Palin recycles McCain stump speech for Chambliss

By GottaLaff

Pitiful Palin in Georgia:

Vote for [insert name here]. [Insert name here] is the best candidate ever. Guys 'n' gals, [insert name here] will never let us down. [Insert name here] would never pal around with terrorists, nor would [insert name here] practice socialism, doggone it. Also.

If you're going to put the time and energy into supporting a candidate, it might be a good idea to tailor your stump speech to, you know, the guy who's actually running:

Palin On Washington:

On CHAMBLISS: Too many politicians forgetting why they were sent to Washington. Well, Saxby has not forgotten and he has not forgotten who it is that he is serving. He is serving you, residents of Georgia, and he is serving all of America. He knows we must put government back on your side.

On McCAIN: In Alaska, we went back to basics. We put government back on the side of the people, and John and I will use the same approach to reform Washington in our administration. We will never forget the people who hired us. We will be there to work for you, the good people of America.

Palin On Government Working:

On CHAMBLISS: He knows you do not have to feel you are working for your government, but your government must be working for you.

On McCAIN: John and I…we don’t think you should be working for government; we think government should work for you.

Palin On Independence:

On CHAMBLISS: Saxby has not forgotten why he was sent to Washington. He has stayed true to his principles. Today those principles are needed more than ever. Senator Chambliss, he has such a strong, independent spirit. And that’s another reason I really like him.

On McCAIN: John McCain and I, what we represent is that maverick independent spirit that will not let the self-dealing and excessive partisanship get in the way of what’s right.

Palin On Herds:

On CHAMBLISS: Saxby doesn’t just run with the Washington herd.

On McCAIN: John is his own man. He doesn’t run with the Washington herd.

Talk about lazy, what a creative, original approach, there, Gov. Diva. Who's your speechwriter, Joe the Replicator?

Pew Poll PREDICTS Obama Will Win 52-46

By GottaLaff

I'm literally laughing out loud: It started to rain during Obama's speech in Ohio just now, to which he said, "You see what happens when I start talking about Dick Cheney." He's all smiley and has been chuckling more than usual in this speech. What a pleasure to watch!

But I digress:

A new national poll is going beyond saying Obama is ahead: It's predicting that Obama will win by six points.

The final Pew poll predicts that the outcome will be Obama 52%, McCain 46%, with the remainder split among third-party candidates. The top-line result among likely voters right now is Obama 49%, McCain 42%, with a ±2.5% margin of error. Last week, Obama had a much wider lead of 53%-38%.

In an interview, Pew's director of survey research Scott Keeter explained to us how they arrived at that 52%-46% predicted outcome. Pew performed a statistical analysis looking at the remaining undecideds on the basis of their demographics and their answers to issue questions, in order to project how they'll vote -- if they'll vote at all, that is.

"This is an unusual group of people, anybody who could get to this point in the campaign and not have made a decision," Keeter said. "So you have to think some of these people are not even going to vote."

Pew predicts a very narrow break of undecideds to McCain, and it won't be enough to overcome Obama's lead.

The same methodology was right on the money in 2004, predicting Bush at 51% of the vote to Kerry's 48%, and in the very-close 2000 election was slightly off in giving Bush 49% to Gore's 47%. But in an election that doesn't seem as close as close as it was in 2000, Keeter doesn't think any remaining uncertain factors will be enough to undo Obama's lead.

GObama!

Obama Response to Gramm-pa McCain's "Faith" Comment

By GottaLaff

Chronology:

Earlier Saturday: McCain seizes on Obama's comment that his Iowa caucuses victory "vindicated" his faith in the American people.

“My country has never had to prove anything to me, my friends. I have always had faith in it and I have been humbled and honored to serve it."

Response:

From Obama spokesman Bill Burton:

"It's pathetic that John McCain would take a statement Barack Obama has been making for a year about his faith in the American people and distort it to attack his patriotism. Sadly, this is what we've come to expect from a desperate, dishonorable campaign that will say anything in a failed attempt to win this election."

