THE NEW REPUBLICAN NEWSLETTER No. 65 (September 1, 2008) ------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE I have been literally inundated with phone calls and e-mails from people who want my "take" on the choice of Sarah Palin for Vice President. I was seriously humbled by the amount of people who wanted my opinion as to what was happening. But please remember, I am just an observer - and not an insider. I truly appreciate all the interest with regard to this election and the amount of trust a lot of people have in my ideas and concepts. Yet, in the end, it is you - the reader - who must make up your mind. So, please take what I have to say with a grain of salt. I am simply trying to balance out both sides of the mass-media equation by stating how things appear to me. ------------------------------------------------------------ JUST A HEARTBEAT AWAY I have heard this phrase so many times it is getting tiresome. But it has to be dealt with so this is how I see it. "TR" was put on the shelf, when the Republican party put his name in as vice president for William McKinley. They thought he was a "rabble-rouser" and a "cowboy" so the GOP party hacks wanted Theodore Roosevelt out of the way. Instead, McKinley was assassinated and Teddy Roosevelt became president and went on to become one of the greatest in American history. Harry S Truman (no period behind the S because he really didn't have a middle name) was put on the Democrat ticket to run with FDR in 1944. Franklin Roosevelt despised Truman so much that he would ignore him at public outings - and even kept him completely in the dark as to what was going on with the Manhattan Project. When FDR died in office, a failed haberdasher became president of the United States of America - during World War II. Truman also went on to become one of the greatest presidents this country has ever produced. ------------------------------------------------------------ SO WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS HISTORY JUNK? The point is this. Two of the greatest presidents in modern American history were considered "inexperienced" and even "incompetent" to hold the office of president. Do I consider Sarah Palin as "experienced" as TR and Truman at the beginning of their respective presidencies? Probably not. But then again, I really don't know. What I do know is this - and this is going to sound very rough to some readers but it has to be finally put into print for all to see and contemplate. Scenario #1: McCain gets elected and serves out his first term. His mother is in her nineties so longevity is in his genes. Everything goes well and Sarah Palin takes over the helm in 2012 because of McCain's advancing years. Or McCain gets elected and dies in office and Sarah Palin becomes the president. Who knows what she will do in office. Who knew what Teddy Roosevelt or Harry Truman were going to do? You simply don't know. Scenario #2 Barrack Obama gets elected and serves out his term and runs for re-election in 2012 with or without Joe Biden, depending on his age and health. Obama gets elected and is assassinated in office. I know this is harsh but there are people who still do this sort of thing - and race IS a factor in this election. Anybody who does not believe this had better stop reading right now. There have been more threats against Obama's life than the media is letting on about - simply because of his race. Joe Biden becomes president. Who knows what he will do in office? I certainly don't. Nobody really knows for sure what he will do. ------------------------------------------------------------ WHAT ABOUT EXPERIENCE? Does experience matter? Of course it does - but the Obama camp was PLAYING DOWN experience UNTIL Sarah Palin was picked by McCain to be his running mate. You can't have it both ways. Experience doesn't count when it comes to Obama. But it does count when it comes to Palin. This simply is not the way to reason logically. But if you want to play the experience angle then let's try this. Sarah Palin has been part-time mayor of a small town in Alaska. No big deal. Then she ran for governor of Alaska - and won. She ran against the entrenched GOP machine, got out the vote and upset the sitting governor. THAT'S a big deal. Then she cleaned up the state government, closed loopholes in the pork barrel process and actually got people to quit and also pay fines for their wrongdoings. She has a clean record without corruption - so far - and has about an 80% approval rating. I am sure a lot of those who support her are NOT Republicans. So far, she has done a pretty good job. What has Barrack Obama done since he has been in the Senate that you can point with distinction that he himself has done on his own initiative? I would seriously like anyone to write and fill me in here. I can't honestly point to anything - other than his record setting "Present" votes. It doesn't take much leadership to vote that way. ------------------------------------------------------------ AIRBORNE When I was in the Army I went to airborne school in Vietnam. It doesn't take a lot of sense to jump out of a perfectly good airplane - unless you like the challenge - and are not afraid of being killed at the same time. I also was a private pilot when I was younger. To leave the ground after training - on your first solo flight - is pretty