Barack: "I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

Oh, how I heart the Prez.


Also, check out Letterman's Top Ten Reasons the President Agreed to Appear on the Late Show.

Powell Endorses Obama

From The NYT:

WASHINGTON—Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Sunday morning as a candidate who was reaching out in a “more diverse and inclusive way across our society” and offering a “calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach” to the nation’s problems.

The endorsement, on the NBC public affairs program “Meet the Press,” was a major blow to Senator John McCain, who has been a good friend of Mr. Powell for decades. Mr. Powell, a Republican, has advised Mr. McCain in the past on foreign policy....

Powell, like many others, is concerned by the McCain/Palin supporters:

Mr. Powell, who is of the pragmatist camp and has been critical of the Bush administration’s conduct of the war, was said by friends in recent months to be disturbed by some of the neoconservatives who have surrounded Mr. McCain as foreign policy advisers in his presidential campaign.

This is great news for Obama. We're rapidly nearing the end of the campaign and there's no question that anything that comes from McCain at this point will be increasingly absurd and far fetched. Powell's endorsement will no doubt only boost Obama's already sizable lead.

Where are You, McCains?

Well, he is not in Montana. And he isn't on Capitol Hill. According to the WSJ, he is nowhere to be found:

Sen. Barack Obama, his running mate and his wife have appeared at twice as many events in swing states as their Republican counterparts, which may help explain the Democrat’s lead in many battleground-state polls.

In the five weeks since the fall campaign officially began, Sen. Obama, his wife, Michelle, and vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden have appeared at a total of 95 separate events in states that both sides are contesting.

Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have appeared at 55 events in those areas, with Cindy McCain, the nominee’s wife, adding only one more to the total, according to a Wall Street Journal tally based on schedules provided by the campaigns.

What He Said

Is anyone else experiencing some mild to moderate trepidation?

From The New Yorker's George Packer (emphasis is mine):

A number of people are afraid that the ugly tactics of the McCain-Palin campaign are going to incite violence, maybe assassination. Joe Klein, Andrew Sullivan, McCain’s former adviser John Weaver—even the ultimate sober-sided moderate David Gergen last night on CNN. I hope they’re wrong. It’s a big leap from hateful talking points and shouted epithets to vigilantism and the lone gunman. What’s undeniably true is that Republican rallies and the incendiary language of party leaders are stirring up the darker, destructive mob passions that have a long history in American politics. At the very least, the Republican ticket is making sure that, if Obama wins, he’ll be regarded as an illegitimate and dangerous President by thirty or forty per cent of the country.

Palin is too shallow to understand the weapon she’s playing with; she’s just thrilled to be the birthday girl and the object of so much semi-erotic devotion. But McCain knows better....

via Slog

Furthermore, not only does he know better, McCain is now attempting to control the wild, blood-thirsty beast he has created.

also via Slog

The Right-Wing Reacts to the Debate (Also, in Classic Nelson Muntz fashion: "Ha ha. Ha ha!")

Via Slog, the right-wing reaction to the debate, via The National Review:

Well I have gone outside and pulled up my Mcain/Palin sign. This election is over. I will vote for Mcain but I know that come Nov. 5 Obama will be our president-elect.

I feel sorry for Sarah Palin. A once promising career will be permanently connected to the landside loss of John McCain.

I weep for my children and their families.

The McCain-Obama Post-Debate "Handshake"

via Slog

One of These Things is Not Like the Other; One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong

From The New Yorker (emphasis is mine):

What most distinguishes [Obama from McCain]... is character—and here, contrary to conventional wisdom, Obama is clearly the stronger of the two. Not long ago, Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, said, “This election is not about issues. This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.” The view that this election is about personalities leaves out policy, complexity, and accountability. Even so, there’s some truth in what Davis said––but it hardly points to the conclusion that he intended.

Echoing Obama, McCain has made “change” one of his campaign mantras. But the change he has actually provided has been in himself, and it is not just a matter of altering his positions. A willingness to pander and even lie has come to define his Presidential campaign and its televised advertisements. A contemptuous duplicity, a meanness, has entered his talk on the stump—so much so that it seems obvious that, in the drive for victory, he is willing to replicate some of the same underhanded methods that defeated him eight years ago in South Carolina.

Perhaps nothing revealed McCain’s cynicism more than his choice of Sarah Palin, the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, who had been governor of that state for twenty-one months, as the Republican nominee for Vice-President. In the interviews she has given since her nomination, she has had difficulty uttering coherent unscripted responses about the most basic issues of the day. We are watching a candidate for Vice-President cram for her ongoing exam in elementary domestic and foreign policy. This is funny as a Tina Fey routine on “Saturday Night Live,” but as a vision of the political future it’s deeply unsettling. Palin has no business being the backup to a President of any age, much less to one who is seventy-two and in imperfect health. In choosing her, McCain committed an act of breathtaking heedlessness and irresponsibility. Obama’s choice, Joe Biden, is not without imperfections. His tongue sometimes runs in advance of his mind, providing his own fodder for late-night comedians, but there is no comparison with Palin. His deep experience in foreign affairs, the judiciary, and social policy makes him an assuring and complementary partner for Obama.

