SPAM from McCain the Morning of an Election?

I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and had a hard time falling back to sleep. As such, I got up from my bed, and went to check email. I know, this is starting out like an exciting post...

Anyway, as I was looking at my email, I found a damned bit of SPAM from John McCain! Let's line this out together:

1. I hate spam, which makes me dislike those who sent it to me


2. I've not received any spam from Obama


3. Like so many others in this country, I've already voted


4. I don't think a whole lot of McCain's decision making capabilities, predicated on the fact he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate...


5. I can only assume he bought my email address from the same people that sold it to the Viagra, Enhancement, Meet Local Women, cheap Rolex's, or Pharmaceuticals folks that spam me...

Here's the spam, sans graphics...

My Friend,
From the time I entered the Naval Academy at age seventeen I have been privileged and honored to serve my country.
Throughout my years of service, I've been faced with challenges where I could have taken the easy way out and given up. But I'm an American and I never give up. Instead, I choose to show courage and stand up and fight for the country I love. Today, I am asking you to stand with me and to fight for our country's future.
Our country faces enormous challenges and our next president must be ready to lead on day one. My lifetime of experience has prepared me to lead our great nation. I'm prepared to bring solutions to our economic challenges, bring our troops home in victory and improve our nation's healthcare system.
Time and time again, my country has saved my life and I owe her more than she has ever owed me. I have chosen to show my gratitude through a life of service to our country and tomorrow, you will have a choice before you.
I humbly ask you to make the choice that will allow me to serve my country a little while longer by casting your vote to elect me as your next President of the United States.
Finally, I ask that you never forget that much has been sacrificed to protect our right to vote. We must never forget those Americans who, with their courage, with their sacrifice, and with their lives, have protected our freedom. It is my great hope that you will exercise your right to vote as an American tomorrow.
I thank you for your kind support, your dedication to our cause, and most importantly I thank you for your vote.

With sincere appreciation,

John McCain

You lost me there Senator...

"Joe the Plumber" the Poor Man Is Frought with Issues

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/joe-the-plumber-is-it-see_n_135211.html

Long and short, Joe would receive a tax cut under Obama, as his business makes lees than $250,000 per year. Moreover, Joe has tax paying issues. In short, Senator McCain, your utilization of this man was poor judgement. Perhaps not as poor as picking Sarah Palin, but your consistency gives reason to fear your success in the coming election.

Sarah First

Governor Palin, are “pro-America” places just like the place in your home where a member of the Alaskan Independence Party lives?

Joe the Plumber—What Happens When the Economy Falls out from under Him?

Senator McCain,

You performed better last night than you did in previous debates. Of course, our friend (the guy over here to the left), he can’t afford to provide his family healthcare, send his kids to college or to pay for his fleet of trucks’ gas. Why? How can he not? Let me give you the quick and dirty:

1) Your healthcare plan is horrible. No one in their right mind, when studying it, will give it the time of day. It’s poor. While you speak about competition and deregulation, in concert with a $5000 tax cut, which will nullify existing employer-based healthcare, you are forgetting one thing: healthcare needs regulation to protect the sick and poor huddled masses. If you weren’t in the Senate and didn’t have a job, because you’ve had skin cancer, you couldn’t go out to get your own private plan. Insurance companies are in a numbers game; therefore, they do not like folks who have reoccurring conditions—cancer-survivor? Living with lupus? Have multiple sclerosis? Sorry, tough luck. Your healthcare plan promotes exactly the opposite of health.

2) College under you, well you’re offering nothing different. Moreover, your economic policies show no substantive difference to that of the preceding President. If our buddy to the left can’t afford it now, he sure won’t tomorrow. Ergo, continuing on the downward spiral—strike two.

3) Gas? Drill baby drill? No – that won’t work either. As Senator Obama has stated on more than one occasion, we have 5% of the world’s resources and use 25%. Math and economics might not be your strong suit, but seriously, play that out over five-ten years. Yeah – that doesn’t work. Meanwhile, because of the continuation of Republican not “tax and spend” but “run-up-debt and spend,” our US Dollar is worth even less against the world currency market. In short, your planned continuation of this imbecile’s administration, well, it’s just not going to work.

