Permanent link to MTA daily media news

I am not a Republican, and I am not a racist.  I will be voting for Cynthia McKinney for president.  So don’t threaten me with your post-partisan, post-racial, manipulative, coercive hate mail.

Matt Davies

Fed Gives AIG an $85 Billion Loan in Exchange for 80% Stake (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
[T]he Fed is going to give AIG an $85 billion loan in exchange for an 80% stake in the company… So you as a taxpayer now have a large stake in AIG.
Now that we own it, can we turn it into a health insurance company and cover everybody?

Nationalize the World! The Sun! The Moon! Me! (by Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
Funny. Those damned commies won after all. You go, Murka!
Where’s MY bailout?

Deep Thought (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
Why is Mrs. Alan Greenspan [Andrea Mitchell] allowed to anchor the coverage of the financial crisis at the Very Liberal MSNBC, considering the part her spouse played in this mess? Why does she never mention her conflict of interest?

Boiler Room (by Dean Starkman, Columbia Journalism Review)
It seems to me that well into Year II of the Panic, the business press is in the process of making the same mistake it made in the run-up to the debacle: focusing on esoteric Wall Street concerns and ignoring the simplest, most basic, but most important one—the breathtaking corruption that overran the U.S. lending industry, including and especially the brand names, and the extent to which Wall Street drove that corruption. Let’s just call it a case of over-sophistication. Its persistence, however, will only impede journalists’ ability to cover this thing going forward. [Emphasis added.]
No historical background is provided, either.  There was corruption in the savings and loan scandals.  There was corruption in the book-cooking scandals that included Enron.  And that’s to name only two.  People see it, and they know what is happening.  As Robert Reich said recently, markets can’t function without trust.  We all know that some really bad people are getting away with some really bad stuff, and are sticking us with the bill for it.  Over and over and over again.  WE’re paying for their multiple mansions.  WE’re paying for their Picassos and their couture gowns and their jewels.  We can even watch them spend our money on television—on the CW, and on Bravo.

Corruption is also what’s wrong with our political system  Our representatives are helping these greedy bastards, and are being well paid for it. You can’t have a vibrant democracy when so many people are getting away with so much theft.  People don’t trust the process, which is supposed to be democratic.  It’s supposed to be fair.  The only way to solve the corruption problem is to TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS.

It’s a huge story, but the mainstream media will not touch it.  The owners of the media and the lackeys they hire, for huge bucks, have too much invested in the status quo.

The Free Market traders (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
…on FOX and CNBC say to let it all burn down so they can pick the bones off our country…I saw one land developer licking his chops at the prospect of being able to buy a ton of buildings real, real cheap…That’s conservatism at its finest.

How Sound Is the Economy? (by Scott Lilly, Center for American Progress)
For eight years we have papered over the fact that American consumers do not have the purchasing power to sustain economic expansion… [Emphasis added.] But the Bush administration and their enablers at the Federal Reserve Board found a way to inoculate the economy temporarily from the fact that the paychecks which Americans were taking home were insufficient to buy the goods and services the economy was capable of producing. The prescription was easy credit—car loans, credit cards, and most importantly, mortgages.
It’s WAGES that drive an economy, stupid.  Which should be an easy issue for the Democrats.  But Democrats are ignoring working class voters.

Where the Shadows Lie (by Anglachel)
Since Reagan, the Democratic leadership has wavered back and forth between those who want to bring the politics back to bread and butter issues, which means addressing working class needs and interests, and those who want to create a coalition that does not rely on white working class votes… Thus the electoral strategy of the current party leadership appears to be keep the yahoos down on the farm and secure the hegemony of Whole Foods Nation… The dark underbelly of this move is the presumption that the people who have been told their interests must wait will always be there for the Democrats because we have nowhere else to go. Specifically, this means African Americans, women voters and GLBT voters. Republican policies and objectives are deemed so awful to us that we will not defect or sit out, no matter how dismissive or unresponsive the Unity Democrats [Obama, Brazile, Dean, etc.] are to our interests…

The focus of the Unity Democrats is on the winners of the economic realignment, those who managed to win a place in the white collar upper-middle class… The other part is to minimize the damage the losers of that realignment can inflict, which mostly means refusing to commit to policies and plans that will defend their interests. Or even their lives… The ultimate shadow of Reagan is that you don’t win by defending losers, only by securing the interests of the winners. That is the dark heart beating in the chest of the Unity Democrats. They are done with the losers.
And that’s why the Republicans are courting us.  Because the Democrats are not.

