Couldn't we just declare Alaska the 'Real' and 'Patriotic' America and let McCain/Palin et all have Alaska and allow them to secede from the union? 

They could call it whatever they wanted to... The Most Real and Patriotic Country In the World,  The Only Truly Patriotic And Real Country Ordained By God, The Holy Land of The Real and Patriotic... whatever they want as long as they promise to secede.

 

I feel better.

So, I guess Sarah Palin is going to be on Saturday Night Live, tonight.  If it goes like it has before, were the political guest meets the actor playing them on the show, then Sarah Palin will come face to face with Tina Fey.    It's no secret that Fey doesn't like Palin, as she's made that clear in several interviews about the subject.  I can't blame Fey, as I also don't like Sarah Palin, for the almost endless list of reasons.  Including her lack of political experience, her phoniness, the fact that conservatives point to her as a new archetype of feminism, when she doesn't represent anything feminism stands for.    So what we have tonight is the possibility that two women will meet face to face, and there most likely isn't a lot of love lost between them.  There will most likely be a palpable contempt in the air tonight.  When it comes time for them to exchange pleasantries, it is most likely going to come off as fake.  If they stick to the agreed upon script, it will most likely not be note worthy.  But if Fey goes off the Script, and goes off on Palin, it might be the "Must See" moment we're all hoping for.  If I were Tina Fey tonight, I would take this once in a lifetime opportunity, to embarrass Palin.  I'd point out that I'm surprised that Palin would visit such an "Anti-American" city.  I'd ask if Todd Palin is here, or is he "paling around" with his secessionist friends up in Alaska.  I'd ask her how her friends in Russia are doing, since she's so close to them.   I'd point out how fake her "folksiness" is.  And I'd do a million other things, to point out what a fraud Sarah Palin is. If I were Tina Fey, I'd put it all on the line, to expose Sarah Palin.  But I'm not Tina Fey, and it might not be wise to piss off the possible future Vice President.  So I don't expect Tina to do what I suggest, but it'd be awesome if she did.  I'd respect her even more than I already do.

The mainstream media has finally noticed Sarah and Todd Palins' ties to the rabidly anti-American secessionist group, the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP). A new CNN video report by anchor Rick Sanchez digs into the Palins' relationship with the AIP, noting that Todd Palin has been a member of the group and that Sarah Palin sent official video greetings as Governor of Alaska to the 2008 AIP convention. In this video, as pictured here, Palin praises the "important role" played by the AIP in Alaska politics.

The AIP has been described as an extreme-right, anti-government organization comparable to militia movements such as that which carried out the 1995 Oklahoma City attack. The group's aims are voiced no more forcefully than by its founder, Joe Vogler, as CNN observes in direct quotations: "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government...," Vogler states in one quotation, "...And I won't be buried under their damn flag." In another quotation, Vogler says: "My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand." As though to leave no doubt in our minds regarding his willingness to use violence to achieve his secessionist aims, Vogler says in one final quote: "I hope we don't have to take human life, but if they go on trampling our property rights, look out, we're ready to die."

Vogler was murdered during an illegal plastic explosives deal in 1993, just weeks before he was scheduled to give a speech to the United Nations on Alaskan independence sponsored by the government of Iran. Pending Alaskan independence, Vogler was buried in Canada according to his wish not to buried under the American flag.

See more on Sarah Palin, Joe Vogler, and the Alaskan Independence Party here and here. 

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

Be sure to go calculate your tax cut if Barack Obama gets election on November 4th.

I've put Obama's widget calculator on my site - go for it.

Get the truth, ignore McCain's lies

This daily post is a clearinghouse for links to posts that either flew by too fast, didn't get the attention they deserved, or are so good they need to be up even longer...

ANYONE can link a post here. If you do, please describe it briefly and tell us why it deserves another look.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to rec this post, even if you don't read any of the links or add anything. It only works if it makes it to READER REC everyday. If it barely makes it, it gets bounced off and good links are lost.

Today, Saturday the 18th, there was a GOTV event here for all the Team Leaders and major Volunteers. The Obama Campaign wanted to train them all for Election Day. The key is organization. As I've said: it's all about the ground game. Always has been, always will be. I was planning to go. I wanted to badly to go. I was one of the few who knew the secret: Jill Biden was going to be there.

My first thoughts? "Holy fucking shit." Jill Biden. Like I always tell my friends, "when Joe Biden says his wife Jill is dropdead gorgeous, he's right and he means it." I wanted so badly to meet her. But at around 9:45 on the 17th, the day before, I was told that I needed to head the office. Out-of-state volunteers were coming to canvass door-to-door from Oklahoma. All the capable volunteers were going to the GOTV training, and I... I was stuck at the office. 

I mean, I didn't object. I was upset. I mean, I wanted to go to the training, and I wanted to meet Jill. But instead, I had to head the office. After two weeks. With only a few hours of sleep. Believe me, it was frustrating. And tiring. And it'll all be worth it when I wake up on November 5th. But you know, it gets tough sometimes. People are jerks. We're all overworked. I feel like I've been working here for months when it's only been weeks. And covering the office while everyone else was at the cool GOTV event with Jill Biden was just... unfair.

Then my cell phone rang. Unknown number. I picked it up.

"Hi, is this Nathan?"

"Yeah, hi."

"Hi, this is Jill Biden."

She was calling me to tell me thanks for the work I was doing. She told me, "it's because of people like you that we're going to win on Election day." And she's right. But not just people like me. People like all of you who have gotten out there and volunteered. All of you who have sacrificed for this. All of you who have put your blood, sweat and tears into this campaign, and into our futures.

I said to her the only thing I could think of at the time, knowing she only had a minute to speak. I said, "Jill, I met your husband at a rally last Friday. Shook his hand. And I wanna tell you. I love you guys. I love you guys. You're awesome. And thank you. Thank you for everything you're doing."

Jill didn't have to do that. I was having a bad day. I missed her event. Her time was constrained. But people, that's what this is about. Barack, Michelle, Joe and Jill are real people, real like you and like me. Sometimes they seem like larger-than-life figures, but honestly? They just want to save this country like we do. Like I know I do.

Hey, Jill? If you ever read this, you need to know how you made my day. You are awesome. Thank you. I know it wasn't a big deal for you, but for me? I think it just gave me enough of a push to get me through these last couple weeks. I can do it. It's not that far off. Change is coming. I can feel it.

If John McCain were any kind of man, he wouldn't hide his depraved campaign conduct behind debates and talk-show appearances that display a kinder, gentler politician than the one smearing Barack Obama.

While he has often pleaded ignorance of the ads that carry his explicit approval, McCain is ultimately accountable for the conduct of his campaign, just as a Navy captain is accountable for the conduct of the crew under his command or a president is responsible for the conduct of his administration.

While some bloggers here want to give McCain a pass for being no worse than Nixon when it comes to the angry pursuit of power, this makes as much sense as letting a serial killer off the hook just because his body count has not yet exceeded Bundy's or Dahmer's. Besides, deceased politicians can''t be held accountable in any meaningful way. The living ones can and should be.

Others argue from the lofty gingerbread-world of moral equivalency in an attempt to equate the conduct of a few emotional Obama supporters with throngs of red-faced McCain supporters, when this is not the issue at all.

What is at issue is the official campaign of innuendo against Obama's patriotism, unmatched by any corresponding accusation officially leveled at McCain. And let's be clear: By "official," I mean coming from the mouths of the candidates themselves or their campaign spokespeople.

The willingness of McCain, Palin, Bachmann and their ilk to personally inflame the GOP base with race-based animosity and veiled charges of un-Americanism is the the very difference that sets the Obama and McCain campaigns light-years apart. And it is the source of the unsettlingly casual and commonplace instances of hate speech that have been captured over and over on camera at McCain and Palin rallies. Not with the provocation of leftists, but with the sole provocateur being McCain or Palin.

Yes, Lt. Cmdr. McCain is responsible for every "off with his head," "kill him," "terrorist" and racial slur shouted at his events against Obama. He is responsible because those are very nearly the terms he uses in his stump speeches, robocalls and advertisements.

* "Terrorist" is used verbatim--with remarkable frequency--in McCain/Palin/GOP rhetoric and outreach.

"Off with his head" and "kill him" is exactly the punishment under Sharia law for Muslim traitors (isn't traitor Obama a secret, terrorist Muslim?) And even under U.S. law, "anti-American" efforts are punishable by dishonor and death.

So to those who say the Democrats are doing the same as the Republicans, I say: "You lie." Obama has never used any words against his rivals even remotely implying suspect criminality or betrayal of country. Indeed, he has often been criticized for his dismaying habit of praising McCain as a genuine American hero.

And the evidence that McCain is a coward? All around us. Anecdotal? As is history itself. Equivalent? In a lipsticked pig's eye. 

This is too stressful!  I'm swearing off MyTPM Blogging.  Everyone (and I don't literally mean everyone, but I can't think of a better word to use, and frankly, I don't really care right now) who comments on my posts seems to not only disagree with me, but want me to lose my home.  And they don't even disagree with my politics!  I mean, really... people need to calm down.  Thanks to Andrew Golis, my lone follower, and everyone who commented on my first post to welcome me here, as well as some other people.  Apart from possibly commenting on articles, I'm not doing this anymore.

Regarding the story of McCain's southwest Ohio chair, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, launching a pre-election "fraud" "investigation," here's the choice quote from the story:

"We've had widespread complaints of fraud but we do not discuss investigations at all," Deters said. He said the complaints came from "a variety of sources."

So you don't "discuss investigations at all," except for the part of the sentence that came right before you said "we do not discuss investigations at all"?

I'll tell ya: These McCain folks in Ohio must be angling for a book deal for "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Voter Suppression Tactics."

Maybe they'll package the book with a CD "jam-packed full of outrageous, terrifying, lie-filled robocalls YOU CAN USE!" 

Surely this is illegal, free speech notwithstanding.

From 538:

Over in Indiana, PA and Northern Cambria, PA, volunteers fielded complaints of a massive wave of ugly robocalls both paid for by John McCain's campaign and those paid for by third parties. The third party call was interactive, and purported to be from Barack Obama himself. The call starts out reasonably, and then "Obama" asks what the listener thinks is the most important issue. Whatever the response, "Obama" then launches into a profane and crazed tirade using "n***er" and other shock language.

Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota set off a firestorm of outrage Friday with comments on MSNBC's Hardball suggesting that Barack Obama and other liberals in Congress are "anti-American." Wittingly or unwittingly, Bachmann assumed the mantle of McCarthyism in her comments to interviewer Chris Matthews, suggesting also that members of Congress ought to be subject to investigation to "find out if they are pro-America or anti-America." Bachmann's comments were followed by a sharp rebuke from Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor of The Nation, who accused Bachmann of "channeling Joe McCarthy, channeling a politics of fear and loathing and demonization and division and distraction..., a politics at a moment of extreme economic pain in this country that is incendiary, that is so debased that I'm kind of almost having a hard time breathing."

Outrage at Bachmann's remarks is sweeping the internet at light speed, sparking a demand for congressional censure of Bachmann and boosting Democratic efforts to unseat her on Nov. 4. An online petition to censure Bachmann posted Oct. 17 has already gathered more than 18,000 signatures; and a Democratic fundraising effort against Bachmann has thus far raised more than $57,000 from over 1200 new supporters. Bachmann's Democratic opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, is currently in a close race with Bachmann to represent Minnesota's 6th congressional district in Washington, and stands to gain a strong boost from efforts such as these now that national attention has been drawn to the need to dump Bachmann. Most recent polling shows Tinklenberg trailing Bachmann by only 4% (42-38) with 15% undecided, a hopeful picture for Tinklenberg now made a little more hopeful. A brand-new TV attack ad against Bachmann links her to the Bush administration and may be of further help to Tinklenberg.

Readers are encouraged to support these efforts against Bachmann by all means at their disposal (sign the censure petition, donate to the fund to unseat her, link to them on your blog and e-mail them to friends along with videos). Expressions of disgust may be addressed directly to Bachmann at her contact page (Minnesota 6th District residents only) or by direct e-mail at: michele.bachmann@mail.house.gov. Angry telephone calls may also be made to Bachmann's Washington DC office at (202) 225-2331, to her Woodbury MN office at (651) 731-5400, and to her Waite Park MN office at (320) 253-5931.

