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This is for those who say I’m too hard on Obama:
Lynnwood Blog

After Dedicating Crass Song to McCain/Palin, Jay-Z to Rally Obama Supporters in Ohio (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The Obama campaign announced today that Jay-Z and NBA star LeBron James will hold a “Last Chance for Change” concert in Cleveland next Wednesday. The announcement about Jay-Z comes a few days after he dedicated his 2003 song “99 Problems” to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The lyrics to “99 Problems” include the famous line: “If you’re havin’ girl problems I feel bad for you son / I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one.”
Yes, and that was the song Obama played at his Iowa victory rally—thereby calling Hillary Clinton a bitch.

Which is more repugnant: the misogyny or the silence about the misogny? (Heidi Li’s Potpourri )
If Senator Obama cannot make it clear that he either truly understands misogyny and its pervasiveness in American culture or that he sincerely wants to learn about it and use his political platform to oppose it with all his might, he does not deserve the votes of true humanists, people who work to rid our culture of all forms of illegitimate assaults on human dignity, including not only racism, but misogyny. His silence on the topic will cost him my vote, and I believe it should cost him the vote of anybody who expected more and better from the candidate who kept promising us a new kind of politics and a better brand of leadership.

Friday: If Obama doesn’t condemn misogyny, we will resist (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
The Democratic party has been revealed to take no real interest in the wishes of women.  18 million voters, many of them women for Hillary Clinton, were easily dismissed and their votes relegated to the circular file… They are so used to taking us for granted that they feel they don’t need to try to win us over and they have no comprehension of the damage they have done to their most faithful constituency… That is why we resist the Democratic party this year.  We want real change and we’re not going to get it with Barack Obama as president after he has unleashed the monster of sexism that lurked beneath a thin veneer of comity.  It is on his shoulders to do something about it.  We hold him personally responsible because misogyny sells and he has reaped the benefits all season long at our expense.

Mad Men Makes a Splash Bigger Than Its Ratings (AP)
Mad Men draws a slice of viewers as slender as Don Draper’s 1960s neckties, yet the TV drama unquestionably is all the rage. There was a Mad Men-themed category last week on Jeopardy! along with an online game, and a Mad Men homage is tucked like a fancy chocolate treat into the Nov. 2 Halloween episode of The Simpsons.
I wonder how big a part the blatant misogyny on Mad Men plays in its popularity among the cognoscenti. Sexism, after all, is so IN.  And so is violence.

“Get in their faces” (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
In Pittsburgh, a mugger robbed a 20 year old woman named Ashley Todd at an ATM machine. When he noted a McCain bumper sticker on her vehicle, he flew into a rage, punched her, kicked her and carved a B into her face. Also: In Seminole County, Florida, an unknown assailant shot up the home of Rog Coverly, the manager of the local McCain campaign headquarters… In Missouri, the Obama movement used Sheriffs and prosecutors to put together a “truth squad” to intimidate critics of Barack Obama. Obama makes no secret of his desire to erect a massive “civilian security force.” And the RAND Corporation was tasked with considering the best ways to implement a new domestic intelligence agency… [A] cult of personality, new tools of state repression, unfettered snooping — all point in a dangerous direction. The threat can be reduced to two words: Power and ego.
Must have been a dyslexic mugger.  He got the B backwards.  The Ashley Todd incident has now been questioned (see below), but the other incidents mentioned above have not.

UPDATE: McCain Worker ‘Confesses’ She Made Up Attack Story (Fox News)
Campaign volunteer Ashley Todd, 20, reportedly admits she lied when she claimed a ‘black man’ beat her and carved a ‘B’ in her face because she was McCain backer

Bachmann Loses Lead in MN-6 (Political Wire)
A new SurveyUSA poll in Minnesota’s 6th congressional district shows Elwyn Tinklenberg (D) edging past Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), 47% to 44%. The district had been considered safe for Republicans until Bachmann claimed liberals and other Obama supporters were anti-American in a MSNBC interview.

Republican club leader resigns over ‘Obama Bucks’ controversy (On Politics, USA Today)
The president of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, club in San Bernadino County, California, has resigned in the wake of reports about the “Obama Bucks” that her organization created and which caught national attention earlier this month.

North Carolina Republicans send out homophobic mailings against Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan. (Think Progress)
The North Carolina Republican State Executive Committee has sent out homophobic mailers targeting Senate candidate Kay Hagan (D), who is challenging Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R). The mailings warn that Hagan seeks to advance a “radical homosexual agenda” that includes legalizing gay marriage, removing “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, and forcing the Boy Scouts to accept gay and atheist troop leaders.

With “Friends” Like These . . . (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
So I’m over at TGW [Tennessee Guerrilla Women] and I see a post on how this election may increase the percentage of women in Congress from 16% to 19% and I decide to post this comment: “I was still a kid when ‘Women’s Lib’ supposedly happened. That was damn near four decades ago. By this point women should occupy something like 45%-55% of elected offices.”

I didn’t figure that was controversial, but this morning I see this response from someone named “Zee”: “myiq! A foray here, how exciting. However…after a quick look at your webpage, you may be related to Mormons who are “good people” but the cult definitely deserves to crash and burn. I’m sorry, yeah, I hate all religions as they are mostly paternalistic crap, but some, such as Islam where they practice gender apartheid to the point where male firefighters let schoolgirls burn to death rather than TOUCH them and the MORMONS, where the men are ‘gods’ of their own planets in their ludicrous afterlife and women just part of a harem to pump out ghost babies to populate said planets, deserve all the ridicule they get and then some. ‘Tolerance’ is bullshit in these cases.”

Zee was referring to [a] post of mine, where I called out a commenter at Corrente for religious bigotry against Mormons.  here was my response to Zee: “After we round up the Moslems and Mormons, do we gas them with Zyklon-B and burn the bodies?”… Freedom of religion (which includes freedom from religion) isn’t just a liberal value, it’s a constitutional right… Bigotry, whether in the form of racism, sexism, homophobia, nationalism, religious intolerance or even partisanship is WRONG.  Progressives used to have principles. Liberals still do.

Hey Barack! If McCain “Is fighting for Joe The Hedge Fund Manager” How Come That Joe Keeps Giving YOU Money? (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)

Barack Obama…: “Let’s be clear who John McCain is fighting for — he’s not fighting for Joe the Plumber, he’s fighting for Joe the Hedge Fund Manager”… Well I was just wondering then, Barack, since we are “being clear here”: If John McCain is fighting for Joe The Hedge Fund Manager, how come Joe The Hedge fund Manager has given you so much money?

Be happy, Democrats!  Obama is running on a message similar to that of George Bush in 2000!
Former Bush Aide Backs Obama (Political Wire)
Former Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said he will vote for Sen. Barack Obama in the presidential election, according to ABC News. “Said McClellan: ‘From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama and clapping… It’s a message that is very similar to the one that Gov. Bush ran on in 2000.’”

Rejoice, Democrats, your leaders won’t be doing a damn thing for you if they get elected.
Biden says no to populism (by vastleft at Corrente)
On XM satellite radio’s POTUS station, I … heard a couple of minutes of a Joe Biden speech in Winston-Salem. Mostly, it sounded fine, and more like a Democrat than a typical Obama speech does. But then, in criticizing trickle-down economics, he tossed out a trope that struck me as odd: “I’m not making a populist argument.” As if one should be relieved to hear that. Turns out, this is a theme he’s fond of… [T]he rich have long enjoyed a politics that the rest of America has not, and it should be no shame for Democrats to represent the interests of the have-nots. In fact, it used to be a source of pride.

What the landslide means in one sentence (by lambert at Corrente)
Stoller (again this morning, so sue me): “[T]he elites are swinging to the Blue Dog position rather than coming our way.” Quelle surprise… Of course, everybody knows that the Blue Dogs won’t fuck us over nearly as badly as the Republicans. They haven’t had time to figure out how, yet!

And be glad, Democrats, because manipulating your friends is now the order of the day!  Public humiliation is a great way to convert people to your cause.  Maybe we should put nonvoters in stocks in the public square.
From: Peter Koechley, MoveOn.org Political Action (via email)
Subject: Frances, you’re in this video
To: Frances
Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 9:06 PM

Dear Frances,

Oversleeping. Getting the car fixed. Having to pick up the second-cousin’s stepkids on the other side of town. These are just a few of the reasons millions of Americans won’t vote on November 4th.

It’s not like they hate voting. They want to do it. They know they should. And mostly, they intend to. But some of your friends won’t get around to actually voting because they haven’t been reminded vividly enough.

That’s why we developed this funny, scary video. It shows people what it might look like if we lose the election by a single vote: theirs.

Here’s a version we prepared for you. You’re in it—seriously, you, Frances. Check it out—and if you like it, send it to your friends:

Yet more proof the press screwed Al Gore (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Lots of folks are talking about the broad, new Project for Excellence in Journalism study about the fall’s campaign coverage that concludes  coverage of John McCain had been decidedly more negative than the Barack Obama coverage in the last six weeks. According to the study of mainstream media, 57% of print and broadcast stories about the GOP nominee were negative, compared to 14 that were positive… “Winning in politics begets winning coverage,” the study concluded. Makes sense, right? Than how do we explain this additional conclusion from the study: “McCain’s numbers are almost identical to what we saw eight years ago for Democrat Al Gore.” [Emphasis added.]

Somebody alert Bob Somerby, because this is just amazing. John [McCain’s] campaign has, according to the polls and even conservative pundits, been going through a slow-motion wreck for the last month. (i.e. Free fall?) And yet his press coverage is “almost identical” that of Al Gore in 2000. It’s amazing because what was Gore doing at this point in 2000? He was basically running dead even with George Bush, and in the process of winning virtually every toss-up state come Election Day. See how that correlation between performance and coverage disappeared for Gore? He was performing just as well as his opponent (and light-years better than McCain today), yet Gore got saddled with kind of coverage usually assigned to the pronounced loser.
And what does it say about the media that they give more favorable coverage to the perceived winner?  And if the media chose George Bush for us over Al Gore, what does it say about them, and about us, that the media are now pushing Barack Obama?

Politics as Entertainment (Political Wire)
A new Entertainment Weekly survey has found that six in 10 Americans have found the presidential election to be entertaining, so much so that the 18-24 year-olds surveyed estimate they spend one-third of their TV time watching election coverage. Interesting: “More than half of Americans (53%) feel celebrity endorsements can have some influence on the candidates’ appeal. Those 25-34 (59%) and Democrats (64%) are more likely to feel that celebrity endorsement has influence on the candidates’ appeal.”

In Driving Election-Year Dynamics, Television Still Reigns Supreme (Los Angeles Times)
Mary McNamara: Not since the Kennedy-Nixon race has television played such a significant role in a presidential election. The Saturday Night Live skewerings, the David Letterman-John McCain feud, the political meltdowns on The View, the Gov. Sarah Palin interviews, the Joe the Plumber interviews, Obama’s World Series lead-in (if there’s a Game 6) and, of course, the debates.

Networks Going Big on Election Night (Variety)
Given the enormous interest in this year’s presidential election, the broadcast and cable nets have concocted supersized plans for their election night coverage. The nets aren’t adding much more time to the already wall-to-wall coverage they provided in 2004, but this year’s telecasts promise a bit more heft.

Sarah Palin: Future Media Star? (Hollywood Reporter)
As polls cast doubt on the McCain-Palin ticket, producers and agents are discussing possibilities for capitalizing on Sarah Palin’s fame, ranging from an Oprah-style syndicated talk show to a Sean Hannity-like perch in cable news or on radio. “Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great,” said a veteran morning-show producer.

Obama Snubs Smiley? (Marketwatch)
Tavis Smiley doesn’t expect presidential candidate Barack Obama to agree to come on his PBS late-night talk show before the election. “The odds are slim to none — and slim is out of town,” Smiley said. He has received his share of flak from some African-Americans because they were unhappy with his professional posture toward Obama. He hasn’t given the Democrat a free pass during the campaign.
Smiley dared to call out Obama for not attending his conference in New Orleans earlier in the year.  Hillary attended, Barack did not.

Camp Followers (by Patrick Buchanan)
Perhaps the only institution in America whose approval rating is beneath that of Congress is the media. Both have won their reputations the hard way. They earned them. Consider the fawning indulgence shown insider Joe Biden with the dripping contempt visited on outsider Sarah Palin. Twice last weekend, Biden grimly warned at closed-door meetings that a great crisis is coming early in the term of President Obama… This is an astonishing statement from a chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has access to the same intelligence as George Bush… If one assumes Joe is a serious man, we have a right to know…

The media cannot get enough of the “Saturday Night Live” impersonations of Palin as a bubblehead. News shows pick up the Tina Fey clips and run them and run them to the merriment of all. Can one imagine “Saturday Night Live” doing weekly send-ups of Michelle Obama and her “I’ve never been proud” of my country, this “just downright mean” America, using a black comedienne to mimic and mock her voice and accent? “Saturday Night Live” would be facing hate crime charges… Is there a media double standard? You betcha.
Teeth must be chattering in hell.  It has to be freezing down there when I find myself agreeing with Pat Buchanan.

Campbell Brown: Stop Covering Palin’s Wardrobe Controversy; Women Are Unfairly Held to Higher Standard on Appearance (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
On CNN [Wednesday] night, Campbell Brown discussed the “sniping…about Sarah Palin’s clothes. Politico.com reports that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothes, hair, and makeup for Palin on the campaign trail. “Now, these are not your tax dollars. This is money given by Republican donors to the RNC,” Brown said. “But the report questions whether it’s legal to use campaign cash for quote,’ personal use.’ My issue: there is an incredible double standard here, and we’re ignoring a very simple reality. Women are judged based on their appearance far, far more than men. This is a statement of fact. There has been plenty of talk and plenty written about Sarah Palin’s jackets, her hair, her looks. Sound familiar? There was plenty of talk and plenty written about Hillary Clinton’s looks, hair, pantsuits. Compare that to the attention given to Barack Obama’s $1,500 suits or John McCain’s $520 Ferragamo shoes. There is no comparison.”

Palin Derangement Syndrome and Those Who Suffer From It (by Ani at No Quarter)
So there I was the other day, invited into a political debate via email, painstakingly composing all sorts of facts, figures and associations of Obama that would certainly give any reasonable person pause. You know the litany: 130 present votes, 6 wrong votes, reneging on FISA, NAFTA, public financing, women’s rights, don’t ask don’t tell, Iraq, Israel. Bitter Gate. Sweetie Gate. I mention ACORN, the Fannie and Freddie scandal, caucus fraud, Ayers, Dohrn, Wright, Rezko Auchi, Pleger, Meeks, Pritzker, Khalidi, Al Mansour and the piece de resistance, picking the bloviating, endlessly gaffe prone – Joe Biden. Wow, what judgment, Barack!!!! I send facts and figures together with, I must say, a rather cogent argument.

They counter with: McCain will croak in office within two months and Palin, spawn of the devil, will be President and ship us all back to the stone age.

Palin: ‘I don’t know’ if abortion clinic bombers are ‘terrorists.’ (Think Progress)
In her interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said that Bill Ayers is “no question” a terrorist because he sought to destroy the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Palin, however, refused to apply the same label to abortion clinic bombers: “Q: Is an abortion clinic bomber a terrorist, under this definition, governor? PALIN: (Sigh). There’s no question that Bill Ayers via his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There’s no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that uh, it would be unacceptable. I don’t know if you’re going to use the word terrorist there.”
Click through to watch the video.

Weatherman Undergound Agent Discusses WU’s Plans For Re-education ….and Genocide (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)
Larry Grathwohl was an underground agent who infiltrated Bill Ayers’ Weather Undergound movement. Here he discusses what would happen next after they overthrow the USA government. “… And they were dead serious”. So, do too many MSMers and Democrats still think that an affiliation for years with Bill Ayers is a harmless little thing?
Click through to watch the video.

McCain Adds NASA Funding To List Of Exemptions From His Spending Freeze (Think Progress)
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) frequently faults “wasteful spending” and “earmarks” as contributing to the current economic crisis, and has campaigned on a promise to take a “hatchet” to the federal budget and to impose a spending freeze on all non-essential government spending. However, the Wall Street Journal reports that, in an effort to court Florida voters, McCain has now pledged to increase funding for NASA, a major employer in the state.

Palin Betrays Base On Immigration Amnesty (by Cernig at Crooks and Liars)
With 12 days to go until the election, today was the wrong time for Sarah Palin to shoot herself in the foot and alienate her base. But that’s what she has done, in style, on Univision. “Interviewer: To clarify, so you support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants? Palin: I do because I understand why people would want to be in America. To seek the safety and prosperity, the opportunities, the health that is here. It is so important that yes, people follow the rules so that people can be treated equally and fairly in this country.” Needless to say, the wingnuts, those few mentioning it so far, are not at all happy.
It’s funny, but I have yet to see reporting on any of Obama’s or Biden’s inconsistencies or panderings on either Think Progress or Crooks and Liars.

Wisconsin Judge Tosses Lawsuit Challenging Voter Registrations (American Constitution Society)
A Wisconsin judge dismissed a lawsuit today aimed at forcing state election officials to use the Social Security database to check voters’ registrations, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The lawsuit was lodged against the state’s Government Accountability Board by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who also serves as the co-chair of Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain’s Wisconsin campaign. The state’s Republican Party also joined Van Hollen in the case. Their lawsuit alleged that federal law required Wisconsin election officials to make sure voters’ registration information matched information on driver’s licenses and Social Security records.

Judge Maryann Sumi concluded that Van Hollen failed to show that Wisconsin officials had violated the federal Help America Vote Act and that the Wisconsin Republican Party had no standing to be involved in the case.
If the law wasn’t broken, that’s one thing.  But how can it be that the Republican Party has no standing to demand that elections be fair?

Bloomberg cleared to run for a third term. (Think Progress)
The New York City Council voted [Thursday] to extend term limits so that Mayor Michael Bloomberg can run for a third term next year. The council’s vote of 29 to 22 undoes the result of two voter referendums that had imposed a limit of two four-year terms for the Mayor’s office… The New York Times reports that after Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum announced the final result, the balcony in the Council chamber “erupted in shouts of ‘The city’s for sale!’ and ‘Shame on you!’”

‘I made a mistake,’ admits Greenspan (Financial Times, U.K.)
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said on Thursday the credit crisis had exceeded anything he had imagined and admitted he was wrong to think that banks would protect themselves from financial market chaos. “I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organisations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders,” he said.
At least he admitted to a mistake.  At the same congressional hearing, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said that the problem was too many congressional committees!

Greenspan Follies: The World Is as Ayn Rand Would Have Predicted (by Dean Baker)
What would Ayn Rand expect to happen? On the one hand we have the hot shot executives, on the other hand the schmucks who own stock in these banks. Would Ayn Rand expect that the executives would put aside their ambition, their lust for success, their greed, in order to benefit shareholders who are too dumb to even know what a credit default swap is? Not for a second; Ayn Rand would watch the Wall Street big boys run roughshod over their shareholders’ interests and be applauding them every step of the way. That is how the game is played… Calling them, or their patron Alan Greenspan, free market ideologues is far too generous.

Not So Very Brilliant (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
How many bloggers managed to see this before Greenspan did? It really had nothing to do with intelligence. It had to do with the narrow ideological prism through which Greenspan and his minions viewed the world. In other words, it had more to do with their emotional identification with a certain philosophy that blinded them to everything else. Liberals are often ridiculed for not having a firm ideological foundation, but that’s just not true. We like to do what will actually work, and that leaves us with a much wider array of options.
Oh, would that it were true, Susie.  What I see among so-called liberals is a blind devotion to a person, shedding every single ideal they ever professed to have to shove him in our faces.

Rove Blames Market Volatility On Obama: It Reflects ‘People’s Concerns’ About An Obama Presidency (Think Progress)
[Thursday] on Fox News, host Neil Cavuto asked Karl Rove to explain today’s “very volatile markets.” Rove responded by claiming that it was a result of people’s uncertainty over an Obama presidency: “ROVE: But we have to be a little bit careful here, because markets try and predict the future. And what they may be doing here, this volatility may be people’s concerns about what would happen if Barack Obama, who has a lead in the polls and has been deemed by the media to be the likely next president of the United States, what would happen to their economy and their portfolios if he were to become president?”… Rove also claimed that investors were nervous about Obama’s “anti-business attitude,” pointing to how he would “raise the capital gains tax, which will take some value out of the market.”
Click through to watch the video.

The ice floe cometh (by vastleft at Corrente)
Would someone more expert than I about Social Security and Medicare please take a crack at Newsweek’s Robert J. Samuelson’s “Young Voters, Get Mad — You need to appeal to the shame and guilt of older Americans”?
And when they do get mad, we must take every opportunity to remind them that ROBERT J. SAMUELSON HELPED GEORGE BUSH STEAL OUR PRE-PAID RETIREMENT FUND.

How the Economy Literally Makes You Sick (by a little night musing at Corrente)
That was the front-page header given to [an] AP article in today’s Metro (freebie newspaperlet). “The ailing economy is leading many Americans to skip doctor visits, skimp on their medicine, and put off mammograms, Pap smears and other tests. And physicians worry the result will be sicker patients who need more expensive treatment later.”… Say it with me! We can’t afford NOT to have single-payer.

Media Matters for America headlines

• AP uncritically reported false McCain claim that under Obama’s tax plan, “people who pay no taxes would receive a $500 tax credit”

• LA Times, AP repeated McCain campaign misinformation about Obama’s tax plan

• CNN’s Carroll aired Cindy McCain’s attack on Obama over troop funding without noting her husband’s own vote

• O’Reilly vows “to document every ACORN situation and any other voter fraud” but has yet to mention fraud complaints against YPM

• CNN’s Crowley cropped Obama quote, omitting his assertion that “[w]e’re going to have to fight” every day until election

• Savage: “Why should a welfare recipient have the right to vote? They’re only gonna vote themselves a raise”

• In falsely accusing Obama, Fox News’ Brown misrepresented reason McCain gave for initially opposing Bush tax cuts

• LA Times reported that McCain “has not budged” from balance budget pledge but didn’t report that his chief economic policy adviser has

• Wash. Times reported McCain claim about Obama’s response to Lewis statement without reporting what Obama actually said

• Wash. Post cropped Obama’s “we’ve got a righteous wind at our backs” remark to exclude “but we’re going to have to work”

• Hannity falsely claimed Obama “said” he is “going to … cut tens of billions of dollars in our military”

U.S. ranks 36th on press freedom list. (Think Progress)
Reporters Without Borders today released its annual Press Freedom Index. Despite purporting “to be a beacon for the rest of the world” for human rights protections and freedom of thought, the U.S. has been ranked 36 out of 173 countries — a spot also shared by Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iceland ranked number one in press freedom, with Ghana, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, Surinam, and Jamaica also ranking higher than the U.S. The report singled out “wars carried out in the name of the fight against terrorism” as a cause for the steep decline in press freedoms around the world.

AP Backs Down On Controversial Rate Plan: Cuts Rates, Gives Members All AP Text, Halts ’09 Increases (Paid Content)
In a major turnabout, the Associated Press has just reversed course on its controversial rate plan following a board meeting today. The co-op, facing defections from members large and small, will cut member assessments by another $9 million next year, for a total of nearly $30 million—and will start an examination of its member structure that could result in a complete overhaul. The board voted to issue a moratorium for the papers—a minority of AP members—facing cost increases next year and unwound a provision of the new plans that would have made some AP text content, including enterprise, columns and some sports and entertainment features, premium. AP Rate reductions will be considered for AP Broadcast members as well.

Editors React To AP Rate Cut: ‘A Good Starting Point’ Or ‘This Changes Nothing’ (Paid Content)
The Associated Press’ decision to revise its controversial member pricing plan received a mixed reaction from editors at newspapers that have submitted notices asking to exit the fold in two years. Editors appear keen to listen, but no one is willing to say this is a mind-changer. Still, the papers have achieved their first goal: getting the AP to take their concerns seriously and getting a break on their membership fees. And it’s worth pointing out that the cancellation notices only represent a fraction of the over 1,500 AP members.

Bono to Write Op-Eds for NYT
New York Times editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal has announced his first acquisition for the paper’s Op-Ed pages for 2009: Bono. Yep, Bono. The activist-creator of Zoo TV will pen between six and ten pieces for the Grey Lady next year, Rosenthal told students Wednesday night at Columbia’s School of Journalism.

NYT Co. 3Q Profits Down 51%, Beats Estimates
The New York Times Co. reported Thursday that its third-quarter profit skidded 51 percent lower but still beat Wall Street estimates as the newspaper industry continues to suffer from advertising reductions accelerated by a worsening economy. Early numbers from the current quarter indicate that slow ad sales at the Times newspaper and other properties are likely to continue.

Moody’s May Cut New York Times Into Junk Territory
Moody’s Investors Service said on Thursday it may cut its ratings on New York Times Co. into junk territory, citing concerns about continuing revenue declines and risks associated with refinancing its debt. The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations on Thursday and said advertising revenue at its news media group dropped 16 percent for the quarter.

Hearst Heiress Bashes Family Biz
Lydia Hearst is trashing her own family’s media empire for continuing to live large during the financial meltdown. “Hearst Corporation, which my family owns, continues to host parties even as it folds magazines like CosmoGirl,” the heiress writes. “It seems excessive. … At least Hearst recently cancelled the company Christmas bash. It’s time to work through this crisis, not party through it.”

Slowing Fast Company?
While layoffs and hiring freezes are the topic du jour at media companies across New York City, Mansueto Ventures remains a bright spot in the industry. According to PIB, Fast Company sold roughly $29 million in ad pages between January and September, a change of 37.3% over last year. Another Mansueto title, Inc., sold roughly $64 million in ad pages, a change of 10% over last year.

‘Major’ Layoffs at Time Inc.’s Southern Progress Magazines
Layoffs one tipster calls “major” have hit Southern Progress Corporation, the Time Inc. subsidiary that publishes Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Coastal Living, among others. A Southern Progress spokeswoman said, “Of course we’re sad to be losing good people. It was an unfortunate but necessary decision based on challenging economic conditions in our industry.”

Al Primo’s Eyewitness Revolution
James Brady: In 1968, a buccaneering young TV news director out of Pittsburgh via Philadelphia came to New York, and within six months was violently shaking the evening news show of the city’s local WABC, introducing a startling new format, firing people, hiring a bunch of talented kids, and launching what he called Eyewitness News. Local TV has never been quite the same.

In Downturn, Publishers Go ‘Beyond the Page’
Magazine publishers across the industry are struggling to build — even maintain — print advertising pages. According to Publishers Information Bureau’s third quarter report, ad pages fell 12.9 percent for the quarter, and were down 9.5 percent year-to-date over the same period in 2007. However, some publishers managed to grow print pages and revenue — many by double digits

Google’s New Trick For Getting People To Sit Through Its Video Ads? Biometrics (Paid Content)
It’s not hard to find people who will say that video ads are annoying, but marketers want to know just how annoying they really are. Or, as they might put, at what point viewers get so irritated they turn them off. Leah Spalding, ad research manager for Google, tells Mediaweek that the search giant plans to use biometrics—which can involve attaching sensors on testers’ heads, pupil dilation and skin response and is typically used to test individuals for conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder— to go beyond click-through rates as a way to determine the value of its InVideo Ads, which are served on YouTube.

Gmail for Mobile Gets Offline Support (Mashable)
Gmail’s mobile application is getting a useful upgrade today. You can now compose and send emails when in a low/no coverage area and have them automatically delivered in the background when you regain a signal… Along with the offline support, Gmail has added a few other features. Most notable is the ability to switch between multiple Gmail/Google Apps accounts from the Gmail Mobile interface. There are also shortcut keys for performing basic functions like jumping to the top or bottom of your mailbox, or undoing your last action.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Which of These Two Mama’s Boys Are You Going to Vote For? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Writing in the Wall Street Journal [Wednesday], Sue Shellenbarger quotes Doug Wead, author of two books on presidential families, noting that both Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., fit a certain presidential pattern of “Mama’s boys with absent fathers who were perceived by the sons as high achievers.” Obama’s tale is more complicated, because in addition to being abandoned by his father, Barack Obama Sr., at the age of two, his mother also left Obama Jr. in the care of her parents while she went off gallivanting around the world… Do you need to have grown up in a dysfunctional home, without the love of two parents, in order to become a successful presidential candidate?
Come to think of it, the current President Bush is also a mama’s boy with an absent father.

Avedon finds a way to vote for Obama (by vastleft at Corrente)
“I tried not to think about it while I was doing it.” Wouldn’t work for yours truly. I’d still be wondering what the part that wasn’t thinking wasn’t thinking of.
Don’t think of a donkey—or an ass.

Obama lead on McCain grows to 12 points (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama’s lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

AP poll: McCain, Obama all even in homestretch (Baltimore Sun)
Race has tightened since third debate, poll suggests, with McCain gaining among whites, people earnings less than $50,000 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.
So which is it?  Is Obama ahead by 12 points, or is the race even?  Zogby is in the tank for Obama and the AP has given a lot of help to McCain, so we can’t know for sure what’s really happening.

Obama Tells Virginia Supporters of ‘Righteous Wind At Our Backs’ (by Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller at Political Punch, ABC News)
LEESBURG, VA — “I cant imagine a more beautiful setting for us to be thinking about the last 13 days,” said Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., this evening in Northern Virginia… “If you’ll stand with me, then I know that we can win Virginia and we can win this election and we can finally bring the change we need to Washington,” Obama told the estimated crowd of 35,000. “I feel like we got a righteous wind at our backs here.”
So are we to assume that McCain is not righteous?  Or Sarah Palin?  I HATE this kind of talk.  It can lead to people being killed over stupid religious differences.

Biden Speaks in Tongues; Obama Translates (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
For those of you who are periodically perplexed by Joe Biden’s glossolalia, help is on the way. Barack Obama is now helpfully translating Biden’s rapturous utterances into English so that the rest of us can comprehend them.  Remember Biden’s statement earlier this week which appeared to the untrained ear to be about how the terrorists would “test” the new rookie president, Obama?… Well, Obama “clarified” this today. It appears that we were all wrong – what we thought was an unambiguous statement that Obama would specifically be tested because he was young and inexperienced was really a generic statement about ANYONE who happened to be elected, McCain or Obama. Or Nader or Barr too, I guess. [Click through for] Obama’s “W.O.S.B.R.M” (What Obama Says Biden Really Meant) statement.
But it’s Palin we’re supposed to be afraid of.  Don’t forget that, now—Palin, SCARY; Joe, NOT scary.

Palin Shopping Spree Legal? Yes, but Barely (ABC News)
When news broke that Gov. Sarah Palin and her family managed to spend $150,000 of other people’s money on clothes after joining the McCain ticket, many scratched their heads. Is that legal? Thanks to a loophole in federal law the answer, experts say, is yes. Handily, the loophole was codified into law by the landmark campaign finance law passed by her ticketmate, Sen. John McCain. It would be illegal for the McCain-Palin campaign to buy a new wardrobe for Palin and her husband, say campaign finance lawyers contacted by ABCNews.com. But the law is silent on whether such purchases can be made by the Republican National Committee (RNC).
“Barely” legal?  Is there such a term?  Isn’t there only legal or illegal?  Can you be “barely” pregnant or “barely” dead?  Honestly, these attempts to sabotage candidates in supposed news articles are just astounding.  And notice the blame attributed to McCain through his sponsorship of the campaign finance reform law.  As if McCain planned to buy a wardrobe for a future running mate and purposely wrote that ability into the law.  As Calculated Risk used to ask, why, oh why, don’t we have a better press corps?

Tax Expert: Palin Has to Declare Clothes (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
I just got off the phone with a well-respected and well-known tax attorney who doesn’t want to be identified. I asked him earlier in the day whether Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin can avoid paying taxes on the $150,000 worth of clothes the RNC bought her, as she and the RNC maintain. (They said the RNC now owns the clothes; she’s just borrowing them.) He said that, after consulting with a number of experts at his prominent firm, he thinks the RNC and Gov. Palin are wrong. “It’s probably not a ‘gift,’” he said… “The consensus view is she would have to count the wardrobe as income at least in the amount of the fair value of the rental of the wardrobe,” he said.
And Obama may owe taxes on the favorable deal he got on his mansion purchase, thanks to Tony Rezko.  Does anyone know how to get in touch with Tapper?  I’d like to tell him about the mansion deal.

Commentary: If Palin didn’t look good, we’d criticize (by Merlene Davis, Lexington Herald-Leader)
I think Palin looks quite good in her clothing, and her hair and makeup are spot-on all the time. So the investment seems to be paying off. Plus — let’s speak frankly, ladies — if Palin appeared at stump location after stump location wearing some of those outfits she was pictured wearing in Alaska, some of us would be talking more about that than about the words coming out of her mouth. You know that.

Alaska funded Palin kids’ travel (AP)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business. The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel… Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor’s children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.

Palin: ‘Women Need Equal Pay For Equal Work,’ Not Just ‘A Talking Point’ (Think Progress)
[Tuesday], Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) held a rally in Henderson, NV, during which she made a direct appeal to women voters. During the speech, she claimed that it was McCain who embraced equal pay for equal work, and charged Obama with underpaying the women on his staff. Discussing the help working women need, Palin declared, “Women also need equal pay for equal work. And not just be a talking point.” It is true the women on McCain’s staff on average make more money than the women on Obama’s staff, but it is because “McCain has more women in senior, higher-paid positions — not that women [on Obama’s staff] are being paid less than men for the same job.” McCain can be rightfully praised for employing women in higher positions, but to claim that Obama pays his staffers unfairly is an outright lie. More importantly, Palin’s claim that working women would have an “advocate” in a McCain-Palin White House requires completely ignoring McCain’s record of opposing equal pay.
So who should we trust, the candidate who opposes legislation on equal pay but has more highly paid women working on his campaign, or the candidate who claims to be in favor of legislation for equal pay (at least I think Obama claims that as his most recent stance on the issue), but who can’t seem to find qualified women for the  highly paid positions in his campaign?

Ripping the Sexism Out of Our News Coverage (by Alegre)
No one should have to endure what Hillary went through in this year’s election. Thankfully, a group of over 100 journalists down in Argentina have laid the foundation to a lot of the work ahead of us here at the Corner… With the help of the Internet, I’m hoping we can encourage our own press and those in the MSM to take some of this to heart when they report on things that affect women and girls right here at home. After all, words have power and they control so much of what’s put out there… [Reporting facts] – protecting the victim or her family – respect.  Folks a lot of this is just journalism 101 here.  Whether it’s a murder, rape, domestic violence or whatever some things are always important in getting the story right, especially if you want to avoid inflicting further harm on innocent people.
Click through for details.

Hatin’ Palin (by Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page)
The stoning of Sarah Palin has exposed enough cultural fissures in American politics to occupy strategists full-time until 2012. We now see there is a left-to-right elite centered in New York, Washington, Hollywood and Silicon Valley who hand down judgments of the nation’s mortals from their perch atop the Bell Curve. It seems only yesterday that the most critical skill in presidential politics was being able to connect to people in places like Bronko’s bar or Saddleback Church. When Gov. Palin showed she excelled at that, the goal posts suddenly moved and the new game was being able to talk the talk in London, Paris, Tehran or Moscow. She looks about a half-step behind Sen. Obama on that learning curve.

Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “Saturday Night Live,” lives on the forward wave of American life. This week he gave his view of Sarah Palin to EW.com: “I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she’s powerful. Her politics aren’t my politics. But you can see that she’s a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she’s had a huge impact. People connect to her.” Uh-oh. Sounds like the cancer could be in remission.

McCain Tries to Push Past Palin Backlash (Washington Post)
Sen. John McCain campaigned across Ohio with Sarah Palin at his side Wednesday, drawing energized crowds of GOP partisans while his campaign dismissed the latest controversy over his running mate as coming from elitists and not representing the opinions of average Americans.
And it’s both the conservative AND the so-called liberal elites who hate her.  Which is one of the reasons I like her.  Would never vote for her, but I like her.

Joe the Plumber has hurt Obama in Florida, new poll finds (McClatchy)
Make way Barack Obama and Sarah Palin — it looks like there’s another polling phenomenon in Florida: The Joe the Plumber Effect.

Obama sees desperation in McCain’s reliance on ‘Joe’ (McClatchy)
GREEN, Ohio — John McCain’s campaign continued to hammer away at Barack Obama’s economic plan Wednesday, with Sarah Palin calling him “Barack the wealth-spreader,” while Obama said their attacks smelled of desperation.
Obama sees desperation everywhere but in his own campaign.  Remember when it was Hillary who was desperate, who was just hanging on by her fingernails, as she rolled over him in the later primaries?

McCain targets `Joe the Plumber’ across Florida (AP)
Republican John McCain is trying to keep Florida from swinging to the Democrats with a cross-state bus tour and a series of “Joe the Plumber” events aimed at blue-collar workers.
McCain obviously has a populist thing going, and that’s why Palin is an asset to him, regardless of what the Washington elites think.

Palin asks: Why did the person with 18 million votes get passed over? (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Good question.

