Top Items:
Washington Post:
On Al-Qaeda Web Sites, Joy Over U.S. Crisis, Support for McCain — Al-Qaeda is watching the U.S. stock market's downward slide with something akin to jubilation, with its leaders hailing the financial crisis as a vindication of its strategy of crippling America's economy through endless, costly foreign wars against Islamist insurgents.
RELATED:
Pamela Hess / Associated Press:
Al-Qaida-linked Web site backs McCain as president — Featured Topics: - John McCain - Barack Obama — WASHINGTON - Al-Qaida supporters suggested in a Web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the U.S. as a way to usher in a McCain presidency.
TPM Election Central:
McCain Campaign Attacks Washington Post, Insinuates Terrorists Want Obama Victory
McCain Campaign Attacks Washington Post, Insinuates Terrorists Want Obama Victory
Spencer Ackerman / The Washington Independent:
McCain Advisers Freaked Out by Al Qaeda Preference for McCain
McCain Advisers Freaked Out by Al Qaeda Preference for McCain
Steve Benen / Washington Monthly:
AL QAEDA'S PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE?.... A couple of weeks ago …
AL QAEDA'S PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE?.... A couple of weeks ago …
Discussion:
Lawyers, Guns and Money
CitizenLink:
Dr. Dobson Talks with Gov. Sarah Palin — The Republican vice presidential candidate talks about her family, the sanctity of human life and the pressures of the election season. Dr. Dobson encourages listeners to pray for our country as the election draws near. — Listen to the broadcast:
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Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Feminists and Sarah Palin — Part of the idea behind picking Sarah Palin was to help broaden the GOP's appeal to women. Instead, Palin is even less popular among women than John McCain. And if this exchange between Rick Davis and Bill Bennett is any guide, conservatives aren't looking …
Andy Barr / The Politico:
McCain ‘amazed’ by Palin treatment — John McCain called out fellow Republicans who have questioned running mate Sarah Palin's credentials Tuesday. — “What's their problem?” McCain asked during an interview with radio host Don Imus. — “She is a governor, the most popular governor in America,” McCain said.
Discussion:
Democratic Strategist
Marc Ambinder:
Republicans Disgusted By RNC Spending On Palin … There is already an attempt to blame the media — as in, the liberal media would have looked askance at Palin if she wasn't clad in Neiman Marcus, but this won't wash. Republicans, RNC donors and at least one RNC staff member have e-mailed …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin, Weekly Standard, Firedoglake, Matthew Yglesias, Daily Kos, The Moderate Voice and Washington Post
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Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: OBAMA WIDENS LEAD — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann — *** Obama widens his lead: With 13 days to go, Obama has opened up his biggest lead over McCain in the NBC/WSJ poll, 52%-42%, which is up four points from his lead two weeks ago.
Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:
RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion
RNC appears to shell out $150K for Palin fashion
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, The Swamp, MoJoBlog, The Huffington Post, Hot Air, Don Surber, FOX Embeds, Slog, Think Progress, Boston Globe, Associated Press, The Dish Rag, City Pages, Booman Tribune, BuzzFlash.org, www.redstate.com, Mother, May I Sleep …, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, Mudflats, Comments from Left Field, Salon, Political Machine, No More Mister Nice Blog, PoliGazette, Hotline On Call, Climate Progress, Althouse, The Heretik, Political Radar, Outside The Beltway, Washington Post, NewsBusters.org, Pam's House Blend, Discourse.net, CNN, Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, Electoral-vote.com, Angry Bear, Balloon Juice, Matthew Yglesias, Top of the Ticket, Minnesota Independent, TIME.com, Emptywheel, West Virginia Blue and The Daily Whim
Robert Draper / New York Times:
The Making (and Remaking) of McCain — On the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 24, John McCain convened a meeting in his suite at the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Among the handful of campaign officials in attendance were McCain's chief campaign strategist, Steve Schmidt …
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Paul J. Nyden / Charleston Gazette:
Woman quits job at call center over anti-Obama script — WESTON, W.Va. — Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama. — McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee …
RELATED:
Ruth Marcus / Washington Post:
The ‘Socialist’ Scare — WOODBRIDGE — John McCain should not have to be here, not on a crisp October Saturday scarcely two weeks before the election. Prince William County is the electoral Maginot line between the Washington suburbs and what a McCain spokeswoman has just unhelpfully described as “real Virginia.”
Dana Blanton / Fox News:
FOX News Poll: Obama Grabs Nine Point Lead Over McCain — Less than two weeks before Election Day, Barack Obama leads John McCain 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday. — Obama's advantage comes mainly from independents …
Discussion:
TPM Election Central
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
How Anti-Intellectual Is Palin? — Ramesh Ponnuru asks the question. He refers to Noam Scheiber's devastating piece on Palin's Nixonian hatred of educated elites. But Ponnuru wants more evidence. Here's one way to look at the question: how has Palin brought up her own kids?
Discussion:
The Corner
Jonathan Martin / The Politico:
As clock ticks, hope dims for McCain savior — For the GOP, the cavalry apparently isn't coming. — Republicans attuned to conservative third-party efforts say that with less than two weeks to go until Election Day, the prospects for any 11th-hour, anti-Obama ad campaign are highly unlikely.
Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:
AP presidential poll: All even in the homestretch … WASHINGTON (AP) - The presidential race tightened after the final debate, with John McCain gaining among whites and people earning less than $50,000, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll that shows McCain and Barack Obama essentially running …
Faiz / Think Progress:
Bachmann: It's All Chris Matthews' Fault! ‘He Laid A Trap, And I Walked Into It’ — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) is still on the defensive from an appearance last Friday on MSNBC's Hardball, in which she called for the media to conduct a “penetrating exposé” into anti-American views of members of Congress.
Chris Bowers / Open Left:
The McCain Pennsylvania Theory — OK, so commenters in the previous swing state thread have laid out what they see as McCain's rationale behind targeting Pennsylvania instead of Colorado, and I can kind of see how it makes sense. In the extended entry, I provide a full explanation.
Discussion:
USA Today, MoJoBlog, The Anonymous Liberal, Taylor Marsh, Political Machine, CNN, The Reaction, The Caucus and Classical Values
John / Power Line:
THE END OF JOURNALISM AS WE KNEW IT — I'm not familiar with columnist Orson Scott Card, but his open letter to journalists is must reading. It appeared first in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina. Via InstaPundit: … But the mainstream media—which is to say …
DJ Drummond / Wizbang:
Gallup and New Coke — The polls are wrong this year, very wrong. I have been saying this for months, and I have backed up my claim with both statistical and anecdotal support. The claims I have made have inspired some, caused others to laugh in derision, and brought others to test their assumptions and revisit the hard data.
Michael Barone / Wall Street Journal:
Are the Polls Accurate? — Reading them right is more art than science. — Can we trust the polls this year? That's a question many people have been asking as we approach the end of this long, long presidential campaign. As a recovering pollster and continuing poll consumer, my answer is yes — with qualifications.