36 Comments

1. rbrandt:

Roger, you are overwrought. The Country will survive either one of these candidates. For conservatives, neither is a happy choice but again we will survive.

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:45 pm 2. jll:

How very well said. I plan to quote those last few pithy sentences at the next staff meeting I attend – if it gets too rowdy. (And it very well could.)

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:49 pm 3. DougS:

I’m not too worried, Roger. The CW is shifting subtly. It seems to me that the polls are tightening, and that the MSM has shifted away from Obama’s inevitability to the more accurate idea that it’s a tight race and McCain still has a puncher’s chance. The narrative groundwork for a narrow McCain victory is being laid.

As much as the MSM has been in the tank this campaign, if you think about it, it does them little good to spend the last week of the campaign talking about how it’s all over bar the shouting. Where’s the suspense? Why pay attention to the news if there’s no suspense?

Oct 29, 2008 - 12:54 pm 4. Aubrey:

You are right, the left has learned that you don’t have to accept an election outcome you don’t like. And it can be rough, I’m old enough to remember the late 60’s-early 70’s, when we had political assasinations, riots and domestic terrorists. The country survived, but it wasn’t pretty.

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:55 pm 5. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Obama is clearly not closing this thing out. Even with all of the recent economic news and record campaign spending, he has not jumped in the polls – quite the opposite. “Righteous wind” my a#%.

Any loss, by any margin, would be treated as an “ugly betrayal” by the left. The temper tantrum that was 2000 should be all the proof anyone needs. So let ‘em howl if it happens. It’ll be therapeutic.

Oct 29, 2008 - 1:58 pm 6. srlucado:

I’ll take the temporary upheaval of a McCain victory over the permanent damage that an Obama administration would create.

Scott

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:02 pm 7. Gaffe Prices:

Ubamas is trying to run out the clock but time ran out on him long ago. McCain is 5-10 pts ahead, once you correct for bias. Especially since the pollsters are probably recycling poll results from months back.

Oct 29, 2008 - 2:48 pm 8. cfbleachers:

Roger, you are right on the button. This has been a setup from day one. Anyone who doesn’t vote EXACTLY as the entrenched media has predetermined…is going to be called names.

And the sound and the fury has been setup to be self-fulfilled. The entrenched media has set the end game in play. Bury the evidence that would give legitimacy to a different cast of the ballot…and then accuse the entire country of not having any evidence to do precisely that.

Rig the campaign trail and then openly suggest that anyone who senses the fraud is delusional.

Engage in a conspiracy of silence and set the table for a backlash against anything but the “fixed” outcome. No matter the outcome…the entrenched media has sealed it.

Oct 29, 2008 - 4:23 pm 9. Alan Kellogg:

When the polls close and as time passes it becomes clearer that the McCain-Palin ticket has won, and won big, I wonder how local authorities will handle the traffic caused by all the Obama-Biden supporters heading for the Golden Gate to jump.

Oct 29, 2008 - 4:42 pm 10. ahem:

Whatever happens, it’s going to be grim. Race relations will be set back 50 years–albeit for different reasons.

Oct 29, 2008 - 4:59 pm 11. PC14:

I’m getting ready for the upset. I just went to youtube and watched the Brooklyn Dodgers win the 1955 World Series (their first) and then the 1980 Miracle on Ice. And as always, my two favorite sporting events of all time bring on major chills. Hopefully I get to ad the McCain upset and therefore have myself a little trifecta of joy to indulge in as needed.

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:22 pm 12. Ralph Woods:

I wonder if NBC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN etcetera are equipping their broadcast cameras with spittle shields just in case the election does not go as they preordained?

Oct 29, 2008 - 5:49 pm 13. glenn:

Children is exactly the right word

Oct 29, 2008 - 6:03 pm 14. Lightnin' Hopkins:

How so, glenn?

Oct 29, 2008 - 6:08 pm 15. Ratfink:

It’s not so much what comes after Rama’s election as what comes after Rama. To think I was so hard on Edwards for serving only one term in the Senate. They used to teach in high school civics and government classes in college that once you got elected to Congress, you kept a low profile and learned from the senior legislators. Now, when they are elected, they will just immediately announce they are running for President. So in 2012 and 2016 there will be more first-term mayors, governors and representatives in the primaries. Actually, Arnold ought to run in 2012 since citizenship doesn’t matter either. The ACLU could challenge the requirement for him, arguing that the Constitution is unconstitutional — after all, “Nobody knows anything.”

