WHY SENSIBLE REPUBLICANS ARE DESERTING McCAIN?

CNN ran a ticker on Oct 29 which screamed "Shays takes swipe at McCain". In the body of the news it wrote: "New England's lone House Republican appears to have publicly broken with his party's standard-bearer, saying John McCain has not run a clean campaign and is likely to lose his bid for the presidency.

'I just don't see how [McCain] can win,' Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays told the Yale Daily News earlier this week. 'He has lost his brand as a maverick; he did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign'."

The report further added: "Fellow Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl and former GOP presidential Candidate Mitt Romney also have reportedly said they think McCain is likely to lose. Jon Kyl denied making the comments, though the Arizona Daily Star later produced audio indicating he did."

Other Republicans breaking ranks include Former Maryland Sen. Charles Mathias, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Why are these Republicans feeling so disgusted with McCain? Shays has already highlighted some of the reasons. General Colin Powell so eloquently gave his assessment of McCain and his campaign on Meet the Press program recently. In essence, these Republicans got pissed off by McCain's brainless and falsehood based approach to his campaign.

One inherent problem with the 72 year Senator from Arizona has been that he is intellectually dwarfed. On top of that he made some silliest of comments and choices. McCain's choice of Palin speaks volumes of his lack of sound judgement. His remarks about American economy during recent economic turmoil clearly indicated what a big stupid he is.

A nincompoop does not have to have horns to show to the world that he is a nitwit. His/her words or actions convey that. This is exactly what has happened with McCain. He asked about Obama's so-called association with Ayers when Obama was 8 years old. How on earth could anything be more nonsensical than this?!

He made similar foolish assertions day after day; one can go on and on with the list of gaffes the Republican candidates committed. Most recently on Oct 29, Sarah Palin mentioned about Obama's association with some Palestinian person named Rashid Khalidi. But she forgot to mention to the public that Republicans had provided about $500,000 to Khalidi for one of his studies. The Chairman of the committee which decided to fund Khalidi's study was none other than McCain himself.

So one lie after another, one stupid association after another thrown at Obama to paint him in bad light, annoying robocalls, lack of grasp of issues which really affect average Americans - all these snowballed to put off the sensible Republicans so much that they felt compelled to publicly denounce McCain and predict that the republican candidate is doomed to be defeated.

To make matters worse, the over-ambitious, straight-faced liar Palin gave enough clear indications to the media that her sight is set on 2012 presidential election. She has gone 'rogue' as the McCain insiders have already started calling her.

Only a miracle can save McCain-Palin ticket from defeat on Nov 4. But Palin has already invoked God to help her. But does divinity help liars, or poison filled persons, like, Palin? One hopes not. One hopes God will provide some response to Palin for unnecessarily dragging Him in the elections! And, His response may not be just a light rap on the wrist.

LAST GASP REPUBLICAN DIVERSIONARY TACTIC WITH INCURSION IN SYRIA!

BBC website reported on Oct 26 "US helicopter-borne troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, killing eight people including four children, Syrian officials say.
The official Syrian news agency Sana said the raid took place in the Abu Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. It said that American soldiers on four helicopters had stormed a building under construction on Sunday night.
The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq.
Syria has summoned the US and Iraqi envoys in Damascus to protest at the raid.
If confirmed, the raid would be the first known attack by US forces inside Syrian territory, says the BBC's Natalia Antelava."

In a separate article on same day BBC's Diplomatic correspondent, Jonathan Marcus writes "But its (US action's) timing is curious, coming right at the end of the Bush administration's period of office and at a moment when many of America's European allies - like Britain and France - are trying to broaden their ties with Damascus."

He further writes "Whatever the local military factors involved in this US operation, it would be unthinkable to imagine that an incursion into Syria would not require a policy decision at a high-level."

So, why did some one very high in Washington - either the President himself or the Defence Secretary - authorised this incursion? The answer is simple: it is a tactic to give McCain, who claims he knows more than Obama on security issues, to divert the election campaign focus from the perilous current economic crisis to security matters.

It is just a ploy to give McCain and the Republicans, who are badly trailing in opinion polls, some straw to clutch on to. Some political analysts had felt about 9-10 months back that US may resort to adventurism in Iran to ensure Republican victory in Nov this year. But somehow this option didn't seem to be feasible because of high cost attached to it and potential of dangerous politico-military fall out. An Israel led adventure also did not seem feasible because of continued political instability in Israel for the last few months and even now.

