McCain's No Bush (And Why That's Bad)

John McCain is right about one thing: he's no George W. Bush.

Bush, for all his flaws, would never run a campaign as badly as McCain's. The Bush campaigns of 2000 and 2004 were disciplined, on message and well-organized. The McCain campaign is exactly the opposite.

McCain bragged in the first debate that he understands the difference between strategy and tactics. But apparently his campaign doesn't. Joe Conason offered this smart analysis last week in the New York Observer:

"I'm not Bush," the latest gambit tried out by McCain...is not a strategy. (And it is altogether too vulnerable to rebuttal, as the new Obama ad proves with the opponent's own utterance.) "Obama knows Bill Ayers" was not a strategy either, although it has been substituted for one over the past few weeks, nor was the variation of "Obama lied about knowing Bill Ayers." Complaining about ACORN's bad voter registrations? That's a tactic, too, and not a very effective one. McCain's exaggerated debate warning about the "fabric of democracy" was feeble substandard demagogy, and fell flat instantly. You know that a campaign is bereft of ideas when the candidate and his staff mindlessly repeat charges that are obviously backfiring.

Most Americans don't care about ACORN or Bill Ayers or Joe the Plumber, yet that's all the McCain campaign has talked about for the last three weeks. Any Republican would have trouble in this political climate (and this election, despite what some pundits are saying, has not yet concluded), but McCain hasn't helped himself by running a short-sighted, swerving and petty campaign. With the American people struggling and looking for big ideas, McCain, in the words of Colin Powell, "has become narrower and narrower."

Contrast that with Obama, who's stuck with his message of change and new leadership from day one. The Obama campaign always seems to know what it needs to accomplish--and how to get there.

As Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic wrote today, "One under-reported skill demonstrated by Obama's communications team is its ability to frame the election on their terms by slowly, meticulously repeating their version of the crucial choice before the electorate. Eventually, their frames have been internalized by voters and members of the media, almost without anyone noticing that it happened."

Comments (44)

1. The only real arrow left in the McC quiver is racism, played for all it's still worth.

   The GOP is limping & its wounds are self-inflicted. The messes that so many in the US worry over are all definitively GOP-made.

   Not much for the GOP to go on. Hence the GOP confusion, tossing & turning.

   Turning to racism, that is, as it's served them so well for 40 years, as have Dem incompetence & poor leadership.

   This time, however, we have a great leader, a highly competent campaign & electrifying energies.

   The only Q that remains is how much racism still remains. It has boiled down to that for the GOP, and Colin Powell as much as said so.

   Posted by sloper at 10/20/2008 @ 12:44pm

2. >>>McCain bragged in the first debate that he understands the difference between strategy and tactics. But apparently his campaign doesn't.<<<

   That's correct!

   The McCain camp does NOT understand the difference between strategy and tactics, and what we are getting is more of the same "divide and distract" election TACTICS of Rove, which he learned from Lee Atwater.

   "Divide and Distract only works when those you are seeking to distract are unaware that his is what you are doing. Once they become aware, they are insulted at such efforts to manipulate their vote, and the "tactic" backfires.

   Rove has NEVER been any good at political strategy and has always confused his fearmongering "divide and distract" election tactic with real public policy. This explains Bush's post-9/11 efforts to go to war in Iraq and the civil liberties abuses of the Patriot Act.

   There was no grand "strategy" there, just the use of fear to gain power.

   Posted by Metteyya at 10/20/2008 @ 1:05pm

3. Ari Berman says that "Most Americans don't care about ACORN or Bill Ayers or Joe the Plumber"

   They do not because the Obama campaign and the media have been successful at promoting the idea that these things do not matter, and that it is wrong to bring up negative things about Obama.

   His past background has been essentially declared off-limits, and one faces charges of racism, McCarthyism, and probably SwiftBoating, too, if one tries to delve into it.

   It is proclaimed that people do not care about those things, they just want to know what the candidates are going to do about problems people face today, such as the economy.

