From CNN.com:

Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain’s presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one.

Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to urge conservative Republicans to drop their opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN has learned.

Click here for more.

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Driver: NY Knick Solicited Gay Sex From Me

The Pope Wants to Save The World From Gay Threat

Confusing Ballots In Palm Beach Fla Again

Full story after the jump…

Voting Machine Failure In Key States

Indiana Judge: GOP Poll Watchers Violated Court Order On Foreclosure Lists

Hours Extended At One North Carolina Polling Place.

Fox News Clashes With Black Panther at PA Poll

Voting Machine Problems and People Being Turned Away in VA and PA

GOP Officials Try and Disqualify Iowa Student Ballots

One Voting Machine For Hundreds of Black Voters in FLA

Virginia Tech Students Sent Miles Away to Vote

LONG LINES &

MALFUNCTIONING MACHINES, 12:09 pm

From CNN.com: “Officials in Dona Ana County, New Mexico say they are having problems
with absentee ballots. But it’s unclear just how many voters may not
see their vote count.” Click here for the full story.

Long lines and malfunctioning machines greeted voters Tuesday as polls across the country were deluged by people wanting to cast ballots in this historic race between Barack Obama and John McCain.

In the East, electronic machine glitches forced some New Jersey voters to cast paper ballots. In New York, anxious voters started lining up before dawn, prompting erroneous reports that some precincts weren’t opening on time.

“By 7:30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004,” said poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, N.Y., where Bill and Hillary Clinton live.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell urged voters to “hang in there” as state and country officials braced for a huge turnout in that hotly contested state. More than 160 people were lined up when the polls opened at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown. “I could stay an hour and a half at the front end or three hours at the back end,” joked Ronald Marshall, a black Democrat.

Hundreds converged on polling precincts in Missouri, a crucial battleground state. Norma Storms, a 78-year-old resident of Raytown, said her driveway was filled with cars left by voters who couldn’t get into nearby parking lots.

“I have never seen anything like this in all my born days,” she said. “I am just astounded.” In Virginia, where a Democrat has not won the presidential race since 1964, several counties experienced paper jams and balky touch-screen devices. In Richmond, a precinct opening was delayed because the person who had the keys overslept. Hundreds of people swarming the branch library cheered when its doors finally opened.

Despite the wait to vote, which in some places was longer than two hours, folks standing in line were appeared happy – and patient – about casting a ballot in this historic race.

“Well, I think I feel somehow strong and energized to stand here even without food and water,” said Alexandria, Va., resident Ahmed Bowling, facing a very long line. “What matters is to cast my vote.”

Ohio, which experienced extreme voting problems in the last presidential race, had some jammed paper problems in Franklin County. “We’re taking care of things like that,” said elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli. “But there’s nothing major or systemic.”

Perhaps the most bizarre barrier to voting was a car which hit a utility pole in St. Paul’s Merriam Park neighborhood. The accident knocked power out for over an hour to two polling locations. Ramsey County officials said voting continued at those sites, and the ballots were kept secure until the power was restored and the ballots could be run through an electronic machine.

Late Monday, McCain’s campaign sued the Virginia electoral board, trying to force the state to count late-arriving military ballots from overseas.

McCain, the Republican candidate and a former POW from the Vietnam War, asked a federal judge to order state election officials to count absentee ballots mailed from abroad that arrive as late as Nov. 14.

Lawsuits have become common fodder in election battles. The 2000 recount meltdown in Florida was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

What is uncommon about Tuesday’s contest is the sheer number of voters expected to descend on more than 7,000 election jurisdictions across the country. Voter registration numbers are up 7.3 percent from the last presidential election.

“We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout,” said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. “We’re going to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources. The election directors just have very little to work with.”

From TheJedReport.com:

Republicans Jump Ship

The official list of Republicans and conservatives jumping ship,

pointing fingers, or otherwise abandoning the McCain campaign

50 entries and growing • by Jed Lewison and Barath Raghavan

Former Secretary of State during the Bush Administration Colin Powell (Sun Oct. 19)

Powell said he questioned Sen. John McCain’s judgment in picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate because he doesn’t think she is ready to be president.

