Barack Obama has been compared to Tiger Woods so many times (Google finds 290,000 pages where they are both mentioned, although no doubt a large fraction are “And in other news” references rather than direct comparisons) that many people no doubt assume, unconsciously, that Obama possesses the same traits as Woods. We’ve seen countless commentators, for example, simply assume that Obama, like Woods, identifies as biracial, when the opposite is true for Obama.

Many folks also seem to assume that Obama possesses Woods’ bulletproof psyche. Golf isn’t exactly a tough sport physically, but its emotional and cognitive demands are high. And Tiger’s consistency makes even Jack Nicklaus, whose ability to focus and block out distractions intimidated everybody in his day (other than maybe Lee Trevino), look like Britney Spears. In contrast, if Obama’s 1995 autobiography is to be believed, he has a rather fragile, depressive personality.

The Woods Halo Effect may well benefit Obama even more this year because Woods is now 32, which was the peak age in Jack Nicklaus’s career. In 1972, Nicklaus made a strong effort to become the first golfer since Bobby Jones to win the Grand Slam of major championships, winning the Masters and US Open before losing the British Open by a stroke when Trevino chipped in on the next to last hole. Woods won the first tournament he entered last weekend by 8 strokes, and he believes the Grand Slam is achievable.

A reader writes:

On the subject of voter ignorance, one of the great revelations to me has been the research tending to show that the voters most likely to keep an open mind about candidates are also the most ignorant. Conversely, voters who have acquired the most political information are also the most partisan and ideological – which, on reflection, is not surprising, since it’s their partisanship that inspires them to acquire political knowledge in the first place. Hardly anyone seeks out knowledge for the (boring) purpose of making an informed voting decision.

Only when you look at ignorant voters do find people who aren’t so cabined by their ideological or partisan loyalties that they will consider voting for any candidate. So, it is not only possible but probable that the voters who went for McCain have no idea what McCain actually stands for. They probably, as you suggest, use a heuristic like “McCain is the maverick candidate and that’s what we need right now.” Little do they know that McCain actually wants to extend Bush’s failed policies.

All this was set forth in Philip Converse’s extraordinary paper “The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.” I can’t find it online, but here’s a fair summary.

The typical undecided voter is not like Mickey Kaus in 2000, who argued with himself on his blog back and forth for ten days in a row before finally deciding to vote for Gore.

Greg Ransom writes:

If we take a look at the Florida exit polls, we see that Romney handily defeated McCain 35% to 31% among GOP voters who have a positive opinion of the Bush Presidency. But McCain crushed Romney 2-1 among those voters who are not satisfied with the Presidency of George W. Bush. This huge negative on Bush vote provided McCain with his comfortable victory margin over Romney in Florida.

Swell, but, why? How does McCain differ from Bush on the big issues like invading the world and inviting the world? Hasn’t the Bush White House been more or less favoring McCain for the nomination for the last year or so? Will McCain, who finished 894th out of 899 at the Naval Academy and who lost five jets, return competence to the White House?

Ok, at the risk of sounding repetitive or cynical….SO WHAT!!!!!!

What that headline really says is: Mobster Wants The Flip-Flopper (From Who Knows What Party) To Be President!

There’s a surprise…what can we expect next from this new merger? “Mobster asks MCCain for a Favor“…to appoint his Consiglieri, Frances Corleone, as either Attorney General or Ambassador to Sicily?

Hmm…how fine is that line between “favor” and “threat” at this point?

Unless God himself (or at least one of the Superstar Angels like Gabriel or Michael) endorses McCain, the Arizona Senator still won’t win…no matter how many cheesy Republicans endorse him!! And forgive me but even if McCain has the Big Guy’s endorsement, I would still bet against him!!

Now then, if you don’t hear from me again its because I have been struck by lightening and suffering the fate of those who challenge the will of the Divine! Sorry!!

(Not the He would pick McCain anyway…this is clearly hypothetical, ok?)

According to Senior Gubernatorial staff (via the LA Times), Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce his endorsement for Senator John McCain’s Presidential campaign tomorrow.

Hmm…let’s think this through for just a moment:

1. Not that I am some political wunderkind or anything but…wasn’t Senator McCain pretty much flatlining on the table just a few months ago when suddenly he popped up as a new conservative man with new conservative ideas for America?

2. Didn’t he go to great lengths–including cancelling his weekly canasta game with Senators Reid and Durbin–just to prove his re-commitment to the GOP? Didn’t he remove his support from several, shall we say “less than ethical” oops! I mean “less than conservative” Congressional bills that had earned him the title of Teddy’s Bitch? (Sorry to my boss Peter Brimelow but I promise there was no other way to accurately describe the relationship!)

