The Ugly Demise of the McSame Campaign

I. LOVE. BETTY WHITE.

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:

"Attacks on ACORN Based Not on Facts, But on Fear of 1.3 Million Poor People Registering"

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:

Hmmm...shall we play the guilt-by-association game? OH I THINK WE SHALL.

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 American people aren't looking for someone who can divide this country; they're looking for someone who will lead it."

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.

Today in Pop Culture and Insidious Racism

Freaky truth.

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 along those lines, righty Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" appears on the Colbert Report...

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.

And find my 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.

Next, let's give Nate the shout out for telling us oh, I don't know, a MONTH ago what CNN is just now getting around to reporting.

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.

Aaaand Michelle Collins at BestWeekEver calls the election for Obama. I think.

And finally, in Oh Hell Yes: The Alaskan Supreme Court won't allow the Quaylins to hold off Troopergate investigations any longer. It's gonna be a fun 26 days.

Until tomorrow. Help.

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!

Weekend Roundup: I Call the USA for Obama.

GUFFAW.

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.

#3 - Thus begins Obama's defense against the McSame childishness.

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?

Yes, readers, the narrative is shifting. DemfromCT agrees.

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!!!

Until tomorrow.

Sarah Cyborg and the Doggone Its

This is genius.

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)
Get Code	View Result

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...

Via BestWeekEver, a pretty suhrious WTF. At least it's well-intentioned...

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!!!

Peace.

OMG THE VP DEBATE STARTS IN T-MINUS 90 MINUTES.

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.

Looking ahead...The NYTimes lists a few "things to look for" during the debate.

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.

Finally in debate news: OH HOLY YES. They've got footage of the talent portion of Quaylin's bid for Miss Alaska.

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!

Oh, and BTW: MCSAME GIVES UP MICHIGAN.

WOO-HOO!!!

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.

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.