The mass hysteria from the right rolled in overnight, just two days after Wanda Sykes appeared at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gave Rush Limbaugh a taste of his own medicine. Much like when Limbaugh would gleefully sing “Barack the Magic Negro” on a daily basis or when he rabidly, and brutally ripped into Michael J. Fox and his illness – Sykes decided to take it to the next level in her digs aimed at Rush.

Sykes, who was on fire riffed hard on Limbaugh – claiming she was the 20th hijacker on 9/11 but missed the plane because he was so strung out on Oxycontin, and that while Rush “hoped Obama failed”, she hoped Limbaughs “kidneys failed”. Undoubtedly, it was a fun routine – and with anything funny – all hell has broken loose with commentators and politicians alike chiming in on why they hated what Wanda said.

It’s shocking that right wing politicos/talking heads are taking so much (and I sense, contrived) outrage over Sykes stand-up routine. If you simply add up all things “disgusting”, “vile” or any other adjective being used to describe Sykes routine – that Rush Limbaugh has said just over the year or two you would come up with a compilation that would over shadow anything Sykes said to such a degree, it would be silly to even compare the two, and their public commentary.

Technorati Tags: Comedy News, Daily Show, Daily Show Wanda Sykes, Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart Wanda Sykes, video, Wanda Sykes, Wanda Sykes Daily Show, Wanda Sykes Jon Stewart, Wanda Sykes Rush Limbaugh, Wanda Sykes White House Correspondents Dinner

Hitchens debated Blackwell about this, with Hitchens declaring a crisis of faith in the country, one that shows a decisive tide is turning against the forces of religion. Blackwell disputed this, arguing that the influence of religion ebbs and flows but won’t ever really fade away because we are fundamentally a Christian nation going all the way to the Founding Fathers. Hitchens vehemently fought back against this notion.

Per usual with Hitchens, the debate was heated and incredibly intriguing. Watch the exchange in its entirety below:

Over the past 48 hours I have heard right wing commentator after right wing commentator, as well as just about every single news outlet in general wet their pants over the latest nationwide polling numbers which show John McCain ahead of Barack Obama. The glee in their voices, and contrived aloofness (“how can this be?”) promptly followed by over analyzing every aspect the shows time slot allows them to are both annoying and petty. Unfortunately for these so called “political experts” the polls they are clamoring over are flawed in more ways then just one.

So you may be asking yourself what is it that makes the latest polls, the ones showing McCain up by a handful of points invalid? And too that my answer is simple – the pollsters conducting these lopsided studies are simply sampling a larger republican population in a way that leaves the results numerically impossible to show anything less then a McCain lead.

Earlier today Seth Colter Walls published a piece over at the Huffington Post which sheds some light on the tampering going on in regards to the pollsters overall sampling sizes which of course hinges (in a macro sense) on ones Party Identification. The pollsters (for reasons unknown by myself) are flat out oversampling Republican voters, and in some cases, are doing so at an obnoxious rate. Walls explains this phenomenon in great detail, stating:

“In a year in which Democrats have a lead of 11 million registered voters over Republicans, and have been adding to that advantage through a robust field operation, are pollsters over-sampling Republicans?

Despite a raft of advantages in the electorate for Democrats, in September’s first Gallup tracking poll, an equal number of Republicans and Democrats were surveyed (including “leaners”) from Sept. 3-5, compared to a 10-point Democratic identification advantage two weeks ago. That partisan makeup of the polling pool resulted in a 5-point lead for McCain in Sept. 5 tracking poll. Meanwhile, the new CBS poll features a 6-point swing in partisan composition toward Republicans, which plays some role in the poll’s two-point lead for McCain. Finally, the latest USA Today poll, which claims a four-point edge for McCain, was arrived at after a 10-point swing in partisan makeup toward GOP respondents.”

This practice is not new to electoral politics, however it is arguably receiving more attention, or in this case scrutiny, due to the fact people can look into the raw data taken into account for whatever specific poll is in question. The reasons they do this are simple – to create a “close race” with the dramatic “ups and downs” which subsequently leads to a peaked interest in the weekly/daily numbers which then spikes the overall demand for their product – the polls:

Norman admitted that the GOP identification in the latest survey has spiked. “The party ID in our most recent poll does show a shift away from what Gallup has been getting in earlier polls, going all the way back to 2005,” Norman said. “But previous conventions — the Republican one in 1988, the Democratic one in 1992, the Democratic one in 2000 — have also shown shifts in party ID toward the party that had the convention, and those shifts seemed to last, to greater or lesser degrees, though the election. Further, I’ve been told by Gallup that their tracking poll has shown a similar shift in party ID since the Republican convention. … I guarantee you we will be watching closely in all of our polls between now and election day to see whether there are further shifts in party ID in either direction.”

