Washington File

CJ, The Democratic party elite was obsessed with putting forward a historical candidate. So obsessed for their place in history that they shot themselves in the foot because they were over-confident that they would beat the Republicans in 2008.

The Republicans practically threw this election, not a single seriously interesting Republican candidate came forward for their nomination race.

McCain almost went bankrupt in the beginning. The Republican party was a stock car with flat tires, an old driver and no gas and not even caring about the race. You think the Republicans do not have a stable full of young, sauve speakers and politicians who could come onto the scene? They were saving them all for 2012 and didn't want to waste them in 2008 on what should have been a sure loss after Bush.

Once it was announced that HIlary Clinton would not be on the ticket as VP or Prez. A Republican like Karl Rove said " I can't believe how stupid the Democrats are. Lets turn the key on the Republican machine and really go for it, we can win it!"

The Pit crew came in, the tires came off, the gas tank was full and the engine is red line RPMed and now the tires are spinning in what in Sept is a statistical dead heat.

How is that even possible in anyone's wildest dreams with John McCain who was thrown away in 2000 by the Republicans and is 72 years old. It's possible because Sarah Palin is behind the wheel and has her high heels on the gas pedal, her eye on the finish line and a good grip on the wheel while John McCain is sitting beside her hanging on and going WHOOOO !!!

Meanwhile the Dem car is spinning out of control and headed for the wall. Obama is trying to tell the difference between the pedals on the floor and work the gear shift with Biden screaming "That is my knee Barack! Look out for the wall, The Wall, THE WALL!!!"

The women of America will decide election 2008 and ask yourself who they are cheering for now, you think women don't know how to drive eh ?

It is all over since mainstream media boycotted out Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinic and Mike Gravel, the only America first candidates.

The rest is just one very expensive circus 'Israel first', 'war first', 'big business first'.

Uhh CJ Kavanagh, I'm not stumping for the Democrats or the Republicans. I'm observing political tactics, voting patterns, polling stats and a political phenomenon called Sarah Palin who has brought an energy into the Presidential race. She just broke the Google record for hits in the last week. Do you want to try and tell me the Dems don't have a problem ?

CJ more than anything I am observing incompetent Democratic political strategy. They should be miles ahead in the polls at this point given this socio-political climate. The election should be a landslide for them not a tie at the conventions.

They are in trouble and my read is that they will not win the election because they did not put Hilary Clinton on the ticket. It is that simple...

Sorry Peter in Boston, but your logic is a little twisted. You ask why Palin drew viewers? The same reason people slow down at the sight of a car wreck.

McCain has just taken his best club out of the bag when it comes to the argument against Obama. He can't convincingly go after Obama's experience (or lack thereof) when he has nominated someone with even less experience than Obama. Now let me address the arguments you are sure to make right now.

1) But, she's not the top of the ticket and Obama is so it's comparing apples to oranges!
Well this is true to a degree except that the Republican nominee is a 72 year old cancer survivor who was also a POW for 5.5 years and suffered horrible physical abuse. The odds of her becoming C in C during a McCain presidency are very high. As such, her experience becomes vital and any argument to the contrary is just plain silly.

2) She has executive experience! That's huge!

Well again, yes and no. Being the mayor of a town the size of a largish highschool and Governor of the 47th state (by population) for 20 months is no more executive experience than say running a national Presidential campaign in 50 states and 3 primaries for the last 20 months. To counter that, she has no national policy or issue experience. Senator Obama has slept, ate and breathed domestic and foreign policy non stop for 20 months. He has posted policy positions and plans on over 100 national issues on his website and participated in over 25 nationaly televised debates. Governor Palin is cribbing from Joe Lieberman.

Obama has no experience, but McCain is setting us up to have the least experienced (and first female) president ever by partnering with her despite health issues and the fact that he is the oldest first-term president ever.

Obama, at least, has the right idea. Bigger government might sound bad to the relatively rich, but better medical services to the poor and ther social programs is definitely a step in the right direction.

I'd still rather vote for Colbert.

It's amazing, given the condition of the country, that the Republicans are even in it. I was particularly amused by Sarah Palin at the RNC talking about getting rid of the corrupt Washington insiders when most of the insiders were sitting up there in the gallery! And when McCain talked about targeting the me-first partisans when they were up there sitting with them!

Obama needs to keep people's minds on who they have to thank for their current economic mess, and he needs to do it in plain language without making it sound like a college lecture.

All the Rethugs need to do is keep the difference close, and the disenfranchisement of legitimate voters, plus voting machine fraud, will win it for them again, just as in the previous 2 elections.
The neocons have spent 8 years inserting their own operatives at every level of the voting process, and it's show time!
However, it may be a pyrrhic victory, as polls indicate large gains for the Democrats in both houses. There may well be a large enough majority to override any presidential veto, which would make McCain a useless figurehead at best.

Henry, I enjoy your articles, but I would suggest to you that this is a presidential election like nothing we have seen before.

The bump is going to be more of a launch that isn't going to come back down unless there is a HUGE gaffe. In states with support margins of less than 10 points for Obama you will see a significant shift for McCain, all of those states are in play now, if Obama is not more than 10 points ahead they can flip by November if McCain/Palin hold the momentum. Every state with less than a 10 point lead is going to be in play for a nation that has Obama overload.

All of those 18 million female Hilary Dems may not switch to McCain but at least half in the ballot box or more will, just to teach the Democratic party a lesson it will never forget about scuttling a better qualified woman from the ticket as Prez or VP. Although they may never admit it to anyone. Hell hath no fury etc.

My prediction is a "bump" of 5-7 points for McCain / Palin, a figure unheard of. Henry can you re-call a VP speech getting viewer ship almost equal to the Pres speech of the other party ?

I think that expert polling view of 2 out of 3 states (Michigan, Ohio, Penn) was pre-Palin. I think the landscape has completed changed and when the polls are made public, I think you will agree.

McCain/Palin have many paths to the white house now while Obama's only hope is to maintain his lead and win 2 of those 3 states. Even giving him the old analysis you present of winning 2 of the 3 states of (Michigan, Ohio, Penn) do you really think he can win them ? Have you been to Michigan, Penn ? In a hurting economy, why is a Dem not way past 10 points in these states which are traditionally Dem since Reagan and the economy is in such trouble ?

Personally, I don't see how Obama can win, he is already at his peak and been unable to seal the deal in what should be an ideal socio-political climate.

I have seen no mention made of the
obtrusive presence of the protesters
during McCain's GOP nomination
acceptance speech. If the McCain
camp is fueling their ship on
national security, could this
modest, but highly conspicuous,
breach not be seen as indicative
of a pretty porous core defense?