We have thirty six days before the election on November 4, 2008. Believe it or not, things are going to become even more intense. McCain is a win at all cost kind of guy. Frank Rich, in a New York Times Op-Ed, wrote: What we learned last week is that the man who always puts his “country first” will take the country down with him if that’s what it takes to get to the White House. You can expect the level of distractions to intensify, especially over the next few weeks. John McCain will continue to be even more erratic -- hath's his definition of being a maverick -- and will pull out the stops on game-playing and other shenanigans. We must stop reacting to the distractions and start responding.
The "stopping of his campaign" did not accomplish what McCain intended. He was not embraced by his fellow Republicans when he finally made it back to Washington on Friday, it appeared that most were apathetic at best,. about his return. It really seemed that McCain was in the way. Not one of his peers is following his claim to being the Superman of the buyout plan except for his camp. But many, myself included, believe that his real goal was to get Friday night's debate postponed until next week, which would have eliminated the vice presidential debate. Palin, was someone he gambled on and right now, he's losing. I do not believe in polls, however her favorability has dropped to -10. But Barack Obama put a line in the sand by going down to Mississippi for the debate, and McCain had no choice but to follow him. And what about his so-called key role in crafting the economic bailout plan? Apparently he phoned it in from a posh DC restaurant where he spent Saturday evening with his friend Senator Lieberman and their wives? How about the reality that he had not even read the initial plan on Wednesday, before he made the dramatic (erratic) decision to stop campaigning. Which never actually happened. His surrogates and ads were still going strong. For those of you who became annoyed with McCain's repeated use of the phrase "He just doesn't understand." one on his overzealous aides admitted on live television that they had actually practiced the use of that phrase in hopes that it would translate to viewers that Barack Obama is naive and doesn't have enough experience. Instead it played to viewers as McCain being condescending and that was just annoying.
Update:
The bailout plan did not pass. Blaming and finger pointing is in full tilt, with the Republicans blaming the Democrats and Democrats blaming Republicans. It was a failure that all of them share blame in. There were some processes and too much talking by the Congressional leadership and they should have listened to Barack Obama because the plan is not specific enough about the limits on executive payouts and on what help will be offered the middle class homeowners. But the biggest loser of all is John McCain. After spending the last five days claiming leadership and victory in his so-called role in the crafting and passing of this bill. We need to clearly understand how much damage McCain actually did in this critical and delicate process. When you go and vote, forget race, forget gender, remember what will happen with an erratic, short-tempered, stubborn man, with a questionable and incompetent running mate in the White House.
So what should we expect this week? Palin is now on the bubble. The "leak" from the McCain camp is that Palin is not easy to prepare, not doing well, etc. Don't buy into the drama. Glenn Greenwald, writer for Salon, said it best: She is either (a) completely ignorant about the most basic political issues -- a vacant, ill-informed, incurious know-nothing, or (b) aggressively concealing her actual beliefs about these matters because she's petrified of deviating from the simple-minded campaign talking points she's been fed and/or because her actual beliefs are so politically unpalatable, even when taking into account the right-wing extremism that is permitted, even rewarded, in our mainstream. I'm not really sure which is worse, but it doesn't really matter, because with 40 days left before the election, both options are heinous.
Palin is either as bad as she looks or she is playing a deadly game with the minds of Americans. Could she possibly be pretending to be the "dumb blonde" with a plan to theatrically unveil the new Sarah Palin -- a very, knowledgeable woman -- on the night of the vice presidential debate. And if that's the case, we need to be very afraid of any person, any people who would go to that much effort to manipulate you and me. So don't get too excited if Sarah suddenly puts a coherent sentence together. You see, she just did not look too upset after the Couric interview, which was an absolute disaster.
The POW Story
I have heard McCain's POW/hero story used as both an asset and an excuse for whatever he chooses to use it for. But I am still curious as to what exactly, makes him a hero. My understanding is that he would not have been caught had he been following the command to fly at a higher altitude. That aside, there is a video on You Tube that you should see for yourself. Watch and decide for yourself about McCain's much-touted heroism. Is he just good at telling a war story?
The McCain camp is also flying the trial balloon to determine whether they can use the shotgun wedding of Palin's daughter as a pre-election bump opportunity. Didn't they just say that the daughter's pregnancy was a private matter? It sounds like further exploitation of the family to me. They are not, by any means, Camelot. This is yet another distraction.
Each One Take One
Remind friends and family to remind others that the deadline for voter registration is this week.Get one person registered this week. I like Mon'ique's take on those who aren't voting: If you won't vote, then shut up.
Every single vote will count this election.
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