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More on why McCain should win: The PUMA factor
redstate.com ^ | November 1, 2008 | Josh Painter

Posted on 11/01/2008 2:21:40 PM PDT by Josh Painter

In a recent posting, I went on the record to say that John McCain should win the presidential election Tuesday, and I listed five reasons which lead me to this conclusion. They are media bias, pollster oversampling of Democrats, Obama campaign hubris, the Democrat candidate's many suspect associations and the fact that the American electorate has a center-right majority.

There is a sixth reason to believe that the GOP candidate will pull this one out of the fire, and, like the other five, it is a topic you won't read much about in the newspapers or see on the alphabet television networks, all of which are in the tank for Obama. It's the PUMA factor.

PUMA is an acronym which stands for Party Unity My *ss. Backers of Sen. Hillary Clinton formed this "un-party" when they felt their candidate got a raw deal in the race for the Democrat Party's presidential nomination. In their view, party chairman Howard Dean and the Obama campaign conspired to prevent Sen. Clinton from winning the contest. They did not jump ship at the time, however, and most of them could have been persuaded to back Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. All Obama needed to do to secure their support was to name Sen. Clinton as his running mate, a course of action many of his advisors had recommended.

Obama, however, would have none of that. Showing his thin skin over some of the remarks Sen. Clinton had made about him in the rough and tumble of the primary contest, Obama, who saw eye to eye with his wife Michelle on the matter, rejected Clinton and invited Sen. Joe Biden instead to join him on the ticket. The decision left many scratching their heads. Biden had a long-held reputation for his runaway mouth, and his highly-toouted foreign policy expertise has been tarnished by such bad thinking as sending, no strings attached, a $200 Million check to Iran as a sign of America's good will, partitioning Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines and some other really bad ideas. A Clinton selection would have made the Democrat ticket a formidable one, and, in the opinion of many political junkies, one which would have been hard for John McCain to beat. As a result, Obama finds himself just days before the election, in a year when a Democrat sweep was supposed to be a sure thing, unable to close the deal and locked in a very close race with McCain.

In years past, political candidates have made peace with their primary opponents, no matter how bitter the primary struggle or how far apart they may have been on both style and substance, to form unity tickets which rolled on to victory. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson did it, as did Ronald W. Reagan and George H.W. Bush. But Obama, who has repeatedly shown that he cannot take the sort of criticism that his campaign regularly dishes out, failed to rise to the occasion. This failure to bury the hatchet and get on with the business of winning an election was a fatal mistake. Obama made some enemies who will not forgive nor forget. Although Sen. Clinton has made a public show of support for the Obama campaign, this is not true of many of her supporters. As payback for what they see as misogyny and pettiness toward Clinton, they have committed themselves to the effort to elect his opponent.

There are many PUMA sites on the web, too many to try to link to here. But a good start would be to go here and here. PUMAs have also joined with other disaffected Democrats, independents and Republicans in forming associations opposed to Obama. These are the "NOBAMA" coalitions, some of which can be found on the internet here and here. The hottest of all the many PUMA web addresses is this one: Hillbuzz.com.

The big question is how many PUMAs are there among the electorate? Not all of the 18 million who voted for Sen. Clinton in the primaries will vote for John McCain. But it is difficult to pin down the exact number of those who will mark their ballots for the Republican. This is because many of them are intentionally concealing this fact by telling pollsters when called that they will vote for Obama, although their intention is clearly to vote against him, i.e., for McCain. Others from their ranks are telling the pollsters that they are independent and undecided. Still others will say outright that they are going to vote for McCain. If this seems somewhat confusing, that is the general idea - don't give the Obama campaign's oppo people any useful intel.

The Associated Press estimates that four in ten of what they call "persuadables" are voters who are counted as undecided but had voted for Sen. Clinton in the primaries. In recent national polls, Obama had the support of 88% of Democrats. How many of those are stealth PUMAs on the prowl is anyone's guess. But what should be even more troubling for the Obama campaign can be found in the internals of the latest Rassmussen poll of Pennsylvania. Obama is only drawing 75% of that state's Democrats. The junior senator from Illinois cannot win the Keystone State with that much softness in his base support.

Each state is unique, of course, and you can't transplant trends from one state into another or carry them over to the national picture as assumptions. But if McCain can pick up four or five of every seven undecideds, and if just two or three percent of those who say they will vote for Obama actually mark their ballots the other way (which would account for the stealth PUMAs and those who are afraid to say they are for McCain for fear of being branded as "racist"), he will win this election.

In just a few days, the roar of the wildcats known as PUMAs may be a very loud one indeed. Add to it the responsive chord struck by Joe the Plumber, who has made many blue collar workers, with their upwardly mobile dreams of owning their own small businesses some day, step out of the shadows. Add also the resounding sound of a previously unexcited conservative base which Sarah Palin has single-handedly mobilized, and John McCain could be hearing some sweet music Tuesday night.