The longer the campaign goes on, the more the issues of personality and character have reflected badly on McCain. Unless appearances are very deceiving, he is impulsive, impatient, self-dramatizing, erratic, and a compulsive risk-taker. These qualities may have contributed to his usefulness as a “maverick” senator. But in a President they would be a menace.

By contrast, Obama’s transformative message is accompanied by a sense of pragmatic calm. A tropism for unity is an essential part of his character and of his campaign. It is part of what allowed him to overcome a Democratic opponent who entered the race with tremendous advantages. It is what helped him forge a political career relying both on the liberals of Hyde Park and on the political regulars of downtown Chicago. His policy preferences are distinctly liberal, but he is determined to speak to a broad range of Americans who do not necessarily share his every value or opinion. For some who oppose him, his equanimity even under the ugliest attack seems like hauteur; for some who support him, his reluctance to counterattack in the same vein seems like self-defeating detachment. Yet it is Obama’s temperament—and not McCain’s—that seems appropriate for the office both men seek and for the volatile and dangerous era in which we live. Those who dismiss his centeredness as self-centeredness or his composure as indifference are as wrong as those who mistook Eisenhower’s stolidity for denseness or Lincoln’s humor for lack of seriousness.

via Bitch PhD

Could Someone Please Get Obama a Gold Star and the Key to a Big White House Somewhere?

Last night, Obama (transcript) and McCain (transcript) were on 60 Minutes. At the end of the program, Obama was asked an incredibly difficult, complicated question:

I know, for a fact, that there are a lot of people out there, there are a lot of people right here in Elko, who won’t vote for you because you’re black. I mean, there’s not much you can do. But how do you deal with it? I mean, are there ways that, from a political point of view, that you can deal with it? And how do you fight that?

His amazing, thoughtful and gracious answer (with my emphasis):

Going up against a very formidable Republican machine, and having been subject to constant attack and millions of dollars spent trying to scare people over the last two months, I’m still tied or in the lead with John McCain.

That tells me that the American people are good. That they are judging me on my ideas and my vision my values, and not my skin color. Now are there gonna be some people who don’t vote for me because I’m black? Of course. There are probably some African-Americans who are voting for me because I’m black. Or maybe others who are just inspired by the idea of breaking new ground. And so I think all that’s a wash. The bottom line is am I viewed as somebody who’s gonna be a champion for the guy who’s waking up every day, working hard for a paycheck? And I’m confident that if they think I can help them, that I’ve got a shot at getting their vote. And it may take a little more work on my part. But I don’t mind working harder than the other guy.

I almost can't get over Obama's response. He has this terrific humility that makes me feel really comfortable with him.


Oh, and McCain gave a notable answer last night, too. Here's the question:

Longest you’ve lived any one place?

Aaaaaaaaand the answer:

Hanoi.

::shakes head:: Okay, McCain. We get it already. That's quite enough.


via Slog

Baby, You Can Drive My Car[s]

From Truthdig:

Forget houses, John and Cindy McCain have 13 cars to Barack and Michelle Obama’s one. McCain would point out that most of the vehicles are in his wife’s name, but still, you can’t call the other guy an elitist when you sleep with one.

Read about the McCain fleet on Newsweek.

Naomi Klein: Palin = ‘Bush in Drag'; Andrew Sullivan: Palin is a Farce

This clip is from the September 19 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. Klein's point about Palin=Bush because [Palin] "has a certainty [about issues] that is completely incommensurate with any knowledge or experience" is entirely accurate. And if you think I hate Sarah Palin, wait until you hear what Andrew Sullivan has to say.


via TruthDig

The Answer is Rx

Remember when I was afraid my blog was rapidly heading in the direction of a foodie blog? And now its all, "McCain Lies," "Palin Lies," rape kits, the real McCain = Bush, bla bla bla. If I'm growing weary of it, I'm certain you are, too, no? I much prefer to bring you dead fruit flies, sudsy melons, Michael Phelps' halter top and info on what I'm putting in my lady parts.

I find it nearly impossible to use this blog, this home of beeping cats, for much more than a Palin pressure release. I'm afraid I have Election Anxiety Disorder. Do you?

From Eli Sanders, The Stranger:

You're a Democrat. You call yourself a liberal, and you're not ashamed.

All through the spring and summer you felt hopeful. It was an emotion you'd lost contact with over the last eight years, and it was fantastic to feel it again. Your man was doing well. He was going to win the election in a walk.

The country wanted change. Your man was change. Democrats were change. Change would triumph. You believed.

Deeply.

But now you're increasingly feeling anxious. You can't concentrate. You can't manage anything close to the euphoria of January and February, nor can you summon the optimism of June, July, and August. Ever since the Republican National Convention, ever since Sarah Palin, a gnawing dread has been lying just below the surface of your every interaction. Sometimes you can't keep it bottled up. Sometimes you snap—at the screen, at your friends, at your family.

