Thanks Greg. Rachel Maddow's show is pretty good. She has people on her show that regularly debate her on issues (which I think makes better TV instead of guests that rarely disagree). She also has Pat Buchanan on her show regularly.

Here's an article on her show:

Odd couple: Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Sun Oct 5, 12:32 PM ET

At 19, Rachel Maddow shared a house with friends in Philadelphia and wasn't paying much attention to the 1992 Republican National Convention on television until Pat Buchanan took to the podium.

She was transfixed. Buchanan's combative conservative speech, which denounced gay rights, was a milestone for people on two sides of a political divide. Either a call to arms or intolerant, depending on your point of view, it couldn't be ignored.

"Pat's culture war speech at the Republican convention hit me right between the eyes," said Maddow, MSNBC's new star and a lesbian. "He was, without euphemism, declaring that my own country was at war with me. I get it intellectually and strategically now, but at 19, I only got it emotionally."

So there's a certain irony that Maddow and Buchanan have a prime-time date many nights now on television.

"It's Pat" is a semi-regular feature on "The Rachel Maddow Show," a program that has surprised even the people who put it on with its success after only a month on the air.

Maddow is a regular on the liberal "Air America" radio network and had appeared frequently on MSNBC, particular on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown." She was given the 9 p.m. EST slot when network executives judged Dan Abrams' show a failure.

Its second week on the air, Maddow's audience was bigger than CNN's "Larry King Live." King won the third week and the two are settling into what promises to be a competitive battle behind Fox News Channel's dominant "Hannity & Colmes." During the week of Sept. 22, Fox's show averaged 3.2 million, CNN had 2.1 million and Maddow was at 1.7 million.

She has more than doubled the audience that MSNBC had been getting in the time slot, according to Nielsen Media Research, and is keeping much of the audience that watches Olbermann.

Naysayers told MSNBC chief executive Phil Griffin that Maddow would be too much like Olbermann, and there was a risk in turning his prime-time lineup completely over to one political point of view.

Instead, Maddow is something of a happy warrior compared to Olbermann's increasingly dark prince. The Rhodes Scholar can lap almost anyone intellectually without making you hate her for doing it.

"She's likeable," Griffin said. "She smiles, she has fun. She's interesting."

If Olbermann's show has a drumbeat that drives it, Maddow's "got a little bit of a symphony," he said.

She also doesn't back down from a fight. Olbermann's "Countdown" is well-written and meticulous, but he relies on guests who rarely disagree with him.

Maddow frequently brings on guests to argue with her, none more so than Buchanan.

He can exasperate her, and vice versa. To date, it hasn't become nasty.

To a certain extent, Maddow credits Buchanan with giving her television career a push. A few years ago when Buchanan hosted a show at MSNBC, he remembered her and sought her out for work.

"I like debating things with Pat," Maddow said. "He's funny and quick and intellectually coherent, even when his views are totally toxic."

Thinking back to the culture war speech, Maddow sees how one of Buchanan's contribution to Nixon-era politics was the idea of "positive polarization," or dividing the country against itself and siding politically with the bigger half.

Buchanan, by e-mail, said that "Rachel and I get along fine," but didn't elaborate since he prefers not to participate in feature stories about MSNBC shows. He's a paid MSNBC contributor, but the cable network has become particularly noxious to Republicans, mostly because of Olbermann.

Griffin said he liked how Maddow and Buchanan played off each other during MSNBC's primary coverage in the spring. "They're 180 degrees apart but they like each other," he said.

Maddow is still juggling several ideas around, even with the fast start.

"Every segment, every minute of the show is still a work in progress," she said. "We're still trying to figure out what works best on air, what we're capable of producing well, what's fun. I expect that if we're lucky enough to still be on the air in a year, the show will look very different than it does now."

Her show completes the transformation of MSNBC, in prime-time, into a politically liberal network ("Countdown" and "The Rachel Maddow Show" repeat in another two-hour block at 10 p.m. EST). That has caused some consternation at NBC News, where some feel that MSNBC has damaged the network's reputation for impartiality. NBC was targeted for angry chants at the GOP convention, and John McCain's campaign pointedly snubbed Brian Williams in giving Sarah Palin interviews to Charles Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS.

