Since the mortgage meltdown last month, I’d always thought a good number of those who then switched to Obama as the candidate of the party out of power would take a second look at the Democrat and return to the Republican fold. With increasing evidence of Obama’s redistributionist ethic, they have greater reason to fear the economic policies he would enact if elected.
Other voters who had long opted for Obama as a change after eight years of a Republican president, or because they were impressed by his presence or due to economic anxieties, might, in the end, have concerns about his readiness to lead. At the last minute, they could switch to McCain as a Democratic friend of mine switched to Bush just a few days before the 2004 general election.
With Joe the Plumber’s help, John McCain has finally found his footing on economic issues. That has helped him better articulate an economic message while rattling Obama supporters. Indeed, it caused one former Obama speechwriter, Wendy Button, to switched to John McCain.
While Button had been having doubts about the Democrats since the summer, it was the party’s treatment of Joe the Plumber which finally turned her:
The final straw came the other week when Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher (a.k.a Joe the Plumber) asked a question about higher taxes for small businesses. Instead of celebrating his aspirations, they were mocked. He wasn’t “a real plumber,†and “They’re fighting for Joe the Hedge-Fund manager,†and the patronizing, “I’ve got nothing but love for Joe the Plumber.â€
. . . .
The party I believed in wouldn’t look down on working people under any circumstance. And Joe the Plumber is right. This is the absolutely worst time to raise taxes on anyone: the rich, the middle class, the poor, small businesses and corporations.
Will Joe the Plumber’s message–and the treatment he suffered from the Democrats–resonate with other Obama supporters? Will, in the campaign’s final days, will other less prominent supporters follow Button’s lead and switch to John McCain?
I would expect that there will be some, but wonder if it will be enough to make a difference. John McCain can only help himself–and our nation–by hitting the economic message as he has these past few days, talking about our party’s respect for the common working man and woman, how we celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship, how we resent excessive regulation and out-of-control spending.
The Republican message still resonates with the American people. We just need a good messenger.
—-
A reader alerted me to a blog post quoting another Obama aide wary about her one-time candidate. Because I can’t confirm her identity, I include an excerpt from her post below the “jump.”According to this former Hillary worker, later with the Obama campaign:
I’ve come to the realization (as the campaign already has) that if this comes to the issues, Barack Obama doesn’t have a chance. His only chance is to foster disorganization, chaos, despair, and a sense of inevitability among the Republicans. It has worked up until now. Joe the Plumber has put the focus on the issues again, and this scares us more than anything.
Read her post yourself. It makes a lot of sense, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s legitimate. So I share it with you along with my doubts.
Best. Election. Ever.
The early voting demographic data has be skeptical of the polling data as well. A lot of the numbers are skewed because of what each group interprets as “likely voters.” More weight than ever is being given to the Black, Hispanic and Youth votes this election cycle, three groups that are traditionally abysmal voting turnout histories. There is this assumption (Democrats always do this) among pollsters that Barack Obama is going to be the catalyst who finally awakes this dormant electoral giant. Obama is relying on a much larger than usual turnout from those three groups.
But the most recent demographic data among early voters nationwide is not what the Obama camp has hoped for. The best indicator of likely voters is not the polls but tallying early votes. The present turnout of Black voters, Latino voters and voters between the ages of 18-30 are 25 percent, 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Essentially, these figures are no different than any other election that swung Republican.
Unless these groups improve their numbers dramatically, Obama will lose and by much more than the news media predicted.
Peggy Noonan’s Gushing Endorsement of Obama. Not recommended for diabetics.
We can only hope that the last minute, on the fence voters, take a long, long look at the record of Obama and vote McCain.
Re: the Democratic Party’s attacks on Joe the Plumber… Michelle Malkin puts it this way:
And she’s right. Read the whole thing. This is, after all, in TP’s estimation, “the best election ever”. So much for your one-time libertarianism, eh TP? 😉 Now it’s all socialism, all the time?
I am not glum about the election. Hillary would have been out of reach by this point. McCain had kept this thing very close in spite of the MSM, the October economic surprise, and an electorate that wants to try a new approach.
The polls are certainly structured, but hardly “scientific.” Undecided voters are a myth, especially in this election. If a person is going to vote, he darn sure knows who he is going to vote for. But, he may well be playing coy.
A neighbor asked me about another neighbor’s McCain yard sign. He was wondering if any “racism” was involved. He knows I am voting for McCain, so I guess he assumes I am a racist.
I think there are many McCain people who just want to vote privately for their own reasons. If McCain wins because of the “racist” vote, the voters can always lie about how they voted. Why argue that no win charge?
Torpidprime can read his selective polls and have orgasms. We’ll see.
UCLA finds that FDR’s policies prolonged the Great Depression by seven years:
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/FDR-s-Policies-Prolonged-Depression-5409.aspx
What policies?
1) Artificially expanding the power of unions.
2) Various policies to destroy market competition and all but force business into collusion (price fixing) under the direction of government planners.