So, Iran being not an option to do some gun-boat diplomacy, the outgoing Republican administration looked at other 'cheap' options. And, they found Syria to be not only a 'cheap' option to strike but that any action vis-a-vis Syria could be relatively easily justified to the American people and the international community.

Republicans are staring down the barrel for a double whammy - loss in Presidential election, and Democrats getting the magic figure of 60 in Senate. With opinion polls showing precarious condition of Republicans on both the fronts, it is hard to assume that Bush administration will watch the situation idly and twiddle its thumb.

So, the outgoing administration seems to have decided to play the military card against Syria which is notorious in US as being anti-America. They probably reasoned to themselves that whacking Syria, even in a limited manner, would be a safe bet politically and may help the Republican cause in some way.

Some one may say that the above is a cynical view. But in all fairness it should be said that it is not a cynical commentary on this incident. It is not a biased view because one may ask: why did US wait all this long to carry out this incursion? After all, movement of insurgents and foreign fighters from Syria into Iraq has long been a bone of contention between Damascus and Washington.

There is, therefore, hardly any doubt about the political motive of the timing of this military raid. As the BBC Diplomatic correspondent noted further in his article 'this action of US is in marked contrast to European efforts to engage the Syrians.

With French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the lead, a number of European countries have sought to bring Syria in from the cold.'

Incursion in Syria is an attempt by the outgoing President and his cronies to administer 'CPR' to the sinking Republican poll campaign. It remains to be seen whether the US voters can discern this diversionary tactic and prefer to remain focused to more bread and butter issues.

Finally, it will not be surprising at all to see US military carrying out something sensational before Nov 4 to provide the vital dose of oxygen needed by McCain, and the Republican senate candidates for their political survival.

WILL FREE-MARKET SUPPORTERS PLEASE SHUT UP!

John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, is trying to paint his Democrat rival as a socialist by saying that Obama's so-called "spreading the wealth" phrase essentially aims to kill capitalism in US. What McCain is trying to do is to scare American voters in whose psyche 'capitalism' resides at a sub-conscious level.

Not that every American understands the nuances of capitalism, free market theories or what socialism actually means but probably every American equates uncontrolled free enterprise with capitalism and somehow thinks that it is synonymous of democracy. And, when the Arizona senator creates the sceptre of socialism in his speeches he is trying to touch that part of American psyche and create a fearful revulsion in the voters' minds.

It is a good tactic for McCain, and it may work to some extent. But if this guy really believes in "Country First", he should understand that the so-called free-market mechanism without any oversight has brought US to this economic cataclysmic state. First, let us quickly recap what one of the staunchest supporter of unregulated free-market said the other day.

Alan Greenspan, who was Fed Chairman from 1987-2006, while deposing in front of US House of Representative's Government Oversight committee on Oct 23 acknowledged under questioning that he had made a “mistake” in believing that banks, operating in their own self-interest, would do what was necessary to protect their shareholders and institutions. Greenspan called that “a flaw in the model ... that defines how the world works.”

He went to admit that the "flaw" in the assumptions he used over the past 40 years were that banks and other financial institutions were best able to protect the interest of their shareholders.

The financial crisis even prompted the Republican Greenspan, a cheer leader for free markets, to propose that government consider tougher regulations, including requiring financial firms that package mortgages into securities to keep a portion as a check on quality. He said other regulatory changes should be considered, too, in such areas as fraud.

Now, let me mention some relevant excerpts of what the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, said at the Asian-European leaders' meet on Oct 23. Singh, a noted economist himself, stated:

"The international financial crisis has resulted from three failures:
(a) A regulatory and supervisory failure in major developed countries;
(b) A failure in risk management in private financial institutions;
(c) A failure in market discipline mechanism
These are not my views but those of the distinguished Managing Director of the IMF, with which I agree. We must analyse objectively how and why these failures have occurred with such ferocity. This is necessary to put in place a new set of rules which will prevent recurrence of such failures. The sad truth is that in this age of globalisation we have a global economy of sorts but it is not supported by a global polity to provide effective governance."

