It didn't take long for the mean to come out. No sooner did the Republican National Convention end, then did the broad brush lies about how Obama would raise taxes on "you" came out. Never mind that only one percent of the people would feel the pinch, McCain had buttons to push. At the time, he was twenty points ahead of Obama. There was no earth - shattering economic crisis then. McCain's insecurity was showing. And of course, that meant that the showmanship had to start. It started with the stunt casting of Sarah Palin as his running mate. My what a feminist our Johnny is! Of course, it pleased McCain's adopted by necessity base that she was against taxes, pro-drilling and pro-life! Well, I'm sure the base enjoys Sarah's endless verbatim repetition of the same stale talking points.

Reuters reports the leadership has coordinated on vague plans.

One key problem with the goverment-led bailout is the failure to issue bonds, and for the governments to propose 100% bailouts.

We're asked to believe this approach would work.

However, the error is for the governments to offer only a small portion of the bailout -- say 20% -- and then offer the 80% through bonds.

Wall Street should be forced to provide the 80%. A failure of the governments to get other backers suggests the 100% bailout plan focuses on speed, not in generating support.

Jack Kelly of the Post-gazette has just published this article regarding the relationship between Ayers and Obama. 
I believe it's misleading, void of facts, full of omissions.  But maybe I'm missing something.   If anyone has been following this issue, could you help set the record straight?
I'd like to email Jack the facts.  Here's his published email address if you'd like to email him.    
jkelly@post-gazette.com

Wayne Barrett, in Wednesday's Village Voice, had a rather long article called The Book Of Sarah Palin.  While I found parts of it interesting, none of it really meade me sit up and pay attention.  Until I got to the last page, that is.

It would appear, should anyone want to do a little more digging, that Sarah could have a new scandal on her hands.  A scandal that would have repercussions far more serious than a slap on the wrist from the Alaskan legislature.

The speculation is that the Palin's may well have pulled a Ted Stevens. That contractors who worked on the Wasilla Sports Complex, may have also provided supplies, materials and labor to build the Palin's $550,000 home, which was completed about the same time as the sports complex.

Here is the relevant passage:

Todd Palin told Fox News that he built the two-story, 3,450-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath, wood house himself, with the help of contractors he described as "buddies." As mayor, Sarah Palin blocked an effort to require the filing of building permits in the wide-open city, and there is no public record of who the "buddies" were. The house was built very near the complex, on a site whose city purchase led to years of unsuccessful litigation and, now, $1.3 million in additional costs, with a law firm that's also donated to Palin collecting costly fees from the city.

Dorwin and Joanne Smith, the principals of complex subcontractor DJ Excavation & Development, have donated $7,100 to Palin and her allied candidate Charlie Fannon (Joanne is a Palin appointee on the state Board of Nursing). Sheldon Ewing, who owns another complex subcontractor, Weld Air, has donated $1,300, and PN&D, an engineering firm on the complex, has contributed $699.

Ewing was one of the few sports-complex contractors, aside from Spenard, willing to address the question of whether he worked on the house as well, but he had little to say: "I doubt that it occurred, but if it did indirectly, how would I know anyhow?" The odd timing of Palin's house construction—it was completed two months before she left City Hall and while she and Todd Palin were campaigning statewide for the first time—raises questions, especially considering its synergy with the complex.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/news/the-book-of-sarah/5

Now, I doubt that anything will come of this prior to the election, although it would be nice if some of the major outlets would pick it up. 

But even if we can get any traction before the election or not, we can only hope that Alaskans make something out of it.  At laest that way, it may disuade Palin from rearing her head in 2012 or 2016.

When it comes to the Middle East, the best election debate was Biden vs Palin. Both tackled important issues, and delved in deeper than Obama and McCain. As someone from Israel, it was important to see who did better, because we are concerned about the future policies of the US towards the region. This analysis looks at why Biden did a much better job. Rgds from Tel Aviv

A look at the two campaigns reveal a very interesting nugget.

