Well I do agree with McCain on the suspension of forced stock sales for retirees.

McCain proposes suspending mandatory stock sales - Yahoo! News

I feel exactly the same way. Daniel Larison and Ross Douthat are almost as good, but they do not write quite as well.

Barack Obama Supporter Buttons : Barack Obama 2008

His buddies at ACORN could probably crank one out, if needed.

I knew it, McCain is a Manchurian candidate for the AARP.

Looks like the Georgia Senate race really is competitive:

SurveyUSA: Chambliss 46-44
Research 2000: Chambliss 45-44
Strategic Vision (R): Chambliss 47-44
Rasmussen: Chambliss 50-44
InAdv/PollPosition: Tie 45-45

Reader's Digest version of an answer: It exists, but as long as the same opportunity is afforded each candidate then it's all good.

Nothing says they have to run equal schedules, just that they're entitled to the same opportunity to buy the same thing at the same prices (which are required to be the lowest rate given to any advertiser during the past several months aka "political rate" or "lowest unit rate").

Two things

1) If it's intentional, then that's pretty fucking stupid. McCain isn't going to win New York because of an incorrect name on a couple hundred absentee ballots.

2) If it's not intentional, then who the fuck is doing QA for this county? Creed?

well, money could rule this race, and the level of fundraising difference at all levels between the Democrats and the Republicans could really hurt (Note: I thought Obama's 50 state campaign was not a good idea, but with the economy making it a 50 state issue, it turned out to be the right (if lucky) play.

We’re starting to see the first tangible impact of the financial deficit that House Republicans are facing.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorec...k_ad_buys.html

The National Republican Congressional Committee, after reserving advertising time in 26 Congressional districts, has begun to cancel or dramatically scale back some of its ad reservations across the country. Many of the hardest-hit candidates are among the GOP’s leading challengers.

hey - have we seen the Troopergate report yet? Thought that was being released today...

That's hillarious. It will be even more hillarious when republican poll-watchers contest any Obama absentee votes on the basis of "Barack Osama" not being a declared candidate for president.

Alaska lawmakers review Palin trooper report - CNN.com

Can't wait to get the results and put this baby to bed. It's a shame that when it's all said and done Palin has left open a window where her opponents could arue that her lack of cooperation has led to a report that is incomplete while still opening the door to saying that the results are biased due to French's partisan stance. It is unfortunate to no end that we will get this out and truly not have results that either side can say is the "truth" which is what I had hoped for the whole time.

Heh. Here's an Oct. 8th press release from the McCain campaign, listing people that have endorsed John McCain. One of the entries is particularly interesting:



Woops!

(I... don't get it)

SI

Barack Obama and William Ayers participated in the Annenberg Challenge, which was run by William Annenberg and his wife Leonore.

Today the McCain camp came out with a passionate defense of their more hateful and bigoted supporters.

LOL @ Big Fo's post. Wow...that's just...wow. They expect people to buy that?

the vitriolic comments at McCain's camp (or Obama's should they occur or if they are) would paint any campaign into a tough corner in this environment the country finds itself in. For the most part the economic thinking has made it so that any negativity is seen in a light of being flimsy and perhaps childish. At this juncture in a campaign, with a gap in the polls as evidenced, a campaign may need to go negative to get back in it. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your side), strategically, the McCain campaign, in this instance, finds itself with an arrow in its quiver that isn't getting the response it is supposed to get. Interesting.

Wow, that's not even good bullshit. Republicans are better at winning elections than Democrats because they usually have a really good sense of how far to push, and in which direction. But that spin doesn't even make sense.

Obama the Messiah?

and?

BTW, who knew that the woman (a McCain supporter) would say the "...he's an Arab." comment (which is untrue) and make something that McCain shouldnt have had to defend, something he had to defend in front of all of his supporters. Not something the handlers wouldve wanted I am sure.

I think of many other things to put one's faith into besides the federal government.

Quoting myself here but I would like to show that McCain has denounced some of the more extreme statements his supporters have been making about Obama.


