First Colin Powell, now ...

Charles Fried, who was Solicitor General under Ronald Reagan, declared that he had voted for Obama today.

Fried was on several McCain campaign related committees, and had "expressed his enthusiastic support in January" for McCain. He cited the selection of Sarah Palin as a major reason for his decision.

First Colin Powell, then Mass. Governor William Weld, now this. Is the dam about to break among moderate Republicans?

Investment Returns - Democratic vs Republican

I'm sure there are many problems with this analysis, including the fact that it factors in only the executive and not control of the legislative branch, but at first glance the difference was quite stunning.

"Since 1929, Republicans and Democrats have each controlled the presidency for nearly 40 years. So which party has been better for American pocketbooks and capitalism as a whole? Well, here’s an experiment: imagine that during these years you had to invest exclusively under either Democratic or Republican administrations. How would you have fared?

As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years."

If you look more closely though, you'll see that with the exception of Nixon and Dubya, Republican Presidents have done better than Democratic Presidents. Returns under Democratic presidents have been comparatively anemic, with Clinton being the standout on the Democratic side (no doubt fueled by those years of "irrational exuberance").

How to lose a debate to a comatose opponent

John McCain showed how today, at least based on all the polls I'm seeing!

I thought Obama showed no energy at all in this debate! He perked up in the middle particularly while talking about healthcare, but it absolutely frustrated me that he didn't show any emotion when McCain repeatedly mischaracterized his positions. He also passed on numerous opportunities to go after McCain.

So was he playing it safe today? And if so, is that a sign of how Obama would govern? Cause it sure looks like he will be the next POTUS!

What was Obama thinking!?!

I'm no big fan of Charles Krauthammer, but I have to admit he scores some points here. 

For someone who presents himself as a unifier and a different kind of politician, Obama has hung out with some divisive radicals. I don't believe he shares any of their beliefs, but he was clearly using them. 

Krauthammer writes:

"Why are these associations important? Do I think Obama is as corrupt as Rezko? Or shares Wright's angry racism or Ayers' unreconstructed 1960s radicalism?

No. But that does not make these associations irrelevant. They tell us two important things about Obama.

First, his cynicism and ruthlessness. He found these men useful, and use them he did. Would you attend a church whose pastor was spreading racial animosity from the pulpit? Would you even shake hands with -- let alone serve on two boards with -- an unrepentant terrorist, whether he bombed U.S. military installations or abortion clinics?

Most Americans would not, on the grounds of sheer indecency. Yet Obama did, if not out of conviction then out of expediency. He was a young man on the make, an unknown outsider working his way into Chicago politics. He played the game with everyone, without qualms and with obvious success."

Colbert takes apart Republican talking head

Another must-watch if you missed it, is the way Stephen Colbert took apart Joe Scarborough last night like only he can.

Colbert starts out by reminding people of Scarborough's connection with Jack Abramoff when he was a congressman! He ridicules Scarborough's logic for talking about Bill Ayers on his show. Then he reminds Joe of how he sucked up to the Bush administration for 6 years. Brutal!

An absolute must watch - Robert Gibbs on Hannity

Youtube video of Robert Gibbs giving Hannity a taste of his own medicine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgn6rjGbp0c

Here is Rachel Maddow and Olbermann explaining the anatomy of Gibb's approach:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27092924

Off The Kool Aid

I don't know if you folks have been following Kathleen Parker, a conservative columnist who has a column in today's NY Times titled Call Off The Pit Bull.

Her evolution on the Palin issue has been most interesting to watch. She started out like a loyal foot soldier with effusive praise for John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin, and for her convention speech.

Then the Katie Couric interview came along, and she acknowledged what most of the other right wing columnists were unwilling to say in a column titled Palin Problem: She's Out Of Her League. Needless to say it created a storm.

A few days after that was published, she wrote about the backlash and the vicious and threatening responses she got from the Faithful.

In today's column she writes about Palin's fluency in the coded language that Republicans use, and the dangerous path that McCain and Palin are going down in this campaign.

It's always interesting to watch when one of these true believers escapes The Matrix!

Angry man and the Sarah pal'in' around

McCain's Rage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAyK-enrF1g

Olbermann on Sarah's associations with secessionists and domestic terrorists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnSXGTFQ0Ak

McCain tames pit bull, Palin shoots terrorist

Inspired by Putin's bare-chested martial arts video and tiger tranquilizing exploits, the McCain campaign brain trust has come up with a last-ditch effort to save the campaign.

McCain will tame a rabid pit bull (without lipstick) in mid-maul, and Palin will personally shoot a terrorist on camera before the next debate.

Experts believe that this will completely scramble Barack Obama's closing arguments on the campaign trail, as his consultants desperately search for an act that's more macho than just draining a three-point shot :-) :-) :-)

Glimpses of pedal to the metal

Seems promising that there are some elements in Obama's camp that have the requisite aggressive marketing bone. Check out this article from International Herald Tribune http://preview.tinyurl.com/4s9um8 - timely and to the point. It is time to capitalize on the inflection point in poll numbers.

Don't know if any of you watched the post debate interview session on CNN yesterday night. One of the "undecided" voters that was leaning toward Obama actually said that she was looking for Obama to take of his gloves.

That said, Obama came across more statesman like. As always, the line between any two extremes is always thinner than one thinks (in this case that between being statesman like and being aggressive).

Second Debate Thoughts

That was an interesting debate, and the "town hall" format didn't seem to favor McCain at all, despite what the pundits kept saying. I thought McCain looked small and old every time he walked around and got close to the audience.

One interesting thing though was that it almost felt like the tables have turned since early in the campaign, and even since 3-4 weeks ago. I thought McCain had to work extra hard to appear like the calm and steady hand, and as a result he was constrained by going out on a limb and being too hawkish or attacking Obama.

I don't think this was because of any special jujitsu performed by the Obama camp, but was a direct result of the erratic decision making and stunts that McCain has tried to pull throughout this campaign. It's good to see that the chickens are coming home to roost - I guess there are some advantages to having a loooong campaign season after all!

The Choice

Here's an excellent comment on the Presidential candidates by the New Yorker.

Ed: Hope you don't mind that I edited it - the URL wasn't showing as a link

What Maverick?

I've read a lot about John McCain's real story over the last few months and knew there were significant differences from the war hero maverick fiction that he's peddled so effectively through his political career.

However I was surprised by some of the details in this Rolling Stone article headlined Make-Believe Maverick - A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty. I thought a lot of the detail about his Navy career and the numerous times he used his family connections to pull strings was particularly interesting. There are some uncanny parallels with Dubya and the charmed life he led as a young man of privilege.

Privileges of being white

It took me sometime to muster up the energy to post. I found the post republican convention Mccain/Palin upswing too difficult to comprehend. The recent events have put me in a better frame of mind, I sincerely hope the democrats can stick to the "its the economy stupid" message till at least November 4th.

During the VP debate, in the last question from Ms. Ifill there was a question around what each candidate would change if given a chance- Mr Biden of course jumped in with a profound answer around the judicial system and the choice of judges. Luckily (I think) the right wing did not pick it up because Sarah was folksy in her reply.

Meanwhile, I had read the following post on the net and was thinking that it seemed to capture some of my thinking around the Ms. Palin issue ....

http://www.alternet.org/story/98915/

Here is hoping that as the gloves come off and the speedboaters return for one final assault the democrats can stick to their message.

Dan Quayle + Dick Cheney

More I see and hear Sarah Palin, more I get this viscereal, eerie apprehension.

She has the depth and awareness of this wide-world, comparable to the great Dan Quayle. At the same time she also seems to possess the unique megalomaniacal traits that Dick Cheney had perfected.

Quayle ain't evil, just stupid. Cheney ain't stupid, just evil. You combine the two and you will get Palin - rightwing's dream come true!

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President ..

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.

'Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.

'The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

Narrative

I had one thought in advance of the much anticipated VP debate tomorrow night.

Rightly or wrongly, public figures often end up being defined by an idea or narrative, and the meme gets so deeply embedded in popular consciousness that it's hard to shake regardless of what the person does from that point on. More often than not the meme becomes the subject of a joke that's told repeatedly, in many different forms by many different people.

In some cases the narrative is a distortion (Al Gore - serial exaggerator who claimed to have invented the Internet), in other cases it's self inflicted (Dan Quayle's intelligence and "potatoe").

I think Sarah Palin's moment is the "I know foreign policy because I can see Russia from Alaska" claim. I've now seen this joke told in different ways by so many people, that it may become the defining moment regardless of how she does in the debate or the campaign trail going forward!

Poor Sarah. Must have sounded like a good idea when some smart operative in the campaign came up with it ...

Incidentally, I thought this column about Palin by Fareed Zakaria at Newsweek, who writes extremely perceptively about foreign affairs, was unusually blunt and on point.