Looks like Palin is a cash cow.

The only problem is that its Obama who is reaping the rewards...

Obama's coffers have been filling since Sarah Palin attacked him repeatedly in St. Paul last night.

An Obama aide confirms Drudge's report that Obama has raised about $8 million from more than 130,000 donors and is on pace to raise $10 million by the time McCain reaches the stage tonight.

The Daily Show doing what it does best p@wning partisans...

Or at least the house in which the idea of him was born.



More information is available at Neil Gaiman's Journal.

Also if you'd be so kind as to Digg that post I'd greatly appreciate it. Its also on Reddit.

*Update*
As always I put my money where my mouth is.

*Further Update*
According to a tweet from internet icon Jonathan Coulton Mr Rogers is in a bit of danger too.

Looks like somebody whipped one up since none seem to exist online. The original is here and the photoshopped one is here.

Don't you just love what passes for political discourse during an election year?

H/T Polimom

Google beta released its new browser called Chrome today. I of course downloaded it and took it for a test drive.  While its decidedly minimalist browser I give it really high marks for speed. It opens fast and loads multimedia laden pages like CNN in the blink of an eye. I've yet to get it to crash which is impressive for a beta version of any program. 

In case you haven't noticed the coverage of McCain's veep pick has all but dominated the news cycle over the holiday weekend. And if the MSM's coverage has been excessive then the political blogosphere's coverage has been to the saturation point. One benefit of this flood of coverage has been that much was made known about Palin in a very short period of time. Unfortunately both the MSM and and many in blogtopia went beyond sifting Palin's past and also put her family under a microscope. That's a line that shouldn't be crossed. The result has been days of ad hominem attacks on both Palin and her family, rank condescension by the MSM, and a stream of vitriol on the left that is normally reserved only for W himself. In fact the treatment of her family became so bad that even Obama tried to reign it in.

A side effect of this has been that the base has circled the wagons around Palin and by extension McCain. Additionally I think the nonstop coverage of McCain's decision to make Palin his second forced many independents to reevaluate their position on a McCain presidency. How that pans out remains to be seen although early polling suggests Palin polls more positively received amongst men than women. I've seen many question the judgement of McCain in picking Palin. I myself said it was risky. Its obvious that he needed someone socially conservative enough to get that demographic behind him. I said earlier that she was a risky choice. But I can't help but wonder if McCain's campaign suspected that this would happen. By that I mean that by picking Palin they would bring out the worst that the left has to offer and therefore give them just enough rope to hang themselves.

We'll have to wait for the post convention polls to see if that proves to be true.

Thanks to The Big Stick for linking to this post.

That was my original thought when I heard Palin was announced as VP. Having given it a little more thought though I have to say that McCain's decision is a calculated risk. McCain had to know that this would generate more buzz than Biden being tapped for veep would ever get. Additionally during an election that is about change it allows him to have a a running mate that doesn't promote the GOP old white guy stereotype. To some degree Palin's views will help assuage part of the GOP base. It could also greatly influence the outcome of the VP debates.

Because Biden repeatedly ripping Romney (or Jindal or Pawlenty) a new one would have the equivalent of political bloodsport if he does the same thing to Palin he'll just appear to be a bully. That means Biden will have to walk a fine line and that's not something he's particularly good at.

On the other hand he chose an inexperienced governor of a sparsely populated state. But if she's as personable and as smart as I hear, campaigns well, and can keep Biden off balance she might be given a pass. After all America seems to have a fascination with fresh faces this election season.

Plus she's not Romney.

Thanks to Shortwoman for linking to this post.

Apparently scheduled to run tonight during the convention...


Speaking as someone who donated to both Obama and McCain during the primaries in the hopes that we'd see the cleanest election in years I can say that I don't believe that any other GOP candidate other than John McCain would have bothered to do this.

Now all the talking heads can stop saying "presumptive nominee" when talking about Obama...

From MSNBC:

DENVER - Barack Obama, a 47-year-old first-term senator from Illinois, became the first African-American ever nominated for president by a major political party after delegates to the Democratic National Convention chose him as their standard-bearer Wednesday.

