I just finished reading Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime. This books provides an inside view of the 2008 presidential campaign and all its personalities. If more than half of what is in the book is true, it is extraordinarily damning of the people involved in 2008. We should have all pulled a lever labeled, “None of the above.” All the candidates who ran for the nomination and presidency from both parties are portrayed as megalomaniacs, bumbling fools or disorganized big mouths and hypocrites. How sad for this country.

My reading of the book makes me feel that it is historically accurate. My only reservation is that the authors may be closet Obama liberals. I do not know enough about their backgrounds to make a definitive statement. What I do know is from the inside flap of the book which says that John Heilemann is the national political correspondent and columnist for New York magazine and that he has written for The New Yorker, Wired and The Economist. Mark Halperin is editor-at-large and senior political analyst for Time magazine and also worked for ten years as the political director for ABC News. Their resumes do not exactly give me a feeling of conservative leanings.

The book is well written and is extremely interesting. I had to force myself to put it down and do other things. Because of this, I would recommend the book. My favorite quote from the book is from then Senator Hillary Clinton on March 3, 2008: “I have a lifetime of experience I will bring to the White House. Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he made in 2002.”

McCain: Remove all the special deals for the special interests and favored few and threat all Americans the same under provisions of the law so that they will know that geography does not dictate what kind of health care they would receive. I thank you Mr. President.

Obama: Let me just make this point, John, because we are not campaigning anymore, the election is over.

McCain: I’m reminded of that every day. (nervous laughter from McCain)

Obama: Well, yeah, uh. So, the uh. We can spend the remainder of the time with our respective talking points going back and forth. We were supposed to be talking about insurance.

Let me ask you, is this the “hope and change” and bipartisanship that Obama pledged?

You can download the audio file here.

Senator-elect Scott Brown becomes the 41st vote and prevents the Democrats from having unlimited power in the Senate. They will need to negotiate with Republicans and make some concessions to get legislation moved through or they could face a filibuster. This reality and the fact that the voters spoke loudly and clearly has already stymied the Democrat’s efforts at ramming health care reform through Congress and on Americans.

Air America has always been a joke of a radio network. It tried to produce a counter-point to conservative talk radio and the Fox News network which many perceive as conservative. (I think Fox News is fair and balanced.) Air America failed to garner listeners and was built on the premise that there was a need for such a network. Everyone with a quarter of a brain knows that there is no need for such a network when you have MSNBC, CNBC and the “broadcast” networks constantly drinking the Obama Kool-Aid and praising his every move. If Obama farts, MSNBC will broadcast that our visionary commander-in-chief has developed a new fragrance that will make a better world and spread peace and tranquility worldwide. (This would be funny if it were not true.)

The third item that has Democrats worried is that the Supreme Court decided that McCain-Feingold and other measures restrict freedom of speech. They decided in a 5-4 vote that corporations, unions and other entities  should be allowed to spend as much as they want on political ads and campaigns. Democrats know that since they are so anti-capitalist, they will not get the majority of this spending. Chances are that Republicans will benefit hugely from this. If you look at what has happened to the stock market since Obama pledged to go after the banks, you can understand why business will not favor the Democrats.

Personally, I am happiest about the first two items. Scott Brown winning in Massachusetts is a great thing. He seems like a genuine person who may have a great future ahead of him. Air America was always a wacky network. They had comedian and now Senator Al Franken (D-MN) on the air for a while. Doesn’t that say it all?

I always considered campaign finance reform to be a good thing. I have never been one to believe that a government seat should be purchased by any special interest group or corporation. Then again, I am also not fond of groups like ACORN that skirt our laws. Perhaps unlimited spending will offset the registration of “Mickey Mouse” as a voter. One can only hope.

The fact is that Democrats have had a bad week. One that they will surely not forget soon.

Here is video of the exchange:

It is uncommon to not allow a Senator to finish his or her comments on the Senate floor. Senator Franken needs to learn to be a little more disciplined and diplomatic in his approach if he intends to chair debate in the Senate. Franken behaved childishly and if you look at his smirk in the video, he knew he was being a complete jerk.

Democrats are lowering debate in this country and are trying to push through a health care bill that no one wants. They are doing this even if it requires disregarding the will of the people and being unprofessional to fellow Senators.

I can’t wait for the 2010 elections. Democrats will then see the will of the people inflicted on them.

It always strikes me as ironic how the Democrats try to take credit for being progressive when it comes to women and minorities. The first woman appointed to the court was Sandra Day O’Connor and she was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan. The first African-American Secretary of State; Colin Powell and the first black female Secretary of State; Condoleezza Rice were appointed by Republican President George W. Bush. President Bush also appointed Carlos Gutierrez—a Cuban-American as the first Secretary of Commerce.

But I digress, it is Judge Sotomayor’s activist record that is of grave concern to me and many other conservatives. The following clip shows that she believes in judicial activism and that she also realizes that it is not smart to admit it while cameras are rolling. She is also cocky enough to admit this fact and speak freely anyway.

I think we should all remember who voted for her during the next election and vote the scoundrels out. Senator John McCain—the man who should be President, voted against her nomination. I applaud him.

One can only speculate about what power plays are taking place in private right now, but what is certain is that Reid told Lieberman about this change yesterday. I am sure that Lieberman has some leverage since he could switch parties and lessen the Democrat majority (one can only hope). We will see what happens in the next couple of days.

The Democrats are angry at Lieberman because he campaigned with McCain and because he rightfully disparaged President-elect Obama. During a campaign interview, Lieberman said, “having worked with [Obama] in the Senate…he just hasn’t done very much”. He was also quoted in the New York Times as saying that the election was “between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put the country first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate who has not.” These sort of statements did not endear him with his party, with Reid or President-elect Obama.

Let’s all hope that Lieberman retains his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and that he retains his integrity as a true American leader.

Nonetheless, I want to congratulate President-elect Obama and all his supporters. They have achieved something that everyone thought was unimaginable just a few years ago. Obama has made history and has changed the United States forever by becoming the first African-American to become president.

Maybe the country will now have a period of healing and the racism that has often divided the country will be forever eliminated. I hope and pray so.

It was a moving moment for me to see Jesse Jackson crying at Obama’s victory party. It must be such a monumental moment for him and other African-Americans.

At the same time, I am saddened that a true American hero has lost his last chance at becoming President of the United States. Senator McCain will always be someone I admire and respect. His concession speech was so classy and gracious that it brought tears to my eyes.

God bless this country, its new president and our national hero who now must live out his years thinking about just how close he came to being Commander-In-Chief.

McCain said that since he could not afford a half hour commercial on several networks at once, he would instead sell campaign items on the QVC shopping network. He then offered a set of cutting knives for sale for “cutting through the pork in Washington, D.C.” Cindy McCain, his wife, offered “McCain Fine Gold” in a play on words of a campaign finance reform legislation that McCain co-sponsored with Wisconsin Democrat Senator Russ Feingold.

Tina Fey had her share of good lines as Governor Sarah Palin. She offered “Joe” action figures commemorating Joe the Plumber, Joe Six Pack and Senator Joe Biden. She also offered “Palin in 2012″ t-shirts and said that she would either run for president, or become the white Oprah in four years.

Perhaps the best lines for McCain were when he offered a set of ten commemorative plates that he said celebrate the ten town hall meetings that never happened. The plates were all blank. Later in the segment McCain said, “Look, would I rather be on three major networks? Of course, but I’m a true maverick–a Republican without money.”

Here is a Hulu clip of McCain’s appearance:

At a follow up campaign event, Obama changed his definition and reduced it to those of us making less than $200,000. Alright, he ran the numbers and made a mistake and was fixing it. I would accept that, except that a few days later when Senator “hiding” Biden was allowed to speak again, he said that they would provide tax relief to families making less than $150,000.

As if this downward spiral of lies were not enough, Governor Richardson of New Mexico yesterday said that the number would be $120,000. Well what is it? I am very confused at this point. Senator Obama has not said how he would make up for the budget shortfall that his ideas and programs would create.

What Obama has said is rather offensive. He said his redistribution of wealth is not Socialist, but instead that Senator McCain’s programs are “selfish.” I believe that his programs are Socialist and dangerous. We are at a time in our history where fiscal stability is paramount. Drowning us with new taxes will only drown the country. Watch this video:

Remember to vote on November 4th and watch out for nuts voting more than once and with no documentation.

Now this is the McCain we all want to see (He is really charged up in the last four minutes.):