And now for tonight's partisan sleaze attack...

McCain's Terrorist Ties

How soon we forget that only a few short years ago John McCain was cozying up to Joe DioGuardi, an apologist for the radical Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). AntiWar.com's Justin Raimondo covered this back in 2000, during McCain's last presidential bid.

The picture at the right shows McCain with DioGuardi in New York on Feb. 11, 2000, when McCain was in town attending fundraising events. Raimondo called on the McCain campaign to "immediately release the figures, and give us some 'straight talk' about the KLA-McCain connection: how much did they get -- and in return for what?" That question remains unanswered.

Back in March of this year, Doug Bandow also addressed this issue, reminding us that DioGuardi once said of McCain, "He did everything that we asked of him, including arming the KLA." No big deal, right? After all, we were helping them fight off those "evil" Serbs.

But even our own government considered members of the KLA as terrorists. The Washington Times reported that as recently as 1998, "State Department officials labeled the KLA a terrorist organization, saying it bankrolled its operations with proceeds from the heroin trade and from loans from known terrorists like bin Laden." Yes, the same bin Laden who planned the 9/11 attacks and is still at large.

Isn't it odd that, on the threshold of the "most important election of our lifetime," none of this is being brought to our attention? McCain supporters should thank their willing accomplices in the "liberal" mainstream press.

http://www.evervigilant.net/2008/09/mccains-terrorist-ties.shtml

olivant, the national housing trust fund was funded by diverting money from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage giants. Those who proposed and sponsored this bill were basically saying that the government needed to "loosen up" the tight financial restrictions in the housing/mortgage industry, claiming that those restrictions were unfair to lower income people because the tight restriction were preventing the lower income families from owning homes. This is what took place. It is documented fact.

Sounds like Obama already is already ahead of the game.

Regarding McCain's upcoming "smear" ad about Obama's character, etc....Supposedly, if this is true, the Obama camp plans to "nip it in the bud" so to speak on Monday, in what seems to be a good



Branding his opponent as “erratic in a crisis,” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is preempting plans by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to portray him as having sinister connections to controversial Chicagoans.

Obama officials call it political jujitsu – turning the attacks back on the attacker.

McCain officials had said early in the weekend that they plan to begin advertising after Tuesday’s debate that will tie Obama to convicted money launderer Tony Rezko and former Weathermen radical William Ayers.

But Obama isn’t waiting to respond. His campaign is going up Monday on national cable stations with a scathing ad saying: “Three quarters of a million jobs lost this year. Our financial system in turmoil. And John McCain? Erratic in a crisis. Out of touch on the economy. No wonder his campaign wants to change the subject.

“Turn the page on the financial crisis by launching dishonorable, dishonest ‘assaults’ against Barack Obama. Struggling families can't turn the page on this economy, and we can't afford another president who is this out of touch.”

Then Obama says: “I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.”

McCain officials told Politico that the new offensive is likely to focus on Rezko and Ayers. The officials said the campaign will not bring up the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor, because McCain has forbade them from using that as a weapon. Without being specific, the officials said outside groups may focus on Wright.

When word of the planned attacks leaked Saturday, Obama officials said within hours that it was an attempt by McCain to distract voters from the economy.

“We think the McCain campaign made a huge error by telling the press that their strategy was to distract from the most important issue facing voters,” a senior Obama official said. “Every attack going forward will be easy to characterize for what it is – an attempt to distract from the Bush-McCain economic record."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds hinted at the tough new line Saturday on “Fox & Friends.”

“There are associations that are important to who Barack Obama is as a candidate, who he’d be as president,” Bounds said.

Obama-Biden communications director Dan Pfeiffer said about the new ads: “If John McCain thinks he can ‘turn the page’ on the economic crisis facing American families, he is even more out of touch than we imagined. Now there may be no good answers for John McCain due to his erratic response to the financial crisis, but his desire to avoid discussing the economy is something we will remind voters of everyday for the next month.”



http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14283.html

TIS

No, you're wrong. The Fund received an initial appropriation through the federal budget process of about $800 million. The formula that its creation legislation established would have required contributions from the GSEs starting FY 08. That never happened. The GSE's Regulator James Lockhart suspended contributions until the GSEs achiecved fianncial stability which is projected to be FY 10.

I question the wisdom of a campaign that, with this Nation in such economic turmoil and no light at the end of the tunnel, thinks that voters care more (or anything) about associations than they do about their pocketbooks.

By the way, the opening segment of SNL tonight was hilarious.

SNL hasn't aired here yet. Do thy show Palin again??? I hardly ever manage to stay awake that long, but the segments I've seen lately have been hilarious.

