John McCain

I really love America, because it produces people like Tito Munoz.  You don't know who Tito is?  Well, let me introduce you to a great man.   Tito showed up at a McCain/Palin Rally in Woodbridge, Virginia this weekend, and let the media have it over their treatment of Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher. 

{...}In the audience Saturday, there were plenty of people who were mad about it. There was real anger at this rally, but it wasn’t, as some erroneous press reports from other McCain rallies have suggested, aimed at Obama. It was aimed at the press. And that’s where Tito Munoz came in.

After McCain left, as the crowd filed out, Munoz made his way to an area near some loudspeakers. He attracted a few reporters when he started talking loudly, in heavily-accented English, about media mistreatment of Wurzelbacher. (It was clear that Spanish was Munoz’s native language, and he later told me he was born in Colombia.) When I first made my way over to him, Munoz thought I was there to give him the third degree.

“Are you going to check my license, too?” he asked me. “Are you going to check my immigration status? I’m ready, I have everything here. Whatever you want, I have it. I have my green card, I have my passport — “

was a little surprised. Did Munoz really bring his papers with him to a McCain rally? I asked.

“Yeah, I have my papers right here,” he said. “I’m an American citizen. Right here, right here.” With that, he produced a U.S. passport, turned it to the page with his picture on it, and thrust it about an inch from my nose. “Right here,” he said. “In your face

Munoz said he owned a small construction business. “I have a license, if you guys want to check,” he said.

Someone asked why Munoz had come to the rally. “I support McCain, but I’ve come to face you guys because I’m disgusted with you guys,” he said. “Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong? Everything is possible in America. I made it. Joe the Plumber could make it even better than me. . . . I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the U.S.A.”

The scene turned into a mini-fracas when David Corn, of Mother Jones, defended press coverage. Munoz was having none of it. Why, he asked, would the press whack Joe the Plumber when it didn’t want to report on Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, the former Weather Underground bomber? “How come that’s not in the news all the time?” Munoz said. “How come Joe the Plumber is every second? I’m talking about NBC, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN.”A black woman with a strong Caribbean accent jumped in the fray. “Tell me,” she said to Corn, “why is it you can go and find out about Joe the Plumber’s tax lien and when he divorced his wife and you can’t tell me when Barack Obama met with William Ayers? Why? Why could you not tell us that? Joe the Plumber is me!”

“I am Joe the Plumber!” Munoz chimed in. “You’re attacking me.”{...}

God bless you, Tito.  We need more immigrants like you. 

Over the weekend, the husband and I were at a party, and we were chatting with a friend of ours, one more conservative in our party of liberal friends (Which makes a total of three conservatives.  Usually politics are verboten at these get togethers.) and, when we were off to the side, away from everyone else and he knew he was safe,  he said he couldn't believe how they'd gone after Joe the Plumber, and how vicious they'd been about it.  The husband and I agreed with him when he insisted this was really going to come back to haunt the Democrats on election day.  It's entirely possible that it will---and it's more than possible, it's probable. 

The media may have been doing Obama's dirty work with Joe the Plumber, but it's not the media who will pay.  Good on Tito for calling them on it, but it's not the media who will pay...it's Obama.  People are sick of this stuff. In an ironic plot twist, the mainstream media, which has been nothing if not for Barack Obama since day friggin' one, might have cost their Messiah the election.  Their ill-informed savaging of Joe the Plumber's reputation is not going down well with people.  Decent people.  People who might have been tempted to vote for Obama, but whose eyes have since been opened about the Obama Nation's behavior.  How many voters does this guy think he can alienate and still win the election?   The PUMA's {"Party Unity, My Ass"}are voting for McCain, because they're pissed off about how Obama and the DNC treated Hillary Clinton and her supporters.  There are any number of people who are voting for McCain because they're sick of how Obama treats people who disagree with him, by labeling them racists. And so on and so forth...and you know what?  The alienated voters have a tendency to add up in the positive column for McCain.  I keep hearing how they're not going to stay home on election day---they're going to go out and vote for McCain because they will not tolerate an Obama Presidency. That's how much Obama has pissed these people off: He's driven them entirely out of voting Democratic to vote for McCain, someone whom they probably never would have considered voting for in the first place.  A vote for McCain is turning into a protest vote against Obama, and you know what...unlike votes cast for Ralph Nader, these might actually help get someone elected.   