What the aforementioned people - Greenspan and Dr. Singh - are essentially trying to say is: stop the chest thumping stentorian pro-free market assertions; recognise the inherent greed in human psychology and put in place mechanisms that will prevent such financial melt-downs.

What is said above does NOT by any means usher in socialism, nor does it mean that capitalism is moving towards ultimate death, all this means is - for God's sakes don't remove the referees from the hockey game and allow the players to regulate themselves, the result will be chaos on the ice!

I am not sure McCain, who is intellectually challenged, will understand all that is stated above. On his part, the Republican candidate, who has his back to the walls, will clutch on to anything by which he can scare the voters away from the Democrat nominee. 'Scare the voters' tactics has been used by Republican in the past, they are trying this again.

Do the American voters see through the Republican tactics? I don't know for sure. But one hopes for America's sake that they do. Because, if they don't they will end up with a Prez and a Veep who are a disastrous combination of senility, dis-ingenuity, shamelessness, pathological abhorrence for truth, one-upmanship, utter lack of intellectual ability and gargantuan incompetence. God help America!

'John McCain was never tortured in my jail’, says Tran Trong Duyet

Reproducing herebelow the relevant excerpts from a news item published on Oct 25, 2008 in the famous British newspaper "The Times".

"On one bank of the Truc Bach lake a small electricity sub-station is plastered with flyers touting a local plumber. Along the road is an aerobics studio where youngsters lazily sip coffee and browse the papers. Thirty yards out across the water – rancid and bobbing with dead fish – is moored a handful of pedal boats shaped like swans.

It was within this unlikely triangle of landmarks – exactly 41 years ago this Sunday – that John McCain crash-landed and, say his captors, began his run for the United States presidency.

For even if the cold, barely conscious US Navy officer did not know it at the time, says Le Van Lua and the other Vietnamese whose lives entwined with Mr McCain’s that day, this little spot of Hanoi is undoubtedly where pilot turned politician. If fury had prevailed, it is a transformation that might never have happened, says Mr Lua, 61, a factory worker who was the first on the scene after the crash and swam out to retrieve the battered, politically valuable prize.

He mimes clutching Mr McCain’s hair in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other: “I didn’t care about the politics, I just saw a man who had killed so many Vietnamese that I longed to kill him. He was injured badly and at the time I was desperate to finish him off. We only stopped because we were told he was more valuable alive. Now I’m glad I did stop: that day was truly the turning point in his life.”

Mr Lua’s account of that day – along with Vietnamese accounts of the five and a half years that Mr McCain spent as a prisoner of war – differ significantly from the presidential candidate’s own record. Mr Lua speaks of quickly getting Mr McCain to the safety of a police station (now the aerobics studio) before any harm was done. Mr McCain writes of mob attacks on his shoulder, ankle and groin with rifle-butt and bayonet.

Where the accounts differ most starkly is in the period of Mr McCain’s long incarceration as a PoW – first at the prison known as the Hanoi Hilton, then at The Plantation.

Tran Trong Duyet, the former prison director who now surrounds himself with caged birds in a house in Hai Phong, first met Mr McCain a year after he had been shot down. He recalls a defiant rule-breaker, the patriotic son of an admiral and a fervent believer in the war. What he does not recall, however, is a victim of torture or violence.

“I never tortured or mistreated the PoWs and nor did my staff,” says Mr Duyet in contradiction of Mr McCain’s account and those of other prisoners. “The Americans were dropping bombs on military and civilian targets – so it’s not as if they had important information we needed to extract.” Mr Duyet says that he sympathises with Mr McCain and other PoWs for claiming that they were tortured. “It’s up to the Americans to decide whether or not he counts as a hero. He was very brave, very manly, he dared to argue with me and he was very intelligent. But all the talk of being tortured is for the sake of votes.”

The McCain campaign refused to comment on the claims yesterday. Mr McCain did eventually sign a confession to his supposed crimes against the Vietnamese people and holds that it was only extracted after weeks of pain inflicted by his tormentors. In a more recent interview Mr McCain explained the signing of the confession as his failure.

The full article is avaialble at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5010491.ece

WHY PALIN IS REALLY A DISASTER FOR McCAIN AND USA

If McCain's mental faculties are working alright, even to some extent, he must be ruing his decision of having chosen Palin as his running mate. The reasons for this are umpteen. However, if he is not feeling angry about his decision, there could be one possible explanation - the 72 year Senator is too besotted by Palin's physical charm.

