"One bad apple:"

Delaware County authorities yesterday arrested a former employee of the activist group ACORN on felony theft and forgery charges for allegedly submitting dozens of phony voter-registration applications.

Jemar Barksdale, 34, of Chester, while employed by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, submitted 18 fraudulent forms using the names of existing voters, and 22 other applications in which the information was "completely fictitious," according to District Attorney G. Michael Green.

County detectives interviewed the 18 voters starting in late July. Six are elderly and one attends Don Guanella School, a facility for mentally disabled men.

...

Barksdale admitted to signing the forms as the ACORN employee who assisted in completing them, Green said, but denied forging voters' signatures or printing other information on the forms.

A handwriting analysis, however, found that 16 of the voter signatures and all of the printing on the applications matched a handwriting sample provided by Barksdale, Green said.

...

Headley said her office has forwarded about 500 suspicious applications to the D.A.'s office - some of which include dubious names such as "Ben Dover."

Krista Holub, ACORN's political director in Pennsylvania, said Barksdale worked for the organization for only eight days, making $8 an hour, before he was fired.

"This is one bad apple," she said.

More, including video, here.

Thanks to CJ and WilliamA.

Warrior Poet? Check out the poem "Change" by one Jemar Barkersdale, who just happens to have the same uncommon name as this asshole.

Change.

Posted by: Ace at 01:19 PM | Comments (45)
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And by "non-lethal," have no doubt he means "lethal," but he won't admit that.

People don't fantasize about Tasering other people, you know.

He admits plenty, though:

I had a recurring fantasy in which I took him out during a press conference (it was nonlethal, just something that put him out of commission for a year or so), saving America from the horror of a President Giuliani. If that sounds like I had some trouble being “objective,” I did.

I'm so angry that John McCain stoked this man's hate against an opposing candidate.

Where is McCain and Palin to help "quell" these ugly Nazi impulses?

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 12:52 PM | Comments (43)
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He'll be beginning the roll-out of a big story.

Oh and we will have some more info about a certain Presidential candidate and the mistress his wife exiled to the islands. Yeah baby.

Whether or not anyone else jumps on this, I don't know.

Podcast: I believe this link will bring up the podcast of the show. My computer seems to be having trouble running it though.

It does that. It's getting old.

Posted by: Ace at 11:53 AM | Comments (107)
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I want to buy this just for the story.

Uncomfortable, Ugly Futon with 2 Mattresses - $100

(Arlington, VA)
Reply to: sale-886807470@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-10-20, 6:08PM EDT

Got an unwanted houseguest? Interested in exacting revenge on a roommate or spouse? Have I got the futon for you. Your guests will never overstay their welcome if you make them sit, sleep or gaze upon this unholy piece of “furniture” from hell. It changes from an ugly, uncomfortable sofa to an ugly, uncomfortable bed faster than you can say, “I bought it on Craigslist.”

Did your spouse or significant other put you in charge of finding a futon for the guest room or rec-room? Whoopee. Lucky you. How would you like to NEVER be asked to make a furniture decision again? This, my friend, is the bad decision youÂ’ve been looking for. Did I mention it might be haunted? Oh yeah, itÂ’s so ugly and makes such strange, creaking noises it should be listed in the National Registry of Haunted Furniture. IÂ’m not saying a horrible crime was committed on this futon, but itÂ’s got potential. After experiencing this futon, your spouse will never make you waste an entire Saturday at IKEA again.

LetÂ’s talk about the two mattresses. TheyÂ’re beyond ugly. One has a pink and blue pattern that looks like someone spent 2 minutes designing it in Microsoft Paint. The airbrush tool is fun! Whee! The other mattress is poo-colored and lamely attempts to create some kind of Asian vibe. Yeah, throw some bamboo leaves over some concentric squares and zigzag lines. Brilliant! It looks about as Asian as David Carradine.

The futon is listed at $100, but IÂ’m willing to accept more. Nothing stings a spouse like knowing exactly how much hard-earned cash went into buying an ugly, uncomfortable, possibly haunted piece of furniture. If you wanna supersize the sting, who am I to stand in your way?

ItÂ’s an affront to good taste and comfort, and it might be just right for you.

This guy will have bids of $500 or more by the end of the day.

Thanks to Dave at Garfield Ridge.

More: Need cement blocks? Frank Rizzo will sell you some fucking cement blocks, rubberneck.

Thanks to Erik.

Posted by: Ace at 11:13 AM | Comments (28)
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The groundwork is being laid for Obama -- or rather his surrogates, and the media (but I repeat myself) -- to insist on McCain suspending his campaign when Obama suspends his own to visit his ailing grandmother.

Who, incidentally, has most likely been ailing for a very long time. But he has to visit her now, in the homestretch of the campaign. No way he could have done so when he took a vacation in the Caribbean after wrapping up the primaries.

Obama insisted "we can chew gum and walk at the same time" when McCain suggested suspending campaigning to deal with the financial crisis. I'll remind him that if he can do so, he can't whine that McCain wants to continue with this whole presidential election bother when he checks in on grandma.

