memeorandum: More Palin off-script comments irritate McCain aides (Dana Bash/CNN)

4:35 PM ET, October 27, 2008

Top Items:

Shame, Cubed — The Drudge Report this morning led off with a link to audio of Barack Obama on WBEZ, a Chicago public radio station. And this time, Barack Obama was not eight years old when the bomb went off. — Speaking on a call-in radio show in 2001, you can hear Senator Obama say things …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Obama advisor pushes back on ‘redistribution’ — A top legal advisor to Barack Obama, Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, said today that Obama's 2001 remarks on “redistributive change” — pushed hard on the right today — are being misinterpreted, and that he was actually articulating …

Discussion: Boston Globe, Spin Cycle, American Power, Daily Kos, Political Machine, The Raw Story, Swampland, TPM Election Central, Donklephant and Reason

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Drudge's Latest — Go read the original talk that Obama gave on NPR and see if it says anything even faintly similar to the truncated quotes about to be used by McCain. I mean: come on. Here's the headline: … Here's what it's based on: the “tragedy,” in Obama's telling, is that the civil rights movement was too court-focused.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Newshoggers.com and Political Machine

Natalie Gewargis / Political Punch:
McCain to Attack Obama for Public Radio Comments from 2001

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Opinionator, Gateway Pundit and Oliver Willis

David Bernstein / The Volokh Conspiracy:
Obama on Redistribution of Wealth: As Orin points out below …

Discussion: Marc Ambinder, The Corner, Political Machine and race42008.com

Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
The Curious Case of Doug Holtz-Eakin

Discussion: Obsidian Wings

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Smells Like Socialist Spirit; Update: Team O responds

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Commentary, Patterico's Pontifications, Progress Illinois, Wizbang and Verum Serum

Wall Street Journal:
Justice and Vote Fraud

Discussion: protein wisdom and PrairiePundit

Andy McCarthy / The Corner:
Re: Dismissing the Story

Discussion: Wizbang and Outside The Beltway

Mark Steyn / The Corner: That Sinking Feeling — President-designate King Barack …

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:
Redistributive — Expect the oppo drawers to open this week …

Discussion: The Corner, Washington Post, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, NewsBusters.org and FOX Forum

Dana Bash / CNN:

More Palin off-script comments irritate McCain aides — (CNN) — Some aides to Sen. John McCain say they weren't happy that running mate Sarah Palin went off script Sunday and turned attention back to the controversy over her wardrobe. — The Alaska governor on Sunday brought …

Discussion: Washington Post, Comments from Left Field, Taylor Marsh and Salon

The Prowler / American Spectator:

Post-Defeat Planners — ERIC THE READY — House Republican Deputy Whip Eric Cantor has spent the last week making calls to fellow Republican House members he believes will survive next week's election, according to several members who received the call. “He is already lining up support …

Discussion: Wonkette and Emptywheel

Adam Nagourney / New York Times:
Second-Guessing the Vice-Presidential Pick

Discussion: marbury and Newsweek

KCBS-TV:

Halloween Palin Prop Sparks Controversy In WeHo — WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBS News) ― Sarah Palin is not considered to be a friend of the gay community, but the Republican vice presidential candidate seems to be looming over the West Hollywood Halloween Carnival.

Discussion: Michelle Malkin, Think Progress, Hot Air, Top of the Ticket, protein wisdom, The Moderate Voice, Classical Values, LAist, GretaWire, Mother, May I Sleep …, Moonbattery, SCSUScholars, Wake up America and Sweetness & Light

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Wright TV — The National Republican Trust PAC, which aired one harsh anti-Obama ad that it also used to fundraise on Drudge and elsewhere, says it's putting $2.5 million behind this spot in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. — The ad is exactly what many conservatives have been hoping …

Discussion: The New Republic, The Anonymous Liberal, Wake up America, Hot Air, Spin Cycle and Riehl World View

Rasmussen Reports:

Election 2008: Arizona Presidential Election — McCain 51%, Obama 46% in Arizona — John McCain's lead over Barack Obama is down to just five points in his home state of Arizona. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the Senator leading 51% to 46%.

