I have never been enthralled with John McCain as the Republican candidate. I was planning on holding my nose and voting for the lesser of two evils. When McCain voted in favor of the Bailout Bill, loaded with Pork and Bribes, I decided that I couldn’t find nose plugs big enough.

McCain has had plenty of time to talk about Fannie and Freddie. I doubt he will do it. He thinks he is running an “honorable” campaign, but in doing so he is dishonoring the Republicans who must depend on him to keep the Liberals out. With his vote he lost a tremendous amount of the conservative base. Palin was terrific in the VP debate, however, sometimes you can lead a horse to water but ya just can’t make him drink it.

And, I understand Obama is coming out today with commercials about McCain’s Keating 5 S & L days. He hasn’t learned that you can’t bring a knife to a gun fight so to speak.

… is the one in the ballot box at the end of the day on Nov. 4.

I think you are right to insist that this is the week for the McCain campaign to begin to fight back.

But I think we ought not expect that the polling results will shift by the end of the week.

The polls may shift over time; or they may never shift.

We may not know much about the difference between polling and voting in this extraordinary election, in which polls have been spectacularly wrong on several occasions.

In any case, we should not tell people to expect results by Friday or whatever. There’s only one result that matters.

John Kerry was supposed to win in ’04 and he was supposed to win handily. John Zogby was recently here in Rochester and even he says that while the poll participants are saying they intend to vote for Obama, he’s not convinced they will. The voters just don’t know enough about him right now and they are hoping to have their questions answered. Those questions won’t be answered because Obama doesn’t want them to know.

I think the pollsters will be surprised on Nov. 4, much the same way they were in ’04

All I can say is Yes Yes Yes Yes. Hit em, hit em hard!

Erick calm down for Christ’s sake will ya.

that unless something incredibly extraordinary happens in the next month, President Obama will be sworn in come 01/20/2009.

I know McCain can turn this around. I know that the Republicans can win on the issues. And I know that if the public sees Obama for who he truly is, it’ll be McCain occupying the White House come January ’09.

Fortunately, the elections isn’t being held today…and as such, I’m not giving up hope!

Brian

…..for McCain to take the gloves off. Maybe he or his staff have given permission for Palin to start hitting hard as evidenced by this weekend’s rallies. And it seem like Fox News is starting to carry the water a bit with their programming over the weekend. Hannity’s America expose’ on Obama’s radicalism was just devastating but I fear that it won’t make it through the MSM filter.

I think at this point the only hope, save for some unforeseen external event, is for McCain to really challenge Obama in the next two debates on all of these issues; Ayers, CAC, Alinksy, ACORN, Freddie/Fannie, Global Poverty Act, national civilian defense force, higher taxes, etc. But I suspect McCain won’t. Which tells me, given the political climate, the rampant voter fraud occurring everywhere, MSM cheerleading, etc.. that this is simply not our year.

I think McCain could win the election Tuesday night if he challenged Obama to discuss only two things; Global Poverty Act and his plans for a national civilian defense force. I think if middle and working class America knew about these two things alone, McCain could win by 5+ percentage points. If firemen, police officers, and other state and local law enforcement knew that Obama planned to create a national civilian defense force equal to the size of the US military, every one of these local and state rescue and law enforcement personnel would vote for McCain. And I don’t think the idea of sending $850B over ten years to Africa to ‘fight global poverty’ would play very well here given when just spent $1T the past 2 months to try and fix our financial mess.

There’s plenty out there for McCain to press. So much so that he could roll something out every 4-5 days between now and 11/4 and still not exhaust all of the problems with Obama. That would completely keep the Obama camp off guard not knowing what would come out next. A complete political ‘shock and awe’ exposing Obama to the American people.

Something tells me though that I shouldn’t hold my breath……

It worked quite well. Joe/Jane Voter got into the booth and asked “I’ve got two guys who both argue X… do I want the one who believes X to the hilt or the one who says X because he’s pandering to the middle?”

Not just the war, of course. Taxes. Gun control. Gay marriage. The Republicans framed the debate and the Dems had a “me too!” contest… and this did not work out in their favor.

The voter got the idea that the Republicans actually believed this stuff, but the Democrats were just saying these things to get elected.

I wonder if the bailout didn’t result in a similar (though mirror-imaged) dynamic.

we saw it when his campaign nearly collapsed last summer. I expect a big win tuesday night.

The media has been questioning quite aggressively McCain’s new strategy to attack Obama’s character. Many pundits will tell you McCain should stick with the issues.
Well, I say yes, McCain should continue to draw the differences in how he will handle today’s issues (lower taxes, less pork, smaller government) and how Obama will handle (higher taxes, more pork, more government programs).
BUT, since Obama has so little substance, since there is so little accomplishments we can look back on. McCain cannot really “stick to the issues” because bottom line…HE has a record to look back on while Obama does not.
What Obama does have is friends who should be in prison, money from the companies we have just bailed out, ties to radical, racist, American-haters. McCain HAS to hit Obama hard, fast and often on these “issues”.

I’m more than a little annoyed at how lackluster the so-called Maverick is about actually engaging in a real campaign.

I’m wondering if someone in his campaign has asked him the question of what are the stakes for the country if Barack Obama gets elected?

If Senator McCain is shrugging his shoulders and saying, “it wouldn’t be that bad…” in the spirit of comity and Senate collegiality, then he has lost.

I can’t understand why he’s not even defending his own record. The 2005 Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac reform bill WITH its Golden Parachute provisions would have been spot on in dealing with the rhetoric from last week, so would its 2007 follow on in the Senate. These were measures that Obama voted against!

Senator McCain has got to realize that this is his last go at being President. He will not get another chance. More and more, however, his lack of fire and his unwillingness to fight the fight is making me look towards 2012 when we’ll have to see if Sarah Palin has become seasoned enough to rescue us from four years of Obama/Biden.

Your post illustrates the main problem with conservatives in the media and frankly a lot of bloggers. These polls are garbage. They have oversampled democrats by ridiculous margins. Obama would not win the election today so stop listening to MSM talking points and then spewing them here as if they are facts. Take a look at these polls, the Washington Post polls in particular, which over sample democrats by up to 12 percent. The media is trying to depress conservative votes, Obama always outperforms in polls in comparison to actual votes. Be smarter then this and stop falling for it, you are supposed to be an antidote for the main stream media, not their loudspeaker.
Nancy
conservativeinsights.com

The headwind that’s been there all along is getting bigger by the day. McCain doesn’t have the go-for-the-throat instinct that many career politicians have(and that’s a good thing).
We’ll take a bath next month, and hope the country comes to its senses in ’10 and ’12.
There’s always this: it took a Jimmy Carter to give us a Ronald Reagan.

Erick, I agree with you that it is time for McCain to change the narrative and forcus on Obama’s (and the Democrats) ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The issues of the economy are not going away. McCain is going to have to address them. I think he should start a new campaing theme called “Accountability and Confidence to build a New Economy” to take the mantle on the issue of the economy. With this theme he can emphasize the attempts he made to hold Fannie Mae accountable in 2005 (which the Democrats thwarted) and emphasize how Obama has received $122,000 from Fannie Mae. At the same time he can say that with accountability as a basis for the future, we can then have confidence to invest, loan money and create jobs. Is there any way you can get this point across to the McCain camp that they have got to seize the mantle on the economy – otherwise they are just wasting their time and money over the next 30 days talking about Obama’s ties to Ayers and Rev. Wright.

It pains me very much to disagree, but this week is too late because it’s already over. Obama is up a solid 7 to 8 points any way we cut it. Yes, Kerry and Gore made up ground in the waning weeks, but both were aided by having the media in their corner (remember the Bush DUI dump a just a few days before the election). Obama not only has the media on his side, they’ve taken on the roll of being cheerleaders. There is just no way McCain is going to overcome this, because it’s too friggin’ late. Anything he does now will be cast as sheer desperation from a campaign on its deathbed…..and the idiots that make up independents in this country are not smart enough to get who Obama really is and too lazy to care.

People are just beginning to wake up.
Polls are for the MSM trolls. I hope Obama
is up by 20 points on Nov 4th. That will
encourage more people to vote McCain.
The Obamatrons will take another toke
and go back to bed.

… indicate that anything can happen.

This is just one site’s rendition of forecasted Electoral Votes from 2004, but it shows that there are HUGE swings in October. I think the net game for McCain will be based on 1) hammering home the message nonstop with no letting up and 2) a bit of luck on timing and national opinion/tendency swinging.

In 2004 we had the SwiftVets beating the crap out of Kerry. If it hadn’t been for them it would have been Kerry in a landslide.

McCain, in terms of his willingness to attack the enemy, is every bit the wimp that GWB is. And Bob Dole is. And GHWB is. Reagan used humor (where I would use a Marine Expeditionary Force) and utterly devastated the Dems.

We are not only the StupidParty™ we are the WimpyParty™, and Achance is 150% right about what is going to happen if BO is elected.

And, if BO is elected, we can thank GWB and his use of NewTone™, the fact that he refused to defend himself, his administration and the Republican Party in general when they were right, and the fact that he’s mailed in his last four years in office.

We are now paying the price for nominating McCain. It was done by the left in our party. Many warned what would happen. Even on Redstate many posters warned what would happen.

The democrats are McCains “base”. He is not going to attack them. He only attacks republicans. That is who he has always been. That is what he always does.

Republicans nominated exactly the wrong candidate at exactly the wrong time in history. We also supported a liberal George W. Bush when we should have opposed his liberal initiatives.

Sadly, the time has come to pay the piper, for not standing by our conservative convictions.

We had to nominate someone who could “win”. The joke seems to be on us.

There is a bright side if McCain loses. We won’t have to see a republican putting algore in charge of fighting “global warming”.

I’m pretty sure the “hit the brakes and he’ll fly right by” maneuver isn’t applicable to a political campaign.

the voter fraud has already registered & voted 100,000s. but the state board of elections there (or whatever they call it), will look into this after the election.

i am discouraged, but i won’t give up.

Like the bettors at intrade, I put McCain’s chance of winning at 33%. I don’t bet, but I read history.

Obama is up 6 points with a month to go. Of course, it is possible that the current numbers will hold, but unclear.

In 2004, Bush was up by 6 points at the beginning of August, and was barely ahead by a point a few weeks later, and then went up a bit, and through good turnout, won by only 2.5 points.

In 2000, Gore went from being up 8 in a Gallup poll, to down 13 points, to tied.

In 1996, Dole went from down ten points, to down 15, and then surged to lose by only 7 points.

In 1992, Bush went from being down by doule digits, to losing by 5.

In 1988, Bush went from being up 5 to up 9 after the debates, then lost two points.

But, but, but, you say, well in 2004, Bush had the horrible first debate, and in 2000, Bush had the good debates, but then the DWI, and in 1996, Clinton had the new scandals come out at the end, and in 1992, Bush had Perot enter the mix, while in 1988, Dukakis bombed the second debate, but then rallied a bit at the end, etc.

Yes, because ALWAYS stuff happens. And will happen this time too.

Stuff can happen in two ways: on the one hand, new bad economic news and/or a bad debate for McCain–then Obama will be like Bush in 88. (1/3 chance)

OR good news can come out, or a foreign crisis, or a great McCain performance (or for that matter, the emergence of actual recording of what Obama surely said or did in the presence of Wright, Ayers, etc.) and McCain can be in a tie with Obama again, and factor in a few points for something else (e.g., good negative ads, or the Wilder effect, last-minute tightening of the race), and McCain wins. (1/3 chance).

And of course, something can happen both ways, and with some tightening of the race, Obama wins by a point–like has happened in three of the last four third-term elections–even in years where the presidential incumbent party has been worse off than the GOP now: 1960, 1968, 1976) (1/3 chance). My gut tells me this is how it’s gonna go. But I’m praying for option 2.

McCain did have a golden opportunity in opposing the bailout. I’m sure his campaign made a calculated decision that if the bailout didn’t pass, the stock market would be in free fall, and he would have no chance winning. Well, it looks like the stock market is in free fall anyway, and he has now become the face of the unpopular Wall Street bailout.

The only dynamic that I see that can change this race is if there really is a juicy October surprise waiting for Obama (which is likely.) If the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy has a bomb, they better drop it soon.

The other event that could change this race is a terror attack on our own soil, which is doubtful. The terrorists want Obama in the White House.

McCain should hit Obama on the Ayers issue, and I think he should also revisit Rev. Wright and Trinity Church. Rev. Wright is still potent to the Reagan Democrat demographic. McCain’s only chance is to go negative, the bipartisan stuff needs to be sidelined, this race is all about Obama. I’ve never known a candidate that lost a race because they went too negative, it’s an MSM fairytale.

in its reliability.

For a trip down memory lane, read this oldie about where the polls went wrong on Reagan v Carter in 1980.

McCain must hit on Fannie/Freddie. What he should do is give a short explanation of “what happened”. He needs to name the reasons behind this from “greed” to community organizers. He needs to explain his past and current position on tax cuts; that during a recession a tax cut is necessary; during a “boom” a tax increase is not necessary, but (in his opinition-and opposite of Bush) a tax decrease is not necessary.
He needs to explain the difference between him and Obama on homosexual marriage. McCain will nominate judges who will oppose homosexual marriage; Obama will litmust test judges who will force homosexual marriage on the people while Obama/Biden pretend they are surprised by the judges they nominated (same with guns).

McCain needs to get Bill Ayers into people’s minds by making comparisons to Timothy McVie.

Ayers is old history. Most voters cannot remember the Weather Underground. I can’t, even though I was 10 at the time.

However, Oklahoma City and Timothy McVie are still recent history.

McCain needs to get people to remember what domestic terrorism is like, why being associates of same is double plus ungood and McVie is the tool to help get that job done.

Ayers just never got as far as McVie.

Neither ever repented for their actions.

Since I think we all can agree that McCain’s best known selling point is that he’s a maverick and bringing change to Washington, and the prevailing view among the drive-bys and MSM is that Governor Palin is all style and no substance, I’m a bit confused about why McCain is letting us, his supporters, down by getting in the muck with his recent character attacks, when he and Palin should be going tete-a-tete with Obama and Biden on substantive issues.

We know that we’re right and that libs are living in a la-la land, so why not fight it out in the arena of thoughts and discussion, and not involve ourselves in the name-calling and blame game. I’m a bit worried that this mudslinging will make McCain and Palin look a bit reckless and desperate to undecideds. In fact, now more than ever we as a party need to show strength and confidence. Remember: Winner’s win, and the American public has never elected an angry President. Our candidates should be above the fray!

Ultimately, shouldn’t we want the best people in the executive branch anyway? Don’t we want those who are the most thoughtful and likely to be able to solve our problems as a nation as they arise? And isn’t an open, substantive discussion of the issues the best way to weed out the chaff (cough cough Obama)? I think as Republicans, we need to urge McCain to stick to his guns and take on Obama and Biden policy for policy. It’s tempting to try to turn to the past, but ultimately it leaves us ill-prepared as a nation to find the best man to lead us forward.

Actually McCain has 4 weeks. 4 weeks is an eternity in politics. 2 weeks ago, there was no bail out. Its time to hit Obama hard and win the undecided votes. I think Palin will be the key. People love her and she speaks to them.

As a former elected official and a congressional campaign manager, I can tell you that timing is everything in politics. If you roll out your big guns too soon, your talking points are old hat by the election day. You have to hold your heaviest fire until the last four weeks. I promise you that the hammer will come down and hard on the Anointed One tomorrow. Palin jumped the gun a bit over the weekend, but that was just a sneak preview.

Paul N. Marston
www.marstonchronicles.info