'Hello?'

'Hi honey. This is Daddy. Is Mommy near the phone?'

'No Daddy. She's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Thomas.'
After a brief pause, Daddy says, 'But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Thomas.'

'Oh yes I do, and he's upstairs in the room with Mommy, right now.'
Brief Pause. 'Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the
phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door
and shout to Mommy that Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway.'

'Okay Daddy, just a minute.'

A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone. 'I did it Daddy.'

'And what happened honey?'

'Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and
ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on
the dresser and now she isn't moving at all!'

'Oh my God!!!

What about your Uncle Thomas?'
'He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared
and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I
guess he didn't know that you took out the water last week to clean
it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he's dead.'

***Long Pause***

***Longer Pause***

***Even Longer Pause***

Then Daddy says, 'Swimming pool?

Is this 555-5731?'

No, this is 555-5713.....

Sorry, wrong number!!!!!!!!

A Wasilla Cabin, 7am

"Wha... Where am I? Who are you?"
"Calm down, Katie, dear. It's me, Sarah."
"Wha...why am I tied to the bed?"
"You've been a naughty girl, Katie, ya know theeat?"
"Sarah, I... I thought we were at a campaign rally...I was interviewing you..."
"I know, dear. I drugged ya and broughtcha to my little tranquility cabin here in Wasilla. Ya like the moose heads? Shot 'em all myself from a 'copter!"
"But...why am I here?"
"Oh, Katie, I couldn’t letcha keep askin' them awful questions and releasin' them awful videos. You were makin' my cockadoodie presidential campaign look wacky!"
"Don't you mean John McCain's presidential campa..."
"Shut up! Shut your elitist journalist liberal New York mouth! You made me look...um...um..."
"Stupid, uninformed and completely ignorant of the world?"
"Yeah, that's it! You dirty birdy, how could you??!! Questions about the Supreme Court and magazines and books and John Stinky McGroper's record---I'm not a rocket scientist, y'know! I'm a hackey mahm! Ya couldn't ask me a cockadoodie question about the PTA? Or how to bag two moose at one time when they're makin' nookie? Or how to change a snowmobile tread with a bahbby pin?"
"But..."
"And to think I used to be your number-one feean."
"Sarah...what's the sledgehammer for?"
"Oh, theeat. I can't have ya runnin' around doin' any more interviews, Katie. So I gotta break your legs."
"Wait! I promise if you don’t win the election I'll get you a job at CBS! Really! You were a great sportscaster, Sarah, and you can be great again. Trust me."
"Oh, Katie. Like I said about the Bridge to Nowhere...theenks but no theenks."

[THOCK!!!] "Aieeeeee!!!"

"That takes care of that cockadoodie lefty liberal leg. Now I hate to do this, but I gotta do the right leg, too. Believe me, this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you."

[THOCK!!!] "Whyeeeeeeee!!?? Whyeeeee??!!"

"There. Now you can start thinkin' about the book yer gonna write about me that makes me sound like a combination of Margaret Thatcher and Mother Teresa. Get some sleep and I'll be back later with mooseburgers and your happy pills. And Katie?"
"Wha... whaaa...?"
"I was jus' jokin'---I'm still you're number-one feean, kiddo."

Abbreviated Pundit Round-Up
by BarbinMD

Your one stop pundit shop.

A group of political experts (or morons, depending on your point of view), give their take on what each candidate must do to win tonight's vice presidential debate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102652.html

::::

And another group of the same sort give us the questions they'd like to ask the two vice presidential candidates. Gwen, don't read this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/opinion/02veepdebatefortheweb.html

::::

Roger Cohen talks about Nixon, Bush, gambling, and our future. His conclusion?

"I know one thing: this is no time for further gambling. John McCain rolled the dice on Sarah Palin. I’m grateful to Bob Rice of Tangent Capital for pointing out that the actuarial risk, based on mortality tables, of Palin becoming president if the Republican ticket wins the election is about 1 in 6 or 7.

That’s the same odds as your birthday falling on a Wednesday, or being delayed on two consecutive flights into Newark airport. Is America ready for that?

The lesson of the last eight years is this: when power is a passport to gamble, people can end up seriously broke or seriously dead."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/opinion/02Cohen.html

::::

David Broder talked to voters in Michigan and somehow couldn't find one person to say, "I'm voting for Candidate X."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100102647.html

::::

David Limbaugh writes his latest screed with his usual disregard for reality:

"Mr. McCain must take the gloves off - as he did after Mr. Obama made the mistake of showing his nasty, haughty and condescending side in the first debate - and place the blame for this mess [the bailout] squarely at the Democrats' and Mr. Obama's door."

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/02/pinning-the-tail-on-the-donkey/

Filed under: You can't make this stuff up.

::::

John C. Whitehead and Peter L. Malkin look at the late Paul Newman's philanthropic philosophy and say that business leaders follow his example.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122291062328096769.html

::::

George Curry gives his thoughts on last week's debate between Barack Obama and John McCain:

"Watching the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain last week at the University of Mississippi, my thoughts alternated between Mississippi's remarkable progress and its bloody past."

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20081002_Beyond_the_Spin__A_mixture_of_memories.html

::::

Bruce Ackerman wants to abolish the vice presidency. If McCain wins, I agree completely.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ackerman2-2008oct02,0,2539877.story

10/2 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 51, McCain 40

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/2/73649/7406/367/616970

An old political joke gets updated with the times:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, who's hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Palin and her bid.
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 you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle".

The old rancher saw the 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, and she doesn't know what to do while she's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dummy put her up there to begin with".

A little support from Kenya for Obama
NSFR - not safe for racists -

Kenge Kenge African Traditional Music Group
Obama for Change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0QNiGYClbM

Obama Projects 269 Electoral Votes Even With Six-Point Cushion

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/obama-projects-269-electoral-votes-even.html

yo yo flabs...

is uncle tom macinsane and mommy scary p? sounds like what hypocritical repugnicans like to do in their sneak time?

John McCain is Angry
by: tremayne
OL

As his poll numbers decline John McCain is getting angry and in the process he is reminding me of Bob Dole circa October of 1996. Like Dole, McCain once enjoyed good relations with the media. But with their opponents holding substantial polling leads, both candidates turned against the "liberal" media. There are many similarities between the two:

Bob Dole
John McCain

Then age 73
Age 72

28 years in Senate
26 years in Congress

War wounds, WW2
War wounds, Vietnam

Opponent 23 yrs younger
Opponent 25 yrs younger

"I'm losing to Bubba?"
"I'm losing to a black guy?"

Oct.96: Frustrated and angry at 'liberal' media
Oct.08: Testy and angry at 'liberal' media

Funny how McCain once joked about the media being his "base" but as soon as his numbers decline they are the enemy. A real leader would take ownership of his own situation and attribute his poll standing to his own actions or inactions. Don't Republicans believe in personal responsibility? Is McCain really going to blame "the system" for his troubles? Is "the man" keeping you down John McCain?

yo dude..the dino from zona does not have a mind...he lost it long ago in a p.o.w. camp...

If you are a mayor of any of these cities, u are in the big league....if u are mayor of a dinky, small hick town like Wasilla, u are not...

NYC...population 9,000,000, Miami, 5,000,000, Chicago, 3,000,000

Wasilla, 5,000.

all of Alaska, just over a half million...670,000 ..whoa...

McCain Wins Campaign for Whiner-in-Chief

Ha ha ha ha ha:

McCain says Obama lead growing because ‘life isn’t fair’

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain said Thursday that Sen. Barack Obama’s poll numbers are rising as the economy seems to sink "because life isn’t fair."

"He certainly did nothing for the first few days," McCain said Thursday on Fox News. "I suspended my campaign, took our ads down, came back to Washington, met with the House folks and got on the phone, and also had face-to-face meetings."

What next? "Unfair! People like him better than me!" Oh, wait. . . .

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oHXYsw_ZDXg

I think that intent dot com place is way above my social class; but then again, what isn't!

Har har har. Waaaaaaa.

he-he

Hey sinnerman, where we gonna run to?

;)

Hi Craig,

But they seem to appreciate the little things more and more according to the latest article I have read there.

I have stopped commenting there, it is a rehearsal of the whole Intentblog from the beginning in 2005, only now with more people on the same level.

This is Deepak's intent, forming groups of people who are on the same level and from there reform society, same as the Alliance of a new Humanity.

One can now say that IB has become a political blog where more and more people are on the same level too.

Well at least two groups are formed :)

I am a member of a Senior club in my country, guess for me this will be the ideal group :).

All the best to you!

Mieke

Yeah . . .

The only "club" I am a member of the "chaperones" don't let you leave . . . har har har

I would go to church but they charge money, I would join AA but they want money too and don't seem to appreciate when I say "just give herb a chance"; they say something about being in denial and how the government will hook you up with anti-depressants, I don't know if that was before or afer the coffee and cigarette break :) :)

Oh well,

Nowhere for a dog to call home!

One day this too shall pass . . .

Hi Craig,

Here is a suggestion to you that doesn't cost any money and to me it has been the most fulfilling natural art I have made up till now:

making simple labyrinths in nature with all stuff one can find in it like autumn leaves, fir-cones, branches etc.

Bet lots of people who see you do this will be interested.

Anyway, want some ideas, visit: http://www.heartphone.org/possibilities_of_the_labyrinth.htm

If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see two simple natural butterfly labyrinths I recently made and one of them I have dedicated to North (Donna) :)

Love to you,

Mieke

sarah palin is not vice presidential (who cud be prez) material!

wud u vote for such a scary non-entity empty suit?

if u do, ur mama made u play with pork chops when u were little...whoahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaa.....

and was she really a beauty queen? u kiddin' ... only in a small town of five people...perhaps?

whoahahahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahaaaaaaaaaaa....whoa!

I think your labyrinths are very kewl Mieke!

You know . . .

Life

LIfe is a labyrinth
Divided into four quarters
After arriving in the middle
You will find the quint-
essence of this riddle
In the fruits you have gathered...

And then... it starts anew again
When you start walking back from the middle
Wondering how it all could ever have been
Such a riddle
And with that wisdom gained
All that is, still remained

From the Heart Phone!

peace

Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul rock!

No bailout!

Peace

Palin vs. Biden: In quotes

Joe Biden and Sarah Palin both come across as warm, friendly people. But while Mr. Biden sometimes finds himself with his foot in his mouth, Ms. Palin has shown herself to be less than direct in answering questions. Below are some Palinisms and Bidenisms.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=853550

Debate reactions:

9:29 CDT: [Sean] The woman too chicken to face a press conference says she sure doggone bumdiggity wishes there could be more of this with less of that pesky media involved.

9:37 CDT: [Nate] I think this one is likely to go to Biden in the post-debate polling, and perhaps by a fair margin. The expectations game is much more important for the media than for the public, and for a lot of people, she's going to come across as too scripted, come across way too close to the SNL caricature.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

MissLaura at Daily Kos: Palin implies her trouble with Katie Couric was due to a filter. [Nice try!] Freedom! Ronald Reagan! Pretty words about our children's children and freedom and of course John McCain! [Until it serves her to throw him under the bus.]