   However, Obama's past is TOTALLY relevant in this regard. His past shows a very hard leftist background, and that absolutely drives what he may do regarding economic policy - as well as other things that matter such as foreign policy, national defense policy, who would get nominated for Supreme Court vacancies, how to defend America against threats, public policy regarding public discourse, the hot-button topic of abortion.

   We are told that Obama promises such great "change" and he is a consensus builder, but that is a sham. If Obama wins and if he increases Democratic majorities in Congress, especially if the Democrats get a filibuster-proof majority - then Obama and the Democrats will have a green light to move the country leftward as far as they want.

   There will be no desire, or requirement upon Democrats to build a consensus.

   Somehow, consensus building is only demanded when Republicans are in office.

   It is depressing that the Democrats and the media have been successful at this sham.

   Posted by sjchermak at 10/20/2008 @ 1:10pm

4. sjchermak-There are too many conservative democrats in congress to go too far to the left and Obama is smart enough to know that a POTUS must govern closer to the center if they want to be re elected regardless of what their personal views are.

   Posted by i'm nobody at 10/20/2008 @ 1:13pm

5. Posted by sjchermak at 10/20/2008 @ 1:10pm

   SJCHER building his case for a McCain defeat....it's a three-legged stool-

   1. "The Media helped Obama" (which doesn't explain why Gore and Kerry didn't win)

   2. "ACORN stole the election!!!" (which doesn't explain Obama's present POLLING over McCain...or is ACORN intercepting Zogby and Gallup's phone calls????)

   3. "Black and white-guilt liberals won it for him!" (see #1)

   Posted by Maskdelta at 10/20/2008 @ 1:59pm

6. It's been widely reported that Barack Obama began his first political campaign, for the Illinois State Senate, at the home of his friends Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Until recently, Obama has sought to downplay the relationship but has not denied that basic fact. It was therefore surprising when Obama, in the third Presidential debate, said it is "absolutely not true" that he "launched [his] political campaign in Mr. Ayers' living room." At the time, I assumed that maybe the gathering had been in Ayers' kitchen.

   It didn't take long for Obama campaign auxiliaries like the Los Angeles Times to weigh in with the claim that there is "no recorded basis" for the statement that Ayers and Dohrn hosted Obama's first campaign event. The invaluable Patterico responded with a link to an online account by Obama supporter Maria Warren dated January 27, 2005:

   When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the livingroom of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. They were launching him-introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.

   Now, Patterico reports that the above blog post has been deleted. However, it's still on the Wayback Machine, and Patterico, anticipating the cover-up, preserved a screen shot.

   One wonders whether there is any dishonesty that Barack Obama and his supporters will not countenance. Obama makes a statement in the debate that is either an outright falsehood, or at best, deeply misleading. (It is possible, I suppose, that Ayers and Dohrn hosted Obama's second campaign event rather than his first.) The press, rather than calling Obama on his misrepresentation, backs him up. Finally, an effort is made to cover up for Obama by destroying evidence that he

   Posted by pontificus at 10/20/2008 @ 2:24pm

7. Posted by pontificus at 10/20/2008 @ 2:24pm

   No one gives a hoot about this except some washed-up Rove protege who never was able to think for himself or devise any meaningful political "strategy" with a chance of winning.

   All polls show most voters don't care about this Ayers stuff, so the fact that the McCain camp keeps using it means they have conceded the election.

   Posted by Metteyya at 10/20/2008 @ 2:38pm

8. ponti-Palin has friends in the AIP,militia groups,that are known racists, and launched her political career with the help of the AIP who are connected to a white power confederacy group,militia groups,and a group that wants to establish theocratic control of America.They make the modern Ayers look meek and mild by comparison.

   Posted by i'm nobody at 10/20/2008 @ 2:41pm

9. METTE, I'M...I wouldn't fret it.

   Every "Obama, guilty by association" attempt made...has flopped.

