1980 on CBS

This is fun: red states and blue states reversed, poor polling, hostage crisis, surprise at Republicans winning the south. A different age.

So I despise celebrity culture, but I read Deadspin almost every day. Does that make me a hypocrite? A typical male? Enlightened? Discuss.

Instead of watching Palin-Biden last night, I watched Chelsea-Man U. Seemed a better fare.

I'm listening to all the songs on my ipod that I haven't listened to in the last three years. Man, is there a lot of Pink Floyd.

Hey Cubs: when you still believe in the curse, you are cursed. When you stop believing in the curse, you are not cursed. So stop having priests bless your dugout and walking a billy goat around the damn park!

Ayers

The Wall Street Journal has a good article today on Obama's relationship with Ayers, which I wrote about in my earlier post. Look, I know it was a decade ago, but it's still close ties with a freaking unrepentant terrorist. You'll note that Obama never talks about working with the CAC.

I know McCain's no saint, but he's alright, and Obama... there's enough here to make me want nothing to do with him. Yes, the WSJ tends to lean right, but I think this is still pretty substantial. I hope people begin to read articles like this and take them into consideration come November.

A Few Thoughts

So far, this election has been pretty much a referendum on Obama, which is why most of my thoughts have been centered on him. My main fears (and yes, he makes me quite afraid), on top of having no idea how he would govern, are whom he associates with.

We all know, after it was finally too big to ignore, that he followed the awful pastor Jeremiah Wright. He has gifted himself, Jim Baker like, a seven-figure home built buy his own church, and has perhaps ruined a marriage of a woman that he's had an affair with. That's way over the top, and much worse than anyone McCain or Palin have associated with.

The next guy is Ayers, whom only Hillary has even mentioned. He was a terrorist from the Weather Underground who thinks they didn't go far enough. Here's more about him, including a bit about Obama. On this, I would need to learn more, but that's a part of the problem. The media have not looked into it. Maybe they're trying to find someone in Wasilla who heard Palin say a swear word one day or something horrible.

And the third is Rezko, who helped him buy his house just before being convicted for a felony. And no, most people don't know these names, because the press have no desire to report on them.

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Now to the other topic. I have a nasty, visceral reaction to hearing him speak. I am afraid of any politician who can speak like he can. I happen to strongly disagree with much of what he's saying - that the country is in bad shape or whatever - but I can't really blame him for bringing up topics that aren't easily disproven without finding certain economic papers. It's popular. But the love for the guy... it needs to be tempered. He's a politician, and one from Chicago at that, created and formed from that horrible political machine. Be careful what you make him out to be.

And now Palin has happened... and the right wing has its own Obama. Dems, you know that feeling of hate you feel for her? That's what I've felt for Obama from the first moment I heard him speak. I would ask that insults to her accent are stopped, because I think that's pretty damn close to being racist, but just some understanding past that would be acceptable. No woman like this has ever graced the world stage before, and I've known plenty like her. It's fantastic they have a representative.

I've been thinking the past several days after I felt such incredibly strong emotions during Palin's speech in Minneapolis. We really don't understand each other here. I have no idea why anyone would think Obama could be a great leader, and I have no idea how someone could truly hate a woman like Palin. So somebody learn me somethin' here; what am I missing about Obama? I would really like to hear. Let's make this something positive before something awful happens; emotions are getting pretty high.

Dem Dems, and the Hunt for November

First of all, I'm enjoying this. For someone like me that views these political events like a sporting event, it's a lot of fun. Dems will be unhappy that, instead of a healthy contest improving both
candidates, both are dragging each other in the mud. But it's still
certainly entertaining.

Now the Superdelagates have to ask themselves; which of the two is most likely to win in November? I generally think in terms of battleground states. Take a look at the map. Does it matter at all that Obama won the deep South and much of the Midwest? Who cares about a Democrat's popularity there? If any of these areas are in play in November, then the Dem candidate wins in a landslide regardless of who is the candidate. On the same point, who cares who wins California, Vermont, or Massachusetts? If any of these states are in play, then McCain has won 40 states on his way to 1600.

What really matters are the states that can swing either way, the ones we always look at in November. I'm talking about Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Florida. I'm sure I've left out a couple more, but those are the big four that come to mind. Of the four, Hillary won the first three, and just barely lost Missouri two months ago. I bet if they had a do-over in Missouri she'd win there are well, but that's just a guess. So which of the two is the strongest candidate in a national election? I'm open to counter-debate, but I'd pick her for the moment.

Meanwhile, the Repubs are very, very lucky McCain was the winner. They need someone to distance themselves from Bush, and they have that. They need someone who appeals to moderates, and he is the best example in the party. He may be the only Repub that fits both roles. And it certainly doesn't hurt that he's a war hero. Look for the VP to come from one of the battleground states I mentioned earlier, leaving Huckabee with merely a speech in the convention, and maybe not even in prime time.

I also think that Obama and Clinton will sort it out before the convention, then make nice, and one will choose the other as VP. Things just seem to happen that way in politics, where it's all happiness and joy and short memories.

I'm sure some of this will look as good as when I predicted "The Colbert Report" wouldn't last six months, but I think I'm closer than some. I'll be voting for McCain, but not only because I usually lean right. I also want a split DC, and there's no way the Dems are losing either house of Congress.