The Respectfully Republican Conversation

Harley44 are you a "mutt"?  LOL-

I actually thougt OB's comment about being a mutt was funny.  He was making a joke.

They need a poodle since their daughter has allergies.  My cousin has horrible allergies and her doctor actually recommended a poodle.  She got two!

Moodyk13

Yes, BO seems to have a good sense of humor.  He made reference to his BIG EARS, saying that he looks like Alfred E. Newman! 

I think I AM a mutt!!  lol   My father was MOSTLY German, and I think my mother was MOSTLY American Indian, so I should say that I'm German American, I guess. 

Yes, I believe I read somewhere that if you are allergic, poodles are good dogs to have.  Also, for cat lovers, if you are allergic to cats, the ones with only skin and no fur are supposed to be good, but IMHO, they are just too ugly!

Let's see how many flip-flops.  I know some hate these videos because the candidate is speaking in his own words.  Yes, it doesn't make any difference now, but you can believe some of us will be keeping an eye on this man. 

LIAR Barack Obama Contradicts & Flip-flops On "The Surge"

http://www.youtube.com/user/barackobamaLIED

Busy bees tonight~~~

Great hypo-allergenic dogs: Cockapoo, Labradoodle, Cairn terrier, wheaten terrier!

The private DC/MD schools mentioned are multi-cultural and multi-racial, a fact that is much celebrated and enjoyed. The Carters tried their best to de-glamorize the White House and were very liberal. Amy attended State Dinners and read a book......I believe she remains an activist. The Carters' greatest legacy may be their wonderful work with Habitat for Humanity. Rosalynn is one of us, and has launched many charitable programs.

"Americans" are every race, creed, ethnicity, and religion~~~or lack thereof. Further qualifying should be up to the individual, for whatever reason. Asking for that information by the Census, etc. should be a means of identifying trends, needs, changes.

Now the age thing is bothering me~~~over-60 and you should retire from life? Does Joe Biden know?.  If I only have a few years left, BC or no BC, I best not spend too much precious time here!

Cheers to all who read and post here in a bi-partisan spirit of unity!

Here I go and get in trouble again.  The gals over there are ranting about how inexperienced Palin is/was to be VP.  Ha!  What about our newly-elected-soon-to-be president?  No one has yet come over here and told any of us WHAT he has done.  WHY are they voted for him. 

A CHALLENGE:  Name on thing that Obama has done to be an experienced used-to-be-candidate, now soon-to-be-president of this great country?  ONE thing?  Anyone from over there?

Hmmm...lets see what one of his pundits said in the primaries to Chris Matthews who had tingly feelings going up his leg when Obama spoke and now needs to help him in his presidency.

Those pesky little YouTube videos.

"Hardball" Way to Hard Too Hard For Obama Supporter Kirk Watson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4VK9wVAi0  

Inspire?  Hitler?

Gosh, Shirley, the video you posted made me really miss Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She was an awesome person,  who devoted her life to helping her constituents (unlike Obama, who spent his political career lining the pockets of his campaign contributors like the convicted political fixer, Rezko, who took the taxpayer's money and ran instead of renovating the ghetto housing he was contracted to fix). She has my undying love and respect. It was such a huge loss when she died. I can hardly believe she is gone.

Now, can anyone imagine threatening a fine person like her, or her family, just because she supported Hillary over Obama??

She was a loyal and loving friend, who kept her word. I promised to help with her re-election campaign, but she died before I had the chance. I will never forget her.

There are extraordinary people on both sides of the ideological divide, who make people's lives better through their love, discipline, and generosity. They make things work no matter their approach, and transcend the liberal or conservative nature of their endeavors. She was one of those brave souls, like John McCain, who demonstrated great courage in the face of opposition, and didn't compromise her principles.

Rescue,

Trust was exactly the word we did use here.  We didn't trust him, at least I didn't.  I read about what he did to get here, and he's here.  To me he just used people for the sake of expediency to get where he is.  He needed 8000 members of that Church, he joined that Church, and on and on.  Rezko he really didn't need to be in his past, but again it worked for him.  That's why he calls himself a bonehead, because he really didn't need Rezko until he purchased the home.  Rezko was more of a weight around his neck.  In normal times, that weight should have sunk him, but he got through it.

Today, for some of us it's a new word.  Fear.  A lot of damage can be done to our country with the good intentions of one party making all the plans for our future.  We usually correct it in the next election, but I don't have too much hope for that to happen because everyone was willing to vote back the very people who created the very mess we're in today. Only in America.

Saying all that, I really think Obama will fool us.  I have this feeling he will put Country first, and not his cronies wishes and demands.  He won't do their dirty work.  He'll be his own man.  It's his place in history that he's fooling with, not a Pelosi, Frank, or a Schumer.  They will be forgotten,  Obama won't be. 

I don't think he's off to a good start, because as Shirley pointed out yesterday, Pelosi beat him to microphone to announce her plan for another stimulus package.  HER PLAN.  He's going to have to rein her in.  This is what I feared the most, the dems wanted him badly in place because they think they can use him.  I can't even find out what all is in that plan.  She zipped to that microphone very early in the morning.   Well, all eyes are on him and we'll see who's the boss.

