By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:30 pm October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Blogging, Foreign Affairs, Israel, Jewish, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 4 Comments 

So far, I haven’t found any great one-click widgets, banners or badges from which voters can browse directly to a tally of which newspapers around the country have endorsed which of the two presidential candidates.  However, for starters, there are two resources I’ve found:

Wikipedia’s endorsement 2008 coverage: There’s a good amount of information at this page, including the current tally of 17-7 in favor of Barack Obama.

Editor & Publisher tally: They write that they’ll be keeping a “chart” but it’s more a running narrative than a visual graphic.

Both sources provide information and according to E & P, there are still about 300 more papers from which we should see endorsments.  There are only three Sundays left, by the way, before election day.

By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:05 pm October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Endorsements, John McCain, Media, WH2008 | Comments Off 

I’ve asked this before and I still don’t see any outrage, despite the mounting evidence that Todd Palin actually has had as much if not more involvement in the governor’s running of the Alaska government than Bill Clinton was only speculated to have if Hillary Clinton were actually to win the 2008 presidential race.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Todd Palin would become a familiar voice for the Palin administration. Independent legislative investigator Stephen Branchflower’s report on Monegan’s subsequent firing — in part, the investigation found, because he wouldn’t fire Wooten — contains an exhaustive record of Todd Palin’s frequent and intimate presence in the day-to-day workings of his wife’s administration.

Testimony compiled as part of the inquiry, and The Times’ own review of e-mail logs from the administration, show that Todd Palin was a fixture in the governor’s office, spending about half of his time there. He attended Cabinet meetings that are supposed to be closed to the public, and was copied on a wide variety of high-level government correspondence on issues such as contract negotiations with the police officers union, Alaska Native issues and the privatization of a dairy near the Palins’ hometown of Wasilla.

Where are the Billary worriers on this? Frank Rich included – I would like to see him write a column that applies the thinking he had about the Clintons to the Palins.  Come on, Mr. Rich, I know you can do it.  But why aren’t you?

By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:08 pm October 12th, 2008 in Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Vice President, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorses Barack Obama for president:

Over the past nine months, Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has emerged as the only truly transformative candidate in the race. In the crucible that is a presidential campaign, his intellect, his temperament and equanimity under pressure consistently have been impressive. He has surrounded himself with smart, capable advisers who have helped him refine thorough, nuanced policy positions.

In a word, Mr. Obama has been presidential.

Meanwhile, Mr. McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, became the incredible shrinking man. He shrank from his principled stands in favor of a humane immigration policy. He shrank from his universal condemnation of torture and his condemnation of the politics of smear.

He even shrank from his own campaign slogan, “Country First,” by  selecting the least qualified running mate since the Swedenborgian shipbuilder Arthur Sewall ran as William Jennings Bryan’s No. 2 in 1896.

Please go there to read more about why the editorial board endorses Obama for president. I particularly appreciated the explicit recognition of John McCain’s limiting binary approach:

Experience aside, the 25-year difference in the ages of Mr. McCain, 72, and Mr. Obama, 47, is important largely because Mr. Obama’s election would represent a generational shift. He would be the first chief executive in more than six decades whose worldview was not formed, at least in part, by the Cold War or Vietnam.

He sees the complicated world as it is today, not as a binary division between us and them, but as a kaleidoscope of shifting alliances and interests. As he often notes, he is the son of a Kenyan father and a mother from Kansas, an internationalist who yet acknowledges that America is the only nation in the world in which someone of his distinctly modest background could rise as far as his talent, intellect and hard work would take him.

Of course, it is this shift, itself, that most frightens some voters because some people will never seek out change unless they are absolutely too uncomfortable otherwise to function.  In the case of personal psychology, that happens to be a clinical condition that often needs attention. But in the case of an electorate, it appears to be a condition the McCain/Palin campaign is only deepening, at great cost to their candidacy and possibly to our country’s ability to move forward on any one of a number of levels.

