Political Cartoon Analysis #3

Artist: Tom Toles
Source: The Washington Post
Date: December 8, 2008

This cartoon depicts what President Elect Barack Obama's first priority is going to be when he takes office, which is getting our country back on the right track. The cartoon shows Obama saying" First order of business..." while standing on top of an upside down United States. I happen to agree with the political message of this cartoon, because while I was a supporter of Senator John McCain, I believe that Obama will be the better man for pulling the country together.

At the bottom of the comic, Obama is saying that "Red and blue states will need to work together." I think that this is entirely true because without the effort of the entire nation supporting the President and Congress, we will never achieve the #1 spot again. We can't just sit back and wait for someone else to fix our problems.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=12082008

Political Cartoon Analysis #2

Artist: Tom Toles
Source: The Washington Post
Date: November 17, 2008

I am a firm believer that the majority of the industries that are asking for a chunk of the $700 billion bailout plan are completely undeserving of the government's safety net. Tom Toles' cartoon displays this message exactly with his depiction of Uncle Sam dressed up as Santa giving portions of the bailout plan to businessmen with their industry names printed on their shirts.

I would support the government giving money to these companies if I believed that they were actually doing anything on their own to help their issue. However, I think that they are simply relying on "Santa" like children to fix their problems for them. They don't deserve handouts or charity if they are too lazy to even attempt to solve their own financial issues.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=11172008

Political Cartoon Analysis #1

Cartoon: Tom Toles
Source: THe Washington Post
Published: Friday, November 28, 2008

With President Elect Barack Obama taking such a monstrous victory on November 4th of this year, it comes as no surprise that thousands upon thousands of his supporters will take over D.C. on the days leading up to January 20th (a.k.a. Inauguration Day). Because there are way more tourists coming to the District than hotels can hold, Washingtonians are renting out their basements and spare bedrooms to strangers for massive amounts of dough.

This cartoon by Tom Toles shows exactly that message. It also displays the fact that as Washingtonians are not known for their friendly natures, the only way to make a friend is to let an Obama supporter stay in your home.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=11282008&type=c

Week 6 - Election Post

I truly believe that McCain can win the election tomorrow. It is going to be an extremely close call if he manages to pull it off, however. My guess would be 270 to 268 for the electoral votes and that Obama will win the popular vote by a really close margin like 51% to 49%.

I believe that Mark Warner will win the Senate race over Jim Gilmore because of the humungous advantage that he has in the polls. Warner has consistently had a 30 point lead for a long time and it would have to be a miracle if Jim Gilmore won the election.

I have no doubt in my mind that Frank Wolf will take the House race in Virginia’s 10th District over Judy Feder. Wolf has a huge group of longtime supporters backing him up and I believe that Virginians know that his work in D.C. has benefited almost everyone.

While Virginia’s 11th district is a toss-up for the House race, I think that more than likely Keith Finnian (R) will win be over Gerry Connolley (D) because they are fighting to take the place of the Republican Representative, Tom Davis, who is retiring this year.

Volunteering for McCain

Volunteer Post #3

So today I completed three more hours of painfully boring phone calls for a total of eight hours of volunteering behind me! While it was fun at first, people are starting to be really mean and rude when I ask them to answer the survey questions. One guy today yelled at me that he had received 15 million calls from the same people, which is just ridiculous.

One funny thing that I learned today was that when we make phone calls, the caller id shows up as “Batman.” When one woman picked up the phone she asked me “Am I talking to Batman or Robin?” Since I am starting to get really bored with phone calls, I tried to entertain myself today by looking for funny names on the call sheet. I called people with the last names McCain, Ayers, Kerry, and Wolf. I also talked to a guy named James Brown. When you make a phone call it tells you that you are contacting “The NAME Household.” This was funny because when I called a man with the last name “Crack” the phone told me that I was contacting “The CRACK House!”

Tomorrow I am going back to the site to finish up my ten hours and I have to admit that I am going to be pretty sad to leave. All of the volunteers are really nice, helpful, and truly care about the cause. I am glad to say that I feel I have had a positive impact on the McCain campaign.

Volunteer Post #2

Tonight I went back to the Loudon Regional Victory Headquarters for McCain/Palin 2008 to volunteer for another two hours. There were so many people making phone calls tonight!! A group of about twenty or thirty Republican volunteers came in after a long day of going door-to-door to reach more voters. I was amazed how young some of them were. There was a little boy sitting next to me that was literally about eleven years old making phone calls. I really doubt that any undecided voters will decide to support McCain because a child asks them to.

