With the election lost, it is time to find a scapegoat to pin the blame on. That's what the people around John McCain are now focusing on: Sarah Palin has returned to Alaska after her whirlwind 68-day exposure to America's national political scene, but the controversy over her vice-presidential candidacy shows no sign of abating. As the state governor stepped off a plane in icy Anchorage on Wednesday, she faced fresh allegations over her behaviour on the campaign trail and renewed attacks on her lack of readiness for the White House. Many of the attacks were from disgruntled aides...
One has to hand it to Republican presidential candidate John McCain. His concession speech last night was nothing if not phenomenal. If he had shown more of that side of his during the campaign, perhaps, he would not have lost by such a wide margin. It was disturbing to see, however, that whenever he spoke positively about his former opponent, Barack Obama, the (Republican) crowd in attendance would boo and barely stop even after being told by McCain to cut it out. This attitude doesn't bode well for the Republicans. Some of them will probably fail to learn vital...
Barack Obama elected President of the United States of AmericaOne could be forgiven if they feel that the world has ground to a halt this evening.The citizens of the United States of America have delivered their decision: Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States.There will be no protracted wrangling over the electoral college. No supreme court. For the first time in nearly a decade, the United States can boast an honest-to-god democratically elected President -- elected fair and square.Few need any kind of reminder of the heavy burden of history Obama will carry throughout his Presidency. For the first time in its 231 years of existence, the United States has elected an African American as its President.Only in a country that has well and truly turned a historical page...
Licia Corbella, a conservative newspaper columnist, recently wrote a column (in a conservative newspaper) denouncing John McCain and Sarah Palin and making a cogent argument for Barack Obama instead. This earned her high praise from one reader, whose letter is the Letter of the Day in the Calgary Herald today: Kudos to Licia Corbella for her column about Barack Obama. I can't imagine this column was easy to write for such a proud and loyal conservative. Corbella joins the ranks of the highly respected Republicans and their supporters who have taken off their conservative glasses to see this presidential...
Americans elect the "Leader of the Free World" todayToday, as millions of Americans head off to the polls to elect the President of the United States of America, it seems that it's all but guaranteed that history will be made -- Barack Obama will be elected the first African American President.Of course, Obama has already made history by being the first African American to run for President as the nominee of one of the two major parties.But even as the polls continue to favour Obama with a lead of anywhere from three to seven points -- although enough undecided voters remain to turn the race for McCain -- this election is not over yet.The only poll that matters is the election.If Obama does indeed emerge victorious this evening, there are few rational reasons for tears to be shed. Obama...
Considering Barack Obama to be the lesser of two evils presents moral and practical conundrumAs the 2008 US federal election draws to a close, many American voters are finding themselves effectively sandwiched between their distaste for the twin elite coalitions in the United States -- the Democrat and Republican parties -- and their seeming inability to effect change through a third party.Actor Danny Glover believes he has the answer for the conundrum faced by these voters.A few days ago, Glover appeared on the Real News Network, where he proclaimed "if we are going to have some sort of impact on this Democracy, I think we're going to have to accept the fact that we're going to have to deal with the lesser of two evils, and I consider Barack Obama to be the lesser of two evils."Choosing...
The campaign is really going down the tubes fast when one of your own delegates switches parties and endorses your opponent: Fred Bramante, the former state Board of Education chairman who was on John McCain's N.H. leadership committee, has changed course and endorsed Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. In a conference call with reporters on Thursday, Bramante was enthusiastic in his praise for Obama's education's priorities — and was frustrated by the McCain campaign's focus on school vouchers, which Bramante called a "partisan approach" issue. While this now-former Republican has seen the light, one professor in Canada, oddly enough,...
No media endorsement matters as much as one by The Economist. In fact, this venerable publication's endorsement of politicians or parties matters more than the opinions expressed by local media in the various countries (such as in Canada). Now, The Economist has fully endorsed Barack Obama, calling him more intelligent than John McCain (and that's an understatement, as anyone knows by just looking at McCain, Sarah Palin and their new "best bud" Joe the Plumber, aka Joe the Unlicensed, Unqualified, Black-Market, Bungling, Wannabe Plumber): In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has...
This is rich: Joe the Plumber, who isn't even qualified enough to obtain a plumber's licence and, as such, works on the black market, has taken to pontificating on the damage an Obama presidency would inflict on Israel: Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. "Joe the Plumber," on Tuesday twice agreed with a claim from an audience member at a John McCain rally that "a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the death to Israel." Wurzelbacher was hitting the campaign trail on behalf of McCain for the first time, joining former Rep. Rob Portman on a GOP bus tour through...
This doesn't come as a shock or surprise, because the recent rhetoric heard from both John McCain and Sarah Palin was destined to produce such vile events: U.S. authorities say federal agents have broken up a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and shoot or decapitate 102 black people in Tennessee. In court records unsealed Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi skinheads. Agents said the skinheads did not identify the school by name. In related news, see the Top Ten Reasons...
Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has "gone rogue": Amid reports that Sarah Palin has "gone rogue" - ignoring advisers and slamming her party's campaign tactics - some have begun to discuss her as a political contender after Nov. 4. "She's no longer playing for 2008; she's playing 2012," Democratic pollster Peter Hart told CNN yesterday. Debate about the Alaska governor's future came over the weekend, as the largest newspaper in her home state, the Anchorage Daily News, endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama and not the Republican ticket of John McCain and Ms. Palin, despite the home connection. Palin must be...
It's been clear for a while now that the next president of the United States will be Barack Obama, but nothing puts paid to John McCain's chances like Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama for president. Powell, a Republican himself and foreign secretary in the Bush administration from 2001 to 2005, has come out on NBC's Meet the Press explaining his deep concerns about McCain – and his disastrous choice of running mate, Sarah Palin. Powell is troubled by his party's shift to the extreme right and the recent outbursts of bigotry and outright racism directed at Obama. Update: Sour...
by Werner Patels You just have to feel a little bit sorry for the Republicans. After eight years of George W. Bush, they now find themselves with two millstones around their necks: John McCain and Sarah Palin. McCain is becoming visibly more erratic and angrier, while the Alaskan governor is a trigger-happy hockey mom who shoots anything in sight, but she failed to clean up the messes she left behind in Wasilla, where she was mayor once, and in the state capital, where her own party found her guilty of unethical and corrupt conduct. McCain has been given a...
After several incidents at McCain/Palin rallies, where audience members referred to Barack Obama as a "terrorist" and shouted "Kill him", questions have been raised about whether Palin and McCain might be guilty of criminal incitement to violence. Just one example, from the Huffington Post: Palin's new rhetorical strategy signifies an alarming new development in the 2008 Presidential election, and one that has been not only been documented by such high profile newspapers as the Washington Post, but confirmed by the McCain campaign itself. [...] With the McCain campaign now using the Palin stump speech to accuse Sen. Obama of...
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time to bid adieu to the comedy duo McCain/Palin. Since one member of this highly entertaining act has been found to have violated the law and acted unethically, it won't be long before Sarah is hoisted on a moose and released back into the wilderness of Alaska: An ethics inquiry in Alaska has found Sarah Palin abused her power as governor and violated state ethics law when she fired the state's public safety commissioner, according to a report released Friday. This will cement Barack Obama's landslide victory. Related: New York Times BBC The...
The folksier she gets, and the more outrageous comments she spews up about Barack Obama at campaign rallies, the more Sarah Palin hurts John McCain's chances in the Nov. 4 election. Last night on CNN's Larry King Live, Bay Buchanan really made herself look foolish when she kept defending Palin's "honour", while two other prominent Republican women were arguing their case that Palin was, in fact, extremely damaging to their party. Later in the same program, Republican Andrea Tantaros came across as similarly dim-witted as she kept harping on about a recent Newsweek cover of Palin that, as Tantaros...
That's how John McCain referred to Barack Obama in the recent debate: "That one". It was a moment that stood out in a presidential debate void of many pithy sound bites: "That one," Republican John McCain said contemptuously of Barack Obama, pointing in the general direction of his Democratic rival while discussing energy policies. Those two small words didn't just leave many pundits cringing, but more significantly, they caused some in the African-American community to accuse McCain of racism in his dismissive treatment of the man aiming to be the first black president in U.S. history. "It speaks to...
Batten down the hatches and save your first-born, because the world as you know it is about to come to an end: National Post's Jonathan Kay has endorsed (sort of) Barack Obama for President. Who can blame him? John McCain is all about dishonesty and arrogance now. His First Airhead of the Nation, Sarah Palin, can't add two and two together even if she had a crib sheet with the right answer. No political candidate anywhere is 100% perfect, but in the case of the American election, Barack Obama is the closest thing Americans have in this race to...
Watch this video from NBC's Meet The Press of how John McCain answers a critical question about Sarah Palin with his now usual dishonesty and arrogance, fobbing off any concerns that even people in his own party most certainly have about...
Sarah Palin wouldn't know a terrorist if he slapped her in the face: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused Democratic candidate Barack Obama on Saturday of "palling around with terrorists," marking a shift to a nastier tone in the White House race. The remark was dismissed by Obama as "gutter politics" but appeared to reflect an effort by Sen. John McCain's campaign to target Obama's judgment as the Illinois senator solidifies his national lead and gains an edge in vital battleground states a month before the November 4 election. John McCain is becoming increasingly desperate, which is why...
The ill-fated and silly bailout plan has been rejected: The House today rejected a $700-billion Wall Street bailout that would have been the biggest government intervention in the financial system since the Great Depression, sending the stock market into a sharp downturn and leaving President Bush's plan to bailout the economy in doubt. The vote was 205 in favor of the measure and 228 against. So much for John McCain saving the world – some mothers really do have...
Anyone who watched the first debate between John McCain and Barack Obama must have felt really embarrassed and scared at the thought of having "crash pilot" McCain represent their nation. Obama managed to remain objective throughout the debate, with his credibility fully intact. McCain, however, looked like a doddering old fool, repeating over and over again that he had known Henry Kissinger for 35 years – as if he wasn't quite sure whether he had already mentioned it or not, so he kept saying it to make sure it got said at least once. McCain's attacks on Obama –...
This is how you do...