Our First Reaction from Tonights Debate

McCain did better at the beginning but Obama did better at the end. Mostly because McCain did not jump all over Obama when he spoke total nonsense on some foreign policy issues.

McCain was just better on the economy when he talked about his record of cutting spending, reigning in corruption and opposing his own party at times when it was needed. McCain is right about this folks. If you think the credit crunch is bad now. Unless this debt gets under control the crunch that will come will make 1929 look like romper room.

On Iraq McCain should just have said look, Saddam was giving money and support to terrorists all over the world and while most of his WMD stock pile was gone he preserved the programs to reproduce those weapons in violation of the cease fire agreement and UN Resolutions. After 9/11 we could not let that behavior go on and the Congress voted likewise. What is important is the here and the now and in the here and the now Obama has been wrong on step after step.

Iran and North Korea. Four years ago from the Democrats it was the United States does everything unilaterally and we need to work with our neighbors. So we did just that and let France & Germany work diplomacy on Iran while we gave our support for the talks. It got no where. It just bought Iran time. Now Iran has told the UN to cram it.

In North Korea Carter and Clinton did unilateral talks with the North Koreans, gave them all sorts of goodies in treasure and what did we get? A nuclear North Korea. So Bush worked hard to get the 6 party talks with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia to all lean on North Korea and they suspended their program. And now from time to time they threaten to start it up but that is North Korea, it is how they do things. The rub is, the Democrats were totally opposed to the 6 party talks and wanted direct talks again.

The reality is that no matter what we do, whether it worked or not, the Democrats proclaim the opposite.  

Editor

Obama Campaign Conceeds They Lied About Ayers – Admits Obama Knew About Ayers Past When They Worked Together.

UPDATE: Now Obama says he worked with Ayres, knew about his past but thought he was rehabilitated, in spite of highly publicized interviews where Ayres said he was proud of what he did and regrets nothing. Details HERE.

[So lets see, first Obama said he was a guy in the neighborhood, then it was a tanjential relationship to Bill O'reilly, then it was well we worked together on a board, then we find out that Ayres hired him to serve on two boards to hand out millions in misspent charity money that wnet to political activisim instead of helping kids, then its I served with Ayres but I didn't know about his past, now its ya I knew but I thought he was rehabilitated, which is also a lie because in a series of highly rtelevised interviews Ayres made it clear how proud he was of what he did and how he did not do enough. Obama lied when he said he had nothing to do with ACORN either. I can't speak for all of you folks, but I have had my fill of liars in office. - Editor]

ABC’s Mark Halperin Got the Scoop – Hotair.com reports:

Obama spokesman: Yes, he continued to work with Ayers after he found out about his past

posted at 5:05 pm on October 7, 2008

Simple question from a surprisingly dogged Mark Halperin: Does Obama consider it appropriate to associate professionally with an unrepentant terrorist or not? No answer from Gibbs, although in practice The One’s answer is clear enough: Of course he does. The “statute of limitations” had run, don’tcha know, which is why Axelrod now feels bold enough to admit, “No one is suggesting that he never knew.”

After you watch the clip, take a crack at this short BBC radio interview with Ayers from 2007. Exit quotation: “I don’t make any apology for it at all.”

See our previous post with the evidence of Ayres and other radical relationships HERE.

W Ketchup Company Demands Obama Return Fannie Mae Contributions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For media inquiries contact Bill Zachary (917) 733-3038
 

W Ketchup Demands Obama Return Fannie Mae Contributions

Eagle Bridge, NY — October 7, 2008 — In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed the Community Reinvestment Act to force banks to lend money to low income communities. In 1995, President Clinton dramatically expanded the Act, requiring greater lending to low income, inner city populations, and allowing radical community groups to exact fees from banks for marketing these risky loans. The quasi-government institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bought many of these loans from local banks, repackaged them, and sold them to Wall Street firms.

In 1999, after the Clinton expansion of the Act had taken effect, Steven A. Holmes wrote: “In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980’s.” Last month Congress bailed out Fannie and Freddie at a potential taxpayer cost of $200 billion.

