Indeed, these “small donors” have contributed, but both candidates have had more than a handful of big donors. We can tell that atleast the Obama camp’s funds check out, as the McCain camp has resorted to calling Obama a terrorist sympathizer, rather than blow the whistle. Either that, or both camps have dirt to hide, and have made a voiceless agreement not to sound horn.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Obama is an avid poker player, but he plays for stakes aren’t anywhere near what McCain plays for. And Obama wins! — while McCain has been known to lose a lot of $$$$.

Like I said, people who live in seven glass houses really really shouldn’t throw stones ;-)

FULL DISCLOSURE: Obama is an avid poker player, but the stakes aren’t anywhere near what McCain plays for. And Obama wins! — while McCain has been known to lose a lot of $$$$.

Like I said, people who live in seven glass houses really really shouldn’t throw stones ;-)

Palestinians phone bank for Obama
http://townhall.com/columnists/AmandaCarpenter/2008/05/13/palestinians_phonebank_for_obama

\Are foreign donations powering the Obama campaign?
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/10/are_foreign_donations_powering.html

Obama’s appeal in the Muslim world
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0613/p09s02-coop.html

Pro-Obama, Muslim-led voter registration in mosques
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Election2008/Default.aspx?id=2738844

As for superstitions, a lot of people have those. Unless you’re relying on a card reader to make policy choices, a couple of good luck totems is nothing worth even bringing up.

Although, I do agree with your general thesis that Obama hasn’t thrown as much mud as he could have. But he’s been ahead down the stretch, which tends to permit for a more graceful campaign.

1. That ‘67 incident when McCain accidentally launched a missile on the deck of the USS Forrestal, killing 134 people, injuring another 161, destroying 20 jets, and taking the Forrestal out of action. But his daddy the Admiral got him off — it was all blamed on an accidental “power surge”. Accidental power surge? That’s what happens when you accidentally press the launch button, isn’t it?

2. Then there’s the fact that he dumped his first wife while she was recovering from some serious injuries. Not only that, but he obtained a marriage license to marry Cindy before he had divorced his first wife. I would suggest that shows McCain had some impulse control issues, especially because obtaining a marriage license while still married is bigamy (at least where I live).

3. Keating Five, anyone? No, take scratch that one of this list. Obama DID bring that one up. Good for him.

4. McCain has serious gambling problem. He regularly bets thousands of dollars on the roll of the dice, which probably means he’s lost a few million dollars over the years. Luckily he has Cindy to bankroll his gambling addiction.

5. McCain is superstitious to the extreme — to the point of bizarre behavior. Do we really want a CinC who believes he can wiggle his pinkie to defeat his enemies (BTW he calls his pinkie wiggle his “lizard spell”). He’s probably worn a hole in the bottom of his “lucky shoes” by now. And I guess his lucky penny, lucky feather, lucky compass and his lucky rock are suffering from the Obama Mojo ;-)

As you can see there’s feet o’ clay walking in those lucky shoes. But Obama thinks he can win without bringing these issues up. People who live in seven glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.

PS: Obama said he would “aggressively pursue” a campaign funding agreement with McCain. But when McCain refused to reign in his 527s, well, Obama is no fool…

Without question Obama/Axelrod ran a brilliant campaign. They kicked Clinton’s butt and now have done the same to the Republicans and McCain. They beat the best of the Dems and the best of the Reps. And they did it going away. Axelrod’s jiu-jitsu campaigning is brilliant, with the ability to turn weakness into smears of their opponents (Obama’s funny hat becomes “Clinton campaign is underhanded and racist”, Obama’s perfect partisan toe-the-party-line voting record becomes “McCain is George Bush”). These guys are good.

One wonders what role David Axelrod aka “Barack’s Brain” will play in the administration. As a political operative, he makes Karl Rove look like an amateur.

Obama signaled VERY clearly that he was going to accept public financing if McCain agreed to it, and then backed away from that claim after he started raising a ton of money.

By the same token, calling Obama a liar isn’t accurate either. Whether you like it or not, he did leave himself room to change his mind and he never unequivocally stated he would go with public financing.

The one bright spot in all of this is that true public financing seems absolutely possible with the Obama model.

“Yes. … In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. … The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Sen. John McCain has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”-Barack Obama

Sorry Ed. He didn’t do what he explicitly said he would do. That is a commitment which he broke. That is a lie. In addition, despite his massive advantage in fundrasing, the Obama campaign encouraged 527’s after claiming they would reign them in. More lies.

As I said, I have no problem with either candidate raising and spending as much as they want on the campaign. I just have a problem with hypocrites and liars.

However, I do have a problem with hypocrites who decried the Republican ability to raise enormous funds in past years, demanded limits, insisted that public funding was the way to go, but now suddenly revel in Obama’s unlimited fund raising prowess. Did I spell that right? H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E-S?

I also have a big problem with a candidate who lied to supporters about supporting public financing when it was politically convenient in the primaries, then broke an explicit commitment to take public financing when it was no longer politically convenient. Speaks directly to character or lack therof and is a great indicator of what we can expect in the Obama monarchy presidency.