McCain - the day's only real winner

Agreed. And didn't Romney take a gratuitous but not unfair swipe at Romney in cnogratulating McCain? I think the quote was approximately I'd rather lose tonight honorably than win dishonorably by running attack ads. I don't think that was strategic, I think that was where to put the flag pole.

McCain actually lost support from his last run in SC. If he had been running against only one "conservative" he probably would have lost. That's hardly a victory I would crow about.

Brian, he should have just said it was a stupid ruse. And Donny, if we are trying to be the check on political power, what are we doing in political parties?

Those Evangelicals and Vetarans must like someone who will continue to kill people in the middle east. Perhaps it makes them feel better about themselves or perhaps some people just never learn? Does McCain really believe that staying in Iraq for 100 years will solve their problems and help our own problems here at home? Has War not taught him any lessons or was being in a POW camp dimmed his perception of what War is about. We need leaders who will be thoughtful in the manner in which they promise what will occur in the future and provide thoughtful negotiations and set forth peaceful means to end conflict. Perhaps he will be the lead in the Republican Race as he has the mindset of GW Bush but we all know that he has lost his popularity in this country. South Carolina will not take the voting populus of the country.

If you take a serious look at the demography of likely voters, it is hard to see how McCain can lose if he can manage to get nominated.

Independents love him, old people like him, the conservative Republicans will vote for him just to keep Hillary/Obama out of office... And that adds up to a decisive majority.

David, when all is said and done (and more is said than done), in November it will be McCain/Thompson vs. Obama/Richardson.

Beyond that, the future is murky.

Old, slightly past-his-prime war hero vs. a Clinton.

Didn't we have that election 12 years ago?

I'M STILL WAITING FOR A RESPONSE TO ALL THESE QUESTIONS. DOUG, YOU CAME CLOSEST. I HATE TO BREAK THIS TO YOU DUDE... IF WE'RE IN IRAQ IN 100 YEARS, IT'S LIKELY IT'LL STILL BE A SHOOTING WAR. JUST LOOK AROUND THE REGION.
Charles & other Bush-bots/Ditto-heads,
Please, in simple language, tell me how the electorate is gonna respond to somebody that has cast their lots in an illegal war with Bush/Cheney Inc.
How are we in a so-called free society benefiting from Halliburton (which isn't even headquartered in the States) getting no-bid contracts and giving us only 50 cents back on each federal dollar spent?
How is McCain or Huckabee gonna assure us we're safe when the Republican executive branch and legislative branch couldn't even read the weather reports before 'Katrina' or turn on CNN after?
I really understand that Republicans wanna forget the 7+ years of Bush.
However, they anointed him king and Christian Crusader. I don't think they should get off that easy.

Several candidates are speaking around the holiday (Obama at Ebenezer today, Huckabee tomorrow, Clinton in Harlam). Heard Obama's speech - it was very good - as we have come to expect from him. I will be interested in hearing the others.
Obama's reference to the campaign - "none of us has clean hands" - so very clear how rhetoric and crowds can lead good candidates into a kind of accusing energy they might rather not embrace. Such energy is fed by a ravenous media - anxious for the next drama. We easily fall into those dramas. We hear some journalistic soundbite - and don't know how to edit it ourselves. We do not look up the actual words - in context. We do not read position papers. We do not make the mental efforts to find candidate that will echo our own ethical positions. Too often we rely on a nasty email such as those circulating about Obama or Romney or Clinton or Huckabee or McCain. To be honest - I believe the stuff that comes out around Giuliani - but suddenly, I realize that perhaps I've even been manipulated there.

My parish church had several abusing priests about 30 years ago - they were there for years and many many children were abused. When it all began to come to light - a priest came in and said ' that was then and this is now and we're not going to talk about it anymore' - the mess that came about by "not talking about it" is like the mess we have around issues of race. I know so many people who actually believe that racism - all kinds of racism - is no longer a problem in this country. I would dare to say - it is still our primary problem. Secret code is there for both whites and blacks that make conversation about this huge issue of division impossible. I look at this election and see that at the very bottom of everything - race and the implications of racial division - paints every speech - every vote - and every nuance about "them" - whoever they might be. We've covered over this huge sore with religion or with political drivel - it's not enough - it requires us to look at ourselves - deeply - and repent. All of us and then we we have been what I refer to as "displeasing to ourselves" - we will be capable of healing in this election no matter what. I do not accuse anyone in this election of racism - but all of us are marked and driven by it. Like the priest who destroyed a parish by refusing to talk about it, we must have the conversation in a manner that honors our God given humanity. I have only known one person in all my life who seemed to transcend this huge issue - he is an old man now and lives in my city - considered to be the one who always sees things from the eyes of the victims - with empathy and compassion - sort of our local saint in a way. He transcends race and class, gender and religion. He simply loves everyone he encounters. Actually knowing Alvin Brooks - makes many of us better people. May the same be said of those who gather here.

Why is it that the Democrats get to "campaign" in Churches and we hear not a peep of protest from the usual Lefty suspects? Has anyone from the ACLu or AU screamed about stripping the tax exempt status from all of the Black Churches that literally hold voter registration (Democrat membership drives that is) drives? And why do we not have a problem that just about every black person polled is going for Obama? Why is their racism OK?

Hey Brian, do you have any venom for Islamic War Lords? And, last time I looked, G.W. Bush hasn't tried to free the Holy Land from the grip of Muslim occupation. Muslim VIOLENT occupation! You need to study history and watch some current news and get a grip on reality.

so, Donny, you have no need of repentance? I think Jesus had a story about that. The Pharisee and the tax collector might work.

You can't outlaw group identity, Donny.

Just like you can't outlaw the group identity of the Hollywood Massachusetts sadomasochistic pedophiles (all of which contradicts each other, but never mind that) you rail about.

