago Acorn, "whose endorsement Obama sought and won in his State Senate race." As best as I can tell (and this needs to be checked out more fully), Acorn maintains both political and "non-partisan" arms. Obama not only sought and received the endorsement of Acorn's political arm in his local campaigns, he recently accepted Acorn's endorsement for the presidency, in pursuit of which he reminded Acorn officials of his long-standing ties to the group.

Supposedly, Acorn's political arm is segregated from its "non-partisan" registration and get-out-the-vote efforts, but after reading Foulkes' case study, this non-partisanship is exceedingly difficult to discern. As I understand, it would be illegal for Obama to sit on a foundation board and direct money to an organization that openly served as his key get-out-the-vote volunteers on Election Day. I'm not saying Obama crossed a legal line here: Based on Foulkes' account, Acorn's get-out-the-vote drive most likely observed the technicalities of "non-partisanship."

Nevertheless, the possibilities suggested by a combined reading of the New York Times piece and the Foulkes article are disturbing. While keeping within the technicalities of the law, Obama may have been able to direct substantial foundation money to his organized political supporters. I offer no settled conclusion, but the matter certainly warrants further investigation and discussion. Obama is supposed to be the man who transcends partisanship. Has he instead used his post at an allegedly non-partisan foundation to direct money to a supposedly non-partisan group, in pursuit of what are in fact nakedly partisan and personal ends? I have no final answer, but the question needs to be pursued further.

In fact, the broader set of practices by which activist groups pursue intensely partisan ends under the guise of non-partisanship merits further scrutiny. Consider the 2006 report by Jonathan Bechtle, "Voter Turnout or Voter Fraud?" which includes a discussion of the nexus between Project Vote and Acorn, a nexus where Obama himself once resided. According to Bechtle, "It's clear that groups that claimed to be nonpartisan wanted a partisan outcome," and reading Foulkes's case study of Acorn's role in Obama's U.S. Senate campaign, one can't help but agree.

Radical Obama

Important as these questions of funding and partisanship are, the larger point is that Obama's ties to Acorn - arguably the most politically radical large-scale activist group in the country - are wide, deep, and longstanding. If Acorn is adept at creating a non-partisan, inside-game veneer for what is in fact an intensely radical, leftist, and politically partisan reality, so is Obama himself. This is hardly a coincidence: Obama helped train Acorn's leaders in how to play this game. For the most part, Obama seems to have favored the political-insider strategy, yet it's clear that he knew how to play the in-your-face "direct action" game as well. And surely during his many years of close association with Acorn, Obama had to know what the group was all about.

The shame of it is that when the L. A. Times returned to Obama's stomping grounds, it found the park he'd helped renovate reclaimed by drug dealers and thugs. The community organizer strategy may generate feel-good moments and best-selling books, but I suspect a Wal-Mart as the seed-bed of a larger shopping complex would have done far more to save the neighborhood where Obama worked to organize in the "progressive" fashion. Unfortunately, Obama's Acorn cronies have blocked that solution.

In any case, if you're looking for the piece of the puzzle that confirms and explains Obama's network of radical ties, gather your Acorns this spring. Or next winter, you may just be left watching the "President from Acorn" at his feast.

By Stanley Kurtz

National Review Online

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

nellie's mom — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:27:18 GMT

Ryno - I am completely mortified and will control myself from now on and stay off the computer after the 3rd beer on Friday night!! You have rightly put me in my place. The message was genuine, but obviously lost a bit of the bite with my blunder. I'm guessing my target didn't catch it tho'. But you are right and I am wrong. Don't you love a woman who can admit when she's wrong? Have a great day.

re: Could Indiana Go Blue?

Bubzee1 — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:00:29 GMT

I live in Indiana and couldnt fathem the thought of John Mccain winning this election ,My Vote is for Obama , John Mcain is grabbing for straws as he slippies to a new low with his mudslinging Campaign , And not talking about the real issues , and to think Sara Palin as a heart beat away from that position ! Scare .I think John Mccain is footsteps from sanility most soilders that have suffered from wars and have been held captive have a greater Chance of looseing it mentily, and giving his short fuse we could be heading for a great disaster , I am Voting Obama