Barack Obama remade the Democratic Party in his image and likeness. He leads, dictates and directs the core values and points of his campaign. The talking points on the campaign sound like him, look like him and seem to be him. His surrogates mostly sing his tunes right down to the sour notes. This is his campaign and party. In like manner, he has developed a core theme for his campaign from day 1 and has never left it. He is still hanging onto this change mantra

In contrast John McCain has not taken control of his party. He never got around to remaking it in his likeness and image. More over, he is not even controlled by his party but is led by a select group of people in some remote corner of his party.

His talking points never seem to be his because they run at variance to the things he supported in the past. So often the things he says are in direct contrast to what his surrogates say.

McCain seems to be someone who is sent to deliver a message. He is never comforatable with his talking points and this makes him seem grouchy and old.

There is no one on earth at this moment who say difinitvely what McCain's campaign theme, slogan or mantra really are, fearful that it will change the next day. YES, his entire campaign flutters around like shot bird and has no stability.

There is no eveidence of McCain's leadership in his campaign and this is why he will lose this election.

I am sure that his supporters are not keen on having him as president, they just do not want a democrat in the house. More particulary a democrat of Obama's pedigree.

John McCain is not ready to lead this country. He will not be president.

 

27-year-old Chelsea Clinton took to the campaign trail in support of her mother and MSNBC's David Shuster accused her mother of "pimp(ing) her out".   Obama was severely rebuked by the press for letting his daughters appear in a light interview with their parents on "Access Hollywood".

If Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are to be admonished for exposing their children to the harsh glare of the national media in perfectly safe settings, then Sarah Palin should be excoriated.  It's bad enough that she has kept her 7 year old out of school for the better part of the past month, flying back and forth to her mother's campaign events in the Lower 48.  To have little Piper represent her mother at an indoor rally in Anchorage, while Sarah campaigned in California, address the crowd at a rally in Florida and sent out into the crowd, accompanied at one point only by sister Willow, to shake hands in Missouri.  But what she did last night, as reported on the Fox News blog, is reprehensible:

"The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said at an earlier fundraiser that she would stop some of the booing from the rowdy Philadelphia fans by putting her seven year old daughter, Piper in a Flyers jersey. She said, “How dare they boo Piper!”  The intensity and ferocity of the boos was apparently lessened somewhat by the appearance of Piper on the ice.

But the Flox blogger was generous in his appraisal of the audience reaction to Palin.  I watched the video.  The boos were so loud they roared over the music - which volume was turned up full-blast in an attempt to ameliorate.

I remember my first hockey game.  20 years of attending pro baseball and football games did not prepare me for the crowd's behavior.  And from what I have heard and read, these fans were tame in comparison to the Flyers'.   A Flyers' biographer wrote: "(they have) a reputation as the roughest, toughest, most vocal and unruly fans in sports".  They threw projectiles at the very popular and likeable Beyonce Knowles, and even at Santa Claus.

Using her 7 year old as a literal "human shield" in attempt to reduce the number or loudness of boos she might receive (or number or size of objects which might be hurled in her direction) was a risk that no hockey mom, soccer mom or any other mom I know of should or would take.  It's almost like putting your kid in the middle of the highway in a Teamsters cap and telling your friends, "Nobody would dare run over her...".

Thank goodness Piper Palin received no worse than a chorus of boos.  But as another blogger suggested, how might this hostile reception affect young Piper psychologically?  Children need protection from harm - not only physical, but emotional.

Like the Philadelphia Flyers' fans, I give Sarah Palin's appearance last night, in her choice to use her little girl in this ultra-cynical way, a big thumbs-down.

Oct. 11, 2008
David Goldstein and Kevin G. Hall
McClatchy Newspapers

As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.

Commentators say that's what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They've specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie's and Freddie's financial problems.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Read full article here.

Let's not get totally distracted by Palin; this kind of ideological subterfuge will have long term consequences if it goes unchallenged. This is the first campaign in recent memory in which fundamental conservative economic gospel-- free (when convenient) markets, trickle down theory, privatization of public goods (social security, health care, etc.)-- has been a part of the political debate, and much of this has to do with the financial crisis. Acquiescing to these false, partisan, racially-tinged attacks on legislation designed to end documented institutional racism also means ceding important ground about the fundamental role of government in preserving our national economic interests.
gkp

And the economy continued to fail. While people and yes, mortgage and investment banks continued to gorge themselves on the high cholesterol of subprime mortgage loans, McCain said "OK" to continued deregulation of the securities market. With this bankruptcy of ideas, McCain has sought to lead his soulless party to four more years of Bush's madness. Only how to do it? His campaign, his party and his allies were going to be out organized, outspent and outproduced by Obama and the Democrats. The answer? Free publicity! How to get it? Stunts! You see, if you don't have thought one on how to change the country, you have to follow the old magician's rule of misdirecting the audience in order to scam them. Now, a magician only wishes to entertain the audience with his illusions. McCain wants to pull the Presidency out of his magic hat.

And so, in 2007, John McCain, the maverick who in 2004 opposed Bush's wartime tax cuts for the upper 1%, decided in 2007 that it just as "maverick-y" to suddenly be for them! Again regarding the Iraq War, McCain showed his convenient ambivalence. Though he wasn't against the war, he made noises like he was reluctant to go to war. The U.N. was to referee the end game, and the pitiful few troops in lraq had to be reinforced. But after the Surge, McCain was all ready to jump into the war bandwagon. Suddenly it wasn't important that we rendered the U.N. helpless, and were continuing a military adventure that was bleeding our economy. We needed "victory!" Despite that, people are still unmoved about the war, and want it to end.

Tonight Sarah Palin tossed out the first puck at the home opener for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. When she was announced there were resounding boos from the crowd. Fox news (of all places) reports that at a fundraiser earlier in the day she said she knew there would be boos so she would bring Piper, her 7 year old daughter, with her to stifle them. Apparently it worked fairly well. If you watch the video of it you can hear the boos when she is first announced but immediately afterward her daughter was announced and walked out and the boos quieted. A quote from the Fox news post:

A carpet was laid down and Palin, dressed in a beige trench, walked on to the ice joined by her daughters Willow and Piper. The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said at an earlier fundraiser that she would stop some of the booing from the rowdy Philadelphia fans by putting her seven year old daughter, Piper in a Flyers jersey. She said, “How dare they boo Piper!”

Has she no shame?

McCain seemed like only one who could talk the middle class's language. After all, wasn't he the "maverick?" Didn't he always speak his mind, especially on matters of civil rights, social justice, and other things that ruffled the feathers of the party elite? And yet, he was certainly no "tax and spend" Liberal! Just a moderate Conservatlve. He even hated fundamentalist evangelicals, and had no truck with the "Culture War!" But then something happened in the 2000 elections that changed McCain. Honest John got beaten in the primaries by an upstart governor from Texas who used sleazy smear tactics and had no shame. He became the victim of smear tactics and innuendos. The lesson he took from that was: a conscience is an inconvenience to a man with high ambitions. And, in order to win the Oval Office, he had to play to the base of hls party. And so, in 2007, John McCain, the maverick who in 2004 opposed Bush's wartime tax cuts for the upper 1%, decided in 2007 that it just as "maverick-y"

And Now The Flailing Begins: Now the comedy known as the McCain / Palin campaign is in it's last stages - that of flailing about incoherently.And Now The Flailing Begins: No wait, wasn't that the condition it was in throughout the general election? It seems only a year ago that the Republicans were fighting a primary over who is best suited to beat the Democratic Opponent and keep the White House in G.O.P. hands.1 Only they were counting on the Democratic Opponent to be Hillary Clinton. What they got was Barack Obama. That plus the damaged Republican brand. And then they got John McCain. He was the best of a bad lot. All of them bear the taint of Republican misrule. Most, like Huckabee and Romney were so in the Bush tank that they almost said "Sieg Heil" Grover Norquist's tax cut pledge during their Youtube debate. Fred Thompson doddered around in a manner appropriate to his age. They played so far to the Right that you just knew that in a year when Republicans were expected t

Maybe I ain’t no genius, but I’s sure is smarter’n her!

