Scoop’s Views

While you and I are sitting at home, enjoying all the creature comforts, American fighting men and women are in distant lands, including Afghanistan and Iraq, sweating their butts off, literally, while going on patrols, doing raids, and other duties, and their performance – or responses – could be the difference between life-and-death.

As for Sen. Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic presidential candidate who is doing a tour of specific areas in Afghanistan and Iraq, supposedly getting a first-hand look at the situation on the ground, things are much different. His environment will be hot, sandy, dirty, but secure, for the most part. Because Obama, like McCain and others during past trips, are members of Congress, the military will provide a shroud around the “dignitaries” – ensuring, to the best of their ability, the survival of the elected officials, even at the expense of service men and women.

Tags: 2008 presidential candidates, 82nd Airborne Division, airborne, armed conflict, Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Hussein Obama II, Barack Obama, barry o'bomber, body armor, desert fatigues, Ft. Bragg, G.I. Bill, Harvard University, heroes, infantry, infantry platoon leader, insurgents, John F. Kennedy School of Government, John McCain, LBE, load bearing equipment, McCain abortion, McCain for President, McCain issues, McCain potatoes, Obama for President, off-the-record, paratrooper, photo op, photo opportunities, publicity stunt, Purple Hearts, real heroes, rucksacks, security details, U.S. Army Rangers, United States Army, United States Military Academy at West Point, Vietnam, water, weapon and ammo, weapons qualification, West Point

MSNBC is reporting former Republican Sen. Phil Gramm is stepping down as co-chairman of Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign.

Tags: co-chairman, former Republican senator, John McCain, McCain for President, nation of whiners, Obama for President, Phil Gramm, Phil Gramm resignation, Phil Gramm resigns, presidential campaign, resignation

It seems Sen. Joe Lieberman (Independent-Connecticut) is firing up President George W. Bush’s dusty old propaganda machine used to make Americans worry more than necessary about a potential terror attack.

In the case of Lieberman, a guy who’s unsuccessfully sought a seat in the White House in the last two presidential elections (2000 and 2004), using fear tactics in hopes of boosting support for the candidate he is supporting on the November Presidential ballot: Sen. John McCain (Republican-Arizona).

Tags: 1960s, 9-11, 9/11, Arizona, attacks, Barack Obama, Capitol Hill, Cold War, Connecticut, cronies, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, dirty bombs, double-talkm, Dubya, forked-tongues, gas masks, George W. Bush, hip waders, Illinois, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, meals-ready-to-eat, MREs, nuclear annihilation, presidential campaigns, presidential elections, press conference, propaganda, propanda machine, protective masks, re-elected, rhetoric, senators, September 11 2001, terror, terrorists, Washington DC, White House

CNN has a story that caught my eye. It says the president vowed during an unscheduled news conference over the weekend to give his full salary to public welfare, helping the underprivileged.

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, children, Clinton, CNN, construction and engineering, Ed Rendell, elected officials, fire fighters, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Lee Myung-Bak, mayors, McCain, news conference, Obama, presidential campaigns, presidential election, presidential hopefuls, presidents, public office, public officials, public welfare, salaries, salary, senators, Seoul, South Korea, street cleaners, Tom Knox, underprivileged

McCain scored a point with me when he said that no emergency bailout should be made to the people who obtained these mortgages. His opponents, though, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have made comments in the recent past that some kind of “help” ought be made available to the people with these mortgages. My question to Clinton and Obama would be: “Why? Are you looking at rewarding bad and irresponsible behavior?”

Tags: airborne, allies, bad loans, bad mortgages, balloon payments, Barack Obama, Bear Stearns, Bill Clinton, candidates, Clinton, Colin Powell, combat veterans, doom and gloom, election 2008, emergency bailout, equity, financial institutions, foreign countries, George W. Bush, Green Berets, health care crisis, Henry Shelton, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, History, Hugh Shelton, impending disaster, Iraq, John McCain, Joint Chiefs of Staff, lending crisis, low interest rates, McCain, money, mortgage crisis, mortgage qualification, Obama, opponents, Peter Pace, positions, presidential campaign, respect, Secretary of State, solutions, Special Forces, special operations, speeches, Straight Talk, U.S. Army, U.S. Marines, White House

The New York Times revealed a big breakthrough in the 2008 presidential election on its Op-Ed pages last evening. The paper began reporting around 9:30 last evening that New York City’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, will not try to leave New York City, unlike his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani.

Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, armed forces, AWOL, Barack, Barack Obama, Bill of Rights, Campaigns, Constitution, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, John McCain, leaders, leadership, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Michael Bloomberg, Military, National Geographic, New York Times, Obama, Operation Eagle Claw, Osama, Oval Office, president, PT-109, Rudy Giuliani, sheeple, special operations, Tehran, Texas Air National Guard, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, Vietnam, World War II, WWII

A news alert from The New York Times came in two minutes ago announcing the U.S. Senate had just approved expansion of the federal government’s spy…

Tags: Barack Obama, CIA, crimes, cronies, DHS, domestic spying, FBI, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Homeland Security, John McCain, New York Times, news alert, NSA, polling booth, president, presidential election, revolt, revolution, Senate, senators, spy powers, spying, telephone companies, TIA, vote, wiretapping

Knowing how to act presidential is one of those things all presidential candidates ought be required to master before being allowed to toss their proverbial hat into the ring, let alone get their names on ballots. Acting presidential means you know how to twist words, especially when you’re asked by one of your supporters, “So, mister or madam candidate, how do we beat the {enter your choice of derogatory words here}?”, obviously in reference to one of your opponents.

Tags: Bill Clinton, Bush-isms, Bushisms, Campaigns, Elections, female candidates, George W. Bush, Hillary, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Politics, presidential candidates, Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Sen. McCain, Slick Willy, videos, YouTube

It seems inevitable that when U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Az.) opens his big mouth, people dislike what he says. Most of the time, I don’t even come close to agreeing with anything from the guy. There’s just something about the guy — other than him being a politician — that makes me not trust him.

Tags: Abrams, American Jewish Committee, Arizona, Bill of Rights, Caesar, Christian principles, Christians, church-and-state, cockroach dancers, courts, Declaration of Independence, George W. Bush, God, Iran, Islam, Jeffrey Sinensky, John McCain, M1, Muslims, political correctness, politically correct, presidential election, sharia, Sinensky, think tank, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Constitution, U.S. is not a Christian nation