Campaign Notes

Just a few notes:

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, who has endorsed McCain, was on NPR last night. He said Gov. Palin was not qualified to step up to the tasks of the Presidency. With endorsers like these....

The campaign nationwide is geting uglier. Not only is Governor Palin trying to separate real Americans from fake Americans, Congresswoman Bachmann (R MN) wants an investigation aimed at finding out who in Congress is really pro America. Chris Hayes (R.Ga ) worries that Obama will appoint judges sympathetic to "the gay," and Liddy Dole accuses her opponent of taking money from "Godless Americans" and even faked her opponent's voice saying "There is no god." (Her opponent is a Sunday school teacher and Presbyterian.)

At times like this we like to comfort ourselves by saying everyone does it and that these types of low brow attacks are just some symptom of a larger malaise. Both sides are at fault, so how can we stop it.

Oh please. That's just something we say to make oursleves feel better.

Even the most causual observer of the last twenty political years can figure out that the low blows have consistently had a Republican character. Democrats did not turn patriotism into a weapon. Democrats did not use abortion and gay marriage as "wedge issues." Democrats do not try to out people they believe are insufficiently American. There were never Democratic Swift Boaters. Democrats did not invent Willie Horton nor have they turned anyone's sex life into an impeachable offense. There is no Democratic counterpart to Roger Ailes, Lee Atwater or Karl Rove. And the Democrats most certainly never had a "Southern Strategy" aimed at appealing to the latent racism of whites. Those are all Republican contributions to American politics.

So the next time you lament the state of politics in America, have the courage to name your enemy. Democrats may be pusilanimous, weak kneed fence sitters devoid of the killer instinct, but by and large they have never gone ugly in national elections.

Too Many Images....

Elizabeth Hasselback, the vapid blonde on The View announced she is going to campaign with Gov. Sarah Palin this weekend. I guess they wanted someone who could make Palin look smart. (Seriously, what would WFB think? What will George Will write? These are the spokespeople for a major political party?) I predict tiny little black outfits maybe with tiny little leather jackets.

Politically this is of no interest. But I suspect Larry Flynt is salivating in his solid gold wheelchair. (Naylin' Palin II: The Hasselback file).

Terrorism in the Eye of The Beholder

In her interview with Brian Williams yesterday, Governor Palin carefully avoided the question of whether abortion clinic bombers were terrorists in the way she claims Bill Ayers was a terrorist. I blogged on the question below and it is always interesting to see where folks draw the line.

I suspect Palin may believe there is an argument to be made that clinic bombers are simply stopping the slaughter of innocent human life. But can't the same argument be made on behalf of those who bombed parts of the military industrial complex in order to stop the US from invading Cambodia and Laos (both neutral countries)or dropping napalm on civilians (we have all seen the pictures)? One might even argue that stronger case could be made for those who tried to stop the taking of actual life, instead of just theoretical life.

I know we all hate terrorists... except when we don't.

I Always Knew Poor People Were to Blame

I admit I have been playing catch up lately, but I was surprised to see that none less than the WSJ, the NY Post's Stan Leibowitz and country crooner Hank Williams Jr. are now blaming the economic meltdown on.... poor people.

The theory goes something like this. According to conservatives, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) forced banks to make bad loans to poor people. Poor people, being shiftless and lazy, defaulted on those loans left the poor banks wanting. In many ways, this is an old story. Part and parcel of the supply side movement has always been a fascination with perverse incentives. That is, the economic gurus of the last twenty years have consistently argued that any attempt to help the poor can only fail and take the rest of us down with it. I have always thought of this theory as saying, "We'd love to help, but we just can't."

This particular application of what is now mainstream economic doctrine is really fraught with peril. First, nothing in the CRA mandates that banks apply anything other than their usual credit standards to the loans they make. The CRA did not invent interest only loans or loans that covered downpayments or 100% of the purchase price. Those were the creation of banks seeking to expand market share.

Second, the CRA only covers banks and thrifts. They account for only about 25% of the subprime loans at the bottom of this mess. Third, the CRA certainly does not suggest that it is a wise policy to parcel high risk loans together and sell them as a mortgage backed security. That was a creation of investment banks.

Lastly, the CRA was the invention of the Carter Administration, so it is over thirty years old. During those thirty years, we somehow managed to avoid a major economic meltdown caused by high risk mortgages. This suggests to me that the CRA is probably not the culprit. Maybe we should look for something that actually happened in the last thirty years... like deregulation of the securities market, throwing out Glass Steagall, jettisoning traditional mortgage underwriting standards, the growth in the selling or mortgages, and allowing such a precipitous run up in in home prices. Poor people and their advocates had little to do with any of these.

This may sound like an arcane argument, but the larger point is important. If we are going to build an America in which we move forward together and inwhich we actually recognize the public interest, we are going to have to do away with the old supply side saw that helping the least among us only hurts them and us. The argument is false and prevents us from reaching our potential as a community. We are also going to have to face up to the reality that our current situation is not the creation of the least powerful among, but the most powerful among us. Pointing the finger elsewhere does us little good.

And You Wonder Why I Dislike the GOP..

"Liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God." (US Rep. Chris Hayes (R. NC)

No. But we are skeptical of anyone who presumes they can define a real American and then defines real American as "People just like me."

Campaign News

A few bits:

The McCain camp has hired Warren Tompkins to handle some robo calls for the campaign. Tompkins was the fellow who masterminded the "McCain-has-an-illegitimate- black-child," robo calls during the 2000 Republican primary in South Carolina. At that time, McCain denounced this type of dirty campaign tactic.

Sen.McCain has banned Time's Joe Klein (a/k/a "Mr. Mainstream") from his campaign. This adds to long lists of publications and journalists banned from the campaign. Amazingly, McCain will no doubt wonder why the press he gets now is not as favorable as what he recieved in 2000.

This weekend, the Chicago Tribune endorsed Sen Barak Obama. This is the first Democratic endorsement for the Trib in 37 years. (I believe the Trib held neutral in 2004.)

This weekend, Gov. Sarah Palin had this to say:

"We believe...that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation."

Bad news Governor, the vast majority of Americans live in cities or their suburbs, not small towns. If the only real Americans are in small towns, than America is running short of Americans. Hmm... what other candidate came to power decrying the "rootless commpolitans" in the cities while lauding the simple folk in rural areas like ... ohh... Bavaria?

McCain Abandons Wis

A local website states that the RNC has not renewed its ad buys for next week and the McCain campaign has only bought through Sunday. The website concludes that McCain is all but pulling out of WI, where Sen. Obama has opened up a double digit lead.

Local polls also show Obama leading in Virginia.

McCain Update

I see that some young actors are putting together a TV Ad called "Talk to Your Parents about McCain." It is a spoof of the "Talk to Your Kids About Drugs" ads run by the NAC. Here is a suggested script:

Kid: Mom, dad... we need to have a talk. I was looking for my i-pod in your car when I found these...(show McCain Bumper stickers)

(Parents are rolling their eyes and shifting uncomfortably.)

Kid: Voting is a very serious and your vote can have a lasting impact on your life.

Parents: All the other parents are voting for McCain. Obama is too inexperienced.

Kid: Listen: I know how hard it is to resist your friends. And I know McCain is considered cool because of his record in Vietnam. I know war heroes popular with you guys and that you all wished you had the chance to fight in a war and prove yourself like John McCain, but there is more to it than that.

Parents: You are so out of it. Barak Obama will raise taxes and regulate the securities markets. Johnny's parents say they would have to give up there three week European vacation or move down to a house with only 3000 square feet.

Kid: Well, Johnny's parents aren't paying our medical bills or my tuition at State U -- which is 50% higher than it was a decade ago. Listen ... sometimes the easy answers aren't the right ones. You can't just cut taxes and let corporations do whatever they want. That won't fix anything even though it sounds nice. Just because it feels good, doesn't mean its good for you.

Parent: But what about all the bullies that McCain keeps talking about?

Kid: You have to grow up and understand that talking tough doesn't solve all the problems. Sometimes you need to be smart about people who don't like you.

Female Parent: But Sarah Palin is a mom like me...

Kid: I know and she is pretty too. Plus she seems to validate your choice to become a mother by wanting to make every young woman a mother whether they want to or not. But I bet if you asked her some questions, like about what newspapers she reads and what court decisions she doesn't like, you would realize that she is not as smart as she sounds in front of crowds made up of all her friends reading a speech someone else wrote.

Parent: But Obama is just not cool. All the other parents will call me disloyal and a sissy if we don't vote for McCain.

Kid: Listen, I know Barak Obama does not look like you and he has led a life that is different than yours. I know -- especially at your age -- that can be pretty scary. But we just can't keep doing the same thing forever particularly when it is killing people abroad and making us all poorer.

