Bonus points to anyone who can spin this in a convincing way to say that she WASN’T just repeating what she read from a piece of paper. And “slip of the tongue” doesn’t count, Hannity JUST SAID Iran at the start of the question.

“I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”

William F. Buckley

Electric Six – Gay Bar

This song is being released for play in Rock Band next week. I’m so psyched. I have to buy a hat.

While I was gone, one of the funniest movies of the year came out, and I think it is definitely one of the funniest political movies in quite a long time.

First, let’s be clear. The only real reason you need to see this movie is Malcolm Tucker. Fair warning, the following clip is not meant for delicate ears:

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I think it’s a bit like the Dr. Strangelove of our time, because much like that movie, its characters are caricatures of caricatures, real enough to only capture the essence of particular individuals. And yet it completely embodies a certain… zany quality that Washington so often seemed to have in the time between September 11th and the start of the Iraq war. Read the rest of this entry →

Ah, Onion…

Posted here simply because I’m sure many of you thought that most liberals would never even hear about it.

Kinda thought of a line from this song earlier today and it seemed appropriate.

If you get tired of your boyfriends things
There’s always other boys.
There’s always other boyfriends.
If you get tired of your boyfriends scene
There’s always other scenes.
There’s always other boyfriends.

The music starts about 45 seconds in.

QUESTION: Do you think Texas would be better off as an independent nation or as part of the United States of America?
US IND  NOT SURE
DEMOCRATS  82 15   3
REPUBLICANS 48 48   4
INDEPENDENTS 55 40  5

Hate to cite Kos here, but he’s right, and saner than some:

Ft. Hood, and it’s $6 billion impact in central Texas, would be an economic boon to Detroit or any number of other economically depressed American regions. What, do the secessionists think they could keep those American military bases on their newly sovereign soil?

How about the $2.5 billion that NASA pumps directly into salaries of employees and contractors in the Houston area, not to mention anciliary economic benefits and the prestige of having one of the premier space facilities in the world? The American patriots in New Mexico would be more than happy to take that off Texas’ hands!

More than that, I presume the plan would be to create a tax-free shelter for Americans to keep their money. Unfortunately, I foresee much tougher restrictions going through the newly filibuster-free Congress. And seeing as Texas would not be part of any NAFTA style agreement, I don’t think Texas’s good fortune with jobs would last much longer as a soveeign state. But I hope that I’m creating a strawman here and that I find some support in at least stating that Texas should NOT secede from the union to protest one American president they don’t like.

Don’t remember if I posted this here before or not, but it’s worth reposting. Whenever I get into a heated discussion with someone about something, I think back to this cartoon from XKCD and generally try to calm downn. I’m sure at least a couple of people here can relate.

Nobody’s going to mention that we can now verify that the US created very detailed procedures for torturing people? Or that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded not once, not thrice, but at least 183 times in one month? Not to say he didn’t deserve it, but still, that not only is unquestionably severe torture, that’s also pretty much proof that torture doesn’t really work to deliver quick, actionable intelligence. Or at least was definitely not part of anywhere near a sort of “ticking time bomb” scenario. Even Jack Bauer wouldn’t be a party to this.

P.S., does this mean that every person who has willingly subjected themselves to waterboarding and given in after a minute or so is profoundly weaker than a man like KSM, or is this just further proof of exactly how cold and barbaric this system was? If this caused unbearable agony in people after one occasion, one can’t even imagine what 183 times would be like. Well, maybe John McCain could.

Spanish-language punk edition since our government is on a Central American holiday. Great song.

Call it a friendly reminder, call it a warning, call it tough love, whatever. But step back and look at what is actually happening here. I know most of the time, you don’t actually watch these. Which is fine, I often don’t watch yours. But take a few minutes. It makes an important point and it even gets in a good dig at MSNBC at the end.

Couldn’t find the more punkish Elvis Costello version, but still. Great song.

Even if you hate the sentiment and long for Thatcherism, you gotta wish that they still made protest music like this.

From Huffington Post:

BECK: Blaming TV or radio hosts for the nutjob who killed three Pittsburgh police officers over the weekend is like blaming a flight attendant after a terrorist takes down a plane. In other words: Giving passengers a safety talk to prepare them for a worst-case scenario doesn’t mean you are responsible should a terrorist make that worst-case scenario happen. One person is providing important information. The other is a nutjob who would’ve acted no matter what.

Not even going to talk about the substance of this, because I’ve already done that. But he has no freaking idea what he’s talking about, because this analogy makes no sense whatsoever. It’s nothing like a flight attendant giving instructions and then having a terrorist take over. The only way it makes sense is if the flight attendant stood up and said, “You know, one of these days, someone might have to take over for the captain and fly this plane. I mean, God forbid anythign should happen to him, but I don’t know if our pilot is really sure where he’s going, and if he gets us lost, we’re all screwed and someone will have to take over.”

