"The action I am taking is no more than a radical measure to hasten the explosion of truth and justice. I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul. Let them dare, then, to bring me before a court of law and let the enquiry take place in broad daylight!" - Emile Zola, J'accuse! (1898) -

Thursday, October 23, 2008

 Bottom Feeding Sarah Palin Has Become A Negative As She Is Revealed As Shallow-Minded Money Sucking Manipulating Mouthy Extremist Phony 

Who Is Off The Wall And Over The Edge!

 

 

Problems At The Polls Become Primary Concern! Democrats Use The Number At The Top Of This Blog, And Don’t Hesitate If You Have A Problem!

 

Sarah Palin Has Become A Drag on the Ticket! She Has Shown She Really Knows How To Spend Other People’s Money On Herself.  McCain Dropping In The Polls and Polling Places Become a Concern!

 

Palin Is Sinking the McCain Campaign
By Steven Reynolds, The All Spin Zone | Sarah Palin is worse for John McCain's candidacy than George W. Bush

 

Palin Tells Dobson That “Prayer Warriors” Should Ask God To Intervene In US Election For GOP

 

Old conventional political wisdom dictates that vice presidential picks don't change the outcome of a race. When Sarah Palin received larger fanfare than John McCain a month ago, the pundits cautioned, "people vote for President, not for Vice President."

 

Well, vice presidential candidates may not win elections, but this year it's looking increasingly likely that Sarah Palin may help lose one. 



In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last night, the number one concern about McCain was Palin's perceived lack of qualifications.

 

This morning, NBC's Political Director Chuck Todd explained McCain's "Palin problem"

 

The 11 Dumbest Things Sarah Palin Has Said So Far
By AlterNet Staff, AlterNet | Presenting a roundup of Sarah Palin's most hilarious, shocking and scary statements since she was added to the McCain ticket. Read more 

 

Matthews Rips Palin: Somebody Needs to 'Give Her a Copy of the Constitution to Read'
By Staff, Think Progress
"Where does she get her civics?"   Earlier this week, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat down for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. As ThinkProgress first reported, in response to a question about "[w]hat does the Vice President do," Palin replied, "[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes." (She's wrong.)

 

 

McCain Tells Imus that Palin is the 'Most Qualified' for VP in Recent History
By Steve M., No More Mister Nice Blog
Dick Cheney, Joe Lieberman, Al Gore, Joe Biden, Lloyd Bentsen, and George H.W. Bush? No, Sarah Palin is "the most qualified." 

 

Palin Can't Name Any Man-Made Causes of Global Warming
By Ben Armbruster, Think Progress
Exposing the so-called "energy expert" who often sides with business interests.

 

To listen to the full interview, click here.

 

NYT Mag Lifts Curtain on Palin Choice, Infighting in McCain Camp
By Sam Stein, Huffington Post
The New York Times Magazine is set to publish an explosive story this Sunday.

 

Obama Opens Double-Digit Lead

 

New Poll Shows McCain Ceding Ground on Taxes, Values; Palin Loses Shine

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama has opened up a double-digit lead in the presidential race, with a growing number of voters saying they're now comfortable with the Democratic nominee's values, background and ability to serve as commander in chief, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. (http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WSJ_NBCPoll_102108.pdf)

 

For months, the race has rested largely on the question of whether voters could get comfortable with Sen. Obama, the first African-American to run on a major party ticket, and one who has been on the national political scene for just a few years. The Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, has worked to stoke concerns about Sen. Obama's past and his qualifications, raising questions about his rival's character and his association with 1960s-era radical William Ayers. "Who is the real Barack Obama?" Sen. McCain has asked at rallies. The new poll suggests that these attacks haven't worked.

 

Though most voters polled said that Sen. McCain is better prepared for the White House than the first-term senator from Illinois, there are increasing concerns about the readiness of Sen. McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

 

Overall, the poll found 52% of voters favor Sen. Obama versus 42% for Sen. McCain. That 10-point lead is up from a six-point Obama edge two weeks ago. The survey of registered voters, conducted from Friday to Monday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

 

It's the largest lead in the Journal/NBC poll thus far, and represents a steady climb for Sen. Obama since early September, when the political conventions concluded with the candidates in a statistical tie.

