“…while Republicans — whose prescription drug entitlement is the largest expansion of the welfare state since President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society gave birth to Medicare in 1965; a majority of whom in Congress supported a lavish farm bill at a time of record profits for the less than 2 percent of the American people-cum-corporations who farm — and their administration were partially nationalizing the banking system, putting Detroit on the dole and looking around to see if some bit of what is smilingly called “the private sector” has been inadvertently left off the ever-expanding list of entities eligible for a bailout from the $1 trillion or so that is to be “spread around.“

Will continues:

“McCain and Palin, plucky foes of spreading the wealth, must have known that such spreading is most what Washington does.”

I can understand why George Will would want to wait until after the election to express these views.  But, where was he when Bush was expanding the government? By 2004, the Bush expansion was well underway.  Why didn’t he support changing horses in midstream?  Especially if Bush was as bad as Will suggests.  My guess is that the Bush/Rove Voodoo had him thoroughly entranced..

Just a side note: George Will is an old school conservative that doesn’t really care about social issues, he has a different point of view than the Palin faction.  The GOP has been taken over by the rght wing, and that is great news for the Democrats. The right wing is loud and powerful, but they simply don’t represent the views of most voters.  They will continue to put up far right candidates, even if there is a moderate candidate available.  If Obama sees any positive progress during his first term, that success will make it that much harder for conservative Republicans to get elected.

Here’s a full transcript:

On Tuesday, Americans stood in lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen. It didn’t matter who they were or where they came from; what they looked like or what party they belonged to – they came out and cast their ballot because they believed that in this country, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. We should all take pride in the fact that we once again displayed for the world the power of our democracy, and reaffirmed the great American ideal that this is a nation where anything is possible.

This week, I spoke with President Bush, who graciously offered his full support and assistance in this period of transition. Michelle and I look forward to meeting with him and the First Lady on Monday to begin that process. This speaks to a fundamental recognition that here in America we can compete vigorously in elections and challenge each other’s ideas, yet come together in service of a common purpose once the voting is done. And that is particularly important at a moment when we face the most serious challenges of our lifetime.

Yesterday, we woke to more sobering news about the state of our economy. The 240,000 jobs lost in October marks the 10th consecutive month that our economy has shed jobs. In total, we’ve lost nearly 1.2 million jobs this year, and more than 10 million Americans are now unemployed. Tens of millions of families are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills and stay in their homes. Their stories are an urgent reminder that we are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we must act swiftly to resolve them.

In the wake of these disturbing reports, I met with members of my Transition Economic Advisory Board, who will help guide the work of my transition team in developing a strong set of policies to respond to this crisis. While we must recognize that we only have one President at a time and that President Bush is the leader of our government, I want to ensure that we hit the ground running on January 20th because we don’t have a moment to lose.

We discussed several of the most immediate challenges facing our economy and key priorities on which to focus in the days and weeks ahead to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity.

First, we need a rescue plan for the middle class that invests in immediate efforts to create jobs and provides relief to families that are watching their paychecks shrink and their life savings disappear.

Then, we’ll address the spreading impact of the financial crisis on other sectors of our economy, and ensure that the rescue plan that passed Congress is working to stabilize financial markets while protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners, and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.

Finally, we will move forward with a set of policies that will grow our middle-class and strengthen our economy in the long-term. We can’t afford to wait on moving forward on the key priorities that I identified during the campaign, including clean energy, health care, education and tax relief for middle class families.

Let me close by saying I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead. We’ve taken some major actions to date, and we will need further actions during this transition and subsequent months. Some of those choices will be difficult, but America is a strong and resilient country. I know that we will succeed if we put aside partisanship and work together as one nation. And that is what I intend to do.

Obama also gave a press conference yesterday, which you can find on his website, here. Can I just say, I’m SO happy, relieved, elated, excited, euphoric that Obama is the person giving this speech, and not McCain.   America got it right this time.

