McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, asserted that the campaign’s polls showed Iowa was “dead even” — public polls show Obama ahead by double digits — and that the race was tightening.

This Rick Davis fellow is a good example of what innumeracy does, as well as a failure of teh education.

The Guardian had this report this morning (speaking of innumeracy) about promoting mathematical education. It is worth the time to read, the rebuilding of the educational system requires folks like this.

‘I’m not very fast at my times tables’

He surfs, wears a pink hoodie and worships Arsenal. As Marcus du Sautoy, the world’s least likely maths professor, begins his new job popularising science he tells Aida Edemariam why most of us have the wrong idea about his subject

http://www.guardian.co.uk/scie…..s-dusautoy

The more they try to tell people just the opposite of the truth, the more they brand themselves as “The Party Of Liars.” Palin’s insistence that she was not found to have done anything wrong in the Troopergate Investigation, when just the opposite was in fact true, is another case in point.

The Republican Party is actually doing a tremendous public service with their Rive-directed misdirection. By the absurdity of their claims, they are finally educating the public to be mindful of their tactics, and not to believe a word they say, now or in the future.

The evil that is embodied in the “opposite world” strategies of Karl Rove has finally been overcome by overwhelming truth.

Karl, you have no more friends or protectors. They will all abandon you and throw you under the bus to save their own asses.

You are going to prison.

http://plungerspeaks.blogspot.com

Self explanatory. BTW, have I broken this thread?

Milligan memorabilia provide an insight into mind of comic genius

Books, letters and gifts among more than 100 lots up for sale at Bonhams

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arta…..ia-bonhams

no

Good morning there Raven, how are you keeping these days. (the buttons on the response are not working)

”Nowhere man: a farewell to Dubya, all-time loser in presidential history”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comm…..gacy-dubya

ersatz edit @ 5

Insert: This is a scathing summary of the Bush 43 record.

Good morning, pups. It’s [gag] Kristol, Cohen and Krugman today. That delusional neocon legacy Wrong Way Billy says “Hey Liberals, Don’t Worry.” He excreted a little turd in which he says the bad news for liberals is that John McCain could still win the election. The good news? That wouldn’t be so terrible for them. It’s beneath comment. Mr. Cohen, a more rational columnist, writes about the “Republican Blues,” and says Republicans are hard-headed but not to the point they want hope banished from the national vocabulary. Mr. Krugman, in “The Republican Rump,” says the Republicans’ long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. We’re expecting rain on and off today and tomorrow. I hope it doesn’t suppress turnout (well, unless the Republicans want to stay home…). Have a great day.

Fine down here, youse?

Thanks for that link. If the rest of the article, which I’ve bookmarked for later, is anything like the first 2 paragraphs “scathing” doesn’t begin to describe it!

from billmon: Landslide Watch

The final 2008 Gallup Poll is out, and it is showing a last minute surge towards Obama and the Democrats.

… when Gallup allocates undecided voters (based on what methodology I don’t know) Obama’s share climbs to 55%, giving him an 11-point spread over McCain’s 44%.

These are blowout numbers. By comparison, in 1988 (the last time one of the two major parties posted a decisive win, without a significant third-party candidate in the race) George Bush Sr. won 53.4% to Michael Dukakis’s 45.7%.

Not so bad, have been through a week of rain here and it looks like another one coming (N. Spain) but that is what keeps the country green the year round. (possibly a bout with SAD with lack of sun).

Morning, gang -

Is it my imagination or are more TV people droppin’ their *g’s*?

We are in the grip of an awful drought in Georgia.

Proly

Tomgram: The End of a Subprime Administration

Foreclosed
The George W. Bush Story

They may have been the most disastrous dreamers, the most reckless gamblers, and the most vigorous imperial hucksters and grifters in our history. Selling was their passion. And they were classic American salesmen — if you’re talking about underwater land in Florida, or the Brooklyn Bridge, or three-card monte, or bizarre visions of Iraqi unmanned aerial vehicles armed with chemical and biological weaponry let loose over the U.S., or Saddam Hussein’s mushroom clouds rising over American cities, or a full-scale reordering of the Middle East to our taste, or simply eternal global dominance.

When historians look back, it will be far clearer that the “commander-in-chief” of a “wartime” country and his top officials were focused, first and foremost, not on the shifting “central theaters” of the Global War on Terror, but on the theater that mattered most to them — the “home front” where they spent inordinate amounts of time selling the American people a bill of goods

Mornin Joe has it all figured out. McCain!!!

I had been following that for about a year it seems, water levels at near disaster lows. I recall growing up taking “drouth baths” out of the bathroom sink in order to save water at my grandparent’s farm. Hope the local media is doing their part to reduce water usage by the residents there.

Yes, Morning Joe, where Joe’s beady eyes and hatchet-face browbeat his panel into agreement as he cherry picks polls that don’t actually reflect tightening at all by comparing them to other polls with less conservative assumptions.

It’s the go to place for FoxNews fans who are overdosing on the Doocy.

Gagger, ain’t it? It’s further down on my wish list than an Obama win but, please Dog, I wanna tune in to scar on Wednesday and watch the tears roll down his miserable forkin’ face.

Well, I listen to Imus but the firepups made me quit!

Please tell me it isn’t so, like going into round III of “dumbin’ down of ‘Murica”. It is gruesom enough getting Marion in Savannah’s reports illuminating that drift every morning from the NY “Flagship” Times, (made up, of course, by the breakfast spread).

Anybody got Olbermann e-mail address?