Let's face it, the Governor of Alaska is far more attractive than Cindy McCain. No wonder the hockey-mama got pregnant even at the age of 43 years. One wonders whether any naughty amorous thought ever crosses the old man's mind when he hugs his running mate. You mean, umm, somekind of a Viagra moment? Well, well.

Anyway, one thing is heartening in the current campaign - the American voters are showing far more political maturity than what they were 4 or 8 years back. The voters are able to see through the mean, falsified, twisted TV campaign the republican candidates are running.

This is evident from the opinion polls. Not only McCain is trailing Obama by double digit, Palin is faring horrendously in all categories. Her image is plummeting at an alarming rate in the minds of all rational voters of US. On top of that such news like the GOP has spent US$150,000 in accessorizing Palin is certainly not going down well with the average voter either.

Also, the independent investigation held that the Alaska Governor had misused her position in the incident popularly known as "troopergate". This clearly brings out a very disturbing aspect of her character and that is - she is a mean, vindictive, scheming person who will not hesitate to resort to any means if anybody runs foul of her.

Mind you, she is very ambitious too - politically, I mean. This makes a dangerous cocktail in terms of her personality traits. So, if per chance McCain wins, she might outshine Cheney in being one of the meanest, nastiest VP. For all you know, she might even become an extra-constitutional authority unto herself and undermine the President's office big time. This could potentially spell danger to the country itself.

And, if for some reasons the Arizona Senator becomes incapable of discharging the duties of the President, Palin will assume Presidency, and, boy, she may go berserk! On top of that her utter lack of any sensible knowledge on matters important to country will be perfect recipe for national disaster.

It seems majority of American voters realize all this and that's why opinion polls are indicating what a huge millstone has Palin become around McCain's neck. But it is also necessary that the rest of the voters also get to understand this for the sake of their own country's good. Some fanatic republicans may not like to see the reality, too bad. But as long as they remain in minority it will bode well for US.

I AM SERIOUSLY CONCERNED ABOUT PROSPECTS OF GLOBAL RECESSION

The Bank of Canada cut the overnight lending rate by another 25 basis points on Oct 21. In his commentary the BoC Governor Mark Carney mentioned some very ominous things.

First, there is chance of global recession. Second, US is already in recession. Did you read correctly about US being in recession? I bet, you did! Third, he said that because of close trade ties between Canada and US, Canada will also be affected though it may just be able to avoid recession.

After reading Mr. Carney's remarks the thought that came to my mind was: Has Fed admitted that there was recession in US? I don't recall Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke having said that US had been taken over by the 'R' phenomenon.

May be Benrnanke is trying his best not to mention the 'R' word before Nov 4 US presidential election in order to avoid the massive embarrassment that will be caused to the Bush administration which in turn will hit McCain-Palin hard.

But Carney has nothing to fear, hence he could be more forthright in his assessment of US economy. Now the next question is, have we seen the worst yet? Or, there is more to come!

As far as Europe is concerned, no new bad news is emanating from there. Nor is any bad news coming out of Asia yet. That leaves US. It seems there is likelihood of some bad news emerging from US in coming weeks and months.

What does that bode for the world? Well, it is obvious that if the biggest consumer spending society, i.e. US, starts to clam up further it will mean less exports to US from Europe, China, and Canada. It will hurt Indian companies too to some extent.

The drop in consumer spending in US will trigger a vicious downward spiral in various economies which may eventually lead to global recession alluded to by BoC Governor. If not recession, there is certainly a danger of stagnation enveloping the globe.

So, to counter the possibility of looming global recession/stagnation the US needs to take some more bold steps. And, they have to act quickly. But if the Bush administration postpones those measures till the presidential election in order to prevent further potential damage to the Republican ticket, it might exacerbate the situation seriously.

Liquidity crunch situation has got to be tackled on war footing by US. The European countries have already been proactive in this regard and they are not fighting shy of taking any measures they think necessary.

Let us hope better sense will prevail and the US government and the Congress will act quickly to bring in next set of measures to deal with financial crisis that is threatening to devour the US economy and consequently cause a serious damage to global economic order.