Still not convinced? Well don’t just take my word on it, here is what Adam Abramowitz, a world renound political scientist who is currently a professor at Emory University has to say about the latest gaggle of polls we saw released over the past two days:

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz is highly skeptical of the new Gallup, USA Today and CBS polls. About the latter, which showed a statistically insignificant two point lead for McCain, Abramowitz said: “One reason for the dramatic difference between the two recent CBS polls is that the two samples differed fairly dramatically in terms of partisan composition. The first sample was 35.2% Democratic, 26.2 percent Republicans, and 38.6 percent independent. The second sample was 34.9% Democratic, 31.1% Republican, and 34.0% independent. That’s a change from a 9 point Democratic advantage to a 3.8 point Democratic advantage. That alone would probably explain about half of the difference in candidate preferences between the two [CBS] polls.”

So with the argument laid out quite clearly, I think it is important that we look at a handful of other polls, which are being released by major publications. Granted they don’t offer the same “excitement” factor the other trumped up ones do, they seem nonetheless to be a tad more accurate – at least in the sense of their sampling ratios:

• American Research Group (ARG):

• Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll:

• NBC/Wall Street Journal:

It is clear that John McCain has made up some ground in the polls, I am in no way refuting that. I am however pointing out that the grossly negligent numbers that showed McCain leading by as many as 10 points were in fact doctored to appear how they did.

So before you (and by you I am talking to the Republicans who have had a nonstop orgasm the past 2 days) go on with your gloating please take into account the fact that the polls in which you are bragging about simply overloaded the sampling with GOP voters.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Battleground, Breaking news, Cbs Poll, doctoring the polls, ELECTION, Gallup Poll, joe biden, john mccain, John McCain ahead in polls, john mccain leads in the polls, new polls, new presidential polls, obama ahead in the polls, Politics News, Poll Madness Mccain Takes Lead, polls, President, Presidential Polls, Sarah Palin, unfair polls, USA Today Poll, Vote, ]

Sarah Palin just wrapped up her highly anticipated Vice Presidential acceptance speech at the Xcel Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Palin was the Convention’s second night’s main event, serving as the “cherry on top” in what turned out to be a rather ugly, substanceless and downright tacky parade of GOP maniquens. I must admit that I found it somewhat difficult to focus on what Sarah Palin was even saying, my attention kept being averted to her infant son Trig, who might I add has down syndrome, being passed around like a bowl of chips at a super bowl party.

Let’s get one thing straight – whether you are a Republican or a Democratic, if you have any sliver of common sense in your body, you would have to admit that tonight was one of the most desperate, far-fetched, and completely free of anything to do with actual policy and plans on implementing it.

• FACT: McCain/Palin reform is just … well, there’s nothing. It’s an overused phrase but it is all rhetoric. Not only has their party been in power for 8 years. But every policy pushed by John McCain is the one embraced by George Bush. Economic policy, tax policy, Iraq policy, social issues, Bush style politicking, everything.
• FACT: Sarah Palin continues to lie through her teeth about opposing the historically attrocious”Bridge to Nowhere”. Tonight, for the second time in a week, Palin stated:

“I told the Congress “thanks, but no thanks,” for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we’d build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged – directly to the people of Alaska.”

This is a lie. It’s really that simple – there is no truth whatso ever behind Palin’s claim. Making the lie worse is the fact that Palin worked hard to push the project through, doing whatever she could to sure up every last pork barrel cent for this callamity of a ear mark:

“Palin said Alaska’s congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge as part of a package deal and that she ‘would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge.”

How long until she gets called out for this? I mean there isn’t even a shred of truth behind her declaration of opposition – it is a bold faced lie. Yet she keeps on repeating it without any recourse or blowback. You gotta love the double standards here.

• FACT: ON Monday CNN’s Campbell Brown practically begged McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds to answer one simple question. Brown repeatedly plead with Bounds; “Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?” Bounds didn’t answer the question, and he didn’t answer for good reason – she hasn’t:

“Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?” CNN journalist Campbell Brown asked Monday while interviewing McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. “Just one?” Bounds couldn’t, because Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.

