COMMANDER IN CHIEF?

McCain says Obama is too inexperienced to be trusted in an executive leadership position. But Obama’s campaign has been a smooth-running, steady, well-funded juggernaut. McCain’s campaign has been a lurching, dysfunctional mess, riven by backbiting and open rivalries that their boss seems unable or unwilling to control.

McCain has gotten a lot of mileage out of his POW experience, which was heroic, certainly. More recently, supporters have called him “saintly.” But look at their campaigns: Obama has maintained a high road, with good humor, and has been consistently respectful toward his opponent, even in criticism. McCain has run an unprecedentedly unprincipled and deceitful campaign, even by Republican standards. He has been personally angry, dismissive, and his rhetoric has become more and more vile the farther he’s fallen behind. Some messages from his campaign, his surrogates, and third party supporters have been openly racist and bigoted – without a peep of protest from The Saint.

McCain likes to trumpet his bipartisanship and history of reaching across the aisle, claiming that Obama has never done that. But in this campaign, McCain has been relentlessly divisive, burning bridges that will be very difficult to rebuild. Obama, meanwhile, has gained an almost unprecedented number of major Republican endorsements, including many papers across the country that NEVER endorse Democrats. Who’s the uniter, and who’s the divider in this campaign?

McCain was the mensch, the happy warrior, right? But the campaign has showed him to be testy, thin-skinned, vengeful, and – yes – erratic. He has sold out almost every principle and policy position people admired him for. Obama has been steady, fair-minded, cool and calm under the toughest pressure and brutal personal attacks.

Who has won the “character” debate, after all?

Another GOP swipe at McCain – and this one stings

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/30/shays-takes-swipe-at-mccain-2/
"I just don't see how [McCain] can win," Connecticut Rep. Chris Shays told the Yale Daily News earlier this week. "He has lost his brand as a maverick; he did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign."

National Review: McCain is about to suffer a humiliating defeat, but it’s not his fault, really

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjIyYzU1ZTY3OThhNGNjNDZiMWU5MDY2MDI2YjYwYjM

No, it’s not: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/29/AR2008102903201.html

McCain and his people have been openly calling Obama a “socialist,” and worse, in recent days, But given the chance to defend that slander, Mr. Reasonable backs off

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/election_central_morning_round_196.php
In an interview with Larry King last night, John McCain had this to say when asked bluntly whether Barack Obama is a socialist: "No, but I do believe that he has been in the far left of American politics, and stated time after time that he believes in spreading the wealth around."

It’s clear now that the “redistributionist” and “socialist” language against Obama isn’t just your typical painting-Democrats-as-pinkos ploy. It’s a coded racial attack on Obama (Psst! He wants to give YOUR money to the darkies)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015441.php

Watch! http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241113.php

More racial attacks coming: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/race-tinged_attack_ads_start_f.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/conservative_group_to_run_anti.php

NOTHING is accidental in these ads, even the subliminal stuff – catch the word BLACK?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/anyone-else-see-word-blacks-in-this.html

The ongoing war against Palin

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15073.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/some-conservatives-getting-ticked-at.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/politics/31poll.html
A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. . . .

So good to see one of these slimeballs humiliated in public. The word has come down, apparently, that no McCain operative can utter the name “Jeremiah Wright” – look what that reduces Michael Goldfarb to



http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_spokesperson_we_all_kno.php

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_26_archive.html#1410485982950890429
[Atrios] Though Sanchez shouldn't have internalized the premise of Khalidi being anti-Semitic. Just because the McCain campaign says something doesn't make it so. . . .

More slander against Khalidi: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241253.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/31/dear-john-mccain-joe-mccarthy-called-and-wants-his-act-back/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015449.php

Obama’s half-hour show pulled in ONE FIFTH of US households in the top media markets

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/nielsen_one-fifth_of_household.php

Another leftist rag endorses Obama – The Economist!

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/more_socialists_for_obama.php
The Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as “agents of intolerance” now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.

Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia—to warn Russia off immediately—was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).

The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.

Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. . . .

McCain likes to complain that Obama is “already measuring the drapes in the White House.” So presumptuous, right? But the fact is that any well-organized campaign which truly expected to win would already begin planning for the transition. And Obama’s campaign is nothing if not well-organized

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/997fbe08-a622-11dd-9d26-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html
The best-kept secret in Washington is that Barack Obama has the largest and most disciplined presidential transition team anyone can recall. . . .

More: http://nymag.com/news/politics/51570/

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/rahm_for_chief_of_staff_not_ju.php

And McCain’s campaign . . .?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/08/obama-mccain-transition-e_n_132976.html
As the 2008 campaign nears its conclusion, the presidential transition efforts of the two major candidates have become a study in contrasts: Sen. Barack Obama has organized an elaborate well-staffed network to prepare for his possible ascension to the White House, while Sen. John McCain has all but put off such work until after the election. . . .

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122539083988384919.html
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has set up an unconventional transition process to take over the White House in the event of an Election Day victory. . . .

How. Pathetic. This. Is.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/gop_mailer_likens_john_mccain.php
A reader sends in this mailer by the Pennsylvania GOP which hails Hillary for the feminist breakthrough her candidacy represented -- displaying an affection for Hillary that is somewhat atypical for Republicans -- and even likens John McCain to the New York Senator.

The mailer, a bid for Hillary voters in Pennsylvania, features McCain and Hillary gazing at each other above a testimonial to Hillary's 18 million votes, a picture of Sarah Palin, and even an evocation of Hillary's criticism of Obama during the primary . . .

Responds Hillary spokesperson Kathleen Strand: "It is safe to say Hillary Clinton does not approve this message. She made history earning 18 million votes and has urged everyone who supported her to vote for Barack Obama because they have so much more in common with him than they do with Senator McCain. Voters should not be distracted by last minute, desperate attempts that claim otherwise."

When McCain loses, given the kind of campaign he has run, what will he leave behind for the Republican party?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/30/5740/7949/281/646541
[Jed] John McCain and Sarah Palin have based their entire campaign on a series of nasty, false personal attacks on Barack Obama. Their bet has been that Americans are a fearful, frightened bunch who won't be willing to vote for a new direction. But the McCain-Palin calculus couldn't have been more wrong; their bet is going to fail, and fail badly.

When it does fail, it will leave the Republican Party with nothing. John McCain will almost certainly outperform Barry Goldwater in this election in terms of his share of the vote, yet he will leave his party in far worse shape than did Goldwater. At least Goldwater left his party with a devoted base of conservative activists, energized by his commitment to conservative ideology.

McCain, meanwhile, has stood for nothing other than attacks on Barack Obama. He has taken a Republican brand that had been shattered by George W. Bush and done nothing to repair it, leaving his party with no more of a clue about how to address the needs of ordinary Americans than they had when this election cycle began.

The fact that almost nobody in McCain's party seems to understand the devastating consequences of this failure is a strong indication that Republicans will be stuck in the political wilderness for many years to come.

The Audacity of Hope

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/30/152555/05/794/647045
[Arizona] The campaign is now seriously examining a late surge into the state. That may include ramping up TV advertising, on-the-ground staff or even deploying the candidate to stop there. Obama is scheduled to make a Western swing late this week, making an Arizona visit possible.

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/30/17429/680

[NB: Imagine John McCain needing to make an unexpected trip back to Arizona to hold onto his home state!]

It matters: what will the vote margin be in the blue states?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241033.php

Will Obama have a “mandate”?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241041.php

Is the gap closing?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241173.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/30/obama_today/index.html

No! http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obamas_lea_8.php
Obama's Lead Edges Up . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/241221.php

Fox News, deceiving us? Could it be?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015447.php
[Steve Benen] There have been some national polls showing John McCain narrowing the gap a bit this week -- which is not at all unexpected -- but Fox News raised some eyebrows this afternoon with a new poll showing Obama's lead down to just three points nationwide, 47% to 44%.

A week ago, a similar Fox News poll showed Obama's lead at nine points, 49% to 40%, which certainly gives the appearance of some favorable movement in McCain's direction.

But it is Fox News, which, as a rule, is grounds for some skepticism. In this case, the results are worth a closer look. . . .

More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/counterevidence_watch_obama_3.php

If you’re feeling nervous about the outcome next week, read this. If you’re worried about jinxing the outcome, don’t

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9555
Barack Obama has won the 2008 Presidential Election . . .

Obama’s margins holding in swing states (a.k.a. used to be red states)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/30/timecnn_obama_very_strong_in_key_states.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/30/national_journal_poll_obama_holds_lead_in_red_states.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/30/marist_poll_obama_ahead_in_colorado_virginia.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/30/165535/91

You know, I actually think Obama has to be careful about this

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/obama_gimme_money.php
[Matt Yglesias] I’m not sure if it’s the audacity of hope, but it certainly takes some kind of audacity follow up a seven-network 30 minute prime time ad buy with a fundraising email pleading poverty:

“Our spending plans have been stretched by John McCain’s negative attacks and the overwhelming resources of the Republican National Committee.

As of October 15th, John McCain and the RNC together had nearly $20 million more in cash than the combined total of Obama for America and the DNC. And just this week, we’re facing new and unexpected spending against us in Montana and West Virginia.”

There’s some impressive illogic in that last sentence. McCain being forced to play defense in Montana and West Virgina is spun as an unexpected problem for the poor, cash-strapped Obama campaign. It’s clever.

Freedom of speech? Freedom of assembly? Not in McCain’s America

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_26_archive.html#6920753212828619181

Hey, Justice Department, investigate THIS

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/conyers_wants_doj_action_on_vi.php
[Zachary Roth] The phony flier that surfaced recently in Virginia, instructing Democrats to vote on Wednesday November 5th, has drawn the attention of House Judiciary Chair John Conyers.

As we wrote Monday, the flier, which surfaced in largely African-American areas of the Hampton Roads region, is designed to look like an official communication from the state board of elections, even reproducing the board's logo. It informs readers that becasue of expected high turnout on election day, November 4th, Democrats have been asked to vote November 5th.

Election day, of course, is November 4th for everyone.

Conyers wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, asking him to take action. Conyer's letter points out that, because there are legitimate concerns in Virginia about over-crowded polling places, and because the flier is designed to look like it comes from the state election board, it "has enough of a ring of truth to confuse voters and suppress turnout." . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/rogers_denies_breaking_law_but.php
[Zachary Roth] Pat Rogers -- the lawyer tied to the New Mexico GOP, who has been accused in a federal lawsuit of being behind a plan to intimidate voters -- has denied that he broke the law.

"I have not violated any law and Mr. Romero has not violated any law," Rogers said yesterday evening when reached by the Associated Press.

Rogers was referring to Al Romero, a private investigator. According to a lawsuit filed earlier this week by MALDEF, a group that advocates for the rights of Hispanics, Romero went to the homes of several Hispanic voters in Albuquerque to question them about their right to vote. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/conservative_group_intimidatin.php
[Zachary Roth] Larry Johnson of St. Paul, Minnesota, says that he received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be from the secretary of state's office working on voter fraud, reports the Associated Press. The woman asked about his voting record, said Johnson. . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9532
[Project Vote] In the 2008 election Americans may once again be seeing law enforcement turned into a tool of voter suppression. . . .

Good news: voter suppression (mostly) is not working

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/gop_voter_suppression_more_mis.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/politics/31colorado.html
Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted . . .

Share this phone number: 866-OUR-VOTE

http://www.866ourvote.org/
OurVoteLive.org collects and analyzes reports from calls to the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline, which is staffed by hundreds of volunteers across the country. Tested during the presidential primaries, the site is already documenting over a thousand examples per day of voters needing information or reporting problems such as registration and ID issues, difficulties with voting machines, and polling place accessibility issues.

Theocracy warning: a new reason to vote against Obama

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2008/10/30/obama_hell/index.html
Columnist: If you vote for Obama, you're going to hell . . . [read on]

Kay Kagan (D-NC) comes back hard against Elizabeth Dole’s hateful ad yesterday

Watch! http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/hagan-hits-back-on-dole.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/a_night_at_the_congressional_r_34.php
Senate candidate Kay Hagan (D-NC) has announced that she is filing a defamation lawsuit against the campaign of GOP Sen. Elizabeth Dole . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/30/193255/87

Could convicted felon Ted Stevens still WIN in Alaska?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_does_the_convicted_fel.php
Some attendees wore shirts bearing the slogan, "F*#@ the feds, vote for Ted."

Nice try: head of the GOP Senate election committee tries to explain how unfair it is for voters to blame Bush and the Republicans for our economic mess

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/30/10401/906/450/646356

Another chapter in the ongoing series: the kind of people they are

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/their-story-by-digby-just-so-you-know.html

Bush’s decision to launch an attack inside Syria has really screwed things up now

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/no-one-could-have-anticipated-by-dday.html
The Syrian government has broken relations with Baghdad. It has completely opened its border. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: Where’s Joe?



A haiku: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/no_show_joe_a_haiku.php
"Joe's with us today,"
Joe. Where are ya? Where is Joe?
Is Joe here with us?

More: McCain had to bus in 4000 school kids to inflate the attendance numbers at this rally

http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2008/10/gramm-pa-mccain-buses-in-4000-kids-for.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:14 AM

 
THE WINNER

Obama’s half-hour special (in case you missed it)



http://www.samefacts.com/archives/lying_in_politics_/2008/10/a_gauzy_feelgood_commercial.php
[Mark Kleiman] The McCain campaign dismisses Obama's thirty-minute closing argument as "a gauzy, feel-good commercial."

That must have been a canned response prepared in advance, since it had nothing at all to do with the actual 30 minutes, which in fact focused on families falling toward poverty due to illness not covered by health insurance, to jobs moving away, and to pensions that disappear when the firms go bankrupt.

Why is Obama winning?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/obamas_lead.html
[Kevin Drum] I notice that a number of liberal pundits are starting to worry in public that maybe John McCain is making up some ground and that maybe, just maybe, he could end up pulling ahead by election day. And sure, anything is possible. But I suspect that this growing fear is due in large part to the fact that, even now, a lot of people really aren't quite sure why Obama is winning.

That includes plenty of conservatives, too, who are practically insane with frustration over what's going on. After all, they've pulled out all the usual stops. They've called Obama a traitor, a radical, an appeaser, a terrorist lover, an Israel hater, and a socialist. And that stuff usually does the trick. So what's wrong this time? . . . [read on]

Obama is often painted in the blogs as an ultra-cautious soft-seller of the progressive message, prone to compromises and sudden lurches to the middle. And that may be true. But as Matt Yglesias points out, his proposed agenda, if he is elected, is the most radical we’ve seen in a generation

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/laying_the_groundwork_for_the_backfire.php
He’s running on a platform that promises universal preschool, dramatic cuts in carbon emissions and investments in clean energy infrastructure, health
insurance that would be affordable for all, comprehensive immigration reform, substantial labor law reform, large new spending on K-12 initiatives, and tax reform to make the federal code much more progressive overall. Is it as left-wing as what John Edwards ran on in the primaries in 2008? No. But it’s much more robustly progressive than what John Kerry offered in 2004, what Al Gore offered in 2000, or what Bill Clinton offered in 1996, and somewhat more ambitious than the Clinton ‘92 program. Presumably, that entire agenda won’t actually be enacted.

But if it were enacted, it would be the most dramatic shift in national policy since the high tide of the Great Society. . . . [read on]

Oops! She did it again

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6141033&page=1
ELIZABETH VARGAS: If it doesn't go your way on Tuesday ... 2012?

GOV SARAH PALIN: I'm just ... thinkin' that it's gonna go our way on Tuesday, November 4. I truly believe that the wisdom of ... of the people will be revealed on that day. As they enter that voting booth, they will understand the stark contrast between the two tickets. ...

VARGAS: But the point being that you haven't been so bruised by some of the double standard, the sexism on the campaign trail, to say, "I've had it. I'm going back to Alaska."

PALIN: Absolutely not. I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we've taken, that ... that would ... bring this whole ... I'm not doin' this for naught.

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_26_archive.html#4151389363828138632
[Wolf Blitzer, CNN] Wolf Blitzer: And this just coming into the "Situation Room," the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin now speaking out openly about her intentions in 2012 if, if she and John McCain were to lose this contest next Tuesday. . . . Clearly, leaving open the possibility that she would be interested in leading the Republican Party in 2012 if she and John McCain were to lose this presidential contest right now. Let's go to Dana Bash. . . .

Dana Bash: I just got off of the phone, Wolf, with a senior McCain adviser and I read this person the quote and I think it is fair to say that this person was speechless. . . .

Wolf Blitzer: I am not surprised, not surprised at all. It is one of those "wow, she is talking about 2012 if we lose," that is not supposed to be something that you say. You are supposed to say, "well, I'm not looking ahead, I'm not looking ahead only to Tuesday," and those are the talking points she's supposed to be saying . . .

Palin, clearly setting herself up for 2012

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/palin-giving-policy-speech-6-days-out.html

But Palin probably doesn’t have a national future – here’s why

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/29/the-palin-industry/

Palin’s awkward relationship with the teleprompter

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/sarah_palin_flummoxes_her_own.php

Everyone in the chattering classes likes to bemoan “negative ads” or “attack ads.” But there’s an obvious distinction to be made between an ad like this . . .



. . . and an ad like this



They’re both pretty rough. But one uses accurate quotes to skewer a candidate’s self-contradictions. The other one lies to fabricate what a candidate never said. The press would do us a favor by making these differences clear. Attacks or "negative ads" based on corruption, incompetence, hypocrisy, or inconsistency are, to my mind, perfectly fair game

No, YouTube is not McCain’s friend

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/john-mccain-cant-stop-lying-his-own.html

McCain’s negative coattails

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803503_pf.html

McCain’s junior Senator from Arizona sticks in the shiv

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/29/quote_of_the_day.html
"Who knows whether or not an Arizonan will run, but unfortunately, I think John McCain might be added to that long list of Arizonans who ran for president but never were elected."

-- Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ)

It’s what they do

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/10/29/more-cork-popping.aspx
[John Judis] What I look for is whether Obama is getting 50 percent or more in national and swing state polls. If there is a Bradley effect in this election, it will take the form of undecided voters going overwhelmingly for John McCain--not of voters who said they were for Obama turning out to be closet McCain supporters. In 1982, the Field Poll of October 27 showed Democrat Tom Bradley ahead of Republican George Deukmejian by 47 to 41 percent. Deukmejian won by 49 to 48 percent. The disparity was probably due to underestimating the rural turnout (in opposition to a gun control initiative backed by Bradley) and to undecideds breaking sharply for Deukmejian. In the 1989 Virginia gubernatorial race, black Democrat Doug Wilder didn't do as well as the polls predicted, but here, too, most pre-election polls had him leading with less than 50 percent. So if Obama is at 50 percent or better in the polls, Obama supporters can take heart.

I mention the Bradley effect because I think, too, that McCain and Sarah Palin's attack against Obama for advocating "spreading the wealth" and for "socialism" and for pronouncing the civil rights revolution a "tragedy" because it didn't deal with the distribution of wealth is aimed ultimately at white working class undecided voters who would construe "spreading the wealth" as giving their money to blacks. It's the latest version of Reagan's "welfare queen" argument from 1980. It if it works, it won't be because most white Americans actually oppose a progressive income tax, but because they fear that Obama will inordinately favor blacks over them. I don't doubt that this argument will have some effect, but I suspect it's too late and that worries about McCain and Republican handling of the economy will overshadow these concerns. . . . [read on]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/palin-suggests.html
[ABC News, calling a lie a lie] Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin went beyond her running mate's recent attack on Sen. Barack Obama -- inaccurately claiming that Obama called the lack of "redistributive change" during the civil rights movement a "tragedy" -- and used Obama's 2001 interview to insinuate that he wants to re-write the U.S. Constitution and appoint radical Supreme Court justices and judges who would confiscate the property of American citizens. . . . [read on]

You’re hearing an awful lot about the video tape that shows Obama with Rashid Khalidi (and isn’t it convenient that we’re suddenly hearing about this tape in the final days of the campaign). But here’s what they don’t tell you: McCain has ties to Khalidi too

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/29/woops-mccain-funded-rashid-khalidi/

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-gave-nearly-million-bucks-to.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/29/barackobama-johnmccain-rashidkhalidi

You know what? This isn’t okay . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102803413.html
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is allowing donors to use largely untraceable prepaid credit cards that could potentially be used to evade limits on how much an individual is legally allowed to give or to mask a contributor's identity, campaign officials confirmed. . . .

The problem with such cards, campaign finance lawyers said, is that they make it impossible to tell whether foreign nationals, donors who have exceeded the limits, government contractors or others who are barred from giving to a federal campaign are making contributions. . . .

. . . but this is worse

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/the_daily_muck_687.php
Little -- if anything -- is known about a mysterious GOP donor, Shi Sheng Hao, who has given over a quarter million dollars to John McCain's campaign and the RNC. Hao's residence, occupation and current whereabouts are all unknown. But here's what we do know: he declared bankruptcy in 1995, registered to vote after his massive donations began, doesn't live at any of his listed addresses, and eight associates and relatives of Hao have given $130,000 to the RNC since last year. Curiouser and curiouser. . . (Chicago Tribune)

What’s going to happen to Joe Lieberman after the election?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/lieberman-likely-to-lose-senate.html

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/committee_chaos.php

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/sen.-lieberman-likely-to-lose-his-gavel--in-massive-reshuffle-being-discussed-2008-10-28.html

Are the polls showing a McCain comeback? (not really)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/10/is_mccain_coming_back_revisite.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/oh-my-god-mccain-is-catching-up.html

McCain is having to expend resources to protect Arizona!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_now_running_robocalls_i.php

But this is no time for complacency

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/29/can_mccain_close.html

http://www.slate.com/id/2203341

A closer look at the “undecideds”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/29/uselections2008-mccain-obama-undecideds

A closer look at the “movables”

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/in_abc_newss_tracking_the.php

A cross-section of voter suppression, intimidation, and disenfranchisement tactics

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/republican_voter_suppression_a.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/29/75143/454

More “poll watchers” http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/wi_dems_call_ags_poll_watchers.php

The Department of Justice is busy

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/report_doj_lawyer_meets_with_a.php
[Zachary Roth] Earlier this evening, a Justice Department spokesman told TPMmuckraker that the department was looking into claims of voter intimidation in New Mexico, stemming from reports last week by us and other outlets that a lawyer tied to the state GOP had hired a private investigator to question Hispanics about their right to vote.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/voter-suppression-watch-by-dday-im.html
[Dday] I'm still a little stunned that it isn't a bigger story that a sitting US President is ordering his Attorney General to intervene in a voting-rights case in Ohio - a case already decided by the US Supreme Court - just a week away from the election to pick his successor. This is attempted voter suppression at the highest levels, with the President essentially aiding an abetting the nominee from his own party. . . .

DOJ says to Bush, “No thank you” http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/29/ohio-vote-challenge-effort-hits-another-roadblock/

Overview of the House races

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240857.php

It’s what they do (North Carolina edition)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/north_carolina_senate_race_deg.php
[Eric Kleefeld] A last-minute attack ad from Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), who is narrowly trailing Democratic challenger Kay Hagan in all the polls, has the Hagan campaign accusing the Dole team of crossing the line from ordinary mud-slinging into legal defamation -- and the Dole campaign accusing Hagan of trying to deny her allegiance to the Godless atheist agenda.

Here's that ad . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/29/213855/80/543/646287
The ad is so bad, in fact, that even Alex Castellanos - the father of attack ads, the man who designed Jesse Helms' legendary "white hands" ad - thinks it's beyond the pale . . . [read on]

Ted Stevens (R-AK): you’re gonna investigate ME? I’m gonna investigate YOU

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_asks_for_probe_into_pr.php

Bye, Ted, we’ll miss you: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15037.html
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling on Ted Stevens to resign from the Senate – and warning that the longest-serving Republican senator in history will face certain expulsion if he doesn’t leave on his own first.

McConnell, locked in a tough reelection fight in Kentucky, did not call for Stevens’ resignation in his initial statement on the Alaskan’s conviction on seven federal felonies Monday.

But Republican Sens. John McCain, Norm Coleman, Jim DeMint, John Sununu and Gordon Smith and Democrat Barack Obama all called on Stevens to resign Tuesday.

And by the time a reporter from the Lexington Herald-Leader put the question to him at a campaign stop Elizabethtown, Ky., Tuesday night, McConnell was ready to say that Stevens must go, too.

The press seems to be looking past the inevitable McCain defeat too – they have their reputations to protect, after all

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/10/ouch_mccain_pwned_by_larry_king.php

The Right, which controls one whole television news operation lock, stock and barrel, most of the newspapers, and nearly all of talk radio; which has dozens of well-funded thinktanks pumping out position papers and newsletters by the truckload; which dominates the televised evangelical voices and the megachurches, likes to whine when they’re losing that it’s because of media bias. They just can't get their message out. But I must say, this is a new one:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/media_bias_explainedfinally.html

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2203393/

In other news:

Rough justice. Between torture, rendition, and other abuses which are still coming to light, the military tribunals down in Gitmo might see very few if any convictions

http://www.propublica.org/article/gitmo-tribunal-things-fall-apart-1029

http://www.propublica.org/article/pentagon-investigating-gitmo-abuse-who-knows-1029

It looks as if there will be no troop agreement with Iraq

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240956.php
[Josh Marshall] Seems we've found one pretty clear point of contention in those negotiations between the US and Iraq over a permanent status-of-forces agreement governing US troops in the country. The Iraqis want a guarantee: no Iraq-based US troops used to attack neighbors.

Bonus item: It IS like a reality show, isn’t it?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/sarah-palin-modeling-agency.html
[John Aravosis] Sarah thought John had Steve and Nicole buy her the clothes then deny it in order to set her up. Nicole said she never bought a thing, but Nicole's and John's unnamed friends said Sarah was a diva and a whack job and that it was Sarah in fact who was setting John up, just as she has all her friends before her. In today's episode, Nicole says there's a conspiracy after her and she's not even sure she'll survive! Fred, who previously criticized Nicole and wanted her fired, has now apologized. But the question remains, if it wasn't Nicole and Steve, then just who did set Sarah up?