Get Your Class War On (by Thomas Frank, author of The Wrecking Crew, and What’s the Matter with Kansas)
Now comes the fall culture-war offensive, catching the Democrats by surprise as it always does and spreading panic and desperation among their ranks. As the depth of the Republican breakthrough becomes apparent to Democrats, they launch the same feeble counterattacks that failed them last time, prudishly correcting misleading GOP advertisements and crying for the recess monitor when the other side plays dirty. And none of this works.

Things would go better for Democrats if they recognized the culture war for what it is: a debased form of class war, a false populism in which an “authentic” America rises up against its would-be masters, an effete bunch of arugula-eaters who say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” But a visceral feeling of class conflict is what lies at the core of the whole thing: a righteous grievance against wrongful, pedantic rulers. It is so attractive emotionally that I often wish I could sign up for it myself.
If Democrats stood for true populism, as the Clintons, and Brian Schweitzer in Montana, and Jim Webb in Virginia have shown, they could win the culture wars.  But as Anglachel said above, they apparently don’t want to.

Oh Dear Sweet Jesus (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
[Click through to watch a video of Obama’s latest speech, on the economy.] It so upsets me when I actually agree with Tweety [Chris Matthews],  but he’s absolutely right: Why isn’t Obama fucking FURIOUS about what’s happening with the economy? Where’s the EMOTION? Why isn’t he pounding on the podium, raking these greedy motherfuckers over the coals for destroying this economy? He should be choking with rage at what they’ve done to wage earners. What’s with the professorial detachment? Where’s the passion about how this disaster will screw working people?

Obama Needs Clear Message on Economy (by William Galston, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and co-editor of The Democratic Strategist)
When I say you have no message, here’s what I mean:
First, you are not offering a coherent account of what has gone wrong with the economy – why it is no longer working for average families…
Second: you are not offering a focused, parsimonious list of remedies for the economic ills you cite. As a result, few if any voters can actually cite a single signature economic proposal you have made…
Third: you are not drawing crisp, punchy contrasts between your plans and McCain’s…

Attacking McCain for employing lobbyists is a waste of precious time and resources; it plays on his turf and accepts his definition of the problem. Moreover, It diverts attention from the core issue – a Republican approach to the economy, shared by Bush and McCain, that shafts ordinary Americans and does nothing to help them deal with the challenges of global competition. So far, while the McCain campaign has gone for the jugular, you’ve gone for the capillaries.

Today’s must-read: Obama and the financial crisis (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
The Democratic party should have been able benefit politically from the current financial crisis. Alas, Obama cannot invoke Clinton’s legacy of prosperity, since Obama’s legion of zombies spent so much time trashing that legacy during the primaries. Worse, Obama was funded by many of the ailing and failing financial institutions which got us into this mess: “Seven of the Obama campaign’s top 14 donors consisted of officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms charged time and again with looting the public and newly implicated in originating and/or bundling fraudulently made mortgages.”

Obama’s Finance Chair, Failed Bank Owner Penny Pritzker And Today’s Wall Street Problem (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)

[W]hile Barack Obama is faking outrage over all the bankruptcies and bailouts, he doesn’t mention that a number of his top ten contributors are from Wall Street, including Goldman Sacs, Lehman and the JP Morgan Chase. He also fails to mention that one of the first subprime lenders to stick it to borrowers and have her bank seized is a woman named Penny Pritzker, who just happens to be Barack Obama’s campaign Finance Chair (as confirmed on April 3, 2008) and a potential Secretary of the Treasury in an Obama administration.

All In The Family (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
[T]he global head of Lehman Brothers’ investment management division is….George Herbert Walker, Bubble Boy’s cousin.
And they hired Jeb Bush as a consultant recently, if I recall correctly.  I guess he was in there scouting for assets for the Carlisle Group to steal.

Perhaps, Time for Someone to Play Offense (by David Leonhardt, New York Times)
The Bush administration, the Fed and Congress, meanwhile, continue to focus on the immediate crises, with little attention to the underlying reasons that the economy has gotten into this mess — a stagnation of incomes, an explosion of debt and a decidedly outdated, and limp, approach to government oversight. Remarkably, the presidential campaign has gotten less serious, while the economy’s problems have become more so… Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson have done a nice job of playing defense. But when will someone start playing offense?
And who might that be, let’s see, someone who has IMPLEMENTED change.  Someone who has EXPERIENCE with reform.  Maybe somebody like that.