 

"Voters have reached a comfort level with Barack Obama," said Peter D. Hart, a Democratic pollster who conducts the poll with Republican Neil Newhouse.

 

That comfort is reflected in the ground gained by Sen. Obama among some important voter groups in the weeks since the financial turmoil hit. The poll finds Sen. Obama now holds a 12-percentage-point advantage with independents, a group both sides have fiercely sought. Two weeks ago, Sen. Obama led this group by just four percentage points. In mid-September, independents favored Sen. McCain by 13 points.

 

Sen. Obama leads suburban voters by 12 percentage points, up from two points two weeks ago. He leads among older voters, those over 65 years old, by nine points, erasing a one-point McCain advantage from the last poll. And in the Midwest, home to a swath of battleground states, he is now favored by 25 points, up from a one-point advantage.

 

Some daily tracking polls have found a tighter race between Sens. McCain and Obama in recent days. Real Clear Politics, a Web site that averages major polls, shows Sen. Obama up by 7.2 percentage points. Others have found a larger spread, such as one released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, a nonpartisan research group. That poll found a 14-point advantage for Sen. Obama among registered voters. Many polls also show Sen. McCain lagging in key battleground states, which hold the electoral votes that could decide the race.

 

Sen. Obama has also eaten into traditional Republican advantages, notably on taxes, despite Sen. McCain's attempts to make the issue a central economic theme of the campaign's closing days. In the mid-September Journal poll, Sen. McCain was favored 41% to 37% when voters were asked which candidate would be "better on taxes." This week's poll found Sen. Obama leading on the issue by 48% to 34%.

 

That may be partly due to Sen. Obama's argument that Sen. McCain would raise taxes on health-insurance benefits. While Sen. McCain's health plan does raise some taxes, the plan overall represents a net tax cut, according to independent estimates.

 

More Voters Comfortable with Obama

 

Sen. Barack Obama opens up a double-digit lead in the presidential race, with voters saying they're now comfortable with the Democratic nominee's values, background and ability to serve as commander in chief, according to a new poll. (Oct. 22)

 

Sen. McCain continues to pound Sen. Obama on taxes daily, adopting "Joe the Plumber" as his campaign's new everyman. Ohio voter Joe Wurzelbacher gained fame after challenging Sen. Obama on his tax plans at a campaign appearance earlier this month. Sen. McCain argues that Sen. Obama's willingness to "spread the wealth around" represents a brand of socialism. He suggests that vast numbers of Americans will see higher taxes, despite Sen. Obama's pledge not to raise them for families earning less than $250,000.

 

More Election Data

 

Electoral Calculator

 

National, State Polls

 

So far, voters don't seem to be persuaded by Sen. McCain's argument. A majority now disagrees with the statement: "Barack Obama will raise taxes on middle-income people if he becomes president," with just 40% agreeing.

 

"Everyone knows Obama's only going to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000, and Joe the Plumber does not make more than $250,000," said Jeff Howard, a 20-year-old student from Bell, Ky., who told pollsters he was voting for Sen. Obama, and said he leans Democratic, but not strongly.

 

The Final Stretch

 

In the final stretch, Sen. McCain is also pressing his independence from President George W. Bush, whose job approval is at a record low in this poll. At last week's debate, Sen. McCain told Sen. Obama that he should have run four years ago if he wanted to challenge President Bush, a line he repeats on the trail. But the poll finds nearly six in 10 voters believe Sen. McCain's direction, agenda and policies would be mostly the same as President Bush's, down just slightly from those who said so a month ago.

 

Sen. Barack Obama has gained with independents, suburbanites and older voters to increase his lead on Sen. John McCain in new polling.

 

It's a tough year to run as a Republican after eight years of Mr. Bush, said David Axelrod, Sen. Obama's chief strategist. "They're just on the wrong side of history," he said in an interview. "In an election that's all about change he simply doesn't represent it."

