McCain Not Being Bush
Talking Points Memo — You may have seen Democratic Rep. John Murtha's sweeping statements about his part of western Pennsylvania being "racist" (and his subsequent "redneck" mea culpa). Not exactly laying the ground work for racial harmony. So John McCain arrived in Pennsylvania today all set to capitalize on Murtha's boneheaded remarks. Well, McCain's got the boneheaded part down: You can see the glimmer of recognition of the flub, like he just chased Road Runner off the edge of the cliff. There's the split-second decision to try to pull off a miracle escape. But his legs stop spinning and gravity takes over and from ...

Crash.
Blah3 Feed — Holy crap. Hats off to TPM for catching that.

Judge For Yourself
Eschaton —

Ambien, take me away!
The Poor Man Institute —       

Oops!
Shakesville — lol your flubtastical flubbity flubgasm: Senator Obama's supporters have been saying some pretty nasty things about Western Pennsylvania lately. [audience boos] And, you know, I couldn't agree with them more. [audience WTFs] I couldn't disagree with you— I couldn't agree with you more than the fact that— Western Pennsylvania is the most patriotic...Ouch.

I Think It's Working
If I Ran the Zoo — Del passed on this piece of nuttiness, to which I linked below. The poster apparently believes that Obama's family in Kenya has enlisted the occult to ensure his victory in the presidential election. He quotes an email forwarded to him by some other guy and written by some woman who heard a message from some other woman who claims she traveled to Kenya to visit Obama's "home village". Never mind that he was born in Hawaii. The poster attempts to establish Woman #1's credibility as follows: [She] is credentialed with the International Fellowship of Ministries which is based in Washington State. She is also a member of EndTime Handmaidens ...

Oh Dear
Eschaton — I see Chuck Robb's Viagra has failed him again. Time for more killing.

Wanker of the Day
Eschaton — You Can't Fake It, My Friend Even aside from the obvious facts of his life, McCain just can't pull of the Nixon elite resentment thing because he doesn't understand it . He is an elite, always has been, and more than that has always felt like one.

That's Mavericky
Eschaton — A few people sent this to me. It's just weird. Republican John McCain is not going to make his election night remarks in the traditional style — at a podium standing in front of a sea of campaign workers jammed into a hotel ballroom. Oh, the throng of supporters will hold the usual election night party at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix on the evening of Nov. 4. But the Republican presidential nominee plans to address another group of supporters and a small group of reporters on the hotel lawn; his remarks will be simultaneously piped electronically to the party inside and other reporters in a media filing center, aides said. ...

Listen To Hugh! Please!
Eschaton — Listen To Hugh! Please! That's excellent advice for the McCain campaign.

Poll Porn
Eschaton — Poll Porn CBS/NYT: In a poll taken just before the first presidential debate, the Obama-Biden ticket held a five point edge, with 48 percent of likely voters backing the Democratic ticket and 43 percent supporting the Republican ticket of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Those 476 likely voters were re-interviewed for the new poll, and their responses suggest that the Democratic ticket has made gains since the initial survey: The Obama-Biden ticket now holds a 13-point edge, 54 percent to 41 percent, among the group.

Even More Poll Porn
Eschaton — CBS/NYT: (CBS) With just twelve days left until Election Day, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama holds a 13-point lead over Republican rival John McCain, a new CBS News/New York Times poll shows. Obama now leads McCain 52 percent to 39 percent among likely voters nationwide, roughly the same lead he held last week. Just five percent are undecided, and more than 9 in 10 of each candidate’s supporters say their mind is made up.

Evening Thread
Eschaton — Evening Thread My local team is hitting balls. well, not many.

More Thread
Eschaton — More Thread Not sure my local team is performing well.

Morning Thread
Eschaton — Morning Thread In retrospect, I'm not sure I've spent $150,000 on clothes in my entire life. And I own regalia! --Molly Ivors

More Thread
Eschaton — More Thread Not sure my local team is performing well.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Eschaton — WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Dow futures down so much that they tripped circuit breaker preventing any selling at lower prices.

Spreading The Wealth Around
Eschaton — Spreading The Wealth Around Sarah Palin's on my teevee boasting that Alaska is going to be increasing funding for special needs children by zillions of dollars.

Bonghit Philosophizing
Eschaton — Bonghit Philosophizing There are a lot of things about our media-political industrial class that I sort of understand, but the enduring presence of Gregg Easterbrook is not one of them.

Poll Porn
Eschaton — Don't believe it, but it's fun anyway. Georgia: Presidential Obama, 48 percent McCain, 47 percent Other, 2 percent Undecided, 3 percent U.S. Senate Chambliss, 44 percent Martin, 42 percent Buckley, 2 percent Undecided, 12 percent

Thanks, Rahm!
Eschaton — Heckuva job. But a document obtained by ABC News reveals new allegations of threatening behavior and sexual harassment toward a female staffer, that go far beyond Mahoney's public confession, including claims that he urged one of his mistresses to serve as a "tease" for big donors. The former Congressional staff member, Patricia Allen, was paid $121,000 by Mahoney after she was fired and threatened to sue. Click here to hear the tape of Mahoney firing Allen. The settlement was reached after Allen hired a lawyer who sent the Congressman a "demand" letter, listing specific examples of Mahoney's alleged "gross misconduct" and "stalking" ...

Birth Certificate
Eschaton — So Weird After spending days attacking Obama for his "welfare" tax plan over refundable tax credits, McCain's now attacking him for leaving out the unemployed.

So Weird
Eschaton — So Weird After spending days attacking Obama for his "welfare" tax plan over refundable tax credits, McCain's now attacking him for leaving out the unemployed.

Deep Thought
Eschaton — Deep Thought Is Barack Obama planning to kill his grandmother for the sympathy vote, or because she knows the truth about his birthplace?

The Dreams of David Broder
Eschaton — From about a year ago. The day had been full of ominous warnings. Polls showed the Republicans on the losing side of almost every issue and the 2008 presidential race -- and now they're forced to defend a controversial veto of a popular children's health bill. But Tom Cole, the 58-year-old Oklahoma representative who this year took on the responsibility for running the GOP's congressional campaign, was remarkably sanguine -- considering. ... That may seem implausible, but Cole has history on his side. In 1992, as he notes, incumbents were hammered, 24 of them losing in November, 17 others failing in their primaries. The Republicans ...

College Republicans
Eschaton — College Republicans KDKA: A Pittsburgh police commander says a volunteer for the McCain campaign who reported being robbed and attacked near a bank ATM in Bloomfield has confessed to making up the story. Police say charges will be filed. More details to follow.

Stoking Racial Fears
Eschaton — I didn't post anything about that story publicly because I don't really like jumping on stories about people who aren't really public figures and maybe don't quite have sense enough to understand what can happen when they thrust themselves into the spotlight. And, also, doubting the claims of alleged victims of violence is generally problematic. But, that picture... uh, whatever. ...

Kudos to Rick Sanchez
Eschaton — Kudos to Rick Sanchez Reporting on the attack hoax he actually introduced the notion of media culpability in reporting this stuff. Though why he's going to bring Neal Boortz on to explain it all to us I'm not sure.