McCain's no maverick, but a bitter partisan

I really wish someone could find the 2000 version of John McCain, because that man is long gone. He became a far right-wing conservative after getting cheated, lied about and bullied by the Bush campaign following the 2000 South Carolina GOP primary. It really is a shame.

Anyway, as McCain's appearance on Good Morning America Monday morning clearly shows, he's pretty out of touch with what's going on in the country, specifically with regard to health care. I have a major bone of contention with McCain's assertion that the Democrats "went against the will of the American people" (an assertion that just about every GOPer is parroting over and over and over again, putting a fresh topping on the old, unfortunate adage "keep on telling a lie over and over 'til they start to believe it"). More on the polls in a minute.

Yesterday, McCain ratcheted up the rhetoric, saying There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They [Democrats] have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it." (From The Washington Post) Wow, that's pretty astounding from a so-called "Maverick" who in the past has made some pretty historic and honorable legislation from working with Democrats to get stuff done. If the people of Arizona are stupid enough to send this guy back to the Senate for six more years, then they deserve whatever they get. What a disgrace. Why not just retire then, "Mav"? Clearly the people of Arizona deserve something better than this crybaby.

Happily, David Axelrod, President Obama's Senior White House Advisor, wasted no time in issuing a tart response: "You know, that's okay on the sandlot, but it's not okay when you're trying to govern a country and move a country forward. It's a disappointing attitude." That about sums it all up.

If McCain was my Senator, even if this tirade was about a bill I disapproved of, I'd like to think I could rise above partisan politics and tell him that this sort of language is totally unacceptable coming from someone who is sent to Washington to do the people's work, and to quit pissing and moaning when he doesn't get his way, or win a presidential election. (Most except the most ardent McCain supporters would probably agree that he's become a bitter, cranky old codger since he lost to Obama last year. Give up the dream John, give up the dream. Spare yourself some dignity in defeat - if you need some instructions, see Kerry, John and Gore, Al - two people who behaved with truckloads more dignity than you are and who had a whole lot more to be angry about. In short, grow up - it's not all about you.)

Following Axelrod's comments, Brooke Buchanan, McCain's spokeswoman, shot back, "Senator John McCain will always stand on the side of the American people. Get used to it, Mr. Axelrod, that's what strong, independent members do - you'd know what if you had ever worked for one."

It just kept getting better and better. I guess when we need to hear from McCain now, we can rely on his pit bull spokeswoman for comment, or we can go to his Website to look for a press release, since he won't be cooperating with the Democratically controlled Congress.

Following all that, Jim Manley, spokesman for Harry Reid (D-NV), the Senate Majority Leader and a man who I don't have much admiration or respect for, scored some points with me yesterday with this acidic rebuke: "For someone who campaigned on 'country first' and claims to take great pride in bipartisanship, it's absolutely bizarre for Senator McCain to tell the American people he is going to take his ball and go home until the next election. He must be living in a parallel universe because the fact is, with very few exceptions, we've gotten very little cooperation from Senate Republicans in recent years."

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I firmly believe that once all of the right-wing propaganda clears from the GOP smokescreen machine, the American people aren't going to want this law repealed. Amended and tweaked? Without question, but that's already happening; the $750 fine for not having insurance has already been reduced to... ZERO. That was a good start.

Back to polling on the health care bill...

As I've already written, I take serious umbrage with Republicans saying, over and over, words to the effect that the Democrats "defied the will of the American people." Polls do not bear this out (at least the legitimate ones.) From Gallup, via The New York Times yesterday and MSNBC, on Monday, both obviously following Sunday night's passage of the health care bill:


Whoops! This is "defying the will of the American people"? In two words, that's unadulterated bullshit. These poll numbers should tilt further and further toward favoring this bill as the facts become clear to the American people. But, in order for that to happen, Obama and Democratic leaders have to do a much better job of articulating their messages - Repubes have always been better at getting phrases and terms that "stick" with the public; time for Democrats to do the same. I don't like it that America is largely a soundbite electorate, but that's the culture now, and Democrats need to get with it.

Gallup: All signs point toward Obama

Happy Sunday morning, everyone. Here's hoping you enjoyed the extra hour of sleep; I just woke up an hour earlier. No complaints, though - it's more time to blog about one of the most important elections in recent American history - two days to go.

Anyway, despite what some GOP hacks are promoting - the idea that McCain is gaining on Obama - the polls are not bearing this out. Yesterday, Drudge pimped a one-day Zogby poll that had McCain ahead 48%-47%. One day? A pimple on the face of the electorate. Even this morning, Drudge has up a Zogby poll that puts Obama up by 6. In the national polls, Obama is up by an average of 7.8%, which is just a bit over yesterday. WaPo has a pretty revealing story about polls - in the last 159 national polls, Obama has led them all.

McCain seems to be narrowing Obama's lead slightly, including right here in Pennsylvania, but I believe it will be too little, too late. I'm not at all surprised that the race is narrowing, however - the last two presidential elections, nefarious vote counting tactics aside, have been very, very close, and I don't think this one will be any different. Of course, I would love to be wrong - I'd love to see Obama run away with it in a landslide, but I have my doubts about that.

We all have to keep fighting - e-mailing, talking to friends, donating some time on Tuesday or even donating a few dollars through Obama's Website. Remember, Obama will still need resources after Tuesday, especially if, heaven forbid, we have a replay of 2000, when the lawyers and ground efforts have to be dispatched if the election is disputed. So, even if you can spare $5, please donate.

There's some good news and bad news in the Senate races. On the bright side, Ted Stevens is going to get bounced out on his ass in his up north after being convicted on seven felony counts this past week; and Kay Hagan is leading the insipid, vapid Elizabeth Dole by five points after her despicable ads portraying Hagan as an atheist. A bit of bad news, though: Norm Coleman now has a small lead on Al Franken in Minnesota, and Saxby Chambliss is up by 5 in the latest polls over Jim Martin, BUT both races are still winnable by the Democrats, especially if Obama carries both states (he will in Minnesota, and he has an outside shot at carrying Georgia).

To that end, please support these Senate Democratic candidates (and of course, others, too) by clicking the links below giving a little bit of money. Even $5 can help to make a difference in the final days.

Jim Martin in Georgia
Al Franken in Minnesota
Kay Hagen in North Carolina

Getting 60 votes in the Senate would be a major plus to Obama if he gets in, and would obviously be useful in blocking some of McCain's more ridiculous proposals should he prevail on Tuesday.

Gallop poll on The Bush Factor

Here's a very interesting report about The Bush Factor in the upcoming election.

The most telling stat from this Gallup report - 49 percent of adults are very concerned that a potential McCain Presidency will continue the policies of the Bush administration. I'm amazed that it's only 49 percent. Only very recently has McCain attempted to distance himself from many of the enormously unpopular policies of Bush, with the noted exception of the War in Iraq.

But, blogs like this one and many others will certainly pick up the slack, because people do need to be aware of the fact that McCain has changed positions so many times, I'm going to start calling him John McKerry. You remember Kerry, '04 Democratic Presidential Nominee who most famously (and tragically) said, "I voted for the war before I voted against it." Okay, the proper context of that quote was not provided when it was rerun literally thousands and thousands of times leading up to election day, but it's amazing to me that Repubes are now turning a blind eye to McCain's "evolving issue positions" now that their candidate has a full blown case of it.

Actually, last night Keith Olbermann did a segment on McCain's changing positions, which I'll post in a bit.

Gallup Poll on Libby pardon

Now that some time has passed since President Bush's decision to pardon I. Lewis "Scotter" Libby, polls are beginning to reveal how the move has affected President Bush's political standing.

This will come as not surprise to most, but the Libby sentence commutation has won him no favors with the American electorate. But, I'm sure this news is not keeping the president up at night. After all, clearly Bush is responsible to no one; he has already fixed won the last election he will ever run in, the 2004 presidential election, and clearly Congress is in no mood to do anything about his willful disregard for the laws in our nation.

Yes, I'm aware that the president broke no law in the Libby pardon itself - he has every right to pardon whomever he likes under the Constitution, but Libby, and almost certainly Dick Cheney and Karl Rove participated in the outing of Valerie Plame, and that is a violation of the law.

But, like so many other crimes committed on his watch, those will go unpunished, too.

Thanks for restoring Honor and Integrity to the White House like you promised you would in 2000, Mr. President.

Gallup Poll numbers on same-sex marriage

Believe it or not, I'm encouraged by these poll numbers, even though a majority of Americans are still opposed to legalizing same-sex marriage. Over the last 10 years, the trend is headed one way, and its toward legalizing gay marriage. I hope I live to see the day.

I attended my first gay wedding a few weekends ago, and it was so wonderful to see our friends Jimmy and Jason so in love and committed to each other. (Not surprisingly, it was one of the funnest weddings I've ever been to.) Pennsylvanians take great sport in making fun of New Jersey (and often for good reason), but Jersey's well ahead of Pa. on gay marriage, and the state also has nicer beaches than Pa. does.