Griffin feels the ratings prove that on cable, shows with a strong point of view have the best chance of success.

A board hanging in Maddow's NBC office is filled with scribbles, mostly indecipherable, of potential topics for her shows. It's still so new that the nameplate outside is blank.

"I still haven't really figured out when I'm supposed to be where, and how to make sure there's time in every day to do things like eat and sleep and read my e-mail," she said.

Do any of Ya'll visit Barack Youtube page? I love to go to his page. Now if Barack can do one with Sarah Plain & the Witchdoctor or the witchpreach or whatever he is.

KEATING ECONOMICS: John McCain & The Making of a Financial Crisis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g72BuIvMbWY

Thanks Greg. Rachel Maddow's show is pretty good. She has people on her show that regularly debate her on issues (which I think makes better TV instead of guests that rarely disagree). She also has Pat Buchanan on her show regularly.

Thanks for the info Ryan. Sounds good. I caught a little of her and Pat Buchanan after the VP debates last week and they were very interesting to watch.

For those of you that may not know, Lee County is in SW Florida and has long been a Republican stronghold in the state.

This is where we just came from on our vacation.

I was surprised to see several billboards on I-75 with the word "McSame" crossed out. Of all the places in Florida for a billboard like this to be in the heart of Republican country isn't a bad sign.

I guess we won't hear anything about the issues from McSame/Plain until after the election is over.

October 6, 2008, 2:03 PM

Fla. Sheriff Plays The “Hussein” Card At Palin Event

Posted by Scott Conroy

(CBS)From CBS News' Scott Conroy:

Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott took the stage moments ago as one of the introductory speakers at a rally here for Sarah Palin. After delivering brief remarks in support of Palin, Sheriff Scott flipped the switch and used Barack Obama’s middle name in order to incite the crowd of thousands of people who have already gathered here.

“On Nov. 4, let’s leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what happened,” the law enforcement officer said.

UPDATE: Palin campaign spokesperson Tracey Schmitt issued the following statement on Sherriff Scott’s remarks: “We do not condone this inappropriate rhetoric which distracts from the real questions of judgment, character, and experience that voters will base their decisions on this November.”

According to his web site, Scott became sheriff in 2005.

“People could say running for sheriff took either courage, ignorance, or a combination of both,” Scott said on the web site.

Many of the thousands of people in attendance roared their approval at Sheriff Scott’s dig at the Democratic nominee, whose Kenyan father shared the same exact name as his son.

After Sheriff Scott left the podium, local radio host Mandy Connell took the stage next. She too drew a loud ovation when she said Obama “hangs around with terrorists.”

Oy vey

For those of you that may not know, Lee County is in SW Florida and has long been a Republican stronghold in the state.

This is where we just came from on our vacation.

I was surprised to see several billboards on I-75 with the word "McSame" crossed out. Of all the places in Florida for a billboard like this to be in the heart of Republican country isn't a bad sign.

I guess we won't hear anything about the issues from McSame/Plain until after the election is over.

This is so disturbing. People really still believe that stuff.

I must tell you all it took me a whole day to recover from yesterdays posting. I too cannot believe that Casey would condone the use of a racial slur against an entire nation because of the past acts of a few. But it's not too far fetched if people can condone the Ayers smear knowing the full story.

For those of us old enough to have lived during the 60s and 70s, our viewpoint is a little different. I didn't consider those groups domestic terrorist, subversive yes. And there were many groups that spoke out forcefully against the government and the Vietnam war in those days.

But that is neither here nor there. People grow and their belief system often grows with them. However some people's belief system doesn't change. Look at McCain, I mean really look at what he has stood for during his 26 years in congress. That Rolling stone article says it all. I really suggest that you all read it. I am glad to see it mentioned here as well as on other sites that I visit. McCain is not country first. He is McCain first. And this strategy that he is using now is just the old McCain. Get somebody else to do your dirty work (Palin) so that you can remain above the fray.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obama

Obama: McCain tries to turn attention from economy

By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago

Barack Obama said Monday that John McCain is trying to shift attention from the troubled economy because the issue is bad for the Republican presidential nominee's campaign.