Extra bonus item: DressLikePalin.com

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/dresslikepalincom.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:57 AM

 
KISS-OFF

It’s incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. During the crunch time of a campaign, you have open warfare between the Vice President and Presidential candidate staffers and surrogates. Everyone is looking to protect their status post-debacle, thereby making the debacle even worse! And while apparently some of these leakers are former (and future) Romney folks looking to knock Palin down as a rival – the fact is that their criticisms, and her defenses, are all devastating to McCain now

http://www.politico.com/playbook/1008/playbook476.html
[Mike Allen] [A] top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.” . . .

http://men.style.com/gq/blogs/gqeditors/2008/10/palin-alone-abo.html
[Robert Draper] Almost from the very beginning, the Palin pick created tension. . . .

I’m sympathetic to Eskew and Wallace, and not just because they’re decent people. They’ve held their tongue from leaking what a couple of McCain higher-ups have told me—namely, that Palin simply knew nothing about national and international issues. Which meant, as one such adviser said to me: “Letting Sarah be Sarah may not be such a good thing.” It’s a grim binary choice, but apparently it came down to whether to make Palin look like a scripted robot or an unscripted ignoramus. . . . [read on]

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/precrimination_watch_madden_on.php
[Former Romney press secretary Kevin Madden] BROWN: And, Kevin, let me go back to you quickly on this, because doesn't this all go back to the vetting process, this relatively hasty -- more than relatively, frankly -- selection process, and the fact that these people don't really know each other, she and John McCain, very well at all?

MADDEN: Right. Well, that's why I was laughing before when I saw the quote, Campbell, about when they found out that she didn't know a lot about national issues. Well, talk about closing the barn door after the cattle already got out.

(LAUGHTER) . . . [read on]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=6124663
[George Stephanopoulos] The McCain campaign is definitely demoralized right now. The blame game has begun. . . [read on]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/ooooooh-barracu.html
[Jake Tapper] And some Republicans are starting to now say they should have seen this coming, since Palin has a reputation for making friends who can help her and then screwing them over.

The list is long . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015413.php
[Steve Benen] I argued a while back that adding Palin to the Republican ticket was the most ridiculous development in presidential politics in at least a generation. With each passing revelation, I feel more confident in that assessment.

When McCain aides realize Palin doesn't have the foggiest idea what she's doing or what she's talking about, what do they do? I almost feel bad for them. Almost.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015404.php

Who bought Sarah’s clothes? Somebody’s trashing McCain advisor Nicolle Wallace

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/10/ooooooh-barracu.html
[Jake Tapper] Allies of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are now trying to throw McCain aide Nicolle Wallace under the proverbial bus, and as they do so those in McCain’s circle are wary of the impact on Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., himself. . . .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/sarah-palin-mcc.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/27/palin_clothes/index.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/fred_barnes_apologizes_says_wa.php

Mitt Romney distances himself

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/top_mccain_surrogate_romney_ob.php
Romney: Obama Win Likely . . .

Chuck Hagel too

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/03/081103fa_fact_bruck
Hagel’s unwillingness to endorse McCain is generally perceived to be a result of their ongoing disagreements over the Iraq war. But he told me that the gulf between them is much deeper: “In good conscience, I could not enthusiastically—honestly—go out and endorse him and support him when we so fundamentally disagree on the future course of our foreign policy and our role in the world.” . . .

Hagel may be the only senior Republican elected official who has publicly criticized McCain’s choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. “I don’t believe she’s qualified to be President of the United States,” Hagel told me. “The first judgment a potential President makes is who their running mate is—and I don’t think John made a very good selection.” . . . [read on]

Look at the RNC page: NO mention of McCain

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/16235/859/852/644945

Look at the Fox News page: ten mentions of Obama and Biden, no mention of McCain

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/18841/032/706/645083

The gang who couldn’t shoot straight: McCain advisor trashes McCain’s health care plan

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/ooops_3.php
[CNN] Younger, healthier workers likely wouldn’t abandon their company-sponsored plans, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior economic policy adviser.

“Why would they leave?” said Holtz-Eakin. “What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit.”

[Matt Yglesias] In other words, John McCain is promising to make your health care worse! Ooops!

I’m actually not sure if this is a “Kinsley gaffe” (where you accidentally tell the truth) or an effort at spin so desperate that he wound up pleading to an even worse offense than McCain was accused of. The individual market for health insurance really does suck. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/17752/686/795/645010
[The Obama campaign] This morning, the McCain campaign’s top economic policy advisor unleashed an October Surprise of straight talk when he finally admitted that the health insurance people currently get from their employer is ‘way better’ than the health care they would get if John McCain becomes President. ... Senator McCain has been trying to cover this up for months, but his advisor’s brutal honesty today is certainly better late than never, and it should give every American pause about electing a candidate who has proposed such radical and dangerous changes to our health care system.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015408.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-campaign-admits-its-health-care.html

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1169

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/10/28/john-mccain-on-health-care-in-his-own-words-full-of-shit-once-again/

McCain calls Obama a “socialist,” then advocates socialism himself

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_obama_is_running_to_be.php
Senator Obama is running to be Redistributionist in Chief. I'm running to be Commander in Chief. . . .

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103taco_talk_hertzberg
[Hendrik Hertzberg] Sometimes, when a political campaign has run out of ideas and senses that the prize is slipping through its fingers, it rolls up a sleeve and plunges an arm, shoulder deep, right down to the bottom of the barrel. The problem for John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the Republican Party is that the bottom was scraped clean long before it dropped out. Back when the polls were nip and tuck and the leaves had not yet begun to turn, Barack Obama had already been accused of betraying the troops, wanting to teach kindergartners all about sex, favoring infanticide, and being a friend of terrorists and terrorism. What was left? The anticlimactic answer came as the long Presidential march of 2008 staggered toward its final week: Senator Obama is a socialist.

“This campaign in the next couple of weeks is about one thing,” Todd Akin, a Republican congressman from Missouri, told a McCain rally outside St. Louis. “It’s a referendum on socialism.” . . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_the_redistributionist.php
[Greg Sargent] It's ridiculous, of course, to even be debating the substance of McCain's arguments. Unless McCain's plan upon taking office is to disband the entire Federal government and fire himself, McCain is a redistributionist, too. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015417.php
[Hilzoy] In a stunning reversal, John McCain today endorsed the redistribution of wealth . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015416.php

Try, try again. McCain re-runs an ad that everyone acknowledged before was based on an indisputable lie

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015412.php
[Steve Benen] When it comes to genuine, almost pathological, dishonesty, the McCain campaign has secured a place in history. . . .

Watch: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaign_re-releases_at.php

Playing the race card – you knew it was coming

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/indiana_sec_of_state_on_blacks.php
Indiana Sec of State on Blacks and Dems: "Who's the Master and Who's the Slave?" . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/right-wing_group_distributing.php
Citizens United, the conservative group headed by notorious Whitewater scandalmonger David Bossie, is distributing hundreds of thousands of DVDs attacking Barack Obama's associations with Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers in newspapers in Ohio, Nevada, and Florida this week . . .

Palin: we’re behind, but we’re winning!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/11550/837/119/644661

Why does ANYONE listen to this clown?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/29/morris/index.html
[Dick Morris] As Obama has oscillated, moving somewhat above or somewhat below 50 percent in all the October polls, his election likely hangs in the balance . . . .

But don't write Obama off. His candidacy strikes such enthusiasm among young and minority voters that there is still a chance that a massive turnout will deliver the race to the Democrats. . . . [read on]

Early voting: extremely heavy, strongly pro-Obama

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/pew_obama_by_16by_19_among_tho.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/18188/691/712/645093

McCain fighting on defense across the red states

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_obama_now_leading_in_red.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/28/mccain-dont-you-think-a-surge-might-have-been-better-before-people-voted/

Polls: tightening, not tightening?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_polls_they_are.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/29/7614/8669/531/645258

The latest electoral map

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9485

Reviewing the Senate races

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240570.php

This is surely some kind of indicator: at Brigham Young University in Utah the College Democrats are as big as the College Republicans! (thanks to Bryan W for the link)

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10809817

McCain could lose. . . . Arizona!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/arizona_state_u_poll_mccain_ba.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/28/why-barack-obama-needs-to-come-to-arizona/

Interesting: Florida Gov Charlie Crist (passed over for McCain VP) does the right thing, extending early voting hours – which helps Obama

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Crist_extends_voting_hours.html
[Ben Smith] "He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me. . . .

Voter suppression – the last hope of the GOP

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/aclu_white_house_intervention.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/all-way-to-top-by-digby-this-statement.html

Swing that tire

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-maeve28-2008oct28,0,4863692,full.story
[Maeve Reston] I had headed to the back of his bus with a small group of reporters, where as always McCain warmly motioned for us to squeeze in beside him on the couch. . . .

I asked if he agreed with his advisor Carly Fiorina's recent statement that it was unfair for some health insurance companies to cover Viagra but not birth control . . .

I had come to respect McCain's frankness and his willingness to admit he didn't always have an answer. Watching the question morph into an embarrassing "gotcha moment" for cable television, my stomach churned and my cheeks grew hot.

By July, I had covered McCain for almost seven months. I could recite many lines of his stump speech by heart, dreamed about his events at night and spent so much time scrolling through campaign e-mails on my BlackBerry that my fiance joked to our friends about the other man in my life. . . .

Over those months, McCain had artfully created a sense of intimacy with the reporters who traveled with him. . . . [read on!]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/752wrmfx.asp
[David Gelernter] McCain asks to be judged not as a talking white paper but as a man. Of course no candidate can advertise his own moral stature; he can use weak words like "maverick" and "I have been tested," but can't quite say "I stand before you as a hero of proven nobility." On the all-important question of moral stature, McCain's friends must speak for him. They have tried, but have come up short. . . .

There is no single English word for McCain the hero, the moral entity. But in Hebrew he would be called a tsaddik--a man of such nobility and moral substance that he approaches holiness. . . . [read on]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081028/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_final_stretch_5
[Liz Sidoti, veteran tire-swinger] John McCain repeatedly implores backers to "stand up and fight" these days, showing gritty determination even as many indicators point to a Barack Obama victory and Republicans engage in fingerpointing typical of losing campaigns. "Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. And we never quit," McCain declares.

A week before Election Day, the Republican is an enthusiastic underdog with what advisers say is a deep personal belief that he still has a chance to stage an upset next week. He has come back from the brink politically and personally before, and they say, he's resolved to do so again despite steep challenges. . . .

No tears for Palin – she knew what she was doing

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/28/pobrecita_palin/index.html
Palin didn't have to run . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/election_2008/2008/10/28/trashing_palin/index.html

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102702438.html

They’re even losing sympathy for her in Alaska

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/28/202318/12

“The Palin Effect”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/fullpage/the-palin-effec.php

Keith O – Palin a “fraud”

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/28/olbermann-sarah-palin-is-a-fraud/

A lot of people think Palin has a future as the leader of the Republican party. We should all hope so

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/feminists-of-gilead-by-digby-roger.html

Bonus item: Please, oh please, Republicans, listen to Rush Limbaugh’s plan for your future

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102408/content/01125111.guest.html
Good Riddance, GOP Moderates . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:19 AM

 
THE ROGUE DIVA

Sarah Palin goes off on the critics of her $150,000 wardrobe – and goes way off message from the McCain campaign. Her handlers are not happy

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/26/palin-and-hasselbeck-blast-ridiculous-wardrobe-story/
"This whole thing with the wardrobe, you know I have tried to just ignore it because it is so ridiculous, but I am glad now that Elisabeth brought it up, cause it gives me an opportunity without the filter of the media to get to tell you the whole clothes thing," she said.

"Those clothes, they are not my property. Just like the lighting and the staging and everything else that the RNC purchased, I'm not taking them with me. I am back to wearing my own clothes from my favorite consignment shop in Anchorage, Alaska. You'd think — not that I would even have to address the issue because, as Elisabeth is suggesting, the double standard here it's — gosh, we don't even want to waste our time."

Palin, however, forged on.

"I am glad, though, that she brought up accessories also. Let me tell you a little bit about a couple of accessories, didn't think that we would be talking about it, but my earrings — I see a Native Americans for Palin poster," she said. "These are beaded earrings from Todd's mom who is a Yupik Eskimo up in Alaska, Native American, Native Alaskan.

"And my wedding ring, it's in Todd's pocket, 'cause it hurts sometimes when I shake hands and it gets squished," she continued. "A $35 wedding ring from Hawaii that I bought myself and 'cause I always thought with my ring it's not what it's made of, it's what it represents, and 20 years later, happy to wear it. And then finally the other accessory, you bet I'm a gold — I'm a blue star mom. I'm wearing this in honor of my son who is fighting over in Iraq right now defending all of you."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/27/palin.tension/index.html
A senior McCain adviser told CNN that those comments "were not the remarks we sent to her plane." Palin did not discuss the wardrobe story at her rally in Kissimmee, Florida, later in the day. . .

Over the weekend, sources told CNN that long-brewing tensions between Palin and key aides to McCain were on the rise.

Several McCain advisers suggested that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue." . . .

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," this McCain adviser said. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240189.php

Palin’s latest excuse: Well, I gave back $50,000 worth. Such a grand gesture of self-sacrifice . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/the_daily_muck_685.php
Sarah Palin has apparently returned a third of the clothing bought for her at high-end stores by the RNC. A McCain strategist said that the clothes were returned immediately due to size issues. (AP)

Now the squabble turns into a finger-pointing exercise between the McCain campaign and the RNC. Get the popcorn!

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/27/mccain-campaign-vs-the-rnc-its-the-ruffle-kerfuffle/

So, who is behind these back-stabbing attacks from the McCain camp? It gets more and more intriguing . . .

http://spectator.org/archives/2008/10/27/post-defeat-planners
Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for the White House, have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election. "Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012," says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin. "The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He's in charge on November 5th."

Palin doesn’t want to be “handled” – so then why doesn’t she agree to press interviews without ridiculous preconditions?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015392.php

The Palin selection: what it says about McCain

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015384.php

Heh

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/did-palin-pay-900-for-spray-on-tan.html
[John Aravosis] Did Palin pay $900 for a spray-on tan? . . . I'm sure she'll tell us it's not really HER tan, she's just borrowing it, and will return it when the campaign is over. . .

Angry man

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/with-eight-days-left-angry-john-mccain.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015391.php

Country First

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/dozens_of_call_center_workers.php
Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama . . .

The latest Obama “scandal” – a brief quote, taken out of context, from some comments in 2001

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/27/145024/36/995/643777
[Drudge] 2001 OBAMA: TRAGEDY THAT 'REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH' NOT PURSUED BY SUPREME COURT . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015394.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaign_falsely_claims.php

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/obama_and_the_courts.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/pretty_thin_gruel.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/final-days-by-dday-i-fully-expect-one.html

Obama’s “Closing Argument” speech – very effective

Text: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/statepages/obamas-closing-argument-speech.php
In this election, we cannot afford the same political games and tactics that are being used to pit us against one another and make us afraid of one another. The stakes are too high to divide us by class and region and background; by who we are or what we believe. . . [read on]

Video: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/27/144326/16/1019/643769

Big crowds, small crowds – the Obama/McCain difference is dramatic. But the McCain people pooh-pooh the significance

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-campaign_5soct26,0,2445504.story
During a sparsely attended rally in Albuquerque, McCain appealed to his Western neighbors for support . . .

Despite clear skies and comfortable temperatures, it was a small turnout—one that could be measured in the hundreds—for a presidential campaign event this close to the election. An Obama event at the University of New Mexico later in the day drew what his campaign estimated was at least 45,000 people. . . .

McCain's campaign, meanwhile, downplayed the importance of crowds.

"If campaigns were won or lost based on crowd size, Barack Obama's crowd of 200,000 in Berlin would've made him chancellor of Germany," McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded.

Mark Salter, a senior McCain adviser, said 1,400 people went through security to get to the Albuquerque event. And he said it costs a lot of money to build large crowds — money the McCain campaign doesn't have.

More contradictory nonsense from the McCain campaign: Obama is a “socialist,” but he’s also Herbert Hoover (thanks to Mark D.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qlIdlmImlo

Hmmm. . . . McCain brags about his endorsement by five former GOP Secty’s of State. Obama’s got Powell. Where’s Condi? (MIA, again)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015386.php

The polls: some tightening, but Obama lead holding strong

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/28/73416/402/805/643975

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/28/35850/666

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/polls_obama_running_strong_in.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/wash-post-talking-about-possible-obama.html

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9445

Bringing back Wright (they said they wouldn’t, but you knew they would)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/you-knew-it-would-happen-by-digby-last.html

Another Obama assassination plot

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/playing-with-fire-by-digby-i-understand.html

More: http://www.whec.com/article/stories/S634769.shtml?cat=566

Ted Stevens (R-AK), guilty on all counts

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_found_guilty_on_all_co.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/guilty-by-digby-has-there-ever-been.html
[Digby] Has there ever been a more perfect coda to the corrupt, big money Republican rule than the conviction of Ted Stevens on all counts? . . . [read on]

Another GOP Senate seat lost? http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/stevens_conviction_guarantees.php

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_26_archive.html#2943076714770112438

Sarah Palin, speaking out forcefully against corruption

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/27/sarah-sends-uncle-toobz-to-his-room-without-any-dinner/
"This is a sad day for Alaska and a sad day for Senator Stevens and his family," she said . . .”

Head of GOP Senate re-election committee decries the “toxic atmosphere” for Republican candidates

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/head-of-gop-senate-committee-blames.html
[John Ensign, R-NV] “There's no question the top of the ticket is affecting our Senate races and it’s making it a lot more difficult,” Ensign said on MSNBC. “It’s a fairly toxic atmosphere out there with the financial crisis for Republicans.”

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), GOP Senate Minority Leader, is in BIG trouble back in Kentucky. Now he’s reduced to this childish, pathetic trick. Read on

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240193.php

After the victory: what will Obama do?

http://nymag.com/news/politics/51570/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9433

The next Sect’y of the Treasury?

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/the_center_moves_left.php

More possible cabinet posts: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/tasked_two_top_aides_with.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_obama_transition_dont_forg.php

After the defeat: re-positioning the GOP as the “Party of Reagan” (again)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/rejecting-footsoldiers-by-digby-sirota.html

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/27/the-big-schism/

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9427

The end of the Atwater/Rove era?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/opinion/28herbert.html

Voter suppression, across the country

Ohio: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/ohio_dems_push_back_on_white_h.php

Virginia: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/phony_virginia_flier_tells_dem.php

Indiana: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_camp_indiana_sec_of_stat_1.php

Pennsylvania: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/penn_gop_sues_over_acorn.php

New Mexico: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/acorn_sues_nm_gop_alleging_vot.php

Bush’s final list of pardons: could be a long one

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/27/bush-prepares-his-pardon-pen/

Where is the bailout money going?

http://www.propublica.org/article/banks-signal-govt-billions-will-be-used-for-mergers-1027
[Paul Kiel] The Treasury Department’s capital injection program is well underway, with more than $150 billion total now promised to around 30 banks. So far, the evidence suggests many of those banks will use the cash to buy up weaker banks. . . . [read on]

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/bailout-money-now-being-used-to-fund.html

Bonus item: The McCain/Palin squabble, represented with puppets

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/10/27/tnrtv-chait-s-puppet-show-featuring-mccain-amp-palin.aspx

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:28 AM

 
OBAMA’S SECRET PLAN

The McCain/Palin team has been reduced to a wild, uncoordinated, and almost totally random series of slams against Obama. It doesn’t matter if they make any sense or contradict themselves – if something sticks, somewhere, with someone, it’s all fair game now. Obama is BOTH Hitler AND Neville Chamberlain. He’s for “spreading the wealth” (i.e. a progressive tax system, which almost all members of both parties support), which then becomes “socialism,” which then becomes “communism,” which then becomes “the total elimination of all private property.” It’s crazy, but it’s all they have left

Hitler? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239970.php
[GOP mailing, reported yesterday] "Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!"

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/737mifbf.asp
[Bill Kristol] We also hear a lot of squeaking from rats deserting the McCain ship about Barack Obama's exemplary temperament. So what? . . . Neville Chamberlain also had a fine temperament and a good intellect.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/election_central_morning_round_192.php
Campaigning yesterday in Iowa, Sarah Palin upped the ante on the GOP's efforts to paint Barack Obama as some kind of a Marxist because he wants the tax structure to be slightly more progressive, warning that all property would be collectively owned under Obama: "See, under a big government, more tax agenda, what you thought was yours would really start belonging to somebody else, to everybody else," Palin said. "If you thought your income, your property, your inventory, your investments were, were yours, they would really collectively belong to everybody.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF5ZkgNNBQE

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/26/114838/91
[Steve King, R-IA] "When you take a lurch to the left you end up in a totalitarian dictatorship," King said. "There is no freedom to the left. . .”

More nonsense. McCain fights with Bush, then embraces Bush, then distances himself from Bush, then says he and Bush share a “common philosophy.” Give it up, John – you just aren’t very good at this

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/election_central_morning_round_192.php
[Eric Kleefeld] McCain: I'm Not Bush
Appearing this morning on Meet The Press, John McCain reiterated his "I am not George Bush" line. "So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course," McCain explained "But I've, I've stood up against my party, not just President Bush, but others."

Obama Seizes On "Common Philosophy" Remark
At a rally today in Denver, Barack Obama will go after John McCain's concession on Meet The Press that he and President Bush share a common philosophy. "But then, just this morning, Senator McCain said that he and President Bush - 'share a common philosophy,'" Obama will say, according to prepared remarks. "That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common."

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015380.php
[Steve Benen] A few days ago, McCain brought up Bush in order to talk about how much Obama has in common with the president. A day later, McCain brought up Bush again in order to argue, unpersuasively, that he disagrees with the president about several key issues. McCain talked about Bush again this morning, acknowledging that he and the president "share a common philosophy of the Republican Party." . . .

By now, we've all seen the clip with McCain bragging to a national television audience about having voted with Bush 90% of the time, "higher than a lot of my even Republican colleagues."

But the connection obviously goes far deeper. As Tom Brokaw reminded McCain this morning, the senator has insisted, "[O]n the transcendent issues, the most important issues of our day, I have been totally in agreement and support of President Bush." A few months ago, McCain vowed to campaign alongside Bush as much as possible this year.

And perhaps most importantly of all, McCain's policy agenda for the next four years is practically indistinguishable from Bush's policy agenda. This is old news.

Yet McCain continues to engage on this issue, even going so far as to equate Bush and Obama, apparently unaware of just how delighted Obama is to have this discussion in the campaign's closing days.

McCain visits “Meet the Press” – and has some rough moments

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/144340/71/955/642816
MR. BROKAW: ...The Congressional Quarterly did a review of your votes, 92 percent of the time you voted with President Bush. So it's a little hard for the public to separate you from this administration, isn't it?

SEN. McCAIN: Well, it may be the way you describe it. [watch!]

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/worst_answer_ever.php
[Matt Yglesias] John McCain’s answer to Tom Brokaw’s question about whether Colin Powell’s endorsement was all about race was . . . unimpressive. McCain couldn’t even remember which former Secretaries of State support him and didn’t even attempt to answer the question. . . [watch!]

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/26/mccain-totally-losing-it-palin-is-qualified-to-be-president-because-shes-married-to-an-oil-facilities-worker/
[Blue Texan] Total meltdown for McSame on "Meet the Press" this morning. Watch how defensive he gets when Brokaw's cites poll after poll that indicates people don't think Palin is qualified to be Vice President. "Because?! Not qualified...because?!" he snaps.

Then, after some creepy, nervous giggles about the Veep debate, McSame starts ticking off the reasons Palin is qualified to be President and gets completely lost . . . [watch]

McCain tells us just how important he thinks nuclear safety is

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-disses-importance-of-keeping.html

Obama’s “closing argument”

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_to_deliver_closing_argum.php
In his speech, Senator Obama will tell voters that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Obama will ask Americans to help him change this country, and say that in just one week, they can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up, they can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids and renewable energy for our future, and they can choose hope over fear, unity over division and the promise of change over the power of the status quo.

McCain’s “closing argument"

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/john_mccains_closing_argument.php
At a time when America is facing historic crisis we can't put our fate in the hands of an untested, inexperienced candidate. John McCain has served his country all his life, and he is the most prepared to restore our economy, bring back fiscal discipline, manage the two wars, and keep Americans safe.

“Untested and inexperienced,” huh? http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/27/pathetic-to-the-last/

McCain tries a new tack: if you elect a government full of Democrats without a Republican President to veto them or a Republican Senate minority to filibuster them, they will actually start passing laws and change things. Back to gridlock!

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/mccain_electing_the_candidates_you_prefer_will_put_them_in_charge_of_the_country.php

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015379.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9386

Whistling past the graveyard

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/26/quote_of_the_day.html
"Those polls have consistently shown me much further behind than we actually are. It all depends on the voter turnout... we're doing fine."

-- Sen. John McCain, quoted by CNN.

When is a widening margin a sign of a “tightening” race?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9412

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9416

McCain says Palin has “given back” $50,000 worth of the clothes bought for her. Given back how, exactly? And does this really make the whole situation better?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-says-50000-of-palins-150k-in.html

Palin’s excuse: I didn’t go shopping; I didn’t even know how much the clothes cost. That doesn’t work either

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/10/26/palin-didnt-know-how-much-the-clothes-cost-hah-as-if/

Looks as if Palin is really trying to throw the blame back on the McCain campaign and the RNC

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/26/palin-and-hasselbeck-blast-ridiculous-wardrobe-story/
Ensuring that news of the Republican National Committee's sartorial spending spree will remain in the headlines for at least one more news cycle, Sarah Palin on Sunday sounded off on the $150,000 wardrobe that was purchased for her in September, denouncing the report as "ridiculous" and declaring emphatically: "Those clothes, they are not my property."

A senior adviser to John McCain told CNN's Dana Bash that the comments about her wardrobe "were not the remarks we sent to her plane this morning." . . .

The Alaska Way: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240103.php

Palin says she was “annoyed” with Katie Couric – says Couric didn’t ask her serious questions. Oh, so THAT’S why you sounded so stupid

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/26/palin-annoyed-with-cbs-interviewer/
“Last time I was here I got to tell a crowd that I had to give a national interview that didn’t go so well,” she said. “And it was because I was kind of annoyed with the questions that I was being asked because I thought they were kind of irrelevant to, you know, national security issues and getting our economy back on track, so I kind of showed some of that annoyance.”

