The Last Debate

Last Wednesday's debate was arguably McCain's last stand.  He did well for the first 30 minutes, and then turned into grandpa Simpson for the rest.  He rambled a lot and focused on things nobody cares about, like ACORN.  He also likely alienated 90% of independent women when he mocked "health exceptions" to abortions.  He even used the scare quotes.  Many women had viewed McCain as "pro-life light" before that, but now there is no mistaking that he wouldn't even abort Adolf Hitler.  

I think that overall, the debate went slightly to Obama.  What this means is that McCain has practically zero chances to win this election.  When else will he have a public forum to discuss his views?  Obama is taking out 30 minute ads before the World Series.  McCain could do that, but it would erode what little money he has.  

I think that for McCain to win, Obama will have to mess up in a major way.  That's been McCain's strategy since day one.  McCain never tried to win this election, he just hoped for Obama to lose it.  That hasn't happened.

i'm back!

I'm back.  Just got married and went on a honeymoon to the Riviera Maya.

Stayed at a great place, the El Dorado Seaside Suites.  Highly recommend it to any couples going to that area.

So while I was out, it looks like the stock market took a nose dive and bounced back big today.  

Sounds like McCain's campaign, except he hasn't bounced back... Fivethirtyeight.com currently has Obama winning the election 95%-5%.  Yikes!!!  Sure, right after the Palin pick, McCain was ahead by a bit.  But the closer we get to the election, the harder it is to make up for lost ground, and right now Obama has a larger lead in all national and state polls than he's had all year.  Hell, he might even win West Virginia.

Michigan Republican Freaks Out

""He's a general who left the battlefield in the middle of the fight."
"I'm disappointed in his behavior; he's thrown a lot of good Republican candidates under the bus."
"...our commander has raised the white flag..."

-L Brooks Patterson, Oakland County, MI Executive on John McCain's decision to cede Michigan to Barack Obama.

Patterson is afraid, and he should be. With McCain effectively dropping out in MI, many republicans will not vote. It is very possible that Joe Knollenberg or Tim Walberg will be defeated. Currently, Knollenberg is down by 4 pts in the polls, and with McCain dropping out its not going to get any better.

Bailout = McCain Finished?

The bailout fiasco is bad, really bad.  I'm not of the opinion that we need it yet, but the market was priced to expect the bailout so now the Dow has dropped 777 points.  I've lost several thousand recently.  Oh well, I have time to save.

I'm not going to get into economics tonight.  

My simple analysis is this: the failure of this bailout to pass just might sink John McCain for good.

Strike 1: McCain "suspended" his campaign to go to Washington and help build bipartisan support for the bailout bill.  He did not do much helping (by all accounts, he made a couple phone calls).  The bailout failed, mostly due to republicans.  This leads me to believe that McCain's own party does not respect him, particularly the Ron Paul Republicans who voted against it.

Strike 2: McCain said he was only participating in the debate because passage of the bailout bill was imminent.   Passage was not imminent.

Strike 3: Monday morning McCain claimed credit for the bill...  It didn't pass.

Obama didn't come up looking much better since he has backed the bailout bill (with strong reservations about its current form).  However, he did not pull stunts such as "suspending" his campaign or swinging wildly as McCain is doing today.  

Add to that a tie, at best, during the debate that was supposed to be John McCain's strength and you may very well be witnessing a major meltdown.

McCain Calls Terrorists Freedom Fighters

Something which I myself did not notice during the debate, but Radley Balko has pointed out is that during the debate, McCain made the following remark:

First of all, I won’t repeat the mistake that I regret enormously, and that is, after we were able to help the Afghan freedom fighters and drive the Russians out of Afghanistan, we basically washed our hands of the region.

And the result over time was the Taliban, Al Qaida, and a lot of the difficulties we are facing today. So we can’t ignore those lessons of history.

These "freedom fighters" included Osama and the Taliban.  While it is true that we left them hanging around with a lot of guns, and now we don't quite have peace in the region.  

It is also true that at the time they were fighting for their freedom, something that can be said of many groups that are also called terrorists.  I'm not here to pass judgment on where freedom fighters end and terrorists begin, but you can bet your ass if Barack Obama had made that comment Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly would be up in arms.

Obama-Palin?

Yesterday Palin basically endorsed Obama's stance on going into Pakistan, if necessary.

Today the McCain campaign retracted her comments.

Do I need to even state again how much of a complete disaster she is for the republican ticket?

McCain's Temper

John McCain's temper is apparently alive and well.  

See this video, at around the 4:30 mark (listen to the few seconds before that so you know what's going on).  McCain mumbles "horseshit" twice under his breath.  Reminds me of Dick Cheney.

Actor Dead, Salad Dressing Lives On

RIP: Paul Newman

Paul Newman died today of lung cancer, he was 83.  Known for starring in many movies, such as Cool Hand Luke, he is perhaps better known today for his Newman's Own line of products, ranging from the original salad dressing to popcorn.  It will be interesting to see for how long the brand will outline the man, but there was a good amount of succession planning done prior to today.  His daughter will take over the company.  The fact that most know that all profits are donated to charity means that it is still a winning sales pitch.