Biden ends with actual answers, addressing an audience of actual people as opposed to the audience he's been coached to believe he's speaking to.

her nerdy glasses, trite smile and acting oh so cutezy are wearing thin...she did a lousy job...as i see it...she was comfortable with the stuff shes been rehearsin behind close door all week...

on foreign policy, she kept repeating the same rehearsed lines, she did no once mention the name of bin laden or pakistan's new prez Sadr-e-Mumlikat..

joe was the superior debator tonight...by far

Post-debate thoughts by Kos:

"Sarah Palin won! Actually, she survived, since she had no "deer in headlight" moments. Of course, it's easy to do that when you say, straight up, that you won't answer any questions you don't like. And in true to her word, she tossed aside any question that might prove problematic (like Biden's questions on McCain's support for deregulation) to discuss whatever talking points she had memorized.

And really, Palin was like one of those dolls where you pull the string, and some pre-recorded message comes out. Pull string, "They hate our freedoms!" Pull string, "Obama will raise taxes!" Pull string, "Drill, baby, drill!" It was tiresome and, frankly, a little boring.

Joe Biden obviously knows his shit. That was never in doubt, and nothing Biden did changes that perception. In fact, he even had a little of fun showmanship to spice up his answers, like his mocking of McCain's refusal to meet with Spain. And his takedown of McCain's "maverick" status was simply sublime.

So who won? Who cares. Nothing happened to change the dynamics of this race. Palin proved that she's still unable to answer the questions posed to her, but she also didn't fall flat on her face. And in the ridiculously depressed expectations for the governor of Alaska, she didn't crash and burn. But she didn't need to maintain the status quo. That's toxic territory for her. She needed to prove that she could get beyond pre-packaged talking points to demonstrating some capacity for analytical thought. In that regard, she failed.

On the merits, Biden won easy. On the things that debates are scored on, it was a draw. And for us Democrats, that's the same as victory.

And one more note -- Gwen Ifil was excellent. Like Lehrer, I forgot she was on stage, and that's the way moderators should be."

georgia10 at Daily Kos writes that the difference tonight was that between a student and a statesman:

"Tonight, Americans were treated to a stark contrast.

On the right, Republicans offered up a candidate who performed like a diligent understudy eager to perfectly recite the lines on a page. Sarah Palin spent the night doing what she does best--palinizing, avoiding answering questions and instead providing canned generalities and stock "zingers." She performed her choreographed debate dance well, down to how often she looked at Joe Biden and how often she looked in the camera. She studied for this debate. It showed.

On the left, Democrats offered up a candidate who didn't just perform. He certainly executed what he needed to execute properly--in a forceful and earnest manner. But Joe Biden did more than just "perform well" on stage. Unlike his opponent, he didn't just recite what was on notecards. He recited what was in his heart. Indeed, at one point, he spoke so earnestly that he became emotional as he talked about his dedication to his family. And when he spoke of his dedication to this country, and Obama's as well, he spoke just as earnestly and authentically.

The mantra going into the debate was that if "Palin could be Palin," she would shine. She shined, all right. She beamed as a neophyte does when they tremble with excitement about finally being on the national stage. She glowed when she delivered the scripted lines she studied, even giving a little nod to herself as she successfully delivered the words meticulously drafted by someone else. But when it came to convincing Americans (and especially independents) that she is an authentic candidate and a qualified candidate, it doesn't appear that she did anything to keep her star from fading."

The wide angle saw a Biden with more truth on his side than Palin.

Advantage Biden!

Isn't it redundant to bring up Daily Kos quotes on IB?

kos: Carville made an excellent point -- while McCain made his entire debate about Obama "not being ready" and "not getting it", by choosing Palin, the ticket was unable to press that message. So once again, the McCain campaign steps over its message, unable to follow through because of self-inflicted wounds.

CNN reaction:

John King: Uneven performance. Satisfied conservative base.

Campbell Brown: Not a real game-changer, no big gaffes. Quite well in first half, out of her depth in the second half. Memorized talking point. Biden showed restraint, had senate speak going.

David Gergen: Sprited, strong. Joe Biden gave the best debate performance of his life.

Jeff Toobin: Iraq returned to centrality. A real lesson in what is at stake in this elecition.

Castellanos: On economics, Palin won. Republicans aren't going to win any debate on Iraq.

Hillary Rosen: I didn't feel she substantively gave answers about economy. She wandered all over the place with Iraq.

Jonahan Singer, MyDD:

She sounded like a moderately effective surrogate -- a little better than a Carly Fiorina, not as good as a Mitt Romney -- but not as an able partner to John McCain, and certainly not as one who could step in as President should God forbid anything happen to McCain.

Frank Luntz on Fox:

This debate will make a difference in this race. Watch the polling in the next 48 hours.

Andrew Sullivan:

Biden didn't put the boot in; he didn't come off as sexist; he didn't make any obvious gaffes. Palin didn't collapse and pushed through the debate with enough speed not to wobble. But it felt as if she needed the speed in order not to wobble. Her inexperience showed; her tone worked best at first and then began to grate. I don't think this debate changed the direction of this election campaign, and I think Palin's performance will buck up base Republicans but actually unnerve some independents.

Nate Silver: The CBS poll of undecideds had Biden winning the debate 46-21, with 33 percent calling it a tie. But few votes were moved as as result. Among the undecideds, 18 percent committed to Obama, and 10 percent committed to McCain, but 71 percent remained uncommitted.

Biden won the CNN and CBS focus groups. Palin won the Fox-Luntz focus group. The candidates tied in the Time-Halperin focus group.

Well, if it weren't for Palin, the VP debate would have been boring, so I thank her for the entertainment - the best show in town!

"Well, if it weren't for Palin, the VP debate would have been boring, so I thank her for the entertainment - the best show in town!"

I agree.

CBS News Poll: Biden Won 46-21

CBS NEWS/KNOWLEDGE NETWORKS POLL
(Uncommitted Voters who watched the debate)

"46% of uncommitted voters who watched the debate tonight thought Joe Biden was the winner. 21% thought Sarah Palin won, 33% thought it was a draw… 98% after the debate saw [Biden] as knowledgeable (79% before the debate)."

"Is Palin qualified to serve as president?

No
Before debate: 54
After debate: 53"

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post:

"Exactly an hour into the debate, Joe Biden began an answer by saying, "Facts matter, Gwen."

To him, maybe. To Sarah Palin, maybe not. The pattern, so far, has been one of Biden presenting facts and Palin countering with… saying stuff. Sometimes she throws in a fact, but mostly she seems to be offering a string of approximate policy positions, encomiums to the American spirit, disputed interpretations of Barack Obama's record and anecdotes from Alaska."

***

Washington Wire, Wall Street Journal:

"A confident, folksy Sarah Palin attacked the Democratic presidential ticket on taxes and partisanship, holding her own against her senior vice-presidential rival. Joe Biden, assiduously avoiding any direct attacks on his opponent, kept his focus trained on the top of the ticket, charging again and again that Palin's partner, John McCain, wants to give tax breaks to the rich and deregulate the economy....Biden delivered a withering critique of McCain's economic agenda. He noted that as the economic crisis was spilling over, McCain called the economy fundamentally strong, only to call it a crisis later that same day"

***

Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist:

"By a knockout, Joe Biden was the more effective, better-informed vice presidential candidate Thursday night.

Granted, Sarah Palin did not look like she was channeling a duncy Tina Fey. Palin looked far more confident than many people had expected. Her folksy approach to answering questions did get old rather quickly, though."

***

Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer:

"With a relatively steady performance, the Alaska governor may have helped arrest voters' declining confidence in her candidacy since John McCain first put her on the Republican ticket five weeks ago.

But it is unclear if Palin's much-anticipated showdown against Democrat Joe Biden will significantly shake up a campaign whose momentum increasingly has appeared to be with Barack Obama.

Debates typically reinforce voters' existing perceptions, rather than dramatically alter them. And Biden, whose history of making gaffes is Washington legend, stuck largely to safe ground."

The Canadian debate was not much different!

“If there was a loser, it was the ordinary voter hoping for intelligent discourse on the economy, health care, the environment, the war in Afghanistan and other pressing issues of our time”.

I gots one thing to say about Palin

Ya’all didn’t think the Antichrist was going to, oops, I mean, gonna look like Bush, Wilson, Stalin, or Pol Pot did ya?

No. I amathinking she/he would seek to look like a person you have a beer with, who’s pretty face and enticing smile keep you engaged, who says, “o yes, how nice, I like that color too, I love Israel; o, and by the way, your children are soooo cute.”

Har har har har

More reactions?

Jonathan Chait, TNR:

"Palin's final quote was from Ronald Reagan, warning that without vigilance, "you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."

In fact, Reagan was not warning about a general lack of vigilance about freedom, he was warning what would happen if Medicare was enacted."

Bob Schneider, CNN:

"Palin’s answers do not lack confidence, they lack coherence."

David Brooks, PBS:

"When he talked about his family and the death of his wife, that is a moment people remember, what they remember about the debates is the moment when you think you see the person and that was a moment where I thought you saw Joe Biden."

Bob Schieffer, CBS:

"I must say, I found it a little disconcerting, time and again, Governor Palin would just choose not to answer the question and launch into some dissertation, sometimes talking points, and not really address what Gwen Ifill had asked her."

Chris Matthews, MSNBC:

"Not only did she say I'm not going to do any more interviews, it seemed, but she was saying, I'm not going to listen to uh Gwen Ifill tonight. She said I'm not going to uh give the answers the moderator wants to ask for. What an extraordinary statement. I'm not going to play by the rules and when I get elected I want more power in the office than it's had before. Hmm. Not too much humility here."

Joe Lieberman, on Fox News:

"She hit it out of the ballpark. She proved that she is ready to be John McCain's Vice President. She was strong, she was competent, she was informed, she was very genuine. She was humorous."

Nate Silver and Sean Quinn of FiveThirthyEight.com weigh in with their--as usual--insightful analysis and thoughts:

[Nate]"As with the Obama-McCain debate last Friday, the vast majority of the insta-polls went to the Democratic ticket. Biden won the CBS poll of undecideds 46-21, and the CNN poll of debate watchers 51-36. Independents in the large MediaCurves focus group panel went for Biden about 2:1.

The internals, however, weren't nearly as bad for Palin as the topline results. She got a jump in preparedness in the CBS poll, and the CNN found that a large majority of voters concluded that she had beaten their expectations.

Palin's largest problem, to my eyes, is that she was tangibly nervous for most of the debate, rushing through talking points and canned jokes alike with unsually little inflection. I doubt that this will impact her favorables much -- in fact, it seems likely that her favroables will improve. But it may contribute to the increasing feelings of dis-ease that some voters have with the McCain campaign, which no longer seems like the manifestly safer choice.

