* Can Dems please throw Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) under the bus now?

Under the bus and the garbage truck right behind it. The Dems need to prove they are different than the Rethugs. Bouncing guys like Mahoney is important.

The Dems need to establish a zero tolerance policy of all activities that get in the way of governing effectively come February - philandering, consorting or even talking to corporate/industry lobbyists, pork, etc., etc.

Ok, this one is sick/funny in a David Lynch sorta way, but a *must-see* before the debate tonight.

La Pequeña Sarah Palin

Anyone live-blogging the debate here?

From the Office of political affairs link:
“There is evidence that other administrations, including President Clinton’s, used the office to coordinate travel for the President or cabinet officials. But the extent of political activity by the current White House and its deep and systematic reach into the federal agencies is unprecedented.�

Obama needs to do a great many things to weaken himself so the president that follows him finds it far more difficult to achieve anything close to a unitary executive status.

Can we pray he's selfless enough. Clinton muffed.

It would make a fine legacy to re-establish the checks and balances system.

Just saw this linked on Wonkette: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/15/colin-powell-fuels-speculation-possible-endorsement/

Hip-Hop-Dancing Colin Powell Fuels Speculation He'll Endorse Obama

Is their racism so ingrained they can't even tell when it leads to the ridiculous?

The great schlep continues...
Via a Ben Smith link on who really helped launch Barack's political career:

Around this time, Obama started to attend a series of coffees in the Hyde Park community where he lived, standard operating procedure for political rookies running in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of Chicago.
"I was certainly (hosting) one of the first," said Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf, rabbi emeritus at Chicago's KAM Isaiah Israel--located across the street from the Obama home., rabbi emeritus at Chicago's KAM Isaiah Israel--located across the street from the Obama home.

McCain could establish himself as a true statesman and country-firster if he would drop out of the campaign and hurry on up to the White House to convince the kleptos therein to resign so as to get the Obama administration a head start on the Nation's problems.

the Dow falling 733 points.

After 9/11 amd the accounting scandals of 2001, the stock market took a dive. This was quickly followed by large increases in insurance rates. Anyone have any good reason to think that will or won't happen again after the election?

We can disagree without being disagreeable

Steve Clemons has an interesting post up:
Chuck Hagel Will Help Obama Find his "Inner Nixon"

I know for many of you that post is too centrist. But I am deep into Barack's The Audacity of Hope right now. Which is also to say: I am refreshing my mind with his governing principles.

Here is what I am rediscovering:

Most of left and right blogistan are intrepreting the inkblot wrong. Clemons's post is spot on in regards to what I have come to call "Barack's great bipartisan melt." Inkblots are symmetrical. And the left-right symmetry is in both Barack's physical and intellectual genes. Yes he leans left. But he is the great moderator. Or to pick up on a recent Sullivan post: The Human Valium. To recast that: He is hard to hate, easy to like. Never underestimate the power of likability especially when its coupled with empathy and intellect. And that, empathy and intellect is the essence of Barack.

At any rate, regarding tonight's debate, here is a slick quote from Clemon's piece:

On the home front, Hagel's wife, Lilibet, will be watching the presidential debates tonight with Michelle Obama. Lilibet Hagel has endorsed Barack Obama for president, and Chuck Hagel has remained quiet for the time being.

Rumors are swirling that Chuck Hagel -- and Colin Powell -- may both endorse Barack Obama in the days shortly after this debate. I have no idea if that is true -- and to some degree it doesn't matter.

I disagree with that last bit. It does matter.
This isn't about Ds or Rs anymore. We are way past that. It is about reclaiming America's future and the future of the planet. Everyone who invests in Barack is part of that future.

I hope Chuck and Colin hop aboard.
I hope Buckley and Brooks hop on too.
They are more than welcome on the Good Ship Obama.

Which is all to say:

If empathy and intellect don't carry the day then what will?

D.L. Hughley has done a good turn or two on Maher's show, so I'll check it out (or at least record it).

Classic quote from Hughley: "There have been six movies with a black man as the president, and in all those movies, the world was coming to an end. If this election isn’t art imitating life, I don’t know what is."

the foolishness of far-right blogs never ceases to amaze me.

that sentence can link to pretty much any hardly-ever-right wing blog post and be accurate.

Yep, time for the state and national Dem parties to apply some heat on Mahoney to resign, just as the GOP went after Larry Craig with immense pressure to step down. That is in fact how it's done. Whether Mahoney would be a decent enough human to follow the party's wishes is another question.

Any bets that Ayers will be mentioned tonight?
Or will McMakebelieve take another pass.

Either way I don't think McTownhall will be at all comfortable sitting for 90 minutes. Especially that close to Obama.

I'll predict McAce references the issue by telling Obama he needs to "come clean to Americans about his past associations" and leave it at that.

Dead cat bounce. Yeah, that's what I thought it was. Oh well.

Comedian D.L. Hughley is getting his own weekly CNN program, "diving into the increasingly crowded arena of news-driven comedy."

That is the most bassackwards, bizarro thing I've heard in a long time. Does CNN stand for "Comedy News Network" all of a sudden?

The reason CNN loses viewers is because it doesn't cover the NEWS very well. If they did a better job covering the NEWS they'd get more viewers. We don't want CNN to do COMEDY. In fact there already is a network called Comedy Central and it does a very good job. If people are getting their NEWS from Jon Stewart instead of CNN, that's because CNN is doing a poor job of covering the NEWS, not because it's not funny enough.

Comedian D.L. Hughley is getting his own weekly CNN program, "diving into the increasingly crowded arena of news-driven comedy."

That is the most bassackwards, bizarro thing I've heard in a long time. Does CNN stand for "Comedy News Network" all of a sudden?

The reason CNN loses viewers is because it doesn't cover the NEWS very well. If they did a better job covering the NEWS they'd get more viewers. We don't want CNN to do COMEDY. In fact there already is a network called Comedy Central and it does a very good job. If people are getting their NEWS from Jon Stewart instead of CNN, that's because CNN is doing a poor job of covering the NEWS, not because it's not funny enough.