Couric did, in fact, ask Palin several questions about the economy and national security, focusing in particular on the congressional bailout package, the mortgage crisis, John McCain’s record on regulation, the war in Afghanistan, hunting terrorists in Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Syria, Israel and the role of the United States in the world.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/from-then-to-no.html
[CNN] "Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history."

Is Bush ramping up military adventures to help the McCain campaign?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/26/us-raids-into-syria-because-destablizing-pakistan-isnt-enough/

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/26/when-did-we-declare-war-on-syria-or-pakistan/

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/us-raid-inside-syria-kills-8.html

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/more-on-syria-raid.html

Looks like Joe Lieberman has decided he’d rather be affiliated with a governing majority party than a marginalized bunch of losers. Welcome back, Joe

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/lieberman_i_respect_obama.php
[Eric Kleefeld] An interesting pattern now seems to be coming from Joe Lieberman: He is now reminding us all how much he respects Barack Obama, even if he's for John McCain this time around. . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015376.php
[Steve Benen] Lieberman, in other words, has to hope Democrats haven't been paying any attention at all. The party is supposed to forget, for example, when Lieberman argued that Obama doesn't put "country first."

And the time Lieberman said it was a "good question" to ask whether Obama is a "Marxist."

And the time Lieberman ironically accused the Obama campaign of "sleazy tactics."

And the time Lieberman, at the Republican National Convention, falsely accused Obama of trying to undermine the troops

"Respectful"? Nice try, Joe.

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/after-trashing-obama-and-democrats-for.html

Former GOP Commerce Committee chair donates money, votes for Obama

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/240088.php
[Larry Pressler] "I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous."

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/26/23275/192

Over 100,000 at Denver rally for Obama

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/over-100000-at-obama-rally-in-denver.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/26/16157/106

Photos: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9413

Who will replace Obama as Illinois Senator if he wins?

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/the_solution_4.php

Obama’s small-donor fundraising is a marvel of grassroots democracy. There may be some problems with it, but they’re nothing like the problems of traditionally relying on a small number of very big donations, and all the strings that come with them. Yet leave it to the Washington Post to make Obama’s approach seem diabolical and dishonest

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_26_archive.html#7203385484415168893

What role did the College Republicans have in the Ashley Todd hoax?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/lying_in_politics_/2008/10/college_republicans_fingered_in_ashley_todd_affair.php

The kind of people they are – another person gets physically assaulted for asking inconvenient questions of a GOP politico

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9417

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/26/205314/29

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/republicans_assault_democratic_tracker_while_rep_wolf_does_nothing.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/more_republican_thuggery.php

The coming civil war within the Republican party

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/26/25411/444/269/642493

For my California readers: Kevin Drum on the 12 state ballot initiatives

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/california_propositions.html

Bonus item: Here’s how to make sure you don’t get any more interviews from the Obama campaign

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/26/202725/73
[Barbara West, WFTV, Orlando, interviewing Joe Biden] “How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around? . . .”

[Biden] “Are you joking? Is this a joke? Is that a real question? . . .”

[Todd Beeton] Drudge and Fox News have, in their way, both expressed outrage at this decision and Lindsey Graham on the stump for McCain today said it was proof that Barack Obama is afraid of taking "tough questions." Right. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:18 AM

 
THE HONEYMOON’S OVER

Palin is rebelling more and more against the constraints the McCain campaign is imposing on her – and the McCainiacs don’t like it

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=33A79FEE-18FE-70B2-A89B82E0E4361B64
[Ben Smith] Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.

Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.

"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements and decisions. . . .

Anger among Republicans who see Palin as a star and as a potential future leader has boiled over because, they say, they see other senior McCain aides preparing to blame her in the event he is defeated.

"These people are going to try and shred her after the campaign to divert blame from themselves," a McCain insider said, referring to McCain's chief strategist, Steve Schmidt, and to Nicolle Wallace, a former Bush aide who has taken a lead role in Palin's campaign. . . .

But other McCain aides, defending Wallace, dismissed the notion that Palin was mishandled. The Alaska governor was, they argue, simply unready — "green," sloppy and incomprehensibly willing to criticize McCain for, for instance, not attacking Sen. Barack Obama for his relationship with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. . . [read on]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/25/mccain-aide-palin-going-rogue/
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin “going rogue” recently, while a Palin associate says she is simply trying to “bust free” of what she believes was a mishandled roll-out that damaged her.

McCain sources point to several incidents where Palin has gone off message, and privately wonder if they were deliberate. For example: labeling robo calls “irritating,” even as the campaign was defending the use of them and telling reporters she disagreed with the campaigns controversial decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source tells CNN she appears to now be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign. . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015369.php
[CNN] "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. . . .”

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/let_the_defenestrations_begin.html
[Kevin Drum] [Y]ou know the part I'm really looking forward to? Sarah Palin's role in all this. I expect her to rip McCain absolutely to shreds. On background, of course, but it will be no less vicious for that. Her future, such as it is, lies with the wingnut rump of the party, and she knows what her audience wants: John McCain's blood. And lots of it. They never liked him in the first place, and I expect them to be howling for his head on a platter starting at about 8:01 pm EST on November 4th.

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/10/25/will-it-be-palin-vs-mccain-in-the-campaigns-final-days/
[Jane Hamsher] If McCain staffers are indeed looking to blame Palin for their botched campaign, it would be extraordinarily unfair. They got exactly what they should have expected in the Palin package -- an inexperienced but authentic social conservative who delivered her lines well, and was incapable of much of anything beyond that. There was no way she could save a campaign that was bungling along from one mistake to another long before she showed up.

The fact that they would think she could just demonstrates that Palin ain't the only one who's not ready to lead. I do hope she goes "rogue" though -- it would be just what they deserve.

How hard did Sarah Palin try to get Walt Monegan fired?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/175346/71/895/634748
[Kagro X] I think it's informative to take note of how many times Sarah Palin, her stalker husband Todd, and members of her "administration" kept trying to force the Wooten issue onto Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan's agenda. Not only that, but how many times Monegan and his deputy, John Glass, warned them that getting involved would create legal jeopardy both for the state and for them as individuals, not to mention political embarrassment when it all came out, as these things so often do. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015367.php
[Steve Benen] [I]t’s amazing this scandal is barely generating a whisper in political circles. A candidate for national office has been found to have violated ethics laws, recently, in a major abuse-of-power scandal. The Obama campaign isn't pressing the issue, reporters seem to find this irrelevant, and most voters probably have no idea that the scandal is ongoing. As far as I can tell, John McCain hasn't said a word about any of this, and reporters haven't even asked for his perspective . . .

Palin’s much-aggrandized gas pipeline (which hasn’t even been built yet): what’s the REAL story?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/palin_/2008/10/a_sweetheart_deal.php

Here is the second generation of the Ashley Todd story: what role did Republican organizations, including the McCain campaign, play in pumping the story?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/25/they-dont-make-ratfuckers-like-they-used-to/
[Emptywheel] It looks increasingly likely that the College Republicans gave Drudge the photo. . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239888.php
[David Kurtz] The McCain camp is denying that it was a campaign spokesperson who told local TV reporters in Pittsburgh that the "B" supposedly scrawled on the face of a young McCain campaign worker was a reference to "Barack" Obama, angrily carved into her face with a knife by a black mugger because she was a McCain supporter.

Of course we now know the victim's entire account was a hoax. I suspect the McCain campaign's denial is, too. . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaign_blames_reporte.php
[Greg Sargent] So now we have two stations -- WPXI and KDKA -- who both independently say they got the same story and the same quotes linking the "B" to "Barack" from the McCain campaign.

Yet the McCain camp is actually asking you to believe that both reporters -- independently -- made the same mistake and wrongly attributed the McCain PA spokesperson's quotes to the cops. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239900.php
[Josh Marshall] It is time for the McCain campaign to come clean about what role any of its staffers may have had in hyping or pushing the press to hype the charges stemming from Ashley Todd's vicious and reprehensible hoax. . . . [read on]

Watch: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/25/13501/271/232/641505

What was Ashley Todd THINKING? http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015356.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/election_2008_/2008/10/race_desperation_and_ashley_todd.php

We know how badly McCain wants to become President – but we really still don’t know why

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015364.php
[Ross Douthat] One of the many fascinating things about Robert Draper's Times Magazine story on the McCain campaign is what isn't included in its account of the attempts to brand (and rebrand, and rebrand) John McCain's candidacy: Namely, any real discussion of policy. From Draper's account, the McCain campaign staff has gone around and around trying to figure out how to sell their candidate -- as a fighter! as an experienced leader! as a maverick! etc. -- but hardly ever seemed to have spent much time thinking about how these narratives would mesh with or be reinforced by the actual policy agenda the campaign was advancing.

[Steve Benen] What is it that he really wants to do if elected to the presidency? He offers a lot of vague rhetoric about "reforming" things, but no one's sure what that means.

Seriously, after two full years of campaigning, does McCain even have a policy agenda? McCain spends a lot of time making personal attack against Obama, but off the top of your head, try to name three big, unique policy ideas that McCain takes seriously and wants to implement. . . [read on]

McCain’s highly selective memory



Can the Republicans sink any lower? It’s hard to imagine

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239970.php
[David Kurtz] On Thursday the Pennsylvania GOP sent out an email to 75,000 Jewish voters in the state warning that electing Obama could lead to a second Holocaust, the AP reports:

"Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008," the e-mail reads. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!" . . . [read on]

[NB: The McCain campaign is denying any connection to the e-mail, but there is evidence otherwise.]

McCain and Palin to flood Pennsylvania

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/palin_plans_pennsylvania_tour.php

Why? http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9398
[Tremayne] Why give up on Colorado, the state that could give Barack Obama his winning margin and where polling and history suggest better potential than Pennsylvania? Most of the speculation I've read has centered on electoral math and the desire of the McCain campaign to win one big blue state rather than trying to defend multiple poor-trending red states.

Here's another idea I got when looking at the polling for competitive House races at Pollster: Pennsylvania has more closely contested House races than any other state except Florida which has the same number, 10. Colorado, meanwhile, has only one and that one moved strongly toward the Dems a month ago.

The RNC has been footing much of the bill for the McCain campaign which is limited to 84 million dollars in federal matching funds. Has that money come with strings attached? Has the McCain campaign been pressured into the PA strategy in a bid to limit the damage in House races there? Another state McCain and/or Palin will visit next week? Ohio, with seven more competitive House races.

If the RNC believes McCain is going to lose they may at least want him to limit the damage in Congress. Does this theory make sense or not?

Obama answers with this: his first joint campaign event with the Big Dog

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/25/172823/25

Obama: closing the deal

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_obama_ad_this_election_is.php
In keeping with his effort to close out the race with as much specificity on the economy as possible, Obama goes up in key states with a two-minute spot in which he directly addresses voters and tells him how he'll improve their lives . . . [watch]

Obama is the first Democrat since Carter to make his personal faith a significant part of the campaign. I have mixed feelings about that, but I’m glad to see the Dems no longer ceding the turf of “Christianity,” or religion generally, to the Right (thanks to Kathy M. for the links)

http://www.sojo.net/blog/godspolitics/?p=3166

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1590782,00.html

Obama’s grandmother: let’s see Rush fabricate something negative about this

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24cnd-obama.html

“Bradley effect” my arse

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/25/162113/43
[Jonathan Singer] We have known for a long while that Barack Obama is on track to peform more strongly among white voters than either John Kerry or Al Gore. Now a new crunching of numbers indicates that Obama may run the strongest within this demographic of any Democrat since Jimmy Carter. . . .

A bizarre new GOP ad: yeah, we’ve screwed things up, but Obama and the Dems might screw them up even worse

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/election_central_saturday_roun_35.php

Now, here’s the funny version: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/theres-new-and-truly-frightening-ending.html

The Ayers issue has really done damage . . . to McCain

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/50_of_voters_believe_ayers_issue_has_hurt_mccain_campaign

Conservative pundits are freaking out

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTI1NmUxYjA4ODczZjgxOWJhMzQ3ODI0MDRkOWFlMDQ
[Mark Levin] honestly never thought we'd see such a thing in our country - not yet anyway - but I sense what's occurring in this election is a recklessness and abandonment of rationality that has preceded the voluntary surrender of liberty and security in other places. I can't help but observe that even some conservatives are caught in the moment as their attempts at explaining their support for Barack Obama are unpersuasive and even illogical. And the pull appears to be rather strong. Ken Adelman, Doug Kmiec, and others, reach for the usual platitudes in explaining themselves but are utterly incoherent. Even non-conservatives with significant public policy and real world experiences, such as Colin Powell and Charles Fried, find Obama alluring but can't explain themselves in an intelligent way.

There is a cult-like atmosphere around Barack Obama, which his campaign has carefully and successfully fabricated, which concerns me. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302081.html
[David Frum] There are many ways to lose a presidential election. John McCain is losing in a way that threatens to take the entire Republican Party down with him.

A year ago, the Arizona senator's team made a crucial strategic decision. McCain would run on his (impressive) personal biography. On policy, he'd hew mostly to conservative orthodoxy, with a few deviations -- most notably, his support for legalization for illegal immigrants. But this strategy wasn't yielding results in the general election. So in August, McCain tried a bold new gambit: He would reach out to independents and women with an exciting and unexpected vice presidential choice.

That didn't work out so well either. Gov. Sarah Palin connected with neither independents nor women. She did, however, ignite the Republican base, which has come to support her passionately. And so, in this last month, the McCain campaign has

Palinized itself to make the most of its last asset. To fire up the Republican base, the McCain team has hit at Barack Obama as an alien, a radical and a socialist.

Sure enough, the base has responded. After months and months of wan enthusiasm among Republicans, these last weeks have at last energized the core of the party. But there's a downside: The very same campaign strategy that has belatedly mobilized the Republican core has alienated and offended the great national middle, which was the only place where the 2008 election could have been won. . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html
[David Brooks] There are two major political parties in America, but there are at least three major political tendencies. The first is orthodox liberalism, a belief in using government to maximize equality. The second is free-market conservatism, the belief in limiting government to maximize freedom.

But there is a third tendency, which floats between. It is for using limited but energetic government to enhance social mobility. . . . Members of this tradition have one foot in the conservatism of Edmund Burke. They understand how little we know or can know and how much we should rely on tradition, prudence and habit. They have an awareness of sin, of the importance of traditional virtues and stable institutions. They understand that we are not free-floating individuals but are embedded in thick social organisms. . . .

Members of this tradition are Americanized Burkeans, or to put it another way, progressive conservatives. . . .

McCain shares the progressive conservative instinct. He has shown his sympathy with the striving immigrant and his disgust with the colluding corporatist. He has an untiring reform impulse and a devotion to national service and American exceptionalism.

His campaign seemed the perfect vehicle to explain how this old approach applied to a new century with new problems — a century with widening inequality, declining human capital, a fraying social contract, rising entitlement debt, corporate authoritarian regimes abroad and soft corporatist collusion at home. . . .

In Sunday’s issue of The Times Magazine, Robert Draper describes the shifts in tactics that consumed the McCain campaign. The tactics varied promiscuously, but they were all about how to present McCain, not about how to describe the state of country or the needs of the voter. It was all biography . . .

McCain and Republicans stayed within their lines. There was a lot of talk about earmarks. There was a good health care plan that was never fully explained. And there was Sarah Palin, who represents the old resentments and the narrow appeal of conventional Republicanism.

As a result, Democrats now control the middle. Self-declared moderates now favor Obama by 59 to 30, according to the New York Times/CBS News poll. Suburban voters favor Obama 50 to 39. Voters over all give him a 21 point lead when it comes to better handling the economy and a 14 point lead on tax policy, according to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

McCain would be an outstanding president. In government, he has almost always had an instinct for the right cause. He has become an experienced legislative craftsman. He is stalwart against the country’s foes and cooperative with its friends. But he never escaped the straightjacket of a party that is ailing and a conservatism that is behind the times. And that’s what makes the final weeks of this campaign so unspeakably sad.

And finally, Charles Krauthammer, whose extremely strained rationale for supporting McCain manages to completely ignore the Palin problem that he himself raised when he called her a “near suicidal” and “fatal” selection

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6077457.html

Krauthammer on Palin: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/08/the_palin_puzzle.html
To gratuitously undercut the remarkably successful "Is [Obama] ready to lead" line of attack seems near suicidal. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402845.html
The vice president's only constitutional duty of any significance is to become president at a moment's notice. Palin is not ready. . . .

Polls: Obama’s national lead is widening

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obamas_lea_5.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/25/201647/56

Am astounding electoral map: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9390

But it’s not over yet

http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2008/10/not-over-yet.html

I don’t quite see the point in this, but here are some attempts to quantify the probabilities that McCain could make a late comeback

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9373

David Frum begs the GOP to cut their losses and reallocate McCain resources to Senate campaigns they can win

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1062

[NB: That Pennsylvania story earlier suggests that perhaps they already have. Let’s wait and see how much McCain and Palin use the “We can’t afford to give the Dems a big Congressional majority” argument.]

For some in the press, everything is bad news for the Democrats, even if they win in a landslide

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/everything_is_bad_news_for_democrats.php
[NYT] Democrats, who are within reach of the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster in the Senate, would also face high expectations, especially from the party’s more liberal quarters, that could be difficult to meet even with enhanced numbers in the Senate as well as the House. And they would be at risk of overreaching, a tendency that has deeply damaged both parties in similar situations in the past.

More of the same: http://www.newsweek.com/id/165658

Practically speaking, the Dems don’t need 60 votes to have a filibuster-proof margin

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/25/quote_of_the_day.html
"If the White House political team can't figure out a way to get two Republican senators to vote with us between Air Force One, tea at the White House, U.S. attorneys and judges and dams and roads and ambassadors and all that other stuff, somebody should take them out to the woodshed. Sixty is less a magic number than a zone."

-- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

We haven’t heard much about any voter suppression in Colorado, but (a) it’s a battleground state and (b) it has a Republican Sect’y of State. So you knew it was just a matter of time

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9385

AND in Ohio

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/white_house_wants_doj_action_o.php
[Zachary Roth] Looks like the White House is having trouble getting out of the habit of using the Department of Justice for political purposes. . . [read on]

News you can use: how to block robo-calls (thanks to Marc Ambinder for the link)

http://thinkdodone.typepad.com/ccd/2008/10/the-robo-call-database-all-calls-all-sides-all-races.html

Wonder what this does to McCain’s argument that poor, naïve Obama thinks we should negotiate with our enemies?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008304841_iran24.html
The Bush administration will announce in mid-November, after the presidential election, that it intends to establish the first U.S. diplomatic presence in Iran since the 1979-81 hostage crisis, according to senior Bush administration officials. . . .

Banks aren’t quite holding up their end of the bailout deal

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/25/banks-we-have-better-things-to-do-with-that-money-you-gave-us-than-lend-it-out/
[Ian Welch] Reports are surfacing that banks haven't noticeably increased lending because of the bailout money and they bloody well don't intend to, thanks. Gee, what a surprise, the bailout didn't fix what it was supposed to. No one could have predicted. . . [read on]

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/business/17bank.html

In Iraq

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/sunni-party-cuts-off-us-in-iraq.html
The Iraqi Islamic Party, led by Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, said it was suspending further high-level contact with the United States . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_98592.asp
NBC Meet the Press: John McCain, and a roundtable with Cook Political Report's Charlie Cook, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and NBC political director Chuck Todd.

ABC This Week: Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL).

CNN Late Edition: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), Republican strategists Alex Castellanos and Leslie Sanchez and Democratic strategists Donna Brazile and James Carville, CNN's Candy Crowley, Campbell Brown and John King.

CBS Face The Nation: Obama advisor Robert Rubin, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Gov. Ed Rendell (D=PA) and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN).

Bonus item: Everyone remembers Palin’s first visit to a hockey game, in Philly, where she was roundly booed. So they tried a do-over in St. Louis. How’d it go?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/hockey/nhl/10/24/blues.palin.ap/index.html
Blues goalie Manny Legace left after one period Friday night with a hip injury that occurred when he slipped on the carpet placed on the ice for Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:36 AM

 
DECLINE AND FALL

I don’t want to hear any sad narrative about John McCain as a tragic figure – a basically good and decent man who somehow lost his way under the evil influence of Rovean campaign advisors. He picked them, knowing full well as a former victim of their smears what kind of vicious liars they were.

And the sell-out of McCain didn’t just happen in this campaign, it happened in 2004 when he spurned the offer from his “good friend” John Kerry to form a national unity ticket at just the time when the country needed it, THEN sat on the sideline while his fellow Viet Nam veteran was slimed with Swift Boat lies that he, McCain, could have stopped with a strong public condemnation and statement of support, THEN saved the Bush campaign by endorsing the man who had run the same kind of hateful campaign against McCain in 2000. Bush desperately needed McCain’s endorsement (people forget how crucial that moment was; Bush was on the ropes and McCain had tremendous credibility – if he had even just stayed neutral Kerry would have won). McCain lost his “maverick” credentials a long time ago, as far as I’m concerned.

But McCain may be doing us a favor after all. We might be seeing the end, after eight years of Bush/Cheney/Rove and McCain, of a particular way of campaigning and governing. The endorsements of Obama by a slew of moderate Republicans aren’t just a rejection of McCain and Palin. They might indicate an emerging national consensus that rejects the politics of hate and fear, race-baiting, and theocratic fervor.

If Obama wins as big as polls indicate, if he has an overwhelming Congressional majority to work with, he has a chance to do something more important than just becoming the first African American president. I understand that these things are cyclical, and the prospects of governing under present circumstances holds out many chances for failure. But it feels to me right now as if the takeover of the GOP by free-market absolutists, nativists, theocrats, and right wing true-believers – and their style of politics that calls opponents not just wrong, but treasonous godless America-hating baby-killers – may be coming to end.

When McCain loses, the Republicans might implode – fracturing into a rump party headed by Sarah Palin, and cheered on by Rush et al. saying that McCain failed by not going FAR ENOUGH to the Right. We are already seeing moderate Republicans on the extinction list in most of the “red states.” An effective center/left consensus exists on many issues, and while I expect Obama to disappoint us with many compromises down the road, if this brings in and reconciles centrist Republicans, and the remainder of the GOP becomes marginalized, we might be seeing the end of a kind of McCarthyite, Nixonian Republicanism as a national force.

Rove was going to give us a Permanent Republican Majority – but he might have achieved just the opposite. And the demographics are on our side: growing minority populations are putting the South and West in play again. Yes, there will always be ignorant racist people, extremists and true believers, and there will always be politicians to pander to them. But it is difficult right now to see how that serves as the core of a winning national coalition again. For years to come, references to the Bush/Cheney war, the Unitary Executive, the Republican Recession, and to Rove/McCain campaign politics will be a heavy burden for future GOP candidates to overcome.

Though maybe the story of McCain’s decline starts even earlier, in 2000:

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9365

Ashley Todd is a disturbed young woman, and while what she did was stupid and evil, the real blame goes to the journalists and McCain staffers who immediately tried to exploit the issue to reinforce their campaign of racial smears and fears (foolishly, because it was apparent to everyone that there was something fishy about her story from the very beginning)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/report_mccain_volunteer_who_cl.php
[Greg Sargent] By now you've all heard about Ashley Todd, the 20-year-old McCain volunteer who claimed that she was assaulted in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night by an attacker who scratched a "B" in her cheek after learning that she was for McCain.

The story was flacked madly last night by Drudge, even though few if any details had been established or independently confirmed. . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/24/politics/main4544204.shtml
Police doubted her story from the start, Bryant said.

"She just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth," Bryant said, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "She was upset with the media for blowing this into a political firestorm." . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_aide_gave_reporters_inc.php
[Greg Sargent] John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the "B" carved into the victim's cheek stood for "Barack," according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

John Verrilli, the news director for KDKA in Pittsburgh, told TPM Election Central that McCain's Pennsylvania campaign communications director gave one of his reporters a detailed version of the attack that included a claim that the alleged attacker said, "You're with the McCain campaign? I'm going to teach you a lesson." . . .

The McCain spokesperson's claims -- which came in the midst of extraordinary and heated conversations late yesterday between the McCain campaign, local TV stations, and the Obama camp, as the early version of the story rocketed around the political world -- is significant because it reveals a McCain official pushing a version of the story that was far more explosive than the available or confirmed facts permitted at the time.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/24/mugging-hoax/
Fox News Executive VP John Moody] “This incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election.

If Ms. Todd’s allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.

If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain’s quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting.”

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015354.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015359.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/14519/262/634/641103
The Conservative Tawana Brawley . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/24/is-our-college-republicans-learning/
[Eli] Ashley Todd wanted to be the October Surprise that would decide the election, and I think she got her wish.

Possibly the worst fear-mongering ad since Johnson’s “daisy” ad against Goldwater



http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/latest_mccain_robo-slime_says_1.php
[A new McCain robo-call] "Democrats attempt to cut off crucial troop funding. Accuse our troops of war crimes. And Senator Biden predicts Senator Obama will be tested. A weak president will indeed be tested. Obama and Democrat's politics endanger American lives. They are not qualified to lead our military and our country. When you vote, vote for the team that puts leadership, character and country first. John McCain." [read on]

Remember? http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/21/lieberman-test/
Today, John McCain’s campaign is attempting to make an issue out of Joe Biden’s prediction that an international crisis will “test the mettle” of the next president. On a campaign press call yesterday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani attacked Biden’s statement, insisting that “it is not uniformly the case that the mettle of American presidents is tested…Senator McCain would not present that same risk that Joe Biden seems to be worried about.” Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of John McCain’s closest confidantes, apparently disagrees. Appearing on Face the Nation back in June, Lieberman predicted that “our enemies will test the new president early.”

The people McCain has picked to represent him

Randy Scheunemann, his foreign policy guru, sends an email to Marc Ambinder: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/on_clearance_terrorists_pallin.php
“Just read your post. This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ. It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists. It was a fact before Governor Palin said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today. It is bullshit to claim or write anything else.”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/eating-their-own-by-digby.html
[Digby] I guess we can see why McCain likes this guy so much. The guy is just as intemperate and impulsive as he is. . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239570.php
[Marin Independent Journal] A Republican charged with representing the views of presidential candidate Sen. John McCain told Dominican University students Thursday that war with Iran in the next four years is inevitable. . . . [read on]

McCain supporters speak their minds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vagD-4AH4Vc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4vdfRlZAF4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJghQMq49dw

The highest paid McCain/Palin staffer is . . .

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/pains-makeup-stylist-fetches-highest-salary-in-2-week-period/

Another stupid campaign tactic: we’re so lucky they’re so bad

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/dumbest-political-ad-ever.html

Never thought about this: Is part of the reason McCain will give his concession speech outside the hotel where his supporters will be, because they’re afraid of a poor turnout?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/24/erratic-mccain-chicanery-on-%E2%80%9Cvictory%E2%80%9D-party/

More GOP endorsements of Obama

William Weld: http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/weld_backs_obam.html
Former Governor William Weld of Massachusetts is the latest Republican to cross over and support Democrat Barack Obama for president. . . .

Weld told the Associated Press that while he has never endorsed a Democrat for president before, his choice in recent weeks became "close to a no-brainer."

"It's not often you get a guy with his combination of qualities, chief among which I would say is the deep sense of calm he displays, and I think that's a product of his equally deep intelligence," he said. . . .

Charles Fried, McCain advisor: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015353.php
[TNR] Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, has long been one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States. Under President Reagan, he served, with great distinction, as Solicitor General of the United States. Since then, he has been prominently associated with several Republican leaders and candidates, most recently John McCain, for whom he expressed his enthusiastic support in January.

This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/blogging_/2008/10/the_last_shoe_drops.php

Charlie Cook: the coming Obama landslide

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cr_20081025_9803.php

After the election: the debate to claim what an Obama victory might mean has already begun

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/win-by-losing-by-digby-paul-rosenberg.html
[Digby] It's true that the Republicans are on the run and their movement is crippled by the epic failure of the Bush administration. But they have a permanent character assassination apparatus, funded by extremely wealthy aristocrats, devoted solely to the destruction of liberalism. They aren't closing up shop and taking up needlepoint. Indeed, they are much more active when the Republicans are out of power than when they are in. . . . [read on]

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9375
[Matt Stoller] Buried in the contours of the massive shift in politics we're seeing with the collapse of the conservative movement is a burgeoning fight between center-right establishment, both locally and nationally, and populist progressives. The McCain campaign is falling apart, and the far right is basically playing for 2012, positioning that race as Palin versus Romney and grooming a new generation of right-wing populist Republicans to come at Democrats in 2010. As Sirota shows, right-wing Villagers are freaking out . . .

But as I've noted, these forces are organizing themselves to undercut progressives and are seeking to position Obama as a moderate, like Clinton. . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9372
[David Sirota] Last week, Newsweek's John Meacham sounded the alarm for the media/political Village, insisting that even if Barack Obama wins in a landslide over while being tarred and feathered as a socialist, America is still a country whose electorate is to the right of Ronald Reagan. . . .

The Village is in a freakout - the conservative pundits are really melting down like I've never seen. They sense a huge progressive mandate may be coming, and are trying - desperately trying - to get out enough propaganda to obscure that mandate. Get used to this kind of fact-free nonsense from the Village - it is only going to get more intense in the coming weeks and months if Obama wins. And it will be up to us to remind Obama and the Democrats exactly why they won (if they do win). . .

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/10/25/fearing_election_day_losses_some_in_gop_look_to_rebuild/
Even as Republican nominee John McCain seeks to separate himself from an unpopular President Bush, some Republicans are rejecting McCain as well as Bush. And many party leaders are preparing to remake the damaged party after what they unhappily anticipate will be a bad day for the GOP on Nov. 4. . . .

Some Republican voters have defected from McCain: Recent polling shows that Obama is gaining ground among voter constituencies that favored Bush in 2004. . . .

While congressional Republicans will not publicly concede that the presidential race is lost for the GOP, they speak frankly about the real possibility of an Obama presidency. They are discussing ways to reenergize the Republican party at a time when Democrats will probably be in charge of the White House and hold larger majorities in the House and Senate. . . .

Bush "destroyed us," said Ed Rollins, who served as an aide to Reagan. "He was supposed to be a conservative, and he wasn't. We're spending money we don't have." . . .

McCain, meanwhile, has not won much favor in his party, either with his policy agenda or his political tactics. Congressional conservatives are unhappy with McCain's support for immigration reform - although McCain backed off the issue after he began his run for president - and are still angry with McCain for his authorship of a campaign finance reform package that limited big-money donations.

McCain has never been popular among his Capitol Hill colleagues - a fact he repeats as a testament to his "maverick" nature - and many Washington Republicans, while still working to help McCain score an upset, are already operating under the assumption that Obama will be the next president. Several have begun publicly chastising McCain for the tenor and tactics of his flailing campaign. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/24/14611/942
[Shai Sachs] [P]rogressives should prepare to define the post-election narrative for 2008. Now, I'm well aware of the danger here - there are still 11 days to go, anything could happen, and we shouldn't become complacent. It is, of course, important to keep working, and we should not let up on that front. But it's possible to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Of course, the other problem is that we don't know exactly what the results will be. Obama could conceivably lose, or he could win a very narrow victory. We could hit 60 seats in the Senate, or we could fall just short. And so forth. Still, I think it's reasonable to predict reasonably that Obama will probably win a solid victory if not an overwhelming one, and that the House and Senate will be considerably more Democratic next year. Based on those assumptions, I want to suggest a few key themes that we should push to develop before and on Election Night, and to suggest a coherent progressive narrative for Nov. 5. . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302869.html
[E.J. Dionne] Conservatives are at each other's throats. . .

One set of critics, skeptical social conservatives, are precisely the people McCain was trying to mollify by picking Palin as his running mate. This includes the faithful of the religious right who remember McCain as their enemy in 2000 and parts of the gun crowd who always saw McCain as soft on their issues.

That McCain felt a need to make such an outlandishly risky choice speaks to how insecure his hold was on the core Republican vote. A candidate is supposed to rally the base during the primaries and reach out to the middle at election time. McCain got it backward, and it's hurting him. . . .

In The Post tracking poll released yesterday, Barack Obama drew 22 percent of the vote from self-described conservatives. That's a seven-point gain on John Kerry's 2004 conservative share.

Yet the pro-Palin right is still impatient with McCain for not being tough enough -- as if he has not run one of the most negative campaigns in recent history. This camp believes that if McCain only shouted the names "Bill Ayers" and "Jeremiah Wright" at the top of his lungs, the whole election would turn around.

Then there are those conservatives who see Palin as a "fatal cancer to the Republican Party" (David Brooks), as someone who "doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin" (Kathleen Parker), as "a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics" (Peggy Noonan).

These conservatives deserve credit for acknowledging how ill-suited Palin is for high office. But what we see here is a deep split between parts of the conservative elite and much of the rank and file.

For years, many of the elite conservatives were happy to harvest the votes of devout Christians and gun owners by waging a phony class war against "liberal elitists" and "leftist intellectuals." Suddenly, the conservative writers are discovering that the very anti-intellectualism their side courted and encouraged has begun to consume their movement.

The cause of Edmund Burke, Leo Strauss, Robert Nisbet and William F. Buckley Jr. is now in the hands of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity -- and Sarah Palin. Reason has been overwhelmed by propaganda, ideas by slogans, learned manifestoes by direct-mail hit pieces. . . .

Things are so bad that the internecine warriors on the right have begun copying the rhetoric of the old left. In a Washington Times column this week upbraiding dissidents such as Brooks and Noonan, Tony Blankley, the conservative writer and activist, fell back on an old left slogan, asking them: "Whose side are you on, comrade?"

This is a revelatory question. It arises when a movement has lost its sense of solidarity and purpose, when the "sides" are no longer clear. There is no unified "right" or "center-right," which is why we are no longer a conservative country, if we ever were.

Conservatism has finally crashed on problems for which its doctrines offered no solutions (the economic crisis foremost among them, thus Bush's apostasy) and on its refusal to acknowledge that the "real America" is more diverse, pragmatic and culturally moderate than the place described in Palin's speeches or imagined by the right-wing talk show hosts.

Conservatives came to believe that if they repeated phrases such as "Joe the Plumber" often enough, they could persuade working-class voters that policies tilted heavily in favor of the very privileged were actually designed with Joe in mind.

It isn't working anymore. No wonder conservatives are turning on each other so ferociously.

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/24/has-mccain-hastened-the-demise-of-the-reagan-coalition/
Has McCain Hastened The Demise Of The “Reagan Coalition?”

This is fun: a sampler of right-wing bloggers on the election (thanks to John Aravosis for the link)

http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2008/10/great-moments-in-election-year-blogging.html

Not that it matters much at this stage – her rankings could hardly get much lower – but people are starting to pay attention to just how Palin has actually governed in Alaska

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palinrecords24-2008oct24,0,6683728.story

Palin told NBC she’d be happy to release her medical records – then the McCain people got their hands on her

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/23/palin_medical/index.html

Palin may not be the darling of the Right for 2012 after all

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_palin_hasnt_done_herself.php
[Newsweek] Mitt Romney 35%
Mike Huckabee 26%
Sarah Palin 20%

Palin’s war on science

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/republicans-vs.html

Lieberman’s Freudian slips

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/24/1591791.aspx
Lieberman Friday continued to stand by Republican John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate. But when asked by The Advocate if Palin is ready to be president from day one, Lieberman said “thank God she's not going to have to be president from day one. McCain's going to be alive and well.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015361.php
Last month, Joe Lieberman was asked whether he believes Sarah Palin is prepared to lead if something should happen to John McCain after the election. "Well, you know, let's assume the best," Lieberman said . . .

Newt Gingrich offers another brilliant, outside-the-box suggestion: Palin should sue Saturday Night Live for slander

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/23/gingrich_palin/index.html

How they play the game

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/is_new_mexico_gop_lawyer_hirin.php
[Zachary Roth] Minority voters in New Mexico report to TPMmuckraker that a private investigator working with Republican party lawyer Pat Rogers has appeared in person at the homes of their family members, intimidating and confusing them about their right to vote in the general election. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/pis_actions_may_have_violated.php
[Zachary Roth] Four separate experts on voting rights have confirmed to TPMmuckraker that the behavior of a private investigator apparently hired by a New Mexico Republican party lawyer, that we reported this morning, potentially violates federal voting laws. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/voting-rights_group_calls_for.php
[Zachary Roth] A major voting-rights group has sent a letter to New Mexico U.S. Attorney Gregory Fouratt, calling on him to investigate claims of voter intimidation and suppression. . . .

In general, GOP voter suppression efforts aren’t going so well

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1039

Michele Bachmann (R-MN) takes out a new ad to “apologize” – but of course she doesn’t apologize at all

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/24/193410/08

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_bachmann_ad_i_may_not_alwa.php
"I may not always get my words right, but I know that my heart is right," Bachmann says. "Because my heart is for you, for your children, and for the blessings of liberty to remain for our great country."

In other news: Maliki won’t sign the troop agreement after all. Back to the UN?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/54757.html

Bonus item: Saturday cartoons

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2008/10/saturday-cartoons_25.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:45 AM

 
BRUTAL

This must-read NYT Magazine article dissects the dysfunctional McCain campaign. It reads like a post-mortem

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26mccain-t.html

More: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=2BF967A2-18FE-70B2-A86E8E3437D6E24D
One well-connected Republican in the private sector was shocked to get calls and resumes in the past few days from what he said were senior McCain aides – a breach of custom for even the worst-off campaigns.

“It’s not an extraordinarily happy place to be right now,” said one senior McCain aide. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s just unfortunate.”

“If you really want to see what ‘going negative’ is in politics, just watch the back-stabbing and blame game that we’re starting to see,” said Mark McKinnon, the ad man who left the campaign after McCain wrapped up the GOP primary. “And there’s one common theme: Everyone who wasn’t part of the campaign could have done better.”

“The cake is baked,” agreed a former McCain strategist. “We’re entering the finger-pointing and positioning-for-history part of the campaign. It’s every man for himself now.”

A circular firing squad is among the most familiar political rituals of a campaign when things aren’t going well. But it is rare for campaign aides to be so openly participating in it well before Election Day. . . .

McCain’s biggest failing as a candidate has been his lack of a consistent plan or set of principles for his campaign. Everything has been make-it-up-as-you-go, often entailing sudden reversals and self-imposed gaffes. The examples are myriad – but now, after literally and figuratively embracing Bush, McCain in desperation bashes him

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/23/mccain-lashes-out-at-bushs-record/
"Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously," McCain told the Washington Times when asked to name his criticisms of the current president.

"Those are just some of them," McCain said, laughing.

[NB: “F-you, George,” he added]

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/10/23/BL2008102301536.html

This is just astounding. It’s as if he’s quitting already

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/politics/p124147D22.DTL
Republican John McCain is not going to make his election night remarks in the traditional style — at a podium standing in front of a sea of campaign workers jammed into a hotel ballroom. . . .

But the Republican presidential nominee plans to address another group of supporters and a small group of reporters on the hotel lawn; his remarks will be simultaneously piped electronically to the party inside and other reporters in a media filing center, aides said.

Aides said Thursday that the arrangement was the result of space limitations and that McCain might drop by the election watch party at some other point. . .

“McCain concedes”? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/153446/90/696/640024

The campaign “explains” http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccain_will_address_supporters.php
"He'll speak outdoors on the lawn in front of backlit Camelback mountains -- it will be beautiful . . .”

[NB: Yes, beautiful . . . and sad . . .]

McCain’s high-profile promise to balance the budget by the end of his first term? No – longer – operative

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015331.php

Guess what?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_down_13_points_negative.php
McCain Down 13 Points, Negative Campaign Backfiring

The “Joe the Plumber” Tour? Is McCain PAYING the clowns who come up with these ideas?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015327.php

Laugh:



Oh, yeah. McCain is JUST FINE with Palin’s $150,000 shopping spree

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/mccain_has_terse_response_on_p.php
[AP] Presidential candidate John McCain isn't happy about having to explain why the Republican Party has had to buy running mate Sarah Palin $150,000 in clothes, hair styling and accessories.

McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree — and he answered each one more or less the same way . . .

"She needed clothes . . .”

McCain offered no further comment, except to say that the Republican National Committee doesn't buy his clothes.

You can feel the tension

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/23/did-mccain-know-the-rnc-bought-palin-the-shopping-spree/

CREW files an FEC complaint: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/fec_complaint_filed_against_pa.php





Fox News, who went crazy over John Edwards’ $400 haircut, doesn’t care about Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe or her $13,000 beautician

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/25449/015/234/639469

Wait a second. How do you SPEND $150,000 on clothes in a couple of months?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/1002/2837/1006/638705

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/politics/23palin.html
Advisers to Ms. Palin said on Wednesday that the purchases — which totaled about $150,000 and were classified as “campaign accessories” — were made on the fly after Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, was chosen as the Republican vice-presidential candidate on Aug. 29 and needed new clothes to match climates across the 50 states. . .

Something’s fishy

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015336.php
[NYT] Some of the fashion experts consulted Wednesday, for instance, about the $150,000 in purchases that appeared on Federal Election Commission records were puzzled by where all of that money had gone, given what they had seen of Ms. Palin's wardrobe.

Consider also the $4,902.45 charge at Atelier New York, a high-end men's store, presumably for Ms. Palin's husband, Todd, the famous First Dude.

Karlo Steel, an owner there, said he had gone through the store's receipts for September, twice, and found no sales that matched that amount, nor any combination of sales that added up to the total. Because the store carries aggressively directional men's wear, he caters to a small clientele and knows most of his customers by name, as well as the history of their purchases.... "We have no recollection of that sale and no idea what they are talking about," Mr. Steel said. . . . [read on]

Who’s “elite” now?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015334.php

Palin tries to explain

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-sarah-palin-1023,0,7917021.story
"That whole thing is just, bad!" she said. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. Most of them, she said, haven't even left the belly of her campaign plane. . .

Is Palin already looking ahead to 2012?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/palin_1.php

Sure looks like it – don’t miss this one (Palin’s impromptu press conference is NOT TO BE MISSED)



Palin to be deposed today in the second (Personnel Board) Troopergate investigation – and this is looking like a serious inquiry. Will they have a report before the election?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/23/palin-deposed-friday-will-she-lie-or-throw-the-first-dude-under-the-bus/

Palin: Ayers’ bombing is MUCH WORSE than abortion clinic bombings

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/24/045/54141/230/640482

As I said, BRUTAL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302489.html
[Kathleen Parker] My husband called it first. Then, a brilliant 75-year-old scholar and raconteur confessed to me over wine: "I'm sexually attracted to her. I don't care that she knows nothing."

Finally, writer Robert Draper closed the file on the Sarah Palin mystery with a devastating article in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine: "The Making (and Remaking) of McCain."

McCain didn't know her. He didn't vet her. His campaign team had barely an impression. In a bar one night, Draper asked one of McCain's senior advisers: "Leaving aside her actual experience, do you know how informed Governor Palin is about the issues of the day?"

The adviser thought a moment and replied: "No, I don't know."

Blame the sycamore tree.

McCain had met Palin only once -- in February, at the governors' convention in Washington -- before the day he selected her as his running mate. The second time was at his Sedona, Ariz., ranch on Aug. 28, just four days before the GOP convention.

As Draper tells it, McCain took Palin to his favorite coffee-drinking spot down by a creek and a sycamore tree. They talked for more than an hour, and, as Napoleon whispered to Josephine, "Voilà."

One does not have to be a psychoanalyst to reckon that McCain was smitten. By no means am I suggesting anything untoward between McCain and his running mate. Palin is a governor, after all. She does have an executive résumé, if a thin one. And she's a natural politician who connects with people.

But there can be no denying that McCain's selection of her over others far more qualified -- and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter -- suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by . . . what? . . .

Voice coach!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26mccain-t.html
In fact, the woman was here for a reason. Her name was Priscilla Shanks, a New York-based stage and screen actress of middling success who had found a lucrative second career as a voice coach. Shanks’s work with Sarah Palin was as evident as it was unseen. Gone, by the evening of her convention speech, was the squeaky register of Palin’s exclamations. Gone (at least for the moment) was the Bushian pronunciation of “nuclear” as “nook-you-ler.” Present for the first time was a leisurely, even playful cadence that signaled Sarah Palin’s inevitability on this grand stage.

The New York Times tries to write a “it’s not over” piece – but they can’t quite manage it

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24mccain.html

As they say, follow the money – that’s how you find out how good McCain thinks his prospects are

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/big_picture_mccain_shifting_hi.php
In another sign that John McCain is on the defensive as time runs out, the McCain campaign is shifting its ad money out of blue tossup states and into red tossups and even traditionally red states, according to ad maven Evan Tracey.

McCain has dramatically slashed his ad spending in Wisconsin and New Hampshire and reduced it in Pennsylvania, suggesting that he's either losing hope or giving up hope in winning in three states that went for John Kerry in 2004, or that he doesn't have ample enough resources for them.

He's also reduced his spending in Colorado, which went for Bush but is showing a lead for Obama, suggesting he may be losing hope there, too. . . .

[NB: Gee, John, it sucks having to work under a fixed budget, huh? Forces some really excruciating choices, doesn’t it? Welcome to the world of middle America.]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015335.php

McCain’s running out of money

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/23/215524/87

Do the math

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obamas_lea_4.php
Obama's Lead Grows Again . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/23/polls/index.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_distribution_and_categorie.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9336

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/164817/50/606/640122

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_mccains_foreign_policy_ad.php

Obama’s winning MONTANA?! (Must be all the black voters)

http://www.kxmb.com/News/288813.asp

In case you were wondering about the Jewish vote . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/23/20258/301
Obama: 74%

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/jewvote.html
Clinton: 80%/78%
Gore: 79%
Kerry: 76%

More Republicans back Obama. Are we seeing a historic realignment? A permanent exodus of moderates from the center-right Republican coalition?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/carlson_ex-gop_minn_governor_b.php
Arne Carlson, a former Republican governor in Minnesota . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/breaking-former-wh-press-secretary.html
Former WH press secretary, Scott McClellan, voting for Obama . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/us/politics/24poll.html
Senator Barack Obama is showing surprising strength among portions of the political coalition that returned George W. Bush to the White House four years ago, a cross section of support that, if it continues through Election Day, would exceed that of Bill Clinton in 1992 . . .

McCain has always tried to wear the mantle of Barry Goldwater. But Goldwater’s family says, “Senator McCain, we knew Barry Goldwater, and you’re no Barry Goldwater”

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/23/the-goldwaters-endorse-obama/

The sharks are eating each other

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/10/house_republicans_bowing_to_po.html
[Chris Cillizza] With only 13 days left before the November election, the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee is coming to grips with its dire circumstances -- making a series of advertising decisions in the last 48 hours to cut off incumbents who they believe can't win.

Since Monday, the NRCC has dropped advertising all together in Florida's 24th district, Minnesota's 6th district and Colorado's 4th district. All three seats are held by Republican incumbents who have badly damaged their own political prospects.

Faced with an unbelievably bad political environment and a HUGE fundraising disparity, House Republicans appear to have cut their ties with these three -- the leading edge of what could be a series of de-funding decisions of incumbents by House and Senate strategists. . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_and_congressional_repub.php
[Greg Sargent] Wow, now this takes Republican gloom to a whole new level.

It appears that the McCain campaign and Congressional Republicans are now in strategic agreement: Each says the other is going to lose on Election Day -- and each is citing that to win voter support for themselves. . . .

The “death list”: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/195735/03/405/640307

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9336

How Michele Bachmann (R-MN) destroyed her own career

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239459.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/the_bachmann_two-step.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has developed an intriguing habit amid her efforts to deal with the fallout over her McCarthyesque rant on Hardball last week.

In mainstream public forums, she either tries retract the things she said or denies she said them. But then she turns around and goes on right-wing media outlets, where she repeats various versions of the original whacked-out McCarthyite stuff in order to gin up winger support and money. . . [read on]

She’s in BIG trouble: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/24/028/41424

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_poll_bachmann_fighting_for.php

The kind of people they are

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/23/15490/405/676/640036
[National Review] If the donations list is published we could always do a bunch of donations as William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright etc. and then publicize that Obama's taking donations from these individuals.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/legal_query.php
[Mark Kleiman] If a wingnut uses the Internet to give the Obama campaign a donation in a fake name, with the intent of fooling the website into accepting an invalid contribution, isn't that using interstate communications facilities to defraud under 18 USC 1343?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/indiana-election-official-calls-obama.html
Indiana election official calls Obama "black Hitler"

Voter suppression watch (Notice that it ALWAYS seems to be happening in closely contested battleground states? What a coincidence)

Indiana: http://www.chestertontribune.com/Politics%20and%20Elections/parties_await_judges_ruling_on_l.htm

Wisconsin: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/court_throws_out_wi_ag_voting.php

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=10/23/2008&id=47926

Virginia: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/military_ballots_tossed_in_fai.php

Don’t lose your vote

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/950
Here’s What You Have to Do to Make Sure You Get to Vote . . .

NYT endorses Obama (of course)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/opinion/24fri1.html
Hyperbole is the currency of presidential campaigns, but this year the nation’s future truly hangs in the balance. . . .

I remember what happened 40 years ago in Grant Park in Chicago, under a different Mayor Daley, and I really like the idea of Obama holding his election night rally there

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/non-flap_over_obamas_election.php

When Congress greenlighted expanded wiretapping authority, they added a mandatory Inspector General review as a form of oversight. Many were skeptical that these IG reports would amount to much, and guess what?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/23/no-one-could-have-imagined-an-ig-report-on-warrantless-wiretapping-would-suck/

Alan Greenspan makes an astonishing admission

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/economy/24panel.html
A fervent proponent of deregulation during his 18-year tenure at the Fed’s helm, Mr. Greenspan has faced mounting criticism this year for having refused to consider cracking down on credit derivatives, an unchecked market whose excesses partly led to the current financial crisis. . . .

“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms,” Mr. Greenspan said.

Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added: “I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.” . . . [read on]

[NB: So, one of the finest economic minds in America admits that he didn’t consider something that any senior in college could have pointed out to him. This shows the power of orthodoxy.]

Some big policy differences between McCain and Obama

Foreign policy: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015333.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/et-tu-petraeus-by-digby-joe-klein-has.html

Tax policy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/23/barackobama-johnmccain

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/dhe_on_inequality.php

Greenhouse gases: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/23/obama-on-pollan/

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/idaho_carbon_hero.php

Bonus item: Joe McCain, the candidate’s brother, shows that the whole family is getting a little testy

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:51 AM

 
TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Oh-oh. “Tense” relations between John and Sarah. We had some inklings of this in an item yesterday. Now it breaks out on national television, and Chuck Todd tells it like it is: they know they’re losing, they’re each blaming the other, and they aren’t comfortable with each other (“yet,” he adds as an afterthought).

I’m sure McCain is thinking “I WANTED to choose my good pal Joe Lieberman. Putting a Dem on my ticket would have been a REAL maverick move. Independents would have loved it. I’d have Democrats supporting me. Instead I let those effing Bush S.O.B.s talk me out of it. Then I let this stupid ninny charm me into picking her. And now I’m losing to that pissant Obama!” The fact that he has no one to blame but himself for the choices he has made seems to have escaped him. Now he is losing, ignominiously and without honor, and despite the bravado he needs to show for the campaign rallies and interviews, I’m sure he knows it.

Palin, on the other hand, thinks she has a future ahead of her, and more and more is acting like someone protecting her own reputation for the long term. NBC announced that she IS going to release her health records after all, which will put tremendous pressure on McCain to do the same. And she made the decision, apparently, without running it by the campaign. That tells you all you need to know about their relationship right now



More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/22/chuck-todd-on-mccain-pali_n_137014.html

Watch a snippet from the interview they’re talking about. Watch McCain’s face as his partner talks drivel about high-stakes international diplomacy. Watch Palin carefully and precisely pronounce “Ahmadinejad,” which conspicuously caused McCain to fumble in one of the debates. She’s been practicing!



Playing to her theocratic base

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/10/22/palin-the-election-is-all-in-gods-hands/
In an interview conducted Monday and posted online today, Sarah Palin sat down with “Focus on the Family’s,” Dr. James Dobson.

Dobson, one of the nation’s foremost evangelical leaders, told Palin that he was “asking for God’s intervention” and praying “for a miracle in regard to the election this year.”

The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said that she gains strength from the supporters she meets on rope lines at campaign events, “I can feel the power of prayer, and that strength that is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation. . . .”

The interview focused almost entirely on religion and Palin told Dobson that her “Christian faith” is her “foundation” and that in regard to the outcome of the election it is “all in God’s hands.” . . .

Palin promises (based on what?) that McCain will reverse his policies in order to back the far-right GOP platform. Let’s ask him now

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/palin_mccain_supports_gop_abor.php
[Marc Ambinder] Dr. James Dobson today asked Gov. Sarah Palin about her private conversations with Sen. McCain about the Republican platform's planks on life and marriage.

"In your private conversations with Senator McCain is it your impression that he also strongly supports those views? I know that he did not oppose that platform when it was written. Do you think he will implement it?" . . .

Governor Palin responded: "I do, from the bottom of my heart. I am such a strong believer that McCain believes in those strong planks and we do have good conversations about some of the details too, about the different planks and what they represent."

The 2008 GOP platform is a bit more conservative than it was in 2004. If McCain is going to implement it - something of which Palin is convinced from the bottom of her heart - then that means that McCain will support a constitutional amendment to ban all abortion (including those cases where the mother was raped or was the victim of incest), a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and he will oppose government-sponsored embryonic stem cell research.

Either Palin trying to mislead Dobson, equivocate, or perhaps he doesn't know what her running mate believes. McCain opposes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.... He supports embryonic stem cell research...he opposes a constitutional amendment banning all abortion. . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/palin_and_mccain.html
[Kevin Drum] Let's summarize. Palin doesn't know McCain's own positions. Earlier this week she criticized his robocalling messages. The conservative base is practically bursting at the seams waiting to dump McCain after November 4th and embrace Palin as the future of the party. And to top it all off, it has to be hellishly embarrassing to sit beside her during an interview and be forced to pretend that she's talking like an actual adult while she's spouting her usual stream of index card nonsense.

So, yeah, he's probably not comfortable with her yet. I suspect McCain knows perfectly well what's in store from the Palin camp after they lose the election. Loyalty to her mentors, after all, is not exactly her strong suit.

Sarah the freeloader

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/palin-amended-govt-expense-reports.html
[AP] After Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate and reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters' travel.

In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as "First Family attending" and "First Family invited" to explain the girls' attendance. . . .

Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor's children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/103320/24/107/638579

Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe – some of the RNC’s money went to buy clothes for her family, and that might not be legal

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/22/gop-spent-150000-clothes-palin-family/

Who did it? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239132.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015319.php

Is there a legal problem?

Yes: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/a_legal_issue_with_palin_coutu.php

No: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/on_palin_couture_and_the_law.php

Damn! More unpaid taxes to pay: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/so-when-is-sarah-palin-paying-50000-in.html

The McCain camp explains, see, these clothes were always intended for charity and we’re just, you know, letting Palin (and her family?) use them for a while

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14805.html

Oh, yeah, and her $13,000 a month beautician

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/meet-sarah-palins-13000month-beautician.html

Fox does their part: Hey, maybe, yeah, but she looks GOOD doesn’t she?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/83129/122/218/638468

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/82626/286/239/638455

Republicans aren’t amused

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/republicans-disgusted-by-rnc-spending.html

Who said it?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/204815/24/493/639218
“Madam President, the amendment before the Senate is a very simple one. It restricts the use of campaign funds for inherently personal purposes. The amendment would restrict individuals from using campaign funds for such things as home mortgage payments, clothing purchases . . . The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly.”

Remember that time, oh so long ago, when putting Palin on the ticket was going to bring in Hillary supporters, even some disaffected feminists wanting to punish Obama for snubbing her? Well, forget it now

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/feminists_and_sarah_palin.php

Palin hasn’t gotten the memo, apparently: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/21/palin_displays_her_feminist_si.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015309.php
[Steve Benen] I don't think I've ever seen a campaign with a worse sense of timing . . .

McCain aide struggles mightily to make sense of Palin’s ridiculous claim that the Vice President is “in charge of the Senate.” And fails

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/1878/1100/633/639070

Palin’s anti-intellectualism

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/how-anti-intell.html

The guy who coulda been VP – how’s he feeling right about now?

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_19_archive.html#7527049221091188551

Ah-nuld speaks

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/22/exchange_of_the_day.html
BROWN: Do you think she's qualified to be president?

SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that she will get to be qualified.

The Supreme Court: what’s at stake

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2008/0808.mencimer.html

The slime continues

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/another_new_mccain_robo-slime.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/154036/37/776/638927

Why it isn’t working

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/12551/762/628/638050

There’s no point in even dissecting McCain’s campaign pledges any more, except to say that he’s reduced now to nothing but conservative mantras and code phrases – continually promising things that no one can promise. They don’t mean anything, they aren’t related to any real policies, they’re just muzak

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/22/mccain.blitzer/index.html
Sen. Barack Obama's foreign policy positions could encourage America's enemies to test it during the early days of an Obama administration, Sen. John McCain said Wednesday. . . .

Enemies would not similarly challenge McCain, he said, because he's already been tried. . .

On the economy, McCain defended his vote in favor of the government's $700 billion plan to prop up the lending industry, despite his insistence that as president he would cut spending. . . .

He attacked Obama, his Democratic rival for the White House, for saying that "when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

That is "certainly not something I would ever do," he said. . . .

And he said flatly, "I won't raise taxes on anybody."

He also vowed to "fix Social Security” . . .

[NB: Oh, yes, and balance the budget by the end of his first term.]

Remember this?



More false promises: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/15/mccain.2013/index.html

McCain’s lies about Social Security

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239168.php

Obama was an “elitist.” Now he’s a “socialist.” His crime? Supporting a progressive tax system. Guess who used to believe the same thing?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/45231/402/272/638398

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/983

Al Qaeda says they want McCain to win. Now granted, this could mean anything in terms of what they really want – as if what they want matters anyway. But you know what would be happening if Al Qaeda had said they wanted Obama to win

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238985.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/14218/mccain-advisers-freaked-out-by-al-qaeda-preference-for-mccain
[Spencer Ackerman] I just got off a conference call held by the McCain campaign to deny that Al Qaeda, contrary to reports in the AP and the Washington Post, is rooting for their man. To describe the call as panicked would be an understatement. . . .

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_call_post.php

McCain: wearing down?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/compare-mccain-18-months-ago-to-mccain.html

Hopeless



The latest polls

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obama_ahea_4.php
Here's our daily composite of the six major national tracking polls. Barack Obama's lead just keeps getting bigger . . .

Even Fox News: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_obama_takes_nine-point_le.php
Obama 49%, McCain 40%

Rush tells us this is a very close (48%-47%) election – so you know it’s not true

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102108/content/01125106.guest.html

More nonsense: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/new-flawed-ap-poll-claims-mccain-and.html


Early voting trends don’t necessarily project through election day – but they are votes in the bank. And guess who’s winning big?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/121817/42/1020/638691

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/239093.php

A victory for voting rights in Indiana . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/142533/92/853/638842

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/early_voting_to_proceed_in_min.php

. . . and in Nevada

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/nevada_secretary_of_state_rebu.php

Obama only has to win one of these states

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_takes_lead_in_multiple_r.php

It looks more and more as if McCain HAS TO win Pennsylvania. How likely is that?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9286
[Chris Bowers] Best as I can figure it, the McCain campaign simply figures that Pennsylvania is worth exactly as many electoral votes as Colorado, Iowa and New Mexico combined. So, they are basically deciding to target the 2004 Bush states, plus Pennsylvania, minus Colorado, Iowa and New Mexico. I still think it is a stupid strategy . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/pennsylvania.html
[Joe Sudbay] The McCain strategy to focus resources on Pennsylvania doesn't make sense to political analysts -- and me. But, that's because there is no sense behind it. It's desperation. . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9288
[Chris Bowers, later] OK, so commenters in the previous swing state thread have laid out what they see as McCain's rationale behind targeting Pennsylvania instead of Colorado, and I can kind of see how it makes sense . . . [read on]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/22/obama_poll_shows_tighter_race_in_pennsylvania.html
An internal poll from Sen. Barack Obama's campaign in Pennsylvania has him just two points ahead of Sen. John McCain . . .

[NB: At this point, too, you have to consider the possibility that this “leaked” internal poll is disinformation to INDUCE McCain to sink time and money into a state he can’t actually win – or to warn their own supporters against complacency.]

I’m so glad we have Rush to tell us the real agenda behind Obama’s campaign

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_102208/content/01125107.guest.html
One of the guys said to me -- and I've been making this point throughout the campaign here -- that the Democrats and their supposed devotion to the little guy and helping the little guy get ahead, you know, I've never understood how you make poor people rich by making rich people poor . . .

It's not just economic radicalism. This is a cultural radicalism that is about to take over this country if Obama wins. We have been sitting here thinking that the sixties are fading away. I remember saying way back -- it has to be a year and a half ago, when everybody thought that Hillary was going to be the nominee -- I said that the election in 2008, whoever the Republican nominee was going to be, would be the last battle between the sixties radicals and those who want nothing to do with them.

It looks like the sixties radicals are about to take over the country vis-a-vis the election of Barack Obama. . . . These are people and people like them, that once and if Obama is elected, he's going to populate the federal bureaucracy with career appointments of people like this, they're going to be infested in the place, and there's no getting rid of them.

We already know that there are career leftists all over several bureaucracies -- the CIA, the State Department, the Pentagon. It's going to get even worse . . .

Internal GOP memo reveals how bad they think the massacre will be

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/17485/172/651/639052

Bye-bye Michele: national GOP pulls its money from Bachmann’s campaign

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/national_gop_pulling_financial.php

Wah! Chris Matthews twicked me! http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/its-not-that-hes-anti-american-just.html

Watch: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/bachmann_chris_matthews_trappe.php

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/gop-pulls-ad-money-from-crazy-bachmann.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015320.php

Hmmmm . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/22/anti_american/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] There's clearly something interesting -- and different -- happening here. It's not that right-wing politicians are accusing liberals and Democrats of being unpatriotic, anti-American subversives. There's nothing new about that. . . .

What's different -- markedly so -- is that once they do it, they feel compelled to backtrack, deny they said it or meant it, rescind it, and -- in the case of Palin -- actually "apologize" for it . . .

Clearly, the standard right-wing electoral tactics simply aren't working this year. As Markos Moulitsas wrote yesterday about the Hayes and Bachmann episodes: "Republicans are starting to learn that it's politically perilous to accuse Democrats of being un-American. It wasn't long ago that they were all spreading this bullshit. Today, when they're caught doing so they fervently deny it and hope they can get away with it." . . .

By why are those tactics suddenly not working? . . . [read on]

The kind of people they are (criminal assault edition)

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/10/prosecution_please.php

The State of Drudge (a fascinating interview about Drudge’s impact on the “mainstream” – ostensibly “liberal” – media)

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/2008/10/22/boehlert/index.html

Bonus item: No, I just . . . sorry . . . nope. . . I . . . just don’t know what to say

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/22/potd/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:02 AM

 
DRESS FOR SUCCESS

What’s wrong with this picture?

http://www.slate.com/id/2202771
[Bruce Ackerman & Ooona Hathaway] President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have reached an agreement governing American military forces in Iraq. But under the Iraqi Constitution, parliament has to approve the deal. . . Bush is proposing to shut Congress entirely out of the process. . .

The Senate Judiciary Committee wants to see the torture documents the Washington Post saw

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/sjc_subpoenas_mukasey_for_test.php

Told ya

http://pbd.blogspot.com/2008_08_01_archive.html#4784806760388747986
[August 30] I’m not one for predictions, but I predict that within a month this will be viewed as a disastrous choice. . . . McCain just lost this election . . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_palin_is_now_the_top_conc.php
Poll: Palin Is Now The Top Concern Voters Have About McCain

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/18/the-palin-plunge-voters-s_n_135857.html
[Thomas Edsall] Voters Sour On McCain VP Pick
The more voters learn about Sarah Palin, the more wary they become. Once the focus of post-convention Republican euphoria, the Alaska Governor is now viewed as a serious liability to the McCain campaign.

As it stands, Palin's polling numbers are daunting: with the unfolding economic crisis, her favorable to unfavorable ratings have switched from a positive 40-30, according to a September 12-16 New York Times survey, to a negative 32-41 in an October 10-13 survey.

Palin is, additionally, costing McCain newspaper endorsements. Editor and Publisher calculated that as of Oct 18, Barack Obama led McCain 58-16 in the competition for the backing of newspapers. Many of the endorsements cited Palin as a factor in their rejection of McCain. . . .

Brookings Senior Fellow Thomas Mann told the Huffington Post that initially, Palin both built conservative enthusiasm for McCain and drew widespread interest among voters who had not been closely following the race. But those benefits soon evanesced:

"Within weeks, she became a liability, primarily as a highly visible indicator of McCain's impulsiveness and recklessness in picking someone who is patently unqualified to serve as president and commander-in-chief. McCain's only chance of making this election competitive was to contrast his readiness to serve with Obama's inexperience and naiveté. The Palin choice was the first clear sign (others followed) that McCain could not win that comparison."

Norman Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute, agrees about the immediate gains, noting that the "short term boost dissipated awfully quickly. Palin's clear lack of capability to serve as VP, much less as president, her lack of knowledge of even basics about most areas of policy, her ethical problems in Alaska over Troopergate, and the campaign decision to cloister her from serious scrutiny, all caused a drop in her own approval, but also reflected on McCain's decision-making style."

We suspected that Palin had weird views of the Vice-Presidency. Turns out they’re even crazier than we suspected – but I can’t tell whether this is just ignorance, and she doesn’t know what the hell she’s talking about, or whether she actually has some Cheney-esque vision of transforming the Vice-Presidency

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/21/123025/00/91/637578
“[The] Vice President has a really great job, because no only are they there to support the President agenda, they're like a team member, the team mate to that President. But also, they're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes. . .”

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/05/gellman-cheney-palin/
[At the debate with Biden] “I do agree with [Cheney] that we have a lot of flexibility in there, that we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.”

She shoulda stuck with this one

http://www.brandonabell.com/2008/09/03/palin-on-the-vice-presidency/
“What is it exactly that the VP does?”

Palin attacks Obama for saying EXACTLY what she said herself

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/palin_attacks_obama_over_pakis.php
Palin Attacks Obama Over Pakistan Policy She Agreed With . . .

What does McCain think?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-id-let-osama-bin-laden-go-free.html
[John Aravosis] Probably the biggest gaffe McCain has ever made, saying that he'd refuse to catch Osama bin Laden if he had him in his sights. Specifically, McCain and Palin have said that if they knew where bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government refused to go in and get him for us, McCain and Palin would let bin Laden go free rather than going in and getting him ourselves.

[NB: Biggest gaffe? That's a close one. What about "I wouldn't mind keeping troops in Iraq for 100 years?" "The fundamentals of the economy are strong" or "I'm proud of voting with President Bush 90% of the time"? There are just so many to choose from.]

Socialist Alaska

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/173129/54/962/636691

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/socialism.php

Think of it as a family vacation

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/welfare-queen-by-dday-why-is-nanny.html
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business. . . .

Wearing $150,000 in new clothes – paid for by the Republican party

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/rnc-spent-150000-on-clothes-and-make-up.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/republicans_disgusted_by_rnc_s.php
[Marc Ambinder] Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed me tonight to share their utter (and not-for-attribution) disgust at the expenditures. . . .

Spokespeople have clammed up, a sure sign that they're trying to figure out who authorized the expenses and who knew about them. Did Palin wear all of the clothing? Where is it kept?

The Democrats are going to have a lot more fun with this than is prudent, but the heat for this story will come from Republicans who cannot understand how their party would do something this stupid ... particularly (and, it must be said, viewed retroactively) during the collapse of the financial system and the probable beginning of a recession.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238907.php
[David Kurtz] Nothing says Main Street quite like Saks Fifth Avenue.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/palin_/2008/10/sarah_palin_dressed_for_failure.php
[Mark Kleiman] Question for campaign-finance experts: Does she get to keep the swag after she loses?

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015303.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/the_rncs_stimulus_package.php

Wearing out her welcome, too

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/21/eight-is-enough/
[New Yorker] According to the Republican close to the campaign, she has sometimes discomfited advisers by travelling with a big family entourage. "It kind of changes the dynamic of a meeting to have them all in the room," he told me. John McCain's comfort level with Palin is harder to gauge. In the view of the longtime McCain friend, "John's personal comfort level is low with everyone right now. He's angry. But it was his choice."

The McCain sleaze-fest

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/robo_calls_nation.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238679.php
Shorter McCain Campaign: Obama's a black, socialist, Muslim terrorist homo.

McCain: ignore what my campaign is doing – “I’m the candidate”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238659.php

Joe Biden calls him out: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238872.php

Fighting fire with fire

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_camp_releasing_response.php
“Hi, this is Jeri Watermolen, calling for the Campaign for Change. I live in Green Bay and, like you, I've been getting sleazy phone calls and mail from John McCain and his supporters viciously -- and falsely -- attacking Barack Obama. I used to support John McCain because he honorably served our country -- but this year he's running a dishonorable campaign. We know McCain will continue many of Bush's policies, and now he's using George Bush's divisive tactics. In fact, he hired the Bush strategists whose attacks even McCain once called hateful. . . .”

Have people become desensitized to this kind of campaign?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/are_republicans_the_victim_of.php

McCain tries to fire up Western PA, but shoots himself in the foot instead



Why does the press let McCain impute campaign finance shenanigans to Obama, with no evidence whatsoever, while we KNOW that McCain is circumventing the very campaign finance law he himself wrote?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-still-scamming-public-finance.html
[WSJ] When he accepted $84.1 million in public funding for his campaign, Sen. McCain agreed to not raise or spend any other money. . . .

I’ll say it again: we have a 72-year old Presidential candidate with recurrent melanoma, who refuses to release his medical records. Why isn’t this a HUGE problem?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/has-mccains-cancer-metastasized.html

Lotsa polls – and almost all show an expanding Obama lead

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obamas_lea_3.php

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/54535.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/21/1802/7094/746/637940

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/behind-the-numbers/2008/10/obama_leads_among_the_young_and_the_landline-less.html

Pew! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/21/16558/411/859/637827
Pew is one of the most respected pollsters in the business . . . .

Obama 52
McCain 38

Getting to know you

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2008/10/john_mccains_problem.html
[Kevin Drum] McCain's biggest electoral advantage was always his appeal to independents, and as he's moved to the right independents have abandoned him in droves. In the last month, his favorable rating among independents has gone down 3 points and his unfavorable rating has skyrocketed an astonishing 20 points. In other words, nearly every single independent who didn't already have an opinion about McCain has decided in the last month that they don't like him.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_obama_expands_lead_makes.php
The new Pew poll finds Barack Obama with a big lead against John McCain, and also finds that he's made big in-roads on national security issues. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/obamas-favorables-rise-as-more-see-him.html
In the NY Times, we learn that voters are liking Obama more. His favorables are increasing while McCain's unfavorables are also rising. Also, for the first time in its polling, Rasmussen finds that more voters views Obama as a "better leader."

Watch these states

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9276
[Chris Bowers] Obama needs one of these states to win it all

Virginia: Obama 52.5% - McCain 44.5%
Colorado: Obama 51.0% - McCain 46.0%
North Carolina: Obama 48.7% - McCain 46.0%
Nevada: Obama 48.5% - McCain 46.0%
Ohio: Obama 47.7% - McCain 45.7%
Missouri: Obama 47.0% - McCain 46.0%
Florida: Obama 48.0% - McCain 47.5%

Looks like we can add Indiana too: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/21/ppp_poll_obama_leads_in_indiana.html

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9271

The state of the race

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238763.php

The CNN story that McCain was giving up on Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa may have been premature

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/republicans_ceding_colorado_ne.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-palin-to-spend-weekend-in-iowa.html

OK, not “pulling out,” but “pulling back” http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9286

Betting it all on Pennsylvania?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_camp_scaling_back_ads_i.php

GOP voter suppression in Nevada

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/nevada_gop_cracking_down_on_ur.php

Some inadvertent GOP honesty in NM: it isn’t about defending the principle of voting – it’s about using accusations of vote fraud as a “wedge issue”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/nm_gop_lawyer_pushing_voter_fr.php

If you are a straight-ticket voter, this is important information (thanks to Rae for the link)

http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/straightticket.asp

Michele Bachmann (R-MN), suddenly in serious jeopardy of losing her job, flat-out lies about what she said, right here, on video, for the whole world to see

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238821.php

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/21/minnesota-bachmannresponds

Debunking a Republican Big Lie – that the US has the “second highest business taxes in the world.” Not true

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9267

http://www.raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=16683

Joe Klein, persona non grata with the McCain campaign

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/21/112858/39

Cindy complains bitterly that the press is being “vicious” toward her husband, and just can’t understand why they aren’t nice and friendly like they used to be in 2000. I would be happy to explain it to her

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/21/cindy-mccain-lashes-out-at-media-viciousness/

I can’t see why Don Imus would want to be associated with this guy

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-to-go-on-hate-jock-don-imuss.html



Bonus item: Yes, it’s happened before

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/precedent.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:12 AM

 
WHY OBAMA WILL WIN

Two weeks to go, and time for a pep talk. Aside from a few brief moments of concern, I’ve been expecting an Obama victory for weeks, and I am more certain with each passing day. Here’s why.

We’re reviewed many of the substantive reasons here: Obama’s better-organized campaign; his massive fundraising success; the huge crowds he is drawing; his clever, aggressive electoral strategy; the growing number of conservative papers and Republican stalwarts who are endorsing him (who does McCain have from the other side of the aisle besides Joe Lieberman?); his dominance in media advertising; a grassroots and GOTV effort that should exceed his poll numbers through turnout; and an opponent who on all these same grounds is badly lagging behind. George Bush, running a much better-managed and better-funded campaign, was barely able to edge past Gore and Kerry (if you think he won at all) – both of whom ran seriously flawed campaigns. Does anyone really expect McCain to do BETTER than Bush?

But there is another reason. I am not naïve or pollyannish about the state of American politics these days, but I cannot believe – I CANNOT believe – that more than half the voters will reward the kind of hypocritical, vicious campaign McCain has run; that more than half the voters believe his litany of fear and lies; that more than half the voters think Sarah Palin will make a really neat Vice President. If I thought that, I would have to abandon faith in democracy itself – for no society could succeed with a voting majority so craven and stupid.

I know that there unfortunately ARE 40% or so who do believe those things, and that is frightening enough. They keep Rush Limbaugh and Fox News in business. But Republicans only win at the national level when they can convince a significant number of others (independents, Reagan Democrats, or disaffected crossovers) to basically vote against their own interests by helping to elect a candidate they actually disagree with on many major issues.

What we have seen in the past few weeks is an almost complete abandonment by the McCain/Palin campaign of trying to reach for these voters – the voters who could move their totals from the mid forties to a winning majority. In fact, they have even stopped caring about moderates within their own party. Instead, McCain/Palin have gone hell for leather after the most rabid of their hard core – the solid floor below which they can’t fall, but beyond which they have little hope of expanding. Why? Two main reasons, I think – one is that they are looking not to win, but to wound Obama, to undermine the legitimacy of his almost inevitable victory, and that means playing to the Republican id. THAT, not winning, is the reason behind the character assassinations, the accusations of socialism, etc. The other is that they must maximize turnout in those parts of the country where they can still save a handful of Senators and Congressional Reps. Hence the red-meat issues that drive the base into a frenzy, and drive away everyone else in disgust.

Whatever they need to say for appearance’s sake about “underdogs” and “comebacks,” barring a stunning external event they know that they have little or no chance of winning now

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-is-going-all-out-for-base-and.html

CNN: The race is tightening! The race is tightening!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/cnn_poll_obama_leading_by_five.php

No, it’s not

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/dont-believe-that-mccain-is-making.html

NO, IT’S NOT

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obamas_lea_2.php
Obama's Lead Edges Up

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/20/opinion/polls/main4533712.shtml
In a poll taken just before the first presidential debate, the Obama-Biden ticket held a five point edge, with 48 percent of likely voters backing the Democratic ticket and 43 percent supporting the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Those 476 likely voters were re-interviewed for the new poll, and their responses suggest that the Democratic ticket has made gains since the initial survey: The Obama-Biden ticket now holds a 13-point edge, 54 percent to 41 percent, among the group.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/175920/93/935/636726
[ABC/WP] Obama 53 McCain 44

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9253

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/us/politics/21poll.html

Early voting favors Obama

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/early_voting_and_absentee_ball.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003112.html

Obama may transfer some of his war chest to help downticket races

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/141952/21/169/636483

And now this devastating news. McCain’s “Plan D” was abandoning all the borderline and swing states and sinking all his efforts into holding onto the red states Bush won in 2004. Now we learn that he is GIVING UP on three of them (Colorado, New Mexico, and Iowa) – and is behind in several others. His only hope now is to capture a major “blue” state, and the plan is to go after Pennsylvania – where Obama currently has a lead as high as 10-15%

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/20/204637/38

A grain of salt: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9259
[Chris Bowers] I'll believe McCain pulls out of Colorado when he stops running ads there. Or, say, when his campaign stops holding rallies there, as Palin just did earlier this evening. Giving up on Colorado, where McCain trails by 4.5%, and going for Pennsylvania, where he trails by at least 10.0%, would be a colossally stupid move by McCain . . .

