Note: Ordinary Joes Get Extraordinary Scrutiny

No Fanfare for the Common Man
Democratic attacks now extend to ordinary supporters
By Andrew R. Quinio

Complaints about vicious political attacks and negative campaigning seem to grow with each presidential election. Our tolerance for politics nears its limits with each television ad, editorial, and news article airing the candidates’ dirty, filthy, juicy, and scandal-ridden laundry. But this year, McCain supporters in particular have every reason to complain, for it is their own hampers that have been raided. Not only are they the audience to current political attack campaigns, they are the target of them.

Just ask Bristol Palin and Joe Wurzelbacher, the plumber made famous—and now infamous—in the third presidential debate. Who knew that simply being the daughter of a vice-presidential candidate or a concerned citizen questioning the Democratic nominee would attract investigative journalists and opposition researchers to your front lawn?

Bristol Palin is not a candidate for vice-president, yet the news of her pregnancy made its way into the crude jokes of the MTV Movie Awards and late-night talk shows. Joe the Plumber isn’t running against Barack Obama, yet his tax records, work history, and personal background are being investigated as if he is. The special brand of bullying once reserved for those seeking public office is now dished out to the general conservative public.

Who among Barack Obama’s ordinary supporters can be considered equivalent to Bristol Palin and Joe the Plumber? What household names has the right-wing attack machine produced that the media can surgically pick apart?

There aren’t any.

And no, Bill Ayers and Rev. Jeremiah Wright don’t count. Both men actively sought and gained infamy all on their own. To any normal observer, a pregnant teen and an outspoken taxpayer would be less deserving of fierce public scrutiny than a domestic terrorist and a vocal anti-American preacher with a congregation of over 8,000.

But with special guidance from the media, many can now drone endlessly about the family-values hypocrisy demonstrated by Bristol Palin’s pregnancy while accepting Ayers as just “some guy who lives in the neighborhood.” What’s that business about Ayer’s bombing the Pentagon and helping to launch Obama’s political career from his living room? That’s all well and good, but did you hear that Joe the Plumber is a tax evader? Someone find out how many homes this guy has!

There is no one among Obama’s ordinary supporters that has been as harshly violated as Bristol and Joe, and there certainly shouldn’t be. If only the Democrats demonstrated the same restraint as the Republicans, rather than treating every unassuming McCain supporter like Robert Bork, the politics of Hope would seem less like the politics of Harassment. This is Change you’re gonna believe in, or else.

The media has even found it appalling that people attending enthusiastic, expressive, and loud campaign rallies are acting enthusiastic, expressive and loud. They nearly called out the National Guard when someone at a McCain rally allegedly yelled, “kill him” at the mention of Obama’s name. Though a Secret Service investigation later concluded that the allegation was unfounded, the media narrative had already spun the rallies as racist hate fests. I must have missed the countless stories of Obama rallies spreading the love for John McCain.

This election has been all about the average Joe, but Democrats have given the average Joe the wrong type of attention. How much more are we willing to tolerate when we could barely even stomach the political attacks on the regular candidates? And what will we do today to protect other ordinary Joes from unwarranted scrutiny four years from now? As Martin Niemöller reminds us:

First they came for Bristol Palin, but I did not speak out because I was not a veep nominee’s daughter;
Then they came for Joe the Plumber, but I did not speak out because I was not a plumber;
Then they came for me…

Prepare yourself for 2012. Politics is now a sport where we are more than just spectators.

46th Congressional District Debate- Rohrabacher Fights On

From left to right- Gastgeiger, Rohrabacher, Lash, and Cook.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher entered the lion’s den today, debating three of his challengers in front of a mostly adversarial audience at Orange Coast Community College. Sharing the stage with Rohrabacher was Libertarian Party candidate Ernst Gastgeiger, Green Party candidate Tom Lash, and Rohrabacher’s more prominent opponent, Democratic mayor of Huntington Beach, Debbie Cook.

