Hands down, Obama won.  Even looking at it through the eyes of someone who is not a Barack supporter, there’s no denying that he looked more poised, more in control, and gave more specific details of his plan of action.  McSame, on the other hand, looked flustered and grumpy.  He spoke in mass generalities (just like Palin, what a shocker) and made absurd statements  like, “…fixing Social Security is easy.”  Oh, I see John, you’ve just been waiting for the right time to do it.  Twenty-six years in Congress and you just never got around to it.  Nice work.

After last night’s debate, and along with everything that’s happened in the last few weeks, anyone who can look at McSame and still think he’s the best man for the job is certifiably insane (or a racist).  Which actually brings up an interesting point:  I can actually understand someone not voting for Obama because he’s black better than I can not voting for him because they think McSame is better.   That’s sad.

“The poll found that, among likely voters, Obama now leads McCain by 52 percent to 43 percent. Two weeks ago, in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, the race was essentially even, with McCain at 49 percent and Obama at 47 percent.”

“As a point of comparison, neither of the last two Democratic nominees –John F. Kerry in 2004 or Al Gore in 2000 — recorded support above 50 percent in a pre-election poll by the Post and ABC News.”

And this about Palin:

“…reaction to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s running mate, has cooled somewhat. Overall, her unfavorable rating has gone up by 10 points in the past two weeks, from 28 percent to 38 percent.”

Even more importantly:

“Independents, key swing voters, now break for Obama, 53 percent to 39 percent, reversing a small lead for McCain after the Republican convention.”

Finally, the crux of what this election is going to be about because guess what, it ain’t getting any better:

“In the new poll, voters once again gave Obama higher marks than McCain when it comes to dealing with the economy, 53 percent to 39 percent. Two weeks ago, Obama’s edge on the question was a narrow five points, his lowest of the campaign. Among independents, Obama’s advantage on the economy — now 21 points — is greater than at any point in the campaign.”

Doug Holtz-Eakin source

Holtz-Eakin is a formerly respected academic and government economist who has been reduced to making distortionaryarguments to paper over the massive deficit black hole McCain’s tax cuts would create.

Arthur Laffer source
Laffer is the originator of the Laffer curve, the fringe view that claims government revenue increases when tax rates are lowered. There is zero empirical evidence this is true at current tax rates. McCain has repeatedly said that he believes this foolishness, but Holtz-Eakin has said (also repeatedly) that McCain does not.

Phil Gramm source
Gramm is a lobbyist who was vice president of one of the investment houses most heavily implicated in the mortage industry scandal. As a senator he pushed for the banking deregulation that contributed to the current crisis. See more here.

Kevin Hassett source
Hassett has been widely ridiculed for writing the book Dow 36000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market in 1999, predicting that the Dow would hit 36,000 within five years, if not sooner.

Donald Luskin source
Luskin has been repeatedly named the Stupidest Man Alive by Brad Delong. See here for an example. I can attest based on my own interaction with him a few years back that in addition to being not the sharpest tack in the box, he is also an extremely unpleasant person.

Nancy Pfotenhauer source
Pfotenhauer is a pure distilled product of Koch Industries, an oil company which funds much of the right wing message machine. See here for details.

Carly Fiorina source
Fiorina was spectacularly fired from her previous job as CEO of HP. According to the Times,

… Republicans say Ms. Fiorina is using the McCain campaign to rebuild her image after her explosive tenure at Hewlett-Packard. They also say it is hard to see why a woman widely criticized for mismanaging one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies is advising and representing a candidate who acknowledged last year that he did not understand the economy as well as he should.

Regarding Fiorina, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, the senior associate dean for executive programs at the Yale School of Management, says “What a blind spot this is in the McCain campaign to have elevated her stature and centrality in this way. You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer.”

It’s an interesting read.  Seems like we’re on the brink in the country and McCain is putting his faith in the people that helped get us here.

I don’t want this to come out as a rant against small towns in this country, but Sarah Palin was right:  small town people grow our food, work in our factories, and fight our wars.  They don’t run our multi-national corporations, govern our large cities or, if there is any such thing as good karma in this world, have the ability to make decisions that effect billions of people.   I’d rather leave that up to the well-educated, not the barefoot beauty queens.

This woman looks and sounds like a New Jersey soccer mom.  That’s great, I’m not against them.  I am, however, against a New Jersey soccer mom in the number two spot in the country.  Speaking of the way she sounds, I can totally see how badly Saturday Night Live is going to make fun of her.  That nasally-annoying voice and robotic speaking pattern. I can’t wait.  But, I digress.

If the rest of the country can’t see through this sham, I feel sorry for us.  If the McBush/Stalin ticket is elected, we deserve everything we get.

Oh, and by the way:  they keep showing Bristol and her new ‘fiance’ (who I’m sure just JUMPED at the chance to marry her… must have been the shotgun pointed at him) on TV.  Such a good looking, well-mannered young man.  Here’s excerpts from his MySpace profile.  Yeah, good luck with that.

Oh yeah, she's qualified.

I don’t now if I should be really excited about this pick or really frightened.  On the surface, I want to be excited.  Surely, the choosing of such a clearly unqualified individual will result in the downfall of McCain’s bid for the White House.  Even someone who is in favor of the Republican party and nearly blinded by the light of faith can add up the facts and see her shortcomings.  This, for all intents and purposes, should be an early Christmas gift for the Democrats.  Not only has McCain willfully removed the ‘inexperience’ sword from his armory, but he hastily chose a running mate without knowing the full baggage that comes with her. 

It seems so obvious to me; there’s nothing that even needs to be made up in this situation. She bases her political agenda on family values, teaching abstinence and pro-life, then reveals she has a pregnant teenage daughter.  Oh, she’s keeping the baby, so that speaks to the pro-life commitment and I keep hearing her repeat that Bristol is going to marry the father (interestingly enough, she never says when), but how about you get your own house in order before you tell me how to run mine?  Why is no one screaming that this is a failure of her way of thinking by saying that teaching abstinence didn’t work?  You can bet dollars-to-donuts that had this been Obama’s daughter they would have bought billboards saying that Dems ‘condoms-for-students’ programs are a sham.  You know who could have realllly used a condom?

With all that, why would I be frightened?  Four words: George Bush’s Second Term.  I no longer will put anything past the stupidity of this country.  No longer will I give the average American the benefit of the doubt.  My faith has been shaken and nothing short of a landslide Obama victory will restore it.  There’s an entire swath of folks in this country that will do whatever it is other’s tell them to do.  Sheeple, I believe is the term.  And unfortunately, the Republican’s no how to work the shit out of the sheeple.  

I should be happy about this.  I should be thinking that this is sewn up.  However, what I am thinking is that this woman could very well be in the White House, one precious heartbeat away from sitting behind the desk.

God help us all.