My Challenge To You

It's been a hard-fought election season, and tomorrow, November Fourth, it all comes to fruition. Obviously, if you read this blog at all, you know exactly whom I would prefer to win the Presidential race.

But, while it is easy to get caught up in partisanship, the basic truth is that we have far greater commonalities than we do differences, that there is much more that unites us than divides us. For we are all Americans.

I cannot pretend to have a crystal ball; I do not know who will win this election. But, no matter who wins, we face numerous challenges, both near- and long-term, as a nation. And we will have to face them together.

If Senator John McCain is elected tomorrow, if that is the will of the People, then he will be my President just as much he is the President of our nation's most stalwart Republican. And he will deserve the same loyalty that I would give a President Barack Obama, the same opportunity to make his case.

That is not to say that I will never disagree with the new President's actions, no matter whom is elected. But it will not be the result of "McCain Derangement Syndrome," nor "Obama Derangement Syndrome." It will be because I have a legitimate disagreement with his positions or policies -- just as it has been with the current Administration.

And I would expect nothing less of my fellow citizens. That is my challenge to you all.

Now get out and vote your conscience!

The Obamamercial

I just watched the half-hour Obama campaign ad. Couldn't help but notice that there were no frantic allegations of John McCain being connected to terrorists, no ugly innuendo, no angry attacks. Instead, we saw a calm, thoughtful and well-reasoned case laid out as to why Senator Obama is the right choice as our next President.

Exactly the sort of well-thought-out argument that has been conspicuously absent from the Republican nominee's operations.

Decency. Reason. Steadiness. Exactly the reasons that I, in my absentee ballot, cast my vote for Barack Obama. I would urge you to do the same.

The Strange Case Of Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio -- a.k.a. "Joe The Plumber" -- is illustrative of everything that is wrong with the presidential campaign of John McCain. Since last week's debate, Joe The Plumber has become a personal talisman, an emblem, for the Republican nominee concerning his economic religiosity (calling it a philosophy would infer far more thought than has actually been applied to the subject).

See, Joe Wurzelbacher confronted Barack Obama on the campaign trail, purportedly concerned about the Democrat's economic plan. “I’m getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,” he told Senator Obama, identifying himself as a plumber. “Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?”

McCain seized upon one small sentence in Obama's answer -- "I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” -- as proof positive that Obama is out of touch with the entrepreneurial aspirations of the American people, that his proposed tax policy will hurt average Americans.

The only problem with McCain's assertions? They are based upon a lie. Or several.

Joe The Plumber, as it turns out, isn't actually a plumber. He has no plumbing license. He isn't about to buy the business for which he works; the fact that has a state tax lien upon his home makes that a practical impossibility. Even if he were to miraculously do so, the business doesn't make the amount he claimed; his employer reports that he is lucky to clear $120,000 annually (and if Joe were to purchase the business, he would probably clear less, considering the fact that he would have to employ an actual plumber). Wurzelbacher, in any conceivable reality, would be helped by Obama's tax plan. And it would seem that John McCain vetted Joe The Plumber about as well as he vetted Sarah The MILF.

Yet this is the perception of the Republican Party faithful: That "average Joes" somehow manage to make a quarter-million dollars a year without breaking a sweat (perhaps believing so because everyone that they know does). That it is somehow common or easy for a schlub making close to minimum wage to move into the highest marginal tax bracket (the economic statistics say otherwise). That the American Dream hasn't receded from the grasp of most Americans over the past 25 years of right-wing policies (again, the statistics say otherwise).

We live in a time when conservative pseudo-economics has held sway for over a quarter-century, when real wages continue falling for working people, when it becomes more and more likely that a working person will not have health insurance coverage, and when the disparity of wealth in America is at its highest point since 1929. We cannot afford to be duped by the fool's gold of the great right-wing lie.

Even when it is propounded by a previously-honorable man like John McCain.

We Are Forced To Reap What You Have Sown

It was nice yesterday to briefly see the old John McCain, the one I used to like, the one I would've considered voting for. At Friday's town-hall-style rally in Lakeville, Minnesota, the Republican presidential nominee was forced to actually defend Barack Obama against an ugly mob that seemed about ready to form a lynching party (and doesn't that make me proud to be a Minnesotan!).

"He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues," McCain admonished his supporters in reference to Obama. "I admire Senator Obama. I want everyone to be respectful."

The mob's response? Boos and catcalls.

While I am happy that Senator McCain was willing to risk alienating his base in order to tamp the insanity down, this particular brand of madness is a direct result of the McCain campaign's actions over the past several weeks -- actions that seemed specifically designed to elicit just such a response.

Running mate Sarah Palin has been telling the GOP faithful that Obama sees America as "imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." During her introductions at these events, it has been common practice to emphasize that Obama's middle name is "Hussein" in order to underscore his supposed otherness.

McCain himself has made his disdain for Obama quite apparent at the two presidential debates, refusing to even look at the Democratic nominee and referring to Obama as "that one." He has attempted to stoke racial fears by calling Obama a "man of the streets." And he has remained tellingly silent at other events, during which supporters have called Obama "a terrorist" and screamed "kill him" and "off with his head."

So, while it is gratifying that you have finally decided to do the right thing, Senator McCain, I think it is more than fair to point out that your supporters have merely followed your lead. We are reaping what you have sown, and the end result is a further poisoning of the American political process.

McCain's Plans For Your Health Insurance

Interesting column by Paul Krugman today in the New York Times. It includes this rather disturbing recent quote from John McCain:

“Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.”

