Jobs, baby, jobs!

You've got to figure the MSM and the pundits are looking for any opening to declare McCain back in the race. They need a competitive narrative.

http://pufferfish.typepad.com/

Unless Obama makes some HUMONGOUS gaffe, the debate will not change many minds.

Some folks are saying that McCain will 'hit' Obama on Ayers, but the voters in our country don't care about that guy. They want to know where the candidates stand on the issues -- the economy in particular.

http://thepajamapundit.com/

Anyone notice how STABLE the tracking polls are over the last week or so?

Off topic but I thought I'd share a post I saw @ fivethirtyeight.com a bit ago. Great and promising story...

Kenyada said...

I suggest that the pollsters throw out all data for African American voting in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. This election is very different for AAs. In previous elections, the majority of us voted against Bush, but there was a wedge created by the Republicans when they appealed to the black church, and paid off black preachers. Particularly in 2004, where the pulpit of the black church became just another campaign stop for high level Republican candidates, including Bush.

In 2008, however, there is a ground swell in the black community, and silence from the megachurch leaders, lest they suffer the price of empty collection plates. In the past, we always had to choose the better of two representatives of the status quo. Change was not an option. This year the choice is as clear as a bell. You should see the lines in Atlanta for early voting. And the faces of the people waiting in lines stretching 60 to 100 minutes in length tell the story. “This one is for Florida in 2004!”… “This one is for Fannie Lou Hamer in 1964!”… “This one is for Katrina!”

Yes, we are voting against McCain, but even more importantly, for the first time, we have a candidate for whom to vote wholeheartedly. I’ve never seen or heard anything like this in our neighborhoods. All across the State of Georgia the racist political structure has historically herded us into “Buttermilk Bottom” isolated pockets of political powerlessness. This is the first time that we have an opportunity to rise up, join together and, in one resounding voice say, “Enough!”

I’m not sure you understand. This vote is 400 years in the making. Pollsters don’t seem to take that into account. My 82-year old mother had to be rushed to the hospital last Sunday – congestive heart failure. One of the first things she asked when the oxygen mask was removed was “Will someone please get me an absentee ballot. I don’t want to miss the election.” Committed? Nah, black folks are *passionate* about this one. This is not only a vote for a candidate; it is a vote for America, the America we heard about from our parents and their parents, across the generations. Freedom and Liberty sound so trite these days, but I remember those words spoken by my Dad on his way to the March on Washington. January 20th will be a dream fulfilled. And if you are expecting only a 95% response on Election Day, you are misinterpreting the sound of the drum.

Even if BO made a major gaffe, he has already solidified his position in the minds of the majority of voters. McCain simply put, needs more than a debate gaffe from BO, he needs an overseas crisis like Russia invading another country or something of that nature to get people thinking about his strengths. Thats how he closed the gap in August. If it was not for Russia invading Georgia in early August, this race may have been over from then.

This is going to be the most boring debate of the three given the sit down format. If McCain doesn't try some stunts it will be seen as he's given up, but if he does it will be seen as desperation and called out as a stunk by the MSM.

Somewhat off topic, but I was just watching Palin giving a speech and she's still claiming that Obama "voted to raise taxes 94 times"! (I think that's the number, maybe 98?) But I thought that assertion had been discredited so long ago, my jaw just dropped to watch her trot it out, and hear the crowd loudly booing.

Somewhat off topic, but I was just watching Palin giving a speech and she's still claiming that Obama "voted to raise taxes 94 times"! (I think that's the number, maybe 98?) But I thought that assertion had been discredited so long ago, my jaw just dropped to watch her trot it out, and hear the crowd loudly booing.

It's taken me a long time to come around to being convinced that Obama's tactical and strategic skill in this campaign wasn't just luck or wishful thinking. He's just so low-key about it all, and Dems in general have displayed so much evidence of disastrous ineptitude in this regard that overcoming my skepticism has been difficult. But I found this article in The Plank ("The Triple Dog Dare") on the corner McLame has painted himself into re Ayres and tonight's debate pretty much puts the final nail in my doubt.

Even apart from the particulars, McCain's promise seems to fail three general debating rules:

1) Don't fence yourself in before the debate begins. McCain now pretty much has to bring up Ayers, even if there are no questions that make it easy to do, even if his advisers decide the issue is a loser for him, even if, when push comes to shove, he feels uncomfortable about it, etc. If he doesn't, Obama and Biden's taunts will really start to stick.

2) Don't tell your opponent how you're going to attack him before you do. Yes, of course, Obama already had an Ayers response ready before McCain's comments today. But now he'll be that much more certain to have it neatly polished--and he'll be prepared to rebut McCain implicit claim that he's only bringing up Ayers because Obama forced him to.

3) Perhaps most importantly, if you've already lost two debates to your opponent, the second by a large margin, don't do something just because he dares you to.

What they don't say, but what should be obvious is that this isn't just McCain screwing up, it's Obama deftly and devastatingly outmaneuvering him.

A lot of us saw this coming with the original taunting--that it was a way of boxing McCain in. It's yet another instance that he plays a long game and plays it brilliantly.

And as someone who started out with a LOT of misgivings about the whole lack of experience thing, this talent above all is what makes me think he has it in him to be a capital-g Great president. These GOPers and Rove proteges are not pikers. Neither was Hillary. To outflank experienced, hardcore political adversaries in the highest-stakes game in politics with this degree of 8-moves-ahead smarts is a hell of an ability to bring into the office. And to do it with such low-key, unhurried and unpanicked ease, so that your opponents aren't even aware you're that kind of player--so that they continually underestimate you--is just breathtaking.

I think I just may be getting over that "Okay, so when does he start blowing it" feeling. Just maybe. Finally. Getting over it.