Bailout Blues, and Other Chances for McSame to Make a Fool of Himself

LOLZ.

So, I'm sure it didn't escape anyone's attention that the bailout plan got shot down in the House today...so our big story tonight is, well, all the ridiculous sh*t that went down in the campaigns regarding that.

First up: GREATEST THING EVER. This morning, the McSame campaign claimed credit for putting together the bailout legislation.

BTW, what happened with that? OH YEAH.

BUT LOOK OUT! The McSame campaign claims credit for the bailout plan...but it's actually Obama's fault when it fails!

It's really just incredible the new lengths to which the McSame campaign can stretch the truth. It's just like taffy! Pull it this way, pull it that way and then it comes out all pink and pasty...I may be confusing this metaphor with another one about McSame's skin.

Anyway, I'm totally voting for McSame now. I mean, how can I argue that he won't bring change when his own reality is so malleable? I call for an end to this congressional bailout madness! MCSAME I DEMAND YOU SNAP YOUR FINGERS AND MAKE ALL THE BOO-BOOS GO AWAY!!!

Okay. Let's take a bit of a closer look at McSame's attempt to make Obama the scapegoat on the bailout. Not that it's not ridiculous enough in and of itself. According to the LATimes the "reasoning" (please understand that I use the term as loosely as humanly possible) behind blaming Obama was that he "and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process."

(In case you find this funny, the very next thing out of McSame's mouth was, "Now is not the time to fix the blame; it is time to fix the problem." ...brain...explodey...*gurgle*...)

However, the numbers on the failed bailout (from the NYTimes article, above) were hardly split along partisan lines:

The vote against the measure was 228 to 205, with 133 Republicans turning against President Bush to join 95 Democrats in opposition. The bill was backed by 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans.

So, if anything, shouldn't we blame McSame's "reaching across the aisle" for the failure of the bailout?? Also, McSame was for the bailout, right? But 133 reps from his party opposed it.

Okay, okay...I'm feel like a little lost Qualyin here, but I'm just trying to wrap my head around this...let's formulate a brief timeline of the McSame stance on the bailout bill, for my benefit:

This morning: McSame camp applauds it's namesake for taking bipartisan action (which all press denies ever happened) to make the bailout work (which it doesn't).

Early this afternoon: Bailout gets shot down bipartisan-ly. Obama tells the people of America to remain calm, that things are often rocky in Congress but that a solution will be reached. McSame spouts angry anti-Obama rhetoric.

Later this afternoon: McSame claims that Obama repartisaned the bipartisan-ness of the bailout thus causing it's failure - even though it was shot down by both parties, but mostly those of McSame's party.

What were we talking about again?

And now, thankfully, on to other WTF.

This is rich: McSame defies common sense as well as the reports of multiple fiscal analysts who say Obama's economic plan will benefit 95% of Americans by calling Obama a liar at his rally in Ohio today...

...but the best part is when he tries to convince people that he actually did suspend his campaign last week. He could not have set himself up any better for this massive ROFLanche:

“Some people have criticized my decision to put my country first, but I will never, ever be a president who sits on the sidelines when this country faces a crisis,’’ said Mr. McCain. And Mr. McCain, who spent this weekend in Washington working the phones, but did not actually return to Capitol Hill , said: “I know that many of you have noticed, but it’s not my style to simply ‘phone it in.’”

I can't really capture the LOLZ in words. McSame becomes more belligerent the more he drops in the polls. Hopefully he hasn't learned from the dabte what we have: anger doesn't work.

And Quaylin is looking forward to the debate? So am I, Governor. So am I. Oh, and just for the record, Matt Damon: Quaylin does indeed believe that dinosaurs and people lived together circa 4,000 BC.

Speaking of which, Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, begs Quaylin to drop out of the race, for the love of "country first." If you missed it, there's a transcript in here of Quaylin's Miss North Carolina-esque blubbering about the bailout from the Katie Couric interview.

Meanwhile, over at FoxNews, they're saying the focus of the VP debate is unfairly weighted toward foreign policy. Even though the VP debate hasn't happened yet. Let's be fair and balanced, FoxNews: They could ask questions exclusively about moose-hunting and Quaylin would still find a way to f*ck it up.

Today in How Fast McSame Is Going In The Sh*tter: Kula2316 at DailyKos gives us a great look at the increasing republican election panic. Obama's lead is higher than ever and rising in the national polls, and local polls show toss-ups in North Carolina and Indiana.

And not that this will likely affect the election, but Palin's approval numbers are plummeting - in Kentucky, of all places.

And you know what they say about September, poll-wise: in like an decrepit warthog, out like a qualified statesmen. EJ Dionne, Jr at WaPo looks back at how the month of September turned McSame into a volatile candidate, and Obama into a strong, smart, and serene political figure.

On that note, take a look at the more than 30,000 people who turned outfor Obama's rally in Detroit on Sunday.

Until tomorrow, don't forget the voter registration deadline is approaching. Make sure everyone you know will be able to make it to the polls in November. www.voteforchange.com.

Peace.

McSame: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

Clearly the most important thing that happened all weekend was Tina Fey reprising her role as Quaylin, this time reenacting the recent Katie Couric interview.


"Forgive me, Mrs. Palin, but it seems to me that when cornered, you become increasingly adorable. Is that fair to say?"

"I don't know. Is it? Pew! Pew! Pew!"

Next, we'll do our NYTimes columnist roundup. This week, I was in complete agreement with Maureen Dowd. We both found the debate a little boring. We were really hoping Obama would lay McSame out. He had plenty of opportunities. It was like watching the Philly/New England Superbowl; it felt like they both blew it. Personally, I found it really insulting that McSame kept repeating "he doesn't seem to understand." But I was amused by his assertion that we're going to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" in Iraq. More on how we were both wrong, and Obama's diplomacy continues to pay off, later.

This is downright scary. Nick Kristof points out the likelihood that America will soon be involved in another war or several if McSame gets elected.

Judith Warner explains Quaylin's appeal in terms of Impostor Syndrome via Legally Blonde.

And finally in our NYTimes columnist roundup, Frank Rich takes an exciting trip along the McSame campaign's downward spiral. It's like in the Addam's Family movie, when Gomez takes Fester to the vault and he pulls on the book called "Greed" and then they start sliding down this spiral chute into the cellar and "My Little Playmate" is playing...no? Anyone?

Check out some occasionally hilarious pictures of another anti-Quaylin rally in Alaska.

Aaaaaaaaaaand cue the hasty cover-ups! McSame begins apologizing for Quaylin's f*ck-ups even before the debate.

Also, I think I stand for all decent Philadelphians when I say: no one should have served that woman a cheesesteak! Also, it's interesting that she went to Tony Luke's and not Geno's to hang out with the other racist d*ckheads.

Also, Newsweek covers the Fannie/Freddie/Feeblie connection.

Now, to take a quick look at the debate: Kos puts together an insightful/hilarious collection of reactions to Friday's debate.

Plus, check out a debate analysis from Joshua Trevino, once a founder of redstate.com. Not only does he call the debate overwhelmingly for Obama, he also gives McSame virtually zero odds of coming out on top of any of the other debates.