As I type this, Obama is speaking in Colorado, and having a great time dissing Cheney's endorsement of Gramm-pa McCain. That endorsement gave him just the opening he needed to tie Grammps to Bush/Cheney tighter than Cindy McCain's facelift. It's deeee-lightful.

Joe the M.I.A.

By GottaLaff

The Further Adventures of the Worst F***ing Campaign Ever:

McCain aides told CNN's Dana Bash Wurzelbacher would appear with the Republican presidential candidate at his first campaign event in Defiance, Ohio. But in what was a slightly awkward moment for McCain, Wurzelbacher was nowhere to be seen when the Arizona senator called out for him.

A campaign aide later said Wurzelbacher had "decided not to come" and may join McCain later in the day.

But reached at his home by CNN's Mary Snow, Wurzelbacher said it was "news to him" that he was supposed to be at the McCain rally. Wurzelbacher said nobody from the McCain campaign confirmed he was attending the event and called the incident a "miscommunication." [...]

UPDATE: Contacted by CNN a second time, Wurzelbacher said the campaign only called him to confirm after the event in question already took place. He will now try to meet up with McCain later in the day.

Wurzelbacher also said he had gotten an initial call about coming to the morning rally, "but no one called back to confirm," and was "not happy" that McCain had called out his name and he wasn't there.

Yeah, I'd trust this team with the Big Red Button.

Quote-O'-The-Day: Commie peanut butter and jelly edition

By GottaLaff

Just now, during a stump speech in North Carolina:

"Next thing you know he'll call me a Commie because I shared my toys in kindergarten... I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich." [laughter]

--Barack Obama, mocking Gramm-pa McCain's increasingly vile smear campaign.

VIDEO: Fake IWRC* Palin takes bow behind Gramm-pa McCain

By GottaLaff

In the last couple of seconds, check out Fake IWRC* behind Gramm-pa's left (our right) shoulder:


*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

The Barack and Bill show! Now with Bonus Obama Baby Photo!

By GottaLaff

Via Ben Smith:

Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Barack Obama will appear together "within the week," a source close to one of the men said. [...] It's an opportunity to stage another symbolic passing of the party's torch, and to command media attention on one of the dwindling number of days left in the campaign.

Here are a few bonus quotes from Obama, back from his Hawaii visit to his ailing grandmother. From Reno, Nevada:

"McCain Has Been Throwing Everything He's Got at Us, Hoping Something Will Stick."

"He's even called me a socialist for suggesting that we focus on tax cuts, not for corporations and the wealthy, but for the middle class."

"Then, the other day, he took it to a whole new level. He said that I was like George W. Bush. You can't make this stuff up, folks. In what may be the strangest twist of all, Senator McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies – and that he, John McCain, would change them."

"Well, let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy."

Complete transcript here.

Obama draws record crowd in St. Louis

By GottaLaff

GObama!

Standing under the Gateway Arch, Sen. Barack Obama spoke this afternoon before a crowd his campaign said totaled 100,000, a new U.S. record for his presidential bid.

"All I can say is wow," Obama said as he took the stage, his home state behind his back across the Mississippi River.

That's what the voters are saying about you, too, Barack: Wow.

H/t: Tim Weiss

Barack Obama: "Side effects may include..."

By GottaLaff

Hilarious line by Obama just now in Roanoke, Virginia in one of his killer speeches in front of a raucous crowd. He's describing Gramm-pa McCain's health care plan and he says something like (paraphrased, except for the last line):

"It's like those medicine commercials: You see someone running happily in slow motion out in a field with little flowers and everything. And then you see the small print: Side effects may include...!"

I may have embellished the set-up, but that was very close to what he said. Bada BING! My F.I.L better watch out. He has competition.