People are noticing that the Powell endorsement of Obama had as much to do with his disappointment with McCain and the kind of campaign he’s running as it did with an affirmative preference for Obama

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/002/23428/722/635914

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/20/powell.endorsement/index.html

How badly does the Powell endorsement hurt McCain?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/gop-consultant-mike-murphy.html
[GOP consultant Mike Murphy] I am not normally of the view that endorsements mean much in Presidential politics. But Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama today is a real sledgehammer blow to the already staggering McCain campaign. . . . [read on]

“Real damage” http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/4812/4188/559/636101

OK, McCain defenders say, Powell was never really “one of us.” But what about rock-ribbed right-winger Ken Adelman?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/lifelong-conservative-republican-ken.html
“Why so, since my views align a lot more with McCain’s than with Obama’s? And since I truly dread the notion of a Democratic president, Democratic House, and hugely Democratic Senate?

Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment.

When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.

Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.

That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts.”

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238525.php

Dick Lugar (R-IN), deeply respected foreign policy wonk, has been notoriously absent in backing fellow Republican John McCain. He won’t endorse Obama, but . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/10/et_tu_dick.php

“Fractures” in the GOP

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122442243992348037.html

“Joe the Plumber” is working about as well as all the other last-minute ploys the McCain campaign has thrown in

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_voters_in_ohio_and_missou.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015280.php

Don’t tell me you’re surprised. After months of saying there is a point beyond which they won’t go, and that race-bating ads using Reverend Wright are off-limits, the McCain campaign has become desperate enough that this principle too (like all the others) may fly out the window. And – get this! – the excuse they give is John Lewis’s accusation that they’ve been running a racially divisive campaign. So the argument now is . . . what? We might as well prove him right?!

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/you_made_us_do_it_mccain_rethi.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/rick-davis-were-rethinkin_n_136173.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015281.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/the_wright_stuff.php
[Matt Yglesias] I find the idea that they’ve been holding back from this out of a sense of virtue a little non-credible. Rather, they presumably haven’t been talking about Jeremiah Wright because it’s not clear what they’re going to say about it. When Hillary Clinton brought this up, her main point was that (a) this was an electoral vulnerability that the Republicans would exploit and (b) Obama didn’t have a track-record in big-time politics that showed he could handle the attacks. Neither of those, however, can actually be the point of a McCain attack. With, say, Willie Horton, the point was that Dukakis was soft on crime. With Wright the point is . . . what? Maybe I just lack imagination. . . .

Oh, yeah, and what about investigating Obama’s DRUG USE? (which he has freely admitted and has been in the public record for years)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/rudy_pushes_for_probe_of_obama.php

How does McCain live with himself?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238418.php
[Josh Marshall] Either because of age or recent immersion in politics, a lot of readers have asked, is it really usually this bad? Do they all get this sleazy? As sleazy as McCain?

The simple answer, I think, is, No. They don't. I don't think there's any question that McCain's is the dirtiest and most dishonest campaign, certainly in the last 35 years and possibly going much further back into the early 20th century. . . .

McCain's campaign has charted new territory in deliberate lying and appeals to racism and xenophobia . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238369.php
[HR] I've never really cared whether McCain was an honorable man who lost his way, or was never all that honorable in the first place. It's seemed to me a distinction without a difference-- I'm reminded of the debate in Pogo about whether The Odyssey was written by Homer, or another blind Greek poet of the same name.

That having been said, McCain's defense of robocalling to Chris [Wallace's] is fascinating. It's so evident that McCain is lying through his teeth--and knows it. But instead of feeling guilty, contrite (like a man of honor), or oblivious (like a sociopath), McCain just gets angrier.

I get the sense that the further he drifts from his (perhaps former) ideals, the angrier he gets at those who (in his mind) forced him to stray.

McCain’s defense: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238312.php

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015276.php

Bemoaning the loss of the “real McCain”

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mark_salter_on_mccains_tough_r.php

Palin suddenly shows her independence from McCain – but in a bad way

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/palin_for_fma.php
[Matt Yglesias] One issue on which John McCain is no George W. Bush is the question of a Federal Marriage Amendment that would prevent states from granting equal marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. Bush is for it, McCain is against it. And now it seems Palin is for it . . . Normally a VP nominee would avoid contradicting the top of the ticket, but perhaps this is pre-positioning for 2012.

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/palin-wants-to-add-gay-bashing-language.html

McCain keeps trying to suggest, with zero evidence, that there is something illegitimate, if not downright illegal, about Obama’s astonishing success at attracting SMALL donations from millions of people – all of it done fully within the law

“Secret donations” http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_campaign_theres_got_to.php

What McCain said (2004): http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/11369/606/360/636292
McCain: "We Want Average Citizens To Contribute Small Amounts of Money… I'm For That. I Think It's A Great Thing." During an appearance on FOX's "On The Record," McCain said, "I think it's wonderful that Howard Dean was able to use the Internet, $50, $75, $100 contributions. That's what we want it to be all about. We want average citizens to contribute small amounts of money, and that's a commitment to a campaign. So I'm for that. I think it's a great thing. I think the Internet is going to change American politics for the better."

More: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_19_archive.html#7257299171145193584

What are the ACTUAL records of the two campaigns in terms of financial disclosure?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/124441/86/287/636373

Florida Republicans smell a loser, won’t waste their money on the McCain campaign

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/as-early-vote-starts-in-florida-mccains.html

McCain keeps trying to demonize the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs as the source of all our home mortgage (and thereby financial and credit market) woes. And he has tried to pump up some marginal associations Obama had with FM2 officials as evidence that HE is somehow to blame for it all. The fact that some of McCain’s LEADING staffers have even stronger lobbying ties seems to have escaped the press’s attention. Now we have this

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-consultant-received-2-million.html
McCain consultant received $2 million from Freddie Mac

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/10/ap_impact_mortgage_firm_arrang.php

Let’s be perfectly clear about McCain’s new line about Obama’s “socialism” and “spreading the wealth.” McCain ALSO favors income redistribution – but only upwards, never downwards

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-lucky-duckies-by-dday-it-is.html

http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/889

It’s just SO typical: Sarah Palin denounces robo-calls – then goes out and records some for the campaign (They were right, she IS learning at the feet of the master)

http://newsblaze.com/story/20081020153048reye.nb/topstory.html
'If I called all the shots, and if I could wave a magic wand, I would be sitting at a kitchen table with more and more Americans, talking to them about our plan to get the economy back on track and winning the war and not having to rely on the old conventional ways of campaigning that includes those robocalls.'"

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_mccain_robocall_stars_sara.php

Obama gets off a great line: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_even_palin_denounced_mcc.php
“It's getting so bad that even Senator McCain's running mate denounced his tactics last night. As you know, you really have to work hard to violate Governor Palin's standards on negative campaigning.”

Palin won’t release her health records (because she knows that if she does, pressure will build on McCain to do it too)

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/palin-wont-provide-health-records.html

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/us/politics/20health.html

Sensing a new vulnerability, the Dems are going after Michele Bachmann (R-MN) now – and good riddance

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/a_night_at_the_congressional_r_26.php
Dems Preparing For Major Offensive Against Bachmann
The DCCC now plans to spend $1 million against Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) in the wake of her McCarthyite rant on Hardball, sensing that voters back home might end up turning against her extremism. A TV ad should be coming in the next few days. Meanwhile, the Cook Political Report has changed its rating on Bachmann, downgrading her by two whole positions from "Likely Republican" to "Tossup."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/163016/65/20/636624

Another one: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/171859/39/976/636677
[Robin Hayes, R-NC] "liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and believe in God."

It’s déjà vu all over again: we keep seeing the same Republican officials who were involved in previous phony “voter fraud” accusations, running the same line now

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/nm_gop_lawyer_cited_in_iglesia.php
[Zachary Roth] The evidence is growing that the FBI's investigation into ACORN is just the latest iteration of the unprecedented politicization of the Department of Justice that was exposed in the US attorney firings scandal. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/rnc_on_new_mexico_voter_fraud.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/right-wing_pundit_on_voter_fra.php

Fact-checking the ACORN lies

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/12501/169/716/635944

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/11352/621/432/635187

An arrest for voter registration fraud. Finally. It’s about time! We need to punish ACORN and scare them back into legal behavior. They’re threatening the fabric of democracy! . . . . What? . . . . Oh. . . . I see . . . Well, never mind then

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/10151/415/732/635928
Republican Arrested for Voter Registration Fraud

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/irony_alert_gop_political_cons.php

ANOTHER example: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/mi-republicans-admit-to-illegal-foreclosure-scheme-surrender-to-democrats/
“The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote.”

ANOTHER example: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/greene-county-oh-young-republican-lays-out-plan-to-commit-vote-fraud/
Greene County, OH Young Republican Lays Out Plan to Commit Vote Fraud . . .

ANOTHER example: http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/almost-heaven-early-machine-vote-switching-in-wv/
Early voters in West Virginia have reported vote switching on electronic machines. Both counties where problems have occurred have Republicans in charge of voting, along with our GOP secretary of state. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/20/a-second-ohio-prosecutor-threatens-to-criminalize-voting/

No, both sides DON’T do these things

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/obama_supporters_tires_slashed.php
Obama Supporters' Tires Slashed

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/block_the_vote.php
[WT] Photographer Joe Eddins and I headed over to the closest one and found a steady line of voters hoping to cast ballots early. Most seemed to be Obama supporters and several had come from the rally. Nearly all the voters were black.

Also at the polling site was a group of loud and angry protesters who shouted and mocked the voters as they walked in. Nearly all were white. . . .

The kind of people they are

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14781.html
Barack Obama will leave the campaign trail Thursday to travel to Hawaii to see his 85-year-old grandmother, who has fallen ill, spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

“In the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious,” Gibbs told reporters aboard Obama’s campaign plane.

The change of plans means Obama will scrap scheduled rallies Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa, and Madison, Wisc. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/fox-news-commenters-bash-obama-over.html
[Fox News web site] by joebridges[Oct 20, 2008 10:07:16 PM]
What a bunch of c*ap. Another sympathy move by Omamma to garner votes. Next there'll be a mock funeral for "grandma" a day or two before the election. The old biddy's probably been dead for years. . . . [read on for more]

Yes, he’s still President

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/washington/21gitmo.html
Despite his stated desire to close the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Bush has decided not to do so, and never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options for transferring the detainees elsewhere, according to senior administration officials . . .

Bonus item: A picture is worth a hundred thousand votes

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/20/165442/96/1018/636651

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:38 AM

 
THE POWELL DOCTRINE

http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2006/powells_military_doctrine_is_set_to_sway_presidents_4287
The "Powell doctrine" holds that [one] should go to war only as a last resort and then only with overwhelming force. . . .

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27266223/
[Colin Powell] I'm an American, first and foremost, and I'm very proud--I said, I've said, I've said to my beloved friend and colleague John McCain, a friend of 25 years, "John, I love you, but I'm not just going to vote for you on the basis of our affection or friendship." And I've said to Barack Obama, "I admire you. I'll give you all the advice I can. But I'm not going to vote for you just because you're black." We, we have to move beyond this. . . .

I know both of these individuals very well now. I've known John for 25 years as your setup said. And I've gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well over the past two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good president. I have said to Mr. McCain that I admire all he has done. I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that's a choice the party makes. And I've said to Mr. Obama, "You have to pass a test of do you have enough experience, and do you bring the judgment to the table that would give us confidence that you would be a good president."

And I've watched him over the past two years, frankly, and I've had this conversation with him. I have especially watched over the last six or seven weeks as both of them have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I've gotten a good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.

On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him during this seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor. I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well. I also believe that on the Republican side over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values.

And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about. This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they're trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that's inappropriate.

Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration. I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.



Later, in follow-up comments, Powell went even further in chastising the dishonesty and demagoguery of the McCain campaign



More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/19/powell/index.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015262.php

Reactions

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/breaking_colin_powell_endorses.php
[Greg Sargent] On CNN just now, Mark Halperin pointed out that one reason this is a big blow to McCain is that the press will talk about the endorsement for the next few days, cutting into the time McCain has left. I'd add that this also makes it much tougher for any kind of "McCain comeback" narrative to break through. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015260.php
[Steve Benen] The timing couldn't be much worse for the McCain campaign. Hoping to generate some sense of momentum, McCain was nevertheless hit by a one-two punch this morning -- Obama demonstrated a stunning level of support with his $150 million fundraising haul, which was immediately followed by Colin Powell announcing his enthusiastic support for the Democratic nominee.

There is ample disagreement in political circles about Powell, and with good reason. His legacy is blemished by his role in the Bush administration, and his United Nations presentation on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

That said, as a purely political matter, Powell's endorsement of Obama strikes me as a fairly significant political development. Powell is arguably the nation's most popular and most respected Republican. He has been a friend of McCain's for a quarter of a century, has seen up close what kind of leader McCain would be, and even contributed to McCain's campaign.

And yet, as of this morning, Powell is officially an Obama supporter -- and is officially dejected about what's become of McCain's campaign and the Republican Party. . . [read on]

http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/powells-finest-moment.html
[Juan Cole] What is remarkable to me about Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama on Meet the Press was its sincerity and the form of its reasoning. He addressed issues, not personalities. He engaged in analysis, not demonization. After the Rove years of Goebbels-like propaganda, guilt by association, and innuendo, Powell's appearance brought fresh air into the nation's living rooms the way flinging the windows open in March for spring cleaning does. . . . [read on]

McCain’s lame response

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1008/The_Powell_move.html
"This doesn’t come as a surprise," McCain said. "But I'm also very pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state ... and I'm proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired generals and admirals. I respect and continue to respect and admire Secretary Powell."

For my money, the most devastating aspect of Powell’s comments is not his endorsement of Obama, but his complete rejection of the kind of campaign McCain has run, including the selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Nothing of what Powell said is news to readers of this blog, but it’s different when someone like Powell says it – and while the McCain campaign can try to dismiss the power of his endorsement, they have no response, none, that they can offer to his wider critique.

McCain, once again, tries to pretend that he has no idea what’s going on with the robo-calls and other sleazy aspects of his campaign. I know he means this as a defense – but isn’t it, when you think about it, an even more devastating indictment of his leadership and integrity?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238234.php
[David Kurtz] McCain defends his campaign's robocalls on the grounds that the calls don't say what they in fact say. . . .

Lies: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_robo-slime_is_just_fine.php

The reliable Right, people who like to bray about American patriotism and supporting military heroes, suddenly find it convenient to slime Powell too (“pssst – he’s BLACK, and you know how THEY stick together”)

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9213
[Rush Limbaugh] "Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race," Limbaugh wrote in an email. "OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I'll let you know what I come up with."

http://www.mainepolitics.net/content/prominent-maine-republican-accuses-powell-racism
Republican attorney Dan Billings responded to Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama today by accusing him of racism and stating that "If Obama was a white man, Powell would not have made the endorsement."

Billings is a Republican activist who recently served as lawyer and spokesman for the Chandler Woodcock gubernatorial campaign and is currently counsel for the Republican state senate . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/george-will-colin-powell-endorsed-obama-because-hes-black/
[George Will] I think this adds to my calculation -- this is very hard to measure -- but it seems to me if we had the tools to measure we'd find that Barack Obama gets two votes because he's black for every one he loses because he's black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1008/The_Powell_move.html?showall
[O]ne prominent ally of McCain voiced what is on the minds of many GOP loyalists after watching Powell this morning.

"Let's be honest — do we think Powell would be doing this if Obama had been trailing 6 or 7 points in the polls?" asked this source. "It's a profile in conventional wisdom."

Further, this Republican said, for all the former secretary of state's criticism of McCain and his praise of Obama, the move had less to do with the two candidates for president than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

"Powell cares a lot about his reputation with Washington elites, and he thinks he was badly damaged by his relationship with the Bush administration," said the source. "So this is a way to make up for what he regarded as not being treated well by the Bush administration, not being given the due deference he thinks he deserves."

Lots more: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/19/right_wing_powell_reaction/index.html

Body language: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/19/94943/316/352/635267

What’s left of the McCain campaign

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238245.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]he truth is that the really corrupt and vicious part of McCain's effort only comes now because it's only in the last couple weeks that you can pull stuff that the press won't get to call you on before election day -- after which it doesn't matter. Will it take Obama down? So far McCain's gutter campaign has hurt him more than helped. But there's no reason to be sure it will continue that way. . . . [read on]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/17/winning/
[Reed Hundt] The McCain plan will be to give up on the national popular vote and re-run the Bush campaign of 2000. By voter intimidation and robo-calls and litigation and outrageous allegations it will aim for victory in the states that can provide an Electoral College victory. In this case, that means McCain will focus his diminished but vigorous efforts on Florida, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia. In each state we need hardly ask what images, stereotypes, and fears the McCain campaign will hope to evoke.

The New McCarthyism

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/19/10302/837/767/634876

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/claire-mccaskill-blasts-mccainpalin.html

McCain, who would take $150 million dollars in a heartbeat if he could find people willing to give it to him, attacks Obama for being more successful at fundraising than he is

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015266.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/19/212356/90
McCain Continues Effort to Delegitimize Election . . .

McCain says that picking Sarah Palin was, from a purely political standpoint, the best decision he could have made

Watch: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_19_archive.html#4878162959040404722

NO ONE else agrees with him

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/121055/27/128/634474
Sarah Palin is a problem. . . [read on]

What Palin is saying, in code, when she praises “the real America”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/palins-white-america-by-tristero-nate.html
Nate Silver has an utterly brilliant post which analyzes, by race, where recent Palin events are held versus Obama's . . .

How Palin insinuated herself with the conservative intelligentsia

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/how-sarah-seduced-bill-kristol-the-gop-commentariat/

Michele Bachmann (R-MN), America hater: I didn’t say what I said

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/19/152245/15/58/635577

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/crazy-michelle-bachmanns-hate-filled.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/19/185712/66

McCain: losing the red states

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usdeba195890112oct19,0,1854672.story
In presidential politics, states don't get much more Republican red than Indiana.

The Hoosier State has picked a Democrat for president only once since World War II, and that was 1964. President George W. Bush cruised to a 21-percentage point victory there last time without breaking a sweat.

But this time, John McCain is so worried about losing the state that he dispatched running mate Sarah Palin there last Friday to fire up the GOP faithful.

Add Indiana to the long list of Republican states up in play this year - and it explains why McCain's White House hopes are fast disappearing . . .

McCain, just plain losing

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-adviser-says-mccain-is-truly.html
[Orlando Sentinel] McCain was telling audiences last week that "we've got 'em just where we want 'em" -- but some GOP strategists see it differently. One who has advised the McCain organization called it the "most poorly run presidential campaign of the last 25 years. It's truly Dukakis-like," referring to the hapless 1988 campaign of Democrat Michael Dukakis.

"They have absolutely no strategy for winning," said the veteran operative . . .

Obama’s big win in the debates – even bigger than we thought (and much bigger than the pundits thought)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/poll_debates_improved_opinions.php

National polls and electoral votes, after a bit of narrowing, seem to be stabilizing again – and we have yet to see what the impact of the Powell endorsement will be

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_obama_ahea_3.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9219

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9214

If Obama and a big Democratic majority come through, we may be able to begin to reverse the tide of a quarter century of assaults on union organizing

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/19/unions-and-the-return-of-the-middle-class/

Hmmmm . . . the FBI complains that they don’t have the resources to go after real criminals, but they snap right to it when the Republicans want them to investigate ACORN. A question of priorities?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015264.php

Noteworthy trend – from the Chicago Tribune to the Denver Post to the Salt Lake Tribune, to others across the country, conservative newspapers are endorsing Obama

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003875479

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003875523

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/idaho-statesman-endorses-obama.html
[Idaho Statesman] [T]he Illinois Democrat has shown American voters something more subtle, but something more important. He has demonstrated the superior intellect and the calm command our nation needs now.

The Statesman editorial board endorses Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

This is not an obvious choice for a newspaper in a historically Republican state....

Obama and Biden have largely stayed on topic and unflappable, in the face of last-minute campaigning that has turned ugly. At their worst, Republicans have resorted to fear-mongering. In what, by comparison, pass for measured moments, McCain and Palin simply insinuate that the Democratic ticket is out of touch and elitist.

It's not only a bogus claim - given Obama's and Biden's backgrounds - but it's a silly form of reverse snobbery. Our nation has to stop equating intellect with elitism and viewing intelligence with scorn and skepticism. Considering the problems at hand, there is no better time than now to change our thinking.

McCain certainly furnishes a strong resume, and he certainly has a longer record than Obama, elected to the Senate in 2004. In theory, McCain's experience should translate into the serious, studied leadership the presidency demands.

In this campaign, however, it has not.

Bonus item: “The signs of Obama” (thanks to Atrios and Roy Edroso for the link)

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/10/october-in-new-england-conflicting.html
[Roger W. Gardner, from “Wake Up America”] This town where I live, this quintessential small New England village is beautiful in the Fall. Sometimes I forget how beautiful. . . . Clean white wood frame houses, tall slender church steeples rising up into a cloudless blue sky. And then there are the people, some of them my friends, up on ladders, painting their houses, in their yards raking leaves or playing with the kids. I wave at some of them as I pass and they wave back. Joggers jogging, lost in their zone. Young lovely mothers pushing baby carriages, thinking about the future. . . .

There is of course another reality, an alternative reality, a competing reality, that not-so-reassuring reality I left behind me on my computer. And it seems so far behind me now, so foreign to this glorious day, so infinitely removed from this crisp bright Saturday afternoon. . . .

I think about those dark, looming existential threats that I left back home on that now-darkened computer screen, and they seem as inconsequential and amorphous as children's fantasies, as foolish and spooky as Halloween ghosts. What power do they have here? I ask myself. What have these hypothetical specters of creeping sharia and pending Socialistic doom to do with this real tangible world I see around me now? Do these people who I pass on my way to the store look frightened or vulnerable? If I stopped and asked one of them if they were living in fear of al Qaeda right now, what would they answer? If I stopped and asked that man who is raking leaves in his front yard if he's worried about America losing its national sovereignty or the encroachment of Islam into our Judeo/Christian culture, what would he say? . . .

I take in a deep breath of New England air and smile. I feel better now. I'm back in the real reality. It's a beautiful day and I'm on my way to the store to get groceries . . .

But then I start seeing the signs. Just one or two at first. Then more and more of them, until they seem to be everywhere. They are the signs of Obama. And they are from that other reality I thought I had left behind but hadn't. And my Saturday afternoon is suddenly not so pleasant anymore, not quite so invulnerable as it was just a minute ago. I had asked myself, How could all this that I see out my window, how could all this great American reality actually change? And the answer is in the signs. How many people in how many different worlds looked around them in history and asked these same great questions? How could all this change? It is incomprehensible.

Then I see another little sign, tacked up on a telephone pole. An innocuous little sign, weather beaten and torn at the edges -- it's been up there for quite a while now. "No room in this town for hate" it reads. And I shudder to myself. This is the sign that advertises our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses. This is what makes this beautiful little town of mine so friendly and pleasant and so blind to the steady encroachment of that other less friendly reality. We have no room here for hate. And without hate we are vulnerable to those who hate us. . . .

We are, this sign proclaims, a community determined to be tolerant and just. We are fair-minded and trusting. We don't just welcome the Other into our midst, we eagerly embrace them. And if you are different than us, we say, if your culture is different than ours, and if your values are different from ours, no matter, we will embrace you just the same. Our survival is secondary to our tolerance.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:03 AM

 
THE REAL AMERICA

See, let me explain: tax cuts to large corporations and the wealthy create jobs and build the economy. Tax cuts for ordinary people are “welfare” – and you know what THAT means. More racially coded slurs from the McCain campaign

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015251.php
[MSNBC] Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of favoring a socialistic economic approach by supporting tax cuts and tax credits McCain says would merely shuffle wealth rather than creating it. . . . "In other words, Barack Obama's tax plan would convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington"

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238167.php
[Josh Marshall] McCain's latest: claiming that Obama will turn the IRS "into a giant welfare agency." And this even though McCain's rationale for this claim is Obama's support for a refundable tax credit, something McCain himself supports as a centerpiece of his health care plan. Par for the course, really: if you figure in the robocalls and recent ads, McCain's entire campaign is now comprised of innuendo and lies meant to tie Obama to various stereotypes of African-Americans and of course Arab terrorism. His purported foreign policy experience hasn't been part of the campaign's message in weeks. Just black, black, black, terrorist, terrorist, terrorist.

“Socialist” tax cuts? http://www.juancole.com/2008/10/joe-mccain-n-virginia-communist-john.html

Obama responds: http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=157885&catid=3

Text: http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=157877

More economic nonsense from McCain: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015253.php

We’ve always seen the Republicans imply that they and their supporters are the “real Americans,” the truly patriotic Americans, and their opponents something less than that – but three times in the last couple of days the McCain/Palin campaign and its supporters have said it directly. The politics of unity and the politics of division have never been in sharper contrast

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/18/real-virginia/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/18/obamas-firewall-commie-unpatriotic-fake-virginia/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/141155/58/21/634589

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015252.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccaina_quantum_physics_breakt.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/understanding_real_america.php
Nate Silver provides some statistical analysis of what distinguishes Sarah Palin’s real America from the fake America where the rest of us live. Basically, real America has more non-Hispanic whites. . .

Watch: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238215.php

Good. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) anti-American screed on Hardball sparked a half-million dollars in donations overnight to her opponent

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/18/bachman_tinklenberg/index.html

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/10/18/michelle-bachmann-raises-half-a-million-dollars-in-24-hours-for-her-opponent/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015258.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/bachmann_challenger_raises_big.php

Watch: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9197
It's hard to even begin on how horrifying that McCarthyesque, hateful interview was. But a lot of us Minnesotans have known about Michelle Bachmann and her hateful, extreme ways for years. Thankfully we've got a real shot at beating her this year . . .

McCain had a conniption fit when John Lewis accused his campaign of coded (and not-so-coded) racial appeals. But everyone can see it

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2008/10/18/12136/297

Worse and worse

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/obama-compared-to-mass-murderer-charles.html
Obama compared to mass murderer Charles Manson at Palin/Coleman rally in MN

http://www.local12.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=39c3f3ee-24f8-4126-9ea8-f8b18ef1c2d1
The make-shift ghost hangs from a noose above an"McCain-Palin" sign. A Barack Obama sign attached upside down. Obama's middle name: "Hussein" spray painted and misspelled above.

Mike Lunsford hung the ghost in his yard. He spoke to us off-camera, saying his views could hurt his employers business ... but he says make no mistake: He doesn't want an African American running the country.

Lunsford says he believes Barack Obama is not a "full blooded American." And he says the United States is a white, Christian nation - and only with white Christians should be in power. . . .

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/18/biden-gops-going-to-throw-more-than-the-kitchen-sink/
[Joe Biden] “You know, as that old saying goes, I thought they already threw the kitchen sink, but I think more is to come. I think other parts of the bathroom are coming.”

The press starts to notice McCain’s robo-calls and the kind of campaign he is running outside of the national spotlight

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/big_news_orgs_picking_up_on_ma.php

It’s official: McCain hires the guy who ran the “black baby” ads against him in 2000. There you have it in a microcosm – what kind of man does that?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-hires-racist-who-told-voters.html

BREAKING NEWS: Colin Powell endorses Obama

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/breaking-colin-powell-endorses-obama.html

Well, when David Brooks chooses to, he’s the star of clear-eyed and honest political assessment. Here’s the truth: for all of McCain’s bleating about “experience” and “leadership,” we have a good understanding now of who will be the steadier, more dependable leader – and it isn’t him

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/opinion/17brooks.html
We’ve been watching Barack Obama for two years now, and in all that time there hasn’t been a moment in which he has publicly lost his self-control. This has been a period of tumult, combat, exhaustion and crisis. And yet there hasn’t been a moment when he has displayed rage, resentment, fear, anxiety, bitterness, tears, ecstasy, self-pity or impulsiveness. . .

Obama raises $150 million in the month of September! (The rumors were of a record-smashing $100 million – which would have been astounding.) And 600,000 NEW donors

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/obama-raised-record-150-million-in-september/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015257.php



Obama attracts 100,000 in St. Louis – while McCain has trouble filling halls of 20,000.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gGg2xq

McCain: just like Bush, only worse (thanks to Colleen V. for the link)

http://action.seiu.org/wheresthedifference4/



Funny. The McCain campaign writes a letter to the NYT warning them not to run a story on Cindy McCain’s drug use. They print the story anyway, AND they release the letter!

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/18/mccain-campaign-whines-that-nyt-cowed-by-dowd-letter/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/18/cindy_mccain/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/18/nyt/index.html

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/us/politics/18cindy.html

Republicans are deserting McCain in droves

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/opinion/19rich.html
[Frank Rich] Even Republicans are rapidly bailing on a McCain resuscitation. It’s a metaphor for the party’s collapse that on the day of the final debate both Nancy Reagan and Dick Cheney checked into hospitals. Conservatives have already moved past denial to anger on the Kubler-Ross scale of grief. They are not waiting for votes to be counted before carrying out their first round of Stalinist purges. William F. Buckley’s son Christopher was banished from National Review for endorsing Obama. Next thing you know, there will be a fatwa on that McCain-bashing lefty, George Will.

As the G.O.P.’s long night of the long knives begins, myths are already setting in among the right’s storm troops and the punditocracy alike as to what went wrong. And chief among them are the twin curses of Bush and the “headwinds” of the economy. No Republican can win if the party’s incumbent president is less popular than dirt, we keep being told, or if a looming Great Depression 2 is Issue No. 1.

This is an excuse, not an explanation. It absolves McCain of much of the blame and denies Obama much of the credit for their campaigns. It arouses pity for McCain when he deserves none. It rewrites history. . . . [read on]

Well, if you’re going to lose anyway, then you might as well work to delegitimize the winner

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015254.php
[Time] There is now a pattern emerging from the McCain campaign and its surrogates. Instead of trying to persuade Americans who aren't in their camp (the sign of a campaign that thinks it can win), they are trying to de-legitimize them (the sign of a campaign that thinks it can't). . . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/164724/48/474/633127

Debunking the ACORN myth. McCain, with typical subtlety, accuses them of “one of the greatest frauds in voter history" which is "destroying the fabric of democracy." But from what we know it is a matter of a few low-paid street walkers defrauding ACORN by turning in phony registration forms. It’s not a good thing, but it has nothing to do with illegal voting

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015250.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9190

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/103033/74/216/634402

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9191

The Supreme Court told them to quit, but the Republicans know they don’t have any other hope

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/18/133846/82
[Columbus Dispatch] Having lost before the U.S. Supreme Court in a lawsuit involving the verification of new voter registrations, Republicans now are turning to the Ohio Supreme Court. . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238180.php

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20081018/NEWS01/310180031/1055/NEWS

Oh, and by the way, there are also Republican organizations trying to pump up their voter registrations – and believe it or not, they make mistakes too!

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/inflationary-numbers-by-digby-man-that.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/18/voter-registration-fraud-let-me-tell-you-about-voter-registration-fraud/

More on the Obama campaign’s letter to the Justice Department

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/17/215926/46

Not to count our chickens, but come election night watch Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and Indiana, which could be decided early

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/early_night.php

Don’t panic, but the race is tightening a bit

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/tpm_track_composite_presidenti.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=9199

More consequences of putting McCain hack Ron Fournier is charge of the AP Washington desk – papers are canceling their AP service

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/18/14502/518/97/633488

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_97893.asp
NBC Meet The Press: Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), NBC's political director Chuck Todd, David Brooks of the New York Times, Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

CBS Face the Nation: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), former Rep. Rob Portman (R-OH), Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and The Washington Post's Dan Balz.

ABC This Week: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, David Gergen of Harvard University, ABC News political consultant Donna Brazile, and ABC News' George Will.

CNN "Late Edition" — Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., House minority whip; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala.; Ed Lazear, chairman, White House Council on Economic Advisers.

Think about it: is Sarah Palin really the rising star of the Republican Party? This is the finest leader they can come up with to carry their hopes for the future? What an indictment of their talent pool

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015249.php

Bonus item: So how did Sarah Palin do on SNL? Well, let me put it this way – the only way these events work for you is if you are willing to join in on jokes that poke fun at yourself. Guess what?

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/this-woman-wants-to-be-your-vice.html

McCain crowd boos Tina Fey: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-crowd-boos-mention-of-tina-fey.html

Extra bonus item: McCain cartoons

http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2008/10/saturday-cartoons_18.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:39 AM

 
ANTI-AMERICAN

Feel the hate

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccainpalin-supporter-kicks-reporter-to.html
McCain/Palin supporter kicks reporter to the ground at Palin event . . .

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/54360.html
An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group's Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans . . .

Separately, vandals broke into the group's Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.

The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN's voter-registration drive "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy." . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238074.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/dont-blame-rubes-by-digby-more-calumny.html

Anti-American

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237885.php
[Josh Marshall] I guess Palin's John Birch Society background shouldn't surprise us.

[WP] Palin also made a point of mentioning that she loved to visit the "pro-America" areas of the country, of which North Carolina is one. No word on which states she views as unpatriotic.

Also, wasn't her husband a member of a political party that calls for the dissolution of the United States government until Sarah entered statewide politics in 2002.

What she said: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/17/how-about-dcs-suburbs/
“We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe" -- here the audience interrupted Palin with applause and cheers -- "We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. . . .”

Biden fires back

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/10/17/politics/fromtheroad/entry4530440.shtml
“Ladies and gentlemen, I, like your senator and governor, have been all over this great land. I've never been to a state, I've never been to a state that hasn't sent its sons and daughters to serve and die for this country. Right here in New Mexico right now, there are 1,400 Mexican sons and daughters -- New Mexican sons and daughters deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Thirty-six of them have already given their lives for this country.”

“Folks, it doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country. And I hope it gets through. We all love this country. Folks, one of the reasons why Barack and I are running is that we know how damaging the politics of division that continues to be practiced by the McCain, how damaging this policy of division has been. It's time to put this behind us.”

“Folks, it is not a corny thing. It's real. We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this country. And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism.”



The Village Idiot (Michele Bachmann, R-MN)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/17/bachmann/index.html
MATTHEWS: How many members of Congress, do you think are in that anti-American crowd you describe? How many congresspeople you serve with? I mean, there's 435 members of Congress...

BACHMANN: You'd have to ask them, Chris. I'm focusing on Barack Obama and the people that he's been associating with. And I'm very worried...

MATTHEWS: But do you suspect there are a lot of people you serve with?

BACHMANN: ... about their anti-American nature.

MATTHEWS: Well, he's a United States senator from Illinois. He's one of the people you suspect as being anti-American. How many people in the Congress of the United States do you think are anti-American? You've already suspected Barack Obama. Is he alone or are there others? How many do you suspect of your colleagues as being anti- American?

BACHMANN: What I would say -- what I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would. I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti- America? I think people would be -- would love to see an expose like that.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/181519/90/719/633907

Watch: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238042.php

[NB: YOU’RE Anti-American, sister.]

Yes, THAT Michele Bachmann – and her re-election might be in trouble now

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/house/12819527.html
[February 2008] Michele Bachmann's memorable introduction to a national TV audience came during last January's State of the Union address, when cameras lingered on the freshman Minnesota Republican with her arm around President Bush's shoulder.

A casual hug of some 30 seconds became the defining image of Bachmann's political embrace of an embattled president saddled with an unpopular war in Iraq. . . .

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=930gQZmC6iE

She’s in trouble: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/17/221356/12

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/201620/51/613/633997

GOP efforts at voter disenfranchisement are too much even for Bush’s Supreme Court

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/breaking-us-supreme-court-stops-gop.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237934.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/supreme_court_sides_with_dems.php

Background: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/121749/26/57/633544

Bush’s Justice Dept, on the other hand . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/ap-fact-checks-raging-gop-vitriol-over.html
[Joe Sudbay] The GOP is using every trick its in worn out book to win this election. One of their usual gambits is to accuse our side of stealing elections. . . . The GOP's vitriol is completely over-the-top. They're trying desperately to turn this into something bigger. This "scandal" is about problems with voter registrations, not actual votes. There are systems in place in each state to prevent fraudulent votes. But, yesterday, we learned the FBI is playing along. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/ex_doj_voting_rights_chief_its.php
A former top Department of Justice voting rights official -- who once worked with John McCain in defense of the senator's campaign-finance reform bill -- has added his name to the growing chorus that is denouncing the department's investigation of ACORN as a shameful and inappropriate politicization of Justice along the lines of the US attorney firings. . . [read on!]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/iglesias_im_astounded_by_dojs.php
David Iglesias says he's shocked by the news, leaked today to the Associated Press, that the FBI is pursuing a voter-fraud investigation into ACORN just weeks before the election.

"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted . . .

Internal conflict? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/doj_split_over_acorn_probe.php
[NYT] Law enforcement officials sought on Thursday to ratchet down speculation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had begun a broader investigation into the group's activities. Some officials said privately that they were wary of being pulled into a highly partisan controversy so close to Election Day. . . [read on]

So we know that DOJ employees illegally leaked the investigation, in direct violation of rules enacted precisely to prevent efforts to manipulate the political process. What we don’t know yet is how, as with the US Attorney scandal, political campaigns and political parties lobbied the DOJ to pursue such politicized investigations. The US Attorneys were, in several cases, fired because they refused to do so. Looks like McCain/Palin found a friendlier hearing this time.

And now an incredible development: the Obama campaign petitions the DOJ: if you’re going to investigate ACORN, we also want you to investigate who leaked that investigation, who ordered it, and who from the White House, the RNC, and/or the McCain campaign pressured them to take it on

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/17/obama-counsel-to-muaksey-sic-your-special-prosecutor-on-the-republicans/
The Obama campaign general counsel, Bob Bauer, has demanded that Michael Mukasey expand the scope of Special Prosecutor Nora Dannehy's investigation to include Republican claims of voter fraud in this election.

As a reminder, Dannehy was appointed to investigate the US Attorney firings. Arguing that Republicans' bogus claims of "vote fraud" are the same kind of misconduct as firing a bunch of US Attorneys in 2006 was, Bauer says Dannehy should include current Republican activities in her investigation. . . . [read on!]

[Emptywheel] Republicans are already under criminal investigation for this stuff. Don't let them get away with the same kind of criminal conduct again.

We're not dealing with 2000 or 2004's Democratic Party anymore.

ACORN: lies upon lies

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015241.php

Robo-calls are vicious and insidious. Unlike tv ads they fly under the radar of the national press; they don’t have to identify who’s behind them; and they have no fact checking accountability whatsoever. They’re tailor-made for fearmongering and deception – i.e., they’re tailor-made for Republicans.

Here’s what McCain said in 2000:

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/flashback_mccain_condemned_rob.php
[Joe Klein] Back in 2000, in South Carolina, the robocalls -- and calls to local right-wing talk radio shows -- were about John McCain's "interracial child" and Cindy McCain's drug addiction. They were a craven, disgusting tactic by the George W. Bush campaign. McCain was, rightly, outraged by them.

[Greg Sargent] On February 20 of that year, according to Nexis, he called them "hate calls" and complained about being "inundated" by them.

Jump ahead to 2008

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/mccain-robo-calls-critical-of-obama/
Mr. McCain, and the Republican Party, have launched their own series of searing robo-calls attacking Senator Barack Obama. According to recordings of the calls collected by Talking Points Memo, the calls exaggerate Mr. Obama’s ties to Bill Ayers, the former member of the Weather Underground, question the candidate’s patriotism by accusing him of “putting Hollywood above America," and say that he opposed a bill “requiring doctors to care for babies born alive after surviving attempted abortions."

The calls – being reported in a number of swing states – were just the latest instance of Mr. McCain embracing the very kind of negative or misleading campaign tactics he once denounced. . . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/did_mccain_hire_same_firm_to_d.php
[Greg Sargent] Can it be that John McCain hired the same outfit to robo-slime Barack Obama that hit McCain himself with the scurrilous robocall campaign in 2000 that he decried at the time as "hate calls"?

More: http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/senator_honorable_in_the_sewer.html

McCain is losing the respect even of his own party

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/gop-senator-sla.html
Embattled Republican Sen. Susan Collins is calling on Sen. John McCain to stop paying for automated phone calls which describe Sen. Barack Obama as having "worked closely" with "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers."

"These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics," said Collins spokesman Kevin Kelley. "Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately."

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238015.php
[David Kurtz] It looks like the big media outlets are starting to catch on to what we've been reporting all week at TPM Election Central -- that the real campaign McCain is running on the ground with mailers and robocalls is even nastier than the stuff McCain is saying publicly and struggling mightily to defend. . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/17/robo_bust/index.html
[Thomas Schaller] It is a sign of the futility not so much of John McCain's campaign per se, but the use of the McCain campaign of historically tried-and-true tactics that, according to this report from New Hampshire, the robo-calls for which McCain is being lambasted just aren't working. . .

Voters have had it with the substance-free, attack-and-distract methods perpetrated by the modern Republican Party and its conservative allies. That's why leveling anti-American charges, or using guilty-by-association insinuations, or trying to tap into terrorist fear-mongering are all ringing so hollow. . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/robocalls_arent_effective.php
[Marc Ambinder] Political scientists and consultants say that taped-voice telephone calls are among the least effective methods of voter persuasion.

Privately, Republican consultants liken that the RNC's massive robocall effort this week to a ball and string toy -- it gives vendors something to do and activists something to think about. . . .

"Poll watchers"? Or . . .?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/238058.php
[Josh Marshall] The Wisconsin GOP is currently recruiting "Milwaukee area veterans, policeman, security personnel and firefighters to work as poll watchers on election day at inner city polling places." . . .

We’re still hearing the myth – despite all evidence to the contrary – that Honest John has no responsibility for the campaign being run underneath him

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/10/17/mccain/index.html

EX-cellent question

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/a_question_3.php
Just asking: why isn’t Dick Lugar campaigning for John McCain in Indiana?

Colin Powell to endorse Obama?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14665.html

The Washington Post and LA Times endorse Obama – and that’s not really a shock

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603436.html
THE NOMINATING process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain. Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president.

The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations and concerns, almost inevitably, given Mr. Obama's relatively brief experience in national politics. But we also have enormous hopes. . . .

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-endorse19-2008oct19,0,5198206.story
The Times without hesitation endorses Barack Obama for president.

Our nation has never before had a candidate like Obama, a man born in the 1960s, of black African and white heritage, raised and educated abroad as well as in the United States, and bringing with him a personal narrative that encompasses much of the American story but that, until now, has been reflected in little of its elected leadership. The excitement of Obama's early campaign was amplified by that newness. But as the presidential race draws to its conclusion, it is Obama's character and temperament that come to the fore. It is his steadiness. His maturity. . . .

John McCain distinguished himself through much of the Bush presidency by speaking out against reckless and self-defeating policies. He earned The Times' respect, and our endorsement in the California Republican primary, for his denunciation of torture, his readiness to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his willingness to buck his party on issues such as immigration reform. But the man known for his sense of honor and consistency has since announced that he wouldn't vote for his own immigration bill, and he redefined "torture" in such a disingenuous way as to nearly embrace what he once abhorred.

Indeed, the presidential campaign has rendered McCain nearly unrecognizable. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term political tactic, brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would drive the White House in a McCain presidency. Fortunately, the public has shown more discernment, and the early enthusiasm for Palin has given way to national ridicule of her candidacy and McCain's judgment. . .

But so does the Chicago Tribune, which has NEVER endorsed a Democrat before!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-chicago-tribune-endorsement,0,1371034.story
On Nov. 4 we're going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.

The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States. . .

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president. . . .

We like McCain. We endorsed him in the Republican primary in Illinois. In part because of his persuasion and resolve, the U.S. stands to win an unconditional victory in Iraq.

It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush's tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.

McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate--but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin's exposure to the public. But it's clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment's notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country. . .

So does the Denver Post, another Republican paper: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/denver-post-endorses-obama.html

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/17/big-time-newspaper-endorsements/

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003875230

I’m sure you noticed that each editorial cited as a major consideration AGAINST McCain his utterly cynical choice of Sarah Palin as his VP. Yesterday we had word that top people in his campaign consider her choice a “total disaster.” Republican pundit after pundit has decried her manifest lack of qualifications. But few can approach Peggy Noonan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122419210832542317.html
[W]e have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her . . .

She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things. . . .

In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment . . .

Pot calling the kettle. . . . whatever

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237910.php
[David Kurtz] Palin speaking now on CNN is calling for the Obama campaign to release all of its "communications" with ACORN. This is the same Sarah Palin who tried to scuttle the Alaska legislature's investigation into her abuse of power as governor. Transparency is as transparency does, I guess. . .

Obama, with money to burn, keeps up the pressure on red states, and is ACCELERATING his efforts. Since McCain doesn’t have the energy to do more than one event a day (and has been taking weekends off) it’s hard for him to keep up

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/strategy-for-final-18-days-obama.html

It’s still the economy

GDP versus wages: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/the_fundamentals_4.php

McCain’s stupid analogy: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/mccain_lets_destroy_the_economy_for_the_sake_of_an_anology.php

Balancing the budget is not the most important thing: http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/17/economists-prescribe-deeper-deficit/

McCain’s new mortgage proposal – creeping socialism? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237909.php

McCain’s rotten approach to health care: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/14249/400/923/633695

Oh, poor babies. The networks are worried that the election might not be close, and it won’t make for as dramatic programming. Well, I’m sure it will be kept closer if they can do anything about it

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/networks-are-stymied-over-how-to-cover.html
Networks are stymied over how to cover election night . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/cbs-news-exec-on-election-night-we-cant.html

McCain returns to David Letterman’s show – and gets one of the toughest interviews he’s had so far in the campaign

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/mccain-to-lette.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/13359/a-penitent-mccain-seeks-lettermans-forgiveness

The Liddy Connection: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015229.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/mccain_and_liddy.php

Watch: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_12_archive.html#243153304800824685

Still pushing for 60 Senate seats

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/17/senator_60/index.html
[Thomas Schaller] We know Virginia's Mark Warner and the Udall cousins in New Mexico and Colorado look pretty solid. Let's speculate further that Jean Shaheen holds off John Sununu in New Hampshire, Jeff Merkley defeats Gordon Smith in Oregon, Alaska's scandal-plagued Ted Stevens cannot save himself from Mark Begich, and Al Franken can finish his late-campaign run against Minnesota's Norm Coleman. And then, riding Barack Obama's coattails, Kay Hagan upends Liddy Dole in North Carolina.

That would mean eight new Democratic senators, giving Harry Reid 59 seats. . . .

Great news on the House side, too

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/165217/87/770/633832

For my California friends: NO ON 8!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_12_archive.html#1508213435619271310

Bonus item: Laugh or cry, I can’t tell you – but remember this item from The Onion, right after Bush’s inauguration in 2001?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/bush-our-long-national-nightmare-of.html
Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over." . . .

"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:00 AM

 
LOOKING EVIL IN THE EYE

The FBI opens an investigation of ACORN. The timing, of course, is totally unrelated to politics

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237716.php
[Josh Marshall] So now we hear leaked word that the FBI is beginning an investigation into whether ACORN "helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election" and where there is "any evidence of a coordinated national scam."

Let's note a few points. DC Republicans have been aggressively lobbying the DOJ to open an investigation into ACORN in advance of the election. And leaking word of such an investigation (possibly starting the investigation at all) most likely violates DOJ guidelines about DOJ/FBI actions which can end up interfering with or manipulating an election.

But, remember, this is right out of the book of the Bush Justice Department's efforts to assist in GOP voter suppression efforts in the 2004 and 2006 elections (part and parcel of the US Attorney firing story). This is the same scam US Attorney firing player Bradley Schlozman got in trouble for pulling with ACORN just before the 2006 election. And before he got canned, Gonzales helped revise and soften the departmental prohibition on DOJ announcements, thus making it easier to play these kinds of games.

This is a big deal. It may be their last gasp to use the DOJ to help mitigate the scale of Republican defeat on November 4th.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/whats_behind_the_feds_acorn_pr.php
[Zachary Roth] It's worth noting, in response to the news that the FBI has launched an investigation into whether ACORN was involved in a nationwide voter-registration fraud scheme, that the launch of the probe comes at a time national Republicans at several different levels have sought to make an issue out of ACORN . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/conyers_on_fbiacorn_probe.php
[Zachary Roth] Below is a letter sent by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chair of the House judiciary committee, to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI director Robert Mueller, in reaction to the news that the FBI has launched an investigation into ACORN in connection with its voter-registration activities.

In raising questions about DOJ's motives, Conyers makes the obvious link to the U.S. attorneys scandal, in which several U.S. attorneys were fired for not pursuing voter fraud cases with sufficient aggressiveness . . .

Remember: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237745.php
[David Kurtz] Some readers requested that we re-post this withering line of questioning last year from Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) of former U.S. Attorney and DOJ voting rights bamboozler Bradley Schlozman about his prosecution of ACORN workers in the Kansas City area right before the 2006 elections . . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237722.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/iglesias_im_astounded_by_dojs.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015223.php
[Dday] The Justice Department is using its law enforcement arm to stir up doubt about a legitimate community organization as a means to delegitimize this election. This is designed to sap voter confidence in the process. It's also designed to harass and intimidate low-income and minority voters.... There should be outrage at this maneuver, a federal attempt to step into the election process and a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. [read on]

CNN helps the bad guys

http://mediamatters.org/items/200810160020
From October 6 through October 15, CNN aired at least 54 segments mentioning allegations that ACORN submitted allegedly false or duplicate voter registration applications this year in a number of states. However, only one of those segments mentioned both of the following two relevant points: 1) that the statutes of most of those states require third parties registering prospective voters to submit all registration forms they receive; and 2) that actual instances of illegal votes being cast as a result of registration fraud are extremely rare. . .

New GOP ad says we must “look evil in the eye and never flinch.” The eyes look awfully familiar . . . could they be . . . ?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237601.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/did_virginia_gop_mailer_shade.php



Not only will McCain not repudiate the VA GOP Chair who compared Obama to Osama – he’s now going to appear with him

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/16/mccain-virginia-frederick/

CA GOP group puts Obama’s face, with watermelon, ribs, and fried chicken, on a food stamp

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_buck16.3d67d4a.html

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2008/10/16/heres-what-they-think-about-you/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015220.php
[Steve Benen] Asked for an explanation, the Republican group's leader, Diane Fedele, denied sinister motivations. She said she picked food stamps, for example, to mock Obama for saying he "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

Fedele denied being a racist, and pointed to her previous support of Alan Keyes as evidence of her racial tolerance.

Asked why the image included Obama alongside a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken, Fedele said, "It was just food to me."

Dirty tricks from the McCain campaign: robo-calls in the swing states

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_robocalls_from_mccain_and.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccainrnc_robocall_questions_w.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/worst_yet_mccain_campaign_robo.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/latest_mccain_robocall_alleges.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015222.php
[Steve Benen] McCain and the RNC are investing heavily in these disgusting calls, hoping to avoid the kind of scrutiny that comes with television ads.

Honestly, what would the Republican Party be without hate, fear, and ignorance? And when will party members with honor stand up and say that McCain and the RNC don't speak for them?

Meet “Joe the Plumber,” the ubiquitous character from debate #3, a regular Joe, just another undecided voter from Ohio. Well, except . . .

He isn’t a licensed plumber: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/joe-in-the-spotlight

He isn’t undecided, he’s a Republican: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_10_12_archive.html#8459885763451307615

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/95127/280/275/632293

He hates Social Security: http://www.ruthgroup.org/2008/10/16/joe-the-plumber-hates-social-security/

He hasn’t paid his taxes: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/joe-plumber-owes-back-taxes.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/123539/11/77/632515

He would probably be blocked from voting if Republican policies had their way: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/we-are-all-joe-plumber-now-by-dday.html

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/if_joe_the_plumber_was_a_new_voter_ohio_ruling_could_block_him_from_voting/

He’s apparently related to a convicted co-conspirator in the Keating scandal! http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/oh_16.html

More: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081103/plumber_video

Joe is another example of poor vetting by the McCain team – he looked good at first glance (as Palin did), but nobody asked the tough follow-ups. See a pattern here?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14652.html
A McCain source said Thursday that the campaign read about Wurzelbacher on the Drudge Report, while another campaign aide confirmed that he was not vetted. . . . [read on]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/16/mccain-to-embrace-another-unqualified-nut-tied-to-scandal/

Who are the people yelling out “traitor” and “kill him” at McCain and Palin rallies? We can’t find out, because . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/16/secret-service-milbank/
[Dana Milbank] I have to say the Secret Service is in dangerous territory here. In cooperation with the Palin campaign, they’ve started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/secret-service-isnt-doing-its-job.html

Support the troops! Another of McCain’s big money men

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/183437/67/650/632951
[NYT] The Democratic chairman of a House investigative committee presented documents to the Pentagon on Thursday alleging that a top Republican fund-raiser, Harry Sargeant III, has made tens of millions of dollars in profits over the last four years because his contracting company vastly overcharged for deliveries of fuel to American air bases in Iraq. . . . [read on]

Well, now Obama and McCain finally agree on one thing: the Bush years have been a disaster

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_mccain_ad_i_know_bush_is_b.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/16/obama-ad-goes-after-mccai_n_135146.html

Oh, this is brilliant

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/gops_new_attack_yes_we_screwed.php
[Eric Kleefeld] From the presidential campaign to the lowliest down-ticket races, Republicans are throwing around a new attack line on Dems: That things may be bad now, but the Dems would only "make things worse." [watch]

The right wing intelligentsia has had plenty of advice for McCain, including putting a veto on Joe Lieberman, his preferred VP, and pushing Palin as an alternative. I hope McCain keeps listening to them

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/94424/728/295/632281
“McCain should go back to his roots and unleash his inner smart-aleck . . .”

