Libertarian Presidential Candidate and former U.S. Representative Bob Barr spoke today in town hall format at George Mason University. An intimate crowd listened intently in Student Union Building I’s Patriot Lounge to hear Barr highlight the positives of a third party choice and the high level of dissatisfaction that many Americans hold for the current administration.

“[There is] complete disdain of American liberties,” said Barr, explaining his decision to leave the Republican party in 2006.

Barr said he believes he is a good alternative to Presidential Candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain because he has a plan to decrease “big government.” “If you’re for Republican big government then vote for John McCain, if you’re for Democrat big government, vote for Barack Obama,” said Barr, going so far as to say he would like to see the Department of Education dismantled.

Several audience members had the opportunity to interact with Barr when he opened the format for questions. The audience pressed him for specifics regarding his education platform, his plan to decrease government and his foreign and international policy strategy.

For more information about the event, follow Mason Votes on Twitter, Flicker and watch for our podcast interview with Barr, coming soon.

Posted on September 12th, 2008 by Christian Yingling
Filed under: Mason Learns, Top Stories | 2 Comments »

Yesterday Palin linked the 9/11 terrorist attacks to… Iraq. Even George W. Bush seems to have a better grasp on the whole situation. As Anne E. Kornblut writes for the Washington Post: “[A] view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself.”

Hmm.

It’s also not good to be so “confused” (or “politically cunning”) with regards to a political issue (The Bridge To Nowhere) that your opponents — Obama and Biden — are able to find just cause to call you a liar. As I’m sure most of you have seen, one of the newest Obama-Biden ads straight up calls Palin out. The word “liar” is not meant to ever come out in a political race — so, where’s the backlash, one might ask?

Rebecca Sinderbrand, of CNN, has quite a bit to say about these accusations of deliberate falsehood and the possible impacts of the words “lie” and “liar” being introduced into the campaign — but nowhere in the article does anyone come to Palin’s defense. There’s talk of the dangers of calling someone a liar when the public hasn’t completely made up its mind about you, there’s talk of how susceptible Palin may be to such an attack being that she is really little more than a media sensation at the moment (unless you are from Alaska and actually knew her name before she became McCain’s VP choice), but nothing is made to clarify or defend Palin’s alleged lie. (There is however a nice cheap shot at the end of the article. Oh, I love politics.)

And, for the record, putting lipstick on animals was not invented by Palin — I’m pretty sure the cosmetic companies have that dishonor. She can’t take the whole ‘you can put lipstick on a pig’ thing personally just because she compared herself, and all ‘hockey moms,’ to pit bulls with lipstick. Obama was directly singling out McCain as the pig who was masquerading about in lipstick, not Palin. (Tell me if you hear Palin’s name mentioned once during Obama’s ‘lipstick attack.’) It was a stupid thing for Obama to say, especially since everyone who had any access to a television or the internet during the GOP Convention knew that Palin’s lipstick joke would be one of her defining soundbytes — but poor judgment doesn’t equal sexism. Hell, I bet a few people could argue that Obama made a smart move. (Remember, this is politics, not math class. What political strategists think of as “smart” is often… baffling.)

This is politics. If it doesn’t get dirty, we all get bored (and this new autumn television line up is not going to do it for me). No one — from the average interested American to the sickly political junkie — in their right minds wants a clean political race. The American Political Arena is not known for its intellectualism, it’s known for short video clips, soundbytes taken out of context, sloganeering, candidate theme songs (“Born in the USA, I was… born in the USA”), and downright nastiness. And the internet has made all of this so much more fun.

With this in mind, Palin needs to stop making this so easy (there were a million other phrases that she could have been branded with by her adversaries, and early on it’s “liar”). She’s going to go from ‘Belle of the Ball’ to ‘Ball and Chain’ real quick… and McCain’s smiles seem forced enough as they are. You could never call McCain or Lieberman liars. They are honorable, decent, passionate public servants who have undoubtedly annoyed vast swathes of the American voting public in their political careers — but no one would call either of them liars. (I only bring up Lieberman because he was thought to be at the very top of McCain’s VP shortlist.)

The fact that Palin’s at best confused ramblings about The Bridge To Nowhere and her relationship to the project have allowed the Democrats to actually bring out the worst weapon in the Political Game is only more proof of my original though — Palin is a time bomb that is going to blow up in McCain’s face, and the fuse is lit.

As for the 9/11-Iraq claims… I don’t even know where to start. That was the Big Lie (along with the now classic Weapons of Mass Destruction line) that was proposed by the Bush Administration as justification for the Iraq War, and I can’t think of a single good reason why Palin would throw her support behind a claim that Bush himself has even rejected, that the vast majority of the American people have seen to be a falsehood — and after being called a liar? Who told her it was a good idea to support the Big Lie when she was being called a liar in campaign ads? How is she allowed on the Straight Talk Express?

Posted on September 12th, 2008 by Lars Laing-Peterson
Filed under: Mason Learns, Opinion | No Comments »

College Republicans Sign-Up Students On Campus

Posted on September 12th, 2008 by Christian Yingling
Filed under: Mason Learns | No Comments »

Content Editor Christian Yingling facilitates a roundtable discussion between George Mason University’s College Republicans and College Democrats. Who is the best candidate for students? What’s going on in local elections? Student experts explore the answers.

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Posted on September 11th, 2008 by Aram Zucker-Scharff
Filed under: Mason Votes, Podcasts | No Comments »

Barack Hussein Obama does have lots and lots of experience. He does! We promise! I mean, he was a senator and a lawyer and was a community organizer after college.

Well, okay, maybe he only served 143 days as a US Senator before he started the presidential process, but still! That’s beside the point! He’s charismatic! He’s a leader! He says the words “change” and “hope” and “difference” much more than McCain does! He’s young (relatively), and he overcame a hard childhood to become what he is today!

Really, if you want to talk about lack of experience, let’s talk about Sarah Palin. I mean, sure, she has more executive experience than McCain, Obama, and Biden put together, but it was just in running a state. Legislative experience is much more useful than executive experience. (Who cares if being the President falls under our Executive branch of government? Details, details.) Sure, Palin’s dealt with the oil industries and pipeline talks with Canada, but Obama dealt with important issues like voter-registration drives.

As the executive office holder (aka governor) of Alaska, Palin had control over the Alaska National Guard.

Obama…had control over….uh….he…says “change” a lot! And he’s charismatic!

And…well…at least Obama admits to his inexperience by saying, “My lack of experience is my greatest asset.” Yeah! Who needs experience learning how to run towns, and cities, and states, and nations!? We don’t! Who needs experience with foreign policy?! We don’t! Who needs experience with managing budgets, and armed forces, and economies?! We don’t! All we need is a guy who believes that he can be the change we need.

But, apparently, Obama doesn’t believe in himself enough. For all his talk about experience not being an issue, he chose a guy with a long history of political experience (and also of plagiarism and exaggerations). For all his talk about a new brand of politics and change we can count on, Obama sure did pick an old-school politician. Maybe he’s not as confident as we thought. Maybe he’s actually a little desperate. How else could the politician of “hope and change” nab a running mate as flat-out dishonest as Biden?

So, Barack “Change We Can Believe In” Obama picked a plagiarizing, dishonest, old-school (but experienced, even though it doesn’t matter that much) running mate. John “I’d rather my President be Old and not Stupid” McCain picked Sarah Palin.

It’s funny that Liberals are screaming about her lack of experience in an election where Obama said himself, “my lack of experience is my greatest asset.” Palin, as the governor of Alaska, has plenty of experience with National Defense. Alaska is the first line of defense of America’s missile interceptor system. This means, if another country (oh, maybe Iran) tries to shoot missiles at us, Alaska better be on its toes. (Interestingly, Alaska is the only state where its National Guard is on permanent duty.) As governor, she’s briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counterterrorism. She’s also the commander in chief of the Alaska State Defense Force (ASDF), a federally recognized militia incorporated into Homeland Security’s counterterrorism plans.

Obama…uh…Obama is change we can believe in!

I do realize that comparing Obama to Palin seems silly. When, in any other election, has so much focus been placed upon the vice presidential candidates? I’m just sick of hearing the whining about how she’s only a “hairbreadth” away from being the President, and she doesn’t have the experience necessary for the job.

HELLO!? Obama is RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, AND HE HAS ZERO EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE!!!! People! Palin ran an entire state, dealt with issues of counterterrorism, and controlled our NATION’S missile defense system!

