KC Obama: East Side, West Side, All Lie (Kat-mo)

Reporting in. I'm fine. My camera is toast. It came slinging out of the bag as I was grabbing things out of the truck and now has a lovely "V" crack in the lens.

I don't have a lot to report right now. Except to say that:

1) Estimates of 40-75k are grossly over exaggerated. I should know, I drive down town everyday and that foot and vehicle traffic was definitely not enough for that many people. Unless they bussed them in through magical, invisible unicorn bus. Thousands of people? Yes. 75k? Not in this lifetime.

2) The media didn't seem interested in putting any opposition in their reports of the event except the anti-abortion people (go figure). No one could actually go on the grounds with any posters or other items so any visual protests were kept some distance from the actual event.

3) Another KC blogger might have pictures up soon. Stand by.

4) I had someplace to go and couldn't hang out until 6pm when Obama appeared. Sorry, but I actually have a life outside of politics and blogging (scary, I know) and had other plans before the rally happened. Probably one reason why it wasn't nearly as exciting as it could have been and why I couldn't catch the media.

5) But, have no fear...Underdog was here. Or, at least, American ingenuity. I walked back to the truck, found a roll of tape and taped the giant "Jane the Plumber" sign to my tailgate. I drove very, very slowly by the still gathering crowds, turned and went up the second street. My guess is that most of them are not really that involved or knowledgeable about politics considering most of them had "huh?" looks on their faces (which would also explain why they were hanging at the Obama rally). Honestly, if I'd wanted a bigger or more vitriol response, I would have went with my gut instinct and made a sign like "Tax Slave" or something.

What I think is most important is not necessarily eliciting negative responses, but the positive responses. Largely from the cars passing by or those driving behind me as I went home. Which gave me some hope that the world isn't totally crazy. Not yet, anyway.

In the end, not an exciting event to blog about, but certainly exciting to have participated in a public venue.

I suggest that anyone wanting to be involved in the process should try other activities besides internet. Rallies are great, whether opposing or supporting. I've been on the THE local talk radio four times in the last week. How you do it is simple: have a compelling two minute speech prepared for the daily talking points. If you are reading here, you know the talking points. You know many of the answers. I don't mean canned political responses. I mean expressing your thoughts succinct and intelligent.

Another blogger I know has been on THE local talk radio station, KMBZ after each of the last three debates.

Write letters to the editor. Etc, etc, etc. I plan to write this weekend, hopefully for acceptance this coming week. The KC Star is a McClatchy paper so the cartoons, editorials and general stories on political subjects are definitely left leaning. However, they do put at least one conservative letter for every three left leaning letters in the paper. Fair and balanced? In Obama world, maybe.

The only thing I am a little sad about is that this might be the last big rally from either candidate in KC. McCain is going to be in Belton on Monday, just south of KC. Not the most exciting venue and likely not to draw as big a crowd, but relatively smart for McCain. In 2000 and 2004, Missouri didn't go red because St. Louis or Kansas City was red (they were deep blue). Missouri was red because the suburbs, small towns and rural areas voted red. Are we going to see Palin again?

My guess is that the same demographics will apply this time. The question is whether the rural and suburb areas will stay as red as previously. Particularly based on the giant McCain/Palin signs in my middle class suburb. One is placed in a very strategic place: right on the corner lot of a house straight across from the entrance/exit of the one grocery store with a radius of four miles. Another tell is that, at the party I was attending Saturday evening, someone brought up politics. There were mostly "me, too's" after I decided to just go whole hog and announce loudly that I was voting for McCain.

Finally, I want to make one final point, if you aren't bored out of your gourd yet.

Obama gave another of his "stump speeches" in which he lied, lied, lied. No surprise here. However, one of his big claims is that he is going to clean up the system of patronage from lobbyists to politicians. Further, he claimed that he has not accepted any donations from any lobbyists.

This man is a liar non-par. Frank Clark, CEO of Common Wealth Edison, a registered lobbyist is one of the top 20 bundlers for Obama. He is certainly listed on Open Secrets as "University of Chicago" where he is a "trustee". However, Frank has two problems: 1) he is a registered lobbyist, 2) he is a trustee where Michelle Obama is VP of Community Affairs. A university that received a $1 million earmark through Obama. What do you call that except "special interest"?

No media will investigate this or make a comment on it because, technically, Frank is bundling as an associate of the university. However, Exelon PAC is one of Obama's top donors. Exelon owns Commonwealth Edison. Tom Ayers, Bill Ayers father, was CEO of ComEd and helped Obama get many of his jobs from Sidley and Austen, to the Woods Foundation (Woods family coal company major Illinois supplier for ComED) and his run for Illinois Senate and US Senate.

If you have read here before, you know that I have written about all of the connections. The point is, this guy keeps saying he is going to end the political relationships with special interests and insisting he has no connections to any special interests through lobbyists.

He is lying. But, I don't really have to tell you all that. What I'm concerned about is that no one else seems to care that he's lying. Some how, this is considered acceptable because Obama is going to shed his true nature and over come his natural tendencies to magically become a noble and capable leader when he is in the oval office.

Beyond that, suggesting Obama is a scumbag liar is "racist".

Now there's a sign for the next election.

posted by xgenghisx at 05:59 AM

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