- JP


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008polls; crossovervote; demswformccain; digg; hillaryvote; mccain; obama; puma
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To: ml/nj; firebrand; rmlew; dennisw; juliej; Clintonfatigued; jazusamo; Just A Nobody; ...

Ping!!!


41 posted on 11/01/2008 3:15:47 PM PDT by justiceseeker93
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To: Matchett-PI
Match

What is Strategic Vision saying about who will come out on top? No hints on their website. Is that for subscribers only? The way Rush talks I gather he is a subscriber....

42 posted on 11/01/2008 3:17:20 PM PDT by taildragger (The Answer is Fred Thompson, I do not care what the question is.....)
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To: Josh Painter
This site is so amazing. I always felt a lot of Democrats were Republicans trying to get out, and it's true. We need to be a lot more accepting of our Moderate Dem friends, because some will STAY on our side after the election.

They have grown appalled by the corruption and media collusion in their party, and they are coming to find that Rush and Sean are rational and reasonable, and that Republicans are not racist homophobic bigots after all.

In my religion it is a sin not to welcome the stranger because we were once strangers to new places ourselves. SO WELCOME, PUMAS!! We love you and we hope you will stick around. But either way, right now we both have a common enemy and let's get it done together!

43 posted on 11/01/2008 3:18:33 PM PDT by Yaelle (McCain chose torture over selling out his country. Obama would have lasted one minute.)
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To: justiceseeker93

44 posted on 11/01/2008 3:19:32 PM PDT by potlatch
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To: rvoitier

>>from PUMA anecdotal posts.<<

That’s about all they are, too........ I’ve not seen any real names, real situations that can be verified. And that so-called Obama worker coming clean? Hoax. It’s just not right - something about it smells bad. It’s too scripted, too written as if a supervisor told them what to say, IMO.
I’ve been asking around here in Iowa. Co-workers, relatives, etc. Every single Democrat at work, and even my wife’s family and my own family, Obama all the way. All Democratic co-workers, Obama all the way, and they curse McCain, claim he’s just like bush and have bought the crap in the obama ads about cutting benefits for the “elderly”.
Most Republicans are voting McCain from those I’ve talked to.
I’ve yet to see, myself with my own eyes, a “Democrats for McCain” sign, shirt, button, hat, bumper sticker, etc. Not a single one around the Des Moines metro, none and no Democrat we know isn’t voting Obama, and most have already voted in Iowa’s early voting. The Democrats in every single congressional district here have a 800 to 2,000 vote advanted in early voting with one precinct the Dems have 3 of every 4 votes. Can’t tell me that over half of those haven’t voted Obama when we know no one personally who has switched to McCain.
I personally believe the HRC blogs and forums have been over-run with Republican trolls, look at how the entries are written........... I fully suspect at least half of all messages on hillbuzz and other forums are not from Democrats.
I’ve seen no proof at all, and nothing can be verified. And when we ask folks, it’s “what’s a puma” and nope, I voted Obama, them knowing full well who WE support.
Barbara’s sister even agreed Hillary was royally screwed in Iowa and there was cheating, etc. and she was very upset that Hillary didn’t win here - but she has voted Obama.


45 posted on 11/01/2008 3:24:35 PM PDT by shadowspapa (All your income are belong to us)
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To: shadowspapa

Did you sign up in Sept. just to post this garbage?


46 posted on 11/01/2008 3:27:27 PM PDT by rvoitier
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To: ROTB

very encouraging...thanks for posting so many positive points.


47 posted on 11/01/2008 3:29:14 PM PDT by CaraM (Faithless is he who quits when the road darkens.)
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To: Josh Painter

The PUMAs are on fire. A marriage made in heaven!


48 posted on 11/01/2008 3:29:20 PM PDT by firebrand
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To: Phoenix11

Welcome to FR.....go PUMA’s! Its going to fun to watch the obamanation crumble into ruins with your help.


49 posted on 11/01/2008 3:31:08 PM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: shadowspapa
Boy you sure live in a crappy place...

Why do you stay?

Sounds like you really hate it.

Horribly depressing...

50 posted on 11/01/2008 3:36:40 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Obama's heart is blacker than the devil's riding boots...............)
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To: justiceseeker93; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ..

Thanks justiceseeker93. And again, to all, a good night.

New Mexico, We Have A Problem
[more Obama ballot fraud]
palestra
Posted on 11/01/2008 11:49:13 AM PDT by flyfree
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2121872/posts

Heard the latest rumor on why BHO doen’t want you to see his COLB???? (VANITY)
11-1-08 | self
Posted on 11/01/2008 2:51:10 PM PDT by Anti-Hillary
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2122002/posts


51 posted on 11/01/2008 3:37:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: Matchett-PI
"What is now being uncovered is that the takeover of the Democratic Party is being orchestrated by a group of people with socialist/marxist beliefs, with a pinch of fascism sprinkled in­being led by a hand picked, groomed and marketed messiah under the guise of “progressivism”­with a belief system that states the ends justify the means."

This is perhaps the biggest historical story of this election. 2008 is the moment when the far-left socialist / Marxists actually stole the reins of power of a major American political party, and was very nearly successful in a coup d'etat against the duly constituted republic of the United States of America.

The election isn't over, so the stench of this threat still hangs in the air, but even after we've successfully defeated the Marxists at the ballot box, we will have to continue the fight until the threat has evaporated from the atmosphere of our culture.

These monsters are thoroughly entrenched in our country, and must be excised like the cancer they are, or the bullet we're dodging now will kill us eventually.

52 posted on 11/01/2008 3:43:54 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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The war — that’s the one thing not written about, not very directly anyway. I think getting all high and mighty (and having the usual partisan media shill buildup) in 2004 and 2006 (plus some stupidities in between, such as Kerry’s offensive, ignorant, and obnoxious “stuck in Iraq” comment) about declaring US defeat and bringing back the Carter years backfired.

It backfired in Connecticut, when the Ned Lamont fiasco drove Joe Lieberman (a doctrinaire liberal in all ways, except for his support for US self-defense) out of the Demwit party. It backfired in the Congress’ post-2006 poll numbers. But that is still there among the core Demwit voters, and there’s a rather mystifying view that the Demwits will say f- it, bring the troops home, and screw all attempts at defeating terrorist organizations and building a peaceful world in the process.

Luckily, the undecideds don’t necessarily have phony peace proposals as their dealbreaker issue, probably because they don’t really have a dealbreaker issue. If they had one, they’d not be listed as undecided.


53 posted on 11/01/2008 3:45:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/_______Profile finally updated Saturday, October 11, 2008 !!!)
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To: rvoitier; shadowspapa
Did you sign up in Sept. just to post this garbage?

Worse. Try 10-21-08.

54 posted on 11/01/2008 3:47:35 PM PDT by TXBlair (I'd pay to see The Great One rip The One a New One.)
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To: justiceseeker93

bttt


55 posted on 11/01/2008 3:48:57 PM PDT by 1035rep
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To: Bobkk47
If BO wins, the Conservatives and other clear thinking people in this country may (will?), at some point, have a belly-full of Marxism, affirmative-action gone wild, demand for reparations, eliminating talk-radio via the Fairness Doctrine etc. I'm not discounting a revolt at some point...

Patriotic Americans are the new underclass, as a result of the non-stop warfare being waged upon our traditions and our Constitution by the left. That being said, we are still the majority in this country, and it'll take something a lot bigger than Obama to truly subjugate us, if we fight back.

And should Obama The Marxist actually win the day, and by some miracle, be sworn in as our President, you're going to see a mobilization of opposition among right-thinking Americans that will rival the formation of the Continental Army in the 1700s.

The American population may need to overrule and bypass the courts and the congress to do it, but that is our Constitutional right and duty.

We will eject this usurper, should he attempt to assume the office of President. Of that, I am sure.

56 posted on 11/01/2008 3:59:33 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Windflier
Yes, I have a blog - Mainstream Conservative. Thanks for askin' Glad to hear things are looking up for your business! Pray the Obamunist doesn't get into the WH and take it away from you with with massive taxes.
57 posted on 11/01/2008 4:01:10 PM PDT by Josh Painter (If the Constitution is a living document, why does the Left try to kill it? - JP)
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To: taildragger

I don’t know, I’m not a subscriber either. The last I heard was that they were threatened by those callers because their poll didn’t match all the other polls out there.


58 posted on 11/01/2008 4:05:13 PM PDT by Matchett-PI (2008 = The Year of the Toilet (for 'rats))
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To: shadowspapa
..."no Democrat we know isn’t voting Obama, and most have already voted in Iowa’s early voting. The Democrats in every single congressional district here have a 800 to 2,000 vote advanted in early voting with one precinct the Dems have 3 of every 4 votes. Can’t tell me that over half of those haven’t voted Obama when we know no one personally who has switched to McCain."

"How could Nixon win? I don't know a single person who voted for him."

Famous Dem quote after Nixon's win over Hubert Humphrey.

59 posted on 11/01/2008 4:06:42 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Josh Painter
Obama's pettiness will be his undoing. Instead of making peace with his rival, he stiffed her and gave her supporters the back of his hand. The Clintons are not asking them to vote for Obama; their support for him is largely dictated by the need to put on a show for party unity. But the enthusiasm and energy they could bring to his campaign is missing and that hasn't gone unnoticed by the PUMAs. To lose 25% of your party's base is devastating in any election and it is a "tell" that has been ignored by the MSM.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

60 posted on 11/01/2008 4:07:39 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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