Peoria Pundit

Tony the Tiger decided to go with the Dem ticket:

This follows Cap’n Crunch’s endorsement of McCain/Palin.

Next up, a probable endorsement for Ron Paul and/or Bob Barr:

Editor & Publisher is running some excerpts from Alaska newspapers’ reaction to the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Here’s one i found interesting:

“I championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress,” Palin said at her first campaign appearance. “In fact, I told Congress — I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, I said we’d build it ourselves.”

That is not how Palin described her position on the Gravina Island bridge when she ran for governor in 2006.
On Oct. 22, 2006, the Anchorage Daily News asked Palin and the other candidates, “Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?”

Her response: “Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now — while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.”

Palin’s support of the earmark for the bridge was applauded by the late Lew Williams Jr., the retired Ketchikan Daily News publisher who wrote columns on the topic. Williams wrote on Oct. 29, 2006, that Palin was the only gubernatorial candidate that year who consistently supported the Gravina Island Bridge, the Knik Arm Bridge and improvements to the Parks Highway.

In other words, she supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

From the Peoria Journal Star:

Teddy C. Jackson, 26, of 2020 W. Howett St., was shot in the head about 1:05 a.m. outside The Rock Christian Entertainment Complex, 815 S.W. Adams St., according to Peoria police. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center at 1:30 a.m., said Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll.

We will no doubt be inundated with theories, rumors, accusations and denials. The young man was apparently a patron of a Christian dance club that night (Website here), and there will be those who will no doubt complain about that concept as well.

All I’m going to say is that offer my condolences to his family, friends and the Manual High School community.

I offer the following, without editorial comment:

Read more »

Perhaps. Andrew Sullivan thinks it’s not about experience, but about skills:

So ask yourself: could Sarah Palin have run a national election campaign against, say, a machine as powerful as the Bush family, and won? Does she have the skill set to construct a campaign that would actually have brought her to the nomination herself? I find the comparison with Obama ludicrous. But it will be made. Palin looks to me like a lovely person and a good local politician, with some inevitable rough spots. I’d be delighted if she took a leadership role in the GOP in the future. But in the same league as Obama? Do Republicans really think that little of him?

John McCain chose Palin for several reasons. She’s a social conservative. She has a compelling personal story. And, oh yeah, she’s a woman in an election where there are a lot of women ready to bolt the Dems because Hillary Clinton didn’t get the nomination.

But is Palin ready to lead the country, if the need arises? She’s been a governor about half the time Obama has been a senator. There’s some truth to the contention that governing a state is better preparation for the presidency than being one of 100 Senators.

But presidents are leaders only in as much as they can convince others to follow them. That is the beauty of campaigning for the presidency. If you don’t have the skills to capture your party’s primary and then win the general election, how can you hope to guide your agenda through Congress?

But then, who would have thought that Obama could win the Democratic primary, considering the cakewalk that was his election to the Senate in 2004.

Hat tip: Eric Zorn’s blog.

Three things:

1. The abbreviation stands for exactly what you think it does.
2. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, ask any high school or college age guy.
3. The site is safe for work and kids, so don’t be afraid to click on the link.

A blog that backs Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin has declared his campaign dead:

The Establishment has seen to that. The Power Elite have told their subordinates, whom they own, “Baldwin will have no platform on our media.” Instead, the Constitutionalists, Greens, Libertarians, independents and all other outsiders will be smeared as crackpots, morons, conspiratorialists, etc. The sheeplelectorate have bought the propaganda, hook, line, and sinker. Completely. Without question. Gullible has left the building and will not be back. The people are ignored, since they are mere pawns in the globalist agenda chess game in which the peons do not know the rules.

Please understand, dear reader, your writer fully supports Dr. Baldwin, the Constitution Party, and all for which they stand. All who criticize us do so in deep ignorance, hubris, even stupidity, as well as blindly serve the cause of Satan himself, and they would forever deny such charges.The lost are always in denial.

Let’s review: The voters are sheep, party critics are the tools of Satan (you’ve gotta love that one), the media is part of a global conspiracy. Yep, that’s how to win friends and influence people. Keep up the good work. And don’t let anyone get away with calling you a crackpot.

Take it from someone who once was a member of a third party. Third Parties do tend to attract crackpots. Some more than others, of course.

You’ve all heard the name Sarah Palin by now.

Already the pundits are at it, praising and bashing the choice, spinning their hearts out, slanting the news to suit their particular interests in the campaign. For now, let us set that aside.

Looking at the race as it now stands, with tickets for each side filled out, we are now destined to have a historic result come November. I already left a comment over at CJ’s Peoria Chronicle but I’d like to expound on it a little more. A historic outcome is probably going to be accompanied by an unprecedented campaign.

You can bet the Republicans have studied the Hillary Clinton campaign. The HRC campaign for President will serve as a trial balloon for the Sarah Palin campaign for Vice President. They will also apply the lessons to their approach against Barack Obama.

The tickets really do resemble each other is many ways.

