with Obama's clear lead, rethugs are getting much uglier:

[amborin]

all sorts of new smears....

"If Obama maintains his lead, the Republicans are almost certain to step up personal attacks on him. In a column for the New York Times yesterday, the rightwing commentator William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, offered suggestions on how McCain could win that included raising again Obama's links with figures such as the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the controversial cleric.

An early sign that the campaign could turn more personal was yesterday's row over Obama's possession of the bracelet of a US soldier killed in Iraq. Stories quickly appeared on the internet suggesting the mother objected to Obama exploiting her son's death. "

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/30/uselections2008.barackobama1>

[tblue]

1. If McCain wants to get negative and personal, there's always the Keating 5!

[amborin]

2. and his fits of rage and clearly irrational decision making: UnFIT

[AndyTiedye]

15. A Graphic go Go With That Thought

[yurbud]

39. good idea--I'll redo it as a morph

[tularetom]

3. Well yeah that and we could just make shit up like they do

[tblue]

5. Except, we can't get away with it they way they do. There is a double standard in the corp media.

I know, I know. It drives me bonkers.

That doesn't mean that some of 'us' couldn't do something.

[mitchum]

7. But some people say those accusations of McCain's addiction to child porn...

aren't made up

[demwing]

37. I thought I heard Child Prostitution...

based on addictions which began during his time in Southeast Asia

[Duke Newcombe]

13. ...And the use of _his_ soldier's bracelet...

while Barack just alludes to it and keeps going...McWhatever uses it as nothing more as a cheap political prop, bought and paid for with the blood of one of our fighting men and women.

Barack should have taken him out at the knees the second he trotted that out.

Duke

[tabasco]

4. Just as one would expect from a bunch of brainwashed morons

and the whore propaganda brigade that feeds them the hate.

[americanstranger]

6. Oh, just fucking bring it, then.

They can't even run their own goddamn campaign in a nominally competent manner.

If they want to spend precious campaign time and ad dollars on a non-troversy that was beaten to death six months ago, let them have their fun.

It only opens the door for Charlie Keating. Fucking bring it.

- as

[timber84]

9. Ditto

Bring it on!

[backscatter712]

8. I'll see their Wright and raise them a Hagee, Parsley and Muthee.

Really, it would be in their best interests to not go there...

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Please, please.. let them go there! :^D

[BlueIdaho]

10. You didn't think this was going to be easy did you?

The republicans will lie, cheat, and steal to win this thing. They will say anything and do anything. We will need to fight like we are ten points behind from now until the end of voting. Then - MAYBE - just maybe we will win.

[amborin]

14. yes, we need to constantly fight as if we're 10 down

also, there's McCain's gambling and ties to big casinos in Las Vegas

from Sunday's ny times article

he may have a personality disorder: prefers risk-taking behaviors

[No Elephants]

41. You mean, like Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran?

[Booster]

11. Joe Biden should keep bringing up McCain's health and age.

Only Joe could get away with that; not Obama. The Obama camp has shied away from the subject, but I think most Americans would not want to see Sarah anywhere near the nuclear button.

[Nevernose]

22. No, we need JIMMY CARTER to bring up McCain's health and age

For the record, I met Jimmy Carter a few times in 2006 when his son ran unsuccessfully for senate -- he's still sharp as a tack and a truly gifted communicator, and more coherent at 90 than McCain or Palin ever were or ever will be.

Plus, he's not as hunched over as McCain.

[Booster]

28. Jimmy Carter could also bring up that McCain is not an honorable

man. Jimmy could get away with that also, since he's the most honorable of all the presidents in my lifetime.

[amborin]

30. wouldn't want to see McCain's finger on the button, either

but too much about his age can be risky

a new articles says Obama has made big inroads among older voters, particularly due to the economic crisis

no point falling prey to ageism

plus, it could alienate a large slice of the electorate

[Booster]

35. That's why Obama shouldn't touch the subject. But it needs to be

brought up because of people like my Marine nephew who's 38 yrs old and was considering voting for McCain out of military loyalty until I started in on him - now he's for Obama. My nephew and his wife amaze me - they never look at any news, even local news, and they never read a newspaper. I just talked to him and brought up the bailout mess and he said "what are you talking about?" They are both educated, but ignorant at the same time. They baffle me.

[FrenchieCat]

16. What new Smear? They have been threatening Wright since before

OBama won the primaries. Corporate Pundits saying....well, you know they will use it, and they will make it worse.......in fact, that was a Superdelegate selling point for Obama's primary opponent, if I recall. North Carolina ran some commercials with Wright, if I recall.

Kind of like bringing up bigfoot again, just in case no one heard about Bigfoot the last time. Yeah, sure....some folks don't read the paper, watch television ever, listen to the radio, or read the National Enquirer but vote in droves. Whatfuckingever! Like that shit is believable.

Nothing like a good dose of racism to put one's country first.

