SUN EDITORIAL:

McCain’s empty campaign

Republican presidential candidate has failed to make the case why he is different from Bush

Monday, Nov. 3, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

No matter how often Republican presidential candidate John McCain crisscrosses the United States masquerading as a maverick, he cannot escape the fact he is actually an assembly line version of President George W. Bush. As the general election wraps up Tuesday, McCain has failed to make the case that he is much different from fellow-Republican Bush, who will leave this country worse off than when he took office in 2001.

McCain is certainly no Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent. Obama is the only candidate in the race who will deliver the positive changes in domestic and foreign policy that Americans deserve.

When McCain stops in Las Vegas today in a last-ditch effort to rescue his sagging campaign, the real news will be what he won’t tell Nevadans.

He won’t tell Nevadans that he voted with Bush 90 percent of the time over the past eight years.

He won’t tell Nevadans that he has ignored scientific evidence in supporting a nuclear waste dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, a dump that Obama opposes.

He won’t tell Nevadans that American troops should be withdrawn from Iraq before the end of the 21st century.

He won’t tell Nevadans that his economic plan doesn’t go beyond extending more tax breaks to Big Oil and further enriching wealthy Americans.

He won’t tell Nevadans about his lack of sufficient judgment to occupy the White House, with the selection of running mate Sarah Palin representing Exhibit A.

Palin, the Alaska governor who will be in Reno and Elko today, clearly is unfit to lead the nation should something happen to McCain. There is no question Palin has energized the far right wing of the Republican Party, but she has turned off everyone else, which means the vast majority of Americans.

She has a shallow grasp of foreign affairs and can hardly back up her claims of being someone who could clean up Washington when her own ethical conduct as governor has come under a cloud.

What McCain will likely tell Nevadans is that he will “change” Washington, but he has yet to disclose what he means. We’re still waiting.

He has said he is a tested leader, but when he suspended his campaign this fall to give the impression that he could solve the nation’s financial crisis all by himself, he emerged appearing foolish and erratic. If anything, he fueled divisiveness among congressional Republicans on the federal bailout legislation and left Americans with the impression that he was in way over his head.

A vote for McCain is certain to have the effect of moving the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court farther to the right if he is given the chance to replace retiring justices. That would be bad news for those who treasure civil rights, environmental causes and consumer protections.

Bereft of ideas, McCain’s campaign has been reduced to empty slogans and name-calling. He has stood by as his surrogates and their far right-wing mouthpieces on television and talk radio spread ugly rumors about Obama, employing scare tactics that represent signs of desperation. That is precisely the business-as-usual approach to American politics that has turned off the public.

McCain represents the face of the past. Obama represents the vitality of the future.

It has been absolutely amazing to see how Obama has energized voters — witness the record numbers of new voter registrations occurring nationwide. He is getting people excited again about national politics.

One way the Democrat has accomplished this is by preaching an inclusiveness for all Americans — not just blue states versus red states, Democrats versus Republicans or liberals versus conservatives. His message is one of unity.

Equally impressive has been how Obama has maintained the high road throughout his campaign, resisting numerous chances to resort to gutter politics. McCain is certainly no Obama.

Obama has clearly demonstrated in the past year that he is fit to occupy the Oval Office. He is cool under pressure, something the temperamental McCain is not.

Most of all, he has a comprehensive package of solutions to problems, both foreign and domestic, which represents the type of forward thinking this country needs. McCain is certainly no Obama.

Obama wants more tax cuts to go to working men and women. He wants access to affordable health care for all Americans.

He wants to pursue a progressive strategy that will rely more heavily on renewable power sources such as solar, wind and geothermal energy and less on fossil fuels. He wants to reverse global warming and clean up our environment.

He wants to make it easier for everyone to pursue the American dream through access to higher education. And he wants to restore America’s global reputation as a goodwill nation.

Let’s give Obama the chance to usher in a new direction, one of hope and opportunity for all Americans.

Discussion: 18 comments so far…

By CharlesStewart

11/3/08 at 6:39 a.m.

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Barack Obama is "Rosemary's Baby" , an anti-American messiah, whose spiritual father is William Ayers.

On this past Halloween or Devil's night I was reminded of a very ominous movie: Rosemary's Baby. This movie was released in 1968 at the height of William Ayers anti-American terrorism. He was 24 years old and Barack Obama was a child of 7. The movie is about a less than immaculate conception between the Devil and a mortal woman in an attempt to give birth to a human antichrist, the Devil's Son, allowing evil to at last triumph over good. The coven of witches in the movie provided excellent pre-natal care. After the birth the coven took the baby and nourished him to insure he fulfilled his destiny: the capturing of men's souls by destroying their individual freedom.

Barack Obama is Rosemary's baby all grown up. William Ayers, the erstwhile Lord of the Flies, is his spiritual father. After all, we now know that Ayers is really the "ghost" writer of Obama's book, "Dreams of My Father". These "Dreams" are not his biological father's dreams but those of his spiritual father, William Ayers.

William Ayers grew up hating America. He and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn formed the Weatherman Underground, a terrorist organization that used violence to bomb the Capitol Building and kill police officers. They remain admitted criminals who escaped conviction through a legal technicality. Many revolutionary counter culturalists of their generation changed from violent means of destroying the United States to more sophisticated tactics by entering main stream America through higher education, politics and the media. They now control many of these institutions. Ayers became a tenured university professor. He created a pedagogy for children, now used in some public schools, that revises our history and instructs his students that the US Constitution, which he abhors, is not an inspired but a flawed document. It teaches that the United States is an evil and oppressive country that should be replaced by a one world order. Through this curriculum Ayers now subtly terrorizes our children.
By CharlesStewart

11/3/08 at 6:41 a.m.

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Ayers understood the power of using the public schools to reeducate our children. He also understood the possibility of capturing power through legitimate political means. Imagine, if he could actually take control of the country. He wouldn't have to waste time slowly re-educating children one school at a time. By using the very government institutions he had fought all his life to destroy, he could effect the change he coveted. If he could gain the presidency, activist courts would be created and the destruction and change of the constitution would be complete. (Barak Obama openly plans to appoint activist judges to "reinterpret" the constitution to impose absolute Central Government sovereignty over States rights and "redistribute wealth".)

In 1987 a miracle happened. William Ayers met Barack Obama and Ayers' prayers, so to speak, were answered. Here was an articulate, charismatic young man who shared his same counter-cultural, anti-American philosophy,
By CharlesStewart

11/3/08 at 6:43 a.m.

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After Barack's biological father abandoned the family, his mother continued to pursue her own revisionist education. She was a product and kindred spirit of the anti-establishment, pseudo-revolutionary 1960's of Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Army, Charles Manson, the Black Panthers, Haight-Ashbury and the Weatherman Underground, all of whom advocated the violent overthrow of the United States. Obama was raised with this anti-American sentiment as the underlying core value in his home. He was literally taught at his mother's knee that America was a bad and oppressive imperialistic nation that should be overthrown and that the constitution was flawed. As a child, his soul couldn't help but be imbued with the anti-American philosophy of his mother. When this young man entered college he quite naturally pursued the liberal mantra of universal equality and the dogma of deconstructionism that is pervasive in the unhallowed halls of higher education. He became a champion of hate and change of the American way of life. He gravitated to a religion whose pastor preached racism, hatred, conspiracy and above all wanted God to "Damn America." Obama felt comfortable in this religion for 20 years. It resonated with who he was and what he had been taught.
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After Ayers met Obama, Ayers recognized that here was the seed for his antichrist, his stealth messiah to once and for all destroy the Constitution of the United States and establish one rule world order. He conceived his plan and impregnated the world with his spiritual son one night in his home in Chicago when he began to mold Obama for politics. Ayers used his life long acquired financial resources and positions of influence to cultivate and protect the gestational period through the first trimester of "community activism". Then it was on to the second trimester in the Illinois State Senate. Only the finest indoctrinators of hate such as Rashid Khalidi, the radical anti-Semite, Arab-American ally of the PLO, would be allowed to provide prenatal care. (The video tape of this meeting is being suppressed by the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.) Now Ayers had his unborn child. No choice for abortion would be allowed. He had nurtured and mentored him, funded him and educated him in the motto of Marxist revolution: the end justifies any means. Ayers instructed him in the catechism of conspiracy. Any lie can be told. Any promise can be broken. Any relationship can be severed as long as power is gained. The third trimester in the Senate of the United States of America arrived. Now, finally, the "change we've been waiting for" was near. The fundamental remaking of the constitution (and the loss of individual freedom) was at hand. The complete control of men's lives was almost his. All Ayers had to do was bring him, the One, to term without a miscarriage. His due date was Nov. 4.
By CharlesStewart