“Here’s what he needs to do, he needs to touch on some of the social issues which energize the right. ... In particular, gays in the military for one. . . .”

“I pointed out that Obama surely had a closer connection to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than to Ayers – and so, I asked, if Ayers is a legitimate issue, what about Reverend Wright? . . .”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015221.php
[Scott Horton] "We've got a lot of finger-pointing going on within the camp, and I'd say there's a pretty broad agreement amongst a number of the senior-most advisors to McCain that the Palin pick is worse than disappointing. It's a total disaster, as one describes to me. And there is a sort of blame game going on there. . . .”

The story about the Verizon cell towers that were installed on McCain’s Sedona ranch, for free, was introduced here yesterday. Since McCain’s Commerce committee regulates telecommunications, it appears to be problematic. The excuse given was (a) they were just temporary, (b) they were only installed after McCain became a candidate for President, and (c) they were mainly for Secret Service and security communications, installed at their request. Guess what? None of those excuses is true

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200810u/mccain-cell-phone

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/wash-post-verizon-lied-agreed-to.html

Vicki Iseman, long rumored to have had an affair with Honest John, suddenly emerges from obscurity to deny any truth to the rumors. Which raises the interesting question, Why now?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/16/the-iseman-cometh/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081016/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_lobbyist;_ylt=AmG4Nsa1MqR973NZE1zz_yGyFz4D
[AP] But her public emergence, coming less than three weeks before the election, also serves to remind the public about a story that had receded from memory. . . .

Sarah Palin says she’ll release SOME of her emails to Alaska investigators . . . for $15 million. Some “maverick.” Some "reformer," eh?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27228287/
Even at that price, many records won't be available until after the election . . .

Lurita Doan, the ethically challenged GSA administrator who asked her govt employees “How can we help our candidates in the campaign this year?” writes a letter of defense now that the Waxman committee has issued its scathing report. She’s already a laughing-stock; she really should have quit while she was ahead

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/lurita_loses_it_over_waxmans_r.php

Remember her testimony? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/192422.php

The state of the Senate races: going for 60

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/16/17552/527

Can’t say that this is a surprise: the reptilian Glenn Beck slithers back into safer surroundings

http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/beck-leaving-cnn-for-fox-news/

If Obama wins and the Dems get a filibuster–proof majority, the first thing they should do is reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/153735/72/844/632765
[Obama] "I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls," Obama told me. "If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak! I am the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effete, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?

"I guess the point I’m making," he went on, "is that there is an entire industry now, an entire apparatus, designed to perpetuate this cultural schism, and it’s powerful.”

More from Fox: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/185021/72/626/632959

The Fairness Doctrine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0212-03.htm

Bonus item: Obama and McCain deliver some good stand-up comedy

Obama: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/i_share_the_politics_of.php
"I got my name Barack from my father.... it's actually Swahali for "That one." . . . [more!]

Watch: http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/16/obama-housing-crisis-has-been-8-times-harder-on-john-mccain/

McCain: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccain_says_he_fired_all.php
"I can't shake the feeling that some people here are voting for me. Nice to see you, Hillary." . . . [more!]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:52 AM

 
LETTING McCAIN BE McCAIN

I wouldn’t have thought it was possible for McCain to spend 90 minutes buffing his credentials as an angry, glaring, contemptuous, eye-rolling, interrupting old grouch. Wouldn’t his handlers have warned him about this? But there it was, for all to see. McCain despises Obama with a passion, and it showed.

Once again the pundits chewed over the details while the polls showed people were looking at a bigger picture: This is someone who talks about a “respectful campaign”? This is someone who talks about reaching across the aisle to work with people with whom he disagrees? This is someone we want to entrust with careful national security decisions, delicate negotiations, and the power of war?

The other problem that was sharply displayed tonight is that (as with the choice of Palin), McCain has simply not mastered how to talk to his base while also talking to the rest of the country. (And how pathetic is it that at this point in the race he is still worried about shoring up his base?) Things that help him with one, hurt him with the other. Invoking without explanation “Ayers” and “ACORN,” putting dismissive air quotes around “health of the mother” in the abortion debate, are all red meat for the Fox/Rush crowd, and mostly confusing or disturbing to everyone else.

The Look: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237465.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]here were just repeated split screen moments in which Obama's talking about this or that and McCain is there just looking like he's seething -- stiff, like he can barely contain himself. Just tight and angry. As David Gergen just said on CNN watching McCain on the split screens was "almost like [seeing] an exercise in anger management."

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/valence_and_visuals.php
[Marc Ambinder] [T]onight, we saw a McXplosion. Every single attack that Sen. McCain has ever wanted to make, he took the opportunity tonight to make. Around 30 minutes in, McCain seemed to surrender the debate to his frustrations, making it seem as if he just wanted the free television.

You know, maybe Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner is the right analogy after all

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/0301/2828/649/631935

Watching with the sound off

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/15/first-impressions-on-the-last-debate/?hp
[John Broder] The images and body language of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain spoke volumes tonight, even with the television muted. I watched a good portion of the debate with the sound off because I was writing on deadline.

C-Span showed the entire debate in split screen and whenever I looked up I saw Mr. McCain looking across at Mr. Obama with a strained look of incredulity, or the pained smile of an indulgent teacher listening to a recitation from a particularly dim-witted student.

There were obvious flashes of anger and aggression, when it looked as if Mr. McCain might actually cross the vertical split-screen line separating the combatants and wring Mr. Obama’s neck. . . . [read on]

A video montage

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/0291/9862/575/632017

A smorgasbord of bad debate moments for McCain

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/15/215233/76/810/631774

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237525.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237532.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/15/223527/89/737/631831

Or if you don’t have time, just this

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/15/232228/81/666/631918

The snap polls and focus groups are unanimous (even Fox!)

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/15/224832/60

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/0817/8564/604/631988

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/snap_polls.php

http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/10/undecideds_laughing_at_not_wit.html
[Amy Sullivan] In politics it is generally not considered a good sign when voters are laughing at you, not with you. And by the end of the third and last presidential debate, the undecided voters who had gathered in Denver for Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg’s focus group were “audibly snickering” at John McCain’s grimaces, eye-bulging, and repeated references to “Joe the Plumber.” . . .

The pundits

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/pundits-weigh-in.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/2292/3792/449/632119

Here’s the best wrap-up I’ve seen so far

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/debate_reveals_that_dynamic_of.php
[Greg Sargent] Tonight's debate reveals as clearly as you could want that the dynamic of this race is fixed, perhaps irrevocably, in Obama's favor, with little to no time left to change this fact.

That dynamic is this: People have decided that Obama is the guy who's offering real solutions for the economy; and they've rejected McCain's basic argument that Obama is unprepared for the gig of President. That has put McCain in an ever shrinking box: Anything he says that doesn't try to explain, in the most direct and substantive of terms, why his plans for the economy are better than Obama's come across as noise at best and stunts at worst.

Worse for McCain, anything he says that's off-topic allows Obama to reinforce the race's overall dynamic, by pointing out that McCain is desperate to avoid the subject that, judging by every poll, is foremost on the minds of voters right now.

This basic dynamic was fixed nearly two weeks ago. It's a product of the extraordinary depths of public anxiety created by the meltdown and the enormous gaffe McCain's advisers subsequently committed when they admitted that they were looking forward to moving the conversation past the economy and back to character attacks on Obama. This was a self-created bear-trap for McCain, and he's been trying to shake it off his leg ever since. But it's only getting tighter.

The signs of this were everywhere tonight.

Despite an enormous amount of hand-wringing over whether McCain would score points by bringing up William Ayers tonight, his reference to Ayers passed with barely a ripple -- it was quickly subsumed in matters of serious import. Obama pushed back on the Ayers attack ably enough -- but the real point is that he didn't even need a slam-dunk push-back. The whole conversation sounded as consequential as a momentary diversion into an argument between Trekkies over the relative merits of Captains Kirk and Picard.

And consider McCain's frequent evocation of Joe The Plumber. This attack from McCain was clearly labored over heavily by his aides. But it fell flat for a very simple reason: It didn't change the basic underlying policy disagreements between the two men. It didn't change the fact that people agree with Obama's solutions to our economic crisis, and reject McCain's ideas. In the face of that overwhelming reality, the constant evocation of Joe The Plumber just came across like a stunt.

Finally, consider McCain's "big moment" -- the moment when he dramatically told Obama that if he wanted to run against President Bush, he should have run four years ago. If anything, this reveals the extent to which McCain and his advisers are out of touch with what this race is really about.

No one doubts that McCain is his own person, with his own story. But polls have shown over and over that voters have concluded that McCain represents a continuation of Bush's economic policies, and Obama represents a change from them. The notion that a "dramatic" moment such as that one can change that basic fact represents the McCain team's basic delusion all along: That they could make this race about McCain's biography, to the exclusion of pretty much everything else.

There's been a lot of punditry to the effect that McCain was too angry or, alternatively, that McCain succeeded in landing more punches than he did in previous debates. Maybe either one of those things, or both, were true.

But who cares? That's all background noise. Let's keep our eyes on the big picture: Voters are basically fixed in their decision that the economy is the defining issue; that Obama is the person to fix it; and that despite McCain's claims, Obama is prepared for the overall job. Nothing changed that tonight, and there may be no more time left to change it.

You know a candidate is in desperate trouble when they’re already complaining that they’re going to lose because of vote fraud

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237195.php

Meanwhile, GOP voter suppression goes mainstream

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/exposing-john-mccains-voter-suppression.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/ohios_voting-rights_ruling_wha.php

McCain versus Palin

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/should_we_fear_an_obama_presid.php
McCain: "He's a decent person, and a person you do not have to be scared [of] as President of the United States."

Palin: "You seem to understand the stark choice we have and the real danger the country faces in the future if the Obama-Biden ticket is elected. And I'd just like to know, do you see it that way?"

"I do," she responded.

McCain’s money man in Florida (thanks to John Aravosis for the link)

http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/news/story/top-tampa-gop-figure-circulates-joke-about-killing-obama/
Top Tampa GOP Figure Circulates Joke About Killing Obama . . .

Is this story about Verizon giving McCain a free cell tower for his Sedona ranch a problem or not? Since he is ranking member on the Commerce committee, which regulates telecommunications, it doesn’t look good. But there might be a legitimate explanation

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/10/exclusive_verizon_gave_cell_to.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/phoenix_we_have_a_pro_the_cell.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/verizon_denies_post_story.php

You remember the story about McCain pulling his people out of Michigan (once proclaimed the pivotal state in this election)? Well, now Obama is pulling his people out too – but for a very different reason. He has it wrapped up and wants to use those resources in Indiana and North Carolina!

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/more_on_obamas_michigan_redepl.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/rnc-is-pulling-out-of-wisconsin.html
RNC is pulling out of Wisconsin -- and Maine

And more: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/10/15/201236/49

The Troopergate issue has rightly focused on what Sarah Palin did – but the report also tells us a lot about the kind of guy Todd Palin is, and it isn’t pretty

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/15/todd-wormtongue/

In other news . . .

We still don’t know WHO authorized the torture memos. Is it possible it WASN'T Bush?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/10/15/who-signed-the-explicit-authorization-to-torture/

Congress wants to see them: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/sen_rockefeller_reacts_to_wapo.php

More signing statements that say Bush doesn’t have to follow the laws he signs

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/15/bush_declaration/index.html

How the Bush gang turned government agencies into an extension of the Republican campaign machine

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/house_oversight_finds_wh_plann.php

Bonus item: Ohmigosh, I’m Prezident!

http://www.palinaspresident.com/
[NB: Don’t forget to rollover and click items]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:36 AM

 
CARTOONISH


This isn’t the most important news of the day, but I just find it incredibly cool. Here are some images of Obama ads – added to the new Xbox 360 games!

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/obama-buys-ads-in-slew-of-xbox-360.html

Here’s a neat tool – calculate how much you’ll save under Obama’s economic plan

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/calculate_your_tax_cut_obamast.php


Bill Ayers! Bill Ayers! Bill Ayers! Bill Ayers! Bill Ayers! Bill Ayers!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html
[Murray Waas] William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime.

The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government. . . . [read on]

Steve Benen asks, so I don’t have to: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015183.php
Hmm. I wonder what the response would be from the political world in general, and Republicans in specific, if a top Obama campaign aide was associated with lobbying on behalf of Saddam Hussein. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/report_mccain_transition_head.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/testimony_timmons_knew_lobbyis.php

“The Hate Talk Express”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/14/154420/64/121/630429
[Pennsylvania] [Congressional candidate] Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin.

Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly.

One man screamed "kill him!" . . .

And, just yesterday, at a rally in Virginia Beach, one of your supporters shouted "Obama bin Laden" . . .


Hypocrites

http://firedoglake.com/2008/10/14/hey-mac-remember-me/
To: Campaign Leadership
From: Rick Davis
Subject: McCain Message
Date: 3/11/2008

. . . It is critical... that we all follow John's lead and run a respectful campaign focused on the issues and values that are important to the American people. . . .

Overheated rhetoric and personal attacks on our opponents distract from the big differences between John McCain's vision for the future of our nation and the Democrats'. This campaign is about John McCain: his vision, leadership, experience, courage, service to his country and ability to lead as commander in chief from day one.

Throughout his life John McCain has held himself to the highest standards and he will continue to run a respectful campaign based on the issues. We expect that all supporters, surrogates and staff will hold themselves to similarly high standards when they are representing the campaign . . . [read on]

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the press still favors the line that while his campaign is shoveling hate stew at every opportunity, Honest John McCain just doesn’t condone that sort of thing. What a crock

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237068.php

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_if_i_bring_up_ayers_at.php
McCain is already laying the groundwork to blame Obama for his apparent decision to confront Obama over Ayers tomorrow. . . . [read on]

Keith O: http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/olbermann-mccain-is-fraud-and-tacitly.html

Honest John. Uh-huh

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/more-sleaze-from-increasingly-erratic.html
[John Aravosis] Just days after McCain chastized his own supporters for implying that Obama was un-American, McCain's own campaign issued a statement today about Ayers - since, you know, our economic future isn't nearly as important to John McCain as some guy from the 60s. The statement, entitled "Barack Obama, Palling Around With Terrorists," included the following line: “Barack Obama has a different view of America than most of us.”

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/mccain_obama_perhaps_the_bigge.php
[McCain] “Perhaps never before in history have the American people been asked to risk so much based on so little."

Risky? Let’s talk about risky

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/bush-strategist-mccain-knows-he-put.html
[Bush 2004 strategist Matthew Dowd] "[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with... He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015184.php
[Steve Benen] When extremist politicians with no decency feel like they have "nothing to lose," it's a scary scenario. . . . [read on]

McCain: Russia is the Evil Empire again. Palin: Let’s Make a Deal

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237113.php
[Josh Marshall] According to Bloomberg, more or less the entire senior management of the Russian oil and gas monopoly Gazprom just showed up in Alaska to meet with Palin's Department of Natural Resources and the CEO of ConocoPhillips to see if they can get in on that big pipeline projects she keeps bragging about that she says is going to lead us to energy independence.

They lie about everything

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/13/mccain_campaign_exaggerates_crowd_size.html
WVEC-TV: "The Virginia Beach Fire Marshal's office estimated the size of the crowd to be 12,000. A McCain campaign spokeswoman claimed the crowd size was 25,000, but the Convention Center's capacity is only 16,000."

Look, ACORN has registered over a million new voters. Of those, there is evidence of about 2000 inaccurate or fraudulent applications – a trivial percentage. Yet the Republicans, with a big assist from the media, are playing the “voter fraud” issue for all that it’s worth

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237058.php
[David Kurtz] Since last Friday, Fox News has mentioned ACORN 342 times . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/236893.php
[Josh Marshall] You can judge the magnitude of the smashing defeat Republicans believe they are approaching by the scale of lying and bogus charges of vote fraud. But organized lying from partisans should not surprise us. What does deserve censure is how readily mainstream media organizations, including CNN, are picking up these bogus stories and running with them. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/cnn_leads_media_failure_on_aco.php
CNN Leads Media Failure on ACORN Story . . .

More: http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2008/10/14/what-exactly-is-acorns-plan-for-world-domination/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015182.php

Palin makes a sudden appearance on Rush’s show – perfectly spontaneous, just a chat. Tell me if this isn’t obviously read from a prepared script

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/palin_to_limbaugh_media_wants.php
Rush Limbaugh: "The media is covering up for him. That is why there's so much admirationfor you. The New York Times said you were a great speaker....your forcefulness and your opinions are driving away moderates. This is just an attempt to get you to stop."

Sarah Palin: "Well, yes, I guess that message is they do want me to sit down and shut up, but that's not gonna happen. I care too much about this great country. ... Speaking of some of those associations...lets talk quickly about ACORN and the unconscionable situation that we are facing right now with voter fraud, given the ties between Obama and ACORN and the money his campaign has sent them...Obama has a responsibility to reign in ACORN and prove that he is willing to fight voter fraud....for shame if the mainstream media were to cover this one up."

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237003.php

Hypocrites, again

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/acorn_mccain_obama_cracking_th.php
To hear some McCain advisers tell it, voter integrity wasn't supposed to be an election issue this year. As Sen. McCain and his team considered the expanse of the general election this spring, his chief counsel, Trevor Potter, sought to tone down Republican efforts to raise a ruckus about "voter fraud” . . .

Hey, remember why the US Attorneys were fired?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/236958.php
[Josh Marshall] It's time again to remember the backstory of the US Attorney Firing scandal. The firings were one thing. But the story behind the firings, what led to them, is key to understanding the current 'vote fraud' scam being played by the Republicans and the media outlets that are going along with the scam.

Remember, the US Attorneys in question were all either Republicans or Republican-leaning independents. In every case, they were appointed by George W. Bush. In most of the cases their firing was tied to 'vote fraud' claims stemming from the 2004 election.

The pattern was very consistent. During the final weeks of the 2004 campaign Republican partisans started pressing claims of widespread voter fraud. In many, though not all cases, the examples they pointed to were not even allegations of voter fraud, but allegations of voter registration fraud: examples of people being registered more than once, non-existent people being registered, etc.

The Republicans making these claims argued that these problems with registration cards were opening the coming election up to widespread vote fraud. Logically, this makes no sense. And, more importantly, all evidence shows this has never happened, certainly not in any widespread sense. Every person who claims otherwise is either ignorant or speaking in bad faith.

Nonetheless, CNN and other national news outlets and especially local media outlets, either out of ignorance or bad faith, ran hard with these stories -- just as CNN is doing now. . . . [read on!]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237009.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/as-we-go-down-rabbit-hole-of-voter.html

Background: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3135/the_fraudulence_of_voter_fraud/

Meanwhile, here’s proof of REAL election fraud and dirty tricks, which has gotten almost no national attention

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/ex-gop_operative_in_new_hampsh.php
Former Republican operative James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the bureau's investigation of a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002 . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237018.php
[David Kurtz] The new indictment of Jim Tobin in the 6-year-old New Hampshire phone jamming case, which we first reported today at TPMmuckraker, requires some reconsideration of whether the Justice Department has been insufficiently aggressive in the case -- or perhaps whether new hands at DOJ are taking a more aggressive tack.

The big question in the case has always been how high up in the GOP political apparatus did knowledge of and involvement with the phone jamming scheme go? . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-actual-election-fraud-looks-like.html

Background: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/new_hampshire_phone-jamming_th.php

600,000 voters purged in Ohio

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/237110.php

Troopergate: not over yet. The supposedly friendly Personnel Board that Palin wanted to take over the investigation looks like they’re actually serious

http://www.newsweek.com/id/163465
[Michael Isikoff] A new Alaska legislative report finding that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power and violated state ethics laws spells new trouble for the McCain campaign. Special counsel Steve Branchflower's report could lead to fines or legislative action to censure Palin. It also directly challenges the vice presidential candidate's credibility on key points related to the "Troopergate" controversy. . . . .

McCain campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton dismissed the report as the product of "a partisan-led inquiry run by Obama supporters." But there could be more land mines ahead. Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry . . . But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. "We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board," said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin "has nothing to hide," it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/555288.html
The state Personnel Board investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of Walt Monegan has broadened to include other ethics complaints against the governor and examination of actions by other state employees, according to the independent counsel handling the case. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/second_trooper-gate_probe_expa.php

The Anchorage Daily News cuts loose

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/555236.html
Sarah Palin's reaction to the Legislature's Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report "vindicates" her. She said that the investigation found "no unlawful or unethical activity on my part."

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: "I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act."

In plain English, she did something "unlawful." She broke the state ethics law.

Perhaps Gov. Palin has been too busy to actually read the Troopergate report. Perhaps she is relying on briefings from McCain campaign spinmeisters.

That's the charitable interpretation.

Because if she had actually read it, she couldn't claim "vindication" with a straight face.

Erratic? Wobbly? Confused? Lurching? These are supposedly ageist terms, used to describe McCain’s campaign “strategy.” OK, give me another term for it

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/wsj-headline-mccains-monday-campaigning.html
[WSJ] Several things about John McCain’s Monday caused some head scratching, including the tease of some new economic policies to a town hall meeting with no Q&A.

It began with McCain’s close friend Sen. Lindsey Graham who said McCain would propose new tax policies this week. Yet Monday brought two stump speeches with no new economic proposals. Instead, McCain reiterated what he’s been saying for weeks.

A conference call with the campaign provided little guidance. It seems Monday was all about unveiling a new stump speech, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

On Tuesday, McCain will outline “specific new measures,” according to Doug Holtz-Eakin, the campaign’s economic policy director, on a conference call with reporters. He declined to elaborate any further, saying only, “We just need to look forward to hearing from him.”

Then came the event in Wilmington, N.C., held at — irony alert!– Cape Fear Community College. McCain stood in front of the crowd and said he would take questions or comments after he delivered his remarks. He finished his prepared speech and tacked on a longtime stump story about the bracelet he wears. But then the music and handshaking began. No questions or comments to be heard—at least those directed at the senator. “I thought this was a town hall meeting?” a man asked the press corps.

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccains-brother-lets-loose-on-mccain.html
[Baltimore Sun] In a new shot across the bow of Arizona Sen. John McCain's lagging campaign, the Republican candidate's younger brother is blasting the campaign's top management and desperately pleading for a change of course.

Joe McCain, in an e-mail sent late Monday night, called on top campaign aides to allow more press access to those who know the presidential nominee best. He said loosening the tight message control was needed because it had become "counter-productive" and was "causing gangrene." . . .

"Let John McCain be John McCain," he wrote . . .

Here’s McCain’s new demographically tested “plan.” It’s a transparent hodge-podge of giveaways targeted to groups whose votes he desperately needs right now

Analysis: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccains_pension_and_family_sec.php

How much will it cost? http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-campaign-admits-they-have-no.html
On MSNBC, Pfotenhauer was just asked how much McCain's plan would cost and how is McCain going to pay for it -- that was the reporter's first question -- and Pfotenhauer couldn't answer. McCain is proposing a massive new plan, all the while making out of control, wasteful government spending his signature issue, and he doesn't even know how much it's going to cost. Pfotenhauer did say, however, that the plan will cost "some amount of money." . . .

The most important thing is to APPEAR to be doing something (thanks to Avedon for the link)

http://whiskeyfire.typepad.com/whiskey_fire/2008/10/little-man-blee.html

Here’s another indicator of how much trouble McCain is in – from now to the election, he’s going to be spending almost all his time and money trying to hold on to traditionally red states

http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-says-he-has-obama-just-where-he.html

Four battlegrounds

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/14/quinnipiac_obama_pulls_away_in_battleground.html
Colorado: Obama 52%, McCain 43%

Michigan: Obama 54%, McCain 38%

Minnesota: Obama 51%, McCain 40%

Wisconsin: Obama 54%, McCain 37%

Is The Great Schlep working?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/14/162813/85/95/630463

Even I’m not THIS optimistic, but beneath the totals of this CBS/NYT poll are some interesting details

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/cbsnyt_poll.php
[Marc Ambinder] The jawdropping numbers from the CBS News / New York Times poll are, yes, the top-line...Obama leads among likely voters 53% to 39%. But more than that: which candidate will raise your taxes? Respondents, by 51% to 46%, say it's McCain. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_10/015187.php
[NYT] The McCain campaign's recent angry tone and sharply personal attacks on Senator Barack Obama appear to have backfired and tarnished Senator John McCain more than their intended target, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll has found. . . .

A critical analysis: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/cbsnyt-poll-preempt.html

McCain campaign attacks the poll

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/mccain_campaign_cbsnyt_poll_is.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-dowd/obamas-race-to-lose-press_b_130664.html
[Matthew Dowd, former Bush speechwriter] Rule One: When a campaign starts attacking the media, things aren't going well.

Rule Two: When a campaign says the polls are wrong, things aren't very good.

Rule Three: When a campaign says "the only poll that counts is the one on election day" usually means a campaign is about to lose.

Now we could probably add a new one: when partisans start saying let the candidate be the candidate, it means things are off course.

A better national average: