sotomayor confirmation hearings

I’d take GOP criticism of the candidate a lot more seriously if they didn’t, to a man, sound like Boss Hogg when they talked.

I missed a lot while I was out.

I’m not even going to deal with the whole Palin thing. It’s overdone. We all have our theories, and I guess we’ll find out pretty soon what her deal is/was, so I’m just going to jump into what’s happening today:

In opinion:

Thomas Sowell, syndicated at RCP, makes some sort of specious argument about…something. Affirmative action, I think. I’m nto entirely sure, because the argument is so convoluted as to obscure the fact that it’s basically flawed and incoherent. I had the same argument with a guy in a freshman politics seminar when I was at Ithaca. No, they don’t make the hoop any bigger when Shaq goes in for a free throw. No, they don’t make it smaller for Kobe Bryant. Hey, wait…1994 called. They want their hot button issues back.

In features:

Eric Alterman at the Daily Beast writes on Dick Cheney’s creepy, third-world fiefdom. Pretty chilling, but, sadly enough, not surprising.

For what it’s worth, Newsweek reports that Eric Holder might pursue investigations into Bush-era interrogation policy. I’m all for it, but I don’t want it to become neutered, a show trial where they throw some mid-level bureaucrats and the less-reputable spooks under the bus, while the signatories to the cables and authorizations keep their consulting gigs and laurels. Hopefully, AG Holder’sapproach with people will keep him on the right side of the administration. To be honest, I don’t expect much from this.

In news:

WaPo’s Dan Balz writes on the political dilemma facing the GOP: Raise (sometimes legitimate) concerns over Sotomayor’s judgement and legal approach, and the underlying aims of the Obama administration in choosing her (making history; an approach to constitutional interpretation based on empathy?) at the risk of further alienating Hispanic voters. Another dimension is that if the Republicans can prove cagy enough to voice these concerns in such a way that they resonate beyond their ever-shrinking base, would this be enough of a dent in Obama’s armor for them to start making some real progress by way of a comeback?

Energy Secretary Chu travels to China this week to discuss terms upon which Beijing can agree to carbon reduction measures. Side issue is what economists are citing as green energy protectionism. This NYTimes article reports that as Beijing pursues massive investment in green infrastructure, eveyr contract was awarded to domestic manufacturers. I’m not an economist (professionally, anyways), but I think we shoudl take a page out of their book and start awarding some no-bids to our own solar and win manufacturers. But again, I’m not a money man and I’ve never been a big fan of the global economy. So, whatevs, I guess, is the lesson there.

Steven Rattner might get nailed on pay to play violations.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Check back for updates and breaking stories.

EDAY PREDICTIONS

- PRESIDENT: I think Barack finishes up 180. No lie. I did the math twice and looked at all the polls I have available to me and I think it breaks down like this: Obama wins all the safe and strongly leaning EVs on the west coast and in the southwest (WA, OR, CA, NV, NM, CO), sweeps the upper midwest (MN, WI, MI, IA, IL, OH), and runs the table in the northeast (NY, NJ, MA, CT, VT, NH, and gets both of ME’s). He’ll also show strongly in the mid-Atlantic (DE, MD, DC, and VA) for 311 safe EVs. McCain gets 142 safe EVs in ID, UT, AZ, WY, SD, NE, KS, OK, TX, AR, LA, AL, KY, TN, WV, and SC. Obama will lose MO, GA, and IN but will more than cover his ass with MT, ND, NC, and FL. Obama 359, 53.5%; McCain 179, 47.5%.

- SENATE: I’m predicting we pick up both Colorado and New Mexico, where the Udalls are running pretty strong; Virginia; New Hampshire, closely; Oregon, where Merkley is really kicking Gordon’s ass; Minnesota, also closely; and North Carolina. This means we come up short of filibuster proofing the Senate, at 58. Now, this might seem counterintuitive. Those two extra pickups would have to come in Georgia and Alaska. Begich is beating Stevens by 3 pts in the polls, but he got this kind of hero’s welcome the other day after his conviction, and I never underestimate Alaskans love of their senior Kleptocrat. Georgia is weird because I don’t think Chambliss is going to beat 50%, which means a runoff on 12/2 and I think he’ll pick up the votes he’ll lose to the Libertarian on 11/4. So, it might be 59 if I’m wrong on Alaska, but I don’t think I will be.

