memeorandum: How McCain Lost His Brand (John Heilemann/New York Magazine)

1:30 PM ET, October 7, 2008

Top Items:

Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame — FORT MYERS, Fla., Oct. 6 John McCain is collapsing in the polls in Florida and other swing states, but Sarah Palin, God bless her, has a solution. — “For me, the heels are on, the gloves are off,” she announced at high noon Monday to a group …

The Huffington Post:

Obama Hatred On Display Again At Palin Rally, Supporter Screams “Treason!” — In the latest instance of inflammatory outbursts at McCain-Palin rallies, a crowd member screamed “treason!” during an event on Tuesday after Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of criticizing U.S. troops.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Moderate Voice, The Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, The Seminal, Taylor Marsh, folo and Lonewacko

City Journal:

The Bomber as School Reformer — Back in the early eighties, in an interview with David Horowitz and Peter Collier, Bill Ayers remembered his reaction upon learning that he would not be prosecuted by the government for his bombing spree as a member of the Weather Underground.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Commentary, Power Line, No Left Turns and Reason

Geoff Earle / New York Post:

OBAMA: NO KNOWLEDGE OF AYERS' TERRORIST PAST — WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's top political adviser said today Obama “didn't know the history” of unrepentant bomber William Ayers' activities in the violent Weather Underground movement when the candidate attended a political event at Ayers' home in 1995.

Discussion: Power Line, The Corner, Moonbattery, Take Our Country Back, QandO, www.redstate.com, Israpundit, Political Machine, Bookworm Room, The Campaign Spot and Don Surber

Dirty Harry / Dirty Harry's Place:

CNN Ayers Investigation: Obama Lied In Debate — Youtube quote: CNN investigative reporter: “But the relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much longer, and was much more political than Obama said.” — It is the lie that furthers the story. Talk about THE LIE.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Hot Air, The Corner, Stop The ACLU, THE CITIZENS JOURNAL and Macsmind

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

Sarah Palin: Obama's ‘left-wing agenda’ — Sarah Palin, waging the Republican Party's presidential campaign in a state that she and John McCain count on for victory, kept up an assault today on Democratic rival Barack Obama's association with William Ayers, a Chicago education professor and onetime radical war protester in the Sixties.

Discussion: Top of the Ticket, FiveThirtyEight.com, New York Times and No More Mister Nice Blog

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:
The Most Clueless Man in Chicago

Discussion: Think Progress, TigerHawk and Little Green Footballs

David Frum:
“The Chicago Way” — My pals over at the Corner are very excited …

Discussion: American Spectator and Donklephant

Wall Street Journal:

About That Middle-Class Tax Cut . . . Remember the last time a charismatic Democrat made such a promise? — “It's like déjà vu all over again.” — As John McCain heads into the second round of presidential debates tonight, Yogi Berra's words come to mind.

Discussion: Commentary and Donklephant

Glen Johnson / Associated Press:

Frank says GOP housing attacks racially motivated … BOSTON (AP) - Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation's housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that's racially motivated. — The Massachusetts Democrat, chairman of the House Financial …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, The Next Right, Political Punch and www.redstate.com

Mike Soraghan / The Hill:
Barbs traded at hearing on Lehman's fall

Discussion: protein wisdom and Hot Air

Stanley Kurtz / National Review:
Planting Seeds of Disaster

Discussion: JammieWearingFool

CNN:

CNN Polls: New Obama gains in battleground states — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Polls in five key battleground states in the race for the White House released Tuesday suggest that Sen. Barack Obama is making major gains. — The CNN/Time Magazine/Opinion Research Corporation polls of likely voters in Indiana …

Discussion: TPM Election Central and Sister Toldjah

Michael Scherer / Time:
Poll: Obama Gains in States That Went for Bush

Discussion: TIME.com and Donklephant

Washington Post:
Obama Leading In Ohio, Poll Finds

Discussion: Firedoglake, TalkLeft, Daily Kos, Political Radar, American Spectator and MSNBC

Rob Crilly / Times of London:

Jerome Corsi, anti-Obama author, detained in Kenya — A leading American neo-conservative author has been detained by immigration authorities in Kenya as he tried to launch a book smearing Barack Obama. — Jerome Corsi, of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth fame, was this morning being held after failing to reckon with Obamamania.

