Quote of the day
posted at 11:39 pm on October 7, 2008 by Allahpundit
“Memo to McCain Campaign: Someone is either a terrorist sympathizer or he isn’t; someone is either disqualified as a terrorist sympathizer or he’s qualified for public office. You helped portray Obama as a clealy qualified presidential candidate who would fight terrorists.
If that’s what the public thinks, good luck trying to win this thing.”
Blowback
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Say Mark Steyn questions Obama and, oh I don’t know, Gwenn Ifill questions McCain.
Zetterson on October 8, 2008 at 12:55 AM
I like this better: Say Mark
SteynLevin questions Obama and, oh I don’t know, Gwenn Ifill questions McCain.electric-rascal on October 8, 2008 at 1:25 AM
No. Why is that if it is an important issue? Even rice production is brought up in China. Is immigration not worth mentioning in the newspeak?
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:26 AM
With all due respect to all Americans and their right to support or not support whomever they please; I simply cannot think this way. I have two young children and I can’t imagine explaining that I didn’t care either way. If the best we have right now is McCain, well that’s kind of sad, but the alternative, to me, is just not okay.
thevastlane on October 8, 2008 at 1:26 AM
If this blog reflects how divided the party is–how divided is it nationwide? I’d say we’re looking at a microcosm of it right here. McCain the Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaverick is a polarizing figure.
We’re screwed ’08.
Tom Blogical on October 8, 2008 at 1:27 AM
The problem is there are millions of zombies who are willing to vote for a candidate who has not really achieved anything worthy of note to date. It is all about perception based on words spoken and, unfortunately, McCain is just not a good speaker or debater when compared to this black Muslim. The only hope is the number of people with brains outnumber those who lack it. It must be very frustrating for McCain to have to go through one more debate because he knows he will ‘lose’ the final one as well. Bush was and still is a terrible speaker but he could debate and connect better.
Birdseye on October 8, 2008 at 1:27 AM
It seems to me that your beef should be with the media not the people discussing the debate on this thread.
Zetterson on October 8, 2008 at 1:28 AM
My beef is with the party that refuses to win, you loser.
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:29 AM
Tom Blogical on October 8, 2008 at 1:27 AM
The problem is different people were expecting different things tonight. So everyone is all over the place.
Cardiganfox on October 8, 2008 at 1:29 AM
People, American, before party, we will always win.
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:31 AM
You see that’s where we disagree. I don’t think he needs to bring up Ayers, etc to bring out his world view. I think talking about the issues actually does it. I thought it was very revealing that Obama said that health insurance was a “right.” I’m uninsured right now and I don’t even think it’s a “right.” That’s world view right there, for me.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 1:31 AM
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 1:21 AM
I think the thing this country has allowed itself to latch onto is that the POTUS controls the economy. Not only that, but since we allow ourselves to see the economy in his light, we have come to expect it.
We are the first generation that has no experience other than a post New Deal mindset.
We really need to recognize that character is the most important quality for leadership. If we owe anything to our posterity, it’s that we, as Americans, value the virtues of an honorable existence.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 1:35 AM
“Senator McCain, could you talk about Social Security and Medicare?”
WILLIAM AYERS
um, no.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:36 AM
But you anti-americans lost the election already. You did not support conservative candidates, so you lost the election to a socialist–the irony is where you cannot differentiate between the two parties with open border policies of each, which is hilarious in its absurdity.
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:37 AM
That would’ve been funny though.
lorien1973 on October 8, 2008 at 1:37 AM
“petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:37 AM”
ronulan or tancredo nut? i’d say it’s a coin toss …
Buckaroo on October 8, 2008 at 1:38 AM
And trust Allahpundit to quote Andy McCarthy. He’s been very good to Sarah Palin, but all through the primaries he was nasty to McCain.
Kind of like quoting the Paulbot RS McCain last night that “it’s over”
You do have to consider the bias of your source.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:38 AM
So stop giving them your money.
