The Brilliance of Tom Brokaw

I have had a hard time locating a video, or transcript, of the Morning Joke Show today, so my transcript of it may not be 100% accurate.

Still working on my first cup of coffee, they babbled on, and among the talking heads was that former Today Show host, Tom Brokaw, sprinkling his wisdom about the studio, and all were pontificating around the pending Obama victory, and how he will govern.

And, there is growing conversation, from the various nitwit pundits, that we have to have a "center-right" government (John "In-the-name-of-the-father-the-son-the-holy-ghost" Meacham had a doozy last week), so, they're already attempting to both rope'em in and diss Obama, at the same time ... A "We're Warning You", type of thing, "We'll allow you some change, but don't fuck with what we've taken years to build - and make millions from"

Mister Swinging Hipster (you know, he's penning those books, chronicling the 1960's; Just what we need, the 60's through the filter of Tom Brokaw) pronounced that, if Obama wins, he was going to need "Republicans, to give him creditability, internationally".

Then, he drops the big winner;

"I've been waiting for either candidate to say that they are going to have a coalition government ... Names ... If you're the Democrat, you say James Baker, here's my number, give me a call ... If you're the Republican, Sam Nunn ..."

James Baker!

Fucking James Baker!

Why-on-earth would Barack Obama reach out to that old Reagan hack, the chief thug, the ringleader who spearheaded stealing the 2000 election away from Al Gore!

Slime Bucket Baker, who's in bed with the Bin Laden Family, the Carlyle Group, Enron, Big Oil, and probably half the countries in the Middle East.

Jesus, Brokaw, have you been asleep through this campaign?

Baker would be, should be, the last person for President Obama to listen to, for I don't gather from what Obama has campaigned on, that he's looking for a compromised, unethical, sleazebag, fixer.

If this is what Brokaw has to say in the wee hours of the morning, I can't wait for Election Night.

We'll probably see him using old, Little Timmy Russert's infamous "white board", as a coaster for his martinis


Bonus Brokaw and Baker

Nico Pitney: Tom Brokaw Acting As NBC Liaison With McCain Campaign

John Amato: Why are Republicans asking Tom Brokaw for answers

SourceWatch - James Addison Baker III

Wayne Madsen: Big Oil and James Baker Target the Western Sahara

Naomi Klein: James Baker's Double Life

James Baker III Removed From Cryogenic Suspension

Bonus Bonus

Dana Carvey SNL Gerald Ford Is Dead


Dana Carvey SNL Gerald Ford Is Dead - Watch more free videos

Down Goes Stevens! ... Down Goes Stevens!

Oh man, who knew the Republican were going to pull out their 2006 playbook, and throw a good, juicy scandal into the election home stretch?

Alaska's Ted Stevens found guilty on all 7 counts

A federal jury on Monday found Republican Sen. Ted Stevens guilty on seven counts of lying about thousands of dollars of gifts and home renovations on his financial disclosure forms, a verdict that ended in disgrace the four-decade Senate career of a man whose imprint on Alaska dates to before its statehood.

It's an almost unprecedented conviction by a jury of a sitting U.S. senator and the Justice Department's highest-profile felony conviction in a sweeping four-year federal investigation into corruption in Alaska politics.

He batted 1000%

From the Anchorage Daily News;

Jurors found Stevens, 84, guilty of willfully filing false financial-disclosure forms that hid such gifts as a $2,695 massage chair, a stained glass window, a sled dog and renovations that doubled the size of his Girdwood home. Those gifts, valued at as much as $250,000 over seven years, came mostly from his former friend Bill Allen, the star prosecution witness in Stevens' trial and the former owner of Veco Corp.

Being that he is up for reelection next week, now, as a convicted felon, he does not pass Go, he does not get to vote.

And, guess who shows up, quite prominently with the now disgraced, convicted Senator?

The Wasilla Whiz Kid!

Sarah Palin Hearts Newly Convicted Felon Ted Stevens

Stevens' conviction will be a problem for Republicans generally, and for John McCain and Sarah Palin specifically.

In July, Palin sat next to Stevens at a press conference, talking about how much she respected him and how his voice needed to be hard across America. And during her gubernatorial campaign, she ran a television ad proudly touting his endorsement.

