It should be a scary night for Republicans, as one of their most hated monsters will be doing a two-fer tonight. Yep, Michael Moore will be on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and then on Real Time with Bill Maher (of course, that’s not quite as scary as black people, young people, and college professors actually daring to vote in Florida).

You can bet we’ll have that on here, as we sit in the basement with the lights off, ignoring the doorbell.

In other news, the Syracuse Invitation Sporthorse Tournament is in full swing. This – believe it or not – is apparently a really big deal in the horse world. Among those competing is Jessica Springsteen, whose parents Bruce and Patty are in town for the event. Now word on whether or not William Shatner (he’s apparently into this whole horse thing as well) will be here.

Have a good one, and try not to get your pumpkins smashed.

So, did you watch the half hour Obama campaign ad last night? I did. I haven’t scoured the intertubes for reviews, but I thought it was OK. Nicely done, good production values. The couple minutes of the live rally in Florida was a good ending. I noticed he had the flag pin going (too late in the game to fuck with that stuff), and he got all your major demographics and ethnicities in there.

I could live without his pushing ‘clean coal’ all the time, personally. But, I’m willing to overlook that for the time being, as well as the fact that his healthcare plan doesn’t call for a single-payer solution. I guess we’ll just have to work on him once he’s elected.

I liked that he had real families in there (I assume they’re real, anyway), but I thought it was a little disjointed. I’d have had each one highlight a single issue/problem, and then have him come out and say how he was going to fix it. But he certainly didn’t hurt himself. Whether it will bring over any ‘undecided’ voters or not, I don’t know.

It’s hard for me to tell. All I have to do is look at McCain/Palin, and the deal is sealed for me.

Tonight’s the big 30-minute Obama ad on several of the networks (all but ABC) and MSNBC. Of course, the wingnuts are all in a kerfuffle over it, but fake outrage is about all they’ve ever had in their bag of tricks, and it doesn’t seem to be working anymore.

Oh, wait, that’s right. They do have one other trick.

One week left before the election, and it’s certainly looking like the only questions are how big a win Obama will have, and whether or not his coattails will lead to a filibuster-proof Senate and another 30 or so House seats. The other question in my mind is what the sheeple will do if this election is stolen the way the past two were.

Hopefully we won’t have to find out the answer to that one.

Nor’easter working its way through today. Mostly rain, here, though they say temperatures are going to drop into the 30’s during the day, and as the storm passes by and we get the lake effect backlash, we might get 1″ – 4″ or so of snow. Up in the ‘higher elevations,’ they expect a foot to as much as 20 inches of snow by tomorrow. Better them than us, I reckon.

Today would have been my parents’ 62^nd anniversary. Happy Anniversary, guys.

So, another week begins, and we’re only eight days away from the blessed end of this cursed election season. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. I did see this ad from a local politician that I thought was pretty good, though.

Today on Press the Meat, Tom Brokaw has an “exclusive” with John McCain (that ought to be pretty sickening). Then it’s a roundtable discussion with pollster Charlie Cook, redheaded alien chick Kelly O’Donnell and Chuckie Todd.

On Faze the Nation, it’ll be Robert Rubin, McCain minion Doug Holtz-Eakin, PA Gov. Ed Rendell, and MN Gov Tim Pawlenty.

More Governors on tap at Fux Nes Sunday, as weaselface Wallace hosts Tim Kaine of VA, ex-PA Gov Tom Ridge (McCain lackey), and of course the Pillsbury Dough Nazi, Karl Rove.

AT the Goebbels network, George Snufalufagus hosts the sad and pathetic little Lindsey Graham, and the rather sleazy Rahm Emanuel. Then, at the roundtable, the axis of drivel is reunited again as George :jerk: Will, Sam :omg: Donaldson, and Cokie “the hag” Roberts are joined by obnoxious Reagan fellator Peggy Noonan.

Later, on 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft tells us all about credit default swaps (he must have listened to This American Life), Charlie Rose talks to T. Boone Pickens, and Scott Pelley tells us about Greg Carr, who’s trying to get more tourists to go to Gorongosa national park in Mozambique.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Oh, those wacky young Republicans. This kid who made up the fake mugging and ‘B’ carving attack sure seems to have a screw loose (but then, anybody that would vote for McCain isn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed to begin with).

On Friday, when she admitted the story was fabricated, Todd told police she believes she cut the backward “B” onto her own cheek, but she didn’t explain how or why, Bryant said.

“She said she doesn’t remember doing it but knows it must have been her who did it,” Bryant said, according to the Tribune-Review.

Well, that excuse worked for Reagan and Iran-Contra, so I guess it’s worth a shot.

