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<title>Politics - Presidential</title><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/index.html</link><description>The 2008 Election</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2008 Russell Vaught</dc:rights><dc:date>2008-10-24T14:48:54-04:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:57:49 -0400</lastBuildDate><item><title>Had to move the site</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-24T14:48:54-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/4786ad1dc5b6794f95a2f6dd802c74f6-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/4786ad1dc5b6794f95a2f6dd802c74f6-35.html#unique-entry-id-35</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Because of Technical problems, I moved the site to a new Blog. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Editorials&#x2c; etc.</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-20T09:55:22-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/d937a03eea16d41c3e652484376aa646-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/d937a03eea16d41c3e652484376aa646-34.html#unique-entry-id-34</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I could not believe it in 2004 when Ohio, which had suffered badly under the Bush administration, managed to vote for him and thereby sending us into four more years of disaster. 

...Casting the tax debate as a &lsquo;values&rsquo; issue, Obama said his Republican opponent is &lsquo;out of touch&rsquo; for equating welfare with the Illinois senator&rsquo;s plan to cut taxes for middle-class families. ...   &lsquo;That&rsquo;s right, Missouri &mdash; John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people &lsquo;welfare.&rsquo;&rdquo;]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Claims and Counter Claims</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-20T06:00:24-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/23be4bdeb1847f6baa22aa23ff740fe0-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/23be4bdeb1847f6baa22aa23ff740fe0-33.html#unique-entry-id-33</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Obama Assembles U.S.'s `Largest Law Firm' to Monitor Election notes that both are assembling large number of lawyers to protest the election a la 2000 if it is close. 

...The bottom line according to FactCheck is that some number of the well over one million records submitted by ACORN, the organization that is being blamed for fraud, were manufactured by the canvassers, but this was fraud against ACORN; not voter fraud. 

...His long military career and service to the US make his endorsement important; far more so than the large group of military leaders that already endorse Obama. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>It is NOT Over</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-20T05:21:11-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/8d699ea4f8fce7b52f5b02ff6ccca058-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/8d699ea4f8fce7b52f5b02ff6ccca058-32.html#unique-entry-id-32</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[What if Obama cheated on his first wife while they were married and then left her because she was disfigured in a car accident?

...Global financial meltdown, historic national debt, unemployment going through the roof, costly wars on two fronts with unknown futures, loose nukes in Pakistan, stumbling health care, Medicare and social security insolvency, global energy crisis, global climate change and the accompanying natural disasters, and a catastrophic loss of credibility and trust in the eyes of the world.

... Palin: Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism (and a minor in Wicca)*]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Time for Reflection</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-12T22:59:04-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/e5b4d697a96af1d69b4420e1e9890595-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/e5b4d697a96af1d69b4420e1e9890595-30.html#unique-entry-id-30</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Not much to say today except the ugly head of racism still is there.   As it gets clearer than McCain&rsquo;s chances are dimming, it get even uglier and it seems to be emanating from the GOP. ...  These are ugly time made far uglier by bigots, racists, neo-fascists, and those who have either forgotten or never knew what this country was all about. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>After the Second &#x22;Debate&#x22;</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><category>None</category><dc:date>2008-10-08T10:14:47-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/adff8d6ec178270ee33e163e72d69d17-28.html#unique-entry-id-28</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/adff8d6ec178270ee33e163e72d69d17-28.html#unique-entry-id-28</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In an earlier entry, I said that McCain wanted to be president so badly that he compromised his personal honor, which I think showed both a lack of integrity and bad judgment on his part. 

...Obama has always paid tribute to McCain&rsquo;s military service, but there have been lingering questions about it just below the surface from his days at the Naval Academy where he finished near the bottom of his class to his service in Vietnam. 

...An article in the CQ Politics, McCain Camp Ignores Questions About Candidate&rsquo;s Military Record, points out that there may be an issue here that has more substance than the articles in 2004 on Kerry&rsquo;s service. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Sound from the Markets</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-10-06T18:00:44-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/38812c7529caf3b3d7b1fc7bdda093bc-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/38812c7529caf3b3d7b1fc7bdda093bc-27.html#unique-entry-id-27</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I have seen no reports of someone jumping from a high window as happen in the great depression; however, I would not stand for long on the sidewalks. 

