Boston Globe is clearly learning the "up is down" game. Wasn't the "tax hike" that they are talking about a ballot initiative that people voted on?

Then again, it could be Ms Lalo35adm.

Hey, the avatars are back!

: )

i couldnt believe i was reading this:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Brian_Rogers_doesnt_care_what_you_think.html#comments

Pinocchio Palin

Obama wants cutsey ads easy show one with Mccain and Palin's noses growing while all their lies flash by in a stream of headlines highlighting their deceit.

I think this is worth a read. Insightful but also scary. More and more, I think Obama does have to return to the kind of campaign he ran in the primaries. My fear is that perceptions are already hardening and it may soon be too late. I hope I'm wrong about that.

http://www.truthout.org/article/dont-think-a-maverick

Hmmmm. It was encouraging to read this:

``The story of the Democratic primary was a superior on-the- ground Obama organization,'' said Rogan Kersh, associate dean of New York University's Wagner School of Public Service. ``This fundraising differential may mean we see that movie sequel in November.''

In June and July, Obama spent $5 million on staff; McCain spent $2.8 million, Federal Election Commissionreports show. Last week, Obama opened 35 new offices in Pennsylvania, the campaign announced. Obama is also competing in states such as Virginia and North Carolina that in recent elections haven't been hospitable to Democratic presidential nominees. There are 27 offices in Virginia, for example, according to his Web site.

That means McCain and the RNC during the two-month sprint to Nov. 4 will be spending part of their budget matching expenditures Obama has already made. This week, McCain and the RNC began adding campaign staff, with an eye toward doubling the size of the party's ground operation in 14 states.

The whole article is about Obama's fundraising. And despite all the handwringing going on these days, it appears to be in fine shape.

Go read it, people:

Obama playing possum on fundraising?

So, how's that Palin media scrutiny working out?

And at the end of the day, I truly wonder whether anyone except the far right base is going to vote for the bottom of the ticket.

All one can do is make an educated guess about this and my guess is no they won't.

Fundamentalists and the religious right in general are excited now. They weren't excited about McLame. But where I think he has totally fucked himself is in listening to whoever told him the religious right can elect this ticket. No they can't - there aren't enough of them. And I cannot see that many old line fiscal conservative Repugs voting for this extremist ticket.

What's that about "enthusiasm"?

LMAO!!!!

McLame is just honoring the standing tradition of the Repug Party - it is the Potemkin Party.

After Ike passes and the attention return to the campaign trail, Obama will find himself in a better situation that ever has been before.

It's true that this week has possibly been his worst on the general election so far, thanks to the stupid distractions of the GOP and the MSM. But, at the same time, McCain-Palin pushed their luck a long way too far and they're starting to be called by the press for it. The Palin phenomenon is struggling with an unbeatable adversary: the truth about her record and her views. The Gibson interview has given a lot of people a taste of the real Sarah Palin and expect this to continue (except on the Hannity interview of course). The major newspapers are finally calling the lies for what they are: LIES.

And with some elements to see in the next few days (Troopergate is getting better, thanks to the subpoenas; the truth about the bridge to nowhere is out; the "earmark queen" tag has started to stick and even she has started to flip on two major issues: global warming and stem cell research), the fast rising star will eventually fade (maybe not on the trail audiences).

But now McCain has been caught too. After launching some of the most nasty ads in recent time and after pushing too many distortions as the truth, he has been caught "in fraganti". It just took one interview on The View to realize that his honor and integrity are gone and he's just another republican that will say and do anything to win.

Now, what's left to Obama and Biden (and his surrogates) to do. In my opinion, three things:

1. Hit them hard with the truth: The GOP ticket is nothing more that a couple of liars. They'll say anything to get elected and the evidence is right there. It doesn't take any CSI to confirm this.

2. After establish that, push the McCain = Bush stronger than ever: The fact that they're liars doesn't leave any doubt that they are just more of the same (for me, they're the worst of the same). They have no plan, but the Bush plan. The only change they offer is no change at all. On the economy, on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on energy, on reform, etc. The point is simple: A McCain-Palin administration is just a Bush-Cheney administration, with a POW and a hockey mom as the only difference.

3. Finally, remember what the choice is all about: Change. America not just wants it, America really needs it. Obama-Biden is the only alternative left to four more just years of misery and despair (it could sound corny, but that's the truth people). Don't just oppose, propose: push the tax plan, the Iraq withdrawal, the real energy independence, a new era on internationalism, a government that is cool again. Push them with endless ads, with the biggest ground game on history, with the tools given by the same Internet that McCain doesn't know how to use. We have the instruments in our hands to change politics for good, let's use them and don't let them continue the same Rove tactics. Drown them on real proposals.

We still have the time. But that's what the fierce urgency of now it's all about: Time doesn't forgive.

Let's get up, get out and just do it!

After Ike passes and the attention return to the campaign trail, Obama will find himself in a better situation that ever has been before.

It's true that this week has possibly been his worst on the general election so far, thanks to the stupid distractions of the GOP and the MSM. But, at the same time, McCain-Palin pushed their luck a long way too far and they're starting to be called by the press for it. The Palin phenomenon is struggling with an unbeatable adversary: the truth about her record and her views. The Gibson interview has given a lot of people a taste of the real Sarah Palin and expect this to continue (except on the Hannity interview of course). The major newspapers are finally calling the lies for what they are: LIES.

And with some elements to see in the next few days (Troopergate is getting better, thanks to the subpoenas; the truth about the bridge to nowhere is out; the "earmark queen" tag has started to stick and even she has started to flip on two major issues: global warming and stem cell research), the fast rising star will eventually fade (maybe not on the trail audiences).