But even that is a flawed analogy, because it’s a terrible analogy to begin with, he just wanted to reference September 11th. Which is its own kind of gross.

Why would ballots considered to be invalid after a full recount, a round specifically designed to determine the eligibility of each ballot and a court case examining multiple ballots possibly be thought to be grounds for a challenge for further legal challenges?

Why would any court consider the case valid when the results of Coleman’s last lawsuit meant he is now losing by a 50% higher margin than he was before?

Why would the Supreme Court set a precedent where it had jurisdiction over a local election when each state is in charge of its own elections? Would the judges concerned with Federalism actually agree to hear such a case?

Even if you were using the precedent of Bush v Gore to take the case nationally, wouldn’t that precedent mean that the court should just stop the challenges immediately and declare Franken the winner?

Slightly geopolitical to fit the past week:

Read the rest of this entry →

Has clarifying the distinction between fascism and socialism really added to most peoples’ understanding of what the Obama administration is doing? All this does is drag the specter of Hitler into the conversation. And the problem with Hitler was not his industrial policy–I mean, okay, fine, Hitler’s industrial policy bad, right, but I could forgive him for that, you know? The thing that really bothers me about Hitler was the genocide. And I’m about as sure as I can be that Obama has no plans to round up millions of people, put them in camps, and find various creative ways to torture them to death.

If he does, look, I take it all back. Use the F-word freely. Hell, I’ll hide you in our spare bedroom when the state police squads come looking for you. But until then, can we stick to less inflammatory terms? Surely creative and intelligent adults can find ways to critique Obama without pointing out that Hitler was also a very effective speaker.

Megan McArdle, The Atlantic, who uses it strictly about fascism, but I think it applies to a lot of the Obama comparisons. They’re histrionic, but more importantly, they make light work of some serious monsters. I’m sure there are at least a few kids who don’t understand the difference.

If you think that getting rid of Rick Wagoner is dangerous socialism and that Obama should have renegotiated the agreement with the UAW… you might be a hypocrite.

If you are pissed about people attacking Rush Limbaugh but called Michael Moore a traitor… you might be a hypocrite.

If you are call yourself anti-deficit and pro-tax cuts… you might be a hypocrite.

If you think the cost of American labor is too high but that company-provided healthcare is the best system… you might be a hypocrite.

If you think Keith Olbermann is a blowhard but Glenn Beck is a breath of fresh air… you might be a hypocrite. (and vice versa, to be fair)

If you are outraged by people defaulting on their mortgages but pointed to the housing market as a positive economic indicator two years ago… you might be a hypocrite.

If you bitched about the GM bailout while driving around in your Hummer/GMC truck… you might be a hypocrite.

If you are outraged by Bernie Madoff but still think Allen Stanford deserves a fair shake… you might be a hypocrite.

And just one to be fair, cause I’m sure this is total Beast bait at the very least…
If you complained of the iconic symbols and backdrops used by the Bush administration but love the idea of the stimulus logo (guilty)… you might be a hypocrite.

All this being said, political discourse is often nothing but hypocrisy in this country. The policy differences are all real, but the political battles are just two sides of a double-headed coin.

UPDATE: Mo’s mention of the “porkulus” bill made me remember another one:
If you want us to be energy independent but are against funding mass transit… you might be a hypocrite.

Cute:

Not So Cute:

Eric Cantor FTW!

I was watching Morning Joe today (a great episode, Joe and Mika almost seemed like they were going to hit each other at one point) and saw Dylan Ratigan (CNBC pundit) put forward an idea I hadn’t really heard before. “Hope Bonds”. Essentially, issuing bonds that people could buy that would give them a stake in whatever bank bailout money we had to spend.  Is it just me, or does this seem like a really stupid name for a somewhat inspired idea that everybody could get behind?

The bonds would be cheap enough that families could invest at several income levels without disproportionately favoring the wealthy, so Democrats would like it.  It would take debt and ownership of private enterprises out of the federal government’s hands pretty early on. But it would still provide some measure of stability and insurance in a way that ordinary stock market investments would not. If we have to do this, why not do it right and let Americans help pay for money that we don’t have to borrow from China? Money that they could actually see returns on!

I dunno, I’m exhausted this morning, so I might just be rambling. But this is the kind of thing we should be thinking about.

The Washington Post has a really fun story about some raccoons that have invaded the White House. Inside that story you learn about someone that is my favorite person of the day: Tim McDowell, the real-life Dale Gribble.

Tim McDowell, a raccoon-trapper with 15 years of experience in the Washington area, says the National Park Service is probably using the wrong cages or the wrong bait.

“See, their cages probably don’t smell right,” McDowell explained. “They probably don’t have the smell of other raccoons on ‘em.”

McDowell has already removed birds that were flying inside the U.S. Capitol, but he says that he’s always dreamed of catching a raccoon on the White House grounds.

