The political cogniscenti are saying that the defining moment of ths election has passed .....

[Stinky The Clown]

... and that Obama is rising rapidly in the polls because of it.

There was Reagan's "There you go again".

Gerry Ford's "Poland".

Dukakis in the tank.

Kerry windsurfing.

And this cycle it is McCain saying "The fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Do you agree?

I do. That was the start of the decline that seems at this point to be insurmountable.

[madaboutharry]

1. You don't think it was

"In what respect, Charlie?"

[Stinky The Clown]

8. No, that was a sideshow

It brought Palin down. It validated the notion that McCain has bad judgment (picking her). But the economy thing was the showcase of his bad judgment.

It was the spark that started the conflagration of his burnout.

[glowing]

2. Paired with McCain suspending his campaign, cancelling on Letterman,

and Palin's horrible interview with Katie (and the SNL parody of that interview)... The moments after those horrible words.. its been down hill since... McCain is a joke.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

17. There was a moment last night,

during the debate, when I sat up and said, out loud, "He just won the election."

When Biden, speaking of being a single father watching his gravely injured sons recovering in the hospital, choked up. He recovered so quickly, it was almost subliminal, but it was powerful.

And, in that moment, he humanized the campaign in a way that had been lacking. Fuck her "hockey mom" bullshit. Joe put it right where it belonged - he was afraid of losing his sons after losing his wife and baby daughter.

Top that, motherfuckers.

[Swamp Rat]

3. you betcha!

[southpaw]

4. I hope those Eye-talian guys are right!

No, seriously... it does seem that way.

Ever since then, nothing McCain has said or done has been able to turn the tide... or even slow it for that matter.

[57_TomCat]

5. No I do not agree...

He has been on the decline ever since the convention. The Palin dog and pony show gave the ticket a boost but not him. Downhill ever since. The defining moment was when the right selected a moderate liberal to represent them and the party faithful left.

[southpaw]

10. Moderate liberal?

McCain is a right-wing republican who occasionally bucks his own party because he is, inherently, a contrary bastard.

Moderate liberal my ass.

[EOTE]

21. For real? A moderate liberal?

Have you been paying attention this past decade? McCain is just as wacky right-wing as any of the others running against him in the primary. Just because McCain isn't a fundy doesn't mean that he's not insanely right-wing.

[57_TomCat]

27. Mcain can be considered left of the Repubs...

And he was considering a change of party. He was approached by KERRY for support and a possible VP consideration but refused. To my way of thinking that makes him more liberal than 99% of the rest of the Republican party. I am still amazed he won their nomination and many say he is too left to vote for on the republican side.

I stand by my opinion...Mcain's deciding moment came when he was nominated. His loss at that point was/is almost guaranteed.

[OKNancy]

6. whatever it was, I just heard old Pat Buchanan

say that the debate doesn't matter because the country wants to elect Obama.. lol

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

24. I've happened across your reply 3 times today, and it made me smile each time. Thank You!

Poor Old Pat.

[Lerkfish]

7. could be, but I think more likely when he claimed to "suspend his campaign" to save the bailout

and failed to either actually suspend his campaign nor help the bailout.

[Stinky The Clown]

12. I think all that did was underscore the "fundamentals" stupidity.

It validated what people were already thinking after his fundamentals remark.

[Lerkfish]

26. well, you have a point, I think it all snowballed and accumulated

but I personally think people were queasy but still on board with his palin decision, but only if that were the ONLY dangerous gamble. Once he started adding gamble after gamble, I think people were leaving in droves.

[Hydra]

9. McCain never had a chance to win

Nor did any of the other Repub candidates, so we are far past that moment.

The DEFINING moment of the election is still coming- will Bushco steal a 3rd election?

Stay tuned.

[Cirque du So-What]

11. I've considered that statement as a defining moment as well

and I'm amazed that either the Obama campaign or surrogates haven't picked it up and run with it. Given our collective short attention span, however, it may be best to wait until the last couple of weeks of the campaign to beat that particular drum.

[southpaw]

15. Oh, they've used it to pretty good advantage.

Barack and Joe have both used it in the debates... Obama brings it up at just about every campaign event.

Maybe they could do more with it, but they certainly haven't let it go to waste.


On edit: I LOVE your screen name :toast:

[Cirque du So-What]

18. That's good!

I haven't been following his speeches on the campaign trail, only going by the ads I see on TV. It'd be terrible to let such a monumentally stupid comment to go to waste.

[Stinky The Clown]

19. No need yet to pile on about it.

He's doing a very good job of beating himself. The media continue to repeat the remark and even show the clip of it from time to time.

Biden mentioned it once in last night's "debate". That was probably just right.

[Bok_Tukalo]

13. Whatever it was, it pre-dated the "suspension" gimmick

He would not have done that if he did not see internals telling him it was going south.

[dkofos]

14. I thought it was the palin interviews

[tekisui]

16. I heard a guy on Randi Rhodes say that "voters are cemeting".

Not a lot of potential to move towards mcPOW.

It's nearing a done deal.

[billyoc]

20. The avalanche has already started, it's too late for the pebbles to get their shit together.

[TexasObserver]

22. Yes. Like his birthday bash on Katrina day - Ti-ming!

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

23. I think it was his attempted suspension of his Campaign to work on the "Bailout"

But that does come full circle back to what your saying.

At this point, all that matters to me is Obama. I don't like his Yay vote on this bailout, but I'm still as strongly behind him.

[renate]

25. Sarah explained that very clearly

Obviously he was talking about American workers. And how dare anybody suggest that American workers are not strong? They can bench press twice what French workers can.