By Kathy G.

The list of political and economic disasters that have befallen America on George W. Bush’s watch is extensive and remarkably varied. There’s the Iraq War, Katrina, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, the illegal surveillance of law-abiding Americans, and, of course, the mortgage crisis and the financial crisis, to name but a few. But there have also been other failures that, while they are not as high-profile as the others I’ve named, are also quite serious and troubling. One of these, which I’ve written about before, is the fact that, during the Bush years, real wages have declined for workers in every educational group except those with professional degrees.

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Chris Buckley, in a fascinating essay “apologizes” to his departed father, and essentially states that John McCain in particular, and the GOP in general, have become ugly kooks, of the sort his father had meant to purge from the conservative movement. Chris — an author of books and articles in his own right, including the back page of National Review — cites a number of reasons for his abandoning McCain, for whom he once wrote speeches:

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The Vancouver Sun:

Poll shows the U.S. Democratic presidential challenger would beat Stephen Harper

[. . . ]

And, the winner would be … Obama.

Not only do British Columbians strongly prefer Democratic candidate Barack Obama as president of the U.S. over Republican John McCain, they would also choose him as prime minister of Canada.

Further, relatively modest fines for potsmoking are better than prison, and thus on drug policy Canada is far more progressive than the U.S., even if not perfect.
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Wick Allison is an old school conservative with impeccable creds.

In 1964, at the age of 16, I organized the Dallas County Youth for Goldwater. My senior thesis at the University of Texas was on the conservative intellectual revival in America. Twenty years later, I was invited by William F. Buckley Jr. to join the board of National Review. I later became its publisher.

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According to God-o-Meter, the Obama campaign is selling a ton ‘o faith-based bumper stickers, buttons and other schtick, my emphasis:

Believers for Barack rally signs and bumper stickers, along with all Pro-Family Pro-Obama merchandise, are appropriate for people of all faith backgrounds.

Ack.
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Sarah Palin, interviewed about the budget:

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As is always the case with Daniel, he sets forth an erudite and tight argument; but I’m of mixed views. Playing relatively nice while the GOP slings Atwater-Rove trivia and slime, has not worked too well for the Democrats. And witness this reasonably respected right-wing blog now claiming that Barrack Obama is made from Communist sperm (I’m NOT kidding), and his real daddy may not be Obama Sr. Among the evidence adduced is Candidate Obama’s:

SUPRA-ORBITAL RIDGES, THE FOREHEAD, THE HAIRLINE, THE EYEBROWS, THE EYELIDS, THE JOWLS, THE CHEEKBONES - AND THE EARS.

Obama supporters ought not traffic in such inane and outré attacks, but I’m far from convinced they should insist on standing on the very highest ground. Bringing a knife to a gun fight, ‘n all that.
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My adult son, Philip (29), called me yesterday with a strange lead-in question. “Mom, you know how you sometimes have to lie to your kids to calm them down?” I demurred, and said: “Philip, I never lied to you, for any reason — except on the Santa Claus thing.” He said “No, no Mom, you know how with Bradley [my 10-year-old eldest grandchild, who suffers severely from arachnophobia, even as he'd let bees and wasps swarm his room as pets], sometimes you just have to tell him there are not any spiders in the house or he won’t go to sleep?” Well sure, I understood that (even tho I still think lying is a poor way to manage the issue).

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I have to agree with ChrisinDC on this about Obama’s nomination speech:

Now, I realize what some might say - that by failing to attack on certain themes such as torture, illegal wiretapping, and other forms of Republican lawlessness, Obama’s boost is rivaled or outweighed by the effect of his condoning silence on those things. As you might imagine, I do not believe this to be the case. From speech to speech, especially on ones as heavily watched and scrutinized as tonight’s, Obama has to make utility calculations as to what to say and how to say it. With literally millions of people crying out for him to address innumerable issues, and a dizzying array of political factors to consider, some things - even major things - are bound to be left out. That said, I do think Obama twisted the knife on enough matters, and for other matters made his attack more subliminal, to avoid essentially endorsing the things he did not mention.

Much of the chatter in my formerly-red-turning-purple county is that they loved Obama’s oration. If he turns out bad — I mean BAD — on war and civil liberties, well, we can all go hang ourselves or take to the streets with pitchforks and torches. But for now, this seems as good as it is gonna get.
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History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
–Abba Eban

And so it goes, that Obama can make righteous political hay out of this (actually, only occasional) truth vis-a-vis Iraq.
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Johann Hari at Huffpo is spot on:

Before this campaign is out, Obama needs to be asked: do you really think you should be in jail? McCain needs to be asked: do you really think your wife should be in jail? Both need to be asked: do you really think 46 percent of Americans should be criminalized? And if not, what are you going to do to begin ending this mad, unwinnable ‘war on drugs’?

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A few links to articles I found interesting:

Who should shape drug policy? (more…)

Republican Congressman Adam Putnam of Florida is worried that Barack Obama will destroy the GOP in the South this November. He’s not worried that much about Obama carrying, say, Florida against John McCain. What worries him as a Republican member of the House of Representatives is the possibility of strong African-American turnout in the South combined with whites who may vote for McCain the Maverick at the top of the ticket, but swing to the Democrats down ballot.