From McCain booed after trying to calm anti-Obama crowd

Here's a video of him (that Flasch might be referring to a few posts up) correcting a supporter who states that Obama is an Arab, followed by McCain saying Obama is a decent family man and some applause from the crowd.

youtube link

BREAKING NEWS

Palin abused power but broke no laws.

She violated an AK statute, violated trust.

Although Monegan wasn't solely fired due to his not firing of Wooten, it was a 'contributing factor'.

She was also within her rights as a Governor to hire or fire an individual.


CONSIDERING THIS

Had she cooperated and everyone else cooperated, this would be case closed. By her not cooperating and encouraging others to snub subpoenas this, I am sure, will carry on, which is a shame.


Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing - Yahoo! News


from FoxNews

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10...-commissioner/


Have to laugh at that last line.

It's all so confusing. Just yesterday a report came out that said Palin didn't do anything wrong. Who should I believe?

Well, at least she hasn't shot someone so it's a step in the right direction.

It's the only hope, but alas McCain appears to have already given up & resigned himself to the loss. And that's why those who even bother to show up for the rallies are starting to turn on him. The difference now is that hoping against hope that he was more than expected has pretty much faded.

Unless he grows a pair in the next few days & decides he actually wants to make an effort to win, it's over put a fork in him. Losing by landslide proportions might even be a strong possible if he doesn't step it up several notches. Unmotivated voters could very well stay home in big numbers if the Chan Gailey of GOP candidates doesn't get it together.

On a sidenote, somebody remind me what happens to the Nov. election if McCain were to, say, keel over dead between now & then? I'm thinking he remains on the ballots at this point but to be honest I'm not sure off hand. Is there some policy that covers all 50 states under federal law or would individual state laws dictate how that would be dealt with?

What Jackasses, McCain's camp is citing the report as evidence that she acted within her rights but then slam the report as a "partisan" investigation. Talk about having your cake. If you want to use the report as evidence to uphold your claim than you should also put some weight in the report itself, not minimize it and then use it to bolster your claim. who the fuck is running this shit show?

It would be up to the parties, they have their own procedures. If its after the election the VP takes over.

Yeah. The patient has already expired. They are just waiting for a doctor to come in and call the time of death

701pm, Nov 4, 2008

Well that's what I thought about if it happened, say, right after the convention.
But with early voting already underway in some (all?) states, I wasn't completely sure.

My guess would have been that notices would be posted at polling places to the effect that votes for the the McCain/Palin ticket indicated on the ballot would be counted as a "Replacement/Palin" or "Palin/Replacement" vote.

nm

BREAKING NEWS

Bush abused powder but broke no laws...

WOW !!!!! This kind of supports the recently raised race issues. I am very proud of how McCain handled the situation. That was very honorable. He's in a no win situation with some of his supporters.

I do feel bad for McCain when I watch that clip. He handled that well. And that woman should be put to pasture.

I am first saddened that a great American hero like John McCain, and I do mean that in all seriousness had to get dragged through the mud like this and be assoicated with these spiteful and ignorant people. Now, of course he has no one but himself (and the fuck assholes like Palin, Rick Davis, Schmidt he employed. I see him as a misunderstood charcter in all this not all that dissimilar from the Star Wars Anakin Skywalker when he was used by the Emperor and tricked into becoming the evil Darth Vader.

But, more importantly McCain reminded me not since Obama was nominated that how proud I am of this fine country and to be an American. So, though I am a huge Obama supporter I say thanks and job well done today by John McCain. He showed us all in these very difficult times what it is to be an american and what it means to stand up to oppression, ignorance and racism. I am sure once the election is over if Obama wins he will mention this very same thing in his vctory speech when he speaks of McCain.

I think it's a fair conclusion by the investigator. He essentially said she had the right (and even some reasons) to remove Monegan, but that she did not stop her husband's actions to contact subordinates and he put pressure on Monegan to fire Wooten. The biggest complaint in the report was that she didn't stop him initially when she knew he was doing this.

She should take a bit of a hit for not preventing her husband from contacting these people using her resources, but it's also important to note that she didn't directly contact Monegan on the issue and had other cause to remove him.