Discussion: Arizona Daily Star, Comments from Left Field, Pajamas Media, MyDD and The Democratic Daily

Carrie Dann / MSNBC:
FIRST THOUGHTS: MCCAIN'S MAP BLUES

Discussion: Comments from Left Field and The Washington Independent

Jonathan Valania / Philly.com:

White people shouldn't be allowed to vote — It's for the good of the country and for those who're bitter for a reason and armed because they're scared. — is editor in chief of the blog Phawker.com — As a lifelong Caucasian, I am beginning to think the time has finally come …

Discussion: NewsBusters.org, Moonbattery, Jules Crittenden, Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, QandO, doubleplusundead and Classical Values

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Dean Barnett, 1967-2008 — It's my sad duty to report that our good friend and valued contributor Dean Barnett passed away today. He was a remarkable man—principled, witty, and to all of us, a model of grace and courage. We mourn his passing and cherish his memory.

Discussion: The Daily Dish and The Corner

Connie Bruck / New Yorker:

ODD MAN OUT — Chuck Hagel's Republican exile. — In early June, Senators Chuck Hagel and John McCain met in Hagel's office on Capitol Hill. McCain, the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee, considered Hagel—a fellow-Republican and the senior senator from Nebraska—among his closest friends in Congress.

Discussion: Matthew Yglesias, Opus Hussein X's Blog, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, Think Progress and The Crypt's Blogs

Adam B / Daily Kos:

InstaRefuted — Glenn Harlan Reynolds, today's NYT: … Glenn Harlan Reynolds, June 23, 2007: … Um, wow. If anyone can find any evidence of Instapundit's regarding anything Dick Cheney has done in the past 7+ years as having been unconstitutional before now, let me know.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds / New York Times:
Where Does the Vice President Belong?

Discussion: The LA Times President … and Dean's World

Alan Bernstein / Houston Chronicle:

GOP leading in two key congressional races, poll says — Culberson should win, but Lampson may not, survey finds — Two Houston-area congressmen under political siege likely face opposite fates in the Nov. 4 election, according to a poll conducted for the Houston Chronicle.

Discussion: Off the Kuff and PrairiePundit

Eve Fairbanks / The New Republic:
If John Murtha Loses, Do We Care?

Discussion: The Politico and Reason

New York Times:

This Year's Butterfly Ballot — In Florida's “butterfly ballot” debacle of 2000, voters in Palm Beach County were so confused by the odd layout that many appear to have voted for the wrong candidate by mistake. At the time, there was a lot of talk about improving ballot design.

Discussion: Facing South

Diane Tucker / The Huffington Post:
Confusing North Carolina Ballot Leaves off Votes for President

Discussion: My Left Wing

Arthur B. Laffer / Wall Street Journal:

The Age of Prosperity Is Over — This administration and Congress will be remembered like Herbert Hoover. — About a year ago Stephen Moore, Peter Tanous and I set about writing a book about our vision for the future entitled “The End of Prosperity.” Little did we know then how appropriate its release would be earlier this month.

Discussion: The Corner, The New Republic, Babalu Blog, The Heretik and Don Surber

Greta Van Susteren / GretaWire:

SENATOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN LAWYER TRYING TO INTIMIDATE STUDENT JOURNALISTS ?? why because they CAUGHT and EXPOSED actual fraud? — SENATOR OBAMA CAMPAIGN LAWYER: TRYING TO covertly INTIMIDATE COLLEGE JOURNALISTS? — If you have been watching ON THE RECORD at 10pm eastern, you know about Palestra.net — the college news network.

Chris Bowers / Open Left:

Things Are Looking Very Good — Worried about “the tightening?” — Well, Obama's national lead has been stable at 7% for a month now. The national campaign is not tightening, and we are just seeing statistical noise. — Even if the campaign were tightening, Obama would still have a comfortable national lead.

Discussion: Democrats.com and MyDD

CNN:

Some voters ‘purged’ from voter rolls — CNN Special Investigations Unit — ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet. — But about two weeks ago …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Ben Smith's Blogs, Boston Globe and Daily Kos

Zogby:

Reuters/Zogby Battleground Surveys: Obama Leads in 6 of 8 States, Most By Very Small Margins — Obama Ahead in FL, MO, NV, NC, OH & VA — UTICA, New York - Reuters/Zogby telephone surveys of eight battleground states show Democrat Barack Obama ahead in six.

Discussion: The New Republic, TPM Election Central and St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ronald Kessler / NewsMax.com:

Obama's Hawaii Trips Cost More Than Palin's Clothes — Barack Obama's trips to Hawaii on a chartered Boeing 757 each cost more than twice the price of Sarah Palin's new clothes. — Brad Blakeman, who was in charge of scheduling for President Bush, says a Boeing 757 costs about $20,000 an hour for fuel, crew, and maintenance.

Discussion: 24Ahead and The Corner