 

Sarah Simmons, the McCain campaign's director of strategy, said, "The environment is challenging, no doubt about it," but added that Sen. Obama has yet to take a lead big enough to ensure a win. Ms. Simmons said Sen. McCain is still viewed favorably by most voters. "That's a good sign for us that this race is far from over," she said.

 

Sen. Obama appears to be clearing some important thresholds with the electorate. Forty-eight percent of voters now say they would have a great deal or quite a bit of confidence in Sen. Obama as commander in chief. That's up from 39%, in August, and just two points shy of Sen. McCain's standing.

 

Similarly, in July, 47% of all voters said that Sen. Obama had a background and set of values that they could identify with. That figure is now 55% -- just two points shy of Sen. McCain.

 

"At first, I didn't know who he [Obama] was, and I knew who McCain was, and in that respect, I was leaning toward McCain," said Judy Callanan, 58, of Tuscarora, Md., a payroll manager and registered independent, who told the pollsters she was backing Sen. Obama. "But just listening to Obama talk, he was much more down-to-earth and talked more about things I could relate to."

 

In a Positive Light

 

Forty-four percent of voters see Sen. McCain in a positive light, about the same as the last poll two weeks ago. But views of Sen. Obama have grown stronger, with 56% now reporting very or somewhat positive feelings about him.

 

The one candidate whose popularity has fallen is Gov. Palin: 38% see her positively, down from 44% two weeks ago; 47% see her negatively, up 10 points from the last poll. That's the highest negative rating of the four candidates. Fifty-five percent of voters say Gov. Palin is not qualified to be president if the need arises, up from 50% two weeks ago.

 

For his part, Sen. McCain holds a distinct edge on the question of experience needed to be an effective president. Asked which candidate is better on knowledge and experience needed to handle the job, 49% picked Sen. McCain and just 27% picked Sen. Obama.

 

The McCain campaign says it plans to continue pressing the experience question. "There is lingering doubt -- is he ready?" Mike DuHaime, the campaign's political director, said Tuesday.

 

Independent voters still harbor concerns about Sen. Obama's experience and readiness for the job, Mr. Newhouse, the Republican pollster, noted. But he said these voters have reservations about Gov. Palin's readiness, complicating any effort by the McCain campaign to focus on this issue.

 

"I don't think Palin is ready to take that office," said Lois Peterson, 83, of St. Peter, Minn., an independent who now favors Sen. Obama. "She doesn't seem very professional."

 

That point was underscored on Sunday when retired Gen. Colin Powell endorsed Sen. Obama, citing, in part, his concerns about Gov. Palin's readiness.

 

Nineteen percent of voters polled on Sunday and Monday -- halfway through the total polling period -- said the Powell endorsement made them more inclined to support Sen. Obama. The results from this question have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

 

Video: The Palin EffectABC News

 

Video: AC360: Palin cover-up? CNN

 

 

Video: RNC Spent Thousands In Minn. On Palin Makeover WCCO Minneapolis

 

$150000 Wardrobe for Palin May Alter Tailor-Made Image
New York Times 
Gov. Sarah Palin on Sunday at a well-attended outdoor rally at Bush Run Park at Alderman Airport in St. Clairsville, Ohio. By PATRICK HEALY and MICHAEL LUO Sarah Palin’s wardrobe joined the ranks of symbolic political excess on Wednesday, ...
What $75062 will buy you at Neiman Marcus Los Angeles Times
Expensive Wardrobe Goes Against McCain-Palin Story Line Washington Post
ABC News - Christian Science Monitor - CBS News - The Weekly Standard
all 987 news articles »

 

Analysis: Expensive Wardrobe Goes Against McCain-Palin Story Line
Free Internet Press - New York,NY,USA
He received two such pricey haircuts during the Democratic
 primary and they were billed to his campaign, which is how everyone found out about them. ...


AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids' travel | Hey! Palin ...

