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• Gene Robinson, the gay Episcopal bishop, delivered a four-minute invocation at the Mall on Sunday. Although HBO had exclusive rights to broadcast the invocation it did not make it to air. [Politico]

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John McCain finally deigned to appear on David Letterman's little show last night, even boarding an elitist helicopter to get there when his private plane wouldn't do the trick. Sure, he expected to just make an apology and crack a bunch of jokes, but Letterman brought his A-game and asked him about how he pals around with G. Gordon Liddy, who has gleefully committed felonies, plotted violent attacks against his political enemies and called for the assassination of federal law enforcement officers. But he's a Republican, so it's apparently okay. Spencer Ackerman and I wonder why exactly that is and why ACORN is the new terrorism while voter suppression is the best new thing to ignore. More »
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• P.U.M.A. hunter Katie Halper put together a campaign commercial for John McCain so that his female supporters all understand what they're voting for — including unequal pay, a lack of reproductive choice and half-assed health insurance coverage. Politics starts at home, ladies. [Katie Halper]
• Actual McCain staffers and Sarah Palin are trying to convince John McCain to open up Wright debate again because — as Sarah said yesterday — they've got nothing to lose. McCain, however, still likes his dignity some, so they're sneaking around behind his back to find other people to fund it. [Politico, CBS]
• Yes, of course, Obama is totally prepped to talk about Ayers tonight. He's probably prepped to talk about Wright, too, if it comes to that. [Chicago Tribune]
• McCain's been prepping, too, if this leaked debate prep video is anything to go by. Join in on my liveblog (thread starts at 7:30 ET, I start blogging at 9:00 ET) to see if he takes any of their advice! [The Jed Report]

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The election might still be 20 interminable days off, but the last debate will be (liveblogged) tonight. McCain has promised both to "whip" his opponent tonight, and to bring up Bill Ayers. Will Obama have an answer? Can Bill O'Reilly get more absurd? Can the poll numbers get better for Obama? Will John McCain be "unshackled"? Spencer Ackerman attempt to answer those questions as I attempt to scrub certain Spencer-supplied mental images from my brain. Anyone got some bleach? More »
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Poor John McCain! He just doesn't get a chance to talk about the issues. He said in a radio interview with KMOX in St. Louis yesterday, "it's not that I give a damn about some washed up terrorist and his terrorist wife that on 2001 said they wished they'd bombed more," but that the American people demand to know the truth about the issues like taxes... so he's going to keep talking about Ayers. I mean, what's he supposed to do? [ABC, KMOX] More »
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If it wasn't enough to attack Barack Obama for what few ties he has to Bill Ayers, the McCain campaign is attempting to tie Michelle Obama to Bernardine Dohrn, Ayers' wife. Dohrn worked at Sidley Austin (a firm of 500 lawyer plus hordes of legal staff) at Sidley Austin in 1984, three years before Michelle did, so they were obvs BFF and conspired about... well, stuff. You know "those ones." [Talking Points Memo]

McCain has decided to ask his supporters to try being "respectful" at rallies, despite his staff saying it's all Obama's fault that they aren't. [Politico, MSNBC]

The former Republican governor of Michigan, William Milliken, respectfully thinks that McCain isn't the same guy he endorsed in the primaries. [Huffington Post]

Republican Congressman Ray LaHood respectfully thinks that Sarah Palin's race-baiting "doesn't befit the office that she's running for." [Huffington Post] More »
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In the waning hours of the political campaign, with his political star already eclipsed by the popularity of his own running mate and his insistence on abandoning most of the principles he used to swear he stood for, John McCain has gotten a little desperate. Or, rather, his campaign staff has, since John McCain himself still has a job to go back to on November 5th. Well, except for that his campaign is fully staffed with highly paid corporate lobbyists "on leave" so most of them do, too, except that they won't be able to make as much money from clients if their guy loses. More »
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When the chips are down and all the prayers to God to win the election and protect you from witchcraft haven't worked, everyone knows it's time to call in the big guns: the forces of evil. And, if they're too busy helping the Axis of Evil get nukes and shit, well, then you can always call in the forces of pettiness and covert racism, as they've been helpful in many an election here in the States. But Swampland's Ana Marie Cox and I will insist on, at a minimum, throwing rhetorical spitballs at the hordes and making assfucking jokes as the sky is falling, so there's that, at least... after the jump. More »
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• A new poll shows that 55 percent of Americans think Obama cares more about people like them. No, they didn't show anyone this picture first. [CNN]
• They also didn't show it to the white women surveyed by Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics who helped show that Palin's nomination hasn't disrupted the traditional gender gap between Republicans and Democrats on a long-term basis. [Politico]
• And obviously no one showed it to the guy who accused Obama of treason at a Palin rally, because, really, even Norman Rockwell would throw up his hands and turn to abstract art if he saw this picture. [Huffington Post]
• But back to the whole accusing the other guy of your own missteps meme, Cindy McCain says that Obama has "waged the dirtiest campaign in American history." Riiiight. [Huffington Post]

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Today was the first day that The View was back on the air, live, since Thursday's vice-presidential debate between Biden and Palin. As expected, the ladies are all worked up about the election, and today they discussed the smear campaign McCain's camp has launched against Obama, trying to link him with radical activist Bill Ayers. Elisabeth Hasselbeck was trying her best to interrupt people as they were talking until she finally got her turn to insist that it's not a smear campaign because "it's true." She talked well into the commercial break, and managed to piss off Whoopi, Sherri, and Barbara. When is she gonna go to Faux News already? Clip above. More »
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