The First Debate

Some quick thoughts:

Bottom line: McCain's strongest credentials lie in foreign policy. This debate was a tie, at best, for McCain. So, while the battle may have been a draw the war is quickly slipping away from John McCain.

What struck me during this debate is that John McCain actually thinks that "victory" is possible in Iraq. I would like to ask him how he defines victory. Unlike when we entered WW2 against Germany and Japan, we are not asking for Iraq's surrender. We supposedly support their government. Therefore, a true victory is not possible.

And Obama's points that we took our eyes off the ball on Afghanistan was very good. McCain did not have an answer to this.

McCain barely would look at Obama during the debate. Obama was extremely respectful, almost to a fault. McCain had the "grumpy grandpa" look.

McCain brought up Miss Congeniality twice, wasn't that Sarah Palin's beauty pageant?
Speaking of which, Obama brought up Biden. I didn't hear McCain touting his VP pick.

At one time in the debate, near the end, McCain was very close to losing his temper. It is too bad he did not explode.

McCain said that he wants to end all ethanol subsidies. I agree with him on this point, but there's no way in hell he'll be competitive in Iowa now.

Kissinger did say that the US president should meet with any foreign leader, without pre-conditions. He said: "Well, I am in favor of negotiating with Iran. And one utility of negotiation is to put before Iran our vision of a Middle East, of a stable Middle East, and our notion on nuclear proliferation at a high enough level so that they have to study it. "

Quote of the Day

"I don't thnk the Palin problem is fixable. She is who she is: an unqualified fundamentalist liar with no nowledge of or experience in national domestic or foreign policy. And McCain had absolutely no idea who she was when he picked her."

--Andrew Sullivan

Don't Mess with Letterman

David Letterman, on whose show John McCain announced his campaign, is not happy with the Arizona Senator.  McCain cancelled his appearance on Letterman's show since he was suspending his campaign, but instead of going to Washington he stayed in NYC and did more interviews. 

 

More here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjkCrfylq-E

 

I think this may be more damaging than any video the Obama campaign could come up with.  People love and trust David Letterman.  He has fans of all ages and this may make some of them think twice.

A letter to John McCain

Senator McCain,

You believe that you are the most qualified person to be the president of the United States. The POTUS regularly has to deal with several important issues on the same day, whether it be a foreign policy crisis, a domestic matter, or a campaign. By telling the American people that you will not attend the debate unless the economic bailout is passed, you are denying us all the right to make a well informed decision. You are denying Americans the ability to see you and senator Obama. Whether the debate is rescheduled or cancelled, it may affect the VP debate. So it may also deny us a sincere presentation of your Vice Presidential candidate. Presidents routinely must multi-task, which would include going to congress during the day and debating in the night. If you are unable to do so, myself and many other Americans will question your mental preparedness to hold the highest office.

Sincerely,
A taxpayer

Obama's bailout conditions

Today, Barack Obama outline 5 conditions for any economic bailout plan, and urged John McCain to support him in this bipartisan initiative.  This comes after McCain and Obama issued a joint statement.  

If McCain is smart, he will indeed endorse the points below.  Whether you are a democrat or a republican, you will agree that what Sen. Obama outlines below is necessary.

First, there must be oversight. We should not hand over a blank check to the discretion of one man. We support an independent, bipartisan board to ensure accountability and complete transparency.

Second, we need to protect taxpayers. There should be a path for taxpayers to recover their money, and to turn a profit if Wall Street prospers.

Third, no Wall Street executive should profit from taxpayer dollars. This plan cannot be a welfare program for CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility has contributed to this crisis.

Fourth, we must help families who are struggling to stay in their homes. We cannot bail out Wall Street without helping millions of families facing foreclosure on Main Street.

Fifth, we both agree that this financial rescue package should move on its own without any earmarks or other measures. We have different views about the need for other action, but this must be a clean bill.

John McCain's Campaign Suspended

John McCain suspended his campaign so that he can go to Washington and focus on the economic issues that are currently going on.  This is a complete gimmick.  McCain knows about the economy about as much as a fifth grader.  He is just trying to make Obama look bad.  Either Obama goes along and follows McCain, or he looks like he's favoring politics over helping people.  Neither situation would be good.

But I think that this situation could also be bad for McCain.  By stopping his campaign he is telling us that he cannot effectively multi-task.

eBay kills the paper payment

Today eBay announced that checks and money orders will no longer be accepted for the majority of the sales on its site (automobiles are one big exception).  

How do I feel about this?  I don't really care, since I almost always use PayPal.  Many sellers now require PayPal only as well.  I have had the unfortunate experience of locating a seller of a special item and finding out they only take money orders.  So I had to schlep to the post office, get a money order, put it in an envelop, put a stamp on the envelop, mail it, and wait a few days.  

I know some are angry about PayPal's fees for sellers, but money orders and checks are a pain in the ass for both buyers and sellers.