Palin On Biden Age Comment Video – CBSNews.com

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You know, as a liberal atheist, I didn’t understand what she was talking about. But perhaps I didn’t get it because she was speaking in tongues?

More Political Humor

Oh my Goodness…

Iowa Electronic Markets

Market Quotes: Pres08_WTA
2008 Presidential Election Winner-Take-All Market.
Quotes current as of 11:00:03 CST, Tuesday, September 30, 2008.

Symbol	Bid	Ask
DEM08_WTA	0.693	0.700
REP08_WTA	0.301	0.305

In short, to get a contract that pays 100 dollars if Obama wins you need to spend 70 dollars. A McCain contract costs only 30.50 dollars.

The “election share” market is closer; this is the winner take all market for the Democratic Presidential ticket (based on popular vote)

Farwell to September 2008

Workout notes bad, energyless 3 mile run, yoga, tired 3 mile walk outside (great weather though). I have to face facts: I really drove myself hard last weekend and two weekends prior to that; I’ve enjoyed myself but now is the time to recharge.

Politics

Humor: Keith Olberman: names Barack Obama as one of the Worst Persons in the World! Really! Ok, BHO got no. 3. Number two was Sean Hannity for cutting off Dick Morris for saying that Obama won the debate, and Number one was Karl Rove for suggesting that Sarah Palin had “too much in her head” during the Curic interview. Watch the video here.

John McCain: John McCain and the Republican National Committee blame the bailout failure on Barack Obama!

(psst: Republicans: who was in charge when this whole mess got started? The D’s have had a tenuous grasp of Congress for about a year and a half…and these problems started long before then…but hey, the R’s will get you out of the mess that they have created…right? ..but I digress)

Gee, an overwhelming of majority of Republicans vote against the bill, and now it is Obama’s fault?

Phoning it in? Guess who did just that?

John McCain celebrated his own role in the final federal government bailout package Monday on stage in front of several hundred Ohioans gathered for a campaign rally.

“I believe that inaction was not an option,” the Republican presidential candidate said. “I put my campaign on hold for a couple of days last week.” To applause, he continued: “I know that many of you have noticed it’s not my style to simply phone it in.”

That sentiment — not “phoning it in” was the campaign line throughout the weekend. On Friday at the first presidential debate, close McCain confidante Sen. Lindsey Graham praised McCain’s return to Washington. “This is one you just can’t phone in,” he said.

A McCain spokeswoman on the plane ride to Mississippi expressed the same. “Meeting face-to-face with people is always more effective than phoning it in,” she said.

And yet, the Arizona senator spent a lot of time on the phone. At the end of last week and over the entire weekend in Washington, he made lots of phone calls, many from his Northern Virginia condo, across the Potomac River from Capitol Hill.

Let’s rewind the clock and start at the beginning. Last Thursday, McCain returned to Washington and headed straight for Capitol Hill. After a few meetings there, he went to one at the White House and then retired to his condo by 6:30 p.m. to make phone calls.

Friday morning, McCain traveled to Capitol Hill for less than two hours then flew to Mississippi for the first presidential debate. He rushed back to Northern Virginia after the debate, getting in well after midnight, but never went to Capitol Hill once during the weekend. Instead, he made phone calls from both his residence and his Arlington, Va., campaign headquarters.

On Saturday, McCain called a slew of top players, including President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He also called three senators (Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Jon Kyl or Arizona) and 10 Republican House members including Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

McCain was spotted several times making the less-than-one-minute drive between his headquarters and his residence — on his cellphone.

Asked why he wasn’t making the trek to the Hill, McCain senior adviser Mark Salter responded: “Because he can effectively do what he needs to do by phone,” and added, “He’s calling members on both sides, talking to people in the administration, helping out as he can.”

Sarah Palin: Republicans are pre-excusing her debate performance.

You see, asking her questions or questioning her consistency is “gotcha journalism”.

A Fair Attack Ad (hardball, but ok)

Of course, Obama supports clean coal.

Create Millions of New Green Jobs

• Ensure 10 percent of Our Electricity Comes from Renewable Sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Deploy the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Energy Source – Energy Efficiency.
• Weatherize One Million Homes Annually.
• Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology.
• Prioritize the Construction of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline.