As expected, most of the audience was composed of Cook supporters. The Rohrabacher campaign had to have anticipated the hostile audience, knowing the debate was taking place at a college. The few Rohrabacher supporters in attendance were enthusiastic, expressive, and unlike the Cook supporters, came waving small American flags. This led one of the tolerant and open-minded students of OCC sitting next to me to refer to the Rohrabacher cheering section as “old kooks.”

There certainly was an age difference between Rohrabacher’s supporters and Cook’s supporters, but it is a difference that persists between Republicans and Democrats. It wasn’t a surprise then to hear the young people snickering at Rohrabacher’s responses, or the older folks in the crowd waving Old Glory at Cook’s rebuttals.

The audience guided the focus of the debate through the questions they submitted on paper. Thus, there was plenty of read meat to satiate their left-leaning appetites. The discussion was filled with questions about the environment, health care, Proposition 8, and withdrawal from Iraq. My own row companions, endearing in their matching, bright orange “Stop Global Warming” t-shirts, grew especially giddy when the first question read by the moderator, OCC President Robert Dees, dealt with climate change.

While the audience was primarily there for Cook, they grew particularly fond of Green Party Candidate Lash. He said what everyone in the audience wanted to hear—no war, health care for all, education for all, no one is illegal, beware the creeping fascism, I drive a hybrid car. But my personal favorite was his argument for open borders: “We can afford to be kind.”

Lash delivered his talking points with an impressively arrogant, condescending tone. He was almost lecturing the crowd about what they need to be given by the government, as if they needed instruction in federal handouts. This might be because of his profession (Lash is a teacher at Corona Del Mar High School), but it’s is probably due more to the ideology to which he subcribes, which dictates that government knows best.

It got Rohrabacher’s supporters riled up, but not Rohrabacher himself. Though Lash tried to provoke the congressmen several times with juicy left-wing declarations, like “[Republicans] are the ones taking your security away, not the terrorists,” Rohrabacher stayed on message, reserving his fire for Cook.

Rohrahbacher’s undaunted presentation and focus made him the winner of the debate. Even though the crowd was against him, Rohrabacher made an agressive, persistent, and unshaken case for freedom and small government. He also refused to back down from his support for secure borders, which of course angered the audience.

The most important point Rohrabacher made was during a question about the bailout bill. Rohrabacher, who voted “no” on both versions of the bailout bill, pressed Cook to give a direct answer on her support for the bailout. The implication was that Cook flip-flopped on the bailout, expressing opposition to it at first, but later expressing support for it. Cook pivoted around the issue several times, but at one point addressed the question by explaining that her support changed as the content of the bailout bill changed. She essentially argued that her stance only seemed like it changed because she was expressing it in real-time. It was a weak answer, and it gave Roharabacher the opportunity to distinguish himself from Cook as someone that is clear and direct with his positions, even if you don’t agree with them. Rohrabacher successfully hammered away at this point, and it clearly flustered Cook. “I make it very clear what my positions are,” Rohrabacher said.

Cook was strong on the energy and environment issues at the beginning of the debate, but faded as Rohrabacher got more aggressive and Lash took more of her audience. It revealed that Cook is a very conventional Democrat that will probably go with the flow of conventional Democratic wisdom in the House. The mayor doesn’t come off a someone that would be willing to take on Speaker Pelosi and assert at least some independence for her district’s agenda. Rorhabacher, on the other hand, has taken on leaders of both parties. I recall the Congressman expressing harsh words for President Bush at last year’s Western CPAC. Rohrabacher has been unapologetic in his criticism of Bush on illegal immigration, foreign policy, and trade.

Cook also displayed an uncritical deference to government, even as it becomes more apparent that government intrusion has been responsible for our current financial woes. On government transparency she said, “Government provides a level of transparency that you don’t get from business.”  Rohrabacher rebutted sharply, “If you want transparency, don’t centralize power in federal government.”