Hi Rosemary,

I would be surprised if Palin wants that Senate seat. If her goal is to run for president, it is a much better launching pad to be a governor, than be a senator, where you will inevitably have to cast votes that can be used against you later.

The Democrats will have to demonize Palin any way they (we???) can. Gosh, I detest my party right now. I'm certain they were terrified at her star power, at how quickly she attracted crowds at least as large as Obama's rallies, and how attractive a candidate she was. They need to destroy her ASAP, and if it requires fabricating stories about her they will. It seems that every woman who attempts to gain higher office gets destroyed. I hope she fights back, long and hard. Many of us have been sending her letters of support and thanks for participating in politics at all.

I would keep my eye on Carly Fiorina for the future. We Clinton supporters met with her in Arlington at the McCain headquarters, and she was a tremendously sincere, caring, brilliant person, very down to earth, and clearly dedicated to public service. She is another great talent the Republican Party could cultivate for the future. Don't let her get away, and go back into the private sector where she can make much more money! We need smart, hardworking people in public service. If all the best people get destroyed by the brutal, destructive political process that is going on we will suffer as a country.

I wish I had your optimism about Obama. I simply have never once seen him do anything for anyone but himself, and his version of enlightened self interest has not impressed me at all. It's very hard for me to imagine him changing his stripes now, with unfettered power in his grasp. He believes he knows better than anyone else what is for the best.

Jeez...you guys have been busy here! Does nobody sleep in on Saturday morning! If we all ever go on the campaign trail together I will have to meet y'all at lunch! I have a psych paper due tomorrow on nature vs. nurture...hope I can concentrate on writing it while keeping up here!

Rosemary...have you been reading about Kay Bailey and the challenge for Perry? Sounds interesting...we may have a couple of women in the running for the Repubs in the near future. Wouldn't it be awesome if the first woman president was a conservative Repub? 

For those interested in getting involved go to rebuildtheparty.com and sign up!

I read over there <------------------ and am wondering why are they still harping on Palin as if she is a threat to them - they need to get over it and move on - they could start by working on those 100 hours of community service. If this country ends up more divided it will be because of people like them.

LuAnn - I think we can all agree that he was joking when he made the "mutt" comment. I don't

think anyone jumped on him for saying it. My children are mixed race and I jokingly call them

"mutts". In our house we are all mutts including the dog - all except dh who as far as we know is

a purebred LOL! Pres. Obama's mother was white and his father African so he can rightly claim

that he is African American just like my kids tell people that they are Bangladeshi-Americans.

Bloody, then buddies: It's still the American way

By TED ANTHONY, AP National Writer Ted Anthony, Ap National Writer - Sat Nov 8, 1:42 pm ET   

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The seat of Clinton County sits along a river at the foot of a spectacular mountain range in rural central Pennsylvania. On Election Day, what happened here was a microcosm of American duality: Just 327 votes separated John McCain, who won the county, and Barack Obama, who didn't.

Lock Haven, a community of 9,000, is home to Kim Saar, a staunch "Republican all the way" who backed McCain and wonders how an Obama presidency could play out. Kim Saar, who - in the latest chapter of a 216-year American political tradition - supports the outcome of an election that didn't go her way.

"It's the way society is," says Saar, an underwriter for American Dream Mortgages just off Main Street. "We were all raised to accept it."

After so many months of rancor and debate, of Americans dividing into political tribes and demonizing the other guy, the days following a presidential election can be odd ones. Applying brakes to the trajectory of campaign fervor and deciding when Republicans and Democrats become simply Americans again is an intricate, delicate process.

Yet for all the extended bluster, reconciling after casting our votes is something we do well and in a calm manner envied by the rest of the world. Kind of astounding for a nation that built itself from scratch in 1776 by violently separating from a monarch's rule.

"It's still amazing that one day Bush will leave the White House and go home and be a private citizen, and Obama will be president, and there will not be a revolution in the streets," says presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, whose book "Team of Rivals" chronicled Abraham Lincoln's efforts to create post-election unity by including political adversaries in his Cabinet.

The alternative is bloodshed. In Zimbabwe, for example, the ugly, violent aftermath of presidential elections this year has pushed the country even further into chaos. The list goes on: Macedonia. East Timor. The Philippines. Kenya.

Here, though, the first moments after the outcome was certain on Election Night were filled with the language of reconciliation so absent in the campaign's heated final weeks. Obama was generous in victory, McCain gracious and eloquent in defeat. The message: country first.

Said the winner: "In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. ... While the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress."

Said the loser: "It's natural, tonight, to feel some disappointment. But tomorrow, we must move beyond it and work together to get our country moving again."

In short order, President Bush invited the Obamas to the White House. Transition teams kicked into gear. No one took up arms. Even Elisabeth Hasselbeck on "The View," who ardently supported McCain, said she would "jump in that line and support our president." With scattered ugly exceptions, playing nice swiftly became the dominant narrative - even more so at a moment when a war overseas and hard times at home can grease the wheels of unity.

"We express ourselves and we move on. And I don't think America is a particularly angry nation. There's an awful lot of value placed on community and commonality," says Sheenah Hankin, a New York City psychotherapist who studies conflict resolution.

