September 2008
159 posts
“McCain is a great hero, he has done some good things in the Senate, and he might...”
– Blake Hounshell, ForeignPolicy.com, on why more briefings won’t help Sarah Palin. McCain will be even more protected than Bush I. I’m sure there will be a long, bipartisan list of people ready to make directed donations should McCain need a transplant of anything.
“16th.”
– Spokesperson for Michelle Obama responding, on behalf of Michelle, to Barack Obama’s comments about their upcoming 15th anniversary. Obama made Keith Olbermann’s Worst Person List yesterday.
“Obama needed to seem like a reasonable man and plausible President, and McCain...”
– Ross Douthat offers a final thought on the first presidential debate of 2008. On this point he’s right.
“I think she has pretty thoroughly — and probably irretrievably — proven that she...”
– David Frum, conservative columnist and former Bush speech writer. This applies to John McCain also, because he doesn’t look at all like he knows what he is doing.
“Therefore, while I am discouraged at the final collapse of the Bush...”
– Newt Gingrich coming out, reluctantly, for the bailout. This was right after he encouraged House GOP members to vote against it.
Crisis Management: Obama vs McCain →
Andrew Sullivan wants to know, given this bit of reporting from CNN, why the race is not over.
Sen. Barack Obama expressed confidence Monday that lawmakers would come through with a financial rescue package, while John McCain’s campaign accused Obama and Democrats of putting “politics ahead of country.”
I’d like to know also.
“How is a pizza joint question about Pakistan from a voter an example of...”
– Marc Ambinder asks, self-righteously, how Palin’s Pakistan gaffe is a result of gotcha journalism. They are hanging on by a thread.
“What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all of the parties to the...”
– Steve Schmidt, McCain’s chief strategist, on Meet the Press yesterday. Guess that didn’t work out too well. Think McCain will be willing to take the blame?
“I’ve got absolutely no way of knowing that.”
– Fort Hill, SC Mayor Danny Funderburk responding to the question of whether he believes that Obama is the antichrist. No comment. Idiot!
“I was just curious if there was any validity to it. I was trying to get...”
– Fort Hill, SC Mayor Danny Funderburk explains why he forwarded an email claiming Barack Obama is the antichrist. The email claimed that Obama matched a description of the anti-christ in the book of Revelation. There is no such scripture. You’d think these bibile-thumping idiots would at least...
House set for a tough vote on the Splurge... →
After a weekend of tough negotiations, the House of Representatives is set to vote on the $700 billion Splurge (bailout) for the financial industry. The vote is likely to be close, with House Republicans still resistant to voting for the bill as crafted. And even though the bill now contains provisions for “insurance” rather than just bad-asset purchase as originally proposed.
What do...
“George McGovern went from 19 points behind Richard Nixon in a Gallup poll taken...”
– Nate over at FiveThirtyEight.com explains why McCain is stuck with Palin. They either make it work with Palin or it’s definitely over. I doubt there is anything they can do to fix the Palin problem, she’s hopeless. Note that McCain can still win this thing, but only by making Obama look...
“We have decided to suspend our editorial activities today so we can adequately...”
– Keene (New Hampshire) Sentinel Editorial board suspends operations to deal with the financial crisis. Outstanding.
“There has been no greater contrast between the Obama and McCain campaigns than...”
– James Fallows on tactics vs. strategy and why McCain doesn’t get it. This is why McCain has a very good shot at losing and, if he should win, why he has a better shot at being a crappy president.
A note on the debate →
James Fallows at TheAtlantic.com offered up this initial post-debate analysis. Obama-McCain 2008 compares to which of these match-ups?:
Kennedy-Nixon 1960
Reagan-Carter 1980
Clinton-Bush 1992
Fallows says all of the above,
In each of those cases, a fresh, new candidate (although chronologically older in Reagan’s case) had been gathering momentum at a time of general dissatisfaction...
“So John, you like to pretend like the war started in 2007. You talk about the...”
– Obama in Friday’s debate listing the reasons why McCain was wrong on the war in Iraq. I think this line worked for Obama. In a debate with few noteworthy sound bites this is likely to work better than “Sen. Obama doesn’t understand,” because he clearly did. And yeah, I think...
“It would be fantastic. You would have every TV camera there. The entire country...”
– A McCain insider commenting on the idea of a pre-election wedding for Palin’s pregnant daughter Bristol. I have my doubts about this report, but given the McCain-Palin camp’s love of drama, something this stupid doesn’t seem impossible. If this was Obama’s family we’d...
“Barack Obama and John McCain did not even wrestle over the $700 billion economic...”
– The TV Watch - Beyond Ideology, a Generational Clash - NYTimes.com (via fred-wilson) And gramps was pissed.
McCain's Gambling Problem →
The New York Times has a damaging article on John McCain’s ties to the gambling industry. It includes allegations that gambling lobbyists and McCain’s aides used the Abramoff scandal for personal gain. Not only did they use it for personal gain, but they were instrumental in maneuvering McCain to investigate Abramoff, who was a rival of the other lobbyists.
McCain is looking less like...
“For years and years, Democrats have wondered how their candidates could...”
– James Fallows seems to think that Obama knows the difference between strategy and tactics. I’d have to agree, John McCain’s tactics during the debate were ineffective. While McCain probably won on points he just didn’t do what he needed to change the game. I think Wesley...