Breaking! The Numbers Don’t Lie (But The DNC Does) (by Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy at No Quarter)
Hot off the presses is this final report from Peniel Cronin, the author of an incredible study, “2008 Democratic Presidential Preference Election: Primary versus Caucus: How millions of voters were systematically disenfranchised and election results were skewed,” available at Dr. Lynette Long’s site, which contains a great deal of information on issues of caucus fraud. Ms. Cronin’s final study, “2008 Democratic Presidential Preference Election: The People’s Vote: Delegate Allocation Per Original Votes Cast” is an eye-opener (and is available at the bottom of this post). No Quarter is quite fortunate that Ms. Cronin is allowing US to break this story! Thank you!!

The bottom line is this – had the RBC not interfered, the difference between the PLEDGED delegates would have been – wait for it – 4 (FOUR). Yes, I said 4. And, while caucuses accounted for only 2.9% of voters, they accounted for over 14% of pledged delegates. Never even mind all of the massive caucus irregularities that benefited one person – Obama. Still, the bottom line difference: 4 delegates, AND Clinton won the popular vote.
Click through to read the entire report.

Study: Media Portrays McCain in “Substantially Negative” Light Compared to Obama (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The Project for Excellence in Journalism looks at the coverage of the two presidential candidates since the conventions and concludes “The media coverage of the race for president has not so much cast Barack Obama in a favorable light as it has portrayed John McCain in a substantially negative one…coverage of McCain has been heavily unfavorable—and has become more so over time.”… The study found that 35% of the stories about Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., were positive, 35% were neutral or mixed, and 29% were negative.

What if? (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
The incomparable Bob Somerby makes a very astute observation: “…[M]ake no mistake: If Clinton had run against McCain this year, this campaign would have been covered quite differently by more than a few major ‘journalists.’” Oh you betcha!… One thing is for sure, the media would still be loving them some straight-talking St. Maverick.  He wouldn’t be old, evil, or racist.  Assuming he had still chosen Sarah Palin she would be considered a smart, reform-minded candidate who was uncorrupted by Washington D.C.  She would also be getting praised as something new and exciting, a conservative, christian feminist.

Florida’s GOP lawmakers blamed for early-voting lines (McClatchy)
Saying early voting cost too much money with rules that weren’t uniform, Republican legislators led a charge three years ago to set new statewide standards limiting the number of polling sites and their hours of operation.

Wired Forum Asks Voters To Report Obstacles At The Polls (American Constitution Society)
It’s not just law and justice policy Web sites that recognize the potential for serious obstacles to a fair vote in the approaching elections. Wired’s Blog Network has launched a forum for voters to report problems they encounter when casting their ballots. The forum includes a map for voters to note the precinct they experienced difficulties. Many voters have already started voting, and the Wired forum includes voters who say they’ve had their eligibility challenged, experienced trouble with voting machines and been forced to use provisional ballots.

U.S. Election Will Cost $5.3 Billion, Center for Responsive Politics Predicts (Capital Eye)
WASHINGTON – The 2008 election for president and Congress is not only one of the most closely watched U.S. elections in years; it’s also the most expensive in history. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics estimates that more than $5.3 billion will go toward financing the federal contests upcoming on Nov. 4. The presidential race alone will cost nearly $2.4 billion, the Center predicts. Already the candidates alone have raised more than $1.5 billion since the election cycle’s start in January 2007. This is the first time that candidates for the White House have raised and spent more than $1 billion, and this year’s total is on track to nearly double candidate fundraising in 2004 and triple 2000.
Public financing of campaigns would stop this insanity.  It’s the only hope we ever have of getting the corruption out of the political process.

Big Donors Still Have Big Influence (by Marie Cocco)
[W]ho will have the new president’s ear — the person who pointed and clicked his way to a $5 donation, or the donor who polished the jewels for the $25,000 fundraising gala?… Last December, he became an original co-sponsor of legislation by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would have fixed the presidential campaign financing system by boosting the sums the two nominees receive. The measure also calls for doubling public funds for a candidate who stays within the system — but who confronts an opponent who has opted out and gained a daunting financial advantage. In other words, Sen. Obama supported a measure that would curtail or eliminate the very advantage Candidate Obama now exploits. Does he still support the Feingold plan? Obama’s campaign says he can’t fix a crumbling system by “embracing it in its broken state.” Once he’s president, spokesman Nick Shapiro says, he’ll keep his commitment.
You mean the way he kept his commitment to accept government funding for THIS campaign?  You mean the way he kept his commitment to stop FISA?  You mean…  Well, you know what I mean.

Um, Ma’am…Why Did You Give the Obama Campaign $174,800? And Did You Know That’s Illegal? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The Washington Post’s Matt Mosk and Sarah Cohen tell the story of Mary Biskup of Manchester, Missouri. Not long ago, the Obama campaign called her to ask why she donated $174,800, which was just $172,500 above the legal limit. “That’s an error,” she said. Biskup told the Post that someone must have use her name but other people’s credit cards to donate the money since no charges ever showed up on her bill. The Obama campaign says they noticed the problem on its own and refunded all the money… The sheer size of the Obama fundraising operation lends itself to this type of error, which is one of the reasons why disclosure and transparency — which the Obama campaign has studiously avoided for contributions under $200 — could have a cleansing “sunlight” affect.

No Riverbend in a Year (by Anglachel)
Riverbend, the author of the blog Baghdad Burning, has not posted for one year… For me, everything that Movement Conservatism has done wrong can be read in Riverbend’s blog. Her careful chronicle of how the normalcy of everyday life melted away is the story of the corrosive effect Bush and his backers have had on the world directly for eight years and in varying levels of intensity since Reagan. Anyone who praises Reagan and the movement he led is praising what has happened to Riverbend, her family, her friends, her country.
And that goes for Barack Obama, who loves to praise Reagan.

Private health insurance in Mass. not living up to hype ( The Grand Rapids Press, thanks to DCblogger at Corrente)
The critics point out a number of worrisome signs. First, the part of the plan that is supposed to get those who supposedly can afford insurance to pony up, is failing — mainly because the cost of the private coverage is so high. The doctors note the lowest-cost plan for a couple in their 50s costs $8,200 annually and includes a $2,000 per person deductible… Meanwhile, the private insurers are making out like bandits. Blue Cross, as the state’s largest insurer, supposedly is acquiring a surplus of more than $1 million each day. It was able to pay its outgoing CEO a $16.4 million retirement bonus. The doctors note the overhead charged by the state’s major insurers is five times higher than in the U.S. Medicare system. So much for the efficiency of private enterprise…

The doctors [who wrote the study that generated this information] calculate that a single-payer plan, “Medicare for all,” instead of this mess, would save the state $9 billion a year… What would it take to have a health financing system in the United States designed to provide you with health care and not to stick its hands into your pockets at every opportunity?
The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, is another hopey-changey candidate marketed by David Axelrod.  He had his “The Candidate” moment, and now his approval rating is much lower than when he was elected.

Obama, race, and Chicago’s schools (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
I’m very proud to have published “The ultimate guide to the Ayers controversy,” a post I did not write. Some have sneered at this work: ”Okay, so Bill Ayers and Barack Obama worked together on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. What does that matter?” The short answer is this: Truth and falsehood matter. Obama claimed that he barely knew terrorist Bill Ayers. Obama lied. NPR and other major media sources insist that McCain lies in his ads, which link Obama and Ayers. Those ads tell the truth; NPR does not. But there’s more to the story; our “ultimate guide” was incomplete. As noted earlier, the CAC — the only program that Obama ever actually ran — was, by its own admission, what the hipsters now call an “epic FAIL.” The (mostly black) youngsters involved with this educational improvement program actually fared worse than did their counterparts outside the program. But the CAC story is not just about failure. It is about race and pseudoscience.
Click through for the rest of the story.

ACORN (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
I did not want to admit it, but facts are facts: ACORN has become a criminal organization. The following video comes from CNN, which many consider biased in favor of Obama: [Click through to watch. Contrary to “facts” posted on Obama’s fight the smears website,] ACORN was indeed part of Project VOTE. Strike down Fact 3. Obama represented ACORN as a lawyer and led training sessions. Strike down Fact 2. Those training sessions also count as a strike against Fact 1. I’m particularly bothered by Brad Friedman’s continuing defense of ACORN. The offenses outlined in CNN’s investigation speak to a systemic attempt to game the election…

Let’s deal in facts, Brad: You make money from your site, and your readers are mostly progs [so-called progressives]. If you stop telling them what they want to hear, you’ll no longer be given exposure in The Guardian or on Air America. You won’t be asked to fill in for the vile Randi Rhodes. Your progressive readers will desert you. You will no longer be able to make a career of your cause. You’ll have to start filling out employment applications at the many fast food restaurants around Hollywood. That’s why you never expressed on your site the disgust you felt when the Kossacks engaged in hyperbolic bashing of Hillary Clinton.

National News Network Misses Major Piece of ACORN Investigation, Group Says (American Constitution Society)
NBC’s reporting on the FBI investigation of ACORN, the nonprofit community organizing group, has failed to note Department of Justice regulations that bar officials from talking about such ongoing investigations.
Sorry, ACS, wrongdoing by employees of DOJ doesn’t excuse ACORN’s actions.

McCain campaign paid Republican operative accused of voter fraud  (The Times, U.K., thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
John McCain paid $175,000 of campaign money to a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states, it has emerged… The documents show that a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the Republican National Committee and the California Republican Party, made the payment to Lincoln Strategy, of which Mr Sproul is the managing partner, for the purposes of “voter registration”. Mr Sproul has been investigated on numerous occasions for preventing Democrats from voting, destroying registration forms and leading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to leach the Democratic vote.

RNC ad: “Lapse in Judgment” (The Real Barack Obama)
The RNC released the new two-minute ad “Lapse in Judgment” October 22, 2008. It revisits Barack Obama’s 20-year-plus relationship with convicted political fixer (and Obama’s personal real estate fairy) Antoin “Tony” Rezko.

Palin Now Much More Media-Accessible Than Biden (by Jake Tapper, Matt Jaffe, and Imtiyaz Delawala at Political Punch, ABC News)
In the first few weeks after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., named Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., as his running mate, the Democratic vice presidential nominee immediately became the most accessible of the four candidates… But that has all changed… It might not be hard to imagine why this has happened. Biden’s proclivity to speak his mind has provided much fodder for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Republicans — as happened this week, when Biden told contributors at a Seattle fundraiser that America’s enemies would “test” a new, young President Barack Obama.

Conversely, while Biden has an apparent embargo against fielding questions from his traveling press corps — and from his supporters — his once-reclusive Republican counterpart, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has become increasingly accessible, perhaps more so than any of the four candidates.

Obama-Loving Haters Flourishing As Well (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
We’ve written about anti-McCain arson and anti-Palin vileness before, but check out the letters written to the Los Angeles Times after Reason’s Matt Welch — no fan of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. – defended McCain from the ludicrous charge he’s a traitor. Welch writes that “nothing really prepared me for the volume and tenor of outrage when I dared suggest in a family newspaper that published reports disputing McCain’s POW heroism were, in my judgment, incorrect.” People are really becoming unhinged out there.

Report: Tierney insisted Philly Inquirer run “The Case for McCain” (Poynter)
The Inquirer endorsed Barack Obama on Sunday, but also ran a dissenting opinion. “Insiders at the paper tell me that was added at the insistence of Brian Tierney (left), a life-long Republican who also happens to be the newspaper’s publisher,” writes former Inky staffer Tom Ferrick. “Probably most of his partners in ownership of the papers are Republicans. So, the temptation would be to please them and go for McCain.”

Newsweek reporter compares covering the campaign to watching bad hotel porn (Poynter)
The scenes are almost always the same, complains Michael Hastings, with none of them too memorable.

Get real! Virtual campaign draws followers
WASHINGTON (AP) – It’s not just Earthbound voters who are intensely following the U.S. presidential campaign: The race also is a hot topic in the virtual world of Second Life. John McCain supporters and Barack Obama supporters – more accurately, the personas they have created -  in Second Life, described on its Web site as “an online, 3D virtual world imagined and created by its residents.” They watch the presidential debates together. They make T-shirts, banners and yard signs. They hold voter registration drives and rally on Capitol Hill.

COPS EYE ‘W.’ ROLE IN TV ANCHOR’S ATTACK (New York Post)
The cameo role of a bubbly, blond TV anchorwoman in the controversial movie “W.” is being looked at as a possible motive in her bloody beating inside her Arkansas home, authorities said [Tuesday]. Investigators are also looking into whether Anne Pressly, 26, was a random victim of a home-invasion robbery or targeted by a stalker… Pressly, who resembles conservative commentator Ann Coulter and has worked at the station since 2004, won a small role in the movie “W.”

Fox News Is Digging Deep to Field an All-Star Lineup
With the re-signing this week of Bill O’Reilly, the most successful host in cable news, to a four-year deal worth more than $10 million a year, the Fox News Channel is starting to resemble the New York Yankees. The channel has sewn up a full lineup of politically outspoken heavy hitters, and the salaries have been eye-popping.

White Powder Sent to NY Times Found to Be Harmless
The lobby of The New York Times’s headquarters in midtown Manhattan was closed for nearly four hours on Wednesday after an employee opened an envelope that contained a suspicious substance, officials at the newspaper said. The authorities determined the substance was not hazardous.

Krugman: “A lot of middle-class Americans are going to find that their middle class-ness has suddenly been taken away from them” (by lambert at Corrente)
In his recent NPR interview. He’s “fairly terrified.” And that’s why I’m so happy that Obama was in there fighting, working the phones to get the big banks the trillion they needed with the Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Obama + Paulson bill. Because it shows he’s willing to help.

It’s a conspiracy, I tell you (by Paul Krugman)
The folks at Crooked Timber are having some fun with right-wing bloggers who say things like this: “Why the crescendo of economic collapse right before the election? Why didn’t the media and congress act just as concerned some time ago or wait until sometime after the election to go into crisis mode?…” But why should we be surprised? Before the 2004 election, there was a lot of talk on the right about how George Soros would engineer a financial crisis to swing the election… Still, these are all marginal people, aren’t they? Saying this kind of thing, surely, would get you shunned by the sensible news media. Except it doesn’t. Just over a month ago the Washington Post gave Donald Luskin, who was one of the main proponents of the Evil Soros Conspiracy theory, space on the front page of its Outlook section to explain that the economy was doing OK.

Dean Baker:

The Recession Is Not Caused by the Credit Crunch!!!!!!!

Paulson Thinks Protectionism for Wall Street Banks Is Okay

China is More than Twice as Rich as the NYT Tells Readers

Robert Samuelson Displays Bad Logic Skills In the Washington Post

NYT Supports House Price Support Program

Bailing Out Homeowners: What Does It Mean?

Stimulus: The World Is Different in October Than it Was In January

Media Matters for America headlines

• ABC’s Wright uncritically reported McCain’s mischaracterization of Obama’s tax plan

• Reporting on McCain health-care plan, USA Today left out projection that progress on uninsured will decline after 2013

• Wash. Times uncritically reported McCain “slamm[ed]” Obama “for supporting higher taxes” without noting Obama’s plans to cut taxes

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette repeated McCain’s claim about Obama’s health-care plan without noting that it’s false

• KSFO’s Rodgers falsely claimed Obama “admits in one of his own books” that he would “stand with the Muslims” against “the Western world”

• Sowell compared Obama to Hitler, Mao, other dictators, and Jim Jones

• Dismissing fundraiser and ignoring McCain’s appearances on radio show, O’Reilly claimed “McCain has nothing to do with G. Gordon Liddy”

• Quinn: “Originally, if you didn’t have land, you didn’t vote, and there was a good reason for it”

• Radio host Grant claimed he had simply “asked” whether Obama spoke before flags with an ” ‘O’ for Obama” — but he later asserted it as fact

• AP ignored McCain’s record in reporting Palin’s attack on Obama’s troop funding vote

• McClatchy uncritically reported McCain claim that Obama “would raise taxes” on Americans like “Joe the Plumber”

• Cunningham guest Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson: “[M]ost black people today are racist”

• Hannity again denounces Obama for comments later echoed by Defense Secretary Gates

• AP uncritically reported Palin’s mischaracterization of Obama’s tax plans

• Savage on Powell endorsement: “The only people who don’t seem to vote based on race are whites of European origin”

• AP, Bloomberg ignored McCain’s reversal on immigration reform

• Boehlert: Drudge unplugged: How his campaign influence has collapsed

Fox’s Chernin Decries FCC Indecency Rulings
Defends TV’s Right to Broadcast Even the Not So Tasteful

AP, Review-Journal ask Nevada high court to rule against OJ judge
The Associated Press and Las Vegas Review-Journal are asking the Nevada Supreme Court to rule that the judge in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery-kidnapping trial improperly withheld jury questionnaires from the public until the trial was over and then censored portions upon release.

Fake Journalist Party Crashers
Party crashers posing as reporters are apparently trying harder to get into swanky events to get a taste of free food, and drinks, and hobnob with influential New Yorkers. About 24 fake journalists tried to get into a recent gala to raise money for poor children this year, compared to the usual five or so. The fakers also pretend to work for city newspapers or national magazines.

Media Owners Face Scrutiny as Economy Weakens
The global financial crisis threatens some of the media’s elite controlling shareholders after a decade of disappointing investment returns, a rise in investor activism, and a chaotic industry transition to the digital age. Media moguls who rose to prominence while keeping a tight grip on control of their empires have lost some cachet on Wall Street in recent years.

Lauren Rich Fine: Newspapers Should Come To Terms With Lower Margins—Then Go Private (by Lauren Rich Fine at Paid Content)
Newspapers are still profitable! In a seasonally small third quarter, McClatchy Co., against all odds, still reported positive net income… Unfortunately, continued ad revenue declines will further erode margins to the point that profitability isn’t assured. Yet, if Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy is as confident as he sounds that newspapers aren’t going out of business and really believes that the majority of the ad declines are cyclical, why isn’t he investing rather than cutting? Presumably, even when there is some form of cyclical recovery, margins for the industry will be dramatically lower than they were during the heyday. I, for one, just hope they are positive as that is good enough for an industry that matters quite a bit beyond just its economics. For an industry that well understands it serves the greater good, come to terms with lower margins. And then go private!

Murdoch Takes Issue With New Michael Wolff Bio
Last year, in the gleeful afterglow of his deal for The Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch agreed to cooperate with Michael Wolff, a columnist at Vanity Fair and a longtime chronicler of the media scene, for a book about Murdoch’s career and family. Now, with about six weeks to go before publication, Murdoch has raised objections with Wolff and his publisher about portions of the book.

Divided Loyalties Seen at Viacom
Media titan Sumner Redstone’s reputation as a stickler for strong corporate governance at Viacom and CBS is coming under fire as his personal problems grow. Media watchers and Wall Street analysts say that a number of key players in Redstone’s empire find themselves potentially conflicted between Redstone’s personal interests and the interests of Viacom shareholders. WSJ: Redstone said Wednesday there’s “not a chance” he’ll sell Viacom Inc. or CBS Corp. to resolve the debt issues facing his family holding company, National Amusements Inc.

“Community newspapers have a very viable future,” says GateHouse publisher
GateHouse Media New England publisher Kirk Davis believes small, community newspapers have a competitive advantage over big metros because their locally focused content isn’t available elsewhere. But Dan Kennedy notes that over the past year, GateHouse New England has eliminated the equivalent of about 50 full-time editorial positions.

Onion News Network has international appeal
LONDON (Hollywood Reporter) – The Onion News Network, an offshoot of the satirical newspaper the Onion, will be available to online viewers across the U.K., Europe and Asia following an exclusive deal Wednesday with digital distributor MyVideoRights.com.

McClatchy CEO Pruitt: We’re Sticking With AP
The McClatchy Co. is not going to the join the chains bolting The Associated Press, chairman and CEO Gary Pruitt told analysts Tuesday. “McClatchy has recently signed a new deal with AP, so we are not part of the group that is giving notice,” Pruitt said in response to a question during a conference call to discuss McClatchy’s third-quarter earnings report.

New York Times Co. Posts Lower Profit
The New York Times Company reported a 51.5 percent decline in third-quarter profit as deeper-than-expected expense cuts could not keep pace with declining revenue.

New York Times Co. considers cutting its dividend
The payout will be reviewed “to determine what is most prudent in light of the overall market conditions,” says Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson. Investor Richard Dorfman says: “If they make a serious cut to the dividend, which I suspect they will, that will negatively impact the stock price and that will negatively impact cash flow among the Ochs-Sulzberger families” who receive $25.1 million a year in dividends.

Hearst Looking at Cuts
Hearst Magazines is trying to trim its cost structure as the publishing industry retrenches in a shrinking economy. President Cathie Black is going “floor by floor” at the Hearst Tower to trim costs — and staff positions — where possible. One title already affected is Harper’s Bazaar, which closed its Los Angeles and San Francisco sales offices on Tuesday.

Tribune’s Sun-Sentinel to print Cox’s Palm Beach Post
The move eliminates about 300 positions in the Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc. production, mailroom and transportation departments.

Unions respond to Singleton’s outsourcing remarks
MediaNews CEO Dean Singleton’s proposal “to wipe out copy desks at newspapers across the country threatens not only hundreds of jobs, but also quality and credibility — values the beleagured newspaper industry needs now more than ever,” says a statement from the Northern California Media Workers Guild, Southern California Media Guild/Local 9400, and the Newspaper Guild-CWA.

Readers Do Care if Their Magazines Are Green
Magazine readers are concerned about the environment and are already taking steps to live more sustainably, according to a survey of Hearst Magazines subscribers aged 13 and up. Almost four out of five respondents agreed that everyone should care about being eco-friendly, the survey found. 43% said they would pay more for a magazine printed on recycled paper.

Unhappy Homemmaker: Martha Feuds With New Co-CEO
A rift is developing between Martha Stewart and the newly crowned co-CEO of her company, Wenda Harris Millard. According to multiple sources close to either Stewart or Millard, the pair isn’t seeing eye-to-eye on a number of operational issues and has not yet “gotten on the same page” since Millard was named co-CEO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in June.

Sirius XM Radio Faces Sky-High Debt
Sirius, which completed a merger with XM Satellite Radio in July, is facing a serious cash squeeze. It has more than $1 billion in debt coming due next year, and it doesn’t have the money, at least not yet. Chief Executive Officer Mel Karmazin has tried to reassure investors that the company will find the necessary funding, but the questions keep coming.

Disney Tries to Keep High School Musical Fresh
As the third installment of the wildly successful High School Musical series hits theaters Friday, Walt Disney Co. is grappling with a generational challenge: how to ensure that one of its hottest properties continues to thrive even as the marquee cast prepares to move on.

Videogame makers bank on sequels
RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) – Sequels may not always match up to the original in Hollywood but videogames can often get better the second or third time around.

The anatomy of the first video game
Fifty years ago, before “Pong” and “Space Invaders,” a nuclear physicist created “Tennis for Two,” a 2-D tennis game that some say was the first video game ever.

20+ Ways to Enjoy the World Series Online (Mashable)
The World Series gets started this evening, featuring the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies. We’ve put together a list of more than 20 resources for enhancing your World Series experience, including real-time updates, pre-and post-game interviews, video replays, statistics and more.

Hulu Tops ESPN and CNN in Sept., According to Nielsen Online
Financial crisis or not, Americans must be entertained, dammit. That could be one reason why the economic downturn has treated Hulu well. The online video site, launched less than a year ago, has made big strides in recent months. In September, Hulu was the 6th most watched video site, clocking in more than 142 million streams.

CBS Books Adventures for Webisodes
CBS Interactive is partnering with Saturn to launch a scripted Web series starring Daphne Zuniga. The company plans eight episodes of Novel Adventures, an online series by Jonathan Prince, the creator of A&E’s The Cleaner and CBS’ Cane. Each episode will be presented for a 48-hour window on CBS.com, TheInsider.com and TV.com and then roll out across the CBS Audience Network.

Movies on Your TV: Netflix Added To Samsung Blu-Ray; CinemaNow and Jaman Added To Tivo (by Rafat Ali at Paid Content)
This movies-from-your-PC-to-your-TV thing might actually be happening, judging from the deals happening….nevermind that the consumer demand hasn’t skyrocketed. Couple of new deals through the pipeline: – Netflix is continuing on its quest to bring its online service to devices, and now it is tying up with Samsung… — Meanwhile, TiVo is also announcing a couple of deals with CinemaNow and Jaman, to allow its users to download and streams their library onto the TV sets connect to the TiVo box.

TiVo Fills Disney Hole with CinemaNow Deal
Beginning next week, most TiVo owners will be able to watch Disney movies that are loaded straight onto the PVR. A separate agreement will load independent films from Jaman.com, beginning Thursday.

Steve Jobs: Online Video in the Living Room a Hobby Market (by Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins at Mashable)
No one in the technology space has truly figured out the living room. So says Steve Jobs… What Jobs fails to realize is that there is significant demand for an engaging livingroom experience which includes digital content. The major telcos and cable companies are currently engaged in a battle for who controls the livingroom experienced, with the telcos attempting to deploy broadband fiber capable of delivering the cable experience, with cable companies trying to horn in on the digital broadband markets while maintaining their position as the dominant provider of livingroom video entertainment. In their efforts to compete, though, no one has apparently had the brainstorm that price is a factor for many (if not most) consumers…

This is the primary reason why Apple hasn’t been able to come up with something that the majority of video consumers would want to put next to their set. Not only are the pricepoints far too high on the devices they do create for these purposes, but they seem to have completely ignored all the variety of ways people use their television for home entertainment… Until companies like Apple stop regarding Internet content creation as a hobby market, they’ll never be able to think in the terms required to pose a serious threat.

Comcast Starts Offering Freaking Fast 50 Mbps Internet Service
With the 50 Mbps connection users will be able to download a high-def movie (about 6 GB) in 16 minutes and a standard-definition movie (about 2 GB) in 5 minutes, says the company. 

Tina Brown on Beast, Diller, and the Elusive Nature of Buzz
“[The Daily Beast] is a completely different model [from HuffPo],” says Brown. “We are commissioning and not just trying to publish every blog that comes in as a post. It’s going through editors. It’s not people posting without an editor, it’s people writing for either a commission or a particular editor. We accept and we reject.”

Yahoo to Cut About 10% of Workers
Yahoo’s third-quarter income fell by 64 percent, to $54 million, and the company said it would lay off about 1,500 workers.

Angry online divorcee ‘kills’ virtual ex-hubby
A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher’s sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday.

NeoEdge Debuts Overlay Ads for Casual Online Games (by Paul Glazowski at Mashable)
Casual gaming on the Web has grown over the past year or so to become a fairly substantial revenue generator. Of course, 2007 figures pegged the burgeoning online market at $2.25 billion to the Halo and WoW-enriched $20 billion for console and PC titles and the like. So, relatively speaking, online games rank somewhat on the small side. But entirely Web-based creations do appear to be worthwhile pursuits all the same. Billions of dollars are hard to ignore, after all. The question consistently on the minds of online entertainment developers remains one of how best to grow. NeoEdge, an ad network specializing in the field of casual games, feels in-game overlays may be one lucrative way to proceed.

Salvation Army tries text donations in Ohio
A pilot program will allow Ohioans to donate to the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Campaign this holiday season by sending a text message to a number posted near 80 kettles in the Columbus area.

Google releases Android open-source code: company
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Google on Tuesday released the open-source code which powers its Android mobile operating system and invited outside programmers to tinker with the software to develop their own features.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Presenting: the 23/6 cheap-ass Halloween costume (23/6)
Stuck for a costume idea this Halloween? Worry no longer. All you need is a pair of scissors, a piece of string, and an overweening disregard for evolution and birth control. It’s the official23/6 Scary Mask, and it’s available for download, absolutely free! Click [here] to download a PDF, suitable for wearing, framing or setting on fire.
Provided as a public service, since the Halloween mask makers weren’t able to get Sarah masks out in time.  But honestly, she’s less scary to me than Barack.

Press Release: Obama & DNC admit all allegations in Berg v. Obama
(Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania – 10/21/08) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States, announced today that Obama and tbe DNC “ADMITTED”, by way of failure to timely respond to Requests for Admissions, all of the numerous specific requests in the Federal lawsuit. Obama is “NOT QUALIFIED” to be President and therefore Obama must immediately withdraw his candidacy for President and the DNC shall substitute a qualified candidate. The case is Berg v. Obama, No. 08-cv-04083.
Click through to read the list of allegations that have not been answered.

Lahde Quits Hedge Funds, Thanks `Idiots’ for Success (Bloomberg)
Andrew Lahde, the hedge-fund manager who quit after posting an 870 percent gain last year, said farewell to clients… ”I was in this game for money,” Lahde, 37, wrote in a two-page letter today in which he said he had come to hate the hedge-fund business. ”The low-hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other sides of my trades. God Bless America.”
In an aristocracy, you have incompetent people put in charge of things just because they’re related to someone with power.  This kind of favoritism is what destroyed the Roman Republic and then the Roman Empire.  It destroyed France, leading to the French Revolution.  It destroyed the British Empire.  It led to revolutions in Russia and in China.  Why are we letting it happen here?

One of the reasons I like some of the contest- type reality TV shows is that they provide a way of getting recognition for people who might never receive any because of ossified and political structures designed to keep upstarts from ridiculous places like Lucky, LA and Moline, IL from interfering with the assumed natural rights of the children of the already powerful.

Barack Obama wasn’t born into the aristocracy, but has been made an honorary member.  All his life, he has been coddled by powerful people who were willing to help him further his ambitions.  And that makes him way too much like George Bush for me to be comfortable with the thought of his become president.

The Aura of Mr. Smooth (by Dennis Byrne, Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist)
We are about to elect a president because of how he makes us feel, not how he makes us think. That says a bundle about an undemanding electorate. Yes, Obama has policies, and he enunciates them eloquently, and a lot of people support them; but notice is mostly taken of his delivery, not of his substance… Having aura is fine, but electing a president based on whether he or she possesses it shows curious understanding of how democracy is supposed to work.
From a commenter named spaceman: that was just a totally racist article. i bet this guys first name isnt even dennis and lets find out how much bak taxes he owes. lets get this racist
My comment: Actually, the last candidate who was elected because of feelings about him, rather than actual accomplishments, was George W. Bush. And look at how THAT turned out.  Back in 2000, people like spaceman were calling us communists for supporting Al Gore. Now they’re calling us racists for refusing to support an arrogant empty suit who happens to have light brown skin. I’m sure it’s the same people. 

What is Biden talking about? (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
What the hell is Joe Biden talking about? “‘Mark my words,’ the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. ‘It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama..’”… How does this statement not argue for John McCain being elected? If the “world” is going to throw something at us – why not have the guy who has already been tested in office? A side note: Palin said to a CNN interviewer that ”If I had said that you would have clobbered me.” The CNN reporter said “You’re right.”

Strange days, indeed… (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Something’s comin’, something bad… Biden pretty much admits that Obama’s response will piss off the Democratic base. I’m thinking military action against Iran after a terror strike on U.S. soil. That’s just a guess. In all likelihood, the Republicans also know what this “something” is. Maybe that’s why the Republicans aren’t even trying to win this thing. Better it should happen on the Democrats’ watch.

Joe Biden: Huh?! (by madamab at The Confluence)
Here’s what Joe is saying:
1) If you elect John McCain, the international community won’t be “testing” him. But if you elect Barack Obama, you’re going to have an international crisis within the first six months.
2) You’re not going to like what we do in response, but you should support us anyway, and make sure all your friends do also. In fact, no one is going to like it, and that’s what makes it right.
3) And the economy is going to suck too, so get ready for the tax hike. (Toldja!)
I must repeat, HUH?… Does the Vice Presidential nominee not remember how Bush and Cheney used this type of fearmongering against John Kerry in 2004, to great effect?… I wanna know what is in that Kool-Aid, because it’s apparently turning Joe Biden into Dick Cheney.

The Press Covering For Biden is Frightening (by masslib at Alegre’s Corner)
A few days ago, Joe Biden insisted that if elected, we WILL face a major crisis, because our enemies will want to test Barack Obama. This is relevant information for the voters… Check out the front page of the New York times or the Washington Post today. They didn’t report the story. Imagine if Palin had asserted what Biden has, but about McCain. Do you think the press would not have reported it? Frankly, that’s frightening. There is bias and favoritism and then there is the complete abdication of the responsibility of a free press. To not report Joe Biden’s stunning proclamation to the electorate falls in the latter category. This isn’t about Obama, and it’s not about McCain. It’s about us. The voters have a right to know the views and expressed opinions of those running for office. This isn’t right, it isn’t even wrong. It’s dangerous.

Obama up by double digits, but there’s still some vulnerability (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Barack Obama leads John McCain by every measure, a new Pew Research Poll found Tuesday, but Obama could still be vulnerable. Nearly three-fourths say McCain is well-qualified, while 53 percent see Obama that way. And 23 percent of the electorate are considered swing voters. The poll found ” Swing voters are less likely than all voters to say that McCain would continue Bush’s policies and more likely to express confidence in McCain than Obama to handle national security issues. ” Nevertheless, Obama, the Democratic nominee, is up 52-38 percent among registered voters and 53-39 among those most likely to vote.

The Power We Are About to Inherit (by paradox at The Left Coaster)
Booman at Booman Tribune raises a point in a post about realignment that has been on my mind a lot lately: if the Presidential and Congressional races turn out as currently forecast, will the Democrats truly be unaware of their mandate for change and reach for too little?
My comment: HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. HA ha ha ha ha ha ha. If we wanted a DEMOCRAT as president, we would have nominated Hillary Clinton, not Barack Obama.

Well, that’s done … (by Sarah at Corrente)
Didn’t vote the straight ticket after all.
Be careful about writing in Hillary’s name, though.  In some states it may end up being counted as a vote for someone else.  Check your state’s rules at WriteHillaryIn.com.

Our long national nightmare isn’t over (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
Election day is two weeks from today, but we already lost. Seriously, no matter who wins on November 4th, we lost…  I have no illusions about John McCain.  He will be a bad choice, and the best we can expect is that he will be a mediocre President during a time of crisis. But Barack Obama is worse.  He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, with an empty resume and the worst traits of George W. Bush.  His election will be a setback for liberal politics and a disaster for the Democratic party.  He will cause Democrats to lose seats in Congress (and possibly control of the Senate) in 2010 and will allow the GOP to retake the White House in 2012.  We can expect four years of gridlock, scandals, right-of-center policies, ineffective crisis management and a failed Presidency.

Obama Started Month With Huge Money Edge (Political Wire)
Sen. Barack Obama began October with nearly $134 million in the bank, the AP reports. In contrast, Sen. John McCain started the final stretch of the campaign with $47 million. “Both candidates are also getting help from their respective parties. The DNC had $27.4 million in hand at the end of the month. The RNC said it had $77 million. That helps close the gap, but Democrats still hold a considerable $37 million advantage.” Key point: “Obama’s $5 million-a-day fundraising rate has likely continued in October and will widen the financial gap between the two sides.”
So why isn’t Obama farther ahead?  And why is he planning to charge the media for access to his election night party?  See below.

Obama campaign selling Chicago election night coverage packages to news outlets (by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times, thanks to LisaB at No Quarter)
WASHINGTON—The Obama campaign is putting a hefty price tag on the best camera and reporting positions for news organizations covering Barack Obama’s outdoor election night activities in downtown Chicago. If a reporter wants access to the file center–which will be the best place to find Obama officials and spokesmen–be prepared to write a check for $935. The cheapest place a reporter could stand on a riser with a view is $880. That $935 covers one reporter in a heated file tent, power, cable tv, internet and food. I am told by an Obama spokesman who did not want his name used that this just covers costs and they are not turning a profit on this. The planners could have built in more al a carte options for Grant Park coverage. This is an outrageous pay to play plan that caters to national elite outlets with deep pockets.

$600 Million, $150 Million in September alone (by NewHampster at No Quarter)
Why does nobody ask where the money goes? I know a ton of money goes to staff, facilities and Bambi One. What I don’t know how to find but would like to know is what that $600,000,000 is really buying or can be perceived to be buying. This is where my great Internet sleuthing skills have hit a brick wall.
• I want to know how much Obama has spent with NBC as compared to McCain?
• I want to know how much Obama has spent with CNN, ABC, CBS as compared to McCain?
• Heck, I want to know how much Obama has spent with The New York Times and WAPO as compared to McCain?
• How much has Obama spent on Huffington and Politico as compared to McCain?
• How much has Obama paid for the love he gets from the media?
• I wouldn’t ask how much has Obama given out in bribes to each network as that would be a racist thought.

Big Donors Driving Obama’s Money Edge (Washington Post)
Lost in the attention given to Obama’s Internet surge is that only a quarter of the $600 million he has raised has come from donors who made contributions of $200 or less, according to a review of his FEC reports. That is actually slightly less, as a percentage, than President Bush raised in small donations during his 2004 race, although Obama has pulled from a far larger number of donors. In 2004, the Bush campaign claimed more than 2 million donors, while the Obama campaign claims to have collected its total from more than 3.1 million individuals.

Wednesday: Joe the Plumber- To the Barricades! (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
RD the Chemist here.  This is not the first time in history that the average Joe has been told to give up and accept his fate.  It’s not the first time that the people have resisted either… It was Tito the Construction Worker who put his finger on the problem: “Someone asked why Munoz had come to the rally. ‘I support McCain, but I’ve come to face you guys [members of the media] because I’m disgusted with you guys,’ he said. ‘Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong?… I am Joe the Plumber!” Munoz chimed in. “You’re attacking me.”