October 9, 2008 by pjburns 

Sarah Palin’s overnight emergence (literally) on the national scene has taught us all some valuable lessons in political maneuvering. A “game-changer” will hold the entire base in awe, but for only about a week – unless he/she can say something intelligent at that point. Also, a fresh-faced political outsider can shout out anything to a crowd of like-minded people and they will rave like mad dogs, even calling for blood (again, literally). However, Palin has affected us all in ways we may not have realized. She has made us all more intelligent.

Palin has blundered her way through some painful presentations that have made audiences cringe. Some of the most noticeable gaffes have been when she proudly said that she could see Russia from Alaska or when she couldn’t recall a single Supreme Court decision besides Roe v. Wade. She also couldn’t name a single printed news source. Then she frantically admitted to reading them all. She didn’t know the Bush Doctrine. She named the wrong U.S. military commander in Afghanistan. She certainly said some things that made all of us irritated that she’s honestly within a very-probable stroke away from the presidency. However it also filled us each with a quiet sense of pride. As we loudly screamed, “I can’t believe she is that stupid!” We quietly considered, “I’m not that stupid. Am I?” Then we secretly reassured ourselves, “No, I am definitely smarter than her.” Then we all covertly sought to ensure that we were indeed smarter than Sarah Palin.

Google was inundated with searches for “Alaska view Russia”. People learned that in fact someone could in fact see Russia from Alaska if they are standing atop an igloo on a specific island at the height of spring for one day only and only for about an hour. If we didn’t get all that, we did at least learn that Sarah Palin can not in fact see Russia from her back porch.

As for Supreme Court decisions, most of us out of high school could have easily tossed forth Brown v. The Board of Education – an easy no-brainer, go-to decision. But most of us might not immediately be able to recall the names of any of our other favorites. Therefore if we were ever on an RV with Katie Couric and she asked us, we too might look stupid. She wouldn’t let us get away with just tossing out Brown v. The Board. She would have smiled her ferociously cute smile and said, “What others?” And then, we would be found out. Can’t have that. So, we checked out some of the other big decisions we agree with but can’t think of their names. What else is there again? Scopes? Come on, there has to be something more recent! So we do a quick search – just to remind ourselves. Oh, yeah, there was that Lawrence v. Texas. I agreed with that one. Individual rights and all, you know. Super, that was just five years ago. Oh, but I can’t be talking about that one with Katie, not first off anyway. I will have to bury that one in my list a bit. What else? There were all those Guantanamo decisions, in the past few years. I liked those. Would Katie let me get away with just calling them “those Guantanamo decisions”? I better write them down. There were four?! Okay after some searching you might end up with a list of four or five that you can proudly carry into work on Monday, or even sit down for a “friendly” with Katie. But you can stand tall knowing that, with Brown v. The Board you knew more than Palin!

“News sources? Well, I prefer to get my news from a number of sources, mostly on the internet. Did you know that internet news sources now far outpace the printed press. Yes, it’s true. Hm? Which ones do I read? Oh, well I am glad you asked. I usually start off with my personal news settings from Google news. Yeah, I like to balance it out, so I am not getting my news filtered through a partisan lens. I don’t shy away from the New York Times, but I like to counterbalance it with some of my favorite columnists from the Washington Post. But mostly, I like an international perspective. I subscribe to The Economist. I really think they have a firm but friendly perspective on America’s roll in the world. The Guardian is good too. Of course, there is the Wall Street Journal. Oh, and Time and Newsweek of course – usually just peruse the headlines on those. So, yeah… really a pretty balanced array of news sources for me. Hm? Which Washington Post columnists? … Shit!”