   Posted by Maskdelta at 10/20/2008 @ 2:51pm

10. Mask-Considering many of the people I've known and have been friends with I'm quite fortunate that the guilt by association thing doesn't apply to any degree.If I ran for POTUS people would never be able to figure out if I'm a communist,right wing militia member,criminal,gay person,biker,hippie,etc.

    Posted by i'm nobody at 10/20/2008 @ 2:58pm

11. GAY PEOPLE WILL VOTE FOR OBAMA!

    IT WILL MAKE <B>YOU</B> GAY!

    Palin/Other Guy '08

    We're not gay.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/20/2008 @ 2:59pm

12. Somehow, consensus building is only demanded when Republicans are in office.

    Posted by sjchermak at 10/20/2008 @ 1:10p

    Not to say that it is justified, but do you remember just a few short years ago, when the republicans controlled both houses with a fillabuster proof majority and had bush in office? They was very little consensus building that occured, and our country swong far to the right. Now the pendulum may swing just as far back to the left before we see the center again. But who knows? Maybe Obama will work more bipartisan than Bush, I think the odds are good.

    Posted by Extraneous at 10/20/2008 @ 3:44pm

13. Posted by pontificus at 10/20/2008 @ 2:24pm

    who cares about Ayers? Yes, he was part of a vandal group in the 1960s that bombed a statue in a park, and the pentagon. That was almost 50 years ago!

    Ayers of more recent time was Chicago citizen of the year in 1997 and has been very active in the Chicago politics, basically making it impossible for anyone from Chicago to seek higher office due to the association with heaven forbid a "American terrorist" GASP! What statements or actions has Ayers done in the last say 20 years that you find unpatriotic or harmful, why does it matter Obama met with Ayers at the beginning of his campaign? Seems, irrelevant.

    Posted by Extraneous at 10/20/2008 @ 3:52pm

14. Posted by frosty zoom at 10/20/2008 @ 2:59pm

    Don't laugh....they've already rolled out "God will curse America if it elects Obama"...

    and guess who put forth that here?

    Posted by Maskdelta at 10/20/2008 @ 3:57pm

15. Actually the commonality in campaigning - Rovian demonizing, fearmongering - is the most important element.

    Both are not what they claim, good and patriotic.

    They don't use this vile to get in office, and then play nice.

    This, this vile, is they.

    Posted by winyahn at 10/20/2008 @ 4:39pm

16. If Ayers is viewed from the standpoint of a terrorist, he actually sucks at it.

    The Weatherman's bombs were a failure as far as bombs go.

    Look what Timothy McVeigh did with fertilizer and diesel.

    Ayers is harmless.

    Posted by bleedingheart at 10/20/2008 @ 6:53pm

17. What possible importance does Obama's association or non-association (I have yet to see/hear any connection, other than proximity between Obama and Ayres, besides the overplayed living room state senate run launch, and what does that prove?) had to do with anything?

    Were/are they sleeping together and trying to overthrow marriage? That sounds like it could be it....

    Are they building bombs in garage? Are they out plotting to overthrow the natural conservative order of don't-look-at-my-ripping-you-off-and-calling-it-patriatism, pay-attention-to-my-bullshit?

    Give me a clue here!

    Posted by jaymo at 10/20/2008 @ 6:54pm

18. Yeah yeah yeah, that anyone but the dumbest highly prized new con repub GOP targeted decreasing few, still listen to anything that comes out of the McPalin campaign, is always a lowly surprise I look forward to.

    I do however think that McPalin's next major strategy will be the big nicey.

    And it's to signal that it's obviously -- all over.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 10/20/2008 @ 7:07pm

19. The University of Nebraska, in it's infinite wisdom with academic integrity intact, rescinded Ayers invitation as a guest speaker. I am embarrassed, horrified, and angry. It appears that we are, indeed, a bunch of hicks, stuck in the middle of nowhere with football players becoming felons or wannabe felons, and life goes on amidst the cows and the corn. Unfrickenbelievable.