I regret not having much to write about Libertarian Candidate Ernst Gastgeiger, for the longshot made several extremely valuable points about limited government and personal responsibility. He was unable, however, to construct those points into an articulate or engaging argument. His passion for libertarian ideals was unfortunately subdued, lacking the fire of Ron Paul.

All in all, it was a good debate for Rohrabacher. His main opponent was a milquetoast participant that couldn’t even connect with an already sympathetic crowd. Those that liked and didn’t like Rohrabacher were reminded of the common reason they felt the way they did. Rohrabacher is a fighter.

Pitching Ideas to Family Guy, and Suggestions for Biden

When previews for last night’s Family Guy showed Stewie and Brian running through Nazi Germany, I knew there had to be at least one reference to President Bush in the episode. They instead took a swipe at the GOP presidential ticket, with Stewie discovering a McCain/Palin campaign button affixed on his Nazi uniform. Check it out:

It was a cheap but predictable shot. Anyone who watches the show regularly probably saw it coming, so the writer’s may want to consider some new material. Allow me to make some suggestions.

How about an episode where Peter winds up in Cuba and seeks out Fidel Castro for help. When he arrives in Havana, he finds El Comandante en Jefe wearing the popular shirt printed with Obama’s silhouetted portrait.

Or in another episode, Lois is forced into a Pyongyang labor camp. To escape, she steals the uniform of a goosestepping North Korean soldier, but is dragged away by a commanding officer and given her marching orders. Still in uniform, she is ordered to phone-bank for Barack Obama.

Meanwhile, Quagmire is assigned to pilot the official airplane of the Libyan governnment. His passenger, Muammar al-Qaddafi, asks him to reroute the plane to Chicago, where William Ayers has invited him to a special fundraiser for Sen. Obama.

The beauty of these episodes is that they practically write themselves. Fidel Castro, Kim Jong Il, and Muammar al-Qaddafi have each expressed support for the Illinois Senator. As the Simpsons like to say, “It’s funny because it’s true.”

But where does all this dictator-love come from? Joe Biden might have an explanation:

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

I don’t think attracting an international crisis is a compelling reason to vote for Barack Obama. Biden probably needs to refine his message delivery a bit, because “Vote Obama if you want a national security debacle” doesn’t look too good on a bumper sticker. But at least Biden is admitting the foregin policy inexperience of his own candidate and his susceptibility to getting pushed around on the world stage, while implying that global bad guys wouldn’t dare test the mettle of John McCain.

Powell-ing Around with Obama

The media has been busy today reporting something that we all saw coming: Secretary of State Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama for President. It’s big news indeed considering Powell crossed party lines with his endorsement, but then again so did Joe Lieberman. It comes as no surprise that the mainstream media would herald one cross-party endorsement over another.

Sen. Lieberman addresses the Republican Nationa Convention. Photo courtesy of Time Magazine.

Lieberman’s endorsment of McCain is equal to, if not bigger, than Gen. Powell’s endorsement of Obama. Lieberman after all was the Democratic VP nominee in 2000, running on the same ticket as the left’s original savior, Al Gore. As the former 2nd top Democrat endorsing a Republican, you would think the Connecticut senator would be the subject of every television debate, op-ed, and political science thesis. Lieberman has campaigned agressively for McCain and even spoke at the RNC National convention. Gen. Powell, on the other hand, goes on Meet the Press to make an expected pitch for Obama but says he wont campaign for the junior senator, and he gets as much attention as the moon landing.

Where was the heightened news coverage when lifelong Democrat and president of the Los Angeles chapter of the far left-wing National Organization for Women, Shelly Mandell, endorsed the McCain/Palin ticket? Mandell even introduced Gov. Palin at a rally in Carson, CA earlier this month.

Why didn’t news tickers display non-stop headlines about Hillary Clinton supporters holding a fundraiser for Palin in New York? They raised over $500,000 for the campaign, but there weren’t any in-depth roundtable dicussions featuring the media’s top political windbags explaining how this may be a “symptom of what’s wrong with the party.”

