John Murtha Wins. Really, Western PA?

I'm at a loss on this one. John Murtha wins re-election despite calling his constituents racists and rednecks. That tells me something about his district, although I'm not sure which of the following that is:

1. They heard Murtha call them rednecks and racists and thought, "Hey, he really does understand us."
2. That while their status as rednecks and racists may be up in the air, their status as kind of thick is confirmed.
3. That they are so beholden to the Democratic party that they can have abuse heaped on them by a Democrat because "he's one of us."
4. They don't take Murtha all that seriously, which is disturbing considering he is their representative.

Maybe it is all of the above.

If Obama Wins Tonight...

...and it is looking favorable for him, let's just hope that retirement communities in Florida don't riot over the results. Nobody wants that. Nobody.

Will Obama be Good for Businesses?

Probably not, especially if you are in the coal or energy business, which in an interview last January with the San Francisco Chronicle he said he'd bankrupt for building new coal plants. And this leads me to a question about this election. There have been a lot of substantive evidence that a Barack Obama presidency would not be good for America, much like there was ample evidence 4 years ago that John Kerry would not be good for America. The difference is, everything stuck to John Kerry, and something like this would have been a bombshell. When it comes to Obama, however, it seems like every piece of evidence hits a brick wall before it even gets to him. I get the feeling that a large part of the American public has invested an unrealistic expectation of what they would be getting with this man as President, evidence to the contrary be damned. And if they elect him on Tuesday, they aren't going to get what they expect.

Programming Note

On election night next Tuesday, I will not be live blogging. I will be drinking, and drinking heavily. Carry on.

Where are the Obama Press Conferences?

Jay Leno brought up an excellent point in an interview with the raging lefty David Gregory tonight. He asked Gregory why it was that Obama had not held a press conference in a month and a half. They press has been obsessed with VP candidate Palin's accessibility to the press, but only Jay Leno, an obviously left-leaning guy, has bothered to ask why presidential candidate Obama is dodging direct press accessibility. Given how favorable the press has been to him, one has to wonder why he is restricting their access.

What does this mean, Senator Obama?

I encourage everyone to ask that of Senator Obama, multiple times if necessary, in the next 5 days. I'd like an answer to this prior to election day.

"There's a lot of change going on outside of the court. The judges have to essentially take judicial notice up, I mean you've got WW II, the doctrines of Nazism that we are fighting against that started looking uncomfortably similar to what's going on back here at home."

Details, Senator. Quickly, please.

Yet Another Observation on the 2008 Election

In sales, you should always ask for the sale. Likewise, in politics you should always ask for someone's vote. This year, I've been asked for my vote for Obama so often that it is actually starting to piss me off. I haven't been asked to vote for McCain once. Now there could be any number of reasons for this. For example, I live in territory the McCain camp may have already conceded. Additionally, it isn't like I'm unknown to the local Republican party, so perhaps they have just moved past me, better using their resources on individuals they are less certain about. Still, it is disappointing, and I hope the McCain campaign is doing a better job of asking for voters' votes elsewhere.

Reason has left the arena

John McCain's only hope this election was a strong, reasoned public. Then he began co-opting Obama rhetoric. In doing so, he ceded reason, and as a result, reason has left the arena. Emotion and rhetoric will rule this election, and that is going to leave John McCain wondering what could have been. If you think he is bitter now, imagine how bitter he'll be after Jimmy Carter the Second (history will determine if Obama is Jimmy Carter the Lessor, and may God help us if he is).

The McCain-Palin Courtship

This is pretty funny.

Great Speech By Sarah Palin

But I'm almost embarrassed to admit to what part relieved me the most. Can you guess just what that was?

Answer? No pants suit.

Future Lefty Political Attacks

Since the great 'Desperate Housewives political attack of 2008' on Sarah Palin has been snuffed out, I've decided to take a gander at some possible future attacks from those on the left with a very loose grasp on reality. Here are two attacks that I think very well may be forthcoming.

1. A double whammy strikes the Republican ticket. Sarah Palin has actually been possessed by demons, explaining how a woman could possibly be a Republican. At the top of the ticket, we find out that the man that returned from Vietnam isn't the real John McCain. Instead, we learn his real name is John Black when the real John McCain shows up. Interestingly, the real John McCain is a Kerry Democrat. (Days of Our Lives)

2. John McCain is really an alien from a another world who has hit his head so hard that he thinks that he is a U.S. Senator running for President. It is up to Al and Tipper Gore to bring back his memories so he remembers who he is and gives up on the U.S. Senator persona. (Alf)

3.

Palin to be a Grandmother

Guess what? Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant:

John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin said Monday that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, an announcement aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's.

A statement released by the campaign said that Bristol Palin will keep her baby and marry the child's father. Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, and the baby is due in late December.

Makes that lefty, Depserate Housewives-esque smear look really stupid, doesn't it? Unfortunately for Bristol Palin, she's going to have to grow up in a hurry, because her teenage pregnancy will be the next thing the sewer dogs on the left will be attacking.

Update
Elliot makes an excellent point.

Thoughts on the Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention has a thorny issue on its hands. While Republicans get ready to celebrate the nomination of a new Veep and Presidential candidate, the gulf coast of the nation is staring down a very powerful hurricane. While the weather in St. Paul will be beautiful this week, it will be very much imprudent to be celebrating a national event like a convention while a sizable portion of the nation is in the throes of a national disaster.

Logistically, the Republican party has little choice but to go forward with the convention, unfortunately. With all of the planning and reservations that go into a huge event like this, it is just not possible to put it on pause and say, "come back next week, everyone." Not only will key venues not be available, hotel rooms would be impossible to come by, and many attendees may not be able to get the time off/travel accommodations to come back at another time.

So if it is a given that a time sensitive event like a convention cannot be postponed, you can fully expect that Democrats and the media will be heavily critical of the Republicans for soldiering on. If the criticism is going to come, then it is up to the leadership of the party to manage the event in such a way as to mute that criticism. If they do not make wholesale changes to the event, they risk sinking the McCain-Palin campaign before it even begins.

The modern convention is part party & celebration, part PR event to launch a campaign with as much excitement as possible. To throw a modern convention next week will display the complete tone-deafness of the party's leadership. Therefore, the only choice is dial back the convention. It must be about the business of the nomination, and it must be done so in rather stoic manner. Parties must be tamped down. Speech schedules should be cut back. The media profile of the event must be reduced. In essence, the event must be about business, not about celebrating.

If the Republican leadership goes ahead with this event as planned while a category 4 or 5 hurricane is blasting into the gulf coast, the election may be lost before it even begins. If the leadership adjusts plans and creates a respectful, happy, yet somber event that is focused on the business of the nation right now, then they may just be able to throw some dirt on the party's Katrina reputation. It won't be easy, but in this situation, expediency is a losing approach.

Thank you, unnamed campaign!

Dear Unnamed Campaign-

Thank you for inviting me to your conference call today. 15 minutes wasn't a lot of notice for a guy who works for a living, and unfortunately I don't get instant email updates. Perhaps that was what you wanted, who knows?

Sincerely,
Jib

The Media Love Fest for Obama

One big topic of chatter this week has been the McCain camp's complaint that the media is spending way too much time on the Obama pilgrimage and way too little time on the Sorta-Straight Talk Express. Frankly, the McCain camp should be thankful. For the press, familiarity breeds contempt. The more time they spend with him now means the earlier they'll turn on him like half-starved cannibals.

Motivations Behind the Iraq Plans

The great debate is on again: When should we leave Iraq? In this corner, we have Barack Obama's 16 month plan. And in this corner, we have John McCain's longer range plan, one that could see a substantial U.S. presence in Iraq for years and basing rights for our children's lifetime and beyond. But really, what are the motivations behind each plan?

For most Americans, the 16 month plan is very seductive. Americans are not a war loving lot despite their willingness to fight for security and liberty. The Long War has been exactly that, and the fatigue in the general populace is palpable.

In addition to fatigue, there is this notion that pulling out now, while Iraq is stabilized, is a chance to make a legitimate claim to victory over the insurgency in Iraq. A quick pull out may very well allow that claim to be staked.

The long range plan proves to be a much more difficult sell. A fatigued public cannot fathom a significant U.S. military presence in Iraq that lasts until 2012 or 2020. Long term military deployments such as this are just not something that Americans have historical experience with.

If you listen to Iraq's Defense Minister, that long range presence is exactly what we will need in order to claim a victory that the history books will recognize. He says that it will be 2012 before Iraq can even handle all of its own internal security, and that it may be 2020 before the country can reliably protect itself from external threats. If his estimates are correct, a 16 month pull out, while possibly giving the U.S. a tenuous claim to victory, would leave the current Iraqi state horribly vulnerable to internal and external calamity.

So which plan is best? Well, the answer just may lay in your motivation. If you have a short term outlook, then getting our troops out of harms way with a veneer of victory is likely the goal. The future of the nation at the crossroads of the Middle East is wrought with peril in this outlook, but it is nothing if not expedient.

On the other hand, if a stable, allied state in the heart of the Middle East is the goal, then there is little choice but to stay until such time that the Iraqi government can successfully provide it's most important service to the Iraqi people: Providing internal and external security for the Iraqi people. Additionally, if Iraq's long term viability and prosperity is a goal, then long range basing rights a la Germany and Japan must be negotiated with the Iraqi government. The presence of a U.S. base(s), while perhaps not always popular, would have a tempering affect on internal Iraqi instability while acting as a very obvious trip wire to deter external threats to the nation.

So when you consider the plans of the competing presidential candidates, ask yourself this: What motivates my support of one plan over another? Do I just want this over because I'm tired of it all, or do I want us to make the effort to do this right so our presence today is appreciated by future generations of Iraqis, not regretted.

Litmus Test for MSM's Obama-Crush

This is rather clever:

This is my proposed Quayle Test. Ask yourself: How each time Obama says something stoopid, would the press would have crucified Dan Quayle for it?

Each day, each new gaffe from Obama, imagine Dear Old (supposedly) Dumbsh*t Dan saying it. Then compare what would have happened to him compared to the response Sen. Obama gets from his cheering gallery in the Press.

It is undeniable that Obama is getting a pass from liberal media sources, and this is a great way of illustrating it.

Q: What is John McCain's best friend right now?

A: A mini Mike Huckabee surge.

It is close to impossible for John McCain to lose the Republican nomination now that Mitt Romney is out of the race. He has enough delegates racked up that it would take a complete collapse on his campaign's part to blow the nomination. If Mike Huckabee can make a semi-serious run at McCain, though, it would force a lot of conservatives who dislike McCain into his corner against a candidate they have trouble taking seriously. It wouldn't make them avid McCain fans, but it would speed along their acceptance of him.

Fiery Fred Thompson

I've been waiting for two things from Fred Thompson. The first is some obvious fire in his belly. The second is for his campaign to sell me on him. Not personally sell me, mind you, but rather sell me in the way that successful campaigns convert large numbers of supporters, because that's how you win general elections. Neither had happened thus far, but if what I'm reading about tonight's debate is any indicator, the fire has finally showed up. I can say this-I'll be watching much more closely in the coming days.

Romney scandal on the horizon?

Maybe. In an almost stream of consciousness sort of way, Right Wing News breaks the story.

Update #2: Another source of mine, which is not with the Huckabee campaign or the same campaign as my previous source, told me that they are hearing that the story is going to be that Romney was behind the "anti-Mormon" push polling that got so much attention in Iowa.

Intriguingly, these allegations were made previously and the Romney campaign strongly denied that they had anything to do with the polling.

Anything is possible in politics, and sometimes stories unexpectedly find a way to develop legs. My gut tells me that this one won't, though.