# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/21 "2008-10-05T00:40:10Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Actually, no, that’s the **CNN** headline. And the New York Times! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/22 "2008-10-05T00:43:13Z")
It’s reassuring, a bit, that nobody in this thread has yet suggested the October Surprise might be an attack on Iran. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/23 "2008-10-05T00:47:12Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > It’s reassuring, a bit, that nobody in this thread has yet suggested the October Surprise might be an attack on Iran. Indeed. Though I think that would be such a massive political blunder to even _consider_ attacking Iran that there’s little chance of anyone offering it up as the ‘October surprise’. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/24 "2008-10-05T00:51:26Z")
Whatever happened to good old fashioned, baseless terror alerts? Orange, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/25 "2008-10-05T00:51:47Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > 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. MY GOD! Obama has a black baby? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/26 "2008-10-05T00:54:17Z")
> [@5-4-Fighting](#): > > Whatever happened to good old fashioned, baseless terror alerts? > > Orange, anyone? ‘Ernie Alerts’, as I like to call them. (Of course the Yellow Alert would be a Bert Alert.) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/27 "2008-10-05T01:05:48Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > MY GOD! Obama has a black baby? Not only that, but he’s in a relationship with a black woman. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/28 "2008-10-05T01:12:07Z")
He previously had a long-standing relationship with two white women, one of them rather old. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/29 "2008-10-05T01:13:41Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He previously had a long-standing relationship with two white women, one of them rather old. I hear his father died in car accident. Does anybody know exactly where Obama was at the time? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/30 "2008-10-05T01:15:06Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > The official term is vector. 🙂 “To the vector go the spoils.” -Norton Juster, _The Dot and the Line_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/31 "2008-10-05T01:15:06Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > An old arrest for Obama? Did he actually get in trouble at any time when he was using drugs in his youth? I’ve never seen that reported anywhere, and he certainly didn’t recount one in his book. The truth is he was never a heavy drug user - not that you need to be to get arrested. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/32 "2008-10-05T01:15:27Z")
What was the October Surprise in '04? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/33 "2008-10-05T01:19:09Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What was the October Surprise in '04? I think it’s gotten to the point where every major news event that happens in October of an election year gets described as an October Surprise, even if that’s not really what the term was intended to mean. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/34 "2008-10-05T01:37:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He previously had a long-standing relationship with two white women, one of them rather old. :eek: Say it isn’t so! AND he has a black baby? Ye gods, whatever shall we do? [Chicken Little] the sky is falling! the sky is falling![/CL] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/35 "2008-10-05T01:51:51Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think it’s gotten to the point where every major news event that happens in October of an election year gets described as an October Surprise, even if that’s not really what the term was intended to mean. Exactly. It’s unlikely that there will be any October Surprise, in the sense that term is supposed to be meant. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/36 "2008-10-05T01:59:13Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Exactly. It’s unlikely that there will be any October Surprise, in the sense that term is supposed to be meant. If McCain had really been able to negotiate a successful resolution to the bailout issue, I suppose you could with some legitimacy call it an October Surprise, although it was supposed to be a leadership moment and not a real surprise. You can tell the campaign suspension was supposed to be a big gamble that paid off dramatically, but it ended up being a wet firecracker. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/37 "2008-10-05T02:35:24Z")
Keep in mind, we’re talking about a guy who wants to wave the “white flag of surrender” in Iraq, knowing full well that as soon as America gives up, Al Queda will rise up and overwhelm the other 98.5% of Iraq by sheer malice. (You know, I’m beginning to think the war is over. Nobody seems to much care. She can say this sort of venemous shit, and hardly anyone notices. Its almost like the war is history, a done deal, yesterday’s news. Only the McCaininites seem to believe its still a going concern, rather than a pile of bones bleaching in the Godforsaken Desert. McCain says we will win, and Iraq will be a majority ruled democracy with warm affection for and strategic agreements with America. They’ve handed us our hat, shown us the door, and he thinks they’re going to ask us to move in.) ---
**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 5, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/38 "2008-10-05T13:38:38Z")
Again, not from the incumbent, but here’s an October Surprise for you: [McCain’s Terrorist Connections](http://mediamatters.org/items/200810040004?f=h_latest):eek: ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/39 "2008-10-05T22:08:38Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Again, not from the incumbent, but here’s an October Surprise for you: > [McCain’s Terrorist Connections](http://mediamatters.org/items/200810040004?f=h_latest):eek: Ah, G. Gordon! Let’s see Obama’s allies run THAT commercial. Liddy’s practically a beloved pop-culture figure now. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465/40 "2008-10-05T22:36:15Z")
I understand that one of the Obamas’ neighbor’s dogs just gave birth to a black puppy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/october-surprise-2008/466465.md?page=3)