Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States

Joe Biden, the 47th Vice President of the United States

A national poll conducted by CNN conducted after last evening's debate, revealed that 58% of those polled felt Barack won the debate, as opposed to 31% who believed McCain won. The poll also revealed that most of the people felt Obama would do a superior job on health care, the economy, and taxes. In addition, pollsters deemed Obama as a more likable and stronger leader.

Likewise, a poll conducted by CBS News of uncommitted voters resulted in an Obama win by a wide margin. 53% of those polled believed Obama was stronger; as opposed to 22% who deemed McCain the winner.

The news gets even worse for Senator McCain. According to CNN's new Electoral Map Calculator, if the election were held today, Obama would have 277 electoral votes, more than enough to win the presidency.

So barring a deadly virus which attacks only Democrats and Independents, I would venture to say that Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be our next president and vice president.

I'm sure most of you have seen this poll, but please bear with me.

Unlike the 2004 for presidential campaign, in today's tough economic times, when people are most concerned with bread and butter issues, mudslinging hasn't worked for the McCain campaign. In fact, it has hurt. According to the latest NY Times CBS poll

The McCain campaign's recent angry tone and sharply personal attacks on Senator Barack Obama appear to have backfired and tarnished Senator John McCain more than their intended target

I find this heartening. I was beginning to think that the American voter would once again be swayed by Swiftboat-style attacks; but not so. Even when McCain attempted to tie Obama to 60's radical William Ayers, the public just wasn't buying it.

Six in 10 voters surveyed said that Mr. McCain had spent more time attacking Mr. Obama than explaining what he would do as president.

 

The primary reasons for this decline in McCain's approval rating were:

his recent attacks and his choice of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate.

Now, the most encouraging news; the poll suggests that if the election were held today:

53 percent of those determined to be probable voters said they would vote for Mr. Obama and 39 percent said they would vote for Mr. McCain.

Pollsters indicated that their opinions of Obama had changed and were now twice as likely to view Obama favorably rather than unfavorably.

 

Cross-posted:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/15/112547/25?new=true

So, as the story goes, Rev. Arnold Conrad gave the invocation at a McCain rally in Davenport IA. He called on God to keep Obama from becoming the next president. He claimed that people all over the world were praying to their God for an Obama victory, and that if Obama won the Lord's reputation was on the line!

"...and Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation because they're going to think that their God is bigger than you, if that happens."

In other words, Rev. Conrad has thrown the gauntlet down:

My God can kick your God's ass!

The GOP God vs. the Democratic God...

Holy shit!

Link

Cross-posted here:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/14/122817/84/349/630209

 

No one is questioning his 1st Amendment right of free speech. However, in Lee County, FL Sheriff Mike Scott’s case, it is glaringly apparent he has stepped over the line. If you remember, Scott appeared at a Palin rally in full uniform, giving a rousing warm-up speech for the Alaskan governor.

Well, let me get this straight; John McCain claimed on Monday, as he has many times before, that the economy is "fundamentally sound". However, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the government having to bail out Freddie Mack, Fannie May and AIG, along with Obama’s scathing criticism of McCain as being "out of touch" with the economy, McCain was forced to clarify his position.

NY Times columnist Bob Herbert, pulls no punches in nailing John McCain’s healthcare plan in his article McCain’s Radical Agenda He asks the obvious:

Well, we knew there had to be some hidden reason why Sarah Palin was so adamant in her anti-choice stance, even to the point of denying a woman’s right to choose in cases of rape and incest. Now we know! This little segment was part of the Sarah Palin Revealed special on CNN. It slipped by almost unnoticed.

GRIFFIN: At the same time the relationship with Todd was taking off. Fall day in 1988, Heather planned to meet Sarah and Todd at the state fair, but the two never showed up. Instead, they headed to the courthouse and learned they needed two witnesses to be married.

BRUCE: They walked across the street to the pioneer home and asked in the lobby if someone would like to be their witness and a couple of volunteers had to wheel -- had to push the other one in their wheelchair, across the street to the courthouse. I don't think they had rings. I'm not even sure.

