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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 6:11 am Post subject: |
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This pretty much sums it up. There ain't gonna be a McCain upset, short of activating the Infinite Improbability Drive.
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Op-Ed Columnist
October Demise
By CHARLES M. BLOW
John the Contender and Sarah the Subverter limped into these last days hoping against hope. All else had failed, even McCain�s complete apostasy. Their flagging ticket had fallen in the polls, and they were preying for an upset for which there was no precedent.
According to a Gallup report released Monday, there have been only two upsets since 1952: Reagan vs. Carter in 1980 and Bush vs. Gore in 2000. Neither is particularly analogous to the current race.
In 1980, the candidates� one and only debate was a week before Election Day. Reagan won the debate, and that turned the election. This year, McCain was drubbed in all three presidential debates. In 2000, the lead in the polls flip-flopped constantly. Gore eked out a popular vote win, but didn�t win the Electoral College. This year, McCain hasn�t held the lead in the polls since mid-September. And Obama already has enough states leaning his way to handily win the Electoral College, plus he�s either tied or leading in the toss-up states.
So McCain�s final volley was to brand Barack Obama a socialist, assail his associations and rile up the rurals. For that to work, everything else would have to fall in McCain�s favor. To say that it hasn�t is a gross understatement.
Oct. 19: Colin Powell endorses Obama.
Oct. 20: Al Qaeda endorses McCain.
Oct. 22: Sarah Palin gets smacked down for dressing up. (You know it�s hard out here when you primp.)
Oct. 23: The candidates personally reach out to a campaign volunteer who claimed that a black man had carved a backward �B� on her face during a mugging to punish her for not supporting Obama. The volunteer later confesses to fabricating the story. Scars all around.
Oct. 24: $22,800 for makeup. Wow.
Oct. 25: McCain�s people begin to turn on Palin, making her sound like the title character of a bad movie: �Whack job,� �diva,� �gone rogue.�
Oct. 28: The Pew Center reports that Obama leads among early voters by a margin of 19 percent.
Oct. 29: Obama buys a chunk of prime-time and broadcasts a love-in to himself, then he has a late-night rally with his former grudge buddy Bill Clinton. It looks like a coronation. McCain responds on Larry King in a room that looks like the lobby of a funeral parlor.
Throughout October: The Republican Egghead Revolt: the party�s highbrows huff that the appeal of the Grand Old Party needs to be broader than the audience of the Grand Ole Opry. Many defect to Obama.
And there you have it � a calamity of missteps and misfortunes.
Of course, anything could happen. There are three days left. McCain could still win. And, a drunk man wearing a blindfold could get a puck past Marc-Andr� Fleury.
Yeah, unlikely. It�s a wrap. Fade to black. |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/opinion/01blow.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
At least other losers have bowed out with their dignity. I have never seen anything so self-degrading as the McCain-Palin campaign. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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Juror No. 4, where are you?
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Absent Stevens juror admits father didn't die
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Anchorage Daily News
(11/03/08 08:44:09)
WASHINGTON -- Juror No. 4 in Sen. Ted Stevens' federal corruption trial, otherwise known as Marian Hinnant, did not leave to attend her father's funeral in California, as she told the judge.
Instead, Hinnant had a plane ticket to see the Breeder's Cup at the Santa Anita race track and didn't want to miss it, she told the judge this morning, in what sounded like completely irrational and perhaps even delusional remarks.
"I just wanted to go to the Breeder's Cup," she told reporters after a hearing the judge held to find out why she left town and lost contact with him, forcing him to replace her as a juror just hours before the jury found Stevens guilty.
Hinnant also told reporters that she would have found the Alaska senator guilty had she remained on the jury.
"He was guilty, but these other guys are just as guilty," she said, referring to other members of Congress.
Her lawyer, federal public defender A.J. Kramer, tried to keep her from saying much in court, telling the judge only that "her state of mind was such that she had to go to California."
"She apologizes to the court. In fact, her father did not die," Kramer said. "The story about her father was just one that popped into her head."
But Hinnant cut in, and in a thick Kentucky drawl, gave a rambling, incoherent and baffling monologue about her former employers in the horseracing industry in Kentucky. She mentioned drugs, wiretaps and horseracing, but made little sense.
"I'm not the one who was selling the drugs, I'm not the one who was doing the drugs," she said.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan let her go, saying that he was going to "accept Mr. Kramer's representation that you were not able to (deliberate) and for reasons that were serious to you."
He added: "I'm convinced you were not able to deliberate."
Sullivan told her that she did not have to speak to the media, but she said she was willing to talk, and she did. Outside of the courthouse, a pack of about 10 reporters followed her to the nearby Metro stop, as did several of Stevens' attorneys. Kramer escorted her to the station and encouraged her not to say much, but Hinnant appeared not to be able to restrain herself.
Hinnant, 52, told reporters that she works at Avis car rental in Union Station in Washington D.C. She worked in horseracing for many years and simply wanted to see the race, since she already had a plane ticket to California. |
http://www.adn.com/news/politics/fbi/stevens/story/576884.html
This incident sort of epitomizes the election season. Boy, has it been strange. And some of the players have been certifiable, but no one locks them up. |
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Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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November 13, 2008
A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence
By RICHARD P�REZ-PE�A
It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent.
Who would say such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. �Turns out it was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,� Mr. Shuster said.
Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn�t exist. His blog does, but it�s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow � the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy � is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.
And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New Republic and The Los Angeles Times.
Now a pair of obscure filmmakers say they created Martin Eisenstadt to help them pitch a TV show based on the character. But under the circumstances, why should anyone believe a word they say?
�That�s a really good question,� one of the two, Eitan Gorlin, said with a laugh.
... |
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/arts/television/13hoax.html?em |
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superbloke
Joined: 24 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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Yay OBAMA!!!!
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www.saveusafund.com |
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