Jim Treacher on October 8, 2008 at 1:38 AM
Divided is too strong. Some Republicans love to bitch about McCain, but in the end are going to vote for him. That minority of republicans that are going to stay home and wait for 2012 or 2016 is small I think.
johnt on October 8, 2008 at 1:39 AM
treacher is a crank, fer sure
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:39 AM
The reason we are divided and the Obama lovers aren’t is because McCain is a geniune political independent and Obama is a down-the-line socialist/liberal/progressive/whatever they are calling themselves now. Even Obama’s “conservative” stances are understood by his supporters to be a facade that he is faking to get more votes.
Speedwagon82 on October 8, 2008 at 1:41 AM
Divided is too strong. Some Republicans love to complain about McCain, but in the end they are going to vote for him. That minority of republicans that are going to stay home and wait for 2012 or 2016 is small I think.
johnt on October 8, 2008 at 1:41 AM
I absolutely agree. It’s like people don’t realize there’s a private sector. But that’s modern day politics.
I think character matters. However, I think sometimes it goes overboard into character assassination, where people end up absolutely HATING the other side. That’s not good 4 our country.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 1:41 AM
Is this guy some pirate fag? Please advise, comrades.
petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:42 AM
You would have loved it, and I would have loved it, but those poor people would have assumed it meant McCain really was in need of institutionalization.
I had to call my dad after it was over, because I listened to it on the radio at my son’s soccer practice and was almost in tears I thought it was so bad…full disclosure. My dad said it wasn’t terrible on TV. McCain is obviously not a polished public speaker, and what drove me CRAZY was that both of them seemed scared to actually offer concrete answers to the specific questions asked of them. It was just the same crap from the first debate repackaged … and a lot of the time the answers just didn’t fit the questions that well.
McCain could have gotten very specific with his Social Security and Medicare answer, because he has worked extensively on the looming entitlement time bomb…but he didn’t do it. A Medicare commission? Why not tell us that he voted against the medicare drug expansion because it was a budget buster? Why not tell us that we may need to means test Social Security or increase the age of eligibility to 67, or something specific?
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:44 AM
Since the beginning it has been
Bunch of “never learn from history, “never say a harsh word against anyone” “happy talk only for our guy” fools.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 1:44 AM
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 1:41 AM
Well, the Ayers association is important, extremely important. For three reasons:
1. If you read everything that is known about this association, serious questions about Obama’s character are relevant.
2. Obama is avoiding this discussion, and is lashing out with diversionary tactics in response.
3. Our posterity deserve answers to why we would elect someone like this.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 1:46 AM
I’m watching the re-run. He just claimed he can create 5 million new jobs.
Ugly on October 8, 2008 at 1:47 AM
All you whiners that have been on McCain to “grow a pair” need to take your OWN advice. The Republican candidate for President of the United States in 2008 is JOHN MCCAIN, not any of the also rans. There is a CLEAR difference between Senator McCain and the democrat (it’s kinds hard to put democrat in front of Obama) candidate, Senator Obama on most every issue. Constant complaining, bickering, etc. won’t help anything, especially the citizens of the U.S.
We need to remember what’s best for our country, to put America FIRST. Sitting home on November 4th, voting for a 3rd party candidate or writing in Mickey Mouse won’t help anything except for the decline of our society. We need to do whatever we can, talk to whoever we can and do our best to turn out those who believe in America as that “shining beacon on a hill” on election day. If, George McGovern can have temerity to put out a commercial bucking the democrats biggest special interest group – unions – and stand up for what is right, why can’t we Republicans stand up and back our nominee?
The the whine and cheese for another time…
Gohawgs on October 8, 2008 at 1:47 AM
“petit bourgeois on October 8, 2008 at 1:42 AM”
piss off, you worthless astroturfer …
Buckaroo on October 8, 2008 at 1:48 AM
yes. and I wanted McCain to throw Bush, Paulson, and Goldman Sachs under the bus tonight. But I knew he couldn’t and wouldn’t do it.
I’d love to hear McCain throw Bush under the bus for his mishandling of Iraq from late 2004 to late 2006, but again, I know he can’t and won’t.
he’s no fan of Paulson, and was extremely critical of Bush and Rumsfeld while they were letting the situation in Iraq get so bad, but he’s running as a republican. He can’t throw Bush under the bus….and we owe him respect for not doing it even though it would probably help his electoral chances, IMHO.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:50 AM
We both know why that didn’t happen, though.
