Dear John:

I say this in all sincerity. Do the honorable thing. Step down sir. Fall on your sword. Let your Grand Old Party run the person at the top of the ticket that they really want to run as their candidate. You know who I mean, that simple, moose hunting, baby making, hockey Mom and Defender of the Faith, Sarah Palin. Be honest, you know that's who your "supporters" really want to see taking on that Black Muslim Terrorist Sumbitch Barack Hussein Obama:

Larry Reid of Molino said:
My wife, friends and I stood in the rain for over an hour and a half. It was worth it to see this outstanding lady. We would do it again.

Sally Dryden of Niceville said:
Standing in the rain, visiting with other good Americans, feeling the desire of all of them to hear Sarah Palin talk about the changes Senator John McCain and she will bring to our government... was a PRIVILEGE! What a woman!. [...]

Mary Holton of Milton said:
Thank you for putting this out. I for one could not get tickets until what I thought was the last minute, 10 am, as I thought Gov. Palin would be speaking at 11 am, so figured by the time I got from East Milton, with my 27 month old great granddaughter and husband, would probably be too late. Now I see I missed a great opportunity to have been blessed to have seen this lady in person. I knew NW Florida would do her proud. So sorry I missed this, but so glad so many showed up, never dreaming it would fill to capacity. Praise God.

I know, sir. She's as dumb as a bunch of rocks. She doesn't even know how to fly a war plane much less crash three of them. She thinks she can see Alaska from her home in Wasilla for god's sake, and she believes in witches (and I don't mean the ex-wife kind either). More importantly she hasn't put in the years you have in the Senate smarming up to those asshole media types and doing the bidding of lobbyists who funded your political campaigns just so you'd get one more shot at the brass ring of American politics.

But less face it sir. You put people to sleep when you talk. They start heading for the aisles at your rallies when the two of you appear together after she's done talking and it's your turn on stage. And she's even prettier than that rich ice queen blonde trollop of a wife you married (or at least Republican men seem to think so). You looked like you hated every minute you spent debating Obama, while she went right up to your old Pal Senator Biden and disarmed him with a handshake, a smile and a "Can I call you Joe" introduction. She's comfortable inn her own skin, while you don't have much of your own skin left under all that pancake make-up.

The fact that she doesn't know any -- well -- facts about anything other the need to drill for more oil in Alaska really doesn't matter, since she never answers the questions the media asks her anyway. You call Obama a decent man while she's willing to pull out and play the pallin' around with terrorists card. She's just relentless as a campaigner in a way you will never be. She'd not only look Obama in the face in the next debate, she'd wink at him!

Why even the good folks at Vets for John McCain get all weak in the knees when they talk about her, as this email I received from them demonstrates:

This past Tuesday Governor Sarah Palin came to Pensacola to demonstrate the importance of this area in the upcoming election. Those of you who witnessed this event had to be stunned by the electric atmosphere inside the Civic Center and the absolutely over the top enthusiasm the crowd showed for Sarah. Thousands of people waited hours in the pouring rain (with accompanying thunder and lightning) to snake through the security check points. The venue was filled to capacity (over 10,000) and the Fire Marshall shut the entrance down with two to three thousand people still in line. Sarah spoke for only twenty minutes and then mingled for another thirty before she had to depart for Greenville, NC for her fifth event of the day. The patience and deportment of the crowds were remarkable – no, unbelievable. That mass of folks were every bit as important a story as was Sarah’s appearance. Pensacola shined and those present witnessed the continued rise of a future political force regardless of the outcome of this election. Sarah Palin is the real deal.

I hate to say it, but I don't think they talk about you like that, in public or private. Why the first picture that you see on their website is one of her, not you. Maybe they're trying to send a not so subtle message?

Look, I know it was hard work the last 2 years buddying up to that piece of bullcrap President Bush and his slimy little turdblossom senior adviser, Karl Rove, much less having to listen to Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Fred Thompson (not to mention that screechy Ron Paul guy) drone on for hour upon hour at all those GOP candidate debates. It must have seemed like a dream come true when you finally wrapped up the Republican Party's Presidential nomination, even though you knew half the bastards hated your guts (and that's just the Senate Republicans and your own staffers I'm referring to). But now is not the time for true men to shirk their duty.