Obama Sidesteps Reform in Illinois (by Dennis Byrne, Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist, posting at Real Clear Politics)
For those of you who still cling to the fantasy that Barack Obama is “about change,” you should note how he, or his minions, want nothing to do with reforming politics in Illinois, perhaps the most corrupt state in the Union… When the Democratic presidential candidate–now his party’s industrial-strength voice for our deliverance from political corruption everywhere–was asked by a reformer if he would help get his political mentor back home to get off the dime and move the most minimal of state ethics legislation toward passage, the Obama campaign sent word back that amounted to a “no.”… The legislation would make illegal the widespread abuse called pay-to-play politics, by which companies doing business with the state contribute to the state official in charge of ladling out contracts…

Here’s another example of how Obama has revealed himself to be a creature of the Chicago machine. Who can forget his silence when he could have affirmed his reformer credentials by endorsing Democrat Forrest Claypool over machine creature Todd Stroger as Cook County Board president?… Agent of change, my foot.
Obama also supported a Daley machine candidate for alderman, Dorothy Tillman, rather than a reform-minded independent.  And there are more examples.  Obama is NOT a reformer.

OBAMA AND THE CHICAGO MACHINE (by Divine Democrat at No Quarter)

[Obama] is part of the Chicago machine and he wants to keep it that way. If he is elected President, the Chicago machine will go National. If you think Washington politics is dirty now… just wait, it’s going to get a lot dirtier. If Obama loses his bid in the election and has to go back to Illinois, he wants to make sure the Chicago machine will be there to greet him with open arms and plenty of cash for his next run at the Presidency.

Could Market Meltdown Mean Fewer Lobbyists? (by Alegre)
After years of DC taking money and direction from the hotshots on Wall Street, the shoe seems to (finally) be on the other foot.  Our so-called leaders will finally have to wean themselves from the flow of money coming from the big PACS, and start to think for themselves where our economy’s concerned.  Let’s hope that one small and decent thing can come of the total fluster-cluck Bush and his cronies have made of our economy over the past 7 years.
Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?  Arthur says no.

You Are All Insane (by Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
Whoever wins, whichever party ascends to or preserves temporary dominance, doesn’t matter a damn. Certain policies in very delimited, narrowly circumscribed areas may change, but nothing fundamental will. I watch people tear themselves to pieces, rant and rave about who’s a bigger liar, who’s more corrupt, who’s too old, who’s too scary (for whichever of 10,000 reasons, race and sex being only two), who represents true “change” (neither, you moronic dolts), imagine doomsday scenarios if “their” candidate doesn’t win and The Evil Overlords of Hell, Damnation and Everything Bad That Ever Was (also known as “the other party”) take the reins of powers, and I think…

YOU’RE ALL INSANE.

No Cause For War In New Iran Report (by Cernig at Crooks and Liars)
The International Atomic Energy Agency has just produced it’s latest report on Iran’s nuclear program. (… [L]eaked by US officials as usual.) Mainstream media outlets are going with a US-pushed narrative that centers around increases in the number of centrifuges Iran is operating and around IAEA criticism of Iran for not being forthcoming enough about alleged previous work which may have had military applications. The report is being seen as giving added impetus to calls for more UN sanctions… The best thing about the new IAEA report, though, is that it provides no new cause for war.
It’s definitely good news, but the administration’s chest beating won’t stop.  They’ve got to get John McCain elected, after all.

Obama, McCain to Speak to Clinton Global Initiative (The Page, Time)
The two presidential candidates will participate with the likes of Queen Rania, Gordon Brown, Hamid Karzai, Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg, Lance Armstrong, Bono and more in addressing the fourth annual meeting. Obama by satellite.

McCain LIVE at the Clinton Global Initiative, Obama by Satellite (Too Busy Cramming for the 1st Presidential Debate the NEXT DAY?) (InsightAnalytical)
If Obama were the only one of the two included, and appeared via satellite, I wouldn’t have been at all curious.  But the fact that McCain is taking a day off the campaign trail and appearing LIVE–the day before the first debate–well, now isn’t that interesting? McCain is either very confident on the debate subject or Bill Clinton wants to get him good and tired before that debate the next night in Mississippi…OR … Do you think there will be a nice photo op featuring McCain and Clinton shaking hands and smiling??  I’m thinking back to just before the Democratic Convention when Bill explained the differences between Candidate A and Candidate B and then asked “who would people vote for” in a comment perceived by many as a dig at Obama.

TPM: Obama has a problem with “aging white women in battleground states.” (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
It wouldn’t be this, would it? “The time has come, Senator Barack Obama says, for the baby boomers to get over themselves.”… And I certainly can’t imagine it would have anything to do with anything Barack Obama said about Hillary Clinton during the primary campaign. Of course not. That was just politics. No one would be troubled by Obama saying during the NH debate that Hillary is “likeable enough.” And remember the time he said “You challenge the status quo and suddenly the claws come out,” and that other time he said “I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she’s feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.”…

Gee, I just can’t imagine why those silly “aging white women in battleground states” would be reluctant to vote for Barack Obama. Can you?

