Troopergate

"What's right and good doesn't come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it
-- as if the cause depends on you, because it does."

-- Bill Moyers

Palin: No Ethics, No Compassion, No Brains.

And now the news you've been waiting for: ABUSE OF POWER...a roundup of choice morsels. I guess this answers the question of Who is Sarah Palin? Remember back in September when we kept asking McCain, "Hey, did you VET this woman??"

• I'm gonna start here, because I think this is just TOO MUCH. As most of you no doubt have heard, at the tail end of last Friday, Alaska investigators finally released the report which revealed that "Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to try to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, an investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded. She was within her right, however, to dismiss her public safety commissioner, the trooper's boss, the inquiry found."
  
• On SUNDAY, Palin did a phoner with Alaska reporters and told them: "Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."
  

W H A T ?

• Um...Gov. Palin, can I remind you...the Anchorage Daily said: "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda ... to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired," Branchflower's report says."Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional. It is an individual responsibility imposed by law, and any effort to benefit a personal interest through official action is a violation of that trust. ... The term 'benefit' is very broadly defined, and includes anything that is to the person's advantage or personal self-interest."

• 

  AP: "The investigation revealed that Palin's husband, Todd, has extraordinary access to the governor's office and her closest advisers. He used that access to try to get trooper Mike Wooten fired, the report found. The nearly 300-page report does not recommend sanctions or a criminal investigation."
• Politico: "Retired state prosecutor named Stephen Branchflower noted that, though he interviewed 19 people for the report, Todd Palin and nine aides to the governor were subpoenaed but'"failed to appear.' He wrote that Gov. Palin was not subpoenaed 'out of deference to her position. … However, she was requested to cooperate with the investigation by providing a sworn statement. She has not done so. Governor Palin's sister Molly McCann was requested by me to give a deposition; she declined through her attorney.' Branchflower asserted that an interview with Palin 'would have assisted everyone to better understand her motives and perhaps help explain why she was so apparently intent upon getting Trooper Wooten fired in spite of the fact she knew he had been disciplined following the Administrative Investigation.'"
• Prior to the official report from the independent panel, McCain and Palin's campaign released the findings from their OWN panel. You know, the one made up of people Palin could fire. (This is my favorite so far...): On the eve of a report on a legislative panel's abuse-of-power investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report clearing her of any wrongdoing. Palin, running mate to Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is the subject of two inquiries into whether she abused her power by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner says he was dismissed for resisting pressure to fire Palin's former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Lawmakers are expected to release their findings Friday. The report the McCain-Palin campaign released Thursday night says the firing was based on a budget dispute. Since then, the report says, the matter has been muddled with innuendo, rumor and politics." Oh re-e-ally now?

• 

  Palin has always been a control freak, not that we're surprised. Here's a bit of footage from her Wasilla Mayoral days.
• The full report from the independent panel.
• BUT WAIT, there's more: You also get a free set of Ginsu knives, sharpened for Sarah Palin's reputation. Newsweek observes that: "There could be more land mines ahead. Some weeks ago, the McCain team devised a plan to have Palin file an ethics complaint against herself with the State Personnel Board, arguing that it alone was capable of conducting a fair, nonpartisan inquiry into whether she fired Monegan because he refused to fire Wooten, who had been involved in a messy custody battle with her sister. Some Democrats ridiculed the move, noting that the personnel board answered to Palin. But the board ended up hiring an aggressive Anchorage trial lawyer, Timothy Petumenos, as an independent counsel. McCain aides were chagrined to discover that Petumenos was a Democrat who had contributed to Palin's 2006 opponent for governor, Tony Knowles. Palin is now scheduled to be questioned next week, and the counsel's report could be released soon after. 'We took a gamble when we went to the personnel board,' said a McCain aide who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. While the McCain camp still insists Palin 'has nothing to hide,' it acknowledges a critical finding by Petumenos would be even harder to dismiss." Darn that vetting thing again.

Eric points me to this item about French film star and icon of the 1960s Brigitte Bardot, who also heads an animal rights foundation. Bardot writes in an open letter to Vice-Prez candidate Sarah Palin and reported by Agence France-Presse:"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world...By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe." But Brigitte, tell us how you REALLY feel. Don't hold back.

As for Ms. I-Know-All-About-Energy, there are some questions about her expertise. HuffPo reports that "at a townhall event in Wisconsin on Thursday, Palin was asked by a concerned questioner whether it was true that the United States was shipping 75 percent of its Alaskan oil overseas. She responded by proclaiming it impossible, since Congress had put strict bans on the amount of oil and gas that America could export."

But the Associated Press reported:"No Alaska oil has been exported since 2004, and little if any since 2000, according to the Energy Information Administration and the Congressional Research Service. And Congress has never imposed outright bans on oil exports. Congress prohibited exports of Alaska oil in 1973 when the Alaska oil pipeline was built. But that ban was lifted in 1996 when there were large volumes of Alaska oil coming down from the North Slope and U.S. demand was soft. The Alaska ban has never been reinstated."

In addition, HuffPo goes on, "the Alaska Governor was fond of declaring that her job - as head of state - "has been to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." However, WaPo counters: "According to authoritative Energy Information Administration data, Alaska accounted for just 7.4 percent of total U.S. oil and gas production in 2005."

CONTINUE READING...

Palindrome

Betcha thought we'd never get here.... Yes, it's Thursday, and I am offering a Very Special Sarah Palin Salute to Schadenfreude.

But First, the News...
I have to crow. ElectoralVote.com this morning has Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia in Obama' corner, PLUS Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico! AND McCain is losing ground in Indiana and Missouri! Even Georgia, Mississippi and TEXAS? Oh, baby...

Over at Real Clear Politics, the more conservative estimator, the news is even BETTER: If you go to the scenario with no toss-up states, they give 353 electoral votes to Obama.

The Princeton Election Consortium show Obama with a "safe" 273 electoral vote today, and Obama is retaining his 6-point lead at Gallup Daily tracking is holding.

I'm barely breathing.... I do hasten to remind everyone that Obama's been at this level before, over the summer. And we've seen this kind of lead take a dip. However, we are only 33 days out from the election, AND in sme states millions of people have been voting already by absentee ballot -- to avoid the problem of impossible lines at the polls on election day. Most people assumed this would be an advantage to McCain, but I'm not so sure...