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In “The Art of The Art of the Possible,” Daniel writes:

…First and most importantly, the next president (barring disaster) will be either Barack Obama or John McCain; any middle or outside is strictly excluded. Therefore the crucial question to ask in deciding whom to support is whether the election of Obama or the election of McCain will be a better outcome. Having reached an answer to that question, someone who decides to do anything other than support the one of those two candidates who is better than the other on balance, however marginally, is deliberately acting to bring about a sub-optimal outcome.

This neglects the tendency of the “lesser evil” to get worse over time, when the party establishment knows it’s got a captive clientele that feels obligated to vote the party ticket no matter what.  On the other hand, if the party establishment loses an election because a fed-up base refuses to choose from what’s on their plates like good little boys and girls, the lesser evil might not be quite so evil next time.

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Terry “libertarian Democrat” Michael has an op-ed at the Politico making the case for Bob Barr’s potential appeal not only to ex-rEVOLutionaries, but also to a broad cross-section of conservatives disaffected with McCain and the GOP. What’s more, Barr could just possibly rehabilitate (or habilitate?) the Libertarian Party brand back (for the first time?) to respectability. Money quote: (more…)

A lot of today’s fighting young progressives probably won’t really believe that movement liberalism ever did have any genuine “excesses” that helped turn voters away from the Democratic Party. But my God, the hysteria greeting the Heller decision among some parts of Netrootsia and Greater Liberalism makes me think some of today’s progressives are determined to repeat even the pointless mistakes of Leftism Past. The practical legal effect of Heller will be minimal. The practical effect on crime will be likewise. Mark Kleiman has made this case for years, persuasively to my view. (Unfortunately his current post on the topic is not link-rich, so you’ll have to do your own digging.) I say this as someone who was disposed to find evidence on the other side - statistical proof that more guns, as they say, meant less crime. What I could see of statistics from Britain and the US and elsewhere was that gun laws had no material effect whatsoever on the level of violent crime. The effects of gun control on the one hand and shall-issue concealed-carry on the other were utterly swamped by other factors, especially demographic ones.

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Presumptive Democratic Nominee for President of the United States, Barack Obama, has apparently sold out by endorsing Steny Hoyer and the Democratic-controlled Congress’s plan to both give George Bush all the power he could want to eavesdrop on Americans’ international communications in secret, and grant retroactive immunity to lawless telecommunications companies (tho Obama says he will fight in the Senate to strip the immunity provision; that means he’ll make a pretty but futile speech, and then vote for a bill with amnesty that will pass the Senate, too). Well, yes, I am profoundly disappointed, but feel no sense of betrayal. Only a fool invests emotionally in any candidate; still greater fools expect the POTUS to be Our Savior. Indeed, such expectations of presidents have rendered the Executive office the danger it has become.

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I’ve long held the view that Daniel Patrick Moynihan was unjustly vilified for his scholarly discussion — published over four decades ago — arguing that pathologies in the black community were at least partially responsible for the plight of the black “underclass.” At the time, one could not raise such issues without being labeled a racist. But Moynihan is somewhat vindicated today by the black man who hopefully will be the next President of the United States: (more…)

Barack Obama appears to understand the Right-wing Noise Machine, and rather than getting all defensive and mewling whiney protests, he declares he is going to take it on: (more…)

Unless he absolutely needs her to beat McSame, I say no. She — and her prominent shills such as former CIA analyst, TeeVee talking head and blogger, Larry Johnson — has done too much damage to his campaign. And, as John Cole notes, the guy whom it seems she’s anointed to lobby Obama for the slot, Robert Johnson, has been among the nastiest. Quoth Cole from a Johnson interview: (more…)

I’d be doing all in my power to convince Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) to switch parties and accept the Veep slot. On many issues Hagel holds impeccable conservative creds — but is quite good on war/foreign policy — and being a pale dude from the heartland he could assuage those voters who think Obama is unpatriotic, extreme, and “hates whitey.” And, as the first linked article shows, Hagel can and does say things about McSame that Obama would have some PR problems proclaiming. Among other things, Hagel is a well-decorated Vietnam combat vet. That would make him the perfect harbinger for replying to any insinuations that McCain’s suffering in the Hanoi Hilton renders sensible his contemporary, horrific foreign policy.
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Update: This is the unpleasant problem Hagel might help solve: Obama Faces Uphill Climb vs. McCain Among White Voters
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Look, I understand that the fight between Dems who are in HRC’s tank vs. Obama’s is going to get a bit heated. But if, as appears likely, Obama gets the Dem nomination, how is Larry Johnson’s endless vicious commentary about the Obamas going to do anything but help elect John McCain?

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Looks like PA is going to come right in at my 55-45 prediction. Okay, I said 55-44-1, with Edwards or somebody getting the votes of a handful of the disgusted and despairing. I award myself a biscuit anyhow. This has to count as the worst possible result for the Dems as a party: it’s the minimum spread to count as a decisive victory for Clinton, but not so decisive as to start a stampede away from Obama. Punksatawny Phil sees six more weeks of lapel pins and Balkan snipers - or rather, heh heh heh, their absence . . .

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Moveon.org is running a competition for 30 second video ads for Obama. My friend Johnny St. Ours has an entry in the competition:

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