Jordan .

I won't make a prediction but, I think Obama and a bulletproof Congress will mean double taxes on some citizens and no natural gas and oil exploration/production with 21st century tech. In fact Obama will impede and and an extra tax those companies also. Exactly what I believe will become a literal disaster. I hope whoever it is, they kill the corn based ethanol handout/mandate. I can just envision a new Department of Environmental Police with Al Gore as Energy Czar. 

Careful what you vote for, you know the rest.

This week oil prices cracked from  $150 to $129 in large part from Bush's suspension of no off shore exploration in some non marine preserve and other excluded areas. Now it's up to the Dem Congress to act on that. Polls showed 64% polled want this to pass. It could possibly, with other factors, sink Obama.

edit: to read "suspension of no off shore..."

Utah - McCain
D.C. - Obama
Wyoming - McCain

Everything else is much too hard for July.

Ok, the Presidential repeal of the no off shore drilling has indeed gone to the House. That confidence instilling Nancy Pelosi says she will not even allow the change to be voted on !!! Now that's a democrat?. Hardly.

Note oil was up a couple dollars today. Do the Dems want a bear market to further their chances verses the "failed" REp administration. Damn the cost of oil to citizens-keep things bad so the Dems can prevail ? If not, I believe it is just the wrong plan and may come back to bite the Dems in the election. Now for the Bush bashers, and there is cause for criticism, even a broken clock is right twice a day : ) Tax policy and energy policy.

Most recent poll showed 74 % favor off shore and even a solid majority in California do as well. Add the windfall tax on Nat gas and oil companies as an Obama mainstay ? Trouble ahead with a dem prez and congress.

Why doesn't Obama admit he was wrong on the surge/Patreaus operation? Obama is just another pol, and a disapointment and a danger IMO as president.

McCain is not who I would like as president, but he is correct IMO on energy and ,at least now correct on taxes. Obama is dead wrong. As bad as the Rep Congress was, and they were, you ain't seen nothin yet if the Dems sweep Admin and Congress. I must vote for that old maverick McCain. He is looking for a VP and this young Bobby Jindal from La. and Rudy have been in contact. I like both Jindal and Rudi and that cold Mormon guy Romney is a business and economy wiz, All these possibilities I am down with. 

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Oh, and thanks to Sen, Chucky Shumer(D) for the bank run on INdyMac. And let's look into the gift rate 3 or 4 mortgages Sen Dodd (D)of Connecticut received from Countywide Mortgage. What snakey deals those were, and Dodd and Shumer are questioning Bernanke, Paulson and the S.E.C. head? What a disgrace.

My opinion on the Treasury explicitly backing up FannieMae and FreddieMac? Well, it is a step towards corporate socialism, but hopefully F &F will not need the government to bail them out with taxpayer $$s. Down the road I think these quasi government bloated, incompetant, but politically strong entities should be broken up into a dozen pieces and become private enterprises.

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And how about the huge always positive coverage Obama gets from CBS, ABC, NBC and the New York Slimes? They are not news perveyors they are partisan Democrat machines.

Just an anecdotal event, but my young friend a 29 y.o. hip black man told me he was for McCain and he didn't buy the Big Government, caretaker approach of the Dems. THe guy said people ultimately have to solve their own problems .

Here is Andrea Mitchell on a fabricated "interview" by Obama:

Andrea Mitchell might be a doyenne of the liberal media, but she has her reporter's pride and principles, which have been trampled by the way the Obama campaign has managed the media during the candidate's current trip to Afghanistan and Iraq.  Mitchell let loose on this evening's Hardball, speaking of "fake interviews," and decrying that she was unable to report on pertinent aspects of the trip because the media has been excluded and that the video released is unreliable because it's impossible to know what has been edited out.

MATTHEWS: Yeah, go ahead, please.

MITCHELL: Let me just say something about the message management.  He didn't have reporters with him, he didn't have a press pool, he didn't do a press conference while he was on the ground in either Afghanistan or Iraq. What you're seeing is not reporters brought in.  You're seeing selected pictures taken by the military, questions by the military, and what some would call fake interviews, because they're not interviews from a journalist.  So, there's a real press issue here.  Politically it's smart as can be.  But we've not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before.

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One more potential disaster. Obama's Health care for all !  The current Medicare system is underfunded seriously and is scheduled to be bankrupt in 15 20 years. Now if you have Health care for all, the taxes on everyone from the start and over the comings years will be staggering. 

 IMO Universal Health Care will be the biggest mistake imaginable. We can't even finance Medicare and that is just for over 65 y os!!

AND You think the loss of money expended in Iraq is large? Just watch as U S dollars ( worth less and less in the world ) continue to go to the oil suppliers overseas and increase with no oil, shale, offshore initiatives. That will be the largest transfer of whealth in history. It has already and will continue to make the Iraq costs insignificant by comparison. A pittance.

Obama and the Dem Congress will bankrupt this country IMO. You have heard of the Great Depression? Universal Health Care and no development of US gas and oil will result in the  worst possible future for the U S . I guarantee a nightmare that will be a descent into hell.

I believe the U S population is being slickly bambooozled by Obamamania.

I'll put it on the line early this year -

Obama - 325

McCain - 213 

Who's it gonna be, guys?  VP picking time.

I think Joe Biden is a mistake but that seems to be where the media is leaning.  Hillary is as much of a No-Go as she was for the Top Slot so no surprise will be forthcoming there.  Evan Bayh seems a good choice, but that's looking unlikely too.  Will it be a surprise?  Reverend Wright maybe?  Jesse Jackson?  

As for McCain, well, all we know is he'll probably pick someone who's younger.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Jordan .

Biden for O.

Wilford Brimley or Ed McMahon for McCain.

 "

Oh dear, oh dear.  Joe Biden!  Keep that name in mind.  It is bound to be a trivia question in 2012.  Who was the Democratic nominee for VP back in 2008?  Uhhhh, it's on the tip of my tongue.  Uhhhhhhhhhh....

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Who is everybody voting for?

I will be voting for McCain.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I'll be voting anti-republican. 

Susan, Why do you think Joe would be a bad V.P.?   

I didn't say he'd be a bad VP, Rob. I just said I think he'll be a trivia question in 2012. After this team loses the election that should have been a cake walk. Kinda like the 2004 election should have been.

In politics and show business it's bad to peak too soon.

But we shall see. The Democratic convention with its usual line-up of movie stars and rock bands will give the Dems a boost. It will be hilarious to watch. As always. Then will come the Republican convention with equal laughs from the other side of the political spectrum. Followed by debates. Then the lone VP debate somewhere in the mix. Mumble chatter mumble chatter. Silly season subjects all the live long day.

Then, it will be early November. Decisions will be made by the undecided who always end up making the final big decision.

And we'll either have an Obama-Biden team or... "another stolen election by the dirty rotten scoundrels."

And life will go on through another election cycle.

Crazier things have happened.

Basically, Rob, I am not into demonization. If there's anything I've learned most particularly from the past two presidencies, demonization is a waste of time, energy and worse, counterproductive to the nation at large. Counterproductive to family-friend relationships too. Wrong-headed as deciding who you like or dislike once you have discovered their voter registration party affiliation.

Back to Biden for a moment... I have said for a long time that Biden puts forth the best arguments of the Democratic positions. I don't think his addition to the ticket will make a heap of difference in the final analysis. It's really about Obama V. McCain.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Biden I don't believe brings that much to the ticket for Obama. It doesn't help the 25% of HRC voters at all which will probably vote for McCain as a protest against Obama -- of course there was really only 1 way to get them on board. The Biden pick makes McCain's choice easier too. It's going to be easy to pick someone who shines brighter over Biden -- personality, age and looks. Unlike whatI thought it might be a remote possibility that it would come down to the VP piks, this election, once again, will not come down to who the VP is. There was a slight moment where it might've been possible.

Obama made himself out to be a different candidate but once McCain started airing those "celeb" ads, it forced Obama to also get dirty - esp since McCain was beginning to take the lead. Biden will be used as the attack dog which will not be good for the overall team since Biden, like McCain, has a history of anger issues.

So now we are going to see our ususal 5-10 point bump for Obama after this week. It'll be Obama-Obama-Obama like a hypnotic trance. -- his face will appear 3 more times on the cover of TIME Then the numbers move closer, and then the GOP convention will bump McCain 5-10 points up going into the debates.

