Thanks GW

Todd Zywicki, blogging at the Volokh Conspiracy, nails it.

But one reason why I linked Pete duPont’s sobering WSJ column the other day is that I have slowly come to the conclusion that as bad as McCain is, Obama really is much, much worse than I realized for a long time. Maybe I’m just slower at this than others, but it really took a long for it to sink in to me exactly how far left Obama really is. On every single issue that I am aware of, he seems to be at the far left end of the Democratic Party spectrum. I mean really out there.

Perhaps most fundamentally, given the history of the world over the past 25 years I think I just had assumed that no serious politician or thinker would in this day and age hold the sorts of views that Obama seems to hold. Raising taxes in a recession, protectionism, abolition of the secret ballot for union elections, big spending increases, nationalized health care, and most appallingly (to my mind) the potential reimposition of the “Fairness Doctrine”–I mean this is pretty serious stuff. And when combined with a Democratic Congress, I think we may be talking about (to use Thomas Sowell’s recent phrase) a “point of no return.” I guess I just assumed that Obama would be sort of Bill Clintonish–”the era of big government is over” and all that stuff. That he would have absorbed the basic insights of recent decades on taxes, trade, regulation, etc.

What could we expect from McCain? Not much–but holding the status quo on some areas and perhaps a few improvements in others. Perhaps an end to the incontinent spending of the past few years. Elimination of earmarks. Free trade. No fairness doctrine (campaign finance reform is bad, but I think the Fairness Doctrine is much worse). A much better health care insurance policy. I’m not as optimistic as some of my friends that McCain’s judges will be good, but I think Obama’s judges likely would be really bad.

He is right. The far left, also known as the base of the Democratic Party, really doubled down this year. Figuring it was their year, they opted for one of them, instead of a triangulator. Of course Obama has run his campaign more toward the center, all the while giving a wink and a nod to the George Soros/MoveOn types.

They all are leftist anti-capitalists that support Barack Obama.

Tom Metzger, Director White Aryan Resistance- “The corporations are running things now, so it’s not going to make much difference who’s in there, but McCain would be much worse. He’s a warmonger. He’s a scary, scary person–more dangerous than Bush. Obama, according to his book, Dreams Of My Father, is a racist and I have no problem with black racists. I’ve got the quote right here: ‘I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother’s white race.’ The problem with Obama is he’s being dishonest about his racial views. I’d respect him if he’d just come out and say, ‘Yeah, I’m a black racist.’ I don’t hate black people. I just think it’s in the best interest of the races to be separated as much as possible. See, I’m a leftist. I’m not a rightist. I hate the transnational corporations far more than any black person.“

Gwinnett County, GA is reporting unprecedented voter turnout. Lines of primarily African-American voters in the Atlanta area are waiting up to 10 hours. A request was made to GA Secretary of State Karen Handel to extend early voting into Saturday. Naturally, the white Republican Secretary of State refused.

In a measure of the level of delusion and denial that Republicans are experiencing, check this post and comments from Protein Wisdom’s wingnut pub.  They are so afraid of the truth, they deleted my comment.  It will be fun to revisit this thread next Wednesday.

From the masters of delusion and denial:

I’m calling it McCain, 53%-47% popular, 281-257 electoral.

Posted by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates

…airing out for the last time. If Obama wins, these will prolly disappear. Grab ‘em while you can. From the oldest to the newest.

more below the fold..
Read more »

Rasmussen, the pollster that many see as conservative biased whose website is peppered with McCain/Palin campaign adds, has issued their election prediction:

To make this picture complete, I’d love to see the following in the Senate for a 60 seat majority:

Franken beats Coleman in MN

Martin beats Chambliss in GA

Lundsford beats McConnell in KY

… that would be super sweet.

…from Jim Treacher.

Yeah, Barack Obama is a ‘constitutional scholar’. He’s studying ways to nullify it.

Obama: Constitution is a document of ‘negative liberties’. Listen, for yourself.

Obama: Constitution stained by ’sin of slavery’.

