Here's your hat, what's your hurry, doesn't begin to cover America's wish that it could call the bouncers over to the bar and have Duhbya tossed out of Martini's into the snow. How wonderful our lives would be if he'd never been born! Well, maybe not, but still, don't let the door whack you in the ass.
Twenty-five days till Inauguration Day.
For all the politicians who have been caught in sex scandals in 2008, the media is thankful. Bill Schneider gets a jump on the boring rehash stories that elite journalists love to file in December so they can get on with their shopping and their holiday drinking. "Hey, I filed at ten this morning; I've got nothing else to do today."
But this one has a seasonal theme! His news hook is that politicos are turkeys. Ha ha. Good one! Get it?
Whenever anyone says anything kind about Bill Schneider's work, I'm going to think of bullshit packaged as news. How can he possibly list political turkeys of 2008 without Duhbya and Darth finishing one-two?
Instead, Obama makes the list. Twice! And one of them recycles the old presumption story about the Presidential seal knock-off. I guess it's obvious that the media are going to find their watchdog role, you know, the one they left in their other pants during the Bushist years.
Sarah Palin doesn't make the list at all, except when cast in a positive light. Must restrain fickle finger of fate! Must not tell the perfect story about political turkeys getting blood-drained. That would be too thematic. "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, having ditched her $150,000 RNC wardrobe and now once again accessorizing with a cup of joe (not the plumber), smiled and gabbed for the camera while Thanksgiving turkeys had their heads ground off in the background."
I guess Schneider filed even earlier than 10:00 a.m.
Oh, by the way, it's David Vitter watch, day 505. A known two-timing two-faced two time loser of a john still sits in the Senate.
"New polls show Obama breaking away in key states" --CNN
FiveThirtyEight.com shows Obama with 336 electoral votes after today's polls and projects Obama winning in 85% of scenarios. A different type of projection gives Obama 51% of the eventual vote, and that's a hard number to beat for McCain.
Update (10/2): Essentially a repeat of the CNN story above, with a little commentary added. Bill Schneider chalks Florida up to storm surge from recent candidate visits. He seems to think this couldn't possibly be a trend away from his pal, John McCain.
Can we stop the hero-worship?
Nobody doubts he's a hero, as the many tributes throughout the convention were meant to highlight...John McCain hasn't done anything heroic in the last thirty-five years. What he did in North Vietnam to resist the despicable war criminals who tortured him was tremendous. Yes, the communists broke him, but everyone breaks in time, and the way he broke was honorable.
His answers seemed very much part of the past: cut spending, cut taxes.Yet he is still summing up this way:
If voters are choosing between two men, they will probably choose McCain. If they're choosing between two policies, I think Obama has the edge: His are newer, smarter and fresher.The only explanation I can venture as a guess: Schneider doesn't want to ruin his friendship with McCain. That would be journalistic malpractice if true. If not true, it's far too often true in our media.
Actually, journalism ignores comedy, but that just doesn't have the same ring.
Jon Stewart lays it out for the cable news blatherers. To their credit, CNN gives a summary that had to sting, starting with:
Jon Stewart took after the "established" media for getting too cozy with candidates and regurgitating campaign spin when it comes to political coverage.Then, McCNN proceeds to fill its Political Ticker with abject propaganda from two Republican political operatives who don't even try to find anything but a way to spin Democrats. And McCNN "balances" them with Bill Schneider, who is not only center right but who seldom misses the chance to push out some vacuous RNC mantra - "No one will mention Obama’s middle name here."
According to Bill Schneider at McCNN, bullshit, blather, and impotent bluster are John McCain's strengths. Yeah, he would be a great choice. We can always use another war to set America right.
Update: Not satisfied with Schneider's slighty mealy-mouthed statement of the McCain strong like bull talking point, McCNN gives Bushist Linda Sanchez a second crack at it here. She says McCain "conveyed strength and determination," which is conservative code for macho bluster. These people are idiots, and they expect us to be, too.
After seven and a half long years of Republican misrule, faced with a choice between a Republican who promises (most days) to continue virtually all of the Bushist policies and a Democrat who has been 1% of the Senate, mostly in the legislative minority, Bill Schneider's so-called analysis is that the 2008 election will be a referendum on Barack Obama.
I don't call that analysis. I call it wishful thinking.
Oh, and bullshit, too.
After a solid 10-point win in Pennsylvania, Hillary thinks she can still be the nominee by running the table. Obama retains almost all of his delegate lead, which appears insurmountable given the Democratic allocation rules. But he still needs to win somewhere to regain campaign momentum.
The superdelegates are going to have to choose, but they'll be back to choosing based on electability, and I suspect they won't choose Obama if he can't break through again somewhere, hence probably his quick departure for Indiana.
Only real bright spot for Obama: Voters saw the manufactured charges of elitism as bunk.
Pennsylvania predictions? I got nuthin', at least not about the results. Bill Schneider has predictions, one for each of three scenarios. Covers all the bases.
On process, though, there are some sure things:
