Waiting to vote

As I stood in line for more than two hours waiting to vote I was amazed at the people who were there with me. Young, old, black, white, some for one candidate some for another.

There really was an excitement in the air as many of us waited to vote for a man that we thought would take the country in a new direction. Restore our country to what it should be. Give us hope for the country and for the future.

He had caught a lot of flak for being a media darling, quick on his feet and with a smile, often using his wit and charm to disarm his critics. He used the debate(s) to break out from his stereotype and to take a lead in the race.

I was very, very excited when I finally made it to the front of the line and cast my vote for...Ronald Reagan.

I had been 18 for just shy of a month and it was my first election, but what I remember is that I was excited.

Just like all of those "kids" on television last night. Look at how many places saw impromptu parties as the new voters saw for the first time that what they did counted.

Obama is a lot closer in appeal to Reagan than Bush was, and a lot closer than the 2008 presidential candidate McCain was. The year 2000 wasn't the dawn of the new century and the new age.

2008 is.

Good luck President Elect Barack Obama.

Evil Witch!

Take a look at this news report on YouTube.

This is why the Repugs have such a bad rep.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkBE0lWeYU

I'm Still Undecided

 Sure you are.

You couldn't have two candidates who are less alike (well, in hindsight, George W. and anybody he ran against, but that's another story).

So why the indecision?

Racsims plays a part, although we will never know for sure how big a part. Likewise, some just don't want to say they aren't going to vote for McCain because he is too darn old.

Obama's race shouldn't be an issue, but anybody who doesn't think it will be is a fool. I'm from the deeeeeeeeeeeep south, and it still plays a part in everybody's life over the age of 30. More for some than others, but it is always a factor in some aspect of our society.

I didn't think McCain's age was or should have been an issue at all (other than for the comedians) until he picked Palin as his running mate. Suddenly his age and health are fair game, but he made the choice.

The latest polls show that between 1 in 7 and 1 in 10 people are still undecided. Four days before the race.

Right.

In my opinion, and that's all it is, most people who are claiming they are undecided aren't. They know who they are going to vote for, they just don't want to admit it. Some will vote for McCain, some for Obama. In the south, I think Obama will do better than expected. I think a lot of people will actually vote for him here but just don't want to admit it. I think it will break the other way and more will go for McCain. Let's see.

I do think McCain will lose a lot of people who are saying they will vote for him, but when the curtain closes will vote for the big O.

But I've been wrong before.

New Article

In what I hope is the death knell for the McCain-Palin campaign (and the Bush years) Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama for president.

Of all of the Bush-ites I was most disappointed in Powell when he became a front man for the cronies and liars. The bad part was that he never looked like he believed in what he was doing or the people he was doing it for. The good part is that he got fed up and left, preserving some of the great man's dignity.

Perhaps he will have a place in the Obama administration and a chance to redeem himself IF he can support what the new President will do.

While I think Bush was absolutely the worst President of my lifetime, if not history, I do think he believes he is doing the right thing. It doesn't help us any with the crap he has caused, but at least he believes it is the correct crap. An excellent example of ignorance being bliss, because it would be hard for him to live with himslf otherwise.

But back to the topic, Powell's endorsement may finish off any remaining doubters about Obama's foreign policy experience although I believe that was doomed when Palin was chosen as a running mate.

The one thing we can expect is that McCain will go even more negative since that's all he has left. It's ashamed his advisors are making this campaign the McCain legacy that will be remembered.

Interesting aside on the debate

I started and abandoned this blog entry several times. I think America is too politically correct and people spend too much time worrying about offending others.

Some of you who read the www.dontbealemming.com blog know that I took the position that Bush didn't ignore New Orleans because there were black people there, he just didn't give a rats' ass about poor people.

Some of you may have noticed that, again, McCain didn't shake Obama's hand. He didn't the night of the bailout vote and he ignored the outstretched hand again tonight.

That's not why I'm writing this.

A young black woman, Ingrid Jackson, asked the following question:

"Sen. McCain, I want to know, we saw that Congress moved pretty fast in the face of an economic crisis. I want to know what you would do within the first two years to make sure that Congress moves fast as far as environmental issues, like climate change and green jobs?"

The question wasn't the problem, neither was the answer. After Ms. Jackson asked her question, and before answering, McCain turned his back on her and walked away, did not address her name (it looked to me like he forgot it) and addressed his answer to the audience, not to her. The only time he did that tonight.

Watch the reruns and see if you notice.

Read into it what you will.

Victory!

I am going to resolve the Iraq War right now.

America won.

Yay for us!

Victory!

Now can we quit hearing the crap about the "White flag of surrender" and the "Cut and run".

I have yet to hear anyone define how we will know when we have won and when it will be okay for us to leave so I figured I would do it for them

Now can we get on to the important things like actually getting us out of the damn desert, our economy back on the right track, and Amerians back at work?

Are we that stupid?

Are the American people stupid?

Last week the House refused to pass a $750 Billion (that's Billion with a B) bail out bill and the people cheered. Reports were that calls were pouring into Congress 80-90% against the "bail out".

