Opie for Obama

In case you missed this one...

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

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All the news unfit to print

I could write something about the meltdown going on in Greater Rightistanople but I could never describe it as well as the Bard of Blogtopia, so I'll just let Jon Swift tell you himself.

For weeks Ace of Spades has been working on a super-secret story about Obama, which "called Obama a straight-up liar on his supposed 'flimsy' relationship with The Terrorist William Ayers" and finally connected all the dots, linking Obama and Bill Ayers, Acorn, Tony Reszko, Charles Manson, the Chicago mob, the Illuminati, Freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, Jewish bankers, Nazis living in South America, Fidel Castro, the KGB, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Bigfoot, Area 51, the Harlem Globetrotters, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Bermuda Triangle, Mrs. Calabash and Mr. Gorsky.

As the saying goes, read the whole thing for yourself.

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Don't vote straight ticket

It's a trap. Just one more way to steal your vote.

THE PROBLEM: "Straight party voting" on voting machines is revealing a bad pattern of miscounting and omitting your vote, especially if you are a Democrat. Most recently (Oct. 2008), a firm called Automated Election Services was found to have miscoded the system in heavily Democratic Santa Fe County, New Mexico such that straight party voters would not have their presidential votes counted.

States with the straight ticket option are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Here in North Carolina, they designed the ballot with a straight ticket option and the trick is, if you use it, it covers all the partisan races except it doesn't include the vote for president. You still have to fill out that oval or it will be counted as non-vote in that category. The instructions for this on the ballot are written in tiny little type that I could barely read and the disclaimer is at the very bottom of the box. I doubt most people would read that far, even if they have better eyesight than me.

To be fair, the poll workers at my voting place were explaining that to people, but I live in a small town and it wasn't busy. I doubt they always have time to do so, especially on election day itself. Who knows if they ever have time to instruct in the big cities. I hear the lines have been long already for early voting.

Protect the vote. Please pass this link along, especially to people who live in these states. [via Avedon]

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That's a lot of lipstick

As the saying goes, you can't make up this stuff. Adding to the irony of America's number Hockey Mom's transformation from down home pit bull to primped up power poodle, the most recent expense filings show the highest paid individual in the McCain campaign this month was Sarah Palin's traveling make-up artist. Amy Strozzi "was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone" under the cryptic heading, “PERSONNEL SVC/EQUIPMENT.” Talk about your rags to riches story. Eliza Doolittle never had it so good.

Meanwhile, the one angle that the major media seems to be missing is McCain's cosmetic costs. The September filings indicate he spent $8,672.55 on make-up for himself in September. That's a lot of pancake, my friends.

(photo credit: mikevotes)


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Unraveling the Palin clothing account

I've been wondering how many outfits $150,000 would buy. It seemed like a lot of money to me, even at the high-end stores. I've been waiting for some fashionista to price out the Palins' wardrobe. At that level of retail, designer suits generally only run a few thousand bucks apiece at most. It would take a lot of $800 Louis Vuitton bags to add up to that amount.

That hasn't happened yet but the mystery about the purchases continues to unfold. It appears on investigation that the purchases don't add up or make sense. For instance, that $4,902.45 charge at Atelier New York doesn't show up in the store's receipts and the clothing line there is apparently quirky and not that suitable for campaign events. Additionally, of the two purchases made at the children’s boutique in Minneapolis, one is accounted for in the outfit the Palin baby wore at the convention, but the other $98 outfit, purchased days later, was for a 2 year old.

The Republican spokespeople say they aren't concerned about fradulent charges to the Palin clothing account but it sounds to me like the Palin family's personal shoppers were doing a little personal shopping for themselves.

(photo credit: Pacifier)

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Best voting experience of my entire life

Bob Schieffer's mom is right. I voted today and I do feel big and strong and it was really fun. Voting is a lot different here. Up north, it's a very somber and serious business. You're not allowed to talk to anyone and you must use the privacy booths. The ballots fold up so no one knows how you vote. Here in North Carolina it's more like a party. People mingle and everyone can see your ballot.

I ended up sitting a table and was joined by these three charming women.


I had them pegged as potential McCain voters and was braced to get the cold shoulder when they saw who I was voting for but it turns out they went straight Democratic, as of course I did. I shared my list of downticket candidates so we would be sure to vote for the right judges and we had a lovely chat outside afterwards.