While last week I called undecided voters in Loudon, today I was calling people from Winchester. They were so much ruder for some reason. One woman just yelled “EXCUSE ME!” into the phone and then hung up. Another man asked me if I had any idea what time it was and I said “It’s 8:38” and he screamed at me that it was way too late to be calling and hung up. No one forced him to answer the phone! I had to keep repeating my lines to one guy that was really hard of hearing and at the end of all of my trouble he shouted, “I will never tell you who I am voting for!!!” Some people are insane!

Another observation that I made tonight is that nearly all of the Obama voters that I spoke to had terrible English. One man said, “Nah man, this is an Obama house. Go Obama!” Another man said, “NO! We no vote for McCain!” I also noticed that the people in charge do very little to help the campaign. I understand that they are there much longer than the rest of us but they could be doing so much more be making calls than just talking to each other in the back.

One cool thing that happened to me tonight is that I saw my eighth grade English teacher Mrs. Waggoner there volunteering. She was really excited to see me and I was so much taller than her now! Overall, it was pretty fun (when I wasn’t being yelled at!)

Current Event #6

Article: “Campaign Finance Gets New Scrutiny”
Writer: Matthew Mosk
Source: The Washington Post
Date: Sunday, October 26, 2008

With Senator Barack Obama raising hundreds of millions of dollars for his presidential campaign, lawyers from both major parties are urging the Federal Election Committee (FEC) to examine the relaxed screening procedures used on Obama’s website. The Republican Party is worried that the Obama campaign is unable to know who is really donating money via credit card transactions. Democrats assure the public that they are as against cheating the FEC Act as their competitors and are taking proper steps to prevent the illegal process.

Because the FEC Act requires all candidates (even those that don’t receive public funding like Obama) to report all donations, the Democrats are using tactics such as offering immediate refunds from misused credit cards to avoid violating the legislations provisions. In September alone, nearly 20% ($353,000 of $1.8 million) of donations were returned to the sketchy contributors.

Volunteer Post #1

So today was my first experience volunteering for McCain/Palin and it was actually kind of fun. All I had to do was call undecided voters and ask them if they were supporting McCain/Palin, Wolf, and Gilmore for their respective offices. I got some pretty, um, “interesting” answers. While about half of the time I just got to the answering machines, every once and a while I would run into an oddball that answered the call. After I finished my schpele of “Hello, my name is Casey and I am a volunteer calling on behalf of McCain/Palin 2008,” one person just shouted “NADER 08!” and hung up the phone. Another elderly-sounding woman said, “I don’t take solicitation calls because I am retired every minute of my life.” One little boy answered the phone and breathed heavily for about fifteen seconds and then hung up the phone. Can you say awkward? The funniest conversation that the volunteer sitting next to me, Christina, had was with a man that she accidentally called twice and he said, “If democrats can vote twice I’m pretty sure that it’s okay if I answer your questions twice.”

For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised how many people were willing to answer my questions and how many were McCain supporters. We were calling voters that live in Loudon County, which appears to have a strong Republican background. Also, I was glad that so many people stopped by throughout the day for tickets to the rally on Monday.

The big buzz around the office this morning was about an article that an older woman names B.J. brought in that discussed Obama’s background. The article had said that Obama hadn’t yet submitted his birth certificate as he was required to and that there is a possibility that he was born outside of the U.S. That got everyone fired up! They were all talking about the possibilities of Obama being taken out of the race and that Clinton would be the obvious replacement. Almost everyone agreed that they would “feel much better about running against Hilary.” Overall, I had a great time with all of the nice and friendly volunteers and I am looking forward to going back tomorrow.

Week 5 - Election Post

With the 2008 Presidential Election nearing quickly, swing states are turning out to be a key interest to both parties, as they will decide the winner. A swing state is a state in which neither party has overwhelming support. As of now, McCain will have to win every swing state in order to beat out Obama (fingers crossed!)

Two of the toss up states, as of now, are North Dakota and Nevada. According to the RCP Average, McCain is leading in North Dakota by 4 points and Obama takes Nevada with only 3.3 points. Because North Dakota consists of rural areas, I believe that this will influence conservative views and they will vote Republican. On the other hand, Nevada (home to wild and crazy Las Vegas which counts for 90% of the state’s population) is more likely to trend Democratic because of their mainly urban citizens.

Current Event #5

Article: “McCain Assails Obama’s Plans as Socialist”
Writer: Matthew Mosk
Source: The Washington Post
Date: October 19, 2008

In a radio broadcast on October 18th, Senator John McCain announced that he believes Senator Barack Obama’s tax plan to be a form of socialism. Obama’s plan would redistribute the wealth so that it is no longer concentrated in a small percentage of the American population. Essentially acting as the Robin Hood of modern times, Obama would take from the rich and give to the poor.

When he heard about these remarks, Obama tried to be civilized and stick to the facts when addressing a rally in St. Louis, Missouri. He replied with, “We are offering tax cuts. The difference is who we’re cutting taxes for.” Obama went on to discuss how McCain views beneficial tax cuts for the less fortunate and working classes as “welfare” in an attempt to rile up the lower class Democratic demographics.

