Principle

From time to time our vocation gets in the way of our avocation. In fact, we haven't even had the opportunity to watch this week's Presidential Debate. Don't worry, we have it tucked away on TIVO and will be reviewing both candidates performances for ourself.

Apparently, John McCain brought up the idea of adjusting principle amounts for "toxic" loans purchased by the government under the bailout bill. We've been challenged by our readers over the issue and rightly so. Most of the comments went something like this one:

Eye are you planning on ever addressing the fact that McCain directly proposed adjusting mortgage principals to match current market values during the second debate? Do you actually care about this issue or are you just casting about for things to attack Obama/Biden on?

It must make you feel pretty dumb when you go out on a limb to write an attack piece in support of your candidate and then your candidate comes out in favor of and even more extreme version of what you attacked his opponents for, doesn't it?

It's a fair criticism... sort of. The fact is we don't care which candidate or party supports readjusting the principle value of a loan whether that loan is "toxic" or not. Wealth redistribution is wealth redistribution regardless of the party proposing it and regardless of the reasoning behind the move. It's immoral and it's wrong.

(Sidebar)
You'll note that we haven't been blaming either party for the current mortgage debacle. The fact is they both had a hand in Fannie and Freddy's irresponsible trade in "affordable housing" loans - loans that were made to people who could never repay them.

Whether it was President Bush and his "culture of ownership" or Jimmy Carter's affirmative action for loans - government policies directly harmed the financial markets and all of those who were given those "toxic" mortgages.
(End Sidebar)

If the government purchases a "toxic" loan at full value and then lowers the principle, tax payers are giving the mortgage holder not only the difference in principle but the difference in the interest that would have been collected over the life of the loan. To the taxpayer it's an immediate loss followed by a long-term earnings loss - all with the stroke of a politician's pen.

This is the type of "maverick" crap that drives us crazy. McCain is consistently inconsistent and a good portion of the time he betrays his own party in the process. Democrats and Independents have always loved him for it - while conservatives are busy pulling the knife(s) from their backs.

This isn't the first time that we've been on the sharp end of one of McCain's knifes and we're quite sure that it won't be the last. However, McCain's failings don't make Obama fit to be President. Wealth redistribution through government spending and regulation are at the core of Obama's philosophy (or at least at the core of whoever it is that's pulling his strings).

We're going to have to drag Senator McCain over the finish line, and then deal with what he does in the Oval Office. We have to save the country from Obama, and then save it (and the Republican Party) from whoever McCain puts in his cabinet. We're going to have to do it one step at a time. Do not throw in the towel.

- Rush Limbaugh

If you want "maverick" - McCain is your choice. If you want limited government, restrained spending, and personal freedom - McCain is your only choice despite his propensity to betray each of those principles from time to time.

Our principles on the other hand, will not change. Biden was wrong when proposed resetting principle values. McCain was wrong when he proposed doing the same.

For now it's more important that we save the country and ourselves from a man who would make the biggest corporation in the world, larger, more wasteful, and more intrusive - while taking our money, our liberty, and endangering our lives. Without doubt that man is Barack Hussein Obama - an anathema to liberty and prosperity.

Biden Remorse?

After the thunderous entry of Sarah Palin into the Presidential race, Democrats may be feeling a sense of buyers, or at least Biden remorse. Obama's safe pick turned out to be a less than inspiring choice, particularly when compared to McCain's coup.

With one decision the Arizona Senator nearly wiped out Obama's convention bounce and put the wind in his campaign sails allowing him to close on the Democratic frontrunner and surpass him in some polls. Now we're hearing whispers that Obama and the Ds are considering a veep swap.

The rumor - which could be just that - goes that Biden will step down citing health problems. Obama will then choose his vanquished opponent Hillary Clinton to replace the ailing Biden. All of this is timed to happen after the October 2nd debate.

Remember these are just rumors but if true, Biden could become a rabid attack dog during the debate without risking a public backlash. We believe that Democrats have been looking with envy at the McCain pick and would be willing to do just about anything to get Hillary back on their ticket.

Firming Up

An interesting thing happened in last week's Eye Poll on the presidential race... nothing. Well, not exactly nothing. We originally ran an unscientific presidential poll the week of August 10th that poll resulted in an 18 point victory for McCain (view it here).

