A Letter To My Fellow Citizens

We stand at a pivotal moment in history. How will future Americans judge what we do this Tuesday? Will our children and grandchildren know we tried to help America change course? Will we choose unity rather than division, hope rather than fear, positive ideas or failed policies of the past, good stewardship of America's resources or massive giveaways to crony donors? Our choice has never been clearer. At this most challenging time, only Barack Obama has courage of his convictions, constructiveness of approach, steadiness under pressure, the energy, ideas, intellect and proposals for real change to lead our country. On November 4th, our nation needs your vote for Barack Obama for president.

Overwhelmingly, Americans believe we are on the wrong path. We desperately need real change. As Barack Obama reminds us, real change isn't the same party doing the same things that have wrecked our nation's economy. It's not pretend reformers who say one thing and do another. We've lived for most of the past six decades with Republicans in charge, when our problems have mounted, corruption increased, deficits grown, and size of government expanded.

"Trickle-down economics" failed. Excessive de-regulation imperiled us all. Our beloved nation's economy has been jeopardized by this administration and its irresponsible supporters like John McCain, who voted with Bush over 90% of the time. John McCain has no plan to leave Iraq and is clueless of its economic impact here at home. As costs of the Bush-McCain war without end weigh down our economy, McCain's economic plan coddles the very companies causing the problems we face.

Meanwhile, the poor and middle class suffer the consequences of Bush-McCain incompetence. Americans do better under Democratic presidents. It is our holy responsibility and sacred trust to provide good stewardship.

How does John McCain acknowledge and handle this responsibility? He admits he has no grasp of economics. His own chief economic adviser, Phil Gramm, is part of the problem. Gramm's massive energy and banking deregulation paved the way for both the terrible Enron collapse and the current banking and mortgage crises. John McCain's campaign manager is Freddie Mac lobbyist, Rick Davis, who tried to prevent regulations that could have prevented the current crisis. No-reformer McCain has 177 lobbyists working on his campaign, including 83 from the banking and mortgage industries alone.

Bush-McCain Republicans have gone too far. But John McCain plans even more reckless deregulation and more tax cuts for the rich, both of which will only make our situation worse. And just this week we learned that, in his waning days in office, George W. Bush is ramming through more deregulation without Congressional approval.

Barack Obama will right the mistakes of George Bush, not continue them, as John McCain would do. John McCain has no economic plan and no ideas, so he misrepresents the facts about Barack Obama. Barack Obama will re-introduce reasonable, but necessary banking regulation to protect Americans. Any economic stimulus Obama proposes is "paid for" by cuts to other programs, or increasing taxes upon the wealthy (who've benefited disproportionately even as the rest of us have seen our dreams go up in smoke). Unless you fall within the top 5% of Americans, your taxes won't go up.

The majority of small businesses won't have their taxes go up either. Barack Obama will remove incentives for companies which export our jobs and reward those who grow US jobs. Read more about it at www.BarackObama.com.

The Wall St. Journal reported that John McCain plans to cut 1.3 trillion dollars from Medicare and Medicaid, much-needed programs which are already hurting. Seniors shouldn't have to worry if crucial programs will be there for them. Few seniors can afford the draconian cuts McCain plans.

McCain also plans to privatize Social Security. He won't call it that, but it's privatization just the same. His plan for "personal accounts" is a scheme to defund Social Security system and divert funds to private accounts for the young. But, McCain's plan, by design, will ultimately cause the system to run out of money. All generations will be up the creek and out of luck. The current Wall Street volatility shows how risky market-driven Social Security would be. Barack Obama will oppose any effort to privatize Social Security and he'll restore its financial position so it's there for current and future retirees.

Barack Obama will protect the work-related pensions of Americans. I can tell you that, without a president who cared about such matters (as Bill Clinton did), my own parents would have lost their pension due to a corporation trying to skip out on its pensioners. If you care about pension protection, it matters which party is in office.

