One More Day to Go

I'm so ready for this election to be over. I just want to vote already!

Has John McCain Lost His Damn Mind?

Seriously, why in the world would you let Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurtzelbacher out on the campaign trail? This is a guy who owes back taxes, has no license to even be a plumber, and worst of all, doesn't tip service people (I have it on good authority that Joe stiffed a tour guide while in New York).

And you want this guy to represent you at rally's across the country? Now he's making pronouncements on Obama's position on Israel and when he was questioned by Shep Smith on Fox News, he actually had the audacity to tell him, when Shep asked him how he knew that Obama was not a friend of Israel, told Shep to look it up.

Check it out here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/28/foxs-shepard-smith-forced_n_138674.html

You can watch the video and Shep Smith's response which was classic.

Blech! I'm sick

I'm sick as a dog which serves me right for choosing to dress cute instead of dressing warm once the weather started to get a little colder. The worst thing about having a cold is having absolutely no energy. The upside, no appetite! Yes, I can't taste anything really, so I have absolutely no desire to eat anything. The other downside? Having to blow my nose every two minutes. Right now, I look like Rudolph and I don't mean Guiliani.

At least I don't look as bad as Victoria Principal. Remember when she looked like the picture at the left, when she played Pam on Dallas (the role that Jennifer Lopez should have played when they were bandying about the movie version, not Sue Ellen). God, I loved that show, until they jumped the shark and had Bobby come from the dead. Remember that whole season that was a dream?

Well this is what Victoria looks like now.

Yikes! She claims that she's had no work done, but come on, who is she fooling? Either that or she's not aging very well. If she did have plastic surgery, clearly she didn't have her ex-husband do the job. Or if she did, perhaps that's why they are now divorced.

Since I can't write a post without mentioning the upcoming election, Barack Obama is suspending his campaign to visit his ailing grandmother who helped raise him. Hearing about that this morning on the news, made me want to vote for him all the more. He's clearly saying that his grandmother is more important than the election. I just hope that McCain respects that fact and tones it down, but I doubt it. I'm still ticked off at Palin's idea that only people who live in small towns are "Real Americans."

Is Joe the Plumber Running for President?

Seriously with so many mentions of "Joe, the Plumber" I thought he might be running for office!

It's no secret, that like my friend Kwana, I'm a little obsessed with this election. Not only did I watch the debate, but I watched the commentary afterwards, and I've been reading not only the New York Times, but Slate, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Salon, The Daily Beast (where McCain's Aunt admits that he's losing) as well as Time and Newsweek. I've already scheduled to take off the day after the election to either celebrate or mourn democracy as we know it.

Last night I even went to a roundtable at The Philoctetes Center called "Voters and Friends: Group Influence in Individual Political Belief". At least that was the title of the roundtable, much of the time was spent talking about polling and statistics and other rather boring subjects that I could care less about.

I was raised by Roosevelt Democrats. My mother voted in every single Presidential election accept one and that was because I was born the day before and the hospital wouldn't let her leave to go vote (or buy a pack of cigarettes), despite her promise to return when she was done. She wept when both Jack and Bobby Kennedy were killed. So I grew up in a very liberal household. Did it influence me? Hell yeah!

But I learned to make my own decisions when it came to candidates. Just because someone is a Democrat, doesn't mean he automatically gets my vote if he or she is an idiot. I'm willing to look at the other side. However, I have yet to hear a Republican say anything that I agree with. Seriously I find it hard to believe sometimes that this is the same party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Once upon a time, I did find McCain charming and the type of Republican that I actually could get behind, until he decided that he wanted to win more than stick by his principles.

I take voting seriously as a privilege not just a right. I have voted in every local, state and Presidential election since I voted for the first time for Cuomo on my 18th birthday. And this year, we had the choice of a serious female contender for the first time, and a serious African-American candidate for the first time. It almost seemed an embarassment of riches. I do admit that I try to keep my political discussions to among like minded friends. Recently I noticed on Facebook that some authors that I have been friendly with, who were now friends of Sarah Palin and it did kind of turn me off. But I'm sure that there are people who are turned off by the fact that I am a fervent Obama supporter. The panelists didn't really address those issues during the discussion, which I found seriously disappointing.