They don't allow you to take photos inside the polling place so I didn't get a shot of my vote number 4543 but I hung around for so long afterwards that I got a picture of the guy who tends the machine.


I spent most of the time talking with these two Democratic party vounteers who were passing out sample ballots and answering questions.


I pitched my blogs of course, and got the lowdown on the local election buzz. Word has it turnout has been about double across the state. My polling place in this very small town was not that busy. I didn't have to wait in line but they say it was steady all day and expect bigger crowds tomorrow through Saturday. I'm also told that the lines in Chapel Hill have been really long since early voting started.

It was a pleasant hour and entirely the best voting experience I've ever had. It left me feeling energized and very positive about an Obama victory here. A feeling that was reinforced by driving through the neighborhoods on this gorgeous fall afternoon and noticing that the Obama signs outnumbered the McCain signs by about fifteen to one.

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No wonder I can't get a date

Matt discovers that dating map that was making the rounds a while back has now been updated so you can adjust for narrower age ranges. In my age group the map is nearly obliterated by the big "100 extra women" circles. The only place in the entire country that has more men than women is Reno, Nevada. The map doesn't show much blue until you get to the 30 year old men range.

Obviously, this suggests that older men are marrying younger women so the young guys and us old gals don't have a prayer to find a heterosexual life partner.

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Real Hockey Moms buy Louis Vuitton

By now you've heard that the RNC spent $150,000 outfitting Sarah Palin for the campaign trail. It's not so much the new clothes. It's the designer labels that are creating an image problem. And the stores where the clothes were purchased. As Robin Givhan puts it, "And in our culture Neiman Marcus stands for "elite," not for "Everyman." The same is true of Saks. Barneys? Make that soy chai latte-sipping, champagne-swigging elites."

Exactly. That Louis Vuitton bag Piper is carrying for her mom costs about $800 and I suspect Saks or Barneys are not the usual shopping destinations for hockey moms. Quite a contrast to Michelle Obama's off the rack $148 Donna Ricco dress.

Adding to the oddity, Palin didn't do the shopping herself. That appears to have been mostly done by Jeff Larson, "a prominent Republican consultant whose firm has been tied to the onslaught of negative robocalls from Senator John McCain’s campaign." Further, it wasn't just Palin who got new clothes, it was her entire family. Hard to see how they qualify as a campaign expense. In fact, it's hard to see why it's necessary to have the whole family appear at every single event. It's certainly not customary.

Apparently, because the purchases were funneled through the RNC coffers, the expenditures don't break the law, but many Republicans are disgusted by this boneheaded ostentatious display. As well they should be. Even the wealthy are feeling the pinch and it's bad enough their donations are being spent on outfitting the entire Palin clan, including the poor baby that's dragged on stage as a photo prop at every opportunity, but it's just bad politics.

[grahic via watertiger]

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My worst nightmare

I kind of moved on from MoveOn a couple of years ago. There's so many ways to get involved directly in online activism now that I rarely even open the emails, but when they told me I was in a video, well of course I had to check it out. I don't know they do it, but it's very clever and it made me laugh.

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Haiku from hell

Heretik has it. Here's mine.

Daily tracking polls
Overwriting friendly hordes
Steal an election

Click on over and leave your own.

And speaking of hell, Watertiger has the picture of the day, of Cindy McCain. Ouch.

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Obama in Miami

(photo credit)
Barack and Michelle both appeared at a big rally in Miami last night. The only crowd estimate I could find was for 30,000 people.

(photo credit)
Very little mainstream press coverage but Sinfonian liveblogged it in several posts and he thought it was probably closer to 50,000. He has more photos as well.

Meanwhile, although AP came up with some bizarre poll this morning claiming the race was back to a virtual tie, most of the polling is showing a more significant spread. Fox News has it at 49-40 and MSNBC/WSJ have it at 52-42 for Obama. However, as we mentioned earlier, the touchscreen voting problems are popping up everywhere so every single vote is needed to offset the possible vote stealing.

Vote early if you can, and bring some friends to the polls with you.

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Hacking (and rocking) the vote

SoBeale has the latest on the continuing problems with voting machines and other voter suppression. Of course, all the errors seem to inexplicably affect only Democratic votes and it's spreading from West Virgina to Tenneesee and beyond. It's making me nervous. I knew we should have pushed harder to go back to paper ballots for this election.

