I've enjoyed reading the comments posted on my blog thus far - thank you all for your kind words of support. As I was listening to conservative talk radio today, and heard the endless whinning about how mean, nasty, and vitriolic the left has been during this election, I just had to shout, "enough already! I'm sick and tired of victim politics!" I think it's counterproductive and creates a kind of inertia. McCain should be attacking Obama just as vociferously as he and his minions are doing. Because of McCain's age, taking the high ground doesn't make him look gentlemanly or classy, it just makes him look old! It makes him look like he can't get up off the mat after he's been knocked down. I just get the sense that his campaign is scrambling, as if they aren't able to get a step ahead of whatever the Obama camp is throwing at them. Part of that has to do with Sarah Palin, but I'll get to that later.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I'm still waiting for the Republican Attack Machine to kick it into high gear. HRC prophesized that Obama could not withstand its wrath, but so far there's been zip, zilch, nada! Did Hillary use all the good stuff herself against the Big O? She made it seem like there was a lot more out there. At any rate, McCain and Co. can learn another lesson from Hillary and her primary run. That is, that Hispanics throughout the nation did not support Obama, and that fact was never more evident than in the primary results for states like California and Texas, not to mention several states in the south and lower midwest which has seen its Hispanic population grow in the past ten years or so. In fact, the southern states may be more at risk to turn blue than one would think. Black voters have typically voted Democratic, but not in such huge numbers as this election. Plus, Obama has engerized the young, and many of the states have several large universities where the under 25 voter demographic might come heavily into play. The point is that if McCain would court Hispanic voters, he could stem that tide, and possibly  make a difference in key swing states. Yes, Hispanics tend to vote Dem, but they also have, shall we say, "issues" with a candidate like Barak Obama. Although it bewilders and flummoxes the left, the fact is that Hispanic and blacks don't like each other very much. Anyone who lives in California knows that score. So why not capitalize on it? I know that it is the height of cynical politics to play one racial/ethnic group off the other, but at this point, if it works, who cares?! 

 

John McCain has earned a reputaion as a politican who is not afraid to tackle the icky subject of illegal immigration. Has anyone else noticed it has not come up as camapaign issue for either candidate? That's because it can be a lose/lose proposition,and one must tread carefully. McCain has already angered the Republican base by his doomed Kennedy-McCain immigration reform legislation, so I'm sure he doesn't want to go there (hence the derisive "Juan Pablo" moniker  bestowed upon him). But what about the millions of Hispanic voters to whom John McCain is something of a cultural hero? If he doesn't do some wooing of this group of voters, the Dems will surely scare them into voting for a candiate they don't really like or want. I just hope he will reach out to these voters, who could very well tip the balance in this election.