Noah Counte

McCain said on Tuesday in St. Louis, that he was going to go after Obama on William Ayers during the debate. The Obama campaign said "we'll talk abou the economy." It's an issue that isn't going to go away, and it's the issue that most interests independent voters.

But if I were Obama, which I'm not, I would stray from the economy long enough to respond to the Ayers accusations with a parry (it was a long time ago, and a lot of Chicago Republicans had just as much contact with Ayers as Obama did - those Republicans think Ayers is a non-issue) and a couple of thrusts of my own:

First, Sarah Palin's husband was a card-carrying secessionist until 2002. Remember the last time a state tried to seceed? It prompted the Civil War. 618,000 dead. Why, that's tantamount to domestic terrorism! He was friends with the leader of the Alaska Secession Party, who feels there is nothing in the US for Alaskans. That doesn't reconcile easily with the current Palin mantra about how the US is the "greatest force for good in the world" (a statement that has become a sore point for some of her Christian friends who thought God was the greatest force for good in the world).

The second thing that I think would really open some eyes is McCain's relationship with William Timmons, who has been picked to run McCains transition team should he win the election. Timmons is a lobbyist. One of his clients was Saddam Hussein, for whom he lobbied to relax US sanctions against Iraq. Just so we're clear, this is the same Sadam Hussein who McCain refers to as a one-time menace to the region who had "stated categorically that he would acquire weapons of mass destruction, and he would use them wherever he could." Really? Some kid who was part of an organization that planted dynamite disqualifies Obama, but his own ties to the dictatorial leader of Iraq is not disqualifying?

Please. Spare us the Ayers' nonsense, so we don't have to deal with the hypocritical finger pointing, and lets talk about the economy.

If they do get around to talking about the economy (and they should - it's supposedly the topic), I hope Obama will point out McCains big plan - freezing spending (well, not defense spending - we'll raise that) - means pain for huge groups of Americans who will see a cut in real spending for:

• breast cancer research
  
• children's health
  
• student loans
  
• Food Stamps
  
• early childhood education
  
• the national parks
  
• all biomedical research
  
• unemployment benefits
  
• funding to help poor people pay their energy bills
  
• loans to small businesses
  
• solar energy
  
• infrastructure projects, such as fixing roads and bridges
  
• hurricane forecasting and flood control
  

McCain's Jobs for America Plan spells it out.

Maybe we'll see a real debate tonight. I'm not holding my breath, but you never know. I just hope the candidates tell us something truthful that will improve our lives directly next year.

In other news, Vice President Cheney is in the hospital (irregular heart rhythm). I wonder who's running the country?