While perusing the interweb for news on Oprah’s rebuff of Sarah Palin, I came across a petition on www.getsarahpalinonoprah.com.  Check it out.

Apparently, Oprah is having a hard time fitting in interviews about minor subjects like the race for President of the United States of America between segments about her book club and stories of her weight gain/loss/gain/loss/gain/loss.  Drudge has the story:

OPRAH’S STATEMENT: “The item in today’s Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.”

This story was released after rumors spread over the internet about an internal divide among Oprah’s production team about whether Sarah Palin should appear on the show.  Oprah made her choice in this race when she hit the campaign trail with Obama during the primary. 

It’s her show, she can do whatever she wants.  Her excuse is pretty lame given the fact that she chose to use her brand at a critical time against Hillary Clinton, a move that gave Obama an edge with women voters, as if the physical space of her show is somehow more impactful than her personal public involvement on behalf of one candidate or another. 

We don’t expect her to endorse Palin because she’s a woman, just like we don’t expect any woman to do that.   But her show has been a historic force for women’s rights and you would think that the nomination of a republican woman to the office of vice president would be consistent with her decades-long mission and warrant some recognition regardless of her liberal brand of politics.

The Howey-Gauge poll released yesterday confirmed what everyone already knew; jobs are the most important issue on the minds of voters this election year.  That’s probably why democrat Jill Long Thompson has opted for a negative approach to her campaign that primarily relies on the tactic of firing off a press release whenever a job is lost in Indiana. 

Rather than attack her for being negative, which is easy since it’s pretty much all she’s about, we should welcome this negative tactic and take it as an opportunity to promote a discussion about just what Hoosiers and Americans should expect from their government and political leaders when it comes to the retention and growth of jobs in our dynamic economy. 

It’s important to recognize that job retention is not a characteristic of a growing economy and good government policy.  To be sure, during the 90’s, a period democrats hail as political management of economic growth at its finest, the economy shed millions of jobs per year.  To point to a lost job as evidence that our economy and government are failing us is small-minded and politically opportunistic.  The flow of job creation and destruction is a mark of progress.  It’s why workers today labor on assembly lines to assemble computers instead of typewriters, cell phones instead of telegraphs. 

It is not the role of any government to save failing companies or obsolete jobs, doing so restricts economic development and harms workers and families more in the long run.  Economies and work forces evolve.  As the United States economy and labor force continue to create new technologies, industries, and wealth, old jobs go where old jobs should: somewhere else.  I was struck by McCain’s comments in his speech last night on the subject:

We are not people who believe only in the survival of the fittest. Work in America is more than a paycheck; it is a source of pride, self-reliance and identity. But making empty promises to bring back lost jobs gives nothing to the unemployed worker except false hope. That’s not change we can believe in. Reforming from top to bottom unemployment insurance and retraining programs that were designed for the 1950s, making use of our community colleges to train people for new opportunities will help workers who’ve lost a job that won’t come back, find a job that won’t go away.

The jobs of tomorrow require highly skilled and highly educated individuals.  Barack Obama and Jill Long Thompson can hold as many press conferences as they want at factories that have shut down or moved elsewhere; no government policy will bring them back.  Government policy must do what John McCain suggested, assist workers in that transition, increase their opportunities to seek new training and education to work the jobs of tomorrow instead of the jobs of yesterday that no politician can promise back into existence.

Governor Daniels spoke of government’s role in job creation in his 2006 state of the state:

Governments do not “run” economies. They do not create jobs or wealth. At their worst, they destroy jobs, or drive them to other, friendlier locations. At their best, they establish an environment in which free men and women, pursuing their dreams and best ideas, create wealth for each other.

The pro-growth policies of the Daniels administration are one of the main reasons Indiana has weathered the nation’s economic storm better than most.  But to think that government has some magic switch or policy that will put people back to work is naive.  If democrat leadership of Indiana’s economy was a guarantor of prosperity, we probably wouldn’t have lost 140,000 jobs and racked up billions in public debt from 2000-2004. 

If any message can penetrate this election year, we certainly hope it is that Americans should stop looking at government to solve our economic problems, and instead ask government to get out of the way.