UPDATE: The Elwyn Tinklenberg campaign has now picked up contributions totalling an astonishing $450,000 since Michele Bachmann's comments yesterday on Hardball.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

Just sent an e-mail to Rep. Bachmann's website to let her know I disagreed with her.  She has a right to feel that way, and I have right to tell she wrong.

I've just been watching Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, a story about American soldiers caught by nasty Germans and held prisoner during WWII.  The soldiers are held in internment camps, and are subjected to verbal and physical abuse.  The Germans are comical although serious, so we will stay scared throughout the movie,  but basically they are a joke.

 

For the most part the Natzis are treated comically as buffoons.

 

How will history treat us?  As buffoons, who line up naked people in a pyramid as though it is a joke?  As though we are justified in saying that we are the only country worth following?  Or should we be AMONG the countries who are leading?

Just like Nixon, harassing citizen groups, by infiltrating them, and then creating or manufacturing causes, so they could bring action against the groups, shutting down dissent.

 

The machinations of John McCain are like his Republican Party, MORE OF THE SAME.

 

I live in Illinois, which allows early voting.  I'll be out of town on November 4, so today I went to the local library and voted for Senators Obama and Biden for President and Vice President. 

Even though Illinois is not even remotely contested, I was so excited to make my choice.  There was a half-hour line but I didn't mind waiting - I so wanted to be part of this historic election.  News reports are saying that hundreds of thousands of people from Illinois have already voted early, and it just started this past Monday, October 13.

The people in line today were a mixture of different ages, genders and ethnicity.  We didn't talk much, but there was a hum of anticipation as we waited our turn.  The election judges were thrilled to see so many people, and said the lines have been long every day.  It was such a great feeling to share my day with them.

I'm working on a project with people from Germany, and they are loving every moment of the campaign so far.  They are all supporters of Senator Obama, and have watched every debate and news account.  They wish they could vote, and were as excited about my voting today as me.

CNN's reporting on the "ACORN" story continues to frustrate and now anger me. It is at best partial reporting and at worst selective reporting, which makes it biased. This evening on This Week in Politics the Truth Squad told half truths. It, as well as many other recent CNN segments, neglects pertinent points. For instance not once has there been a recognition that ACORN is obligated by law to turn in all voter registration forms. They can't police the bogus forms turned in by part time workers essentially ripping ACORN off. If anything ACORN may be guilty of poor hiring practices. Linking Barack Obama to ACORN by saying that years ago he trained them and that he represented them in a lawsuit without mentioning that, oh by the way the DOJ was a co plaintiff skews the reporting to purposely make Obama look bad. And while his campaign did pay a group subcontracted by ACORN to do voter registration during the primaries, so what? There are no reported voter fraud related incidents related to that legal business transaction. Again selective and biased reporting meant to leave "doubt." Further there was not, nor to my knowledge has there been any mention in CNN's reporting of a possible politically motivated tie in of the FBI investigation of ACORN to the election. An ex-DOJ veteran Gerry Hebert called the news of the FBI's probe of ACORN "a continuation of injecting DOJ into what has clearly become a political issue."  David Iglesias the former US Attorney fired by the Bush administration has called the investigation a scare tactic reminiscent of the issues he refused to prosecute and that ultimately resulted in his dismissal. One wonders if CNN will ever begin to get the picture? Tie that together with the usual attempts of voter suppression that occurs every four years and the picture becomes even clearer. When will CNN try and pull these threads together and do some real investigative reporting instead of looking for higher ratings and shortchanging the public out of important information - when? Right now, between Lou Dobbs and this type of reportage, if CNN were a newspaper it wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on. For goodness sake a freshman journalism major could do better reporting. CNN needs to grow a set and get after this story,

I don't want this to sound too harsh... but sometimes I get a little annoyed with people who talk, endlessly or otherwise, about certain websites (say, TPM) as a "community."  Not to say it isn't a community; one definition (#3 here), "a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists," certainly describe the MyTPM users.  Broadly, we could probably be accurately described as politically involved and inclined, and left-leaning as a group, for which we perceive ourselves as being different from some other segments of society (not in an elitist way, necessarily, in case that's what you thought I was getting at); and, obviously, we are different from the rest of society in that we have TPM blogs.  However, people often seem to use the term almost like it means a group of people living in one locale, and then seem to infer into online communities all the characteristics that go along with the stereotypical, suburban residential neighborhood, such as neighborliness, friendliness, and helping each other out.  That's all great, and I definitely do believe that people should be friendly to each other online, but we are not neighbors.  Our children do not play together on the street, we don't hold meetings to discuss the speed bumps that the city wants to put in front of Mrs. Walker's house, and I don't drop bags of zuchinni off on your doorstep when I find I've planted too many.  We probably don't even know each other's names or what each others' faces look like!  Now, I'm not saying everyone's like that on sites like these- they definitely aren't, and I've "met" (but not really) several people on here that seem like nice people, but there have also been some people who get an almost narcissistic air about this issue, like they're "helping the community" or something.  They probably aren't.  The likelihood is that they aren't really doing anything except giving themselves a soap box to stand on and then feeling all puffed up about themselves because they feel like they've gone out and made a real difference in the world because they wrote their blog posts.  So my message to those aforementioned e-narcissists, if you will, is basically: STOP TAKING YOURSELVES SO SERIOUSLY.  YOU ARE PEOPLE WHO WRITE POSTS UNDER FAKE NAMES THAT, FOR THE MOST PART, RELATIVELY FEW PEOPLE READ.  GET OVER YOURSELVES!  A sense of humor might be useful, too.

Sorry if that sounded bitter!  I've just had some annoying things happen lately that made me feel like writing this.  And, for the record, I don't view myself as some sort of tamer of the masses or something for doing this; I'm doing it for purely selfish reasons.  Not because I feel like "helping the community" or something.

It's becoming more and more apparent that the majority of Americans have decided to go to the polls and send Barack Obama and Joe Biden to the White House.  However, John McCain and Sarah Palin can take solace in knowing that they both have bright futures in Hollywood.  As I listened to McCain's stand-up routine at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner in New York, I found him to be extremely funny.  And McCain's Michael Jordan-like tongue wagging episode after the last Presidential Debate with Obama, surely will one day rank with the now infamous Howard Dean scream.  Fred Thompson be on notice. You have competition. 

Not to be outdone, Sarah Palin's performance during the lone Vice-Presidential Debate showed that she has actress-like skills in memorizing a script. She could make millions in Hollywood if she chose to go that route full-time and eventually she could win an Oscar.  You bet yaw. Palin does Palin much better than Tina Fey and Palin's upcoming appearance on SNL should be a total hoot.

So it's a win-win situation for all.  Obama and Biden can tackle the serious issues facing the country while McCain and Palin fans can follow their act on the big-screen. It's refreshing to see that most Americans finally realize that it's more important to the sustainability of America to have a President and Vice President with the intellect to tackle major issues than average Joes we feel comfortable having a beer with at the local pub. It's worth noting however that Obama/Biden supporters must validate their revelation by actually casting their votes.

It appears that McCain's dirty tactics are working. According to recent polls McCain has gained at least two points. When will the Democrats ever learn to fight back, We have partisanship, but it seems to be only from one side. Democrats treat the Republicans as though they are the sympathetic characters from the West Wing. While the Republicans believe that the Democrats are some crazy mixture of Lenin,Stalin, Hitler, and Osama Bin Laden. It is time that the Democrats fight back and mention the Keating Five or Palin's links to the Alasakan seccessionist movement. It appears to me that the Democrats like the policy area of politics but don't want to get their hands muddied in the election process. The Democrats need to face the fact that politics is a dirty process and you have to be somewhat mean.

Has anyone read the great article by A.L. Bardach on slate.com about McCain's own radical associations? I have read a lot lately about G. Gordon Liddy and a few others, but these characters are new to this debate.

The GOP's Bill Ayers?

http://www.slate.com/id/2202183

It is definitely worth a look. It is very well written and has a wealth of information. 

On Salon userblogs, they have a feature where you can tip someone if you especially like their posts.  Well, obviously you can't do that over here at TPM, but if you feel an incredible urge to give my family some money, buy this book.  Or this one.  Both are written by real, California progressives, and both are helping finance my ScholarShare account. 

Why is Pollster projecting a win for Jim Martin in Georgia's Senate seat without having a single poll on their record showing Martin in the lead?

Over on the Oleg Asbashain's (a Ukrainian right winger currently living in New York) blog at Pajamas Media, McCain supporters are openly talking about buying guns (and inferring that they intend to shoot Obama supporters with them).

Jay:  My advice is, go to WalMart and buy a gun. Regardless of who wins this election trouble is going to erupt, particularly in urban areas.  Don't carry it around with you like some nut, but keep it in your home in a secure place and learn how to use it to protect yourself and your family.  Here in Baltimore the natives are already getting restless and agitated.It's only going to get worse.

Brad:  Brian, Yes you can buy long guns at Wal*Mart in Washington. I am eye balling a Remington 700 in 7MM for purchase.

Robert G:  Yes I hope that regardless of how the election turns out the Obamanites go ballistic. I would love to mix it up with the gutless punks.  All power to the Party, Hail the Obamination? No."violence begets violence"? We hope se as people become more animal like in thier behaviour and decorum when things don't go their way.

Brian:  You can still purchase guns at Walmart. At least in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas. Havn't hunted in any other states but I can vouch for those four. My guess would be Wally world sells guns in all but the most fanatical states. If you're in a tradionally red state or a hunting friendly state you can most likely get a gun at Sam's shop. In MA, NY, WA and CA you're screwed. Sorry. Thanks to the liberal's "gun laws" you'll just have to go to the innercity of the nearest metropolis and ask anyone on the street where you can buy a gun. A criminal will be happy to accomodate you. You'll get more firepower for less money than from Wall-mart anyway.

Waldoft writes:  I Have a house full of firearms. I have a Weatherby 270, two 22 cal rifles, three shotguns "12 and 20 gauge" and a glock model 30 45 cal I carry everywhere. I have a conceal carry permit. Trust me, these obamatons are nothing but thugs and thives and crack whores. They are also weak liberal homosexual white men and lazy entitlement minded white women. Obama will lose on 11/4. The Joe the Plumber revelation which exposed Obama for the socialist he is will be his undoing. I plan on being loaded up after 11/4 and in prtection mode. I expect the blacks to riot because of ocurse they are all animals. Let them riot. I am not afraid. Big mistake to attack me is all I can say.

MCPA08:  Personally cant see any reason to vote for obama. Unless you hate America, hate white folks or are just awaiting an even bigger government handout than you've been getting.
Someone said a democracy can only last until enough voters realize they can vote for largess to be awarded to themselves from the public trough and do so. I think unfortunately, we are there. Bye Bye Miss American Pie.

In Conservative America writes:  In this Cesspool/city that averages what? about 60,000 muggings/assaults per week, how did anyone even notice? And how did they ever get a Cop to put down their Corned Beef & OTB forms long enough to fill out a report? REMEMBER: in all of this political mush....No matter how you slice it, it's still Baloney!P.S. If this happened where I live, the Lady would have had a carry permit, and she would have just shot the stupid S.O.B.

Caedmon:  LuK, very true. It is increasingly obvious that liberal/lefties have a predilection for this sort of thing. However, all it will take is a couple of assaults on conservatives who are lawfully carrying concealed weapons and who lawfully defend themselves with said weapons. Once those incidents are publicized, I bet the violent libbies will settle down a bit. If these pukes begin to realize that they run the risk of drawing deadly force in response, they'll think twice.

Check out concealed carry laws in your state.

Barry:  That bunch on the left call themselves americans, Ha Americans are tollerent of others we don't surpress others opinions. They are all a bunch of closet communists, God help if you say something about their great OBOMA what a bunch of bullshit. Let them riot if they lose I got something for um. We know how to handle that kind of thing down here in the south. Ever notice when they riot and burn stuff its mostly in the big city or in their own neiborhoods the know where they can do that shit and where not to. Ya I wish that had been my wife she would have kicked his ass. No cops needed just EMS for that dumb bastard.

Chasmodee:  I personally just registered for my conceal and carry permit so I could fend off the lunatic left after they lose next month.

