We are all socialists now

Random post-election thoughts:

The Republicans accused Barack Obama of being a socialist and wanting to redistribute income. Well, the people have spoken and their message is clear: the USA is now a socialist country. I'm sure everyone will be excited when they Congress imposes universal health insurance, 35 hour work weeks, and 6 weeks of vacation for everyone.

I am a white Christan man who voted for Obama. After reading this I am having an existential crisis. Maybe I have already become extinct.

Also, I wonder why it is that so many of the policies which my faith leads me to support are those of the "non-Christian" party? If the Republicans are the party of most Christians, why don't they care about the poor? Are they reading a different Bible?

I remember hearing Jesse Jackson speak and voting for him in the 1988 primaries. 20 years ago I would not have believed that Barack Obama could actually win election as President of the United States. I am literally in awe of what happened in our country yesterday. The USA is certainly changing for the better.

Unelectable Maverick

Watching John McCain on Saturday Night Live, my impression was that he has given up and realizes he can't win. He was back to being the old maverick McCain, the one who wasn't trying to please the conservative base. He is unelectable either way, but the ironic maverick is a version of himself he is more comfortable with, and that's how he wants to go out.

Fallows says it better than I can.

I expect McCain to apologize for the negative tone of the campaign soon after the election in an attempt to reclaim his misplaced honor.

GOTV

I was at the DFL phone bank yesterday calling Minnesota voters. Have to get some outdoor work done today with the nice weather, so I couldn't go back.

Funny thing is that the McCain campaign called me at home and left a message while I was out volunteering for the Democrats. Republicans still need a little more work on their "micro-targeting"!

Of course, the micro-targeting didn't work too well in the 2006 Congressional elections.

I would encourage anyone interested in influencing election results to volunteer for your chosen candidate. You will have a much bigger impact than staying at home worrying and reading the internet.

So long, Ted

Well, things are looking up in Alaska.

Sen. Ted Stevens has been officially recognized by the criminal justice system as a felon. This should be the end of his political career.

Unfortunately, some of the other Alaska politicians who violated the law are not up for re-election this year. But at least the rest of the country has realized that they are not qualified for a promotion.

Marathon

Conventional wisdom finally catches reality at the end of the race.

Political strategery

New McCain electoral strategy:

1. Win all 2004 Bush states except Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia, Colorado to get to 252 electoral votes.

2. Reverse 10 point polling deficit to win Pennsylvania and 273 EV.

3. Everyone gets a free pony.

Note: Free pony may have to be distributed in Pennsylvania prior to election to accomplish #2.

Creeping socialism

"Republicans begin major offensive warning of full Democratic control of Washington..."

Oh no! What if the Democrats try to take over a big insurance company like AIG? What if they start to nationalize the banks? What if their presidential candidate proposes that we spend $300 billion to buy up bad mortgages?

How would we be able to tell the Democrats apart from the Republicans?

Seems to me like McCain and Bush are the real socialists.

What about the poor?

Today Sen. Obama released his "Economic Rescue Plan for the Middle Class". I understand that Sen. Obama is trying to win an election, and that he believes proposals addressing middle-class economic problems are the way to get more votes. But I see nothing in his proposals to help those who need the most assistance.

We should realize that the poor will be hurt the most by this economic downturn. Poor people don't have individual retirement accounts, and homeless families don't have mortgages. More than one million children are homeless at some point each year, and these children are the future of our country. If our government can find $700 billion to bail out the banking system, surely we can afford the much smaller amount it would take to feed and house vulnerable children.

If Sen. Obama wins the election, as looks increasingly likely, we must speak up for those who rarely have a voice in the political process, but who have the most to lose.

Fat lady warming up

Nate Silver's projection is not alone in giving Sen. Obama a high likelihood of winning the election.

"Sen. John McCain has his work cut out for him if he is to win the presidency and there does not appear to be a role model for such a comeback in the last half century," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Basically, since the widespread use of television no candidate has won the presidency after being this far behind one month before the election.

You would have to go back to Truman-Dewey, and the pollsters missed a last-month shift in that election (last Gallup poll was 3 weeks before election!). Also in 1948, there was serious systematic error in that random voter samples were not collected. So Truman was probably never as far behind as the polls indicated.

Where's my check?

My father was born in Alaska before it became a state, but moved to St. Paul when he was a child. So he missed out on the financial windfall going out to current Alaska residents. Why do residents of Alaska get oil profit rebate checks from the state government? Is the oil a state or national resource?

I guess the money comes from state taxes on oil company profits. But if the state has so much extra cash, why are they getting any federal subsidies at all? Among the states, Alaska is always one of the largest per-capita recipients of federal subsidies. Shouldn't they be able to pay their own way with all of the oil tax dollars they are receiving? Maybe this will change if they elect a new Senator and Representative in Congress this fall.

Thanks for nothing, George

The Dow's close puts the stock market below where it was on President Bush's first day in office.

Where's Osama?

It's getting to the point where Sen. McCain would have to parachute into Afganistan and single-handedly capture bin Laden to increase his standings in the polls.

Of course, today Sen. McCain repudiated Gov. Palin's comments in favor of attacking terrorists in Pakistan. So apparently bin Laden will be safe from Sen. McCain if he can hide on the Pakistan side of the border.



Gates of Hell indeed...

In-laws

Watching John McCain in the presidential debate last night was like listening to a 90 minute lecture on politics from your cranky father-in-law who sits around all day listening to right wing talk radio and then comes over to tell you how liberals are ruining America. And you sit there and try to bite your tongue so that you won't get into a big argument and ruin Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family.

Not that this has ever happened to me.

Does GOP stand for Grumpy Old People now?

Because they all look alike to him...

 McCain "will spar this week in mock debates" with former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele who will play Obama "and use many of his speaking patterns, tactics and body language."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204781847961747.html

Who, what, when, where, why, how?

So what is the point of all this anyway? In a few hundred years will anyone see this and look at it to learn about the early 21st century? Or will this all be a bunch of digital refuse? Maybe we should all be writing on paper instead of digitally.

Show Tunes

We watched the first episode of Dr. Horrible tonight. It was pretty funny. Better than 90% of the stuff on TV anyway. If you're interested, watch it before Sunday when it will be gone.

Update: Errr, nevermind. The first episode was the best and it went downhill from there. Started with such promise, only to disappoint in the end.

What I really think

I am adding this post for my friend Annie because she wants to know what I really think about things. If I knew what I really thought about things, I would write it here. Right in this spot right here. I'm still thinking.

Linking the phone

This is the stone hall on Rock Island State Park in Wisconsin.