Cale Ramaker's Blog

It isn't easy to find...you have to do a little of your own investigating...but it might just go against what you've heard from Barack Obama, his Democratic party leaders on Capitol HIll and, just perhaps, the national mainstream media.

Three of Obama's top advisors played significant roles in companies that collapsed - and lead to the need for a bailout.

Franklin Raines: former Chairman & Chief Executive at Fannie Mae. Raines was forced to reitre from his position after accounting irregularities were uncovered. Raines received a golden parachute valued at well over $200 million dollars. RAINES IS NOW CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR FOR OBAMA.

Tim Howard: former Chief Financial Officer at Fannie Mae (under Raines). A government investigation concluded Howard failed to provide proper oversight involving keeping the books at Fannie. HOWARD IS NOW CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR FOR OBAMA.

Jim Johnson: former Executive at Lehman Brothers and a former Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae. JOHNSON IS SENIOR FINANCE ADVISOR FOR OBAMA & RAN OBAMA'S VICE PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITEE.

As we have shown with a Truth Test investigation, Obama's campaign ad that calls out John McCain's campaign team for having strong ties to lobbyists - is generally accurate. But don't you think it's become common place now that, no matter the political party, these insiders help run the show?

The US House of Representatives failed to pass the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout package Monday afternoon...


Before voting was complete, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went before the cameras and mics and blamed the whole mess on President Bush and his administration. You can go read her comments under our 'news' section. Point is: 12 Republicans apparently changed their votes from 'yes' to 'no' and those twelve votes may have been enough to pass the bill.


Let's face it - there is plenty of blame to go around to everyone! Did Pelosi jeopardize the vote? Was her grandstanding out of line with what was at risk?

This is too good to pass up...It appears the criticism of the New York Times and its favorable coverage of Barack Obama even goes so far to the crosswood puzzles. Read on...Thanks to Politico.com.

Times puzzle is clueless about McCainBy DAVID LEVINSON WILK

I am partly to blame.

On Jan. 8, 2005, I purposefully and unapologetically became the first person to ever construct a crossword puzzle for The New York Times that featured this five-letter answer:

OBAMA.

Earlier this week, Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s senior campaign adviser, lambasted the Times for being “totally, 150 percent in the tank for the Democratic candidate.” The GOP, it seems, is finally catching on to a once-hidden truth:

Crossword puzzles heavily favor Democrats.

According to the puzzle database maintained by Cruciverb.com, ever since that game-changing day in 2005, OBAMA has appeared regularly as an answer in New York Times crossword puzzles. With its wonderfully convenient alternating series of commonly used vowels and consonants, OBAMA has been the answer to the clues “Senator who wrote ‘Dreams From My Father,’” “Future senator who delivered the 2004 Democratic convention keynote address” and “Presidential candidate born in Hawaii.”

But what about MCCAIN? Shockingly, not once has MCCAIN been an answer in a crossword in the New York Times, The Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times. No MCCAIN, no JOHNMCCAIN, no SENATORMCCAIN, not even his most recent sobriquet, the presidential-sounding JOHNSMCCAINIII.

Contacted by Politico, Diane McNulty, a New York Times spokeswoman, said, “The answer is obvious for anyone who does crosswords. It is because ‘Obama’ is a five-letter name that alternates vowels and consonants. It’s got three vowels out of five letters, starting and ending in vowels. So it is much more crossword-friendly than ‘McCain,’ which is a harder word to put in a crossword. If McCain’s name was Obama, then his name would have been used many more times in crosswords.”

Things fare no better for the Republicans when we compare the candidates for vice president. BIDEN is the clear favorite, appearing as the answer to the Washington Post clue “Delaware senator” and as the solution to the New York Times clue “1987-95 Senate Judiciary Committee head.” Even conservative crossword enthusiasts who solve the weekly puzzles in The Wall Street Journal have been forced to write in BIDEN when given the Journal’s clue “Head of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.”

