This has been a very long election cycle that started almost two years ago. As an outside observer, while cruising alongside this very long and winding road in politics, I have to say I have learned an awful lot about so many things. I have seen inspirational and electrifying candidates and I have witnessed some mighty disingenious and dishonest ones.
The political pundits informed me about their notions of political history and demographics. I did not know another state of Alabama existed between Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania. Nor did I know New Hampshire is the Alabama of New England. I think it was Joe Scarborough who informed me about the coastal regions of Alabama, Mississippi and some of northwestern Florida. This area is known as The Redneck Riviera.
I had to scratch my head a few times when Chris Matthews and Pat Buchanan would refer to working class "ethnic whites" in the northeastern U.S. Then my memory took me back to a 1970's sitcom called All in the Family whose central character was Archie Bunker, a bigoted white working class guy who lived in Queens, NY. Archie must be the guy they are talking about, I thought. Archie referred to his fictional Polish-American son-in-law as "Meat Head" and "Pollock." He had other choice names for his daughter and son-in-law's ethnically and/or racially mixed friends as well. The creator of All in the Family had intended for the show to be a comical satire but this was lost on much of the viewing public.
I never knew a place like Wasilla existed nor did I know there is fringe political independent parties scattered across the U.S. from Wasilla, Alaska to Georgia (that would be U.S. Georgia) that want to secede from the U.S.
I learned a lot about narratives, closing the deal, pie, orange juice, coffee, hair styles, make up, gender, age, one's disposition, mavericks, mavericky, SNL, non-mavericks, a family in Texas who are the true Mavericks, Joe Six Pack and Joe the plumber who is worried about the 250K he saved to buy his boss's plumbing company. Since I have a brother-in-law in Ohio who is a plumber I called him to ask if he had socked away 250K in his piggy bank. Karl the real plumber in Ohio asked me if I was on drugs. Next I learned that Joe is not a plumber and Joe's first name is Sam. I also learned that there is a pastor in Alaska who will perform witch exorcisms. I learned the straight talk express alternates between a virtual hate talk express and/or lying express, depending upon on McCain's polling numbers and his and his campaign mangers' mood swings or the media spin cycles.
So far, among the Big 6 Texas metro dailies, we have a 2-2 tie in endorsements between Obama and McCain. Of course, the Houston Chronicle's endorsement of Obama is their first Democrat since LBJ in 1962 and the Austin American-Statesman endorsed Bush in both 2000 & 2004.
Houston Chronicle:Obama- Obama appears to possess the tools to confront our myriad and daunting problems. He's thoughtful and analytical. He has met his opponents' attacks with calm and reasoned responses. Viewers of the debates saw a poised, well-prepared plausible president with well-articulated positions on the bread-and-butter issues that poll after poll indicate are the true concerns of voters. While Arizona Sen. John McCain and his running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have struck an increasingly personal and negative tone in their speeches, Obama has continued to talk about issues of substance.
Austin American-Statesman:Obama- Each of the two major presidential candidates fill the air with different words that all say "change," but only Sen. Barack Obama defines change clearly and positively. It is a time of peril, both at home and abroad, and the nation needs the focused, energetic leadership Obama has projected and delivered since he announced his presidential candidacy in early 2007.
We are still waiting to hear from the El Paso Times and Fort Worth Star Telegram which appears to be the key in determining if there is a 3-3 split or 4-2 majority for Obama among the major Texas papers. There are, of course, plenty of other papers that will endorse.
Tonight Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain take the stage for the second time, and less than a week after the Vice Presidential debate. The debate tonight also takes place during a period in which the Obama campaign has made significant advances in several key swing states, and the McCain campaign has pulled out of Michigan and has been spending a significant amount of time in Republican stronghold states such as Florida.
9:40pm: Final verdict: Obama easily outperformed McCain.
Voters seem to trust him more on all the key domestic issues, and they are starting to trust him a lot more on national security issues. These debates are giving Obama a chance to show the nation that he's prepared to lead, which was the underlying meme of McCain's whole campaign.
Obama's was change -- and the voters still want it.
The only real highlight tonight was Obama's answer on health care (read below the fold). With the massive lead he's holding, I'd have to think a light win or (at best for McCain) a push is still a positive for Obama.
Thanks for those who read along. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
9:34pm: Final question: What don't you know and how will you learn it?
Obama: Kind words about his wife, spins it to the fact that the greatest challenges of the Presidency are the ones we don't expect. But he does know that his American dream gives him resiliency to fight for our promise. He then goes on to greatest hits. Wow -- what a way to use the final joke question as a closing statement.
McCain: Talks very, very positively in the future of the country. Really a good closing statement, but he just didn't do well anywhere else.
9:29pm: Will you defend Israel if Iran attacks or wait for UN Security Council approval?
McCain: Nope.
Obama: Doesn't really answer, but in essence he said he'd commit troops without waiting. His dials stay high throughout.
John McCain and Sarah Palin can't talk about the economy and so their campaign has descended into one of the lowest rings in hell. Indeed, their campaign has sunk to such a degree that it would be laughable were it not so dangerous and downright un-patriotic.
Sarah Palin, McCain's attack wolf, has been on the campaign stump trying real, real hard to paint Senator Obama as a terrorist by association. Sarah-the-heels-are-on-and-gloves-are-off Palin obviously didn't realize when she arrived in national politics that everything she says will actually be fact checked by the media and others. And because heaven help us Palin is on the ticket for the highest offices in the land, journalists are also doing their own vetting of Sarah Palin, something John McCain obviously did not bother to do.
If Obama is guilty by association b/c he knows someone who participated in domestic terrorism when Obama was eight years old, what does that make Sarah Palin whose husband was,until very recently, a member of the Alaska Independent Party? The extremist Party wants to secede from the U.S. and its leader said he hated America and its flag. Sarah Palin apparently approves his message b/c she addressed the Party's Convention in 2008.
(The video and original diary posted on Daily Kos was created by Jed Report.)
Update: Raw Story reveals deeper connections between Palin and the AIP than formerly revealed.
John McCain is no maverick. He is a typical corrupt Republican lawmaker. See his role in the making of a financial crisis - The Keating Five scandal. McCain knew enough about economics to make a lot of money for himself back in those days.
By the way, Lehman Bros. execs got their golden parachutes while they were begging the Feds (us) to bail them out. The fat cats will always take care of themselves first.
So will corrupted Republican lawmakers like McCain. The American people are sold out in the process and left holding the stinking and empty bag.
Texans need a new deal and Rick Noriega is the man to deliver it. I very recently posted a diary here about John Cornyn and the raw and rotten deals he has dealt to the people of Texas. Meanwhile, back in Washington the Senator has bent over backwards to bail out his fat cat buddies on Wall St.
We need a breath of fresh air, a new face and someone with a proven track record of integrity. One who will stand up for the people of Texas for a change. Rick Noriega is the man who has the character and moral fiber to work for everyday Texans. He has walked the walk in Austin as a lawmaker and in Houston while working with Mayor Bill White in planning and executing the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts. Noriega went the extra mile, too, when serving in Afghanistan.
Enough of John Cornyn and all the Republicans who mislead us with their talking points and mendacious spin. What these boys and girls say in Texas has very little in common with how they will vote in Washington.