At the time McCain had begun to close on Obama but neither the Democrats nor the Republicans had had their respective conventions. Not to mention the fact that Hurricane Sarah hadn't been spotted making her way from Alaska.

We figured with all of the brouhaha generated by the Palin announcement McCain would have increased his lead over The One Named O by at least a point or two. Surprisingly that didn't happen. McCain came out victorious once again by the exact same margin that he had back in August - 18 points (view it here). That's not to say that there wasn't anything interesting or different about last week's poll.

Polls are most useful in identifying trends. In our little poll there were a couple of things that caught our Eye. First, the number of undecideds had dropped from 4% to 1%, which means to us that the undecided portion of our readership is making up their minds. Second, the number of readers voting for third and fourth party candidates dropped. Nader dropped 4 percentage points and independent candidate Bob Barr garnered only one vote.

Most importantly, the number of participants in our little poll went up significantly from 194 the first time around to 338 the second. Put it all together and you start to see that the presidential contest is starting to firm up. The coveted independents are making their choices and there are fewer and fewer undecided votes to be gotten by either campaign.

This is a very close race and we don't believe that McCain's 18 point lead in our unscientific poll represents a national or statewide trend. However, RealClearPolitics.com's average of daily tracking polls shows the Arizona Senator trending positively while his Democratic rival is falling from his post convention highs (view them here).

If our little poll is any indication, the election is firming up and the outcome will be determined by how many people from the respective camps show up to vote on Election Day.

This week the Eye Poll takes a look at the race for the 2nd Judicial District Attorney. Don't forget to vote!

Eye Poll: Palin

Last week's Eye Poll was one of the more interesting to watch. We started it just following the announcement that Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. Over the weekend and early last week, the press (and the Daily Kooks) were busy emptying Governor Palin's closet along with that of her 17 year old daughter. So it was no surprise that the Obama's safety net took an early double digit lead.

By the end of the week, following Ms. Palin's powerful speech the numbers in our unscientific Eye Poll changed and changed big. At the end of the day, Governor Palin was chosen as the best Vice Presidential pick with 55% of Eye readers selecting the Governor from Alaska, 41% selecting Senator Biden, 5% insisting that neither was a good choice (read it here).

Interestingly, there wasn't a single reader that didn't care which candidate was the better choice. Could the race be tightening up? Have Republicans finally found the excitement they've been lacking? It's certainly possible.

Before the Democratic and Republican conventions we ran an Eye Poll on the presidential election. We hoped to be able to see if either candidate picked up any momentum coming out of their convention. We're running the exact presidential poll again this week. Don't forget to vote!

No To a New County Palace - McCain

Last week we ran an unprecedented two Eye Polls at once. One poll was a Presidential Poll, the other dealt with the now approved purchase of the County's new Castle at 500 Marquette. Not surprisingly Eye readers disapproved of the county's purchase by over two to one. In our unscientific poll 67% said "No Way" to the County Commission's Castle, 29% said buy it while 4% didn't know (see the results here).

It's interesting that readers so overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a new county government building when 4 commissioners (Alan Armijo, Theresa (my kid really didn't get an "F" did he?) Cordova, Tim Cummins, and Dina Archuleta) all decided to blow over $42 MILLION of our tax dollars on short notice and without a second thought. We're beginning to believe that the County Commission doesn't get the scrutiny that it deserves. It certainly seems that they believe they can act without fear of future consequences.

Meanwhile over at our presidential Eye Poll McCain beat the Anointed One by 18 points. It's true that this was an unscientific poll and that our readers probably tend toward the conservative/libertarian side, but we were kind of surprised that Obama lost by a solid double digit margin. Of course Obama has had a pretty bad couple of weeks with the Russians reminding voters how unstable the world can be and John Edwards sucking up all of the media oxygen with his, uhh... indiscretions.

We plan on running the same poll after the Democratic Convention and again after the Republican Convention. It will be interesting to see if there are bounces or shifts as a result of the media focus on both candidates generated during their respective conventions. So far, the fawning media coverage of the Anointed One seems to have done him more damage than good, to wit Obama's European Vacation.

We honestly don't believe that intense media coverage is particularly good for either candidate particularly the slanted human interest type coverage that is more appropriate for say... the Olympics. This week we take a look at the race in CD1 - Don't forget to vote!