Must see video: Mashup of Downfall with the McCain-Palin campaign

The New York Times had a great article on Sunday about people using footage from the German film Downfall to create all sorts of mashups and confabulations. . .

This YouTube video mashes up the doomed McPalin team with our long-vanquished enemy, Der Fuhrer. The writing is strong, and funny. . .


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John McCain: Blowin' In The Wind

Senator John McCain, whose campaign has become riddled with finger-pointing and back-biting, devastating leaks, increasingly glum news from the pollsters, and rifts with Sarah Palin, said he "trusted his senses," which told him the opinion polls were wrong.

Yesterday on NBC's Meet The Press McCain said: “Those polls have consistently shown me much farther behind than we actually are.”




“We’re doing fine. We have closed [the gap] in the last week. We continue to close this next week. You’re going to be up very, very late on election night.”

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Painting of soon-to-be former Senator Barack Obama

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Keeping hockey mom/pit bull Sarah Palin presentable: Clothes: $150K; Hair: $36K; Make-up: $18K

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According to an article by Michael Luo in today's New York Times, the highest paid person on John McCain's campaign staff in October is Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis, Mark Salter, Charlie Black, Jill Hazelbaker, Amy Strozzi, Sarah Palin's make-up artist.

Yes, it costs money to put lipstick on a pitbull! Amy Strozzi, the Emmy Award [for So You Think You Can Dance?] winning makeup artist, was paid $22,800 in October.

Managing that famous head of hair isn't cheap either: Angela Lew was paid $10,400 as a communications consultant in October. Ms. Lew works out of the Hair Grove in Westwood Village, the very same place Cindy McCain gets her hair "done." That makes Ms. Lew the 4th highest paid person on the campaign.

Make-up artist Strozzi and hair stylist Lew were also paid around $22,000 total in September (for lipstick application "communications consulting," and hair-combing "GOTV" consulting).

The tally so far to keep ah-shucks hockey mom Governor Sarah Palin presentable:

Threads, shoes, accessories: $150,000
Hair: $36,000
Makeup: $18,000
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A YouTube compilation of John McCain's fidgets, eye bulging, tongue flicking, grimacing, and eye rolling from last night's debate

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Presidential Debate Three: Obama edges out McCain, but just barely

"I love you, man." "I love you too." Click to enlarge.

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Our verdict on the third Presidential debate?: Obama edged out McCain, but just barely. . .exactly what he needed to do.

"You didn't tell the American people the truth," Senator John McCain charged. McCain delivered his best debate performance to date. However, his face told the tale. He was blinking at an alarming rate, mugging, and flashing a smile that bordered on a grimace, or even a rictus [1]. At times he seemed to be involuntarily mugging like The Joker.

As always, cool, cerebral, charming, unflappable, and surging ahead in the polls, Obama expertly parried each thrust, and, at times, lobbed a few Molotov cocktails of his own, all the while appearing absolutely Presidential. At the end of the debate, there was little question of who the voters would want to lead America until 2013.

Obama held fire, wisely. Ahead now in every single poll, and in some by 14 points, there was no reason to jump on the ledge in any issue. Obama performed admirably. . .probably his coolest performance in all three debates. But he is on top: he had nothing to win and everything to lose. And he expertly worked that angle. McCain offered him a chance to decimate his running mate Sarah Palin and Obama held back. What could he possibly gain from attacking the wildly popular Palin? Obama effectively diffused the Obama-Palin campaign's unending attempts to link him as some sort of acolyte of college professor and former Weather Underground mastermind William Ayers. A.C.O.R.N. was also mentioned repeatedly by McCain and Obama--rightfully--basically brushed off the association, leaving McCain pounding sand.

Arguably, the key exchange of the debate was when the frustrated McCain finally said in a clearly scripted remark, "Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago."

Obama fired back and dismissed McCain's claim of political independence from The Administration:

"If I've occasionally mistaken your policies for George Bush's policies, it's because on the core economic issues that matter to the American people - on tax policy, on energy policy, on spending priorities - you have been a vigorous supporter of President Bush," he said.

Senator McCain passed up the chance to say his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, was qualified to become President (and Obama, also wisely, didn't touch it). McCain did praise her performance as governor and expressed admiration for her work on behalf of special needs children (which according to Alaskans is not a given at all).

McCain referred repeatedly to a voter, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, Ohio Obama had an exchange with. They both directly spoke to "Joe" several times, and in the end, it went nowhere.

McCain's most critical debate mistake was seeming to dismiss the mother's health exception on the abortion issue. "I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception," Obama clearly stated.

McCain sarcastically paid tribute to "the eloquence of Senator Obama. He's (for) health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything." "mother's health," he seemed to be saying, "...who cares?" And with that statement, Senator McCain lost virtually every potential swing vote from pro-choice voters.
McCain tried to raise the issue of public financing, but was effortlessly slapped down by Obama. Yes, Obama did go back on his pledge to consult with McCain and hopefully use only public financing in the campaign. While McCain opted for public financing, any possible ethical or moral advantage has been utterly neutralized by the RNC with its massive war chest relentlessly--and indirectly--pumping gushers of money into the McCain campaign.

With only a couple of exceptions, the Presidential campaign is now being waged in battleground states that were solidly Republican in 2004 - states like Virginia, Colorado, and Iowa - and in most of them, Obama holds significant leads in the polls. In the end, this debate changes nothing. It's on to November 4th!

[1] A gaping grimace: "his mouth gaping in a kind of rictus of startled alarm" (Richard Adams). We often think of the rictus as a death-grin.
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Was Matt Drudge race-baiting yesterday?

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Something on The Drudge Report yesterday struck me as playing the race card. Matt Drudge posted a link to a Reuters article on Yahoo News titled "Obama goes door-to-door to drum up votes in Ohio." The Reuters article used this photograph from the Associated Press:




The Drudge Report, however, used the same title for their teaser, but included an entirely different photograph:



Isn't this playing the race card? I guess, they could have put a subtitle "Obama molests Blonde Norwegian-American soccer mom." but I may just be a little suspicious after the all the race baiting we saw over the weekend in the Palin-McCain campaign.
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Palin-McCain campaign wheeled into the I.C.U.

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

What a week for the John McCain-Sarah Palin Presidential juggernaut! Video clips of their rallies show crowds screaming “treason!” or “terrorist!” at the mention of Mr Obama's name, and at times even darker imprecations like “kill him!” and “off with his head!"

As we wrote earlier, McCain has been forced to appeal for calm, responding to boos from a crowd on Friday: “I have to tell you he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president.” He later snatched the microphone later from a woman who suggested Senator Obama was an Arab.

This past weekend, civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis said the atmosphere at Republican rallies was similar to those of George Wallace, the segregationist presidential candidate. “Senator McCain and Governor Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division.”

At a weekend campaign event in Iowa, McCain was forced to repudiate a pastor who introduced McCain saying that millions of foreigners were praying to “Hindu, Buddha, Allah — that his opponent wins”.

Most Republican insiders and even the rank and file openly admit the McCain-Palin campaign has been desperately adrift, flailing against the economic storms, farcically suspending the campaign to fix the economic problems facing the nation, and having to carry the increasingly heavy baggage of Governor Palin. An Alaskan legislative commission on Friday concluded she had "abused her powers as Alaska Governor by trying to orchestrate the sacking of a state trooper who was her former brother-in-law." Sarah Palin's rallies have generated ugly racial sound clips and both she and McCain appear unable to control their supporters.

In short, it's about time to break out the oxygen and put this campaign in the I.C.U.

Time to pull the draw sheet over the patient?—click to enlarge

Over the weekend, in between trying to seem like a decent person (and possibly rescue some good will for when he trudges back to the Senate in defeat) at his increasingly hate- and invective-filled rallies, John McCain huddled with advisors, struggling to formulate an economic plan that won't be laughed off the stage at this week's debates. We'll see the fruits of those discussions in just a couple of days.

