2008 USP(G)ET pt. II: counting the days to 2012 primary thread 1

wow

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/15/AR2008091502406.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

― gabbneb, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 7:55 AM (2 hours ago)

yeah that column is crazy

can't stand Cohen but I'd say the press is officialy off McCain's jock, en masse

valiant effort by Drudge here, lol

OBAMA BOOM ECONOMY: RECORD BANK IN BEV HILLS, $28,500 A PLATE!
Tue Sep 16 2008 06:25:55 ET

The nation's financials may be in a spiral, but cash is flowing into the Obama campaign faster than Marvin Hamlisch can play "Niagara"!

Yesterday, Obama declared how we are in "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression."

Today he will host a dinner in Beverly Hills --- costing attendees $28,500 dollars each!

Hundreds of high rollers, including some of the biggest executives in film, television and music, will munch gourmet chow and hang out with the candidate.

Streisand will then sing at the five-star Beverly Wilshire, no doubt reviving the Depression-era standard "Happy Days Are Here Again" with new urgency.

Obama is set to break a single-day fundraising record of $9 million.

Tuesday's events in Tinseltown come after Obama racked up a record-breaking $66 million dollars in fundraising last month, beating his previous high mark of $55 million last winter.

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are still very, very difficult times," rival McCain said, sunny-side up.

"Sen. McCain, what economy are you talking about?" smiled Obama.

Developing...

sunny side up??

Is this Cohen guy known for having a particular political alleigance/schtick?

"Keep Your Sunny Side Up" was an old tune McCain probably whistled as he skipped to kindergarten.

Health Affairs: McCain, Bam healthcare plans won't work.

http://tinyurl.com/5nkl75

he's one of those Democrats who only ever seems to criticize Democrats - xpost

he's ostensibly a center-leftist, but his schtick is typical of the sort of permanent beltway insider that has historically loved and been quite unwilling to doubt mccain

Health Affairs: we hired some people specifically to find flaws in candidates' health care plans; they found flaws

xp, ty.

http://www.nybooks.com/images/palin_sarah-20081009.png

McCain campaign bringin teh lolz

Addressing the nation’s economic crisis, Holtz-Eakin told reporters traveling with the campaign “there’s no magic solution. And I don’t think that it’s at this moment imperative to write down exactly what the plan has to be.” He also said a president isn’t someone who needs to be heavily involved in policy specifics, which should be handled by “quality” advisers,

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders?currentPage=all

quality advisers like Phil Gramm

exactly

http://i33.tinypic.com/2q0ja68.png

^ lol I saw this one myself -- RIM is canadian too lol

roflz

the more desperate McCain looks like the less likely he will win the election

wow that cohen column is http://www.geocities.com/play_kool_2005/dhalsim.gif

xpost I dunno, his 'people' have been saying ridiculous bullshit for months and months now.

oh man my rss is blowing up with this blackberry thing, everybody's on it.

in with the screen name first

How dare you mock this man's credentials.

http://www.leighbureau.com/data/speaker/DHoltzEakin_full.jpg

It's amazing to me that in the face of the rising drumbeat of bad economic news, dramatic Wall Street failures, etc., McCain's poll numbers are holding up and even improving. There is some serious decoupling going on here. Whatever Obama is doing to try and paint McCain as out of touch on the economy doesn't seem to be working. Maybe he needs a new tack. I don't think endlessly replaying clips of McCain saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong is working.

He shouldn't let McCain get away with blaming the current crisis on Wall Street "greed" when his tax plan would reward the elite at the expense of middle-class Americans. If McCain is against greed so much, why doesn't he support reforming the carried interest loophole that allows private-equity hedge fund managers to pay far lower tax rates than their janitors and secretaries. The fact is that McCain subscribes to the economic philosophy that greed is good - that greed at the top drives economic growth, so those at the top should be given a break.

It's amazing to me that in the face of the rising drumbeat of bad economic news, dramatic Wall Street failures, etc., McCain's poll numbers are holding up and even improving. There is some serious decoupling going on here.

Or maybe you need to wait more than a day for the polls to reflect what's going on?

haha. What's the URL for that blog where they pore over and aggregate polls?

Something with a number in the title.

Jeez, how long do we need to wait? It's been going on for months!

xpost.

I knmow of two: fivethirtyeight.com and electoral-vote.com

www.fivethirtyeight.com

538 was the one I was thinking of. Thanks to you both.

