Swing State Project And 42

Recently spent three days up in Missouri volunteering with the Obama campaign. Capped that off by going to a rally in Arkansas to hear Bill Clinton rally the troops. More later.

Thedirtysouth Is Definitely For Obama!

No this is not me but right on! I think this guy is from North Carolina.

The Powell Endorsement

Of course I was happy about it. And I believe he was right on in criticizing the McCain campaign about the whole Ayers thing. And about his decision to pick Palin. It was a dumb move on his part. Even if the powers that be forced his hand he should have stood his ground.

One thing I think is interesting is this new line re the Powell endorsement that somehow Powell took a swipe at Palin by pointing out the fact that she's not ready. That's not a swipe. Almost nobody in the country is ready for that job. Very few people in fact. So yeah Powell was absolutely right in saying Palin is not ready for the job but so what? She was a good enough sport to go on snl. She seems to have a sense of humor. She can give a good rousing speech. She appears to be a great mom soon to be grandmother. Let's let her go back up to Alaska and enjoy that big ole family of hers. She won't bother us and we won't bother her. After November 4th.

Paging Joe The Handyman.

Forget plumbing. I need some dry wall work done. The last crew that were in my condo were (how should a liberal put it) ah, part of Mr. Bush's "guest worker" program. And let's just say there was a lack of communication due mainly to the fact that I took meaningless French in high school and college and these guys spoke Spanish. I don't even care that you're not licensed. I just need to know if you can fix a few spots on the wall. I would also like some hardwood flooring installed. About 500 spare foot is all I need. Shoot me an estimate, I promise not to make fun of your stupid bald head.

Of course I'll need to wait and see how big a tax cut I will get next year being that I myself do not make 250,000 a year. On second thought, maybe you should get someone else to come in and do the estimate since you don't seem to be all that good with numbers. Nevertheless I'm sure your better at mixing up and applying joint compound than I am. Thanks dude.

What Would A Princeton Economist Do?

It's hard to figure out the financial mess I know. I read Paul Krugman's blog which you can find here.

I just want things to settle down. Ugh.

Nail Meet Head ( Newsweek Excerpt On Palin)

This is from John Meacham's recent cover article.

Here's more from Meacham:

Palin sometimes seems an odd combination of Chauncey Gardiner from "Being There" and Marge from "Fargo."...Is this an elitist point of view? Perhaps, though it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use "summer" as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin's case.

"Much less evident" is being somewhat generous in my view but then again I'm just a member of the angry left.

The Problem For McCain

I don't agree with James Carville when he said this election is over on CNN last night. Although I do think Obama has a better chance of winning than McCain. Here are the three main reasons Obama should win:

Palin: Even some conservative columnist have called for her to drop out of the race. Having Palin on the ticket neutralizes any "experience" argument McCain supporters used to like to use against Obama. She's simply not qualified and putting her on the ticket will probably be viewed as one of McCain's biggest political blunders.

Iraq: This thing that McCain keeps saying about the surge; that it worked and that he was right and Obama was wrong. He keeps hammering away at this. Yes Barack Obama was not in favor of the surge. But later Obama did admit that the surge had succeeded in reducing the amount of violence on the streets. He admitted that. The problem for McCain is this, if the surge has worked, then why can't we leave? It's hard to argue on the one hand that the surge has worked and on the other hand that we can't withdraw. And if we can't withdraw then what has the surge really done? We're not going to bomb and shoot our way to a solution in Iraq. Reconciliation is something the Iraqis are going to have to do themselves, we can't force it. The truth is our presence there does more harm to the situation than good. Armed occupation of a Muslim country creates inherent tensions. We need to get out, militarily. Stay engaged with the Iraqis, but move the troops out as soon as possible.

Economy: Let's face it. We are facing some difficult times. This crisis spans the globe. It took a while for us to get here and it will take a while for us to get out. John McCain talking over and over again about deregulation has not inspired confidence. When this financial crisis started making headlines McCain was caught flat-footed. He suspended his campaign, sort of. Then rushed to Washington, sort of. Then rallied enough Republican votes in the House to pass a bail-out measure, sort of. Now McCain is trying to out FDR Obama by proposing to buy up peoples failing mortgages directly and renegotiate with the buyers? What will his free market buddies say about that one! But it's not McCain's fault. He admits he doesn't know that much about the economy. It is the economy stupid.

So now McCain sends out the Hockey Mom to call Obama a terrorist. He points his finger during the debate and say's "that one." Well John I got news for you. "That one" is leading in the polls including every battle ground state and creeping up on some of the traditional red states. You and Saracuda are going to have to come up with something else besides drill baby drill and the "t" word.

Keating 5 And Why It Still Matters

Palin Calls Obama "Friend" Of Terrorist!

At first she was just stupid, now she is a liar. Just when some people might have taken her seriously she turns into a female Karl Rove. Touting a supposed friendship between a seventies radical and Obama.

"Bill Ayers is a guy who did some detestable things when I was 8."- Barack Obama

"The bigger the lie the more people will believe it." - Joseph Goebbels

Swift boating has returned but instead of surrogates spreading the slime, it's the Hockey Mom herself.

Palin Lives To Fight Another Day

I can admit that she did better than expected. And by doing so a case can be made that she won. Of course she didn't change my mind about who I'm going to vote for and that's the main problem for McCain/Palin. I think mainly what she did was redeem herself in the eyes of so many people (me included) that she isn't in fact as stupid as she seems. No way do I believe that she is the most qualified person, man or woman in the Republican party to be on the ticket with McCain. But, at least for herself she stopped the bleeding.

As for Biden, there weren't any obvious gaffes. I think maybe he laid back too much in order to seem not like a bully. I wouldn't call this a game changer.

As far as the last two Obama v McCain debates: Again I think only something unusual or unforeseen could move the polls in either direction. That's not to say the polls are frozen, certainly they are not. But it's highly unlikely that the debates themselves including the winking Sarah Palin, will change a whole lot of minds.

The economy and the war will determine this election. Not catchphrases, not lipstick, not playful flirting with the camera. Issues matter.

Can't Name One Newspaper? Really?

It's bad enough she couldn't think of one Supreme Court case other than Roe v Wade, but not being able to come up with the name one newspaper! I'm actually starting to feel sorry for her. I hope Gwen Ifill doesn't ask her any of these "gotcha" questions. Q. What sites on the internet do you visit?

A. We get all of them in Alaska. I visit all of them.

check please!