Hot Air blog points out, "When Barack Obama needed to win Pennsylvania, what villain did he use in his populist rhetoric? In the below video he chose Countrywide Finance. Countrywide, Obama said, paid off its executives while leaving homeowners with foreclosure notices." He particularly criticized the company's CEO for his excessive compensation and more generally "infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis," which he linked not only to the 2 million who lost their houses but to school districts that couldn't purchase supplies and pay teachers.



When it came time to selecting his VP, what hero did Obama choose? Jim Johnson, who got millions in loans from Countrywide. According to John Dickerson at Slate.com, "Now the man Obama has entrusted with what he has called the most important decision of his campaign is wrapped up in Countrywide and tied to the CEO. There are lots of unanswered questions about the Johnson deal, though no evidence as yet that he did anything wrong. But the Obama standard isn't wrongdoing. It's mere connection to the company. By that standard, this is bad news."

This week Obama was forced, due to media and public pressure, to throw Jim Johnson under the train. How many more people will Obama throw under the train? The list is long and growing.

Now we learn about two other prominent Democrats who are on the Countrywide take. According to Bloomburg.com, "[Democrat] Senator Kent Conrad said he was given preferential treatment on a mortgage from Countrywide Financial Corp. and will write a $10,500 check to charity. "It appears Countrywide waived one point on my mortgage,'' Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, said in a statement today in Washington."

"Conrad and [Democrat] Senator Christopher Dodd, who [since 2006 and before the current housing crisis] oversees the U.S. mortgage industry as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, were among those who received loans through Countrywide's "V.I.P.'' program, which waived points, fees and borrowing rules for prominent people, Portfolio magazine reported June 12. Dodd has denied receiving preferential treatment." according to Bloomberg.com.

So much for Obama's rhetoric and promise of change. Obama, his party's leadership and his closest advisers are part of the old guard liberal Democratic machine.

What is that old saying, "Do as I say not as I do?"

Recently Senator John McCain at a town hall meeting talked about the need to put the "Country before Party". This phrase has drawn scorn from both the left and the right.

The left calls this statement a shallow and meaningless "mantra". The right sees it as further proof that Senator McCain does not care about conservatives. As a conservative I look at it differently. I believe that the country is tired of partisan bickering and wants the "needs" of the country to take center stage. Politics is about compromise.

I believe that putting "Country before Party" is the essence of John McCain.

As Senator Joe Lieberman said in a letter to McCain supporters, "Time and time again John McCain has put his country first. He refused early release when he was held captive in Vietnam. He continued to put his country first as a national leader in the U.S. Senate. He put country before party when he fought to pass campaign finance reform, sought a bi-partisan solution to the immigration problem, and consistently supported pro-environment policies. His courage to stand up to the failed Iraq war plan of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and lead the fight for a new strategy in Iraq will go down in history, and it saved American lives. These were not always the easy things to do. In fact, they were usually very difficult, and often threatened his political career. But John McCain did what was right."

While I disagree with Senator McCain on several issues, I believe it is time for America to have a leader that truly has stood for our country before party in actions and deeds, not just words.

The liberal Sarasota Herald-Tribune editorial board is fawning over the primary victory of Senator Barack Obama in their article, "Unforgettable milestone: Primary success for Obama and America".

The editorial board makes a startling statement in its editorial when they say, "This is a nation, after all, that once enslaved blacks. The country has been bent, molded and tempered by that fact and the quest to atone for it."

There you have the sole reason why the Democratic Party and the liberal media are fawning over Senator Obama. The primary victory of Senator Obama is due to the "quest to atone for it". And what is it? That this nation "once enslaved blacks".

The depth and breath of this statement is amazing but indicative of the belief system of liberal Democrats and those in the media. This nomination is in fact the "atonement" for all liberals.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune then points out that, "It is not the same government that once routinely denied people of color the right to vote." They are right. For you see it was Democrats who passed Jim Crow laws creating the status of "separate but equal" for blacks. It was Democrats that fought against giving blacks the right to vote and treating them equally. It was Democrats that overwhelmingly voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

How have Democrats atoned for their past evils? They created affirmative action. Promotion based on race not merit. A totally un-American concept.

The "selection" of Senator Obama by the Democratic party is based on their bedrock belief in and commitment to affirmative action. Affirmative action is the Democrats way of atoning for slavery. For Democrats and the liberal media the primary victory of Senator Obama is the "crown jewel" of affirmative action.

Americans when they apply for a job expect that their character, education, personal accomplishments and experience will get them hired, not their race or ethnicity. America was built upon the foundation of equal rights and equal opportunity. America has always been the haven for many fleeing from oppression because of religious beliefs, race or ethnicity.

My family came from Europe as have many other Americans. My family fled Communism. We never owned slaves and feel no need to atone for anything, let alone the slavery that took place in America 200 years ago. We certainly do not believe in giving any one race or ethnicity an advantage over another. Affirmative action is counter to the values and beliefs of America and Americans.

The Democratic Party in the end selected Senator Obama over Senator Clinton because they felt the need to "atone". The people who voted in the Democratic primaries did not elect Senator Obama. The Democratic Party via the Rules Committee and un-elected super delegates selected him over a highly qualified woman to be their nominee for President.

The Democrat Party has now nominated an unqualified, inexperienced but eloquent black man. As former President Bill Clinton pointed out this is the first time in history that a newly elected Senator with essentially "one year of experience in Congress" will be the Democratic Party nominee.

