OBAMA MAKES McCAIN LOOK LIKE THE TINY MAN HE'S BECOME

Like I've said before, I admired McCain in 2000 - and can barely stand to listen to him today.

THE "BLINDERS OF THE RIGHT"!

There's a right-wing ad campaign out there called "never find out" that seeks to get John McCain elected by (you guessed it) scaring people into "never finding out" what an Obama Presidency would look like. One of their funnier commercials favorably compares Ronald Reagan's economic principles to McCain's:

Now while I'm fine with the comparison, I'm simply amazed that the creator of this ad doesn't see the problem with this logic. I mean if you seek to compare McCain to Reagan, then you could logically compare Obama's economic plan to Bill Clinton's - and the truth is that Reagan can't hold a candle to Clinton's economic growth over eight years.

As is said in the commercial, Reagan created 14 million jobs during his Presidency, while Clinton created 22 million during his. As Business Week puts it:

Yet despite different fiscal policies, the macroeconomic outcomes were remarkably similar. Under Reagan, lower taxes and a soaring budget deficit produced a growth rate of 3.4%. Under Bill Clinton, higher taxes and a budget surplus generated growth of 3.6%. Throughout both Presidencies, from 1982 to 2000, interest rates fell and the stock market roared. So much for ideology.

There were differences, of course. Under Clinton, unemployment was lower than under Reagan, poverty declined more, and wages rose faster for ordinary workers.

That's right, under Clinton not only did the economy grow at at unprecedented rate, but he actually PAID DOWN the National Debt during his eight years in office. Unlike Reagan, who began a long tradition of Republican "credit card government" topped off with the disastrous Dubya Presidency. Take a look at this graph:
So not only did Reagan run up the debt during his "successful economic plan", he also deregulated enough to experience a $100+ billion-dollar bailout of The Federal Savings and Loan system. Hmmmm... sound familiar?

Nice try guys. Maybe you are better off peddling the "associations" of Obama - rather than trying to sell McCain's pathetic "same as Dubya" economic plan.

WHO WRITES THIS STUFF?

Here's Sarah Palin blasting Democrats for saying they will cut Defense Spending by 25%. But here's the newsflash Sarah, if John McCain plans on keeping (and expanding) the tax cuts he currently proposes, HE'LL be cutting Defense Spending by that much or more too! He said as much last March when confronted with his tax cut plan and current spending:

In fact, if McCain and yourself truly believe you can "balance the budget" by the end of your first term (God forbid) you're going to have to cut Social Security, Medicare, and other vital services to get it done. The days of "No Tax and Spend" are over sweetie - you might as well start getting used to that reality.

REPUBLICANS NEED TO GROW A PAIR

With nothing left to run on but fear, more and more Republicans are dipping their toes into the "lake of bigotry" in an attempt to smear Barack Obama. However, knowing that full-blown, Jesse Helmsian bigotry is unattractive to mainstream America, they've adopted a new tactic by creating thinly-veiled arguments and leaving the question open for racists to answer themselves.

Take for example, this man who showed up to an Obama rally in North Carolina with a poster of Obama in traditional Kenyan clothing, and sporting the words "Wake Up. Change?":

When people ask him repeatedly, "What does your sign mean?" He finally answers, "Now is not the time for a Muslim-leaning President," and tries to regurgitate the phony "Madrasa" story that Fox News floated nearly a year ago.

Another interesting "non-verbal" attempt at attacking Obama comes from an actual McCain Campaign spokesperson on CNN. Watch Michael Goldfarb swallow his tongue when he's asked to clarify his statements on Obama's "anti-Israel" connections:

I must say that as much as I hate full-throated racists, at least they have the balls to let you know where they stand. This "question asking" tactic is a weak attempt to smear an opponent you can't beat on the actual issues that matter.

THE McCAIN CAMPAIGN: A WELL-OILED MACHINE

Is Joe the Plumber jumping ship?

I wonder if McCain will continue his "air quotes" when he concedes his "loss" on Election Day?

UPDATE: Apparently "Joe the Plumber" was contacted by the campaign, and was supposed to appear at the event. Then, after telling John McCain that his favorite supporter would be there - the campaign staff simply NEVER FOLLOWED UP with Joe?!

