Why Wall Street Needs Sunday School?

First it was the tanking of Bear Stearns in March. Then it was the promise of Lehman Brothers. Fannie Mae's promises, Washington Mutual's promises, Indy Mac's promises, etc....

A trillion dollars in write-offs from the sub-prime crisis, and more looming ahead?

" When sorrows come - they come not single spies- but in battalions " says Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Then comes well respected CEO of Merrill Lynch John Thaine, who had virtually guaranteed in April that Merrill would need no capital assistance. Thaine emphatically repeated that Merrill would take one write-down of 6 billion dollars and had no need to dilute shareholder wealth again. Shareholders were assured the big problems were over! They had a respectable man's word and an expert analyst at markets working on their behalf.

What happened next? End of July after the markets closed, Merrill Lynch decided to give a bath to Merrill shareholders. Thaine surprisingly announced the need to raise 8 billion dollars, sell assets, and deliver 30 billion dollars of mortgage debt to a Dallas-based company for 6.7 billion dollars. Its over. Merrill now for sure has no further need to write down assets, or raise capital- right?

Why such a lack of transparent honesty? Men of character and quality are supposed to march up the ladder of corporate success. They aren't supposed to be cheaters and liars. To lie and cheat all the way up will sooner than later disembowel your career, it would seem.

How did we get to where we are? Where little guys are looking at the Captain's of Industry and Finance trusting each word from there mouth with the little guy finding out that he has been sold swamp land?

Where is the Sunday School that used to teach us right from wrong? Where conscience, God, meaning, purpose, and destiny could be aroused and counted on to lead our children through adulthood.

Benjamin Franklin's admonition, "Sell no virtue to purchase wealth".

Seeing Bernanke, Greenspan, Thaine, etc...walk a tight rope of American global finance, we see that virtue in modern day 21st century America indeed does have a price. Greenspan writes a book absolving himself of the housing and credit crisis that began under his watch. Bernanke bails out Bear Stearns midnight on a Sunday and states that all is structurally sound nonetheless in American finance. Apparently, there is a a price at which virtue can be sold. The result of such complete breakdown of honesty in America?

The financial system is distrusted. With the dollar teetering at all time lows wanting to break down completely, an economy having a drunken man's hangover from the eight year party, CEO's are forced to make gutsy decisions that will mark them for life.

Will these men of power tell the board, shareholders, and CNBC what everyone wants to hear? Or will truth come from their mouths?

Donald Tomnitz, CEO of DR Horton Homebuilders, stated that 2007 would "suck", expressing the poor outlook for the industry and company. No excuses. No glossing over the facts. No silver lining to hoodwink the investing public. The integrity of a man whose walk with Christ matters was most refreshing.

On the other hand, the multi-millionaire type John Thaines, Richard Thulds of Lehman Brothers, and Jimmy Caynes of Bear Stearns surely have Dante infuriated that he had not the chance to write about them concerning the inferno of eternity? Hoping for government bailouts or a Hail Mary pass, these men have failed their companies, their shareholders, and have destroyed their integrity for many days to come. Instead of coming clean, they waited. Better news...bail out...better markets...better prices...etc...it doesn't matter. They waited!

Trust is built brick by brick thousands of days at a time, but is destroyed in a single day.
Billions of dollars can come and go quickly. Trust and transparency cannot come and go so quickly.

Fixing the credit markets is much more than pricing assets that can't move. Credit markets demand honesty and transparency that has been little forthcoming. When the heroes of capitalism are known for truth more than shading the truth, buyers and sellers will buy and sell again.

With the S&P down 21% since October 2007 and putting in the worst single month performance of 11% down in June since the Great Depression, maybe a little bit of Sunday School honesty could go a long way to improving confidence in the markets?

Cursed is the man who has no crisis from which to grow. In the end, it is not money that we will be remembered for making, but character that we employed in the living of life.

When Liberals Convene a "Fix It" Summit?!?

The Senator freshly returned from an eight day world tour, gathered an impressive list of economic advisers together including high-powered Larry Summers and Robert Rubin for an economic council. And what did this team decide to tell Senator Obama about fixing America?