Now, as for Bush’s Doctrine, I will defend Palin on this one. It is so far, the only defense I will make on her behalf. When Charlie asked her about the Bush Doctrine, I too began to rack my brain. What did he mean? There are so many! Bush’s domestic doctrine? – Which has reigned in our civil liberties systematically over the past 8 years. The judiciary doctrine? – putting 2 judges on the supreme court who refuse to make left hand turns while driving for fear they might start thinking incorrectly; or illegally firing district judges who wouldn’t follow Bush’s party line? How about Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition or enemy combatants? How about his fiscal doctrine, the furious deregulation of banks and their overlord financial institutions? How about blood for oil? That’s a Bush doctrine. So, I thought Palin’s response was acceptable, “In what respect Charlie? You mean Bush’s world view?” Oh! He meant preemptive invasion. So now that is THE Bush doctrine? That is just the first chapter. Still we all knew more about it than she did. She just got lucky on that one.

I knew the guy in Afghanistan was a McSomething, and NOT McCain nor McDonald’s. I like to think that in a debate I wouldn’t have just winged it with “McClellen”. I would have just said “the commander in Afghanistan”. No one but Katie would have called me out on it, certainly not Biden. The folks I talk to day-to-day wouldn’t have known his name either. But we all do now. As soon as I heard her say it, I knew it didn’t sound right. Sure enough, within minutes the blogosphere was bombarded with corrections. McKiernan. We’re all straight on that one now.

So, in her own way Sarah Palin has done our country a great service. In direct defiance of her blatant ignorance on issues vital to anyone seeking the second highest office in the land, we have all become smarter. Now, thanks to Palin dumbing-down the interview process, we can all proudly say, “Hell, if she can do it… I can do it better.” Now, let’s all hope, and pray (and vote) that this is the last service she does for our nation.

Funniest thing I've read in .. a long time.

I attended a McCain/Palin meetup tonight

Enjoy!

Does anyone know the answer to that?  I'd like to know if he's sincere about snuffing out the fire his campaign started by invoking the "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" intros, which, by the way, they are entirely responsible for.  I mean, they're not denying that, are they?    

Only 100 Days, 21 Hours, 16 Minutes and 34 Seconds left until George W. Bush leaves office.

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/standardmagnet?source=mainnav_bt_nsu_dg

:)  Let's keep it up!  Shock and Awe my friends!!  Let's give Barack a 15% point landslide / mandate!!!

It just keeps getting better. An Associated Press review out today reports that Sarah Palin had no problem billing taxpayers for her trips back to Wasilla to attend church, as well as other religious events around the state: "What she didn't tell worshippers gathered at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown was that her appearance that day came courtesy of Alaskan taxpayers, who picked up the $639.50 tab for her airplane tickets and per diem fees." "An Associated Press review of the Republican vice presidential candidate's record as mayor and governor reveals her use of elected office to promote religious causes, sometimes at taxpayer expense and in ways that blur the line between church and state." "Since she took state office in late 2006, the governor and her family have spent more than $13,000 in taxpayer funds to attend at least 10 religious events and meetings with Christian pastors, including Franklin Graham, the son of evangelical preacher Billy Graham, records show." As a firm believer in the separation of church and start, this is particularly galling. But will the voting public care that the Gov was pursuing her personal religious crusades on the taxpayers' dime? Of course, one has to remember that Palin doesn't answer to the people of her state, but to her belief in a higher power: ""As I'm doing my job, let's strike this deal. Your job is going be to be out there, reaching the people — (the) hurting people — throughout Alaska," she told students graduating from the church's Masters Commission program. "We can work together to make sure God's will be done here."" For a detailed list of all of the various events Palin billed her taxpayers for, click on the workable link in the comments section below.

Bush and Cheney disregard  the oversight of the legislative branch.   And they certainly have abused their power.  
Now Palin disregards the Alaska legislature's conclusion that she abused her power. 
There's no way we can let anyone with this attitude toward government anywhere near the White House.  
Eight years is enough.

