Monitor the results here:

http://ww2.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/returns/2008/recount/msenco.html

Today, truthseeker77 published a "comments disabled" post entitled Keith Olbermann and the straw man fallacy.  I'm not recommending that you read it.  In fact, I didn't read it, and I'm making it a general rule to never read posts that have comments disabled.  But after I clicked the link, I realized that when someone posts something that looks interesting or provocative, I often scroll down to the comments first--before reading the post.  I guess sometimes the effect is more interesting to me than the cause.  Seeing that grey "COMMENTS DISABLED" thing at the bottom of the post caused me to reach for the Back button before the page had even finished loading. 

The futility and arrogance of trying to prevent replies to your public pronouncements should be obvious to all, but apparently it's not.  In my opinion, disabling comments is a silly, cowardly practice, and I'd like to see a warning right on the "Recent Reader Posts" list so I could avoid clicking the link in the first place. 

At any rate, if you happen to feel the overwhelming urge to read and/or respond to truthseeker77's post, please feel free to use the space below to reply to whatever the hell it was truthseeker77 wrote.

COMMENTS ENABLED

An interesting tidbit from the Minnesota Independent:

"Less than two months after he was elected in 2002, Norm Coleman used the power of his yet-to-be-assumed U.S. Senate office to try to leverage a presidential pardon for convicted money launderer and Tom Petters associate Frank Vennes Jr. And two years after that, Coleman wrote yet another pardon plea on Vennes' behalf.

Vennes, whose criminal record includes 1986 pleas of guilty and no contest to a set of charges involving money-laundering, drug and firearms charges, is currently implicated -- though not yet charged -- in the Tom Petters financial fraud scandal. As Jon Tevlin reported in the Star Tribune, Vennes' home was raided by federal authorities on September 24, and "[a]ccording to a federal search warrant affidavit, Vennes was a facilitator who persuaded five major investors to invest $1.2 billion in companies controlled by Petters. The document says Vennes collected more than $28 million in commissions for his work."

Read the rest here:

http://minnesotaindependent.com/17098/norm-coleman-like-michele-bachmann-wrote-pardon-letters-on-behalf-of-petters-associate-frank-vennes-jr

Obama won Ohio.  Go to bed, you crazy nuts--it's over.

Now that it no longer matters, William Ayers starts answering the phone:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2008/11/mr-ayerss-neighborhood.html

"[Ayers] said that he laughed, too, when he listened to Sarah Palin's descriptions of Obama 'palling around with terrorists.' In fact, Ayers said that he knew Obama only slightly: 'I think my relationship with Obama was probably like that of thousands of others in Chicago and, like millions and millions of others, I wished I knew him better.'"

Stumping for McCain in Oxford, Ohio, House Minority Leader John Boehner called Obama out for his "present" votes:

"Now, listen, I've voted 'present' two or three times in my entire 25-year political career, where there might have been a conflict of interest and I didn't feel like I should vote," Boehner said. "In Congress, we have a red button, a green button and a yellow button, alright. Green means 'yes,' red means 'no,' and yellow means you're a chickenshit. And the last thing we need in the White House, in the oval office, behind that big desk, is some chicken who wants to push this yellow button."

Only one problem for Boehner: In the House, the equivalent to a present vote is to abstain.  And in contrast to Obama's present votes, which accounted for 3 percent of his total votes cast, Boeher has abstained 5 percent of the time.  Apparently the "chickenshit" button gets plenty of use in Boehnerland.

This is an absolute must-read:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302081.html?nav=hcmodule

"The themes and messages that are galvanizing the crowds for Palin are bleeding Sens. John Sununu in New Hampshire, Gordon Smith in Oregon, Norm Coleman in Minnesota and Susan Collins in Maine. The Palin approach might have been expected to work better in more traditionally conservative states such as Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, but they have not worked well enough to compensate for the weak Republican economic message at a moment of global financial crisis. Result: the certain loss of John Warner's Senate seat in Virginia, the probable loss of Elizabeth Dole's in North Carolina, an unexpectedly tough fight for Saxby Chambliss's in Georgia -- and an apparent GOP surrender in Colorado, where it looks as if the National Republican Senatorial Committee has already pulled its ads from the air.

The fundraising challenge only makes things worse. The Republican senatorial and congressional committees have badly underperformed compared with their Democratic counterparts -- and the Republican National Committee, which has done well, is directing its money toward the presidential campaign, rather than to local races. (It was RNC funds, not McCain '08 money, that paid the now-famous $150,000 for Palin's campaign wardrobe, for example.) This is a huge mistake.

