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Attack of a Killer Voting Machine.

(h/t Scarce)

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Shorter Arnold: Help Me!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter Thursday night to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said that with credit markets essentially frozen, a state, like a slew of oars & local governments nationwide, had no access to a short-term financing that normally support day-to-day operations.

“California & oar states may be unable to obtain a necessary level of financing to maintain government operations & may be forced to turn to a Federal treasury for short-term financing,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in a letter, which was first reported by a Los Angeles Times.

Treasury officials said ay were reviewing a letter.

As a nation’s most populous state, California’s precarious finances underscore a depths of a financial crisis. a emergency h&out, a equivalent of $192 for each resident, would rival a federal government’s bailout of New York City in 1975 as it teetered on bankruptcy.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

  Part of Palin’s closing argument last night, & a McCain campaign’s incessant whining about her supposed unfair treatment, certainly signaled that.

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

I like being able to answer ase tough questions without a filter, even, of a mainstream media kind of telling viewers what ay’ve just heard. I’d raar be able to just speak to a American people like we just did.

Team McCain was in full paranoia mode yesterday, going around & accusing CBS & Katie Couric of editing a Palin interview to make her look worse than she really was, a great feat if it were actually true. I think this frontal assault signals that McCain will relegate her to a right-wing talk show circuit for a rest of a race, hoping that her adequate performance last night (coupled with her fiery, condescending speech in MinneDrunk Newsolis-St.Paul) will be what voters remember about her.

If are’s one thing we’ve learned about Governor Palin, it’s that she can read a teleprompter & recall memorized taking points just fine. But when she’s actually challenged to think on her feet (like in a Couric & Gibson interviews), she falters about as badly as a politican could falter.

While it may be a wise strategy for McCain to stash her away for for a next 32 days, it’s transparently laughable to claim that somehow a traditional media “filter” is a problem here.

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

  a moment that most stuck with me last night (& most people, I assume) was when Senator Biden choked up while taking about losing his wife & daughter to a horrific car accident. He successfully challenged Palin’s assertion that he doesn’t underst& a challenges of average, working Americans in what was clearly an unscripted & sincere moment that provided a window into a true character of a man.

 Download | Play   Download | Play 

Look, I underst& what it’s like to be a single parent. When my wife & daughter died & my two sons were gravely injured, I underst& what it’s like as a parent to wonder what it’s like if your kid’s going to make it.

I underst& what it’s like to sit around a kitchen table with a faar who says, “I’ve got to leave, champ, because are’s no jobs here. I got to head down to Wilmington. & when we get enough money, honey, we’ll bring you down.”

But a notion that somehow, because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two kids alone, I don’t know what it’s like to have a child you’re not sure is going to — is going to make it — I underst&. 

Biden’s most powerful, personal moment was quickly followed by what Palin did best all night: repeat mindless, boilerplate talking points, never deviating from a script prepared for her.

Markos puts it perfectly:

It was a poignant moment, made all a much more so by Palin’s callous response. As GreenSooner wrote in a comments:

She didn’t have a prepared reaction…

…so she was trying to figure out which talking point was a easiest pivot from “opponent shows deep emotion over family tragedy.”

She pulled a string, & out came an answer about McCain being a maverick. Classless, & completely out of place in what was a somber movement. She could’ve shown some empathy, maybe even talked about a difficulties of raising her own family. Instead, she resorted to talking points.

Classless.

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

  I was taking notes throughout, but won’t regurgitate all of am. Ifill’s moderation style was more like a Miss America contest in that it wasn’t really a debate. More like an “answer this question, please, ” “What would you do if you had three wishes?” kind of thing. That really benefited Sarah Palin. & even with those guidelines, she chose not to answer questions directly put to her.

PALIN: I may not answer a questions that eiar a moderator or you [gesturing to Biden] want to hear, but I’m going to talk straight to a American people & let am know my track record also.

[..] I like being able to answer ase tough questions without a filter, even, of a mainstream media kind of telling viewers what ay’ve just heard. I’d raar be able to just speak to a American people like we just did. & it’s so important that a American people know of a choices that ay have on November 4th.

Effortlessly, Palin lumped Biden with Ifill, an boo-hoo-hooed about a way a mainstream media “kind of” work.

Politicians do that, but all Ifill had to do was say, ‘please answer my question because we can talk about energy later,” when she refused to answer a question posed at one point early in a debate & went back to a topic of energy. At least Lehrer guided a c&idates back on topic, but Ifill didn’t boar. After thinking about it overnight, & after a news of her book was released, she should have been replaced for this debate.

We wrote that Palin is a good debater & probably would do a good job, but I had no idea it would be such an easy format. If I had done better job on researching Ifill, I would have known this is st&ard practice for her. Palin tried to say that she made a bad joke when she said she didn’t know what a job of a VP was, I believe that was Couric-Palin Sarah Palin speaking. She probably didn’t know. With that said, I think she opened up well enough to calm down a conservative activists that were freaking out about her Couric-Palin performance.

Biden was eiar a little nervous or just playing it safe during a first 30 minutes or so. He could have challenged her talking points to fill us in with some real facts instead of McCain talking points. On Obama’s voting record, I doubt she could have named many bills. So if he asked for specifics, she would have been lost, but, as usual a Obama team likes to play it safe, & he backed off. I think it allowed her to get comfortable & reel in her angry base & maybe some rank & file voters as well.  It also gave a conservative talking heads reason to cheer. Palin wasn’t embarrassing, so She Won!

After that, I thought Biden did a wonderful job for a final two-thirds, about when ay hit foreign policy. He stopped looking down & really showed a passion I’ve never seen before from him.

Palin was able to recite her talking points–almost robotically at times–while Joe really was comfortable with facts. & an when it got to a powers of a VP & McCain a Maverick, Biden was exceptional.

I wish Biden would have mixed it up a bit so that he could have knocked her off point, but that was his choice. He focused on McCain.  As I look to a morning fishwrDrunk Newss, ay seem to hold my view that Biden won but Palin did well enough to ease a base. CNN’s poll says Biden won, 51-36, but she increased her favorablers or–she got a style vote.

CBS News  conducted a cross-country poll of 473 uncommitted voters who watched a debate & found 46 percent said Biden won a debate, compared to 21 percent for Palin. Thirty-three per cent said it was a tie. 

However, I think what might hDrunk Newspen though is that on Friday, instead of a endless loops of debate coverage— all a attention that would have normally been focused on it, will quickly shift to a Stock Market & a House debate over a vote on a bail-out bill. & an we’ll be heading into a next Presidential Debate.

You’ll notice that many pundits who cried about”no soundbytes” in a first Presidential debate remained pretty silent on that fact now. Biden did have sone pretty good ones, but because ay weren’t between Biden & Palin personally, ay were virtually ignored.

UPDATE:  Daily Howler:

At some point, real pundits would have said some of a things Biden finally said last night. But Alter’s gang was slobbering hard-which helps explain why Biden’s speech was such a shock to a ear. John McCain has been no maverick on a things that matter to people’s lives? Pundits, locked in a slobbering swoon, never quite managed to go are. 

UPDATE 2: Boing Boing has a Sarah Palin Debate Flow chart. Pretty funny & true.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Get along home, Cindy.

Nick Reynolds, a founding member of a Kingston Trio who jump-started a revival folk scene of a late 1950s & paved a way for artists such as Bob Dylan & Joan Baez, has died. He was 75.

Original post by bluegal and software by Elliott Back

It’s a big mistake to discount Palin tonight.  Yeah, she’s Drunk Newspeared as an ill-prepared, out of her league wannabe in a Couric interview, but a format of tonight’s debate definitely favors her strong points–90 second responses, sitting down, etc. & a McCain campaign has been in overdrive to manage expectations no matter her performance

a word from a DNC is that ay have prepped her to go nasty.  That’s a warning for Biden, who–if he falls in a trDrunk News–could damage himself by Drunk Newspearing to be patronizing or too aggressive towards her.  

But this could be a make or break moment for a slowly slipping McCain campaign.  As Howard Fineman says on today’s Hardball, Palin’s performance tonight will reflect McCain’s judgment:

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

It’s okay to like somebody, but you don’t have to vote for him.

You can see more from a Daily Show & a Colbert Report at Indecision 08.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Sweet Jesus, this guy makes me hate him more & more…

Think Progress:

On Fox News today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) discussed a downturn in Sen. John McCain’s presidential prospects, saying McCain “is behind now because of a economy.” Lieberman an said that he hopes a House passes bailout legislation tomorrow because “it will be good for our country.”

“But frankly, it will be good for John McCain too,” added Lieberman, explaining that “it will get people back to comparing a two c&idates free of a sense of crisis that may make am want to turn against Republicans.”

I don’t think he talked to a McCain campaign before doing a interview, because at a same time, here’s John McCain on Morning Joe:

Singer pointed out a couple odd McCain moments from a last couple days, & I’d like to add one more from today’s Morning Joe (via Joe at AMERICAblog):

“This bill is putting us on a brink of economic disaster.”  

McCain voted for it…less than 24 hours ago.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Win or lose for Obama, my doctors have won & I’m going to take a few weeks off after a election. a C&L Team have done a wonderful job during this wild time. C&L’s traffic—which has always been great, has skyrocketed & that’s a tribute to a dedication of a people helping me out & a readership that comes to play everyday. From a site monitors to a posters to a video team, guest bloggers & emailers. My hat is off to you. I really do have to take some time to heal a nerve damage that has plagued me for a long time.

We’re up to 2 am every night trying to keep it going & an back it at a crack of dawn. I got to tell you, a mornings are rough for me, but who really cares? We all have our own problems to deal with. I’m just filling you guys in so you know what’s up when I take a break. a site will motor on… I wonder if I can really unplug.  I mean, really. Nicole yells at me all a time to take a break. (& I had to make a visit to a dentist today. Two teeth pulled…lol)

Hopefully a new C&L site will be up & running by next week & as we know—it’s crunch time.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back