Ron Paul: Vote Third Party

I have new found respect for Ron Paul. He is doing the right thing in calling for his followers to vote against the two parties that are running this country into the ground.

Libertarian-leaning congressman Ron Paul is urging voters to reject John McCain and Barack Obama and support one of the third-party candidates for president.

Paul, a Republican who abandoned his White House bid earlier this year, is gathering some of the candidates, independent Ralph Nader among them, on Wednesday to make his plea.

Send a message now to two parties that busy only mouthing words of "change." How can you change a system that you've created. The people who run America aren't interested in change. Politicians always talk about "changing" things but always do the bidding of those whom write the checks.

"The strongest message can be sent by rejecting the two party system," Paul said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "This can be accomplished by voting for one of the non-establishment, principled candidates."

And don't be fooled by this nonsense about spoiling by the third parties. You can't spoil something that is already rotten.

Some Republicans have been concerned Paul could siphon votes from the party in the same way Democrats accused Nader of doing in 2000 when he ran under the Green Party banner.

But when Nader ran in 2004 as an independent, he garnered just 0.3 percent of the vote from 34 states. The Constitution, Green and Libertarian candidates received even fewer votes. Nader claims he has enough signatures to get on the ballot in 45 states this year.

You can bet that a year from now when the economy completely tanks people will want to hang the Republicans and Democrats.

Nader predicted the gathering of third-party candidates would "raise the eyebrows" of pundits who are skeptical of the viability of independent presidential campaigns. The candidates will agree on several common issues they believe are being ignored by the major parties.

"This is the beginning of the realignment of American politics," Nader said.

McCain, Palin Pennsylvania Speech Transcript (9-9-08)

Read the full transcript.

"GOV. PALIN: Now, to win, to reform Washington, to help reform our country, Senator McCain and I are going to take our case for reform to voters of every background, in every party, or no party at all. And with your vote, we're going to Washington to shake things up. (Cheers, applause.)

See, John McCain is a guy who's been through a few tough battles before, and he has served America in good times and in bad. (Cheers, applause.) He knows what it takes to overcome great challenges. And for the job of leading our country, he's the only man in this race who's got what it takes. (Cheers, applause.)

Remember it was just about a year ago when the war in Iraq looked very bad.

And the consequences of failure would have been terrible for our country, for our troops. Defeat at the hands of al Qaeda in Iraq would have left millions to a violent fate and would have left our own nation much less secure.

Some in Washington at the time said that all was lost. All was lost in the war, they presumed -- they assumed. There was no hope for victory. (Boos.) And they said there was no hope for the candidate who had said he would rather lose an election than see our country lose a war. (Cheers, applause.)

But the pollsters and the pundits, they forgot one thing when they wrote him off. They forgot the caliber of the man himself, the determination and the resolve and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain. (Cheers, applause.)

But you all knew better. You all knew better, Americans. The American people understand that there is a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first. (Cheers, applause.)

AUDIENCE: (Chanting.) Country first! Country first! Country first! Country first! Country first! Country first! Country first!

GOV. PALIN: John McCain is a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years. (Cheers, applause.) He refused to break faith with the troops who have now brought victory within sight. (Cheers, applause.)

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. (Cheers, applause, chanting.)

Now, for his part, our opponent, he still just can't bring himself to acknowledge the coming victory in Iraq. He couldn't just the other day in an interview. He says he's for change, but look there in Iraq. Change happened, and that's a great thing for America, Senator. (Cheers, applause.)

Here's how I look at the choices that we have in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. (Cheers, applause.)

Americans, this is a moment when principles and political independence and those things that this man will bring to the office -- those things that are going to matter a heck of a lot more that a party line --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Yeah!

GOV. PALIN: He doesn't run with the Washington herd. He's willing to shake things up in Washington, and that is only one more reason to bring the maverick of the Senate -- put him into the White House. (Cheers, applause.)

Senator McCain has called the two of us a team of mavericks, and he knows that we've done some shaking up up there in Alaska. As mayor, I shook up the old system and took on the good old boys. (Cheers, applause.) I reminded people that government is not always the answer. In fact, too often government is the problem. (Cheers, applause.)

So -- so we got back to basics, and we put government back on the side of the people.

What I did was eliminate taxes on personal property and -- (cheers, applause) -- I eliminated taxes that were hurting small business. And property taxes were too high, so every year in office, we cut the mill levy. We cut that rate. And these reforms worked and our community took off. We started prospering.

And as governor, then, I brought that same agenda of positive change. We took on the old politics as usual in Juneau and we broke the monopoly that had controlled our state. And that was the lobbyists and the special interests behind Big Oil. (Cheers.) We came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of closed doors and self-dealing and today that ethics reform is the law of the state. (Cheers, applause.)"

