Richard Schiff: Who Knew?

Richard Schiff, the actor from The West Wing, possibly the best show ever aired on teevee, has a remarkable piece on HuffPo. You should just click that link and read it.

My wife made me canvass for Obama; here's what I learned - Yahoo! News

This is really good. You should just read it...

Back in the USSR!

Ben Smith tells us: McCain camp hits up Russian envoy

Russia's permanent mission to the UN has received a letter from U.S. Republican presidential candidate John McCain asking for financial support of his election campaign, the mission said in a statement on Monday.

"We have received a letter from Senator John McCain with a request for a financial donation to his presidential election campaign. In this respect we have to reiterate that neither Russia's permanent mission to the UN nor the Russian government or its officials finance political activities in foreign countries," the statement said.

According to Ruslan Bakhtin, press secretary of the Russian mission, the letter dated September 29 and signed by McCain, was addressed to Vitaly Churkin, Russia's envoy to the UN, and arrived on October 16.

The ambassador's title was not included in the letter, and was not clear why the letter had taken over two weeks to arrive.

Enclosed was a request for a donation of up to $5,000 to McCain's election campaign to be returned with a check or permission to withdraw the money from the donor's credit card until October 24.

I can't believe this. This was probably a massive mistake (I hope). Even so, it could be a very embarrassing event in an already embarrassing campaign.

God I love this...

I laughed and laughed... Thanks Senator for a great way to add some humor to my day. (Too bad it had to be at your expense)

Chickens coming home to roost...

CNN Political Ticker: Buckley leaves National Review after Obama endorsement � - Blogs from CNN.com

(CNN) — Christopher Buckley, the son of conservative icon William F. Buckley, said Tuesday he's resigned from the conservative National Review days after endorsing Barack Obama's White House bid, among the most powerful symbols yet of the conservative discontent expressed this election cycle.

In an online column, Buckley said he had decided to offer his resignation from the magazine his father founded after hundreds of readers and some National Review colleagues expressed outrage he was backing the Illinois senator.

"While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for," Buckley wrote.

"Eight years of 'conservative' government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case," he also wrote.

I am amazed. The thought that the son of the modern conservative movement could make this kind of a statement at this time in the election cycle is absolutely breathtaking. I applaud him for his reasonable view on the bigger picture. Welcome Christopher, We're glad you are here.

Troopergate report: Palin abused power: Gov. Sarah Palin | adn.com

Troopergate report: Palin abused power: Gov. Sarah Palin | adn.com:


"A legislative investigation has concluded that Gov. Sarah Palin abused her power in pushing for the firing of an Alaska state trooper who was once married to her sister.

The report by investigator Steve Branchflower was made public late this afternoon by a 12-0 vote of the Legislative Council, which authorized the investigation."

Exclusive: Obama buys half-hour of network primetime--The Live Feed

The Live Feed has the Exclusive:

Barack Obama has purchased a half-hour of airtime on CBS, sources confirm.

The Obama campaign will air a half-hour primetime special on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m.

Sources say the Obama camp is also in talks with NBC and Fox. NBC is said to be very near a deal. With Fox, the matter is likely to remain uncertain as the time period could conflict with Game 6 of the World Series.

A CBS spokesperson declined comment. The buy will push comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine" to 8:30 p.m. and pre-empt "Gary Unmarried." The buy is being placed by Washington-based ad firm GMMB.

The direct purchase of such a large block of national airtime right before an election used to be more commonplace before campaigns began to focus their end game strategies exclusively on battleground states. Such a move is not without precedent in modern presidential politics, however -- Ross Perot did a similar purchase in 1992.