Meanwhile on a brighter note, Rub Wrongways Records is encouraging voting with Pop the Vote.

If you vote on November 4th you can get a free album download of your choice from the Rub Wrongways Records catalog. All you need to do is send us a picture of you at your voting place or wearing an I Voted sticker.

Full details at the link. I know these folks and they have a great lineup of artists on this label. Check it out, I'm sure you'll find someone you like. [h/t Wiskey Ina]

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This is weird

The WSJ has a point. I don't recall anything like this ever happening, especially right before an election. Ben Bernanke effectively endorses the Democratic proposals for a stimulus package, that the White House is opposing.

While the Fed chief said any stimulus should be "well targeted," even a general endorsement amounts to a political green light. Mr. Bernanke certainly knows that Mr. Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill are talking about some $300 billion in new "stimulus" spending, while President Bush and Republicans are resisting. And by saying any help should "limit longer-term effects" on the federal deficit, he had to know he was reinforcing Democratic opposition to permanent tax cuts.

I'm sure not this is helpful. It will piss off Republicans and can only contribute to the ugliness out there already. I'm telling you, the McCain supporters are already angry enough without adding fuel to their suspicions about the vast left wing conspiracy.

On the other hand, if he did because the market has been down two days running and he thinks it will help build a rally -- and it works -- then at least there would be that. [h/t Molly]

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What liberal feminists think

I'll just let Rachel field this one.


[Via Matt]

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McCain cracking under the strain?

I don't know quite what to think of this.



It's not that he misspeaks, it's that it took so long for him to notice and he can't seem to find the right syntax to recover from the mistake. I sensed some vague confusion, as if he was struggling to remember the right words. I find it somewhat alarming.

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Obama brings out the crowds in Florida

(photo credit)
Obama is on a campaign swing through Florida this week. He held a rally that drew 50,000 in Orlando, appearing with Hillary Clinton.

(photo BarackObama)
He's scheduled for a big event tonight with his wife in Miami that is likely to draw an even bigger crowd. Meanwhile, the latest PEW report shows Obama widening his lead in the polling.

The top-line numbers: Obama leads McCain by 14 points, 53%-39%, among likely voters, compared to a 49%-42% result a week ago and a 46%-46% tie back in early September.

On issues, Obama has vastly expanded his lead on the economy since the early September numbers. Back then Obama had an 11-point advantage, 47%-38%, but since then -- with the financial crisis and the presidential debates intervening -- Obama now leads by 21 points, 53%-32%, on the issue.

McCain's all out negative campaign tactics seem to be working -- for Obama. The more McCain slimes, the higher the poll numbers climb.

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Be glad she's not a teacher

To tell you the truth I'm bored senseless with Palin. I really don't care what she has to say anymore, but this is just too delicious to pass up. The woman has been running for vice president for almost two months and she still doesn't know what a vice president does. Incredible.

As a SNL skit, this would be hilarious. Since she's, beyond all reason, an actual serious candidate for the job, it's just terrifying.

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Intertubing down a lazy river - updated

I have a ton of stuff to do this afternoon so here's some reading around the intertubz to amuse you for a while.

Maryscott is cataloging the hate against Obama supporters. It's starting to get violent out there. [h/t Jules]

SoBeale discovers trashed voter registrations in Las Vegas and ponders the end of libertarianism. Check out the comment section on that post. Hell hath no fury like a libertarian mocked.

Our dear pal Capt. Fogg, rants in his inimitable fashion on privacy, public figures and the death of Fox News and don't miss his thoughts on spreading the wealth.

And we haven't caught up to Kvatch in a while. He has a widget that shows the hotspots of potential touchscreen vote flipping. Somewhat encouraging news on the potential impact.

Speaking of encouraging, Kathy at Stone Soup has been talking to Republicans who finally see the light on GOP hypocrisy. More and more, I think we're looking at sea change in the political landscape in 2 weeks.

Meanwhile, Digby breaks her cover and does a nice Q&A; interview with the LAT. [via Avedon]

Mikevotes as so often happens, has the best picture of the day.

And finally, here's the list of banned words for 2009. They'll be taking suggestions in the comment section for the next month or two. Leave your favorites there.

Bonus link: This just in. Heretik brings back the six word novel.

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Downticket in North Carolina

I never quite connected with this state and don't follow the local politics all that much but I am very interested in the Senate race where Liddy Dole faces a previously unexpected and serious challenge. The latest polling is encouraging.

Public Policy Polling says its latest survey shows that Democratic challenger Kay Hagan is piling up big numbers among suburban voters in her race against Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole. PPP says that is part of the reason that Hagan is ahead, 49-42, in their latest poll. [...]

PPP officials said that Hagan is annihilating Dole among suburban voters, 54-36.

I wonder how much of that is due to the extraordinarily negative campaign ads Dole is running virtually non-stop? Hate doesn't seem to be selling so well this year.

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Obama in Fayetteville

Obama paid a visit to my fair state on Sunday, holding a rally in Fayetteville. It was a mixed bag. He was well received by his supporters, filling the center to well beyond capacity at 10,000 strong. Outside the rally, the picture wasn't so tranquil and the local bigotry manifested in 30 cars with slashed tires and one woman who rudely shouted "socialist get out" at some barbecue joint in town. You can get all the coverage, good and bad, from the sidebar at the link, including video of the speech and a photo gallery of the event.

Meanwhile, early voting has started here and the town of Fayetteville opened up a couple of additional voting locations. A small group of McCain supporters found this offensive and heckled the voters -- for voting. One good ole boy claimed it was because they shouldn't open the polls on a Sunday and he was pissed off that they did it "just for Obama." He was proclaiming Sunday was for church going as he drank a can of soda he probably bought at a store where someone was working instead of going to church. He also apparently failed to notice that Sunday voting was going on all over the state.

The protesters are mostly white. The voters are mostly black. Obama is poised to win this state. The latest local polling shows Obama leading by 51-44. More significantly, "McCain leads 55-39 among white voters, while Obama leads 92-6 among black voters." Watch the videos at the link and draw your own conclusions about the root motive behind the protest.

I mean these fine Christians could be driving McCain voters to the polls. They are allowed to vote as well. Maybe they couldn't find any.

Obama had an estimated 100,000 people come out to see him at the St. Louis Arch on Saturday. In suburban St. Louis today, McCain had a crowd of about 2,000.

Now, it's a heck of a lot easier to draw a crowd on a weekend than a Monday morning.

But stumping in the metro D.C. area on Saturday afternoon -- a much larger population center than St. Louis -- McCain had somewhere between 4,000-6,000 people.

I'm detecting a lack of enthusiam here. Makes me wonder anew where McCain's poll numbers are coming from.

[graphic barackobama.com]

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Krugman lowers the boom on Bushenomics

Krugman nails it in a really good column today. I'm going to excerpt more than usual because it's so spot on.

And bear in mind that all these data pertain to 2007 — which was as good as it got in recent years. Now that the “Bush boom,” such as it was, is over, we can see that it achieved a dismal distinction: for the first time on record, an economic expansion failed to raise most Americans’ incomes above their previous peak.

Since then, of course, things have gone rapidly downhill, as millions of working Americans have lost their jobs and their homes. And all indicators suggest that things will get much worse in the months and years ahead.

So what does all this say about the candidates? Who’s really standing up for Ohio’s plumbers?

Mr. McCain claims that Mr. Obama’s policies would lead to economic disaster. But President Bush’s policies have already led to disaster — and whatever he may say, Mr. McCain proposes continuing Mr. Bush’s policies in all essential respects, and he shares Mr. Bush’s anti-government, anti-regulation philosophy.

What about the claim, based on Joe the Plumber’s complaint, that ordinary working Americans would face higher taxes under Mr. Obama? Well, Mr. Obama proposes raising rates on only the top two income tax brackets — and the second-highest bracket for a head of household starts at an income, after deductions, of $182,400 a year.

Maybe there are plumbers out there who earn that much, or who would end up suffering from Mr. Obama’s proposed modest increases in taxes on dividends and capital gains — America is a big country, and there’s probably a high-income plumber with a huge stock market portfolio out there somewhere. But the typical plumber would pay lower, not higher, taxes under an Obama administration, and would have a much better chance of getting health insurance.

I don’t want to suggest that everyone would be better off under the Obama tax plan. Joe the plumber would almost certainly be better off, but Richie the hedge fund manager would take a serious hit.

But that’s the point. Whatever today’s G.O.P. is, it isn’t the party of working Americans.

It's like Krugman is living inside my head, it so perfectly describes the state of my life right now. And I'm really tired of arguing with people who would rather blame Bill Clinton for the meltdown than admit the GOP has taken them for fools. I don't see how any working person could possibly even consider voting Republican in this round.

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Trouble all over

I'm not the only one in trouble. The Bushenomic boom is now shattering everybody's lives. One my favorite people in Blogtopia is also in dire straits. They're having a rent party for Mona at Unqualified Offerings. Couldn't come at a worst time for either of us, with the economy tanking and everyone losing money on their investments.

It's getting bad out there folks. My health insurance was just cancelled and there's no way I can afford even a cheap medical disaster only policy. I hear Diane at Cab Drollery just lost her coverage too. I have just enough money to make the rent and pay the bare minimum on my bills this month. I don't know what's going to happen to me next month either. At this rate, a whole bunch of women my age are going to have to form a tent city of our own somewhere.

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The 'honorable' McCain campaign

First Dood keeping it classy. Backstory at John Cole's place.

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It's not tribal

I was going to add this as an update to the McCain's America post, but really it deserves a place of its own. Pat Buchanan completely melts down on the Powell endorsement and "goes there." To his credit, Tweety doesn't let him get away with it.


[h/t HBK]

Update: George Will goes there too. I can't wait for this election to be over, but I'm afraid the ugliness won't end there when Obama wins.

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McCain's Americans

I just posted to DetNews in a narrative form about how I'm sick of false equivalency. But I also want to archive the links here, for posterity. I collected these in about a week and it's stunning to see them all together. It's like an extraordinarily ugly picture puzzle of fear, loathing and bigotry.

The Asphyxiation banner. I'd like to know why the Secret Service isn't investigating the creator, instead of pretending to look for a lone heckler at a rally. He would be easy to find.

This good Christian American hates the Muslim baby killer.

Obama bin lying if you believe these fine 'Murkins.

Missouri's finest. Osama "Hussein" Obama will kill your babies.

Monkey man and his many likeminded friends from pro-Amurika. And why not add a little anti-Semitism to the mix?

The Sacramento County GOP : "Waterboard Barack Obama."

The lovely minds of a Republican women's group: Obama is a watermelon, ribs and fried chicken muncher that will put everyone on food stamps.

The Virginia GOP: "America must look evil in the eye and never flinch."

McCain Broward County FL office: A prominently displayed poster. Obama is Hilter, and Castro and Stalin.

McCain fundraiser: Obama assassination jokes.

And the robocalls. McCain says there's no comparison with his robocalls and those made against him in 2000. He's right about that. His calls are light years worse. And it's all for naught. Despite his best efforts, McCain's key demo is still going to "vote for the n**ger".

This, my friends, is McCain's America. The pure creation of his political ambitions and years of GOP wedge tactics. I don't find it to be a very nice place. I'd be very glad not to have to live in it anymore.

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The more McCain bashes him....

The more support grows for Barack Obama. Hot on the heels of his big rally in St. Louis that drew 100,000, another 75,000 or so Americans welcomed him to Kansas City.


And while the relentless character assassination of Obama may be energizing the hateful base of McCain's supporters, it's also motivating the rest of America to send money to Obama. The campaign reports a record-breaking $150 million in donations for the month of September. Word has it Obama can now afford to buy more ad time than is currently available. Good thing he was able to buy up that half hour of prime time space on all the major networks for October 29th. If that doesn't seal the deal beyond all hope of the GOP stealing the election by touchscreen fraud and bogus voter challenges, then nothing can.

It's enough to make even a cynic like me, believe in hope again.


[Graphics via nhofer and KansasCity.com]

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Colin Powell endorses Obama

Pundit's heads explode. Yes, really. All of them.



McCain pretends it doesn't matter. Cue for wingnut meltdown in 5..4..3....

Bonus link: Best transcript -- always.

PS: For the record Mr. Steyn, I neither like nor trust Colin Powell after his complicity in taking our country into the unnecessary and throughly destructive occupation of Iraq. But I can't deny I'm enjoying watching the effect it has on people like you who cheerleaded him and forced us to live your neo-con wet dreams, as your failures now become a very public and embarassing nightmare.

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More voting problems in WVA

Reports coming in from more voters about votes switching to GOP candidates in other Republican controlled counties in West Virginia. Election officials still blaming the voters. Claim the machines are just sluggish.

If you believe that I have a Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska for sale -- cheap. [h/t newsroom-1]

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Cold political calculation

Well forget the Gloria Steinem endorsement. On the other hand, the Schafly demo is a lock.

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Early voters report touchscreen problems

And so it begins. A Republican county in West Virginia:

At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win.

Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk's office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates.

"When I touched the screen for Barack Obama, the check mark moved from his box to the box indicating a vote for John McCain," said Matheney, who lives in Kenna.[...]

Calvin Thomas, 81, who retired from Kaiser Aluminum in Ravenswood in 1983 and now lives in Ripley, experienced the same problem.

"When I pushed Obama, it jumped to McCain. When I went down to governor's office and punched [Gov. Joe] Manchin, it went to the other dude. When I went to Karen Facemyer [the incumbent Republican state senator], I pushed the Democrat, but it jumped again.

"The rest of them were OK, but the machine sent my votes for those top three offices from the Democrat to the Republican," Thomas said. [...]

Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright said, "After we got a call from the Secretary of State's Office, we recalibrated the machine. We had already voted over 400 people with no problems."

Voting problems occur when voters touch the screen, Waybright said, but do not put their fingers inside boxes for their candidates. Waybright blamed the problem on voters.

"People make mistakes more than the machines," he said, "but I went in yesterday and recalibrated the machines. We are doing everything we can not to disenfranchise anybody."

Matheney remains concerned. "Leaving the polling place," she said, "I wondered how many voters might not have noticed that their vote was switched on the machine."

Good question. And I'm betting there's no paper trail to verify the vote. I'd remind you that the touchscreen companies belong to avowed Republicans who promised to deliver the last election to Bush.

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Obama winning in endorsements contest

E&P; is keeping a running total of newspaper endorsements. I like this one from Utah myself.

The Salt Lake paper complained that "out of nowhere, and without proper vetting, the impetuous McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. She quickly proved grievously underequipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at 72 and with a history of health problems, die in office. More than any single factor, McCain's bad judgment in choosing the inarticulate, insular and ethically challenged Palin disqualifies him for the presidency.

"Still, we have compelling reasons for endorsing Obama on his merits alone. Under the most intense scrutiny and attacks from both parties, Obama has shown the temperament, judgment, intellect and political acumen that are essential in a president that would lead the United States out of the crises created by President Bush, a complicit Congress and our own apathy."

All over the country, from the Chicago Tribune who have never endorsed a Democrat to Denver, solidly Republican editorial boards who were expected to sit out the race at best, are instead strongly supporting Obama. I continue to worry about another stolen election, but with the ever growing number of converts to Obama's side, I think it's going to be very difficult to pull off.

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The power of positive messaging

Memo to McCain campaign: The attack dog tactics aren't working too well.


Crowd estimate in St. Louis, 100,000 for Barack Obama:

So Senator McCain can keep trying to attack me and distract you – but it’s not going to work. Not this time – not now. Because while my opponent thinks this campaign is all about me – the truth is, this campaign is about you. Your jobs. Your health care. Your retirement. Your children’s future. That’s what this election is about. That’s what I’m fighting for. Because I can take two more weeks of these attacks from John McCain, but the American people can’t take four more years of the same failed policies and the same divisive politics. That’s why I’m running for President of the United States.

Full text at the link. This is why Obama is going to get elected. Most people prefer hope over hate. via

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The return of McCarthyism

Apparently mistaking a recent Hardball appearance as an audition to become the latest face of reckless demagoguery, Rep. Michele Bachman gave voice to the most rabid and vile imaginings of the increasingly violent GOP base. She hints darkly of widespread anti-Americanism within the Congressional chambers. The video is at the link, I can't bring myself to repeat it here.

Immediately after the segment, Katrina Vandenheuvel issues the appropriate, and surprisingly impassioned, rebuke.

Chris, I fear for my country. I think what we just heard is a congresswoman channeling Joe McCarthy, channeling a politics of fear and loathing and demonization and division and distraction. Not a single issue mentioned. This is a politics at a moment of extreme economic pain in this country that is incendiary, that is so debased, that I'm almost having a hard time breathing, because I think it's very scary.

Bachman's hateful remarks are not only scary, they verge on criminally irresponsible. I think she should be immediately censured by her peers. If you agree, join concerned Americans and sign the petition and pass the link on. The signators have already doubled in number in the last few hours.

[cross-posted to The Reaction]

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