Political Junction Function

This past week was a turning point in the campaign. The big issues turned from personal to economical with stunning speed. There will be no more Britney ads. There will be no more Paris ads. Now frivolous bullshit will be political suicide.

This takes away McCain's game plan, as he was hoping to run on character issues all the way until November. He had his personal story, Palin's fresh face, and Obama's perceived baggage (muslim, effete, liberal etc..) to hammer in his bold ads and carry him to victory. Unfortunately for McCain, the events on Wall Street from last week are now an impenetrable barrier to his intentions. Now, real policies and issues will have to be thrust to the center of this campaign and the old rules--his campaign manager told the press that personal narrative, instead of issues, will be the deciding factor in this election--are replaced by the reaction to the financial storm.

Here's the thing: Neither Obama or McCain have a viable plan for fixing this cluster-fuck in Wall Street. The difference is how Obama is acting cool, as opposed to McCain's bullshit populist fury. Yes, people are justifiably mad at this 850 billion dollar bailout, but they don't want their commander and chief to be spewing fire against invisible enemies: the lobbyists, the pork, the fat cats, the old boys club. That doesn't solve anything and also, McCain has been in the senate for forever. He saw this all go down and he has been an advocate for deregulation. This precipitous turn to populism just feels off, overall.

This crisis is also thrusting Palin's personality onto the backburner and her experience and intelligence (as shown from her ABC interview) into the front. This pick doesn't seem quite as exciting anymore, as much as terrifying. Her ostensible strength of energy turned out to be as inane as her foreign policy idiocy. Here's a paragraph about energy and oil. Try to figure out what the fuck she's talking about:

"Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."

What is she talking about? The more you scratch at the surface, the more you realize she's like a pretty easter egg: with runny yolk where her brain should be. McCain and his guys will have keep her sequestered until November. They also negotiated the debate to make sure that it will be a tightly controlled one with no follow-up questions or time for Biden and her to go at each other 1 on 1. If she can't go up against Biden than what will she do with Putin? With Iran? Pakistan?

Now she has effectively turned into a symbol. She galvanizes the crazy right and pisses off the left. The latest poll numbers have shown her fading with the indies, who will decide this election, so this could prove to be a terrible choice for John. But never underestimate the glorious stupidity of people in general. When 1 out of 3 democratic voters have reservations of Obama because of his race, we can't be certain about anything and Palin and McCain might still pull this stupid fucking campaign off.

My new thinking on this election/country is that if we vote for these stupid motherfuckers the same way we voted for Bush, we deserve to fucking crumble. We know all to well what the past 8 years have given us. We have seen a 3 trillion dollar wae, Katrina, torture, and now an Iraq-sized debacle in our financial markets and seen our nation tumble in every measurable way. If we are willing to hand the reins over to a senile, crazy corpse and a hockey mom then we should roll over and die. In 2000, we had no reason to believe that Bush would be a disaster. 2004 there was no reason to vote this fucker back in. In 2008, it's like the old proverb: fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me three times, poke me to make sure I'm still alive.

What a stupid fucking election...