Scare Tactics for a Democrat Win

When I lived in Arizona, I liked to be a good grandson and call my grandmother every few weeks. In these conversations my grandmother would often lament the dangers of the city, often stating a desire to stay home all the time. The source for these fears was the local nightly news and their sensationalized stories that only had the affect of scaring the elderly.


Today in the mail I received a political advertisement from one Victor Raigoza, New Mexico state senate candidate in my district. It was hard to find the sender as it was on the lower right of the addressed side in what appears to be about 8 pt font. The sender was not completely unobvious but it was curious that Victor’s opponent’s name appears eight times on both sides of what is a hit piece. The front page states that “JOHN RYAN is a CRIMINAL and a CRONY…was convicted of a felony, but was pardoned by then-Governor Gary Johnson (a Republican).” Reading the back of the page the reader is also alerted that Ryan works as a lobbyist and that he serves private interests while serving the state.


The tone of the ad was quite distasteful and the front of the ad features a copy of Ryan’s State Senate bio picture with a MS Paint (not quite good enough to be Photoshop or if it was, they paid too much for their capabilities) appended mug shot booking collar. All this made me curious. I moved into this district in March 2007 so I didn’t vote for Ryan nor did I have much an idea of his work in the Senate. A felony criminal record and a lobbyist? It sounded incredible that someone like that were elected and was running for re-election.

So, is John Ryan a criminal? Well that’s a judgment call and has to take into account what happened:

In 1980, when he was in high school, he and others broke into a North Valley home and stole family portraits which were held for ransom. He was indicted for extortion and convicted of felony burglary charges.

What Ryan did in this case was not acceptable behavior however two things struck me in regard to the explanation. First, he was in high school, it seems as though it was a prank, one that went too far as evidenced by the burglary part.1980 was almost thirty years ago, Ryan was sentenced to three years probation so when he was pardoned by Governor Johnson he had already served his sentence. Second he states that family portraits were taken. Victor Raigoza claims that he stole ‘paintings’, to extort someone. Strong language, the grandmothers of the North Valley are shaking.

So, how about the lobbying part? This question does not even pass muster at all simply because there is simply not enough information in the attack ad from Raigoza. It is true that Ryan is a lobbyist, but at the federal level:

Ryan is now a professional lobbyist at the federal level. He got started in that field in 1996 when he was hired by the City of Los Angeles to represent its interests in Washington. His next client was the National Rural Electric Co-op Association. … “I am a registered lobbyist in Washington DC and I pick my clients very wisely,” he explained. Those include The Southwest Power Group, which is trying to establish electrical transmission lines for solar and wind generators delivering power to Arizona and California, and a water pipeline project in the Clovis-Portales area that needs federal approvals.

Interesting, so the company, according to Raigoza, paid Ryan thousands of dollars to sponsor beneficial legislation required federal and not state approvals?

Nothing stated in the ad sent by Victor Raigoza has any reference and the type and words are clearly intended to scare elderly voters just like the nightly local news. Voters that won’t get the truth from someone like Victor Raigoza.

Who is Raigoza anyway? Other than the typical democrat website ‘who’s who’ and AFL-CIO endorsement information there isn’t much out there except vague platitudes alluding to what he supports (economy, education and affordable health care, and of course the Easter Bunny). What is known is that Raigoza is a financial advisor at Edward Jones and is proud of be a” community activist”, stopping the Wal-Mart that would allow me a five minute walk to obtain strawberry whoppers instead of a ten minute drive.

So Victor is a typical democrat, vague, ignorant of the issues, supported by labor unions, spiteful of business and subterranean in his capability to distort truth as scare tactics. And on top of that I bet he’s active in the Vista Del Norte homeowner’s association that’s the bane of my existence.

District 10 deserves better than someone like Victor Raigoza. John Ryan has the experience and is respected by his peers and the community he represents. The Village of Los Ranchos web site states:

The Village of Los Ranchos is fortunate and proud to have John Ryan, NM State Senator as a resident.

Don’t let sleaze peddling power seeking dishonest presumptive politicians like Victor Raigoza win.

Economic Questions to Consider

So, President Presumptive Obama, donkey Congessional cush seekers and all the democrat hit group commercials blame the current financial panic on President Bush and extend that blame to anyone who dares seek office as Republican. Before spreading their nonsense in hopes of baiting the possible economic unlearned watching syndicated television, did they consider logical reasons? Of course not. There is no such thing as logic when the most important thing is the accumulation of power. In this case the only item of importance is election and there is no tactic considered out of bounds. The Wall Street Journal's opinion page today asks tough economic questions, based on logic withough demonization, some of the key points:

The market is forward looking. If it is unhappy with a president, it does not wait almost eight years before the numbers reflect it. If it really anticipated good times under Mr. Obama, the market would have gained 40% in anticipation of the transition. By losing that much, it seems to be saying the opposite.