Bill Zachary, Chairman of W Ketchup, commented: “It should not be any wonder that a housing bubble occurred as Congress forced banks to make risky loans and Greenspan lowered interest rates to 1.25%. Politicians have blamed Wall Street greed for this financial crisis, but on Wall Street greed is balanced by fear, and the market soon erases excesses. For Washington politicians, greed has no restraint since Congress can confiscate money from taxpayers at will.”

President Bush twice tried to restrict the dangerous lending banks were required to make under the Act, and in 2005 Senator John McCain proposed reform legislation. Democrats blocked the reform efforts. The New York Times defended the Act saying: “Since its inception, the law has prompted banks to channel more than $1 trillion into [low income areas] — without requiring a single dollar of Congressional spending.” Last Friday Congress passed a $700 billion rescue measure to bail out financial markets hurt by the housing mess.

Dan Oliver, CEO of W Ketchup, reacted: “Modern socialists believe government need not own the commanding heights of enterprise, but instead should direct them through tax incentives and regulatory requirements. This is the ‘Third Way’ championed by President Clinton and the UK’s Tony Blair. But socialism in any form produces the same results: poverty and misery. Leftists like Big Tuna Pelosi blame the current financial panic on free markets. In reality, while markets are not perfect and there exist individual cases of predatory fraud, market distortions perpetrated by liberals created the magnitude of this crisis.”

In the 1990’s Presidential candidate Barack Obama worked for a Chicago law firm that sued banks for not issuing enough subprime loans to low income applicants. Obama also worked and raised money for ACORN, a radical, left-wing community group that coerced banks to make risky loans by intimidating the families of bankers at their homes. The Senate Banking Committee has estimated that $9.5 billion in “commissions” have gone to groups like ACORN under the Community Reinvestment Act. Since he began his run for Congress, Barack Obama has received $126,349 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, becoming the second highest recipient of any Congressman in three short years.

Obama’s closest advisors include Jim Johnson, former Fannie Mae CEO who misreported his $21 million bonus as $6 million, and Franklin Raines, another former CEO of Fannie Mae who faced civil charges for overstating the company’s earnings in order to receive $52 million in bonus, in addition to his $38 million in pay.

Dan Oliver added: “We call on the government to recover the multi-million dollar payments to Obama’s advisors under the principles of common law fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. We further call on Obama to return the contributions from Freddie and Fannie, money that rightfully belongs to American taxpayers. Finally, we call for the repeal of the Community Reinvestment Act so markets can return to their function of efficiently allocating capital.”

During the ten years after the market crash of 1929, a Democratic Congress and President created the regulatory state, tripled federal spending, and sharply restricted trade, turning a short-term financial panic into the Great Depression. Senator Obama has promised to expand regulations on large sections of the American economy, has promised nearly $1 trillion in new government spending, and has proposed renegotiating trade agreements, if elected President.

“The Round Up” of ALL you need to know October 7-10, 2008

This post is stickied – Editor

Obama said that Terrorist Bill Ayres was just a guy who lived in the neighborhood. Then we learned that Obama’s political career was launched at a gathering in Ayers home. Then we learned that Ayers hired Obama to work on the Woods Foundation. Obama Campaign then said that well of course they worked together, but Obama didn’t know about Ayres past. The evidence came out in a short time that the Obama campaign did know. Now the evidence is out that Ayers hired Obama to hand out $50 million on Annenberg Charity money. That isn’t something you do for someone you know is “just in the neighborhood”. That money went to radical political groups instead of helping kids. Now the Obama campaign admits that Obama worked with Ayres and knew his past. So should we be surprised to see this ad from the McCain Campaign?

 

This is a MUST SEE Video about Obama from CNN

We have always said that Politico.com gets it wrong almost half the time. When we use them as a source we always find a way to double check before we run with it. Today Not Your Sweetie, a Hillary Blog, peeled one of their last pieces of near laughable propaganda like a bananna.

 

DEBATE: Obama Reversed himself on Genocide – Ignored Genocide Under Saddam

 

Our first reaction to the Second Presidential Debate.

 

Holy Cow You Simply MUST Watch This Video

 
Colbert Report with a top economist on who is at fault for the mortgage mess – maybe they read the Vision.

 

Obama Campaign Conceeds They Lied About Ayers- Admits Obama Knew About Ayers Past When They Worked Together on two boards to ABC’s Mark Halperin – video included.

