Jim62sch caught this little gem in the comments of this story:

Make no mistake: It is Barack ObamaÂ’s destiny to be President of the United States. Justice demands it. The Truth demands it. The World demands it.

Oppressed peoples throughout the world are looking to Obama for hope. For Justice. For an to war. For America to stop attacking the world and for it to start being a just and peaceful member of the community of nations.

If for some reason he is not elected then there will be a cry of outrage so great that America and all its racist institutions will shake and collapse. It will be the end of America and God will damn it for its final and most terrible sin.

Posted by: Slublog at 10:37 AM | Comments (106)
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So says a Koz Kid.

Apparently, Obama's internals were leaked to a radio talk show host in Scranton. they show Obama up by only 2 in PA.

Steve Corbett, a radio talk show host in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, accidentally received a copy of an internal email sent by Grant Olin who heads the Wilkes-Barre headquarters of the Obama campaign. The email went to 627 Obama campaign volunteers in the Wilkes-Barre Scranton region, saying that Obama Headquarters reported an internal poll which shows that Obama is only 2 points up in Pennsylvania.

Sean Smith, who is heading ObamaÂ’s Pennsylvania campaign, was interviewed by Steve Corbett via phone at 5:35 today to discuss this. He said that Grant "went rogue", and aknowledged that Grant was "reprimanded" for this.

...

This is important because, if it is true, it undermines the argument that we have a substantial partyId advantage this year.

A partyId of at least +6 this year seems reasonable, as many pollsters are showing. Many rightwingers are arguing that the breakdown should be a push, like 2004, which is ridiculous. However the rumor of +2 in PA reinforces their argument. And that's the last hope they have left.

We need to get on this story as soon as possible before it spreads any further. I don't want them to have any hope left, Let's crush their spirits!

Here's the audio.

McCain is meanwhile fighting for Pennsylvania despite all polls showing him losing there, and I think that makes sense. For one thing, Western Pennsylvania is teeming with redneck racists, according to John Murtha.

That's snarky but it is true that Pennsylvania has been repeatedly insulted by Obama and his surrogates as clingy, bitter, and racist. We need to pick up at least one blue state to win, most likely, and I don't see a better chance of a pick-up -- even if the chances aren't great.

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (77)
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Guy Benson, Mary Katherine Ham and Ed Morrissey have put together your one stop shopping site for reasons not to vote for Obama.

Their conclusion:

...Put together as a narrative, we believe this paints the picture of a man who has few real credentials for the office he seeks beyond the Constitutional minimum, and a politician who has succeeded in obfuscating his hard-Left ideology.

Perhaps if Barack Obama had taken more time to build his resumé – especially with executive experience – he might have made a more compelling candidate, and might have demonstrated at least a little of the moderation he has claimed. Instead, Democrats want America to support at once the most radical and least qualified candidate for President in at least a century. They have tried to conceal this with the complicity of a pom-pom-waving national media that has shown much more interest in the political background of a plumber from Ohio than in a major-party candidate for President.

From abortion and taxes to foreign policy and choice of associates they cover it all. I haven't read through it all yet but as you imagine, it seems pretty devastating.

Posted by: DrewM at 09:59 AM | Comments (51)
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From one of the men who brought you the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac debacles...give the government more damn it!

You know, I'm starting to think McCain might pull this out. Every time the Democrats think they have something in the bag they let the mask slip (think Iraq) and then they get beat.

Between this and Barack "spread the wealth around" Obama Democrats, may once again prove to be the Republicans best weapon.

As of now there's no word on whether any of the new spending Congressman Frank is advocating will directly benefit anyone he is romantically involved with.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:31 AM | Comments (84)
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Hey now, Denver fans, Cowboys fans. Don't be blue. Look at it this way, a couple of breaks here or there, could have gone either way.

All three groups, combined standings

Football Gods

1 jimmytheleg3 58
2 Yeah Right Whatever 56
2 mesablue 56

Geniuses

4 Physics Geek 55
4 Hazy Dave 55
4 AliceH 55
4 DrZin 55
more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 07:13 AM | Comments (22)
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Let's play a little game...which candidate on a national political ticket hasn't held a press conference in over a month? If you guessed Sarah Palin you are either an Obamabot or second tier Kos Diarist Andrew Sullivan.

The correct answer is...Joe Biden.

In the past two days alone, Palin has answered questions from her national press corps on three separate occasions. On Saturday, she held another plane availability, and on Sunday, she offered an impromptu press conference on the tarmac upon landing in Colorado Springs. A few minutes later, she answered even more questions from reporters during an off-the-record stop at a local ice cream shop.