To state the obvious: The valuation of an individual stock reflects the collective expectation of investors about a company's future profits, dividends and appreciation, and the same is true of the market as a whole. These profits, in turn, are greatly influenced by government policy on taxes, spending, subsidies, environmental and other regulations, labor laws, and the corporate legal climate. Investors have heard enough from both candidates in the last month or two to conclude that prospects for a flourishing, competitive, growing and reasonably free economy in a McCain administration are bad, and in an Obama administration far worse. (In fact, the market's bearish behavior over the last couple of months pretty closely tracks Barack Obama's gains.)

Have you thought of what a gradual doubling (and indexation) of the minimum wage, sailing through a veto-proof and filibuster-proof Congress, would do to inflation, unemployment and corporate profits? The market now has.

Have you thought of how the nationalization of health insurance, the mandated coverage of ever more -- and more exotic -- risks, the forced reimbursement for excluded events, and the diminished freedom to match premium to risk would affect the insurance industry? The market now has.

Have you thought of Energy Czar Al Gore's five million new green jobs -- high-paying, unionized and subsidized -- to replace, at five times the cost, what we are now producing without those five million workers, and what this will do to our productivity, deficit and competitiveness? The market now has.

If the rise in the price of oil from $70 to $140 was due to "greed" (the all-purpose explanation of the other side for every economic problem), was the fall from $140 to $70 due to a sudden outbreak of altruism?

If a bank is guilty both for rejecting a mortgage ("redlining") and for approving it ("greed" -- see above), how might a bank president keep his business out of trouble with the law?

If the financial turmoil of the last year or so was caused by inadequate regulation, which party has controlled both Houses of Congress and all of its financial committees and subcommittees (where such regulation would originate) in the last two years?

A Pleasure

Considering I'm working some extra hours to make up some time to take a Haloween vacation to New Orleans my civic duty seemed best suited to absentee ballot this election. So, I'm done and soon to be accounted for, of course I did vote against the country clerk whom the thing's addressed to, so you never know. Just kidding, I hope. Anyway it was a pleasure to vote against the "Regional Transit Gross Receipts Tax", AKA the Rail Runner Slush Fund. Of course, it is my tendandcy to vote against anything that is not street light, sidewalk or defense related. But public transportation will always occupy a special place, ok so I pay for it in taxes and then pay for it if I were to use it?

don't count McCain out yet

if anyone turns on the TV, you'd think Obama won already. But it's still possible McCain can win.

the states I think Obama for-sure will win are: Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Washington, Oregon, California, Hawai'i. So far that's 255

for McCain: West Virginia, Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska - that's 261. Contrary to all the polls, I think McCain will pull off NC, FL, OH, IN, MO, Dakotas, CO, and NV, but I really wouldn't be surprised if Obama takes one of these states away from McCain.

here are the 3 states I didn't write down:

New Hampshire - almost guaranteed for Obama, but very McCain-friendly area

New Mexico - our home state decided the candidate by mere hundreds of votes since 2000. The closest state nationwide in the past presidential elections

Virginia - like New Hampshire, I don't think it should automatically go to Obama quite yet.

Of course if Obama gets all 3, he got it with 277. But all McCain needs is Virginia...ought to be an interesting election night. Either way, I think it's gonna be close and not the landslide many are predicting. And with an Obama victory, the good thing is we can hope for a conservative resurgence in 2010 and 2012. Let's just hope Obama won't be able to choose a SC Justice during his term *gulp*

2012

Let's face it. Even if McCain wins, there'll be a new Republican running in 2012. More than likely Sarah Palin would run vs Hillary Clinton in 2012. But if it's Obama winning next week, it's safe to start thinking 2010 in Congressional takeovers (Obama is gonna have another Carter administration with Israel or Iran attacking each other). 2012 will be another election. Who is that Republican that everyone should get behind and take over again? My choice? It's still early of course but for now, I'm thinking the only conservative soul in Massachusetts: Mitt Romney.

I like Fred Thompson but he'll be pretty old by 2012, Romney is the near-total package. Conservative, image (and not a Democrat this time), eloquent, knows domestic issues (including economy) as well as the foreign affairs (if not more than McCain). He's got the name value as he ran this year, and he still has $ left over.

