McCain Loves the Middle Class

[Sorceress]

Okay, so we went from 800 political threads to one. People, the election is less than two weeks away and we are silent!
So I'm here to do my part. Colbert articulates hilariously one serious reason I find the whole Joe the Plumber theme so annoying and ridiculous. It's condescending.

[GoS]

Originally Posted by Sorceress

Okay, so we went from 800 political threads to one. People, the election is less than two weeks away and we are silent!

Well if our conservitive friend had not been scared off, then we might have something going on! I am as excited as ever (for the election)!

[Sorceress]

Originally Posted by GoS

Well if our conservitive friend had not been scared off, then we might have something going on! I am as excited as ever (for the election)!

Me too. So if we've scared him off, I guess that means we've won the war of ideas.

Check out the scarf Palin is wearing. Vote for Democrats! $150,000 on a new wardrobe and she shows up wearing this?

[ashton]

I don't think anyone scared him off. Perhaps he actually made a friend and simply has 16 hours less of free time than previously. I am sure he will be back to talk about himself when the room once more becomes empty. They always do.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by Sorceress

Me too. So if we've scared him off, I guess that means we've won the war of ideas.

If I was a hard core rightwinger I'd be laying low long about now..Watching the final nails going into the coffin of the Reagan revolution is something this old liberal has waited a liftetime for ..When I see Barack and the Democratic Senate and Congress sweep into power in 2 and a half weeks it will be difficult to put into words the elation I feel ..I know there is alot of work to be done but I think Barack will prove himself up to the challenge..I feel he could be another FDR for the new millenium.

[strandinthewind]

^^

If polls are to be believed and unless there is some suprise issue not vetted, Obama will win by 99.9% of all polls. Moreover, Obama could win 344 electoral votes. So, Obama likely will have considerable political clout going in to the White House. THis will be greatly enhanced by the likely taking of the Senate by the D's and the seats the D's pick up in the House.

Assuming that to be true, Obama inherits as large a mess as FDR did, perhaps even larger. To these eyes, the only way out the mess is to sponsor huge government projects on the lines of the TVA, the Hoover Dam, etc. These will create a huge amount of jobs and greatly enhance our country, if not free it. For example, let's say the Obama places deveral hundred thoudand windmills throughout the country at the govt.'s expense and uses that power to provide lights on public roads and interstates. This clearly is feasible.

I truly hope the confidence placed in Obama is well placed.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

^^

If polls are to be believed and unless there is some suprise issue not vetted, Obama will win by 99.9% of all polls. Moreover, Obama could win 344 electoral votes. So, Obama likely will have considerable political clout going in to the White House. THis will be greatly enhanced by the likely taking of the Senate by the D's and the seats the D's pick up in the House.

Assuming that to be true, Obama inherits as large a mess as FDR did, perhaps even larger. To these eyes, the only way out the mess is to sponsor huge government projects on the lines of the TVA, the Hoover Dam, etc. These will create a huge amount of jobs and greatly enhance our country, if not free it. For example, let's say the Obama places deveral hundred thoudand windmills throughout the country at the govt.'s expense and uses that power to provide lights on public roads and interstates. This clearly is feasible.

I truly hope the confidence placed in Obama is well placed.

Yes if those things happen on election day and it seems very likely they will Obama will be the most powerful Democratic President in decades.It will be with great hope and expectation that I will look forward to see what he can do to get our once great nation back on track..Just the relief I am beginning to feel about the prospects for the Supreme court is lifting my spirits greatly.

[strandinthewind]

Moreover, I think the following is one of the major reasons why McCain is taking a beating.

Alan Greenspan testified today and said "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms."

This speaks volumes about the R theory of free enterprise, unregulated business, etc. It means that those theories have, once again, lost to greed. Greed is the common denominator. The financial institutions thought only of the moment - what new phantom scheme would get them their bonus. Who cares about who is left holding the bag because hopefully, you would have made your millions prior to then AND it is almost assured that the govt. would provide relief no matter hoe extensive the fraud - thus, the trillion dollar + economic stimulus package, loans, etc. -- which have yet to save one house from foreclosure.

Thus, I maintain, it would have been better to give every single American $150,000 or so and mandate that money be used to pay off a mortgage. Anything left over should be mandated to pay credit card debt. Anything left over from those two, could be used as the citizen pleased (spend it or save it). Talk about wiping out the mortgage crisis and jump starting the economy!

