I don’t know how anybody can be undecided between Obama and McCain, but for those who are, Frontline on PBS will be showing profiles of the candidates, both on TV and online. Do undecided voters watch PBS, or do they assume the network is biased?
Category: Politics, Religion & Money
Krugman wins Nobel for Economics
What a welcome bit of news. Princeton economist Paul Krugman has won the Nobel Prize. Krugman is one of the most pointed critics of the George W. Bush administration, and I read both his NYTimes column and blog regularly.
With this award comes, I hope, a move away from the ideas of Milton Friedman, who won the Nobel in 1976. That recognition quickly led to the development of the “trickle down” policies that were implemented by Ronald Reagan starting in 1981. The worldwide economic mess we’re in right now is proof that Friedman was wrong about laissez-faire economic policies in the 1920’s not being one of the causes of the Great Depression.
Campaign Trains of Thought
This was sent around at work today…
… but this news item isn’t funny.
A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some GOP events this week as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Obama. Some in the audience are making it personal, against the Democrat. Shouts of “traitor,” “terrorist,” “treason,” “liar,” and even “off with his head” have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them.
These people are coming from the same trains of thought that created Timothy McVey. Fox News and Rush Limbaugh can blame themselves for helping to fan these flames of hatred.
Titanic News
The Fox News folks are upset over the unflattering photo of Sarah Palin on the cover of Newsweek. But what interested me the most in this week’s issue is the story of why the Titanic sank faster than McCain’s campaign is sinking now.
“It was negligence: the ship’s builders suspected that the ship’s hull was too flimsy, but they overrode the concerns of their engineer in a bid to get the Titanic on the seas in time.”
Obama youth group ‘threat’ is BS
OK, let’s get this over and done with. It seems some stupid middle school teacher in Missouri, whose name has not yet been revealed, organized a sort of youth support group for Obama back in May. And now video of black boys marching and reciting in paramilitary style, claiming inspiration from Obama, has shown up on YouTube.
McCain supporters are, of course, implying that this pseudo-fascist youth group is not only officially sanctioned by Obama, it evokes memories of the Black Panther party in the sixties and hints at the horrors to come under Barack’s regime. Reports indicate that these boys attend some sort of charter school, and the teacher who was inspired to direct this insipid display has been suspended.
Can we please get a grip here, people? We don’t have the whole story yet, but we know Obama had nothing to do with this, other than being a role model in the eyes of some middle school teacher. Are you really scared of a bunch of black kids chanting “yes we can” about career goals, like the old “I am somebody” campaign of Jesse Jackson?
Sincerity vs. insincerity
It’s one hour into the second Obama/McCain debate, and I think it’s obvious that Obama is going to win in four weeks. Obama remains somewhat guarded in some of his answers, but he’s coming across well. McCain seems totally insincere. He’s done well before in town meeting scenarios, but this time he doesn’t have the stage to himself.