Sunday, October 26, 2008

A Chilling Guarantee by McCain

On today's Meet the Press, John McCain "guaranteed" that he would win in a squeaker.

"'I guarantee you that two weeks from now, you will see this has been a very close race, and I believe that I'm going to win it,' McCain told interim "Meet" moderator Tom Brokaw. 'We're going to do well in this campaign, my friend. We're going to win it, and it's going to be tight, and we're going to be up late.'"

The article goes on to say that the most recent polls are showing a tightening race, but I am not sure about that. It could be Obama's short absence from the campaign trail to visit his grandmother might have taken him off the top of people's minds for a day or so. The polls can't change that radically in two days.

But what does it mean that McCain has so much bravado that he is willing, like Joe Namath, to guarantee a victory? Does he know something we don't? Does he know what the GOP may have planned for all those hackable Diebold voting machines out there? Does he expect a massive voter suppression effort by the underground right-wing forces to whom he's sold his soul?

This pronouncement shouldn't bother me, but it does. Sure, he might just be putting a good face on his situation. He might be trying to buck up his supporters. Or maybe he really knows he's going to win.

We must not let this happen. If there is another stolen election I think half this country will rise up in revolt. And I'll be right there with them. We must make sure that every Democratic vote is counted, and every Obama supporter gets to the polls and votes. We cannot take any chances this year. Too much is at stake.

12 comments:

Dorothy said...

Elections are very unpredictable and I am not going to be as to the outcome. Even more concerning is I still can't decide who to vote for and I'm sad to say many of us feel the same way...so in the end we won't know until those levers are pulled and counted. So stock up on Pepto Bismo.....sorry if I spelled it wrong..

Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com

Mauigirl said...

Hi Dorothy - I'm wondering, what is keeping you from deciding between the two of them? They have very different philosophies and world views. I'd be interested to know. Thanks for your comment!

Unknown said...

Well, first off, McCain sort of has to say he's going to win. I would see this actually as a bad thing that he says it's so close when it obviously isn't.

Obama drew a crows of 100K today. He has 130+ major news outlets endorsing him. I just can't imagine how McCain (whose ill-run campaign is now apparently suffering a lot of in-fighting) can pull this one off, short of a major election fraud like 2000 & 2004. However, we did learn from those (with the help of a convicted GOP voter fraud specialist who paid for his crimes and has been on Maddow's show a couple of times) stolen elections how to best curtail some of the practices.

So, it's going to be harder for them to steal it AND also many REAL pundits (not the idiots on FauxNoise) have said that whoever is ahead on October 15 will win it. So, there's that.

And, I like to keep up on the electoral college at fivethirtyeight.com - keeps me sane.

I could be wrong but it seems to me that people who haven't yet figured out who to vote for want someone who will fulfill everything they want, not just share a basic ideology. Since that sort of representation is never going to exist, they have a tough time deciding. Just my own theory though :)

Mauigirl said...

Thanks, Helen, for "talking me down" as Rachel Maddow would say! I do think everything points to an Obama victory. I just get nervous sometimes! Interestingly, in the Meet the Press (which I later saw in full in a video posting) after the interview, Brokaw asked one of the commentators what he would say the Obama camp would be afraid of, and he said "It's going too well, everything can't be this good." I guess that's my feeling as well! So I get worried.

Anonymous said...

Helen makes lots of sense. I think most of us will feel much better after the election, but until then, it's best to consider the source in all that we hear.

Jo said...

This is one time in history when I would not want to be an American. I don't think either candidate is suitable for the job, and I would not be able to vote for either one of them.

If something seems too good be be true, it usually is.

The whole world is praying for you folks.

Anonymous said...

i think mccain's trying to put on a brave face. also, he hasn't given up, and really he shouldn't since the election hasn't taken place yet.

i think it's quite smart of obama to convince people to vote early. this allows them hopefully to lock up their vote, as well as divert human traffic away from election day itself, where many things can and do go wrong.

Comrade Kevin said...

I think at times the media will advance a narrative meant to combat the idea that it's flagrantly in support of Obama.

And it's good for us as well to acknowledge that counting our chickens and getting overconfident is the quickest road to losing.

Kup said...

Someone should have told him that he does not have 2 weeks to close the gap.

Anonymous said...

You may be on to something with McCain knowing something we don't. Hos campaign is imploding and he's smiling giving these bullshit speeches. You would expect better campaign from such a seasoned politician like McCain. The fix may be in, not to hand McCain the election but to give Bush unfettered authority when the rioting begins.

libhom said...

I think you are perfectly reasonable to be concerned about the possibility of a stolen election, given 2000 and 2004.

Anonymous said...

It wouldn't surprise me if the fix was in. Remember, the head of Diebold promised to deliver some state (Iowa?) to Bush in 04 and winning that state made all the difference in that election.

Did you see Mark's post on 'goinglikesixty blog about the rules if something happens to the elected president before he is sworn in?