• Barack Obama,  Dan Boren

    Oklahoma Democrat Representative Dan Boren Says NO to Obama

    Representative Dan Boren

    Representative Dan Boren D-OK

    Oklahoma Democrat Congressman said today that he would NOT endorse Barack Obama for President.

    Why?

    Obama is TOO LIBERAL.

    Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Boren said Tuesday he will not endorse Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president, citing the liberal voting record of the party’s presumptive nominee and Boren’s desire to reflect his conservative eastern Oklahoma district.

    Boren, seeking re-election to a third term this year, described himself as a “centrist” and said Obama has publicly talked about being bipartisan and working with Republicans in Congress to address the nation’s needs.

    “Unfortunately, his record does not reflect working in a bipartisan fashion,” said Boren, who characterized Obama as “the most liberal senator in U.S. Senate.”

    “We’re much more conservative,” Boren said of his 2nd Congressional District, a mostly rural district that stretches across eastern Oklahoma. “I’ve got to reflect my district. No one means more to me than the people who elected me. I have to listen them.”

    Boren is the lone Democrat in Oklahoma’s congressional delegation.

    It has been quite the day with Democrats jumping from the Obama ship. But, hey, Dan Boren wants to be re-elected and his district voted 66% for Hillary Clinton.


  • Barack Obama,  Hillary Clinton

    Barack Obama Watch: Scratch Ohio Governor Ted Strickland as Vice President

    Ohio Governor Ted Strickland

    Democrat Ohio Governor Ted Strickland

    Scratch Ohio Governor Ted Strickland as an Obama running mate. Strickland does NOT want the job.

    Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (D) was Shermanesque on Tuesday in saying that he would “absolutely not” be Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., running mate even if asked to join the Democratic ticket.

    Asked on NPR’s “All Things Considered” if he is auditioning to be Obama’s running mate, Strickland said, “Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept and if elected I will not serve.

    So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be.”

    Strickland was seen by some political handicappers as an attractive vice presidential pick for Obama because he is a popular chief executive and former House member who hails from Ohio, the state which decided the 2004 election.

    Strickland was also a high-profile backer of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., which would have allowed Obama to present his selection as a play towards party unity.

    Two down as Virginia Senator James Webb seemingly wrote himself out of contention.

    Ted Strickland knows that Barack Obama may have a rough time in Ohio against John McCain and why endanger himself.

    Besides Strickland is tight with Hillary. Why stand in her way?


  • Barack Obama,  James Webb,  President 2008

    Barack Obama Watch: Scratch James Webb as Vice President

    Barack Obama and James Webb

    Sen. James Webb, D-Va., left, stands with Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., during a campaign event at the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va. Thursday, June 5, 2008

    Scratch Senator James Webb as Barack Obama’s Vice President.

    Why you ask?

    Webb is a confederate REBEL at heart or so he writes.

    Webb is no mere student of the Civil War era. He’s an author, too, and he’s left a trail of writings and statements about one of the rawest and most sensitive topics in American history.

    He has suggested many times that while the Confederacy is a symbol to many of the racist legacy of slavery and segregation, for others it simply reflects Southern pride. In a June 1990 speech in front of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, posted on his personal website, he lauded the rebels’ “gallantry,” which he said “is still misunderstood by most Americans.”

    Webb, a descendant of Confederate officers, also voiced sympathy for the notion of state sovereignty as it was understood in the early 1860s, and seemed to suggest that states were justified in trying to secede.

    “Most Southern soldiers viewed the driving issue to be sovereignty rather than slavery,” he said. “Love of the Union was palpably stronger in the South than in the North before the war — just as overt patriotism is today — but it was tempered by a strong belief that state sovereignty existed prior to the Constitution and that it had never been surrendered.”

    Webb expanded on his sentiments in his well-received 2004 book, “Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America,” which portrays the Southern cause as at least understandable, if not wholly laudable.

    “The venerable Robert E. Lee has taken some vicious hits, as dishonest or misinformed advocates among political interest groups and in academia attempt to twist yesterday’s America into a fantasy that might better service the political issues of today,” he wrote. “The greatest disservice on this count has been the attempt by these revisionist politicians and academics to defame the entire Confederate Army in a move that can only be termed the Nazification of the Confederacy.” As in the Confederate Memorial speech, Webb suggests in his book that relatively few Southerners were slaveholders and that the war was fought over state sovereignty, which in the eyes of many at the time included the right to secede from the national government.

    “The states that had joined the Union after the Revolution considered themselves independent political entities, much like the countries of Europe do today,” Webb wrote. “The 10th Amendment to the Constitution reserved to the states all rights not specially granted to the federal government, and in their view the states had thus retained their right to dissolve the federal relationship.”

    Don’t think the Black Congressional Caucus nor the Civil Rights coalition of the Democrat Party will give a positive vetting of Webb.

    Another potential “moderate” Vice President candidate bites the dust.


  • Barack Obama,  John McCain,  President 2008,  Sarah Palin

    If Obama Chooses a Retired General for Vice President Then Should McCain Choose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin?