CC Goldwater Granddaughter of the late Barry Goldwater (Thurs Oct. 23) 

Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary to George W. Bush (Thurs Oct. 23)

The former Bush administration official said he wanted to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done.

Kathleen Parker (Fri Oct 17):

National Review writer Kathleen Parker takes another big step away from the GOP, declaring that Republicans “do not, in fact, deserve to win this time, and someone [Chris Buckley] had to remind them why.”

Richard Lugar (Wed Oct 15):

Richard Lugar, the seniormost Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came close to a full endorsement of Obama by endorsing his approach to foreign policy – specifically, his emphasis on diplomacy.

RNC (in Wisconsin) (Wed Oct 15):

The RNC is giving up on McCain in Wisconsin.  TV stations report that they’ve stopped airing ads attacking Obama, and won’t comment on the pullout.

Rush Limbaugh (Tue Oct 14):

Rush Limbaugh all but accepted the fact that John McCain had lost this election, asking Sarah Palin “have you even thought about a political future beyond this campaign?” Obviously, if Limbaugh thought McCain could win…her political future would be as Vice President.

Heather Mac Donald (Tue Oct 14):

Conservative pundit Heather Mac Donald systematically disassembles McCain’s VP pick and concludes that “conservatives should not sacrifice standards for political advantage.”

Matthew Dowd (Tue Oct 14):

Matthew Dowd, a former Bush strategist, let the cat out of the bag: “They didn’t let John McCain pick the person he wanted to pick as VP…[McCain] knows, in his gut, that he put somebody unqualified on the ballot. He knows that in his gut, and when this race is over that is something he will have to live with… He put somebody unqualified on that ballot and he put the country at risk, he knows that.”

Dennis Hopper (Mon Oct 13):

Loyal Republican actor-director Dennis Hopper is giving up on his party, at least for this election, complaining of the “lies” of the current administration and saying “I voted for Bush, father and son, but this time I’ll vote for Obama.”

Mickey Edwards (Mon Oct 13):

Republican Mickey Edwards, formerly a congressman from Oklahoma, distances himself from McCain, saying “today, thanks to a campaign apparently managed by Moe, Curly, and Larry, he comes across as erratic (Obama’s word, but it fits), impulsive, befuddled, and ill-tempered, and apparently unable to utter any words other than ‘surge’ and ‘earmarks.’”  Edwards also plays the blame game very explicitly: “If Obama gets a big win, it will be McCain himself, and the Three Stooges calling the shots at his headquarters who will deserve whatever blame is attached for transforming a viable and energetic Obama campaign into a steamroller grinding the Republican Party into the ground.”

David Frum (Mon Oct 13):

David “axis of evil” Frum gets his “I told you so” ready at the National Review and rebukes his critics who complain that he isn’t cheerleading for McCain enough.  He concludes: “Perhaps it is our job at NRO is tell our readers only what they want to hear, without much regard to whether it is true. Perhaps it is our duty just to keep smiling and to insist that everything is dandy – that John McCain’s economic policies make sense, that his selection of Sarah Palin was an act of statesmanship, that she herself is the second coming of Anna Schwartz, and that nobody but an over-educated snob would ever suggest otherwise.”

Ray LaHood (Mon Oct 13):

Rep. LaHood, who has represented Illinois’ 18th district for seven terms and is retiring in January, told WBBM Radio that Palin should control the racially-charged heckling at her rallies: “Look it. This doesn’t befit the office that she’s running for. And frankly, people don’t like it.”

Michelle Malkin (Mon Oct 13):

Michelle Malkin expresses her disappointment in McCain after learning that “John McCain had no problem calling ACORN members his friends during his ill-fated illegal alien shamnesty crusade.”  She concludes, “We’re Screwed ’08.”

Erick Erickson (Mon Oct 13):

Erick Erickson, “editor in chief” of RedState.com, is giving up on McCain: “With only a few weeks left until election day, let’s be blunt: McCain-Palin ’08 does not seem to be making headway against the polling.”  He suggests that McCain needs to choose between himself and senate/house Republicans, and suggests that his readers focus on downballot races: “The Republican numbers in the House and Senate can be salvaged, but in the next few weeks there must be a realistic assessment from the McCain campaign regarding winning his own race versus helping Congressional Republicans mitigate their losses.”