The McCain campaign did not opt, in the end, for Sarah Barracuda. They wanted Palin scripted, and in some cases she seemed to have her lines literally memorized. This was the more risk-averse choice, but provided for few genuine moments of spontaneity.

It also allowed Joe Biden to get a lot of free shots in at John McCain, several of which were quite effective. Perhaps, in the end, this wasn't as difficult a debate for Biden to prepare for as it had been made out to be. Hammer McCain, knowing that Palin would have to go off-script to defend him. It also allowed Biden to be the more emotive candidate.

Sean will talk more about this, but I suspect that the Sarah Palin chapter of the campaign is largely over. She may draw large crowds in her next couple of public appearances; it's also not out of the question that the media will sour on her performance in the forthcoming days, once it's been removed somewhat from her safety net of low expectations. But after that, she may largely fade into the background, and if she is making news, it may not be for reasons the McCain campaign likes.

At the end of the day, this is another missed opportunity for the McCain campaign, a fact which is only betrayed by conservative commentators' hyperbolic attempts to spin to the contrary. But McCain may well have been willing to take that settlement ahead of time, figuring they had more to lose tonight than to gain."

***

[Sean]"Vice-Presidential Debate Post-Mortem, Live From π in the Loop

Tonight, we didn't see any major game changing, trainwreck moments. The big question is: putting Sarah Palin's final comment about how great more of these debates would be, how much exposure will Steve Schmidt allow her? With the exception of a few short, scripted rally speeches, vis-a-vis the press will she go straight to Dick Cheney's bunker, do not pass go, do not collect $200?

I suspect she will. Despite what I view as the correct, hammering demand to have Palin face questioning in a press conference format from the grand old men of the blogosphere, Josh Marshall and Andrew Sullivan, I don't suspect the Obama campaign will much push the issue, and the McCain people have to be scared to death to have any more Couric-style answers out there. They want to lock this performance in and keep it in stasis.

Joe Biden was strongest tonight in the beginning and in the end -- much the way high school students are coached to write strong essays. Capture your audience's attention at the beginning and the end, because psychological studies tell us we remember the first and last things we hear more than other parts of the larger whole. And in the middle, try not to screw it up.

Body language-wise, I'll have to watch the debate again, silently, to get a better feel. But it didn't have the uncomfortable hostility of the first McCain-Obama debate. Biden seemed perfectly relaxed, and Palin was a bit nervous, but nobody will hold that against her. These two were comfortable looking at each other. Once she got the blood flowing, Palin seemed to relax and enjoy the sparring and grew more comfortable as time went on.

Tomorrow, the big story is unlikely to be anything major from this debate. It'll be the House attempting to pass the economic bailout package. Particularly if the House fails to pull this off, the story will change, and we'll be on to the next cycles. Ah the press cycle, she is a fickle mistress.

My early read on the mood of Palin's supporters is they're pleased with her performance, and didn't seem to let down any. The other read was that the debate really wasn't going to change their opinion much. To the base, this is someone who is one of them. "Sarah!" we heard supporters yelling to each other in the parking lots after the debate.

It's been another wild and fascinating day on the road that, for me, began at the Democratic convention and hasn't relented yet. Thanks for bearing with us through the Blogger problems that had us tearing our hair out, and look for a resumption of the On the Road series tomorrow. Here comes Brett with a beer. "

My one last thought on the subject: I notice that people who don't have any ideas of their own forever seem to post what someone else has said...gee, can't anyone think for themselves. Hearing Palin quote Reagan does not impress me at all. Let Palin talk for herself which is something that Ronald Reagan always somehow managed to do. Footnotes and quotations are supposed to be support issues, but gee whiz, too many people seem to be always quoting someone else. Does that mean that that person does not have an idea of his or her own? Sorry, but I want to know what YOU have to say, not what Reagan has to say.

that forced smile and looking into the camera...how f......corny...

she's an empty dress...like a parrot she can recite garbage..

btw...where is the fat man from kentucky who thinks he's so smart...why is he not makin' wisecracks now on nane's dummy who wants to prez?

Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up
by DemFromCT

The pundits haven't really had time to digest the debate, but Biden was great and Palin wasn't Presidential. The CNN focus group went to Biden, as did the CNN pundits.

No game changers here. McCain still trails. And Palin will have a chance to look up what Achilles' heel means.

Lynn Sweet: Palin survives and Biden thrives.

"She did not prevail — Joe Biden was too good. He did Barack Obama proud. Biden was pitch perfect. This debate may have ruined Biden’s reputation for verbosity."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/1199822,sweet100208.article

EJ Dionne:

"The key to understanding how McCain chose Palin as his running mate was provided by the New York Times last weekend when it described an episode in which he "tossed $100 chips around a hot craps table." Americans are increasingly uneasy about the gamble they might take by putting Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100203046.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Adam Nagourney:

"The debate was not the bad night that some had feared, but neither was it a turning point for the McCain camp."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/politics/03assess.html

Dana Milbank: Well, she didn't drool. I'll give her that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/02/AR2008100204250.html?hpid=topnews

Charles Krauthammer: McCain is losing and we all know it. I don't like Obama and I don't like his friends. But he has the intellect and temperament to be President. And he probably will be.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_10623141

Noam N. Levey: "As Sarah Palin, Joe Biden hold their own, where does it leave John McCain?" Losing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess3-2008oct03,0,2949181.story

Eugene Robinson:

"Exactly an hour into the debate, Joe Biden began an answer by saying, "Facts matter, Gwen."

To him, maybe. To Sarah Palin, maybe not."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2008/10/the_vp_debate_the_strangest_iv.html

Michael Gerson: A victory for Palin, based on my being a Republican.

"People who deal with words for a living will probably find Biden's performance more professional. But the most consistent goal of the candidates tonight was clearly to be seen as the Main Street populist. And here Biden simply cannot compete."

Except for all those polls that said Biden was more in touch with "people like you" than Palin. Then again, Bush Republicans are not known for being reality based.

10/3 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 51 , McCain 40
by DemFromCT

...

Today's trackers will have Tues-Thurs data and are the last of the pre-debate polls. They will not have included last night's event in St. Louis. Monday's polls will include Fri-Sat-Sun, all post-debate.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 51 (51) 40 (40) 3 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 51 (51) 44 (45) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 47 (47) 42 (42) 3.2 RV
Gallup: 48 (48) 43 (44) 2 RV
Battleground: 49 (48) 44 (46) 3.5 LV

Marist: 49 (49) 44 (44) 3 LV

On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +9 Tues, +11 Wed and +12 Thurs(MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) Yesterday was the strongest single day Obama has had to date.

The 60+ demo is now only 45-42 McCain (+3) whereas it was +15 McCain when we started. The 30-44 group, once +4 McCain, is now +7 Obama. Only Republicans And the South remain solid McCain.

Insta-polling, if you missed it was decidedly pro-Biden. CBS and CNN polling both gave the advantage to Biden and CNN noted no minds were changed on the Palin Presidency threshold:

Is Palin qualified to serve as president?

Yes

Before debate: 42
After debate: 46

No

Before debate: 54
After debate: 53

As I said yesterday, VP debates generally don't matter (but they are fun to win.) More from Mark Blumenthal:

"Now look at the chart the Charles Franklin put together featuring the results of all of the horse-race polls conducted during the 1988 campaign. Again, the debate was held on October 5. The second presidential debate between Bush and Dukakis washeld on October 13. During early October, support for Bush was increasing. Dan Quayle may have lost the debate, but it mattered little to the decisions voters were making."

And now back to our regularly scheduled polling discussion.

Democracy Corps (covered yesterday) offers this:

"Barack Obama has emerged with the first real, sustainable lead of the presidential race – with major gains in the battleground states for the Electoral College. In the new national Democracy Corps survey, Obama has taken a 4-point lead but more important, he leads by 6 points in the separate poll of the battleground states (50 to 44 percent).[1] Kerry lost these states by 4 points, meaning Obama is driving a 10-point swing in the battleground states – comparable to what the congressional Democrats did in 2006. The potential for a big election is now very real again."

Why are the polls different? The short answer that everyone gives was provided yet again this time by Larry Sabato, answering a question about dueling VA state polls released in the last 48 hours.

"University of Virginia analyst Larry J. Sabato, who's been following state politics since the 1970s, says the different findings can likely be attributed to who the two polls interviewed and how those respondents were selected.

"It's a matter of getting a 'likely-voter' sample," said Sabato.

That would include such factors as voters who use mobile telephones rather than hard-wired home phones. Also, a cross-section of age, race, gender and income -- and whether they reflect the likely electorate.

"Everybody's guessing," said Sabato. "Nobody knows what the electorate looks like. No one will know until Election Day.""

That applies to the national polls as well. Interestingly, most polls that have released LV and RV samples recently have had similar numbers. Usually, RV numbers favor Dems and LV favors the GOP, because the older age group is considered more "Likely". Well, not lately. There's often no difference now. Examples:

Pollster LV RV (number is Obama-McCain)

Marist +5 +4
CBS +9 +9
ABC/WaPo +4 +4
Pew +7 +6

The other part of the answer is that, despite differences in polling assumptions, the polls aren't that different. Obama leads in every one, and has increased his lead compared to two weeks ago.

Finally, a fascinating post by Brian Schaffner at pollster.com, entitled Can McCain Make an October Comeback? suggests that maybe he can't. Read it for yourself, and check out this graphic that shows that 'voters vote their lean'. A preference for Obama is likely a vote for Obama.

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/can_mccain_make_an_october_com.php

Read Schaffner's entire post... the pics are great, but the analysis is greater. And, btw, there's a reason pollsters push leaners this time of year.

Look for consolidation of the vote in terms of 'committed' to candidate in those polls that publish such information.

First rate conservative [a Fox News] commentator Charles Krauthammer writes about Obama in an article after tonight's debate:

"When the financial crisis hit, McCain went razzle-dazzle again, suspending his campaign and declaring he'd stay away from the first presidential debate until the financial crisis was solved.

He tempted fate one time too many. After climbing up on his high horse, McCain had to climb down. The crisis unresolved, he showed up at the debate regardless, rather abjectly conceding Obama's mocking retort that presidential candidates should be able to do "more than one thing at once."

"In the primary campaign, Obama was cool as in hip. Now Obama is cool as in collected. He has the discipline to let slow and steady carry him to victory. [...] He understands that this election, like the election of 1980, demands only one thing of the challenger: Make yourself acceptable. Once Ronald Reagan convinced America that he was not menacing, he won in a landslide. If Obama convinces the electorate he is not too exotic or green or unprepared, he wins as well.

When after the Republican convention Obama's poll numbers momentarily slipped behind McCain's, panicked Democrats urged him to get mad. He did precisely the opposite. He got calm. He repositioned himself as ordinary, becoming the earnest factory-floor, coffee-shop, union-hall candidate.

In doing so, he continues his clever convention-speech pivot from primary to general election."

"...Obama understood [...] the audacity of hope wearing thin. Hence the self-denial perfectly personified in his acceptance speech in Denver. He could have had 80,000 people in rapture. Instead, he made himself prosaic, even pedestrian, going right to the general election audience to project himself as one of them."

"He's been moderate in policy and temper ever since. His one goal: Pass the Reagan '80 threshold. Be acceptable, be cool, be reassuring.

Part of reassurance is intellectual.[...]In the foreign policy debate with McCain, as in his July news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama held his own -- fluid, familiar, and therefore plausibly presidential."

"Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said of Franklin Roosevelt that he had a "second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament." Obama has shown that he is a man of limited experience [...] Nonetheless, he's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president."

______________________________________
From Wikipedia:

Charles Krauthammer (born March 13, 1950), is a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist and commentator. Krauthammer appears regularly as a commentator on Fox News and as a weekly panelist on Inside Washington. His weekly column appears in the The Washington Post and is syndicated in more than 200 newspapers and media outlets. He is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and The New Republic.

...In 1985, he began a weekly column for the Washington Post for which he won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

...In 2006, the Financial Times named Krauthammer the most influential commentator in America, saying “Krauthammer has influenced US foreign policy for more than two decades. He coined and developed `The Reagan Doctrine’ in 1985 and he defined the US role as sole superpower in his essay, `The Unipolar Moment’, published shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

life does spin
on a dime
if it didn't
would we be bored
would we stop living

drama
can't get enough
of this candy my friend
it's sticky
it's sweet
it rots my soul
how i love it so
i could just
just
rub
my spirit clean
but my soul
my soul
i leave whole
with it's fatal flaws
it compassion
it's passion
it's sticky sweet drama
and Poll dancin'

derek

Hi Derek,

Very nice :) #45

I just had a spin in my stone labyrinth in nature and received a very clear message: "Surrender" :)

Hope you're rowing along fine. Here it is a quiet, windstill, cloudy, autumn day. I feel relaxed and still, inside, and nature is reflecting the same mood all around me :)

Peace comes from peace :)

I will be forever grateful to you for this insight :)

Love, Mieke

Hi Mieke
Thank you. I don't know why I am compelled to write such things but it's like my bones have to get it out. There is this feeling from the deepest part of me and it's the only way I can relieve this feeling.

Fall is the most beautiful time in Colorado. I start buying pumpkins and decorating the house and it doesn't stop till Christmas. This is my Martha Stewart time. Fall is a celebration of change and a gentle whisper of a quiet time of rest and rejuvenation. Spring comes all too soon.

namaste dear Mieke for it is the divine in you that sparks the divine in me

derek

afternoon everyone,

Derek...#45....very nice indeed.

reading through some comments. #38 is interesting especially, Joe Lieberman's reaction to Sarah Palin's debate performance...which, to put it more accurately was a performance of her recitation skills.....

Joe Lieberman, on Fox News:

"She hit it out of the ballpark. She proved that she is ready to be John McCain's Vice President. She was strong, she was competent, she was informed, she was very genuine. She was humorous.

I think Joe's statement is a very fine example of what comes out of one' mouth once they have sold their souls to a political game......especially, the genuine part....I watched Sarah Palin and her boldness is very genuine, fer serr, but, being bold, coupled with incoherence, is not a pretty sight and does not make for a very good Vice President or possible President....no, I thinkie not....

ruth

hi derek, Mieke, and Ruth
It is a heavenly Autumn day, it is bursting with bright sun, and cool air
and all the feelings of fall
stir in me
It's nice!

~ Kate

If you smile at me I will understand.............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0rG2ME4sAc

she's an aging hicktown 'phoney beauty queen'...hockey six-pack wife...
"
drill, baby drill,"...what the f... is that?

"The only subject on which Palin displayed superior knowledge was when she corrected Biden on the proper delivery of "Drill, baby, drill!" Christie Hefner thought Palin's sex-tinged twist on the chant should be appropriated for a commercial. Perhaps for Viagra." Quotation.

Joe Lieberman is total embarassment. who does this cat really think he is?

OK, since no one else has raised a hallelujah here about this, I will:

The economic rescue bill (a.k.a. "the bailout") has passed the House. That means we can stabilize and move forward, inch by inch.

Here are my prayers and blessings to every one of us, that no one suffers in a major way from the downturn, and the US is able to speedily bring its economic, moral and ethical house into order.

It's cheers for all of us, if we can do this.

love, h

I'm surprised no one has yet made a Drill Baby Drill spoof of Burn Baby Burn for Youtube.

On the minus side of new changes in US life, this is what the credit freeze that's one of the results of the economic situation has done:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/04calif.html

"California, Short of Cash, May Ask U.S. for Loan

"LOS ANGELES — With the credit crisis cutting off access to short-term financing, California officials said they may be forced to ask the United States government to lend it $7 billion, warning that the state could run out of money in a few weeks without it..."

And on the plus side:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/new-jersey-approves-offshore-wind-farm/

"Huge Offshore Wind Farm Wins Approval

"Regulators in New Jersey on Friday awarded rights to build a huge offshore wind farm in the southern part of the state..."

Bailed out the rich man . . .

You people are doomed, but I guess we all are so what does it matter.

Oh well

First leaves are falling
Naked came we into sight
Cold light of day dawns.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/world/asia/03pstan.html

"Drill baby, drill."

yeah...the american taxpayer just got drilled..alright!

hi there Ed,
ready to rake up leaves
and jump
In
~ Kate

#61 Much more serious and prophetic play with words intended, Kate, my ever cheery play-mate!

Shoulder rakings
Leafy leapings
Bonfire stiflings
Smoky wispings
Heaven scentings
Misty mornings
Winter Sun.

;)

SP...is all show and no substance...put bluntly...a rotten egg! eeeuuuhhh!

"CNN) -- Fannie Mae said it will set aside the loan of a woman who shot herself (to death) as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home."

so...what good is that to the woman? bushman, amba, flabs and all u nutcases?

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.

This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong,
For they are weak,
And he is strong.

Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.

I hear you D! My mother has been talking alot lately how she would rather shoot herself than live on skid row when the day comes she will no longer be able to work full-time.

I guess that is the reward for hard working poor people. A bullet in the head.

I sooner might have shot the sheriff, but now I hope I will live wherever God puts me in his story. I could meet a magnificent saint or my reincarnated guru on Skid Row.

Maybe I would work as the attendent at the shelter so people don't get beat up. It's the way I'm thinking now.

emperor...bro..

i hope for ur mom's sake it wouldn't come to that...

D.

Yes brother me too.

Thank you

peace

hi Craig,
hugs for your Mom.
and may she always feel your love and care,
~ Kate

It all really in the mind ... ya know. This way or that way.

To have anything that you desire .... what might that be?

10/4 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40
by DemFromCT

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama up over McCain 52-40. All trackers are data from three days prior to posting, with the R2K numbers from today (yesterday's numbers in parentheses) and the other trackers from yesterday (previous day's data). LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Monday's polls will include Fri-Sat-Sun, all post-debate.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (51) 40 (40) 3 LV

Yesterday
Battleground: 49 (49) 46 (44) 3.5 LV
Rasmussen: 51 (51) 44 (44) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 48 (47) 42 (42) 3.2 RV
Gallup: 49 (48) 42 (43) 2 RV

On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +11 Wed, +12 Thurs and +13 Fri, which is post-debate and Obama strongest day yet (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) Interestingly, the Obama numbers (48-52) are more consistent than the McCain numbers (40-46), but the polls are all consistent in picking up an Obama lead.

As noted here, history says VP debates do not matter much. As noted here, the debate was judged a decisive win for Biden by the CBS and CNN insta-polls. Yesterday's R2K poll supports that interpretation. Joe Biden's fav/unfav is now at a high of +22 (Sarah Palin is at - 10.) John McCain's fav/unfav is also at a new low of - 5.

This was from MediaCurves, to add to the CNN and CBS debate evaluation.

[Graphics.

Who won the debate?

Joe Biden, Sarah Palin

Republicans 24, 76
Democrats 85, 11
Independents 69, 31 ]

Now, media pundits like aggressors and they loved the winks, but I suspect the voters (this year) want substance, not "cute". Biden's understated (and under-rated) performance went over very well with the public. Insta-polls aren't always right, but the regular polls will answer this soon enough. Doggone it, the talking heads might once again be shocked and surprised, I betcha, despite their insistence that Palin did better than she did. Also.

And in the end, VP debates do not move presidential votes. With McCain trailing, too bad for him. He was the big loser Thursday night. Watching him sweat Indiana and North Carolina, let alone Florida and Ohio, tells you what you need to know.

More indirect evidence of the situation: McCain is running nearly all negative ads; the trouble is when your unfavs are this high, it's tough to do and escape unscathed. Another explanation is that the negative ads are eroding McCain's unfavorable rating, while the Palin debate performance did nothing to help him.

Being so aggressive has risks for McCain if it angers swing voters, who often say they are looking for candidates who offer a positive message about what they will do. That could be especially true this year, when frustration with Washington politics is acute and a desire for specifics on how to fix the economy and fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is strong.

The pundits will say it ain't over until it's over, a week is a lifetime in politics, yadda yadda. I agree; it's all true. But as of today, the fundamentals of John McCain's campaign are not strong, Palin's debate performance looks weak. That's what the polls tell us today.

