One of the great civilizations of the world, the egyptian civilization took a funny turn aboout halfway through. It changed from a predominately black leadership to a predominately white leadership, with the actual population base staying by far mostly black throughout. it’s history makes me wonder if we are ar the cusp of te same thing here in America. The current state of our nation is poor. Any one who denies that lives rather seriously in denial. Is there a chance that America is ready and willing to enter it’s second age? a series of “new” dynasties? let’s hope so, because the “old” dynasty is well and done.

I had no intention of calling things till the results were all in but…. The projections for PA are in, and Barack looks like he has it. That has to be a hell of a hurt for McCain.

10:15 CST.
It’s Done Barack Obama has won. My son has a different, better future,a different and real hope and reality. I’m satisfied. My children will live in the real America.

Keeping with her pledge for Open Government, and full Disclosure, Sarah Palin has apparently balked at her pledge to release he medical records. This type of extremely obvois stonewalling only serves to make us wonder ever the more just what it is she is hiding. Even John McCain, whose health is rather seriously always on the edge of the edge came forth with is records ion SOME sort of manner, while Sarah apparently has something that she cannot afford to let be known. Whether that being the rumor that her latest child is actually her daughter’s or that rumor that she had an abortion at 17, it is, I’m sure, ultimately something that would evaporate her appeal to the conservative base of the party.

Speaking with some Obama campaign field operators yesterday I realized that there was a absolutely simple election day polling-place strategy that had been completely overlooked. T-Shirts. That’s right, plain white, black, blue, red, green, grey, ANY t-shirt that simply doesn’t have anything whatsoever political on it. We all know that as much as it’s been on te news, as much as it’s been in the mail, as much as it’s been taled about, there are still going to be voters who are going to show up at their polling places with politically-themed shirts on. If the courtesy crews who will be stationed at a lot of the polling places simply had a few extra t-shirts on hand, they could give these people something they could put on over their garb while they vote, return it when they’re done, and not be forced to leave the line. Some attempt is being made here to implement this, but wherever you are, if you have any extra t-shirts in larger sizes, please drop them off at a polling place near you to keep anyone from being unfortunately disenfranchised.

from glossyinc.com
http://www.glossyinc.com/massmarket/wassup2008.html

The following is the text as prepared for delivery of Barack Obama’s speech in Canton, Ohio, as provided by the Obama campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

Can anyone clarify for me exactly what a “Process Question” is? The Palin camp defended her answering various questions from the media as her not being particularly good with “Process Questions” but I’ve never heard that phrasing before…

From Tha Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s largest newspaper:

Alaska enters its 50th-anniversary year in the glow of an improbable and highly memorable event: the nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential candidate. For the first time ever, an Alaskan is making a serious bid for national office, and in doing so she brings broad attention and recognition not only to herself, but also to the state she leads.

Alaska’s founders were optimistic people, but even the most farsighted might have been stretched to imagine this scenario. No matter the outcome in November, this election will mark a signal moment in the history of the 49th state. Many Alaskans are proud to see their governor, and their state, so prominent on the national stage.

Gov. Palin’s nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency — but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

Sen. Obama warned regulators and the nation 19 months ago that the subprime lending crisis was a disaster in the making. Sen. McCain backed tighter rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but didn’t do much to advance that legislation. Of the two candidates, Sen. Obama better understands the mortgage meltdown’s root causes and has the judgment and intelligence to shape a solution, as well as the leadership to rally the country behind it. It is easy to look at Sen. Obama and see a return to the smart, bipartisan economic policies of the last Democratic administration in Washington, which left the country with the momentum of growth and a budget surplus that President George Bush has squandered.

On the most important issue of the day, Sen. Obama is a clear choice.

Sen. McCain describes himself as a maverick, by which he seems to mean that he spent 25 years trying unsuccessfully to persuade his own party to follow his bipartisan, centrist lead. Sadly, maverick John McCain didn’t show up for the campaign. Instead we have candidate McCain, who embraces the extreme Republican orthodoxy he once resisted and cynically asks Americans to buy for another four years.

It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. And while Sen. McCain points to the fragile success of the troop surge in stabilizing conditions in Iraq, it is also plain that he was fundamentally wrong about the more crucial early decisions. Contrary to his assurances, we were not greeted as liberators; it was not a short, easy war; and Americans — not Iraqi oil — have had to pay for it. It was Sen. Obama who more clearly saw the danger ahead.

