Elections are volatile animals.

Here’s a post title which proves exactly that:

Breaking, Again: Senator John Kerry Leads By 10 in 13 Swing States with Just 16 Days to Go

People are beginning to really pay attention. Undecided and Independent voters are taking second looks at both candidates.

Joe the Plumber is every day America.

The domestic terrorist, William Ayers who “lived in the neighborhood” , has had much revealed about his own and Senator Obama’s past associations.

Obama and Ayers were serving on the same board in 2002- less than six years ago.
And they shared an office - for 3 years on the same floor.
But Obama says he’s just “a guy who lives in my neighborhood.”
No Senator, he’s not.

More… Joshua discovered who else was working in the office with Obama and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers… The radical 1960’s Maoist Mike Klonsky.

Still believe he was just some “guy in the neighborhood”? What are we missing here? Do we really know this man who could become one of the most powerful and influential people on earth?

I think not!

.

While Senator Obama is claiming it was he alone and John McCain had nothing to do with the bailout deal, the Washington Post, no friend of McCain’s, haswritten a piece that gives the inside look of what happened on Thursday in Washington.

When Sen. John McCain made his way to the Capitol office of House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) just past noon on Thursday, he intended to “just touch gloves” with House Republican leaders, according to one congressional aide, and get ready for the afternoon bailout summit at the White House.

Instead, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, was waiting to give him an earful. The $700 billion Wall Street rescue, as laid out by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., was never going to fly with House Republicans, Ryan said. The plan had to be fundamentally reworked, relying instead on a new program of mortgage insurance paid not by the taxpayers but by the banking industry.

McCain listened, then, with Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), he burst into the Senate Republican policy luncheon. Over a Tex-Mex buffet, Sens. Robert F. Bennett (Utah) and Judd Gregg (N.H.) had been explaining the contours of a deal just reached. House Republicans were not buying it. Then McCain spoke.

“I appreciate what you’ve done here, but I’m not going to sign on to a deal just to sign the deal,” McCain told the gathering, according to Graham and confirmed by multiple Senate GOP aides. “Just like Iraq, I’m not afraid to go it alone if I need to.”

For a moment, as Graham described it, “you could hear a pin drop. It was just unbelievable.” Then pandemonium. By the time the meeting broke up, the agreement touted just hours before — one that Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), the No. 3 GOP leader, estimated would be supported by more than 40 Senate Republicans — was in shambles.

An incendiary mix of presidential politics, delicate dealmaking and market instability played out Thursday in a tableau of high drama, with $700 billion and the U.S. economy possibly in the balance. McCain’s presence was only one of the complicating factors. Sen. Barack Obama played his part, with a hectoring performance behind closed doors at the White House. And a brewing House Republican leadership fight helped scramble allegiances in the GOP.

It is unclear whether the day’s events will prove to be historically significant or a mere political sideshow. If the administration and lawmakers forge an agreement largely along the lines of the deal they had reached before McCain’s arrival Thursday, the tumult will have been a momentary speed bump. If the deal collapses, the recriminations spawned that day will be fierce.

But if a final deal incorporates House Republican principles while leaning most heavily on the accord between the administration, House Democrats and Senate Republicans, all sides will be able to claim some credit — even if the legislation is not popular with voters.

“If there is a deal with the House involved, it’s because of John McCain,” Graham, one of the Arizonan’s closest friends in the Senate, said yesterday.

In truth, McCain’s dramatic announcement Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign and come to Washington for the bailout talks had wide repercussions.

Democrats, eager to reach a deal before McCain could claim credit, hunkered down and made real progress ahead of his arrival. Conservative Republicans in the House reacted as well, according to aides who were part of the talks.

[Emphasis mine]

There were specific things the House Republicans did not want in the package and since Pelosi and Reid didn’t want to take full blame for the bill, even though they had enough votes to pass it and excluded the House republicans “by mistake” it appears the House Republicans got things cleaned up a bit and with the backing of Sen. McCain.

It looks like Boehner and Company had more sense than the Republican senators or the Democratic representatives and that’s why they were not invited to the negotiating table.

In walks McCain, he makes a statement that even if he has to stand alone he will, and out comes a better proposal. No one is happy about it, but one candidate shouldn’t be taking all the credit for it. Look at the table in the link Sue provided here and see how much worse it would have been without the House Republicans sticking to their guns.

This story warms the cockles of my heart, as it has happened in our adopted hometown.

When school officials in Rock Hill, South Carolina, tell graduation ceremony crowds to hold their applause until the end, they mean it — Police arrested seven people after they were accused of loud cheering during the ceremonies.

Six people at Fort Mill High School’s graduation were charged Saturday and a seventh at the graduation for York Comprehensive High School was charged Friday with disorderly conduct, authorities said. Police said the seven yelled after students’ names were called.

“I just thought they were going to escort me out,” Jonathan Orr told The Herald of Rock Hill. “I had no idea they were going to put handcuffs on me and take me to jail.”

Orr, 21, spent two hours in jail after he was arrested when he yelled for his cousin at York’s commencement at the Winthrop University Coliseum.

Rock Hill police began patrolling commencements several years ago at the request of school districts who complained of increasing disruption. Those attending graduations are told they can be prosecuted for bad behavior and letters are sent home with students, said Rock Hill police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop.

All the cases, except for one that includes a resisting arrest charge, will be handled in city court and are punishable by a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

When my children graduated from Rock Hill High School in the late 80’s and early 90’s the entire auditorium was disrupted by hoots, hollers, noise makers and people getting up to leave as soon as their student’s name had been announced and he or she walked across the stage.

It was so bad you could barely hear your own child’s name unless the two or three ahead of him or her didn’t have a loud, unruly contingent of friends and family there. Make no mistake: it was adults as well as people around the age of the graduates.

I was appalled by the noise as where I grew up graduation was something that was quiet and respectful of every graduate. It was just a given.

To compound the hurt of not hearing our childrens’ names as they crossed the stage and got their diplomas, we found that college graduation was just as bad, only bigger.

Thank you to the school districts for making this ruling and for the RHPD for enforcing it. I can assure you I won’t be selected to be on the city jury for any of these people as I have a prejudice against what they did.

Civic responsibility in the form of Jury Duty calls today so I will not be posting the traditional Tuesday Tid-Bits.

I did however see this interesting video at the NRCC website which defines a series which has recently been completed.

The NRCC recently sat down with several Members of Congress to ask them about the most pressing issues facing voters today, and why the Republicans can, and will, win back the Majority. The web series, entitled “Rediscover Your Party,” will run throughout the fall.

This above video reflects a compilation of the 6 individual videos linked below. Many of the longstanding differences between the two controlling parties in Congress are addressed. The entire collection takes roughly 20 minutes to view.

Episode 1: Iraq
Episode 2: Earmark Reform
Episode 3: Accountability and Transparency
Episode 4: Free Speech
Episode 5 - Republicans Running to Regain the Majority
Final Episode: Election 2008