Normally, McDowell charges $195 for the setup fee plus $50 for each raccoon caught. But if asked, he said he would trap the raccoons for free. “I won’t charge ‘em nothing,” he said.

We have a winner. A 7-year old named David went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. The dentist put him under heavy anesthesia. On the ride home, David still isn’t over it. If you’ve ever wondered what a 7 year old would look like while EXTREMELY high, now is your chance.

Possibly one of my favorite things ever. Plenty more at the site.

Sources now say that Obama is naming Eric Shinseki as Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs. Think about all that this does. Shinseki’s appointment

• is a complete surprise to everyone (Google News search shows nothing before today).
• is a nod to the Asian-American community (as would be Tammy Duckworth, but see below).
• is someone with unquestionable qualifications.
• is another acknowledgement that Obama will not screw with the troops.
• is another pick that could easily have been made by John McCain.
• will be viewed as a nod to the anti-Iraq folks because he fought against the war’s execution (but isn’t Tammy Duckworth, whose vocal opposition and close ties to Obama and the Democrats would probably be assaulted).
• is himself an injured war hero with a personal understanding of what Veteran’s Affairs does.

I won’t pretend to think that this is all Obama’s brain, but that’s the point, right? He’s clearly listening to the right people. This appointment alone accomplishes so much and is a complete surprise to most, but feels totally natural. It’s going to suck when I finally get disappointed by this guy, but that situation appears increasingly more abstract, not less.

Hitler is not happy about the mortgage crisis:

Ben Smith immediately picks up the most eyebrow-raising part of Obama’s press conference:

Obama’s staff won’t elaborate, but the President-Elect said just now that he’d roll out a plan to cut the federal budget tomorrow — something both presidential candidates said they’d do, but neither detailed.

“[T]o make the investments we need, we’ll have to scour our federal budget, line-by-line, and make meaningful cuts and sacrifices as well – something I’ll be discussing further tomorrow,” Obama said.

He said later that he’d be rolling out “some reforms in Washington” tomorrow.

So apparently, tomorrow Obama makes his first official political enemy as President. Who will it be? Tradition would say defense, and there have been murmurs of Pentagon cuts (and I don’t just mean Barney Frank). I wonder who else will wind up on the chopping block.

Just a quick quote from Haaretz in a story covering Hillary accepting SoS:

Clinton has stressed the need for Arab-Israeli peace, but is considered a favorite of the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.

She has said the fundamentals are a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank in return for a declaration that the conflict is over, recognition of Israel’s right to exist, guarantees of Israeli security, diplomatic recognition of Israel and normalization of its relations with Arab states.

“U.S. diplomacy is critical in helping to resolve this conflict,” she said in her article in Foreign Affairs in November-December 2007. She said the United States should help get Arab support for a Palestinian leadership that is willing to engage in a dialogue with the Israelis.

I have a riddle for you all. One that I wasn’t quite able to solve for awhile.

Q: Why would Hillary Clinton leave the Senate for a subordinate role in an Obama administration that would take her away from her domestic pet projects?
A: Because she would be the one that could broker Arab/Israeli peace. That means a Nobel Peace Prize and a lasting place in history if she could get it done. With Iran developing a nuclear weapon, the time has never been better because neither side has had a bigger impetus for peace.

Nate Silver conducts what is easily the most hostile interview I’ve ever seen with John Ziegler, the “How Obama Got Elected” guy. I added a few thoughts to the end of some of these answers, but the full interview is worth a read. Overall, this guy comes across as a real piece of work.

Ziegler had contacted me by e-mail, asking if I’d like to interview him; the interview itself was conducted by telephone. Ziegler asked, among other conditions, that I post a full transcript of the interview, which I have.
(So keep in mind, this is an interview he knew would be on record)

. . .

NS: Were the interviews conducted by telephone or online?
JZ: How can you ask a question like that and pretend that you have any clue what you’re writing about! That’s unbelievable that someone could write what you did! That is unbelievable that you wouldn’t know that it’s a telephone or an online poll and that you went on my summaries of the questions before the questions were even released!
(Why didn’t you wait until you had the poll results ready before doing press, then? –Wes)

NS: We’ve heard reports from our readers that very similar questions had been asked in an online format. There was no online component at all?
JZ: That is correct, which you would have known if you had looked at the information. Before you called this a push poll — you don’t seem to know the definition of a push poll. How do you have this website?
(These were push poll questions, though, and it would have been qualified as such two weeks ago)

NS: Is the complete interview available anywhere — complete results for the interview?
JZ: Yeah if you had done your research it is all online, every question, all the cross-tabs. Man, you’re never going to post this [transcript], are you?
(Almost certain it wasn’t available when Nate made the post or when Ziegler went on TV)

. . . .

NS: What did Zogby charge you — what did you pay for this survey?
JZ: I’m not going to tell you that, I’m not a fucking idiot.

