Palin Comeback Sparks New Round of Attacks

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin performed brilliantly during last night's vice-presidential debate.

The left's spin is that Palin "read her talking points," for example:

The wingers think Palin was a smashing success because when you pulled the string in her back, she looked down at her cue cards and recited her talking points perfectly.

Frankly, the Democratic-left is deeply disappointed the Palin didn't crash and burn (the leftist wet dream these last few nights saw Palin tearfully withdrawing after the debate).

To the left's great consternation, Palin hit a home run. So what to do? Simple. Fire up a new round of Palin derangement:

We simply haven't had an overtly fecund, butch, straight-woman sex symbol in so long. She's like Annie Oakley with her six-shooters and her polar bears, her caribou dressing and her moose stew. She's got five kids hanging off of her, and you're like "Hells bells, that woman can f**k in the morning, go out for a long hike on the Arctic tundra, take down a polar bear or two, and be back in time to pass some new creationist legislation." She just kicks ass. I mean, she's just so — mmm. So like a powerful woman.

It's exciting, isn't it?

That one's pre-debate, actually, but certainly a tasty appetizer before the main course:

The point is, she doesn’t know s**t about s**t ...

Look for more of this slime going forward, especially after the polls show the race tightening up over the weekend.

President Bush to Sign $700-billion Rescue Package

The House of Representatives approved a $700-billion bailout of the financial system, and President Bush is expected to sign the bill into law this afternoon (more links at Memeorandum):

The House today approved a $700-billion financial rescue plan - sweetened by $110 billion in tax cuts - on a 263-171 vote four days after rejecting it in a move that stunned both Wall Street and Washington.

"We've made this bill better," said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio. "Is it perfect? No. But it clearly is better than it was a week ago."

House leaders were stunned Monday when members rejected the plan, 228-205, with Republicans charging that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) had politicized the issue by blaming President Bush's policies for the financial mess on Wall Street that has brought the economic system to a tipping point.

President Bush, in a Rose Garden comment after the vote, pledged to sign the legislation when it reaches his desk. He doled out praise to Democratic and Republican leaders alike. "By coming together on this legislation we have acted boldly," he said. "We have shown the world that the United States of America will stabilize our financial markets and maintain a leading role in the global economy."

I know many conservatives will rise up in outrage over the "bailout," and I'll have more on the partisan and practical implications of the legislation in upcoming essays.

However, readers should check out Kimberley Strassel's essay at today at the Wall Street Journal, "What Leadership Looks Like." Strassel discusses Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, a GOP fiscal conservative who voted for the bill after of years of dissent in Washington over Congress' Fannie and Freddie enablers:

The congressman was no fan of Mr. Paulson's plan, and initially rallied conservatives around a rival approach. When it became clear that the administration's approach was the only thing going, he spearheaded negotiations to rid it of its worst liberal elements and to include more taxpayer protections.

As credit spreads widened, he said he also realized this was a "Herbert Hoover moment, where he sat by and let a Wall Street crash turn into a Great Depression . . . There are times when free-markets stop and rational thinking goes out the window. It then isn't enough to be a laissez-faire conservative and let Rome burn . . . This bill is not perfect, but doing nothing is far worse than passing this bill."

Compare this to Mr. Ryan's GOP colleagues in Wisconsin. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri were among those 162 Republicans that let Fan and Fred bust the bank. Yet when this week's day of reckoning came, Mr. Petri complained it was a "half-baked plan," while Mr. Sensenbrenner declared he wouldn't "subsidize Wall Street." Oh, for this righteousness during the half-baked Fan-Fred subsidy days. And this from two guys in safe seats.

This has left Mr. Ryan alone to defend his position back home. It hasn't helped that his colleagues are spinning this as bravery, crowing that it was they who listened to constituents and they who acted on free-market principles. Never mind that these principles were nowhere in evidence back when it mattered. And never mind that should America crash, it will be the free market offered up as sacrifice to the regulatory mob.

What do you think?

Joseph Biden's White Flag of Surrender

I need to state, right away, that I respect Senator Joseph Biden. He's a good man, who, unfortunately, made licentious mistakes earlier in his career, especially on questions of serial plagiarism. Yet, if the Obama/Biden ticket wins in November, frankly, the Delaware Senator's more qualified to serve in the Oval Office than is Barack Obama.