Ed Rollins (Mon Oct 13):

Rollins, who managed Reagan’s 1984 campaign: “And while chaos and disarray reigned supreme in Sen. Barack Obama’s opponents’ campaigns, the steady, disciplined and strategically driven Obama campaign marches forward toward likely victory.”

Bill Kristol (Mon Oct 13):

Kristol: “It’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign. He has nothing to lose. His campaign is totally overmatched by Obama’s.”

Lee Terry (Mon Oct 13):

In Nebraska, a Republican representative, Lee Terry, ran a newspaper ad featuring support from a woman who called herself an “Obama-Terry voter.”

Linda Smith (Sun Oct 12):

Linda Smith, Republican chairwoman in Clark County, Ohio. “I have to blame the McCain camp for not pushing it hard enough,” added Smith, whose rural county lies between Dayton and Columbus. “It’s so ingrained in people’s minds that Republicans are good on national security, but Democrats are good on the economy, and it’s very hard to counter that.”

Tom Ellis (Sun Oct 12):

Tom Ellis, GOP chairman in Butler County, Ohio, a key Republican stronghold in 2004, said there had been “some slippage” for McCain in recent weeks. He said Republicans were finding it “hard to penetrate” the torrent of bad economic news and deliver an effective pitch to independents. And the Arizona senator’s attacks on Obama’s past links to former radical William Ayers, he said, “do not garner him any advantage” with swing voters. “There’s a sense of frustration at this point,” Ellis said. “What I hear is people are expecting more of the Republican ticket. They’ve got to speak directly to the economic issues. People want to hear specific solutions from Sen. McCain.”

Roger Stone (Sun Oct 12):

Roger Stone, a longtime McCain supporter, said the state party and the national campaign bear almost equal blame. ”This effort lacks coordination and a cooperative spirit and it’s showing,” Stone said. “But it’s more than mechanics. The campaign has no consistent message.”

George LeMieux (Sun Oct 12):

George LeMieux, Crist’s former campaign manager and staff chief, said McCain erred in not choosing Crist as running mate. ”If Gov. Crist was the vice presidential nominee, John McCain would be winning Florida,” he said.

Charlie Crist (Sun Oct 12):

“Saturday, he skipped a McCain football rally and instead went to Disney World.”

Patrick Ruffini (Sat Oct 11):

Conservative columnist Patrick Ruffini argues that the RNC needs to give up on McCain and try to save Republican house and senate seats, and that “McCain should start explicitly making the argument for divided government, with him as the only hope of preserving it. This is unlikely to be a voting issue at the Presidential level, but we need to get the idea percolating that we are about to elect Obama with unchecked, unlimited power.”  That is, Ruffini wants to sacrifice McCain to save congressional Republicans.

Mitt Romney (Sat Oct 11):

Mitt Romney said McCain, who has offered scattershot proposals on the economy, should present a broad vision of how he would lead the country through the economic crisis. “I’m talking about standing above the tactical alternatives that are being considered,” Romney said, “and establish an economic vision that is able to convince the American people that he really knows how to strengthen the economy.”

Robert A. Gleason Jr. (Sat Oct 11):

Robert A. Gleason Jr., the Republican chairman in Pennsylvania, said he was concerned that Mr. McCain’s increasingly aggressive tone was not working with moderate voters and women in the important southeastern part of a state that is at the top of Mr. McCain’s must-win list.

Tommy Thompson (Sat Oct 11):

Former Republican Governor of Wisconsin, said it would be difficult for Mr. McCain to win in his state but not impossible, particularly if he campaigned in conservative Democratic parts of the state. Asked if he was happy with Mr. McCain’s campaign, Mr. Thompson replied, “No,” and he added, “I don’t know who is.”

Saul Anuzis (Sat Oct 11):

Saul Anuzis, the Republican chairman in Michigan, said “I think you’re seeing a turning point, you’re starting to feel real frustration because we are running out of time. Our message, the campaign’s message, isn’t connecting.”

Norm Coleman (Fri Oct 10):

Coleman bails on McCain rally: “[Norm] Coleman told reporters that he would not be appearing at a planned rally with McCain this afternoon. Could it be McCain’s sliding polling numbers in Minnesota? His attacks on Obama?”

Bob Eleveld (Fri Oct 10):

Bob Eleveld, former Kent County Republican chairman who led McCain’s West Michigan campaign in 2000, said: “I’m not supporting either of them [McCain or Obama] at this point. I think the straight talk is gone.”

William Milliken (Fri Oct 10):

Former Republican Governor of Michigan William Milliken, who endorsed McCain during the primaries, said: “He is not the McCain I endorsed; he keeps saying, ‘Who is Barack Obama?’ I would ask the question, ‘Who is John McCain?’ because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me. I’m disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues.”

Ed Rollins (Fri Oct 10):

Ed Rollins ran Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1984, so he knows a thing or two about landslides — and  he’s predicting one for Barack Obama. At this point, he says the only question left to answer is whether John McCain will take the Republican Party down with him.

Joshua Trevino (Fri Oct 10):

Joshua Trevino, co-founder of RedState.com, wrote on his blog: “In the end, I couldn’t do it…I opened it fully intending to vote for John McCain…Do I believe in John McCain? Not as much as I used to. Do I believe in Sarah Palin? Despite my early enthusiasm for her, now not at all. Do I believe in the national Republican Party? Not in the slightest — even though I see no meaningful alternative to it. So, my choice for President in 2008, scrawled in my ballot as an act of futile protest, is Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.”

Matt Lewis (Fri Oct 10):

Matt Lewis, a contributing writer for the conservative Web site Townhall.com, told CNN the plan only further riles conservatives upset with McCain’s backing of the massive government bailout plan passed last week. “Fundamentally, the problem is John McCain accepts a lot of liberal notions, unfortunately. There is somewhat of a populist streak,” he said. “Most conservatives really did not like the bailout to begin with, and this was really kind of picking at the scab.”

Michelle Laxalt (Thu Oct 9):

Republican Laxalt slams the McCain campaign’s tactics.

Michigan GOP (Thu Oct 9):

The Michigan GOP is in disarray, and said the following about those jumping ship in an email they sent to local supporters: “In the meantime, there have been several individuals, including some disgruntled former employees, who have tried to take advantage of the situation by stealing cell phones, and other electronic equipment, as well as substantial amounts of collateral materials.  In at least one instance there was an employee who vandalized their victory center on the way out the door.”

National Review Editorial Board (Thu Oct 9):

“We never thought we would defend the Frank-Dodd legislation, which we bitterly opposed last summer. But it looks downright prudent compared to what McCain has proposed. McCain’s plan is a full bailout for lenders.”

Perry Diaz (Wed Oct 8):

Perry Diaz, chairman of the National Federation of Filipino-American Republicans, resigned from his post and withdrew his endorsement, saying “I endorsed McCain before the California primary believing that he was the right man for the job.  I was wrong.  His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate and his decision a few days ago to resort to personal attacks on Obama’s character and integrity run counter to my personal beliefs and core values.  I have lost my respect for McCain and I believe that a McCain/Palin administration would only worsen the economic situation in the country.”

David Brooks (Wed Oct 8):

David Brooks rips apart McCain’s pick for VP, saying “Sarah Palin represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party.”

George Will (Wed Oct 8):

George Will laments McCain’s campaign and quotes an Orioles manager: “Are you going to get any better or is this it?”  His takeaway?  ”Obama in a romp in November? Don’t be surprised”

Lilibet Hagel (Tue Oct 7):

Lilibet Hagel, wife of Republican senator Chuck Hagel, appeared with Susan Eisenhower to endorse Barack Obama, saying that this election is “not about fighting phantom issues churned out by a top-notch slander machine.  Most importantly it is not about distracting the public – you and me – with whatever slurs someone thinks will stick.”

Jack Waldvogel (Sun Oct 5):

Jack Waldvogel, GOP chairman for Emmet County, Michigan, is furious that McCain and Palin announced their intention to pull out of Michigan, saying “Just don’t formally announce that you are ‘pulling out’ of Michigan, and then come back two days later asking the base core of support to ‘keep working.’ What a slap in the face to all the thousands of people who have been energized by the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket. I’ve been involved in County Party politics and organization for 40 years, and this is the biggest dumbass stunt I have ever seen.”