Again, this is an indication of the type of Presidency John McCain would preside over. Think of all the major disasters he could "never follow up on" too? Wow!

GOP HAS "A LONG HISTORY OF DESPICABLE ADS"

Normally I don't touch anything (video, text, images) that comes from The Daily Kos - just too much baggage. However, because this is an unedited clip from CNN, I'm making an exception. Ed Rollins is a long-time Republican political strategist - most recently for Mike Huckabee - so when he speaks about despicable behavior, he knows what he's talking about.

McCAIN GETS SMACKED BY HIS HERO!

In 1980, Jeff Goodby took thirty-seconds of Ronald Reagan's debate speech and turned it into a now legendary advertisement for the Republican. Goodby later created the highly-popular "Got Milk" ads. Now he's resurrecting Reagan's words in support of change once again - however in support of Barack Obama. It's funny how history repeats itself:

TWO MORE INTERESTING (AND UNEXPECTED) VOTERS FOR OBAMA

First, Charles Fried, who served under the Reagan Administration and was a public supporter of McCain until his selection of Sarah Palin. In short:

This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

Read the whole piece HERE.

Also, Esquire's John H. Richardson details the reasons to vote against McCain in his newest installment of The Richardson Report:

John McCain is a war hero. He risked his campaign to support the surge. He took a principled stand against torture. These things are extremely admirable. But when it comes to Iraq, it’s scary how often he uses the words "victory" and "honor." Case in point, from a campaign stop in May: "I will never surrender in Iraq. Our American troops will come home with victory and with honor."

True, McCain doesn’t say such things so much anymore. He prefers to focus on Joe the Plumber and on the surge. But the surge is a tactic. The strategy was to roll back rogue states. The strategy was to put the big foot down in Iraq and scare the crap out of the Iranians and the Syrians and Hezbollah.

And that didn’t work out so well. The Iranians are stronger than ever, Hezbollah is practically running Lebanon, and the Bush administration is negotiating a plan for us to leave Iraq with our tail between our legs -- and even that is no guarantee that Iraq will stay peaceful five minutes after we leave. The strategy has failed, and failed spectacularly, but McCain and his cheerleaders on the right are too obsessed with "victory and honor" to admit it.

Read his whole article HERE.

It only proves that while McCain continues to paint Obama as "unprepared" to be President - it's McCain himself who's not ready (or able) to lead.

DUELING COMMERCIALS ON ECONOMY

Obama and McCain have put out very similar ads today while trying to gain support for their economic plans for this country. With over 60% of voters supporting Obama as the superior candidate to "fix the economy", you'd think McCain would concentrate on his own plan - but you'd be wrong. Here's McCain's commercial:

What I still don't understand about McCain is that he is backing (and expanding) the same tax cuts that have gotten us into this mess, and has still not explained how he'd be able to cut spending enough to pay for these increased tax cuts. That's why he's on schedule to raise the National Debt MORE than the "tax and spend liberal" he's running against.

McCain hits Obama on the following points:
1. INCREASED SPENDING - First off, it should be noted that Obama considers himself a "pay as you go" candidate. Which means that if he can't cut enough somewhere else to pay for a program - it's gone. I also find it humorous that McCain would show an impoverished Mother/Daughter during this portion of the voice-over, even though these are the people Obama plans to help - which is why he's been labeled a "re-distributor of wealth" by McCain.

2. TAX OUR ECONOMY DEEPER INTO RECESSION - Again, how has Bush's lower taxes HELPED the economy? And didn't similar taxation HELP Clinton pull the economy out of the recession in the early 1990's? The Clinton and Bush economies are something that most voters can actually remember, which is why I don't think McCain's arguments are gaining any traction.

Now it's Obama's turn. Take a look here:

By using John McCain's own words, Obama's Campaign has shown that even with his own weaknesses on this most vital issue - McCain still chose someone against his better judgment. This is something that even Republican's have brought up over the past several new cycles, and is a potentially devastating blow to McCain - who paints himself as the "experience" and "steady hand" candidate.

The wink at the end is just the icing on the cake.

THINGS LOOK GOOD... DON'T RELAX!

It's actually nice to see the Obama supporters putting this stuff out - and it's funny as hell.

