Pre-Election Roundup

From The Union Thug, the masterful Bill Maher. Always be closing!


So much for my prognostication powers. The Des Moines Register has Braley 21 points over Whalen! Twenty-one! Dang! The same poll is all over the map in a four day period on the Culver-Nussle race but shows Culver holding a nine point lead. I'm going to stick to my dead heat prediction. Maybe 50,000 votes separate the two.

Don't even get me started on Rev. Ted Haggard. "I am a deciever and a liar." That pretty much sums up the leaders of most organized religions in my book. No, that's mean. Hate the sin, love the sinner. On second thought, screw the sinner. Oops! Someone already did.

How bad are things for the Republican Party nationally? The man running to replace the President's brother won't appear with the President. Florida gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Crist, skipped an appearance with President Bush in order to scramble around the state trying to save what was a fifteen point lead three weeks ago.

The American Conservative magazine pens an editorial urging Americans to turn out the Republican majority and humble the president.

Meanwhile, America’s image in the world, its capacity to persuade others that its interests are common interests, is lower than it has been in memory. All over the world people look at Bush and yearn for this country—which once symbolized hope and justice—to be humbled. The professionals in the Bush administration (and there are some) realize the damage his presidency has done to American prestige and diplomacy. But there is not much they can do.

There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country’s reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen—in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur—as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq.

And lastly the tale of the new Elephant Graveyard in Ohio. From the Columbus Dispatch comes the news that fully one third of all voters are expecting to vote the straight Democratic ticket on Tuesday, finally erasing the Buckeye state's shame of 2004.