Random Question

If the president's wife is the first lady, then what is the presidents husband?

The first man?

McCain's funds rapidly decreasing

McCain used the public finnacing campaign system to get funds and therefore as a restirction, and as reported in this article only has about 12 million out of the 84 million he got to spend in the last days of the election, while Obama had over 150 million in September, becayse he did not choose the public finnace system. The article also said that Sarah Palin had used 150,000 dollars for clothes and cosmetics for her and her family during the campaign. I think ridiculous is an understatement. It also says Palin had a traveling stylist and celebrity makeup artist. Which are clearly necesities. McCain has 21 million leftover cash that he cannot spend in the election because he accpeted the 84 million. What a shame.

Have YOU gotten a Robocall?

Election day is closer than ever and the campaigns on both sides are giving it their all-but not all in good ways.

The people living in the "swing states" are apparently receiving about a dozen robocalls a day. These are basically automated phone calls that try to convince people to vote for a certain candidate or just vote. The problem is that a good portion of these robocalls is made up of negative ads, such as the Ayers-Obama connection that Kevin talked about last post.

Robocalls are okay to have, but I’d suggest campaigns to use them wisely. The numerous and repetitive phone calls are probably quite irritating for those receiving them. They’re not even worth giving out if they are negative and false ads because by now, people have already decided what things they are and aren’t going to believe. Both the Obama and McCain campaigns have said that the economy is the most important thing that should be paid attention to now, so seriously, lets stop the mudslinging!

original article here.

Poll: Things Look Good for Obama

In contrast to the article that Paige wrote about, this poll holds good news for Obama, who is gaining leads in key states won by George Bush in 2004: Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia, although he did lose ground in West Virginia. Even if their overall support is close, as shown in the 2000 election, what matters most are the electoral votes.

According to polls, in North Carolina, support for Obama vs McCain increased to 51%-47% from 49%-49%. In Nevada his support rose to 51%-46% from 50%-46%. In Virginia he remains ahead 54%-44%. In West Virginia he dropped down to 41%-53% from 44%-49%. But we all know how few electoral votes West Virginia gets anyways.

It seems that one reason for these changes is the fact that less than 1/3 of voters actually care enough about the Obama-Ayers terrorist connection for it to possibly affect their vote, according to polls. Considering this has been a focus of McCain's campaign, as a result McCain is not garnering as many supporters as he could. He needs to switch his focuses if he wants a better chance to secure North Carolina and Nevada, which are still within the margin of error, but it may be too late to change, and he can't undo his wasted time.

This is how I see McCain at the moment.

McCain's "Change"

I'm sure you all have been aware of the recent comments from the McCain campaign essentially calling Obama a "socialist" due to his "spread the wealth" comment to the Joe the plumber. Well, I think it's pretty clear that Obama's economic plan isn't socialist. Obama's explanation simply was that he wants to give families of the working class making less than $250,000 no increases on their taxes. People may agree or disagree with the plan, but socialism isn't the right description for it. And apparently, McCain used to think so too.

Click here to view a video of McCain answering a question from the Hardball College Tour on October 12, 2000.


Question: Why is it that someone like my father, who goes to school for 13 years, gets penalized in a huge tax bracket because he's a doctor? Why is that -- why does he have to pay higher taxes than everybody else, just because he makes more money? Why -- how is that fair?

McCain: I think your question -- questioning the fundamentals of a progressive tax system where people who make more money pay more intaxes than a flat, across-the-board percentage. I think it's to some degree because we feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more.

(skip a few and...)

Question: I still don't see...how that's fair...are we getting closer and closer to, like, socialism and stuff, when you have -- you have some people paying 60 percent overall in a year of their money to taxes. That's their money, not the government's. How is that fair?

McCain: So, look, here's what I really believe, that when you...reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more...And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working Americans with children that need to educate their children, and they're the ones that I would support tax cuts for first.


hmmm. Well, according to McCain's responses to these questions, he used to pretty much agree with Obama. The question is: what happened? Answer: He lost the nomination in 2000 and he won the nomination in 2008. In this 2008 presidential campaign, he has changed his views by conforming to the demands of his own party.

Thoughts? Anyone have anything to say about this?