By Ed. Dickau(Ed. Dickau) 
AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids' travel | Hey! Palin Treats The People’s Money Like She Is One Of The Bankrupt Bankers or AIG Comes To Mind! By BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers Brett ...
The Impeachment Hearing Room - http://theimpeachmenthearingroom.blogspot.com/

 

McCain ‘amazed’ by Palin treatment Politico

 

McCain Tries to Push Past Palin Backlash
Washington Post 
John McCain and Sarah Palin have been jabbing back at Barack Obama on several themes Wednesday, including economic policy. Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site.
McCain defends Palin's qualifications Boston Globe
Palin, McCain Address Rally At Lunken Airport kypost.com
Dallas Morning News - 90.3 WCPN ideastream® - KLAS-TV - WYTV
all 733 news articles »

 

Study: McCain coverage mostly negative Politico

 

Minn. rep calls talk show appearance `big mistake' AP

 

Jury Could Decide Alaska's Senate Race
ABC News 
A 12-person federal jury in Washington, DC, could essentially decide a US Senate race more than 3500 miles away in Alaska -- a race that could, in turn, be key to the Democrats' securing a 60-vote majority in the Senate.
Video: Alaska Senator Called 'Liar, Cheat' in Court AssociatedPress

'Stressful' deliberations begin in Stevens case The Associated Press
CBS News - The Miami Herald - KTUU - Los Angeles Times
all 655 news articles


SCENARIOS: How Obama, McCain are faring in key states
Reuters 
(Reuters) - With just two weeks to go before the US presidential election, the campaigns increasingly focus on battleground states where opinion polls show Democrat Barack Obama with a significant lead on Republican rival John McCain.
Video: AP-GfK Poll: Presidential Race Tightens AssociatedPress

AP poll puts McCain within 1 point of Obama Bizjournals.com
The Associated Press - Bloomberg - Medill Reports - WERC
all 1,574 news articles

 

Democrats' gloom deepens | The Too Good To Be True Syndrome

The Democrats are poised on the brink of victory. And they cannot stand it. The news is too good. Something has to go wrong. 

On Saturday, Charlie Cook, an independent analyst and author of the Cook Report, wrote: “This election isn’t over, but it is looking very bad for Republicans — and seems to be getting worse.” 

This plunged the Democrats into a deep gloom. Good news is always bad news for them. 

On Monday, CNN’s John King announced: “Most top [people] in the McCain campaign now believe New Mexico and Iowa are gone, that Barack Obama will win New Mexico and Iowa. They are now off the dream list of the McCain campaign. More interestingly, most top people inside the McCain campaign think Colorado is gone.” 

Democratic pessimism deepened when, that same day, Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray wrote in The Washington Post: “In the 13 battleground states that require voters to register by party, there are nearly 1.5 million more Democrats than at this time in 2004. The comparable Republican numbers, by contrast, have fallen by 61,000 during that time. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by more than 3.3 million in these same 13 battleground states, roughly double the edge — 1.8 million — they enjoyed over the GOP four years ago.” 

Can it get worse for the Democrats? Yes! On Tuesday, The Associated Press wrote: “Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spent $87.5 million last month and began October with nearly $134 million in the bank. The numbers illustrate his vast financial advantage over John McCain, his Republican rival, in the final stretch of the contest. McCain ended September with $47 million in the bank.” 

The story went on to note that Obama “spent $65 million in advertising in September to McCain’s $22 million. In October, he has outspent McCain 4-to-1 in advertising.” 

Awful news. Obama has a money problem. And you know what it is? He might run out of time to spend all the money he has! Election Day might come and go before Obama can spend the $5 million a day he is now raising. (If this does happen, I suggest he borrow a page from Oprah and buy everyone in America a Pontiac. Just as a gesture.) 

Obama himself has reacted to the dismal drumbeat of good news. At a fundraising concert in Manhattan last Thursday featuring Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, Obama got up and said: “Don’t underestimate the capacity of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Don’t underestimate our ability to screw it up.” 