McCain does any of that and the election -is- over. That’s the problem. People need to be told that these programs are done. They are no longer affordable; but when you tell people the truth, you’ve already lost the election.
It’s unfortunate. This country needs people like Moynihan back. It really does. Some of those 1980s democrats who were willing to talk about this stuff rationally are truly missed.
lorien1973 on October 8, 2008 at 1:51 AM
CHEERING. Great comment…..
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:52 AM
One might destroy the free market. The other will. That’s the clear difference?
lorien1973 on October 8, 2008 at 1:54 AM
Cheer up guys. If McCain loses, I think we will have a better chance of dethroning her. I don’t think it will be possible with McCain in the WH.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 1:54 AM
lorien1973 on October 8, 2008 at 1:51 AM
I know. It’s a sad reflection of the US voter that the majority really do think the government is supposed to take care of them.
The first politician I sent money to was Paul Tsongas. As liberal as he was, he also repeated over and over again that the government wasn’t Santa Claus. A lot of good it did him.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 1:55 AM
That assumption sounds arbitrary.
Could you expand?
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 1:58 AM
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am voting for Sarah Palin……….. the fact that John McCain is on the ticket too, well, he is better than Obama/Biden x10.
We have a few more days before the election, let us see what we shall see…………
Seven Percent Solution on October 8, 2008 at 1:58 AM
Andy McCarthy earlier today wanted McCain to bring up the DC Circuit decision on the Chinese detainees. Yeah, THAT would have been really effective!!! And he seems to have forgotten that McCain has already called for closing Gitmo.
What is wrong with letting Sarah Palin and media like Sean Hannity carry this water on Bill Ayers and company?
rockmom on October 8, 2008 at 2:01 AM
“lorien1973 on October 8, 2008 at 1:54 AM”
i am honestly to the point that those of you who think this election is the end of the world would be doing EVERYONE a favor by taking yourselves off the grid.
Buckaroo on October 8, 2008 at 2:01 AM
Definitely. My husband is active duty military. I heard lots of nice things come out of Obama’s mouth about the military tonight … but I’ve seen the video about how our troops are “air raiding villages” and how he’s going to slash missile defense and future weapons system budgets. Obama is truly a danger to the troops, so I have to support McCain with all I’ve got.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:01 AM
Good heavens, I hate making this point, but if McCain were to make that point, it would be an indictment of the free political process in America, not an indictment of Obama.
If the Democrat party can nominate a man as evil as McCarthy paints Obama (the truth of that assessment notwithstanding), then the Democrat party has no validity as a viable political entity. We should essentially begin the deconstruction of it.
Gadzooks…
spmat on October 8, 2008 at 2:03 AM
Seven Percent Solution on October 8, 2008 at 1:58 AM
I, too, am voting for Missunderestimated.
If I appreciate McCain for one thing only, it’s that he may have changed our future in a very positive way with this one decision.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:03 AM
This is my thinking (I could be wrong): If McCain wins, the left is going to get even more angry and vocal because they really want to win. They will come out in full force in the midterms. Also, Pelosi can just keep blaming her complete incompetence on the Republican president (like she’s doing now.) However, with a Democratic president and Congress for the American will actually get to see them in action and might have second thoughts. Pelosi can’t hide her incompetence any longer.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 2:04 AM
Huh?
These NR folks live in fantasy land. No wonder they scream like children when McCain doesn’t make all their dreams come true.
“Senator McCain, can you talk about the environment?”
DC Circuit decision on Chinese detainees. And WILLIAM AYERS.
You wonder if they ever heard the phrase “there is a time and a place for everything.”
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:04 AM
Are you nuts? The attack ads write themselves. Obama is already runing ads in Florida lying about McCain’s record on Social Security. Did you really expect him to immolate himself by suggesting cuts in Medicare and SS benefits? GET REAL.
rockmom on October 8, 2008 at 2:05 AM
“lorien 1973 @ 1:54 am”
Are you serious?