Time magazine has an article up today on the Troopergate report, "What the Troopergate Report Really Says." http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1849399,00.html?xid=site-cnn-partner Things we learned: "Did Governor Sarah Palin abuse the power of her office in trying to get her former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, fired? Yes." That's the big one, of course, and sharply indercuts any stand on trustworthiness the McCain/Palin camp claimed to have over the "unknown" Obama. But what the report really sheds light on, is just how vindictive and unprofessional Alaska's Palin administration has been: "The result is not a mortal wound to Palin, nor does it put her at much risk of being forced to leave the ticket her presence succeeded in energizing." "But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so." Shockingly amateurish? Haven't we already suffered through eight years of inept, vindictive government? "A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines." In the end, it looks like not much will actually happen in Alaska in regards to any kind of punishment being levied against Palin or her staff, but the damage to her credibility will certainly register in the next few days worth of polling, and the damage that Palin has done to the McCain ticket will only sink in deeper. Just this morning, Palin has already begun to pled that she has done nothing wrong, and the McCain campaign has issued its statement whereby it is trying to dust this matter underneath the rug, but a clearer picture of who Palin is, is certainly beginning to form in the public's mind. As stated in the Time article: "Monegan consistently emerges as the adult in these conversations, while the Palin camp displays a childish impetuousness and sense of entitlement." The McCain camp has been trying to get us to answer the question, "Who is Barack Obama?" as if we haven't been examining, in detail, every aspect of the man for the past 18 months. The real question, of course, is: "Who is this Sarah Palin?", and what vendettas will she and her husband Todd be pursuing, if God forbid, they should be placed in a position that is one 72-year old heartbeat from the presidency? Now that is something to be scared of.

Also yesterday an Alaskan court ordered that Palen's emails be preserved.

The judge ordered the attorney general to contact Yahoo and other private carriers to preserve any e-mails sent and received on those accounts. If the e-mails were destroyed when the accounts were deactivated, he directed state officials to have the companies attempt to resurrect the e-mails.

See Palin E-Mails: Judge Orders State To Preserve

I posted this on Salon last night, so here goes:
I honestly felt bad for McCain tonight, I felt like he suddenly knew this was out of his control. It felt like McCain was truly sorry for the horrible campaign he'd been running. He's been playing to the baser side of the fringe right winger, the nut. I really felt sad, there was a glimmer of the old John McCain, the guy we used to see, even if it was a farce, but the guy that appeared to stick up for everyone. His campaign has been nothing short of a complete disappointment. He hired Bush's boys and played the game their way and here they are destroying him one more time. It is South Carolina all over again. In his face everything was apparent, they had misread the public terribly, he knew it too. This election the nation isn't prepared to play games, our economy is spiraling downward, quickly, the wars continue and all McCain's campaign offers is another scare tactic, another gimmick. Sen. McCain sold his soul. The look on his face, he was suddenly Gollum, lost without his master, knowing there was something wrong, but his longing for the ring was just to powerful to overcome so he was willing to do what ever it takes. Suddenly tonight he realized it too, he felt it, I saw it on his face. He realized he sold his soul and it is destroying him. The proof was the look on his face. He knew what they'd done was wrong. He'd allowed his campaign to step over the line. If he ever had control of his own campaign, and I am not sure he did.  Just like Gollum the power of the Ring was too much. The look on his face tonight said it all. And as he slunk off the stage all you could hear, was Precious, my precious.

Chuck:
Wanted to share with you ... our family sat around the table this morning and grandad found your poem "Last Recording" in your collection Against the Wind. He's a WWII vet of the Army Air Corps and Operation Torch who is afraid of riding in airplanes. He was laughing loud as he read "Last Recording," and the rest of us did too. Great observations in that poem considering leadership in general these days, and what a wry way of zinging the target.
Thanks Chuck.