The unqualified endorsement of Sen. Obama by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief.

On a matter of parochial interest, Sen. Obama opposes the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, but so does Sen. McCain. We think both are wrong, and hope a President Obama can be convinced to support environmentally responsible development of that resource.

Gov. Palin has shown the country why she has been so successful in her young political career. Passionate, charismatic and indefatigable, she draws huge crowds and sows excitement in her wake. She has made it clear she’s a force to be reckoned with, and you can be sure politicians and political professionals across the country have taken note. Her future, in Alaska and on the national stage, seems certain to be played out in the limelight.

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) — With 10 days until Election
Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov.
Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense,
they are spilling out in public, sources say.

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become
increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin “going
rogue.”

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is
simply trying to “bust free” of what she believes was a damaging and
mismanaged roll-out.

McCain sources say Palin has gone
off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the
incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled
robocalls — recorded messages often used to attack a candidate’s
opponent — “irritating” even as the campaign defended their use. Also,
they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign’s
decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

“She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” said this McCain
adviser. “She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us,
her family or anyone else.

“Also, she is playing for her own
future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember:
Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the
beginning and end of all wisdom.”

A Palin
associate defended her, saying that she is “not good at process
questions” and that her comments on Michigan and the robocalls were
answers to process questions.

But this Palin source acknowledged that Palin is trying to take more
control of her message, pointing to last week’s impromptu news
conference on a Colorado tarmac.

Tracey Schmitt, Palin’s press
secretary, was urgently called over after Palin wandered over to the
press and started talking. Schmitt tried several times to end the
unscheduled session.

“We acknowledge that perhaps she should
have been out there doing more,” a different Palin adviser recently
said, arguing that “it’s not fair to judge her off one or two sound
bites” from the network interviews.

The Politico reported
Saturday on Palin’s frustration, specifically with McCain advisers
Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin’s
initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of
ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly
damaging.

In response, Wallace e-mailed CNN the same quote she
gave the Politico: “If people want to throw me under the bus, my
personal belief is that the most honorable thing to do is to lie there.”

But two sources, one Palin associate and one McCain
adviser, defended the decision to keep her press interaction limited
after she was picked, both saying flatly that she was not ready and
that the missteps could have been a lot worse.

They insisted that she needed time to be briefed on national and international issues and on McCain’s record.

“Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was
dramatic,” said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the
process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was
probably the “hardest” to get her “up to speed than any candidate in
history.”

Schmitt came to the back of the plane Saturday to
deliver a statement to traveling reporters: “Unnamed sources with their
own agenda will say what they want, but from Gov. Palin down, we have
one agenda, and that’s to win on Election Day.”

Yet another senior McCain adviser lamented the public recriminations.

“This is what happens with a campaign that’s behind; it brings out the
worst in people, finger-pointing and scapegoating,” this senior adviser
said.

This adviser also decried the double standard, noting that Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s
running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, has gone off the reservation as well,
most recently by telling donors at a fundraiser that America’s enemies
will try to “test” Obama.

Tensions like those within the
McCain-Palin campaign are not unusual; vice presidential candidates
also have a history of butting heads with the top of the ticket.

John Edwards and his inner circle repeatedly questioned Sen. John
Kerry’s strategy in 2004, and Kerry loyalists repeatedly aired in
public their view that Edwards would not play the traditional attack
dog role with relish because he wanted to protect his future political
interests.

Even in a winning campaign like Bill Clinton’s, some
of Al Gore’s aides in 1992 and again in 1996 questioned how Gore was
being scheduled for campaign events.

Jack Kemp’s aides
distrusted the Bob Dole camp and vice versa, and Dan Quayle loyalists
had a list of gripes remarkably similar to those now being aired by
Gov. Palin’s aides.

With the presidential race in its final days
and polls suggesting that McCain’s chances of pulling out a win are
growing slim, Palin may be looking after her own future.

“She’s no longer playing for 2008; she’s playing 2012,” Democratic
pollster Peter Hart said. “And the difficulty is, when she went on
‘Saturday Night Live,’ she became a reinforcement of her caricature.
She never allowed herself to be vetted, and at the end of the day,
voters turned against her both in terms of qualifications and
personally.”