Obama '08?

Obama-McCain Polls
by: tremayne
Mon Aug 25, 2008 at 10:19

There's a new poll by CNN showing a 47-47 tie between Barack Obama and John McCain. A month ago there was that odd USA Today/Gallup poll showing McCain with a 4-point lead. As Democrats we naturally worry that, well, maybe Obama will join Al Gore and John Kerry in the ranks of "almost" Presidents. So the refrain, Obama please don't suck (catchy tune).

But here's the big picture on the Obama-McCain polling. Pollster.com lists 112 polls between the two since Obama captured the Democratic nomination in early June. It breaks down like this:

Obama ahead: 101

McCain ahead: 6

Ties: 5

Now you might think all those polls showing McCain ahead or tied are very recent but you'd be wrong. The rare non-leading Obama polls go back all the way to mid-June when an ABC poll showed McCain leading by 1 and a Gallup poll later that month showed a tie. There were several in July like that and a few in August. Folks, when a 101 out of 112 polls show you with a lead, even a narrow "within the margin of error" type lead, you are ahead.

OCCOM BILL wrote:

His voting record appears to be a mixed bag (he voted for that godawful bankruptcy bill, but he's from Delaware, the banking center of the country, so that may be an extenuating circumstance), but in any case, it wont be him setting the policy.

Alright, I admit to some very selective cherry picking, but are you sure you would vote for a second in command, so to speak, because he won't be setting policy?

OCCOM BILL wrote:

He proposed a 3-state solution to Iraq while the hyper-partisans on both sides of the aisle just bickered about should or shouldn't have.

His voting record appears to be a mixed bag (he voted for that godawful bankruptcy bill, but he's from Delaware, the banking center of the country, so that may be an extenuating circumstance), but in any case, it wont be him setting the policy.

I wanted to add that I agree with this poster from Openleft -

Quote:

But here's the big picture on the Obama-McCain polling. Pollster.com lists 112 polls between the two since Obama captured the Democratic nomination in early June.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7715

OCCOM BILL wrote:

But this thing you're pointing out here is exactly the one thing that I'm most frowning about. Biden's plan to just cut Iraq in three parts, and accord the Sunnis and Shiites each their own state, was madness, absolute and utter madness. Outside the Sunni Triangle and the SHi'ite south they live right through one another across the country, and that includes Bagdad, split into Sunni, Shi 'ite and a few remaining mixed neighbourhoods. What in heavens name would splitting the country up have involved? Absolute recklessness. And he stubbornly kept pushing the idea too.

Perhaps I wasn't clear here. I don't believe a 3-state solution to be a good idea, never thought it was tenable. I used it as an example to show the man

• Has enough brains to think for himself.
  
• Has enough courage to go his own way.
  
• Isn't merely a partisan hack, towing the party line.

These are qualities I look for and admire in a leader.

As usual, Bill provides us with proof of his idiocy. He supports McCain, who was in the bottom one percent in his class at the academy, is showing signs of senility, or, perhaps, just stupidity. He thought that Iraq shared a border with Afghanistan, and didn't know that Czechoslovakia has not existed for a decade. He admits boredom with economics and professed an ignorance relative to the computer. But, this is Bill's choice for the presidency.