The ad did indeed quote Joe Biden accurately; he was trying to BS someone on the rope line and “meant to say” that clean coal is a lower priority than wind, solar and other more green energy sources.

Walking, Bailouts, The Election, and Sarah Palin’s Stunning Ignorance and Lack of Curiosity

(rereleased)

Walking: the photos from the Quad Cities Marathon/Half Marathon are now up. My form doesn’t look so hot but I’ll probably buy one of these photos anyway. But I am still sore and a bit tired.

The Bailout The proposed Bailout failed in the House 228-205. The D’s voted for it 140-95 and the R’s against it 65-133. The Illinois delegation was 9-9-1

Yes: Gutierrez (D-4), Emanuel (D-5), Davis (D-7), Bean (D-8), Schakowsky (D-9), Kirk (R-10), Foster (D-14), Hare (D-17), LaHood (R-18)

No: Rush (D-1), Jackson (D-2), Lipinski (D-3), Roskam (R-6), Costello (D-12), Biggert (R-13), Johnson (R-15), Mazullo (R-16), Shimkus (R-19)

Illinois D’s: 7-4 yes, Illinois R’s: 2-5. Weller didn’t vote.

What do I think? I honestly don’t know; frankly, though I am a bit down that the market dropped as badly as it did, I still don’t know. I haven’t read the 100 page bill, nor do I have the understanding of law and economics to know whether or not this is what we needed.

So I’ll turn to those who know more:

First, an amusing refresher on how we got here to begin with (Google Document).

Robert Reich:

[...]Conservatives don’t want government to take over the free market. Liberals don’t want Wall Street fat-cats to get a free ride. And the more the public focuses on the bill, the angrier they become. (Polls show about a third of Americans in favor, a third opposed, and a third undecided; the percent in favor is growing slightly, but the percent against is growing even faster.)

Wild card on the other side: The Dow is dropping precipitously. Roughly half of all American families have some retirement money in the stock market. And even if they don’t own shares of stock, an increasing number are feeling the pinch of an economy gradually grinding to a halt. (This week’s employment report will not be very encouraging.)

Don’t expect easier sailing in the Senate. Fewer than a third of the Senate is up for reelection on November 4, but they’re all hearing from angry constituents.

Prediction: A scaled-down bill will be enacted by the end of the week. It will provide the Treasury with a first installment of $150 billion. Treasury can use it to back Wall Street’s bad debts with lend no-interest loans of up to two years, until the housing market rebounds. Or to invest in Wall Street houses directly, in exchange for stocks and stock warrants. There will be strict oversight. [...]

Representative Tom Udall tells the Daily Kos why he voted no:

“The Administration’s proposal, as it has been presented to Congress, needs significant changes. First, any plan that puts taxpayer money at risk must ensure that taxpayers get paid back before shareholders, bondholders or executives—so that corporate CEOs do not get a golden parachute while taxpayers are left to pay the bill.

“Additionally, Congress should act further to keep Americans in their homes by addressing the crisis in the mortgage industry as well as the one in the financial sector. Any economic package that allows tens of thousands of Americans to lose their homes is simply inadequate.

“Finally, there must be accountability. If we invest taxpayer dollars to protect our financial markets, we should make sure that money is spent effectively and efficiently, with proper oversight and accountability. No administration should be given unlimited authority over the spending of $700 billion or more of taxpayers’ dollars. Any bailout plan needs to ensure that those managing the bailout are responsible to Congress and the American people.”

Tom has carefully considered the current version of the bailout bill, and has decided that it falls short. It does not meet the principles he laid out at the time this bailout was proposed, and does not address those who are hurt the most by this crisis. Tom Udall knows that we can do better.

Here is one liberal’s opinion on why this should have passed:

RenaRF argued that the banking industry is akin to the heart of a system; the system can survive the failures of some appendages but not the loss of the heart:

It is fundamentally different with the financial services industry. Because you can’t cut out a heart without death of the remainder of the body that it supports.

Blood that flows to and from the heart is comparable to money that flows through the market. The availability of money to leave the heart and travel to other areas of the body – market sectors – is what drives the overall economy. It touches EVERY area of the economy.