TIS

Oh yeah. The debate. Fey has Palin down pat.

SNL nailed the debate bit. I rarely watch SNL, but tuned in tonight to see what they'd do. I'll post it as soon as it's on Youtube.

NBC keeps removing the video.

What a joke. The Republicans have been in control for how many years?? The Dems finally took the majority less than two years ago, the White House remained Republican, and yet one little housing bill is to blame for the complete and total devastation that has rocked our economy??? Puh-leeze!!

How about the fact that if energy costs hadn't freaking NAILED the typical American family, if rising food costs hadn't freaking NAILED the typical American family, maybe the typical American family wouldn't have had trouble making ends meet and would have been able to actually MAKE their mortgage payments.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=4oPReHWrxJQ

Most of Obama's adds here have been focused on registering new voters, and a record number of registrations are in the books. PA's deadline for voter registration is tomorrow. Barring something unusual, PA should be a comfortable win for Obama.

Thanks. Here's a less edited version:

October 5, 2008
Fact Check: Is Obama 'palling around with terrorists'?
Posted: 09:00 AM ET

The Statement: Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin said Saturday, October 4, that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is "someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country."

Get the facts!

The Facts: In making the charge at a fund-raising event in Englewood, Colorado, and a rally in Carson, California, Palin was referring at least in part to William Ayers, a 1960s radical. In both appearances, Palin cited a front-page article in Saturday's New York Times detailing the working relationship between Obama and Ayers.

In the 1960s, Ayers was a founding member of the radical Weather Underground group that carried out a string of bombings of federal buildings, including the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol, in protest against the Vietnam War. The now-defunct group was labeled a "domestic terrorist group" by the FBI, and Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn — also a Weather Underground member — spent 10 years as fugitives in the 1970s. Federal charges against them were dropped due to FBI misconduct in gathering evidence against them, and they resurfaced in 1980. Both Ayers and Dohrn ultimately became university professors in Chicago, with Ayers, 63, now an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Obama's Chicago home is in the same neighborhood where Ayers and Dohrn live. Beginning in 1995, Ayers and Obama worked with the non-profit Chicago Annenberg Challenge on a huge school improvement project. The Annenberg Challenge was for cities to compete for $50 million grants to improve public education. Ayers fought to bring the grant to Chicago, and Obama was recruited onto the board. Also from 1999 through 2001 both were board members on the Woods Fund, a charitable foundation that gave money to various causes, including the Trinity United Church that Obama attended and Northwestern University Law Schools' Children and Family Justice Center, where Dohrn worked.

CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the volunteer projects in which the two men were involved.

Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt told CNN that after meeting Obama through the Annenberg project, Ayers hosted a campaign event for him that same year when then-Illinois state Sen. Alice Palmer, who planned to run for Congress, introduced the young community organizer as her chosen successor. LaBolt also said the two have not spoken by phone or exchanged e-mail messages since Obama came to the U.S. Senate in 2005 and last met more than a year ago when they encountered each other on the street in their Hyde Park neighborhood.

The extent of Obama's relationship with Ayers came up during the Democratic presidential primaries earlier this year, and Obama explained it by saying, "This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood … the notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago — when I was 8 years old — somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense."

The New York Times article cited by Palin concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers." Other publications, including the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic, have said that their reporting doesn't support the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.

The McCain campaign did not respond Saturday to a request for elaboration on Palin's use of the plural "terrorists."

Verdict: False. There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now "palling around," or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are.

Obama opens up 7 point lead in Ohio.

Sunday, October 5, 2008 6:10 AM
By Darrel Rowland
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Amid growing concerns about the economy, Ohio Democrats are coming home to Sen. Barack Obama, giving him a 7-point advantage in a new Dispatch Poll as the volatile presidential campaign swings into its final month.

The Illinois senator's lead of 49 percent to 42 percent over Republican Sen. John McCain comes at an especially opportune time for Obama because thousands of Ohioans already are casting ballots in the state's first presidential election allowing any registered voter to vote absentee. The new setup takes away some of the heft from the adage "the only poll that counts is the one on Election Day."

Ohio is even more critical to McCain's campaign this year since he pulled out of Michigan last week. Not only has no Republican ever won the presidency without carrying the Buckeye State, McCain almost has to run the 2004 electoral table to win, carrying every single state President Bush won four years ago, including Ohio. <snip>

That story is a dream of the Right. I doubt it'll get far, but they will try.

Btw, all the left blogs many times express a wish that the Obama team bring up the "Keathing Five." Obama though, prefers (for the most part) to stick with the issues. You guys know the story behind that?

Also, the Dems could show the Palin "witchcrat" video, but are not.

