Third Way Dispatch

On October 28, 1980, the race between President Jimmy Carter and challenger Ronald Reagan was deadlocked. Despite the hostage crisis in Iran and a poor economy, the electorate was not sold on Reagan, and his advisors thought he was more likely to lose than win. But on that night – the night of the only presidential debate – Reagan used his closing statement to frame the remaining week of the campaign. He did so in four words – “are you better off?” A dead heat turned into a blowout.

John McCain is proving himself right that the economy is not really his thing. This morning in Wisconsin, he appealed to the LaFollette crowd and announced that the fed should get out of the “bail out business” and get back to monitoring the money supply. Hoover couldn’t have said it better. The consensus among those who say “the economy is my thing” is that the fed is the only thing keeping us from the bread line.

Twenty-four years ago, I had my first paying political job. I performed data entry for the Massachusetts Democratic Party. I was paid $5.25 an hour, and I was in heaven. Hey, it beat making mediocre pizzas for $4.75 an hour. The chairman of the state party was Chet Atkins – a great guy and a member of Congress. But as chairman of the party, he was criticized because no African-Americans were on the state party payroll. So he called Mel King, an African-American city councilman and mayoral candidate from Boston and asked Mel to send him his best person to be field director of the Party. “I’ve got just the guy,” said King. “Jim Spencer.” Atkins interviewed Spencer on the phone and he hired him on the spot. That Monday, Jim Spencer showed up for work. He was White.

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

OK, Joe, we know you love John McCain. We get it. We know you’re angry at the Democratic establishment. Fine. We know you really, really, really believe that Iraq is the central front on terror. Whatever. But Sarah Palin? A “reformer?” A “leader we can count on?”

Be honest with us for a moment. Let’s have a little straight talk, OK. Six days ago you couldn’t have picked Sarah Palin out of a police lineup. She was a total stranger to you and the rest of America. And now she’s a “reformer” and a “leader we can count on.” In poker, that’s called a “tell.”