Thanks for that reference to the Jane Mayer article in the New Yorker, episcomom (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer?printable=true). It really did blow my mind away! The whole article is brilliant - but in the context of this election, there is this wonderful passage about 'making a choice':

...

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

...

I think ALL US citizens should read it!

GSC

The marvelous passage I quoted was from an article by David Sedaris "Undecided" in the same issue of the New Yorker as the Jane Mayer article referred to. (The Jane Mayer article is terrific too!)

GSC

Well, US voters were stupid enough to have GW Bush, War Criminal, as their President for two terms. They may well choose the War Criminal's inheritors, John McBush ("borderline senile") and Sarah Palin ("mighty moose+wolf+bear hunter - from the safety of an aeroplane").

Let's hope you get it right this time at least!

GSC

... is to counter the dirty tricks that are being and will be played by the GW Bush-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove-John McBush-Sarah Palin Gang.

Expect newly-developed 'Swift Boat' attacks! Expect more 'wolves in the undergrowth'! Now, maybe, it will be 'sharks off the beaches' chewing up American children!

When things go REALLY bad for McBush-Palin, expect much filthier neo-con tricks.

GSC

Here's a little excerpt from a New Yorker article, that could help put the 'choice' ahead of US voters in the right perspective:

+++

...

To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. “Can I interest you in the chicken?” she asks. “Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?”

To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.

I mean, really, what’s to be confused about?

...

+++

The article was "Undecided", by David Sedaris, and I provide the link here: (http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris).

GSC

Remember that twice before - in 2000 and 2004 - US citizens actually chose to accept the plateful of shit!

Please do get your act right this time around, at least.

GSC

It will by no means be enough just "to get out the vote for Obama"!! That may be the easiest thing you guys have to do to ensure a worthy president for the USA this time around at least.

Equally important is how you are going to counter the whole passel of dirty tricks that GW Bush-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove-John McBush-Sarah Palin (and the rest of that rotten neocon bunch) have gotten ready. And you can be sure that they will do these and more! Here are just a few of the dirty tricks under way that I read about in an article in an Indian newsmagazine... :

Can America Count? (Outlook India.com, http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081103&fname=US&sid=1)

(Box: Six ways to rig an election, American style)

(Just the sub-titles are provided below)

1. Discourage voter-drive groups

2. Purge the voter list

3. Challenge the voter's identity

4. Provisional ballot

5. Spoilt votes

6. Absentee Ballot

(It's really worth reading the details of the article. That box was just a quick summary of the whole article, telling of the HUGE scam the Reepers have made ready to ensure Obama does not get to be US president!)

GSC

(P.S.: I always knew elections in India are often very dirty indeed. But that article, about the election games played in India, convinces me that we are only rank amateurs).

It should have read: "...about the election games played in the USA,...." (instead of "...about the election games played in India, ...") as mistyped.

Sorry about that.

GSC

The expert thoughts are right on, very apt indeed. And, as someone pointed out, the Obama Campaign has been brilliant all along, but for a couple of minor mis-steps.

However, I see no mention of what they are doing to counter the dirty tricks that we all know GW Bush-Dick Cheney-Karl Rove-John McBush-Sarah Moosekiller have planned to put into play. A couple of those dirty tricks that were already tried have failed - but that is no guarantee that all the dirty tricks will fail!

Of course, it may well be that the Obama team is in fact doing enough to counter the dirty tricks from the neocon rethuglicans but is not talking about it - which is probably the right way to go.

Anyway, this is for sure a long and anxious week for the world...

GSC