In the end, I can't see much coming from this given everything else that has happened - but I think it is a fair report.

I've just seen the latest video from McCain and he may yet get some traction with it. He's going after Barney Frank and Chris Dodd as the architects of the current crisis. There's a lot of anger over this and a demand that blame be placed on whoever's responsible and this could play well. Currently Obama has benefited considerably from the crisis because it's happened on Bush's watch (though as far as I can see Bush hasn't a great deal of responsibility) but if McCain can present Democrats and their wish to promote mortgages to the lower end of town as the initial cause of the trouble he may yet pull some of his deficit back or at least eliminate some of the advantage Obama is gaining.
.

Tongue in cheek here... I can see this commercial upcoming.

John McCain likes and respects Barack Obama. John McCain says that Barack Obama is a terrorist sympathizer. John McCain likes and respects a man he believes to be a terrorist sympathizer. Can we really trust John McCain?

except for the headlines and people who will interpret the 'Abuse of Power' in big bold print to be bad, bad, bad but maybe that's the hit youre talking aboot.

I'm not sure what difference the report is going to make. But, the report did not say that Palin did not break any laws. It said she didn't violate any laws by firing the guy. It did conclude, however, that she violated the Alaska ethics law by abusing her power and placing pressure on subordinates to fire the trooper.

I'm not sure that this is going to work at this point, because there is a perception that McCain is just grabbing at straws. Besides the fact that it's not really accurate, I think any traction he might gain would be ended by the anger people will have when they realize that McCain hasn't proposed anything that benefits the middle class and what he has proposed is really more corporate welfare (the part of buying the mortgages at face value) and in violation of the bailout that just passed.

I think the biggest issue for McCain, preventing a substantial comeback at this point, is that he supported the bailout. He lost his ability to make the case that the American people will need to fix the economic problems(as we always have), prosecute those who abused the system, pass legislation to ensure we do not allow this level of abuse again, and that Obama and the Dems want to continue the bad policies and fundamentally flawed ideology that brought us here(i.e. home ownership, health care, new cars, etc. are all "entitlements" that everybody should have, regardless of whether your contribution to society warrants it).

I think he's painted himself in the same corner that Hillary did...there are just not enough differentiators on the issues that are most relevant to people (at the moment). So it comes down to the ability to articulate and demonstrate composure...2 things Obama does much better than McCain.

Joe Six-Pack!

That video of McCain dealing with Miss "He's an Arab!" is the John McCain that I have thought would be a good President for years... The campaign that is being run seems so contrary to who McCain is and I would find it difficult to vote for the campaign that is being run.

I just heard someone from the McCain campaign of FOX who makes it hard to believe in the "Straight Talk Express." He was talking about the results in Alaska as a positive, affirming that Palin was completely in her authority to "reassign" the trooper. Reassign? What, his new position is Former Police Officer?

Exactly. That's the McCain that those of us who aren't voting for him respect even tho we have policy disagreements. That's vintage of our "McCain of 2000", back before he sold his soul to get elected and associated himself with the trash who run his campaign.

SI

Man, Wasillla has some ugly report cards. Then again, it was the early 80s.

Oh, and she's a backwoods yokel who isn't very smart. But we already knew that.

SI

You are awesome, my friend!

Ummm.....can't an Arab be a decent family man also? He is not an Arab, or a Muslim, but it sad that we just openly allow racism and bigotry versus those groups. There are good, American Arabs and good American Muslims (as well as some very bad American Whites and Christians).

And your reaction is one example of why those of us who face the prospect of holding our nose & voting for the RINO anyway are so despondent .

And I'll just skip taking most of the bait on "the trash" comment, you already know I see more value in any one of them than (just to pick a number) a million Obamites.

I was kindof waiting for him to say something about his mom being from Kansas and him being born in Hawaii or something like that. Not that he was a decent family man with the implications above...

SI

This is why there is such negativity around the campaigns. Scrutinize every single word. Make a mountain out of a molehill. Jeeeeeeesus.

The woman made the comment in a negative manner and used the word Arab. He was responding to her negative comment not responding to the use of the word Arab.

Corrected

Some in this country would lead you to believe that it's not possible for an Arab to be a decent family man and that simply being a Muslim makes one evil.

Go read Free Republic for a bit. Then you'll see how fucked in the head some people in this country are. Of course you can also go to the lefty equivalant too, for the sake of fairness.

Looks like that is from The College Board. Wouldn't those be the same everywhere?

That would be a great Daily Show skit.

You got it. I don't have any problem with John McCain as President. If he is elected, I hope he reverts to the John McCain that was screwed in 2000 and who I wrote in my vote for in '04. I feel bad for him in that due to the internal politics within his own party, the very thing that could get him elected in the first place is what he has had to turn his back on to even get the nomination.

I wonder if the Palin abuse of Power thing could be McCain's ticket to be McCain... Palin withdraws from the ticket, McCain talks Lieberman (or preferably Powell) into joining him on the ticket. He then cans a few people in the right places and decides that if he's going to win or lose, it will be on his terms. That could win my vote.

I voted for and campaign for McCain in 2000. But by 2004, I think he'd already left his ideals enough that would not have backed him. I hope if he gets elected he would revert to the old McCain, but I far from count on it.

This is not as far from the realm of possibility as it was about 3 weeks ago AND it would fall under modus operandi AND if he threw down the gauntlet against the Republican machine that is pulling his strings he could trly create the possibility of a "November surprise." That would be very exciting indeed.

The only way Palin leaves the ticket is if she dies. Any other reason guarantees a McCain lose.

ew, I dont know. If McCain were to 'market' it right it could be a really 'maverick' thing to do and at the same time, cross the line to be with the people who are against the machine portion of the GOP. Its a gamble but at this point what's he got to lose?

Probably half or more of McCain's current support are hardcore Palin fans. If he ditches her he'll lose a significant portion of those voters that he can't make up from undecided/Obama supporters. It might have worked if he had chosen Lieberman initially, but he can't pull Palin now.

Well I guess you could be right if the Religious Right fully adopted Palin as their candidate on the ticket....

Palin "withdrawing" would not hurt McCain at all... What, the Republican base is going to vote for Obama? Not vote at all? Vote Libertarian? No... they will do what they were planning all along and "hold their nose" while voting for a man they have always thought to be barely better than a Democrat.

I work on a right-wing show where the host (who I will not name) was 100% for Romney and right up to the point when Romney conceded felt "McCain would be just as bad as Hillary, if not worse!" Then he jumped right on the bandwagon.

His support from the base is similar to Obama's... If something comes to the surface providing proof that Obama was actually born in Kenya, then he would have to withdraw himself from the ticket. Do we really think that the Democrat party's base wouldn't back Biden (or Hillary, or whoever?)

Democrats will vote for Obama. Republicans will vote for McCain. It's the few voters who actually think that may decide the election.

He wouldn't "dump" her. She would "withdraw" from the ticket and continue to support McCain, citing that it is in the best interest for the nation and her family. She would then start working on her '12 or '16 campaign.

No way she'll withdraw as this is her big moment. If she does "withdraw" enough stories about how she was pushed aside will emerge to make that the dominant story. I think if McCain had picked a moderate initially he would get the bulk of the Religious Right, but two weeks out I think it would kill him. A lot of the religious right would stay home and more would refuse to volunteer. I don't think he can pull Palin at now that he's committed to her.

If he dumped her or she withdrew, I think it would highlight McCain's judgment and push the erratic meme a little more. The argument would be that, had he vetted her more thoroughly (or at all), he would have known this would have arisen. I don't think a sudden change in his campaign with less than a month out helps him.
But, his telling people at events that Obama isn't dangerous or bad, does paint him in a box, should he or his campaign continue to go negative.

good lord - 841?? That's embarrassingly stupid.

And I would say that even if it was somebody here on the board who got that.

Wow.

Average score (per Wikipedia) in '81 was 992. Could be worse..

/tk

Is there any reason at all to believe that image isn't a fake?

Radaii -- Did Sarah Palin Score 841 on the SATs? | Cleveland Leader

i haven't gone down and read all the comments to see what's up with it though

I've seen that comment in multiple places now, does anyone know if that's true or not?

Assignment Desk: Sarah Palin's High-School Grades?

That comment is at least an interesting read as well.

nice read radaii

This is so strange. Initially they were using the report's findings to say that it proves that nothing unlawful was done but now they're ridiculing the report again, in parts, and then she says if you read the report you will come to the same conclusion as she and her supporters have in that she did nothing unethical or unlawlful. You can't have it both ways, can you?

Palin defiant after probe jolts McCain campaign - Yahoo! News

Report: 60 Million People You'd Never Talk To Voting For Other Guy | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Always good to know. :D

It's kind of hard to claim the report proves you have done nothing illegal or unethical when the report actually quotes the specific part of the Alaskan code that was broken.

Now, the McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.

Minnesota Senate debate coming up on CSPAN at 8pm. Franken v. Coleman v. Barkley should be pretty interesting.

I think anything that McCain does from now on will be seen as desperate. But this I think may have more legs than other desperate moves.

Obama's recent lead comes almost exclusively from the financial crisis. Add to that that the American people are angry and want to see the people who caused this crisis punished - certainly named and shamed. And when it comes to the political side of this (as distinct from the bankers, mortgage agents etc ) then it would seem the Democrats have as much responsibility for this as the Republicans.

The cause of the crisis is the toxic packages infecting the financial community. The cause of this is the sub-prime collapse. The cause of that collapse is the level of default on the sub-prime mortages. The cause of that is that too many people took out mortages they could never afford. The cause of that is (and I'm merely repeating Republican claims here not personal knowledge) is that Democrats pushed for mortages to be made available to the bottom end of town.

Therefore it should not be difficult to lay much of the responsibility (which is what many Americans want) on the Democrats - the genesis of the problem is their determination to make mortgages available to those who cannot afford to service them and every thing else, including the Wall St crash, stems from there.

I would think that would have as many legs as any other move McCain may make :)

true or not you have to be able to market it to the masses and right now it aint going to fly and theyre running out of time.

I think if you're the GOP and somehow Palin gets magic'd off the ticket and is replaced, they have a real danger with turnout unless they pick someone even more up their alley.

That said, unless something drastic bumps the economy off the front pages in the next 3 weeks, the election is already decided.

SI

Looks like Obama has the 105 year old+ Demographic wrapped up :)

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 106-year-old voter chooses Obama

(I like light stories like this, it's a welcome change, don't you think?) :D

McCain's old grade school classmates won't even vote for him?

;)

That's it. Nail in coffin as to deciding that the people running the McCain campaign may be the worst managers in recent memory. First they let Palin comment on the NK issue and it is in contrast with McCain's but even more important as a managerial plan, they let Palin drop the puck at a Flyers game in Philly! Of course she got booed (and cheered) but they point is on video you definitely hear the boos more so anyone who watches sees that and hears a chorus of boos. You just cant let this stuff happen. You have to control the image and work in a planned environment (as much as is possible). This management team is an utter disaster and I wonder if McCain has anything at all to do with it or if the handlers are the 'experts' and are allowed to do what they do....obviously not well.

I wouldn't let any candidate appear at a Philly sporting event.

I think Biden might get a different response but that being said you STILL DO NOT have the candidate do this, this close to the election.

Don't forget about Sarah openly using her seven-year old daughter in an effort to keep the booing down.


She must not be familiar with Philadelphia sports fans.

Don't those kids have school? How many campaign events do they go to? The convention I can understand, and debates, but those are school nights.

Also, it looks like she's a kiss-hello person. I hate the kiss-hello.

I don't think the hockey event sounded or looked bad. It just didn't look particularly good. That's the problem with this campaign, the few times they aren't screwing up they aren't doing anything well to make up ground.

The kiss hello is awkward, but I would take one from Palin.

What!? Were you not listening? apparently you should take the mute off. The boos were drowning out the cheers and you cannot allow that to happen less than 30 days out, IMO.

Actually, I didn't hear the boos, either.

Mother Theresa would have been booed at a Philly sporting event.

wow, didnt hear the boos.