A few weeks ago, I was chatting with someone about the upcoming presidential race and I must have said something that made her asked if I was wavering in my support for McCain. I said no, but in reality, I was. At this point, I am not sure who I will vote for. There are certain things that make me pause with both candidates. No matter what I do, voting for McCain or Obama will have its risks. The thing that has given me doubts about McCain can be summed up in two words: Sarah Palin.

Some thoughts about the third and final presidential debate: It was a long day for me, but I don’t ever think I’ve ever been drowsy at a debate, and I was tonight. It was boring. Was anyone else tired of hearing about Joe the Plumber? Obama was his usual cool self. Again, it gave people the perception that he can be presidential. Whether you agree with him or not, he did have the temperament to be Commander in Chief. Doesn’t mean he would be good at it, but in politics, perception...

The reason that John McCain and the rest of the GOP is failing this year is not because of media bias, or dirty tricks by the Obama campaign, but because conservatives have run out of ideas. McCain has never been an idea person, hoping that people would elect him on his august resume. But you can only go without new ideas for so long, which is why the GOP is getting its head handed to them come November. But I tend to think this is a Republican loss and not a Democratic win, meaning just because...

One of the things that has been astounding me as of late is the abandonment by moderates and conservatives of John McCain. Many of them are jumping ship and going over to Obama, even though the Senator doesn’t share share their values at all. They talk on and on about how John McCain isn’t the McCain of old and that he’s become mean and nasty. While I will agree that the tone has become more negative and that focusing on people like Bill Ayers in the time of a economic crisis...

With John McCain tanking, I have sometimes wondered why on earth am I still supporting him. Giving it some thought, I come up with one answer: I know what I’m getting with the Arizona Senator. I don’t know what I’m getting with Barack Obama. I know that I am getting a man that supports the environment and that tends to be more gay-friendly than past GOP nominees. I know that I am getting a man that has worked with Democrats and shunned his own party’s narrow interests...

No, it’s not what you think. Jay Cost has an interesting analysis as to why John McCain is doing so badly in the polls and there is nothing that he can do about it. He notes: McCain’s problem a week ago is the same as his problem today, enhanced anxiety about the economy. The deal failed to sooth any nerves, so McCain is still in a weakened position…So long as the newspapers and the televisions are full of stories about contraction, which as you can see dominated every day this...

We hear a lot about bipartisanship these days. A lot of people talk about it, but these days very few practice it. In some way, it’s become a relic of a long dead past, something that old men talk about with a wan smile of good days long past. The days we live in are incredibly partisan. Democrats and Republicans look at one another as strangers and enemies. Being a Republican in a very Democratic town, I can tell you that people can say really horrible things about Republicans. I can...

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed how race has been rearing its head in the presidential campaign. The race card is being played, but it’s not by Republicans. What has been fascinating is that the people who are playing the card are Obama supporters and the media. On more than one occasion people have asserted that something that has been said or shown by a Republican has been racist. On other occasions, it has been said that if Obama loses the election, the only reason will be...

Sarah Palin is toast. Or, at least that is how a lot of conservatives are feeling (myself included) after Palin’s disastrous interviews with ABC’s Charlie Gibson and CBS’s Katie Couric. Blogger Alan Stewart Carl thinks those die-hard Palin supporters are throwing out accusations of “gotcha” journalism and questioning Gwen Ifill’s integrity (Ifil is the moderator of tonight’s veep debate), to hide the fact that their VP candidate is so craptastic. On more...

People will laugh, but I’m beginning to think that the McCain-Palin GOP ticket is one of the most gay-friendly Republican tickets in history. No, they aren’t where Obama and Biden are at. But in light of past GOP tickets, this one is much more inclusive of gay and lesbian Americans. Log Cabin Republicans reports that the Washington Blade, a local GLBT newspaper in the nation’s capital interviewed McCain recently, making the Arizona senator the first Republican candidate to be...

CBS has made another Sarah Palin Interview with Katie Couric available. It’s an interesting look at Palin’s views on some of the hot-button issues like abortion and homosexuality. Here is the link to the interview: For those who aren’t patient, here are the highlights:

Well, fingers are pointing fast and furious about who is to blame for the failure to pass the bailout package. I wanted to pick up on one thing my fellow blogger Patrick Edaburn brought up in a recent post. He was not sympathetic on the reasoning of some Republicans who said they voted against the bailout because of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech: But if you see the bill as necessary and important to our economy but vote against it because someone said something you didn’t like, that is...

David Brooks has a worthwhile op-ed on John McCain today. I’ve always liked Brooks because he’s one of the few conservatives that is willing to be critical of his own movement. In today’s article he presents a critical view of the Arizona Senator that is a lot more nuanced than many in the media and more than a few bloggers have about McCain. He shares primarily what is bothering him about the campaign that McCain is running and it’s a familiar complaint: …what disappoints...

