mccain

According to RealClearPolitics.com, Barack Obama maintains a strong lead in the Electoral Vote (270 electoral votes needed to win), but anything can happen on election day.

What are your predictions?

A recent cover story in Rolling Stone looks at John McCain and asks if he really is the Maverick he calls himself.

In the debate last night, Barack Obama, at several times agreed with McCain, but in many more he differed with McCain, especially on Iraq, where McCain was clearly wrong or mislead. Here are a few examples:

In his smartest move yet, McCain is pulling out of Friday's debate with Barack Obama. Why is it smart? Well, no matter how Obama responds to this move, he can't win. If he agrees with McCain that they should go to Washington to deal with the economic crisis, he's just following the more experienced leader. If he disagrees, he's putting his campaign ahead of the economy. Lose-lose for Obama. Slick move for McCain, who knew he couldn't win against Obama in the debate.

One thing I still don't understand is why Bush and McCain are suddenly appreciating the economic crisis now. We've all been telling them that the economy is bad for months, if not years, and they've been assuring us that our economy is strong. Suddenly, they've "woken up" and faced what is happening. Are we supposed to tout them as heroes now?

And is Obama, who's been concerned about the economy from the start, supposed to drop everything now that Bush has finally gotten his head out of the sand?

Gov. Palin is so proud of her daughter, Bristol Palin, who is having the child of Levi Johnston. When the baby was conceived, however, Bristol was under the age of consent, implying that Levi Johnston committed statutory rape. Statutory rape is defined as "sexual activity - without force or violence - with anyone defined as a minor." The reason for these laws is to protect minors who are considered unable to legally consent.

People convicted of statutory rape are often convicted and fined. Upon release from prison, they are also registered with the national registry of sex offenders.

Why is Levi Johnston not being charged with an obvious criminal act and registered as a sex offender? Why is Sarah Palin so excited about her young daughter's pregnancy?

Since Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, not only did she have a make-over, so did Levi, shown below shmoozing with McCain.

Did McCain make a hasty decision in Palin? You decide:

Here is an amazing summary of the Republican National Convention last week. It's really a great recap. Enjoy!

Enjoy this telling cartoon by Tom Toles:

Was McCain the quintessential POW that the media and his party are making him out to be? In this video, a fellow POW and a fellow from the Naval Academy speaks about McCain's ability to be president:

I caught Fred Thompson speaking at the Republican National Convention tonight. He spoke in length about John McCain's service to this country, the discipline he showed and hope he held as he was a captive in a POW camp. While the story is a powerful one, it does not qualify one to be president. (Perhaps it just shows how emotionally unstable he might be.) This story came right after Thompson joked about McCain's discipline problems in the US Naval Academy. And his womanizing. So much for family values.

He also spoke of Sarah Palin, and bragged that she has run a municipality and a state, and that she can properly dress a freshly killed moose. Lovely. He assured the crowd that Palin and McCain, if they are elected, "they're not going to care if the alligators get upset -- they're going to drain that swamp!" I believe it. This judgment is reflected in their record of consistently voting against the environment.

Thompson went on to knock Obama for his lack of experience, but with his vice-presidential candidate a heartbeat away from the presidency has far less experience.