RONALD REAGAN THE "SOCIALIST REDISTRIBUTOR"?

With thanks to a commenter yesterday (Hugh), I researched the history of something called The Earned Income Tax Credit. With all the talk recently about Barack Obama being a "socialist" for wanting to give tax cuts to those who pay no income tax, some have started to realize that we've been doing this for years - and it wasn't even started by those "liberal Democrats".

The Earned Income Tax Credit (or EITC) was enacted in 1975, under Republican President Gerald Ford - however is was greatly expanded by the much-lauded Republican Ronald Reagan in 1986. As Hugh noted, Reagan praised the increase in the EITC as:

"It's the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress."

So how can McCain continue to trumpet his part in the "Reagan Revolution", while railing against the same types of poverty fighting measures that his hero strengthened? Now THAT'S a tough question that needs an answer.

So while David Gergen might have the origins of the EITC wrong, it's nice to see that at least one cable news outlet is mentioning this fact:

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH - MAKE HIM A DEMOCRAT!

Thanks to the JedReport for this Fox News hilarity!

86 YEAR-OLD CHARLES ALEXANDER MEETS BARACK OBAMA

AMAZON SEARCH: "TERRORIST COSTUME" TURNS UP ONE RESULT

I used to use Amazon.com for many of my shopping needs. Because I live nearly 1,000 from my nieces and nephews, Christmas shopping was done almost 100% through Amazon. They were reasonably priced, helpful and efficient - three things that are greatly appreciated around the holidays. Recently though, they've lost some of their appeal. As they grew, their service began to soften and packages would sometimes be several days (if not a week) later than they said it would be. However I still used Amazon for certain items I could not find elsewhere - until today.

This morning it came to my attention that Amazon was selling a Barack Obama mask for Halloween. This alone would be of little significance, but what makes it shocking is just how one could find the mask on their site. As it turns out, if one were to search for a an item by typing in... oh, let's just say: "terrorist costume" - you would receive just ONE RESULT. This one:
As you can see under the "related searches" tag, you could also find this mask by typing in "arab costume" or simply "terrorist". Mind you that these "search tags" aren't created by customers, but rather by employees of Amazon in order to "help" their business. However, once people started to get angry over this - of course Amazon changed their tune.

In fact, one reviewer of the Obama mask claims that the "Tag Suggestions" provided by Amazon included: obama, barack, liar, socialist, costume, dignity, terrorist, creep, marxist.

However, after their "fix", the tag suggestions now read: obama, barack, costume, halloween, mask, president, presidential, hero, candidate.

Needless to say, I expect this kind of partisan crap on political sites, but not from businesses who choose to make their party affiliations part of their "draw". That's why I'll be saying "Thanks, but no thanks," to Amazon.com from here on.

CHUCK HAGEL COMES CLEAN ON PALIN PICK

Republican Senator Chuck Hagel is one of those rare politicians who tells it like it is regardless of party affiliation. The Nebraska native was, in fact, the originator of the Fannie/Freddie regulation bill in 2005 and 2006, that McCain tries to take credit for - even though McCain's campaign manager was paid $15,000 a month (from 2005 to 2008) to fight such regulations. The fact is that McCain and Hagel have been close throughout their time in Congress, and it's been increasingly strange that Hagel has been noncommittal in endorsing his friend for President of the United States.

So it's somewhat less surprising that Hagel would openly criticize McCain's pick for Vice President some eight days before the election:

“I don’t believe she’s qualified to be President of the United States,” Hagel told me. “The first judgment a potential President makes is who their running mate is—and I don’t think John made a very good selection.” He scoffed at McCain’s attempts to portray her as an experienced politician. “To try to make the excuse that she looks out her window and sees Russia—and that she’s commander of the Alaska National Guard.” He added, “There is no question that this candidate is arguably the thinnest-résumé candidate for Vice-President in the history of America.”

How long before Fox News comes down hard on Hagel too? Is it "sexist" when a member of the same political party points out the obvious for all to see?