The great news: it seems like all of the insulting things McSame said worked against him. In a focus group made up overwhelmingly of middle-aged folks who voted for Bush in 2004, Obama came out on top, due largely to McSame's negativity.

It's incredible to me that Obama's restraint and refusal to go on the offensive continues to pay off. But it's awesome. Consider Ms. Dowd and I officially truth-powned.

And then there's this: the post-debate poll from FoxNews:


And as DemFromCT reminds us:

1. This was supposed to be McCain's strong debate. A tie goes to Obama (and it wasn't a tie).

2. Obama leads in the polls. A tie goes to Obama (and it wasn't a tie).

In that vein, indiophil at DailyKos brings us some excellent news - his local newspaper endorses the democratic candidate for the first time in 72 years.

And finally, this isn't campaign news, but it is great news: ten years after his murder, a memorial to Matthew Shepard was unveiled at the University of Wyoming.

Sorry for the brief post, but tomorrow is another day. Don't forget the voter registration deadline is approaching. Make sure everyone you know will be able to make it to the polls in November. www.voteforchange.com.

Peace.

As You Can See, McSame is Riding a Wave of Epic Fail into the Debate

I just want to start off by saying: Oh, Barbara Boxer. Who wouldn't love you??



So OMG people! The level of EPIC FAIL is high and rising like a tsunami in the McSame campaign today. After creating a publicity circus with his ploy of "suspending" his campaign to call a meeting and trying to postpone the debate, McSame shows up to the meeting in Washington only in the strictest sense. Pardon me if I quote liberally and with apparent glee from the NYTimes article:

"At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting.

-snip-

as a matter of political appearances, the day’s events succeeded most of all in raising questions about precisely why Mr. McCain had called for postponing the first debate and returned to Washington to focus on the bailout plan, and what his own views were about what should be done. Those political appearances are a key consideration for Mr. McCain less than six weeks from Election Day and at a time when some polls suggest he is losing ground against Mr. Obama, especially on handling the economy.


-snip-

by nightfall, the day provided the younger and less experienced Mr. Obama an opportunity to, in effect, shift roles with Mr. McCain. For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics."

So let me see if I've got this straight...McSame tried to drum up public support by "suspending" his campaign (FAILED)...then he tried to postpone the debate, one can only presume because he's not ready and/or he was hoping to delay Palin's debate since she's OBVI not ready (FAILED)...he then (uncharacteristically) attended the meeting in Washington in an attempt to come off concerned, well-informed, and/or ready to lead (FAILED).

Yes, I'd have to say, folks, that this incident has a good chance of becoming the ultimate epic fail of the campaign. Then again, there's still the VP debates...ROFLZ.

I'm stoked that McSame swallowed his bullsh*t and deigned to grace the debate with his presence tonight. I guess it had something to do with the fact that people overwhelmingly thought not attending would be the biggest political mistake in recent history. This, however, = super gross.

Here's hoping showing up to the debate turns out to be the biggest mistake in recent history!!

And speaking of the biggest political mistake in rec- well, ever - STRAP ON YOUR LOLLERBLADES!!! From the Ed Schultz blog:

McCain Camp insiders say Palin "clueless"

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as "disastrous." One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, "What are we going to do?" The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is "clueless."

ZOMGZORZ. That officially made my day. That story, plus more great news about how McSame f*ucked up big time at the emergency meeting, in Excelscior1's DailyKos diary.

Did you see that Quaylin/Couric interview? What ARE they gonna do? Check out part 2, on foreign policy, along with the NYTimes' analysis of what is now considered an even more epic fail than Charlie Gibsongate.

Apparently, by no one more so than CNN's Jack Cafferty. He lampoons Quaylin today, calling one of her answers "pathetic," pointing out how effin' close this woman is to the oval office and saying "if that doesn't scare the hell out of you, it should."

And speaking of Quaylin-related fail...as usual the MSM is fashionably late in their coverage, but the NYT finally covers the Quaylin rape-kit story that DailyKos bloggers uncovered days ago.

BarbinMD at DailyKos puts together an excellent sampling of media reactions to the epic fail...in a similar vein, Kula2316 patches together a great diary from the shreds the press made of McSame and Palin overnight.

If you're feeling overwhelmed by all of the mass-media fail coverage, take a break and chillax with the internets, who have known Quaylin=FAIL since she got nominated: Best Week Ever puts together a collection of the Sarah Palin impressions circulating on the net. Other than the classic Sara Benincasa and Tina Fey clips(If you missed my links, don't miss them here), the Gina Gershon one is pretty funny, the ending of "the inner monologue" is ROFLtastic and "the terrifying" one is freakin' terrifying.

And then there's this.

Which is brought to you by the inexcusable quote of the day: "A movie you legally have to see...even in cases of incest and rape."

BONUS! I know you inevitably tuned in to Letterman after learning about his plans to set McSame on fire with his words Wednesday night, but Best Week Ever has the video, in case you missed it.

Seriously, though, sometimes you just have to stop making people look stupid, and let them do it for themselves. You've waited and waited and it's finally here...footage of the swimsuit competition in the 1984 Ms. Alaska Pageant.



But seriously. We should think about the debate. This is a great Huffington Post article on how to judge the winners of the debates, written by Judd Legum, a former member of the Hillary campaign team.

Overall, he stresses the "popularity contest" nature of the debates, the importance of a few moments of sharp repartee or a gaffe at the wrong moment over a half-hour of policy discussion. So here's my take: Obama? Quick wit, calm and collected. McSame? Shaken, fumbling, prone to angry outbursts.

Oh, to be able to liveblog the event. All I have to say is: F*ck you, work. F*ck...you.

Today in feelin' good: Thanks to my Dad for sending me this link. Veteran pollster Ann Selzer thinks the popular polls are underestimating the youth vote. Chance of an Obama landslide? More than 18%. That's from the "Scenario Analysis" Chart, which is SUPER FUN. You know, if you get all geeky for stuff like that.

Until Sunday, folks, don't forget that the deadline is closing in for VOTER REGISTRATION. If you need to register, know someone who needs to register, if you need information about polling locations near you or about getting an absentee ballot - basically any information you could possibly require can be found here.

PS - In other news, it's possible none of that other news is relevant.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...

Oof. I'm feeling a little winded by all of the massive WTF raining down on us today. To start off, the biggest story of the day was SO big and SO WTFtastic that it got it's own entry, so check that out.

And before we begin today, let me remind you for the last time that Health and Human Services is staging an attack on our reproductive rights!!! Read the NYT column here. Find out how you can help here. TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO PROTEST!!!

Anyway, assuming the debates go forward as planned...

This is what I call lookin' good for the debates: Obama now leads McSame 52-43 in the ABC/WaPo national poll. Neither Gore or Kerry were able to break 50% in the polls.

Perhaps the best news? White folks are coming around. College-educated white voters - a demographic that has been solidly republican since 1980 - favor Obama by 9 points. I don't know you guys, if this continues some of my white guilt-related self-loathing might start to seep away... What are you doing to me, 2008?!?

"Two weeks ago, McCain held a substantial advantage among white voters, including newfound strength with white women. In the face of bad economic news, the two candidates now run about evenly among white women, and Obama has narrowed the overall gap among white voters to five percentage points.

Much of the movement has come among college-educated whites. Whites without college degrees favor McCain by 17 points, while those with college degrees support Obama by 9 points. No Democrat has carried white, college-educated voters in presidential elections dating back to 1980, but they were a key part of Obama's coalition in the primaries. "

But wait, there's more. Obama continues to sink FoxNews' Dreamwaver. Check out Steven R's DailyKos diary for a look at Obama leading the FoxNews poll OUTSIDE of the margin of error, and much more.

Sorry 'bout your boat.

Plus, this appears at the end of Steven R's diary, but I'm reposting it in case we have any lazy-bones readers here. I'm not judging. Quaylin obviously hasn't done enough reading up, either.

Speaking of which...

Quaylin met her first world leaders yesterday, and the right has photo evidence. Of course, that's all the evidence they would allow, having banned reporters from accessing Quaylin before the meetings in their ongoing crusade to not let on what an abysmal candidate she is.

Props to CNN, though - when they heard that press would be banned from questioning Quaylin, they pulled their TV crew off the story, forcing the McSame campaign to relent and at least allow access to the talks themselves. Could CNN be growing a pair?

If that isn't proof enough for you, how about Campbell Brown sticking it to the true sexists - the GOP? She points out that you don't have to be as obvious as these guys to be a chauvinist pig.

Moments after I discovered this story, Sara Schaefer at Best Week Ever got to it. I leave you in her much more witty hands. I just have to say:

Pair grown, CNN. Pair grown. And along those lines, it's:

McSame vs NYTimes, Round 3.

Remember all that back and forth scuffling, when the NYTimes was all like "Ooh, McSame's campaign manager Rick Davis was on Fannie and Freddie's payrolls" and then Rick Davis and Karl Rove Jr. IMEANSTEVESCHMIDT were all like "Shut up stupids, you suck, whatever"?

Well the NYT strikes back.

In an INCOMPREHENSIBLE TURN OF EVENTS THAT HAS JUST BLOWN MY MIND AND CHANGED MY ENTIRE UNIVERSE, it turns out that the NYT was right, and Davis and Schmidt were just outright lying. When in doubt, deny everything. But watch out for that killer NYT right hook.

Round 3: New York Times. Man, the media is just sprouting pairs all over the place today. It reminds me of a simpler time, when our leaders had many pairs...


...and not just blind rage. Columnist George Will at WaPo aptly compares McSame to Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts.

"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed? "

Today in pure evil:

I feel slimy on the inside. Take a look at this story about by a reporter who did some investigative work by ghostwriting editorial letters for the McSame campaign. Then take a shower. (The editor's note contains a link to the reporter's physical evidence.)

The Quaylin rape-kit story has fallen out of the blogosphere for a while, but today DemocraticLuntz at DailyKos brought it back, with condemning evidence indicating that Wasilla did not begin charging women for their own rape kits until AFTER Quaylin signed off on the budget in 2000.

But, hey, evil's gotta look good! Who's a celebrity now? McSame paid one of the makeup artists who works on American Idol almost $6,000 dollars to do his makeup. If she spends a few more hours and a couple of buckets of industrial sealant making McSame look a young 68, I bet she could afford one of those sissy geriatricars that John and Cindy have 3 of.

See? The WTF. Sometimes it's overwhelming. To try and regain some sense of balance in my life, a gentle reminder that the deadline is closing in for VOTER REGISTRATION. If you need to register, know someone who needs to register, if you need information about polling locations near you or about getting an absentee ballot - basically any information you could possibly require can be found here.

Until tomorrow readers, I leave you with this. Don't be fooled. Watch the whole thing.

Special: Retrospective on Today's Failed McSame Publicity Stunt

I don't know if you've figured out my writing process from reading the Roundup. As I sit before my computer at work all day, I browse the web - mostly my favorite sources (as in the list on the left) - and throughout the course of the day I compile enough links, notes and commentary to patch together into the roundup. As a concept, the blog is largely unstructured not only because that makes it fun, but also because it's convenient.

And I've been thinking that what I reeeally wanted to do was liveblog the first debate this Friday, but alas I have work and also doubts about how witty I can possibly be on a minute-to-minute basis. So today I bring you this special edition of the Roundup: A retrospective liveblog chronicling the ups and downs of McSame's now-infamous "hey let's stop campaigning and not debate for our country" stunt. Let me assure you, readers, the below commentary is a faithful account of my reactions to today's major WTF incident in real time. I know because the messages I send to myself on Facebook are timestamped.

It won't be very long - the public saw through McSame's ploy in what is surely record time - but there was definitely enough material to warrant a separate entry. So, lucky readers, prepare to be delved into a darker, more mysterious time...

***Today, 3:39pm

Sometimes all you can say is W... T... F.

It's one thing to suddenly go all holier-than-thou and claim you're suspending your campaign to deal with the economic crisis when you're actually pulling another Quaylin-like publicity stunt because your polls took a massive nose-dive.

It's another thing to try and delay Friday's debate.

What's the problem? Is the rich, veteran senator finally reviewing tapes of Obama and realizing he should have been preparing for this? Or is this some kind of bullsh*t freeze-out ploy? What happened to your constant b*tching about how Obama didn't want to go head-to-head with you in a town hall meeting?? I've got my eye on you, McSame. I smell an octogenarian rat. You can't take away my Friday debate without a fight.

***4:10pm

Okay, okay, I'm taking deep breaths.

*Cue borderline inappropriate performance of "Gotta Have Faith"*

The Obama campaign's response to McSame's attempts to delay the debates so they can figure this economy business out?

"We can handle both." OOPT. Looks like "the debate is on."

Hell yeah it's on. It's on like that smarmy look is on Kenley's face.

God I hate her. In other news, McSame political director Mike DuHaime still thinks there's a chance someone sees McSame as a maverick. *GUFFAW!*

***4:16pm

Countdown to the McSame campaign calling Obama's decision reckless/irresponsible/unpatriotic/boo-boo green. We should start an adjective pool. Who wants "unpresidential"? I'm saving my money for the pool on how fast Quaylin implies Biden is being sexist on October 2nd.

***4:22pm

BTW, if this causes another "bounce" in the polls, I quit. If we get a "pretty lady" bounce and an "i guess we were wrong about you being lazy whiners" bounce, what's next? I'm seeing...McSame...November 2nd...pasties. *shudder*

***4:34pm

Hunter over at DailyKos raises a great point about McSame's sudden, intense urge to be in Washington. Since it's an election year, he thought he'd better beef up his resume - if he's present for a vote during his staycation, it will raise the percentage of votes he's shown up for this session from 35% to 36%.

True story: someday I, too, aspire to have 8 houses, thirteen cars, a private jet and a job that I can show up for about 1/3 of the time.

Oh - and this would be exactly the second vote he'd shown up for since March - so for the last 7 months he's at 1.8%. But who's counting?

***5:03pm

Oh SNAP. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tells McSame Washington needs "leadership, not a campaign photo op."

***5:43pm

Pathetic attempt at publicity stunt: OVER. Thanks, Kos.

So, there you have it. It only spanned a bit more than two hours but, thankfully for you, it's like you were there with me the whole time. If you wanna know what happened before, after, and between those juicy "live" reactions, stay tuned for today's official Roundup.

Peace.

***UPDATE 6:22pm***

Rep. Barney Frank on today's ridiculousity: "It's the longest Hail Mary pass in the history of either football or Marys."

***UPDATE AGAIN***

Please, do yourselves a favor and watch Letterman tonight. It seems Dave may have some things to say about McSame, who canceled his scheduled appearance.

***UPDATE THE THIRD***

Now it all makes sense: McSame wants to postpone the debate until October 2nd - which, coincidentallywhodathunkit, is the date of the Quaylin/Biden debate.

If successful, they plan to reschedule the vice presidential debate for November 5th.

If every republican in this campaign gets owned by these hackers, I will laugh.

Update: If you read this last night, I apologize for the spelling. Don't tell anyone. It has been corrected.



I wouldv'e linked you directly into Newsweek's report on McSame's 13 cars, but the Huffington Post has a slideshow.

Today's top story:

I, for one, am totally disillusioned. Remember last week when McFailin pathetically tried to link Obama to the collapse of Freddie and Fannie?

Turns out McSame's campaign manager was on F&F's payrolls for five years protecting those poor companies from government regulation. Surely McSame, champion of the fundamentals and fierce advocate of regulations, will be shocked and dismayed...

...aaaaaaaand cue McSame temper tantrum!

In response to this coverage, the McSame campaign has declared that the NYT is "not, by any standard, a journalistic organization. It is a pro-Obama organization that every day attacks Senator McCain, attacks Governor Palin, and excuses Senator Obama."

Oh good bob I AM THE NEW YORK TIMES!!! LOVES it.

That article includes the audio of the conversation, but please, if you want to hear it, listen to it here. Oh, and BTW: those issues they're accusing the media of not slamming Obama for? Lie, lie and - wait - lie.

Meanwhile, in flip-flopping.

And here's a good one. FoxNews pundits figure out why Wall Street collapsed and it has nothing to do with the GOP. It's those darn banks lending money to minorities that got us into this mess!

* * *blog canceled due to massive vomiting* * *

JK. I couldn't leave without following that up with this article from the NYTimes, in which somebody takes a look at actual prejudice being exploited in the campaign. By the right, natch.

Give this one a read. The NYTimes article about Obama's career teaching law in Chicago before his move to politics is overall a very interesting look into his mode of operation. No one should be surprised that it made me like him even more.

One thing I have to say, though, is that I will never cease to be entertained by the commentary of all the white law students who took his class on racism and law. They're all like "dude, he's like, really smart because he thinks about racism and, you know, people don't really think about that nowadays."

And I'm just kind of like "Umm. We don't?" It's pretty ignorant to think no one thinks about racism when people are living with it every day. Revelation! Not everyone is as ignorant as you!

...and then there's the one kid who was like "yeah, and it was weird because I learned that what was important to him was, like, not when people say racist things, but like how inequalities in education and lack of access to credit bother him more than that."

I just don't even know how to respond to that. I need a cigarette.

Hoo. Alright, I'm back. But not with good tidings. More voter caging attempts by the right, this time in Wisconsin.

PLEASE, if you know anyone who might be affected by these, spread the word!!! They already get away daily with increasing levels of lying and cheating, but we cannot let them steal another election!

However, I'm not entirely devoid of happy news. On the epic LOLs front:

You probably heard that Failin's email account got hacked into - by that I mean, of course, the ultra-secure Yahoo! account she was using for government business to get around having to report official emails. The hacker used some super high-tech james bond movie techniques. I don't really understand the jargon, but it had something to do with "pretending to be Sarah Palin" and "guessing the answers to her security questions."

Anyway, inevitably, Bill O'Reilly got his leak-safe panties in a bunch and slammed the websites who (perfectly legally) published the emails and other information that the hacker found. So somebody hacked into his email. Incoming ROFLcopter.

Don't forget to watch the video in which Bill tries to convince a Fox News anchor/attorney that the publishing websites will definitely get shut down because the Supreme Court decision protecting their actions is "stupid."

Plus I've been waiting for someone to release this clip since I saw it on Saturday's episode of MadTV.

The audio is pretty mismatched at the beginning, but it gets better.

And now for the good news.

Sleep well, tonight, friends: Obama is up by 5 points in the polls...

...wait for it...

...IN VIRGINIA.

If Obama wins Virgina in November, he'll be the first Democrat to do so since LBJ, and everybody voted for LBJ.

I could link you separately to all these sources, but kubla000 over at DailyKos has just summed it up so nicely.

And here's a diary from AMfromATL, who cast their vote for Obama early today in Georgia, and who hasn't given up hope on their home state swinging blue.

If you're in an early-vote state, get out there and vote! You can register and vote on the same day. Good luck to Georgia and Ohio, and all of the other states full of Obama fans getting out the vote!

I may overrun you with DailyKos diaries today. But come on people, this is a great opportunity for our lawyer friends to make a big difference in the world and, well, I don't have any. Hopefully, if you do, you'll forward them this.

Okay, just one more - DailyKos was on a roll today. justashotaway's diary should give you a little jolt of hope if you're wondering about our chances in those formerly-red swing states.

And now for the best news of the day: Crashing Vor at DailyKos has come up with my official new Palin moniker, since Failin' is, let's face it, a little weak. It is with barely-contained-giggling that I hereby dub her:

Quaylin.

Finally, find your nightly riot act below:

Health and Human Services is staging an attack on our reproductive rights!!! Read the NYT column here. Find out how you can help here. THERE ARE ONLY 3 DAYS LEFT TO PROTEST!!!

The deadline is also closing in for VOTER REGISTRATION. Only 2 weeks left!!! If you need to register, know someone who needs to register, if you need information about polling locations near you or about getting an absentee ballot - basically any information you could possibly require can be found here.

Peas and mushrooms 'til tomorrow, folks.

This Weekend in WTF

Let's get all the weekend's icky stuff out of the way first:

The Anchorage Daily News skewers Palin for having "abdicated" all of her gubernatorial duties during the campaign.

"Way back when, before John McCain chose Palin as his vice presidential running mate, Palin promised to cooperate with the investigation.

Now she won't utter a peep about it to Alaskans. Nor will her husband, Todd, who definitely needs to explain his role in Troopergate.

Instead, Alaskans have to sit back and listen to John McCain's campaign operatives handling inquiries about what Alaska's governor did while governing Alaska."

Next, McSame proposes we fix health care using the same methods he claims broke the economy.

Oh, and don't worry: McSame supports stem cell research. Just not the embryonic (read: useful) kind.

Maureen Dowd brings us more of her campaign fantasy world, essentially imploring Obama to "get angry" and attack McSame on all of his lies and deception.

Now, I love Maureen Dowd but I have to say I don't really agree that Obama should get angry and go on the attack. Frankly, things are looking up for him and I'd like to think it has something to do with the faith he puts in his constituency to see through McFailin's lies. And it's not as if he hasn't run some smear ads and he certainly calls McSame out with his wry humor at rallies. I believe the reason he's had such a strong recovery from the RNC bounce is that his devoted supporters have been hounding McFailin from day one and people are starting to listen to us.

So I say, Barack, you just keep on doin' what you do, and leave the mudslinging to us - you know we love it anyway.

NYT columnist Frank Rich worries that McSame's many and varied lies are not being challenged, and echoes Amy Poehler(as Hillary Clinton)'s now-infamous sentiment "I invite the media to grow a pair."

Mark Bowden's column from the Philadelphia Inquirer is, as far as I'm concerned, way to lenient on Palin and the McSame campaign in general . But we all know I'm not "willing to give her the benefit of the doubt." In spite of my disagreement with much of what Bowden says, the column makes an excellent point about a disturbing line you may have missed from Palin's RNC speech. (Give yourself a break, it got drowned in lipstick jokes and disparaging remarks about community organizing.)

"'Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America,' said Palin, and then, referring to Barack Obama, quipped: 'He's worried that someone won't read them their rights.'

Quite apart from the cheap distortion of Obama's position, typical of most campaign rhetoric, this is a classic lynch-mob line. It is the taunt of the drunken lout in the cowboy movie who confronts a sheriff barring the prison door - He wants to give 'im a trial? It is the precise sentiment that Atticus Finch so memorably sets himself against in Harper Lee's masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird, when he agrees to defend a supposedly indefensible black man charged with rape (falsely, as it turns out).

-snip-

We are at war against forces who seek a permanent state of fear, for whom violence is an end in itself. Our side of the fight defends government by consent, and the rule of law. It is why we fight, and what makes our use of violence against our enemies morally defensible. This is why it is critical that we respect individual rights and act lawfully.

That does not mean reading Miranda warnings to enemy combatants, as Palin glibly suggested, or affording them the full battery of rights given criminal defendants in this country. It does mean that even those accused of the most vile crimes have some.

Our Founding Fathers called them 'unalienable.'"

I tried to cut out the BS and give you the relevant parts, but if you're interested, find the entire article here.

Last but not least on the columnist front, Nicholas Kristof exposes the ways in which the right is fervently trying to other Obama without bringing up his skin color.

So, in lighter news:

SNL is on a roll this election...check out last night's opening sketch featuring McSame doing studio recordings for his smear ads.


Plus: Possibly the most scathing anti-McSame ad I've seen, and it's been released by a private citizen. You go, Citizen X. You go.

An article from the NYTimes will get you ready for debate season:

a) in spite of supposed "worry" from the Obama camp about Biden performance, I f*cking ca't wait to see the VPs...

b) I think the worst mistake McSame can make is assuming he doesn't need to prepare for this - then again his head's been blowing up like a balloon since August. I'm psyched.

Biden Slams McSame on Labor in Virginia; McSame Denies Claims by Lying.

I wish I wrote the headlines. Oh yeah, and VIRGINIA IS A BATTLEGROUND STATE!!! I'm so stoked, dudes.

In other awesome news: North Carolina is now a serious battleground state. Check this out.

The actual poll press release is a pdf, so I linked you into Christian Dem in NC's DailyKos diary.

And then there's THIS:

Obama hits 50% in the Gallup poll.

So you're seeing the polls looking good for Obama, but you're wondering what impact that can actually have on the election...maybe billysumday's DailyKos diary will help you understand.

I'm really attempting not to get my hopes up. But with so many supposedly "no-contest" red states getting closer and closer as we head into the debates, the fact is Obama has a serious chance of pulling some surprise swings come November.

Along those lines: WaPO covers Obama's tough battle to win Florida in November.

Now let's make all these crazy statistics and all this back-and forth analysis real into something real.

Check out local coverage of Obama's Jacksonville rally: 20,000 people came out and an estimated 8,000 more were turned away because the arena was filled to capacity!!!
(Do I need to remind you that McSame attracted a whopping 3,000 people to HIS Jacksonville rally??)

Finally: you know the drill:

The NYTimes FINALLY covers Health and Human Services' attack on our reproductive rights!!! Read the column here. Find out how you can help here. THERE ARE ONLY 4 DAYS LEFT TO PROTEST!!!

The deadline is also closing in for VOTER REGISTRATION. 15 days left!!! If you need to register, know someone who needs to register, if you need information about polling locations near you or about getting an absentee ballot - basically any information you could possibly require can be found here.

Until tomorrow. Peas.

Don't know how I forgot this...

Check out The Termite's diary at DailyKos.

FREAKIN LOVES IT.

Is all.

Missteps and Missed Opportunities for McFailin

From Matt Little's blog of "Rejected Barack Obama Puns"

First in the Roundup today - The NYTimes FINALLY covers Health and Human Services' attack on our reproductive rights!!! Read the column here.

And find out how you can help here. THERE ARE ONLY 6 DAYS LEFT TO PROTEST!!!

Now then. Let's start the day on a high note: Watch as McSame is ushered offstage from his speech at GM to the tune of America's fundamentals chanting "Obama 08! Obama 08!"

And here's another desperate and deceitful McSame smear ad that pathetically attempts to connect Obama to the collapse of Fannie Mae via a WaPo article, along with the response from WaPo.

"The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama on 'housing and mortgage policy.'"

Check this sh*t out: Sydney H Schanberg, the veteran journalist whose work inspired the 1984 movie "The Killing Fields" has released an investigative article positing that McSame "worked very hard to hide from the public stunning information about American prisoners in Vietnam who, unlike him, didn't return home."

And here's some of that angry McSame footage from Dolores Alfond's testimony at the senate committee public hearing.

This is a great clip from MSNBC looking at McSame's sudden fervent interest in Wall Street regulations. What I think is really going to be the nail in the coffin in all this is how the press seems consistently incapable of getting a hold of anyone in his campaign for comment. Being silent about everything is not going to endear him to swing voters, nor to his base. Also, it can't be denied that FLIP-FLOPPITY FLIPPY MCFLOPPERSON-FLIPMEISTER von FLOPSALOT! Whew...sorry. I may be carrying a little repressed rage from the '04 election.

If you were wondering what all this business about "the Keating Five" is (from the above clip), or if you just want to know more about where McSame stands on regulations and bailing out financial institutions, check out clammyc's DailyKos diary detailing the scandal from the 80's.

I would be really excited about the possibility about this being dug up and used against him, but honestly, I think Obama will probably push forward with his thus-far incredibly successful plan of standing back and watching McSame flail about in the giant pool of bullsh*t he got himself into.

Fall is approaching and I'm just enjoying the sounds of the birds singing, the squirrels hustling about gathering seeds, and the Wall Street Journal's notoriously conservative editorial board spanking McSame hard:

Yowch!

"In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He'll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist like Al Gore, circa 2000."

As it becomes ever more clear that McSame-Failin will do or say anything to win this election, Jane B in Virginia finds herself the target of attempted voter caging.

IF YOU KNOW ANYONE IN VIRGINA OR ANY OTHER BATTLEGROUND STATE MAKE SURE THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS!!! Obviously the right will stop at nothing to see McSame in the white house next year. MAKE SURE YOUR VOTE GETS COUNTED!

Finally, while this may not be statistically relevant, it can't be good for the wingnuts: The St. Petersburg Times' focus group has had a fairly dramatic anti-Palin reaction.

Slow news Friday, I guess. Until tomorrow, mull this one over. Peace.

Palin=Regina George; McSame=Gretchen Wieners. It Totally Works.

Boo You Whore: OMFG how much does this quote make Palin sound like Regina George from Mean Girls?

R. D. Levno, a retired school principal, flew in from Fairbanks. “She’s a child, inexperienced and simplistic,” she said of Sarah. “It’s taking us back to junior high school. She’s one of the popular girls, but one of the mean girls. She is seductive, but she is invented.”

See Dowd's entire column here.

From Mean Girls:

Cady: Regina seems sweet.

Janice: Regina George is not sweet. She's a scum-sucking road whore!
She ruined my life!

Damien: She's fabulous, but she's evil.

And this just in from former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan: "She's a life-ruiner. She ruins people's lives."

In other Palin news:

This is actually from more than a week ago, but I think it's a must read - Eve Ensler (writer of the Vagina Monologues) posted a blog on the Huffington Post commenting on Palin and the insidious McSame campaign.

Alaskan taxpayers are taking it in the butte: This NYT blog on Palin's spending record is absolutely scathing. Turns out per person, her state is burning up 10 times the amount of money in earmarks that Obama's is.

Look at Carly Fiorina, John McCain’s top economic surrogate — if you can find her this week, after the news and her narrative fused in a negative way. Dismissed as head of Hewlett-Packard after the company’s stock plunged and nearly 20,000 workers were let go, she was rewarded with $44 million in compensation. Sweet!

Thank God McCain wants to appoint a commission to study the practice that enriched his chief economic adviser. On the campaign trail this week, McCain and Palin pledged to “stop multimillion dollar payouts to C.E.O.’s” of failed companies. Good. Go talk to Fiorina at your next strategy session.

And Nebraska Republican Senator Chuck Hagel joins the ranks of raging sexists calling Palin unqualified.

How could he say that? Because OMG, this just in: Palin Proposes Brave Fiscal Transparency Plan That Obama Already Put Through Last Year.

But the big focus today - for once - has actually been on McSame and the amazing disappearing act he's been practicing.

Let's start with this: The NYTimes covers McSame's downward spiral into boring, uptight, soundbyte hell, including his now-widely-acknowledged appalling inability to draw a crowd without his pitbull by his side. Apparently, after she introduced him at the Tuesday rally, people just started leaving in the middle of his speech.

Also in the NYT today, coverage of the candidates' standings on a myriad of issues in the polls. It should come as no surprise that no one really thinks McSame is interested in change.

Plus, check out this great interactive graphic that lets you look at the overall Obama vs. McSame Polls over time, and from 21 different sources.

And there's Gail Collins on McSame's multiple personality disorder. I mean you can't fault the guy. Maybe the voices in his head aren't communicating with one another. Or maybe he just can't make everything out over the voice that keeps yelling, "Drill! Drill! Drill!"


Could this be what she's talking about? Read this blog at the Wonk Room and see how McSame professed that he was against corporate regulation, and then that he was for it:

"I don't like excessive and unnecessary government regulation."

then

"Do I believe in excess goverment regulation? Yes."

I know what you're thinking - yeah, McSame has changed his mind about an awful lot since selling his sould to the devil for this election. SO what's one more flip-flop? Well, as a point of interest, please note that both of these quotes are from this morning.
Plus, WaPo covers this increasingly talked-about McSame interview, in which he mysteriously lumps Spanish President Zapatero with anti-American Latin-American leaders in what is either a huge slap in the face to Zapatero, or a severe senior moment. Most people are leaning towards the latter.

But I think the cherry on the sundae that was today's McShame sh*tstorm is this blog by Elizabeth Drew, a once-fervent McSame supporter who wrote a book championing his reform efforts in 2002. I struggled to find a really damning quote to incorporate into the blog text because, well, the whole thing is pretty effin' damning.

Although to be fair, her reference to his picking Palin as "Russian roulette" was basically a loop-the-loop lollercoaster.

In conclusion, two top people in McSame's campaign today seem to have forgotten who, exactly, is supposed to be at the top of the ticket.

Check out what Nancy Pfotenhauer, one of McSame's top advisors, had to say in response to Chuck Hagel's condemnation of Palin's experience earlier today.

And you'll never guess who the second person was - check this out.

No wonder the crowd started to disperse after her speech...

Now that you're in a laughing mood, here are a few choice bits of humor from today:

BestWeekEver's Alex Blagg blasts Obama for this ridiculously boring ad where he talks to people like intelligent adults, instead of providing us with the excitement of baseless accusations and petty bickering we've come to expect from the presidential campaign. Get with it, Barack, get with it.

Watch out: Classic Blog Satire Incoming.

And to reinforce JeffLieber's point, watch Obama slamming McSame's economic "plan."

But seriously, folks, check out this awesome webcast of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton addressing questions about women's issues in the campaign.

When asked if he would release a similar webcast in response, McSame confidently asserted, "A what now?"

I know there was a lot to take in, but I hope you stuck with me, because if not, you might have missed some of the truly great news of the day. In which:

MSNBC takes a look at this week's polling trends, which are swinging up and up for Obama. In spite of all the chicken littleness over McSame's convention/Palin bounce, it seems Obama has regained his strong August standing in the polls, and women are once again showing big support for the big O.

If this keeps up, Obama will be looking at a solid lead when the debates start next week. I just can't wait!

Until tomorrow I'll remind you again: Don't forget to b*tchslap the Health and Human Services department for their latest attack on our reproductive rights - only 7 days left people!!! Learn more about it and find out how to help here.

If I were Sarah Palin's baby my name would be Bang Walmart Palin.

Today in the Roundup - yesterday's roundup. My computer at work was moving like molasses yesterday, so I'm taking this time out of my busy day off to blog for you. As I once overheard my neighbor drunkenly slur at her boyfriend whilst I sat by my city window sipping a vodka cranberry: Learn it; live it; love it.

McSame speaks this morning on the US financial crisis, now saying that the economy is broken and what he meant by "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" is that the American workers are strong. It’s really a tribute to how in touch he is that he thinks of American workers as statistics that hold our economy together. It’s too bad Obama doesn’t grant him a town hall meeting; it would give one of those American workers a chance to ask: “So if the workers are the fundamentals of the economy, what are all those rich people to whom the right continually gives tax breaks to the economy?” No word yet on what patriotic slogan the campaign meant by “things today just aren’t that bad.”

But here’s a slice of straight talk for you: watch McSame promise during the said speech that - and I quote –

“We will never put America in this position again.”

So, please, by all means, elect that champion of change who by his own admission helped get us into this mess in the first place. McSame then indicated that energy independence would happen under his administration. To reinforce his point at the end of the speech, McSame demonstrated to a horrified crowd that he can p*ss oil and sh*t rainbows.

Following McSame’s announcement of his brave plan to fix the ailing economy by forming a committee, Obama says that's bullsh*t.

But we all know that all McSame's big talk about greed on Wall Street won't stop the Michigan GOP from attempting to prevent people whose houses are being foreclosed on from voting in this election. Now that's what I call concern for working Americans in their time of need. No, no, I said you were the fundamentals of our economy, not of our electorate.

The good news: Obama isn't going to let them steal this election.

And here's a surprise: the Michigan foreclosure specialist firm Trott & Trott houses McSame regional headquarters, and has raised almost a quarter of a million dollars for the republican party. On second thought, this totally explains how McSame advisers can be convinced that things aren’t that bad.

Hold on to your sanity as plunge even deeper into the McSame campaign’s wild fantasies. Seriously? I can’t even find anything to say about this.

And then there’s this: This story has popped up all over (CNN, USAToday, not to mention the blogs who obviously got to it first!) but I'm linking you into the WaPo story.

Turns out Carly Fiorina, the same McSame spokeswoman who officially imploded the universe in Monday’s blog, has taken a forceful strike back at the sexist attacks against Sarah Palin, saying the VP hopeful does not have the experience to run a major company. LOL.
Fiorina of course goes on to correct herself by explaining that none of the candidates for president or vice president are qualified to do the job she once did. The really funny part of all this was watching the camera crew scramble around trying to get a wide enough angle of her head.

And speaking of segues, Newsweek reports Palin’s favorability rating is slowing eking away.

Maybe it has something to do with this: You may have read during coverage of victims in Alaska paying for their rape kits that the state has the highest rate of forcible rapes per capita in the nation. Now you can read ABC News' coverage of Palin's appallingly inadequate response to these statistics…

…including that she put a multi-million dollar initiative to combat sex crimes on hold so that she could fire her Public Safety Commissioner - the initiative's biggest proponent - to carry out a personal vendetta. Anyone remember Troopergate? I guess it is possible that that kind of reckless behavior in office can affect your constituency. Let's hear it for a true maverick.

Here's another right-wing language lesson for you: We had a lot to choose from today, what with the McSame spokespeople's assertions that "McSame created the Blackberry" and that "running a corporation is a lot harder than running a country," but today we're going to focus on a much more puzzling McSameism covered in the NYTimes blogs, which may confuse some beginners. Fear not, we'll sort it out.

Senator John McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin, recently said in a conference call with reporters that Mr. McCain’s health care proposal would “put 25 to 30 million individuals out of the ranks of the uninsured, into the ranks of the insured.” In an article released Tuesday, a panel of prominent health economists concludes that Mr. Holtz-Eakin’s projection is off by, well, 25 to 30 million.

Turns out, in right wingo (get it? right wing+lingo?? LOLZ!) when you say that your plan will help insure 25-30 million people, what you actually mean is that in the first year you'll help insure about a million people, and then after five years, 5 MILLION LESS people will have insurance than had it when you took office! See how that works??? It's just such a pleasure when studying a foreign language to take in the little nuances of meaning that don't exist in English.

Sigh. At least you can console yourself with these pictures of the huge turnout at the Obama rally in Colorado, as well as other exciting gatherings.

And to wrap up the day, a few amusing tidbits:

This is a great site for campaign footage and related videos.

Jeffrey Feldman at DailyKos has some interesting insights into your canvassing or phonebanking efforts, spurred by the awesome "patchwork nation" voter demographic map from the Christian Science Monitor, which is not to be missed.

Last but, for obvious reasons, not least: the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator.

Until tomorrow, my apologies for not making the post yesterday. You guys are such troopers! And of course I must remind you: Don't forget to b*tchslap the Health and Human Services department for their latest attack on our reproductive rights - only 8 days left!!! Learn more about it and find out how to help here.

Tucker Bounds Must Die

TOP STORY: UNIVERSE IMPLODES WHEN MCSAME SPOKESWOMAN CALLS TINA FEY'S IMPERSONATION OF PALIN "SEXIST."

These truly are the moments of WTF that I blog for.

Also from the Huffington Post: check out McSame's complete inability to draw a crowd without his running mate.

In other news, I officially hope Tucker Bounds chokes to death on his own vomit.

As the work week starts I know we're all warmed by the smoldering embers of Wall Street...

SHOCKER OF THE DAY: The McSame team maintains that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" (McSame) and that "things today just aren't that bad" (McSame advisor Donald Luskin).

Personally, I blame the yacht salesmen. Why aren't they persuading the rich people to spend more money? WTF guys?? Get with it or good citizens are going to continue to lose their homes.

For the record, I also blame the d-bags from Million Dollar Listings. Especially Chad.


Dear Media,

Please stop blowing everything way out of proportion.

Kthxbye,

America.


Dick Diver's excellent diary at DailyKos gives us a shrewd look at McSame's supposed "bounce" in the polls, proving once again Twain's timeless saying about the three types of lies. Check out how Gallup fudged the numbers of the September 8th poll.

And Obama is leading VIRGINIA in the latest poll.

To Top it off, check out Kos' daily tracking poll.

Time for a language lesson straight from the GOP dictionary:

none (pronoun) [nuhn] -

1. no one; not one: None of my friends came to my party.
2. not any, as of something indicated: That's none of your business.
3. $453,000,000 worth: How much money in earmarks has Sarah Palin solicited from the federal government? None!

"It is difficult to compare Sen. Obama's earmark record with Gov. Palin's -- their states differ in size, for instance, and the two candidates play different roles in the process. But using the same calculation that the McCain campaign uses, the total amount of earmarked dollars divided by the number of working days while each held office (assuming a five-day workweek, every week, for both), Gov. Palin sought $980,000 per workday, compared with roughly $893,000 for Sen. Obama."

I'm glad we've had this little chat. It's lessons like these that help us understand how McSame can say, on the View, that Palin had not sought any congressional earmarks as governor of Alaska.

And if we extend this logic even further, it makes perfect sense that Tucker Bounds can say of the incident: "If he gave viewers a mistaken impression, it certainly wasn't intentional." Well maybe he wasn't lying. Maybe he's just grossly misinformed, and that's why he calls Palin his "soulmate."

Maybe Palin can holler over the fence to Russia and ask them about those long-range bombers they just landed in Venezuela. Hey, isn't that the same country that just gave the US ambassador 72 hours to get out because we've been accused of trying to overthrow their government? And don't they provide 10-15% of our oil?

We might want both people in office to know what the Bush doctrine is...

In less horrifying news, Obama gets snarky, the Obama rally in New Hampshire is a hit, and no one in congress knows why we're so hype about drilling.

