Obama is speaking to a crowd of several hundred thousand Germans and proclaiming he "will change the world!" The venue for his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was changed so that he could speak to tens of thousands more supporters live, in person. He eschews smaller, more intimate town hall meetings where he might actually have to talk with people, preferring to shout at large crowds from the stage like a televangelist promising to heal the sick if you just write one more check. Rarely do we see him having a conversation and engaging in substance with voters who might dare to peel back the veneer to see what he fears will be shown to be a lot of nothing.

In the abstract, it is easy to see how his style of campaigning feels better to him. Adoring crowds, and being cheered by his supporters -- it's gotta make a guy feel pretty good about himself. It's interesting to note, however, that the polls are nearly neck and neck, indicating that John McCain has virtually the same number of supporters. One significant difference between these two men is that Obama needs the adoration and constant affirmation, while John McCain is secure enough in his experience and leadership abilities and credentials to actually talk with voters and, importantly, listen.

John McCain has said many times, even when way behind others in the Republican primary last year, that he would rather win the war in Iraq than win an election. A president in wartime and tough economic times needs to be strong enough and have enough intestinal fortitude to govern in a manner that is best for the nation, even in times when the polls are against him. John McCain has proven he can do this without batting an eye. In contrast, Barack Obama has already shown us all that being the most popular kid in school is what's most important to him. With virtually no experience to prepare him for the presidency, Barack Obama has already shown us he will govern by the polls, regardless of what is best for the nation.

Perhaps we can just crown Obama our national Homecoming Queen and he will be happy. Because putting this guy in the White House is feeling scarier and scarier.

It has been shown time and time again that the mainstream media are dominated by liberals and left-leaning reporters. Despite claims that they can put this bias aside, we all know that is not the case. Now that the left has embraced Barack Obama as their savior, the bias is only getting worse. A new survey by pollster Scott Rasmussen shows an increase in the number of people who believe the media are trying to help Barack Obama win the presidential election.

What are those people going to think now? It's not like we have a shortage of examples of media bias against conservative positions and Republicans, but the New York Times has provided us with a fresh dose of their lack of journalistic ethics. They gladly ran an op-ed from Obama regarding his plans for Iraq, but when John McCain submitted an op-ed on the same topic, the NY Times said, "No thanks."

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Olivier Guitta, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a foreign affairs and counterterrorism consultant, published a piece today in The Middle East Times that argues Iran’s geopolitical strategy is about much more than just expanding its regional influence. Guitta explains in the article that Iran’s real motive is to control all of Islam in the Middle East, and possibly around the world, saying, “…Iran is spending money, energy and time to proselytize local populations and de facto trying to take over Islam.” Guitta lays out Iranian activities in the Palestinian Territories, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt to bolster his case, and then cites some expansion of Iranian influence in the Maghreb to show how Iran is pushing religious conversion beyond the Middle East.

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Just a day after the Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced that it had prosecuted 750 illegal immigrants so far under the state's human smuggling statute, the AZ Court of Appeals upheld the interpretation of law permitting them to do so.

Illegal immigrants can be arrested for hiring smugglers -- legally considered conspiring to smuggle themselves into the country.

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This past year has been a saddening one for many conservatives, who lost William F. Buckley, Jr. in February and then United States Senator Jesse Helms earlier this month, on Independence Day. The former was, in many respects, the founder of modern conservatism and its most articulate voice for over four decades. The latter was conservatives' most reliable leader in the United States Senate for just about as long, never afraid to fight the battles that needed to be fought to hold liberal initiatives at bay, including ending the Senate's cowardly history of avoiding recorded votes so they could avoid political accountability for them. Both of these leaders helped shape and advance modern conservatism as the most consequential political ideology of our generation.

But the loss of Tony Snow, the former White House Press Secretary to President George W. Bush and, previously, a prominent Fox News anchor, is in many ways the most hurtful loss of them all. Diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005, Snow died this morning at age 53. Unlike Buckley and Helms, who died octogenerians, one can only imagine what great contributions Snow may have made had he not been taken from us so early. Yet, in his short 53 years, Snow also was an historically consequential and impactful conservative force in our nation. What were Snow's contributions to modern conservatism? There are many, but at least four of them were profound:

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Barack Obama said today that overall U.S. interests have suffered as a result of President Bush's decision to surge American troops in Iraq in January 2007. At the same time, he vowed to implement his 16-month withdrawal plan if he becomes president. There's only one word for this kind of thinking: dangerous.

Notice I didn't say stupid, ignorant, or naive. Obama is none of those. He is, however, inexperienced and reckless in his rhetoric, and if he is to be believed, in the actions he will take as commander-in-chief.

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One of the sweetest people I've ever met in Washington, Tony Snow will be missed in this town.

I first met Tony by phone when he was a syndicated columnist in his pre-FOX News days. I was Communications Director for the House Education and Workforce Committee after the GOP takeover of the House in '94 and was pitching him a column idea. He liked the idea and ran with it, and a fantastic USA Today column by Tony Snow (and picked up by Jay Leno in his "Tonight Show" monologue ) was a feather in my cap. Thank you, Tony.

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Barack Obama's recent speech where he said Americans "need to make sure your child can speak Spanish" set off a flood of comments. Most people who read my column yesterday agreed, but there were a few who took Obama's viewpoint.

Interestingly, reliable pollster Scott Rasmussen conducted a survey focusing on English and bilingual education and found that "U.S. voters overwhelmingly disagree with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee." As noted by Rasmussen, "Eighty-three percent (83%) place a higher priority on encouraging immigrants to speak English as their primary language. Just 13% take the opposite view and say it is more important for Americans to learn other languages."

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Longtime liberal columnist Michael Kinsley famously defined a “gaffe” in politics as “when a politician tells the truth.” If you accept that definition, and I do, then Nevada Republican Rep. Dean Heller committed a gaffe of canyon-sized proportions this week.

I hope he keeps it up.

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I hope the American public is watching. For months, Barack Obama was a blank slate. The only thing people knew about him was that he gave a good speech and that he wanted "change." This apparently was enough to garner him the Democratic presidential nomination. (That should be a clue to most Americans NOT to vote for him.) But now, with no help from the media, the real Barack Obama is starting to appear.

The media won't write stories about what he says, but they don't need to. With today's technology, we can see for ourselves, and this latest incident is a doozy! Our education system is crazy enough with all these liberal, feel-good programs. Forget adding, subtracting, spelling, and grammar. Now, despite the fact that the rest of the world is learning English, he says that American kids should learn Spanish? What? Learn Spanish? Yes, and it shows just how out of touch and far left Obama is. We need a president who will put America first, not push for our culture to be forgotten.

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