McCAIN GETS CAUGHT IN A "SEVEN DWARFS" MOMENT

Ever try to name the seven dwarfs from scratch? It's tough. We all start with the easy ones: Happy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Doc. But at some point, you start forgetting which ones you've already said, and which ones are left. Well, on Meet the Press this morning, John McCain had a similar moment trying to name the five Secretaries of State who (aren't named Colin Powell) gave him their endorsement:

For the record, the seven dwarfs are: Sleepy, Grumpy, Bashful, Doc, Happy, Sneezy, and Dopey.

BARACK OBAMA ON "GOOD MORNING AMERICA"

In 2000, I wasn't too excited to vote for Gore - it was more of a hopeful continuation of Bill Clinton's Presidency. In 2004, I was apathetic in voting for Kerry - and would have voted for an old shoe over the prospect of "four more years" of Dubya. But this year, I'll enthusiastically cast my vote for this man:

PEGGY NOONAN ASKED THE QUESTION

Today on "Morning Joe", journalist Peggy Noonan posed the question:

"Should 18 year-old high school seniors have a vote that equals that of a 70 year-old experienced business owner?"

It's funny, because I've recently thought the opposite metric might be more appropriate. That is, should the elderly have a vote that equals that of someone who'll spend the rest of their life dealing with the policies, the Supreme Court picks, and debt of the candidate for President?

Also, should those that believe that the world will end within their lifetime have a vote that equals that of someone who's trying to make the world a better place for future generations?

THE $400 HAIRCUT VS. THE $150,000 WARDROBE

Of Fox News, your skirt is so short - everyone can see your hypocrisy!

WHO IS THE REAL BARACK OBAMA?

For months now, John McCain and his cohorts have been trying to create a mysterious and scary "hidden Obama" by playing up his tenuous associations with, as John McCain called him, "a washed up terrorist" and others - but here's a story about a different kind of Barack Obama.

It comes from (of all places) a Norweigan Newspaper, and concentrates on a simple act of kindness that took place nearly 20 years ago. The translation was done by an English speaking resident of Oslo, and is posted originally at her blog:

Mary lacked money to fly home to Norway – he saved her love

ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

Mary Menth Andersen was 31 years old at the time and had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988.

At the airport in Miami things were hectic as usual, with long lines at the check-in counters. When it was finally Mary’s turn and she had placed her luggage on the baggage line, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

-You’ll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway, the man behind the counter said.
Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

-I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions, says Mary.

Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy.

-I started to cry, tears were pouring down my face and I had no idea what to do. Then I heard a gentle and friendly voice behind me saying, That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.
-He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man.

-He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’ and his address in Kansas, which is the state where his mother comes from. Mary carried the slip of paper around in her wallet for years, before it was thrown out.
-He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker* in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.

In the spring of 2006 Mary’s parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

In a letter to Mary’s parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ‘United States Senate, Washington DC’, Barack Obama writes**:
"I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama, United States Senator."

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

This week VG met her and her husband in the café that she runs with her friend Lisbeth Tollefsrud in Åsgårdstrand.

-It’s amazing to think that the man who helped me 20 years ago may now become the next US president, says Mary delightedly.
She has already voted for Obama. She recently donated 100 dollars to his campaign.

She often tells the story from Miami airport, both when race issues are raised and when the conversation turns to the presidential elections.
-I sincerely hope the Americans will see reason and understand that Obama means change, says Mary.

And here she is with her husband and the letter.

This story has absolutely nothing to do with Barack Obama's policies, his profession, or his outlook or world view - but it does speak volumes about him anyway. Also, it apparently originates from a National Enquirer-esque source in Norway - but does feature photos of those involved. Also, Snopes and others like it have yet to disprove the story - so why not post it.

It should be noted that in 1988, Obama was a 27 year-old who'd just finished a three-year, $10,000/year community organizing gig in Chicago, and was just about to attend Harvard University on scholarships and student loans.

CONSERVATIVES VOTING FOR OBAMA?

When Barack Obama opens up a nine point lead in Fox News' own Presidential Poll, you know there's more than a few conservatives choosing the Democrat in this election. This is further mirrored by the public endorsements from such formerly staunch GOP'ers like Colin Powell, Christopher Buckley, and Ken Adelman. Now comes a website created by filmmaker Eric Hirshberg, who saw a shift from the conservatives in his life, and decided to document the rationale behind their switch.