The nomination process, a subject of debate and speculation right up until the voting began late in the afternoon, ended when Obama’s chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, asked her supporters to join in accepting Obama’s historic nomination by acclamation.

Regardless of how you feel about Obama you have to admit that his nomination represents a milestone in American history. In less than a generation we've gone from legalized discrimination to placing a minority member one step away from leading the nation.

Now the question is, in regards to the history books, can he pull a twofer?

By being the only presidential candidate on the ballot. Apparently the other two parties forgot to file in time...

From Ballot Access News:

Section 192.031 of the Texas election code says that political parties must certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the November ballot no later than 70 days before the general election. It says, “A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president placed on the ballot if before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of the name’s of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president.”

This year, that deadline is August 26. UPDATE: At 2:30 pm Texas time, August 27, Kim Kizer of the Texas Secretary of State’s elections division says neither major party’s certification has been received in the Elections Division. The Executive Office of the Secretary of State refers all questions back to the Elections Division.

This year, neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party obeyed this law. See this link to the Secretary of State’s web page showing a blank for the Republicans and Democrats for president.

Well that kind of puts McCain in a bit of a bind now doesn't? In all seriousness I'm sure both parties will find a way to get around the letter of the law. But still as a purely hypothetical situation this is funny as heck to ponder for a bit.

H/T Below the Beltway

Looks like he may be losing both conservative Democrats and some independents...

From Gallup polls:

...support for Obama among all Democratic registered voters fell from 81% in early August (Aug. 4-10) to 78% last week (Aug. 18-24). Obama's support from Republicans over this period also dipped from 9% to 7%, while 42% to 43% of independents have consistently supported him.

Now I realize that polls are little more than snapshot of current public opinion but this particular one happens to mirror some of the talk I'm hearing amongst moderates both online and off. I can't help but think that part of this loss of support from the middle has to do with the fact that many moderates were waiting for Obama to unveil innovative and thoughtful policies. However as the race has moved to the middle and the distinctions between Obama's economic and energy policies and McCain's become less clear the more that works in McCain's favor. He is after all a figure that the political center of this country knows pretty well. Obama? Not so much.

If Obama doesn't start defining exactly what change is going to look like many independents and moderates may decide to back the devil they know over the devil they don't.

Over at Middle East Journal Michael J Totten has an enlightening post up regarding who actually fired the first shot in Georgia and the circumstances that led up to the conflict in the first place. Its long but well worth the read.

Obama's choice for VP didn't surprise me out side of the fact that Biden denied being tapped for the job till the very end. To me Biden was the safe choice. He's got the credentials and experience that Obama lacks. While some think that the choice of Biden highlights Obama's faults I don't see it that way. Personally I can't fault a man that sees his weaknesses and then brings on someone who can help compensate for them. Of the primary candidates there were two people capable of doing that Biden and Richardson. Since America isn't ready for an all minority ticket Biden was the logical choice.

Yeah, Biden is prone to slips of the tongue and he's got a bit of a temper but in a weird way that's part of his appeal. He's one of the most human people in politics. I can also see where his faults can be turned to Obama's advantage. He can play bad cop to Obama's good cop. If they can get that act down pat it'll pay off for Obama in the long run. Additionally Biden has one major plus. If you look at McCain's short list of veep prospects not one of them can go toe to toe with Biden in a debate and win. He's experienced enough and a decent enough speaker that he'll keep McCain's Veep pick on the defensive the whole debate. All he has to do is not come off as mean in the process. After all its one thing to eat someone for breakfast, its another to come off as having relished it.

Finally there is a weird sub dynamic going on in this presidential election that makes the veep pick more important than many previous elections. Given McCain's age there is a possibility he might not make it four years. Additionally many people I know have voiced concerns that Obama might not see the end of his first term. Considering that the Denver PD today thwarted what what may have been an assassination plot against Obama today I'd say their concerns are indeed justified. As insurance against such a plot succeeding Biden is a safe choice. Personally if Biden had to finish out Obama's term I wouldn't be concerned (unlike oh say Dan Quayle taking over for Bush Sr.). I wouldn't be particularly excited either.