But, there is no potential grift for the politicians or banks. So, they instead invest capital in the banks with no assurance that the mortgage crisis will be staved.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

. . . Just the relief I am beginning to feel about the prospects for the Supreme court is lifting my spirits greatly.

I know. Hillary should sooooo be on the Court.

Obama should also nominate Dershowitz - though he is a little long in the tooth.

Given the changes in political tides, I'd say appoint 30 year olds to the Court

[strandinthewind]

As for Palin's new wardrobe. I do not think there is anything wrong with her having those clothes. I do think, however, it will not play well with the wives of the Joe Six Packs that she patronizes with her "I'm one of you" speeches. In other words, Palin appears too good to wear a dress from Target, when that level is where she is from. It will smack of hypocrisy. Again, I do not have a problem with the image makeover. In fact, I think it did wonders for her look. It just makes her look like a fake.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

Watching the final nails going into the coffin of the Reagan revolution is something this old liberal has waited a liftetime for ..

Damn straight...

[markolas]

I already voted, so this is just a "hurry up and wait" kind of a thing for me.

I'm hesitant to call a landslide for Obama, but unless there's something majorly screwy with the polls, I don't see how McCain can pull off a win at this point.

Regardless, Bush has made such a mess of things, I'm doubtful that either Obama or McCain would be able to make much headway with it, and I think either of them would be a one-term president. I'd love to be wrong.

I always thought Bill would be more of a contender for a Supreme Court appointment than Hillary would; I wonder if she has designs on another run for president in 2012....

[Sorceress]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I know. Hillary should sooooo be on the Court.

Obama should also nominate Dershowitz - though he is a little long in the tooth.

Given the changes in political tides, I'd say appoint 30 year olds to the Court

Hillary is saying no to this and every other possibility. "Bloom where you're planted," I believe she's been quoted. (In the Senate, she means). But come on, she deserves a real reward for bucking up and working so hard for the nominee. I wasn't a Hillary supporter in the primaries, but I firmly believe that she could very capably fill any position she is given.

[strandinthewind]

The Gray Lady shows her spine, in spades!

October 24, 2008

Editorial

Barack Obama for President

Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance.

The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.

As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.

Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.

In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.

Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.

In his convention speech in Denver, Mr. Obama said, “Government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.”

Since the financial crisis, he has correctly identified the abject failure of government regulation that has brought the markets to the brink of collapse.

The Economy

The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain — a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution” — is still a believer.

Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.

Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending — about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget — cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.

Mr. Obama is clear that the nation’s tax structure must be changed to make it fairer. That means the well-off Americans who have benefited disproportionately from Mr. Bush’s tax cuts will have to pay some more. Working Americans, who have seen their standard of living fall and their children’s options narrow, will benefit. Mr. Obama wants to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation, restore a climate in which workers are able to organize unions if they wish and expand educational opportunities.

Mr. McCain, who once opposed President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy as fiscally irresponsible, now wants to make them permanent. And while he talks about keeping taxes low for everyone, his proposed cuts would overwhelmingly benefit the top 1 percent of Americans while digging the country into a deeper fiscal hole.

National Security

The American military — its people and equipment — is dangerously overstretched. Mr. Bush has neglected the necessary war in Afghanistan, which now threatens to spiral into defeat. The unnecessary and staggeringly costly war in Iraq must be ended as quickly and responsibly as possible.

While Iraq’s leaders insist on a swift drawdown of American troops and a deadline for the end of the occupation, Mr. McCain is still taking about some ill-defined “victory.” As a result, he has offered no real plan for extracting American troops and limiting any further damage to Iraq and its neighbors.

Mr. Obama was an early and thoughtful opponent of the war in Iraq, and he has presented a military and diplomatic plan for withdrawing American forces. Mr. Obama also has correctly warned that until the Pentagon starts pulling troops out of Iraq, there will not be enough troops to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, has only belatedly focused on Afghanistan’s dangerous unraveling and the threat that neighboring Pakistan may quickly follow.

Mr. Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues. His choice of Senator Joseph Biden — who has deep foreign-policy expertise — as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment. Mr. McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska more irresponsible.

Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, and strongly support Israel. Both candidates talk about repairing America’s image in the world. But it seems clear to us that Mr. Obama is far more likely to do that — and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world.