In short, in case you haven’t figured it out, we’re stuck with a problem, and you’re not offering anything distinguishable. Watching you last night, you could have done something revolutionary. Right during your rant about not being George Bush, you could have laid out a point-by-point list of things that separate you from him. Oh yeah, that’s right, you didn’t.

Sincerely,

Matt

Graciousness and Allowing Things to Fold over on Their Own

I’ve been a bit out of the news cycle as of the past few days, but I was unsurprised by the outcome of Pain’s “Troopergate.” In addition, of course, I did see news footage showing McCain’s delusional claim, “We have him right where we want him,” to a group of supporters. It’s entertaining and sadly ironic how McCain, his team and the RNC are losing this campaign all on their own.

Like our current President, McCain and his team haven’t seemed to garner lessons history teaches us. Since their Convention bubble, burst by the economy’s misfortune, they’ve spent all of their time speaking negatively about Barrack Obama. Ironically, when Hillary’s campaign fell into its dregs, it did the same thing. I say “ironically,” because that was only five-six months ago the wheels fell off the Clinton’s bus, campaigning against Barrack Obama.

What is quite amazing, aside from the shear number of “Hope” stickers one sees around any given city, is that Obama and his campaign are legitimately campaigning through a means of “New Politics.” In Obama’s case, in spite of character assassination attempts by his opponents, he’s kept his cool. In all of these cases, the man has simply brushed this proverbial “shit” off his shoulder.

It delights me to see that Obama has simply stood back, allowing McCain to lampoon himself. Obama has played it quite clean, and has done little quid-pro-quo with the character assassination components. Outside the advertisement acknowledging McCain being one of the Keating Five, outside of speaking to it during speaking engagements, he has spent little time being bothered. It’s quite delightful to see a campaign and its surrogates allow their opponents to self-disintegrate.

Perhaps I am blinded by my bias? If I am missing something, please comment on this, because I am quite interested in anything Obama has done on par with the Ayers/Wright/Rezko nonsense, none of which are new, nor have the past relationships received “unethical” status from any bodies of Law.
For my Conservative friends and family, I cannot imagine the embarrassment you must have over Sarah Palin. I can now see why I heard her too easily dismissed back in June, during that VP-speculation period.

Class Warfare and How the Republicans Have Turned into What They Are

I cannot do David Brooks' essay justice today, so I'll simply provide the link. Brooks is a conservative, and represents the intellectual-side of the party: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Desperado – This Is Damned Absurd

McCain and Palin’s campaign as of late evokes the words of “The Eagles:”
Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?

You been out ridin’ fences for so long now

Oh, you’re a hard one

I know that you got your reasons

These things that are pleasin’ you

Can hurt you somehow

Desperado, oh, you ain’t gettin’ no youger

Your pain and your hunger,

they’re drivin’ you home

And freedom, oh freedom well,

that’s just some people talkin’

Your prison is walking through this world all alone

The absurdity of their attempts to re-tread the Ayers component is absurd. Of course, there is a strategy behind it, make no mistake. The point behind bringing this up again, in conjunction with trying to make Obama’s campaign looks suspicious (contributions information), and continuing to call him by his full name, including middle name Hussein, leaves me thinking just how desperate McCain’s campaign is.

Economy? Iraq? Anything that is pertinent to the American psyche these days? No – on those components, they lose. McCain’s policy positions are absurd, just like his “surprise” buy up bad mortgages plan “unveiled” during Tuesday’s Town Hall.

McCain’s campaign right now is losing, and it’s not getting better for them. Their last ditch effort is to get as dirty as possible, which McCain was to have been above. Clearly, out of desperation, he and his campaign have sunk to new lows. One can tell that by the forwards that come into our Inboxes these days. Funny—how come these brilliant nuggets of “Truth” about Obama aren’t carried by the news? No – instead they come to a select few, and are forwarded out. Being deceitful or casting false assertions wasn’t acceptable in the first grade. How the Right Wing has continued playing just as dirty as ever; it’s shameful.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/09/campaign.wrap/index.html

A Momentary Lapse of GOP-Backing Responses

While I’ll occasionally receive a forward about Obama being a suspect alien, I’ve not heard a thing of substance arguing against Obama in weeks. Have Obama supporters, like me, made so many good points that these friends now see the light? Is the campaign that far gone for those rooting on McCain? Have McCain and Palin done so horribly that those supporting them no longer have the strength or desire to continue doing so?

Sincerely, you know who you are. If you at one point were supporting McCain, why has the conversation ceased? I’m trying so hard to figure out why none of my GOP-backing friends are telling me about Obama’s middle name, how he is just too “Liberal,” or how McCain is so much the better American.

Is it the VP pick, in the face of what has turned out to be the worst economic crisis since our grandparents were children? If I were a McCain advocate, I would have lost my marbles on the Palin pick with the economy in its dire straights. McCain has Mitt Romney for all of his flaws, who was a successful businessman; moreover, he fits most of the Right’s plank positions. Why didn’t McCain pick Mitt Romney?

Let’s back that up a bit, perhaps Romney could have been McCain’s golden goose. Why not? For one, we know that McCain hated Romney, so much so that McCain couldn’t face him during their debates. Senator McCain, that sounds like a temperament issue. Okay, that to the side, even if that was not an issue, what else is there? Oh – I get I, Romney is a Mormon. In part, because of Mike Huckabee’s mid-primary efforts, Romney’s religion would have likely kept many in the South sitting on their couches on 4-November. At least that was the GOP establishment, ala Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, et al, were probably saying—underground, at least.

For Senator McCain, we have a downward trending economy—we’ll call it that; although, it’s an understatement. In addition, we have an uninspired pick for Vice President, for which the following nicely sums up: http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/10/08/palin/. Friends and countrymen, I know it must suck advocating on behalf of a party and candidate continuing George W. Bush’s incompetence right into the next campaign. I feel bad for you. I don’t think anyone will smugly laugh at you if you just concede that it’s about time for genuine change in Washington.

The Britney Industrial Complex—Is It now the Palin Industrial Complex?

Earlier this year, there was a great deal of discussion around “The Britney Industrial Complex.” Both NPR and the Washington Post did articles/segments on the subject, after an article by Portfolio Magazine: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012101691.html

The point was simple, to quote from the Post:
“Portfolio's Britney Industrial Complex illustrates the economy's need for celebrities. Vast amounts of money can be made by manufacturing ones who appeal particularly to the young. Spears was once one of those, although at age 26 she has leaped that demographic boundary. Still, the breadth of her drawing power cannot be fully estimated. Portfolio's concoction does not, for instance, measure her worth to the morning television shows -- "Today," etc. -- which on any given day are mere adjuncts to the fan magazines. Nor can it measure what she is worth to us as a topic of common interest for our communal water-cooler moments. Even this column has, in a sense, exploited her.” You can see the Portfolio article here: http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/arts/2008/01/14/Britney-Spears-Career-Analysis

Recalling back to the beginning of the year and the end of last year, there is a strident similarity between John McCain’s Vice Presidential nominee and the woman who acquired a faux British accent just prior shaving her head. The point is simple, there parallels are too consistent; moreover, the judgment is ridiculous.

Our media plays to a market, and our market has truth to it, which is to say that if Palin didn’t sell magazines or bring back SNL’s popularity, they wouldn’t make a thing out of her. Taking a step back, and reading myself write about this woman, I am only a reflection of the society from which I come, I am only reiterating the same bit of media. The point is, McCain will most likely lose this election, but even after 4-November, we’ll have a new celebrity over which to fawn. With that new celebrity and celebrity family, perhaps we’ll even have reality television shows. The media potential is limitless, and when you are finally suffering Palin-overload, come two more months, you can thank John McCain for introducing her Wasilla-Hillbillies to the US.

Conversations with the Senator

I’ll not go back over all of the outstanding components from yesterday. Rather than do that I’ll simply say, let’s keep it clean. For one, you’re not looking well, which doesn’t encourage people to vote for you. Please disregard that; that was not substantive.

