October 19, 2008

Sunday and I am back online

And back avoiding grading. Don't judge me. :)

Actually, spent part of last night and this morning repairing my Imac (Mary and Anglican can stop smirking at this point, btw). Turned out to be a pretty easy fix and with TimeMachine, all my data is nicely backed up on a local drive. But an annoyance, nonetheless.

And the grading, my god the grading. Not that bad, actually, but it is very hard to force myself to get to it.

So while I am avoiding, I see that Colin Powell endorsed Obama this morning. Powell doesn't have quite the reputation he once had (thank you, George Bush) but it is still a rather striking endorsement. Game changer? I doubt it, but not helpful for the McCain camp. From what I read, he answered the whole "muslim smear" better than anyone. First, noting it isn't true, then asking "so what if he is?" Here, he speaks outside the morning show set, and is quite compelling:



The Minnesota rep he mentions is Michelle Balkman who called for an investigation into the unamerican activities of other congresspersons. That worked so very well the first time. Good God, have any of these Republicans read any history? Or did they simply see McCarthy as a good idea?

One bit of good news, in that the Obama campaign has raised a phenomenally huge $150 million in September. And added some 600,000 plus new donors, with an average donation of ~80 dollars. Unbelievable. Truly stunning and suggests that he is reaching a chord in people where they not only are tired of McCain's racist tactics and just deplorable acts by his supporters. Or this? Good God. McCain is not like this, but he and Palin have contributed to this kind of racism.

But perhaps people are turning against this kind of hatred, and are voting with their money in big numbers and that bodes well for Democrats this fall.

Let's hope.

8 comments:

Okieguitar50 said...

I watched the clip of Michelle Balkman from Hardball. Truly despicable. Wonder if she's related to Thad?

Streak said...

Yeah, me too. Despicable and dumb. Actually, dumb is far too kind. She is the kind of person who stirs up crowds to lynch people. She is the kind of person who ends up cheering to ship people to camps.

Good old Thad. Not sure even he could stoop this low, could he? Probably could.

The Republican party could do better. We will have to see if they decide to.

Streak said...

Thanks for commenting, okieguitar50. Good to see you on here.

Small Glimpses said...

Wonderful quote from Powell about Obama in a Ron Elving story on NPR.org.

By contrast, Powell said his comfort level with the Democratic nominee had increased. He said Obama, as a senator, candidate and nominee, had shown the necessary depth of judgment to be president, as well as "a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems" that would serve him well in the White House.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95889734

steves said...

Some on my blog pointed out that while Powell's endorsement is nice and it is great to get support from any prominent figure, it would have been nice if he would have shown the conscience about the war when he was shilling for the war and non-existent WMD's. Better late then never, I suppose.

Streak said...

I know that Powell argued with Bush about the war, but ultimately, he executed his policy. I understand that, I think. I also think that when he was speaking about aluminum tubes before the UN, he was not lying, but discussing the best evidence he had seen. Most accounts now show that Powell was pretty much kept out of the loop by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rice.

So I wish he would have resigned in protest (that would have been his only choice) but understand why he didn't.

Rednex said...

So tell me, how's this whole "Obama-mania" working out for you now?

Streak said...

Since I was never a maniac about Obama, but a rational supporter of him and his policies, I don't quite understand your question. It sounds very "Palin-esque" and we really don't have much respect for the former Governor of Alaska.

I like what Obama has done, and think that if Republicans were willing to work with him just a bit, we would see some good public policy. Of course, that part about Republicans is just a pipe dream.