The Race Tightens

Polls have shown that after the 3rd debate the gap between Obama and McCain has tightened. Wandering Republicans who wandered off for a while are starting to go back to McCain. The article about this said Obama had 44%, while McCain had 43%, that number is so close I don't know how accurate it is but the point is that the race is getting closer. I was talking with a registered independent tonight, and they said that they were originally going to vote for McCain, but that they thought that it wasn't worth it because they thought McCain was sure to lose, so they were pondering whether to not vote at all, or just vote Obama. I hope this attitude isn't shared by a lot of people, because voter turnout is crucial to this election.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20081022/AP.Poll.Presidential.Race/

Suggestions for Presidential Debates?

We all know how boring (or fun for some) Presidential debates can be.

So I thought it'd be interesting to see how you all might improve upon the structure of the debates, whether it be to make it more watchable or more informative or whatever else.

I got the idea from Cracked.

Feel free to share your ideas!

Bush: "to whom much is given, much is required"

There's been so much coverage about Obama and McCain, but what's the president been up to?

Today, President Bush attended the White House Summit on International Development in which various topics including disease, hunger, illiteracy, and development were discussed. These main concerns pointed towards the current global financial crisis and its major impact on developing nations. Decreased aid towards these developing nations is likely to result in decreasing funding for the numerous programs, such as those fighting against HIV/AIDS, working for development. Yet, President Bush and Secretary of State Rice strongly urged for nations to avoid cutting the aid budgets going towards these developing nations.
Why?
1. The U.S. and industrialized nations have power to help the less fortunate, so thye must use this power.
2. Stopping investments in the international order would affect all and make everyone poorer.
Bush also mentioned his support for free trade as "the greatest engine of prosperity the world has ever known." He appealed that trade is essential to economic prosperity for bad times like now.

By making it clear that he believes the US and other industrialized nations should commit to their aid obligations, Bush is trying to show the world that the US isn't completely falling downward with the economic crisis that it is currently dealing with. It's an attempt to show that the US is still powerful enough to be also paying attention to those "less fortunate countries"

I'm thinking the US people and government are pretty busy with the numerous economic problems and that some other "richer nations" are going to have to scale back aid due to the economic crisis. It's true that aiding developing countries is important, but will the US and other countries be able to continue to commit to it? How badly will the economic crisis affect global development?

More bailout aid

The federal reserve plans to help buy up to 600 billion in short term debt. They are calling this debt "the funds that broke the buck" and that it is essential to help with it so the banks can get back on their feet easier. This money along with the money from the bailout plan will add up to about 13 billion in releif for banks. This is the 3rd plan proposed in the past month to help the bad credit.

Original Article:


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/economy/22fed.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Any aspiring Prostitutes?

Prop K will decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco, even though under California state law prostitution is illegal. It will still be illegal to prostitute yourself, but police cannot search for or question possible prostitutes. California will be the first state to pass this. The main arguement for this prop, is that it will save the police department from spending millions of dollars prosecuting prostitutes, and that the prostitutes will be safer since they will not have to rely on a pimp. This prop doesn't seem constitutional, and I wonder if it gets passed, if it will be challeneged. It is essentially legalizing prostitution in San Francisco without actually doing it.

Original Article:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20081021/San.Francisco.Prostitution/

The Palin Factor

It is obvious that Sarah Palin is quite popular, as shown in part by this appealing action figure of Palin in a schoolgirl outfit with a visible pink bra, but how will her popularity shape the election?

According to this article, Palin draws an even larger crowd that McCain does and her support is still growing. She argues energetically in her speeches, and her fellow Republicans love her for it. There are also those who are embarrassed to support Palin in public, but will in secret give her their votes. Her contribution to the campaign is obvious, and she is a power to be reckoned with.

But of course there are those that are still against her. The elite of the Republicans are critical about Palin's lack of President of the United States quality (But this really isn't all that many people...), and the Democrats are all too willing to pick at her many flaws. Conservative David Brooks of the New York Times even called her a "cancer" to the Republican party.

She is immensely popular with Republicans and laughing-stock of the Democrats, but what matters more is her effect on Independents. Will she be able to draw in enough Independents to win an unexpected victory? Well, even if she doesn't, she will be remembered as the woman who almost saved McCain, and according to the article, "represent the future of the GOP."

(This is a time that I'm glad to be a Democrat so that I have Barack Obama representing the new generation instead of Sarah Palin representing my new generation.)

Palin seeks federal ban on gay marriage

I just read this article that said that Palin wants there to be a federal ban on gay marriage, rather than McCain's views to make it a state issue. I think this is bad for the McCain campaign to get some moderate votes, and he was already having some trouble with that like Moeka said earlier. At least someone in this election is taking a firm stance, because I can't really tell Biden or Obama's stance on this issue from what htey have said. I wonder if they really aren't for it, or want more votes, and the same for McCain because leaving it to the states doesn't give a concrete answer even though they've all said they are against it. It'll be interesting to see how this news affects McCain's poll ratings.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20081020/Palin.Gay.Marriage/

Original Article ^

The Legacy Of The VP

In about the past 20 years, the VP and possible VP's have made significant errors in common sense. The late 80's to early 90's had Dan Quayle who had his spelling issues, when he spelled potato wrong.

It definatly doesn't look good to have one of countries leaders spell simple words wrong.

There was also when Cheney accidently shot his friend in the face.

Recently Joe Biden made a ridiculous mistake of his own, and forgot how to count, because JOBS is clearly a 3 letter word.

And I don't think I need to cite Sarah Palin's mistakes, since there are previous posts about it.

A little mistake here and there isn't bad, but when your vice president you should know better. I think candidates need to take a better look at the people they are choosing, because who they pick is going to represent them and these mistakes aren't very appealing to the public. Most of these people went to prestigious schools, and its ridiculous to see them make these mistakes. I know when I look back at previous presidencies, these mistakes really stick out in my mind, and I doubt this is how the presidents want their term to be remembered for. So lets hope Biden or Palin don't mess up any more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq-eeWow_WU

Biden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZihMFYGM_o

Quayle

Pleasing the conservative, while keeping the moderate

The McCain campaign has been having some trouble balancing their support. While Sarah Palin's conservative social views have gotten a strong hold of a good portion of McCain's conservative voters, many moderates have been skeptical. McCain's campaigning strategies to please the right voters have resulted in a loss of support from the center, which is the support that McCain needs in order to overcome Obama's lead. This was indeed a bad move for McCain because the middle voters are probably the most likely to shift their support from one party to another.

For example, former Republican secretary of state Colin Powell is endorsing Barack Obama ( as I see Kevin mentioned below). Well, what's the significance of this? Despite the fact that it was expected for Powell, well known to be a moderate conservative, to eventually back Obama, his move may just be enough to push many other undecided voters over the edge to vote for Obama. It helps that Powell very clearly stated his views on Obama vs. McCain; he basically said McCain: Nah and Obama: Yah.

With the election getting closer and closer, the undecided voters are weighing the pros and cons of the two candidates. Yet, it seems like McCain's cons seem to be adding up more and more to a greater amount. McCain's rough performance during the financial crisis (think back to "The fundamentals of our economy are still strong.") and his not-so-great VP choice of Palin are some of the things that are really pushing people over the edge. McCain got nominated for the GOP nominee spot in the first place for his supposed "maverick" behavior. His "maverick" appeal was that he could also serve for the interests of the independents and moderates and "take on his own party." But now, it seems that McCain is giving into the needs to please his party and his actions haven't been successful in attracting those middle voters, which he so desperately needs.

Powell Supports Obama

Although it wasn't unexpected, former Republican Secretary of State Colin Powell's public endorsement of Obama will undoubtedly hurt McCain's chances in the election coming up in just a few weeks.

Powell said that he noticed uncertainty in the way that McCain claimed he would deal with the economic crisis, as he would change his plan constantly. Powell also expressed his concern on McCain's choice for Vice President, Sarah Palin, saying "I don't believe she's ready to be the President of the United States." Furthermore, he believes that the scope of the Republican party has been getting "narrower and narrower" and further to the right, and Powell also expressed his dissatisfaction with the way that McCain attacked Obama for being a terrorist. In response to accusations of Obama being Muslim, Powell further hurts the McCain campaign with his argument that first of all, Obama has always been a Christian, and also, there isn't anything wrong with being Muslim in the first place.

In contrast, he noticed a "steadiness" and "depth of knowledge" in Obama, and believed that his pick for Vice President was indeed ready to be President. He also believed Obama had a very broad reach, "He's crossing lines." He is the "new generation."

McCain had better be worried that other Republicans are feeling this way too.

And no, Colin Powell is not voting for Obama because they are both black. You wish.