I don’t think I have ever seen am Joe ever let anyone finish a sentence. I bet he was one of those kids in grade school that always got “disrupts class, doesn’t listen, talks too much” on his report cards.

letters@msnbc.com
countdown@msnbc.com
KOlbermann@msnbc.com

I didn’t catch who Joe is talking about but Joe accusing others of being silly, shrill using hyperbole & exaggeration is hilarious.

*smooch*

I wanna ask if they’ll mock up a padded room and hang a “Mission Accomplished” banner on Wednesday night. Talk about a perfect final middle finger to mcpalin! *G*

Thinking about Paul K’s column. It’s actually very scary to contemplate the Republiks becoming a full-throated fascist party. Good for us in the short run; but you never know what the future holds.

Vigilance.

What a lovely thought! Maybe Marion could whip us up some special waffles to go with the celebration.

That quote is dead right. They always focused on PR for the home front. The model was perfected by Reagaan, but it was Bush who brought its fruit to ripen and rotten.

They’re already well on the way, and some are saying that they (please God) lost this one because they didn’t run far enough right….

If the republicans successfully steal this year’s election, they’ll blame it falsely on the Bradley Effect and Americans will believe them. Of course, will these Americans remember all the whites who overwhelmingly came out to support Barack? Nope! They’ll forget all about it! Spit.

Joe, aka Evil Beaker of the Muppets, is so off base this morning, but then again, he’s never been dealing with a full beaker. Any excitement coming out of republicans might be because they got the ‘word’ that the ‘race looks good’, meaning, they’ve revved up the servers to steal the election in the middle of the night just like 2004! Spit. Gawd I hate them.

There are plans for a victory brunch in the works… Tomorrow there will be a full-bore Southern breakfast to give everyone the energy that they’ll need to GOTV.

Good for us in the short run; but you never know what the future holds.

my take: bad for the country, and therefore bad for us.

this close to election day it may be hard to see beyond the big game team sports like atmosphere, but i care about the country far more than any party and this is not good imo.

FWIW, I was just glancing at the National Weather Service site regarding weather tomorrow. From what I could see, it looks pretty good around the country. I hope Northern Virginia (faux VA) folks can put up with a little rain to vote, and any Dems in the mountains of Colorado do the same with snow.

I just read the piece. To say that it is as good as Bilmon is to do it an injustice. A truly brilliant political obituary. If we could only get its message out, it would help ruin the Republican brand in a way no curent election ever could. They have to be exposed for the grifters they are.

Agree completely. I was being too elliptical.

it’s always a temptation, especially for those who are in power. i hope dems will reject using dishonest PR in service of what we may think are good ends.

more likely that i am not yet fully caffeinated and so more obtuse than usual.

do you know what percent of expect turnout has voted early?

Sarah’s prank call would be devistating to the McCain/Palin ticket if MSM actually covered it. The HELLO alone did me in. If Biden or Obama ever answered the phone like that, it would be replayed 24 hours a day.

No, I’ve heard the same reports you have, many of which seem to be in direct contradiction regarding the makeup of early voting. Many states seem to be running from 25 to 40 percent of registered voters. However, I keep hearing disturbing references that younger voters still don’t make up a big percentage, particularly in Florida.

I voted early in Denton County,Texas. There was a steady line, on the first day. It took me about 40 minutes. However, even though the town has two colleges, most of those in line were old folks like me.

I keepy saying that I can’t see much reason to say the polls are even or close unless they want to have a back drop for a flip

in my opiniion, there will be some flipping but even the republicans don’t think they can flip it enough so they don’t dare say mccain is ahead

I get nervous any poll shows mccain has a chance, not because I believe he has a chance

this is what I am afraid of;

I remember when fox news said everyone else was wrong and bush would win florida and the election

they even said that while gore was way ahead in florida, enough for every single network to call the state for gore

t

speaking of delusional:

Stevens claims he’s not been convicted on the heels of his conviction:

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._1102.html

“The Republican Rump,” says the Republicans’ long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat

this is unless they reclaim their party

they are going to be inundated with people using;

“McCain wasn’t Conservative enough” and the base will have a death throw, doing whatever they think is necessary to get the party even more radical

the party will have a clear choice;

discard the radicals and start new, they will have to rebuke the religious.

they will need to try to keep the bigots, force the theocrats out

if the republicans are smart enough to do that then the theocrats will likely start their own party

that i

thanks.

Not looking promising in eastern Carolinas; rain predicted for tomorrow. :-(

Yeah, I saw that, but wasn’t too concerned if SC had a deluge. North Carolina looked like any precip might be heavier in the less enlightened areas than in the Raleigh-Durham-Chappel Hill area.

national digital prediction – tomorrow’s probability for precipitation.

Those are good. Hopefully, people west of the Cascades in Washington, Oregon, and Northern CA voted early or are so used to precipitation, that it won’t have any effect.

was it davis who said Obama was starting to spend money in states like AZ and Montana because he was going to loe battlegraound states?

Early morning Swim is up!!!

Thanks for the forecast

Someone on NPR making the same claims; he was well challenged, and stuttering. We can hope big.

The McCain campaign HAS to sound optimistic, even if they know the truth is that they are losing (which I think they do) because they cannot concede now and risk losing ANY votes. Jimmy Carter conceded early on election night because he was so discouraged by polling, even before the West Coast polls closed. Who knows what might have happened had he hung on? Now modern candidates have taken the Carter lesson to heart. They must remain optimistic to the end, however bitter. I kind of feel sorry for them, really. Such optimism takes hard-core acting skills. It’s not easy.

That article made my day – and the day of my Shakespeare teaching, mathematically inclined English prof. friend (who is sure that she will be kicked out of the English prof. club as soon as they realize she’s terribly good with numbers and logic…)