Sittin' Here on Capitol Hill

Well, the Senate passed it. The bill -- the BILL. And they passed it with such little drama that you wondered if everyone. Here's the Roll Call. [Dusts off hands] Done. What? That's it. Just vote, pass, done? Where's my haranguing? My filibustering? I want my high-drama reality show! House Republicans? Over to you.

France figures, if American's are going to try it, maybe the Europeans might buy it too... "France heaped pressure on Gordon Brown last night by floating an ambitious plan for a 300 billion Euro (£237 billion) bailout fund to rescue crippled banks across Europe. As the world held its breath on the fate of America's $700 billion bank bailout plan, President Sarkozy was seeking the backing of European leaders for his own lifeboat...Amid the confusion and bickering between governments, France denied at first that it had put forward a proposal for a fund at all and then, after admitting that it had done so, denied that it would cost ¤300 billion. Paris said that the figure had come from the Dutch Government. Officials in The Hague said that they had no idea what the French were talking about."

Debatable, Part Deux

So McCain's new strategy is to discredit Gwen Ifill -- really? Gwen Ifill??? "On the eve of Thursday's vice-presidential debate in St. Louis, the McCain campaign is voicing confidence in moderator Gwen Ifill's professionalism while simultaneously sowing doubts about her ability to be fair after learning that she is working on a book about a new generation of black leaders called, 'Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.'" For her part Ifill responds somewhat slyly--maybe it's the painkillers for her broken ankle talking. "Ifill questions why people assume that her book will be favorable toward Obama. 'Do you think they made the same assumptions about Lou Cannon (who is white) when he wrote his book about Reagan?' said Ifill, who is black. Asked if there were racial motives at play, she said, 'I don't know what it is. I find it curious.'"

================================

The Long and Winding Road....

You know, I'm quite amazed when I think that a month ago we barely knew Sarah Palin. Now we know more than we could ever possibly want to know about Sarah Palin. Think of all those brain cells we've had to waste on her. I know I know, she shouldn't be the focus in this very important election, she should be beneath focus, but obsessing over her is like a good, juicy trash-novel-- I know I shouldn't waste the time, but it's a nasty, delicious indulgence. Talking Points Memo did a nice 5 minutes "Greatest Hits" video which is disturbing and I think has damaged my eyeballs.

I thought on this day, of all days, it might be fun to recall how much we've learned about Sarah Palin. A little trip down Memory Lane.

July, 31 2008: The Prologue

• "As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?" says Gov. Sarah Palin, in an interview with CNBC's "Kudlow & Co."
• Draft Sarah Palin for VP. No...really, John, this person ISN'T your Vetting Team.
• "When they were vetting her for this job, like three seconds ago, she said, quote, I'm not making this up, 'What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Let me field that for you, Sarah. They start wars, they enrich their friends, they subvert the Constitution, and they shoot people in the face. That's what the vice president does." –Bill Maher

August 29: Who?

• 

  Ken Layne--who coined Sarah Palin's moniker "America's Hottest Governor"--asks why McCain has "dragged this nice lady he doesn't even know into his doomed campaign...Already the TV commentators and op-ed writers are calling her a dimwit, an amateur, a hapless tool. McCain is such a cruel creep that he's making Sarah Palin debate Joe Biden." (Political Machine)
• McCain calls Palin "partner & soulmate":
  ME: Is anyone else creeped out? Some guy you met once at a convention gets your number and six months later calls you up and says you're his "partner and soulmate." (Politico)
• Never mind Sarah Palin, Erik Ose asks ,"Is John McCain mentally fit to be president?" (HuffPo)
• Snap! Folks in Alaska aren't sure is Palin is ready for the national ticket. Even Palin's mother-in-law still hasn't decided which way she'll vote: "I'm not sure what she brings to the ticket other than she's a woman and a conservative." (NY Daily News)
• Little Known Facts about Sarah Palin There's so little out there about her, that helpful, civic-minded Netizens are filling in the gaps for her. (Did you know it was actually Sarah Palin's voice singing "Ode to the Motherland" at the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing?) (Wonkette)
• Sarah Palin's newborn son Young Trigg scrubs her Wikipedia entry. Isn't that just the cutest? (Wiki)
• The first-term Alaska governor told reporters she was having fun in her new role. "It's great to see another part of the country," she said. (USA Today)
• Maureen Dowd is in "sheer heaven." (NYTimes)
• Robert Elisberg lays out why Palin is a horrible choice. (Huffpo)
• And so does Jonathan Alterman: "She is a far-right conservative who supported Pat Buchanan over George W. Bush in 2000. She thinks global warming is a hoax and backs the teaching of creationism in public schools. Women are not likely to be impressed by her opposition to abortion even in the case of rape and incest." (Newsweek)
• Visit Wasilla, Alaska and see the town where Palin got her vast experience in governance.
• Ted Stevens endorses Palin: "Whoops, gotta get that off the campaign site!" (Youtube)
• Did ANYone vet this woman? (NYTimes)
• Humorous take on a Theory of Proximity/Absorption Intelligence Design, i.e., Sarah Palin governs Alaska which is close to Russia, therefore she has foreign policy experience. I recently ate Chinese food, which makes me an expert in US-China relations. Try it at home, kids! (Daily Kos)
• "Alaska Gov. Sarah Pallin is John McCain's choice. Here's what we know about her: her name is Sarah Palin." --Jay Leno

Sept 1: Getting to know her... getting to know all about her...

