One week from today, this man will win the U.S. presidency by a landslide.

Fresh off of breaking the “story” that a McCain volunteer was “mutilated” (er, scratched) by a big, bad black man (er, herself, really), Drudge continues his decent into the absurd and the McCain campaign is again willing to join him in the nosedive down the rabbit hole.

Today’s false story of choice?  Drudge claims this:

2001 OBAMA: TRAGEDY THAT ‘REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH’ NOT PURSUED BY SUPREME COURT

The “headline” links to a YouTube video of a seven year old radio interview which, as was expected, reflects the complete opposite of the screeching headline.

Obama said “one of the, I think, the tragedies of the civil rights movement, was because the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change, and in some ways we still stuffer from that.”

The “tragedy” wasn’t that the Supreme Court did not, as Drudge screeches, pursue the “redistribution of wealth.” In fact, he states that the “tragedy” was that the civil rights movement, in seeking equalizing policies, focused too much on courts and not enough on political and community organizing.

In other words, the Drudge/McCain/Fox “News” hype of this story is as painfully desperate and transparently faux as a backwards “B” scratched into the face of a McCain volunteer by her own hand.

Obama Campaign Response:

“This is a fake news controversy drummed up by the all too common alliance of Fox News, the Drudge Report and John McCain, who apparently decided to close out his campaign with the same false, desperate attacks that have failed for months. In this seven year old interview, Senator Obama did not say that the courts should get into the business of redistributing wealth at all. Americans know that the real choice in this election is between four more years of Bush-McCain policies that redistribute billions to billionaires and big corporations and Barack Obama’s plan to help the middle class by giving tax relief to 95% of workers and companies that create new jobs here in America. That’s the change we need, and no amount of eleventh-hour distractions from the McCain campaign will change that.”

I can’t wait for this election to be over. Palin goes back to Alaska, McCain gets back to work in the Senate, and Obama/Biden lead our country into the new boundaryless world.

When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate at the Republican National Convention, I thought: well shit. I had been an Obama supporter before he even officially announced his candidacy and the selection worried me – at first.

Palin was refreshing. A woman. An evangelical. Beautiful. A Governor. Basically, she had it all, politically speaking.

And that is where John lost this campaign.

McCain made his entire campaign about experience. It was his message from the very beginning. America is in trouble and America needs someone with the experience of John McCain. A very good strategy IMHO. It won him the Republican nomination didn’t it?

But then the polls showed Obama way ahead of McCain early. And John, a good decent man, decided to put politics before policy and tapped Palin to be his Veep.

But Dan…Obama’s VP selection of Joe Biden was political too you hypocrite! It was political in some sense sure; Biden had the best foreign policy experience, most senate time, and most “Joe Six-Pack” likability. The stuff Obama seemed to be lacking. By admission, the Obama campaign has said they thought other choices would have coincided with the message of “change” and Washington reform that the campaign was all about better than Biden.

But here is the difference, no one has any doubt that Joe Biden could step in and be Commander In-Chief. While virtually everyone secretly believes Palin is not ready to step in as President. Even McCain probably watched that Katie Couric interview and said, “Sweet Mother of God.”

Palin provided the political spike the GOP hoped for. But now six weeks later, that interest has turned to insult. Palin seems to be hurting McCain, and she even seems to be distancing herself from McCain regarding her own political future.

The “Base” loves her. They pack stadiums to see her. This professional mother, a christian, is a hero to millions in the Religious Right. But there’s a simple fact in US politics that isn’t being discussed: No matter how powerful the Religious Right was or is, it can never, in and of itself, win a presidential election. The Religious Right could not even win the Republican Party’s primary election. If the Religious Right was as powerful as most people think it is, it would be Huckabee leading his party’s ticket, not McCain.

McCain probably never really had a fair shot in this election. None of the Republicans did. 20 of the past 28 years in the Oval Office have been controlled by Republicans. And more Americans think out country is on the wrong path than ever before. But McCain lost the campaign at that point, and alientated a lot of his Democratic supporters over his effective years as a Senator throughout this campaign.

