HOPE ON - Let's Never Find Out

With my obligations to helping Mobile Meals of Toledo with their major fundraiser, the Wine Gala, I've not been able to post the last three HOPE ON videos...so here they are.

(Think that the Wine Gala might have set a record last night, in terms of funds raised...terrific!!!!)

These are the final posts in a 13-part series in the HOPE ON Project (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now). The daily videos involved are from NeverFindOut.org, a project of Let Freedom Ring.

Part 11 The Anti-Reagan: DarkeGOP.

Part 12 Left of Everyone: Darth Dilbert at Return of the Conservatives.

Part 13 Thank You Military.

Previous Posts — Part 1 (Obama “Part of the Problem” on Fan and Fred); Part 2 (”Energy”); Part 3 (”Punished”); Part 4 (”Number One”); Part 5 (”Earmarks”); Part 6 (’The Chicken Button’ and the Chicken Who Pushed It); Part 7 (”Trust” on Bill Ayers); Part 8 (”Middle Class”); Part 9 (”Not This Time”); Part 10 (”Income Taxes”).

Special thanks to Tom Blumer at BizzyBlog for organizing and following up on this effort!.

HOPE ON - Let's never find out

I've been remiss in sharing with you the HOPE-ON posts based upon the NeverFindOut.org videos.

#7 Trust: Weapons of Mass Discussion, Who can you trust? Obama and Ayers, or the Facts?

#8 Middle Class: One Oar in the Water, Middle Class

#9 Not This Time: American Experience US, Obama can rob America of its moment of greatness

#10 Taxes: Boring Made Dull, Will you be allowed to keep the change?

Previous Posts — Part 1 (Obama “Part of the Problem” on Fan and Fred); Part 2 (”Energy”); Part 3 (”Punished”); Part 4 (”Number One”); Part 5 (”Earmarks”); Part 6 (’The Chicken Button’ and the Chicken Who Pushed It).

This post is part of the HOPE ON Project (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now).

HOPE ON #6 - Chicken Button

This is the sixth part of the HOPE ON project with help from NeverFindOut.org

Leadership requires the ability to make a decision.

To register a vote in the Illinois General Assembly, lawmakers have a choice of three buttons on their desk. The "yes" button is green. The "no" button is red, and the "present" button is yellow, says Rich Miller, who writes and publishes The Capitol Fax, a daily newsletter and blog on Illinois politics.

"There's a saying in Springfield that there's a reason why the present button is yellow," Miller says. (source)

Chicken Button Video Transcript:

MAN: Senator Obama, you tell us you’re ready to lead America? Why didn’t you choose to lead Illinois? Do you remember the three buttons that were in front of you in the Senate? The green button for Yes, the red button for No, and the one you used one hundred and twenty nine times: the “Chicken Button”. Why, Senator, were you so consistently afraid to take a stand?

ANNOUNCER: What happens when we elect a Senator who loves the Chicken Button? Please, America, let’s never find out.

During his speech announcing his run for president, Obama said:

"What's stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we're distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions,"

That's what he said. What he did is a bit different. According to the New York Times, as an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama voted 'present' 130 times.

"An examination of Illinois records shows at least 36 times when Mr. Obama was either the only state senator to vote present or was part of a group of six or fewer to vote that way."

Interestingly, many of the votes were politically sensitive. At times, Obama was the only lawmaker voting "present" on bills winning near unanimous support, even on issues he supported and on one he actually sponsored.

His record shows a number of occasions when Obama avoided making hard choices - on votes that reflect the officeholder's core values.

For example, in 1997, Obama voted "present" on two bills (HB 382 and SB 230) that would have prohibited a procedure often referred to as partial birth abortion. He also voted "present" on SB 71, which lowered the first offense of carrying a concealed weapon from a felony to a misdemeanor and raised the penalty of subsequent offenses.

In 1999, Obama voted "present" on SB 759, a bill that required mandatory adult prosecution for firing a gun on or near school grounds. The bill passed the state Senate 52-1. Also in 1999, Obama voted "present" on HB 854 that protected the privacy of sex-abuse victims by allowing petitions to have the trial records sealed. He was the only member to not support the bill.

In 2001, Obama voted "present" on two parental notification abortion bills (HB 1900 and SB 562), and he voted "present" on a series of bills (SB 1093, 1094, 1095) that sought to protect a child if it survived a failed abortion. In his book, the Audacity of Hope, on page 132, Obama explained his problems with the "born alive" bills, specifically arguing that they would overturn Roe v. Wade. But he failed to mention that he only felt strongly enough to vote "present" on the bills instead of "no."

And finally in 2001, Obama voted "present" on SB 609, a bill prohibiting strip clubs and other adult establishments from being within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, and daycares.

If Obama had taken a position for or against these bills, he would have pleased some constituents and alienated others. Instead, the Illinois legislator-turned-U.S. senator and, now, Democratic presidential hopeful essentially took a pass. (source)

Obama and his campaign defend the 'present' votes as being due to concerns about certain provisions of the bill or questions about constitutionality. But a 'no' vote would have worked just as well - except it wouldn't have given him political cover.

In the White House, there isn't a yellow button, but there is something similar. A president can decide to do nothing, but that's not leadership and such lack of decisiveness can result in disastrous consequences. This is not something I want to risk, so let's never find out.

HOPE ON #5 - Pork

With the fifth installment of the HOPE ON project (NeverFindOut.org) focused on pork, it's no surprise to find Porkopolis taking on the subject of Obama on Earmarks.

Mario provides all the details and the documentation of Sen. Barack Obama's requests for spending and then highlights the hypocrisy when the candidate "conveniently called for a hiatus on earmarks during the Presidential campaign."

Haven't we had enough of presidents who say one thing during a campaign only to have them do another once they're in office? Let's never find out if we'll suffer the same fate under Obama.

HOPE ON - He's not just the 'Messiah'; He's a Socialist

Weapons of Mass Discussion has today's post from the HOPE ON (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now) project, with help from NeverFindOut.org, a project of Let Freedom Ring.

As Matt explains,

"Obama isn't just a liberal, he's to the left of the only declared socialist in the US Senate!

What shall we use as a measuring stick? How about a politician who is a declared socialist? There is one in the United States Senate and his name is Bernie Sanders. The National Journal has Sanders ranked #4 in 2007. Barack Obama was top of the class. But it might interest you to know who else was "to the left" of the socialist. Barack Obama chose him to be his running mate: Joe Biden finished third. Even George Voinovich gets this one:

"There's a guy in the senate, Bernie Sanders" said Voinovich, "who brags about being a socialist. And if you compare Barack Obama's record with Bernie Sanders' record, they're not too far apart."

Obama's response to Joe the Plumber's question about why Obama wanted to punish him if he were to achieve the American Dream and achieve success was that he wanted to "spread the wealth around." If that isn't a restatement of the socialist doctrine of redistribution of wealth, I don't know what is."

HOPE ON - Drill, drill, drill

NixGuy weighs in with Let's Never Find Out Part 2 - Drill, Baby, Drill.

In this second installment of HOPE ON, the focus is on Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's position on drilling and his idea of a 'windfall profits' tax.

Obama seems to think that oil companies need to be penalized, through taxation, for their success. Rather than understand how profits for companies are needed in order to have funds to invest in developing future supplies, Obama thinks that the profits are bad things - and that government needs those profits instead....to 'distribute' as government sees fit. This is socialism - taking from those who 'have' and giving to others that government deems are 'have nots.'

But then, we know his idea, as he told Joe the Plumber, is to 'share the wealth.'

When it comes to options for energy and fuel, I'm one of the 'all of the above' supporters. I think we have resources within our country we should be tapping to supply us with our needs, while we continue developing cost effective alternatives, including nuclear and clean coal. But that means we don't decimate our oil companies by taxing them more just to satisfy some campaign promise of a politician who doesn't understand the concept of supply and demand, or who wants to 'buy' votes by promising to take money from one in order to give it to another.

Let's Never Find Out - HOPE ON

Tom at Bizzy Blog has started a project to explain why Barack Obama is not the right person to elect as president of the United States.

As Tom explains:

Note: This is the first of what will be 13 posts on why Barack Obama is a dangerous, objectionable, and objectively unfit candidate to be president of the United States (while many of the other candidates are not).

The daily videos involved will be from NeverFindOut.org, a project of Let Freedom Ring.

His first post, part of the HOPE ON (Help Ohio Prevent Electing Obama Now) project, details Obama's participation in the current financial crises, including how Obama is clearly part of the problem when it comes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I'll link to other HOPE ON posts as they are added.