 

W Ketchup Company demandsthat Obama return the Fannie Mae money he recieved and gives a synopsis of how his people helped get us into this mess.

 

Looks like the couple who scammed Wachovia with the sale of billions in sub-prime mortgages are huge contributors to ACORN and all sorts of far left organizations. – See the update section of that post.

 

McCain Campaign finally starts telling the world about what happened at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They should have started this 2 weeks ago - but this is a great speech worth the time.  

VIDEO: CNN Outs Obama for Lying about Bill Ayres - lets face it folks, Ayres didn’t pick Obama to spread out $100 million in Annenberg Charitry Funds which were misspent on political activism because they were just people that were “in the neighborhood”. Notice also how Michelle Obama has been put away after a few comments from her? Obama need sto keep silent those who know him best. Think about it.

 

Saturday Night Live did a skit on the mortgage crisis putting the blame right square on the Democrats for blocking all reforms because they were on the take. NBC then promptly removed the video from NBC’s web site. Fortunately a smart Hillary supporter posted a copy of it HERE.

 

Democrats are running hearings about how the mortgage crisis happened….. but they are refusing to look at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae or Congresses own role in this mess. Chris Shays has something to say about it.

 

The L.A. Times is now doing KGB style edit jobs on McCain’s speeches.

 

Another columnist rips Biden for his lies in the debate.

 

VIDEO: Palin shuts down a heckler.

 

The Democrat lawyer who ran the Keating 5 investigation says McCain did nothing wrong and should not have been dragged into it.

 

It’s not just the L.A. Times – the AP is in full blown propaganda mode for Obama as well.

 

VIDEO: Another black American explains why he cant vote for Barack.

 

New 527 Video adson Fannie Mae curruption.

 

AUDIO: Obama said in 2007 that giving these sub-prime mortgages to people who couldn’t previously affortd a mortgage is a good idea.

 

Mike Oxley – A republican who is trying to lie his way out of responsibility for his role in the mortgage crash. IUSB Vision is the only one who has this accurate analysis.

 

Watch and see how carefully and brilliantly Barney Frank lies to Bill O’reilly.

 

VIDEO: L.A. Chapter President of NOW endorses Palin…. and the media is silent.

 

VIDEO: Brilliant Black Conservative Episode III.

 

Thomas Sowell asks: Do facts Matter? The famed economist tells how Fannie and Freddie happened and who is responsible.

 

VIDEO: Biden Used to Stand on Principle – What Happened?

 

Editorial – An Appeal to Reason.

 

Palin gives more to charity in one year than Biden did in eight and she has less income.

 

DISTURBING VIDEO: Obama Youth Fraternity Regiment.

 

Tackling the bogus “deregulation” argument.

 

Fact Checking the Palin/Biden debate – Palin was pretty straight – was Joe?

 

Top 20 Industry Money Recipients This Election Cycle – Who is in the back pocket of Wall Street?

 

Elite Media is avoiding talking about the candidates records.

 

Bill Clinton saysthat Obama is wrong about the mortgage crisis.

 

Biden’s “I Was Shot At” lie – Hillary Moment?

 

VIDEO: Wind Power vs. Storm – guess who wins.

 

Congressional Candidates speak out on the bailout- By the way did you know that our very own Congressman Joe Donnely sits on the committee that regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac… nice job Joe….

 

CNN Video: Biden’s Pork and his bridge to nowhere. Ask yourself why it is you have not heard of this story.

 

Wanna see cool VIDEO of our members of Congress saying how what GREAT SHAPE Fannie Mae and Freddie mac are in???

 

VIDEO: Ok so Biden is lying about his support for clean coal technology. Biden said give it all to China. Why not Joe everything else is moving there…

 

George Obama lives in a 6×10 hut – so a Christian sets up a charity to help him out. He lives on $12 a year.

 

Alan Greenspan testified for Republicans and McCain’s bills to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – Democrats said that they knew better.

 

Obama’s pro-gun ad is a LIE. Don’t be fooled.

 

Palin Blasts Iran’s Nuclear Program & Treatment of Women.

 

Bush Administration Warned Congress Over 20 Times Reforms Were Needed in Mortgage Industry.

 

Why Are Former Fannie Mae CEO’s Not in Front of Congress Getting Grilled?

