Gov. Sarah Palin may have had an 80% approval rating among Alaska residents during her 1 1/2 years as Governor, but many who worked with her professionally in the legislature don't share their view.

Mike Bradner, a former legislator and Speaker of the House, has waived copyright to this article (pdf) this article published today explaining why Palin does not have their support.

In an editorial yesterday, the Alaska Daily News took Palin to task for failing to cooperate in TrooperGate. It begins: [More...]

Yesterday I wrote about Hillary Clinton's refusal to appear at an anti-Iran rally with Gov. Sarah Palin and the National Jewish Democratic Council's request for Palin to be disinvited.

The invitation to Palin has been withdrawn.

The NJDC responds:

Yesterday, NJDC said that Monday’s protest against Ahmadinejad was too important to be tainted by partisanship. Today, NJDC commends the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the National Coalition to Stop Iran Now, The Israel Project, United Jewish Communities, the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs for making the right decision by withdrawing their invitation to Governor Sarah Palin. This decision shows that bi-partisan solidarity against President Ahmadinejad has won out over partisanship - even in this highly charged election year.

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Adam Nagourney wrote:

Mr. McCain’s once easy-going if irreverent campaign presence — endearing to crowds, though often the kind of undisciplined excursions that landed him in the gaffe doghouse — has been put out to pasture.

(Emphasis supplied.) Think again Ad Nags. On top of the Spain brouhaha, John McCain made another gaffe today, this time wrongly claiming Presidential power to fire the SEC Chairman: [More...]

John McCain and his sycophants always tried to equate John McCain to Teddy Roosevelt. Maybe McCain foreign policy lobbyist/adviser Randy Scheunemann has a homage to TR in mind when he says:

Senator McCain did not rule in or rule out a White House meeting with President Zapatero, a NATO ally. If elected, he will meet with a wide range of allies in a wide variety of venues but is not going to spell out scheduling and meeting location specifics in advance. He also is not going to make reckless promises to meet America's adversaries.

(Emphasis supplied.) So what does that mean? [More...]

Another aspect to the unfolding McCain scandal regarding his now stated unwillingness to meet with the leader of Spain, a longtime US ally and NATO member, is the fact that he was on record as wanting to meet with Zapatero before he was against it:

Republican Presidential candidate John McCain is willing to change the policy of distancing from the Spanish government imposed by the Bush Administration four years ago. He declares himself a supporter of bilateral relations and that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero be invited to the White House. . . . McCain declared that "this is the moment to leave behind our differences with Spain" and added: "I would like to see [President Zapatero] visit the United States. I am very interested in not only normalizing our relations with Spain, but also seek to have good and productive relations with the goal of dealing with many issues and challenges we must meet together[.]"

(My translation.) [More...]

This is outrageous from John "We Are All Georgians Now" McCain, in light of his, to put it charitably, confused response on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero:

[W]as McCain purposely trying to diss the Spanish leader? Questions about whether McCain forgot which country Zapatero leads, got confused about Spain's geographic relationship to Latin America, or confused Zapatero with the Zapatista rebels from Mexico have exploded on blogs since reports of the interview first surfaced.

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Bump and Update: Time Magazine picks up on McCain's gaffe in the Pain in Spain.

Update: Here is the audio of McCain's interview in English:

TPM reports the Spanish press is abuzz with McCain's latest gaffe about Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero. TPM's original reports are here and here.

It appears McCain got confused and thought Zapatero was from a Latin American country.

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In a post yesterday, I argued that the current economic crisis is a result of the implementation of the Republican ideology of getting the government out of the markets and out of the economy. I questioned if Republicans would oppose government intervention and help. I argued that if Republicans were true to their ideology, they would argue that the current Wall Street meltdown is merely a function of the market at work and that the weeding of inefficiency through the failure of companies like Lehman Brothers and AIG would make us stronger. I must give the John McCain campaign credit. They are running an ad that argues against government. More . . .

Obama ad:

By Big Tent Democrat

Via Laura Thorne at daily kos:

By Big Tent Tent Democrat

Perhaps the effects of the 50 State Strategy elixir have worn off because Chris Bowers states the obvious today - Colorado is the bellwether for this election:

The path to victory goes through Colorado. I have a hard time seeing any realistic scenario where the candidate who loses Colorado wins the election (I know it is possible--I just think it is highly unlikely). I mean, given all of the advantages we have in that state, how can we expect Obama to win Ohio or Virginia if he doesn't win Colorado? As such, Colorado is the 2008 equivalent of Ohio 2004 and Florida 2000.

This was hashed out during the Democratic primary - Democrats picked the Obama electoral map -with its Western possibilities (Colorado (9 EVs), New Mexico (5 EVs) and Nevada (5 EVs)) + Iowa (7 EVs) + the Kerry states over the Clinton electoral map - 0hio (20 EVs) + Florida (27 EVs) + Arkansas (6 EVs) + the Kerry states. Of course Obama CAN win Ohio (imo, Obama WILL win Ohio), Florida and Virginia (13 EVs) (Clinton had no chance in Virginia.) But Clinton would have won Ohio, Florida and Arkansas. BTW, I believe an Obama/Clinton or a Clinton/Obama ticket would have won them all. But that is water under the bridge.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Presidential race may be on the brink of breaking open. Along with CBS NYTimes poll (9/12-16) which has Obama up 5, a new Q poll (9/11-16) has Obama up 4, 49-45, and the Dkos/R2000 tracker (9/15-17) now has Obama up by 6, 49-43. Ras has it tied, 48-48, McCain down 1. Gallup, Obama by 4, 48-44, a 2 point bump for Obama.

After yesterday's Wall Street meltdown, the economy will again dominate the talk of the Nation. That the economy will be the main topic of discussion is good for Democrats and good for Obama, though the events that have made this so are awful for the country (and will present great challenges to a potential Obama Administration.) McCain is being viewed as running for Bush's Third Term. The Palinpalooza is basically over, despite the attempts of some to keep it going.

In 8 days, Obama and McCain meet for the first Presidential debate. It may be make or break for McCain by then.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only