3. Wasn’t this remarkable turn-around the only reason he survived in Iowa and New Hampshire…you know, as opposed to being thrown out into the snow on his…umm…flip-flopping behind?

4. Herr Schwarzenegger is solely responsible for the dejected, fractured and seemingly unmendable GOP in California. He is solely responsible for creating unprecedented dismay among conservative voters and practically driving the libs to the polls. He spends more time pleasing the Democrat-controlled House than trying to figure out how to get it back. In fact, it would not surprise me if his Democrat Chief-of-Staff neglected to brief him on his ability, authority and YES even his responsibility to pull his Party back from the brink…but no!

YOU’VE GOT TO BE JOKING!! Wait a minute…

When I read what I just wrote, Schwarzenegger’s resume could easily have John McCain’s name at the top, huh? Anyhow…

Schwarzenegger decided to throw his considerable clout behind Senator John McCain for the GOP nomination in this year’s election.

Considering that John McCain is already (and I think perhaps permanently) at the bottom of my “people who should never be elected or hold positions of power” list (this list includes names such as Gloria Steinem, Patricia Ireland, Ted Turner, George Soros…you get the picture) I guess McCain can finally be removed…to a new list that is!

Now his name is just Mud…smelly, worthless, algae-polluted McCain Mud.

Schwarzenegger endorses McCain!! How daft is this thing going to get before even the wackiest of the wacky get migraines or something and for the love of Pete, just mercifully let all the twaddle go?? Preferably down some smelly, rancid drain…maybe over at Schwarzenegger’s house…ooh, or over at the hotel where the Screen Actors Guild Award Show is held!! Yeah…now I’m thinking…all those smelly, smug drivel-spewing “actors” can rinse off in the water from all those smelly, rancid drains fresh off the campaign trail!!

Sometimes my imagination gets carried away but come on, isn’t this one a win-win?

There’s a story about a group of liberal Southern Baptists, including Jimmy Carter, who are starting a new group that will not be part of the Religious Right, but the Religious Left instead. [New Baptist Group Counters Conservatives, KXAS, nbc5i.com, January 29, 2008]

A quick search of the “Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant” website showed that they’re having a speech on “The Challenges of Immigration” by Senator Lindsey Graham, and a sermon (not by any means a political speech, of course) on the topic “The Bible Speaks about Welcoming the Stranger” by Professor Joel Gregory [send him mail] of Baylor.

They’re also planning a workshop on “Welcoming A Stranger” featuring

• Richard Munoz – [Send him mail] Director, The Immigration Service and Aid Center (ISAAC), Dallas, Texas
• Houmphanh Vongsurith – [Send him mail]President, Laotian National Baptist Fellowship and Pastor, First Laotian Baptist Church, Grand Prairie, TX

What the two of the will be discussing is this: “Many immigrants need help negotiating life in their new homes. How can churches help?” Well, by helping them stay home? By encouraging them to live good Christian lives, with no stealing, sexual harassment, drinking, and, if they’re Baptists, no dancing either?

Well, no, usually by encouraging them to come to the US, and helping them get access to government relief when the do, and providing them with “sanctuary” if they’re deportable. See my article The Refugee Industry, Slavery, And Rape in which I quoted Sam Francis to the the effect that “The Protestant churches are the Open Borders Lobby at prayer—though a good many churches seem to spend more time preaching politics than praying.”

That, no doubt, is what’s in the future for this “New Baptist Covenant” thing.
Normally, by the way, prominent Baptist Mike Huckabee would be all over this like, er, felt on a flannel board. The reason he’s not is because he can’t afford to while he’s running for President.

This story, which is about the forcible rape of white female college students by black criminals, does not contain the words black or white. I guess they just don’t think anyone would be interested in facts like that.

Trial opens for 3 men accused in rapes of USD students
By Dana Littlefield
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

January 29, 2008

A group of college students was hanging out at a Mission Beach condominium in 2006 when they were attacked by several men who entered through an unlocked door, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

The University of San Diego students – two women and two men – were terrified by the intruders, who forced them to participate in sexual acts and stole items from the two-story condo.

Given the names of the alleged rapists, (Willie Louis Watkins, 32, Donald Duante Smith, 20, and Antonio Washington, 19) we might make a shrewd guess, based on our knowledge of differential naming conventions, at the race of the suspects, but reporter Dana Littlefield [Email him] and the Editors of the San Diego Union-Tribune [Email their readers representive] don’t want us to know.

