All This Is That reheated: McCain's Dirty Secret--> Holy S**t! The October surprise? It Depends®

Reprinted from the Sept. 19th, 2008 All This Is That

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs editor
Washington, D.C. 9-18-2008 12:15 AM EDT

No one quite expected this October surprise, if it comes to that. All This Is That received a tip over the weekend from a G.O.P. insider that John McCain is incontinent and wears adult diapers around the clock.

I jumped onto the story Sunday, after Jack Brummet called from the All This Is That offices. The first call I made was to sources in the Democratic Party. Interestingly, they wouldn't touch the story. The first two people I called told me to drop it. "Pablo, this story is going nowhere. This is just some crap a blogger cooked up in San Francisco."

My next call was to a Democrat I knew would never lie. She may not tell me the truth, but she would never lie about the facts. "Look, just drop it," she said. "We can't even come within 50 miles of this story. Yeah. I've heard some stuff. But there is no way we're going to touch this story. We have nothing to gain and everything to lose. If it comes out, fine. But no way is it coming out of here."

"How so?," I asked. "Look, Pablo. . .the second this story comes out, the McCain campaign will tie it to the P.O.W. years. This malady, this incontinence, will be attributed to his years in the prison camp. It will become a net positive—another hero's scars—and we will be skewered for playing the politics of personal destruction. And the McCain campaign will milk the P.O.W. angle for another month. I did hear some Dem P.A.C. has been working this, and they have photographic evidence, and someone willing to talk."

I next called a Republican friend who works for the R.N.C. "How high are you, Pablo? The Democrats are putting their heads in the sand on this one. They'll bide their time in hopes the story emerges elsewhere. They're way more spooked than we are on this one." "But why has nothing been mentioned in the press? Or the blogs and websites, even?" I asked. "You thought the John Edwards story was bottled up? No one wants to make the first move! Yuk."

The story slowly percolates, and it may be only a matter of time before it hits the mainstream media. There are rumors at least one tabloid has enough evidence—flimsy and otherwise—to break the story in the next week.

[editor's note: The story never broke, at least as of three days before the November 4th election. Was there not enough evidence, or did the Democrats show mercy by not throwing John McCain under the brown bus? We may never know. All This Is That Editors]
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Who do you love? A comparison of John McCain hugs with President Bush and Governor Palin.

No daylight between 'em. A hearty embrace, where Senator McCain even leans his head on The President's shoulder.



Best Friends Forever? Hardly. A most awkward embrace between the Senator and the Governor, who have now almost erupted into open warfare.
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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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Keeping hockey mom/pit bull Sarah Palin presentable: Clothes: $150K; Hair: $36K; Make-up: $18K

click the gov to enlarge

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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When pigs fly: the Salt Lake City Tribune endorses Obama!

Along with other 'papers that endorsed George W. Bush in the past, the Salt Lake Tribune has endorsed Barack Obama for President. They join the ranks of the former Bush endorsing Seattle Times, The Denver Post, Austin Statesman American, Houston Chronicle, the South Carolina State, and The Chicago Tribune (who have NEVER endorsed a Democrat in their 160 years).

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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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Video: John McCain booed for calling Barack Obama decent and attempting to reign in his rabid followers

John McCain was booed yesterday for calling Barack Obama a decent man (in fairness, the booing was mostly against Obama), asking for respect for him at one of his town hall meetings. One man said he was "scared of Obama" and McCain replied the was a decent man who "you should not be scared of."

A woman said she can't trust Obama and McCain shook his head yes. She went on to say "he's an Arab." McCain vigorously shook his head no and took the microphone away from her and began explaining no, "No, Ma'am, he's decent family man and citizen I just happen to have disagreements with..."

John McCain lit this fire and is now distressed to see the fire spread out of control. He needs to slap a muzzle on his lipsticked pit bull Sarah Palin. It was refreshing to see a distressed John McCain show a little bit of what he had when some of thought he might change America.

Reign in the hate, Senator McCain. You have 24 days to walk away from this election with your head held high. We all know something is wrong when even Karl Rove says you have crossed the line. . .


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The (not) Sarah Palin love doll

On sale now. . .at Topco Sales.

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John McPenguin video

John McCain morphs into a penguin.

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McPalin finally play the race card/Governor Palin takes to lying like a pig to slop

Governor Palin surrounded by supporters at a Saturday rally

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

On three separate occasions Saturday (and likely more by now), Sarah Palin played the race card, saying "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America." He is "palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

Her reference to Obama's relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, is an out and out lie; not her usual clueless blatherings, but a willfully confected prevarication. They were on some boards in Chacago together, but no one recalls them being "pals." Obama was still a kid when the Wearthermen threw their last bombs, and has denounced their actions on numerous occasions. By saying he is "not like us" she not so subtly suggests the Hawaii-born Obama with a Nigerian father is not really an American at all. Of course, John McCain wasn't even born in the United States. But never mind that.

Playing the race card in front of her almost exclusively white audiences is a clear demonstration of just how desperate the McPalin campaign has become. Unfortunately, even in a tight race, character assassination takes more than four weeks. Perhaps it is time for some more interviews with the Governor.

Palin's debate performance, as pathetic as it was, has clearly emboldened the campaign. This is not particularly shocking when you recall Senator McCain's track record on racial matters: he opposed a National Holiday to honor Martin Luther King, and later refused to call for for the removal of a Confederate flag from South Carolina's Capitol.
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Flip-flopping between the poles of fear

Isn't there a point where everything about Sarah Palin as Vice-President turns and pivots? Isn't there a moment, goshdarnit, when it all topples over and "funny but a little scary" becomes "sort of funny and really scary" ? Did it already happen and we didn't even notice, or are we just flip-flopping between the poles of fear?
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Doggoneit! Aden Nak's debate flow chart + bonus photo of Sarah Winker Palin

Doggoneit! It looks like Aden Nak (addennak.com) has captured Sarah Palin's debate flow perfectly. He posted this a couple of hours after the debate last night.

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Governor Sarah Palin, naked and verbatim

click to enlarge

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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Carbou! Sarah Palin photographed with a caribou she dropped

click the huntress to enlarge

Vice President candidate Governor Sarah Palin is shown here photographed with a Caribou she bagged. I believe that is one of her children in the photo as well--it's either Twelvegauge or Ricochet.


I can't actually find any information on whether this photo is real or not. There are other photos of her with a dead moose, so I am presming this one is probably kosher. If not, hey, Sarah!, sue us!


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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. . .

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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