I was wondering why McCain’s blatant lies and the underlying lack of character that propels them was getting enough traction to make the race for president statistically about even as of today. The I came across this link from Seeing the Forest from James Fallows at The Atlantic, The Palin interview
Mention a name or theme — Brett Favre, the Patriots under Belichick, Lance Armstrong’s comeback, Venus and Serena — and anyone who cares about sports can have a very sophisticated discussion about the ins and outs and myth and realities and arguments and rebuttals.
People who don’t like sports can’t do that. It’s not so much that they can’t identify the names — they’ve heard of Armstrong — but they’ve never bothered to follow the flow of debate. I like sports — and politics and tech and other topics — so I like joining these debates. On a wide range of other topics — fashion, antique furniture, the world of restaurants and fine dining, or (blush) opera — I have not been interested enough to learn anything I can add to the discussion. So I embarrass myself if I have to express a view.
What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the “Bush Doctrine” exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.
Some voters, enough of them to make a difference of around two to five percent are not following the entire narrative of what’s at stake that on the surface the McCain ticket doesn’t look that bad. The RNC convention was the last big bite of political input they had. McCain looks and talks like many Americans. I could close my eyes turn a few times and end up pointing to a person of either gender that comes across much like Palin. Policy, competence at government, the background and record of the candidates are barely showing up on some of these voters radar. It is Fallow’s Phenomenon or low information voter mania. They’ve walked into the tail end of the conversation. Picked up some bits and pieces about lipstick, bulldogs and other nonsense and feel they know something. This election cycle generation won’t be the first one in our history in which people voted, not in their best interests, but for someone they liked. Much like they based their vote for the prom king and queen, or bought that Ford Pinto from the very very nice salesman. McCain’s insulting attacks on Obama account for some of the problem, but McCain’s lies about policy and his plans have some appeal as sound bites. McCain has promised America that they can keep having a huge military, roads in good condition and all the other services that America wants without actually paying for it. Goodness knows we’re a nation that loves a bargain. Though most of us know that like those sale ads that promise something for nothing, McCain and company’s rhetoric is a gimmick. The problem will come around next February when those people that believed the sale ad have McBuyers Regret. It would seem that Obama needs to do as he says and fight McCain’s lies with the truth, but he needs to attack at the same time. McCain and Palin Are Trying to Take Political Lying to the Next Dimension
Assessing the Republican Party Platform
Among the more frightening aspects of the platform is its unconstitutional assertion that the president has sole prerogative to make decisions on matters of war, rejecting any role for Congressional “interference” in foreign policy matters. This appears to be a pre-emptive assertion by the Republican Party that, in the event of a John McCain win in November, they would reject any attempt by the likely Democratic-controlled Congress to impose any checks and balances to prevent a possible war on Iran or other dangerous executive initiatives.
[ ]…The Republican platform calls for nothing less than an outright “military victory” in Iraq, something which has alluded the United States for over five years despite its overwhelming military might. As the Bush administration has claimed every year since the 2003 U.S. invasion, “A stable, unified, and democratic Iraqi nation is within reach.” Yet, despite the relative lull in violence in recent months, such a scenario appears to be as far from reality as ever. The platform rejects any timetables for a U.S. withdrawal. Despite the ruling Iraqi coalition’s domination by sectarian fundamentalist Shia parties and their militias, the platform argues that continuing to sacrifice American lives and dollars to keep that regime in power would somehow “give us a strategic ally in the struggle against extremism.”
I’m not knocking the entire nation of Saudi Arabia, but they are officially a U.S. ally. As is Egypt, the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid, just behind Israel. Many of the foreign fighters in Iraq come from those two nations who are currently allies in the “struggle against extremism.” They’re both fairly authoritarian, especially the Saudis, yet the brilliant thinkers behind the Republic/McCain platform haven’t mentioned invading and occupying either country for as long as it takes to make them a liberal democracy. McCain like most Republicans is somewhat clever about twisting and turning logic in such a way that what they say sounds informed and unhypocritical. Maybe some folks are over analyzing what the modern era Conservatives are selling. Its simple. Republicans like Bush and McCain are ideological twins. McCain is not the competent version of Bush who will sort things out. McCain will implement the exact same disastrous polices and hope that this four year extension will make them work once and for all. That’s not really change or good government, its an amateur magic show.
Professor Vote Explains it all
The Long Goodbye 