Thanks, Josh for flagging the Rolling Stone article on the facts about McCain, Who would think the GOP would come up with a nominee less honest and fit for the Presidency than George W. Bush or Richard Nixon?

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Sarah Palin's ridiculous performance in the debate only underscores our need to know if John McCain can survive four years in the White House. Not that I think he's more qualified than she is, it's just that if Palin will be President -- and not Mc Cain -- we should know it now.

Actually, I suspect that psychologically she's in better shape (none of her colleagues say she's off her rocker). But intellectually I think McCain may be better suited for high office.

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At first, Jewish rightwingers tried to portray Barack Obama as anti-Israel. That fizzled after he delivered a speech to AIPAC, picked Joe Biden for Vice President, and when the anti-Obama machine could find no evidence whatsoever that he was unfriendly, in any way, to Israel.

Of course, the Republican Jewish operatives never believed Obama was hostile to Israel. What they were -- and are -- counting on is that Jews won't vote for Obama because he is African-American. They are having some success with that approach. The race issue is all they have but it's something.

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In the debate, Sarah Palin promised that she would never "allow another Holocaust. John Mc Cain has repeatedly said he would not permit "a second Holocaust."

What offensive bull! There is not going to be another Holocaust for a host of reasons including the fact that Israel has 200 nuclear weapons and the 4th strongest army in the world. . (There would have been no first Holocaust if the Jews of Europe had the bomb). Jews are no longer helpless flowers who can be annihilated by some tinpot dictator with a big mouth. That was the whole point of creating Israel. And it is Israel's most significant success. No one can destroy Israel without themselves being destroyed. Using the term Holocaust implies that Jews are still helpless victims who can be led like sheep to the slaughter. We aren't.

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As my friends know, I can't stand Charles Krauthammer. First, he's a neocon who has about as much regard for American interests as Nick Sarkozy (i.e, he likes America. He just doesn't identify with it). Second, (stop me if I told this before) he bellowed at the rabbi in synagogue on Yom Kippur 2001 for expressing the hope that Jews and Arabs could coexist peacefully. I mean, he started screaming from his seat in the middle of services. Unforgettable.

But today I give him credit for the best analysis of why Barack Obama should be President: "Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said of Franklin Roosevelt that he had a 'second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament..'" Barack Obama, is better than that. "He's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president."

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I always liked Joe Biden but, I'll admit it, I worried about how he would do in the debate with Palin.

It was a difficult situation. It was imperative that he give the Republicans no openings at all to portray him as condescending, arrogant, sexist or a bloviator.

He gave them none.

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My friend, John Cullinane, is one of the most successful Irish business people in American history. Forty years ago, he began a successful computer software business that soon dominated the field. He is also a great philanthropist who made a singular contribution to peace in Northern Ireland and is seeking to do the same in Israel-Palestine.

The following is a letter he has sent out to his friends on Barack Obama's behalf. I think it is worth sharing with yours (especially if they are of Irish descent).

MJ,
If I were asked to summarize the candidates' relative strengths in a few words, they would be that John McCain has considerable experience but very poor judgment, and that Barack Obama has limited experience but very good judgment, and good judgment wins over experience, every time.

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It's just one more reason that John McCain cannot be President. He has contempt for the democratic process.

By refusing to acknowledge Obama, Mc Cain sends a clear message that he hates his opponent for having the temerity to run against him.

Politicians usually go to some length to avoid the suggestion of personal contempt or hate for their opponents. Why? Because this is a democracy. The "my honorable opponent" phrase is intended to show respect, not necessarily for the opponent, but for the system. And for the voters, the people of the United States.

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Readers of TPM Cafe may recall my posts on HRes 362, the resolution that would have imposed a full blockade on Iran. Although the bill's authors claimed it was not a "war resolution," my take was that a blockade is an act of war, no matter what the sponsors said.

I expected the resolution to pass because AIPAC made it the centerpiece of its lobbying efforts for 2008. At its huge Washington confab, it tasked its membership with getting co-sponsors for the bill with the goal of speedy passage. But look what happened.

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The rightwing neocon New York Sun has published its last edition. From now on, Gotham hysterics, worried that Israel will cede the West Bank or that America won't go to war with Iran or that a guy with a Muslim sounding name will become President, will only have the New York Post to weep over with their morning coffee.

Yes, there are other rightwing papers. But not even the Wall Street Journal is a fullblown neocon paper whose motto could be, "But is it good for the Likud party?."

Anyway, I told my oldest son that the Sun had folded and he said, "good. Did you see their guidelines for interns." I hadn't. But here they are.

The Old Testmanent Lord works in mysterious ways.

PS I feel bad when any newspaper folds. But the Sun was not a newspaper. It was Sean Hannity on paper. My sympathy goes to the people who lost their jobs.

Bill Clinton is something else. Just read what he said on MTP this morning. And this by a Nehesi Coates.

I think he'll be voting for McCain-Palin -- we'll never know, will we? The whole idea of Barack Obama seems to offend him. (Like McCain, he can't look at Barack, metaphorically in Bill's case. It's very odd.)

But I don't think that, at this point, his disdain for Obama has anything to do with Hillary. She is out there for Obama and, unlike Bill, is not using the Jewish holidays as an excuse not to campaign this week. (Yes, Bill told Larry King he won't campaign on Rosh Ha Shana!).

No, it's not about Hillary. Not now. The reason he prefers McCain is because with McCain in the White House, he remains the most important Democrat, the last Democratic President. If Obama wins, he becomes Jimmy Carter, just another ex-President.

The thought drives him crazy. And that is why he wants Mc Cain to win. It is that simple.

In theory the one-state solution is not a bad idea. In theory, Israelis and Palestinians should be able to coexist happily in one state. In theory, Jews shouldn't need a state of their own. In theory, Palestinians could live among the settlers who despise them.

In fact, it's a terrible idea (although, at some point, in a hundred years or whenever the two peoples can truly coexist, it may not be).

I just got back from Jerusalem, Ramallah, and Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is one of my favorite places in the world. It epitomizes the success of the Zionist movement. Tel Aviv is the embodiment of Theodor Herzl's dream: a modern, tolerant, secular Jewish city.

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