Let us review all of the lovely things the media has brought us in the past 15 years, shall we?
• Whitewater
• Paula Jones
• Travelgate
• Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
• Rose Law Firm Billing Records
• Ken Starr
• Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America
• Monica Lewinsky
• Impeachment of Bill Clinton
• 12 years of Movement Conservatives in Congress
• George Bush (2000)
• Code Orange after 9/11
• George Bush (2004)
• Iraq War II and over 4000 dead
• The intentional neglect of Valerie Plame’s outting by a sitting VP
• *NO* impeachment of George Bush
• The trashing of Hillary Clinton
• Coverup of the manipulation of the Democratic primaries and delegates
• Unchecked misogyny in the service of their chosen candidate…

It is time we took control of our lives back from the people whose goal is to manipulate our perceptions.  We must trust one another and resist the power of the media narrative.  When we put them back in their place, we’ll be back in charge of our own lives for the first time in 15 years. To the barricades!

CREEPING ANDREW SULLIVANISM: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
Then we have the astounding Josh Marshall… “I don’t think there’s any question that McCain’s is the dirtiest and most dishonest campaign, certainly in the last 35 years and possibly going much further back into the early 20th century.”… Is the current campaign “the most dishonest” of the past 35 years? For a liberal or a Democrat, it’s insane to address that question without discussing the twenty-month War Against Gore—and yes, Josh understands that fact (link below). But Josh is making himself a career—and he’s willing to disinform you to do it. Within the Village, you become a Very Serious Person by disappearing what the Villagers did for twenty straight months during Campaign 2000… The biggest mistake we’ve made in ten years was letting Josh slide in 2002, when he began to lie in your faces about the shape of that campaign… [H]e is emerging as the Sully of the pseudo-left. It’s long past time for this weird, creepy man to pack his satchel and go.

Sullied (by Anglachel)
The Incomparable Bob Somerby [see above] … talks about the broken soul of emerging “progressive” culture, insults from transparent strivers, the frantic desire to become a Very Serious Person, the pseudo-left… His focus is on the blogosphere and the straightforward lies of people like Marshall, Yglesias, Markos, Kevin Drum, Hamsher, Huffington, Atrios, Steve Benen, and Digby, the people who started exactly in the same place as Somerby (well, not Arianna) and who all of them, every last lying scumbag one, found out that the way to get invited onto TV, interviewed in big name news papers, sucked up to by political campaigns, was to join in the defamation of the Clinton/Gore administration.

It is more important to this group of the wanna-be punditocracy to be seen beating up that administration than to be critical of any Republican one. As we have seen over the last year, it is also more important to the Unity Democrats to defame these people than to actually unify the party into an electoral super-majority… To me, as I have been writing for months, the key lies with the psychosis of the Stevensonian crowd, who hate all things white and southern and who have seized the presence of racism (real and imagined) as the source of evil in the body politic. No lie is too much, no threat of violence too far, no manipulation of the process too crude in the Battle Against the Bubbas.

This is why we have the weird opposition to McCain and Palin, almost identical to the trashing of Hillary, focusing on racism and social status to the exclusion of substance. It can work if you have already decided that the poor and working class as such are not worthy of political representation. Exactly in the way that the Republicans have tried to make urban black populations stand in for everyone below upper middle class, trying to sully programs for lower classes by forcing programs benefitting those classes into grotesque blackface, now the Democrats are coming at this group from the other side, whitewashing their own class bigotry with the specter of the KKK.

Josh Marshall (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)

[A] link [in Somerby’s post] goes to this Marshall quote: “…I think deep down most reporters just have contempt for Al Gore. I don’t even think it’s dislike. It’s more like a disdain and contempt…And this was, you know, a year-and-a-half before the election, I think you could say this. This wasn’t something that happened because he ran a bad campaign. If he did, it was something that predated it.” Marshall here implies, but does not actually admit, his membership in that pack of Gore-haters. Hmmm. Contempt for Al Gore in the 2000 election. How well did that attitude work out for the country? Now Marshall — like others within the reportorial elite that once held Al Gore in such contempt — makes no secret for his love of all things Obama, and his hatred of all things Clinton.

History made the Gore-haters look foolish. History will have an even harsher judgment of the journalists and bloggers who demonized Hillary and gave us the cult of the Lightbringer.

You may not like Obama’s tax plan, but it’s not socialism (McClatchy)
ST. CHARLES, Mo. — “Make no mistake,” Republican activist John Hancock told a John McCain rally in this St. Louis suburb, “this campaign is a referendum on socialism.” Republicans have been pounding that theme in recent days, even though Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama doesn’t fit the definition of a socialist… Favoring higher tax rates for the wealthy than for the less fortunate isn’t socialism, and if it is, then the U.S. has been a socialist country for nearly a century, under both Democrats and Republicans… Socialism involves state ownership of the means of economic production and state-directed sharing of the wealth.
Now THAT’s reporting.

Big Labor Robocall: ‘John McCain Has Gotten Us Into This Economic Crisis’ (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The AFL-CIO’s “Working America” is running a robocall attacking Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in battleground states Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Talking Points Memo reports. “‘…John McCain has gotten us into this economic crisis.  He supported sending our jobs overseas, and he supported getting rid of the rules for the fat cats on Wall Street.  In the meantime, he has done nothing to help struggling families on Main Street.  Now he wants to continue the same failed policies.’” John McCain has gotten us into this economic crisis? That’s so spurious I don’t even know where to start.
And that, too, is real reporting.

Palin to CNN: One part of USA not more patriotic than another (On Politics, USA Today)
CNN has released a transcript of Drew Griffin’s interview with Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Asked about her recent comments about patriotic values in “the real America” and the “pro-America areas of this great nation,” she explained why she made them and apologized: “I do not want that misunderstood. When I go to these rallies, and we see the patriotism just shining through, these people’s faces and the Vietnam veterans wearing their hats so proudly, and they have tears in their eyes as we sing our national anthem and — it is so inspiring. And I say that this is true America. You get it, you understand how important it is that in the next four years we have a leader who will fight for you. I certainly don’t want that interpreted as one area being more patriotic or more American than another. If that’s the way it has come across, I apologize.”

RNC Launches Small Database of Small Donors (Capital Eye)
Looking for more ways to prove their party’s transparency and question Sen. Barack Obama’s commitment to full disclosure, the Republican National Committee launched a new website today with a searchable database of unitemized RNC donors from the time Sen. John McCain became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Unitemized donors-those individuals giving $200 or less-usually remain nameless, because federal fundraising laws do not require candidates to identify these contributors in their reports to the Federal Election Commission. Last June, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, along with seven other watchdog groups, requested that the McCain and Obama campaigns release more information about these small donors. The McCain campaign made some improvements to a database on its website, but the Obama campaign never responded to the request. 

More Than a Two-Person Race (FAIR)
While the major-party race for the White House has been the subject of broad media attention for more than a year, the corporate media have mostly ignored at least four substantial third-party and independent candidates for the presidency. Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney and Libertarian candidate Bob Barr are both former congressmembers from the state of Georgia. Their presence in the White House race, along with independent candidate Ralph Nader and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, would seem to present an interesting counterpoint to the major-party race between Barack Obama and John McCain. While the corporate press has apparently decided that the differences between Obama and McCain are more or less the only political opinions worth exploring this election season, the third-party and independent candidates take positions on issues like drug war policy, Israel-Palestine, civil liberties and military intervention that differ markedly from the views of either major-party candidate.Obama to Appear on SNL on Weekend Before Election? (MollyGood)
In the wake of an awkward and unnecessary Sarah Palin appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend, news comes that Lorne Michaels, who recently donated $4,600 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, may have coaxed the Illinois senator into appearing on SNL the Saturday before the election.

Bachmann: It’s All Chris Matthews’ Fault! ‘He Laid A Trap, And I Walked Into It’ (Think Progress)
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is still on the defensive from an appearance last Friday on MSNBC’s Hardball, in which she called for the media to conduct a “penetrating exposé” into anti-American views of members of Congress. Speaking with the St. Cloud Times on Tuesday, Bachmann said she regretted suggesting that Barack Obama held “anti-American” views. Referencing Chris Matthews by name 12 times in a 6 minute interview, Bachmann portrayed herself as the victim of a clever ploy devised by the MSNBC host… Bachmann concluded the interview by circling back to where she began: “I didn’t bring the word choice up. That was Chris Matthews who brought the word choice up. Unfortunately, like I said, I walked into a trap.”
Click through to watch the video.

Time’s Joe Klein Banned From McCain’s Plane (Politico)
Time columnist Joe Klein, who’s been a forceful critic of the McCain campaign, has found himself without a seat on the McCain or Palin planes the past four months. In June, Klein was kept from boarding the McCain plane over what they said had been a security issue. More recently, when trying to fly on the Palin plane last week, the campaign’s response was he “couldn’t be accommodated at this time.”

Is Peggy Noonan the Best Columnist in America? (by Tunku Varadarajan, Forbes)
It says much for Rupert Murdoch’s instincts as a newspaperman that, soon after he started to run the Journal, Peggy Noonan’s column was plucked from the backwaters of the Weekend section and enthroned on the paper’s op-ed page. It is now the best op-ed column in America. Peggy is writing the prose of her life.
Has she stopped talking about magic dolphins?

Writer Lied Intentionally, Times Says (Gawker)
The New York Times ran a special editors’ note … accusing one of its freelancers of twisting the truth “to fit his theme, contrary to the Times’ standards of integrity.” The writer, Paul Burnham Finney, apparently distorted an American Psychological Association survey to reflect his article’s thesis that business travel and the Wall Street meltdown are stressing people out.

ACTION: Tell NBC to Replace Russert With a Woman (by Alegre)
NBC announced recently that they would name Tim Russert’s replacement as moderator of Meet the Press some time between next month’s elections and early December.  Ya know who’s in the running?  Chuck Todd and David Gregory.  Why rock the boat when you can keep the moderator’s chair in the boys club by naming another white guy eh? Well there’s a new group in town and its sole focus is to lobby NBC to replace Russert with a woman and/or a person of color (DontLetNBCDisWomen.org).  In case you haven’t noticed, all five of the Sunday morning talk shows are moderated by white males (Tom Brokaw, Bob Schieffer, George Stephanopoulos, Wolf Blitzer, and Chris Wallace).  Not a woman or person of color in the club.  Well this new effort aims to shake things up a bit.

I checked out the website and found this interesting factoid… “In 1947, journalist Martha Roundtree created ‘Meet the Press’ and served as the first moderator. She has been the only female moderator in the 60 year history of the program.”
Click through for information on taking action.

Finally, a bus I’m not under (by vastleft at Corrente )
The Atheist Bus.

Eugene Jarecki on “The American Way of War: Guided Missiles, Misguided Men, and a Republic in Peril” (Democracy Now)
Election Day is two weeks away, and this year may see one of the highest voter turnouts in US history. But filmmaker and author Eugene Jarecki argues that while voting is essential, it is not enough. He writes, “Unless we see our vote as part of a commitment to involve ourselves consistently and unrelentingly in the political process, our vote is wasted. This is because the forces that have led us to this economic, military, and political precipice exert such awesome power over the mechanics of Washington that no single candidate or group of legislators, whatever their intentions, can possibly go up against them unless armed with an irrepressible public mandate.”

If They’re Too Big To Fail, They’re Too Big Period (by Robert Reich)
According to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, the biggest Wall Street banks now getting money from the government are just “too big to fail.” Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke uses a different euphemism – he calls them “systemically critical.” The point is that if any of them goes down, it could take the whole financial system with it. So we taxpayers have to keep them up. We’re hearing the same argument elsewhere in Washington for saving General Motors. It’s just “too big to fail.” So Congress is considering a bailout that would keep GM afloat and sweeten a merger between GM and Chrysler.

Pardon me for asking, but if a company is too big to fail, maybe – just maybe – it’s too big, period. We used to have public policies to prevent companies from getting too big. Does anyone remember antitrust laws? Somewhere along the line policymakers decided that antitrust would only be used where there was evidence a company had so much market power it could keep prices higher than otherwise.

Wal-mart: Scenes from the Economic Front Lines (by Paul Kedrosky, thanks to Economist’s View)
Wal-mart is like the Bureau of Economic Analyst of retail: It has all the data you wish you had about what’s going on in the economy, plus more — and it has it all in realtime. With that in mind, here are some alternately choice and concerning nuggets from a speech today by the company’s president in Los Angeles:
• Credit is declining as a form of payment at Wal-mart. It will be down double-digits this year, he said.
• Spending spikes around pay periods have become much more pronounced, implying that many Wal-mart shoppers are living check-to-check.
• For the first time the company is seeing a paycheck-related spike in purchases of baby formula, suggesting some real teetering out there.

In Sour Economy, Some Scale Back on Medications (New York Times)
As people respond to hard times by juggling the cost of necessities, drugs sometimes have to wait.

Homeless numbers ‘alarming’ (USA Today)
More families with children are becoming homeless as they face mounting economic pressures, including mortgage foreclosures, according to a USA TODAY survey of a dozen of the largest cities in the nation. Local authorities say the number of families seeking help has risen in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Seattle and Washington.

Executive compensation rules in Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Obama + Paulson trillion dollar bailout completely toothless (by lambert at Corrente)
Bloomberg: “[Goldman Sachs executives Blankfein, Cohn, Winkelried and Viniar] are among the executives whose compensation will be subject to new Treasury-imposed standards, although none of these rules is likely to make a material difference to pay practices at Goldman. While the company won’t be able to take tax deductions on salaries exceeding $500,000, bonuses that make up the majority of Goldman executives’ pay won’t be affected.”… It’s really just theft, isn’t it? Open, outright, shameless theft. Right out there in broad daylight.

Bailout Sleuth

Merrill Lynch executive to get $10 million golden parachute as company slashes 500 jobs. (Think Progress)
Merrill Lynch executive vice president Peter Kraus “is likely to leave with more than $10 million in compensation” after the company was bought by Bank of America last month. “He isn’t affected by a provision in the government’s rescue plan that curbs executive compensation, a person familiar with the situation said,” the Wall Street Journal noted. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Merrill Lynch “plans to cut about 500 jobs in its trading division as Chief Executive Officer John Thain shrinks the workforce to gird for a recession.”

Fed would grant up to $540B to money market funds (AP)
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it will provide up to $540 billion in financing to bolster the money market mutual fund industry, its latest effort to get credit flowing more freely again. The Fed’s new program, called the Money Market Investor Funding Facility, will be used to support a private-sector initiative designed to provide liquidity, or cash, to money market investors. The Fed plans to back purchases of short-term debt including certificates of deposit and commercial paper that expire in three months or less from money market mutual funds. The funds are large buyers of commercial paper and CDs, which historically are considered safe investments. However, the credit crisis, which took a turn for the worse last month, has put money market mutual funds under pressure as skittish investors demand withdrawals.

Estimates for credit swaps as high as $62 trillion (Seattle Times, thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
NEW YORK — One festering problem that led to the financial meltdown hasn’t been addressed yet: credit-default swaps. The swaps — which were intended either as insurance on debt or side bets, depending on the buyer — are completely unregulated, prone to sloppy documentation and traded without a central clearinghouse. Sound bad? Here’s worse: No one knows how big the market is. Estimates range as high as $62 trillion.

Fearing a Drought of Aid (Washington Post)
President Bush, who has made international aid a cornerstone of his foreign policy, warned yesterday against cutting U.S. assistance to impoverished nations in the midst of the financial turmoil sweeping Wall Street and Main Street, arguing that doing so would undermine America’s economy, national security and moral authority.

Official Portraits Draw Skeptical Gaze (Washington Post )
Cost to Taxpayers Varies but Can Reach Nearly $50,000  

Protester attempts citizen’s arrest of Karl Rove in San Francisco. (Think Progress)
During an event in San Francisco Tuesday morning, a protester tried to “smack handcuffs on Karl Rove, but Rove slapped back, and the woman was taken off stage.”… When Rove complained of negative campaign tactics by Democrats, his co-panelist — former Sen. Majority Leader George Mitchell — quipped, “I have to say, I feel like Dorothy in the Land of Oz hearing you lecture about negative campaigns by others.”
Click through to watch the video.

San Francisco weighs decriminalizing prostitution  (AP)
n this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K—a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Quinn and Tennent: Powell endorsed Obama because “he’s tired of being called an Oreo,” “an Uncle Tom”

• Buchanan overstates Democratic support for Alito and Roberts on Supreme Court confirmation votes

• Politico repeated Cindy McCain’s comment about troop-funding vote without noting her husband’s own vote

• Quinn falsely claimed most average-income bus drivers, teachers, and autoworkers “don’t pay any taxes”

• LA Times, Chicago Tribune uncritically reported McCain’s misrepresentation of Obama’s tax plan

• NBC reported on FBI’s ACORN investigation, but not on DOJ regulations prohibiting leaks

• Hume furthered capital gains tax assertion disputed by economists

• MSNBC, CNN anchors baselessly suggested Obama is prematurely “measuring the drapes” for the White House

• Wash. Post reported that McCain campaign manager warned of “rampant voter fraud,” but not that illegal votes are almost never cast

• USA Today cited “accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression” but omitted examples of voter suppression

• Wash. Post uncritically reported McCain’s attack on Obama for “wanting to raise taxes” on Americans like Joe the Plumber

• Selectively citing Gallup poll’s findings, Morning Joe joined Drudge Report in touting “Gallup shock”

• KSFO’s Rodgers said many “professed leaders of the feminist movement” are “hags” who “couldn’t get laid in a men’s prison”

Post-Partisan Reflection: Has the Election Changed the Way We Receive News?
The saga of Hillary, Obama, Palin, and McCain has been a boon to news and political Web sites, which have seen audience numbers balloon as the 2008 presidential election has unfolded. What happens after America’s favorite obsession is satisfied on Nov. 4? While a drop-off is expected, many publishers say this period of intense interest has likely converted many to online-news junkie status for good.

Accused Guns ’N Roses leaker pleads guilty
A blogger accused of leaking songs from the long-delayed Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” has pleaded not guilty to violating federal copyright laws.

Death Of Old Media Exaggerated, They Have At Least Five Years Left (Paid Content)
Not the ringingest of endorsements from PriceWaterhouseCoopers: traditional media are not dead yet… because their consumers are not dead yet. Analyst Marcel Fenez (via Press Gazette): “One of the things we need to get into context here is that traditional media isn’t dead yet and won’t be for the next five years. It’s very important to think why. The over-50s are helping to sustain traditional media, and also in many of the emerging markets there is still plenty of room for traditional media. The death of traditional media is exaggerated, at least in a five-year context.” So media forecasting becomes mortality prediction. On that basis, assuming advances in healthcare continue to extend human lifespans, “traditional” media may even be around for more than five years. Although digital ad spend will grow 11 times faster than print up to 2012, it will still only be 10 percent that in newspapers, Fenez said. 

MediaNews CEO Singleton: Consolidating Newsrooms, Outsourcing Could Equal Survival (Paid Content)
MediaNews Group CEO Dean Singleton told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Monday that his company is exploring outsourcing almost across the board, including the possibility of a single news desk for the company that could be offshore. But, according to the AP, he said no decisions have been made yet about moving editorial functions overseas although most of the pre-production for the California papers is done in India. That move cut costs by 65 percent. He said local editors would maintain control and no page would go to press sans local approval. Singleton, who is also chairman of the AP board, also “talked about outsourcing delivery of newspapers, relying more intensely on syndicates for non-local news, and moving circulation call centers offshore.”
InsightAnalytical on MediaNews Group: “According to their site, … ‘Our corporate mission is to be the leading provider of local news, information and services in our strategically located markets by continually expanding and leveraging our news gathering resources.’  ‘Leveraging,’ at least here in southern NM, seems to mean cookie-cutter content with a smattering of local stories and press releases about clubs and entertainment listings.”

AP Insurrection Grows
What had been a minor newspaper rebellion against the AP suddenly grew much more serious last week, when the Tribune Company, one of the largest newspaper chains, said on Thursday that it would drop out of the association, followed by The Columbus Dispatch’s announcement of the same. A handful of papers have made the same move over the last few months, but with the exception of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, they were relatively small.

WSJ Circ Flat, But That’s Fine
Next Monday, The Wall Street Journal, now under Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., will report that its daily circulation based on a Monday through Friday average for the six months ending September 2008 will be flat. However, that is a lot to be positive about when the industry’s overall numbers are broken out.

Controversial Magazine-Sharing Site Mygazines Folds
Just weeks after settling a lawsuit with dozens of publishers, Mygazines, the controversial Web site that allowed users to share digital copies of hundreds of magazines, has closed. According to a note posted on the Mygazines homepage, “monetary reasons” and “the state of the global economy” caused the site’s collapse. “We simply ran out of funds to support the daily operations.”

Radio Gaining Audience — But Not Ad Revenue
Radio is gaining audience, according to a new study, but more listeners are not doing much to boost radio’s fortunes. Industry revenue has been largely flat to down in the past five years due to the gradual migration of listeners to MP3 players and online radio — not to mention advertisers’ simultaneous migration to other niche media such as cable TV, web portals and, to a smaller extent, satellite radio.

Universal Studios Discusses Sale of a Film Unit
Universal Studios is in advanced talks to sell one of its two specialty film labels to Relativity Media, a private production and financing company.

Rather wouldn’t be surprised to see a network dump the evening news
“I’m not predicting it, but I would not be surprised to see one or more of the major over-the-airways networks do away with evening news as we know it,” says Dan Rather. “Having said that I believe someone, at least some one, will stay in that business.”

Crisis Makes Suze Orman a Star
The financial crisis is sinking stocks around the globe, but it’s raising Suze Orman’s stock on Madison Avenue. And her sudden stardom is raising some eyebrows. At a time when the public is frightened, and hungry for help with personal finances, Orman is the best-known personal-finance adviser out there.

‘Sunday Night Football’ Ratings Decline for Fourth Week
Rash Report: Maybe NBC Should Consider Putting Sarah Palin in the Booth

Tom Group, NBA Partner On Chinese Web Sites; Free Live Games Online Daily During Regular Season (Paid Content)
The NBA’s digital reach in China is getting a Yao Ming-sized boost from a new deal with Tom Group. The multi-year pact between NBA China and Tom Group means expanded content for NBA.com/China, NBA.com/Taiwan and NBA.com/Hongkong. The China and HongKong siteswill show a live NBA game every day of the regular season—free, with play-by-play in Chinese. Other aspects include live halftime highlights in real time; social network features; personalization; and—a first for Asia—a live daily half-hour highlight show produced by Tom for all three sites and as a prime-time show on CETV. Tom claims 100 million users, 200 million wireless users and 70 million TOM-Skype users

Telemundo, Televisa Ink Digital Distribution Deal in Mexico; Univision Still Outside Looking In (Paid Content)
Televisa can now distribute original programs from NBCU’s Telemundo across all of its digital and wireless platforms in Mexico: the heavily-trafficked esmas.com.mx entertainment portal, streaming video and VOD Websites, as well as its Esmas Movil mobile content platform, Variety reports. The deal fleshes out a strategic partnership the two companies announced in March, which let Televisa port Telemundo’s shows to its on-air channel Canal 9. But it also leaves estranged Televisa partner Univision on the outside looking in yet again, as the NY-based Spanish media giant lost the broadcasting rights to (and the resulting ad revenue from) a series of Mexico’s premiere soccer games in September. Televisa gave Telemundo the rights when the contract expired. The bad blood between the two companies will likely come to a head in January, when their long-standing legal battle over royalties and a 25-year-long contract that Televisa wants out of actually goes to court. 

Oprah Goes Bilingual
Chicago-based Harpo Productions says The Oprah Winfrey Show is being made available in Spanish through Secondary Audio Programming and closed captioning. The Spanish-language offerings launched Monday in the country’s six largest Hispanic TV markets, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Houston, and Dallas. More cities are expected to be added this season.

BBC Unveils Regional Shakeup
The BBC has announced a radical blueprint that involves shifting the production of many of its flagship shows outside London. The plan, which has led to uproar in certain sections of the U.K. media but is supported by independent producers’ lobby group Pact, is part of the pubcaster’s strategy to make half of network TV shows beyond London by 2016.

Telemundo to Cut 5% of Jobs
NBC Universal’s Spanish-language television division, Telemundo, is whittling its workforce by 5%, cutting at least 85 jobs amid a slowdown in advertising. “The broadcast business is being challenged,” Telemundo President Don Browne said Thursday. “We are proactively and strategically making some adjustments to protect the larger company so that we can weather this period.”

Disney Emerges a Winner (by Jon Fine, BusinessWeek)
While this slow media environment is likely mere rehearsal for what looms, Disney appears to be a good bet for stability. Ultimately, its trump cards are pretty prosaic: The company is less dependent on advertising, and it sold off a newspaper division in 1997. In times like these, strategic brilliance doesn’t drive stock prices. Avoiding anything radioactive does.

Watercooler Teams Up With Hulu to Broadcast Top TV Shows on TVLoop (Mashable)
Known for bringing us the “Addicted to the [TV Show Name]” applications on sites like Facebook, Watercooler is branching out in its partnership with Hulu to bring us our favorite television shows via TVLoop. This partnership will enable you to view 40 top shows with Hulu’s standard full-screen, high quality viewing experience. It also uses the social aspects of TVLoop to connect users who watch the same shows. Social television – what could be better? Many episodes of shows like ER and One Tree Hill will have full length versions available. Some will only be available in clip format, like Friends and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

CBS Interactive Hopes To Gather TV Viewers And Web Users In ‘Social Viewing Rooms’ (Paid Content)
While the data on how many viewers are watching TV and surfing the web simultaneously has been a little thin the past few years, CBS Interactive feels it has little to lose with a new service that aims to capture those viewers doing both. Its new Social Viewing Room service will encourage users to watch shows on TV, find like-minded fans and participate in chats around a particular program… If the Social Viewing Room attracts enough participants, CBS expects to expand the model to such other CBS Corp. divisions, such as the CW and Showtime. 

Fox Creates Mobile Group After Buying Jamba Stake; Will Launch U.S. Brand (Paid Content)
News Corp is overhauling its mobile operations after paying VeriSign $200 million for its remaining 49 percent state in Jamba, the mobile content company. This marks the end to the company’s whirlwind history, which succeeded with the rise of ringtones, only to struggle as it faced controversies over billing practices and waning ringtone sales. Going forward, the company known as Jamba will be gone, but the brand will continue under the newly formed Fox Mobile Group, which will be led by Jamba’s CEO Mauro Montanaro. Under the new leadership and business structure, the group will enter its next phase, which includes significant investments by launching a new mobile brand in the U.S. and by opening up a new studio to create made-for-mobile content.

Facebook Pushes Into the Music Biz
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg is plotting a possible push into the digital-music business in the wake of MySpace’s launch of MySpace Music last month. The surging social-networking giant is talking to a number of song-streaming services and music community sites, including Rhapsody.com, iMeem.com, iLike.com, and Lala.com, about an outsourcing deal that would more deeply integrate their music experience into Facebook.

Glam Media Finds Its Male Side, Launches Brash.com (Paid Content)
After offering a hint about its plans last month, female-centric Glam Media has released Brash, its new male-focused lifestyle and entertainment online hub. Brash is being targeted to men 18-49 years old and is beginning life with more than 25 sites including ArtistDirect, DigitalTrends.com, Squidoo and SpirlFrog. Samir Arora, Glam’s CEO, claims that the Brash network has more then 10 million uniques at launch. The network is comprised of five channels:  Men’s Lifestyle (Style, Fitness, Travel, Food & Drink), Entertainment (Music, Movies, TV, Games), Tech (Audio, Gadgets, PC & Macs), Auto (Luxury, Sport, SUV, and Sedans) and News (World, US, Politics & Tech).  In addition to the site network, Glam has also created BrashTV, a DRM-protected, video distribution platform built on GlamTV.

New Online Magazine Edited by R.U. Sirius Debuts
Humanity Plus (formerly the World Transhumanist Association) — in collaboration with former Mondo 2000 editor RU Sirius — is pleased to present h+. A web-based quarterly magazine, h+covers the scientific, technological, and cultural developments that are challenging and overcoming human limitations.

MySpace Misses in China
Rupert Murdoch hasn’t enjoyed much success in China. That’s why expectations were so high for the launch of MySpace in China. Unlike the movie and TV industries, the Chinese Internet business is open to foreign investment. But Murdoch’s bad China luck isn’t changing, though: MySpace China doesn’t have much to show for its effort.

Yahoo Changing Its Homepage Gradually
A few weeks ago, Yahoo began what may be its biggest overhaul of its home page. But the job of revamping the Web’s most visited portal page is fraught with risk. If even a small fraction of Yahoo’s audience doesn’t like the changes, the company could lose millions of users and millions of dollars in advertising. So Yahoo is introducing changes in small stages and to small segments of its audience.

Craigslist’s Red Light District Gets Mapped (by Paul Glazowski at Mashable)
We don’t frequently pay mind to the world of adult-natured business on the Web. Only on occasion will we see what’s going on in “that part” of the networked world. For instance, sites like Zivity and AdultStumble have crossed our desk for brief moments in the past, and we’ve said as much. You know where this is going. We were made privy today to a little mashup called hookupmaps. In short, it’s Craigslist (the 18-and-over part) meets Google Maps. And while the place may not behoove us to immediately toss out the NSFW item, the flag will need to fly soon enough. Once you begin browsing around, really. If you being browsing.

Lala.com gives digital music another try
LOS ANGELES (AP) – First a CD-trading site, then a free Web-based music browser, lala.com is being born again. The site is relaunching Tuesday as a hybrid, offering the digital download functionality of iTunes and the free music streaming of MySpace Music without the ads. 

A Modest Proposal: Make Money From Your Content
Hyper-distribution has become for some such an article of faith in the digital ecosystem that it sometimes seems impolite to ask the big monetization question. How do we make money from being so free and loose with our content? Ads sold by the original publisher are themselves embedded in the media wherever they go (Hulu, etc.). But in most cases, the monetization of hyper-distributed content is more an article of faith than reality.

AP’s Mobile News Network Comes To BlackBerry (Mashable)
Associated Press has launched its Mobile News Network, a multimedia news portal designed for use on mobile devices back in May. Now, they’ve launched a client application optimized for BlackBerry smart phones, available for download over at bb.apnews.com… Mobile News Network application works on BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, and even the new Bold and Flip. It’s no wonder that BlackBerry, the favorite device of your typical business user, was the first device after the iPhone to receive a customized application version of the mobile news portal. iPhone users can find their MNN app in the App Store, while everyone else interested should simply point their mobile web browser to www.apnews.com.

All the Celebrities You Want, on Your Cellphone
The cellphone has become the latest medium to feed the appetite for up-to-the-second celebrity gossip.

CBS Tries Out a New Recipe for Unilever
As television viewers increasingly zap through ads and watch shows online, media companies have been scrambling to come up with more creative ways for companies to advertise on network TV. CBS’s latest answer is an ad partnership with Unilever’s Bertolli Italian-food brand that seeks to blend advertising and entertainment in a new campaign.

Google Begins UK Gambling Ads After Self-Imposed Four-Year Ban (Paid Content)
After posting better-than-expected Q3 results, Google could be in line for a revenue jackpot after allowing gambling adverts in the UK from today in its search results for the first time since a self-imposed ban in 2004. Google’s industry leader for entertainment and media James Cashmore told FT.com he hoped that change would “enhance the search experience for users and help advertisers connect with interested consumers” Of course, It will also make a shed-load of money—as much as £100 million extra in ad revenue by the FT’s estimate.

S&P Bearish on Print Ads
Add Standard & Poor’s to the growing list of industry watchers down on print advertising, at least for now. S&P expects magazine ad pages to decline through the end of 2008, with “minimal benefit from election-year activity,” it said, adding, “The sector will face continued ad rate challenges, especially given pressure on circulation levels that publishers guarantee to advertisers.”

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Matt Davies

MEDIA ALERT: Prophet Yahweh Predicts Spaceships Will Appear Oct. 31st in Support of Senator Obama
Prophet Yahweh, Seer of Yahweh, Master UFO Caller says that on October 31, 2008, superhuman black men, from other planets, will appear in their spaceships and hover over his UFO Summoning School for three days as a sign that all Americans should vote for Obama as President.

Obama to travel to see ill grandmother
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Barack Obama will leave the campaign trail Thursday to travel to Hawaii to see his 85-year-old grandmother, who has fallen ill, spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday. “In the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious,” Gibbs told reporters aboard Obama’s campaign plane… His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, “has always been one of the most important people in his life,” Gibbs said. “Along with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the time he was born to the moment he left for college.”
While he’s in Hawaii, he should pick up a vault copy of his birth certificate and provide it to the judge to settle Phil Berg’s lawsuit.  If he doesn’t do that, he should resign from the race.  We Americans have a right to know for certain whether he’s qualified to be president.

And this means we’re supposed to vote FOR the guy?
Biden to Supporters: “Gird Your Loins”, For the Next President “It’s Like Cleaning Augean Stables” (Political Radar, ABC News)
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions. “Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy… [W]e’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.” [Emphasis added.]
Masslib at Alegre’s Corner believes that this command is the equivalent of saying, “DO NOT QUESTION AUTHORITY. Oh, and ask your neighbors to do the same.”  And gqmartine at Corrente says “It seems like Biden is hinting at their possible governing strategy: Even if you think we’re wrong, we need you to use your influence to convince people we are right. ” Don’t you love the new authoritarians? So much better than the OLD authoritarians.

McCain to Hit Obama on Biden’s Prediction Obama Will be Tested by International Crisis (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected president, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in office, a comment Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., intends to highlight Monday, aides said, in order to highlight concerns some voters have had about Obama’s preparedness to be commander-in-chief.
McCain would be a fool not to use it.  Of course, it will be considered “negative”, “hateful”, and “racist” by the Obama-loving media.

Barack Obama vows to ‘change the world’ (The Telegraph, U.K.)
The supremely confident demeanour and exalted rhetoric of the Democratic nominee at a New Hampshire event betrayed that he is a man convinced he is poised to make history… Speaking in an apple orchard against the picture-perfect New England backdrop of an red, green and yellow autumn foliage on a stage adorned with pumpkins and hay bales, Mr Obama reminded voters of the dangers of hubris… But much of Mr Obama’s speech in Londonderry – punctuated by cries of “We all love you Obama”, “I love you” and “We will work with you” – was devoted to the kind of quasi-religious sentiments and motivational-coach style exhortations, the kind of pride that set him up for a big fall in January…

A lone McCain supporter at the rally said she too was convinced that the Republican nominee was finished. “McCain has lost,” said Deborah Barnhart, 48, who runs a landscaping business. “He’s lost because the Messiah has spoken and we’re going to change the world. That’s all people want to hear after eight years of Bush. Obama thinks he’s won. Everyone here thinks he’s won.”

horrifyingly uninformed voters… (by American Girl in Italy at No Quarter)
Should some people not vote? I’m thinking…yes.
Click through to watch the video.

The OTHER Michelle tape (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
As you probably know, API — African Press International, based in Norway — published an interview with Michelle Obama in which she said some rather bizarre things. The media consensus holds that the interview is bogus. Perhaps so. API, however, stands by the story and says that they will soon release audio tapes which prove that Michelle really did say the words ascribed to her… The odd statements ascribed to Michelle, if genuine, would not be game-changers. But proof that Obama boldly lied about the matter might affect the race.

Important Update: US Law firm enters into agreement to represent API in The Michelle Obama tapes to be released soon in the US (African Press International)
The touchy interview tapes of Michelle Obama, the wife of the US Presidential Candidate Barack Obama is soon ready for release in the US and will be aired unedited. The release has taken long due to the fact that API wanted to clear all legal hurdles and be safe from getting sued by any one. API and a US Law firm - LAW OFFICES OF PHILIP J. BERG has just entered into an agreement giving the law firm the right to represent API in all matters that may arise due to the Michelle Obama interview and the release of the tapes in the US.
Phil Berg is the lawyer who filed suit to force Obama to show a vault copy of his birth certificate to verify that he is a natural born U.S. citizen, which he must be to serve as president.

Complaint hits Rezko land deal (Washington Times)
A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama. In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko’s property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document…

Rezko was convicted this summer on federal charges of using his clout with state government to squeeze kickbacks out of firms wanting to do business with the state. The charges did not involve Mr. Obama. Rezko is now cooperating with federal prosecutors in a continuing probe of corruption in Illinois government. Mr. Obama consulted Rezko, a real estate developer, before buying his home in 2005. As a state senator, Mr. Obama wrote letters endorsing government support of a Rezko housing project for senior citizens. Obama aides say he was simply supporting a project that would help residents of his district, not doing a favor for a friend.
These housing developments were a great help to Obama’s constituents when Rezko went bust and had to have the heat turned off.  There are many more questions to be asked about the Obamas’ mansion purchase.

Advertisers say Obama is ‘marketer of the year’ (On Politics, USA Today)
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was voted “marketer of the year” last night at the opening dinner of the Association of National Advertisers annual conference, Advertising Age reports. The Obama “brand” came in ahead of Apple and Zappos.com in voting by the 750 folks attending ANA’s dinner in Orlando. Obama got 36% of the vote, to Apple’s 27% and Zappos’ 14%. Republican nominee John McCain came in 6th, with 5%. “I think (Obama) did a great job of going from a relative unknown to a household name to being a candidate for president,” Linda Clarizio, president of AOL’s Platform A, tells Ad Age. (Fair warning, there’s an obscenity in the Ad Age report.)
Democrats can be so proud.  So very proud.  To have a marketed candidate.  He doesn’t have to stand for a damned thing, see?