[Daily Kos]

morning everyone,

was watching Keith Olberman last nite and he did a split screen with Bush on one side and Palin on the other, showing little talking points, tidbits of their campaign rhetoric and it was like they both went to the same republican cheerleading camp to learn the "lingo" that sells right down to the famous "wink.".....really, it was the down home maverick reformer washington outsider no nonsense straightshooter BS with a "wink" and a "nod," you betcha, to make the brain grow duller republican double speak, that is so popular with the "black hole" between their ears republican fan club base.

also, I had to check out the republican's Fox TV propaganda channel and you would never guess who was being interviewed......Palin.......and, boy, this interviewer was no.....nasty, unfriendly, Katie Couric.....but a real down home republican loving fair and balanced news reporter(wink,wink) and "ya know" Palin actually listed all her reading material...starting with, I think, the nyTimes then the washingonton post then the Nation and of course all those investemt type mags that came to Alaska to see and write about all our success with the whole energy thing(she didn't name those though, probably to numerous for the human recall brain cell)...you know all the really tough ones to remember that just slip your mind when asked if you haven't had time to read your "daily what did I do today review list," would of course slip your mind. Then she "magically" remembered all those pesty little Supreme Court cases that she did not "quite" agree with, and couldn't quite remember, actually, knowing about, with that "nasty little liberal biased Katie Couric...snob..reporter" but once again...that handy little "down home hockey mom six pack remembering skill she has of keeping her "daily what did I do today review list," she was able to tell to her....."fair and balanced FOX TV reporter friend fellow six pack buddy" interviewer.

ahhhh, one can look and sound sooooo much more knowledgable when "your buddy" does the interiviewing....I bet when Palin said she will do no more interviews or take any more questions by reporters.....she wasn't talking about her "friends" from FOX TV.

so I guess we will see what happens in November, will the republicans vote for another Bush Administation by electing a McCain/Palin ticket, I mean, after all, the Nation is facing some serious monetary losses due to the Administraton's reckless war spending and the Wall St fat cat's hardy ha ha steal and spend free or die poor belief system, but, ya know, it's all relative....things could get much much worse if we elect McCain/Palin....so why not let the mavericks and the refomers keep driving us straight to...you know where.(wink wink)

have a great saturday everyone, ruth....wow...one month to the day....and it's election day! ruth

did u see LK last night?

that radio dude from Texas thinks that bushwhacker is great...very great..and would vote for him any day over 'bama...again and again if he could...he thinks that AG, JK and Barack are no where near as smart as the bushman...damn dude, what the f... have u been smokin'?

like they say, facts are sometimes stranger than fiction...

oh, just wanted to add it is only four weeks till voting day and the McCain/Palin ticket has taken a dive these past two weeks so expect the unexpected from the Repubican strategists....say, Georgia starts a war with Russia or Pakistan downs American planes or yes, even the ole "terrorist attack attempt" at home, say, in NYC or Washington DC, or even....Barak Obama's daughter being arrested for tax evasion....something...they will come up with something and nothing is too outrageous as we have seen already....there was the Palin shocker, and then the famous....McCain show stopper of stopping the world in the midst of the "crisis" so he could "F" it up a bit more and cause needless grieve and worry to the fellow Americans he loves and cares about(wink,wink.)

keep your eye out for the October surpise!

ruth

Republicans will use sleaze and scare tactics to win elections...

remember the color codes the used last election? oh...it's orange today...we detect A Q activity...beware...oh my god...its yellow today? its amber!

do these f...ers have any shame at all?

i heard on the radio that cane's melanoma has spread to this lympth nodes where it is incurable...they say if this cancer is caught early before reaching the nodes, the chances of it coming back are small...but once it gets to the nodes...it can come back within days or weeks and spread like wild fire...is this what repugnicans want for the country when they use the slogan "country first"? shame on u, strange amigos!

granny...without his makeup...mack looks like old beef jerky...did u notice?

D,

talk radio is mana from undesired places(mana a supernatural force concentrated in objects or persons, and the republicans hit gold in their talk radio propagandists) for the republican propaganda strategists...folks eat it till their brains are sucked clean....and all that is left between their ears is that famous "black hole" the physists love to contemplate....but have yet to discover that the republicans know how to garner that force, effectively, to suck out all a persons common sense and personal integrity and intelligence to make....little republican voters who all look, act, and sound....just like Palin, Bush and McCain.

There is nothing like the right's talk radio and the absolute hate and disdain that is nurtured there, it makes that Stern guy look and sound like "a gentlemen's radio talk show host."

Really, the talk right....is where all the serious campaigning goes on for the republican party....on radio no one is really listening and they get to be as demonic as they truly are...yeah, sounds tough but really....they are and it is proving to be a serious threat to our Nation's well being....the republican party is not just your average run of the mill political party, anymore....Rove has taken it to new lows....ugly lows....all in the desire for complete and total power....

they pretty much suck....now the Democrats are no goody two shoes as a political party but they still have an ounce of conscience left to them...an ounce of actual concern as to this Nation's Democratic survival...but the repubs are all about the repubs...

oh, well, here is to the "big crush" on November 4th.....let Americans make some good ole republican juice by the crushing of the republican grapes.....

u hit the nail bulls eye...

that rove dude might go into cardiac arrest when the results roll in on nov 4th...damn...can't wait to see it...whoa!

The ticket that doesn't 'retreat' planted the white flag of defeat in Michigan.

Michigan which was supposed to be a Kerry state that was competitive and McCain wanted to tip in his favor, and especially given there was no dem primary race this year in the state.

This was the big news that didn't get the coverage because of the VP coverage.

Now HuffPo is reporting "McCain Could Be Forced Out of Pennsylvania."

Now that leaves only Minnesota as the big Kerry state in which McCain is competing.

McCain is way down in Bush states of Iowa and New Mexico. And New Hampshire(4) small Kerry state that was supposed to be McCain's "home" is breaking in favor of Obama.

That makes McCain's task that much more difficult. He has a very narrow path to victory, whereas Obamam has several paths to 270. McCain needs to win Bush states of Colorada And Virginia AND Florida AND Ohio AND Nevada AND North Carolina AND Missouri.

McCain is going 100% negative and we will see a lot of smears as the election approaches, but it is increasingly looking like a landslide.

(The polls show healthy lead for Obama nationally, but even if he is 2 points down on the election day, he will win solely on the basis of his great ground game, and the cell phone effects and voter turn out models that I think are underestimated in the polls.)

And it looks like Palin is positioning herself for 2012 and further. (Remember Reagan won 12 years after he first competed for president.)

Yes, I hear you Kate.

Please let us never have Palin in high office in this country. She is an utter disaster as a human being. She is cold, manipulative, aggressive beyond belief. And she's stupid. She should be banned from holding any kind of office after her term in Alaska is done. Let her go back to being a hockey mom. She can't even keep her kids safe. A sixteen year old's unmarried pregnancy in the family of the highest elected official in Alaska says damning things about the parenting that has (not) taken place in that official's family.

Irish, in all fairness, McCain recently needed invasive and then reconstructive, surgery on his face, to remove melanomas.

An email that's been making the round warns Obama supporters NOT TO WEAR OBAMA BUTTONS OR OTHER GEAR TO THE POLLS ON NOV 4th. Such gear is considered political electioneering, which is illegal, and you will be turned away from the polls if you come with that stuff. The message is going out because so many people in their twenties who are for Obama haven't taken voting seriously in the past, and they may not know the rules. So if that's you, take this message seriously.

Oh God, this is why I love the NYTimes, for breaking stories that tell the truth like this...

This one's for any conservative out there who's still supporting Palin in part because she seems like a tough-but-sincere "hockey mom", a Ms "Joe Six Pack".

If that's you, baby, take a look at this:

"Financial Papers Show Palins’ Assets Top $1 Million"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04palin.html

Too sorry, your average hockey mom or Joe doesn't have assets worth that much.

People, don't be so affected by Palin's energy and looks. Pay attention to what she actually does. That is who she really is.

Are we North Americans just catching down to the Europeans? A Spanish friend wrote this in May:

“Are people of my generation assuming that everything always has to go up up up? Guess what, hard times are part of life, and having to bake your own bread, get married, or have only one car isn’t that much of a sacrifice. We’ve been living off the bull market creation of older generations and wealth that we ourselves never generated.

We think we’re entitled to more every year. I think this whole situation is very good for comfortable people, reminding us what the poorest and most vulnerable people deal with. Only they aren’t whingeing about not having a vacation. They’re terrified over starving. To my generation I say, get over yourself. If you can’t afford a kid, don’t have it. If you can’t afford a second car, guess what, the planet can’t afford your first one. We need to be pulling together instead of expecting to remain privileged.

The writing was on the wall for a long time for this downturn. Nobody wanted to think about it. Well now we have to. Buck up, and more importantly grow up. The world’s economy needs to be rethought, and that means rethinking the lives of the most privileged and the poorest, alike. Nobody is immune, and I’m tired of this entitlement minded thinking. Our grandparents lived through conditions that were unspeakable with fascism, war, genocide, starvation. Really hard times.

But we whine about having to live on a budget!”

Posted by: Paco — 30 April 2008 7:28 pm

For you Heath, just your average hockeymom website:

www.hockeymoms.com

Cheers,

Steve

One of my sisters has starting writing her own blog posts -- http://www.beweaveit.com -- or click my name. I'm very proud of her writing skills.

(I thought about sharing an excerpt here, but I realized her pieces are short and usually have a twist, so any excerpt would be a spoiler.)

dear Heather,
Your sister is a weaver, That is so neat!

she writes:
"Handweaving is also a metaphor for living a good life. We build our lives in time by creating interconnections with other people. Creating and maintaining the strength of these interconnections takes much thought and care. The fabric handwoven by this very personal day-to-day work makes our lives memorable, and worth living".

Thanks for sharing her blogsite.

love,
~ Kate

#90 Heath, m'dear, I love your sister. She certainly beweaves. I came away with figures of eight caressing.

There is still hope for a greener Canada!

Conservatives sliding away from majority territory; NDP gaining: poll
Sat Oct 4, 11:44 AM

OTTAWA - A new poll suggests the Conservatives are sliding further away from majority territory while the NDP are closing in on second in the wake of the two leaders debates.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/fed_election/s/capress/081004/delection/fedelxn_poll_16

the fony hick town 'beauty queen' has jumped off the titanic into frigid waters flailing her arms for help...lookin for any straw to clutch on to...

associating 'bama with terrorists...gimme a f...... break...decoy...

10/5 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40

"On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +12 Thurs, +13 Fri and +13 Sat (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) There were no new national polls yesterday other than the trackers. Tomorrow's polling will be entirely post-VP debate."

...

LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (52) 40 (40) 3 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 51 (51) 45 (44) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 48 (48) 41 (42) 3.2 LV (as of yesterday, LV now reported)
Gallup: 50 (49) 42 (42) 2 RV

...

"The markets move faster than the polls. Intrade is Obama 67.0 - McCain 33.2, IEM is Obama 74.5 - McCain 25.2. This morning, fivethirtyeight.com has an Obama win at 84.4.

In looking for VP debate results, two days of R2K polling show no positive effects for McCain. Yesterday's trackers had three moving a point in Obama's direction, and one (Rasmussen) moving a point in McCain's direction. Two of the polls (R2K and Diageo/Hotline) showed improvement in Biden's fav/unfav. R2K moved from +16 Biden on Sep 26 (date chosen to match Diageo/Hotline) to +24. Palin went from - 6 to - 11, same dates."

10/5 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40

"On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +12 Thurs, +13 Fri and +13 Sat (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) There were no new national polls yesterday other than the trackers. Tomorrow's polling will be entirely post-VP debate."

...

LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (52) 40 (40) 3 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 51 (51) 45 (44) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 48 (48) 41 (42) 3.2 LV (as of yesterday, LV now reported)
Gallup: 50 (49) 42 (42) 2 RV

...

"The markets move faster than the polls. Intrade is Obama 67.0 - McCain 33.2, IEM is Obama 74.5 - McCain 25.2. This morning, fivethirtyeight.com has an Obama win at 84.4.

In looking for VP debate results, two days of R2K polling show no positive effects for McCain. Yesterday's trackers had three moving a point in Obama's direction, and one (Rasmussen) moving a point in McCain's direction. Two of the polls (R2K and Diageo/Hotline) showed improvement in Biden's fav/unfav. R2K moved from +16 Biden on Sep 26 (date chosen to match Diageo/Hotline) to +24. Palin went from - 6 to - 11, same dates."

Is Keith taking a break until Nov. 4? Do miss his regular posts.

This election is going to get ugly in the last weeks. Hope we can laugh, mediate and lighten up!

Yo, Scott,
did you miss that 't' as well? Max it up, man!

I really like this Fareed Zakaria guy. I just saw him interview Bill Gates. Yo.
We live in an amazing time in human history. How lucky are we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA7srwym3Yk

peace comes from peace

derek

Hi Kate

derek

It is good to see the other Republicans, the ones above the 49th, who call themselves “Progressive Conservatives”, sliding in the polls too. Harper called the Canadian election in order to get a majority. Newest polls suggest he wont get it.

This is the same Harper who promised to do away with that “calling for an election when ever you want crap”, and replace it with a fixed system similar to the States.

The same guy who wanted Canadians to take part in the Iraqi war and who reads speeches the other Iraqi lunatics Bush and/or Howard already read.

What is it with these rightwing nutcases?

Hi Derek,

In response to your above video #99 I would like you to watch this one too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc4eMtAqcvo

Am reading the mentioned book at the moment.

Love, Mieke

Well, I mean it is always good to compare. I have been doing this all my life, reading books on different issues with totally opposite opinions and then take from that what's useful to me and draw my own conclusions.

To me up till now this has meant a very rich life in every aspect for me and I hope to be able to learn in this way till my end of time :)

The attitude with which one lives is the most important one in life and it does not matter where one lives for that matter :)

Hi Mieke
The playing field is better when level. America has been a big baby for too long. Our global family is finding balance. Probably because more individuals are finding balanced.

I see all borders fading in days to come and government moving to the internet. Global voting has a future. Myspace is quickly becoming the biggest country.

Humanity is growing up. Our ancient and universal family patiently waits as we mature enough to see them.

Everyone I hear is speaking of a global shift and a the most transformational time in human history.

I wouldn't be surprised is we have a nuclear fireworks show in the very near future.

Until then the drums of transformation send ripples to my boat. They bend the rays of light in ways I have never seen. A new dimension of possibilities we can not even articulate yet but one that we long to speak.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Thank you for the video, I am watching right now.

love and peace

derek

so where are the three loyal amigos?

been real quiet lately...what, are they waiting for something to write about...that's been hard to come by ...huh?

the puppet from Alaska...could not tell the dif. between McKiernan and McClellan

-she did not once mentioned the name of the world's most wanted terrorist...bin Laden

-she never once mentioned the name of the pakistani prez...and if she dared, she wuda probably said Musharaff and not Sadr-e-Mumlikat

-she purposely put on that fake smile each time the camera was on her

-she kept looking down at her rehearsed notes

-she cannot give a straight answer unless it comes from her "talking points"..

-joe six-pack, hockey (hoaky) moms soon to be grand mom ..haha! some republican morals...huh...

- yeah, "Drill, baby drill."

u gotto check this out...a look at how empty, shallow this puppet is...

Katie Couric: What do you think is the best and worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as vice president?

Joe Biden: I'm not being a wise guy here ... that I don't know what he's done. I mean, there's not many things I'd pick that I thought he's done that have been good. But I admire his strength. I admire his willingness to take positions that are completely contrary to popular opinion. But I think that what he's done has been just, I don't think Dick Cheney trusts that the American people can make judgments that are in the interest of the country. But the thing I think he's really, really has done: I think he's done more harm than any other single high elected official in memory in terms of shredding the constitution. You know, condoning torture, pushing torture as a policy. This idea of a unitary executive, meaning the Congress and the people have no power in a time of war, and the president controls everything. I don't have any animus toward Dick Cheney but I really do think his attitude about the constitution and the prosecution of this war has been absolutely wrong.

Sarah Palin: Worst thing, I guess that would have been the duck-hunting accident, where you know, that was an accident. And that I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate.

So, the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's. I respect that.

check out the vid...

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4496824n

Obama has always been the same...

Here's a truly AMAZING story reported by the Norwegian newspaper VG about Obama from 20 years ago when he helped a stranded stranger who was traveling to Norway to meet her just wed husband:

Google Eng traslation of the web page:

http://tinyurl.com/3ea9ba

For a better translation see:

http://leishacamden.blogspot.com/2008/10/not-that-it-matters.html

Oh, hell, here's the story:

"Mary lacked money to fly home to Norway – he saved her love

ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

Mary Menth Andersen was 31 years old at the time and had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988.

At the airport in Miami things were hectic as usual, with long lines at the check-in counters. When it was finally Mary’s turn and she had placed her luggage on the baggage line, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

-You’ll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.

Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy.
-I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do. Then I heard a gentle and friendly voice behind me saying, That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’ and his address in Kansas, which is the state where his mother comes from. Mary carried the slip of paper around in her wallet for years, before it was thrown out.

-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.
In the spring of 2006 Mary’s parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

In a letter to Mary’s parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ‘United States Senate, Washington DC’, Barack Obama writes**:

‘I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States senator’.

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

This week VG met her and her husband in the café that she runs with her friend Lisbeth Tollefsrud in Åsgårdstrand.

-It’s amazing to think that the man who helped me 20 years ago may now become the next US president, says Mary delightedly.

She has already voted for Obama. She recently donated 100 dollars to his campaign.

She often tells the story from Miami airport, both when race issues are raised and when the conversation turns to the presidential elections.

-I sincerely hope the Americans will see reason and understand that Obama means change, says Mary.

*Not at all sure about this part of the translation. The Norwegian word used is 'miljøarbeider', I don't know what the exact English word for that is or even if there is one, and I don't know enough about Obama to say what job of his they're talking about.
**This is my translation of the reporter's translation of the letter. From English to Norwegian and back to English. So obviously it is not correct word for word.

And here she is with her husband and the letter."

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/leisha_camden/Blogrelated%20stuff/obama08.jpg

"In 2002 Jim Sciutto began filing in-depth reports on the Middle East for ABC News. Now, after nearly 100 assignments in Muslim countries, Sciutto brings back this disturbing truth: the Al-Qaeda–inspired view of an evil America bent on destroying Islam has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Today, a surprising number of America’s enemies are not wild-eyed fanatics, but moderates—often middle-class and well educated, frequently young, many motivated by political convictions more than religious belief.

Sciutto profiles a cross-section of people in the Arab world, including a former Al-Qaeda jihadi turned electrician in Saudi Arabia, a Jordanian college student willing to risk his life by killing Americans in Baghdad, a Christian woman who supports Hezbollah in Lebanon, bitter pro-democracy advocates in Egypt who feel betrayed by the United States, and British-born Muslim terrorists living in London. The result is an alarming portrait of the depth and scope of anti-American sentiment.

Opposing America has become the unifying rallying cry for a rapidly growing pan-Arab nationalist movement. Conspiracy theories abound as Muslims begin to feel they are targeted by America, their political autonomy sabotaged.

The Iraq war has become one of the most powerful recruiting tools for enemies of the United States. (did u hear that repugnicans, dino, six-pack hockey mom?)

Yet there is hope for America to turn the tide of hate. Sciutto talks with a young female student in Afghanistan who is cautiously optimistic that the United States will not fail her country in the rebuilding effort—and with a reformed jihadi in London who is finding ways to counsel young British Muslims away from their hatred of America. Democratic ideals are still held in high esteem, even as America’s perceived actions against Muslims are not.

Against Us is an urgent wake-up call for all Americans—and in particular those charged with formulating U.S. foreign policy—to rebuild relations with the Arab world and restore confidence in American values." Quotation on his new book 'Against Us'.

serecovery
@dailykos.com

Talk about the ultimate rope-a-dope. It seems as though the McCain campaign has walked right into Team Obama's grand strategy.

So, the McCain campaign wants to play tough...well, I happened to be perusing Barack's youtube page when, BLAMO, The first video that pops up is a doozy with a link at the end to a website called keatingeconomics.com...and it cuts Mr. Maverick to shreds.

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsI_0bV2CZo

I knew it. I just knew that the jedi masters that are running the Obama campaign had this prepared all along.

For a few hours yesterday I was really woried that in the final 30+ days, the only potential achilles heel would be how to respond to the blasphemous attacks from the McCain campaign.

Well, now my worries have gone away (for the most part) because here's my very poor progression for what the Obama campaign has done!!!

A. Let McCain twist in the wind as his poll numbers go further and further down.

B. Let McCain be the incorrigible and intolerant old man in the first debate while Barack always stays classy San Diego, cool, calm, and collected.

C. Let Governor Pavlov spew her nonsense during her propaganda debate knowing it won't change the polls.

D. Let the McCain campaign become so desperate that they resort to their tried and true smear and fear tactics.

E. Instead of the Obama campaign taking the first volley, they plan and plan and plan, and then unload, unload big time in a coherent, reactionary way. Apparently the Obama campaign has made a mini-documentary about it, anticipating the McCain slime campaign!

Let's see which attack angle will work:

*Trying to tie 8 year old Barack Obama to William Ayers.

*Trying to tie 50 year old John McCain to the savings and loan scandal and following his mavericky path of deregulation for all his time in Congress.

Hmmmmmmmm, what will voters care more about??

So, in other words, THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ALL ALONG!!!

I'm sure somewhere in the desert, Senator McCain is practicing his tried and true Tuesday night debate speech:

"Well my friends (shuffling note cards)....change is coming to Warrrshington my friends (further shuffling note cards)....and when Governor (looks down at note cards) ..pa pa Palin and I get to Warrrshington, we're gonna Maverick it up my friends...."

And somewhere in the hills of Asheville, North Carolina, Team Obama is cool, calmly, and collectedly ready to show Senator McCain and Governor Pavlov how to debate on Tuesday night.

Keep up the fight everyone.

Go Barack!!! Go Fightin' Joe!!!

Washington Post Delves into Carol McCain & Obama Campaign Launches Keating Five Blitz

Sarah Palin today was quite defensive today in describing her "racially charged" comments Re: terrorists associated with Barack Obama. She may or may not have been given that authority; maybe she was over reaching a tactic; it's all unclear, but what's not is the fact that the Obama campaign has just Greenlighted the FINAL ANVIL that'll crush McCain's chances in November

Andrew Sullivan:

"Democratic surrogates say they've been given the go-ahead from the Obama campaign to mention John McCain's associations with S&L kingpin Charles Keating and other historically tarnished creatures when asked about Obama's connection to ex-Weatherman William Ayers.

A senior Democrat who has had contact with Obama's high command points to Democratic strategist Paul Begala's comments on this morning's Meet the Press."

We'll see how far McCain & Co want to stray from the issues, but make no mistake, the Gun is now out of the holster and you can hear it cocking...

Other potential negative associations for McCain are his long-time South Carolina consultant, Richard Quinn, a publisher of a Southern heritagte magazine, and John Hagee, a pastor whose endorsement McCain solicited and later rejected.

B.O.O.M.!

Here we go...

"Barack Obama's allies warn that John McCain's attacks on the Democrat's character will lead to the political equivalent of mutual assured destruction: fire your big weapon at your own peril."

B.O.O.M.!

"Several Obama surrogates said his supporters may start reminding voters of McCain's ties to Charles Keating, a convicted savings and loan owner whose actions two decades ago triggered a Senate ethics investigation that involved McCain as one of the "Keating Five."

B.O.O.M.! B.O.O.M.!

'Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democrat and Obama supporter, warned against McCain's strategy.

"If we are going to go down this road, you know, Barack Obama was eight years old, somehow responsible for Bill Ayers," he said. " At 58, John McCain was associating with Charles Keating."

"If we really want to talk who is associating with who, we will," Emanuel said. "The American people will lose in that transaction."'

B.O.O.M.! B.O.O.M.! B.O.O.M.!

Clean Hands? Check
More Relevant Association? Check
Certain Unquestionable Damming Associations? Check

********

Americablog will be devoting the next week to digging out all the details of the Keating Five scandal, and they start with some new Info I haven't seen before and is a really juicy place to start...

"When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself. "You're a liar," McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating. "That's the spouse's involvement, you idiot," McCain said later in the same conversation. "You do understand English, don't you?" He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife's ties to Keating. "It's up to you to find that out, kids." The paper ran the story."

******

The GOP is apparently going to stretch to try and do a quantitative thing vs. qualitative on the associations count matter... I'm sorry, but this won't work. Hillary's people didn't even go there...

*I was watching TV so I missed all of this, but

WOW: http://www.keatingeconomics.com/

Muther F**king WOW!!!!!

Politico:

"Pushing back against what it calls McCain's “guilt-by-association” tactics, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, which will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.

The Obama campaign, including its surrogates appearing on radio and television, will argue that the deregulatory fervor that caused massive, cascading savings-and-loan collapses in the late ‘80s was pursued by McCain throughout his career, and helped cause the current credit crisis.

Obama-Biden communications director Dan Pfeiffer said: “While John McCain may want to turn the page on his erratic response to the current economic crisis, we think voters will find his involvement in a similar crisis to be particularly interesting. His involvement with Keating is a window into McCain’s economic past, present, and future.”"

Now, One Request: Tell Tom "The Tool" Brokaw, if Ayers is on his Flash Cards, then Keating must be as well...

**********

What a night... Now Carol McCain is on Washington Post with sorrid details previously only known in the blogs... and British Press. This is a Double Whammy... Can the Times top it?

". Soon, the 43-year-old naval attache and his 25-year-old sweetheart were engaged.

There was only one complication: McCain was still married.

Carol Shepp McCain, then 42, had endured much in more than 14 years of marriage to John. She had raised their three young children alone while her husband languished in a North Vietnamese prison camp for 5 1/2 years. Her tribulations grew immeasurably after a near-fatal car accident that immobilized her for months and left her scarred for life. Despite their reunion and physical rehabilitation, by the late 1970s the McCains' marriage had begun to crack, as John engaged in what he later termed "dalliances" with other women.

According to public records, he and Cindy received a marriage license in Maricopa County, Ariz., in early March 1980, four weeks before his divorce from Carol was final. A judge in Florida dissolved the McCains' marriage April 2, entering a default judgment after Carol failed to respond to three court summonses. John and Cindy were wed six weeks later, on May 17.

This rapid-fire sequence of events raises a question about John McCain's path to the White House: Would he be where he is today had he not changed his life, and his wife, when he did?"

WOWOWOWOWOW! Maybe voters should know that McCain's political career was launched through adultery, with a disabled wife...

jon mackinsane is like captain of the Titanic...doomed..

the ship has hit a sharp object and is listing, badly...ladies, gentlemen and kids....sorry!

if u are repugnican, find a liferaft quick...OMG!!!!

our thoughts and prayers go out to those involved in the bus crash...it was horrific ...down that embankment...in darkness.

Obama Camp: John McCain And The Making Of A Financial Crisis... KeatingEconomics.com

***

Rove Gives Electoral Map To Obama, Criticizes McCain Strategy

***

Rolling Stone: McCain The "Make-Believe Maverick"

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/make_believe_maverick_the_real_john_mccain

Yes, they went there: the LA Times is featuring on its homepage a major story examining a portion of John McCain's military record:

**********************************
Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-aviator6-2008oct06,0,7633315.story

**********************************

Here's the subhead:

"Three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment. A Times review of his record suggests he was cocky, occasionally cavalier and prone to testing limits."

The once-sacred-cow, the "Time Period Of Which We Dare Not Speak", is now fair game for the mainstream media.

This cannot be good news for McCain.

The story opens with - surprise! - a whopper told by McCain that was soundly refuted by his superiors:

"McCain recounted the accident [in which he crashed an AD-6 Skyraider near Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1960] decades later in his autobiography. "The engine quit while I was practicing landings," he wrote. But an investigation board at the Naval Aviation Safety Center found no evidence of engine failure.

The 23-year-old junior lieutenant wasn't paying attention and erred in using "a power setting too low to maintain level flight in a turn," investigators concluded.

The crash was one of three early in McCain's aviation career in which his flying skills and judgment were faulted or questioned by Navy officials."

The story also tells of McCain's crash of a T-2 jet trainer near Cape Charles, Va., in 1965:

"In a report dated Jan. 18, 1966, the Naval Aviation Safety Center said it could not determine the cause of the accident or corroborate McCain's account of an explosion in the engine. A close examination of the engine found "no discrepancies which would have caused or contributed to engine failure or malfunction.""

Interestingly, for some unknown reason, the report was revised:

"About two weeks after issuing its report, the safety center revised its findings and said the accident resulted from the failure or malfunction of an "undetermined component of the engine."

Huh. An "undetermined component" of the engine failed? Just how does one come to that conclusion? "Um, we examined the engine and couldn't find anything that had failed, but since we've decided, in spite of our earlier examination of the engine, to take the pilot's word for it and agree that something in the engine must've failed, that was the best language we could come up with."

Anyone who would dare suggest that his father Admiral McCain might have had something to do with the revision of that report most assuredly hates America and pals around with terrorists.

McCain's entire military record is believed by some to run to at least 636 pages.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-klein/mccains-secret-questionab_b_107409.html

Only 19 of those pages have been released. What the balance of those records - like his as-yet-unreleased medical records - might show is anybody's guess - but until now, to even hint at questioning those records was taboo among the mainstream media.

The Times story is a major breach in the hitherto impenetrable wall that had been built around McCain's war record. Shouting, "But he's a war hero!" evidently will no longer be enough to satisfy those looking for the truth.

Palling with pollsters...

10/6 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 40

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama up over McCain 52-40, no change from yesterday.

[...]

LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (52) 40 (40) 3 LV

Yesterday
Rasmussen: 51 (51) 44 (45) 2 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 48 (48) 41 (41) 3.2 LV (as of yesterday, LV now reported)
Gallup: 50 (50) 43 (42) 2 RV

On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +13 Fri, +13 Sat and +11 Sun (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.) There were no new national polls yesterday other than the trackers. Today's polling will be entirely post-VP debate.

Sarah Palin's fav/unfav is now a - 13 (same as Thursday, Oct. 2, the debate day) and John McCain's is - 5. Joe Biden's fav/unfav moved from +18 on 10/02 to +26 today. The Obama lead went from +11 on 10/2 to +12 today, and Obama gained +5 with women and +3 with independents.

There is no evidence that Sarah Palin did all that well in the VP debate in post-debate polls, and there is no evidence Palin helped McCain in this or other tracking polls. Other national polls are in the field and we will undoubtedly hear more.

[...]

Fivethirtyeight.com's modeling has Obama's best performance to date, with a projected 51.5-47 popular vote, though that translates as an 87% chance to win.

Want to see how 2008 is not 2004 or 2000? Charles Franklin at pollster.com was kind enough to update his graph (post is from August) to show where the races stand relative to each other today. The graph represents the lead each candidate had (positive territory is a Dem lead) using national stimates. Obama is in a much stronger position than either Gore or Kerry was at this point in time.

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/polling_trends_in_2008_vs_04_a.php

[...]

Ed, I cott your poin!

--Iger

DOW collapses...

Drops below 10,000

The Last Week Of McCain's Campaign?

http://mydd.com/story/2008/10/6/10447/6516

Ref #118

An IB comment from February 2007:

“Should we not be concerned about an economic system that only works properly at an annual expansion rate of more than three percent? Can we pollute at the present rate forever? Don’t most of us want our children to live in relative security and comfort? Shouldn’t we try to talk to the bad guys before we give them reasons to be worse?”

#117 Oh good, I was beginning to think it was a boy'cott!

Nice to have some feedback ;)

well, the latest CNN polls show McCain to be very low on the popularity scale and it also shows a very high percentage of people trusting in a Democratic, Barak Obama Administration, also, Bush is now as low as Nixon was before he left office...hmmmmm

it looks like the Republicans are leaving the new Admininstraton with a big pile of their sheet to pick up...trillions of dollars worth of it to be exact.

This mess would test a very seasoned politician's abilities....Barak Obama, may, in fact, win the race of his life time but he is going to have such a hefty load of problems created and unresolved from this Republican Administration that it makes one wonder.

I hope he has the courage to tell the American people exactly where we stand and I hope he presents us with choices as to how much and what kind of medicine we are going to need to take in order to set ourselves somewhat straight and on the road to recovery......

The Bush Administration spent our future away, recklessly, by the unnecessary invasion of Iraq....first thing I would do....I would sell that obnoxious Embassy in Iraq and replace it.....I would not even want a reminder of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rice & Co. and their excesses...and lack of taste, more a testament to the ugly American's style than the intelligent American's thoughtfulness....yes, President Bush and Dick Cheney....if they have lived up to anything successfully....it was and is the personas of the ugly Americans......ignorant, arrogant, loud, bullies, who throw their weight around wherever they go....and, you are, either, with em or against em....and if you are against em...you are just....an A hole anyway and not worth a bother.

the only question left, is.....how bad of a wound did they inflict on this Nation and how long will it take to recover from their leadership...or, should, I say,....lack of...

and forgot to mention...Palin's popularity has sunk too since her arrival on the scene...now, that is some very good news.

ponderings.....

have a great evening....ruth

So a little birdy named Fox flew out to my boat and whispered in my ear. He said Obama is associated with terrorists, that he is apart of a conspiracy to over throw the government.

