Stop it! We've got to get off the Palin crack! As long as we focus on Palin, Obama is drowned out and we can't focus on the issues.

It's clear that Palin supporters don't care that she's a liar so let it go and focus on dismantling McCain and his disastrous policies. This is a race between Obama and McCain. Remember?

God, ABC News makes me want to vomit. Peter Jennings wouldn't stand for this crap.

http://strategy08.wordpress.com

Eric how does the Ohio poll just "reflect" what the race was before the conventions? If that poll was for Mccain you would have a headline splashed across the page with some Palin reference added in. Seriously dude you need at least try and be consistent. That Ohio poll is really bad, bad news for Mccain unless it is an outlier which it could be, however, considering this was taken during repubulican bounce and it is a state they cannot lose this is just a little bigger than this weak tea headline

In another note, if you are wondering if the Hadron Collider has destroyed the world yet . . .

"McCain To Hold More Joints Events With Palin"

As long as he doesn't inhale.

I have been reading TPM ever since the conventions because it is the most comprehensive site when it comes to fact checking and exposing the McCain campaign's lies.

I've noticed that the comments by other readers are full of how they wished Obama would respond to McCain's swift boat style attacks--going so far as to write speeches or script commercials. Many of the TPM readers' dream responses seem to me more effective than Obama's responses have been.

On the Newshour last night, Obama advisor Melanine Barnes repeated Obama's response to the "Obama wants to teach sex ed to kindergarteners" ad by saying the bill is about protecting children from sexual predators and that the ad was preposterous, offensive, and untrue. The McCain advisor then assured viewers that the McCain ad was true, the bill is not about sexual predators, but is, in fact, about teaching comprehensive sex ed to five year olds. She also added that Obama's claim that McCain voted to abolish the department of Education is a blatant lie. The interview then moved onto another issue.

Which side won there? What is an undecided or uninformed voter to make of this "he said, she said" type of debate that does not move beyond one side calling the other side lairs, especially when the McCain campaign is on the offense and the Obama campaign is clearly playing defense? This, of course, is how McCain is planning on winning the election: distraction from the issues and from his and Bush's record.

I applaud the high road, issue-focused campaign that Obama is trying to run. But I think something is very wrong when so many posts from TPM contributors and readers do a better job than the Obama campaign of responding to the swift boating. The best posts do it by simply, concisely, and forcefully setting the record (both Obama's and McCain's) straight and effectively calling into question the integrity, judgment, honesty of McCain for resorting to ridiculous smear tactics and lies. The most brilliant ones do all of this without ever sounding angry--which may be what's holding Obama back. I am afraid that smarts alone are not going to win this election. Obama and his advisors saying "enough is enough" is NOT enough. I hope somebody in his campaign is reading TPM.

Really do need to let Palin go. It doesnt matter anymore Obama needs to focus on what does" the economy period and I believe that is exactly what he is doing. Palin will begin to fade it is the nature of things. When she does the election will come back to Obama v Mccain. Given Mccain's kneejerk decision making, temper and complete lack of knowledge on issues I am not biting my fingernails, hand wringing or focusing on the latest media darling. Palin isnt going to be there in the debates to hold his hand and if Mccain performs like he did during the beneath the radar repub primary debates aka sarcastic, angry and all over the shop on issues I doubt many of us will remember Palin in say Jan 09

Palin Scorecard: With the flood of information about an unknown candidate, it would be effective, I think, to have a web Palin Scorecard -- with bullets -- with at least two sorts of materials: character issues (like her lies) and policy issues (earmarks). This could be an ongoing venture that would catalogue, in one place, all the facts that make her an unacceptable VP. There must be somewhere a fair amount of op-search collected.

BTW "PalinScorecard" is an available domain.

Don't "take the focus" off her. Everybody's eyes are on her; let that work. No one can long survive the glaring scrutiny of CELEBRITY without becoming yesterday's news. Two months is a long, long time. The narrative will (indeed, has already begun to) shift. We've got a brilliant candidate running the best Dem campaign since 1964. Breathe.

Palin is the one mobilizing the base and sucking off centrist women. She is McCain's surge and she needs to be knocked off her pedestal pronto. Her record, ethical lapses and he unwillingness to take questions from voters and the press are serious issues that voters need to learn about. Otherwise, she gets a free ride and McCain milks it just as he ahs for two weeks now. Besides, the more her image takes a hit, the worse John McCain's judgment looks and the less mavericky he will appear. We can't run from her.

There are several diarists over at Daily Kos suggesting that it's time for a shake-up in the VP slot. No not Palin. Biden --- especially after his remark yesterday that Hillary would probably would have been a better VP candidate.

This woman who they are hiding and won't give the press access to very well could be president in FOUR months if McShame is elected in Nov and keels over before being sworn in. That is what scares the hell out of me. If she can't answer a simple question on her own, how is she possibly prepared to govern the whole country? Will Karl Rove be in charge of everything or just all of the K Street lobbyists?

Like all elections, this will come down to the middle third of voters who aren't emotional invested long-term in either party.
Unfortunately these are the voters who pay less attention and can be conned by lies (which the Republicans know and utilize).

What's going to sway these voters against Palin isn't TrooperGate or Bridge to Nowhere flip-flopping. That requires tuning out the Republican noise while looking into the facts. That's more than many are willing to do -- they just want what the MSM spoon feeds them.

It's almost been forgotten, but the clip of Palin saying she didn't know what the Vice President does day to day has to be utilized. The Dems needs to build an ad campaign around this because they have her on camera admitting she is unprepared for the job.

It is a message so simple that low information undecideds can understand that she is unfit for the office. Show her not ready for the job, then ignore her. And hope the MSM finally connects the dots and ends its lover affair with the new kid on the block (and tires of being slighted access to her).

Then to take some of the luster the attraction of a woman VP (and get some of the Hillary supporters who are in that middle third back on the side of the Dems), Obama should promise he will appoint a woman as his first Supreme Court appointee. Pandering for the women's' vote? Yes, but no more than McCain picking Palin, and it's a nice do-over for Obama not picking Hillary.

After that ignore Palin and go after McCain, but not with a punch to the face. Don't think the Repugs aren't going dirty to bait Obama into doing the same, then crying disrespect to a war hero, lack of Patriotism, religious ambiguity, partisanship, ageism, sexism, racism, liberalism, dirty Washington politics, etc. It's a trap they're waiting on him to step into.

Instead of a direct hit equal to the sex education to little children -- something for the Repugs to rally around -- there has to be lots and lots of annoying jabs at McCain to make him famously blow his temper at the wrong time.

I agree, Tena. The question that remains is how many serious people are there around the country?
Past history suggests they aren't a majority. That's why to get elected the Democrat has to win not only the people who actual THINK and TRY TO LEARN STUFF about what's going on, but also a reasonable chunk of the non-thinking, non-reading, non-serious people.

That's one of the reasons politics in this country are so damn frustrating, appalling, and scary.

Huh!? --

MO-GOV
Sep 12 Rasmussen

Nixon 54% (D), Hulshof 39% (R)

Nixon's been dug up and revived, and all we can talk about is Monty Python's cross-dressing PALIN!?