William Katz: Urgent Agenda
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2008
BULLETIN AT 8:40 P.M. ET: A stunning development in Israel, and important because of foreign-policy implications for the United States: Earlier we reported that exit polls showed a huge primary victory for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. News organizations are now reporting that the exit polls were way off, and that Livni will win by only 500 votes, or about two percent. Opposition candidates will undoubtedly demand recounts and investigations. If Livni's vote holds, though, she will still be asked to form a government, but will be substantially weakened. Many might be reluctant to join her, and that could mean Israeli national elections early next year, causing a delay in any international negotiations.
BULLETIN AT 8:10 P.M. ET: A new CBS poll of likely voters, just released, has Obama up five points. The poll was taken from September 12th, last Friday, through yesterday, and confirms the trend in other polls. This has been a bad week for Senator McCain. He must recognize the breakdown in his message, the recklessness of aides making foolish remarks, and the impact of the press assault on Sarah Palin. He must also get his economic policy straight.
Let's not pretend the political landscape is fine. It's not, but McCain has a remarkable ability to snap back. The heavy anchor tied to him, though, and to Governor Palin, is the disgraceful American press.
THE STATES
Posted at 6:35 p.m. ET
New state polls out today offer no particular encouragement for Senator McCain. At the same time, always remember that when one news organization releases a group of state polls, the results reflect the methodology of that organization.
These polls reflect the end of the McCain bounce, and the economic turmoil this week.
Rasmussen has Obama up two in Wisconsin and up four in Oregon. CNN/TIME has Obama up three in Wisconsin. Actually, those are encouraging, as both Wisconsin and Oregon are liberal states.
But CNN/TIME has a tie in Florida, a state where recent polls showed McCain well ahead. They have Obama up two in Ohio, another state that recently seemed to trend toward McCain. They have McCain up only one in North Carolina, a narrow lead in a state also moving toward McCain. I have some doubts about these CNN/TIME results, but it's always possible that they're catching a McCain decline because of the economy. Later polls will tell us.
Virginia, a critical state: A PPP poll has Obama up two, but a CNU Virginia poll has McCain up nine.
There are some worrisome results here, but the election is many weeks away, and this is only one series of polls, taken at a particularly bad time for Senator McCain, when economic turmoil is on the front page, and when the normal fade from his convention is underway.
Fight on.
September 17, 2008. Permalink 
UPDATE AT 6:10 P.M. ET: Tzipi Livni has now claimed victory in the Kadima primary in Israel, and will be asked to form a new government. However, forming that government is no sure thing. If she can't, Israel will go to elections early next year. The heavy favorite is former Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, a hard liner.
UPDATE AT 5:50 p.m. ET: Stocks plunged again today, with the Dow down more than 440 points. The week looks like this:
It's important to put the plunge into perspective. There was another one on Monday, following the Lehman Brothers obituary, but there was some recovery on Tuesday. The net loss for the week, thus far, is about 600 points. No one is smiling, but panic is not called for, despite non-economist Barack Obama's grim words.
UPDATE AT 4:05 P.M. ET: From the Washington Post: Oil prices fell again yesterday. The cost of the benchmark light sweet crude oil settled at $91.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange yesterday, down $4.56, or 4.8 percent. It was at the lowest level since Feb. 7 and pushed prices about 38 percent below their July 11 peak.
COMMENT: That's good. It means lower prices at the pump. Hate to be cynical, but that might help McCain.
UPDATE AT 3:55 P.M. ET: Exit polls in Israel show a clear victory for Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. If the polls are confirmed by the vote count, she will be asked to form a new government. Impact on the U.S.? Israel is always big news in the U.S., and the triumph of a woman can be used, carefully, to highlight Obama's rejection of Hillary Clinton.
TRACKERS
Posted at 1:34 p.m. ET
All trackers for the day are now out. The result is upsetting. While Rasmussen shows no change from yesterday, and has McCain up one, Gallup shows a three-point shift. Obama is now leading in the Gallup tracker by two points, the first time he'd led in this poll since the week of the Republican convention.
The Hotline tracker shows Obama up three, down one point from yesterday.
When you look at the Real Clear Politics link that we provide, you'll see that the number of polls in which McCain leads continues to diminish. His bounce, while not entirely gone, is reduced. And the unprecedented press assault on Sarah Palin may well be having its effect. There is a trend here, and that's what we look for, not individual polling days. Gallup says:
From a broad perspective, the race remains a statistical tie. But there has been a general drift towards Obama since McCain moved to a five-point lead over Obama through the weekend after the GOP convention.
