Campaign Update

And a few quick thoughts on the presidential campaign:

1. John McCain is a grumpy old man. He was somewhat independent when he ran in 2000, and I voted for him in the primary then (and might have voted for him over Gore, given the chance). However, in the last 8 years, he has bent over backwards to become Bush's man, to the point of compromising on the torture bill just before the 2006 elections.

So, basically, we have a really old guy, self-righteous, occasionally independent (when it suits his political fortunes). And every now and then he has to have cancerous lumps cut out of his face. Why, exactly, should anyone vote for him for president? You'd think he might want to give us a few reasons.

Instead, he keeps running nasty, petty ads with increasingly ludicrous attacks on his opponent. An enterprising reporter might ask the gentleman from Arizona: on what grounds, exactly, do you find Senator Obama to be like Britney Spears or Paris Hilton? Are you not in fact contributing to the poisonous discourse you once claimed to oppose?

Until McCain shapes up, I will no longer take him seriously as a contender for the Oval Office. I have had previous reservations about his temperment -- as he is prone to anger, and can't let go once resentment takes hold. Now he has allowed his judgment to come into question -- and thus also his candidacy.

2. Some will point out that Obama is at best 5 to 7 points ahead of McCain in most national polls, and suggest that he should be 10 to 15 points ahead. I would point out that polls take their samples based on models of past elections, and that poll-takers have to make any number of judgments about who is a "likely" voter vs registered voter, and that in most states, you can still register to vote in the November elections.

My point being: this year has blown all past models out of the water (at least where Obama is concerned). Thus it's very possible that the old polling models would not be adequate to reflect what's really going on in the country at large (and, certainly, mid-summer polls cannot be expected to reveal what will actually happen on that Tuesday in November).

3. OK so they actually showed the "biggest celebrity in the world" ad again -- one of the benefits of living in the ultimate battleground state. How can the McCainiacs honestly say that Obama wants "more foreign oil"? This claim is not credible on its face, nor is it backed up by any of Obama's speeches or policy proposals. (One might add as well that, following McCain's statements in recent days, Obama is not the only one who seems to want "higher taxes.")