mindoverchatter.com

OK, I admit it.  I’m worried—worried that in spite of the ‘L’ word (landslide), John McCain and his McManiacs might still win.  Worried that traditional Republican swift-boating will once again undermine everything we’ve lived for these past eight years—this time with offensive mailers and cheap robocalls:

“Hello. I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans.”

Can anyone blame me for worrying? Republicans know how to make terrorists out of loyal Americans and baby killers out of decent men, not to mention cowards out of heroes (Remembering John Kerry). And let’s never forget that the Supreme Court can decide elections (Remembering Bush v Gore).  How is this 2008 presidential election going to be different from the last two? Not to paraphrase Rod Stewart, but do we have enough reasons to believe?

Happy to say, I’ve found a few dozen and invite everyone to find more.  I’m sorry. I still need more. There’s strength in more.

Last night my friend Chris, who predicted an Obama landslide way back in July, asked me, “Is this one of those college basketball games that you can’t enjoy till the final second, even though your team is whipping butt?”  “Yea, it is,” I had to admit.

That’s why I’ve spent the whole day crawling the Web in search of why Senator Obama is gonna be our next President, no matter what happens. Face it, folks, he won’t win because it’s FAIR. If there’s any justice in this silly world, it happens over millenniums, and sometimes we’re just lucky enough to be alive during a fair stretch.

We’re just lucky that the ‘08 Democratic candidate is smarter, younger and cuter, ’cause that gets votes.  With Obama we can even throw in more honorable, along with a fearless ability to stay on-message while standing next to an enraged bull.

I mean, shouldn’t everyone want to have a beer with the dude who won’t fly off the handle and cause a ruckus?  Heck, folks, it’s pretty bad when a presidential candidate blasts a neutral debate moderator in the guts: “Not you, Tom”. (Remembering Tom Brokaw.)

I’ll tell you what I really like about Barack Obama—the tone of his voice, especially in comparison to that other one.  When Fox News had to admit that Barack Obama is the better speaker of the two, you know it’s got to be true.  Follow the link to a YouTube video called ‘McCain Leaves Fox Speechless’, for their impromptu assessment.  “Awful! Pathetic! Painful! Hopeless,” the mediabots cried.

Shouldn’t we feel sorry for McCain? We are liberals. My answer is a simple We don’t dare! The fact is, folks, the dude was so spoiled as a child that he would hold his breath to get his way—for which his family found the perfect solution—-they dunked him in ice water. No wonder he was against waterboarding before he was for it. (Remembering McCain and the torture bill.)

Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone calls McCain a Make-Believe Maverick and sheds some light on early childhood:  “Trailing his hard-charging, hard-drinking father from post to post, McCain didn’t play well with others. Indeed, he concedes, his runty physique inspired a Napoleon complex: ‘My small stature motivated me to . . . fight the first kid who provoked me.’ ”

Which brings me back to another reason Obama should win besides the obvious.  Generally speaking, the taller candidate prevails, and John McCain at 5′6″ can’t look 6′1″ Obama in the eyes without a neck adjustment. Sad to say, we have only to think of John Kerry and that argument flies out the window.  There are some, however, who insist that Ohio’s electoral votes were stolen (Remembering Dennis Kucinich.)

That’s why the count for Obama has to be so far ahead in the first returns that any attempts at thievery will be a mute joke.  This time, the Democratic candidate has to be prepared for anything. This time, he needs to see where the Republicans are headed before they get there.

Maybe that’s what’s already happening. Witness the fact that the Democrats are calling for an investigation into the probability (correction inevitability) that the Bush Administration Justice Department is in league with John McCain’s campaign over the Acorn investigation.  Robert Bauer, chief counsel for the Obama campaign, is on it.  Doesn’t that prove that Democrats are smarter this time? (Remembering hope.)

The fact is folks, Obama should be smarter.  He was so better educated, plus nothing was ever handed to him.  And can remind everyone that he’s younger, peppier and way more elegant.  Saturday Night Live likened ‘town-hall’ McCain to some kind of decrepit nut-ball.

During Weekend Update, Seth Myers questioned John McCain’s sanity for wanting more town hall debates and yells out to McCain through the TV: “I mean you were lurching at people and walking around like you should have been wearing a hospital gown!”

It seems like there’s so many factors on our side. Could even the gasping Economy be playing into our hands? I’m pretty sure it is.  But at what cost?  Sad to say, there’s not much hope there.

Here’s what gives me the most joy:  The Republicans are divided! Yea, that’s what I said.  D I V I D E D!   When’s the last time we came across divided Republicans?

For a hint at the cause, check out this rather odd McCain Palin Photo circling the Internet. Almost everyone says that that one in the squatting position is the main reason for all the division. David Brooks called that one a “cancer on the Republican Party“.

Ooops, did I say everyone blames Palin?

Not the poor ’starburst’ deprived creature of National Review; not the former, presidential candidate Pat Buchanan—that old dude wants to be in John McCain’s shoes and says the economy is the only reason not to call her the best VP choice ever.

Here’s what the conservatives who truly put their country first say about the Sarah Palin choice:  Shall we start at the very beginning with Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy?  Checkout the link for a video of those two trashing the newly ensconced Palin while thinking they were off-camera.

Then there’s the conservative columnists like George Will and Kathleen Parker. Pulitzer Prize winner George Will blasts McCain in his article ‘McCain Loses His Head‘.  Parker begs Sarah Palin to resign:  “Do it for your country, Sarah,” she pleads.

Speaking of resigning, William F. Buckley Jr, had to resign from the very establishment  his own dad founded (National Review) because Junior posted his opinion in the Daily Beast—‘Sorry, Dad, I’m Voting for Obama‘.

Buckley Jr. artfully sums up many of our opinions in a nut-shell: Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy “We are the people we have been waiting for” silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for.

So you see, folks, even the staunchest McCain supporters are jumping ship.  Last Saturday, Governor Crist of Florida, who gave his state to McCain in the primaries, skipped a McCain football rally. When questioned about this diss, Crist implied that a trip to Disney World was more important than helping McCain win the Presidency:  ”When I have time to help, I’ll try to do that,”Crist said.

The list of ship-jumpers is endless.  Follow this link and see for yourself. I am beside myself! Republicans with a conscience are giving me so much strength.

And so does this Late Breaking News!

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio’s top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.

The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio’s top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver’s license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don’t match records in other government databases.

Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.

Here’s what this means, folks. Two hundred thousand Ohio voters are safe! And essentially, this is the same Supreme Court that gave the election to Bush in 2000.  This is obviously what I’ve been waiting for!  A real sign that this time it’s gonna be different.

(Remembering an audible sigh of relief.)