I say, It's about time someone did!

peace comes from peace

derek

it is so obnoxious to hear that puppet from 'laska talk about winning this stinkin' war in iraq...yeah she's some foreign affairs specialist...she cud see russia from her backyard...yeah..that makes me an astronomer...too...i cud see the night sky from my backyard...whoa!

now, they are shying away from the economic mess they have created by repeating...from rove's playbook...lies and smears and sleaze...that's their last best hope...how obnoxious...how immoral

macane's campaign is like titanic...doomed..

no bailout will save it, the ship is listing badly...

to jon makinsane...and george whacked...

"LOS ANGELES, California -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said."

this is what you republicans have left us...and u pretend u represent change...gimme a freakin' break...and send that weirdo back to where she can admire russia from her backyard...

Saw Bill Maher’s “Religilous”. If you are wondering about organised religion go see it.

The movie ends with a somber warning: “Grow up or die”.

my creator
not spirit
not laughter
not crying
the true sun of man
now
sun of people
all people
jesus died because he loved us so
buddha laughed
the tao sings
but we move on
we grow

derek

distractions will not change the outcome of this election!

Indian-American given job of saving Wall Street

Times of India:

WASHINGTON: A 35-year old Indian-American whiz whose parents migrated from Jammu and Kashmir is being entrusted with task of rescuing Wall Street, the US economy -- and the pretty much the entire financial world tied to its coat tails -- from a dizzying tailspin that is crushing markets and people across the globe.

...

Kashkari is one of nearly half-dozen Indian-Americans, including Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who have served in the Bush administration at Tier Two cabinet levels. But the new job clearly puts Kashkari in a different league altogether.

[...]

But the monumental crisis that has spooked Wall Street and the associated world has thrown the young Indian-American engineer-turned-financial expert into the spotlight. Hours before the appointment, the financial world and blogosphere was agog with the news of such a young man being tasked with such a huge task on a day the market continued its downward spiral.

"It seems a curious time to appoint a young acolyte from "The Firm" (Goldman Sachs) to run one of the most critical financial rescue programmes in US history," the Financial Times' blog Alphaville observed,

...

On a day the Dow tanked 800 points at one point and went close to 9500, a wiseacre on Market Ticker forum wrote, "Seriously? The guy overseeing the $700 billion is named 'CashCarry'? You really can't make this stuff up..." The last time the Dow was below 10,000 was October 2004.

...

Kashkari has a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (birthplace of the original Internet browser Mosaic) and went to earn a master's degree in aerospace engineering to initially take up a career in sciences. He worked as the R&D Principal Investigator at the company TRW in Redondo Beach, California, where he developed technology for NASA space science missions such as James Webb Space Telescope, the replacement for Hubble, which is scheduled for launch in 2013.

But apparently, the call, or lure, of the finance world was so strong that he enrolled for an MBA at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1997. He then joined Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, where he led the firm's IT security investment banking practice, advising public and private companies on mergers and acquisitions and financial transactions, before moving to New York where he worked closely with then chairman and CEO Henry Paulson.

...

Neel was born in Akron, Ohio, to Chaman and Sheila Kashkari, Indian immigrants originally from J&K, who took the well-trodden academic route to the United States. Chaman Kashkari, who taught at the University of Akron, is now a retired professor of engineering, and Sheila Kashkari is a pathologist. Neel's wife Minal works for defense contractor Lockheed Martin. The couple has been active in Republican circles with political contributions to the party.

Kashkari is now the second Indian at the heart of the US and world financial crisis. Vikram Pandit heads Citigroup which is now locked in a titanic battle with Wells Fargo over the acquisition of the bank Wachovia.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indian-American_given_job_of_saving_Wall_Street/articleshow/3567438.cms

10/7 Daily Kos R2K Tracking Poll: Obama 52, McCain 41

DemFromCT, dkos:

Today's Daily Kos Research 2000 tracking poll has Obama up over McCain 52-41. All trackers are data from three days prior to posting, with the R2K numbers from today (yesterday's numbers in parentheses) and the other trackers from yesterday (previous day's data). LV=likely voter, RV=registered voter.

Obama McCain MoE +/- RV/LV
Today
Research 2000: 52 (52) 41 (40) 3 LV
Yesterday
Rasmussen: 52 (51) 44 (44) 2 LV
Battleground: 50 (49) 43 (46) 3.5 LV
Diageo/Hotline: 47 (48) 41 (41) 3.2 LV
Gallup: 50 (50) 42 (43) 2 RV

NBC/WSJ: 49 (48) 43 (46) 3.8 RV
CNN: 53 (51) 45 (47) 3.5 LV
D Corps (D): 48 (49) 45 (45) LV
CBS: 48 (50) 45 (41) 3 LV

On successive days in the R2K poll, Obama was up +13 Sat, +11 Sun and +9 Mon (MoE +/- 5.1 for individual days.)

Look at the range of Obama polls (47-53) and the McCain numbers (41-45) to get a feel for McCain hitting a ceiling. Gallup (referring to their own numbers):

"Looked at broadly, Obama's percent of the vote has been within a very narrow range of 48% to 50% over the last ten days, and McCain's has been within an equally narrow range of 42% of 44% over the same time period. These results suggest that aside from normal sampling error, the underlying dynamics of the race have become quite stable, and underscore the degree to which there has been little meaningful change in the race in well over a week."

Both NBC/WSJ and CBS weighed in on the debates confirming, as we had pointed out, that Obama and Biden won. The polls also emphasize most people think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be President should something happen to McCain, the main role of the VP. That's important, because between that and her fav/unfav, Palin is a base favorite but not an effective attack dog for the rest of the population.

From CBS:

"Palin's unfavorable rating of 32 percent is significantly higher, however, than Biden's 19 percent unfavorable rating. And on the key questions of whether each candidate is ready to be vice president, or, if necessary, president, majorities see only Biden as passing the test.

Seventy-five percent of registered voters say Biden is prepared to be vice president, and 65 percent say he could be an effective president; just 42 percent say Palin is prepared to be vice president and only 37 percent say she could be an effective president. Even Republicans are more likely than not to concede Biden could be an effective president.

As uncommitted voters did in a CBS News/Knowledge Networks poll conducted immediately after the debate, registered voters who watched the debate give the "win" to Biden, 50 percent to 31 percent."

From NBC/WSJ:

"By a 21 point margin, 50%-29%, voters said the Democrats had the debate edge over rival Republican running mates John McCain and Sarah Palin, while 10% of respondents said the two tickets were equally as good and 4% said neither was good."

From Diageo/Hotline:

"When asked who they thought won the debate, 47% of likely voters said they thought Joe Biden won, 28% said they thought Sarah Palin won, and 20% said the debate was, essentially, a tie.

As a result, among those voters who watched the debate, 40% say it made them more likely to vote for Obama-Biden, 39% said it made them more likely to vote for McCain-Palin, and 19% say they don't know."

The media overestimation of the dwindling GOP base is going to be one of the stories of this election. I know that spoils the media narrative, but the public has made up its mind about her. The size of the Republican base crowds she draws is irrelevant. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to say, "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts."

From a new ABC/WaPo Ohio poll:

"Nearly four in 10 moderates in the poll said they were less apt to vote for McCain because of the Palin pick, double the proportion drawn to him as a result. By contrast, Biden attracts three times as many moderates to Obama as he pushes away."

Sarah Palin remains an unserious choice who is not, according to the voters, qualified to be a heartbeat away from a 72 year old cranky old man with uncertain health issues. She is one of the reasons McCain is losing this race, along with cranky and erratic "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" candidate at the top of the ticket (the one who "pals around" with Phil Gramm.)

Let's see if the pundits do any better interpreting tonight's debate, including recognition of the standing of the people pushing the attack.

yo yo ...the barracuda, hoaky mom...soon to be grand mom...told a heckler ..."Sir, my son went to iraq so u can have the right to protest"

what hoaky pokey nonsense...

since when our right to protest was held by iraqis? i didn't know that we had to go there to fight them to get it back. wow!

that weirdo will score browny points for saying such crap from the ignorant haters and rednecks of this country...

dudes...this election is about the disaster that has been 8 years of republican fashism...rovian distractions are ole school, for dummies...they will not work this time...definitely not for those losing everything...like their homes, life savings, jobs, families...u name it...its the economy, stupid!

i can't wait till this fly-by-night, hoaky goes back to her darn igloo where she can continue to admire russia.

Ref # 131

Dude, you do make a lot of sense when you talk about the last eight years and those two neocons who want to give the world more of the same. But you still haven’t figured out who’s who at IB.

Question is, why would anyone care? Haven’t you noticed, you are the only one who does?

The “Canadian Republicans”, with Bush twin Harper at the helm, still sliding!

“The most recent national survey from The Canadian Press Harris-Decima put the Tories (RepublicansJ) at 31 per cent, 10 points below their high water mark and only five points ahead of the Liberals with 26”.

The majority is just about gone and they could even end up with fewer seats than what they had. Or worse, a Liberal government!

The election is one week from today.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/indepth/fed_election/s/capress/081007/national/fedelxn_tory_platform_4

"But you still haven’t figured out who’s who at IB," says Concerned.

dude...u are not a genuine man....u know who u are and u think the rest of us are so dumb that we cannot see thru ur BS...

Wow. McCain lies and lies about his record, his polices, and also about Obama's.

McCain's performance was a broken record. ANyone with brains can easily see Obama was by far superior in his policies and in his answers.

Wow, I just turned on the TV and realized that I missed the debate tonight! Just too many other things to worry about and I know who I am going to vote for anyway, but it would have been some good entertainment (nice break) and historial to watch ... oh well.

Want some entertainment Char...

No worry, you have youtube.

Obama won the debate BIG.

And McCain's most shameful moment of the debate. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed-k1xOCsMs

Even Wolf Blitzer said it was obvious that John McCain has "disdain" for Barack Obama.

the old, ole school dino from zona got his ass royally kicked tonight!

David Plouffe:

“Barack Obama won a resounding victory in John McCain’s favorite debate format because he made the case for change that will rebuild the middle class. The American people asked tough questions tonight, and only Barack Obama was is in touch with their struggles and offered clear and passionate answers about creating jobs, reducing health care costs, cutting taxes for 95% of working families, and responsibly ending the war in Iraq. John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as ‘that one’ – last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama, this time he couldn’t say his name. The McCain campaign said, ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,’ and John McCain definitely lost tonight.”

Ret #134

"Question is, why would anyone care? Haven’t you noticed, you are the only one who does?"

what makes u think no one cares? maybe they are too modest or too chicken to say something...dude, give it up! will yah michel!

Harper says to stay course, slips in poll.
Tue Oct 7, 6:36 PM

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented himself as the steady hand to steer Canada through tricky economic waters on Tuesday, a day when a poll indicated Conservative support was slipping with only a week until election day.

Harper unveiled a C$8.67 billion ($7.86 billion) election platform he said kept the Conservative policies that were already protecting Canada's economy, and he dismissed calls for the country to take special steps to deal with the global financial storm.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/081007/canada/canada_us_politics_canada