The 2008 US Election thread

[Tyrones own]

Couldn't agree more, was pissed when i heard that today...Ken lay went down the road for a lot less
If some of these hoors' heads don't roll here there'll be no coming back from this
from a confidence standpoint. Crooked bastards the lot of them..

[heganboy]

republican strategists feel a terrorist attack is required for a mc cain win

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/08/uselections2008.johnmccain

John McCain is heading to near-certain defeat in the presidential election because American voters no longer trust Republicans on the economy, a strategist for the party warned yesterday.

Steve Lombardo, who has worked on Republican campaigns since 1992 and advised McCain's opponent, Mitt Romney, in the primaries, said it would take a major external event, such as a terrorist attack or a crippling error by Barack Obama, for McCain to make a comeback.

"Basically unless there is some external event the dynamics of this race are being driven almost entirely by the financial situation here in the United States and globally, and that works for Barack Obama," Lombardo told the Guardian.

"If there isn't some sort of event or, God forbid, a terrorist attack that moves the election on to foreign affairs or national security, it is unlikely that McCain can regain the lead, just because voters have decided that the base of the problems they face are the Republican party, George Bush, and, by extension, John McCain."

McCain last night tried to get past Obama's advantage on the economy by making a personal connection with voters, in the second of three presidential debates in Nashville, Tennessee.

Taking advantage of a town hall format, McCain walked up to the studio audience to make his pitch. "I know how to get American working again," he said.

But the outlook for Republicans did not look good. Yesterday saw Bush brought to a new low. The 25% approval rating was recorded just after Congress approved a $700bn (£400bn) economic bailout, suggesting the public gave no credit to the White House for its rescue plan.

The rating, a new nadir for a historically unpopular president, puts Bush one point ahead of Richard Nixon on the eve of his departure in 1974. It is three points higher than the poll's all-time low for any president, Harry Truman's 22% in 1952.

Lombardo laid out his misgivings in a memo obtained by the Guardian, in which he wrote that McCain's attempts to make the election about Obama's character were unlikely to work. The memo argues such attacks at this point seem "desperate"; the time to define the Democrats' character had been in August - before the presidential debates. "The economic situation has virtually ended John McCain's presidential aspirations and no amount of tactical manoeuvring in the final 29 days is likely to change that equation," the memo said. "There are more turns to come in this election and it is not over yet but it sure seems like it is."

The memo said McCain lost the election on September 15 - two days after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy - when he told a rally in Florida: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong."

McCain saw fresh signs yesterday of the damage to his prospects in polls showing him trailing in four battleground states and fighting to keep Indiana and North Carolina. He suffered another blow when the wife of a retiring Republican senator seen as one of the Republicans' experts on national security officially endorsed Obama. "We're in two wars, two of the longest we've ever been in. We've run up a third of our nation's debt in just the past eight years. We're in the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression," said Lilibet Hagel, whose husband, Chuck, is a senator from Nebraska.

With less than four weeks until election day, the slide in the polls brought an even more personal edge to McCain's attacks on Obama. The Democrats hit back with an ad released on cable networks yesterday, accusing McCain of being "out of ideas" and seeking to distract voters from America's economic problems. "With no plan to lift our economy up, John McCain wants to tear Barack Obama down," it said.

In the latest bad news for McCain, a Time magazine-CNN poll showed the Republican struggling to hold states Bush carried easily in 2004. In Indiana, Republican since 1964, McCain and Obama were tied among registered voters on 48%.

Palin, meanwhile, emerged as the attack dog. The vice-presidential candidate redirected her attack from Obama's association with 1960s radical Bill Ayers to Obama himself. "You mean he didn't know that he launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist?" she asked a rally in Jacksonville.

[J70]

Anyone watching the debate?

Fairly even first hour in my opinion. They both set out their points and the differences are clear for the voters.

[DrinknHarp]

Anyone watching the debate?

Fairly even first hour in my opinion. They both set out their points and the differences are clear for the voters.

It is amazing how McCain can listen to Obama talk for 3 minutes then say "what he meant to say is .......".
Is his listening comprehension so bad or is it the act of a desperate man?

Thankfully no discussion so far on religious viewpoints or doctrine- should not be involved with government.

[J70]

Talking heads on Fox aren't happy... too conventional and unrevealing they say. They wanted some questions on immigration or same-sex marriage, which I suppose would have been interesting.

I thought it was quite good though, although I didn't watch the full one the last day. I'd call it a draw overall. I don't think anything happened that will make much difference to the race. Both made their case, neither screwed up.

