"I wonder to myself. Will life ever be sane again? ...Hang the blessed DJ. Because the music they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life."
-The Smiths
So despite my better judgment, I was feeling panicky today about the election. McCain got a bounce, whether for his performance Thursday or Palinalia I don't know. Now he's up in some polls, really for the first time.
The right out-muscled its competitors in bringing out Palin. They really did win by pure muscle. They hadn't vetted her, and were flabbergasted by her fringe associations (Jews for Jesus, Pat Buchanan, Alaska Secessionists, Oil-garchs that hate Polar Bears and natural beauty) and inconsistencies with the McCain line on issues (Bridge to Nowhere, which they continue to lie about, ANWR, that surge she heard about "on the news"). They couldn't afford to defend her record, and let these various points against her sink into public consciousness. And they didn't defend it in its particulars.
Instead, they attacked the media and clearly bested their adversary. Today, MSNBC announced that Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann (the most popular personality in the channel's history) will be replaced by David Gregory as anchor the night of the debates and the election. The move stings, since it is simply a cave-in to right wing bullying of journalists doing their job, with the help of Google. Burn down the disco. Hang the blessed DJ.
Palin remains in hiding from the press, although it was announced today that she will give her first interview to Charlie Gibson later this week. A new McCain ad out today repeats the exposed lie that Palin said "thanks, but no thanks to that Bridge to Nowhere," a lie that the MSM did little to point out to viewers when she was shameless enough to speak it in her convention speech. The Republicans are getting away with murder, and the press feels sorry for them. Hang the blessed DJ.
But really, I oughtn't be panicking. The Obama people have repeatedly surprised me with a brilliancy that doesn't shine on a day-to-day basis. They let the GOP improvise, but eventually they make them look silly, a la Obama's convention speech. McCain scrambled and made a crap shoot after that speech, picking Palin. There he goes again!
And now I see, via Noam Sheiber, that McCain benefited from a swing of perhaps 20 points among white women. As Scheiber sagely comments, this will not hold up once people meet the Sarah Palin that opposes abortion rights even in the exceptional cases of incest and rape. I mean, can we all get serious please? This woman literally (and not in the Biden sense of the word) speaks in tongues! I would have hoped that nothing more need be said of her, but I suppose I underestimated the popular appeal of Pentecostalists.
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