Colin Powell endorses Obama.
Holy Crap
Obama raises record $150 million in September
And the campaign is moving into West Virginia. Good.
Open Thread
Watching the Game.
Not much else to say, other than that Tunch is driving me insane because he hates his new food.
Another Lesson
First Dude in front of a rally attendant holding a sign that says “Charles Manson was a community organizer.” Classy.
Cause:
John McCain, third debate: We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama’s relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy. The same front outfit organization that your campaign gave $832,000 for “lighting and site selection.” So all of these things need to be examined, of course.
An ACORN community organizer received a death threat and the liberal activist group’s Boston and Seattle offices were vandalized Thursday, reflecting mounting tensions over its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans to vote next month.
John McCain is so concerned about domestic terrorism, he and his campaign are trying to create a bunch of them.
(via)
A Lesson
Text from McCain Robo-calls
“You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge’s home, and killed Americans,” a McCain robo-caller tells voters. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country.”
“I’m calling on behalf of John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in the Illinois Senate opposed a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born alive after surviving attempted abortions — a position at odds even with John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama and his liberal Democrats are too extreme for America. Please vote — vote for the candidates who share our values.”
Effect:
John McCain’s respectful campaign.
Keep that in mind the next few weeks while you read right-wing blogs complain about the media treatment of Joe the Plumber, who was thrust onto the national stage by McCain. The “I am Joe” campaign may be the lamest thing, ever.
Smerconish For Obama
Weird reasons, but, whatever:
Smerconish did so by reading a couple paragraphs from his pending op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“I’ve decided,” he said. “My conclusion comes after reading the candidates’ memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general election debates.
“John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I’m voting for a Democrat for president.
“I may have been an appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amidst the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia,” says the Republican.
In PA, every vote counts.
Wolverines!
Concerning ACORN, the quote of the day goes to Pennsylvania Republican State Chairman Robert Gleason:
With the election being only a couple of weeks away and with more and more incidents of voter fraud coming to light, we don’t believe that we can trust the results of this election
Gleason is the perfect symbol of the crazytown direction that the GOP is heading, up to and including his touching failure to distinguish registration fraud from vote fraud. It fits right in with escalation on several other fronts: violence against ACORN, apocalyptic statements by John McCain in the last debate, hate speech and assault against reporters.
I doubt that Robert Gleason is really as stupid as this crusade makes him look. People like him are too well plugged in for that. From McCain on down the GOP leadership is casting around for some excuse to blunt the shame when Democrats hang them from a hook by the underwear. If GOP front groups carpet the country with enough of anti-voter lawsuits then they might save a couple of competitive districts. John McCain and Bob Gleason aren’t breaking any laws by acting like delusional sore losers.
In other words, people like Bob Gleason who consciously undermine the election are just as innocent as radio hosts who fed racial hate in Rwanda. Gleason didn’t phone in death threats or attack ACORN workers. He didn’t kick a reporter to the ground at a campaign rally. It isn’t Bob Gleason’s problem if some party faithful take his words more seriously than he does.
I know it sounds crazy, but imagine for a second that you bought everything that Gleason and John McCain said. The election was just stolen by a sinister coalition. The presidential election is therefore invalid, the new president’s every official act is an affront to the Constitution. What should you do? Squishy liberals might bitch about it over expensive beer, or write a diary at Kos. Conservatives are made of sterner stuff. Right? Scenarios like that move people to stockpile guns. Anyone who takes Gleason and the Republican candidate for president seriously is living in Ruby Ridge territory.
Peak Wingnut my ass. We’re living in a golden age of sense and calm compared to what comes next.