I am interested to see what the liberal reaction is to an endorsement from a man that helped to make the case for the war that they despise. The political existence of many on the far left is partly because of Gen. Powell, and I wonder how many of them will conveniently forget that.

Does this also mean Harry Belafonte will take back the disgusting things he said about Gen. Powell back in 2002?

Scenes from OC- McCain in Newport Beach

It has been a tough campaign, but McCain knows that he can always come to Orange County for some encouragement. Here he is with his wife Cindy greeting volunteers in Newport Beach. You really don’t see much of Newport Beach, but you do get to see many of its upstanding residents. How do I know they are upstanding? Because none of them are sitting down. They are also volunteering for the McCain campaign, so you know they put their Country first.

But doesn’t Obama’s supporters also want to put the country first? Well they’re supporting a guy that is more interested in changing the world.

Newport Beach is the Milan of Orange County. It is a trendy city that is home to Fashion Island, an open-air shopping mall where Southern California’s first-class fashionistas can be found walking their neatly groomed poodles while sipping their pomegranate iced tea. It is the less depressing America that disgraced Senator John Edwards frequently demonized to propel himself to public office. But even Edwards succumbed to the affluent power that he so often used as a political punching bag, holding an expensive fundraiser in the Other America’s luxurious hotel and resort, the Balboa Bay Club. Together with members from the local Republican clubs, I greeted Sen. Edwards with a 22″ x 28″ posterboard that read, “Flush the Johns.” (This was in 2004, when Edwards was the Democrat veep nominee and John Kerry the presidential nominee).

The following video comes from Anthony Vultaggio, Conservative talk radio host and resident of Rancho Santa Margarita. Vultaggio is an unapologetic conservative that represents the best of Reagan Country. You can listen to him every Saturday night at 9 on KRLA 870AM.

Protecting Joe Plumber From Senator Government

Here is my commentary on the third Presidential Debate, first posted at Asian-Americans for McCain:

At tonight’s debate, McCain exposed Obama’s agenda for what it is — a tax raising, government expanding, job killing, income redistributing, big spending policy for America. In other words, it was the typical liberal plan that does nothing more than hinder the American dream for so many hard working families.

McCain named one hard working American in particular, Joe Wurzelbacher, the Ohio plumber that got Obama to admit that his backwards economic plan was meant to “spread the wealth around.” In defending Joe the Plumber’s right to prosper, McCain hammered away agressively at Obama’s plan to increase taxes on small business, rightly explaning that many small businesses are included in the tax bracket on which Obama wants to raise taxes (See Irene’s excellent explanation of the impact of Obama’s economic plan on small business here and here).

But McCain wasn’t just speaking to Wurzelbacher. He was speaking to all the Joe Plumbers across America that simply do not want to be punished for working hard. McCain said:

“Why would you want toincrease anybody’s taxes right now? Why would you want to do that — anyone, anyone in America — when we have such a tough time, when these small-business people like Joe the plumber are going to create jobs unless you take that money from him.”

Obama went on to defend his tax plan by arguing that people like billionaire Warren Buffett could afford to pay a little more. But that clearly doesn’t explain why Joe the Plumber and other Americans like him, who presumably aren’t as rich as Warren Buffett, should be punished with higher taxes.

Obama’s unique brand of class warfare rhetoric demonstrates his detachment from the real and assorted aspects of our nation’s economy. From Obama’s point of view, you are either middle class or you are a billionaire. The Joe Plumbers that fall somewhere in the middle are simply out of sight. So it is no wonder that Obama does not understand where somone like Mr. Wurzelbacher is coming from, or why he complains of higher taxes. When the best reference you have for someone making over $250,000 is Warren Buffett, then Joe the Plumber will certainly be viewed as an oddity. But for someone like John McCain, who doesn’t have a simplistic rich vs. poor menatlity of the economy, Joe Plumber’s concerns are real.