Sarah Palin and Tina Fey: Twins on SNL

Here are the clips of Gov. Sarah Palin's appearance on SNL! I think she handled her job nicely, considering that she had been made fun of on the show for weeks. Apparently, the rapping portion was originally supposed to be for Palin, but she refused and Amy Poehler took her place. It was odd watching Sarah Palin dancing and bobbing her head to rap music, but hey, at least she wasn't the one rapping. That would have been very odd and just more material for the media to replay over and over. Overall, this was another funny and entertaining SNL.

Celebrities and Youth?

Note: Please excuse the slight profanity in the video. I guess it's supposed to make it so that it's better related to teens? Haha. Kind of silly.

Some of you may have seen this video. It's a little late since the deadline to register has passed already, but I still wanted to discuss celebrities' involvement with youth's voting. This video is brilliant, amazing, and any other positive word I could use. It's hilarious. Many people think that youth votes are very important. After all, they make up a huge percentage of the population. Just think about it, even the economy relies a lot of our desire for material objects. How much money do we spend on clothes, accessories, and eating out? But there's also the issue of whether people really know what they're voting for. Is the average 18-year-old informed enough to make a decision that would benefit them? Maybe. Some adults don't even know. So many people get caught up on the "band wagon" or just taking whatever opinions they are surrounded by without formulating their own. And it made me wonder... if celebrities could convince a youth to register & vote, who's to say that they can't influence WHO they vote for? A previous blog entry had a few quotes of celebrities publicly announcing who they're voting for. Does that swing things? Would it be better if celebrities didn't share their ideas with youth? It's something to think about, and I still can't decide since there are pros and cons to both.

Feel free to comment :) I love reading the discussions.

Is McCain and Obama now basing thier opinions on "Joe the Plumber"??!

During the third and final presidential debate of the year, it seemed much of the conversation revolved around 'Joe the plumber'.

But...who actually is Joe?
His full name is Joe Wurzelbacher from Ohio. He was picked from the crowd at one of the rallies. Since then, McCain has been refering to Joe as the "average American citizen". This is a political strategy that McCain uses to prove that they too understand average American problems by referring to a specific individual. It seemed like only a McCain thing, however, Sen. Obama started to mention Joe the Plumber, as well. In fact, in yesterday's debate alone, Joe the Plumber was mentioned more than 20 times! They even used his name more than "change" or "reform" combined.

Now, Joe has become some sort of celebrity in the campagin. He has paparazzi following him and camping out at his house. He says that he feels like "Britney Spears with a headache", everyone wants to know about what he has to say. Joe, who makes less than 250,000 a year, is planning to buy a plumbing comany and he is worried about tax rates and the economy. If Joe bought the company, it would be making more than 250,000 a year. Obama says that under his plan, tax rates would stay the same, but if Joe earned higher than 250,000 a year a possible 39 percent tax could be proposed. Joe doesn't mind Obama's plan right now because he's earning less than the 250,000.

Joe doesn't want to release to the press who he is going to vote for, but hopefully he will tell the public after the election who his decided candidate was because, of course, EVERYONE cares what Joe the plumber thinks.

P.S. if anyone is interested here is the actualy encounter between Obama and Joe.

last presidential debate of '08

With less than a month until the election, this was the last chance for McCain to gather support from the swing states. In my opinion, McCain didn't do that bad, but the debate didn't really help him either. During the entire debate, McCain was being incredibly rude to Obama and acted way too overconfident, which probably didn't help his campaign. On the other hand, a beneficial aspect of McCain's performance was that he spoke directly to Obama compared to previous debates. 

In regards to the content of the debate, nothing new was really said about each candidate's economic plan, which was disappointing considering how important this issue currently is to the average American citizen.  

Overall, this debate touched on a lot of various issues ranging from the economy, education,the negative campaign, healthcare and abortion. Also, it was the most interesting debate among the three.

Quick update...

As I'm watching this, I can't stop thinking MCCAIN IS BEING A JERK! Gee, do you think you could let Obama finish a sentence or two? No? Well then...

I've never seen this side of him. On one hand, he seems to be a little bit more confident. But on the other hand, he's looking really rude. Maybe it's because he knows he has nothing to lose, but everything to gain if he does it right.

All while Obama sits, nods, and smiles. How graceful of you, sir. I applaud you!