Barack Obama is correct to warn his supporters against complacency, even though the polls suggest he is on track for a big victory. The Democrats have a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Obama's biggest danger is the convergence of interests that believe they stand to lose if he becomes president, specifically the corporate oligarchy that has increased its grip on the nation over the past eight years. They might do fine in an Obama presidency — he is, in fact, far too much of a centrist/pragmatist for many on the left. But the oligarchs can't take the chance. He must be taken out.
Another danger remains the racist duhs and ignos. Obama and McCain are basically tied in Ohio. Ohio! A state that has been ravaged by the policies of conservatism, and yet one where too many white people will preserve the status quo rather than vote for a mixed-race American.
Put these together and you have the McCain camp's last, best hope: Steal the election. This is what the ACORN flap is about. The organization actually brought to authorities attention the fraudulent registrations that have made news. These are the fake names provided by paid petition gatherers (you Zonies know about them) who get paid by the name. They won't actually vote. This is a distraction from actually voter fraud, something Republicans got away with in Florida in 2000, and most notoriously, in Ohio in 2004. Now a federal court, bowing to a Republican lawsuit, has ordered the state to verify all new registered voters — at a time when Democratic registration is soaring. It's a task that can't be done. The scam is all about disenfranchising people, especially poor people. Do it in enough states, and McCain has a chance. Then there are those voting machines…
So it ain't over. McCain mentioned a threat to "the fabric" of Democracy from ACORN. He got it half right. Republican voter suppression and fraud is just that, and Democrats must fight it and not concede in the face of another hanky-panky election.
UPDATE: The Roberts/Scalia/Alito Supreme Court just backed Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, turning aside the Republican challenge. Wow.
https://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12439&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=22383&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=12340&cHash=ef14f35f55
And then there’s the sound bite during one of McCain’s speechs where we hear someone in the audience saying “Kill Him!”
That’s happened before in US politics and could change the landscape dramatically in the last few weeks.
I think the whole ACORN flap is to fan the fires of discontent when/if Obama wins. (McPalin couldn’t really win? Could they?) The GOP will use ACORN to taint the Obama presidency with the stench of illegitimacy and they use it to feed their racist inclinations. They tell frightened white voters that ACORN is mostly minorities and they (ACORN) are signing up mostly minorities to steal the election from them (real Amerikans).
I agree with you Jon that McCain has never been a Maverick, but the stench of economic and foreign failure is coming off his campaign like the stench of badly field dressed moose that’s been shot by a politician who dreams of a pipeline to nowhere.
FYI, some of us at the Republic still miss you in Phoenix.