The Hollywood Liberal

MEAN MEAN SARA!
Report: Palin Pressed for “Safety Bear” to be Fired Friday, October 10, 2008 Sarah Palin was hell bent on the removal of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten for divorcing her sister according to the New York Times. As Mr. Monegan recalls it, the aide said the governor had heard that Trooper Wooten was assigned to work the kickoff […]

Forum Poll: Obama Leads in North Dakota
Sen. Barack Obama has taken the lead over Sen. John McCain in North Dakota, 45% to 43%, according to a new Forum poll.

“The poll indicates McCain’s once-comfortable lead in North Dakota has melted away as Obama is the widely favored choice among voters who consider the economy the most pressing issue.”

Krugman Wins Nobel Prize
Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University and an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science, according to the New York Times.

Said Krugman: “It’s been an extremely weird day, but weird in a positive way.”

Played Like a Fool: Campaign Manager Cashes in on McCain’s Cold War Mentality
He may talk tough about Russia, but John McCain’s advisers have advanced Putin’s imperial ambitions and made good money on the side.

Too Much Presidential Power — We’ve Got to Address the ‘Unitary Executive’ Question
What do McCain and Obama think of the concept?

A Dose of Reality on the ACORN Hysteria
It’s worth taking a moment to step back from the slew of charges leveled over the last week at ACORN, the community-organizing group that Republicans and the McCain campaign have been trying to turn into a bogeyman for fears about…

McCain Declines To Condemn Virginia Republican’s Comparison Of Obama And Osama
This seems like it might make a bit of news today. At the end of an interview with a small TV station in Virginia yesterday afternoon, John McCain declined to condemn a Virginia Republican’s comparison of Barack Obama to Osama…

TPM Track Composite: Obama’s Big Lead Holding Steady
Here’s our daily composite of the five major national tracking polls. Barack Obama still holds a solid lead over John McCain, with the overall margin is unchanged from yesterday: • Gallup: Obama 51%, McCain 41%, with a ±2% margin of…

Report: Firing Wooten Wouldn’t Have Made Palins Safer
As we noted last night, the Trooper-Gate report found that Sarah Palin’s claims that she feared Mike Wooten were unfounded. But the subject of Palin’s alleged concern for her own and her family’s safety deserves more attention. The McCain-Palin campaign…

Don’t Hide the Fudge!
Okay, this one’s just for fun. You know, John McCain’s been having a rough few days on the image and message front. Had to cancel the visit to New Orleans and the Gulf Oil rig because of the recent oil…

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…

Lurita!
Oh, how we missed Lurita Doan! No cookies on the table. No memory loss. No private sass. Never before had the chief of the General Services Administration drawn such attention, and maybe never again. So bad was her performance that…

The Week In Blog: Conservative Crackup Edition

In the latest edition of The Week in Blog over at Bloggingheads.tv, Heritage Foundation’s Conn Carrol and I discuss the divergent views within the conservative movement about the state of the McCain campaign. Check it out below.

House Democrats Consider Large, New Economic Stimulus Package
With fears rising that the nation stands on the precipice of a prolonged recession, House Democrats are contemplating a huge infusion of public cash — as much as $300 billion — to stoke economic growth by creating public jobs and padding the wallets of struggling consumers.

The Engine of Mayhem
WASHINGTON — It’s easy to explain the continuing financial chaos — and the failure of governments to control it — as the triumph of psychology. Fear reigns, and panic follows. Everyone dumps stocks, because everyone believes that everyone else will sell. Only rapidly falling prices attract sufficient buyers. All this is true. But it ignores the real engine of mayhem: “deleveraging.” That’s economic shorthand for purging the financial system of too much debt. Just how this “deleveraging” proceeds will largely determine the fate, for good or ill, of the present crisis. The turmoil has already moved beyond “subprime mortgages,” which (it now seems) merely exposed widespread financial failings. These were global, not just American, and their pervasiveness explains why leaders of the major economies have struggled, so far unsuccessfully, to fashion a common response.

Jumping Ship…
This is becoming a very strange campaign. On CNN last evening both David Gergen and Ed Rollins echoed the current mantra that the “old” noble McCain is gone-and a “new” nastier one has emerged, largely because of his attacks on Ayers, perhaps his planned future ads on Wright, and a few unhinged people shouting at his campaign stops. Recently Christopher Buckley endorsed Obama, likewise lamenting the loss of the old noble McCain. New York Times columnist David Brooks dubbed Palin a “cancer,” and he suggested that Obama’s instant recall of Niehbuhr sent a tingle up his leg as Obama once did to Chris Matthews as well.