Obama's choice of Biden some credence to Andrew Sullivan's claims about Obama's pragmatism. Biden was the safe choice. Converesly when I look at McCain's short list of veep picks (including Lieberman) I don't have the same level of comfort. In my minds eye Mccain is in a sticky situation. If he picks a VP to appease the GOP base he risks losing independents and vice versa. With that in mind I'm left wondering how much will Obama's choice affect McCain's decision making? I can't help but think that the choise McCain makes will say alot about what his presidency will be like and I for one am very curious as to what is going to happen next.

Issac Hayes' Theme from Shaft

Looks like scifi writer Orson Scott Card can now add a Malkin award to his Hugo and Nebula awards.

"Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. Biological imperatives trump laws. American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die,"

I am now officially glad I never bought any of his books. It is disturbing though to find yet another American that shares the same mindset of members of Al Qaeda. It makes me wonder how long it will be before they start trying to use the same methods.

According to recent polls McCain has actually gained ground Obama and pulled ahead. Zogby polls has McCain at a five percent lead which represents an eleven point gain from last months poll.

From Zogby:

McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin.

And McCain not only enjoys a five-point edge in a two-way race against Obama, but also in a four-way contest including liberal independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr, the poll reveals. In the four-way contest, McCain wins 44% support, Obama 39%, Barr 3% and Nader 2%.

This latest Reuters/Zogby poll is a dramatic reversal from the identical survey taken last month – in the July 9-13 Reuters/Zogby survey, Obama led McCain, 47% to 40%. In the four-way race last month, Obama held a 10-point lead over McCain.

So what happened? There are several possibilities like Obama burnout, summer doldrums, a post Georgia bump, a post Saddleback bump, or all of the above. Additionally I think that Obama's run to the center has caused a wane in enthusiasm for some voters. What remains to be seen is how big of a post convention bump Obama and McCain receive. After that, barring any major screwups, the next chance for the candidates to get a jump in the numbers will be the first debate on Sept. 26th. However given that neither candidate is a particularly strong debater maintaining the the lead after after the conventions may prove to be of key importance.

Its still anybody's race at this point. But I'm still of the opinion that its Obama's race to lose.


h/t Memeorandum

Earlier today the blogospheric buzz was all about Biden. That was until Biden himself threw a crowbar into the gears of the e-rumour machine.

From ABC's Political Radar:

As Delaware Sen. Joe Biden was leaving his house in Wilmington this afternoon, he slowed down and said to the gathered news reporters outside his home: "Hey guys, I'm not the guy. See ya."
Members of the news media camped outside his Wilmington home today as speculation swirled that Biden is on Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's short list of vice presidential candidates.

I've generally avoided covering the Veepstakes since up until now most coverage of the topic has been pure speculation largely based on disinformation campaigns run by both candidates' campaigns. The Biden buzz though made a certain amount of sense. He does have the experience and the foreign policy chops that Obama lacks. However he also represents a solidly blue state and has a hard time staying on message. I'm guessing that Obama plans on using the VP slot to cement the support of a swing state and of the candidates reportedly on the short list that points to VA or PA.

I've said before that I think McCain will choose former FL governor Charlie Crist for roughly the same reason. Crist has a compliments McCain fairly well. He has a good record as a fiscal conservative, anti-abortion, well spoken, and more telegenic than McCain. All of whuch Mccain needs to shore up the support of the base and help him compete against Obama. This is of course pure speculation on my part. But I'm at least willing to put my money where my mouth is. As to whether or not I'm right it looks like the answer to the first part of the question will become clear this week. As for the second part its expected that McCain will announce his choice the day after the DNC ends.

That'll will officially be the end of the preseason and from here on out the campaigns and their collected special interests will start playing hardball. Those will indeed be interesting times.

I'm sorry to announce that over at Done With Mirrors Callimachus is hanging up his hat. Personally I considered Cal one of the finest thinkers and writers in the 'sphere. His insights will be missed.

The Washington post did a two page article on Bob Barr today. I'd like to say it was well written, thoughtful, insightful but unfortunately I can't In fact over at TMV Jazz Shaw called it a "hit piece". Personally I can't agree. First of all its hard to call anything in the style section of the WaPo a political hit piece. What it was in fact was an attempt to marginalize Bob Barr. I mean any article that talks more about his dimples than his political positions isn't trying to take the man seriously.