Be sure to go over to The Jed Report, and check out the videos

And, Mommy Moose will, very likely, pay close attention to this case.

She may have her own "Gift House" scandal to deal with down the road


Bonus Stevens To The Big House Links

Bmaz: Down Goes Toobz! Down Goes Toobz!

Eric Kleefeld: Stevens Conviction Makes Huge Dem Senate Pickup Very Likely

Steve Benen: DOWN THE TUBES...


Yes, Who Can Forget This

Series of Tubes


Bonus Bonus

Perhaps, in hindsight, Stevens should have watched this movie, before engaging in his 7-Felony-count activities.

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)

This Date ... On The Garlic

27 October 2007... On The Garlic

And In The Prediction Department ...

Top Ten Cloves: Things That Are Confusing To People About Taco Bells' "Steal A Base, Steal A Taco" Baseball Promotion


27 October 2005... On The Garlic

Breaking News! - Miers Exit Clears Path To Elevate Cheney To High Court; RNC, Mehlman Taking Control Of White House Agenda; Will Ride Religion in 2006 and 2008

Top Ten Cloves: How Sean McManus Will Change CBS News

IDOTW Update ... Blakeman's Paying Off!

Well, this came as a nice surprise.

With the widespread scorn generated by our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week, GOP low-life maggot hack Brad Blakeman, it appears that his soulless, humanity-challenged hackery is paying dividends.

I received an email last evening, from an Obama supporter;

I too was outraged with Blakeman's unconscionable remarks...and decided to do something constructive about it ...

I created a special Obama-Biden donation page in direct response to Blakeman crossing the line. And I have good news: OVER $7,000 has been donated in just 48 hours. In effect, Brad Blakeman has, in a real way, personally donated over $7,000 to the Obama campaign!

All I am asking visitors for is...$8.60 (or more :-) in honor of Obama's gravely ill grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, whose 86th birthday coming up Sunday, Oct. 26.

It's a way for people to send Blakeman a little message, and far more importantly, make a donation specifically in honor of Sen. Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Lee Payne Dunham, a remarkable woman.

Yes a remarkable woman.

We featured a link in our post the other night that, in complete opposite of Blakeman's ignorance, that deserves another reading (perhaps, as part of the public apology we seek from the IDOTW, he can read this aloud, on national television);

Ta-Nehisi Coates' "I hope this is in good taste"

Likewise, I was looking at this picture of Obama's grandparents and thinking how much he looks like his grandfather. And suddenly, for whatever reason, I was struck by the fact that they had made the decision to love their daughter, no matter what, and love their grandson, no matter what. I'd bet money that they never even thought of themselves as courageous, that they didn't give much thought to the broader struggles in the the world at the time. They were just doing what right, honorable people do. But the fact is that, in the 60s, you could be disowned for falling in love with a black woman or black man. There is a reason why we have a long history of publicly biracial black people, but not so much of publicly biracial white people.

You can go to the Special Obama-Biden Donation Page here.

They're close to their goal, today is Obama's "Toots" B'Day, so what's $8.60?

Maybe a cup of coffee, or two, in the upcoming week? ...

If you can give, cool, if not, be sure to cast your vote, early, if possible, in your area.

We need to run the Dead Campaign Express off the road.

This Date ... On The Garlic

26 October 2007... On The Garlic

Wag The FEMA

Public Service Announcement - Dick Cheney Hunting Alert

Barry Crimmins Exclusive! Quick action saves Reagan Library


26 October 2006... On The Garlic

Top Ten Cloves: Other Harold Ford Television Ad Commercials Considered By Ken Mehlman and the RNC


26 October 2005... On The Garlic

Buoyed By Iraq Success, White House Examining Writing New U.S. Constitution; Wholesale Changes Seen; Special Prosecutors and Grand Juries Certain To Be Left Out

Top Ten Cloves: The White House Is So Worried About The Indictments That …

She's Not A Hockey Mom with Lipstick ... She's A Hockey Jinx!

Oh Man, this just keeps getting' better ...

We wrote, two-weeks ago, of "A Pandering Politician, With Lipstick", when the geniuses of the Dead Campaign Express thought it would be a good idea for Mommy Moose to drop the puck at the opening game for the Philadelphia Flyers, in Philadelphia.

She was booed, unmercifully (and despite dressing up her campaign-prop daughter in a Flyers' jersey).

The Flyers have been winless, so far this season.

Fast forward to last evening, and The Wasilla Whiz Kid was in St. Louis, to, once again, drop the puck in an effort to suck up some votes.

As they say on the television, "let's go to the videotape!"

Sarah Palin's carpet injures NHL Goalie



In case you missed it, Blues goalie Manny Legace tripped on the carpet they laid out for Ms. Ya'Bet'cha's, played only one period, leaving the game with a hip injury.

And the St. Louis Blues lost the game, to the Los Angeles Kings, 4-0.

Two games with the VP-wannabe, and two losses for the teams that have brought her in.

Now, that's a Good Luck Charm you can believe in!


Bonus Back-Checking Links

Sarah Palin Gets Booed Again In St. Louis

Palin Puck Drop a Jinx, Hockey Player Injured, Team Loses

NHL Goalie Trips Over Palin's Carpet, Leaves Game

Goalie injured after tripping on Palin carpet

Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me ...

Now, we can't be overly cynical here.

I'm sure it was just a coincidence, a bump in the schedule of such a high-flying campaign, that Mommy Moose gave here first "Policy" speech on the same day that she, and First Busy Body, husband Todd, gave (Wink, Wink) their testimony to the "real" Troopergate inquiry.

And, believe it our not, she still managed to screw things up, and generate head-shaking and headlines.

Richard Wolfe, of Newsweek, on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night called it "The most mindless, ignorant, uninformed comment we've seen from Governor Palin ..."

On top of the gaffe, her speech also, as Glenn Greenwald points out, goes against Stumblin' Bumblin' Fly Boy's much-heralded "Spending Freeze".

The "policy speech" chosen for the Wasilla Whiz Kid was on Special Needs, something, naturally, she could speak of personally, a sort of home-field gimme.

Here's the video of it;

Palin hits fruit fly research but it has helped autism



Got that?

This is a matter of how we prioritize the money that we spend. We've got a three trillion dollar budget, and Congress spends some 18 billion dollars a year on earmarks for political pet projects. That's more than the shortfall to fully fund the IDEA. And where does a lot of that earmark money end up? It goes to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good -- things like fruit fly research in Paris, France, or a public policy center named for the guy who got the earmark. In our administration, we're going to reform and refocus. We're going to get our federal priorities straight, and fulfill our country's commitment to give every child opportunity and hope in life.

She's dissing the research community and their use of Fruit Flies to combat Autism.

As Think Progress notes;

Palin did not specify what fruit fly research earmark she was referring to (presumably a grant for olive fruit fly research), but she is apparently unaware that scientific research with fruit flies has led to valuable discoveries that have boosted autism research, as a study at the University of North Carolina demonstrated last year:

[S]cientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have shown that a protein called neurexin is required for..nerve cell connections to form and function correctly.

The discovery, made in Drosophila fruit flies may lead to advances in understanding autism spectrum disorders, as recently, human neurexins have been identified as a genetic risk factor for autism.

The study of fruit flies has also been used for other autism research and “revolutionize[d]” the study of birth defects.

Or, what PZ Myers says, in his "Sarah Palin: Ignorant and anti-science";

This idiot woman, this blind, shortsighted ignoramus, this pretentious clod, mocks basic research and the international research community. You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work? — and countries like France and Germany and England and Canada and China and India and others are all respected participants in these efforts.

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important.

This is where the Republican party has ended up: supporting an ignorant buffoon who believes in the End Times and speaking in tongues while deriding some of the best and most successful strategies for scientific research. In this next election, we've got to choose between the 21st century rationalism and Dark Age inanity. It ought to be an easy choice.

So, what is this?

Palin just being her usual, vapid self?

The staff, the speechwriter, forgetting to vet the speech, to employ that obscure tool called "The Google"?

Or, is it the beginning of politicizing the Fruit Fly, running the Fruit Fly through the Right Wing Freak Show grinder, noting Ms. Ya'Bet'cha's designation of the "Paris, France" Fruit Fly.

Will we soon see charges of researches being targeted for "pallin' around with Paris, France Fruit Fly researchers", or pitting those with the "Paris, France" autism, versus the Real American, "Freedom Autism"?

Rumor has it she's going to give another "policy" speech on Energy next week.

Boy, I can hardly wait for what comes out of that one.


Bonus Shoo Fly Links

Wonk Room: Analyzing Palin’s Special Needs Policy Address

Tristero: Republicans vs. Science

Christian News Wire: Pro-Life Reaction to Gov. Palin's Policy Speech Addressing Special Needs Children

Boston Globe: Palin spotlights special needs in first major policy speech

New York Times: Palin Promises Choice for Disabled Students

John Cole: The Cure to Autism Involves Mocking a Route to the Cure

As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls

No the title is not some late-breaking poll news, it's the title of a tune and album of the great Pat Metheny, and just a metaphor for a round-up of the sinking Dead Campaign Express.

It be getting ugly over there.

In-fighting, back-stabbing, every-man-for-themselves-type vibe going on, with short tempers, and more conspiracies than who shot J.R., growing by the day.

There was one, juicy spat the other day, involving McKKKain lobbyist/aide, Randy Scheunemann, that Georgia-lovin', alleged foreign policy expert (the one who trained Mommy Moose for her VP debate), and Atlantic writer, Marc Ambinder.

After Ambinder posted "11 Days Out, And The Whispering Begins", on the "circular firing squad" that has been forming, in the McKKKain Camp, as well as in GOP circles, and, in particular, the whispers about The Wasilla Whiz Kid;

This faction has come to believe that Palin, perhaps unwittingly subconsciously or otherwise, has begun to play Sen. McCain off of the base, consistently and deliberately departed from the campaign's message of the day in ways that damage McCain. ("palling around with terrorists" was a line that escaped HQ's vetting... Palin's criticism of the campaign for pulling out of Michigan was greeted by anger internally... Palin's expressed opinion that Rev. Wright is a legitimate issue -- which subtly knocks McCain for not raising it -- was perceived as an attempt to preemptively blame McCain's wobbliness for his loss, which would theoretically enhance Palin's standing with the base.) The complaints extend all the back to Palin's vice presidential vetting. Major disclosures, issue positions and associations did not come up, and the campaign was so overwhelmed with new information early on, it largely abandoned an effort to defend them individually. This is the claim, anyway. For the record, senior adviser Mark Salter, accurately identified everywhere as the aide who is closest to McCain, calls this scenario "bullshit."

Well, can't be pulling the curtain back this early, to display the freakshow that the McKKKain Campaign is becoming.

So, Mr. Georgia-Lovin' Scheunemann fired off an email to Ambinder;

In response to this morning's post about an anti-Palin faction developing with the McCain campaign and among Republicans, Randy Scheunemann, McCain's chief foreign policy adviser, e-mails:

Just read your post. This is on the record. This is cleared by HQ. It is a fact that Barack Obama was palling around with terrorists. It was a fact before Governor Palin said it in a fully vetted speech and it is fact today. It is bullshit to claim or write anything else.

There, take that!

Nice, in one respect, seeing the top aides take responsibility for the lies and smears.

But, temper, temper, there, Randy Boy ...

Much of this started, two-days earlier, with the posting of a preview of an NYT Magazine article, "The Making (and Remaking) of McCain", which will run tomorrow (Sunday).

Let's just say it ain't a pretty picture, with the Rove Rat, Steve Schmidt, likely the cataylist for the sale of vodoo dolls and pins by the McKKKain donut eaters.

And it also peels back another juicy morsel, about the non-vetting of Ms. Troopergate.

From John Cole, in his "Anatomy of a Train Wreck";

And by the way- Sarah Palin was not vetted one tiny bit. They had no clue what they were getting into, and someone could make a hell of a blog post by going back and chronicling the right-wing noise machine and blogger pushback in which they asserted she was thoroughly vetted, because this piece just blows that BS out of the water.

So, as we move into today, what headlines are we greeted with?

Palin allies report rising campaign tension

Even as John McCain and Sarah Palin scramble to close the gap in the final days of the 2008 election, stirrings of a Palin insurgency are complicating the campaign's already-tense internal dynamics.

Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image -- even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline.

"She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements and decisions.

