links for 2008-09-13

It is the economy stupid….

Golden State Republicans are hoping Sarah Palin is going to turn some of that blue landscape into red with a big Sept. 26 Orange County rally for the GOP VP candidate — where at least 15,000 are expected. That will allow 10,000 general admission folks to get tickets through the state GOP, and another 6,000 or so party volunteers and VIP's to see the Alaska governor in person in her first major public event in California.

Meanwhile, powerhouse Bay Area GOP fundraiser Kristen Hueter says Palin's going "gangbusters," already a sell-out ticket for her Sept. 25, $1,000-a-head Woodside fundraising lunch at the home of Tom Siebel.

ABC should release the entire, unedited interview, so that Americans can judge her more fairly.

Gag…..

The answer is yes

n June, Biden agreed to work for a wealthy American who operates a large online gambling company from Gibraltar. According to the disclosure forms, Hunter Biden was charged with lobbying House lawmakers on behalf of a law firm that represents online gambling magnate Russ DeLeon. Listed as one of Forbes’ richest Americans, DeLeon was an original founder of the popular online gambling company PartyGaming.com.

Obama made a similar coment about mayors at the forum: "Mayors have some of the toughest jobs in the country, because that’s where the rubber hits the road. We yak in the Senate. They actually have to fill potholes and trim trees and make sure the garbage is taken away."

Sarah Palin does not flip-flop. Tapper has it wrong.

Democratic jitters about the US presidential race have spread to Capitol Hill, where some members of Congress are worried that Barack Obama’s faltering campaign could hurt their chances of re-election.

Party leaders have been hoping to strengthen Democratic control of the House and Senate in November, but John McCain’s jump in the polls has stoked fears of a Republican resurgence.

A GOP Congressional comeback in 2008?

There certainly isn't. Barack Obama has been manipulating the press for years. His manipulation didn't make the media mad, though, because reporters were willing accomplices who have been trying to get Obama elected. It's the thought that John McCain could be manipulating them that has the media seeing red:

But, if you were really savvy, you'd "manipulate" the media into a stampede of lurid drivel deriding her as a Stepford wife and a dominatrix, comparing her to Islamic fundamentalists, Pontius Pilate and porn stars, and dismissing her as a dysfunctional brood mare who can't possibly be the biological mother of the kid she was too dumb to abort. Who knows? It's a long shot, but if you could pull it off, a really cunning media manipulator might succeed in manipulating Howie's buddies into spending the month after Labor Day outbidding each other in some insane Who Wants To Be An Effete Condescending Media Snob? death-match. You'd not only make the press look like bozos, but that in turn might tarnish just a little the fellow these geniuses have chosen to anoint.

Obama's criticism notwithstanding, McCain's payment patterns are the stuff of feminist dreams.

McCain's 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878.

On average, according to these data, women in John McCain's office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes. In fact, all other things being equal, a typical female staffer could earn 21 cents more per dollar paid to her male counterpart — while adding $10,726 to her annual income — by leaving Barack Obama's office and going to work for John McCain.