For those not on Medicare or Medicaid, Obama's health care plan will expand access to health insurance and make it more affordable. It is not, as McCain falsely claims, government-run medical care. It's just common sense approaches to make the system we have work better for all of us. John McCain's plan is really noninsurance. All McCain offers is a tax credit of $2,500 ($5,000 per couple) after you buy coverage on your own. Unlike Barack Obama's plan, McCain's non-plan offers no help for those who are priced out of insurance, have preexisting conditions, or have been canceled. McCain would tax health insurance benefits offered by employers, which could undermine the employer provided insurance most Americans have. Without the purchasing power of groups, insurance costs would escalate under McCain. So, under McCain noninsurance, more people would go bankrupt due to medical expenses.

In contrast, Barack Obama's plan offers you the option of keeping your current plan or having access to the same insurance plan Congress has. In other words, you'd be able to buy a policy like your member of Congress has. Remember, this is not government-run health care.

Unlike John McCain, Barack Obama sees education as the cornerstone in our democracy. We need informed citizens (and leaders) so we can navigate the complex world we live in. Sarah Palin is the most ill-informed VP candidate in history. John McCain hasn't even entered the digital age (he doesn't know how to use a computer or email). John McCain is just out of touch. Barack Obama role models learning, not only in his own education, curiosity, and idea exploration. He fosters the same in his children. But he knows parents can only do so much on their own. We must see the education of our young and better public schools a compact we make with the young. Schools don't need more unfunded mandates which drag them down.

Barack Obama also will open up college doors to more students and ease the burden of debt saddling graduates by allowing more of them to give public service in exchange for tuition. For those who don't choose college, he supports better technical training program options.

Ironically, while the Bush administration has expanded government and has led the most intrusive efforts against US citizens ever launched in America, McCain-Palin assert that Democrats are the party of big government! Americans worry about the Constitutional over-reaching by the Bush administration, for example, by operating under the flawed notion of the "unitary executive." Bush believes the president can do whatever he wants, regardless of the law or other two branches of government. But McCain-Palin aren't satisfied. Recently, Palin went so far as to say she'd expand the power of the Vice Presidency even more.

The Bush doctrine of preemptive war has violated our own and international law. Now, even US citizens can be imprisoned, held for no reason-- if the president says so. McCain claimed to oppose Bush on the elimination of habeas corpus, NSA spying against Americans, and torture. Then he caved and supported the Bush agenda. In a tantrum last September, McCain called for three million members of the centrist political action group Moveon.org (which supported Bill Clinton against impeachment and Al Gore for president) to be kicked out of America!

Political vendettas are not the change we need. The pendulum has swung too far and must be brought back nearer the center. What will we tell our grandchildren about taking a stand in defense of our Constitution?

Barack Obama believes there is a role for government on our behalf, not by intruding itself into our private lives, or doing what we can do for ourselves, but rather by doing what individuals cannot do for themselves: civil and national defense; education; infrastructure; oversight; consumer protection; sound environmental and economic stewardship; diplomacy; and national and international conflict management.

But when the chips are down, when all else has failed, we know that we are our brother's keeper. We honor the humanity of even, and especially, the least well off among us. We strive to build something better for our country-it's our shared purpose, our legacy.
Barack Obama has worked tirelessly on real ethics reform, which he passed by reaching across the aisle in a real bipartisanship.

Barack Obama worked with Dick Lugar to secure the world's nuclear stockpiles and make us safer, while his opponent has been AWOL. John McCain's record shows he's better at grandstanding than actually reforming anything. When McCain pretends to reform a program or government process, he then reverses his support, guts the bill, or votes against it (even bills with his name on them). He even gutted McCain Feingold. McCain feigns care about veterans and then votes against Sen. Jim Webb's GI bill of rights. Then he claims he's a "reformer."

Barack Obama will make the federal government work for citizens again, be more transparent, and more accessible. Obama has spent his whole life working to make his community, state and nation better.

The ten-billion-dollars-a-month Iraq War drags on with no end in sight. We must be tough on terrorism, but the Iraq war is making that harder. Barack Obama will end our commitment there, a country which has asked us to leave. He'll keep us safe, but he understands that staying in Iraq makes us less so. He had the judgment to oppose this war from the beginning. He warned that, in fighting the war in Iraq, we'd became diverted from the task of finding and punishing those who actually threaten us. And, we have.