The governor has no command authority overseas or anywhere in the United States other than Alaska, said Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, the service commander of the Alaska National Guard.

“When members of the National Guard are federalized, they work for the president,” Campbell said Wednesday. “It’s not just overseas. They could be federalized to go to other states or they could even be federalized in the state.”

• FACT: Keeping with the theme of regurgitating lies in an attempt to pawn them off as reality, Sarah Palin stated:

“I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.”

Again, Palin completely disregards any figment of reality. The truth of the matter is that Palin, when Mayor of Wasilla, hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation.

• FACT: Palin is under investigation by a bipartisan state legislative body for multiple instances of her abusing her power. Firing people at will, and letting family issues (her sister’s divorce) dictate decisions that affected the city she was supposed to be looking out for.

“The one moment that stays with me tonight, oddly enough, was not Palin’s speech. It was a line from Giuliani, a New York mayor with a young second third wife and gay friends, mocking a “cosmopolitan” who was brought up by a single mother. It was that Barack Obama’s rise could “only happen in America.” And it was designed to mock him, the first African-American candidate for the presidency of the United States. I won’t forget that.”

“Mitt Romney seems to use the word “liberal” in a randomly pejorative fashion. I half expect him to say “I was eating breakfast this morning, and my hash browns were all liberal. I sent them back and told the waitress to bring me some good, conservative hash browns.”

“Since her name was announced as John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin has generated more US-based internet search traffic than Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Michael Phelps and Barack Obama combined:”

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Fresh off what many are calling one of the better Democratic National Convention’s in recent memory, John McCain, his newly anointed Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the rest of the GOP kicked off their week long shin dig in one half of the twin cities, St. Paul, Minnesota. Well, kinda anyways. In what had to be one of the more bizarre Labor Days in quite some time, much of the RNC Convention was canceled due to Hurricane Gustav, all the while a firestorm seemingly spilled over regarding a laundry list of issues plaguing the 72 hour old VP candidate Sarah Palin. Serving as the “cherry on top”; anti-war protesters and law enforcement clashed numerous times throughout the day, subsequently ending in violence, arrests, tear gas and more bad press for the GOP.

In what was a perfect storm of “bad press” for the GOP, one thing is for sure: They will be doing everything in their power to put yesterdays events out of sight, and out of mind – this however may be harder said then done.

With no real convention story to cover, and a fading storm out of the picture by midday the media found themselves following lead after lead regarding John McCain’s surprise VP selection, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin.

To say today was a “bad day” for Palin just may be an understatement. Here is a rundown of what TPM’s Greg Sargent appropriately titled “The Palin Melt Down”:

• Palin’s previous claim to have refused the “Bridge to Nowhere” is revealed to be a falsehood:

“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress” and opposed federal funding for a controversial bridge to a sparsely populated island. “I told Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that bridge to nowhere,” Palin said Friday in Ohio, using the critics’ dismissive name of the project. “‘If our state wanted a bridge,’ I said, ‘we’d build it ourselves.’”

While running for governor in 2006, though, Palin backed federal funding for the infamous bridge, which McCain helped make a symbol of pork barrel excess. And as mayor of the small town of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002, Palin also hired a Washington lobbying firm that helped secure $8 million in congressionally directed spending projects, known as earmarks, according to public spending records compiled by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste and lobbying documents.”

• Continuing to tarnish her “reformer” image, it is learned that Palin was heavily reliant on a earmark system that she now claims to be staunchly in opposition of:

On Friday, when McCain introduced her as his running mate, she said she “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending,” the legislative technique used to slip projects into appropriations bills without rigorous congressional review.

But under her leadership, the state of Alaska has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year’s federal budget, according to the website of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

• It is learned that Palin had extensive ties to a “fringe” political outfit in Alaska whose main purpose was to push the idea of seceding from the United States:

“The Alaska Independence Party, which was formed with the goal of seceding from the union and establishing Alaska as an independent state, says that Palin addressed their 2008 convention. The AIP has posted video of what it claims is her address on its Web site.”

• We learn that Palin has just now decided to hire a lawyer in regards to her pending investigation surrounding multiple “abuse of power” cases that are currently underway in her home state of Alaska:

“MSNBC just reported that presumptive vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has hired a lawyer in relation to the Trooper-Gate scandal. Alaska State Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Hollis French told TPMmuckraker that Palin has hired Thomas Van Flein, an Anchorage attorney at the law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness. French said that Van Flein has already been in contact with him, regarding the ongoing investigation of Palin.”