...On the bank front, the news is that the Bank of America announced a dividend cut and plans to sell $10 billion in stock to raise capital. 

...Somehow the economic news today, which is the result of over seven years of mismanagement by the Republicans and which McCain has indicated would be is economic approach as well, make me worry for my country even more. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Recondsideration: Rescue the Rescue</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-10-01T08:19:10-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/048711f98ce28d374678202ef68f56a6-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/048711f98ce28d374678202ef68f56a6-26.html#unique-entry-id-26</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[As I do, I think we have a lot of people who are clueless about economics pushing the representatives who don't know any more about economics to make unsound decisions so they will be reelected in November. 

...He goes on to note that even if you do not own equities and bonds directly, you do depend on the financial markets for everything from your pension to loan on your car to your town's airport and sewers. 


...He is less blunt about it than Friedman, but he too believes that the Republican's solutions to this problem "were so wide of the mark that they can be understood only as faith-based solutions to empirical problems. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Thinks are not always what they seem</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-30T15:03:00-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/7070f9682c95a97d6fea5442b1190c7e-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/7070f9682c95a97d6fea5442b1190c7e-25.html#unique-entry-id-25</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is an elaboration on a post he made ten days ago that explains how the "Paulson plan would actually move money in a circle. ...  It is too bad congress hasn't stopped talking long enough to listen to someone who understood economics thereby proving what I have long suspected about many of them. 

...This chart from the Center for Responsive Politics (used with permission) shows that as of 21 Sept, Obama had more than twice as much cash.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Will they try again? </title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-30T08:55:36-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/5b34f5ee0a7bc1aac7126ec21ac83169-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/5b34f5ee0a7bc1aac7126ec21ac83169-24.html#unique-entry-id-24</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This is not surprising given the gross mismanagement of the economy during the Bush administration, which may well have produced the biggest financial problems in 80 years. ultra conservative Republicans and radical left Democrats have managed, for now, to turn the US economy into a lab to see if economic theory and models are right. 

...This generation of political leaders is confronting a similar situation, and, so far, they have failed utterly and catastrophically to project any sense of authority, to give the world any reason to believe that this country is being governed. 

...Bob Herbert says, "I&rsquo;m not holding my breath, but I would like to see the self-proclaimed conservative, small government, anti-regulation, free-market zealots step up and take responsibility for wrecking the American economy and bringing about the worst financial crisis since the Depression." ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The US is a Very Large Bannana Republic</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-29T17:09:06-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/00b11d062da9c73cf91c09f8632e0443-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/00b11d062da9c73cf91c09f8632e0443-23.html#unique-entry-id-23</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If there is a real credit crunch, which many predict, you may well be in for an extended hard time as well.   For example, my old friends in higher education may see a big drop in enrollment when parents can no longer afford tuition, as happened to my mother in 1929. 


...On the way home, we heard that now Wachovia, the 4th or 5th largest bank in the US, is in trouble and it appears that Citigroup has now bought the core business. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Why Presidential Candidates Can Be Dangerous</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-26T10:05:17-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/258834b43aecb22c5b1ccf451c18ad36-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/258834b43aecb22c5b1ccf451c18ad36-22.html#unique-entry-id-22</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[There are lots of things that should not happen in an election year and having a major crisis is one of them.   If he is elected, I hope that David Brooks is right about McCain because if he is not the US will decline further than it has under the incompetent President Bush. 


...Will they find some workable solution to an impasse that was caused by the president's own party in the House? ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Crises Resolved for Now?</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-25T14:31:08-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/b46772a68a106a1da0720b71ff6ded80-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/b46772a68a106a1da0720b71ff6ded80-21.html#unique-entry-id-21</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[As the article in the New York Times notes, "After the overnight drafting efforts on both sides of Capitol Hill &mdash; with pizza on the House side, and Thai food in the Senate &mdash; Democratic officials said they had completed a unified draft of a bill. 

