Let's start off with the deep, dark WTF that is the latest in a long blast of WTF diarrhea coming from the McSame camp.
I'm sure by now you've all heard about that truly unfortunate-looking McSame volunteer in Pittsburgh who claimed she was attacked and sexually assaulted by a big black man who didn't like her McSame bumper stickers. He even carved a letter "B" into her face with a knife so dull it looked almost like it had been drawn on with a marker.
And even more ingeniously, he carved it backwards, just as it would appear if this dumbass b*tch drew it on herself in a mirror. Smart guy.
Almost as smart as McSame campaign. They even knew all the details of the attack before the police released them! Come on, people, seriously: would you really rather vote for the guy whose first letter of his first name got drawn onto the cheek of the Pillsbury doughgirl, or the clairvoyant who magically knew the race-baiting completely-coincidentally-October-surprise-like details of the attack before anyone else?
Ya gotta hand it to him, folks. When that phone rang at 3am, McSame was all over that shit. It was the KKK, btw.
Here's the CNN article, including your new quote of the day:
"She said she has prior mental problems and doesn't know how the backward letter 'B' got on her face."
I bet one of those things is true.
Here's BarbinMD's diary, including a clip from MSNBC corroborating Barbin's evidence that this was all yet another disgutingly, disturbingly racist McSame campaign ploy.
Anyway...
Dana Milbank of WaPo writes an inspiring column about the Fake Americans trapped in Real America during Richmond VA's Obama rally.
Kula2316 at DailyKos once again writes a great morning roundup, which includes such juicy nuggets as MSM reactions to the news of Quaylin's bougie media whoredrobe as well as new national polls showing Obama with a more impressive lead than ever with only 10 days to go.
Heyyyyyah!
And here's some really great news: I, for one, kicked the sh*t out of my bank account on Saturday night (and again on Sunday) donating to Equality for All's campaign to vote No on Prop 8 in California, and I'm sure you all did your best...
IT WORKED. The LATimes reports that Prop 8 is once again losing ground in the polls, with people opposing it by 52%-44%.
And finally, to bring my McSame campaign = Mean Girls analogy of previous weeks around full circle: in light of all the real dumb sh*t the wingnuts have been saying - and subsequently apologizing for - about the "real" America, I believe it's safe to say that the entire GOP is suffering from a terrible case of what Cady Heron would call "word vomit."
Aaaand because I've made an extremely apt comparison of John McSame::Gretchen Wieners, please find in the below clip, only about 20 seconds in, the infamous scene in which "Gretchen Wieners cracks." This should illustrate my point nicely, as well as save you the trouble of listening to anything McSame says for the next 10 days. Because this is what he will say. Word for word.
"McCain seemed to be completely in his element when he said Senator Obama's foreign policy resume was shorter than a c*nt hair."
LOLZ.
So, I finally watched the Quaylin "Weekend Update" sketch on SNL. I was gathering my thoughts...I was preparing to write about how much Amy Poehler rocked that rap...and about how bizarre it was that Quaylin was sitting there boppin' along gosh darnit while she was being COMEDICALLY EVISCERATED...and then I read BestWeekEver and saw that Sara Schaefer has already done all relevant analysis for me. Clip included.
Today has been a pretty slow news day...don't know why. But it has been chock full of the juicy LOLZ we've come to expect at this magical time of year...
In excellent news: It's officially two weeks until we get to call George W. Bush a "lame duck" without getting wiretapped or having our library records searched! OMG!
In light of that news, I bring you this. To the good people of Vermont, we solute your empty symbolic gesture. No really. We do. What? I think it's funny.
And now, a message from the Republican Nominee for Leader of the Senate IMEAN Vice President:
Ya know what, fellas? If there's one thing real Amer'cans love about that doggone Sarah Palin even more than my gosh darn tootin' down home lovability and also my small-town talk-a-roony diddly doo, it would hafta be my record on fightin' all that dagnab gov'ment spendin'! Ya know, also, it's like, gov'ment get outta my way darnit!
Well...wait just a durn minute theer, gov'ment...ya know, before ya get outta my way - cuz also, ya know, I really do wantcha gone! - but if, also, before ya go theer, maybe ya could jus leave me, ya know, only maybe $21,000 theer for my daughters' travel expenses? Nooo, they weren't invited to those conferences, but, see right here I can just fill out this form right here and then it's the same thing as them, ya know, traveling for business! And then you can pay for it!
But then, ya know, get right outta my way, theer. And take that bridge with ya, also!
...Okay, so maybe I just like doing the Quaylin voice, even if it's only typed...But seriously. And that's nothing to the $150,000 the RNC spent to pay for the woman's outfits. No wonder they keep talking about how put-together and attractive she is! Sheesh.
Forget what you heard about the polls tightening in the home stretch: Pew has Obama up by 14 POINTS in their latest national poll. This is sure to drive the wingnuts' spirits even deeper into the mud. Speaking of which, Pew found that:
"Republicans also are increasingly pessimistic about their party’s chances next month. While there has been an across-the-board increase in the proportion of voters predicting an Obama victory since mid-September, the shift among Republicans has been particularly pronounced. About as many Republican voters now see an Obama victory as say McCain will win (40% Obama, 35% McCain). In mid-September, 70% of Republicans said McCain would win compared with just 13% who said Obama was more likely to win."
The shifted narrative is working, and the polls reflect that. We are on our way to a win. But with Obama taking a couple of days off the campaign trail to visit his ailing grandmother, it is more important than ever that we follow up on all of this great news.
Also in the polls, the NYTimes finally reports on Obama closing the polling gap in North Carolina. Oh, newspapers! It's so great to unfold your crisp, sweet smelling pages, pour a hot cup of coffee, and settle down to read last month's news! Seriously, does anybody even read the paper any more? Better yet, why? And now for something else from the newspaper. Heh. NYTimes columnist Paul Krugman, of recent Nobel-prize related talk, takes a trip down memory lane to that foul year of our lord 1971, among others, to remind us that the modern conception of the GOP as the party of the average Samuel Wurzelbacher was forged by the Nixon spin machine through politics of hatred and division. But
"Whatever today’s G.O.P. is, it isn’t the party of working Americans."
You go, Paul Krugman. How bout cuttin me in on that prize money? Right.
I leave you with this though, readers: Because there's a tv playing the Faux News Channel at work, I got to see this amusing lil tidbit...
Bill O'Reilly apparently still thinks somebody gives a sh*t about the Bill Ayers thing.
Well, kids, it's been a hell of a weekend. My eyes are bloodshot to hell and I wish I could say it was the result of some illicit activity, but actually I've just been staring at 6 computer screens for 8 hours a day. That's like staring at 48 computer screens for 1 hour a day.
Anyway, I'm sure you've all been riding the zany rollercoaster of politics that was the past 72 hours. From the parched desert that is the tightening of the polls, past the rocky hills of fake America to the sandy shore of the Colin Powell endorsement, join me, if you will, in this edition of the Weekend Roundup.
Nate Silver's Saturday blog is all about perspective. He talks about the recent tightening of the national polls, and what they mean (or in this case, don't mean) for the election.
The conclusion? Don't fret too much, readers; not only is the tightening of the race a phenomenon which occurs every election year, but McSame shows basically zero improvement in the state polls. And of course, those numbers are closer to what will decide the election. Nate guesses the last debate pushed some of those unenthused republicans into the "likely voter" category that's getting them counted on the national polls.
So, to review: state polls = unmoved. Approval ratings = unmoved. Obama = definitely won the debate. So don't worry; but don't become complacent. Obama and our dem nominees for congress still need as much support as you can give.
The election is still 16 days away, and with new concerns popping up everyday about how the right will attempt to steal the election away, the last thing we should do is give them the opportunity.
ACT and DONATE.
Maybe you couldn't tell, but I do so adore being able to spin things for the left...and more than that, I love how our collective efforts to change the MSM narrative have worked, and now we can sit back and watch them spin it our way (with many obvious exceptions). Like, for instance, how the MSM has seized on this comment by McSame's Pfotenhauer (remember her?) that northern Virginia, where Obama has been making great gains, is not the "real Virginia."
And with all of the discussion of what, exactly, Quaylin and McSame consider to be "real" like the towns where Quaylin rallies, but unlike northern Virginia, Nate Silver throws up some statistics about what America looks like by race and income to both Quaylin and Obama.
And finally, on the topic of "real" America...a topic, BTW, as undeserving as any we've ever covered here at WTF, the repository of undeserving stories...if this ain't real, I don't know what is. Here are some pictures of the 75,000 people who turned out to see Obama in Kansas City on Saturday...and the 100,000 people who gathered to hear him speak in St. Louis. Man, fake America is really psyched about this election.
Nate Silver on the shifted election narrative:
"Contrary to some observers, I think that there is far more downside to the Republicans in resignation, fatalism and low morale than there is to the Democrats in complacency."
And our LOL of the Weekend is:
“Democratic capitalism remains the greatest system ever devised.” ~GWB
The column is worth a read - in addition to slinging some real zingers at W, it sums up the "Joe the Plumber" dramz pretty well, if you haven't been following.
Like my friend Kim says, the hilarious part of all the Joe Plumber biz is that he opposes the Obama "no tax cuts for those making more than $250,000" policy, not because HE makes more money than that, but because he hopes one day he MIGHT make more money than that. And he'll be goddamned if he'll take any of those government handouts before he really earns 'em.
Meantime, Columnist Charles Blow at the NYT calls the election for Obama. And man, does he paint a beautiful picture of this country next January.
The wayward wizards of Wall Street delivered the election to Obama by pushing the economy to the verge of collapse, forcing leery voters to choose between their pocketbooks and their prejudices. McCain delivered it to Obama with his reckless pick of Sarah Palin. That stunt made everything that followed feel like a stunt, tarnishing McCain’s reputation and damaging his credibility so that when he went negative it backfired. And, some radical rabble among McCain’s supporters delivered it to Obama by mistaking his political rallies for lynch mobs.
This perfect storm of poor judgments has set the stage for an Obama victory. It’s over.
And Frank Rich's column in the NYTimes absolutely SPANKS McSame. Rich points out what the large majority of voters already know, perhaps subconsciously...that it is not McSame's 90% voting record with Bush that makes him like Bush, but the way he has run his campiagn (into the ground). That's why his continued dirty, negative, Rovian politics just keep pounding him further into the ground: we've heard it all before. It's too bad for McSame he didn't run his 200 campaign like he's run this one, 8 years before Americans figured out what this kind of campaigning says about a candidate's leadership skills.
"At least McCain had half a point on Wednesday night when he said, “I am not President Bush.” What he has offered his country this year is an older, crankier, more unsteady version of Bush."
Here's a shocker: All the GOP's whining about ACORN voter fraud was inevitably just a cover-up for the Repulsicans' own large-scale voter suppression efforts.
Take a minute to go to VotePoke and make sure you're registered and ready to go - don't get caught off-guard on election day by this sleaze.
In other dirty Republican tricks this weekend: It's tough trying to keep you abreast of the many and varied GOP attempts to steal our votes this year, but I'll try:
Gear up Philadelphians! Apparently McSame thinks he's going to win over enough voters in Northeast and South Philly to turn Pennsylvania red! Let me be the first to say: NO F*CKING WAY!
Casperr at DailyKos is confident that this will inspire those canvassing for Obama to work even harder...and I'm sure they could use some help! If you have evenings or weekends free, get out there and join them!
And finally: no, I didn't see Quaylin on SNL last night. I don't have cable and I couldn't watch videos at work today, so you'll just have to wait for more snark on that. What I did see is THIS SITE WHICH HAS GIVEN ME A NEW PURPOSE IN LIFE. Find stencils to make your own Barack-O-Lantern and see pics of ones that other people carved.
Greetings, readers...a weekend roundup is forthcoming, but I wanted to make sure to plug tonight's "Hell to Pay" at DailyKos...
If you're not familiar with it it's a great Saturday night fundraising session...throughout the week the team at Kos keeps track of any and all despicable campaigning by the wingnuts...at the end of the week, Kossacks vote for the worst offense and Saturday evenings are spent raising ridiculous amounts of money for the offender's opponent. Kind of like a weekly version of what happened on Friday with newly outed McCarthy-esque psycho Michele Bachman and her Dem opponent with the goofy name, Elwyn Tinklenberg. Yeah, for the love of bob, donate to that guy.
But anyway, tonight's Hell to Pay is raising donations to help defeat California's Proposition 8, which would eliminate gay marriage in the state by writing discrimination into the constitution. No one in California really though Prop 8 would pass and, as a result, the religious wingnuts championing it gained a lot of ground. Now the polls show both sides are in for a fight, so go forth to DailyKos at 8pm and donate.
So, I know the debate happened last night, and we'll get to that in a mo...not that it changed anything...
By now you all know how obsessed I am with FiveThirtyEight. Not least of all because I love looking at the little pie chart that now says there's a 95.1% probability that Obama will win the election. Not to mention a 53.6% chance of an Obama landslide. YEAH B*TCHES!
Hoo. Anyway, see what our old buddy Nate Silver (who was hard at work just as early as I was, apparently) has to say about the early voter turnout in swing states. It's looking really good, people. The early votes show a MUCH bigger advantage for Obama than the state polls have. Of course, we can't take the early voting results as necessarily indicative of the overall election results...Nate says early voters are 98-99% strongly partisan, so it's not really those swing voters who are getting their votes in early...
On the other hand, in the past the early voter population has been older and more male than the overall population; in 200 and 2004, this translated to an early vote count that trended Republican. So what do the bright blue numbers mean?
"What these results would seem to suggest, however, is that there are fairly massive advantages for the Democrats in enthusiasm and/or turnout operations. They imply that Obama is quite likely to turn out his base in large numbers; the question is whether the Republicans will be able to do the same.
Keep in mind that there are veteran pollsters like Ann Selzer who think that most of her colleagues are vastly understating the degree to which youth and minority turnout is liable to improve in this election; Selzer's polls have been 5-6 points more favorable to Obama than the averages in the states that she's surveyed. So while these early voting numbers could turn out to be something of a curiosity, they could alternatively represent a canary in the coal mine for a coming Democratic turnout wave."
All signs point to victory.
And hekebolos at DailyKos has some personal insight into possible reasons for a great early voter turnout that also brings great hope for election day: apparently, the canvassing volunteers for the Obama campaign are incredibly well-prepared and well-organized. See, that's the kind of thing that makes me feel good about donating.
Oh, yeah, remember yesterday's blog when we talked about how negative advertising is all McSame has left? Yeah? Oh oh oh it's not working.
From Harold Moss, who animated the "History of the USA"segment from "Bowling for Columbine," a cartoon explaining the difference between what McSame and the GOP say about the Iraq War and the truth. That is to say, everything.
So here's my reaction to the debate: THE PHILLIES ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!
No, seriously, I didn't really watch the debate. I just assumed it was going to be as boring as the last two...but I did catch some of it between commercials: the "I'm not Bush" line, the question about their nasty campaign ads, and the part where they spoke about abortion.
One thing I was really confused about on McSame's part was why in the name of bob he would BRING UP the comments of Rep John Lewis?? This is just one more example of his campaign keeps chopping off it's own legs in an effort to put even a scratch in Obama's lead. How McSame thought he was going to remind voters that his and Palin's conduct had been compared to that of a virulent racist, and simultaneouly make Obama look like the bad guy for not speaking out against what was a scalding and frankly apt comparison, I'll never know.
My impression was that McSame did quite well at giving the wingnuts what they wanted; thus, this debate became just another chapter in the long, tragic tale of how his campaign seems to have forgotten that they need to focus on winning INDEPENDENT voters.
And none of the Repulsicans seem to get that. Yesterday, WaPo asked five different pundits for their opinions on what might make tonight's debate actually mean something. It was interesting, not really as political analysis but as a partisan case study. The breakdown:
Democrats: "Obama will come out on top/Nothing McSame does will improve his chances." Republicans: "McSame has a chance to shift the campaign momentum, and he should do it by attacking Obama and the left." Me: "The debate will be boring/Kenley will lose or else/Go Phillies."
It's like the right never picks up a newspaper! I'm certain that's what his base wants to see - but to be frank, with the CBS/NYT poll showing only 39% of likely voters would pull the lever for McSame, I think it's clear he's gonna need to win over some folks outside of his base. And if they hadn't noticed, the negativity really isn't doing it for them.
Frankly, to me, the way McSame's been running his campaign is the ultimate proof that he's just another George W: they appear to have in common the uncanny ability to pursue a failed strategy in the face of almost universal disagreement and dismay. Beating a dead horse with another dead horse while a chorus of dead horses sing "The old gray mare just ain't what she used to be." Is that a strategy or a tactic?
Anyway, here's what the WaPo pundits had to say about the debate in today's "PostPartisan."
It's funny, but the fact that the debate was so much more interesting that the other three seems to have made the post-debate analysis proportionately more boring. But it was great to watch CNN's 360 crew last night as one by one the pundits agreed McSame had performed better than ever, and then the polls came in showing Obama won by an even bigger margin than he had the previous debates. That brief pause in which they all try to figure out how to reconcile McSame's "improved" performance with people "loving Barack Obama even more with each passing moment" was hi-larious.
Well, what can we expect, really? It was pretty much the end of all hope for the McSame campaign. StuHunter at DailyKos put together an impressive list of all of the right wing pundits jumping ship on the McSame campaign.
Philly to Quaylin: Get Your Ice Outta Here! (Yuk yuk yuk.)
Hear that roaring at the beginning? Yeah, that would be mass booing. So much booing that they turned up the music to try and drown it out.
I knew I could count on my surly Philly fans to boo the sh*t out of Quaylin! What were they thinking having her drop the puck in Philly?? (See BWE for more on that)As far as I'm concerned, she got off really easy...she probably took her kids out on the ice with her to prevent a battery-filled-snowball-related event. I don't want this woman eating my cheesesteaks and I sure as hell don't want her mojo near my hockey team. KEEP QUAYLIN OUT OF PHILLY! SHE'S SPEWING ALL OVER OUR BROTHERLY LOVE!
Gadzooks.
Kula2316 at DailyKos puts togather another fantabulous early morning roundup, featuring everyone's favorite painted-up pittbull lampooned by the Anchorage Daily News for her...singular...interpretation of the Troopergate findings...
...as well as the hype over McSame's soon- to-be-announced new economic plan. I'll give you a hint: it involves suspending something...t-rex arms...and a geriatric golf cart. GO!
Frank Rich at the NYTimes takes a closer look at the racist rhetoric the McSames are using to stoke the anger of the crazed, slobbering wingnut mobs.
Oh, BTW...Obama now leads by double digits in the WaPo/ABC and Gallup, Battleground and CBS/NYTimes polls. That could have something to do with his scrumtralescent big leads in 4 key states.
And here's an interesting article from WaPo analyzing the advertising from both campaigns. You've probably heard that Obama is far outspending McSame on TV ads (his campaign has more money since he declined to accept public funding and the spending limits that go along with it), but this goes into a bit more detail...for example, you may not have known (though you may have guessed) that 100% of McSame's advertising is now negative, while only a third of Obama's is negative. (The ROFLZ roll in when you find out that means they're putting out about the same number of negative ads.) It was also interesting to learn that the ads from the RNC are much less effective than ads put out by the McSame campiagn itself, because they cannot specifically endorse candidates, only discuss issues, and therefore are usually somewhat vague and almost always negative.
Oh, and speaking of the RNC, yeah they just gave up on McSame. The GOP is basically pulling out of the McSame camapign like a Wasilla contraceptive and is now just rushing around trying to save it's own ass in congress. HIlarity. Don't forget, we have them on the ru, and now is the time to FINISH THEM OFF! Visit ActBlue to find endless ways to turn our country blue, blue, blue this election. You can donate to key candidates and cool causes all over the country. Like Kos says, we will win, but let's not settle for mere victory: let's "break their backs and crush their spirits" and do our best to ensure a filibuster-proof democratic majority for years to come.
Roger Simon at Politico examines the mixed messages coming out of the McSame campaign, and - surprise, surprise - Quaylin's back to being a liability.
Last night I dreamed that I should write in the blog that a permanent copy of McSame's medical history was to go on display in Takeshi's Castle. And that it's written in braille.
Arianna (of the Huffington Post, natch) attacks McSame on his last tiny shred of campaign hope, foreign policy, and urges Obama and Biden to do the same.
I'm doing my blogging early today and the news is pretty slow - so on a whim I headed over to the BBC to see what kind of odds they were giving the flailing McSame. The answer, as I expected, is "not very good ones."
"Mr Obama has obviously energised both minority and young voters, two groups that historically turn out in lower numbers.
Democrats have scored very well in registering both. If they vote in numbers that Democrats hope for, Mr McCain's chances of running the table of contested states will be very, very slim. "
The BBC article, unlike most of it's American counterparts, openly denies the likelihood of the election being affected by the "Bradley effect." (Which you've probably heard of by now, but just in case: it's a highly disputed theory that far fewer voters will cast ballots for a person of color on election day than supported that candidate in the polls. You can read more about it here.
In conclusion, I apologize for my extended absence...I was away over the weekend and even though I wrote this blog yesterday morning, since I had to get up at 3am for work, I kinda slipped into a coma on the couch when I got home and never posted it. But, look, I'm posting it so early today it's like I posted it late last night! Yea!
And...you gotta love the freedom of internet advertising. LOLZ.
Quote of the day: "John Mcain? What the f*ck?!?"
Speaking of prime quote material, this George Will column has been making the rounds - if you haven't seen it, find it here...or just find the choice passage that's been causing buzz below:
"Many millions of American households are gingerly opening envelopes containing reports of the third-quarter losses in their 401(k) and other retirement accounts -- telling each household its portion of the nearly $2 trillion that Americans' accounts have recently shed. In this context, the McCain-Palin campaign's attempt to get Americans to focus on Obama's Chicago associations seems surreal -- or, as a British politician once said about criticism he was receiving, 'like being savaged by a dead sheep.'"
MASSIVE ROFL STORM.
WHOO-HOO!! Rep Jesse Jackson Jr tells the truth about ACORN and it's role in all of this insane right-wing fear-mongering. The headline says it all:
In other news...McSame on what Quaylin's role as VP will be?? To continue to be an "expert on energy."I guess by the same logic that she is an expert on Russia?? Oh no, wait, sorry, she's an expert because of that huge pipeline she helped build from Alaska to the contiguous sta--what? That's not there? Hmm. Are you telling me she has the power to construct a 40 billion dollar INVISIBLE PIPELINE??? ZOMG this just in: Sarah Quaylin now considered to be an expert in MAGIC.
STAY AWAY FROM THAT CURTAIN!!!
Oy. I've never heard of "The Daily Beast" but yesterday they published another story in what has become a running narrative of McSame's history of frighteningly angry and arrogant outbursts. And in mudslinging today:
And in case the news of angry hate and racism at the wingnuts' rallies could leave any doubt about who the dangerous radicals are, take a closer look at Palin's ties to right-wing extremists and the Alaskan Independence Party.
William C. Ibershof, lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s,writes to the NYTimes to say that he is "amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers's terrorist activities". Interesting. Ah, well, anyway the man's got to be seriously out of touch if doesn't realize the NYTimes is nothing more than a low-down McSame-hating tabloid nowadays. No place for fancy lawyer to write in to. He musta made free-yenz wit dem terr'ists.
The racist right-wing hate-mongering continued today...I've declined to provide you with more video evidence, but it's been all over the news. Apparently, death threats and racial slurs are now acceptable GOP rallying cries. Below, I'll take you through today's laundry list of ways in which the veil of blind eyes was lifted, revealing the wingnut base for the slavering racist psychopaths they really are...
As McSame's campaign descends further and further into vile hate and bigotry, listen to Obama's words and remember that a stunning majority of this country still believes that hope will prevail:
The TIME magazine blog "Swampland" is the first sort-of MSM outlet to talk about the horrifying hate-mongering tactics of the McSame campaign, calling McSame a "guy of the gutter" and his campaign "a national disgrace." A sincere thank you to Joe Klein for covering this...don't miss his link to TPM's blog imploring more of the MSM to get on this story, including a video of McSame expressly encouraging the hateful ignorance of his base.
WaPo comes out with an article about the "angry" tone of the McSame rallies...No word yet on when they'll get around to talking about the "bigoted" and "violent" tones.
And CNN reports on the "rage rising" at McSame and Quaylin rallies. Well, it's true that's a bit more descriptive than "anger," but what I want to know is why, when "CNN contributor David Gergen said that the negative tone of these rallies is "incendiary" and could lead to violence," is the MSM not more concerned???
By now you've probably all heard that McSame began belatedly to put together some appearance of allaying the wingnuts' crazed rage (apparently the tiny dose of media pressure did SOMEthing), but circa 4:30pm today...
O. M. F. G. The McSame campaign has just come out IN SUPPORT of the despicable behavior of members of their base at recent rallies.
Special props to HuffPo today for their home page; I feel like out of the entire media, mainstream or otherwise, HuffPo is the only outlet with an appropriate response to this bullsh*t.
And just as I peeked back at HuffPo circa 7pm today, McSame is now trying to backpedal on all the hate he's been...peddling. The bad news is it's only angering the crowds more. McSame has created a mob of wingnut monsters and in order for his campaign to progress he's going to have to make a pitstop and quell them. He might have the racists and bigots of this country all riled up, but he's got the undecided voters more scared than ever about what a McSame presidency will mean for the nation. And rightly so.
McSame is losing everyone in every way. Voters are peeling away from him faster than his last scraps of dignity did over a month ago. McSame is such a loser he continues to inspire dismay even in his conservative base. You would think I was talking about his use of racist fear-mongering, but actually I'm talking about his economic policy.
Here come 3 more weeks of damage control for the GOP. Lets get the word out and start putting the pieces in place for a serious rout come November.
I'll be away for a long weekend (sadly, since I'll miss the rallies tomorrow!!) but you'll hear from me again next week. Until then, readers, sit back, relax, make some popcorn, and watch the right wing of America crash and f*cking burn.
Welcome back to the WTF, readers. Apologies for my absence...I've been sitting at home with a nasty cold.
I hope you all caught the debate last night...it was the first time I watched one on CNN with the "analyst scorecards" and the "squigglies." Let's be real it was kind of more interesting watching the colorful little squigglies than the actual debate. They were basically the only thing that kept me from falling asleep...well, that and the fact that I could only breathe through one tiny channel through the mucus in my right bronchial tube. But mostly the squigglies.
PopHangover sums it up pretty well. And gives you that closer look at the audience you'd secretly been hoping for. Who gets chosen for a presidential town hall meeting? Such classic American archetypes as "Bug-Eye Lady" and "Penis-Head Woman," natch! "Did a Red Lobster "All You Can Eat" buffet just close outside the studio?"
Anyway, the other "interesting" part about watching CNN was chillaxin with the 360 crew led by Silver Fox Anderson Cooper after the debate!!! Seriously, CNN's theory on producing the best debate analysis is obvi to throw as many pundits as possible at it. It was like watching footage of an insane house party, only without music, booze or fun.
Shining Moment:
James Carville calls the election for Obama in the ABSOLUTE MOST SOUTHERN WAY POSSIBLE: "Call the dogs in, wet the fire and leave the house, the hunt's over."
One of the "non-partisan" analysts called the election for Obama, too, but there were like 34,895,697 on the show and I couldn't find another video.
And when Colbert asks him what McSame can do to turn the campaign around, he replies, "It's too late."
But I do understand why some of you continue to cling to your cynicism: For one, it sure is hard to believe in the integrity of the electoral process after the disasters of 2000 and 2004.
For two, HOW IN THE LIVING F*CK DID KENLEY NOT GET AUF'ED. Um, for comparison purposes,
Yes, the one on the left is Alexander McQueen's and the one on the right is Kenley's, not that you can really tell the difference. I swear to bob, my brain melted. Project Rungay:
"How the judges could point out that it was a clear take on another designer's dress and then reward her with a win for it just baffles our minds. They could have just said, "Pretty dress but we've seen it before." Instead they said, "We've seen it before. Congratulations!""
And find Michelle Collins at BestWeekEver's reaction here.
Ugh. Anyway. Another reason for understandable cynicism are the BLATANTLY RACIST ATTACKS the McSames have been launching against Obama this week. Can we just talk about this for a second? Because I had to get real pissed at some people over at DailyKos for implying that Quaylin's disgusting comment that Obama would "diminish the prestige of the presidency" was somehow NOT racist. Excuse me? Here's what I said...
It's ridiculous to ignore the racial overtones of these or any of the other comments the wingnuts have been making...
When you talk about racism (or sexism or homophobia, etc, etc) you're talking about the IMPACT of the words and not the INTENT. (Though I absolutely believe these words were INTENDED to incite violent racism, you can disagree and it doesn't change the IMPACT.)
The fact is that when the right attacked Kerry or Clinton or Gore or any white man, they were not playing to the RACIST leanings of their base. Regardless of intention, the IMPACT these words will have is to inspire RACIST fear in the wingnut base.
And McSame and crew KNOW THAT. If you don't believe that the accusations of the past week are bringing out the vilest, most repulsive racism in the republican base, take a look at this video via HuffPo.
Not only are the accusations RACIST, but they are made specifically to ignite RACISM in voters in a disgusting last-ditch attempt to sway the poll numbers.
Needless to say, these things piss me the f*ck off. Please don't let your friends and family believe that the McSame camp is innocent of inspiring revolting hate and bigotry in their followers. Seriously, if you watched that video, I wish you luck sleeping tonight...
Speaking of desperate and pathetic racially charged fear-mongering from the McSame campaign, hear what the African-American grad student at this week's town hall debate had to say about McSame's assumption that he'd never heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
You'll notice I haven't really spent any time talking about the "Obama is buddies with Bill Ayers" ish that all the pundits seem to love, if only for it's utter redonkulousity. That's about 90% because it's obvi not even worth my time and 10% because I was a little sad to find out that Obama did not, in fact, pal around with members of the old Weather Underground. But now is not the time to rant about direct action...Instead, I'd like to focus on the effects - or lack thereof - of McSame's latest ploy. Not least of all because everything is going exactly as I predicted.
davidkc at DailyKos brings us news of scathing anti-McSame columns in several Florida newspapers.
But on the cynicism front, perhaps we should all hear the wisdom of Kos.
BTW, if we could talk about Project Runway for just one more second, I feel the same way about saying goodbye to Miss Jerell as Wisit from Top Design feels about saying goodbye to Wisit.
Again, I'm not actually addressing the Obama-Ayers accusations...merely using this news to point out that as of 4:41pm today, McSame still doesn't get it.
Let talk about FiveThirtyEight for a second. First off, Nate Silver (operator of FiveThirtyEight) appeared on the Colbert Report on Monday night, so check that out.
And then head on over to FiveThirtyEight and take a good, long, lascivious look at those numbers. Obama's chances of winning? 90.7%. Chance of an Obama landslide? An unprecedented 36.74%.
And go ahead and savor Nate's report on how West Virginia is now seriously in play. (CNN reports on that circa November 4th, 6pm.)
By now you may all have seen Tom Friedman's column tearing Quaylin limb from limb (since it's the NYTimes' most emailed article), but it's worth a repost. In other news, all the other NYT columnists said something disparaging about McSame and/or Quaylin, too.
PS - Charlie, if you're reading this my facebook has been down for more than a week now but I keep wanting to tell you how hysterical it is that there's a gay boy named Charlie on Survivor!!! ZOMGLOLZ!!! Now get Obama elected! Miss you!
We had a lot of material to sift through this weekend, but first thing's first: Was there any doubt that Tina Fey would once again reprise her role as Quaylin after Thursday's debate?? And that once again, the humor would be derived not necessarily from clever skit-writing so much as an eerily accurate adherence to the actual debate? I think I actually love the Biden impression most.
ZING! DailyKos' JeffLieber writes another diary that had me in stitches. But in order to get the best joke in the diary, check out Kos' diary of several days ago, pointing out how batsh*t insane Rich Lowry of the National review is. Sorry, my participles are dangling. No, really - this is a joke you want to be in on.
Perhaps you're jonesing for more Biden after Thursday's debate - or maybe you just need a dose of anti-Quaylin. Check out Newsweek's interview with our future VP, which includes an explanation of how he was feeling at the moment when he choked up. (BTW, our sympathies to the man and his family for the loss of his mother-in-law today.)
And in your NYTimes columnist roundup - abbreviated, because, well, you know where to find them, I don't need to give you an abstract for everything all the damn time. Sorry, I'm a little tired. And I think I'm coming down with something. Anyway:
Oh Holy F*ck.Frank Rich surmises that McSame's mental health is rapidly deteriorating, even if his physical health is not (although looking at this picture - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/orb/asection/2008-10-04/4.htm - where he looks like a melting wax figure, I'd say it's probably both) and that Quaylin is more than eager to take his place...
Maureen Dowd examines the dark and twisting maze of Quaylin's speech. Not a written speech, her actual use of grammar, vocabulary and syntax. *shudder*
Bob Herbert takes it one step farther, relating Quaylin's numerous verbal missteps to her particular brand of warped reality (there's a lot of that going around in the McSame camp.) But he ingeniously explains exactly why the word "also" was among the most frequent to cross Quaylin's lips on Thursday: "Ms. Palin's words don't mean anything. She's all punctuation."
Next, I'd like to bring to your attention that DemfromCT published a fantastic diary on Saturday. Looking at the MSM's new election vocabulary (i.e. "a week is a lifetime in politics") as well as at democrats' unwillingness to get their hopes up too high over the poll numbers, Dem, for one, predicts that the polls mean exactly what they seem to: Obama will win handily on November 4th. How will it go down? Dem forsees McSame becoming angrier and his campaign more negative as we come closer to November and desperation continues to set in...and we all know how well those tactics have been working out for him. And Dem surmises that optimism from the progressives - meaning a shift in the narrative from cautious hope to justified confidence - can only benefit Obama's campaign.
"McCain is in trouble, Palin was a bad choice, and he's going to lose partly because she loses voters who don't think she's ready. But before he does, he'll go negative, drive his own unfavs even lower, it won't work, and he'll cost a few more seats in Congress. It might even be that Palin's national ambitions are tarnished by bringing her up from the minors too early (although her fans are so resistant to reality, that remains to be seen.)
Watch this creep into the narrative along with "a week's a lifetime in politics", "Republicans are divided", "Michigan pull-out was a bad decision", and "Sarah Barracuda disagrees".
Republicans are screwed. Sooner or later, that's going to be the new narrative."
And Dem isn't the only one who thinks so. Dem includes a link to this AP article in the diary:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — One month before Election Day, Barack Obama sits atop battleground polls in a shrinking playing field, the economic crisis is breaking his way and the Democrat has made progress toward winning the White House.
The onus is on Republican John McCain to turn the race around under exceptionally challenging circumstances — and his options are limited."
And here's the truly great news: this guy just doesn't get it! WaPo reports on the McSame campaign's change of strategy (tactics?) in the face of Obama's lingering - and widening - lead in the polls. Quaylin's comment yesterday about Obama's "palling around with terrorists" was not just one of those things that comes out of her mouth when it hangs open long enough, but was in fact another memorized cue card from McSame.
"We're going to get a little tougher," a senior Republican operative said, indicating that a fresh batch of television ads is coming. "We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here," said the operative, who was not authorized to discuss strategy and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Hmm...changing the subject...sound familiar? This is the best f*cking part: the resemblance of this campaign strategy (tactic??) to the one that Quaylin used in the debate...is NOT A COINCIDENCE.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's performance at Thursday night's debate embodied the new approach, as she used every opportunity to question Obama's honesty and fitness to serve as president.
I'm actually flabbergasted - and I don't think I've ever had an opportunity to use that word sincerely before. Did they not get the memo that QUAYLIN LOST THE DEBATE?? So let me - let me get this straight...
Quaylin is generally acknowledged to have lost the debate by attacking her opponents instead of addressing the issues...and the McSame team is now resting, let's face it, their ONLY hope of winning the election on attacking their opponents instead of addressing the issues...
In the first debate, likely voters were almost universally turned off by McSame's anger, condescension, and confrontational attitude...so he's resting his hopes of election of becoming more angry, condescending, and confrontational.
That's it. I'm calling it right now, folks. This week will be the end of the end of the McSame campaign. After McSame "takes off the gloves" at this week's debate, I'm predicting the polls won't budge his way from now until November 4th. By the time election day rolls around Obama will be so far in the lead that the GOP won't even be able to convincingly steal the election in 2008. Before I was only dreaming about an historic landslide, about red states turning blue before my very eyes. Now it's hard to think that won't happen.
So let's seal the deal, people. If you've been canvassing, phonebanking, donating, even just making sure your friends and family are getting to the polls, keep at it. If you're not, get over to my.barackobama.com and GET TO IT!!! The site has excellent resources that make it a breeze to take action however you feel most comfortable - and to join up with others who are making a difference.
YES WE F*CKING CAN!!!!!
And speaking of changing the narrative:
#1 - Finally - FINALLY - the media is talking about the racial motivation behind McSame's attacks. AP wakes up and reports on the racist fears McSame is stirring up with Quaylin's latest lie - I mean, "line" - about Obama "palling around with terrorists." And AP predicts the tactic (strategy??) will backfire.
#2 - No one thinks McSame's "guilt by association ploy" will work: evidence.
Just watch. He'll continue to be presidential and grown up and expose McSame for the haggard vomitous lying splatter of cockroah diarrhea that he is. Oh, and speaking of which
#4 - Check the sh*t out of the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone.
Headline? Make-Believe Maverick. Content? 10-page cover story exposing the ugly truth about McSame in every biting sentence. Extras? "Top 5 McSame Myths" video; "Double-Talk Express" Slideshow; "Mad Dog Palin" partner piece.
Any ideas on how to send copies of Rolling Stone to swing state voters?
#5 - Here's the real effect of the VP debate: wingnuts may not be swayed to vote for Obama, but Palin is convincing a hell of a lot of them to stay at home on election day. Check out these diaries from FritztheCat and davidkc.
#6 - If you haven't been to FiveThirtyEight recently, I usher you forth. I just love all of their colorful maps and graph and watching that "Obama landslide" number nudging upwards...that, and they've got coverage today of how the McSame "play dirty" tactics (strategy?!? DAMNIT!!!) might play out in the polls. And who could predict better than the pollsters?
Don't forget TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY to register to vote!!! (In PA.) This link can tell you everything you need to know about registration. Make sure everyone you know is ready to vote!!!
So we're gonna start with some debate review, OBVI.
In lieu of a liveblog last night, as you all know, I was enjoying a bottle of Riesling and hollering at the TV. If you're interested in my immediate and somewhat drunken post-debate reaction, you can check out the upcoming podcast of the GeeklyWorldNews, where the crew interviewed me for an on-the-spot analysis. They're a funny bunch themselves and I don't want to give anything away but, you know, I was pretty spectacular. Check it out.
Reliably, the NYTimes gives us a sensible, realistic analysis of the debate: that is, pounding home the fact that despite her largely avoiding ridiculousity she dodged answers and basically gave a performance that would have been embarrassing for anyone without her track record of massive fuck-ups.
Here's hoping this bears some resemblance to how the rest of America responded to the debate...
Phew. CNN's analysis of both the debate itself and general polled reactions show that while people were surprised at how well Quaylin performed, Biden overwhelmingly won the debate. Which is pretty much what I said last night. See Mom? I AM always right.
The Obama camp has already released an ad featuring the part of the debate where iden slams McSame's plan to tax health care, calling it "the ultimate bridge to nowhere." Gotta love it. I'm just waiting for them to release an ad of the moment where Biden pounded on McSame repeatedly and ended with "maverick he is not." For the record, that was the moment that my TV got hollered at the most. In a loving way. When did you guys cheer or jeer at your televisions? If you don't answer the poll, I will start to feel like the only crazy person who yells at the TV, FYI. (Apologies for how much the site hosting the poll sucks. I'll try something different next time.)
What part of the debate made you scream loudest at your TV?
Biden: 'That's the ultimate bridge to nowhere.' (in approval)
Quaylin: * wink* (in fear)
Biden: 'Maverick he is not.' (in approval)
That time Quaylin dodged a question. (just if you were screaming the whole time.)
The 49th time Quaylin used the word 'also.' (in confusion)
Biden: 'Yeah, the past is a prologue, right?' 'I haven't heard how McCain's policies are different than Bush's' x5 (in approval)
The part where the MSM set the bar so low that Quaylin raised it. (in anger)
WaPo has put together a great collage of their columnists' takes on the debate. All of the blurbs offer something different, but no one's analysis really seems to stray from the conclusion that Quaylin performed shockingly adequately and Biden clearly came out the winner. My favorite quote is from Kathleen Parker, who was most intrigued by Quaylin's sugary down-home performance:
"I had the uneasy feeling throughout that I was witnessing a data dump from a very appealing droid. Even the winks and jaw juts seemed slightly programmed."
That was actually the scariest part of the debate for me. Maybe it was the wine, but I had nightmares last night in which I was thinking to myself "maybe she's not all that bad." THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU! ACK!
I'm over it.
I spoke too soon - from 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. 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."
Here's a video of what I thought last night was a real turning point in the debate, accompanied by the snap reactions of undecided Ohio voters. I was chatting with a friend who was stuck at work and couldn't watch the debate, "and at the moment when Biden pressed his understanding of working class families and noticeably choked up as he mentioned the car accident that killed his wife and daughter, I typed "He just won it."
I felt kind of creepy and cynical saying so, but the fact is all that Qualyin had going for her in the debate was her ability to relate to people, hence the repeated winking, the "doggone its" and "darn right, Gwens." And no one can really deny that she lived up to that goal in the debate, even though they were no more impressed by her credentials than they have been in the past weeks.
Meanwhile, no one doubted that Biden would appear confident, competent and professional - and he assuaged everyone's big fear that he would give Quaylin a reason (justified or not) to accuse him of bullying or patronizing her. But the moment where he choked up was key; I don't want to use the phrase he "beat her at her own game" as if there was some insincerity to his emotional reaction. Rather, he caught the McSame campaign in the lie that they have been creating ever since they named Quaylin as VP nominee - the one that says to working-class Americans "we are more like you than Barack Obama or Joe Biden."
The progressive community organizing group ACORN seized on one gaffe Quaylin made last night, when she "incorrectly made it sound like McCain supports giving bankruptcy judges the power to rewrite mortgage payment terms on first homes...He doesn't." (from the ABC News blog)
ACORN seized the slip-up as an endorsement of their efforts and are applying pressure on McSame to change his position. awkward007 at DailyKos has the complete story. Here's hoping ACORN can make a mountain out of this molehill... ZING!aquarius2001 at DailyKos has a biting, not to mention completely accurate analysis of Quaylin's performance at the debate.
And I'm stealing another great quote from Kula2316 at DailyKos. Douglas Burns at the Iowa Independent on Quaylin's performance:
"For her part, GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – speaking with the programmed cadence of a GPS navigation system — used forced folksiness to deliver crammed material in the manner of a high schooler looking to score a good grade on a Spanish test. The kid may escape with a B-minus, but he wouldn't be able to order a cup of coffee in Spain a week later."
Undecided voters respond: WTF was I saying? I have to be honest, this does not inspire confidence in the snap poll results.
But the McSames' famous friends always know just what to say. LOLZ of the day go to this little f*ck up.
Most of today's WTF was debate-related, of course, but a few random floaters did manage to get through...
This WTF might be my favorite of any so far. And I do mean EVER.
And finally, REPRESENT!! Kelly of PA at DailyKos brings us these great picTures and an inspiring story from the Obama rally in Abington, PA today. RENDELLPHIA WHAT!!! I'm just so sad that I wasn't there.
That's all for today, folks...but don't forget you only have a few days left to register to vote!!! This link can tell you everything you need to know about registration. Make sure everyone you know is ready to vote!!!
It's undeniable that today was a great day for WTF - luckily tonight promises to be even better. If you're reading this in a timely fashion, I'm reclining on the couch sipping a glass of white wine (or chugging it, depending on how things are going) and watching Sarah Quaylin crash and f*cking burn. In the spirit of going down in flames, CBS has released the much-talked about footage from the Katie Couric interview in which Palin can't name any Supreme court cases besides Roe v. Wade.
Some good news: The candidates will be standing at lecterns (against McSame's wishes), which should make it easier for Biden to pin Quaylin down on tough issues and, if possible, make Quaylin look like more of a d-bag.
Some bad news: Unlike the first Presidential debate, the candidates will only be given 90 seconds to respond to questions, which means Tina Fey will have less material to pare down from this Saturday. Sad!
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...it's all becoming clear now. Joe Lieberman (previous to 2008, thought to have a brain) and others in the McSame camp contend that giving stupid answers will HELP Quaylin win the debate tonight...and that "she is ready [to be the president], and that is because she has the experience of an ordinary American who can get in there and knows what is on people's minds and what people need." Hmm. I just...too much sarcasm building up...can't even talk about it...
But seriously, I think it's time to come up with a demeaning nickname for Lieberman. Thoughts? Musings? Suggestions?
And on Biden's side of things, check out 23/6's hilarious slideshow covering his preparation for tonight.
In a related story, the McSame camp has just reviewed this video and is preparing a score louder than Quaylin's speaking voice to play during her answers in tonight's debate.
LOLZ! Seriously, though, there has been a lot of other promising WTF today...
I got this polling info from my Dad in a text message this morning, spurring a sudden bout of cheering, but davidkc at DailyKos covers it in a bit more depth.
And let me remind you to check out FiveThirtyEight for a fuller picture of national polls...Florida, Virginia and Ohio are now tilting blue, and Indiana, North Carolina and Missouri are solid toss-ups. But I just keep watching that "probability of an Obama landslide" number go up and up...28% and rising!
Obama is quickly climbing to the top. Like this, but somehow less amazing.
Kula2316 at DailyKos does another fabulous morning roundup. I love it when people make my job easy!
I've never heard of Ralph Stanley, but apparently he's huge in the bluegrass world, especially in SW Virginia. All of DailyKos is buzzing about his endorsement of Obama. With McSame pulling out of Michigan it's great to see the new battleground states becoming more and more blue.
And platypus at DailyKos brings to our attention this fantastic speech given at a United Steel Workers convention, decrying racism and encouraging working people to educate each other about racism and the Obama campaign. It's definitely worth watching the entire clip - if you're prone to tearing up at speeches, get the tissues ready.
WaPo reports that Palin's numbers continue to nosedive in the polls, but also take a closer look at how much that really means in the big picture. Of course, Palin has garnered much more attention than any other VP pick in recent years...in short, I'm still psyched about the debate.
HA HA. So much for all of McSame's flailing over the bailout crisis. The more cheap tricks this man pulls to try and bring up his numbers, the more they drop. And the more I do a little dance.
*dances awkwardly in place*
This just in: A leaked clip from an upcoming Simpson's episode not only shows Homer voting for Obama, but also the scariest and most literal cartoon version of voter caging I've ever seen. Seriously.
DAY IN WTF COMPLETE: Hustler has just completed filming of a Quaylin look-alike porno. Now you see why the blog must end here. Goodnight.