The Democratic presidential candidate also implored federal officials to take swift action as Wall Street recorded another record one-day decline amid a global sell-off of stocks.

Obama told reporters in Asheville, N.C., that he was surprised his Republican rival's campaign would signal an effort to avoid talking about the financial turmoil because McCain advisers fear it could cause him to lose the election.

"I've got news for the McCain campaign: The American people are losing right now," he said. "They're losing their jobs. They're losing their health care. They're losing their homes. They're losing their savings. I cannot imagine anything more important to talk about."

An aide to McCain recently said the GOP campaign would like to shift the presidential race's focus away from the economy, which has been a better issue for Democrats than Republicans. Since then, McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, has been questioning Obama's character based on his association with an incendiary pastor and a 1960s radical turned college professor.

Obama said he would keep talking about the economy and didn't answer questions about the associations McCain's campaign has questioned.

"The notion that we would want to brush that aside and engage in the usual political shenanigans and smear tactics that have come to characterize too many political campaigns is not what the American people are looking for," he said before stopping at a local barbecue joint for ribs and corn pudding. He's been in Asheville since Saturday preparing for Tuesday night's debate in neighboring Tennessee.

McCain continues to discuss economic conditions, but Obama says he needs to offer better and more specific remedies.

Obama renewed his call for extending unemployment insurance and for enacting a second stimulus package that would include tax cuts for millions of Americans. Congress has rejected those proposals in recent months.

He also urged Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to move swiftly to restore confidence in the economy, noting that U.S. struggles were spreading across the globe. He said there was a great danger of the credit markets locking up — the underlying problem that led Congress to pass a $700 billion relief package last week.

Noting sharp drops in financial markets around the world, Obama said, "It is a reminder that the rescue package that was passed last week is not the end. It's just the beginning."

Obama and McCain voted for the measure in the Senate, hoping it would enable the government to buy deeply devalued mortgage-backed securities to help banks find money to make loans.

Palin also addressed Monday's market slide at a fundraiser in Naples, Fla. "We need to cut taxes for businesses so they can hire more people -- that's how jobs are created. The other side just doesn't seem to understand that, especially in these times of economic woes," Palin said. "And today is not a good day. If you turn on the news tonight when you get home, you're gonna see that, ya, this is another woeful day in the market."

McCain has told the American public outright lies in his campaign. He has run ads that are both totally false or misleading in an effort to dupe the public. One has to wonder if that is the respect he will have for American taxpayers if he is elected. Will he elect to lie to Americans rather than to convince us of an idea's merit. I think his willingness to lie to voters says a great deal about his character.

By the way, back on Ayers. Ayers did not host an event for Obama at Ayers' house. The event was for a woman running for Congress. She introduced Obama at the event and said she was endorsing his bid to replace her. In fact, the event was not for Obama, it was for the other candidate's run for Congress. In fact, she was elected to the seat and later Obama ran against her and lost.

I'm glad Obama is pushing back with the Keating Five ad. It's truthful at least. I also think that if McCain/Palin want to discuss church affiliations, than Palin's preacher remarks are fair game. Also, the fact that McCain does not worship is fair game. I would hope campaigns would not turn to this.

Reuters Blogs

Tales from the Trail

Tracking the 2008 U.S. campaign

October 6th, 2008

Maverick family to McCain: No way are you one of us!

Posted by: Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX - “He’s a maverick.” “He’s the consummate maverick.” “We’re a team of mavericks.” - You’ve all heard it time and again in recent weeks as Republican John McCain and fresh-faced running mate Gov. Sarah Palin slap on the maverick label to differentiate themselves from the GOP herd corralled inside the beltway in Washington.

But the New York Times reported on Sunday that the real Mavericks - a storied south Texas family with a long tradition in progressive politics - are not too happy about what they say is the misappropriation of their family name.

“I’m just enraged that McCain calls himself a maverick,” the Times reported Terrellita Maverick, 82, saying. The San Antonio resident is the scion of a family which has been outspoken about liberal causes for generations, and has otherwise bucked conventions.

The family’s name crept into the language for Samuel Augustus Maverick, a rancher who became known for not branding his cattle in the 1800s. Any unbranded cows found out on the range were simply known as “Maverick’s.”