Wick Allison (Mon Sep 22):

Wick Allison, former publisher of the National Review and current editor-in-chief of D magazine, endorses Obama and writes “I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.  But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history.”

George Will (Sun Sep 21):

“I suppose the McCain campaign’s hope is that when there’s a big crisis, people will go for age and experience,” said Will. “The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn’t John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said ‘let’s fire somebody.’ And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason… It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate.”

WSJ Editorial Board (Fri Sep 19):

In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He’ll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist like Al Gore, circa 2000.

Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy (Wed Sep 3):

Noonan and Murphy get caught on an open mic griping about the choice of Sarah Palin.  Noonan says “The most qualified? No. I think they went for this, excuse me, political bullsh** about narratives. Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and that’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.”  Murphy adds that the choice was “cynical” and “gimmicky.”

The favorite son of the conservative press, Buckley has authored several books, the most famous of them titled Thank You For Smoking, which was made into the 2006 film.

An excerpt of his open letter:

I have known John McCain personally since 1982. I wrote a well-received speech for him. Earlier this year, I wrote in The New York Times—I’m beginning to sound like Paul Krugman, who cannot begin a column without saying, “As I warned the world in my last column…”—a highly favorable Op-Ed about McCain, taking Rush Limbaugh and the others in the Right Wing Sanhedrin to task for going after McCain for being insufficiently conservative. I don’t—still—doubt that McCain’s instincts remain fundamentally conservative. But the problem is otherwise.

As for Senator Obama: He has exhibited throughout a “first-class temperament,”pace Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s famous comment about FDR. As for his intellect, well, he’s a Harvard man, though that’s sure as heck no guarantee of anything, these days. Vietnam was brought to you by Harvard and (one or two) Yale men. As for our current adventure in Mesopotamia, consider this lustrous alumni roster. Bush 43: Yale. Rumsfeld: Princeton. Paul Bremer: Yale and Harvard. What do they all have in common? Andover! The best and the brightest.

I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I’m libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O’Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.

Read the full letter here.

From Associated Press:

LAS VEGAS (AP)  Cindy Florez can’t always remember the name of the man who will get her vote for president, but she knows his party and that’s enough.

“I will vote Democrat,” the 23-year-old hotel housekeeper said, in broken English, moments after registering to vote at a John McCain campaign booth in a Latino neighborhood market.

It’s an insult-to-injury moment for the Republican presidential candidate. And when it comes to McCain’s relationship with Hispanic voters, it’s not the first.

The man who once risked his career on an immigration reform bill that was embraced by Hispanics is now struggling to win these same voters, and falling perilously below the level of support that helped lift President Bush to the White House.

The candidate who won nearly 70 percent of Hispanic voters in his last bid for Senate in border-state Arizona is watching a first-term Illinois senator run away with those voters.

The pro-military, anti-abortion candidate is seeing Hispanics with similar views turn away en masse.

McCain’s campaign is pushing back on each of these fronts in Spanish-language radio and television ads and on-the-ground contact in the markets, Hispanic neighborhoods, military bases and churches across the southwest.

But polls show the candidate isn’t finding it easy to shake his biggest liability with these voters: the R after his name.

“The Republican Party pretty much alienated that voting bloc with the debate over immigration,” said Clarisa Arellano, a GOP activist in Colorado Springs, Colo., and a co-chair of McCain’s Hispanic coalition in the state. “There’s constant repetition that Sen. McCain is just another Republican, and negative campaigning works.”

McCain’s trouble is most evident in his own backyard — the swing states of Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Hispanics in these states are a growing and critical segment of the electorate. They are largely of Mexican descent and trend Democratic, but in recent elections Republicans have successfully carved out just enough of their support to win.

Bush won 44 percent of Hispanic voters in New Mexico in 2004, when he eked out a win in the state by 6,000 votes, according to exit polling.

In a poll conducted last week, McCain was winning just 17 percent of Hispanic voters in the state. Obama had 62 percent, and 21 percent were undecided, according to the survey conducted by Research & Polling Inc. for the Albuquerque Journal.

McCain is faring somewhat better in national polls. A Gallup poll conducted last week showed 26 percent of Hispanics favoring McCain, while 64 percent preferred Obama.

McCain’s advocates on the ground say there’s no mistaking 2000 for 2008.

“I think Bush identified himself,” said Larry Trujillo, a former Colorado state legislator who is now pouring hours into McCain’s campaign in the state. “I don’t think (McCain’s) story is getting out, I don’t think it has resonated as loudly as I wish it would, as it should.”

Trujillo and other McCain backers said they find Hispanics know little of the senator’s record and lump him in with Republicans they have turned against.

“The problem we have, many people, instead of being with Obama, they’re anti-Bush. They want to vote against anything that represents Bush,” said Xavier Rivas, a Republican activist working on McCain’s Hispanic coalition in Las Vegas.

 

In conversation with voters, Rivas tries to highlight McCain’s ties to the community. He notes McCain was born on a military base in Panama, has traveled to Latin America and advocates free trade. He doesn’t see the campaign pushing these connections aggressively.

McCain’s campaign has been drawn into an television and radio advertising volley on immigration, an emotionally charged issue that isn’t playing in his favor.

While embraced by the largely pro-immigration population of Hispanics, McCain’s 2006 reform bill was pilloried by many conservatives. The debate left the senator caught between the right wing in his own party and the Hispanic voters he’s trying to court.

McCain tacked to the right during the primary, saying he would not reintroduce his own reform bill until the borders are more secure.

He’s finding it difficult to tack back.

This election has made a star of CNN Anchor, Campbell Brown. She has made another insightful statement on the election. She chastised John McCain for race baiting, using surrogates to invoke Obama’s middle name, and not controlling angry crowds. She also talked about people who have accused McCain of being racist for is ‘That One’ statement as unnecessarily bringing race into the equation. While is ‘That One’ statement was belittling, condescending and dehumanizing, McCain acts that way with a lot of people not just African Americans.

Watch Campbell Brown Here

John McCain recently made a joke about wife beating to a reporter from the Las Vegas Sun. McCain was being asked if he was avoiding the unpopular Republican Governor of Nevada, he replied “and I stopped beating my wife a couple weeks ago.”

McCain was referring to an old DC fictitious question that reporters use to trap politicians, ‘When did you stop beating your wife Senator?’ However the governor he was referring to was having marital problems with his wife and was accused of assaulting a cocktail waitress.

This is not the 1st time Mccain has made an inappropriate joke or a misogynist comment. In April of 2007 he made a joke about attacking Iran by singing ‘bomb Iran’ to the tune of the Beach Boys ‘Barbara Ann’ which many people thought made light of war and its consequences and was just not funny.

In 1992 , while campaigning for the Senate, McCain’s wife made a comment about him going bald and he replied ‘At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt‘ in front of 2 aides and three reporters. Previously when asked by a woman at a town hall meeting, ‘How do we beat the bitch?’ referring to Hillary Clinton. McCain simply replied ‘that’s an excellent question,’ co-singning the derogatory comment made about his fellow senator.

Watch McCain Joke About Bombing Iran

Wach a Funny Skit About the Media Not Covering McCain’s Cunt Comments

Watch John McCain Laugh at a Supporter Calling Hillary Clinton a Bitch

In an interview with CNN, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, said that the US had encouraged Georgia to attack the autonomous region of South Ossetia. Putin would tell CNN that, defense officials reported to him that the attack was done to benefit a presidential candidate.

Though he did not mention which candidate it was, given the fact that the GOP is currently in power and McCain has played his foreign affairs/war card, one would believe that Putin was referring to John McCain. ‘U.S. citizens were indeed in the area in conflict,” Putin said. They were acting in implementing those orders doing as they were ordered, and the only one who can give such orders is their leader.’

Watch Coverage of Putin’s Statements

Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama made ground zero their common ground for one rare day, free of politics and infused with memory. Putting their partisan contest on a respectful hold, they walked together Thursday into the great pit where the World Trade Center once stood and, as one, honored the dead from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

They walked down a long ramp flanked with the flags of countries, chatting at times, silent other times, and sharing a quick laugh at one point. Right behind them, Cindy McCain clutched Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s arm — Michelle Obama was with her daughters in Chicago.

At the bottom of the ramp, the two rivals stopped to talk with a small group of family members of the attacks’ victims of seven years ago. They laid flowers at the pit’s commemorative reflecting pool — a pink rose from Obama, a yellow rose from McCain — bowed their heads and walked off to speak with fire and police personnel. There were no speeches.

“Thanks, we’ll see ya,” McCain told Obama as the Democrat patted the Republican’s back and they shook hands and parted.

Earlier, McCain spoke briefly at a simple ceremony in remote, rural western Pennsylvania, held on a large hilly field close to where United Airlines Flight 93, the third of four airliners commandeered by terrorists, crashed. Investigators believe some of the 40 passengers and crew rushed the cockpit and thwarted terrorists’ plans to use that plane as a weapon like the ones that hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon. All aboard all planes died.

The Arizona senator said those on the flight might have saved his own life, as some believe the terrorists wanted to slam that plane into the U.S. Capitol. He said the only way to thank those who died on the flight is to “be as good an American as they were.”

“We might fall well short of their standard, but there’s honor in the effort,” McCain said.

Obama, in a statement, said that on Sept. 11, 2001, “Americans across our great country came together to stand with the families of the victims, to donate blood, to give to charity, and to say a prayer for our country. Let us renew that.”

The Illinois senator added: “Let us remember that the terrorists responsible for 9/11 are still at large, and must be brought to justice.”

Left unstated by both was their sharp disagreement over the Iraq war, which McCain supported and Obama opposed as a distraction from the Afghanistan war and broader fight against terrorism.

It was not a day for spelling out differences but rather a respectful time out in a campaign with 54 days to go. Both agreed to suspend TV ads critical of each other.

In Pennsylvania, grieving family members and a few dignitaries sat in front of a chain-link fence adorned with flags and mementos that serves as a temporary memorial while a permanent one is built. Bells were rung as the name of each victim was read. McCain and others laid wreaths at the foot of two flagpoles and a large wooden cross.

The political truce was evident in remarks thanking McCain for traveling to Shanksville by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who occasionally speaks against the Republican nominee as an Obama campaign surrogate. “It’s an honor to have him here, not just as a presidential candidate but as a great American patriot,” Rendell said.

Obama and McCain were intersecting again later, at a Columbia University forum on public service in the evening. Their sessions at the forum were separate.

At the Twin Towers site, Bloomberg told them time was running out to touch the bedrock at the base of the pit. “This is the last year because the ramp goes away for the rebuilding,” he said.

Officials said the family members Obama and McCain talked with were Mary Fetchet, whose son Brad worked on the 89th floor of the South Tower; Michael Henry, brother of fireman Joseph Henry; Joanne Langone, widow of policeman Tom Langone; and Maggie Lemagne, sister of Port Authority officer David Lemagne. Brian Cichetti, a World Trade Center site safety manager who is working on construction of the memorial and museum, also was with them.

At the top of the ramp on the way out, McCain and Obama shook hands with police officers.

“Appreciate everything you do,” Obama said. “God bless you all. We think about you this day and every day.”

Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, visited an American Legion post in suburban Cleveland for an invitation-only gathering of area police, firefighters and other first responders.

“Part of today is reminding Americans that every single day there are acts that are both ordinary and profound,” Biden said in recalling the attacks. “You suit up, head out on that vehicle not knowing what you’re going to find. If, God forbid, anything remotely close to that happens, it’s going to be you guys trying to save all of us.”

The Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, was in her home state of Alaska to attend an Army ceremony to send her eldest son, Track, off to duty in Iraq.

Obama and McCain last appeared together in August when they shook hands at minister Rick Warren’s megachurch in Orange County, Calif., where they spoke separately about faith and values. In June they attended the funeral of NBC newsman Tim Russert, sitting next to each other at the family’s request.

Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally slated to attend, and speak, at the Republican National Convention but ultimately declined. He was one in a line of several high-profile GOP members who opted out of the RNC this year, including incumbent Vice President, Dick Cheney.

The speech intended for Schwarzenegger was then given to actor and former senator Fred Thompson. The Governor told Der Spiegel that the McCain campaign demanded he focus on McCain’s life experiences, so that he would not discuss “centrist policies”, an issue-free, pro-biography strategy that the Republicans have switched to since picking up Sarah Palin. 

Schwarzenegger said, “The speech I would have given is the one that Fred Thompson gave. I gave him my speech because I did not go to the convention. It was a great speech because it talked in minute detail about McCain’s torture and his being a POW, and that’s the speech the party wanted me to give. Why? Because this way I don’t go and talk about centrist politics and maybe rub some people the wrong way. That’s another stage.”

Gov. Schwarzenegger endorsed McCain but has since begun to criticize him, giving McCain’s climate plan a “grade of F.”

Watch Gov. Schwarzenegger’s somewhat unenthusiastic, baseless endorsement of McCain:

The speech intended for Schwarzenegger was then given to actor and former senator Fred Thompson. The Governor told Der Spiegel that the McCain campaign demanded he focus on McCain’s life experiences, so that he would not discuss “centrist policies”, an issue-free, pro-biography strategy that the Republicans have switched to since picking up Sarah Palin. 

Schwarzenegger said, “The speech I would have given is the one that Fred Thompson gave. I gave him my speech because I did not go to the convention. It was a great speech because it talked in minute detail about McCain’s torture and his being a POW, and that’s the speech the party wanted me to give. Why? Because this way I don’t go and talk about centrist politics and maybe rub some people the wrong way. That’s another stage.”

Gov. Schwarzenegger endorsed McCain but has since begun to criticize him, giving McCain’s climate plan a “grade of F.”

Watch Gov. Schwarzenegger’s somewhat unenthusiastic, baseless endorsement of McCain:

My two little girls march around the house chanting “Obama, Obama.” They picked it up from the will.i.am song.

My pothead friend says, “I’m for Obama because he said that inhaling was the point.”

Compared to McCain, where’s the choice?

My heart is set on the Greens, but where’s the chance?

Whether watching the Republican National Convention this week or not, it is easy to find problems in Senator Barack Obama’s positions. That’s because there are plenty of problems in Obama change agenda for folks to the Left of both Republicans and Democrats.

But that’s not the point.

The point is that history doesn’t move at Justice’s pace.

We know what Justice is like. How tangible it feels to dream of the better land!—a place where we live as people who care for each other, are concerned for each other, want the best for each other, but are equally wary of the possibility that the best for some takes away from others. Those are the core values that many of us live by or want to live by (if we were allowed by the various institutions that otherwise hem us in).

I got into a discussion the other day with a friend, who worried that a Barack Obama victory would sideline the struggle for human equality. “Power will now say that if there’s a Black man in the White House, what’s there to complain about?,” he argued. The discussion frustrated me.

So, is my friend saying that it is better for the worldwide freedom struggle if Obama loses? This is like telling the national liberation movements of the 1950s and 1960s not to take power because neo-colonialism would suffocate their movements. It’s like telling the US Congress in 1964-65 not to pass the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts because they don’t address economic inequality.

No. Pass the acts, and then intensify the struggle. Take power and then push for more. Politics is not a pure science. It is a test of will, and a test of whether the forces of Justice will be able to capture the imagination of the people.

Right now, the people repose their faith in the two parties, or else are totally frustrated with the entire political process. A fraction votes for the various other parties (Green, Libertarian, Reform). Our job as those who are partisans in the struggle for justice is to go into the narrow political arena of electoral politics and do four things:

1.     Help elect those who will provide relief to the people (health care, education, social welfare, and perhaps a jobs plan).

2.     Help widen the sphere of political action beyond the elections, and toward building movements for more expansive change.

3.     Help shatter the illusion that the two parties can deliver the kind of real changes needed by the population.

4.     Help build the kind of sustainable and powerful organizations that would be able to take up the challenge of holding the people’s faith once they have left the two parties behind.

The task is complex, but those who seek greater change than Obama can deliver have to be up to it.

We can’t sit on the sidelines, sniping at Senator Obama—or worrying that he is not doing what he should be doing. Instead those of us to the left of Obama should realize he offers a more progressive administration, by degrees, than John McCain promises.

An Obama presidency may not be as progressive as Justice demands. But his message of hope over fear, and the slightly more progressive Democratic Party Platform, will allow us an opening to do our work. So let’s get to it.

Vijay Prasad is the author of the Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World and professor of International Studies at Trinity College.