Parent: But its only one vote...

Kid: That is what you said about Ronald Reagan. remember how much you liked him? And one Republican vote led to another and another and another. Now we are hated throughout the world, our economy is in the dumper, we have a huge national deficit and the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

Parent: But Obama didn't even wear a flag pin... what a dork.

Kid: (deep breath) didn't we already talk about judging people by what is on the inside not the outside?

Parent: Stony silence....

Kid: Just promise me that before you vote for John McCain, you will come talk to me, ok?

A Guy of the Street

Here is Frank Keating, a National McCain Co-Chair and Co --Chair of Catholics for McCain:

Just he (Sen. Obama) ought to admit, "you know, I've got to be honest with you. I was a guy of the street. I was way to the left. I used cocaine. ..."

Guy of the Street? ... Wait... I thought he was a "liberal elitist." So is he elite or "of the street?" Was he STREET ELITE?

The Army's Grim Statistic

The Army's suicide rate jumped from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year.

I am not going to pretend I can tell you precisely what that means. But it cannot be good.

Is That Mike On.....

"It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice. If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

-- senior McCain strategist Tom DeFrank, regarding his candidates new focus on character attacks

Anti American Terrorists and Pro Life Terrorists

Sen. McCain's patrician and anerexoic spokeswoman is out defending her candidate's attacks on Barak Obama for sitting on a Charity Board with former Weather Underground honcho Bill Ayers, who according to the McCain camp is a terrorist.

I guess there are terrorists we like and terrorists we don't like.

In 1993 and 1994 Sen. McCain voted against bill that would have made it a federal crime to burn, bomb or blockade abortion clinics. The bill would have also made it a crime to kill abortion doctors. Bombing, burning and blockading are precisely the activities that earned the Weathermen the attention of the FBI. Why should Operation Rescue get a free pass?

Perhaps the Senator should publish some handy guide to terrorist activities he does not like and terrorist activities of which he approves.

For What .... Klute?

Somebody just sent me an e-mail indicating that Jane Fonda is being honored (by someone) as one of the 100 Extraordinary Women in the 20th Century. I have always found Fonda's naivete about the North Vietnamese and the role she ended up playing in VC propaganda to be reprehensible.

Fonda made a very stupid mistake. She assumed that just because the US was engaged in morally questionable conduct in S.E. Asia that the North Vietnamese were somehow sainted. You would think a leftist in 1967 would have realized that the world is not so black and white.

Point Taken

The Yale Union (or whatever anglophillic name it has) recently debated the efficacy of blogs. One comment deserving of some thought:

It's not that meta-narrative "distracts us from the issues". It's that as it insists that the important thing is to find the hidden side of everything, it ensures that instead of letting politics stir something in our chests, we create a culture that cackles at conviction and calls passion puerile - it insists that politics be solely a sport of the mind and that belief and inspiration - the prerequisites to participation - are naïve and intellectually immature. Bloggers are ruining the movie.

Of Course Not

This is Palin's New Big Line:

"This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America, We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism."

Of course Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism. The reason is not too complicated: He. Does. Not. Have. Sh-t. For. Brains.

I know. That is over the top. But if in the year 2008 you believe that the US is somehow morally superior to other countries, or that our motivations are somehow more noble than those of other countries, you are deluding yourself in the worst possible way.

Not believing in an "America of Exceptionalism" -- which is a Palinism-- does not mean that you cannot believe that America and its traditions have much to offer, nor does it mean that you cannot believe our democracy is not worth fighting for and that our way of government is preferable to others. It just means you don't think America has transcended the faults endemic to the rest of humanity. Its called having a little humility and a little realism.

Please fasten Your Seatbelts and Put Your Tray Tabels in An Upright...

Yesterday Palin went after Obama's "ties" with former Weatherman Bill Ayers. The GOP has been airing an ad with Obama in grainy footage stalking across a stage like a hood.

Gallup has Obama at the 50% mark and Politoco says Obama wins 353 electoral votes. McCain's getting desperate and is about to get dirty...

McCain may as well take out an ad stating that "The Substantive Portion of this Campaign is Over, Henceforth We Will Only Precede with Half Baked Character Assisination, Innuendo, Meaningless Gossipy Chatter and .. You Betcha! ... Subtle Racism"

Couldn't Have Said It Better....

