There's a post up at the Orlando Sentinel that links to an interview with Joe Biden by Barbara West, of WFTV-Channel 9. The implication, and the way many took the interview, was generally that Biden failed to answer "tough questions" posed by the interviewer. The Obama campaign apparently cancelled further interviews with WFTV because of this interview. You should go watch it before reading further. Go ahead, I'll wait.

So the first question I have for you is this: Have you stopped beating your wife? The old saw is extremely relevant here. "Aren't you embarrassed by the blatant attempts to register phony voters by ACORN, an organization that Barack Obama has been tied to in the past?" Let's unpack this a bit. "Aren't you embarrassed" - leading the question with this phrase assumes that there is something for Biden to be embarrassed about. Rather like me walking up to someone and saying, "Aren't you embarrassed by your ex-employee's blatant infidelity to his wife?" You would be confused by that question, quite rightly - it's not clear why you should be embarrassed by your ex employee's current private life, much less actions you weren't aware of that had nothing to do with you. Then: "blatant attempts to register phony voters" presumes that this was ACORN's intent. If you do a little bit of research, you'll discover that ACORN hires individuals to go and get people to fill out voter registration forms. You'll discover that the law in most states requires ACORN to turn in every form they receive, regardless of the content of that form. You'll also discover that ACORN flagged the 'bad forms' as possibly inaccurate information. That doesn't sound like a blatant attempt to register phony voters, to me. Would you tell someone you were handing them a forged document if you wanted them to accept it as legitimate? Now: "... an organization Barack Obama has been tied to in the past?" The entire question is based on fallacious assumptions (that ACORN made a blatant attempt to register phony voters), which renders Barack Obama's historical connection even less relevant to their current behavior.

This is a clear illustration of the sensationalist nature of the questions asked. I can't speak to the political bias of the editorial process at WFTV, but I can say without equivocation that these are not "tough questions", they're baited, inflammatory, and designed to anger their target. I suspect this was a blatant attempt to try and get Joe Biden to engage in some of his "rhetorical flourishes", to go off the rails and present them with a newsworthy gaffe of some sort or another. I think that Joe's response was rational irritation with the questions' phraseology.

I mean, come on. Does anyone really think that Karl Marx would view a tax cut for the middle class - even with Obama's "spread the wealth" vocalization - as an ideal of the Manifesto? Does the advocation of a progressive tax structure rather than a regressive one make Obama a Marxist? Do you really think Karl would agree? And the goofy bitch quotes Marx's most famous line as though Obama had spoken it himself. She asks Joe, "Isn't this a potentially crushing blunder?" (paraphrased). Duh. This isn't a loaded question.

Come on people. Joe Biden and Barack Obama have almost certainly had far more political science education that this talking bubblehead, and could probably tell her what chapter the quote comes from, but there she is, saying, "That's from Karl Marx." This may be journalism, but they're trying to create news rather than transmit information. The Obama campaign is smart enough to refuse to feed the kind of stupidity this "News Crew" promulgates. There's nothing added to the Political debate by this sort of idiocy, and anyone who feels these are simply "tough questions" has already made up their mind and is more interested in "gotcha" journalism than any real discussion of the issues. The US does have socialist programs in place - and most Americans believe in them - but that's a far cry from making Obama a modern day Marxist.

Progressive tax programs are certainly more worker friendly than old school capitalism, but we learned what that brings before we implemented the Antitrust acts, unions, social security, and other modern US socialist programs, before we put utilities in natural monopolies into tight governmental controls or out-and-out government ownership. Accusing Obama of being a Marxist is nothing more than McCarthy-esque fearmongering and demagoguery. I applaud Joe's response, and that of the Obama campaign.

There's been a lot of noise in the press and from the Right about socialism lately. They keep assuring you that Barak Obama is a Socialist, and repeating that socialism is not the American Way. Socialism is evil. Socialism is communism, dressed up for a nice cocktail party. Socialism is dictatorship and torture and devaluation of human life. In short, they'll tell you that socialism is the root of all that's evil and wrong-headed.

Read more »

I'm getting really, really tired of all of the drama surrounding the $250,000 per year income level that's being bandied around by McCain. The Republicans have their faithful convinced to vote against their own interests in the hopes of winning the lottery - they've been doing it for years. Most people don't make any bones about Republican policies being tilted to favor the wealthy, but they get played. They are sold a dream, a myth.

Read more »

We went down to the Liberty Memorial Saturday to see Obama speak. It was quite an experience. I've heard that 75,000 people showed up, and it looked like it. There were all sorts of people, all ages, all races. Representative Cleaver spoke and got the crowd worked up a bit. Obama went on a little late, but people were happy to wait for him.

He delivered essentially the same speech I heard on POTUS/XM earlier in the day, customized for KC, and emphasized that now is not the time to try and coast, that we (his supporters) need to work even harder to get out people to vote. He had very little to say about McCain - maybe sixty seconds to two minutes of his speech were about his opponent.

I was amazed at the mix of people - to be expected, I know - but even more impressed by the fact that everyone I encountered, even in the crowded passages to and from the street, was polite and friendly; there was a sense of community brought on by a common goal. I think it's been sorely lacking in American politics for a long, long time.

I'm pretty sure Obama isn't the second coming, or Superman, or even Bat Man, but he's become the center of a movement, driven by people disenchanted with the status quo, by his rhetorical skill and charisma, and by his plans. His "College for Service" plan is a great idea, I think, and so did the crowd - and, I think, most Americans (outside of the Republican Faithful). He says the right things about oil and alternative energy, he says the right things about health care, he says the right things about the economy.

Colin Powell's support pretty much provides a solid answer for those asking "Is Obama ready to be Commander in Chief?". It's hard to say how much that will swing the vote, but it's another nail in McCain's political coffin. No matter how you cut it, I'll bet ya five dollars that Obama is the next President of the United States. And I'm pretty happy about that.

Last night I sat on my couch and watched the antics with a slight sense of resignation, tinged from time to time with a cautious elation as McCain mugged, sighed, snorted, and twitched his way through body language that would alienate his own mother, were it directed at someone she liked. I expected McCain to belabor the same old points and support them with non-sequiturs, and he didn't disappoint.

First, though, I want to get to the sole big point McCain won in the debate. It was a well thought out, although poorly delivered line: "I'm not President Bush; If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run in 2004." If he'd delivered it calmly and directly, without that almost adolescent "nyah nyah nyah" feel, it would have been devastating; as it was, it was just a "good shot".

Oh, wait, there was one other point that probably scored points with viewers, but McCain didn't play it right again. The "Spread the wealth around" could have been a killer point, too, but McCain couldn't deliver it with the confidence that it needed. "Redistribution of wealth" is to Americans what "desire to be a king" was to the ancient Romans, and McCain missed the opportunity to hoist Obama with the petard of faux communism.

And that was the long and short of McCain's debate. For the rest of the debate he came off like an angry, petulant, interrupting gnome. He sniped at Obama with verbal jabs and barbs that were completely defused by the snarling "I'm so clever" delivery that put one in mind of the cranky, self-important teenager no one can stand. His dramatic sighs, eye-rolling, and curmudgeonly presentation alienated anyone that's not already part of the Republican Faithful.

The discussion of abortion was both telling and disgusting. Obama handled the topic gracefully, with kid gloves. McCain, on the other hand, derided the health of the mother with scare quotes and sneers, and discussed the mythical pro-abortion movement. The "Radical Pro Abortion Movement" is an article of faith (myth) with the faithful; many profoundly religious souls will tell you that there are people out there trying to figure out new and better ways to 'kill more babies'. Obama was on-message and calm:

But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, "We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby."

At this point I cannot say whether Obama or anyone on the ticket will follow through, but this is the kind of speech one hopes to hear from one who unites, while McCain's diatribes are still in the typical Washington language of division.

McCain's caught so far out in the debate that he's forced to calling out Obama's oratorial skills and eloquence as a bad thing as he tries to convince us that Obama is lying by misdirection and cleverness. The problem with that is that you must understand what the person actually said before you can critique it; this is a dangerous tactic for someone who isn't at least as eloquent as the person they're attacking. Here's what McCain said:

Well, you know, I admire so much Sen. Obama's eloquence. And you really have to pay attention to words. He said, we will look at offshore drilling. Did you get that? Look at. We can offshore drill now. We've got to do it now. We will reduce the cost of a barrel of oil because we show the world that we have a supply of our own. It's doable. The technology is there and we have to drill now.

The problem is that he didn't even understand what Obama said.

And I think that we should look at offshore drilling and implement it in a way that allows us to get some additional oil. But understand, we only have three to four percent of the world's oil reserves and we use 25 percent of the world's oil, which means that we can't drill our way out of the problem. [emphasis mine]

Obama didn't say "Look at it" as though he meant we won't really do it. He expressed the reality of the situation; offshore drilling is a placebo for our oil addiction. Even the DOE says that offshore drilling may provide as much as 1.8% of our oil consumption by 2025, while our oil usage is increasing steadily. Even Dick Cheney knows we can't drill our way out of it, and really expensive oil is not too far down the road. Only an alternative energy solution will allow us to retain something like our 20th century oil hegemony.

Joe the Plumber was well represented. As if it matters, recent developments show that he's not officially a plumber. I'm not sure who cares beyond the humor value of the situation. McCain was trying to make a connection between Obama's "over 250k" rule and "Joe Sixpack". The problem is that if Joe does buy or build a plumbing business and it's total revenues are $250k, then the point is moot - you don't pay taxes on revenues, you pay them on profits. If he's showing $250k in profits, well, he *is* rich - or well on his way. You're talking about a business with at least half a million in revenues if he has any employees to speak of, and probably upwards of a million if he's showing $250k profits and he's not screwing his employees to death on their pay scale. Tell you what. I'll take the 3% tax hike if I get to make $250k in taxable income, no questions asked. I'm pretty sure most Americans are in the same boat I am. $250k taxable income is a long, long way from my salary, and I do all right.

But McCain kept dragging Obama back to Joe the (non)Plumber. Next was health care. McCain says "Sen. Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America through -- as he said, his object is a single payer system." I don't remember Obama saying anything like that, frankly, and I've not seen it in his platform or that of the Democratic party, so I'm not sure where McCain pulled that one out of. He says:

Now, my old buddy, Joe, Joe the plumber, is out there. Now, Joe, Sen. Obama's plan, if you're a small business and you are able -- and your -- the guy that sells to you will not have his capital gains tax increase, which Sen. Obama wants, if you're out there, my friend, and you've got employees, and you've got kids, if you don't get -- adopt the health care plan that Sen. Obama mandates, he's going to fine you.

Now, Sen. Obama, I'd like -- still like to know what that fine is going to be, and I don't think that Joe right now wants to pay a fine when he is seeing such difficult times in America's economy.

When Obama answers that Joe's fine will be zero, McCain feigns surprise with theatrically wide eyes. Obama explains that he'll exempt small businesses from the requirement. Which he's explained before. This is obviously an attempt at a hatchet job.

The debate was 90 minutes of Barak Obama being presidential, and McCain acting like an angry, egocentric hobbit. You can read it yourself; the transcript is online in many places. Read it and decide for yourself.