Anywhoo, back to the debate. While I thought McCain did make some good points over all, he came across as a cranky old man who could barely contain himself. The thinly veiled contempt that he showed Obama was a major turn-off whereas I thought Obama came across as more Presidential and respectful of McCain. He talked about the ways that they actually agreed, he didn't trash Palin the way that McCain trashed Biden. I thought he gave a very good answer regarding abortion. On the other hand, McCain doing the air quotes thing when Obama mentioned occasions when late term abortion might be permissable when the mother was endangered, lost him huge points among women I would suspect. And claiming that his feelings were hurt concerning Representive Lewis, and his response when Obama brought up people yelling "Kill Him" and "Terrorist" at Palin rallies while Palin tacitly seemed to accept and also to rile up the crowd. Major turn-offs, at least for me. Also his comment about how Obama might want to visit Colombia before talking about it was pretty jerky. And his sneering jibes at Obama's eloquence. For someone who claims not to want to run a negative campaign his whole debate performance was negative.

Also, someone should tell McCain that there is a difference between down syndrome and autism, although they are both fall under the category of special needs. And since Trig is only 6 months old, I doubt Sarah Palin has any idea yet about what he's going to need or what it is like to deal with a special needs child. Talk to her again when he's 4.

As for Obama talking about spreading the wealth, how many middle class families feeling the pinch, haven't occasionally thought the same thing, when we read about the year end bonuses and compensation packages executives receive.

So I have to give this one to Obama.

John McCain - Maverick or Just Business As Usual

If you are undecided about whether or not to vote for John McCain, read this article in Rolling Stone magazine:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Elizabeth

It's the Economy Stupid!

I'm not normally so political on this blog but I'm kind of obsessed with this election. Not just because it is so historic but because the country is kind of in the crapper right now, and I'm a little concerned about who is going to be leading it in the next four years, after the past 8 years of misery that we've had to endure thanks to Shrub and his henchmen Cheney and Rumsfeld.

So I watched the debate last night and while the candidates didn't say anything differently really then they did two weeks ago, I was struck by how much this election seems to be turning on the economy, something that McCain seems not to grasp fully. Remember lo those many years ago when Clinton was running and the refrain was "It's the Economy Stupid!" Well, I kind of think that logic applies to this election.

But McCain seems to be running on empty. He and his pit bull Sarah Palin are now bringing up stuff that had been dealt with in previous debates, and stretching the truth to suit their purposes. I'm talking about Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright. I almost feel sorry for McCain. It's clear that he has absolutely no respect for Barack Obama. Consider him calling Obama "That one" last night on the debate. Right now he seems like a bitter old man. After twisting himself like a pretzel to appease the right wing of the party and choosing Dick Cheney in heels to be his running mate, he has to be aghast that he's still behind in the polls.

I think he looks at Obama and thinks that everything has come easy to him. After all McCain spent 5 years in an North Vietnamese prison, before that he wasn't even at the top of his class at Annapolis, he's spent 26 years in the Senate, and this is what? His third or fourth run at the Presidency and along comes Obama, only in his first term in the Senate, running for President, snatching the nomination out of Hillary's hot little hands, and gosh darn it people like him without Obama really trying. That has got to hurt. McCain reminds me a little bit of Richard Nixon right now when he was debating Kennedy during the 1960 election. I think it was a huge mistake for him to leave the town hall early and to not stay around schmoozing and glad-handing the way Obama did. People are going to remember that.

Of course the fact that right now Obama is ahead in the polls means nothing. What matters is what happens on November 4th when people step into the election booth. Is the nation really ready to elect an African-American president? Not just a Democratic junior senator from Illinois but a man of color.

God, I hope so or we might just be even more screwed then we are now with McCain/Palin in the White House.