That said, Senator Biden got pwned by Alaska Govenor Sarah Palin in tonight's debate at Washington University, in St. Louis.

I mean, let's face it, things were going along routinely, with each candidate holding their own on taxes and domestic policy, until (alleged) moderator Gwen Ifill shifted topics to foreign policy. Biden went off on how Barack Obama's on the same page as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, blah, blah ... and then, Ifill turned to Governor Palin, asking for her response on Iraq, to which the Alaska Governor replied, directing her answer to Senator Biden:

Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq and that is not what our troops need to hear today, that's for sure. And it's not what our nation needs to be able to count on. You guys opposed the surge. The surge worked...

Wham!

I kept noticing, throughout the debate, the big smiles Senator Biden kept flashing - helpless smiles indicating that he was getting hammered!

There was a point, moreover, earlier in the debate, where I think Governor Palin set concrete parameters: Senator Biden was trying to set the record straight on Barack Obama's record on regulatory policy, where he says:

Gwen, the governor did not answer the question about deregulation, did not answer the question of defending John McCain about not going along with the deregulation, letting Wall Street run wild.

But check out Sarah Palin in response, and with EMPHASIS:

I'm still on the tax thing because I want to correct you on that again ... I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let themmy track record also.

Wham!

Beyond this, I think the debate was pretty much thrust and parry.

Senator Biden knows what he's talking about. But throughout I was wondering if he actually prepped for this: I mean, really, it was Governor Palin who delivered the memorable lines. I especially thought the "Say it ain't so, Joe!" line, delivered late in the debate, when Biden was riffing about the middle class, was killer:

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.

These are the exact moments that hit home with Main Street Americans.

Governor Palin made no gaffes. She was in command of the facts and was careful to redirect the debate to talking points comfortable to her experience.

But most of all, Senator Biden seemed on defense through most of the night. At first, it seemed, Governor Palin was nervous ... on edge even. But as she got going, her comfort level heightened dramatically, and toward the end she was relishing her rejoinders - I mean nothing - nothing - was out of her league! Iraq? Iran? Show me what you got!

The Baltimore Sun nails it:

It was an unabashedly, one might even say relentlessly folksy and down-home Palin that greeted Americans Thursday night, with phrases like "Doggone it," ''You guys," ''Darn right" and, one she must have been saving 'til the end, "Say it ain't so, Joe!" You became "ya," change was "comin'" and a class of third-graders even got a "shout-out" from the Alaska governor.

You can bet Barack Obama was biting his knuckles, stressing in his campaign's inability to put McCain/Palin away.

I'll have more over the next few days ... but I can say now: Expect a decent Palin bounce in the polls. The Alaska Governor exceeded expectations by miles. I mean, c'mon, even Markos Moultisas' initial evaluation (subject to immediate revision) suggested Palin won. Further, even RawMuslesGlutes was restrained, conceding, "Palin didn't collapse ... " (and that's considering RMG's "Trig-trutherism"!).

Governor Palin captured the essence of complete authenticity in the debate, especially at the conclusion, where she noted:

We have to fight for our freedoms, also, economic and our national security freedoms.

It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don't pass it to our children in the bloodstream; we have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free.

These are the bedrock values to which middle Americans can relate. We'll see if she gets a bump, but at the end of the day, Sarah Palin demonstrated that she's ready to step in as chief executive in an emergency. The McCain campaign did themselves proud in their work preparing Governor Palin for her key moment of the presidential debates.

She exceeded expectations, and the American people saw it, live, large, and down home, baby!

Stocks Decline Amid Fears of Economic Slump

Stocks plummeted today as investors feared a continued collapse in the economy, amid congressional uncertainty and new data pointing to a slowdown:

The Dow drops 348.22 points to 10,482.85 on worries that the bailout plan won't pass in the House - or that it won't be enough to stave off recession.

As readers recall, I've written on the importance of state power in stabilizing markets and restoring confidence in economic institutions.