“FC @ 1:52″
Thanx
Gohawgs on October 8, 2008 at 2:05 AM
100% bassakwards thinking. The PUMAS hate Pelosi because she helped buy up superdelegates for Obama before the DNC. If Obama loses, the PUMAS will get to shake up the democrat party. Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and a few others will find themselves out of leadership positions post haste.
If Obama wins, those core supporters of his become even more powerful.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:08 AM
Associations like Bill Ayers is of primary importance. If McCain expects Palin to take all the attacks from the MSM, while he avoids the Ayers issue entirely, then the MSM uses McCain for his own demise.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:09 AM
Your doctor tells you, “The cancer is spreading. Chemotherapy might slow it down and prolong your life, but it could damage your heart and other organs. Or you could do nothing and face imminent death.”
I have had to make that choice twice. As long as there is life, there is hope. To be blunt, I don’t know if we can survive Obama.
Terrie on October 8, 2008 at 2:09 AM
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 2:04 AM
Well, nothing personal, but that makes no sense to me, and that kind of off hand speculation is no reason to throw an election.
I’m beginning to wonder why I’m taking you seriously.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:11 AM
Um, hello? I understand why he can’t say those things in a debate. It bothers me greatly that the American voter isn’t willing to hear the truth though.
And I know about McCain’s excellent work on the entitlement issue, and just wish he could be proud of it in a debate setting, because that shows his courage and patriotism in a good light. I also have an allergic reaction to yet another “independent commission” spending hundreds of thousands of tax dollars to figure out something that we all pretty much know already.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:13 AM
How many elections have Democrats lost the past 2 decades? Do they ever change their ways? I say give them their wet dream, what they’ve truly wanted for, and let them just become completely disenchanted.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 2:13 AM
Andy McCarthy pretty much nails it.
McCain is too much of a politician to point out the obvious. And/or too much of a Senator to reffle any feathers. And/or too much of a leftist to loathe Bambi’s worldview like he should.
misterpeasea on October 8, 2008 at 2:14 AM
I’m not saying to throw the election. I want McCain win!
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 2:14 AM
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:11 AM
The PUMAS hate Pelosi because she helped buy up superdelegates for Obama before the DNC. If Obama loses, the PUMAS will get to shake up the democrat party. Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and a few others will find themselves out of leadership positions post haste.
If Obama wins, those core supporters of his become even more powerful.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:15 AM
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:15 AM
This makes more sense to me.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:17 AM
Zogby poll coming out tomorrow – Obama 47 McCain 45
Zogby insists that this race is still a dead heat and will stay that way. He says Obama has not closed the sale. Also says Obama’s bounce last week was due to George Bush being on TV every day during the bailout talks.
rockmom on October 8, 2008 at 2:18 AM
Probably the reason no one will address it until too late, another crisis, another cobbled together band aid, etc. It’s been a third rail issue for a long time.
Election fears indirectly drive all our policy decisions, it seems, or, rather, create an enviorment of procrastination followed by panic driven solutions. That’s one of the bad things about career politicians.
a capella on October 8, 2008 at 2:20 AM
I agree TerryAnn. I’ve been saying the same thing since McCain took the lead. But you won’t get anything but attacks from most people here… People who don’t much care if the whole country goes to he77 in the long term, as long the short term doesn’t inconvenience them too much..
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 2:20 AM
With all due respect to Andy McCarthy and the rest of the week-kneed, nay-saying ninnies at NRO, Romney is not going to get on the ticket – EVAH!, so deal with it.
Listen, the country is fairly pissed off right now and the last thing they want to see is for McCain going nuclear on national TV while the economy is teetering on a precipice overlooking a depression abyss non-experienced in many Americans’ lifetimes.
What they need to see is a candidate who is even-keeled in temperament while cogently articulating where his opponent is wrong and he is right.
So, for all the east-coast quasi-conservatives out there (names likes like Brooks, Noonan, et al), suck-it-up and consider the corrosive effect your gloomy, all-is-lost prognostications are having.
This race will not be won be a landslide and there are no more Hail Marys in the gameplan. All that left is the running game, a few hard fought yards here and there with the goal set at 270. Yes, the debate was boring, no pit-bull running around nipping at the candidates heels while trying to answer questions. It was also what I think most Americans expect to see when candidates collide. My opinion, McCain did better than Obama and gained a few yards.
