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Fox, CNN, CBS Reaction Groups: Obama Won
Posted by Sam Stein, Huffington Post on October 7, 2008 at 9:02 PM.
The insta-polls, which provide viewers with a somewhat skewed but important insight into how each candidate fared say, by and large, that Obama scored a victory in the second debate.
NBC's focus group of undecided Pennsylvania voters had the Illinois Democrat winning by roughly a 60-40 split. Frank Luntz's focus group, over at Fox, showed undecided voters leaning towards Obama because of his position on health care. CBS's focus group of independents had the Democratic nominee winning the debate at 39 percent to McCain's 27 percent, with 35 percent of the respondents saying it was a tie. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a Democratic polling firm, had a focus group of undecideds leaning to Obama by a margin of 42 percent to 24 percent.
Meanwhile, SurveyUSA interviewed 741 debate watchers in the state of Washington, 54 percent of whom thought Obama was the "clear winner" compared with McCain's 29 percent. That same polling firm had the first debate as a tie. In tonight's survey: 42 percent of respondents said McCain was too forceful.
And the CNN focus group of undecided voters in Ohio had the margin at an even wider spread: Obama 54 percent to McCain's 30.
A look at some of the specific issues that these Ohio voters valued suggest that they prefer the candidate who, at least on the surface, appears less on the attack. When Obama discussed health care as a right for all Americans, his numbers were through the roof. At one point, female respondents were dialing in at 100 percent approval. When he talked about using diplomacy in Darfur and pursuing Bin Laden in Pakistan, he again enjoyed strongly enthusiastic responses.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
McCain Shows Disdain at Debate: Calls Obama 'That One'
Posted by Seth Colter Walls, Huffington Post on October 7, 2008 at 8:01 PM.
During a discussion about energy, McCain punctuates a contrast with Obama by referring to him as "that one," while once again not looking in his opponent's direction (merely jabbing a finger across his chest). That's not going to win McCain any Miss Congeniality points. Nor will it reassure any voters who believe McCain is improperly trying to capitalize on Obama's "otherness."
This goes beyond refusing to look at Obama in the first debate. With this slightly dehumanizing phrase, McCain may have just played into the emerging narrative of Obama-hate that has been sprouting at McCain-Palin rallies.
Darren Davis, a professor at Notre Dame who specializes in role of race in politics, sent a comment about McCain's "that one" line to the Huffington Post. "It speaks volumes about how McCain feels personally about Obama. Whomever said the town hall format helps McCain is dead wrong," Davis wrote.
A few minutes later, Obama spokesman Bill Burton placed his foot on the pedal ever so slightly. In an email blast to reporters, he asks: "Did John McCain just refer to Obama as 'that one'?" No other commentary followed, nor did any mention of race. But expect the post-debate analysis to get a little focused on whether McCain just made a regrettable faux pas.
AlterNet is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed by its writers are their own.
BushCo on Whether the Country is in a Recession: 'Don't Know'
Posted by Amanda Terkel, Think Progress on October 7, 2008 at 2:01 PM.
Today, reporters questioned White House Press Secretary Dana Perino on whether the U.S. economy is now in a recession. Perino, however, was unable to answer and became frustrated when reporters continued to push her:
Q Do you think the U.S. economy is in a recession?
MS. PERINO: You know I don't think that we know. ... So I couldn't say. The classic definition of a recession is not something that we could determine now, or forecast. It's something that people look back on. [...]
I don't know -- look, April, I don't know if there's -- if we are in a recession right now. And in fact, there's no one who could actually tell you if we precisely are in a recession right now. [...]
But I don't think anybody could tell you right now if we're in a recession or not. Those are just -- those are determinations that come later.
Watch it:
President Bush and his administration have long resisted admitting that the economy is in trouble by quibbling about the technical definition of "recession."
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Lil' Bill O'Reilly: "We'll Do It Live! F*ck It!"
Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films on October 7, 2008 at 12:42 PM.
Ever wonder if Bill O'Reilly was always such a bigoted, hate-filled shock jock? Check out Lil' Bill weighing in on the important issues -- the resemblance is uncanny!
Jerome 'Swift Boat' Corsi Taken to Task, Arrested in Kenya
Posted by Jane Hamsher, Firedoglake on October 7, 2008 at 11:01 AM.