VP debate will be a yawn, as will all the others. Old guy versus the young guy. Experience vs inexperience. "Status-quo" vs "Change" -- whatever that means. All of us could write the debates and the comments that are about to be made for the next few months. And as a result it comes down to an extremely tight race just like the last 2 and probably another nail-biter that night. Conservatives who are thinking about staying out of the race will end up voting and pulling the lever for McCain. HRC voters, still livid over the primaries, will vote for McCain. Obama will get an ever bigger vote of the African-American bloc (if that was even possible). Hispanics will probably lean toward McCain for the most part. Everyone else will fall down around the 50-50 mark. And we'll have people yelling about election fraud that will begin Tuesday afternoon. A polling place or two in a STRONG Democratic precinct will have "odd irregularities" so a judge orders it to stay open longer (why is it always strong Democratic precincts BTW?).

And we'll have another fun repeat.

Jordan .

I don't see it that way.  Obama should win fairly comfortably.  McCain will be happy to take 40% of the Hispanic vote, and the idea that lots of Hillary voters will opt for McCain is a fiction, methinks.  A few weirdos will, but nothing worth thinking another second about.  At any rate Obama will take a majority of female voters quite easily.  Black turnout will be way way up. 

300+ electoral votes. 

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I laugh every time I hear the media or a person referencing Obama as if he's the Second Coming.

Jordan .

The Mount Olympus stage set for the god- put together by the company that did Britney Spear's Onyx Hotel set ( no joke ! )- is really over the top. Zero common man, common sense humility with this candidate. This really plays into the Chosen One/Celebrity theme. It is also a great fund raising vehicle and a huge embarrassment to the poor and working stiff party i should think.

Creepy. A media created hologram, make that hollowgram.

Regarding Democrat prostitution effect: I was a limo driver at the 1984 Dem convention. Although 2/3 of my customers were prostitutes, I was driving the NBC team covering Jesse Jackson whom I met and was a nice guy, so i missed driving the working girls for those few days. After the first day the NBC crew requested me as their driver for the duration. Anyway , i got a floor credential given to me by Bela Abzug and watched a Mondale speech. Interesting, but i prolley would have made more without that assignment. 

 I was wondering how you were coping with the madness, you have my sympathy.

I had a bad moment last month when I was in your fair city and saw some blurb above the fold in the paper box; 'Oh Shit! What have I stumbled into.' Then I realized I was a month early.  Yeah, stupid, but it was about 6am and I'd just come in by way of the Green Tortise and the airporter.  What a bear has to do to catch a train in this country anymore.

In other news, from the BBC web site;

"Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has accused the US of provoking the conflict in Georgia, possibly for domestic election purposes.

Mr Putin told CNN US citizens were "in the area" during the conflict over South Ossetia and were "taking direct orders from their leaders".

He said his defence officials had told him the provocation was to benefit one of the US presidential candidates"

"Is this real Ben or some strange and twisted dream?"

"It's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind." - D. Cooper

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer." - P. Atreides

"Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe" - L. tzu

Well, in my politically humble opinion, I think Biden hurts Obama in numerous ways. Biden has always been shrill and caustic, has leaned way to the left on so many issues, that he will re-inforce middle America's fears about Obama more than say a business or military background person would have. Biden, being a career politician, brings the 'same ole - same ole' factor way up. But McCain's announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate is a stunning chess move! McCain gets to be seen as a reformer now, and pulls the heartstrings of the women voters who are bitter over Hillary not getting the nod. Brilliant move! And, she is too new to have overtly heavy baggage, so now the heat gets turned up. You know, the Right and Left Coasts are pretty predictable, but we're going to see a helluva race this year in the middle. The Democrats threw away the 2000 and 2004 elections with crappy candidates and they've just loaded up Obama with another one. Think of Biden as a bit of a boat anchor. Once again, it's the Democrats' election to lose, and with Biden they're increasing their chances of snatching defeat from the jaws of certain victory. Is this all America has? In a land of 350 million people, this group is the best we could come up with? Well, I'll go back to my cave and read with interest.

Already, the Dems are smacking her with her lack of experience which is completely hypocritical considering that the guy they are putting up for PRESIDENT (not VP) has hardly any experience either!

There's no doubt the people voting for Hillary simply because she was a woman will take a look now. There's also no doubt that Union workers will have to seriously look at McCain/Palin since her husband is also a union worker and they are a family that understands middle clas union workers!

Overall, it was probably the smartest pick McCain could've made besides Kay Bailey in TX.

Jordan .