Like, who won?

Colorado man hires hit men
to kill mother to finance
breast implants for girlfriend.

I did not blog for the last two nights because we were attending the semi-annual Seattle Library Book Sale. It was not very good for us this time. But as a result of traveling to Seattle, buying books, and lacking sufficient time to consider what was going on I just thought it better to pass. Now, after watching the MSM pundits rehash the affair, and reading about it, I have come to several conclusions:

First, you can learn absolutely nothing of value by listening to the pundits describe what happened. When they interview people it is entirely predictable what they are going to say. If a McCain supporter is asked he/she will claim McCain won and is experienced, knowledgeable about Foreign Affairs, security and so on. If an Obam supporter is interviewed they will say Obama won hands down as he demonstrated his own knowledge of Foreign Affairs and the Economy. This is as predictable as night follows day and is a complete and total waste of time.

It is not quite as easy to determine where any given pundit stands but it is reasonably clear. You know if they are from Fox they will be pro-McCain and anti-Obama. If they are from MSNBC they will most probably be for Obama and anti-McCain. In the case of Chris Matthews you might as well not bother to listen. I have come to the conclusion, having tried to watch Matthews for some time that he is actually not very bright, and he is also egomaniacal to the point where the only thing that matters is what he says. Frankly, I have no interest whatsoever in what Matthews thinks Obama did wrong, although he carried on about it at great length. Matthews is a terrible host, constantly talking over his guests and imposing his own opinions on everything. The only observation he made (which I doubt was unique to him) was that McCain refused to look at Obama the entire time. Some have interpreted this to mean McCain has to turn all rivals into enemies in order to deal with them, others say it is just his strategy, still others suggest guilt. I go along with this latter. I don’t think McCain can look anyone in the eye and say things that he must know are not true. Perhaps guilt is not the right word, shame is probably closer to the truth. He knows he has run a campaign so shameful, so inept, so chaotic and changeable on a day-to-day basis as to be little more than absurd. His pick of Sarah Palin was so ridiculous as to itself expose his shamelessness.

And speaking of such things, I gather there is absolutely nothing McCain/Palin can do, no matter how shameful, incompetent, ridiculous, or dishonest, that will dissuade his supporters from their support. McCain has run a campaign so awful in virtually every respect, so given to flip-flops and reckless gambling, so unprincipled and chaotic as to be laughable. His pick of Palin is the most glaring example of his incompetence, and yet he still has supporters. I find this incredible. I don’t believe there is anything he could do, no matter how awful, that would cause his true believers to doubt him. And of course there is no hope for anyone who could stomach Palin for more than a brief momentary loss of brain functioning. Perhaps McCain’s next ploy will be to bounce Palin and add some other nonentity that will keep attention still longer away from any real issues. I am now pretty certain that McCain is going senile. I do think all of his medical records should be made available. I do not believe McCain/Palin to be viable candidates. By supporting them I think the Brafia has conceded the election to Obama, except perhaps for counting on racial prejudice and various electioneering cheats to somehow pull it off.

Having now considered most everything I could find I have concluded that Obama is somewhat ahead, probably more than is apparent. As far as the economy goes I believe Obama is more likely to handle it well than is McCain, although I am not in favor of the bailout which I am certain will benefit the usual fat cats far more than anyone else. This is true of Obama as well as McCain. But McCain’s position is basically hopeless as he obviously just wants to continue more of the same nonsense about free markets, the very philosophy that brought on this calamity in the first place. McCain faked suspending his campaign, went to Washington where he was both unneeded and unwanted and almost managed to torpedo whatever progress was being made. It was another sort of clever ploy in that whatever happens McCain will now try to take credit for it. If it fails he’ll say he tried to stop it, and if it succeeds he’ll claim he made it happen. The fact of the matter is, he did nothing at all except make a bit of trouble for everyone concerned. Obama is for this bailout, I am not. I see no reason why greed and failure should be rewarded. I believe there are other ways to deal with this massive problem, as do many economists (of course economics is truly a dismal (non) science, so you never know). To award a Nobel Prize for Economics, you might as well award one for witchcraft.

LKBIQ:
We have 2 classes of forecasters: Those who don't know . . . and those who don't know they don't know.- John Kenneth Galbraith