Obama Dayton Education Speech Transcript (9-9-08)

Read the full transcript of Obama's speech on education given in Dayton, Ohio.

I believe the day of reckoning is here. (Cheers, applause.) Our -- our children and our country can't afford four more years of neglect and indifference. (Cheers, applause.) At this -- at this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy. The decisions our leaders make about education in the coming years will shape our future for generations to come. They will help determine not only whether our children have the chance to fulfill their God-given potential or whether our workers have the chance to build a better life for their families, but whether we as a nation will remain in the 21st century the kind of global economic leader that we were in the 20th century.

And the rising importance of education reflects the new demands of our new world. In recent decades, revolutions in communications and information technology have broken down barriers that once kept countries and markets apart, creating a single, global economy that's more integrated and interconnected than ever before. In this economy, companies can plant their jobs wherever there's an Internet connection and someone willing to do the work, meaning that children here in Dayton are growing up competing with children not only in Detroit or Chicago or Los Angeles, but in Beijing and Delhi as well.

What matters, then, isn't what you do or where you live, but what you know. When two-thirds -- (applause) -- of all new jobs require a higher education or advanced training, knowledge is the most valuable skill you can sell. (Applause.) It's not only a pathway to opportunity, but it's a prerequisite for opportunity. Without a good preschool education, our children are less likely to keep up with their peers. Without a high school diploma -- (applause) -- without a high school diploma, you're likely to make about three times less than a college graduate. And without a college degree or industry certification, it's harder and harder to find a job that can help you support your family and keep up with rising costs.

It's not just that a world-class education is essential for workers to compete and win, it's that an educated workforce is essential for America to compete and win. (Applause.) Without a workforce trained in math, science and technology, and the other skills of the 21st century, our companies will innovate less, our economy will grow less, and our nation will be less competitive. If we want to outcompete the world tomorrow, we must out-educate the world today. (Cheers, applause.)

Let me -- let me be more specific. If we want to keep building the cars of the future here in America, then we can't afford to see the number of Ph.D.s in engineering climbing in China, South Korea and Japan even as it's dropped here in the United States. We can't afford a future where our high school students rank near the bottom in -- in math and science among industrialized countries, and our high school drop-out rate is one of the highest in the industrialized world.

Olbermann Obama Countdown Interview Transcript (Part 2)

This is part 2 of of Keith Olbermann's (MSNBC's Countdown) interview of Barack Obama. Read the full transcript (Part 1).

OLBERMANN: Let me switch over to Iraq and people's reaction to you and Iraq and Iraq as a subject in general. Your predictions about the surge, your language about the surge, seem to have turned out to be just about 100 percent on the spot. Simple facts: whatever is done to lessen violence against American troops and others in portions of that country, the Iraqis are still not paying for this war fully, either with money or personnel. And Mr. Bush has just been advised not to bring any more of our troops home this year.

If you are right, why have the Republicans and the conservative media been so effective in suggesting that you were wrong and somehow you need to atone for that?

OBAMA: Well, you know, it's interesting. It's not just the conservative media. I think that a lot of the mainstream media has picked up on this. Partly, I think, it is a legitimate surprise on the part of a lot of people that the immediate violence went down so significantly. And I think our troops deserve all the credit in the world for that happening, along with the Sunni awakening that occurred, the Shia militias standing down. There was a convergence of forces that have reduced violence in a way I think many of us didn't anticipate, including me.

What has not changed at all is the underlying fact that, No. 1, Iraq was a huge strategic blunder that strengthened Iran, took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan, let al Qaeda off the hook, and we've got to make a strategic shift.

The second thing that hasn't changed is the Iraqi government still hasn't taken responsibility, that they aren't spending their own oil revenues. They've got $80 billion parked in New York banks while we're spending $10 billion a month. And I believe, and continue to believe, that until we send a clear signal that we are going to withdraw in a phased, systematic way, that they're not going to start getting their act together.

Now, Prime Minister Maliki has suggested that a timetable now makes sense. Even the Bush administration has been discussing a time horizon. John McCain is the only guy who still is trying to figure out ways to stay, instead of ways for us to go.

And it is important for us to understand that, unless we start putting more responsibility in the hands of the Iraqis, we are going to be hamstrung in dealing with the larger battle against terror that is so critical to our long-term security.

Obama O'Reilly Factor Interview Transcript (part 2)

This is part 2 of Bill O'Reilly's interview of Barack Obama as shown 9-8-08. Read the full transcript. (part 1)(part 3)

O'REILLY: You and Hillary both, you just want to take my money, and you can have it. I mean, I don't care if I live in a hut. Under President Bush, the federal government derived 20 percent more revenue than under President Clinton. Did you know that?