Just as Governor Sarah Palin did with her remarks associating Obama to former radical activist Ayers, McCain called Obama’s tax plan un-American. He took yet another virtual jab at the Democratic candidate when he essentially called Obama sneaky and conniving in saying that, “At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives.” Ouch!

Week 4 - Election Post

As far as the race for the presidency goes, Senator Obama is taking a clear lead in the polls. In a recent poll taken from October 14th-16th with a sample of 2314 by Gallup Tracking (Expanded), Obama has a 6 point lead with his 51 to McCain’s 45. CBS News/NY Times’ most recent poll however gives Obama a lead of 14 points with Obama at 53 and McCain at 39 (conducted on October 10th-13th with a sample of only 699). I’d say that even if the polls are slightly “off,” Obama still has this election in the bag.

Democrats are also taking a viscous lead in the election for the VA Senate Seat, according to the majority of polls. SurveyUSA places Warner (D) a massive 30 points ahead his competitor Gilmore (R) (conducted of October 4th-5th with a sample of 666). A more recent poll, PPP (D), calls the race a fraction tighter with Warner at 58 and Gilmore at 31 resulting in only a 27 point lead (conducted on October 6th-7th with a sample of 917)

Polls today are more accurate for the general population with larger samples and much easier to conduct. In modern US elections, polls seem to give leads to the popular candidates and not always the worthy candidates that voters are actually supporting. Polls are relatively accurate in gauging public opinion. Although the Bradely Effect might be playing a role in this election (the phenomena where voters say they will vote for a minority candidate in polls but actually vote for the white candidate) Obama is so far ahead of McCain in the polls that I find it unlikely that such a large number of voters would be lying.

Current Event #4

Article: “Financial Anxiety Rising, Poll Finds”
Writer: Jennifer Agiesta
Source: The Washington Post

The recent financial crisis has caused widespread anxiety in the U.S. and throughout the world. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted on October 10th and 11th shows that roughly 455 of the 517 adults polled (88%) are worried about the direction of the nation’s economy. These new concerns are having the largest effects on the older age groups. Only “44% of adults are confident they can retire with sufficient funds.” This is down a whopping 25% from the 69% of adults that felt confident about the prospects of retiring in 2005. Agiesta described financial uneasiness as “near universal.” A massive 414 out of the 517 polled are worried about the market’s recent performance. We must keep in mind, however, that even during an economic golden age, most find investing in the stock market to be a “risky venture.” On the Brightside, at least gas prices are crazily low; dropping an average of 35 cents per gallon. Bloomberg News gives the responsibility of this drop to lower crude oil prices and the decrease in the demand for U.S. gasoline at the end of the summer vacation months.

Current Event #3

Article: “Palin Seizes On Obama’s Ayers Ties”
Writer: Michael Abramowitz
Publication: The Washington Post

Governor Sarah Palin took advantage of the connection between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers (former radical activist) last week when she described Obama as “someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists.” Although Ayers is not a foreign terrorist as the comment made it appear, Palin thinks of Ayers as a dangerous domestic terrorist. The Republican’s defended this quote with “Palin attacked Obama of her own volition, but the issues she raised was legitimate,” said McCain’s aide. Even during the primaries, Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton predicted that the Republicans would target the Ayers-Obama relationship.

I was frankly surprised how low Governor Palin was willing to stoop in order to badmouth the competition. Her comment was very controversial and if the public did not bother to research the accusations, they might go on thinking that Obama is hanging out with Osama on the weekends. Not cool Palin.

Week 3 - Election Post

In the upcoming 2008 election for the Virginia Senate Seat, there are two main competitors for the spot. Mark Warner (D) is the former governor of Virginia and was the keynote speaker at this year’s Democratic National Convention in support of Senator Barack Obama. His successful time in the governor’s mansion has shown voters (both Democrats and Republicans) that he is a worthy candidate. Warner has been one of the most influential men in improving the Virginia state budget system. Jim Gilmore (R) was also a governor of Virginia immediately before Warner. He is a very conservative Republican and was known for cutting taxes while in office, which is one of the cornerstones of the conservative beliefs. Bill Redpath of the Libertarian Party and Glenda Gail Parker of the Independent Green party are also in the race.

One large issue at stake for this election is energy. Warner, much like Barack Obama, is in favor of researching alternative energies. Gilmore is leaning towards offshore drilling, similar to the stands of McCain and Palin.