The latest Howey-Gauge poll in the race for governor has Mitch Daniels leading Jill Long Thompson 53-35.  This is third recent poll by different polling firms that has shown a margin very similar to this one.  The presidential race was close, if both campaigns start pouring money into Indiana, JLT will probably be able to go to bed early on election night.

Hoosiers are likely to find themselves at the American political epicenter over the next 60 days as the latest Howey-Gauge Poll shows Republican John McCain with a 45-43 percent lead over Democrat Barack Obama. The companion race shows Gov. Mitch Daniels maintaining a significant 53 to 35 percent lead over Democrat Jill Long Thompson. Libertarian Andy Horning came in with 3 percent and 9 percent were undecided.

The Gov has spent a large part of the summer meeting with Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Tony Bennett and Attorney General candidate Greg Zoeller to discuss and craft different policy initiatives.  The candidates have worked together to promote some of those initiatives, especially concerning education.  Last week, we told you about the joint media tour with Bennett and Zoeller, and yesterday these ads started running on statewide TV:

So how well do the statewide Democrat candidates work together? If this article from the Louisville Courier-Journal is any indication, not well at all:

Thompson outlined her proposals at a news conference at the local office of the Indiana State Teachers Association. She was joined by several elected Democratic officials, including state Rep. Bill Cochran, state Sen. Connie Sipes, New Albany Mayor Doug England, Floyd County Clerk Linda Moeller and New Albany City Clerk Marcey Wisman.

Richard Wood, the Democratic candidate for superintendent of public instruction, said later that he had provided information for Thompson but was not involved in drafting her education proposals. He added, however, that “I think it’s a very well thought-out position, very positive,” and that he supports it.

Sounds like ol’ Dick Wood can’t even get a return phone call from the gal who can’t get a return phone call from her own party.  Ouch.  It’s also kind of striking that he didn’t attend the education press conference, and seemed a bit caught off guard when he was asked about the proposals she made.  This is going to be a long fall for Indiana Democrats.  Maybe if Wood takes the initiative to buy his own blue pantsuit, JLT will let him in on a commercial shoot.

You haven’t lived until you’ve been accosted by a liberal activist while standing in line at the Dunkin Donuts in downtown Indianapolis.  Being asked if you’re registered to vote these days is more common than being asked for spare change on Monument Circle.  You might say that it’s great that so many people are actively working to register voters on the street. 

You would be wrong.

The group behind this Hoosier state voter registration drive is none other than the notoriously corrupt Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).  ACORN has focused on registering voters for years, and allegations of voter fraud follow them everywhere they go. 

ACORN was started in the early 70’s and grew out of the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO).  According to Discover the Network, members of that group invaded welfare offices across the U.S. demanding every penny to which the law entitled them.  If only they would put the same amount of effort into finding a job. 

Currently, ACORN is being investigated in other Midwest states like Wisconsin and Ohio for illegal voter registration practices.  Last year in Seattle, ACORN employees were indicted in the biggest incident of voter fraud in Washington state history.  The Department of Justice recently prosecuted an ACORN employee for voter fraud as well.  It seems that this group spends more money on legal defense than voter registration.  So the next time someone on the street asks you if you’re registered to vote, run away… run far, far, away.

Christianity Today caught up with Gov. Daniels in Minnesota on Monday while they were covering the convention.  They asked him what he thought about the Palin pick, about the issues surrounding her daughter’s pregnancy, and his view on the role of faith in politics.  Here’s what he had to say:

Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels praised John McCain’s vice presidential pick Sarah Palin today.

“I had hoped to see a woman on the ticket of our party for a long, long time,” he said. “I think now that it’s happened, the woman that we’ve waited for is ideal.”

We just found out that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant. Will that have an impact on voters?
I don’t know. They’re handling a difficult and all too common dilemma that millions of American families face. It’s just another mark of authenticity of this family and the way they’re handling the young couple in question, I think, is the right way. I hope that people will personally give them a little room for privacy. But since it’s public, I think they’ve done the right thing.

Do you have any thoughts on how the McCain campaign can reach out to evangelicals?
As a believer, I always felt that the God I know was larger than politics. The work of the religious leaders is more important, far more important, all important, than the work of temporary public employees like me. I’m always happy when people of faith decide that they want to be involved in public activity, but it should never distract us from what’s primary, from the mission of saving souls.