Let's be frank, the reason Obama thinks he can alienate these people is because he thinks he's got the election in the bag.  Which, if my understanding of how polls can change within a twenty-four hour news cycle is correct, is not true, with two weeks left to go.  Particularly when the major polls are oversampling Democrats to get Obama his beloived three point lead?  It's not in the bag--AT ALL.  It's closer than it ever has been. 

An Army of Joes can change a lot. 

I meant it last week when I wrote that Joe Wurzelbacher could probably cost Obama the election.  We've all been waiting for the "October Surprise"?  Well, my personal feeling is that a big, bald plumber from Toledo is the October Surprise.  He asked a question, it was answered poorly, and he was savaged for it.  No one deserves to be treated like that.  Joe resonates with people.  They consider themselves to be normal, average Joes.  They may not be plumbers, but they, too, have dreams, perhaps of owning their own business, working for themselves and making it into an entirely new tax bracket.  Tito is one of those guys.  This isn't about lower taxes just this instant---although, that would be nice---it's more about knowing that there won't be higher taxes when they get into that new tax bracket.  It's about leaving room to dream about the future, and how you want that future world to work.  That's no small thing.  Only one candidate comes close to providing that sort of freedom, the freedom to dream and hope and to work hard for your own future.

And it ain't Barack Obama.

Good gravy, but do I feel sorry for Joe the Plumber.  Go ahead and click on the link.  Not much valid reading to be had there, but there sure is an awful lot of invalid reading to be had. 

Obama shows up at his house, he asks a question that is somewhat critical, even if it was politely worded and not delivered in a heated tone, and it makes the news.  No big whoop, right?  Because he was the first person on camera to actually ask a critical question of The Chosen One, his life is under the kind of scrutiny usually reserved for entomologists and their butterfly collections.  Poor Joe's wings are about to be ripped off by a pair of tweezers if they haven't already been. 

What the hell is going on here?

Joe Wurzelbacher never signed up for this.  He asked a question of a candidate running for political office, which is, I might remind people, what voters are supposed to do with political candidates and now his life is under scrutiny? 

This should tell people two things:

1. The mainstream media is in the tank for Obama, as they're actively trying to discredit a man who asked a simple question.  Why would they dig up dirt on this guy anyway?  Shouldn't they have better things to do, like chase down the ACORN story?  What's the point of all this if not to discredit him? 

2.  Better not ask Obama any questions when he gets elected, otherwise your life could be dissected for all to see.  That's the threat here: ask a valid question that might make The Chosen One look bad, and have your life scrutinized.  But once he gets elected, it'll be the federal government doing the scrutinizing.  Forget the US Search check; this will have the full force of the federal government behind it.  It's Nixon's administration all over again, only this time it'll be on the left.  Who, do you think, is going to turn out to be the leftist equivalent of Halderman?  What do you want to bet Obama has an Enemies List already?  I won't be surprised at all if that's true.  If that's not going to shut down dissent, I don't know what will.

Do I sound like a whacko conspiracy-theory-toting-freeper here?  Yeah, I do.  And it disgusts me to buy into this notion, but, honestly, what am I supposed to think about all of this?  A man who is not running for public office, who dared to ask a perfectly reasonable question of a political candidate, is having every detail of his life scrutinized by a mainstream media who wants The Chosen One in office, with, I'm sure the full knowledge and support of Obama's campaign.  It's absolutely disgusting.  By doing his job as a citizen, this is what Joe the Plumber receives in return.  In most normal campaigns it would be the candidate for office who would now be under scrutiny, not the average citizen who asked a question.  But this is not a normal campaign.  We have The Messiah, and he must be elected, by hook or by crook, hence anyone who's the least bit critical is fair game.  Which, if you ask me, is bullshit. 

On the happier side of things, this just reeks of desperation, as if Obama's staffers are The Wizard of Oz, and are afraid that Joe the Plumber is going to turn out to be Toto, and pull the curtain aside to reveal all the levers and gizmos they use to keep people from asking questions.  They have to make him out to be a bad man. They must discredit him. That way, no one will pay attention to the question he asked, and the Marxist answer their candidate gave.  If that's not desperation, I don't know what is.   Obama, if he really is The Chosen One, should have had this election in the bag months ago.  That he doesn't, that he's got a razor thin lead, which can turn at any time, shows that a goodly number of people haven't lost their minds in this country, and that's hopeful.  One can only hope that the smears against Joe the Plumber will help open a few more eyes.