NS: Did he charge you at his usual rates or did he ask you for extra?
JZ: You’ll have to ask them. I’m not going to respond how much money I paid for this. It was substantial but I’m not going to say anything more than that.

NS: In the Youtube video, how were the Obama supporters identified for the Youtube video?
JZ: I had nothing to do with it. I had a person who was working with me who happens to be a black female since you seem to think I’m a racist who was the one that chose all of the respondents based on conversations we’d had prior, people who were well-spoken, thought they were informed, willing to come on camera and [who] voted for Barack Obama.
(Which he later admits were done in “black sections” of Los Angeles. I could go into the outskirts of Ellijay, GA, and see how many intelligent and representative Republican opinions I find.)

. . . .

NS: Well, since you’re running a website calling people misinformed, I’d like to see if — there are certain things you’ve said that I would consider misinformed.
JZ: Misinformed? You’re a piece of work! You are never going to have the guts to post a representative transcript on your website! I thought you actually ran a legitimate website!
(Among other things, Ziegler’s poll directly implied Obama said “his policies would likely bankrupt the coal industry and make energy rates skyrocket”, which is not only misleading, it is also based on an initiative John McCain supported.)

NS: Thank you, have a good day.
JZ: Go fuck yourself.

My distrust and distaste for Sarah Palin, including my skepticism about the story of Trig’s birth, has nothing to do with wanting to abort down syndrome babies.

Barone was speaking at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, to the 121st annual meeting of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, which calls itself the nation’s oldest higher-education association.

“The liberal media attacked Sarah Palin because she did not abort her Down syndrome baby,” Barone said, according to accounts by attendees. “They wanted her to kill that child. … I’m talking about my media colleagues with whom I’ve worked for 35 years.”

I have a cousin with down syndrome that I hung out with at family gatherings growing up. I don’t wish she didn’t exist or hold irrational hatred towards her mother. Oh, I know, it was a joke. But sometimes people say they’re joking when they secretly think they’re telling a partial truth, and I’ve heard this particular joke before. And in case anyone here had any doubts, just because I support the right for women to choose whether or not they can or should deliver or raise a child doesn’t mean that I hate anyone who doesn’t. Even intense critic of Palin and borderline misogynist Andrew Sullivan has always held what a brave and admirable decision that was.

I think I realized why I enjoy Pat Buchanan so much on MSNBC.

.

It’s because I am the Pat Buchanan of this blog.

.

Love you guys anyway.

Ben Smith coins the phrase when linking to Noam Schreiber’s catch from today’s press conference:

“With respect to the dog… we have two criteria that have to be reconciled.”

That video I posted a couple of weeks ago was from part one of a special. This is from part two and is about the creation of Aaron Burr. Adult Swim decided to be lame and split this one up, so I’m putting one above the fold and the rest after the break. It only runs about maybe 6 minutes total. Best line of the videos is probably, “You take this kite shit too far, man.”

If you want to see the other clips from the special and other videos, you can always go to AdultSwim video.

Read the rest of this entry →

Granted, this is Carl Cameron quoting an anonymous source, so take it with a grain of salt. But this is an unusually outlandish claim to make. Sarah Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent?

I saw the stuff saying how she and she alone shopped far more than $150,000 for clothes. I saw how she brought up William Ayers before the campaign had a strategy for doing so. I didn’t figure I’d say anything about that. But if it’s true, this stuns me. She could have been the President.

Meet Amanda Jones.

She’s 109 years old and just cast her ballot for Barack Obama by mail. She has 10 children and 33 grandchildren. She also may be the only person in America that is the child of a former slave. This year she was able to actually vote for a black man to be President of the United States.

When you see lines of African-American voters running out the doors of the polling center and see margins of 97-1 (as predicted by McCain’s pollster), try to hold back any cynicism for a bit and just marvel. Because not only is this a milestone in American history, it is a milestone in the history of the world. It is America bursting through a major barrier of democracy and tolerance. Other countries just sit and marvel that the American people they found so intolerable are on the verge of electing a man whose color would tend to preclude him from a similar position in any other democracy of the world.

I’m not saying you should be happy if Obama wins. I wouldn’t be happy if the situation were reversed. And indeed, there will be time to fight a Democratic President later. But if you need a silver lining, just remember Amanda. I can’t imagine anyone in the world who wouldn’t feel a sense of joy that she was able to see something that she’ll be able to tell her dad about. For a day, I hope that we can think together as Americans and realize that this is one hell of a country.

At about 40 seconds in, you will see the most insightful statement about the current state of the campaign I’ve seen in weeks.

To my knowledge, the Obama campaign has worked very, very hard to avoid direct criticism of Sarah Palin. This is probably the closest they’ve come, and it comes across very strongly. I predict this will be blanketing the airwaves in swing states from now until Tuesday.