Ranching aside, the Times reported that members of the Maverick family also have a long history championing often unpopular civil libertarian causes — from the rights of indentured servants in long ago New England to defending the cause of “draft resisters, atheists and others scorned by society” more recently in Texas.

Aside from an unbranded calf, the word maverick has come to mean a lone dissenter who takes an independent stand from his or her associates - a label handy for McCain, who has tried to distance his campaign from eight years of rule by the increasingly unpopular President George W. Bush. Nevertheless, the veteran Republican Arizona senator’s appropriation of the word still grates on the original Mavericks.

He “is in no way a maverick, in uppercase or lowercase,” the Times reported Terrellitta, 82, as saying.

“It’s just incredible - the nerve! - to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again.’ ”

Watch four shows tonight:

Coutdown W/Keith Olbermann

The Rachel Maddow Show.

The Colbert Report (W/Stephen Colbert)

The Daily Show

I bet you they all will have something to push back on this McCain campaign shift.

And it's already started. The Obama campaign ran their first 'Keating 5' commercial this morning.

We get The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on cable here in Australia and I will be watching.

I am also going to watch the debate.

Ahh Vacation is a good thing.

Here's a story about Fox News where no one can brush it pff as something a commentor said or did:

Fox News: Barney Frank Escaped Blame for Fannie Mae's Problems Because He Is Gay

David Fiderer

Posted October 6, 2008 | 04:15 PM (EST

When Barney Frank corrected him, Bill O'Reilly threw a tantrum in front of 5.6 million viewers. Then things got interesting. The next day, the Washington Deputy Managing Editor at Fox News uncovered a new angle on the financial crisis. Bill Sammon alleged that Congressman Frank had escaped blame for the problems at Fannie Mae because he was gay.

Sammon's piece wasn't exactly original reporting. He paraphrased an earlier article titled, "Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection." The "love connection" was a relationship that Frank had with Herb Moses, who was once an executive at Fannie Mae. Frank's romantic involvement with Moses, and Moses' employment at Fannie Mae, both ended ten years ago, in 1998. As Hank Paulson, the Federal Reserve, and the SEC all confirmed, the financial crisis "was triggered by a dramatic weakening of underwriting standards for US. subprime mortgages, beginning in late 2004."

Sammon's original source material was offered up by one of those right wing storefronts, the Business & Media Institute. Sammon quoted Business & Media Institute vice president Dan Gainor, a frequent guest on the Fox Business Network. "If this had been his ex-wife and [Frank] was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what's not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane," said Gainor. "But everybody wants to avoid it because he's gay. It's the quintessential double standard."

Did a Fox news executive decide to go after Congressman Frank because O'Reilly was embarrassed in front of 800,000 people who caught the meltdown on YouTube? That's the more obvious, and superficial, motivation. Frank also impugned the veracity of reporting by Brit Hume, who dutifully repeats lies fed to him by Karl Rove. Here's Congressman Frank setting the record straight on O'Reilly:

"You've misrepresented this consistently. I became chairman of the committee on January 31st, 2007. Less than two months later, I did what the Republicans hadn't been able to do in 12 years -- get through the committee a very tough regulatory bill...The Senate was dragging its feet, as often happens. And in January of 2008, I asked Secretary Paulson to put in the stimulus bill. So the earliest chance I got to put tough regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we did it."

And here's Brit Hume lying yesterday on Fox News Sunday:

"And what happened here is -- and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were very much at the center of this. And it is an odd and, I think, unusual paradox of this whole situation that it was actually Republicans at critical junctures who were pushing for more regulation. Normally they push for less. In this instance, they were pushing for more. And it was principally Democrats, led by Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and others, some Republicans as well -- Bennett of Utah being a conspicuous example -- who resisted this, successfully in the end.

"And there was an effort to -- made to appoint a world-class regulator, as the phrase goes, to supervise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were -- which were creating a market for these packages of mortgages, some good, some bad. They would buy them up and securitize them, sell them, and it enabled a lot of -- a lot of entities, big banks and investors to get in on the housing boom."

