A Great Read on Chris Coons, which nobody seems to want to talk about

As expected, Saturday Night Live took their shots at Christine O'Donnell on their season premiere last Saturday night. I did not see it as I had better things to do than to sit at home on a Saturday night and watch SNL, a show that hasn't been funny in years.

Nobody is asking Chris Coons, O'Donnell's Democrat opponent, any questions about his background, so as a result, Jeffrey Lord has just penned an article on the American Spectator, examining the background of Chris Coons. Coons states that he:

"Intends to use elected office as a chance to apply the principles and values that were honed at YDS (Yale Divinity School)."

In light of those comments, Lord examines what those values are. It's very eye opening article and I notice, yet am not surprised, by a double standard of how the media treats Christine O'Donnell versus how they will react to Chris Coons in light of the information in this article. Let's hope Delaware voters not only read this article, but do a little more research on their own prior to Election Day.

UPDATE on 9/17 at 9:20PM: A well written press release by Christine O'Donnell on how Chris Coon's mentioned in an interview, he "pledges his vote" to Harry Reid. Kudos to O'Donnell's campaign for catching this and making sure it gets out through her campaign's website, Facebook and Twitter.

Chris Christie's "Common Sense Porn"

Earlier this year, Glenn Beck used a phrase to describe New Jersey's Governor, Chris Christie: "Common Sense Porn." (In the clip, Beck is playing a clip of an exchange Governor Christie had with the Star-Ledger's Tom Moran)

Since becoming Governor in January of 2010, Governor Christie has shown himself to be a strong leader, not afraid to tell the truth and he basically governs like a one-term governor. This is rather refreshing as in New Jersey, we are going through many economic challenges and he is not afraid to cover them up or "make nice" of these problems (and to those who caused them) for political expediency. Furthermore, Governor Christie does not blame his predecessor to absolve himself of criticism for the state of the state. Instead, he is rolling up his sleeves and attempting to clean up these problems, despite hostile opponents including the Democrat legislature, the media and the public sector unions. Like Monica Crowley, I believe his actions show leadership!

The Governor is beginning to gain further attention outside of New Jersey as events this week have shown between confronting a heckler in California while on the stump for Meg Whitman, and his partnership with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Mayor Cory Booker, in the interest of the Newark Public Schools.

Governor Christie's leadership has inspired my development of Michael Buonocore in The Calling to Lead, as the two have a similar leadership style, specifically in the areas of speaking common sense and not backing down from a confrontation. Furthermore, their legislative agendas align in many places.

Additionally, I will, in the future, write more about Christie's specific legislative agenda, including my thoughts on his education agenda, but for now, I will include two recent You Tube clips showing some more, as Glenn Beck calls it, "Common Sense Porn."

(Like Bounty) We Can Absorb It

Next Tuesday, Bob Woodward's book, Obama's Wars, hits the shelves. Excerpts of the book have been released and are starting to resonate. The following quote is gaining a lot of attention:

"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever . . . we absorbed it and we are stronger."

I have a really big problem with this statement. By using the word absorb, not only does he equate the response to an attack that killed 3,000 Americans to the end result of Bounty paper towels, but he minimizes the loss of life on that day and the loss to the families. As long as they live, the families of those who were killed on September 11 have to deal everyday with the fact that terrorists killed their relatives for nothing more than going to work and going about their regular day. EVERY AMERICAN who saw those towers fall on 9-11 was affected and even if they did not directly know anyone who perished on that day, our piece of mind that we're safe because we're in America died on that day. We are living different lives as a result and that cannot be absorbed! Furthermore, in reading the above quote, it is a bit of an oxymoron as we're not doing everything we can to prevent it, considering Obama is not following the generals' advice on Afghanistan, his change in rules of engagement in Afghanistan, Obama was against a preemptive attack on Iraq and is mishandling the situation in Iran.

By making that statement, Obama shows Americans he is disaffected, out of touch, and not willing to connect to the American people. It is hurtful and every American president from that day on must show compassion to those who were killed by terrorist action. It can never happen again and a leader must realize his words because using the wrong words like this president did could make it terrorism seem allowable and increase the chances of it occurring again.

The Journey, Part VI: The October Surprise

We all have seen this in recent political history: The October Surprise, an event that due to its groundbreaking or surprising nature, has the ability to throw an election one way or the other. Some may be legit, some are just downright nasty. When you read The Calling to Lead, you will note there are three October Surprises that play into the storyline. In my writing and researching, I studied some of the October Surprises in recent history, as well as other crazy incidents in politics to hit the airwaves. I'll leave you all guessing as to what they are and their effect on the storyline, but in the meantime, here are some of the more notable October surprises.

Peace at Hand, 1972: News broke that then National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger brokered a deal to end American Involvement in the Vietnam War. At a press conference that took place in October of 1972, he stated, "peace is at hand." Talks broke down and military actions resumed, including the Christmas Day bombings, but by January of 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed. Peace at hand definitely helped Nixon in his re-election efforts against McGovern as it took a major issue away from him. Combined with this and McGovern's horrible campaign, Nixon was re-elected in a landslide.

Iran Hostage Crisis, 1980: The Iran Hostage Crisis hampered the Carter Administration and was the focus of news coverage for the 444 days it lasted (Nightline originally started as a special news broadcast to cover the hostage crisis). Negotiations failed as did military rescues, most notably Operation Eagle Claw. Both sides thought the opposition would use this hostage crisis as an October Surprise; Carter's camp having a successful military rescue or brokering a last minute deal, or Reagan's camp convincing the Iranians to delay the release past the election. Looking back, I believe that Iran delayed the release to make Carter look like a fool and weaken his stance as President, at the same time embarrassing the United States. The only reason they were released on January 20, 1981 was due to the fact that a new president (Reagan) was more direct than Carter and that they feared what his reaction would be. Therefore, neither camp had any direct influence to release the hostages.

Caspar Weinberger and the Iran-Contra Hearings, 1992: Despite his successes in guiding and leading during Operation Desert Storm, George H.W. Bush's poll numbers took a big hit due to economic challenges at home and Ross Perot was also running as a 3rd Party Candidate. Leading up to the election, Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh was investigating those involved in the Iran-Contra Scandal. Walsh announced the indictment of Weinberger the month before the election. In his lame duck period after losing the election, President George H.W Bush pardoned Weinberger. I would argue this October Surprise further damaged Bush 41 in his re-election effort.

George W. Bush DWI, 2000: The week before the election, news broke that in 1976, George W. Bush was arrested for a DWI in Kennebunkport, Maine. It was released to the media by a Democrat Party member in Maine who had prior knowledge about it. This last minute release was meant to embarrass Bush and a last ditch effort at throwing the election to Gore, but while it may have had an effect with some Evangelical Christian voters or Mormon voters, it had no effect on the Florida Recount...we can thank the media for that one, calling Florida for Gore at 7:45, when voters in Pensacola and the panhandle (in the Central Time Zone) still had 15 more minutes to vote.

Forged CBS Documents, 2004: Technically in September, but meant to have stayed in the media until October, CBS Producer Mary Mapes had acquired documents from Bill Burkett, allegedly written by Bush's Commander, Jerry Killian (deceased), claimed in these documents that Bush did not fulfill his commitment to the Air National Guard. This story was aired by Dan Rather on 60 Minutes as an exclusive. As the story circulated, the blog Little Green Footballs examined the documents and came to the conclusion they were forgeries, as a result of an examination of the font style (the documents were in Times New Roman, the default font in Microsoft Word, a font not used in a typewriters during the time the documents were allegedly written.) After media follow-ups and an examination of the font, the documents were proven as forgeries. George W. Bush ended up increasing his plurality and as a result of Dan Rather's constant defense and unwillingness to accept responsibility, he was pushed out at CBS.

Mark Foley, 2006: In October of 2006, it came to light that Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) had sent emails and IMs of a sexual nature to teenage boys who served as Congressional Pages. When the first emails came out, Foley immediately resigned and apologized, but it was later found out that Foley had a pattern of this activity. Foley's Scandal, combined with Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and Randall "Duke" Cunningham's conviction made it easier for the Democrats to pin the moniker "Culture of Corruption" on the Republicans. In that Midterm, the Democrats won both houses of Congress and their inability to defend themselves in light of the scandal(s), combined with the Republican abandonment of Conservatism, contributed to Republican losses.

We are approaching the final month of the 2010 Midterm Election cycle and I will guarantee that a few October surprises will be attempted. Not sure exactly what, but for sure, I'm thinking creatively. Buckle up as these next 40+ days will be a bumpy ride!

UPDATE: Here comes the mud!

From Morning in America to Mourning in America

Fellow Gen-Xers and older may remember this very effective 1984 ad by Ronald Reagan:



The group Citizens for the Republic have released the following ad:



Just as Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" captured not only his accomplishments, but his positive nature, optimistic spirit and how he confidently told Americans "you ain't seen nothing yet," the ad "Mourning in America" captures the uncertain times many Americans are facing as a result of the lack of leadership in Washington. Hopefully this effective and truthful ad gets a lot of play leading up to November.

The I-4 Corridor: A Very Important Region of a Very Important State

I love Florida for so many reasons! It's nice to escape the Northeast for warmer pastures during the winters, I have many family and friends down this way and one other important reason: DISNEY!!! But also, Florida is a key state in American politics as over the years, it has become an integral state in determining which party in Washington is the majority. A large and ever-growing state, Florida is a state of political contrasts: the north and the panhandle tend to vote Republican, southwest Florida (below Tampa) tends to vote Republican, south Florida (where a very large percentage of the state's population resides) between Fort Lauderdale and Miami tend to vote Democrat, and Central Florida is up for grabs.