After the last eight years, there’s a lot of cleaning up to do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, you have a very difficult job ahead of you.

The GOP is trying, instead of beating the Democrats on issues, to tie Barack Obama to an independent third party that has zero affiliation with either campaign. 

First they tried the viral smear route. Then linked him to Mr. Ayers. Then tried ACORN association. And now they are trying to make Obama out to be a socialist.

Medicare, Medicaid, the Bailout – all have hints of socialism. Is socialism even a bad word? No! Palin keeps saying Obama is going to “spread around the wealth.” EARTH TO SARAH, that is what taxes do. Most taxes people pay come back to them in roads, schools, and hospitals anyway. AND to boot, Obama’s tax plan only affects those making more than $250,000. 98% of American small businesses do not make that much, meaning they won’t see a tax increase, but in turn a reduction in health care rates.

The American people don’t care about smears anymore. We need help, and hope. If McCain has any chance of winning he needs to get on the issues swiftly, and quickly.

ÅSGÅRDSTRAND (VG): Mary was a newlywed and ready to move to Norway, but was stopped at the airport because she didn’t have enough money for the trip. Then a stranger turned up and paid for her.

Mary Menth Andersen was 31 years old at the time and had just married Norwegian Dag Andersen. She was looking forward to starting a new life in Åsgårdstrand in Vestfold with him. But first she had to get all of her belongings across to Norway. The date was November 2nd, 1988.

At the airport in Miami, things were hectic as usual, with long lines at the check-in counters. When it was finally Mary’s turn and she had placed her luggage on the baggage line, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness.

“You’ll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway”, the man behind the counter said. Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway, and she had no one else to call.

She was completely desperate and tried to think of things she could manage without. But she had already made such a careful selection of her most prized possessions.

Although she explained the situation to the man behind the counter, he showed no signs of mercy.

She started to cry, tears were pouring down her face and she had no idea what to do.

Then she heard a gentle and friendly voice behind her saying, “That’s OK, I’ll pay for her.”

Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before.

He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. The first thing she thought was, “Who is this man?”

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man. He was nicely dressed, fashionably dressed with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

The piece of paper said ‘Barack Obama’ and his address in Kansas, which is the state where his mother comes from. Mary carried the slip of paper around in her wallet for years, before it was thrown out.

He was my knight in shining armor, says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway. At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker in Chicago, and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard University.

In the spring of 2005, Mary’s parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter eighteen years earlier.

In a letter to Mary’s parents dated May 4th, 2006 and stamped ‘United States Senate, Washington DC’, Barack Obama wrote:

“I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I’m happy I could help back then, and I’m delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama, United States senator.”

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

This week VG met her and her husband in the café that she runs with her friend Lisbeth Tollefsrud in Åsgårdstrand. “It’s amazing to think that the man who helped me 20 years ago may now become the next US president”, says Mary delightedly.

She has already voted for Obama by recently donating 100 dollars to his campaign.

She often tells the story from the Miami airport, both when race issues are raised and when the conversation turns to the presidential elections.

“I sincerely hope the Americans will see reason and understand that Obama means change”, says Mary.

And here she is with her husband and the letter.

Good people still exist.

http://sefora.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/nobel_letter4.pdf

————————————————————————

An Open Letter to the American People:

This year’s presidential election is among the most significant in our nation’s history. The country urgently needs a visionary leader who can ensure the future of our traditional strengths in science and technology and who can harness those strengths to address many of our greatest problems: energy, disease, climate change, security, and economic competitiveness.

We are convinced that Senator Barack Obama is such a leader, and we urge you to join us in supporting him.

During the administration of George W. Bush, vital parts of our country’s scientific enterprise have been damaged by stagnant or declining federal support. The government’s scientific advisory process has been distorted by political considerations. As a result, our once dominant position in the scientific world has been shaken and our prosperity has been placed at risk. We have lost time critical for the development of new ways to provide energy, treat disease, reverse climate change, strengthen our security, and improve our economy.