As the Wall Street Journal argued this morning, concerning the administration's bailout bill:

The Paulson plan isn't what we would have drawn up. It will not by itself inject capital into troubled banks, and it carries risks in how Treasury will price toxic assets when it buys them. But it is one more policy tool at a time when something needs to be done, and it is the only one currently up for a vote. Passing it won't by itself revive the banking system, but defeating it will guarantee far more damage to far more Americans.

Jason Pappas has a nice roundup of articles debating the issues.

I'll have more later.

YouTube Video Ads Battle Over Proposition 8

Political activists are increasingly creating their own campaign advertisments and distributing them via YouTube.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the campaign for California's Proposition 8, which would authorize a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriages, has seen the creation of a number of citizens' ads, like this one from Grant Johnson:

The key text suggests:

The historic purpose for governmental recognition of marriage has been about children and society, not the relationship of two adults.

That message is remarkably similar to an opinion piece in the Times a couple of weeks back by David Blankenhorn, "Protecting Marriage to Protect Children" (this is the best commentary I've read on gay marriage, so please read and distribute widely).

By chance, I was just thinking about citizens' YouTubes yesterday while visiting Mr. RawMusleGlutes, who posted this "No on 8" video.

It turns out that support for Proposition 8 is trailing in the polls, a trend so far attributed to the opposition of young voters (which consequently means that voter turnout is likely to be significant in determining the measure's fate).

Metrolink Engineer Sent Text Message Before Crash

Robert Sanchez, the Metrolink engineer who was piloting the train that crashed in Simi Valley on September 12, had sent a text message seconds before the crash that killed at least 25 people and injured 135, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The National Transportation Safety Board confirmed that Sanchez had been text-messaging, but withheld additional information pending further investigation. The Times story, however, cites the reports from academic research on the crash:

Investigators have not said whether they think the text messages played any role in the crash or affected Sanchez's ability to operate the train. But the two USC academics calculated for The Times what may have happened just before the crash.

Using the NTSB figures that Sanchez's train was traveling 42 mph in the area from the red signal to the collision point and correlating the times of his text messaging, Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor and veteran transportation safety expert, estimated that the last text message would have been sent about five seconds after Sanchez sped past the signal.

Gokhan Esirgen, laboratory director for instructional physics at USC, also calculated that Sanchez would have sent the last message just after the light. He believes this timetable provided little or no time for Sanchez to react after he saw the oncoming train.

Even if Sanchez wasn't sending a text message at the exact moment of the crash, he may have had "inattention blindness," said David Strayer, a University of Utah psychology professor who's studied cellphone use's effect on motorists.

"If you're busy text messaging and you're taking a minute or so to key in a message, you're obviously not going to see the things that go by when you're looking at the keyboard and screen," said Strayer, adding that it often takes motorists five to 10 seconds to readjust their focus to the road.

Read the whole thing, here.

I followed the story closely the first couple of days after the crash, although I hadn't seen any formal confirmation of the text-messaging story beyond the first day's reporting (my wife first mentioned that the engineer had been sending text messages, which she had learned on the radio).

The Times ran an interesting graphic a couple of days after crash, which explained the deadly nature of the impact. It turns out that the two front engines of the freight train, which was heading southbound at about 41mph, weighed nearly twice as much as the entire Metrolink commuter train (545,000 each). The freight train's head-on impact drove the Metrolink locomotive back into the first passenger car of the commuter train, killing the occupants.

This story is devasting. My heart goes out the families and the survivors.

Congress will require that all train track-systems in the country will have smart technology to stop trains heading for collision by 2015. The systems are now in use in other parts of the country, but not California.

You Might Use It If You Feel Better...

Expectations are high for tonight's vice-presidential debate, and I'll have analysis on the event later today (but note for now that Gwen Ifill has permanently tarnished her reputation as an objective journalist, as she's blatantly in the tank for Obama).

In the meantime, please enjoy Steely Dan, "Rikki Don't Lose That Number":

Steely Dan is one of the great FM drive-time favorites, although I like the studio version of "Rikki" better than the live take here, particularly for its guitar solo (available here).

The Shape of the Race, 10-1-08

The New York Times reports that Barack Obama leads John McCain 48 to 42 percent in the latest NYT/CBS News poll.

The findings come as a number of other surveys also see Obama emerging as the frontrunner. Today's Pew Research poll, for example, finds Obama taking a 49 to 42 percent lead among registered voters, and CNN reports that the Illinois Senator's pulling ahead in a number of key battleground states (Florida, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia).

The Times piece puts things in perspective:

The contest between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama is far from over. It is being fought against the continued uncertainty over the turmoil on Wall Street and in the bailout negotiations in Washington. There are three potential turning points ahead — a vice-presidential debate on Thursday night and two more debates between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama — and this election has regularly been shaken up by outside events that have tested both candidates and altered voters’ views.

Still, the trends signaled by this new wave of polls — coming at what both sides view as a critical moment in the contest — suggest that the contours of this race are taking form, and in a way that is not encouraging for Mr. McCain’s prospects.

The election cycle is entering a time when voters historically begin to make final judgments; this year, in fact, many of them are actually beginning early voting in states. What is more, the poll suggests voters have been guided by how Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama did in their debate last Friday, and also how they have responded to the crisis on Wall Street and the resulting deadlock in Washington about how to respond to it.

Note that we could indeed see some kind of "October Surprise" that dramatically reshapes the race, but it does appear at this point - with five weeks left in the season - that the Democrats have turned a corner.

If there's a bright side for the McCain camp it's that the remaining debates may help the GOP regain some momentum (and that includes the vice-presidential debate tomorrow, which is highly anticipated); also, if Congress can reach a respectable bailout bill on Capitol Hill this week or next, the sense of economic crisis may subside just enough for the race to tighten back up in the last couple weeks of the campaign.

The Politico reported this week that Republicans are getting worried and are urging McCain to go on the offensive against Obama. They're right to be concerned, and I'm a little surprised that we haven't seen more of an effort among conservatives (or a more coordinated effort) to define Obama more forcefully.

Of course, one of the big unknowns at this point is whether the considerable shock and outrage during the primaries over Obama's ties to Reverend Jeremiah Wright, as well as to the remaining rogue's gallery of Obama's radical friends, has dissipated enough for the Democrats to slide into a win on November 4, to elect the most liberal presidential candidate since George McGovern.

**********

UPDATE: As a reminder of the era of partisanship that we're in, here's Markos Moulitsas' take on recent polling trends:

Many people will warn against "getting complacent". I like to approach this potential problem differently - we have a chance to rip out the GOP's jugular. We can throw them an anvil. We can kick them while they're down. No matter the metaphor, the underlying meaning remains - we can destroy the Republicans. Now's not the time to slack, it's the time to pick things up. We've got them in a near rout. Let's destroy them.

The word "campaign" has a military etymology, which comes through loud and clear with Kos' comments. I don't make predictions, but I can say that if the GOP turns it around, I'm won't be holding back from laying down some reciprocal phraseology.

Maybe We Could Last An Hour...

I'll be watching the Angels-Red Sox opener of the ALDS tonight, so political blogging might be light.

In meantime, please enjoy Joe Jackson's, "Breaking Us in Two," a song that popped into my mind yesterday morning for no particular reason:

I saw Jackson in concert at least three times in the 1980s, upon release of Night and Day, the chart-topping album featuring the hit "Stepping Out," in addition to "Breaking Us in Two."

Enjoy!

Grassroots Effort Ties Obama to Ayers, Rezko, and Wright

Via Wake Up America and the Politico, here's the anti-Obama ad buy from the Judicial Confirmation Network:

Here's an excerpt:

Choosing the right Justices is critical for America. We don't know who Barack Obama would choose, but we know this: He chose as one of his first financial backers a slumlord now convicted on 16 counts of corruption. Obama chose as an associate a man who helped to bomb the Pentagon and said he "didn't do enough." And Obama chose as his pastor a man who has blamed America for the 9/11 attacks. Obama chose to associate with these men, while voting against these men.

See more from the Judicial Confimation Network at the link.

Pelosi Sought Partisan Gain in Bailout Vote

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought partisan political gains for the Democratic Party, not economic rescue for the American people, in the vote on this week's Wall Street bailout bill. The Los Angeles Times reports:

When Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first Democratic House speaker in 12 years, she promised to reach across the aisle to Republicans, to be "speaker of the House -- the entire House." In tribute to that spirit, she dressed in purple -- blending the red and blue that are symbols of partisan division.

But she did not look like a speaker of the whole House this week, as the financial industry bailout she helped negotiate was unexpectedly defeated. Republicans deserted in droves, Democrats were split, and Pelosi ended the floor debate before the vote with a passionate critique of Republican economic policies.

The Wall Street meltdown is among the biggest issues to face Congress in decades, and it posed a daunting test of Pelosi's leadership abilities: Hardly anyone in either party wanted to vote for the bill to spend $700 billion to shore up ailing financial firms, but most everybody worried about the economic and political consequences of failing to act.

The bill's narrow defeat was in part a tribute to political forces far beyond Pelosi's control: The deep-seated mistrust between the parties has made it increasingly difficult for the House to address major national problems that cry out for bipartisan solutions. Her GOP counterpart, Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), is considered a weak minority leader, and President Bush's leverage within the party has all but vanished.

Still, Pelosi's handling of the issue provided a window onto her leadership style -- revealing the limits of her ability to win the trust of Republicans, to lean on her own rank and file, and to dispel her reputation as a polarizing figure.

Her closing speech was an assault on the Bush-era economic policies that Pelosi said had fueled the current financial woes. Some Republican leaders said Tuesday that her tone had cost them votes and contributed to the bill's defeat.

In truth, there was little in the San Francisco Democrat's speech that she had not said before. Brendan Daly, Pelosi's spokesman, said she intended it as a last-ditch effort to increase support from balky liberal Democrats.

Still, some analysts said that Pelosi's onslaught may have been ill-timed and reinforced Republicans' view of her as too partisan.

"The moment to make that speech is after the vote, not before it," said Leon E. Panetta, a former House Democrat from California. "It's obviously a sensitive moment when you have a close vote on your hands."

"It was very provocative," said Ross K. Baker, a Rutgers University political scientist who has worked as a Senate staffer. "When the issue is still in doubt, you don't poke a stick in the eye of the opposition."

After the bailout plan failed, Pelosi blamed Republicans for not having lived up to an agreement -- designed to give bipartisan cover to incumbents -- that each party would deliver half of its members in support of the bill. In the end, 60% of Democrats but only 33% of House Republicans voted for it.

Congressional leaders usually will not bring legislation to the floor unless they are sure it will pass -- especially when the stakes are so high.

Some critics now are asking whether Pelosi had faulty vote-counting intelligence. GOP leaders who were urging the rank and file to support the bailout plan said they told Democrats in advance that they did not have a lock on their votes but did not ask them to delay the debate. Democrats believed that Republicans were lowballing the count and that the measure would pass.

Others have questioned how committed Pelosi was to passing the bill because, once it became clear that it was failing, she made only limited efforts to change minds. She asked members of the Congressional Black Caucus, a bastion of opposition to the deal, to change their votes -- but did not deploy the kind of hardball tactics that leaders often use to win close contests.

There's enough blame to go around for the causes of the Wall Street collapse, and I have avoided taking a partisan approach to the issue. And while conservatives are pleased with the initial bill's defeat, the failure of the legislation also represents the hyper-partisanship of recent years, and in this instance the Democratic leadership's attempts to exploit and profit from it.

Pelosi's also in the news today with revelations that the Speaker paid her husband's business utilities bills and accounting fees with nearly $100,000 from her political action committee.

The most ethical Congress ever? Post-partisanship? Change we can believe in?

Yeah, right.

Palin is Formidable in Debates

There's some buzz this morning over GOP running mate Sarah Palin's debating style.

It turns out that Governor Palin's a confident debater who doesn't fluster easily. She's said to turn potential liability into strength with an ability to remain unruffled on issues of less familiarity. And on social policy - especially the value of human life - Palin speaks with authority and without hesitation, as seen in her Alaska gubernatorial debate in 2006:

Compare Palin's responses on the question of rape and abortion to Democrat Tony Knowles, who is completely flustered on his response to such a tragedy.

As this morning's Wall Street Journal indicates, Palin's a formidable debater:

There are two things people here remember about Sarah Palin's debating style during her race for governor two years ago.

One is the stack of color-coded cue cards she took to the podium for help whenever she was asked a policy question. The other is how quickly she was able to shuck those props, master the thrust-and-parry of jousting with her opponents and inquisitors, and project confidence to an audience of television viewers watching from home.

That's the Sarah Palin I remember from the 2006 debates: positive, confident and upbeat," recalls Libby Casey, an Alaska public-radio reporter who served as a debate moderator on two occasions that year.

Even the New York Times concedes Palin's no lightweight:

A newcomer to the national scene, Ms. Palin has given little indication that she has been engaged in a serious way in the pressing national and international issues of the day.

But a review of a handful of her debate performances in the race for governor in 2006 shows a somewhat different persona from the one that has emerged since Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, named Ms. Palin as the vice-presidential nominee a month ago.

Ms. Palin, a former mayor who had become a whistle-blower about ethical misconduct in state government, held her own in those debates.

Note too that while Democrats are hoping to raise expectations for Palin in tomorrow's debate, Joseph Biden himself is reportedly planning a low-key strategy, where's he's likely to go easy on Palin should she make a gaffe.

Palin may well end up meeting - even exceeding - expectations, and Biden's fear of coming on too strong - i.e., contemptuous and sexist - will rebound the the advantage of the GOP ticket (as some on the radical left have noticed).

Even more importantly, as ABC News reports, Palin's small-town charm and outsider status may provide a winning angle amid the financial crisis, allowing Palin to "field dress" a new set of expectations on the direction of the presidential race.

Protect Values, Protect America: Vote Life

Via Jill Stanek, here's the powerful video from Catholic Vote 2008:

Life, faith, and family ... now more than any other time in history ... a new generation must stand for truth ...

Vote life in 2008.

Don't Proclaim the Obama Era Just Yet!

I need to follow up my earlier entry, "Obama's Landslide Projection is Risky," with this truly wonderful post from Hillbuzz, "Here’s What’s Going to Happen For the Next Five Weeks":

The financial meltdown in Washington has been coming for the last two years. Ironically, ever since Democrats regained Congress and Nancy Pelosi became Speaker. We did not expect things to come to a head at this moment — instead, we believed Democrats were trying to keep the bubble aloft until mid-October, so the meltdown would happen just before the election. For whatever reason, this financial situation happened now, and it’s benefitted SoetorObama in the short term. The narrative this week will continue to be about a struggling economy in recession — which benefits SoetorObama as long as voters don’t think too long about his actual ability to do anything about the situation. When they think long and hard about their financial problems, then look at SoetorObama’s complete dearth of experience in economic matters, the fact he’s never run any kind of a business, and his complete lack of experience ever dealing with large-scale problems like this on a bipartisan basis, with real accomplishment, we believe voters will not put this country in the hands of the media’s darling — not when jobs, lives, and the economy are at stake.

Hillbuzz has a provocative discussion of Democratic voter mobilization for Barry Soetoro (the black Democratic base is already mobilized as the most loyal voting constituency in the nation, so new registrants may not in fact turnout), and then concludes thus:

We’re in the middle of a pro-SoetorObama news cycle that will end this weekend — when Sarah Palin exceeds expectations in the debate this Thursday and people get together on the weekend to talk about how much they liked her and how well they thought she did....

Next week will be back to another upswing for McCain, followed by another SoetorObama week, give or take.

About two and a half weeks before the election, in mid-October, for all of SoetorObama’s shady connections to come to light and for the GOP to do what SoetorObama in his two autobiographies and his two years of running for president failed to do: define him. The GOP will prove to the American people that SoetorObama is unfit for the presidency: not ready to lead, but also morally questionable in his judgment and decisions through the years.

The Obama camp and some of his supporters are a bit too optimistic. Yet, the McCain camp has its work cut out for it, first with helping Sarah Palin master the national media spotlight, and next in repositioning McCain as the bare-knuckled fighter he'll need to be if he's going to successfully battle the left-wing media machine's attempted elevation of Barry Soetoro to the White House.

The Activist Fifth Column Probama Mass Media

I like Jeff Goldstein's take on the Glenn Reynolds' "media-in-the-tank-for-Obama" e-mail:

What strikes me as most odious is that last bit in the Instapundit excerpt — “The fix is in, and its [sic] working” — an admission made all the more disheartening to those of us who realize that the press is becoming a willing accomplice in election rigging because it was just 4-years ago that Evan Thomas of Newsweek acknowledged the media’s complicity in this attempted anti-democratic, anti-American gambit. But rather than feel shamed at their failure to honor a contract with the public, the press has decided instead to double down and give up any pretense of being neutral — all to help elect a Stepford candidate forged from 60s radicalism and polished by Alinsky, Gramsci, and the philosophical precepts of progressive fascism.

Proof positive that those who have suspected the press of being an increasingly activist fifth column are not so much paranoid as they are perspicacious.

But don't miss the other side on the Reynolds' scoop, for example, TBogg and Whiskey Fire (hat tip: Memeorandum).

Worst Case Scenario

Back to the future?

Ross Douthat, responding to the economic crisis and the congressional stalemate, suggests a depression is the worst of three scenarios ahead. But read David Brooks as well, "Revolt of the Nihilists":

What we need in this situation is authority. Not heavy-handed government regulation, but the steady and powerful hand of some public institutions that can guard against the corrupting influences of sloppy money and then prevent destructive contagions when the credit dries up.

That's reminiscent to what I wrote previously, in "Conservatism, Neoconservatism, and Economic Crisis."

Photo: Florence Owens Thompson, by Dorothea Lange.

In the Tank: Media Fix For Obama?

What's the definition of "in the tank"? Perhaps this:

I think your answer for why a thrown fight is considered “in the tank” is located directly above the entry for “in the tank” in the sports writer’s handbook. An easy fight may be “in the bag,” but a thrown fight? Well, that’s in an even sturdier, more reliable receptacle. It’s in the tank.

How about a thrown election? Could be:

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: "Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working." I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.

Emphasis added, and there's more at the link.

Come to think about it, on abortion and ACORN alone, Barack Obama's skating free. He may get some critical press once in a while, but this notion that "editors refuse to publish anyting that would jeopardize" Obama's chances sounds eminently reasonable to me (for example, here).

Obama's Landslide Projection is Risky

The Daily Telegraph reports that Barack Obama believes he'll win the November election in a landslide:

Barack Obama's senior aides believe he is on course for a landslide election victory over John McCain and will comfortably exceed most current predictions in the race for the White House.

Their optimism, which is said to be shared by the Democratic candidate himself, is based on information from private polling and on faith in the powerful political organisation he has built in the key swing states.

Insiders say that Mr Obama's apparent calm through an unusually turbulent election season is because he believes that his strength among first time voters in several key states has been underestimated, both by the media and by the Republican Party.

Obama's confidence rests on his expectation to win in battlegrounds states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Wisconsin, where he suggests that extant polling has underestimated his appeal.

While there's no doubt that Obama's currently doing well relative to the GOP ticket, the Illinois Senator's theory underlying his landslide projection is suspect.

Gallup reported in June that voter enthusiasm dipped considerably at the conclusion of the primaries, and experts predict that young voters' enthusiasm turns into unreliable confusion in November. Additionally, it turns out that Obama's outreach efforts to unionized white-working class voters have proved difficult, as the New York Times reported this morning (from Wisconsin, where union activists say working-class voters often base their votes on non-economic issues, including race). Not only that, while dramatic turmoil in the economy continues, Americans see better times ahead, as soon as next year (58 percent as indicated in the new USA Today poll).

The way these variables interact depends on developments both in the economy and the campaign, although both Democratic and Republican operatives indicate things are looking good for the Obama camp.

Yet, Peter Wehner suggests a huge opening for John McCain:

Potentially, the most lethal political charge against Obama is that he is a deeply liberal/ideological figure who has associated with radical individuals in order to advance his political career. The question is whether Obama’s countenance and personal style make those charges seem far-fetched; or whether the McCain campaign can convince voters that Obama’s appeal is at its core fraudulent and his new-found centrism a mirage.

Members of both the left and right recognize Obama's genuine ideological radicalism, to the glee of the trolls of the left-wing fever swamps and to the consternation of conservatives (and see Stanley Kurtz's new essay, linking Obama to ACORN and the subprime mortgage crisis).

