# October surprise 2008 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 4, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465 "2008-10-04T18:50:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/1 "2008-10-04T18:50:37Z")
Any theories on what could be this years October Surprise? A major story about one of the candidates? Gasoline below $2.50 a gallon? Bin Laden found? My own opinion is it would have to huge, huge, **HUGELY** in favor of the Republicans in order for McCain to pull off a win. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/2 "2008-10-04T18:55:07Z")
I dunno. I have this crazy theory that the Republicans don’t really want to win, because that would mean they would have to clean up the mess they made. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/3 "2008-10-04T18:56:54Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > I dunno. I have this crazy theory that the Republicans don’t really want to win, because that would mean they would have to clean up the mess they made. I have thought so for some time. But I don’t think they told McCain. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/4 "2008-10-04T19:21:28Z")
An old arrest for Obama? Did he actually get in trouble at any time when he was using drugs in his youth? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/5 "2008-10-04T19:56:14Z")
How about an assault on the Somali pirates? After all, America did it before in Barbary. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/6 "2008-10-04T20:00:54Z")
Perhaps Sarah Palin will make a coherent, off-the-cuff statement. In all seriousness, I don’t expect anything of this sort to happen in October. I was thinking that the Congressional Democrats would probably store up a good scandal and unleash it late in the campaign, to focus people’s attention on the years of Republican malfeasance. Now, though, Wall Street has done that for us. Bin Laden getting caught at this point in time would look too suspicious. Besides, the Republicans have been trying to get people _not_ to care about him for the past several years. As for gas prices, a major drop during November didn’t save the Republicans during '06. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/7 "2008-10-04T20:11:25Z")
Just saw a couple of blips on Fox Gnaws - one, the McCan’t campaign plans to hit harder on Obama’s “associations”, followed by an outake of the Sarahbot’s speech today about Obama’s association with terrorist Ayers. Dead dogs don’t hunt, John. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/8 "2008-10-04T20:17:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Just saw a couple of blips on Fox Gnaws - one, the McCan’t campaign plans to hit harder on Obama’s “associations”, followed by an outake of the Sarahbot’s speech today about Obama’s association with terrorist Ayers. > > Dead dogs don’t hunt, John. Indeed. If you look at the front page of [foxnews.com](http://foxnews.com) it’s currently showing the following headline as its lead: Palin: Obama ‘Palling Around With Terrorists’ ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/9 "2008-10-04T21:00:34Z")
> [@leander](#): > > Indeed. If you look at the front page of [foxnews.com](http://foxnews.com) it’s currently showing the following headline as its lead: > > Palin: Obama ‘Palling Around With Terrorists’ It’s this kind of bullshit claims that really heat up the base. But you can’t heat up something twice with the same result. Sorry, leftovers are only good the day after, not nuked twice in one week. I think the afore mentioned assertion that the republicans may not want this _ **fully** _ is close to on par. Good. That would mean that for the first time ever, I’ve picked the right person in the primaries, and the right person for the whole shebang. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/10 "2008-10-04T21:47:07Z")
I think this election’s October surprise already happened in September, with the bailout bill. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/11 "2008-10-04T21:54:11Z")
Barring a last minute appeal, the Troopergate stuff is supposed to be released on Friday. That should be fun. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/12 "2008-10-04T21:57:46Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Barring a last minute appeal, the Troopergate stuff is supposed to be released on Friday. That should be fun. It’s gone to the Supreme Court for review of the lower court decision. Here’s hoping. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/13 "2008-10-04T22:03:52Z")
What have they got to release? Everybody refused to testify. Even if it says “guilty to the max”. they’ll just say its “incomplete”. Oh, and “we can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/14 "2008-10-04T22:04:52Z")
October surprises come from the incumbent. I don’t think Bush has the power to make anything happen any more, plus zero credibility. And why would he lift a finger to help McCain, the guy treating him as an untouchable? Trying to smear Obama doesn’t count as an October surprise, just a standard campaign tactic. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/15 "2008-10-04T22:07:13Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > It’s this kind of bullshit claims that really heat up the base. But you can’t heat up something twice with the same result. Sorry, leftovers are only good the day after, not nuked twice in one week. I agree, but they will surely bang that drum over and over and over from now until election day, hoping that it will somehow stick. Thankfully it does not appear to be working. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/16 "2008-10-04T22:07:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > It’s gone to the Supreme Court for review of the lower court decision. Here’s hoping. I just finished reading today’s article in the Anchorage Daily News! If you had asked me two months ago if I’d ever become a regular reader of ADN, I would have thought you were insane. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/17 "2008-10-04T22:17:18Z")
I’m not actually insane, I’m more like a carrier. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/18 "2008-10-04T23:01:39Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I’m not actually insane, I’m more like a carrier. The official term is vector. 🙂 Why not go after Michelle Obama and find some dirt on her? All I know is that if they can dredge up something, they will. Or just make it up entirely–see McCain’s “black baby” as evidence. I doubt there will be surprises. McCain looks tired and old to me. My father is 78 and just retired from teaching–he has twice McCain’s vitality and enthusiasm for life. McCain looks pathetic to me (not snark–truly he looks defeated, hostile and sullen --perhaps cantankerous would be a better word than pathetic). Like an old fighter who’s been in the ring too long–shaken, confused but still belligerent. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/19 "2008-10-04T23:26:59Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I doubt there will be surprises. McCain looks tired and old to me. My father is 78 and just retired from teaching–he has twice McCain’s vitality and enthusiasm for life. McCain looks pathetic to me (not snark–truly he looks defeated, hostile and sullen --perhaps cantankerous would be a better word than pathetic). Like an old fighter who’s been in the ring too long–shaken, confused but still belligerent. In his comments about Palin’s performance he kept making noises that sounded eerily like Cheney. “Ehh? Ehhhh?” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/20 "2008-10-05T00:16:21Z")
> [@leander](#): > > Indeed. If you look at the front page of [foxnews.com](http://foxnews.com) it’s currently showing the following headline as its lead: > > Palin: Obama ‘Palling Around With Terrorists’ Actually, no, that’s the **CNN** headline. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465.md?page=2)