McCain is on the verge of a defeat that marks the end of the Republican era

Sidney Blumenthal

Today's election is poised to end the Republican era in American politics - an era that began in reaction to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the Vietnam war and the civil rights revolution, was pioneered by Richard Nixon, consolidated by Ronald Reagan, and wrecked by George W Bush.

Almost every aspect of the Republican ascendancy has been discredited and lies in tatters - its policies, politics, and even its version of patriotism - down to the rock-bottom notion that progressive taxation itself, initiated by a Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, who John McCain hails as his personal icon, is unpatriotic.

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Peacenik enjoyed this post mortem of the Republican era, even before the body is cold.

Vote!

by tristero

I just saw a headline in the NY Times that scared the daylights out of me: Networks May Call Race Before Voting Is Complete :

At least one broadcast network and one Web site said Monday that they could foresee signaling to viewers early Tuesday evening which candidate appeared to have won the presidency, despite the unreliability of some early exit polls in the last presidential election.

A senior vice president of CBS News, Paul Friedman, said the prospects for Barack Obama or John McCain meeting the minimum threshold of electoral votes could be clear as soon as 8 p.m. — before polls in even New York and Rhode Island close, let alone those in Texas and California. At such a moment, determined from a combination of polling data and samples of actual votes, the network could share its preliminary projection with viewers, Mr. Friedman said.

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Peacenik is wearing Peacenik's Obama'08 teeshirt today and is very excited as the news starts to roll in. Long lines everywhere. Faulty voting machines being reported. This is a model of democracy? tristero in this post highlights the importance of every vote today. The neocon wingnuts and their ideology must be repudiated. Obama needs every vote.

Thanks to Sarah Palin, We Get to See the Cruelness of the GOP as It Really Is

By Larry Beinhart, AlterNet. Posted November 3, 2008.

Palin has helped reveal to the public pit-bull snarl that rouses GOP supporters to cry out, "Traitor!" against Obama, and "Kill him!"

It was Jesus Christ, if Matthew is to be believed, who said, "Love thine enemy." It is in that spirit that I write this belated valentine to Sarah Palin.

Sarah, I love you for having revealed unto the media the snarling heart of the beast that is the base (and the soul) of the Republican Party. Yes, you have the lipstick and the heels, not to mention the calves and bosoms, that send Republican men into swoons, but you have more; the pit-bull snarl that rouses your supporters to cry out, "Traitor!" against Obama, and "Kill him!"

George Bush kept those folks in their kennels, ran as a "compassionate conservative," and always masked his most heinous plans in double speak. Bush the Elder, Ronald Reagan, and even Richard Nixon never explicitly ran on hate and fear of "the other." They used words that were coded enough that it was possible to pretend that they were true.

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A nice bit of history here, leading up to tomorrow's vote. Peacenik may watch The Gangs of New York tonight.

A Nervous Nation

by Jim Kunstler

This is a nervous nation. Though I'm usually allergic to paranoia, something makes me think that there's a back office in the US Treasury that is buying the entire Dow Jones Industrial Index at opportune moments -- like fifteen minutes before the closing bell -- at the direction of Mr. Paulson. He seems to easily spend $50 billion a day on other dubious hand-outs. At that scale, buying the whole Dow would just take his walking-around money. The idea behind it, my paranoid fugue goes, is to jack up the stock market enough around election day to give the dimmer members of the voting public the idea that the financial fiasco is over and happy days are here again. You can't put this past the Republican party, despite John McCain's friendly turn on Saturday Night Live, consorting with "the enemy" for laughs.

Apart from that, McCain has run the flat-out most scurrilous campaign I've ever seen, despite his reputation as a war hero and a sterling fellow among the senators. He's run a campaign of malicious innuendo and slander, seemingly aimed at voters who would have trouble qualifying for the Special Olympics. And you have to wonder whether he actually requested Vice-president Dick Cheney to lay that "kiss-of-death" endorsement on him at the last moment. It could only have been better if Mr. Cheney borrowed some trick-or-treater's Darth Vadar costume for the grand occasion.

