McCain: Reformed Maverick!

Quick PBS poll: Is Palin qualified?

Please vote! This is a 30-second poll.

Making it up as he goes along...

One thing all of this year's candidates can probably agree on...

...the mainstream media seems to have completely lost track of what comprises a real presidential debate.

Tina Fey does it again

Debate footage + historical footage = Advantage Obama on Iraq

please hold your nose...

...and go vote for Obama in the new Drudge Report poll on who won the debate!

And then head over to CNN.com and grade each candidate on their debate performance.

Initial debate results...

According to CBS's initial coverage, undecided voters saw Obama as the winner of tonight's debate.

More results:

CBS Poll - 500 uncommitted voters (+/- 4 percentage points)

39% Barack Obama won
25% John McCain won
36% draw

On whether their opinion got better toward the candidate

46% Barack Obama
31% John McCain

Who would make the right decisions regarding the economy?

66% Barack Obama
44% John McCain

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MediaCurves (HCD Research)

Who won the debate?

Obama McCain
Republicans 10.26% 89.74%
Democrats 92.77% 7.23%
Independents 61.11% 38.89%

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CNN

Who Did the best job in the debate?

51% Barack Obama
38% John McCain

Who would better handle economy?

58% Barack Obama
37% John McCain

Who Would Better Handle Iraq?

52% Barack Obama
47% John McCain

McCain stands up Letterman....

Nominally to go back to Washington and work on the economy...



But first, a quick appearance with Katie Couric, to make sure EVERYONE knows what a maverick he is!

Crunch time!

Countdown to the 1st presidential debate: 1 day*
Countdown to the vice presidential debate: 9 days
Countdown to the 2nd presidential debate: 12 days
Countdown to the third presidential debate: 20 days
Countdown to Election Day 2008: 40 days
Countdown to Inauguration Day 2009: 117 days

*well, maybe...

Sarah's interview with Katie Couric

Highlight:

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

More here.

Planned Parenthood and Sarah Palin

Here's a concrete action you can take in support of Planned Parenthood...which will also have the extra benefit of telling Gov. Palin that her brand of politics do not speak for American women as a whole.

Helping to unravel the financial crisis: McCain at the helm?

Let's hope not.

McCain was a central player in the last big government bailout: the Savings and Loan crisis of the late 80s. Here's some coverage of that issue from a paper in McCain's own Arizona.

Above, a picture of McCain celebrating his birthday with Charles Keating.

Repeat this phrase like a mantra: KEATING FIVE. Not only will it help congress guard against pitfalls in the process of unravelling our current financial crisis --- it will remind voters that it would be exceedingly difficult for McCain to help us through our current troubles when he is at the very center of the mindset which got us here (reckless deregulation).

Before-the-job training: Palin at the UN

Does Palin even believe in the idea of the UN? One would have guessed that she'd be from the John Bolton school. Any port in a storm, it seems!

Enough!

True Leader from iocomposer on Vimeo.

wowza

A jam-packed 120 seconds:

compute your Obama tax cut

Here's a fun site that allows you to compute how much your tax cut would be under the Obama administration, and how much more a McCain administration would tax you.

Unless, of course, you're in that top 1% of earners --- folks in that group should be prepared to see higher taxation levels by Obama than by McCain (or perhaps they leave their internet browsing to their butlers. Damned if I know).

more fun!

Isn't it cool watching Barack smile?

Have a good laugh...and re-focus!!!

just for fun...

The Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator!

Hi...my name is Recoil Zoo Palin!

Some other notable generated names:

Krinkle Bearcat ~ Stick Freedom ~ Crunk Petrol ~ Clamp Noodle

And my favorite:

Thump Hummer

Annie Lamott's Salon article has some great suggestions for getting through the next two months, sanity intact, while working for Obama. One of her suggestions is the Name Generator.

Jezebel more or less agrees with Lamott...but suggests that in order to fight Palin/McCain, we'll probably have to call them by their real names at least occasionally.

Obama: the economists' choice

66% of economists, in a recent poll, will be casting their vote for Obama.

Perhaps those economists are more mindful than the average bear about the facts of our economic history, as broken down by political party. (Graphic: The Liscio Report).

let the back-pedaling begin

When Karl Rove says "you've gone too far", you can most likely take that to the bank.

This one needs no explanation

Please spread the word. Click on the image to enlarge it, or for an even bigger version, go to WashingtonPost.com.

Bad news first...then the good

Plenty of Obama supporters have been feeling a little down of late. It's not hard to figure out why. While we were under the impression that we were in the middle of an election campaign, The GOP has instead gone back to its old standbys: culture warring and "image".

But Alaska residents are way ahead of us in terms of forming impressions of Sarah Palin. Some bad news and some good news here --- but it seems that the good outweighs the bad!

First, the bad. Alaskan residents who don't understand the most basic of all American values: free speech and dissent. Worse yet, radio shows (and entire stations, apparently) which feature such folk, seemingly unopposed.



Now, the good:





Read more about this amazing rally against Palin and all she stands for (the largest political rally in Alaskan history) here at Mudflats, a blog on Alaskan politics.

Rove...wow, who knew he was still around?

Of course he is. You don't mess with "success".

Every time I see one of these distortions...

...I send another $5 to the Obama campaign.

My credit card's not had much of a chance to cool off lately.

Obama debriefs the press on the RNC

Palin makes $10 million for Obama

From Politico.com

Barack Obama's campaign for president has raised $10 million since Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin spoke Wednesday night, the campaign announced, calling it a "one-day record."

Wasilla: Meth capital of Alaska

...according to Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic.

Of course, this wasn't the kind of problem that Sarah Palin tended to focus on, as mayor. Getting Alaska porkbarrel spending aimed towards her town (while decrying pork on a state level) and questioning the local library about the feasibility of banning books was more her speed.

Roger Simon "apologizes"

Alex Koppelman of Salon's War Room column excerpted a column from Roger Simon of Politico.
His favorite excerpts of the piece:

On behalf of the media, I would like to say we are sorry...
We have asked questions this week that we should never have asked.

We have asked pathetic questions like: Who is Sarah Palin? What is her record? Where does she stand on the issues? And is she is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency?

We have asked mean questions like: How well did John McCain know her before he selected her? How well did his campaign vet her? And was she his first choice?

Bad questions. Bad media. Bad...

[W]e should stop reporting on the families of the candidates. Unless the candidates want us to.

Sarah Palin wanted the media to report on her teenage son, Track, who enlisted in the Army on Sept. 11, 2007, and soon will deploy to Iraq.

Sarah Palin did not want the media to report on her teenage daughter, Bristol, who is pregnant and unmarried.

Sarah Palin thinks that one is good for her campaign and one is not, and that the media should report only on what is good for her campaign. That is our job, and that is our duty. If that is not actually in the Constitution, it should be. (And someday may be.)

Former McCain advisor trashes Palin

As an NPR commentator said today (paraphrase): "The fact that McCain was considering both Lieberman and Palin on his final list shows that he is wiling to pick up ANY weapon in battle".



More info on the cast of characters here.