Real Vetting Roundup

"I make [decisions] as quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can," Mr. McCain wrote, with his top adviser Mark Salter, in his 2002 book, Worth the Fighting For. "Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint."- John McCain

As the true vetting of Sarah Palin continued over the last two days, we learned more about John McCain's pick for vice-president. Unfortunately for us, if John McCain is elected, it's the American people that will face the consequences of his rash decision to chose a complete unknown for his ticket. Here's a recap of what we have learned over the last couple of days about the person John McCain thinks should be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency:

• Palin's ties to the lobbying system she is purportedly going to "reform" keep piling up:

  Steven W. Silver, a Washington lobbyist who began representing the small town of Wasilla during Palin’s tenure as mayor, is also lobbying for construction of a controversial bridge linking Anchorage to the borough housing Wasilla, according to lobbying disclosure records.

  Palin's administration isn't shying away from that earmark, which may cost taxpayers between $450 million to $1.5 billion.



• Speaking of earmarks, McCain can't be too happy that his choice for VP was so earmark-eager that, in reaction to getting federal money for a earmarks that McCain himself opposed , she wrote: "We did well!"
• Wasilla is the "meth capital of Alaska."
• Does "executive experience" as the mayor of Wasilla include royally screwing up a building project at the taxpayer's expense?:

  WASILLA, Alaska -- The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

  The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.

• On Troopergate, the fired offical is speaking out and calling Palin a liar:

  "I believe I was fired because of, primarily the reason of her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I think that my unwillingness to take special action against her former brother-in-law was not well received."

  Monegan says he believes that the Governor has not told the truth about what happened.

  Courtesy of ABC News, here is a scathing investigative reportwhich leaves little doubt that Palin lied to cover up the scandal. And courtesy of Newsweek, we learn that McCain's circle is trying to stonewall the investigation.

• As an executive, she has exhibited the same disdain for science as George W. Bush:

  In her 20 months as governor, Palin has questioned the conclusions of federal marine scientists who say the Cook Inlet beluga whale needs protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. [...]

  "Her philosophy from our perspective is cut, kill, dig and drill," said John Toppenberg, director of the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, maintaining she is "in the Stone Age of wildlife management and is very opposed to utilizing accepted science."

  She also rejects the idea that polar bears should be an endangered species.

• In light of this New York Times article revealing the central role religion plays in Palin's life, details about her church are becoming more relevant--and more disturbing. Palin's church claims that it has been "prophesied" that Alaska is a "refuge state" (along with Wisconsin) for the rapture (Alaska First!). Watch Palin on stage as her pastor proclaims that Alaska will be a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people in "the last days." Video here (around the 1:37 mark). Oh, and her church also embraces the "pray away the gay" movement.

All that, in just two days. On top of what we learned 24 hours before that. As we learn something new about Sarah the Scandal Queen seemingly every hour, it's not surprising that John McCain has warned the press to back off asking questions. Indeed, as McCain's spokesman himself has admitted, Palin is being hidden away from the press because she is destined to "make[] a mistake" that will affect the election (video here):

If she goes out and makes a mistake, that is something that [voters will] care about, and that's something that will haunt [McCain] for awhile, so I think this is a smart move.

A "smart move" for the McCain campaign? How long can they keep Palin at an undisclosed location, cramming for her VP debates, before McCain begins to feel backlash from voters who are tired of more of the same Cheney-style politics? Because while McCain believes it's a "smart move" to hide Palin from the press, the American people aren't that stupid.

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Question

Isn't Palin supposed to move to Cheney's undisclosed location after she gets elected, not before?[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/w-Dw7mBPT4g/214237.php

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Election Central Saturday Roundup

Barack Obama and John McCain will commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks together with a joint appearance at Ground Zero in New York. That and other political news in today's Election Central Saturday Roundup.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/N0-nD7IJMIY/214235.php

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Comeback of the Week: Jesus was a Community
Organizer

As it is posted by Markos, the rest of the line is “Pontius Pilate was a Governor.”

I do not compare Barack Obama to Jesus, but if Sarah Palin wants to defame community organizers, who organize people in effort to help the poor, the hungry and the homeless, then she should think about what every Christian is taught when growing up, that Jesus himself did these things. I also do not wish to compare Palin to Pilate, but she did cut programs for special needs children and unwed mothers.

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House Forecast - 9/6 - Sweet Home Alabama

DCW House Forecast: 244.6 (+8.6) [was 243.5 (+7.5)]. 18 districts had movement in the Democratic direction, with only 2 districts moving the other way. The biggest mover was the open seat in AL-2, with 3 projections moving it to Tossup.

We also added NV 2 to the chart, with CQ and Crystal Ball moving the race to Rep-Lean.

Be sure to also check out our Presidential Forecast and Senate Forecast.

The DCW House Forecast is an average of the projections of Democratic seats in the 2009 House.