"I think she'd like to go more rogue," he said.

Josh Marshall, enthusiastically, backs that call, shouting out "Go More Rogue".

From Steve Benen;

According to the piece in the Politico, Palin's people blame handlers for not letting her be herself. McCain's people blame Palin for being unprepared and unable to answer questions coherently. Palin's people don't want the governor to get the blame if the ticket loses, and McCain's people resent the lack of loyalty and discipline.

We'll have a calvacade of links below that you can pour through.

Meantime, pay attention to what will be the "greatest show on earth", the final week of a presidential campaign, and, from the Dead Campaign Express, more finger-pointing then you'll ever see at a Hand Model convention


Bonus Sticks and Stones Riffs

Emptywheel: When “Mavericks” Clash

John Cole: First Rule

John Aravosis (DC): "McCain Campaign Post-Mortem"

Matthew DeLong: Draper Lifts the Veil on the McCain Camp’s Inner Sanctum

Andrew Sullivan: The Party Of Rove And The Collapse Of McCain

Digby: Eating Their Own

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25 October 2007... On The Garlic

Roger Ailes Is Slipping ... Blows Wildfire Scoop For New Biz Network

Top Ten Cloves: Ways President Bush Wants To Improve The Terror Watch List


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Top Ten Cloves: Other People That Rush Limbaugh Knows Are Just “Acting”


25 October 2005... On The Garlic

ABC Revamps Nightline Again; Plans To Document Bush Administration Downfall; Koppel Still Out As New Theme Ups Anchors to 300+; "Bush/Iraq/CIA Leak This Generations' Crisis" Say Westin

Top Ten Cloves: Other Notes of Scooter Libby Subpoenaed By Special Prosecutor

Our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week ... Brad Blakeman!

Boy, it would have been so easy to vote Michele Bachmann the honors, again, this week, sort of defending her crown as she continues to campaign, do a "My Sister-My Daughter" in her attempts to run away from her McCarthyism.

Considering the polls are showing she's sinking faster then the Dead Campaign Express, she may only end up being our seminal winner of the IDOTW award, which we think we'll give it a go, for awhile anyway.

For, we have another, that when you see it, as I did, live, as it was broadcast, you just shake you head on the absolutely soulless, gutter-based, lack-of-decency, humanity-challenged person that is Republican hack Brad Blakeman.

Check that.

What's lower, seedier, more despicable that a "hack", for I don't want to insult and demean the good names of the bevy of the hacks out there, that, in similar circumstance, would not have sunk so low, would-not-have-gone-there.

Bradly Blakeman, to refresh your memories, was one of the founders, or early officers, of what was going to be the BIG RED MACHINE, the neonitwits answer to MoveOn.Org, Freedom Watch, which was announced back at the beginning of last year (The Garlic riffed on this back in August 2007).

They had some big bucks initially, however, it seems they got stumped by the blizzard of lies they sought to promote, had big pillow fights, and Bradley got sent packing back in March, just to exist again as your standard party hack.

This brings us to yesterday, Thursday, with David Shuster, on MSNBC, when Bradley deflected the question on justifying the $150K spent on The Wasilla Whiz Kid duds.

Here's the video of it.

Brad Blakeman OUTRAGED Over Obama's Trip To Visit ILL Grand Mother



You have to be pretty much a maggot to attempt to equate, let alone defend, the expense of Palin's wardrobe (possibly illegally, certainly ethically questionable, and a disaster PR-wise), to the personal family matter of Barack Obama, going to visit his dying grandmother, the woman who was instrumental in his upbringing.

I believe, if the interview continued longer, Bradley would have intimated that Obama had William Ayers in the plane, or was really flying off to some Islamo-Terrorist camp for further instructions.

This had no place in a interview or discussion over the Republican putting clothes on the back of Mommy Moose.

Not even close ... Not even in the same sphere ... Not in the same room ... No way ... No how ...

It was remarkably human, extraordinary, even, coming in the home stretch of a presidential campaign, that a candidate would take time out to do the right thing.

In fact, you can read a fantastic post on this, by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

So, Bradley Blakeman, you become The Garlic's second Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week, with the added bonus of a challenge to you, to go back on MSNBC, admit you were a weasel, our Ignorant Dolt-of-the-Week and apologize to Barack Obama.

Otherwise, remain the maggot that you are.


Bonus Bradley Blakeman Maggot Links

Keith Olbermann: GOP attacking point of the day

J.W. Cisneros: Brad Blakeman...attacks Obama's "Grandma"

Brave New Films: Brad Blakeman videos

CNN: Brad Blakeman Discusses Role Of Freedom's Watch

The Jed Report: Brad This Is How You Stick It To Lying Republican Hacks

This Date ... On The Garlic

24 October 2007... On The Garlic

This Just In! Romney Backs McCain In Wanting To "Shoot Obama"; Says Consulted Sons About Using Deadly Force; Hopes Opportunity Comes Before Primaries


24 October 2006... On The Garlic

Breaking News! Analyst: President May Soon Need To Deny He Has Troops In Iraq; White House Plunges Into New Iraq Strategy; Moving From ‘Keystone Cops’ To ‘Marx Brothers’; Denials Of “Stay The Course” Signal Major Shift; Possible Complete Erasing Of Iraq May Come In Time For MidTerms


24 October 2005... On The Garlic

Source Says Secret Cabal Not In White House, But In Cheney Secret Bunker; Wing of VP Hideout Dedicated To Iraq War, Neocon Strategy; Decisions Made Over Coffee and Krispy Kremes

New Tape From Al Qaeda Suggests Following NBA With Dress Code; Bin Laden Calls For "More Professionalism"; Suits and Ties When On The Clock

Top Ten Cloves: How RNC Is Planning To Spin Possible Rove/Libby Indictments

Nancy Puss'n'Boots To Tweety: I'll Take "Looking Stupid" for $500"!

Well, they already wished Carly Fiorina to the cornfield, and I suspect whoever is the evil little Timmy for the Dead Campaign Express, has their gaze on Nancy Puss'n'Boots this morning.

It was brutal, unbelievable brutal, as Nancy Puss'n'Boots sat there, on 'Hardball' yesterday, with the idiot smile, perhaps with the knowledge that the cornfield was looming.

To be fair, to some extent, Tweety had a bee-in-his-bonnet, almost taking on the persona of one of those detectives in a 1950's B&W boiler, the bare light bulb hanging over a whimpering suspects' head.

Tweety was gnawing on the bone, with great gusto, over the latest edition of Mommy Moose idea, intellect, core base of knowledge over what job she is actually running for, and will serve if - oh boy, we'll need something close to Armageddon - she and the debunked Maverick get elected.

A deer in the headlights would have looked infinitely brighter that Nancy Puss'n'Boots, the mere act of running away would be an intellectual feat dwarfing Puss'n'Boots smiling clown act.

The more Tweety gnawed on this bone, the more Nancy Puss'n'Boots sat there, stuttering and muttering, becoming stupider and stupider by the second.

If they had been monitoring the show with those "People Meters", I believe the squiggly lines would have broke out laughing.

You would have seen a straight line, perhaps a bit up-and-down as the interview started, that pure Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha for the rest of it.

Tweety, so transfixed on his gnawing, his juicy bone, never broke from it, to fall on the floor in laughter himself.

This, from Mudflats today;

Chris Matthews is like a monkey with a gun. Sometimes he’s kind of wacky and unpredictable and you never feel quite sure of what he’s going to do. Other times, he takes careful aim and hits the bad guy right between the eyes. This time, Republican spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer was the one with the big shiny bullseye right in the middle of her forehead. The subject of the conversation? How is it that Sarah Palin still does not know the job description of the Vice President? If you have not seen Matthews’ verbal flaying and subsequent evisceration of Palin via Nancy Pfotenhauer, you are in for a real treat. If you’ve already seen it once, watch it again. It’s almost a seismic event.

And Think Progress;

Today on MSNBC, Chris Matthews challenged McCain campaign spokeswoman Nancy Pfotenhauer to defend Palin’s comments, saying that in all his time in Washington, he has “never heard anybody” give an answer like Palin did. “Where does she get her civics?” asked Matthews. Pfotenhauer became visibly angry by the questioning and tried to change the subject. Matthews, however, refused to let her get away:

I don’t know why Randy Scheunemann or one of the smart people around her — I don’t know who else, Nicolle Wallace, somebody — ought to go to the candidate for the Vice President and give them a copy of the Constitution to read. That’s all it takes. It doesn’t take a lot of penetrating thought. Read the job description. […]

Somehow, in all these trips to Washington — through Neiman’s, and through Saks, and through everywhere else she stopped off, she never picked up a copy of the Constitution. It is a problem. It is a problem, Nancy, and you know it.

Here, and you'll have to imagine the trumpets and drumroll, Nancy Puss'n'Boots, on Hardball.

Hardball's Chris Matthews smacks down McCain campaign's Nancy Pfotenhauer about Sarah Palin. EPIC PFAIL!



Now, it should have occurred to Puss'n'Boots, the video of Mommy Moose's answer to a third-grader's question was all over the World Wide Web, to concede the point, and say something like "Yes, Chris, I agree it was a bad answer" or "She embellished a bit too much".

But it seems the Dead Campaign Express isn't ready - yet - to throw The Wasilla Whiz Kid under the bus.

At least, the top-of-the-ticket, Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain isn't

McCain: Palin ‘Most Qualified’ VP Nominee in Recent Memory

My question is, ‘What’s their problem?’ She is the most popular governor in America…

Because she’s not known, or she hasn’t been to a Georgetown cocktail party, or maybe some in Manhattan — I think she’s the most qualified of any that who has run recently for vice president, to tell you the truth. [Emphasis added.]

It's getting harder-and-harder to riff on these people, they're doing such a fantastic job of making fun of themselves, albeit, unknowingly.

Time To Make The Donuts!

This takes a steady hand, and an enormous amount of dedicated concentration.

For a professional (we use the term loosely) journalist, to ignore the overwhelming, blaring, blanketing news-of-the-day, that has the television talking heads doing somersaults, and all but taping their mouths shut, to keep from saying that the presidential race is all but over, you have to take off your baker's hat and tip it to the Associated Press's Liz Sidoti.

Yesterday, she see's what virtually no one else sees, a kind of "Sixth Sense" thing ...

"I see-dead-candidates."

AP presidential poll: All even in the homestretch

The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running even among likely voters in the election homestretch.

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain's "Joe the plumber" analogy struck a chord.

Pretty amazing, no?

To take an obscure, outlying poll, very narrow as to its subject, when most of all the other reputable ones have a span of 8%-14% lead of Obama, and boast that her favorite donut eater is still in the game, that certainly must be earning her a front seat on the Dead Campaign Express.

Just to refresh you, Ms. Sidoti doesn't just deliver stories to the AP, she also delivers donuts to Stumblin' Bumblin' John McKKKain.

AP writer rips Obama, gives McCain doughnuts (true story)

Normally, I wouldn't waste my time or yours with Sidoti's nonsense, but there's an amusing story to tell involving her that's just too good not to share. It goes back to April 14, when both John McCain and Barack Obama appeared at an event for newspaper editors hosted by the AP.

At the event, the head of AP addressed Barack as "Osama" while John McCain was given a box of Dunkin' Donuts -- with sprinkles. And coffee, with a little cream and a little sugar. By none other than Liz Sidoti.

Here's the video, so you can see just how accommodating she was.

Sidoti spent the rest of her article painting as rosy a picture for the debunked Maverick as possible, apparently emulating her hero, like he did in the debate, by shielding her eyes away from Obama, the prevailing - and growing - trends, that has most of the media whispering "landslide".

The only thing missing from the piece was visibly showing the pom-poms.

Way to go Liz!

Maybe, after the campaign, you can get AP to assign you to Arizona, and you can keep delivering the donuts (with sprinkles) to the bitter, angry, defeated Fly Boy.

Bonus Donut Hole Riffs

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Hmmm ...

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Al-Qaida-linked Web site backs McCain as president

Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.

The message, posted Monday on the password-protected al-Hesbah Web site, said if al-Qaida wants to exhaust the United States militarily and economically, "impetuous" Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"This requires presence of an impetuous American leader such as McCain, who pledged to continue the war till the last American soldier," the message said. "Then, al-Qaida will have to support McCain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, Bush."

On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain

BOO!!

You’re The One For Me

AL QAEDA'S PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE?...

And, it wasn't so long ago ...

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Strange, though, that Al Qaeda would endorse the Stumblin' Bumblin' Fly Boy.

After all, it is the debunked Maverick who repeatedly boasts that it is he, and only he, that has the super-secret, No-Girls-Allowed-Treehouse, special decoder ring, Odd Fellows handshake plans to find and capture Osama bin Laden.

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It's A Fiesta In Blue!

Well, it could be worse, it could be raining.

For the Dead Campaign Express, it's starting to pile up ... One bad day, followed by another, and another ...

We had over the weekend, the the avalanche of endorsements for Barack Obama, a "River of Ink", including the one from the Chicago Tribune, which "Just a reminder that when the Chicago Tribune says "This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president." they're talking about the first time in 161 years."

Of course, Colin Powell's ripping Stumblin' Bumblin' Fly Boy's head off and crapping down the hole.

And, just in case the debunked Maverick learned how to use a computer, and he hit the Google "I'm Feeling Lucky" bar, he would have pulled up and seen Eric Schmidt's endorsement of Obama.

Then, there were the new polls this evening.

Deadsville, and sinking fast.

And Mommy Moose is a big, heavy anchor

So, Dead Campaign Express, this songs for you!

Fiesta In Blue




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She's Not A Hockey Mom with Lipstick ... She's Clothes Horse!

There is a running joke in the movie, "Save The Tiger", where people keep saying to Jack Lemmon's character, Harry Stoner, "Nice suit!"

In the 2008 Presidential Campaign, there is a running joke, also wearing nice suits.

Mommy Moose... The Wasilla Whiz Kid ... Sarah "Pro-America" Palin!

The Hockey Mom in couture!

From Jeanne Cummings, in the Politico;

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Holy Cow!

Is this the reform those two mavericks have in mind - a better dressed, but, albiet, poorer Pro-America?

Why settle for Obama's "socialism"", when you can get the parties stuffed suits to provide your wardrobe.

From Larisa Alexandrovna's "Marie Antoinette goes to Washington...";

I have to admit that I have never lived in a small American town with "real-American" values, so I don't know if there is a Saks Fifth Avenue of every corner so that "Joe the Plumber's" wife can outfit herself in the latest couture styles. No, I have only ever lived in big cities where real-Americans - like me - cannot afford (let alone obtain) $150k worth of clothing and accessories.

Oh Man ... This is too much ...

Matthew DeLong;

The records also show nearly $10,000 paid to Macy’s in Minneapolis, nearly $6,000 to Barney’s and Bloomingdale’s, and $295 to Steiniauf and Stroller, a high-end baby store — even little Trig got in on the action.

On the bright side, even if McCain loses the election, the Palins will still look fabulous.

She's become the American Ninotchka, wide-eyed and heady, over the bright lights of the big city.

And all those clothes!

John Aravosis, over on Americablog, notes that "Sarah Palin spent on clothes in one month what the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years";

Hey, at least she spent less on make-up than McCain did. Maybe McCain could give Palin some beauty tips. And what's next, are they giving Joe the Plumber facials and chest waxes?

What you say - "she spent less on make-up than McCain did?"

No, wait this is really good.

Aravosis points to a Washington Post piece, from Mary Ann Akers;

McCain's American Idol Make-Up Artist Makes Big Bucks

Remember last month when Republican presidential nominee John McCain got made up by the American Idol make-up artist?

Well, it wasn't a one-shot deal. The make-up artist to the wannabe-stars is getting paid beaucoup bucks to make McCain, 72, more telegenic.

Tifanie White, who reportedly has done makeup for the shows "So You Think You Can Dance" and "American Idol," was paid a total of $8,672.55 in September by the McCain-Palin campaign, according to the campaign's latest monthly financial report filed this week with the Federal Election Commission. She was paid $5,583.43 the previous month, records show.

More telegenic?

To steal from Monty Python, McCain wouldn't look more telegenic if you "put four-millions volts through him, 'E's bleedin' demised!"

No wonder they can't run more smear ads, they're blowing their budget on clothes and make-up!

Yessireebob, two, well-dressed, well made-up mavericks, alright ...

Two more weeks, and it's over ... It can't come soon enough ...


Bonus Links

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