Hagan Extends Lead Over Dole

A new Rasmussen poll from North Carolina released yesterday shows Democrat Kay Hagan extending her lead over Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole, 51-46. Both Hagan and Obama have made significant gains in the past month over their Republican opponents. Our current Balance of Power Projection shows the U.S. Senate race as too close to call. 

Quote of the Day

"Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything."

--Harry S. Truman

                           33rd President of the United States

New Poll: GOP Takes the Hit on the Economy

Just when you may have started to wonder if half of your fellow citizens have been in a coma for the last eight years, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll gives some hope that they haven't been. In a poll released this afternoon, the researchers found that twice as many Americans hold the Republicans responsible for the current economic mess than blame the Democrats. Well, duh.

Some 47% of those questioned believe the GOP is more responsible for the present (lousy) state of the economy, while 24% blame the Democrats. You gotta think those 24% have simply been off their meds too long.

These views already seem to be having an impact on the national, head-to-head poll numbers in the presidential race. The same poll gives Barack Obama a 51%-46% lead over Republican John McCain among registered voters.  It's a pity that so many voters have to be hit over the head with reality before they wake up, but such is the state of the body politic in America these days. Only forty-two days to go...

Drill, Baby, Drill!

This is from R.J. Matson, political cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the New York Observer and Roll Call.

Critical Election Dates This Week: Sept 22-Sept 28

Every Monday, ElectBlue will post critical dates in the upcoming week for participating in the November election. These critical dates include voter registration deadlines and early voting information.  

Voter Registration: Voter registration is still open in all fifty states and the District of Columbia through this week.

Early Voting: Early voting is now underway in the following states: GA, KY and VA. Early voting will begin tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept 23rd) in IA.

Action: Call, text, email or talk in person to everyone you know. Make sure they are registered to vote and encourage them to early vote where possible. 

Video: McCain "No regrets" Deregulation "Helpful to economy"

He wasn't kidding when he said he needed an education in economics.

Here's a portion of the 60 Minutes interview from yesterday.

Quote of the Day

George Will, conservative columnist, political commentator and long-time water carrier for the Republican Party, speaking today about John McCain's handling of the financial crisis, on ABC's This Week With George Stephanopoulous:

"The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' ....and then picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate."

Florida Poll: McCain's Lead All But Gone

There's a new Florida poll out this morning, and the news is good for Barack Obama. The poll, underwritten by the St. Petersburg times and the Miami Herald, shows John McCain leading Barack Obama by just 2% (McCain 47 - Obama 45 - undecided 7). The poll has a margin of error of 3.5%.

Polls prior to 9/11 indicated a 6-8 point lead for John McCain.

An average of the four most recent polls from Florida show John McCain leading Obama, 48.75 to 45.5 (-3.25).

A few highlights from this poll:

Voters By Age

18-34: Obama +10

35-49: McCain +4

50-64: McCain +1

Over 65: McCain +7

Top concerns

Economy 43%

Iraq 14%

Terrorism 12%

Hispanic voters prefer John McCain 55-41

43% said their personal economic situation is worse now than it was two years ago.  Another 43% said their situation has not changed.

*Update* Another Florida poll today shows McCain leading by just 1%

Quote of the Day

"The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults."

                                            - Alexis de Tocqueville

                                        1805 -1859

Say It Ain't So, Rocky!

The creator of this wonderful bit of political satire is not known to us. We first found it on Pam's Houseblend.

First Lie, Now Cheat. What's next? Steal?

Guardian editor, Michael Tomasky calls John McCain, "The biggest liar in modern political history."  The numerous lies that John McCain has told in this campaign are beginning to catch up with him. In one month, McCain has lied over and over again about Obama's tax proposals, and McCain's appalling claim that Obama supported comprehensive sex education for five year olds made us all wonder just how sick someone has to be to actually say, "..and I approved this message." 

Palin quickly fell in line with her, "I told Congress, 'Thanks but no thanks' on that Bridge To Nowhere...," and then, there was the fib about selling the state plane on Ebay.

 

The McCain campaign doesn't appear to be lying much these days.  Sadly, their reasons for shutting down the lie factory have very little to do with morality and everything to do with getting caught. McCain's fellow Republicans are even taking notice. Now when Karl Rove thinks your lies have gone too far, you know you've got a very evil heart.

So when lying won't get you elected.  Try legal loopholes cheating.

From the Washington Post:

"Senator Obama's [fundraising] advantage is not emerging as people thought," said Lawrence M. Noble, a former Federal Election Commission general counsel and an Obama supporter.

The reason has less to do with Obama's fundraising -- he has now raised $440 million, more than any presidential candidate in history -- than it does with McCain's ability to maneuver within the confines of the Watergate-era funding program, Noble said.

With backing from the Republican National Committee, McCain has taken advantage of loopholes such as "hybrid" television advertisements and joint fundraising committees that may keep him close to financial parity with Obama.

and from the New York Times yesterday...

“There are very, very few lawyers in the country that are better at exploiting campaign finance loopholes than Trevor Potter,” said Bradley A. Smith, a former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission. “Of course, that’s one of the odd things about the McCain campaign: ‘Here’s the rules we want, but we’ll play by the rules that are here.’ ”

But now, as Mr. McCain’s top legal adviser, Mr. Potter, a former F.E.C. chairman, and his team have been helping the campaign finesse the strict spending limits it faces under public financing. Although Mr. McCain is supposed to be out of the business of private fund-raising after he received his $84 million infusion from the Treasury this month, it is sometimes difficult to tell.

This month, the McCain campaign began running banner Web advertisements asking for donations to the McCain-Palin Compliance Fund, a fund-raising vehicle rooted in a 1980s F.E.C. ruling that candidates who accept public financing can still collect private donations for legal and accounting costs for complying with campaign finance laws.

Only a careful observer, however, would have noticed the advertisements’ fine print, which said donations to the fund would be used to pay for “a portion of the cost of broadcast advertising,” as well as other expenses.

The McCain campaign declined to make Mr. Potter available for an interview.

Six years after McCain's bipartisan achievement in campaign finance reform, he's already looking for ways to beat the system. The law that bears his name is now one in which he's making a mockery of.

"We Are All Socialists Now"

The title of this blog is a quote from Jonathan Alter, Senior Editor at Newsweek, during his appearance last night on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show. He was referring, of course, to the reality of the so-called bailout plan for the US financial industry being crafted by the Bush government.

As I sat watching the television, Alter's words almost took my breath away. Socialists? How can that be? How could the actions of a very conservative, hard-right Republican administration make us all socialists? Has the planet turned upside down?

The answer, in a word, is yes. In many ways, the political landscape of America has been turned on its head by the unparalleled failures and stupefying incompetence of the current Republican regime in Washington. The list of this administration's calamities is all too long and far too familiar to require repeating them here. Now, on top of everything else, comes the failure of our financial industry and the imperative to bail it out lest there be even more dire consequences.

When the fine points are finally put on the federal bailout of the financial industry, it will be the largest peaceful nationalization of any private sector industry in the history of mankind. The socialization of various industries (coal, steel, rail, etc.) in 20th century Europe by numerous left-leaning, democratically elected governments pales into insignificance when compared to this trillion dollar event. Only the forcible government seizure of the entire private sector as the result of revolution (or foreign occupation), as happened in Russia, China and eastern Europe in the last century, is on a par with this nationalization scheme.

As a committed Liberal, I believe in rationally-regulated, well-managed, free-market capitalism kept on track by competent government oversight. The Republican Bush-Cheney administration, aided and abetted by mostly Republican Congresses, has - in the space of only eight years - nearly destroyed that concept. They have turned the American government into little more than an unregulated, out-of-control instrument of Wall Street greed and Washington corruption. 

Now, faced with certain ruin, these self-proclaimed proponents of free markets and small government have had to betray everything they said they believed. Incredibly, it is a Republican administration leading the charge for the largest intrusion of government power into the private sector in our history. Note, however, that their plan is very careful to assign all the risk of the free market to US taxpayers while whatever reward there was has already been given to their corporate buddies. So much for Country First.

In fact, Bush-Cheney and recent Republican Congresses have served no one but themselves and their corrupt friends. Their only hope now is that Republican John McCain can somehow save them, their rotting Party, their perverse and bankrupt ideology and their billionaire friends. They have some reason to be optimistic. In the past few months, John McCain has proven that he will say anything and do anything to get elected. And why not? After all, it is a formula that has worked for Republicans for many years.

These are indeed worrisome and dangerous times economically. These are also sad days for those of us who still believe in the political ideals of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.  I cannot imagine what those remaining real conservatives and traditional Republicans must be thinking.  I have almost always disagreed with them on every major issue, but they have consistently argued from a position of intellectual honesty and deep personal conviction.  George W. Bush and John Sidney McCain III have now denied them even that.

Lest We Forget

While the dire economy has rightfully dominated recent conversation, I humbly submit the following lest we forget the second tragic aspect of the Bush legacy.

International aid organizations estimate that 4 to 5 million Iraqis have fled their country due to the violence since 2003. Add those killed in the war, occupation and by sectarian violence and this number climbs to between 5 and 6 million. This is approximately 1/5 of the pre-war population of Iraq. http://www.refugeesinternational.org/content/article/detail/9679

On a percentage basis, this is equivalent to almost 60 million people being removed from the U.S., a number roughly equal to the combined populations of our 28 smallest states. http://www.census.gov/population/projections/PressTab1.xls

Just imagine totally emptying Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

Kind of makes you think.

Video: Blueprint For Change - Economy

For those who've always believed that his message was not specific enough, here's Obama's Economic Blueprint For Change.

We'll post John McCain's economic proposals just as soon as he is finished disagreeing with himself on which direction to take this fundamentally strong economy.

Quote of the Day

Republican John McCain, writing in the Sept/Oct 2008 issue of Contingencies magazine, gives us his plan for solving America's health care crisis:

"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."

So, the Arizona Senator wants to do to the health care industry what he and his Party have done to the financial industry.  Nice.

Hat Tip: Paul Krugman of The New York Times