Obama was a senator. And he did charity work. And…

…

“My understanding is that Gov. Palin’s town, Wassilla, has I think 50 employees. We’ve got 2500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe 12 million dollars a year – we have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama said when Anderson Cooper asked him about Palin’s experience.

Oh, yeah. There you go. I looked up Alaska’s FY2008 operating budget…which happens to be $11.2 billion dollars. The state also employs about 15,000 people. Why address her mayoral experience and ignore her gubernatorial statistics? Oh, yeah. It’d kind of make your little campaign pale in comparison.

Hey, and you know what else I’m sick of? The vicious attacks on Palin’s personal life. First, accusations arose that Trig, her youngest child, belonged to Bristol, one of her daughters. Once Palin set the record straight by letting the world know that Bristol was actually already five months pregnant, without even pausing for breath, the reporters began screaming about how a parent who promotes abstinence but lets her daughter get pregnant is a hypocrite and unfit for command.

Maybe I’m all by myself out here, but how many of you have faithfully upheld every single ideal your parents believe in? I know I haven’t, but far be it from anyone to say my parents are unfit simply because I’ve made my own (poor) decisions.

At least Bristol’s doing the right thing and keeping the baby, just like her mom kept Trig. If this was one of Obama’s girls, we never would have known. He would have had no problem instructing his daughter to “take care of the problem”. What’s one unborn baby, one human life, when there’s an election to win?

Thank God for someone who is unashamed to stand up for what she believes in. Thank God that we have someone who not only has strong morals, but upholds them. What, Obama? It’s “above your paygrade” to state your views about abortion? Sir, you are campaigning to be the Chief Executive Officer of our entire COUNTRY. I think stating your belief without trying to appease everyone falls very neatly within your job description.

At least Palin has some balls.

In conclusion, I think my man Rudy said it best. He called Palin “one of the most successful governors in the country” saying her experience is “equal” to Barack Obama’s.

“She’s cut the budget 15 to 18 percent. She’s cut taxes. She’s taken on the big oil companies and brought about reform,” Giuliani said. “She has fought corruption in her state from the day she has been mayor, certainly as governor, took on corrupt Republicans and corrupt Democrats and defeated them. That’s a heck of a record.”

“It’s a lot better than Barack Obama’s record,” Giuliani added.

While Giuliani conceded that Palin may the most extensive resume, he insisted that the Republican ticket is “in the right order.”

“We’ve got the person with the most experience on top, we’ve got the new generation at the bottom of the ticket,” the former mayor said. “They’ve got a person with no experience at the top, none, nada, not a single bit of experience as an executive.”

‘Nuff said, Giuliani. ‘nuff said.

(Fun Rant of the Day: Obama was once asked what he’d do with a billion dollars. First he said he’d pay off his mortgage. Then he would give the rest to his wife. Wait. No. He added that he would give most to charities. Then he said he’d put “several hundred million into buying mosquito nets” to prevent malaria in Africa.”

Wow, Obama, if you really cared about malaria in Africa, maybe you could readdress the DDT issue. Wait. No. We couldn’t. DDT might harm birds. And the environment. Sure, malaria has passed AIDS as the number one killer in Africa, but we couldn’t spray DDT and kill all the mosquitoes. Think of the environment! The birds! We all know that the birds and the rivers and the environment are absolutely more important than actual human life.

I mean, that’s just the MO of the Democratic party, though, so why am I complaining? It’s always been that polar bears > human babies any day. )

Posted on September 11th, 2008 by Tierney Kain
Filed under: Mason Learns, Opinion | 6 Comments »

Content Editor Christian Yingling reports from the McCain/Palin Rally in the City of Fairfax, Virginia.

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Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Christian Yingling
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The excitement was palpable at Van Dyke Park in Fairfax, Virginia this morning at a rally held by Republican Presidential and Vice Presidential Nominees John McCain and Sarah Palin. “I look forward to seeing the environment here because Northern Virginia is primarily always Democrat. It made me excited to know I’m not one of [only] 20 Republicans up in here,” said junior George Mason University student Chris Brooks.

Today, a lot more than 20 Republicans showed up. According to McCain’s campaign there were 23,000 people in attendance but according to security, 25,0000 came. Either of these counts more than doubles the population of the City of Fairfax. “[This is] the largest turnout for Senator McCain so far on the campaign route,” said Rob Lederer, Mayor of Fairfax City.

McCain’s campaign took advantage of the large crowd and distributed names and phone numbers of potential voters. During the rally Orson Swindle, who was a prisoner of war at Hanoi Hilton with McCain, directed the crowd to participate in a mass phone bank by calling their assigned potential voters during the rally and campaigning on behalf of the McCain/Palin ticket.

The rally continued with former Senator Fred Thompson, who accused Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama of thinking that “running for president is a qualification to be president.”

When McCain and Palin arrived on stage with their spouses, the response from the crowd was overwhelming. “I am honored to be considered on this team of mavericks,” said Palin, whose speech heavily accentuated her success and experience as governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. She stressed her fiscal leadership by highlighting her state’s budget surplus. “We gave that money back to hard working Alaskans and in these tough times, I’m ready to join John McCain in Washington and we’re going to do the same thing: tax relief for all Americans.”

“I championed earmark reform also,” said Palin, referring to the practice of directing specific amounts of money to specific projects within Federal agencies. “While our opponent [Obama] was requesting a billion dollars in earmarks as a senatorial privilege, what I was doing was vetoing half a billion as an executive responsibility.”

Palin also underscored the need for innovative energy options. “We are going to make this nation energy independent,” she said. “We need American resources brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.”

As Palin introduced McCain, who had been standing by her side during her speech, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. “Thank you all of Northern Virginia,” responded McCain. “My friends, the Commonwealth of Virginia is a battleground state, we must win it and we will win it with your support.”

Taking Obama’s theme of change, McCain said, “Let me offer an advance warning to the old, big spending, do nothing – me first, country second, Washington crowd: change is coming, change is coming and it’s coming to our nation’s capital.”

“That’s what this campaign is all about: change and reform.”

Like Palin, McCain addressed the need for a new energy plan and criticized the government takeover yesterday of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “We need to keep people in their homes but we can’t allow this to turn into a bailout of Wall Street speculators and irresponsible executives.”

“All you’ve ever asked of the government is for it to stand by your side and not in your way. That’s just what I intend to do.”

McCain hit Obama hard on his lack of experience with national security and ended his speech by saying “I want to be president of the United States because I know I can inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self interest and themselves…I’ve always put my country first and my friends you can count on that.”

“I thought it went really well. He made a lot of points that I completely agree with,” said Woodard.

“I really enjoyed it. I found it really inspiring…I found myself crying,” said Mason alumna Kristell Forensca. “I think [Palin] is incredible. As soon as she walked out on stage, I started tearing … it’s so inspiring because she is a woman…having her as a candidate is just an amazing accomplishment.”

Not everyone was as inspired as Foresnca however. According to security at the event, approximately 100 protestors were present. Heated exchanges occurred between supporters of the rival candidates before, during and after the rally. There were media reports of a number of protest groups at the event including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, Greenpeace and Code Pink.

If you have videos or pictures from the rally, send them to masonvotes@gmail.com

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Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Christian Yingling
Filed under: Mason Votes, Top Stories | 1 Comment »

Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin will be speaking to a crowd of thousands today at Van Dyck Park. Mason Votes is embedding a Live Feed of the event on the front page. You can also see a larger version of the live feed at the McCain campaign website. The event is scheduled to begin at 11:00 p.m.

EDIT: Dignitaries at the McCain event are rumored to include Speaker of the House Bill Howell, Circuit Court Clerk John Frey, and 8th District Congressional Candidate Mark Ellmore. 10th District Congressman Frank Wolf and Senate candidate Jim Gilmore are also reported to be attending.

The Republican candidate was originally going to speak at Fairfax High School, however a lack of space and controversy over perceived partisanship forced the campaign to move the event last afternoon.

Though school policy states that “school buildings and grounds may not be used for campaign activities during school hours” Jack Dale, Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent, stated that he had planned the event due to its educational value.

School Board member Stuart D. Gibson was organizing an emergency meeting of the School Board to overturn Dale’s decision when the campaign announced the change in location.

“Due to the overwhelming response from voters in Virginia, the space at field house at Fairfax High School will no longer hold everyone who wants to attend this rally. We have had double the amount of people respond than we originally expected. In order to accommodate everyone, we need to move the event,” the campaign stated in a news release.

You can also see Mason Votes coverage of the event on Twitter.

