Completely Unnecessary

The Chicago Tribune endorsed the Democrat.

The Tribune itself is highly impressed by this fact, and would earn a number 3 (25%-50%) for Question 34 in the study I’m working on: ‘Percentage of story content devoted to metacoverage’.

The four long paragraphs outline the history of Tribune presidential endorsements. They note the paper’s devotion to abolition and smaller government, as well as its deep, abiding admiration for the Chicago Tribune.

The Ed Board writes eloquently of Senator Obama, though their prose is somewhat marred by the graphic running with the article:

Other questions they considered included:

• Do you consider us still relevant?
• Like, totes relevant?
• Is our lame redesign causing you to consider canceling your subscription?
• If you are thinking about it, can you please not do that?

Anyway, despite a long series of bad endorsements (Dole ‘96!), nice to see the hometown paper coming on board.

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1:32: The SBS guy is just offloading everything he remembers about the debate. McCain scribbled a lot. Alright, I’m out of here.

1:31: Michelle Obama is really rocking the florets lately. I hope that’s not coming back in. Is that back in?

1:30: GOOD JOB, GOOD JOB, GOOD JOB! Cut their mics!

1:30: Bob is the new Dan Rather with his folksy anecdotes.

1:29: Middle class for Obama in the closing - good.

1:28: Brighter days are still ahead. Isn’t that a Reagan quote? Kennedy?

1:28: Damn McCain he put the ‘if you can trust us’ - that’s a dog whistle for all his ads.

1:27: McCain: Please vote for me. I will keep your tax dollars safe. By spending nothing on anything, except hatchets.

1:26: McCain just did creepy laugh plus a SNORT! Bob is unfamiliar with websites.

1:24: ‘…precious children who have autism. Sarah Palin knows about them’. I think that’s my favorite quote of the debate.

1:23: McCain: Reauthorize NCLB - well there go the teachers that Obama pissed off earlier.

1:22: ‘You, I, Cindy, and… your wife…’ That’s Michelle.

1:21: ‘I don’t think America’s youth are interest groups’ - if McCain’s adviser really said that thing about the interest groups, that’s absurd.

1:19: McCain likes Teach for America? I’m kind of surprised by that.

1:16: McCain: ‘We’ve achieved equal access to schools?’ Oh, I see now that this is going to vouchers. Oh, it went to charter schools. And then to vouchers. Right.

1:15: No freaking way. Education. Thank you.

1:15: Oh, I didn’t know that ‘health of the mother’ meant killing babies. Who knew? When did McCain get so crazy pro-life? He sounded more extreme than Bush when it came up in his races. I guess he’s trying to keep what’s left of the Appalachia vote.

1:13: Here’s another 10 minutes of the debate gone on this issue. That’s 30 minutes total on nonsense.

1:12: ‘Extreme aspect of the pro-abortion [faction] of this country’ - Jesus, McCain.

1:10: ‘Proudly pro-life’, McCain? Not in 2000. Why is this now about abortion? And why is McCain bothering to shore up the pro-life vote? That’s what Palin is for.

1:10: The Ledbetter decision. Obama brings the rest of the women home to the Dems. That was a seriously bullshit decision.

1:08: ‘Rights shouldn’t be left to state referendum…popular vote’. Well put.

1:07: Why does Obama hate Breyer so much? Why? McCain: I impose no litmus test, but Roe v. Wade means they are a bad judge.

1:05: ROE V WADE. Screw you, Bob. Screw you. Education. Education. Our kids are stupid. Only 13% of voters vote on abortion.

1:04: Senator Government! If you chose to add ‘Joe’ to your drinking game. You now cannot get health insurance because of your pre-existing liver damage.

1:02: Holy shit. What are you talking about John? We’re all communists or something, and Joe knows. But is rich, so will not be part of the Revolution. Gold-plated Cadillac health care. I don’t think we’ll have that in Communist America.

1:01: I bet Joe doesn’t exist. Or if he does, that his last name is Sixpack.

(more…)

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I complain a lot about the gender-based coverage received by women candidates. Overly effusive physical description is one the most prevalent ways in which this gender-tagging occurs.

So, I feel it’s important to call out the media when they gender-tag men, too.

Levi Johnston - Bristol Palin’s fiance - isn’t a candidate, but is apparently important enough to interview.