    Posted by Chrissy1950 at 10/20/2008 @ 7:22pm

20. Extraneous,

    You asked above "......What statements or actions has Ayers done in the last say 20 years that you find unpatriotic or harmful, why does it matter Obama met with Ayers at the beginning of his campaign? Seems, irrelevant......Posted by Extraneous at 10/20/2008 @ 3:52pm....."

    WRONG QUESTION TO ASK. Here is one below - and what makes it worse is the date it appeared in the morning NY Times. The NY Times was preoccupied later that day with other news.

    =======================

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=9F02E1DE1438F932 A2575AC0A9679C8B63 &sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

    No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen

    By DINITIA SMITH Published: September 11, 2001

    ''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.''

    ====================

    Posted by sjchermak at 10/20/2008 @ 8:25pm

21. *GAY PEOPLE WILL VOTE FOR OBAMA!

    IT WILL MAKE <B>YOU</B> GAY!*

    WOO-HOO!!!

    Oh wait.

    I already am.

    Never mind.

    Posted by yutsano at 10/20/2008 @ 8:48pm

22. Posted by sjchermak at 10/20/2008 @ 8:25pm

    "In the ensuing years, Ayers has repeatedly avowed that when he said he had "no regrets" and that "we didn't do enough" he was speaking only in reference to his efforts to stop the United States from waging the Vietnam War, efforts which he has described as ". . . inadequate [as] the war dragged on for a decade."[22] Ayers has maintained that the two statements were not intended to imply a wish they had set more bombs.[22][23"

    -wikipedia

    ---------------------

    "By DINITIA SMITH Published: September 11, 2001

    ''I don't regret setting bombs,'' Bill Ayers said. ''I feel we didn't do enough.''

    ====================

    "He also condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in that letter. "Today we are witnessing crimes against humanity on our own shores on an unthinkable scale, and I fear that we may soon see more innocent people in other parts of the world dying in response."[24]"

    Posted by Malcontent at 10/20/2008 @ 8:53pm

23. "John McCain: Love Machine"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ceYtl2j38

    SEE MORE PARODIES AT http://parodyandson.blogspot.com

    Posted by thincaboutit at 10/20/2008 @ 10:29pm

24. We all know who the " real" terrorist are !

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7679399.stm

    Posted by vote at 10/20/2008 @ 11:37pm

25. McCain should start thinking about getting out of this with some shred of dignity.

    Posted by koroviev at 10/21/2008 @ 01:21am

26. "Maskdelta" evidently doesn't know how the polls are manipulated. Do you think the pollsters call a bunch of random people, say 1000, and report what % of those people are for McCain and what % of those people are for Obama, etc.?

    Hardly.

    They get their answers, then they play with the numbers. Let's say out of 1000 people, they talk to 500 GOP and 500 democrats, and let's say 505 say they will vote McCain, and 495 say they will vote for Obama.

    The pollster will then make a guess as to how many GOP and how many democrats will actually vote. Historically, the democrats never have a turnout that is 4% higher than the GOP; however, the pollsters think this election will be different, so they play with the numbers until it shows democrats outvoting the GOP by 8, 10, sometimes 14% or more! Ridiculous!

    Where, oh where, would they get the idea that there's going to be THAT many more democrat voters than GOP this year?

    Why, looking at all of the democrat voter, ahem, registrations flooding in from groups like ACORN.

    Fact is, IF they showed only a 4% spread between democrat and GOP voters, McCain WOULD BE IN THE LEAD.

    Can't have that, can we???

    The only way Nobama wins this election is IF all of those phony ACORN voters show up to vote...which they just might.

    Posted by GLDNGUN at 10/21/2008 @ 02:16am

27. Balderdash. Americans care about having a president who is honest, can produce proof that he is a natural-born U.S. citizen, hasn't spend years studying how to be a good socialist/communist, hasn't consorted with domestic terrorists (who still preach their radical political nonsense to unsuspecting small children in Chicago schools), and who hasn't bought in to the racist sickness of someone like Rev. Wright.