Let’s say you own a successful dry cleaners in your town. You’re profitable, you manage your expenses well, and you’ve provided some number of jobs back to the community. All of your financial fundamental are in place for expansion. You’ve scoped out an area where competition will be minimized and where your proven business model is likely to thrive. You don’t personally, however, have the money to take a lease on space and hire enough people to run your second location with all of its equipment requirements and the like. You need to borrow that. In a functioning economy, a lender would be happy to lend you the money to expand. You’re a great risk – you have a business model that has proven to be successful. But you can’t get the money. And you can’t get the money because there IS no money to lend.

Another example. Let’s say you work for a large, multi-national IT company. Let’s say further that the market has been kind to you. Your profit projections have consistently been spot-on quarter over quarter. All of your underlying financials are strong. You are in the top one or two in your market segment, and you certainly don’t have your personal business invested in mortgage-backed securities.

Only in many ways, you DO have your business invested in mortgage-backed securities, at least tangentially. Because you do what many business of your size do on a daily and weekly basis. You borrow money to keep your daily operating costs covered. That means payroll, benefits, etc., are covered in the short term with full knowledge that, at the end of, say, a quarter, you will fully pay those short term loans back. But the business bank who underwrites your short-term operating line of credit IS a member of the financial services industry. And because that industry is tainted by bad debt, and because THAT has caused credit of any kind to tighten, you now cannot take a 7-day loan to cover payroll. You and your 280,000 employees now are not able to meet your payroll obligations.

A final example. Your car blows up. You don’t live in an area where public transportation is readily available. You have a good job and a good credit history. You need a loan to get a new car so you can keep going t work and keep working. Only you can’t get that loan. It has nothing to do with your personal credit-worthiness – it has to do with the fact that money simply isn’t available to lend to you for buying a car.

The politics of it the McCain camp is screaming bloody murder, and of course, blaming Obama.

John McCain (perhaps seeking to avoid his own share of the blame) joined in. Economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said:

“From the minute John McCain suspended his campaign and arrived in Washington to address this crisis, he was attacked by the Democratic leadership: Senators Obama and Reid, Speaker Pelosi and others. Their partisan attacks were an effort to gain political advantage during a national economic crisis. By doing so, they put at risk the homes, livelihoods and savings of millions of American families.

“Barack Obama failed to lead, phoned it in, attacked John McCain, and refused to even say if he supported the final bill.

“Just before the vote, when the outcome was still in doubt, Speaker Pelosi gave a strongly worded partisan speech and poisoned the outcome.

“This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.

Hmmm, the bill, which was proposed by a Republican President goes down among the R’s by 65-133, and it is Obama’s fault?

Oh, the Republicans are blaming Pelosi too; they said that her speech was “too partisan”. You can read the text of Pelosi’s speech here and decide for yourself.

Again, I am not saying that the House Republicans (and the 95 Democrats) were wrong; it is better to take this slow and get it right than to pass a fatally flawed bill. But the politics of the bill’s defeat amuse me.

Obama’s ad:

More on the election:

Current state: Intrade election futures have it Obama 338-McCain 200. My MSNBC prediction is 360-178 as I have BHO winning Indiana and Missouri too, whereas the consensus at MSNBC gives McCain Indiana, Missouri, Virginia and Florida.

Sarah Palin: The “average hockey mom” can’t name a single Supreme Court Decision other than Roe vs. Wade. No, not Grizwald, Plessey vs. Ferguson, Dred Scott, Brown vs. Board of Education, Miranda, nothing. You’d think that she’d at least remember the 2000 election decision.

Of concern to McCain’s campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin’s interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

The Palin aide, after first noting how “infuriating” it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

I wonder if she remembers Survivor episodes?

Then again, when it comes to intellectual curiosity and knowledge she probably represents the average Republican voter rather well.

Video

Sore…

Workout notes They opened the pool almost 20 minutes late so I settled for 3100 yards; this was the worst swim I’ve had in about 3 months. But given this weekend’s festivities, I had an excuse.

500 warm up (9:40 !!!), 10 x 50 drill/swim, 10 x 50 (25 fly, 25 free) on the 1:10 (extra rest), 5 x 100 (50 side, 50 free) on about 2:15, 10 x 50 (alternate 50 paddle, 50 free), 10 x 50 free (about 10 seconds rest between reps), 100 cool-down.