On the Obama Infomercial last night (from HotAir) AP calls bullshit…

Calvin Woodward reports that Obama misled viewers on at least five key points in his 30-minute final argument:

• Health care costs - Obama claimed his plan would lower costs by $2500 per year per family, but it doesn’t.  In fact, Obama can’t point to any particular cost reductions.  He plans to spend $50 billion over five years on modernization and chronic-disease prevention and presumes that this will lower costs in the future, but in the meantime it raises costs at least in the short run on everyone (the $50 billion doesn’t come out of thin air).
• The Pay-Go of his plans - No, he hasn’t demonstrated that he’s found the revenue for his spending, despite his claims last night.  Non-partisan analysts believe that his spending programs will add at least $428 billion to the deficit in his first term, and that’s if you accept his non-specific pledge to cut spending in other areas.
• Tax cuts for working class families - Before the commercial aired, he had already begun backing away from that idea because of the financial crisis, although Obama didn’t acknowledge it in the ad.
• The “right” to affordable health care - Obama doesn’t guarantee coverage in any of his plans, at least not for adults.
• Getting out of Iraq - Obama noted that the US spends $10 billion a month in Iraq and talked again about “bringing that war to a close” — but he’s backed away from his previous pledges to get out on a strict 16-month timetable, which is as fast as the remaining units can be properly withdrawn.

related:

Cal Thomas: Obama, Marx and trashing the Constitution
Sarah Palin: Obama would re-write the Constitution

How does the white kkkristian party inspire fear of an opposition candidate?  They make him look darker. 

Aswin Madia is involved in one of the most hotly contested races in the country in the third district of Minnesota. Ashwin is a veteran of the Marine Corps, the Iraq war, and the JAG corps. He is an  Indian/American and graduate of NY Law School.  He is a Democratic candidate for congress.

KARE11 - MN:

A Republican attack ad invites viewers to “meet the real Ashwin Madia,” but the still photos featured in the spot present a noticeably darker version of the 3rd District DFL congressional candidate.

 WATCH the report

The NRCC’s statement:

Reached by phone in Washington Wednesday, NRCC spokesman Ken Spain replayed the ad on YouTube and told KARE, “We stand by the ad.”

22%

CBS:
Mr. Bush’s approval rating [22%] equals the lowest ever achieved by a sitting president, and is matched only by President Truman in 1952. His 72% disapproval rating is a new high that has never been equaled.

Kyle-Anne Shiver writes an excellent essay, “The Repugnance of Socialism”, available today in American Thinker.

There also, Andrew Walden’s timely and well-written “Barack Obama: Red Diaper Baby“. That essay’s title alone should give pause to any American, to wonder how and why we’ve managed to allow this serpent to come so close to the reigns of power. Does Barack Obama’s candidacy and possible election represent the result of a necessary, but ultimately reversible, swing of the political pendulum, or is this candidate the One who will bring about the permanent destruction of our political balance?

We’ve cycled back and forth, now, for decades. During my lifetime, JFK/LBJ to Nixon/Ford to Carter to Reagan/Bush to Clinton/Clinton to Bash/Bush. During that time we’ve managed to stay pretty much a Representative Republic, with our three branches of government, none with more power than the other (although the Executive is most visible and the Legislative most strident). With the possibility of Barack Obama, and two houses of Congress, we may see a flaw, or a major breakdown of the system.

Especially with the fear-based catalyst that the economic crisis represents. If Obama assumes office and starts changing things willy-nilly, sends questionable hopey-changey bills that are immediately and without viable opposition rubber-stamped by the Legislative branch, supported by and opposition to silenced by a clingy media, then this entire nation may become unhinged and eventually unrecognizable.

I laughed when the leftys spoke that ‘Bush will seize power, take over the nation, not allow elections, and become dictator for life!’ Obviously, that didn’t happen. President Bush succeeded in keeping America safe from further attacks during his watch.

An Obaminable administration bent on injecting a social platform the likes of which we’ve never seen before will undermine the very fabric of our nation. And without any opposition, may cause unrepairable harm. A veritable attack on our nation.

Tell me that’s not frightening.

Instead of touting their candidate, they’re trying to spread fear.  Instead of trying win votes in battleground states, they’re defending states Bush had won in ‘04.  Instead of sending a cohesive message, they are infighting… McCain aides calling Palin a “whack-job” that has “gone rogue” while Republican operatives are assuming an Obama win and forming a circular firing squad to sort out the blame.  Leaving one McCain aide utterly speechless, Palin is so full of herself she’s talking about 2012.

Your pre-election GOP corruption and hypocrisy UPDATE:

• McCain and his surrogates have attempted to paint Obama  as holding anti-Israel views because of his relationship with Palestinian-American Professor Rashid Kahlidi.  McCain served as chairman of the board of the International Republican Institute that distributed several grants to Khalidi’s Center for Palestine Research and Studies - a Palestinian research center co-founded by Khalidi.

• Palin has been calling Obama a socialist - “Barack the wealth spreader;” yet Palin boasted to a reporter, “Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth.”  

• Palin has received another ethics complaint.   Palin used her official position for personal gain by securing unwarranted reimbursements for her daughters travel expenses - often uninvited extended stays at posh hotels.

• The Navy is covering up for McCain and refusing FOI requests for info on an auto accident McCain was involved in where someone died….  McCain’s Chappaquiddick.

• McCain is now having to defend his home state of AZ where some polls have shown the race to be as close as 2 points.  Solid Bush states of GA, MT, NC, IN, and ND are now tossup states.

• Reported in the Washington Times:  Obama win is inevitable according to an analysis by th AP.

• The GOP hate manifested itself in the type of thing I’ve been warning about and saying that these assholes must be beaten down.  I’m talking about the skinheads - you know what side they’re on, and the ATF does as well.

• The desperate Sen. Elizabeth Dole [R-NC] - losing to Kay Hagen in NC - played the jesus card in her ridiculous  new ad calling Kay Hagen “godless.”  Hagan is an elder at the First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC, has taught Sunday School and accompanied youth mission trips.

• The Republican’s most senior Senator - from the GOP Vice Presidential nominee’s state has been convicted of 7 felonies.  Yet Palin has not called for him to resign.  

The NEW YORKER: sums it up:

Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. The problem for John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party is that the bottom was scraped clean long before it dropped out.

Bend over Republicans, you’re about to get your well deserved ass kicking.

I’m out of here — there are Mexican beers to drink, and faux-dead-people to see. By the time I get back, there will be a new President Elect, and hopefully Glen and Serr8d will be all depressed.

Blog amongst yourselves. Open thread.

Is this an election or a coup?

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren’t buildings as their addresses.

U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus also ruled that provisional ballots can’t be invalidated because of poll worker errors.

Monday’s ruling resolved the final two pieces of a settlement between the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The coalition agreed to drop a constitutional challenge to Ohio’s voter identification law until after the Nov. 4 election. In return, Brunner and the coalition agreed on procedures to verify provisional ballots across all Ohio counties.

Seen at Theo’s place.

This, an exposé of media bias…by a real journalist.

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game — with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I’ve found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.

But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I’ve begun — for the first time in my adult life — to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was “a writer,” because I couldn’t bring myself to admit to a stranger that I’m a journalist.

A real journalist…remember those?

Check out the McCain supporters at the rally on Monday in PA.   It’s easy to understand why these people are losers.  It is thought by many that McCain can’t win without PA.

Obama leads 222 to 93 in newspaper endorsements. 

E&P: Obama’s lopsided margin, including most of the major papers that have decided so far, is in stark contrast to John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205. Obama, with 222, has already topped Kerry’s number with many more yet to be tallied. 

…for all the right reasons why any intelligent, thinking person would vote for John McCain over Barack Obama.

“On balance, Mr. Obama represents a radical break with laws and policies of the past 50 years. Mr. McCain has the experience and judgment to lead America through economic turmoil and to safeguard this nation from terrorists. We heartily endorse Sen. John McCain.”

I’ve snipped the editorial for fit and emboldened the significant sections I find pertinent.

At the top of the list we find…

Throughout his adult life, he [Obama] has sat at a law-professor’s desk or a committee table. Never has the mantle of responsibility weighed on his shoulders alone. He has never run a city, a business or even a government agency. As Joe Biden reminds us: “The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.”

Mr. Obama has never had the kind of heartbreaking failure that steels leaders. Instead, others have cleared his path, from changing the rules for electing the president of the Harvard Law Review to wiping the names of rivals off the ballot in his first state Senate race. He has always enjoyed the hoist of a friendly press and benefited from rivals reluctant to fault him. Is he ready to lead when people or events turn against him and he alone must decide among a cacophony of advice?

By contrast, Mr. McCain’s experience is impressive. In the Navy, he commanded pilots amid the boom of enemy guns and, as a prisoner, suffered five years of torture and trial that would wreck a lesser man. As a leader, he has bucked president and party while reaching out to old enemies, like Vietnam and Sen.Ted Kennedy.

Taxes: …

[Obama] favors letting the Bush tax cuts expire - raising taxes across the board. Despite Mr. Obama’s talk, he considers every one not receiving a handout to be a target for taxation.

Mr. McCain opposes higher taxes.

Spending: …

Mr. Obama plans nearly $5 trillion in new spending, if you add all his far-flung promises. Five trillion dollars is a pillar of dollars 335,000 miles high. (By contrast, the moon is 247,000 miles away.) Boosting deficit spending will only strangle economic growth, deflate the dollar and put future generations in debt to foreign central banks that are venturesome enough to buy American treasury bills.

Mr. McCain has vowed to cut spending over the next four years - a step in the right direction.