Anonymous (repeated verbatim by IrishKay):  It is time to put on our armor, lock and load, stand up, get up, and defend this country from socialism! Are we ready? Do we have the fortitude? Or are we too comfy and cozy.  See, what the white democrats don't realize is that they too will be in the line of fire if the black folks lose the election. It's not about democrats and republicans any more, it's about blacks against white people who didn't vote for Obama. White democrats can cry I'm with you all they want, it won't matter, if you're white, your gone!

Parker: I AGREE WITH JAY... NO MATTER WHO IS ELECTED, "CERTAIN HOOLIGANS" - ESPECIALLY, IN URBAN AREAS, WILL BE INTENT UPON RIOTING... DESTROYING OTHER'S PROPERTY... LOOTING... KILLING... RAPING... STEALING, ETC., ETC., ETC.
IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN... BETTER TO BE PREPARED TO PROTECT YOURSELF, FAMILY, AND PROPERTY. I KNOW, I AM. AMERICA WILL EXPERIENCE A "RACE RIOT", NATIONWIDE, SUCH AS IT HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
MAYBE IT'S ABOUT TIME TO GET THIS "RACIAL NONSENSE" SETTLED... ONCE, AND FOR ALL. "LOCK AND LOAD, PILGRIM!"

 

 

One of the most important things to come out of an Obama victory, if we are so blessed to prevail, will be the defeat of  Atwood- Rove. Until this happens there is still unspeakable evil being spewed. The robo calls are coming fast & furious from  the man that was devestated by them when he was the target. It somehow makes his claim that his campaign is all about the economy very hollow, it is anything but. Country first, really? More likely it sounds like selling your soul to win.

Please listen to Obama, keep knocking on doors & making calls, send another $10 donation if you can. It is that important & way past time to begin the defeat of this evil that has plagued our elections for far too long.

 

Just found some photos of Obama in St. Louis.  Unbelievable.  Who would have thought so many anti-American, terrorist-sympathizing, vote-stealing, baby-killing, communists could be living in one midwestern city?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Hope%20And%20Change/408

God, this is a great country.

As of this week, Time Magazine's "The Page" scores 10 wins for Obama and 7 for McCain, with 2 weeks left.  A minor victory, but now there's no way for McCain to win in this venue, which many people (myself included) think has been skewed toward McCain all along.

Colbert King of the Washington Post today opens his column  citing a "report" by Dana Milbank alleging that a man yelled "kill him" in a recent GOP meeting in  Clearview, FL.

As a member of a very liberal city in a very liberal state, I have to bogart other people's house races for fun.  Two come to mind that I've been watching: Nevada's Second and California's Fourth Districts.  In Nevada's Second District, we have fourth-generation Nevadan Jill Derby, who has a master's and Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from our very own UC Davis and who got the Comstock Cowboys to record her a pretty awesome song, running against incumbent Republican Dean Heller.  Apparently, she's just passed him in fundraising for the third quarter, but she's in a very Republican district and needs your help.  I've actually campaigned for her while canvassing for Obama, so now I feel especially invested in her campaign.  Go to www.jillderby.com and contribute.
In California's Fourth (which I've driven through on my way to campaign for [Obama and] Jill Derby!), Charlie Brown is running for the second election cycle in a row, this time not against corrupt incumbent John Doolittle but for his open seat after his not-so-surprise retirement.  His opponent is Tom McClintock, who is crazy and lives several hundred miles away from the district.  Go to his website to contribute.
And finally, one of the few things on the ballot in my area that is actually very competitive, the No on Prop 8 (anti-anti-gay marriage, basically) campaign is being outraised and needs money.  Contribute somewhere on this site.

Pollster now projects 60 Senate seats for the Dems (including Sanders and Lieberman, and Dem-leaning tossups).

The McCain campaign has issued a response to Bob Bauer's letter to Attorney General Mukasey.  As one might expect, their response is a huge load of horseshit.

"The letter's request that the Department of Justice investigate 'recent partisan Republican activities throughout the country' is almost a parody of the Obama campaign's attempt to intimidate their political opponents. In case Sen. Obama's lawyer did not notice, we are in the midst of a political campaign, not a coronation, and the alleged criminal activity he calls 'recent partisan Republican activities' are what the rest of us call campaign speeches and debates. All of this is unfortunately reminiscent of the Obama campaign's recent creation of a 'truth squad' of Missouri prosecutors and sheriffs to 'target' people who criticize Sen. Obama. Rest assured that, despite these threats, the McCain-Palin campaign will continue to address the serious issue of voter registration fraud by ACORN and other partisan groups, and compliance by states with the Help America Vote Act's requirement of matching new voter registrations with state data bases to prevent voter fraud."

In case the McCain campaign missed it, one reason we know about the voter registration problems is because ACORN has been in complete compliance with the Help America Vote Act.  Like I said, this is a huge load of horseshit.

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/10/mccain_camp_responds_to_obamas_1.html

An open letter to James Whitson, the editor and Grand Master or whatever of PresidentElect.org, a great resource for historical election maps (though I'm not sure that their analysis is very good this year), concerning this article (published on the site earlier this year), which to me exemplifies the first stage of Republican grief, combined with maybe a higher-than-usual amount of craziness.  I am busy and lazy, and so chose not to reformat my letter to make it into a normal blog entry, and so I think that it comes off sounding a little pretentious, especially in the conclusion.  Oh well.  I should add that I got an email from James Whitson in return that was very positive and indicated he agreed with me that the author was wrong, though it still seems strange to me that he published it, considering how it's just so incredibly transparent and not very persuasive, either.  Anyway, here it is:

For any Facebookers out there, I have two groups you should definitely join: "Demand that Facebook General Counsel Ullyot Resign" and "Say NO to Sarah Palin, She's the Female KARL ROVE!".  The first is about this and the second was started by a relative of an ex-Latin tutor and friend, and seems to be stuck at about eighty members.  Supervenite!

Obama's down a little over one point in today's tracking polls--which has "concern trolls" like me reloading the .38. But! If you haven't already heard, here's a bright spot: Obama drew a crowd of 100,000, and in Missouri! This is all the more heartening when one considers that civic officials tend to underestimate the size of crowds at outdoor events. (In a stadium, where seats are assigned, head counts are more accurate for obvious reasons.)

Now, if only General Powell would endorse him...

Robert

When you want to give tax cuts to the wealthy they call it capitalism, but when you want to give tax cuts to the middle class they call it socialism.

Let's talk about redistribution of wealth, my friends.  That's what we've had for the last 25 years.  All the wealth has been redistributed to the upper class.  And now the middle class is WIPED OUT!!!

Echidne discusses the basic differences in worldview between male and female - every unlit area is a potential assault, commonplace household items become potential defense weapons when playing "what if", sudden bursts of unprovoked abuse and obscenity are commonplace.

http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html#4019843672375903459

Perhaps one day it'll rise to the level of a serious political topic.

Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee proved himself more prudent, informed, and progressive (if the word 'progressive' denotes, as it seems to in our sorry times, someone who opposes torture and the launching of illegal invasions) than half the Democrats in the Senate in 2002, when he opposed Bush's Iraq war resolution. This was a time when Sens. Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and John Kerry were prostituting themselves for their own political ambitions, in the process ceding near dictatorial powers to Bush- but what's an invasion of a helpless country if it positions you as a 'centrist' who is palatable to your average warmongering neocon?

 

Now Chafee is disafflilated from his former party, as the possession  of an ethical compass of any sort is incompatible with membership in the racketeering outfit known as the GOP.

 

He is now stumping for Obama in Rhode Island, He does not, however, have kind words for the 110th Congress of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid:

 

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Is it ethical to recommend your own posts?

What's in those emails?

More importantly what would YOU name Sarah's next baby?  You know there are going to be more. 

http://thetruthburns.wordpress.com/2008/10/18/could-her-emails-be-hiding-secret-palin-baby-names/

Posted from Daily Kos by Davidkc:  McCain interview in Florida regretting not picking Charlie Crist:

"Charlie, because he's so popular, he probably would have made a significant difference,"McCain said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times and Bay News 9.

"I think this would have been a battleground state, except for obviously (with) a popular governor as Charlie Crist is," McCain said.

"Look, this is a tough decision that we made with Sarah Palin."

I imagine that most readers of this blog are too young to remember Richard Nixon, who more than even Ronald Reagan created today's Republican Party. If they did they might be more grateful to John McCain.

Their ignorance of Nixon is especially noticeable when they attack John McCain's campaign for being racist.

If you remembered Nixon, you would think McCain is making a herculean effort to keep the race baiting under control.... Nixon would have played on it ruthlessly.

There seem to be places that McCain won't go... places where his party is begging him to go when they ask him to "take the gloves off: Nixon's places.

Not for nothing did the legendary cartoonist, Herblock portray Nixon crawling from a sewer.

I am afraid to say that if Nixon were running against Obama he would be winning by several lengths by now just as he did against McGovern.

He would, in George Wallace's "immortal" phrase, be "putting the hay down where the goats can eat it." And the few crazy moments at Palin's rallies would be the general tone of  Nixon's campaign.

I don't think many politicians and certainly very few of today's Republicans would allow their life's ambition to evaporate without doing whatever it took to win. This doesn't seem to be McCain's case.

If you think I'm being too easy on him, it's because you just don't remember Nixon.

Perhaps most people think I have it in for the Republicans. That was would be an understatement as I see them manipulate American democracy for their own good. Those means don't justify the ends. The voter takes precedent in our democracy not a party. Maybe it is time to call in the U.N. to monitor our elections because it seems like we are becoming a banana republic.

Wow!!! Biggest American crowd ever!!!

Barack Obama needs to do more to defend himself against the negative campaigning of McCain, the RNC, Fox News and the sleazy whispering campaigns that are oozing out of the internet and into the mainstream. He needs to make this election a referendum on Bush policies as well as Bush political tactics. I would like to hear himself say something like this:

 "Over the past months the McCain campaign and the RNC have been on the attack. They have tried to smear me as a radical, a socialist, a celebrity, a terrorist sympathizer, and as anti-american. I can handle these attacks. I know who I am and I am none of those things. This election is an opportunity to make a statement. With your vote you can say 'Enough'! You can say 'Enough' not only to the failed policies of the Bush administration, but to the politics of smearing, of divison and fear. If you are fed up with negative politics, with being told that only some of Americans are 'pro-america' and patriotic then use your vote to say 'Enough'! This election is about you. It is an opportunity for you to say what you like and don't like and what you want to see in the future. Grab this opportunity and say 'Enough'!"

I think that a pitch of this sort would appeal to independents, who always claim to hate negative politics, and would punish McCain and the RNC for their slimeball tactics.

James

You read a headline that with the lead Obama has in the polls, his advisors are worried about complacency among voters likely to support him.  On the same page of TPM, you read that one candidate is outspending the other 4 to 1 !  And nobody says a thing!  That is complacency!

View my blog: www.projectilepolitics.blogspot.com


It is clear that John McCain is using his status as a veteran as one of his qualifications for President. He touts this as an indication that he is strong on foreign affairs and constantly refers to the fact that he was a POW. McCain's service in an unpopular war should be praised. But there is a troubling trend in his stances on veterans issues after he returned from Vietnam. These stances led the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to give McCain a "D" on their Senate Report Card, the second lowest of all 100 senators. (Barack Obama received a "B"). Here is a list of Senator McCain's positions on Veterans Issues over the years:

• McCain Voted Against Increased Funding for Veterans' Health Care.
• McCain Voted At Least 28 Times Against Veterans' Benefits, Including Healthcare.
• McCain Voted Against Providing Automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Veterans.
• McCain Voted to Underfund Department of Veterans Affairs.
• McCain Voted Against a $13 Billion Increase in Funding for Veterans Programs.
• McCain Voted Against $44.3 Billion for Veterans Programs.
• McCain Voted Against $47 Billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• McCain Voted Against $51 Billion in Veterans Funding.
• McCain Voted Against $122.7 Billion for Department of Veterans Affairs.
• McCain Opposed $500 Million for Counseling Services for Veterans with Mental Disorders.
• McCain opposed an Assured Funding Stream for Veterans' Health Care.
• McCain Voted Against Adding More Than $400 Million for Veterans' Care.
• McCain Supported Outsourcing VA Jobs.
• McCain Opposed the 21st Century GI Bill Because It Was Too Generous.
  