And...
Today's report includes two days of interviewing conducted after reports of the collapse of Wall Street financial institutions and changes in the stock market began to dominate the news on Monday. Gallup Poll Daily tracking data show that in each of these individual days (Monday and Tuesday) consumer ratings of the U.S. economy have become more negative. Similarly, in each of these individual days' interviewing, Obama has led McCain in election tracking. There is thus a correlation between the bad financial news and Obama's gains, although the data do not allow us to conclude definitively that there is a causal connection between the two.
I should stress that Gallup and Hotline measure registered voters, whereas Rasmussen measures likely voters.
These national trackers don't measure individual states, but I would expect state polling results to start to change
We don't do predictions here, but the only major events coming up in this campaign are the debates, and they will be influenced by moderators from the mainstream media. McCain has gained only when he's gotten a big push, such as his nomination of Sarah Palin.
Clearly, there is cause for concern here. That concern is magnified by something we've written about since Urgent Agenda started in January - the role of a biased, undisciplined and unprofessional press. When journalists say they are simply doing their job when they look into every aspect of Sarah Palin's life, but refuse to ask a serious question of Barack Obama, this nation is in trouble, and it's serious trouble.
September 17, 2008. Permalink
UPDATE AT 9:36 A.M. ET: The first tracker is out for the day, and it shows no change from yesterday. Rasmussen has McCain leading, 48-47. McCain had been sliding in the last week, but it's impossible to know if stability has returned. This result is only a one-day snapshot.
We await Gallup and Hotline this afternoon. There will also be some new state polls published, and we'll report them.
LOOSE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN
Posted at 8:41 p.m. ET
In an act of consummate bad timing, Barack Obama raced to Hollywood yesterday to float in a sea of oversized checkbooks and egos - this while sounding his "common man" theme as Wall Street came apart. The Hollywood crowd doesn't have enough class to know how absurd this looks. You'd think someone in Barack's campaign might have had some misgivings:
Barack Obama partied with Hollywood celebrities Tuesday night and with the help of Oscar-winning singer and actress Barbra Streisand raised an eye-popping $9 million for his presidential campaign and the Democratic Party.
The night was split into two glitzy events, a reception and dinner costing $28,500 each at the Greystone Mansion, followed by entertainment by Streisand at the nearby Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. About 250-300 people were expected at the dinner and about 800 at the entertainment, which cost $2,500 a ticket.
Or, as it's called in Tinseltown, a tip.
This is vulgar in the extreme. Add to that some curious comments by The One.
He said later that people had encouraged him to be tougher and had questioned why he was so calm in a close race against Republican John McCain.
''I'm skinny but I'm tough,'' he said. ''I'm from Chicago and we don't play. Just keep steady.''
I wasn't aware he was from Chicago. I thought he was from Hawaii, or Kansas, or somewhere by way of Indonesia. Some other place. Settled in Chicago.
''The reason I'm calm ... is I've got confidence in the American people,'' he said. ''I really think they want to see us do better.''
You know, when a man keeps repeated how calm, but tough he is, I begin to wonder. Why does he have to say it? Is he trying to reassure us that he has the psychological stability to be president? I'm not reassured, especially as he can't seem to handle press questions or pressure on the campaign trail.
He said the economic turmoil in recent days had been sobering for America. ''It's reminded people that this is not a game. This is not a reality show, no offense to any of you,'' Obama said to laughter. ''This is not a sitcom.''
We'll be the judge of that. Looked pretty comical to me.
September 17, 2008. Permalink
OBLUNDERS?
Posted at 7:42 a.m. ET
Although polls show Obama closing a bit in the last five days, Michael Gerson believes he's made a serious of serious mistakes. The mistakes may say more about Obama's ability to withstand pressure than about his political judgment:
Barack Obama is cool, firm and permanently unruffled. It is precisely this quality of steadiness that has made him seem a credible prospective president with the thinnest of résumés.
But Obama's campaign is rootless, reactive and panicky.
Well, the fish rots from the head. Who's running the campaign? I think it's Obama.
But Obama has caved to Democratic conventional wisdom.
First mistake: Choice of a v.p.