Johnston is described first as ’soft-spoken’, a frequent gender-tag, but the AP’s Adam Goldman doesn’t stop there:

Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.
…
Johnston is an avid hunter. He’s dark haired, tall and muscular, sports a bit of stubble and drives a red Chevy Silverado truck. He’d be the perfect cover for Field & Stream.

Erhm, can someone check Goldman’s notebook for heart doodles? That’s insane.

This is one of the weirdest stories I’ve read in a while. The interview apparently occurred in Levi’s driveway, providing the reader with less of a portrait of Johnston, than concerns about the AP’s stalkiness.

And it’s written in a peculiar, extremely colloquial tone:

He’s bagged bears, sheep, elk, and caribou. Some of the antlers are scattered about his yard. Last July on a caribou hunt he lost a “promise” ring that Palin had given him. He said he decided to tattoo her name on the finger and not bother with more rings because he’d just lose them anyway.

Asked to describe his feeling about the Republican Convention, Johnston replied, “At first, I was nervous… Then I was like, ‘Whatever.’”

That feeling also seems abundant in his attitude toward the democratic process, of which he’s unwittingly become a part; Johnston did not register to vote in this year’s election.

Well, that’s what we learned in our ‘rare interview with The Associated Press’ - I just hope Johnston’s mother doesn’t have to call the Wasilla police to get Goldman off the lawn.

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Troopergate investigation finds ‘duh‘:

Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to try to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, an investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded. The inquiry found, however, that she was within her right to dismiss her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who was the trooper’s boss.

Meanwhile, more and more stories are coming in about the whipping up going on at McCain/Palin events - some of it bordering on race-baiting. In one particularly disturbing incident:

Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric’s questions for her “less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media.” At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, “Sit down, boy.”

Megan at Jezebel has a good rundown (with link list at the bottom), so I won’t list them all here.

McCain and Palin have not discouraged this behavior from their supporters. Instead Obama’s campaign got the blame today:

McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers adds in another statement: “Barack Obama’s attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn’t understand regular people and the issues they care about. He dismisses hardworking middle class Americans as clinging to guns and religion, while at the same time attacking average Americans at McCain rallies who are angry at Washington, Wall Street and the status quo.”

I’m not even sure that ‘irresponsible’ can describe this behavior (and the dog-whistle response). John McCain used to be better than this. He’s the head of his party and an authority figure; failure to denounce it is tantamount to endorsement.

If someone gets hurt - and I’m thinking most the media people at these events - it will be on McCain’s shoulders.

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There are 25 days left in the race, and - barring the mother of all October surprises - the electoral map looks as though it’s becoming nearly impossible for McCain.

West Virginia is in play, for god’s sake.

Nearly every pollster, including right-leaning, has Obama above the 270 threshold. Many have him well into the 300s.

The angry tenor of McCain/Palin rallies has garnered the attention of the Secret Service. Today the cable channels ran with video of McCain having to grab the mic back from Minnesota supporter who called Obama ‘an arab’. This also happened:

When a man told him he was “scared” of an Obama presidency, Mr. McCain replied, “I want to be president of the United States and obviously I do not want Senator Obama to be, but I have to tell you — I have to tell you — he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” The crowd booed loudly at Mr. McCain’s response.

The campaign is way off on its tone. Average people - notably the independents and right-leaning Dems McCain needs to pull - don’t want ranting crowds with pitchforks.

How can we tell? Well, Norm Coleman senate race is a fair indicator.

Coleman (R-MN) has seen his solid lead over Al Franken collapse in the last few days. Coleman’s response? Get as far away from the McCain strategy as possible. He’s stopped running all negative ads in the ‘nice’ state. [Update: Coleman also pulled out of a planned appearance with McCain.]

The question now becomes how many will McCain drag down with him. Minnesota voters no doubt got footage of that nasty rally on all channels tonight. Coleman’s move clearly indicates his desire to seperate himself from the kind of negativity that’s now associated with the top of his ticket.

It might not work.

Senate races all over the country that have no business being in play are up for grabs. Coleman’s seat was always going to face a strong challenge, but Georgia?

Saxby Chambliss might actual lose his seat to Jim Martin. And last night’s debate appears not to have gone well for the incumbent.

If you’re a returning reader your likely question is (as always), ‘What’s the point of all this?’

