Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[Leroy]

Pollster John Zogby: “Three big days for Obama. Anything can happen, but time is running short for McCain. These numbers, if they hold, are blowout numbers. They fit the 1980 model with Reagan's victory over Carter -- but they are happening 12 days before Reagan blasted ahead. If Obama wins like this we can be talking not only victory but realignment: he leads by 27 points among Independents, 27 points among those who have already voted, 16 among newly registered voters, 31 among Hispanics, 93%-2% among African Americans, 16 among women, 27 among those 18-29, 5 among 30-49 year olds, 8 among 50-64s, 4 among those over 65, 25 among Moderates, and 12 among Catholics (which is better than Bill Clinton's 10-point victory among Catholics in 1996). He leads with men by 2 points, and is down among whites by only 6 points, down 2 in armed forces households, 3 among investors, and is tied among NASCAR fans.”

[Popeye_Card]

The Palin thing is a big strike against McCain for me. I don't think you can ever truly say anyone is qualified to be president or how you go about achieving it. But you can determine if someone even meets the minimum requirements of being capable of being president. If you can't give an interview to anyone at any time and be able to adjust on the fly or give anything more than a canned answer then you can't be the leader of the most powerful country on earth. Either McCain thinks she is the best candidate for the job and could be ready to step in (wrong) or he compromised his morals and the future of this country to try to get elected (even more wrong). Either way that gives me pause to vote for someone like that and have faith he will do the best job when he has all the power.

Between a presidential candidate that jokes "bomb bomb bomb Iran" and a VP candidate that states in an interview that we should never second-guess Israel, I have a hunch that the McCain-Palin ticket would be a foreign policy nightmare. Certainly nothing like McCain's hero speaking softly and carrying a big stick.

I quoted the above because this is the type of stuff that scares me a bit about Palin. Blame it on the over-coaching or whatever, but her canned responses in both her interviews and the debate give me little reason to believe she can move well on her feet in a stressful situation. I don't want a pitbull with lipstick. I want a German Shepherd that thinks before it attacks.

[indyredbird]

I think corporate taxes are a bit high, 2nd highest in the world I believe.

Just thinking out loud here, but the US has the largest GDP in the world (for now) and the largest national debt in the world as well.

Is it that big of deal that we ask the rather profitable corporations to pay the second highest rate in the world to maybe keep that debt from increasing even more? I understand that there's a delicate balance that tips the scales towards stiffling new business.

The whole American economy is pretty eff'ed right now, and it's not just about the banks/mortgages/credit crisis. The fundamentals, as McCain likes to call them, are NOT strong, IMO. We've become a merchant economy that relies upon hypercapitalism. The manufacturing base is withering away. If you take a look at where global manufacturing has shifted to, you also see some of the strongest growing economies in the world. We need to fix the system to where we're the manufacturers again.

I think you just made the arguments that justify lowering the corporate rate. But if you want to reduce the debt, then lets do it. Both candidates want to increase spending, McCain seems less to me (again the lesser of two evils) Its true we have lost our manufacturing. People need to think of the big picture when buying that foreign car, all the cheap crapt form China. We have already lost the electronics and textile industry, and autos will be next. Yes the Japanese are assembling cars here, but the design, engineering are done in Japan mosty, and they set up Japanese suppliers in the US to buy parts from.

I think the fundamentals were realtively strong, the US workforce is extremely productive, the inflation rate was relatively low, interest rates low, the unemployment rate was pretty decent. The rising gas costs seemed to me to put the economy is a tail spin, which brought on the mortgage crisis.

[Tarver]

Pollster John Zogby: “Three big days for Obama. Anything can happen, but time is running short for McCain. These numbers, if they hold, are blowout numbers. They fit the 1980 model with Reagan's victory over Carter -- but they are happening 12 days before Reagan blasted ahead. If Obama wins like this we can be talking not only victory but realignment: he leads by 27 points among Independents, 27 points among those who have already voted, 16 among newly registered voters, 31 among Hispanics, 93%-2% among African Americans, 16 among women, 27 among those 18-29, 5 among 30-49 year olds, 8 among 50-64s, 4 among those over 65, 25 among Moderates, and 12 among Catholics (which is better than Bill Clinton's 10-point victory among Catholics in 1996). He leads with men by 2 points, and is down among whites by only 6 points, down 2 in armed forces households, 3 among investors, and is tied among NASCAR fans.”

wtf?

