A campaign for the ages, tilting toward Democrats

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON – Counting down to Election Day, Barack Obama appears within reach of becoming the nation's first black president as the epic campaign draws to a close against a backdrop of economic crisis and lingering war. John McCain, the battle-scarred warrior, holds out hope for a Truman-beats-Dewey-style upset.

Whoever wins, the country's 44th president will immediately confront some of the most difficult economic challenges since the Great Depression.

In that effort, he'll almost surely be working with a stronger Democratic majority in Congress, as well as among governors and state legislatures nationwide. GOP incumbents at every level are endangered just eight years after President Bush's election ignited talk of lasting Republican Party dominance.

It's been an extraordinary campaign of shattered records, ceilings and assumptions. Indeed, a race for the ages.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081101/ap_on_el_pr/state_of_the_race

[hisownpetard]

1. I'm sure that right now, even as we speak, textbooks are being written about the way this Obama

campaign was conducted: the insight, the groundwork, the volunteers, the reaching out,
the attitude and tone, the strategy, the goals - and (dare I even say this word)... the
integrity he and his staff unfalteringly maintained.

A wonderful job, all around!

Whaddyoo think, Amerigo?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. It's textbook stuff.

I believe he will win. And I say that because I witnessed the John Kerry campaign in 2004. The difference is apples and oranges. There are no parallels whatsoever other than the fact that Obama and his team have obviously learned the lessons of 2004.

The biggest aspect for me, though, is the way that Obama consistently refused to take the bait.

No one argues the fact that what happened to John McCain as a prisoner of war never should have happened.

But that was then, and this is now.

John McCain...the 2008 edition...sat by as his team poured out racist, petty drivel. He promised a "clean" campaign and delivered the opposite. He acknowledged that the economy...the single most pressing issue in the U.S. and the WORLD right now...is not his "strong point."

So how did he handle it?

He let James Dobson and Karl Rove shove Sarah Palin down his throat as his running mate.

Now, McCain't REAL "first choices"...Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge...weren't exactly ideal, but in comparison to Palin?

THEN, McCain grabs on to a slogan, after the Palin brand fades. "YOU ARE ALL JOE THE PLUMBER."

Well, Senator...heh heh...NO, we are NOT.

Because I am the man that I SAY I AM.

I pay my taxes.

I work my ASS off, and I don't piss and moan when I put myself in the spotlight and then complain about how mean I'm being treated in the spotlight.

I have no idea what's going to happen between now and Tuesday. I very clearly remember George W. Bush and his wrinkled mommy and daddy and his fat-assed brother Jeb and his slacker kids, gathered around the TV, watching the election returns in 2004.

I saw the long faces.

And then I saw those faces change.

Later, I learned that the "change" came right around the time that Karl Rove was working the phones.

And Karl Rove is on John McCain's 2008 payroll.

The same Karl Rove who called inbred redneck KKK voters in 2000 and asked them how they'd feel about the fact that McCain had an "illegitimate black daughter."

Bridget, the wonderful Bangladeshi orphan that the McCains adopted.

McCain hired THAT motherf**ker. The guy who said THAT stuff about HIS DAUGHTER.

I don't know what Tuesday will bring.

I know that DU high-fived Kerry in 2004 and then watched him deliver his concession speech at Faneuil Hall, as a visibly pissed off John Edwards stood off to the side.

Obama has been smart enough to tell his supporters that they SHOULD NOT count the chickens until they hatch.

He's told them that they need to be working the phones, they need to be knocking on doors, that every vote counts.

In my "gut," I believe that evil and greed and corruption can only prosper so long before the tide MUST turn.

We've had eight years of George W. Bush. That's enough.

But anyone 3who's sitting on their ass thinking that Obama has this in the bag is basically an idiot.

That's what I think.

:patriot:

[hisownpetard]

6. Fantastic answer! I'm so glad I asked. K&R for that excellent cautionary warning,

which we should all take to heart.

[dbonds]

2. As always don't get complacent.

Can't have anyone sitting at home and saying their vote doesn't matter. Just think of it this way...

This is the most historic election in our lifetime and possible in US history, don't you want to say you voted for him.

[sce56]

3. Yep and they can play with he machines also!

Homer try's to vote for Obama

[Cresent City Kid]

4. I agree, there's much to remember

An African-American and a woman are not only viable candidates, they crushed the competition apart from each other. Neither was a token, both have what it takes to lead the country.

We had (have) a financial crisis that was so bad, Bush could't hold it off and keep it from turning the election. It pushed a presidential election and a hurricane in Houston off the front page.

We may not have seen the end of trickle-down economics, but its ability to win elections is waning. I've been watching people buy into this crap since 1980, but I'm actually hopeful that most see the evidence for what it is.

And there's Palin. We may look back at 2008 as the year the base and intellectual factions of the GOP split. The base will think they can win by themselves and ride Palin to defeat in 2012. I don't know what the George Will types will do. This is the story of the election that will continue.

[bemildred]

7. The defining characteristic of Obama, so far, is sang froid.

It is a telling comment on US politics these days that that is such a rare thing. All is show biz, bluster and bloviating. Maybe we are ready for something more real for a change.

[kestrel91316]

8. The times, they are a changing......

[russspeakeasy]

9. GO BAMA GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Peace Patriot]

10. "...holds out hope for a Truman-beats-Dewey-style upset." Yeah, that could happen,

but not in the same way and for the same reasons. Truman won because the New Deal was good for most people, and they wanted it to continue, while the rightwing media, in service to the rich, wanted to end it and start looting the poor all over again--and fell prey to wishful thinking.

An upset like that, putting McDrone and Ms. To-Nowhere in the White House, would not be the result of people voting. It could only happen if the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines, owned and controlled by Bushwhack corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls, outvoted the people.

That could happen. That could EASILY happen. Our vote counting system is completely out of our control, and completely non-transparent, and we would be quite helpless--as we were in 2004--if such an "upset" occurred. It would all be "certified" and a fait accompli--complete with crowing, leering Corpo/Fascist 'news' pundits talking about "ain't democracy wonderful"--before we could get our pitchforks out of the barn and join the outraged citizenry storming the...what? No Bastille. Storming the "black boxes"? They've got those all locked up with lots of Homeland Security.

I don't think it WILL happen. I think the Corpo/Fascists have a different plan, this time. For one thing, people are A LOT more aware of the 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting machines this time, and there probably would be some pitchfork mobs storming election centrals around the country. That could get messy. No, I think they want to calm things down and make us forget about the election theft machines for a while. They have lots of flexibility, with this power over the vote count. They can let Obama win, but significantly shave his mandate, give him a difficult, Puke/'Blue Dog'-infested Congress (like the present one--of the 10% approval rating), and, with the Financial 9/11 they just pulled off, tie his hands, as to any serious reform; then, come back with the machines in 2012 and put their favorite nazi into the White House (and we may already know her name).

There are a lot of scenarios they could play out, to continue their looting and their Forever War. 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting makes it easy. And we are their stupid fucking dupes to let this continue.

For godssakes, whether they let Obama win or not, and even if they let him win big, they are not done with us, and you know it and I know it. This fascist coup will not be over until we RESTORE TRANSPARENT VOTE COUNTING. Please remember this on Wednesday.

:patriot: