Day: October 2, 2008

Golly Wha’dja Think About the Debate, Eh?

Trish

I thought Palin did fine, as long as you don’t worry about things she said making actual sense (or about having to listen to Lisa Loopner’s mother*). Case in point: she said she and McCain would cut taxes while increasing spending on infrastructure, education, and job creation. All righty then.

Biden, poor guy in such a horrible position, was wonderful. I want to marry him and have several more of his children.

But what did you think? Do tell, doggone it.


*You know, from Saturday Night Live.

Viguerie Immoderate About Ifill as Moderator

Buck Banks

bsspray.jpgMy favorite far-right whipping boy, Richard Viguerie, is all in a dither over Gwen Ifill moderating the veep debate tonight. He’s even got a petition drive going to try and have her tossed from the debate because she has a book about Barack Obama scheduled for publication in January.

Obviously, the ludicrous assertion that Ifill will somehow undermine Sarah Palin and therefore John McCain’s campaign in the debate tonight is not resonating with Viguerie’s fellow fringe elements, as he’s sent three e-mails to his list today. It’s mildly interesting to read his breathless rant against Ifill and his invocation of talking head and ambulance chaser Greta van Susteren as the last word on legal questions:

Dear Friend:

Gwen Ifill must be fired!

The moderator of a presidential debate is supposed to be objective. He or she is supposed to play fair, not be an advocate or cheerleader for one side. Yet Gwen Ifill – the moderator of tonight’s vice presidential debate – has hundreds of thousands of dollars riding on the outcome of the election.

Ifill has a book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama, coming out next year – on Inauguration Day!

According to former Clinton aide Dick Morris, who has had several best-selling books, Ifill stands to make $350,000, perhaps much more, if Obama is elected and the book is a best-seller. If McCain wins, her book will probably go straight to the remainder bin. She will probably make nothing, or nearly nothing.

She has a fortune at stake.

No one with a $350,000 interest in the outcome would be allowed to be a judge in a legal case or an official at a sporting event. Lawyer and TV journalist Greta van Susteren says that, “In law, this would create a mistrial.”

Can you imagine someone being allowed to officiate at last year’s Super Bowl if he had a book coming out on Super Bowl Sunday entitled Dynasty: The Age of the New England Patriots? Of course not. The other team would not have allowed it. Neither would the NFL.

It’s bad enough that most of this year’s debate moderators are liberals who are openly hostile to conservatives and Republicans – Sarah Palin, especially.

We must not allow Gwen Ifill to make a mockery of this debate by “moderating” despite her obvious conflict.

Fla. GOPs Call Double-Top-Secret Meeting on McCain Trainwreck

Buck Banks

mccainsign.jpgLeaders of Florida’s Republican party have their panties in a twist over recent polls showing Barack Obama leading John McCain in Florida, what was once a solidly red state but is seemingly getting purpler by the minute. The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that following the results of four polls released Tuesday, state GOP leaders hightailed it to Tallahassee:

With some grass roots organizers complaining about coordination problems with the campaign, Republican Party chairman Jim Greer gathered top officials at the state headquarters in Tallahassee on Tuesday afternoon. He swore the group to secrecy.

When asked about it by the St. Petersburg Times, Greer confirmed the meeting. He largely declined to discuss what was said, but sought to play down any strife.

Over the course of an hour, described by some as tense, Greer offered a forceful assessment of where McCain stands in Florida and what needs to be done to win in a battleground state that could decide the election.

“I have a responsibility to make sure things are done right, and we win these campaigns,” Greer said. “I’m sure everyone in the room understands that I take that responsibility very seriously.”

The situation for Florida Republicans does sound extremely dire:

Complaints range from not getting yard signs quickly enough to knowing who will speak at events and overall manpower coordination.

At least if Obama carries the state, McCain can always point to a dearth of yard signs as the reason for the loss. That, and his boneheaded moves on the economic crisis and his boneheaded pick for veep and his general maverickyness.

The problem is, this state is turning. With new voter registrations running two to one Democratic, a robust and active state and local Democratic Party and general disaffection with the ruling party, Florida is simply not so Republianish as it used to be.

Of course, then we have to actually allow voters to vote and then we have to actually count the votes correctly … so McCain still has a chance to steal the election in Florida, á la George Bush in 2000.

Poll: The Early Line 10/02

Buck Banks

Obama/Biden 47%
McCain/Palin 42%
Undec 10%

– The WH matchup remains unchanged since yesterday. Obama has now led the Diageo/Hotline tracking poll by 5%+ for a full week.

– The majority of RVs believe the failure of Congress to pass the bailout bill on Mon. will impact their personal financial situation. 60% think it will have “a great deal” or “somewhat” of an effect on them in the next few months.

– Among Obama voters, 63% say a great deal/somewhat; among McCain voters, it’s 57%. Meanwhile among Dems it’s 66%, and among GOPers, it’s 58%.

– Looking to tonight’s debate, RVs continue to rate Biden higher than Palin. 47% have a favorable impression of the DE Sen., and 32% have an unfavorable impression. Palin scores a fav/unfav of 45%/40% — just 1/3 the net positive rating of Biden.

Here’s How to Reduce the Cost of the Bailout: Withdraw from Iraq Now and Save $120 Billion Next Year

Jon Ponder

February 2008: Bush denies that the Iraq occupation is a drag on the economy

John McCain has been lecturing us for months about how well things are going in Iraq. The metrics back him up. Violence is down, whether because of the Surge or by use of a new top-secret weapon. Just yesterday there was a report from Baghdad that U.S. commanders were transferring control of the 100,000-strong Sons of Iraq militia to the Iraqi military.
Why not force George Bush to some responsibility for two of his messes — Iraq and the economy — on his watch?

It costs us about $10 billion a month to stay in Iraq, and since we can’t afford to pay it out of the Treasury, we borrow every penny from the Chinese and others. In 2009, we’ll charge an additional $120 billion dollars onto the next generation’s credit cards to pay for the occupation — on top of the new $700 billion we’re charging them for the Wall Street bailout.

If Iraq is stable, and if the financial debacle facing us is as bad as George Bush says it is, it seems pretty clear that we can no longer afford to stay in Iraq.

There’s another, more karmic reason to withdraw immediately. Two years ago, Bush slipped up and accidentally told the truth about his “exit plan” for Iraq. “We’re not leaving,” he said at a news conference in August 2006, “so long as I’m the President.”

Shunting the post-withdrawal collapse of Iraq onto the next president fits George Bush’s lifelong pattern of screwing things up and leaving his messes for others to fix.

[…]

Poll: Palin is a “Drag” on McCain Ticket

Trish

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll suggests that it just takes longer for some Americans to figure things out than others. And, heading into the only vice presidential debate, Sarah Palin is getting figured out. Now we know why the McCain campaign has kept her in purdah.

60 percent agree Palin is not prepared to be president, up 15 since last month

In advance of her debate against Joe Biden on Thursday, Palin now looks more like a drag than a boost to the GOP ticket: Thirty-two percent of registered voters say her selection makes them less likely to support John McCain for president, up from 19 percent last month…

Just 35 percent say Palin has the experience it takes to serve effectively as president, down a dozen points since early September; 60 percent think not, up 15. And just 46 percent think Palin “understands complex issues,” while 49 percent think she doesn’t — a poor assessment on this most basic qualification.

Biden, on the other hand, is doing great.

Biden’s ratings starkly contrast Palin’s: Seventy-five percent say he understands complex issues, 70 percent say he has suitable experience to take over as president if necessary and just 13 percent say his selection makes them less apt to support Barack Obama.

Even though Palin said, “It’s time that a normal Joe six-pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency,” (which begs the question of how a witchcraft-believing fundamentalist can be a six-pack drinker) people seem to think Joe Biden is that guy.

Palin does have one better rating, for her common touch: Fifty-eight percent of registered voters think she understands the problems of people like them. But as many, 57 percent, say the same of Biden.