I sucked; my neck and shoulders were sore (bad shoulder position on my walk yesterday). My shins are somewhat sore as well; that means I was using the heel-toe motion (a good thing for walking).

Other stuff:

I love this woman! (source) Women who love nerds are the best women!!!!

Barack Obama: drew 26,000 in the rain in Virginia.

The video is 26 minutes long.

John Kerry: where in the heck was this in 2004? If you had fought like this for yourself, maybe you’d be gearing up for reelection?

Press: Despite what the wingnuts say, Obama has received far more negative coverage in the press than McCain has.

“Scholars hate the word ‘bias’ because they feel like they’re entering the ideological fray,” says S. Robert Lichter, head of the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) at George Mason University, who prefers the term “tone.” Despite his efforts, Lichter himself got sucked into that fray. His content analysis of the transcripts of TV news broadcasts at the statement level is a respected and widely adopted methodology. This past summer, just as the view that journalists were going softer on Barack Obama than on John McCain was becoming widely accepted, CMPA issued a report showing that 72 percent of the statements in TV news reports about Obama in late spring and early summer were negative, whereas 57 percent of the statements about McCain were negative. When Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly attacked Lichter’s method during a radio interview, saying it would embolden liberal bias, Lichter responded, “You can take all my studies or none of my studies”—an allusion to past uses of his work to support conservative views.

And let’s be honest: most of the recent negative stuff on McCain was to point out that many of McCain’s ads have been outright lies.

But the poor Republicans: they are so used to their lies and distortions being accepted at face value; they now see it as “unfair” that they are now getting fact checked.

Republicans Expecting Palin to know anything at all during the debate is being unfair.

Hmmm, I think it is fair to ask a governor foreign policy questions, but I’d be happy for a half-half split. It sounds as if asking Palin anything other than “why are you so great” is being deemed as being “unfair” by the Repukes Republicans.

Athletics: Haile Gebrselassie is ducking me.

From the New York Times:

BERLIN (AP) — Haile Gebrselassie broke his own marathon world record on Sunday, becoming the first runner to finish under 2 hours, 4 minutes.

The Ethiopian clocked 2:03:59 to win his third straight Berlin Marathon, beating the mark of 2:04:26 he set last year over the same flat course. He also became the first runner to win the race three times.

”Today, I’m so, so, so happy. Everything was perfect today,” Gebrselassie said.

Running under clear, sunny skies in mild temperature, Gebrselassie paced himself well and controlled the race from the start.

The 35-year-old Gebrselassie was way out front as passed through the Brandenburg Gate and ran to the finish line to applause from the crowd lining the route.

Gebrselassie said his training in the buildup to the race was hindered by an injury.

”I had a small calf muscle problem and I stopped for a week, and then I started again a week ago,” he said. ”Then today I had, you know, some doubts … but it was really very good.”

The Ethiopian praised Berlin and its spectators in helping him break his 26th world record.

That is 4:43.7 per mile, or 14:42 for each 5K. That is obscene.

Swimming: here are some training tips for open water swimming.

The seven essentials include the following:

1. Base Training: Getting in shape during pre- and mid-season by swimming hundreds of miles through daily and repeated aerobic training sets (e.g., 6,000 – 10,000 meter workouts). This is a basic component of competitive pool training programs.

2. Speed Training: Improving one’s speed by focusing on up tempo swims including anaerobic training sets. This is another basic component of competitive pool training programs.

3. Distance Tolerance: Developing one’s ability to swim the specific distance of one’s chosen open water distance (e.g., 1500 meters, 10K or 20 miles). This is another basic component of distance freestyle training groups of competitive pool training programs.

There are seven points in all. Hat tip to the Olympic 10K swim blog.

My month (in terms of competition): 10K run in 57 minutes, 5K run in 25:10, 5K swim in 1:36, 1000 yard time trial in 15:53, half marathon walk in 2:25.

The swimming and walking results are ok; the running results suck. But what am I least prepared in?

Saturday Night Live – Couric / Palin Open – Video – NBC.com

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John McCain: It is unfair to hold Sarah Palin to what she says.

Double standard, anyone? More of the same!

More on the debate: yet another poll.

