Repugnant

There is just too much crazy going on this week. Between health care and the whole Gates fracas, the Repugs seem even more repugnant than usual. A summary:

The Birthers: It's not just Lou Dobbs. Elected Repug senators and congresspeople continue to support the view that the President was born outside of the U.S. despite proof that he was and most of the GOP establishment, even Ann Coulter, calling this stuff a distraction.

The Victims: Most people realize that Pat Buchanan, Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck are unhinged when it comes to race relations. But, they have an audience. It's infuriating that they keep spewing this crap.

The Lies: This seems to be the main Repug tactic against health care reform. They continue to raise the specter that government bureaucrats will be making medical decisions for people. Now, they are pointing to language on support for "end-of-life services," you know, hospice care, and saying that this puts us on the "path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."

Now, obviously, this is a vocal minority in the GOP. But, they have the podium right now. And, they've gotten so extreme that they worry Senator Voinovich.

Afternoon Update: 60 Looks Doubtful

The reprehensible Saxby Chambliss still leads in Georgia. But, there's still time on this one. Still, even if we get this, we'd still be counting on Jackhole Joe as our 60th vote. That doesn't give me tremendous confidence.

Another horrid Repub, Virgil Goode of Virginia, is demanding a recount in his election, but looks likely to lose. Goode riddance.

Rounding out GOP news, one of the candidates for the RNC chair just quit his whites-only country club. Oh, the sacrifices of being a public servant.

On the positive, and more interesting side, while being very clear that there's only one president right now, Barack is clearly stepping up his involvement in the country's economic affairs. The Washington Monthly notes that he seems to be spacing his economic moves (i.e., naming cabinet officials) out to keep in the news. So far, Wall Street likes this. The Dow rose when he named Geithner as his Treasury pick and rallied today as he introduced the rest of his team. As the Newsweek article to which Ilsa posted earlier mentioned that he's being appropriately careful about getting too mixed up with Bush's policies, it's interesting how he's asserting himself and how, for now at least, it seems to be helping.

Add from Ilsa: Nate weighs in on the Illinois senator search. I like his conclusions.

Race in the Race

Today's NY Times features a group of articles about the impact that Obama's race will have on the final vote. You can get to them all via links in the intro article, but I don't know that it's worth the time since they don't really have anything new to say. But, George Packer's long article in last week's New Yorker (which I admittedly haven't finished) does feature some interesting tidbits on this topic:

At one point, he [a building contractor from Appalachian Ohio] had doubted that Obama stood a chance in Glouster. “From Bob and Pete’s generation there are a lot of racists—not out-and-out, but I thought there was so much racism here that Obama’d never win.” Then he heard a man who freely used the “ ‘n’ word” declare his support for Obama: “That blew my theory out of the water.”

I've read some stuff like this other places and think it could be key. The economic issues are so serious in this election, that I think a lot of people will be looking past their prejudices when they vote. So, maybe I do need to go back and talk to that racist gomer in Indiana.

Morning Roundup

McCain continues to draw mobs of angry people. This can't end anywhere good. As Andrew Sullivan says today:

"To some, a president Obama is simply unimaginable. From a McCain supporter in Wisconsin yesterday:

"We're all wondering why Obama is where he's at. How he got here. Everybody in this room is stunned we're in this position."

There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannot be president - because he's black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O'Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.

But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies - not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin.

For God's sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first."

And wouldn't you know, O'Reilly showed his true colors last night (also from Sullivan):

A pretty staggering exchange on O'Reilly just now. O'Reilly had African-American Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill on the show. O'Reilly went into Colbert mode at one point, saying that when he thinks about a metaphorical "Joe Six-Pack", he has no race in mind: "The immediate image that comes to my mind is a guy of no color," O'Reilly said. Try that for a second: imagine a man of no color. Then this staggering quote from O'Reilly to a black professor:

"Man, I'm glad I didn't have you in school, boy. I would have gotten a D."

Boy? Did O'Reilly just call a black professor a "boy" on cable television?

Nate thinks Obama hasn't peaked yet. This would be cool if it wasn't starting to be scary.

Repbug poll shows Obama gains:
A new pair of polls from Strategic Vision (R) gives Barack Obama the lead in both Florida and Ohio. In Florida: Obama 52%, McCain 44%, outside of the ±3% margin of error. In Ohio: Obama 48%, McCain 46%, within the ±3% margin of error.


also, don't forget, alaska publishes a report on trooper-gate today. something to look forward to while the dow plummets! (oh, but wait, palin's already been exonerated. by mccain!)