McCain: Park your car a block from home and turn off the lights five minutes before bedtime

1 comment August 5th, 2008

John McCain, not to be outdone by Barack Obama’s tire-gauge strategy to save energy (which we addressed HERE), has come with his own bold plan:

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Really classy! Did Ronald Reagan ever do something like this with Nancy?

20 comments August 5th, 2008

 

As you probably know, John McCain and his wife Cindy paid a visit yesterday to a motorcycle rally at the Buffalo Chip campgrounds in Sturgis, S.D.

As in past years, the doings at the rally include a nightly BIKINI PAGEANT in which the women often appear in the buff for the gratification of the slack-jawed menfolk.

McCain, jokingly or not, offered up his lovely missus as a contestant, as we see here:

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Obama doesn’t seem sufficiently presidential — especially compared to you-know-who

Add comment August 5th, 2008

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Something’s happened to McCain! He’s out with an ad that doesn’t call Obama a “celebrity”!

3 comments August 5th, 2008

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Right-wing comedians chortle at tire-gauge strategy, but the joke’s on them

16 comments August 5th, 2008

 

Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity,  NEWT GINRICH and assorted other right-wing geniuses are almost soiling themselves in amusement over Barack Obama’s suggestion that Americans could significantly reduce their consumption of oil if they would merely keep their tires properly inflated.

But, in fact, properly inflated tires could save about THREE TIMES AS MUCH OIL per day as the increased production expected by the Bush administration by 2030 from expanded off-shore production.

Then, too, the tire-gauge strategy is recommended by NASCAR and by Bush’s own ENERGY DEPARTMENT and by Republican governors Charlie Crist of Florida and Arnold  Schwarzenegger of California.

But don’t tell that to the Republicans who think they’re being clever by distributing tire gauges so as to mock Obama. Of course, they also want everyone to believe that the tire strategy is the be-all and end-all of Obama’s energy policy and that he opposes new drilling for oil in America, neither of which is true.

The GOP comedians think Americans are stupid, but they’re only partly right.

Debate moderators announced! Hooray! Charles Gibson isn’t one of them

10 comments August 5th, 2008

 

Jim Lehrer (above), Gwen Ifill, Tom Brokaw and Bob Schieffer have been NAMED respective moderators of the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates.

Well, at least the mix doesn’t include the insufferable likes of Charles Gibson or Chris Matthews.

Still, the debates would be much better if the candidates would simply square-off against each other, set their own agendas and ask questions themselves.  A moderator would be needed only to make introductions and perhaps break up the clinches.

That way, we could better judge the abilities of the candidates to handle themselves in frank exchanges.

But, no.  Show-business sensibilities must be observed.

Experience is overrated

1 comment August 5th, 2008

Any presidential candidate who has considerably more political experience than his rival invariably argues that it makes him better qualified to be the nation’s chief executive.

History, however, belies that notion.

Consider, for example, the case of Abraham Lincoln, who served for a while in the Illinois Legislature and then one term in the U.S. House (a term notable mainly for his outspoken, but futile, opposition to the U.S. war against Mexico). Still,  despite his limited experience, Lincoln is regarded by the overwhelming majority of historians as the nation’s greatest president.

And then there’s the Wall Street Journal poll of conservative and liberal historians, which SHOWS that six of the 12 most successful presidents had less than 10 years of political experience each.  Of the top 14 presidents, only two had 20 years or more of experience.

Let’s not forget, either, that the most popular Republican president in our lifetimes, Ronald Reagan, served only eight years in public office, none of them at the federal level, before becoming president.

Two new Obama ads on energy

2 comments August 5th, 2008

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The voter-registration factor

4 comments August 5th, 2008

 

Election Day 2008 is just 13 weeks from today, and polls show a tight race for president between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

But in reading those polls, the serious observer of presidential politics should bear in mind one significant caveat that may not be readily apparent and that may skew some polls: the voter-registration factor.

As we see HERE, the trend of recent years shows a decline in the number of registered Republicans and an increase in the number of registered Democrats — a sign perhaps of a looming seismic shift in the political landscape at local, state and national levels.

The reasons for this are numerous and involve demographic changes, including the increasing urbanization of suburbs and greater political involvement by young people and minorities.

Moreover, this imbalance in the registration trend has accelerated this year as public dismay with the Bush administration has grown deeper and as the Obama campaign’s massive ground operation has concentrated on signing up new voters.

Add to all of this the likelihood that voter turnout in November will be considerably higher than in presidential elections of recent decades — just as it was during the Democratic primary season — and you’ve got good reason to view polls with at least a bit of skepticism, no matter whom they show to be ahead by whatever margin.