I've been watching the congressional race in ID-1.  I was under the impression that Minnick(D) was running around 9pts down after Palin's announcement (based on a KOS poll).

Pollster has posted a few others for the race now and it's confusing.  It LOOKS like one guy is polling Minnick ahead by around 6 points.  At the same time another guy seems to have him down by 12.  I've never heard of either pollster.  Am I looking at this right?

Anyone have any thoughts about what this might mean?

(From AP via HuffPo)

While Palin explains the deep foreign policy gained because she can see Russia and has now gazed into the stare of Karzai ....back home in Alaska:

Parnell, meanwhile, said he has taken over giving many of Palin's speeches and has taken a more active interest in Alaska's budget and the governor's legislative agenda.

"I'm speaking several more times a week _ like, for instance, I'm about to go meet the president of Iceland," Parnell said.

Sooooo ... while Palin has 10 minute photo-ops with two puppet heads of state, her deputy is out doing real international business? 

Am I the only one who finds that ironic?

Should I get paid 50x what my house was really worth - or should I go to jail for fraud?

Real Clear Politics posted this article by George Will. Apparently he's not too happy with 'ole McCain.  The conclusion is great ... but you just have to read the article.

"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"

I think that McCain is losing a more important base than the loony-right.

In Phillidelphia today, McCain had this to say:

"We can't have taxpayers footing the bill for bloated golden parachutes like we see in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy... My friends, the top executives are asking for $2-and-a-half billion in bonuses after they ran the company into the ground."

Isn't that special!  On the same day Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Merrill Lynch was sold for pennies on the dollar to Bank of America.  Which makes us wonder about top McCain adviser John Thain.

From USA Today:

John Thain became CEO of Merrill Lynch in December. Thain's $81 million pay package made him the second highest-earning CEO in the nation this year. Bloomberg News reported  that Thain could make another $11 million.

Apparently, John feels a little different about compensation if it's one of his chief advisers.

Holtz-Eakin says he sees no conflict about consulting Thain, who joined the McCain team before taking over Merrill Lynch. He says Thain did a great job taking the company from a "troubled place" to a "successful purchase."

In less than a year the guy took down amost a BILLION dollars while running the company into a ditch.  But because he found a tow truck to pull the totalled chasis out, he is considered a success in McCainland.  How many Merrill Lynch shareholders walked with a profit?  You also have to wonder what access to an extra billion dollars may have done for Merrill Lynch's position at the time of acquisition.

And McCain is complaining about golden parachutes?

A bit of heartwarming news for someone used to being represented by one of the stupidest people in congress(Bill Sali), it seems that the ID Congressional st has gone from Likely R to Leans R on the Cook Report site.

Sali isn't taking it lying down though!  He's deployed a Super Genius Fundraising Scheme to make up his money deficit!

....the freshman Republican is urging all of his supporters to host yard sales, with the profits from all those old clothes, dishes and furniture going to his Congressional campaign. Yard sale hosts also receive campaign literature to hand out to their bargain-seeking clients,....

Kos just polled the race!  He's the only one who ever Polls Idaho it seems.

Walt Minnick (D): 35
Bill Sali (R-inc): 46
Undecided: 19

This is AFTER Palin. So it's actually pretty good news for this area.  We may not win this year - but the 50 state strategy has really made a difference up here.

Every time I see a McCain/Palin donation request web-ad, it is labeled "Comliance Fund".  This is also on his website.  What the heck is that? 

I assume it's something to do with getting around public financing restrictions, but does anyone know what the actual deal is?

While the quote from Douglas Holtz-Eakin about McCain inventing the blackberry was pretty funny, it kind of sucks that everyone ignored the rest of the economic discussion to just focus on that.

NYT's Michael Cooper gets momentarily distracted, but in a surprising fit of journalism decides to also report what McCain plans to do in relation to the Wall Street crisis.

Not surprisingly, Holtz-Eakin lists a bunch of general woes and presents quentessential bogey men - mostly caused by McCain policy.  The final sentence is a killer though:

But Mr. Holtz-Eakin did not provide specifics. “I think that the moment when we write down a specific plan is the moment we send legislation out from a McCain administration to Congress,’’ he said. “That’s the moment that happens.’’

So essentially, they are saying the only way to find out how they would solve the crisis is to put them in charge and see what the hell they do!  And they figure to start working on it sometime around Jan 15th, 2009?

That bothers me way more than any blackberry gaffe!

I never paid much attention to Joe Biden before his nomination.  I must say, he's really grown on me.

If anyone's in the mood for some Biden speechifying ... it's a pretty decent one.  Has some great lines I never heard before, one I liked quite a bit (attributed to his father):

Don't tell me what you value.  Show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value.