Incidentally, the last question in the footage above is absurd: "Should homosexual relations between consenting adults be legal?" Anyone who thinks it should be illegal is living in the stone age. What people do in the privacy of their own homes, between consenting adults, is no one's business, period.

The Dow is up! All is well! Yea, right.

I'm soo tired of hearing from (mostly) politicians something that goes like this: "The economy is strong, the stock market is (choose one from: booming, surging or rising)."

For the millionth time - just because the stock market is booming, that doesn't mean that a great deal of America (and as of right now, dare I say the majority) thinks the economy is headed in the right direction.

From Gallup:

I won't pretend to be an economist, but to me, when the stock market is on the rise, that means that company profits are up. And two of the principle ways companies have increased their profits in the last decade are offshoring and downsizing - two things that devastate the average American worker.

Proof positive came last Friday on Bill Maher's HBO show, Real Time With Bill Maher. On of his guests was John Fund of the Wall St. Journal. During a discussion on the economy, when Maher brought up some not-so-great statistics about the economy, the first thing Fund said was, "but the stock market is up!" Thankfully, Maher pounced, and when Fund boasted about a four percent unemployment rate, Maher jumped on that, too.

A low unemployment rate is a good thing, but it's not completely indicative of the "health" of the workforce. When I lost my full-time, well-paying corporate job nearly five years ago, I could not find one that even remotely paid what I was earning. This forced me to wait tables and go back to graduate school. But, the minute I took a part-time job, I was no longer considered unemployed. And right now, there are millions of people in that same boat.

Another critical factor is the price of gas. At right is what the price of a gallon of gas was in San Francisco a week or so ago. (It's probably higher now.) And it's not going to get any better, probably ever. I've read in some places that a barrel of oil could top $150 by the end of the summer.

More on the oil crisis in a separate post later tonight or tomorrow.

My point here is that the economy isn't so rosy because stock prices are high. You know who that's good for? Corporations and the very rich, who are only paying 15 percent on dividends now, thanks to the Bush tax cuts. I find it nuts that a vast majority of the middle class pays well into the twenties, yet millionaires and billionaires pay 15 percent on stock dividends.

When I mention this to some Republicans I know, they accuse me of "class warfare." To me, it's only class warfare when liberals fight back. And we need to fight back more.

Voters unhappy with Congress

A recent Gallup Poll shows that only 29 percent of Americans approve of how Congress is doing its business. I'm not one of them.

Thus far, I'm not impressed with what the Democrats are doing in Congress since they took over in January. There are many, many pressing issues that need to be addressed, but thus far it's been "All Iraq, all the time." Of course, Iraq is the most important issue, but it's not the only issue.

My letter writing campaign starts today, and on issues that I really feel strongly about, I'm calling my Congressional representatives directly. A few weeks ago I called both my Senators and my House Rep. about the Iraq funding bill, and it felt amazingly empowering. I called a bit too early in the day, so I left messages with everyone. (FYI - Most Congressional offices open at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.)

If you have an issue you feel strongly about, call the Congressional Switchboard at (202) 225-3121. All you have to do is give the operator your zip code, and you'll quickly be connected to your House Representative or Senator.

Give them a call or drop them an e-mail to let them know you're unhappy with how things are going. As I mentioned earlier, I'm going to start writing letters today on a number of issues, and I'll share those letters with you as I send them.

Bookmark this site NOW

This is a Website that any political junkie should be familiar with - Electoral Vote Predictor.

This is a site, with an easy to use map of the US (above is a screen shot for an example), which will keep you on top of all the latest polls, and predictions based on those polls.

He isn't perfect - he predicted the electoral count to be Kerry 281, Bush 257 in the last election. But, he was only a few states off - New Mexico went to Bush, as did Florida and Iowa, all three by slim margins. Otherwise, he was on the money.

The best part about the site is that it's run in a noticeably non-partisan way. He simply reports the polls from the biggies (Zogby, Gallup and Quinnipiac University, among others) as well as smaller, state-wide polls. There will be a literal avalanche of information leading up to the primaries, and into the general election.

The site really made following the race in '04 much more enjoyable, as well as '06 (I linked to his site in '06 and will again in '08, in prominent fashion).

Anyway, I was searching for a few poll numbers the other day, and I went back to his site to poke around, since I hadn't been there in quite some time.

Bookmark it now - you'll be happy you did later on in the race. The closer we get to the primaries, the more information you'll find. Starting this fall, when the primary races really start heating up, he'll have updates every day.