The outgoing US President has 3 more months to show some leadership and effect some good to his country. But if he chickens out at this crucial stage, he will go down in the history as that Captain who chose to take the life raft and run away rather than try to save his ship from capsizing.

Texans are not known to chicken out. One hopes Dubyah will not allow the Texan image to be brought in to disrepute!

WHY McCAIN IS NOTHING BUT A SENILE JOKER!

These days I am getting free entertainment by watching snippets of 72 year John McCain talking on some TV channel or the other. His comments make me laugh and I am enjoying every bit of it. And, yeah, I also pity the Arizona Senator for his growing senility.

Let me tell you about the snippet that made me laugh a lot. McCain speaking on a TV channel on Sunday repeated in his 'hushed' voice "We must know the true relationship between Mr. Obama and Bill Ayers". As soon as I heard this sentence I burst out in laughter. Why?

Because Senator Obama met Ayers when he (Obama) was only 8 years old. And Mr. McCain wants to know the 'true' relationship between the two?!! Do you mean, McCain wants to know what was the true relationship between the two when Obama was just 8? The whole of US knows that Obama didn't meet Ayers until years later they both happened to be on the same Board . Incidentally, on this Board there were some strong pro-Republican folks also.

So, what makes me laugh is what 'relationship' detail is the 72 year senile McCain looking for ? You know, the straight face and seriousness with which he (McCain) asks such idiotic questions makes me feel more amused. The most bizarre aspect of this is that the Arizona Senator thinks in his mind as if he had just stated something brilliant.

I feel sorry for the depletion that has taken in McCain's mental faculties. As it is he was intellectually challenged (he was in the bottom 10 of his military training cohort), and now he is fast skidding on the slope to ultimate senility. I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts about his vacuous, dumb smile. If you visualize the two together - his foolish smile and his idiotic remarks - you can not but burst out in laughter.

Another remark that proves beyond any shade of doubt what a numskull McCain is. This one is about so-called 'distribution of wealth' alleged to be proposed by Senator Obama based on which McCain labels the Illinois Senator to be 'socialist'.

This again is another foolish comment because the 72 year old senator does not seem to have any idea as to what makes one socialist and what constitutes 'socialism'. It is very clear that as McCain finds himself trailing more and more, and as his running mate Palin publicly disagrees with him over and over on campaign strategies, the Republican presidential candidate is going further berserk - mentally.

So, if you want some relaxation after a day's hard work, simply watch the senile McCain trying to say something profound with utter seriousness. Don't try to look for any meaning in what he will be saying because there won't be any substance in them, just enjoy the inanity of his pronouncements and laugh.

By the way, comedy script writers the world over are taking a break because they are not having to exert much to create something funny, they are getting all the material free of cost courtesy 72 year intellectually challenged McCain. These people surely don't want Nov 4 to come soon!

POWELL CORRECTLY ASSESSES McCAIN AND HIS CAMPAIGN

Former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell made some very insightful comments on Oct 19 which every American voter must keep in his/her mind when he/she goes to vote on Nov 4.

Powell's comments stem from rational analysis rather than from blind irrational approach to analysing any issue. For example, Powell criticized his own Republican Party for what he called its narrow focus on irrelevant personal attacks over a serious approach to challenges he called unprecedented.

How very correct Powell is! US is facing such serious economic turmoil, and at that time instead of proposing how McCain could help in meeting the challenge, he is going negative on his rival. The Republican ticket is only busy in focussing on 'how bad the other is', instead of focussing on 'why they (McCain-Palin) are better'.

In an election when one candidate goes completely negative on his rival, you know what it suggests? It suggests that that candidate has nothing better to offer, that's why he is only talking about the other candidate. Are the American voters going to buy the negative tactics of McCain-Palin? Not if they think carefully and rationally like Powell.

Another illustration of Powell's rational thinking: Powell said McCain’s choices in the last few weeks — especially his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice presidential running mate — had raised questions in his mind about McCain’s judgment.

That's right - McCain's judgement is indeed questionable. McCain failed to comprehend the disaster that befell Wall Street. He first said US's economic fundamental's are strong, then he backtracked and again said something gibberish.