Based on a poll conducted by SurveyUSA from 10/06-10/07 with a sample of 666 LV, the democrats are taking the lead with Warner at 58 and Gilmore at 31 and a spread of Warner +30. (poll information from http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/senate/va/virginia_senate-537.html)

Current Event #2

Article: “For McCain, Days of Chaos, Improvisation and Drama”
Writer: Michael D Shear
Source: The Washington Post

In the past week, Senator John McCain has faced more confusion and uncertainty then in the time of the rest of his campaign combined. When the $700 billion bailout plan was first introduced, it caused chaos and a huge backlash for the plan’s supporters from citizens that did not want to put our country into that massive amount of debt. McCain came to the conclusion that his current post of senator should come before his presidential campaign. He decided that the best idea would be to potentially drop out of the debate between himself and Senator Obama scheduled for Friday night. On the Wednesday and Thursday following the debates, McCain spent his time in Washington D.C. in an effort to help solve the financial crisis
To me, McCain seemed riled up during the debate, which I suppose worked to his benefit as it made the points in his arguments stronger. I believe that McCain made the right choice in staying in D.C. to discuss the financial crisis that our country is going through. He chose to put his efforts into helping the citizens in their state of need then to help himself win the candidacy to help them eventually, as Obama did. He put his position of senator first and knew his responsibility to those who had elected him into that coveted spot. Kudos McCain, well done.

Week 2 - Election Post

- In my opinion, the most important national issue in the 2008 presidential campaign has been the War in Iraq. I think that the decision to get involved in the conflict has created new problems in virtually every area of government and has negatively touched most of the lives of U.S. citizens. But I also think that we will have to handle getting out of the war responsibly, as McCain is proposing to do. Obama’s plan to leave Iraq ASAP will be good in the short-run for the troops and their families, but will also leave Iraq in a state of ruin and as McCain said in the debate on Friday, we would end up having to go back to fix the damage.
A local issue that I am finding more and more important is the financial crisis. While I know that this is an issue that will cause problems on a national scale, I find that it will have the most severe effects on the individual citizens. I agree with Bush’s proposal to bail out the country’s failing mortgage companies and banks. Of course the $700 billion cost of the plan is not within the realm of our countries budget, but I believe that if those companies went under, our nation would be worse off individually than if we went into debt as a whole.

- In the debate between John McCain and Barack Obama, I believe that both candidates were pretty clear about what they had to say about the topics discussed. However, I also felt that both candidates rarely answered the questions directly and probably just stuck to what they had said in practice for the debate.
Overall, I found McCain to be more effective in the debate. While I felt that at times he was being a bit too hard on Obama, I realized that it is possible that McCain was just sick of his competitor trying to fool the voters with his smooth talking. I believed that it was very effective when Obama would discuss his support for certain pieces of legislation and McCain would directly reference an instance when Obama had voted against what he said he had.
Without television and the Internet, next to no one would see the debate as it actually happened. Electronic media in the 2008 election allows only a small margin for reporters to completely twist the words of the candidates. Imagine if the debates, conventions, etc. were not televised. It would be much easier for political parties to badmouth the other candidate and tell utter lies to the voters without their knowing.

Current Event #1

Article Title: “McCain Health-Care Article Fuels New Clash Over Economy”
Writer: Dan Balz
Source: The Washington Post

Essentially, a juvenile banter started between Obama and McCain’s spokesmen this week over an article that McCain had published in Contingencies magazine. The article discussed McCain’s healthcare plan and how he intends to create competition for insurance companies and compared this proposal to how the government has been dealing with banking in the past few years. Obama jumped on the opportunity to criticize a flaw in his opponents plan and discussed the event with a Florida audience, saying that McCain’s health care plan would fail just like the banks have in the past week. I found it very childish of men that are supposed to lead our country to be acting on the maturity level of kindergarteners.

Week 1 - Election Post

- While I have only recently begun learning about the 2008 presidential election, I have so far found McCain to be a more worthy candidate. I am constantly crossing the line between the Democratic and Republican parties in terms of how I agree with their positions. For example, I fully support the pro-choice movement, which is associated with the Democratic Party. However, I am also drawn to the plans of national defense that John McCain would bring with him to the presidency. Overall, I think that I lean towards McCain because I trust his experience more so than that of Obama.

- On the topic of energy, Obama supports developing clean coal technology where McCain is interested in harnessing the energy of nuclear power. In my opinion (biased by my fathers strong thoughts on the subject) if President Carter had not destroyed the research efforts of nuclear power, our country would be in a much better position (in terms of energy) today. If McCain were to become president, I believe he would be very efficient in taking care of the issues that our country is having with our involvement in Iraq. Obama has always been opposed to the war, and has proposed a plan for withdrawal. McCain on the other hand, intends to take the opposite route of ending the war responsibly instead of just fleeing and leaving Iraq in ruins, as Obama is suggesting.

First Post!

I don't know what to write, I just wanted to have a post on my blog!