Tonight is Your Answer

The Bradley effect has become a footnote in history. Future conversations will marvel about the Obama effect. At 11:00 pm, the major television networks declared that Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States. The work of a long campaign is done. Now, the work begins.

Update: Forbes.com has posted the text of President-elect Obama's victory speech.

Rubbing Two Sticks Together – A Robocall Chronicle

While Barack Obama chooses YouTube and Web 2.0 to extend his reach, the McCain campaign is using a century-old technology to contact selected voters in Western Pennsylvania: the telephone.

I vote. I'm in the phone book. They found me.

The calls began on a Wednesday, near the end of October. John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Republican National Committee dispatched an unidentified male voice to let me know that “elitist Democrats say they understand us, but Barack Obama and Joe Biden say (in Biden's voice), ‘No coal plants here in America. Build them, if they're gonna build them over there …'."

On Thursday, Gov. Tom Ridge let me know that “if the Democrats win full control of government, they would want to give traditional civil rights to terrorists and talk unconditionally to dictators and state sponsors of terror. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the experience and judgment to lead America."

Saturday brought Hank Williams, Jr., into my living room to warn me that “Elitist Democrats in Washington talk a lot about feeling the pain on ‘Main Street,' but it was their ties to greed and corruption on Wall Street that cost good, honest, American jobs. With values like these, we can't trust Barack Obama and his elitist liberal allies to represent us for the next 4 years." Hank virtually spit the last sentence out.

Silence for a week; then, the unidentified male was back to inform me that “there's more to Obama's record on the 2nd Amendment than he wants you to know. Barack Obama says he stands with gun owners, but his record says something different. Obama has supported a complete ban on handgun ownership, opposes concealed carry permits, and even voted to strip legal protection, freezing firearms for self-defense at home."

That Sunday, the RNC had Hillary Clinton interrupt my dinner. The recording, excised from the notorious 3:oo am phone call speech that she gave in March, 2008, went like this: “In the White House there is no time for speeches and on the job training. Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the campaign, and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002. I think that is a significant difference."

Just in time for dessert, the phone rang again. “I'm calling on behalf of John McCain," a female voice announced, “to tell you that coal jobs, which are so important to our community, are in jeopardy. Listen to Barack Obama's plans to bankrupt the coal industry." An Obama clip, out of context, plays: “So, if somebody wants to build a coal -powered plant they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them because they're (unintelligible) be charged a huge sum for all that, ah, greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

The most striking thing about all this inflammatory rhetoric, unsubstantiated assertions and out of context quotes, was the last call. Bankrupt is there twice. It's the word I remember, and associate with the campaign. That's called a takeaway. John McCain's robocalls, bankrupt.

The Mercurial McCain

"You're putting out stuff that is unbelievable George, and it's got to stop … and your ads have got to stop."
Sen. John McCain addressing Gov. George W. Bush at a Republican Presidential Primary Debate in 2000.

Senator McCain was so stung by accusations attributed to the Bush campaign that he admonished the Texas governor: "I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts. You should be ashamed. You should be ashamed."

During the primary campaign for the 2004 election, there was a rumor that John McCain might become John Kerry's running mate. The possibility of a unity ticket was appealing to some Democrats. They respected Sen. McCain and were anxious to end President Bush's partisan reign. Reportedly, McCain was not interested.

Four years later, Sen. John McCain is waging a campaign that should give pause to Americans of every political party.


Thanks to TPMtv

Defining Citizenship

"Are we so lost we have to be sold our own democratic right?"
Craig Ferguson

John McCain's campaign manager, former lobbyist Rick Davis, insists that "this election is not about issues."

Davis forgot to tell Craig Ferguson, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen a few months ago. In this video, Ferguson riffs about lipstick on a pig, show-business style campaign coverage, and your duty to be informed and vote.


Thanks to Fred F.

If you believe that the media (formerly called the news media), is often derelict in their coverage of the presidential race, you'll appreciate Glenn Greenwald's dissection of the vacuous lipstick on a pig story.

McCain Campaign Runs Huge Deficit

Less than 60 days before the Presidential election, the campaign of John McCain and Sarah Palin is running a huge integrity deficit. Reprising the swift-boating tactics Republican proxies used against John Kerry four years ago, McCain and Palin are repeatedly using lies in an attempt to discredit Senator Barack Obama.

Washington observers are wondering why McCain isn't more careful spending his credibility, particularly since his ally, President George W. Bush lost his passbook years ago.

Update: Conservative Andrew Sullivan has a more stern take on McCain's integrity deficit.