So, either lead, follow or, better still, just get the hell out of the way.
Sailfish on October 8, 2008 at 2:22 AM
For those that remember the “malaise” and mismanagement of the Carter years (remember, the CRA was put in place during his admin) just imagine what Barney, Dodd, Schumer, Pelosi, Reid, et al can do to this country with Obama in the WH. At least during the Carter years, most of the Dems still believed in country first, I have no hope of that being true today. Today’s world is much more dangerous than the late 70′s, when the Soviets knew they didn’t want to glow in the dark and Ayers and his lovely wife only played with pipe bombs. Putin is in love with nostalgia and the “hostage taker” that heads Iran is looking to nuke Israel at his earliest convenience. An Obama admin. will be tested on day ONE and I have little confidence in his response.
The battle cry, wait until 2012 is very shortsighted.
Gohawgs on October 8, 2008 at 2:23 AM
Which is why McCain should be attacking Congressional leadership and approval ratings. Voters need to understand how they can affect it.
a capella on October 8, 2008 at 2:23 AM
Yeah! Right on!
After all, that strategy has worked SO well for President Bush!
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 2:25 AM
rockmom on October 8, 2008 at 2:18 AM
I don’t think for a minute that this race is as wide as most polls suggest.
I don’t buy into the poll spin. Been there too many times to fall for that.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:27 AM
When speaking about foreign policy, I’m confident that McCain knows what he’s doing, and I’m sure that Obama does not. I realize that 60% of the country doesn’t agree with me about Obama. Not that many Americans really follow it, so McCain needs to draw big red circles around Obama’s shaky position. I was disappointed to see McCain let Obama get away with the “bomb, bomb” comment. I thought Obama seemed childish, but I don’t recall that McCain responded, which might make an undecided nervous about Iran. I was in college when the Iranians took hostages. I remember how Carter’s weakness made us an easy target. I see a lot of Carter in Obama, and I’m not sure why McCain doesn’t say so. Instead, McCain (and Palin in her debate) get shafted with the Democratic line, “Why are we paying so much for the Iraq War when Iraq now has budget surpluses?” It’s a good question and McCain and Palin don’t answer it. Instead, it’s a turd they both left floating around in the bathtub of their debates.
More disappointing than anything else is that McCain does not seem to understand the details of the aspects of his own domestic policy. He can’t effectively explain individual income taxes. He fails to pointed out that Obama wants the income tax rate to go up 3.6% for top earners and he wants the OASDI portion of the FICA tax (6.2%) to be applied to these people as well. I’m not in that bracket, holding these folks up for an extra 10%. That’s crap.
He does a portion job of tying the reduction of the large corporation (C corporations, those in which the entity pays tax at the entity level and its shareholders pay income tax on the dividends they receive) top income tax rate from 35% to 25% to greater employment prospects in the US. He touched on it, but he needs to tie that kind of thing to the myths that Obama creates over his plan. All people here are “tax cuts for big oil.” He lets Obama skate on too many lies, so things never get corrected.
McCain does a poor job of explaining the tax mechanics of his health care credit. And he needs to explain the significance of reforming the regulation of insurance. We are so backward in this country in that regard. Insurance is generally not regulated at the federal level. Instead, insurance companies (for whatever the type of insurance) are subject to 50 different regulatory authorities, one for each state. I’m no insurance expert, but that system cannot be efficient.
He didn’t harness people’s anger. I don’t recall Frank, Dodd, Raines, et al. mentioned in connection to Fannie-Freddie and Obama’s connection too. He should know that Obama started writing letters only after 25 financial institutions had failed. Crickets from McCain. I thought McCain undertook debate prep. He should have made these toads his Willie Hortons and emphasized that he’s the only one standing between the voters and getting the whole story whitewashed. Do you really think Obama is going to deal with Frank and Dodd and his own advisors (Johnson and Raines). We’ve seen this before and we’re seeing it unfold before our eyes.
McCain needn’t worry. His Senate seat is secure, and he won’t have said anything to upset his colleagues in Congress.
BuckeyeSam on October 8, 2008 at 2:28 AM
Exactly. But he’s more concerned about preserving his Senate seat than winning the election.
BuckeyeSam on October 8, 2008 at 2:29 AM
Which is why McCain should have pointed out ACORN to voters. In fact, at every opportunity, McCain should have said, “You voters needed to Google ACORN/Stanley Kurtz/William Ayers/Chicago Annenberg Challenge, etc.
BuckeyeSam on October 8, 2008 at 2:33 AM
BuckeyeSam on October 8, 2008 at 2:29 AM
That’s a stretch.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:34 AM
Again, they are just horrified to have two straight shooters, who don’t have an Ivy League advanced degree to share between them at the top of the Republican Party ticket. They want to see McCain lose so they can install one of their own as the standard bearer. Sorry folks, but most voters here in the USA don’t like being viewed as “the help.”
And Romney? Please….he was pretty much the Bush family’s hand picked successor dude (Jeb sent his best advisors over to Romney in 2007, Rove was all Romney all the time, etc). You really think the voters are so enthused by Bush and by the “magic” those big Goldman Sachs Wall Steet guys have worked that they would have elected Romney?
And just imagine having spent the last 4 months being lectured by the MSM about the “racist” history of the LDS faith, and how it was just horrible to have an LDS candidate running against the Lightworker.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:35 AM
@LegendHasIt, After doing a Humpty-Dumpty on my quote, allow me to put it back together again in full:
“What they need to see is a candidate who is even-keeled in temperament while cogently articulating where his opponent is wrong and he is right.”
Are you moronically suggesting that W ever often met that standard?
Sailfish on October 8, 2008 at 2:41 AM
Sailfish on October 8, 2008 at 2:22 AM
I predict a landslide.
McCain will win.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:44 AM
Based on what?
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 2:45 AM
I am getting flashbacks to Bob Dole. One big difference, Dole was chosen behind the scenes, while McCain was triangulated into candidacy right before our eyes thanks to Giuliani, Fred and the easily led guy Huckabee
I watched a few seconds of the debate which Drudge headlined ‘boring’ when the flashbacks began. They really started when I read of Peggy Noodleman’s hallucinations that she was a living political pundit.
McCain’s face looked swollen and he was frail, tiny and weak. My first thought: does McCain expect to live another four years just because Dole did? Will he make it to election Tuesday? There is a point when for the sake of the country one has to assess lifespan.
On the other hand McCain set up Palin as a legacy. She looks like she has a lot of years left.
I am voting for Palin and I reserve my full contempt for Giuliani, Fred, Huck, Kristol-Barnes-Noodleman, the RNC, the whole gang of conspirators who forced me to eat crap and swallow a bail out too for their dinner buddies
I hope their portfolios shrivel and rot. I hope they have to eat Palin quotes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I hope Palin’s husband sics his sled dogs on them. I hope Palin drops every living ‘ing’ in the language until Kristol’s head swells like a ballon and pops. I hope Giuliani has to ask me for a loan one day. I hope Fred needs me as a character witness. I hope Huck finds a career as a televangelist. I hope the RNC is replaced with a pack of illegal aliens from Mexico.
That is how good I feel about the debate.
But I love Palin. She is the last great hope.
entagor on October 8, 2008 at 2:48 AM
You know, if it had been Romney vs Hillary, slam dunk Romney win even with the economy.
Rudy vs Obama would make me much happier…but Rudy is pro-choice and the GOP base won’t support that in their POTUS candidate.
We have McCain vs Obama. McCain is by far the better man and the better American. That makes the choice a real no-brainer for me.
I’m just shocked that so many supposedly patriotic conservatives struggle so mightily to see such an obvious distinction.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 2:48 AM
Once the public grasps the Ayers association and Barry’s relationship to Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, the undecideds will not turn the country over to Obama.
The McCain/Palin campaign must keep this going every day and weave it into a full frontal assault against the MSM for not vetting the candidate as they themselves have been vetted.