Discussion: Fox News, WorldNetDaily, Media Blog, The Swamp and Don Surber

Tom Odula / Associated Press:
Kenya deporting US author of anti-Obama book

Discussion: McClatchy Washington Bureau, Guardian, Gateway Pundit and NewsBusters.org

Agence France Presse: Anti-Obama author faces deportation from Kenya

Attila Girl / Little Miss Attila:

THEATER FRAUD? Sabotage of An American Carol and Its Opening-Week Numbers? — Now this sounds like enemy action. Help me out here, folks. — Mpower pictures and Vivendi are starting to hear complaints about sabotage of An American Carol by employees of theaters that are carrying the movie.

Discussion: Oliver Willis, The Other McCain and Dirty Harry's Place

Clif / Sadly, No!:
Little Miss Attila Goes To The Movies

Discussion: Shakesville

Michelle Malkin:

The missing SNL bailout skit — and the Soros connection — Over the weekend, I watched a hilarious, dead-on, and surprisingly honest skit on Saturday Night Live about the craptastic bailout and its Democrat roots. The skit called out Fannie/Freddie and featured Nancy Pelosi dragging out various sob-story …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Terry Ann Online, Associated Press, The Foundry, NewsBusters.org, A Tiny Revolution, Hot Air, The Huffington Post, www.redstate.com, The Poor Man Institute, Clayton Cramer's BLOG, Fausta's Blog, Pat Dollard and Pajamas Media

Michelle Malkin:
The forbidden skit: Full transcript and screenshots of SNL's Soros …

Discussion: MsUnderestimated, Wake up America, Pat Dollard and The Foundry

David Zaring / Conglomerate:

The Fed Can't Let Section 13 Go — The latest rescue development moves the Fed back to expanding its section 13 discount window powers still further and has absolutely nothing to do with the bailout bill. It is the new initiative whereby the central bank would buy commercial paper directly from issuers.

Discussion: The Washington Independent, D-Day and Firedoglake

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:
For release at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Discussion: Washington Post, The Swamp, Portfolio and The Big Picture

Roger Simon / The Politico:

How McCain could pull this one off — Can John McCain possibly win this thing? Can he actually win in November? — The outlook is bleak: The polls are ugly, the Electoral College map is grim, the economy is getting worse, and McCain's choice of Sarah Palin may have energized the Republican base …

Discussion: Democratic Strategist and Stop The ACLU

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: NEEDING A GAME-CHANGER — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann — NASHVILLE, Tenn. — McCain heads into tonight's debate here down in the polls and in need of a game-changer. Three weeks after the Wall Street crisis began …

Discussion: MyDD, Blog entry and Spin Cycle

New York Magazine:

How McCain Lost His Brand — Whatever the reasoning, the strategists behind McCain's 2000 run, Weaver and Mike Murphy, immediately voiced their disquiet over the potential long-term damage to the image they'd so carefully crafted. “There is no brand in politics you can just put on the shelf …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blogs and TPM Election Central

John Heilemann / New York Magazine:
How McCain Lost His Brand

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Washington Monthly, Slate and Taylor Marsh

Frank Newport / Gallup:

Americans' Satisfaction at All-Time Low of 9% — Dismal rating sets stage for town hall-style debate — USA - Election 2008 - Government and Politics - Most Important Problem - Satisfaction - Americas - Northern America — PRINCETON, NJ — Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John …

Discussion: Ross Douthat

Richard Cohen / Washington Post:

This Debate's Biggest Loser — Reading William Kristol's column in yesterday's New York Times, I discover that Sarah Palin and I have something in common. Kristol, who was once Dan Quayle's chief of staff and therefore, shall we say, has a Mister Rogers approach to certain politicians …

Discussion: TalkLeft and The XX Factor