All of this in one day – yes, just one day. A mere 72 hours into her VP candidacy and this is what has surfaced. Of course this has everyone scratching their heads, asking themselves “how in the heck didn’t the McCain camp find any of this prior to her selection?”

• Amy Goodman, Democracy Now! host unlawfully arrested at RNC:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBjcqwQgF7Q

• Police Blast a Protester with Pepper Spray:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJZNkJbTpjA

• Police firing rubber bullets at protesters at incredibly close range:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OnnUTK7QjI

Reports coming from various news outlets late into Monday night, and carrying over to the wee hours of this morning seem to portray that the situation on the ground, between police and protesters is continuing to spiral further and further out of control.

That said, I am going to interject my personal opinion on the situation. Now I know a lot of people won’t like it, and that’s perfectly alright, so be it. The way I see it is that the protesters more often then not (they play the victims very well) are doing something against the rules whenever you see police act in the manner seen above. They are quick to claim “police brutality” and whine it up for the cameras, but for all constructive purposes they were dealt with, or became caught up in, police action that was being directed at stopping something or someone breaking the rules.

That is not to say that law enforcement officials are never to blame. Hell, half the time they are at fault for using excessive and/or inappropriate force. But you have to remember that they are facing highly emotional crowds, often which will go as far as they are physically able too without being refrained. With this mentality comes a high risk for riots, which would then in turn only produce an increase, at a huge rate none the less, of violence. It is this which makes the job of the police force somewhat difficult, and very unrewarding.

I should also mention that even though I am a proud Democrat, always have been, always will be, I have never been one who cheers on the side show antics of fringe groups on the outer realms of the left. In my opinion they do much more harm then good, and the only thing they really accomplish is the diminishing legitmacey of any argument they are trying to make.

Take a look at the “protesters” on the far left, and their irrational, and emotionalist actions throughout the 70′s. What did it produce? A whole lot of Republican presidents.

So in wrapping this thing up, I think it is fair to say Republican’s had a bad day, protesters had a bad day, and the media had a field day. That said, if Tuesday is anything like Labor Day, we are in for a ride, so buckle up, get some shut eye, and check back tomorrow – err, later today..

Technorati Tags: Amy Good, Bristol Palin, Bristol Palin Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin Pregnancy, Giuliani And Palin, GOP Convention, Levi Johnson, Levi Johnston, Levin Johnson Bristol Palin, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell Alaska National Guard, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell Palin, Mark Sanford Sarah Palin, Media News, Mike Wooten, Off The Bus News, Palin, Palin Brother In Law, Palin Family, Palin Giuliani Experience, Palin Trooper, Palin Troopergate, Police Republican Convention, Politics News, Protests GOP Convention, Protests Republican Convention, Republican Convention, rudy giuliani, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Daughter Pregnant, Sarah Palin John Mccain, Sarah Palin Scandal, Sarah Palin Trooper Scandal, Sarah Palin Vice President, Slideshow, St. Paul

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama selected Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware late Friday night to be his vice presidential running mate, according to a Democratic official, balancing his ticket with an older congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

Across more than 30 years in the Senate, he has served at various times not only as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee but also as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

In selecting Biden, Obama passed over several other potential running mates, none more prominent than former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, his tenacious rival in dozens of primaries and caucuses.

Obama’s campaign arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Hundreds of miles to the west, carpenters, electricians, sound stage gurus and others transformed the Pepsi Center in Denver into a made-for-television convention venue.

Tucked away in one corner were thousands of lightweight rolled cardboard tubes, ready-made handles for signs bearing the names of the Democratic ticket – once the identity of Obama’s running mate was known.

While Obama decided against adding Clinton to his ticket, he has gone to great lengths to gain the confidence of her primary voters, agreeing to allow her name to be placed in nomination at the convention and permitting a roll call vote that threatens to expose lingering divisions within the party.

Biden slowly emerged as Obama’s choice across a long day and night of political suspense as other contenders gradually fell away.

First Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine let it be known that he had been ruled out. Then came word that Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana had also been passed over.

Several aides to Clinton said the Obama campaign had never requested financial or other records from her.

Other finalists in the veep sweepstakes were Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Texas Rep. Chet Edwards.

Among those on the short list, Biden brought the most experience in defense or foreign policy, areas in which Obama is rated relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain.

While the war in Iraq has been supplanted as the campaign’s top issues by the economy in recent months, the recent Russian invasion of Georgia has returned foreign policy to the forefront.

In addition to foreign policy experience, Biden, a native of Scranton, Pa., has working-class roots that could benefit Obama, who lost the blue-collar vote to Clinton during their competition for the presidential nomination.

Biden was elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1973.

No sooner had word spread of his selection than McCain’s campaign unleashed its first attack. Spokesman Ben Porritt said in a statement that Biden had:

“denounced Barack Obama’s poor foreign policy judgment and has strongly argued in his own words what Americans are quickly realizing, that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.”

As evidence, Republicans cited an ABC interview from August 2007, in which Biden said he would stand by an earlier statement that Obama was not ready to serve as president.

Biden is seeking a new Senate term in the fall. there was no immediate word whether he intended to change plans as he reaches for national office. Biden dropped out of the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination after a poor finish in the Iowa caucuses, but not before he talked dismissively of joining someone else’s ticket.

“I am not running for vice president,” he said in a Fox interview. “I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I’d rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president.”

It was his second try for the White House. The first ended badly in 1988 when he was caught lifting lines from a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock.

In the decades since, he become a power in the Senate, presiding over confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominees as well as convening hearings to criticize President Bush’s handling of the Iraq War.

Biden voted to authorize the war, but long ago became one of the Senate’s surest critics of the conflict.

Obama worked to keep his choice secret, although he addressed the issue broadly during the day in an interview.

“Obviously, the most important question is: Is this person ready to be president?” Obama told “The Early Show” on CBS. Second, he said, was: “Can this person help me govern? Are they going to be an effective partner in creating the kind of economic opportunity here at home and guiding us through some dangerous waters internationally?”

And, he added:

“I want somebody who is going to be able to challenge my thinking and not simply be a yes person when it comes to policymaking.

___

Associated Press writers David Espo in Denver, Angela K. Brown in Waco, Texas, Glen Johnson in Boston, Randall Chase in Greenville, Del., Bob Lewis in Richmond, Va., John Hanna in Topeka, Kan., Scott Lindlaw in San Francisco and Jesse Holland in Washington contributed to this report. Pickler reported from Chicago.

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NEW YORK – Fewer Americans are reading newspapers and are instead getting their news online, but television remains the leading source of news in the country, according to a survey released Sunday. Not surprisingly, younger people tend to get more of their news on the Internet, while older folks use traditional media such as television and newspapers, the Pew Research Center’s biannual survey on news consumption habits said.

Pew said the results show an increasing shift toward online news consumption, but that there is now a sizable group of a more engaged, sophisticated and well-off people that use both traditional and online sources to get their news.

The Pew researchers referred to these people as “integrators,” and says they account for 23% of those surveyed, spending the most time with the news on a typical day.

“Like Web-oriented news consumers, integrators are affluent and highly educated. However they are older, on average, than those who consider the Internet their main source of news,” the survey said.

It is this group that advertisers typically like to target, which helps explain why newspaper publishers have seen sharp declines in ad revenues as spending shifts online.

Pew found that the largest group of news consumers – 46% of those polled – have a “heavy reliance” on television for their news at all times of the day. This group is the oldest, with a median age of 52, and least affluent, with 43% unemployed. They are unlikely to own a computer or go online for news.

Overall, among those who get some of their news from TV, fewer are watching the 6:30 broadcast network newscasts, and instead opting for cable news sources such as CNN or Fox News Channel. CNN’s audience is now majority Democratic, while 39% of Fox News viewers are Republicans, 33% Democrats, with the remainder independent or didn’t specify.

The group that relies most on the Internet for news is the youngest at a median age of 35. It is also the smallest, at 13% of those polled. Fewer than half of them watch television news on a regular basis. Eighty percent of this group has a college education and they are twice as likely to read an online newspaper than a printed version.

The emergence of this group and the shift among integrators online led to an overall decline in the percentage of people who said they read a newspaper the day before, to 34% from 40% two years ago, the researchers found. That is also reflected in a shift in the industry that has seen circulation figures slip in recent quarters.

The beneficiary of less print newspaper consumption has been other online news sources, with about 25% of the people surveyed saying they go to an Internet site for news at least three times a week. That’s up from 18% in the 2006 survey.

