Me too, Geoffy.

Like I said in an earlier post. Come hell or high water, at the end of January we'll have a better President in office than we do right now. Whether it's Obama or McCain. Not necessarily a better person, because I'm not at all convinced that Bush is a "bad" person, just a lousy President.

I have a question now. Since the Dems have control now no doubt Obama will get elected, where will our system of check & balances come from?

It all depends if the Dems get the magic number of 60 in the Senate, which will disallow filibustering. Personally, I hope they don't get 60.

why is that JL?

If they can reach 60, commonly called the "magic 60," it would virtually prevent Republicans from blocking legislation on the Senate floor. I believe both parties need the other one to keep themselves in line somewhat.

Slightly off topic, I think Tina Fey is hotter than Palin.

Well we agree on that point.

Yes, because I'm living in fucking Candy Land now, where it's all happiness and sparkles and pretty pink fucking unicorns.

How bad does it have to get before you will wake up and admit that the last eight years have been the nightmare of all nightmares?

Do we need to get into a war that was based solely on lies - a war that will cost 4000 American lives and put us smack dab in the middle of a recession? Oh, wait, mission accomplished there!

Do we need a natural disaster to sink an entire CITY of our citizens, have them stranded and starving and dying of thirst for DAYS before help even BEGINS to arrive?? And then have the President tell the man in charge that he's doing a "heck of a job"? Oh, wait, that happened, too.

Do we need to have the highest energy costs in our history, which then drives up the cost of every other fucking thing in this country so that families will have to choose between eating and commuting to work? Do we have to have the elderly, living on fixed incomes, become popsicles because they can't afford to heat their homes? Oh, wait, check off another one! And don't you DARE tell me that the costs have come down, conveniently close to Election day, and that's just until OPEC decides to drive up the cost again by tightening the supply, which they will.

Do we need to experience the worst economic crisis in the world's history? Oh, CHECK!!

How can you sit there and say that CHANGE would be a disaster?! How much worse can it possibly be? Oh, yes, let's all vote Republican because I've been told that their's is the party of inclusion. Let's all line up to vote for the party that wants to limit the choice of women, but not limit the ability of any psycho who wants to arm himself with a fucking Uzi. Let's vote for the party that wants to garner my vote by telling me how afraid I should be to wake up every morning in America. I want to vote for the party that wants to push school prayer and the theory of creationism down my children's throats, in spite of the fact that it is against the Constitution. Let's vote for the party that has a pregnant unwed teenager on the stage of its convention, but then wants to tell me that sex education and the distribution of condoms is BAD.

Puh-leeze. How BAD, how AWFUL, how completely FED UP do you have to be before you would consider thinking outside that teeny, tiny little box that you reside in??

To be fair, they just got indoor plumbing in his little box, and rumor has it that cable tv is in the offing, so he'll be good for a while.

I'm still unclear how SB feels about all this...

She does have the tendency to sugarcoat things, that one.

This Nation has a Constitution and that Constitution has severn articles among which the first three are first because they are the most important. Article I defines the powers of the Congress, Article II defines the powers of the Executive, and Article III defines the powers of the Judiciary.

As such Presidents can only do so much and very little without the consent of Congress or a portion thereof(Senate). Congress is not monolithic not only because it is composed of Republicans and Democrats primarily but because within those parties, there are differences among their members.

This magic 60 referred to is a function of Senate rules in certain cases. It's not law. It can be changed and must be used judiciously. It is there in order to encourage political bipartisanship. It is no more an impediment to Republican efforts in the House than the 233 Democratic members of the House are there.

There are a myriad of Congressional rules that govern business there (many fewer in the Senate than in the House). Many, if not most of them, can be employed to obstruct legislation. Filbuster in the Senate is one such rule, but is judiciously employed by Senators and can only be stopped by 60 votes. However, regardless of the number of seats in the Senate that either parties wins, it will not "disallow" a filibuster.

And Mig, our system of checks and balances comes from the Constitution. It is there to enable one branch of the federal government to check and balance another branch of governent when such checks and balances are deemed necessary by those branches. Although divided government is more dynamic and potentially more beneficial, it's apposite is not necessarily a bad thing. Afterall, we the people have put the members of Congress and the President where they are and we only have to wait 2 years to unseat members of the House and a number of Senators.

Gallup's Daily Poll 10/19/08:

Gallup's Daily Poll 10/19/08:
[/quote]

Thanks JL! The Gallup spokesman was on CNN this morning, and said that the best poll is "the Middle", or the Expanded poll.

Anyone thinks that the Powell endorsement will do anything? I think it'll give Obama a point, maybe make some shakey McCain supporters reconsider their votes AT THE MOST.

Obama Raised Record $150 Million in September

The Obama campaign announced this morning that it had raised a record $150 million last month, and had added 632,000 new donors to its total.

The amount shattered the campaign’s previous record from August. The McCain campaign also had a record-breaking month in August, but is now operating with the $84 million provided by public financing for the general cycle and assistance from the Republican National Committee under certain limits.

In announcing the Obama figure, David Plouffe, the campaign manager, said the average donation for September was less than $100. Mr. Obama, however, did hold several mega fund-raisers in September that pumped millions of dollars each into his coffers, including a Barbra Streisand-Hollywood event that alone collected a reported $11 million.

All counted, 3.1 million people have contributed to his campaign, Mr. Plouffe said.

Mr. Obama decided to forgo public financing for the general cycle, while Mr. McCain opted into it.

Further details will be available once the formal filings are submitted to the Federal Election Commission for September. The deadline for those reports is Monday.

(For an inkling of how a sizable portion of the money is being spent this year, The Times’s Jim Rutenberg reported late last week that Mr. Obama is set to break the advertising record established by President Bush’s 2004 campaign — $188 million in ad buys — by early this week. Our interactive ad feature documents the spending and where the ads are being broadcast.)

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/obama-raised-record-150-million-in-september/?hp

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3.1 million donors, an average donation of less than $100, and $150 million raised in September alone. The Obama campaign may in fact raise more $$$ than Kerry and Bush did combined in 2004, which would be what, $700 million?

It won't hurt, that's for sure. What I thought was more important is, Powell seems open to a position in an Obama Administration. He would be a great help to Obama.

Make him the secretary of defence.

If I were Obama and did get elected President would I give a lot back to someone who came to endorse me at the last minute?

Possibly.

But the first people I'd be looking to help out would be the people that were with me earlier, like from day one.

I doubt that, but certainly Powell has good opinions and advice worth giving to any President who will listen and take under consideration. Plus, I honestly think that Powell is tired of the political bullshit he had to go through in the Dubya years.

But more than anything else with this endorsement, its become THE STORY for today and tomorrow on the networks.

Like me?

If that were to happen I feel sorry for:

right leaning, inbred, trailer dwellers, who continually lower the national average on IQ points and people who enjoy guns and religion.

LOL!

You know, that's why I say both sides equally know nothing about foreign affairs. Saddam was chicken shit when the US attacked Iraq. And I mean Literally! After being hammered attacking Kuwait, and with Iraq's economy in shambles during the embargo, Saddam actually let Iranian pilgrims in and would throw them one night dinner party for their 7 day stay in the holy sights, just to collect from tourism industry, Iranian religious people being the only morons who would go to that country as tourists. He couldn't really kill a mosquito flying around his head, let alone develope WMD and be any threat to Iran. He was finished already.

But I don't argue that the US military now is not in good shape because of this war and that would make Iranian government get their say, since the US can't afford another war at the moment.

This is very disturbing, a effigy of Obama hanging from a tree. The chicken-shit Ohio man responsible or this, won't show his face on camera. He may be part of a minority, but we all know there are these kinds of losers around and it is very very scary. Disgusting.

TIS

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/837

TIS, This is just sick. I'm embarrassed that this man is from my state.

Something like that..

Well said Geoff, well said. And not only will WE be in deep shit if we don't handle this war, our withdrawel from Iraq, and overall situations in the middle east in a responsible, careful and well planned manner, but so will Israel. Especially when you still have sick bastards like Ahmadinejad & Hashemi-Rafsanjani over in Iran who have continuously said things like "Israel must be wiped off the map, " and that "Muslims should use nuclear weapons against Israel."





I feel exactly the same. I don't dislike Senator Obama. I think that he, unlike the Dems last Presidential candidate John Kerry, is a very well versed and well educated man who is sincere in wanting to turn things around for the American people in this country. But personally I just do not feel that now is the right time to have an inexperienced man like him as our Commander in Chief.

DC, everything you and JG say is logical makes total sense. But, I'm willing to take the chance. I can't take another 4 years of the same failed policies. If Obama surrounds himself with competent advisors and staff, I think he'll be fine. Whoever is next President is walking into a mess. I hope the American people have patience and realize things will not be fixed overnight.

Obama opens 6-point lead over McCain
Mon Oct 20, 2008

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential race to 6 percentage points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday.

Obama leads McCain 50 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, up from Obama's 3-point advantage on Sunday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

The rally by Obama broke a string of three consecutive days when McCain had gained ground on the Illinois senator after their final debate on Wednesday. It was the first time in 14 days of the tracking poll that Obama has reached 50 percent.

"Obama has really consolidated his base, and now has huge leads among young people, African-Americans and Hispanics," said pollster John Zogby.

"Reaching 50 percent puts him in winning territory."

Obama also increased his support among two key swing groups that could be vital in the November 4 election. His edge with independents rose from 8 points to 11 points, and his lead among women grew from 6 points to 8 points.

McCain narrowly trails Obama among men and leads by 13 points, 53 percent to 40 percent, among whites.

"McCain seems to have slipped a little bit, but in the grand scheme it's still a very close race," Zogby said.

Obama has led McCain, an Arizona senator, by between two and six points in all 14 days of polling. "This race has not really moved all that much in two weeks," Zogby said.

POWELL ENDORSEMENT

The expanding lead for Obama came as he received the endorsement of Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell and announced he had raised a stunning $150 million in September.

His fundraising haul shattered the records he already owns and will fuel a huge advantage for Obama in paid advertising in the final 15 days of the campaign.

Some other tracking polls also showed the race tightening in the last few days, but with the help of his huge spending advantage Obama has continued to hold an edge on McCain in some key battleground states.

The poll, taken Friday through Sunday, showed independent Ralph Nader and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney with 1 percent support. Libertarian Bob Barr barely registered any support.

The rolling tracking poll surveyed 1,211 likely voters in the presidential election. In a tracking poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in an effort to track changing momentum.

The U.S. president is determined not by who wins the most national votes but by who wins the Electoral College, which has 538 members apportioned by population in each state. Electoral votes are allotted on a winner-take-all basis in all but two states, which divide them by congressional district

McCain's ugly, negative, campaign.

Obama: Powell could have a role in administration

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman.
10/20/2008

WASHINGTON – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama says that Colin Powell is welcome to campaign for him and might have a place in his administration.

Obama told NBC's "Today" show Monday that Powell "will have a role as one of my advisers." Whether Powell wants to take a formal role, Obama said, would be "something we'd have to discuss."

Obama said Powell, a retired four-star general who served as President Bush's secretary of state, did not give him a heads-up before he crossed party lines and endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate Sunday on the network's "Meet the Press." Powell said on that program he didn't plan to campaign for Obama before the Nov. 4 election.

Obama said he would love to have Powell on the campaign trail.