We only list those seats which at least one our sources shows to be Leaning or Tossup. Seats which are classified as Likely, Solid or Strong by all sources are not shown, but, of course, will be added if there are changes.

The columns are sorted by each sources House Projection. The races are sorted Republican first, then Dem, and then by the likelihood of the seat flipping.

We've also added in () The Fix House Line, the rankings of the 20 House seats most likely to switch parties in the fall. The number one ranked race is the most likely to turn over.

DCW House ForecastState
CurrentCookSSPCrystal BallCQRoth....Date

8/309/38/228/137/29
Dem

999413
Dem-Lean

152118236
Tossup

2715201628
Rep-Lean

1116142211
Rep

677310
Dem-Prediction

36.736.536.234.834.0
Dem (not shown)

209209209209209
House Projection

245.7245.5245.2243.8243.0
Dem-Gain

9.79.59.27.87.0

NY 13 (Open)
R (3)
DDDDD
NY 25 (Open)
R (1)
DDDLDLD
VA 11 (Open)
R (4)
DLDLDLDLDL
AZ 1 (Open)
R (2)
DLDLDLDLT
IL 11 (Open)
R (11)
DLTDLDLT
NJ 3 (Open)
R (6)
TDLTTT
AK AL (Young)
RTTTTT
MN 3 (Open)
R (18)
TTTTT
NJ 7 (Open)
R (8)
TTTTT
NM 1 (Open)
R (10)
TTTTT
NV 3 (Porter)
R (17)
TTTTT
OH 15 (Open)
R (13)
TTTTT
OH 16 (Open)
R (9)
TTTTT
CO 4 (Musgrave)
R (12)
TTTRLT
LA 4 (Open)
RTTTRLT
NC 8 (Hayes)
RTRLTTT
WA 8 (Reichert)
RTTRLTT
CT 4 (Shays)
RTRLTTRL
MI 7 (Wahlberg)
RTTTRLRL
AL 2 (Open)
RTTTRLR
FL 24 (Feeney)
RTRLRLRLT
NY 26 (Open)
RRLRLTRLT
NY 29 (Kuhl)
RTRLRLRLT
IL 10 (Kirk)
RTRLRLRLRL
NM 2 (Open)
RRLRLRLRLT
OH 1 (Chabot)
RTRLRLRLRL
FL 21 (Diaz-Balart)
RRLRLRLRLRL
MI 9 (Knollenberg)
RRLRLRLRLRL
MO 6 (Graves)
RRLRLRLRLRL
PA 3 (English)
RRLRLRLRLRL
OH 2 (Schmidt)
RRRLRLRLRL
VA 2 (Drake)
RRLRLRLRRL
MO 9 (Open)
RRLRLRRLR
FL 13 (Buchanan)
RRRRLRLR
FL 25 (M. Diaz-Balart)
RRLRLRRR
NV 2 (Heller)
RRRRLRLR
WV 2 (Moore Capito)
RRLRRRLR
CA 4 (Open)
RRRRRLR
FL 8 (Keller)
RRLRRRR
PA 6 (Gerlach)
RRRRRLR
WY AL (Open)
RRRRRLR

TX 22 (Lampson)
D (5)
TTTTRL
LA 6 (Cazayoux)
D (15)
TTTTT
AL 5 (Open)
DTDLTTT
KS 2 (Boyda)
D (19)
TDLTTT
FL 16 (Mahoney)
D (20)
DLDLTTT
CA 11 (McNerney)
DTDLDLDLT
NH 1 (Shea-Porter)
D (14)
TDLDLDLT
PA 10 (Carney)
D (16)
TDLDLDLT
GA 8 (Marshall)
DDLDLDLDLT
WI 8 (Kagen)
DDLDLDLDLT
MS 1 (Childers)
DTDLDLDLD
PA 11 (Kanjorski)
D (7)
DLDLDDLT
AZ 5 (Mitchell)
DDLDLDLDLDL
AZ 8 (Giffords)
DDLDLDLDLDL
KY 3 (Yarmuth)
DDLDLDLDLDL
OR 5 (Open)
DDLDLDLDLDL
PA 4 (Altmire)
DDLDLDLDLDL
IL 14 (Foster)
DDLDLDLDLD
IN 9 (Hill)
DDLDLDLDLD
NY 20 (Gillibrand)
DDLDLDLDLD
CT 5 (Murphy)
DDDDDLD
GA 12 (Barrow)
DDDDDLD
MN 1 (Walz)
DDDDDLD
TX 23 (Rodriguez)
DDDDDLD


CookSSPCrystal BallCQRoth....





































































































Click for Notes and Graph

The House Projection for each source gives Democrats 1.0 seats in a state that is projected solid for the Democrat, 0.8 seats for a Democrat-Lean, 0.5 seats for a a Tossup, 0.2 seats for a Republican-Lean, and 0 seats for a solid Republican seat.