We have watched Senator Obama’s approach to these issues with admiration. We especially applaud his emphasis during the campaign on the power of science and technology to enhance our nation’s competitiveness. In particular, we support the measures he plans to take – through new initiatives in education and training, expanded research funding, an unbiased process for obtaining scientific advice, and an appropriate balance of basic and applied research – to meet the nation’s and the world’s most urgent needs.

Senator Obama understands that Presidential leadership and federal investments in science and technology are crucial elements in successful governance of the world’s leading country. We hope you will join us as we work together to ensure his election in November.

Signed,

Alexei Arikosov Physics 2003 Roger Guillemin Medicine 1977

Peter Agre Chemistry 2003 John L. Hall Physics 2005

Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989 Leland H. Hartwell Medicine 2001

Philip W. Anderson Physics 1977 Dudley Herschbach Chemistry 1986

Richard Axel Medicine 2004 Roald Hoffmann Chemistry 1981

David Baltimore Medicine 1975 H. Robert Horvitz Medicine 2002

Baruj Benacerraf Medicine 1980 Louis Ignarro Medicine 1998

Paul Berg Chemistry 1980 Eric R. Kandel Medicine 2000

J. Michael Bishop Medicine 1989 Walter Kohn Chemistry 1998

N. Bloembergen Physics 1981 Roger Kornberg Chemistry 2006

Michael S. Brown Medicine 1985 Leon M. Lederman Physics 1988

Linda B. Buck Medicine 2004 Craig C. Mello Medicine 2006

Mario R. Capecchi Medicine 2007 Yoichiro Nambu Physics 2008

Martin Chalfie Chemistry 2008 Marshall Nirenberg Medicine 1968

Stanley Cohen Medicine 1986 Douglas D. Osheroff Physics 1996

Leon Cooper Physics 1972 Stanley B. Prusiner Medicine 1997

James W. Cronin Physics 1980 Norman F. Ramsey Physics 1989

Robert F. Curl Chemistry 1996 Robert Richardson Physics 1996

Johann Diesenhofer Chemistry 1988 Burton Richter Physics 1976

John B. Fenn Chemistry 2002 Sherwood Rowland Chemistry 1995

Edmond H. Fischer Medicine 1992 Oliver Smithies Medicine 2007

Val Fitch Physics 1980 Richard R Schrock Chemistry 2005

Jerome I. Friedman Physics 1990 Joseph H. Taylor Jr. Physics 1993

Murray Gell-Man Physics 1969 E. Donnall Thomas Medicine 1990

Riccardo Giacconi Physics 2002 Charles H. Townes Physics 1964

Walter Gilbert Chemistry 1980 Roger Tsien Chemistry 2008

Alfred G. Gilman Medicine 1994 Daniel C.Tsui Physics 1998

Donald A. Glaser Physics 1960 Harold Varmus Medicine 1989

Sheldon L. Glashow Physics 1979 James D. Watson Medicine 1962

Joseph Goldstein Medicine 1985 Eric Wieschaus Medicine 1995

Paul Greengard Medicine 2000 Frank Wilczek Physics 2004

David Gross Physics 2004 Robert W. Wilson Physics 1978

Robert H. Grubbs Chemistry 2005

The views expressed in this letter represent those of the signers acting as individual citizens.

They do not necessarily represent the views of the institutions with which they are affiliated. The Medicine award is for “Physiology or Medicine.”

If you think way back to the start of this almost two year marathon campaign, back when it seemed absolutely preposterous that any black man could be a serious presidential contender, then you will remember the biggest fear about Barack Obama: a crazy person might take a shot at him. Hell, black people didn’t want him to run because they feared for him. They supported Sen. Clinton until it became apparent that Barack had a legitimate shot, no pun intended.

That fear for his safety receded when Americans got used to seeing Barack in huge arenas and on the campaign trail where he is safely tucked away by the world’s best security forces. So we stopped caring about the things we shouldn’t care about when he started winning primaries and started speaking his message and his belief about our nation’s future.

Now it is coming back to the forefront. I am alarmed. The McCain/Palin ticket didn’t light the fire, but they doused the gasoline and let the angry masses flick the lit match.