Oct 29, 2008 - 6:12 pm 16. Lightnin' Hopkins:

And please be quick about it, 5th grade starts pretty early in the morning…

Oct 29, 2008 - 6:52 pm 17. AClay:

I agree that we are overwrought. I feel that much of the economic turmoil has been driven by the unease we all feel about this election. Should McCain win, maybe the relief that many will feel will outweigh the disappointment of others – in purple areas at least. In LA, NY, Boston, and NY, maybe we will finally see some introspection after the shock to the diseased system?

Oct 29, 2008 - 8:23 pm 18. Barry Dauphin:

Well, in 1972 there was only one Pauline Kael. In 2008 there would be millions of them. If McCain won, millions (tens of millions perhaps) would say they don’t know anyone would voted for McCain. It would be beyond a racial issue. It would cut into friendships, working relationships, etc. I think there would be finger pointing and quite a lot of paranoia. It would be inexplicable to a large swath of the population. It would get quite ugly within a week or two. Many people would have “breakdowns” and there would be violence in many cities and perhaps even some suburbs. Fights could break out at malls. CNN, MSNBC, etc. would have 24/7 coverage. In the guise of “covering” the news, they would inflame the news. I generally trust Tocqueville who said that American elections make it seem the world will come apart, but people just simply go back to business the next day. This could defy that wisdom.

Having said that, I’m afraid, my friends, that Obama is gonna win. Although the polls are volatile, the volatility never has McCain ahead at any time. The story is all about how big Obama’s lead is. In battleground states, Obama maintains leads. Go and vote. But don’t be surprised to see an early call on Tuesday for Obama. I think best case scenario for McCain is a Carter-Ford (McCain as Ford) level of closeness. I hope to eat crow and be proven wrong, but as poor as some of the sampling for polls has been, there doesn’t appear to be currently enough to move McCain’s way. Don’t focus too much on the national polls. The electoral college is where it’s at.

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:03 pm 19. Handel Glassberg:

We urge all those who’ll want to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge in the event of a McCain Palin victory to get an early start. Perhaps stake a place the night before, bringing a blanket because it gets inclement up there. We ourselves don’t plan to commit suicide if McCain wins and in no way should these comments be construed as an invitation to do so. However, for those who may wish to, in the event you can’t get away early enough and the Golden Gate is too crowded with jumpers by the time you get there to find space at the rail, simply swim a few yards into San Francisco Bay. The current will do the rest.

Speaking of current, and not to stray too far from the point, (but it is at least theoretically possible she’ll be elected), we’re establishing a Teach Sarah Palin English fund. Those who would like to contribute, please send five (5) dollars in cash to….

The Playdo Institute
Handel Glassberg, President

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:13 pm 20. MIke Reynolds:

Elections sometimes do get stolen; remember Hayes-Tilden? (No? Me neither. I’m just sayin’….)
That said, it’s not healthy for the side that loses to reflexively claim fraud. Some elements of the Right are gearing up to do exactly that, with inflated claims about the significance and malevolence of ACORN. Do we want to breed more McVeighs? And God alone knows what the Left will claim if Obama somehow loses; perhaps instead of starting a Disloyal Opposition Militia, they’ll just leave the country….

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:22 pm 21. Barry Dauphin:

Who’s going to teach English to the Playdo Institute folks first?

Oct 29, 2008 - 9:33 pm 22. TexasDude:

“Elections sometimes do get stolen”

Yeah, wasn’t it Nixon who decided to not contested the very questionable votes that came from …. Chicago in favor of Kennedy?

Rasmussen has McCain leading on the economy/taxes issue amongst several others.

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:17 pm 23. California Dreamer:

Really….”We ourselves don’t plan” and “for those who may wish to (insert verb here)”?????????

Oct 29, 2008 - 10:25 pm 24. John Galt:

I have emotionally prepared myself for an Obama victory, just as the markets have prepared themselves financially. If McCain wins, I will be relieved. However, he’s gonna get rolled by the Democratic Congress quite a bit. It will be a bumpy ride one way or another.

Of course, if Obama wins the MSM will continually show us how he is healing the world. Welcome to the Brave New World, and pass the soma.

Oct 30, 2008 - 6:59 am 25. Michael Smith:

We are definitely moving into part 3 of “Atlas Shrugged”. In Obama, we are about to elect a “Mr. Thompson” as head of state. Thompson, as readers of the book will recall, was pushed forward and elected precisely because he was a zero, a non-entity who spoke in nothing but generalities that could be twisted to appeal to whatever pressure group was ascendant at the moment.

We will then see an acceleration of regulations strangling the economy. Unions will be empowered to use intimidation to win “elections” without a secret ballot. They and Obama will target the richest remaining businesses with strikes, new taxes, “equal pay” doctrines and a host of new laws designed to achieve “economic justice”, i.e. laws that further punish the able and the competent and reward the slothful and irrational.

The welfare state will be expanded to make the American taxpayer responsible not only for America’s deadbeats and bums, but the whole globe’s as well, as Obama will sign on to U.N. demands that America funnel ever-more of her wealth to U.N. programs.

Government will complete the takeover of the health care industry, dooming us to shortages and long wait times for critical services just as in England and Canada.

Obama will seize the “unreasonable profits” of the pharmaceutical companies, bringing an end to research and development and causing critical shortages of many life-saving medications.

International trade will grind to a halt as Obama grants union demands for protectionist legislation and this triggers retaliatory restrictions from our trading partners.

The opposition will be silenced with the preposterously named “Fairness Doctrine” along with new laws criminalizing a whole host of “hateful” types of speech. Nor will the internet be spared as government will begin to closely monitor internet postings for signs of violations.

And the environmentalists will succeed in getting such limits placed on energy production as to eliminate economic growth altogether and plunge us into a depression that will make the 1930s look mild by comparison.

The main stream media will go along with every bit of it. It will be called the “Bush depression” and it will be argued that Obama must have a second term to correct it.

How horribly tragic that America is about to give the world another grand-scale demonstration that socialism brings only economic chaos and poverty.

Oct 30, 2008 - 7:21 am 26. mason:

there are millions of americans who would vote for Sarah Palin for president in a heartbeat. you are obviously not in touch with true conservatives

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:03 am 27. carolyn ammenheuser:

This election is not about Obama,
it is the coffin for republicans, who had the audacity, the sheer audacity in Florida to count the military vote and thereby STEAL the election from the Soros democrats eight years ago.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:21 am 28. Alex:

Far left wing have been waiting so long for this now that Obama is taking the lead, But people
are just now starting to see this and it could be a
turn around and a win for john MCcain.

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:36 am 29. pinki:

TO carolyn ammenheuser….. I hope I misunderstood your comment about “the audacity to count the military votes”…who do you think keeps your right to vote safe. Why on earth would you make such a comment?

Oct 30, 2008 - 8:48 am 30. ldt:

If Obama wins, he will do to the USA what Trudeau did to Canada in the 1970s. Namely, ruin everything. We are just managing to sort out the damage now, forty years after he was first elected.

Oct 30, 2008 - 9:40 am 31. Dee:

To Michael Smith-

Well said but you forgot slaughter of dissents.

This scenario reminds me of Jack London’s “the Iron Heel” and Ira Levin’s “This Perfect Day”. Scary reading for times ahead.

Oct 30, 2008 - 9:40 am 32. Lightnin' Hopkins:

pinki: I won’t speak for carolyn, but her comment appears to be obvious sarcasm. The use of “audacity,” the word “steal” in caps, and referring to the “Soros democrats” all adds up to it. Then again, I could be wrong — I’m still waiting for glenn (#13) to tell us what he meant by “children” being “exactly the right word.”

Oct 30, 2008 - 10:11 am 33. kcom:

“I wonder if NBC, MSNBC, CBS, CNN etcetera are equipping their broadcast cameras with spittle shields just in case the election does not go as they preordained?”

That wouldn’t be enough for Keith Olberman. If things look close on election night then they need to go ahead and pre-emptively duct tape his entire head (credits to Glenn Beck) just in case McCain wins and there’s the inevitable explosion.

Oct 30, 2008 - 12:32 pm 34. ricpic:

Just pull the lever for McCain, without all the histrionics.

Oct 30, 2008 - 2:14 pm 35. Gaffe Prices:

Barry Dauphin:

Turns out that they have “released” the results of national polls hundreds more times this year than they did in 2004. Shame on you Drudge. “Polls” are not news. And should not be reported as such. Of course Ubamas is always 2 (more) points ahead (again). How can any one get a national sample from 300 million people, spread out all across the country? I call it a urine sample. Don’t drink it.

The paramount issue in this campaign is the judges McCain will appoint, after he takes office. That is why there is no excuse not to vote for him. the first duty of the conservative is to vote against Democrat Brand.

Oct 31, 2008 - 3:51 am 36. Anita Hope:

Michael Smith, I hope you are being read around this country as your synopsis is right on. You should be out on the campaign trail with Sen McCain or
Gov. Palin for the next 48 hours. letting people hear the true facts of what may happen with Sen. Obama and his grouphas planned for all of us “MIDDLE
CLASS WORKERS”.

Nov 1, 2008 - 12:14 pm

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