4 Days that Killed the McCain Campaign

Daniel Gross of Slate writes about 3 days that he says killed McCain’s campaign in an excellent and to-the-point essay last night.  I think he’s exactly right – but I think he left out one very important date that crippled the campaign: August 29th.

On August 29th, John McCain announced his first “presidential” decision – the choice of a running mate.  While the shiny new wrapper was impressive for a couple of weeks, it did not last.  As Gross says of September 15th, this date was also a twin killer.  First, the thought of the uninformed, power-abusing, bible-thumping, ultra-right-winger as the President of the USA hurt the campaign.  Because this decision was John’s, and John’s alone, it also reflects very poorly on his judgement and decision makig process. 

His other 3 dates were also disasterous: Proclaiming the economy is still strong, halting his campaign but accomplishing nothing, and using the 3rd debate to regail voters with the economic insight of Joe Wurzelbacher. 

September 24, 2008
The Day John McCain Lost the Election
http://www.slate.com/id/2203763/?GT1=38001

A Question

Obama aides have long argued that their candidate offers hope while McCain offers fear. Judging by the balance of messages both candidates are giving voters before Election Day, it’s hard to disagree.  

Question: You take the money that government generates and you spread that money equally among all of the citizens. Is that: the former Soviet Republic? … or Alaska? 

    

Abuse of Power to Ethics Violations

Amazing what you can do in your first 20 months.  So this is the “executive experience” that Sarah brings? 

• Abuse of power (guilty),
• Ethics violations (probe in progress)
• $17,000 in per diem tax dollars for sleeping in her own bed
• Airline tickets and hotels for the family to watch Todd in a snowmobile race… 

After being found guilty of abusing her power as governor in the so-called “troopergate” scandal over the firing of her ex-brother-in-law, Palin now faces a second probe over whether she violated ethics rules in the affair.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081023/ts_alt_afp/usvoterepublicanpalin;_ylt=AjHwJaaTvU1BFlwxM6rTMFus0NUE

Conservative Newspapers Publish Endorsements

Today 5 major papers from 5 major US markets announced endorsements for the presidential race.  The papers were from New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.  The Chicago and DC papers are nationally known as “Conservative” papers. I think you can see where this is going:

Knowledge, Learnedness, Insight

The idea of “leadership” must include knowledge, learnedness and insight.
Let’s look at the educational background of your two options:

Obama:
Occidental College – Two years.
Columbia University – B.A. Political Science with a specialization in International Relations.
Harvard – Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
(J.D. is a doctor of law, the legal counterpart to M.D.)

Biden:
University of Delaware – B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law – Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

McCain:
United States Naval Academy – Class rank 894 of 899

Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University – 1 semester
North Idaho College – 2 semesters – general study
University of Idaho – 2 semesters – journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College – 1 semester
University of Idaho – 3 semesters – B.A. in journalism

Now, which team are you going to hire ?

McCain’s Questions

Why did I have to write down the 3 most important domestic issues Tom asked about?   Why did Tom have to repeat them for me?

Barack looked like an vibrant, energetic man ready to take on a grueling job.  Did I look like that, too…or did I look like a wind-up robot hobbling around?