• Each ticket has a traditional candidate (old/white/male) who has been in the Senate for quite some time and whose strength is in foreign policy.
• Each ticket has a non-traditional candidate (not old/white/male) who has little or no Washington experience. They are relatively good looking and focus on more domestic agendas.
• Each ticket represents and advocates a “Change” theme.

Say what you will about any of the four candidates, none have changed the race like the addition of Palin. Biden was the safe, insiders choice. One wonders who will actually be able to wave that “Change” banner most honestly.

Say what you will about any of the four candidates, none have changed the race like the addition of Biden. Palin is the freshest of faces. One wonders who will actually be able to wave that “Experience” banner the truest.

The debates will be more important than ever. Much like we (those of us that talk about such things) still talk of Lincoln-Douglas and Kennedy-Nixon, I think Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin will be spoken of long into the future. There has never been an election like this one.

One thing is for certain, the game is afoot.

I received the following email responses from Steven Shearer, State Rep. Aaron Schock’s campaign manager, to information that Schock will not attend the Peoria Area World Affairs Council debate next month. Callahan has criticized Schock for not agreeing to debates in the race for Congress from the 18th District. The response:

Aaron Schock and his campaign never committed to this proposed World Affairs Council debate in Peoria in the first place. Aaron has agreed to do a World Affairs Council debate in Jacksonville. He already did one for the Peoria World Affairs Council in the primary which was broadcast on radio.

As you can see on the list posted on your blog of the 10 debates Aaron Schock has agreed to do, there is one in October which the co-sponsors, WEEK-TV, the Journal Star and the League of Women Voters, are still working out the date for. This will be held in WEEK’s studios and broadcast live on television. WEEK has a very large viewership in the 18th Congressional District, so it is false that Aaron Schock is not willing to debate in a televised debate.

He will also participate in the Peoria Chamber and WMBD’s debate which will be broadcast on WMBD radio.

There will be both a televised and a radio broadcast debate. Aaron Schock has agreed to 10 debates, which is a level not many congressional campaigns do. They will be held by diverse organizations that are each well respected; several of the debates have multiple organizations co-hosting the event; they are spread out among the district, and one will be televised and one will be broadcasted on radio. All in all, we feel the line up Aaron Schock has agreed to will allow for a thorough airing of the candidates views on subjects across-the-board. Colleen Callahan can disagree all she wants as to what Aaron Schock should do but she is running her campaign, not this one. Most objective observers will agree that ten debates are a solid commitment.

Debates are an important component of a congressional campaign but not the only component by far. Again, there will only be three presidential debates because Barack Obama has only agreed to three.

Colleen Callahan needs to make the most of these 10 debates and figure out on her own how else she will take her message to the voters. Aaron Schock is not going to walk her hand in hand throughout the district, taking up one third of the evenings left in the campaign.

The Callahan campaign’s first press release on the subject of debates wrongly said “Schock has agreed to exactly zero debates.” That point was proved flat out wrong. Now, when given ten separate opportunities to debate, Callahan and her campaign clings to another false notion that Schock pulled out of a debate. The bottom line is that she has ten opportunities to debate Aaron Schock, including both a televised and radio broadcast debate.

The Callahan campaign has said the “debates” to which Shearer refers are actually forums and joint appearances, and not true debates in which candidates take turns answering questions. Many commenters have expressed similar sentiments. In the interest of fairness, I asked Shearer to respond:

They all have either questions from the audience which each candidate will answer, or a moderator or panel asking questions. Debate rebuttals will be included in at least the formats of the: WEEK-TV/Journal Star/League of Women Voters televised debate; the Peoria Chamber of Commerce/WMBD Radio debate broadcast on radio; the Jewish Federation of Peoria Debate; the World Affairs Council and League of Women Voters debate in Jacksonville; and the Southwest Kiwanis Debate. AARP has not yet determined its format. Each of the ten events will allow for a side by side comparison of the candidates on the issues.

Aaron Schock will not attend the Peoria Area World Affairs Council debate, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 10, at the Peoria City Council chambers. There’s no word yet on whether the debate would proceed with other 18th District Congressional candidates Colleen Callahan (Democrat) and Sheldon Schafer (Green). It’s guessing it will, and will post when I find out.

Callahan’s campaign manager, Terry Towery, says they were notified by the PAWAC by phone earlier today. No explanation was given. He speculated that Schock may be trying to avoid being videotaped by the television news media during a debate with Callahan.

Towery reiterated the campaign’s position that Schock is ducking the debates by either not committing to actual debates or by committing and then not showing up. And Towery said that Schock’s campaign manager, Steve Shearer is “playing word games” by citing forums and joint appearances when refuting the accusations.

I’ve sent an email to Shearer and I am awaiting his reply.

Both campaigns have been trading snippy press releases over the “debate debate” issue this week.

UPDATE: Elaine Hopkins reports that the debate will go forward with or without Rep. Schock. The debate will be carried on WCBU-FM and streamed over the Internet as well.