The Bradley Effect is so last century.  The media should be embarassed to keep bringing it to the fore.  We've seen too many successful African-Americans rise to positions of power: Clarence Thomas; Condaleeza Rice; and Colin Powell, to name a few.  That an African-American can be President should be obvious at this moment in history.  I sincerely doubt enough people who felt they should vote for Obama will freeze in the voting booth because he is an African-American.  However, I do feel there is reason to believe enough Republicans will freeze in the voting booth because they cannot vote for McCain with Sarah Palin as his Vice President.

There has been a lot made of the "base" loving Sarah Palin.  George Bush identified the "base" at a speech before the "Haves and the Have Mores".  The real base of the Republican Party are the wealthy.  To John McCain this must be synonymous with Americans, because he consistently states to the American people that Obama will raise their taxes.  Obama will only raise taxes on people making more then $250,000/year.  maybe McCain thinks that's everybody?

It is this "base", the wealthy, who are going to hesitate at the polls.  We all know, although it is verboten to discuss, that John McCain is the oldest candidate to ever seek a first term as President.  We also know he is a cancer survivor.  We also know that it is not all that uncommon for Presidents to die in office.  An untimely death could lead to Sarah Palin becoming Commander-in-Chief.  While the McCain surrogates declare that Palin has executive experience, it appears that she had no experience or interest in federal affairs until she was selected for the #2 spot.

Cram as she may, Sarah Palin cannot learn enough in the next few months to be prepared to be President of the United States, even though she herself is convinced she could do it.  She will probably tell us she is ready right now.  But the leaders of commerce know that her confidence does not compensate for experience or ability.  If we learned one thing from President Bush, it should be that confidence alone does not make a United States President.  When the "base" goes to the polls, they will probably have to admit that.     

In football, when a team is ahead, the leading teams sometimes resort to a strategy called the prevent defense, while the clock runs down the leading team allows their opponent to make short yardage plays, but prevents the big play.  There are those who support this strategy and there are those who say, all it does is prevent the leaders from winning.  Recent polls show Obama has lost some ground in Ohio.  Florida seems to be slipping a bit too.  Is this the result of his apparent lack of aggression in last night's debate?  Did he prevent his victory?

The media is again hobbled by the Reich Wing noise machine.  They are hesitant to give Obama too much credit, even though it is clear Obama made some excellent points last night.  What about those labor leaders being murdered in Columbia, the country McCain calls our #1 ally in South America?  It seemed from the split screen the murders were new information to John McCain.

How about Obama's explanation of William Ayers?  John McCain walked right into that trap.  He was played by Obama so well before the debates that McCain could not avoid it.  It gave Obama the opportunity to tell the American people who he is associating with today, Warren Buffet, Senator Luger, and let's not forget Joe Biden. 

Since Joe Plumber was the early focal point, brought up by McCain, it does need to be discussed here.  It seems McCain thought he had Obama on the ropes with this one too, only to be surprised again, or so it seemed on the split screen, that Obama had a program to help Joe acquire the business and be successful.

The problem is that Obama did not seal the deal, IMHO.  Based soley on appearance, the pundits declared and this writer agrees, Obama appeared to wish only to avoid any mistakes.  Instead he may have avoided victory.  What was needed to be seen was a killer instinct last night, and it was John McCain who showed that. Instead of maintaining his rise in the polls, it seems Obama has lost some ground.  We'll see where he is when the clock runs out. 

 

 

 

McCain remarked trading with Columbia was a "no-brainer"!  But it seemed he was shocked to learn labor leaders were being assassinated with impunity.  Or maybe it shocked him someone would care about that.  I was horrified to watch the CNN interest group display at the bottom of the TV screen show no change at all by the interest group in hearing about this.  One thing is certain, McCain did not seemed deterred in continuing trade with Columbia when he had his chance to respond.

Let's be serious.  Race will NOT be a determinative issue in this election.  Some will bring their bigotry into the booth, to be sure.  But no one is going to freeze up based on race when they get there.  What will hold them back will be the pile of propaganda fed to them by Reich Wing Radio and Fox Noise.  Can they take the chance that liberals will not destroy this great nation?  This is what they have all heard ad nauseum.

There will be Zom-Bushes, no doubt.  Sarah Palin is the prime example of this phenomenon.  Turned deaf to disagreement, she loathes the media and declares they are biased, so listening to their points is unecessary.  She accepted the position of VP slot without blinking, which is very much what Zom-Bushes do.  They are the Unthinking.  Who needs to know anything more if you know you are Right anyway?

Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, and Condaleeza Rice are examples of Blacks who have attained high office.  It is only a matter of time before we have a Black president.  Hopefully that time is now, but whether it is or not will not be related to race.  It will be whether the propaganda has worn off. 

How else can we describe the recent rant by the preacher at the McCain rally as he challenged God to step up and win the election for Republicans or the other gods win!   The Apostle tells us to "test the spirits", and I'm not thinking the preacher was dialed into the real radio station of the Lord when he let fly with that challenge.  I'm thinking he sounded a lot like Satan when the devil challenged the Lord to throw himself onto the rocks to prove He was the son of God.  The tactic of demanding people prove their faith, such as denying any other issue then abortion in an election is a tired old ploy.  This writer doubts too many people will fall for that trick again.  With total control of government for six years, the Reich did nothing to reduce abortions.  It makes one appreciate that Obama has offered to find ways to reduce the number of abortions.  Now that's change in which one can believe.