McCain campaign crowds are screaming “Treason”, “Terrorist”, “Anti-Christ”, “Kill him”, “Nigger”, “Muslim”, and other pathetic epithets. 

At a rally this week, John McCain was actually booed by his own supporters for saying that while he disagrees with Barack on issues, “he’s a good family man that should cause no concern to Americans as President”. And they booed him.

All’s fair in politics. John McCain and Sarah Palin have every right to bring up William Ayers, even if his connection to Obama is minor, even if Ayers’s Weather Underground history dates back to Obama’s childhood, even if establishment Republicans and Democrats alike have collaborated with the present-day Ayers in educational reform.

But the smearing is going too far. It is stoked further by the repeated insistence of Obama’s middle name (Hussein) by campaign surrogates introducing McCain and Palin at all of these rallies. This sleight of hand synchronizes with the poisonous ‘Obama-is-a-Muslim’ e-mail blasts and shifts the brand of terrorism from Ayers’s Vietnam-era variety to the radical Islamic threats of today. Fox News much?

McCain, who is no racist, allowed his campaign to turn to this desperate strategy only as Obama started to pull ahead. The tone was set at the Republican convention, with Rudy Giuliani’s mocking dismissal of Obama as an “only in America” affirmative-action baby. We also learned then that the McCain campaign had recruited as a Palin instructer none other than Tucker Eskew, the South Carolina consultant who had worked for George W. Bush in the notorious 2000 G.O.P. primary battle where the McCains and their adopted Bangladeshi daughter were slimed by vicious racist rumors. Just fact.

This has to be put on Palin as most responsible. I am not picking on her, she is the one saying, Obama “launched his political career in the living room of a domestic terrorist”, is “palling around with terrorists” (note the plural noun), and Obama is “not a man who sees America the way you and I see America.” Wielding a wildly out-of-context Obama quote, Palin even slurs Obama as an enemy of American troops. Swiftboat much?

By the time McCain asks the crowd “My friends, who is the real Barack Obama?” it’s no surprise that an alarming amount of people shout “terrorist” with hate in their eyes.

Joe Biden had it exactly right when he expressed concern last week that “a leading American politician who might be president of the United States would not just stop midsentence and turn and condemn that.” To stay silent is to pour gas on the fires.

Moving people to action by using fear and anger shows a basic lack of intelligence among those so moved, and a term of desperation in those employing the tactic. Hilter used such tactics, and was relatively successful, during a difficult time of German’s history.

We’re not at Election Day yet, and if voters are to have their final say, both America and Obama have to get there safely. The McCain campaign has crossed the line between tough negative campaigning and inciting vigilantism, and each day the mob howls a little bit louder. The onus is on the man who says he puts his “country first” to call off the dogs, the hockey moms, and the Joe Six-Packs – and get back to issues, not fear-mongering. 

Well here is the bottomline: McCain is behind and needed a convincing win last night. He clearly didn’t win. I’m not saying Obama won, but a tie is a McCain loss.

Stemming from this weekend, I really thought “the gloves were going to come off.” This was almost as cordial as their first debate, and while that favors Obama, I still would rather see some more fight from both candidates.

This format was terrible btw, both Senators repeatedly wanted to address their counterpart but were told they couldn’t by Brokaw, essentially allowing either closing point to say whatever they wanted uncontested.

A CBS poll of undecided voters was for Obama.

A CNN poll also went to a Barack Obama victory.

The thing about Barack I keep seeing is his unability to put McCain away. This election is seemingly already over, but he can’t put him away. A TIME article a few weeks ago wrote about how Obama must keep the zen-like presence of the moral high road because the American people don’t want to see an angry black man that they could deem threatening. Maybe that’s why he refuses to really get into McCain. Maybe he is trying to avoid what happened with John Kerry in ’04 when the Mass. Senator maybe used too much intellectualy jargon and went over the heads of the voters – influencing Obama to keep it simply stupid.