• On Friday we said, "Who the heck is Sarah Palin?"
  On Monday we said, "Dang. I know WAY too much about Sarah Palin now."
  On Tuesday, it's: "Okay, I know all I need to know about Sarah Palin..."
  • Palin fired Wasilla Police Chief and Library Director for not supporting her campaign. (Anchorage Daily)
  • Palin under investigation for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan when he refused to dump her sister-in-law's ex-husband. (KTUU)
  • Palin directed a 527 for indicted Alaskan senator Ted Stevens. (Wash. Post)
  • Palin plays no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations. (HuffPo)
  • More on Palin's "command" experience??? Bonus: Campbell Brown goes after a McCainite on air like an attack dog. (CNN)
  • Maybe they mean "Commanding Alaska's secession from the union." (Daily Kos)
  • Palin got her first passport in 2007. (NYT)
  • Palin initially supported the Bridge to Nowhere. (Sydney Herald)
  • McCain advance team never even checked the Wasilla town newspaper archives for any possible problems during the "thorough vetting process." (HuffPo)
• Early Gaffe Alert: Palin also confused on the Pledge of Allegiance: "If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me," she says of the Pledge, written in 1892. (Daily Kos)
• YouTube daggers:
  • A HILARIOUS Sarah Palin vlog. (YouTube)
  • Vlog Part 2: On qualifications (YouTube)
  • Vlog Part 3: On cats (YouTube)
  • Vlog Part 4: Reveals a terrible secret (YouTube)How McCain popped the question (YouTube)
• What do mothers think about the Palin pick? (IHT)
• "Dick Cheney told reporters this week there's no reason why Sarah Palin cannot be a successful vice president in the McCain administration. In fact, not only can she shoot a lawyer in the face, she can field dress him." -Jay Leno

Sept. 2: Family (De-)Values

• Why is there disbelief and speculation about Trig Palin's parentage? Palin's own account of the birth: she says she sensed her water broke while she was in Texas the morning before an important speech. Although she was aware the baby had Down Syndrome and she was then only eight months pregnant, she gave her speech and then made a 12 hour trip from Houston, Texas to Wasilla, Alaska. With two flight connections. I suppose that's to show us how tough she is? Humorous Palin decision map.
• Palin, seven months pregnant, in the photo at right... You tell me. (And no, I will not let this go.)
• 
• Sarah Palin announces that her 17-year old unmarried daughter is pregnant. "Bristol Palin is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain. (UK Independent) 'Cause,see, that PROVES that Trig couldn't be Bristol's baby...
  
• THIS is 7 months pregnant. To the right, Demi Moore --seven months pregnant-- in a Vanity Fair cover shot by Annie Lebovitz. (No, I will not let this go! )
• McCain's aide says statement should refute internet speculation that four-month old baby Trig is actually Bristol Palin's child. (Daily Kos) Update: The Kos link has been scrubbed and is no more. Read Gawker for more.
• Levi Johnston, aka Bristol Palin's fiance, to appear at GOP convention.
• "Speaking of Sarah Palin, she said she's a life-long member of the National Rifle Association. Which may explain why she's in favor of shotgun weddings." --Conan O'Brien

Sept 3: Conventional

• Republican National Convention, America's Favorite Small Town Barracuda, Sarah Palin, who's such a maverick and a reformer that she's reading a speech written by Matthew Scully, former speechwriter for George W. Bush: "I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone... Here's a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion." (NYT/MSN)
• HuffPo says: "Here's a little newsflash for Sarah Palin, to paraphrase her speech: The media isn't writing about you to seek your good opinion — they're writing about you to serve the people of this country." (HuffPo) See Liberal Media above.
• How Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan and Republican Wall Street Journal columnist Mike Murphy really talk when they think no one's looking: "The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullshit about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and that's not what they're good at, they blow it." (HuffPo) The morning after, Noonan evaluates.(WSJ)
• "Earlier tonight, I don't know if you saw it, Sarah Palin gave a tremendous speech to the Republicans, though some are claiming it was actually her daughter's speech." --David Letterman

Sept 8: Gaffe-talk Express takes off

• According to the Washington Post, Palin has billed taxpayers $16,951 as a "per diem" for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging for the allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. (WaPo)
• Palin was apparently unaware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were privately run companies. "Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had 'gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.'"
• "For some reason, the Secret Service revealed that Sarah Palin's Secret Service code name is 'Denali.' Turns out 'Denali' is an old Eskimo name that means Dan Quayle." Jay Leno

Sept 9: Have you seen the little piggies...?

• 

  It seems after Obama made a remark about McCain's "change" slogan being like "putting lipstick on a pig," McCain's camp immediately presumed he was referring to Sarah Palin, since she's the only one on a major party ticket who wears lipstick (Are you quite certain about that?) and they got their knickers in a twist (whoops--is that going to offend John, who is obviously the only one who would wear "knickers"?). (ABC)
• Barack was just quoting Johnny Mac himself, who said the exact same thing about Hillary's healthcare plan. (YouTube)
• Barack fires back about the Piggy Lipstick nonsense. "See it would be funny, it would be funny except, of course the news media decided that was the lead story yesterday. The McCain campaign would much rather have the story about phony and foolish diversions than about the future." Watch the video on MSN.
• "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull?
  A pitbull would make a better vice president." -Mike Ball

Sept 12: Media Access

• And speaking of the Palinista--SHE SPEAKS! Palin finally answers questions from what McCain was really, really, really hoping would be a sympathetic and softball Charlie Gibson on ABC. I know, Most of you don't even want to watch-- you can read the excerpts.
• Was Charlie tough enough? Ehn, coulda been more. Did Sarah stumble? She made Charlie a little testy, it's true, but she also had her lines pretty well memorized. Still there were some obvious bumps in the road. She kinda declared war on Russia (calling the Georgian invasion unprovoked--um, those Georgians are nice and all, but....even I wouldn't say "unprovoked"), couldn't figure out what Bush's doctrine was, and yes, she STILL says "nukular."
• Gloria Steinem compares the Palinista to Phyllis Schlafly. But she also reminds us "the culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine." (LAT)
• If you watched TV last night, you know that Charlie Gibson did something John McCain has never done: interviewed Sarah Palin. --Jay Leno
  

Sept 13: TIna Fey Leads the Multimedia Goldrush

• Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL. Frightening it is, how much Palin looks like Fey, and how Fey has got those Palinisms pretty much nailed. (Wired)
• Tina Fey strikes again with another pitch perfect "Sarah Palin" in an interview with Katie Couric. The wacky thing is that she's not really parodying Sarah Palin, she's just quoting her.
• Is this ad from the Defenders of Wildlife, helping shift voter perception on Sarah Palin? Maybe according to Media Curves. On a personal note, I find the ad horribly hard to watch, mainly because I can't bear to watch the wolves being shot, but if the polling is to be believed, I'm not the only one.
• Even Alaskan Malamutes think Sarah Palin is insane. (I'd be careful Baron-- you look a bit like a wolf...keep your eyes on the sky for aerial hunters... After she gets crazy African healer Pastor Muthee to dispell your doggy demonic spells of course.)
• "I see they're selling Sarah Palin action figures. Sad incident at Toys R Us today -- a Sarah Palin doll shot My Little Pony." -Jimmy Kimmel

Sept 17: An EXPERT on Energy Policy

• Heard at a town hall meeting, Grand Rapids, MI--from Sarah Palin's lips:"Oil and coal? Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do, also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans that get stuck to holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."
  