PS -- Ironically, until recently, polls indicated most African-Americans planned to vote for Hillary Clinton.

thanks Doug, you are right. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.

OK, it's Martin Luther King day - colder than ..... , I'm stuck in the house and have spent the day paying bills, cleaning dog poop residue off of an old rug and listening to candidates, MLK, and Richard Shindell (the singer). That's my day and this is what I have been thinking about.
We are easily manipulated by scandal - scandals are what drive us in almost every way. Reality, good will, integrity are what we wish drove us, but the reality is - we like hearing that Bill is accusing Barack and visa versa. We like thinking that McCain might actually say what he thinks to Rudy or Mitt - would be exciting wouldn't it.
We want to be good people, but are drawn into what Jesus calls "the stumbling blocks' or "skandalon". We gather around like a crowd of adolescent girls and feel awfully good in doing so. It is the way of our culture and it is destroying us. Dr. King understood the difference between the mob and the movement that would change the world. Gandhi understood it. Jesus introduced such a concept and 2000 years later - we have very few models of anything except gathering around scandal to destroy another.
So, today, on this day we should honor a man who makes Obama's amazing speeches look like George Bush's press conferences, we might try resolving to look at the world in a manner that does not require scandal to keep going. Now, I think Obama's speeches are beautiful, inspiring and he is rapidly learning to speak in a manner that will draw our best selves to the surface. But, he can't call us to goodness in quite the same way. He is a politician. Dr. King was a saint. A priest friend always gets in trouble when he celebrates "the feast day of St. Martin Luther King" - a scandalous statement in a church where saints are carefully chosen and vetted. But, I celebrate the feast day with him. As one who believes in the communion of saints (in a Catholic manner) - I believe we can still learn not only from his life, but from his continued presence among us. I have a couple of books of his sermons and speeches - single lines from those sermons can change me. Now - let us be more critical and more supportive of whoever we choose to support. Let us expect them to be more than media wants them to be.

NAFTA may not be entirely wrong policy but it's created a rash of problems, or at least accelerated the appearance of those problems. I'm writing specifically about job outsourcing. What good is it to have low-cost imported consumer goods when the family breadwinner(s) are out of work or have to work at 2 or 3 low-paying jobs just to pay the bills? How often will the scenario repeat itself in which a US company will outsource its manufacturing or other lower-rung jobs overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor, reduced or nonexistent worker benefits, lax environmental concerns, and so on, while upper management reaps the rewards and bonuses that go along with the improved bottom line?

Trade is indeed good, no arguments there. But we are now trading away more than we are getting in return.

Ross Perot didn't get many things right during his loony run for office but he was most definitely correct about the giant sucking sound of jobs being lost.

No, I agree with you in part, Doug; specifically where you talk about job competition and compatibility of parts and so on. Where I disagree is with the fairness of that job competition, the quality of those low-cost imports, and especially with the unemployment data. It's true prima facie that we have low unemployment, in some areas around 5%, higher in other areas. However, that figure is misleading in that it measures only the first week's filings and does not count either those folks who have dropped off the roster of the unemployed collecting benefits or those who work 2 or 3 low-paying jobs or part-time jobs to try to make ends meet.

How can the American worker compete fairly against workers in Asia making pennies per day? One thing that would reduce the cost of goods made here is some sort of rational health care program (hmmm...National is Rational...I should trademark that). Another, and this is one of my pet peeves, is to tie worker pay to executive pay and limit the ever-increasing salaries of the greedy bastards in the executive offices. That may sound anti-American to some but to my view it would help restore American manufacturing and keep Americans working.

Now that I've completely alienated you, which was not my wish, may I sincerely wish you a good trip.

"I think that politics shouldn't be preached from the pulpit. I attend church regularly and would happily walk out the door when my pastor suggests even remotely who I should vote for."

\\\

Brian, Jesus condemned many kinds of people. In fact he said to leave alone those refuse the Gospel and that He'll deal with them on judgment day. The wheat and the weeds? Ever read that Bible of yours Brian? All sorts of judgmental condemnation FROM Jesus. Even going so far as saying that those that reject the Gospel will be worse off than Sodomites (So there muct have been some inhospitable homosexuals that repented as the fire reigned down on them). I read my Bible pal. Now, in regards to politics and racism, in "Black Churches" they stump ONLY Democrat politics. If you look into the shoddy theology of Obama's Church, you'll see the taint of Kwanzaa poisoning the truth.

Remember "in your Bible" the whole NOT yoking yourself with unbelievers? I'll be happy to bash greedy corporate conservatives with you, all day long. But, in comparing apples to apples, the Liberals do not even qualify as Christians "ACCORDING TO" dah-dah-dun-DAH!!!! The Bible. And progressives are even worse than Liberals in discarding Gospel truth for social power.

Brian, you don't scare me with playing the racism card. Obama's Church is wrong in mixing Kwanzaa (which is pure racism) with the Gospel and for their being extremely racist thmselves. Cruise their website and see. Afrocentrism? How is it different than Aryanism?

Perhaps Kwanza seems a bit goofy, but let us recall the story of a large fat jolly guy who comes down chimneys, leaves coal for some and gifts for others, the fact that we buy actual trees to put in our living rooms and go into debt like religious ritual and then try to connect it to Jesus the Christ. Kwanza doesn't look so goofy - it is a ritual to honor virtues - not particularly a good ritual, but not that bad either.
I like ritualizing the virtues we have been given by previous good men and women. I like Mother's Day and The Fourth of July (what's the deal with firecrackers there) and Thanksgiving. All are rituals that honor virtues and the virtuous. Why does Kwanza make you angry? Got an email telling you something weird about it?