How We Got Here: It was a Deliberate Policy

post from Jutia Group on 17 October 2008 05:00:15 PM. © Jutia Group

Adrian Day’s reputation for discovering big winners adds credibility to the global investing pioneer’s insights, which he is sharing with The Gold Report via excerpts from recent articles in Adrian Day’s Global Analyst. Discussing in…

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Idiot of the Day: Bob Grant

post from Moue Magazine on 17 October 2008 04:58:24 PM. © Moue Magazine

Conservative radio show host Bob Grant could not believe that Barack Obama would be uppity presumptuous enough to create his own version of the American flag to decorate the background behind him at campaign appearance. The flag in question: The flag,[...]

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http://www.mouemagazine.com/blog/2008/10/idiot-of-the-day-bob-grant/

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The Current Crisis: Causes and Consequences

post from Jutia Group on 17 October 2008 04:56:23 PM. © Jutia Group

The Gold Report

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Bush Administration Contacts Obama, McCain, Biden
On Iraq Troop Deal — But Snubs Palin

post from Think Progress on 17 October 2008 04:56:00 PM. © Think Progress

This week, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Joe Biden (D-DE) all were contacted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding the Iraq security agreement.

In today’s White House press briefing, spokesman Dana Perino explained that the adminstration contacted the candidates “to keep them equitably informed.” “One of them is going to win the election, and they will be taking over and having to deal with these issues,” Perino explained. But nobody called Gov. Sarah Palin. In today’s State Department briefing, reporters got a chuckle out of Palin being left out:

Q: You called Senator Biden, you called McCain. Did you also call Governor Palin?
McCORMACK: No. If you hadn’t noticed, she’s a governor. Not a senator or a congressman.
Q: She’s a vice presidential candidate.
McCORMACK: Right.
Q: She also has extensive foreign affairs experience. (LAUGHTER)
McCORMACK: Right. I explained to you the reasoning behind the phone call.
Q: Maybe if this has to do with Russia, you would have called her.

Watch it:

video details and more

While Sean McCormack insisted the apparent snub was not intentional, it’s puzzling that Palin was left out of the administration’s effort to build support for the agreement. As the AP noted, “presumably Palin is an important political figure too. And, like Biden, she has a son currently serving in Iraq who would be directly affected by the so-called Status of Forces, or SOFA, agreement.”

Is it because of Palin’s lack of foreign policy potential? In a September interview with CNN, Rice was reluctant to say Palin has “enough experience” on foreign policy. “Well, obviously — Of course she doesn?t have that,” said First Lady Laura Bush last month regarding Palin’s foreign affairs experience.

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/17/bush-administration-contacts-obama-mccain-bid
en-on-iraq-troop-deal-but-snubs-palin/

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Obama Slams McCain's Radical Health Care Agenda

post from Daily Kos on 17 October 2008 04:55:05 PM. © Daily Kos

Obama in Roanoke, VA earlier today, going after John McCain's radical health care agenda, including his plan to slash Medicare and tax health care benefits for the first time ever. Obama's bottom-line: "Every single American has a right to affordable, accessible health care."

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Republicans put Barack Obamas picture on food
stamp

post from Let's Talk Honestly on 17 October 2008 04:54:29 PM. © Let's Talk Honestly

The Chaffey Community Republican Women sent out a newsletter that featured a qoute that read ” If Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps — instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill featuring Obama’s face on a donkey’s body, [...]

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ood-stamp/

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Obama Counsel to Mukasey: Sic Your Special
Prosecutor on the Republicans

post from Firedoglake on 17 October 2008 04:45:17 PM. © Firedoglake

Shorter Obama campaign: Republicans are already under criminal investigation for their vote fraud lies. Don't let them repeat their criminal conduct.[...]

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ecial-prosecutor-on-the-republicans/

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Senate Forecast - October 17

post from DemConWatch on 17 October 2008 04:45:00 PM. © DemConWatch

Senate Forecast: 57.8 (+6.8), another big jump of 0.4 from the previous forecast. The first 4: VA, NM, CO, NH are over, and we could end up with 55 to 62 seats depending on how things break. And ME hasn't been polled in two weeks, so who knows if the blue wave is hitting there - and TX is now in single digits. We've finally added TX to the chart (and removed NJ).

The Fix is out today with their Senate rankings. For the first time, the 10 most likely seats to switch are all Republican. The Fix rankings are in () after the party designation.

The Senate Forecast is an average of the projections of the Democratic held seats in the 2009 Senate. (We count Sanders and Lieberman as Democrats in the Senate Forecast. Feel free to subtract one if you so desire!) A history of the Forecast going back to November 2006 is at bottom and in the left sidebar.

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

The following seats are unanimous strong and are not shown in the table below (We do show VA as it is a pickup).

Solid Democrat: AR (Pryor), DE (Biden), IA (Harkin). IL (Durbin), MA (Kerry), MI (Levin), MT (Baucus), NJ (Lautenberg), RI (Reed), SD (Johnson), WV (Rockefeller).
Solid Republican: AL (Sessions), ID (Open), KS (Roberts), MS (Cochrane), NE (Open), OK (Inhofe), SC (Graham), TN (Alexander), WY (Barraso), WY (Enzi).

