High

Think of some substances that can make people talk like this:



Whatever she's smoking must be pretty strong. I'd be curious to see what's growing under the UV rays of the tanning bed she installed in the governor's mansion.

What every American student needs to know

Sarah Palin today:

Every American student needs to come through this area so that, especially this younger generation of Americans is, to be in a position of never forgetting what happened here and never repeating, never allowing a repeat of what happened here.

Maybe that's not a bad idea. But shouldn't every American student also come through Tulsa, to be in a position of never forgetting what happened there? And, while on the field trip in Oklahoma, shouldn't they also visit Oklahoma City? Most terrorism in our nation's history has been home-grown and perpetrated by right-wingers of European physiognomy.

Good question

What happened to the 5 guys who graduated below McCain?

Glenn Greenwald admits he was wrong about Palin

She is much worse than he thought:

One of two things is absolutely clear at this point: she is either (a) completely ignorant about the most basic political issues -- a vacant, ill-informed, incurious know-nothing, or (b) aggressively concealing her actual beliefs about these matters because she's petrified of deviating from the simple-minded campaign talking points she's been fed and/or because her actual beliefs are so politically unpalatable, even when taking into account the right-wing extremism that is permitted, even rewarded, in our mainstream. I'm not really sure which is worse, but it doesn't really matter, because with 40 days left before the election, both options are heinous.

And it matters a lot:

Vice Presidents matter much more than they did before. So much unfettered power is now vested in the Executive that it's inevitable that the Vice President will wield significant authority. McCain evinces little interest in domestic policy, and the fact that he will be beholden to her and her Dobson-ite base if she wins makes it highly likely that she will exert substantial influence over numerous important areas. All of that, combined with McCain's age -- and what really do appear to be legitimate and growing questions about his health (those are mere suspicions, but appropriate ones that should be answered by McCain) -- makes Sarah Palin's candidacy a very real hazard, something that, by the day, I'm convinced is as important as any other issue in the campaign.

The scariest thing is that somewhere about 48% of American voters will vote for these freaks. That could easily round up to 50%, but even if that disaster is averted, we have to ask ourselves: Why isn't this election a blowout? Why isn't it like Chirac v. Le Pen in 2002? Or at least like Johnson v. Goldwater in 1964? Hell, is there any sane person who would not choose Goldwater and Miller over McCain and Palin?

War wounds my ass

Another bullshit ad: McCain can't use the computer because of his war wounds, and Obama is an evil ogre for bringing that up.

That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I know quadriplegic people who use the computer very well. What kind of war wounds prevents McCain from doing so? McCain is a liar and a whiner.

Heads in the sand

While McCain is trying to hide and avoid debating Obama, his supporter Kevin Hassett is trying to hide and avoid debating Brad DeLong.

The sensible bipartisan center is solidly Democratic

A must-read case for Obama (and against McCain) from Brad DeLong, economist and one of the smartest people in America:

What reason could there be not to vote against a candidate who says he doesn't know very much about economics? Not to vote against a candidate whose two chief economic advisors are Phil "What Problems with Deregulation, You Whiners?" Gramm and Carly "H-P Paid Me $21 Million to Go Away" Fiorina. All signs are that McCain economic policy is set to be much worse than even George W. Bush policy--unless Douglas Holtz-Eakin could win the fight inside the White House snakepit. But I don't think he could: McCain regards Gramm and Fiorina--not Doug--as peers to be deferred to. I would be happy to be proven wrong if we take the gamble, but it's not a gamble I want us to take.

McPotemkin

Next time you read a newspaper and see a letter to the editor praising McCain or Palin, beware: it's probably fake.

I get e-mail about buying banks

No, not the Nigerian bank; my spam filters catch those. But I got this interesting e-mail about what the government could do with $700 billion and have a few billion left over:

I did the math and discovered it would be cheaper for the government to simply buy all the major players in the industry based market prices as of 3:00 today. See below:

Financial Institution Market Cap
Wachovia Bank $36.00 Billion
Citi $109.00 Billion
Morgan Stanley $31.00 Billion
Merrill Lynch $42.00 Billion
Goldman Sachs $49.00 Billion
Lehman Brothers $0.13 Billion
JPMorgan $147.00 Billion
Bank of America $160.00 Billion
Washington Mutual $6.00 Billion
Wells Fargo $115.00 Billion
Total $695.13 Billion

Note: "Today" as mentioned in the e-mail means yesterday, September 22.

More about fact checkers

I posted an updated critique of fact checking outlets on Daily Kos. I do think FactCheck & Co. are good guys overall, but I hold them accountable for their mistakes:

nothing is perfect and, unfortunately, the professional fact checkers are not immune to what I call the "balance anxiety" of the mainstream media. Their desire not just to be impartial, but also to protect their reputation for impartiality, becomes conflicted when the two sides they monitor are in fact grossly unbalanced in their respect for truth and facts