Brain: Midday edition. I feel like I need meds.

[elfs]

"Voters need to be reminded what McCain offers (to the extent that McCain knows what that is), and they need to be reminded that they don't know Barack Obama."

Did Yuval Levin just admit that John McCain's understanding of what John McCain offers the American People may be limited? Is McCain "confused?"

McCain campaign says the Keating Five scandal was "a classic smear job," and McCain's not sorry at all.

This just blows my mind.

One of the main arguments in favor of the "Maverick" title is that John McCain acted poorly during the Keating Five scandal, was busted for it, was contrite in his censure, and has spent the rest of his career acting as a reformer seeking out the kind of corruption epitomized by the Keating scandal. His "maverick" status comes from his willingness, supposedly, to act against the wishes of his own party and pass laws that will prevent things like Keating from happening again.

Now, McCain's spokespeople are saying that the Keating scandal was "a smear job," and that the Senate was wrong to determine that McCain used "poor judgement" in his dealings with a mere "social friend."

So McCain's not a maverick. He's not repetent. His whole reputation is built on a lie.

Term of the day: Dead Cat Bounce

A dead cat bounce is a term used by traders in the finance industry to describe a pattern wherein a spectacular decline in the price of a stock is immediately followed by a moderate and temporary rise before resuming its downward movement, with the connotation that the rise was not an indication of improving circumstances in the fundamentals of the stock. It is derived from the notion that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height".

Palin's staff don't want the press talking to her supporters!?

All right, boys and girls, the McCain/Palin ticket is pulling out the feces-and-carrion encrusted knives. This is about to get ugly.

At a rally in Clearwater FL, McCain personnel prevented the press from leaving the press box to speak to rally attendees because "negative things have been written" about Palin.

Yeah. Preventing the press from speaking to private citizens will really get you positive press.

McCain becoming vile and repulsive

This was on all the TVs in the gym this afternoon. FOX on every TV. It was Hell. And I winced as McCain said time and again that there was something wrong with Barack Obama, that all of the nasty questions about McCain's houses, his scandals, his marriage, were coming from the Obama campaign and not from lots of little individuals all reading the news, remembering different details, and ferreting out the narrative that John McCain isn't a nice or honorable man at all. He doesn't understand the Internet age at all. He doesn't get that the Invisible Hand now works just as well in politics as it does in the marketplace. (Yes, I wrote that without irony.)

And the audience was just scary. They cheered when McCain said "Who is the real Barack Obama," as if the press hadn't been doing absolutely everything it can to uncover exactly that story.

Jesus, it's gonna get bad.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I'm actually very encouraged that McCain has gone so sharply negative in his campaign -- it means he's playing a purely defensive game, and that holding onto the hardcore right-wing base is the best he thinks he can hope for.

I do wish he'd go down with a little dignity, though. Someone should tell him that a Hail Mary pass only works if you're down less than 7 points.

Anonymous Blog Reader #127

[danceswithlife]

Yeah. That whole speech is scary because he is asking Obama to prove a negative. He's also turning the tactics of the Obama campaign back against him and hoping no one notices that if he says all the things about Obama that Obama has been saying about him, he can play on Obama's "different-ness" enough to call his integrity and qualifications into question. "Chicago politician" indeed. It forces Obama to defend himself again and again, even though, as you pointed out, the lies of the McCain campaign have been called out by organization after organization. Good grief--I hope Obama and his people just say, "Check factcheck.org and decide who the liar is. Now, here's what I plan to do if I'm elected." The debate this week is going to be frightening.

[doodlesthegreat.livejournal.com]

That's mostly what Obama's been doing. He's not leaving himself undefended, but he's also firing back with substance. An as the stock market continues to tank, it deflects attention from the BS arguments McCain is giving.

This is the critical period. If things stay on Obama's side for the next week or so, it will solidify into a permanent lead that McCain won't be able to break.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Which is probably why McCain is fighting so hard here. If Obama can make the lead jell, then it'll be damn near impossible for McCain to take it away from him with just a few weeks left. Obama can keep going on the course chosen and live with it.

And when he gets into office, he won't have to apologize for being such a shit.

[heofmanynames.livejournal.com]

Am I alone in thinking the fireworks will fly tomorrow night? A town-hall-style debate, questions from the audience, both men on their feet, prowling the stage?

There *will* (I think) be blood....

I hope they'll have EMTs standing by.

PS - Elf: how's your neck/shoulder?

My Favorite Dead Cat Bounce

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Kitten Cannon!

Its addictive. Enjoy.

http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html

FYI, the New Yorker's editorial...

[respice]

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors

It's already bad.

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

It's been bad for months.

It's going to get worse.

But that Palin supporter in Florida didn't yell "kill him" about Obama, as you said. According to the article, he was referring to Ayers.

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Re: It's already bad.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

But that Palin supporter in Florida didn't yell "kill him" about Obama, as you said. According to the article, he was referring to Ayers.

And that just makes it all better. :/

Re: It's already bad.

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's still disgusting.

I wouldn't bother with stuff like this, really, but http://factcheck.org/ isn't tracking Elf's blog.

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Re: It's already bad.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Sigh. If you are going to make accusations about things, you really should be accurate before you drop factcheck.org, dear.

Fact: Elf never said that the supporter in Florida yelled "kill him" about Obama, as you claimed. Elf's statement was "After Palin mentioned Obama, one man allegedly shouted 'Kill him'". This is 100% true.

Fact: The article in question states that in the process of making claims regarding the relationship between Obama and Ayers, a supporter in the audience yelled out "Kill him". There is no way to determine who "him" is in this context, without talking to the supporter.

Fact: factcheck.org does not say anything about this that I could find.

Opinion: you have made an assumption regarding who that supporter was referring to by assuming that he was logically following the speech that Palin was making and would not be leaping ahead to refer to Obama in a conclusion. Without talking to the person, there is really no way to know for certain who he was referring to.

Re: It's already bad.

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

No, Omaha.

Go to the the front page of Elf's LJ. Look at that message. The relevant section reads, in its entirety:

"Palin's staff don't want the press talking to her supporters!?
( After Palin mentioned Obama, one man allegedly shouted "Kill him" )"

Ayers isn't even mentioned. There's only one "him" in that section. Without any possibility of ambiguity, Elf is creating the impression that a Palin supporter was advocating the murder of Obama.

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