Jerome Corsi was arrested in Kenya yesterday (and will soon be deported) evidently in the midst of a publicity stunt regarding Obama's extended family.
But he and I did a bloggingheads session last week that is up today on the website. Over the course of the discussion, we establish that:
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
McCain Voted to Protect Domestic Terrorists
Posted by Ryan Powers, Think Progress on October 7, 2008 at 8:56 AM.
Yesterday morning on CBS's Early Show, McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer attempted to defend Gov. Sarah Palin's (R-AK) debunked claims that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has been "palling around" with former radical William Ayers. Referencing a recent New York Times article, Pfotenhauer claimed that if McCain "hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics" it would be a legitimate topic of discussion. She explained:
PFOTENHAUER: The article also concluded is that if Senator McCain had hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics, no one would consider [raising the issue] illegitimate.
Watch it:
Pfotenhauer's invocation of abortion clinic bombers in defense of McCain is ironic given that McCain has repeatedly voted against protecting Americans from domestic terrorists in the anti-choice movement. On multiple occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government's ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
When Their Supporters Call Obama a Terrorist and Demand His Assassination, McCain and Palin Remain Silent
Posted by Baratunde Thurston, Jack & Jill Politics on October 7, 2008 at 6:52 AM.
Everyone has their threshold. I've just reached mine. Thanks to AmericaBlog for pointing me to this and this. Also a hat tip to TPM Election Central.
John "Country Last" McCain and Sarah Palin held some truly hate filled rallies on Monday. Here's a montage from McCain's hatefest 2008
During this rally, a McCain supporter answers the question posed by Senator Country Last, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" The unmistakable answer: terrorist!
McCain says nothing.
From The Washington Post and AmericaBlog on Palin's rally:
"Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers," Palin said.
"Boooo!" said the crowd.
"And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,'" she continued.
"Boooo!" the crowd repeated.
"Kill him!" proposed one man in the audience.
Palin went on to say that "Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers's living room, and they've worked together on various projects in Chicago."
Palin says nothing.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Olbermann's Special Comment Scorches Palin for Slandering Obama
Posted by Brave New Films, MSNBC on October 7, 2008 at 6:32 AM.
Watch Keith Olbermann deliver a Special Comment smack down of Sarah Palin for her remarks that Obama was "pallin' around with terrorists."
McCain Campaign Finally Agrees to Send Spokeswoman to Rachel Maddow Show
Posted by Ali Frick, Think Progress on October 6, 2008 at 1:31 PM.
After repeatedly rejecting MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's invitations to appear on her show, the campaign for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finally sent aide Nancy Pfotenhauer to appear as a guest on Friday night. Maddow opened by saying she "could not be happier" to welcome Pfotenhauer:
Since this show started, we have been talking a lot about what's been going wrong with he McCain campaign and what they or he the candidate could do about it. But we have yet to have the benefit of hearing directly from anyone from the McCain campaign to share with us their view of the state of the race. That all changed tonight, and I could not be happier about it.
Maddow asked Pfotenhauer about Friday's Washington Post article detailing McCain's Senate chief of staff's close and lucrative ties to Freddie Mac -- coupled with McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, who earned millions lobbying for Fannie and Freddie. Pfotenhauer brushed off the question, claiming "everybody has plenty of associations to point to." Watch it:
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in VP Debate on SNL
Posted by Staff, Huffington Post on October 6, 2008 at 8:57 AM.
Saturday Night Live's sketch about the vice presidential debate starred Queen Latifah as debate moderator Gwen Ifill, as well as Tina Fey, reprising her role as Governor Sarah Palin.
WATCH:
Watch 5 more video's from last night's SNL here, including a Bailout sketch and an SNL digital short. Hosted by Ann Hathaway with musical guest The Killers.
The Return of McCain's Keating 5 Scandal
Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films on October 6, 2008 at 7:25 AM.
John McCain has called his Keating Five experience "the worst mistake of my life." The Obama campaign, however, insists McCain has learned nothing from this mistake. Today at noon Eastern, they are launching a 13-minute documentary highlighting McCain's involvement in the savings-and-loan scandal: www.keatingeconomics.com
In the 1980s, McCain strong-armed federal regulators to protect Charles Keating, the crooked banker at the center of the S&L crisis. McCain had accepted $112,000 in campaign contributions, gifts, and trips from Keating, a McCain family friend. Keating went to prison; McCain was only rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for his "poor judgment."