Sept 20: Speed Dating Diplomacy and Delusions/Illusions of Grandeur

• Maureen Dowd refers to Palin's recent rush through Top World Leaders plus a bonus Henry Kissinger Round as "speed dating diplomacy."
• Sarah Palin, suffering delusions of grandeur, calls it the "Palin-McCain" administration. Ummm, note to Sarah, you're not at the top of the ticket! (YouTube)
• Is the Palin nomination is actually helping turn swing voters in Florida towards Obama. (St. Pete Times)
• Palin is rapidly losing political support in her homestate of Alaska. (LAT)
• "They asked her if she would be able to explain how she once lobbied Washington for earmarks, and she said, 'W'll cross that bridge to nowhere when we come to it'" -Jay Leno

Sept 23: Free Sarah Palin!

• Relations with the press have totally deteriorated for the erstwhile "Straight Talk Express," McCain's folks decided today that they wanted the world to see photos of Palin looking presidential-like while meeting with world leaders at the UN, but they didn't want any pesky reporter-types actually asking her questions or going editorial about her meetings. So they banned the editorial pool reporters from covering the event, and planned to allow only a cameraperson.The Media, who've been kept on a short leash around Palin, finally rebelled. CNN (who had the designated pool cameraperson) threatened to pull their crew entirely before McCain's campaign relented. (NYT/HuffPo)
• Palin worked her way up to answering FOUR whole questions from the press.
• Campbell Brown goes OFF on the McCain camp's sexism in shielding Sarah Palin from the Big Bad Media: "Tonight I call on the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment...you claim she is ready to be one heart beat away form the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now."
• Even Fox News reporters are starting to get testy about the Palin Media Shutout.
• Though we saw an awful lot of Joe Biden after the debate, commenting on how Barack Obama did, where was Governor Palin weighing in with her commentary on her running mate's performance ?
• The National Review's blog "The Stump" quotes Wolf Blitzer on CNN: "We've been getting some emails from viewers out there wondering why we spent some time interviewing Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and not Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. We would have loved to interview--we'd still love to interview Sarah Palin. Unfortunately we asked, we didn't get that interview...We're hoping that Sarah Palin will join us at some point down the road."
• Why does Sarah Palin wear skirts whenever she's campaigning? Because all her pants are on fire.

Sept 24: Mean Girl

• 

  And not that we didn't know this about Sarah Palin, but David Talbot at Salon recounts how Palin's mayoral election in Wasilla took on tones of nastiness that echo the current campaign. "According to some political observers in Alaska, this pattern -- exploiting 'old-boy' mentors and then turning against them for her own advantage -- defines Sarah Palin's rise to power. Again and again, Palin has charmed powerful political patrons, and then rejected them when it suited her purposes."
• Oh, and in case you're not outraged enough about Palin's utter insensitivity as a human being, note that while Palin was mayor in Wasilla, the town began charging rape victims for the costs of their own rape kits.
• Sarah Palin Troopergate Update: The Plank pointed out that even the AP newswire is getting snarky, putting out this lead in a story covering the investigation: "Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature's investigation into her alleged abuse of power, Gov. Sarah Palin on Monday indicated she will cooperate with a separate probe run by people she can fire."
• The National Enquirer, which we never believed, until they nailed the John Edwards story, releases the next "-gate" on Governor Family-Values: an affair with her husband's business partner.
  
• Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic sticks to his guns on the Twelve Lies of Sarah Palin. "Just for the record, I asked an intern to go back and double fact-check the twelve documented lies that Sarah Palin has told on the public record. These are not hyperbolic claims or rhetorical excess. They are assertions of fact that are demonstrably untrue and remain uncorrected."
• Craig Ferguson pointed out that it is very strange that Sarah Palin had a tanning bed installed in the governor's mansion, because the Republican Party is usually focused on making their candidate as white as possible.

Sept 25: Ow. Hurts Brain.

• The BIG interview, with Katie Couric of CBS playing "Stump the Candidate." Particularly delicious is the moment when Couric asks Palin to cite "specific examples in [McCain's] 26 years [in the Senate] of pushing for more regulation."
• More of Katie interviewing Sarah Palin: COURIC: You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that? PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land-- boundary that we have with-- Canada. It-- it's funny that a comment like that was-- kind of made to-- cari-- I don't know, you know? Reporters-- COURIC: Mock? PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that's the word, yeah. (HuffPo)
• Here's the special irony: Alaska's governors DO often enjoy more contact with Russian officials because Anchorage is the base for the Northern Forum, an organization representing leaders and sub-leadership from countries around the Arctic Circle including Russia, Finland, Iceland and Canada, Japan, China and South Korea. The Seattle Times reports: "Yet under Palin, the state government — without consultation — reduced its annual financial support to the Northern Forum to $15,000 from $75,000, according to Priscilla Wohl, the group's executive director. That forced the forum's Anchorage office to go without pay for two months. Palin — unlike the previous administrations of Gov. Frank Murkowski and Gov. Tony Knowles — also stopped sending representatives to Northern Forum's annual meetings, including one last year for regional governors held in the heart of Russia's oil territory." Great. Twenty years of glasnost down the drain. Plus, she doesn't even have the brains to mention that this organization exists when the Russia question comes up.
• The LA Times reports: "Soon after Sarah Palin was elected mayor of the foothill town of Wasilla, Alaska, she startled a local music teacher by insisting in casual conversation that men and dinosaurs coexisted on an Earth created 6,000 years ago -- about 65 million years after scientists say most dinosaurs became extinct -- the teacher said." That's TOTALLY true. I saw it on TV once.
• Sarah Palin, going for the all-important Sleestack vote. It's paying off: McCain is now polling at 52% among Sleestacks likely to vote.
• Is Sarah Palin qualified?" poll on PBS NOW's website. I sent it out, and many of you have sent it to me. Well, the poll, which only ran a week in early September on PBS' homepage, became the single most viewed page on their entire site, even though nothing links to it now that the homepage link is gone. But it's remained so popular via email that PBS was moved to post this notice. As many people noticed, voting "da Chicago way" seemed to be entirely possible, and apparently was until yesterday, when they embedded cookies so you can only vote once per computer.
• "Vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has many views. She says she's opposed to same-sex marriage. Did you know that? Yeah, Palin says everyone knows marriage isn't for gay people; it's for pregnant teenagers." --Conan O'Brien
  

Sept. 26: Out of the Tank for Palin.

• 

  Even the National Review's Kathleen Parker, once "in the tank" for Sarah Palin, now says, "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion."
• Over on Leno, Wanda Sykes goes OFF on Sarah Palin. "They say, 'Oh, she's meeting with the world leaders.' But there's no reporters. I'm like, is she meeting with the world leaders, or did you take her to the Epcot Center? Let her drink around the world? You know, because I've done that. Maybe I should be Secretary of State..."
• "Well, it's a very strange political campaign. I mean, out on the campaign trail, John McCain and Sarah Palin are talking about how they stood up to the Republican party, they fought the Republican establishment, and they battled Republicans. Their message: vote Republican." --Jay Leno
  

Sept 28: Point/Counterpoint

• Whoopsie. McCain appeared on George Stephanopoulos' show on Sunday on ABC, and um... had to retract the statement his esteemed running mate made the night before: "Saturday night, while on a stop for cheesesteaks in South Philadelphia, Palin was questioned by a Temple graduate student about whether the U.S. should cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. 'If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should,' Palin said."
• Hmmm, that sounds familiar... wait, what was it Barack Obama said during Friday night's debate? "If the United States has al Qaeda, bin Laden, top-level lieutenants in our sights, and Pakistan is unable or unwilling to act, then we should take them out."
• At that point, McCain, you might remember, said testily, "Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government."
• McCain, gently corrected Palin's statements: "She would not…she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos of Palin. "In all due respect, people going around and… sticking a microphone while conversations are being held, and then all of a sudden that's—that's a person's position… This is a free country, but I don't think most Americans think that that's a definitive policy statement made by Governor Palin."
• Palin is still PERKY [read, "adorably catty"] saying of Thursday's debate with Biden. "I'm looking forward to meeting him, too. I've never met him before, but I've been hearing about his Senate speeches since I was in, like, second grade.''
• Joining in on the growing chorus of aghast conservatives, Ron Dreher, the Crunchy Conservative, says, "Palin is mediocre, again, regurgitating talking points mechanically, not thinking. Palin's just babbling. She makes George W. Bush sound like Cicero"
• "Palin and McCain are a good pair. She's pro-life and he's clinging to life." - Jay Leno

Sept 29: Pre-Debate

• McCain and Palin, together again, fighting Gotcha Journalism
  
• Palin is safely tucked away prepping for debate someplace in one of the McCains' three or four homes in Sedona, AZ out of the ten McCain homes
• In the Wall Street Journal they report that "the McCain campaign aims to halt what it sees as a perceived decline in the crispness and precision of Gov. Palin's latest remarks as well as a fall in recent polls." "'It's time to let Palin be Palin -- and let it all hang out,' said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist."
• McCain' spokeswoman saying essentially that if Gwen Ifill comes up with questions that are 60% foreign policy and 40% economy that it's unfair to Palin.
• Mitt Romney joins in with a backhanded defense: "Look she wasn't selected by John McCain because she's an expert on foreign policy." [Yeah. We got that.] "John McCain's the expert on foreign policy..." [Um...he is? John, can you say "Ahmadinejad" one more time?]
• And for flat out sputtering outrage, watch Cenk Uygar go off on Palin's answer to Katie Couric regarding Hamas. Cenk--who's admittedly on the biased side, like me--is convinced Palin has NO IDEA who the Hamas is, and dontcha know, I'm inclined to agree. He also suggests that if you put a map in front of her, she couldn't tell you where the Gaza Strip is. Entirely possible. Cenk wishes selecting a VP candidate were more like gymnastics where you get a big ZERO score if you flub your vault. Don't we wish.
• Still, Andrew Halcro, who debated Palin in the governorship race in Alaska, warns ,"she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality."
• Governor Sarah Palin began preparing Saturday for Thursday's vice presidential debate against Senator Joe Biden at Washington University in St. Louis. She has no intention of coming in second. This time she's going to wear a two-piece swimsuit.

Sept 30: She's An [Nearly Illiterate, Below-Average] American Girl (but she plays flute)

• As part of their "media blitz" this week, Palin went on the radio telling America about how she's just average working class..."Todd and I, heck, we're going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don't like the idea of just an everyday working class American running for such an office.
  
• As HuffPo notes, it was the bastion of conservativism, The Washington Times, that pointed out that Palin is hardly working class: "A check of financial records, though, shows the Palins live anything but a common life when compared with their fellow residents of their hometown of Wasilla. Their combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year was five times the median household income for Wasilla's 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a half-million-dollar, custom-built home on a lake that is worth three times the average of other homes in town. For the future, they also have a 401(k) retirement account compliments of Todd Palin's years as an engineer with oil giant BP." Hmmm, that wasn't what I meant by "above average."
• ANYway. Yes, it's true, just by reading my daily rant, YOU can become More Qualified to Be Vice President than Sarah Palin. From HuffPo: "Asked what newspapers and magazines she reads, Palin - a journalism major in college - could not name one publication. "I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media," she said at first. Couric responded, "What, specifically?" "Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years." "Can you name a few?" "I have a vast variety of source where we get our news," Palin said. "Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, 'wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America." Vast variety,eh? No, honey, _I_ have a vast variety of sources. You have People Magazine.