McCain's assessment of strategy that US should follow in Afghanistan is/was totally erroneous. McCain's position on Iran is/was totally flawed. His position on how to deal with anti-US elements hiding in Pakistan-Afghanistan border is absolutely incoherent and confused. In sum total, McCain's judgement is hopelessly weak, disjointed, mis-informed and questionable.

Powell also rightly condemned McCain-Palin efforts to falsely connect Obama with Muslims. The former 4-star General set the record straight by stating that Obama was a lifelong Christian, and also denounced Republican tactics that he said were insulting not only to to Obama but also to Muslims.

Not only are McCain-Palin are tacitly approving the spread of this nonsense that Obama is a Muslim, they are damaging the very fabric of American society which prides itself on racial harmony. Do McCain-Palin have any idea of how much damage they are causing to United States? Do they not realize that they are destroying the peaceful integrated societal structure US citizens enjoy by sowing the seeds of hatred by talking of so-called terrorist connection of Obama (BillAyers ads).

I am sure every sane minded and rational American must be feeling outraged by McCalin tactics and must be praying that let Nov 4 arrive fast so that the Americans can get good riddance from this obnoxious, narrow, mean, nefarious minded Republican ticket. Amen!

"McCAIN EQUATES OBAMA WITH SOCIALISTS" - WHAT A FOOLISH STRATEGY!

One of the cable news reported that after grouping Obama with socialist European leaders in his weekly radio address on Saturday morning, at a rally later in the day McCain accused his opponent’s campaign of waging an “attack” on "Joe, the Plumber" and small businesses across America.

How confused McCain is! What is he trying to convey to his audience? How is Obama a 'socialist'? And, by the way, is any debate on socialism or capitalism relevant at this point in time when US is facing the worst economic turmoil since the Great Depression?

First, the day President Bush's administration decided to buy stakes in top 9 profit making Banks of US (Citi Group, Bank of America etc), it marked the end of so-called free market reign in US. Because, the buying of stakes in the banks is indeed partial nationalization of the said banks.

The above move of US administration came after the European nations of G-7 group had already implemented that strategy starting with Britain. In reality all these European nations have also partially nationalized their banks. But are these industrialised G-7 nations crying about socialism having entered their systems? No, they are not.

If partial nationalization smacks of socialism, then surely Mr. Bush has converted in to a 'socialist'! Mind you, he is an avowed Republican.

So, what is the sense in raking up 'socialist' word in the current context? Gordon Brown of Britain, Angela Merkel of Germany, Silvio Berlesconi of Italy, these leaders are not perturbed, even remotely, about 'socialism' supposedly creeping in. Because, socialism is not creeping in - either in Europe or US.

Then, what is McCain's plank of logic when he is using the 'socialist' word in an attempt to scare people away from Obama. And, therefore, where in God's name will there be any logic in trying to connect Obama with any past or present socialist leader of Europe? What will be its relevance? (Is there any socialist leader in Europe at present?)

This then begs the question: Does McCain know what is he talking about? The 72 year Senator doesn't seem to have any idea of how UK, and the G-7 European countries are trying to tackle the present economic crisis. How pathetic! This again goes to show the hopeless shallowness of McCain's knowledge about foreign affairs - an area in which he touts his 'deep' knowledge.

Now, the 'Joe, the Plumber' issue. By now every American knows that Joe is neither a plumber nor his annual income is more than $100,000. So, to cite Joe-the-Plumber case to build any argument regarding Obama's proposed tax strategy is utterly meaningless.

Moreover, how many small businesses make more than $250,000? Ans: Less than 1-2% of all small businesses. Therefore, Obama's proposal to tax people earning more than $250,000 is surely not going to impact the small businesses segment. Hence, it is clear that Mr. McCain has got it wrong here as well.

So, what is the conclusion? The conclusion is that the middle-class segment of USA is not going to be taxed more under Obama's tax plan. On the contrary the American voters need to remember is that Obama proposes to provide monetary help to the middle class segment.

So, how is Obama a socialist? And, how does his tax plan even remotely seem to sneak in socialism? Btw, is it a crime to provide relief to that segment of society which is in dire need of help, namely, the middle-class?

In all the Presidential debates not once did McCain mention the word 'middle-class'. He seems to be totally averse to providing help to this largest segment of American society. And he claims that he going to do good for the people at large, how sickening is that!!

One hopes the US voters will see through the charade of this Republican candidate and provide him a befitting reply by planting a footprint on his posterior on Nov 4.

DO McCAIN-PALIN THINK AMERICANS ARE DUMB?

I am getting worried about the tone and tenor of the campaign strategies currently being employed by McCain-Palin ticket. The Republican advert about Obama being associated with Bill Ayers, the robocalls, the FBI investigation in ACORN - all this is sickening!
First, let us take this Ayers thing...I have listened to the actual story as per which Obama purportedly met Ayers when the Illinois Senator was just 8 years old. In recent times Obama was on a Board which had Ayers also as a member. But the fact is that this Board had other members too who are known Republican supporters. So, are these pro-Republican people also so-called 'terrorists'?
Dave Letterman pointedly asked McCain during his show on Oct 16 about Arizona Senator's hobnobbing with a guy called Liddy who was a radical/terrorist element. McCain clearly got flustered and gave some utterly incoherent answers.
Anyway, the question is: if Obama is dangerous just because he sat on the same table with Ayers, then by the same token McCain is also a 'radical' and 'dangerous' person because he interacted with Liddy. In fact, McCain's association with Liddy is said to be far more closer than what Obama had with Ayers.
So, the thought comes to one's mind is: what do these Republican candidates take the American voters to be ? Do McCain-Palin think that American people will buy their distorted, twisted propaganda? Do they think that the American voters are so dumb that they will not be able to distinguish truth from blatant lies?
So, what should the American voters do? The American voters must think rationally and analyse each Republican commercial advert that they hear, each word that the Republican candidates utter in their rally speeches. If they do so, the people of America will come to the incontrovertible conclusion that both McCain and Palin are totally incompetent to be President and Vice-President, respectively.
Intellectually both McCain and Palin just don't have in them to hold the above mentioned positions. McCain fumbles on every topic, including foreign affairs, for which he claims to be highly knowledgeable. McCain doesn't even know which Muslim sect lives in Iran. There are so many other examples of his disgusting gaffes.
Worst of all, McCain has no understanding of economic issues either. His increasing age seems to be making his mental faculties slower, weaker by the day. His comprehension seems to be clearly handicapped by rapidly decreasing number of neurons of his brain. The result: he just reads out something from the paper placed in front of him, or blurts out something that he had memorised without understanding what the question was, or whether what he said made any sense.
If you watch closely McCain's conversation, you will notice that he often smiles abruptly. And, if you watch closely you will find that that smile is totally meaningless. The smile resembles typically that of an idiot, or a moron, or an imbecile. A vacuous, foolish smile.
One hopes that the American voters will make the correct judgement on Nov 4, and will give a resounding slap to McCain-Palin by voting against them in huge numbers.
One thing is for sure: this Republican ticket is probably the worst in American history. Therefore, they should be consigned to where they actually belong to - political trashcan!

PERILS OF UNSUPERVISED FREE MARKET

US finally had to reconcile to the harsh reality - it will be foolhardy to continue to be the breast-thumping champion of the so-called free market.
To buy 'significant' stakes in 9 US banks which are apparently in good health is in other words govermentalization of these institutions. It was a silver bullet that was hard to swallow for the current Republican administration.
Republicans have been strong votaries of the concept that free market mechanism will work fine on its own, and no oversight is necessary. They somehow formed a notion in their minds, of course naively, that people will self-regulate and things will always be hunky dory.
May be some of them were really NOT so naive and may have felt in their heart of hearts that left to themselves the human nature can create mayhem in the free market realm, but probably they were not so bold to rock the boat, as they say.
It is impossible to believe that Republican thinkers were too dumb to visualize the scenario of free market mechanism spinning out of control one day or the other given the increasing financial greed. Anyway, eventually the present dispensation in Washington came around to realize the importance of oversight of free market operations.
But it was sad to see that US which boasts tens of living Nobel Laureates in Economics could not come out quickly with steps to meet the current financial turmoil. Consequently, the US administration became a poor copy cat of their British and European counterparts who came out first with the idea of buying stakes in big banks and implemented without dithering.
Whether you support the philosophy of Party A or Party B, what is of paramount importance when you are presiding over a country's affairs is that you do what is best for your country. You don't remain doped by the ideology of the party you support or remain obstinately shackled to its illogical tenets. But, unfortunately, the Republicans in last decade or so did exactly that. The result: US ended up becoming camp followers of Europe, and fell from the grace of being the most powerful economic nation on this planet.
Wall Street will not be same as it used to be in terms of clout in the world of financial goings-on. And, the Americans will have to get used to be part of pack, not the leader. The sooner it happens the less pain they will feel to adjust to new world order.

