Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

In this final week, the former Navy flier is piloting his campaign with the navigational skills of Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who took off for California 70 years ago and ended up in Ireland and as part of American folklore.

John McCain, whose destination is the support of independent voters, keeps flying in the face of all experience that shows they are averse to negative campaigning by escalating his attacks on Barack Obama as a Socialist, "wealth spreader" and, catchiest of all, "redistributionist."

As he has throughout the year, McCain seems almost obsessively focused on the Rightmost Republican base, voters who certainly don't need persuading to reject Obama, by picking Sarah Palin as a running mate rather than a centrist and by giving campaign crowds red meat rather than acting presidential and concentrating on issues.

With Palin as his co-pilot and Joe the Plumber navigating, McCain seems destined to end this flight in electoral oblivion.

-- ROBERT STEIN

If you're poring over every poll looking for evidence that something could still go wrong, take a breath. Take a breath, and think about the fact that John McCain has been reduced to spending money on robocalls in his home state of Arizona. Okay? Game over. So, what's worrying you?

-- BOOMAN

OK, I'm tired of this. Someone -- who shall remain nameless -- just asked me if I was "nervous" about Obama. FTDS. I don't believe in black cats. I don't toss salt over my shoulder. I step under ladders whenever the mood strikes me. I break mirrors in my spare time. I've made a hobby out of splitting poles. Thirteen is my favorite number. So fuck it, I'm gonna say it -- Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States.

Here is the thing. I believe in competition. John Kerry wasn't swift-boated -- he was beaten by a superior campaign. I guess Al Gore lost because of Nader and the Supreme Court. But why was it ever even that close? What is the use of being a Southern senator when you can't carry a single state in the South? I mean no disrespect to any of those guys, I really don't. But this notion that mystical and nefarious forces deprived them from claiming what was rightly theirs is odious and self-serving.

No one has conspired to deprive us of power over the past few decades. The American people aren't stupid. We've sucked at articulating our message. If you have any interest in a more progressive country, we need to be honest. At the presidential level, at least, conservatives have hammered us. Give them their due. Don't blame Rush. Don't blame Kristol. Don't denigrate states you've never visited. Give them their due. Give them their respect. Study them, and then get better.

-- TA-NEHISI COATES

I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. It was bad enough that he launched an unnecessary war and undermined the standing of the United States throughout the world in his first term. But in the waning days of his administration, he is presiding over a collapse of the American financial system and broader economy that will have consequences for years to come. As a general rule, democracies don’t work well if voters do not hold political parties accountable for failure. While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.

-- FRANCIS FUKUYAMA (Yes, that guy)

I support Obama for President, and I believe that given the Republican Party's war on Muslims in the public and political sphere . . . his Presidency will do much to mitigate the tide of Islamophobia washing our political shores. But Obama is still a failure for not facing the Muslim smear head-on, with the same political courage he demonstrated in the wake of the Reverend Wright affair and his now-historic speech on race.

-- AZIZ POONAWALLA

The thrust of the McCain campaign, especially for the past month, has been that Barack Obama is evil and scary: a metrosexual cosmopolitan celebrity who wants to molest your children while his terrorist friends plot to kill you and his homeboy welfare chiselers from ACORN steal elections so they can then steal your money. Now, four days before the election, McCain shows the voters Obama "reaching across the aisle" to praise his rival in his best calm, reasonable, thoughtful tone.

What am I missing here? Is Steve Schmidt in the tank?

--MARK KLEIMAN