Barack Obama will never hesitate to protect and defend us, but he'll wage war only when necessary. And he'll tell us the truth about it. And John McCain dangerously guarantees us "there will be more wars" and an even more belligerent agenda than George W. Bush had. But worse, John McCain doesn't understand, much less practice, diplomacy. His statements and press conferences reveal ignorance of international relations, geography, and history. He confuses countries, which country borders on which, or which Iraqi sects are which, which ones are "for us" and which are "against us." Recently, he mistakenly thought that the president of Spain was not an ally of the US.

Coupled with a VP nominee who knows nothing whatsoever about foreign affairs, the Republican ticket would be disastrous for America. It's about time we reject absurd notion that our nation's CEO can take pride in ignorance. Our nation and its destiny are too important.

In addition to moral considerations (war should be a last, not a first resort), we must acknowledge that waging war without end and/or wars on multiple fronts is not sustainable. Barack Obama will re-engage real diplomacy on our behalf and restore American leadership around the world, which comes not at the point of a gun, but rather in the strength of our ideas and ideals. It comes from our credibility, which under this Republican regime, is sorely lacking.

I am so proud that Barack Obama is running for president. We need his ideas; energy; strength; and calm, steady leadership to weather this economic storm. We need Barack Obama to bring us government of, for and by the people again. Barack Obama is a leader for our time, a once-in-a-lifetime leader. He's done everything he can to earn our vote. Now it's up to us to make it happen.

Democrats, Independents, and many Republicans join with us in a new national unity to change course. In greater numbers than ever before, we'll go to the polls. We'll wait in line and put up with any inconvenience (as long as it takes). With hope in the future, faith in ourselves and in our candidate, we stand proud. We are ready for the national healing our choice portends and the responsibility it connotes. Moving forward, we pledge our continued commitment to engaged citizenship.

It is the least we can do for the country we love.

(Cross-posted at RaisingKaine.com)

Remember Who We Are (From OurFuture.org)

Here's the ad Ourfuture.org ran in the NYT:

McSame in His Own Words

Olbermann Takes on Sarah Palin's Extremism

What Joe Biden Really Said: Barack Obama "Has Got Steel in His Spine"

The lying sliming morally bankrupt McCain campaign takes everything out of context and generally misrepresents or lies about everything. Last Friday, he said Obama would "invite testing." Previously, McCain said he himself would invite testing. But never mind...

However, the most pathetic aspect to this fear-mongering claim is that they have totally misrepresented what Biden actually said.



Then they lied that Madelyn Albright thinks Barack Obama is totally unprepared to be president. Madelyn herself tonight said that's totally untrue. Tonight she said "he's the best of all possible people to lead us" at this time, "because of the way he approaches things." She also said "we need a candidate who can multi-task and not panic." But panic and show an incapacity to multi-task is just what we saw from John McCain in the beginning of this economic crisis.

But it's just another lying, scheming day on the McCain-Palin campaign trail.

Barack Obama’s New Hampshire Primary Speech

You can tell a lot about someone by how they react when they are down. Here's the most beautiful speech I've heard in a long time. It's almost lyrical, especially in the last third or so. The following is a transcript of Senator Barack Obama's speech to supporters after the New Hampshire primary.

BARACK OBAMA: Thank you, New Hampshire. I love you back. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, thank you so much. I am still fired up and ready to go. (APPLAUSE)

Thank you. Thank you.

Well, first of all, I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire. She did an outstanding job. Give her a big round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, a few weeks ago, no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight in New Hampshire. No one could have imagined it.

For most of this campaign, we were far behind. We always knew our climb would be steep. But in record numbers, you came out, and you spoke up for change.

And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment, in this election, there is something happening in America.

(APPLAUSE)

There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport, in Lebanon and Concord, come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.

There is something happening. There's something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit, who've never participated in politics before, turn out in numbers we have never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.

There's something happening when people vote not just for party that they belong to, but the hopes that they hold in common.

And whether we are rich or poor, black or white, Latino or Asian, whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction.

That's what's happening in America right now; change is what's happening in America.

You, all of you who are here tonight, all who put so much heart and soul and work into this campaign, you can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness.

