"And in the Celebrity Game, Novelty is Trump"

This column by Charles Kruathammer sums up why Senator Obama's campaign is imploding as well as anything I've read.

Barack Obama: Gaffe Machine

It was probably just an extremely poor choice of words, but there's no doubt that Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" statement is going to leave a mark...and a big one at that.  Very, very stupid utterance by the Senator from Illinois.

On the one hand, Senator Obama's carelessness will alienate scores of female voters who will interpret his statement as a cheap smear of Senator Palin.  On the other hand, Senator Obama will need to spend time defending himself, something a candidate running for the presidency doesn't want to do.  Especially when he defends himself by saying the following in reference to Governor Palin:

"Look, she's new, she hasn't been on the scene, she's got five kids. And my hat goes off to anybody whose looking after five. I've got two and they tire Michelle and me out," he said.

So now, by inference, he's joining in with those suggesting that her family obligations are too taxing for the vice presidency? Doh!

These are just the latest faux pas in a campaign that appears to be melting down right before our eyes.

The train wreck continues as the Obama campaign is now questioning Senator McCain's honor.  Wow!

Update on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 08:08PM by Joe

Joe Biden didn't have a very good day either with his suggestion that the McCain-Palin ticket doesn't really care about developmentally disabled children even though Governor Palin's son has Down's Syndrome:

Speaking to voters in Columbia, Mo., Biden said: “I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there’s joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”

Biden aides deny that the Delaware senator was talking about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has an infant son with Down syndrome, but McCain aides say Biden’s latest remark scrapes bottom.

Ooofff.

Obama Veep Rally in Springfield

We'll find out on Saturday whom Senator Obama has selected to join him on the ticket.  Since I'm a McCain supporter, I'm not going to be at the big Obama event in Springfield.  I did walk by the Old State Capitol on my way to lunch this afternoon, though, and watched some of the preparation for the rally.  I snapped a few pictures if anyone's interested:

This is  a CNN truck setting up for Saturday's coverage.

Here's the truck from the other side.

The seating is being constructed in the foreground, while a large flag is draped over a building in the background.

Here's a shot of the Old State Capitol.  I'm told that Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign was run out of the corner office seen just beyond the van/truck.  The Lincoln-Herndon Law Office is right across from the Old State Capitol (out of the picture to the left).

Another shot of the seating and flag.