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Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama moved to claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility in a roiling economy, vowing on Monday to slash federal spending on contractors by 10 percent and saving $40 billion. Urging members of his own party to be just as fiscally tough as the most conservative Republicans, Obama said the $700 billion economic bailout plan proposed by the Bush administration and congressional leaders is forcing a renewed look at federal spending. As president, Obama said he would create a White House team headed by a chief performance officer to monitor the efficiency of government spending. "I am...

Thinking the unthinkable. Like all races, this campaign has come down to a lot of “if-then” statements. America is already unimpressed with the Pelosi-Reid Congress. This is, with a few changes, who President Obama would be making laws with — a House Ways and Means chairman who doesn’t understand the tax laws he writes, a House speaker who does freelance diplomacy with dictators... In the Senate, President Obama will have Robert Byrd holding the purse-strings in Appropriations, ensuring that most of the new president’s national initiatives will be based out of West Virginia. On the Banking Committee, Chris Dodd will...

It's the question more than a few African-Americans have been asked in recent weeks. Are you voting for Barack Obama because he is black? It's a question some African-Americans find offensive because it is a question hardly ever asked to a white person about a white candidate. That said, Obama's ethnicity is certainly a big role in why he is doing so well among African-American voters, where he enjoys more than 90 percent voter support. So, in part, the answer to the question is yes. However, to think Obama's race is the only reason African-Americans vote for him is naive....

Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA during [according to the photo caption] the National Anthem. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"?

John McCain is trying to shift the 2008 economic debate to an issue where Republicans historically have had an edge over Democrats: taxes. In a television ad that began airing Thursday, the McCain presidential campaign warned that Americans can expect "painful income taxes" if Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, wins the White House. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sen. McCain pounced on comments by Sen. Obama's running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, on a morning news show that paying higher taxes is "patriotic." "Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic," Sen. McCain scoffed. "It's not a badge of honor....

QUESTION: Why isn't VP candidate Biden campaigning on what he calls "The Biden Doctrine"? Sen Biden (D-Delaware) is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Obama desperately needed foreign policy credentials----one can conclude Biden sold himself to Obama as his running mate based on pumping his foreign policy credentials. Ergo, Biden and Obama should be asked why the "Biden Doctrine" on US foreign policy is not playing a prominent role in Obama's 2008 campaign. THE BIDEN DOCTRINE ARTICULATED November 6, 2001 By Melissa Radler, Jerusalem Post Biden says Israel, US should not argue publicly PHILADELPHIA - Speaking at the...

Good morning. This is John McCain, speaking to you from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here and all across our country, people are wondering what exactly is happening on Wall Street. And with good reason, they want to know how their government will meet the crisis. Clear answers are hard to come by in Washington. There are certainly plenty of places to point fingers, and it may be hard to pinpoint the original event that set it all in motion. But let me give you an educated guess. The financial crisis we're living through today started with the corruption and manipulation of...

Let me offer a little advance warning to the big-spending, greedy, do-nothing, me-first, country-second crowd in Washington and on Wall Street. Change is coming! Change is coming on November the 4th of 2008! Now my friends, I've got to give you some straight talk. And I know you want it, and you deserve it. We need reform in Washington and on Wall Street. The financial markets are in crisis. Times are tough. I know that the events unfolding can be difficult to understand for many Americans. The dominoes that we have seen fall this week began with the corruption and...

Jack, I’m appalled. Yesterday on your CNN blog you made the outrageous claim that the only way to make sense of the closeness of this presidential race is America’s racism against Senator Barack Obama. In your words, “Race is arguably the biggest issue in this election, and it’s one that nobody’s talking about. The differences between Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be more well-defined. Obama wants to change Washington. McCain is a part of Washington and a part of the Bush legacy. Yet the polls remain close. Doesn’t make sense…unless it’s race.” I don’t know which is more shocking...

Don’t be shocked if you see the McCain campaign pull the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright out of mothballs in new attacks against one-time parishioner, Barack Obama. McCain advisers say that they see “attack by association” as fair game now, arguing that Obama’s campaign has been using that technique to go after McCain. In particular, the Obama campaign has hammered McCain on the stump and in TV ads on the number of one-time lobbyists working for his campaign. (The McCain campaign is also angry about a Spanish-language TV ad that ties McCain to Rush Limbaugh on immigration, without ever saying that...

WASHINGTON - Deep seated racial misgivings could cost Barrack Obama the Whitehouse if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo news poll that found one-third of white harbor negative views toward blacks -- many calling them "lazy", "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

In recent weeks, John McCain has been portraying himself as force for change, particularly in response to the recent economic crisis. This makes Barack Obama happy. Change is his turf. He's been talking about it for two years. This also makes Barack Obama incredulous. Change is his turf. He's been talking about it for two years. Obama has responded to McCain's new pitch with a torrent of sarcasm. In doing so, he sounds a lot like his opponent. So while McCain tries to adopt Obama's message (even using the same phrases), Obama is trying out some McCain attitude—and this presidential...

Via the Standard, I’m simply weak at the thought of the magnificent theatrical sorrow to which we’ll be treated when the blogosphere’s shrillest Obama mega-shills find out. If Joe Klein and Sullivan don’t already have pieces prepared for the occasion, consider their weekend schedules cleared. Remember, The One himself calls this a “legitimate issue.” Don’t be shocked if you see the McCain campaign pull the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright out of mothballs in new attacks against one-time parishioner, Barack Obama. McCain advisers say that they see “attack by association” as fair game now, arguing that Obama’s campaign has been using...

In a live interview on Your World with Neil Cavuto on FOXNews, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp. (Wallstreet Journal, New York Post) said that Obama's policies are naive and outdated as they applied to the state of the U.S. economy of the 1960s. Murdoch stated that if allowed to unfold, Obama's economic policies would prevent job creation in America, shrink the American economy, and slow many economies around the world.

There has been some evidence during the campaign that McCain position on embryonic stem cell research was softening. I was skeptical of drawing any conclusions having discussed it with McCain several times. But now the more optimistic prediction has come to pass We have Sen. Sam Brownback to thank for this, I am sure. In response to a questionnaire submitted by ScienceDebat2008, the McCain campaign indicated a McCain administration would continue the present limitations on research instituted by President Bush and would seek to outlaw somatic cell transfer completely. The scientists quoted in the article are not too happy with...

The turmoil in the U.S. financial markets is dominating the debate in the presidential election campaign, and Democrat Barack Obama appears to be gaining because of it. VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has more on the political impact of the crisis on Wall Street. The news headlines are hard to ignore. The Wall Street Journal newspaper describes the financial upheaval as the worst crisis since the 1930s, with no end in sight. Voters tend to prefer Democrats during tough economic times. And Democratic nominee Barack Obama has taken every opportunity to link the country's economic woes to President Bush and...

September 17, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a Radio Vatican interview yesterday, Father Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things, a US based faith and culture magazine, stated that despite the rickety economy, Americans consider the "culture of life issues" to "cut the deepest" when it comes to voting considerations. A former Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest, Father Neuhaus, 72, has been referenced congenially by President George Bush, who explained that Father Richard "helps me to articulate these [religious] things".Father Neuhaus stated that life issues are considered to be of "paramount importance" not only by Catholic voters, but also by...

What an amazing story here form an extraordinary young woman! God bless her!

If immigration is your number one political priority, what should you do this election? We begin with the observation that Democrats will likely consolidate and expand their control of the Senate and the House. This is good news for the immigration cause. However, in spite of controlling Congress for the past two years Democrats have done virtually nothing on immigration benefits and have continued massive spending on immigration enforcement. So, even though most political analysts are agreed that Democrats are poised for significant gains in the House and the Senate, that alone does not portend any immigration benefits in the...

"...McCain is neither a liberal nor quite a conservative. McCain is an honor politician--aggressive in opposing corruption, hypersensitive to inauthenticity or dishonesty, addicted to big causes, essentially uninterested in what most conservatives take to be the substance of politics," which tends to tax-cutting, or family-values crusades. McCain believes in small government and he is pro-life, or rather he prefers these views to their opposite numbers, and he can be relied on to back them. But the singular passion that a Grover Norquist pours into tax cuts, or a right to life activist pours into his movement, is channeled in McCain's...