Plumb and Plumber

The young socialist, Barack Obama, spent serious capital on an infomercial on Wednesday night:



His half-hour program was seen by at least 33,600,000 Americans, which doesn't count any Internet viewing, never once mentioned his opponent, told four resonant stories of, uh, "real" Americans, and offered bold, clear solutions which he would implement if we choose him as our next President.

John McCain, on the other hand, has to bus school kids into his anemic events to fabricate a crowd and can't even deliver Joe the (rightwing nutbag) Plumber on cue:



Y'know, McCain likes saying we're all Joe the Plumber, but I'm not. If I can pick based on my own empathy, I'm Larry Stewart from Sardinia, Ohio, from the Obama infomercial, a great-grandfather who's wife's arthritis condition (and their lack of health coverage) has him out of retirement at a Wal-Mart and taking loans against their home. Except even if I were all those things, I wouldn't be as good a blues guitar player as Larry (my favorite reveal of the infomercial).

So McCain can't count on Joe showing up. Even a member of his New Hampshire Leadership Committee has come out endorsing Obama. And he's got his most moronic back-benchers going out to get humiliated in the media with their lies and scumbag innuendo:



And the bookend to today's competence chronicles:

The decision to finance a final advertising push is forcing McCain to curtail spending on Election Day ground forces to help usher his supporters to the polls, according to Republican consultants familiar with McCain's strategy.

The vaunted, 72-hour plan that President Bush used to mobilize voters in 2000 and 2004 has been scaled back for McCain. He has spent half as much as Obama on staffing and has opened far fewer field offices. This week, a number of veteran GOP operatives who orchestrate door-to-door efforts to get voters to the polls were told they should not expect to receive plane tickets, rental cars or hotel rooms from the campaign.

"The desire for parity on television comes at the expense of investment in paid boots on the ground," said one top Republican strategist who has been privy to McCain's plans. "The folks who will oversee the volunteer operation have been told to get out into the field on their own nickel."

Back on May 25th I wrote that by the time November 4th rolled around, casting a vote for Sen. John McCain "will seem like voting assisted suicide for America."

Choose life, America.