I really have to wonder if there isn't some ulterior motive in both the content and the placement of the article. I mean after all Bob Barr is the most politically viable candidate the Libertarian party has run in a long time. Thats bound to ruffle a few feather. But the least the WaPo can do is tackle the man on his merits rather than try to portray him as a flaky Libertarian also-ran. NPR managed to at least do that much. I'll leave it to you to divine what what that means about the differences in journalistic integrity of the two. As for the WaPo, they could have at least given the man his due.

H/T Memeorandum

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

although I would have preferred Cause Cheap is How I feel

Is almost impossible to regain.

For the second time in a week an author on the Huffington Post is claiming that the war in Georgia was a GOP plot. This time its Truthdig editor and former journalist Robert Scheer...

Scheunemann is at the center of the neoconservative cabal (emphasis added) that has come to dominate the Republican candidate's foreign policy stance in a replay of the run-up to the war against Iraq. These folks are always looking for a foreign enemy on which to base a new Cold War, and with the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime it was Putin's Russia that came increasingly to fit the bill.

Yes, it sounds diabolical, but that may be the most accurate way to assess the designs of the McCain campaign in matters of war and peace. There is every indication that the candidate's demonization of Russian leader Putin is an even grander plan than the previous use of Saddam to fuel American militarism with the fearsome enemy that it desperately needs.

McCain gets to look tough with a new Cold War to fight while Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, scrambling to make sense of a more measured foreign policy posture, will seem weak in comparison. Meanwhile, the dire consequences of the Bush legacy that McCain has inherited, from the disaster of Iraq to the economic meltdown, conveniently will be ignored. But the military-industrial complex, which has helped bankroll the neoconservatives, will be provided with an excuse for ramping up a military budget that is already bigger than that of the rest of the world combined.

This is starting to look like a trend on the Huff Po. The question is is it ideological or editorial in nature. Either someone involved in the hiring process is predisposed to the particular line of thought espoused by these writers or there is a severe lack of editorial oversight (or both). If this trend continues the Huff Po will lose its credibility to all but the far left and therefore will only be preaching to choir. At the rate the Huff Po is going however it'll be on my "do not read list" by next week.

H/T to PoliGazette

This one caught me off guard. I mean I figured corporations were taking advantage of every tax shelter and loophole they could but not to this degree....

From the AP:

Most companies in US avoid federal income taxes

Two-thirds of U.S. corporations paid no federal income taxes between 1998 and 2005, according to a new report from Congress.

The study by the Government Accountability Office, expected to be released Tuesday, said about 68 percent of foreign companies doing business in the U.S. avoided corporate taxes over the same period.

Collectively, the companies reported trillions of dollars in sales, according to GAO's estimate.

...

More than 38,000 foreign corporations had no tax liability in 2005 and 1.2 million U.S. companies paid no income tax, the GAO said. Combined, the companies had $2.5 trillion in sales. About 25 percent of the U.S. corporations not paying corporate taxes were considered large corporations, meaning they had at least $250 million in assets or $50 million in receipts.

The GAO said it analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, examining samples of corporate returns for the years 1998 through 2005. For 2005, for example, it reviewed 110,003 tax returns from among more than 1.2 million corporations doing business in the U.S.

This is obviously blatantly unfair. I've long thought that the tax system needs to be overhauled but to me this report shows that that the need for an overhaul needs to become a priority. The question is how to do it without sending shockwaves through the market. The last thing we need right now is for the price of every good and service to go up by a double digit percentage.

Personally I like the idea of scrapping the current code for a flat tax on profits. I'm liking 15% as its high enough to be significant but low enough to keep our corporate tax rates highly competitive with other countries (and much lower than many European countries). In order to reduce the impact on the marketplace it would have to be gradually phased in. Lets say 5% the first year with a 1% increase the second year and then a 3% increase over the next three years. Based on the untaxed profits the GAO reports that would equal an additional 375 billion dollars a year in tax revenues.

That amount could have a huge impact on this nation. It would go a long way to helping fund sicial security or reduce the deficit or lower the rate that individual citizens are required to pay in taxes. The problem is finding political leaders willing back such a tax code reform.After all it doesn't benefit any of them to increase taxes on two thirds of their corporate donors.

How do we get this problem under the scrutiny of the public eye? The best I can do is hope that there are presidential YouTube deabtes and pray that my question on this matter gets picked. Whats needed is a bipartisan grassroots effort to bring this issue into the limelight. The question is who is going to pick up that torch and run with it?

Where's Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?

cross posted at We Op-Ed

Earlier:

ZoneLabs has just released Zone Alarm forcefield and its free until 4pm tomorrow CST

From The Cheapskate:

"The software relies on a technique called "virtual browsing" to protect your PC against unauthorized downloads, malware installations, phishers, keyloggers, and the like. It also promises total privacy by erasing the (virtual) browser's cache, cookies, history, and passwords. According to Check Point, the program won't interfere with any existing security software you might already have."

Updated:

Having used their free firewall off and on for years I really expected a better product. It slowed surfing down to a crawl on all of my browsers. Additionally its security warnings took at least a minute to disappear and I couldn't browse until they did. Finally it caused Firefox 3.01 to crash.
A truly disappointing product .

In the interest of making my biases known I have to date donated equal amounts to...

The Obama primary campaign (Who I voted for in the Texas primaries.)

The McCain primary campaign

The Ron Paul primary campaign (although that was actually a reward for engaging inactive voters)

Finally the Bob Barr presidential campaign. I donate to the Libertarian presidential candidate every presidential election year. Mainly because they are the most viable third party in existence.

For the record I backed McCain and Obama because I belived that they were the most moderate candidates their parties offered. Additionally I thought that should they go head to head that the race would be as smear free as could be. While (mainly on McCain's part) that has proven to be a bit of a bust I take heart in the fact that the race hasn't been anywhere near as ugly as a Romney vs Clinton race would have been. For better or for worse we are seeing the best race the two parties can manage. However at the rate the race is going I am seriously looking at the possibility of voting for Barr rather than either of the two mainstream candidates.

The slow death of logic and critical thinking...

It looks like the tin foil hat brigade is starting to form a consensus about the war in Georgia...

Apparently its all a Republican plot orchestrated so that McCain can win the election.

From the Huffington Post

What a Convenient Little War for The Republicans

In classic "Wag The Dog" scenario there is a neat little war brewing between American and Russian proxies, and real Russian troops, in the Caucacus Mountains on the Russian border.
...

What is most interesting is that McCain's chief foreign policy aide, Randy Scheunemann,
has been advising/ lobbying for pro-western Georgia for the last four years.

Can't you just imagine what happened?

Randy lets it be known to the Georgian President that this would be a good time for Georgian troops to invade South Ossetia, which had been an autonomous territory for more than a decade. The Georgians didn't take much persuading, as they had been wanting to crack down with their troops for a long time.

And with American -- Republican -- support, what a better time to act?

Meanwhile Bush is conveniently meeting with Putin at the Olympics in Beijing and lets it be known that if Georgia attacks Ossetia, the US will not "mind" -- Wink Wink -- an aggressive response from Russia.

I recognize the Huff Po for the partisan tool that it is but when your writers start expousing pet conspiracy theories and you happen to be running one of the most heavily trafficked US political blogs on the web its doesn't do crap for your credibility.

I see this as part of a disturbing trend in American culture. Considering that 25% of all Americans believe they have been wiretapped and a double digit portion (lost the link to the poll courtesy of Firefox 2.1) of Americans believe that either the government could have prevented 9/11 and didn't or were behind it in the first place I'm inclined to think that the number of people that are using the basic tools of reasoning is on the decrease. And if Mr. Fleetwood, who used to be a journalist at several reputable publications, is any indicator those same irrational people are actually getting jobs of influence and import which is doubly disturbing.

As for the Huff Po they'd do well to realize that the longer they allow their writers to use their blog as a staging ground for pet conspiracy theories the more they damage their positions and their party.