Obama's Consolidation Begins

New Washington Post poll, out tonight:

Amongst General Population:
Obama: 51%
McCain: 44%

Prefer Democrats: 53%
Prefer Republicans: 32%

Uncomfortable with 72 year old president: 39%
Uncomfortable with African American president: 12%

Amongst Democrats:
Obama: 53%
Clinton: 41%

Against either Democrat, age could be a significant obstacle for McCain. Only three in 10 said they were "entirely comfortable" with the prospect of a 72-year-old newly-elected president, about half as many as said they would be similarly comfortable with an African American or female president.

McCain romps against Obama among the 16 percent who see the country as headed in the right direction, but among the near-record 82 percent who hold a pessimistic view, Obama runs more than 20 points ahead of McCain. Similarly, about seven in 10 of those who disapprove of Bush said they would back Obama over McCain, while McCain picks up most of those who are still behind the president. The trouble for McCain is that Bush's approval has slipped to 31 percent, and has been under 50 percent for 38 consecutive months.

McCain To Accept Extreme Right Wing Position On Abortion

So according to ABC News, John McCain is probably going to stand by the Republican platform that calls for banning abortion even in the cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother.

I think this will poke a rather large hole in his whole "maverick" image:

A senior Republican close to McCain told ABC News that building a more inclusive GOP is a top priority for the Arizona senator.

But this adviser does not see changing the party platform to include exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother as necessary for achieving that vision.

The problem for McCain, however, is that he excoriated then-Gov. George W. Bush during a 2000 debate for not being willing to make this change to the platform, and Democrats are salivating at the prospect of arguing, in the words of one strategist, "that another four years of Bush begins with another four years of Bush's platform."

....

"If he doesn't change the platform, then he's being the same kind of hypocrite that he accused Bush of being in 2000," said Jennifer Blei Stockman, the co-chairwoman of Republican Majority for Choice. "To not accept abortion in cases of rape and incest, give me a break. That's sick. That's inhumane."

"And the life of the mother?" she added. "These are things that we can't even put our arms around because they are so inhumane."

I question the intelligence of anyone who is pro-choice and Republican, since eliminating choice is one of its number one goals of the party. It's like being for drug decriminalization, gay marriage, honest government or balanced budgets while voting for a Republican. It's dumb and counter-productive.

But you can see the sticky spot McCain is in. Either he sticks to his word (and stated position) and changes the Republican platform, or he flip-flops and keeps it as is. Either way he will lose a whole pile of votes. He'd probably lose more votes by going "soft" on abortion, so expect him to leave the platform as is. Maybe Jennifer Blei Stockman and other pro-choice Republicans should just re-register as a Democrat. They'd fit in a lot better on this side of the aisle.

Old Man McCain Is Confused Again

This is becoming more and more frequent. Via ThinkProgress:

At a townhall event yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) implied that the U.S. went to war in Iraq over oil, saying that if America had energy independence that would “prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East. Later, on his campaign plane, McCain tried to clarify his remarks, claiming that he was talking about the “the first Gulf War.” Pressed by a reporter, McCain stumbled when asked if he was actually “thinking about the first Gulf War” when he made the statement:

But then when specifically asked by an Associated Press reporter if, when he made the statement, he was “thinking about the first Gulf War,” he said no.

“No, I was thinking about- it’s not hard to- we will not,” McCain stumbled. “By eliminating our dependency on foreign oil, we will not have to have our national security threatened by a cut off of that oil. Because we will be dependent, because we won’t be dependent, we will no longer be dependent on foreign oil. That’s what my remarks were."

That sounds like some real straight talkin' to me.