End of a good week

Friday, a good day for the transition team, a meeting with a very impressive set of economic advisors and then an impressive press conference--how nice it is to see intelligence and honesty in a press conference. No he, appropriately, didn't answer all of the questions, but he didn't lie or bs. What a change. Only one slip up on the attempt at humor re Nancy Regan. Oh well nobody is perfect. While the stock market vacilated up and down during the press conference it ended the day up 248. I think that it will take off on Monday.

What to do about Lieberman?

I hate to say it, since all of my instincts are that Joe Lieberman should be tossed out of the Democratic caucus by the Senate. However, I learned during this campaign that we need "to to disagree without being disagreeable." Despite Lieberman's 180 degree turn today when sugar would melt in his mouth as he praised Barack Obama. I think that, on balance Senator Lieberman should maintain his seniority in the Democratic caucus in the expectation that he will, on most matters, oppose the inevitable filibusters which will seek to stall the Obama program.

75 days to go and things will get better. On terrible economic news, the Dow plunged 443 today on top of 486 yesterday. Better to hit bottom before rather than after Barack takes over. On the international front Russia is saber rattling. What a welcome for the President-elect. I am just waiting for the Obama rally in the stock market which will start once everybody realizes that things are different and this is a new day. So far no missteps by Barack. He will exceed expectations.

Thoughts on the day after

76 days to go, the transition team is not only named, but apparently up and running (as it has been quitly for months). The first appointment--Rahm Emaanuel as chief of staff is a good one, but a loss for the Congress. I was hoping that he would supplant Nancy. Oh well.

With 4 Senate races undecided and several House seats still up for grabs today marks the official beginning of the 2010 Election season. 1/3 of the Senate and a ton of governors are up for election and control of statehouses is essential with reapportionment coming based upon the 2010 census.

The fight about countrol of the Republican Party is always as is the debate as to what it means to be a "real Republican." Apparently a relative of those "real Americans" that we heard about during the campaign. Apparently a meeting is taking place tomorrow to determine the direction of conservatism in the United States. I think that all they have to do is what I did the other day by pulling out and reading my autographed copy of Conscience of a Conservative. My father was given the book by Barry Goldwater who I had originally had met at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel and I couldn't help comparing John McCain and Barry Goldwater. Both were Senators from Arizona,soundly defeated in their quest for the Presidency but Barry Goldwater preserved his dignity and reputation. John McCain compromized his honor by selling out to the religous right and the neocons. The Republican party must return to its Goldwater roots.

YES

YES--YES WE CAN

Waiting for Results and Tomorrow

My predictions before any results are in are Obama with over 350 electoral with a margin of 54-46%. The Democrats to pick up 8 seats in the Senate, but they will lose Lieberman to the Republican. In the house the Democrats will pick up over 30 seats. I pray that I am right in predicting the above because our country cannot stand a McCain victory.

I am convinced that Barack will govern to the center and attempt to unify the country and reduce the extreme partisanship which has too long dominated our political scene. As I write this I am still hearing hate advertisements from the Republicans on CNN and reports of Republican Robo calls. There has to be a better way. I hope that I can get my Republican party back, but the chances do not look good.

Even before the votes are in it is apparent that tomorrow we will be starting a critical period in our history. We have 77 days for the transition when we will get an idea as to how our next President will govern. Whoever wins, the Republican Party has been torn apart and the battle for control of the party will be vicious. Likewise there will be a battle between the far left and centrists of the Democratic Party.

TOMORROW THE 2010 ELECTION CAMPAIGN STARTS along with a battle for control of the Republican Party. However, the first news is good. The Dow Jones rose 305 points in anticipation of an Obama victory. For the record on election day the Dow is at 9,625; NASDEQ 1780 and S%P at 1,005.

History and My Grandchildren--Race

Memories that will be foreign to my grandchildren thanks to Barack Obama.

My first stark memory of blacks in America was in the 1940's when my parents drove from our home in the suburbs of Chicago to Florida and I was exposed to "colored" rest rooms, drinking fountains and the 'rear of the bus". There were no blacks living in our communities--Wilmette, Kenilworth and Winnetka and of course none in my grade school. My exposure to blacks other than in reading Tom Sawyer and other books by Mark Twain,were Joe Lewis and Jackie Robinson.

As I progressed to high school and Stanford in the 1950s was much the same. We did have one black on our high school football team and I do remember playing and beating Morton High School with him the week after there was a riot in Cicero when a black family attempted to move into the area. I had one black friend at Stanford who came from the Chicago area who. I believe, was the first black to play football Stanford and live in a fraternity house at Stanford, but blacks were few and far between on campus. In the 50s most of my generation was apthetic on questions of race relations.

