Obama will be president.

Obama will be assassinated.

Just like MLK, there’ll be a riot

Widespread anarchy

The people of America will beg for the republicans to come back and restore order through a show of might and force

I read something very similar in Revelations 13

It’s in the bible, you see

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/10/sarah_palin_ignorant_and_antis.php

The comments are worth a scan too!

Good link. The man is impressive, passionate oratory combined with iron self-control. Total contrast to the mugging, smirking and winking of his opponents.

As for Palin, I agree with shariq, S, and others. The attack strategy could have backfired if Palin had not been, serendipitously, revealed as an even weaker choice than anyone initially thought.

Check out her understanding of basic science (she thinks research is funny).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXqKEs68Xk

As someone remarked (can’t remember where), she is one kind of stupid masquerading as another kind.

Nick Cohen’s articles probably look even sillier before they are published and a sub-ed has had a chance give them a going over.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ are saying that, if the election was called today the Electoral Vote would split 344 / 194 for Obama.

‘I was talking about how the ‘culture wars’ are a distraction, indeed a symptom, of a lack of proper class-based politics in the US.’

That is absolutely correct! It is tragic how many ‘cultural’ movements have made use of class-based politics and then moved on once they’ve got what they’ve wanted.

There probably is an entirely legitimate argument that Palin has not played to her strong points – or at least has not been well used by the McCain campaign. Saying that though, I suspect that Cohen is on to something when he says, ‘The slogans that move their hearts and stir their souls are directed against their enemies: Bush, the neo-cons, the religious right.’

I read that as whoever was up there as candidate would have run into exactly the same. Simply by being a candidate, Palin has become the personification of what the hate is directed at. Granted, the Democrats may well have been swimming with the tide, but they did not create that tide.

We can and should rail all day long about how the right has used smear, but it is nothing to revel in just because it’s Palin. I do accept that out there in the fetid atmosphere of a campaign this thinking won’t hold too much water. It will be very interesting in the next election in the UK to see whether Sunny thinks that this level of personality politics is aceptable.

Also, once you get past the fact that some college student in America has nothing better to do than collect pictures of Barack Obama holding babies, this is a lovely photo.

That did cross my mind too

I didn’t read Nick’s article and don’t have time to do it now but I’m not concerned about appearing elitist and certainly not for attacking a rightwing politician. I was talking about how the ‘culture wars’ are a distraction, indeed a symptom, of a lack of proper class-based politics in the US. I don’t see why you think pointing out Palin’s inexperience has anything to do with this. I also think it’s a bit of a stretch to assume that otherwise McCain would have won. Finally, since the election hasn’t been actually held yet, it would be wise to wait for the result before you declare a strategy to have worked, I would have thought.

I beg to differ.

It is with rhetoric, commitment and frankly a transendence of party like this, that you win big, not small:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/22/202519/82/506/639197

I have heard a lot of Obama, and that is the best yet. Watch the embedded video. That is reaching way beyond your base. That is what landslides are made of.

The article itself is well worth reading for another perspective on how to fight an election.

Anyone got a good cure for insomnia?

I broadly agree with the point being made. The left and liberals residing in the upper echelons of the Democratic party in the US have always been scared and timid about going on the attack because they felt they could be percieved as unpatriotic and weak. I’m glad they discovered their balls again and went on the attack about Palin, because it has obviously worked.

The obvious secondary point being that liberals in the UK have a lot too learn from this strategy. I agree, why do progressives hide under bedsheets even when they have the better arguments on key issues?

My personal favourite has been “Moosolini”…

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/12964.html