Well jeez. McCain seems to have a superiority complex about his service. Not superiority against non-serving Americans, but against other veterans who did not excel as he did upon return from these wars. This is most strongly supported by his opposition to mental services, including PTSD, for veterans. If he did not develop the disorder after five years of torture, he seems to say, then someone who developed PTSD does not deserve treatment. I know its a taboo to criticize McCain's service or anything related to veterans and McCain and I want to be clear, I respect that McCain served in this war.

But if he wants to flaunt his veteran record, then he should start voting for policies that help veterans rather than leave them in the dust like an arrogant-come-successful high school classmate.

Something about poetry and justice, seeing the GOP and McCain go down because of the collapse of free-rein financial partying, and because their opposition is burying them with campaign contributions. McCain chose the federal money, and Obama said "So long, sucker" and is mounting a blizzard of ad buys, with multifarious themes and venues, and including 30 minutes of paid-for prime time.

Even the formerly fearsome RNC money machine is way behind, and McCain thought he would get some points for announcing Obama had spent more on negative ads than anyone in history. Given that Dem negative ads amount to maybe 1/3 of the total, that implies a pretty huge ad campaign.

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I was an enthusiastic Cafe denizen a few years ago and, encouraged by the new tools, am inching back into the fold.  I hope to use this post for something I found the Cafe to be especially good for back in the day - gaming a future scenario - with the goal of keeping Dems prepared for whatever Republicans might throw at us. 

The scenario, as the title suggests, is Russia invading Ukraine sometime in the next few weeks.  What would it mean for the election?  How could Obama turn it to his advantage?

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Here's the latest on what has to be the weekend's most anticipated story:

Sources close to the retired four-star general and American icon cautioned that Powell's support for Obama over John McCain might stop short of a formal endorsement when he's interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.

Given Powell's cautious nature, he might decide to make his endorsement of Obama implied, rather than explicit. Even so, a well-informed source told the Daily News:

"After Sunday people aren't going to have any doubt who he's voting for."

Two other colleagues Powell has consulted in recent weeks told The News that while Powell admires McCain, he's roubled that the GOP candidate has surrounded himself with hardline national security advisers.

"McCain has too many neocons working for him," said one Republican source familiar with Powell's thinking. 

***

"He wishes McCain could give him a reason to vote for him, but he hasn't yet," a Powell associate told The News.

The entire post can be read at Jonathan Martin's blog at Politco.com 

 

And I was encouraged by the long line when I got there.   Here in Las Vegas, this is the first day of early voting, with some polling places opening at 8am this morning.  I got there at 8.05, had a half hour wait, and when I was done and leaving, noticed that the line to vote had more than doubled!  YEEEHAW!

GO VOTE!  I don't care who you vote for, but just go do it!  Especially if you can vote early.  Beat that November 4th rush!

Mike Barnicle in The Huffington Post on Thursday:

The final push is on and its going to get nasty. Robocalls and mailings with allegations of terrorism - antiamericanism - pro late term abortions are going full throttle in many swing states. Palin has become merely a talking points parrot at hate rallies. The McCainiacs newest gimmick is "Joe the Plumber (JTP)" the affable middle america blue collar dad.

The GOP's strategy in the final days will combine an escalation of these three factors to paint Obama as foreign, dangerous, and not in your best interest. This is otherwise know as the politics of fear mongering. The robocalls and Palin will only serve to consolidate the lunatic right fringe base.  As such they are not going to save McCain and are unlikely to move the numbers very much.

JTP on the other hand is a different distraction. Not much is known about this guy and as such he looks like a regular dude we all know. The type of guy trying to raise a family with hopes to start a business one day. Consequently he appeals to many undecided voters, those voters that have been detached from following politics and are now finally paying attention simply because election day is fast approaching. This is the type of voter that is not informed by lack of interest yet readily identifies with JTP narrative. McCain's campaign will likely try to use this guy to change the theme of his campaign in the final weeks and essentially suck all the oxygen out of the news cycle. This could potentially neutralize the effects of the banking crash and the wars just long enough to get through the election

The fact is that JTP is not a licensed plumber in Ohio. He actually has a lien on his house for back taxes due. He does not and will not make over $250,000 dollars even if he does buy the plumbing business he claims. And, just yesterday admitted that he would actually not have a tax increase and would benefit from a tax break under an Obama administration.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4527144n

This will not stop McCain from trying to use him as a political prop. They are already trying to get him, JTP, to appear at political rallies in Ohio this coming week. It will be his final attempted magic trick to try to pull the election out of the proverbial top hat.

Stay tuned, stay informed.

Check out the difference between what Zogby reports on his own site re: post-debate polling and what he reports to Reuters:

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1596

"The debate appears to have had only a little affect on likely voters nationwide."

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE49G0V320081018

"Today was the first full sample post-debate and there's a clear indication that McCain is moving up."

Keep in mind what we're talking about is a .7% move up for McCain and a .9% move down for Obama, putting the race nearly exactly where it was two days before the debate. In reality, the worst you could say is that Obama's post debate bounce has dissipated.

I guess the horserace moves units.

I hear too many cautioning against complacency, against declaring victory too early , blah blah blah.

 

But think about it. Obama simply needs to flip states whose electoral votes add up 1o 18 in order to obtain a minimal victory, while keeping McCain from flipping any blue states.

 

Let's begin by stating that McCain will not flip any blue states. He trails Michigan and PA by double-digit-or-more margins according to the latest polls.

On the other hands, Obama has a good chance of flipping: Missouri, Virginia,  CO, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, and a reasonable chance of flipping OH, FL, WV and NC. He could also win ND.

How in the world can Obama lose?

night:
Yep. Josh's YouTube in "MCain's Legions" takes me back to 2000 and the KC Freepers... hard to think that this is now, this is STILL, that this cult of FOX tv / mall church faithful seem all the more disinformed, cultist, and hateful:

.

*********
day:
Yesterday, we got to see Obama in Roanoke, and even in the rain the event was full of sun. Well organized buses took us for a short ride from the easy to find parking lots. People were helpful, friendly, with not one hateful shout, though I did see a kid with an anti-Bush button on his cap. Did notice, however, that Roanoke's finest -- the police -- looked angry and not so helpful. I asked one big burly blond if I could go into the rally through the doors he seemed to guard. "Can you?" his smart reply. "I don't know. Can you?" So I was sure to smile at him (my best smile, my grandmother Mitchell's) and thank him afterwards, how nice it all was, so orderly, etc.

The crowd was happy, responsive, Webb's warm up terrific. And Obama? Courageous and made for this time, he makes me believe the yes of yes.

Afterwards, I talked to a lady from a German newspaper about what strikes me most of all. This:

McCain has told us we will have more war; that war is inevitable. He says this easily, this man who sings Bomb, Bomb Iran, thoughtless as a robot about what bombs do to the innocent, the collateral, the inadvertent targets. Clearly, alternatives to war are very secondary thoughts. War comes easy for McCain, and he wants badly to be commander and chief of it all.

And Palin. She terrifies me. It's more obvious evey time she opens her mouth that she doesn't know what she doesn't know. The world is a little one-layer cake for her, all so simple. So neat. Most of all, she embraces a cult church in love with End Time Theocracy. For her, nothing must stand in its way.

In short, McCain-Palin truly believe they know the future and that they have the ready made answers to take us there.

Obama is so different. Equipped with deep intelligence and a necessary humility, he understands that no one knows the future. His genius is in bringing people together to solve problems. That's what a leader does.

Each week I've been taking polling data from Votemaster Andrew Tanenbaum's site www.electoral-vote.com and running simulations of the general election. I do two versions, one using the 4% margin of error common to state polls, and another using a margin of error derived from a regression of 2004 polling data against the actual results. The former is a snapshot of where we are now, and the latter allows for more movement in states before the election.

This week's numbers are even better for Obama than last week's.

4% Margin of Error:
Obama wins 100.0%, averages 360.9 EV (low 307, median 358, high 387)
McCain wins 0.0%, averages 177.1 EV (low 151, median 180, high 231)
No electoral ties.

10.3% Margin of Error:
Obama wins 99.99%, averages 346.6 EV (low 268, median 348, high 419)
McCain wins 0.01%, averages EV (low 119, median 190, high 270)
No electoral ties.

Yes, out of 20,000 trials with two different margins of error, McCain won exactly once. Obviously the one trial that resulted in a McCain victory has no statistical significance, and if I reran the simulation, I'd likely get different results - perhaps a few more McCain wins, or none. But it's safe to say that based on current polling, McCain effectively has no chance to win.

Just for fun, I looked at the one case McCain won in more detail. It was mostly what we'd expect. He takes must-win states Florida, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, and Indiana. He also wins Colorado, New Mexico, and Maine(!), while Obama wins the other Kerry states plus Iowa, Nevada, West Virginia(!), and North Dakota(!!). This highlights that my simulation assumes each state is a completely independent trial, as it's almost inconceivable that Obama might lose Maine but win North Dakota and West Virginia. I should also note that I'm not attempting to allocate Maine's or Nebraska's congressional districts separately: I'm assuming these states are winner-take-all like the rest.

The new polls are again almost all favoring Obama. He's shown consistent leads in Colorado (4 new polls, ranging from +4 to +9) and Virginia (3 polls, +3, +6, and +10), and  Pennsylvania (4 polls, +8 to +15). Florida had 6 new polls, one showing McCain up 2, but the other 5 all gave Obama a lead from between 2 and 5 points. Similarly Ohio had 5 new polls, McCain leading by 2 in one, one tied, and 3 with Obama leads of 2, 5, and 5. North Carolina is still a toss-up, with 3 new polls evenly split between a tie and 2 point leads each way. Missouri may be breaking towards Obama (4 polls, one with McCain up 1, the others with Obama leads of 3, 6, and 8).

Obama is right to be worried about overconfidence, because this polling data sure looks good.

This is a crosspost from Bradblog, where Brad Friedman keeps a watchful eye on all things electoral;  the discussion was about the real voter fraud going on as caging by the Republicans, and how it is being camouflaged by a complicit media, using the ACORN contrivance for cover.

 

"Brad, before much longer, you will have the benefit a publicly exposed bona-fide conspiracy- to-commit-voter-fraud as a reference for your ongoing investigation...

Consider that the concerted and illegal efforts of Republicans to cage voters, was safe for them to get away with until November 2006.

Their arrogant, unrestricted use of caging, which you yourself have shown is illegal by most state and federal standards, could only be perpetuated without the enforcement of those laws.

Now consider the RICO laws; from the Wiki;
"The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly referred to as RICO Act or RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended penalties for criminal acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. It also provides a civil cause of action for those injured by violations of the act."

Lets not get too deep into the civil issue, every disenfranchised voter would be a legitimate victim, but that isn't my point. Consider the first part, which essentially extends guilt to conspirators who may not have been perpetrators of the actual crime.

Now, ponder the extended line of highly connected McCain campaign perps and Rove-connected wingnut rank and file who could be quite justifiably included in that legal lassoe, (Sampson, Goodling, Von Spassky, Griffin, Rove, etc. ad infinitum) the implications are startling.

If voter caging, with the intent of blocking legitimate voters, is a crime, then the list of guilty accomplices from the past 8 years who conspired to facilitate that crime is pretty easy to trace, and that intent easy to prove.

Simply ask; Cui Bono from fewer low-income and blue-collar voters?

Until the majority swung so hard against them in 2006, the Republican Party was the sole beneficiary of this voter fraud. By institutionally disenfranchising (which is a massive crime that requires a vast conspiracy of entrenched lawmakers) low-income and typically Democratic voters in micro-selected demographics like Ohio in 2004, they could push a closely divided public to the right of it's real center fulcrum.

And because they were in control of the Executive Branch, they agreeably ignored the clearly criminal caging committed by their own operatives, which in essence makes the Executive Branch co-conspirators in the crime of felony voter obstruction, and subject to the RICO laws installed in our legal code.

Had they abandoned their mischief this time around, they might have put some legal distance between themselves and their culpability. But this current vote-supression redux is one more bit of hubris, and exposes the entire house of cards to fresh scrutiny by the 111th Congress and their Commander in Chief.

Brad, your work has been instrumental in exposing the weak underbelly of this vote-suppresssion beast, you have revealed the very basic fact that they can not stand up to public scrutiny. Shine a light on their profanity, and they run for cover.

It's my guess there's an octopus in the middle of this RICO case. Just trace the still-active voter-caging strategists and perps back to their most powerfully connected roots. Anyone want to bet the scent of that old Texas Turdblossom, and the cowpie it rises from, stinks at the center of it all.