Republicans are sad specimens who have fooled themselves into thinking they were human...these assholes.

[casus belli]

17. They've already worn that crap out.

The only people who would be affected by another round of Reverend Wright are already voting McCain anyway.

[barack the house]

18. If the GOP are getting ugly they probably need some more of McCain's make up sounds like a great527>

Actually no amount of make up could make that party as a whole presentable.

[PermanentRevolution]

19. Wright got play 24-7 for weeks during the primaries...

Do they think people just don't remember it? It's old news. Been there, done that.

Clutch for those straws, GOP...

[jillan]

20. They wanna bring up Wright? We can bring up the witch doctor.

[backscatter712]

27. Actually, he's a witch-hunter...

Yeah, he's extra-special.

[firedupdem]

21. We also need not forget his freaking campaign manager is

still on the take from fannie and freddie. That seemed to go by the wayside when he "suspended" his campaign and all this economic stuff came up.

[amborin]

23. yes, $15000 a month from Freddie Mac to McCain's campaign manager's

firm

McCain shifted the foucus off this with his debate stunt

[FrenchieCat]

26. And don't forget that Keating 5 is more relevant than ever.

Did you know that it was the biggest bail out till present day?

The U.S. Savings and Loan Crisis
Bailout date: August 1989
Amount: Estimates vary widely, but $200 billion (in 2008 dollars) is a reasonable figure.

What happened: The “S&L” debacle of the late ’80s and early ’90s was long in the making and long in the unwinding. U.S. taxpayers were first put on the hook when then President George H.W. Bush (right) signed the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989, which radically reformed the savings and loan industry and federal regulations. When the dust finally settled in 1995, more than 1,000 small lending institutions known as “savings and loans,” also called “thrifts,” had failed. Half of the federally insured thrift institutions in the United States had gone under in less than a decade, and the associated slowdown in new home construction and the financial fallout contributed to the 1990-1991 recession. The underlying causes of the S&L crisis are complex and disputed, but most scholars generally agree that high, volatile interest rates, reckless lending practices, rapid deregulation, and lax oversight paved the way for the greatest banking disaster since the Great Depression.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4470

[amborin]

31. yes, and McCain personally benefited hugely from being close buddies with Charles Keating

got huge donations

trips together

etc, etc......

[abumbyanyothername]

34. McCain did not benefit hugely from Charles Keating

He owes his entire political career to Charles Keating.

Was nothing before CK, and always would have been nothing without CK.

[AzNick]

24. THEY HAVE ALREADY DONE IT. IDIOTS!!!!!!!!

They are so stupid. It's already been done. It did a bit of damage to Obama, but he since left the church and the topic is over.

Besides preaching to their choirs, what will it do with the Independants?

Nothing. They already know McCain is a douche bag, you do not need to convince them even more.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

25. McCain's only option is to go extremely negative

He's losing and his agenda for America is unpopular. He's discovering that he can't run on his record so his only choice is to try to destroy Obama. They're going to pull out all the stops in the coming days. And I hope it backfires.

[briv1016]

29. Remember when it got ugly in the primary; how did Obama handle it?

[amborin]

32. i forgot, how did he? but in any case, dems need to be proactive

we need to be constantly shaping the discourse, not vice versa

[Eyes_wide_ open]

38. like this

[amborin]

33. Mccain used same Keating five lawyers for Cindy's Drug Addiction:

"The McCain campaign has covered up details of Cindy McCain's addiction to prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percoset from 1989 to 1992.

A Washington Post investigative report published Sept. 12 revealed that Mrs. McCain was under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and by Arizona prosecutors. She faced potential federal charges of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresenting, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge. Legal experts cited a potential prison term of up to 20 years.

John McCain hired a high-powed Washington attorney, John Dowd, who had represented him in the Keating Five scandal. Dowd negotiated a deal with the U. S. Attorney's office allowing Mrs. McCain, as a first-time offender, to avoid criminal charges in exchange for participating in a community-service program. Aren't you surprised you haven't heard more about this tangled tale?

* In a classic case of news management, the McCain campaign has refused access to the candidate's medical records except for a speed-read by 20 carefully selected reporters on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend.

These unlucky journalists were given three hours to skim 1,173 pages of his "

from:
The Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts)

September 26, 2008 Friday

Election news we aren't getting

BYLINE: By Clarence Fanto

SECTION: SUNDAY MAGAZINE

[amborin]

36. Mccain voted in 2000 AGAINST regulation:

"Once upon a time, a politician took campaign contributions and favors from a friendly constituent who happened to run a savings-and-loan association. The contributions were generous They came to about $200,000 in today's dollars, and on top of that there were several free vacations for the politician and his family, along with private jet trips and other perks.

The politician voted repeatedly against congressional efforts to tighten regulation of savings and loans, and in 1987, when he learned that his constituent's savings and loan was the target of a federal investigation, he met with regulators in an effort to get them to back off.

That politician was John McCain, and his generous friend was Charles Keating, head of Lincoln Savings & Loan.

While he was courting McCain and other senators and urging them to oppose tougher regulation of savings and loans, Keating was investing his depositors' federally insured savings in risky ventures. When those lost money, Keating tried to hide the losses from regulators by inducing his customers to switch from insured accounts to uninsured (and worthless) bonds issued by Lincoln's near-bankrupt parent company. In 1989, it went belly up - and more than 20,000 Lincoln customers saw their savings vanish.

Keating went to prison, and McCain's Senate career almost ended. Together with the rest of the so-called Keating Five - Sens. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.), John Glenn (D-Ohio), Don Riegle (D-Mich.) and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), all of whom had also accepted large donations from Keating and intervened on his behalf - McCain was investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee and ultimately reprimanded for "poor judgment."

But the savings-and-loan crisis mushroomed. Eventually, the government spent about $125 billion in taxpayer dollars to bail out hundreds of failed savings and loans that, like Keating's, fell victim to a combination of private-sector greed and the "poor judgment" of politicians such as McCain.

The $125 billion seems like small change compared with the $700 billion price tag for the Bush administration's proposed Wall Street bailout. But the root causes of both crises are the same a lethal mix of deregulation and greed.

Today's meltdown began when unscrupulous mortgage lenders pushed naive borrowers to sign up for loans they couldn't afford to pay back. The original lenders didn't care They pocketed the upfront fees and quickly sold the loans to others, who sold them to others still. With the government MIA, soon mortgage-backed securities were zipping around the globe.

But by the time many ordinary people began to struggle to make their mortgage payments, the numerous "good" loans (held by borrowers able to pay) had gotten hopelessly mixed up with the bad loans. Investors and banks started to panic about being left with the hot potato - securities backed mainly by worthless loans. And so began the downward spiral of a credit crunch, short-selling, stock sell-offs and bankruptcies.

Could all this have been prevented? Sure. It's not rocket science A sensible package of regulatory reforms - like those Barack Obama has been pushing since well before the meltdown began - could have kept this most recent crisis from escalating, just as maintaining reasonable regulatory regimes for savings and loans in the '80s could have prevented that crisis. (McCain learned this the hard way.)

But, despite his political near-death experience as a member of the Keating Five, McCain continued to champion deregulation, voting in 2000, for instance, against federal regulation of the kind of financial derivatives at the heart of today's crisis.

Shades of the Keating Five scandal don't end there. This week, for instance, news broke that until August, the lobbying firm owned by McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was paid $15,000 a month by Freddie Mac, one of the mortgage giants implicated in the crisis (now taken over by the government and under investigation by the FBI).

Apparently, Freddie Mac's plan was to gain influence with McCain's campaign in hopes that he would help shield it from pesky government regulations.

And until very recently, Freddie Mac executives probably figured money paid to Davis' firm was money well spent. "I'm always in favor of less regulation," McCain told the Wall Street Journal in March.

These days, McCain is singing a different tune."

from:
The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)

September 26, 2008 Friday
FINAL EDITION

From the Keating Five to a $700 billion bailout

BYLINE: ROSA BROOKS

SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. 15


and:

"Could McCain have been influenced because, a year before the meeting with the regulators, his wife, Cindy, and her father invested $359,100 in a strip mall owned by banker Charles Keating? Can America afford more involvement of McCain in our economy?"

[Awsi Dooger]

40. I'm amazed we haven't seen Wright

I thought that would be exploited in commercials throughout the fall. Frankly, it was idiocy to avoid it.

Even the GOP commercials here in Nevada have less sting this time. Jon Porter normally butchers his opponent but this cycle it seems like a half hearted attempt, trying to use Dina Titus' last name to sound like taxes. That's already been done, by Jim Gibbons two years ago, in more creative fashion. I'm starting to feel better about that race.

[No Elephants]

42. It did not work during the primary. Then again, neither did "inexperience," and McCain has been

trying to resurrect that one.

I saw a McCain ad recently. He looked awful in his own ad. The lighting was bad, too. There was so little, he looked sinister and menacing. He is, of course, but the lighting in his own ads should not be underscoring that.

[goletian]

43. we have to keep them on the defensive!

[Democat]

44. The good news is that McCain looks desperate

The bad news is that he is desperate and evil and that means he will try anything, no matter how dishonest and illegal.

Obama needs to be ready for anything and ready to hit them twice as hard as they are going to hit him

The way Obama can win is to always be on the offensive - don't let McCain put Democrats on the defensive. When they hit, hit them twice as hard, don't just try to defend.

If Obama stays on the offensive he can win!

[backscatter712]

45. Now that Carville quote comes to mind again...

"When your opponent is drowning, throw the son-of-a-bitch an anvil!"