TIS

You may be right. Look at Muhlenberg College Daily Poll, and notice the trend:

Oct. 3 51 39
Oct. 2 50 40 2% 8%
Oct. 1 50 41 2% 7%
Sept. 30 48 41 3% 8%
Sept. 29 49 41 3% 7%
Sept. 28 49 42 2% 7%
Sept. 27 48 42 2% 8%
Sept. 26 47 42 2% 9%
Sept. 25 47 43 2% 8%

Really, Pennsylvania/Minnesota are McCain's two offensive strikes in a defensive season, and one seems to be blunted and the other a pipedream.*

*=Hell, Minnesota last went GOP in 1972, and went blue in friggin 1980/1984/1988.

StarTribune.com
Minnesota Poll: Obama leaps ahead of McCain

By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune

October 5, 2008

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has opened up a commanding lead in Minnesota over Republican John McCain, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.

The poll, conducted last week among 1,084 likely voters, found that 55 percent support Obama, while 37 percent back McCain.

That's a huge difference from the last Minnesota Poll, conducted in September, which showed the race dead even, with each candidate backed by 45 percent of likely voters. The new poll shows that Obama's surge in the state can be attributed to voters' belief in his ability to deal with the nation's worsening economy, his performance in the first presidential debate and an increase in the number of Minnesotans who call themselves Democrats.

Obama appears comfortably ahead among men, women, and voters of all ages and educational attainment.

The poll's findings come at a time when polls in several other battleground states and nationally are showing a sudden and significant shift to Obama. Gallup's daily national tracking poll released Friday showed Obama leading McCain by 7 percentage points.

Statewide polls conducted last week show Obama overtaking McCain in such key battleground states as Ohio, Virginia and Florida. In Florida, for example, the last four polls have shown Obama with leads of between three and eight percentage points; in the weeks prior, Obama trailed by as many as 10 points.

<snip>

I think Obama's strategy is to appear "above the fray" with dignity or whatever, and as this thread has discussed already, very negative ads this late in the game for a losing candidate generally don't work. Why stoop down to that level and cost yourself votes?

As for KEATHING FIVE, I believe that refers to McCain attending a meeting with 4 other Senators with a lobbyist who was later convicted as part of the S&L Loans scandals in the late 80s. The 527 independent groups are or will run with it, along with McCain ditching his first crippled wife and whatever other sleaze they can find.

Oh yes, Palin protecting herself from the Jews with some magic. Thing is, those knee-jerk liberals need to realize, she aint the story: McCain is the story.

Here's the AFL-CIO President defending Obama against racism, smething that we all know exists to a degree in this Presidential election, but few will admit.

Anyway, if you have time, take a look.

TIS



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/04/union-president-defends-o_n_131954.html

Damn Just Lou, will McCain have to abandon Minnesota as well?

You guys realize that the election is exactly 4 weeks from Tuesday??? I never have done this before in my life, but was debating taking a vacation day. I decided the day after the election was the best day to take off. I'll either have a day to celebrate or a day to mourn (hopefully the former) My kids think I'm nuts, but as a political geek, of late, I just say I'm "into it"

Anyway, you are all invited to my place for what hopefully will be a happy celebration marking an historic event.


TIS

The Keating Five were Senators accused in 1989 were accused of improperly aiding Charles H. Keating, Jr., chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which was the target of an investigation by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB).

They were Alan Cranston (D-CA), Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), John Glenn (D-OH), John McCain (R-AZ), and Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), The result of the collapse of Lincoln Savings and Loan was that 21,000 mostly elderly investors lost their life savings. The Senate Ethics Committee determined in 1991 that Alan Cranston, Dennis DeConcini, and Donald Riegle had substantially and improperly interfered with the FHLBB in its investigation of Lincoln Savings. Senators John Glenn and John McCain were cleared of having acted improperly but were criticized for having exercised "poor judgment".

Also, from Rassmussen:

Obama - 51
McCain - 44

Btw, that SNL skit was wonderful. Tina is absolutely perfect. Ha ha ha!! "Is there not a talent competition?" LMAO



TIS

Since Obama has hit 50% in the Gallup poll, look at this chart:

I tried to check out the video, but NBC must have removed it. Damn!!

SB,

Try the one posted on this thread (I think by JL or RR). That's how I saw it. It's great!!

Here's an article dated today saying that Obama now has an 18 point lead (57 - 35)in Minnesota, a state they were deadlocked in jusyt last month.

TIS

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14284.html

Did you make that up, Ronnie?

It's all over but the shoutin'. Put it in the books. Obama in a landslide.

I won't go negative on McCain, though. I respect him too much. He's served the country that he loves well.