Biden kicks ass and takes names at a rally in Michigan.

And sometimes I wish I was still unemployed.

...

Okay, but sometimes it's for a good cause.

If you're unemployed and in Ohio, or unemployed and looking to take a road trip for the vote, or employed but in Ohio and able to contribute time, or anywhere and able to contribute money, consider this worthy cause. Don't let Ohio break my heart again - give it a chance to redeem itself.

Until tomorrow, Don't forget to b*tchslap the Health and Human Services department for their latest attack on our reproductive rights - only 10 days left!!! Learn more about it and find out how to help here.

Socialist Baby-Killing Maggots

Man you can write anything on this picture and it instantly becomes funny.

Our number one story today is this SNL sketch featuring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

And this is literally the first two thoughts I had when I saw it:

Election: over.
Life: complete.

Today from the NYTimes:
Palin champions ethics reform with a little help from her friends. That's because she hired everyone she knew to government positions regardless of qualifications and proceeded to overpay them with state money.

That reminds me of something else...I can't put my finger on it.

"Dan Fagan, a prominent conservative radio host and longtime friend of Ms. Palin, urged his listeners to vote for her in 2006. But when he took her to task for raising taxes on oil companies, he said, he found himself branded a 'hater.'

It is part of a pattern, Mr. Fagan said, in which Ms. Palin characterizes critics as 'bad people who are anti-Alaska.'"

Man, can she tow the GOP line. The Washington Post offers more dirt.

Here's some true WTF: Karl Rove, though he dances around it as much as possible, tells Fox News that McSame has gone "too far" in his smearing adds.

Old Turdblossom must be slipping - try as he might he can't make it sound like he's not calling McSame a liar:

"[McSame has been] attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test."

Oh, Turd. Turd, turd, turd.

Turd.

But, hey, the McSame campaign lies are the hot topic these days. Just about everything the the NYTimes prints slamming GOP is on the top emailed list.

A couple random points of interest:

WaPo's David Ignatius bashes McSame's lack of judgement, overcoming seemingly unbeatable odds and acheiving coolness in spite of his name.

And a site for those who applaud Obama's restraint, but secretly adore mudslinging.

For a lift: Watch
this truly moving footage of the "Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally." It just feels really good to hear from people who aren't batsh*t crazy.

The women who organized it persevered through harassing phone calls after a right wing radio host gave out their names and phone numbers on air. He called the organizers "socialist, baby-killing maggots" and then encouraged listeners to call the women and - as his boss puts it - "give their opinions." Read local coverage of that bullsh*t here.

And here's the Anchorage Daily News coverage of the event itself.

With the GOP's numbers still trending upward in the polls, it's becoming clear that moving away from the real issues, and the actual heartfelt Obama love, is not an effective way to get what we want. benvautier's diary at DailyKos confirms my suspicions. Hear feedback from somebody who's been putting themself out there and phonebanking for Obama.

In that vein, listen to Obama speak about national service (the picture is terrible, but its the audio you need anyway). I obviously don't buy into the military service talk, or the "America is the greatest nation on earth" bull, but i think he has some truly revolutionary things to say about feeling a mutual sense of responsibility and not just an individual one. I also love how he frames it in terms of long-term change, that we're preparing for the next generation - that is just so unbelievably refreshing after 8 years of "not blinking," just staggering ahead in the dark.

And who could not fall in love with his plan to jump start national service by providing the incentive of funding for kids to go to college. (You'll have to see the 2nd part of the interview for more details on that.)

Until tomorrow. Don't forget to register your complaints with the Health and Human Services department for their latest attack on our reproductive rights - only 11 days left!!! Learn more about it and find out how to help here.

Lying, Cheating and Farting Dust

In case you missed it, take a trip back to the beginning of August and read up on McSame's utter ignorance of technology.

I mention this only because today, finally, Obama attacks McSame for being a f*cking relic.

No joke, how can someone who can’t even use email possibly understand the way America works??? The whole basis of interpersonal - not to mention professional and academic - communication has changed since the ascent of the internet. All of American culture right down to the language we use has changed. Seriously, I have to say this gaffe = much more serious than Palin not knowing what the Bush doctrine is. I’m elated that Obama is finally calling him on it.

Whew. Also in smear ad news: you've heard about Palin's support of aerial hunting of wolves and bears: the Defender's of Wildlife Action Fund's ad condemning Palin is so brutal almost hard to watch. Almost.

Blog until they take you seriously: AP finally looks into the Palin book-banning business - and it ain't lookin' good.

"But the McCain campaign, in a statement, said the charge ‘is categorically false ... Governor Sarah Palin has never asked anyone to ban a book, period.’"

McSame continued “You know, that time when she asked the librarian if she would ban books and then tried to fire her when she refused, that was all a big misunderstanding. And the books that subsequently disappeared from shelves were documented as having been spirited away by Jesus. We have the names of everyone who worked at the library at the time and we're looking into why they would all make up the same cruel lie about Mrs. Palin. This sexism is appalling. That is all.” He then walked away from the podium, but turned back briefly with his fist in the air, adding, “Sexism!”

If you're tired of seeing the name "McSame," a) get used to it cuz I'm not writing his name and b) read this front page article from the Washington Post and then start coming up with a new nickname for Palin. "Same" doesn't really fit into her name – the best I've got so far is "George W Palin" and I'm sure you can do better than that.

Frankly, I'm sick to death of writing about how McSame and Palin are constantly telling blatant lies about everythin from Palin's earmarks to Obama's economic policies. If you're not sick to death of reading about it, you can do so here.

Good news, though: this means AP is now officially on the McSame-Bashing Bandwagon. It was originally called the Truth Train, but the right wing spin got to it. Of course, the NYTimes continues to cover the McSame lies as well.

You know what, let me make this easier on all of us: Keith Pickering at DailyKos has already put together a roundup diary of sorts about the GOP lies in which you'll find no shortage of news sources to slake your lust for truth.

I wonder if the public is starting to catch on...revel in it.

VOTER CAGING UPDATE IN OHIO: the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the 1/3 of the absentee ballot applications in Hamilton county were deemed INVALID because the McSame campaign "MISTAKENLY" sent them out with an extra box which, if overlooked, would DISQUALIFY THE APPLICANT FROM VOTING.

I really hope this gets people talking about the cheating as well as the lies. Here’s another blog on the rampant caging situation.

And in other horrifying news, USA Today covers the story on sexual assault victims in Wasilla who were forced to pay for their own forensic medical exams.

And Democratic Luntz does some research specifically connecting Palin to this practice in their DailyKos diary.

If you’re scared, ask yourself one question: Are you a people person? The Obama/Biden site’s neighbor-to-neighbor tool is a great way to take action in your own community. Create an account and you're provided with a list of target voters in your area as well as a phone script, fliers and other training materials; basically everything you need to start your own personal grassroots campaign.

Thanks bob for useless community organizing.

Until tomorrow, get mad and make some calls. And don’t forget to b*itch out Health and Human Services for trying to restrict our reproductive rights (learn more at the end of the September 10th entry.)