    Sarah Palin

    Governor Sarah Palin, holding baby Trig Palin, signs SB 57 with (from left) Representative Andrea Doll and Senator Kim Elton at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau on June 4, 2008. The bill expands Channel Islands Marine Park.

    Flap agrees with Allahpundit. Should Barack Obama pick Wes Clark or another retired military man as his Vice President then John McCain should choose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

    A slam dunk choice.


  • Ron Paul

    Ron Paul to Hold His Own Convention in Minnesota

    Ron Paul

    Republican presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, gestures while speaking outside of the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn., Friday, May 30, 2008, prior to the start of the State Republican Convention inside.

    Ron Paul will NOT be invited to speak at the Republican National convention in St. Paul, Minnesota this September so he will pick up his marbles and move down to Minneapolis for his own “mini-convention.”

    Maverick GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has booked an arena in Minneapolis for a “mini-convention” that could steal some of John McCain’s thunder just days before he accepts the Republican nomination.

    A Paul campaign aide said the Texas congressman hopes to pack about 11,000 supporters into the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, which coincides with the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in neighboring St. Paul.

    Paul, 72, will announce details for the rally Thursday at the start of the Texas Republican Convention in Houston.

    The campaign hopes the daylong event will “send a message to the Republican Party,” Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton tells the Tribune-Review.

    The ONLY message that ron Paul will send is that he is out of the mainstream of the Republican Party.

    Paul’s impact on the GOP this fall = NONE.

    But, he will make noise and get his television time in September.

    Previous:

    Ron Paul Watch: He’s Backkkkkkkkkkk with Political Ads


  • ANWR,  Democrats,  GOP,  Oil

    Senate GOP Blocks Oil Windfall Profits Tax

    Michael Ramirez on oil and gas prices

    Michael Ramirez on Congress and Oil

    United States Senate Republicans today blocked an attempt by Senate Demcorats to impose a windfall profits tax on American oil companies.

    But the Democrats had to try to overcome staunch Republican opposition to any new taxes on the oil industry. The five largest U.S. oil companies earned $36 billion during the first three months of the year.

    Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., needed 60 votes Tuesday to proceed with the oil tax legislation in the face of a threatened GOP filibuster.

    A Republican energy plan, rejected by the Senate last month, calls for opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil development and to allow states to opt out of the national moratorium that has been in effect for a quarter century against oil and gas drilling in more than 80 percent of the country’s coastal waters.

    The Democrats including Barack Obama who supports this taxation are a pathetic bunch. Why do they want to go back to Jimmy Carter days and tax big oil to increase supply and relieve gasoline prices?

    Did not work then and will not work now.

    Flap remembers the gas lines, the shortages and the rationing.

    Earth to the Democrats: Drill for oil and build new refineries while pushing conservation and alternative energy sources.

    If the Democrats had NOT blocked drilling in ANWR eight years ago when President Bush and the GOP proposed it, we wold be receiving oil today from the site.

    But, the Democrats control Congress and what have they done about HIGH gasoline prices?

    NOTHING but tax……..


  • Barack Obama,  Joe Lieberman,  President 2008

    Joe Lieberman Watch: Obama “Sleazy Tactics”

    Barack Obama has some stern words for Joe Lieberman, leading him off the Senate floor

    Joe Lieberman has had enough of Barack Obama’s sleazy tactics of personal confrontation.

    An aide to the McCain-backing Senator from Connecticut tells The Page: “If the Obama campaign thinks they are going to intimidate Joe Lieberman with these sleazy tactics then they are sorely mistaken.”

    Newsweekand Flap had covered the apparent scolding of Senator Lieberman by Democrat Presidential nominee Obama.

    McCain has enlisted high-profile help of his own to help win Jewish votes: Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a self-described “independent Democrat” who has criticized Obama’s leadership qualities, has agreed to head up a booster group called Citizens for McCain. In a brief but animated Senate floor confrontation last week, according to a campaign aide who asked for anonymity when talking about private discussions, Obama told Lieberman he was surprised by Lieberman’s personal attacks and his half-hearted denials of the false rumors that Obama is a Muslim. (The aide says Lieberman was “strangely muted” during the exchange; a Lieberman spokesman says the chat was “private and friendly.”)

    As Flap said: Lieberman should tell Obama, Reid, Durbin and the rest of those clowns in the Senate to “go to hell.” Joe was elected as an Independent after the Democrat LEFT pushed Ned Lamont to a win in the Connecticut Democrat primary.

    Harry Reid continues to be Lieberman’s BITCH for now but with the Democrats on track to add more Senate seats this November, Joe might as well leave NOW rather than be pushed out later.

    It was wrong for Barack Obama to throw his weight at Joe Lieberman and try to physically intimidate him.

    Now, it is going to come back and bite Obama in the ass.

    Stay tuned……

    Previous:

    Will Joe Lieberman Caucus with the GOP?


  • Hannah-Beth Jackson,  Republican Party of Ventura County,  Ventura County Star

    Receiving Campaign Contributions from Tobacco Companies a Campaign Issue? Part 2

    Barack Obama smoking

    Senator and presumptive Democrat nominee for President Barack Obama enjoying a cigarette

    Is receiving contributions from a Tobacco company a campaign issue?

    Flap reported the “HIT PIECE” from Ventura County Star political reporter and Sacramento Bureau Chief Timm Herdt and progressive left-wing VC Star blogger Brian Dennert.

    What is the Flap?

    You would think from the Ventura County Star that the Ventura County Republican Party was accepting money from drug lords or crack dealers.

    The last time Flap checked smoking was NOT illegal and the manufacture of cigars, cigarettes and other tobacco products was NOT illegal. Moreover, there are many Americans employed by the tobacco industry who pay their taxes, vote and enjoy their pursuit of happiness like everyone else.

    Also, the state of California and the federal government gladly tax the purchase of these products.

    What is REALLY the Flap?

    The political agenda of the Ventura County Star, Timm Herdt and Brian Dennert is to paint Ventura County Republicans as immoral,unhealthy and irresponsible pols who take the money to the detriment of Ventura County citizens and voters. Flap invites the readers to look at Dennert’s and Herdt’s blogs and see if they can refute Flap’s opinion of their BIASED agenda.

    Does Flap think smoking is unhealthy? You bet. But, I do not believe it is criminal to smoke in a responsible way and according to California law. Nor is it a campaign issue if members of the California legislature lawfully accept campaign money from companies that make tobacco products.

    A question back to Timm Herdt: If Tony Strickland’s opponent Democrat Hanna-Beth Jackson accepts ANY campaign contributions from the Democrat Party, California State employee groups and/or Union PACS who have received money from the tobacco industry will she return the money?

    Flap thinks it is doubtful because that “distasteful” tobacco cash is heavily laundered in Jackson’s campaign reports. Check them out here.

    Now, readers of the Ventura county Star have written exposing the BIAS of the newspaper and HYPOCRISY of the Hanna-Beth Jackson campaign.

    • Samantah Harrison, Moorpark:

    …How completely predictable that in an article that points out that both parties accept contributions from Altria, we get a headline singling out Tony Strickland and the GOP. The fact that Democrats accept money from the same source is buried in the article and almost excused. Not only that, but some of the contributions made directly to Hannah-Beth Jackson’s campaign were from Democratic candidates who received money from Altria. How hypocritical of her to criticize Strickland for accepting help when she has done the same from indirect sources…

    • Josh Guthrie, Ventura

    …What a stellar example of The Star’s political bias! In an article in which Timm Herdt freely admits both parties and their candidates have received money from Altria, both the headline and subhead mention only the GOP and Tony Strickland. The readers of this paper need to realize that between now and November, The Star’s mission will be to help get Hannah-Beth Jackson elected while pretending to be unbiased…

    • Mark J. Masterson, Ventura

    …If Bill Gallaher, chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee, is correct that we’re judged by who our friends are, then perhaps people should be aware that most of Hannah-Beth Jackson’s campaign contributions have come from extreme labor unions, trial lawyers and controversial organizations like Planned Parenthood.

    I also haven’t seen her ask the Democratic Party to return contributions from the same source she criticizes the Ventura County Republican Party for…

    • Tressa Golden, Ventura

    …It didn’t take me long to discover that some of Hannah-Beth Jackson’s campaign contributors were recipients of funding from Altria.

    These contributors are either current or past Democratic candidates for office in California.

    To be consistent with the statements she made in this article, she should return the money she received from these sources.

    Will she?

    Tressa has a good question and Flap repeats his question to Timm Herdt of the Ventura County Star:

    • If Tony Strickland’s opponent Democrat Hanna-Beth Jackson accepts ANY campaign contributions from the Democrat Party, California State employee groups and/or Union PACS who have received money from the tobacco industry will she return the money?

    The people can be fooled some of the time but the repeated BIAS of the Ventura County Star newspaper is OVER THE TOP.

    Over to Herdt, Dennert and the Jackson campaign to explain themselves.

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    Receiving Campaign Contributions from Tobacco Companies a Campaign Issue?


  • Bob Brooks,  Day By Day

    Day By Day by Chris Muir June 10, 2008

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    Flap is happy to report this morning that Thousand Oaks is the 4th safest city in the United States (cities above 100,000 population).

    The city of Irvine is the safest city in the country for the fourth straight year for communities with populations over 100,000, according to FBI statistics.

    The next four safest cities, in declining order, were Gilbert, Ariz.; Bellevue, Wash.; Thousand Oaks, and Cary, N.C.

    The designation was based on FBI data compiled from January through December of 2007 on the crimes of murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson.

    Congratulations are in order to Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks and all of his officers who keep us safe in Thousand Oaks. Kudos also to Ventura County District Attorney Greg Totten and Ventura County judges who administer criminal justice so well.

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