Quote of the Day

"Look, of course not." - - former Secretary of State Lawrence "The Burger has Eagled" Eagleburger, a supporter of McSleazy, when asked whether Gov. You Betcha is ready to step in as President should the need arise. Eagleburger, Secretary of State for Bush 1 for a time, also said that You Betcha would only make an "adequate" commander-in-chief, and that "I devoutly hope that she would never be tested." Us, too.

Check please!

Another Day, Another Smear

The McSleazy campaign continues to flail around in its waning days, desperate for something to stick to Sen. Obama because talking about the economy is a loser for them. The latest attempt to change the subject is the flap over Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi, an American-born scholar of Palestinian ancestry who is a leading advocate for Palestinian rights. According to the LA Times, Khalidi "lavished praise on Obama" at a farewell dinner when Khalidi left the University of Chicago several years ago. A tape of that dinner was provided to the Times on condition that it not be released. Today's WaPo editorializes that McSleazy's attacks "are increasingly reckless," and blasts his comparison of Khalidi to neo-Nazis as a "vile smear."

Now the McSleazy campaign is insinuating all kinds of nefarious doings (as they tried with William Ayers). What they didn't count on was having to defend McSleazy himself, whose International Republican Institute provided $448,000 in multiple grants to a Palestinian research group co-founded by. . .(drum roll please). . .Rashid Khalidi!

So while Obama (as an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago) had a collegial relationship with Khalidi, McSleazy had a financial one, through the "Institute" that he chaired at the time. Boomerang!!

Paging "Joe the Plumber", Paging "Joe the Plumber"

What happened to Joe the (not really a) Plumber at McSleazy's campaign rally today in Ohio? He was a no show, and it resulted in an embarrassing moment for McSleazy. On top of that, his campaign had to bus in some 4,000 kids from local schools to create a "crowd." Sad.

The smell of impending defeat. Bwahahahahaha!

A Picture Worth 1,000 Words

The quiet hope of generations of dreams deferred.

(Getty images photo)

Quote of the Day

"It's almost like he's a little grumpy with me now." - - 13 year-old Elizabeth Conway, a reporter for Scholastic Kid covering the McNasty campaign.

Next thing you know, McNasty will be shouting, "get off my lawn, you damn kid!"

A Guide To Rethug Voter Suppression

Voter suppression is denying a legitimate citizen his or her right to vote. In recent elections, this has been a Rethuglican tactic to minimize votes in Democratic precincts, and it ranges from distributing fake "voter information" in minority neighborhoods (Virginia) to purging voter registration lists for people whose homes have been foreclosed (Michigan). It's deeply un-American and anti-democratic to deny citizens rights that were guaranteed under the Constitution and paid for by our troops in wars. It's funny how you're not hearing about this in our stellar mainstream media as much as the phony ACORN drama.

Talking Points Memo has a guide to current attempts by Rethugs to deny registered voters their right to vote. This is not about ACORN canvassers turning in registrations for "Mickey Mouse" or "Fred's Tavern" (see our post of October 22), because "Mickey Mouse" won't be showing up to actually vote. This is about what happens when legitimate voters try to cast their votes and are denied. It's chilling, and it's one more reason not to be intimidated by these cynical thugs, who are going down to defeat on Nov. 4.

The Rethug Economic Royalists

An op/ed in today's WaPo by three stooges... er "scholars" at the far right American Enterprise Institute (Alan Vicard, Alex Brill, and Arthur Brooks) takes great issue with Obama's tax plan. Why? Well, because it doesn't "reduce the tax penalty on work and saving." Translation? The tax cuts for the wealthy will end! The "entrepreneurs" will have less incentive to earn and create jobs! There will be no Trickle Down!

This last bastion of the four- decade- old right-wing economic ass-hattery known as "Trickle Down economics" has been all but routed following the debacle of the last eight years (stagnant growth, except in the gap between the rich and the middle class) and the catastrophe of the past few months. But, just under this Trickle Down Triplets' op/ed is a partial rebuttal by Harold Meyerson, from which we would like to quote:

"...[T]he coming Republican calamity is a consequence of public anger at the economy that predominantly Republican perspectives and policies have shaped over the past four decades, in which the vast majority of Americans no longer share in the prosperity of good times and get clobbered when the economy turns bad."

Amen.