Supreme Court: …

Mr. Obama will almost certainly nominate jurists who will sweep away the laws of elected legislatures and results of popular referenda in order to serve the interests and policy preferences of a rarefied liberal faction. And we know that Mr. McCain will not appoint such judges.

War on terror:

Only a vigorous effort can keep terrorists at bay. Mr. Obama has faulted the Bush administration and seems to favor the lawyerly approach of the Clinton years, which led to attacks on our embassies, military bases, warships and finally our skyscrapers. Mr. McCain understands that public safety is one part of the Bush legacy worth keeping.

Iraq: …

Mr. Obama talks about “ending” the war, not winning it. America has defeated insurgencies before (such as in the Moros) and is prevailing now in Iraq.
..
Withdrawal dates only embolden our enemies and risk American lives. Mr. Obama’s timetable in Iraq seems imprudent and dangerous.

Israel and Iran: 

Mr. Obama says he supports Israel while pledging to meet with Iran “without preconditions.” Yet, Iran is a nation that has sworn to “wipe Israel off the map.” Iran’s vast nuclear program sprawls over 24 sites and consumes tens of thousands of man-hours per year. The progress of its long-range missile program continues to astound intelligence officers. Mr. Obama has offered no serious plan to meet the Iranian threat. Instead, he calls for a renewed commitment to “multilateralism,” which is a continuation of a failed Bush policy. Israel is our strongest democratic ally in the Middle East. Israelis and the many American citizens who live among them - as well as approximately 300,000 American soldiers and contractors living within missile range - have real reason to fear that Mr. Obama’s inaction could lead to tragedy. That’s why the Jewish Press and other pro-Israel publications have endorsed Mr. McCain.

Gun rights: 

While Mr. Obama said he supports the Second Amendment, the National Rifle Association predicts that he will be “the most anti-gun president in American history.” In an April 2008 mailer, Sen. Hillary Clinton said largely the same thing. Mr. Obama supported the D.C. gun ban, which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional; he favors increasing federal excise taxes on guns and ammunition by 500 percent; and, in 1996, he endorsed a complete ban on handguns in Illinois. Mr. McCain supports gun rights.

Union elections: …

Increased unionization will smother the economy, as it has in Europe. Unions, which have suffered decades of declining membership, want it [a tool for union intimidation, ‘Card Check’] badly and Mr. Obama wants to give it to them. Mr. McCain is opposed.

Abortion:

“The first thing I would do as president,” Mr. Obama said, “is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” which would sweep away all federal and state restrictions on abortion (including parental consent for minors and the partial-birth abortion ban). It is no wonder that Princeton professor Robert George, a member of the President’s Council on Bio-Ethics, concludes that “Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States.” By contrast, Mr. McCain is strongly pro-life.

A poll in KY by the  Lexington Herald-Leader/WKYT-TV revealed the following:

• Republicans are 5 times less likely to vote for Obama because he is black

• 54% of Republicans don’t know Obama is a Christian, 28% of them think he is Muslim

No wonder Republicans have disdain for education.  Ignorance and bigotry work in their favor.

McCain is leading Obama by 12 percentage points in the ‘real state’ of KY.

Because:

• Obama would let the blacks take over
• Obama  is a Muslim and this is a Christian nation
• Obama put his hand on the Koran not the Bible when being sworn in as Senator
• Obama’s mother was an atheist and his father a Muslim
• Obama was educated as a terrorist a Muslim madrassa
• Obama has a Muslim middle name - Hussein
• Obama would assist Muslims in their 25 step plan to bring America down
• Obama is a communist
• Obama wants to punish people like Joe the Plumber and oil companies for their success
• Obama endorses sex for 5 yr olds
• Obama wants women to have abortions and is a baby killer
• Obama is friends with terrorists
• Obama and his church hate America
• Obama doesn’t represent REAL Americans
• Obama is an educated elitist
• Obama has no experience with anything
• Obama wants to force my kids to have health insurance that they don’t need
• Obama may be the Anti-Christ
• Obama wants to take my guns away
• Obama is popular in foreign countries - and that threatens America
• Obama won’t let us ‘drill baby drill’
• Obama wants America to lose in Irack
• Obama is related to Osama and Saddam Hussein
• Obama wants to sit and talk with our enemies
• Obama doesn’t have good family values like the Palin family
• Obama is a liberal and likes homosexuals
• Obama is a negro and is not to be trusted
• Obama is involved with ACORN - a company that specializes in vote fraud
• Obama uses illegal drugs like most negros

Don’t be ignorant.