The Hollywood Liberal

The Tattlesnake – Obama Infomercial Seals the Deal Edition
While the Tattler doesn’t usually like the kind of wan-music-in-the-background soft emotional porn of the ‘Oprah-ized’ infomercial, Obama’s half-hour spot Wednesday night avoided most of the worst aggravations of this TV cliché, especially the forlorn solo piano music sound track with flourishes of swelling strings redolent of tacky video matchmaking and cancer treatment center ads. It […]

Fox News Poll: McCain Closes Gap With Obama
A new Fox News Poll shows the presidential race has tightened with Sen. Barack Obama now leading Sen. John McCain, 47% to 44%, among likely voters nationally.

Last week Obama led by 49% to 40% among likely voters.

“The race has tightened in part because of changes in a couple of important swing voting groups. Independents back Obama by 5 percentage points today, down from a 9-point edge last week. Similarly, among white Catholics, Obama held an 11-point edge over McCain last week and today they split 46-46.”

Late Late Nite FDL: Last Call For The Baby Boomers
As an American citizen born in 1965, I often find myself conflicted between wanting to praise you old DFH’s for what you did in the 60’s or wanting to criticize you for dropping the ball to soon. So I generally do both with mixed results. I know one thing, we as a nation would have never made it this far without you. With that in mind, It occurs to me these days, this election may be your generations last call. Will you successfully beat back the party of Nixon this time?

Bob Dylan “Like A Rolling Stone”

Jefferson Airplane “Volunteers”

As an American citizen born in 1965, I often find myself conflicted between wanting to praise you old DFH’s for what you did in the 60’s or wanting to criticize you for dropping the ball too soon.  So I generally do both with mixed results.

I know one thing, we as a nation would have never made it this far without you. With that in mind, It occurs to me these days, this election may be your generations last call. Will you successfully beat back the party of Nixon this time?

 What’s on your mind tonight?

Overnight
Rock on.

“Be the Change” Aims to Get Out the Music Vote
Graham Nash and other big name music acts get out the vote with Election Day phone calls to their fans.

Destroying From Within…
So many valuable ideas have been advanced in response to my initial post that it’s hard to choose which to address. But I do want to say that Andrew Bacevich’s whimsical suggestion of a Pentagon run by Barney Frank…

Election Central Morning Roundup
CQ changes its ratings on 14 House races — 12 in the direction of the Dem. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup….

Crunch Time

What are you going to do between now and Election Day?

Gay marriages begin in CT Nov. 10
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? Officials are gearing up for the day next month when gay and lesbian couples can begin tying the knot in Connecticut. Attorneys involved in the gay marriage case said Tuesday that couples can begin picking up marriage license applications sometime on or after Nov. 10. A judge at the New Haven Superior Court, where the case began in 2004, still must decide the precise date.

Graham jokes about torture, says Obama infomercial ?violated the Geneva Convention.?
Introducing Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at an Ohio event this morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warmed up the crowd with a few jokes, first saying McCain had obtained “the motherload” in marrying a beautiful woman who owned a beer company. He then criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) half-hour campaign ad last night, comparing it to […]

Introducing Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) at an Ohio event this morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warmed up the crowd with a few jokes, first saying McCain had obtained “the motherload” in marrying a beautiful woman who owned a beer company. He then criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) half-hour campaign ad last night, comparing it to torture:

Anybody see the infomercial last night? Thank god for cable! If we had played that at a prison camp it’d have violated the Geneva Convention.

Watch it:

Though conservatives like to joke about it, torture is a reality of U.S. policy — and is no laughing matter. In fact, just yesterday a judge ruled that the CIA can hide statements from detainees saying they were tortured while held in secret prisons. The decision “allows the Bush Administration to continue to hide its use of torture techniques.”