damn scary. Basically, you have to be willing to take life or death into your own hands when undertaking either of these endeavors. And that is precisely what McCain did. He played a HUGE gamble by picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. You don't fly over two dozen missions in Vietnam, be a POW for over five years, come back and run for Congress - and winning as both a U.S. Representative and as a U.S. Senator - without having a knack for gambling everything on one throw of the dice. Sun-Tsu once said that, "Surprise is nine-tenths of the battle." If McCain had picked Mitt Romney we would not even be talking about his VP choice. But he didn't do as he was expected - and that is what I like about this choice. And to quite honest, I had predicted in private to a few readers that if McCain did not pick either Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Colin Powell or, yes, Sarah Palin, that he would most likely lose. Thank goodness he picked an "outsider." ------------------------------------------------------------ HE DID IT BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN Now how stupid does that sound? McCain's first choice was Joe Lieberman - but there were too many on the "right fringe" that had threatened to "bolt the party" if he did that. Then he considered Mitt Romney - but there were too many on the "right fringe" that had threatened to "bolt the party" if he did that. Are we seeing a reoccurring pattern here? So McCain decided to go with a person so far outside that the "right fringe" would not object. Instead, they rejoiced at his choosing a woman who was against a woman's right to choose and against homosexual rights, to boot. ------------------------------------------------------------ BUT SARAH PALIN IS PRO-CHOICE! Yes, you read that right. She is pro-choice. Sarah Palin was informed that her unborn child had Down's Syndrome - but she still CHOSE to have the baby anyway. She had the right to CHOOSE - and she chose to have the baby. Sarah Palin IS pro-choice. There is a very nice lady who lives in Bellingham who is vehemently pro-choice because years ago, she was FORCED to have an abortion. She even went on KGMI and admitted that she had an abortion. I head the original broadcast over the radio as I was out campaigning for my Congressional run. It stunned me - but she told the truth. And she is also pro-choice - whether she wants to admit it or not. ------------------------------------------------------------ DOES PRO-CHOICE EQUAL PRO-LIFE? Hell no, it doesn't. Do you know anybody who is anti-life? I certainly don't. And for the record, we have just been blessed with our third grandchild, Lyla Anon, and she is as beautiful as little babies come. During my campaign, a lot of people on the "outer fringe" constantly said that "Pro-choice means you are FOR ABORTION." This is not only illogical - it simply is NOT true. Pro-choice means exactly what it says. You have the right to choose. Nothing more, nothing less. Personally, I am not in favor of abortion. Never have been, never will be. In truth, I don't know anybody who is FOR abortion. That simply is ludicrous. ------------------------------------------------------------ SO WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE? I draw the line when the umbilical cord is cut. Once that cord is severed - the baby becomes a sovereign individual in its own right and is, at that point, protected under our United States Constitution. I said this very same thing on the "Amanda" show and took a tremendous amount of heat from the "fringe right" throughout my campaign for this stance and also for my stance on homosexuals being granted equal status with heterosexuals. Please notice, I DID NOT say gay marriage. But then again, the "fringe right" would have nothing to do with this and worked aggressively against my very "successful" campaign to regain some semblance of common sense into the Grand Old Party - thus my campaigning as a NEW REPUBLICAN. ------------------------------------------------------------ THIS IS NOTHING BUT SOUR GRAPES! It is anything BUT sour grapes. As I warned the GOP in 2004 when I was running for Congress - and predicted again in 2006 - and will predict again in 2008 - if the "fringe right" is going to make Abortion and Gay Rights an issue in this national campaign - THE REPUBLICANS WILL LOSE AGAIN! The "fringe right" lost tremendous ground in 2004 because they poisoned the public with their hatefully pious rhetoric. I warned that if they were allowed to continue they would lose BOTH houses in 2006. The "fringe right" continued their Anti-Abortion/Anti-Gay theme - and LOST BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS. That means higher taxes on income and dividends. Less national security and even more governmental intervention. So, I say here and now, for every person who espouses the abolition of a woman's right to choose and favors unequal treatment of homosexuals, you had better tone it down to a whisper - and not try to jam it down everybody's throats - like only the piously hypocritical Evangelical Element is so fond of doing. John McCain has done his part to pick a running mate who is against a woman's right to choose and who is also staunchly against equal rights for homosexuals. Both positions, by the way, I am resolutely against, simply because I still believe that America was founded on the concept of Freedom of Choice. So I suggest that the "fringe right" along with the Evangelical Element sit down and shut up. Don't say a thing. Just keep your collective mouths closed for a change. ------------------------------------------------------------ BUT IT IS MY RIGHT TO SPEAK! 