Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
1:11 PM
We'd be glad to take your call on this story today beginning at 2pm. 800.345.WMCA is the number.
Not wanting to spoil the conversation too early, I will say - you may be surprised at how I come down on the matter.
LISTEN LIVE HERE.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
1:02 PM
I know that you haven't heard about any of this but let's have some fun...
What nation is this?
7,100,000 cell phone subscribers - up from 1,400,000 only two years ago. This nation's leading cell phone company took in $333,000,000 in 2005, and is on track to take in $520,000,000 in 2006.
34,000 registered companies in the chamber of commerce - up from 8,000 two years ago.
GDP growth in 2005 was 17%, in 2006 13%. (We get jazzed when our GDP is 3-4%.)
$41,000,000,000 in oil revenues in 2006.
Salaries have risen more than 100% since 2003.
Income taxes have been reduced from 45% to 15%.
Real Estate prices have risen several hundred percent in the last two years, indicating a red hot real estate market.
Gasoline is .14 cents a liter.
And this list is just the tip of the iceberg...
Doesn't sound like a nation facing an impossible "quagmire" does it?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
12:44 PM
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
12:00 PM
You have to wonder if there are days when Elizabeth Hasselbeck would just rather NOT get out of bed...
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
11:20 AM
I've seen about a dozen of these stories pop up in the last two weeks. They tend to be all the same - reports of highly energized grassroots types putting "Draft Obama" petitions in play for the run at the White House. This is happening in states like Oregon where Obama hasn't even been. And where Obama has gone - Iowa, New Hampshire, etc. he continues to draw crowds that are larger than Clinton (Bill), Reagan, and even the Kennedys.
As I have been pointing these things out I have received an abundance of e-mail comparing Obama's early good press to Howard Dean. Many trying to say, "hey wasn't Dean the pro-coronated favorite and look how he burned out."
Those are certainly true observations, but here's where that line of thinking falls flat on its face. Dean's excitement was virtual - not real. Dean had long embraced the power of the internet, the blogosphere specifically and had attempted to harness it as a fundraising vehicle first, and tool of communication to get the message out - secondly.
The problem with Dean was that his heavy favorite position that was reflected in polls - was not necessarily seen in grassroots turnout. No one was begging to "Draft Dean." And he did not draw real bodies to actual events in the early states the way Obama is (two years before the big dance.)
I also need to draw a point of observation here as well.
Many of my critics are also saying that I'm off on the Obama prediction by claiming Obama to be an "empty-suit". Friends, call him anything you want, call him short on experience, call him only two years deep into his freshman Senate term, call him a baby-face in Washington - but Obama is not an empty-suit. John Edwards is for sure, but not Obama.
Obama's ability to identify across a broad spectrum of people groups comes from a very multi-faceted background that has allowed him to live in MANY different environments. His exemplary record at Harvard Law school would make most of our recent Presidential candidates reel in embarassment. He also was the FIRST African American to head the Harvard Law Review.
Everything about Obama's political career has been strategic. The reason he settled on Chicago as his home base. The reason he ran for the state positions that he did. Even in running for Congress and losing against Bobby Rush he observed, analyzed, and re-strategized.
In actual comparison, Hillary Clinton is more of an empty suit than Obama is. Her record, and limited time in the Senate is of no more note than Obama's. Neither of them have authored legislation that has become law. Yet they have both been strategic in committee placement, negotiation, and no two democratic personalities have raised more money for the the party in the last four years.
Hillary Clinton may have the name Clinton - but she lacks the likeability and the warmth of William Jefferson. Hillary was long the strategist, the idealogue, the agenda driven half of the team.
In reality Obama has the outward warmth of Bill, but internally he is an even more analytical strategist than Hillary dreams of being. True - he does not yet have the organization, but right now he has the masses - and compared to Dean, Edwards, and Hillary there's not a one among the three of them that wouldn't trade places with him right now!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
10:33 AM
Bryan Preston, whose fine work can be read regularly at HOT AIR has weighed in on the latest round of bizarre statements by Rick Warren. I originally mentioned the Warren's CNN appearance yesterday.
Bryan's concern about Rick's issues with Obama don't register as highly as they do with me. What bugs him worse is the very evident contradiction that Warren puts himself under when it comes to "back channel for peace", "I'm not a diplomat", "I'll go wherever I'm not muzzled", statements and his willingness to shake the hands of monsters in Syria and North Korea.
The part of Bryan's post that I find MOST interesting however is how he responds to the e-mail he has received telling him to keep his nose out of Warren's business. These e-mailers somehow equating Bryan's posting on the matter as some sort of equivalency to "airing Saddleback Church's dirty laundry." Bryan's response is a simple and logical one. If Rick Warren will stay out of the political arena - what Bryan writes about - then Bryan will stop writing about him. If Warren does what he says (staying out of politics) then he should have nothing to fear from bloggers who do cover politics.
These same e-mail missives have been arriving in my box lately and I find it ridiculous that I began to answer their criticisms - especially when Warren himself sends out e-mail blasts to "announce" or "respond" or to communicate in some way with the public.
Read the whole thing.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
2:02 PM
Didn't know they still knew how to do that over the New York Times. But I shan't complain.
For those who are cheered by seeing the Rovian politics of wedge issues start to fade, the good news does not end with the growing evidence that gay-baiting may do candidates who traffic in it more harm than good. It’s not only centrist American voters of both parties who reject divisive demagoguery but also conservative evangelicals themselves. Some of them are at last standing up to the extremists in their own camp.
No one more dramatically so, perhaps, than Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch leader and best-selling author of “The Purpose Driven Life.” He has adopted AIDS in Africa as a signature crusade, and invited Barack Obama to join the usual suspects, including Senator Brownback, to address his World AIDS Day conference on the issue. This prompted predictable outrage from the right because of Mr. Obama’s liberal politics, especially on abortion. One radio host, Kevin McCullough, demonized the Democrat for pursuing “inhumane, sick and sinister evil” as a legislator. An open letter sponsored by 18 “pro-life” groups protested the invitation, also citing Mr. Obama’s “evil.” But Mr. Warren didn’t blink.
Also - the Wall Street Journal is telling me to "hold on" that Obama "may not" run... uhm, ok, whatever...
Maybe the missed my point - I didn't say he'd run - I SAID HE'D WIN!
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
1:37 PM
The groundbreaking series here on the MuscleHeadRevolution continues...
I find the analysis of the Los Angeles' Times' Gregory Rodriguez to be somewhat on point. (And funny enough it points to one of my original five reasons why Obama will win - energized blacks.) If Barack Obama is going to light a fire with enough flame to bring about midwestern whites, and urban blacks - then fundamental to his ability to do so is to redefine across the entire spectrum what the debate about race looks like.
That's where Gregor Rodriquez gets it right:
Barack Obama does not remind Americans of the racial divide or of the chains that first created it. Instead, he points to an alternative history that Americans have never been able to achieve. "Symbolically, Obama's parentage is the founding couple that America never accepted," said Werner Sollors, who teaches African American literature at Harvard.
And even more conservative or at least - honest - black writers in America concur. Stanley Crouch of the New York Daily News putting it this way:
WE KNOW this: Barack Obama is a rising star. He's a powerful speaker and a gifted writer. He is the only African American serving in the U.S. Senate. But is he black?
In other words because he does not remind us of America's greatest sin - when we simply look at him, then there is much about that centuries-long debate about race that seems to be no longer necessary to mention.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
12:53 PM
Remember back when Rick Warren was adamantly denying that his inviting Barack Obama to his HIV conference had anything to do with politics?
Well - if that's the case - why is it that he's now TALKING POLITICS on CNN and sending the message that "Obama's Da Man"?
Warren also says the reason he believes Obama would be such a good President is because of his character. And other than the whole killing the most vulnerable amongst us both in and out of the womb - who could argue?
It must be Purpose Driven DoubleSpeak.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
12:28 PM
What the heck is a "gender test?" Maybe in India there is more mystery to these things than here in America, but I'm not really sure there needs to be.
So this Indian runner - who has now failed its "gender test" can not keep "her" medal.
Surprisingly they had to bring in a gynecologist, endocrinologist, psychologist and internal medical specialists to confirm that "she" did not "possess the sexual characteristics of a woman."
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
11:12 AM
There is a lot that could be said about the demise of Air America. Several dozen stories like this one in today's New York Times could have been written from its beginning.
One of the main differences between the left and right is that liberals defy boundaries, rules, laws, etc. Those barriers are only superficial to them - and in a liberal's mind those limits should only be enforced against conservatives.
The problem is - when you take that mentality into the world of business and commerce - it WILL fail. Simple things like payroll, bills, etc - have to be paid. It is not optional. It's not a good idea. It's what has to be done.
Yet if you make such a case while interviewing for an upper management position with an entirely liberal organization - you get accused:
In its search for a new chief executive this past summer, Air America Radio interviewed seasoned media executives in an effort to revive the faltering network. One interview took a bizarre turn, however, when the executive got into a political argument with Randi Rhodes, one of the network’s on-air hosts.
“I laughed and said, ‘You sound like Republican talking points,’ ” Ms. Rhodes recalled.
You know... it's just a waste of time to try to explain...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
10:10 AM
Glad we've settled that... Harry Reid has now said it is ok to increase the troop levels in Iraq.
Thanks Harry, knowing that you're impish presence has now given us full blown permission to defend ourselves will allow us to sleep better tonight.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
9:42 AM
I just got off the air with KSFO - the largest talk station in the San Fran/Bay area. Melanie Morgan and Brian Sussman are a true joy to talk to.
Brian strongly urged people to buy my book (MuscleHead Revolution: Overturning Liberalism with Commonsense Thinking) to be ready to deal with Liberal Uncle Larry at the holiday dinner table this coming weekend. He called the book a "perfect apologetic to counter Liberal Larry's craziness." Melanie Morgan who has written a fine book herself this year - also thanked me for putting the basic concepts of common sense into print form for just such a purpose.
Melanie, and Brian - THANK YOU!
And Merry Christmas...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
1:17 AM
I've spent a good deal of real estate recently talking about what I predict to be the obvious conclusion in 2008 - if our current political trends continue on present course.
Some, even much of the feedback I've gotten on the subject tends to deal with people's personal impressions about Hillary and Obama. (The nation is more ready for a white woman to be in charge than they are a black man... etc., etc.)
In light of such thoughts, and since one of my tenets on Obama's rise has to do with his ability to defeat Hillary in the primary - I felt it would be a service to all of us, if I began a series of blog posts on the Hillary v. Obama value of the days headlines as they pop up.
Since I despise both candidates equally, I think I will be able to judge fairly which of them comes of looking better or worse on the particular day's tally.
So let's start with Hillary...
Arianna Huffington, in her newest syndicated piece scolded the former first lady for her long standing hawkish positions. She also takes after her for purposefully NOT bringing up Iraq as Hillary is now hosting a series of fundraising dinners in early states. These are all issues that carry with them no burden at all for Barack Obama:
With Democrats on the rise, her perfect plan seemed to be working out perfectly.
And then, suddenly, came a rumbling in the distance. A rumbling caused by Barack Obama. Indications are that before the year is out, he will officially be in the race.
All at once, a surge of enthusiasm and support for Obama is threatening to ruin all of Clinton's perfect plans. She thought she had the momentum, but it's Obama who has the wind at his back.
Meanwhile yet one MORE poll shows Hillary losing a general election bid to John McCain. I have not yet seen a poll that has cast Obama vs. McCain - but I have a feeling it would look different.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Posted by:
Kevin McCullough
at
3:06 PM
The money quotes include a voter in New Hampshire that used to be a Hillary supporter, and shortly thereafter George Cloony...
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