GRIFFIN: Sarah's father, Chuck, took the news well.

CHUCK HEATH: They eloped. I thanked them, saying you saved me a lot of money.

GRIFFIN: Almost eight months later , Todd and Sarah's first child was born and they named him Track, after the sports season in which he was born. Over the next four years, four more children would come, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.

Track’s birth date information was released just recently. There is no data that states Track was born prematurely. This would have been publicized by the Palin team, and would have been addressed in the CNN program. It is a big deal. I know, because my first child was premature.

Now, before the self-righteous indignation from neo-cons here , I am not criticizing Palin for a mistake she made. After all, she’s human. My concern is about something much greater. The unexpected pregnancies of both mother and daughter, which apparently caused both to rush into marriages with high school jocks (Ted was a former high school basketball star), is a blatant example of why Palin’s support for abstinence-only education in public schools doesn’t work!

Mother and daughter are both walking advertisements for the Family Planning Council.

I always liked former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (RI). It’s too bad he was a Republican when he ran for re-election representing Rhode Island. IMHO, his remarks about Sarah Palin are right on the money.

(R)emarks by former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island surfaced in which Chafee called Palin a "cocky wacko," and said her vice presidential candidacy has energized supporters of Democrat Barack Obama.

Chafee left the Republican Party last year after losing his bid for re-election and now supports Obama. He told an audience Tuesday at the New America Foundation in Washington that Palin's speech at the Republican National Convention had the unintended effect of energizing Democrats and Obama supporters.

"People were coming into my office, phone calls were flooding in, e-mails were coming in, 'I just sent money to Obama, I couldn't sleep last night' - from the left. To see this cocky wacko up there," Chafee, a visiting fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies, said to laughter.

Link

Well, you know the old guy has always had an appetite for younger women. Afterall, he ditched his first wife Carol for a newer model, Cindy. Now we know the REAL reason McCain chose Sarah Palin! You can also entitle this Booty Watch.

Well, you know the old guy has always had an appetite for younger women. Afterall, he ditched his first wife Carol for a newer model, Cindy. Now we know the REAL reason McCain chose Sarah Palin! You can also entitle this Booty Watch.

Well, I could thump my chest (like some do when they sense an apparent weakness from the other side) and say that McCain is so afraid of Obama that he is ready to admit defeat. But I won’t. I’ll take it for what it is; a compliment, and a generous one at that. This evening, I will give the old guy credit where credit is due; Thanks Senator McCain for acknowledging Obama’s remarkable achievement! 

McCain’s latest act of idiocy? His challenge for Obama and other Democratic Congress members to return to work to pass an energy bill. This is coming from a man who hasn’t voted on any legislation in the Senate since April. In fact, Sen. John McCain has one of the worst voting records in Congress. He’s missed a whopping 367 votes (61.4%) during the current Congress.

Astonishingly, McCain has missed more votes than any other senator since the convening of Congress in January, with the exception of Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD), who 

suffered from a brain hemorrhage, and spent months recuperating.

Well, with all the shaking out here in

KBR, the former subsidiary of Halliburton, has been accused of <A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/middleeast/18contractors.html?th&emc=th">shoddy electrical work </a>, in connection to the deaths of 13 Americans, numerous injuries, 283 electrical fires which destroyed or damaged military facilities in Iraq, plus reports of soldiers receiving electric shocks almost on a daily basis</a>.

In a recent survey, 3 in 10 Americans admit to race bias. What's so appalling is that such a low percentage of white Americans have had regular contact with those of other races.

I admit I used to be one of them, and still hold on to a certain ingrained life-long pattern of prejudice. I grew up with and had many Hispanic friends, so I had no problem with them. Like those whites who were surveyed, I was totally distrusting of blacks. I admit my ignorance. And I am convinced that Ignorance leads to distrust.

About twelve years ago, my car broke down in Century City, CA. Out of all the people who drove by, it was two African American men who stopped to assist me. They went beyond lip service, and offered to take me to my destination. I reluctantly agreed - after all, they were black!