In these last days before the vote, Republicans need to face some strategic realities. Our resources are limited, and our message is failing. We cannot fight on all fronts. We are cannibalizing races that we must win and probably can win in order to help a national campaign that is almost certainly lost. In these final 10 days, our goal should be: senators first."

OK, I never post stuff like this, but this one's just too funny (and too amazing):


Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off - Watch more free videos

Landslide.  LANDSLIDE.  Land.  Slide.

You guys need to learn to trust me.

Peace.
Love.
Obama.
Out.

Landslide.

Joe Biden's "rhetorical flourish" about Obama being "tested" appears to have gained a bit of traction.  I'm not sure it will do any lasting damage, but why risk it?  Biden could easily turn things around by pointing out two simple facts:

1).  When John McCain asserts that Obama would be tested by our enemies but that he would not, he's either being dangerously arrogant or cluelessly naive.  Any new administration will be tested for weakness, style, etc.  To assume that you've already been tested, as McCain is doing, is absurd.  There's no presidential aptitude test that you take once and then go on your merry way.  Biden needs to point this out.  John McCain will be tested, and he will most likely fail because he doesn't have the temperament of a leader.  He is erratic, indecisive, hot-headed, impulsive and unpredictable.  Precisely what we don't need in these dangerous times.

2). If something were to happen to McCain, Sarah Palin would most certainly be tested.  That is a prospect too frightening to consider.  She is hopelessly unprepared for the job, and Sarah Palin in the Oval Office would put our nation's security in grave danger.  We can not afford to take a chance on either one of them.

Obama has made his case.  He's passed the Commander-In-Chief threshold for the majority of Americans.  This is the perfect opportunity to drive the final nail in the McCain campaign's coffin.

Michele Bachmann, unrepentant and lying like a rug on Minneapolis' WCCO.  Apparently, this whole "misunderstanding" was Chris Matthews' fault.

http://www.830wcco.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=3005974&topic=true

If you'd prefer to download it, here's a link:

http://www.830wcco.com/episode_download.php?contentType=36&contentId=3005974

Just found some photos of Obama in St. Louis.  Unbelievable.  Who would have thought so many anti-American, terrorist-sympathizing, vote-stealing, baby-killing, communists could be living in one midwestern city?

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Hope%20And%20Change/408

God, this is a great country.

The McCain campaign has issued a response to Bob Bauer's letter to Attorney General Mukasey.  As one might expect, their response is a huge load of horseshit.

"The letter's request that the Department of Justice investigate 'recent partisan Republican activities throughout the country' is almost a parody of the Obama campaign's attempt to intimidate their political opponents. In case Sen. Obama's lawyer did not notice, we are in the midst of a political campaign, not a coronation, and the alleged criminal activity he calls 'recent partisan Republican activities' are what the rest of us call campaign speeches and debates. All of this is unfortunately reminiscent of the Obama campaign's recent creation of a 'truth squad' of Missouri prosecutors and sheriffs to 'target' people who criticize Sen. Obama. Rest assured that, despite these threats, the McCain-Palin campaign will continue to address the serious issue of voter registration fraud by ACORN and other partisan groups, and compliance by states with the Help America Vote Act's requirement of matching new voter registrations with state data bases to prevent voter fraud."

In case the McCain campaign missed it, one reason we know about the voter registration problems is because ACORN has been in complete compliance with the Help America Vote Act.  Like I said, this is a huge load of horseshit.

http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/2008/10/mccain_camp_responds_to_obamas_1.html

From CNN:

"Sen. Barack Obama cautioned supporters Thursday morning against becoming complacent during the final days leading up to the election, noting he lost the New Hampshire primary despite a lead in the polls. After debating Sen. John McCain, Sen. Barack Obama says there's still plenty of campaigning to be done. 'For those of you who are feeling giddy or cocky and think this is all set, I just have two words for you: New Hampshire.'"

Sage advice from a guy who knows.

Read the rest here:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/16/campaign.wrap/index.html

It's pretty clear that CNN's Drew Griffin is totally in the tank for the Republican Party.  And he's doing his best to keep this whole ACORN "voter fraud" farce alive.  Griffin is well on his way to a P-U litzer prize for sure.  This morning on CNN, he and ACORN organizer Bertha Lewis got into it live on CNN.  In true Republican style, Griffin tried his best to prevent Lewis from making her points, but Lewis wasn't having any of it.  In the end, Lewis said what she came to say, and I'm pretty sure I heard Griffin mutter at one point, "I can't do this interview."

Update--here's the video: