What is it about Sarah Palin that has the McCain camp running scared?  The election has been over less than a week and we have anonymous leaks from staffers throwing Governor Palin under the Straight Talk Express tour bus.

Where is Senator McCain?  The same McCain that chastised his supporters for shouts in rallies that might hurt the sensibilites of the Obama camp.  Strangely, he says nothing.  No, he’s back in Washington hangin’ with his peeps sitting in the aisle between the Republicans and Democrats.

I watched The O’Reilly Factor last night, and Bill said something that really hit home with me.  He mentioned the fact that as soon as Sarah was announced, every news organ in the country headed North to Alaska, they went North to find some dirt.  With all of their resources and money, they came up empty, there wasn’t any dirt to find.  And now, we are to believe stories from someone who won’t even give us his (her) name?  Let’s get real shall we?

Sarah Palin was the only conservative voice in the entire campaign.  It was her conservatism that energized the Republican base.  I know that I was disgusted with the Republican choice of McCain, and had made up my mind to vote my conscience and cast my vote for Bob Barr.  I knew he had no chance of winning the national election, but he came closer to my ideals than McCain did.  It was Sarah Palin that changed my mind.  Her speech when she was announced as McCain’s running mate sold me.  I heard and watched a woman come out on stage and deliver a tremendous speech that truly seemed to come from the heart, and reminded me of Ronald Reagan, not only in delivery, but in content.  Here was the new voice of conservatism.

This whole thing reeks of politics as usual in Washington.  No one liked the way Obama supporters and the media went after Joe the Plumber with a vengence.  Here is the Republican nominee for Vice President being attacked by a coward who won’t even identify him/herself who was a staff member.  Don’t worry so much about vetting the candidates, worry about vetting the staffers.

I hope this doesn’t sour Sarah Palin.  I know that this is one reason why it will take a lot of convincing to get me behind anything that goes on in Washington.  Sarah, Bill O’Reilly has offered you 30 minutes on Monday night’s program to tell your side of all this.  I, for one, hope you will take him up on it and at least let us hear your take on this whole experience.

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion

Michael Scherer of Swampland quotes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as saying “…Democrats believe in the free market, which can and does create jobs, wealth, and capital, but left to its own devices it has created chaos. …” Pardon me Madam Speaker, but isn’t that a contradiction in terms? How can the Democrats believe in something that, according to you, creates chaos when left to its own devices? A free market is just that, free. It is when you try to control it that it creates chaos.

Try keeping your nose out of things you do not understand, and maybe they will work the way they are supposed to. You have no idea what a free market will do, because you never have left it alone to be free. When you take the risk out of the market, it is certainly not free. Markets involve risk.

We will take our lumps, thanks to Clinton’s policies designed to force banks to lend to people who were unqualified in order for the Democrats to get credit for putting everyone in a house, whether or not they could afford it. Hopefully, enough of the citizenry has seen what the liberal left can accomplish, and will boot the rascals out!

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion.

Okay, what is going on with this bozo? In his Memorial Day speech, Senator Barack Hussein Obama made reference to an “unbroken line of fallen heros.” I am not sure I quite understand what he meant by that. Are all of our heros fallen? But the big question that comes to my mind stems from what he said to end the above phrase, “,many of whom I see here today.” If he doesn’t win the election, maybe he should go to work for the Travel Channel on their Ghosthunters program.

A candidate who doesn’t know how many states we have, one who sees the ghosts of fallen heros, and one who doesn’t know what Memorial day is? I just don’t know if he has any business working in the Senate, much less the White House.

And the press say that George Bush can’t talk. sheeesh!

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion.

I have to admit that I had forgotten about it. I ran across it while channel surfing on Sunday.  What was it I had forgotten?  Oh, that this was the weekend for the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

C-Span was covering it live.  I settled in to watch and was very impressed with what I saw.  Having always thought of myself as a Republican, this year in Politics has caused me to rethink my loyalties.  I took the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz,” and was somewhat surprised that it put me squarely in the Libertarian quadrangle.  I say somewhat because the quiz is on a Libertarian site.

All that aside, the more I looked at what Libertarians stood for, the more I liked what I saw.  This is not meant to be a commercial for Libertarians, but I did want to share my path and this pilgrim’s progress.

I tuned in just in time for the 3rd round of balloting and got to see the various candidates speak and interact with delegates at the convention.  One thing that really impressed me about most of the candidates and speakers was their commitment to their overarching commonality and the goals of the Libertarian party in general.  The one exception that I saw was that of candidate Mary Ruwart, who seemed very bitter towards Bob Barr.  Since they were in a dead heat, it came out vividly, in my view, when she conceded the nomination.

In her concession, she never mentioned Bob Barr to whom she had just lost, she never mentioned the coming days till the November General Election. It was all about her, her staff and supporters, as she vowed to fight on.  This viewer was left wondering a little bit whether she was going to break out of the Libertarian Party and start a new Party, maybe the Bitter Clinger Party, as she seemed bitter enough and certainly seemed to be clinging to her presidential bid.

I had to leave before the Vice Presidential candidate was selected, however, it was Wayne Allyn Root as expected as he was number three in the delegate vote count and threw his support to a Barr – Root ticket at the end of the fifth round of balloting.  You can read more here.

Oh, back to what I was saying earlier; I was aligned with the Republican Party, however that party has made a sharp left turn and abandoned the principals of conservatism and small government that drew me to it in the first place.  And this year, I am not voting for the candidate the polls say is the front runner, or the one popular opinion says has a chance to win.  This year, I am voting my conscience and who I think will do the best job for this country that I love.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion.

P.S. Barr-Root in ’08

Wait just a minute Senator Obama, wasn’t it your wife who was telling the American People that in order for anyone to get a slice of the pie someone was going to have to give up their piece? Yet, you tell everyone in North Carolina yesterday that we can all have our piece of the American Dream. Why not quit pandering and start being honest with America?

But that would not befit the most liberal Senator in Washington, now would it? We all have to remember that there is no way to spell Liberal without L I E. It’s crazy uncle Jeremiah again isn’t it? He’s just like a crazy uncle, you don’t agree with him, but he is family. When it became politically expedient to do so, you threw him under the bus, probably to scare your white grandmother who you threw under there a few weeks back.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion.

I’m probably way out of line here, but it seems to me that one of the requirements for being the President of the United States would be a love of country.  You shouldn’t even want the job if you aren’t a patriot.  That is just one of the things that scares me about Barack Hussein Obama and his run for the Presidency.

Right or wrong, it all started with him not putting his hand over his heart during our National Anthem.  Growing up and as an adult at ball games, rodeos, races or whatever function I have been to where the National Anthem was sung, I have always stood at attention and placed my hand on my heart.  If I was wearing a hat, I took it off and placed it over the heart.  It is a symbolic statement of respect and reverence for our flag.  Not the flag only, but everything the flag stands for, and the blood that has been shed to protect it over the years. 

Now, in all honesty, the freedoms granted to us by our Constitution allows us the choice of honoring the flag or not as we see fit, and no one can force anyone to salute the flag.  It was the very blood shed to protect the flag that pays for our right to ignore it if we desire, but I still feel that one of the requirements of the job of President is to show honor and reverence to the flag and Constitution.

Without love of country, what motivates someone to run for the highest office in the land?  Is it power? Status? Ego? None of these qualify anyone to be President.  I want a man who loves his country so much that he is willing to lay down his life for it.  One who will work tirelessly to ensure that no harm comes to it under his watch.  Someone who will read the Constitution and realize that it is only our power he wields, and realizes what a sacred trust he has undertaken.

Twenty years under the tutelage of Jeremiah  Wright’s sermons damning the USKKK of A.  A wife who evidently believes this whole pile of crap that Wright has been spewing, who is finally proud of her country.  These don’t give me much confidence that Barack Obama is the man who needs to be President.

But, that’s My Arrogant Opinion.

I was leery of John McCain from the beginning. I was actually looking forward to voting for Duncan Hunter, but he dropped out of the race before I had a chance. I thought about becoming a Fred Head, but alas, he didn’t make it either. I ended up voting for Mitt, just a few days before he dropped as well. Right now, with my track record of every candidate I have gotten behind falling out of the race, I am thinking of supporting whoever becomes the Democratic Nominee. I am curious whether or not my support is actually detrimental to a candidate.

My blood runs cold at the thought of any of our present choices becoming the President. Both Hillary and Obama have openly stated that they want to turn our country into a Socialist Paradise starting with Nationalized Health Care and then moving on to stripping the profits (and incentives to produce) from our oil companies. Obviously the schools they attended didn’t have economics as a part of the curriculum.

What choices does that leave us with? Ron Paul? I am all about getting rid of the IRS and getting back to a smaller government which actually looks at the Constitution to see what it is supposed to do, but I think his chances are about as slim as a snowball in Global Warming. He also scares me with his ideas about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is just too much, too quick, our country is not ready for that amount of change in one big step.

Where does that leave us? John McCain, War Hero. The only thing I like about McCain is his stand on the war. But you have to wonder about him. War is a dirty business, and there are things done there that you really don’t want discussed in the parlor over tea. I can understand his personal position on torture and Gitmo, but I think that it is wrong to tell our enemies what we will or will not do, what lines we are willing to cross, and those we won’t, but if our Nation’s security is at risk, we should have the freedom to cross those lines if needed.

What about the price of gasoline? All three of the main candidates have proposed their solution for the high price of gas at the pump. The problem is, they are just pandering to the voters. They don’t have a solution. At most, they have a plan for very short term relief for a problem that has far reaching implications. We need to get out of the way and let our country do what our country does best, and that is, find a solution.

Stop this talk about confiscating profits. Stop trying to regulate every aspect of our lives. Give us the freedom to think and experiment. We will never find a solution to any problem when the government has us so tied up and regulated with petty rules that every time we try to do something we trip over the red tape.

Open up our oil fields to exploration. We have technology to drill without destroying the countryside now, let’s use it! John McCain said on the Glenn Beck Radio Program last week that he would as soon drill for oil in the Grand Canyon as to drill ANWR. I agree with Glenn’s commentary on his statement that he was all for it as well, if there was oil in the canyon. Of course, that is a gross example, but we have oil reserves in this country, we have huge coal reserves, we have some of the best scientific minds in the world here and the best facilities. LET US USE OUR OWN RESOURCES!

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion.

It may just be me, but it seems like this is the first election cycle where the candidate is telling the media what the public is tired of hearing about. Barry and Michelle Obama keep trying to tell the media that the public is tired of hearing about Jeremiah Wright, and is ready to move on to something of substance.

Wouldn’t that be like me telling the Judge that the Jury was tired of hearing about my character when I was on trial for poor judgment? I’m sorry there Senator, but I don’t believe that is your call to make. In a free market, when the public gets tired of hearing about it and gets through discussing it, the media will stop covering it and asking you about it because at that point, supply starts to exceed demand. (I just threw in the mini economics lesson for free)

Senator, your character is most definitely in question. Your judgment seems to be flawed. Before you are elected to the highest and most powerful office in the world, we would like to know what your major malfunctions are! Looking good on camera, and being able to read a teleprompter do not make you qualified to lead this country. You don’t even have the right stuff to hire the people with the right stuff, or you wouldn’t be in the midst of all this questioning in the first place.

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion.

Maybe I am just noticing things now more than in years past, but there are some things that just absolutely cause my hair to stand on end when I hear them these days. I was driving to work this morning when an ad came on the radio for a politician running for office in Mississippi. They were pointing out the candidate was a born again Christian and knew how God took care of us. Well, so far so good. I am a born again Christian and I too believe that God takes care of us, maybe they should have left it alone right there, but not today. They went on to say how this wonderful candidate knew that government needed to take care of our needs as well.

That is when I came to the realization that screaming at the radio doesn’t seem to do any good at all. Where does anyone get the idea that the job of government is to take care of us? THEY WORK FOR US! They are not our parents or guardians, we tell them what to do. It is not their position to take care of us!

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion.

My Momma told me that stupid is as stupid does. How is it possible for Barack Obama to distance himself from the label of being stupid? He is supposed to be a politician, a Senator from Illinois, yet he is too stupid to realize that Jeremiah Wright is or would become an albatross around his neck? Is it possible that he hired people who were so stupid as to not tell him that? Or would he just not listen?

That all beside the point, coming in to tell us that he sat there for 20 years without any of it sinking in is to call us stupid if we believe it. This is the man who introduced Barack to Christianity, he married Barack and Michelle, baptised their children, but no one ever noticed the hate pouring out of this man? Yeah, right. Not so much.

Barack is just entirely too stupid to be President.

But that is just My Arrogant Opinion.