Terrible, Just Terrible

Can anyone out there cheer me up today?

After watching the presidential debate last night I am feeling supremely discouraged. I thought McCain did extremely well (except for the mortgage buy-up scheme--where did that come from?), but the questions were generally dismal, covering ground that has already been covered and sending both candidates into many of their same old tired talking points rather than allowing voters to gain a deeper understanding of what these two men are about.

And the Fox News focus group just made me want to scream. Where do they get these people? Are Americans truly this dumb? (On second thought, don't answer that.) The banality of the responses was an embarrassment. To hear people talking about how they "felt" Obama "spoke directly" to them and laid out clearly what he would do as president while McCain "didn't answer the questions" makes me wonder whether we listened to the same debate. I would bet money that if pressed for specifics on their reactions rather than being allowed to ramble about their feelings some of those people would quickly clam up.

When is McCain going to start showing the American people the real Barack Obama? The one who has deep and long-standing alliances, not merely associations (borrowing from Thomas Sowell now) with many, many people of questionable judgement, character, and patriotism? People will say he's desperate and starting to play dirty, but I think there are many people out there who have not been following this campaign for the last few years as some of us have and who don't know much of what we know about Mr. Obama. Let the press say what they will. People have a right to know, and someone has to tell them. The mainstream media will not do it. It's up to McCain and the 527's, and it's time to get the truth out there.

I know McCain does not want to go down this road. He is just too good and kind of a man. But if he is truly about putting country first, he needs to do it, however distasteful he personally finds it to be. This election is not about him. It's about preserving the greatness of this nation for the next generation.