Finally, the elected (at least some of them) were listening to the constituents and not the contributors.

Not this week.

I may be griping too soon, but it looks like the bill is going to be passed by the House.

What happened since last week?

They added another $150 Billion (that's billion with...well, you get it) onto the bill, started calling it a "Rescue Plan" as opposed to a "Bail Out", and instructed everyone to us the phrase "Save Main Street and not just Wall Street" (I'm almost as sick of hearing that phrase as I am of hearing "maverick").

But with those changes, now a lot of Americans are saying it's okay.

I gripe about the Democrats passing it because no one can even give a slight guarantee that it will make a difference. All they can say is "Maybe". Most independent economists are saying that, at best, it is a band-aid on a spurting, gaping wound.

On this issue though I take the most exception with the Republicans. Not all of them, but all of them who are voting for it. The ones who stand their ground have my utmost respect, even though I think their ideology is wrong.

If you believe in a free market economy, then believe in it. Not just sometimes, not just when your buddies are making lots of money, but all of the time.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist (Gonzo, throw your thoughts in here) but I'm not sure that they didn't tank the bill last week on purpose so the market would tank, their buddies could buy a bunch of cheap stock and at the same time change public sentiment when the over 60s got a chance to look at their 401ks and investments and see what is happening to their money.

Not many poor people support the bill.

But when have we mattered.

Remember Katrina?

And this one time, when I was at debate camp...

 Some of you may not recognize the title line but it is paraphrased from the movie American Pie. Take a look sometime.

The much awaited and anticipated (at least by the television pundits) Biden v. Palin debate was tonight.

First, let me talk about a pet peeve. If you can't pronounce nuclear, you should never even potentially be in control of them. Likewise, the word is Washington, not Warshington. If you can't pronounce it, you shouldn't be there. Case closed.

Now...Biden wont he debate. Palin did better than many expected, but that wasn't hard to do. Biden acted like it did not matter what question he was asked, he knew not only the answer but a good answer and one you believed. Palin knew that her state had a lot of oil.

The pundits are jabbering about how well she did in that she didn't fall on her face and that she reassured the base. They are also babbling about Biden (although much less) and his performance, but mostly about Palin.

But here is what, in my humble opinion, they are missing...the base of the parties are not going to decide this election.

Palin had a chance to pump up McCain and at least make him look less befuddled. Instead, she talked about oil.

And that was her high point.

She also had a BAD moment when she was asked about the causes of global warming and instead of giving a well thought out, intelligent response she, instead, chose to dodge yet another question and ended up sounding like a bad Tina Fey impression of Sarah Palin.

I kid you not.

Go to YouTube and watch the videos.

If her goal was to make the right wingers ecstatic about her then she probably succeeded (although the fundamentalists will not like her answer about same sex "partnerships").

If her goal was to help the ticket and convince the undecideds that she would make a good Vice President and, more importantly, John McCain would make a good President then she failed miserably.

No Bailout!

For a little more than the last week we've heard politicians and pundits running around screaming "Bailout!"

What happens if they don't?

When the mechanic down the street closes his shop, no one ran to help. Ditto the hardware store on Main Street.

So why now? Why these fat cats?

I was very curious about why this was so important, but other than general assertions that it may cause a BIGGER recession, no one has explained why the bailout is necessary.

I don't profess to be at all familiar with economist-y theories so if anyone can enlighted me on why it is necessary I'd like ot hear it.

Don't bother with the "people will lose a lot of money", "investments will be wiped out". Nobody jumped up to help the Enron employees when they were hosed out of their money.

"Foreclosures will increase" is an excellent battle cry, but why will that happen? If a bank holding a mortgage shuts down, either another company will buy the mortgage OR the homeowner doesn't owe it to anybody any more, and they will put the money they were paying on the house note back into the economy in one way or another. Wasn't this the reason given for those stimulus checks?

Why don't we just take that $700 billlion (that's billion with a B) and use it to help the people that lost their investments?

My suspicion, and I don't have any facts to support this, is that this is just another ploy to help the rich get richer, or at least not get poorer.

I am perfectly willing for someone to explain why I am wrong and why the bailout is a great idea. But, please, no FOX News talking points.

No lemmings allowed, remember?

above cartoon from http://p9.hostingprod.com/@analyticalwealth.com/blog/personal_finance/

Whew! Look what time it is!

Turns out John McCain isn't quite as anxious to debate Barack Obama as he may have wanted everyone to believe. Due to the "financial crisis" (caused chiefly by the deregulation authored by Phil Gramm, yes, the same Phil Gramm who is responsible for McCain's economic policy) Senator McCain now wants to suspend his campaign and cancel Friday's debate.

Gonna be awful hard to answer those questions isn't it, Senator?

Worried that the "nation of whiners" is going to stop long enough to listen Friday night? No really good answers you can memorize by then? Spin team can't figure out how to spin this into the fault of the Democrats?

I guess the Senator suddenly remembered a previous appointment for Friday night.