Lee Terry is a Republican congressman, running for re-election from a fairly Republican distrtct in the largely Republican state of Nebraska. And yet, he's cozying up to Obama.
What does this say about McCain's coattails?
Obama Wins The Big NC Endorsement
Dean Smith has endorsed Barack Obama.
The legendary UNC-Chapel Hill basketball coach, who previouslycampaigned for John Edwards, announced in an e-mail to Obama supporters today that he was backing the Democratic presidential candidate.
"I have written that when coaching a team, you must be prepared to make changes to meet new challenges and obstacles," he said. "We must be prepared to do the same as a nation."
He added that Obama is "a patriotic American, a committed Christian" and "a good family man."
Nice Win For Krugman
Wins Nobel Prize in Economics. Not for his political commentary sadly, but for his academic work.
UPDATE: Let's go down memory lane back in the day — August 8, 2005, to be exact — when one of the wankers at Powerline wrote:
It must be depressing to be Paul Krugman. No matter how well the economy performs, Krugman’s bitter vendetta against the Bush administration requires him to hunt for the black lining in a sky full of silvery clouds. With the economy now booming, what can Krugman possibly have to complain about? In today’s column, titled That Hissing Sound, Krugman says there is a housing bubble, and it’s about to burst…
There are, of course, obvious differences between houses and stocks. Most people own only one house at a time, and transaction costs make it impractical to buy and sell houses the way you buy and sell stocks. Krugman thinks the fact that James Glassman doesn’t buy the bubble theory is evidence in its favor, but if you read Glassman’s article on the subject, you’ll see that he actually makes some of the same points that Krugman does. But he argues, persuasively in my view, that there is little reason to fear a catastrophic collapse in home prices.
Krugman will have to come up with something much better, I think, to cause many others to share his pessimism.
Ah, conservatives and their unreality-based visions….
I Think The Word Is “Brazen”
Look, I understand that political campaigns stretch the truth about their opponents. McCain says, for example, that Obama will "raise taxes". Now, technically, that's not a lie, because Obama will raise taxes…. if you make over $125,000.
But some things are either TRUE or FALSE.
Palin, sadly, is simply outright lying here:
Sarah Palin told Alaska reporters Saturday that she had been “cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of unethical activity” in the investigative report released the day before that explored her actions in dismissing a state official who refused to get her ex-brother-in-law fired from the state police.
"Well, I’m very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there,” Palin said on a Saturday conference call with reporters from the Anchorage Daily News, KTVA-Channel 11 and KTUU-Channel 2. “Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."
Any "hint"? How about the part of the report that says:
Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39/52/110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.
That sounds like "wrongdoing" to me.
Of course, Palin goes on to explain her bizarre interpretation of her statement:
"[I]f you read the read the report you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a cabinet member."
Well, yes, Sarah. But there is something unethical about replacing a cabinet member for personal reasons. The report specifically says that. And that's what you did. Of course, you have to read the report.
Is she being dumb? Or just lying? I vote the latter.
But maybe that's giving her the benefit of the doubt.
They Still Don’t Get It
From Politico:
As part of a plan to reinvigorate his flagging campaign, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is considering additional economic measures aimed directly at the middle class that are likely to be rolled out this week, campaign officials said.
Among the measures being considered are tax cuts – perhaps temporary – for capital gains and dividends, the officials said.
Headcount, middle class. How many of you out there are receiving capital gains and dividends?
Yeah, I thought so.
This is, of course, the problem with McCain, who thinks "rich" means you make $5 million or more (meaning, that you are "middle class" if you make, say, $2,000,000).
Out of touch.
Panel Concludes: Palin Found To Have Acted Unethically In Troopergate
The full report, by a Republican-dominated panel, is here (PDF) Key page is 67.
Obama Saw These Attacks Coming
From July 30, 2008:
The ACORN “Scandal”
Conservatives and Fox News are trumpetting this ACORN thing like it actually means something. I think they are laying the groundwork for post-loss complaining that the election was stolen.
As I understand it, ACORN is a non-profit community organization which, among many many other things, attempts to get the poor and underprivileged to register and vote. Their paid volunteers are themselves poor and underprivileged. They're supposed to go out into their communities and get their fellow unwashed to register.
Inevitably, there is cheating, and some ACORN volunteers create false registrations. ACORN management tries to catch these, but sometimes false registrations are not caught. And when they are caught, it is ACORN who turns in the corrupt volunteers.
But here's the part I really don't get. Let's say there are false registrations. So what? That's registration fraud, not voter fraud. If I.P. Freely is registered to vote, it's only a problem (in terms of the outcome of the election), if "I.P. Freely" actually shows up to vote.
And logistically, being able to conduct massive (the key word being "massive") voter fraud — enough to change the outcome for a state — simply isn't possible or practical. Think about it. One would have to recruit (and pay) thousands of volunteers to vote multiple times in order to guarantee a different outcome in an election of this magnitude. If just ONE of them screws up, gets caught, or squeals, the whole conspiracy is exposed. Who would be dumb enough (or even have the means) to engage in such an activity?
So this ACORN thing is just whistling Dixie. It makes no sense.
William F Buckey’s Son Explains Why He’s Voting For Obama
Interesting reading here.
Bush Speaks To Nation; Reassures Everyone
During the course of his chat with the nation, the Dow dropped 60 points.
I'm thinking maybe he needs to not talk to us anymore. We're just sick of him (which is why, I think, Oliver Stone's "W" is going to have lackluster box office receipts).
Dumbest Press Release Of The Campaign Season So Far
From the McCain campaign, today:
"Instead of acknowledging the real differences that exist in this election, Barack Obama is using America’s economic crisis to deflect legitimate criticisms of himself and his record…"
How DARE Obama talk about the current economic crisis during the election season!
Today Is The Last Day To Register In North Carolina
What are you waiting for? Do it.
The Ted Spread
The TED spread is the difference between the interest rates on inter-bank loans and short-term U.S. government debt ("T-bills").
The TED spread is an indicator of perceived credit risk in the general economy. This is because T-bills are considered risk-free while LIBOR reflects the credit risk of lending to commercial banks. When the TED spread increases, that is a sign that lenders believe the risk of default on inter-bank loans (also known as counterparty risk) is increasing. Inter-bank lenders therefore demand a higher rate of interest, or accept lower returns on safe investments such as T-bills. When the risk of bank defaults is considered to be decreasing, the TED spread decreases.
Another way to put it…. the TED spread shows the amount of fear in the markets.
Today, the TED spread reached another new high of 435 basis points from a long term average of 30 basis points.