And, of course, what Hoover policies made it a Depression to begin with?
a) Raising taxes in a recession.
b) Protectionism, launching an international trade war.
And what will President Obama’s top economic priorities be?
a) Raising taxes in a recession.
b) Protectionism, launching an international trade war.
1) Artificially expanding the power of unions (the check-card bill).
2) Various policies to destroy market competition and all but force business into collusion (price fixing) under the direction of government planners.
It’s the 1930s again, folks! Remember: “Best. Election. Ever.”
Sorry, I meant to say the card-check bill, LOL
The New Fascism at work. You disagree with me (or with Obama’s policies), therefore you must be a racist.
Wendy Button is a leftist. A former Edwards speechwriter is the appropriate label for her, not an Obama speechwriter. Check out the last paragraph of her praise for LBJ’s Great Society. You are dupes!
“Whether the pundits on TV or political writers or joke-tellers want to admit it, one of the leading voices for working people and economic justice has been silenced. For the first time in forty years, we had a national leader–agree or disagree with him–who was at least willing to spend every day fighting to strengthen our middle class by 36 million people. John can no longer do that and it’s his fault. But it’s still a loss.
So who will fill this void? While people can rejoice in the fallen messenger, the message still stands.
There are still 36 million Americans who wake up every day in poverty and millions and millions more who live on the edge and most work. There are veterans sleeping under bridges and getting food from dumpsters while we are at war and there’s no outrage. Tent cities pop up because too many are losing their homes. We now own a piece of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and AIG and the economy has stopped working for most Americans. The scandal didn’t end any of these struggles or diminish the work at HalfinTen.org. It didn’t alter a single truth about the inequities in this country. And yet, this void exists.
While the personal grief in all of this is real, the political loss may be the greatest of all if we have to wait another forty years to finish the work President Johnson and the great Sargent Shriver started all those years ago.”
“The Republican message still resonates with the American peopleâ€
Its interesting how the many of the righties on this site have closed their eyes to the damage that the republican party has done to this country:
2 unfunded wars
Run away unfunded spending
Run away debt
Spying
Torture
Loss of international power.
Expanding Government
Economic Incompetence
and on and on and on.
Those are the realties of George Bush, repub congress and the conservative grassroot movement that put them in power.
Now you say things like “conservatives are for less government†when all empirical evidence shows that conservatives have expanded government.
Conservatives do not cut spending, conservatives do not take government out of people’s lives.
Instead conservatives blindly support their party above all else and anyone who dare to criticize are called “TRAITORSâ€
The myth of the American conservative is dead.
Long live the King
ILC – its interesting that you use the words “New Facisismâ€
Let’s ask Kathleen Parker about that, she criticizes McCain she becomes a victim of unparalleled hate
Christopher Buckley does not support McCain and loses his job over it.
Brooks criticizes Palin and gets ridiculed as an “elitistâ€
I will be very surprised if Noonan does not get run through the mud.
These backbones of conservative thought who have failed the right wing “loyalty test†are being purged.
Yet we barley hear a word of dissent from you and others….
In Obama’s infomercial he reportedly plans to build a national paramilitary force equivalent in size, scope and funding as our US military.
Sound familiar? Think Sturmabteilung. Hitler’s SA. Obama’s private army – for what purpose? Intimidation? Control? Coup?
Scary.
Buckley was on his way out. He wasn’t fired. Read his farewell letter rather than allowing Tina Brown to do your thinking for you.
Brooks called Palin (our Bodacious Boudica) a “cancer”. I hardly think “elitist” is reciprocity. I’m sure he’d take it as a compliment and praise the source for recognizing his own inferiority.
Noonan savaged Palin on tape. Her words are the midwife of the Reagan Revolution that helped give birth to Palin. She isn’t Athena, she’s Medea. I will do everything I can to run her through the mud. Where’s the hose?
Oh really?
– Has she been beaten up – like some Obama supporters have physically assaulted McCain supporters?
– Have signs repeatedly been stolen from her lawn?
– Have government officials investigated her, in trying to persecute her?
Please give evidence of this “unparalleled hate”.
…his job at a magazine whose very mission is to fight socialism (Obama), not to promote it.
Really gillie, you are going to have to do a *lot* better. You have no idea what fascism is, apparently.
Has either of them been hanged in effigy – as gay Obama supporters have done to Palin?
Really, gillie. Try, try, try again. There is such a difference between criticism and hate… between debate on the one hand, and actual attempts to stifle people’s dissent (Democrats vs. Joe the Plumber) on the other. Please learn it.
I don’t see any point in trying to argue with gillie, TP, or any other Obamunist cult member. They’ll have their day of celebration on November 5 and then again on January 20, and then the Obama Regime will… rather quickly I expect… sink into a mire of corruption and incompetence.
Obama has never had to make a tough decision in his life. There are hundreds of Tony Rezkos ready to make those decisions for him. He has promised his supporters a massive expansion of government, which can only be paid for by massive tax increases, which will deepen and worsen the recession. Anyone care to guess how he will proceed?
UCLA Economists: FDR’s Policies extended the Depression by Seven Years. What were his policies? Raise taxes, attack the rich, expand government, “spread the wealth around.”
V, now I *know* you don’t read my comments 😉
Damn, I thought someone had brought up that study, but I missed it when I double-checked the comments. I suck at commenting. 🙁
np, I was only kidding 🙂
Pity the poor Palin-hating Drama Queens.
In response to #7 & #18: A great recent book on how FDR prolonged the GD which I just finished:
http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Man-History-Great-Depression/dp/0060936428/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225488324&sr=8-1
BTW, until I began educating myself (I am a conservatory-trained musician…thus, no real education!) I was a liberal. Obama saved me after all, b/c if it hadn’t been for his ridiculous self, I might never have looked into just why I believed what I did. I came to the shocking realization that I am far more conservative (taxes, foreign policy, “victim”politics) than I thought and am supporting McCain/Palin. I’m also a lesbian “artist” type. Thanks, Messiah, for encouraging my self-education. May millions of other liberals seek a similar path of knowledge.
“Joe” the “Plumber” is a fiction, an image, and yet you talk about him as if he’s as real as the Tooth Fairy is to a 5yo. I don’t get it.
And to pretend that Obama’s returning to Clinton years tax rates is redistributionist and socialist, that would mean that America has been socialist for the past century and that Nixon, with his tax rates, was a Communist. But, go on, don’t let realities derail the Straight Talk Express to Nowhere or that smearing operation.
#17. On decisions. Let’s look at just one. A very important one. Obama: Biden. McCain: Palin. Wow. And the country can see for itself that McCain picked Unable. (I figure you would like the “Unable,” since you seem to enjoy the belittling of people by changing their names around, giving them mocking nicknames, and employing other sandbox language games.)
You know, people like jimmy shouldn’t even try to imitate the intelligent. It’s just too sad.
musician, great post. Would that all would seek such a path of enlightenment. Praise him whose stupidity and betrayal has revealed the path of righteousness!
Four years of Obamunism, and all the corruption and lies that go with it, is going to educate a lot of people about the failures of socialism.
That’s one thing we know now that FDR didn’t know going into the thirties… that socialism was doomed to fail.
So we should elect liberals to spend 40 more years and trillions of other people’s money and for what? And where, exactly, are all these “tent cities” popping up?
What I don’t get is that if he’s a nobody and no threat to Comrade Obama, why in the hell would he launch a slash and burn campaign against him? If I were you, and I thank God that I’m not, I’d be more concerne about what kind of dirty, rotten bastard would support that sort of thing and want my vote.
Then again, when you lack shame or a conscience….
Meanwhile, the Obamamessiah’s illegal immigrant aunt is living in public housing, receiving free medical care, and getting welfare payments that Obama and his fellow leftist Democrats voted to give her.
Apparently she also has money to give illegally to his campaign.
No wonder the Obama campaign tried to hide her.
Tonight we have found out that Barack Obama’s aunt and uncle live in a slum in Boston.
a few miles from where the Democratic presidential candidate studied at Harvard, his Kenyan aunt and uncle, immigrants living in modest circumstances in Boston, have a contrasting American story.
Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.
A second relative believed to be the long-lost “Uncle Omar†described in the book was beaten by armed robbers with a “sawed-off rifle†while working in a corner shop in the Dorchester area of the city. He was later evicted from his one-bedroom flat for failing to pay $2,324.20 (£1,488) arrears, according to the Boston Housing Court.
Apparently Barack Obama knows how we should spend our money to help the less fortunate, but Obama himself is not willing to spend his money to help his own family. If he is not willing to help out family how dare he tell us that we need to spread the wealth around to help others. If I want to help others, I will. Obama apparently doesn’t want to even help his family.
Remember the Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency? Barack Obam claimed that America’s greatest failure was selfishness. (He made this comment about America when he was supposed to be discussing HIS own personal failure.) He said about America, â€we still don’t abide by that basic precept of Matthew: that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.†It wasn’t long after that forum that we learned Barack Obama’s brother was living in a shack in Kenya that was so small he practically had to sleep standing up. Evidently that “basic precept†that Barack Obama was talking about applied to all other Americans, not him. He didn’t give a rats ass about his brother, who was living on less than one dollar a month. He could have sent his brother $100 and he would have been set for years, yet Obama didn’t. He feels as though it is the taxpayers responsibility to “spread the wealth aroundâ€, yet he gave his brother nothing. He should practice what he preaches.
Barack Obama has made quite a bit of money in his lifetime, he had the means to help his own family but he chose not to. That is fine, it is his choice, but if he has his way we will not have the same choice that he had. It will be mandated through taxes. Barack Obama wants us to do something that he was unwilling to do and for that I find him a hypocrite, a phony, and a fraud. I also find a person who has the means to help his family and chooses not to, an ASSHOLE.