DemConWatch Senate ForecastState
CurrentEV
.com Open Left 538
.com CQ Roth Crystal Ball Cook SSP....Date

10/16.10/17.10/14.10/17.10/15.10/16.10/13.10/13.
Dem-Strong

1515161413131213
Dem-Lean

12236433
Tossup

74241374
Rep-Lean

13233423
Rep-Strong

1111131112111112
Dem '08 Projection

19.519.219.019.018.918.518.318.0
Dem '10/'12 Seats

3939393939393939
Dem Senate Projection

58.558.258.058.057.957.557.357.0
Dem-Gain

7.57.27.07.06.96.56.36.0

VA (Open)
R (1)
DDDDDDDD52NM (Open)
R (2)
DDDDDDDLD53LA (Landrieu)
D
DDDDDLDLDLDL
CO (Open)
R (3)
DDDDLDLDLTDL54NH (Sununu)
R (4)
DLDLDDLDLDLTDL55AK (Stevens)
R (8)
TTTDLDLDLDLT56NC (Dole)
R (6)
TTDLTDLTTT57OR (Smith)
R (5)
TTDLTDLTTT58MN (Coleman)
R (7)
TDLTTTTTT59GA (Chambliss)
RTTRLRLRLRLTRL60MS (Wicker)
R (10)
TRLRLTRLRLTRL61KY (McConnell)
R (9)
TRLRRLRLRLRLRL62ME (Collins)
RRRRRLRRLRLR63TX (Cornyn)
RRLRLRRRRRR64

Here are the seats that span 3 categories: CO, KY, NH.

The Senate Projection for each source gives Democrats 1.0 seats in a state that is projected solid for the Democrat (or seats that are not up for reelection this cycle), 0.8 seats for a Democrat-Lean, 0.5 seats for a a Tossup, 0.2 seats for a Republican-Lean, and obviously 0 seats for a solid Republican seat or a Republican seat not up for reelection this cycle.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.demconwatchblog.com/2008/10/senate-forecast-october-17.html

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Republicans Running to Obama, One as Unlikely as
the Cubs Winning the World Series

No, this isn’t a comment on yet another story about Oregon Senator Gordon Smith trying to jump on the Obama bandwagon in order to save his political hide. Sam Katz has run as a Republican three times for Mayor of Philadelphia, and once for Governor of Pennsylvania. A reporter spotted an Obama sign on his lawn, and this is what Sam Katz had to say. From the Philadelphia Daily News Clout column:

“We have six voters in the house, a lot of points of view,” Katz said yesterday, seeming to ponder how much candor to include in his explanation.
“In all honesty, it will probably be a unanimous vote in the Katz household . . . I was undecided and wanted to stay undecided. But the collapse of the economy and McCain’s performance through that process pushed me a little bit over the other side. I tell people I don’t think Obama’s ready to be president and I don’t think McCain should be. But I always try to vote for the guy I think will do the best job.”

Sam Katz was always a centrist, so this isn’t very surprising. And Pennsylvania is rapidly losing it’s status as a battleground state, what with the huge edge the Democrats have in voter registrations. The real surprising news is the Chicago Tribune endorsing Obama, the very first Democratic candidate for President they have ever endorsed. Heck, as the article notes, the Tribune was founded by one of the founders of the Republican Party. Here’s part of the Tribune endorsement of Barack Obama, where they smack John McCain a bit:

The Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way. The government ran a $237 billion surplus in 2000, the year before Bush took office — and recorded a $455 billion deficit in 2008. The Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in 2006 because, as we said at the time, they gave the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption. They abandoned their principles. They paid the price.
We might have counted on John McCain to correct his party’s course. We like McCain. We endorsed him in the Republican primary in Illinois. In part because of his persuasion and resolve, the U.S. stands to win an unconditional victory in Iraq.
It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days. He argued that President Bush’s tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages.
McCain failed in his most important executive decision. Give him credit for choosing a female running mate–but he passed up any number of supremely qualified Republican women who could have served. Having called Obama not ready to lead, McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. His campaign has tried to stage-manage Palin’s exposure to the public. But it’s clear she is not prepared to step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president. McCain put his campaign before his country.

The newspaper that began by endorsing Horace Greeley, stood by every single other Republican nominated for President since then, including Coolidge, has now endorsed a Democrat for President for the first time. This is as unlikely as the Cubs winning the World Series, and we all know that’s one of the signs of the coming Apocalypse. Perhaps we should be very afraid.

Read The Full Article:
http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/10/17/republicans-running-to-obama-one-as-unlikely
-as-the-cubs-winning-the-world-series/

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Cindy McCain made $4.2m last year. How much did
John McCain say you have to make to be "rich" $5m. Coincidence

post from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth on 17 October 2008 04:45:00 PM. © AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth

He's such a weasel. That's why McCain said recently that you had to make $5m to be "rich." Because he knew his wife made $4.2m last year. It's hell of a coincidence.