The amity probably won't last, though. Nor should it.

Gathering around the national campfire to sing "Kumbaya" would be neither realistic nor beneficial to the national interest. The campaign's gaping divides revealed fundamental divisions in American society - how we should run the economy, how we should interact with the world, what role government has in people's lives. That requires, in the words of former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell, "competing in that typical American way, which is hard-fought."

"You fight for your position. It's what our founding fathers intended," Powell said on CNN the day after Election Day. "They wanted a clash of ideas, and from that clash of ideas the people are informed and the people make their choice."

We can't live with us, can't live without us. At times, the juxtaposition of spluttering invective and community warmth gives America the feel of a dysfunctional family - Mom and Dad arguing, then making nice in front of the kids.

And, in fact, it kind of is.

"Some things were said that probably shouldn't have been said," says Howard Markman, co-director of the Center for Marital and Family Studies at the University of Denver.

"That's exactly what people do in marital conflicts. We assassinate each other's character, we throw zingers. But most people want to save their marriages," he says. "What makes for a healthy, successful marriage also makes for a healthy, successful country."

Rapprochement may not always be overt, but it is present.

In Lock Haven, for example, folks report that in the days leading up to the election, campaign signs for both sides were everywhere and things were kind of tense. On Friday, a drive in town and outlying rural areas revealed conversations about how glad everyone was that the election was over, and just five lawn signs remained - two for Obama, two for McCain and one for "Free Kittens."

It's hard to quantify why this is. It may be because, unlike many nations, ours is an experiment founded specifically to chase dreams and shape ideals of self-determination. We may be of, by and for the people, but the notion is embedded deep in the American identity that it's about more than just one guy or one election. For a society obsessed with outcomes, perhaps we revere process more than we know.

Goodwin, the historian, went out to dinner Thursday night at a favorite restaurant in Massachusetts and was speaking to the proprietor, a spirited Republican and McCain backer who had been fretting in recent weeks as it became more apparent that his man might not prevail.

And when McCain didn't, and Obama appeared before Democratic faithful at that park in Chicago, the restaurant owner watched, listened - and wept.

"He found himself stunned," Goodwin says. "There was that moment of thinking, `Maybe it's going to be OK.'"

_____

I did not find myself stunned - I don't watch TV but did read the transcript - whether or not it will be okay remains to be seen.

A true story.

Cam's mother is in home hospice for non-small cell lung cancer.  She went to the Hospital last week end due to pneumonia and fluid build up.  She was not expected to come out.  She lives three hundred miles from us so Cam packed her up chuck bucket and we headed to her hometown.  MIL was heavyly sedated and non responsive to our visit.  We left the hospital on Tuesday nite not knowing if she would be with us in the morning. 

MIL is a life long liberal, who worked in Radio for years.  She has interview Robert Kennedy, the Carters, and her favorite picture is her in Washington with a drink in one hand a cigarrite in the other, having a discussion with Hubert Humphrey.  In the 50's and 60's She championed civil rights and desegregation in the small Mississippi Delta town she lived(not the most popular thing to do).  She was a member of the State Democratic Committee.   

Cam and I were staying at her house, at 11 oclock Tues nite the phone rang, and I knew it was the nurse calling to say Jean had passed.  I was suprised to say the least, It was Jean, calling to rub in the fact that Obama won.  The next morning she checked herself out of the hospital an is now a home.

President elect Barack Obama recieved a letter of congratulations from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!!!  Ahmadinejad, a man who denies that the Holocaust occured.  A nut who HATES Americans!!! 

Of course he sent Barack(I will sit down without preconditions and speak with Ahmadinejad) Obama a letter of congratulations!!!  Oh, wait, yes he said without preconditions, but not without preparations. 

Oh, for Christ's sake enough is enough already!!! Barack Obama the "we are our brothers keeper", didn't know his own aunt was in the country illegally!!  Barack Obama who sometimes hit the wrong button when he voted in the Senate.  Let's hope he doesn't hit the wrong button and send a nuke somewhere.

  Have any of us ever heard that he actually worked a day in his life???  Does he have any friends or associates that aren't over the top?? Listen, you don't sit in a church for 20 years and not know that Wright gave those "sermons"!!! 

  Suffice it to say that I totally believe Rescue's assesment of this man. I pray and hope that our country will be okay. 

I would be surprised if Palin wants that Senate seat. If her goal is to run for president, it is a much better launching pad to be a governor, than be a senator, where you will inevitably have to cast votes that can be used against you later.

There is no possibility of Palin ever getting anywhere close to the Presidency.  Like Dan Quayle, she will forevermore be considered far too dumb for the job, and the truth is she deserves the label given her performance in the campaign.

Blaest...YOU just said, "the truth is that no one has the experience to be president until they are president" And then you back pedal and say "can anyone argue that Palen (HER NAME IS PALIN) was prepared to be VP let alone President?"...So which is it, or does it just apply to Obama? Back pedaling won't get you anywhere!

I think we should be in Iraq for as long as it takes. How long were we in Germany after WWII? A long damn time is how long.