This from Salon's Andrew Leonard. It expresses my guarded optimism exactly. I suspect Leonard speak for many who grew up in the age of Reagan when business was king and poverty, pollution, and fairness were just a bunch of airy fairy ideas:

The moral authority of the Reagan revolution has collapsed. It will be many, many years before a Republican can address the nation with a straight face and declare that what we need is more deregulation. Oh, they'll try it -- I've heard Senators and Representatives make that very case this week. But the majority of Americans will not pay attention to their garbage.

Some evidence for this can be found in the reaction to the presidential and vice-presidential debates. Last Friday and on Thursday night, Americans watched candidates from both political parties make their traditional pitches. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden delivered what, to my ears, were very familiar Democratic calls for more tightly regulated markets. John McCain and Sarah Palin, while giving lip service to "oversight," still pumped out traditional Republican talking points about tax cuts and worn out bromides about "getting government out of the way of the people."

All my adult life I've watched this tug-of-war, and since my very first vote in 1980, have been disappointed and disgusted at the result: A sellout of the American public to the forces of greed.

The results of the snap polling after both debates, declaring Obama and Biden the victor, shocked me. Not because I thought they were the wrong interpretations of what had happened, but because I just am not used to the majority of Americans seeing through the malarkey.

Let's hope we are finally turning the page on an age of greed and militarism.

The VP Debate

My bottom line: Palin did not do any further damage to herself. Biden helped his ticket. To use an analogy, Palin showed she can play Single A Ball. Biden looked like he deserves to be in The Show. A few other notes:

Can the American people feel comfortable with a candidate who gives a "shout out" during a national debate, winks, and whose English is so laden with folksy tidbits, dropped g's and extra articles? Call me an elitist, but I think even Joe Sixpack appreciates a little sophistication. (Note to Palin -- act like you've been there before.) She was more like a mascot than candidate.

I have been down a few Main Streets in my life. I am not sure everyone is as inarticulate as Palin. She almost comes off as a caricature of small town life and not the real thing. I would not be surprised if Palin's style is wearing a little thin in small town America. Living in a small town does not mean you cannot speak English.

I am a little tired about all this talk about "preconditions" to talks with foreign leaders. John McCain says not demanding preconditions "legitimizes" our enemies. I don't buy it. Our enemies -- Imadinnerjacket, Chavez, etc -- already have legitimacy in their sphere of influence. They do not need us to provide it, and not getting our blessing is almost the better play for them politically. Gone are the days where we can demand that a foreign government jump through hoops just to have a meeting with us. We are just not the center of the universe and pretending that we can make anybody kiss the ring prior to a meeting only furthers or international isolation.

I would have liked to see Biden mention the fact that "Stand on Your Own Two Feet Sarah" is one of the largest beneficiaries of federal outlays in the US. Her state is on the federal dole and a major beneficiary of the big government that she likes to rail against. Governor Palin, given the way you feel, can we have all our money back?

So Governor Palin agrees with V.P. Cheney's expansive view of the Vice Presidency. I don't think Americans were all that comfortable with the fact that all the real decisions were being made by the No. 2 guy. This may come back to bite her.

Biden's dental work is impressive. He may want a partial refund on the eye lift.

As always, it was strange to hear Republicans going after big business. This was the party whose ascendency was built on a business friendly ideology. Had the same words come from a Democrat, the GOP would have said they were inciting "Class warfare" or that they were "anti growth job killers."

It was sad to see Biden read from the AIPAC bible on Isreal. Is this pandering, or has he drank the Kool Aid?

I noticed Sarah Palin used a few Reaganisms. The first was "There you go again." The second was her unattributed use of his line about telling our grandchildren about "a day when men were free." That is a direct Reagan quote. He used it while he was campaigning against ... Medicare. (But the woman knows where her base lies. Republicans cannot get enough of Reagan. The fact that he oppossed many rights we now view as fundamental -- such as fair housing -- means little to them.)

Her third Reaganism really wasn't a Reaganism, but a Winthropism:

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism [sic]. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights.

That is John Winthrop speaking at the founding of the Massachusetts Bay colony. If you bother to read the rest of the speech, about bearing each others burdens, caring for each others basic needs by giving up any personal surplus, you will see the irony in Winthrop being quoted by a supply side/deregulator/tax cutter. Moreover, I think it is a little scary when any world leader thinks their country represents "the perfect ideal," and they we have earned some right to be "unapologetic." Little lacking in the humility there doncha think Sarah?

McCain Gives up Michigan

The NYT reports that McCain is giving up on Michigan.