Insights? Contra-predictions? Verbal abuse?

Notes from Greenspan’s Show Trial

“’I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms,’ Mr. Greenspan said. ‘I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.’

Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. ‘In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working,’ Mr. Waxman said.

‘Absolutely, precisely,’ Mr. Greenspan replied. ‘You know, that’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.’”

(per NYT)

SLICK BARRY STRIKES AGAIN

As I suspected, the accidental email leak described by Noam Schieber in yesterday’s The Plank is no more than a “head fake”:

“[Obama's campaign] ‘accidentally’ leaked an ‘internal’ poll showing Obama up by only 2 percent in PA. I guarantee you that no such poll exists and that this was done…to sucker the McCain campaign into spending more time there”.

Just when I thought the conspiracy theorist in me had been tamped down by years of a reality that no tin foil hat guy could fabricate…

(h/t, TNR)

Meanwhile…

The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber seeks to terrify me with very well-argued and sober scenarios under which McCain might pull out a surprise win, mostly revolving around poll lag, the Bradley effect, and a leaked internal email from Obama’s campaign indicating a razor-thin 2 pt advantage in Pennsylvania (per DailyKos).

UPDATE on McCain’s NM/CO Gambit

Per Politico, Jonathan Martin writes:

“John McCain’s campaign tonight sought to tamp down a report by CNN’s John King that they’re looking for a path to victory that doesn’t include Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado”.

The report he cites, which I alluded to a few days back (and finally tracked down), comes from CNN’s Political Ticker, where John King writes that “…While Iowa, New Mexico and Colorado are still officially listed as McCain target states, two top strategists and advisers tell CNN that the situation in those states looks increasingly bleak…’Gone,’ was the word one top McCain insider used to describe those three states”.

So, the story is that while these states are steadily slipping away from the McCain camp, they seek to portray their slackening efforts there as a flexible strategy that seeks a winning scenario without those states (possibly by poaching Pennsylvania).

REPUBLICANS HAVE A DEBACHLE

Michele Bachmann’s ridiculous little stunt on Hardball last week is turning out to have some very, very real and quite serious consequences for the churlish Repub from the Gopher State.

A fundraising plea from DailyKos resulted in over $640,000 in small-dollar contributions for Bachmann’s newly-empowered opponent, the amusingly-named Elwyn Tinklenberg. More interestingly, the Dtrip has signaled that it may add the 6th district to it’s “Red to Blue” roster, an indication that the balance of power in the race may have shifted in such a way as to make the seat winnable for the Democrat. This may mean even more funding for Tinklenberg, who, despite his smashing success in fundraising this quarter ($469K in this quarter alone; well over his total for the entire period previous), still trails Rep. Bachmann in total funds raised and cash on hand (the Congresswoman has $1.4M on hand, and raised $2.2M last quarter). However, the Huffington Post reports that the RNC has all but abandoned Rep. McCarthy Bachmann, suspending further media buys in her district. If true, this may indicate that the district has serious potential to go from Red to Blue. I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, but it’s now a race to watch.

seriously, one last thing

Earlier today, I was told that the McCain camp was suspending operations in NM and CO, allegedly per Politico. Anyone who can substantiate that, let me know. If true, very, very exciting.  More news to follow when I can get a solid handle on the story.

One other thing

My anti-Palin crusade continues with a great video from perez hilton, courtesy of molly mcfabulous.

EXPENSE REPORT (h/t cheryl.reynolds)

Sarah Palin can’t even do corruption right.

Seriously, what is this penny-ante shit? $17k in per diem for 300 nights spent at home? Putting your snaggletoothed brood in fancypants hotels in Illadelphia and New York City at $700 a night? Jesus Christ. Next, we’ll find out that she expensed tickets for The Lion King and airfare for the kids to see the giant, stupid dinosaurs from The Wizard. Don’t they have cable in Alaska?

quick update (actual news)

Sorry, I’ll make this quick because it’s late:

- RNC suspends all media buys in WI (oldish, but exciting for a Sconie transplant)

- Obama up a lot in the solidly Republican territory (VA, NC, et al) though down nationally. I’ll take that tradeoff, any day. The race was always going to close to within 4, but we’re looking at upsets in states that Democrats either haven’t held since the Clinton era, in the case of MO, or, in the case of VA, in 40-odd years. It’s not quite a 50-state strategy, but Obama sure as shit is expanding the map.

- A quick note on senate races:

-NC: Kay Hagan’s stock is rising, and she’s suddenly poised to unseat longtime incumbent Elizabeth Dole. Shout out to Scott Zumwalt, HRC-Iowa Alum, for his work on the Hagan race.

-NH: former gov. Jeanne Shaheen might upset the largely ineffectual John Sununu. I like.

-AK: we’ll see  how Sen. Steven’s indictment turns out, but the news isn’t getting any better for him these days.

- AutoMattic’s picks for Senate pickups: AK, CO, NM, VA, NC, NH, MN.

some old news

I know this is old shit at this point, but it can’t really hurt to throw in my two cents. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, on Hardball:

I think it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyways) that this is the most disgusting and thoroughly unpatriotic suggestion I’ve ever heard.

Next: Joe the Plumber! McCain’s apparent last, best hope to dull Obama’s edge on economic matters. Joe, less better known by his Christian name, Samuel Wurzelbacher, and not really a licensed plumber at all, confronted Obama during a rally or whatever in Holland, OH (further evidence in support of my long-held contention that Ohio is the home of many of the worst things in America, with the exception of my buddies Nathan, Lee and Peter, and LeBron James) and demanded to know why Obama would have him punished with excessive taxation for pursuing small business ownership. Now, according to all reports, Mr. Wurzelbacher has no real plans to own the plumbing outfit he works for. And no small plumbing outfit would realistically make over $250,000 in a year, and even if it did, it probably wouldn’t all count as taxable income for hypothetical plutocrat Samuel Wurzelbacher. I know, because my dad is a plumber (a licensed one), who has owned his own outfit in the past, and while he did well, he sure as shit didn’t make megabucks on it. But that’s a tangent. My point is that, contrary to the harsh, impenetrable reality of math, Mr. Wurzelbacher and, by extension, the McCain campaign, represent a chunk of America that simply does not get it. You will never make $250,000 a year. You’re welcome to try, but don’t bet the house on it. You will never stop gay people from loving one another. We are causing global warming. We will eventually run out of gas. You cannot win a conventional war against an insurgent, assymetrical force. There were no WMDs in Iraq. Progressive income taxation is not Socialism. Socialism as you know it is not really Socialism. Joe the Plumber represents the kind of willfully ignorant, mean, stupid prick who is ruining this country by refusing to face reality; the secular version of the racist, misogynist, homophobic, and generally intolerant Handmaid’s Tale types that form Sarah Palin’s hard core of support. These were the types that re-elected Bush based on John Kerry’s reputed “French” looks. They’re the same ones that, in one breath, state their belief that Barack Obama is a Muslim, or “ay-rab”, and then declare their disdain for Obama’s choice of church. I’m wondering at what point cognitive dissonance is supposed to kick in for these folks, but one of the most remarkable aspects of doublethink as defined by the man himself, Orwell, is the absolute absence of cognitive dissonance in the goodthinker which allows them the freedom to accept two conflicting pieces of data (Barack Obama is a Muslim; Barack Obama attends a Christian church that I find to be too radically leftist) without that uncomfortable twinge of WTF.

I suppose that this is what terrifies many about the prospect of a McCain-Palin copresidency, or, shudder to think, a Palin administration. The absolute surrender of the rational mind to Orwellian doublethink and the brutal, violent refusal to accept plain fact as presented to one’s self is far more dangerous to our democracy than any halfassed terror cell or truck bomb. Weapons only harm flesh; ignorance and credulity subvert and pervert the fundamental tenets of reasoned, rational self-government. Willful ignorance of fact, of circumstance, of the world outside one’s home or village or state or nation and the refusal to integrate the inconvenient into one’s plans and point of view is antithetical to the needs of a functioning global power with obligations to its friends and neighbors in the international community.