What you feel these days is that it's happening all over again: the lies from the right, the successful pandering to the evangelical Christians, the sinking poll numbers for the Democratic ticket.

The man—your man—who should obviously be winning, now seems like he could very well lose.

You wonder if you're suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder. You find yourself thinking ominously of how they stole the election from Al Gore in 2000. You have flashbacks to that heartbreaking, alienating moment in 2004 when you realized John Kerry was going to lose, too. You can't stop worrying. But you also can't stop following the events that are terrifying you. Your life is an endless circle: read the news, worry, talk to friends who are worried, get even more worried because they are worried, repeat.

I need an Rx for Pollzac, Registrithium, Cellexa, Afrodiazepine and, most certainly, Palanium.

Why Do You Build Me Up, Buttercup? Just to Let Me down and Mess Me Around....

I've said it a couple of times: McCain/Palin can't truth to us under any circumstance. What chance do you think there is that they're saving their truth-telling for Washington. Riiiiiiiiiight. Keep it up, McCain and Palin, you're only hurting yourselves.

via MOMocrats

Suggested Viewing: Obama on September 10 Letterman

Please check out Letterman's three segment interview with Obama on the September 10 episode. I almost can't help but really like Obama. He is so funny and does a great job explaining things to Letterman and the viewers. They talked about lipstick on a pig, the possibility of Obama appearing on the cover of Popular Mechanics and how Obama may have handled the aftermath of 9/11 if he had been president. I really hope you take the time to watch the interview in its entirety (apx. 24 minutes total).

What Joe Biden Said

Today, from Joe Biden:

I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there's joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem cell research?

via Slog

"You never know what's gonna pop out of Palin next." - Dan Savage

From CNN:

Sex columnist Dan Savage and author of the popular syndicated sex advice column "Savage Love," made his way to St. Paul, Minnesota, to attend the Republican National Convention where he is filming a piece for HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Planted in the CNN Grill, Savage shares his thoughts on John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, tells us what a sex columnist is doing at a political convention, and gives us his take on who's sexier, Democrats or Republicans.

Here are five questions for Dan Savage:

CNN: You're here because you're a lifelong Republican?

Savage: No, that's not true, actually. I'm a Democrat, although I am a registered Republican in Washington State, but just to drive the Washington State Republican Party up the wall.

CNN: Why are you here?

Savage: I was here to see if I could find any evidence of George W. Bush at the convention. And I found very little. There was that satellite feed. I bought this button [points to Dick Cheney button on his shirt]. This will be the only time you'll see Dick Cheney at the convention is when you see me walk by with this button ... I wasn't able to purchase it here ... I mean you talk to Republican delegates walking around, a lot of them will admit that George Bush has been a major disappointment and they're happy that he's not here. And one of the reasons that they're happy he's not here is that they don't want America reminded that four years ago and eight years ago, these same delegates ... thought George Bush walked on water.

CNN: Why would "Real Time with Bill Maher" send a sex columnist to cover the Republican National Convention?

Savage: Because when you're a sex writer in America you have to write about politics because politicians will not stop obsessing about it -- screwing around with people's sex lives. Often when I write about politics in "Savage Love," my sex advice column, people write to me and say, "you're a sex columnist, stick to sex." And I'll say -- I usually respond -- "I'll be able to stick to sex when politicians stick to politics and leave our sex lives alone, and stop politicizing our sex lives." But they do. And it's one of the major differences between the two political parties, our sexual issues. And so my view is very relevant, I feel very at home here.

CNN: Any thoughts on McCain's running mate choice?

Savage: I think Palin has been the clown car of the vice presidential nominee. You never know what's going to pop out of Palin next.

CNN: Who's sexier: Republicans or Democrats?

Savage: Well, there's just something about those Young Republicans. They're very sexy. They're very tense and nervous. I spoke to a lot of them because I've been running around the convention asking teenagers throughout the convention if they're virgins or not. 'Cuz I feel like I have a right to know because we've invested over a billion dollars in abstinence education programs under George Bush.


via Slog
image via CNN

Clinton on Obama and Race via Mr. Fish

via Truthdig

I Don't Know about You but...

via LuckyWhiteGirl

McCain Can't Count or Tell the Truth

On Wednesday, McCain told Politico that he was uncertain how many houses he and Cindy own.

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you.... It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

From Politico:

The correct answer is at least four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least seven properties.

In recent weeks, Democrats have stepped up their effort to caricature McCain as living an outlandishly rich lifestyle — a bit of payback to the GOP for portraying Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as an elitist...

Additionally, McCain can't tell the truth about anything.


McCain is a big, fat liar via Slog

Oh, Shit.

From Reuters:

McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.

Viagra for everyone (if you're a man. I doubt McCain would approve insurance coverage for women even though JAMA says it may help)!

Smarter Than You

via Truthdig