On a completely non-political note, too, I really like the fact that this ad doesn’t use voiceover or the dark, depressing music. If you’re blanketing the airwaves, I guess you might as well play a lullabye!

UPDATE: The more I think about it, the more I think this ad might be the best one we’ve seen this entire campaign. Here’s my case:

• In 30 seconds, this ad summarizes their entire argument against John McCain. It’s extremely efficient and direct and only has about 5 sentences in the entire ad.
• It is a precise attack on the two things that voters have cited as their primary concerns about John McCain: Sarah Palin and his reaction to the economic crisis.
• Much like the also-stellar Biden ‘crisis’ ad we saw earlier this week, it relies directly on McCain’s own words to make its argument. But unlike that ad, this one allows the voters to draw their own conclusion.
• That wink, which played very well to men, is poison to women (perhaps Mo thinks differently?), a group considered to be the most important demographic in the election.
• It is lighthearted and completely unlike any negative ad that will be airing in this final week in its subtlety. It will be very difficult for just about anyone to get sick of this ad.

The Obama campaign has been extremely lacking when it comes to advertisements. I honestly can’t think of any ad they have released that stands out as particularly memorable or meaningful. This one is deceptively brutal, though.

From the Adult Swim show, “A Young Person’s Guide To History”, this scene features Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton stuck in the winter of Valley Forge where they happen upon a few hot nurses.

Via Drudge:

A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, police said.

Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Diane Richard tells Channel 4 Action News that the victim was robbed at knifepoint on Wednesday night outside of a Citizens Bank near Liberty Avenue and Pearl Street just before 9 p.m.Richard said the robber took $60 from the woman, then became angry when he saw a McCain bumper sticker on the victim’s car. The attacker then punched and kicked the victim, before using the knife to scratch the letter “B” into her face, Richard said.Richard said the woman refused medical treatment after the assault, which happened outside the view of the bank’s surveillance cameras.

When I’m wrong, I’m really wrong. We need to stop this toxic environment. What a time for Obama to be unreachable. He has to speak up, make an example of this bastard, and urge anyone who knows him to turn him in for the good of the country. Maybe Michelle could speak out. I said it before, I’ll say it again: both sides need to cut the crap before the country gets torn apart. But this is just unconscionable.

UPDATE: Obama campaign releases initial statement:

“This is a horrendous act of violence. Our thoughts and prayers are with the young woman for her to make a speedy recovery, and we hope that the person who perpetrated this crime is swiftly apprehended and brought to justice.”

UPDATE 2: Seems a lot of people are questioning whether this is real, like Michelle Malkin and TMZ. Might be a hoax, which would make me feel a lot better.

UPDATE 3: Yup, it was a hoax. I’m with Mo, what a sick puppy.

Estimated cost of Cindy McCain’s wardrobe at the Republican National Convention: $300,000.00.

Amount of money actually spent to clothe Empress Governor Palin for 3 months: $150,000.00. ^{See Footnote}

Amount of money John McCain paid for getting made-up by a Hollywood professional: $5,500.00.

Not realizing that you paid for and wore a scarf that was made to support your opponents? Priceless.

I don’t read enough conservative blogs to know, so if you have the price paid for, say, the guy who styles Biden’s eyebrows, let me know. Turnabout is more than fair. Lord knows we heard all about Edwards’s hair.

Footnote: I know they said they’re donating the clothing for Palin to charity, but does that actually sound better? As often as John McCain and Palin like to talk about eBay, wouldn’t you think that would come to mind?

Granted, this is a flub, not a gaffe. But as flubs go, this one is pretty spectacular. This was McCain in Pennsylvania tonight referring to Murtha’s remarks that the people who lived around his district still had trouble voting for a black man. It was supposed to be so easy:

My favorite part is that he sold it so well, there’s about a half second of pure confusion in that crowd. Cindy gives him a look that is pretty priceless, too.

I’ve never been a reporter. So I’m not sure who titles the stories. On a site like Politico, I imagine that the reporters themselves might do it, but perhaps not. Either way, someone at Politico had what I can only assume was a feeling of great satisfaction at actually outdoing The Daily Show when it comes to funny headlines.

See, Daniel Libit wrote this article about Michele Bachmann’s strong push to become a big dog in Washington. Reporting on how her email list-serv had just been going crazy, she’s been all over the media and even after making some comments that actually pissed me off, is still said to be a “media hound”. But none of this actually matters. What matters is the title of the piece… “Bachmann Turns To Overdrive“.

I had made this a reply to this Thomas Sowell article Mo linked to, but thought I had enough to make this a full topic.