(Photo: Messrs. Viard, Brill and Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute)

More "Country First" Republicans

More Republicans to be added to the list of those breaking ranks and supporting Obama in the national interest:

Charles Mathias - former U.S. Senator, Maryland

Linwood Holton - former Governor, Virginia (and current Gov. Tim Kaines' father- in- law)


Holton announced his support months ago, Mathias in an op/ed in yesterday's WaPo.

Quote of the Day

"Though for a time they prospered, in the end the infection must prove fatal. This unholy union is now reduced to a mashup of Dixiecrat legatees and fellow travelers: prairie gunslingers, anti-tax fetishists, end times Rapturists, militiamen and Millenarians, jingoists and misanthropes, survivalists and skinheads, and the odd secessionist witch doctor." - - Thomas Yunck, via the Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, describing the make-up of the current Palin base of the Rethuglican Party.

In the 1960s, following the success of the Civil Rights Act and the enactment of many "Great Society" programs, many Southern right-wing Dixiecrats flocked to the Rethuglicans, who then implemented Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to create a reactionary electoral bloc that would last 30 years.

Credit Where It's Due

Every so often, we're surprised at a gesture or turn of events that gives us some hope for decency. Yesterday's announcement by Gov. Crist of Florida that he would extend voting hours from 8 to 12 hours per day was one of those times. Also, we saw on Crooks and Liars that Fux News (!) anchor Sheppard Smith pushed back hard on phony plumber Joe Whatshisname when he claimed that a vote for Sen. Obama was a vote for the "death of Israel." Smith's closing statement rebutting the charge is worth watching. Good for him. (We also recall that Smith's in-person coverage of Hurricane Katrina was honest and passionate; he kept demanding that Federal resources be rushed to New Orleans).

Payback's A Beotch

Florida Rethug Gov. Charlie Crist has decided to extend voting hours in Florida an extra 4 hours a day to allow for the increased number of voters. Florida Rethuglicans are angry, because limiting/suppressing the vote is to the Rethugs' advantage. Typically, the greater the turnout, the better for Democrats. Crist was on McSleazy's short list for VP candidates, but was passed up for the eminently qualified former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. Ouch!!

Looks like Charlie's sending McSleazy a message: "So you think Alaska's more important than Florida? See ya November 4!"

Running Out Of Time

With the election 7 days away, and early voting going strongly in favor of Obama, the McSleazy campaign is banking on "blue" state Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes to counter the Obama tide in such formerly "red" states as Virginia (Obama ahead by 8) and Colorado (Obama ahead by 5). But it's not working.

McSleazy's desperate campaign is throwing mud (labeling Obama as "socialist" or "Marxist"), knowing that their message on the economy, tax cuts for the wealthy, taxing health care benefits, cutting Medicare, etc., won't sell to the American people because it's a continuation of Dumbya's classic Rethug philosophy: every man and woman for themselves.

"Whack Job"

The impending doom of the McAngry/You Betcha ticket is fracturing their campaign, as we noted on October 25. McAngry staff and You Betcha staff are openly sniping at each others' leader anonymously, with a top McAngry advisor now saying that You Betcha "is a whack job." Why? Because she supported the secessionist Alaska Independence Party? Wanted rape victims to pay for their own rape kits? Believes creationism should be taught in public schools? Thinks she's absolutely qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency when 22 months ago, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska? That only puts her square in the middle of the far-right, whack job Rethug base. So, more accurately, she's Queen of the Whack Jobs.

"Internet Tubes" Guilty

Rethug Sen. Ted "Internet Tubes" Stevens of Alaska has been found guilty of 7 felony counts in connection with his corruption trial in Federal court. Stevens was up for reelection, but now faces likely defeat by Democrat Mark Begich.

On a positive note, this will give Stevens plenty of free time to study "the internet tubes."

Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye

The election's not over by any means, BUT:

Polls nationally and in battleground states continue to show Sen. Obama with a solid lead over Sen. So Long McAngry. Eight days left until the election; however, states allowing early voting are indicating heavy turnouts among newly registered Democrats and independents voting for Obama.

Note to Sen. McAngry: why not try the "angry Negro" strategy, and have McAngry jumped by Obama supporters? Ooops, looks like he's trying that (photo).

UPDATE: Even the race in his home state of Arizona is getting closer, with McAngry having a 4 point advantage (depending on the poll). His "ground game" seems to be, er, weak, while Obama's is surging.