With the dollar having plummeted against other currencies, record foreclosures, the S&P down 21%, stagnant wages, federal deficits out of control, Senator Obama has answers to supply-siders and spenders in DC. Easy credit no longer easy to come by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have received a discount window from the Treasury to back the untold trillion dollars of obligations held, the Senator has government sponsored solutions. Bear Stearns, Indy Mac, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac are but examples of credit destruction and risk-reassessment.

The Senator's sparse record on Capitol Hill is one of gleeful spending. Far left of Kerry, Gore, Clinton, the Senator brings an "audacity of hope" to spend our way to fixing what President Bush has described "America's hangover".

Fixing America is Senator Obama's goal by "creating more fair economic opportunity" for all Americans.

Higher capital gains and dividend taxes on the rich, and no capital gains tax on the small business entrepreneur are part of his magic. From 35% to 39.6%, Senator Obama promises an income tax hike on the wealthiest of Americans.

The Senator's proposals seem modest, reasonable, and sensible, except that Washington already spends 2.9 trillion American dollars for the good of all Americans, right?

In addition, the supply-siders had their chance with President Bush. It is true that jobs have been created in his 7 1/2 year presidency. It is true that all Americans received tax cuts twice during the President's tenure. It is true that record numbers of Americans have created significant wealth through home ownership in the last 10 years. It is true that record numbers of Americans graduated from college, found better paying careers, and started more businesses than ever before.

Yet, Senator Obama promises to fix "the crisis" that impends upon Americans. After all, "the dream is slipping away" for most Americans according to the Senator.

Perhaps what is really slipping away is the truth about how Americans are doing across the United States.

Is it possible that Americans tire of elected officials promising to fix America? Yogi Berra once said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". And America ain't broke! Americans fear one thing about their government. That any politician would actually be able to employ lots of government solutions to fixing the America we all know and love.

The charade is clear for politicians. Get elected by promising to fix what isn't broke. Once elected, tell the electorate that the problem was more difficult than first imagined, but you've been working hard to fix the problem that the people didn't know they had. You, in fact, need four more years to solve their problem they didn't know that they had.

Wow! If only we could employ this stunt in the real world where performance is measured and pink slips are offered for failure?

President of the Europe?

Larry Sabato, national pollster, called it the "magical mystery tour". About 200,000 Berliners of Germany drank free beer enjoying the closest thing they know to Jesus' return which was witnessing Senator Obama's "Messiah Tour". Having met commanders on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq for the first time, the Senator's second leg of the "Messiah Tour" planted him where Reagan said "tear down this wall".

So what propelled the Senator to take this world tour 100 days before his presidential election?

• Shore up a sparse foreign policy resume'
• look presidential
• create a picture of inevitability back home
• pretend his judgment is better than Senator McCain's

Will it work? It remains to be seen. But could Alfred Hitchcock have written a better twilight-zone script than to have an American candidate campaigning on European soil for the United States' Presidency?

Crowds by the hundreds of thousands, sit at Senator Obama's feet waiting to be fed promises from a politician promising to be different than all of the others. An entire continent of materialists congregating to draw spiritual nourishment seemingly. So what do good Europeans do to be fed? Dump the church, and look to Senator Obama in outdoor rallies for vitality and life. Of course, an American politician will give you answers and promises to make you feel better, right?

This kind of hope has not buzzed about in Europe in quite a while. Two bloody wars on European soil during the 20th century has destroyed what Os Guiness described as "Optimistic Humanism" that so boldy asserted itself in Parisian cafes in the early 20th century. Whatever hope remained in Europe after two world wars, intellectual European heroes destroyed by displacing theism with materialistic secularism. The pantheon of philosophers of Sarte, Camus, Nietsche, Voltaire, Hume, Marx, Rousseax, and Diderot were the death knell of hope.

That is until Senator Barak Obama.

In an "I can't explain moment" of quasi-religious fever, Europeans have thrown themselves at Senator Obama. Its as if Europe's spiritual vacuum has sucked up Obama's promises of better days...glory days...when America will be reduced and the world will become one. As Ezra Pound in the 1930's declared about the modern age of engineering, mathematics, and sculpture "Down with the old-in with the new!" Obama's visit is as close to a spiritual encounter with heaven Europeans have encountered since Whitfield and Wesley.