“In these times, for John McCain to have chosen this person to be his running...”
– Fareed Zakaria in his article: Palin Is Ready? Please. McCain has proven he is not up to the job of being President.
“I don’t think the Palin problem is fixable. She is who she is: an...”
– Andrew Sullivan tells us what he really thinks of Palin and McCain. He also says she’s going to kill the ticket, whether she stays or goes. We can look forward to several more weeks of hail marys and hand grenades.
RNC going up in Indiana →
Ben Smith at Politico.com is reporting that the Republican National Committee is starting to spend money in Indiana. Obama has been aggressively pursuing Indiana, a state that hasn’t gone red since 1964. And McCain and GOP haven’t even set up an office. Apparently, their internal polling must be telling them something they don’t like.
While Obama may have pulled out of North...
Obama's Lead Nearly Doubles In Tracking Polls →
This post should have been titled, “McCain Fucks Up!” Obama seems to have had a stellar day in the tracking polls yesterday. On average Obama is up 48.9 to 44.5 today vs. 47.7 to 45.3. That’s a gain of 2 pts, 4.4 today vs. 2.4 yesterday.
These tracking polls are a 3-day rolling average so for Obama to have this kind of 1-day gain means he had a really good day yesterday.
...
Free Sarah Palin! by Kathryn Jean Lopez on... →
josephweisenthal:
Holy shit. Even Sister Kathryn Lopez is reserving a ticket on the “drop Sarah Palin” train. That’s crazy. Am I the only person who didn’t think the Couric interview was that bad?
Yes, you are.
Rasmussen Reports: Obama 50%, McCain 45% (Likely... →
Obama is up 5 in the latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll. This is Obama’s biggest lead since the Democratic convention.
McCain to attend Debate In Mississippi →
This doesn’t sound like there is a deal. Does it? From the McCain campaign:
Senator McCain has spent the morning talking to members of the Administration, members of the Senate, and members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that there is a framework for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including...
“What’s more important than anything that when we go to Mississippi...”
– Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) says “Mission Accomplished” for McCain and lowers the bar for McCain so he can attend the debate. What is it with Republicans and “premature victory?” They should really get some counseling, it’s a pretty embarrassing condition.
McCain will attend debate
Just heard on NPR. Updates as they come in.
Updates here.
“She is not as smart or disciplined as Barack Obama. If she were, she would sound...”
– James Fallows gives up on Palin also. Soon after her pick was announced Fallows said, “Let’s assume that Sarah Palin is exactly as smart and disciplined as Barack Obama.” Now he and the rest of us know that she’s not.
Palin Problem: Leading conservatives are giving up... →
Kathleen Parker, National Review Online, gives up on Sarah Palin.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often...
“It’s possible that all this cramming is causing Palin to become less coherent —...”
– Matt Yglesias on why Palin is getting worse in these interviews instead of better. It’s as good a theory as any, but irrelevant since we have all the evidence we need to conclude she isn’t qualified for the job she seeks. And McCain is too willing to take risks with the future of this...
WatchOMFG!!!
“It’s not true - he’s still competing for the presidency, so he ought to show up...”
– Demcoratic consultant Jonathan Prince, on the use of the word “suspend” by the McCain camp
(via Politico.com: spintree)
“Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain has trickled up.”
– Barack Obama
Staffing the White House meeting →
Who’s politicizing the bailout and this afternoon’s meeting at the White House? Ben Smith offers this little tidbit on who’s bringing who:
According to a list of attendees circulating for today’s White House meeting, McCain is bringing a campaign aide, while Obama’s bringing a Senate staffer.
McCain will be accompanied to the meeting by economic adviser Douglas...
Obama Will Make Debate A Townhall If McCain... →
Good for Obama. 90 minutes of answering questions in primetime would be a nice campaign ad. Now it just remains to be seen if McCain, the White House or some Republican in Congress tries to hold up a deal on the bailout until Saturday.
WatchSarah Palin being prayed over by a minister who has engaged in actual witchhunts. Not political witchhunts, but actually hunting witches. He actually calls on Jesus to protect her from all forms of witchcraft. While this is just one of 100 reasons why McCain-Palin should not make it to the White House, can I just say: OH COME ON! If this was Obama the election would be over.
“One of two things is absolutely clear at this point: she [Palin] is either (a)...”
– Glenn Greenwald offers a Correction on Sarah Palin - Salon.com. Heinous, that about covers it.
“Last week… John McCain called for a commission to “find out what...”
– Thomas Frank in a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled “It’s Judgment Day for McCain”. Things just suck for John McCain right now.
WatchHere’s some video on Couric’s Palin inteview. I almost feel bad for her [Palin].
In CBS Interview, Palin Calls For Surge In... →
Read this and then tell me WTF is John McCain thinking. Katie Couric asking Gov. Palin about the situation in Afghanistan.
Katie Couric: Why is it much more challenging there? Can you explain that? Sarah Palin: The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and...
Obama Camp email on McCain's remarks this morning... →
John McCain spoke this morning at the Clinton Global Initiative. McCain reiterated his reasons for suspending his campaign and calling for postponement of the first debate, scheduled for tomorrow. The Obama campaign sent out an email putting those comments into context.
From McCain’s remarks today: I cannot carry on a campaign as though this dangerous situation had not occurred, or as though a...