For What It's Worth

[Boscar Obarra]

Hard to believe some here thought McCain was more than a 20-1 shot to pull off a miracle.

 Mismatch from day 1

 With all the baggage Obama came with, it\'s a disgrace none of it was considered by the \'voters\', such as they are.

 Let\'s hope he doesn\'t do too much damage. On the other hand, how much worse can he be? I for one don\'t want to find out.

[TGJB]

HP-- agree totally, and I will go further. This election was about 8 years of new voters since 2000 who have cable and are intnet savvy and can fact check, and only know the Republican Party as what Bush and Rove have turned them into, which is godawful (I could go into detail, but I don\'t want this board to spin out of control).

There will be 4 years of new, smart voters every national election going forward, and if the Republicans don\'t stop pandering to the lowest common denominator with 3 word slogans (War on Terror, Stay the Course, etc.) and start treating the voters with intellectual respect, they will become a local party, and won\'t win the Presidency for the forseeable future, no matter what the Democrats do. They need to fundamentally change, and not force candidates to take positions to get the nomination that give them no chance in the general election.

Anyway--

They were going crazy in the West Village last night, starting about 8:30, all kinds of young kids whooping it up in the streets until 2:00 a.m. After Obama spoke I went over to this bar in my heighborhood, there are a couple of black guys who work the door I\'m friendly with, and a 70 year old black bartender from New Orleans, I wanted to see what he had to say. This place is basically the bar from Star Wars, Bosnian AND Croat owned, Isrealis, everything from everywhere,probably the hottest bar in NY right now. The West Village usually sucks for bars, big break that this ocurred 3 blocks from home for me.

So I\'m standing there and this Irish (from Ireland) woman orders a drink next to me, she\'s maybe 5\'4, 170. She says she\'s so happy she can\'t contain herself (it was like New Year\'s Eve in there). I say, so don\'t.

So she starts jumping up and down, lands with her heel on my big toe.

I let out a howl. She calls me a big pussy, and buys me a drink to make up for it.

I say listen, don\'t jump anymore. She says I can\'t, it\'s too expensive.

[miff]

\"So I\'m standing there and this Irish (from Ireland) woman orders a drink next to me, she\'s maybe 5\'4, 170.\"

JB,
...guess you gave her a good number,carrying all that weight!


Mike

[tmon]

Well just what the board needed an insult the Republicans post.

[magicnight]

I wondered where Mom went last night. Sorry.

One thing - did you see McCain\'s speech? Had he run a campaign where he spoke like that (and also not nominated Paleo-in), I think it would have been much closer last night. I have a feeling that the old Maverick may wind up forever wondering why he never really left the reservation (SC in \'00; not running with Kerry in \'04; running as a fake, hard-right nativist this year). When it really mattered, he wasn\'t really true to himself. Or the country.

[TGJB]

Tmon-- under ordinary circumstances (meaning before the last 8 years) I would consider myself a Libertarian Republican, now I\'m just a Libertarian. McCain in 2000 was the best candidate for president I have ever seen, bar none, I would have loved to have had a chance to vote for THAT guy. Too bad he sold his soul.

Magic-- I agree he would have done better, but really the positions he took (was forced to) to get the nomination meant the die was cast before the general, I think. But bringing on Rove\'s guys was a bad idea.

Thank mom for the drink.

[HP]

My most overwhelming impression during this campaign was not related to politics.  During the last debate I was watching McCain closely...and based on my observation I didn\'t think he was physically up to it, being President.  

I remember age coming up with Reagan.  I thought Reagan looked old, but able to handle the job.  I believe he released his medical records too.  

I felt STRONGLY watching McCain during the debate that he would not hold up well under the stress of being President.  President McCain I could live with.  President Palin is something else again.  Anyone who works \"God\'s Will\" into their answers on a regular basis is not someone I want in charge.  

Not affiliated with either political party...  I H8 Dems and GOP alike.  HP

[TGJB]

Don\'t get me started about Palin. The idea of giving the nuclear codes to someone who believes the End Of Days will come in their lifetime would be laughable if it wasn\'t so damn scary.

But speaking of medical records, she finally released hers to the press at 9:00 Monday night. The imagination runs wild, but we\'ll keep it off here.

[tmon]

Oh and when did Biden release his brain scans? And when did Obama release his complete medical records instead of just his regular Doctor telling the press that Obama was in good health

[analizethis]

Jerry,

  Agree with your Libertarian comment and that reminds me of a funny political story.

  In 1992 (Clinton v. Bush I) the Libertarian candidate for President was named Andre Marrou and he was scheduled to speak on tv near election day. So I sit my two daughters (one in elementary and the other in middle school) down to watch. He finishes his ten point program (number one being abolish the IRS) and they walk away and say thanks Dad.

  A couple of days later the younger one has a visit from a staff person from the local congressman\'s office in school. During discussion the staff person says \"class now I\'m sure you have all heard of the Republicans and Democrats but has anyone ever heard of another political party in this country?\" My daughter, the brown nose, just about jumps out of her skin raising her hand but finally the teacher lets her speak and without taking a breath she says I\'ve heard of the Libertarian Party their presidential candidate is Andre Marrou, he\'s going to legalize drugs and my dad\'s going to vote for him!!!    

  When I heard this story I had the following two comments; (1) I never said I was going to vote for him and (2) I guess that explains why the PTA was marching with protest signs in front of the house.

[TGJB]

That\'s pretty funny.

I voted for Bob Barr. He was tougher on Bush\'s B.S. than Obama, and I figured Obama could probably carry NY without me.

[TGJB]

They all jerked people around, and you know what McCain did, I don\'t have to go into it here. But at least the other three released something.

Palin will land a $100 million contract from Fox, and she\'ll be good. She\'ll be the only one doing well in this economy.

[drbillym]

Analizethis,
Always enjoy stories with kids misstatements.  The subject of horse racing came up in my son\'s 8th grade class.  He told the teacher his Dad watched a lot of races on his home computer, and could always be heard chanting, C\'mon baby, C\'mon baby, Oh #&$%!  Guess that tells you what kind of handicapper I am!