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Maverick Senator John Sidney McCain

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One more dull debate, with McCain edging Obama?

By Pablo Fanque

All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The two candidates debated last night in Nashville, and predictably clashed on the economy, taxes, the economic bailout, and the wars in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. We heard very little we hadn't heard before.

John McCain needed a bump from this debate to raise his standings and give him a shot in what appears to be an electoral college lock by Obama. He probably will not get that bump. He did however, mostly redeem himself from his earlier debate performance with a relaxed, folksy performance, "my friends." He was short on substance and never seriously went on the attack. Not completely unexpectedly, there were a couple of strange moments: when answering Tom Brokaw's question about who he would appoint Treasury Secretary, he answered "Not you Tom!" and at one point he vaguely gestured toward Barack Obama and called him "that one." McCain did not bring up any of the mud-slinging "character" issues his partner in crime, Sarah Palin has been hammering away at in rallies recently.

For his part, Obama provided more specifics, and consistently linked McCain with George W. Bush. In a dust-up on foreign policy, Obama hammered away at McCain's steadiness. "This is a guy who sang bomb, bomb, bomb Iran, who called for the annihilation of North Korea—that I don't think is an example of speaking softly." Obama, however, once again appeared stiff and detached. The man just doesn't seem to be able to loosen up on stage, and while he is a great orator, his skills in retail politics are lacking. He never quite connects in these debates the way he seems to when he is alone in the spotlight.

If the debate had a winner, it may have been John McCain. While Obama once again appeared Presidential, McCain was able to connect with the audience in a more folksy way, reminiscent of the old John McCain that people loved. Unfortunately for John McCain, the old John McCain rarely makes an appearance these days, ceding stage time to the George Bush-lapdog McCain.

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John McPenguin video

John McCain morphs into a penguin.

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Vice Presidential debate: A net win for Biden, and a resurrection for Sarah Palin

By Pablo Fanque,

All This Is That National Affairs Editor

The Senator and Governor clashed in last night's debate on energy, drilling in Alaska, global warming, the wars in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, income taxes, The Failed Presidency (although they both took shots at 43 and Dick Cheney), corporate tax breaks and a number of other issues. They agreed on Israel (they're our peace-loving buddies) and same sex marriage (neither of them support it...the idiots).

Sarah Palin made a few minor mistakes, mispronounced the Afghanistan commander's name, and ignored many questions, but she absolutely outperformed expectations. It was like this was hardly the same woman we saw fumbling questions as harmless as what magazines she read in her Katy Couric interview.

Biden was clearly in better command of the facts and figures. He was less irritating, more charming, and yes, Presidential.

Palin brought up Alaska, her mayorship over and over, drilling and energy probably too often. She used the word "Maverick" about McCain and herself at least ten times during the debate. Finally, Biden explained at the end, how they weren't really mavericks at all on the issues that mattered, but were really just parading around in Maverick costumes.

Biden did not go over his time limits, did not bully or intimidate her, and made no verbal gaffes or infelicities. He was prime-time Smilin Joe, courtly, respectful and engaging. Unlike John McCain in the last debate, he often looked at the Governor and smiled (Palin to be fair also looked at him; she also mugged for the camera and winked). Biden was acidic in his excoriation of McCain's position on the Iraq war, and called him the "odd man out" for his refusal to accept a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Joe was good.

Sarah Palin, apparently at the urging of McCain officials, pronounced Nuclear Nukuler numerous times. She dropped the G from almost every gerund, and often used folksy vernacular like "betcha" instead of bet you, and even dog-gone-it.

They were mostly very civil, and spent their time attacking the other guy's Presidential candidate. Palin said Obama had voted to raise taxes 94 times. Biden's rebuttal disagreed with that number and trumped it: "by the same reckoning," he said, McCain voted "477 times to raise taxes."

I don't think The Governor changed anyone's mind. Biden may have changed a few. For either side, there was no net harm. With McCain-Palin slipping steadily in the polls, this can only mean real fireworks for next week's town hall Presidential debate at Belmont College in Nashville, and the October 15th domestic debate.