So what are Americans to take away from Senator Obama's royal tour of the Middle East and Europe? Are the American people to believe that Senator Obama will finally have the experience and judgment necessary to be President of the United States after touring the world meeting with Zarkosy of France, Merkel of Germany, Karzai of Afghanistan, Gordon Brown of Britan, etc...?

Or should Americans take heed when hardened Europeans flock to an American candidate to sit under his feet while they drink beer and listen to a political platitutes about unity, alliances, and togetherness?

This European love-fest is driven by Senator Obama's perceived one-world, all in it together, world order, new age politics that intends to scrap borders, transcend differences, emphasize commonalities, unify the world, and put America in her place. How exactly does the Senatory propopse to accomplish his vision? Josh Bolton, former ambassador to the UN for the Bush administration, is correct. We can only hope that the Senator's words are political posturing for European leftists, and not is actual position on issues.

The Senator first promises to restrain wild-eyed capitalism. Europeans, with double the unemployment rate and a significant deficit in productive ingenuity, cheer at the Senator's promises to regulate economic development. After all isn't it nasty capitalism that is responsible for the woes of modern day citizens? Tax the rich, re-distribute the wealth more evenly, reduce American military operations, scrap free trade agreements, hike taxes, and regulate like a good European central government planner-these are the tenets of European statism.

Why is this good for Senator Obama's friends in Europe who have concocted the EU and this "Citizens of this world" campaign? Lets beat the dead horse:


Europeans received a politician's promise from Senator Obama. He will reduce military operations worldwide. He will tax, spend, and regulate like a good European central government planner. Obama will restrain wild-eyed capitalism, of which Europeans are very disdainful. Obama will promise not to torture bad guys, sign Kyoto, scrap free trade, fight global warming, gut military spending, withdraw American forces, and drill for no oil.

Europeans have never had an opening to diminish American global superiority that has been undiminished since WWII. That is--until now.

What Adaneur, Kohl, and Merkel could not do, what Chirac, Kofi Anan, and Ahmadinejad could not do, European's have found their Trojan Horse in Senator Obama. Its not Russia or China that concerns the bulk of Europeans. Its the capitalist Americans setting boots on the ground whereever they please. Europeans have dreamed of redeeming themselves by riding into Washington D.C. to marginalize, reduce, and diminish America's global power and reach.

When Europeans applaud in unisone about an American candidate, be ware. The fact that Senator Obama has the verbal support of Hezbollah's ranking officials and has high level talks with this organization's leadership during the campaign ought to raise eyebrows. Iran's Ahmadinejad, has joyfully stated his desire to work with an Obama administration. In fact, the Senator is the one he has been praying for. And Lybia's Khadafy, ought to more than raise eyebrows amongst the American electorate. The Iranian leader has decided to pray for the Senator's victory becuase he believes Senator Obama is one with whom he can work with. Should this not make every American feel good about the direction of the Senator's foreign policy?

Strange to the ears of most Americans, Europeans fear American economic and military strength more than Osama Bin Laden's reign of terror. Even Reagan, a hero to millions of Americans to Europeans, was a shallow fear-mongering cowboy actor. Yet, this cowboy actor put Pershings into Europe, reduced taxes, unleashed American ingenuity, demanded the walls come down. He unifed Pope, democracy, and strength of conviction to overcome Soviet totalitarian shadows lurking over Europe.


Yet, these same Berliners and their children, who listened to Reagan's speech to "tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbacev", are the same ones who fear America today as an overpowerful bully on the world's stage causing trouble around the globe. What of Hu Juang's China? Medvedev and Putin's Russia? What of Bin Laden and Islamic extremism? The answer remains appeasement, Chamberlain, Socialism, New World Order, and "One World Government, No Borders, Citizens of the World, etc...America is the giant who must be restrained.


As soon as Senator Obama re-charts the course for America's future, the United Nations will be waiting for the Senator to chart their course as well.

Seven Years Later Tells the Story...