[Hungary Jack]

Pollster John Zogby: “Three big days for Obama. Anything can happen, but time is running short for McCain. These numbers, if they hold, are blowout numbers. They fit the 1980 model with Reagan's victory over Carter -- but they are happening 12 days before Reagan blasted ahead. If Obama wins like this we can be talking not only victory but realignment: he leads by 27 points among Independents, 27 points among those who have already voted, 16 among newly registered voters, 31 among Hispanics, 93%-2% among African Americans, 16 among women, 27 among those 18-29, 5 among 30-49 year olds, 8 among 50-64s, 4 among those over 65, 25 among Moderates, and 12 among Catholics (which is better than Bill Clinton's 10-point victory among Catholics in 1996). He leads with men by 2 points, and is down among whites by only 6 points, down 2 in armed forces households, 3 among investors, and is tied among NASCAR fans.”

After reading the WSJ article on national polls and how Obama has reversed early McCain leads among suburbanites, senior voters, independents, and other key blocks, I am convinced that the Republicans will be utterly routed on November 4. 8 years of craptastic policy will come home to roost, and it won't be pretty for the Republican Party.

[BW23]

I don't have much time at all, but I'll go for it real quickly.

I understand the reservations people have with Palin. I do, however, tire of the experience thing. She doesn't have national exposure (such as running for national office for a few years), but that's all Obama has. Four years ago he stated he didn't have the experience to run for president in 2008. All he's really done since then is, well, run for president. At least Palin is running for a pretty blah job for the time being. Obama's running as the top dog.

That worries me much more than Palin running for VP.

As for her interviewing skills, or lack of, she's improved. And it's not like she's staying away from the press at all. In fact, she's the only one talking to the press out of all of the candidates. The others haven't taken questions in quite some time, from what I read earlier this week. This is a non-issue, IMO.

Anyway, back to the issues. It's hard for me to tell anyone who to vote for. I think that's a private choice, and one's personal beliefs and ideologies shape the direction of the vote. I'm very conservative at the core. I want government to provide for things that individuals can't do on their own. Defense and security is a big one. I would say education, too, which is more of a democratic issue, but both sides screw this one up quite a bit, so I'm not happy with either. I'm all about less government, and that means in terms of money and in terms of power. Particularly at the federal level.

As for defense and national security, even Obama's running mate think he'd be tested because of his lack of experience. I really don't think that Obama understands foreign policy at all, and the Iran comment about it being a small country that's not a threat to the U.S. is just one example as well as him flipping on conditions for meeting with Ahmadinejad. (Another example of him stating his beliefs until someone has to come in and correct him. That's worrisome.) Now his VP pick admits that his lack of experience will test him, and it will test him early. Even McCain's opponents haven't suggested that a country may try to do something against the U.S. early. I haven't seen anyone suggest any time frame.

Then you have Iraq. Obama was one of the few who was right about not going into Iraq. Okay, so it was more than a few, but there were plenty of Democrats who were for it. Obviously going there was wrong, but the surge has worked, and I think he'll pull the troops too soon. I think McCain will get them out as quickly as he sees fit, but I believe that Obama would make things worse...if that's possible.

As for the economy, a president's not going to fix things. If you think the Democrats can, well, they'll have their chance as they have control of both the House and Senate. I haven't examined each candidate's economic plans closely. However, as a rule, I'm not in favor of "spreading the wealth". And I particularly don't think this is the time to do that. I know there's data that says that trickle down doesn't work. I've also claimed that I don't pretend to be well versed on the economy. But I just don't see how, with prices on goods of all kinds at such a high right now, that taxing even small business, and particularly big business, more makes sense right now. I guarantee that will result in less jobs from those companies effected and higher prices for the goods that company deals with. Not exactly what we need right now.

I also don't believe Obama when he says he won't raise taxes on 95% of individuals. He's never been that kind of guy. Hasn't he voted to raised taxes almost every single time he's voted on such issues? And with all of the new spending he wants, (again, I'm less government), at some point he'll have to raise taxes to accomplish that.

I'm as anti-abortion as there is. Then again, I really don't think this is a religious issue. I felt this way long before I became closer to Christ. I don't want a president that thinks people that make a "mistake" should be "punished" for that mistake. I don't think babies should be viewed as a punishment. I think they should be viewed as human life.

Obviously, I don't agree with Obama on much. But it's not like I'm a fence-sitter either. I'm not happy with McCain. I wanted Fred. McCain, of the candidates, was my fourth choice...at best. But I align myself with what he might do much more than Obama.

As for "change"...there won't be change. It will be business as usual for the democratic party. Why? Total control. Is it a change from the Bush administration? Sure. That doesn't mean the change is good. Not when factoring in the fact that McCain isn't Bush as much as Obama tries to paint him that way.

And that, coupled with Obama's economic stance, worry me the most. Democratic House. Democratic Senate. Democratic President. No checks and balances. Scary for either party. But particularly scary if any Supreme Court justices are needed. While I want republican justices, I like that there are checks and balances in place for nominees. Not that that's the only place the checks and balances come into play or are needed.

Anyway, I've got to get back to work. That's the biggies. But I'm not telling anything that you didn't already know.

[Popeye_Card]

I think corporate taxes are a bit high, 2nd highest in the world I believe.

Just thinking out loud here, but the US has the largest GDP in the world (for now) and the largest national debt in the world as well.

Is it that big of deal that we ask the rather profitable corporations to pay the second highest rate in the world to maybe keep that debt from increasing even more? I understand that there's a delicate balance that tips the scales towards stiffling new business.

The whole American economy is pretty eff'ed right now, and it's not just about the banks/mortgages/credit crisis. The fundamentals, as McCain likes to call them, are NOT strong, IMO. We've become a merchant economy that relies upon hypercapitalism. The manufacturing base is withering away. If you take a look at where global manufacturing has shifted to, you also see some of the strongest growing economies in the world. We need to fix the system to where we're the manufacturers again.

I think you just made the arguments that justify lowering the corporate rate. But if you want to reduce the debt, then lets do it. Both candidates want to increase spending, McCain seems less to me (again the lesser of two evils) Its true we have lost our manufacturing. People need to think of the big picture when buying that foreign car, all the cheap crapt form China. We have already lost the electronics and textile industry, and autos will be next. Yes the Japanese are assembling cars here, but the design, engineering are done in Japan mosty, and they set up Japanese suppliers in the US to buy parts from.

I think the fundamentals were realtively strong, the US workforce is extremely productive, the inflation rate was relatively low, interest rates low, the unemployment rate was pretty decent. The rising gas costs seemed to me to put the economy is a tail spin, which brought on the mortgage crisis.

I don't think I did. We have remarkably profitable corporations, and they do just fine paying the tax rate that they do. Lowering the rate (like lowering the individual tax rates) will do nothing but cut revenue the government is bringing in.

As far as cutting spending, neither is going to do it. As their proposals go, you have to take everything with a grain of salt. Democrats propose things all the time that never get implemented--nobody is going to be able to agree enough on national health care, etc. over the next 4-8 years for a program to be set in place. Republicans tend to be penny wise and pound foolish--see the remarkable run-ups in debt during Republican tenures, mostly due to outlandish military spending.

I also don't think that the gas prices led to the mortgage crisis. The extreme debt bubble in this country was eventually going to burst. I don't think this is nearly the end of it. Both the government and most of America's citizens need to learn to live within their means. Nobody wants to do it though, and I have a tough time believing it will happen no matter who is elected president. Furthermore, a good portion of our economy depends on people living above their means. The profits are in retail. Gotta keep those cash registers ringing. Even if it means that the government prints money it doesn't have to give to consumers to spend (again).

[BW23]

Lowering the rate (like lowering the individual tax rates) will do nothing but cut revenue the government is bringing in.

Good.

[Popeye_Card]

Lowering the rate (like lowering the individual tax rates) will do nothing but cut revenue the government is bringing in.

Good.

No, not good. That debt eventually has to be paid off. You can't make that many budget cuts.

[fulldeck]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14805.html

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

Sarah Palin? NOT ELITIST! 150,000 on outfits? Pocket money, homie.

I heard that tonight PJ. Nieman Marcus? Saks? Whats the matter with Target or Walmart like where real americans shop. why not kill and skin a moose? Oh well, $150m less for negative ads about Obama.

FWIW, two people I know were on the fence a month ago about this election and in the aimed-for demographic of McPalin - well both of them mentioned being disgusted by McPalin's campaign conduct, but even more pissed by their friends that are McPalin people that continually harass them with ACORN, Ayers, Muslim, abortion stuff. They both are def voting Obama.

these feces flung by McPalin gets blown right back in their face.

Are you two kidding me? Do the two of you buy your business suits at Target or WalMart?

[Insert eyeroll smilie here.]