Obama's designated a--hole

Even a poetic president needs a ruthless deal maker to help execute his agenda. Enter Rahm Emanuel -- aka "Rahmbo" -- the legendary Democratic operator.
By Mike Madden

Bush's seven deadly environmental sins
How Bush made a mockery of the nation's environmental laws and values -- and what Obama must do to get us back on track.
By Katharine Mieszkowski

First Press Conference

Stolen Election From Alaska?

by Shannyn Moore

Something stinks. Not just an ordinary low tide smell. Not like something you'd blame on the dog. It smells like an infection. For me to plug my nose, I'd have to overlook some curious facts.

Bob Cesca: At Long Last, It's Beginning To Feel Like America
In terms of race, in terms of history, politics and American life we've crossed over to a better place and a more hopeful time. Not simply because of one man, but because we were prescient enough to have recognized ourselves and the true nature of America reflected in that one man. And then we set about the task of freeing ourselves from the darkness of this decade and the shadows that have for too long haunted us. In this respect, all of us -- all races -- are a little more free at last. After all these years, we've finally arrived at moment when America feels like it's supposed to feel.

VOTING SHIFTS The NY Times breakdown of how the country voted compared with 2004. The redder the area, the more people shifted towards republicans. The bluer the area, the more people shifted toward the Democrats. Get the interactive map here.Image courtesy NY Times

Lipstick Confessions
by Scout Finch

From the minute Sarah Palin sat down with Charlie Gibson and then again with Katie Couric, it was obvious to all but the most ardent Kool-Aid drinkers that Sarah Palin was woefully unqualified to be the Vice President of the United States. Ironically, it was around the time of the Palin pick that John McCain settled on "Country First" as his theme, after several previous attempts at an identity. It is obvious now that he meant "country" in the sense of rural or country-western, because by picking the unqualified Palin - he certainly wasn't putting his country first.

Turns out, McCain staffers and the talking heads at Fox News knew all along that Palin was wholly unqualified for the job, but they all sucked it up to put their party first. It must have been a bitter pill for many because now that the election is over, they can't wait to throw Palin under the Straight Talk Express. They've started releasing their own versions of "Lipstick Confessions:

Highlights from the latest Lipstick Confessions include:

-Palin did not know which countries were part of NAFTA.
-It had to be explained to her that Africa was a continent, not a country
-She was angry at staffers over the Gibson and Couric interviews, yet she previously refused staff requests to prepare for the interviews

Just to repeat -- It had to be explained to her that Africa was a continent, not a country. One wonders whether the McCain camp even Googled her before selecting her for VP. There appears to have been no vetting process whatsoever.

Newsweek teased yesterday with a few Lipstick Confessions of their own. Among them:

-Palin went "rogue" by attacking Obama for his loose "association" with Ayers, before the McCain camp had a plan of attack.
-McCain advisors showed up at Palin's hotel room to meet with her and Todd during the RNC and she entered the room in nothing but two towels (one wrapped around her wet hair).

Look for more stories of implosion over the coming weeks as the GOP begins to eat it's own. Will Palin fire back with some McStories of her own? Stay tuned for more Lipstick Confessions....

(Lively discussion on Palin's cluelessness is also underway in ksh01's recommended diary.)

Sarah Palin, freeloader. Also.
by Kagro X

Dansac has already introduced you to today's version of the story, but I feel compelled to revisit an earlier call on this in order to restate a now obvious theme: Sarah Palin is The Chiseler Supreme.

What a really, truly unpleasant experience has been our exposure to the two insta-celebrities created by the McCain campaign. These two grubbers, Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin, became the perfect symbol for everything that was wrong with and ingenuine about modern Republicanism.

Joe griped endlessly about taxes even as it turned out he was ducking them, and groused that Obama's "socialism" would mean there was no incentive to work hard and succeed in earning more than $250,000 a year, even as he shopped around for an agent and a Nashville recording contract. (And excuse me -- what?! A recording contract? Based on what, Mr. Hard Work?) Meanwhile, there was Sarah griping about pork and wasteful spending even as she tried to rip off the Feds for the Bridge to Nowhere, rip off the state for her per diem, and rip off the campaign for her clothes (and her husband's, and her family's).

Yes, in the few short weeks we knew her, Sarah Palin turned out to have more hands in more pockets than we could keep track of. She and Joe were the perfect pair. Instantly famous but for no good reason, pushy, greedy, and all the while cheating behind the scenes, and cheating on the very issues about which each of them complained that regular Americans were getting a raw deal from the elite.