[mannix]

Obama is going to be president I think, unless he says something really stupid. Its hard to believe that Sarah Palin could get to be second in command and a 1 in 3 chance of being president in the four year term, I watched her and was shocked at how weak and uninformed she is, that was Mccains fatal mistake.
Its like bringing a drunk friend to a tough bar, he/she says the wrong thing and you get clobbered.

[Mentalman]

I thought McCain held his ground last night in the debate, but he needs to land a big punch in the next one to close it in. Even with a 6% or 7% lead I don't think Obama will win a clear victory, as I think in the privacy of the polling booth race will definitely be an issue. McCain didn't go negative last night, and you would have to believe it's because it's (1) not polling well with the mainstream electorate (2) didn't want to do it in a format where Obama could reply in kind. I have to say from a body language point of view McCain tried to use the stage but you can really see his physical problems - the inability to raise his arms due to his treatment in Vietnam etc. - and he just looks very old in comparison to Obama. It's a long way from over yet though.

On another note, heard this on the way in this morning:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/mccain-does-nothing-as-cr_n_132366.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/06/in_fla_palin_goes_for_the_roug.html

The Republicans are playing a dangerous game with this so called terrorist link.

[tyssam5]

I thought McCain held his ground last night in the debate, but he needs to land a big punch in the next one to close it in. Even with a 6% or 7% lead I don't think Obama will win a clear victory, as I think in the privacy of the polling booth race will definitely be an issue. McCain didn't go negative last night, and you would have to believe it's because it's (1) not polling well with the mainstream electorate (2) didn't want to do it in a format where Obama could reply in kind. I have to say from a body language point of view McCain tried to use the stage but you can really see his physical problems - the inability to raise his arms due to his treatment in Vietnam etc. - and he just looks very old in comparison to Obama. It's a long way from over yet though.

On another note, heard this on the way in this morning:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/06/mccain-does-nothing-as-cr_n_132366.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/06/in_fla_palin_goes_for_the_roug.html

The Republicans are playing a dangerous game with this so called terrorist link.

I've been thinking that for a while, I reckon Obama needs a 10% lead in the polls.
Paddypower is giving 7-2 about McCain if you fancy him.

I thought he was poor enough in the debate last night. Obama was strong on wanting to get after Bin Laden even if he's in Pakistan, pretty 'manly' position for the liberal.

[Tyrones own]

  Could there actually be a surprize in this election yet?

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=357563&altf=Uzspoft1Pxo&altl=

[J70]

I thought that auld one was going to drop her trousers there for a second!

[J70]

John Cleese has put his admiration for Sean Hannity into verse...

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You're a profanity
Hannity

[DrinkingHarp]

John Cleese has put his admiration for Sean Hannity into verse...

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You're a profanity
Hannity

PERFECT

[muppet]

John Cleese has put his admiration for Sean Hannity into verse...

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You're a profanity
Hannity

That should ne nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Brilliant.

[Mentalman]

Palin abused power as Governor: inquiry
Saturday, 11 October 2008 11:50

An Alaska ethics inquiry has found that Governor Sarah Palin, the US Republican vice presidential candidate, abused her authority by pressuring subordinates to fire a state trooper involved in a feud with her family.

The finding has cast a cloud over John McCain's choice of running mate for the 4 November election.

On the day it was published he reined in an aggressive strategy against Barack Obama that had failed to cut into his Democratic rival's lead.

After a week in which he and Ms Palin fiercely attacked Mr Obama and inflamed supporters by urging them to question his fitness to be president, Mr McCain switched to a milder tone, calling on frustrated loyalists to respect the Illinois senator.

Supporters appeared surprised by his conciliatory approach, booing at a Minneapolis rally when he told a sceptical backer that Mr Obama was a 'decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared (of) as president of the United States.'

The Alaska inquiry centred on whether Ms Palin's dismissal of the state's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, was linked to her personal feud with a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce with the Governor's sister.

The inquiry found that while it was within the Governor's authority to dismiss Mr Monegan, Ms Palin violated the public trust by pressuring those who worked for her in a way that advanced her personal wishes.

The report did not recommend any action be taken against the Governor, but called for changes in statutes for handling government personnel.

The investigation was commissioned in July by Alaska's Legislative Council composed of ten Republican lawmakers and four Democrats.

The McCain-Palin campaign dismissed the report, saying it was a 'partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters,' and Ms Palin and her family had been justified to be concerned about the behaviour of the trooper.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1011/uselection.html

[magpie seanie]

I would have thought Tyrone's Own would have been on by now making up hilarious excuses about Palin's abuse of power and telling us to educate ourselves.

Great judgement by McCain to pick her.