I live in Sedona. McCain does not actually have a house here his house is out of town it's sort of like having a house in Brooklyn and saying that you live in Manhattan.

Anyway, I met someone last week who lives in the state and knows McCain and has been sworn Republican life long. They said that they can not vote for him now.

There was an Obama rally moving down the sidewalk here this afternoon, fifty or sixty people with Obama signs having fun and getting lots of positive horn toots from the passers by.

I see more Obama signs popping up in people's yards. I see people with Obama tee shirts on. I see Obama bumper stickers. It's all proliferating as the days go by.

None for McCain, nothing. My stock broker who lives in Phoenix was leaning McCain before the Palin choice but is sworn off now.

You can not possibly compare this with the level of internet influence to a time when people got 'news' once a day at best and from one source at most. If anything, the polls seem to me to be understated now. Undecided people want to vote for the guy who wins. This is why they remain undecided. They can not understand the issues and could not care less. Voting for the expected winner saves them from having to explain anything to anyone. This is an effect that you do not hear discussed and the one that will create the landslide effect.

If you are a fundamentalist, a rightist, a dogmatist, you want to be fed your opinions. You want to be fed what to think, how to dress, how to act and how to operate in the world. All of that comes from submitting to the brainwashing as a child. Speak only when spoken to. Sit in the chair and react to the bell. Suffer the slap of the ruler or the hand at any sign of non compliance and of course, suffer the ultimate when your indiscretion extends beyond that. Suffer the agony of eternal burning in hell. Eternal.

You know that the rules governing everything seen, thought, felt are pre determined and there is little leeway in straying from that path if you want the carrot. Eternal salvation.

if you wrote this piece or you read it and find it thought provoking, either you did not grow up under the harsh spotlight of religion or you have suppressed the memories. If you find the piece disconcerting because it grates on your 'values' my guess is that more than likely you were subjected to that mental training from the earliest days of your ability to understand your native tongue. Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy etcetcetc.

I grew up in that environment. I remember nuns in my grammar school dragging a sobbing child through the hall after a good beating, routine use of the ruler and a life time spent looking over my shoulder for some invisible guy they called god. Trained to believe that there is only a small group of superior individuals who are 'blessed' with the knowledge of right and wrong and the ability to see it in the rest of society and to exercise their power over those who do not have the 'divine connection to the creator'.

This is in my opinion, the essence of what divides the left from the right. It's cultural conditioning that many have assumed away, forgotten about or remain fearful of understanding because of the threatened consequences.

How does it change?

Mandatory study of comparative religions in elementary schools. Children must be educated in the diversity of religious belief. Not so that they can choose one but so that they can choose none. So that they can see the absurdity of the fear and irrationality and grow to be adults who have the capacity to look, listen, learn and be self reliant in all manner of human discourse and endeavor.

I was willing to accept the possibility that McCain felt this need to be in washington and get involved in the conversation on this for the benefit of the american people but. given the results of this fiasco today, it seems to be the case that he intentionally sabotaged any agreement that might have been close in order to cement the 'maverick' monicker.

he can not agree with the Paulson plan because that would be a GWB rubber stamp in the media and that appeared to be where it was more or less headed. the democrats were also not the ones to balk. so suddenly, everything needs to change.

and what does that mean? yes, maverick. no hewing to wall street or washington or the left of the right. John McCain defines our reality and we will accept it.

Again, PTSD. this guy lived that life for years in a prison and at times of stress, he reverts to that moment in his life when it all changed. only this time he is in control. he is calling the shots he is the torturer he is the definer of reality and every one in america is expected to have the same cathartic conversion to america firstism.

it's scary. my bet is that is how it plays out tomorrow. he emerges as the chief negotiator for the right and refuses to compromise. so much for the aisle crosser.