Month: November 2008

Dr. Democrat Predicts Obama Win, Says He Will Admit He Was Wrong

Dr. Democrat

Dear Dr. Democrat:

You have been very cautious about Barack Obama’s chances this year. In fact, you predicted that John McCain would win with 51 percent of the vote. With just one day before voting, do you think he will win handily, with, say, over 311 Electoral College votes?

Second question: And if so, will you admit you were wrong?

Butchie Yost

The answer to your first question, Butchie, is yes. And to to the second question: I will be happy to admit I was wrong.

Obama’s Grandmother Has Died

Jon Ponder

So unfortunate in so many ways:

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

“Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.”

Poll: The Early Line, Nov. 3

Buck Banks

Obama/Biden 50%
McCain/Palin 45%
Undec 5%

–Our final tracking poll finds a whopping 27% of LV’s reporting that they’ve already voted. Among this group, Obama leads McCain 51%-46%.

–In what could be a small bright spot for congressional GOPers, the Dem lead on the generic congressional ballot question is down to 5 pts. A week ago (10/27) Dems held an 8-pt lead.

–McCain has also opened up a lead over Obama on the question of which candidate is more prepared to lead the country. A week ago (10/27), the candidates were tied at 45%. Today, McCain leads is ahead by 6 pts. (49-43%). Among indies, he leads 50-37%.

Today’s Diageo/Hotline tracking poll, conducted 10/31-11/2 by FD, surveyed 887 LVs and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3%. Party ID Breakdown for the sample is 41%D, 36%R, 18%I. Look for full results in Monday’s Latest Edition.

Iraq Fatalities, Gas Prices Plummet Just in Time for Election Day

Jon Ponder

Tin foil hat time: It would be considered paranoiac or, at best, extremely cynical, to suggest that people at the top of the Bush-Cheney administration engineered events — or, as Karl Rove once put it, “created a reality” — in which both the deaths of U.S. service members and the price of gasoline dropped precipitously just in time for voting in the 2008 election to begin.
Imagine the political landscape right now, less than 48 hours before voting ends, if the collapse of the financial industry in late September had not upended John McCain’s campaign. With Iraq and gas prices no longer issues driving the campaign, the odds in the presidential race would heavily favor the Republican ticket.
On the other hand, the only other explanation — that it is just a happy coincidence — is even harder to believe. Having studied the tactics of the Bush-Cheney regime for nearly eight years, we know that secretly manipulating events for their own political benefit is the rare thing this crowd does well.

Here are two facts:

US Deaths in Iraq Plunge to Wartime Low in October:

U.S. deaths in Iraq fell in October to their lowest monthly level of the war, matching the record low of 13 fatalities suffered in July. Iraqi deaths fell to their lowest monthly levels of the year. Eight of the 13 Americans died in combat, most of them in northern Iraq where al-Qaida and other Sunni insurgent groups remain active. The U.S. military suffered 25 deaths in September and 23 in August.

Gas Prices Below $3 in Some Areas:

Some areas are now reporting average gasoline prices below the $3-a-gallon threshold as price continue to fall in the area, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California’s Weekend Gas Watch.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $3.019 per gallon, which is 20.4 cents less than last week, 59 cents lower than last month, and 12 cents under last year…

“For the last two weeks, we’ve seen drops of 3-4 cents per day,” Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring said in a statement. “The downward pace has certainly accelerated, and it’s difficult to tell when or where it will stop.”

Imagine the political landscape right now, less than 48 hours before voting ends, if the collapse of the financial industry in late September had not upended John McCain’s campaign. In that scenario, with U.S. fatalities at new lows and gas prices no longer a source of worry for voters, the odds in the presidential race would heavily favor the Republican ticket. At worst, even with Sarah Palin weighing McCain down, polls would probably show him winning by a slim majority.

So is this state of affairs a grand conspiracy thwarted by “real” reality — or just a felicitous happenstance that favors the interests of the American people over those of the ruling class? Like so much else that has transpired over the past eight years, we will probably never know.

Palin Continues to Hold McCain’s Head Under Water

Trish

Dead stuff freaks me out. But hey, nice tanning booth results!

A new CNN poll shows what a poor decision John McCain made when he caved in to Karl Rove and Steve Schmidt and selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. She is dragging the Republican ticket down by at least two percentage points.

Pollsters asked likely voters how they would choose if they could vote for the vice president all alone, without the candidate being tied to a presidential contender.

“Just after the GOP convention in early September, 53 percent said they would vote for Palin over Joe Biden if there were a separate vote for vice president. Now, Biden would beat Palin by 12 points if the running mates were chosen in a separate vote,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

Given the same option in voting for president, the difference was evident. If it were just Obama against just McCain, Obama would win 52 percent to 48. Add Palin on McCain’s side and the number goes down to 46 percent for the Republican team, giving Obama a six-point edge.

On the one hand, I’m glad McCain is a spineless megalomaniac who will do anything to be president including selling his soul, which he clearly has. On the other hand, I’m appalled that he’s loosed Sarah Palin on the world. Of course, someone like her, with the glint of the zealot in her eye, would have probably oozed out sooner or later anyway.

Palin Kicking Off 2012 Presidential Bid Early

Trish

Palin signs, left; Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a contender for the VP slot, beams at McCain’s choice, right

Everyone seems to agree that whether John McCain wins or loses, Wednesday, Nov. 5 will be the first day of Sarah Palin’s 2012 race for president.

Then again, maybe it’s already started.

McCain’s name is missing from the signs at Sarah Palin’s Florida campaign stops

Looking around the Fantasy of Flight aircraft hangar where the [Palin] rally took place, one could see all the usual reminders that it was a pro-McCain event. There were two large “Country First” banners hung on the walls…Many of the men and women in the audience wore McCain hats and t-shirts.

But on closer inspection, the GOP nominee’s name was literally nowhere to be found on any of the official campaign signage distributed to supporters at the event…

The other sign handed out to supporters read “Florida is Palin Country,” but those signs were neither paid for by the Republican National Committee nor the McCain campaign. In small print, the signs were stamped with the line “Paid for and authorized by Putnam for Congress” — as in, the re-election campaign of Florida congressman Adam Putnam, whose district skirts Polk City.

Putnam plus Palin is a match made in hell, and I would not be at all surprised to see the two spawns of Satan work together in the future. Palin/Putnam in 2012? Sure, why not?

Putnam, after all, is the third ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. He took his place on the national media stage after he peddled a false story about new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supposedly demanding a larger plane than former Speaker Denny Hastert’s. Putnam’s lies about Pelosi knocked the story of Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley’s resignation over a scandal involving teen male pages off the radar. The fact that the Pelosi story wasn’t true was to Putnam a small detail.

He’s just Sarah Palin’s type of guy.

No on 8 Ad: Mormon Home Invasion

Jon Ponder

This new ad from the No on 8 side plays off the fact that Mormons have donated $11 million, or about 40 percent, of the funding for Proposition 8, which is appropriately being referred to as “Prop Hate.” If the Mormons get their way and the prop passes, the California Constitution will be amended to prevent gay marriage, which has been legal since June.

The ad’s tagline is exactly right: “Say no to a church taking over your government.”