EDIT: According to City of Fairfax Mayor Lederer, this is the largest turnout for a McCain rally so far.

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Aram Zucker-Scharff
Filed under: Top Stories | No Comments »

The new Film Club at Mason has scheduled a series of films on campaign issues for the fall. The first film will be Who Killed the Electric Car?, dealing with transportation and energy.

The film will be played on Wednesday Sept. 10, in the Harris Theater, at 7:30 p.m.

The film will be followed by a discussion led by Edward Maibach, professor in the Department of Communication and director of the Center for Climate Change Communication.

The new Film Club is organized by Tommy Britt, assistant professor of film and video studies, in conjunction with the Office of Student Media and University Life.

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Aram Zucker-Scharff
Filed under: Mason Learns | 1 Comment »

Tom Brady is out for the season. (And ESPN Page 2’s Bill Simmons deals admirably with the emailed fallout.)

This is no time to mourn a fallen American hero, though, not when four other Americans are sharpening their claws (or getting their campaign staff to do it) for the final two months of this rather protracted election season. We may not get to see Brady’s precision passing, but when even Larry King’s talk show is getting rowdy, I’m sure America’s favorite blood sport will provide numerous memorable moments.

It seems that everything is up in the air these days. Some polls show that women are moving over to the right due to McCain’s surprise choice running mate, others show the opposite, and with Tom Brady out for the season, who knows what is going to happen with anything this autumn. (Sorry, I digress. I’m upset. I hate Brady’s talent, mostly because I hate Belichick, but it’s hard to deny he’s a fantastic athlete to watch. Yes, politics…)

Astonishingly, it appears that McCain’s Rove-ian tactics are paying off. (CNN even has McCain ahead.) I say “astonishingly” because I thought the Republican Convention was rather lackluster — though, even as a “lefty,” I did find Fred Thompson’s speech recounting John McCain’s life story quite powerful, and who doesn’t get a rush out of an event that is constantly interrupted with raucous “U-S-A!” chanting? — and McCain’s choice of Palin has proven a little more contentious than many suspected.

But why, oh Lord, did Obama make his soon-to-be infamous pig and lipstick (and fish and “paper called change”) remarks? She worries me to my core, but you can’t ever let it look as though someone, no matter how frightening, has shaken you. It doesn’t look like Biden has fared much better.

Palin did make the mistake of ridiculing community organizers, a troubling gesture, but, still, Obama should have risen above it. (And, no, I don’t think he made a sexist statement. The whole pig-and-lipstick routine is as engraved into the American consciousness as baseball and apple pie. Though I guess baseball bats could be seen as phallic imagery, but pies — are pies sexist? I just thought they were delicious…)

And there’s no point us even getting into a tussle about it. In a day or two, someone will have said something else we can all misunderstand. I’ll save my strength for that fight.

On that note…

Palin is a time bomb that is going to blow up in the McCain campaign’s face. Mark my words.

The fuse is already burning — it started with a pregnant 17 year old (and how did McCain’s vetting team miss that?!), Palin poured a little fuel onto the fire with her ill-chosen community organizer taunt, issues have been raised about how the Republicans are packaging her faith, the Republican President of the Alaskan Senate asks “How can she be prepared to be vice president?”, her stance on the environment is disturbing, the aerial hunting is also disturbing, and this whole Bridge To Nowhere issue is becoming a bit of a fiasco. There’s more to come. There always is when you’re a new face on the celebrity scene. (Oh yes, Palin is now a celebrity… like Obama.)

Also, how much of a Maverick can you be when you find one of the most conservative politicians in the United States (and one of the least experienced — especially when McCain has been pounding away at Obama’s experience) to be your running mate? Sounds like someone was throwing a bone to the religious right and the NRA crowd. Voting with Bush 90% of the time, dancing to the tune of the GOP… This isn’t the John McCain I came to respect in 2000.

At least he has five houses. And nice Italian leather shoes. (And someone called me an elitist — or a fashionista, I can’t remember — because I was wearing beat Chucks.)

So the choice comes down to a possible new Jimmy Carter (oh, and maybe the first African American President of the United States, lest we forget) and a Not-So-Much-A-Maverick, eh?

U-S-A!

My new American Hero — Anderson Cooper.

Posted on September 9th, 2008 by Lars Laing-Peterson
Filed under: Mason Learns, Opinion | No Comments »