Idaho Statesman endorses Obama

Is that "real America" enough? From the Idaho Statesman:

[T]he Illinois Democrat has shown American voters something more subtle, but something more important. He has demonstrated the superior intellect and the calm command our nation needs now.

The Statesman editorial board endorses Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

This is not an obvious choice for a newspaper in a historically Republican state....

Obama and Biden have largely stayed on topic and unflappable, in the face of last-minute campaigning that has turned ugly. At their worst, Republicans have resorted to fear-mongering. In what, by comparison, pass for measured moments, McCain and Palin simply insinuate that the Democratic ticket is out of touch and elitist.

It's not only a bogus claim - given Obama's and Biden's backgrounds - but it's a silly form of reverse snobbery. Our nation has to stop equating intellect with elitism and viewing intelligence with scorn and skepticism. Considering the problems at hand, there is no better time than now to change our thinking.

McCain certainly furnishes a strong resume, and he certainly has a longer record than Obama, elected to the Senate in 2004. In theory, McCain's experience should translate into the serious, studied leadership the presidency demands.

In this campaign, however, it has not.

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Family Guy on McCain/Palin

Extra points for the FOX logo on the screen.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

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Before obsessing about Zogby's latest tracking poll, read Nate Silver's analysis of how "his topline numbers are unusable"

Yeah, yeah - Zogby has a new poll that shows McCain catching up. Don't believe it.

As the election draws closer, we're probably all even more obsessive about checking the daily tracking polls for movement. I get my daily emails from Rasmussen, Gallup and Diageo/Hotline. Every day, among the many excellent posts at FiveThirtyEight.com, Nate Silver analyzes the day's national and state polls. So, I can rely on Nate to make sense of what it all means. Today, he provided some critical insight into what we should infer from Zogby:

The national tracking polls are actually in pretty good agreement with one another, with IBD/TIPP, Research 2000, Gallup, and Hotline all settling in the 5-7 point range. Zogby is the outlier at Obama +2.7, and that's because Zogby has the odd practice of fixing his poll's party identification weights based on what they were in the last presidential election. In Zogby's world, then, it's still 2004, when there were roughly as many Republicans as Democrats. Although Zogby's trendlines may be worth looking at, his topline numbers are basically unusable.

Trust Nate.

You may remember that Zogby called the election for John Kerry at around 5:00 PM Eastern on Election day in 2004. If it's still 2004 for Zogby, I'm not stressing about Zogby's new numbers. And, if the Republicans want to think this election is going to have the same party ID as 2004, well, I'm looking forwarding to seeing who's right on election day. Read More......

Taliban beheads 30 riding on passenger bus in Afghanistan

So glad John McCain supported George Bush going in to Iraq. We are on the verge of having lost everything we ever accomplished in Afghanistan. Everything. John McCain and the Republicans like to talk about how tough they are, but look at the mess all their talk tough has gotten us in. It's been seven years since September 11, folks. Where is Osama bin Laden?

From the NYT:

Taliban insurgents pulled some 50 passengers off a bus in southern Afghanistan and beheaded as many as 30 of them after accusing them of being soldiers traveling in civilian clothes, Afghan officials in the region announced on Sunday.

A police officer guards a highway in Kandahar on Sunday. An attack on a bus traveling on the main ring road between Kandahar and Herat killed dozens, according to officials.

The police chief of Kandahar Province, where the attack occurred, said that of six bodies retrieved so far, all had been beheaded, mutilated and dumped. The police had received information that 24 others had been killed but had yet to find the bodies, the police chief, Gen. Matiullah Qati , said.

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Crazy Michelle Bachmann's hate-filled comments, which she now denies, resulted in over $620,000 in contributions to her opponent

Almost nothing spewed from a Republican surprises me, but even I was stunned watching Rep. Michelle Bachmann on Hardball Friday night. She was particularly venomous and just off-the-wall. Like many other progressive bloggers, we did a post and included video.

Today, as John noted below, Colin Powell cited Bachmann's comments as one reason he supported Obama.

So, Bachmann's craziness did some real damage because, there's also this,:

An official with Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg's campaign says the 6th District DFLer raised $620 thousand since GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann made her comments on Friday.

