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09.15.08 -- 11:43PM // link | recommend (99)

Fourth Horseman of the Tire-Swing-pocalypse?

Richard Cohen jumps waaaaaaaaaay off the tire swing.

I mean, this is betrayed lover counter-tire-swingism. Must read.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 11:23PM // link | recommend (26)

Relic

Kissinger, who is one of McCain's foreign policy advisors, is now openly supporting Obama's call for high level talks with Iran.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 10:54PM // link | recommend (40)

Make a Note of This

Who would you expect to announce that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won't cooperate with the Alaska Legislature's probe into whether she abused the power of her office in Trooper-Gate?

Not Palin herself. Nor the spokesperson for the Governor's Office. Nor the lawyer the state is paying to represent her in her official capacity in the case.

Instead, that announcement was made today by a spokesperson for John McCain's presidential campaign.

Just keep that in mind as this case unfolds.

--David Kurtz

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09.15.08 -- 10:45PM // link | recommend (29)

Just Thinking

Let me get this straight. John McCain's top economic advisor, former Sen. Phil Gramm, is the guy who authored the deregulation law that most agree is the ultimate cause of today's financial meltdown. Tomorrow's and probably next week's too. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, which swirled into brokerage oblivion today, is one of McCain's top economic advisors too. And now McCain says he's going to clean up the mess by putting in tighter regulations and oversight even though he's always supported lax oversight and his top economics guy is the one who loosened the rules in the first place.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 10:37PM // link | recommend (12)

Poignant

The late Grammy winner Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was exiled from Louisiana by Katrina. His grave site in Texas was washed away by Ike.

--David Kurtz

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09.15.08 -- 7:08PM // link | recommend (44)

Big Game Fib Hunting

Down in the underbrush beneath Sarah Palin's forest of lies there's been this line that even if she was a big time earmarker that she still vetoed half a billion worth of earmarks as governor.

Well, not exactly.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 6:53PM // link | recommend (36)

Taking the Pale out of Palin

Gov. Palin's spokesman confirms to TPMmuckraker that she installed a tanning bed in the Governor's Mansion.

--David Kurtz

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09.15.08 -- 6:42PM // link | recommend (16)

"Pretty Damn Urgent"

Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central reports on a conference call last week among Democratic operatives and donors trying to gear up the kind of independent political activities that Obama had initially discouraged.

--David Kurtz

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09.15.08 -- 3:41PM // link | recommend (71)

McCain: Okay I Lied, But Shut Up!!!

Here's an interesting article by the AP's Brendan Farrington in which McCain gets quizzed on various of his lies. He admits some are lies but say it's okay. And in others, well ...

McCain cut off a question about the "Bridge to Nowhere," which Palin claims to have killed in Alaska even though Washington pulled back money for the project before she turned against it.

"The important thing is she's vetoed a half a billion dollars in earmark projects--far, far in excess of her predecessor and she's given money back to the taxpayers and she's cut their taxes, so I'm happy with her record," McCain said.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 3:13PM // link | recommend (19)

Community Organizin'

This week at TPMCafe Book Club, New York Times Magazine's Paul Tough joins us to talk about his new book Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest To Change Harlem And America.

The book pivots around Geoffrey Canada, a poverty-fighting Harlem visionary-- Obama described his work once as "an all-hands-on-deck anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children."-- and his work on The Harlem Children's Zone, a $58 million organization reaching out to 7,000 children.

Discussing along with Paul: Kira Orange-Jones of Teach For America, Amy Wilkins of the Education Trust, Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America and Andy Rotherham, co-director and co-founder of the Education Sector.

Join us!

--Lila Shapiro

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09.15.08 -- 2:56PM // link | recommend (17)

TPMtv: Sunday Show Roundup: The Palin Factor

People certainly are incredibly jazzed about Sarah Palin. That tour de force ABC interview, the prolific earmark record, and of course all those "Bridge to Nowhere" lies. The Palin Factor rolls on ...

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

--Ben Craw

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09.15.08 -- 2:37PM // link | recommend (32)

Even I Think Those Are Strong Words

Post's Ignatius hops off the tire swing and suggests McCain is selling his soul to the devil.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 2:29PM // link | recommend (21)

Competition

I like to think I have some pride of place as prime online disseminator of Sarah Palin's endless list of lies. But Andrew Sullivan is giving me a run for my money.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 2:13PM // link | recommend (29)

Short Journey

US News: "John McCain's Journey from Maverick to Liar"

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 2:02PM // link | recommend (33)

Can't Trust Them About Taxes Either

AP catches Palin and McCain lying about Obama's tax plan too.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 12:00PM // link | recommend (97)

The Big Press Story of the Campaign

As I noted below, the big press story of the campaign is shaping up to be how reporters are and will react to McCain's deliberate strategy of full-court-press lying. The corrupt, though normal, approach is for reporters to try to dig up whatever Obama exaggerations they can find to try to balance the coverage. If that doesn't work, then they will try to hang the charges on Democrats -- i.e., "what Democrats are calling 'lies'" etc. And of course using the dictionary term -- "lies" -- for repeated and intentional misstatements of fact is almost always forbidden.

But the lying is so extreme in this case that a few reporters are beginning to actually report the story accurately.

So keep an eye out for examples in both categories -- egregious refusals to identify McCain's lies properly and instances where reporters actually decide not to mince words and accurately report the story before them. If you find them, send them in and we'll start keeping a list.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 11:54AM // link | recommend (65)

Brute Force Lying

Palin repeats the Bridge to Nowhere lie this morning in Colorado ...

You'll note that while Palin is continuing to restate the lie, there's a tone of defensiveness in her voice this morning, since they clearly know they've been caught.

--Josh Marshall

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09.15.08 -- 11:40AM // link | recommend (32)

They Go There

A new TV ad by Democratic independent groups touches the untouchable: John McCain's POW status and fitness to be President.

--David Kurtz

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09.15.08 -- 11:13AM // link | recommend (74)

Fundamentally Corrupt

Of all the shortcomings of the establishment press today, none is more central to the corruption of the profession than the decision to prioritize balance over accuracy. That corruption is visibly on display in the current coverage of the McCain campaign's policy of deliberate lies. And you won't find a better example than Cathleen Decker's piece in yesterday's LA Times.

Read into the article and you'll see numerous instances of McCain's repeated use of false claims and lies and one instance Decker is able to dig up of an Obama campaign claim that arguably leaves out some information.

But the conclusion and packaging of the article is that both candidates deceive equally and that they do so because it works. (There was another example, though not quite as egregious, by Jonathan Weismann last week in the Post.)

We hear a lot about the steep and perhaps terminal decline of the business model underlying daily print newspapers. But this corruption in the basic conception of the craft -- which is actually related to the economic decline -- gets discussed much less.

This is what gives liars a clear strategic advantage over non-liars. And it's an open question whether McCain's level of dishonesty turns out to be so great that it overwhelms reporters' unwillingness to report accurately on it.

--Josh Marshall