Nerve Endings Firing Away

Ronald Reagan used to say that the most frightening nine words in the English language were “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” That is no longer true. This year, the most frightening eight words are “I’m John McCain and I approved this message” [source].

Television pundits have never been so out of touch with the ground realities as in this election. Even yesterday when the final debate concluded, the pundits seemed to weigh in and hand victory (whatever that means) to John McCain.

The results of the insta-polls and focus groups comprising of seemingly undecided voters soon began trickling in and the conclusions couldn’t be any more different. It was as if the pundits and the voters were watching two different debates. Even the Fox News focus group organized by Frank Luntz gave it to Obama and revealed that Joe the plumber and Bill Ayers lines did not work. In fact, the dials were the highest when Obama talked about health care. It is as if America is begging for socialized medicine. This morning Joe Scarborough tried to envision a scenario if the current toss-up states like Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida went to McCain in spite of the fact that he trails by 3-4 points right now. Chuck Todd the numbers guy couldn’t resist shaking his head at such blatant naiveté. The election may be far from over and it may be too soon to declare an Obama victory but to reasonably contemplate a reversal on current realities is simply illogical. It is in the media’s interest to keep this race close otherwise who would bother tuning in every evening to see irrational thoughts being spewed in contrast to actual voters opinion.

Occasionally some pundit will stumble on the reality that this election is probably the worst time to be a Republican and no matter how much McCain tries to run away from Bush, he is tied to his economic policies. As Joe Klein astutely puts it in the above quoted paragraph, regardless of what the message is as long as it is said by McCain, the voters aren’t buying it this time. To understand the voter frustration with the current administration and Republicans, this report by Ben Smith makes for interesting reading. The conclusion – voters may believe McCain’s negative attacks and even hate Obama but they will still vote for him instead of McCain. Sadly, the only thing a grumpy old man can do is roll his eyes and appear angry [YouTube link]. To paraphrase the Joker, why so angry? Never mind, we know why.