...Obama noted, &ldquo;It is my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess, It is going to be part of the president&rsquo;s job to deal with more than one thing at once.&rdquo;    


...Of course if you watch a lot of TV, Fact Check reports you may have seen the McCain ad that says "'McCain and his congressional allies led' on the financial crisis while Obama was 'mum.'" ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>George Will</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-24T07:51:39-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/aa00c4002e91624d59bdb1b0f3c190bb-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/aa00c4002e91624d59bdb1b0f3c190bb-20.html#unique-entry-id-20</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.


...It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. 

...His agreeing to personal attacks of the most vicious kind with no relation to the truth are the worst and it was seen once again in his attack on Cox, the Chairman of the SEC. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>The Monster on 9/21</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-21T02:19:32-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/820e02f18d2378b284c1f45bace66068-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/820e02f18d2378b284c1f45bace66068-19.html#unique-entry-id-19</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.


	&bull;	White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.


...Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/20 (Revised)</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-20T06:48:52-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/0e43c3e866f734cc909e10509589b34f-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/0e43c3e866f734cc909e10509589b34f-18.html#unique-entry-id-18</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[More than a third of all white Democrats and independents -- voters Obama can't win the White House without -- agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don't have such views.


...Among white Democrats, Clinton supporters were nearly twice as likely as Obama backers to say at least one negative adjective described blacks well, a finding that suggests many of her supporters in the primaries -- particularly whites with high school education or less -- were motivated in part by racial attitudes.


...Obama said the potential cost of the financial rescue would not prevent him from pushing for a middle-class tax cut if he becomes president, arguing that broad-based tax cuts are part of a long-term solution to the economy's ills. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Email I recieved and my response</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-19T12:45:46-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/ad6f4113fe5a0efaba44401679ebefff-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/ad6f4113fe5a0efaba44401679ebefff-17.html#unique-entry-id-17</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I wondered when they would start and what form it wold take.   Didn't have to wait long.   Here is a twist on swift boating in email I received.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/19</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-19T07:29:04-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/8228ad9fb75f124d545a57fb2de0f6ee-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/8228ad9fb75f124d545a57fb2de0f6ee-15.html#unique-entry-id-15</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Dionne writes in the Washington Post, "'What's challenging about Michigan is that they've suffered this economy in its worst form,' said Stan Greenberg, a Democratic pollster who has studied the state for years. 

...In response to what many economists have called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Republican nominee has sounded -- and let's be honest here -- totally, embarrassingly and dangerously clueless." 


...	&bull;	They claim Obama would tax home heating oil when he in fact proposed a rebate of up to $1,000 per family funded by a windfall tax on oil company excess profits. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/18</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-18T18:02:52-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/c013ba41a8150db21da9cec36e8162f2-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/c013ba41a8150db21da9cec36e8162f2-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[With Lehman being acquired by Bank of America -- the world's third largest bank and largest in the US, a merger of Morgan Stanley with Wacovia, the fifth largest US bank, would mean that both these Wall Street giants would be owned by banks headquartered in Charlotte, NC. 

...And since McCain&rsquo;s willingness to make speeches that have nothing to do with his actual beliefs is not matched by an ability to give them, he wound up sounding like Bob Dole impersonating Huey Long." 

...The LA Times reports that there are signs that even some thoughtful conservatives like David Brooks (see my quotes from his recent editorial) and George Will are concerned about her lack of significant experience appropriate to the presidency. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/17 (REVISED)</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-17T20:32:15-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/6e940c08c5d7492629e9c8313bf36ea5-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/6e940c08c5d7492629e9c8313bf36ea5-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Because it taxes coverage (e.g., roughly $12,000 per family with only a $5,000 tax credit per household) that current is not taxed, he pushes more people off insurance rolls or into less effective plans. 

...Never forget that while the Obamas only recently paid off their college debt, McCain and his wife are so wealth he has no clue as to how many homes they own. 


...The rest of us won't go to the Riviera because we will be paying off the debt built up by the current maladmimistration whose plans are similar to McCain's. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/16</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-16T07:02:47-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/262941a442c68823b02afc0c45b317fa-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/262941a442c68823b02afc0c45b317fa-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Prudence is acquired through experience and "repertoire of events, through personal involvement or the study of history, and can apply those models to current circumstances to judge what is important and what is not, who can be persuaded and who can&rsquo;t, what has worked and what hasn&rsquo;t. ... but the records of leaders without long experience and prudence is not good."