When I first linked to Tinklenberg's ActBlue page Friday afternoon, his total raised was under $4,000. As I write this, he's raised over $265,000 on ActBlue alone. Oh, but now, courtesy of Jed, we learn Bachmann says she didn't say what she said -- even though she said it repeatedly on national t.v.:

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We do not need Bush involved in Bretton Woods II

The last person we need is George "more of the same" Bush as the world tries to build an updated global financial system. Bush needs to be moved to the side, a distant back room without access to the grownup's table, perhaps, where he can't interfere. We've tried stupid and action without thinking, so let's move on to intelligence, discussion, debate and then follow through. Gordon Brown may have plenty of problems himself, but he has led the way on the global rescue initiatives and deserves to be at the head of table. This is no time for stale Republican theory that brought us here in the first place. Sarkozy has done an OK job with organizing leaders, though he still may be giving himself too much credit for Brown's ideas.

Sarkozy has floated the idea of reforming rating agencies and even exploring the future of currency systems. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who engineered a British bank bailout that inspired U.S. and European rescues, is proposing radical changes to the global capitalist system, including a cross-border mechanism to monitor the world's 30 biggest financial institutions.

Standing outside on a crisp autumn day at the helipad on the secluded retreat, all three leaders spoke soberly about what Bush called a "trying time for all our nations."

"As we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism — a commitment to free markets, free enterprise, and free trade," Bush said. "We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world."

Um, what is Bush talking about? He's the only person talking about isolationism and the rest of just bullshit GOP talking points. Read More......

The McCain campaign says that the Pentagon, and those who died there on 9/11, weren't "real" Virginia

And let the fun begin. From Jake Tapper at ABC:

One other thought about McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer's assertion Saturday that Northern Virginia isn't the "real" Virginia.

Um...isn't the Pentagon in Northern Virginia?

Didn't 184 people die there on 9/11 at the hands of terrorists?

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Why Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama matters

From Jonathan Martin at Politico:

"What that just did in one sound bite -- and I assume that sound bite will end up in an ad -- is it eliminated the experience factor," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, on ABC's "This Week." "How are you going to say the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the former National Security Adviser, former Secretary of State was taken in?

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McCain's red state problem

Newsday:

Add Indiana to the long list of Republican states up in play this year - and it explains why McCain's White House hopes are fast disappearing, leaving his campaign desperate for some last-minute break that snaps Barack Obama's momentum.

"Short of some major [political] environmental influence, I think Obama is your president," said Bill Lacy, a senior adviser in four prior Republican presidential campaigns....

The campaign's closing days will be fought out almost exclusively on Republican turf - the states Bush won in 2004, but where polls show McCain is now trailing or at best tied. Those include Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, North Carolina and Nevada.

To get back into the election, McCain would have to run the table - retake the lead in nearly every Bush state, something political pros say verges on the impossible.

"If the election were tomorrow, I think Barack Obama would probably capture 370 electoral votes or somewhere close to it," said Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio - landslide proportions given that 270 electoral votes wins the White House.

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The chimp just flew over my apartment

NOTE TO OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Please improve my view.

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McCain ally says Colin Powell cares more about Colin Powell

Putting Powell first:

But one prominent ally of McCain voiced what is on the minds of many GOP loyalists after watching Powell this morning.

"Let's be honest – do we think Powell would be doing this if Obama had been trailing six or seven points in the polls?" asked this source. "It's a Profile in Conventional Wisdom."

Further, this Republican said, for all the former Secretary of State's criticism of McCain and his praise of Obama, the move had less to do with the two candidates for president than the current occupant of the Oval Office.

"Powell cares a lot about his reputation with Washington elites and he thinks he was badly damaged by his relationship with the Bush administration," said the source. "So this is a way to make up for what he regarded as not being treated well by the Bush administration, not being given the due deferenece he thinks he deserves."

The McCain dissing of Powell has begun. How long until they call him a Muslim? Read More......

McCain adviser says McCain is "truly Dukakis-like" in his ineptitude

Orlando Sentinel:

Republicans have been scrambling ever since McCain fumbled his response to the financial meltdown on Wall Street last month. He was seen as shaky and ineffective, and his polls numbers began reflecting that.

McCain was telling audiences last week that "we've got 'em just where we want 'em" -- but some GOP strategists see it differently. One who has advised the McCain organization called it the "most poorly run presidential campaign of the last 25 years. It's truly Dukakis-like," referring to the hapless 1988 campaign of Democrat Michael Dukakis.

"They have absolutely no strategy for winning," said the veteran operative, who did not want to be identified criticizing a candidate he supports. "I see . . . no rhyme or reason to this campaign or its scheduling or its planning."

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Obama, with Star of David on his head, hanged in effigy

They hate him for being a Muslim. They hate him for being a Jew. After a while, all the hate coming from the Republican party starts to look and feel and sound the same.

How interesting that the self-admitted racist, who also appears to be an anti-Semite, parroted John McCain's message about media bias. I just find it interesting that John McCain's and Sarah Palin's hate is now leading to not just threats against Obama's life, but what could be described as hate crimes against Jews. Then again, John McCain and Sarah Palin have a very troubling record of ties to anti-Semitism.

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Powell says crazy Michelle Bachman helped him decide to endorse Obama

Q: Sir, what role did McCain's negativity play in your decision?

POWELL: It troubled me. You know, we have two wars. We have economic problems. We have health problems. We have education problems. We have infrastructure problems. We have problems around the world with our allies. And so those are the problems the American people wanted to hear about, not about Mr. Ayers, not about who is a Muslim and who's not a Muslim. Those kinds of images going out on al Jazeera are killing us around the world. And we have got to say to the world it doesn't make any difference who you are or what you are. If you're an American you're an American.

And this business of, for example, a congressman from Minnesota who's going around saying let's examine all congressmen to see who is pro-America or not pro-America. We have got to stop this kind of nonsense and pull ourselves together and remember that our great strength is in our unity and in our diversity. And so that really was driving me. And to focus on people like Mr. Ayers, these trivial issues for the purpose of suggesting that somehow Mr. Obama would have some kind of terrorists' inclinations, I thought that was over the top. It was beyond just good political fighting back and forth. I think it went beyond. And then to sort of throw in this subtle Muslim connection. You know, he's a Muslim and a terrorist. And it was taking root. And we can't judge our people and we can't hold our elections on that kind of basis. And so yes, that kind of negativity troubles me and the constant shifting of the argument.

I was troubled a couple of weeks ago when in the middle of the crisis the campaign said we're going to go negative and they announced it. We're going to go negative and attack his character through Bill Ayers. And now I guess the message this week is we're going to call him a socialist. Mr. Obama is now a socialist because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have. Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay it in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. And for us to say that makes you a socialist I think is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate. And I don't want my taxes raised. I don't want anybody else's taxes raised. But I also want to see our infrastructure fixed. I don't want to have a $12 trillion national debt and I don't want to see an annual deficit that's over $500 billion heading toward a trillion. So how do we deal with all of this? Read More......

It's time for a president who puts Barney Smith before Smith Barney

Barney Smith from Indiana spoke at Invesco Field back in August. He had one of the best lines of the night, which he reprises in a new ad for Obama:



That line from Barney Smith has taken on a whole lot more significance in the wake of the financial crisis. Read More......

Claire McCaskill blasts the McCain/Palin campaign: “stumbling, erratic, all over the map”

Great stuff from Claire McCaskill yesterday in Missouri in front of those huge, huge crowds. She blasted the Republicans -- and really let Palin have it for that stupid comment about some parts of the country being more "pro-American":

“We have reached a new low in American politics when someone dares to say that one part of America is more pro-American than another part of America,” McCaskill said at an afternoon Barack Obama rally.

McCaskill, an ardent Obama supporter and ubiquitous campaign surrogate said voters are beginning to “see clearly the differences between these two candidates.” She described the Obama campaign as exhibiting the “kind of leadership that America needs in a crisis” because in her mind it has been “slow, steady, thoughtful, constructive.”

McCaskill criticized the McCain campaign as “stumbling, erratic, all over the map” and said it is trying to “distract American with small, petty, unfair personal attacks.”

“As America has taken the measure of these men, they have looked at their judgments on the campaign trail. One picked one of the strongest candidates for vice president he could’ve picked in the United States. The other didn’t,” she said.

That's what we need to hear. Hold nothing back. We need to crush them -- up and down the ticket. Crush them.

Crowds of 100,000 in St. Louis and 75,000 in Kansas City. In Missouri. Keep this up for 16 more days and we will change the world.

Robin Carnahan, Missouri's most excellent Secretary of State, was on the stage in St. Louis yesterday. The Brennan Center reported Missouri was one of the best prepared states for the election, which has to do a lot with its Secretary of State. She sent us a couple pictures she took from the stage and press risers:


One historical note via Robin: The court house in the background was the site of Dred Scott trial, which ultimately led to the arguably one of the worst decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court:

In its 1857 decision that stunned the nation, the United States Supreme Court upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. All of this was the result of an April 1846 action when Dred Scott innocently made his mark with an "X," signing his petition in a pro forma freedom suit, initiated under Missouri law, to sue for freedom in the St. Louis Circuit Court. Desiring freedom, his case instead became the lightning rod for sectional bitterness and hostility that was only resolved by war.

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Obama raised record $150 million in September with 632,000 new donors

Bumped: John first put this up at 6:28 a.m.

Wow. I had to post this, as I just woke up and heard this via an Obama video. Wow. I know this is a record, but I suspect Joe will weigh in shortly and let us know how big a deal this really is.

UPDATE from Joe: This is nothing short of stunning. For the past week or so, there was a lot of speculation that the Obama campaign might have broken $100 million, which would have been a huge accomplishment. The biggest month before this was the $66 million raised in August. According to the campaign, there were 632,000 new donors, bringing the total number of people who contributed to the campaign to 3.1 million. Average contribution is $86.

My guess is the money started pouring in during the Republican convention and never stopped. Sarah Palin did a lot to help. Keep in mind, September was a trying month. McCain surged into the lead after his convention and kept it for much of the month. That helped to invigorate our side, too.

Given the onslaught of negative, vicious attacks on Obama, he'll need every cent of this -- and more. This is going to make the Republicans even crazier. But, it also has to be demoralizing. They're usually the ones with more money and this must feel like a tidal wave of cash pouring over them. It is a tidal wave of support that can crush the GOP.

The decision to forsake the public campaign finance system was one of the best moves the Obama campaign made. It made Senator Cranky even crankier -- and annoyed some of the pundits, like David Broder, who love and adore Senator Cranky. But, it was a brilliant move.

Over $150 million. Wow. Just wow.

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BREAKING: Colin Powell endorses Obama

UPDATE: From the Daily Shocker:

How long until the McCain campaign reminds us he’s Black?

UPDATE: AP has quotes:

"I firmly believe that at this point in America's history, we need a president that will not just continue, even with a new face and with the changes and with some maverick aspects, who will not just continue basically the policies that we have been following in recent years," Powell said.

"I think we need a transformational figure. I think we need a president who is a generational change and that's why I'm supporting Barack Obama, not out of any lack of respect or admiration for Sen. John McCain."

....Powell said McCain has been a good friend for 25 years. But Powell expressed disappointment in the negative tone of McCain's campaign, as well as in his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

"I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States," Powell said.

Watching NBC's Meet the Press - Tom Brokaw is killing me - he totally buried the lede, asking Powell about the economy and generic issues first. Now we're finally on to the question of the Presidential race (all quotes are quick verbatims, not exact quotes):

• Powell was concerned about McCain's response to the economic crisis.
  
• About Palin: I don't believe Sarah Palin is ready.  The choice of her as VP raises questions about McCain's judgment.
  
• Powell was angry about the Bill Ayers and how it was used by the McCain camapign and the Republican party. 
  
• Supreme Court "I would have difficult with two more (conservative) appointments to the Supreme Court"
  
• On the use of religion as a divisive issue in : "We have got to stop polarizing ourselves this way"
  

Based on these issues, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama - here's the video:



UPDATE from Joe: I'm watching MSNBC. "Meet the Press" isn't on in D.C. til 10:30. At 9:10 a.m., Brian DeBose from the Moonie Times was being interviewed. He said "I don't expect Colin Powell to endorse either candidate." A couple minutes later, the anchor announced the breaking news that Powell was endorsing (which I had already learned from Rob via instant message.) DeBose then had to admit it was "huge." He thinks it will help Obama in Virginia and with military voters. Just one of those fun moments when a reporter from the right wing had to eat crow. Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

So, the big question is what Colin Powell has to say. That'll be the news from the shows today -- not McCain appearing on FOX. That McCain still has to show up on FOX to win over Republicans says a lot about the state of his campaign. It's the t.v. equivalent of campaigning in red states like Virginia, Indiana and North Carolina.

Besides that lots of surrogates. Newt gets solo billing on "This Week." That will be painful. No doubt he'll be in rare form. (He's smarter than everyone, you know.)

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Newt Gingrich, former GOP speaker of the House.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Virginia Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.; Missouri Republican Gov. Matt Blunt; former Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.; Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., House minority whip; former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani; Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala.; Ed Lazear, chairman, White House Council on Economic Advisers.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

16 days. Read More......

OPEC suggests "significant" cut in oil production

Well yippee for them. The longer we delay investing in alternative energies, the longer we will be held hostage by the oil producing states. At this point I hope that Obama launches an even more aggressive plan to invest in energy for the future and let OPEC rot on the vine. It's going to take years before we see any results but the longer we delay, the more of this rubbish we're going to hear. Failure to act aggressively and act now means lost jobs, lost position of market leadership and more of the same from OPEC in the future. Big Oil hates change because their business is oil, not alternative energy. They need to be kept out of the process and out of ownership or purchase of any of the companies in this market or else they will do what they always do, which is buy, bury and kill progress.

OPEC oil producers will cut oil supplies when they meet next week in Vienna and "the reduction must be significant," the group's president, Chakib Khelil, was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"There will be a reduction of the output and the reduction must be significant to restore the balance between supply and demand," Algerian state news agenyc APS quoted Khelil as telling reporters.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold an emergency meeting on Oct. 24 in Vienna to discuss the impact of economic weakness on oil markets.

Pressure is mounting within OPEC to reduce supplies as oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent from July's record of $147.27 and expectations have grown that a global recession will erode fuel demand.

"If the cut is 1.5 million barrels per day, then it will be 1.5 million barrels. If it is 2.0 million barrels per day, it will be 2.0 million barrels per day," added Khelil, who is also Algeria's energy and mining minister.

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Failed harvest and failed policy puts Zimbabwe on verge of massive starvation

The power sharing deal between Robert Mugabe (brutal dictator for decades) and opposition member Morgan Tsvangirai was a bad idea when Thabo Mbeki created the arrangement and it's no better today. Morgan Tsvangirai won the election but was forced into agreeing to a power-sharing deal with the man who has controlled every inch of the government. As long as Robert Mugabe has any connection to the government and is not prosecuted for crimes against humanity, nothing will change in Zimbabwe. Nothing.

Aid experts are warning that millions of Zimbabwe's people face starvation as the country's political leaders remain deadlocked over a power-sharing deal and the economy heads for total collapse.

While officials of the Southern African Development Community prepare for a meeting tomorrow in Swaziland, where they will try to persuade President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders to resume negotiations, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned that the number of Zimbabweans needing food aid is expected to double by early next year, to just over five million. The UN has appealed for an extra $140m (£81m) to deal with the crisis.

Richard Lee, a WFP spokesman in Johannesburg, said the organisation was already giving emergency food aid to 2.5 million people in Zimbabwe after the failure of this year's maize harvest. On top of erratic weather, which resulted in droughts in some areas and flooding in others, there were shortages of seed and fertilisers. The government, which buys all grain production, had also failed to set a price that would encourage farmers to grow more than they needed for their own families.

But the "worst thing", the WFP official added, was the decision of Mr Mugabe's government to ban all foreign aid work for three months earlier this year, during the violence-racked second round of the presidential election. The ban was lifted at the end of August. "This delayed the launch of our programme to feed some 1.7 million people," Mr Lee told The Independent on Sunday. "They were more vulnerable as a result."

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Slow Sunday start

One of my favorite things to do on Sunday mornings is to stroll over to rue Daguerre and check out what's for sale at the produce stands and then grab a coffee at the corner cafe. It's been months since we've seen anything on sale though, but plenty of price increases. We still buy, but definitely less than before.

Last night we dropped into one of the big department stores since it's a sale week (sales here are very structured, unlike in America) and Joelle had been waiting since August to purchase something that was scheduled to be on sale for 50% off. Wow, the places were empty. A few people walking around but very few buyers out there, for good reason.

I'm brewing up some coffee now... Read More......

This woman wants to be your vice president

UPDATE: NBC removed the YouTube video. It was, after all, only a candidate for vice president making a total fool of herself. But, that was entertainment for them, not news. See Sarah Palin has blown off the NBC news team. She only does comedy on that network. So we have to watch their embed, which is now below:
_________________________
I actually found it shocking that Sarah Palin participated in this skit -- and I have a pretty high tolerance. I can't believe the campaign let her do it. But, then again, I can't believe the campaign lets her lie and foment violence either. I can't help but think that it's not really what we'd expect from someone who is one heartbeat (or one melanoma) away from the presidency -- especially when that someone is Sarah Palin and there are already very serious concerns about her capacities:

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