It's McCain Stupid -- Why McCain Is The Issue

By Stephen C. Rose

I don't believe this election will be a nail-biter. It will be closer to a landslide. Barack will win. If not Barack, McCain. I believe the American people are poised to make a decision after a season of having decisions made for them.

The reason I believe Barack will win is because I credit the electorate with enough wisdom to understand that this year the issue is not the economy primarily. The issue is McCain. If it did not come clear this past week, I am wrong. But I believe it did come clear and that it will become even more clear in the weeks to come.

And on November 4, the American people will understand that he too great a risk just now.

They will vote in unprecedented numbers for a cool head, an energetic guy open to hearing all sides, who will have a gridlock-breaking majority in Congress and is open to a genuinely bipartisan march through the minefield created during the Bush years.

Yesterday I posted what this President will do:

Create a green future -- based on renewable sources of energy.

Create millions of new jobs and help the middle class with tax cuts, college subsidies and increased pay for teachers.

Create a foreign policy that's safe and secure. Repair frayed relationships, initiate tough diplomacy, save billions by ending the war in Iraq.

Create a smart, cooperative campaign to eliminate the terror threat and control nuclear materials.

Create schools that serve all children from birth.

Create a health care system for all Americans at costs all can afford.

Create a good, honest, transparent administration. Accountable to all. Led by one who has thought deeply about our needs and acted for two decades to put his goals into practice. SOURCE

McCain has fought this agenda for almost three decades. He has championed a thoughtless, pandering militarism and a domestic agenda that disrespects women, favors the wealthy and displays only ignorance when it comes to the economy.

He has distinguished himself as a near-compulsive gambler who operates on the false premise that he can bob and weave in all directions and somehow win -- when the inexorable odds favor his inability to fool all of the people all of the time.

This inability is what is happening daily on TV.

To vote for McCain, you have to factor in substantial mortality odds and ask yourself if you want to risk our future on a woman Chuck Hagel says is demonstrably ill-prepared. This doubles the reasons why McCain is the issue. And why he will lose.

McCain has shown himself to be not a leader, but a doer of whatever he is told to do. This is not new. McCain did the bidding of Charlie Keating for a long time, until he had to pay back the contributions he had received.

Now McCain follows Steve Schmidt. Perhaps he will fire Schmidt when it appears that the die is cast in Obama's favor and he must morph once again.

By November 4, I fully expect McCain to be having Fireside Chats with us -- with an FDR stogie in his mouth.

But by then it will be too late.

Barack will have done with all Americans what he did with Democrats in Denver. He will have convinced them, with accuracy, that he is a uniter who has carefully considered the options and arrived at an agenda which can indeed capture our imagination and carry us away from the nightmare of the last eight years.

The issue in this election is McCain. His dual nature as McSame and McFlop. And underneath it all, the little boy gambler a mite too dotty now to risk in the White House. The American people can take only so much. The circus is ending.

McCain is the man who crashed five jets, mistreated his wife, opposed Dr. King and would overturn Rowe v. Wade. He favors bombing anyone who does not fit in to the neocon agenda of forcing freedom everywhere while squelching it apace.

To the extent voters see the cool hand, over against this fading relic of a sick Republican era, the election will go to Obama.

The issue is not the economy, or foreign policy, or security -- the issue is whether we want to take a chance on another Republican after losing the farm with George Bush.

Comments

[ordinaryzen]

ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL PROBLEMS FOR THIS ELECTION:
1. Lies by Republicans: "Obama is a Muslim" is a widely disseminated lie believed by more people than one could imagine. There is no credible evidence for this and plenty of evidence that Obama is, in fact, a Christian. Sarah Palin has told many lies, including being against the Bridge to Nowhere, that she sold her luxury jet on ebay, that she was against earmarks, and that her office did not grant Officer Maloney permission to travel abroad. McCain lied that Obama wanted to teach sex to preschool children, that Obama called Palin a pig, and that Obama ever relied on the advice of Frankin Raines.

2. Push polling by Republicans: People have been reported phone calls from organizations pretending to be legitimate pollsters, who instead spread false rumors in the form of a question, such as, "Would you be as likely to vote for Obama if you knew he was a member of the PLO?" Push polling is extremely unethical and should be widely outlawed, as it has been in New Hampshire.

3. Irregularities of the Electronic Voting Machines. Scientists at institutions like MIT, Stanford, and Johns Hopkins believe that many potential opportunities to tamper with voting results tabulated by these machines. Many manufacturers of these voting machines have conflicts of interest because they actively raise money for political parties and candidates. Since 2000, many instances of electoral irregularities surrounding these machines have been reported: See Wikipedia regarding "Electronic Voting."

[ordinaryzen]

It is one matter to have decided on your vote.

It is another matter to successfully register your vote on or before Election Day.

