The Defection Landslide Continues

In case you've been asleep since Friday October 17th and the first thing you do when you wake up is check this blog, Colin Powell has endorsed Barack Obama, a rumor which I first mentioned here.

This continues the landslide of defections. Former McCain advisor John Weaver said of the current mob mentality characterizing the campaign's waning days: "from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive." The same article summarizes the growing rift between McCain and the cancer that was forced on him by the rest of the party (David Brooks's words, not mine). One apparent disagreement between McCain and Palin is apparently over Palin's desire to bring back the Wright controversy, despite her own pastor problems (she can't understand that having been granted protection from witchcraft won't play well with the mainstream - link to video of witchcraft ceremony here).

In other news, I recently started fooling around with Intrade, which is a political futures market open to the public. As of this writing the market is giving Obama an 84% chance of winning the election. It's hard to argue with markets.

Predictably, even though months ago the GOP was using these conservative thought leaders' words for ammunition, now that they're inconveniently defecting, they're dismissed. Conservative history professor Allen Matusow said: "The migration or desertion of the intellectuals does not reflect the base...the average Republican will turn out [on Election Day]." Remaining Republican voters, the GOP thanks you for being reliable, average voters.