Said Rudyard Kipling,

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise"

Such are words to describe George W. Bush, our 43rd Commander-in-Chief. Seven years later and the Bush #43 story is all but told. Re-elected into office, our European allies gagged. President Bush, who stated that we will not be so arrogant as to nation build, decided to nation build post 9/11. Of course, fighting for good reason, right? Global democratic revolution and the Bush Docrine:


Afghanistan first, Iraq second, and Operation Democracy was on its way to overthrowing bad guys around the globe.

What exactly did seven years of GW Bush produce for America?

• No terror attacks upon our soil post 9/11
• Lower taxes for most Americans
• Conservative judges for America
• No Kyoto or Global Warming shenanigans

On the other hand, what cross will Americans bear attributable to the Bush adminstration?

"Guns and butter" policy of LBJ renewed itself. Butter for everyone on the kitchen table. War for patriotism, humanity, ignorance, and poverty was the devil's pact. Saddam and the Mushroom Cloud threat parallels LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin incident. The result:

1. 1 trillion dollars of war spending (including future health care GI benefits)
2. no vetoes in first 6 years of Presidential leadership
3. run-away deficits, spending, and national debt
4. plummeting dollar from a price of 120 in 2001 to 72 in 2008
5. perpetual war for perpetual peace (unending war)
6. indefinite deployment of combat troops
7. Global democratic revolution gave us Hezbollah Lebanon, the PLO in Palestine, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and global recruitment of Islamic terror networks globally
8. a mortgage crisis equal to the 1930's maybe?
9. imported inflation stemming from a weak dollar and insatiable Congressional spending
10. loss of global prestige, influence, and soft power

Call Bush #43 anything you wish. But a conservative he is not. These principles he tossed into the waste basket upon seeing the twin towers smoldering. The Bush doctrine replaced the humble foreign policy that he so promised Americans.

Standing upon the rubble in New York City with a bull horn, President Bush inspired Americans and all freedom-loving people around the globe with his grit and natural charm. "They will hear from us" about those who knocked these buildings down, said the President. They heard from us. Seven years later they (all nations) continue hearing from us.

Job approval ratings in the 30% range, allies extricating themselves from Iraq and Afghanistan, and an economic superpower's finances out of order have told us clearly that greatness does not await this President.

Rudyard Kipling's great lines come to mind in Monday morning quartebacking Bush #43's legacy:

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise"

History will judge George W. Bush's effectiveness better than we do today.

Obama's Easter Words?

The very last words of Christ on the cross that first Easter Sunday sums up the whole of Christ's message to mankind:

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

These are the words, had Barak Obama chosen to use them as the centerpiece of his "race speech" just before Easter, that would likely have delivered his campaign from the divisive race issue.

"Father, forgive them for they know not what to do." Simple words with profound meaning.

Instead Obama lamented, "I expected to give a speech on race, but not under these circumstances."

With his campaign besieged by the dribble of embarrassing comments, the Senator found himself defending himself against the Reverend Wright, Michelle Obama, Louis Farrakhan etc...instead of promoting the positive "change you can believe in" message. Like a tire going flat, the Obama campaign witnessed an 18 point swing of likely independent voters away from Obama to McCain according to the most recent Gallup poll. Will Americans rethink Obama-mania as more skeletons in the closet are revealed?

His family, friends, and associates running around damning America, blaming white people for the present problems of black people, never having been proud of America, calling American a mean place, etc...may have a place on the fringe elements of American politics and religion. But such talk plays poorly amongst average Americans. "Bad company corrupts good character" is the old Proverb. Thus, the Reverend, the wife, and the black panther zealot Farrakhan have done this post-racial candidate no favors.

To make matters worse, Obama's foot-in-mouth moment stating that his grandmother's reaction about being scared of blacks was just a typical white person's reaction, does little to carry favor with Americans in a general election. But what might the primary Democratic voters think about this gaffe? Is it possible that even the latte drinking liberals might double-take on Obama's statement since they thought they were supporting Tiger Woods of golf repackaged as a post-racial Democrat?

Could liberals be waking up in the weeks to come in a cold sweat? They thought they were getting Colin Powell. Instead, they ended up with Obama's secret thoughts that look more like Sharpton and Jackson of the Civil Rights era? I'm not sure Americans in general are in the mood for Selma and Montgomery again. Civil rights have been won and are here to stay. So why does Obama's wife, the reverend, and others intend to wage the Civil Rights battle all over again?

For 16 months, Obama tapped successfully into the post-racial veins of American politics. He talked neither of black or white; but what he believed what was good for America. He understood that Americans weren't looking for a Black, White, Latino, Chinese, Indian, or a Japanese President. Americans were looking for a man or woman who could unify a fractured nation. He excelled. Women swooned. And young people were smitten all the way to the voting booth.

Then the pre-Easter race speech was given.

Masterful in its oration, its delivery, and clear in its content, the speech condemned the words of his 20 year pastor and spiritual advisor that stunned America. Yet, Obama stated that he could "no more divorce himself from him (Reverend Wright) than he could from his white grandmother."

"Race is still a problem," continued the Senator from Illinois.

Prior to this speech, Senator Obama transcended race and gender. He was the "New American" that millions of American liberals were falling in love with. Distancing himself from the fringe elements of the NAACP world, Obama became the celebrated "New American" for the 21st century.

After the speech, Obama looked much more like a defender of the NAACP. Shades of South side Chicago activism bubbled to the surface. The speech affirmed that black grievances require dialogue. To what end, we do not know.

Senator Obama, for just a moment, appeared out of nowhere as a man running for President who happens to be black. After the Easter race speech, Obama has painted himself as a a black man running for President. Is this distinction important?

Americans fell in love with the former, not the latter. Did ordinary Americans did not fill jam-packed arenas in Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Vermont, etc...to see and listen to a candidate being defined more by his race than his American ideals?

So with a wife who wrote a Princeton thesis on "black power", and a spiritual mentor and pastor who damns America for injecting the aids virus upon blacks in America, Obama's "New American Idealism" may be short-lived. The Obama message for 16 months that transcended ethnicity may be in flames come November against war hero McCain.

What should the Senator have done differently during his race speech?

He should have quoted Jesus:

"Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."

He then should have stated that America is a good land; not a place of shame. And that because God has offered forgiveness for all who would receive it, we as Americans must accept the challenge, as a people, to forgive the sins committed in the past and present.

For the nine Presidents that held slaves of their own, we must forgive. For the 3/5 of a man amendment in the Constitution...we must forgive. For the back of the bus...we must forgive. For the separate water fountains...we must forgive. For the separate schools...we must forgive. For the evil perpetrated because of skin color...we must forgive. For the separate Sunday morning services every Sunday...we must forgive. For the racism that exists on all sides...we must forgive. For the bitterness within...we must forgive. For the pain that has been caused...we must forgive.

Senator Obama's papal-like homily could then have reminded us all that George Washington instituted a day of Thanksgiving in 1777. Washington thanked the Creator for the bountiful blessing of the American nation. We celebrate this day each November.

Senator Obama could then have declared a specific day in March, just before Easter, a day of forgiveness and reconciliation. As Washington met the spiritual needs of Americans, so too Obama's mantle of reconciliation on this one day would meet Americans from all walks leading them to drink from the same well of George Washington's decree. Such a day would have schools shut down, families gather, sermons be given, and people carrying out Christ's mandate:

"Forgive as Christ has forgiven you."

Barak Obama's race speech could have landed in the pantheon of great American speeches. Instead, it will now only be studied by political science professors and political junkies. MLK would have been proud of a national "Forgiveness Day" to address the sins of the past and present committed against one another. Americans would have listened. Americans would have learned. Perhaps Senator Obama's first race speech would have won the hearts and minds of not just liberals; but all Americans.

I wonder what Jesus would say concerning such a "Day of Forgiveness" in America instead of a racial grievance and justice message?

Barack Obama's Political Cryptonite?

Hillary opined that what America needs is a President ready to lead on the first day of entering the oval office. Barack Obama retorted that being ready and having wise judgment are two different animals. Hillary voted for the war. She can't get away from the skunk. She has been sprayed. And of course, Obama gloats in the triumph of not having voted for the war in Iraq.

But with Obama having all but locked up the Democratic nomination, guns-ablazing have started shelling the Obama campaign. The teflon candidate who could do no wrong who "brings shivers up Chris Matthews leg" slammed into a brick wall.

Obama has spent fifteen months running a post racial campaign. Transcending gender, race, ethicity, and social strata, Obama stunned America with splendid rhethoric. Hope, aspiration, and energy have been the cornerstone of the campaign.

Then there was the record. The past drudged up. Reverend Wright, Lous Farrakhan, Michelle Obama, etc...that popped up out of nowhere.

He won't wear a flag pin on his lapel. He sat for twenty years under Reverend Right's black liberation theology damning America. Of course, his children were baptized through him. The reverend married he and Michelle. And Obama's "Audacity of Hope" book hit bestseller status with Reverend Right's sermon having been the inspiration.

Wasn't it Reverend Wright who endowed Louis Farrakhan with a lifetime achievement award? Wasn't it Farrakhan who highlights his anti-white sentiments with such phrases as "blond-haired blue-eyed devil" or "the white man is the skunk of the earth'?

Wasn't it Michelle Obama who stated that she was finally proud for the first time in her adult life to be an American during her husband's campaign? Wasn't it Michelle who publicly proclaimed American to be a "mean country" today?

Wasn't it Obama who stated that his white grandmother was a "typical white person" for admitting she was scared of black people?

The pattern of connect-the-dots is unmistakably clear. Those with whom Senator Obama has surrounded himself, provide unbelievable insight to the candidate himself. The Senator appreared to transcend racial issues much like Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan in their respective fields. Thats why the "latte liberals" were so taken by this nearly perfect candidate. Fresh face, impeccable rhetoric, unspoiled record, and youthful vigor delivered white Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, and the bulk of the popular vote.

Why? Race was not the issue. Likability and inspiriation were the issues...until....now!!!

Obama's handlers had Superman. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

The problem is: even Superman has his cryptonite. Girls may have fainted at his feet and crowds may have filled arenas to witness a remarkably charismatic man, but cryptonite was placed inside the campaign's war room. It was an inside job.

Conssider that Mitt Romney gracefully addressed religion and Mormonism, much like JFK chose to address the sensitive issue of his Catholic roots. Both did fantastically well in difficult circumstances.

Obama's address on race before America may carry the appealing incantations and intelligence that we have become use to, but did it really sell?. Forty states have voted. A majority have voted Barak as their new man for Democrat America. But his well-written and orated speech on race struck Americans in a remarkable way.

Independent voters, by 18 points, have turned toward McCain from Obama. Instead of repudiating Dr. Wright most forcefully, Obama called him friend and said he could "no more divorce himself from Dr. Wright than he could his own white grandmother."

The recent poor showing of Obama's campaign is synonomous with his choosing to touch the 3rd rail of American politics if you are a black man. Its the race issues. Obama soared and carried favor with all Americans before attempting to educate Americans that we have further to go in race relations. His comments about "typical white people" being scared of black folks isn't a winner either.

Obama's cryptonite is any black man's 3rd rail of politics that marginalizes him to fringes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson politics. Its the race card. Mainstream up and coming African-Americans such has Harold Ford Jr., J.C. Watts, Michael Steele, Lynn Swann, and Colin Powell have understood the cryptonite factor. Inject the race card and the American people immediately tune out the candidate. Lose gracefully and win gracefully, but leave race out of the equation.

To the liberation theology types that build their shock-jock message to rile up the fringe edges of minority politics, this is impossible to do. Their notoriety comes from not being a splendid American; but being a vocal minority with an ax to grind.

Obama will either choose to be a candidate that transcends gender and ethnicity as he has for past 16 months of campaigning. Or Obama will relegate himself to the marginal edges of lefty-loony politics joined by the Sharpton's and Jesse Jackson's of the world.

For the betterment of America, her future, and her children, let us hope Obama's judgment in his choice of words is better in the days to come than on the week he embraced political cryptonite.

McCain: The Conservatvie?

