Poor, feeble Richter ...

It's not that I detest him ... I just don't take him seriously. He's a lost political soul and there's just no coming back from where he's gone. I mean this is a guy whom thinks Lenin's ideology is just misunderstood compassion and that Lincoln ranks second just behind Carter in a list of our greatest presidents. There's a reason Titus and I have spent hours with our voices raised as often as our pints - we know its an honest fight, read: there is real opportunity for one or the other to be swayed by a well formulated argument. We enter into the discussion with the belief that each of our pre established ideological commitments and biases are penetrable due to a larger commitment to intellectual honesty and common sense. Richter does not fall into that category, despite being a nice guy.

Do me a favor. Tonight in his attempt to convince you of Obama's infallibility, ask him if at its core, with its technical definition properly applied, is "communism" a good or noble thing? I'd wager his infamous croc dollar that he answers "yes." Or at the very least he will hem and haw on its technical definition, ask if you're subtracting it as its been traditionally practiced under authoritarian regimes, etc, etc. What you will not get as an answer is an unequivocal "NO." And that brings me to my broader point: the Richter's of the world believe, they really truly believe, that America, and to a larger extent the world, can rid itself of all poverty, all war, all prejudices, all homelessness, all absences of health insurance, all acts of violence and misdeeds, and that THE Utopian society IS achievable. And worse, they don't trust the individual person to do it, thus the necessity of a government remedy to each of these ailments. You see, they think the "right" leader just hasn't come along to implement such a goal. In their mind its not that the Utopian society is unachievable, or that socialism is a failed approach, its that conservatives have gotten in the way, and the right type of leader bold and sharp enough to make it happen just hasn't come along yet. But when he does, THEN people like me will see. I'll see that my ideology of rugged individualism, a small federal government, a robust military, and emphasis on the sanctity of life was but an out dated obstacle in achieving that Utopia. It doesn't matter how many times their "dreams" of what a society should look like, fail. How many times it results in a diminished quality of life or how many times it results in an authoritarian regime, they simply will not let loose of their naive idealism that a Utopian society is achievable. And worse, if you were to some how convince him of the error of his ways he would argue that even if socialistic Utopianism is predestined to fail, the mark of a quote, "good society", is to at least try. And this, in my opinion, describes the bulk of the youth vote supporting Barak Obama. When you claim he's Lenin with a better PR agent, they don't consider that a bad thing.

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It would seem that Mac has received his convention/Palin bounce. He now leads Barak 46 to 42% in today's USA Today/Gallop Daily Tracking Poll, with a margin of error of 3%. Of course that's still very close, but that's just the point. With troubling signs in the economy, with Bush's approval ratings being just under 30%, with it being a bad election cycle for the GOP brand, the Democrat nominee should be leading by double digits. McCain's campaign thus far has been executed brilliantly, From the ads comparing his celebrity to the likes of Britney Spears, to the Palin pick ("enthusiasm" among registered Republicans has almost doubled in 2 weeks - from 24 to 42%, nearly catching Obama's at 52%), to emphasising his personal sacrifices to his nation.

Regarding the "Muslim gaff" ... for those of you that don't know, Obama was being interviewed by George Stephonopolous of ABC News and Barak accused "FOX News and other conservative commentators" of flat calling him Muslim in order to scare voters. He then went on to acknowledge that McCain has not attacked quote, "my Muslim faith." George interrupts and corrects him with the word Christian, and Barak then corrects himself. Now, its clear what he meant to me. Mac had made no such accusation and he meant to say that, but it came out as if he was acknowledging that he was in fact a Muslim. First off, no employee on FOX has called him a Muslim. Second, we all know what "other conservative commentators" means: Limbaugh, Hannitty, Beck, etc. That would be the first stringers in "other commentators." None of them have called him a Muslim either. When it comes to secondary or tertiary right wing radio who the hell knows what they've said or haven't said, and who the hell cares? Savage, maybe. But even he is in that secondary status. Barak should be careful here not to be too clever by half. If you go around accusing specific people of doing something, you'd better be able to provide a specific example, and he did not. And can not. Its a red herring meant to lump ANY legitimate criticism of he and his policies in within illegitimate ones, i.e. bigots. It's an old political tool, and a hackish one at that. And FYI Barak, its not any Muslim connection with your faith that's the problem. Its the Christian one - in Jeremiah Wright - that has caused you problems. If I were you I wouldn't even enter into a discussion on faith and religion at all, less you risk revisiting the Wright controversy.

At any rate I consider that "gaff" a small matter because McCain won't use it nor allow his staff to use it and typically such a decision has a way of trickling down as defacto policy within the independent 521's. So, my unsolicited advice to MAC - keep doing what you're doing brother, highlighting just how extreme Barry is and just how mainstream you are ... its working.

Oh, and a side note on "journalism." It would seem that after Tom Brokaw publicly complained about the blatant hard left turn the NBC News organization has taken, Chris Matthews and Keith Oberhmann have been demoted. They will no longer anchor any election or debate news coverage. They are restricted to air time only on their respective shows. You think NBC? Here you had Oberhmann on Thursday night hosting MSNBC's RNC convention coverage, and then the next night on his show naming John McCain "the worst person in the world", and calling him "delusional." Not to mention, their convention coverage came in dead last in the ratings (and is probably the real reason they got canned on election coverage). Good riddens Kieth ....