...Surely the response to the current crisis of authority is not to throw away standards of experience and prudence, but to select leaders who have those qualities but not the smug condescension that has so marked the reaction to the Palin nomination in the first place.


...According to the Wall Street Journal, "One of the most tumultuous weekends in Wall Street's history began Friday, when federal officials decided to deliver a sobering message to the captains of finance: There would be no government bailout of Lehman  Brothers Holdings Inc." ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/15</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-15T16:30:09-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/4e63c20a43bf0d85db5bc456f581f045-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/4e63c20a43bf0d85db5bc456f581f045-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[But consumers, many of whom had suffered severe losses in the stock market the previous year, cut back their expenditures by ten percent, and a severe drought ravaged the agricultural heartland of the USA beginning in the northern summer of 1930.


...Herbert Hoover was a Republican president who had some similar views about laissez-faire capitalism as George Bush and John McCain, who said today, as the market went into a tailspin after new catastrophic failures in the financial sector, &ldquo;'People are frightened by these events. 

...	&bull;	Corsi falsely says that one of Obama's closes friends said he once was a practicing muslim, when it is pretty clear he was not. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/14</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-14T04:30:37-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/a7ec8be1a908f3298a17fb3796da31be-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/a7ec8be1a908f3298a17fb3796da31be-10.html#unique-entry-id-10</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[In fact, as Frank Rich notes in his editorial today, "It&rsquo;s an urgent matter, because if we&rsquo;ve learned anything from the G.O.P. convention and its aftermath, it&rsquo;s that the 2008 edition of John McCain is too weak to serve as America&rsquo;s chief executive. 

...A haunting thought for me over the last several years as I watch deficits grow seemingly exponentially was is this a cunning strategy to so saddle the US with debt that the government can do little more than pay it off? 

...While both of them may know this, Broder points out that you "will not hear them admit that, before they do any of those things (new programs), they will have to pay a gigantic annual interest bill on the rapidly expanding national debt -- or else our foreign creditors will stop lending us the money to pay our bills." ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/13</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-13T10:22:28-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/c140089bb0a454eb2263285939cd1cfa-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/c140089bb0a454eb2263285939cd1cfa-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Haidt notes that America is often in a "divisive struggle among the parts" because "America lacks the long history, small size, ethnic homogeneity, and soccer mania that holds many other nations together, so our flag, our founding fathers, our military, and our common language take on a moral importance that many liberals find hard to fathom." 

...I think he must, like Clinton did, not only provide thoughtful policy, but he must present a vision of moral clarity that many need to find in a president. 

...He believes, as do I, that Palin is not qualified in any sense of the imagination to be president and that the full interview between Palin and ABC's Charles Gibson clearly demonstrates that she may be intelligent, but lacks the breadth of understanding of the troubling issues facing the US. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/12</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-12T07:56:04-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/572cafb4305270cebfc2b49eb81a80e0-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/572cafb4305270cebfc2b49eb81a80e0-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[What he can't do is wait for the media to call McCain out -- although they should -- or expect voters to know he'll fight for them when they are not yet sure that he's willing to stand up for himself.


...Brooks goes on to say that people are concerned about what is happening in their lives from economic distress to a broken health care system that may not be there for them to a lack of focus on academics and family values. 

...	&bull;	They claim Obama campaign accused Palin of meekly following orders whereas what an aide did say was that she made false claims about Obama's legislative record because perhaps that is what she was told. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/11</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-11T14:22:10-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/24ca8fa151df8190d7938df7dd873e1f-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/24ca8fa151df8190d7938df7dd873e1f-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Now, there is one from Mississippi where the governor and secretary of state have hidden, in defiance of law, the senatorial election where a Democrat has a chance of winning a seat in the Senate now held by a Republican. ...  They have stated that Obama called Palin a pig when he clearly did not and even went so far as to demand an apology for it. 

