With the folks angry and fearful about the economy, Barack Obama and the Democrats are looking good in the polls with just eight days remaining before we vote.
But if Americans simply vote on emotion, we are heading for disaster. Electing unqualified people simply because you are angry with the Bush administration will drastically weaken the country.
The best example of this is Al Franken, who is running for the Senate in Minnesota. A far-left extremist, Franken's tenure on the Air America Radio network was punctuated by one word: hate. The man is a smear merchant and a rank liar, unqualified for any elected office.
But since the economic collapse, Franken has been rising and might beat incumbent Norm Coleman. If Franken is elected to the Senate you can expect him to vote for every ACLU-driven impediment to fighting terrorism. He will approve more spending for entitlements, and he will promote San Francisco values any way he can. If you think the economy is bad now, wait until far-left loons like Franken get through with the federal budget.
Although Franken is the worst of them, there are far-left people running for Congress in most states, and many of them are ahead right now. If Americans vote these people into office, this country will change dramatically. We will be far more like France and Holland. This is not about moderate Democrats. This is about extremism and creating a massive federal government.
There is no question that the Republicans stood by and allowed corrupt corporate gangsters to loot the economy, but Democrats did the same thing. For the past two years, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd held power in the financial arena in Congress and did nothing. Excuse me, Dodd did something. He took a sweetheart mortgage from a company on the verge of bankruptcy.
But few are holding the Democrats responsible for the mess we are in, even though it's partially their fault.
If John McCain had run like Teddy Roosevelt he'd be ahead right now. Roosevelt was born 150 years ago Monday, and he understood that the feds have to oversee capitalism or bandits will ruin it. Teddy would have brought some urgency to holding the bad guys accountable for wrecking the economy.
Instead, Senator McCain is running a traditional campaign up against the best campaigner I've ever seen, Barack Obama. Unless McCain does something bold, the heavy odds are he will lose.
But the folks still have a chance to deny power to people like Franken in their states. Don't vote emotion; vote for the good of the country.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Comedian George Lopez does a lot of good work for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity that grants children with life-threatening medical conditions their fondest wish.
So Make-A-Wish has honored Lopez with its celebrity award, and for this, George Lopez is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, a disturbing Sarah Palin situation. In heavily liberal West Hollywood, California, a Halloween decoration shows the governor hanging by a noose.
You can imagine if that was done to Senator Obama, but apparently it's OK to do it to Sarah Palin because there has been no public outcry as far as we can tell.
The people who did this are obviously pinheads, but the whole situation is really beyond the pale.
— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com
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