The current fuss with Palin personality is a one-month wonder. The DEMs have been 10x more effective at mobilising their base than the REPs.

Also, the economy stupid continues to head south. This is always the most accurate predictor of electoral success.

FTR I will repeat my prediction made in May 08. Obama will win the 2008 election comfortably. But I do concede that I underestimated the importance of personality. So Obama will possibly not win by a landslide 3%+.

Wait one month.

It looks like the Palin bubble has burst. THe RCP average now has Obama about 1% ahead of McCain. Thats a 3% turnaround from the 2% advantage that McCain enjoyed for most of this month.

She was fun whilst she lasted. But she was just a flash in the pan.

The floor under the REP vote may have been raised by the recent spurt of growth in the US economy, which appears completely disconnected from the US fiduciary. However there are so many reasons to vote against the REPs that even this good news wont save them.

I havent been wrong about a US or AUS federal election since the end of the Cold War. Not about to start blemishing the record for this race, which Obama should win in a canter.

(How are the other psehp bloggers doing on this? Mumbles was betting on McCain. I dont fancy his chances.)

He is one cool dude. THe Cool Hand Dude, with a handful of aces.

By the way. This is an incredibly civil site for a left leaning blog.

Partly because for most of us, our stake in the election is indirect. Kim has American citizenship, but most of us don’t. I have one godfather (as in baptisimal, not Mafia) in New York, and my wife has family in Maryland, but I have no direct relatives in the States.

Another thing is that a good site is like a good garden – sometimes you have to prune. Abuse isn’t tolerated here, and posts which abuse generally get deleted. A lot of the comment sites I’ve seen in the US suck. Threads consisting of talking point alternating with talking point – whether “Conservative” or “Liberal”, it doesn’t matter. The effect is of 200 homeless people along some run down street in a run down city, ranting to themselves. In contrast, the people who run the site (Mark mainly, plus Kim and others) try to get a conversation going, and generally they succeed. Mucho gracias to them.

Finally, many of us are lukewarm on Obama. We just think the other bunch is worse.

Mama73:

O.K., I’ve got about a 90% chance of voting for McCain/Palin if I make it to the booth.

Good for you. So would that 90% chance decline to 50% or less if you learn Sarah Palin had a direct hand in imposing fees to pay for rape medical exams? That would be a deal-breaker if I were American. Choose to vote for Obama, or Barr, or abstain altogether, but why would you vote for such an odious woman? This is not about elitism or condescension. This is about simple decency.

I really don’t appreciate you guys implying that they’re mindless, drooling, Rush Limbaugh worshiping zombies.

Yes, perhaps all those references to drooling were a bit out of line.

I’m educated (Masters Degree), northern, urban, female, married, mom, working.

The thing about the “She was for the Bridge To Nowhere before she was against it”, is that I don’t really think it sticks. I don’t believe that she had the political capital before the national fuss to do anything about it. When she got the capital, she did the right thing.

Also, although I know Alaska kept the money, I’m not sure what sort of infrastructure it went to repair. If it went to infrastructure that helps keep the oil and gas pumping (even roads to areas that are important to oil and gas industry) I figure I got a good deal from that money.

…also, despite my urban, educated status, my family’s from West Virginia. I get the feeling you’re not going to believe me when I tell you…but my relatives talk about stuff like this! And although most don’t have more than a high school diploma they are pretty well informed, and they’re SMART…and I really don’t appreciate you guys implying that they’re mindless, drooling, Rush Limbaugh worshiping zombies.

I agree, but it will never happen. The press protects Obama from questions like these. There was a slip on CNN today where the reporter referred the the Democrats as “we.” Not that I care, as the main post notes, Republicans are quite adept at using media support for the Democrat candidate against the Democrat.

Obama has re-iterated his support for Georgia to join NATO since the Russian incursion, so he has not backed down since things got hot.

By the way. This is an incredibly civil site for a left leaning blog. Congratulations on that, I didn’t think it could be done. I think if the Democrats in the US were more civil, and spent less time demonizing the voters they need, they might do better in the elections, but please dismiss this comment as “concern trolling”, I wouldn’t want the Dems to change.

Hillary, unlike Obama, has run for statewide office in a state where these “bitter clinger” voters that Obama supporters despise make up a decisive part of the electorate. She gets elected anyway. That reason alone should have been enough for the Democrats to choose her.

FDP, the CAP thing all week was humiliating & disturbing. And the betrayal by some so called “Lefties” has saddened this Bear. The CIRCLE has been broken. In some ways I contributed to it…but owned up to that in comment 88. Instead of empathy I had my one true hobby bar gardening & film watching ripped into…my good will thrown back in my face. I need time to repair & reflect. My catharsis is on RTS. Cheers
N’

You might want to have a look back at how you’ve reacted, cos you’ve never struck me as a precious, humourless git before.

Selfish hedonism. At the expense of babies

Someone’s gotta pay the bill, nasking. Might as well be little Jayyeighdn.