By contrast, Biden hasn’t held a press conference in more than a month, and Obama hasn’t taken questions from his full traveling press corps since the end of September. John McCain—who spent most of the primary season holding what seemed like one, never-ending media availability—hasn’t done one since Sept. 23.

Gee, why would the Democratic ticket be hiding from their own PR department? Is it because when there aren't teleprompters or editors around the buffoons tend to say things like "spread the wealth around" and "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama"?

How can entrust the country too people too scared to face their most ardent supporters? It's like being afraid of your own shadow.

BTW- I know the response from the likes of Sullivan, 'we know Biden, he's done a billion press conferences, we don't know Palin'. My response...tough. She isn't running for Vice President of the Correspondents Association. If the American people don't like or trust her, they can hold that against McCain. If they do, it might help him.

And yes, we know Biden and his canned Senator for Life answers but if press questions are the measure of a candidate and not their campaign, how much do we really know about Barack "I just answered like 8 questions" Obama?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:38 AM | Comments (74)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:12 AM | Comments (50)
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If you recall, a U.S. district court judge had ordered the military to release seventeen Guantanamo Bay detainees into the United States because they are not considered enemy combatants and the government cannot remove them to another country. Now the District of Columbia Circuit has stayed the order pending appeal.

Judges A. Raymond Randolph and Karen L. Henderson sided with the government and issued the order without comment; Judge Judith W. Rogers dissented, writing that the Bush administration's legal theories were flawed. The government has argued it can detain the Uighurs without cause until it locates a new home for them.

Justice Department lawyers have argued that only the president or Congress has the legal authority to order the Uighurs' release into the United States. They have also said that immigration laws would preclude them from entering the country because they received weapons training at a camp operated by a designated terror organization.

Oral arguments will be heard November 24. The DC Circuit panel approved the stay 2-1 without comment from the majority. Judge Judith Rogers wrote a short dissent (PDF) relying on Boumediene.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:11 AM | Comments (17)
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Yep, I do.

I am not an optimist. At all. Whenever I feel a twinge of pain, it's cancer. When the car makes a funny noise, it's a $5000 repair job. When it rains, the new roof is obviously going to leak. When I sit down to watch football, my favorite team is going to lose. On that last one, my pessimism has been justified.

Despite my Eeyore-like nature, I believe John McCain and Sarah Palin have a good shot at winning this election. Why the uncharacteristic optimism on this point? Because I think the polls are crap.

In college, I suffered through statistics. I hated that class more than Michael Moore hates George W. Bush. Statistical research methods was even worse. In retrospect, I'm glad I took those courses. Because what I learned from them is that for the most part, polls are crap. And this election's polls have been worse than usual.

Polling is, at best, an extremely inexact science and even the best polls are based on numerous assumptions about the population at large. And it's safe to say the polls we've seen this election season are not the best. In order to believe the polls are accurate, one would have to think voter sentiment can swing dramatically in the space of one week, and that the choice of Sarah Palin hasn't made a difference in GOP enthusiasm.

You would also have to believe that only 27% of those who show up to vote on election day will be Republicans. And let's face it - the media has been allowing bias to affect their coverage. Why wouldn't that bias extend to the polls they commission?

Some of the pollsters have justified their out-of-whack party distribution numbers by assuming that Obama will bring in huge numbers of new voters. How well did that work out for him in the primary? He lost the big rural states and his massive army of new voters was only good enough to give him a bare win over Hillary Clinton in pledged delegates. I should mention there's growing evidence to suggest he cheated his way into a primary victory.

So don't believe garbage polls like these. Look at the historical trends on party ID advantage - a ten-point Democratic advantage is a full six points over historical norms.

The spread was only three points in 2006, which wasn't exactly a good year for Republicans.

I say again: the polls are crap.

Will this election be a hard slog? Absolutely. Should we give up and wait for an Obama coronation? Not me. I think there's still a chance. If you need more encouragement, the PUMAs are quoting Ronald Reagan. Yes, you read that right.

(Optimism h/t: Treacher and Lucas)

Posted by: Slublog at 05:05 AM | Comments (115)
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It's official policy.

Geraghty's "Obi-Wan" tells us:

"Believe me, there is someone in the Obama campaign who is deathly afraid of the 'McCain pulls even or goes ahead' poll." (And in Gallup, it was within 2 percent.) "That Obama strategist knows how much depends on the whole Chuck Schumer and Rahm Emanuel approach —.work with the media to demoralize conservatives, and keep the perception of a juggernaut going. But a day or two of a few bad polls, and that strategy backfires. The conservatives know they've still got a shot at this."

Posted by: Open Blog at 12:43 AM | Comments (79)
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