Mr. Obama wants to reform the United Nations, while Mr. McCain wants to create a new entity, the League of Democracies — a move that would incite even fiercer anti-American furies around the world.

Unfortunately, Mr. McCain, like Mr. Bush, sees the world as divided into friends (like Georgia) and adversaries (like Russia). He proposed kicking Russia out of the Group of 8 industrialized nations even before the invasion of Georgia. We have no sympathy for Moscow’s bullying, but we also have no desire to replay the cold war. The United States must find a way to constrain the Russians’ worst impulses, while preserving the ability to work with them on arms control and other vital initiatives.

Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. But Mr. Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions. Mr. McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.

The Constitution and the Rule of Law

Under Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the justice system and the separation of powers have come under relentless attack. Mr. Bush chose to exploit the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, the moment in which he looked like the president of a unified nation, to try to place himself above the law.

Mr. Bush has arrogated the power to imprison men without charges and browbeat Congress into granting an unfettered authority to spy on Americans. He has created untold numbers of “black” programs, including secret prisons and outsourced torture. The president has issued hundreds, if not thousands, of secret orders. We fear it will take years of forensic research to discover how many basic rights have been violated.

Both candidates have renounced torture and are committed to closing the prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

But Mr. Obama has gone beyond that, promising to identify and correct Mr. Bush’s attacks on the democratic system. Mr. McCain has been silent on the subject.

Mr. McCain improved protections for detainees. But then he helped the White House push through the appalling Military Commissions Act of 2006, which denied detainees the right to a hearing in a real court and put Washington in conflict with the Geneva Conventions, greatly increasing the risk to American troops.

The next president will have the chance to appoint one or more justices to a Supreme Court that is on the brink of being dominated by a radical right wing. Mr. Obama may appoint less liberal judges than some of his followers might like, but Mr. McCain is certain to pick rigid ideologues. He has said he would never appoint a judge who believes in women’s reproductive rights.

The Candidates

It will be an enormous challenge just to get the nation back to where it was before Mr. Bush, to begin to mend its image in the world and to restore its self-confidence and its self-respect. Doing all of that, and leading America forward, will require strength of will, character and intellect, sober judgment and a cool, steady hand.

Mr. Obama has those qualities in abundance. Watching him being tested in the campaign has long since erased the reservations that led us to endorse Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries. He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility.

Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing. His righteous fury at being driven out of the 2000 primaries on a racist tide aimed at his adopted daughter has been replaced by a zealous embrace of those same win-at-all-costs tactics and tacticians.

He surrendered his standing as an independent thinker in his rush to embrace Mr. Bush’s misbegotten tax policies and to abandon his leadership position on climate change and immigration reform.

Mr. McCain could have seized the high ground on energy and the environment. Earlier in his career, he offered the first plausible bill to control America’s emissions of greenhouse gases. Now his positions are a caricature of that record: think Ms. Palin leading chants of “drill, baby, drill.”

Mr. Obama has endorsed some offshore drilling, but as part of a comprehensive strategy including big investments in new, clean technologies.

Mr. Obama has withstood some of the toughest campaign attacks ever mounted against a candidate. He’s been called un-American and accused of hiding a secret Islamic faith. The Republicans have linked him to domestic terrorists and questioned his wife’s love of her country. Ms. Palin has also questioned millions of Americans’ patriotism, calling Republican-leaning states “pro-America.”

This politics of fear, division and character assassination helped Mr. Bush drive Mr. McCain from the 2000 Republican primaries and defeat Senator John Kerry in 2004. It has been the dominant theme of his failed presidency.

The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing “robo-calls” and negative ads. This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.

www.nytimes.com

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

As for Palin's new wardrobe. I do not think there is anything wrong with her having those clothes. I do think, however, it will not play well with the wives of the Joe Six Packs that she patronizes with her "I'm one of you" speeches. In other words, Palin appears too good to wear a dress from Target, when that level is where she is from. It will smack of hypocrisy. Again, I do not have a problem with the image makeover. In fact, I think it did wonders for her look. It just makes her look like a fake.

Who wouldn't want to spend $175,000 at Neiman's and Saks? When I heard about the shopping trip I finally realized Sarah and I have something in comon besides the obvious.
Seriously though, this will not play well with middle America, especially in these economic times.
Michelle Obama has managed to look stylish with pieces from H&M and White House Black Market. Sarah would be wise to follow suit.