 

Factcheck.org issues double whammy agaionst Obama ads.

 

Is censorship becoming main stream on the left?

 

Todd Palin is the evil shadow governor!!^$#@$#@$#@!%^$ … because the media is sure a woman can’t do it…

 

The Wilkow Guide to Media Perception.

 

In Plain English: How Did The Biggest Financial Scandal in History Happen?

 

VIDEO: The Man Obama Wants to Chat With.

 

Happy Anniversary IUSB!

 

New York Times walks down smear memory lane!

 

Washington Post walks down smear memory lane!

 

Donald Trump on McCain and taxes.

 

VIDEO: Can taxing “the rich” actually cost YOU more?

SNL SKIT EXPOSES DEMOCRATS ROLE ON MORTGAGE COLLAPSE – NBC REMOVES THE VIDEO – UPDATE: Those who scammed and profited are big doners to left wing organizations!

See the UPDATE: section below!

Not Your Sweetie blog at http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/ is a Hillary blog that has had enough of what has been going on in the Democratic Party.

Saturday Night Live did a great job of exposing the Democrats role in the mortgage crisis in a skit. Of course since it was so accurate NBC removed the video from its web site and from Youtube, just like the other accurate skit SNL did against the New York Times two weeks ago.

Here is what Not Your Sweetie Blog had to say. Be sure to notice that they were wise enough to save a copy of the video and put a link to it:

SNL: who created the crisis

To my surprise, I found one SNL skit that is both funny and accurate

Mini-Update: Another link from the Not Your Sweetie blog for the Video can be found HERE.

Pat Dollard has the video HERE.

Some highlights

After Nancy Pelosi (played by Kristen Wiig) blamed the Bush administration and Republicans for the current financial crisis, President Bush (played by Jason Sudeikis) interrupted: “Wait a minute. Wasn’t it my administration that warned about the problem six years ago? And it was Democrats who refused to listen?” When Pelosi protested, Barney Frank (played by Fred Armisen) corrected her, “Actually, this time, this time he’s sort of right.”

and also

George Soros (played by Will Forte) told viewers that all of the $700 billion coming from the recently passed bailout bill is going to him. Under his captioned name on the screen were the words “Multi-billionaire Hedge Fund Manager, Owner, Democratic Party.”

Video – now removed by NBC

Update: Interestingly enough, NBC pulled the video from their website. And they just took down the one on you tube. Luckily, I saved a copy. You tube took it down as soon as I uploaded it so you can now see it here

UPDATE Malkin weighs in with crucial facts! Michelle Malkin has the clip HERE.

One of the rapacious couples featured in the skit was Herbert and Marion Sandler (portrayed by Darrell Hammond and Casey Wilson). Unlike the other composite figures, the Sandlers are a real-life couple.

Also lampooned: Left-wing billionaire George Soros.

As Todd Thurman at Heritage notes, the Sandlers are left-wing moguls who built “a mortgage company whose major product was subprime mortgages and they sold it to Wachovia for $24.2 billion in 2006. And what do the Sandlers do when they are not peddling subprime garbage? They are busy writing checks to leftist groups like the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Yes that ACORN.”

The Sandlers are seething over the skit. And George Soros must be livid as well. Anyone else smell a legal threat behind the disappearance of the vid?

Democrats Run hearings in Congress to “Investigate the Mortgage Collapse” but Refuse to Look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Congress’ Huge Role in the Debacle. Democrats Refuse to Even Summon Documents from Fannie and Freddie.

Hotair.com has comments and the video of Republican Chris Shays taking the Committee for this sham of a hearing. Folks the two big problems with our economy are bad energy policy and bad mortgage industry policy – in both cases Democrats have said NO to reforms year after year after year.

Hotair.com:

Democrats have begun a search for the culprit in the financial collapse in a manner somewhat akin to the OJ Simpson search for Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman’s murderer. The Hill reports that Henry Waxman’s Oversight Committee hearing grilled Lehman Brothers executives over CEO pay and “deregulation”, but never mentioned the names Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Republicans found that more than a little strange:

Democrats aimed their harshest attacks at deregulation and CEO pay, using former Lehman Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fuld as an example during a recess hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) also released internal documents showing Lehman’s compensation committee recommended $20 million in “special payments” to three departing executives on Sept. 11, four days before the firm filed for bankruptcy.