That leaves us, of course, wondering about Gov. Sarah PALIN.

Like a cruel joke, PALIN has appeared dozens of times as an answer in the crossword grids of the nation’s most esteemed news publications — but always with clues such as “Monty Python member” or “Cohort of Cleese and Idle.” It’s pretty obvious: The left-wing media elite is mocking her. For shame!

So, it’s proven. Crossword puzzles favor OBAMA over MCCAIN and BIDEN over PALIN. Is there any indication that crosswords can “right” themselves in the generations ahead? I’m not so sure. In perhaps the shrewdest political move of his career, the Democratic presidential nominee and his wife gave their oldest child another crossword-friendly five-letter name containing commonly used vowels and consonants: MALIA.

John McCain is suspending his campaign effective Thursday morning - and wants a delay to the first Presidential debate scheduled for Friday. McCain says he (and Barack Obama) need to return to Washington and help solve the current financial crisis. McCain is calling on Obama to do the same.


One note...the first debate is to involve strictly foreign policy - not necessarily the topic of the moment.


Your thoughts on what McCain is doing...

John McCain is out of touch on the economy, so says Barack Obama. Those were the exact words used by Obama describing McCain and our current economic crisis. Obama was speaking not even 24 hours after his $25,000 plus a plate fundraiser headlined by Barbara Streisand! It raised $9 million!

What's more out of touch? 

Now that 12 hours have passed since Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention, what are your thoughts? For those of you who loved every minute of it at the time - are you still pumped? And for those, like our persistent pessimist Sensible Joe, are you still not impressed? What do you want to see now out of her?


I've got to share that the lasting image I have, and I really think I'm speaking for the whole studio crew (as we were on the set watching), was Palin's youngest daughter holding the six-month-old baby like a doll and licking her lips to provide some "help" in hand brushing the infants hair. We all got a kick out of that (and no Sensible Joe or anyone else who's skeptical, that doesn't mean we're all in the tank for the Republicans...it was just a raw, unexpected light hearted moment).

I'll be checking back throughout the day to see what you've got to say about Wednesday night...

Well no one saw this one coming...Alaska's Republican Governor Sarah Palin is John McCain's pick for his running mate.


What do I know right? True. But even the political grunts who live and die for this stuff seem stumped this morning. Last night while watching Barack Obama's acceptance speech, Corrina and I both guessed McCain's pick would be Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. We've both lived and worked in Minnesota and know of Pawlenty. Can't say the same about Alaska or Palin.


Here's a real quick thought I have about the pick...Might it be hard for the Democrats, Obama and especially Joe Biden, to attack Palin over her lack of experience and whatever else might come up. This is a working mom with 5 kids, her husband works on the North Slope of Alaska in the oil industry and so on...Do you think the Democrats will have to be careful of campaigning against McCain's running mate because she's a woman? Would being too harsh on attacking her make Obama and Biden look "politically" incorrect?


It's interesting...already I've read a blog this morning musing about the debate between Biden and Palin. It mentions Biden being connected to the words smug and arrogant by his critics before. There's no denying his mammoth experience in the Senate compared to Palin's as a two-year Governor - but Biden's biggest challenge at the debate might be just trying to be humble, according to this blogger.


We'll see....Share your thoughts.

Maybe it's because she's not as relevant as she used to be...who knows really. Madonna opened her new tour (called "Sticky and Sweet"...I'll let you come to your own conclusions on that one) with several images that compared Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain to Adolf Hitler. Here's a bit from a report by The Press Association:

The 50-year-old pop star, who is no stranger to controversy, juxtaposed images of the German dictator and Zimbabwe's president with Mr McCain as she kicked off her world tour at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on Saturday night.

Towards the end of the song, images of John Lennon, Nobel prize winner Al Gore and Mahatma Gandhi were shown with Mr McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said: "The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time.

"It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear or attack off limits."

Some people will clearly be offended by Madonna. Others might agree. And even more people might simply laugh and find it ignorant on Madonna's part. What do you think?

You've got to admit that the headline bites! John McCain not sure how many homes he owns!
The headline is everywhere this morning. McCain was asked while in New Mexico how many homes he and his wife Cindy own. McCain's response was he wasn't sure, his staff would have to get back to the reporter. Turns out it is at least 4 according to McCain's staff - maybe more. Some reports put the number as high as 7!
Isn't this a question that McCain should be able to answer? Does his inability to answer it reek of elitist, high-end living? More importantly how badly will this hurt his image? You can be sure the Democrats are salivating over this one....

Next week when Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama travels to Europe and the Middle East he'll be accompanied by a massive media entourage. The list will include all three anchors from the major networks - Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. All three anchors have been promised one-on-one interviews with Obama at some point during the trip.

 

You may recall that John McCain, the Republican Presidential nominee, traveled through Europe and the Middle East in March. While there he met with leaders of many of the nations. None of the major news anchors traveled with McCain and CBS didn't even care to send a correspondent; ABC and NBC had regular assigned reporters following McCain.

 

Does this seem fair and equal coverage? It is part of the requirements of all licensed broadcasters. Feel free to share your opinion...

 

And one more thing...before you take a position for or against NBC,ABC and CBS - you should know that Time and Newsweek magazines have placed Obama on their covers a combined 12 times during the past 3 years, compared to 5 times for John McCain.

When I ran across this article in the New York Daily News this morning, I immediately thought of our frequent bloggers out there! This one is sure to get you talking...

The cable channel, TV One, plans on nightly coverage from Denver of the Democratic National Convention and the nomination of Barack Obama. A hour-long show will immediately follow convention coverage featuring panel members and discussion. There will be no coverage, at all, of the Republican Convention.

Huh you say? Well TV One is a black viewer-centered channel and it's President, Johnathan Rogers says, "We are not a news organization, we're a television network that's designed to celebrate African-American achievement. That's why we're covering this convention. If Hillary were the nominee, we would not be covering this year's convention. My audience is 93% black. I serve my audience."

Now before everyone immediately rips the guy to shreds - think about it for a minute. TV One (I had never heard of it before this article to be honest) claims it's just another cable channel with no centric focus on news. It's a channel devoted to African-Americans. Should it still at least make an effort to cover the McCain nomination party?

Well so much for Barack Obama's massive lead in the polls...Gallup, one of America's pre-eminent pollsters, just released its latest Presidential tracking poll: Barack Obama & John McCain TIED at 45%.

 

Just the other day The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg jointly released their newest poll showing Obama with a 15% point lead....and such tidbits as, "voter enthusiasm, views of President George W. Bush, the Republicans, the economy and the direction of the country -- point to even greater trouble for rival John McCain."

 

What the heck is going on? What to make of all these wacked out polls?

So we're now heading into the second week of Barack Obama vs. John McCain without the Hillary Clinton distraction...

 

How was the media coverage struck you since Clinton bowed out? Do you think it's been unfairly tilted toward Obama? If so, can you decisively say that the national media still adores Obama? Has John McCain received more favorable coverage - or do you think he still plays second fiddle to Obama?

 

What about the cable news coverage? Does Fox News Channel seem to placate McCain more than Obama? Has CNN morped from the Clinton News Network to the ONN - Obama News Network?

 

Any of you out there got some great dark horse names? Looking back on history the Vice Presidential candidate selection is often out of right field. Keeping that in mind: let's throw some names around.

Hillary Clinton can stay in the race as long as she wants but it's time for us to start matching up John McCain versus Barack Obama. This is our presidential match-up for November.


How do they compare? Does Obama's lack of experience really magnify itself against a war and political veteran like McCain? Maybe McCain's lack of support from the far right of the Republican party doesn't matter as much.


The most recent polls show McCain with a slight lead nationally, and here in Florida, against Obama. Will that keep playing out until election day?