I know we're trying to focus on action, and trying to spend our time phonebanking rather than fretting and checking polls.

But if you do need a little pick-me-up, I strongly recommend the HuffPo article that includes clips from today's episode of The View.

Goddamn it, if it isn't the hardest-hitting interview I've seen in this whole election season. People who make fun of Barbara Walters, you just got served.

McCain's lie about earmarks on this program is getting some attention on the TPM front page. But I think their discussion about Roe v. Wade is every bit as important. A lot of moderate women who fell in love with Sarah's canned quips haven't paused yet to think carefully about the implications of a McCain-Palin ticket for their personal freedom. If the audience for The View skews female at all -- you think? -- I'd say McCain just lost 1% of the female vote in five minutes.

But more generally, Barbara Walters is tough on the guy -- stern and almost scornful. Tone matters as much as substance, and the picture of McCain sitting in the middle of a group of women, getting grilled like this, is a lovely, lovely picture.  The picture itself suggests a lot about what his policies would mean for women.

And the word "lies" gets tossed about several times in re: McCain's ads, and he is forced to (effectively) apologize for the kind of campaign he's been running.  (It's technically an excuse, rather than an apology -- but I think the defensive tone is what matters.)  In the process, of course, he adds a new lie about Palin and earmarks.

I was almost in tears watching these clips. Which doesn't ordinarily happen when I watch The View!! ;-)

[This was posted as a comment, but I thought I might also make it a separate thread.]