"Anti-American" is ideological rhetoric which is intended to engender fear, hatred and division among the citizens of this nation.  It is equating a difference of political opinion with treason.  It is drawing craven ideological lines between which Americans are "real" and which are not.  It is what Joe McCarthy did.  It is what Michelle Bachmann, Nancy Pfotenhauer and, by extension, John McCain et al.

HI EVERYBODY!!!! i'm iphone blogging in chemistry class. i keep clicking the wrong EFFING LETTERS b/c my of nails. but i had to write b/c i just read that SARAH IS IN TROUBLE!!!!!!!! on this website it says that some EVIL BITCH from who works for john mccain tried to not let her talk to reporters. i think maybe john mccain is holding sarah HOSTAGE b/c he's a sexist!!!! i think maybe she needs our help!!!!! so if u see sarah this is what us have to do.

I've had it.

This country has been on engorging on a cheap credit binge for the last decade, stuffing itself on the sugar highs and empty calories provided by ultra-low interest rates and fancy derivatives and zero-down mortgages. Now the chickens are coming home to roost, and everyone is looking for a way to get their butt saved.

Obama is leaving the campaign trail for two days to go to Hawaii because his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, is gravely ill. To respect the family's privacy, they're not releasing any information, but the implication is that she's near death. Ms. Dunham helped to raise Obama, and they were very close. With his mother having passed away, this must be very difficult for him, especially at this time. I hope that she recovers and lives to see her grandson become President.

OMG!!! my friend just sent me the AWESOMEST VIDEO for my SARAH PALIN TRIBUTE PAGE!!!!

The economy and Bush's unpopularity would have made it tough for McCain to win the election no matter what, but as I predicted last February in one of my first political blogposts, Overestimating McCain, John McCain has played a weak hand poorly. I base my argument on the radical assumption that content matters. Whether delivered in rousing speeches, angry debates, or snide ads, if a candidate's message fails to resonate with voters, he or she is unlikely to prevail.

North Korea is set to make an "important announcement" on Monday amid speculation over the health of its leader Kim Jong-Il, a Japanese newspaper has reported. The Sankei newspaper said there was speculation within Japan that the announcement could be about Kim's death or a change in government brought about by a coup. The 66-year-old Kim disappeared from public view in mid-August and failed appear on two important national holidays, leading to speculation that he was seriously ill.

From Mike Allen at Politico:

G: Hello readers. I have a very special guest today: Joe the Plumber, who has exploded from obscurity to celebrity faster than a photogenic moose-hunting governor. Joe, thanks for coming to my blog post.

J: My pleasure, Genghis. I've always dreamed of being interviewed by a blog with a readership of 10 or 11 people.

G: Think big, Joe. We're going for 17 today. I'm honored that you accepted the invitation. I'm sure that you're in high demand since you became the cause célèbre of the presidential debate.

You hear a lot of conservatives nowadays wanting to place blame for the country's current economic crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which encouraged commercial banks to lend money to borrowers in low-income areas.

The implication is that the CRA, enacted and significantly expanded under two different Democratic administrations, led to the creation and proliferation of the risky subprime mortgages that have brought the U.S. banking system to the brink of collapse.

HI EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!! so i'm gonna write something now that maybe u won't like  but its REALLY IMPORTANT like the MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER except for prom AND for pursuing your dream of being a supermodel-political-commenter like tyra except not black unless u are black but i'm white!!

About a month ago, I wrote about the importance of remembering the motivation behind the firing of U.S. Attorneys, which has come to be known as the U.S. Attorney scandal.  At the time I found the relative quiet about the scandal in the run-up to the election a little disturbing.  Thankfully, a few things have changed since then.

At the top of the results, you'll see a paid ad for Obama:

Who Advises John McCain?
Over 177 Lobbyists Run His Campaign Watch Obama TV Ads and Donate Today
BarackObama.com

Those guys are smart.

John McCain's campaign may be facing an uphill battle, but he and his staff still have plenty of ideas according to notes from a campaign brainstorming session. The notes were leaked to major media outlets from a source close to John McCain who asked not to be identified for unidentified reasons:

When I'm bored or anxious, I like to play with the interactive electoral college map over at RealClearPolitics.com. They set it up for you based on the latest aggregate polling data, but you can change the configuration at will. Obama has been ahead all along, but you had to turn several gray "toss-up" states to light blue "leaning Obama" in order to give him the win.

In these dark days of negative politics and collapsing markets, I just want to call out a feel-good art project to warm our chilly hearts. A few of us associated with DagBlog organized a nationwide Obama fundraiser over the summer with fundraising parties in multiple cities across the country and around the world. I worked on the NYC event which took place at a loft in Brooklyn.

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been commenting or posting anything on TalkingPointsMemo for a while now. The reason is that I've decided to spend the last month of the election in Missouri volunteering full-time for the Obama campaign. It's a sacrifice I'm willing and happy to make. Missouri is on the point of tipping blue, and I want to see that it actually DOES go blue for Obama on election day. There's no reason that it can't.

6:15 PDT: Late start.  I'm not sure what Brokaw's question about who would be Treasury Secretary was in aid of.  On the "How is the bailout supposed to work?" question, Obama seems to be giving a competent explanation of the potential danger of the credit crisis.

6:18 PDT: Did John McCain just say that he's going to fix the economy by ending the culture of lobbying and cronyism in Washington?  Why should anyone believe that when he can't do it within his own campaign?  Also, earmarks!