The 30 Percent Solution: Why Democratic Women Are Voting for McCain/Palin (by madamab at The Confluence)
If 30% of the Senate and House were women, you can bet your increasingly-less-valuable paycheck that both parties would be feeling a lot more responsible to that constituency. But as it is now, the Democrats have gotten fat and lazy, assuming that we will hand them our votes no matter what they do, resting on their decades-old laurels and doing little or nothing to stop this horrendous attack on our reproductive freedoms. McCain and the Republicans are willing to elect a woman to the Executive Branch for the first time in the history of our country. They are advancing the 30% Solution. Obama and the Democrats are not, and are not. Do you get it now, Obamans?

Wednesday: People Like Us (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Please take the money you might have sent to the DNC this year and donate to the downticket Dems of your choice, then to the causes that will help you re-establish your party. The Denver Group has a plan, PUMAPac has activities and a movie.  It’s an investment in your future and the future of the country. And remember, “We are the ones no one expected.”

Pollster: White Ohio voters are moving to McCain (McClatchy)
Tom Jensen of Raleigh’s Public Policy Polling smoke with Peter St. Onge of the Charlotte Observer about PPP’s recent polling in Ohio, which found John McCain leading Barack Obama 48-44, a four-point swing for McCain since PPP’s August Ohio poll. The underlying numbers will be troubling to Obama supporters, says Jensen.

Poll suggests McCain’s support softening as race stays tied (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — John McCain and Barack Obama remained neck and neck seven weeks before Election Day, but there’s been some softening of the support for McCain and his running mate, a new Ipsos/McClatchy poll has found.

Palin rakes in cash on Republican fundraising circuit (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — She’s got their hearts, now she wants into their wallets.

DNC MEMBER TO ENDORSE MCCAIN… (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
Get thee to Deadenders and read all about it. Lynn Forester de Rothschild, member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday. It is good to see some of those in the thick of it coming to their senses. I would like to return to the Democratic Party one day… soon… but cannot until the Obama Left is expunged.
Don’t forget that Greta van Susteren’s husband, John Coale, a former Hillary supporter, endorsed McCain a couple of weeks ago.

New Hampshire Democratic Legislator Endorses John McCain (by NewHampster at No Quarter)
“MANCHESTER, NH — The McCain-Palin campaign today announced that New Hampshire State Representative Doreen Howard, a Democratic legislator from Newmarket, has endorsed John McCain for president. Representative Howard previously supported Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s candidacy.” 

Ponderables from the mail box (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
[A] bit of news comes from a PUMA in PA.  We’ll make her anonymous for right now. She has the following news flash about what took place at last weekend’s meeting of the PA State Committee.  As it turns out, the meeting had to be adjourned for lack of a quorum:

“The lack of a quorum prevented any business from being discussed at this past weekend’s meeting of the PA State Committee.  No yard signs because all the money is going to something like 63 offices being opened across the state for the big O.  Those headquarters are over-run with college kids but the political pros who get Democrats elected avoided the meeting where they’d be urged by paid DNC operatives to get out and support the ticket.  (They won’t.  The delegation is still getting over the scene at Denver, and the directive to not sign the petition of 300.)  With a democratic registration edge of 1.1 million in the state, they think they can win the General when Obama lost to Clinton by nearly 10% in the primary!  Don’t they realize that a lot of those registrants and switchers from R were supporting HRC?”

It’s Mine and You Can’t Have Any! (by Alegre)
We’ve all heard of BHO’s amazing abilities to raise money in this year’s election.  That is after all why he backed out of his promise to take public financing for his general election run.  He figured he could raise far more than the $84 million he would have gotten from the taxpayers.  And he’s been right so far.  Sadly, that means he’s siphoning off money from down-ticket Democrats, and our congressional candidates are suffering as a result. Meanwhile, McCain is getting an infusion of that $84 million and the RNC will be a huge help to boot.  Then there are all those 527s and outside interest groups that McCain didn’t kick to the curb. Politico reports that Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid needs help in his efforts to increase our majority in the Senate this year.  Reid went to BHO to ask for a small share of that $77 million he had in the bank.  BHO’s answer…?  A big fat NO!  Anyone surprised by that stand on your head…

Of course, … it’s all Hillary’s fault for refusing to bow out back in January after BHO “won” those caucuses in Iowa.  But then we’ve gotten pretty used to the press and media making excuses for BHO’s poor showing at every level of this campaign.  I’m sure we’ll see a lot more finger pointing once November 5th rolls around.  Too bad those fingers will be pointed in the wrong direction.

Alaska Republicans seek to halt investigation of Palin’s actions (On Politics, USA Today)
Five state Republican lawmakers in Alaska have gone to court in a bid “to stop an investigation into Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of a public safety commissioner,” the Associated Press reports.