One word means both ‘hip’ and ‘hot’ in French. It’s ‘Obama’ (McClatchy)
PARIS — His visage appears between the svelte curves of fashion models on Europe’s most prestigious runways. His speeches are remixed into thumping music tracks in underground dance clubs. His campaign slogans are the foundation for modern art hanging on trendy Parisian gallery walls.
He’s the new new thing.  Ain’t it great?  Doesn’t have to have a damn bit of experience, but boy, he’s been MARKETED!  Happy, happy Democrats!  Who cares that he doesn’t stand for anything?  The HIP people LOVE him—ALL OVER THE WORLD!

Powell endorses Obama, chides McCain campaign tone (AP)
WASHINGTON – Colin Powell, a Republican who was President Bush’s first secretary of state, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president Sunday and criticized the tone of Republican John McCain’s campaign.
Powell’s aid to his superiors in covering up the 1968 My Lai massacre helped his career immensely.  And he is one of the people primarily responsible for pushing Bill Clinton’s presidency off track in its early days by refusing to help Clinton change the policy on gays in the military.  I can see why the anti-Clinton Democrats are so excited by this endorsement.  The same people who used to call Powell the most vile names because of his part in justifying the Iraq War, now love him because the loves the guy they love.

A Nation of Mythical Mavericks: Colin Powell Endorses Obama (by vastleft at Corrente)
Post-partisan hero Colin Powell has endorsed post-partisan hero Barack Obama, instead of post-partisan hero John McCain… Powell registered measured disgust at some of the GOP’s tactics… He disapproves of the McCain campaign’s fixation on tying Obama to William Ayers. “What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate.” If there’s one thing Colin Powell would never do, it’s fabricating connections to “some kind of terrorist feelings.”

No comment (by lambert at Corrente)
Colinoscopy: “‘He will have a role as one of my advisers,’ Barack Obama said on NBC’s ‘Today’ in an interview aired Monday, a day after Powell, a four-star general and President Bush’s former secretary of state, endorsed him. ‘Whether he wants to take a formal role, whether that’s a good fit for him, is something we’d have to discuss,’ Obama said.” Well, a question: Judy Miller for press secretary?
Oh, Lambert, you’re just so silly.  Judy will be too busy in her new role at Fox News to be Obama’s press secretary.

Pat Buchanan says Colin Powell endorsed Obama because he’s black (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
Liberals in general are no fans of Colin Powell, but watching the right wing ideologues slam Powell because of his endorsement of Obama, I can only assume that they fear this particular endorsement because it will have an impact on undecided and independent voters. Pat Buchanan follows the lead of Rush Limbaugh and George Will and says that his only motivation was the color of his skin. A Red State writer actually says this: “Affirmative Action At The Highest Level Unqualified Applicants Get Jobs Due Solely To Their Race”

Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times make history by endorsing Obama (On Politics, USA Today)
The Chicago Tribune is Democrat Barack Obama’s hometown paper, so you might think its endorsement of him for president today is a no-brainer. Not so much. The paper’s editorial board is conservative.
So, fauxgressives.  Are you as happy about this as you are about the Powell endorsement?

In Philly, Conservative Talk Radio Host Backs Obama (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
On his talk show on WPHT [Friday], conservative Philadelphian Michael Smerconish endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
And are you happy about this, fauxgressives?  How many right-wing endorsements of Obama will finally make you realize that he, himself, is a right winger?

Neocons for Obama? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
George Packer from the New Yorker magazine reports on an email he got from Ken Adelman today indicating that the neo-con is planning on voting for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill… Adelman infamously suggested US forces would experience a “cakewalk in Iraq.” So it’s not like his judgment is unassailable.
And does THIS make you happy, fauxgressives?  Everything you have said for years that you hate is embodied in the guy you pushed into the Democratic nomination.  Congratulations!  Lambert reports that Booman “burbles, hilariously, ‘It’s an excellent sign for Obama’s presidency that he has such a broad range of elite support.’”

Great Moments With The Party Of Ideas (by vastleft at Corrente)
Thank goodness partisanship is off the table. So glad we kept funding the war, legalized warrantless wiretapping, spit on the establishment clause, and kissed Paulson’s ass, so we could win over these fine folks!

Obama has kind words for Reagan… (Politico)
In an interview with a Florida station, Obama returns to a sense of a happy ideological medium and to (relatively) kind words for the original deregulator, Ronald Reagan: ”What happened was Democrats had gotten complacent, had gotten fat and happy. they thought there was a government program to solve every problem. Ronald Reagan came in and said we need to break out of the old ways of doing things and create a leaner, more effective government,” he said. “That was the right message then. I think that right now we went too far in the wrong direction. We can’t go back to the old liberalism of the past, but [when] you are on your own economic philosophy [of] Bush and McCain doesn’t work either. Let’s try a new way where we apply common sense, have government do what it does well.” Click here to watch the video.

Perception management (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Government grew under Ronald Reagan. RR apologists, such as Rush Limbaugh, have been trying to explain away that annoying fact for years. So why does Obama say that Regan shrank government? Because that is what everyone thinks. More accurately: That is what everyone has been told to think. The Republican propaganda machine has blared its “government-is-the-enemy” message for so long that people believe the advertising instead of the history… But what do facts matter? As I’ve been saying for years, the only question left is Pilate’s question. And the answer seems to be this: Truth is perception; truth is not what is.

And now, a slice of deep-dish paranoia: Who is Bill Ayers really? How did the son of a Chicago bigwig get up to such shennanigans, and why did wrathful William end up hobnobbing with the powerful instead of rotting in a cell? The antics of the Weathermen served only to alienate America from the left, thereby paving the way for the triumph of Reagan and the end of the New Deal consensus. Walter Annenberg was a friend to Ronald Reagan; how did the Annenberg Foundation end up funding a guy like Ayers? The allegations found here may be a bit too paranoid even for me, but you may want to read them nonetheless. Caveat lector and all that, but let us not be overly quick to dismiss.

Obama and Ayers WORKED in the SAME Office & Address For Three (3) Years (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
For three years, and as recently as 2000, Barack Obama and William Ayers WORKED in the same Chicago office — along with Mike Klonsky, another infamous member of the bomb-setting domestic terrorists of the Weather Underground. Great. Our next president may not just be the most liberal politician to ever serve but his only major achievement will be his years working in an office with a domestic terrorist and a radical Maoist on failed educational projects. Actually, what worries me as much as the anti-American, still-active extremists he’s hung around with for decades is that Obama is a failed executive and has never administered any venture that succeeded, except his own elections.

Biden scandal (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
I’m not sure how to handle this information. It comes to me from a source I trust. Seriously: I trust this source the way I would trust a close family member. Right now, I’m going to play it cryptic. According to the source, Joe Biden is having a secret affair with a rather well-known lady, whom I will call L. The lady has had several liaisons with the celebrated. The affair may soon be revealed by the major media — although I do not know if that revelation will happen before or after the election. I’m not sure how to pursue the matter, or even if I should.

The real meat in the Letterman interview (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Letterman was pressing McCain about his efforts to tie Barack Obama to Bill Ayers, the Chicago professor who founded the Vietnam-era Weather Underground group whose protests included bombings of government buildings. Letterman pressed home the obvious point that Obama was 8 years old when Ayers was engaged in anti-war activities. Then Letterman noted that we all have associations in our lives that we can’t really control, and the viewers thought, Well, here’s where Letterman brings up the Keating 5. But Letterman had a better McCain association to recall: “‘Did you not have a relationship with Gordon Liddy?’ Letterman asked… ‘Did you attend a fundraiser at his house?’” If McCain could have gone any paler, he would have. He fell silent.
Maybe McCain fell silent because of the ridiculousness of the comparison.  McCain didn’t spend years working on the boards of two nonprofits with Gordon Liddy, passing out largesse to enhance his political career.  Obama did spend that kind of quality time with Bill Ayers.  This reminds me of the comparison between Obama spending 20 years listening to a hate-America pastor and Bill Clinton having the pastor at one White House event—with many other pastors.  The bottom line?  Obama can do no wrong.

I am THIS close to registering Republican (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
My god, what has Barack Obama done to the Democratic party? I used to say that all Obots are monsters. Perhaps the time has come to say that all DEMOCRATS are monsters. What other conclusion should I reach, when every day I wake up to see my comments filled with hate messages accusing me of being a racist and a fascist, simply because I will not vote for a Democratic candidate who stole the nomination? The Dems are now guilty of every sin they have ever ascribed to the Republicans. The Dems bleat about a mythical call to violence at a Palin rally, yet they themselves are guilty of both verbal and physical violence — as in this instance when Democrat fanatics assault a woman who won’t vote as they wish…

Photographs show that young men were also carrying McCain signs on that occasion. The brave, brave Obot went after the small, older woman.

I have been a lifelong liberal, as was my father before me. But I am repulsed by a political movement that encourages such behavior. And yes, I do blame Obama and Dean directly. Throughout this year, the Obots have indulged relentlessly in the language of violence. They repeatedly called Hillary Clinton a cunt and a bitch. Time and again, they have threatened violence against anyone who commits the sin of not voting in the Obot-approved fashion. It was inevitable that their violent language would one day transform into violent deeds. Not once have Obama or Dean condemned this disgusting behavior… Silence equals acquiescence; acquiescence equals encouragement.

Death threat, vandalism hit ACORN after accusations (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The furor over ACORN’s national voter registration drive exploded with new controversies Friday, including a call by Barack Obama for an independent prosecutor, a Supreme Court ruling over voter access and the disclosure of a death threat against an ACORN worker.

Late Night: The Dog Barks at Midnight (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I think it would be tres chic to have an African-American president.  I just think that the nominee who got this far by manipulating primary results, villifying women and cutting off the working class has Martin Luther King rolling in his grave.  We don’t know who is giving him the hundreds of millions of dollars to run his campaign and we sure as hell don’t trust him.  If we succeed in our endeavor of truncating his meteoric political career, we will not be famous.  We’ll be notorious.  It may be years before anyone recognizes the honor in what we do.  We are only trying to make sure that we all go forward together.  That we leave no one behind.  That lives, fortunes and sacred honor depend upon one another. So I urge you to Join The Resistance.  Let’s drown out the Haka.  It is big and noisy and intimidating.  But we have heart and a vision.

FL Girl Called ‘Racist’ for Wearing pro-Palin T-shirt (by NewHampster at No Quarter)
Read my lips people: S-T-O-P with the faux charges of racism; children are now getting on the faux outrage bandwagon. MyFox Orlando has the story: “She’s only 12 years old but Ashleigh Jones is feeling the heat of this election year. That’s because the seventh grader at New Smyrna Beach Middle School was called a racist by classmates for wearing a pro-Sarah Palin t-shirt…” Here is the t-shirt in question:

Real Palin on SNL (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
Palin clips from [Saturday Night Live] are linked here… Ya know what – SHE is GREAT. Almost a natural and a great sport as well. I like her. Don’t like that, Psycho Obama Pod faux liberals??? Screw you.

A KING’S HEIGHTENED DRAMA: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
“[Colbert] KING (10/18/08): ‘Kill him’: the battle cry of a lynch mob and words yelled out by a man at a Sarah Palin rally in Clearwater, Fla., this month, according to my Post colleague Dana Milbank.” With this rhetorical sleight of hand, an unfortunate shout by one single person slid into “the battle cry of a lynch mob.” Having granted himself that advantage, King soon rendered a judgment which was, on its face, just absurd: “…It represents a dangerous new low in American politics.” Surely, King can’t really believe that. He can’t believe that an unfortunate call by one nameless person “represents a dangerous new low in American politics.” King had massively heightened his drama in these first three paragraphs—but he wasn’t talking about baseball (where “kill the umpire” is a famous old cry).  He was talking about our most serious subject—and doing so quite irresponsibly. Quickly, more sleight of hand: “The ugliness is stunning.”…

[M]any people will see the unfairness of King’s loud cries—and their hearts will harden accordingly. They will harden in their sense that there is no harbor for them on “the left”—in their sense that there is no reason to listen to liberal or mainstream complaints about the conduct of McCain and Palin. Some of those people would have seen what is wrong in the conduct of McCain and Palin—if King had bothered to dirty his hands explaining the misconduct to them. But they will recoil at the sheer absurdity of this column’s rhetoric—even as pseudo-liberal hearts are warmed. This leaves us caught in that “culture war”—the war the other side wants. As a general matter, nothing is dumber than fighting on turf the other side has chosen. And that’s what pseudo-liberals do when they keep this “culture war” going—along with its familiar handmaiden, the journalism of perfect dumbness.
In my opinion, McCain has been singularly easy on Obama, as was Hillary.  But if Obama loses on November 4, we already know why.  It won’t be because he’s the least qualified candidate ever to be fielded by a major party, or due to his opportunistic relationships with some of the most radical elements in the U.S., and it won’t be because he ran the most vicious primary campaign run by a Democrat in my 64½ years on earth—thereby alienating half of the Democratic Party.  It will be because of racism.  How do I know?  The pundits told me so.

Partisans, Demons and Right-Wing Tropes (by myiq2xu at The Confluence)
From Reagan’s rise through Bush’s fall the conservative movement repeatedly demonized liberals as unpatriotic, corrupt and stupid… But during these dark years the “progressive” Democrats began to demonize their opponents as well… I’m not here to justify Republicans or their ideology.  I’m here to criticize the mutual demonization and the partisanship trap… The situation we have now allows any connection, however tenuous, to the Republican party or a conservative thinker to permit the declaration that the argument is a “right-wing trope” and therefore illegitimate.  It also permits the demonization of total strangers, individually and in groups.  It isn’t much of a step from arguing your opponent is a racist to arguing your opponent’s argument should be prohibited, and then a little further to using extra-legal means to stop him…

The demonization of political opponents also allows Obamanation to rationalize violent imagery and dehumanization.  Even some alleged feminists who support Barack Obama have either participated in or turned a blind eye towards the misogynistic treatment of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin. 

And people think this is funny? (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Barack Obama, call off your dogs before women get hurt.
Click through to watch the video.

The education of Digby (by vastleft at Corrente)
Digby on the result of her “coming out” as a woman: “My lack of gender identity precluded some of the online sexism, derision and rudeness that are so common for women writers. I’ve since been schooled in the phenomenon.”… [T]he most furious sexist attacks occurred whenever she dared evince even the slightest skepticism toward one candidate in particular. Whoever it was, he’s certainly established himself as a “change agent.”

Fla. GOP official promises to remove sign comparing Obama to Hitler, other despots (On Politics, USA Today)
“I’m speechless at the ignorance,” Broward Republican Chairman Chip LaMarca tells the Sun-Sentinel about a sign in a local Florida office of John McCain’s presidential campaign. “It’s not something we can condone.” The offending sign compares Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and other brutal tyrants because Obama and those men all called for “change” and employed “youth movements” to do it. LaMarca says the sign will be removed and that he will “find out who put it up there, and maybe they’ll volunteer somewhere else.”

Obama Faces ‘Plumber’ Protestors in Roanoke (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Sunlen Miller took this shot of some protestors outside Sen. Barack Obama’s event at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Click through for a link to the video.

8th grade textbook has Obama chapter (AP)
MADISON, Wis. — The Racine school district’s use of an eighth grade textbook that includes a chapter on Democrat Barack Obama but nothing on his opponent John McCain is unfair and troubling, the Wisconsin Republican Party argued Thursday. A parent complained on an Internet blog about the textbook that includes a chapter on Obama called ‘‘Dreams from My Father.’’

Car displaying McCain sticker vandalized (Bay News 9)
CLEARWATER — A Clearwater man’s vehicle that displayed a bumper sticker supporting John McCain has been defaced in what appears to be a hate crime, authorities say. According to authorities, 41-year-old Frank Armstrong’s 2006 Lexus LS 430 was parked on the 1400 block of Gulf Boulevard when someone or a group of people scratched the letters “KKK” into the paint and burned a U.S. Flag on the vehicle. Authorities say those involved also used cigarettes to burn several areas of the car and apparently urinated on the car.

McCain supporters defend Islam, shout down Obama attackers (On Politics, USA Today)
Christian and Muslim supporters of Republican John McCain defend Islam and drive off attackers of Democrat Barack Obama in a video posted by the American News Project.

Mid Day Open Thread (by Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars)

Photo from Brett Marty, more from FiveThirtyEight:

Outside Obama’s major economic policy speech in Toledo…. Feels like the End Times for somebody, I am forced to report.

Culture Wars: New Yorkers give McCain supporters the finger (France24)
On the U.S. presidential campaign trail, the focus lately hasn’t been on just the candidates – but their supporters as well, with each saying the other side is out of control. Sen. John McCain tried to dial back the rhetoric late last week. And now, some of his supporters are saying their opponents are just as bad – if not worse.  Blogger Pamela Hall of the Squirrel Brigade recently participated in a march for McCain through New York City’s affluent, liberal Upper West Side – and captured some of her opponents on film as they yelled at her group. A fellow blogger from the People’s Cube edited the video and inserted some comments.
Click through to watch it.

Trader Tried to Game Political Futures Market (Political Wire)
“An internal investigation by the popular online market Intrade has revealed that one investor has been attempting to artificially boost the prediction that Sen. John McCain will become president,” according to CQ Politics. “Over the past several weeks, a single investor has pushed hundreds of thousands of dollars into the McCain-Obama market, the company said, resulting in great financial losses through a strategy that belies any financial motive.”

SAME OLD MCCAIN/SAME OLD KLEIN: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
According to [Time’s Joe] Klein, McCain’s robocalls give us a look at “John McCain, 2008 edition.” He forgot to say what he surely knows: That McCain ran robocalls in Campaign 2000—in that case, against George Bush. In some ways, those calls were worse than the calls McCain is now running. You see, McCain ran those robocalls anonymously—and he and his aides flatly lied when asked if they were running them. Pundits like Klein keep insisting that this is a new, different, vastly-changed McCain. It does make a wonderful, novelized tale. But we thought you might want to know the truth about Campaign 2000. Joe Klein knows the facts which follow. We thought you should know them too.

McCain campaign opens ‘I am Joe the Plumber’ video contest (On Politics, USA Today)
Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign continues to make ”Joe the Plumber” a big part of its campaign. It wants folks to create videos “telling us why you are ‘Joe the Plumber’ in 30 seconds.” There’s a chance, the campaign says, that the best one will end up as a McCain campaign TV ad. Go here if you want details on how to enter.

MoveOn has ‘Talking Moose’ ad ready to follow Palin around the nation (On Politics, USA Today)
Depending on your political persuasion, we expect you’ll find this new TV ad from the liberal folks at MoveOn.org Political Action either hysterically funny or just plain hysterical.
Or just plain stupid.

Tough Crowd for Obama at Cape Fear BBQ and Chicken (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In Fayetteville, NC, [Sunday], at Cape Fear BBQ and Chicken, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was greeted by a 54-year-old woman shouting “Socialist! Socialist! Socialist! Get out of here!” The woman, Diane Fanning, who works at a Sam’s Club, was one of the many in the older and largely white crowd eating lunch after church services… Another diner, Cecilia Hayslip, 61, yelled back at Fanning, “At least he’s not a war-monger!”… A group of six retired women, mostly Democrats, remained undecided… Obama and his aides ordered to go chicken, collards, baked beans, slaw and wings. The tab was $13.91.
And how big was the TIP, Jake.  We came to understand during the primary how IMPORTANT the size of the TIP is.

Dead bear covered with Obama signs found at school (AP)
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Police at Western Carolina University and wildlife officials were investigating the discovery early Monday of a deadbear cub draped with a pair of Barack Obama campaign signs. Leila Tvedt, associate vice chancellor for public relations, said Monday night that maintenance workers found the 75-pound bear cub shot to death in front of the school’s administration building at the entrance to campus. The Obama yard signs were stapled together and placed over the bear’s head, Tvedt said. The bear had been shot in the head, Tvedt said.

Obama-Backing Senator Makes Crack About McCain Wearing Adult Diapers (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
At a business summit on energy, Politickerma.com reports, a prominent supporter of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Mass., made a crack about Sen. John McCain’s age. “These are the exciting last two week moments of the presidential campaign,” said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., [Monday] in Cambridge, Mass…  Barack got asked the famous boxers or briefs question… “Then they asked McCain and McCain said, ‘Depends,’” Kerry said.
Don’t you love the new sexist, ageist Democratic Party?  No?  Then you must be a racist.

Greensboro paper’s blogger attacked at Palin rally (Poynter)
Joe Killian was on assignment for the News & Record when he was kicked to the ground at a Palin rally at Elon University.

Culture Club (by Anglachel)
I believe that we have seen enugh from the Unity Democrats this year to understand that we have two very different culture wars going on… In both of these wars, what we find is the privitization of the risks of ordinary life, from health care to housing, from economic advancement to old age retirement. Policies and institutions that would defend working class power (and, increasingly, any wage-based employment, even in the so-called professions) are being deconstructed in the name of efficiency, fiscal responsibility and freedom of choice. The two theaters of operation create two sets of discourse; one focuses on the popular culture and is a battle of competing moralisms, the second one looks at economic class culture and is the consensus view of elite opinion undisturbed by the dumb-show for the groundlings. What kind of politics does that get us? I return to the anonymous political consultant (my emphasis):

“What voters are expected to believe is that after a 30-year class war against the bottom 90% of income earners, the source of their troubles are black rappers and inner city fathers and not criminality on Wall Street or a corrupt political system. The road to the White House over the past 30 years has been paved by pretending to believe the absurdity that the individuals who pull the levers of power over people’s lives are named Willie Horton, Sister Souljah and Ludicrous, and not Robert Rubin, Phil Gramm and Hank Paulson.”

Saturday: A House Divided (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
The [Democratic] party is at war with itself.  It’s not even a “civil” war.  Those of us who are witholding our votes from Obama have been subject to pressure, ridicule and sometimes threats of violence.  I have never seen a presidential nominee so contemptuous of voters… Republicans must be absolutely delighted … that they are about to reap the benefits of the DNC pitting women against African-Americans as well, not to mention the Whole Foods Nation against the working class.  But one thing we can be sure of is that after this election, the Democratic party will never be the same.  Our eyes have been opened.  Those of us in the Obama demographic who are women who voted for Hillary will have a hard time believing that the party has any interest in our issues.

The misogynism that was allowed to be unleashed by Obama’s campaign will haunt us for generations to come if he and the DNC are not held accountable.  If the most powerful woman in the nation can be taken out by a bunch of thugs, what is to stop businesses around the country from discriminating against us?  What will happen to women who compete with men for jobs?  What will happen to women on maternity leave coming back to work?  What will happen to women suffering from domestic violence?  If Obama is president, no one will be held accountable for the treatment meted out by testosterone poisoned men who have been given the green light to take what they want.

Barack Obama: Still Just as Clueless and Condescending as Ever (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
In Matt Bai’s October 15th article in The New York Times, “Working for the Working Class Vote,” Barack Obama explains how much he regrets the infamous comments he made in early April: “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot of them — like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years… So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, and they cling to guns, or religion, or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”… [But he] still sounds like a sociologist, and he is still just as clueless about what motivates small town Americans…

Bai admits that Obama just doesn’t show the passion of someone like Bill Clinton (or Hillary!) to speak directly to the concerns of these voters. “I once heard a friend of Obama’s compare him with Bill Clinton this way: if Clinton sees you walking down the other side of the street, he immediately crosses over to shake your hand; if Obama sees you coming, he nods and waits for you to cross…” Yes, that’s Barack Obama in a nutshell. He isn’t going to really ask you for your vote. He isn’t going to try to get to the heart of your unique concerns and convince you that he cares about helping you achieve your goals. It isn’t about you. It’s about Barack Obama, and his world view and what he wants to achieve in his career. If you don’t love him, it’s your fault.

Has Every Latino You Know Seen This? (by Uppity Woman at No Quarter)
If not, please show it to them.
Click through to watch the video.  “He says nothing, and does less,” says a Chicagoan in the Pilsen neighborhood, not far from where I live.  There’s some incorrect information about taxes in this ad, but the rest of it is absolutely true.  Obama has done nothing for anyone but himself and his sleazy patrons, but wants us to believe that he’ll fight for us as president.

Still Smearing Hillary (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Josh Marshall does it still, by use of an emailer: “It should be noted that for whatever reason, McCain has so far refused to go places that Hillary went in the primary (Wright, explicit comments about ‘hard-working, white’ Americans supporting her, distributing emails with pictures of Obama in Muslim garb, etc.).” It should be noted that everyone of those charges is pure nonsense and Marshall should be ashamed for repeating them yet again… I do not believe his site when it writes something about McCain. I have to see it somewhere else before I believe it now. I just do not trust his site anymore.

McCain Campaign Reconsiders Use of Wright (Political Wire)
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told radio host Hugh Hewitt late last week that they are reconsidering using the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as an issue in the last two weeks of the presidential race. Said Davis: “Look, John McCain has told us a long time ago before this campaign ever got started, back in May, I think, that from his perspective, he was not going to have his campaign actively involved in using Jeremiah Wright as a wedge in this campaign. Now since then, I must say, when Congressman Lewis calls John McCain and Sarah Palin and his entire group of supporters, fifty million people strong around this country, that we’re all racists and we should be compared to George Wallace and the kind of horrible segregation and evil and horrible politics that was played at that time, you know, that you’ve got to rethink all these things. And so I think we’re in the process of looking at how we’re going to close this campaign. We’ve got 19 days, and we’re taking serious all these issues.”  

Use ‘Em Then Lose ‘Em (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

A friend whose political analysis I greatly admire reports that he is less concerned about Obama’s corrupt and anti-white friends and connections than he is about Obama’s pattern of taking from people who can bolster his own position and then dump them out like garbage when they are no longer useful to him.

He’s Stronger Because She Wouldn’t Back Down (by Alegre)
So says Lanny Davis, Obama supporter and all around smart guy.  If Hillary had backed out when the pundits and the haters told her to “get out” or “quit”, BHO wouldn’t be nearly as strong a candidate in the general election.  She stayed in the race to give everyone a voice in our party’s nominating process, and in so doing she helped prepare him for the contest to come by testing him in head-to-head debates, and raising issues (such as Wright or Ayers) early on that could very well have sunk BHO if they’d come out today.  Because she challenged him, he’s had time to refine his message and gain more exposure to the voters.
But that’s her JOB.  She’s a girl, after all, Alegre.  When will you realize that the only job Hillary can possibly qualify for is as trainer for the younger, less qualified male.

Sunday: You don’t need permission to be angry, ladies (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Lanny would have you believe that Hillary Clinton’s primary purpose, her divine purpose and the purpose for which she was uniquely created, was to be Barack Obama’s sparring partner.  Yes, Hillary honed him and made him the candidate we see today.  Forget your lying eyes that told you that Hillary was the better candidate and that adversity actually made her better as time went on.  Forget the notion that maybe Hillary wanted the job as much or even more than Obama did.  Forget that her ambition burned just as brightly.  As Lanny sees it, she was just Obama’s help mate…

We just sat through eight of the most reactionary years in our nation’s history.  George Bush has dragged science back into the stone age.  He’s eroded whatever safety net this stingy ass country gives women.  There we were, thrilled with the prospect that one of OUR gender, who was the absolute best candidate hands down, was going to take over the White House and start putting it all back together again.  And she was done in by her own fricking party.  Hillary Clinton could survive the media attacks.  She rose above it.  She could withstand the attacks from the Republicans.  She eventually earned their grudging respect.  But she could not survive the backstabbing manipulations and betrayal of her own party in the service of a man who wasn’t even qualified to serve as her apprentice.

Damn straight we’re angry.

Scandal train a coming. (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
A race card backlash is not the reason I’ve become sublime about Obama possibly winning. That is the sad but inevitable outcome of Obama’s degradation of the real issue all year. Real racism will not be taken nearly as seriously for a very long time. I want Obama vetted. Without excuses. I see no way this will happen in the next 2 weeks. But the job will expose him. Ask Deval Patrick who ran the campaign Obama is now running. His approval is at 38%. The numbers that have caved the most are within his core support group. “Hope and change” lasted about 6 months. Is the country at risk? Am I saying that I want to see Obama in office regardless of the consequences just so he’ll finally get vetted? No. The country will survive one BHO term. If it lasts that long. (I mean here a scandal forcing him out and nothing else.) In fact, we might actually sober up a bit.

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case (Los Angeles Times)
SACRAMENTO — The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud. State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states. Jacoby’s arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters. The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.
Sounds a lot like ACORN’s story.

Obama Raised $150 Million Last Month (Political Wire)
Sen. Barack Obama raised more than $150 million in September, “a stunning and unprecedented eruption of political giving that has given him a wide spending advantage over rival John McCain,” according to the Associated Press. “Obama’s money is fueling a vast campaign operation in an expanding field of competitive states. It also has underwritten a wave of both national and targeted video advertising unseen before in a presidential contest.”

McCain Has Less Than $50 Million Left (Political Wire)
Sen. John McCain reports spending $37 million in September and has $47 million for the campaign in October, the AP reports. While Sen. Barack Obama raised more than $150 million in September, McCain “is no longer raising funds because he is participating in the presidential election public financing system. That restricts his spending to $84 million between early September and Election Day Nov. 4.”

IVAW members arrested while attempting to present questions to Obama and McCain (IVAW)
One hour before the final presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, fourteen members of IVAW marched in formation to Hofstra University to present questions for the candidates. 

The burning Beltway media question (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
of the day is posed by Politico: “How will news execs keep audiences interested if the presidential race is effectively decided before most Americans have finished dinner?” Because isn’t Election Day all about news producers keeping viewers “interested”?

Access to Palin’s Emails Would Cost News Orgs $15 Million (MSNBC)
The office of Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin has quoted prices as high as $15 million for copies of state emails requested by news organizations and citizens. No matter what the price, most of the emails of Palin, her senior staff, and other state employees won’t be made public until at least several weeks after the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Secret Service Blocking Reporters at Palin Rallies
Dana Milbank: In cooperation with the Sarah Palin campaign, the Secret Service has started preventing reporters from leaving the press section to interview people in the crowd. This is a serious violation of their duty — protecting the protectee — and gets into assisting with the political aspirations of the candidate. It also often makes it impossible for reporters to get into the crowd to question the people who say vulgar things.

After McCain’s mea culpa on Letterman, Larry King wants an apology too. (Think Progress)
After abruptly canceling on him in September, last week Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) went back to David Letterman’s show, where he apologized and admitted he “screwed up.” On his blog on Friday, Larry King said that he is waiting for McCain to offer him the same courtesy, after abruptly canceling a Sept. 2 appearance.
Why do we care what these media dilettantes think or want?

Let’s play Find the Liberals (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
From the Sunday morning talk show lineup:
Fox News Sunday: John McCain
Meet the Press: Colin Powell, Chuck Todd, David Brooks, Jon Meacham, Andrea Mitchell, Joe Scarborough
Face the Nation: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Rep. Rob Portman, Gov. Matt Blunt, Gov. Tim Kaine
Late Edition: Sen. Claire McCaskill, Rep. Roy Blunt
This Week: Newt Gingrich, Thomas Friedman, David Gergen, Donna Brazile, George Will
P.S. It’s not called Find the Democrats. It’s called Find the Liberals….

Fox News hires former NYT reporter Miller
Judith Miller will be an on-air analyst and write for Fox News Channel’s website. “She has a very impressive resume,” says Fox News exec John Moody. Regarding Miller’s WMD reporting: “She has explained herself and she has nothing to apologize for.”

Jane Velez Mitchell Gets Beck’s Old Slot (Media Bistro)
First On TVNewser: Jane Velez Mitchell has been tapped as interim anchor of the 7pm ET hour left vacant by Glenn Beck’s departure … for Fox News. Headline News will also begin re-airing Lou Dobbs’ CNN show at 9pmET.

Fresh Face on Cable, Sharp Rise in Ratings (New York Times)
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has doubled the audience for the cable channel’s 9 p.m. hour in a matter of days.

Former FBNY Editor Rachel Sklar Leaving HuffPo (Gawker)
Rachel Sklar managed to last a jaw-dropping two-and-a-half years in at HuffPo, a rare achievement that saw her become one of the site’s highest-profile editors and a frequent cable-TV talking head. In a memo announcing the move, Arianna Huffington quotes Sklar as saying she is leaving “to finally finish that Goddamn book.”

Solutions (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Over at Nieman Watchdog, Dan Froomkin summarizes a panel discussion of the media’s failure to challenge the Bush administration’s Iraq spin, including some suggestions for how to improve.  Here’s one of the best: “Acknowledge scoops by rival news organizations, then follow them up, like a relay team… Tom Rosensteil, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the panel’s moderator, pointed out: ‘[T]hat’s very much the model that scientists use in trying to investigate a problem, who do not work in large institutions but really sort of work as singular researchers in collaboration with each other.’” It’s been striking how much this hasn’t happened over the past 8 years — particularly to anyone who remembers how the Times and Post spent the Clinton era trying to one-up each other on the phony Whitewater story.
And don’t forget the phony Gore stories.  Meanwhile, the media are treating Obama in exactly the same way they treated George W. Bush.  If that doesn’t scare you, you have simply not been paying attention.

Obama assembles U.S.’s ‘largest law firm’ to monitor election (Bloomberg)
Barack Obama and John McCain have a litigation game plan to accompany their election strategy. Both candidates have armies of volunteers to ring doorbells and get voters to the polls. They are also forming squadrons of lawyers who are filing challenges and preparing in case Election Day doesn’t settle the contest for the White House. Legal battles unfolding in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin provide fresh evidence of the potential fights to come over ballot access in an election marked by unprecedented spending to increase the number of voters in strategically important states.

Some early W. Va. voters angry over switched votes (Charleston Gazette, WV)
At least three early voters in Jackson County had a hard time voting for candidates they want to win. Virginia Matheney and Calvin Thomas said touch-screen machines in the county clerk’s office in Ripley kept switching their votes from Democratic to Republican candidates… When she reported the problem, she said, the poll worker in charge “responded that everything was all right. It was just that the screen was sensitive and I was touching the screen too hard. She instructed me to use only my fingernail.” Even after she began using her fingernail, Matheney said, the problem persisted.

Arizona To Enforce Dress Code For Voters (KPHO Phoenix)
PHOENIX – State and Maricopa County election officials say they will enforce a strict dress code for voters on Nov. 4, despite complaints from civil liberties groups that this may violate the First Amendment. Arizona campaign laws bar voters and poll workers from wearing anything with a political message within 75 feet of a polling site. And county officials say they will actively enforce the rule, asking voters to turn their clothing inside out or cover up. They’ll also ask voters to remove political buttons, stickers and pins before they enter the polls. However, the American Civil Liberties Union now argues that “strict and inflexible” interpretation violates voters’ freedom of speech and could deny them the opportunity to cast a ballot.

Krugman isn’t interested in Treasury secretary job
“I’m just temperamentally unsuited,” says Paul Krugman. “I don’t want any kind of administration job. I think that it’s better for me, the country, and general mental health to have me on the outside.”
He’s not the kind of team player you have to be to be a cabinet member.  And to me, that’s a good thing.

A tiny bit of good news:
Better (by Paul Krugman)
Many signs this morning that the money markets are unfreezing.

Workers who rely on gratuities are seeing fewer customers and lower tips (McClatchy)
The pint glass that doubles as a tip jar at Jesse Del Pozo’s barber station used to be stuffed with cash, even a few fives and tens peeking out by day’s end.

Some private schools losing students because of economic slump (McClatchy)
For some families these days, paying thousands of dollars in private-school tuition is proving too much of a strain.

Economic crisis hurting students’ ability to pay for college (McClatchy)
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana — Late Thursday evening, Neal Theobald, Indiana University‘s vice chancellor for budget administration, received a sobering letter from Sallie Mae, the nation’s leading provider of student loans.

Baby Boomers on the Brink (McClatchy)
Instead of globetrotting or building their dream homes, many San Luis Obispo County baby boomers could be pinching pennies in their retirement years, according to a recent Tribune survey.

Big bankers grab $70 billion of the $250 billion we just gave them for salaries, bonuses (by lambert at Corrente)
Happy days on Wall Street! And to think I imagined there was some kind of crisis! Guardian: “Financial workers at Wall Street’s top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year – despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.” Imagine how much they would have made in a good year!… Say, when Obama was making his calls on behalf of the Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Paulson big bank giveaway, do you think he knew this would happen?

Obscure Tax Breaks Increase Cost of Financial Rescue (Wall Street Journal)
The $700 billion financial rescue package approved by Congress to shore up banks also carries a parallel bailout of the financial sector and other industries through a series of obscure tax breaks. Operating mostly under the radar screen, Congress, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have been rolling back various provisions of the tax code to help out industries and investors caught up in the turmoil. The most costly — and most controversial — of the moves provide billions in extra tax relief to big banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Spain’s Banco Santander SA. Another change gives aid to investors stung by the auction-rate securities meltdown. Still another shift relaxes tax rules to help big multinationals bring back cash from overseas. The total sums involved aren’t clear, but the cost will easily amount to tens of billions of dollars, tax experts say.

Consensus Emerges to Let Deficit Rise (New York Times)
Like water rushing over a river’s banks, the federal government’s rapidly mounting expenses are overwhelming the federal budget and increasing an already swollen deficit. The bank bailout, in the latest big outlay, could cost $250 billion in just the next few weeks, and a newly proposed stimulus package would have $150 billion or more flowing from Washington before the next president takes office in January. Adding to the damage is that tax revenues fall as the economy weakens; this is likely just as the government needs hundreds of billions of dollars to repair the financial system. The nation’s wars are growing more costly, as fighting spreads in Afghanistan. And a declining economy swells outlays for unemployment insurance, food stamps and other federal aid. But the extra spending, a sore point in normal times, has been widely accepted on both sides of the political aisle as necessary to salvage the banking system and avert another Great Depression.

Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign (AP)
Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and Fannie Mae, 3 years before the government took control to prevent their collapse. 

Freddie Mac, AIG, JPMorgan Helped Stage Republican Convention (Bloomberg)
Freddie Mac and American International Group, companies bailed out by the government as the financial crisis unfolded, each contributed $250,000 for last month’s Republican National Convention, FEC filings show… The U.S. government took over McLean, Virginia-based Freddie and Washington-based Fannie Mae last month, saying that a rise in mortgage defaults threatened the two companies.

Building Flawed American Dreams (New York Times)
SAN ANTONIO — A grandson of Mexican immigrants and a former mayor of this town, Henry G. Cisneros has spent years trying to make the dream of homeownership come true for low-income families. As the Clinton administration’s top housing official in the mid-1990s, Mr. Cisneros loosened mortgage restrictions so first-time buyers could qualify for loans they could never get before. Then, capitalizing on a housing expansion he helped unleash, he joined the boards of a major builder, KB Home, and the largest mortgage lender in the nation, Countrywide Financial — two companies that rode the housing boom, drawing criticism along the way for abusive business practices. And Mr. Cisneros became a developer himself.

F.B.I. Struggles to Handle Financial Fraud Cases  (New York Times)
WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is struggling to find enough agents and resources to investigate criminal wrongdoing tied to the country’s economic crisis, according to current and former bureau officials. The bureau slashed its criminal investigative work force to expand its national security role after the Sept. 11 attacks, shifting more than 1,800 agents, or nearly one-third of all agents in criminal programs, to terrorism and intelligence duties. Current and former officials say the cutbacks have left the bureau seriously exposed in investigating areas like white-collar crime, which has taken on urgent importance in recent weeks because of the nation’s economic woes… So depleted are the ranks of the F.B.I.’s white-collar investigators that executives in the private sector say they have had difficulty attracting the bureau’s attention in cases involving possible frauds of millions of dollars.

Stimulus: The World Is Different in October Than it Was In January (by Dean Baker)
Actually, the world may not be that different, but the surprised economists know more about the economy’s problems today than they did back in January. That is why the Post did its readers a disservice when it cited the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) assessment of various types of stimulus from January in discussing the potential shape of a new stimulus package.

USA Today Hasn’t Heard About the Housing Crash (by Dean Baker)
That is the only thing that readers of an article about the poor retirement prospects of the baby boomers can conclude. The article notes the decline of traditional pensions and the limited amount of money that workers have accumulated in 401(k)s, and it also raises nonsense concerns about Social Security. (The program is projected to be fully solvent through the lifetime of most baby boomers with no changes whatsoever.) However, the article does not include a word about the huge loss of home equity that most baby boomers have suffered in the last couple of years.

NYT’s Flacid Fact Checking (by Dean Baker)
The NYT takes Senator Obama to task for claiming that Senator McCain would cut Medicare by $882 billion (@13 percent) over the next decade. The article explains that this claim is derived from Senator McCain’s claim that he would pay for his tax plans by savings from Medicare and Medicaid. The article points out that Senator McCain never explicitly claimed that he would cut $882 billion from Medicare. While the NYT can accurately say that Obama is making important assumptions in his attack that may not be correct, the more important issue is that Senator McCain is proposing a policy that will require large budget cuts and he has not told the public where he would make these cuts. While it is fine to tell readers that Obama’s assumptions may be wrong, this belongs in a larger story that reports on the unspecified budget cuts that Senator McCain will need to pay for his tax cuts.

PUBLIC OPINION: Regulation Makes a Comeback (by Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress)
The public now overwhelmingly wants more business regulation—a big change from the Reagan era.

From investigative reporter Evelyn Pringle, via email, regarding a series of articles she wrote detailing Illinois corruption:

According to an email I received, in a daily newsletter or memo to members, Rob Kall said I was second in drawing the most readers to OpEd News but he thought it was because I was a Hillary supporter and I had [written] a series of articles “attacking” Obama.

He told members that he was considering whether to remove the articles.

When I got the email, I responded that this was the first I heard of it and would be outraged if he removed the series. I said I did not write the articles because I was a Hillary supporter that I wrote them because my investigation turned up what it did about Obama and I could hardly not write about it simply because he was a Democrat.

I explained that shortly after I started publishing the series, I posted my reasoning for writing the articles and told readers that if they found any factual statements that were false or untrue to contact me by the email I listed and show me where I was wrong and I would make a correction.

Not one person contacted me to challenge anything written in the 10 articles.

Yesterday I received an email in my OpEd mailbox asking what happened to my articles and when I went and checked they were gone. I was not given any notice that they were being removed and I was outraged.

I have been a columnist for OpEd News for probably 2 years. Well over 100 of my articles have been published on that site. Rob Kall has never before refused to publish anything I have written much less removed an article months after it appeared on OpEd.

I did not set out to find the corruption that engulfs Obama. I was as surprised as anyone else at what I found. However, as a journalist and a human being, after conducting a 2 and a half month investigation, I had a duty to write truthful reports just as I have done many times in the past with Republicans.

Rob Kall’s attempt to suppress the findings of my investigation will not succeed because the entire Obama series is still available on the Scoop and Counter Currents websites, as well as several others. After learning what happened on OpEd, other websites have contacted me and offered to republish all the articles in full.

For obvious reasons, from this day forward I will no longer be affiliated with OpEd News in any capacity. I will not have my name associated with an internet daily that can no longer be trusted to publish uncensored truthful information for the American public regardless of who it pertains to.

You can read Pringle’s articles at Scoop:

Barack Obama – The Wizard of Oz - March 29 2008

Barack Obama – Operation Board Games For Slumlords - Apr 7, 2008

Barack Obama – Subplots of Operation Board Games – Apr 21, 2008

Curtain Time For Barack Obama – Part I  - May 13, 2008

Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part II – May 14, 2008

Curtain Time for Barack Obama - Part III – May 16, 2008

Scoop: Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part IV – May 17, 2008

Curtain Time for Barack Obama – Part V – May 19, 2008

Final Chapter – Curtain Time for Barack Obama – May 24, 2008

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Racist GOP mailing depicts Obama surrounded by KFC, watermelon, and food stamps. (Think Progress)
A local California GOP women’s organization’s most recent newsletter claims that if Obama is elected, his face will appear on food stamps, rather than dollar bills like other presidents. The group then included a picture of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill with Obama surrounded by racist imagery:

The president of the organization, Diane Fedele, didn’t understand the charges of racism: “I didn’t see it the way that it’s being taken. I never connected. It was just food to me.” One African-American member of the club said that upon seeing the newsletter, she “cried for 45 minutes.” “This is what keeps African-Americans from joining the Republican Party,” she added.
Remember when the Conventional Wisdom was that Obama was a better candidate for the Democrats than Hillary because they would attack her on a lot of nonexistent stuff and no one would dare attack Obama on race?  And remember that the nonexistent stuff attacks on Hillary came from the so-called left, and not the right?

Ex-editor Lundy gets to the bottom of WBT radio’s constant attacks on Obama (Poynter Online)
Walker Lundy says the talkers on Charlotte’s WBT radio manage to conclude — on every issue every day — that Barack Obama is dangerous and disloyal to America. The former Philly Inquirer editor called the station’s general manager for an explanation. Rick Jackson told him it’s not politics, just business. “Two things drive me: the dollar for our shareholders and protecting our license. We go where our listeners tell us they want us to go.”

The Brainy Governor of New York Can’t Name Any Obama Accomplishments (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
Can anyone provide a list of substantive accomplishments that Barack Obama can claim, besides winning office and going to college? The one executive job Obama had — when Bill Ayers hired him to chair the $50 million Chicago Annenberg Challenge — meant that he had to carry out Bill Ayers’ radical school reform initiatives, at which he was a miserable failure since the entire project was a failure. Then there’s the one chairmanship that Obama was given in the U.S. Senate, as [chair] of the European Affairs Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee… [H]e never held a single hearing… Now there’s this: “MSNBC’S CHRIS MATTHEWS: ‘Can you give me a case where Barack Obama has reached across the aisle and cut a deal and gotten something done for the country? One example.’ GOVERNOR PATERSON: ‘Well, Senator Obama has been there two years and I can’t cite an example right now.’”
Click through to watch the video.

Part 2–Independent Thinking: THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY/LATRINE NEEDS THE TY-D-BOL MAN (by InsightAnalytical-GRL)
While cleaning the toilet the other day, the Democratic Party came to mind…I’m not kidding!… I knelt down to pick up something on the floor and lo and behold!  I saw stuff I hadn’t noticed before, stuff I thought I was getting cleaned when I scrubbed the bowl.  But NO!  I had missed the buildup around the thin line of little round holes at the very top of the bowl, hidden under the rim…. I HAD MISSED THE HIDDEN CRUD!…

[T]he entire episode suddenly reminded me of how we’ve been waking up to what’s under the facade that is the Democratic Party, how we’re seeing “under the rim.”  Taking impeachment off the table, the failure to take on the Medicare Part D prescription gift to Big Pharma, the primary caucus system, the intimidation, the misogyny, Florida, Michigan, the secret fix that was engineered and the disgraceful actions of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, the unqualified candidate who getst away with playing the race card to the point of turning Bill Clinton into a “racist,” the hatred of BOTH Clintons, the money thrown without oversight to “community groups,” the ties to ACORN and the mortgage mess, the current corruption of the voting process by the same group and Obama’s ties to the group, the whole idea of being OK with the likes of William Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, and Tony Rezko…

[T]his is the Democratic Party that we’re supposed to keep following blindly? I don’t think so… like the scum hiding in my supposedly clean toilet, the crud of the Democratic Party has been exposed and I’ve decided to flush the Democratic leadership down the toilet, where they all belong.

FBI launches probe into ACORN over voter registrations (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — A day after John McCain charged that the liberal-leaning voter registration group ACORN “may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history,” it was disclosed Thursday that the FBI is investigating whether the group coordinated the filing of phony applications.

ObamACORN? (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
[A] lot of people say [questions about Obama’s relationship with ACORN] is a bunch of nonsense, and that it is typical Republican grandstanding about an organization that does a lot of good.  OK then, if that’s true, why is Barack Obama running away from them so fast that he feels he has to lie to the American people about his association with them?  I’d think he’d be proud of it.  Or maybe he’s started lying so much he doesn’t know when to tell the truth.  No matter what, I don’t think I trust him to be President of the United States.

Oopsies! Does this mean ACORN is calling Obama a liar? Sure sounds like it! (The Real Barack Obama)
Carla Marinucci reports in today’s San Francisco Chronicle “In last night’s debate, Sen. John McCain suggested that ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) was responsible for massive voter fraud that could destroy ”the fabric of democracy.” Now the leaders of the community organizing group have emerged with an aggressive effort to push back. “In a conference call … ACORN organizers[told reporters] that Sen. Barack Obama, as a local elected official in Chicago, participated in two training sessions for 50 volunteer leaders. In addition, he and his law firm represented a group of plantiffs, including ACORN, regarding motor votor registration issues. They said his campaign has also provided about $80,000 in funding to an independent consulting group, which in turn provided some funding to ACORN to get out the vote.”

McCain comeback? One poll shows him within 2 points (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Is John McCain starting to stage a comeback? Perhaps, according to new poll numbers from Gallup, the respected polling organization. McCain is now within two percentage points of Barack Obama in one Gallup poll, trailing by just 49-47 percent. He trails by wider margins in other Gallup polls. But even there, he gained in recent days leading up to Wednesday night’s third and final presidential debate.

Ipsos/McClatchy debate poll: McCain improved, Obama won (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — John McCain did better in his final debate with Barack Obama than he had in the two previous ones, but Obama still won it, according to a new online Ipsos/McClatchy survey of undecided voters.

Question of the day (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Marc Ambinder … mentioned “Joe The Plumber” 11 times on his blog before mocking others for looking into the guy’s background.  Two consecutive (and three total) Ambinder posts put “Joe The Plumber” in the headline.  Seven minutes after the debate ended, Ambinder announced: “Tonight’s winner: Joe the plumber.”… But now that people are pointing out that Wurzelbacher is a Republican who hates Social Security — and who not only would not face a tax increase under Obama, he’d likely get a larger tax cut from Obama than he would from McCain — well, suddenly, Marc Ambinder has heard enough about Joe The Plumber. Maybe it’s distracting him from trying to come up with evidence to support his claims that the media is paying more attention to Christopher Buckley than to ACORN.

Senator Joe Biden (MBNA-DE) (by dakinikat at The Confluence)
I about fell off my chair listening to the third presidential debates when Senator Obama suggested that Senator Biden was some how a champion of middle America and the little guy. Senator Obama evidently has forgotten about two things for which we can thank Joe Biden.  The first is the current bankruptcy bill which makes it difficult for folks who get into financial trouble for things like unemployment and overwhelming health catastrophy costs to ever recover financially and lead normal lives again. The second is that he’s never met a credit card company supported bill he doesn’t like.

Ladies, Are You Sure You Can Pull That Lever All By Yourself? (by madamab at The Confluence)
I forced myself to watch the debate [Wednesday] night… [W]hat really stood out for me was when the candidates started talking about Supreme Court judges and, by extension, Roe v. Wade and abortion… Here was Obama’s answer. “…Now I would not provide a litmus test. But I am somebody who believes that Roe versus Wade was rightly decided. I think that abortion is a very difficult issue and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on. But what ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision (emphasis mine)…” Didja catch that, ladies?… It never occurs to Senator Obama that women can make these decisions without “consulting with” anyone… Well, Barack darling, you’ll find there are a lot of decisions women can make all by themselves. And you’ll see how we decide on Election Day.

What’s the point of broadcasting dial-testing results during a debate? (Poynter Online)
Besides goosing CNN’s ratings. “It has no scientific validity — it’s not a sample of anything that has generalized validity,” says Rutgers Univeristy’s Cliff Zukin.

Lunch Break – The Left’s Big blunder (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
[S]o many of us have been in uncomfortable situations what with the blanketing and suffocating pro Obama atmosphere. This piece looks at the phenomenon. I know that when stating a simple “I don’t like Obama” I’ve been received with baffled looks and that “well, I guess John must have a problem with race” look. The damage inflicted by the Obama Left on race relations in this country is incalculable. The seething resentment among Black Americans for real or perceived racism -is being transferred to a seething resentment among white non Obama supporters for being CALLED racist – overtly or covertly and almost always unjustly.

“In such an environment, where admitting to disliking Obama in the interpersonal sphere has become the equivalent of social suicide, it seems very likely that the Bradley Effect is not just back, but back with a vengeance. The more that Obama supporters go unchallenged in their blanket accusations of racism against McCain supporters, the less likely anyone will publicly admit to dislike of Obama. Hence, the Bradley Effect is not an artifact of racism, but rather an artifact of false accusations of racism.”

Threat on Kos against Hillary (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
I should update a point made in earlier posts. On several occasions, I’ve noted that Markos Moulitsas printed a death threat against Hillary Clinton: “And a Drive-By Won’t Be Out of the Question. What goes around, comes around. The stupid fucking bitch !!” That quote remained on the site for some days — and I am not the only one to have seen it — but is not there now. I would note that one or two Obots objected to the word “bitch” but did not object to the call for murder. This lack of any disapproving commentary proves that ALL Kossacks are thugs. 

The same commenter, one jcarter, left a follow-up remark which remains on that page: “Talk About WHITE TRASH that bitch better keep looking over her shoulder.” Obviously, these words are also meant to be taken as a threat.
Tell me: Why is “White Trash” accept terminology on Kos? What would Obama supporters say about Cannonfire if I allowed my commenters to use terms like “black trash”?

Unfounded Allegations (by gqmartinez at Corrente)
“Secret Service says ‘Kill him’ allegation unfounded”… [A] pattern I am noticing more and more is the liberal charge that crazy, “erratic” McCain supporters (or Republicans) are plotting something heinous. Further, there is a quick [sleight] of hand to implicate any and all McCain supporters/GOPers … with threats that could be made from genuinely unstable McCain supporters/GOPers that pose the real threats. Are we going to trivialize death threats the same way we trivialized racism? If Obama does win and we disagree with his policies, are we going to be called racists or, worse, be implicated in plots against him? Death threats are real and, in my view, very serious. Throwing out unfounded allegations to tarnish the opposition is not only a disgusting tactics, but it takes away focus from the real threats that may be out there.

McCain aides privately call Palin a ‘total disaster.’ (Think Progress)
On Salon Radio [Thursday] morning, Glenn Greenwald asked Harper’s Scott Horton about his recent reporting on how Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol lobbied the McCain campaign to select Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) as the Republican vice presidential nominee. Horton explained that the McCain campaign is now regretting following Kristol’s advice, calling the Palin pick a “total disaster“.
I do not believe this claim for a minute.  Palin is drawing huge crowds whenever she speaks.  The only disaster is the awful way she’s been treated by the so-called progressive media.

‘Wash Post’ and ‘SF Chronicle’ Endorse Obama (Editor & Publisher)
“The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain’s disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president,” the Post declares. “It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race.” 

Politico and the coming Election Day “meltdown” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
The headline reads, “Experts warn of Nov. 4 voting meltdowns,” and the article is about all the new voters being put on the rolls and whether states, especially Ohio and Florida will be able to handle the stress on Election Day. But it turns out the only ones warning about a “meltdown” are editors at Politico. Because none of the experts quoted in the story use that kind of doomsday language. Instead, most sound like Kimball Brace, from Election Data Services, which advises local government on election administration. Brace told Politico, “There’s still reason to be concerned in terms of what’s going to take place in November.” That’s a long way from “meltdown” talk. This seems to be a case of editors pushing a provocative theme that reporters haven’t quite nailed down.   

‘Tennessee Tribune’ List Of Non-Voters Stirs Controversy (Editor & Publisher)
CHICAGO Tennessee Tribune Publisher Rosetta Miller-Perry says she doesn’t mind embarrassing people if it makes them do the right thing. The right thing to do, she argues, is vote in the upcoming presidential election — so she’s embarrassing hundreds of registered voters who didn’t go to the polls in 2004. In its latest edition, Miller-Perry’s black-oriented Nashville weekly published the names and addresses of non-voting registered voters living in largely African-American precincts. A local TV station interviewed several people angry about finding their names and addresses on the list, especially since they believed they had valid reasons they missed the 2004 vote.

TV station hits mute button when candidate makes erroneous statement about banks (Poynter Online)
WFMZ-TV muted the sound and blurred the lips of Lehigh Valley Democratic congressional candidate Sam Bennett as she wrongly stated in a taped debate that Sovereign and Wachovia banks had folded. “We did not feel that broadcasting the names of the banks served the public in any way,” says the station’s general manager. But Poynter’s Kelly McBride says that “ultimately the voters deserve to know what information this candidate got wrong.”

Air America outlasts expectations. (Inside Radio)
Created to counterbalance conservative talk radio, Air America was viewed by many in the industry as a vanity project that delivered bad ratings, no revenues and was destined to fail. Four years later it survives, with more than 50 affiliates and a plan to recast itself as a multimedia content provider.

Fox News tops primetime cable ratings (Hollywood Reporter)
NEW YORK – Fox News Channel leaped to the top ratings slot in primetime for all of basic cable, the second time this year.  Nielsen Media Research pegged Fox the top-ranked network in primetime, ahead of the general entertainment channels, as well as its cable news competitors. That included other channels like ESPN with “Monday Night Football.” Fox News was also in second place in total day, behind Nickelodeon. Fox News’ strength came from its regular programming in the weeks before the election as well as strong ratings in the second presidential debate. Exclusive interviews with John McCain and Sarah Palin on “Hannity & Colmes” and Palin on “On the Record with Greta van Susteren” also contributed.

Glenn Beck to join Fox News next spring. (Think Progress)
Michael Calderone reports that right-wing talker Glenn Beck is leaving CNN and joining Fox News. “Beginning next spring, Beck will host FOX News Channel’s (FNC) 5 PM/ET weekday program as well as a weekend show on the network,” a Fox News statement says. Fox News’s Roger Ailes remarked, “As we embark on a new political landscape, Glenn’s thought provoking commentary will complement an already stellar line-up of stars at FOX News.” Check out some of Beck’s worst moments here.

Cramer Counterattack (New York Post)
Cable news channel CNBC is airing a new spot boosting “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer after rival Fox Business Network ran ads attacking his credibility. The CNBC ad – with the tagline “In Cramer We Trust” – draws on a monologue from a recent show in which he weighed in on the government’s bank bailout: “Bottom line: The new plan does not save the market. It just takes another Great Depression off the table.”

Making “Who Could Have Known?” Unacceptable: The Key to Popping Bubbles (by Dean Baker)
Suppose that in 2002, instead of testifying that there is no housing bubble, Alan Greenspan tells Congress that he is very worried about the unprecedented run-up in house prices… Suppose that he repeated these comments again and again with supporting evidence. Suppose that Greenspan had the Fed staff grinding out papers documenting the evidence that there was a housing bubble and projecting the damage to various banks and other financial institutions from its collapse. Will everyone panic and reverse their irrational exuberance? That would be my bet… Does anyone think that the execs at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and the rest could say “who could have known?” to their shareholders, who just saw most of the value of their stock disappear? My guess is that all of these execs would be out of their jobs and facing lawsuits for neglecting their responsibilities to their shareholders.

As Economic Storm Brewed, Congressional Wealth Grew 11% Last Year (Capital Eye)
WASHINGTON — An economic recession is looking increasingly likely, but the personal finances of members of Congress suggest they will be able to withstand the slowdown far better than most Americans, according to a new analysis of lawmakers’ latest personal financial reports by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. U.S. senators had a median net worth of approximately $1.7 million in 2007, the most recent year for which their financial data is available, and 61 percent of the Senate’s members could be considered millionaires. In the House of Representatives, the median net worth was about $684,000, with 39 percent of members having net worths estimated to be at least $1 million. By contrast, only about 1 percent of all American adults can be considered millionaires. Growth between 2006 and 2007 was still a healthy 11 percent, despite indications last year that the economy was headed south.

FDIC chief knocks bailout package (by DCblogger at Corrente)
Investment News “The $700,000 billion financial services industry bailout plan has a critic in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair, who said yesterday the initiative does not do enough to prevent Americans from losing their homes, The Wall Street Journal reported today.” At some point Versailles will work out that the well being of the big shots is connected to the well being of the little guys.

The Credit Crunch and the Recession (by Dean Baker)
[T]here has been a tendency in the media to attribute all the bad news in the economy to the financial crisis, as is the case with [a] front page article in the Washington Post. Firms will always cut back expansion plans during a downturn, even if credit is readily available. Of course, credit will be less readily available for many firms in a downturn, even when the financial system is operating normally. The reason is that weak firms become much worse credit risk in a downturn.

Dow ends up 401 in another stunning Up-turn (AP)
A stock market as difficult to fathom as it is volatile pulled off another stunning U-turn on Thursday, transforming a 380-point loss for the Dow Jones industrials into a 401-point gain. Was it the government’s bailout beginning to have an effect? The credit markets finally beginning to loosen up? Investors looking for a bottom in stocks? Wall Street seemed sure of this much: The whipsawing will continue. So buckle up.

European markets bounce after Dow lift (CNN)
European sharemarkets opened higher Friday, only a day after they slipped to new lows on the back of recession fears.

Asia stock markets mixed after Wall Street rebound (AP)
HONG KONG – World stock markets were mixed Friday after Wall Street rebounded strongly overnight, with Japanese shares recovering from a historic fall in the previous session.

Social Security benefits going up by 5.8 percent (AP)
Social Security benefits for 50 million people will go up 5.8 percent next year, the largest increase in more than a quarter century. The increase, which will start in January, was announced Thursday by the Social Security Administration. It will mean an additional $63 per month for the average retiree.

New Feature on OpenSecrets.org: Lobbyists’ Campaign Contributions (Capital Eye)
Thanks to a 2007 change in Congress’s ethics laws, federal lobbyists and their employers must now disclose their campaign contributions. It’s their personal money, but it may have been contributed with a professional goal in mind. OpenSecrets.org now lets you see which individual lobbyists are giving the most money to federal politicians (and where they work and to whom they’re contributing), which organizations are represented by these lobbyists, and the lawmakers who are collecting the most from these professional influence-peddlers. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that lobbyists give more money to the party in power — Democrats — and they overwhelmingly favor incumbents over challengers. You can check out this new, searchable feature here.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Radio host Bob Grant asserted that Obama created an ” ‘O’ flag,” but apparent flag in question was Ohio’s

• CNN’s Amy Holmes falsely asserted that in first debate, Obama said “he would sacrifice … energy policy”

• In two separate items, Wash. Post misled on Obama’s response to Lewis statement

• Scarborough misquoted Obama regarding Lewis remarks, then called the statement Obama didn’t make “shocking” and “staggering”

• MSNBC’s Shuster’s suggestion that Obama “bear[s] a certain responsibility to clarify” Jackson’s Israel remarks is based on false distinction

• MSNBC’s Hall said “it would be rude to ask Joe [the Plumber] what his income is” — but it’s key issue

• Wash. Post uncritically quoted McCain misrepresenting Biden’s proposal for Iraq

• CNN’s Bash noted that McCain will continue to claim Obama is “going to raise your taxes” — but not that it isn’t true

• CNN’s Bennett asked of Lewis’ statement about McCain campaign, “Why didn’t Obama say it was wrong?” — but Obama did

China urged to prolong relaxed reporting rules
BEIJING, Oct 16 (Reuters) – China should extend indefinitely relaxed reporting rules for foreign journalists introduced for the Olympics and apply them to the Chinese media as well, Human Rights Watch said in a statement. As part of Beijing’s bid to host the August Games, it promised to allow complete media freedom, including letting foreign reporters interview anyone without first getting government permission, though the state’s grip over domestic media did not ease. But that freedom is due to expire on Friday. “While there were serious problems in implementing Olympics-related media freedom regulations, they did mark a new and much higher standard in Chinese law for reporting freedom,” said Human Rights Watch Asia advocacy director Sophie Richardson.

Vietnam journalist jailed for exposing scandal
A Vietnamese journalist who exposed transport ministry officials who were embezzling foreign aid to bet on European football matches, was yesterday jailed for two years. Nguyen Viet Chien was convicted of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state”… Mr Nguyen told the court: “I never have any other purpose in mind when writing my reports but exposing wrongdoing.”

Doha Centre for Media Freedom launched
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom was launched [Thursday] in the presence of Dr. Hamad al-Kuwari, Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage, who is also President of the centre”s Advisory Council as well as a number of members of its Board of Governors and media persons… The Centre is a meeting-place that emphasizes exchanges and dialogue between people… It conducts on-the-spot fact-finding missions to listen to all sides, pinpoint the obstacles dividing the authorities from civil society and restart dialogue between them. The centre organizes meetings, seminars and conferences where journalists and media figures from various countries talk about issues, learn new things, plan to work together and find solutions to problems. The Centre also coordinates a media network ready to give urgent help to journalists and media outlets in difficulty.

A government bailout of newspapers is “a terrible idea,” says Abrams
“What would happen is newspapers would then focus on this ultra-elite point-five-percent and create these papers that are just unreachable to a mass audience,” says Tribune chief innovation officer Lee Abrams. “I think for government to come in and force this intellectual thing would be terrible. It’d almost be like in 1950, with rock-n-roll coming, all the sudden the government comes in to support classical music.”

New Ways of Financing Journalism Will be Found, Georgia Journalists Say at NPC Forum
The future of journalism may be in niche products supported less by advertising and more by corporate sponsorships, by interest groups and by public broadcasting-style memberships, leading Georgia journalists said at a National Press Club Centennial Forum here Tuesday. While Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, described how her paper is pulling back its reporting to the core four counties in the metropolitan area, Susanna Capelouto, news director for Georgia Public Broadcasting, said her organization is expanding. “The reason public broadcasting is doing so well is that they can specialize on the ‘why’ of journalism,” Capelouto said. “They make the connection, they tell the story, and they are supported by their members, so the pressure isn’t there.”

College Network Makes Big Cuts
CBS College Sports said that it was laying off nearly one-quarter of its staff, signifying the network’s shift from studio programs to increased high-definition event coverage.

Progressive journalism (by Jeff Jarvis)
On my “run” through a wet Hamburg [Thursday] morning, I listened, as is now my daily habit, to the NPR Planet Money podcast. The show – made by Adam Davidson, Alex Blumberg, Laura Conaway, and David Kenstenbaum – is a superb example of journalism as process not product… Planet Money’s narrative unfolds with the news itself. They don’t try to tie up all the loose ends by the end of each podcast. Instead, they tell us that they’ll follow this angle or that and answer open questions. The other day, for example, an interviewee told Davidson that the bailout money could be used by banks to pay dividends or buy back stock. He said just what I was thinking: Our blood was boiling. He didn’t have the rest of that story then. Instead, he told us that he’d be sure to follow the angle. The audience also joins in, asking questions, which the Planet Money team patiently and intelligently answers. This, too, forms the podcast. It’s a process.

Ten small things you can do now to reinvent your newsroom
First on Chris O’Brien’s list is “Start a wiki.” He writes: “This is a great way to start experimenting with changing your relationship with your community. …It gives you a chance to start soliciting content generated outside the newsroom.”

At the Times-Picayune, “there’s no pretending to be objective”
Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose on his paper’s post-Katrina voice: “There’s no question that from the day it came down, the notion of objective journalism was washed away with everything else in this town. I don’t think the paper has ever pretended to be objective since. We write with a really interesting edge and a real gripping tone, which is why I think we’re the most relevant local paper in the country.”

Palm Beach Post hires Magid consulting firm “to help shape our future”
The Palm Beach Post, which cut 300 employees earlier this year, has hired Frank N. Magid Associates for “a six-month project that will involve extensive research with readers and advertisers plus intensive strategy sessions with members of our staff and the Magid team.” During the buildup to the Iraq War, Magid warned clients that coverage of war protests “turned off news consumers.”

Tribune Considers Dropping AP Wire Service Within Two Years (Paid Content)
The Tribune Company is the latest newspaper publisher to give the Associated Press notice that it is considering dropping its services in two years, E&P reported.  In a statement emailed to paidContent, Tribune said it was simply a cost-cutting measure. As for the AP, the company also issued a statement: “We understand that in this climate a lot of newspapers are reexamining their strategies. The Associated Press will continue to work with all members of the cooperative to ensure that we are providing the most efficient, valued and essential news service for them.”

Google’s Net (and Stock) Rise Sharply
Third-quarter profit increased 26 percent to $1.35 billion, a strong showing that might be enough to reassure jittery investors.

The Google economy, indeed (by Jeff Jarvis)
Google does indeed have its own economy. It’s latest results: “The Web search leader reported third-quarter earnings that far exceeded the expectations of analysts, especially those who thought the company might finally fall victim to the slumping economy. Thanks largely to having contained costs better than in previous quarters, Google reported on Oct. 16 that profit rose 26%, to $1.35 billion, significantly higher than analysts had predicted. Sales jumped 31%, to $5.54 billion.” The analysts are stumped because they are not judging Google as a new kind of company in a new kind of economy. It’s different.

Yahoo Bows Unified Social Media Profile (Paid Content)
Yahoo recently shut down its fledgling social media site Mash, but that didn’t derail all of its social media plans. Today it launched a unified profile feature that lets users access (and eventually control) their various social media personas across the Web. It’s part of the company’s “open” strategy (Y!OS), which gives developers and other third parties access to a number of Yahoo platforms through a set of APIs. The strategy has already spawned two search plays, Yahoo BOSS and Search Monkey, each with varying levels of customization. Users of Yahoo Messenger 9.0 have already started seeing some of the profile integrations, as the IM client pulls in their friends’ Twitter, Yahoo Buzz and Mybloglog updates. Deeper integration into Yahoo Mail is slated to come next, as well as a customizable homepage. 

ISPs pressed to become child porn cops
Internet service providers are moving closer to becoming cops on the lookout for child pornography, able to monitor every e-mail and Web search for illegal images.

PikLuk Puts Parents in Control of Childrens’ Browsing | The Startup Review (Mashable)
PikLuk, launched out of Austin, Texas, is in and of itself a Web browser. The project’s modus operandi: to give parents the ability to locally or remotely control what it is their children can see. This means any websites that parents deem suitable for their kids’ exploration can be designated as safe. Don’t mind your son or daughter signing on to a particular social network? You can specify what is and what isn’t okay to be viewed with your PikLuk installation. Restrictions can also be set for email correspondence. If you only want family members and/or immediate friends to be able to contact your child, you can make sure this is the case.

Discovery CEO: Web ‘Take-up Rate Is Not That Strong’ (Paid Content)
Cable programmer Discovery is making its first foray in ad-supported, free-to-air TV on the UK’s Freeview. (It’s not free for Discovery, which is reported to be paying millions of pounds for the privilege.) But somehow Thursday’s announcement turned into a rationale for Discovery’s clip-oriented internet strategy as explained by CEO David Zaslav in the FT: “We have opted not to put a lot of our content on to the web. There is not a very strong economic model, number one, and, number two, from a viewership perspective, despite how aggressively others have gone on to the web, the take-up rate is not that strong.” Broadcasters have more leeway; cable nets need ad support to justify putting full-length shows online.

Jack Bauer: The Half-Million-Dollar Man
Two-Hour ’24′ Movie Fetches Highest Price of Fall Season

GM launches radio campaign.
General Motors says radio ads begin today promoting their financing options. GM isn’t releasing the size of the “Financing That Fits” radio campaign, although it’s cash that has been added to its marketing budget.

The Train Is Coming. And With It, More Ads.
New York’s transit system is planning to convert much of its real estate into advertising space, including turnstiles, walls and subway tunnels.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

DISTURBING MUSIC RAP VIDEO (by Lynette Long)
I have thought long and hard about posting this video because it is so disturbing.  The blatant disrespect it shows toward women, not just Republican women, is alarming.  It saddens me that not only are women not outraged by this video but participate in this.  Again I feel frustrated by the silence that envelopes the womens groups that are supposed to protect all women not just Democratic women. The task for equality seems impossible at times.  Stand tall women.  Stand with me.
Dr. Long’s video link is broken.  See below.

Drill Baby Drill (video, thanks to No Quarter)

The Lady Killers (by Anglachel)
Calling Hillary a cunt or Sarah Plain a slut only work because of the misogynistic backdrop in which we understand that these are qualities of being female, and where they are used to shame, humiliate, intimidate and justify violence against the women so named, exactly as racial epithets are used to do exactly the same on reviled minorities. These kinds of racial epithets and imagery were acceptable, even respectable, in popular culture… I remember eating at “Sambo’s” restaurants as a child, a chain marketed through racist imagery. It is now gone. Conversely, there are two “Hooters” restaurants within 10 miles of my house, where women’s breasts are the central marketing tool for second rate fried food. It’s promoted as a “family” restaurant, by the way.

What the campaign season has demonstrated is misogyny is as acceptable a weapon of social and political dominance as race demagoguery was through George Wallace’s presidential campaigns… The lady killers are no more and no less than the racists of the Left, and should be treated as such.
Please set aside time to read the entire post.  It’s one of the most important essays written this year.

Yep (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
What Anglachel says [see above]. Yes, I am voting for Obama – but I’m holding my nose. And this is the LAST TIME I’m going to vote holding my nose. If the country wasn’t in such a freakin’ meltdown right now, I’d be voting for Cynthia McKinney. At my son’s wedding, one of the guests (a college professor) came up to me and said, “I guess you’re working on the campaign, right?” I smiled back and said, “No.” He looked baffled and said, “Oh.” His wife, a leading consultant on geriatric policy and a former Hill staffer, came over to me later and confided her husband was one of Obama’s senior advisors on Social Security. “Are you working for him?” she said. “No,” I told her. “After what happened in the primary to Hillary Clinton, there’s no way. I’m not working against Obama, or for McCain, but I’m not helping them, either.” She nodded vehemently. “Exactly! I feel the same way.” There’s a lot of us out there. We won’t forget.
As I’ve said, I’m voting for Cynthia.  I’m done holding my nose.  Some friends of mine went to an event over the weekend that included some Hillary supporters who are actually working for McCain now.  There are more than you might think.

Brooks calls Palin the “worst of talk”… (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
In [Wednesday’s] New York Times, Maureen Dowd quotes David Brooks, who complains that Sarah Palin “has reinforced the worst of talk-radio culture” since becoming McCain’s nominee. We certainly agree with that, though our own assessment would be a good deal stronger. But as we look at the world TDH covers, we keep thinking we’re seeing that same “talk-radio culture” infecting the (growing) world of “liberal” advocacy. We think that tendency is bad for the world, for progressive interests.