While your campaign has gone negative, in the light of the economy going badly, perhaps you need to discuss how you are going to change things. We need to cooperate on this, because I cannot think of areas where you want to deviate from the current Administration.

Wait! I know, we can talk about how you’re a maverick! Shoot, you’re right; Governor Palin already beat that one to death. Okay, let’s go back to the Economy, you are going to disproportionately cut taxes for those making less that $250,000 a year! Oh, that’s right; you’re not going to do that. I am mixing you up with your opponent.

What is it then you’re going to do? BINGO! Your plan is now to get rid of health insurance for everyone who receives it through their work! Senator, I don’t think that’s a winner. Why are you doing that?

Wait! Competition and Deregulation? Wasn’t that the justification for eliminating regulation around banks and the financial industry? Doesn’t that open up the door for more sick people being poorly covered by some sort of “discount” health plan? That too is pretty nasty.

Let’s backup a step and recap. Right now, you are continuing the same economic and foreign policy components as the Bush Administration. In doing that, you are going to reduce controls over healthcare? No wonder you’re so far behind in the polls. Yikes.

It’s a good thing you have that Governor from Alaska. She really knows her stuff, right?

Smearing the Good Guys – How My Relationship with the Right Wing Has Forever Been Damaged

If you have email, and you go to the Internet, undoubtedly, you’ve received email forwards. Beyond that, undoubtedly, you’ve received something akin to: “I love John Adams, and the ghost of John Adams wrote something you can’t argue with. 5 Facts about Obama!

1. He’s a closet alien
2. His father, not from Kenya, is from Mars
3. Obama is one of the Decepticons
4. Obama has been known to say, “ more than meets the eye.”
5. Even though Obama calls Chicago home, he likes Hawaiian food!

The point is, the Right Wing, from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to the latest and greatest smear-whisper Internet forwards, does nothing but play dirty.

Note: immediately, they will cite Democrats who were in trouble back in the 1980’s, with the House’s post office scandal. Duly noted; however, for ever line item of corruption the Democrats had twenty years ago, Jack Abramoff’s GOP has done just as bad, if not worse. Going beyond that, one doesn’t see too many forwards about Republicans. Why is that? My goodness, could it be that while the Right claims to have moral superiority, they use that to justify shady political tactics? Maybe I’m missing great examples from the other side of things; however, I’d love to hear about them. Because unlike forwards I get about Obama’s middle name being Hussein, etc…, I seldom receive anything short of the facts from Democrats. Whose side do people want to be on, those with honor and dignity or those who play dirty? I am not down with dirty politics; it simply leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The GOP—Taking Pride in Stupidity? Say It Ain’t So…

It seems quite obvious that there is something endearing to listening to one with whom we could see ourselves having dinner or grabbing a drink; however, it seems as though there could be a limit to this. I don’t expect this blog posting will be written before we hear out of the GOP the words “Joe6Pack” or “HockeyMom.” That’s unfortunate. For the sake of likeability, in the past eight years, the GOP has nominated tickets with the intellectually incurious.*

I recently saw an article, which stated that this began with Dan Quayle, but I think its roots are farther reaching than that. Let’s backup a minute. Right now, we can say that appealing to “Joe6Pack” or “HockeyMoms” is similar to trying to being a populist. “Populism,” for the GOP to continue down this road takes a great deal of chutzpah. This is quite something for a party that has provided for the largest and most disparate gap of wealth in recent history. One could reduce this to “what’s the matter with Kansas” thinking.

Ultimately, where this finds its roots is with the 1968 Republican Convention and its nomination, where Richard M. Nixon and Kevin Phillips successfully devised his “Sothern Strategy.” In a 1970 New York Times article, Phillips said:

“From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That's where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats” (Boyd, James (May 17, 1970). "Nixon's Southern strategy: 'It's All in the Charts'", The New York Times, pp. 215.)

This was the strategy of the GOP back in the 1970’s, and it’s what then worked well for them. Since, the Democrats have only been able to successfully elect two Presidents, both of whom were from the South.

