Last year at this time John McCain looked like an afterthought in the Republican primaries. Suddenly he moved up and past his competition and cruised home as the GOP nominee for President.

One year later Mr. McCain is shaking up his campaign team again and hopefully the “quiet” candidate will bring up key issues and take on Barack Hussein Obama for his constant changing positions.

It’s time to take the gloves off and get on the offense without having to become offensive. If Mr. McCain wants to run a civil campaign he better be prepared to hear more uncivil rhetoric from surrogates of Obama and the mainstream media.

Barack Hussein Obama will do anything for votes including change positions, attempt to move to the center, revert back left when DailyKos and their ilk complain, defend his past lies, and now maybe even visit the troops in Iraq and General Petraeus. How convenient for Mr. Obama to suddenly try to build foreign policy credentials and take a tour of Europe and the Middle East.

The public will buy into the Obama pledges, whatever they are, just like the public bought into Vladimir Lenin, Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler. After all, “hope and change” after a stolen election and eight years of George W. Bush is enough to give the Socialists an opportunity to bring fascism to American government. Let’s turn the US into Vermont and make Bernie Sanders the new Secretary of State.

Mr. McCain is not about to offer anything new or throw any punches at Obama, he is simply rearranging the deck chair on the Titanic in hopes that the Socialist “wunderkind” will blow himself up. Despite some polls the numbers are tightening and our average when throwing out the highs and lows gives Obama a 4.8% lead nationally, which is a statistical dead heat.

“We don’t think we’ve made the case eloquently,” Doug Holtz-Eakin, the McCain campaign’s policy director, said.

Really, when did they figure that out?

Obama recently flipped on troop withdrawal in Iraq and the McCain press release was so tepid and off the mark I called their office to complain. (Spend a dime – 703-650-5550)

ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign today released the following statement from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers concerning Barack Obama’s remarks on Iraq:

“Since announcing his campaign in 2007, the central premise of Barack Obama’s candidacy was his commitment to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq immediately. He campaigned in Iowa, New Hampshire and across the country reaffirming this pledge to the American people.

“Today, Barack Obama reversed that position proving once again that his words do not matter. He has now adopted John McCain’s position that we cannot risk the progress we have made in Iraq by beginning to withdraw our troops immediately without concern for conditions on the ground. There is nothing wrong with changing your mind when the facts on the ground dictate it. Indeed, the facts have changed because of the success of the surge that John McCain advocated for years and Barack Obama opposed in a position that put politics ahead of country.

“Now that Barack Obama has changed course and proven his past positions to be just empty words, we would like to congratulate him for accepting John McCain’s principled stand on this critical national security issue. If he had visited Iraq sooner or actually had a one-on-one meeting with General Petraeus, he would have changed his position long ago.”

The problem with this statement is Obama played “bait and switch”, slowly reverting back to his old positions and using the term “refine” to leave himself wiggle room. The Left is pouncing all over Mr. Obama for his attempt at moving to the center and McCain is playing along. In reality, Barack Obama hasn’t fully changed his position so why is the McCain press release tells us that he has?

Until recently, Senator McCain began town halls with his standard stump speech that touched briefly on a variety of issues, from immigration to the economy.

Now, most town halls will begin with a scripted speech wound around a topic of the day. Sen. McCain is then supposed to weave that topic through his answers and come back to it at the end. He will still take questions on any topic from audience members. But the campaign said it recognizes that most questions cover familiar territory, so the candidate’s answers aren’t likely to make news that will upstage the message of the day.

The real news at these town hall sessions should be that Barack Hussien Obama has been invited to attend and has refused because there is no teleprompter. McCain should emphasize this fact and use it to his advantage instead of playing nice.

“Obama’s seasonally adjusted principles are beginning to pile up: NAFTA, campaign finance reform, warrantless wiretaps, flag pins, gun control. What’s left?

Iraq. The reversal is coming, and soon,” writes Charles Krauthammer.

As Obama assiduously obliterates all differences with McCain on national security and social issues, he remains rightly confident that Bush fatigue, the lousy economy and his own charisma — he is easily the most dazzling political personality since John Kennedy — will carry him to the White House.

Of course, once he gets there he will have to figure out what he really believes. The conventional liberal/populist stuff he campaigned on during the primaries? Or the reversals he is so artfully offering up now?

Staying on message is important for McCain but he must reconstitute his campaign by launching his attack on Obama’s constant changes, pointing out his Liberal voting record and not allowing the Democrat attack machine surrogates to get away with the “Bush Third-Term” mantra.

It’s time for John McCain to throw Obama under the “Straight Talk Express” by aiming straight at the Socialist candidate with facts about the Obama lies. Indeed!

I thought the John Kerry train wreck couldn’t get worse but there it was, spattered across the Wall Street Journal. Should I drink my morning coffee or simply drown myself in it?

Kerry is actually trying to convince the American public he is CEO material. “As I travel across this country, I meet store owners, stock traders, factory foremen and optimistic entrepreneurs. Their experiences may be different, but they all agree that America can do better under an administration that is better for business” Kerry professes. He compares stock traders with store owners? And yes Mr. Kerry, one of the criteria for entrepreneurs is “optimism.” The top liberal in congress says he is better for business. I also still believe in the tooth fairy.