If this happens, McCain wins in a landslide, and the Obama campaign knows it.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:50 AM
Coin flip.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 2:52 AM
That wish may be granted before you know it. The Asian markets are taking a beating. The Nikkei fell 9.38%. The Dow Jones Futures is down 183.
flyfisher on October 8, 2008 at 2:53 AM
Problem: McCain is not a straight shooter. He’s a Senator who values collegiality uber alles. I agree, Saltysam, but who is going to tell the public the ugly and insulting truth? I doubt McCain will. And even if he does, how will he get the message past the drive-bys?
This thing shouldn’t even be close. The fact that it is speaks volumes about McCain’s competence.
misterpeasea on October 8, 2008 at 2:54 AM
Honestly, McCain is doing better than anyother Republican would be. Even Romney. I know it turned out the economy is the big issue but so is greed and graft on Wall Street. And being outside of Wall Street and a Maverick in Washington is a good thing in this election.
That said. Obama should be beatable even with the strong tendency to blame the President for the economy. Obama is one degree of separation from the most violent radicals of our society. From serious racism. From Hollywood! Why doesn’t it resound with voters?
The remedy for the liberal spending of the past few years cannot be electing the most liberal man ever to run!
Best case McCain wins a squeeker. I’m tired of close races. I want more. I’m tired good night.
petunia on October 8, 2008 at 3:02 AM
No one seriously believes Obama as President would do anything but suck up to Pakistan’s Islamist government. He is just pretending to be hawkish toward them.
Speedwagon82 on October 8, 2008 at 3:03 AM
This is what I believe (crossing my fingers):
The McCain camp knows that the MSM will have to spend some time on these issues. They don’t want to, but they will have to if it becomes central to the MCCain/Palin strategy.
If this was all done last month, the issue would be quickly “over” in the MSM.
If they start it now, the debate will rage for a couple of weeks right up to the election. The pundits will argue with each other on the Sunday talk shows, and the media will be chasing Sarah Palin around because she gets ratings.
The undecideds will look a little closer.
BOOOM!
McCain in a landslide.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 3:04 AM
Interesting point, from instapundit:
Charles Austin emails: “Tonight, Senator Obama said $18 billion in earmarks between 535 Congressional ne’er-do-wells isn’t that big a deal, but if we can only keep 500 CEOs from getting $350 million in tax breaks, well, that’s how we fix problems!”
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 3:04 AM
Very true.
terryannonline on October 8, 2008 at 3:04 AM
“misterpeasea @ 2:54″
I agree, this race shouldn’t be this close. Obama should be winning by triple digits with all the help he’s had from the media. The fact he isn’t says that even with the pro-Obama MSM filter on full tilt the voters are still able to get a peek at “who’s behind the curtain” and don’t like what they see. We just need Toto to pull back the curtain wide for all to see.
Gohawgs on October 8, 2008 at 3:06 AM
I’m optimistic too. The 3rd debate will focus on domestic issues, at the request of the Obama campaign. That debate will be the perfect place to hammer home the Obama-Ayers education agenda, which will be a BIG LOSER for Obama.
By then Stanley Kurtz may have had enough time to get his research compiled enough to get it published.
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 3:07 AM
funky chicken on October 8, 2008 at 3:04 AM
The answer to Obama:
Increasing taxes on corporations will drive down the value of retirement plans. What? Losing home values through the excesses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wasn’t enough? Now he wants your retirement too?
No my friends, we need to keep the government’s creative little ways of sneaking into your pocketbooks (gender targeted) by invoking policies that promote job creation and stimulate economic growth.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 3:21 AM
Which one? He has made his arguments quite well a few times, but no where near often enough, I’ll admit.
And are YOU saying that McCain is capable of articulating cogently? He may speak slightly better than President Bush, but his ACTUAL UNDERSTANDING of most situations that a Chief Executive has to deal with is much too shallow to endure close examination anyway.
But with the media filtering everything it doesn’t matter if you are a glib speaker or not; if your depth of understanding is great or not.
In a country that has more televised ‘over the top’ professional fighting matches by more professional fighting promoters than I can keep track of; do you honestly believe that being a meek and quiet defender of ones own policies (which aren’t all that great in the first place, but that’s a whole ‘nother subject) is the path to winning, while refusing to rain in body blows when the opponent leaves himself wide open?
Spend more time trying to understand the way the mind of the average ‘modern’ American works, rather than repeating the silly meme of the victorian mannered pundits that think that the truth presented, forcefully is a bad thing for a politician to do.
If this were a nation primarily of wise, restrained and thoughtful people … the kine of people with whom you and I, both, would prefer to live, your way would be the better way.
But it is not that kind of world, and it is NOT the better way. This is a cultural war, not a game of chess, and playing by the rules whist when the enemy has no rules at all is only going to get you killed.
Barack, himself, said he was bringing a gun to the knife fight. You don’t even seem to want McCain to make a fist.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 3:26 AM
I have to agree.
The international Left, the DNC, and the Obama/Biden campaign are playing to decimate the enemy, while at times, it seems, as if McCain feels that this is a friendly game of horseshoes and the loser buys the beer.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 3:32 AM
I meant KIND… but in a way, kine can work there too, if you are into archaic terms of speech
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 3:32 AM
DOH! Rules OF whist. I better quit now since my typing and proofreading are getting so very bad.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 3:35 AM
McCain closes to within 1.9 points in latest Reuters/Zogby/wholebunchofotherguys daily tracking…
SuperCool on October 8, 2008 at 3:37 AM
SuperCool on October 8, 2008 at 3:37 AM
Thank you Sarah Palin!!!
How ’bout a link?
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 3:39 AM
Isn’t it amazing that the press is so hard on Palin, to the point that they even quick poll her as a loser in the debate, but in 5 days since her debate and her “taking the gloves off”, the race has been tightening?
Don’t believe the press! The country loves Governor Palin!
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 3:44 AM
Actually, for BOTH of them, that is, unfortunately true….
Say something REALLY weird happened and Bob Barr, Ralph Nader (is he still running?) or ‘Cymfia’ McKinney won; BOTH Obama and McCain would go back to the Senatorial Frat House and have a constant ‘kegger’ until the next election(Cindy’s company will be supplying them free, no doubt) and John would continue to ‘reach across the aisle’ to his “my friend” Barack.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 3:46 AM
Nah…Obama is is smiling in your face, but don’t turn your back.
Now, if Palin turned her back on him, it would be to draw him in before she drop kicked him.
Saltysam on October 8, 2008 at 4:23 AM
Yeah, he might vote “present” in a really deadly way. Or you might trip over his empty suit if you don’t watch closely.
You got that one right.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 4:34 AM
You know, I just had a horrible thought, a new one, to me anyway, despite having espoused theories closely parallel to it for the last year…
If McCain wins, Obama will be back, with a vengeance, in 2012, with MORE ammunition of “failed GOP strategy” (Even if McCain does everything absolutely right as President things are only going to get worse in the next four years unless we can win back a Congressional majority this election too.).
0bama will be able to distance himself from Wright, Rezko, Ayers et al in the next four years, and claim “that’s old news”. The “inexperienced” thing will be slightly less accurate. He can continue to vote “present” on controversial legislation to keep from pinning himself down as the Marxist he really is at heart.
He will be able to spread the “Cult of 0bama” wider and further. The 14 year olds attending Camp 0bama now will be able to vote in 2012… (even without ACORN’s help).
There are many more things that he will be able to work to his advantage, but I’m too tired to enumerate them now.
——————————————————-
Someone please convince me I’m wrong about this. Be specific and logical. Not just ‘happy talk’, or I may never sleep well again.
LegendHasIt on October 8, 2008 at 5:01 AM
Andy McCarthy nails it. All we can hope is that everyone was bored to death and changed the channel.
Buy Danish on October 8, 2008 at 6:01 AM
.
Fixed.
McCain’s a seasoned politician. At best, he ran in place last night.
BuckeyeSam on October 8, 2008 at 6:51 AM
I am sorry, I don’t get this quote. McCain was at a townhall debate, answering questions put to him by Brokaw and supposedly undecided voters. I did not hear one question about Ayers. It does not seem to me that most Americans are all that concerned about it. What exactly does Steyn think McCain can do about that?
piss and moan. everybody is a an expert.
Terrye on October 8, 2008 at 6:52 AM
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