grampa has the gayest hissy fit ever

this is a crazy person who needs to go home and go to bed.

losing ground

expect more crazy from mccain.

mccain becomes a joke

yes, it's all politics. but it's as though john mccain thinks none of us can remember back to 2008. mccain's desperateness has now gone from humiliating to just plain sad:

John McCain — who built his political persona and his 2008 presidential campaign around the claim that he’s a “maverick” — told Newsweek recently: “I never considered myself a maverick.”

When POLITICO asked McCain about the contradiction at the Capitol this week, the Arizona Republican grew visibly irritated and snapped: “I’ve been called a thousand things. It’s absolutely ridiculous."

a new, muscular obama

are we seeing a new, emboldened, muscular obama?

President Obama, making a muscular show of his executive authority just one day after Congress left for spring recess, said Saturday that he would bypass the Senate and install 15 appointees, including a union lawyer whose nomination to the National Labor Relations Board was blocked last month with the help of two Democrats.

Coming on the heels of Mr. Obama’s big victory on health care legislation, Saturday’s move suggests a newly emboldened president who is unafraid to provoke a confrontation with the minority party.

Just two days ago, all 41 Senate Republicans sent Mr. Obama a letter urging him not to appoint the union lawyer, Craig Becker, during the recess. Mr. Obama’s action, in defiance of the Republicans, was hailed by union leaders, but it also seemed certain to intensify the partisan rancor that has enveloped Washington.

but kevin drum says the move is as significant in who obama did not appoint as who he did:

After he took office Obama nominated two Democrats and one Republican to fill the [National Labor Relations Board's] three vacant seats and got support from a couple of Republicans on the HELP committee for the entire slate. But when it got to the Senate floor John McCain put a hold on [Craig] Becker, and his nomination — along with the others — died.

Fast forward to today and Obama finally decides to fill the board using recess appointments.

But what does he do? He only appoints the two Democrats. This is not what you do if you're trying to make nice. It's what you do if you're playing hardball and you want to send a pointed message to the GOP caucus. You won't act on my nominees? Fine. I'll appoint my guys and then leave it up to you to round up 50 votes in the Senate for yours. Have fun.

old john screws up plumber's life

joe the plumber has gone rogue:

“John McCain is no public servant. I don’t owe him shit. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it. McCain was trying to use me. I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy.”

joe's no longer supporting sarah palin, and he even has some kind words to say about barack obama.

what an embarrassment, ctd.

john mccain, yesterday:

My opinion is shaped by the view of the leaders of the military. The reason why I supported the policy to start with is because General Colin Powell, who was then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the one that strongly recommended we adopt this policy in the Clinton administration. I have not heard General Powell or any of the other military leaders reverse their position.

whoops.

it's the primary, stupid

josh marshall on mccain's pathetic flip on don't ask:

I thought that after 2008 we wouldn't get more chances to see McCain betraying all the principles and positions he claims to stand for. But the primary challenge in Arizona seems to be providing many more opportunities.

what an embarrassment.

john mccain continues to look foolish.

it's about mccain

andrew sullivan, who followed the entire palin saga closer than almost anyone, on her resigning as governor of alaska:

In the end, I think, the one thing to say is that the Republican party is in such a total state of collapse and incoherence that it actually believed she could be a future president; and that John McCain was so reckless, so cynical and so cavalier that he was prepared to rest the national security of this country on her shoulders if he, in his seventies, were to become unable to fulfill his duties or die.

In some ways, this is a moment to reflect on McCain, and his irresponsibility, not Palin and her drama.

why we're lucky he's not president

time's joe klien calls out gramps mccain for being trigger happy:

For two years now, John McCain has been entirely consistent on Iran: every last statement he's made--at least, those that I've seen--has been (a) fabulously uninformed and (b) dangerously bellicose. He's still at it."

leave timmy alone!

grampa john sticks up for little timmy. who knew?

learning to say no

the president said it today, and he's right: there are good earmarks.

one-liners like "$935,000 for pasteurization of shell eggs!?" or "$951,500 for the oregon solar highway?" were batted around in the back and forth over the omnibus spending bill without any explanation of what these projects actually are. john mccain railed on each of them, day after day, as though one was just as bad as the next.

it might have been helpful for mccain to stop talking to us like we're uneducated children and argue why iowa doesn't need money to study pig odor (iowa's 20 million hogs and 3 million people aren't the only ones who think this a legitimate issue: your federal government has been studying how to control hog odor for years.)

but president obama should have heeded his former rival's advice today. he needed to learn from the republican party and say no.

yes, earmarks accounted for less than 2% of the bill, republicans were responsible for 40% of these earmarks, and obama laid out fairly specific earmark reform going forward. and yes, sending this bill back to congress would have caused a big fight at a time when there are more important things to pay attention to.

but by vetoing this bill, the president could have sent a strong signal not only to republicans, but to fellow democrats and ultimately, to the country.

mccain is right. this was an opportunity missed.

thinking...thinking...

three things:

• remember back in january – during stimulus negotiations in the house – president obama told republicans "you can't just listen to rush limbaugh and get things done," and all the pundits thought he was foolish to "elevate" limbaugh?
  

• did anyone notice that barack obama made the stock market go up today?

• how much fun is it watching john mccain having a tantrum on the senate floor?! he gets all flustered and mixes up words and waves his arms around! i realized today who he reminds me of:
  

the teacher and the student

this is why, for me, the guy standing at the podium is the president, and the guy sitting in class, being called on by the teacher, is not:

from monday's fiscal responsibility summit.

eagleburger on palin

john mccain often crows about the endorsement he's received from lawrence eagleburger, who served as secretary of state under george h.w. bush.

eagleburger was on national public radio friday, talking about the possibility of a palin presidency, should something happen to john mccain:

biden my time

more from the l.a. times endorsement:

(John Mccain's) selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term political tactic, brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory.

Obama's selection also was telling. He might have scored a steeper bump in the polls by making a more dramatic choice than the capable and experienced Joe Biden. But for all the excitement of his own candidacy, Obama has offered more competence than drama.

you want drama? i'll show you drama. here's why joe biden was a brilliant pick for vice-president:

mccain and the real plumber

forget joe, why isn't anyone asking grampa about his own domestic terrorist, liddy the plumber? oh wait...david letterman did. (you remember david letterman, of the "gotcha media".)

john mccain version 1.0

the john mccain of old made an appearance at the al smith charity dinner thursday night. aside from being pretty damn funny (as was obama) mccain closed out his part of the evening with this lovely bit of graciousness:

"I don't want it getting out of this room, but my opponent is an impressive fellow in many ways. Political opponents can have a little trouble seeing the best in each other. But I've had a few glimpses of this man at his best and I admire his great skill, energy and determination. It's not for nothing, but he's inspired many folks in his own party and beyond. Senator Obama talks about making history and he's made quite a bit of it already.

There was a time when the mere invitation of an African-American citizen to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage and an insult. Today is a world away from the cruelty and prideful bigotry of that time - and good riddance. I can't wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well."

the phone rings...

...your mother answers, and she hears this:

it's happening in wisconsin, new mexico, virginia, maine, florida, missouri, north carolina, and elsewhere.

aren't you proud to be a republican?

UPDATE 10/18/08 – mccain is using the same robocall firm that smeared him in 2000.

UPDATE 10/19/08 – republican senators hit mccain for the robocalls. but only because they're in tough re-election battles.  (there's motivation to have some integrity!)

long island smackdown II

polls taken immediately following the final obama/mccain debate showed obama trouncing mccain. the headline on the huffington post tonight: three for three. here are the results of several snap polls taken with undecided or independent voters. the question: who do you think won the debate tonight?

cnn – obama 58% / mccain 31%
survey usa – obama 56% / mccain 28%
cbs – obama 53% / mccain 22%
time – obama 50% / mccain 24%
politico – obama 49% / mccain 46%

from fox news:

Virtually the entire Frank Luntz focus group on Fox News, which was staged tonight in Miami, said that Barack Obama won the debate. Luntz termed it a "clear majority," but not one person raised their hand when asked if they thought McCain won.

Said Luntz: "None had made a decision to support Sen. Obama before the debate, but more than half supported him after the debate. It was a good night for Barack Obama."

and from time's amy sullivan:

In politics it is generally not considered a good sign when voters are laughing at you, not with you. And by the end of the third and last presidential debate, the undecided voters who had gathered in Denver for Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg’s focus group were “audibly snickering” at John McCain’s grimaces, eye-bulging, and repeated references to “Joe the Plumber.”

The group of 50 uncommitted voters should have at least been receptive to McCain—Republicans and Independents outnumbered Democrats in the group by almost 4 to 1, and they started the evening with much warmer responses to McCain than to his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama. But by the time it was all over, so few of them had declared their support for McCain that there weren’t enough for Greenberg to separate them into a post-debate focus group. Meanwhile, the Obama supporters had to assemble in two different rooms to keep their discussion groups manageable.

results deeper within each of these polls show even more interesting results, like before and after favorability ratings. in each case, obama gained by huge margins, and mccain lost significant ground.

we'll see what tracking polls say in the coming days, and it's certainly not time to break out the champagne (or the non-alcoholic sparkling cider) but at this point it doesn't look good for mccain.