This four-minute "teaser" is an interesting mix of young and old, male and female, as well as the various opinions behind their newfound support of Obama:

The website is called conservativesforchange.com, and has longer interviews with each of the participants. It might not change anyone's mind, but it's definitely an interesting read.

PALIN'S WARDROBE BILL SINCE McCAIN SELECTION? HOW ABOUT $150,000!

Sarah Palin has been the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for roughly seven weeks now, and during that time the campaign has spent a whopping $150,000 to make her look... uh, presidential? However this flies in the face of her "Joe Six-Pack", "Wasilla Main Street" persona, and comes at a time when the average American is experiencing anxiety over a struggling economy.

It's also funny that Republicans have been on record in the past for ridiculing John Edwards and Hillary Clinton for his $400 haircuts, and her $3,000 "styling sessions".

Just for juxtaposition, I thought I'd include this photo of Barack Obama from March of this year:
The photographer, Callie Shell, has an amazing photo gallery of candid Barack Obama shots. Her description of the above photo is:

"Senator Obama was doing press interviews by telephone in a holding room between events. Sometime later as he was getting ready to begin his event, he asked me if I was photographing his shoes. When I said yes, he told me that he had already had them resoled once since he entered the race a year earlier."

Oh, and did I mention that McCain wears $520 Italian loafers?

MORE "JOHN McCAIN 2008" VS. "JOHN McCAIN 2000"

First off, here's McCain's newest ad featuring a range of people saying "I'm Joe the Plumber", and railing against Obama's "spread the wealth around" comment:

First off, I'd love for the McCain campaign to list the incomes of the people featured in this advertisement. After all, we're taking only about the people who make $250,000 a year and more.

Again, the whole point of the "spread the wealth" comment is to tax the richest American's 4% more than they currently are, by returning to the rate it was under Bill Clinton. Oh, if only we had a voice of reason from the year 2000 to put this all into perspective? I know, why don't we ask John McCain from the year 2000?

Mind you that when this comment was made by McCain, the rich were actually paying the rate that Barack Obama is currently proposing. McCain rebuts the "socialism" argument from the young woman by saying that:

"Here's what I really believe, that when you are - reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

It's just one more example of how far McCain has sunk in my eyes. After The Daily Show ran this clip, John Stewart summed up the segment by stating:

"That, of course, was the late socialist leader John McCain. I believe he passed away during the Reepublican Primaries. He will be missed."

Amen.

SARAH PALIN COMES FACE-TO-FACE WITH THE PAIN TRAIN!

For those of you who may have missed it, Terry Tate: Office Linebacker is one of the funniest viral concepts ever. He first debuted in a short film by Rawson Marshall Thurber, and then was optioned by Reebok for a series of hilarious commercials a few years ago. Now he's taking on Sarah Palin in a slick piece of greenscreenery:

You can see original Terry Tate pieces HERE, HERE, and HERE. Warning: NSFW if your boss frowns on hearing a loud man yell "bitch" repeatedly.

I'D LOVE TO LAUGH - BUT THIS IS JUST SAD

Earlier this week, 76 year-old Democratic Congressman John Murtha stuck his foot so far down his throat, it him several days to remove it and apologize. The comments were made in a weird attempt to explain the "soft support" for Barack Obama in his Pennsylvania district. For those who don't know, here's a portion of what Murtha said:

"There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area."

Today, 72 year-old John McCain sought to exploit this statement for his own benefit - but something got lost in the translation. Take a look:

Check please!

THE DAILY SHOW TRAVELS TO WASILLA, ALASKA

I found the interview with the current Wasilla mayor particularly interesting:

JOE KLEIN NOT ALLOWED ON McCAIN JET - MUSLIM McCAIN SUPPORTER NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO CNN

There's some strange stuff going on in the McCain Campaign. Time Magazine's Joe Klein has been denied access to McCain's (and Palin's) jet. Klein, who has been critical of the candidate, says he has never before been denied access to a candidate like this:

"I’ve done nine presidential campaigns and this is the first time this has ever happened to me,” Klein said. “I was even allowed—I won’t say welcomed—on the Clinton plane in the summer of 1996 after I was revealed as the author of Primary Colors."

Similarly, journalist Maureen Dowd has told media outlets that she has been "banned" for "the foreseeable future" even though other reporters from her paper still have access.