His choice came soon after Russia invaded Georgia, and the conventional wisdom demanded an old hand who knew his way around Tbilisi. When the Georgia crisis faded, Obama was left with a partisan, undisciplined, congressional liberal at his side. This has served to undermine Obama's message of change -- and has allowed Sarah Palin to pilfer a portion of that appeal.
Second mistake: The tone of his convention.
Here the Democratic conventional wisdom was nearly unanimous. Obama should shelve his highfalutin rhetoric and talk like a real Democrat. Go after McCain. Talk about "bread and butter" issues -- code words for class-warfare attacks on consumers of blinis and caviar.
Obama took this advice to the letter -- at the cost of his political identity.
Third mistake: Get really tough on McCain:
In response to attacks and dropping polls, the Democratic wisdom is once again nearly uniform: Democrats lose because they are not vicious enough. And once again, the Obama campaign has taken this advice without hesitation. "We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks, and we will take the fight to him," says Obama's campaign manager...
...Who is hurt most by this race to the bottom? McCain, by the evidence of his own convention, wants to be a viewed as a fighter -- which a fight does little to undermine. Obama was introduced to America as a different and better kind of politician -- an image now in tatters.
And the bottom line:
Even worse for Obama, all these shifts to catch the prevailing winds confirm the most serious concerns about his political character. As a senator, he has almost never opposed the ideological consensus of his party. (The ethics reform he often cites as his profile in courage eventually passed the Senate 96 to 2.) And now as a presidential candidate, Obama has run his campaign with all the constancy of a skittish sailboat on an erratic ocean.
Can you imagine the man in an international crisis? An Urgent Agenda reader, a psychiatrist, writes us that, in his view, Obama is due for a meltdown.
Finally:
Here is a different strategy. Obama could attempt to "beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism." He could try to build a coalition that "stretches through red states and blue states." He could reject "the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up."
The candidate who said those words the night he won the Iowa caucuses did pretty well. But whatever the outcome of this presidential election, that candidate is no longer in the race.
But he could still win, which gives us the main chill.
September 17, 2008. Permalink
BULLETIN AT 6:44 A.M. ET: SANAA (Reuters) - A car bomb set off a series of explosions outside the heavily fortified U.S. embassy in Yemen on Wednesday and a Yemeni security source said at least 16 people, including six attackers, were killed. A U.S. embassy official confirmed that the blasts were caused by a car bomb and that there were reports of casualties.
COMMENT: Details are very sketchy. The death toll is tentative.
UPDATE AT 6:42 A.M. ET: Israel's ruling Kadima party began voting this morning on a new leader, who, if he or she can form a government, will be Israel's next prime minister. Foreign minister Tzipi Livni is heavily favored. If she wins, the publicity in the U.S, which will be substantial, could throw the spotlight once again on the Democratic Party's failure to put a woman on its ticket. Sarah will bask.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008
UPDATE AT 11:03 P.M. ET: More brilliance from Hollywood, via NewsBusters: Samuel L. Jackson came on Tuesday's edition of "Live With Regis and Kelly" to promote his latest movie, Lakeview Terrace, but couldn't resist getting in a plug for Barack Obama. The Pulp Fiction star told Regis Philbin that when he was at the Deauville Film Festival in France, nobody really wanted to talk showbiz, instead the festival goers asked him about the upcoming election: "They're all hoping that we come into the world community by electing, you know, Barack they say. So we hope so."
COMMENT: Memo to Samuel L. Jackson: If the United States wasn't already in the "world community," those Frenchmen you spoke with in France would be speaking German.
UPDATE AT 10:58 P.M. ET: From Jake Tapper, ABC News: In Golden, Colo., today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., took credit for the stimulus package that passed earlier this year. "In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy," Obama said, "which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress."
Is that true?
Democrats on Capitol Hill who support Obama say no.
Wanting Obama to win, however, none will say so on the record.
COMMENT: At least Tapper caught this. Let's see if the others in the MSM will hold Obama accountable for a claim he made himself, and which is plainly false. Don't hold your breath. Nothing to see here, folks. Just move along.
THE McCAIN THEY LOVED
Posted at 7:35 p.m. ET
Rich Lowry has a perceptive piece on the press and John McCain, and the divorce between them. I think Lowry has a point - the press loved the conservative McCain when they thought he was going to lose. Now that he's got a solid shot, other factors intervene:
A crucial turning point in the presidential race came when the McCain campaign ended its candidate's habitual informal interactions with the press. The area of the McCain campaign plane where a couch had been installed so the Arizonian could hold court with journalists was cut off with a dark curtain, marking the end of an era.