OBAMA: Well…

O'REILLY: Did you know that?

OBAMA: ...the economy grew, Bill.

O'REILLY: It grew, that's right.

OBAMA: The economy grew, so of course, the…

O'REILLY: Under President Bush, the economy grew 19 percent more than Clinton. See, this is what I'm not getting with you Democrats.

OBAMA: No, no, no. Hold on a second, Bill. Wait, Bill, hold on a second now. I mean, you know the famous saying about there are lies, damn lies, and statistics?

O'REILLY: Yes.

OBAMA: Well, you and I can — we can play a statistics game.

O'REILLY: I know it's bull. I know it is.

OBAMA: So let's be clear on the record, OK? The — during the Bush administration…

O'REILLY: Yes.

OBAMA: ...there was economic growth. Not as fast as during the 1990s, OK, but there was growth during the Bush administration. But what happened was that wages and incomes for ordinary Americans, the guys who watch your show…

O'REILLY: Yes.

OBAMA: …the guys who you advocate for and you speak for on this show…

O'REILLY: Right.

OBAMA: …their wages and incomes did not go up.

O'REILLY: Why?

OBAMA: They went down.

O'REILLY: Do you know why?

OBAMA: And the reason they went down…

O'REILLY: Yes.

OBAMA: ...is because most of the corporate profits and increased productivity went to the top, not just one percent, but the top one-tenth of a percent.

O'REILLY: Well, let me submit to you that you're wrong.

OBAMA: And part of…

O'REILLY: OK. We've been studying this issue because we want to be fair and balanced and give all sides.

OBAMA: Right.

O'REILLY: T he reason that wages have been depressed — and they're not that much. It's about $400 or $500 for the Bush administration, real wages up, and about $2,000 under the Clinton administration — is because there are 10 million immigrants, new immigrants in the workforce, most of whom are illegal aliens.

OBAMA: Bill…

O'REILLY: Those 10 million…

OBAMA: I totally disagree.

- Related Post:
Sarah Palin's ABC News interview with Charlie Gibson: Transcript (9-11-08)

Obama Olbermann Interview on Countdown: Transcript (Part 1 & 2)

Read the full transcript of Barack Obama's interview by Keith Olbermann on MSNBC's Countdown program. (update: Part 2 transcript)

OLBERMANN: And Governor Palin hired a lobbyist to get earmarks to the tune of $27 million for a 6,000-person town which is — in its own scope, is kind of a neat trick, but it does seem to counterbalance the basic platform of the Republican Party.

You said that they're not telling the truth here, but when the stuff is a gross distortion, whether it's about their own positions or yours, or facts in your history or whatever, what can you do about it? And why do people hesitate to use the word "lie" about these things?

OBAMA: Well, look, we have been very clear about the fact that this argument John McCain and Sarah Palin are making, that they are agents of change, just won't fly. It defies their history and their background. And we saw it in the convention that they wouldn't talk about the basic issues that are really going to make a difference in the lives of middle class families.

So you know, I'm happy to have legitimate policy debates with them on where we want to take health care, what we want to do about energy, what we want to do about education, what are we going to do about the war in Iraq.

But you know, for them to run an ad that basically doesn't present an accurate record of their positions on issues I think should raise some questions about how they would approach an administration.

OLBERMANN: To something from your own convention, maybe the most compelling moment of your acceptance speech in Denver was that one strongly voiced word, "enough." A lot of people who have felt angry about what has been done to this country in the last seven or eight years have that same sense of urgency and simplicity to it.

Have you thought of using on the campaign trail and in your speaking engagements, more exclamation points? Have you thought of getting angrier?

OBAMA: Well, I'll tell you what, with two months to go, I think everybody needs to feel a sense of urgency. You know, when I hear John McCain suggest that he is going to bring about change, I am reminded of the cartoon that Tom Toles did in "The Washington Post" where he has McCain say: "Watch out, George Bush, with the exception of the economy, tax policy, foreign policy, health care policy, education policy, and Karl Rove politics, we're really going to shake things up in Washington."

You know, the fact of the matter is, is that not only has John McCain agreed with George Bush 90 percent of the time, this is the party that has been in charge for eight years. And they're now trying to run against themselves despite a few months ago having argued that — John McCain saying that, listen, I've been supportive of George Bush, boasting about it.

You know, I said, I think on Saturday in Indiana, the American people aren't stupid. They are going to get it. But we've got to make sure that we are being clear, not only that they will not bring about change, but the very specific kinds of changes we want to bring, in terms of green technology jobs in America, investing in our education system, making college more affordable, making health care accessible to every American, that contrast, if we go into November, with that contrast on the minds of the American people, I think we're going to do well.