• But with all the trash-talking about elitist media, Palin had a little problem embedded in that question (besides the obvious problem of being completely incurious about anything):
  

• She can't say she reads NY Times after Steve Schmidt blasted it as having no "journalistic integrity."
• She can't say she read the Washington Post, because Howard Kurtz has been dogging her for weeks.
• The LA Times reports how even Alaskans are angry that the McCain campaign was shielding Palin.
• Time? Nope, home of the conservative libertarian Mark Halperin who called for them to "Stop the Madness!" and said on CNN, "if a core part of their message is something that every journalist -- journalism organization in the country has looked at and says it's demonstrably false, again, we're not doing our jobs if we just treat this as one of many things that's happening."
• Newsweek has the Jonathan Alterman problem.
  
• Forget the Atlantic, home of Andrew Sullivan, who once supported McCain but now enumerates the Twelve Lies of Sarah Palin.
  
• And even the National Freaking Review's Kathleen Parker says, "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."
  

• See, the problem with being your kind of maverick is that you don't have any friends now--no lifelines, no one to help you, no one whose name you'd be allowed to mention. Hoisted with your own petard.
• But Sarah IS musical...ish. Musical-ish. Ah, that beauty pageant footage... I know there's more out there, people, cough it up... "Ladies and Gentlemen, Contestant Number 8, Sarah Heath."
  

Oct 2: Gotcha.

• 
• Katie Couric again, this time with a simple question "Other Supreme Court Decisions you disagree with?"Joe Biden can answer the question. Palin...can't come up with one specific "in the great history of this country."
• Fred Thompson on CBS' Early Show says Sarah Palin couldn't name a Supreme Court case that she disagreed with because she had yet to be given a "list of cases to see." Oh, why don't you just go field-dress your head, Fred.
• And McCain's spokeswoman Nico Wallace whinges about how she's "shocked personally at how brutal many of the women in the media have been." Hey, baby-doll, what did you think this was? A beauty pageant??
  
• By the way, about "seeing" Russia from Alaska. That's true, but there's only one place in Alaska that you can do that from: Little Diomede island in the Bering Strait. Gary Tuchman on Anderson Cooper 360 visited it --which Palin has never done. "No American mayor resides in a city closer to Russia than Andrew Milligrock, and he says being two miles from Russia doesn't give him any foreign policy expertise."

Post Turtle

• While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.
  
  The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.' Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.
  
  The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'
  
  The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.
  
  'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

====================================

Memories...hurt the corners of my mind...

Beyond the Palin

ABC's recent poll indicated that 60% of Americans think Palin does not have the experience needed for the job. 46% think she "understands complex issues," while 49 percent think she doesn't. Who--WHO are you, you 46% who thinks she understands complex issues???? Even in her home state, America's most popular governor is slipping, as everyone begins to figure out that she's ignorant AND obnoxious. "McClatchy reports today that her approval rating in her home state has tumbled to 68% -- still high but surely not the country's best. The poll by a local firm that works for both parties was taken Sept. 20-22."

One more time before we go... I just LOVE looking at that electoral map.

It occurs to me again, and with greater force how well Obama has picked his team and how poorly McCain has chosen his. In the last four weeks, Obama has sent his wife Michelle Obama to Allentown, PA with Jill Biden, to Saginaw and Clinton townships in Michigan, to Greensboro, NC. And of course, while he and Joe Biden have been campaigning together in Virginia, he's also sent Joe out to major swing states by himself -- because he can. I haven't seen Sarah Palin (forget Todd) or Cindy McCain out there in Wisconsin stumping for John--I don't think the campaign could possibly trust any of them out by themselves.

So actually, it's no surprise (although it is really, really pleasant to see) that Obama is opening leads in key swing states. As reported yesterday, he's over 50% in Ohio, Pennsylvania and FLORIDA according to Quinnipiac, but new polls from CNN/Time reflect the same trend.

• Florida: Obama 51%, McCain 47%
• Minnesota: Obama 54%, McCain 43%
• Missouri: Obama 49%, McCain 48%
• Nevada: Obama 51%, McCain 47%
• Virginia: Obama 53%, McCain 44%

Plus, Obama is polling at his highest ever in the CBS/NYTimes poll: 49% to McCain's 40%. This is the first statistically significant lead he's taken in that poll. "The election cycle is entering a time when voters historically begin to make final judgments; this year, in fact, many of them are actually beginning early voting in states."

33 days to the election, folks! Reminder again that time is running out--for many states, you must register to vote well in advance of the elections. RockTheVote's list of voter registration deadlines. Here are some upcoming dates--forward this on to your friends in the appropriate states (swing states in bold):

• THIS Saturday Oct 4: Alaska, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington
• NEXT Monday, Oct 6: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, DC, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.
• NEXT Tuesday, Oct 7: Illinois, New Mexico
• NEXT Wednesday, Oct 8: Missouri
  

If you're voting absentee, you may have to get your ballot in weeks before the Nov 4th Election date. Declare Yourself has links to each state's voter information page where you can find out how to get your absentee ballot. Ohio, your absentee ballot program is now open for business.

CONTINUE READING...

Debatable

'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.'
--The White Queen, Through The Looking Glass


Pity poor Jim Lehrer. He had been promised a debate and the McCain camp kept that up in the air until this morning. He'd been promised a particular format--candidates fighting each other with him watching-- and they kept throwing their punches through Jim.

First off, in case you didn't see it or your DVR was "on the McCain"--I mean "on the fritz"-- Mississippi Presidential Debate transcript and video in that cool interactive feature on the New York Times.
Nielsen estimates 57 million viewers took in the event.

In case you're interested, Obama's campaign liveblogged factchecks throughout the debate, but more fun is Think Progress' liveblog of the debate, which includes a few fabulous "Let's go to the videotape" YouTube links. McCain's camp reportedly did send out email "factchecks" throughout the night, though I didn't receive any. Hmmm, I wonder if they know that I'm secretly a liberal...

Yeah, alright. You got me--I'm in the tank for Obama. But if you want my personal take, 36+ hours later my impression of the debate is of a nice calm, cool guy debating an angry, old grouch. If I actually worked for McCain [shudder], I'd tell him to lay off the aggressive tactics and try to look more like a kindly, wise grandpa. Throughout the debate, his stand-offish body language and stiff posture all suggest defensiveness to me. But as I don't work for him, don't tell him. Frivolous video for today: McCain's song and dance.

