Whilst walking the dog this rainy evening, I happened upon an illuminated, inflatable lawn ornament of the Halloween variety.
These decorations are an easy, relatively inexpensive way to acknowledge the holiday. They require little or no thought beyond which one to buy and where to buy it. The set-up is easy, so is the [...]

Something has been bugging me all weekend.
I’ve never been to Chicago. From what friends and family have told me, The Windy City is indeed a great place. There is lots to see and do.
But you wouldn’t be told that if you asked any number of right-wing-talking-heads. To these folks, Chicago is a [...]

I write one, Jason writes one, I write another, and Jason writes another.
And so I write this…

Here are the facts. Racism has been rising steadily over the last few months. In recent polls, President Obama’s job approval number has dropped from 70% to 50%. This means the percentage of racists in this country has risen from 30% to 50% – a 67% increase in only eight months! Even more alarming, close to one out of two Americans are now racist. We have reached a tipping point. If this trend continues, the racists will soon be in a majority. Now, more than ever, we need the pundits and sages of the mainstream media to speak out.

As I said before, I’m completely and absolutely bewildered at how this even turned into a story.
And, by the way, shame on all of you who needlessly fueled this fire. If you really want to set a good example for your children, how about teaching them to not jump to conclusions. Think that might be [...]

My head is starting to spin. Luckily for me, Conor Clarke can make some sense of it all:
What’s the logical conclusion here? Do we boycott and counter-boycott, until we’ve whittled ourselves down to country of red and blue companies as well as red and blue states? There’s nothing to stop us. Fox is well [...]

This kind of partisan political posturing (like astroturfing) is par for the course, pretty much the same old tried and true game of demonizing opposition to rally your team and get your bill passed. Not exactly “hope and change”, more like “same ol’ stuff”, but it doesn’t bother me. It can create problems though – if you don’t finesse it just right.

Republicans can call Arlen Specter an opportunist all they like and maybe they’re right. But the fact remains, the senator’s party jump is the direct result of the Republican’s increasing intolerance of moderates within their party.
I understand that Specter is not a model Republican and that a primary challenge is often the price a politician [...]

“The time has come for both left and right in this country to rediscover what philosophers call the “principle of charity” which asserts that a discussant’s argument should be interpreted in the way most compatible with the assumption that they are reasonable and well-intentioned.”
- Jason Arvak in his post “On Lowering The Partisan Heat.
Here’s more…
[...]

We’re less than three months into this new presidency and we’re already hearing people on the right wing talking about how people could start rioting.
Why?
Because some dishwasher detergents are being banned in Washington.
I’m not kidding.
Between this and the Tea Party stuff, I really think Republicans are cutting any credibility out from under them when [...]

After months of pleas from the small business community, the New York Times (the so-called paper of record) finally decided to cover some of the central elements of the legislation. Except that it was not an article discussing the potential costs of the legislation; nor was it even an article discussing the debate over [...]

Oddly reminiscent of some recent comments I’ve read.
Hmmm… I wonder if Nancy is commenting here on the Donk with sock puppets.
h/t Joe Gandelman at the Moderate Voice

Me, elsewhere:
Over the last few months, there has been much finger-pointing as to which particular sect of the old GOP coalition is to blame for the policy failures of the last 8 years and the electoral failures of the last 2 years…..I think these accusations are deeply misplaced – the problems have not been caused [...]

No doubt he’s thankful for Obama’s intervention so he could keep his seniority and charimanships. So now we’re seeing some penance. Certainly not necessary, but definitely appreciated.

Brokaw certainly put the screws to him, and I think it’s fair that Lieberman was taking the “Look, McCain was my friend and I supported him. What do you [...]

Well, I got duped. But then again, so did MSNBC.
And not only that, Martin Eisenstadt does it in the blogosphere.
How very Smear 2.0 of him…
As you know, I was one of the foreign policy advisers on the McCain campaign who worked with Randy Scheunemann to help prep Sarah on her debate with Joe Biden.
Did [...]

A link to a video of Obama supposedly giving McCain the finger is on the front page right now…

Boy, yeah, that’s damning. How dare he.
jeezus…

Remember she of SNL fame?
Well, she apparently thinks that Obama may literally be the devil.
And no, it’s not a joke…
I don’t want a political label, but Obama bears traits that resemble the anti- Christ and I’m scared to death that un- educated people will ignorantly vote him into office.
You see, what bothers me most, [...]

And we have studies to prove it…
Now used with equal zest by presidential candidates and unknowns running for low-level office, the calls that have generated controversy this month have been fixtures of national campaigns since the mid-1990s – despite little statistical evidence that they do anything more than annoy recipients.
“We, so far, found a perfect [...]

TIME has more messaging…
Mailer says Obama “thinks terrorists just need a good talking to” and is “not who you think he is.”
Being mailed in Missouri and Virginia.
Here’s McCain’s response…

Absolutely?
By the way, if Obama isn’t who we think he is…WHO is he? That’s the question I’d like McCain to answer. Tell us who he really [...]

Watch.

Anti-Americanism is now the mantra for the right wing.
Expect this to be the meme if Obama wins.