In another, seemingly weirder situation, a muslim McCain delegate was not allowed by the campaign to speak with CNN's Rick Sanchez, even though he was set for the hero treatment by the news anchor. In the previous hour, Sanchez had featured a video where the delegate confronted a McCain/Palin supporter claiming Obama had Islamic (and Communist) ties, and shamed the man into leaving.

As you can see, Sanchez is clearly dumbfounded by the circumstances:

Since the McCain camp seems to be keen on labeling Obama as a "socialist" - maybe McCain should get the "fascist" tag for his attacks against the freedom of the press and free speech from his supporters?

THE MOST UNLIKELY OBAMA VOTER?

Ken Adelman is a 62 year-old lifelong Republican who's worked for Gerald Ford, Donald Rumsfeld, Ronald Reagan, and even the ultra-conservative Project for the New American Century. But in two weeks, he'll be doing the previously unthinkable, he'll be casting his vote for Barack Obama.

His reasons are a stinging indictment of John McCain's judgment as a candidate for the Presidency, and it's beginning to feel like there's a wave of these conservatives who don't like what they see from their party's nominee. In an email exchange with a reporter from the New Yorker, he asks himself rhetorically:

"Why so, since my views align a lot more with McCain’s than with Obama’s? And since I truly dread the notion of a Democratic president, Democratic House, and hugely Democratic Senate?

Primarily for two reasons, those of temperament and of judgment.

When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.

Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.

That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick.

I sure hope Obama is more open, centrist, sensible—dare I say, Clintonesque—than his liberal record indicates, than his cooperation with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid portends. If not, I will be even more startled by my vote than I am now."

It might not be a glowing endorsement of Barack Obama - but it speaks volumes coming from a man who'd obviously love to support his party, but simply can't.

HOLY CRAP! McCAIN IS THE PENGUIN!?

About three weeks ago, I posted about the similarity between John McCain and Burgess Meredith's interpretation of "The Penguin". In fact, I even ended that comparison with the words:

Does this mean that Barack Obama is Batman?

Now comes this piece of video from the original series where the Joker and Batman have a televised debate in front of Gotham City. See if you can spot the Maverick:

NEWSPAPER ENDORSEMENTS - OBAMA IN A LANDSLIDE

Thank goodness the McCain Campaign launched it's "media hating" ways a few weeks ago - otherwise they'd be hard-pressed to explain why Obama leads in newspaper endorsements 112 to 39. Some of the more interesting ones:

- Since 1960, the Houston Chronicle has endorsed 11 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Obama joins their 1964 endorsement of Lydon Johnson.

- There's no more "red state" than Utah - and yet the Salt Lake Tribune endorsed Obama. Their headline: A Simple Choice: The Nation Needs Barack Obama in the White House.

- The New York Daily News, who went for Bush in 2004, endorsed Obama by saying, "He has the promise to renew America at home and abroad."

- In the 161 years of the Chicago Tribune, they'd never endorsed a Democratic nominee for President of the United States. Well all things must come to an end, right?

If you take into account the total circulation of the endorsing papers, Obama holds well over a 3-1 edge: 13,379,642 to 3,718,959.

VOTER REGISTRATION FRAUD VS. VOTER PURGING

Fox News is still frothing at the mouth over ACORN and it's perceived attempts to affect an election. However, without proof of how these multiple registrants planned on voting more than once, at most we're talking about voter registration fraud. Many are discussing the "problem" with college students registering twice in two locations, but the fact that it's perfectly legal alludes them. It's VOTING in both locations that's illegal.

A more serious problem, in my opinion, is the process of voter purging - or removing legal voters from election rolls. These "purges" affected thousands of Florida voters in the 2000 Presidential Election, and are continuing this year as well. Here's a CBS News report on the purges taking place this year:

If Republicans truly want to fight for the "one person, one vote" standard, this "purging" of people who have, in some cases, been registered for years is a scary proposition.

THESE ARE THE VOTERS WHO KILL ME

Look, I can take people voting for McCain because they truly believe that he would be better for the country. If you still believe that the road to prosperity is paved with making the rich even richer and hoping that some jobs and loose change floats down to you, that's okay.

But these people who simply believe that "The Lord" is on one side of the American political system truly make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Bush claims to be a man of faith, and yet that same "faith" led him to misjudge Iraq, Afghanistan, Vladimir Putin, Iran, North Korea, the economy, and just about everything else in the last eight years.

Now we get to hear from people like Tracy Kerlee that having a President with the last name "Obama" scares her? Bravo Tracy... you'd make Susan B. Anthony proud!

NOW HERE'S SOME REAL VOTER FRAUD!

I woke up this morning to read this:

Signature-gatherer arrested in voter fraud

ONTARIO, Calif.—The owner of a signature-gathering firm has been arrested on suspicion of voter registration fraud, authorities said Sunday.

Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm Young Political Majors, is accused of registering himself to vote twice— in 2006 and in 2007— using the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles where he no longer lived.

The Secretary of State's Office said Jacoby used the address to meet a state requirement that signature-gatherers sign a declaration stating that they are either registered to vote in California or are eligible to do so.

Unlike the ACORN shenanigans, this guy was registering HIMSELF twice, at two different addresses, which would allow him to vote multiple times - and here's why you never hear about this on Fox News:

Earlier this year, dozens of voters accused YPM, which had been hired by the California Republican Party, of tricking them into registering as Republicans. The voters said they thought they were signing a petition calling for stiffer penalties for child molesters.

So here's a guy signing up TWICE, and tricking people into registering as Republicans - and for those who would say that this is an isolated event, this guy's activities stretch across the country and back as far as three years:

In 2005, Massachusetts voters made a similar complaint.

They said a signature-gathering firm that Jacoby was working for as a subcontractor—Arno Political Consultants— duped them into signing an anti-gay marriage petition when they were told they were signing a ballot question about the sale of wine in grocery stores.

One signature-gatherer told a state hearing that Jacoby had personally trained her in the bait-and-switch tactic.

Again, I would love to see if Fox News will touch this story - but I won't hold my breath.

WOW! THE GOP CAN'T EVEN GET THEIR ANALOGIES TO WORK OUT RIGHT

BUSH AND McCAIN: WHERE'S THE DIFFERENCE?

The Service Employees International Union created this ingenious little ad about Bush and McCain. The rotating graphical which turns from a "W" to an "M" is a nice touch:

McCAIN AIDE SAYS "REAL VIRGINIA" IS WHERE HER CANDIDATE IS WINNING

First it was Sarah Palin explaining that "real America" is where she likes to visit. Now McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer explains that Northern Virginia is not the "real Virginia"?

Again, these idiots talk about bringing "change" to Washington and "reaching across the aisle" to avoid partisan politics, yet they can't even hide their disdain for urban areas where Democrats live?

I'M WITH THIS GUY...

Yeah. No "Baby-Murdering Muslims for President"! Thank Jesus those Christians, Barack Obama or John McCain, are nearly assured of winning the White House over that wacky candidate from the Islamic Infanticide Party.

Wait, does "baby-murdering" need to by hyphenated? And what's up with the double exclamation marks on both sides of "against"?

"JOE THE PLUMBER" AND "JOE SIX PACK" WOULD BE "JOE UNEMPLOYED" UNDER McCAIN

Under George W. Bush's economy, the number of jobs created will probably end somewhere south of five million during his eight years in office. Take into account the United States' exploding population, and we're actually going BACKWARDS in job creation. Under Bill Clinton's eight years, there were 22 million jobs created. That 22 million is more than Reagan, Bush (41) and Bush (43) COMBINED. Yet McCain promises to keep the same failed "trickle down" methods that have proven to adversely affect the working class in this country.

Now John McCain is trying to connect with "Joe the Plumber" even though he failed to utter the words "middle class" in ANY of his three Presidential Debates? Give me a break.

The problem is that many "Joe Six Packs" are simply buying into the idea that the American Dream is being threatened by Barack Obama's tax plan. They perceive themselves (like Joe Wurzelbacher himself) as one day making that magical $250,000 a year, and then being unfairly taxed in order to give money to those who haven't worked as hard. Meanwhile, Wurzelbacher himself only makes approximately $40,000 a year (and the business he plans to buy has an annual revenue of $100,000), while several hedge fund managers raked in more than THREE BILLION DOLLARS last year for simply betting against American companies.

Now many are saying that the "actual numbers" about Wurzelbacher's situation doesn't matter, and that he's simply a "symbol" of the common man. But it does matter because he's not an accurate symbol of the people who would be affected. Wurzelbacher owes back taxes, he lives in a modest home, and takes care of his father - and it's plain to see that he'd actually benefit more under an Obama Presidency than McCain's. And even if his business did generate the $280,000 of income he said it would, the $30,000 that would be taxed at 39% instead of 36% would still have him coming out ahead under Obama:

Analysts calculated that the extra tax would amount to $900, which would likely be more than offset by separate provisions of Obama’s plan: a 50 percent tax credit for health care and elimination of the capital gains tax for small businesses.

If the recent Wall Street crisis should have taught us anything, it's that the deck is stacked against the average (and above average) workers in this nation. To put it in perspective, 2007 saw the greatest inequity in wealth distribution in recent memory. According to the Jared Bernstein, a a senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, only one other year (since 1913) saw this kind of massive discrepancy - 1928, the year before the stock market crash.

The wealth that's currently being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands draws an eerie parallel to The Great Depression. Here's what Warren Eccles, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1934 to 1948, said about the causes of the financial disaster in the 1920s and 30s:

"As mass production has to be accompanied by mass consumption, mass consumption, in turn, implies a distribution of wealth -- not of existing wealth, but of wealth as it is currently produced -- to provide men with buying power equal to the amount of goods and services offered by the nation's economic machinery. Instead of achieving that kind of distribution, a giant suction pump had by 1929-30 drawn into a few hands an increasing portion of currently produced wealth. This served them as capital accumulations. But by taking purchasing power out of the hands of mass consumers, the savers denied to themselves the kind of effective demand for their products that would justify a reinvestment of their capital accumulations in new plants. In consequence, as in a poker game where the chips were concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, the other fellows could stay in the game only by borrowing. When their credit ran out, the game stopped."

The bottom line? You can make a product, but if there's no one with the money to buy it - the economic engine that's fuels a company's profits simply stalls. Henry Ford understood this idea of "taking care" of workers in his plants, which is why he doubled his day-rate for weary assembly line employees in early 1914. In his words:

“We believe in making 20,000 men prosperous and contented rather than follow the plan of making a few slave drivers in our establishment millionaires.”

This, in turn, created an Army of dedicated workers as well as thousands of additional customers who could finally afford to purchase the cars they built every day. This "bottom up" economic system is what Obama (and other Democrats) have been preaching for years. After all, when the masses are able to spend money, everybody wins. In fact, to this day the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) is one of the earliest indicators of an economic downturn. Here's a chart detailing the CCI from 1997 to 2007:
Should it surprise anyone that the peak levels (above 140) started to fall shortly after George W. Bush "won" the election in 2000? It's also amazing that since July 2007 (the last date on the chart) we've steadily dropped to a current level of 59.8.

As a final insult to the "Joe the Plumber" saga - it's clear that, in this current credit tightening, Joe is many years away from buying the small business he spoke of to Barack Obama. And with his fellow American's being forced to tighten their belts as well, he can kiss many of those expensive kitchen and bathroom remodels goodbye too. It's a pretty simple equation: small businesses need customers to stay alive, and customers need money to feed those small business owners. Is helping the rich keep more and more of their money worth it if it suffocates the American Dream for the rest of the nation?

Economics is a vast and confusing study, but can't we all agree that the Clinton years were beneficial for Wall Street and Main Street alike? I guess to some more focused on the hysterical cries of "socialism", it doesn't matter. So until they come around, Joe and other lower income Republicans can feel good voting for a guy who's wife made 4.3 million last year, owns eight houses, thirteen cars, and pays attention to them only when it's time to make a "Hail Mary pass" for the White House.

ENOUGH WITH THE DISTORTIONS

"Look, I've got two daughters -- 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."

This has been a favorite quote of Barack Obama's for Sarah Palin, gobs of right-wing talking heads, and now even Robert Novak when bringing up the sensitive topic of abortion. The "punished with a baby" line sounds terrible to the ears of conservatives and liberals alike. But just like most of the things attributed to Obama, it just simply isn't true in the way