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Peacenik remembers watching hour-after-hour of the voting fiasco in Florida in 2000. And after all the talk and 8 years of George Bush, the voting problems remain; Diebold machines, no paper voting trail, voter suppression etc. etc. None of the problems have been solved. Many states have recently passed laws allowing citizen challenges of your right-to-vote. This is sure to encourage turn out in the redneck states. Will it stop Obama. Peacenik doesn't think so. Will Obama be able to solve the problems of society. Kunstler isn't sure.

Growing Doubts About McCain's Judgment, Age and Campaign Conduct

Obama's Lead Widens: 52%-38%

Overview

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain has steadily increased since mid-September, when the race was essentially even. Shortly after the first presidential debate on Sept. 26, Obama moved to a 49% to 42% lead; that margin inched up to 50% to 40% in a poll taken just after the second debate. Currently, Obama enjoys his widest margin yet over McCain among registered voters, at 52% to 38%. When the sample of voters is narrowed to those most likely to vote, Obama leads by 53% to 39%.

Obama’s strong showing in the current poll reflects greater confidence in the Democratic candidate personally. More voters see him as “well-qualified” and “down-to-earth” than did so a month ago. Obama also is inspiring more confidence on several key issues, including Iraq and terrorism, than he did before the debates. Most important, Obama now leads McCain as the candidate best able to improve economic conditions by a wider margin (53% to 32%).

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Peacenik thinks it is going to be very tough to steal this election through the normal wingnut mechanisms; Voter suppression, electronic voter fraud, and outright cheating. Only a black swan event can stop Obama now.

How Helpful

by Digby

Nothing like deploying a bunch of cops on the streets of American cities, looking for marauding African Americans to help get out the vote:

Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest.

Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election, which will end with either the nation’s first black president or its first female vice president, demanded a stronger police presence.

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Peacenik is trying to imagine a worst case scenario for election day in the U.S. This post by Digby certainly illustrates some of the forces that will be at play. There will be social disorder. There will be a police over-reaction. The media will stoke the fire. The wingnut effort to delegitimize an Obama presidency has already begun. Obama will be taking over the presidency in the midst of the biggest U.S. crisis since the civil war. But Peacenik cannot see any scenario that denies Obama the prize, however tainted it is.

The Disillusioned Reality of the American Choice

Chomsky - People should vote against McCain and for Obama - but without illusions. There is no shame in voting for the lesser of two evils.

by Paul Jay

The question posed by ABC's George Stephanopoulus "is not whether elites should rule, but which elite should rule?" It's a candid question that reflects the disillusioned reality of the looming American election. In an interview with Noam Chomsky, the renowned professor urges the voters in swing states to vote against McCain, therefore for Obama, while maintaining realistic expectations about the Democratic candidate.

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Peacenik recalls that Chomsky earlier said he thought McCain would win this election. Now he is urging voters to vote for Obama. Peacenik doesn't know if Chomsky's endorsement helps with centrist voters but it is another signal of a wider movement to Obama. Peacenik stands by his prediction of an Obama victory. A sweeping victory.

Attack on Iran Off the Table?

by Ray McGovern

On Sept. 23, the neo-conservative chiefs of the Washington Post's editorial page mourned, in a tone much like what one hears on the death of a close friend, that "a military strike by the United States or Israel [on Iran is not] likely in the coming months." One could almost hear a wistful sigh, as they complained that efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program has "slipped down Washington's list of priorities...as Iran races toward accumulating enough uranium for a bomb."

We are spared, this go-round, from "mushroom clouds." But racing to a bomb? Never mind that the 16 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community concluded in a formal National Intelligence Estimate last November that work on the nuclear weapons-related part of Iran's nuclear program was halted in mid-2003. And never mind that Thomas Fingar, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell's deputy for national estimates, reiterated that judgment as recently as Sept. 4. Never mind that the Post's own Walter Pincus reported on Sept. 10 that Fingar added that Iran has not restarted its nuclear weapons work. Hey, the editorial fellows know best.

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Peacenik was feeling reassured by this article until the last section. The last section lays out why an attack may still happen and it sounds logical. Two weeks to go. Two weeks for Peacenik to hold his breath and hope the crazies don't do something crazy.