Republicans, for their part, launched a campaign to pin the financial meltdown on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and attacked Waxman for not holding a hearing to dig into the now-nationalized mortgage giants.

“Any hearing on oversight that does not begin with Fannie and Freddie and [former Fannie Mae CEO] Franklin Raines will be a sham,” said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). “This is like investigating a train robbery and only talking to the dining car stewards.”

Christopher Shays ripped the Oversight Committee for its refusal to investigate Congress itself.

Our complete coverage of the mortgage bailout crisis, who got paid, who benefited and who is lying, is HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE. – Editor

L.A. Times Does Edit Job on McCain’s Speeches

Patterico has been on fire lately with some of the finest media analysis from the left coast available. Today he dissected an L.A. Times piece where they do a total KGB style propaganda job on McCain. This is the key Portion of the news he delivers and I added McCain’s speech about the economy. The L.A. Times after being caught replaces the story while still using the SAME URL in an effort to make it look like Patterico made it all up… but screen shots and Google’s cache of the site are forever. Be sure you read the rest of Patterico’s awesome reporting HERE. – Editor

Update: An L.A. Times reader tells Patterico, “What you cannot see on the web is how the Times laid out the story. On A6, there’s a bright 6″ x 9″ photo of Obama grinning at a restaurant with five smiling customers. Cheery. – On A7, there’s a 3″ x 5″ photo of McCain and wife in silhouette. They are debarking an airplane, looking down at the steps, giving them both a slumping demeanor. Gloomy.”

L.A. Times Cuts Out McCain’s Remarks About Economy, Then Quotes Barack Obama Saying McCain is Scared to Talk About the Economy

Today John McCain finally began to tell the country about his own efforts to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and the Democrats’ incredible inaction. Yes, as many of us had urged, McCain finally talked about the economy, and the conservative blogs went nuts. Republican bloggers know that McCain has to talk about this, because the economy is the top issue concerning Americans, and McCain has a good story to tell — even if it’s one that the media has been ignoring.

Speaking of which:

How did the L.A. Times cover McCain’s stunning speech taking on this core economic concern?

By pretending McCain never said it, and by quoting Barack Obama talking about how McCain is scared to talk about the economy.

I’m not joking:

At a rally here, McCain also lumped Obama in with Chicago politics’ history of corruption, while Obama responded that the Republicans were fostering political shenanigans and scare tactics.

. . . .

“It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Sen. Obama seems to think he is above all that,” McCain told the cheering crowd. “Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Sen. Obama. All people want to know is, what has this man ever actually accomplished in government? What does he plan for America? In short, who is the real Barack Obama? But ask such questions and all you get in response is another barrage of angry insults.”

That’s precisely the point where McCain started to talk about Democratic responsibility for the economy. McCain’s very next words, which never appear in the L.A. Times, were these words:

Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What was his actual record in the years before the great economic crisis of our lifetimes?

At which point McCain launched into the amazing speech quoted by Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, during which he laid out the case, at great length, for the Democrats’ responsibility for the mortgage crisis.

This is what McCain said:

Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What was his actual record in the years before the great economic crisis of our lifetimes?

This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it was only a matter of time before a contagion of unsustainable debt began to spread. This corruption was encouraged by Democrats in Congress, and abetted by Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed. But the truth is I was the one who called at the time for tighter restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place.

Senator Obama was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. As recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, “a good idea.” Well, Senator Obama, that “good idea” has now plunged this country into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

To hear him talk now, you’d think he’d always opposed the dangerous practices at these institutions. But there is absolutely nothing in his record to suggest he did. He was surely familiar with the people who were creating this problem. The executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have advised him, and he has taken their money for his campaign. He has received more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other senator in history, with the exception of the chairman of the committee overseeing them.

Did he ever talk to the executives at Fannie and Freddie about these reckless loans? Did he ever discuss with them the stronger oversight I proposed? If Senator Obama is such a champion of financial regulation, why didn’t he support these regulations that could have prevented this crisis in the first place? He won’t tell you, but you deserve an answer.