While McCain has tried to rebrand himself as a reformer since the darkest days of his congressional career, his hand in the current economic crisis echoes his Keating Five experience. McCain and his economic adviser Phil Gramm led the charge on the deregulation that helped cause the financial collapse, and McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis was on Freddie Mac's lobbyist payroll from 2005 until August 2008. And both the 1980's S&L scandal and the current economic meltdown resulted in massive bailouts at the taxpayers' expense.
Check out www.keatingeconomics.com at noon Eastern to learn more about McCain's unethical pattern of pushing for deregulation. Politico has more on this story.
Before the Next Debate: Reach People Who Don't Know the Real McCain
Posted by Robert Greenwald, Brave New Films on October 6, 2008 at 6:28 AM.
I was in a deep conversation with some Brave New Films supporters recently. They were enthusiastic about the value of our videos in spreading the truth and motivating support, but they kept asking, “How do you reach people who don’t agree with you?” Seems like a good time to explain why we ask you to forward the videos, Digg them, and encourage people to get their own free Brave New Films video subscription. Before the attacks of the next debate, it is critical to get this information to as many people as possible.
Every day, our 20 videos on John McCain are seen by several hundred thousand people searching and browsing the Internet for information on McCain. They are literally typing in “john mccain” into Google, where our video is the #4 result. The same search on YouTube yields several more videos from The Real McCain series, which will only increase in the coming weeks. So far, these videos have received over 11 million views.
Think about it, if you didn’t know much about John McCain, what would you do? Probably two things. Type “john mccain” into Google, and ask your friends what they think.
That’s where YOU come in. When you get an e-mail from us with our latest video, what happens in the next 24 hours determines how far the video will reach outside the audience who would typically watch it. The more views on the video, the higher it goes on YouTube’s most viewed pages, seen by 60 million people a month. The more people who Digg it–a critical tool to reach those outside the choir–the better chance we have of getting on the Digg homepage, which is seen by 20 million people a month.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Ifill: Palin 'Blew Me Off' During the Debate
Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress on October 6, 2008 at 4:18 AM.
During the vice presidential debate on Thursday, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced that she "may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear." In fact, "On at least 10 occasions, Palin gave answers that were nonspecific, completely generic, pivoted away from the question at hand, or simply ignored it." On NBC’s Meet The Press today, debate moderator Gwen Ifill said that Palin "more than ignored" her questions. "Blew me off I think is the technical term," said Ifill. Watch it:
Woodward: Bush Said His Iran Strategy Was "They're A**holes"
Posted by Jed Lewison, Huffington Post on October 5, 2008 at 8:57 AM.
There's been so much going on with the campaign lately that I hadn't paid much attention to Bob Woodward's newest book, The War Within.
Recently Woodward was on Real Time with Bill Maher and he relayed a couple of interesting items.
First, he said that during White House discussions on Iran, a senior military leader asked Bush what his strategy was. Bush's answer? "They're assholes." Just gives you a sense as to how crude and clueless our current president is, and how desperately we need a change.
Second -- and this was really interesting -- he maintained that the surge was not the cause of the decrease in violence in Iraq. Instead, Woodward said a covert program run by the U.S. military was the primary reason for the decrease in violence. Woodward didn't get specific, but it basically sounded like a targeted assassinations program.
According to Woodward, the administration has confirmed his account. Seems like that might be something for McCain to ponder the next time he wants to say that the surge is the defining reason he ought to be elected president.
Bush 2000 = Palin 2008
Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress on October 4, 2008 at 2:00 PM.
On MSNBC, Countdown aired a video compilation showing the similarity in rhetoric between George W. Bush in 2000 and Sarah Palin in 2008. Keith Olbermann reported that “the people around [Palin] — the top-level campaign staffers crafting her message of change and reform — are almost all from the inner-circle of the same Bush campaigns and administration from which she offers that change.” He concluded, “Small surprise then that even in the very act of claiming her background, her experience qualify her to offer us that change from Bush, she does so sounding almost exactly like Bush.”
Progressive Accountability put together its own Bush-Palin video compilation earlier today. Check it out here.
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