If I Were Obama's Debate Coach...

This is what I'd say:

1) Don't sneer at McCain's absurdities. Snicker and shake your head, giving him an occasional, "There you go again, John."

2) Take the opportunity to run a litany of McCain flip flops. Start with, "You recently said 'The Fundamentals of the economy are strong,' then you turned around and said they were a in complete shambles" You couldn't tell the difference between Shia and Sunni when we're embattled in a war in Iraq. You've needed Joe Leiberman at your side to correct your misstatements regarding Al Qaeda and Iran. I'm sorry John, but you are out of touch and another Republican presidency would be disastrous for this entire country!" (See for reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c )

3) Regarding judgment, attack him: "John, look at your judgment. When you were scared that picking an experienced Republican nominee for VP would be risky, you took an even bigger risk for this country and nominated a complete unknown, both to the American people and to you." (Add a few more zingers here.) "How can we trust your ability to govern, John? Are you going to take the same risks with policy decisions? Are you planning another administration embroiled in a permanent campaign?"

To be continued...

Politics of Fear - Now it's the Economy

So now the fear card is the economy.

McCain won't debate unless we rush to a deal. Bush threatens that "the entire economy will fail" if we don't approve a rushed bill.

Why does this sound just like the administration's demands for carte blanche because things are so dour? What if we substituted 'terrorism' and 'axis of evil' for 'economic crisis'? Sound familiar?

Fear = Americans giving up their power and wholesale sell-offs. Nothing's changed, just the focus of the fear.

What do you think?

(Personally, I think McCain is scared as hell to debate Obama and this is his better option. He gets to look like he cares and he bows out under the guise of doing something for the country.)

Flip-Flopping

In the 2004 Kerry/Bush race John Kerry was derailed as a flip-flopper. John Kerry flubbed in his explanation of one Senate vote. One hyphenated phrase was applied to his one flub, costing him the election.

What do we make of John McCain and all of his contradictions? Can we call these flip-flops? Are there just so many outright contradictions that the electorate will become numb, with no one event to focus on?

Will anyone in the Obama camp produce commercials highlighting McCain's reversals and contradictions? Please send me the footage, I'll love to create these spots and distribute them.

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Well, someone's onto it. Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

Is a vote for McCain a vote for giving up our right to vote?

Republicans in office have consistently worked to block election reform that would require a paper trail for votes.

There are still many issues with e-voting and anomalies continue to show up. If there is no way perform an independent recount then those who control the machines control the election.

There was recently a Computerworld article, by Sharon Machlis, that pointed out some of the ongoing questions that have not been put to rest. In Let's Impeach E-voting she points out:

"Chris Hood told Rolling Stone magazine that he was working for Diebold in Georgia in 2002 when the head of the company's election division arrived to distribute a patch to workers. That code was applied to only about 5,000 machines in two counties. Hood says it was an unauthorized patch that was kept hidden from state officials."

"An attorney and IT security consultant last month cited that incident to renew challenges to 2004 Ohio elections, which had a similar mix of paperless Diebold machines and statistically curious results."

"In Alabama, questions linger about a supposed "glitch" that caused officials to change the winner of the governor's race six years ago; a research paper presented to the Alabama Political Science Association later described the new, changed results as statistically "anomalous" and outlined a possible scenario of vote-counting fraud."

I performed some statistical analysis on Florida election results after the 2004 Bush/Kerry elections which showed very strange anomalies. It appears that in many counties votes for Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were switched. Here is a link to the stats: nusys.com/political (please note: a number of reference links are now broken.)

What do you think?

If other countries experienced the sort of discrepancies we've seen in this country, and exit polls and election results varied by such large margins, we'd point to those elections and called them obviously fixed. We are in danger of losing our democracy and we need to elect those who would protect it.

We must make sure we don't vote for politicians who say "all the right things" when the camera's rolling, but who contradict themselves when it comes to policy decisions. Let's wake up and educate our neighbors so we don't lose this country for good. We just might have a chance to reclaim our democracy.

What do you think about the state our election process?

Lipstick on a Pig

Well, isn't that the name of the entire Republican campaign?

Very good reporting by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC, uncovering the hypocrisy of John McCain in his railing against Obama for allegedly using the term to describe Sara Palin (which he never did). John McCain has used the allusion way more often, but I guess any opportunity to distort, create drama, and grab headlines is reason enough for that campaign to create more outright lies about their opponents.

When all you have is distortion, sensationalism and slick ads, I'd definitely call that putting lipstick on a pig.

Why Barak Obama is Pro-Life

I heard a listener on NPR who called in after Thursday night's speech by Obama to say that he was a Republican and wanted to vote for Obama, but would not because Barak Obama is Pro-Choice.

I think Barak should produce the following commercial (and yes, Barak, I'm writing this for you so feel free to use any of this content in your campaign):

Title: I am Pro-Life.

I am Barak Obama and I am Pro-Life.

I am for the lives of all living people, as well as the unborn children of this world.

I also believe in the right for mothers to choose according to their own moral code until a certain point in their pregnancy.

If you are basing your voting decision on this one principle, I ask you; was it the moral choice to vote for someone who lead this country into an unnecessary war where thousands of American lives, as well as the lives of countless Iraqi civilians, have been lost?

Is it the moral choice to vote for a man who will continue to support energy policies that will do more to accelerate the climate crisis and maintain the status quo than policies which might reverse this crisis. How many lives will be lost? How many people displaced, if we don't change our course?

Is it the moral choice to vote for a man whose policies will lead to more suffering, more poverty, more desperation and more despair for millions of Americans.

Is it the moral choice to vote for a man who supported the rush to war, and jokes about unprovoked bombing of another adversary in the region.

Is it more important to you that women lose some choice over their own bodies, than we have a just society that protects the freedoms and safety of its citizens. Is it alright with you that the world has begun to view this nation as a lawless thug when it comes to foreign affairs?

Was it the moral choice to vote for George Bush if you are Pro-Life?

Is it the moral choice to vote for John McCain if you are Pro-Life.

I am Barak Obama and I am Pro-Life.

I am also Pro-Liberty, Pro-Prosperity and as much as I don't like abortions, I am Pro-Choice.

I am [Barak Obama], and I approved this message.

Larry King after the convention coverage

Did anyone catch even a little bit of Larry King last night? I thought I was watching FOX. WTF? This show could not have been more biased.

Larry is stocking the pond with opposition pundits for his entire post-convention show. Putting on republican pundits without any opportunity for democratic rebuttal for the entire show is a gross misuse of media influence. Larry, what are you thinking? Does the GOP have you in their pocket now too?