Things were no better when I was commissioned in the Navy. The only blacks that a recall serving on our destroyer were mess cooks and I do not recall any black officers. After the Navy, I attended the University of Chicago Law School which was situated in the midst of a black area on the South Side of Chicago, but I recall no blacks in my law school class which graduated in 1964, nor in the large, liberal orientated lawfirm which I joined in Chicago.

Probably the most significant day in terms of my personal awareness of problems of racial relations other than what I read in the newspapers and on television, was April 4, 1968. I was working on the defense of a criminal antitrust case in Detroit and when I finished summarizing the day's transcript at 11:00 I went out for a drink in a bar near the hotel which we had frequented for months during the trial. I had several drinks and noticed that the atmosphere was not as friendly as usual among the black patrons of the bar--in fact I was the only white there. When I left, as I was walking down the street, I was scooped by two officers who threw me into their car and asked "what I was doing on the streets." It was then that I learned of the assissination of Martin Luther King. (As an aside, 6 months earlier I had restrained an elderly co-council outside a New York restraunt who was attempting to punch Dr King in the nose because he had dinner with a white woman.) As I sat in my hotel for days under martial law as Detroit burned it became apparent that something had to be done about race relations in the United States, but I never dreamed that a black could run for the highest office in the land.

It has been a long time since that night in 1968 and progress has been too slow. As we all know prejudice still exists, particularly in my generation and in certain parts of the country which will remain nameless (It may be that these areas will self identify themselves in the analysis of today's election results). I can only hope that there no longer is a Bradley effect.

However, with the nomination of Barack Obama by the Democratic Party after wining a contentious primary against the Clintons, and after today's election I believe that we have moved to a new era. The candidacy of Barack Obama is not "affirmative action"--he earned it. The long sought goal of a "color blind" society and Constitution appears to be drawing neigh.

Today, because of the candidacy of Barack Obama our country is a better place and today is a historic day when all citizens can vote for a black as President of the United States. The only way this can get better is if he wins. But as I said at the outset the greater significance is that my grandchildren will never experience the prejudice, based upon race, that was a part of my youth. THere are plenty of other prejudices that they will have to deal with and overcome, but hopefully, they will never encounter prejudice based upon the color of a man or woman's skin.

Red State, Blue State

Dear Red States,

If you manage to steal this election too we've decided we're leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with us. In case you aren't aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast.

We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New California.

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.

We get 85% of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.

We get two-thirds of the tax revenues, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home. We do wish you success in Iraq, and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's Quagmire.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines, 90% of all cheese, 90% of the high tech industry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!), most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92% of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico

Peace out,

Blue States

Now Endorses Obama

Set forth below is the Obama endorsement premised upon Palin for VP. I am saving this for when Palen starts her run for President.

Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:09 PM
Subject: A Rare Endorsent - Important

Subject: Fwd: A Rare Endorsement
FYI, The National Organization for Women has endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket
for just the reasons listed below. They usually do not endorse, but in
this case believed it was absolutely necessary to take a stand. If you agree, please pass this on.

If you don't agree, please think about what it says.

Friends,
"We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the
announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the
Republican Party.

We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and
that it is a dangerous farce on the part of a pandering and rudderless
Presidential candidate that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed
beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present
or future descendents. To date, she is against sex education, birth
control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative
energy development, freedom of speech, gun control, the separation of church
and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of real preparation
to become the second - (and possibly first)- most powerful person on the planet.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother,
or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash,
incompetent, and altogether devastating choice for Vice President.

Ms. Palin's political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and from which we've so demonstrably benefited.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or
uphold our interests of American women or American citizens. It is presumed that the
inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters.

We want to disagree, publicly. If you agree that Palin is an irresponsible, even dangerous,choice for VP, please consider participating in this drive. Gentlemen,
send this to the women you know and care for. I know it's tough to understand the way this choice is impacting women, but I have never seen so many women so
outraged, angry and distraught in my entire life. We'd like our voices heard.

A Letter to My Kids--Vote for Barack Obama

Dear Ken, Kevin, Michael, John and Patty,

Over the years I have watched, and argued with each of you as your political philosophies vacillated from left to right and vice versa. However, none of you have ever known me to support a Democrat. I have always been proud to be a fiscally conservative, socially liberal member, in good standing of the Republican Party. We have joked about the many Christmas cards, photographs and invitations to inaugurations that I have received from George Bush and the Republican Party. However, on the eve of this election I wanted to write to explain why I am supporting Barack Obama for President of the United States.

Put starkly, I am very concerned about the mess that my generation is leaving to you and particularly about the future facing my grandchildren. In foreign affairs, John McCain’s views are more hawkish than Bush’s and his principal advisors are Neo-Cons, or lobbyists who have represented foreign countries. Your children, like it or not, will live and work in a globalized world. We must regain the prestige and leadership that Bush has squandered.