Good riddance. I get enough of that crap from Reality TV as it is.
It's like a whole election nearly went down the wrong pipe. Thank God the country coughed them back up.

Three huge, immediate reasons to be happy about last night

by Glenn Greenwald

With numerous cases likely to be decided by the Supreme Court in the next several years that linger from the years of Bush radicalism -- involving truly vital questions of executive power and core individual liberty -- a McCain/Palin victory would have been, for this reason alone, a genuine disaster, possibly a final nail in the coffin of our constitutional framework.

OBAMA
Racial Barrier Falls as Voters Embrace Call for Change

A Historic Vote Defying Racism

The Republican Rump

by Paul Krugman

Why will the G.O.P. become more, not less, extreme? For one thing, projections suggest that this election will drive many of the remaining Republican moderates out of Congress, while leaving the hard right in place.

Beyond Election Day
by Bob Herbert
Americans have to decide if they want a country that tolerates this kind of debased, backward behavior. Or if they want a country that aspires to true greatness — a country that stands for more than the mere rhetoric of equality, freedom, opportunity and justice.

Obama and the Better Angels of Our Nature
by John Nichols
At the close of his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln spoke to those who would divide the United States.

If The Whole World Could Vote

No Currency Left To Buy Big Lies
by John Cusack
Senator McCain, Governor Palin and assorted surrogates are delusional and breathtakingly corrupt. They disgrace themselves and their country as they lie, smear, slur and write it off as political manner.

I believe all the polls, and none of them

Will Americans do the impossible and elect a black president? The alternative is monstrous.
By Greil Marcus

McCain's Chief Surrogate/Plumber Questions Obama's Loyalty to the USA

Normally it would just be funny, if Joe the Plumber (or JTP as press insiders have dubbed him) was just another sudden celeb shooting off his mouth and getting ludicrous airtime, even if it is mainly just Fox. But the man has appeared at numerous rallies at McCain's side. McCain has called him his "mentor," an "American hero" and promises to bring him to Washington with him if elected. So this brief video from Fox today, in which Joe suggests Obama is disloyal to his country, really shows how far the campaign -- and the mainstream media -- have fallen. To watch a real friend of the working man, here's video of Springteen singing in Cleveland today. -- Greg Mitchell

The Obama Difference
By Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn leans toward Obama despite his views on Afghanistan.

"I think it's realistic to have hope. One can be a perverse idealist and say the easiest thing: 'I despair. The world's no good.' That's a perverse idealist. It's practical to hope, because the hope is for us to survive as a human species. That's very realistic."-Studs Terkel

Legal experts question US Attorney's decision not to prosecute Obama "assassination plot"

The Known Unknowns
by Bob Herbert
The polls show Senator Obama ahead, but there is no reliable precedent for this election. There are too many “known unknowns,” as Donald Rumsfeld might have said.

Obama's winning argument

The U.S. economy has prospered under Democratic policies, and the candidate knows it. But the real battle begins once Obama takes the White House.
By Joe Conason

Thinking Conservatives: MIAs of the GOP

Paranoid, rage-driven, xenophobic nuts are taking over the Republican Party.

by Rosa Brooks

Studs Terkel, writer and radio personality, dies at 96
The Chicago fixture used his knack for conversation to capture oral histories on World War II, the Great Depression and more.
By Stephanie Simon

Remembering When McCain Was Accused Of Class Warfare

In the final stretch of the presidential campaign, McCain has blasted Obama for engaging in class warfare. But eight years ago, Republicans and conservatives angrily accused McCain of the very same thing.

By David Corn

Sarah Palin speaks on the First Amendment
John McCain's running mate thinks that the Constitution protects political candidates from being criticized by the press.
by Glenn Greenwald

Bush launches last-minute deregulation push

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

Bob Cesca The Mandatory Rejection of Sarah Palin

The truth is that politicians like Sarah Palin are merely manipulating, exploiting and inciting these people. In other words, it's the ignorance, stupid. And next Tuesday, we have a chance to seriously marginalize this darker, uglier side of America.

An Idiot Wind


John McCain's latest attempt to link Barack Obama to extremism

Closing Argument
byJohn Nichols:
Obama presented more than an infomercial Wednesday--it was a compassionate chronicle of the state of the American people and his promise for change.