Poor wittle IWRC* Palin! She's tired of Joe and depressed by the news

By GottaLaff

Get your hankies out for poor, pitiful wittle IWRC*. She needs a shoulder! She not happy! Her minders don't want her watching the news, and apparently god is controlling the polls. Anyone got a lollipop to shove up in her face mouth?

Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin told supporters at a North Carolina fundraiser that her aides discouraged her from watching campaign news because they thought she would get “depressed.”

“At those times on the campaign trail when sometimes it’s easy to get a little bit discouraged, when you know, when you happen to turn on the news when your campaign staffers will let you turn on the news,” she said Thursday night, to laughter from the crowd. “Usually they’re like ‘Oh my gosh, don’t watch, you’re going to, you know, you’re going to get depressed.’

“But yeah, sometimes you do get depressed watching what it is that they’re reporting and the spin and some of the distortion of what our message is and what we stand for, sometimes that, that gets draining,” she added. “But it’s at events like these and our rallies that we are so energized and inspired and we know that we are not alone. We feel your strength and we feel the power of prayer, so many of you tell us that you are praying for us and praying for our country, and that’s why we so appreciate you being here.”

The view isn’t all glum from the trail. “We even saw today, thank the Lord, we saw some movement,” looking upwards and making a fist. Another bright note for her, she said later, was visiting “pro-America” areas of the country.

There are so many things wrong with what she said on so many levels. I don't even know where to begin: With the "anti-Americans" for Obama? With the parts of the country that her own special god condemns? With the distortions that should be attributed to her instead of the evil press?

After 24 hours dominated by the campaign’s latest unwitting celebrity, the Alaska governor conceded she was getting a little tired of talking about Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbach. “And I, I begged our speech writers, ‘Don’t make me say Joe the Plumber, please, in any speeches.’ And I was asked ‘Just one time, just at this fund raiser.’”

I bet they waterboarded her into indulging them "just one more time". I can't fathom how painful it must be for her to talk about Joe the Bummer, because, you know, lying and distorting are such a rarity in her speeches.

The McCain camp has encountered some playlist difficulties this year: Heart, John Mellencamp, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Jackson Browne, and the Foo Fighters have all asked that the campaign stop using their songs on the trail. On Thursday, Palin expressed satisfaction with the latest musical selection.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had intro music by AC/DC before. That was kinda cool,” she said. “In fact, we were on the bus today, we were making a list of who are some celebrity singers who could come out and help us and gosh, for the life of us, the pickings were slim there. Who’s quasi-conservative out there in the celebrity land?”

Gosh! Using songs without permission is wrong! Who'd a thunk it!?

This is beyond pathetic. This is laughable. But it will be a whole lot funnier once Obama wins.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEO: Norm Coleman campaigns with Todd Palin

By GottaLaff

It's come to this. Norm Coleman is relying on Todd Palin to be his warm-up guy. Pitiful:


Please note: The speech itself is incidental to what you see on camera at :20.

Joe Biden on CSPAN now... liveblog

By GottaLaff

From Scranton:

He's happy with Hillary's speech. He loves her, he says.

Joe: One reason I'm so certain we'll turn this country around is because I was there, I watched Bill Clinton turn this country around! You knew he was talking from his heart, you knew he knew what he was talking about, and that he could get it done. It'll be so good to have a president like that again, I cannot wait!

Hillary and I are friends... truly, truly, and have been for a long time. What I love about her, the one thing I find about this city: There is one abuse our gov't. can engage in, abuse of power. Everything Hillary has devoted her life to, are people on the other side of power. She's a fighter. She understands what's right, wrong, fair, unfair, and she always fights against the abuse of power.

The economy didn't just start collapsing .. it started 8 years ago.... McCain/Palin can't even begin to answer this... in 23 days our security and prosperity are in the balance. This is the single most important election any of you have voted in.

We've had 3 debates so far. I watched the one I was in on SNL. Barack has had 2. If this were a 5 game series it would be over by now, but it's a 7 game series. Barack's debate on Tuesday: Not one voter asked about the ugly inferences and personal attacks from the McCain campaign. It's because people get it, it's about something bigger. 100% of the ads by McCain are attack ads. I guess when you vote with Bush 90% of the time, you have to attack 100% of the time.

These attacks don't hurt me, Obama, they hurt the American people. Each one is an attempt to get you to focus on something other than your country. What about the past 8 years would McCain change in the next 4? Nothing! Privatize Social Security? Voting down healthcare? Approach to global warming? You can't change this if you vote with George Bush! How can you change global warming unless you know what caused it!

Shoot first and ask questions later? Spend $10 billion a month in Iraq when they have a $79 billion surplus? You can't change that if you vote with Bush. (all paraphrased)

We care about our veterans. To paraphrase Bush Sr: Read my lips. WE WILL END THIS WAR. WE WILL END THIS WAR. WE WILL END THIS WAR. Because we honor sacrifice.

You can't change the plight of the middle class... you can't call yourself a maverick when all you've been is a sidekick... That's why, when he's so erratic... look how he responded to the economic crisis... he's been my friend [oy]... he deserves our honor for his bravery... but we need a wise leader...

When the market crashed, he said the fundamentals of the economy were strong, then hours later, said it was an economic crisis. Folks, that's what we Catholics call an epiphany. In those two hours, did he realize that incomes fell more than $2000 in Pennsylvania? [goes on to list more] His epiphany wasn't when he saw the light, it was when he saw the presidency receding from his grasp.

Obama has assembled the most respected team of financial advisors this country has ever seen. ... International leadership... Barack will have the strength of ideas this world is willing to follow...

We have all the tools, we know which to use... Within whose hands will we place those tools? Steady hands of Obama, or the uncertain hands of McCain lurching, the same people who contributed to the policies that led to these failures...

Renegotiate mortgages so you can stay in your homes... [he's going too fast]... Tax cuts to middle class... health care... jobs. Keeping jobs in America, making sure you can keep your healthcare through your jobs. Genuine tax breaks to 95% of those who collect a paycheck. ... not companies who ship jobs overseas... Only those who keep jobs here in America...

Palin criticized me for talking about patriotism and taxes. Well, here's what's unpatriotic: Earning your money here, and hiding it offshore, not paying your taxes. So I don't need a lecture on patriotism. I've had it to here!! [gestures to neck]

We'll rebuild America. Create new jobs, build the middle class. We'll end our addiction to oil... Invest in soil in midwest, clean coal [ugh]... We'll have the equivalent of an Apollo Project, wean ourselves off of oil. This is in our wheelhouse! Invest in renewable energy. ... Provide good paying jobs that can't be outsourced... Create clean coal technology to be exported around world... Invest in a resource that's already there. Invest in the technology before China does...

Provide affordable health care to every American. It's not a privilege, it's a right as Obama said. McCain didn't, at the debate. ... Describes McCain's health care plan and calls it the ultimate Bridge to Nowhere. ...

The last thing we'll do is see to it that every kid who is academically able will go to college. A nation that out-educates us will out-compete us. Broaden national service beyond the military. If will serve in inner cities, rural areas, sr. centers, we will guarantee you an afford to go to college.

Obama and I define progress differently than McCain/Palin. It's not how many regulations you cut, getting gov't out of the way. It's measured in terms of dignity and respect, for the middle class. Success = whether you have a job, afford health care, can heat your home, look your child in the eye and say, "honey it's gonna be okay." It's very basic, very simple [cheers].

John Lewis v. John McCain; Civil rights v. hatred and division

By GottaLaff

Civil rights icon and Georgia congressman John Lewis accused Gramm-pa McCain and IWRC* Palin of inciting hate, and for good reason (via, and via):

"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history," Lewis said in a statement issued today. "As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse."

Lewis didn't accuse McCain of imitating Wallace, but suggested there were similarities.

"During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

Lewis's sharp words may be dismissed as those of a partisan Democrat in a campaign season. But the former head of SNCC and hero of Selma is somebody who McCain has lavished praise upon over the years, including admiring him in a book on courage and bravery and repeatedly invoking Lewis's name in public appearances.

Appearing with Barack Obama at a forum at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in August, McCain included Lewis as one of "three wise men" he would consult as president.

"He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than our self-interest," McCain said of Lewis.

Now, Lewis is castigating McCain in the harshest of terms:

"As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better."

Here's what Gramm-pa had to say about that:

Congressman John Lewis’ comments represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale. The notion that legitimate criticism of Senator Obama’s record and positions could be compared to Governor George Wallace, his segregationist policies and the violence he provoked is unacceptable and has no place in this campaign. I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I’ve always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track.

I call on Senator Obama to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election. Our country must return to the important debate about the path forward for America.

As usual, Gramm-pa's a tad confused. The only brazen and baseless attacks have been on Obama's character. As for the character of some of those hardworking Americans who "cheer" for Grammps and his hatemongering sidekick, they shut down the chances for any reasonable debate with their menacing mob mentality, ignorant, slanderous howls and alarming bigotry... my friends.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Quote-O'-The-Day: Barack Obama edition

By GottaLaff

"Are you better off today than you were four weeks ago?"
--Barack Obama just now in his speech in Indiana

He's so-o-o good.

VIDEO: Obama slams Gramm-pa McCain in North Carolina

By GottaLaff

This video is fromCNN.com, broadcast October 5, 2008.

Obama spoke in Asheville, North Carolina. The video gives you the context for this quote (at about 5:24):

"We're not gonna let 'em hoodwink ya. Or bamboozle ya. [laughs] We're not gonna let 'em run the okey-doke on ya."

VIDEO: IWRC* Palin misquotes Madeleine Albright

By GottaLaff


If you missed this, here's one more example of IWRC* Palin's foot-in-mouth disease:

Palin regaled the cheering crowd with a story about how she was reading her Starbucks mocha cup yesterday, which featured a quotation from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

“Now she said it, I didn’t,” Palin said of Albright. “She said, ‘There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.’”

The crowd roared its approval, but according to several sources, Albright actually said, “there’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t help other women.”

(via)

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

VIDEOS-- Obama speaks in Virginia about health care: "This isn't politics for me. This is personal."

By GottaLaff

Barack Obama spoke to Virginians today. Part 1:


Part 2:

Obama On Healthcare 10/04 - Newport News VA. Healthcare will be the topic of the second presidential debate october 7th, 2008.

VIDEO: John Sidney McCain. Worst. Speaker. Ever.

By GottaLaff

And we thought Bush bungled speeches. When I posted earlier about how poorly delivered this McCain speech was, I wasn't kidding. Here is a video of part of J Sid's attempts at public speaking in Colorado Springs today:

The segment I specifically referred to in my post down thread begins at about 6:00.

Video: McCain rally in Colorado Springs hits snag before it begins

By GottaLaff

This video is pretty interesting, and since it's a relatively slow day...

Not as many people will be attending today's McCain/Palin road show at the Colorado Springs airport, as had received tickets. That's because after those people learned of the accommodations (or lack of) they must endure for hours while waiting for McCain to speak... they dumped their tickets.

John Sidney McCain, stumbling on the stump

By GottaLaff

I just caught a clip of John McCain's stump speech on CNN. It was painful. No wonder he depends so much on SledDog Sarah. He literally stopped in the middle of trying to trot out a list of energy sources...and he stopped. He had to look down at his notes... and then he continued. A bad stumble, and it occurred right in the middle of one of his "specialty" topics: Oil drilling and energy policy.

If it were about his speaking skills alone, we'd win in a landslide.