Who'da thunk it, Frank Rich gets one right:

How do you run against that flashy flimflam? You don’t. Karl Rove for once gave the Democrats a real tip rather than a bum steer when he wrote last week that if Obama wants to win, “he needs to remember he’s running against John McCain for president,” not Palin for vice president. Obama should keep stepping up the blitz on McCain’s flip-flops, confusion, ignorance and blurriness on major issues (from education to an exit date from Iraq), rather than her gaffes and résumé. If he focuses voters on the 2008 McCain, the Palin question will take care of itself.

He gets it wrong on invoking Bush (he counsels against it), but Rich getting it half right is a miracle these days.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Paul Rosenberg posts this video:

The idea of linking McCain to Bush is, of course, sound. The execution of this video is poor. This is serious business. Trying to make it funny is not the right approach. Cut out all the attempted humor, stick to the fact that McCain is in fact running for Bush's Third Term, and you have some effective video here.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Via Josh Marshall, the John McCain campaign admits he will lie to the American People as the candidate and if he becomes President:

McCain seems to have made a choice that many politicians succumb to but that he had always promised to avoid — he appears ready to do whatever it takes to win, even it if soils his reputation. . . . McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said . . . "We recognize it’s not going to be 2000 again . . . But he lost then. We’re running a campaign to win. And we’re not too concerned about what the media filter tries to say about it.”

George Bush won in 2000 by lying and continued lying to the American People as President. John McCain promises more of the same - the same Bush lies to the American People we have seen for 8 years. As Barack Obama says, it is time to say "enough!" Enough of the Bush policies and the Bush lies. Even if they now come from John McCain.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Alan Greenspan, nobody's idea of a wild-eyed liberal, tells us that the country can't afford John McCain's proposed tax cuts. At least not without significantly slashing federal spending. That's not likely to happen in a McCain administration, given McCain's devotion to an expensive war in Iraq and the need to ramp up military spending even more to cover the other military ventures McCain is likely to authorize.

McCain has said he would balance the cost of most of his tax cuts with budget reductions, while providing few details beyond eliminating earmarks and other pork-barrel spending, which have totaled about $171 billion since 2001.

How those cuts will cover his proposed $3.3 trillion reduction in tax revenues, McCain hasn't explained. Nor is he willing to say which earmarks he'll cut, or what he'll do about the nation's crumbling infrastructure if he intends to slash domestic spending.

The answer is obvious: higher deficits, a continuation of the Republican legacy. McCain = more of the same.

Update: Sarah Palin's next interview will be with Sean Hannity.

Update: Markos:

We're going to win this thing the way campaigns are won -- by playing hardball. Politics is a blood sport. Republicans understand this and never flinch from flinging the sh!t. We won't win until we learn to fight back in kind. And I'm more than happy to get down in the mud with our friends on the Right so Obama doesn't have to.

Same here, although I think Obama should do it too.

****

Sen. Barack Obama runs against John McCain, and only John McCain, at his peril -- and ours.

Family Research Council Action waded ever deeper into the world of electoral politics on Friday with the announcement by Mr. Perkins of the formation of a new political action committee.

More....

Two conservatives from Tennessee went to the Values Voter Summit, sponsored by the Family Research Council, to sell boxes of waffle mix. The two dunces probably thought they were clever to market their Obama Waffles at a family values forum. Their attempt at political satire was a hit with the right wing, at least until this morning, when summit organizers decided that overtly racist satire might not reflect conservative values in exactly the way the summit intended.

While Obama Waffles takes aim at Obama's politics by poking fun at his public remarks and positions on issues, it also plays off the image of the classic pancake-mix icon Aunt Jemima, which has been widely criticized as a demeaning stereotype. Obama is portrayed with popping eyes and big, thick lips as he stares at a plate of waffles and smiles broadly.

The top of the box shows Obama wearing an "Arab-like headdress" while on the back [more ...]

Another John McCain - Sarah Palin lie is that Palin visited Iraq when she took her sole official trip out of the U.S. during her entire career. The Washington Post reports:

Aides to Gov. Sarah Palin are scrambling to explain details of her only trip outside North America -- which, according to a new report, did not include Iraq, as the McCain-Palin campaign had initially claimed.

Palin made an official visit to see Alaskan troops in Kuwait in July of 2007. There, she made a stop at a border crossing with Iraq, but did not actually visit the country, according to a new report in the Boston Globe.

Earlier, McCain aides had said that Palin visited Iraq, and expressed indignation at questions about her slim foreign travel.

More...

A good ad from Obama:

I would put Bush at the top of the ad as well though.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I like what Obama had to say in NH yesterday:

The good news is that in 53 days, the name George Bush will not be on the ballot. But make no mistake: his policies will. A few weeks ago, John McCain said that the economy is "fundamentally strong," and a few days later George Bush said the same thing. In fact, Senator McCain has said that we made "great progress economically" over the last eight years. . . My opponent said just last night, "It's easy for me to go to Washington and frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have." So from where he and George Bush sit, maybe they just can't see. Maybe they are just that out of touch. But you know the truth, and so do I.

More...

Newsweek (9/9-11) has it 46-46. Ras (9/10-12) has McCain by 3. Hotline (9/9-11) has Obama by 1. Gallup Tracker (9/10-12) has McCain by 2, 47-45. DKos/R2000 (9/10-12) has it a 47-47 tie.

It seems as if McCain has a slight lead. I was hoping and expecting McCain's Convention bounce to fade. It seems safe to say it has not and the state of the race is a virtual tie/narrow McCain lead. [More...]

I'm watching the end of part 2 of the Charlie Gibson - ABC interview of Gov Sarah Palin.

Excerpts here.

What did you think? Did she put any of your fears to rest?

John McCain's latest departures from the truth came on a visit to The View. McCain assured Barbara Walters that Sarah Palin would "reform all of Washington." How?

“By doing what she did in Alaska.”

What, exactly?

“First of all, earmark spending, which she vetoed a half a billion dollars worth in the state of Alaska.”

But she also put earmarks in, Ms. Walters noted.

“Not as governor she didn’t,” Mr. McCain said.

But as governor, she did.

[more ...]