The Sarah Palin Debate Chart - who knew it was so accurate!

This particular blog article goes back to the VP debate. Just came across it today. Loved the chart!

Sarah Palin - a brutally honest blog article


The truth is that Palin didn’t answer any questions she didn’t want to tonight, and she said she’d do exactly that at the start of the debate. She had a hand full of index cards and a brain full of buzz words, and it was her job to say them all in front of the camera. Actually, it was her job to say them while looking at Joe Biden for five seconds, then looking at the camera for five seconds, and then looking back at Biden to start over again. It was like she was on a timer. One of the many things she’d probably been coached on after the whole flap about McCain not looking Obama in the eyes.

I choose to leave you (at 4:30 in the morning) with the following flow chart. Doubtless, it will grow prettier and more robust over time.

Palin's Makeup Artist making big bucks!

Again....Sarah Palin is not spending like your typical "Hockey mom" or "Average six-pack Joe". She has got the resources of the Republican National Committee which will obviously spend a lot of money to keep Palin looking good for the camera. I thought the Republicans were calling Obama a celebrity; looks like Palin is the true celebrity with the "Big Daddy" bucks.

Palin's makeup stylist is highest paid staffer on McCain's campaign

Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”

In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October. Ms. Lew’s address listed in F.E.C. records traces to an Angela M. Lew in Thousands Oaks, Calif., which matches with a license issued by the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. The board said Ms. Lew works at a salon called Hair Grove in Westlake Village, Calif.

W Magazine’s blog reported earlier this month that “the Guv has been traveling with a hairstylist named Angela, who usually works out of a salon called the Hair Grove,” and that she was directed to the salon by none other than Cindy McCain, whose own hair stylist, Piper, works at the Hair Grove as well.

The campaign’s payment on Oct. 10 to Ms. Strozzi made her the single highest-paid individual in the campaign for that two week period. (There were more than two-dozen companies that got larger payments than Ms. Strozzi). She easily beat out Mr. Scheunemann, who received $12,500 in the first half of October, and Ms. Wallace, who got $12,000. Ms. Lew was the fourth highest paid person in the campaign during that span.

In September, Ms. Strozzi, who was first identified by the Washington Post this week as Ms. Palin’s makeup artist, was also paid $13,200 for “communications consulting.” But several individuals were paid more by the McCain campaign that month, including Mike DuHaime, the political director, who received $25,000 for “Gotv Consulting,” and Mark Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s senior advisers, who got $13,224 in salary.

Ms. Lew collected $8,825 in September for what the campaign labeled in its report as “GOTV Consulting.”

There has been much attention this week, of course, on the $150,000 Republican National Committee spent outfitting Ms. Palin in September at high-end department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, as well as for makeup services.

The campaign finance reports filed on Thursday night, which showed the McCain campaign and the R.N.C. had about $84 million left in the bank on Oct. 15, did not immediately appear to show any similar payments in the first half of October.

John McCain's Republican supporters "a special place in hell"

During the run for the Presidential campaign in 2000 against George Bush; McCain faced unrelenting malicious and false rumors. McCain had said after the primary loss in South Carolina, "I believe that there is a special place in hell for people like those"

A Special Place in Hell; an article with some great insight by Will Samson.

This is the problem with hate - it cannot be contained. It breeds after its own kind. To quote Dr. King, "hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." Hate can only generate more hate and it will eventually consume the hater.

I believe the John McCain is, even now, deeply regretting the tenor of this campaign, a tone he has allowed and encouraged. I wonder if the 2000 South Carolina loss pops into his conscious mind more than he wishes. And, I wonder if he believes that, win or lose, he will have made the world a more volatile, violent and dangerous place to live, a fact that seems increasingly obvious given the tone of his own supporters.

There appears to be no low moral ground for the supporters of John McCain. Welcome to hell.

Clerk regrets distributing 'black Hitler' letters

Associated Press
9:13 AM CDT, October 24, 2008

FRANKLIN, Ind. - A Republican county election clerk said Friday she has apologized to two employees for distributing copies of Internet blog posting referring to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama as a "young, black Adolf Hitler."

The employees, who had voted for Obama in Indiana's Democratic primary, discovered the printouts at their desks after returning from Labor Day weekend, sheriff's Deputy Doug Cox said in a police report made public this week. One of the workers complained, and surveillance video showed Johnson County Clerk Jill Jackson placing an item on one worker's desk at 5:27 p.m. on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, Cox said.

"She admitted to being responsible for the letter, but only did it as a joke," Cox said. Jackson told Cox she had intended to speak with the workers upon returning to work but forgot.

However, she told The Associated Press on Friday that she did not intend it as a joke but was merely passing along to the workers an item that already was circulating around in the office, much like a fundraising order form or an interesting newspaper article.

"It was no more than an Internet blog that was circulating around the office. There was no motive, no intent," Jackson said, adding that she has apologized to both employees. "I never intended to offend anyone."

The Daily Journal of Franklin first reported the item's contents on its Web site Thursday.

Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said Jackson did not violate any laws. One of the employees also filed a complaint with County Coordinator Kathleen Hash, who said Thursday she didn't know the status or disposition of the complaint.

Officials from both parties called the incident unsettling.

"I don't find anything funny about Adolf Hitler," said Jonathan Swain, Indiana campaign spokesman for Obama.

Doug Lechner, Republican Party chairman in the county just south of Indianapolis, said the incident was unacceptable and taints Jackson's ability to appear unbiased in administering this year's election. County clerks are elected officials responsible for training poll workers, providing all voters an opportunity to cast their ballot without influence, and overseeing vote counts.

"She's in a sensitive position and she has to give all the appearance of fairness," Lechner said.

The item does not mention Obama by name but refers to events in his life that make clear Obama is the target.

The unsigned posting urges readers to send it to everyone they know.

"The U.S. citizens are just not ready to give up their country to this young, black 'Adolf Hitler' with a smile, poor direction and absolutely no experience!" it said.

Indiana this year is considered a battleground state, and Obama campaigned there Thursday, drawing an estimated 35,000 people to a rally in downtown Indianapolis.

Johnson County is heavily Republican, with nearly three-quarters of the votes cast in the 2004 presidential election going to President Bush.

Why Obama is Winning.

This is an excellent article describing Obama; his decisions and why they are made. I've included some highlights but click the link for the full article.

Why Obama is winning the election race.

General David Petraeus deployed overwhelming force when he briefed Barack Obama and two other Senators in Baghdad last July. He knew Obama favored a 16-month timetable for the withdrawal of most U.S. troops from Iraq, and he wanted to make the strongest possible case against it. And so, after he had presented an array of maps and charts and PowerPoint slides describing the current situation on the ground in great detail, Petraeus closed with a vigorous plea for "maximum flexibility" going forward.

Obama had a choice at that moment. He could thank Petraeus for the briefing and promise to take his views "under advisement." Or he could tell Petraeus what he really thought, a potentially contentious course of action — especially with a general not used to being confronted. Obama chose to speak his mind. "You know, if I were in your shoes, I would be making the exact same argument," he began. "Your job is to succeed in Iraq on as favorable terms as we can get. But my job as a potential Commander in Chief is to view your counsel and interests through the prism of our overall national security." Obama talked about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, the financial costs of the occupation of Iraq, the stress it was putting on the military.

Barack Obama has prospered in this presidential campaign because of the steadiness of his temperament and the judicious quality of his decision-making. They are his best-known qualities.

And at the crucial moment of the campaign — the astonishing onset of the financial crisis — it was Obama's gut steadiness that won the public's trust, and quite possibly the election. On the afternoon when McCain suspended his campaign, threatened to scuttle the Sept. 26 debate and hopped a plane back to Washington to try to resolve the crisis, Obama was in Florida doing debate prep with his top advisers. When he was told about McCain's maneuvers, Obama's first reaction — according to an aide — was, "You gotta be kidding. I'm going to debate. A President has to be able to do more than one thing at a time." But there was a storm brewing among Obama's supporters in Congress and the Beltway establishment. "My BlackBerry was exploding," said an Obama aide. "They were saying we had to suspend. McCain was going to look more like a statesman, above the fray."

"I didn't believe it," Obama told me. "I have to tell you, one of the benefits of running this 22-month gauntlet is that ... you start realizing that what seems important or clever or in need of some dramatic moment, a lot of times just needs reflection and care. And I think that was an example of where my style at least worked." Obama realized that he and McCain could be little more than creative bystanders — and one prominent Republican told me that McCain was "the least creative person in the room at the President's White House meeting. He simply had no ideas. He didn't even have any good questions." Obama had questions for the Treasury Secretary and the Fed chairman, but he was under no illusions: he didn't have the power to influence the final outcome, so it was best to stay calm and not oversell his role. It was an easy call, his natural bias. But, Obama acknowledged, "There are going to be some times where ... I won't have the luxury of thinking through all the angles."

If he wins, however, there will be a different challenge. He will have to return, full force, to the inspiration business. The public will have to be mobilized to face the fearsome new economic realities. He will also have to deliver bad news, to transform crises into "teachable moments." He will have to effect a major change in our political life: to get the public and the media to think about long-term solutions rather than short-term balms. Obama has given some strong indications that he will be able to do this, having remained levelheaded through a season of political insanity.

His has been a remarkable campaign, as smoothly run as any I've seen in nine presidential cycles. Even more remarkable, Obama has made race — that perennial, gaping American wound — an afterthought. He has done this by introducing a quality to American politics that we haven't seen in quite some time: maturity. He is undoubtedly as ego-driven as everyone else seeking the highest office — perhaps more so, given his race, his name and his lack of experience. But he has not been childishly ego-maniacal, in contrast to our recent baby-boomer Presidents — or petulant, in contrast to his opponent. He does not seem needy. He seems a grown-up, in a nation that badly needs some adult supervision.

New York Times endorsment for Obama

Endorsement for Obama from New York Times

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Times endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for U.S. president on Thursday, saying he had "met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change."

The Times posted its endorsement on its Internet site on Thursday evening and was to publish it in Friday editions of the newspaper.

Earlier this year, the newspaper endorsed New York Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, but it said Obama had long ago erased the reservations that led it to make that decision.

"He has drawn in legions of new voters with powerful messages of hope and possibility and calls for shared sacrifice and social responsibility," the Times said. "He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation's problems."

The newspaper declared that the choice between Obama and Republican John McCain was easy.

"Mr. McCain, whom we chose as the best Republican nominee in the primaries, has spent the last coins of his reputation for principle and sound judgment to placate the limitless demands and narrow vision of the far-right wing," it said.

The endorsement was not unexpected. The Times endorsed Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.

According to Editor & Publisher magazine, Obama is outpacing McCain in newspaper endorsements by about three to one, even winning the nod of the Chicago Tribune, the first time it has endorsed a Democrat for president.

However such endorsements are considered to have little influence on voters, especially in presidential races.

(Reporting by Alan Elsner; editing by Mohammad Zargham)