When filth is not enough
Tom DeLay slimed Obama as a "radical Marxist," but Obama's sweet TV ad, feisty Bill Clinton rally and jokes with Jon Stewart made DeLay look stupid.
by Joan Walsh

How Bush Destroyed The Republican Party
A president driven by ideology. A Congress rife with corruption. A political party hellbent on a "permanent majority." A leading scholar examines the radicals who hijacked the GOP — and wrecked the longest conservative ascendancy in American history
by SEAN WILENTZ

Why Does Sarah Palin Pal Around With Felons?

Just How Dumb Are White Males?

By Robert Scheer —
Let me now defend white males. We can’t possibly be as dumb as the polls showing we are John McCain’s most reliable voting base would indicate.

A Choice and an Echo

by Bob Herbert

The heyday of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove is over. Yet Senator John McCain handed the reins of his campaign to Mr. Rove’s worshipful acolytes.

Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle: In Case You Weren't Scared Enough- Palin on "Fruit Fly Research"

ALASKAN GOP SENATOR GUILTY IN CORRUPTION CASE

Naomi Klein Breaks Down the Bailout

The Rachel Maddow Show
Juan Cole gives Rachel the latest updates on the situation in Iraq.

On Iraq, McCain doesn't have a clue

Despite the impasse in U.S.-Iraq negotiations, he clings to his fantasy of "victory" and America's ability to set the terms for withdrawal.
By Joe Conason

Why the Tax Issue Isn't Working for McCain

by E.J. Dionne

If McCain can’t win the tax argument, given the Republicans’ historical advantage on the issue, it’s hard to see what other argument he can win.

John McCain Accidentally Left On Campaign Bus Overnight

We Say We Want A Revolution

by Markos Moulitsas
On Nov. 4, Barack Obama will be elected as the next president of the United States. The real excitement won't come from watching that foregone conclusion come to pass. No, the big question is, will Democrats nationwide simply "win" the night—or will they deliver an electoral drubbing so thorough that it signals the utter rejection of conservative ideology and kills the notion that America is a "center-right" country?

Obama's Moment
The Democratic nominee for president talks about how George W. Bush screwed up, why John McCain turned ugly and what he's learned from Bill Clinton.
by ERIC BATES

Blocking The Vote


Rolling Stone Magazine: Block The Vote
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST

Swiftboat Blues

by Ari Berman

The slumping economy has made GOP smear tactics seem petty and shrill--but they're looking forward to their next shot.

Sarah Palin's RNC Outfit: $7,000 Down, $143,000 to Go!
by Vanity Fair

How does one woman burn through a $150,000 wardrobe budget in just over a month?
Spending at least $7,000 on one outfit is a good start.

Last month, it was reported that the Valentino jacket Sarah Palin wore for her speech at the Republican National Convention cost $2,500. Our source says it cost twice that, and identified the skirt as another Valentino, with a price tag of $1,490. At least Palin saved on her $79 Franco Sartos.

And what would Joe the Plumber make of all these foreign brands? The last Obama T-shirt we saw was made by American Apparel, and Michelle and the girls looked smashing at the D.N.C. in their dresses by Chicago’s own Maria Pinto.

Still, even if you assume that the pearls are real, bringing the grand cost to more than $20,000, Palin’s still got a long way to go to catch up with Cindy McCain!

Desperately Seeking Seriousness

By PAUL KRUGMAN
As the economic scene has darkened, I’d argue, Americans have rediscovered the virtue of seriousness. And this has worked to Mr. Obama’s advantage, because his opponent has run a deeply unserious campaign.

The GOP's Blame-ACORN Game

by Peter Dreier & John Atlas
An increasingly desperate Republican attack machine has recently identified the community organizing group ACORN as Public Enemy Number One.

Alan Shrugged

In a historic moment, former Fed chair Alan Greenspan acknowledged he had been wrong for years to assume that government regulation was bad for markets. Whoops—there goes decades of Ayn Rand down the drain.
By David Corn

Is The Southern Strategy Dead?
by Harold Meyerson
In less than two weeks, we may well see the election in which the Southern Strategy -- the strategic doctrine that has underpinned the rise of the Republican Party over the past four decades -- dies an inglorious death.

New York Times Editorial: Barack Obama For President

Obama's big lead in the polls is real

Democrats are afraid to believe he's really winning. But a pollster explains why those polls that show a tight race should be treated with skepticism.
By Paul Maslin