Look, the idea that the poll results are because the sample is largely biased towards Democrats is silly. The daily Zogby tracking poll uses a spread of 38%D, 36%R, 26%I, an averaging of 2000 and 2004 turnout. I think that’s kinda silly, myself, since Rasmussen’s own party identification tracking poll, one which surveys 21,000 people over a period of 6 weeks, gives the Democrats a 6.7 point advantage, 39.7%D, 33%R, 27.3%I. But nonetheless, that’s what Zogby uses, so it’s hard to argue that it isn’t more than fair. Their new numbers for tonight give Obama an 8 point lead. And he hasn’t been anywhere near in the tank for Democrats this cycle, he’s all over the map.

I think it’s also unfair to take credit away from Obama. He went in as the risky one and systematically made himself into the candidate that seems the LEAST risky. For someone who has Obama’s Chicago ties, Obama’s inexperience and Obama’s… demographics, that’s damned impressive.

Look at this latest CBS poll that surveyed the same 476 person group before and after the debates. Just so we’re clear, these are the same people, so this is a direct measurement of opinion. Obama’s lead jumped from 48%/43% to 54%/41%, but the real information is found in the fine print.

21% of voters said their opinion of Obama improved. When asked why they liked Obama more, they cited his debate performance, steadiness and that they just liked him. 23% said their opinion of McCain lessened. When asked why they liked McCain less, they cited his attacks on Obama, his pick of Sarah Palin and said he seemed unsteady. 52% said they felt confident Obama could handle a crisis, 53% said they felt McCain was too unsteady to handle one.

When you look at their positions on the issues, there is nothing to indicate this kind of switch. McCain is still seen as more confident on Iraq. Far more think he would be a better commander in chief. Obama was trusted more than Mccain to handle the economy, but not by that much. You could say that it’s just because Obama is a Democrat, but given the choice, only 3% said they were voting for Obama simply because he was the Democratic nominee. It was entirely because of how Obama carried himself and how McCain carried himself. And Obama tricked John McCain into wearing the “erratic” label. Don’t believe me? Watch the Ohio debate with Hillary and then watch this montage of the last debate with Mccain. Note how both of them had the EXACT SAME look of exasperation and disbelief on their face. Obama schooled them both. The economy is partially to blame, yes, and the media hasn’t been completely friendly to John McCain, but y’all got hustled straight up.

The most insightful article I saw about the disposition of these two guys was one talking about how they liked to gamble. McCain is an avowed craps player, a game that relies on luck, big risks and an exciting, flashy atmosphere. Obama, on the other hand, is known to play poker, a game that requires long-term strategy, psychological warfare and an ability to remain calm at all times. It was reassuring to me at the time, and now it just serves as a reminder of what happened and why.

Oddly, selling cookies as an 8-year old was Obama’s very first Presidential fundraising attempt.

Ben Smith:

I sidled up to one of the Obama supporters and asked why they were there, what they were trying to accomplish.

As he was telling me a large, bearded man in full McCain-Palin campaign regalia got in his face to yell at him.

“Hey, hey,” I said. “I’m trying to interview him. Just a minute, okay?”

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows.

This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head.

“Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said.

And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

Still think that these aren’t part of “the crazies”? Since we’ve had some arguments, let me be clear about what I think. These are not the majority of the people at these rallies. And I have no fear of the people at these rallies in most areas of the country. The man with the monkey in Pennsylvania was trying to rile up protestors and have a cheap laugh, and it wound up backfiring on him when he got a little national attention.

I am worried for areas and people like this. The South is rich with people who mount the Confederate flag with the same pride that Dave mounted his American flag. Someone I know (I’m being nonspecific because they could get in trouble, but they are nowhere near what you would call liberal) went to a police academy in a neighboring state and was surprised to learn that there were more than a few self-identified members of the KKK. If you don’t believe me, you’ve never been around it.

Whether they are a majority or not, people like the one in this story are dangerous, and to be fair to McCain, Palin is the only one on the ticket who knows of it. These creatures don’t exist in significant numbers in Arizona, and certainly not in the circles McCain would associate himself with. Dismiss it if you want. I hope I’m wrong. Mo, I’m definitely looking forward to your report!

with a hat tip to Marc Ambinder:

Easy enough. After election day, we’ll compare the number of confirmed reports of people being wrongly dropped from registrations that have been prevented from voting with the confirmed reports of people voting twice or under false names. And we’ll see which number is larger.

Sound fair?

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

“Sen. Obama is a classic liberal with an outdated economic agenda. We should take that agenda on in a robust manner. As a party we should not and must not stand by as the small amount of haters in our society question whether he is as American as the rest of us. Shame on them and shame on us if we allow this to take hold.”

-John Weaver, a man John McCain used to agree with.

We needed a new thread to discuss this sort of thing. Whether Obama wants to destroy the American political system and what-not. Gimme some credit, too, because I could have gone with the less subtle version from Sullivan:

This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin. For God’s sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.

Silly Andrew. Don’t you know that putting his country before his campaign is all McCain has ever done?
P.S. Next week: The ConClub’s first movie review will hit as I review Oliver Stone’s “W.” If anyone else wants to do it as well, we should do a Siskel/Ebert style review and compare notes beforehand.

