Why Are The Polls So Close ?

Article By: Bob Cesca

Today's edition of Morning Joe on MSNBC was especially ridiculous. And Pat Buchanan wasn't even there, which meant that everyone else had to overcompensate to make up for the conspicuous absence of awful.

Back story: Senator Obama released a two-minute commercial about the economic crisis -- also known as "the worst financial crisis in a century," according Alan Greenspan and Mort Zuckerman. It's a smart, effective ad that serves two purposes: it outlines what Obama plans to do about the crisis, and it continues to hammer home Senator Obama as a tough yet presidential would-be chief executive and steward of the economy.

Yet despite the seriousness of this crisis, Joe Scarborough (along with Wee Willie Geist and Salon's Joan Walsh, oddly enough) mocked the ad for its lack of soundbytes and its abundance of specifics.

Lack. Of soundbytes.

Now there's an argument to be made in favor of short, pithy framing in politics, but this isn't a short, pithy crisis. It's a crisis that's nailing ordinary Americans quite literally in their own back yards. It's entirely symptomatic of 30 years of Republican deregulation and Reaganomics. 30 years of free market wingnut crapola culminating in something close to the Great Depression, with Senator McCain quoting Herbert Hoover dozens of times this year alone -- and, what? A two minute commercial is too long, Joe? Are you so basted in savory McCain barbecue sauce, Joe, that your candidate's cluelessness has, by some form of dry rub osmosis, infected your already shovel-shaped view of this global disaster?

Soundbytes and nonspecifics. Yessir. That's just what (and I repeat) the worst financial crisis in a century deserves. Soundbytes and nonspecifics like, "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." Heckuva job. Your candidate is a total doof when it comes to the economy, Joe. Admit it.

So then, with the addition of Newsweek's very serious Jon Meacham, the very serious conversation evolved into concern-trolling about the polls. Why, Scarborough wondered, is Senator Obama not way ahead of McCain in the polls? Why is the race so tight?

Hmm. I can't imagine why that is. It's not like Senator Obama's patriotism and character is being assassinated for three hours every morning on cable news -- six hours if we include the spasmodic howler monkeys on FOX & Friends. I can't imagine why the polls are so close when Joe Scarborough is helping his Republican allies to once again turn this critical national debate into another blind recitation of Lee Greenwood lyrics.

Why are the polls so close? Not only do around 25 percent of Americans watch FOX News Channel on a regular basis, but, from coast to coast, there are more than a thousand far-right talk radio stations occupied by shows that make Morning Joe sound like an Olbermann Special Comment. And 17 percent of Americans are glued to it at work and in their cars. Talkers like Hugh Hewitt, Sean Hannity, John Gibson, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, Bill Bennett and Glenn Beck broadcast on your public air around the clock. Non-stop. Unrelenting. Only interrupted by Accu-weather and traffic. Free to anyone with an AM radio.

I don't know if you've dared to listen to far-right talk radio lately, but I can assure you that they're not ignoring Senator Obama -- or his family. Put it this way: if you only got your news and opinions from talk radio, you'd probably believe that Senator Obama is some kind of foreign-born baby-killing Manchurian Candidate terrorist -- if not a sexist uppity black man who, if he loses in November, will incite race riots in every city.

Last night, Keith Olbermann reported that convicted Watergate burglar and radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy continues to insist that Senator Obama was born in Kenya and that his birth certificate is a forgery. Lies. Debunked months ago by numerous nonpartisan experts.

Sean Hannity continues to beat the Reverend Wright and William Ayers drums every chance he gets while making wild claims that Senator Obama is an anti-white bigot.

Alleged sex-tourist Rush Limbaugh, whose show is carried in almost every American city, is routinely accusing Senator Obama of infanticide and referring to him as a "little black man-child," clearly stopping short of blurting out the name "Sambo," thus indicating that the drugs seem to have left intact a shred of discretion in Limbaugh's otherwise melty cheese brain.

