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Dash of Pepper

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From lipstick to plungers
By SHEILAH PEPPER
The Gazette Staff
As I've been saying all year, I knew this would be a wild and crazy campaign season but I didn't really understand how truly crazed it would be.
First, Obama gets the nod at the Democrat convention, even though Hillary won the popular vote in their primaries.
Then Sarah Palin bursts on the scene and becomes an instant icon almost overnight. Soon after, the mainstream media does their best to destroy her character and her credibility. Thankfully, she doesn't play their game. She uses Ronald's Regan's method to rise above the din and speaking directly to the American people - and - she speaks their language not the elite gobbledygook fed to us from inside-the-beltway types.
Next, the bank/credit crisis blows up and Obama benefits - simply by being silent. Strange timing, huh? Personally, I think the bailout vote will affect the vote for congressional seats - and it may be a surprising result.
Then, along comes Joe the Plumber who, with one single question, gets Obama to do something the McCain campaign couldn't: He made an ill-fated comment about "spreading the wealth" (that is, his intent to redistribute wealth) which has allowed the McCain to go on the attack, terming their opponent a "socialist."
One inside-the-beltway commentator announced this wouldn't really hurt Obama because most people wouldn't know what socialist meant.
How arrogant. I believe most of us out here in flyover country know that socialism refers to the economic system used by the now-failed Soviet Union. It takes from the wealthy and gives to the less wealthy. We all know there are a couple of things wrong with that. One, the few wealthy, providing for the many less wealthy, rapidly run out of wealth or stop producing. Two, the system doesn't take into account the need to produce wealth and incentives to do so. THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT PRODUCE WEALTH - IT SIMPLY COLLECTS AND SPENDS. If socialism worked, the Soviet Union would intact, healthy and powerful today.
Joe the Plumber didn't seek Obama out. The Senator was in his neighborhood knocking on doors. But because he asked Obama one question, the mainstream press is busy trying to tear Joe's life and character apart. Luckily, Joe seems like a guy who can take it - but shouldn't have to.
I don't know how things will turn out next week - but I have observed some things that give me pause.
One - the polls are strange. Yes, I hear whispers about the Bradley Effect, but we may be a different country now than we were in the 80s. (The Bradley Effect is the term used to describe the effect of people lying to pollsters in a race between a back and a white politician. There was a California race years ago when the polls had the black man ahead by double digits and he ended up losing substantially.) But I keep asking myself why Sen. Obama isn't double-digits ahead in every poll right now. McCain seems to stay within two, three or four points of Obama.
Two - the stock market is strange. People blame this on the bank bailout and its costs. But I think largely the market has factored this in. Rather, I believe the market is very worried about the ELECTION. Anyway, we shall see.
Have you ever wondered if the market is being manipulated? I have. For one full week, it opened down, struggled upward through mid-morning, did very well in the afternoon, then, right on cue, about 3:35 Eastern Time, it would slide negative and close down. Very weird.
Then, via the internet, there is the effort to plant people at McCain/Palin rallies who say and do very nasty things. The mainstream media picks right up on this and gives it plenty of play. I don't think these creatures are Republicans or even from the Right. I think they've been paid and planted.
Meanwhile, also via the internet, people are reporting and taking pictures of people at Obama/Biden rallies - true supporters of that ticket who carry disgusting signs and hideous effigies. One anti-Palin sign I saw I can't describe in print. It consisted of four words. The first three words were "Palin is a ..." The fourth word is a four-letter word beginning with a "c" which is the most insulting and filthy word you can use to describe a woman. Is it any wonder people are becoming reluctant to run for public office?
Because there is a delay of about three days between the time I need to write this and the time it is printed, some things may have happened by the time you read it which will make some of my comments irrelevant. I hope not, but in any case, let not your heart be troubled.
One campaign is extremely confident. As of October 17th, they had formed a ‘transition team" headed by John Podesta. Podesta worked in the Clinton administration and now heads the Center for American Progress, a left-wing group funded by billionaire George Soros, no friend of America.
Others attached to the transition team have long associations with Soros-connected groups. The Obama campaign has also reserved a huge space in Chicago for a victory celebration. Shouldn't we have an election before the celebrations begin?
There's a saying in politics: "Never get confident unless you are running unopposed."
Maybe they'll lose the deposit on the ballroom.
Copyright©2008SheilahPepper
Last Updated on Friday, 12 June 2009 14:28  

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