...While there have been some instances where the press has been lazy and let comments go unquestioned, there are many more where they have hit back to correct what are clearly lies and distortions.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/10</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-10T07:20:30-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/a1143036307edff15e65c3e54a738d3e-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/a1143036307edff15e65c3e54a738d3e-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Friedman sums it up well when he writes, "How, you ask, can two people running with the exact same policies as the party that has been in power for eight years, claim to be the agents of 'change?' 

...She later continued: "This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run." 

...Will she, like Eliza Doolittle, pass herself off as worthy of being president if the old man makes the cut or will she flunk once the public finds out more about her? ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/9</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-09T20:11:56-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/521ba6d09d793cc13eb982463dfc1241-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/521ba6d09d793cc13eb982463dfc1241-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[It perplexes me that each of these capture Christian values while the Democrats often resist such labels and the Republicans, who opposed each of these programs successfully have presented themselves as the party most in tune with them.


Herbert notes that "(h)umiliation imposed by custom and enforced by government had been the order of the day for blacks and women before men and women of good will and liberal persuasion stepped up their long (and not yet ended) campaign to change things. 

...How do you manage to run against your own party's record of mismanagement and, as it appears he is, convince so many people that you are the best one to clean it up? ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/8</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-08T04:08:04-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/89d1c68de652f236b11ef71d8e9289c6-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/89d1c68de652f236b11ef71d8e9289c6-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[As the New York Times says in an article, "'Today&rsquo;s necessary but likely very expensive action for taxpayers is the consequence of regulatory neglect and of a broader political system&rsquo;s reluctance to take on what should have been clearly seen as festering problems', said Lawrence H. 

...To offset this, he proposes a $500 per worker tax credit, a mortgage interest credit for those who do not itemize, and a college tuition subsidy of $4,000/year for students willing to do community service. 

...He would also give a new $5,000 tax credit for workers to buy health insurance if they did not have a employee plan, but this would be offset with new taxes on workers who did have a health plan. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/7</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-07T04:46:48-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/d8a984b78457f4f53435500b269c3e08-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/d8a984b78457f4f53435500b269c3e08-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[He points out that we still don't know much about Palin herself, but what we do know now is that the image of the person who would be a heart beat away from the Oval Office is largely fictional.


...On the other hand, she notes that "Palin's mantra, it seems, is that women no longer need to surpass men in their achievements and qualifications in order to win; they simply need to object when the question of their preparedness is raised." 

...It's as raw and real, and as unlikely, as the nation itself: On one side a suave, aloof African American, twinned with a loquacious Catholic whose manner evokes his blue-collar roots; on the other, a certified war hero paired with a young woman from Alaska who looks like the heroine of a country music song and earns her reputation both as a beauty-contest charmer and a political 'barracuda.'" ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/6</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-06T08:57:15-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/9f294a144d877069425ff1379e3bf5f8-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/9f294a144d877069425ff1379e3bf5f8-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[He notes that, "What the G.O.P. is selling, in other words, is the pure politics of resentment; you&rsquo;re supposed to vote Republican to stick it to an elite that thinks it&rsquo;s better than you. 

...Slate has a similar article posted last Thursday by Jack Shafer, who notes that "Ever since Richard Nixon discovered that running against the press was better for stirring up the animals and getting them to vote than merely attacking your political opponent, politicians&mdash;usually Republican politicians&mdash;have saved their best shots for reporters."


...Well, cutting pork isn't going to balance the budget again as it was in the latter years of the Clinton era when we were actually paying off rather than adding to the national debt. 
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Articles of Note for 9/5</title><dc:creator>rsvaught@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:subject>Presidential Election 2008</dc:subject><dc:date>2008-09-05T04:56:57-04:00</dc:date><link>http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/11a0e5f40bfac721073e604a35c37380-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://homepage.mac.com/rsvaught/Politics/files/11a0e5f40bfac721073e604a35c37380-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Keep the Democrats so busy fighting misinformation that they have no chance to remind people of what a mess the Republican's have made in the last nearly eight years. 

...The New York Times has an excellent editorial today, The Real John McCain, that notes the dichotomy between the John McCain they had grown to respect and the one we have seen in this campaign. 

...They posted a new article today titled GOP Convention Spin, Part II that notes that "Palin trips up on her facts, and Giuliani and Huckabee have their own stumbles on Night 3 of the Republican confab." ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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