Anyways, has anyone else noticed Obama up on every poll there is? It's as wide as 15 to as narrow as 1 which proves polling organizations have no credibility whatsoever. That reason makes me want McCain to win even more. That way polling orgs and the media will know what their foot tastes like. But that's wishful thinking. Dan Rather choked in 2000 saying Florida went to Al Gore after counting 6% of the state...and the mainstream still exists.

Straight Ticket

As has been the case with just about every presidential/congressional election cycle in my 29 year-old memory and not unexpected when there's a candidate raising $600 Million, most non-programmed television lately seems to be some ridiculous political ad. Leaves one thankful for a DVR and waiting for November 5th.

New Mexico, for whatever reason, is once again a "battleground" state and there are some wealthy organizations out there that want everyone to know that candidate republican likes to kick small children, rob gas stations, spit on the elderly and plays solitaire while on the clock. Yes, I'm talkin about the so called "Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee", also known as the reason why I yell at the television every ten minutes.

Their stupid, infelicitous and annoying nonstop commercials (scroll down to NM ads, if you haven't seen both, and live in NM, you must be living in the desert without any human contact and aren't reading this anyway) have led me to a place. And that place is Straight Ticket Republican land.

One ad begins "The failed Bush economy, how did it come to this?". How stupid. What failed economy? Yes, there is a financial panic right now. And there was one roughly two decades ago. And another roughly two decades before that. And so on, cyclical is what I think it can be described as. Do these imbeciles even understand what the term "failed" means? If this country's economy "failed" all three hundred million plus of us would have to disband and join other countries. There would be no country. Today I bought a three dollar pretzel and scoffed at a five dollar frozen latte thing. The twenty mall stores I walked past to get the pretzel were all open, employees chatting on cell phones and yes, playing solitaire. Traffic was ghastly and I was cut off by a trucker and rode past a hundred more on my 7 mile commute this morning. That, DCCC, is not a failed economy.

Anyway, why will I go the extreme of voting only Republican? There is no rational reason, just a burning coming from inside, every time I see the DCCC ads, which thanks to some deep pockets is every few minutes, on every channel. Am I being somewhat naive, silly even? Sure, whatever. Are there some deserving local donkey's out there that might share my ideals? Doubtful but possible, I'll never know. And I don't care anymore. I would rather watch a whole season of Grey's Anatomy in a single sitting than watch another DCCC ad.

I was going to vote for Darren White anyway, Martin Heinrich, not a chance, never. But the ads still bother me that much. And the ads against Ed Tinsley, who is outside of my district, those ads are doubly annoying.

Something Positive

Of all that has transpired over this election season, the worst to me has been the open season declared on President Bush. Something I wrote about in an earlier post was self disappointment in not campaigning for John McCain. Well, there's mostly lame excuses for that with the least being my tepid, but unwavering, support. Elections are about choices, right? Anyway, in 2004 I was a very active and avid campaigner for our President. He is a person I admire and believe has served our country with honor. Perfect, no. But there is no such person. Of course there are valid criticisms however, in my opinion, he is a very good President. I know that oft referenced poll ratings may put me in the minority, whatever.

The bottom line is that President Bush does not deserve the things that are being said about him. The dishonesty and the bashing of a sitting President for political gain is despicable. This morning though, I read something that started with a look at the current political climate which started with:

President Bush’s dismal poll ratings have descended to those of Harry Truman’s when he left office

Six decades following his time in office, President Truman is highly regarded with good reason. The odds were against him and he was thought of as unready and inexperienced. His accomplishments stood out in history. I believe the same to be true of President Bush, always thinking that as history reflects on him it will be kind and just.

The strangeness of it all

Sunday night I was driving home through the quiet road that runs through Corrales and after the second time seeing this (forgive me but my sensibilities do not allow for embedding the image here), in my opinion the most disturbing political sign ever seen, and I thought about how strange this year's presidential campaign is.

In the beginning, when John McCain gained traction in the primaries, I thought about the fact that I didn't even vote for him for senator, instead voting for John Kyl twice. Of course, it didn't matter then. There was no way that John McCain was going to lose his senate seat in Arizona. Not a chance. I'm not the type of person who wanted to vote against someone so I thought more about the work John McCain has done and even though I don't agree with everything he's done, so what? It's not me voting as a senator or representing anyone. How could I agree with everything? The key thing was that for me, nothing he's done has really been objectionable. Some of the 'across the aisle' things are annoying, especially campaign finance reform. However, in the end he has been a dedicated and honorable public servant.

In this campaign, John McCain and his chosen running mate have been subjected to the worst of smear tactics. Anything that could be used against them has. McCain has been treated as if senility is settling in and so-called feminists have willingly set back the clock on their purported cause to attack Sarah Palin. And all of this at the behest of a politician. That's it, not a savior, not a saint, not someone who's ever really even helped anyone but himself.