But here’s a story that does contain this information, (and a photograph of the alleged rapists) because the judge is asking jurors if they’re able to be impartial in a case like this:

Fifty [prospective] jurors were being questioned at the San Diego County Courthouse on Thursday. Judge John Einhorn addressed the juror pool, saying that race is an issue because the defendants are black and the victims are white. The judge has been asking jurors if that would affect their ability to be fair and impartial in the case — can they concentrate on the evidence, not skin color. [Judge: Race An Issue In Mission Beach Rape Case, NBCSanDiego.com, January 24, 2008]

By the way, even when the Judge isn’t channeling To Kill A Mockingbird, it frequently happens that local TV stations are the place to go for the information that the AP Stylebook says isn’t pertinent. Even if they wanted to ignore the issue, they can’t–they always have photographs of the suspects.

I guess I’m supposed to provide some primary punditry … hmmhmhh … Okay, in the Florida primary, the winner was McCain and the big loser was former frontrunner Giuliani who skipped all those earlier primaries so he could concentrate on Florida, with all its ex-New Yorkers. And he still got only about 15% of the vote.

So, are all the neocons who got jobs in the Giuliani campaign, like N. Podhoretz, Frum, Rubin, going to jump ship and join the McCain campaign? A lot of them supported McCain back in 2000. And will they be greeted with open arms by the McCain campaign, or will they be told they’re losers–as shown by the Giuliani steamroller–and should stay away. My guess is the former, mostly because neocons are harder to kill than Rasputin. No matter how often everything they touch turns to ashes, they, personally, pop right back up with nice new sinecures in influential institutions.

Also, can somebody explain exactly what the difference is between McCain and Giuliani? They both are invade-the-world, invite-the-world, in-hock-to-the-world guys, just like Bush. So, why is McCain doing well and Giuliani is in the tank? Is it just because McCain showed up in the first few primaries while Giuliani was off acting like he had something better to do than run for President? Perhaps Woody Allen was right and 90% of success is showing up.

And do voters have any idea what anybody really stands for? I’d like to use Giuliani’s flop as a weapon against the neocons–The voters rejected your man overwhelmingly, proving that your World War IV policies are bankrupt!–but I have this vague hunch that practically nobody who voted in Florida knew that Giuliani had thrown his lot in with the World War IV crowd anyway. (And the folks who vote in primaries are the hard core public affairs junkies compared to the crowd that turns out in November!)

And what exactly is the deal with Romney? I don’t watch TV much other than American Idol, so I’ve never seen the man say one word. When he speaks, is there something about him that makes people just not like him? On magazine covers, he looks like a distinguished President, and his resume makes him sound like the least likely to screw up royally of all the current candidates in either party. But I’ve almost never seen anybody anywhere express any warm feelings toward him. Does he just get on people’s nerves or what?

I’m not good at forecasting elections, but I am confident in my prediction of how it will be spun.

If John McCain gets the GOP nomination, he will still lose the Hispanic vote by a large margin.

If he wins, the chattering classes will compare how he well he did among Hispanics compared to the GOP’s performance in the 2006 midterms, proving that the Hispanic vote won him the election.

If he loses, they will compare his low numbers to George Bush’s phony success among Hispanics in 2004. His defeat will be attributed to his toned down his support for open borders and/or the xenophobia of other Republicans.

I predicted last summer when Rudy Giuliani was riding high, and I projected again during one of his many swings through California , that the former New York would never get the GOP presidential nomination. He’s too New York, too pro-illegal immigration and too bald.

Now it is official: Giuliani is dead meat .

So I’ll make another prediction: McCain will never make it to the top spot either. He’s got too much anti-GOP baggage and as much personal dirt on him as Giuliani does. In McCain’s case it hasn’t all come out yet…but it will.

During our recent interview Todd Hartley, my host on a recent PHXnews.COM Immigration PodCast, told me that McCain is the most hated Republican in Arizona .

A McCain nomination is unlikely for the most obvious of reasons. McCain is committed to George Bush’s Iraq War policy and open borders immigration agenda, the two major factors that have contributed to the president’s 30 percent approval rating.

What’s McCain going to do–campaign on the platform of a sustained war and more immigration? Even against equally staunch proponents of unchecked immigration, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama (who is still promising driver’s licenses to illegal aliens), that’s an invitation for the Democrats to waltz into the White House.

At least Clinton and Obama have the war issue on their side.

The Republicans need to put someone up who at least can give the appearance of being serious about ending illegal immigration: ideally Ron Paul but more probably Mitt Romney .

Here’s something to watch for also. McCain is old! Notice in film clips from his campaign stops McCain’s heavy reliance on railings, his wife’s arm and the presence of aides to help him up and down airplane stairs and on and off the podium.