Obama now ahead in two out of three recent polls in North Dakota.

Unbelievable (in a good way)!

You can listen to the calls here:

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/1008/563913.html

Joe McCain called the police emergency line because he was angry he was stuck in traffic.

The 911 call came into the City of Alexandria on Oct. 21st That's creating some buzz because it appears to come from Joe McCain, John McCain's brother.

Operator: 911 state your emergency

Caller: It's not an emergency but do you know why on one side at the damn drawbridge of 95traffic is stopped for 15 minutes and yet traffic's coming the other way?

Operator: Sir, are you calling 911 to complain about traffic? (pause)

Caller: "(Expletive) you." (caller hangs up)

The complaint call about traffic on the Wilson Bridge, outrageous enough that the 911 operator called back. The voicemail on the other end, appears to belong to Joe McCain, brother of presidential candidate, John McCain.

"Hi this is Joe McCain I can't take this message now because I'm involved in a very (inaudible) important political project... I hope on Nov. 4th we have elected John."

Harrison Ford?  I don't think so!

What about Henry Fonda in Fail Safe?

Just released on the INA website - view it now - it will only be there for a week.

http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php?vue=notice&id_notice=I08290030

So John McCain is the presumptive Republican nominee, and if the Democrats keep squabbling their way toward self-destruction over race and gender (how deliciously ironic!), he may well be our next president, even in a year that doesn't look good for Republicans as a party. So what kind of president is he likely to be if elected?

According to Matt Welch, now back at Reason magazine as editor after a stint on the L.A. Times editorial page, he is likely to be the most instinctively bellicose and militaristic president since Teddy Roosevelt, as well as an advocate of increased government power and regulation domestically. Given that most of the media, taken some years ago by Sen. McCain's considerable personal charm on the self-aggrandizingly-named Straight Talk Express and his personal story, have delved hardly at all into his policy preferences, Welch's book, "McCain: The Myth of a Maverick," would be salutary reading for those curious about what this country would be letting itself in for with John McCain as president.

McCain's deviations from Republican orthodoxy are well-known. He was a co-author of the notorious McCain-Feingold campaign finance restrictionist bill that bars political speech by independent groups too close to an election, a provision whose "actual purpose," as columnist George Will put it, "is to protect politicians from speech that annoys them." He has supported (as has President Bush) the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill that provides a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, something most Republicans oppose. He opposed President Bush's tax cuts before he supported them.

McCain has flip-flopped on ethanol subsidies, on constitutional amendments to ban abortion and gay marriage, and supports drastic action on global warming. He famously trashed preachers like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance" in 2000 but has spent much of the past year trying to convince the religious right he is really with them.

The thread running through Sen. McCain's emerging political positions is a love for national glory, usually expressed through military endeavors. As the son and grandson of Navy admirals who believed strongly in the use of sea power to project American influence, he comes by it honestly. He disdains "merely material" success, lecturing us that we must serve a "cause greater than ourselves" (a phrase that only began to appear in his speeches as he found himself in the late 1990s). But the "cause greater" is always nationalism as defined by the government, not devotion to helping the poor or seeking religious enlightenment or - perish the thought! - expanding individual liberty. He sees mere individualism as puny and selfish.

The restrictions McCain would place on ordinary economic activity, lobbying or donating to political candidates are aimed at restoring confidence in ... government, of course, a curious goal in a country whose founders and Constitution expressed the necessity of constant skepticism toward government.

It is hardly uncommon for a man of personal charm also to be personally pugnacious, and McCain's temper is legendary. We experienced it in an editorial board meeting some years ago when the senator blew his stack over some issue so minor we have forgotten what it was. Matt Welch illustrates with a number of examples that McCain is most likely to explode when a criticism contains a strong element of truth. He also shows that from an early age McCain was frequently looking for a fight, eager to show he was a tough guy.

It was not difficult for Welch to find veteran Republican operatives in Arizona willing to criticize McCain for his combative temper, his unnecessary denigration of aides and volunteers, and his disdain for many ordinary folks. Perhaps the fact that he grew up near the nation's capital and spent most of his life there or overseas, and entered Arizona politics largely by marrying an Arizona heiress, accounts for many Arizona Republicans' ambivalent attitude toward him.

It becomes clear also that Barry Goldwater disliked and disagreed with him, largely on the importance of individual liberty.

McCain has admirable qualities, including personal charm, personal courage and perseverance that contributed to his unexpected (by most pundits) political success this year. As president, however, he would likely be dangerous to the country and to its citizens' freedoms.

A publishing company has launched a game which has become the subject of a lawsuit by French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

K&B Publishing has issued a kit containing a voodoo doll (or "poupee vaudou") resembling M. President emblazened with some of his more unfortunate public remarks; a set of instructions and tiny pins.  The idea is, whenever you get angry at Sarkozy for his policies, his flashy excesses in a time of dire economic turmoil or for calling various groups of people he disagrees with "scum", you stick the pins in the voodoo doll.  Which is supposed to make you feel better, and has the added benefit, if you believe in such things, of causing the French President a degree of physical discomfort.

A harmless way to poke (literally) fun at politicians?  Not according to Sarkozy's lawyers, who claim despite the fact he is a public figure, he continues to control the exclusive use of his likeness.  And he is not interested in granting those rights to anyone who ridicules him and/or encourages Sarko-haters to stab his effigy with little color-coded pins.

I wonder how he'd fare on SNL?

From today's Politico (thanks to Jeanne Cummings):

The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin's announcement. Pre-September reports do not include similar costs.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

Slideshow

Palin Fashion

"The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent,' she said.

The business of primping and dressing on the campaign trail has become fraught with political risk in recent years as voters increasingly see an elite Washington out of touch with their values and lifestyles.

In 2000, Democrat Al Gore took heat for changing his clothing hues. And in 2006, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was ribbed for two hair styling sessions that cost about $3,000.

Then, there was Democrat John Edwards' $400 hair cuts in 2007 and Republican McCain's $520 black leather Ferragamo shoes this year.

A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending.

But all the spending by other candidates pales in comparison to the GOP outlay for the Alaska governor whose expensive, designer outfits have been the topic of fashion pages and magazines.

What hasn't been apparent is where the clothes came from - her closet back in Wasilla or from the campaign coffers in Washington.

The answer can be found inside the RNC's September monthly financial disclosure report under "itemized coordinated expenditures."

It's a report that typically records expenses for direct mail, telephone calls and advertising. Those expenses do show up, but the report also has a new category of spending: "campaign accessories."

September payments were also made to Barney's New York ($789.72) and Bloomingdale's New York (5,102.71).

Macy's in Minneapolis, another store fortunate enough to be situated in the Twin Cities that hosted last summer's Republican National Convention, received three separate payments totaling $9,447.71.

The entries also show a few purchases at Pacifier, a top notch baby store, and Steiniauf & Stroller Inc., suggesting $295 dollars was spent to accommodate the littlest Palen to join the campaign trail.

An additional $4,902.45 was spent at Atelier, a high-class shopping destination for men.

///

And the McCain campaign has the nerve to grouse over the amount of money Obama is spending on advertising?