Don't let up. Keep after em'. You have slain a mythical anti-democracy dragon, that is not so mythical after all.

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then what's your keyboard worth?

      Again, the legal minds of the Bush administration proves that they would likely lose a legal debate with even the most novice of high school pre-law societies. In the latest memo of the Office of Legal Counsel, their legal argument is not sound. Without arguing the merits of their reasoning, which in its untethered logic raises questions about their American political faith, we should notice how this new Executive decision was issued to the public. Despite the questionable policy, I am worried more by the sneaky, contemptuous manner of the Executive Office by circumventing proper oversight with their addictive use of Executive Orders. This is just another representation of the multitudes of other questionable acts that have gone unnoticed. As a believer in Strict Constructionism, Bush should pay more deference to the Constitution and at the least, follow the example of the Framers when they quite publicly deliberated the Bill of Rights.

     Using the administration's own argument, their decision is framed around the freedom to exercise religion; the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, a Civil Liberty, something the government has compelling interest in protecting.  With such a centerpiece, an argument deserves more public discourse than a posting to their website. You would have thought they would learn a lesson against using the Office of Legal Counsel to diffuse the political bent of their actions. When I was younger, I might have tried to cheat while playing games with my younger, naive cousin by hiding the rules of the game and then making them up as the game goes on; all the while insisting that my cousin should just trust me. By downplaying the importance of their decision's rationale, their methods are like trying to hide a rabid elephant behind sheer curtains at a party purposefully ignoring it's tangibility.

      The actions seem to be calculated and disingenuous. As a deflection, categorizing that opposition's argument as simply, politically liberal, as opposed to conservative I guess (maybe fascist or providential though), is also disingenuous to political debate. Refuting this logic, I am sure there are even the most orthodox of religious figures who see the danger in the administration's decision. Not tempted by this baited tinder and flint, you can see the repercussions from their decision to hold some historical inconsistencies. At the same time refusing diplomatic connections with certain international leaders because of extreme discriminatory acts, the Executive is now willing to give money to certain discriminating faith-based groups.  This example certainly does not hold equality, but what if one of these groups received money for an appropriate initiative while espousing the ideas of white supremacy as a doctrine?  Would this demand judgment, and identify the necessity for separation?

     Critical, legal arguments are also deflected by misappropriating the root of harm against those religious-based initiative groups. The claim is that they were denied funding because of their religion. But they were actually denied because of their public discriminatory behavior. They accept this causality fallacy of legal structure, through dissonance and mis-assigned biases.  This ignores the necessary distinction of how religious groups act both as a part of, and separate from, the public sector. Embodying and exercising ones religious beliefs emanates from an individual, transcendent relation of choice. When people's actions travel into the public sector, they need to behave appropriately around those who made a different choice. Excluding my simple, on-the-fly philosophical rambling as an example (I tend to go on-and-on with no direct), it is this type of philosophical debate the we must address if our social evolution is to progress with a sound foundation. It might be my age driven pessimism, but are we savvy enough with the necessary critical thinking skills?  Have we gone into a post-industrial dark age led by a Hollywood/Entertainment inquisition?

      It is sad to see those, who misinterpret the meaning and purpose of the separation of church and state, accept this non-expolratory ignorance about their personal, religious relationship's and deny the familial tie to essential human rights that exist in spite of human institutions. It is frustrating to see the Executive Office use their institution position to manipulate and dilute the First Amendment with a self-evident fallacy.

     Even though the most central tenant to ones personal religious identity is a part of our natural awareness, some don't see religion and  Natural Law both germinating from the same conscious thoughts.  The Independence that is personified in the ideals of Natural Law  and religious faith somehow becomes disconnected, leading to in public conflicts. Religious faith and our American faith in Natural Law should be fostered in concert. So I think it is sad when such ideas like: independence, sacred divinity, choice, under God, all men created equal, separation of church and state, and the like, act as sources of dissention.  Religious and American faith should both be a sacrosanct part of the awareness to our human existence.

If you are offended by the McCarthy like allegations of MN Rep. Michelle Bachmann today calling Barack Obama "un-American" and calling for an investigation of Congress to see who is and is not "pro-american" then vote below to send a message to Congress to censure her.

Amazingly per Rachel Maddow tonite alone donations to her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, have flooded in to the the tune of over $30,000!!!

Click here to help him beat this wack job.. I sent him $50 to help beat her..

Click here to vote

Needless to say the appearance of Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (MN-06) on Hardball Friday night pissed me off as well as some "others".  I've been looking around all night at this thing and something the good congresswoman didn't ever dream of  has happened.
The netroots got Really Pissed.

Her opponent,  Elwyn Tinklenberghad was adopted some folks at KOS , and it went around the horn as fast as anything the Dean Campaign ever dreamed of.
Tinklenberghad has had $ 100,000 pour in to the Act Blue pages in 12 hours. He's raising money faster than Jerry Lewis.

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18660.

Digby has picked up the torch as well as the first folks at KOS .

Now we all know how vain "Tweety" is , and we all know he does a feature called the "Big Number" on his show at the bottom of the hour. Soo let's give him a real big number for Monday.

Spread out, ask other sites to post on this , it's not like it's starting from Zero, we got a $ 100,000  head start.  And if you need more encouragement consider this :

A day earlier at a debate in St. Cloud with her Democratic opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg, Bachmann spoke kindly of Obama.

"If the presidency would somehow go to Barack Obama, I would welcome him to the 6th District as well," Bachmann said after the debate. "As a matter of fact, I would put my hand on his shoulder and give him a kiss if he wanted to" - a reference to when Bachmann gained notoriety for grabbing President Bush's shoulder after his 2007 State of the Union address and holding on until he kissed her."

Mike Lunsford of Fairfield, Ohio, has a McCain-Palin sign in his front yard...as well as an effigy with an Obama sticker, a Star of David and the word "Husain" drawn on it, hanging from a tree.

Lunsford, who refused to be interviewed on camera, told local reporters that "America is a white, Christian nation" and only white Christians should be allowed to run the country.

Is Lunsford one of the small-town Americans Sarah Palin praises at her rallies?  Does he "get it", in her parlance?

The only thing Mike Lunsford "gets", in my opinion, will be a visit from the Secret Service and FBI.

 

A few weeks there was a flare-up when Fiorina said that Palin wasn't capable of running a corporation. She then expanded a bit saying Obama, McCain and Biden weren't capable either.

Well, she's right. Actually I suspect Obama could run a corporation just fine, but that's not the point. Government is not a corporation. It requires very different skills, and one thing we learn in life is that people are specialists and skilled in certain things and not others. And that can be highly refined - not just a corporate personality, but good in one kind of corporation, not in another. Good in one part of a corporation, not in another.

The bailout deal giving government pieces of companies to run is simply absurdly stupid. Corporate leaders who focus their whole lives on this sphere have hit-and-miss results. Having folks who focus on policy turn around and try to hit the right note in finance and bank operation is just begging for failure.

We've already shown how arrogant we are in presuming to waltz into a country with a very different lifestyle and environment and assume we can just run the place. It's just as arrogant to assume the same with banking, especially having shown how off we were in just regulating mortgages and banks. It might not be obvious from headlines, but banks are also evolving all the time - taking advantage of new computer & network technology, new types of financial instruments, new ways of organizing their branches, new ways of marketing, while dealing with new rules of reporting and diligence. It's a highly competitive environment, that's now shifted to international competition over local. All of that complexity means it's not a cakewalk, not a "slam dunk".

Or perhaps we're looking for a new motto. America: We ♥ Quagmires.

Contrary to Coolidge, the business of government is not business. It is partially supporting business, partially supporting people.

Read more »

If you haven't yet read the TPM frontpage items in the left-hand column titled "McCain's Legions" and "A Doozy" and watched the videos they headline, you will be stunned by the time you have.

Here it is 3:45 in the morning and I have just now finished watching the Republican Party complete its transformation into the Nazi Party of the United States. I despair for our nation.

When did it become acceptable for a leader in a major American political party to light an unquenchable wildfire of hatred in the hearts of followers? Apparently about the time that John McCain became the presumptive nominee for the Republicans.

I would seethe with anger at the profoundly heavy wedge that McCain, Palin and their party are driving into the soul of this country, but that emotion has been usurped completely now and is the sole province of the Right.

Read more »

I am going to vote for Obama, I like is policies, his demenor, and I think he will bring a nice change to the current political enviornment.  I also think that McCain is an honorable man, if maybe running a dishonorble campaign who would also be a good leader for the country but has backward looking, dogma laden ideas about economics.

 

My wife is going to vote for Obama as well, she is less interested with politics, but likes Obama's general tone and dislikes McCain on account of general creepiness when he smiles, and also strongly dislikes Palin, she cannot figure out why anyone would want that woman as a potential leader for the country.

 

Now these are just two opinions, or rationals for voting preferneces, I think both are fairly well thought out and are based on real life issues and feelings.

 

I also know of some people voting for McCain.  One is my father, who thinks Obama is a black muslim terrorist who is anti-american and a socialist. (not like he is the one nationalizing the banks).  The other is a woman who also belives that Obama is muslim and anti-american, and also just might be the anti-christ. 

 

It just makes you think that for the first time in my life, I am voting for a candidate not because he is the lessor of two evils or because the other candidate scares me with his warped world view, but because I am truely supportive and confident he will do a good job.   Contrast that with the McCain voters, and I just would have to say without any hard polling on it, the nutjob ratio is way high for the GOP this year.  I mean really, that a person would actually bring up the possibility of the antichrist into a voting decision is insane.  Just wondering what you might have heard from McCain supporters, any other crazy rationalizations?

 

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the Republicans in Ohio filed another lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court. The suit came from a Republican who lives in New Albany, Ohio which is a suburb  of Columbus.  This really is becoming ridiculous. 

Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman gives a shout out to TPM in the "War and Peace Report."  It is 3:40 into the broadcast.

I have practiced the Tao of the Pessimist over the past few years for matters political, and grasshoppers, it works for me! Here's how: expect a crushing disappointment, but act like a giddy optimist on the outside. (I.e. TAKE action; volunteer for GOTV efforts, donate etc.) Then when the moronic swing voters who decide our elections put another idiot in power, you'll know deep down that yes, you were the sole cynical f*ckhead who clearly saw the doom descending whilst the naive Pollyannas surrounding you were blindsided. There is no salve quite like self-congratulation. Plus, self -pity is fun! Think about it: you did all that volunteer work, forked over $.*, and all for nothing. AND! Should events prove that said giddy optimism was indeed warranted, well, enjoy! Either way, you win!

Uhm, no I'm not quitting my day job, and no, I'm not off my meds, why?

Robert 

An ASU poll has McCain leading Obama by only 2 points in Arizona! Now, all available evidence suggests that Obama knows what he's doing better than I. And winning the election is obviously more important than satisfying my partisan cravings. Still, if Senator Obama could find the time without neglecting other priorities, I really wish he'd visit Phoenix.

I've been vaguely disappointed that Senator Obama hasn't delivered the crushing, humiliating smackdown that Republicans so richly deserve. And I can't think of a more deserving group of Republicans than the ones right here in Arizona. For Obama to ninja the state of Arizona would be truly epic.

Barry Goldwater carried Arizona and nowhere else. But he is widely regarded as a founder of the conservative movement that has brought the nation to the brink of ruin. I can't think of a more fitting end to this failed philosophy than for John McCain to suffer his predecessor's fate.

Oh wait, yes I can. I want McCain to lose Arizona too.

Okay, this is really going nowhere.  I amused myself with the headline, so I went with it.

 

Pretty much what they did Thursday.  And they had been on such a roll!

This NYT editorial, (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/opinion/18sat1.html?hp), notes that in the final three months of his presidency, W. is attempting to open 11,000 acres in Utah to oil exploration and off road vehicle use.  The proposals were submitted in the form of six resource management plans, each totaling 1000+ pages.  The public now has less than a month to register complaints before the plans are implemented.  

Daily Kos has a post citing the NYTIMES which says

Mr. Obama is preparing to announce his September fund-raising figures in the next three days, with several top contributors saying the tally is estimated at more than $100 million. The campaign is already so heavily invested in television advertising that it is having serious problems finding open spots to place more commercials. The fund-raising has so exceeded its projections, aides said, that the campaign decided to take the rare step of buying time on network television, including a half-hour informercial in prime time across several networks later this month.

Hooray? :)

I shed a tear for the first time in more than thirty years this evening. I watched one of the highest-ranking public officials in my country call for a new aged Inquisition of her fellow Congress Members. Michele Bachmann today accused not only Barrack Obama, but many Congress people of being "anti-American", and that the media should investigate to find and identify subversive members.  If you watched Ms Bachmann of Minnesota's gestures and facial expressions, you didn't feel that she was merely questioning Mr. Obama's patriotism, you didn't hear her making the case for Mr. McCain's greater sense of American ness. What we all witnessed was absolute conviction and unequivocal belief in the claims that she felt was making. We didn't hear political spin, talking points, or the standard narrative, what we saw in every muscle in her face was true alarm and disdain for the possibility of a fellow colleague who, just because he has differing political views than hers, might be President. Ms Bachmann feels that anyone who is liberal left or a Democrat is an imminent threat to the country.

 How I wish she were reading from a teleprompter, or a RNC issued note card. She and Sarah Palin earlier today actually admitted that anyone, in any place in this country who doesn't agree with them couldn't have this country's best interests at heart. I've been in some tough neighborhoods before, I've traveled to some places where I definitely should not have been, but I've never experienced a level of sheer fright and oppression that I experienced this evening right in my own living room. Chris Mathews, you have made news today on Hardball.  Today marks the day that constituents of both political parties truly begin to examine the people that we choose to represent us.

 I'd heard Alice Walker say at a seminar several years ago "it is far more dangerous to be led by a crazy man than to be followed by one." Michele Bachmann today proved that Ms Walker's statement is genderless!

 Contribute to either of Ms Bachmann's opponents:

 Elwin Tinklenberg (D)

http://www.tinklenberg08.com/

 

Bob Anderson (I)

http://bobandersonforcongress.com/

The hang-ups to progressive taxation are based on few ideals: (1) folks have a vested property interest in their salaries and do not want to have it taken away or feel penalized for hard work; (2) folks believe that capitalism and the free market should decide this issue and view re-distribution as socialist. I think both of these are faulty premises, and I'll explain why.

A few days ago, I posted a blog entry trying to construct a relatable framework (via a Sports Analogy) to the average Joe that can help one at least understand the concept of progressive taxation (http://www.fooze-change-government.com/2008/10/obamas-civility-and-defense-of.html), but I think perhaps the best way to understand it's necessity and equity is ultimately through the prism of the recent economic crisis.

I don't think anyone rational would now doubt that the economic crisis proves that the free market does not always function properly, especially when it's ascribing value to intangible things. The economic crisis has shown that an unfettered "free market' can fall prey to excessive greed and result in assets being artificially over-valued, while other assets are under-valued. The economic crisis has shown that the free market can benefit from regulation and overt correction.

Now - how does this relate to progressive taxation?

What most people don't understand is that salary is just another manifestation of the free market. It's an ascribed value given by the market to our job/work product. Once you recognize that fact, then you can understand why progressive taxation is necessary. Unfortunately, rich people tend to have an inflated assessment of their own worth and want to believe that they are worth what the market is willing to pay them - and therefore they view the money as rightfully their property. But if you go back to the learnings of the economic crisis, you'll understand that this is not actually the case.

The underpinnings of this argument is based on one simple premise: the free market does not work in assigning salaries to individuals, and I think that's undisputable. The free market does not work for a variety of reasons: (1) it is subject to greed; (2) it is subject to arbitrary whims about what is important at a particular time; (3) it is subject to undue manipulation by external forces (war, power structures, etc.); and most fundamentally (3) it is subject to real and profound barriers to entry that are not characteristic of a true free market. People start out in inequitable positions and may never get the chance to get to their true value.

Just like we learned with bubble bursts and asset valuations in the economic crisis, the ultimate test of whether the free "salary market" works or not is in objectively viewing its results. If you take a moment to look at the results - it cannot be disputed that it's not working. It just takes folks being humble. Examples: Adam "Pacman" Jones is a felon and criminal without any translatable skills whose only talent is the ability to play cornerback and run with a football. Yet, he makes millions of dollars while a person who has labored their whole life and studies for 15 years to get a PhD cannot approach six figures as a professor teaching tomorrow's youth. Same is true in accounting for the gap between the CEO and the brilliant workers in his company who actually come up with the ideas that drive his company's success.

A more centered example. I am an attorney who comfortably makes six figures; I have worked hard and gone to the best law schools. But I also now have a job that really has no real value to society - yet I make a great living.

A person just as smart as me may have never gotten the chance to enter this free market because of the place they grew up in, or the inability to pay for school.

My brothers, who are by all objective measures smarter than me - each attended the finest universities in America and received PhD's, but could not get any jobs in the sciences (professor or research) that paid half my salary.

My mother is a small business owner and licensed day care provider who has devoted her life to teaching and caring for toddlers and she can barely make the mortgage.

All of these examples, and especially the barrier to entry ones, show that the salary market is not working properly if left unfettered. If you can come to grips with that fact, then you may come to realize that in order to fix the situation you need a market correction or some form of market regulation. A true market correction would involve complete re-assignment of values, re-distribution of wealth, and would be too drastic and too subjective for anyone to accomplish in a practical manner. But tax policies and progressive taxation are at least a form of market regulation that help alleviate some of the burdens and inequities created by the malfunctioning salary market.

Yes. With only 18 days left, I just donated to Obama's campaign.

These last few days are as, or more, important as all the days that have preceded them. We are in the final stretch. This is no time to raise our heads and look back at our opponents. This is the time to grit our teeth, keep our heads down, and run full speed through the tape.

(third update)

UPDATE with fundraising numbers:

24 hours ago, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced that all those who disagree with her are "Anti-American."  Since then, the outpouring of support for my campaign has been extraordinary.  Since Congresswoman Bachmann's outrageous remarks, my campaign has raised $438,346.57, and we're working to reach $500,000 by 5 p.m. today.  Congresswoman Bachmann's extreme ideology divides people, but her comments on MSNBC's Hardball have united all of those who believe that I will jump start the ecomomy on Main Street by creating jobs and rebuilding our infrastructure.  As a Minister and Mayor, I brought people together.  I believe that we build by addition, not division.  I want to thank you all.  It is now clear that we have the momentum to win and I ask for your financial support.  I will keep everyone posted.

Thank you,

El Tinklenberg

 

(second update) Elwyn Tinklen berg has posted the following thank-you note at Daily Kos:

Kossacks:
The last few hours have been nothing short of astounding.  Since Congresswoman Michele Bachmann appeared on MSNBC's Hardball earlier tonight, there's been a deluge of support unlike anything we have seen.  We are so grateful to the Daily Kos community and others who've sounded the alarm on Bachmann's extremist, shameful rhetoric and pitched in with whatever they can to help end her tenure in Congress.
 
Our phones haven't stopped ringing.  Many have called in to say they're sorry they can only send money and wish they could be here to help.  We want you to know what a difference your funds are making and that, thanks in part to your help, we are confident that we will be able to win this race.  We are preparing to get out the vote on an unprecedented scale, and with supporters like you we will have the resources we need to get the job done.  

I am both hopeful and humbled at the reminder you gave me tonight - that in our country's darkest times, it is the strength and belief and action of ordinary Americans that ultimately brings about the change we need.  From the hardworking folks in Minnesota's Sixth District to all of you: we are proud to have you on our side.  

Thank you,

El Tinklenberg

 

(update) The Act Blue website is now showing $110,000 for our guy El!

The story is on the front page and at Election Central here at TPM, and all over the blogs. Michele Bachmann's comments on Chris Matthews' Hardball tonight have kicked a nationwide fundraising drive into high gear.Over 1500 people have now donated over $60,000 to Act Blue to benefit the campaign of El Tinklenberg in the space of about five hours tonight.

Read about it here:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/17/17297/266/761/633857

here:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/17/171212/66/782/633844

and to participate in donating go here:

https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/nonewmccarthy?refcode=thermometer

and to see the curent total ($68,000 at the time of this posting) go here:

http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/18660

Amazing! Sign the petition to demand that congress censure Michele Bachmann here:

http://www.censurebachmann.com/

This daily post is a clearinghouse for links to posts that either flew by too fast, didn't get the attention they deserved, or are so good they need to be up even longer...

ANYONE can link a post here. If you do, please describe it briefly and tell us why it deserves another look.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to rec this post, even if you don't read any of the links or add anything. It only works if it makes it to READER REC everyday. If it barely makes it, it gets bounced off and good links are lost.

Hi there, come on in.  I know, I know.  I'm truly sorry.  I meant to be here for you whenever you needed me - but I fear I have been woefully inadequate of late.  If it helps any at all, I have missed your company and your comfort.  Please take a seat wherever you'll be comfortable.  The sofa is free as is the ugly blue chair.  Let me get you something to drink, it's the least I can do.  Oh yes, you're right.  I'll be snagging a glass for myself.  Excuse me?  I didn't hear you ... of course!  Whatever you feel like listening to this evening will suit me just fine.  Shoot, if it's worth it crank up those big 'ole speakers.  They can handle the pressure.  I'll be right back, okay?

I miss Sox.  I miss her snore.  She's being taken care of and loved so I don't worry about her too much.  Yet at moments like these I wonder how much she misses me.

I miss lost friends and family who enhanced my life and the lives of so many others.  I miss their light.  They remain in my soul as a part of my internal make-up, I will be eternally grateful for the privilage of having loved them.  Yet at moments like these I wonder how I earned their love.

I have missed these evenings together with you.  I have missed your smiles and your love.  We've crossed paths and spoken briefly - said 'hello' in passing.  Yet at moments like these I wonder how you really are tonight. 

Me?  I'm great, because you're here.  Thanks.  How are you?

  

 

I'd first like to thank The Young Turks Internet TV show and also Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for bringing this story to my attention.

Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post reports today that, Sarah Palin negative view of the so-called "Main-Stream Media", might come from the fact that her campaign staff dissuade her from following news coverage of the Election.  

"But yeah, sometimes you do get depressed watching what it is that they're reporting and the spin and some of the distortion of what our message is and what we stand for. Sometimes that, that gets draining," she continued. "But it's at events like these and our rallies that we are so energized and inspired and we know that we are not alone. We feel your strength and we feel the power of prayer, so many of you tell us that you are praying for us and praying for our country and that's why we so appreciate you being here."

It might be appropriate for Palin to ask for her supporter's prayers since it's starting to look like they might need devine intervention to pull out a victory at this point.  

Palin then spends time talking about how she loves to visit the "Pro-American" parts of America.

 "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. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

Isn't America tired of this polarizing crap?  Well Joe Biden is, at the very least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3m6mJgFfqc 

You can read more about this story at the following sites...

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/10/17/palin_only_visits_pro-america_states.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/17/to_avoid_being_depressed_palin.html

From CNN:

QUESTION: So how come you've dropped the attacks on Obama and Ayers lately?

QUESTION: Just to follow up on that, you said that, you know, 'Obama doesn't see America the way you and I see America.' Do you think Obama loves America as much as you do?

QUESTION: It's unusual for a Republican campaign to be campaigning in North Carolina and Indiana halfway through October in an election year, are you concerned you are spending resources in states and places you shouldn't be?

QUESTION: Governor, the Washington Post and Peggy Noonan both said independently today that you are unqualified to be commander in chief. How do you respond to that?

QUESTION: You talk a lot about voter fraud. How concerned are you guys about that and what can you do at this point when we're just 18 days out to kind of put any safeguards in place?

QUESTION: Did you ask John McCain to bring up Reverend Wright more, and if so what did he say?
FOLLOW-UP: Do you think he should?

QUESTION: How often during the day do you talk to Sen. McCain?
FOLLOW-UP: What do you talk about?

QUESTION: Are you excited for tomorrow night (SNL appearance)? Can you give us a preview?

QUESTION: Isn't Reverend Wright a lot more relevant than Bill Ayers? I mean, he sat in his pews for 20 years.

QUESTION: Last night at the fundraiser you made a comment about the area being a pro-America area of the country. I was wondering if you could explain that a little bit more, what you meant by pro-America?

QUESTION: Are you going back to Alaska to vote?

Here are the questions:

 

1.  Which is the true threat to unraveling the fabric of democracy?

 A] ACORN unwittingly registering non-existent voters who will never actually show up to vote; or

B] Leaving ballots in your trunk, rigging electronic voting machines, disqualifying voters for irrelevent inconsistancies between there voter registration cards and their motor vehicle records or there social security records, combined with various and sundry tactics of discouragement.