Which is the prevailing mood in the top echelons of the Democratic Party right now. The McCain campaign cannot possibly be as hapless as it looks, party leaders feel. It is lulling the Democrats into complacency. The Republicans have to have an October surprise, because the Republicans always have an October surprise.

Besides, the robocalls could work. Never underestimate the power of the robocalls. Because people really like getting robocalls, right? 

You are at home, it is dinnertime (which is when they call you because they figure you are at home then), and you are either trying to relax or get the kids fed, and the phone rings and it is this recorded voice saying: “I’m calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.” 

And does that make you feel more or less positive about John McCain? Does it persuade you that McCain has a plan to save the economy? Or to help you pay your mortgage? Or that he has a steady hand on the tiller? 

For the robocalls to be effective, the Republicans would need Bill Ayers to plant bombs today and not when Barack Obama was 8 years old. They need Ayers to plant bombs in key states right now with stickers on them that say: “I am Barack Obama, and I endorse this bomb.” 

But McCain may have found his October surprise after all. In Bensalem, Pa., on Tuesday, McCain said: “Now, I’m not dumb enough to get mixed up in a World Series between swing states. But I think I may have detected a little pattern with Sen. Obama. It’s pretty simple, really. When he’s campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies, and when he’s campaigning in Tampa Bay, he ‘shows love’ to the Rays.” 

And rumors are now flying that McCain has proof that when Obama was in the second grade he once ate paste. 

The Democrats are fearful of all this. The Democrats are always fearful. 

“We have been on the precipice of victory before,” Dan Pfeiffer, an Obama spokesman, told me. “You have never seen a more superstitious campaign than ours. We do not talk about victory.” 

Talk about it, no. Plan for it, yes.

 

Alert: The Danger Is Real!

 

As Early U.S. Voting Begins, Ballot Debacle Predicted; High Turnout and Passions May Defeat Voting System

 

A "perfect storm" could be building for US Election Day on November 4 because of a combination of sky-high voter interest, new ballot machines and a shortage of poll staff, the independent Pew group warned yesterday. The Washington-based group set out a long series of problems still facing the U.S. despite reforms aimed at avoiding a repeat of the 2000 and 2004 debacles. The launch of the 77-page report came as legal clashes over voter registration and hours-long queues formed outside booths set up for early voting in states across the U.S.. Voting is now underway in 46 of the 50 states, though election day is still two weeks away. (Guardian story)

 

Making Sense!

 

Delahunt calls for changes in bankruptcy court
Forbes - NY,USA
Delahunt, a
 member of the House Judiciary Committee, said bankruptcy courts already are allowed to give relief to businesses for real estate loans and ...

 

More Bottom Feeders

 

Republicans Challenge Colleagues' American Loyalty

House Democrats, a Los Angeles Superior Court official and Columbia University are among the entities Republican lawmakers have described as "anti-American," "anti-American power" or "anti-American military" on the House floor in the current Congress.

 

Sowell compared Obama to Hitler, Mao, other dictators, and Jim Jones

Summary: Thomas Sowell's syndicated column compared Sen. Barack Obama to Bolshevik revolutionaries, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Jim Jones, and "[o]ther despotic regimes in China, Cuba, and Iran," all leaders who Sowell claimed resemble Obama in that they rose to power on a message of "change" or due to "inspiring rhetoric and a confident style" more than "specifics." Sowell also falsely claimed that Obama "was against a law forbidding physicians to kill a baby that was born alive despite an attempt to abort it."

 

When fear tactics backfired

 

Let’s End On Cute and I Don’t Mean Sarah Palin!

 

I was talking to a friend's little girl and she said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, weres tanding there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'

She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'' Wow - what a worthy goal!' I told her, 'You don't have to wait until you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then, I'll take you over tothe grocery store where the homeless guys hang out, and you can give him the$50 to use toward food or a new house.'

She thought that over for a few moments because she's only 6. And while her Mom glared at me, she looked me straight in the eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

And I said, 'Welcome to the Libertarian Party.'

Her folks still aren't talking to me.

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