Since 2000, John McCain had thrived on his irrepressible chattiness with the press, talking about anything reporters wanted for as long as they would listen. The press loved the access and avoided "gotcha" coverage, letting McCain explain any seeming gaffes. The arrangement worked beautifully for both sides -- until McCain became the Republican presidential nominee.
Yeah. I think a lot of people figured out what was happening.
The enduring scandal of the McCain campaign is that it wants to win. The press had hoped for a harmless, nostalgic loser like Bob Dole in 1996.
This man McCain - he didn't know his place. Just an old Navy guy; never went to Harvard.
The press turned on McCain with a vengeance as soon as he mocked Barack Obama as a celebrity. Its mood grew still more foul when the McCain campaign took offense at Obama's "lipstick on a pig" jab...
...The lipstick controversy indeed represented a silly bit of grievance-mongering. But had the Obama camp's tendentious interpretation of Bill Clinton's "fairy tale" put-down as a racial slight generated similar push-back from the media? Had Obama's ridiculous depiction of Geraldine Ferraro as a quasi-racist? Had Obama's repeated contention -- with no evidence -- that Republicans were attacking him for looking different?
Go at it, Rich. You're onto something here.
When Obama distorted a McCain remark about staying in Iraq for 100 years -- if we were taking no casualties -- into an endorsement of endless war, the media generally tsk-tsked that McCain should be more careful about what he says. Obama just ran an ad saying McCain would cut education funding -- with no evidence.
But how can the media question the campaign of a saint?
What has truly driven the media batty is McCain's selection of Sarah Palin. The first days after her announcement brought gross misreporting and personal smears; followed by a Charlie Gibson interview during which the newscaster appeared disgusted that he even had to talk to such a lowly and unworthy personage; followed by front-page Washington Post and New York Times reports on her tenure in Alaska that were so hostile they left it a mystery why she has an 86 percent approval rating as governor.
But that would mean respecting the views of the common folk. And, after all, what kind of civilized wine drinker and tofu eater would live in Alaska? Really.
Palin will forever be a target. A pro-life, pro-gun evangelical with five kids, Palin has made the election even more into a culture war than it was before...
...Whatever affection they still have for McCain is now expressed in self-interested yearning: Where is the McCain of old, the one who could be reliably counted on to lose?
Ouch. Very good. And very true. And don't forget the careerism that goes with this. You're not going to get very far in the MSM, which is run by the sixties crowd, by being pro-McCain. For too many in the media, an election campaign is about them, not about the presidency. It's a far fall from the time, decades ago, when the press refused to photograph FDR in a wheelchair because it was disrespectful to his office. At least then the media knew who the people had elected.
September 16, 2008. Permalink
UPDATE AT 7:08 P.M. ET: John McCain on Obama's fundraising, via The Politico:
John McCain used an appearance before a blue-collar crowd near Youngstown, Ohio, to take a class-tinged shot at Barack Obama tonight.
"He talks about siding with the people just before he flew off for a fundraiser in Hollywood with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends" McCain said of his rival. "Let me tell you, my friends, there's no place I'd rather be than right here with the working men and women of Ohio."
McCain used the line as his close at an airport hangar rally, drawing loud applause.
Great line. Now milk it, John, and get your staff re-disciplined and back on message. Those Streisand tickets are going for $28,000 apiece. That's elitism defined. Make yourself the maverick, populist candidate, with Sarah, and picture Obama as the out-of-touch darling of Beverly Hills and Aspen. This is hardball politics, not ping-pong.
UPDATE AT 5:07 P.M. ET: A new Rasmussen poll in New York State, just published, completely contradicts the respected Siena College poll published yesterday. That had Obama up by only five in new York. Rasmussen has Obama up 13, which is more typical of the pattern of the state. In 2004, Kerry defeated Bush in New York by almost 20 points.
COMMENT: So how do we explain the Siena poll? And how do we explain the story from ace political reporter Fred Dicker that the parties' private polls confirm that the race is close? I don't know, but something is wrong with the polling somewhere. Please note, though, that Siena began its polling on Monday, September 8th, right after the GOP convention. Rasmussen did all his polling yesterday. McCain has clearly been slipping a bit over the past week. That may explain some, but not all, of the discrepancy.
UPDATE AT 4:38 P.M. ET: From The Chicago Tribune: Chicago radio station WGN-AM is again coming under attack from the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama for offering airtime to a controversial author. It is the second time in recent weeks the station has been the target of an "Obama Action Wire" alert to supporters of the Illinois Democrat. Monday night's target was David Freddoso, who the campaign said was scheduled to be on the station from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Chicago time. "The author of the latest anti-Barack hit book is appearing on WGN Radio in the Chicagoland market tonight, and your help is urgently needed to make sure his baseless lies don't gain credibility," an e-mail sent Monday evening to Obama supporters reads.
COMMENT: So much for freedom of speech. Given the passion of the left for reinstatement of the so-called "fairness doctrine," this may just be a warmup for what's coming - an attempt to get conservatives off the air.
NOTE AT 3:18 P.M. ET: Just an alert to readers. I've been noticing several pro-Obama articles recently by one Cass Sunstein, a professor of law at Harvard, and formerly a professor at the University of Chicago and a colleague there of Barack Obama's. Please note, for your background, that Sunstein is also Mr. Samantha Power. He recently married Power, who was forced to resign from the Obama campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster." You can make your own judgments on the couple, but i.d. boxes on Sunstein leave out his Power connection.
TRACKERS
Posted at 2:03 p.m. ET
Both our standard trackers are now out, and both tell the same story - McCain up by one in both the Rasmussen and Gallup polls, his lead steadily deteriorating. I would not be shocked to see Obama in the lead again by the end of the week.
And Obama has just jumped into a four-point lead in the Hotline daily tracker.
We'd said some days ago that the results in the middle of this week would tell us whether the McCain convention bounce lasts. Actually, he's held up reasonably well. He's still ahead in two of the three trackers, but the bounce has a bit less bounce in it.
We've now seen a trend over four or five days. The shock to the economy from Wall Street, and the continued destruction of Sarah Pal in by the media, cannot help McCain.
Once again we recall the old adage that a week is a lifetime in politics. The McCain people must discipline their campaign, get on their economic message, keep their ads accurate, and try to stop the destruction of Sarah.
Last week, Mark Penn, a Clinton consultant, said that the media is the big loser in this campaign because of its behavior. Yes, it's a loser if we're talking about credibility. It's a winner if it elects its sixties dream - Barack Obama. Credibility isn't the media's thing anymore. It's filled with leftists who want to "make a difference." They may make that difference.
Very tough fight ahead. Dead even, but momentum is starting to shift back to Obama.
September 16, 2008. Permalink
NOTE AT 10:26 A.M. ET: In the "you can't make this stuff up" department: There's a piece in The ultra-left Nation magazine about Obama's youth movement. It's written by a guy named Peter Dreier. The subhead over the article reads:
Peter Dreier's 11-year-old twin daughters, Amelia and Sarah, are volunteering for the Obama Campaign.
And you know, I'm sure both of them know what the Bush Doctrine is.
UPDATE AT 9:55 A.M. ET: The first tracker of the day is out. Rasmussen reports McCain with a one-point lead. He was up two yesterday, three the day before. We're seeing the same pattern here as with the Gallup tracker - McCain is beginning to lose support. It's a small loss so far, and may merely reflect the end of his convention bounce. But trouble in the economy and the relentless press assault against Sarah Palin may also have their impact.
Gallup also had McCain up two yesterday, down from five only days earlier. We await the new Gallup poll this afternoon.
This is a very critical moment. If Obama pulls back into the lead, the psychological effect on the McCain campaign can be devastating. The press riot against Sarah Palin will only intensify, as the rioters will feel it's working. Being the bullies they are, they will kick her while she's down. Demoralization in the McCain camp could set in.
We have written here for some time that press bias could decide this election because it is the worst we've ever seen. We can only hope that the good sense of the American people can see past the bigotry, safeguard the future of their country.
JERSEY BLUES
Posted at 7:58 a.m. ET
There may be some hoopla today over some poll results in New Jersey. I want to inject a cautionary note. Two new polls show a tightening race in the heavily Democratic state.
TRENTON, N.J. - Two presidential race polls out Tuesday indicate Republican John McCain has cut into Barack Obama's lead in New Jersey.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll, McCain has narrowed his 10-point gap of a month ago to just 3 percentage points among likely voters, with 48 percent saying they favor Obama to 45 percent supporting McCain.