2.  Yes or no.  Do you support legislation that would require that a bucket of water be dumped on Michele Bachman's head every time she uses either the words liberal or leftist in combination with either anti- or un- American?

Forget the 60s--this is the next big thing. There will be children born after the first African-ancestry American President, or if an impossible turnover occurs, the first major campaign. Obama is Jackie Robinson, in the big leagues without the freedom to show anger.

Unlike Robinson, though, most of the country's elite is solidly in Obama's corner, with endorsements from all three major newspapers, much of the political establishment, many of the opposing party, and likely the entire cellphone generation, excluding those raised in gated communities or fundamentalist compounds.

Read more »

Obama hung in effigy by a McCain/Palin supporter

http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2008/10/racist-mccain-supporter-hangs-obama-in.html

Thanks to Kossak Tariq Nelson (diary here http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/17/211523/07/547/634055)  for the tip.

In case anyone was wondering racism is alive and well in this country, all you need to find it is a campaign that whips its followers into a hate filled frenzy.

Forget all that nonsense about Obama being secretly a Muslim--his comments at the Al Smith dinner make me wonder if he's secretly a comics nerd, having referenced both Superman ("I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on krypton....") and Mad Magazine ("People tell me I share the politics of Alfred E. Smith and the earns of Alfred E. Neumann"). 

I like the idea of a nerd in the White House.  I really wanted Gore to win in 2000 (and by win, I mean actually getting to be President).  But this could be potentially a very damaging thing for Obama.  After all, if Obama is into comic books, some voters may conclude that he is also interested in Dungeons & Dragons, and if he does play D&D, then some may think he secretly worships the Devil.  Combined with those voters who believe he is secretly a Muslim, a member of some radical black church, or a Jehovah's Witness (based on an e-mail claiming he refused to salute the flag), and we may start hearing, by election day, that Obama practices every releigion in the world.

I wouldn't put too much stock in it, though--anyone who's ever actually played D&D knows that gamers don't have time to run for President. 

It's the honesty.  The good 'ol Straight Talk Express.  Like when, during the third debate, he questioned Joe Biden's foreign policy credential because Biden voted against the first Iraq war.  God damned right.  We all know the first Iraq war was necessary, as McCain pointed out, for the moral defense of poor Kuwait's . . .

. . . oil reserves.  Now, some people will point out that McCain was and is wrong about the second Iraq war, but that hardly matters since, as McCain says over and over, the Surge has been a huge success . . .

. . .at recovering some ground we've lost over the last few years.  Never mind that it's a Red Herring intended to distract us from the fact that we should not have invaded Iraq in the first place.  McCain is right, we need to be in Iraq now, because of all the Terrorists . . .

. . .that were not there before we invaded.  But  that is hardly the point.  They are there now, and we must defeat them.  Iraq is the central battleground in the war on Terror, everyone agrees about that . . .

. . . except for all the people who don't, who say the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan are the central battle ground.  Like the people who are leading the war in Afghanistan.  But what do they know.  McCain said the battle for Afghanistan is over, and he should know . . .

. . . he was a POW, you know . . .

Scaling the Mountains and Molehills of the "Voter Registration Fraud" Controversy

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns and Michael McDunnah

With a constant barrage of allegations against ACORN and other voter registration organizations coming from the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee in recent weeks, it's worthwhile to take a look back at this ongoing war between partisan forces on the right and community based voter registration drives--a war that has largely been fought in the media and nowhere else, and which has threatened to drown out real issues in these crucial weeks before the election.

On October 6 ACORN and Project Vote held a press briefing call in which they announced the completion of their 2007-2008 voter registration drive, a massive 21 state effort that succeeded in registering over 1.3 million low-income and minority people, an apparent record for any single nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. This exceptional news, however, has been nearly lost in a tempest-in-a-teacup brewed by Republicans around a relatively small number of faulty or falsified voter registration applications handed in through the effort.

On October 2, the RNC held a press briefing call attacking the organization. Republican National Committee chief counsel Sean Cairncross called ACORN a "quasi-criminal organization" that is "engaged in systematic fraud and attempts to undermine our electoral system." The RNC, however, did not produce any evidence to support these allegations, other than a handful of problem cards that ACORN itself has identified and alerted election officials about. A small number of ACORN canvassers have been fired for falsifying cards--not in any effort to subvert the election by enabling illegal voting (which is incredibly rare and incredibly difficult), but simply in an effort to get paid for doing work they didn't feel like actually doing. ACORN has encouraged, and offered to cooperate with, investigations and prosecutions against these workers.

ACORN's encouragement and cooperation, however, has not prevented the organization from being the subject of politically motivated attacks. In Nevada, ACORN had already turned over extensive documentation of problem registrations turned in by former workers, and had been working with election officials and law enforcement for weeks when law enforcement nevertheless decided to stage a highly publicized raid of ACORN's Nevada office that occurred on October 7, the day after the announcement of the drive's success. (It was highly publicized, in part, because news crews and photographers just happened to be invited.) ACORN has called the raid a stunt, and interestingly, the very affidavit used to support the search warrant documents the extensive quality control procedures ACORN uses to guard against voter fraud, as well as ACORN's thorough cooperation with law-enforcement officials.

ACORN and Project Vote launched back in a news conference call on October 10. "This is the third election cycle in a row where we've seen partisan interests take the same issue--which is canvassers trying to defraud ACORN by not doing their work and instead fabricating applications--and trying to exaggerate that and turn it into an argument that there is 'widespread fraudulent voting' going on," said Project Vote executive director Michael Slater. "These allegations have been debunked now in several election cycles, and we'll find by the end of this election cycle they'll be debunked as well."

ACORN spokesperson Scott Levenson also made the point that the term "voter fraud" does not apply to these cases. "There haven't been any cases where anyone even suggested that someone attempted to vote under these circumstances," said Levenson. "There are no votes that are really in question here."

Another "Scare Tactic" to Prevent Voter Participation

So what's the motive behind the attacks? At the Huffington Post on October 10, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) said "the real reason is obvious: Because ACORN, along with Project Vote, just announced that they had successfully registered 1.3 million poor people this year." Calling ACORN "one of the strongest, hardest-working, most dedicated community organizations" in the United States, Jackson said "thank you, ACORN. Thank you, Project Vote, for taking our democracy seriously enough to try to include 1.3 million more poor people in a more perfect union."

On the same day election law attorney Rick Hasen at the Huffington Post said, "For the last three elections, Republicans have been ramping up cries of voter fraud as a way of undermining the legitimacy of the election results should they not turn out in their favor and providing a reason for strict voting purges that are likely to remove many Democratic voters from the rolls."

Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers concurred, and helped put these most recent attacks in context. "Republicans have leveled similar allegations against the coalition known as ACORN in every election since at least 2000, but they have yet to produce proof that the group poses a threat to election integrity," Gordon wrote.

"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," former U.S. attorney David Iglesias recently told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2007, the myth of voter fraud was exposed during the U.S. Attorneys scandal, which propelled inquiries into the firing of at least nine federal prosecutors, including Iglesias. Iglesias says he received political pressure to bring charges of voter fraud against ACORN in New Mexico despite the fact that there was no evidence of any criminal activity.

On Tuesday, October 14 the confrontation between ACORN and the McCain-Palin campaign almost literally came to a head with dueling press conferences at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Speaking for the McCain-Palin campaign, former senators John Danforth and Warren Rudman once again raised the same old concerns about ACORN's voter registration work, without citing any new evidence. Immediately following, ACORN held a press conference across the hall, where ACORN leaders were joined by leaders from the voting rights groups Common Cause and Demos, as well as by actual voters to testify to the importance of voter registration.

"We have an opportunity this year," said Miles Rapoport of Demos. "People by the hundreds of thousands and millions are anxious and eager to register to vote and be part of it. I think the criticism of ACORN is a diversionary issue that should not be allowed to cloud what is happening this year, which is an extraordinary flowering of democracy. ACORN is to be applauded for encouraging that, not criticized, and I am proud to stand with them."

The following day, October 15, ACORN and other advocacy leaders--including leaders of the NAACP and People for the American Way (PFAW)--held another press conference in which the allegations were placed in their proper context: as a civil rights issue, and part of a long history of attempts to use accusations of voter fraud to suppress the votes of low-income and minority voters. "This latest attack on ACORN follows a sorry pattern, played out in election after election," said Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP. "Republicans have practiced an assortment of subtle and overt methods to suppress and smother voter registration and turnout...Ever since they first practiced voter suppression, they've yelled, 'Voter fraud!' " The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights also provided a statement of support, and PFAW President Kathryn Kolbert said McCain "should be ready to disavow the organized effort his party has made to subvert the democratic process."

"Those who are stirring the 'voter fraud' pot don't want to talk about voter suppression and intimidation," said Kolbert. "They want to use the code word of 'voter fraud' as cover for their real objective of voter suppression. It's a sad day when a campaign's success strategy is dependent upon keeping voters away from the polls," she said.

Far from "disavowing" the attacks, however, McCain himself took the baseless allegations to a new level on October 15 in the final presidential debate. McCain lashed out at ACORN, attempting to tie his opponent Barack Obama to the controversy. "We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN," said McCain, "who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Senator Obama quickly dismissed both the charges against ACORN and his own "connection" to the organization: "ACORN is a community organization...they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names." While defending ACORN, Obama also clarified his own ties to the organization, which partisans have grossly exaggerated. "The only involvement I've had with ACORN was I represented them, alongside the U.S. Justice Department, in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs," said Obama.

Key State Officials Report No Problems With ACORN Voter Registration Efforts

Even election officials in key states have said that they detected no problems with ACORN's voter registration drives. According to Aaron Deslatte of the Orlando Sentinel, election officials in Florida's Seminole and Orange counties stated that they did not suspect the bad cards collected to be a scheme to defraud the election. Furthermore, "Both Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of State Kurt Browning have said they don't mind ACORN being active in Florida's election process. When reporters asked Crist if there was a problem with ACORN here, he said, 'No.'"

And the Miami Herald reports that "Crist's Republican Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, said he doesn't think ACORN is committing systematic voter fraud...Like ACORN spokesmen, Browning says the false voter registration forms could be blamed on unethical canvassers or on citizens who themselves fill out fictitious voter cards." About the exaggerated claims of voter fraud, Crist is quoted as saying "As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos.''

In Missouri, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Republican St. Louis elections director Scott Leiendecker says that ACORN's registration efforts have been problem-free this year. "Everything's been on the up and up," he says.

In Newsday, Cathy L. Richter Geier, the Republican commissioner of the Suffolk County Board of Elections in New York, told the reporter "We have not seen anything out of the ordinary."

In an interview with Democracy Now, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she's "had nothing but good experiences working with" ACORN.

In Texas, according to the Houston Chronicle, the Harris county registrar reports that "there is no evidence of intentional manipulation of the voter rolls here," and a spokesperson for the Secretary of State's office said that "no problems involving ACORN have been brought to their attention."

The Press Sees Through the Partisan Attack

Putting the number of bad registration cards discovered among the 1.3 million into context, the Baltimore Sun editorializes that "any operation that big is bound to produce errors, but the irregularities cited by GOP critics are minuscule compared with the number of valid applications. ACORN hasn't been charged with violating any law, and it says it has fired workers caught trying to game the system with forged or fraudulent documents."

"Real voter fraud - the intentional corruption of the electoral process by a voter - happens at the polls, not when new voters try to register," the Sun writes. "So far, ACORN's accusers haven't come up with convincing evidence to back up their charges."

There is an important difference between this and previous election cycles, however: the GOP's strategy is not working. In previous years the press didn't catch on to the spurious nature of the attacks until long after the election, and so media coverage became an inadvertent part of a successful strategy to create an unfounded specter of voter fraud and perpetuate the myth that more extreme restrictions were necessary to prevent illegal voting. This year, fewer and fewer reputable news outlets seem to be buying what the GOP is selling.

While some histrionic stories have appeared on Fox News (which has mentioned ACORN more often in the past week than it has mentioned either of the vice-presidential candidates) and CNN--both of which have done stories that have been debunked by independent sources including the watchdog group Media Matters--other reporters and editorial boards have been vigilant in getting to the truth (and the true motive) of the allegations.