Democrats, independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington, who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable, who understand that, if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there is no problem we cannot solve, there is no destiny that we cannot fulfill. Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients, workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together, and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that, while they get a seat at the table, they don't get to buy every chair, not this time, not now.

(APPLAUSE)

Our new majority can end the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut in the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.

We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame and start putting them on a pathway to success.

We can stop talking about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their greatness by giving them more pay and more support. We can do this with our new majority.

We can harness the ingenuity of farmers and scientists, citizens and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil and save our planet from a point of no return.

And when I am president of the United States, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our troops home.

(APPLAUSE)

We will end this war in Iraq. We will bring our troops home. We will finish the job -- we will finish the job against Al Qaida in Afghanistan. We will care for our veterans. We will restore our moral standing in the world.

And we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes, because it is not a tactic to win an election. It is a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.

All of the candidates in this race share these goals. All of the candidates in this race have good ideas and all are patriots who serve this country honorably.

(APPLAUSE)

But the reason our campaign has always been different, the reason we began this improbable journey almost a year ago is because it's not just about what I will do as president. It is also about what you, the people who love this country, the citizens of the United States of America, can do to change it.

That's what this election is all about.

That's why tonight belongs to you. It belongs to the organizers, and the volunteers, and the staff who believed in this journey and rallied so many others to join the cause.

We know the battle ahead will be long. But always remember that, no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics. And they will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks and months to come.

We've been asked to pause for a reality check. We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

(APPLAUSE)

For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation: Yes, we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can.

And so, tomorrow, as we take the campaign south and west, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas, that the hopes of the little girl who goes to the crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A., we will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, we are one nation.

And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can.

Thank you, New Hampshire. Thank you. Thank you.

Barack Obama's Closing Arguments

McCain/Palin's Phony Reform claims vs Palin's "Real America" Nieman Marcus Trips

The bankrupt, drained and empty McCain platform takes another nosedive in the revelation that Sarah Palin's stylist was paid more than McCain's top foreign policy adviser. Contrary to the phony media myth and puffery, John McCain's understanding of foreign policy and his judgment about same pales in comparison to what we need by way of foreign policy. And truth be told, his adviser Randy Scheunemann is pretty off base and very cold war retro. He is part of the problem. And so I am not sure how much his time is worth. But still... where are McCain's priorities?

Amy Strozzi, who works on the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" and has been Palin's traveling stylist, was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in October. In contrast, McCain's foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed.

Here's the article. By the way, unlike Sarah Palin, who bills the Republican donors for her extravagent shopping sprees, the Obamas pay for their own clothing. Palin's bills included clothes for a two year old, which she doesn't have. Is she buying for the future and billing donors?

John McCain: Bush, But Worse

My favorite ad--for now. There will certainly be more ads between now and election day.

Colin Powell on Why He Supports Barack Obama

More Sarah Palin Idiocy



Earlier in this campaign, Sarah Palin asked, "what does a VP do anyway?" Then she said she wants to expand the role of the Vice President (as if Dick Cheney hasn't done enough of that!). But Sarah Palin still doesn't understand what a Vice President does. Now she thinks she would be in charge of the Senate. She doesn't get that she is a tie breaker. Though the VP sits there at Senate proceedings, he or she is not in charge of the Senate. That would be the majority leader. My, my...

Incompetence and, Worse, Inexcusable Dirty Campaigns on Behalf of Palin and McCain

GOP Spokespersons Diss John McCain

A Video All Americans Should See: John McCain Not The Leader We Need

Hat's Off to Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize Winner for Economics



Paul Krugman, the renown Princeton economist, whose Conscience of Liberal sat high on the best seller list last year, and whose on-air commentaries are exemplary and spot-on as commentaries can be, was won the Nobel Prize for Economics. Krugman had achieved nearly everything an academic can. And now, this: His life's work is given the highest worldwide honor. Bravo!

Read about it here. I saw Prof Krugman in person last June (2007) when he presented a talk about the economics of health care. His talk was as timely then as now, for even as I write, John McCain proposes a so-called "health care" plan that will disrupt individuals' ability to even get coverage and lead ultimately to on-your-ownership.

Krugman also often appears on cable news, including Countdown and the new The Rachel Maddow Show. On other cable outlets, he is a fearless debater; a respectful yet strong counterpoint to (failed) fanatical "right-wing" KoolAid drinkers; and the best possible spokesperson for a more enlightened and humane economic policy.

Thanks for all you do, Professor Krugman! You are a hero.

The End of Bush's "Ownership" Society: Now It's On-Your-Ownership

All presidents' have encouraged (at least to some extant) home ownership. Some more than others. Some more recklessly than others. None has ushered in policies as dangerous to our economy as has George W. Bush.

Newsweek columnist,Zachary Karabell writes for Newsweek here:

Such a country would be more stable, Bush argued, and more prosperous. "America is a stronger country every single time a family moves into a home of their own," he said in October 2004. To achieve his vision, Bush pushed new policies encouraging home ownership, like the "zero-down-payment initiative," which was much as it sounds—a government-sponsored program that allowed people to get mortgages without a down payment. More exotic mortgages followed, including ones with no monthly payments for the first two years. Other mortgages required no documentation other than the say-so of the borrower. Absurd though these all were, they paled in comparison to the financial innovations that grew out of the mortgages—derivatives built on other derivatives, packaged and repackaged until no one could identify what they contained and how much they were, in fact, worth.

And now we see the result. And as we see it, we also hear absurd claims by McCain campaign and the RNC that Democrats caused this. It's no secret that the Clinton administration hoped to enable more Americans to won homes. As indicated in the article linked above, all US presidents have. However, despite the revisionism of the radical cons, and the McCain campaign, during the Clinton era, people still had to have the financial creditworthiness (as manifested by their net worth and a good credit history) to get a loan. And they still had to report honestly their financial status. Some instruments ushered into the mix During the Bush years, and with the encouragement of the Bush administration, have not required any financial stability on the part of the borrower. And the lunacy of zero down mortgages, which assure that the borrower is even more "upside down" (in this case owing more than the home is worth) than with a down payment speaks for itself. And this, ultimately, has reaped havoc with credit markets now falling from the weight of all the bad debt.

And so, here we are, pending the reopening of the credit markets this week, we still don't know the effect of the European banks (and our own) infusing liquidity into the banking system. We still don't know whether interbank lending and the vital letters of credit needed to move goods around the world will get capital and goods moving again. World trade depends on it. And so does the health of economies all over the world.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/163451/page/2

What We Know About John McCain: And It Ain't Pretty



John McCain has a lot of nerve attaching the word "reformer" to his name. John McCain is the problem. With 177 lobbyists working for his campaign, 83 of them having previously and recently lobbied for Wall Street and the banking Industry, John McCain couldn't be more wrong for this nation's economy-in-crisis. And so he makes stuff up, lies through his teeth about Obama's record, and Obama's proposals (more on these later this week). But John McCain is a fox guarding the hen house. Well, actually he doesn't guard it at all. For John McCain, it's all deregulation, all the time. Thanks to his chief economic advisor, Phil Gramm, we now have a heck of a Wll Street, banking and mortgage crisis. Way to go Johnny and Phil.

Here's John McCain Not Supporting the Troops

One of the more specious attacks on Barack Obama is the false McCain claim that Barack Obama doesn't support the troops. Indeed a part of a line was lift3ed from an Obama statement on Afghanistan to make it say the absolutely opposite thing than Obama actually said. Even the lame fact-checkers at CBS agreed that this attack was false (Oct. 7, 2008).

And yet, for all the bravado of the McCain campaign about supporting the troops, for all its circumscribing what is "allowed" to be said to the point that any criticism of the war is an "affront" to the troops, McCain does not have much of a track record. Rather, he supports mindless and endless shows of force abroad as a façade for supporting the troops. McCain has (some of this material is paraphrasing Schecter, The Real McCain):