Todd reportedly said she thought of Barack Obama when she saw the “B” on her cheek and minutes later “came up what a plan” to manufacture the story, according to Bryant.

She now tells investigators she was neither robbed nor attacked.

Yeah, if I had a nickle for every time I discovered a upside down and backwards letter carved into my face, I wouldn’t have to worry about going to work on Monday. I don’t know that the first thing I’d think of was ‘Barack,’ but then I’m not a sexually repressed young white girl obsessed by that forbidden dark meat (though it looks like lots of white folks want themselves some Obama this year). I’d most likely be thinking the goddamn aliens had picked me up again, and instead of coming up with some bullshit story to tell the cops, I’d just call Coast to Coast AM or something. Better a ‘B’ carved into my face than an anal probe (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

But that’s just me.

Speaking of crazy Republicans, it looks like batshit crazy Michele Bachman has a new ad out, trying to control the damage from having let it slip out that she’s a McCarthyite. Poor, poor Michele. Imagine if she actually loses to a guy named Elwyn Tinkelberg. How embarrassing. I think she ought to try carving a backwards ‘E’ into her face, and see how that works out.

And the future isn’t looking too bright for Caribou Barbie if she can’t ride McCain to victory (now there’s a disturbing thought) in November. Seems all those frothing Republicans at the RNC may have soured on her a bit. A Newsweek poll asks:

If John McCain is not elected president, which one of the following three possible candidates would you be most likely to support for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012?

Mitt Romney 35%
Mike Huckabee 26%
Sarah Palin 20%

If I’m a Republican, I think I gotta ask to see a different menu. Or maybe become a Whig.

Poor Michelle Bachman. All she wants to do is root out un-American members of Congress (here’s an idea: why not create a House Un-American Activities Committee), and now she’s facing some real consequences for her patriotism.

The first independent poll is out in Minnesota’s Sixth District, which has been put into contention thanks to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) McCartheyesque rant on Hardball last week — and it shows a race that could be tightly contested all the way to Election Day.

The new numbers from SurveyUSA: Democratic candidate El Tinklenberg 47%, Bachmann 44%, and Independence Party candidate Bob Anderson 6%, with a ±4% margin of error.

Oh well. I’m sure Bachman’s willing to make the supreme (political) sacrifice, spend more time with her family, and maybe become a seven figure lobbyist or a highly paid speaker on the wingnut circuit. Maybe even score a gig with Fux News. I wonder if she can wear Caribou Barbie’s hand-me-downs?

So, sounds like Sarah and Johnny aren’t exactly playing well together. Gee, that’s too bad. It’ll be nice to get this election over with and see Palin fade into the northern horizon, and McCain go back and wait out what’s left of his Senate term in well-deserved obscurity (he and Liebermann can go off into some dark corner of the Senate Office Building and engage in mutual masturbation for a few years). As long as this AP poll is just an outlier (or a deliberate attempt to skew things), that is. I much prefer Chris Bowers’ electoral map, which has Obama over 270 in states where he leads by 7% or more, with a good shot at 306 and in play for up to 384 electoral votes.

I agree with Larry David, though. This is worse than waiting for lab results.

Two weeks to go until Election Day. It’ll be nice to get it over with, assuming the Republicans don’t steal it again. And hopefully the Democrats can take total command of both the House and Senate, too. Then we can sit back and bitch about how nothing has changed and they all suck.

According to the NY Times/CBS poll…

As voters have gotten to know Senator Barack Obama, they have warmed up to him, with more than half, 53 percent, now saying they have a favorable impression of him and 33 percent saying they have an unfavorable view. But as voters have gotten to know Senator John McCain, they have not warmed, with only 36 percent of voters saying they view him favorably while 45 percent view him unfavorably.

Even voters who are planning to vote for Mr. McCain say their enthusiasm has waned….

…the percentage of those who hold a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama is up 10 points since last month. Opinion of Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Obama’s running mate, is also up, to 50 percent last weekend from 36 percent in September.
[…]
Mr. Obama’s favorability is the highest for a presidential candidate running for a first term in the last 28 years of Times/CBS polls. Mrs. Palin’s negative rating is the highest for a vice-presidential candidate as measured by The Times and CBS News. Even Dan Quayle, with whom Mrs. Palin is often compared because of her age and inexperience on the national scene, was not viewed as negatively in the 1988 campaign.

Whether it sounds cynical or not, I think Obama’s decision to take a couple of days off to go visit his (likely) dying grandmother will only make people feel more favorably towards him. Especially all those grandmothers in Florida.

It all comes down to voter suppression and electronic voting machines now, which means everybody needs to get out there and vote. Especially those of you out there in states where Obama is up by less than 5%.