So, how is Obama dealing with his grief currently? He's in the sixth stage of dealing with loss: Attacking John McCain.

I don't begrudge him that-- I will, however, note that he is not free to call a special Ramadan -- call it an Obamadan -- whenever he thinks it will benefit him the most.

Here's Joe Biden, laying the predicate:
more...

Posted by: Ace at 11:38 AM | Comments (141)
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A Republican nitwit who jammed the lines of a Democratic get-out-the-vote phone bank six years ago.

What, you thought they were talking about ACORN?

What is this ACORN of which you speak?

Ah, finally we have "proof" that political "dirty tricksters" exist.

It's not as if Obama workers are signing up to vote illegally in Ohio, or anything.

No, not at all. But finally, from six years ago, in the person of a Republican, we have the proof that has so long eluded us.

In related breaking news -- have you guys heard of this whole "Watergate" thing? Man, that's crazy. I'll tell you what, if they can prove any of these allegations there are going to be some serious consequences. Mark my words, and you can take that to the bank.

Thanks to Andy the Squirrel.

Posted by: Ace at 10:38 AM | Comments (38)
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Dead even:

The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running even among likely voters in the election homestretch.

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain's "Joe the plumber" analogy struck a chord.

Three weeks ago, an AP-GfK survey found that Obama had surged to a seven-point lead over McCain, lifted by voters who thought the Democrat was better suited to lead the nation through its sudden economic crisis.

The contest is still volatile, and the split among voters is apparent less than two weeks before Election Day.

More Movement... in Florida. Mason-Dixon had McCain down, now they have him up by two.

It has to be kept in mind, as we talk about flipping red states blue, that Obama needs to flip red states blue. McCain doesn't have the same requirement -- he could lose a red state or two and still win.

I point this out to Seattle Slough who will crow, "But you're just holding states you already had!"

Indeed. But the Red states counted for 286 electoral votes last time, didn't they?

I concede Iowa is a lost cause. Everywhere else... not so much, not so much.

Thanks to CJ.

Posted by: Ace at 09:30 AM | Comments (287)
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All-in on Joe. more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:17 AM | Comments (30)
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Michael Barone says sorta:

First, the exit polls in the recent presidential elections have tended to show the Democrats doing better than they actually did, partly because of interviewer error. The late Warren Mitofsky, in his study of the 2004 exit poll, found that the largest errors came in precincts where the interviewers were female graduate students.

Second, the exit polls in almost all the primaries this year showed Mr. Obama doing better than he actually did. The same respondent bias -- the greater willingness of Obama voters to be polled -- which apparently occurred on primary days could also occur in the exit poll on Election Day, and in the phone polls of early and absentee voters that Edison/Mitofsky will conduct to supplement it.

In the 2006 cycle, Democrats won the aggregate House vote by 7.9%. But the polls through October and November showed them with a 14.2% lead.

A few of the latest polls from that cycle:

FOX News 11/04 - 11/05, Democrats +13

CNN 11/03 - 11/05, Democrats +20

USA Today/Gallup 11/02 - 11/05, Democrats +7

ABC News/Wash Post 11/01 - 11/04, Democrats +6

Pew Research 11/01 - 11/04, Democrats +4

Newsweek 11/02 - 11/03, Democrats +16

Time 11/01 - 11/03, Democrats +15

CBS News/NY Times 10/27 - 10/31, Democrats +18

NBC/WSJ 10/28 - 10/30, Democrats +15

Note that only two of the polls were even close. Most showed an enormous overstatement of Democratic support. As in, double.

"Crush their Spirits:" Geraghty's "Obi-Wan:"

Why are they angry? Because their whole strategy relies on a demoralized GOP. Remember the scare they had in September?" Obi-Wan asked. "All that coronation stuff at the Democratic convention dissolved as McCain seized and held a good lead. They know how fragile things are. They need to keep the media talking about a massive GOP defeat, because all it might take is a few stories to the contrary and all of a sudden, it is mid-September again, when the rising McCain tide was lifting all boats.

Thanks to Slublog.

On the Other Hand... Has Murtha slipped to 50% and falling?

That's what internal polls say, Bill Russel's camp claims. Given Murtha's latest outbursts, I find it pretty plausible.

All Over the Place: McCain nets two in Gallup. They still show him behind 5-8 with likelies. Sort of right in that range of typical overstatement of Democratic support.

Posted by: Ace at 08:52 AM | Comments (84)
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With Drew Griffin, who's been all over the ACORN story and confusing the hell out of Wolf Blitzer.

Pretty good interview. I haven't found any Biden interview clips yet but I am looking.

from commenter "Kirsten Powers" in the Watada thread.

UPDATE: blogger and commenter Drumwaster dangles a few Grants for you prognosticators.

Closest Electoral Breakdown, Senate breakdown by Party, House by Party.

It's like football picks. Only you get something for it besides a load of crap.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:59 AM | Comments (90)
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