Palin to Meet Foreign Leaders (Political Wire)
Gov. Sarah Palin “will meet with foreign leaders next week at the United Nations, a move to boost her foreign-policy credentials,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Said a campaign strategist: “The meetings will give her some exposure and experience with foreign leaders. It’s a great idea.”

OUTRAGEOUS! (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
ABC News deliberately edited the interview with Governor Palin to make her appear bellicose and ignorant. You’ll be shocked when you see what they left out.

New Yorker Column Short on Facts, Long on Attacks of ABC News (TVNewser)
The New Yorker’s Steve Coll spent a column this week blasting ABC News over a variety of issues relating to Charlie Gibson’s interview with Gov. Sarah Palin. But the overriding theme — that ABC attempted to turn the interview into an entertainment event — appears factually incorrect. We hear people inside ABC News are none too pleased with the New Yorker for its factual inaccuracies.

Alaska National Guard General gets promoted after retracting damaging Palin statements (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
This scandal is as easy to follow as it is transparently outrageous. Since choosing her as VP, the McCain campaign has been trying it’s hardest to make the case that as “Commander in Chief” of the Alaskan National Guard, Sarah Palin has relevant national security experience. On August 31, the actual commander of the Alaska National Guard– Major General Craig Campbell — punctured a hole in that meme when the AP reported Campbell saying: “‘[Palin plays] no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard.’”… Realizing that Campbell was severely undercutting one of the campaign’s main talking points, it appears someone leaned on him and got him to change his tune… Now, for being a good soldier, Campbell has gotten a major promotion.

Fiorina: McCain, Palin can’t run a corporation…but so what? (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
So Carly Fiorina, a top adviser to John McCain, doesn’t think he could run a major corporation. That’s awful, say the Barack Obama folks… But Fiorina has also said GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin could not run a big company, either. So what, Fiorina said. “That’s not what she’s running for,” she noted.

McCain reportedly ‘furious’ with Fiorina, campaign adviser says she will ‘disappear’ from TV. (Think Progress)
A top campaign adviser said Fiorina will be punished for her candid sentiments: “‘Carly will now disappear,’ this source said. ‘Senator McCain was furious.’ Asked to define ‘disappear,’ this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while – but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party’s joint fundraising committee with the McCain campaign.”

McCain Accuses Mika Of Being In The Tank For Obama (Media Bistro)
On “Morning Joe” [Tuesday], Sen. John McCain accused Mika Brzezinski of being “a supporter for Obama” and ribbed her for never visiting McCain’s website to research the issues. “‘Supporter of Sen. Obama?’ I’m not sure I would characterize myself that way, but that’s okay.” Brzezinski later added: “I take objection to that.”
Brzenski has been in the tank for Obama since at least the beginning of this year.  Her father, Carter National Security Advisor Zbig, is an advisor to the Obama campaign.

What would you say you do here? (County Fair , Media Matters for America)
TPM’s Greg Sargent notes that CNN’s Candy Crowley doesn’t think it is her job to tell viewers which candidate is lying more.  But it is her job to baselessly speculate that people won’t vote for a candidate who drinks green tea.  It is her job to falsely characterize the Democrats’ message as “we don’t support the troops and we’re not tough on national security.” Got it.
Yes, who does lie?  Inquiring minds want to know.  See below.

Obama Inflates Role in Creation of Stimulus Package (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In Golden, Colo., [Tuesday], Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., took credit for the stimulus package that passed earlier this year. “In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy,” Obama said, “which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress.” Is that true? Democrats on Capitol Hill who support Obama say no. Wanting Obama to win, however, none will say so on the record.

WE’RE ALL SEAN HANNITY NOW: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
Josh Marshall’s descent into Hannity Land has been a dizzying ride. But even by Josh’s declining standards, [a] gruesome post by Kate Klonick represents a new low in rube-running… Do you enjoy being treated like fools? If so, you’ll love Klonick’s opening: “On the campaign trail, Sarah Palin likes to brag about how she put the Alaska state jet on eBay and fired the governor’s personal chef. One item that doesn’t appear in her stump speech, however, is the personal tanning bed Palin had installed in the governor’s mansion.” Since Palin bought this item herself …, it’s hard to see how it relates to the paring of … state assets… As a matter of simple politics, it’s amazingly stupid to write this about Palin even as you attack Palin’s misstatements.
Something I should have said yesterday about the tanning bed: The nights are very long in Alaska during the winter.  Seasonal Affective Disorder (depression due to the lack of sunlight in far northern and far southern climes) is a fairly common malady.  Some sufferers report that tanning beds relieve the symptoms.

Will Public Believe McCain ‘Doublespeak’ — Or The Press? (by Charles Babington, AP)
The “Straight Talk Express” has detoured into doublespeak.
The AP has been pro-Republican, so this is a bit of a surprise.  And then the next question is, when will the media start calling Obama on HIS lies?

An Unfair Attack on McCain on Immigration Reform (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
[I]s it accurate for McCain’s TV ad to claim [Democratic inspired] “poison pills made immigration reform fail”? It’s a stretch — a partial truth. Those amendments didn’t help. Certainly the opponents of immigration reform on the right had much more to do with the bill dying than did Sen. Obama… But certainly those trying to get the bill passed had reason to question whether Obama was on their side in trying to get the bill that Kennedy was supporting passed into law. All in all, McCain worked much harder, risked much more, and stuck with the coalition more often than did Obama. Period.

Senate Dems Push Conflicting Messages on McCain (by Z. Byron Wolf at Political Punch, ABC News)
Democrats are straddling two, conflicting arguments in their criticism of Sen. John McCain on the economy. With one foot, they’re kicking forward the notion that McCain is a new Herbert Hoover, deluded and talking about a strong economy even as the stock market crumbled. At the same time, they’re telling Americans there’s not depression in the offing and “Don’t panic.”… Question – if there is truly no reason to think we are headed into an economic depression and truly no reason to panic, aren’t the fundamentals, on some level, strong?

Passing around the internet: “some people will do anything to get elected”

I am no McCain fan, but this is hilarious:
McCain Says: Shut Up and Sing (by Eric Trager, Commentary, thanks to SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
According to CNN, John McCain took aim at Barack Obama today for flying “off to Hollywood for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends.” Leave it to CNN to completely miss the greater context of this story: namely, McCain’s longtime–and hillarious–use of Streisand as his foil [video].

McCain and Palin are laughing at the press (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
And it’s the press’s fault. Why? “Because the political press has consciously folded its work into the larger entertainment culture.”

Pigs, Dogs, Fish and Frogs. Oh My! (by Craig Crawford at The Trail, CQ Politics)
With pigs, pit bulls and fish-wrapping now all the rage on the presidential campaign trail, why not add scary frogs to the pile. Long before Karl Rove put his name on the politics of distraction, a top Republican operative who specializes in electing weak candidates once explained to me how you derail a powerful foe who’s winning on issues. He called it the ugly frog routine. Ugly frogs in this game can be anything that opposing candidates do or say that, out of context, puts them on the defense.

“Stick that frog right in their face, shake it all around, and say, ‘Here, look at this BIG UGLY FROG,’” the GOP consultant said. “Then, as they defend themselves and explain the context, real quick grab another ugly frog. Repeat often until they’ve spent most of the campaign reacting to your agenda.” John McCain’s team has been playing the ugly frog routine against Barack Obama almost daily, starting with the Paris Hilton celebrity advertisement, forcing the Democrats to react to a barrage of silly attacks.

How do you fight the ugly frog routine, I asked this practitioner of the political dark arts. “Get your own frogs,” he said. “Stay off defense.”

Outrage as a Campaign Tactic (Political Wire)
Time uncovers the secret behind McCain strategist Steve Schmidt’s use of outrage to dominate news cycles. “In the heat of a campaign, Schmidt understood that outrage could cut through the news clutter like a buzz saw. It didn’t matter much if the outrage was fueled by fact — better if it was fueled by emotion, which would tweak the fury of his base, leading to exciting exchanges on cable television and fresh chatter around the watercooler. Unlike health care or foreign policy, the emotional charge of outrage has a magnetic effect; voters are forced to take sides and respond, shifting the debate.”

McCain and the BlackBerry (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
[Tuesday] morning McCain domestic policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin was asked what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., could point to from his work on the Senate Commerce Committee that would prove to the American people that he has experience on technology issues. “He did this,” Holtz-Eakin said, holding up his BlackBerry. “Telecommunications in the United States, the premiere innovation in the past 15 years comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. And that’s what he did.”

The campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., immediately tried to paint this as an Al-Gore-I-invented-the-internet moment.
Don’t they know it’s a media lie that Al Gore said he invented the internet?  And if they don’t know it, are they qualified to run a campaign for a Democrat?

Please leave Al Gore out of this (County Fair , Media Matters for America)
From AP: “Move over, Al Gore. You may lay claim to the Internet, but John McCain helped create the BlackBerry.” Al Gore did not “lay claim” to the Internet. That wasn’t true in 1999 when the press, and the GOP, peddled it. And it’s not true today.

Roveian Push-Poll Targets FL Voters to Smear Obama (No Blood for Hubris )
Key West resident Joelna Marcus received a phone call today. She was asked if she is Jewish, and she replied in the affirmative. She was asked if she was religious. She was then asked if her opinion of Barack Obama would change if she knew that Obama had given lots and lots of money to the PLO.