100% correct. And it is also your right to help send Barack Obama to the White House. Then we will have the House of Representatives, the Senate - AND the White House controlled by Democrats. If the Anti-Abortion/Anti-Homosexual "fringe right" is allowed a platform to speak, the Republicans are doomed in November - and the "fringe right" and the Evangelical Element will have caused this political catastrophe to happen. I say again, if there is any MENTION of Anti-Abortion or Anti-Homosexual rights at the Republican National Convention (under the hypocritical cloak of family values) - the Democrats will win in November. ------------------------------------------------------------ OBAMA OR MCCAIN? Once again, may I remind all of us that we are at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and are spread dangerously thin in both theaters. Vladimir Putin is on the prowl. This is not a "scare tactic." It is the truth. For centuries Russia has wanted to re-establish its pre-conceived notion of world domination. Just ask the people in Georgia - and I don't mean Atlanta. Mr. Putin is a force to be reckoned with. ------------------------------------------------------------ SO BACK TO WHO IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT Barack Obama said for both sides to sit down and talk - the day after the Russians invaded Georgia. McCain played hardball and told them to get out. Unlike George Bush, who never really served in the military, John McCain said when he looked into the eyes of Putin he saw three things: "K-G-B." And that is the difference between the two men who are running for PRESIDENT - not vice-president. John McCain is willing to stand up to Putin - unlike Obama. John McCain has the training and the courage to tell Putin where to get off. It brings to mind what a very nice old Chinese lady who owned a great Chinese restaurant in Lompoc answered when I asked if she ever wanted to go back to China. She shook her head and said emphatically, "No!" When I asked her why not, she replied, "Once a Red Chinese always a Red Chinese." I have witnesses to this encounter and we were all shocked at her insightful statement. We were just to "liberal" dumb to accept what she knew to be the truth. I didn't fully understand her statement until my wife and I went to China to teach for a year. Once a communist - always a communist. The same applies to Vladimir Putin. Again, I ask the question, who would you rather have at the table facing down Mr. Putin? Barack Obama, who just wants to talk? Or John McCain - who has already served notice to the world that he is not afraid to be a maverick and surprise everybody with a bold, new direction. I think I know who Vladimir Putin would like in the White House. ------------------------------------------------------------ TAIWAN AND CHINA This is a prediction that I hope will never come to pass - but I have already alluded to it in CHINA HOUSE - so I will mention it here for the benefit of those readers who have not read my book. The "People's" Republic of China has, since its inception on October 1, 1949, stated that the Republic of China (Taiwan/Formosa) is part of the Chinese Mainland and intends to "reunite" it in the future, either through diplomatic channels or military force, if need be. It is so written in their constitution! If Obama wins I predict that Taiwan will be where the line is drawn with regard to our defending the island of Taiwan by military force, if called on to do so. And if Obama "talks" while Taiwan is "taken back" by the communist Chinese, then all of the commitments of the United State of America with all other nations will, in essence, be null and void. Now THAT would be real change. ------------------------------------------------------------ THREE LINKS YOU MIGHT LIKE TO TAKE A LOOK AT I usually don't send this kind of stuff around but some of my readers asked me to include these into my New Republican Newsletter so I thought I would, just to see what you think. If you have already seen one then click to the next one. The first one is the Thomas Paine "statement": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk The second one is an article on Sarah Palin: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121993453813079803.html?mod=googlenews_wsj And the third one is my favorite, sent to me by my brother, David Klepinger, who, by the way, is a leader in the state of Georgia on the Fair Tax Iniative, sponsored by John Linder, Republican Congressman from Georgia: http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm I thought it was a funny way to say so long for now. Hope you enjoy them. Best wishes and Happy Labor to everyone. Larry Klepinger Still, a New Republican Your ideas and comments are more than welcome. Many thanks again for taking the time and effort to read the New Republican Newsletter. ------------------------------------------------------------ If you wish to no longer receive this e-newsletter, please e-mail me directly at: lawrenceklepinger@gmail.com