The refusal to reconcile one’s beliefs with reality when faced with conflicting examples of each is really the only thing that I believe a Palin administration would have in common with the Bush-Cheney regime. The Bush administration was corrupt, it was greedy, it was brutal and disturbingly unconcerned with human rights under the Constitution and under international law. But, I understand greed. I understand graft and corruption and I understand how power subverts structure for its own ends (namely, power). I believe that a Palin administration would approach power with absolute credulity. George W. Bush, fundamentally, is a patrician, blue-blooded son of a bitch with really only half a regard for the Christian Right. They were a means to an end; a constituency to be stroked, a collection of votes to be had. They were used. Sarah Palin, though, attends those churches in earnest. She speaks in tongues and prays to God to construct energy infrastructure. She believes that our presence in Iraq is a mission from God, whereas Bush and Cheney merely suggest that to retain the support of the ostensibly pro-life Church groups while doling out lardy government contracts to their golf buddies. Disgusting, sure, but rational. Reasonable, even, if you’re essential amoral (and I think Cheney is) or easily led (like Bush). Again, while I find this to be disgusting, it’s essentially the way we’ve done this for the entirety of the 20th century. No reason to defend it, obviously; merely a point by way of suggesting that a hypothetical Palin administration would lack that necessary incredulity. I don’t want these American Taliban types writing policy.

halfassing it

smack in the middle of things here. quick updates:

- obama, he’s up, he’s up, he’s down a little, he’s back up

- mccain debate 3 performance: not terrible, but then again the bar is constantly being lowered by your hockey veep

- mccain pulls out of michigan, poll numbers drop even further, rnc suspends media buys in wisconsin. what’s next? i say mccain rallies to missouri and indiana.

- senator government for president. i like the sound of it!

- interesting perspective from the increasingly readable daily beast.

UPDATE (with analysis)

Adam Nagourney reports in the New York Times Caucus Blog:

“Mr. McCain is giving up his effort to take the state back into the red column, concluding that economic distress there has simply put the state out of reach…polling suggested that Mr. Obama was building a lead there, and…they concluded that it wasn’t worth spending any more campaign funds”.

It seems clear to me why McCain’s support in Michigan is lagging. The state’s economy has been in terrible condition for years, and the recent turbulence (to put it lightly) in the credit market isn’t making matters any easier. McCain, rightly or wrongly (rightly, I contend), is linked too closely to the current administration to benefit numbers-wise from the perception he enjoys as a pain in the ass of the Republican party.

I’m less concerned with the reasoning behind the decision than how the decision was made and what the decision represents. I argue that McCain’s move out of MI, while rational, can be understood in the context of some other recent decisions (his choice of Sarah Palin as VP candidate; the odd and disconcerting suspension of his campaign to go to DC to help hash out a solution to the banking crisis, despite his lack of economic chops and the fact that he sits on none of the relevant committees or other bodies) as a shot-in-the-dark attempt to shake up the news cycle and take people’s eyes off the ball, so to speak.

Now, normally, when a candidate gives up on a state, it’s a decision that’s seen as programmatic. By this, I mean that it’s done more or less quietly, a subtle tip of the hat to the reality that you can’t win every state. I mean, it just makes sense to cease operations when a state can be predicted as lost. Given McCain’s recent history of hail mary throws this season, however, it’s worth noting his move for what it is: an attempt at a rally. McCain’s numbers are dropping swiftly and steadily, and pending Palin’s performance at tonight’s debate, it seems to have become clear to Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis that McCain’s margins are eroding in a state that until very recently was seen as a swing state with an affinity for the Senator from AZ. Reportedly, the campaign feels their resources are put to better use in MN, WI, and OH. This may or may not be true. Economic conditions in those states are hardly better than they are in MI, a condition upon which McCain’s support lags. By ceasing his air and ground operations in Michigan and throwing more muscle behind his operations in remaining swing states, McCain’s move can be seen as an attempt to cut his losses in states he now may lose and to concentrate his efforts in areas either less devestated by current economic conditions or generally more hospitable to Republican politics. In light of the current financial crisis, I’m not sure this move will work. Nothing ventured, nothing gained (apparently the raison d’etre of the McCain campaign), I suppose, and at the very least, he’s sparing himself the cost of running an operation in a state he’s now likely to lose.

What of Obama’s concessions in states now seen (and that the clear-headed have always seen) as reliably republican? Not long ago, Obama’s campaign suspended its operations in Georgia, North Dakota (though, apparently, it’s being kept on life support), Montana, and Alaska. I argue that while Obama’s attempts to expand the electoral map may have represented an outsized and unrealistic ambition, in reality they should be seen more as a PR effort to depict a larger-than-life Democratic juggernaut piloted by a group of pollsters quietly gauging the actual possibilities of gains in those states.

Obama’s ostensibly ambitious 50-state strategy ran, in reality, contrary to DNC chair Howard Dean’s more earnest quest to revitalize languishing Democratic Party apparatus in solidly, historically red states. The way I see it, Obama’s strategy was never a serious effort to win decisively in states like Georgia. Rather, I saw it as part and parcel of a strategy designed to project an image of the campaign that felled the Clintons as the new driving force in Democratic politics, more of a movement than a machine, inescapable and implacable lahars of “change” and “hope” pouring through the aves and boulevards of Anytown, USA. Where Obama has seen a genuine red-to-blue shift (MO, for example), he has put forth an earnest vote-getting operation. But, for him, contesting states like GA and ND should be seen as more of a head fake. That he pulled his guns from there reflects not only a concession to the reality of his slim chances in such solidly Republican territory, but also confirms to me that Obama’s campaign pursued a 50-state strategy not with the intention of seriously contesting all 50 states, but rather sought to operate in several reddish states long enough to determine if there existed a chance of victory, and have thus far adapted well to the post-Palin reality on the ground in states like ND, GA, and MT by ceasing operations and bolstering defenses in winnable states like WI, MN, OH, and PA.

BREAKING: McCain Pulls Troops From MI

McCain is suspending all operations in the Wolverine state. Politico’s Jonathan Martin writes:

“McCain will go off TV in Michigan, stop dropping mail there and send most of his staff to more competitive states, including Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.   Wisconsin went for Kerry (barely –ed) in 2004, Ohio and Florida for Bush.”

This may speak to McCain’s fundraising woes and recent poll results from swing states, including Michigan, where Obama is now leading McCain by anywhere from 3 to 10 points. Both The RCP average and Pollster put Obama ahead of McCain by 5.7 and 6.7 pts. , respectively.

Another ballsy move from McCain’s camp. Will this pull him out of the tailspin he’s been in since his post-convention bounce disappeared? Every day seems to reveal something new and terrible about the man and his judgement, from repots that his presence on the Hill during bailout negotiations may have hindered a burgeoning consensus and contributed to the failure of the bill, to the now clear and present danger that Sarah Palin represents to both his ticket and to the prospects of this country, should she assume a role on the national stage beyond that which is required of her as a VP candidate.

Stay tuned for further reports and analysis, and be sure to watch for my thoughts on tonight’s VP debate.

(de Politico)

this is terrifying

though it does make one wonder about the benefits of a mccain presidency, from the standpoint of a comedy fan

(thanks nbc)

we are so fucked

it’s like my mad max, post-apocalyptic dreams are coming true!

Combined with the great American tent city, I’m really optimistic for the economic prospects of satchel salesmen and the people who make the jugs with “XXX” written on them.

a brief list of words, updated

Added my observations from the liveblog above to include three more overused phrases from the silly season (I think I just found another):

- Political Junkie: Read, “unemployed”.

- Inside Baseball: A phrase commonly used in one of two ways: a) to refer to the depressing, endlessly banal minutiae that forms 90% of daily political activity (polling, modeling, IEs, internal politics, etc); b) to make one outside the bubble feel like a loser for not being familiar with any of the above banal minutiae, akin to having a joke pointed out as an “inside joke” or the feeling you get reading Variety.

- “It Is What It Is”: Trust me, it’s not. I’m just too dumb or overworked to explain it.

DEBATE MADNESS ARRRGH

9:37: JESUS ITS OVER. I haven’t been this bored since my mom couldn’t find a sitter and had to take me to her weight watcher’s meeting. Yeah, last week sucked. OK, so, final verdict: I don’t have a verdict. They both got their shots in, but this debate will do nothing to make clearer the divisions between the two candidates. Too much “I agree with my opponent on” type bullshit tonight. I mean, besides the usual and predictable fissures between the two–the terms of the bailout, the focus of federal spending, diplomacy vs. dick waving–there was little there to draw further distinctions between them. I’m withholding serious judgment until after next week’s debate between the vice-presidential candidates. In that vein, cheryl.reynolds alerts me to Canada, the country, which worries as a body politic that Team Straight Talk Express might be working to subvert the debate format so as to avoid direct confrontations between Palin and Biden. I’m more than happy to let give her as much rope as she wants, given her performance in interviews this week. I’ve got more drinking to do, and the daily show is on in an hour or so, so I’m taking my leave of you, but I’ll be back. BE COOL MY BABIES

9:26: Well, I’m against nuclear waste. Didn’t you guys ever seen Toxic Avenger? That shit is a documentary. I bet you didn’t know that.

