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.

Margaret and Helen

Margaret and Helen Have a blog. and it might just be one of the best I have read. there are not many posts but those that are there are great. Go take a look!

Where the hell did McCain go?!

Debate Audience Members were caught off guard when John McCain left immediately after the debate last night:

“McCain leaving right afterward was pretty shocking to me – even some of the big McCain fans among us were really surprised he did that,” Ms. Jackson said. “I thought the Obamas came off like real people much more in the end.”

Ms. Trella added: for, “I was very impressed that the Obamas stayed til the very end, shook everyone’s hand, and just seemed very accessible. I think they won some people over by just sticking around and seeming happy to talk more.”

I saw this last night while I was watching the end of the debate. I kept asking my wife "Where the hell is McCain?" "Did he leave?"

Apparently he did, and lost a chance to talk to the people who might just have turned the night for him.

Wherein You Hear the Words "John McCain" and "Ultra Right Wing Death Squads" In the Same Context

The AP has this little story that may gain some traction...

AP) GOP presidential nominee John McCain has past connections to a private group that supplied aid to guerrillas seeking to overthrow the leftist government of Nicaragua in the Iran-Contra affair.

McCain's ties are facing renewed scrutiny after his campaign criticized Barack Obama for his link to a former radical who engaged in violent acts 40 years ago.

The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe.

No... Seriously? Does that say Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads? and what was McCain's job? Oh right... He was on the BOARD OF DIRECTORS!

McCain Lawyer's Up!

Eric Kleefeld at TPM has the report of the conference call heard round the world!:

"On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, held in response to the Obama campaign's ramped-up attacks on McCain's involvement in the scandal, the campaign brought out attorney John Dowd, who served as McCain's counsel at the time. Dowd declared that he vehemently disagreed with the judgment of the Senate Ethics Committee that McCain had made some serious mistakes. 'That's not something that as his counsel I accepted,' Dowd said."

That's quite a reversal of the story coming from McCain. HAsn't anyone ever told him that involving your lawyer on media calls makes you look like you have something to hide? Am I alone in seeing this as a really bad call? (Pun intended...)

Best. Comment. Evah.

jaycee, Ventura, CA (Sent Monday, October 06, 2008 9:35 AM) - msnbc.com

"So let’s review John McCain’s maverick brand of experienced leadership during the current financial crisis. First he reflexively pulls out his old stump speech line and reassures everyone that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Whoops. He says the crisis does not warrant bailing out insurance giant American International Group, only to reverse course the very next day calling the rescue of AIG “regrettable, but unavoidable.” Then he decides he needs to look decisive and blames it all on the SEC chairman, as though we can hang the entire global financial mess around the neck of a single goat and drive it into the wilderness. Maybe he thought it would divert attention from his own role in creating the lax regulatory environment that allowed this mess to develop.

With his scapegoating gambit failing to attract much of a following, John decides he’s really going to take charge and refuses to campaign or debate until a bailout agreement is reached. Or until he turns blue. He makes a dramatic return to Washington to force a meeting with the president and the principal negotiators so he could work some that old bipartisan maverick magic. The meeting degenerates into a shouting match that derails the process. McCain fails to even take a stand on the wildly divergent Republican views expressed during a meeting that he called in order to look like he’s taking charge. With his big move going nowhere, John reverses course and decides he will debate and resume campaigning without an agreement after all.

After losing the debate John heads right back to Washington for the weekend, determined this time to jump into the driver’s seat. He issues a high-minded call to put aside partisanship while pointing his finger at Barack Obama, whom he now claims was square in the middle of the Washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling. Never mind that for months John’s been desperately trying to paint Obama as the inexperienced guy who started running for president within weeks of arriving in Washington.

John makes a big show over the weekend of working the phones and scrambling around to the front of the Republican pack so it looks like he’s in the lead. Monday morning he takes credit for bringing his troops to save the day. Problem is, John hasn’t even noticed that 2/3 of his troops wandered off down a side street along the way. The bill goes down to defeat after John has already declared victory. A bad habit of his.

In stark contrast to the flailing floundering maverick, Barack Obama has again demonstrated that he possesses the intelligence, temperament, and resolve to steer through troubled waters with a steady hand. He understands that a leader must recognize when intervention will help and when it will hurt, a lesson John McCain seems to have missed in all those years of experience. One of many such lessons. If all John’s experience can’t help him make good decisions, then how much is it really worth? The guy is plain unreliable and his chaotic decision-making process makes him a dangerous choice for president in today’s complex and threatening world.

Couldn't have said it better myself....

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan is a bit preoccupied with this but it does bear some looking into. The story here is quite sensational and not just a little bit of a privacy invasion. I also am not too sure if I would have the cojones to really ask about it myself but there are enough mysteries now to get my interest. It seems that the latest in the Palin clan has no record of his birth at the hospital that he was supposed to be born at.

The birth in question has all of the ringing of truth you might expect but there has been no certificate. Nothing that might shut up the other crazy left wingers that are so into this. It seems that if you really wanted to put this pernicious rumor to rest you could just get the document and publish it. I mean they gave up their tax returns and all, why not just slam the door on this? I originally had no doubt that this was all a load of hooey dreamed up by some on my side of the aisle that couldn't take her seriously but the fact that there are no records of this birth ever having occurred is disturbing....