Doing for health care what we've done for the banking industry? Super. Sounds great.

And if you don't believe me (or Doctor Krugman) as to the veracity of this quote, you can read McCain's own words here, in the piece he wrote for Contingencies magazine.

The more rope fed the McCain/Palin ticket, it seems, the more eager they become to hang themselves.

Why Does John McCain Piss Me Off So Much?

...It's a question I ask myself. What is it about his candidacy that makes me see red?

I guess that it's really about disappointment. A year ago, I could easily have seen myself voting for John McCain. He is, after all, a genuine American war hero; he's a very likable public figure, capable of rare self-deprecation; he had shown an ability to learn from his own mistakes (can you say "Keating Five?") by co-authoring campaign reform legislation; he had refused to pander to the crazy religious right, correctly calling them "agents of intolerance;" he had been more pragmatic than doctrinaire on numerous policy positions, including climate change and progressive taxation.

But, in the last year, much about John McCain has changed for the worse; the man has turned against much of what made him worth believing in. He started taking his economic outlook from the Republican orthodoxy (in the persons of Phil Gramm, et al) rather than from Main Street; he began kowtowing to the likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson; he abandoned policy for personality, honesty for obfuscation, straight talk for double talk.

As a proud independent, I have been let down by the Senator. Look, I understand the reality that he had to win the Republican nomination, and honesty doesn't fit into that equation. But these seemingly endless inconsistencies make me wonder if John McCain has any beliefs at all.

And that's something I can't waste a precious vote upon.

Identity Politics Or Bust!

One need not wonder what John McCain was thinking when he named MILF Sarah Palin as his running mate. It is as utterly transparent as it is insulting.

In the aftermath of Joe Biden's announcement as the Democratic vice presidential candidate, it was mildly amusing to watch members of the right-wing media feign sympathy for the plight of poor, poor Hillary Clinton. After nearly two decades of using her as one of their favorite punching bags, did they now truly feel that Senator Clinton had been unfairly slighted? I think that both you and I know the answer to that question.

And now, with the choice of Palin, we see what all those distributed talking points were leading up to: The GOP believes that cranky, stridently Clinton-supporting PUMAs* will now flock to the Republican ticket because, like Hillary, Alaska's first-term governor happens to have a vagina. That is, apparently, all it takes -- never mind the fact that Palin has roughly the same worldview as Strom Thurmond.

Once, not long ago, John McCain didn't believe in pandering to identity politics. But how quickly things change. I sincerely hope that those who are targets of McCain's cynical maneuverings still have enough of their wits about them to know when they are being treated like idiots -- and to be appropriately angry.



*PUMA = Party Unity, My Ass

The Politics Of Conflation

Yesterday, John Edwards finally admitted the truth of a story that had been percolating just under the political surface for several months: He had an extramarital affair in 2006. About the mindset that led to his affair, Edwards stated, in part, "...I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic."

Needless to say, John Edwards' political future is now nonexistent.

This is regrettable. Regrettable because Edwards was one of the few candidates actually talking about the vast economic disparities in our nation. Because of the public embarrassment that has been visited upon his already-suffering family. And because we will now see the inevitable Republican tactic in response: The conflation of the message with the messenger.

You see, the GOP would have us all believe that, because John Edwards is human, then the issues that he champions must be bogus. That, since Edwards schtupped a videographer, then people can be convinced that there is no truth to the actual statistics showing the divergence of outcomes between those who must work their way out of the economic hole into which they were born, and those who were born at the top of society's mountain.

Just look at the amount of time and energy that the Right still spends heaping scorn and ridicule upon Al Gore; if Gore can be made to look foolish, then it casts doubt upon the idea of global warming, climatological data be damned. And the ultra-wealthy, for whom the political right works, can then continue reaping the short-term economic rewards of fossil-fuel use.

Yet another illustration is last week's orchestrated ridicule of Barack Obama. You see, Obama made the mistake of stating the simple fact that basic conservation measures, such as all Americans driving cars that have properly-inflated tires and properly-tuned engines, would save us far more oil than offshore drilling could provide. But the Right used its media might to turn reality upside-down, and no one seemed to question the fact that they were, essentially, telling us that it would be a good idea for each of us to under-inflate our tires and cut a couple of spark plug wires.

That is just how stupid the Republicans and their media shills believe us to be. If we continue to vote for the idiot with whom we'd rather have a beer (or, in Dubya's case, snort a line), then a continuation of the current state of governmental incompetence is exactly what we deserve.

Prostitution And The Presidency

So... Yesterday I was crossing the wilds of South Dakota and listening to SDPR when a local report came on, detailing the excitement of John McCain's appearance at the Buffalo Chip Campground during the Sturgis rally. The featured audio clip included a befuddled McCain explaining that he had tried to talk his wife, Cindy, into entering the Miss Buffalo Chip pageant. Hmmm.

As a former resident of the Black Hills area, and as the husband of someone who worked security at the Buffalo Chip, I have some familiarity with the Miss Buffalo Chip pageant. And let's just say that what happens during the contest is something other than Jesus-lovin', GOP-sanctioned fun for the whole family (unless you happen to be David Vitter.) Just the type of stuff you might expect from a biker rally.

Which brings up a couple of thoughts.

1. Eeewwwww! About the last thing that I want to see is that hag (with all her cosmetic-surgery scars) in various states of undress.
2. Wow, John McCain feels so desperate now that he will do pretty much anything to get elected. Even serve as his own wife's pimp.

Yikes.