Palin hops on the Race-Bait Express and rides it hard. Even the AP sees it …
By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is “palling around with terrorists” and doesn’t see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.
And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret.
For weeks, many of you have been asking me, why haven’t the Democrats been bringing up McCain’s history as a member of the Keating Five? Especially since it ties so clearly into today’s financial crisis, his wife’s company’s ties to Keating and his history of supporting lax banking and finance industry regulation? When is the Obama campaign going to bring this up, I keep hearing.
Well, I think you’ve got your answer.
The long-anticipated, stretch-run character offensive from the McCain camp is in full swing with, among other things, a new TV ad calling Obama “dangerous” and “dishonorable” to U.S. troops. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.
For all I know this guy’s a friggin’ genius. But did Hank Paulson really just put a 35 year old former Goldman Sachs VP in charge of the entire bailout program?
Let me be clear, on the face of it, Neel Kashkari looks impressive. But VP isn’t even a high position at Goldman. And his background appears to be in tech investing, though he has been leading up Treasury’s response to the housing meltdown (a ambiguous recommendation in itself.)
In any case, I want to be clear. I’m not saying Kashkari is another Michael Brown. But he is going to be in charge of upwards of a trillion dollars, in a task that would challenge an economics and finance genius from any era, and one rife with ethical and conflict of interest pitfalls.
I think we need to hear a lot more about the thinking behind this appointment.
Faced with health care plan numbers that didn’t add up, McCain’s economics advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin has just announced that McCain will make up the difference with big cuts to Medicare. I guess they really are writing off Florida.
From the NY Daily News …
McCain’s course correction reflects a growing case of nerves within his high command as the electoral map has shifted significantly in Obama’s favor in the past two weeks.
“It’s a dangerous road, but we have no choice,” a top McCain strategist told the Daily News. “If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we’re going to lose.”
Suffolk University just released a new poll giving Obama a 12-point lead in Virginia, 51-39.
Here are the other latest Virginia polls, none showing that wide of a gap.
Late Update: Survey USA has just released new swing state polls, and it has Obama up 10 in Virginia.
Tax experts weigh in on the Palins’ tax returns — and on the opinion letter produced for the campaign by a tax lawyer.
Down in the polls with only a month left to go, the McCain campaign has made absolutely no secret of its strategy from here on out: character attack, character attack, character attack.
Full-size video at TPMtv.com.