I just came across this youtube video at the Veracifier channel:

The McCain Campaign may not want you to see this

Following the link there, I found the story at The UpTake:

By Sam Mayfield
If there's one thing both the McCain and Obama campaigns agree on it's that the election will be close in Florida.  The McCain campaign says it has more volunteers than the Democrats and that ultimately gives them the edge.  McCain's Central Florida Campaign Manger says ACORN and the Democrats have to rely on paid workers.

However, the McCain campaign is hiring paid workers who sometimes also call themselves volunteers.  The UpTake's Sam Mayfield talked to a few of them... and that's when one McCain campaign worker decided you shouldn't see what is going on and threatened to have her arrested.

Then a quick search turned up this article at the Washington Post:

McCain Hiring Paid Canvassers in Florida
By Alec MacGillis

Republicans worried about John McCain's prospects have wondered how his campaign has been spending its not-insignificant pile of money, given that McCain is being heavily outspent on the air in swing states and has invested far less in field offices and organizers than has Barack Obama. Well, here's one place at least some money is going: In Florida, McCain is now offering to pay people to do door-to-door canvassing for the campaign.

An e-mail went out over the weekend from the Republican Party in Hillsborough County, which encompasses the vote-rich Tampa area, inviting supporters to go door-to-door for the campaign for $12 per hour. "Work as many shifts per week as you want," it said. "No experience necessary, but a strong desire to make a difference and a strong work ethic are important. So is reliable transportation."

McCain's reliance on paid canvassers is another indication of the advantage Obama holds going into the final weeks of the campaign, thanks to his formidable ground organization.

...

Brian Lothrop, who has been hired by the Republican Party to oversee the canvassing efforts in one quadrant of Hillsborough County, said the party was seeking to hire about 30 canvassers for each of the county's four quadrants and that he'd already hired 15-20 after the e-mail went out to local Republican clubs and Young Republicans. He said it was not unusual for the party to hire canvassers in the final weeks of a campaign. The party has had volunteers doing "precinct walks" over the past few weeks to distribute campaign door hangers, he said, with nearly 20 turning out on Saturday to walk one precinct in his area.

But the campaign decided that it made more sense to pay canvassers for the task of making sure voters who want absentee ballots obtain them and send them in. That work entails four-hour shifts, instead of the two hour shifts that volunteers commit to, and closely following state rules on absentee ballots, he said. The party decided that was better entrusted to paid workers with that project.

"The compensation helps to make sure they're going to be there for a full four hour shift and able to handle the accountability measures we have, measuring the effectiveness of our effort," Lothrop said. "Those are the reasons we know that we're going to have to shift to a paid effort."

Priceless



(I'm sorry I'm not able to credit the creator of this. I got it in an e-mail).

Classic.

Recommend this if you think that Talking Points Memo should join Andrew Sullivan and Christopher Hitchens in calling upon the major news and cable news networks to stop broadcasting Palin speeches until she holds a real press conference.



Two weeks ago, Sullivan wrote:

It seems to me that in the absence of a real press conference, the networks and cable news networks should simply cease broadcasting her speeches live and demand of every Republican guest that they explain this descent into anti-democratic territory. Bush and Cheney despise the press and despise the constitutional balances that restrict their dictatorial impulses. They don't recognize the rule of law as an impediment to the exercise of their power and they don't acknowledge any democratic input, apart from a single "accountability moment" every four years. And now they want to prevent the public's ability through the press to ask the toughest questions and toughest follow-ups even during that one "accountability moment".

This is how Putin behaves. It is anti-American. It has never been tried in modern times before. It is a chilling attack on an open society and the accountability of its leaders to the people they serve. The press has a duty to stand up against it - and to care more about the process than its own precious reputation in the mouths of Hannity, Steyn, Palin and the rest of them.

Today he points to Hitchens echoing the notion:

There seems no way of putting her in a forum where these points could be raised. So, continued media coverage of her appearances is no better than lending a megaphone to a demagogue, the better to amplify her propaganda.

The MSM has completely rolled over when it comes to Palin.  She has essentially waged a war of words with them, going so far as to flat out say in the debate that she wouldn't answer their questions.  Given her complete ineptitude at handling unscripted media moments, it's almost understandable why Palin would want to stick it to the press like that.  But what's unacceptable and inexcusable is the extent to which the networks are just bending over and taking it.  Their feet should be held to the fire.  And while this sort of pressure may not ultimately result in that elusive press conference actually taking place, it could at least help to direct attention to the issue and expose Palin to the public for the fraud that she is.