Obama up 8 points

[Colon™]

Until he picked scary, scary Palin I would have endorsed McCain but now I'm rooting for Obama as well. Can't stand his anti-free trade noises, but I guess when push comes to the shove he'll stay clear of ideological nuttery.

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What's your point? If you had wanted a hard hitting interview with a political figure, might I suggest you watch another show?

You're reading too much into my post, DD. I was just reporting what happened on the show, from my POV. I was neither upset nor pleased; just observing how Letterman and McCain comported themselves given the situation.

It was interesting television -- interesting enough that I put off watching Colbert until tonight.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Oerdin
The LA Times and the Washington Post have also endorsed Obama.

Yeah, but those are hardly suprising. Those are kinda like the Boston Herald endorsing a Republican--pretty much a given.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Can't stand his anti-free trade noises, but I guess when push comes to the shove he'll stay clear of ideological nuttery.

It's amazing how many people have convinced themselves of this with no real evidence to back it up. Everything Obama has said and done indicates that he really is anti-free trade.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut


It's amazing how many people have convinced themselves of this with no real evidence to back it up. Everything Obama has said and done indicates that he really is anti-free trade.

If by free trade you mean the freedom to rape the environment, to destroy the lives of the employees and to poison the customers with lead and other chemicals, then yes, Obama is against those things.

[Colon™]

I'm firm believer (presidential) policies are dictated more by circumstances than by personal convictions or election programs. Hence you had a Bush who promised a "humble" foreign policy but became the most activist president in decades. An arch-conservative who never-the-less supported farmers, airlines and car-manufacturers and allowed a massive intervention in the financial industry. Alternatively you had a Democrat president like Clinton who signed a conservative-inspired welfare act and the repealment of the Glass-Steagal act. Subsequently, there's nothing substantial in Obama's record that suggests he'll let ideology take precedence over pragmatism.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Colon™
Can't stand his anti-free trade noises, but I guess when push comes to the shove he'll stay clear of ideological nuttery.

There's no kind of ideological nuttery like free market fundamentalism.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by Colon™
there's nothing substantial in Obama's record that suggests he'll let ideology take precedence over pragmatism.

Huh? Doesn't he have one of the most left-wing voting records in the Senate?

[Guynemer]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
So if I were McCain at this point, I'd pull everything out of the Midwest battlegrounds except Ohio and Indiana. That means abandon Minnesota and Iowa (he should have abandoned Iowa a loooong time ago anyway). Abandon New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, too.

Pour everything into protecting: Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and Missouri. He has to hold every single one of those states to win.

The flip of that--should Obama go all-in in two or three of those states to ensure picking one up, and ignore the rest? Polls would seem to indicate his best chances are Virginia and Colorado...

All eyes should be on Virginia when election night starts.

Indeed. I think the polls close at the same time (8PM Eastern) for OH, WV, VA, NC, and IN, and for the vast majority of FL (save the most Western bit of the panhandle). We may know very early in the evening if Obama is going to win. The longer we go without those states being announced or going Red, the more nervous I'm gonna be, and the more important MO, CO, and NV become.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Huh? Doesn't he have one of the most left-wing voting records in the Senate?

Obama's mainstream liberal record in the Senate is actually moderate compared to his earlier record in the Illinois Senate, which was moderate compared to his earlier association with radicals like ACORN and Ayers. He's been quite good at taking positions that won't damage his political future.

Of course, there's nothing left for Obama to achieve politically after he's president. As such, he can be expected to govern based on his actual political beliefs and will have little or no constraints given a Democratically-controlled Congress that might even have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The big question about Obama is what his political beliefs actually are. Is he really a pragmatic middle-of-the-road liberal who just pretended to be a radical in his younger days to get ahead? Or is he really a radical who's been pretending to be a pragmatic middle-of-the-road liberal in order to get elected president someday?

[Seedle]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut The big question about Obama is what his political beliefs actually are. Is he really a pragmatic middle-of-the-road liberal who just pretended to be a radical in his younger days to get ahead? Or is he really a radical who's been pretending to be a pragmatic middle-of-the-road liberal in order to get elected president someday?

You missed a possibility. As Obama has matured and grown intellectually, politically, socially, emotionally, and mentally, he has changed his views. Not saying my possibility is the correct one, just a possible one.

[Naked Gents Rut]

That's certainly possible. However, the fact that Obama didn't cut ties with Ayers until 2005 and with Wright until this year seems to argue against a gradual change of heart. It seems more likely that Obama has either been using these guys for years or that he actually agrees with them.

[Colon™]

Either way he was opportunistic enough to dump them when necessary, which seems safe enough.

[Naked Gents Rut]

He's also opportunistic enough to set back America's free-trade agenda along with Reid and Pelosi.

He's getting elected whether I like it or not, however, so I hope to god you're right and he actually is a free-trader at heart.

[Colon™]

Didn't say he's a free-trader at heart. He just seems like an educated guy that won't do anything brazen. The fact he's picked Volcker as an advisor gives me enough confidence.