And that's just three of the more popular hosts out of hundreds more. There's Mike Gallagher, Lars Larson, Laura Ingraham, Monica Crowley, Mike Savage, Dennis Prager, Neil Boortz, Bill Hussein Cunningham -- the list goes on and on. Nothing is out of bounds. Devoid of shame and accountability. Inventing its own stories and spreading lies in soundbyte chunks easily passed along via listeners to non-listener friends and family.

We too-often overlook the influence of far-right talk radio given the overproduced, groomed-monkeys on far-right cable news shows. So radio talkers too often operate with impunity and a dangerous lack of watchdogging despite their market saturation -- their menacing ubiquity. Consequently, concern-trolls like Joe Scarborough and Jon Meacham can go on television and thump their chests -- questioning why-God-why have the Democrats only won three of the last ten presidential elections?! What's wrong with these foreign-sounding, smarty-pants Democrats who, as Meacham mentioned today, are incapable of "speaking American."

Could it be -- I don't know, just a hunch -- that the opinions of perhaps a third of all Americans are shaped by FOX News Channel, cable news shows like Morning Joe and, especially, far-right talk radio? Could it be that the lies and blind-patriotism of these far-right propagandists are painting an historic, brilliant, accomplished, patriotic presidential candidate as some kind of Bin Laden meets Farrakhan chimera? 24 hours a day? In every town in the Union? Distracting Americans from this economic crisis and skewing their priorities -- making pocketbook issues seem less important than bullshit lies. And political hacks still wonder why half of Americans vote against their financial interests every two years. Joe Scarborough still wonders out loud why Senator Obama isn't 20 points ahead in the polls.

Riddle me this, Joe. Given the ideological landscape of cable news, talk radio and the nefarious lie-based caricature therein of Obama as a black-power, fetus-crushing Muslim terrorist, why isn't John McCain 20 points ahead in polls?

WARRIOR TIME

OBAMA '08

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President Clinton Predicts

Big Win For Obama

(CNN) -- Former President Bill Clinton said Thursday he thinks that Barack Obama will win big in the upcoming presidential election.
"I predict that Sen. Obama will win and win handily," Clinton said when asked his opinion on the state of the race.
Obama smiled at Clinton's prediction, saying, "There you go, you can take it from the president of the United States. He knows a little something about politics."
The two men chatted with reporters in a photo-op at Clinton's Harlem office before sitting down for a private lunch.
"We're putting him to work," said Obama.
"I've agreed to do a substantial number of things, whatever I'm asked to do," Clinton said.
The image of the two men meeting comes as a relief to many Democrats who have been hoping to put to rest the "Clinton-Obama rift" storyline. Both sides agreed a face-to-face meeting with the former president would go a long way toward putting the contentious primary season behind them.
Hillary Clinton campaigned for Obama earlier in the week in Florida and will campaign in Ohio this weekend.
Obama's running mate, Joe Biden, spoke Thursday with first responders in Parma, Ohio.
He opened up the event by telling everyone he did not plan to talk politics.
"Let's pull together, let's say together. This is nothing to do with Democrats, Republicans -- it's about Americans," he said.
Obama and McCain also put aside politics Thursday to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The two appeared together at ground zero in New York City to lay roses at the 9/11 memorial and speak with first responders and family members of victims. They were joined by Cindy McCain and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Later Thursday, Obama and McCain will share the stage briefly as they appear back-to-back at the ServiceNation Presidential Candidates Forum at Columbia University in New York.
Meanwhile, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin headed home to Alaska after spending the week campaigning with McCain.
The pair drew a crowd of more than 20,000 in the sturdily Democratic county of Fairfax, Virginia, on Wednesday. That was their largest crowd to date.
After that event, Palin returned home so she could attend her son's deployment ceremony on Thursday. Track Palin enlisted in the U.S. army exactly one year ago. His brigade is going to Iraq. Watch more on Palin's return to Alaska »
Later Thursday, Palin will give her first television interview with a national media outlet since being named as McCain's running mate.
The Alaska governor will spend two days with ABC's Charlie Gibson. The interview will be part sit-down, part walk-and-talk at various locations in Alaska.
So far, Palin has taken no questions from reporters traveling with her on the campaign trail.
An issue that could come up in the interview is the controversy that emerged this week over her per diem charges as governor.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Palin had billed the state a per diem for 312 days she spent at home, and requested reimbursement for plane rides and hotel rooms for her husband and children, including a $707 room when her daughter accompanied her on a trip to New York to attend a Newsweek forum.
The paper noted that officials said the claims were justified under existing state regulations. The McCain campaign said that Palin had reduced yearly travel expenses by roughly 80 percent of the amount spent by predecessor Frank Murkowski.
Palin's spokeswoman Maria Comella said the governor's top priority was "creating accountability and transparency in government to root out waste and corruption."
"Gov. Palin is obviously expected to travel frequently around the state for community events and to meet with Alaskans. This is part of her job, and it's reasonable that her travel expenses, which were reduced dramatically from the previous administration, would be covered," Comella said in a statement.
Palin is expected to rejoin McCain on the trail early next week.