LESSONS FROM 2000 and 2004:
1. Voter purges. Florida illegally purged thousands of voters based on very "loose" criteria for ID matches with felons. The criteria for "matches" disregarded dates of birth, genders, middle initials, Jr./Sr., and race, and counted only the first 4 letters in the first name. Illegal purging of voters must never again be tolerated.

2. Conflicts of interest of Elections Officials: Katherine Harris, the chief elections officer for Florida, was also the co-chair of the Bush campaign. Jeb Bush was overseeing Florida's elections even though he was the brother of one of the candidates. Antonin Scalia did not recuse himself in Gore vs. Bush despite that two of his sons were lawyers working for the Bush campaign. Clarence Thomas did not recuse himself despite that his wife had the job of reviewing resumes for potential Bush administration appointees.

3. Illegal counting of absentee ballots: Ballots that were postmarked late were counted.

4. Harrassment/obstruction of voters: Police were citing voters for loitering even when they were just standing in the voting line. Multiple forms of identification were asked for at the polls that were not required by law. No bilignual support at the polls.

5. Shortage of voting machines: Voters stood in line for hours only to be told they couldn't vote because of a shortage of voting machines.

[research]

I pray so.

Go out and register every likely Obama voter you can! Just print out the forms, take them with you every day.

[Kindheart]

Check out the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll---Obama has been going up daily this week. It is now:
Obama 50% and McCain 44%. McCain's number has not changed this week.
Go Obama!!!!

[JT16682]

Someone pointed out that since the younger generation generally favor Obama (and they are not included in polls that usually only contact land line numbers) the number is even better come November 4. Sweeeet! Go Obama!!!

[judi4obama]

In response to the racism issue, I agree it's a big factor in this election, and many of us worry about all those "poor, stupid, white conservatives from the south" because "they are all racists". While many of them are racist, not all of them are, just as not all of them are gay-bashers and religion freaks. And it's unfair to say they are all stupid. I'm sure there are quite a few who can think for themselves and who care enough about country over party to have concerns about electing a confused old man and an woefully unqualified rube VP.

[GeorgeLoBuono]

The US economy is like a house with a broken, slanting foundation. Rather than re-design and re-do it, Bush is simply pouring concrete into the rubble. McCain has signaled he'll do the same. Today Henry Paulson threatened that if we don't cough up money for his bankrupt cronies our credit cards will be canceled. But when the GOP doubles the US national debt in one week, isn't that the greatest tax hike in US history?

Rather than threaten those who live well, simply convince people that we can bring EVERYONE up to that basic standard. But some say, wait a minute---the powers that be won't allow that. Meanwhile, the powers that be are going down like dominos. When Morgan Stanley, Merril Lynch, Citibank and Goldman Sachs etc. are dead in the water, the powers that be aren't so powerful.
Don't fall for Bush's ridiculous band-aids, at the moment. It takes a stronger man/woman than Bush to even begin on the change we need.

[kstatejim]

Do you want the confused old man and a woefully unqualified rube VP, or a confused old man VP and a woefully unqualified rube president? Both tickets have their goods and bads. Both tickets take cheap shots back and forth. We really cant point the finger at one party for any of this. Both tickets need to get back to the issues and telling us what they will do and where they stand. There is just too much bashing each other and not enough defining our future.

[abarafi]

Boy, I hope you're right. I've become very cynical after eight years of Bush 43 and an American electorate that voted in a beer buddy twice. Logic says it will be Obama. But there is this strong undercurrent of resentment bordering on hatred for intelligent people. Maybe Gore came across as too smarmy, and Kerry came across as too irresolute, but come on...Bush??? And look how excited the Republican base became over Sarah Barracuda - the only candidate who knows how to properly "field dress a moose." We have been the laughing stock of the world since the man from Crawford moved to Pennsylvania Avenue. But that doesn't seem to bother enough people. So, I hope you're right.

[Kindheart]

Thank you for the post---We need to stop the BS in this country. Many of the supporters of Ol' Johnny don't get how his economic theories have brought us to this place in our country. His flip-flops have cost a lot more than the very expensive designer shoes he wears. Does McCain have any clue about the middle class who are suffering under his economic policies? NO!!
Stop the childish bickering and start being honest!! I often wonder if the GOP has an honest bone in their bodies.
It is McCain who is the problem...him and the rest of the GOP.

[pekopper]

Notwithstanding the fact that I would never vote Republican, the Candidacy of McCain has created a kind of epiffany for me. McCain nd Mccain's choice for running-mate have demonstrated what blatant contempt Republican puppertiers have for the people of this Country. If has shown me once and for all, what I had always suspected since Reagan..., that these two clowns are simple props of a corporatist and new-fangled fascist juggernaut. If anyone thinks that these manipulators have any intention on allowing either of these two collaborators anywhere near the reins of power other than the fact they plaster on their punative policies, quite simply, they are out of their minds. But to allow McCain, and even worse this yapping dog, Palin to be loosed upon the American people is beyond forgiveness, but forever clarifies that they are simply props in an evil fascist plan that has been unfolding for years.

