Does Obama Know Who He Is Running Against?

Listen to Obama's speeches. You will be amazed at the number of times he mentions George W. Bush. Does he think he's running against Bush? Does he think voters are stupid enough to think he's running against Bush? Actually there's a good reason for him to keep bringing up Bush. Bush is easier to beat than McCain.

The truth of the matter, if you check the Congressional Record, is that McCain's voting record is closer to Hillary Clinton's than it is to Bush. In fact, McCain's voting record is closer to Clinton's than Obama's is. That's the fact Obama wants voters to miss. That Hillary supporters have more in common with McCain than they do him.

McCain and Clinton both actively try to work across party lines, where Obama prefers to stay rigidly to the left. He is, after all, rated as the most liberal senator. But he's going to have to work harder now. Everyone who drank the kool aid came out in the primaries, and it still took him all 50 states to win the nomination. If he expects to appeal to the mainstream voter, Obama will have to get his act together and remember he's no longer preaching to the choir.

The Cult of Ron Paul

In the lackluster show that is the 2008 presidential election, one candidate has managed to create a cult of followers who attack his critics and blindly believe he is the next president, despite losing every debate and barely cracking the margin of error in most polls. This is Ron Paul.

Ron Paul's online cult (we'll call them Paulites) has pounced on every online poll to try to push their candidate. They have, with or without the candidate's knowledge, created an amazing campaign based on fraud.

In 2000, the House of Representatives voted almost unanimously to fine spammers $500 for each piece of unsolicited junk email they send. The almost was Ron Paul who voted against the bill. Now it seems obvious why he voted against it. Thousands of spam messages flooded inboxes with mail supporting Paul. When faced with the breaking news, Paulites accuses Wired magazine of being paid by Rudy Giuliani. Apparently the Paulites believe that when the facts don't match your belief, blame the messenger.

Paulites have created multiple phony websites pretending to support other candidates, apparently in order to attack any unsuspecting people who may think they've stumbled onto a legitimate message board.

Legitimate Ron Paul supporters, if there are any, will point to his recent record breaking fund raising initiative to point that his support is overwhelming, but the previous record went to Howard Dean, who couldn't even beat John Kerry.

The fact that the Paulites engage in such fraud is an indictment of the candidate. He has not repudiated them, and in fact seems to be encouraging the criminal acts such as hijacking computers to spew the Ron Paul spam. If he's so good at inspiring criminals and nutjobs to do his bidding, how can he ever be considered credible.