Couple main highlights – both said Warren Buffett would be “a pretty good” choice to be the next Treasury Secretary; something I wrote about here a long time ago.

When Obama was talking about health care and talked about his Mother for the first time. How when she was 53 and in the hospital dying from cancer, he and his sick Mother had to fight insurance companies for health care coverage, and that really struck a nerve of sincerity. Both of my parents have been diagnosed with cancer and were forced to undergo treatment for the better part of the last two years. We are so incredibly blessed to have coverage, but there were times of financial uncertainty and whether certain tests or treatments would be covered. Maybe I am biased, but when Obama talked about the need for accountability reform, he hooked me. I’ve seen the bills. The hundreds of thousands of dollars of treatment would be a death sentence for too many Americans without adequate care.

McCain is tough to root against, I really admire him. He wants the best for his country and he is clearly an upgrade over W. He needs to do a better job of distancing himself from Bush if he wants a shot at this thing.

And the blogosphere is blowing up about how McCain referred to Barack as “that one” when addressing his opponent. The mere notion that the phrase had any racial undertones or was disrespectful is plain stupid. This election is too important to talk about or read into situations where there is no controversy. So if you hear anything about this (and you will because the media plays off these stupid things), laugh about it and keep your mind committed to issues and our country’s future.

Here is where we stand: Barack is leading on the economy, the environment, foreign policy, and education. McCain has a long way to go in the next four weeks.

Tomorrow, actually tonight, the first and only Vice Presidential debate will commence between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin. And I am very, very excited. While Sarah Palin has been sent to “Debate Camp” to be drilled by GOP task forces, Sen. Biden has been on the campaign trail and in the bailout vote in the Senate Thursday night. Why isn’t Joe Biden at debate camp? Because he actually knows some of this “policy” stuff and doesn’t need to cram.

This is part two of an interview Sarah Palin did with Katie Couric (who is one of the least pressing journalists a candidate could encounter). I trust you enjoyed the previous video just a post back. This time around she brought her Father, I mean running mate. Watch this and ask yourself – do they look presidential or a nervous couple applying for a loan? Do they look presidential or like a nervous father scared to death of what his teenage daughter might say? Watch his hands; he is just waiting for her to slip up.

“Gotcha journalism?”  I guess its “Gotcha journalism” when you try to question the knowledge of a dangerous situation to a potential world leader which they would be presiding over. God forbid that they have actual insight into that situation. 

And McCain compares Palin to Bill Clinton’s experience? Seriously?!? Clinton was Governor of Arkansas for 12 years, which has six times the population of Alaska. Palin has been in office for 21 months. Nice comparison?

I haven’t seen that much nervous half-laughter between two candidates in a long time.

I greatly admire John McCain, a man of intelligence, honor, and enormous personal and political courage. But for him to choose Palin to be his running mate is just irresponsible. Plain and simple. He did not put the country first with this decision.

 Whether it is appropriate or not, considering Sen. McCain’s age most people expected to have a vice presidential candidate who would be ready to step in at a moment’s notice. The actuarial odds of that happening are significant, something like a one-in-three to one-in-five chance.

When Sarah Palin was picked as VP I was a bit surprised — as I think most people were. I thought her speech at the GOP convention was clever and funny. But once she began answering questions about economics and foreign policy, it became clear that she has simply never thought about these subjects before and is dangerously ignorant and unprepared for the job of vice president, let alone president.

She has been given a set of talking points by campaign advisers, simple ideological mantras that she repeats and repeats as long as she can. But if she is forced off those rehearsed lines (by like, a detailed question God forbid), what she has to say is often, quite frankly — nonsense. Just listen to her response to Katie Couric’s question about the bailout in the video down below. It’s absolute gibberish — an emptying out of catchphrases about economics that have nothing to do with the question or the topic. Like a kid caught sleeping in class and trying to explain to the teacher that he was awake. It’s scary to think that this person could be running the country.

Sure she is a feisty and charismatic politician who has done good things in Alaska. It is just we are talking about a person who should be ready to lead the United States at a moment’s notice. She has never spent a single day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start.

If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.