Secret Service denies report of rally cry to “kill” Obama (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
The U.S. Secret Service says reports that someone at a Sarah Palin rally in Pennsylvania yelled “kill him” at the mention of Barack Obama’s name are unfounded.

Double standard (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
What I cannot understand is why the Secret Service doesn’t investigate death threats coming from Obama cultists?… And why didn’t the Secret Service look into the threat on Hillary Clinton’s life published on Obama’s own website? “Just slit her throat, lock her in a car boot, and drive the car into river in West Virginia. Ain’t gonna let no whore screw with the man.” Why didn’t the Secret Service investigate (even after I contacted them) Markos Moulitsas after he published this threat against Hillary on The Daily Kos? “And a Drive-By Won’t Be Out of the Question. What goes around, comes around. The stupid fucking bitch !!” Why didn’t the Secret Service arrest Keith Olbermann for his on-air call for Hillary Clinton’s murder?

Rainey criticizes CNN for “reheated, overwrought and misleading” Palin story
A recent CNN report “seemed designed to yoke Sarah Palin and her husband to the most extreme secessionists in Alaska,” writes press critic James Rainey. He notes that no news outlets “have shown that Sarah Palin embraced the call by some in the party to sever their beloved state from ‘the Lower 48.’”

Obama Campaign Says Michelle Obama ‘Interview’ on ‘African Press’ Web Site Is 100% Bogus (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
The conservative blogs are all atwitter about a bizarre interview allegedly with Michelle Obama on a Web site called “African Press International.” “My husband was born in Hawaii and adopted by his stepfather — does that make him unpatriotic,” she supposedly said “on a direct telephone to API” the “interview” hypes. It goes on from there. This morning my inbox is filled with the “WHY ARENT YOU COVERING THIS?” e-mails on the subject. The answer is: because it doesn’t appear to be in any way real. Obama campaign senior adviser Robert Gibbs says the interview is a complete and utter fabrication. “It’s bogus, she didn’t call, it’s all a lie,” he says.

Sacramento County GOP removes website materials urging people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama.’ (Think Progress)
Yesterday, the Sacramento County Republican party removed from their website images that likened Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Osama bin Laden. One of the images “encouraged people to ‘Waterboard Barack Obama’”:

The chairman of the Sacramento County Republican party, Craig MacGlashan, told the Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, “Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things.” Earlier this week, the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, Jeffrey M. Frederick, also compared Obama to bin Laden.

GOP mail ties Obama to terrorists (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
In a stark new brochure Wednesday, the Republican National Committee subtly plays on the false belief held by many Americans that Barack Obama is a Muslim, an Arab, or somehow un-American. “Terrorists don’t care who they hurt,” says the cover the brochure, arriving in mailboxes Wednesday in the battleground state of Virginia. The words appear over a picture of someone in shadow eyeing or photograhing the front of an airplane, an apparent reference to the fact that terrorists used hijacked airplanes to kill Americans in 2001. Flip open the brochure, and the photo is of Obama.

K.C. lawyer sues, saying McCain campaign incited violence (McClatchy)
KANSAS CITY — A Kansas City lawyer and supporter of Barack Obama for president has filed suit in federal court, alleging that the Republican ticket has incited violence against the Democratic nominee.
Anybody remember a suit against Keith Olbermann for inciting violence against Hillary?  No?  Me, neither.

McCain, advisers divided over Wright (Politico)
John McCain is at odds with many of his top advisers over launching a renewed attack on Barack Obama’s ties to his long-time pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, according to campaign sources. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and several top campaign officials see a sharp attack on Wright as the best — and perhaps last — chance to rattle Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill. ) and force voters to rethink their support of him. But McCain continues to overrule them, fearing a Wright attack would smack of desperation and racism, the officials said. With McCain unlikely to budge, GOP officials are hoping groups outside of the campaign will finance an ad attack on Obama-Wright ties. It is unclear if any conservative group has the cash to bankroll a serious effort, however. “Wright is off the table,” said one top campaign official. “It’s all McCain. He won’t go there. His advisers would have gone there.”

McCain comes out swinging against Obama (McClatchy)
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — John McCain and Barack Obama clashed sharply in their third and last presidential debate, as McCain tried to paint his rival as insensitive to “Joe the Plumber” and too willing to associate himself with unsavory influences, while Obama charged that McCain was waging an ugly, divisive campaign.

Again, not everything said in debate was true (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — In the third and final presidential debate, Republican John McCain made inaccurate assertions about the catalyst for the current mortgage crisis and Democrat Obama twisted some facts about his spending plans.

Fact-Checking the Candidates: Does Anybody Care? (Politico)
Has the drum-beat of fact-checks blended into white noise, letting significant misstatements and deceptions get lost in the mix? In all, the fact-checking was flying last night, as it has been throughout the campaign, albeit with limited impact on the candidates, who’ve continued to raise many of the same claims on which the watchmen have cast doubt.

How to win a debate no matter what happens (by gqmartinez at Corrente)
1. Claim the race is already over.
2. Use 1. above to say that the losing candidate needs to have a “game changer”.
3. Make the debates such that no “game changer” is possible.
4. Declare that no “game changer” happened and so the losing candidate actually lost the debate.
Can anyone think of a debate “game changer” over the last 20 years?
NOTE: For the knee-jerkers, this is more about process than anything candidate specific. If the media uses this tactic now, they will use it again in the future. Perhaps on the “debate” of whether we should invade Iran.

So what did the candidates’ words look like? (On Politics, USA Today)
Once again, Janet Harris of Upstream Analysis helps us out with “word clouds” of what the presidential nominees had to say at last night’s debate.

Why should a committee be in charge of a woman’s body? (by lambert at Corrente)
Obama’s abortion formula drives me nuts. From the debate transcript: “[OBAMA] What ultimately I believe is that women in consultation with their families, their doctors, their religious advisers, are in the best position to make this decision.” Because I can’t see the logic of it. Either the woman is in the “best position,” or a sort of committee, composed of the woman (indeed, we’ve come a long way), her family, and various religious and medical experts is in the “best position.” Why would Obama believe that a committee is in the “best position” instead of the woman herself?

‘Joe the plumber’ says Obama’s tax plan sounds ‘socialistic’ (On Politics, USA Today)
The man who was mentioned more than 20 times in last night’s presidential debate — “Joe the plumber” — spoke out on ABC News’ Good Morning America… He wouldn’t say who he’s going to vote for, but Wurzelbacher made clear he doesn’t support Obama’s economic plans: “‘Just because you work a little harder, to have more money taken from you — that’s scary,’ Wurzelbacher said. ‘Why should they be penalized for being successful? … That’s wrong. … Obama wants to take that basic right and penalize me for it. That’s a very socialistic view.’”
Would that it were populist, much less socialist.

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher related to Charles “the Crook” Keating. Oops. (by Marty Eisenstadt)
John McCain did great [last night] in the debate. But every time John mentioned “Joe the Plumber,” some of us in the campaign banged our heads against the wall… Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

Bernanke warns of worsening slump; stocks dive (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Wednesday that the economic slowdown is growing worse and called for greater regulation to prevent future crises like the one now menacing the nation.

U.S. Stocks Plunge Most Since Crash of 1987 on Recession Concerns (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the nation out of a recession. 

Stock slump sends Europe’s leaders back for more reforms (McClatchy)
PARIS — After a dramatic one-day rebound, global stock markets slumped sharply again on Wednesday — providing new impetus as world leaders called for a full-scale revamp of international financial markets at the heart of the intractable economic crisis.

Paulson tries again (by my OTHER favorite Nobel laureate in economics, Joseph Stiglitz)
Britain showed at least that it still believed in some sort of system of accountability: heads of banks resigned. Nothing like this in the US. Britain understood that it made no sense to pour money into banks and have them pour out money to shareholders. The US only restricted the banks from increasing their dividends… For all the show of toughness, the details suggest the US taxpayer got a raw deal. There is no comparison with the terms that Warren Buffett secured when he provided capital to Goldman Sachs. Buffett got a warrant – the right to buy in the future at a price that was even below the depressed price at the time. Paulson got for the US a warrant to buy in the future – at whatever the prevailing price at the time. The whole point of the warrant is so we participate in some of the upside, as the economy recovers from the crisis, and as the financial system starts to work.
And that’s why the moguls didn’t want to deal with Buffett.  He would have driven a hard bargain and fired the perpetrators.  So they demanded welfare from the taxpayers.  And got it.

Goldman, Welfare, Queen & Sachs (by lambert at Corrente)
A modest proposal from Angry Bear: “I figure if the gubmint doesn’t get any say in how banks do business (exactly why is it so important to keep the “talent” that created this mess in the first place?) and foots the bill, can we at least require every bank that takes government money to include the words ‘Welfare Queen’ in its name?”

Katrina for the Rest of Us (by Froma Harrop)
Is the crisis really the fault of Bush, and with him, Republican lawmakers who refused to adequately regulate? Largely. Two things are at its core: One, the financial derivatives that no one understood but were sold as insurance against defaults on risky debt. (These greased the craziest lending practices.) Two, the lax rules that let financial institutions hold only $1 of capital to cover $30 of lending. “But what about Fannie Mae?” my Republican friends passionately interject. They say that Democrats pushed Fannie to help expand lending to lower-income folk (read “minorities”) by buying up their iffy loans. In 2005, they stopped Republicans from tightening the oversight of Fannie… Granted, Fannie should never have been allowed to traffic in subprime debt, but within that riskier universe, it had relatively high standards for quality…

As for the Republican efforts to better regulate Fannie, why did they fail? After all, Republicans in 2005 controlled the White House and held majorities in both houses of Congress. The answer is that too many of their own backers were making big money off the real estate bubble. In any case, the subprime meltdown was only the trigger for a far bigger problem involving many kinds of debt. In sum, an executive culture was allowed to get fabulously rich by taking outlandish risks. Anyhow, the party is over, they say. Well, the party never really began for many of us — but yes, the party is definitely over.

Home Prices Seem Far From Bottom (New York Times)
In hard-hit areas like California, Florida and Arizona, the grim calculus is the same: More and more homes are going up for sale, but fewer and fewer people are willing or able to buy them.

To cut losses, owners consider default (McClatchy)
More than four in 10 South Florida homeowners who bought in the last five years owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

Government Must Create Jobs (by Marie Cocco)
[J]obs, folks, are the only way out of this crisis. Because job losses — as much as the credit squeeze that is partly responsible for them — are pushing us deeper and deeper into the hole. So far this year, the economy has shed almost 800,000 jobs, with September the ninth straight month of losses. About a fifth of the unemployed have been without work for at least six months, the kind of long-term joblessness that would lead families to lose their homes and their cars even if there were no credit crisis pushing them toward foreclosure or forfeiture.

So far, though, the two presidential candidates still try to entice us with a hodgepodge of economic stimulus proposals that are based largely on tax cuts that are, at best, inefficient, and at worst, continue to dole out money to the most affluent… The public is in the mood to get back to basics, an indisputably good idea when chaos is unfolding around us in part because finance got too exotic — and so, frankly, did consumers’ appetites. So the presidential candidates should stop trying to sell us on solutions that are so convoluted you need an accountant to decipher them.

Democrats Mull $300 Billion Stimulus (Wall Street Journal)
House Speaker Pelosi is considering a plan that would include public works projects and extended unemployment benefits.

Rezko’s “dirty money” list (Repost) (The Real Barack Obama)
This article was orginally published March 30, 2008, at RezkoWatch, and has been reposted a number of times since. What makes it interesting to look at another time is that the list, once thought to connect convicted political fixer, and Obama’s personal real estate fairy, Antoin “Tony” Rezko, to Obama contributors, was later identified as a compilation of contributions that passed through Rezko’s hands but to support Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. As some have written, including Evelyn Pringle [see below] in her Operations Board Games articles, Rekzo was Blagojevich’s political patron and it was Blagojevich who was originally intended as the presidential candidate, not Obama.

Another reason to post this again is RBO’s compilations of campaign contributions from the Illinois State Board of Elections records for Obama’s Friends of Obama political action commitee, from which some of the following information was extracted. The new year-by-year lists put Obama’s contributions and contributors into perspective. Finally, another reason to post this again is that we have reports that Rezko is talking to the Feds and, quite possibly, spilling the beans on Blagojevich — and — hopefully — Obama.
Click through for the details.

Who is Evelyn Pringle and why is the Progressive Mafia trying to silence her? (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Long-time readers know that I’ve been encouraging everyone to read the work of Evelyn Pringle, the investigative reporter who spent months looking into Obama’s ties to the Illinois “Combine” – a crook’s paradise of unscrupulous businessmen and corrupt pols. Pringle previously had received great applause for her work exposing fraud and thievery in Iraq. She once was someone that the progs liked… Lefty writers never lacked publication venues when they went after Democrats in the past. Older readers will recall that “progressive” pundits previously expended most of their hatred on Democrats, not Republicans… But Obama changes everything. Obama may not be criticized. No matter how deep his corruption, Obama may not be criticized. The left had no problem with Michael Moore’s portrayal of Al Gore as being somewhere to the right of Mussolini — but anyone who tells the truth about Barack Holy Obama must be a racist.

And so Evelyn Pringle must be silenced. “OpEdNews’ Rob Kall is wondering whether to remove Evelyn Pringle’s articles because she ‘attacked Obama’. Kall says she did so because she is a Hillary supporter.” Pringle’s response: “…When I found out Obama was as corrupt as any Republican, I was not about to keep my mouth shut just because he was a Democrat. Believe me, I knew what might happen to me if I went public – but that was not reason enough to keep quiet either – at least not when you have a conscience like mine. The thought of the Illinois political mob running this country is the most disgusting thing I can think of at this point. Yeah I dislike McCain but I always knew the Republicans were corrupt bastards – Democrats were supposed to be different – well not anymore.”

Part 1–Independent Thinking: PARTISAN NO MORE (by kenosha Marge at InsightAnalytical)
I found out a fundamental thing about myself this election cycle. For years I cringed as fellow liberals called conservatives horrid names and impugned their intellect. I cringed because I had family and friends who were good, decent people and, horror of horrors, Republicans… Taking a step back and looking around I began to wonder how many of my other preconceived notions were wrong. This election cycle has challenged the core beliefs for many of us. We look around without the bias of our partisanship and we don’t like what we see. We have had the nastiness and name-calling turned on us by fellow Democrats/Liberals and we are outraged…

Partisan Republicans will vote for Republican Crooks over good decent Democrats; indeed they will deny that such a creature exists. Partisan Democrats will vote for Democratic Crooks over good decent Republicans and insist from their partisan viewpoint that there are no good Republicans. Partisan voters insist there is no good to be found in the other party. And elected officials will follow the party line, with a few exceptions, whether the party line is good for the country or not. Our country is going to hell in a partisan handbasket.

Major League Baseball Agrees to Fox’s Request to Delay Game 6 of World Series 15 Minutes to Air Obama TV Ad (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In order to accommodate the half-hour TV ad Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., purchased for Wednesday October 29, Fox has requested and received permission to delay the 6th game of the World Series by 15 minutes.

Obama gets the cover of the ‘Rolling Stone,’ again (On Politics, USA Today)
For the third time this year, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama gets the cover treatment from Rolling Stone. The latest issue goes on sale Friday.

Telecom Companies Provided Cell Towers for McCain Ranch (Political Wire)
A Washington Post investigation finds that Verizon and AT&T offered a free “cell site on wheels” for McCain’s property in Sedona, Arizona to better their cell phone coverage… The McCain campaign responds it was a Secret Service request for cell service, however Marc Ambinder notes “it’s also fairly clear that the original request had nothing to do with the Service, and that Verizon was well on its way to building a tower by the time McCain became the nominee and reluctantly accepted the Service’s services.”

Will Gloves Come Off When McCain Faces Letterman? (Washington Post)
Presidential candidate John McCain gets his second on-air grilling this week when he has his makeup date with David Letterman tonight, a day after debating Democratic candidate Barack Obama. TV industry navel-gazers are anticipating big numbers for Letterman, who for the past three weeks has knocked himself out ginning up a feud with McCain.

Hank Williams Jr. interview: He’s making an ‘important’ TV ad to help McCain (On Politics, USA Today)
First iTunes and YouTube, now national TV. This isn’t the first time country singer Hank Williams Jr. has gotten involved in politics, but his work this year for Republican John McCain is his highest profile campaign gig. Williams just told us that … he is making “a pretty important video” about the Second Amendment right to bear arms, to be taped in part at the Country Music Hall of Fame… Meanwhile, singer/songwriter James Taylor will be singing on behalf of Obama next week.

As Election Nears, Chocolate News Enters Comedy Fray (New York Times)
Chocolate News borrows the fake-news template from two of Comedy Central’s most successful programs, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, but uses the conceit to fill a void of politically charged black-oriented comedy. The first season of this show is an equal-opportunity offender, skewering rappers, Maya Angelou, gangbangers, and election fraud.

CNN to Start Weekend Comedy Show With D.L. Hughley (AP)
The latest entrant into the TV comedy business is … CNN? The news network announced Wednesday that it’s starting a show with comedian D.L. Hughley. Tentatively titled D.L. Hughley Breaks the News, it will air live at 10 p.m. Saturdays and replay 24 hours later. The show will debut Oct. 25.

Mini-Tidbits: Campaign Finance API, More…
Want to mash up campaign finance data, or make your own campaign finance map? Try this: “When we first started talking about creating and releasing APIs for databases collected by The Times, campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission was a natural choice. The upcoming presidential election has seen record fundraising by the candidates and a host of new donors. Now we want our users to be able to analyze and reuse some of the data we’ve been looking at while reporting on the campaign.” Find more cool data mashup resources at the Times Developer Network

Appeals Court Sides With Ohio Republican Party On Voter Registration (American Constitution Society)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in a ruling that reverses one it issued last week, says the Ohio Secretary of State must take additional actions to ensure that thousands of new voter registrations are not fraudulent. The Associated Press reports that the full Sixth Circuit ruled that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other state records and the Social Security database to verify hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations before Election Day… Brunner added that the federal law does not allow government databases to be improperly used to block voter registrations.

Judge Rules in Favor of Exit Polling (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Exit pollsters have a right to do their work within 100 feet of Minnesota polling places, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. U.S. Chief Judge Michael Davis called the state’s new exit poll law unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction allowing ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, CNN, and the Associated Press to conduct polls close to voting places Nov. 4.

YouTube, PBS urge people to record voting (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO – If voters see problems on Election Day, YouTube and PBS want them to whip out their video cameras and throw the footage onto a new Web site for documenting voters’ experiences on Nov. 4.

Report: Taxpayers paid for GOP politicking in 2006 elections (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — The White House dispatched cabinet members and other agency officials to more than 300 events nationwide to help Republican candidates in the run-up to the 2006 midterm elections, according to a House of Representatives committee report.
Of course, we knew it.  This is just confirmation.

Mahoney Linked to Second Woman (Political Wire)
Hours after Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) “addressed a report that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about it, details of a purported tryst with a second woman surfaced,” the AP reports… Meanwhile, The Hill reports Democrats have abandoned Mahoney’s campaign by pulling resources out of FL-16.

Inflation brings bigger benefit, and higher expenses
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Amidst all the volatility and uncertainty in the financial markets these days, one thing is definite: Come October 16, Uncle Sam will announce the cost-of-living adjustment for 34 million Americans who now receive Social Security benefits. Unlike in years past, however, that adjustment is expected to be among the largest increases in 25 years No one yet knows exactly how big the automatic benefit hike will be. But experts are predicting that Social Security beneficiaries will see their monthly benefit rise by at least 5%, perhaps more. In calculating the COLA, Social Security will look at inflation over the 12 months ended September 2008. For the year ended August 2008, inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI-W) was running at 5.9%. That means the average monthly benefit could rise to about $1,142 from $1,079 now, a $63 increase.

What will it take to shatter the glass ceiling? Maybe re-modelling the basement (by David Bjerk, Assistant Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College and Adjunct Economist at the RAND Corporation)
Females and minorities may be underrepresented at top jobs due to a sticky floor rather than a glass ceiling. This column says that if females and minorities face greater obstacles in signalling their abilities to employers early in their careers, then they may never have the opportunity to reach the top. Policies might try targeting the bottom of the job ladder.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Politico’s Smith uncritically quoted McCain misrepresenting Biden proposal for Iraq

• ABC’s Wright did not note falsehoods in the attacks on Obama that he reported McCain will make

• ABC World News reported on ACORN but ignored voter suppression, including indictment of GOP official in NH case

• Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of “committing voter fraud”

• CNN’s Griffin suggested ACORN should not hire “recovering alcoholics” and “homeless people”

• Echoing smear emails, Halperin falsely suggested video shows Obama during “pledge of allegiance”

• AP, CNN report that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit

Lawyer of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya ‘poisoned’
The lawyer representing the family of Anna Politkovskaya, the murdered Russian journalist, was recovering from an apparent attempt to poison her as the trial opened today of three men accused of involvement in the killing. A judge in Moscow rejected a request to postpone the preliminary hearing because Karinna Moskalenko was ill in France, where police are investigating the discovery of a large quantity of mercury in her car.

France to halt games when anthem is booed
Any football match in France before which the country’s national anthem is booed will now be “immediately stopped”, French Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Wednesday after meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy.  

UAE: Influential Blog Blocked After Analysing Impact Of US Financial Crisis (Reporters Without Borders)
Its author, who often writes about political transparency, free expression and the media, posted an entry on 11 October entitled “Let’s laugh together: our economy is doing well,” in which he analysed the impact of the US financial crisis on the UAE.

Journalist Arrested During RNC Faces Over Year In Prison (Reporters Without Borders)
Jason Nicholas was one of over 40 journalists arrested while covering the Republican National Convention on September 1st. While most charges against other journalists in St.Paul have been dropped, Mr. Nicholas has not yet been cleared of obstruction to the legal process.

FCC chair eyes fallow TV airwaves for broadband
WASHINGTON (AP) – The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed opening up unused portions of the television airwaves known as “white spaces” to deliver wireless broadband service. 

WSJ Editor Says Newsstand Sales Up 20 Percent
Jeff Bercovici: Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson mentioned that the Journal’s newsstand sales are up 20 percent, but didn’t provide a frame of reference for that figure. AJournal spokesman clarifies that the increase has taken place in the last few weeks, a period during which, for obvious reasons, a lot of financial-news outlets have seen huge gains.

Buying MySpace Looks Like One Of Murdoch’s Smartest Bets
Erick Schonfeld: Three years ago today, Rupert Murdoch bought MySpace and its parent company Intermix for $580 million. That turned out to be money well spent. The last time we ran the numbers, we figured that MySpace alone is worth between $3 billion and $20 billion, depending on how much you value each user.

Could Recession Help Big Media?
James Erik Abels: The slowing market may actually help, boosting traditional media’s control over the digital media ecosystem by giving it an opportunity to buy smaller upstarts or watch them get crushed. Think about it this way: The digital businesses that may be hit hardest by a downturn aren’t really media businesses at all.

Blogging Journalists: Survey Results Pt.1: Context And Methodology (Online Journalism Blog)
Results from an online survey to find out how journalists with blogs felt their work had been affected by the technology. 200 blogging journalists responded in total, from 30 different countries.

Desperate Times: TVGuide Sold For A Buck…Really (Paid Content)
Wow, we knew Macrovision was desperate to get rid of the print version of TV Guide, but didn’t know the extent to which it would go to the liabilities off its books: we reported earlier this week that it was sold to PE firm OpenGate Capital..now the price has come out in an SEC filing from MVSN. It is $1, and on top of that, Macrovision is loaning the firm up to $9.5 million, and OpeGate will assume certain liabilities of the TV Guide Magazine business.

Playboy Cuts Jobs
Playboy Enterprises Inc. eliminated 80 jobs and warned of a third-quarter loss as a worsening economy forces the entertainment company to make deeper expense cuts than originally anticipated. The Chicago-based media company notified employees Wednesday that it will trim $12 million from expenses instead of the $10 million it said it would just two months ago.

Esquire’s E-Ink Cover Inspires Hacker Community
Esquire’s much ballyhooed (and equally berated) electronic cover has spawned a mini-movement of YouTube-friendly hackers bent on manipulating its circuitry. Here are some of the best attempts — including one enterprising geek who says he’s made over $200 selling his copies on eBay — as well as some odd video clips featuring the Esquire cover.

Mudd complains there’s almost “too much” TV news these days
“It’s 24/7. But there is no place you can go in the morning and find a professionally prepared, responsible news broadcast,” says Roger Mudd. There’s still good broadcast journalism being done, he adds, “but I don’t think there is enough of it. In many cases the broadcast networks have left the field of good hard reporting. So many have gone to soft reporting.”

Fox News’ Hume Reflects on Retirement
He’s been covering presidential campaigns since Ford-Carter ’76. And as he geared up to anchor last night’s final presidential debate — anchoring his final debate — FNC’s Washington managing editor Brit Hume explained why he’s walking away. In a word: enthusiasm. “This stuff exhausts me as much as it excites me,” Hume said.

‘Mad Money’ Host Cramer Attacked in Fox Ads
Keeping up the financial-news wars, Fox Business Network is airing ads on much-larger rival CNBC, bashing Jim Cramer, one of the cable channel’s biggest stars, for his investment tips. Fox Business skirted CNBC’s ad sales department by buying spots in local markets, including New York and Los Angeles, from cable operators such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast.

When has a video game ever made you cry?
From the awkward feelings that arise during sex to the joyous and heart-wrenching juggling act that is fatherhood, a host of independent titles prove that video games really can explore and evoke the kind of emotional experiences that movies and books do.

Google Partners With Embassy Row For Second Original Series On YouTube (Paid Content)
Poptub, an entertainment-focused original video series, has been quietly making the rounds on YouTube for the past month, the Hollywood Reporter reports. The series, which is produced by NY-based Embassy Row, is supposed to be an Entertainment Tonight for the YouTube generation, with a mix of interviews of Internet celebrities like Obama Girl and more traditional red carpet events. Its launch was overlooked amidst the hype surrounding Google’s other branded entertainment play, Seth MacFarlane’s animated shortsCartoon Cavalcade of Comedy. Like Cavalcade, Poptub resides on its own YouTube channel and is distributed through Google AdSense (via “Gadgets” or widgets), increasing the number of eyeballs for potential advertisers. Ad revenue will be split between Google, Pepsi-backed Embassy Row, and the website that hosted the clip.

Outlook Grim for Ad Business
The housing market has been sluggish for over a year, and the stock market’s been on a roller coaster ride over the last month. But for the advertising business, the real pain is just about to start. At least that was the collective wisdom among a panel, which included several prominent media and agency executives, as well as a rather blunt analyst.

Display Ad Prices Trending Downward; Fall-Off Is Consistent, But Not ‘Dramatic’—Pubmatic (Paid Content)
Here’s some more evidence of how bad things are… The average price of a display ad was 27 cents in Q3, a nearly 50 percent drop from Q407′s 50 cents, according to Pubmatic… Some of the other findings in its survey showed:
– Display ad pricing has generally trended downwards across website sizes and verticals.
– All categories moved down from last quarter, with the exception of Technology which stayed flat.
– Social nets are still the lowest priced category, with sports coming in a close second, at 21 cents and 25 cents, respectively.
– Entertainment had the biggest drop of all verticals, falling 42 percent to 33 cents in Q3 from 57 cents in Q1.
– Small-sized websites’ inventory was more than triple the value of larger sites in Q3, with values of 61 cents and 18 cents, respectively.

Search Firms: Expect Smaller Budgets, Slower Growth In The Coming Months (Paid Content)
Search tech and service firms continue to pump out “state of the market” reports in advance of this week’s Q308 earnings announcements from Google and Yahoo, and the latest two from Efficient Frontier and Covario paint a murky picture for the future of search spending in the U.S.

Lending Alternative Hits Hurdle
One the most audacious ideas of the Web 2.0 boom — that people could lend money to other people over the Internet and cut out banks, is experiencing a squeeze.

Computers speed agriculture inspection process
YAKIMA, Wash. – Mark Jolley used to carry armloads of reference manuals and handbooks to the central Washington warehouses where he inspects apples and pears to ensure their quality for the export market. Now, he’s armed with just a tablet computer.

WordPress Parent Buys Polling Site PollDaddy (Paid Content)
Automattic, the parent company of WordPress platform, has acquired the online polls service PollDaddy, likely in a small cash and equity deal. The official terms of the deal were not disclosed. PollDaddy offers free polls, used by a lot of bloggers, but also offers advanced services for a fee. Its services will now be natively embedded with the WordPress editor and as a plugin, but will also continue as separate services, integrated within other social media sites such as MySpace, Ning, Blogger, Typepad, Hi5, Orkut, Piczo and others. Last month Automattic acquired blog commenting platform Intense Debate, also for an unspecified sum.

Media Turn Down Movie Ads Because of ‘Porno’ in Title
Kevin Smith made a movie with such a bothersome title he cannot even place ads for it in some places. Some newspaper, TV, and outdoor ads for Smith’s comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno have been rejected because of their content or the five-letter word that ends the title, said Gary Faber, head of marketing for the Weinstein Co., which is releasing the film.

Wealthy Asians use phones to blog, take photos: study
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – For wealthy Asians, mobile phones and Blackberrys are much more than a way to stay in touch, with a survey finding portable communication devices increasingly being used to watch videos, take pictures and surf the Web.

A Look at Google’s First Phone
A rival to the iPhone is about to debut, with software by Google, body by HTC and network by T-Mobile.

Google Can Remotely Kill Your Android Apps (Mashable)
We’ll be honest: here at Mashable we know that reading terms of service for new products can yield interesting and/or controversial info; but those things are just too long to read. Luckily, the folks over at ComputerWorld have done so for Android and they’ve discovered this interesting tidbit: “Google may discover a product that violates the developer distribution agreement … in such an instance, Google retains the right to remotely remove those applications from your device at its sole discretion.” Hey — you, the angry customer, cry — but what if I’ve paid for this application? Don’t worry (too much). Google will do their best to reimburse you, making “reasonable efforts to recover the purchase price of the product… from the original developer on your behalf.” Whatever reasonable efforts might mean, it’s good that they’re at least acknowledging this possibility.

Doctors warn of rash from mobile phone use
LONDON (Reuters) – Doctors baffled by an unexplained rash on people’s ears or cheeks should be on alert for a skin allergy caused by too much mobile phone use, the British Association of Dermatologists said on Thursday.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Third-party candidates to debate on Sunday (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Third-party presidential candidates finally will have their own debate: at 8 p.m. Sunday at Columbia University in New York.
For REAL change.

Gaming A New Platform For Political Ads; Obama Ad Shows Up On Xbox (Paid Content)

We’re being bombarded with political ads on TV and radio, but now, video games? Ads for presidential hopeful Barack Obama have turned up in the Xbox Live racing game, Burnout Paradise, GamePolitics.com first reported and GigaOm confirmed. The in-game ad takes its form as a billboard—complete with Obama’s photo and a plug for VoteForChange.com—featured in the backdrop of one of the levels, and GameSpot confirms it will appear in 10 states: Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and Wisconsin.

‘Gossip Girl’ stars have lead roles in anti-McCain ad (On Politics, USA Today)
MoveOn.org Political Action takes a satirical approach in its latest campaign-related TV ad — a spot that features two stars of the CW network’s Gossip Girl, and other actors, urging young people to “talk to your parents” about Republican presidential nominee John McCain” and then urge them to vote for Democrat Barack Obama. MoveOn says the ad will be on MTV and the Comedy Central, and on the CW network during broadcasts of Gossip Girl (8 p.m. ET on Mondays).
Yes, let’s start using children to bully their parents, as they did in Mao’s China during the  “Cultural Revolution” and in Nazi Germany.  If you didn’t like authoritarianism from the right under Gingrich and then W. Bush, you won’t like it any better if it comes from MoveOn and Obama.  Unless, of course, you have drunk the Kool-Aid and are under the mistaken impression that if the authority claims to be benevolent and acting in your best interest, there could be no harm.  But, gee, that’s what the Gingrich fanatics and the W. fanatics thought, too.  Look how that turned out.

Laugh at a Campaign Pitch? Sure. Visit the Grandparents? Not So Much.  (New York Times)
MIAMI — When Sarah Silverman told young Jews to get their lazy rotund rear ends to Florida to persuade their grandparents to vote for Senator Barack Obama, one question loomed: Would they go?  This weekend was the first big test, a kickoff for the so-called Great Schlep, and so far, momentum has been building with the pace of a nice brisket. Though about seven million people have watched Ms. Silverman’s four-minute Web video explaining why “visiting your grandparents could change the world,” the schlep remains mostly virtual. Mik Moore, 34, co-director of Jewish Council for Education and Research, the nonprofit group behind the project, said 100 people visited Florida this weekend to convince older Jewish voters that Mr. Obama should be president, while about 100 more visited relatives in other swing states.
Wait until the grandparents find out what Jesse Jackson had to say recently about Obama’s intentions for Israel.  See below.

Jesse Jackson: Obama will end Zionist rule in America. (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
Jesse Jackson may have wanted to remove a part of Obama’s anatomy recently when he chided African American fathers to be more responsible.  And even before that he accused Obama of “acting like he’s white”, but he’s still on the kool-aid train as far as his support for The One… Jackson, whose Rainbow/PUSH Coalition is based in Chicago, has publicly endorsed Obama, most recently in a piece published Tuesday in the Chicago Sun-Times, and said he enjoys a close relationship with the Obama family. So I wonder what Obama and his campaign think about Jackson’s latest description of what American foreign policy might look like under a President Obama.  And more interestingly, I wonder what Jewish Americans will make of it.  Here is what The Rev. Jackson had to say at a World Policy Forum in France: “The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where ‘decades of putting Israel’s interests first’ would end.”

InsiderAdvantage: Obama Leads in Key Bush Counties (Political Wire)
Sen. Barack Obama “has erased traditional Republican advantages in four key bellwether counties that President George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004, according to a new Politico/InsiderAdvantage survey.”
Is it supposed to be a good thing that voters who liked George Bush like Barack Obama?

Buckley Bows out at National Review After Endorsing Obama (by Christopher Buckley at the Daily Beast)
Within hours of my endorsement [of Barack Obama] appearing in The Daily Beast it became clear that National Review had a serious problem on its hands. So the next morning, I thought the only decent thing to do would be to offer to resign my column there. This offer was accepted. I retain the fondest feelings for the magazine that my father founded.
Are Democrats happy about right wingers endorsing Obama?

Blue dogs (by lambert at Corrente)
WaPo: “…Obama took a break from campaigning last week to call … leaders of the ‘Blue Dog Coalition,’ a group of conservative-leaning Democrats… ‘He said he planned to be the next president and he wanted to work with us,’ [one] said in recounting his conversation with Obama before the House approved a $700 billion economic rescue package. ‘He also recognized that we had the numbers to block or clear’ legislation coming from the White House if he is elected.” Took a break from campaigning? Funny, I thought that was the reason Obama couldn’t help out homeowners until after the election — his busy campaign schedule. Did I not get the memo? Good to see the Blue Dogs don’t even have to mention holding Obama’s feet to the fire before the election. Progressives! Oh, progressives! You can come out now!

Drug Industry Dough Shifting to Dems (Capital Eye)
As the Democrats stand to make substantial gains in both the House and Senate on November 4th, the pharmaceutical industry appears to be following the power. Since the 2006 election cycle, donations from the drug industry have shifted starkly from favoring Republicans to reflecting parity among the parties… Across the board, the top contributors within the pharmaceutical industry appear to be narrowing the margin between donations to Republicans and Democrats. Amgen, Johnson and Johnson,GlaxoSmithKline and Abbott Laboratories–all top contributors in their industry-have enlarged the slice of their total contributions to Democrats by at least 10 percentage points since the last election cycle.
Equal opportunity legislation buying—postpartisanship at its finest.

‘Spread the Wealth’? (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
“This weekend,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said [Tuesday], “a plumber concerned that Senator Obama was going to raise his taxes asked him directly about his plan. The response was telling. Senator Obama explained to him that he was going to raise his taxes to quote ‘spread the wealth around.’” Is that what happened? Judge for yourself… [Obama:] “My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
If I thought Obama actually meant this, I might consider getting beyond my hatred for his thuggish campaign methods.  But I don’t think he means it.  I think he’ll do anything and say anything to get elected.

Obama and the Derivatives Merchants (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
Barack Obama’s star shines brighter than ever (whose wouldn’t, in comparison to John McCain?) despite his intimate association with “the very same individuals who brought about the current catastrophe.”  Former Clinton Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, now top advisors to Obama, “labored successfully to safeguard ‘derivatives,’ the exotic ‘ticking time bomb’ financial instruments, from federal regulation” nearly a decade ago. “Be assured that this crew will deliver another catastrophe from their positions of influence, if Obama is elected.” 

Victories for progressive policies so far this year (by lambert at Corrente)
1. Retroactive immunity for the telcos under FISA reform.
2. A trillion dollar bailout for Hank Paulson’s golfing buddies.
3. Universal health care off the table.
4. HOLC not even on the table.
Any questions?

The Presidency for Sale: Small Contributors Waste Their Money (by Glen Ford at the Black Agenda Report)
Progressives who believe they are influencing Barack Obama by sending him cash, are not influencing the candidate or helping the cause.

