As a long-time critic of the Obama ad strategy and grudging admire of the McCain ads, I feel like the world has been turned upside down.

The Obama ad is pretty good (although I think they could just run ads of him talking to the camera directly non-stop now and win).

But the McCain ad is horrendous. I've never seen a more out-of-touch ad full of "who cares?" points. I know they're building a character case. But this ad gets to no essential truths about Obama, or even suspected truths (the way the flip-flopper ads did about Kerry).

McLame indeed.

http://strategy08.wordpress.com

Once again, Intrade has Obama at 353 electoral votes. And 538 has him at 343.8.

It's just a matter of surviving the hurricanes, the blizzards, the earthquakes from the mcVendetta side for another 4 weeks.

Jerome Corsi, author of the anti-Obama smear book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, has been detained by authorities in Kenya as he set out to conduct a book tour there. Authorities there say Corsi does not have a work permit for his tour.

no wonder pat buchanan loves her so much. thats just scary...and creepy

OT: Sky News UK reporting a US fighter has been forced to land in Iran.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/

I hope other countries begin to nab more people for us. I hope they indict war criminals. And people who whip up a crowd with hate speech, which could incite riots. And people whose behavior has led the whole world to the brink of financial collapse and recession.

Sane countries around the world, please unite on behalf of the Rule of Law! Track down the criminals if they enter your country. Send them to The Hague. Whatever is necessary.

I think the McCain ad might have been more effective if they didn't do the "Who is Barack Obama?" intro, and they made McCain do his "Approve this message" thing first.

It's shameful where McCain/Palin are taking this campaign. It will become more obvious as we get closer to election day that their comments are not meant to convince people. They are meant to encite. Judging by the behavior of their audience, the strategy is working. It isn't clear to me yet what this is supposed to accomplish beyond making their campaign appear even more out of touch with mainstream Americans, but then again, I'm not sure that I really want to know.

I'm happy to see McCain use the "lie" word. Perhaps now the Obama Camp will be a little more open in using the word themselves when talking about McCain.

John

US says all planes accounted for, Iranians say plane & crew were released so doesnt look like much of a story

I know what I'm about to say is wrong, but the tone of the McCain campaign has brought it out of me: I hope they castrate that motherfucker in Kenya.

Did you catch Paul Krugman on Rachel Maddow's show last night? When describing what needs to be done to fix the current economic crisis, Krugman said that the Obama transition team needs to start acting on their economic plans immediately after November 4th. How's that for optimism?

Boy, I hope you guys are right. I have a lot of faith in Obama, Brokaw not so much.

The Big O will shine tonight. He already completed a training circuit at the Big Church a few weeks back. So when someone asks, "Is it true you spew green bile and spin your head around 360 degrees?" our hero will respond, "No human being can spin his or her head around. That's an anotomical impossibility. As your president, however, I will be looking in every direction for ways to fix our economy. You're right about the green stuff. Every time I look at the economic statistics I get sick to my stomach. As your president I'm going to get things done that help your families once again look forward to reading the morning headlines. You might remember them, we had a few about 8 years ago."

Or something like that. I am confident in The Big O. I'm still crabby-nervous about the block-the-vote-steal-the-vote cheaters. We are still in the danger zone. Remember, it ain't paranoia when you KNOW they're out to get you! :-)

Peggy Noonan, as a guest on Hardball yesterday, fretted (quite sincerely) regarding the nastiness which she perceives arising from the partisanship in America. I'm paraphrasing, but her anxieties clearly were of the "What sort of America have we become?" variety.

Well, Peggy, pardon me for any lack of sympathy but, as with Kathleen Parker, you're not only too damned late to this epiphany, you arrive far too little cognizance regarding your own contributions to the problem.

I strongly share your mistrust for Brokaw and for the format and fear a repeat of the Stephanopoulos sham.

And somehow calling McCain erratic is a reference to his age. AP, NPR and others have been saying that today. I shouted at the radio when I heard that.
Erratic is not age-related. Erratic is as erratic does.

I don't think it will happen, but it seems like with his tanking poll numbers, the dismal economy, the recent Keating 5 ad, and Obama's presence, the factors are all there for McCain to actually display his famous temper at the debate tonight.

Perhaps Corsi will end up in a boiling caldron so the entire village can enjoy him for dinner,,,,,,,,, a la the cartoons of Ninteenth Century missionaries suffering such a fate.

What I find truly interesting is that the media does not call this out, instead they sit by and allow it to go unchallanged or wite a snarky piece like Milbank did in the Wapost.
The way thigs are getting in this country has caused me to buy more ammo and get ready for a clash that I see comming over the horizon.
I don't like it but I am afraid it is comming to that and republicans are the folks that are making it happen.
God help us!

If authorities would have waited a few more hours to detain Corsi they might have caught him with some underage boys but being such a big asshole can overwhelm authorities forcing them to detain that person faster.

Palin shows what a good uniter she'd be with her divisive comments just short of sedition. She's trash and has set about rabble rousing rather than offering a plan to deal with our nation's current crises. She mistakenly believes that because of a 3000 member crowd that the nation is behind her when in fact there are 30,000 waiting to shout her 3000 down. Encouraging supporters to demean the press and threaten violence?...This from a person wanting to be VP of our nation holding intolerance above rationality? She's rabble rousing, trying to foster a mob mentality. She is ignorance heightened to the level of celebration, enabling the worst of her supporter's natures. She pretends to be just like her supporters just as the very wealthy McCain pretends he's an average factory worker shopper. Palin is too stupid to see that she is exposing her true self as a reckless hypocrite phony and will be lucky to ever hold public office again. She is an insult to the average voter which she assumes is ignorant and easily led. That accounts for only a very small minority as she will learn shortly. I will be forever grateful for Couric accidentally exposing Palin's character during and after her interview. No way to spin the truth because it was sooooo apparent. Palin should not be allowed in Washington as anything other than a tourist.