McClatchy

Daring to utter the 'L' word: Obama on track to a landslide

WASHINGTON -- Barring a dramatic change in the political landscape over the next three weeks, Democrats appear headed toward a decisive victory on Election Day that would give them broad power over the federal government.

The victory would send Barack Obama to the White House and give him larger Democratic majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate -- and perhaps a filibuster-proof margin there.

That could mark a historic realignment of the country's politics on a scale with 1932 or 1980, when the out party was given power it held for a generation, and used it to transform government's role in American society.

Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, is now well positioned to win the Electoral College. He's comfortably holding most of the "blue" states that went for Democrats Al Gore and John Kerry in past elections, polls show, and he's gaining momentum to take away several "red" states that have voted Republican in recent elections, including Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Virginia.

The Democrats are also widely expected to take big gains in House and Senate races. Like Obama, they're reaching deep into once solid Republican territory. Even such stalwarts as North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, could be in jeopardy.

Former Reagan political adviser Ed Rollins likened today's landscape to that in 1980, when voters were angry at President Jimmy Carter and the Democrats and turned to Reagan in droves once they felt comfortable with the idea of him as president.

"Barack has met the threshold," Rollins said. "Once Reagan met the threshold, people wanted to get rid of Carter and they did in a landslide. This is going to turn into a landslide."
"This election right now is exclusively about economy," said independent analyst Charlie Cook. "Despite the fact that the House and Senate are in Democratic hands, Republicans seem to have total ownership of the problem. Fair or not, it's true."

It's also made it much more difficult for Republican John McCain to score with his escalating attacks on Obama for his ties to such controversial figures as William Ayers, a former member of a violent Vietnam-era protest group. "You can't break through with the economy being so overwhelming," Rollins said. "No one cares."

Obama's strength is evident on the political map.

Related: Election Maps at The Cook Political Report

Current Outlook at October 8, 2008:

"It would take a major external event, the proverbial October Surprise, to shift the spotlight to national security or some other subject that would allow McCain to highlight his strengths. At this stage, the most relevant question would seem to be: "How big will the train wreck be for the Republican Party up and down the ballot in November." Obama currently has a 260 to 163 Electoral vote edge, with 115 Electoral votes in the Toss Up column. 270 are needed to win."

FiveThirtyEight Daily Electoral Projections at 10/11

In my view, we've had our October surprise. WMFDs - weapons of mass financial destruction - otherwise known as Derivatives. A small handful in the category of CDS toxic bonds - credit default swaps - exploded. BushPaulson allowed the Lehman Investment Bank to fail, now seen as a huge mistake, that left unintended consequences.

What could be more scary than total financial collapse,  the stock market crashs with world leader floating the likely closure of banks and stock markets for one week, pensions and jobs at peril?  But I digress.

Many, including moi, are outright skeptics. How reliable are these Polls.?  How will the issue of race play in the voting booth?

Last week we received heavy doses of hate and incitement from Mr. and Mrs John George Wallace McPalin.

You  bet apologies are in the mail.

But let's keep your eye on `That One'  

Never underestimate a  Community Organizer.  

It is said Jesus was a community organizer; he stirred the you know what. Pretty soon he had twelve team members that grew to thousands and then millions.

As Wapo observes, even from Karl Rove, our No:1 enemy, there are a few useful lessons.  

MSNBC links

Obama camp relying heavily on ground effort

Campaign borrowing from top GOP strategist Karl Rove's 2004 playbook

In 2004, Democrats watched as any chance of defeating President Bush slipped away in a wave of Republican turnout that exceeded even the goal-beating numbers that their own side had produced.

Four years later, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign intends to avoid a repeat by building an organization modeled in part on what Karl Rove used to engineer Bush's victory: a heavy reliance on local volunteers to pitch to their own neighbors, micro-targeting techniques to identify persuadable independents and Republicans using consumer data, and a focus on exurban and rural areas.

But in scale and ambition, the Obama organization goes beyond even what Rove built.

The campaign has used its record-breaking fundraising to open more than 700 offices in more than a dozen battleground states, pay several thousand organizers and manage tens of thousands more volunteers.

A few days ago BooMan called us to own a piece of history. Don't be a spectator.

You can help without leaving home. Or even in your neighborhood

I'm leaning to the view, we need not be concerned over the Diebolds and the vote count. Events have unfolded as they should.  This is one election the Repugs are praying they'll lose. They own this financial meltdown and haven't got the stomach or the nugs to clean it up. It's at saturation point as only Bush knows how.

World trade has been disrupted.

Next up. Shortages.

This economic mess won't be resolved before November 4, 2008. It exploded on Bush's watch and on January 20, 2009, it'll become the burden of 'That One'

Reuters:

Breaking News

Alaska ethics probe report says Governor Sarah Palin "abused" her power in order to benefit personal interests

Developing....,

Alaska ethics probe finds Palin abused her power

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - An Alaska ethics inquiry found that Gov. Sarah Palin, the U.S. Republican vice presidential candidate, abused the power of her office by dismissing the state's public safety commissioner, a report released on Friday said.

The investigation centered on whether the firing of the state's public safety commissioner was linked to Palin's personal feud with a state trooper who was involved in a contentious divorce with the governor's sister.

More soon.

Enjoy the McCain camp spin. Earlier today the McCain-Palin camp made available their version of events with a complaint from Sarah Palin - she was never interviewed.

[UPDATE: link to the Full Text of The Alaska Ethics Probe Report (263 of 1300 pages) provided by Connecticut Man1] The interview of witnesses:

.PDF:

Stephen Branchflower Report To The Legislative Council

Nixon, Reagan and Bush II are all from the same cloth; Abuse of Power.

For Palin and other wingnuts this report will be worn as a badge of honor.

The old adage. "If you live in a glass house  - Never, never point fingers or throw stones at your opponent when there are skeletons more damning in your closet.

We've found McCain's house No: 9 - It's all glass.

(H/T: Huffpost - a repost link to AP story)

What do we have here?

McCain sat on Board of Radical Group

Why McCain's Time With Council of World Freedom Matters

"John McCain sat on the board of...the U.S. Council for World Freedom," said Begala, "The Anti-Defamation League, in 1981 when McCain was on the board, said this about this organization. It was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League - the parent organization - which ADL said 'has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and anti-Semites.'"

But McCain's involvement in the U.S. Council for World Freedom, which extended from 1981 through, possibly, 1986 is significant -- not merely because it ties him to unsavory characters but because it firmly associates him with a foreign policy that was, at the time and still, controversial.

"I didn't know that [McCain had] served on the board," said Shannon O'Neil Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is a little bit surprising to me. But all of those organizations did come from the Republican side mostly. Often the people were tied to the military and they saw the world in black and white terms... My impression is [McCain] still sees the world in back and white."

[.]

AP: link

"McCain linked to private group, an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America."

WASHINGTON -- GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona. Singlaub said McCain was a supporter but not an active member in the group.

"McCain was a new guy on the block learning the ropes," Singlaub told The Associated Press in an interview. "I think I met him in the Washington area when he was just a new congressman. We had McCain on the board to make him feel like he wasn't left out. It looks good to have names on a letterhead who are well-known and appreciated.

"I don't recall talking to McCain at all on the work of the group," Singlaub said.

The renewed attention over McCain's association with Singlaub's group comes as McCain's campaign steps up criticism of Obama's dealings with William Ayers, a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground and years later worked on education reform in Chicago alongside Obama. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for public office in the mid-1990s.

[.]

The renewed attention over McCain's association with Singlaub's group comes as McCain's campaign steps up criticism of Obama's dealings with William Ayers, a college professor who co-founded the Weather Underground and years later worked on education reform in Chicago alongside Obama. Ayers held a meet-the-candidate event at his home when Obama first ran for public office in the mid-1990s.

Obama was roughly 8 years old when Ayers, now at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was working with the Weather Underground, which took responsibility for bombings that included nonfatal blasts at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol. McCain's vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, has said that Obama "pals around with terrorists."

Months before the cutoff, top Reagan administration officials ramped up a secret White House-directed supply network and put National Security Council aide Oliver North in charge of running it. The goal was to keep the Contras operational until Congress could be persuaded to resume CIA funding.

Singlaub's private group became the public cover for the White House operation.

Secretly, Singlaub worked with North in an effort to raise millions of dollars from foreign governments.

McCain has said previously he resigned from the council in 1984 and asked in 1986 to have his name removed from the group's letterhead.

"I didn't know whether (the group's activity) was legal or illegal, but I didn't think I wanted to be associated with them," McCain said in a newspaper interview in 1986.

Singlaub does not recall any McCain resignation in 1984 or May 1986. Nor does Joyce Downey, who oversaw the group's day-to-day activities.

At least Mr. Ayers is rehabilitated. Is McCain?

Now, in this season of electioneering it's guilt by association. I'm eager for McCain's response to this little reminder of his past links to death squads, racists and anti-Semites.

Palin's stunning performance BooMan observes - a performance that left him feeling stupid - but,

"Sarah Palin was propped up by written responses"

Can we have a debate without props or cheating?

Why was this allowed?

Thinkprogress provides this Video

Sarah Palin Read Her Answers in Last Night's Debate

For Sarah Palin, last night's debate was an open-book exam. She spent much of the evening methodically reading and rehearsing answers from "carefully scripted talking points." Palin's notes were largely hidden from plain view, resting behind the lectern where she stood.

Because the cable and network television stations did not show a split screen of the debate, most viewers could not see that, during Joe Biden's answers, Palin spent almost all her time looking down and studiously reading her notes. But viewers did see that when Palin delivered her answers, she would repeatedly glance down to check her talking points.

ThinkProgress has compiled a video documenting some of the instances where it was clear to the audience that Palin was propped up by written responses. Watch a video compilation:

[.] Video at link at link above

Politico reports that "on at least ten occasions, Palin gave answers that were nonspecific, completely generic, pivoted away from the question at hand, or simply ignored it: on global warming, an Iraq exit strategy, Iran and Pakistan, Iranian diplomacy, Israel-Palestine (and a follow-up), the nuclear trigger, interventionism, Cheney's vice presidency and her own greatest weakness."

[.]

(highlights added)

Hey, all the propping won't make her ready in the next four weeks or the next six months.

TPM: notes conservatives are raising the white flag "One thing to watch for: Prominent conservatives essentially conceding that the race is over."

In Wapo -Krauthammer:

Krauthammer's Hail Mary Rule: You get only two per game. John McCain, unfortunately, has already thrown three. The first was his bet on the surge, a deep pass to David Petraeus who miraculously ran it all the way into the end zone.

[.]

Then, seeking a game-changer after the Democratic convention, McCain threw blind into the end zone to a waiting Sarah Palin. She caught the ball. Her subsequent fumbles have taken the sheen off of that play, but she nonetheless invaluably solidifies his Republican base.

When the financial crisis hit, McCain went razzle-dazzle again, suspending his campaign and declaring that he'd stay away from the first presidential debate until the financial crisis was solved.

He tempted fate one time too many. After climbing up on his high horse, McCain had to climb down. The crisis unresolved, he showed up at the debate regardless, rather abjectly conceding Obama's mocking retort that presidential candidates should be able to do "more than one thing at once." (Although McCain might have pointed out that while he was trying to do two things, Obama was sitting on the sidelines doing one thing only: campaigning.)

[.]

In the primary campaign, Obama was cool as in hip. Now Obama is cool as in collected. He has the discipline to let slow and steady carry him to victory.

[.]

He's been moderate in policy and temper ever since. His one goal: Pass the Reagan '80 threshold. Be acceptable, be cool, be reassuring.

Part of reassurance is intellectual. Like Palin, he's a rookie, but in his 19 months on the national stage he has achieved fluency in areas in which he has no experience. In the foreign policy debate with McCain, as in his July news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama held his own -- fluid, familiar and therefore plausibly presidential.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously said of Franklin Roosevelt that he had a "second-class intellect, but a first-class temperament." Obama has shown that he is a man of limited experience, questionable convictions, deeply troubling associations (Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, Tony Rezko) and an alarming lack of self-definition -- do you really know who he is and what he believes? Nonetheless, he's got both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament. That will likely be enough to make him president.

One of the few times I agree with Krauthammer. With what's ahead, we'll need an FDR...not a McBushCheney or a "Bush in a skirt"

It was a ploy.

The Minnesota Independent reports getting hold of the GOP Memo: 'McCain-Palin TIME OUT' sent to the wrong list.

....talking points accidentally sent out by a GOP spokesperson on how to discuss the suspension of McCain's campaign. The memo, titled "TALKING POINTS: SUSPENDING THE CAMPAIGN," was sent out in error to the entire Colorado media list by McCain represenative Tom Kise. It includes his warning: "Please do not proactively reach out to the media on this."

According to PolitickerCO's Jeremy Pelzer, Kise wasn't pleased when he discovered that the list, meant only for volunteers, was so widely distributed. "F*ck, tell me I didn't send it to the wrong list," he reportedly said. The eight-point memo begins:

    ~ To address our nation's financial crisis, John McCain will suspend his campaign and return to Washington. He has spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of his decision and asked Senator Obama to join him. The campaign is suspending its advertising and fundraising.    

Obama, in a press conference Wednesday, agreed that "there are times for politics and there are times to rise above politics and do what's right," but says the debate must go on: "This is exactly the time when people need to hear from the candidates."

The Obama campaign contests the McCain camp's assertion that the Republican candidate had "asked Senator Obama to join him," -- as the talking points state -- saying it was Obama who initiated the communication about joint action on the economic crisis.

[.]

(highlights added)

Sounds a bit more than a simple postponement of the debate. Why suspend advertising and fundraising?

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) told BloombergTV last night, "a deal is 98% done and Bush is trying to help out McCain by parachuting him into to the middle of negotiation which will slow things down"

I may add, slowing down negotiations will give McCain his rationale for postponing the debates.

McCain stated his ultimatum. "No bailout deal by Friday, no debate.  As Obama pointed out, We both have jets to fly in for the debates and back to DC.

The University of Mississippi, host of the debate on Friday, is reported as stating the debate will be held. Obama has said he'll be at his podium.
The VP debate is scheduled for October 2. Senator Lindsey Graham told CNN that too is to be postponed.

As for the McCain's ploy of "postponing the debates" Bloomberg reported on historians noting "that the Civil War, the Great Depression and World War II didn't prompt suspensions of presidential campaigns.

This is the real McCain. Reckless. A cowardly hero who can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

Updates below.

The other shoe drops.

CNN is told the McCain camp is proposing the VP debate be postponed or rescheduled. U of Miss says Friday's debate IS On. McCain says No Bailout deal, No debate on Friday..Developing.

The original McCain ploy.

McCain Ask To Postpone Friday Debate Due To Economic Crisis

NEW YORK -- Republican John McCain says he's directing his staff to work with Barack Obama's campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday's debate because of the economic crisis.

In a statement, McCain says he will stop campaigning after addressing former President Bill Clinton's Global Initiative session on Thursday and return to Washington to focus on the nation's financial problems.

McCain also said he wants President Bush to convene a leadership meeting in Washington. Both he and Obama would attend the session.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Republican presidential candidate John McCain met Wednesday with a panel of business executives to seek their opinions on the Bush administration's proposed $700 million bailout of U.S. financial markets.

McCain said he wanted to discuss "how we can make sure that the American people regain confidence on Main Street so that they can regain their confidence in Wall Street and in Washington."

McCain renewed his insistence that the bailout deal have greater transparency, oversight and CEO accountability to make it acceptable to voters.

"Most Americans feel very strongly this isn't their fault. It's Wall Street and Washington and the cozy insider relationships that have caused a great part of the problems," he said.

Soon, in another  two weeks, McCain will request the election be postponed canceled.

[UPDATE:]

ABC NEWS McCain: Scrap Friday Debate for Bailout; Obama Camp: 'The Debate is On'

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and Rick Klein report: Sen. John McCain on Wednesday said he would “suspend” his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill, a dramatic move designed to seize a powerful issue. However a senior Obama campaign official said Obama "intends to debate." "The debate is on," a senior Obama campaign official told ABC News. [.]

CNN:McCain says No Bailout deal by Friday No Debate. The University of Mississipi and Obama campaign says the Debate IS on

A presidential campaign that has already seen its share of twists took another one today: Republican candidate John McCain said he was suspending his campaign to deal with the nation's economic crisis. McCain also said he would not attend Friday night's debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama unless an economic bailout deal is reached by then. developing story

but we learn via Andrew Sullivan the other shoe drops McCain camp to propose postponing VP debate

From CNN Correspondent Dana Bash

Biden and Palin are set to debate October 2.

(CNN) — McCain supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham tells CNN the McCain campaign is proposing to the Presidential Debate Commission and the Obama camp that if there's no bailout deal by Friday, the first presidential debate should take the place of the VP debate, currently scheduled for next Thursday, October 2 in St. Louis. In this scenario, the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin would be rescheduled for a date yet to be determined, and take place in Oxford, Mississippi, currently slated to be the site of the first presidential faceoff this Friday. [.]

What has happened to this country?

BOHICA  - bend over, here it comes again.

But. We've gone too far.

Steven Waldman provides this high noon must read piece.

"Doug Kmiec is a conservative Reagan administration official and leading pro-life legal scholar. Despite his strong anti-abortion views, he recently endorsed Barack Obama on the grounds that Obama cared more about the full range of "life" issues - including poverty and human rights - and because Kmiec believes that Obama's "abortion reduction" agenda will have more impact on abortion in the short run than the traditional battles against Roe v. Wade.

He was attacked by conservative Catholics and Republicans and was even denied communion from his church, a moment he describes here in an excerpt from his new book, Can a Catholic Support Him?:"

Here's Douglas Kmiec's account of his being denied communion because he publicly stated his intent to vote for Barack Obama (H/t: Andrew Sullivan)

The Day I Was Denied Communion for Endorsing Obama, by Douglas Kmiec

April 2008. On that day the children were not with us [at church]. It was only my wife Carol and myself. I turned out to be the subject of the homily. Without warning or prior conversation, this blue-collar kid from Chicago had somehow given offense not just to this priest who stood before me, but in my memory, which was now running at top speed, to all those watchful religious eyes: to the good Franciscan sisters who watched the Kmiec brothers play basketball beneath the convent window; to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who instructed us in black-and-white from the old 6" Philco as we sat upon the living room couch; to my school days pastor who, on May 7, 1959, distributed Communion to me for the first time; to the Bishop whose hands confirmed my membership in the body of Christ in 1963; to Brother Konrad Diebold, F.S.C, the Christian Brother who led us in prayer in high school chapel....A litany of saints, these splendid women and men of the cloth. ...

Until that evening, when all was revoked.

Suddenly the life-long chain of liturgy was broken into pieces. The priest--the priest who had just joined with us in the prayer of the Rosary was now red-faced shouting. I thought. Talking about me. I had cooperated with evil. I had?....

My wife held my hand tightly. We looked at each other in disbelief. Here was someone in the vestments of the priesthood who had called us to have our prayers be heard, who recited the Kyrie with us, asking the Lord's mercy upon us, now seemingly merciless, telling me and the many there assembled that I was unworthy. I was to be publicly shunned and humiliated. My offense? Endorsing Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.

The irony of ironies was that my motivation for the endorsement was entirely Catholic. No, Obama doesn't share the Catholic faith, but he certainly campaigns like he does. As reflected in his book, the Senator is focused on the human person, on the common good, on the social justice of economic arrangement. All is so very Catholic.

[.]

It was time for Communion. Notwithstanding the indictment of the homily, I did not think of myself as unworthy of receipt of the sacrament--at least no more so than pre-Obama endorsement. Communion in the Catholic tradition is indeed sacred....

But I was not to receive the Eucharist that evening. The couples who stood in line before my wife and myself received the body of Christ in their hands or on their tongues and returned to their seats. My wife received. My hand outstretched, the priest shook his head from side to side. Was that a no? It was Judgment Day, and I hadn't made it. LSAT Insufficient. Inadequate GPA. Do not pass GO...go directly to Hell.

[.]

From the back of the Communion line someone shouted out, "Are you judging this man, Father?" I was grateful for the intervention. Will the Last Day be like this? One friend making an appeal for another? The response was cold: "He has judged himself and been found unworthy."

With no further appeal possible and with my wife exiting in confusion, tears, and offended embarrassment, I returned to my place along. My place? Did I have a place any longer? Was I expected to leave?

Incredible!

Are we surprised?

Why?  The Constitution was shredded on December 12, 2000. The elections, 2000 and 2004, stolen. No robust outrage from our elected officials.

So aided by the theo-cons, the Neo-con disciples took over our government, dismissing ALL our rights and freedoms.

Has anyone noticed?

We're in deep, up to our ears in this sh*t.

A Hearty Welcome to the USSRA.

Deserving. But something is up.

McCain has been called out on his campaign's distortions and outright lies - a dishonorable, dishonest campaign: AP, WAPO, NYT front page

 via MSNBC-First Read we read this:

To top it off, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said this to the Politico about the increased media scrutiny of the campaign's factual claims: "We're running a campaign to win. And we're not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it."

Today, the Maestro, Karl Rove on Fox News:

Rove is objecting to a dishonorable, dishonest campaign? !!!?!!! The Karl Rove?

Huffpost

When Karl Rove is saying your political ads have gone too far, you know you must be doing something dishonest.

The former Bush chief strategist, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said that John McCain had stretched the truth in his recent round of attacks against Barack Obama, in the process opening up the Arizonan to a round of effective counter-attacks.

"McCain has gone in his ads one step too far, and sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100-percent-truth test," said Rove. "Both campaigns ought to be careful about... there ought to be an adult who says: 'Do we really need to go that far in this ad? Don't we make our point and get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don't include that one little last tweak in the ad?'"

Watch:

Why is Karl Rove speaking out against a campaign he's reported to be advising? Surely, it can't be to protect his reputation.

SO, what's up Karl?

Tip of the Hat to Andrew:- written like no other can.

{Note to Andrew: I'm taking some liberties here, hope you'll cut me some slack but this piece is too good not to share}

McCain's Integrity

For me, this surreal moment - like the entire surrealism of the past ten days - is not really about Sarah Palin or Barack Obama or pigs or fish or lipstick. It's about John McCain. The one thing I always thought I knew about him is that he is a decent and honest person.

[.]

So far, he has let us all down. My guess is he will continue to do so. And that decision, for my part, ends whatever respect I once had for him. On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil. When he knew that George W. Bush's war in Iraq was a fiasco and catastrophe, and before Donald Rumsfeld quit, McCain endorsed George W. Bush against his fellow Vietnam vet, John Kerry in 2004. By that decision, McCain lost any credibility that he can ever put country first. He put party first and his own career first ahead of what he knew was best for the country.

And when the Senate and House voted overwhelmingly to condemn and end the torture regime of Bush and Cheney in 2006, McCain again had a clear choice between good and evil, and chose evil.

He capitulated and enshrined torture as the policy of the United States, by allowing the CIA to use techniques as bad as and worse than the torture inflicted on him in Vietnam. He gave the war criminals in the White House retroactive immunity against the prosecution they so richly deserve. The enormity of this moral betrayal, this betrayal of his country's honor, has yet to sink in. But for my part, it now makes much more sense. He is not the man I thought he was.

[.]

because he could see he was going to lose, ten days ago, he threw caution to the wind and with no vetting whatsoever, picked a woman who, by her decision to endure her own eight-month pregnancy of a Down Syndrome child in public, that he was going to reignite the culture war as a last stand against Obama. That's all that is happening right now: a massive bump in the enthusiasm of the Christianist base. This is pure Rove.

Yes, McCain made a decision that revealed many appalling things about him. In the end, his final concern is not national security. No one who cares about national security would pick as vice-president someone who knows nothing about it as his replacement. No one who cares about this country's safety would gamble the security of the world on a total unknown because she polled well with the Christianist base. No person who truly believed that the surge was integral to this country's national security would pick as his veep candidate a woman who, so far as we can tell anything, opposed it at the time.

McCain has demonstrated in the last two months that he does not have the character to be president of the United States. And that is why it is more important than ever to ensure that Barack Obama is the next president. The alternative is now unthinkable. And McCain - no one else - has proved it.

(emphasis added)

MTC:

John McCain's integrity. Sadly, he was passed over by his creator.  John McCain has morphed from his role in the Keating Five scandal to become a gigolo.

Asking a gigolo to display integrity, honor or manhood is like wishing that the moon is made of blue cheese.

Via TPM: We've had a week of her and everything is a lie.

[.]...we seem to be witnessing the first stirrings of a backlash and a dawning realization that the 'Sarah Palin' we've heard so much about over the last few days is a fraud of truly comical dimensions.
The McCain camp has made her signature issue shutting down the Bridge to Nowhere. But as The New Republic put it today that's just "a naked lie." And pretty much the same thing has been written today in Newsweek, the Washington Post, the AP, the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday even Fox's Chris Wallace called out Rick Davis on it. (Do send more examples when you find them.)

The Bridge to Nowhere collapses:

New Republic

Newsweek

Wapo

AP

WSJ

Chris Wallace, Fox News Watch the Video at 1:31

[Update] Alaskans know the real story of the bridge to nowhere-Alaska CBSNews 11. Watch It.

Reality catches up - The fallout

Lieberman shunned.  His top aide quits in protest of his boss' McCain support.

Koch backs Obama, calls Palin 'scary'

Former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who endorsed and worked for George W. Bush in 2004, is endorsing Obama today, NY1 first reported.

Fret not, more Republicans will follow - Senator Lincoln Chafee's Republicans for Obama will grow.. McCain does not have a Party. What he has are the evangelical wingnuts.

As for the Polls.  Reminder: Kerry and Dukakis were ahead at this time in the cycle. They went down to defeat. Gore had the popular vote and went down to defeat.

From Nate Silver - FiveThirtyEight - has a must read detail analysis:

Monday's Look at the New Electoral Map

Obama 292   McCain 245

That said. Polls are all over the range and can't be trusted:

AP:Poll shows big shift to McCain among white women

McClatchy: Kentucky Clinton voters, a big force, are drifting to Obama

Like I said, don't trust the Polls. Diebold controls the outcome with the best excuse for shenanigans ever: How many will vote for a half-white guy?

Ooops! The one drop rule: a black guy?

New Video shows how easy electronic voting machines are pried open, - hacked, pried open in 18 seconds

Yeah.. eight years later, and no paper trail.

Pakistan has announced "disconnection of supply lines to the allied forces stationed in Afghanistan through Pakistan in an apparent reaction to a ground attack on a border village in South Waziristan agency by the Nato forces."

Listen up: Af/Pak is one Taliban country - now considered the most dangerous place in the world

A Primer

"Without the [Pakistan's] army's backing - and the cooperation of the ISI, Pakistan's military intelligence agency - the war against the Taliban is hopeless. There are enough Pakistanis, particularly in the tribal borderlands, who feel Musharraf was wrong to get involved in what they see as an American war against Islam.

It is often forgotten that Pakistan's border with Afghanistan is merely the line drawn by Sir Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of British India in 1893, and perceived by most local tribes nowadays as an irrelevance. The name Pakistan itself is essentially an Anglophone acronym, the first three letters of which include Afghans between the Punjabis and Kashmiris. It is by no means an exaggeration to say that escalation of the current fighting along the border could threaten the country's existence. The question is whether Zardari can display the same acumen in that rats' nest as he has done in his financial dealings.

 - The Sunday Times, UK, September 7, 2008 - link above

A series of incidents over the last 72 hours provide more confirmation that the war in Afghanistan is now openly extended into Pakistan - the new international battlefield:

The Events

Power cuts fuel Pakistan's power struggle
The assassination attempt on the Prime Minister is the latest twist in a complex battle for influence for which the Taliban claimed responsibility.

The attack comes in the context of a growing Islamist insurgency in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan's North West, and after a string of terrorist acts. Last week suicide bombers outside Pakistan's main munitions factory in the town of Wah killed almost 100 people

Meanwhile, the coalition of parties that brought down Pervez Musharraf has split after less than six months, with Ms Bhutto's widower, Asif Zardari, pushing successfully to become president, and the Muslim League, headed by her old nemesis, Nawaz Sharif, moving into increasingly fierce opposition.

Pakistan reacts with fury after up to 20 die in 'American' attack on its soil

The war in Afghanistan spilled over on to Pakistani territory for the first time yesterday when heavily armed commandos, believed to be US Special Forces, landed by helicopter and attacked three houses in a village close to a known Taliban and al-Qaida stronghold.

The surprise attack on Jala Khel was launched in early morning darkness and killed between seven and 20 people, according to a range of reports from the remote Angoor Adda region of South Waziristan. The village is situated less than one mile from the Afghan border.

Related: Afghanistan's war has a new battlefield

Right on the heels of  the US confirmation of their ground assault inside Pakistan the retaliation was swift:

Pakistan cuts supply lines to NATO forces

BARA: In a major development, the federal government on Friday announced disconnection of supply lines to the allied forces stationed in Afghanistan through Pakistan in an apparent reaction to a ground attack on a border village in South Waziristan agency by the Nato forces.

Political authorities of the Khyber Agency claimed to have received verbal directives to immediately halt transportation of all kinds of goods meant for the US-led Nato forces in Afghanistan for an indefinite period.

[.]

The authorities claimed that due to repeated attacks on the personnel of the Khassadar forces during the last one week and abduction of a few personnel, it had become difficult for the security forces to provide foolproof security to the supply lines.

Independent sources, however, claimed that the government feared retaliation by the tribesmen against a recent ground attack conducted by the Nato forces in Angoor Adda of the South Waziristan Agency that triggered condemnation from various quarters, including the government of Pakistan itself.

The French are rethinking their commitment.

What are the aims of this war?
French Opposition Demands Rethink of Afghanistan Mission

The French are not alone. The Afghan mission will be debated during the Canadian election campaign over the next four weeks.  Since 2002 ninety six Canadian forces personnel have been killed.

Lessons Not Learned

Af/Pak will prove to be the mother of all quagmires.  

During the primaries there was a lot of debate over which candidate offers the best approach to America's health care crisis.

Recently Steve Clemons, TWN and the New America Foundation, sat down with former Senator Tom Daschle to discuss the issue of 'America's Health Care Debacle' and his [Daschle's] book Critical--- what's possible in comprehensive Universal Health Care.

Watch Video of Shorter Version Daschle on the Health Care crisis here

Says Clemons:

"To some degree it is really Tom Daschle's political machine that has been more important to Barack Obama than franchises controlled by the Daley clan, the Kennedy family, and the Clintons. Daschle's people are the ones who have animated and built out Barack Obama's incredible national operation.

And while Tom Daschle may not ever get the chance to serve as President of the United States -- though i think he would have made a great president -- I suspect that Daschle will bring some muscle and great skill to either the White House as Chief of Staff or to Obama's cabinet (if elected) as Secretary of Health and Human Services".

While Hillary Clinton really does know the nuts and bolts of a rebuilt and redeployed health care policy system, Tom Daschle does as well and may be the person who actually does deliver real, universal health care in the United States. I discuss health policy with former Senate Majority Leader and Obama Campaign co-chair Tom Daschle in the short clip above.

Well worth a listen -

The longer (73 mins) meeting at which Daschle spoke on the subject in depth, followed by Q&A from reporters and industry representatives, can be watched here.

This time around it's different. Corporate America's bottom line is hurting - being wiped out by health care costs - and they are at least ready to embrace the idea of universal health care.

"There's a sense of urgency that was not there before" - Daschle

....As always It's follow the money...

We've been snookered by the Palin trick.

From The Guardian, UK

Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush

• Biden says criminal violations will be pursued
  
• Democrats have issued subpoenas to Bush aides
  
• 3 staffers have been held in contempt of Congress
  

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

[.]

"Misdeeds committed during the Bush years"

If not in the U.S.A, there are prosecutors standing by in Europe waiting for the 20th, January 2009.  Misdeeds will include war crimes.

Let's add the financial crimes to the pot. The worse financial crisis in seventy years. A Bush economy built on the export of fraudulent bonds. Overseas investors will demand repayment. The next eight weeks are a danger zone for false flag events.

You can bet the farm that BushCheney will pull out ALL to get McSame and sidekick Palin elected. It is happening now as our eyes are wide shut---the manipulation of oil prices to under $108 / bbl as I write and gasoline prices headed towards $3.50 and lower for election day as was predicted.  McCain is their man. They know the election will be decided on kitchen table issues.

"Operation Keep the Hill" is on, in full mode, to paint a picture of robust business health and declining prices. They'll have us forget that Freddie, Fannie, Lehman and another 200 banks are busted. So too the FDIC. BUSTED. The Feds' begging bowl is now well over a trillion.

They're hoping and praying their con job will last until election day.

Be alert to the McCainPalin trick.

OBAMA-BAYH 08?

KMBC-TV is reporting:

Bumper Sticker Could Indicate Bayh Is Obama's Veep

View the Video

LENEXA, Kan. -- After weeks of speculation and days of intense rumors, the answer to who Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would name as his running mate may have come down to a bumper sticker printed in Lenexa.

KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reported that the company, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material. That's Bayh as in U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana. Word leaked out about the material as it was being printed up by Gill Studios of Lenexa. The Obama campaign had said it would make the announcement by text message on Friday.

Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. The company president would not comment when asked by Mahoney about the reports. But at least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced.

Bayh has a reputation as a fiscally conservative Democrat. Bayh endorsed Hillary Clinton and it is believed that he could help the Obama ticket by delivering a key battleground state.

[UPDATE: That turned out to be pure speculation. It's Biden]