Pew found that consumers of online news tend to be more educated than those who get their news from traditional sources, with 44% of college graduates saying they read news online every day. Just 11% of those who topped out with a high school education go online for news.

About one-third of those younger than 25 said they get no news on a typical day, up from about 25% in 1998.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. It polled 3,615 adults 18 years or older by telephone between April 30 and June 1, and has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

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This is the Barack Obama that Democrats, and more importantly – this country needs. Of course I am referring to Obama’s firing back of sorts during a campaign stop in Berea, Ohio. Barack Obama seemingly had heard enough, over the last week we have been inundated with a steady stream of garbage courtesey of the new and not so improved McCain/Rove machine.

Some of the highlights – or for those of us with a hint of rationale, lowlights – have included McCain’s “celebrity” ad, which depicts Obama alongside the likes of Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton, as well as a never ending gag reel of insults regarding Obama’s “tire inflation” suggestion as being one of the simple ways regular American’s can help aleviate at least some of the growing burden high gas prices are serving up so many of us.

Well, as you will see in the video attached below, Obama has heard enough – and thank god for that. I know I was personally becoming ill watching each day pass with another “elementary school” insult in the form of a television advertisement or press conference via John McCain and his stooges.

Watch Barack Obama call McCain out, a line which gets a amazing reaction from the crowd, which carries over into Obama’s knockout punch which came in the form of; “It’s almost like the take pride in being ignorant”, which pretty much gets everyone in the building on their feet with cheers and applause to boot.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akjXqfvLu28

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This sense of calling them out for what they truly are is a trend Obama needs to stay on top of for the remainder of this campaign. There have been far too many instances of Democrats taking it on the chin, refusing to retaliate on their bottom feeding GOP opponents – and in almost every one of those “overly passive” strategies the Republican’s have ended up winning (IE: the 2004 Presidential Election.)

Moreover, Keith Olbermann took a chance to rip into McCain’s constant “making fun of” Obama and the suggestion (which is supported by a growing majority of elected Republican’s as a aid, not an answer to high gas prices. Much like Obama suggested it as) during his program “Countdown With Keith Olbermann.” Below is that video, with a portion of the transcript included:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5_3kvkyhVM

And now for the kicker of the story. Now brace yourself folks this is a real doozy, and in my opinion up there with the best McCain flip flops we have seen thus in his uniquely bad Presidential bid. During a press conference John “Walnuts” McCain had this to say:

“And could I mention that Senator Obama a couple of days ago said that we ought to all inflate our tires, and I don’t disagree with that. The American Automobile Association strongly recommends it.”

Oh man this guy is great – he actually manages to make George W. Bush appear halfway competent. So in closing let me just say that I hope with all the energy in my body that McCain keeps up his “Howdy Doody” routine – it’s providing us with some absolutely classic comedy during an otherwise boring stretch TV wise.

Technorati Tags: "it's like they take pride in being ignorant", breaking campaign news, breaking election news, Breaking news, breaking oil news, Breaking political news, Breaking video, CNN, energy efficiency, Energy Plan, GOP support Obama energy plan, GOP support of Obama, john mccain, Keith Olbermann, McCain, McCain attacks Obama, NASCAR, Obama, Obama hits back, Obama on CNN, Obama owning republicans, Obama's energy plan, Republican Attack, republican attacks on Obama, tire inflate, Tire Inflation, tune-up, video of Obama smacking down republicans

The AP is reporting that a gun-control activist who championed the cause for more than a decade and served on the boards of two anti-violence groups is suspected of working as a paid spy for the National Rifle Association, and now those organizations are expelling her and sweeping their offices for bugs.

The suggestion that Mary Lou McFate was a double agent is contained in a deposition filed as part of a contract dispute involving a security firm. The muckraking magazine Mother Jones, in a story last week, was the first to report on McFate’s alleged dual identity.

The NRA refused to comment to the magazine and did not respond to calls Tuesday from The Associated Press. Nor did McFate.

The 62-year-old former flight attendant and sex counselor from Sarasota, Fla., is not new to the world of informants. She infiltrated an animal-rights group in the late 1980s at the request of U.S. Surgical, and befriended an activist who was later convicted in a pipe bomb attack against the medical-supply business, U.S. Surgical acknowledged in news reports at the time. U.S. Surgical had come under fire for using dogs for research and training.

“It raises some real concerns with the tactics of the NRA. If they’ve got one person, maybe they have more. If they’ve done this dirty trick, what else have they done?” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, which planned to search its offices for listening devices and computer spyware.

The Brady Campaign and other groups said they are also researching whether McFate’s alleged spying constituted a crime.

“Under some circumstances, it could be trespass,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former prosecutor. But “if they’re open meetings, it may be underhanded and sneaky; it may not be illegal.”

At States United, McFate served as federal legislation director, meeting with members of Congress on Capitol Hill and writing letters. Over the years, she also stuffed envelopes, attended rallies and took part in conference calls and strategy sessions.

In retrospect, Helmke said, he now realizes McFate stopped by the Washington office for meetings and conference calls that could have been handled by phone, and perhaps pushed too hard to join the board or lobby Congress.

But as for any secrets she might have been privy to, the gun-control groups said they have little to hide, since they put their message and information about their budgets on the Web.

The allegations against McFate stem from a lawsuit brought against officials with Beckett Brown International, a now-defunct security firm based in Maryland. A former beer distributor who bankrolled the firm accused them of defrauding him.

Boxes of documents filed in the dispute reveal that McFate worked as a subcontractor for Beckett Brown and that the firm’s clients included the NRA. And they show that McFate billed the firm for unspecified intelligence-gathering services, submitting among other things a request for a $4,500-a-month retainer in 1999.

The documents also reveal that McFate — that is her maiden name; her married name is Mary Lou Sapone — tried to get daughter-in-law Montgomery Sapone hired by Beckett Brown. Montgomery Sapone worked as an intern at Brady Campaign headquarters in 2003, the gun-control group said.

John Dodd III, the Maryland beer distributor who bankrolled Beckett Brown, told the AP that he did not condone the infiltration of activist groups.

Bryan Miller, executive director of Ceasefire NJ, said he feels betrayed by McFate. Miller’s brother, an FBI agent, was shot to death in 1994.

“To have somebody that I consider a friend, have been with dozens of times, shared meals with, treated as a friend, to have her be an employee, a subcontracted spy for the NRA, is just mind-boggling. It’s so venal,” Miller said. “In the battle of ideas with the gun lobby, we’re at a constant disadvantage because we’re honest.”

Timothy Ward, a former Beckett Brown principal who said in a sworn statement that McFate worked for the firm, declined comment Tuesday through a person who answered the phone at his new company, Chesapeake Strategies Group. The NRA now uses that firm for intelligence-gathering, another Chesapeake official said in a deposition.

The CeaseFirePA leadership plans a vote Friday on whether to expel McFate, a board member for seven years.

“I feel flattered that the NRA would feel that they would have to infiltrate Ceasefire of PA. Obviously, they’re hearing our footsteps,” said Phil Goldsmith, the group’s president. “Frankly, I think it’s a waste of their money. We don’t deal in state secrets.”

Below you will see that I have gone ahead and attached video of MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann anointing Mary Lou McFate their “Worst Person of the World” honors:

Oh, but there’s more – Here is a clip detailing McFate’s outting as a NRA spy. The segment also includes some footage of the sneakster in action:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76T58nk92s

CeaseFire PA and the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence were not the only anti-gun groups affected by Mrs. McFate’s operation. The NRA also used her to penetrate the Freedom States Alliance by joining the board as a chairperson – in addition to McFate also spent a number of years infiltrating the Violence Policy Center, another massive anti-gun conglomerate who is well known by both advocates and opponents of restricting the availability of firearms.

Whether or not you agree with gun control or not I think two major narratives come from this tale of treachery. First – the NRA is in fact as ruthless as they are perceived to be, it is no ploy, or front – whatever they think will give them an upper hand on the opposition, they will carry out with no hesitation. Second, Mary “McFate”, aka Mary Lou Sapone, the subject of this article whom the NRA paid to spy on gun violence survivors and advocacy organizations is very good at what she does.

In conclusion all I am going to have to say is that if you see the lady in the picture above at a political meeting, rally, or hell, even a birthday party – I think it’s safe to say you should go ahead and assume the absolute worst. She isn’t their for cake and cookies.

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There has been a lot of talk regarding the electoral map “swing states” as of late. A particular focus has been put on Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and Missouri all states where the current polls are close, but reflect similar numbers at this time back in 2000 and 2004. That is why electoral experts have begun to believe that Colorado will ultimately decide the 2008 election – and this is not an assertion that should be taken lightly either. Those arguing that Colorado is very likely in deciding the ’08 election have quite a compelling argument on their side – one that makes more and more sense as each day passes, and state polls are released.

The current electoral college outlook actually favors Barack Obama. He is ahead in states that Democrats over the past decade couldn’t have won if they had Jesus himself as a running mate. I am talking about states like Virginia (Obama +5 points), Arkansas (Obama +4), Arizona (Obama is +3 over McCain, in McCain’s home state), North Carolina (Obama +9), South Carolina (Obama +1) and Georgia (a virtual tie).

However we are going to disregard all that for argumentative purposes. Instead we will lay it out in really simple terms – a scenario which will more or less illustrate why Colorado is so likely to have a major hand, if not the deciding factor, in the upcoming 2008 Presidential election:

“If Democrats hold all the states they won four years ago and flip just Colorado, Obama will be the next president.”

It doesn’t get any clearer then that. If in November John McCain wins all the states George W. Bush did in ’04 with the exception of Colorado, Barack Obama would manage to hit the magic number of 270 electoral votes needed to declare victory.

With that out there to chew on, let’s now look at an array of different polls that have come out of Colorado within the last couple of weeks:

• Public Policy Polling (PPP) – COLORADO (7/9-10/2008, 1,050 Likely Voters)

(D) Barack Obama: 47%
(R) John McCain: 43%

• Zogby – COLORADO (6/11-30/2008, 780 Likely Voters)

(D) Barack Obama: 40%
(R) John McCain: 38%
(L) Bob Barr: 8%

• Quinnipiac/Wall Street Journal – COLORADO (6/17-24/2008, 1,351 Likely Voters)

(D) Barack Obama: 49%
(R) John McCain: 44%

If you go back a little further you would see that Obama actually held a larger lead, however McCain managed to trim it down by a couple points – but has seemingly plateaued at around 3-6 points behind Obama. Another huge factor favoring the Democrats is that their National Convention, where Obama will accept the nomination is set to take place in Denver next month:

“Now, with polls showing Sen. Barack Obama several points ahead of Sen. John McCain in the new swing state, the choice is looking very smart. The local coverage of Obama will be wall-to-wall in the last week of August and could help Democrats pull off a crucial win.”

Clearly one would have to agree, simply by looking at the numbers, and the scenario in play, that Colorado appears to be (this does not mean guaranteed) Barack Obama territory, at least up until this point in the contest.

Another interesting statistic, one which should be taken with a grain of salt for a plethora of reasons, is Colorado’s Presidential primary results.

On the Democrat side, Barack Obama won the Colorado primary with 67% (79,344 votes) of the total vote, while Hillary Clinton garnished 32% (38,587 total votes), putting her in a distant second place. Over on the GOP primary race you will notice that not only did McCain finish a distant second receiving only 19% of the conservative vote (10,621 votes) behind the winner Mitt Romney, who ended up walking away with 59% (33,288 votes), but when you add up all three candidates total vote count (yes Huckabee was still around & finished third) you will see that it works out to approximately 51,000 votes – Combined.

Barack Obama alone received close to 30,000 more votes then the entire Republican field put together. And when you include Hillary Clinton’s total votes you see that the Democratic candidates (the two of them) received nearly 70,000 more votes then the GOP cast of characters did.

Again this is nothing to base an argument around, or even anything that should be taken for more then an “interesting” fact. However it does say something about the states idealology, and what group is more active, energized, and mobile – that clearly being the Democrats.

One more thing we should point out before this we wrap this thing up, and that is Colorado’s important issues, in the eyes of their voters that is.

The biggest issue on the minds of Colorado voters has got to be immigrations. I say this because 5.4% of the states total population is comprised of illegal immigrants. On this issue one would be led to believe that Obama would have the upper hand, seeing as though McCain has so dramatically flip flopped on this issue, it would be hard to see how anyone, left or right of the political spectrum, could believe a word he says when talking about borders, work permits, and anything else to do with immigration in this country.

Anyways, thats about it. I think it’s obvious that Colorado will be crucial in deciding the 2008 Presidential election, and I suspect that it will be a necessity for whichever candidate ends up winning. As to how crucial it will be is still up in the air, but you have to think that with the convention in Denver, and the current poll numbers showing Obama in the lead, and holding it pretty steadily, Democrats have got to be confident in turning the historically “red” state, a nice shade of “blue” this coming November.

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