That's what got me about the sign. I've read something that described the way that some blindly support this politician. The conclusion warned about the consequences of such blind support for like candidates, running on nothing more than the empty rhetoric of 'change'. Nothing sticks to this candidate. Associations with the most corrupt of society, switches in campaign promises, lack of specifics, irrelevance in stated experience. There's an incredibly long list, a list that should disqualify anyone from the office sought. It just doesn't seem to matter in this case.

Is this the way our country is going? Politics a contest of personality, regardless of judgement? The sense of entitlement that is out there today, just talk to people and it comes out. It's uncomfortable to sit with a group of people who don't believe in personal responsibility disparage those who do. These politicians have done a phenomenal job recently dividing this country. And what will happen? 'Fairness' in taxation is nothing more than a veiled stab at class warfare. In the end everyone will just be more miserable and a strange new society will emerge. How's that for pessimism? A month of nonstop democrat advertising and the apparent coming of legislative and executive government by them does that.

Debate Observations

after seeing all 4, it's clear. No matter how great McCain did, Obama did just as great, if not better. His policies are devastating, but he can deliver for the most part. Even if it takes a couple of minutes.

---Obama can never clearly specify what programs he'll cut. It's because he's planning to overspend.

---on multiple occasions Obama eloquently brushes aside McCain's "personal" or hurtful comments (hurtful comments geared towards McCain that is, special needs, segregation claims, etc.). But McCain acknowledges Obama when he's hurt.

---Obama said take a look at the polls, the ones the 3rd moderator conducted. The 3rd moderator works for PBS. How can you expect this to be factual Obama? He'll readily attack Fox News, but the rest are okay.

---Obama said he won't accept public financing, but he is now. He didn't repudiate it. In fact, he rarely repudiates anything

---true, most Americans care whether or not $ is coming into their account, but Obama's associations is just as much as an issue to me.

---Obama repeatedly groups McCain with the Republicans. If anyone, McCain has distanced himself from them on many occasions. McCain should've repeatedly bring up the fact that Obama, as well as his cohorts Dodd, Frank, etc. caused this financial mess. If Obama is gonna connect McCain to Bush, McCain refutes that and should've connected Obama to the liberals in Congress who has even a lower approval rating than Bush.

---CEOs support McCain because Obama will tax them, eliminate jobs in the long-run, redistribute wealth, etc. At this rate, I'm just not gonna work next year because money will just come to me.

---Biden is a fringe liberal who always votes on the wrong side of foreign affairs. That's experience?

---Obama, there ARE ways to help people without getting government involved with everything. Obama proved during the debates he's a full-fledged Socialist

---so Obama is now looking to drill. Why did you vote against it? So now Obama is a pork fighter. Why didn't you before you ran for President?

---way to attack Detroit Obama. If they vote for you, Detroit's dumber than I thought...

---after what Obama said, health care is gonna go through the roof

---anybody coincidentally notice things started downfalling when the Democrats took over Congress 2 years ago?

---McCain, you're not gonna get points for voting for Ginsberg and saying you will not appoint conservative judges, just to show how bipartisan you are. If you're conservative, say it, mean it, you'll win

---Obama's combat to everything is to laugh it off, and make a totally non-related point

---everytime foreign affairs pops up, it goes back to the economy. The moderators want Obama to win. McCain should've mentioned how Obama will raise all taxes, remove FICA cap, capital gains, dividends, Bush expiration, gas, etc.

---McCain sounded more genuine than Obama did. In fact, a lot of what Obama is saying is just regurgitating his talking points

---Obama tried to paint himself as a moderate. Records don't lie. He'll be spending near trillion dollars for his programs

---finally, Obama lied, virtually 95% of the debates

---where it seems like Obama won...I relish the fact that Kerry did better than Bush in a lot of aspects in the 2004 debates, but still lost an election. One can hope. Or maybe Ann Coulter is right? Elect the Democrat and let's have a conservative resurgence in 2010

President Obama

Unless if we see a miracle (no substitute in words, I say a miracle), it just does not look good at all for McCain. Even FOXNews is singing his demise now. I know McCain probably has the best shot at beating Obama as I said months ago, but he certainly wasn't my choice. The only other candidate in the primaries that would've been a worse choice is Giuliani. But these two really had the name and the best chance of winning.

If we see a President Obama come January, BANK on these things to happen at some point in the next 4 years, I promise you (Pelosi and Reid will still be in power). Maybe this is supposed to happen. Maybe people will snap in 2010 and 2012 and realize what kind of damage liberals can do to this country. I smell a "Carter" term here...history sure does repeat itself. Hell this election even looks like 1976 (Carter comes along as the "outsider" that hasn't been around for a while, Ford is the quiet demeanor, like McCain, etc.):

---He will meet with leaders of all nations without preconditions and will even sign a non-agression pact with Iran

---He will pull out of Iraq eventually and we will see basically a giant Iran (Who's in power in Iran? Shiites. Who's in power in Iraq now? Shiites. Another edict of Bush I disagreed with. I understand spread of democracy, but the Middle East is different. Allowing elections only empowers terrorist organizations and we've seen it legitimatized under Bush)

---He will create the funds as he promised (guess where the funds will come from?) to help people and innocent homeowners refinance their mortgages. Hell at this rate next year I'm just gonna screw up badly, buy a $500K house because Obama will come to my rescue

---All the tax cuts you experienced for the last 8 years will be expired, gone. Something he doesn't say at all for the last several months.

---He will realize raising taxes on all the Donald Trumps of the country is still not enough to fund his social legislation. So he'll trickle down in the brackets on raising people's taxes and cutting defense and intelligence budgets even more (sounds familiar? 1990s?)

---He will implement universal health care, pretty much negating all small businesses everywhere with tax hikes to pay for it. This will be available to all illegals in the nation as well

---Speaking of illegals, he will provide amnesty as well

---He will enact legislation for carbon-friendly cars...the end for the US auto industry

---He will advance the federal hate crimes legislation, affirmative action by reincarnating the "women and minority-owned businesses" money, and make the Employment Non-Discrimination Act a law which means homosexuals will slowly start being official

---He will spend billions and billions of $ in foreign aid to try to eliminate global poverty

Observations from the Door

So I have become "that dude." I am the guy who bangs on your door, ask who you're voting for, and hands out propaganda. McCain is not my pick from the Republicans, but he is far better than Obama and his empty promises. The Democrats have run a really dirty campaign and it makes me ill. As they pitch it, they are the "open minded party," which is total crap. Some of the incidents that I have hear of while volunteering were some college Republicans were beat up at UNM, McCain signs being torn down, and Democrats volunteering at Republican headquarters and trying to throw a wrench from the inside.

I understand that what I am "selling" is not very popular (ie religion, politics), but they treat me worse than a serial killer despite being friendly. A few encounters that I have seen that I found interesting were an African American man I ran into and some lady in a Mercedes.

The African American man was basically voting straight ticket Republican with the exception of Obama. I thought this was really odd, because he was conservative until he had the opportunity to vote for another Black man. Another instance of the race card being flipped, was when my co-worker was picking up his wife from CNM the community college, formerly TVI, and some African American guys were campaigning asking who passers by were voting for. My co-worker witnessed a man a few feet away, who said that he was not voting for Obama, was called a racist. We have probably beat this like a dead horse, but it worries me that we, Americans, are willing to vote for a man based upon "packaging" and not who he is, what he stands for, or what he hopes or plans to do. I am confident that Obama will attract more "non traditional" voters than we have ever seen.

I was leaving flyers at some lady's house when she rolled up in her late model Mercedes, the last few years have killed her portfolio. I approach her and politely speak to her about the election. Due to my association with Bush, whom I did not mention at all, party wise, received one of the rudest "get off my property" responses that I have gotten in all of my encounters. Some Obama supporters were polite and told me what they thought, which I can respect, but being associated with Bush is almost equivalent to being Dahmer's assistant. Where I am going with this is that the forces that be, read media, have made Bush into the boogie man. What bothers me the most about this is that they do not consider the alternative: Gore or Stacie (read Kerry). If Gore was president during 9-11 I'm confident that things would have been much different. With Stacie I cannot even begin to start where we would be.

So I am worried about the outcome, but on the bright side, this may lead to a resurgence of the Republican party.

A depressing morning

I recently changed jobs and when I used to work for my now previous employer I often rode my bicycle to work. I often was lauded for being 'green' by those who just want to give mother earth a hug, even though the real reason was not to offset carbon output but nacho intake.

Anyway I wrote that to write that I happened to ride through a part of Albuquerque called "Nob Hill". A section of the city whose inhabitants like to consider themselves 'trendy' and 'hip' (I once lived in this neighborhood). I would get depressed riding everyday because in this area the Obama signs out numbered McCain's at about a 30 to 1 ratio.

Anyway, reading through the daily sites today made me more depressed, about the consequences of an Obama victory, and rationalizations that try to step away from inevitability.

Dammit, I just moved into a new tax bracket and wanted to retire eventually, also what would be wrong with helping my parents retire? Ugh. I wonder what the demand for electrical (jack of most trades) engineers in New Zealand is?