Does the L.A. Times report one word of that? No. Instead, they cut the quote of McCain’s speech short there, right before he talks about the economy, and proceed to quote Obama as claiming that McCain is scared to talk about the economy:

L.A. Times Columnist Rips Biden for Lies in the Debate

Biden, the master gasbag

The vice presidential candidate isn’t really an expert, he just plays one on TV.

Jonah Goldberg
October 7, 2008

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-goldberg7-2008oct07,0,427931.column?track=rss

Last Thursday’s vice presidential debate was the most revealing, and depressing, event of the entire campaign because it showed how irredeemably fraudulent America’s political class is and how superficial the voters who will decide this election are.

Recall, if you will, that going into the debate, the conventional wisdom was that Gov. Sarah Palin would be woefully outgunned by Sen. Joe Biden. A self-touted foreign policy expert and constitutional law professor, Biden joined the Senate some time after the Cretaceous period but well before bell bottoms went out of style.

As we know, the conventional wisdom was wrong. Palin wasn’t stellar. But she crushed those low expectations, salvaged her political career and turned herself back into an asset for the McCain campaign.

But what about Biden? Overwhelmingly, the professional political class proclaimed that he blew her away on “specifics” and “knowledge” and “seriousness.” The New York Times said Biden avoided making any gaffes, “while showing a clear grasp of the big picture and the details.” The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib proclaimed on ABC’s “This Week” that Biden avoided any “verbal excesses or rhetorical flourishes.”

The Associated Press called Biden the “master senator … rattling off foreign policy details with ease.”

And that’s true in a sense. Biden was at ease; he easily rattled off a string of falsehoods and gasbaggeries.

According to the master senator, the U.S. and France “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon.” Afterward, according to Biden, “I said and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.’ ” Perhaps Biden meant to say the U.S. and France kicked Syria out of Lebanon. But even this is woefully glib. Syria never fully abandoned Lebanon. And there was no “vacuum” for Hezbollah to fill. The terrorist group was already firmly in control of southern Lebanon and part of the government. No one remembers Biden and Obama fighting for the stupidly impossible NATO move either.

Biden insisted it’s “just simply not true” that Obama has said he’d “sit down with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad,” even though in the primaries Biden criticized Obama for exactly that.

Biden bragged about how he and Obama have focused on Pakistan, insisting that “Pakistan’s weapons can already hit Israel and the Mediterranean.” Um, no. Their missiles don’t get halfway there.

The constitutional law professor scornfully mocked Dick Cheney because the vice president “doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president. That’s the executive branch.” Wrong. Article I defines the Legislature, Article II the executive branch. Both define the role of the VP.

He flatly said that McCain voted with Obama on a tax hike. He didn’t. He said McCain’s healthcare plan amounted to a tax hike. It doesn’t. Biden said we “must” drill for oil, but that ain’t how he’s voted. He said he’s for clean coal, but just this month he passionately insisted to a voter that “we’re not supporting clean coal” and vowed “no coal plants here in America.” The scrapper from Scranton boasted about bonding with the common folks at a restaurant that’s been closed for two decades.

Now, Palin had her own problems. She failed to answer direct questions directly. She offered up some obviously canned one-liners.

But here’s the difference. Palin is supposed to be everything Biden isn’t, according to liberal pundits and mainstream reporters alike. For weeks they’ve been saying she’s ill-prepared, uninformed and lacks the requisite experience. But that criticism is also an excuse of sorts.

Biden has no excuse. He’s been in the majors for nearly 40 years, and yet he sounds like a bizarro-world Chauncey Gardner. The famous simpleton from Jerzy Kosinski’s “Being There” (played by Peter Sellers in the film) offered terse aphorisms that were utterly devoid of specific content but nonetheless seemed to describe reality accurately. Biden is the reverse: He offers a logorrheic farrago of “specifics” that have no connection to our corner of the space-time continuum.

In short, he just makes stuff up. But he does it with passionate, self-important intensity. He’s like a politician in a movie with a perfect grasp of a world that doesn’t exist. He’s not an expert, he just plays one on TV.

No one seems to care. He convinced the focus groups he’s an expert. The media, with a few exceptions, let it all slide. But imagine if Palin had made any of these gaffes. It would be incontrovertible proof that her critics are right.

Palin “lost” because she’s bad at being a dishonest politician. Biden won because he is, after all, a “master senator.”