Do the honorable thing and put your party before your personal belief that you are the only man who can save America. Resign the nomination. I bet if you do, David Broder will give you a cookie. And Fred Hiatt will write you a nice political eulogy.

And Sarah Palin will put you on her Christmas card list. Maybe.

Sincerely,

Steven D

I'm headed for State College, PA (home of the Penn State Nittany Lions) to see the Grateful Dead perform a benefit-concert in Barack Obama's behalf. It's hard to believe it has been seventeen years since I last saw the Grateful Dead with Jerry Garcia. Jerry won't be there today, but the rest of the band will, and they still have a great rhythm section. I'll be interested to take in the scene at Penn State. The New York Times has a profile of the campus voters today. It won't surprise you.

There is a conservative group on campus, the Young Americans for Freedom. A stop by their locked office on Sunday yielded no humans. A sign plastered to the door read: “Number of people at Ann Coulter’s speech: 1,200. Number of People lined up to have their books signed: 200 +. Number of active YAF members: 12.”

The scene was a little different at the Obama regional headquarters for Centre County, just up the street from campus. College students — alongside older supporters — punched out buttons, worked the phones and made posters. “We have 300 to 400 kids a week in here,” said Zachary Zabel, the president of Penn State Students for Barack Obama. “We all feel this is the most important campus in the country.”

I'll let you know my impressions when I get back from the show. In the meantime, the coffers are a little low and I've only had one donation so far in October. If you like the site, please drop some change in the tip jar.

Let me leave with a little mood music from April 17, 1972 in Copenhagen, Denmark:

I weep for Fred Hiatt. Really, I do.

Oh, poor miserable Captains of Capitalism. How the mighty have fallen. How easily they have abandoned their principles at the prospect of Big Guvment handouts. Somewhere the ghost of Ayn Rand is crying. Why, you'd think these mighty giants of industry were a bunch of lazy unemployed homeless people at a soup kitchen the way they are groveling for more corporate socialism rather than letting the almighty invisible hand of God the Free Market do its work spreading wealth and happiness unimpeded.

What is this post all about, you ask (and rightly so)? Nothing much. Just the American Automotive Industry promoting itself as the next candidate for a bailout Bush administration rescue mission:

That defining catchphrase of American business will be tested as never before as GM enters the week with its stock at a near 60-year low and the prospect of asking the U.S. government for funding, which analysts say is crucial to its survival and to any consolidation in the struggling auto industry.

"This could certainly be major for GM because it needs cash more than anything, and this could stave off the bankruptcy risk," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with Crowe Horwath. [...]

Beyond the recent round of merger talks [with Ford and Chrysler] there looms a burning question: How soon can the U.S. automakers get federal funds and will it be enough to save an industry that is burning cash and facing uncertain prospects for a turnaround?

GM, Ford and Chrysler are all eligible for a share of $25 billion in low-cost federal loans to retool factories in order to build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

But the disbursement of those funds is expected to take months as regulators put rules into place that will govern distribution of the money.

As of late Friday, Detroit's allies in Congress were focused on getting the Bush administration to accelerate the availability of that $25 billion.

In shorter words, American automakers just want Bush to show them the money. This is no time for red tape, they say. Just hand over your cash and we won't ruin your economy. You know, your standard blackmail line.

Hey, I have no problem with giving $25 Billion to US automakers. Hell, under Bush we've given billions of dollars to Halliburton and KBR for bad water and deadly showers in Iraq for our soldiers. Using that metric, GM, Ford and Chrysler are at at least as deserving of the Federal Government's munificence. But not without protections for workers. If all the Big Three automakers plan to do with that $25 Billion Dollars is layoff workers and distribute their new found bounty to shareholders and executives, I have a problem with that.