So, Joe, I'm sorry this is happening to you.  It's not fair and it's wrong.  You deserve a huge apology, because you did what was right.  But, as we all know, the right path is almost always harder than the wrong one, so bear up.  You might just have cost the Chosen One the election. 

If you're left a bit bewildered about the various candidates' plans for health care, Go here and be enlightened. 

It's an accurate and fair compare and contrast between the candidates, whose link landed in my mailbox about three-thirty this morning.

Last week, I compared this election to chemotherapy, because they have similar fatigue-inducing qualities.  Like I wanted the chemo to be over with, I want the election to be over with as well.  I'm just plain tired of all of it. 

Well, if last week was the chemo treatment, this morning I received the political equivalent of the Neulasta and Aranesp shots they gave me after a treatment.

Check this out. 

Oh, you couldn't be bothered to click?  We'll let me show you what was on the profile page of an Obama supporter until she cleaned it up. 

Yeah.  That's right.  Sarah Palin is, apparently, a cunt.  I mean, she must be because someone put it on a t-shirt!  Which, until recently, was sold at Cafe Press.  

Apparently, Cafe Press, is undoubtedly upset at having to pull it off their virtual shelves for being abusive because it was, evidently, a big seller.

But have no fear!  You can still get one here!  The lettering's not as pretty, but hey, it's all about the message, maaaan.

Now, like most sensible American women, I DESPISE the "C" word.  I HATE it.  It's disgusting, vile, atrocious.  {Insert derogatory adjective here and I'll run with it.}.  It's just vile.  This is the one word most of us have a problem with.  I have an issue with listening to my English friend, M., use it as an equivalent to "asshole."  After listening to her and her roommate use it about fifteen thousand times in a half-hour, I finally had had enough and said, "You do realize the word you keep using is one of the worst in American English, don't you?"  While, of course, they argued, ala John Cleese, there is no such thing as American English, they eventually realized that not everyone was in love with their usage, and put a friggin' lid on it for the rest of my stay.  I was thankful.  I didn't want to hear it then, and I sure as hell don't want to hear it, or see it, as the case may be. 

This is not because I'm against using foul words.  Hell, no!  I adore dropping F-bombs here and there.  I have no problems with the word 'shit' because, well, that's what it is.  What's the problem? If someone's an asshole or an asswipe, I'll drop those descriptors with no hesitation.  It's the same with dickhead, or any number of other colorful adjectives and nouns.   But I draw the line at "cunt."  That is ABSOLUTELY VERBOTEN. 

Now, never mind that I haven't heard one thing on the news about this.  The mainstream media has, sensibly, judged that Obama can't be held responsible for the whacked out views of every supporter who has a page on their website.  Like, duh.  The Chosen One apparently has better things to do than hire a responsible web admin, and pull nasty images before they become a problem.  But, let's just imagine if a McCain supporter had put up on McCain's website a picture of themselves in a "I HATE {INSERT N WORD HERE}"  t-shirt. 

Don't you think he'd catch, at the very least, a little flack about it? 

But, of course, that's supposing the mainstream media isn't in the tank for Obama.  In this evironment, in which we are now living, McCain would, of course, catch hell for it.  He's already catching flack for what his "hateful" supporters are saying at rallies.  Let's not underestimate what a gift this would be for the media: It would be THE October Surprise.  The one story the media hungers for that could bring down their electoral oppponent.  And no, I'm not mixing my possessive pronouns there.  Obama is the media's candidate.  Hence, my usage of the language is correct.   But there's been no backlash.  It hasn't even made the wire services so far as I can see. 

I've long thought that Obama is, to quote M, a "misogynist dinosaur."  He apparently, despite being raised by a single mother, has fallen prey to what most black men nowadays---if Hip Hop Culture is any indication---believe: that women are bitches and hos; are only good for fucking; will bleed them dry if given the chance;  and what's more is that, apparently, since the women like it like that, they're disposable, because there's always another woman, lined up, to receive the same treatment.  Obama has no respect for women.  He doesn't care.  This is a man who, when his wife's mouth got to be a problem on the campaign trail, made her disappear back to Chicago for several weeks to allow the story to die down.  Michelle Obama, strong, proud, highly educated, accomplished, well-paid, independent Black woman, did what her husband told her to: she vanished into thin air; to presumably "take care of the children" when everyone else knew what was going on.  She's simply an asset to be brought out when she can behave herself; a liability when she gets out of line.  How is that different from Fifty Cent's (alleged) burning down of an ex's house, when she asked for more child support?  Fitty (allegedly) wanted his problem to disappear.   Obama actually made his do so.  Whether Obama believes we're living in a "post-sex" world, the same way he believes he can be the "post-race" candidate, hence meaning he can get away with this kind of crap, I don't know.  That's up to him to declare.   

But let's face facts: it's not like he's ever going to. 

And the media's never going to call him on it.  The media let's him get away with playing Jay Z's "99 Problems and the Bitch Ain't One" during campaign rallies when he was running against Hillary in the primaries, while they rush to publicize any rock group's problems with the McCain campaign using their songs.   I mean, the Foo Fighters recently pitched a fit about the use of "My Hero" at McCain rallies, and the media trumpets it as yet another "Aha!  Musicians have a problem with McCain!" story, like it matters, because the Foo Fighters are big, fat hypocrites, whining about its use and then running right out to cash the checks on the licensed use of the song.  Yet, surprisingly, a song that ends with "I got 99 problems, being a bitch ain't one"  is played prominently during The Chosen One's rallies, and THE MEDIA HAS NO PROBLEM WITH IT?  Go and read the damn lyrics.  They SHOULD have a problem with it.  

You think that if the McCain rallies played a song that ended, "I've got 99 problems, being a nigger ain't one" the media wouldn't have a problem with it?   

This is just another example where the Democrats say one thing, and do another.  It's, apparenlty, all right with the media and Obama that his supporters run around in "Palin is a Cunt" t-shirts.  They couldn't be expected to control the misogyny of their supporters!  Besides, we're not misogynists!  Democrats have a long history of supporting women's rights!  

Well, surprise, surprise.  Trouble is, the supporters are simply taking their cues from their Leader.  And as w all know, actions speak louder than words, even if they do roll off the silver plated tongue of Barack Obama.

{Ht: Ace, from whom I stole the screenshot}

I am sick and tired of all this election nonsense. 

I want this thing to be over with. 

I'm just plain, 'effin, tired of all this crap.  It needs to be over with.  And it needs to be over with now. 

Despite the posts I've put up recently, I have very little inclination to blog about the presidential election.  I am sick of the Chosen One.  I am sick of the media sucking up to the chosen one.  I am sick of the media not giving McCain a fair shot.  Yet, I am completely afflicted with apathy right now, and really can't be bothered to do anything about any of it.  

And, let's face it, my five devoted Cake Eater readers, it's not like anyone cares what I think in the first place. 

This election has been running for way too damn long.  It has been going, full throttle, since Bush was sworn in, four years ago, for his second term.  The positioning, the electioneering, the lies, the sludge, the fraud...it's all part and parcel with an American Presidential election, and I, for one, am sick of it.  I am tired of all this bullshit.  Like the financial meltdown story, I wish it would go away.

"Fatigue" becomes a big concept when you go through chemo.  In terms of responding to cancer treatment, it basically means when you're tired, but you can't sleep it off.  No nap will solve this problem---despite the fact chemo is one of the few situations in life where napping is actively encouraged.  Fatigue, however, is different than just being tired.  You're exhausted and there's no solution, except to sit on the sofa, eat bon bons (if you've got an appetite in the first place) and pray there's a Dirty Jobs' marathon on the Discovery Channel.  Of course, the mountainous packets you received at chemo class inform you that the best way to deal with fatigue is to actively fight against it.  You're supposed to go and take a walk, try and clean the house, or something else of a physical nature; you're supposed to actively work yourself into a place where the fatigue and physical exhaustion in your weakened state will meld together, allowing you to get some rest.  I can tell you that this does work, but...when you're that state of blahdom, it's pretty damn hard to motivate yourself to go for a walk.  It's absolutely counterintuitive.  Your body is telling you one thing; your brain is telling you another.  Which one do you listen to? 

This is where I'm at with this election.  I know I should get my ass up off the sofa, turn off Mike Rowe, and go outside for a stroll around the block, but I can't be bothered.  I want to stay on the sofa, watching Mike's lovely body tremendously screw something up, while his mouth shoots off pithy one liners about just how badly he's screwing things up.  I have no inclination to motivate myself, here at the most important time, to take care of what I need to take care of, which is, mainly, to do my bit to ensure Barack Obama does not become the next president of the United States of America.  I believe this outcome would be disastrous.  Truly, I understand the ramifications of the problem.  

But I can't be bothered to do anything about it.  Due to the electoral process (which is seeming more and more like chemotherapy every damn day) I've got a weakened immune system, I'm anemic, and if you touch me lightly, due to the thrombocytopenia, I'm very likely to develop a bruise.   I'm beyond hoping I won't get any more blood disorders.  I know they're right around the bend.  All I want is for it to be over with.  I'm done with caring about the specifics of the treatment.  It's all going wrong anyway, why should I hope for the best?  All I can do, right here, right now, is hang on for dear life and hope the ride will be over with soon enough.  The election has been going on for too damn long.  I'm apathetic as a result.  It just needs to be over with.   

Some interesting (or not for the reasons they might think it's interesting) analysis in the FT this morning.  It seems, less than a month before the election, they're keen to start the blame game if The Chosen One loses.  If that "sad" event happens, well, of course, it will be because of Obama's race. 

{...}“It would give me confidence that white people are not always looking at the colour of my skin,” says Dwight Thomas, a 51-year-old African-American, during a visit to the Sweet Auburn district of Atlanta where Martin Luther King grew up and was laid to rest. “It would show black kids that anything is possible.”

Recent opinion polls have shown Barack Obama leading John McCain, his Republican rival, by an average of 6 percentage points. If the election were held today, and the polls proved accurate, he would win by a landslide.

Yet, lingering doubts remain. Can a young African-American with an exotic name and a cosmopolitan background really triumph over an “all-American” war hero in a country where three-quarters of people are Caucasian?

For much of the campaign, racial prejudice has looked a serious threat to Mr Obama as he struggled to open a significant lead even in a political environment that McCain advisers describe as the most hostile for Republicans in 35 years. Mr Obama’s relative inexperience and liberal record may provide part of the explanation but many Democrats fear race is the biggest factor.

“There are 1,000 reasons to vote for Obama and one reason why you won’t – race,” Thomas Letson, a Pennsylvania congressman told his local newspaper.{...}

Yet, given the virlity of the quote, surprisingly, there is no Thomas Letson who is a Pennsylvania congressman.  He's, in actuality, a Democractic State Representative from Ohio.   But let us not quibble about who's a congressman and who's not.  Letson's a Democract.  That's ALL that matters.  And if he says race is an issue, well, then darn tootin' it's an issue.  Or so the FT would have you believe.

Over the past few weeks, however, Democratic paranoia has eased as polls have shown Mr Obama starting to pull away. The surge has coincided with escalation in the financial crisis, leading some analysts to argue that economic concerns have neutralised race as a factor. “At some point, economic self-interest overcomes the discomfort that some people have about Obama,” says Camille Charles, an expert on race at the University of Pennsylvania.

Some of Mr Obama’s biggest gains have come in rustbelt states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania where he has had most difficulty winning over white working-class voters. The McCain campaign has just wound down its operation in Michigan, a state with raw race relations where Mr Obama was thought vulnerable, after seeing the Democrat open a solid lead.

The next few days will go a long way to revealing whether those trends are irreversible. The McCain campaign is intensifying attacks against Mr Obama’s character and background in what many commentators view as a thinly veiled attempt to fuel racial prejudice. The strategy involves highlighting his associations with controversial figures such as Bill Ayers, a leftist radical whose group bombed the Pentagon in the 1970s, and Tony Rezko, a Syrian-born convicted money launderer. There is nothing overtly racist about the attacks and many conservatives believe they raise legitimate questions about Mr Obama’s character and judgment. But critics argue the McCain campaign is sending a clear message to white voters: Mr Obama is not one of us and cannot be trusted. “Who is the real Barack Obama?” Mr McCain asked at a rally on Monday.{...}

{my emphasis}

Questions about character and associations=racism. 

Unless they're questions about John McCain's character and association.  In which case, they're, obviously, fair game. 

Moving along, however...there's more RACISM to get to...

{...]Many pundits question whether the electorate is in the mood for negative attacks while the economy is in crisis. But there is ample evidence to suggest the US remains fertile territory for racial demagoguery. A recent AP-Yahoo survey found that 40 per cent of all white Americans and a third of white Democrats hold partially negative views of African-Americans, leading the pollsters to estimate that race could be depressing Mr Obama’s support by up to 6 points. “There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s only a few bigots,” said Paul Sniderman, the Stanford political scientist who analysed the data.

Prejudice is usually kept well hidden but just occasionally bursts to the surface. At a McCain rally in Santa Cruz, New Mexico, a young black woman was picked from the audience to ask a question. “What are you going to do about the communities who have nothing?” she asked, struggling to get her words out through nerves. Mr McCain gave a polite answer about how his economic policies would benefit everyone. But the response from the overwhelmingly white audience was more hostile. “Help yourself,” muttered one person, as the questioner melted back into her seat to a chorus of grumbles.

Assessing the impact of racial prejudice is notoriously difficult because few people are prepared to admit race could affect their vote. “It’s not about race, it’s about values,” says Billy Williams, a retired car plant worker in Covington, Georgia. Referring to the black former general who was secretary of state for Mr Bush’s first term, he adds: “I would vote for Colin Powell in a heartbeat. I just don’t trust Obama.”

Without prompting, however, Mr Williams and his friend, Harold Esslinger, are soon talking about the perceived ills of black culture across the table of a budget diner close to where The Dukes of Hazzard, the television series, was filmed. Mr Esslinger, a Vietnam veteran wearing a Marine Corps T-shirt and baseball cap, complains about corrupt black politicians and a “crack house” near his home. Both men would almost certainly have voted Republican whatever the race of the Democratic nominee and Georgia is a long shot for Mr Obama. But there are many people like them in battleground states such as Virginia and Ohio.{...}

Ah, yes.  Let's go to Georgia, and talk to REDNECKS, near to where the Dukes of Hazzard was filmed.  We should be able to find some bigot there!  And they may even go on the record about their bigotry!

Even though they didn't. 

They said race didn't have anything to do with it, that they'd vote for Colin Powell in a heartbeat,  but, WITHOUT PROMPTING, they started talking about  "the perceived ills of black culture," giving this particular reporter a gift from God.  Never mind that there actually are corrupt Georgia politicians who just happen to be black.   By the lovely associations and hints the reporter drops into the descriptions, well, he's pretty sure they're racists at heart, aren't they?  And even if they aren't, well they admit flat out that they know people who won't vote for Obama because he's black.  So that seals the deal, doesn't it?  And no just in Georgia.  No sirreee.  He goes on to assume there are many people like them in battleground states like Virginia and Ohio. 

This is the problem with reporters from overseas who try to cover the "race problem" here in the States.  They assume that whatever they've seen in the movies and on our exported tee vee shows is actually true.  They cannot fathom that some people would not vote for the chosen one because of his race, so hence make the argument that anyone who doesn't vote for Obama has made that choice for the same reason.  All generalizations, tied up neatly with a Dukes of Hazzard reference, just to nail home the racist angle.  After all, which flag was painted on the "General Lee?"  Answer: It's sure as hell not the Stars and Stripes. 

As the man says, go read the rest, for some scintillating non-conclusions. 

Here we have an African-American candidate for President.  Yes, it's fabulous, given our history, where as little as forty years ago a man like Barack Obama could have been lynched simply for the color of his skin, that he's a nominee for President.  I have no problems seeing the wondrous historical precendent in that.   However, people aren't perhaps buying what he's selling as he's in a tight race with a veteran politician who sure as hell is a lot more experienced than he is, and who has more sound judgment.  Yet, Obama is the Hope,. the Light, and the Future---and his supporters literally cannot conceive that someone wouldn't want to vote for those wonderful intangibles.  Because intangibles they are.  You cannot vote for Hope or Change---you must know how he manages to achieve those aims.  Because hope is nothing by itself.  Change, as well, is nothing by itself.  They must be achieved through actual methods, actual programs---that some people would disagree with.  And, because his supporters refuse to believe other people wouldn't want to support Hope and Change, they have to go looking for a reason why.  And their reason is because Obama is black. 

Which is a load of shit, if you don't mind me saying so. 

Look, if Democrats are going to claim a month from now, that the only reason Obama wasn't elected president was because of his race, then they must admit the only reason he became the Democratic nominee for President is because he's black.  You don't get to have it both ways: you cannot claim he has fabulous ideas to change the country, and that you want to elect him because of these ideas, not because of the color of his skin, and then claim he lost because of the latter---and that's the only reason he lost.  The Democrats just don't get to do that.  Neither do they get to deflect criticism of Obama's Hope and Change by pointing a finger at McCain and Palin and screaming "RACISTS!" whenever the questions aren't what they'd like to be asked.  They just don't get to do that.  You are either a "Post-Race" candidate, or you are not.  It's just that simple.   

In no particular order...

• Tom Brokaw's claim that he's "just the hired help" really means that he's just a whore in Barack Obama's mainstream media brothel. Let's be absolutely clear about this. The Obama Doctrine question, where "there was no national interest at stake" business absolutely sealed this particular deal. In the tank is Brokaw. So bad it is, it's making my inner Yoda come out.

 

• The questions sucked, big time. Town Hall debates are supposed to be fun. This one wasn't. Mainly because the questions sucked. There was only one off the wall question, and it was asked at the end. The rest of them dovetailed with what Brokaw wanted to ask. Because of their suckitude, one can hardly blame the candidates for ignoring the questions entirely. I'm particularly inclined to give McCain a pass, because, after all, this only his third opportunity for mainstream media coverage.

 

• I'm not really getting the main punditry reaction, from the people on Fox, no less, and around the blogosphere, which seems to be that McCain didn't do very well, and if he did, it really isn't going to stop the Obama freight train. I think they're wrong. Dead wrong. He did fantastically---mainly because he didn't let Obama get away with anything, like he did in the last debate. He hit, and he hit hard, and he wouldn't let up. Yes, this means he showed some disrespect for the actual format, but, given how sucky the format and the questions turned out to be, who could blame him?

 

• I thought Obama was definitely stronger on health care questions.  McCain simply cannot, for whatever reason, eloquently and simply state what his health care plan is all about.   Deductions just don't make for interesting points, I guess.  But Obama just showed again how inexperienced he is with the foreign policy questions, and finished weakly, if you ask me. At one point he made a very funny gaffe, saying something to the effect that, "My opponent thinks I'm green behind the ears." This is just from memory, so I may be wrong, but that's what I heard, but it's absolutely true. The phrase may be "wet behind the ears" but what he said actually works quite well. He is. Both wet and green behind those humongous ears of his.  That he would still, for all intents and purposes, invade Pakistan, even if he phrased it in a more nuanced way, speaks for itself. Pakistan is our ally in the War on Terror. You don't invade allies, even if you don't like how they're helping. And if you do, you do it covertly and you certainly don't announce it to the world.  You don't even give a freakin' hint of it.  Like, duh. Maybe Obama should see if Henry Kissinger would come over to the dark side for some serious cash. He could use some schooling in this particular school of foreign policy thought/action.

 

To my mind, McCain won fair and square.  He showed he was the more experienced candidate, and perhaps, that was just enough to sow some seeds of doubt into the minds of those undecided voters about The Chosen One.  I doubt it will help him all that much, though.  He's getting the media to look into some of his talking points about Ayers and Fannie and Freddie, but they're so in the tank that it's really not enough.  He's got to give a strong performance at next week's debate.  I would like to think that Bob Schieffer is, perhaps, not quite so much in the tank as the rest of the moderators, so McCain will at least have a fighting chance.  But who knows?

Yes, Sarah Barracuda bitchslapped Biden tonight. 

It was pleasant to watch, but I have to admit, I'm a little disappointed.  I expected more combativeness. I wanted more bitchslapping, and then for her to ask, "You want some more?  Because I'm just dying to serve it up, big boy."  

At least, that's what I would have liked to see, but given her interview performances, and how she had to make up for lost ground, perhaps that was asking too much. But the thing is...there was plenty of low-hanging fruit (Iraq, Fannie and Freddie, Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad, etc.)  that was hers for the taking, if only she'd wanted to...and she apparently didn't want to.  I have to think, perhaps, she was cautioned about getting into a pissing match with Biden.  It's one thing to come up with one zippy comeback.  It's another to keep coming up with them.  Problem is, if there was ever anyone who would have screwed up a zippy comeback quicker than she would, it's Joe Biden.  Perhaps this was an actual campaign strategy decision, so as not to affect her overall likeability factor, but I felt a little let down.

She again did what she needed to do, and while that may be "the soft bigotry of low expectations" playing out again, all you need to do is ask W. how it worked out for him. 

Of course, you have to ring the doorbell at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to do so. 

Having filled my day with packing, last night I sat down with the husband to watch the debate. 

Despite the fact he sits there and watches all the Sunday Morning news shows, the husband doesn't have much patience for these things.  He left the room, struggling to hold in the contempt, after Obama refused to answer Jim Leher's question about what he would be forced to give up in the wake of the $700B bailout.  Instead he went into the kitchen and washed out his keyboard.  During the hour and a half, he floated from room to room, picking up bits and bobs of the debate, while he did other things.  

I, on the other hand, set my laptop up on my sofa, and while I was watching, clicked back and forth between Martini Boy's drunkblog, and the one happening at Ace's place, just to see how other people were reacting to what was happening. 

My overall conclusion is that Obama got spanked.  McCain used a paddle with holes strategically drilled into it, to allow for the air to flow through, for a more forceful spanking.  I doubt Obama will be sitting down at any point today.  Never mind the fact that he answered poorly several times, it was more about the fact he kept agreeing with John.  McCain treated Obama like an adversary.  Obama treated McCain like a friend, and that just made the spanking all the more forceful. Perhaps this was a deliberate strategy, to pull some pity votes, and if so, it might actually work, but to my mind it just made Obama look like a loser, who wasn't prepared for the battlefield he found himself on. 

I had a weird flashback during the debate to The Grand Illusion, a marvelous film by Jean Renoir, set during the first World War.  If you haven't seen this movie, find it and watch it.  It's truly marvelous.   One of its main themes is the death of the aristocracy, and the honor that was supposed to exist between members of the upper class, no matter what their nationality.  Obama, it seemed to me, felt that there should have been a certain amount of honor between the candidates, elite Senators all, and was hurt and baffled when McCain refused to play the game by what he believed were the rules.  McCain came to the podium ready for a battle, ready to do whatever he needed to do to win. Obama, it seemed to me, came ready for polite discourse, assured in his own success, and then spent more time wondering about why McCain wasn't following the rules, rather than changing his own strategy to better fend off the attack .  He was Erich von Stroheim's Captain von Rauffenstein in The Grand Illusion: seemingly baffled as to how one of his supposed own could have the temerity to violate the accepted set of rules to escape captivity in the prison camp he was guarding.  

However, that's not how the media spun it.  When I saw everyone at the CNN war room table, hanging on breathlessly to Christiane Amanpour's supposed solid criticism of McCain's bungling of Ahmadinejad's name, I knew they'd never give him the victory.  They had to find fault anywhere they could---no matter how lame a complaint it was in reality.  They're so in the tank for Obama, they couldn't possibly do any differently. 

The Vice Presidential debate next Thursday is going to be interesting.  I have a feeling Biden is going to be eviscerated by Sarah Palin (and I certainly hope she'll oblige me on this front), and that will be interesting to watch, but to also see how, if she does manage to tear him limb from limb, the media will spin it into a Biden victory.   I suspect, after last night's performance, they'll contort themselves into something akin to what Cirque du Soleil does on a nightly basis.  Yet, because they're not as limber as the average Cirque performer, it'll be interesting to see how akward and ugly they look during their contortions.

I don't really know how to feel about this. (Just a warning, language is NSFW, so put some freakin' headphones on, eh?)

I'm torn.

I am torn, my devoted Cake Eater readers, because that was actually pretty awesome. It didn't reek of Matt Damon's "Sanctimonious" cologne line (which is surprising, because if you believe Sarah, she's, well...you know. Usually there's a bit of exchange, ifyougetwhatImsayingandImsureyoudo.), which he and many other celebrities are sporting these days.

Yet, she's another idiot celebrity campaigning for Obama.

Ah, well. I'll just give her points for creativity and effort, whilst flunking her on the overall project.