That line led from McCain's budget to a great riff about McCain standing with special interests and wealth.  If Biden writes his own speeches, he's pretty damn good.

Oh yeah, and Biden's running mate made a speech today too :-)

It was funny when John McCain had trouble remembering which Islamic sect was what and Lieberman had to whisper in his ear.  It was a gaffe, and great fun.  And then he made it again.  And again.  And now it comes to this.

The decision to open a tribute to the 9/11 victims by invoking the Iran hostage crisis (1979 I believe) has taken this lack of understanding to a whole new level.  How can you open a tribute to someone by showing such a blatant lack of knowledge regarding what, and more importantly who caused their death?  Does John McCain intend to chase bin Laden to the gates of Tehran, then the gates of Moscow?  Then where? A trumphant return to Bejiing - this time taking all the gold?

Trading on the images of burning American corpses is bad enough.  Sadly, it was not only the New York dead who were salaciously displayed.  It is surprising even, when you consider this is the republican party who was in control of the levers of power when on 9/11 those lives were so abruptly cut short.  This is a low in politics to be sure.

But to bring the Iran of 1979 back and try and tie it to this modern day tragedy is the depth of insult.  Didn't Lieberman whisper in his ear that the Shiite regime of Iran has nothing to do with either Osama bin Laden or the attacks on America?  Did it slip not only the mind of John McCain, but the collective mind of the entire republican party?

So one more time John, but slower: Al Quaeda ... is .... Sunni.[stop]  Iran .... is .... Shiite[stop] Sunnis .... are .... at .... war .... with .... Shiites[stop] The ... Shiites ... did ... not ... attack ... us ... on ... September,11 2001[stop] You ... can .. not ... invade ... another ... country .... that ... had .... nothing ... to .... do ... with ... it[end of story]

How are you going to teach Sarah Palin foreign policy if you yourself are still fighting the ghosts of Regan's enemies?

- Comes from a small state out in the middle of nowhere.
- Unknown on the national stage (so they can invent narrative)
- Not a chance of relating to someone not-white
- Put on the ticket for red-meat GOP appeal

It seems if McCain's gonna be George, maybe Sharah should be Dick.  Cheney's even less popular than Bush.  If Palin is framed as an incompetent version of Cheney wanting to play keystone kops behind old-man McCain's back in the White House, I don't think it would help her image much.

Besides, it's a great tie in to ponder what would happen if Sarah Palin were to take the trip to Georgia that Cheney is on right now.

Palin - None of the experience ALL of the Dick.

A couple of days ago, I came across this piece on the AK national guard.  It seems Palin has decided to give the national guard commissioner a promotion to Supreme General of Alaska (but only in Alaska).  This has some of the rank-and-file pissed because their own promotions are frozen.

General Campbell issued a very interesting statement rebutting the complaint.  The wording struck me as strange at the time but in light of the AIP information, it seems a little more significant. 

This is from a statement by the commissioner (who is also the subject of the promotion in question):

The decision to promote the Adjutant General to Lieutenant General in state status is based on a fundamental states rights stance, for which Alaska has a strong historical position. The National Guard works for the Governor and in Alaska that is a very essential point in our relationships with the federal government. This promotion is a statement by the Governor of Alaska that the National Guard is the state military force responsible for responding to state issues, at the direction of the Governor, working for the Governor. Alaskans serving Alaskans.

Is it normal for Governers to promote generals in this fashion?

Maybe this is what they've been talking about when they say she's been commanding the national guard.  The national guard is apparently an insurgant army for Alaska's freedom - and Palin the supreme commander.   It all makes sense now.

Seeeee!  And y'all said she wasn't qualified!

Boy the purge is happening fast and furious!!!!! 

Open thread to document the articles/videos being taken down, and links to archived copies.

Take a look  It goes just about how you'd expect!

This is going to be waaaaay too fun!!!!

This is already linked over on HuffingtonPost.  I'm bringing it to everyone's attention here partly because I think Reid gets a bum rap but mostly because it is an AWESOME quote.

"I've served with the man 26 years," Reid said."Do I have the ability to speak with experience about someone who has abused everyone he's dealt with? Someone who does not have the temperament to be president, who's wrong on the war, wrong on the economy, wrong on nuclear waste. What am I supposed to do? Walk around talking about what a great guy he is? I don't believe that. .... "

This is the strongest language I have heard yet from any democrat regarding McCain.  IMO Reid taking the gloves off in this fashion seems to indicate that things are about to get pretty rough.  More @ americablog

Man I'd love to see that interview!