The convention wisdom in the media before Tuesday's debate was that John McCain excels at the town meeting style forum.
In fact, McCain wanted 10 such forums.
But where is the evidence that McCain is more comfortable in that setting?
Tuesday he wandered around the stage like he was lost. He kept walking back and forth behind Obama while the Democrat was talking. It looked like McCain could not find his seat.
He also sounded grouchy at times, as if he did not want to be there. His jokes fell incr…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on October 9, 2008 at 11:07am —
Comments
All of the polls and focus groups on last night's debate showed voters thought Sen. Barack Obama won.
That is all of the polls except for a strange one done by Fox News. The "fair and balanced" network's poll had Sen. John McCain winning with a staggering 86 percent of the vote.
Fox did its poll by having viewers text message their vote to the network. Perhaps only McCain's family and friends watch Fox, but the results were obviously not accurate.
CBS and CNN did real polls and they both had Oba…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on October 8, 2008 at 10:56am —
Comments
While the bottom appears to be falling out of the financial and stocks markets around the world, Republicans and Democrats in Congress are in a pitched battle over who is to blame for the mortgage mess.
Democrats contend the problem was caused by a lack of regulation and oversight under Republican rule.
Republicans contend Democrats caused the problem by pushing for loans to unqualified minorities under the Community Investment Act.
Democrats are pushing back, saying the attacts on the Community…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on October 7, 2008 at 2:24pm —
Comments
Folks:
Over the weekend it appears things got a bit nasty and personal on this blog.
I do not know how to censure this blog and I do not want to do it. So please, can we debate, even argue, without getting personal or insulting. And please no curses spelled with ***. My daughters sometimes read this blog.
Debate is no fun if only people who agree post.
Just because the presidential campaign is getting negative does not mean we have to follow.
Cheers,
Jim
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on October 6, 2008 at 12:12pm —
Comment
A new controversy surfaced Wednesday over the role Gwen Ifill will play in tonight's vice presidential debate.
Ifill has written a book about African American leaders that is reportedly complimentary toward Barack Obama.
Republican contend this shows a bias and Ifill should not be allowed to be the moderator in the debate between Gov. Sara Palin and Sen. Joe Biden.
Democrats claim it is much ado about nothing and Ifill's book was public knowledge when the McCain campaign agreed to her as moderat…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on October 2, 2008 at 10:20am —
Comments
It is every man and woman for him or herself in Congress now that the financial bailout bill has gone down the drain.
Everybody is blaming everyone else and everyone is denying everyone else's claim of why the bill failed.
This morning at least two prominent members of the House Republican faction that opposed the bill shot down claims by the leadership of their own party that the bailout was defeated because of partisan statements by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rep. Michele Bachman, a leader of the r…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 30, 2008 at 12:14pm —
Comments
We have all heard the saying about politics making for strange bedfellows, but the failed bailout bill brought it to new heights.
You saw Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi working to get approval for a bill first proposed by the Bush administration.
Then you had ultra liberal Rep. Dennis Kucinich voting along with the most conservative members of the House to defeat it.
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 29, 2008 at 6:00pm —
Comments
McCain's eradict behavior is getting worse by the minute.
The Washington Post is reporting that McCain already has an ad up on the web claiming he won tonight's debate even before the debate takes place.
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 26, 2008 at 3:11pm —
Comments
John McCain has just done another back flip.
After claiming he was suspending his campaign until an agreement had been reached on a financial bailout bill, McCain reactivated his campaign today and will attend tonight's debate.
No agreement has been reached. In fact, there is evidence that McCain's stunt set back negotiations.
Yet McCain is reversing course once again and attending the debate he pledged to boycott until an agreement had been reached.
His gambit comes as he faced increasing criti…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 26, 2008 at 11:55am —
Comments
One loyal reader of The Sun Chronicle called with a great idea yesterday.
An Obama supporter, the reader was furious at what he said was the "stunt" pulled by Sen. McCain in calling for a postponement of Friday's debate so the candidates could go to Washington to work on the financial bailout plan.
Negotiators for the House and Senate seem to be making good progress on the plan and injecting presidential politics into the process would only complicate things, he said.
So, the reader suggested, O…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 25, 2008 at 2:28pm —
Comments
What do you call a man who repeatedly lies and continues to repeat the lies after they have been exposed as lies?
Well, you could call him a lot of things, including Republican nominee for president.
Sen. John McCain has repeatedly stated in speeches and advertisements that former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines is an advisor to Sen. Barack Obama.
Both Raines and Obama have denied it. The Obama campaign has flatly stated that Raines has no connection to the campaign.
Yet McCain repeated the claim…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 19, 2008 at 1:51pm —
Comments
Sen. John McCain sure sounded tough Thursday when he announced he would fire the chairman of the Security Exchange Commission over the financial meltdown hitting banks and insurance companies.
There is just one problem with the tough-guy talk: The president does not have the authority to fire the SEC chairman.
This from the experience, steady hand who has the temperament to steer the nation through any crisis.
McCain's campaign had to back track later and say McCain would request the resignation…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 19, 2008 at 10:04am —
Comments
U.S. Sen. John Sununu has been taking a beating in television ads in his race for re-election in New Hampshire.
But, Sununu is fighting back with ads criticizing Republican policies and President George Bush, emphasizing times he voted against both.
The interesting thing here is Sununu is a Republican, although he never mentions that in his ads.
Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, meanwhile, is using her ads to remind everyone how often Sununu did vote with Bush.
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 18, 2008 at 1:41pm —
Comment
We all knew it was there, but for some reason no one wanted to talk about it - until now.
Politicians and political analysts are finally going public with their belief that there is still a sizeable minority of people in American who will not vote for an African American.
Just in the last few days several noteable figures in politics have said that many of the voters who declare themselves undecided in polls are actually going to vote against Barack Obama because he is black.
They note that thes…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 15, 2008 at 11:54am —
Comments
There is sometimes a fine line in politics between spin and lies.
The McCain campaign has crossed that line many times during this campaign.
The latest example is Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment.
Anyone who takes the time to read or listen to the comment knows he was talking about the attempts by John McCain and Sarah Palin to repackage themselves as reformers.
But, the McCain camp is claiming Obama made a sexist insult about Palin.
That is a lie.
In fact, John McCain used the same ex…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 10, 2008 at 11:29am —
Comments
The far right is trying to discredit stories about Sarah Palin's role as mayor in firing her hometown librarian by knocking down a straw man.
It is clear from reporting, including a story in her hometown newspaper at the time of the firing, that Palin asked the librarian her thoughts on banning books. The librarian said she was opposed and was fired soon thereafter.
After a local uproar of sorts, the librarian was rehired.
Now the right wing is trying to discredit the stories by saying Palin nev…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 9, 2008 at 11:30am —
Comments
It seems the "straight talk express" has driven in a ditch.
Presidential candidate John McCain keeps claiming running mate Sarah Palin as governor of Alaska sold the state luxury jet on eBay for a profit.
There is just one problem with the claim: The jet failed to sell on eBay and when the state got a broker to sell it went for a $600,000 loss.
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 6, 2008 at 10:47am —
Comments
While outsider John McCain was putting the final touches on his speech declaring himself a reformer his campaign was holding a fund raising event in St. Paul to collect cash from lobbyists who bundle donations.
Lobbyists could donate $1,000 to $2,300 to attend or bundle $10,000 to be considered a sponsor.
His campaign had already received donations from 150 lobbyists and many of the highest ranking officials in his organization a former lobbyists.
Barack Obama, the captive of corrupt Washington,…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 5, 2008 at 2:00pm —
Comments
The Republican attack machine cannot keep its story straight.
First Barack Obama was unqualified for high office because he lacks the all-important "foreign policy" experience.
Then John McCain picked a running mate with no foreign policy experience.
Now the spinners contend Sarah Palin has more "executive" experience than Obama and that is what really counts.
Well guess what, as a U.S. Senator, McCain has no executive experience either so he must also be unqualified by Republican standards.
By…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 3, 2008 at 3:33pm —
Comments
It appears we have only scratched the surface of the Sarah Palin drama.
Reports are coming out that she was a member of a fringe political party in the 1990's called the Alaskan Independence Party that advocates for a referendum on Alaska breaking off from the United States and becoming an independent nation.
She also reportedly fired the police chief and library director when she was mayor because they did not support her election.
And Democrats in Alaska are complaining that the McCain campaig…
Continue
Posted by Jim Hand on September 2, 2008 at 12:51pm —
Comments
