Tag: John McCain (page 5)

Add the Philadelphia Inquirer to the list of papers endorsing Barack Obama.

While John McCain also promises "change," it's hard to believe that's possible from someone who, by his own admission, has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time. On key issues such as campaign finance, pork-barrel spending, and humane interrogation of terrorism suspects, McCain has indeed been a "maverick." But mostly, he and Bush have been on the same page.

More troubling was McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. This blatant overture to women voters and evangelical Christians who share her views on abortion backfired when Palin in interviews proved she is not prepared to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Over the past four months, this Editorial Board has compared the candidates' positions. In almost every case, Obama has a superior proposal for this nation. (emphasis supplied)

Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will campaign together in Orlando, Florida on Monday as early voting opens in the state. Earlier in the day Obama will be in Tampa while Hillary will be campaigning for him in Broward (Fort Lauderdale, north of Miami.)

Where's McCain/Palin? Palin will be in Colorado shoring up the Republican base in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Loveland (Larimer County) -- all of which are locks for their ticket.

McCain was in Miami today with Joe Lieberman, courting the Cuban vote, but has nothing scheduled in the state through next week. Obama on the other hand is putting serious energy into Florida, and Miami in particular, for the duration of the campaign.

Hillary campaigned in Youngstown, Ohio today.

Add the Chicago Sun Times to the list of papers endorsing Sen. Barack Obama. Why won't it support McCain?

[S]omewhere along the line, McCain stopped being McCain. The maverick who always thought for himself turned his thinking over to others. He became too driven to win.

He reversed his position on major social issues to curry favor with the Republican base. He pulled silly surprises from a hat, such as “suspending” his campaign. Most egregiously for a man of advanced age who knew how important this decision could be, he chose the unqualified Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice president. (emphasis supplied.)

On Obama: [More...]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has just released its Sunday endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.

Columnist William Kristol, a longtime McCain backer, calls the McCain campaign “close to being out–and–out dysfunctional,” concluding that “its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic.”

And of course, the most unfortunate evidence of that “strategic incoherence and operational incompetence” was McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, a person utterly unprepared for the high post in question.

Not just unprepared, but "utterly unprepared." The paper's primary reason: McCain is Bush III. [More....]

The Denver Post editorial board has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for President. Mostly, it's the economy:

Obama's plan, while not perfect, is far superior to McCain's catastrophic ideas.

It criticizes McCain's health care tax. But the best quote is the paper's praise for Obama's community organizing work: [More...]

The Chicago Tribune joins the LA Times in making its first endorsement of a Democrat for President.

Many Americans say they're uneasy about Obama. He's pretty new to them.

We can provide some assurance. We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

On McCain, the choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is a factor and the paper says it shows McCain "failed in his most important executive decision." : [More...]

In its first presidential endorsement since 1972 and the first ever for a Democratic presidential candidate, the LA Times has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. The Times says the endorsement is "without hesitation." Like the Washington Post endorsement, McCain's Hail Mary pass of choosing Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate was key, although not the only factor:

Indeed, the presidential campaign has rendered McCain nearly unrecognizable. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term political tactic, brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would drive the White House in a McCain presidency. Fortunately, the public has shown more discernment, and the early enthusiasm for Palin has given way to national ridicule of her candidacy and McCain's judgment. (emphasis supplied.)

CNN reports:

According to CNN's latest analysis of the electoral map, only six states are up for grabs (Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida) and they were all won by President Bush in 2004. That means even if McCain were to go 6-for-6 in the current tossup states, he would still fall short of the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House.

As I noted here, CNN's John King believes McCain has to take a big blue state from Obama. McCain doesn't seem to be following King's advice. He and Palin both will be back in Colorado next week. Obama also will continue to fight for Colorado -- Sen. Joe Biden will spend two days here, his first visit since the convention.

Bump and Update: I wrote the post below on Wednesday but am bumping it as Sen. Barack Obama has now released a new ad attacking McCain's proposed Medicare funding cuts.

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly has more. I think this could be key to the Florida vote. Steve writes that Obama made the argument in Virginia today, and notes back in June, Jonathan Chait wrote that cutting Medicare in a election year is political suicide. Here's the voice-over text of Obama's new ad:

"John McCain's health care plan -- first we learned he's going to tax health care benefits to pay for part of it. Now the Wall Street Journal reports John McCain would pay for the rest of his health care plan 'with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid.' $882 billion from Medicare alone. Requiring cuts in benefits, eligibility, or both. John McCain, taxing health benefits, cutting Medicare. We can't afford John McCain."

More...

As has been reported all day at blogs and news media sites, Joe the Plumber is not who he pretended to be. The Miami Herald has a good wrap-up.

Some of the early news:

Never served in the apprentice program or got a license, according to Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50, in Toledo. Doesn't make anywhere near the $250,000 that would subject him to higher taxes under Obama's proposed tax plan.

Now, there's this: Tom Joseph, the business manager of the Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 50 union in Toledo, says:

Joe claimed on a social networking site to be a working union member and even used the pipefitters' insignia as a background. ''He's never been a member of the union,'' Joseph said.

More...

CNN's Money fact-checks McCain's claims about Obama's tax plan and small businesses. Shorter version: McCain's wrong again.

The bottom line: McCain's claim only works by using an overly broad definition of what counts as a "small business" - and even with that definition, fewer than 2% of business owners would be hit by Obama's proposed rate increase. For those who are affected, the increase would be levied only on a part of their earnings, not all of them.

Tomorrow the Washington Post will endorse Barack Obama. The editorial is already posted here.

....[I]t is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president. The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama's relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes.

....we find no way to square his professed passion for America's national security with his choice of a running mate who, no matter what her other strengths, is not prepared to be commander in chief.[Emphasis supplied.]

It's not that flattering an editorial. It disagrees that McCain equals four more years of Bush and criticizes Obama's Iraq position. It makes me wonder, had McCain not picked Palin, would the Post still have endorsed Obama?