America Compared to What?
After the September financial meltdown, many abroad, and some at home, immediately — and with undisguised glee — blamed America’s problems on cowboy excess and forecast the end of American global influence. But while those opportunistic critics had a point that reckless Americans had taken on far more debt than they should, the growing global economic downturn may well hurt others far more than the United States. We got into this mess not because the American political system was flawed or because its free market system was stagnant. The problem was that after some six years of uninterrupted growth, human greed drove us to demand even more than we had earned.

Bonus Quote of the Day
“By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in Kindergarten.”

— Sen. Barack Obama, quoted by the Boston Globe, on Sen. John McCain’s attacks.

Late Late Nite FDL: Highway To The Danger Zone
Kenny Loggins - Highway To The Danger Zone.

Did John McCain see this film and think that Maverick was a good nickname for him?  Old Crash And Burn McCain ain’t no Top Gun - not like that worked out well for Duke Cunningham either.  I will, however, give McCain this - a McCain presidency is the Highway To The Danger Zone.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Kenny Loggins - Highway To The Danger Zone.

Did John McCain see this film and think that Maverick was a good nickname for him?  Old Crash And Burn McCain ain’t no Top Gun - not like that worked out well for Duke Cunningham either.  I will, however, give McCain this - a McCain presidency is the Highway To The Danger Zone.

What’s on your mind tonight?

A Solar Gold Rush Is Spreading From California to New Jersey
With new solar-powered movie theaters and factories, the solar industry is exploding. But how far can it take us toward a clean energy future?

Report: DOJ Lawyer Meets With ACLU On NM Voter Intimidation
Earlier this evening, a Justice Department spokesman told TPMmuckraker that the department was looking into claims of voter intimidation in New Mexico, stemming from reports last week by us and other outlets that a lawyer tied to the state GOP…

An Ominous Growth
In the post immediately below I referred to Obama’s audition for the role of ‘head of state/commander-in-chief’. And as a potential wartime president and in the rhetorical universe we’re now living in, this CINC test is inevitable and important for…

US election through Middle East eyes
Arabs are anticipating a Democratic victory on November 4 with enthusiasm, albeit tempered by scepticism, writes Ian Black. Like millions of people all over the world, Arabs are awaiting the outcome of the US presidential election with excitement and anticipation to see if the new man in the Oval Office turns out to be any more favourable to their interests than George Bush has been…

McConnell calls on Stevens to resign.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called last night for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) to resign his seat in the Senate. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports: “I think he should resign immediately,” McConnell, Kentucky’s senior senator, told the Herald-Leader Tuesday night after a Hardin County GOP rally. “If he did not do that … there is a […]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called last night for Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) to resign his seat in the Senate. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports:

“I think he should resign immediately,” McConnell, Kentucky’s senior senator, told the Herald-Leader Tuesday night after a Hardin County GOP rally. “If he did not do that … there is a 100 percent certainty that he would be expelled from the Senate.” … “The Senate would have zero tolerance for the continued service of a convicted felon,” McConnell said.

In calling for Stevens’s resignation, McConnell joins several other prominent Republican senators including Jim DeMint (SC), Lindsey Graham (SC), John McCain (AZ), Gordon Smith (OR), and Norm Coleman (MN). Other Republican senators, including Pat Roberts (KS) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX), have suggested that “it’s up to Alaskans to decide Stevens’ fate.” Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) also called for Stevens to resign.

Notorious Obamedia Moments of 2008
To paraphrase Queen Elizabeth II, 2008 is not a year on which honest journalists shall look back with undiluted pleasure. This has turned out to be even more of an annus horribilis than 2004, when Dan Rather’s fake Bush/National Guard memo fiasco redefined the “BS” in CBS News. There were so many mainstream journalists swimming in the Democratic tank this year, the nation’s newsrooms looked more like overcrowded aquariums at PetSmart. In less than a week, the campaign season will be over. But the Obamedia’s most shameful biases and notorious blunders shall not be forgotten. Here are my Top Five, by no means comprehensive and in no particular order: