“….the relevance of the financial situation. ….very little that could be done about that.”, sayeth OlBloody.
-It seems to me that Obama (received most Fannie/Fredie funds, lead Acorn(?) attorney in legal extortion of banks WRT subprime loans, shady Rebizo financial connection) and other Dems. could have been effectively attacked on this front as soon as it hit the fan if McCain and Co. were on the ball. Maybe Mc. didn’t want to attack other members of the (senate) club?….I don’t know.

I think you guys are vastly underestimating the relevance of the financial situation.

With the Palin choice, McCain had easily surged past Obama in the polls. Then the economy had its partial melt-down, and his numbers went under. I suspect that, had that not happened, that the Obama campaign would still be trying to play catch-up with McCain. I suspect that the numbers would still be close, but entirely in McCain’s favor.

And there is literally very little that could be done about that. The party in power in the admin usually gets the blame for a tits-up economy. That it’s at least as much, if not more, the fault of the Dems is beside the point. Nothing McCain could have done would have countered those financial issues well. And they’ve actually used it fairly effectively, making the case that you don’t want an untested, untried PotUS with screwy economic ideas in charge.

So, while I’m not a huge fan of McCain, I think you’re vastly underestimating the effectiveness of some of his choices (i.e., Palin, who was a briliant stroke, no matter what the butterfly conservatives say), and understimating the relevance of factors largely outside his control.

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Yeah, McCain is a lousy candidate. But Obama is so much worse along almost every dimension that I am happy to vote for McCain. I don’t really care if Obama has run a better campaign than McCain. I care that Israel doesn’t get nuked and that we don’t abandon Iraq and that we have a chance of seeing tax cuts and expanded energy production. I’d rather have McCain in charge and making mistakes while going in basically the right direction, as opposed to Obama competently taking the country in the wrong direction. (And running a campaign, where you don’t have to deal with Congressional opposition, is hardly the same thing as being President.)

That defect, not to put too fine a point on it, is his grandiose self-image combined with (what appears to me anyway as) a weak intellect and political understanding. I think it was pretty clear that Obama’s character and history were what would get McCain elected; not McCain’s virtues. While having an opponent as flawed as Barrack Obama is at so many different levels, it is incredible that McCain could not frame, could not explain to the electorate, who Obama is and has been. McLain has been weak and negligent in his campaign and has done a disservice to his country. The “straight talk express” could not accomplish what seems like a fairly straightforward, simple task.

It boggles the mind and prompts suspicion of weird conspiracies and unstated agendas; that is, if character, intellectual, and psychological flaws are ruled out.

2. Putin will rebuild the Russian Empire reuniting the pieces lost when the USSR collapsed. He will start with the Ukraine and Georgia, the Belarus, Moldavia, the -stans and Azerbaijan and Armenia which Obama will concede as always a historical part of Russia. Then Poland, Checkoslovakia and Yugoslavia, Hungary, Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. Somewhere along the way Obama may confront him.

3. Iran will secretly supply nukes to Hamas, Hezballah, and Al Qaida. They will be used on Boston, New York, Los Angeles and SF. Obama will appoint a commission to hold hearings.

4. The Brown shirts will maintain order led by Bill Ayers.