Another reason the current debate format ought to be scrapped (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
From the New York Times: “In a far more low-key manner than the lavish sponsorships at the two political conventions, corporate America is providing cash donations and in-kind contributions and lending their executives to the debates. In return, many sponsors are getting coveted tickets to the debates and, even more, the chance to polish their image as good corporate citizens.”

Will candidates offer specifics in final encounter? Don’t bet on it (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama and John McCain get their last chance Wednesday night to debate before tens of millions of voters about how they differ over remedies for the nation’s most vexing issues: the economy, health care and the future of Medicare and Social Security.

McCain’s eager to bring up Bill Ayers at debate (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Looks like John McCain’s eager to bring up William Ayers at Wednesday’s debate with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. McCain told St. Louis radio station KMOX Tuesday he was “astonished” to hear Obama was surprised McCain did not discuss the 1960s radical when Obama was present, according to an account in the Politico. As a result, McCain said, “I think he is probably ensured that it will come up this time.”… McCain’s campaign has been hammering Obama about the relationship. At a rally last week, McCain described Ayers as a “terrorist,” though a day later he seemed to pull back a bit. Obama has said that McCain has been reluctant to confront him directly with any accusations about Ayers.

Obama Has Lead in Newspaper Endorsements (Editor & Publisher)
With just over three weeks until voters have their say in this year’s presidential race, many newspapers cast their editorial endorsement ballots Sunday. Obama won the day by a 17-2 margin. So far, the Obama-Biden ticket leads with 28 editorial endorsements, with the McCain-Palin lagging far behind with 11.

Vogue Declares Victory for Democrats in November Issue Cover Line (Huffington Post)
Vogue takes a bold political step with its November cover, headlining a feature on the Biden Women “All The Vice President’s Women.” The feature is based on the premise that, “If Senator Biden is elected, he’ll bring along a close-knit family of strong, independent women.” But while the article includes the conditional “if,” the headline, and cover line, treat the Bidens as if the election is a done-deal.
See, we don’t even have to bother to vote.  The elites will take care of it for us.

Why do Elitist Liberals Support Obama? (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)

A few days ago, I heard famed nature writer and novelist Peter Mathiessen interviewed on the NPR show On Point with Tom Ashbrook … I think Matthiessen and most of his fellow members of the “creative class” are voting for Obama *because* he is black. They love the fact that Obama lived in “exotic” places as a child. They want to elect Obama as a “gesture” to “restore our credibility” in the eyes of the rest of the world. And they apparently share little stories with each other about how marvelous Obama is and how the rest of the world is thrilled that Americans are going to elect him President. As a wealthy, successful man with many influential friends, Peter Matthiessen can afford to support a presidential candidate as a “gesture,” because he will be just fine no matter who is elected.

As far as I can see, the younger, more naive blogger types, the wannabe “creative class” members, who don’t have as much money or social standing as Peter Matthiessen, support Obama for the same reasons. Remember the classic Koolaid-drenched post by Chris Bowers, “Wow, We Nominated the Black Guy?”… Guys like Bowers, Josh Marshall, and Markos Moulitsas, along with 90% of the media elite, have totally bought into the narrative that because Obama is black, just making him POTUS will repair our lost standing in the world… But we are racists because we look past the color of Obama’s skin to the content of his character, and find him wanting.
If they think they’re expiating white guilt over slavery, they have another think coming.  See below.

The Illusion of Post-Racial America (by Aman Gill at the Black Agenda Report)
“The face of mainstream black activism has moved from a base in communities to big money and corporate sway,” says one veteran activist. Black leadership nowadays is “chosen by either political forces or corporate forces.” The most dramatic example is Barack Obama, who “rejects the whole Black Power movement.”

Obama ad on Ayers (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Barack Obama has a radio ad up in battleground states, which began airing yesterday, minimizing his relationship with ’60s radical Bill Ayers and also noting that Republicans have supported Ayers’ participation in charitable groups.

Obama Not Being Straight On Ayers (by Ruben Navarrette)
[H]ere is what the voters should care about: Obama’s truthfulness, which is now in question. Over the last few months, we’ve learned that Obama and Ayers had more than just a “flimsy” relationship that included Ayers hosting a political gathering at his home for Obama when he was running for the Illinois Senate and the two serving together on various panels and boards. Ayers was also a founder of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a school-reform group. Obama served as chairman of its board from 1995 to ’99, using the position to launch his political career… I put no stock in the politics of guilt by association. And even associating with ghouls should not hurt someone’s bid for the presidency. But lying about it is another story. It could be a warning of things to come.

Obama’s Campaign Lies About ACORN (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
We broke the story about the Obama Campaign’s mysterious payment of more than $800,000 to Citizen Services Inc. The payments ostensibly were for “STAGING, SOUND, and LIGHTING.” A reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune, David Brown, agreed to look into the matter and was told by the Obama campaign: “…An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in ‘get-out-the-vote’ projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.” But that is a lie. Citizen Services passed the money to ACORN. I know this because the head of Citizen Services told me so.

The new face of feminism – People you have never heard of edition (by bringiton at Corrente)
Amongst the Sturm und Drang of high-profile sexism and misogyny, it can easily be lost that many of the younger generation have already moved past bigotry and not just in form but in function. It is the older generations that continue to fight the same battles over and over again while all around us, quietly and without fanfare, the kids are getting it right.
Yes, thank goddess the kids are getting it right.  Like those below.  Aren’t they cute?

We’ve entered topsy-turvyland (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)

Why is it suddenly acceptable to wear “SARAH PALIN IS A CUNT” t-shirts? No-one (thank God) would dare to wear a shirt emblazoned with the message “BARACK OBAMA IS A NIGGER.” In fact, no-one would feel comfortable wearing a shirt bearing the value-neutral message “BARACK OBAMA IS AFRICAN-AMERICAN.” Yet lefties now consider “SARAH PALIN IS A CUNT” to be high fashion. I’d love to hear someone offer an excuse for that exercise in hypocrisy. Strained rationalization is my favorite form of humor. The left has turned into an emetic morass of human sewage. When you go into the voting booth, picture the faces of the smug, haughty young creeps seen in the photo above. They represent the new Democratic party. They are the reason why this lifelong Dem said adios. If you reward the Obots with your vote, you are saying: “I want the Democratic party to keep acting like that.”

Alternating… (by Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy at No Quarter)
Between being furious, and wanting to throw up, with the gamut of emotions in between. Why? Because I cannot get out of my head the photos of those young (and not so young) people, men and women, wearing “Sarah Palin Is A C–t” t-shirts at a Philly rally this weekend… I’m furious at these young people, naturally. For thinking that calling the Governor of Alaska a despicable terms is not just fine, but “cool.” Every photo, they are just BEAMING with pride at how clever they are. And why? Because they know they can. Because they have seen that they can say whatever they want to about women because the DNC and the MSM have. I’m furious that it has become acceptable this Election Season to treat women with such blatant hatred. These people are not calling Gov. Palin a “c–t” because she is a Republican, after all – they are calling her one because she is a WOMAN. They did exactly the same thing to Clinton, so no party affiliation claims will wash here. This is flat out misogyny.

Probe of ‘troopergate’ expands to other Palin complaints (McClatchy)
The state Personnel Board investigation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s firing of Walt Monegan has broadened to include other ethics complaints against the governor and examination of actions by other state employees, according to the independent counsel handling the case.
Do you think they’ll find that an intern performed oral sex on her in the governor’s office?  That’s what happened the last time we had an out-of-control investigation.

Another McCain-Palin supporter yells ‘kill him!’ about Obama. (Think Progress)
The Scranton Times-Tribune notes that yet another McCain supporter at a rally today with Gov. Sarah Palin yelled “kill him!” in reference to Sen. Barack Obama: “Chris Hackett addressed the increasingly feisty crowd as they await the arrival of Gov. Palin. Each time the Republican candidate for the seat in the 10th Congressional District mentioned Barack Obama the crowd booed loudly. One man screamed ‘kill him!’”
That makes two.  Out of 300,000,000 people in the good old USA.  Obviously, that’s worthy of a special commentary by Mr. Olbermann, who, of course, obliged.

THE SITUATION ROOM (CNN)
BASH: Now, whether or not, since I know you’ve heard this during your rallies, since you have been talking about Ayers — and your running mate has, also — we’ve heard people in the crowd screaming things like “Terrorist!,” “Traitor!,” when you talked about Senator Obama — and worse. When you hear that do you… MCCAIN: I’ve heard the same thing, unfortunately, at Senator Obama’s rallies being said about me. [Emphasis added.] There’s always a fringe element that’s in politics in America. The overwhelming majority of the people that come to my rallies are good and decent and patriotic Americans. And if they’re worried about this country’s future, that’s correct.
Is it true?  If so, why aren’t the media reporting that.  If not, why aren’t the media reporting that?

Eshu’s blues: we are the people with boxes on our heads (by michael hureaux at the Black Agenda Report)
Racist mob talk is once again heard in the land. “They were chanting ‘Kill him!’ whenever Obama’s name was mentioned the other day at a rally where Governor Palin was speaking.” John McCain is compelled to assure his supporters that Obama is “a good and decent family man.” How liberal of him. Yet Black Obama supporters aren’t exactly role models for the children, either. “With the ascension of the black machine politics of would-be President Barack Obama, we have achieved in our public polity a narcissism and cultiness as craven and manipulative as anything that ever came out of the mouth of a white politician.” And that’s saying a mouthful.

McCain Transition Chief Aided Saddam Lobbying Effort (Political Wire)
Murray Waas: “William Timmons, the Washington lobbyist who John McCain has named to head his presidential transition team, aided an influence effort on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein to ease international sanctions against his regime. The two lobbyists who Timmons worked closely with over a five year period on the lobbying campaign later either pleaded guilty to or were convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein’s government.”
Anyone know what this is supposed to prove?

Morris: ‘What’s The Matter With Comparing’ Obama To Osama Bin Laden? (Think Progress)
On Sunday, Time magazine’s Karen Tumulty reported on how the chairman of the Virgina Republican Party, Jeff Frederick, compared Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to Osama Bin Laden by telling campaign volunteers that they “both have friends that bombed the Pentagon”… Though the McCain campaign said the comparison was “not appropriate,” Frederick stood by the comparison. McCain himself has said that he needs to “look at the context” of the remarks before commenting. But on Fox News [Monday] night, Frederick’s comments got some support. Calling Ayers “a domestic Osama bin Laden,” right-wing pundit Dick Morris declared that it was a “healthy” comparison for Frederick to make.
Click through to watch the video.

Letter to Editor Leads to Focus on Anti-Obama Billboard (Editor & Publisher)
If not for the front-page play the local newspaper gave a resident’s outraged letter, a billboard attacking a turbaned “Barack ‘Hussein’ Obama” might have remained strictly a local matter. 

Test case could flood airwaves with issue ads (The Hill)
With the election heading into its heated final weeks, opponents of campaign finance regulation are working on several fronts to loosen restrictions on “issue ads” — campaign-related advertisements whose financial backers aren’t disclosed. Most of the ads they want to air criticize Democratic nominee Barack Obama’s record on abortion. But if they succeed, all businesses, unions and political nonprofit groups will have more freedom to air such ads… The NRLC ads, which have already been aired by the group’s PAC, say Obama accused the group of “lying” about his record on abortion in the Illinois legislature. The group says an independent fact-checking group verified its claims, and the ad demands that Obama apologize.

McCain rolls out new $52 billion economic-relief plan (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Republican John McCain on Tuesday unveiled $52.5 billion worth of proposals targeting seniors, workers and the unemployed in a bid to get a handle on an economy that’s hurting him in the polls.

USA Today Thinks It’s Possible That Elvis Caused the Financial Meltdown (by Dean Baker)
Well, if the Republicans blamed the financial crisis on Elvis Presley USA Today would probably just write it up politely and then note that the Democrats disagree. That is exactly what the paper did …  in an article discussing how both parties contributed to the crisis. The article notes that Phil Gramm, a former senator and adviser to John McCain, pushed through a law that prevented the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from regulating derivatives. It then presents Gramm’s claim that the real problem was the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), but notes that Democrats and “many experts dispute that.” It would have been worth noting that Gramm’s claim makes no sense. The CRA did not even apply to the biggest actors in the subprime market. How could the CRA be responsible for forcing financial institutions to make subprime loans when they were not even covered by the CRA. It makes as much sense to blame Elvis.

The failure of listening (by Jeff Jarvis)
We’ve just played the highest stake game of guess-the-number: The market was thinking of a number and the government was supposed to guess it. Lehman folding? Bzzzt. That’s not the number. Bailout of money market funds? Bzzzt. Think higher. $700 billion to buy toxic loans? Bzzzt. Wrong again. Buying equity in banks? Ding-ding-ding, you win! Why wasn’t the government better at listening to the market? Did it ever ask what it should do? That’s not the way government thinks. But it’s the way it should learn to think. There need to be systems to listen and expectations that we out here should speak. In a representative democracy, government doesn’t always need to act on what it hears. But now it can’t hear. Government and regulation will need to be transparent and interactive in this, the Google economy.

Spitzer’s Ghost (by Dean Starkman, Columbia Journalism Review)
Eliot Spitzer … brought national attention to the issue of lending-industry abuses, the abuses that led to our current moment global financial peril—[in] 2003. Looking back, it is remarkable to see the degree to which public officials—state bank regulators, attorneys general, legislatures, city councils—raised alarms about deceptive marketing in the mortgage lending industry… [A]nti-predatory lending laws were quite the rage back then… Everyone was passing them. In professional journalism circles, this is all known as “a clue.”

For business journalists, as well as for their readers and viewers, the question “where was the press?” in the run-up to the greatest financial calamity since the Great Depression strikes me not as one question among many, but central to assessing whether journalism has anything, anything at all, to learn from this historic implosion. If journalists are watchdogs, what does this mean? If journalists are not watchdogs, then what are we?

US Stocks Fall as Earnings Concern Overshadows Bank Plan (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks fell a day after the market’s biggest rally since the 1930s as a worsening outlook for earnings forced investors to look beyond a $2 trillion global push to rescue banks.

Smaller Banks Resist Federal Cash Infusions (Washington Post)
Community banking executives around the country responded with anger [Tuesday] to the Bush administration’s strategy of investing $250 billion in financial firms, saying they don’t need the money, resent the intrusion and feel it’s unfair to rescue companies from their own mistakes. But regulators said some banks will be pressed to take the taxpayer dollars anyway. Others banks judged too sick to save will be allowed to fail. The government also said yesterday that it will guarantee up to $1.4 trillion of private investment in banks. The combination of public and private investment is intended to refill coffers emptied by losses on real estate lending. With the additional money, the government expects, banks would be able to start making additional loans, boosting the economy.

Roubini Sees Worst Recession in 40 Years, Stock Drop (Bloomberg)
Nouriel Roubini, the professor who predicted the financial crisis in 2006, said the U.S. will suffer its worst recession in 40 years, driving the stock market lower after it rallied the most in seven decades yesterday. “There are significant downside risks still to the market and the economy,” Roubini, 50, a New York University professor of economics, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “We’re going to be surprised by the severity of the recession and the severity of the financial losses.”

Poll: Few Americans panicked over market’s gyrations (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Despite all the recent wild swings in the stock market, Americans are not panicking about their investments, according to a new Ipsos/McClatchy poll.

Bad Economy May Aid Military Recruiting
The tough economy could make it easier to sign up soldiers. Fewer civilian jobs mean less competition for military recruiters. “We do benefit when things look less positive in civil society,” David Chu, the Pentagon’s personnel chief, told a news conference Friday. “I don’t have the Dow Jones banner running up behind me here this morning, but that is a situation where more people are willing to give us a chance.”
It’s an ill wind that blows no good at all.

Rent parties (by DCblogger at Corrente)
I just remembered that during the Depression they had rent parties. A local band would be invited to preform and the tenant and band would split the proceeds, the band picked up some money and the tenant could get enough cash to temporarily keep the wolves from the door. This is in response to an earlier post by Chicago Dyke asking what we could do for each other during the coming hard times.

Lehman Brothers approved $100 million executive payout days before declaring bankruptcy. (Think Progress)
The Times of London reports that just three days before going bankrupt, the board of Wall Street financial giant Lehman Brothers “signed off on more than $100m (£59m) in payouts to five top executives.” In the two years prior to Lehman’s collapse, the same executives “were generously remunerated while overseeing forays into risky commercial real-estate investments that helped to bring the company down.”

Retirees Wake Up to a Swindle (by Marie Cocco)
The essential fallacy of the 401(k) has been exposed. It took a historic market collapse—one that threatens to impoverish workers already in retirement and those who are nearing it. But then, crushing hardship is often what’s required to usher out an era of ideological illogic and unconscionable greed. The advent of the 401(k) in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a leading indicator of what became a political mania for shifting the risk and responsibility for life’s big challenges—health care, an adequate income in retirement—from employers and other broad-shouldered institutions to the narrower, weaker backs of individuals themselves… This was never about empowering workers to reap the rewards of financing their own retirement. It was about reducing corporate costs.

Post-Meltdown Mythologies (I): Americans Have Been Living Beyond Their Means (by Robert Reich)
What brought on the economic meltdown of 2008? Besides the bursting of the housing bubble, Wall Street’s malfeasance and non-feasance, and Washington’s massive failure to oversee Wall Street, fingers are also being pointed at average Americans. Some of them took on mortgages they couldn’t afford, of course, but we’re also hearing … something like this: For too long, Americans have been living beyond our means. We went too deeply into debt. And now we’re paying the inevitable price… But this story leaves out one very important fact. Since the year 2000, median family income has been dropping, adjusted for inflation. One of the main reasons the typical family has taken on more debt has been to maintain its living standards in the face of these declining real incomes.

Central Banks Reconsider Doctrine of Preemption (Bloomberg)
”Prevention (of asset bubbles) is the best way to minimize costs for society from a longer-term perspective,” said Otmar Issing, the former chief economist for the Deutsche Bundesbank and European Central Bank, in a Feb. 19, 2004, Wall Street Journal op-ed. ”Most exceptional increases in prices for stocks and real estate in history were accompanied by strong expansions of money and/or credit.”… The current crisis, which has witnessed the demise of venerable financial institutions and the intrusion of government into the private sector in ways not seen since the 1930s, is prompting many economists to reconsider the doctrine of preemption.

Twilight of the Media Idols (New York Observer)
“I think what the modern media does is, it puts a real premium more on the individual and less on the entity,” said Politico’s Jim VandeHei. “So reporters can build up their own public signature and they can have their own following and their own influence that sometimes transcends an institution.”
We can hope and pray that they all disappear, never to be replaced.

Rather: Fear Shouldn’t Be in a Journalist’s DNA (Portfolio)
Dan Rather has gone from being a pillar of the press to a fierce critic of it. At Time Warner’s Politics 2008 Summit, the former CBS anchor made some noise, turning a panel on media bias into a forum for his complaints about the creeping timidity he sees in journalism. “The press, in the main, has been in a defensive posture for some time,” he said.

Did PBS bury controversial torture documentary under pressure from Bush administration? (Think Progress)
Scott Horton reports today that PBS may have refused to nationally air a controversial documentary on the use of torture by the U.S. government in order to protect its funding… According to producer Sherry Jones, PBS told her that “no time slot could be found for the documentary before January 21, 2009″ — the day after George W. Bush and Dick Cheney leave office. Watch a clip from Torturing Democracy here.

Bipartisan House report finds that Bush made ‘inappropriate’ use of executive privilege. (Think Progress)
A bipartisan report released today by the House Oversight Committee finds that President Bush made a ‘legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege” when the administration withheld Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview with Vice President Cheney on the CIA leak scandal. A separate report also criticizes Bush’s assertion of executive privilege regarding his recent climate change and Clean Air Act decisions.

Is Paulson Planning a Last Minute Attack on Protections for Doctors and Lawyers? (by Dean Baker)
USA Today reports that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned against protectionism as being especially harmful in this economic crisis. Of course the most protected segment of the U.S. economy are highly educated professionals like doctors and lawyers who enjoy the protection of a wide range of institutional and legal barriers that make it difficult for foreign professionals to compete. So, does Paulson plan a major initiative to combat professional protectionism in the waning days of the Bush administration? Reporters should be asking.

Teleradiology paves way for remote medicine (Reuters)
BANGALORE (Reuters) – On a computer monitor in his office in the high-tech hub of Bangalore, Indian radiologist Arjun Kalyanpur examines a scan of the skull of a six-year-old boy who fell off his bicycle. A few minutes later, thousands of miles away, doctors at a hospital in Philadelphia prepare the boy for surgery after receiving an urgent email from Kalyanpur diagnosing a subdural hemorrhage in the child’s brain. It’s the middle of the night in the United States, but it’s daytime in Bangalore and Kalyanpur and his team of 35 radiologists are reading hundreds of scans sent by hospitals across the United States during the night shift.
What’s good for corporate profits, replacing American workers with foreign operations, is not good for the professions, as Dean Baker has been telling us.

Media Matters for America headlines

• ABC’s Robin Roberts did not challenge Giuliani’s tax falsehood

• WSJ editorial leaves out relevant information in smear of ACORN

• Cunningham invoked “[s]ix-six-six” and “the beast” in discussing “Barack Hussein Obama”

• Sowell falsely claimed Obama proposes merit pay be “measured by teachers themselves”

• Dick Morris falsely claimed Obama was “general counsel” for ACORN

• Fox News’ Kelly mocked ACORN for accurate statement about Florida registration law

Authorities Shut Down Spam Ring
An international spam network was ordered to shut down, stopping what the authorities say was one of the most prolific spam gangs on the Internet.

FCC overhaul eyes broadband but could raise bills
WASHINGTON (AP) – The head of the Federal Communications Commission wants a massive overhaul of the fees that phone companies pay each other when they connect calls. Supporters say the reforms will help fund improved broadband Internet access for rural America, but consumer advocates question how much the plan will raise people’s phone bills. “This could be potentially a billion-dollar giveaway to phone monopolies, paid for out of consumers’ pocketbooks,” said Chris Murray, an attorney with Consumers Union.

Feds Want Time to Decide on Super Bowl Reveal Appeal
Government lawyers say they need more time to decide whether to seek Supreme Court review of the indecency fine against CBS stations over the fleeting nudity in the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Super Bowl half-time show. That’s according to Media Access Project, which was served notice of the request.

Media In A Muddle
Ongoing fallout from the credit crisis could mean tough times ahead for media companies carrying heavy debt loads.

Redstone Family in Dispute Over Stock
The bitter feud between billionaire Sumner Redstone and his daughter, Shari, erupted again Tuesday over the murky circumstances surrounding the sale of $233 million in non-voting Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. shares by the family’s privately held National Amusements Inc.

AP institutes hiring freeze, says it’s on “solid financial footing”
AP says it’s in good shape, “thanks to modest revenue growth and responsible expense management over the past few years, which have resulted in a positive cash flow.” But, a memo to staff adds, “as the economy falters, it is imperative that we keep spending in line with revenue.” A hiring freeze was instituted this week.

@ Mipcom: Eisner Keynote: Content’s Still King (At The End Of A Needle) (Paid Content)
Content’s still king and creativity still the crown jewels, regardless of new media, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner suggested in his keynote at the Mipcom audiovisual market in Cannes. Translation: great stories will succeed whether online or off.

FT Group Reports 11% Revenue Rise
Financial Times publisher FT Group enjoyed an 11% year-on-year rise in total revenues for the first nine months of 2008, bucking the generally downward trend in recent newspaper sector financial results. FT Group saw advertising revenue rising 1% over the same period.

“Investor’s Business Daily is the strangest mainstream newspaper in America”
Gabriel Sherman also says IBD “might be the biggest newspaper no one has ever heard of.” Politically, IBD’s opinion page makes even the Wall Street Journal’s trademark business-friendly editorial line seem moderate, he notes. “Say what you will about its journalism, but IBD has successfully monetized its audience into paying for high-margin services” like pricey investment seminars.

Baby, It’s Going to Be Cold Outside in Book Publishing
A frost is coming to publishing. And while the much ballyhooed death of the industry this is not, the ecosystem to which our book makers are accustomed is about to be unmistakably disrupted. At hand is the twilight of an era most did not expect to miss, but will. For now, the stifling timidity many editors and agents are predicting appears not to have taken hold.

Mystery Of That Missing SNL Bailout Skit Solved: NBC.com Took It Down For Legal Reasons; Has Put Up Edited Version (Deadline Hollywood Daily)
Needless to say, a lot of conspiracy theories were spun, real or imagined, especially by Republicans who wondered if the Democratic Congress, or perhaps Soros himself, were pulling NBC’s puppet strings.

Reading This Will Change Your Brain
Is technology changing our brains? A new study by UCLA neuroscientist Gary Small adds to a growing body of research that says it is… To see how the Internet might be rewiring us, Small and colleagues monitored the brains of 24 adults as they performed a simulated Web search, and again as they read a page of text. During the Web search, those who reported using the Internet regularly in their everyday lives showed twice as much signaling in brain regions responsible for decision-making and complex reasoning, compared with those who had limited Internet exposure. The findings, to be published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggest that Internet use enhances the brain’s capacity to be stimulated, and that Internet reading activates more brain regions than printed words. The research adds to previous studies that have shown that the tech-savvy among us possess greater working memory (meaning they can store and retrieve more bits of information in the short term), are more adept at perceptual learning (that is, adjusting their perception of the world in response to changing information), and have better motor skills.
But we seem to have less willingness to consider what we read, and let it sink in, before forming a judgment and a response.  Kneejerk response is the norm on the internet.

The Daily Beast expects to burn through $18M in three years
Simon Dumenco hears Daily Beast chiefs Tina Brown and Barry Diller hope for advertising revenue of at least $10 million in that same time. (“Wildly optimistic,” says Dumenco.) More than half of 20 or so full-time Daily Beast staffers are budgeted to earn $100,000 or more a year.

MySpace Karaoke puts amateur crooners on camera
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – MySpace has launched an overhauled karaoke channel that lets amateur crooners post online video of themselves in all their vocal glory.
Will a Karaoke Star contest be far behind?

Joost Reboots, But Is It Too Late?
When Internet TV startup Joost was launched in 2007, the buzz was that it would redefine television. After all, the company was backed by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, the legendary European entrepreneurs behind music download site Kazaa and Net telephony giant Skype. But a year later, after a variety of missteps, it’s Joost that is redefining itself.

Online Ad Spend Estimated To Grow 13.8 Percent In ’08; ’09 Looks Flat: Jack Myers (Paid Content)
Veteran media analyst Jack Myers has come in with his ad forecast for this year and next and the good news is, it could be worse. Myers projects online ad spend growth of 13.8 percent this year with $24.133 billion. But in 2009, Myers expects online’s growth rate to come in essentially flat at 13.5 percent, with $27.6 billion spent. Online’s share of the total media ad spend pie will be 10.4 percent, and will rise to 12.4 percent in ’09. That’s not a leap by any stretch, but since Myers anticipates total ad expenditures to fall 1.3 percent in ’08 and then drop another 4 percent next year, it’s hard for the industry to feel too badly. Come 2010, online will look a bit better with gains of 16 percent, as it assumes a 14 percent share of the whole ad market, Myers says.

Yet Another YouTube Revenue Gambit: Search Ads
Peter Kafka: We are still waiting for the mind-blowing YouTube money-making idea that Eric Schmidt promised earlier this year. But what we’ve been getting this fall are a series of common sense steps: Adding post-roll ads, adding affiliate buttons for iTunes and Amazon, adding full-length TV shows (with pre- and mid-roll ads). Next up: Selling AdWords-like ads along side YouTube search results.

Breeders’ Cup Goes With a ‘Less Is More’ Approach for Ads
Fewer Breaks, More Shout-outs for Brands During Coverage

Marketers Curb Budget for Experimental Ads
Financial woes likely will derail the growth of a slew of advertising technologies. In recent years, marketers have set aside a portion of their ad budgets to experiment with digital technologies such as Web video, mobile phones, gaming and virtual worlds. But with broader economic turmoil reaching Madison Avenue, these “experimental” budgets are among the first to hit the cutting-room floor.

Are DVRs ‘Own Worst Enemy’ for Networks?
Rash Report: For Some Shows, DVRs Expand the Audience

When 140 Characters Isn’t Enough: Send a Group Voice Message with Tatango (Mashable)
Tatango, a website that allows users to send text messages to groups, is adding a new feature today for making phone calls. Using the same interface, users can now opt to record a voice message and then send it to one of their groups. Recipients then receive a text alerting them to the new message, and can reply with “CALL,” which will in turn dial the user and relay the voice recording. Similar to its group texting product we profiled earlier this year, Tatango Voice offers a freemium business model. In other words, if you want free service, all of your calls will include advertisements before the voice message is heard by recipients, but for a monthly fee, you can have the advertising removed. Free group texts include a 30 character advertisement at the end.

EU Warns Youth To Turn Down MP3 Players
Millions of youngsters across could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

“Let me make it clear at the outset that I have no intention of following instructions.”
 – Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, thanks to Economist’s View
Ditto.  It’s the story of my life, and my ongoing commitment to myself and to you, my readers.  I absolutely will not follow instructions.

U.S. Investing $250 Billion in Banks (New York Times)
The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan on Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in banks… The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for three years — a measure meant to encourage the banks to resume lending to one another and to customers… And the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will offer an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits in accounts that do not bear interest — typically those of businesses.

U.S. Stocks Rally Most Since 1930s on Bank Plan; Dow Gains 936 (Bloomberg)
U.S. stocks staged the biggest rally in seven decades on a government plan to buy stakes in banks and a Federal Reserve-led push to flood the global financial system with dollars.
So socialism makes the “free” markets happy!

Democrats dream of filibuster-proof majority in Senate (McClatchy)
Democrats, growing more confident of winning back the White House, are starting to whisper about another dream.
This is a real con, friends.  Even with 60 Democrats in the Senate, there won’t be a filibuster-proof majority for progressive issues.  There will still be some right-wing Democrats.  And when are we going to recognize the fact that THE DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP IS NOT PROGRESSIVE, AND NEITHER IS BARACK OBAMA.  All the hopey-changey rhetoric in the world isn’t going to change that.  Nothing is going to change that.  We will not pull out from under the iron grip of failed conservative ideology until we take over one of the major parties or push one of the minor parties forward.  I don’t see any real movement in that direction.  I just see people being fooled over and over again by promises no one intends to keep.  If you are a progressive and you believed in and voted for Obama, you have been had.

McHoover against OHoover: Why you are just plain fucked this election (by Stirling Newberry at The Agonist)
John McCain’s two big economic ideas are a freeze on Federal Spending, and a reverse robinhood plan to pay off the rich, and then stuff the poor. It’s a pair of proposals so awful as to be nominees for the Smoot-Hawley award for fastest ways to tank the economy. Unfortunately Barack Obama’s plans are cut from the same Hooverist mind set. John McCain, out of touch, flailing, erratic, and corrupt, is running on Racism, Rage and Resource Rape. Barack Obama is running on egoism and a demented Reaganite belief that the problem is that Americans are overtaxed. Here is a run down of the lastest joke of an economic plan from the man who is almost sure to be the next President of the United States, and who is already running hard to be the next Worst. President. Ever. His backing of the bail out bill was not an accident: he really is an economic idiot…

[In his latest proposals,] rather than real relief, real job creation, and shifting of taxes from states to the Federal government over the long term, Obama offers a failure in the making economic program which promises a continuation of the failed ideology of Reaganomics into another term as President of the United States.
Click through for details.

Obama’s Speech On The Economy (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Two things stood out for me. First, the 90 day moratorium on mortgage foreclosures. This was first proposed by Hillary Clinton in December 2007, when she also proposed a temporary interest rate freeze. If my memory serves, Obama agreed with the idea at the time. The second thing that strikes me is that there is no HOLC in Obama’s plans. It seems to be up to Congress folks who care about HOLC who will have to make Obama do it. It seems to not be in his plans.

Tuesday: Uncle Sam buys the banks (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
At $250 billion it’s probably a steal.  It looks like the stock markets around the world are responding favorably.  I hope my 401K fund managers snapped up some bargains during the low points.  Are we out of the woods yet?  Hard to tell. Obama has come out with some proposals to help ordinary Americans weather the storm.  Funny, but he didn’t think some of these ideas were very good not too long ago.  For instance, his foreclosure freeze idea?  Umm, that was actually Hillary’s idea: [Click through to watch the video.] Back then, it was “disastrous” and a “fairy tale”.  It took … 7 months to drag him kicking and screaming to the same point.  Which makes me wonder, if we were going to end up with Hillary’s policies all along, why couldn’t we just have the real thing instead of some cheap knock off?

The Woman Who Was Silenced (by Susie at Suburban Guerrilla)
For trying to prevent this financial crisis: “In 1997, Brooksley Born warned in congressional testimony that unregulated trading in derivatives could ‘threaten our regulated markets or, indeed, our economy without any federal agency knowing about it.’ Born called for greater transparency — disclosure of trades and reserves as a buffer against losses. Instead of heeding this oracle’s warnings, Greenspan, Rubin & Summers rushed to silence her. As the Times story reveals, Born’s wise warnings ‘incited fierce opposition’ from Greenspan and Rubin who ‘concluded that merely discussing new rules threatened the derivatives market.’ Greenspan deployed condescension and told Born she didn’t know what she doing and she’d cause a financial crisis.”
Do you see the pattern here?  Hillary couldn’t possibly know what she was talking about and had to be demonized.  Born couldn’t possibly know what she was talking about and had to be demonized.  Sarah Palin can’t possibly know what she’s talking about and has to be demonized.  There’s one obvious thing these three people have in common.  They are female, and therefore can’t possibly know what they’re talking about.  They MUST be demonized if they dare to aspire to a high position.

Volcker: Bailouts “not consistent with a capitalistic system” (by lambert at Corrente)
Obama advisor Volcker* via Bloomberg: The bailout measures were ‘distasteful’ … and ‘not consistent with a capitalistic system,’ Volcker said at a lecture in Singapore today.” However, the bailout measures are entirely consistent with a kleptocracy looting the country, busting it out, and leaving the rest of us holding the bag. Privatized profits, socialized risk! Hey, wouldn’t it be just great if McBama were restoring stability to our financial systems through universal health care (number one cause of bankruptcy, leading to home loss) and HOLC? Read what Bloomberg calls McBama’s “populist” proposals and weep, or pound your head on your desk. Letting people empty their retirement accounts to pay for their housing is “populist”? What’s WRONG with these people?

How about clawing back the $38 billion in salaries and bonuses the infestment bankers looted before their schemes went tits up, and putting that money into the pot? How about socialism for everybody, not just Hank Paulson’s golfing buddies?

McCain proposes $52.5 billion economic plan (AP)
BLUE BELL, Pa. – Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Tuesday proposed a $52.5 billion economic plan that would eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits and cut the capital gains tax while warning voters about taking a chance on Democratic rival Barack Obama.

Democrats call for massive econ stimulus plan (Reuters)
The United States needs a new economic stimulus plan that pumps billions of dollars into infrastructure projects and budget relief for cash-strappedstate and local governments, Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday. U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, told ABC television he will put together an economic stimulus bill when Congress returns to Washington after the November 4 elections, while a key Republican said he would support an effort that “makes sense.” Rep. Roy Blunt, the Missouri Republican who serves as House minority leader, said he would support a stimulus plan if it did not include massive public works spending and budget bailouts for states that overspent on health care and other social programs.

U.S. gasoline price marks biggest drop ever (Reuters )
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States recorded its largest drop ever as consumer demand continued to wane and oil prices slid.
Just in time for the election.

Defined By A Vote? (by madamab at The Confluence)
Are We All Racists Now? For me, this election season has been a continuous cycle of smacks in the face. The Democrats have compounded their disastrously poor performance (no impeachment, no ending of the war) in Congress by selecting, not electing, a Chicago machine nominee who is as corrupt as any Bush Republican and as authoritarian and narcissistic as Bush himself. In a year when any Dem candidate should be winning in a landslide, November looks like it will be another nail-biter, with possible election fraud on both sides… Once again, we Americans have allowed ourselves to be divided to the point of apoplexy by two parties which are this close to becoming one Corporation, Indivisible, with Poverty and Injustice for all.

If we ever wake up and realize that both parties are trying to screw us out of everything we have, and that we need to vote for individuals, not letters, we might just begin to untangle this country from the jaws of our two-party system. At least the PUMAs are getting it this year. Let’s hope that Republicans are too. Whatever happens in the next four years, we are going to need to try to unify and help each other through it. No matter who we voted for.
Unfortunately for your theory though, madamab, Obama is running as an individual, rather than as a member of the Democratic Party.  Individuals, if they have no tether, can become despots.  I say we vote on the issues, not parties OR individuals.  But then what do I know?  I’m a racist, too.

I agree with dday… (by lambert at Corrente)
who — irony alert — denigrates “Obama, his campaign, all Democrats everywhere, and pretty much the entire liberal progressive blogisphere and all aspects of the liberal progressive movement” as follows: “Digby pointed yesterday to David Broder’s none-too-subtle warning that the next President had better not get any funny ideas about investing in the future or giving those among the least of society a hand or anything. Obviously we need to get through the next 22 days and usher in a Democratic President. But this is an absolutely vital discussion that we need to be having right now.” As I’ve been saying… Progressives! Oh, progressives! You can hold Obama’s feet to the fire now!
They should have allowed this discussion during the primaries.  If they had, we might not be looking at a right winger as the next president, either a Republican one or a Democratic one.  My comment to dday’s post: “Senator Obama needs to be pushed.” Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. You are so funny, dday! All of you so-called progressives have given up the only leverage you have on the guy—your vote. He’s completely in the grip of right-wing Democrats, and all of you helped him prevail over the more progressive candidate. Good luck with pushing him.

“Jobs, baby, jobs”: Hillary and Bill hit the stump with a new chant (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
Can the media please stop saying that Bill and Hillary Clinton aren’t throwing their full weight behind Barack Obama already? I mean, seriously…what more do they have to do? Both of them hit the stump today in Pennsylvania, forcefully arguing, like they have for months now, that America can’t afford four more years of George W. McCain. Yahoo!: “Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton offered a Democratic rejoinder to the Republican chant of “drill, baby, drill.” Said the one-time presidential candidate: ‘Jobs, baby, jobs.’”…
It’s not the media pushing the story that the Clintons haven’t done enough for Obama, it’s the so-called progressives.  The ones who shoved him down our throats.  They have to justify their stupidity in pushing the less progressive candidate by continuing their hatemongering lies about the Clintons.  Click through to watch the video.

Read Slowly and Carefully (by herb the verb at Corrente)
Please read Paul Jorian’s blogpost regarding the implosion of the credit markets, the reasons, the influence of “The Chicago School” of economists whose assumptions continue to help us not understand how economies work, and “What it All Means”.
Remember that when Milton Friedman died, I accused him of causing more human misery than anyone else ever.  And please do not EVER forget that Obama is from and of the Chicago School.

Al Franken (by Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
You can never know for sure until they’re in office, but I suspect Al Franken will be a great progressive voice in the tradition of Paul Wellstone. If he doesn’t get elected, we’ll never know.
My comment: You’re wrong about Franken. If you had listened to his Air America Radio show, you’d know that he’s a center-right establishmentarian, though not quite as far right as Obama. No Wellstone, he.

The “whitey tape” sources — follow-up (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Here is a bit of follow-up to our story … on the putative “whitey tape” — the supposed campaign-killer video, supposedly in GOP hands, which supposedly captures Michelle Obama using racist language… I was originally told that [Larry] Johnson said that he learned of the matter directly from David Brock, the head of Media Matters. I’ve written to Brock but have received no response. I suspect that Brock learned from [Michael] Brooks [, also of Media Matters]. To the best of my knowledge, Media Matters has never addressed the “whitey” claims… [F]rom dakinikat, who, as you no doubt know, runs this blog. “how about this? michael brooks from media matters is the primary source and sy hersh is the confirmation”… Remember: One of these individuals has seen the tape directly. Supposedly…

Here’s an interesting question: If the tape is real, and if it is unveiled after the final debate — perhaps after Obama is goaded into making an on-camera statement denying its existence — would that be enough to toss the election to McCain? I’m beginning to doubt it! Obama is the Man Who Can Do No Wrong. Even if Obi were to urinate on the next Official Rally Fainter, the media would go into Twilight Zone mode: “That was a good thing you done, Barack — a real good thing.”
David Brock was once a part of the right-wing media machine.  He probably still has some contacts there.

Salivating for Obama (J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
The installation of Obama is moving along. The media malfeasance is making this process much easier for him. I don’t fear creeping socialism much. It’s been creeping along in the U.S. for a long while. Nor do I fear Obama being a corrupt Wall Street stooge. If this is the case we’ll just have more of the same. What I do fear is a man with so many secrets having to serve many masters. Who will be in charge? Soros? Ayres? MSNBC? The Prime Minster of Kenya? CONTROL is the only logical reason that I can see for the MSM to be continuing its glowing coverage of Obama. Even if just the ACORN story breaks wide after Obama’s election – he is delegitimized. A pardon of Rezko has the same effect. It appears Seymour Hersh was a confirmation source for the “Whitey tape” at the very least being known to exist. Hersh is not exactly a right wing kook. yet – no MSM outlet has looked into it. That tape – shown on 1/21/09 would enrage the electorate and hobble a President Obama. So why is the media salivating for an Obama Administration?

Talk about your low information voters:
‘Howard Stern Show’ Quizzes Obama Supporters in Harlem on Candidate Policies (Breitbart video)

Talkless Heads (Falstaff, thanks to Anglachel)
Isn’t it remarkable, at this late date… after more than a year of candidacy, and four years in the public eye… after a primary that attracted more attention than any in our lifetime… after the eruption of issues of unprecedented urgency, scale and consequence, which are assaulting us every day – or hour… isn’t it remarkable that there continues to be no substantive case for Barack Obama’s prospective presidency? Isn’t it remarkable that Obama’s supporters, after all this time, cannot come up with a serious argument for why he should be president, other than (a) the other guy’s awful and scary and (b) we have to throw the Republicans out (or, at best, he’ll hire better advisors)?…

What you absolutely never hear, though is: “I am enthusiastic about the prospect of an Obama presidency because he will do X, Y or Z on the economy…” or “His healthcare proposal is based on the smartest analysis I’ve heard about how to tackle this problem – let me tell you why…” or “His ideas for how to approach a complex, globalizing economy and geopolitical arena are unique, in A, B and C ways…” or anything even remotely like that. Press them for a single respect in which he has shown actual substantive and innovative thinking and leadership… or for a coherent policy frame that makes sense of his FISA vote, his D.C. gun control statement, his position on the death penalty, his Harry and Louse ads and on and on… and they resort to one of the responses above. It’s all horserace, all GOP-directed schadenfreude, all Palin snark, all ohmygod apocalysm about a possible McCain win, all the time.

McCain’s Pandora’s Box (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
 It’s gone too far… John McCain opened the Pandora’s Box of hate and bigotry, of disenfranchisement and scapegoating, and there’s no way for him to reel it in. Nor do I suspect that he truly realizes the power of it either.
We really have learned a lot from Karl Rove, haven’t we?  Blame the other guy for whatever nefarious activity you yourself are involved in.  See below.

Late Night Obamabot Pornography Open Thread (by Concerned Mother at No Quarter)
Just view the following images of Obama supporters subordinating women in an overtly sexual manner:

Aren’t you proud of the so-called progressives?  Click through for more of these offensive graphics.

Man identified as original source of talk about Obama’s religion threatens lawsuits (On Politics, USA Today)
This front-page story in [Monday’s] New York Times – “The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama” — now has the subject of the story saying he may sue the Times and Tribune Co. The story is about Andy Martin, who is credited with being the original source of since-discredited Internet reports saying that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is a Muslim. Obama has said many times that he is a Christian and he has been a member of a Christian church in Chicago for more than 20 years.His birth father, since deceased, and a former stepfather at times practiced the Muslim faith. Martin objects in particular to what the Times wrote about why he had been denied admission to the Illinois state bar. Martin also objects to a subsequent post about the Times story that was published [Monday] by Tribune’s The Swamp blog.

To Masslib: We do not bow to peer pressure (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Somehow, Masslib, one of our own, has decided that we are supporters of John McCain.  She also seems to think that she needs to convert us for our own good.  I would like to disabuse Masslib of these two notions… It is regrettable that we have grown apart but I’m sure we will both survive.  And the next time the party tries to pull this $#%^, I hope they will think twice as to whether it was worth it. Now, masslib and people who gave in to peer pressure can say that Obama is going to win but I have enough emails from the party that suggest that plans to launch a full out attack to pressure us into voting for Obama.  If he were doing that well, the upcoming psychological warfare would be unneccesary.  So, please stop the annoying pro-Obama blather.  We aren’t buying it and we don’t care.

McCain Campaign Says Black Is White: Claims Troopergate Investigation Found No Wrongdoing (Think Progress)
On Friday, the bipartisan Alaskan Legislative Council voted unanimously to release the findings of its “Troopergate” investigation. The report stated unequivocally that “Sarah Palin abused her power” by violating a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. As the report emphasized, “Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional.” The McCain campaign has decided to simply turn the finding on its head. On Fox News Sunday this morning, campaign manager Rick Davis claimed the investigation absolved Palin of any wrongdoing.
Click through to watch the video.

Politico falsely claims McCain’s tax cuts for the rich are ‘aimed directly at the middle class.’ (Think Progress)
In an “exclusive” story that appears to have been peddled by the McCain campaign, Politico’s Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin report that John McCain is considering “measures aimed directly at the middle class.” What measures? “Tax cuts – perhaps temporary – for capital gains and dividends.” Brad DeLong writes, “Capital gains and dividend tax cuts are simply not ‘economic measures aimed directly at the middle class’: the middle class doesn’t collect capital gains, or dividends, in any material amount.”

Michigan judge halts voter purge, orders names restored (On Politics, USA Today)
A federal judge in Michigan today ordered state authorities to stop cancelling registrations of people whose voter ID cards were returned by the post office as undeliverable. Our friends at the Detroit Free Press report that U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy II also ordered the officials to return to the rolls 1,435 names that were purged under that system. The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a national student group.

Cuyahoga County elections officials seek fraud probe of ACORN (AP)
CLEVELAND — Election officials in swing state Ohio’s most populous county asked a prosecutor today to investigate alleged voter-registration fraud, including 73 registrations obtained from one man by an advocacy group under fire in other states. The bipartisan Cuyahoga County Board of Elections voted unanimously to ask county Prosecutor Bill Mason to investigate multiple registrations by four people who signed forms at the behest of a community organizing group, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN.

Being Squirrelly About ACORN (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Obama campaign officials found themselves forced last week to correct an erroneous assertion made on the campaign’s “Fight the Smears” webpage that “Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.” That wasn’t true. In fact, ACORN spokesman Lewis Goldberg told the New York Times that Obama conducted two unpaid leadership training sessions for ACORN’s Chicago affiliate in the late 1990s. The “Fight the Smears” website now asserts, “Fact: ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee.” Key word: hired.

Obama backers [Monday] pointed out that McCain in February 2006 participated in a Miami rally in support of McCain’s immigration reform bill that was sponsored by ACORN as well as other groups, according to the press release. For whatever it’s worth.

Oliver Stone’s Latest (Political Wire)
According to the Wall Street Journal, Oliver Stone’s new drama about President George W. Bush, “which hits theaters [this] weekend, is being financed by a patchwork of global investors — and hardly a dime of U.S. studio money… the studios turned their backs on the film, which Mr. Stone attributes to fear of the subject matter — a sitting president.” “W traces the rise of the young Bush, from his fraternity days to his born-again Christian transformation, while also focusing on his presidency — specifically the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The studios say they passed on the film because they don’t think the public is interested in Bush: The Movie.”
From the previews I’ve seen on TV, it looks like it will be fun.

Fox, Loeb up for ‘Wall Street’ sequel
Michael Douglas could reprise Gekko role 

Connecticut High Court Rules For Marriage Equality (American Constitution Society)
Connecticut has become the third state, along with Massachusetts and California, to grant gay couples the right to marry. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health that the state constitution’s equal protection clause prevents the state from denying all the rights and protections of marriage to gay couples. Eight same-sex couples brought the case after they were denied marriage licenses in 2004, the Hartford Courant reported. The California Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the state’s constitution requires that gay couple be permitted to marry. Opponents of that ruling, however, are pushing for the approval of a ballot initiative that would outlaw gay marriage in the state. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, detailed the opposition to gay marriage in California in a guest blog post for ACS.  

Report: sex scandal for Congressman – who took seat from another Congressman in sex scandal (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Maybe there’s something in the water in the district. Less than two years after a sex scandal with House pages forced Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., to resign, the Democrat who took his seat is caught in his own sex scandal. ABC reports that Rep. Tim Mahoney-D-Fla., paid $121,000 in hush money to keep his mistress from revealing their affair. The mistress, who had been on Mahoney’s Congressional staff, was threatening to sue the married Congressman, ABC said. The network also reports that senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives were working with Mahoney to somehow keep the scandal from hurting his re-election prospects.

Western Journalists in Iraq Stage Pullback of Their Own
U.S. military officials say they “embedded” journalists 219 times in September 2007. Last month, the number shrank to 39. Of the dozen U.S. newspapers and newspaper chains that maintained full-time bureaus in Baghdad in the early years of the war, only four are still permanently staffed by foreign correspondents. CBS and NBC no longer keep a correspondent in Baghdad year-round.

Media Matters for America headlines

Cunningham: “I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that’s what the black intelligentsia says” [When, actually, it was the WHITE intelligentsia that said it, and it was about the primary, not the general election.  Nevertheless, violence has been threatened.]

Savage: “[N]ot all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists happen to be Muslim” [Well, no, there are home-grown ones like Timothy McVeigh and William Ayers.]

Limbaugh falsely claimed “[t]here’s no evidence” Obama wrote anything before Dreams from My Father ”except a poem”

Conservative radio hosts claimed HUD said 5 million illegal immigrants were given subprime mortgages, despite HUD’s reported denials

Why did CNN’s Roberts interview Roger Stone, “professional dirty trickster” and founder of C.U.N.T.?

Limbaugh mischaracterized accomplishments of ’06 Nobel Peace Prize winner, smeared Jimmy Carter

Savage: “Kenya is going to move to America if Barack Hussein Obama wins”

Despite evidence to the contrary, Hannity claimed “[n]obody in the Republican Party” has resorted to overtones of “race and fear” in attacking Obama

After repeatedly calling McCain’s behavior “erratic,” Matthews suggested Obama’s doing so was a reference to McCain’s age

Copyright Czar To Get Cabinet-Level Position At The White House (Paid Content)
Intellectual property just got a potentially powerful voice – an effective copyright czar who will hold a cabinet position at the White House. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, which President George Bush signed on Monday, increases penalties for intellectual-property infringement and provides the Justice Department with more resources to coordinate federal and state efforts against counterfeiting and piracy, CNET reports. The bill covers everything from film and TV to music, drugs and software.

Google Loses Two German Copyright Cases Over Image Search Thumbnails (Paid Content)
Google has told paidContent.co.uk it intends to appeal two seperate copyright cases it lost in Hamburg, Germany today over its unauthorised indexing of an artist’s work and a photographer’s photo as thumbnails in Google image search results. Bloomberg reported that Google lost both cases at the Regional Court of Hamburg: photographer Michael Bernhard brought the action after one of his pictures was shown in a search results page and artist Thomas Horn applied to the court after comics he holds the copyright to were shown in the results. In its ruling in favour of Bernhard the court said: “It doesn’t matter that thumbnails are much smaller than original pictures and are displayed in a lower resolution.”

Writers Guild Tells Members Not to Work on Fox Show
In a continuing dispute over the line between scripted shows and reality programming, the Writers Guild of America has instructed its members not to work on a new show featuring Ozzy Osbourne and his family that is being prepared for Fox. FremantleMedia, which is producing the Osbourne show, had asked the guild to accept a contract that would treat the program as “half-scripted.”

Rage Of The Unpaid: Hip Hop Freelancers Revolt!
Hamilton Nolan: Hip Hop Weekly, an execrable, half-assed attempt at a hip hop version of Us Weekly, reportedly has trouble paying its vendors, writers, and photographers. Or just doesn’t want to. Either way, lots of people who have done work for the magazine are pissed at it. So it was pretty dumb for HHW to (mistakenly?) blast out an invitation to its 50th issue release party to a long list of contributors who hadn’t been paid yet.

Credit Crunch Puts Media in a Muddle
Ongoing fallout from the credit crisis could mean tough times ahead for media companies carrying heavy debt loads. Trouble in the credit markets is sparking fresh concerns that highly leveraged players in radio, TV and other advertising-dependent businesses will struggle to keep pace with their debt covenants and payment schedules as the economy sinks further.

Sumner Redstone Forced to Sell Viacom, CBS Shares
Billionaire Sumner Redstone got caught in the credit crunch Friday. On the most volatile trading day in the stock market’s 112-year history, Redstone’s family’s holding firm, National Amusements Inc., had to dump $400 million of nonvoting B shares in Viacom and CBS to raise cash to “pay down debt to comply with covenants under [the company's] credit agreements,” according to a statement.

USAT Raises Price of Print Edition
USA Today said Friday it will raise its newsstand price by 25 cents to $1 to offset rising newsprint costs. The 33 percent increase could affect the nation’s highest-circulation newspaper more than price hikes affect the other two national newspapers, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, because USA Today is more dependent on single-copy sales.

Mainstream News Outlets Start Linking to Other Sites
Embracing the hyperlink ethos of the Web to a degree not seen before, news organizations are becoming more comfortable linking to competitors — acting in effect like aggregators. New experiments in this exemplify “link journalism,” an idea that is gaining traction in other newsrooms across the country.

Lame Journalism: A Story About Link Journalism (Paid Content)
A story in NYT about media sites linking to other news sources, which somehow is supposed to be novel. Every year the battle is won a little more, but this surely isn’t new, or news. Anyway, one bit of new info: that NBC’s local station division will start morphing the local TV sites into full-fledged city guides. This will start tomorrow with its Chicago affiliate, WMAQ, where the site will link to competitors such as The Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, TMZ and the local blog Chicagoist.  NBC’s local division has hired about 55 people to create original content and filter the Web, it says.

Newspapers Weigh Alternatives to AP: But Do They Add Up? (Editor & Publisher)
Since the Associated Press announced its controversial rate change last year, many newspapers have started considering other content options. And things are not likely to calm down any time soon. But is the latest dispute over AP rates and services a real sign that its relationship with newspapers will be forever changed? Can a mid-sized or major daily really exist without the news cooperative?

Newspapers’ Web Revenue Is Stalling
In the last few years, newspaper companies have been rapidly expanding their Web presence — adding blogs, photo slide shows, and podcasts — in the belief that more features would bring more advertisers. But now, after 17 quarters of ballooning growth, online revenue at newspaper sites is falling. In the second quarter, it was down 2.4 percent compared with last year, to $777 million.

Booksellers Race to Add Financial-Advice Titles
As the crisis in global markets continues, booksellers are rushing to satisfy the public’s craving for financial advice. Borders Group Inc., the nation’s second-largest bookstore chain, has reacted to the widespread anxiety about the current upheaval by creating front-of-store displays featuring finance or personal-finance titles in all 522 superstores nationwide.

Food Magazines Focus on Budget-Friendly Recipes
In those flush times a year or so ago, food magazines often seemed to focus on recipes that required the most indulgent ingredients. No more. Budget-friendly recipes, as well as restaurant and wine recommendations, are rapidly becoming a larger part of the editorial mix as editors seek to cater to their readers’ new penny-pinching ways.

TV Guide Magazine Sold To OpenGate Capital; Online Still With Macrovision (Paid Content)
Macrovision has finally found a buyer for TV Guide magazine, and it not one of the usual suspects: it has divested the magazine only (NOT online) to LA-based private equity firm OpenGate Capital… As we reported first, the online division of TVG will remain with Macrovision, though how the print and online will work together with different ownerships, if at all, remains to be seen. The online network consists of TVGuide.com website and its other online products (which includes jumptheshark.com, tv-now.com, tvshowsondvd.com and fansofrealitytv.com). Macrovision is still in the process of selling the TV network, and that may take a while.

Westwood One in Talks to Extend, Refinance 2009 Debt
Westwood One Inc., the largest producer and distributor of news, talk, traffic and sports programming to radio stations, is in talks with banks and bondholders about refinancing or extending the maturities of $85 million in debt due next year. Advertising declines at the local and national levels have caused New York-based Westwood One’s year-over-year revenue to fall for 12 consecutive quarters.

Play.com Steps Up Music Download Battle With 3 Million DRM-free Tracks From All Four Majors (Paid Content)
UK e-tailer Play.com has stepped into the music download battle by signing the four major music labels to its PlayDigital online store to offer more than 3 million DRM-free MP3 tracks that can be played on any device. In a move directly aimed at iTunes, tracks and albums currently being sold at a cheaper price than at the Apple- owned store.

Uneven Gains in Delayed TV Viewing
On Monday television networks finally found out how many people were really watching during the week their shows began new seasons. The bottom line: more viewers for most shows, especially the hits and those that appeal to younger viewers. Nielsen Media Research released figures for delayed viewing, and for most television shows the numbers rose.

Ad Pullback Doesn’t Spare National TV
Economic anxiety may be seeping into some of the more insulated parts of the media world, including national advertising on U.S. cable- and broadcast-television networks. In a bad sign for the media sector’s third-quarter earnings, both Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. cut their 2008 profit forecasts Friday, citing weakness in ad sales and the slowing economy.

YouTube Starts Running Full-Length CBS Shows
YouTube, the largest video-sharing Web site, has started to run full-length TV shows from CBS Corp’s archive, in its latest step to boost advertising revenue by adding professional programing. The site said on Friday it was talking to other TV networks to sign similar deals to CBS. Many TV networks already run short clips on YouTube, which also offers millions of home videos uploaded by users.

Suddenly, Rivals Want to Jump on Hulu Bandwagon
When NBC Universal and News Corp. announced they were going to launch a video portal, many dismissed the effort. Then a funny thing happened: Two months after Hulu launched in March, it became a top-10 video site. In August, it served more than 122 million TV shows and short clips. Among mainstream-media digital-video efforts, it now trails only Viacom Digital, Disney Online, and Turner Network in ComScore rankings.

Hulu Envy: SNL Planning Standalone Site; So Does HBO (Paid Content)
NBC Universal is looking at launching a standalone site for Saturday Night Live, high on its success with SNL clips on Hulu and NBC.com in this election season, reports B&C. Though the plans are still in early stage, the site could include SNL’s current sketches library, as well as dress rehearsal skits that have never aired, the story says, and would also feature additional original comedy from the cast. The idea is similar to what Viacom’s Comedy Central has done with The Daily Show and Colbert Report, with their own standalone sites… Meanwhile, others not part of Hulu are also considering their own standalone site, or at least beefing up their present ones. We have mentioned about Universal Music Group’s plans to develop a Hulu-like site for music videos.  According to AdAge, HBO’s on-again-off-again digital strategy now includes developing a video portal at hbo.com, with show offering clips and some full episodes.

Live, From the Internet
While watching live news on the Web remains in its infancy, it is gaining ground. An ABI Research study of 985 people found last month that video from news sites was the second most popular category of Web video, with just under 70% viewing it. Converting that interest into live news viewership via the Internet seems only natural, particularly given its presence outside the home at places like work.

‘How-To’ Is New Go-To On Web
Operators of “How To” Web sites are betting that a downturn in the economy will translate into a spike in their traffic and advertising dollars as do-it-yourself projects become increasingly popular among cost-conscious consumers. Visits to “How To” sites are already on the rise in the US.

Study: Social Media Transforming Our Influences on What to Buy (by Tom Smith at Mashable)
For the last two years I have been running global research at Universal McCann that tracks the usage of social media. The results of which have clearly demonstrated the massive growth in usage that is occurring across the world. The most recent report interviewed 17,000 people in 29 countries and is called “When did we start trusting strangers.” It conclusively proves that as we thought, social media is now directly impacting the way we buy products and services. The publishing of billions of thoughts, opinions and experiences online in the form of blog posts, videos, ratings, reviews and photos is fundamentally changing the way everybody online sources opinions on products, brands and services when they buy something. This has huge impacts on the way that advertisers and brands have to think about social media – moving involvement from a “nice to have” to an “essential to have.”

Ad Firm Tracks Consumers Across Media
A small media research company called Integrated Media Measurement has a new technology that measures consumers’ exposure to the audio in ads on television, radio, computers, mobile phones, DVDs and inside a movie theatre — using a consumer’s cellphone. “We follow the same person from end to end,” says Tom Zito, IMMI’s chief executive.

Microsoft, Sony Feud Continues With Console-Based Worlds (Paid Content)
Sony and Microsoft are taking their game console war to the next level—launching dueling virtual environments in the next few weeks. Microsoft is rolling out the Xbox Live Experience November 19, while Sony’s much lauded (but also much delayed) Home is slated for a launch sometime later this year, according to AP. Both worlds let gamers create avatars, customize their “living spaces” and socialize, and each will feature third-party digital content… Analysts peg the worlds as both part of the natural evolution of the console from a “gaming” system to a multimedia entertainment device, as well as attempts by the gaming giants to compete with wildly successful virtual worlds like Linden Lab’s Second Life.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Wrapped in the Flag

Daring to utter the ‘L’ word: Obama on track to a landslide (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Barring a dramatic change in the political landscape over the next three weeks, Democrats appear headed toward a decisive victory on Election Day that would give them broad power over the federal government.

Kerry’s Landslide (Political Wire)
Inside the Bubble takes you into Sen. John Kerry’s campaign war room four years ago where you can see his closest advisers privately celebrate what they thought we be a certain victory — one some even called a “landslide.” It wasn’t until well after midnight that they knew they were wrong. You can view the must-see film for free here.

Gallup Daily: Obama-McCain Gap Narrows
Barack Obama continues to hold a lead over John McCain in Gallup Poll Daily tracking, 50% to 43%, among registered voters. Obama’s lead has narrowed slightly after being in double-digits several days last week. Two Gallup likely voter estimates show the race slightly closer.

Prime Minister Proposes $500 Billion European Bank Bailout (Wall Street Journal)
U.K. to Rescue RBS, HBOS, as Germany Plans Up to €400 Billion to Aid its Institutions; U.S. Is Considering Similar Moves

US moves to get $700B bank rescue effort started (AP)
WASHINGTON – The Bush administration said Monday it is moving quickly to implement a $700 billion rescue program, including consulting with private law firms on how to buy ownership shares in banks to help thaw frozen lending and get the economy moving again.

Gordon Does Good (by Paul Krugman)
Has Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, saved the world financial system? O.K., the question is premature — we still don’t know the exact shape of the rescues in Europe or … the United States, let alone whether they’ll really work. What we do know, however, is that … the British government went straight to the heart of the problem … with stunning speed. On Wednesday, Mr. Brown’s officials announced a plan for major equity injections into British banks, backed up by guarantees on bank debt that should get lending among banks, a crucial part of the financial mechanism, running again. And the first major commitment of funds will come on Monday — five days after the plan’s announcement… [W]e still don’t know whether these moves will work. But policy is, finally, being driven by a clear view of what needs to be done… It’s hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Paulson’s initial response was distorted by ideology.

CONGRATULATIONS, PROFESSOR KRUGMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008
“for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity”
Paul Krugman, USA, Princeton University, b. 1953

Dow jumps 400 as government pledges bank aid (AP)
NEW YORK – The Dow Jones industrial average surged more than 400 points in early trading today as investors rushed into stocks after eight sessions of devastating losses, hoping that the stock market is finding some footing following pledges by governments to further aid the banking sector, including plans by the Treasury to buy U.S. bank stocks.
There are two UPI headlines from the weekend that I think you’ll be interested in: Bush: ‘Confident’ G7 will unite on crisis, followed by G7 fails to agree on bank nationalization.  There was something of an agreement, as you can see from the Wall Street Journal article quoted above.  But I wouldn’t doubt that none of the G7 members wanted George Bush to get any credit whatsoever, so they said there was not agreement.

Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis (by David Goldstein and Kevin G. Hall at McClatchy)
As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail. Commentators say that’s what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They’ve specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie’s and Freddie’s financial problems. Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren’t true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Homeowner help: HUD-certified advisers, more refinancing available (McClatchy)
Whether their home loan is through Countrywide, another mortgage company or bank, homeowners can get free counseling to help them avoid foreclosure.

OH: Obama to belatedly unveil “middle class rescue” plan (by lambert at Corrente)
A week after McCain asked for my vote, Obama plans to do the same. Bloomberg: “…Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plans to give a speech on the financial crisis and issue a ‘rescue plan’ for the middle class, his campaign said.”… So, think the speech will include HOLC, as so many recommend? The devil, as always, is in the details, and I’m guessing No. What we needed was a systematic and coordinated solution, because borrowers (homeowners) and lenders (banks) are two sides of the same coin. With the Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Obama + Paulson bill, what we got was “flexibility”… [A]s Obama economic advisor Paul Volcker says, we’re going to “come together to protect our big banks,” and that’s where the “flexibility” is being applied, not on behalf of homeowners.

In shift, Obama lauds Clinton era (Boston Globe)
ABINGTON, Pa. – Barack Obama likes to draw inspiration from Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., but his apparent role model of late is someone a bit more contemporary: Bill Clinton. With the economy in crisis and Election Day in sight, Obama can’t say enough about the Clinton epoch – the job growth, the budget surpluses, the broad prosperity – and often lauds the former president’s economic stewardship as a model… Obama’s characterization of Clinton’s presidency is markedly different than the one he offered during the Democratic primaries, when he was running against Clinton‘s wife, Senator Hillary Clinton.
Hypocrite!  And anyway, why didn’t he start praising Clinton after Hillary suspended her campaign?  Or just after the convention?  Why now, when he’s finally ahead in the polls?  And, anyway, does he really mean it?  Can he overcome his sense of superiority long enough to really praise someone else?  See below.

McCain, Obama Need Better Leashes (by Pacific John at Alegre’s Corner)
[I]n continued bungling of outreach to the Clinton wing of the party: “Obama advisers say that, just as Mr. Clinton’s temperament worked for him against the patrician Mr. Bush and the cranky Mr. Perot, Mr. Obama’s steadiness is proving effective in this race against Mr. McCain. These advisers note, too, that Mr. Clinton only won a plurality of the general election vote in the three-way contest; a majority of the nation never voted for him. The advisers say they believe that Mr. Obama’s temperament is more broadly appealing than Mr. Clinton’s was, and that it will help him win over larger swaths of the electorate.”

McCain and GOP go after Obama again in new ads (On Politics, USA Today)
Both Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign and the Republican National Committee released TV ads this morning that aim to raise doubts in voters’ minds about Democratic nominee Barack Obama by raising questions about people he has associated with in the past.

RezkOctober (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
[A]ccording to press accounts, [political fixer Antoin “Tony”] Rezko is now indeed talking to prosecutors. What Rezko has to say is far more likely to impact Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose administration is being investigated. Not one witness at Rezko’s trial said Obama did anything improper.
But they weren’t asked any questions that might elicit such testimony.  This last trial was only about the hospital board.  Two fishy things there: Obama received political donations from people he helped reduce the size of the board and helped pack it with friendly members.  Sadly, that is not against the law.  It also doesn’t seem to be against the law for Michelle to be paid a huge sum of money by a hospital that surely had business before Barack’s committee.  Against the law or not, both sets of dealings stink to high heaven.  If they try Rezko for his slumlord dealings, they might be able to get something on Obama.  After a couple of disappointing Fitzmases, a Fitzgiving this year would be too late to help us keep Obama from being elected.  Whether or not there’s hope for a RezkOctober, I don’t know.

Sleeper Cell: ACORN, Obama, and the Housing Crisis (by Bud White at No Quarter)

(Image from Audacity of Hypocrisy)

Before ACORN became a household name, Larry Johnson and Eastan McNeal reported that the Obama campaign has been funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to a shady ACORN shell corporation called Citizens Services, Inc. New information, including the photo above, proves that Obama’s past denials of his relationship with ACORN are not the truth.
Why does Obama keep lying about his past associations?

What in God’s name? (by J –SOM at Liberal Rapture)
For God Sake (literally) why won’t the bulk of the media report on Obama’s connections to Odinga? Obama’s judgment is either severely impaired or he intended to participate in the campaign of a mass murderer. What in God’s name is CNN and MSNBC thinking? Why do more people know about Palin firing a trooper who tazed his own son than they know about the Obama/Odinga connections? What are they thinking at the NYTimes? Who is running the show? Why is SO much damning information about Obama being withheld? It is not just fawning. It goes deeper. The refusal to inform people about Obama is an attack on the process. It is an attack on us.
Obama’s association with Odinga is Hillary Clintons’s fault.

Does Obama Still Think Ayers Has Been ‘Rehabilitated’? No, Says his Campaign (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told a radio host [Thursday] that by the time he found out about William Ayers’ background as a member of a violent radical 70s group “The Weather Underground,” “I assumed that he had been rehabilitated.”… [But] since 1995 — when Obama met Ayers — the founding member of the Weather Underground has gone on to make it clear that he doesn’t think he did anything wrong… So, today, with today’s facts, does Obama think Ayers has been “rehabilitated”? No, he doesn’t think so, a source at the campaign tells me.

New video posted at You Tube details the issues in Berg v. Obama (ObamaCrimes.com)
Illuminati Films has produced a 10 minute video in which Phil J. Berg is interviewed. Mr. Berg lays out his case in Berg v. Obama, and explains why it is important for the case to be resolved quickly. In his argumentation, Mr. Berg points out that Senator Obama could settle the lawsuit immediately by producing the proper documents to prove Obama is a natural-born citizen as required by our constitution.  

More on Obama’s birth (by J -SOM at Liberal Rapture)
[A]bout the Obama birth issue case … I swear I do not know what to think about this – I do know the Obama Campaign lies quite often (see the changing Ayres story) Why can’t he produce some simple documents? The refusal to release his Columbia records is also odd.

A source for the “Whitey tape” report (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Larry Johnson, proprietor of No Quarter, the leading anti-Obama blog … has pissed me off on a number of occasions. His most famous — or notorious — “scoop” concerns the long-fabled videotape of Michelle Obama railing against “whitey” — a tape which the Republicans purportedly possess, and which they will (we are told) release at the last possible moment. Obviously, this tape – if it exists — is one of the few things that could insure a McCain victory… [O]thers have heard the same rumor independently — but no-one, so far, has named a source for the rumor. I now have a name.
Joe doesn’t name the source, but gives some clues as to who it might be.  The comments suggest that the informant may be Sy Hersh of the New Yorker.  Joe, by the way, doesn’t claim that the existence of the tape has been proven, only that at least one reliable source told Larry Johnson (and Joe) that it exists.  I, too, have never vouched for the existence of the tape, but I never doubted that Larry Johnson was told there is one.

‘Barack Osama’ appears on hundreds of absentee ballots in New York. (Think Progress)
The Albany Times Union reports today that Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) “last name is spelled ‘Osama’ on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County,” New York. Both Democratic and Republican county election officials insist the error was a “honest mistake” and a “typo,” but the paper notes that “the letters ’s’ and ‘b’ are not exactly keyboard neighbors.” During the Democratic primary, Obama’s first name was misspelled on approximately2000 absentee ballots in Florida.

Monday: Hey, Republicans, wanna know a secret? (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Look, if you don’t want Obama as your president, and believe me, we are right there with you, you’ve got to listen to us for a change… Here’s the thing: the media is engaging in a haka against you. A haka is the word for a Maori war dance.  It is big, brash, ugly, noisy and aggressive.  It is intended to make the enemy feel like they have lost the battle before the first spear is thrown.  It’s like Muhammad Ali trash talking Joe Frasier. It’s designed to make you despair and give up.  And that’s what’s making you mad.  You think that Obama is going to win and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Bullhockeys. All you have to do is turn the damn TV off. Watch the last debate on C-Span. Read only the sports sections and the stuff about the economy in the paper.  I’m pretty sure that if a haka happens in a forest and no one is around to hear it, it doesn’t bloody well work. Just put the media on mute and go about your business… Take it from us, the geeky Clintonistas who have been sitting this out since August, we’ve seen it all before.  We’re happy sitting together at our own lunchtable.  There’s plenty of room here. And if we all stick together, we can bring that popular clique in the media down. ‘Cos, I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of the media picking my president.

Oh, and one other thing.  Sarah Palin isn’t stupid.  They just make her look that way on TV.

It can’t happen here again, can it? (by vastleft at Corrente)
Glenn Greenwald describes his latest book, now out in paperback (makes a great gift!): “The book details the personality-based, substance-free (and issue-obfuscating) campaign tactics which Republicans have used since 1980 to win national elections — building manipulative personality cults around their leaders while simultaneously destroying the Democratic candidate with character smears — and describes, I believe, precisely the tactics on which the McCain campaign has come to rely with increasing desperation, and the reasons why they must.” Has anyone noticed any similar phenomena lately, in case Glenn wants to do a sequel? There must be something….

Handsome is as handsome does (Acid Test, thanks to Cannonfire)
Once upon a time I was filled with sick horror at the thought of a McCain Presidency. Now? Not so much. He hasn’t changed.  He does have a new running mate, but she doesn’t scare me.  After Dubya, it feels petty to pretend that inexperience is some kind of showstopper.  What’s changed for me is the growing sick horror with which I view an Obama Presidency. Obama’s hope-and-change talk in the primaries turned into a vote for telco immunity. The all-together-now speeches came from a bus that ran over women, blacks…, gays, and anyone who cares about civil liberties.  The way he’s aided and abetted sexism to grab the nomination has been despicable…

I think Obama could do more damage to the country than McCain. People pretty much know what McCain stands for and whether they’re for it or against it. Good-looking governors make it a warmer ticket, but don’t change the fundamental equation. Obama, on the other hand, does one thing, says another, and enough people are so desperate to believe in him that they lie to themselves so that they can keep doing it… Based on what he’s done rather than what he’s said, he’s a Republican. Maybe Republican-lite, but that’s not the important part. What scares me is the large majority who, a year ago, finally understood that they don’t want that crap.  But he can make them think they do. McCain can’t. That’s why I think Obama may be a bigger disaster for the country than McCain.