Oh, and expect that McCain is going to baffle and/or infuriate you at least once more before the election. It’s his way.

That’s the thing with battered old warhorses, they got quirks.

I don’t think we can afford an Obama / Pelosi / Reid government for four years until the next generation of serious conservatives like Jindal and Palin are ready for a run on their own, so I’ll put up with McCain and the occasional need to clean up from the blood shooting out of my ears.

I also don’t think McCain is averse to saying things that would tick off Republicans. The Cuomo thing is a prime example. But quite frankly, I think Republicans understand that McCain is who he is, and if they want the new Reagan it’s Palin they look to, and not McCain. However, a lot of what McCain could say would make moderate Democrats and Independents like him even more. They already like him, they always have liked McCain for some reason I never could fathom. That’s why he’s so competitive in places like New Hampshire.

McCain can be a leader with this economic crisis. This is an issue people will pay attention to, regardless of what the MSM wants people to know. They will pay attention to what the candidates say about this because people feel very strongly about it. McCain obviously doesn’t like the bailout (putting him in line with 93% of Americans who don’t support it), and he is the one who has always pushed serious, genuine reforms (for good and ill, he’s always been a reformer).

Congress is a mess, an absolute untrustworthy mess, and this is their mess more than it’s Bush’s mess. I think for the first time in a long time people are paying attention to Congress again. And everybody’s mad, liberals, garden-variety democrats, republicans, conservatives of all stripes, marxists and capitalists. They’re all mad and they’re looking at Congress. Palin is not a member of Congress so this is one thing she doesn’t have to contend against (although her independence and plain-folksness is an asset), but the other three are all Senators. Biden has been neutered. Obama has neutered himself. McCain can be a leader. He has the advantage of having been on top of this one issue (regulation and oversight) for years when no one would listen.

Not saying he has to say something that everyone will agree with (impossible). But he’s already said some things that demonstrate the vision and strength necessary in a leader for all as opposed to a partisan (i.e. appointing a trilateral oversight commission made up of a Republican, Democrat and Independent).

I’m not even talking about any particular economic proposal, I’m talking about leadership. They say people vote for shallow reasons, and maybe it’s true that most people don’t look at all the specifics of policies and whatnot, but the country knows what it needs and people get a feel for what kind of President you’d be. Right now, some people are projecting onto Obama the President they want rather than what he’d be. Obama has settled now. McCain needs to one-up again, and prove the point of all those leadership ads he runs.

The way things are going, does anyone think that the appearance of such photos would change a thing? Honestly, hand-on-heart? This is far too much of a team game; America be damned, it’s about having the badges and stickers and rooting for your side. Hence the support Sarah Palin’s getting. This entire race is absolutely ridiculous.

People who don’t go to movies anymore are fired up about American Carol—my mom is getting a group of friends together for a matinee showing, then going again at night with my dad—-a good idea I might copy, but I’m new in town.

So far this has hurt McCain a bit but I actually think he could win the election on this if he takes the reins. Because Obama is on the wrong side of this issue. All he’ll say is that “homeowners should get money too”, that’s all the Democrats have to say, just throw more money on the pile. He came out and supported the bailout completely, while McCain has been arguing against it from the start.

People are desperate for leadership right now. That’s the one thing that isn’t beholden to party lines…people want leadership more than anything. Strength and confidence. Obama doesn’t have that right now. We know he’s always been an empty suit, but just look how badly he handled the “Palin crisis” and how petty his campaign has become. They look like children. Where’s all that gravitas and (faux)wisdom now? This man never likes to get specific, he never lays out his plans. But where’s the plan for the future? What’s to stop this from happening again? That’s what EVERYONE wants to know! And Obama has no answers.

I am confident that McCain knows what he would do if he were President (unlike Obama, who just wants to notch another title but won’t take a stand for anything). Shoot, he’s been thinking about it for years, and has tried to be a leader even if it made him a maverick. I won’t lie, there’ve been many times I couldn’t stand him. He’s not Specter-levels of duplicitous evil, he’s just annoying and I don’t agree with him on everything. But if people are looking for new ideas, he’s the one with the ideas, not Obama. McCain is the one with true reforms, not Obama. It’s what McCain has been doing for years and years.

McCain’s genuinely mad about the economy like the rest of us, not just using it for points like Obama. I think McCain is going to own this subject in the debates. MSM expects him to do badly because everyone is blaming Republicans for this, but both McCain and Palin should shine on the issue of the economic crisis.

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=UNH+poll%3a+McCain+has+taken+the+lead+(maybe)&articleId=c2afd237-ed4e-4389-a6e1-5c6ce9559107