McCain Will be Crushed

The third debate cinched Obama's landslide. Here's what I wrote in the Financial Post:

It's all over but the crying
The only "victory" the Republican spinmeisters could muster after last night's final Presidential debate was that John McCain was able to explain, concisely, that he is not George Bush. So there, they said to a man.

As the election looms days away, it is clear that McCain and his ragtag Republicans are so bereft of initiatives, remedies or validity that they have been playing the race card. Here's how and it will not only cost them the election, which it already has, but will result in a massive landslide.

At a recent "townhall", McCain was asked a question (undoubtedly a Republican set-up) as to whether Barack Obama was an Arab.

McCain delivered a rehearsed soundbyte back that he did not believe that Barack Obama was an Arab. It was a version of the I-did-not-beat-my-wife ploy combined with racism: Being "Arab" in and of itself was considered a legitimate concern.

Consider how any decent candidate would have answered that question, if it had not been a set-up.

"America is a pluralist and tolerant society and race or ethnic background are irrelevant to me. I don't label people and no one should."

There goes another 2%, you Republican bigots.

The Republican Camp's campaign about the Ayers-association is another coded racist gambit.
But Obama knocked that one out of the ballpark last night when McCain foolishly brought it up: "Let's get the record straight," said Obama. "Bill Ayers is a Professor of education in Illinois. Years ago, when I was eight, he engineered a despicable act."

Ayers decades later is involved in activities that are funded by a man who was a major financial supporter of Ronald Reagan's and endorsed by the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the very Republican Chicago Tribune.

So there you have it: A classy brilliant young man whose team includes Paul Volcker and Warren Buffett versus a rude, disrespectful ex-military man who wants his "base" to think Obama is an Arab terrorist.

McCain and his candidate-lite will be crushed.

Comments

[mmgbizgirl]

The mccain/palin ticket was the final nail in the Republican coffin.

[Rule Of Law]

Even if Obama wins--and with the Diebold machines, voter suppression, and the Supreme Court all in the Repub corner, it's not a done deal--we still need to have an insurmountable majority in BOTH houses of Congress to get anything done. And that majority would also protect us from certain Dems who have used their tenuous majority now as an excuse to bow to the president too many times. Their neo-con natures would be exposed for all to see without the veil of a Republican threat.

Are you listening Pelosi, Reid, and especially Dianne "The war Profiteer" Feinstein?

[Diane Francis - Huffpost Blogger]

Rockitt is quite right. I apologize for misspelling Ayers' name. At my age I cannot trust memory. I have corrected that the other remark. I just assumed that someone called a terrorist had been proven to be one. It makes it all even worse.
Sorry again and thanks

[Henry]

If for some reason you could not hear a word of the debate the results would be even more staggeringly in favor of Barak. If you watched facial expressions, body language, and then the occasional reaction and visuals of the wives, it was just unbelievable that the MCcain is even in this race.
It is very important for Barak to keep the moral high ground and win with dignity. I think that next year around this time he should invite Castro to the world series (I am serious about this). We do not need to keep these people as enemies.

[rockitt]

For the record, it's spelled Ayers, not Ayres. And, second, Bill Ayers did not serve time in jail. According to Wikipedia, federal charges were dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ayers), though according to ABC News he did plead guilty to possession of explosives but served no time (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-weather-und.html).

[krocklin]

Even if the stock market would not have tanked, Obama would have won in a landslide anyway.

The Iraq War would have been more front and center instead, and support for that is unpopular and identified with McCain. Polls show most of the public are not persuaded by The Surge, and that with drilling for oil (which he had opposed) were his two main issues. Both of course are bogus solutions and would have increasingly been exposed as such.

Also, the only time in the polls McCain might have had a very slight lead was when he nominated Palin. Since then her approval rating has fallen to 32%. Add to this the overwhelming increase in Democratic registration and the Youth Vote and it was going to be a landslide in any case.

She is truly a simpleton but shares two characteristics with McCain: ambition and lack of principles.

[MPeter]

This is short and sweet. Thanks Diane. McCain looked old, dazed and bitter.

[Lonestarmom]

We must not take this election for granted....everyone must vote to counter the Republican voter suppresion efforts! Vote for Obama and for a new direction for our country!

[LizM]

I sure hope you were firmly knocking on wood as you wrote that piece! Because, truth be known, NOTHING would surprise me in this campaign.