We just attacked Syria

And seriously, it's only a coincidence that Bush is risking a war one week away from the election with McCain down in the polls. Pathetic. What's left in his bag of tricks - National Guard gonna call off the elections due to rain?

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Police Suspicious of McCain Worker Mugging Story All Along

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Around 6PM tonight we got our 100 millionth visitor

Was it you?

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After trashing Obama and the Democrats for months and at the GOP convention, Lieberman tries to re-write history. He's despicable.

Joe Lieberman sees the writing on the wall. His gamble failed. Not only is his candidate going to lose badly, the Democrats are going to pick up a lot of seats in the Senate. Lieberman's days of power are numbered. So, via Steve Benen, we learn he's trying to make nice. There are few characters in politics who are as loathsome as Lieberman. And, he's showing the world just what a fraud he is. Now, Joe is telling the media that he said nice things about Obama:

"When I go out, I say, 'I have a lot of respect for Sen. Obama. He's bright. He's eloquent.'"

Is Lieberman really so arrogant that he thinks the rest of us are stupid?

When Lieberman addressed his fellow Republicans at the Republican convention, he did say:

Senator Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who I think can do great things for our country in the years ahead.

In Lieberman's rewrite of history, he stopped there. But, he didn't, of course. Lieberman went on to trash Obama to his new friends at the Republican convention:

But my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record, not in these tough times for America.

In the -- in the Senate, during the three-and-a-half years that Senator Obama's been a member, he has not reached across party lines to accomplish anything significant, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic Party to get something done. And I just ask you to contrast that with John McCain's record of independence and bipartisanship.

But let me go one further -- and this may make history here at this Republican Convention. Let me -- (laughs) -- let me contrast Barack Obama's record to the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups, worked with Republicans, and got some important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements and a balanced budget.

Joe had to "go one further." Oh yeah, Lieberman also added this particularly nasty misrepresentation:

And this is especially true, of course, because we are a nation at war. We need a president we can count on to fight for what's right for our country not only when it's easy, but when it's hard. And I was there, so I can tell you, when others were silent about the war in Iraq, John McCain had the guts and the judgment to sound the alarm about the mistakes we were making in Iraq. (Applause.) You know, when others wanted to retreat in defeat from the field of battle, which would have been a disaster for the USA; when colleagues like Barack Obama were voting to cut off funding for our American troops on the battlefield -- (boos) -- John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion, advocate the sure, support the surge.

Yeah, that was very respectful of Obama. That speech at the GOP convention should have confirmed Lieberman's one-way ticket out of the Democratic caucus. He wasn't just trashing Obama, he was trashing the rest of the Senate Democrats, too. Clearly, Lieberman wants to keep his committee chairmanship. The Senate Democrats can't let that happen.

Maybe Lindsey Graham will still be Joe's friend. Read the rest of this post...

Obama delivers the closing argument for change tomorrow

Tomorrow, with just eight days left til election day, Barack Obama will lay out his closing argument to the American people.

From the Obama campaign:

Tomorrow in Canton, OH, Senator Obama caps off a nearly two year campaign with a closing argument speech that lays out the choice in this election and details how he will fix our economy and bring the change we need to Washington.

In his speech, Senator Obama will tell voters that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Obama will ask Americans to help him change this country, and say that in just one week, they can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up, they can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids and renewable energy for our future, and they can choose hope over fear, unity over division and the promise of change over the power of the status quo.

It's been a very long campaign. Obama has stayed steady and focused. He's ready to lead. This next week will no doubt be intense. But, tomorrow, we'll hear the final message that will lead us to the change we need.

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McCain disses importance of keeping nuclear power safe

Ask anyone in that crowd if they want a nuclear plant in their backyard.

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Yepsen on "the looming Obama-Harkin landslide" in Iowa

Another gift to McCain and Palin as they campaign in Iowa from one of that state's top political reporters, David Yepsen:

That popping sound you hear is the sound of the rural Republican base cracking under John McCain.

A Center for Rural Strategies poll released last week found Democrat Barack Obama leads McCain 46 percent to 45 percent among rural voters in 13 battleground states, including Iowa.

That's amazing. Ordinarily, a Republican presidential candidate should expect to carry the voters from small towns, farms and ranches by double-digit margins. In 2004, these rural battleground areas went for George W. Bush by 15 percentage points....

Then on Thursday, Iowa Republican U.S. Senate candidate Christopher Reed called Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin a "Tokyo Rose" and accused him of giving "aid and comfort" to the enemy.

Most of us thought the anti-American rhetoric in this country died out when Joe McCarthy hit the bottom of his bottle back in the 1950s. But Reed becomes the third GOP candidate in recent days to traffic in such language, and it just doesn't work. Like $150,000 wardrobes, it backfires. But it does reflect the growing desperation in Republican circles.

Harkin told Reed "you're a nice young man and I thought you had a political future ahead of you, but that just ended your political career right there" and walked away.

Add this all up, and the only questions that remain are how many other Republican careers the looming Obama-Harkin landslide will end. Will it enable Becky Greenwald to oust Congressman Tom Latham? Will it enable Democrats to win more than 60 Iowa House seats?

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Des Moines Register endorses Obama

A gift to McCain and Palin today as they campaign in Iowa from the DMR

McCain has run erratic, disappointing campaign....

[I]t's as if McCain has lost his way, forfeiting principle for gain of a few points in the polls. He put on hold his long-sought quest for comprehensive immigration reform. Though widely regarded as a man of honor, he has overseen a campaign premised on purposeful distortions about Obama and his record.

Worst of all, in grasping for political edge in his choice of a running mate, he burdened his ticket and potentially the country with an individual utterly unqualified to ascend to the presidency. Before choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain emphasized the importance of experience and sound judgment in fighting terrorism and confronting a restive Russia and a rising China. He has also questioned Obama's readiness to be commander in chief. Then he picked a running mate who clearly isn't ready.

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Over 100,000 at Obama rally in Denver today

Another wow event. The Rocky Mountain News liveblogged Obama's event in Denver this afternoon:

Denver police are estimating rally attendance at more than 100,000 people.

That could put today’s crowd here in Denver at the largest ever for an Obama event in the United States. The crowd in St. Louis, which had been the largest, was comprised of about 100,000 people.

Obama had a big day in New Mexico yesterday -- especially compared to McCain:

Via Playbook, a brutal side-by-side yesterday in New Mexico:

Crowd for Senator Obama in Albuquerque, N.M., last night: 35,000 inside the venue and another 10,000-15,000 outside.

Crowd for Senator McCain in Albuquerque, N.M., yesterday: 1,400 according to the McCain campaign, 1,000 or less according to reporters.

Got this photo of Denver from the Obama campaign website:
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McCain says $50,000 of Palin's $150k in clothes have been "given back"

Given back? They bought them, they didn't borrow them - they weren't gifts (or were they?) How do you "give back" clothes that you buy? This doesn't make any sense. Especially since they said the rest of the clothes would be donated to charity, in contrast to those they "gave back." Not to mention, so they kept $100,000 of the clothes? That's frugal? That's better? Read the rest of this post...

John McCain gets beaten up by a girl

And this is the NY Post, a Republican newspaper:

In speeches, Palin has contradicted her running mate's positions on issues, telling a Christian news outlet last week that she would support a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, which McCain opposes.

Though McCain once said he considered Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to be an old issue, this month Palin said, "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more."

Palin also publicly stated that she thought it was a mistake for the campaign to give up on Michigan, and that she thought voters were annoyed by robocalls - which McCain uses extensively.

The last straw for the vice-presidential candidate was the raft of criticism from the $150,000 worth of high-end clothes the Republican National Committee bought her, a campaign source said.

Palin showed how much that gaffe got under her skin yesterday at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, telling the crowd she'd stepped off the plane and donned a warm, cream-colored jacket.

"And it's my own jacket," she said.

A McCain insider told The Post that relations between Palin and some of the campaign aides with her have soured. "She's lost faith with the staff. She knows the $150,000- wardrobe story damaged her," the insider said.

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GOP surrogates agreed: McCain is George Bush

These days, McCain is trying go convince us that he's not George Bush. That was the talking point for the surrogates today on the shows. But, not too long ago, McCain was the heir to the Bush agenda. That's what the surrogates, led by cheerleader-in-chief Lindsey Graham, led us to believe anyway:

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GOP Senator Kyl suggests McCain will lose

Arizona Daily Star.

"Unfortunately, I think John McCain might be added to that long list of Arizonans who ran for president but were never elected," Kyl said, listing Republican Barry Goldwater, Udall and Democrat Bruce Babbitt. "Maybe, we'll be able to say Arizona's the only state where your child can't grow up to be president. Let's hope that doesn't happen," the Republican added.

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Time for Answers

From Josh Marshall at TPM:

It is time for the McCain campaign to come clean about what role any of its staffers may have had in hyping or pushing the press to hype the charges stemming from Ashley Todd's vicious and reprehensible hoax.

As Greg Sargent reported yesterday, McCain Pennsylvania communications director Peter Feldman pushed reporters on a highly incendiary version of Todd's hoax -- providing reporters with quotes from the fictitious attacker and telling them the the "B" scratched on Todd's face stood for "Barack." As the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson aptly put it, Feldman's actions showed "not just a willingness to believe it but an eagerness to incite a ... racial backlash against the Obama campaign."

....Reporters who the McCain camp cannot stonewall need to push for a clear accounting of what happened -- starting by coming clean on Feldman's role. If this were simply some other minor campaign mystery, the sort that is routinely tossed off late in a hard-fought campaign, it might not matter. But the awfulness of what was attempted here makes nothing less than a full accounting necessary.

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Anchorage Daily News endorses Obama: Palin "one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time"

I have really enjoyed reading the Anchorage Daily News for the past several months. It has been a must-read for political junkies. The paper has done great work on Palin and her rise, but the reporters at the ADN have also had their hands full with the scandals and campaigns of Senator Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young. And, there was also that spate of grizzly bear incidents over the summer in Anchorage, which I found riveting. There's a lot going on in the 49th state.

Today, the Anchorage Daily News, the largest paper in Sarah Palin's state, endorsed Barack Obama for President:

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

And, I love the final paragragh from those who know Palin best:

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

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Bush speechwriter/Leading Neocon: It's over for McCain. He's lost and the rest of the Republicans are in big trouble.

David Frum, who was a speechwriter for George Bush and now works at the right wing American Enterprise Institute wrote an op-ed for today's Washington Post. It's a great read. Frum concedes that McCain is going to lose the election. He goes on to offer advice to the rest of the GOP to save itself, but I'm not going to bother with any of that. The best part of the column is Frum's trashing of McCain and Palin and what their campaign has done to the down-ticket races. They're all screwed:

After months and months of wan enthusiasm among Republicans, these last weeks have at last energized the core of the party. But there's a downside: The very same campaign strategy that has belatedly mobilized the Republican core has alienated and offended the great national middle, which was the only place where the 2008 election could have been won.

I could pile up the poll numbers here, but frankly . . . it's too depressing. You have to go back to the Watergate era to see numbers quite so horrible for the GOP.

McCain's awful campaign is having awful consequences down the ballot. I spoke a little while ago to a senior Republican House member. "There is not a safe Republican seat in the country," he warned. "I don't mean that we're going to lose all of them. But we could lose any of them."

In the Senate, things look, if possible, even worse.

The themes and messages that are galvanizing the crowds for Palin are bleeding Sens. John Sununu in New Hampshire, Gordon Smith in Oregon, Norm Coleman in Minnesota and Susan Collins in Maine. The Palin approach might have been expected to work better in more traditionally conservative states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, but they have not worked well enough to compensate for the weak Republican economic message at a moment of global financial crisis. Result: the certain loss of John Warner's Senate seat in Virginia, the probable loss of Elizabeth Dole's in North Carolina, an unexpectedly tough fight for Saxby Chambliss's in Georgia -- and an apparent GOP surrender in Colorado, where it looks as if the National Republican Senatorial Committee has already pulled its ads from the air.

Now, I don't think the poll numbers are depressing at all.

Frum puts most of the blame on McCain -- and Palin. But, all those Republicans have George Bush draped around their necks, too. It's a triple whammy.

As a top guy at AEI, this is Frum sending the message that the Neocon crowd thinks the presidential races is over. That crowd never liked McCain and they're throwing him over the cliff. Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Guess who isn't on the shows today? Yes, the woman described by a McCain aide as a "diva" won't be on the Sunday shows tomorrow, which means she'll never be on the Sunday shows (at least for this election cycle.) Her nemesis, John McCain, will be on Meet the Press with Brokaw.

Besides that, we get a slew of surrogates (and McCain's top cheerleader, Lindsey). Would be nice if Governor Rendell actually made it through an interview without a major gaffe -- and actually told the world unequivocally that Obama is going to win his state. Otherwise, we'll have to deal with that bogus "Pennsylvania is in play" story line for a couple more days. You have to love how the pundits dutifully regurgitated that GOP spin. They can be so gullible. But, it's all the McCain/Palin ticket has (especially since the big hoax pushed so feverishly by the McCain campaign in Pennsylvania was, well, a big hoax.)

I am so over most of the GOP surrogates, especially Heather Wilson. She is beyond annoying. So glad she lost her House seat. After MCain loses, let's hope she fades into oblivion -- or gets hired by FOX, which is the same thing.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Jack Welch, former chief executive of General Electric Co.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Robert Rubin, former Treasury secretary and adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.; Doug Holtz-Eakin, adviser to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Govs. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., and Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" — McCain.

___

CNN's "Late Edition" — Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla., and Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; former Gov. Tom Ridge, R-Pa.

Nine days left.... Read the rest of this post...

Senator Stevens pushed $2.7 million to build road to friend's restaurant

Well, it wouldn't really be fair to ask the Senator to muddy up his car driving to see his old friend.

Just 0.7 miles long, Crow Creek Road isn't a road to nowhere. It runs straight to the Double Musky Inn, a Cajun bistro owned by a Bob Persons, a close friend of Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.

It cost taxpayers $2.7 million to widen and pave that road, and Alaska had higher priorities. But an Associated Press examination of government e-mails and interviews with state transportation officials found that Stevens moved the project to the front of the line.

Persons, owner of the popular watering hole where the Republican senator frequently dines, testified as a defense witness this month in Washington, D.C., where Stevens is on trial for corruption.

"This is a classic pork barrel project," said David Williams, a vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. "It's like 'Hey, if you're my buddy, I'll just get you a few million dollars and make you a road to your restaurant.' "

Details of the Crow Creek deal emerged as Stevens awaits a verdict in his trial. He is charged with lying on Senate financial disclosure forms about gifts, including more than $250,000 in home improvements to his cabin, not far from the Double Musky.

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50% of Voters Believe Ayers Issue Has Hurt McCain Campaign

Worst. Presidential Candidate. Ever.

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Media starts to wake up to Wall Street bonuses and pay - it hasn't changed

You would hardly know that Wall Street had to be nationalized and saved from failure by the look of change, or lack thereof. Andrew Cuomo has been leading but Congress has to quit being shy about this and step up. Wall Street is used to getting everything it wants and shy doesn't work. The day we bailed out this sorry lot is the day the rules changed, so it's silly not to exert the power that exists.

Despite the Wall Street meltdown, the nation's biggest banks are preparing to pay their workers as much as last year or more, including bonuses tied to personal and company performance.

So far this year, nine of the largest U.S. banks, including some that have cut thousands of jobs, have seen total costs for salaries, benefits and bonuses grow by an average of 3 percent from a year ago, according to an Associated Press review.

"Taxpayers have lost their life savings, and now they are being asked to bail out corporations," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said of the AP findings. "It's adding insult to injury to continue to pay outsized bonuses and exorbitant compensation."

Banks will decide what to pay out in bonuses in the coming months. Just because they've been accruing money for incentive pay doesn't mean they will pay it out in full.

Riiiggghhhhtttt. It's pretty simple to understand. If Congress wimps out and does nothing (a model which exists today) Wall Street won't skip a beat and they will pay. If Congress uses its authority to control the discussion - as is should - Wall Street will back down from spending the $70 billion - yes, $70 billion - they intend to pay out for 2008. To hell with this ridiculous "shame" approach and start acting like grownups. Wall Street doesn't understand the meaning of shame. Read the rest of this post...

McCain's plan to win PA includes nasty GOP smear with warning about another Holocaust

McCain is desperate, desperate to convince everyone that Pennsylvania is in play. We saw from the Ashley Todd hoax that the McCain crew in Pennsylvania will try anything. You'd think they'd have learned something from Ms. Todd. But, it's getting even worse.

The Pennsylvania Republicans sent out a viciously nasty e-mail to Jewish voters. Knowing the McCain campaign modus operandi, the disavowal rings hollow. Really hollow:

Pennsylvania Republicans are disavowing an e-mail sent to Jewish voters that likens a vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to events that led up to the Holocaust.

''Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008,'' the e-mail reads. ''Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake. Let's not make a similar one this year!''

A copy of the e-mail, provided by Democratic officials, says it was ''Paid for by the Republican Federal Committee of PA - Victory 2008.''

It warns ''Fellow Jewish Voters'' of the danger of a second Holocaust due to the threats to Israel from its neighbors and touts Republican presidential candidate John McCain's qualifications over those of Obama.

How low can they go? That's the question for the next 10 days. It's going to get even worse. These people are despicable. The fall guy claims the e-mail was, in fact, authorized:

Political consultant Bryan Rudnick was identified as the person responsible for it. Rudnick, reached Saturday night, confirmed that he no longer works for the party, which employed him a few weeks ago as a consultant to do outreach to Jewish voters.

''I had authorization from party officials'' to send the e-mail, Rudnick said, but he declined to say who had signed off on it. ''I'm not looking to drag anyone else through the mud, so I'm not naming names right now,'' he said.

Yeah, it's okay to lie and smear Obama, but protect your fellow Republicans. What a slimy bunch. Read the rest of this post...