The upshot from Politico (with additions from Arianna Huffington and moi):

Number of times Sen. McCain referred to Sen. Obama as "Barack": zero
Number of times Sen. Obama referred to Sen. McCain as "John": 23

McCain zingers: "Sen. Obama has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate. It's hard to reach across the aisle from that far to the left. … I'm not going to set the White House visitors schedule before I'm president of the United States. I don't even have a seal yet."
Arianna adds: "For McCain, it was his line about Putin ("I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: KGB), and his mocking line about sitting down with Ahmadinejad."

Obama zingers: "Coming from you, who, you know, in the past has threatened extinction for North Korea and, you know, sung songs about bombing Iran, I don't know, you know, how credible that is. … I've got a bracelet, too, from Sergeant — from the mother of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek, given to me in Green Bay. … John mentioned me being wildly liberal — mostly that's just me opposing George Bush's policies." "John, you like to pretend the war began in 2007."
Arianna: "For Obama, it was his run on Iraq, his "muddle through" riff ("you don't muddle through Osama... you don't muddle through the Taliban"), and his reminder of McCain's gaffe about not meeting with the prime minister of Spain."

Best Obama sound bite: "You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shiite and Sunni. And you were wrong."

Best McCain sound bite: "We've seen this stubbornness before in this administration — [for Obama] to cling to a belief that somehow the surge has not succeeded, and failing to acknowledge that he was wrong about the surge is — shows to me that we … need more flexibility in a president of the United States than that."

Arianna adds: Did John McCain really try to reclaim the high ground on torture after having caved on the issue earlier in the year? And did he really profess his love for veterans after having fought against the new GI Bill?
ME adds: Did Mr. "I Don't-Need-Any-On-The-Job-Training" McCain actually call Pakistan's president Kadari? Um, his name is Zardari. And I guess he should have practiced saying Ahmadinejad more. Even Sarah Palin managed it better. (A waggish commentator notes that McCain could just practice by saying "I may need a job.")

Declared Obama the winner (ME's editorial details in parentheses): ABC's George Stephanopoulos, pollster Frank Luntz on Fox, Slate's John Dickerson, Time magazine's Mark Halperin (Obama A-, McCain B-), pollster and Clinton adviser Dick Morris, CBS News instant poll (40% Obama - 22% McCain - 38% tie) and CNN post-debate poll (51% Obama-38% McCain). Also, Independents in the MediaCurves focus group "gave the debate to Obama 61-39. They also think he won every individual segment." More poll results.
Arianna gives style points to Obama, "who came across as relaxed and gracious (too gracious; enough with the repeated claims that "John is right"). McCain looked like he forgot to take his Metamucil."

Declared McCain the winner: Politico's Roger Simon: "The Mac is back", Fortune magazine's Nina Easton, The Weekly Standard's William Kristol and Fred Barnes, Fox News Texting Poll and Drudge online poll.

Tie: Republican strategist Mike Murphy, who said on MSNBC: "No game-changer, and we're going to have a rematch."

Huffpo rounds up some more post-debate commentary from editorial boards. And an observation from ThinkProgress: "ABC's Charlie Gibson and PBS's David Brooks and Mark Shields note that McCain never looked at Obama during the debate."

============================

Palinista Update

By the way, we saw an awful lot of Joe Biden after the debate, commenting on how Barack Obama did. Where was Governor Palin weighing in with her commentary on her running mate's performance ? Oh yeah, they can't let her out without a teleprompter. The National Review's blog "The Stump" quotes Wolf Blitzer on CNN: "We've been getting some emails from viewers out there wondering why we spent some time interviewing Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential nominee and not Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee. We would have loved to interview--we'd still love to interview Sarah Palin. Unfortunately we asked, we didn't get that interview...We're hoping that Sarah Palin will join us at some point down the road."

Maybe she was working on a "do-over" of her interview with Katie Couric. Tina Fey strikes again with another pitch perfect "Sarah Palin" in an interview with Katie Couric. The wacky thing is that she's not really parodying Sarah Palin, she's just quoting her. "Like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this. We're saying, 'Hey, why bail out Fanny and Freddie and not me?' But ultimately what the bailout does is, help those that are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy to help...uh...it's gotta be all about job creation, too. Also, too, shoring up our economy and putting Fannie and Freddy back on the right track and so healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reigning in spending...'cause Barack Obama, y'know...has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans, also, having a dollar value meal at restaurants. That's gonna help. But one in five jobs being created today under the umbrella of job creation. That, you know...Also."

Even the National Review's Kathleen Parker, once "in the tank" (What the heck does that mean anyhow??) for Sarah Palin, now says, "As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion."

Oh, and in case you're not outraged enough about Palin's utter insensitivity as a human being, note that while Palin was mayor in Wasilla, the town began charging rape victims for the costs of their own rape kits. Classy, real classy.

1-800-CASH4JUNK

Well, looks like we're buying it, folks. Details are in the NY TImes article, but I somehow keep missing this piece of info: which companies exactly are we buying junk from? Just anybody who applies?

To the right, a humorous juxtaposition of articles that I noticed this morning on Politico.

The New York Times has an interesting assessment of the real reasons why AIG (too big to fail) got a government bailout deal when Lehman (Let the market decide) got the "Go Fish!": "As the group, led by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., pondered the collapse of one of America's oldest investment banks, Lehman Brothers, a more dangerous threat emerged: American International Group, the world's largest insurer, was teetering. A.I.G. needed billions of dollars to right itself and had suddenly begged for help.The only Wall Street chief executive participating in the meeting was Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson's former firm. Mr. Blankfein had particular reason for concern. Although it was not widely known, Goldman, a Wall Street stalwart that had seemed immune to its rivals' woes, was A.I.G.'s largest trading partner, according to six people close to the insurer who requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. A collapse of the insurer threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman's side, several of these people said."

He Came, He Saw, He Screwed it Up

"The Republican source, with direct knowledge of the negotiations, said that GOPers and McCain were 'scared about the press perception' that they were at fault for 'blowing the thing up.' The takeover of Washington Mutual on Thursday combined with the continued downturn in the futures and credit markets "also scared them," to the point that a bailout deal seemed within the realm of possibility 'over the weekend.'"