On the economy, we risk another great depression. Yet John McCain says “the fundamentals of our economy are strong” then “suspends” his campaign to fly to Washington to showboat. He demonstrated that he was ineffective. The only “solutions” for our economic problems that John McCain promotes are to maintain and even increase the Bush tax cuts. This approach has led to some of you having trouble getting credit or a mortgage, employment insecurity and the plunging stock market that is cutting into retirement savings. Under Bush we have borrowed billions from Japan and China that, unless we change the policies that Bush and McCain support, your children will have to repay with a substantially reduced standard of living.

John McCain, espouses the “trickle down theory” of economics that has led to the current mess. He proposes more tax cuts for the rich and seeks to scare you that Barack Obama will increase your taxes. The truth is that it is John McCain who is proposing to tax the value of the medical benefits you get from your employer in exchange for a $5,000 tax credit to buy your insurance. I seriously doubt that any of you can replace the insurance you are getting from your employers with a $5,000 credit–it will cost you substantially more and I have a seriously doubt if you could get insurance covering preexisting conditions for you or your children if your employers cut back their medical plan since they would no longer be getting a deduction. John McCain has suggested deregulating the medical insurance industry just as was done for the banking industry. No thank you Senator McCain.

Since none of you are currently making over $250,000 the Obama tax plan will give you a tax decrease as opposed to an increase. What Senator Obama has proposed is to increase the top tax bracket from 35% to 39.6%–what it was under Clinton. Such a tax increase is neither socialism nor a redistribution of wealth. While you were growing up, I remember a top tax bracket of 90% and 70%. In those days we paid for wars and government rather than borrowing the money. As your grandfather used to say “the country has been good to us and we have an obligation to contribute to the common good by willingly paying taxes, government service and/or charitable activities.” John McCain’s belief that if we just give tax breaks to the rich and to large corporations the wealth will “trickle down” to the middle class just hasn’t worked.. In the past eight years the income and wealth disparity in the country has spiraled out of control. 20 to 40 million dollar salaries to CEO’s, entertainers and athletes are becoming commonplace while the middle class is struggling to stay above water–a loss of job or an illness away from foreclosure. We are approaching the level of disparity between the top and the bottom that foments revolutions. Even if Barack Obama were to raise your taxes–which he will not–it would be far better than the McCain alternative where the rich would get richer while the middle class suffers.

As you know, on his birthday I wrote a letter to John McCain questioning whether, at age 72, we were both too old to be President. That letter was sent the night before John McCain put temporary electoral advantage ahead of country and brought us Sarah Palin. Since then, I have closely observed John McCain’s demeanor, temperament and judgment. The conclusion is inescapable that he is too old to be President for the reasons stated in my previous letter. However, apart from questions of age, the nature of the campaign that he has presided over disqualifies him for the job. Simply put, John McCain and his “sidekick” have conducted a totally negative campaign based upon character assasnation and lies. Listen to a McCain and Palin speech–it is all about tearing down Obama. You never here the details of a positive program. Just pandering and spite.

In order to move forward we have to end the mindless partisanship that has infected Washington and eliminate the politics of negativism and character assassination. While the McCain camp says that both sides are negative, a review of both sides advertisements, speeches and positions refutes their claim. We have had eight years of lies and spin from the Bush administration. The lies and spin will continue if McCain-Palin are elected.

For all of the forgoing reasons I am supporting Barack Obama for President. This year move than ever, I also believe that it is important in voting for your Senator and Representative to consider their record. Have they voted as a mindless partisan? In particular, do they have a voting record like John McCain of 90% support of Bush policies? If so, you should consider also voting for change in your Senate or House race. Arguments that the Democrats are responsible for the mess in Washington because they controlled the House and Senate for the last two years ignore that progress has been hamstrung by vetoes by George Bush and a record use of filibusters by Senate Republicans. I hope that my Republican Party will see the light, purge the extremist elements and regain the traditions of Eisenhower, Goldwater and Regan. Then I can go back to the party, but for now we need to eliminate the “know nothings” that have infiltrated it.

I am certain that all of you will be voting on Tuesday and I hope this letter convinces you to vote for Barack Obama. Please share it with your spouses and feel free to also share it with your friends if you agree with me that it is vital to future generations that we give Barack Obama the chance to bring real change to our country.


With Love and Hope for the Future, Your Dad


Your Dad

Lindsey Graham on Face the Nation

Senator Lindsey Graham appeared today on Face the Nation and placed his years of credibility on the line in his state by state predictions of a McCain win,his veiw of Senate races particularly in North Carolina and his mindless regurgation of McCain talking points trashing Barack Obama. Senator Graham's support for his friend and colleage John McCain may perhaps be forgiven, but that is not an excuse for spin and lying to the American people. We are hopefully entering an new post partisan era in American politics where spin and lying are not tolerated.

Read the transcript of Lindsey's Graham's statements as set forth below coourtesy of CQ Politics and then compare his statements to reality on Wednesday morning:
"SCHIEFFER: And watching this here in the studio with us in New York, Senator Lindsey Graham , who has been I would think every step of the way with John McCain .

GRAHAM: Pretty much, and I’m about to fall over. I don’t know how he does it.

SCHIEFFER: Well, you heard what David Axelrod said. We see all these polls out there. It’s going to be an uphill fight for John McCain .

GRAHAM: Well, what we’ve seen in the last two weeks is very much a tightening of the race in the states that matter. I really believe that Senator Obama is the virtual incumbent. And if he’s not at 50 percent today in North Carolina, he’s not going to win. We see closing in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Ohio. We have him under 50, in the margin of error. The intensity level in the last couple of weeks has been unbelievable on our side.

Senator Obama is being defined as the most liberal senator in the Senate. That’s his voting record. Joe the plumber kind of put Obama policies on a real face. Senator Biden said we’re likely to be tested by foreign enemies if he becomes president, and people are thinking about who has the most experience.

So without a doubt, in the last two weeks, this race has really closed, and if Senator Obama is under 50 now, I think the undecided voter in these key states will come our way. We’re taking nothing for granted. We’re campaigning hard.

SCHIEFFER: Well, what about Pennsylvania? You’ve spent a lot of time there. A lot of people said that you shouldn’t have spent so much time there.

GRAHAM: Well, I think we’re going to spend more time there. We’re going to be there a lot.

Senator Clinton was ahead by two and won by 10. The voter demographics in Pennsylvania set up very much for the centrist candidate that Senator McCain is. Senator Obama is becoming more and more an out-of-the-mainstream, left-leaning economic candidate when it comes to redistribution of the wealth, and we see in our narratives that that is sticking, that people have a second look at Senator Obama in Pennsylvania, and they question his economic policies, his role of the court, and his experience to make us safe.

And, you know, I really do believe Pennsylvania is going to be very indicative of Missouri and North Carolina. The voter in North Carolina and Missouri that is coming our way is also coming our way in Pennsylvania.

SCHIEFFER: David Axelrod is also talking about winning North Carolina, which no Democrat has carried since, what, ‘64, I guess. You have got a Republican candidate there, Elizabeth Dole , who is in terrible trouble. How do you feel about that?

GRAHAM: I’m from South Carolina. The water is not that much different. So I said in Fayetteville that I would beat Michael Phelps in swimming before Barack Obama wins North Carolina. And I can’t swim. I am standing by that. I know North Carolina. John McCain will win North Carolina. John McCain ’s politics is -- fit North Carolina like a glove.

Senator Obama is a fine man, but he is indeed the most liberal senator in the United States Senate. On economic policy, this redistributing the wealth, you’re moving numbers all over the board of who will get taxed, increased spending.

And people like checks and balances. Pelosi and Reid unchecked is not a very good feeling for the people of North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Ohio. You don’t want the most liberal Democratic senators marrying up with the most liberal United States senator to become president. There will be no checks and balances.

SCHIEFFER: How does Florida look to you right now?

GRAHAM: Florida looks good. We have moved in the north. Our vote was lagging. The intensity by Republicans in our poll now exceeds that by Democrats. The one thing we lacked for a long time was intensity by Republicans. And I’ve never seen movement like this in my life. Every office we have throughout these states, I’ve just talked about, are being overflowed. People are excited about Senator McCain, and quite frankly they’re afraid of the liberal policies that would come from Pelosi, Reid and Obama.

SCHIEFFER: Do you think Sarah Palin turned out to be a drag on the ticket, like some of the polls suggest?

GRAHAM: She has really helped. Look at the numbers. David was talking about numbers. Wherever she goes, she fills up the place. A lot of base intensity. At the end of the day, it will be up to John McCain to persuade the independent voter. The undecided independent voter will decide this race. John McCain has a 24-year record of being a centrist, well prepared to be commander in chief, and Senator Obama has been in the left lane of politics all of his life, and that is breaking through.

GRAHAM: The contrast between McCain and Obama is now taking shape versus Bush. We’re looking forward instead of looking backwards. And that’s been very good for us.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Senator Graham, thanks for being with us this morning. We’ll be keeping up with you along the way. And we’ll be back in one minute to talk about all those races for the Senate, and there are some hot ones out there, in just a minute."

In the past I have always considered Senator Graham as a moderate with a future in the leadership in the Republican party. No longer. While it is a shame that Senator Graham will probably be reelected to another 6 years in the Senate on Tuesday, he has forfeited any respect or public influence that he has accumulated over his career.