Bookworm Room

I’m not sure I need to watch tonight’s debate, because I already know how it’s going to play out:
SCHIEFFER:  Good evening, gentlemen.  You already know the rules, so let’s start with the questions.  Sen. Obama, the first question is for you:  Please describe for the American voters the way in which your economic plan is [...]

8 Comments »

Macho Sauce Productions succinctly explains how we can tell that McCain did, in fact, win the debate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxf56Jxg_H4

Also, if you think the big guys — Hannity, Limbaugh, etc. — should start paying attention to this guy, you can sign a petition to make that point.

Sphere: Related Content

4 Comments »

Our world view determines how we process new data.  If your world view is bounded by race, every new bit of information is going to be run through that racial filter, and divided into “racist” or “non-racist” categories.  If you only have two intake bins, the information has to go into one of them.  For [...]

30 Comments »

While hustling the kids through homework, dinner and bed time, I’ve still read tons of debate live blogs — American Thinker, Contentions, Michelle Malkin, the Corner, Power Line — and the verdict from each of them is the same:  the debate was b-o-r-i-n-g, all three (Brokaw, McCain and Obama) performed badly, and nothing happened to [...]

25 Comments »

Charlie Martin makes a nice argument, which is that McCain has been setting Obama up for all the hits McCain is suddenly throwing at him.  I don’t know if I believe this, since it strikes me as pretty dangerous to wait until the last 30 days to launch these assaults.  Still, I like how it [...]

22 Comments »

At the fundraiser I attended yesterday, Palin promised that McCain was listening to the repeated request that he “take the gloves off.”  Her promise was good, and he was listening:

Finally! Let’s hope that this same McCain shows up at tomorrow’s debate.
Lisa Schiffren also has some good ideas about how to keep the pressure. [...]

5 Comments »

I did something kind of special today:  I went to a big fundraiser and heard Sarah Palin speak before a relatively small audience (1,200 of her closest friends in Northern California).  There are definitely perks to being a political volunteer.
I had a wonderful time, too.  I got to check people in, and everybody was so [...]

17 Comments »

I’ve watched almost all of the debate, but it’s bedtime now, and I’ll have to save the rest for later.  Three comments:
1.  The first, the most obvious, and the most pressing question:  How many botoxes did they kill to create that abnormally smooth, completely motionless forehead Biden was sporting?  That was creepy.
2.  Was I the [...]

39 Comments »

The polls reveal that “decideds” are swinging steadily to Obama (although Lord alone knows why), but that there are still a lot of undecideds out there.  I have a hard time comprehending the whole undecided thing in this race.  The candidates are not cut from the same cloth but, instead, stand in stark contrast to [...]

13 Comments »

Do you get the feeling that a lot of Democrats, having watched the first debate, are saying that their man is qualified to be in the White House merely because he managed not too drool all over himself and say anything too stupid?  That is, they’re acknowledging that, substantively, McCain was much better, but they’re [...]

14 Comments »

If you’re like me, the second the debate ended, you got on your computer to check whether the consensus in the blogosphere jived with your own impressions of the first Presidential debate. I discovered that the general consensus (from both liberal and conservative bloggers) was that McCain scored on points. He held his [...]

9 Comments »

In the “I wish I’d said that” department is this truly excellent post from Power Line, pointing out that this crisis (a) establishes that McCain, not Obama, is a leader and (b) that the Democrats cannot possibly be telling the truth when they try to blame McCain for the House’s inability to reach an agreement.  [...]

47 Comments »

IBD, in yet another of its stellar editorials, reminds us that Barack may talk about “change,” but that it’s McCain who is the real maverick, a man who repeatedly breaks away from the status quo, especially when he thinks he is called upon to do so by the nation he loves.

Sphere: Related Content

1 Comment »

I’m no Sondheim fan, but he did get the psychology of blame down well in a song from Into The Woods that has the constant refrain “It’s all your/his/her fault.”  It’s human to assign blame.
Sometimes, though, assigning blame is easy, and with the current economic crisis, history shows us that the largest part of the [...]

10 Comments »

As I said yesterday, I don’t believe McCain was grandstanding when he decided to stop campaigning for a couple of days in order to help resolve America’s current financial problem.  To me, it was a “country first” thing, with McCain putting the country ahead of his personal ambition.
It turns out that his country does indeed [...]

3 Comments »

I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed as all get out by McCain’s decision to stop campaigning for a while and serve his country during what may be the most significant economic crisis since 1929:
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have [...]

20 Comments »

This, directly from the McCain campaign, deserves to be reprinted in its entirety:
Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid [...]

9 Comments »

At Iowa, McCain “gets in your face” mano a mano (that is, he doesn’t delegate his surrogates, but gives a speech to America, Obama included), and he focuses on the facts.  This is a very concrete speech, which appropriately boasts his virtues and clearly exposes Obama’s failings:
U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks [...]

59 Comments »

The McCain campaign is giving substantive responses to the attacks the Obama campaign is leveling against it:
TO:                 Interested Parties
RE:                Empty Words And Insults Cannot Cover A Weak Record
DATE:            September 15, 2008
Over the last few days, the Obama campaign has watched their poll numbers falter and decided to lash out with personal attacks against Senator McCain [...]

2 Comments »

I noted earlier that the “Country First” slogan that McCain uses is meaningful (and moving) only if you understand McCain’s life story. Otherwise, it sounds suspiciously jingoistic, especially to liberal ears.  Beldar, however, has come up with a brilliant slogan that would serve McCain and Palin very, very well.  What do you think?
Hat tip:  The [...]

21 Comments »

I finally got the chance last night to watch John McCain’s speech and I thought it was excellent.  It was, in fact, exactly what I anticipated:  pragmatic, straightforward, low on, and rich with a sense of love for America.  Certain subjects fired him up, especially national security, about which he spoke with fluency and fervor.  [...]

14 Comments »

To me, the first good thing about the Palin nomination is that it highlights Obama’s inexperience.  You can just hear him going around the house muttering, “I know you are, but what am I?  I know you are, but what am I?  I know you are, but what am I?”
To date, Obama has written two [...]

45 Comments »

It looked in the beginning as if the McCain campaign group was doing nothing at all.  They were just dormant, though, ready to explode.  They came up with a series of great ads that highlighted the creepy personality cult building around Obama.  They timed the VP announcement perfectly to suck the air out of Obama’s [...]

3 Comments »

Information or disinformation? It’s hard to tell right now.  The AP article expresses surprise that McCain would pick a neophyte for a VP when he’s been attacking Obama for being a neophyte.  Apparently the AP reporter is confused about the difference between being a VP (a good place for on-the-job training) and being President (a [...]

42 Comments »

I’ve been traveling, so I missed the Saddleback conversation with the candidates.  Nevertheless, through emails and Mike Devx’s comments, I’ve become aware of the question Rick Warren posed to the two candidates about evil.  Here’s the transcript:
REV. WARREN: Okay, we’ve got one last — I’ve got a bunch more, but let me just ask you [...]

14 Comments »