Finally, for all the talk about Gwen Ifull being a partisan and in the OPbama camp, she performed masterfully, treated each candidate very well, and did not lob any bombs Palin's way she wasn't tossing at Biden too. Unfortunately she never lobbed the gotcha bomb at Palin. I wonder if she felt constrained after all the controversy over her book and politics.

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Governor Sarah Palin, naked and verbatim

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Perhaps the choicest quote, among many, from Governor Palin's interview with Katy Couric:

Q. “ You've cited Alaska's proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?”

A: “That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land--boundary that we have with-- Canada. …Well, it certainly does because our-- our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They're in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia-- … We have trade missions back and forth.

We-- we do-- it's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his ugly head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where-- where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is-- from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to-- to our state.”
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Photos from The Sarah Palin protest in Anchorage

Contrary to what you may have heard, Sarah Palin is not universally worshipped in Alaska, or Anchorage, or Wasilla. Here are some photographs from a massive--by Alaska standards--protest in Anchorage.

It isn't the largest protest ever (as the organizers claim)...that honor goes to the native Americans who held a protest a few years ago. . .but it does come in second, and as you can see from the photos, The Governor is hardly universally worshipped.


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Painting: our flag was still there, despite the machinations of the false patriots

click to enlarge old glory

Yeah, it's a little tattered around the edges after the economic upheavals of the last year, and particularly the last weeks; it's become a little stained with Senator's McCain's prevarications and delusions, and with his incessant need to wave the flag constantly, like Betsy Ross sewed it just for him; and The President himself who has poked a few holes in it, but thankfully has only 112 days left to besmirch it. . .as everyone of those rascals, miscreants, scallywags, enemies of the state, and false patriots says whenever they're about to stop jabbering. . ."God Bless America."
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An Apocalypse Now ad for Palin-McCain

click the Apocalypse Now ad to enlarge

I am offering this song free to the G.O.P., to go along with their apocalypse now ad.

[to the tune of my old boy scout song, can't get to heaven]

Oh you can't get to heaven
(Oh you can't get to heaven)
In Barack Obama's car
(In Barack Obama's car)
Because Obama's car
(Because Obama's car)
Can't go that far
(Can't go that far)

Oh you can't get to heaven
In Barack Obama's car
Because Obama's car
Can't go that far
I ain't a going to grieve
My Lord no more.
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Candidate Sarah Palin in the 1984 Miss Alaska contest, swimsuit division

Sarah Heath, who would later become Governor Palin, appears in the swimsuit portion of the 1984 Miss Alaska competition. Apparently there is also footage of her playing flute in the talent competition. We'll let you know when we find it. . .

Obama to McCain: You were wrong! The best video moment of the first Presidential Debate

"You talk about the surge. The war started in 2003, and at the time when the war started, you said it was going to be quick and easy. You said we knew where the weapons of mass destruction were. You were wrong. You said that we were going to be greeted as liberators. You were wrong. You said that there was no history of violence between Shia and Sunni. And you were wrong. " Barack Obama to John McCain, September 26, 2008

"We've spent over $600 billion so far, soon to be $1 trillion. We have lost over 4,000 lives. We have seen 30,000 wounded, and most importantly, from a strategic national security perspective, al-Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001. We took our eye off the ball. " Barack Obama to John McCain, September 26, 2008
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Head of Skate: The Disney Sarah Palin movie

Thanks to Tony Ravo for this excellent link! Click here to watch Head of Skate.
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Stalemate: John McCain rushes back to Washington in a flurry of activity only to witness (and possible create) a stalemate

After all the huffing and puffing about John McCain charging in to rescue the economy. . .nothing happened today. . .pfffffft! They may try to blame the Democratic Party, but in the end, it seems to be the Republicans that queered the deal. . .at least for now.

As late as Tuesday, Senator John McCain hadn't even read the administration's plan! WTF! Hey, we understand. . .it's only been a week or so, and after all, the plan the administration submitted was 2 1/2 pages long! The Senator is a busy man.
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