Obama campaign sues Michigan GOP over alleged voter scheme (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Michigan Republicans of a scheme to use mortgage foreclosure lists to challenge the voting eligibility of lower-income people who’re likely to back Democrats in November.

Voter Database Glitches Could Disenfranchise Thousands (by Kim Zetter, Wired)
Electronic voting machines have been the focus of much controversy the last few years. But another election technology has received little scrutiny yet could create numerous problems and disenfranchise thousands of voters in November, election experts say. This year marks the first time that new, statewide, centralized voter-registration databases will be used in a federal election in a number of states. The databases were mandated in the 2002 Help America Vote Act, which required all election districts in a state or U.S. territory to consolidate their lists into a single database electronically accessible to every election office in the state or territory.  But the databases, some created by the same companies that make electronic voting machines, aren’t federally tested or certified and some have been plagued by missed deadlines, rushed production schedules, cost overruns, security problems, and design and reliability issues.

Ballot measure to decriminalize prostitution divides liberal San Francisco
Sex workers, the county Democratic committee and a health official support Proposition K as a boon to prostitutes’ and the public’s safety. The mayor, the D.A. and the business community oppose it.

Kerry wins rare primary challenge (On Politics, USA Today)
John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, easily won yesterday’s Senate Democratic primary in Massachusetts — in which he faced what for him was a rare intra-party challenge.
What a shame.

Almost a “Saturday Night Massacre” (American Constitution Society)
On Sunday and Monday, the Washington Post published two excerpts from Barton Gellman’s new book Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency. The first part explores the role David Addington, Vice President Dick Cheney’s legal counsel, played in quashing “unwelcome questions about warrantless domestic surveillance.” The second part reveals that President Bush was not informed of the concerns his senior advisors had raised over the preceding months regarding the program, and that only a last minute meeting combined with imminent resignations by the acting Attorney General, the FBI Director, and other senior Justice Department officials forced the President to withdraw his opinion that overrode the Justice Department to declare the warrantless domestic surveillance program legal.

Great series on “Angler,” the new book on the reign of Dick Cheney (by lambert at Corrente)
Today, warrantless surveillance; horrifying—and illuminating on the role of the extremely post-partisan Gang of Eight. But now, thanks to retroactive immunity, what was once illegal is now legal! So the nation can heal. I think it’s time to get over it and move on. The rule of law is so Eighteenth Century, don’t you agree? Harry, Nancy, Obama: Nice work.

Addington signed Gonzales’ name to re-authorize warrantless wiretapping program. (Think Progress)
In 2004, after top Justice Department lawyers refused to re-certify the legality of President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program, the Bush administration re-authorized the program anyway without the Justice Department’s approval. Previous accounts of the program’s re-authorization reported that the “line for the attorney general’s signature remained blank.” But in the Washington Post today, Barton Gellman reports that Vice President Cheney’s lawyer, David Addington, actually signed then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales’s name to the document:

Luke Russert Gets Into the Family Business as Reporter
Offered the chance to report on youth issues for NBC News, the gregarious young Luke Russert dove into the assignment with gusto, toting a microphone backstage at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Many of his stories have appeared on the Nightly News web site and he blogs about his experiences on iCue.com.
Nothing like being a legacy.  Especially a white male legacy.  Especially an East Coast white male legacy.  If I sound jealous, it’s because I damned well am.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Ignoring GOP vote for subpoena, AP reported McCain campaign claim that Dems “hijacked” “Troopergate” investigation

• Limbaugh: “Troopergate” investigation is “pure sexism,” but Palin “didn’t bend over and let” Alaska politicians “have their way”

• Dick Morris falsely suggested Hillary Clinton was “complain[ing]” of sexism when she became emotional in NH

• The Detroit News uncritically reported Republican claims that Obama would “raise taxes”

• Applebee’s and green tea redux: Reuters’ Decker said Biden’s “French cuffs” could cause problems for him “connect[ing] with voters”

• Kilmeade baselessly claimed Dems “air-drop[ped]” team of “lawyers and investigators into Alaska” to investigate Palin

• Morning Joe uncritically aired McCain’s false claim that Palin is “governor of a state that 20 percent of our America’s energy supply comes from”

Current TV to Broadcast Tweets During Debates
Current TV is handing over feedback on the upcoming presidential debates to those who make up so much of the network’s programming: its audience. During the debates, the network bent on viewer-created content will broadcast Twitter messages — or “tweets” — from viewers. In close to real time, Current will display comments on the screen while John McCain and Barack Obama face off.

YouTube Bans Violent Videos
YouTube has moved to ban videos that incite violence following criticism that it needed to toughen its policies. Google-owned YouTube has updated its community guidelines — specifically pointing out that a new addition is to make sure no videos “directly incite violence.”

Handwritten Urdu Newspaper Stands Out in Indian Media Mob
After his father died in April, Syed Arifullah took the reins of a newspaper that stands out even in India’s increasingly crowded media market. The Musalman, the oldest Urdu-language daily paper in India, has been handwritten by Urdu calligraphers since it was founded by Mr. Arifullah’s grandfather 81 years ago.

Jack Nelson Among Current, Ex Tribune Co Staffers Suing Zell; Claim ‘Scam’ (Paid Content)
Current and former members of the Tribune Co. Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) and various retirement programs sued Sam Zell in U.S. District Court Central District of California Tuesday… The stated goal of the class-action suit, which has to be certified to represent the class of Tribune employees: “to protect Tribune Company’s pension and retirement funds; to give the employee-owners a place at the table with regard to management of their assets; and to remove Zell and his cronies from the Tribune Company’s board in order to save what is left of a still great news gathering operation.” You may recall that Zell took Tribune private by using the ESOP, which now owns the company. The plaintiffs call this a “scam” and contend that the deal contravenes laws mean to help workers.

Newspapers Still Dominate Local, But TV And Radio Growth Rates Zoom Ahead: Borrell (Paid Content)
Local newspapers sites still generate the highest ad revenues, at an estimated $3.7 billion, but local radio and TV sites’ growth rates are double, a report from local media analyst Borrell Associates, with help from BIA Financial, predicts. Aside from the worsening economy and chaos on Wall St., newspapers’ growth is hindered by its limited diet of display ads and the usual pool of marketers they tend to rely on for the print side. But the report also shows that newspapers, along with local TV and radio, are still relatively strong versus internet companies not tied to traditional media. That said, the rise of TV and radio will continue to cut into newpapers’ local dominance.

Gannett’s August Publishing Ad Revenues Down 17%
Gannett Co., the nation’s largest newspaper company, reported a third straight month of steep advertising declines in its publishing segment as a worsening economy weighed down an already troubled ad market. The 16.8 percent year-over-year drop in August was only slightly worse than the declines of 16.3 percent in June and 16.7 percent in July, suggesting the market may be stabilizing.

TV Product Placement Down
At first blush, it’s a finding that sounds like cause for celebration for culture-over-commerce purists: According to a report by Nielsen, product placement on primetime programming for the first six months of 2008 was down nearly 15%. But even taking into account that double-digit drop, January-June viewers still experienced 204,919 “brand occurrences.”

Time Inc’s Maghound Service Launches Under the Radar; Some Majors Missing (Paid Content)
Time Inc has quietly launched its much delayed and much-anticipated online magazine subscription website Maghound. The service, in beta, borrows concepts heavily from Netflix, in that it allows users to choose up to 15 magazines from a broad range of titles for one set monthly fee, with the ability to switch titles at any time. At launch, it has 240 titles, about 40 less that what Time Inc said at a trade show in June, Folio notes. In addition to all Time inc titles, of course, it has titles from Conde Nast (not all), Rodale, and others. Notably missing is any magazine from the Hearst stable… The membership pricing is tiered—three titles for $4.95 a month, five titles for $7.95, seven titles for $9.95, and $1 per title for eight titles or more, and no annual contract.

Did ‘Spore’ copy protections backfire on EA?
Enraged by what they call “draconian” copyright protections, thousands of people flooded Amazon.com to give the game a one-star rating. And now there seems to be another movement afoot, one that is far more likely to hit EA where it counts. What’s the fuss about? Electronic Arts imposed copyright protections that limited the number of times a user can install the game to three.

Best Buy Acquires Napster (Mashable)
Napster, the original peer-to-peer music sharing network that has since transformed itself into a legal subscription service, is being acquired by Best Buy. The electronics retailing giant will be paying $121 million to buy Napster – a more than 85% premium to where Napster’s beleaguered shares were trading as of Friday. Although Napster was able to sign up more than 700,000 subscribers, the service was never profitable and was on track to run out of cash sometime next year. Under Best Buy’s ownership, that problem is resolved, and the combined companies are confident that they can use Best Buy’s massive reach and distribution to improve the business, in addition to leveraging Napster to sell other digital products to consumers.

Amazon Does the Obvious, Finally: Adds Video on IMDb (Paid Content)
Amazon has finally done what many have been asking it since the time the company bought IMDB: it has enabled video on the film and TV database/info site. The company says users can now watch 6,000 full-length feature films and TV episodes for free on IMDb.com’s video section.