Daily Roundup Political Edition

Struggling McCain debuts comeback speech. This is familiar territory. Not so long ago, he was the dark horse for the party nomination. Romney was all but assured and if not him then Huckabee was the next in line. McCain was in the dustbin like Guiliani, Paul, and Thompson. I still don't know how he went from broke and running at the bottom to nominee. Can he do it again? We'll know in three weeks.

Philly fans showing their typical classlessness booed Sarah Palin and her daughters. What else to expect from fans that once booed and pelted Santa Claus with snowballs?

Obama supporters have taken to firebombing their opponents. That you have not heard about this aside from Michelle Malkin and/or Instapundit is rather telling.

Malkin has a rather exhaustive roundup of political violence perpetrated by Democrats in the last few years. I do not share her view that this is typical or representative of your average Democrat. However, that they've not been loudly excoriating their own for things they routinely ascribe to Republicans is disappointing.

In other news, some on the right are thinking of "going John Galt". They do mean figuratively and frankly, I surprised Americans haven't set up parallel institutions to undermine the power and control of government. We are a typically irascible people who don't like being told what to do. When an entity becomes too powerful and slow to respond, we "treat it as damage and route around it" as the saying goes. This explains "cheating" quite a bit. If you've ever had an "off the books" job you know what I mean. One of my first jobs was at a quaintly named "Apothacary". I did menial stuff like mop the floor, stock the shelves, unpack boxes and what have you. I was paid in cash every other week. It was not much but it was cash in pocket for me and as I was under age, a boon. I worked twice a week for about 2 hours at a time. No paperwork for either of us to deal with and I had enough pocket money for the few things I'd spend it on. Had we followed government regulation, I'd be unemployed and the Pharmacist would be busy cleaning and stocking shelves instead of doing what he's supposed to be doing. Increasing regulations and taxes has a tipping point. After a certain level, people feel the risk of running afoul of the law is worth the return of not following it. Think of it this way; If 50% of taxpayers refused to file income taxes next year the IRS would spend immense resources and time to chase those cheaters. They would likely be paralyzed by an overload of cases. Other Conservatives are suggesting that if Obama wins the Middle Class should flood the freebie programs to exhaust them into oblivion. They are notorious for not tracking their recipients. Overwhelming them would force them to either file paperwork or clamor for ever increasing funding.

In foreign policy news; the US has removed the DPRK from the list of terror sponsoring nations. This is a response to their latest hissy fit. Frankly, I can hardly think of a worse idea in dealing with them. They counterfeit our currency, deal drugs with the explicit permission of the Kim Family Regime. I can only surmise this is a poison pill for the next administration. They are left with either appeasing the Kim's further leading to lifting sanctions in exchange for something or other. That something will not be forthcoming and Kim will stamp his feet and hold his breath. If Obama is president, he'll capitulate even further. McCain will promptly add them back to the list which will enrage Kim and result in saber rattling and troop mobilization on the peninsula. The upside of the latter is that it will annoy all the right people at home and cost Kim precious oil that he cannot afford to burn on troop movement.

In a fit of uncharacteristic hyperbole, Investor's Business Daily asks:

"What is it about the specter of our first socialist president and the end of capitalism as we know it that they don't understand?"

While this may be (slightly) overstating the dangers of an Obama presidency, it is important to note that equity markets are forward looking. They must act based on predicted outcomes. There will always be some reactive movement in the markets (i.e. dividend drop, acquisition news) but mostly they are attempting to divine the future. Seeing that Barry may be president they're looking to hedge against further regulation and taxation.

Histrionics aside, let's remember this bail out mixed economy would not be possible without Republicans. Let them wear that albatross until they remember they're supposed to be the party of markets, not businesses.

In other histrionic news we have the redoubtable Christopher Hitchens making the case for America as a banana republic. He makes an interesting case punctuated by the following:

Another feature of a banana republic is the tendency for tribal and cultish elements to flourish at the expense of reason and good order. Did it not seem quite bizarre, as the first vote on the rescue of private greed by public money was being taken, that Congress should adjourn for a religious holiday—Rosh Hashanah—in a country where the majority of Jews are secular? What does this say, incidentally, about the separation of religion and government?

Not surprisingly our friends on the left side of the blogosphere had nothing to say about this egregious violation of atheism as the official state religion.

Steve Newton is taking the DE Blogosphere to the woodshed for the utter lack of civility in political debate. Indeed at DelawareLiberal, they've begun to eat their own.

Yours truly doesn't rate a mention from the good professor but that's like due to an utter lack of comments aside from the occasional "attaboy" from sympathetic souls let alone anything approaching spirited debate.

Kavips is taking the non-left wing of the DE blogosphere to task for different reasons. We all appear to be obsessed with Obama. I don't agree that I'm in that group. I certainly have blogged about Obama more than McCain. That's probably reflective of the fact that I'll be voting against Obama rather than for McCain. Sadly, there are probably a great number of people voting against someone rather than for someone this election.