UPDATE: McCain Speaks Out!

After days of watching in silence, McCain calms the crowd at his Minnesota town meeting.

“”I am enthusiastic and encouraged by the enthusiasm and I think it’s really good,” McCain said. “We have to fight and i will fight but we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments and I want to be respectful. I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.”

Tells one supporter who says he’s scared of an Obama presidency: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.”

After a woman calls Obama “an Arab,” McCain interrupts to say: “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man, citizen.”

Well, bless him for doing the right thing. Maybe we’ll see some civility at the end of this thing yet. It’d be nice if he would pass this message along to his running mate, who’s been a cross between a yapping poodle and a Heather lately.

I just hope Sean Hannity doesn’t get wind of this. This could be the “October Surprise”.

We all did. And here is why:

Civility is something that’s been sadly lacking. There was a spirited debate, but there were no hurt feelings, nothing that someone couldn’t take back. I grant Biden a lot of credit, he could have corrected Sarah Palin for confusing McClellan and McKiernan (is she a civil war buff or was that part of her training?), but he didn’t mention it. To see Palin ask if she could call Biden “Joe” was nice. To see them exchanging pleasantries immediately after finishing was nice. To see Biden walk up to Palin’s dad and shake his hand was very nice. From a personality standpoint, I think it’d be impossible to walk away without liking both these guys a lot more. Anybody whose heart wasn’t touched by Biden starting to crack when he talked about knowing what being a single dad is like… well, they just don’t have one.

Obama & McCain! Learn a lesson from these guys. Nobody likes you when you both act like jerks. I’m inclined to say that McCain could stand to be a LOT nicer, but Obama can be pretty aloof and certainly should have made more of an effort to reach out early on.

Let the media and the blogosphere keep discussing this like there was something substantive that came from it, some big policy points that were very important. I don’t think so. I think what most people got from tonight was a sense of satisfaction with both candidates’ taste in Vice-Presidents. Not sure how this will translate in the polls, but considering that Biden was unliked and Palin was seen as unqualified, I’d see it being largely a wash in terms of advantage, but an improvement for both.

President Clinton was a governor of a very small state that had “no experience” either. I remember how easy it was gonna be for Bush I to defeat him. I still recall, whoops, that one. But the point is I’ve seen underestimation before.

-John McCain

Just to address what he actually did mean, too, not only is Arkansas over four times the population of Alaska, not only was Clinton a two term governor, but his qualifications dwarfed Palin’s in every way, and even dwarf McCain’s.

Funny stuff from SNL this week, but I wish Fred Armisen could get a better handle on an Obama impression. I think he actually needs to play it as smooth and dorky as he possibly can.

There was a time when ads were specifically put onto a medium. A person had to take the ad and specifically place it into a paper or magazine. Or had to specifically place it into a television program.

Internet advertising is a bit more complicated. It doesn’t get placed manually, but automatically. Ads get put into the rotation by the advertisers, and it’s typically up to them to name the date and time when they start appearing. Why am I saying all this? Because at McCain’s advertising firm, the scheduling got a little premature:

Done simply because I just learned how to use VodPod. Woo!

A lot of commentators are trying to predict what will happen in the debates. One thing we know for certain. These debates will be of tremendous importance. The polls keep moving back and forth, and the number of undecided voters has been consistently high. A lot of reporters have been trying to analyze this thing by asking the campaigns what they’re doing to prepare.

Obama advisers, for example, are considering how to provoke Sen. McCain into anger or showing what they say is how out of touch, or old, he is. Advisers have told Sen. McCain to watch out when Sen. Obama uses the phrase, “As I’ve said before…” One McCain adviser said it is used “when Obama actually changes his position, to pretend it’s what he’s always said.”

That Wall Street Journal is full of interesting nuggets like that. For instance, McCain’s people are telling him to make sure his lucky tokens are close at hand so he doesn’t freak out. Obama’s people are telling him to not be quite so “Zen-like”. Biden’s people are telling him to just shut up a little more often.

But most interesting is this bit here:

Mr. O’Donnell told the campaign that Sen. McCain had his worst debates when he was seated. “Proximity can be a problem for McCain,” one adviser said. “He’ll take the bait and get sucked into fights.”

Why is this interesting? Let’s take a look at the tape.

Read the rest of this entry →

Hear me out on this one. I know that’s a lot to ask, but just humor me for a second.

Here’s my points, and I’ll elaborate on each of them.

1. John McCain decided upon Sarah Palin AFTER his phone conversation with her the weekend prior.
2. Sarah Palin had no idea she was still under consideration.
3. The Republican party had no idea she was under consideration.
4. Because of this, John McCain is responsible for the lion’s share of her trouble in the media.

