Pennsylvania Goes to Obama;
McCain Certain to Lose

Tom Ridge would have carried this state for McCain and he can’t win without it.

ProConPundit Nothing If Not Loyal

In my first presidential election in 1980, in the primary I took a Democratic ballot and voted for Ted Kennedy over Jimmy Carter. In my own youthful view, I thought Ted Kennedy was more conservative, more competent than Jimmy Carter. In the general election of 1980, I was one of 6.6% of the American people who voted for Illinois Congressman John Anderson over Reagan and Carter.

I have voted for losers (Bush I, Dole, Kerry) and winners (Bush I, Bush II) but, until today, I have never been hesitant in a voting booth as to who to vote for.
Part of me wanted to be on the right side of history–for once. I voted against Reagan and clearly history is on the side of his presidency, for its great achievements and in spite of its flaws. I have tended to think I was on the wrong side of history by twice voting against Bill Clinton even thoughI joined 57% of Americans in voting against him in 1992 and 50.8% of American in rejecting him in 1996.

I passed on the presidential pick and completed the rest of the ballot. Then I went back. I love Joe Biden and I do think Obama will win and yet, not only could I not vote for them, I could not even flirt with the idea. I had to vote for John McCain. He’s run a terrible campaign but I do admire him and, in the end, I’ll stick with him knowing history was moving in another direction.

McCain and ProConPundit In Touch With Reality

John McCain knows he has lost this race. He knew it at the Al Smith Dinner in Manhattan on October 16 when he said, "In the event that I am actually to pull out a victory."

There is a sense in which no Republican could have won. One of the reasons John McCain was nominated was because, among let’s face it–a lackluster field of candidates, McCain was believed to be more popular among moderates and independents.

He has run a dismal campaign. He ran a campaign from and for the far right. In his apparent psychological need to prove to the right that he was one of them, he has won the battle–and presumably lost the war.

He ran on experience and showed none. He had nothing to say about our economic crisis other than our economic fundamentals were fine. He pushed a lot of photo ops by hanging out in DC during the crisis but accomplished nothing.

On the largest amount of "socialism," "redistribution," that has ever happened in our nation’s history, we took $ 750 million dollars of working people’s money to bail out Wall Street. This bill was laden with pork and goodies and Mr. "No Pork Barrel Spending" McCain voted for it.

I’ll have more to say later about Sarah Palin and the train wreck that has been her rise to prominence. She solidified a right wing base that would have voted for McCain over Obama under any conditions. Other choices like Tom Ridge would have won Pennsylvania for McCain while Susan Collins, liberal Republican Senator from Maine, would have actually attracted Hillary Clinton supporters and brought a triple digit IQ to the GOP ticket.

WHAT A COUNTRY!

Election coverage from Undisclosed bunker of ProConPundit, Chicago, IL

As we begin this election night and the end to a long, long, and frankly, fantastic campaign, I have to say that it has not been as much fun without Tim Russert. He often quoted his dad who would often say, "WHAT A COUNTRY!" I think that’s a great mantra come what may this night. It’s been an amazing, fun, maddening, long-suffering campaign season. It’s not Ford vs. Carter or Bush vs. Gore–this is not a choice between dull and duller. It’s not Bush vs. Dukakis or Reagan vs. Mondale or Clinton vs. Dole–where we know what is going to happen and its all perfunctory. The night will likely be a sizable victory for Obama but we don’t know for sure and, in any case, we are, as Americans, moving in a new and better direction. All I can say is; "WHAT A COUNTRY!"

There He Goes Again: Biden Puts Foot In Mouth
McCain Suspends Campaign

to Visit Obama’s Dying Grandmother

It was only a matter of time. Please allow me to paraphrase Biden by speaking of him as he speaks of John McCain. I LOVE THE GUY BUT BLESS HIS HEART HE JUST DOESN’T GET IT. Joe Biden has delivered a great gift to the McCain campaign by scaring the hell out of America by warming that we will, set certain, have an international crisis visited upon us within the first six months of an Obama campaign. I have pasted below an ABC News article about his remarks. It’s truly UNBELIEVABLE that he would say such a thing. Part of it was self-promoting to re-assure us that he would be at Obama’s side. But he makes clear that because of Obama’s youth and inexperience he will be tested by foreign leaders. We’ll see how that sits with voters–if it’s actually given serious attention. So much of the media is in the tank for Obama that it may slide by.

Meanwhile, early erroneous reports were that Barack Obama is suspending his campaign to be at the bedside of his dying grandmother. Wrong. While it is true that his grandmother is dying, it is John McCain who will suspend his campaign to be with her. Kind of the way Sarah Palin connects with real people, who is better to relate to a dying person that the leader of a campaign on life support.


Biden to Supporters: "Gird Your Loins",

For the Next President

"It's Like Cleaning Augean Stables"

October 20, 2008 7:35 AM

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions."Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis.

"Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."

The Delaware lawmaker managed to rake in an estimated $1 million total from his two money hauls at the downtown Sheraton, the same hotel where four years ago Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., clinched the Democratic nomination. Despite warning about the difficulties the next administration will face, Biden said the Democratic ticket is equipped to meet the challenges head on."I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it," the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said of Obama. "This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons.""You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real." "We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes," he cautioned. "It's so much more important than that. It's so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it."After speaking for just over a quarter of an hour, Biden noticed the media presence in the back of the small ballroom. "I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here," he joked."All kidding aside, these guys have left us in a God-awful place," he then said of the Bush regime, promptly wrapping up his remarks. "We have the ability to straighten it out. It's gonna take a little bit of time, so I ask you to stay with us. Stay with us."

October Non-Surprise: Powell Endorses Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh_c5bbvmqc/

Yesterday, the man who Tucker Carlson said, "sold us the war" endorsed the man who opposed the war. Joe Scarborough called him "the most important military figure of this age." I prefer to think of him as the only general since Eisenhower to win a war–a Bush war in Iraq.

The youtube.com clip above is Powell’s remarks outside of Meet The Press. There and on MTP he spoke eloquently, at length, without notes as to why he supports Obama and how he has grown disturbed by McCain, his friend of 25 years.

I agree with Jack Kemp who said winning is just as important as being worthy of winning. He, of course, was more of a loser than a winner on the national stage but he knew something about not forgetting who you are. John McCain has lost that or, at least, forgotten it. The ProConPundit has spent much time and energy pushing and promoting McCain and, I might add, sticking by him when few did. I’ve earned the right to honestly be disgusted with him and nearly every damn move he’s made since he was nominated.

Many of you have e-mailed me because you think I’ve been conspicuously silent in recent times. I’ll have more to say–I always do about McCain. For now, I will deal with Colin Powell.

Rush Limbaugh and others have castigated Powell today. There is only one criticism I will make with respect to Colin Powell. Had he endorsed McCain, the same liberal crowd who is hailing him today for his objectivity would have bashed the hell out of him. They would have reminded us, as they have for years, that he failed the nation when he pushed the war for the Bush Administration while personally opposing it. It's true that there is a thin line between him being a hero and a rat to the left: endorsing Obama makes him a hero. Powell never failed the nation. He served the President well and gave his advice. As a military man, you follow orders.

Many on the right will criticize him for it. I found his words compelling. Limbaugh thinks his endorsement was entirely racial in nature. I don’t think it was entirely racial but if Obama was a white, impressive, first term senator from Illinois, I can’t really picture him endorsing him. But so what? That doesn’t take away from the criticism he has of McCain’s lack of vision, lack of laying down solid and believable plans, and running a pathetic and perversely negative campaign. I think Powell’s endorsement was as much generational as racial.

So the left accepts Powell conditionally and many on the right are disgusted with him. He is a self-described moderate Republican. If he had a tad more stature, he’d be a PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE! :-) Powell’s endorsement of Obama signals to moderates and independents and to those who are skeptical of Obama’s inexperience, that he is okay and that McCain is not. Won’t mean much to those on the right but among the people who will decide the election, it may.

Republicans will lose and will lose big. Barack Obama will name the next two supreme court judges. Roe v. Wade is here to stay folks–FOREVER. All this because John McCain decided to play to the base of his party and to the base instincts of our fears. (Those are 2 different things, by the way.)

I can’t believe I am recommending an article from the LEFT LEFT Huffington Post. It’s called, The Powell Endorsement and the End of the Republican Foreign Policy Establishment. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ilan-goldenberg/the-powell-endorsement-an_b_136313.html

I like it. Powell represents the type of Republican I am. I liked Ford over Carter, Bush over Dukakis. The Republican Party is increasingly becoming what Pope Benedict said the Catholic church should be: smaller and purer. The Pope has every right to declare that his church should be smaller rather than accept things it can’t accept. Political parties, as James Carville says, exist for one and one reason only: to win elections. Republicans will become Libertarians or Green Party folks who have great principles but can’t possibly win–unless they become in reality, beyond rhetoric, a big tent party.

Nothing Funny
W The Film

http://www.wthefilm.com/index2.html

Fighting depression and despondency over John McCain’s sure and certain loss, the ProConPundit was on vacation last week in Savannah, Georgia. I got back on Friday evening and was very much aware that it was opening night of the movie, W. I normally eschew Olive Stone movies because they tend to not bother letting the truth get in the way of a riveting story. I decided that I wanted to see W anyway because, unlike other Oliver Stone movies, the previews I saw seemed laugh out loud funny. Because it was a political movie and I think everyone is into politics like I am, I just presumed I would never be able to get into see the movie on opening night. I went to my Kenosha home and bought a ticket online for the 12 Noon showing Saturday of W at the Kenosha Tinseltown Theater. I was so proud of myself. I imagined walking ahead of the throngs of people to see the movie. Turns out I was wrong on two counts. First, I was one of 6 people who watched the movie and second, there was not one damn thing that was funny about the movie.

The casting was superb. Josh Brolin played W and he was great. One of my favorite actresses, Ellen Burstyn played Barbara Bush and was fantastic. James Cromwell played President Bush–and from now on, whenever I say President Bush, I will be referring to the real President Bush who served as our 41st President from 1988 to 1992. Cromwell was a compelling Bush. Elizabeth Banks played an adorable and bright Laura Bush. Richard Dreyfuss portrayed an evil Dick Cheney. Karl Rove was depicted as nearly perverted by Toby Jones. Thandie Newton played an idiotic Condoleezza Rice. Jeffrey Wright played Colin Powell and Scott Glenn played a stunning Donald Rumsfeld.

So much of what is told in the movie are things that are only known by people who would have never divulged them. So I didn’t think it was terribly credible. It was basically the story of the rivalry between Bush father and son, W’s dream of being a president more like Reagan than like his father, and the struggle between allies of President Bush I and the neo-cons who have influenced, formed and informed the presidency of W.

One weird moment in the movie was a lunch meeting shortly after W realized that there were no WMD. He was furious and his closest advisors were trying to explain, regroup, and appease him. Rummy was pre-occupied to the point of obsession with the pecan pie that was served.

It was a good movie to see. Don’t think it’s gospel truth but enjoyable nonetheless. One thing it wasn’t: funny.