And another thing…

GRATEFUL thanks to LabourMatters who sent me a link to this very entertaining story.

Davd Cameron declared his support for John McCain, against convention and, presumably, at a point when he thought McCain could beat the presumptive Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton.

And yet today, ‘Dave’ spent the whole of Prime Minister’s Questions frantically – and belatedly – climbing back on to the Obama bandwagon.

His party’s got form on this kind of thing, of course. In 1992 Major’s government did a trawling exercise as a favour for George Bush Snr in an attempt to dig up some dirt to use against Bill Clinton.

WELCOME to the Oval Office, President Obama.

So, I was wrong. You can hardly blame me for being pessimistic.

As I write, a CNN analysis is concluding that in the best case scenario for McCain, he won’t be able to reach 270 electoral college votes.

Amazing. Astonishing. Quite genuinely, tonight has restored my faith in the good sense and judgment of the American people.

And consider what’s been achieved: he’ll be the first president to have gone straight from the Senate to the White House since Kennedy in 1961; he’ll also be the first northern Democrat to win the presidency since JFK. After Kerry’s defeat in 2004, received wisdom was that the Democrats could only win again with a southern candidate. That a northern senator has done it would be remarkable enough; add the fact that he’s black and you feel you need to pinch yourself.

Obama has rewritten the rules of American politics, and this is a very exciting time for the world.

Now… who wants to place a bet on how soon the Republicans will call for President Obama’s impeachment?

THANK you to Iain Dale for sending this very entertaining video. I didn’t even realise I had a vote…

I STILL refuse to get my hopes up, but this makes very interesting reading and seems to indicate classic implosion behaviour by losing campaigns.

But I don’t see any overweight women practicing their scales just yet.

WHEN I walked into the office this morning, a member of staff’s first words to me were: “You’re wrong.”

I knew exactly what he meant. “I hope so,” I replied. “But I don’t think so.”

He was talking about the US elections, of course, and my prediction that McCain will win. It’s a bit like the 1990 World Cup, when I bet a fiver on Brazil beating Scotland 1-0 in the finals. And before any slavering cybernats start castigating me for being unpatriotic, it wasn’t like that; I had also put a fiver on Scotland to win 1-0, but even though I knew as much about football then as I do now, I knew enough to know that a Brazil win was more likely. All I wanted to do was provide for a modest consolation in the event of Scotland getting gubbed. And so it transpired.

I walked into the bookies in Paisley the next day to collect my winnings, to be met with howls of good-humoured derision by the women behind the counter, one of whom cried: “Oh, here comes Judas to collect his thirty pieces of silver!” (I had placed a fiver bet at odds of 6/1, earning a payout of £30.)

Any road oop, in the same way, I hope that the small amount of bitter satisfaction at having been right will serve as a modicum of consolation after Obama concedes on November 5.

THERE, I’ve said it.

In just over a fortnight, Senator John McCain will be elected America’s 44th president, confounding the pundits and the polls. Barack Obama will become the newest member of a not-very-exclusive club of Failed Democrat Presidential Candidates.

Why do I say this at a time when, apparently, some bookmakers are already paying out on Obama winning?

Do I really need to say it? Please don’t make me. Just read this.

Obviously, I hope I’m wrong, as do the vast majority of sensible UK citizens. 

But whatever political intuition I may or may not have for the politics of a country I’ve visited fewer than half a dozen times is telling me Obama’s not going to make it.

Dammit.

Obama won't be leading McCain after November 4. And yes, I just wanted an excuse to use this picture again

HOW bad is John McCain doing when Christopher Hitchens says this about his campaign:

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.

Read the whole article here.

JUST received this from my Aunt Joan in Florida. Enjoy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adc3MSS5Ydc]

I WONDER how many British Tories will continue supporting Palin now that such support can no longer be extricated from tolerance of abuse of power. I expect their first line of defence will be “Well, NuLabour did it first,” or some such nonsense.

Bear in mind, of course, that abuse of power and an inescapably obvious lack of qualifications for office have not always stopped US politicians from being elected.