Why Stupid People Love John McCain

You don't have to be stupid to love John McCain, but it helps. Last night, Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church held a Conference on Faith, and both men answered similar questions for an hour each. Video here. The questions were supposed to be identical, but McCain answered so quickly that he was able to receive more questions. More on that, but first.

Between the two Q&A sessions, both men were on stage for a brief moment together. Check out the picture: John is 5'7", Obama is 6'1". John was wearing lifts.

The deal with the questions is that they were good. They were interesting. They were the questions people should be asking, and Obama gave smart, nuanced responses to difficult queries. McCain gave one word answers that pandered. In a world of news bites, that's what the stupid people want to hear.

One of the questions had to do with confronting evil. Whether it existed, and what one did with it. Obama framed evil as existing in too many places: in war zones, in our cities, in the parents who did horrible things to their children. He spoke about how to confront it, and what to do. McCain said "destroy it". Done.

On the issue of energy, Obama spoke about needing to look at a variety of options, and explained how it would take multiple undertakings to get a grip on the situation. Later, in answer to another question, he alluded to the fact that solving the energy crisis would not be easy. John's answer? "Drill."

If you are bright, you appreciate the nuance, the consideration, and the understanding that the respondent understands the depth and breadth of both the question, and the solutions. If you're stupid, you like one word answers.

Like "drill" -- for people who like that response, they don't understand that oil is a non-renewable resource that the world will one day run out of. They don't care that if we all worked together in little ways, we could SAVE oil, and need less, and therefore make what we have last longer. Sadly, when someone doesn't know something, and doesn't WANT to know, they tune out anything more than 2 word answers.

McCain and the FEC -- again

You may remember that John McCain has seemingly violated campaign law. In the most recent draft opinion, the FEC has indicated that they might give him a walk on the $5 million dollar loan he collateralized using public money.

But the second part of the problem is that he felt it was okay to opt in and then opt out and the opt back in of the public financing system. The FEC says not so fast -- you'll need an affirmative vote of 4 of the Commissioners. That vote will be held next week.

If McCain is found in violation, they will be able to fine him. Theoretically they can file a criminal case, but that's never happened for FEC violations.

Then again, John McCain doesn't need to care about money.

Roy Barnes and the Housing Mess

Do you remember Roy Barnes? He used to be the Governor of Georgia. He fought for states rights in terms of not letting the mortgage banking crisis get out of hand. Yuu may not remember because this happened in the 1990's. He saw the looming crisis, and pushed through legislation to make Georgia a safe haven for consumers. He was opposed by virtually everyone, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his law was gutted by the new Republican administration in 1993.

Later, he was part of a group of lawyers suing for the consumer rights of retired military.

The Clinton Nomination

Hillary Clinton's name will be entered in nomination at Denver. This is the first time in 16 years, since Jerry Brown challenged Bill Clinton, that this has happened. Others say that this will help heal the party, assuage the PUMAs, and lead to the kind of unity needed in the fall. I think they're all crazy.

This is the Clinton grand plan to launch the 2012 race. As I said back in the spring, the Clintons will work very hard to elect John McCain so that Hillary can run in 2012. Remember, Mike Bloomberg didn't run this year because he didn't want to run against Obama. He won't feel that way in 4 years when the Clintons are at it again.

We didn't listen hard enough back in the 90's. The Clintons should be ashamed.

Georgia on my Mind

Russia marched into Georgia, and John McCain wants to invade.

Randy Scheunemann, one of his high-ranking lobbyist-campaign chiefs, has received more than $200,000 to lobby on behalf of Georgia. Oh, and Georgia has oil.

Do we see a pattern here? Money for the Republicans, oil, and invading a sovereign nation?

McCain used to believe we don't invade sovereign nations.....

So what are YOU doing for the acceptance speech?

When all is said and done, 75,000 lucky people will be in Denver for Senator Obama's acceptance speech. But there are, oh, a few more of us who will want to watch it. Why be alone?

There will be a lot of venues to watch the speech besides your own living room. Here in Chester County, PA, we are planning at least 3 large parties (so far). I know from other people involved with the campaign that there will be thousands of parties large and small across the country. Some events will be small house parties, some will be large parties for supporters, some will be paired with local fundraisers.

The specific party I'm involved with already has 50 people planning on attending, and we believe we will likely have over a hundred when all is said and done.

If you are interested in spending the evening with a bunch of like-minded folks, sign on to www.mybarackobama.com, put in your zip code, and find a party. Because of the planning involved, if you don't see a close party, check again next week, as a lot will be posted over the weekend as venues are finalized.

Dick Cheney is going to help

Contrary to previous rumours, Dick is planning on joining George Bush on Monday night, and both will be speaking at the Republican Convention. Megan Mitchell, Dick's spokesperson, said:

"The Vice President looks forward to participating in the Republican National Convention and continuing to work for the election of Sen. McCain and other Republican candidates in the coming months."

I say THANK YOU DICK -- please spend as much time as you possibly can on the trail with John McBush.

Race Based Politics

You many think the primaries are over, but likely not, if you've been reading DCW. Yesterday's most interesting House primary took place in the 9th Congressional district in Tennessee, the seat held until two years ago by Harold Ford, Jr. Prior to his decade-long tenure, this Memphis seat was held by his father, Harold Ford, Sr., for 22 years. This is a story of race and gender.

The incumbent is Steve Cohen, a Democrat with a liberal voting record. His challenger was Nikki Tinker, a local businesswoman. She was supported by Emily's List, which only supports female candidates, EVEN against male candidates who share the issues position of Emily's List. Her goal was to paint Cohen as racist, and as a Jew who hates Christians. On Election Day, she was denounced by Barack Obama, who said:

“These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee.”

Luckily, the citizenry didn't fall for it. With 89% reporting, Cohen was leading 79%-19%.

Voter Registration

I am proud to announce that I finally live in the BLUE state of Pennsylvania. Democrats now comprise 50.7% of registered voters. (Check the graphic with the article.) Republicans are down to 38%.

And Pennsylvania is not the only state to be affected by a change in registrations: Democratic registration grew in 6 battleground states. In addition, only Louisiana had a rise of over 1% in Republican registration. This can likely be attributed to the fact that the people moving back since Katrina are less likely to be the "Democratic Base" whose neighborhoods were washed away. In Arizona, North Carolina and Colorado, independents are now a firm third of the electorate.

While this doesn't necessarily have a direct correlation to how people will vote in November, the implications (if they hold) are huge for feeder lanes. That is, generally to run for national office, one needs to first hold local office. More registered Democrats mean more Democratic town council members, mayors, County Commissioners, and state reps. All eventually feeding up to national office.

Summer Vacation

For a lot of people, it's a good time to take a break. It's been a long year.

One group not going on vacation is that group of Americans earning less than $27,000/year. They're not going because, face it, they can't afford it. 1,350 of them were recently polled, by land line AND cell phone, and split 47 - 37 for Obama. This demographic group makes up 25% of adult Americans. While there was a split amoung whites (and a lot of undecideds), it was different for blacks and Hispanics:

"Among the African Americans polled, 92 percent chose Obama as the candidate more concerned with their problems; not a single black respondent said so about McCain, although 1 percent said "both do." Hispanics also sided with Obama on that question, favoring him by more than 40 percentage points as the more empathetic candidate."

One group that now is on vacation is the US Congress. Well, to be honest, not ALL of them have left. Some of the House Republicans are still there, railing at the wind to get Congress back in session to vote on off-shore drilling. High unemployment, high gas prices, lack of health care, lack of jobs, and instead of being back in their districts talking to voters about solutions, they're grasping at straws:

"Rep. Donald A. Manzullo (R-Ill.), one of the stars of Friday’s session, launched into a long soliloquy on John Quincy Adams, likening his fight against slavery to the controversy over an offshore drilling vote. In an interview afterwards, Manzullo referred to the Middle Ages and the rise of the West as justification for a floor vote on offshore drilling."

They're not planning on leaving soon.

Also not-on-vacation is Hillary Clinton, who will be campaigning for Barack Obama this Friday in Nevada.

Trying to do his job was reporter Stephen Price of the Tallahassee Democrat. (It's the paper, not the party.) He was at a Florida McCain event, and was ousted by McCain security. Oddly, he was the only African-American at the rally. The campaign told him he had to leave because he was in the area reserved for national reporters, and he is a state reporter. There were no national reporters there. HHHMMM

Also still working is Dick Wadhams:

"Long-suffering Colorado Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer suffered another setback Saturday when his campaign manager Dick Wadhams – who earned national fame for guiding former Senator George Allen from a presidential frontrunner to a national laughingstock – suffered his own “macaca meltdown,” telling Lynn Bartels of the Rocky Mountain News, “We're going to shove a bunch of 30-second ads up his a** on this issue over the course of the campaign.” Wadhams’ bizarre, vulgar outburst came in response to Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall voting against a Congressional adjournment – as he had pledged to do, and, oddly, how Schaffer himself had urged. There was no immediate response from the many conservative organizations with ties to Schaffer who have long decried a breakdown in the country’s morality."

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Wal-Mart and Vote Corecion

Wal-Mart has decided that their people need to vote Republican. They have organized mandatory meetings, and not surprisingly may be breaking the law by including hourly employees in these meetings.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.