I know this comes as no shock to you, but John McCain is a very angry man! He's got to get a handle on that ol' temper of his! And the angrier he gets, the more the media covers his anger, which makes him even angrier! It's a vicious cycle of anger. The media coverage of McCain's anger problem is growing - see below.
Also, we have good news for Obama from Pennsylvania's more conservative regions and endorsement news from the battleground of Colorado.
And, Palin is most decidedly not a member of the "working class."
I think John McCain's anger is about to reach the boiling point - with disastrous results for his presidential campaign. If he had any sort of sense whatsoever, he would realize that this palpable anger is not doing him any favors and is probably negatively impacting his favorability.
The New York Times' Caucus blog reports that McCain is so angry he can't stand to look Obama in the eye or shake his hand on the Senate floor:
It was Senator Barack Obama who crossed the aisle. As the senators gathered to vote on the $700 billion financial rescue package on Wednesday evening, Mr. Obama walked over to the Republican side of the chamber to extend a greeting to Senator John McCain.
He got a chilly response. While it took Mr. Obama several seconds to make his way over to see his rival, Mr. McCain barely pivoted his body as he took Mr. Obama’s hand for a handshake that lasted just a moment. The eye contact was just as brief.
And Joe Klein of TIME in a new article this morning:
A few hours before the house of Representatives smacked down the financial-bailout package, I watched John McCain — eyes flashing, jaw clenched, oozing sarcasm and disdain — on the attack in Ohio: "Senator Obama took a very different approach to the crisis our country faced. At first he didn't want to get involved. Then he was 'monitoring the situation.' That's not leadership; that's watching from the sidelines." And I thought of Karl Rove. Back in 2003, at the height of Howard Dean mania, Rove was skeptical about Dean's staying power as a candidate: "When was the last time Americans elected an angry President?"
John McCain has definitely become the angry candidate.
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The polling out of Pennsylvania yesterday was very heartening and Dave Pidgeon of the Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA) reports that even traditionally conservative areas of Pennsylvania are not moving in McCain's favor. His title, Experts say McCain campaign floundering, made me smile too:
Polls show a shift in voter sentiment away from Republican Sen. John McCain and toward Democrat Sen. Barack Obama, with one putting Obama up by 15 percentage points in Pennsylvania. What's of particular concern for Republicans, however, are the numbers 43 and 42.
The first number is the percentage of support McCain is getting in central Pennsylvania, including GOP-dominated Lancaster County, according to Wednesday's poll by Franklin & Marshall College. The second is the percentage of support for Obama.
and:
"Unless McCain gets a narrative on (the economy) that's interesting to the American public, he's going to lose, and he's going to lose in a landslide," McDonald said. "We're gearing up for one of the largest landslides in American history."
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In other news, you may have noticed that Sarah Palin called herself an "everyday working-class American" during her interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt yesterday. Welllll... Sharon Theimer and Brett Blackledge of the AP report that Estimates show Palin's assets top $1 million. Somehow, I don't think $1 million classifies you for the "working-class" category:
The Palins' assets seem enviable: a half-million-dollar home on a lake with a float-plane at the dock, two vacation retreats, commercial-fishing rights worth an estimated $50,000 or more and an income last year of at least $230,000. That compares to a median income of $64,333 for Alaskans and $50,740 for Americans in 2007, according to the Census Bureau.
This is another example of Palin's exaggerations coming back to bite her in the ass. Having assets over $1 million would be no big deal if she hadn't claimed just yesterday to be part of the working class. This is just more proof that Sarah Palin, VP candidate, is really mostly a fictional character - pretty much everything about her is exaggerated or just plain made up.
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AP headline this morning: Palin draws skepticism even in conservative South
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Some of you may know that before coming to South Korea, I lived in Arizona and that is where I am registered to vote. So, it was with glee that I noticed this morning that my favorite alternative weekly, the Tucson Weekly, endorsed Barack Obama for President today. Not a huge surprise, but I was happy to see it.
Hopefully we can give McCain a run for his money in Arizona and defeat the nasty Prop 102, which would amend the Arizona constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman - even though Arizona voters rejected a similar amendment in 2006. Polls show the amendment is gaining support (+6 in the last polling), so if you have a little extra change in your pocket the folks at Vote No on Proposition 102 - Again! could use any help you can give. The Yes campaign is getting lots of money from Focus on the Family to push this through, even though it has already been rejected by Arizona voters.
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In other endorsement news, Colorado Biz Magazine, which endorsed George W. Bush in 2004, announced today that they are endorsing Obama:
Though well-intentioned, we don’t believe the Arizona senator will be an effective reformer. As we write, McCain seems unclear whether the economy is on solid ground or at risk, a view we doubt is shared by most American taxpayers, now on the hook for a trillion dollar bailout. McCain’s impetuous call to fire the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission also underscores our view that effective reform first requires a clear view of what, or in this case, who, needs reforming. On matters of the economy, Sen. McCain leaves us guessing.
Barack Obama may be a flawed economic candidate. But if elected he’ll likely be in a position to succeed if he acts decisively. He’s been on the right side of the massive regulatory mess, in large part, and for those who bother to look, he’s communicated a plan that could, if implemented, support small business — Colorado’s economic staple. Whether he acts, if elected, is another matter.
That, if anything, is an indication of how much has changed since 2004.
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So predictions for the debate? I can't wait to write the reaction for that one! I don't think Palin will do as bad as we would hope - a la the Couric interview - but I think she will confirm the general consensus that she is in over her head.
And, any predictions for John McCain's next angry outburst? I think some poor reporter will ask him about some future Palin gaffe and McCain will just lose it and start foaming at the mouth.