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.