In the most recent Gallup poll I've seen on this issue, from Sep. 5-7, McCain had gained ground dramatically on Obama on the question of who could better handle the economy. Maybe that was just a temporary post-convention bounce, but it's worrying.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110170/Economy-McCain-Gains-Ground-Obama.aspx

That probably reflects the mindset that either of them would be fucked when dealing with this mess.

It's also possible that from where most Americans are sitting the economic situation may appear to be improving. In places like New York the failure of Lehman looms large, but in middle America, things like falling gas prices and lower mortgage rates may seem more important.

I'd swear you people don't remember '00 and '04.

Sure I remember. 2000 didn't matter and 2004 was the one where no one was going to fall for Bush again.

mccain is dropping in the polls as of yesterday, I believe. cnn reported that his convention bounce was basically gone; palin's favoribility rating has plummeted; trendlines are in obama's favor, and he's up in Virginia.

Yea, Joe FlyoverState moves a little slower on stuff than we do.

I'd swear you people don't remember '00 and '04.

One thing I remember from '00 was that Gore tacked left on economic issues in the final weeks, sounding much more populist with "people vs. the powerful" rhetoric, which helped his poll numbers, but not enough.

what I remember is the Republicans always sound desperate. That Gore & Kerry had teletoxic personalities didn't help, but sounding desperate usually works OK for them.

He shouldn't let McCain get away with blaming the current crisis on Wall Street "greed" when his tax plan would reward the elite at the expense of middle-class Americans. If McCain is against greed so much, why doesn't he support reforming the carried interest loophole that allows private-equity hedge fund managers to pay far lower tax rates than their janitors and secretaries. The fact is that McCain subscribes to the economic philosophy that greed is good - that greed at the top drives economic growth, so those at the top should be given a break.

you may be interested in the remarks Sen. Barack Obama (D - Ill.) delivered in colorado today

Those remarks:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/sep/16/prepared-remarks-senator-barack-obama-golden/

Am I the only one who thinks the term "economic philosophy" is a bit bland? For example: "We've had this philosophy for eight years. We know the results." Wouldn't "ideology" be better?

pretty amazing to compare all the specific policy prescriptions in Obama's speech vs. McCain's spokesman today talking about "I don’t think that it’s at this moment imperative to write down exactly what the plan has to be."

next pundit to say "when is Obama going to move from this amorphous hope/change message into specifics??" gets a kick in the nutz (saw Chris Matthews say this last night)

he says "ideological policies" later on, fwiw

Gotta start somewhere:

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will meet with foreign leaders next week at the United Nations, a move to boost her foreign-policy credentials, a Republican strategist said.

Republican candidate John McCain plans to introduce the Alaska governor to heads of state at the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, although specific names weren’t yet firmed up. “The meetings will give her some exposure and experience with foreign leaders,” the strategist said. “It’s a great idea.”

McCain and Palin are expected to visit the U.N. on Tuesday, when President George W. Bush will address the international body.

Since her nomination, Palin has energized the Republican base, drawn huge crowds and propelled fund-raising. However, Democrats have attacked her as weak on foreign policy experience. Even on last week’s “Saturday Night Live,” actress Tina Fey spoofed Palin’s assertion that she is familiar with issues involving Russia, noting that Alaska is nearby. “I can see Russia from my house!” Fey-as-Palin said.

But McCain advisers hope her U.N. visit will show how quickly Palin can make key connections and become well-versed in foreign-policy issues.

Yes, I think I'm going to visit the UN and put it on my CV: http://www.un.org/tours/pages/atg.htm

This would be a good time for everyone in the media to stop talking about Sarah Palin, just go dead silent on that whole stupid thing. Report instead on bank failures, and banks near failure, and losses in financial institutions, and losses in the stock market, and falling home prices, and rising bankruptcies, and report what McCain and Obama say in regard to these.

Seems certain to me that WaMu flames out in October, along with several other lesser names. The whole Palin issue will sink to insignificance in comparison.

When do the head-to-head debates start?

I've been telling myself that when the debates get going Obama will slaughter McCain then I have to remind myself how convinced I was that Kerry would make mincemeat out of Bush.

When do the head-to-head debates start?

A week from Friday. Plenty of things to amuse one until then, I suspect.

obama's not such a great debater, but mccain is a little bit worse. my guess is the debates will not change anything dramatically except to remind people recently enamored of john mccain exactly what he looks like.

i remember kerry making mincemeat out of bush, in the first debate in particular, and i also remember no one actually caring

obama is a better debater than kerry. obama wasn't very strong against Clinton, I thought, but he still won the primary. McCain is a fucking terrible speaker and debater.