* Opposed Dems 2004 bill to provide more body armor and armored vehicles.
* Opposed the Webb GI Bill for Iraq veterans, and then, when it passed, used the "we" to give the impression that he helped pass it and that he accomplished great things for vets.
* Opposed Akaka (D-HI) S. Amdt 149 to increase medical care by 2.8 billion in 2006.
* In 2006, opposed S. Amdt 1852, which set aside $10 million for readjustment counseling services for troops, despite the evidence that returning soldiers often seriously require such treatments.
* In 2006, again opposed monies for Veterans Medical care. In all these cases, he offered no alternative measures of his own (see Schecter, The Real McCain, p. 35).
* He opposed Dodd's S.Amdt 2735 to shore up failing infrastructure at veterans' hospitals. The bill would have required a minor rollback of the capital gains tax to pay for it.
* He opposed S. Amdt 2737 (Reed-D-RI) which would have provided much needed equipment for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
* He opposed exempting military personnel from some facets of bankruptcy (Durbin-D-Il).
* Using 155 Senate votes affecting troops, veterans, and military families, since Spt. 11, 2001, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found John McCain scored a D. No one got an A. Thirteen Dems got A-. 22/23 Senators getting B+ were Democrats.

Meanwhile,Vet Voice has this summary of McCain's failure to support the troops.

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1973

POW Fakery: On the Myth that John McCain "Wouldn't Leave VietNam (and Captivity) Until Every Last American Was Released (and other McCain Viet Nam Era Deceptions.

John McCain obstructed families finding out the truth about their family members who never came back. But John McCain continues in his mythology (repeated even by David Letterman just this past month and many "news" outlets.)



And here's where conservatives (as illustrated in the first video) and liberals come together on this subject. The Nation published this story Oct. 6. Read here

Here's another video on a variation of the Viet Nam story:

Sarah Palin's "Greatest" Hits: The Pathetic, the Outrageous, and the Unqualified




The consensus says that Sarah Palin is the most unqualified candidate for VP in US history. But she's not "just" unqualified. She gushes, exudes, even takes joy in her own failure as a thinking adult. And because beauty queen and small-time news personality Palin just shows up, bats her eyes, smiles her lip-glossed smile--we told she has a chance to prove herself worth of being a heartbeat away from the presidency. John McCain is the oldest candidate ever to run. He's had melanoma at least twice. America has never been in such peril.

The woman doesn't know anything about national issues (except, of course, Roe v. Wade). She pretends she had anything to do with oversight of "20% of the nation's oil supply," over which she does not have oversight. She confuses Iran and Israel. She says Putin has violated her airspace, when he hasn't, according to NORAD. And she says that because Putin is is supposedly "in the air," she is qualified to be VP --or president. She can't name any newspaper she reads or has read--ever read. (Every presidential and vice presidential candidate is asked questions like this.) We have seen what an ignorant sitting President can do to this nation. She doesn't have any idea what the bill before the House Monday and the Senate last night is and loads up her description with talk of health care and more things that the bill does not concern. She simply babbled incoherently. The list goes on. But it is so much worse than not knowing the above. The brain dead way she pastes together empty, unrelated, and disconnected phrases and clauses shows she is incapable of rational thought.

Sarah Palin can do nothing at this point to redeem herself. Even a "passing" performance at the hands of the lickspittle media following tonight's debate cannot change the fact that she is an idiot. They can't pretend that a bar set so low, even if hurdled, means anything. Nor can anything Palin does from here on out erase her miserable, incompetent self from what the world now knows. Sarah Palin is the worst Vice Presidential nominee in history.

The question is: How did Alaskans allow this woman to be governor? But more to the point, how could John McCain care so little about our country to try to impose this poor excuse for a candidate on America. This puts to rest forever any notion that John McCain "puts country first." He doesn't. And no debate "performance" will change that.

Over the past week an increasing cadence of conservatives gets it too: Parker, Will, Krauthammer, Sullivan, Brooks, and more. It all makes one wonder when the free-pass press will finally knock it off with the ridiculous low-bar fetish they have used to get former VP Dan Quayle, Pres. George W. Bush and now, possibly Sarah Palin through the door to the White House. A few courageous journalists have asked tough questions. The rest keep on pretending that if Sarah just stands up, then she "wins." Frankly, this whole process demeans the American voter. And it's time for us to pile scorn on anyone who pretends Sarah Palin can "redeem herself."

Take a look for yourself in "Sarah's Greatest Hits."