A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has Obama's lead at 8 percentage points among likely voters, down from 14 points in July. In the most recent poll, Obama leads McCain 49 percent to 41 percent, with McCain having picked up 5 percent of undecided voters since the July poll.
That averages out to about a five-point Obama lead among likelies. Now, that's great progress for McCain, and I hope it continues. If McCain can take New Jersey, he probably takes the election, rather easily.
The problem is, we've been here before, as the director of one of the polls, Patrick Murray, cautions:
Murray said Republican momentum picked up in September in New Jersey typically wanes before Election Day.
During the last election campaign in 2004, there was also excitement, based on September poll results, that New Jersey would slip into the Republican column. But, on election day, it was right back where it normally is - solidly Democratic. So take these results with two caution pills. Watch the trends. If the trends continue relentlessly in McCain's direction, the end result this time may be an upset. But don't be shocked if you see normalcy returning in October.
One great thing about the McCain surge in states like New Jersey and New York is that it forces Obama to put resources into places that previously were considered safe. His campaign does not seem to do well under pressure, and this just increases that pressure.
September 16, 2008. Permalink
WHO CARES?
Posted at 8:15 a.m. ET
He's back. I thought he had retired, or gone away, or drifted off to some golf course, but Colin Powell insists on hanging around. And now he's teasing us about his choice for president, as if, based on his statements, we should have any doubt. This is important only because, in a very tight race, a Powell endorsement at the last minute might shift a couple of hundred thousand votes, some of them possibly in crucial places.
I have never been a Powell fan. I think that his is one of the more overrated careers in our recent history. Powell always struck me as the consummate bureaucrat, a man who could drift from job to job without leaving any footprints. His tenure as secretary of state was particularly undistinguished. He did almost no traveling, met almost no foreign leaders unless they were passing through, and never seemed passionate about anything. His statements after 9/11 were those of a man who'd adapted to the State Department view of the world. He referred to the "events of September 11th," a sanitized way of describing attacks that killed 3,000 of his countrymen. I don't recall his ever visiting the attack site in his native city of New York. His name is on no policy following that horrible day. He seemed to spend most of his time being blameless.
Now he returns, as CNN reports:
CNN) — Former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that he has not yet decided which candidate to back in this year’s presidential race.
The election of an African-American president “would be electrifying,” Powell told a George Washington University audience, “but at the same time [I have to] make a judgment here on which would be best for America."
Balancing act. He then says:
“I have been watching both individuals, I know them both extremely well, and I have not decided who I am going to vote for. And I'm interested to see what the debates are going to be like because we have to get off of this ‘lipstick on a pig’ stuff and get into issues,” he said.
He knows both candidates extremely well? How well could he know Obama, a recent arrival to fame? And apparently the general doesn't care for the tone of the campaign. Not good enough for him. In fact, issues have been widely discussed.
Earlier this year, Powell told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he was weighing an endorsement of a Democrat or independent candidate. “I am keeping my options open at the moment,” said Powell.
“I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult life. And as I said earlier, I will vote for the candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that candidate is a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent,” he added.
Okay, let's wave that flag. But his career was made possible by Republicans, although he seemed to have a snobbish view of the greatest of them, Ronald Reagan. When President Reagan proposed saying publicly to the Soviet leader, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," it was reported that Powell tried to talk him out of it. Why take a stand? Why do stuff when you can just be there?
Powell also offered praise for Obama, calling him an “exciting person on the political stage.
“He has energized a lot of people in America,” said Powell, who briefly weighed his own run for the White House in the mid-1990s. “He has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is worth listening to and seeing what he stands for.”
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love words like "energized." Obama has energized people around the world? What precisely are they doing?
The kicker:
Another source close to Powell said that he has known McCain for more than three decades “and likes him, and is looking for a reason to vote for him. He hasn't found it yet."
He's going to endorse Obama, probably as a way of getting back at people who eased him out of the Bush administration. I don't recall McCain begging Bush to let Powell stay. I'm hoping the American people will discount the endorsement, but, as I said, a critical mass might be influenced. Let's hope McCain is ahead by enough to negate any effect.
September 16, 2008. Permalink
"What you see is news. What you know is background. What you feel is opinion."
- Lester Markel, late Sunday editor
of The New York Times.
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