As it stands, other than Gallup, a number of other major surveys find Obama up only by four or five percentage points in national head-to-head matchups (today's Los Angeles Times and Rasmussen, for example); yet Obama is picking up ground in some key battleground states.

It remains to be seen, however, whether recent improvements warrant Obama's optimism.

Obama Sought Rape Victim for Ad Promoting Abortion

Jonathan Martin reports that Barack Obama looked into procuring the services of a rape victim to appear in a pro-abortion camaign ad buy:

Barack Obama's campaign earlier this month sought to find a rape victim to appear in a campaign commercial, according to an e-mail obtained by Politico.

Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign and victims and women's advocates....

The Obama campaign wouldn't detail the strategy behind finding an individual to discuss such a sensitive topic but did suggest the ad may be aimed at underscoring their candidate's support for abortion rights and ongoing effort to retain those women who backed Hillary Clinton in the primary.

"Choice is an important issue, and we're going to continue talking about it in battleground states through the election," said spokesman Bill Burton.

Virginia is one of those swing states that Obama is especially focused on, and that's where one rape victim received the request to appear in an ad.

Mikele Shelton-Knight declined to do so, but said in an interview that she was glad the Obama campaign was seeking to highlight the issue.

There's likely more to it than that ... perhaps Shelton-Knight found distasteful the prospect of becoming the poster-girl of the Democratic-left's pro-abortion fanaticism.

Barack Obama's an abortion extremist, Senator Infanticide.

Obama's bid to exploit tragedy is just one more example of how the left devalues life. Family-planning organizations counsel abortion as a "solution" to rape, but research shows that women feel more guilt over aborting their pregnancies than being victims of sexual assualt. The abortion industry is all about rights, except those for the baby who might come into this world, an innocent child that in the end signal's God's ultimate blessing of healing.

Obama himself has said that women shouldn't have to be "punished" with a child, and he refused as a member of the Illinois state legislature to guarantee the right to life for infant abortion survivors.

It's no suprise that the driving factor in the radical left's demonization campaign against Sarah Palin has been the Alaska Governor's living threat to the ideology of abortion on demand. Obama's effort to exploit rape victims to advance the cause of abortion extremism is logically part and parcel to that.

Palin Operation Gets Upgrade Ahead of Veep Debate

The Wall Street Journal reports that GOP running mate Sarah Palin's campaign operation is getting an upgrade ahead of Thursday night's vice presidential debate:

The McCain campaign moved its top officials inside Gov. Sarah Palin's operation Sunday to prepare for what is certain to be the most important event of her vice-presidential campaign: her debate on Thursday with Democrat Joe Biden.

Additionally, at the urging of the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Palin will leave late Monday for his Arizona ranch to prepare for the high-stakes debate.

The moves follow several shaky performances by Gov. Palin last week and come amid concern and grumbling from Republicans, and even a few queries from her husband, Todd Palin, according to campaign operatives and Republican officials.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and senior adviser Steve Schmidt are planning to coach the candidate ahead of the debate, according to senior advisers. They traveled Sunday to meet the Republican vice-presidential nominee in Philadelphia. After her appearance with Sen. McCain at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, these top officials plan to fly with her on Monday to Sen. McCain's ranch in Sedona, Ariz., which they hope she will find a comforting place to prep, these people said.

More broadly, the McCain campaign aims to halt what it sees as a perceived decline in the crispness and precision of Gov. Palin's latest remarks as well as a fall in recent polls, according to several advisers and party officials.

The concern's not without merit. But I don't think the left's demonic ridicule masters should start counting chickens.

As William Kristol notes this morning:

In the debate, Palin has to dispatch quickly any queries about herself, and confidently assert that of course she’s qualified to be vice president.

In other words, Palin needs to get back to being herself.

Joseph Biden is a 35-year veteran of the Congress, and bloviating sexist. He'll be walking on eggshells to avoid looking like an intemperate pig. Palin needs to have a ready comeback for Biden's over-confident preening, a "there you go again" moment that will put that stuffed suit in his place, revealing the utter hypocrisy of his attacks on Washington. A nice target will be the blatant corruption of Biden's son, Hunter, who just resigned as a corporate lobbyist in shame.