After that sort of week, one might expect that the negative poll trends that bedeviled Obama in the run out from the Republican National Convention would begin to reverse themselves. And, you know what? <a href="http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/09/back_on_top.php";>They have.
BUT FORGET ALL THAT. Because Mark Halperin, over at his Kooky Komic Book Of Politics, sees it differently: "<a href="http://thepage.time.com/2008/09/18/obama-closes-strong-but-mccain-wins-the-week/";>Obama Closes Strong, But McCain Wins The Week." Which raises one question. Why is Mark Halperin TOTALLY BOGARTING THE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS HE'S SMOKING?
When posed that nagging "Where's Osama bin Laden?" question once again during a press conference on 9/11, White House spokesperson Dana Perino pointed out that President Bush & Co. don't have superpowers. Oh, right! Well, Stephen Colbert has a few suggestions about some useful super-skills specially tailored for Bush.
Electronic voting machines have been the focus of much controversy the last
few years. But another election technology has received little scrutiny yet
could create numerous problems and disenfranchise thousands of voters in November,
election experts say.
This year marks the first time that new, statewide, centralized voter-registration
databases will be used in a federal election in a number of states.
This afternoon on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer showed video from last night’s townhall with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), in which Palin — whom McCain said “knows more about energy than…anyone else in the United States” — was asked how she would keep oil from new domestic drilling in the U.S. market. In a serious understatement, Blitzer called her answer “not exactly easy to understand.” Watch it:
As the law stands now, expanded domestic drilling would have no impact on U.S. gas prices precisely because “oil is a global commodity whose price is set by global supply and demand.” Is Palin calling for a total export ban?
Yesterday in his town hall meeting with Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) advocated offshore oil drilling by pushing three myths: 1) Hurricanes won’t damage oil rigs, 2) Fish love oil rigs, and 3) Cuba is allowing China to drill near the U.S. coast:
McCAIN: An oil rig off of the Louisiana coast. It survived hurricanes. It is safe, it is sound, and to somehow —
And by the way, on that oil rig — and I’m sure you’ve probably heard this story — you look down, and there’s fish everywhere! There’s fish everywhere! Yeah, the fish love to be around those rigs. So not only can it be helpful for energy, it can be helpful for some pretty good meals as well. […]
As far as China and Cuba are concerned, we continue to hear that there is negotiations or conversations or — I’m not exactly sure what the state of play is, but it’s not a healthy thing, obviously.
MYTH #2: Fish love oil rigs. McCain is pushing an oil industry talking point. While marine biologists have seen fish congregating around oil rigs, it doesn’t mean they are good for wildlife. “That’s like taking a picture of birds on a telephone wire and saying it’s essential habitat,” said the Environmental Defense Center’s Linda Krop. Without the platforms, fish would likely return to natural reefs.
MYTH #3: Cuba is allowing China to drill near the U.S. coast. The Congressional Research Service has unequivocally concluded that Cuba has not permitted China to drill near the U.S. coastline in the Gulf of Mexico. Even Vice President Cheney has admitted this talking point is false.
McCain’s second claim is especially silly. Not too long ago, conservatives were also trying to argue that the United States should start drilling in Alaska[base ']Äôs Arctic National Wildlife Reserve because oil pipelines would “become a meeting ground and ‘coffee klatch‘ for caribou.” (HT: AMERICAblog)
In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) questioned whether John McCain[base ']Äôs running mate, Sarah Palin, has the experience to be president of the United States:
“I do think in a world that is so complicated, so interconnected and so combustible, you really got to have some people in charge that have some sense of the bigger scope of the world,” Hagel said. “I think that’s just a requirement.”
So is Palin qualified to be president?
“I think it’s a stretch to, in any way, to say that she’s got the experience to be president of the United States,” Hagel said.
“I think they ought to be just honest about it and stop the nonsense about, ‘I look out my window and I see Russia and so therefore I know something about Russia,’” he said. “That kind of thing is insulting to the American people.”
Hagel, who is retiring from the Senate, concluded that Palin [base ']Äúdoesn’t have any foreign policy credentials.” “You get a passport for the first time in your life last year?[base ']Äù he asked. [base ']ÄúI mean, I don’t know what you can say. You can’t say anything.”
Hagel has traveled to Iraq six times, most recently accompanying Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Jack Reed (D-RI). While on the trip, Hagel repeated his calls for a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. “It is now time for the United States to start accepting the sovereignty of that country in ways that are real,[base ']Äù he said. [base ']ÄúAnd that means for us to responsibly start unwinding our military presence.”
McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America — but not Spain — pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America. “I will meet with those leaders who are our friends and who want to work with us cooperatively,” according to one translation. The reporter repeated the question two more times, apparently trying to clarify, but McCain referred again to Latin America.
Finally, the questioner said, “Okay, but I’m talking about Europe - the president of Spain, would you meet with him?” The Senator offered only a slight variance to his initial comment. “I will reunite with any leader that has the same principles and philosophy that we do: human rights, democracy, and liberty. And I will confront those that don’t [have them].”
Josh Marshall observed that one possibility is that, since the questioner “asked about Castro and Chavez,” McCain didn’t know who Zapatero was and assumed he “must be some other Latin American bad guy.” Yglesias has the audio.
In July 2000, after serving as the head of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush’s vice presidential search committee, Dick Cheney was announced as the Republican vice presidential nominee. As the vice presidential vetter, Cheney required at least 11 potential candidates to fill out “an extraordinarily detailed, 83-question form” delving into their backgrounds.
GELLMAN: Well, secrecy and discretion have always been very big for Dick Cheney and because he was not formally a candidate and in fact kept denying interest, kept denying that he was a candidate, he never filled out the vetting form. At the time, when Cheney’s selection was announced, the campaign’s spokespeople claimed he did put himself through the same process as everyone else and I’ve established that that’s simply not true. He didn’t fill out the questionnaire, which would have called for a giant box load of documents to be delivered.
Listen here:
In 2000, the Bush campaign claimed that it was “Bush himself who did the final, most sensitive background check” on Cheney while then-campaign manager Joe Allbaugh “oversaw the examination of Mr. Cheney’s voting record and public history.” But Cheney refused to turn over much of the pertinent information. Gellman writes in his book:
The story left untold was that no one had access to Cheney’s tax or corporate records, and no one but his own doctor read a word of his medical files. Cheney, who had employed a man named James Steen for many years as his personal archivist, did not submit even his public speeches, interviews, testimony, and voting record to Allbaugh, who ostensibly was combing them for red flags. [Angler, p. 23]
In an interview with Harper’s, Gellman describes Cheney’s selection process as “a kind of prologue to the play of the Bush-Cheney years.” “Cheney worked in strict secrecy and sidestepped the scrutiny he imposed on others,” said Gellman.
Speaking to Gross, Gellman noted that neither Bush nor Cheney interviewed any VP candidates “before Bush chose Cheney. And then they scheduled interviews afterward in order to conceal that.” Gellman told Harper’s that this foretold Bush and Cheney’s “willingness to use deception to manage the news.”
In an 
McCain proceeded to launch into what appeared to be a boilerplate declaration about Mexico and Latin America — but not Spain — pressing the need to stand up to world leaders who want to harm America. “I will meet with those leaders who are our friends and who want to work with us cooperatively,” according to one translation. The reporter repeated the question two more times, apparently trying to clarify, but McCain referred again to Latin America.
In July 2000, after serving as the head of then-Texas Governor George W. Bush’s vice presidential search committee, 