11/3/08 at 6:45 a.m.

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Ayers got lucky and found the perfect storm for the birth of his child. A liberal Democratic Congress controlled by dedicated 60's style socialists had come to power because a cowardly, opposition party had lost its way and was deservedly thrown out in 2006. This was combined now with an opposition candidate running a disorganized campaign, a country at war but desperately wanting peace and an African-American candidate who didn't have to play the race card. He was the race card. Ayers even had his coven of witches in a powerful liberal anti-American media that tempted the young and the vulnerable with promises of security, equality and vengeance. This media spread a gospel of envy and hate: Individual success is evil. Forced redistribution of wealth even if unearned is not only deserved, it is a virtue (Biden's "patriotic duty" tax increase, Obama's redistributionist judicial appointments). Even still the conservative candidate was creeping ahead because most people are good honest people (Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber). Then like an omen form Hell, a bear with cloven feet, drunk on socialist economic policy, rose up and crashed the stock market one month before the election or due date. The Devil himself, the Lord of the Flies, could not have planned any better the destruction of the United States, the hope of the free world and individual liberty.

Ayers and his coven are dedicated, unrepentant Marxist criminals and terrorists intent on destroying the American Dream of individual achievement substituting instead total government and authoritarian control of men's lives. Barack Obama is their surrogate son. He may be a good person but he is heart and soul committed to the changing of America by any means. Remember: it is becoming clear that William Ayers is the principle author of Obama's book "Dreams of My Father." Obama is profoundly influenced by Ayers and his ilk and has been since his earliest childhood. Indeed Ayers is his spiritual father. The "audacity of lies" from the Lord of the Flies is incarnate in Barack Obama.

Rosemary's baby has grown up.

At the end of the film, Rosemary stood over the crib with a knife, poised to kill her baby because she realized who he really was and what he would do. But she couldn't kill him because, after all, he was her baby. (That doesn't mean she would vote for him.) The coven stood around the crib adoringly talking about his cute little horns. And so the baby became a man.
By CharlesStewart

11/3/08 at 6:46 a.m.

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I urge all Americans who love this country to have the courage that the former Republican controlled congress lacked and vote against Barack Obama. Look beyond the attractive, articulate, charismatic man. His horns i.e. William Ayers and Jeremy Wright aren't so cute. We know that John McCain, for all his failings, loves this country. He has and will defend the Constitution with his life if necessary. Barak Obama does not love this country. He loves a different world with authoritarian, socialist rules. He wants to change and destroy our constitution. John McCain sincerely asks God to bless America. Barack Obama follows a priest who wants God to "damn America."

I love America the Beautiful, land of the free and home of the brave. I believe the Constitution of the United States is a unique and inspired document. I believe the Declaration of Independence and declare it to the world as the torch of Liberty. I want to live free. This election day we have a choice: the legacy of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln or the legacy of Carl Marx, William Ayers and the Weatherman Underground. I chose freedom. I chose America. I chose John McCain. .

Charles Stewart
Former Utah State Senator
447 West 4150 North
Provo, Utah
By JohnF

11/3/08 at 6:47 a.m.

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Mr. Stewart really ought to seek help. Seriously.
By johnevegas

11/3/08 at 7:10 a.m.

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Hey Charley, most who people who read the Sun are able to think. Try the RJ, they're more emotional about the world and may relate better to your stuff.
By Sunvisitor

11/3/08 at 7:46 a.m.

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What a sad person Mr. Steward it. How pathetic to use God's name to promote your sick views.
By PatriciaLV

11/3/08 at 8:25 a.m.

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Wow; he didn't miss one single tired talking point. That has to be some kind of a record. I'm not surprised you're a "[f]ormer Utah State Senator".

This is so mean of me but I can't help it. It's so much fun to watch the breakdowns.

I'm sorry; I'm really sorry. But I can't stop laughing.

I used to feel sorry for these people. But after eight years of the willful ignorance and cognitive dissonance and disconnect and the twisting and spinning and outright lying and the rationalizations and the justifications and deliberate rudeness and the ohmygod arrogance, any sympathy I had for these people has long been washed away in tears of laughter at the idiocy of it all.
By Bass

11/3/08 at 10:30 a.m.

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Why isn't there a story on this?
"If somebody wants to build a coal power plant they can, it's just that it will bankrupt them because they are going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted," Barack Obama said to the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2008. You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal, uh, you know -- Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Even regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad. Because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal power plants, you know, natural gas, you name it -- whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, uh, they would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers. Electric costs will skyrocket."
These undisputed, audio-taped remarks, which include comments from Senator Obama like 'I haven't been some coal booster' and 'if they want to build [coal plants], they can, but it will bankrupt them' are extraordinarily misguided. "It's evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state's voters.
By swf49forObama

11/3/08 at 11:39 a.m.

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Bass wrote "It's evident that this campaign has been pandering in states like Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana and Pennsylvania to attempt to generate votes from coal supporters, while keeping his true agenda hidden from the state's voters.
NOT! republicans use a hidden agenda - Obama is a clear, calm and cool message of hope!
i voted for OBAMA/BIDEN '08!
By jfnance32

11/3/08 at 12:03 p.m.

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So Obama is for coal, right?

During the next four years, he is encourage the use of coal and not tax it or try to prevent the building of new coal plants.

Wow...Obama is for coal!!!!!!!

Lets put that on the list of his promises.
By bitchincamaro

11/3/08 at 1:22 p.m.

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Wow! What an extraordinary work of fiction by Mr. Stewart. By far the most entertaining thing I have read for a while.

Quite convincing, Obama is the anti-christ! JFnance, this guy has you beat! Why didn't you think of this?
By KDR81

11/3/08 at 5:05 p.m.

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That is because McCain isn't that much different from Bush, but neither is Obama.

We'll have more spending, more regulations, and bigger government under Obama or McCain just as we got with Bush.

http://npri.org/blog/laissez-journalism
By gmag39

11/3/08 at 11:12 p.m.

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KDR81, hard to disagree with that one.
Excepting that we have a degree of hope that things will change for the better under Obama. We know exactly what we'd get with McCain. 4 more years. ish.
By renomuse

11/5/08 at 2:06 a.m.

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I will not soon forget the hateful spew that came out of the mouths of immature Republican adults, thanks to McCain and Palin.

Grow up.
By renomuse

11/5/08 at 2:11 a.m.

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BTW, I think Secret Service needs to be alerted about former Utah State Senator Charles Stewart. Sounds like a whackjob one brick away from a major collapse.
By johnevegas

11/5/08 at 5:01 a.m.

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CharlesStewart "He created a pedagogy for children, now used in some public schools, that revises our history and instructs his students that the US Constitution, which he abhors, is not an inspired but a flawed document."

Why can't it be both? And are you suggesting that it would be better to teach only government approved dogma? Putin? Is that you?

"It teaches that the United States is an evil and oppressive country that should be replaced by a one world order."

Tell you what. On April 15th of every year, I feel exactly the same way!

"Through this curriculum Ayers now subtly terrorizes our children."

The little bastards probably deserve it. Usually it's the kids who terrorize the teachers!

Grow up Charley. Your campaign of fear and hatred was a massive failure. Like your president, and his entire time in office, it is a nightmare that is finally FINALLY ending. Good riddance!