Known as the I-4 Corridor, the highway that cuts across Central Florida from Tampa through Orlando and to Daytona beach is a fascinating region for political scientists to study, not only due to its meteoric growth, but its political patterns. I will include Space Coast region south of Daytona beginning at Titusville to Palm Bay in the I-4 Corridor(as it is considered part of the Orlando Metropolitan Area) of Central Florida. This area of Florida first started to grow when the Kennedy Space Center opened on Cape Canaveral, military installations and the inception of the University of South Florida allowed the Tampa Bay area to grow, but it was the decision by Walt Disney to locate his Florida Walt Disney Resort in an undeveloped area of Southern Orange and Northern Osceola Counties just south of Orlando that cemented Central Florida as a major population center. Disney has continued to grow, spawning competing resorts, and new businesses to serve the ever increasing number of tourists.

As a result of Florida's reputation of a tax haven combined with its climate, new businesses, corporations, individuals and families see Florida as a prime area to locate. Since the 1990s, I have observed the residential growth along I-4 between Orlando and Tampa, as well as the increased traffic level. As a result of these new populations, the voting patterns is this region are not consistent. Historically Republican, the cities of Orlando and Tampa have trended Democrat and the suburban areas are truly swing. North of Orlando is The Villages, a sprawling retirement community that also affects voting patterns of this region.

Examining the recent voting patterns of this region, George W. Bush won the majority of votes in 2000 and 2004, but after the Congressional Midterm elections of 2006, Democrats began to gain a share of the seats and it grew in 2008 as President Barack Obama won a major share of votes in the I-4 Corridor that helped him clinch Florida's electoral votes, despite John McCain's heavy showing in Northern Florida and the northern counties of the Orlando Metro Area. Attempting to cement his victory in Florida and this region, President Obama and the Democrats have highly touted, as well as funded the High Speed Rail Line that will be built between Ybor City (Tampa) and Orlando International Airport, with stops in Lakeland, Disney and the Orange County Convention Center. Despite this upcoming project, it looks as though the politics of the I-4 Corridor are shifting again as we approach the Midterm Election. Unemployment (U3) in the Orlando region is at 11.9%! Central Florida voters also feel abandoned by Washington, especially seniors.

Who will take the hits for this? My belief it that it will be Democrats, especially Congressional Democrats in Central Florida elected since Democrats began to have more of an influence since 2006. Let's look at them.

Alan Grayson: Elected to Congress in 2008, Alan Grayson represents the 8th District of Florida. A trial lawyer and committed liberal, Grayson has heavily supported the Obama Administration from the Health Care Bill to the Stimulus. He is also known for his untrue and over the top rants and outbursts not only on the radio and MSNBC, but in Florida, as this clip shows, in his mission to get attention. His 8th District voters have observed his liberal voting record and heard him flap his big mouth. Opposing Grayson this fall is Daniel Webster, who in addition to being a businessman, has served in the Florida House and Senate.

Suzanne Kosmas: Elected to Congress in 2008, Kosmas represents the 24th District and prior to her service in Congress, she was the owner of a real estate firm and has also served in the Florida House. During her time in Congress, Kosmas fashioned herself as a "Blue Dog Democrat" however, she has walked in lock step with Obama and the Democrats, even going so far as to switching her NO vote to YES on the Health Care Bill. The overall conservative voters of the 24th have been angered by her liberal voting record, as well as her pattern of not attending town hall meetings. Running against Kosmas this fall is Florida Representative Sandy Adams, who according to recent polls, is favored to defeat Kosmas this fall.

I believe that both these incumbents will be defeated. The National Republicans and other organizations are putting high hopes into these two districts and there is already a very convincing ad running in both these districts:



Not only in the I-4 Corridor and on the Space Coast, but throughout the state of Florida, I believe the Republicans will prevail, including the statewide elections of Pam Bondi, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio. Voters have had enough of the lies, liberal agenda, ignoring of their voices and dirty politics. (and are still seeing more of it, as just happened with Allen West)

The I-4 Corridor will forever play a major role in Florida politics as we have seen, so goes this region, goes Florida.

Joe Biden: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

We've heard Joe Biden speak his opinions on race, forget that handicapped people cannot walk, and drop the f-bomb when children may be watching. We also know he can't spell or count and he also likens the President to Superman. And we cannot forget the arrogant (and untrue) boasting. Yesterday, he showed he doesn't know his Constitution, referring to himself as second in line, as Tweeted by CBS reporter Mark Knoller. (There is no video of it, unfortunately...I will update it if it comes out.)

Somebody get this man a copy of the 25th Amendment. Again, Joe Biden: The gift that keeps on giving!