I have no idea whether anyone ever hits the links in the left nav bar to visit those I consider to be (usually) politically sane. Since I’ve got more thoughts in my head this afternoon than time, let’s visit some of those level-headed folks.
First, John Cole at Balloon Juice writes a post that makes me think he’s got eavesdropping bugs planted in Polimom’s house — because Dear Husband and I had exactly this conversation last night.
For the record: DH agrees 100% with John’s first paragraph…
My ideal system would be immediate disclosure- let the money flow, so long as people know where it is coming from. I was never a supporter of McCain-Feingold, and unlike the Republicans, apparently, I still am not.
…and Polimom agrees just as fully with the third.
[L]iberal media bias may be the biggest fraud the right-wing has ever gotten away with. It is absurd.
If you disagree with John Cole’s post after reading it, then I hope you can help me understand why the media is beside themselves with rage at Obama on public financing, but there’s been nary a mention of McCain’s shenanigans?
Then there’s Amba, with some remarks about the suggestion of Obama as the “first woman president”:
In the animal world, macho display is often less a prelude to a fight than a way of avoiding a fight. Another way of avoiding future fights — a frequent trope in classic Westerns, actually — is to win the first one with such devastating decisiveness that no one mistakes your quiet confidence for anything less ever again. Obama needs to convince us he is capable of that.
Read her whole post — it’s very good. I’ll just add here that at the moment, Adorable Child is off learning to shoot at the target range, following her amazing demonstration of fishing prowess last night. There’s probably a message there somewhere…
Finally, here’s Marc at Black Shards, who takes up the “Obama’s playing the race card” standard:
Nothing I’ve seen implicates John McCain or the Republican party in racially oriented politics.
Hmmm… Maybe the Tennessee GOP has declared it’s independence from the party and I missed a memo? You bet there’ll be “btw, he’s black” reminders. I don’t think, though, that John McCain personally will play from that deck. (OTOH, I really didn’t expect it from the Clintons either.)
But buried in Marc’s post is a line that struck me pretty forcibly. He wrote:
Obama would pull us out of Iraq before the job is done, endangering Iraqi lives and the tenuous progress made there as a result.
I’ve written before that the Democrats seem to be suffering from some kind of denial syndrome about the progress in Iraq, but I don’t think this odd “stuck in 2005” mindset is unique to the Dems.
Regardless of how his position on Iraq has been presented to the public, I fully expect John McCain to begin the disengagement and withdrawal process if he becomes president. Not only that, but I think either a McCain or an Obama presidency will move along similar timelines — not because either of them has obfuscated or pandered (necessarily), but because the changing circumstances in Iraq have negated the more extreme readings of their positions.
What do you think?