At the risk of saying something blasphemous… During this whole financial crisis, which seems to be getting worse by the day, the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I’ve always been fascinated by the two sons; the younger one, who demands his inheritance and goes off and spends it wildly and the older son who stays and is the “good son.” There is always a lot of sympathy for the younger son who realizes his wrong and comes back to his father asking to be made no more than a slave....

You know, after spending $700 billion to help the American economy not sink into Depression 2.0 … $25 billion for the Big Three is like the change you find under the couch: With Congress preoccupied with the massive, $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have finally secured Part One of their own federal rescue plan. A bill set to be passed by Congress and signed by President Bush as early as this weekend—separate from the controversial Wall...

Okay, not really Ikea, but the land where Ikea was born: Sweden. Bruce Strokes has an interesting article on how Sweden faced a similar crisis to what the US is facing now back in the early 90s. You need to read the whole thing, but here is a peek: In the early 1990s, Sweden experienced the worst financial crisis suffered by any industrial country since the Depression. The Swedish banking collapse wiped out fortunes, cost taxpayers a staggering amount of money, and may have permanently reduced the...

One of the common complaints I’ve heard against the GOP during their convention here in Minnesota is how less-diverse was the makeup of the attendees. The thought behind the complaint is that the Republicans are hopelessly bigoted and racist, the last bastion in America for those who are fearful of anyone other than White Anglo Saxon Protestants. While I would agree with that the GOP is too white and too male and also think that the GOP has to do a better job of reaching out to persons of...

When people are talking about the presidential campaign and the current Wall Street meltdown, most of them have stated that McCain has always been for less regulation. The Obama campaign has also done the same thing: painting McCain as a doctrinaire free-marketeer. However, that is not the whole story. Yes, McCain tends to skew towards less regulation (he is a Republican, after all) but the Washington Post notes that he does see a need for it.

The latest meme being thrown by the Obama team is that McCain hasn’t done anything to prevent the crisis taking place on Wall Street. But the thing is, McCain had a lot to say about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in recent years. According to Ed Morrissey, McCain was one of three co-sponsors of an act that would have done something about the two companies: Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few...

Crossposted at the Square Deal: I’m not very good when it comes to things like money, my partner (who is the Democrat in the family) is better at those things than I am. So I will venture into this whole talk about what is going on with Wall Street with some fear and trepidation. As we stumble through this crisis, I have seen much ink spilled not as much on how to correct this, but on who is to blame. For liberals, this is a wonderful time, a time of vindication. In their eyes, 30 years...

Cross-posted at The Square Deal: Reading a lot of the blogs, the most common complaint about John McCain is that he has gone negative. “Why O, Why isn’t he the McCain of 2000?” People ask. Alex Massie and Ezra Klein give a very plausible answer. Klein shares an article from Politco that talks about how McCain tried to be a “different kind of Republican” going on poverty tours and giving substantive speeches. The result? No one cared: “We recognize it’s not going...

I’m a little wary of even trying to say anything about the whole “lipstick” affair, because it seems to only give what I think is a trivial issue more strength. But, Clive Crooks says it best: One wonders how much lower this election can sink. The furore over “you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig” sets a new benchmark. The idea that Barack Obama seriously intended to call Sarah Palin a pig is surely absurd. Yes, it was a stupid thing to say; and...

Since the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, I’ve heard people I know and people on blogs immediately pigeonhole the governor. The governor has been pinned with the view that she is a card-carrying member of the religious right and that she is mean-spirited and nothing more than a Christian version of the Taliban wanting to teach creationism and banning books. Of course, Newsweek has done some fact-checking that shows that the picture is a lot more complicated than...

9:11pm- They are showing the promo film on McCain. 9:12pm- McCain enters the stage and heads down the catwalk. Will try not to starting singing, “I’m too Sexy.” 9:14pm- The crowd is still clapping. McCain has said about 100 thank yous. Will he beat Obama’s thank yous? 9:17pm- McCain thanks President Bush. Expect the Obama campaign to use that in some ad sometime soon. 9:19pm- He’s thanking his family. Nice, but get to the message, John. 9:21pm- Nice words to the...

Last night, I went to another event sponsored by Log Cabin Republicans at a hotel in Minneapolis. It was among these other Republicans that I watched the Palin speech on TV. Some thoughts: Merits: Palin has received a lot of flak for her social conservative views. As a social liberal Republican, that gave me some pause. That said, Palin laid off gay marriage and abortion during her speech, which is a good thing. Hopefully, that’s a good sign for any McCain-Palin administration. She was...