I would argue, thus far, the Southern Democrats have been the exception, largely because aesthetically they relate best to those the GOP began to attract as its stronger base following the 1970’s Southern Strategy. The continuation of the Seventies’ Southern Strategy was the “Reagan Democrats” in the 1980’s. At that point, due to both the Soviet Union’s menace and a bad economy from Carter’s term, Reagan was able to successfully appeal to blue-collar union folks. Due to escalating the Cold War, Reagan made himself the only option come 1984, as we were then ruled by the politics of fear. Ironically, one could cite the same strategy in 2004—fascinating.

I digress—apologies. Right now, we’ve witnessed two Republican administrations in the past thirty years utilizing the remnants of the “Southern Strategy,” by utilizing populism with a twofold attack.
Quite simply, the Republican Attack can be reduced in two components: One, attack the opponent’s character, highlighting a perceived disconnection with values of the larger portion of the population; two, demonstrate and embellish fear of that opponent’s capabilities against enemies of the United States.

Over the past twenty years, they did this by appealing to the wedge issues around abortion, social welfare, marital infidelity, and the Middle East. When Democrats—Bill Clinton, won, they did so because the economy hits bottom following long Republican terms in office; moreover, there is a reduced air of insecurity, which allows voters to focus on the economy. In this case, following the Bush Administration’s atrocious eight years of office, we have the former, and the latter’s strategy has been massive enough to call that component into question as well.

Quite simply, with John McCain (security) and Sarah Palin (“value”-identification/photogenic), right now, are in front of us. As such, with Palin’s limits to values/photogenic appeal being transparent, in the face of her Bush-like incompetence, even the Reagan Republican Swing Voters know better. Of course, this is why McCain’s ticket’s numbers are as low as they are. Ergo, we are going to see a blitz of character assassination in the coming weeks, which will be the only thing their party’s horrible platform can conjure. It’s unfortunate that we have to suffer. Fortunately, it’s been so transparent leaving Bush and Cheney in office for this length of time.

I have one last favor to ask: please when receiving forwards about the candidates, go to http://www.snopes.com/. Even for McCain-Palin, please go to the website. It’s non-partisan. It simply exists to provide dimensions of truth to the Internet and forwards.







*One could take that even further, and mention Dan Quayle, but for the sake of brevity, I thought I’d keep it to this millennium.

Being a Hack, here in America, That’s Politically Fashionable

My friend Robert asked a question this morning about why it is that Americans and politicians find it so much more agreeable to be “Joe6Pack” or “HockeyMoms” than to be educated or “elite.” It’s a terrific question, and one that too many have spent a lot of time pondering. Call me an elitist or whatever you care to, but I am tired of Hacks being elected.

The current President of the United States is an intellectual hack, who staffed his White House with minions from Dick Cheney. That President’s intellectual incuriosity has cost our country thousands of lives. Last night, even though she cutely accused Obama-Biden’s campaign of looking backwards rather than being about change, Sarah Palin daftly only confirmed that. Governor Palin certainly did demonstrate she can repetitively use the word “maverick,” but she didn’t clearly answer questions nor did she respond to any statements Senator Biden made about her ticket’s being four more years of the same rubbish.

As I wrote about over the past few days: her bar was so low, all she had to do was not stumble over her talking-points. Fair enough, but this was what put her performance, in many people’s opinion, to bed: "Let's talk about the maverick John McCain is," Biden said. "And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives ... He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table."

Sound Bites and Talking Points Are What They Are—Is It Not Recursive to Use Clichés with Them?

One wonders how Tina Fey can get such laughs by quoting the governor verbatim, case and point:

"I think they're just not used to someone coming in from the outside saying, 'You know what? It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency,' and I think that that's kind of taken some people off-guard," she said in a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt. "

Because that was this week, we’ll have to wait for SNL to play it this weekend. My point, however, is that this woman has said nothing of substance. I make the joke by posting the BINGO card on the blog. Seriously though, I cannot hear one person arguing the contrary on this woman’s contribution to the campaign. In short, she’s photogenic, young, and a governor in Alaska, that’s enough to get her a VP spot for an already dead on its feet political campaign.
I could go on ranting about McCain’s performance yesterday with the Des Moines Register. Rather than do that, I’ll simply let them continue to Implode their campaign. I’m looking forward to this evening’s debate, if only to truly play the BINGO game—just absurd.

PS: Gov. I sure do not want “Joe Six-Pack” represented in the position of “Vice Presidency.” I would prefer he or she have some substantive qualifications that go beyond anything we’ve thus far seen from you—disgraceful.

Setting the Bar Too Low?

Tonight, as we all know, is the Vice-Presidential Debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. Leading up to the debate, the press, following four interviews, has thrown a great deal of analysis and conjecture at Palin’s qualifications. Quite simply, with all of this recent analysis and abhorrent performances, I am concerned the bar has been set so low, her not calling for a bombing of China or a Supreme Religious Cleric leading the Federal Government would be considered a “Win.”

Watching her two tête-à-tête interviews with Couric were quite painful; the same with Charles Gibson’s. Moreover, the third interview with Katie Couric, where McCain sat next to her, and spoke on behalf of her qualifications, to me, seemed like a young woman’s father assisting his daughter during a college entrance interview. In short, the lead up has been rough, and the press, having been held off of her, cannot get enough of the stuff.

In short, here are my thoughts on the strategies of the two campaigns—the quick and dirty. For Obama and Biden, I believe with the economic turmoil and war, their strategy has been to lie low allowing the news to do most of their work for them. The Bush Administration and Republican Party have done so horribly in the past eight years, taking a step back will do nothing to damage the brand. In short, the country knows the DNC’s plank, and Obama’s supporters know where his campaign stands on things. Obama was doing most of his work this summer, and right now, his campaign is allowing the GOP fruit to eat itself.

For the McCain campaign, they went a surprise direction selecting Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska for VP Candidate. Governor Palin plays the part of being a Governor from the more “Libertarian” West with religious credentials to enliven the Religious Right, with which McCain has always struggled. Beyond that, she, like Bush, is an affable and photogenic candidate with youth on her side. In short, she makes up for what McCain is not.

However, there is a problem with Palin; she is as intellectually incurious as George W. Bush. Watching her on the Couric interviews and with Charles Gibson, one could liken her answers to questions like a doe in the headlights. Quite simply, our country has been duped twice by electing someone for whom study, foreign policy, and intellectualism are not interesting or worth knowing. With a current President who has only been duped by any and every policy salesperson with whom he has spoken, we cannot be ready to elect someone on a ticket making that same mistake again. Those are my hopes.

Of course, with their mastermind strategies, as is evidence with Wall Street deregulation and Neo-Conservative Middle Eastern policies, maybe just maybe, the McCain Campaign has been engineering the expectations for Palin to be incredibly low! “This here is a woman who can spit clichéd talking points ad nauseum! Just watch her resort to them every time she’s asked something to which she doesn’t know the answer!

You're a “Maverick” – An Open Letter to Senator McCain

Senator McCain,

While this might not be the last letter you’ll see from me, I felt I needed to write you one after last night’s debate performance. As a candidate for President, I found your performance rather lacking. As I sit down to write this, I’ll try to conjure the reasons I didn’t think much of your performance. From there, perhaps you can modify your performance this next debate.

First, Senator McCain, you need to look at your opponent when you are debating him. It was rather maniacal that you couldn’t find the strength to face Senator Obama during your debate. We first saw this when you were debating Mitt Romney, and it seemed rather odd then as well. This time, however, it seems to be a continuation of a part of your manner, which leaves many concerned about how you would face world opponents.

I know that seems like a bit of unimportant minutia, concerning the fact you don’t face opponents during debates, but it arouses concerns about your temperament. We are all cognizant of your sacrifice for our country, and please know I’m not discounting that. However, if your temper or anger for an opponent prevents you from facing them eye-to-eye, for fear you might appear angrier or lose control, perhaps you shouldn’t look to take on the role of President of the United States.