Obama attempted to portray McCain as being against equal pay for women, citing  McCain’s opposition to the 2007 Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was written in response to the Supreme Court decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Obama, however, needs to follow his own principles. Columnist Deroy Murdock found that Obama pays women working in his senate office “just 83 cents for every dollar his men make.” Meanwhile, “women in John McCain’s office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. A typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart — while adding $10,726 to her annual income — by leaving Barack Obama’s office and going to work for John McCain.” Just another example of Obama talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

On abortion, Obama was just as scattered and evasive on the topic as he was at the Saddleback Forum. It’s amazing how certain he is of a supposed constitutional right to abortion, but when it comes to the fundamental, inalieanable right to life, it is “above his pay grade.” Thankfully, Sen. McCain did not apologize for protecting the unborn. He ended his response to the abortion question with a simple yet powerful statement: “We’ll help take care of them.” It is that type of care and compassion that is too often subsituted by the cold rhetoric of “choice.”

In the end, McCain reminded America that selecting the next president was a matter of trust. It was the Straight Talk Express versus the All Talk No Walk Air, with nonstop service to Washington, departing from the living room of William Ayers. Hopefully America will get on board with the right candidate.

The post-debate commentary from many of the mainstream media pundits was severely disappointing, including on Fox News. They were more impressed by how Obama looked and acted and less concerned with the substantive points made by McCain. It was as if they were watching a completely different debate. Grinning smugly each time your far-left leaning positions on abortion, taxes, and trade are unmasked isn’t that impressive.  It’s actually quite a turn off. Obama was forced by McCain to explain himself on a number of issues, including his ties to vote-fraud machine ACORM, and his explanations mostly fell flat. Obama would retreat behind that guileful smirk, a defense mechanism utilized each time his agenda was shaply picked apart by the Maverick.

Pundits were dissastified by the lack of “knockout punches” from McCain, but that doesn’t mean the Arizona senator didn’t deliver any decisive blows. If McCain is as agressive and focused on the campaign trail as he was in last night’s debate, Joe Plumbers from all across the country will get the message and help deliver the knockout punch to the Obama campaign. They certainly don’t need the media elite to tell them who won the third round.

Reclaiming My Time With You

Allow me to clear out some of the cobwebs on this blog, which have gathered during my absence. I have neglected El Quinio over the past few weeks, but with good reason. I’ve been writing over at Asian-Americans for McCain. But I prefer to say that I am working with American McCain supporters that just happen to be of Asian descent.

As we near Election Day, I have become more of a grassroots volunteer and less of an armchair commentator, so I have ignored this blog like the mainstream media has ignored Barack Obama’s glaring ties to several nefarious figures of the anti-American Left.  As they say of every election, this one is the most important that we have ever faced. Though this time, I don’t think it’s too far from the truth.

There are those out there, like me, that still believe socialism is destructive. They are, for the most part, working to defeat Obama and elect McCain. The current economic crisis has given big government wealth-distributors an opening to carry forth their ruinous agenda. (See here and here). Americans seem tempted to embrace it, which makes the work of the McCain/Palin volunteers in persuading the public in the other direction so important. It is easier to prevent government from growing than it is to shrink it.  Obama has thus far been able to sway the masses with empty phrases and shallow rhetoric. They may just as easily follow him down the path of big government. The public momentum for big government  will be even greater and even less reversible if the presidential bully pulpit belongs to Obama. Small government must be restored, and the restoration starts by defeating Barack Obama.

That was the long explanation for why I have devoted my time to the McCain campaign.

While I author more posts in defense of small government and conservative principles, please enjoy this acoustic performance of “My Time With You,” by Kina Grannis and Fullteron’s David Choi, another rising YouTube star. It is a sweet, upbeat song that should be prescribed for any bad day. I blogged about Kina before as part of “Scenes from OC,” a weekly post that has also been sorely neglected. That too shall make its triumphant return soon.