As 236.com warned us in "Eight Ways to Survive the Next Eight Days, ":

Block your computer's access to Drudgereport.com -- You know you can't handle it.  You think you can handle it, you tell yourself you know how Drudge works, but then you see the "ZOGBY:  MCCAIN MOVES INTO LEAD 48-47 IN ONE DAY POLLING " headline and you're swallowing a bottle of pills.  If you can't wait for fivethirtyeight.com to tell you why the poll Drudge is citing is bullshit, you can't visit the Drudge Report.  Got it?

Can you imagine how much fivethirtyeight.com drives the wingnuts completely out of their minds?

Obama: With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception...

McCain: Just again, the example of the eloquence of Sen. Obama. He's [for the] health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything.

That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, "health." But, look, Cindy and I are adoptive parents. We know what a treasure and joy it is to have an adopted child in our lives. We'll do everything we can to improve adoption in this country...

I first noticed its Friday a week ago--the McCain ads that had been polluting the airwaves on Washington, DC during the dinner-news segment were gone.  I was out of town most of last week but my wife just commented that all last week, the nightly local and national news broadcasts were McCain ad free zones.

Obama continues to advertise heavily in this market, which includes the battleground state of Virginia. I'm sure that McCain continues to spend in the Old Dominion, but he seems to have given up on Northern Virginia--unless others can correct my impression.  Fairfax County went for Kerry in 2004, and the inside the beltway communities of Falls Church, Alexandria, and Arlington are Dem strongholds, but this TV market also reaches red-leaning Loudon, Prince William, and Stafford Counties.

Anybody else know whether McCain has really pulled his ads from No. Va. /DC/MD?

TPM's lede this morning captures it perfectly:

"And the fact is that the same people that are now claiming credit for this rescue are the same ones that were willing co-conspirators in causing this problem that it is. And you know their names. And you will know more of their names. Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd are two of them."

He really thinks that the Senators are lounging up there on Mount Olympus and their merest whim directly outcomes and huge events in the real world.  Give me a break--their votes are like toilet paper, or at best like cash, to be traded for other votes or favors.  I'm getting really sick of McCain's theme that he lives in this dangerous, heroic place called "Senate World" where he slays dragon and protects damsels, and mighty swings of his sword are "votes."

Because only in a warped fantasy can McCain, even for the purposes of slinging red meat to a pack of racist yahoos, look at the GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS and say, "this is the fault of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd... and that one." 

I don't think it's just rhetoric--he really sees the world this way.  He thinks that the Congress slings their mighty lightning bolts from on high and that makes the world go round.  Because if he couldn't see himself that way, he's just an angry, frustrated old man who failed to measure up to his father and grandfather... and kids... and wives... and fellow POWs...

Oh wait, I think I finally understand John McCain.

yes, a new record....

September 24, 2008, 7:35 PMCBS News Poll: Bush Approval On Economy At All-Time LowPosted by Vaughn Ververs

As President Bush prepares for a nationwide address on the financial crisis, a new CBS News/New York Times Poll shows his rating on handling the economy falling to its lowest level ever. Now only 16 percent of Americans approve of the job he is doing on this issue while 76 percent disapprove of his performance. That’s down from a 32 percent approval rating the president registered on the economy in September of 2007.

President Bush’s previous low on this question came in July when just 20 percent approved of his handling of the economy. Bush received his highest marks on the economy shortly after the attacks of September 11th, 2001.

I'm getting whiplash from trying to reconcile the reality of the radical, emergency US Government intervention in financial markets, and the news media's fixation on the DJIA and other snapshot market indicators.  Of course, this is perfectly captured by Drudge's huge font banner "DOW Ends Week Down 34!!! "

(By the way... I'd like to know how much of the Friday bounce was a one-time move driven by desperate short-sale covering after the SEC banned investors from short-selling 799 financial companies, which drove other short traders to cover positions in non-finacial stocks as well.)

Bush is asking for $700 billion for the bailout of worthless mortgages and other bad debt held by tottering institutions--a jaw-dropping figure that does not include the hundreds of billions already spent to prop up FannyMay/FreddyMac, take over AIG, and pump Fed money into markets.

Whether or not you agree that the US Government ultimately had no choice for the actions it took this past week, there should be no doubt that this crisis is far from over, and the implications for the US economy, financial markets, job, and the US taxpayers are far from clear.  The price tag for this crisis is likely to top $2 trillion over the next five years--dwarfing the $160 billion cost of the last major crisis in financial markets, the S&L debacle of 1986-91.  It will likely mean a net 2% decline in GDP growth over the coming year, with broad implications for state and local tax revenues.

I view the USG's actions as a financial version of the "surge" in Iraq--a necessary move to avert imminent disaster that does little to change the underlying fundamentals of the crisis.  And like the war in Iraq, I'm loath to give them credit for grabbing the steering wheel to avert the fall off a cliff when the focus should be on why they travelled this rutted, misguided course in the first place. 

I'd like to see politicans, government officials, and financial experts answer a few questions:

<b>Why did the Fed and Treasury department wait for a year before decisive action in the mortgage crisis?</b>  I'd wager a lot that early relief for home owners facing foreclosure would have cost a lot less than the trillions of dollars we are about to spend--and keep in mind that the intervention of the past week does nothing to slow the rate of foreclosures and decline in home values. By the end of August, 9.2 percent of all US home mortgages were either seriously deliquent or in foreclosure--that is a mind-boggling statistic.  Nationally, new foreclosure filings during in August increased 12 percent from the previous month and a 27 percent increase from August of 2007--a record.  It's not getting better--it's getting worse.

<b>Did Fannie, Freddie, and Wall Street mix subprime mortgages with high-quality "regular" mortgages in collateral debt obligations (CDOs), aka "Mortgage-backed Securities," despite the vastly different risk profiles? </b>  It certainly seems they did, and if that is the case, why isn't illegal?  One of the FIRST new regulations I'd like to see are some requiring that future CDOs only bundle mortgages with the same risk ratings--and to do that, the regulators have to have the budgets and staff to review and enforce credit-worthiness criterion for loan evaluation across the entire industry.

McCain and Florida Republicans are determined to steal it even better next time, thanks to two new state voting laws that aim to perfect voter suppression--the real whopper is a law that allows anyone to challenge any voter for any reason and puts the burden on the voter to prove they have a right to cast a ballot.

If you live in a very blue state, are a lawyer, and can take some time off around 4 November, you might want to contact the Florida Democratic Lawyers Council about being a poll watcher.

Report Says Oil Agency Ran Amok


There is no evidence that the Dept. of Interior employees were Republican--so far none of the reported sex was gay, and the conservative drugs of choice are meth and oxy, not the blow and weed cited in the report.

It is interesting, however, that the head of the office in question, Lucy Dennett, is married to Paul A. Denett, the procurement policy administrator for the White House Office of management and budget.  Lucy retired on Jan 31.

By the way, this is the same office that forgot to bill oil and gas companies for $10 billion from 2000 to 2006 for the royalties they are supposed to pay for DRILLING ON PUBLIC LANDS. Oops!

At least we know who was on top. I'll skip the obligatory "lube" joke.

Funny, full of opinion and outright balderdash, but true, in a "Daily Show" metatruth kind of way:

http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=Sarah_Palin

A tasty bit:

"In her less than two-years as governor, Sarah Palin has yet to engender the type of scorn voters usually heap upon a governor closer to the five-year mark. The important thing to remember about Alaska is that nothing really goes on there, aside from melting permafrost and lots of drinking… paid for in part by the $1200 checks Palin ordered cut to every Alaskan resident. No wonder she boasts the highest approval rating of any governor in the country."

No, not the one from 2004--I think Obama is doing a flawless imitation so it would be redundant. 

We need the Kerry who gave this speech at the DNC.  If Kerry had given a speech in 2004 with that kind of anger and balls, he might be President Kerry today.

The reality of American politics in the first decade of the 21st Century is that the average voter is dumber than a bag of hammers.  They will vote for a party that has screwed them for eight years if the alternative looks like a nice, thoughtful constitutional  law professor or windsurfing elitist.

If Obama spends its time smugly pointing out that his opponents are liars, he's losing.  He's reacting to their message, and they own the news cycle. 

To put it bluntly, it's time for Obama & Friends to start telling some whoppers of their own.  Make THEM respond.  Make the media and the pundits analyze and dissect YOUR exaggerations and distortions.  Lose the happy, cute, ironic music from the ads and hit them in the head with a freakin' rhetorical sledghammer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/08/AR2008090803088_pf.html

"

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show."

... and that's not change we can believe in.  Such a Maverick... with taxpayer money.  There must be another definition for "maverick" which means cattle rustler.

"... But we're in the middle of a housing and credit crisis and she doesn't even know what Fannie and Freddie are. It's an embarrassing level of ignorance that would sink a candidate for house or senate."

I'd wager that the vast majority of Americans--and news anchors--have not idea what Fanny and Freddie are or what they do.  Nor do they care, nor will "gaffs" like this have any impact on the election.

I have a handy way of knowing who's winning the race-I turn on the network and see who they show first.  Sarah is winning, and McCain is hanging on for the ride.
 
They cut to Obama after 4 minutes and he's saying something witty and obtuse about the "bridge to nowhere."  Yawn.

If this is all the Dems got, get ready for another disappointment.   As Darrell Hammond, playing Bubba said on SNL.. "Next time, you best bring Kryptonite."

If Obama is going to win this thing, he needs to start living up to the label of Chicago Politician.  Palin won't talk about her fundamentalist beliefs so fill the blanks-- Obama may be chided by the New York times for exaggeration, but nobody ever lost a national election pissing off the NYT.  You know it's working if the next news cycle feature Obama saying it, and the Reps. reacting to it.

Here's some starters:

"Sarah Palin thinks the Earth is 4,000 years old, and oil was created by fairies."

"She wants to teach creationism in biology class, and then wonders why American kids have the lowest scientific literacy in the developed world.  Not only it it unconstitutional, it's stupid!"

"She's the only hockey mom in America who could force a town to build an ice rink when it needed a sewage treatment plant and leave that town $22 million in debt even after taking $27 million in earmarks!"

There a  million more.  If the Dems try to out-wonk her, the Dems lose.  She's a radical, right wing nut.  Just point it out.

Question:  Who told the following joke?

Q: Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?

A: Her father is Janet Reno.

[note: at the time, Chelsea was 17 years old]

The answer and more fun can be found at:

http://www.dickipedia.org/dick.php?title=John_McCain

And for those questioning Sarah Palin's educational qualifications:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/palin-attended-5-colleges_n_124036.html