And although you might expect that (with the "right" bailout plan being so all-fire important and all) that after the debate was done, John McCain would race to Nancy Pelosi's office to be there in person, all night, at the negotiating table in Washington. After the debate, he was on the Hill Saturday for about 90 minutes according to the Washington Post (who also deliciously describes "chaos" in the McCain camp during pre-debate preparations): "McCain did not go to Capitol Hill, preferring to make calls from his headquarters. 'He can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,' [McCain adviser Mark] Salter said. 'He's calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can.'" Oh. He can do it "by phone," can he? You don't say.

Maybe after dinner? Politico reports that Saturday night, McCain was at the very chic DC restaurant CityZen. Check out their $110 tasting menu. I guess, since his "services are no longer required after he um, achieved bipartisanship last Thursday, he can settle into a nice "Sweet Onion Chiboust with a Sarawak Pepper Sable and English Thyme Broth...." (Maybe I should check it out if I can ever afford fine-dining again...) Hey, John, "arugula-eating" is cheaper.

So what do people think about McNuts' Mc-neuvering last week? Even conservatives are saying: Whuh-HUH? "It just proves his campaign is governed by tactics and not ideology," said Republican consultant Craig Shirley, who advised McCain earlier in this cycle.

Hmmm...Instant poll: is it better to govern with:
a) Tactics
b) ideology
c) NONE OF THE ABOVE
US News and World Report's John Farrell assesses Obama's handling of the "Political Circus comes to town" as Presidential, whereas..."Given the Republican nominee's untethered (there's that word again) performance in the last three weeks, during which he has swung wildly from Oblivious to Panicky by way of Blurt and Bluster, McCain's performance comes as no surprise."

The Post is no more sympathetic: "John McCain's sudden intervention in Washington's deliberations over the Wall Street bailout could not have been more out of sync with what was actually happening...McCain's boisterous intervention -- and particularly his grandstanding on the debate -- was less a presidential act than the tactical ploy of a man worried that his chances of becoming president might be slipping away."

Of course, there's always the nutcase. Steve Huntley says in the Chicago Sun-Times: "What we are talking about here is leadership in a time of crisis...Be it campaign finance regulation, immigration reform or climate change, he has never hesitated to take a leadership position on an issue he sees as critical to the country..." Hmmm, who is Huntley? I seem to remember that name... Oh yeah, he was Robert Novak's editor, the one who let Novak publish the column that leaked Valerie Plame's identity. Oh. Him.

And what is with McCain's constant lies? Is it self-delusion? Jonathan Chait at the New Republic has some interesting perspectives: "McCain has contempt for anybody who stands between him and the presidency. McCain views himself as the ultimate patriot. He loves his country so much that he cannot let it fall into the hands of an unworthy rival. (They all turn out to be unworthy.) Viewed in this way, doing whatever it takes to win is not an act of selfishness but an act of patriotism."

From the NY Times this morning, hints of NEW! FRESH! headaches for the McCain campaign: "Mr. McCain portrays himself as a Washington maverick unswayed by special interests, referring recently to lobbyists as "birds of prey." Yet in his current campaign, more than 40 fund-raisers and top advisers have lobbied or worked for an array of gambling interests — including tribal and Las Vegas casinos, lottery companies and online poker purveyors." The Times also has a graphic with a dizzying array of McCain connections to the gambling lobby.

===================

Stupid Human Tricks

And in a good old classic run on the bank, WaMu customers went in this morning to demand their $10 back. Following the largest US bank failure in history. JP Morgan Chase acquired WaMu after the bank was seized Thursday night, and all operations continued as normal on Friday morning, even though depositors pulled $17 billion from the bank. (I don't know why those instant stock quotes embedded in text of the above article bother me so much. Makes me a little panicky frankly.)

Thanks to Betty for tracking the Dealbook blog's moment-to-moment coverage: Do you have money in Wachovia-- which may be "Citi-chovia Traveling Group" by the time I get done typing this sentence? A scorecard in case you've lost track of who lost what and who bought what in the last, oh, week and a half.

By the way, David Lazarus in the LA Times notes that : "As our friends in the financial sector were passing the hat among taxpayers last week for $700 billion in bailouts to cover their crappy mortgage investments, they were simultaneously condemning the House of Representatives' passage of a "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights," which aims to crack down on some of the industry's more troublesome practices."

A look at the Argentinian Financial Crisis in the early 2000's. Hmmm. Hints of what's ahead?

German police arrested suspected terrorists on a KLM flight: "German police raided a plane in Cologne just before it was taking off Friday and arrested two ethnic Somalis, saying they found a suicide note that claimed the men wanted to fight a holy war and die in a terror attack." Have a good flight.

CBS execs were reportedly upset that Dave Letterman patched into internal video feeds to show John McCain getting a makeup job while chatting with Katie Couric when he was supposed to be on Dave's show. Who cares? It was great TV.
Day 2: Dave still on McCain about ditching him. "McCain spokeswoman Nicole Wallace said Thursday that the campaign 'felt this wasn't a night for comedy...We deeply regret offending Mr. Letterman, but our candidate's priority at this moment is to focus on this crisis,' Wallace said on NBC's 'Today' show."

And in case you didn't see it, watch a pretty savvy Chris Rock on Larry King. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) "The choice isn't Republican or Democrat. The choice is you got a guy that's worth $150 million with 12 houses against a guy who's worth a million dollars with one house.The guy with one house really cares about losing a house, because he is homeless. The other guy can lose five houses and still got a bunch of houses. Does this make any sense? Am I the only one that sees this?" I must ask again, why is it that the comedians are the ones with the clear-eyed view of what's really going on in the political process?

On the Road again

The campaign marches on. Obama and Biden stood in the pouring rain to talk with 26,000 Virginians.

Gallup Daily had Obama up three points Saturday. and by this morning, he was up by EIGHT points. I know it's meaningless, but it make me feel better. The Electoral Vote shift has been more pronounced though. Enjoy the trending...

37 days to the election! Reminder again that time is running out--for many states, you must register to vote well in advance of the elections. RockTheVote's list of voter registration deadlines. And if you're voting absentee, you may have to get your ballot in weeks before the Nov 4th Election date. Declare Yourself has links to each state's voter information page where you can find out how to get your absentee ballot. Get those friends of yours in Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire (WTF?), Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida (YES! FLORIDA!) to get out there and vote!

CONTINUE READING...