If McCain looks like he’s going to go down hard, the RNC is likely to use its money to staunch the bleeding in Senate and House races. If you’re thinking about making a political donation, it might be time to think about at least splitting your donation between Obama and some seat races.

Some choices:

• Al Franken in Minnesota
• Kay Hagen in North Carolina
• Jeff Merkley in Oregon
• Jim Martin in Georgia
• Ronnie Musgrove in Mississippi (B)
• hell, even Mitch McConnell’s seat might be within reach - Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky

Putting money into House races also stretches your contribution dollar (though donations to Obama invariably help candidates downticket as well).

60 in the Senate seemed unthinkable even just a short time ago. Despite my general advocacy of divided government, it’s hard to look at that number and not try to reach for it.

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Hi both. I was teaching during the debate today and have an appointment now, so I’m furiously trying to watch part of the debate before I go.

I cannot tell you how much this is killing me.

Update: 7pm - Sigh. I’m still watching. I’m not going to bother commenting much, though, since it seems like everyone - including The Weekly Standard - is calling it for Obama.

It is - as many have pointed out - kinda boring. McCain didn’t totally explode (though he did call Obama ‘that one’) and Obama didn’t smack someone in the audience (though there was a lot of smirking when Obama was talking). McCain needed something awesome to happen. It didn’t.

If you want to fact check the debate - the NYT has an article up. You can also check out FactCheck.org or Politifact who will have more detailed comments up tomorrow, presumably. CQ Politics also has some bests/worsts/mosts.

Ugg, I just watched McCain make a ‘joke’. His awkward laugh makes me so nervous every time. I pray that someone chuckles with him just for pity’s sake.

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[Updated below.]

On the day the Wellstone Bill was finally signed into law, Minnesota’s making me nervous.

Today’s SurveyUSA poll shows McCain with a 1% lead in the Humphrey/Mondale state.

It’s only one percent, I know. Here’s why that troubles me: Al Franken has been making inroads into Norm Coleman’s lead in the Senate race, but hasn’t been able to close the gap.

The most recent polling has Coleman with a ten point lead on October 1. The race seems to be trending away from the Democrat, and McCain might be able to ride Coleman’s coattails.

Franken might not be the best candidate (he’s a comedian and has been hit or miss with the tone of his campaign), but it’s hard to argue against Minnesota being a changing state.

In 2000, Gore won handily and the state handed the Green Party a large enough percentage to get them on the ballot.

Then 2002 happened. Tim Pawlenty won the gubernatorial election after the progressive vote was split between three strong candidates: a Dem, a Green and an Independent. Wellstone died nine days before the election, and the combination of the backlash at the memorial and replacement candidate Mondale’s mild campaigning style handed Coleman the election.

Minnesota Dems have had six years to organise to win back Wellstone’s seat - and their lack of success in this department has more to do with a gradual reddening of the state than Franken alone, I’d argue.

Minnesota’s been making me nervous for awhile now, though I didn’t add it in to my maps the other day. McCain’s pulling out of Michigan is going to allow him to put more resources into Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Wisconsin polling (and its proximity to Illinois) makes it seem pretty safe, but I think it’s time to start looking at the map without Minnesota.

Luckily, it doesn’t factor so long as Obama wins VA, CO, MI and PA. That still brings in 272.

[I know that lots of other electoral math has Obama way up - well into the 300s. After 2000 and 2004, I'm just a nervous, glass-half-full kind of bunny. I'm trying to be very conservative in what I think Obama will win.]

It just shouldn’t be this close. I guess it’s more the symbolism of Minnesota - this is, after all, the only state to go Democratic in Reagan’s 1984 rout.

And it would prove the Republicans right about their ability to take the state - they had their convention there for the same reason we had ours in Denver.

Kind of makes you wonder what might have happened if McCain had chosen Pawlenty instead of Palin. Might have really changed up the map.

Update: 538 notes that a STrib poll has Franken up 9 points versus the SurveyUSA’s 10-point Coleman lead. Nate argues that both polls are untrustworthy. I’d say, it shows that MN is anybody’s guess.

Also, speaking of 538 - they’re arguing that one of Nebraska’s electoral votes might be in play. (Maine and Nebraska split their votes). That’s incredible to think about…

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David Brooks weighs in on Palin’s debating techniques, and - as another testament to my studious work avoidance - I read his column.