It’s the moderate’s fault? Are you kidding me? You lost because you have spun out of control. Your base has slid further and further right, alienating the middle-class, those with different values than you, the gays, the minorities, the liberals, the moderates, the moderate conservatives, women, and basically the rest of the entire world. This isn’t a sign that you should be doing MORE OF THE SAME. You didn’t lose because moderates led you further left-you lost the moderates because you moved too far to the right. You didn’t lose your extreme base. It’s just as racist, sexist and elitist as ever. They’re not going anywhere. Moving further right will alienate more of your party.

The best thing the republican party can do to save themselves is tell the Family Research Council to piss off and go back to their traditional fiscal policies while discarding the “social values.” Depending on the needs of the economy at any given time, it’s smart to balance to two parties.

What we don’t need is Tony FREAKING Perkins telling me what I need to do with my morals. Tony Perkins: Most of America doesn’t want to hear your B.S. You want a religious country? Go make one somewhere else. Raise a bunch of money, buy an island or something, create a religious nation with strict discipline, drive hate for those who disagree or threaten your power, manipulate your people with fear of damnation. Go ahead. See what happens. See who’s the real savage (as evident by the past 8 years).

House Minority leader, Republican, John Boehner considers Emanuel a partisan fighter, stating it was an ironic choice for Obama because he has promised change, and to govern from the center. In Fortune Magazine, Tom Cole of Oklahoma warned republicans of Emanuel’s ferocity, calling him dangerous and relentless.

The Minority Leader stated that Obama promised to govern from the center.

What?

Wasn’t the republican party calling him a socialist a week ago? While I can’t speak to whether Boehner personally called Obama a socialist, he’s a member of a party that went to extremes trying to convince the public that Obama is a socialist. So now, centrist= socialist. Good to know what we’re working with here.

The right-wing side of the party won’t be happy with any of Obama’s appointments, unless of course, he appoints right wing icons. Anyone moderate or liberal is a socialist or worse.

If Emanuel is tenacious, ferocious, a tough negotiator, and relentless as republicans claim, I for one am thrilled at the choice. Congratulations, Emanuel. Your appointment must be wise choice if it got all their panties in a ruffle.

I am a pacer by nature, I am in overdrive right now.  I’m going to wear out my shoes.

Any voter stories?

*sniffle*

But now, as I watch Saturday Night Live (and a million political ads), I’m thinking about tomorrow. I’m thinking about my daughter sleeping in the next room. About how her father and I have such big dreams for her. About how this election could change all our lives.

I have been feeling like our family is one big statistic. With family members who have lost their jobs, are unable to get health insurance, and about to foreclose on their house, this isn’t the world we want our daughter to grow up in.

We want her to live in a world with affordable living, clean air, the opportunity to make her own decisions and marry whomever she wants. She deserves to have the best education and to have access to the greatest technologies. She shouldn’t have to live in fear of terrorists or wonder if she’ll be able to make ends meet next month. We want her to know that she has the power to be whomever she wants to be, even the president of the United States.

So tonight, before the drama of tomorrow begins, I’m just going to dream about my daughter and hope that the people of this fine country are ready for a real change. Vote Obama!

What’s going through your mind tonight?

But, it is the night before the election, and since this is my site I figured I would engage in a little self indulgent venting. For no other reason other than I would like to sleep for at least 15 minutes tonight.

In fewer than 24 hours, there is a good chance that we will know whether Barack Obama will be our next president. Obama is in the lead, the momentum is clearly his. Common sense dictates that Obama will win and we begin to heal our country after eight years of infection. Sadly, we have not seen a high degree of common sense exhibited by our fellow countrymen when it comes to selecting our representatives. This has me very nervous. I check fivethirtyeight.com obsessively, and I have convinced myself that the 1.8% chance of a McCain win is all he needs to fuck things up.

For the love of Joe Pesci, please vote tomorrow. I want my fucking country back.