After all, these are not exactly the folks I would trust to spend free money wisely. Unlike their counterparts in Japan, they continued to build gas sucking SUV's and failed to invest in new alternative technologies such as hybrids until it was too late. They believed Big Oil when they were told the era of cheap gas would never end. They thought the bubble economy would never implode and that there would always be people willing to buy the big trucks and other expensive fuel sucking monstrosities they manufactured. They were so stupid that, despite the lessons learned from the last time gas prices unexpectedly spiked upwards, they continued to go for short term profits over long term success. In the land of Adam Smith, they would have died off years ago.

But real people work for GM, Ford and Chrysler, and they shouldn't have to pay for the mistakes that the wealthy, incompetent senior executives have made. So fine, give the automakers $25 Billion Dollars. That's a drop in the bucket compared to what we will be spending on the banks. But do the same deal we did when we bailed out Chrysler: Get equity in the company and a the right to decide how the money is spent. Because otherwise, we might as well be direct depositing that money into the Swiss bank accounts of the senior executives who mismanaged the American automotive industry into the ground.

And that, my friends, would be as ill fated an economic stimulus package as John McCain's plan to extend the Bush tax cuts for rich people like himself.

The Wash Post/ABC Poll has been one of the more McCain-friendly polls out there this election cycle, but they now show Obama opening up a double digit national lead.

Overall, Obama is leading 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, and for the first time in the general-election campaign, voters gave the Democrat a clear edge on tax policy and providing strong leadership.

What's clear is that the Obama campaign is functioning on a very, very high level, and getting their message out there in a most effective way. Taking the lead on tax policy and strong leadership? Al Gore and John Kerry can only gasp in admiration.

...Obama's pitch to the middle class on taxes is beginning to sink in; nearly as many said they think their taxes would go up under a McCain administration as under an Obama presidency, and more see their burdens easing with the Democrat in the White House.

Not only has McCain failed to convince voters that Obama would raise their taxes, he has failed to convince voters that he would cut them. That's a spectacularly big failure, and may reflect Obama's success in critiquing McCain's Health Care proposal (which would tax health benefits for the first time).

Twenty-three percent of all adults -- and 18 percent of political independents -- gave the president good marks, putting him within a point of Harry S. Truman's record low in a February 1952 Gallup poll. The low ratings continue to have a dampening effect on McCain: More than half of voters, 51 percent, said that McCain, if elected, would largely continue to lead the country in the direction Bush has, and those voters overwhelmingly prefer Obama.

This is more confirmation that David Broder's 'Pony Boy' president is the worst in history. It's also confirmation that Obama has succeeded in disseminating his 'More of McSame' message.

More than half of all voters, 53 percent, volunteered in an open-ended question that the economy and jobs constituted the most important issue in their choice for president.

Obama is winning "economy voters" by 62 percent to 33 percent, nearly a 2-to-1 ratio.

Obama is finding the timing of the economic downturn to be somewhat fortuitous, but he can take credit for projecting an aura of steady-calm, while John McCain was been nothing but erratic throughout the crisis.

With the airwaves in battleground states reaching saturation level and coverage of the campaign intensifying, 59 percent of voters said that McCain is mainly on the attack, a marked increase over the 48 percent who said the same in August. And 35 percent of respondents said McCain is addressing the issues, in stark contrast with the 68 percent who said Obama is doing so.

Obama has stayed on message. And he's managed to keep up a positive/negative ratio high enough that his attacks leave no fingerprints. McCain has payed a price for his personal attacks. Obama has payed no price for strong rebukes, like his roll-out of the Keating 5 video.

Nor has there been evident progress for the GOP campaign to label Obama as an extreme liberal: Fifty-five percent of voters see the Democrat as "about right" ideologically, and although 37 percent see him as "too liberal," that is about the same as it was in June. By contrast, the percentage seeing McCain as "too conservative" is up to 42 percent, higher than it was four months ago.

In a sure sign of realignment, McCain is paying a heavier price for being a conservative than Obama is paying for being a liberal. I haven't always enjoyed Obama's move to the middle, so I am very pleased to see that he has, at least, been successful in inoculating himself against the charge that he is ideologically out-of-touch. Not so for McCain, whose choice of Sarah Palin destroyed his maverick-image. Most impressively, McCain's attacks have failed to move the polls a single point since June in the 'too liberal' category. That's not just incompetence on McCain's part. That's great defense from the Obama camp.

One might wish for better or different policies, but I can't see much room to criticize Obama for his campaign. It hasn't been flawless, but it has been the best I have seen in my lifetime. The only campaign in its league was the 1984 Reagan re-election campaign.

I'm not really surprised. Early on in this process, I recognized that the Obama campaign was better than my best advice and that I should be humble and let them do their thing. With the exception of the FISA vote (which, in retrospect, looks like an unnecessary case of extreme caution) the Obama campaign has either done what I would have suggested or come up with something better than I could have ever imagined. It is to their credit that they neither listened to the advice of the partisans of the blogosphere, nor did they let any attack go unchallenged. This polling validates their strategy. John McCain has been cut down by a thousand small-axe strikes, while failing to score any staggering blows.

Combine all of this with the breathtaking grassroots ground game, and the only word for the Obama campaign is 'magnificent'. Three weeks to go. Visit your field office.

He's $1.4 million richer, too.

Political Byline advertises itself as "opinionated, but not partisan." That seems to be false advertising because not only do they refer to Democrats and other supporters of Barack Obama as "fucktard Liberals" and "Anti-American, God Hating, Baby Killing, Fascist bastards", but they've created a graphic of a noose, Barack Obama, and the message: "Asphyxiation: the fucking solution."

The alleged point of the post is to fight fire with fire. The blogger is offended by some images he's seen on Ted Steven's intertubes that suggest Palin's parents should have aborted her or that show a fist punching Palin in the face. The noose is supposed to show equivalency.

Let me just make an obvious point, here. I can go find the most offensive, racist image file available on the internets and post it. I can complain about it. But that doesn't provide me with an excuse to create and post something equally or more offensive. And let me make a second point. If I'm going to post an offensive image and complain about it I should at least explain the provenance of the image. Who posted it? What is their ideological leaning? What did they say their point was? You know, context.

Finally, it's not necessary to make up graphics of a noose and a black man. You can just post the real thing:

Just post that and say that you'd like to see that done to Obama, his wife, and their two daughters. If you don't like that particular image, there are many more to pick from. You see, lynching black people isn't some rare thing in the history of this country, and we have around 100 authentic souvenir photographs of real-life lynchings to choose from. But let me give you Billie Holiday...she can explain it for you:

Any questions?

Okay. Let's say everything go according to plan and Barack Obama is elected along with huge pickups in the House and Senate. Would the first thing you would advise doing be to reconvene Congress to pass $150 billion in stimulus? With the GOP Senate filibuster and Bush's veto still in place? Really?

As Sarah Palin says, "Do we have to?"

I understand the sentiment, but signs don't vote:

PORTLAND, Ore. - Authorities have arrested two men after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a 4-foot by 8-foot campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a southeast Portland yard.

Karen Scrutton said she was asleep inside her home at 7956 S.E. 17th Ave. in the Sellwood neighborhood when she saw her sign go up in flames after 1 a.m.

"I screamed upstairs to my husband, 'Jean! Jean!" she said.

A neighbor heard a crash and chased off one of the suspects. Jean Scrutton said his son-in-law found another suspect not far away.

Not long after, investigators picked up Leslie Brockette Leudtke and Kevin Carl Robinson, both 23. After interviewing them, the pair was charged with four counts each of manufacturing and possession of a destructive device. In addition, Leudtke was charged with a single count of reckless burning.

Passions are running a little too high for comfort right now.

What stunt will John McCain come up with next?

Jeff Jacoby. A sample:

Are some citizens so uninterested in political affairs that they won't bother to cast a ballot unless they can do it from their living room couch, or are given a month-and-a-half to get around to it? Yes. But what is gained from encouraging such lazy or apathetic people to vote?

Why can't we bring back poll-tests?