    Obama spent 20 years in Wright's "church" because he agreed with what Wright was preaching.

    Americans do care about the kind of person who is president. Obama fails the character test. His political philosophy is so far left that it's truly communistic, and he is a pathological liar, a narcissist, and a very dangerous person.

    That the Democratic Party finds in him a soulmate is an indictment of that group of thugs that only they could produce for the entire world to see.

    All of America's enemies want Obama as president -- have you people lost all reasoning? That is, have you, too, drunk the Kool-Aid? Apparently so, you and the mainstream media, who are so lacking in personal and professional ethics that they have completely failed to cover legitimate stories that would shed light for more Americans on the unsavory character, the true history, and the frightening plans Obama and his gang have planned for America.

    They, too, have been hypnotized by Obama and the leftists, although most of them started their brainwashing years ago.

    But most Americans still have their wits about them. And we are prepared for the thugocracy, if it comes.

    Posted by tanarg at 10/21/2008 @ 02:30am

28. Kool-Aid? Apparently so, you and the mainstream media...

    Posted by tanarg at 10/21/2008 @ 02:30am

    Haaaaaa - you are your "mainstream media"

    F O X F O X F O X F O X

    LIMBAUGH OREILLY HANNITY SAVAGE BOORTZ COULTER

    Ssuper mainstream media:

    * Operates over 1,100 radio stations reaching more than 100 million listeners every week across all 50 states. * Serve approximately 300 U.S. markets, including 89 of the top 100 markets. * Reaches 45% of all people ages 18-49 in the U.S. on daily basis.

    mainstream media...

    Posted by tanarg at 10/21/2008 @ 02:30am

    FOX News Channel Garners More Than Half of Cable News Audience ...

    Posted by winyahn at 10/21/2008 @ 05:23am

29. "The only way Nobama wins this election is IF all of those phony ACORN voters show up to vote...which they just might.

    Posted by GLDNGUN at 10/21/2008 @ 02:16am "

    You have got to be kidding me. So some guy is going to turn up at a polling place, WITH ID, and claim to be Mickey Mouse.

    This Acorn non-story has been debunked so many times, and people like you are still trying to cling to it. Talk about grasping at straws.

    This is probably going to be wasted on you, but I'll give it a go, one more time.

    i) There has been no VOTER fraud. To accomplish that you need someone to actually vote

    ii) A small percentage of the REGISTRATIONS collected by Acorn, an organisation McCain has supportted in the past, were bogus. Fabricated by people who were trying to earn more money by padding their lists. These bogus registrations were flagged by Acorn themselves, who have a legal OBLIGATION to pass ALL of their registrations on. The vast majority were flagged as potentially bogus, others may have slipped through

    iii) For this to become VOTER fraud would require somebody to actually turn up at the voting place, with ID, and vote. It doesn't matter if, by fair means or foul, you are registered to vote multiple times, you can only vote once.

    iv) The actual incidence of voter fraud in the US is miniscule. However, there is sufficient documented evidence to actually worry about disenfranchisement.

    Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 05:45am

30. All of America's enemies want Obama as president -- have you people lost all reasoning?

    Posted by tanarg at 10/21/2008 @ 02:30am

    Actually, 99% of the world want Obama as President, or are you saying that everybody, except Georgia and Macedonia, are America'enemies

    http://www.economist.com/vote2008/

    or perhaps you're referring to the 52% of Americans who aren't REAL Americans who love their country

    "But most Americans still have their wits about them. And we are prepared for the thugocracy"

    OK, so which are you? A Freeman from Montana, or a member of the Alaskan Independence Party? Are you proposing forming a "A well regulated Militia" to deal with this thugocracy? Maybe even suicide bombers a la Baghdad?

    Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 05:59am

31. Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 05:59am

    Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 05:45am

    good stuff.

    the problem is that the neo-cons don't like facts, they interfere with the fear and loathing they love to hold inn their hearts and minds.

    Posted by crabwalk at 10/21/2008 @ 07:45am

32. Hello, SJ

    Could you or PointiFlogic explain why Cranes Business would have named Obama one of the top rising leaders in Chicago when he was associating with a known "terrorist", or why the republicans that served on the same board with Ayers and Obama do not receive the same ridicule that you pile onto Obama.

    Obama is a true American success story, you clowns should be holding him up as an example of how to be succesful. He did it with Family Values and hard work. You should be ashamed of the tactics you have been using to divide.

    E Plurbus Unum, fools.

    Posted by crabwalk at 10/21/2008 @ 07:50am

33. Dylan said "you don't need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows" and the wind is bring change, THANK GOD!

    Obama 08

    Posted by Truthman at 10/21/2008 @ 08:13am

34. We're not gay. Posted by frosty zoom at 10/20/2008 @ 2:59pm

    "old" (I'm truly pot calling kettle black) Cuban-born piss-pleased-to-be-American ex co-worker's dictum on race:

    "I'm not black and you're not white."

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 10/21/2008 @ 09:26am

35. And we are prepared for the thugocracy, if it comes. Posted by tanarg at 10/21/2008 @ 02:30am

    What is this supposed to be, some kind of threat? And with regard to your choice of the newspeak word "thugocracy," what would you call a corrupt system of revolving door military contractors, bankers, lobbyists, and politicians involved in the prosecution of a war costing billions of dollars not invested in the more secure future of a healthy, educated, productive America, in which, for many, the only hope of further education and job placement lies with military service? I mean if one is really a warrior deep down in one's soul then that's what one must do, I guess, and, like the Samurai, with my blessing. But honestly, can you not say that Rove and his ilk behave like thugs and admit the possibility that the black hip-hop representation of "thug" is social criticism? I'm sure it's a stretch, but try. Don't hurt yourself.

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 10/21/2008 @ 09:39am

36. All of America's enemies want Obama as president --

    Posted by tanarg

    Like Mexico, Canada, France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy ...

    Posted by boing007 at 10/21/2008 @ 09:58am

37. Posted by GLDNGUN at 10/21/2008 @ 02:16am

    I TOLD YA, FOLKS.

    The Right (less sane variety) is already building their case that "Obama stole the election"...regardless of the polling that shows him ahead.

    ...and we need to encourage them to believe that.

    Why?...simple. It means they won't change. They'll keep on believing that nothing has changed and "the public is still firmly hard-core conservative and all we need to do is run another Reagan to win in 2012".

    and they'll lose again.

    So don't knock guys like GLDNGUN....egg 'em on.

    Posted by Maskdelta at 10/21/2008 @ 10:10am

38. Posted by Maskdelta at 10/21/2008 @ 10:10am

    Mask, I am seeing parallels between this US election, and the avalanche that swept Tony Blair to power with a huge majority in 1997. The Tories had been in power for 18 years, despite being very unpopular for much of the last 10. Finally the Labour party fielded a telegenic leader with incredible political instincts who gave the electorate enough confidence to kick the tories out. Labour's 179 seat majority was unprecedented, and the Tory Hydra had been decapitated. It is only now, 11 years later, that they have regained their confidence and managed to take the lead again in the polls.

    If the current polls hold out and Obama is elected in a landslide, with a filibuster proof senate, then the loose coalition which has kept the Republican party in power will fall apart. So long as President Obama doesn't massively screw up the opposition will not be able to regroup sufficiently in the next four years to seriously challenge his reelection.

    I just wonder how timid he is going to be in his first term, whether he is really going to use the electoral advantage to shake things up, at home and abroad.

    Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 11:11am

39. So long as President Obama doesn't massively screw up the opposition will not be able to regroup sufficiently in the next four years to seriously challenge his reelection.

    I just wonder how timid he is going to be in his first term, whether he is really going to use the electoral advantage to shake things up, at home and abroad.----Posted by audacity at 10/21/2008 @ 11:11am

    You ask and answer the question in both paragraphs.

    The ones who will REALLY be disappointed in the Obama Presidency (if it happens, still caveating)...won't be the Right.

    The HARD Right maybe...but they're irrelevant now (even if McCain wins). Dubya has killed them politically for a generation.

    No, the ones who'll be really disappointed will be...Katrina vanden Heuevel, John Nichols, William Grieder, etc. and the hard-core Left.

    Obama is smart...not ideological. He'll move left where he can, center where he must and that's 75-90% of the time.

    If he does, he'll win 2012 easily and if the Dems hold Congress, the GOP will re-align to a Nixonian/Rockefeller Republicanism with the Religious Right disheartened (as abortion and gay rights go away) but possibly more of the libertarian-minded coming home to the GOP.

    If Obama tries to move Left, hard, fast, and too much...he'll pull a "Clinton-1993" and lose Congress and have to triangulate even further and 2012 can become dicey...even if the economy is good and the budget coming back to sanity.

    But the claim of BOTH the Hard Right and Hard Left, that Obama is going to "socialize everything" or "give us a New New Deal"....is either wrong...or political suicide for him.

    Posted by Maskdelta at 10/21/2008 @ 3:35pm

40. Don't really care about polls or MSM.

    I do believe that McCain has lived his whole life ''on the TIT of America''.

    McCain hasn't paid for healthcare EVER.

    Granddaddy was an Admiral

    Daddy was an Admiral

    McCain was Navy pilot- who came home and was given job as naval escort for Senators traveling abroad (got a reputation of being party guy - ask Senator William Cohen).

    McCain saw the life of a senator and said ''gee I can do that'' - started as a congressman and now a senator ever since.

    So pray tell when has he ever paid for anything in his entire LIFE ?

    I guess the ''TIT of America'' has served McCain - but shouldn't it have been the other way round.............

    Posted by timenotonmyside at 10/21/2008 @ 5:36pm

41. Posted by timenotonmyside at 10/21/2008 @ 5:36pm

    You don't have to ask Bill Cohen...

    ask Carol Shepp about Cindy!

    heheh

    Posted by Maskdelta at 10/21/2008 @ 6:02pm

42. phil gramm's pretty stinky.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/21/2008 @ 10:22pm

43. . It appears that we are, indeed, a bunch of hicks, stuck in the middle of nowhere with football players becoming felons or wannabe felons, and life goes on amidst the cows and the corn. Unfrickenbelievable. Posted by Chrissy1950 at 10/20/2008 @ 7:22pm

    The Mayor of New York once put on some kind of stupid afro wig on TV. I think it was back in the '70's. There are a lot of places to be nowhere, I guess.

    Posted by A_Pax_On_Your_Houses at 10/22/2008 @ 12:26am

44. I will have to admit his campaign has been pretty haphazard. He appears to be his own worst enemy. But, there have been a lot of other things going against him too. A lousy economy, a Bush philosophy working against him, Sarah Palin as well as mean-spiritedness. Which is why he has resorted to such nonsense as William Ayers and Acorn! What can the guy do???? His 'trickle down' Republican theory's have been proven to be the reason for the lousy economy. So all he can do is distract voters until election day with nonsense like William Ayers and Acorn and hope there are enough ignorant people out there who will vote for him. Sarah Palin hasn't helped him either. When she can't even answer a 3rd graders question on what the Vice President does! McCain is in deep trouble! Her answer to the question of what the Vice President does "The vice President is head of the Senate and helps all the Senator's make good laws"! This is pathetic for a woman who is running for one of the highest offices in the land (even I know better than that). When she doesn't have enough knowledge of the way the government works to answer a 3rd graders question and do it accurately we are in deep trouble of this woman gets elected.

    Posted by ganddw42 at 10/22/2008 @ 09:47am