9:22: eastern european squabbling. god, you guys are going to both need some help with this one. i’ve got a professor from college who’d be more than happy to school you in post-soviet european politics.

9:13: That Johnny, so clever. Oh ho ho.

9:09: Ahmeneh…Ahmena…Amenha-work here anymore! Haw haw! Seriously, what the fuck was that about?

9:07: cheryl.reynolds: obama pronounces Hamas with a little too much finesse

me: oh of course, tollyban as well

cheryl.reynolds: hahah

me: its because he’s an ay-rab

cheryl.reynolds: come mr tollyban

tolly me banana

me: tolly me buttoochies

yo i was watching beetlejuice the other day

10/10 movie

9:05: Yeah, you know where sanctions worked great? Iraq!

8:53: me: haha
i’m liveblogging this bizzo
its really boring
i can’t wait for the veep debate next week

cheryl.reynolds: i’m considering changing the channel

I KNOW RIGHT

8:47: No, it’s not true, Barack, but you’ve got to be louder about it. Get in his face. He’s not showing any respect for the format, so interrupt his lying ass. Don’t wait your turn. Think of it like a boxing match.

8:45: Did i hear a smattering of audience applause as Obama calls McCain out on his myriad misinterpretations of the Iraq situations?

8:44: Thanks for reminding me, Barack: “Inside baseball”, yet another recent campaign cliche. That and, i’m recalling, “it is what it is”.

8:43: McCain calling Obama out on the surge. I think I did this too, so I’m not going to bust his ass about it. But I would like to note how quiet the audience is being. Maybe they’re too busy drinking to talk (like me).

8:37: There’s that “800B in new spending” line again.

8:35: Poor Jim Lehrer. He can’t seem to get an answer out of either of these guys.

8:29: priorities: not having liberals, apparently. no more ethanol subsidies. trim defense subsidies, eliminating fixed cost contracts.

8:27: priorities: energy independence from Obama. Healthcare, also. education, rural connectivity.

8:26. There you go kids. That’s as exciting as televised politics gets.

8:25: Johnny Boom Boom is so full of shit his eyes are brown.

8:22: Sorry, I was zoning out, watching this video:

8:20: a return to paygo? let’s hope.

8:18: YAWN hey i found a quarter!

8:17: Earmarks process abused, but only account for 18B in spending. McCain wants 300B in tax cuts to corporations.

8:16: How are you going to veto every spending bill?

8:15: McCain: government spending is the problem, particularly pork barrel politics. It wouldn’t have anything to do with this endless war in Iraq, would it?

8:12:Good line from McCain: “Afraid I wouldn’t hear ya?”. Obama is right, though. McCain can’t preach accountability if he can’t see the problems to which people would be held to account.

8:10: Obama: deregulation the root of the problem. Obvious, but usually goes unstated. Good to hear.

8:06: McCain responds: focus on bipartisan nature of bailout solution. Transparency, needs accountability and oversight. options for loans to failing business instead of government takeover. More or less sounds like the split on Thursday. “House republicans would be part of the solution to this problem”? I understand they were the ones that scuttled the deal, fearing lurking socialism. Some bullshit on foreign oil.

8:04: Obama on economic security: taxpayer protection, oversight of process. Preferred equity shares? No golden parachutes. Homeowner protection. Standard line from the Dems; as I recall, however, they were willing to concede some of this before the Repubs blew it up yesterday.

8:03: John McCain: Shorter than you’d think.

8:02: Off to the races. Nice, uncomfortable silence from Jim Leherer. He’s welcoming me, personally! this is so exciting.

8:00: The time-filler music on CNN.com’s live stream of the debate is hilarious. It’s like when all those PSAs in the mid 90’s used what they imagined “rap” music to sound like. All we need is for some dick with a flat top to tell us how “fresh” and “dope” staying in school is.

7:59: Sick of the phrase “political junky”; must add to previous post on this year’s campaign cliches. Glad to hear Ted Kennedy is alright.

7:58: Allright, we’re almost ready. Nursing my gin and tonic (and, also, my crush on Melissa Long).

OK, yall, I’m going to be liveblogging the debate tonight. Stand by for updates.