Day: 11/2/2008

Neil Cavuto Cavorts With Cliff Claven And Plumber Joe

Posted by on November 2, 2008 at 4:41 pm. NO Comments :

Today on Fox News Neil Cavuto, the managing editor of the Fox Business Network, brought in a couple of first string financial pros to discuss America’s economy and politics. The renown expert John Ratzenberger (formerly Cliff from TV’s Cheers) was there to provide his unique insight on world affairs. And even more exciting, Joe the Plumber Ignorant, Lying, Tax-Dodging, Opportunist, showed up to school us all on patriotism:

JOE: McCain has fought and bled for our country, and loves our country. There’s too many questions with Barack Obama and his loyalty to our country. And I question that greatly.

CAVUTO: Well, you’re not doubting that he’s a good American. Or you are?

JOE: Oh you know, his ideology is something that is completely different than what democracy stands for, so I had some question there. In my opinion.

Does the word “Dumbass” spring to mind. And I mean that for both Joe and Cavuto. Even though Cavuto nominally challenged Joe, the fact that he keeps inviting him on the show is enough to dismiss him, his program, and his network. Cavuto frequently hosts such unqualified mental pygmies as Ted Nugent, Jon Voight, and various Hooters waitresses.

This is the kind of credibility that Fox brings to business reporting. The close association between Fox News, the Republicans, and the Bush administration explains a lot. They share the same advisors. It’s no wonder our economy is in tatters.

Could Fox’s Chris Wallace Be More Out Of Touch?

Posted by on November 2, 2008 at 4:02 pm. NO Comments :

Today on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace interviewed Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe. Most of the segment was standard political talk show fare, but what happened at the end was rather startling:

WALLACE: Well, and that brings us to the second question I wanted to ask you. In fact, you do have a very big event coming and that is not the election. It’s the birth of your second child.

In fact, that’s the reason you’re in Washington. Your wife, as I understand it, was due yesterday. What do you do if you’re in Chicago on election morning and you get the word your wife’s in labor?

PLOUFFE: I will get back as quickly as I can and head to the hospital. First things first, and we’re obviously so excited about that. We’re hoping that our new one will wait till after Tuesday, but either way we’ll be thrilled.

WALLACE: But you’re saying that if election morning you find out that the new one’s coming and isn’t waiting for the election, you’re going to leave Chicago and head off to the hospital?

PLOUFFE: Absolutely.

WALLACE: Boy, there are – a lot of people in the Beltway are going to question your priorities, David.

Why was Wallace so surprised that Plouffe would rush to his wife’s side if their child was about to be born? Wallace was so incredulous he had to ask the question twice, and he was still dissatisfied with the answer. Could Wallace be correct that people in the Beltway would question Plouffe’s priorities? Does he really think that Plouffe should be more concerned with attending a political party – even if it’s a victory party – than with the welfare of his wife and new baby?

Is this a demonstration of Republican family values?

Pundits Make Electoral College Vote Predictions

Posted by on November 2, 2008 at 2:05 pm. NO Comments :

As the 2008 campaign winds to close, the pundit class is weighing with their electoral vote calls. It’s bad news for John McCain when everyone is predicting a Barack Obama win and the Republicans give Obama bigger victory margins than the Democrats. Below are the predicted Electoral College votes for Obama (270 needed to win).

Democrats:
Arianna Huffington: 318
Paul Begala: 325
Hilary Rosen: 333
Donna Brazile: 343
Eleanor Clift: 349
James Carville: 365
Democratic Average: 338.8

Republicans:
Alex Castellanos: 318
Matthew Dowd: 338
Ed Rollins: 352
George Will: 378
Republican Average: 346.5

Media
Chris Cillizza, Washington Post: 312
Craig Crawford, Congressional Quarterly: 333
David Gergen, CNN: 338
Mark Halperin, Time Magazine: 349
George Stephanopoulos, ABC: 353
Larry Sabato, UVA: 364
Media Average: 341.5

If you exempt McCain campaign operatives and rightist pod-people like Hannity, O’Reilly and Limbaugh, there are few Republican advocates expressing much hope. Last week Fox News Executive VP John Moody pronounced McCain’s campaign over. Even Rupert Murdoch predicted a landslide victory for Obama way back in May.

Are Republicans in some sort of shock? What does it mean when uber-conservative George Will puts Obama in landslide territory and suggests a stronger outcome for Obama than Democratic icon James Carville? Maybe it doesn’t mean a thing. Most of these people are wrong more often that not, so we shouldn’t put too much emphasis on what they are saying today. Still, it will be interesting to store this for future reference to see how these predictions compare with the actual results.

John McCain Pulls A Double, Reverse Maverick

Posted by on November 2, 2008 at 10:11 am. NO Comments :

Last night John McCain appeared on Saturday Night Live. He follows his running mate’s inexplicably lame guest shot on the program two weeks ago. The best that can be said is that he didn’t bomb as thoroughly as Sarah Palin. At least he participated in the sketches and had a few punch lines.

Still, it is a bit surprising that the jokes primarily centered on his being a cash-strapped also ran. That is generally not a theme that a candidate wants to present two days before an election. Neither is it advisable to reveal your campaign’s closing strategy, which McCain did when discussing the matter on the Weekend Update segment. Asked what he would do if his present strategy were to fail, he offered a couple of notable alternatives:

  • The Reverse Maverick: That’s where I do whatever anybody tells me.
  • The Double Maverick: I’d just go totally berserk and freak everybody out.

In reality, he has already resorted to both of these tactics.

He began his campaign two years ago with the Reverse Maverick as he abandoned many of his long-held positions to suck up to the Bush loyalists and the Christian right. Examples include advocating the Bush tax cuts that he had voted against in the Senate, adopting the Bush position on torture that he had previously opposed, and embracing evangelicals like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell who he once called “agents of intolerance.”

He rushed headlong into the Double Maverick with his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. That certainly freaked everybody out. In addition, his behavior in response to the Wall Street meltdown when he promised to suspend his campaign and postpone a debate (neither of which he did), was nothing if not berserk.

A third strategy mentioned on SNL was “The Sad Grandpa.” I can’t say that we’ve witnessed bona fide examples of that, but we have seen verified examples of a close off-shoot, “The Grandpa Simpson.”