All and all a well-delivered speech, as expected; plenty of panache and charisma and confidence--but the same old tired platitudes and very little substance; basically the same lies Democrats have been telling (and not following through on for the last 30+ years. And

It was well delivered, but it did not live up to the hype and to the grandiosity of the venue.

Don Surber has done a bit of fact checking on some of Obama's talking points, and has found them wanting:

1. “Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story – of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.”

FACT: His father went back to his wife and son in Kenya and had little to do with Obama, while his mother married his stepfather and they moved to Indonesia.

2. “But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”

FACT: True. Logic does not follow that McCain has poor judgment. Considering Bush was re-elected by a majority — a re-election feat no Democrat has enjoyed since FDR — shows that perhaps the American public agreed with Bush most of teh time, at least through his first 4 years.

3. “You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.”

FACT: True.

3. “Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.”

FACT: His vice presidential candidate has a son who is a lobbyist.

4. “I will cut taxes -– cut taxes -– for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.”

FACT: Under George Walker Bush the number of working Americans who pay no federal income tax rose from 29 million to 45 million, or roughly 30% of all people who work. It is doubtful that he could eliminate taxes for another 90 million earners to raise that percentage to 95%.

And they would still have to pay FICA, and with the employer match, that 15% of one’s pay.

5. “I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.”

FACT: He called for withdrawing our troops unilaterally by March 31, 2008, despite the agreement by most observers that this would devastate Iraq and according to a New York Times editorial which advocated this position, possibly genocide.

That’s hardly responsible.

By the way, the war is over. We won. Iraqis want us to drive home safely. Please tell Obama.

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