MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2008

8:16pm
THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT.
Ta-Nehisi Coates Shares What Brought Him To Tears Today.
"Seriously guys sometimes we forget. Here's a note from a reader:

My father (85 year old African-American and, in fact, a "public
intellectual" who helped coin the phrase "African-American" 40 years
ago, a phrase we now take for granted on our census forms) and his wife
(77 old European-American, the term they both hope will replace "white"
someday, and life-long civil rights activist and academic) voted this
morning in Atlanta, GA. My stepmother emailed me this morning to tell
me about their experience, early voting, getting "fragile elderly"
treatment from the poll-workers, wishing she could kick up her
septuagenarian heels after casting her vote.

I sat in my office, reading her email, and wept. Then, I went down the
hall to my colleague's office, sat down, and wept. After seven decades
of constant struggle, my father walked into that booth and knew that his
life's work was now done. My stepmother can think of every person who
secretly and not-so-secretly thought of her as some kind of race
traitor, smile and think "I told you so!"

Obama will win, I'm sure he will. But today, my parents did. I am so
deeply, deeply grateful."
2:04pm
BILL MAHER'S NEW DEBATE RULES.
12:36pm
McCain YouTube Video; McCain declines to disown Obama-Osama comparison.
12:30pm
Florida Republicans start distancing themselves from McCain campaign.
"Even Gov. Charlie Crist, who helped deliver Florida for McCain during the primary, said he will be spending more time minding the state's weak economy than campaigning for the Arizona senator in the final weeks before Election Day."
10:56am
AN "OBAMA MONKEY" YESTERDAY AT A PALIN RALLY?
Yes folks, it is true, and here is the YouTube video to prove it. As Ta-Nehisi Coates says; it is not the one lone nutcase that is the problem; the world is full of wackos. It is the CROWD that allows it to happen.
"I wasn't going to post about this guy with the Obama monkey-doll. Then I watched the video again, and noticed something. There is nothing troubling about one lone racist nut in a crowd. What's troubling is the crowd. Dig how they just look on and smile uncomfortably. No one confronts him. This is the banality of evil, no? It isn't the guy doing the deed. Its the enablers who give comfort and haven to spew his hatred. On one level, I'm thankful for them. Anyone, who wants to now say that an Obama election proves that racism is dead will have to contend with this last week. And it isn't the nuts that this person must contend with---it's the crowds, the crowds who silently, and sometimes not so silently, just stand by and let it happen. They are all, to a man, cowards."


10:43
EPIC FAIL.
Andrew Sullivan calls out the overall result of the o-bomb-a-palooz-a with this link to an ABC News.com article. In his previous post, he refers to Bill Kristol's hypocritical article from yesterday calling for McCain to go positive. This after calling for McCain to go negative, just a few days ago. A gem from the press released snippet of McCain's new speech:
“The national media has written us off.,” McCain says in excerpts released by the campaign. “Sen. Obama is measuring the drapes and planning with Speaker Pelosi and Sen. Reid to raise taxes, increase spending, take away your right to vote by secret ballot in labor elections and concede defeat in Iraq. But they forgot to let you decide. My friends, we’ve got them just where we want them.”
10:35am
Is McCain going to pull off his new "Feisty" speech?
Mike Allen @ Politico.com thinks "it's more like hitting the panic button".
9:57am
Hearing A Lot About Reagan, Lately?
Larison on "The Power of Myths".