Lessons of this election for Republicans

It's over. Now comes the gnashing of teeth and the rending of clothes by the Republicans.

What has this election determined:

1. John McCain was better than his campaign. He allowed Lee Atwater -type operatives to hijack his genuine nature and run the campaign into the ditch of defeat.

2. Tough economic times moves the electorate toward a we're in this together philosophy and away from the individualist attitude of every man for himself.

3. Fear no longer drives votes enough to win. Hope is better in the end. This fits with American optimism anyway.

4. Exploiting factions for electoral gain has limited efficacy. Finding common ground and looking for compromise ultimately wins the day.

5. America is not a conservative nation. America is a moderate nation that flirts with conservativism and liberalism.

6. Race remains an issue. I spoke with a number of people who voted for McCain, but none could give a cogent reason for their vote, except that Obama was an other and their fear wouldn't allow them to vote otherwise. A nice-sounding pretext doesn't excuse a racist rationale. Maybe the wish to move beyond race is ahead of the reality on the ground.

7. The Republican party faces a choice. If they continue like they have for the past 20 odd years, their only pockets of support will be in the deep South amongst white rural voters. Most Americans live in urban areas or close to them, so that dog won't hunt for too much longer.

8. Latino voters opted for the Democrat ticket. This bodes ill for today's Republicans, since Latinos are set to become the largest minority group in the U.S. Combine Latinos with African-Americans and you have a very large Democrat voting bloc.

9. Due to number 8 above, the Republicans are paying the price for their reliance on pretext racism to drive uneducated whites to the polls. Uneducated rural whites are an endangered breed. The Bubba vote, although staunch, is diminishing in value as the population shifts toward cities.

Republicans have their work cut out for them. If they manage to re-invent themselves, they won't look like Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh--they will look like Bill Richardson and Colin Powell. Republicans will need to cut loose constituencies that depend on subtle, code-word driven bigotry if the party hopes to capture those targeted by such petty prejudice.

It's a hard choice.

Republican backing Diebold makes ther voting machines easy to hack...probably on purpose

When I hear the Republicans complain about voter fraud, I can't help but be reminded of Diebold.

Diebold makes electronic voting machines. They make the kind without a paper trail, so if the machines screw up, then well, voting is FRAUDULENT.

Now this normally wouldn't be a much cause for concern except when Diebold does something obviously stupid that screams out for some bozo to take advantage of the voting process. Here's a good example of Diebold stupidity.

The problem with Diebold is simple. The CEO of Diebold is a staunch Republican supporter.

So I ask you: Are the claims about voter fraud really a red herring to point the finger away from the side who will actually be engaging in voter fraud?

Based of the problems with electronic voting machines, lack of paper trail, companies like Diebold offering up online keys to anyone for their voting machines. I can hardly believe voting fraud is the sole province of Democrats.

Winston Churchill said it best...

After watching all the bloviating by the typical press opinion-istas and watching the Democrats fall victim to the out and out bald-faced lying coming from the McCain camp, I worry about the results of the election.

If we, as a nation, allow another Republican deceiver into the White House all because he and his campaign manage to say what people want to hear, even if it's not true, then we probably deserve what we get.

I'm reminded of a quote from Winston Churchill when I think of the possible consequences of electing a lying Senator, too old to live out a term without dementia, along with his ideologue running mate.

Winston summed it up about Americans when he said of us:

"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing...after they've exhausted all other possibilities."

I don't know what's more stunning: The fact that so many willingly give up any notion of good sense and reason just to elect some party willing to lie, cheat, and obfuscate? Or, whether people are really such ignoramuses.

If McCain wins with the sort of campaign he's running, then we've sacrificed our collective intelligence upon the alter of our shallow foolishness. The results will be dire...more dire than they've already been.

I know that since Bush was elected I've seen my personal wealth disappear. I've seen my career prospects dry up and my income fall dramatically, even though I should be in the prime years of my earning potential. It can't all be my fault like the Republicans will try to argue.

Don't forget John McCan't's participation in the S & L scandal where the taxpayers had to bail out an industry

Here's a little bit of history that should be dredged up.

It's about the Keating Five.

For those of you unfamiliar with the S & L Scandal from the 1980's, John McCain was implicated for exercising poor judgment for helping a large campaign contributor with bank regulators. Charles Keating's bank subsequently failed and cost investors billions. (This is the problem with de-regulation ideologues--some regulation is good).

Charles Keating was the poster child for the S & L scandal. He gave McCain hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions and flew McCain around on a private jet. (So much for McCain understanding the common man...I know I fly around on a private jet all the time too.)

Many blame the whole mess on the de-regulation that occurred when Reagan came into office. Many who worship at the Church of Reaganism dismiss the impact of de-regulation, but it shouldn't be ignored so handily.

John McCain's good buddy, Phil Gramm, is a big proponent of de-regulation and McCain still advocates many of the same policies that Phil Gramm (who said recently that "the nation is a bunch of whiners" ). As a side note: Since the Republicans came to power, my personal wealth has fallen and my income stream has dried up. So, yes, I'm a whiner, but with good reason.

The problem with the Reagan de-regulation dogma comes down to this: Absolutist de-regulation results in debacles like the S & L scandal and the banking and credit crunches we're experiencing now. The short-term benefits of high profits are more than offset by the economic bubbles that inevitably burst afterwards. Regulation, is like a spice: just the right amount improves the dish, while too little keeps it unpalatable, whereas too much ruins it. Balance is key and to take the ideologues overly simplistic, absolutist view is to ignore the real complexity of modern economics.

McCain has adopted the Reaganomics view of Phil Gramm, much to the detriment of America. He cannot claim to put country first when policies he advocates harm more than they help. McCain's history of siding with the wealthy aristocracy is long. For him to paint himself as an everyman doesn't pass the smell test.

Look to the past and you'll see who gets McCain's help: Those with money.

Ask yourself: Do I have money? If you don't, then McCain's not you man.

Only a fool votes for someone who pays lip-service to values, while pushing policies that harm those stupid enough to believe the words over the result.

McCain's VEEP choice just keeps getting better and better...At least her values are strong,

This just keeps getting better and better.

It seems that Governor Palin's teenage daughter is pregnant.

The problem is that the Republicans are making threats if this issue is brought up.

What a load of crap. If the same issue occurred on the Democratic side, Rove and his ilk would start a whisper campaign to exploit it while denying their involvement.

Now, I know how teenagers behave and I personally don't think this is much of an issue. However, it becomes a values issue when the VP choice is touted as a family values paragon. Why does a conservative family-values candidate get a pass on the very issues that become ammunition against the other party?

McCan't has really screwed the pooch. There's so much baggage. The inexperience and obvious cynical choice of a female running mate to draw off Hillary voters won't stand up once the real vetting occurs in the general election.

McCain spreading B.S. about Obama to scare people--Again.

As is typical of the Republican machine, John McCain is spreading lies about Obama to discourage voters. This comes from a non-partisan source too, so Fox News can't do its usual claim of bias against the source.

Republicans have successfully thrown this stinkbomb for years and it is typically nothing but a pack of lies.

Too bad U.S. voters, as a whole, do little in the way of background checking before they buy into this sort of campaign garbage.

Socialized Health Insurance is a wildly popular idea that could be doomed by inertia

Here's an article by Paul Krugman laying out the issues related to universal health care.

I think Paul is on target. I agree with what he says.

He makes the point that Republicans have for too long bristled at the notion of universal health care as "socialized medicine." This is true. He doesn't make the same distinction between socialized medicine and socialized insurance that I do, but he does allude to it.

Here's my previous posting about it.

Economic models predict an Obama win this Fall, but not by much.

The scientists who have successfully predicted presidential outcomes by using economic models have offered their prediction for this November's election.

Obama wins, provided nothing major occurs between now and the election.

The model doesn't predict a landslide, so the country is still rather divided.