With Fred Thompson's campaign imploding, Romney booted out of the race, and Huckabee beyond a miracle for the nomination, Senator McCain remains the last one standing. The propaganda campaign has now bugun.

Propaganda means truth becomes the first casualty. As a man lies to his wife to avoid telling the truth about the affair he is having with another woman, McCain's affair with liberal Democrats like Lieberman, Kennedy, and Feingold is no longer incognito. The "foot soldier in the Reagan revolution" has come out of the closet. Attempting to divorce himself from conservatives, McCain is clearly unable to do so. Like the man who desperately wants to divorce his wife but can't because she has all the money and he has squat! So too are the conservatives, who hold all the gold, when it comes to McCain's presidential aspirations.

So what do you do if you are McCain? You forcefully claim the conservative mantle and hope the constituency you speak to is more fearful of Democrats in November 2008 than they are angry at you.

But will conservatives be so easily convinced? Abraham Lincoln declared, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". Conservative Republicans, who comprise about 30% of the party's voting base have been taken to the cleaners once already. They remember the "compassionate conservative", Bush #43, who promised conservativism in Washington.

He opened the spicket of spending that only the LB J types would have applauded. A Congress with no fiscal restraint and a President with no vetoes meant Republicans would lose the House and Senate in 2006. How angry were Republicans that they chose to stay home in 2006? A three trillion dollar run-up in the national debt under the President's watch, and monstrous federal government programs kept conservatives away from the polls.

And Senator McCain clamors that just because he voted for all of this excessive lard and big government doesn't mean he believes in big government and excess lard. That makes sense-right?

So what does McCain have to do to assuage conservatives this time round? Trot out the propaganda of Jack Kemp, Ted Olson, and all other grey haired conservatives. Let the "oldies but goodies", who are trusted friends, do the dirty work telling conservative Republicans to forget McCain's voting record in the last ten years. Even moderate Bob Dole was found writing a letter pleading to the Rush Limbaugh, leader of 22 million listening ears each week to stop the tantrum of conservatives.

The deceptively stale line that is trotted out: McCain has an 83% conservative voting record-

Twenty-eight years of voting doesn't make McCain a conservative nor a Republican when the last ten years voting record look like Lieberman, Feingold, and Kennedy's.

So why are so many conservative Americans including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc...in such an uproar? Consider the following about Senator McCain's record since 1999:

• Voted against 2001 & 2003 tax cuts
• Voted against 2004 repeal of inheritance tax
• Voted for Federal funding of stem cell research
• Voted against DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)
• Leader of Gang of 14 that blocked President Bush conservative judicial appointments
• Stated to San Francisco Chronicle in 1999 "Roe v. Wade should not be overturned"
• Calls the right wing of the Republican party "agents of intolerance"
• Authored free speech restrictions (McCain-Feingold) in 2004
• Authored bill to eliminate gun shows from American soil (2003)
• Supported pathway to legal citizenship for illegal aliens (2007)
• Voted to grant illegal workers who earn citizenship backpay toward Social Security
• Voted for all big government spending programs authored by Bush including: $750 billion Prescription Health Care bill, No Child Left Behind, and $242 Billion transportation bill
• Promises to fight pork barrell spending; then votes for all the pork barrell attached to legislation
• Received the New York Times endorsement: the most liberal major newspaper in the east
• Received the ringing endorsement from Schwarzeneggar, Lieberman, and Juliani

Even more disturbing? McCain tells the conservative wing of the party to "calm down" in spite of the record he has amassed.

McCain is tied at the hip to conservatives; he knows it. Convincing voters that he is a conservative is pure deception, though it might work. At stake may be the very core principles of the Republican party. If McCain wins the general election, every centrist, moderate, middle of the road liberal will restructure the DNA of the Republican party toward big government, big spending, and big entitlement programs. In essence, doing what GW Bush has done for seven years.

What GW Bush has started, has now snowballed. McCain will prosecute the war like Bush, spend like Bush, but will not appoint conservative judicial nominees, and may not cut taxes like President Bush.

To be forewarned is to be forearmed: "Fool me once, shame on you Fool me twice, shame on me!"