OK, so Wright is old news, Ayers isn't playing as well as they'd hoped.  What's a poor Swiftboater to do?  How about dredging up Rashid Khalidi for the umpteenth time?  "Whatever works," say desperate Republicans.

I'm of a mind that defending yourself when you're under attack from ants, bees, gnats, flies or Republicans is pointless.  There are too many of them, they're mindlessly aggressive and they won't stop coming after you no matter how many of them you slap.  Your only hope is to locate the nest and set it on fire.  Give them something else to think about.

If Obama has any surrogates, now is the time to act.  John McCain and the Republicans need to know what it's like to be under relentless, brutal, savage attack.  But more important, he must learn what it's like to be attacked by a lie.  The key to a good Swiftboating attack (and this is something most Democrats don't understand) is that it is essential that the attack be based on a lie.  That's what makes it effective.  If it's based on the truth, there's a defense.  If it's based on a lie, there is no defense except to claim that the attack is unfair.  That's a losing defense.

A Swiftboat attack is a variation on the old "When did you quit beating your wife?" ruse.  Someone needs to find a meaningless detail in McCain's past (I'd pick something having to do with his time as a POW) and turn it into his biggest nightmare.  Force him to defend himself against a lie.

Democrats hate this kind of shit, but if you want to beat ants, bees, gnats, flies or Republicans, you've got to be brutal.

Being too big to fail has its advantages.  From AFP:

"The Fed said that an $85 billion dollar loan facility made available to AIG last month had been used up and that the new cash would be transferred from the New York Fed, which would take securities from AIG and inject cash in return."

So they've gone through the first round of bailout money, and they have their hand out again.  This would be hilarious if it wasn't so damn unfunny.  If I were a political cartoonist, the cartoon would be a picture of a terrorist (labeled "AIG") with an explosive belt strapped around its waist, standing in the in a market (labeled "World Financial Markets").  In the terrorist's hand is the detonator, and the terrorist is saying to Uncle Sam, "More cash, or I push the button."

This is a complete disaster in the making, and the reason it's happening is because Paulson and Bernanke and the rest of the Bushies are in bed with these criminals.

I'll be interested to see what AIG defines as "investment grade" securities.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081008/bs_afp/financebankingusbankinsurancecompanyaig_081008204911

Senator McCain had his chance. He could have relied on his well-established reputation as a maverick to challenge Obama on who is best equipped to effect change in Washington. Instead, he caved in to the far right and selected a ninny as his running mate. And with that one incredibly stupid decision, he sealed his fate. Now he's just a Republican. And America doesn't want a Republican this year. We don't want more of the destruction that George W. Bush and his Republicans have brought us. We want a new direction.

Barack Obama is that new direction. John McCain, had he showed any courage or integrity at all, could have given Obama a run for his money. It's for the strategists to figure out why McCain traded away a career and a reputation for a nasty little sock puppet.

Rick Sanchez just reported that "racial epithets" had been leveled at reporters at a recent Palin rally.  He read a few comments, all of which condemned the racism.  The general feel is "what the hell has happened to this country?"  This is going way over the line, and the public gets it.  This will not play well for McCain.

Sanchez is now criticizing the sheriff who referred to Obama as "Barack Hussein Obama" and tying him to the racist statements that followed.  From the look of it, CNN is jumping on this one.

Martin Sullivan, former President and CEO of AIG, is being grilled by Congress.  He just admitted that there were essentially no funds behind the credit default swaps they were selling, but he said that he didn't believe they were gambling.  Mr. Sullivan deserves to see the inside of a cozy little jail cell for a long, long time.  And I think, by the look on his face, he's aware that the likelihood of that happening is increasing by the day.  This was fraud.  Pure and simple.

CNN's "No Bull Test" finds that John McCain did nothing wrong in the Keating Five scandal.  No bull.  Tom Foreman (a prime specimen of a clueless talking head if there ever was one) twisted the facts into pretzels in order to come to the conclusion that Obama's video is inaccurate and unfair.  And he pointed out that four Democrats were involved and that McCain was the only Republican.  So much for unbiased journalism.  Tom Foreman is an idiot and Campbell Brown is a complacent enabler.  I haven't found the video yet, but if someone has a link, would you please post it?

According to CNN, four of the witnesses in the Troopergate investigation have now agreed to testify.  That's all I have so far.  More soon, I'm sure.