Once this election has been settled, what this Country really needs to do is a house-cleaning. And more importantly we need new investigations into the transfer of trillions of dollars to the corporatists through these buyouts, an examination of what really happened during the 9-11 event, and a new Nuremberg Trial so to say to expose and punish the perpatrators of this lie that has been placed upon the American People.

[john gabriel]

Americans are stupid is the real issue! The worst candidate is McCain and for this reason the fool will be elected. He is a biggotted, narrow minded, short-sighted old fool who will with the help of similar minded rednecks and conservative voters win this election. Farewell USA.

[sandrarita]

Well john-gabriel, a defeatist attitude will get you nowhere. If you truly believe the majority of Ameicans are rednecks and conservatives, then you have either been out of touch or said farewell to USA a long time ago. Go Obama!

[akaJohnQ]

McCain is desperate. He wants to be President so badly that he is willing to say and do anything that that he thinks helps his chances to win. The choice of Sarah Palin for his VP was an act of desperation that is now backfiring on him. Nobody has a problem with having a qualified woman on the ticket, but Ms. Palin is clearly not qualified to be POTUS in the event of President McCain's death. When McCain chose her as his running mate, his own readiness for the oval office came into question because he chose to put "campaign first" over "country first." His history of poor health and his age are also serious issues. He claims to be a military and foreign policy expert, but he has distorted views on the conditions in Iraq. While the US is in the midst of the most serious economic crisis since the 1930's, his past admission of not understanding economics is looming large. He offers no real solutions for the crisis, and he blames Barack Obama for causing the problem. The fact that he graduated in the bottom 1% of his US Naval Academy class in 1958 brings into question his very intelligence. McCain is known for having a volatile temper, which also makes him unsuitable to be President. McCain brings so many negatives, and so few positives to the race that I don't see how he even got the Republican nomination.

[heartlanders]

Think of our problem this way, and you'll get a better picture:

The World Bank treats each debtor nation (that's every country in the world) like Holstein milk cows; the calf is nurtured along until it's old enough to have it's own calf and then the calf is taken away and the cow begins it's cycle giving milk to the World Bank. The WB milks the cow until it's skin and bone and production starts to fall off, then the cow is butchered, sold off piece meal and the process continues with other cows/countries.

The good ol' USA has been milked out by the WB (with help from internal infestation of corrupt bacteria) and has been sliced and diced on the world market.

[fpie]

With hacked vote tabulators, caging, voter intimidation at the polls, selective voter chalenges and all the other slimey tricks that the Republican party has been perfecting for years they just need to keep it close so as not to raise too many eybrows. Maybe not even that close. Expierience has shown that the Democrats won't make a squeek in protest.
If you can't stand the thought of McCain-Pailin in the White House (and what sane person can) make it a land slide they can't deny. And pray Obama-Biden won't take it laying down and shake the rafters when (I said when) they try to steal this one. This is the last chance for America and the world.

[sandrarita]

Obama is not taking it laying down and neither will WE THE PEOPLE. Have more faith in a man with integrity. To me, it is a no brainer. To move America to a more decent nation in the spirit it was founded in, vote Obama; if you want more of the same failed policies of the last eight years and AMerica's further slide to its fall and ruin, then vote McCain.

[kellygrrrl]

if the People are actually prepared to hand over the nation to Mr. McBush, the Gaffe Master,
and his sidekicks SarahSpears and T-Fed

then we are completely and utterly SCR3W3D!!!!!

AWAKE YET AMERICA?!?!?!

[Cilantro33309]

Well, Mr Rose, I agree with you in part, but not entirely. Of course there are those who will look at anything McCain does with love and admiration, and care not to look further.

Those people aside, there are still more that will vote McCain or fail to vote because of racism. That is the key here. I don't know if anyone knows how big or small that voting block is, but if you are a bigot you may not even be able to vote in your own best interest simply because of your bigotry. Sad, disgusting, but true.

For everyone else, I truly think you are right. They will watch McCain fall apart, see his lack of leadership skills, and Obama will motivate them.

But even more than Obama's motivation I believe will be the economy. That will push many who would not have voted to do so, specifically to remove the Republicans. We all know that when large numbers go to the polls, the Democrats win every time.

Obama will win, probably by a large margin, but I think mainly out of the urge to punish the Republicans and find that steady hand which will ease their economic woes.

[Walter1234]

You're all delusional. Obama is part of the democratic money machine that caused this fiscal crisis. McCain is not desperate - Obama is. Obama should be landsliding to victory with all the free press he gets from NBC and CNN, instead its a tie. You can lie to yourselves, each other, and the American people all you want, but the facts aren't going to change.

[sandrarita]

You know walter, they say that people who think the rest of the world is delusional while they are sane is....well, you figure it out.