memeorandum: Sarah Palin: Obama's ‘left-wing agenda’ (Mark Silva/The Swamp)

5:05 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: The Moderate Voice, The Washington Independent, Comments from Left Field, Matthew Yglesias, The Seminal, Hullabaloo, FRAMESHOP, Taylor Marsh and Matt Ortega

Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo:
HIS DISGRACE KNOWS NO BOUNDS

Discussion: Spin Cycle, ATTACKERMAN, folo and The Moderate Voice

Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
HOPE VS. HATE, PART II.... Yesterday, we heard McCain/Palin …

Discussion: The New Republic

Washington Wire: Palin Continues Hammering Obama on Policy and Character

Mark Silva / The Swamp:

William Ayers' past was unknown: Obama — NASHVILLE — Barack Obama has since condemned the Vietnam war-protest tactics of William Ayers, though a top adviser said today Obama didn't know of his past when Ayers hosted a campaign reception for Obama in 1995.

Discussion: Townhall.com, TIME.com and Wake up America

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: Power Line, New York Post, FiveThirtyEight.com, Ben Smith's Blogs, The Caucus, Top of the Ticket, PrestoPundit and New York Times

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, TigerHawk, No Left Turns, Reason and Power Line

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
CNN: Obama's lying about William Ayers

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Dirty Harry's Place, NewsBusters.org, THE CITIZENS JOURNAL, The Corner and Macsmind

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

Discussion: American Spectator

Rich Lowry / National Review:
Change vs. Change the Subject

Discussion: Ross Douthat, Democratic Strategist, HorseRaceBlog, Blog entry and Outside The Beltway

Gallup:

Gallup Daily: 9-Point Obama Lead Ties Campaign High — Voters prefer Obama to McCain by 51% to 42% — PRINCETON, NJ — The latest Gallup Poll Daily tracking poll shows registered voters preferring Barack Obama to John McCain for president by 51% to 42%. — The nine percentage point lead …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, FiveThirtyEight.com, Hotline On Call, TPM Election Central, Swampland, No More Mister Nice Blog, MyDD, Comments from Left Field and Wonkette

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: AFL-CIO NOW BLOG and Think Progress

John McCormack / Weekly Standard:

Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers — Ed Whelan takes apart Howard Kurtz's fact-check of the McCain ad posted above: … Today, on the Washington Post's Trail blog, Kurtz fact-checks a new McCain ad that says Obama has lied about McCain's record. — Kurtz writes: “Both presidential candidates …

Discussion: The Corner and Washington Post

Mary Katharine Ham / Weekly Standard: Looking Forward to a Friendly Townhall Debate

Ed Whelan / The Corner:
More Factchecking Follies — In today's Washington Post …

Discussion: Washington Post

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Obama Outspending McCain Nearly 3 to 1 on Television — Barack Obama is outspending John McCain at nearly a three-to-one clip on television time in the final weeks of the presidential election, according to ad buy information obtained by The Fix, a financial edge that is almost certainly contributing …

Discussion: Newsweek Blogs, Ben Smith's Blogs, MyDD and TIME.com

Michael Learmonth / AdAge:

Hulu, NBC Pull SNL Skit — But Political Skits Bringing in Huge Numbers — The presidential campaign has been good for “Saturday Night Live” — and for Hulu.com. In a few short weeks, the first clip of Tina Fey impersonating Gov. Sarah Palin has become the site's most-viewed of all time.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Wake up America, Hot Air, Silicon Alley Insider, NewsBusters.org, Pat Dollard, Mother, May I Sleep …, The Foundry and JammieWearingFool

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Advisers worry about ‘grumpy McCain’ — When Politico's Ryan Grim approached Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after the evening of the Senate bailout vote, the reporter didn't even get his question out. — “Excuse me, you're bothering me,” McCain said. — It was a surprising rebuke …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo and TIME.com

ccrjustice.org:

Court Orders Release of 17 Innocent Guantanamo Detainees into U.S. — Tallahassee and D.C. Religious and Community Leaders Offer Plan for Men's Support — Today, for the first time, a federal court ordered the release into the United States of 17 innocent Uighur men who have been imprisoned …

Discussion: Washington Post, Washington Monthly, TalkLeft and folo

William Glaberson / New York Times:
Federal Judge Orders Release of Chinese Muslims

Discussion: The Swamp and The Daily Dish

Steve Kornacki / New York Observer:

Dukakis on the Election: Obama Knows How to Win, ‘McCain Has Nothing’ — When John McCain's campaign made it clear over the weekend that their stretch-run strategy would lean heavily on raising questions about Barack Obama's personal history and past “associations,” Obama's communications director provided …

Discussion: Wonkette

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

Bush Now Least Popular President Since Polling Began — Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but with the new Gallup poll, George W. Bush has passed Nixon and Truman, and become the least popular President of all-time. According to the Roper Center, here is the worst net approval / disapproval result …

Discussion: MyDD, Oliver Willis and Matthew Yglesias

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Bush Job Approval at 25%, His Lowest Yet

Discussion: The Swamp

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

Stephen Dinan / Washington Times:

McCain also said U.S. troops killed civilians — John McCain in 2000 said because of tactical decisions U.S. troops were put in the position of killing civilians in Kosovo — something awfully similar to the comments he's now attacking Barack Obama for. — During a Republican primary debate …

Discussion: Think Progress, Washington Monthly, USA Today, Media Matters for America and folo

Oskar Garcia / Associated Press:

ACORN office in Vegas raided in voter-fraud probe — LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada state authorities are raiding the Las Vegas headquarters of an organization that works to get low-income people to vote. — A Nevada secretary of state's office spokesman said Tuesday that investigators are looking …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, Townhall.com, The Raw Story, Atlas Shrugs and www.redstate.com

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: The Huffington Post, New York Times and MyDD

ABCNEWS:

After Bailout, AIG Execs Head to California Resort — Rescued by Taxpayers, $440,000 for Retreat Including “Pedicures, Manicures” — Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat …

Discussion: Don Surber

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: Associated Press, WorldNetDaily, Fox News, Gateway Pundit, The Jawa Report, Lonewacko, The Swamp, D-Day, Atlas Shrugs, Media Blog and NewsBusters.org

Daily Mail:

Man shot three times in street by racist gunman - for wearing Barack Obama T-shirt … A man told today how he was shot three times in a London street for wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt. — Dube Egwuatu was buying a mobile telephone top-up card in an off-licence when the gunman confronted …

Discussion: Crooks and Liars

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: Donklephant and American Spectator

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

When Will The Press Do Its Job? — They have blinked, as Richard Cohen reiterates today. A good contrast with Hillary Clinton: … My view is that the Palin candidacy is such a farce the mainstream media simply do not know what to do. The sane response is to dismiss it as a joke …

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: Sadly, No!, Oliver Willis, Shakesville, The Other McCain and DBKP

George Packer / New Yorker:

THE HARDEST VOTE — The disaffection of Ohio's working class. — “You can't make the assumption that because people are suffering economically,” a union official said, that “they'll vote Democratic.” — Barbie Snodgrass had agreed to meet me at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet …

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias and The Plank