What we now see is the combination of achieving the "crown jewel" of affirmative action and the quest for "atonement" by the Democratic Party for their racist past. These two forces came together in the persona of Barack Obama.

But will American voters want to atone or not?

Will you vote for the next President of the United States because you feel the need to atone? Will you vote for Senator Obama because you believe in affirmative action? Will you vote for him even though he is not qualified for the position but because he must be given the Presidency to atone for past evils?

If you were picking your doctor, lawyer, financial planner or mechanic what would you base that decision on? If you were hiring someone to work in your company what would you base that decision on? When you fly and if you could pick your pilot what qualities do you want him or her to have? Would you make these decision based on the need to atone? We think not.

Most Americans do not feel a need to atone for slavery or anything else.

We believe the job of President must go to that person who has the experience, is best qualified and most accomplished. That person is John McCain.

What do you think?

Tom Tryon of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune goes out on a limb and bravely talks about discussing race in America in his column, "If we are confined to corners, we can't build on racial progress".

Tom talks about demographics and census figures. One interesting thing Tom points out is that the "Census shows 81 percent of Americans as white, 13 percent as black and 4 percent as Asian. But the Census also shows that 14 percent of Americans identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race -- the fastest-growing group."

What Tom may have discovered is Hispanics self-identify as white. Hispanics don't identify themselves in terms of ethnicity but rather origin. They view themselves as part of the whole cloth of America.

What we and most Americans found troubling about the sermons of Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. was his emphasis on blackness, his Afrocentric church doctrine and anti-American rhetoric. Dr. Wright for over 35 years has been preaching segregation, hate and sedition to his congregation. He has been rewarded by his community, his state and the nation for doing so.

What is most troubling about the political speech of Senator Obama is his statement, "I can no more disown him [Dr. Wright] than I can disown the black community."

Many Americans see Dr. Wright, and Senator Obama's failure to disown him, promoting a belief system that says blacks must be "confined to a corner" in order to be viable. Being black trumps all else, including being American.

To have meaning in their lives blacks must hate "whitey" and "white America" and damn America according to Pastor Wright. Dr. Wright preaches the "we are owed" doctrine of black power.

What is more disturbing is the recent glowing support of Dr. Wright from Reverend John H. Thomas, General Minister and President, United Church of Christ, Reverend Michael Pfleger of the Saint Sabina church of Chicago, Senator Obama, political pundits, the media and some leaders in the black community.

Dr. Wright preached racial segregation and sedition. The same segregation, racial slurs and hate speech that Tom rightly points out came from Southern Democrats such as former Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate George Wallace.

Recently we had a comment posted on this blog saying that there are two Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations in Newtown. One for "whitey" and one for the blacks. This is segregation of the most heinous sort on a day that is supposed to celebrate racial equality.

We fully agree with Tom when he ends his column with, "If we ignore our common challenges, if we fail to embrace our common beliefs, religious and secular, we will simply remain in the corners we define by race, afraid and unable to bridge our differences."

The operative words are "common beliefs". What beliefs we have in common defines us as American. History has shown that for a multi-ethnic nation to survive it must have a strong common belief system that trumps race.

Americans rightly are shocked, afraid and angry when they hear black separatist rants. The black community must denounce not only the rhetoric of Dr. Wright but the man himself and those of a similar ilk, who Senator Obama describes as being in a "time warp".

We agree with Tom, some in our community need to get out of their corner and meet the majority of us in the middle of the room.

According to Time magazine, "In a [1956] special session of the [Democratic controlled] Florida legislature, the state house of representatives passed four bills to circumvent a state supreme court ruling that the Florida school segregation laws are invalid. The bills would enable county boards of education to assign pupils and teachers to schools on the basis of intelligence, ability, and "cultural background.'' One representative objected that "some Negro pupils have higher IQs than some white pupils." Snapped a backer of the bill: "But who is going to give the tests?"

The Governor of Florida in 1956 was Democrat Thomas LeRoy Collins (pictured to the left). Democratic Governor Collins publicly condemned the U. S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

As a side note you should also know about The Florida Legislative Investigation Committee (known as the Johns Committee) established by the Democratic Florida Legislature in 1956, during the era of the Second Red Scare and the Lavender Scare.

The Florida committee undertook a wide-ranging investigation of potentially subversive activities by academics, civil rights groups, and suspected communist organizations, and also attempted to eliminate homosexuals from state government and public education.

The Johns Committee was named after Democratic Governor of Florida Charley Eugene Johns.

In the Sarasota Herald-Tribune article by Carol E. Lee, "Reconciliation of racist past stirs in Captital", there is a lot Carol does not tell you about the role of Democrats and the racist past of Florida.

For example, not mentioned in the article is that the all white Florida state legislature of 1956 was also all Democrat and that the Democrats and their KKK "friends" had eliminated Republicans from elected office in Florida by the early 1900s.

The article mentions that there were 63,000 slaves in Florida before the Civil War, but fails to mention that the slave owners were Democrats and fails to mention that the Republican Party was founded in 1854 as the anti-slavery party, that it won the Civil War against the pro-slavery Democratic Party and that the Republican Party passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution that ended slavery, provided the vote for black men, and outlawed racial discrimination. Almost every Democrat voting NO.

Of the almost 3,000 people lynched by the KKK: 2,000 were black, 1,000 were white, and almost all were Republicans.

Really, it ought to be the white Democrats who apologize to all Republicans and all black residents of Florida for the many historic crimes of the white Democratic Party. The rehabilitation of the Democratic Party begins with it acknowledging its extensive racist history.