Hume paraphrased Karl Rove, who was quoted at length in "Media Mum on Barney Frank's Fannie Mae Love Connection."

"'All of this bad stuff on Wall Street happened because people got greedy and the greed started at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,' Rove said. 'And I know this because five years ago, the administration was alerted by the regulator, James Lockhart, that there was insufficient authority and that these institutions - particularly Fannie - were out of control.'

"Rove said the Bush administration's efforts to reform Fannie and Freddie were opposed by congressional Democrats - specifically Frank and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

"'And I got to tell you, for five years, I was part of an effort at the White House to fight this and our biggest opponents on the Hill who blocked this every step of the way were people like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank. And Fannie and Freddie are the $200 billion contagion at the center of this.'"

The Business & Media Institute writer got his quotes from Karl Rove's Sept. 17 appearance on Hannity & Colmes.

Hume first echoed Rove's propaganda on October 1, 2008, as part of the "straight news reporting" on Special Report. Media Matters identified and explained the falsehoods.

And on Bill O'Reilly, Barney Frank recounted the chronology that absolves the Democrats of any blame.

"Now from 1995 to 2006, when the Republicans controlled Congress, and we were in the minority, we couldn't get that done [i.e. legislate improved regulation of Fannie Mae]. Although in 2005, Mike Oxley, of Sarbanes-Oxley fame, a pretty tough guy on regulation, did try to put a bill through to regulate Fannie Mae. I worked with him on it. As he told

The Financial Times

, he thought ideological rigidity in the Bush administration stopped that. But the basic point is that the first time I had any real authority over this was January of 2007. And within two months, we had passed the bill that regulated."

Here's what actually happened. In October 2005 the House, by a vote of 331-90, passed a bill to establish a new federal regulator created for Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Home Loan Banks. The new regulator was authorized to set capital standards and, if it deemed necessary, require reductions in mortgage portfolios. The White House opposed the proposed legislation and instead supported the pending Senate bill. But the Senate bill never came up for a vote, and the legislation died.

In other words, the Republicans failed to negotiate a deal when they were in charge, and now place the blame on others. And once again, Fox News treats their distortions of history as reportable fact.

One Republican has a different take on events. Rep. Michael Oxley claims his bill was opposed by White House "ideologues" who wanted to privatize Fannie and Freddie and who opposed a bigger government role.

Edited October 6, 200817 yr by Wales2004

Do the Repubs blame the gays for EVERYTHING?

Do the Repubs blame the gays for EVERYTHING?

When they're not blaming the gays, they're blaming the blacks, the hispanics, the democrats. Anybody in sight that's not a republican, lily white and filthy rich. It's pathetic.

And I just love how the best McCain can come up with in regards to the economy is tax cuts and his belief that the American worker is resilient and hard-working and blah blah blah. So stupid.

Do the Repubs blame the gays for EVERYTHING?

When they're not blaming the gays, they're blaming the blacks, the hispanics, the democrats. Anybody in sight that's not a republican, lily white and filthy rich. It's pathetic.

And I just love how the best McCain can come up with in regards to the economy is tax cuts and his belief that the American worker is resilient and hard-working and blah blah blah. So stupid.

From the sounds of things they like to blame everyone but themselves.

McCain's brother says N. Va. 'Communist country'

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER – 1 day ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate John McCain's brother made an apparent joke at a campaign rally this weekend that might not play well in parts of newly competitive Virginia.

Joe McCain, speaking at an event in support of his brother, called two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia "communist country," according to a report on The Washington Post's Web site.

"I've lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country," Joe McCain said at an event in Loudon County, Va.

Joe McCain then apologized, but the remark drew laughter at the event, according to the report.

Virginia has long been a Republican stronghold in presidential elections, but Democrat Barack Obama is running even or ahead of McCain in recent state polls. Obama is being helped by fast-growing communities in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Northern Virginia, which tend to vote more Democratic than other parts of the state.

One of those areas is Arlington, Va., where John McCain owns a condominium.

"This was Joe McCain's unsuccessful attempt at humor," said McCain campaign spokeswoman Gail Gitcho. "John McCain and Sarah Palin are committed to winning the support of voters in Northern Virginia and understand the region's importance to victory statewide."