It's Over!!!!

This Is The Best They Can Do?

Breaking news, three days before the election: Obama's aunt is an illegal alien! Racism and anti-immigration all wrapped up in one. I have a hard time believing this could possibly be a game changer.

Palin Pranked

Are her handlers really this dumb?

Political Halloween Costumes

Courtesy Wonkette.
Dick Chain-E and George W. Bush:

Ashley Todd:

What is the Future of the GOP?

What will happen to the Republican party if they lose? Will the party move more toward the Bush-centered base or in a more moderate direction? Will they engage in some genuine discussion about what their party stands for?

At its core, the Republican party is being splintered apart right now. The fiscally conservative wing of the party vs. the Christian base. The Democratic party was torn apart in the 60's by two phenomena: 1) Southerners in droves -- anti-segregationists -- left for the Republican party. 2) Our economy boomed. Prosperity and suburban drift were accompanied by a general impulse to protect. Keep urban problems in the city, lock prisoners up, keep taxes low, and encourage growth in the stock market where 401K's were stashed away. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats (and I don't have much faith that they will) can co-opt the Republican message of fiscal responsibility with low taxes, absorb that wing of the Republican party and establish a long-lasting reign. The suburbs are beginning to contract.

Who Would Fare Better?

An interesting discussion going on at Politico about which other Republican nominee might have done better against Obama.

Some other candidates discussed:
1. The "Real" John McCain -- of 2000.
2. A Palin-less McCain, perhaps with Tim Pawlenty (to keep the base) or Lieberman or Ridge (to bring in the moderates).
3. Maybe Mike Huckabee.
4. Ronald Reagan.
5. Abraham Lincoln.

The funny thing about all of these responses (the most popular by far being a "Real" McCain) is that they tap into a general thread of nostalgia and romanticism that runs through the Republican party. It's just a continued denial of reality and present circumstances. What about McCain has changed in eight years? He's developed a pragmatic ruthlessness that has given him the nomination and made him competitive in a race he should have been blown out. Dreamy Republicans want their candidate but want him without the very qualities that anyone running for higher office in their party must display: a witless pandering to the base, a general dumbing down of discourse and a rigid adherence to party lines on abortion/taxes/environmental issues.

Another Conservative Jumps Ship

They're dropping like flies.

I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.

Francis Fukuyama

I Endorse These Endorsements

Esquire has a pretty good voting guide, in case you were still undecided.
Highlights include the following...
From The Ten Worst Members of Congress:

Senator Joe Lieberman (I), Connecticut
Inherent in politics is the fact that someone always loses. Some lose gracefully, some lose poorly, and, as in the case of Joe Lieberman, some lose their minds. Since being defeated by an antiwar candidate in the Democratic primary in 2006, Lieberman (who was subsequently reelected as an Independent) has pursued his campaign of revenge against his former party, thinly disguised as an act of principle, replete with the quavering sanctimony that no country should have to put up with from anyone, much less from this small man.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R), Minnesota
One gets the impression that if, in the name of "traditional values," Bachmann could rescind the vote for women, she would. Her vacant, wild eyes recall a doomsday prophet, or one of Charlie Manson's girls. Equal parts religious hack and party hack, she's got spunk and not much else.

Rep. John Murtha (D), Pennsylvania
Murtha's principled early stand on the war must never be forgotten. But neither must his stand against his own party's ethics reforms in 2006. The reforms were, he said, "total crap." Not because they were bad public policy, mind you, but because they might rein in Murtha's breathtaking earmarks -- more than $100 million annually for his Johnstown district, the richest handout in the country. Oh, and as Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, he routinely punishes other members by taking away their earmarks. Murtha's got to go.

From the 10 Best:

Senator Olympia Snowe (R), Maine
In 2006, we called Snowe "one of the real grown-ups in Congress." And she has continued to chaperone the unruly bunch during the rather dispiriting two years since. A passionate opponent of partisan bickering, she says, "People don't live by ideology alone. They live by solutions." We wholeheartedly agree. Paradoxically, she'll have an easier time of it should Democrats pick up more Senate seats.

I'm Not Worried

This is my bank. They have all my money. And this is their ad:

They Got Hitched

My second favorite thing about Christopher Hitchens is his ability to utterly decimate those he disagrees with. My favorite thing about him is that he smokes in the shower.

This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.

T Minus 11 days

The Vet Who Didn't Vet.

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