Kerry is back to “fuzzy math” quoting statistics of lost jobs without mentioning new jobs, with the fact these new jobs are actually paying more. Income is up but Kerry only discusses the expense side of the income statement. Unemployment is the lowest since 1996 and adjusting for inflation it is gauging towards full employment. Kerry loves to discuss the Great Depression and Herbert Hoover, Vietnam, and his famous on again, off again trivial pursuit.

“Today, American companies are investing less and exporting less than they were in 2000 — the first time investment and exports have been down during any presidential term in over 70 years. At the same time, our trade deficit has grown to more than 5% of the economy for the first time ever, a troublesome and unsustainable development.”

Time for a reality check! With the Bush tax cuts, investment by small business is up, the economy is steadily growing at 3.3% and adjusting for inflation, the trade deficit is not the worst ever. Kerry and Edwards are using the Great Depression to scare votes out of the unassuming public. Small Business, who Kerry wishes to tax, are the wheels of the economic vehicle. Small Business creates new jobs and sustains economic growth, yet Kerry is proposing increases in spending, tax increases on the percentage of Americans who produce jobs. When more money is invested in more productive economic activities, there is more output and more jobs are created while increasing output. The Kerry campaign believes in “Trickle Down Economics”, taxing the “Rich” and paying the poor, which is revisiting welfare reform in reverse and not investing in the economic future.

Kerry is comparing the war on terror to previous administrations. Not once does he mention the military downturn created by the Clinton administration, which left the American defensive capabilities vulnerable. Nor does Kerry mention the huge costs of rebuilding our military (which was downsized by 285,000 by Clinton/Gore) and the addition of Homeland Security. The sudden attack on the American homeland invoked billions in economic suffering, yet the economy has steadily recovered. President George W. Bush came into office inheriting an economic downturn that began at the end of the Clinton administration. Then the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the reactions to them disrupted the economy.

Kerry likes to use the deficit as a scare tactic but his facts and interpretation of economics doesn’t add up. THE FEDERAL DEFICIT, measures the difference between how much money the government takes in and how much it spends. Most economists say deficits aren’t necessarily a bad thing. “When the economy is underemployed, government deficit spending helps put people back to work to get businesses profitable and get the economy back where it’s supposed to be,” said Benjamin Friedman, a professor of economics at Harvard University. “At times deficits are unavoidable, notably during war.” In fairness, Friedman argues fueling a deficit is dangerous business and it’s difficult to grow out of huge deficits without reduced spending. The problem with Kerry’s proposals are he can’t pay for his increased social spending plans based on the tax increases he proposes. Taxing job creators further displaces a Kerry economic plan. However, steady economic growth does, in fact, lower deficits.

If you provide the entrepreneur with incentives (seeds, water and tools) businesses will grow the economy and create jobs. If you take away the seeds, water and tools the economy suffers, unemployment grows and further business investment dies. Kerry doesn’t understand this premise, he has married twice into wealth while consistently voting for anti-military measures and voting for advanced social programs and more government control.

“I am not trying to stop all outsourcing, but as president, I will end every single incentive that encourages companies to outsource” Kerry said. (Notice the Flip-Flop in one sentence) Outsourcing U.S. service jobs abroad is probably a plus for the economy in the long run because foreign workers can do the jobs more cheaply, reducing costs for U.S. consumers and companies. Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade. In addition, lost jobs in Wisconsin may very well reappear in California, not in India. Outsourcing is an easy target as a political football. Many of these jobs, like low-level computer programming and call-center operators, usually have low retention and high turnover in the U.S., but in India, you can fill them with computer-science engineers who are way overqualified. Companies often can get better work from a stable, low-cost work force by going overseas. Between 1995 and 2002, annual U.S. gross domestic product grew about 0.3% faster than it would have without globalization.

More “Fuzzy Math.” “By rolling back the recent Bush tax cuts for families making over $200,000 per year, we can pay for health care and education” Kerry proclaims. Kerry wants to punish the entrepreneurs who create jobs and the numbers don’t equal the spending proposals for social programs.

“By cutting subsidies to banks that make student loans and restoring the principle that “polluters pay,” we can afford to invest in national service and new energy technologies” Kerry suggests. Kerry believes incentives are subsidies and he would cut incentives to encourage advanced edcuation while also criticizing the Bush education plan, “No Child Left Behind.” But pork barrel subsidies are Kerry’s best friend. Kerry wishes to increase costs of corporations who “pollute” while promising 5% tax cuts to 99% of corporations. The net effect will remove income incentives for further business growth.

“I am not waiting for next year to change the tone on fiscal discipline”, Kerry exclaims. Kerry is the number one liberal in the Senate. His fiscal discipline is for military cuts and increasing social programs. He believes incentives to his union pals and taxing businesses is the best way to increase government regulation while reducing capitalistic policies. Kerry has great disdain for the corporate environment as if they are big brother and he is Robin Hood. We live under Capitalism, it’s our form of democracy. The free marketplace is one of our great freedoms. Kerry proposals shift fiscal responsiblity further into the hands of big government.

In the end Mr. Kerry, you don’t make Lemonade with social programs and government regulations. Please, America doesn’t want to participate in your train wreck!