McCAIN'S BODY LANGUAGE SUGGESTED PANIC

About 63 million people watched the second presidential debate on 7th Oct. The unanimous verdict of the viewers is that Obama won hands down. A huge section of the viewers resented the way McCain went negative and offered very little in terms of originality as to what he would do if he was to tackle the current problems US is facing.

However, nobody in the media noted or talked about the manner McCain spoke. If you replay the debate tape and listen closely how McCain spoke in the microphone, you will notice that the senator from Arizona was breathing heavily while speaking. It almost suggested as if he was feeling short of breath. There was nothing of that sort though in Obama's speaking efforts.

The question is why did McCain sound as if he was running short of breath? One of the reasons could be that he was extremely nervous, and stressed. There is no doubt that the 72 year old republican candidate must have been under great stress. After all he went in to the Oct 7 debate trailing not only nationally, but also trailing in swing states' opinion polls.

McCain was forcing himself to speak in the microphone, and the deliberate effort that he was making to speak most likely caused him to breathe heavy. Look, he is quite old, has had number of ailments including skin cancer. He consumes number of medication as was indicated in the medical records that were made public only for a few hours. So, surely he is not in the most pink of health conditions however hard his camp or media would like the people to believe.

If one observes the 72 year old McCain speaking, one would notice that oftentimes he looses links in his sentences, and also looses track of what he supposed to be speaking about. This is a clear sign of cerebral ageing. His neurons have diminished, synapses weakened thereby impacting his cerebral agility. This makes him intellectually slower and more mediocre.

McCain WAS mediocre to begin with, and now his cerebral decline has compounded the situation for the worse. Not sure how many people know, this formal naval aviator was only a few rungs above the bottom in his cohort of about 600 cadets.

The senator from Arizona also appeared to be quivering a bit as he paced on the floor during the debate. This aspect seemed to be suggested from the way he was stiffening his body more than he usually does while shuffling around. As well, his face appeared blanched and eyes suggested a subliminal streak of panic and glassiness.

So, in a nutshell it seems that McCain's body language gave away what was going on inside him while he went through the motions of the debate putting forward lame arguments, drifting miles away from the questions and sounding logically incoherent most of the times.

The republican candidate is in a deep hole at the moment, with his veep candidate aggravating his problems by excelling herself in talking nonsense. McCain's chances are increasingly looking bleak.

USA's Pathetic Mediocrity

The more I listen to the Republican candidates for US presidential poll, I wonder what has happened to intellectual level of US - I mean, the Republican party could not find anyone better than John McCain and Sarah Palin!!
If McCain is an ageing blunderbag, Palin is a pathologically moronic shrew. Both of them intellectually challenged, and shamelessly dismissive about their outstanding mediocrity.
Day after day the duo spews balderdash on most of the topics they speak on. Worst, they resort to disgusting inaccuracies, and talk any nonsense while responding to media questions.
One wonders, are they panicking, or they are simply not capable of doing better? The opinion polls are suggesting day after day that gap between McCain-Palin ticket and Obama-Biden pair is increasing.
What I said in the foregoing is not based on any bias against McCain and Palin. A dispassionate, impartial, logical examination of their utterances bring out the inescapable conclusions mentioned above.
But do the voters of US realise this? Are they evaluating the candidates based on their competence or they are sticking to one ticket or the other based on the party affiliations? Should the voters not weigh in their minds as to who is more capable in handling economic crises, and who is more composed and organised in thinking etc etc?
There is a month between now and the election day. Will the Republican strategists come out with some kind of magic to change the horrendous perception most of the logical and sane minded voters of US have of the intellectually drained McCain-Palin ticket? If they can do it, it will indeed be something better than what Chris Angel Mindfreak achieves in his acts.
I am not sure about others, at least I will be watching the developments with great interest. I will come back with more.