Temper is not something unique to you; I know that. For instance, temper was something for which Bill Clinton was known; however, Clinton could face his opponents during debates. From my perspective last night, during the debates, it looked as though you were ashamed of your positions, or you were in trouble with your opponent. That didn’t show the grace many of us would like you to have.

On another note, your use of the word “Maverick,” it has to go. Sincerely, the rate at which you and Governor Palin say the word makes it sound to be a manufactured sound-bite. It’s as though your campaign did lots of polling on the qualities in the past the public liked in you, which has left your running mate and you reiterating it endlessly. Honestly, your use of the word has taken away its power, and left it more like a sound bite than a characteristic for which some might admire you.

For every part of your “Maverick” nature, you’ve continuously voted along with the worst President in our history. This is the same President who led us into war under false pretenses, and permitted torture both in Guantanamo Bay and abroad, through our military or through third parties. For all of this being a “Maverick,” your support for President Bush has simply meant that you’ve been a “Maverick” advocating or voting on behalf of someone making horrible management decisions for our country.

In short, if your idea of being a “Maverick” means what your record over the past eight years has been, I think I’d prefer to have someone else take the role of President of the United States. At the moment, your role does not provide me any comfort or hope in the face of what we have on the table.

McCain's Campaign

I'll probably find myself writing more on this tomorrow; however, it was something that was on my mind. Right now, McCain's campaign is exhibiting the ineptness and incompetence that the current White House has shown over the past eight years.

Sincerely, W was handled from the minute Rove decided that he could turn HW's affable son into a President. Right now, we now have John McCain, playing the same game as Bush has for as long as we've known him. Sincerely, the way this campaign is going for Senator McCain has two possibilities: one, he has made some horrible managerial and strategic decisions, which has run his campaign into the ground; or two, he has submitted to his handlers, who with or without him have put him in this horrible position. Neither of which speak well for his possible presidency; we simply can't afford a third term of this level of incompetence.

In all of my discussions or disagreements with friends on McCain, I have yet to hear a policy position they take in opposition to Obama. Every discussion descends into a platitude about his professional career being in Chicago, his history as, among other things, a community organizer, or something correlated to his father being of foreign birth.

Please, someone reading this provide me a stated policy position McCain has in contrary to one of Obama's that demonstrates his appeal for being the next President. Consider this the gauntlet, because I have yet to see one policy-based argument that serves as a stunner.

If someone simply states "Chicago Machine Politics" or "Illinois Government Corruption," to that I will note the S&L scandal or "The Keating Five." In neither case were the two candidates convicted of anything, nor were they defeated by their primary opponents based on these items, respectively.

From a policy-perspective, please tell me how McCain is better on the Economy, Iraq, Iran, and Health Care or otherwise. I've not yet heard any delineation from McCain, respective to the status quo, while at the same time, it's tough to find us in worse shape fiscally or diplomatically.

The nice part of things at the moment is that the newness of McCain's Campaign's August distraction has worn off, and the desperation of the move and its poor implementation are being represented loud and clear. Do we want someone who manages their campaign this poorly running our country next year? I certainly hope not, and by the latest shift in polling, I suspect I'm not the only one.

Jake, This One Is for You

While we can battle about McCain temporarily pulling out of the race and how political of a move it is, it’s too much fun pointing out your VP candidate’s worship with an African Witch Hunter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl4HIc-yfgM). Perhaps this Witch Hunter could come and help kill off the dastardly witches that have run us into Iraq and run the Economy into the ground. Perhaps if McCain and Palin were elected we could have Thomas Muthee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Muthee) come into the White House to help save us from the likes of Mama Jane. To think Reverend Wright caused such controversy. Yikes – this is a little too bat-spit crazy—it’s a good thing she’s a hockey mom.

Jake’s Comment Begs an Interesting Question

Yesterday, my friend Jake wrote a comment about my posting of a pro-Obama forwarded email on this here Blog. Jake’s comment, please see the comments in the below blog, notes that all of my postings for the past few weeks have been around McCain’s running mate decision, with the exception of my marathon. That led me to a thought: why is it that she became so noteworthy? Is this an advantage to McCain’s campaign?