Palin did great(ish), etc. Until:

With a bemused smile and a never-ending flow of words, she laid out her place on the ticket — as the fearless neighbor for the heartland bemused by the idiocies of Washington. Her perpetual smile served as foil to Biden’s senatorial seriousness.

I always have to look up ‘bemused’. I’m convinced that it should mean ‘vaguely confused amusement’, and fully expect that one day it will magically appear in the dictionary as such. So I keep looking.

Luckily, double clicking on any word on nyt.com brings up a definition of that word. So that’s how I know that, according to Brooks’ publication, Palin was:

So lost in thought as to be unaware of one’s surroundings: absent, absent-minded, abstracted, distrait, faraway, inattentive, preoccupied. Idioms: a million miles away. See ability/inability, awareness/unawareness.

Man, I agree with everyone these days!

Brooks goes on to ask, “Where was this woman was during her interview with Katie Couric?” Yes, because the antidote to ’senatorial seriousness’ is definitely what need on the Republican ticket - again.

And, finally, I can’t believe you’re going to make me go there, but all right:

…Palin broke no new ground, though she toured the landscape of McCain policy positions with surprising fluency… She was surprisingly forceful on the subject of Iran (pronouncing Ahmadinejad better than her running mate)…

If we’re really using pronunciation as the barometer of foreign policy depth, then her ‘mispronunciation’ of General McKiernan as “McClellan” certainly doesn’t bode well.

I mean, I don’t think it matters, but clearly Brooks must be worried about our policy in Afghanistan under a McCain/Palin Administration.

Dude, she can call Ahmadinejad ‘Joe SixPack’ for all I care, so long as she demonstrates an actual understanding of the world and its issues.

But - despite her folksy charm and well-rehearsed answers (and excellent pronunciation of words not ending in ‘g’) - that understanding is something she clearly lacks.

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Cathy rightly points out that Palin’s mic capture as she walked out on stage now totally makes sense.

The first thing she said was, “Can I call you Joe?” It must have been the set up for the ‘Say it ain’t so, Joe” line. Her handlers must have told her to ask so she wouldn’t sound insolent later.

Gawker is right to call that moment her ‘failed cute’ - as she tried to mix Black Sox baseball, Reagan and goshdearnitdagnabit. It’s clear that the thing was planned…. and then poorly-executed.

Oh yeah, and followed by a reference to Joe Biden’s wife going to Heaven. His second wife, of course. Ouch - way to not know anything about your opponent; I don’t think she’d be that crass.

Postscript - from the States (and deep into the scotch), Avi notes that ‘this election is a referendum on the collective intellect of America, for the rest of the world.’

Too true.

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It’s affecting Wall Street.

What?

Well that was… interesting.

The one moment that really stood out - except for the Wall Street thing and the ‘our freedoms!’ - was Biden choking up talking about his son. It was the one moment of the debate that really seemed true and not prepared.

Speaking of prepared, you could really tell when Palin switched onto her talking points. Which was most of the time.

I loved her answer about whether or not John McCain supported what Obama and Biden want to do with home loans. She quickly said ‘no’ and then moved on to energy policy. I get the feeling she had no idea what McCain does or does not think about that plan.

She looked terrified at first, but held onto the third act of the debate pretty well. Joe Biden occasionally looked like he wanted to reach over and put his hands on her (and not in a sexy way), but - aside from one loud intake of breath and a ‘whaaa’ face during her answer about the surge strategy in Afghanistan - he kept it under control.

There’s an art to deflecting the question and answering what you wished you were asked, but Palin’s not very good at it. It’s supposed to be subtle, so that you don’t notice. Palin’s gear changes are not smooth - she more or less just blinked at the housing question and then launched into energy policy. I had my own ‘waaaa?’ face.

Gwen Ifill was maybe a little nervous about that whole book thing and accusations of bias on her part. She really didn’t follow up on a lot of questions or, for instance, make Sarah Palin actually answer what she was asked. I expected Ifill to be tougher. Oh well.

As for the closing arguments - erhm, what was that from Palin? She did such a good job of memorizing her talking points and then the close was… weird. I guess it’s because she really gave her close in the question before, but… oh look, whatever, Obama’s gonna win.

Oh yeah, I also really liked when she said, “John McCain’s the man we need to leave… lead.” I completely agree with the first part of that sentiment.

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