Read the rest of this entry →

From Jonathan Martin describing some assorted protestors at the Sarah Palin rally:

As the press vans arrived about 1/2 hour before the start of the rally, multiple lines consisting of hundreds of people were slowly making their way into the facility.

Also present were a few dozen protestors carrying some colorful signs.

“Votes issues not gender,” read one, held up by a lady.

“Palin: A bridge to deception,” was another.

And then there was: “The anti-Christ wears lipstick – end of days.”

Mr. Horner… is that you? Not going to link to this guy or put his full name, because I REALLY hope he’s gone for good. But you can find his website in the quotes on the right.

I liked Dave’s Johnny Cash, so I am putting some more up. People on YouTube really do have a lot of time on their hands. Of course, this was probably done by a 7th grader, but still.

You know what’s sad? This is Part SEVEN.

I said it before and I’ll say it one more time. Sarah Palin may have ensured the funniest political season on SNL since Clinton/Dole.

I didn’t know that Obama was at the GOP convention, but apparently, he made a brief appearance and raised a lot of eyebrows.

This had to be the funniest moment at either convention, even funnier than Giuliani making the sea of straight-laced conservative Republican delegates turn into the Apollo Theatre. I can’t embed video from MSNBC (Please, Dave? Can we add that?), but head over, it’s well worth your while.

You can’t help but admire the way John McCain refuses to exploit his wartime service for political gain.

Matthew Yglesias on McCain video

I’ll have to grant you that Rudolph Giuliani easily gave the most entertaining speech of both conventions so far.

During the forum on Saturday, one of the questions that were AUTHORIZED to be known ahead of time was “Who are the three people you rely on for wise advice?”

John McCain named:

General David Petraeus

Rep. John Lewis

Meg Whitman

 

Fine choices all.

Though McCain must have gotten a little “confused”, since John Lewis says he has no idea why John McCain would have named him. “Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him.”

Wow, how odd. Why did John McCain name somebody that he doesn’t really know that well. Certainly there would have been other names that would have been appropriate. He consults with Lindsay Graham a lot. Joe Lieberman too. Maybe that’s what happened. Lieberman and Lewis DO sound kinda similar. Both named Joe.

It’s like an awesome mind puzzle, isn’t it? Why did John McCain name John Lewis, of all people, even though he doesn’t really know him very well and doesn’t actually ask him for advice? WHY, I ask you, WHY?!

Well, it seems that there is a NEW new voice for conservativism in Hollywood: David Zucker. That’s right, the man behind the stellar films Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, Police Squad, Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2 1/2, Naked Gun 33 1/3… Baseketball… Scary Movie 3… Scary Movie 4… OK, maybe the last 15 years haven’t been so great, but he’s still got it, right?

The set jumps to life. Two young men–both terrorists–enter the station. They are surprised to see a security checkpoint manned by two NYPD officers. “I’ll need to see your bag, please,” says one of the officers. The lead terrorist glances nervously at his friend and swings his backpack down from his shoulder to present it to the cops. Just as the officer pulls on the zipper, however, a small army of ACLU lawyers marches up to the policemen with a stop-search order. The cops look at each other and shrug their shoulders. “This says we can’t search their bags.”

The young men are relieved. They smile fiendishly as they walk toward the crowded platform. As the lead terrorist once again slips the backpack over his shoulder, he mutters his appreciation.

“Thank Allah for the ACLU.”

Conservative humor is alive and well. This is satire worthy of Mark Twain, I tell you!

The holiday in An American Carol is not Christmas and the antagonist is not Ebenezer Scrooge. Instead, the film follows the exploits of a slovenly, anti-American filmmaker named Michael Malone, who has joined with a left-wing activist group (Moovealong.org) to ban the Fourth of July. Along the way, Malone is visited by the ghosts of three American heroes–George Washington, George S. Patton, and John F. Kennedy–who try to convince him he’s got it all wrong. When terrorists from Afghanistan realize that they need to recruit more operatives to make up for the ever-diminishing supply of suicide bombers, they begin a search for just the right person to help produce a new propaganda video. “This will not be hard to find in Hollywood,” says one. “They all hate America.”

….

Zucker had originally hoped to cast Dan Whitney (aka Larry the Cable Guy) as Malone, but a timing conflict kept him from getting it done. After briefly considering Frank Caliendo, a fellow Wisconsinite, a colleague passed him a reel from Kevin Farley, the younger brother of the late Chris Farley, and Zucker, who recalled seeing Kevin Farley in an episode of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, was interested.

Yeah… this will suck and suck HARD. You know you’re in trouble when Larry the Cable Guy decides to pass and you wind up with the second-rate family member of a second-rate John Belushi. I’m surprised to hear that Dennis Hopper and James Woods are on board, less so by Jon Voight. Even less by Kelsey Grammer. His last foray into the world of sketch comedy wasnt exactly his finest hour.