Let’s talk about advantages to McCain’s campaign: one, the economy hasn’t been in the gutter this bad since 1991-92; two, we are in an unpopular war fought based on a myriad of lies promulgated by an administration which is exceptionally more secretive than ever—McCain supports this war; three, the positions of the Republican Party on social matters run below average on poll numbers. All of these things added together, it seems to make sense to distract the public from the substance of McCain’s policy positions.

McCain’s policy positions, while he has taken contrary positions in the past, ultimately are his own, and they have led us to where we are today. Right now, when faced with what we have, from political, economic, and militaristic perspectives, the American Public looks down their nose. Alas, a few weeks ago during the convention in St. Paul, a nice looking woman was put in front of the American public to refresh McCain’s campaign’s image. This worked, and indeed this Governor from Alaska did attract a lot of attention, some would argue—this guy included, that this was due to the fact that we knew little about her. These first few weeks have become a discovery section, and there was enough juice about her life in Alaska, we couldn’t help but knock down McCain’s selection choice – largely predicated on playing to his party’s base.

Isn’t that just it? McCain’s policy positions are disagreeable to 72% of the American Public, and his age raises concerns. By bringing in some new blood, which is not so readily deconstructed, like Romney would have been, McCain has diverted attention from his shortcomings. Right now, McCain’s campaign is doing the same thing Bush’s campaign did in 2000 and 2004, which was divert the public from the substance of policy positions, and focus the public on something else—something fascia and remote. If the only way a party can win is by playing games about personalities rather than policy issues, clearly, they are lacking something.

Of course, when it comes to those discussions, let’s not forget the Keating Five and the first Mrs. McCain. Were McCain the Democrat in this race, we’d have heard about those two items ad nauseum. It’s too bad. I just hope this time it won’t work like it did the last two times to put someone so incompetent in office.

Things Not Acceptable for which to Charge

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/index.html
Reading the article in the paper today, about Palin’s town, while she was mayor, charging women for rape-kits in opposition to state legislation fighting the practice is about as disagreeable as possible, to say the least. I have to admit, from a victim’s perspective, the idea of being charged for a component of the investigation is among the most absurd and horrific things I’ve ever heard.

I understand that Palin is on record not being aware that women or their insurance were being charged for their rape kits. However, provided this was a topic of the legislature and in the news in Alaska, during her term as mayor, methinks that she probably pondered the issue, and investigated it.


I can also imagine that, like ambulance fees being charged to a person or their insurance, it was internally justified as something, “the insurance will be probably paying for this, in most cases.” I am going to make another assumption, based on the way investigations and interactions with Police following the report of criminal activity; I don’t imagine women are being told upfront they’re going to be charged. No, instead, I think it’s as the article shows it, one received a bill after the fact with that $1000 charge. They receive the bill or the Explanation of Benefits from their insurance.

From personal experience, just receiving an explanation of benefits from one’s insurance company, for the charges for an ambulance that took them to the hospital in a medical emergency predicated on criminal activity, leaves one shocked that something so basic and not to the victim’s fault could be assigned to the victim. Fortunately, in the State of Illinois, there is victim’s compensation, which would have paid for that charge in arrears, if insurance didn’t pick it up. Nevertheless, sending a victim through that rigmarole is unimaginable, particularly in the case of something as brutal as rape.

What this tells me about Governor Palin is:

1. If she was not aware of this, she was not detail-oriented, nor was she a victim’s advocate;
2. If she was, but thought it was “okay,” she has a deficient morale compass
3. As one who is anti-abortion, even in cases of rape or incest, she has no empathy or perspective on women’s health issues or perspective on victim’s rights.

In summation, to think that anyone would think it was okay to charge victim for the investigation of a crime, in any capacity, needs to be removed from their position. It’s simply not acceptable, nor is it something that anyone should support. I hope she has to answer this in the public domain, not through a public relations representative. That’s among the most horrific policy stances I’ve ever seen.