USA/Gallup:

A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows 46% of people who watched Friday night’s presidential debate say Democrat Barack Obama did a better job than Republican John McCain; 34% said McCain did better.

Obama scored even better — 52%-35% — when debate-watchers were asked which candidate offered the best proposals for change to solve the country’s problems.

Quad Cities Half Marathon

I knew I wasn’t in shape to handle the full marathon so I entered and powerwalked the half (13.1 miles)

Time: 2:25:13 (11:05 minutes per mile) My age graded time was about 2 minutes off my PR though my actual time was 8 minutes off. Place: 909 out of 1180.

This was a better performance than my running race yesterday; of course I was hampered my not having enough training.

Form wise I am all but certain that my knees were “soft” (e. g., would have been illegal in a judged racewalk).

My two mile splits: 21:46, 21:09 (42:56), 21:17 (1:04:13), 21:30 (1:25:44), 22:16 (1:48:00), 23:53 (2:11:54), 12:00 (hurting), 1:18 last .1.

Race Report:
The day couldn’t have been any better; high 50’s with some humidity at the start. The start corral was a bit overfull; they needed about 20-30 extra meters.

Still, with the chip start I only needed 2 minutes to get to the start line; I was off. It seemed a bit more crowded than normal; but that was due to my starting off just a bit faster than I do when I walk the marathon.

I actually was bunched up going across I-74. Yes, there was lots of nice spandex to see; but given that I was wearing a green “Obama” t-shirt, I was on my best behavior.

Bonnie Busch saw me on the bridge (she is an ultra athlete) and we got to chat a bit. She was doing the marathon, which is a short race for her.

Several other Peoria people recognized me due to my awkward walking gait.

We then took it up a good hill and through some neighborhoods; this “new” course (2006) adds some miles here. I was pushing a bit too much.

I did hear several “go Obama” cheers and one “McCain”. One of the runners told me that she was counting the McCain and Obama yard signs and that Obama had the lead 5-3.

We came down a big hill and I was a bit surprised to be holding a 10:40-10:50 pace.

We then took the bike path and I noticed a group coming up behind me; it was the 2:20 pace group. I knew that I had taken it a bit too hard but I relaxed and kept the pace about there.

The bikepath miles had me get to mile 6 in about 1:04; I told myself to just relax.

We then split off from the marathon folks (where the bike path came to the ball field) and we turned back into Davenport. That was a pleasant stroll through downtown and I slowed a bit due to a mild headwind. We then crossed a metal grate bridge to get to Arsenal Island; that slowed me down a bit.

That got me to mile 9. Mile 10 came on the island; I was at 1:48 but knew that holding my pace would be hard.

Then we went around the golf course (path) and cut off from the marathon course; I was slowing down here. I was going back and forth with the “run/walkers”.

When we left the Island we had only .6 miles to go and I was most happy to see the finish line, even if several runners picked it up there and passed me.

Overall: Though I know 2:25 is off where I could be were I to train specifically for walking, I was ok with it (though I know my form could be better).

Afterward, I was tired and sore; my right shoulder was sore too. It is a different kind of soreness than one gets from running and a different kind of fatigue than I got from the 5k swim.

As far as the event itself: I can highly recommend it, though I recommend that the faster runners get to the corral no later than 15 minutes prior to the start. All but the fastest walkers (say, sub 10 minute pace) can start where I did and have a half-way decent race.

This was a better performance than yesterday’s 5K run, but that isn’t saying much.

More Evidence that Obama Won the Debate

How do I know that Obama won the debate?

Sure internet polls are non-scientific and yes, I used CNN and MSNBC internet polls.

But a Fox News internet poll had McCain winning…by a 52-48 margin. That’s right; a 4 point “win” for McCain from Fox News users! Remember that Fox News is where the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts live; these are the folks who couldn’t tell a lepton from a leprechaun; a boson from a Bozo; an allele from an Aleve or a genome from a gnome.

For them, heliocentrism is a recent scientific advance.

This is where the folks who think that the universe is 6000 years old hang out; these are the people who write articles like this one:

And they only give McSame a 4 point margin!

Best Political Ad for Obama Supporters

Some other good videos (hat tip to Muzikal203 of the Daily Kos)