In an editorial in the Capital Times (Madison, WI) on October 10 entitled "GOP Battles the Spread of Democracy," Joel McNally says:

"Republicans have another underlying motive for attacking ACORN. It is an organization that engages in that dreaded community organizing. It actually tries to give a voice to the poor and most vulnerable among us...Clearly, organizations like ACORN are on the front lines of promoting democracy in this country while Republicans are trying to stop its spread."

And the Kansas City Star's Friday editorial says:

"Let's look at the facts. The single most important one: Voter registration fraud -- where bogus names, addresses or signatures of potential voters are submitted to election authorities -- is far different from actual voter fraud, where unqualified people show up and try to vote...

"So why all the caterwauling from Republicans? The most salient point is that ACORN has registered more than 1.3 million voters this election cycle. Of course many of these people are in demographic groups -- minorities, and lower- and middle-income Americans -- who tend to vote for Democrats. And many of these people are ready to vote for change..."

In an editorial today the New York Times calls the charges against ACORN "wildly overblown -- and intended to hobble ACORN's efforts":

"..for all of the McCain campaign's manufactured fury about vote theft (and similar claims from the Republican Party over the years) there is virtually no evidence -- anywhere in the country, going back many elections -- of people showing up at the polls and voting when they are not entitled to...

"Meanwhile, Republicans aren't saying anything about another more serious voter-registration scandal: the fact that about one-third of eligible voters are not registered. The racial gaps are significant and particularly disturbing. According to a study by Project Vote, a voting-rights group, in 2006, 71 percent of eligible whites were registered, compared with 61 percent of blacks, 54 percent of Latinos and 49 percent of Asian-Americans...

"The real threats to the fabric of democracy are the unreasonable barriers that stand in the way of eligible voters casting ballots," the Times concludes. "That would go a long way toward explaining the GOP's frenetic attacks on ACORN."

Finally, today, as reported by Bloomberg, the Obama campaign asked U.S. attorney general Michael Mukasey to "add a probe into allegedly false Republican claims of voter fraud to the investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys."

In the letter to Mukasey and special prosecutor Nora Dannehy, who is investigating the U.S. attorney firings, Robert Bower, general counsel for Obama for America, says: "The current surge of improper Republican activity must be understood, first and most fundamentally, in context of years of concerted partisan activities to use bogus claims of 'vote fraud' to suppress voting and to influence elections in the eleventh hour by pressuring federal and local officials--including the Justice Department--to investigate and prosecute allegations of fraud where none exists."

Quick Links:

Minnite, Lorraine. The Politics of Voter Fraud. Project Vote. March 2007.

Hess, Douglass R. "Representational Bias in the 2006 Electorate." Project Vote. Sept. 2007.

In Other News:

House speaker to push for voter ID - Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - House Speaker Chris Benge says he plans to push for a new law requiring Oklahoma voters to present identification when heading to the polling booth.

Judge declines to halt Georgia's voter screening - Atlanta Journal Constitution
A federal judge on Thursday allowed the state of Georgia to continue verifying the citizenship of registered voters with a statewide database.

High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute - The Gainesville Sun
The Supreme Court sided Friday with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.

Why has no one called McCain out on his incessant use of the phrase "redistribution of wealth"?  Taking from the rich to give to the poor?  For the last 28 years we've lived in a redistribution system that takes from the poor and middle class and gives to the rich.  Isn't that what "trickle-down" economics is all about?  Isn't that what deregulation has accomplished -- American tax payers footing the bill for failed corporations, many of whom already received subsidies?  Barack needs to turn this around on the RNC, remind voters exactly which direction funds have been flowing, and the mess it has caused.

Cindy McCain just released her tax returns for the last two tax years.

2007 Total Income: $4,197,028.00

2007 Total Taxes: $1,138,189.00

2006 Total Income: $6,066,431.00

2006 Total Taxes: $1,746, 445.00

As you can see, in 2007, Cindy McCain earned less than the 5 million dollar threshold previously set by John McCain to be considered "rich". Case-closed, Cindy is obviously middle class.

 

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

This may well be premature, but I am assuming Obama will be our next president and how joyful that will be.

But after the exhilaration and emotion recedes, then there is surely coming a titanic battle with the Republican Party.  As I wrote in my Fat Man in the Doorway blog a while back, the modern GOP is interested in only one thing, keeping our government from functioning in the way it was designed to.  As Bill Clinton found to his sorrow, the Republicans are quite ready to hamstring government and any democratic administration when it is in their power to do so.

And it is in their power to do to Barack Obama what they did to Bill Clinton-- put the administration on the defensive with constant legal attacks.  They don't need the House to harass the next president, nor is impeachment the only weapon in their armory.

The coming Obama administration had better be ready for every kind of harassment and obstructionism from the Republican Party.  We are all hoping for a new Camelot, a new bright day in American politics, of reaching across the aisle and bipartisan comity.  But what we are far more likely to see is a barrage of assaults on the administration, originating from all around the country and avidly reported by a controversy-hungry media.

My belief is that Barack Obama is uniquely able to handle such battles and that the GOP will fail; but forewarned is forearmed and we cannot trust the Republican Party, so haughty and over-mighty in ascendancy, to grasp any olive branch of peace we extend to them once we have dethroned them.  They are Strife personified and the next years will show they cannot change their nature.

Or such is my opinion and fear.

You have to hear it to believe it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGRKrUHR0OY

The McCain campaign is beyond desperate, at this point, and as you might expect, the emails are full of things McCain supporters would like us to know.

I had one of those emails cross my inbox yesterday morning...and I thought to myself:
"Self...since the author of this email asked me to look up her facts, maybe I should."

So I did.

Next thing I knew, I realized I was looking at a giant load of hooey.
Follow along, and I'll show you what I mean.

Read more »

Whew.  Thank goodness I'm from a small town!  According to Sarah Palin, if you're from a small town, why, you're PRO-AMERICA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/palin-clarifies-what-part_n_135641.html

As reported in the Washington Post and in more detail in HuffingtonPost, she said:


"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. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans."


Wow.  I'm not only pro-America, I'm REAL America!

We live about 20 miles outside a town of no more than 12,000 souls, which qualifies, I think, as a small town.  In fact, we have to drive a hundred miles just to get to a freakin' mall, so man, we are REALLY small.  Not one of those nasty suburbs that you see in some places like, say, Washington, D.C.

That makes me feel just so superior, being real and all.  It reminds me of that commercial that has this little quaifier at the bottom that says, REAL PEOPLE.  NOT ACTORS.  I had more fun calling up my daughter, an actor who's plied her trade in New York and London and now lives and acts in L.A., and saying, Hey!  You're NOT REAL!

So I say to all you poor slobs livin' out there in those nasty big cities that It's just too bad you're not only not real, but not pro-America.  Also, you're not kind or good and you don't have any courage.

Of course, this presents a dilemma to me, on account of how my son, who did two tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, now lives in HOUSTON.

Eew.  Talk about your basic big city.  I guess that means he doesn't really love America as much as all us small-town wonderful people do.

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!

Sarah has covered the bases:


"Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."


Well, thank God for that!  He doesn't work in a factory and he's not a farmer or a teacher but he protected our virtue in uniform.  So he's covered.

But his girlfriend is not, because she's just a city girl, period.  Neither is my daughter, of course, living in Sodom and Gomorrah like she does.

In fact, I daresay the vast majority of the population of the United States of America is not the "real America," according to Sarah Palin.

Just those who live in small towns in, apparently, very red states, since they won't let her go anyplace else, and now we learn, her staff won't let her watch the news either, because they don't want her to get "depressed."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/17/palins-staffers-keep-her_n_135551.html


I guess if they let her watch the TV news, she'd figure out that small towns make up an ever-growing, shrinking minority of the population of this country.  Drive through any of hundreds of them and you'll see stores boarded up and schools closed, unless they're located either close to a major metropolitan area, have an Interstate running through them, or are located in an area where the local industry is booming.

And small towns are aging.  Almost always, school enrollment is dropping in small towns.  In our own little village--whose population now is probably closer to 10,000--all five elementary schools were closed and combined into a single, new school that was built for those who remained.  And there is still just one high school, but it's UIL ranking has dropped from 4-A to 3-A.

It has long been my opinion that the base of the Republican party is aging; that the demographic of most of the screaming-radio programs and the Bill O'Reilly type shows are also aging.  I know they are losing new voters in this year's registration drive.  Young people are flocking to the Democratic party and its charismatic candidate.

Look around at the crowd shots at a Palin or a McCain rally.  See how many are white and over 50.

Then talk to some parents of grown children who live in those small towns and ask where their kids are.  Chances are, they've had to move away to find work, which contributes even more to the lower birth rate.

So I guess that means that, in order to be a real American to Sarah Palin, you pretty much need to be white, over 50, and come from a small town.

Oh man!  That's me!  The trifecta of Americanness!  Woo-hoo!

Too damn bad I'm voting for Obama, eh?

A reporter for the Greensboro News-Record was physically assaulted by a McCain/Palin supporter at a Sarah Palin rally in North Carolina on Oct. 16. Reporting from the rally at Elon University, reporter Joe Killian described the altercation on his blog as follows:

After the speech was over, I was walking around getting peoples' reactions to it when I wandered into several clusters of sign-waving Obama supporters outside the stadium area. They were surrounded by McCain-Palin folks, and both sides were yelling at each other.

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me, a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

"Hey, hey," I said. "I'm trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?"

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of "U.S.A" by McCain-Palin folks, who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

"Oh, you think that's funny?!" the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. "Yeah, that's real funny..." he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

This assault is a direct result of hate-based verbal attacks not only on Barack Obama and the Democrats but also on the "liberal media" at McCain/Palin events. This was no isolated incident, as attested by many recent accounts of the hate festivals these events have become. While no one in the McCain/Palin campaign told the "large bearded man" in this account to physically assault a reporter, the campaign is responsible for the hateful atmosphere at rallies which led to the incident described here.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

My favorite thing to do: links!  Anyone migrating over from my emailing list will probably recognize these.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/538s-battlegrounds-as-of-mid-october.html -The last sentence is the best, but don't skip ahead.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/dems_gain_major_momentum_in_ba.php -More good news for the Democrats.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/09/ann-selzer-on-youth-minority-turnout.html -Old (in election-news-cycle-years, which I'm told are seventy per human year), but still relevant.

More posts will probably follow soon... I'll have a lot of stuff to post at first since I'm new at this, but that will probably slow down soon-ish.

In its entire 161 year history, the Chicago Tribune has never endorsed a Democratic candidate for President of the United States - until today.

Well, I'm new here.  Let's say my name is Caspar, and I'm a progressive Democrat from California, just outside of Sacramento.  I have many pets, and spend way too much time reading about politics online, hence my TPM blog. 

That's about it, I guess... yeah.

As the election campaigns lurch forward to Nov 4th, John McCain has displayed some erratic behavior. Ex-Tire Swing pundits claim that he's in a bubble and unaware of the campaign that his staff is running.  Maybe.  Perhaps there's a more sinister explanation as we move closer to All-Hallows-Eve. 

Undoubtably, McCain has taken a leaf from Robert Louis Stevenson's book and distilled a potion of undeniable potency.  Only such an drought would explain his complete truthfulness of his defending of the Straight Talk Express and his 100% truthful ads at the same time that his campaign produces another round of cretinous fliers and robocalls. 

I can imagine the pure, honest Dr. John taking his first swig of the potion.  He crumples on the ground in a fit with many an rolling eye and spit-speckled frothing of "new taxes on families making $42,000!"  Mr. McCain awakes and drags himself to his parners in crime, Steve Schmidt and Charlie Condon. 

The next morning in whichever of his six houses he finds himeself in, Dr. John wakes and finds himself in a shambles with no memory of the night before.  He is surrounded by invoices for robocalls and lobbyist. "Oh mercy, me!  However did I wind up?" he asks.  He brushes off any doubts like the flattening of his comb-over. 

He looks out the window. "Say there are my friends, on the Tire Swing outside!"  With barely a thought about the empty flask on the floor at his feet, he runs outside to join his buddies.

They'll all wonder what might of happend to their beloved Dr. John, but as slowly as an untreated wound will throb with pus, Mr. McCain will creep out of his own accord, lurching to and fro, and howling at the moon, "Ayers! Ayers! Don't they know that it's my time, MY time."