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Arthur Schlesinger Jr. Would Have Celebrated His 91st Birthday Today—and Loved the Year in Politics
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2008 Comment (4)My late father, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., would have celebrated his 91st birthday today. Given the year in politics, I think he would be enjoying himself.
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John McCain's Final Debate Hope Against Barack Obama
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2008 Comment (22)What does John McCain need to do in tonight's debate? Oh, it's quite simple.
He needs the A Few Good Men moment, where through the mere power of his words he induces Barack Obama to damn America, embrace terrorists (domestic or otherwise), raise taxes on everyone or make some other statement so jaw-dropping that some significant portion of the 50.1 percent of Americans prepared to cast their ballots for the Democrat wonder what they were thinking. (Never mind that it was the older, angrier, more militarily experienced, I-can't-believe-I-have-to-sit-here-and-listen-to-this-young-snot character who cracked in that movie.)
McCain needs to so dominate Obama that the electorate wonders how it could ever have considered the junior senator from Illinois presidential. Preferably Obama would either be left a blubbering mass or simply withdraw from the election in his closing statement.
Oh, and McCain has to do so while not appearing negative or angry.
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Barack Obama's Ad Campaign Goes From Puerto Rico to a Video Game
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (4)Is it really possible that Barack Obama's presidential campaign has so much money that it just doesn't know where to spend it all?
I was in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, over the weekend and was bombarded with Obama ads (apparently John McCain wants to tax my health benefits while Barack Obama wants to give everyone tax cuts). They came, to the best of my recollection, either on cable news networks or during football games, so I can only assume that they were national ads (rather than air time bought in a territory without a vote in the election), but nevertheless, it was notable.
But then again, Puerto Rico is at least a real location. The picture below comes from the video game Burnout Paradise (hat-tip to TPM), and yes, the Obama campaign paid for that billboard space. Talk about money to burn.
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Election Questions: McCain's New Economic Plan, Pennsylvania's Status, and North Carolina
Tweet Share on Facebook October 14, 2008 Comment (5)A couple of questions that befuddle me with three weeks to go in the election:
- John McCain is unveiling a new economic plan today (Barack Obama gave his latest economics speech Monday). According to television reports, the McCain plan is aimed at senior citizens. Can anyone think of an instance where an October policy proposal vaulted someone from behind to victory in a presidential race?
- Pennsylvania is frequently referred to as a tossup state. Joe Biden and Sarah Palin were each there over the weekend and McCain was there today. Yet there hasn't been a poll showing McCain with a lead there in a month; and there hasn't been a poll there this month showing Obama with less than a double-digit lead. How exactly is this a tossup state? Is the racist factor/Obama Appalachian problem really so powerful?
- North Carolina? Really? My friend Doug Heye has a pretty good rundown on this in NRO, but still—North Carolina?
Post your answers below.
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Obama and the Republican Machine's Voter Fraud Hoax
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (19)I read with interest Bonnie's post about Obama, ACORN, and allegations of voter fraud. While I don't claim expertise on ACORN specifically, I am always leery when I hear GOP claims of voter fraud because, as Josh Marshall has noted previously, they're mostly nonsense.
Marshall writes today: "The Republican party is grasping on to the ACORN story as a way to delegitimize what now looks like the probable outcome of the November election. It is also a way to stoke the paranoia of their base, lay the groundwork for legal challenges of close outcomes in various states and promote new legal restrictions on legitimate voting by lower income voters and minorities. The big picture is that these claims of 'voter fraud' are themselves a fraud, a tool to aid in suppressing Democratic voter turnout."
He goes into more detail—his entire post is worth a read.
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The Palin Plane and the Troopergate Report
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2008 Comment (24)The Alaska Troopergate story will re-enter the public view today when independent investigator Steve Branchwater presents his findings before a legislative hearing. Details started to leak Thursday—like the testimony of Todd Palin about his involvement with the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan.
The Palins have offered a variety of reasons for why Monegan was fired. Josh Marshall sums them up nicely and puts them in context.
But the early bits at least have some humor.
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Over? Did Someone Say the McCain-Obama Race Is Over?
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (27)We've had a fun debate today at Thomas Jefferson Street over whether or not the election is over. I argued this morning that, as a practical matter, the presidential election is over, that Barack Obama is in line for a comfortable victory.
Bonnie, Jack, and Michael took an, ahem, alternative view.
Here's my question for readers: Who's right? Is the race over or can John McCain stage a comeback.
My own view remains the same. But I was somewhat surprised that my TJS colleagues missed the most obvious refutation of my argument, which is presented in video form after the jump. Enjoy:
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Barack Obama Will Defeat John McCain—This One's Over
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2008 Comment (283)The presidential election is still a few weeks away, but the presidential race is over.
Sure, there's still one more presidential debate; and a month is a proverbial lifetime in politics, but a sober look at both the current electoral landscape and political history tells us that—barring a reality-altering political deus ex machina—Barack Obama will be our 44th president.
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John McCain Attacks Barack Obama as the Debate Looms
Tweet Share on Facebook October 7, 2008 Comment (13)Back during the summer, when John McCain was essentially accusing Barack Obama of treason, I wondered to friends and colleagues: If McCain’s going with treason now, what’ll he bring out if he’s down in October?
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Sarah Palin, the Mainstream Media Filter, and the Growing Culture of Casual Lies
Tweet Share on Facebook October 3, 2008 Comment (28)SHOREHAM, Vt.—Sarah Palin took great pleasure last night in declaring her independence from the "filter" of the mainstream media. No doubt.
Scoring cheap shots off of the media is easy, especially for a Republican.
But here's why the "filter" of the media is important: Politicians lie.