IT'S OBAMA-TIME !!!

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B4B Prediction

SARAH PALIN WILL STEP DOWN !

Greg Jones

On Sunday, following the McCain Camps announcement that Sarah Palin's teenage unmarried daughter was pregnant, I immediately questioned the reason for this revelation. Then it hit me. McCain/Palin will use this as a reason to give her the boot. It is absolutely amazing that McCain did such a weak job of vetting his V.P. choice which proves his incompetance and lack of judgement. On Sunday, immediately following the pregnancy declaration, McCain sent over 2 dozen staffers and lawyers to Alaska to finally initiate the vetting process. What a loser McCain is ! He vets his choice AFTER selecting her ! PATHETIC !

Now that all kind of Palin news is being revealed, combined with the vetting that will occur this week; our prediction is simply SARAH PALIN WILL GET THE BOOT !

Then this morning I saw this article which reflects my prediction. Guess I'm not the only one thinking this way. Here's a portion of the article:

By Andy Ostroy

And the Palin mess is getting uglier by the minute. The NY Times Tuesday reports that, in addition to Palin's daughter being five months pregnant, she's hired a private lawyer to defend her in her abuse-of-power investigation; was a member of a political party seeking Alaska's secession from the Union; and that her husband Todd was arrested 22 years ago for drunken driving. Jeez, the Republicans sure have a distorted view of "family values," huh? With McCain's temper, we can only imagine how much yelling and screaming must be going on behind the scenes right now.
But McCain likely has only himself to blame. Word on the street is that no one in his vice presidential selection committee but him wanted Palin. He wanted his pal Sen. Joe Lieberman, but hastily switched plans last-minute in a likely act of desperation following Obama and the Dems Denver blowout. His move, purely political to seduce Sen. Hillary Clinton's disaffected women supporters, hardly is a "country first" strategy. If McCain was/is so concerned about country, he wouldn't be pushing to put it in the hands of the very inexperienced Palin in the event something were to happen to him. He'd give us someone like Sen. Joe Biden, the Dems' VP nominee.

So what is McCain and the party to do? Don't be shocked if there's a surprise announcement early this week from Palin, something to the tune of:

It is with deep regret that I am withdrawing my name from consideration as the party's nominee for vice president of the United States of America. Given my daughter's pregnancy, the difficulty in raising a Down syndrome child, and the ongoing personal investigation in Alaska, I feel there are too many distractions right now that would not allow me to effectively fill my role as vice president, both over the next 2 months as Sen. John McCain's running mate, and after he is elected president. It is my duty therefore to step aside so that Sen. McCain and the party can replace me with someone who can and will be able to devote 100% of his or her time to this extremely important position. Americans deserve that. Thank you.

Deja vu all over again. Sarah Palin/Harriet Miers. The names are interchangeable. And just like Bush did in replacing Miers with Samuel Alito Jr., Grandpa John will quickly replace her with someone who'll really get conservatives excited. Someone like Gen. David Petraeus, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or, yes, even Lieberman. All in time for the RNC convention to remain a right-winger's dream event. But, while he'll be getting rid of one problem, he'll be creating another: the judgement issue.

Either way, he' a loser.
Have I mentioned how much fun I'm having? (end of article)

Time For Judgement...

Obama/Biden '08

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THANK YOU HILLARY !

OBAMA '08