But now McCain has been caught too. After launching some of the most nasty ads in recent time and after pushing too many distortions as the truth, he has been caught "in fraganti". It just took one interview on The View to realize that his honor and integrity are gone and he's just another republican that will say and do anything to win.

Now, what's left to Obama and Biden (and his surrogates) to do. In my opinion, three things:

1. Hit them hard with the truth: The GOP ticket is nothing more that a couple of liars. They'll say anything to get elected and the evidence is right there. It doesn't take any CSI to confirm this.

2. After establish that, push the McCain = Bush stronger than ever: The fact that they're liars doesn't leave any doubt that they are just more of the same (for me, they're the worst of the same). They have no plan, but the Bush plan. The only change they offer is no change at all. On the economy, on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on energy, on reform, etc. The point is simple: A McCain-Palin administration is just a Bush-Cheney administration, with a POW and a hockey mom as the only difference.

3. Finally, remember what the choice is all about: Change. America not just wants it, America really needs it. Obama-Biden is the only alternative left to four more just years of misery and despair (it could sound corny, but that's the truth people). Don't just oppose, propose: push the tax plan, the Iraq withdrawal, the real energy independence, a new era on internationalism, a government that is cool again. Push them with endless ads, with the biggest ground game on history, with the tools given by the same Internet that McCain doesn't know how to use. We have the instruments in our hands to change politics for good, let's use them and don't let them continue the same Rove tactics. Drown them on real proposals.

We still have the time. But that's what the fierce urgency of now it's all about: Time doesn't forgive.

Let's get up, get out and just do it!

CT - consider this: the crowds might start off bigger, but once they've hauled off the protesters and the Obama supporters who show up, it's down to precious few people.

LOL!

How about that Rob Caldwell !!

(the guy from the ABC affiliate in Maine-"207" that did the tough -for MSM- questioning of McCain)

Mainers know not to kiss a moose - even if its wearing lipstick!

THREE THINGS the press - does not seem to be covering:

1) The Republican Platform from their convention: MOST. CONSERVATIVE. EVER.

2) Europe and the rest of the world have a HUGE stake in the race and the outcome. Who is reporting on what they think of what 4 more years of neo con (artists) control would mean to the rest of the planet?

3) the Obama folks keep using the slogan 'McCain= more of the same' but a McCain/Palin administration would be far worse, not the same. Bush started with a surplus and ran up the. largest. deficit. McCain would be digging us deeper in debt from far down in a deep hole. Hey, maybe he -we- will find out what is at the bottom of a deep hole of debt: China!!

(And as a P.S. To anyone who says Palin and the VP spot doesn't matter, lets 'focus on the top of the ticket', I have one name: Dick Cheney...)

PPS: This is my first post to TPM. Josh, and all of you, have been water and shade in a desert! Thanks!

Considering how close Russia is to Alaska - after all there's an island in Alaska where you can see Russia - I am surprised to hear that Gov. Palin and the First Dude haven't yet made the crossing to Russia in the family trawler.

Remember the old days when you rode around with your best buds drinking beers all night and piled out at your high school rival's school to "water the bushes". Oh, youth.

So how come Gov. Palin hasn't made a fact-finding tour in the family fishing boat to check out a foreign country, whose proximity to the US of A she is claiming as part of her foreign policy credentials? Stepping onto Russian soil would be more valid than a refueling stop.

Considering how close Russia is to Alaska - after all there's an island in Alaska where you can see Russia - I am surprised to hear that Gov. Palin and the First Dude haven't yet made the crossing to Russia in the family trawler.

Remember the old days when you rode around with your best buds drinking beers all night and piled out at your high school rival's school to "water the bushes". Oh, youth.

So how come Gov. Palin hasn't made a fact-finding tour in the family fishing boat to check out a foreign country, whose proximity to the US of A she is claiming as part of her foreign policy credentials? Stepping onto Russian soil would be more valid than a refueling stop.

Obama had a big rally today in New Hampshire. U.S. marshall estimated the crowd to be 7000 with 1000 outside the perimeter.

As The Caucus Blog points out:

Mr. McCain came into the race promoting himself as a truth teller and has long publicly deplored the kinds of negative tactics that helped sink his candidacy in the Republican primaries in 2000. But his strategy now reflects a calculation advisers made this summer — over the strenuous objections of some longtime hands who helped him build his “Straight Talk” image — to shift the campaign more toward disqualifying Mr. Obama in the eyes of voters.

The Obama campaign and their surrogates need to hammer home the point that it is John McCain who has disqualified himself from being fit to be the POTUS as a result of his serial lies.

Joe Biden is well-suited to relentlessly advance this meme. Why isn't he doing it?

I doubt that Obama was cowered into not doing SNL. Obama doesn't do cowering. I think that Obama generally didn't think it was appropriate. Perhaps it was or perhaps it wasn't. That's his call.

He will be doing it soon. I expect to see Obama on SNL in October during peak season.

Obama's appeal has never been about "ball-busting" (although he does have that in him for he did it in Chicago and he can play Chicago-style politics).

Obama's appeal has always been the inspirational MLK/JFK type character. He just needs to get back to what makes him special.

He should go back to the BIG rallies and do the inspirational speeches but just pepper them with economic populism. If he does that he will get back on track for that is who he is.

The bounce, according to http://fivethirtyeight.com, should have hit it's maximum on or around 9/11, slowly drop over the next week, and sometime around the 22nd, should basically start collapsing completely. If their projections are correct, the +2 McCain lead nationally is, essentially, a bounce.

Personally, I think if Sen. Obama comes out of the debates looking like a fighter, I suspect the RNC bounce will be a vague memory by Oct. 1.

If he comes out as the boring history teacher, it's going to get ugly.