According to Research 2000, Barack Obama has a 13% national-poll lead on John McCain. According to SurveyUSA, John McCain has a 27% lead in Alabama. George Wallace used to be the governor of Alabama. Here is what George Wallace did to John Lewis:

Lewis put his life on the line at several of the best-known battlegrounds in the modern African American struggle for equal rights. He was arrested numerous times for acting on his beliefs. Lewis was one of a small group of men and women who protested the segregation of interstate bus terminals in 1961 by traveling in integrated groups through the South. These Freedom Rides attracted national attention. When Lewis and others were attacked by white segregationists at a bus station in Montgomery, Alabama, they made national headlines and publicized the plight of blacks under a racially segregated social order.

Here is a pictorial representation of what George Wallace did to John Lewis. Jim Zwerg is checking how many teeth he has left.

You can read about what George Wallace did to Jim Zwerg here, and you should never forget what John Lewis and Jim Zwerg did for justice and human rights. There should be statues commemorating their efforts in every town square, because they are the living embodiment of human courage and righteousness. So, when John McCain says that John Lewis is one of his personal heroes, that is a point in John McCain's favor. But when John Lewis warns John McCain that:

Wallace "never fired a gun," Lewis added, "but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed. . . . Senator McCain and Governor Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all."

...he knows what he's talking about. McCain and Palin's scurrilous and inciteful attacks may still play in modern-day Alabama, but they don't play outside the south. Again, let's look at the Research 2000 poll:

McCAIN/OBAMA

NORTHEAST 28 65
SOUTH 53 41
MIDWEST 38 55
WEST 39 53

It looks to me like the Southern Strategy has evolved to the point that it is a strictly southern strategy, with no salience outside of that region. I don't want to pick on the South, but the numbers tell a story. The rest of the country has moved on past the politics of Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay. On November 4th, the country will ratify the official end of successful George Wallace-politics...whether Alabama likes it, or not.

Michelle Malkin blames all this talk of racism on The Obama Witch Project. Witches. Sarah Palin. Get it? So funny I forgot to laugh.

Republicans don’t need to dress up for Halloween this year. They’re scaring the pants off Barack Obama’s followers by their mere presence. Anything they say, wear, or do provokes instant cries of “RAAAAACISM!” Wink, blink, or think critical thoughts about Obama? You’re a bigot!

Actually shouts of "terrorist" and "kill him" are what's scaring Obama supporters. That and crazy right wing lunatics with guns who aren't afraid to use them.

But as to charges of racism, all one needs to do is read the headline of Michael Barone's latest screed at National Review Online to see that the righties aren't exactly playing it subtle with their racist references:

The Coming Obama Thugocracy

Thug is an old word which originated in India during the rule of the British Empire, but of late the word "thug" has an association with "Gangsta Rap" which is not exactly a secret. In other words, Barone is intentionally linking Obama supporters with scary, murderous African American gangsters. Just in case white people don't get the message that Obama is a very dangerous guy.

So, tell me again Michelle, who's spreading these racist memes? "That thug" and his "thug supporters," or you and your friends? I'm all confused.

I went to the inaugural baseball game at Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Park. It was an exhibition between the Phillies and the Cleveland Indians. Then mayor, John Street, got the worst booing I have ever seen anyone get in any setting. It was loud, it was prolonged, it was unanimous, and it was humiliating. And John Street was a Democrat.

Philadelphia sports fans are the most notoriously ill-mannered sports fans in the nation. Way back in, I think, the 1960's, Philly fans booed an appearance by Santa Claus. You don't go to a Philadelphia sporting event expecting love from the audience if you know what you are doing. And that goes double for a Republican. Philadelphia is the most Democratic city in the country. I wouldn't expect Barack Obama to get a positive reception at a Utah Jazz basketball game and I definitely would not expect Sarah Palin to get a positive reception at a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game.

I honestly have no idea why Sarah Palin has spent so much time in Philadelphia. She visited one of my old haunts in Philly, two weeks ago, and got this reception (which was totally predictable):

She also got her ass kicked when she went to a South Philly cheesesteak joint and screwed up McCain's policy vis-a-vis Pakistan.

So it should not have been any surprise that the Philly audience booed the hell out of Sarah Palin tonight at the Flyers game:

I think John McCain is angry with his running mate and is sending her out to get abused. The idea that Palin would sell well in Philadelphia is so stupid that this must be an intentional strategy to humiliate his running mate.