Now that's a rally

This is what 100,000 people looks like:

St. Louis Missouri must not be one of them pro-America areas.

I wish I could vote for

That One.

Economist poll makes the case for Obama

The economy is the number one issue in elections on both sides of the border this year, but particularly stateside, where taxpayers are being forced at metaphorical gunpoint to fork over $700 billion to Wall Street's rotten extortionist thugs. There's no getting away from the economy as an election issue -- the only thing left to do is spin, baby, spin.

Case in point: the wingnuts at ProWomanProLife say "Look over here! Bright shiny thing!" and point to a negative book about Obama that was recently reviewed by the Economist Magazine. From the review:

"If Mr Obama really were the miracle-working, aisle-jumping, consensus-seeking new breed of politician his spin-doctors make him out to be, you would expect to see the evidence in these eight years. But there isn’t very much. Instead, as Mr Freddoso rather depressingly finds, Mr Obama spent the whole period without any visible sign of rocking the Democratic boat."

Ohmygodwhatthefuck!!! The Economist + Obama + bad = Sarah Palin John McCain for preznit!!!

However, that was a book review, not an editorial. But it's a fair question: where do the Economist Magazine and economists in general stand on the candidates and their ability to right the financial ship of state? A full frontal boot to the GOP nads is delivered by their poll of economists:

What's that? Did I hear an "OOF!"?? You betcha I did!! Bumdiggity! *WINK*

Wingnuts will be quick to point out the last category, wherein over 40% of the respondents are self-identified Democrats. But almost as many said they identified with "neither" party, which means they're disillusioned former GOPers... a group that grows larger by the day.

UPDATE: While we're on the subject of Economics, and who isn't these days, how about a little Keating Economics?

Women go back to Obama

I don't like to get too excited about polls because they change like the weather, but there's definitely a trend building and it's good news all over for Barack Obama. Time has him at 50% overall, and even Rasmussen (which tends to favour the GOP) has him at 51%. He's taken the lead in several swing states, including the pivotal Florida.

Two things are bringing voters to Obama: worries about the economy and, most interestingly (to me, anyway), women voters are returning to the Dems faster than Sarah Palin initially brought them to the GOP. Time:

"Propelled by concerns over the financial crisis and a return of support from female voters, Barack Obama has opened a formidable 7-point lead over John McCain, reaching the 50% threshold among likely voters for the first time in the general campaign for President, according to a new TIME poll." [...]

"Among the poll's most dramatic findings: McCain is losing female voters faster than Sarah Palin attracted them after the Republican National Convention. Obama leads McCain by 17 points with women, 55%-38%. Before the conventions, women preferred Obama by a margin of 10 points, 49%-39%. After McCain picked Palin as his running mate, the gap narrowed to a virtual tie, with Obama holding a 1-point margin, 48%-47%."

See? Heather Mallick was right. Our vaginas do not call out to each other and demand some kind of weird solidarity, regardless of a candidate's credentials (or lack thereof).

So, hahaha, remind me again what it was that Palin brings to the GOP ticket?

Who won?

Yep.

Those "Family (racist) Values"!

Big Things were happening this weekend in Minneapolis, as the Family Retchsearch Council threw one of their "Values Voters" wankfests. The FRC showed that there's a lot more to them than just homophobia and fetus fetishizing -- they also demonstrated their sensitivity to racism with the "Obama waffle mix" being sold by one of the vendors at the little shindig. Funnnnnneeee! CNN's Lou Dobbs liked it, and the "family values" rubes were just, uh, eating it up. But sadly, the popular item had to be pulled when the FRC suddenly "realized" that it was a racist piece of shit:

"Activists at a conservative political forum snapped up boxes of waffle mix depicting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama as a racial stereotype on its front and wearing Arab-like headdress on its top flap.

Values Voter Summit organizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed "offensive material." The summit and the exhibit hall where the boxes were sold had been open since Thursday afternoon."

The FRC followed up with a weak statement "condemning" the odious waffle mix and "the vendor" who was selling it. They claim that the exhibit wasn't vetted properly, and why not? If sloppy vetting is good enough for the McCain campaign, it's good enough for the Family Research Council. But the truth is probably simpler -- they didn't know the material was offensive because it wasn't offensive -- to them!

What a class act

Barack Obama:

""Let me be a clear as possible: I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits," Obama said, "and people's children are especially off limits.

"This shouldn't be part of our politics," he continued, "It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a vice president.

"And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories," he said. "You know my mother had me when she was 18, and how a family deals with issues and, you know, teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off limits.""

Obama's right, of course, but I can't help wondering how off-limits it would be to the GOP if it were one of his daughters.

Obama's speech

Chet has done a great analysis of the three most important points in Obama's speech last week, well worth the read.

It's significant that as Obama is talking about crawling from the partisan political wreckage that America has become in the last 8 years, and standing up in solidarity for its true values, the McCain campaign is feeding the fires of the so-called "culture wars" by appointing extremists like Sarah Palin as VP.

Go Obama!

Death of a propaganda genre

"Democrats hate the troops!" -- an enduring refrain that never gets old in Wingnuttia may have finally reached its' expiry date.

Last month's widely-circulated hoax email, supposedly from a soldier in Afghanistan complaining about how Obama "snubbed the troops" while he was there, could well be the last of the loathsome "Democrats hate the troops!" genre of propaganda. Because according to their campaign donations, the troops clearly don't hate Obama.

But then again, one only has to think back to the 2004 election to know that the truth is of little or no consequence to these people, who portrayed war hero Kerry as a coward and chickenhawk Georgie as a patriot. Yeah, they'll probably just fire out another "email" from another "disgruntled soldier in Afghanistan", complaining that his donation was misdirected.

Yes he can

It looks like Barack Obama is a mere 10 delegates away from winning the Democratic nomination.

Finally:

"Sen. Barack Obama inched closer to the Democratic nomination Tuesday as endorsements from superdelegates trickled in. Thirty one delegates are at stake in the final contests under way in South Dakota and Montana. Obama is now 10 delegates short of the 2,118 needed to clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, according to CNN's count.

Obama would become the first African-American to lead a U.S. major-party ticket.

His remaining rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, does not plan to concede the race Tuesday night, campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe told CNN -- but one of her leading supporters said "a moment of truth" was at hand." [...]

"Two New York lawmakers told CNN on Tuesday that Clinton expressed willingness during a conference call to serve as Obama's running mate in November."

I was initially inclined to support Hillary, but all along I thought either nominee had good points. Obama does have the ability to instill the sense of hope that the USA needs so badly, after having all their optimism drained away by the half-bright hillbillies currently in the white house. Most importantly, he can win the election. One of Clinton's biggest negatives was that she's so universally loathed by the right that her nomination would have mobilized the Republican base in a way that nothing else could.

Now the Democrats can get on with the job of taking back the country from the shriekers, howlers, war-mongering thieves and fundamentalist freaks that commandeered it 8 years ago.

Obama Miracle Toast

Holy moly! Look what's on eBay:


Obama Miracle Toast! Woohoo! Get it while it's hot!