Daddy Dan

An interesting article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal breaks down the percentage of taxes paid by various income classes. See the chart below:

As you can see, the richest 1% of people in the United States earned 22% of the total income and paid 40% of the total taxes in 2006. The top 25% of income earners earned 37% of the total income and paid 60% of the total taxes.

The editorial goes on to state that:

“Barack Obama says he’s going to cut for those at the bottom, but that’s also going to be a challenge because Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. Perhaps he thinks half the country should pay all the taxes to support the other half.”

Doesn’t sound fair to me.

Another interesting point in the editorial is the large growth in the number of Americans that earned over $1 million in 2006. The number rose from 181,000 in 2003 to 354,000 in 2006.

Read the whole article.

Did you hear about Barack Obama FINALLY fully denouncing Rev. Wright today?

It was his strongest condemnation yet of the Reverend and Obama truly seemed angry today.  I think it’s something he really needed to do, as his association with Reverend Wright was truly isolating Obama from the potential voters he needs to attract if he’s going to win the election in November.  Reverend Wright’s comments yesterday at the National Press Club were over the top.  

In case you missed it, here’s some of what Obama said today:

 I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I’ve known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person that I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.  They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that’s political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either. 

Now, I’ve already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He has built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people, and what attracted me has always been their ministries reach beyond the church walls.

But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st centuries, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses.

They offend me. The rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that’s what I’m doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.

Let me just close by saying this. We started this campaign with the idea that the problems that we face as a country are too great to continue to be divided, that in fact all across America people are hungry to get out of the old, divisive politics of the past.

I have spoken and written about the need for us to all recognize each other as Americans, regardless of race or religion or region of the country, that the only way we can deal with critical issues like energy and health care and education and the war on terrorism is if we are joined together.  And the reason our campaign has been so successful is because we have moved beyond these old arguments.

What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright was a resurfacing and, I believe, an exploitation of those old divisions. Whatever his intentions, that was the result. It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think America stands for.

And I want to be very clear that, moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me. He does not speak for our campaign. I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks, but what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say that I find these comments appalling, I mean it. 

The full transcript is here.
It was a very strong statement by Barack Obama.  It’s not fair that he’s being dragged down by Reverend Wright.  No matter who you’re supporting in this campaign, I hope you can agree with that, and hopefully, after today, we can move forward and the campaign can focus on the real issues.

Stick a fork in him, he’s done.

His allegiance to his church, even if he really does disagree with the hate-mongering speeches of Reverend Wright, is going to bring him down.

Are the American people really expected to believe that he didn’t know his Reverend, who he calls his friend and spiritual mentor, who presided over his marriage, who baptized his children, didn’t have these racist beliefs.  Give me a break.  It’s very hard to believe.

But even giving him the benefit of the doubt on that point, why, if he really disagreed with these comments and beliefs, did he stay a member of this church for over 20 years?

At the very best, you could just call it bad judgment on his part.  We’re electing a President here….I think we could do better.  I never thought I’d say this, but I hope the Democrats nominate Hillary.

From John McCain’s speech last night, after he wrapped up the Republican nomination:

Nothing is inevitable in America. We are the captains of our fate. We’re not a country that prefers nostalgia to optimism; a country that would rather go back than forward. We’re the world’s leader, and leaders don’t pine for the past and dread the future. We make the future better than the past. We don’t hide from history. We make history. That, my friends, is the essence of hope in America, hope built on courage, and faith in the values and principles that have made us great. I intend to make my stand on those principles and chart a course for our future greatness, and trust in the judgment of the people I have served all my life. So stand up with me, my friends, stand up and fight for America — for her strength, her ideals, and her future. The contest begins tonight. It will have its ups and downs. But we will fight every minute of every day to make certain we have a government that is as capable, wise, brave and decent as the great people we serve. That is our responsibility and I will not let you down.

I will definitely, without a doubt, be voting for him in November.

• Have you heard about the string of women fainting at Obama rallies? A lot of the news media is really making a big deal of it. I haven’t heard of such a thing other than when The Beatles first staged their U.S. Invasion back in the 60’s. I wonder if it’s because they’re so enamored with him that the sight of him makes them swoon, or if it’s just the fact that they’ve probably just been standing in a crowd for hours waiting for him to show up. Some people are hinting that or questioning whether the fainting is orchestrated by the Obama campaign (see here, here, and here), but I seriously doubt it.
• I’m impressed that we have the technological capability of shooting down a wayward spy satellite. Pretty amazing, isn’t it? One thing I noticed by reading stories about the shootdown is this comment: “One Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the planning for the operation remains classified….” My question is then why is the Pentagon official talking about it? If you do a Google search for “spoke on condition of anonymity” you’ll find tons of stories where officials talked about something when they shouldn’t. Crazy. The reasons include “because the case is ongoing,” “because the surveillance operations are classified,” and “because the company’s policy is not to comment.” All valid reasons and all reasons these anonymous sources should shut up, especially when their comments can affect our security.
• Did you know that President Bush is in the middle of a visit to Africa. And apparently the people really like him there.

Banners across the route, decorated with Bush’s image against a backdrop of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro, read: “We cherish democracy. Karibu (welcome) to President and Mrs Bush.”

Others read: “Thank you for helping fight malaria and HIV.” Dancers at the airport and at Kikwete’s state house to greet Bush on Sunday, wore skirts and shirts decorated with his face.

• Nothing is worse than when your baby has a fever and is suffering. That’s what The Babito has been going through since Thursday night. Motrin and Tylenol bring the fever down, and he’s been sleeping a lot, but every time he wakes up again he’s burning up. I pray he starts to feel better soon. Keep him in your thoughts.

I hope all of you who live in one of the Super Tuesday states got out to vote yesterday.

It looks to me like the race for the Republican presidential nominee is about over, with John McCain running away with it, barring a total collapse in the rest of the states.

The Democratic race is still a toss-up.  While Hillary Clinton scored a big victory in California, it’s very interesting to look at exit polls to see what types of voters are supporting her versus who is supporting Barack Obama.  You can break apart the voters in many different ways, as the exit polls do, but I’d like to focus on two main breakdowns:  Ethnicity and Household Income. 

According to the Fox News California exit poll:

Ethnicity

Whites:  Clinton 46%, Obama 45%

Blacks:  Obama 78%, Clinton 18%

Hispanics:  Clinton 67%, Obama 32%

Asians:  Clinton 71%, Obama 25%

The black vote is not a surprise, but I am surpised by Clinton’s huge margin of victory with both Hispanics and Asians.  Anyone have any theories on this?  Is it racial prejudice?  The good news for Obama is that many of the upcoming states don’t have huge hispanic populations, except for Texas, at least that I’m aware of.

Household Income

Less than $50,000:  Clinton 59%, Obama 35%

More than $100,000:  Obama 52%, Clinton 45%

I can’t explain this one, other than the fact that the under $50k group feels that Hillary will offer more financial benefits to them.  It seems like they have basically the same proposed programs though.  It could just be a matter of many hispanics, who support Clinton by a wide margin, fall into the under $50k category.  Also, tied to this is the fact that people that did not complete high school support Clinton by a 80%-19% margin.

You can view the entire Democratic exit poll here.

If you’re interested, the Republican exit poll is here.

As BCA suggested in the comments, I’m turning this post into a Caption Contest.  Please provide your best caption for any of the pictures below in the comments.  The best caption will win a prize that is yet to be determined. 

Is there really a chance our next President is going to look like this???

This guy below doesn’t look too happy about the prospects.