By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:42 pm October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Elections, Endorsements, Joe Biden, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin, WH2008 | 1 Comment 

I missed this one from the Canton Repository, and hattip Don’t Trip Over This Blog for a comment left here that provided the link.  From the Repository:

Some great signal of a new beginning is needed. Obama, far more than his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain, can send that signal. And then President Obama can get down to business. In addition to wanting to see a new tone in Washington, we have more confidence that an Obama administration can steer the country onto a sounder course than a McCain administration can.

In the realm of foreign policy, Obama said unequivocally in 2002 that a U.S. invasion of Iraq would be a mistake, as The Repository did. It was not a popular conviction, but it was the right one. McCain supported the pre-emptive war, as did the vast majority of Congress.

Now, as the United States labors to extricate our troops, McCain echoes President Bush’s aversion to withdrawal timetables, which Iraqi leaders say they want. Obama also wants to set withdrawal deadlines, making his prospects better than McCain’s for negotiating a timely U.S. exit.

There’s more good logic there, but here’s the conclusion:

We believe that Obama’s intellect, caution, levelheadedness and calm demeanor make him better suited to lead a nation that must respond to many unwelcome changes with yet more change. The Repository endorses Sen. Barack Obama for president.

So far, the three Ohio endorsements I’ve read also show intellect, levelheadedness and a calm demeanor in their decision-making. Who’d've thunk it?

By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:16 am October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Elections, Endorsements, John McCain, Media, Ohio, Politics, Voting, WH2008 | Comments Off 

There is no surprise for me in reading Down With Tyranny’s analysis of the result you get when a presidential ticket has a clash in the styles and desires of its potential Maverick in Charge, John McCain and Maverick Waiting to be in Charge, Sarah Palin:

She’s been second-guessing campaign decisions– like pulling resources out of Michigan– and she has been publicly complaining that the campaign isn’t using enough of the good old fashioned GOP smear and fear, let alone too much of it. And although normal Americans have an unfavorable view of Palin and she isn’t helping him attract women or independents to the ticket, she is much, much more popular with what’s left of the Republican base. McCain “regularly has to endure the spectacle of members of the audience leaving for their cars when it is his turn to speak at joint rallies.” If she isn’t the ultimate example of bad judgment on his part, I don’t know what is. She’s exactly the kind of choice that would have made an earlier version of John McCain say he couldn’t support this ticket!

The blog specifically referenced and quoted from this TimesOnline article called, “McCain tussles with Palin over whipping up a mob mentality.”  Although it quotes a McCain aide as saying that debate in strategy is natural, what we’re seeing sure doesn’t look like they get to any reasonable conclusions about how to proceed.

This passage from the article highlights the referenced “tussle”:

McCain believes the attacks have spun out of control. At a rally in Lakeville, Minnesota, the Arizona senator became visibly angry when he was booed for calling Obama “a decent person”. He took the microphone from an elderly woman who said she disliked Obama because he was “Arab”, saying, “No ma’am, no ma’am”.

When another questioner demanded that he tell the truth about Obama, he said: “I want everybody to be respectful and let’s be sure we are.”

However, his campaign has stepped up its negative advertising against Obama, accusing him of lying about his relationship with William Ayers, the leader of the Weather Underground group responsible for bombing the Capitol and the Pentagon in the early 1970s, who is now a Chicago professor.

…

John Weaver, a former senior McCain adviser who left the campaign when it almost imploded in the summer of last year, questioned the purpose of the attacks.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, that the differences with Senator Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared with Senator McCain,” he said.

Read more

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:26 am October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, Ethics, John McCain, Politics, Sarah Palin, WH2008 | 5 Comments 

On the heels of the Dayton Daily News endorsing Barack Obama for president comes the Toledo Blade’s endorsement of Obama too:

Like the choice 76 years ago, next month’s election is one in which voters have the power to cast aside the failed, greed-driven principles of governance and economics that have led to the current downturn and return to an equilibrium in which hard work is again rewarded by a decent standard of living for the average American.To be sure, the path to recovery won’t be easy for the next president. There are ominous signs that the economy will continue to falter before confidence can be restored in the financial system. The leadership required to contain and reorder the economic mess created by eight years of heedless deregulation will have to be both inspired and inspiring.

We believe the person best equipped by temperament and intellect to firmly grasp the reins of government and guide it safely forward in these uncertain times is Barack Obama.

Other highlights of the editorial:

-comparing him to Abraham Lincoln

-”…his background has been thoroughly inspected and dissected by the press and a political opposition dedicated to keeping him from the White House.”

-”…Senator Obama also has shown himself to possess steely self-control, a single-minded focus, and endearing good humor in the face of specious attacks on everything from his biracial origin to his boyhood upbringing to his acquaintances during his political career in rough-and-tumble Chicago.”

-”Senator Obama already has demonstrated that he is a man of the future in the way he has inspired a new generation of voters to become involved in the political process and to actively strive for a better tomorrow.”

And about McCain?

Sen. John McCain, by nature, has shown himself to be incapable of providing the American people with an optimistic vision of the future. Firmly rooted in the failed politics and policies of the past, he cannot guide us on a path he does not see.

I am not a regular reader of the Blade or its editorials, so I hope that some of the bloggers and readers whom I know are in the Lucas County area will please chime in, whereever they are on the spectrum, to put this editorial in perspective.  It rings true for me, but I’m voting for Obama already.

By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:05 am October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Elections, Endorsements, John McCain, Media, Ohio, Politics, WH2008 | 2 Comments 

AmericaBlog continues the Sunday Show Palin Watch and notes that we will again be Palinless today. However, for Ohioans, last week, we had Sherrod Brown on This Week and this week, Rob Portman, former Congressman (OH-2, now represented by Republican Jean Schmidt) and OMB director and frequently mentioned Candidate for What We Don’t Know Yet in 2010 Ohio Elections, will be on Meet The Press.

Exactly a month ago, Sarah Palin commented that she thinks Barack Obama might regret not choosing Hillary Clinton to be his running mate (I highly doubt and doubted that, for the record).  However, I’d like to suggest that John McCain feels regret for not having selected Rob Portman, among others, as his running mate.  People liked the Portman prospect.  Newsweek’s Stumper gave Portman “strong odds”:

Pretty strong. Portman meets each of the usual requirements for a McCain running mate and excels in a couple of categories where few (if any) other candidates can compete. At 52, he’s younger than the 71-year-old McCain–perhaps the key prerequisite for a fellow who’d be the oldest first-termer ever inaugurated–without being young enough or green enough to undercut the GOP’s “Obama is too inexperienced to lead” line of attack (like, say, Bobby Jindal, who’s 37). He’s the only feasible Republican pick from McCain’s No. 1 must-win swing state (it will be nearly impossible for the senator to reach 270 electoral votes if Obama swipes Ohio). He boasts 89 percent lifetime American Conservative Union rating that should satisfy skittish right-wingers and help solidify McCain’s shaky conservative support. Meanwhile, his mild Midwestern temperament and (McCainian) reluctance to throw bombs on social issues will likely prevent moderate swing voters from running in the other direction. On the “more idiosyncratic” side of the ledger, Portman served as the stand-in for Joe Lieberman and John Edwards in Dick Cheney’s 2000 and 2004 debate practice sessions–and apparently performed “just brilliant(ly), according to GOP strategist Mary Matalin. “He has a very fun theatrical capacity,” she told Salon. “He can get into the character.” Given that the vice-presidential debates provide a No. 2 with his or her only opportunity to really effect the election–remember Lloyd Bentsen obliterating Dan Quayle?–McCain might be well-served by tapping the only veep contender with a proven track record on the debate stage.

And that’s just the first paragraph of the analysis.  I have to say, I was actually anxious about a Portman pick.  I guess I should thank John McCain for lowering my level of anxiety.

As you read everything Stumper writes, you have got to be shaking your head realizing:

#1 Obama’s decision-making ability is excellent because Joe Biden’s strengths have proven beneficial in the ways that Stumper describes Portman’s strengths would have been.

#2 Sarah Palin possesses only one of the myriad qualities mentioned by stumper: ability to excite the base.

How’s that working for you, Senator McCain?

By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:35 am October 12th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, John McCain, Media, Ohio, Politics, Sarah Palin, Sherrod Brown, Vice President, Voting, WH2008 | Comments Off