drat fink

mill town

"About the workings of the right-wing propaganda mills in Washington and New York I knew enough to know that the numbing of America's political senses didn't happen by mistake, but it wasn't until I met Rob Stein, formerly a senior adviser to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, that I came to fully appreciate the nature and the extent of the re-education program undertaken in the early 1970s by a cadre of ultraconservative and self-mythologizing millionaires bent on rescuing the country from the hideous grasp of Satanic liberalism. To a small group of Democratic activists meeting in New York City in late February, Stein had brought thirty-eight charts diagramming the organizational structure of the Republican "Message Machine," an octopus-like network of open and hidden microphones that he described as "perhaps the most potent, independent institutionalized apparatus ever assembled in a democracy to promote one belief system.""

running numbers

vanity fair's graydon carter does bush by the numbers.

arabian knights

"AP - Cantor Fitzgerald Securities, a bond trading firm that lost two-thirds of its workers in the World Trade Center attack, has sued Saudi Arabia for allegedly supporting al-Qaida prior to the Sept. 11 attack through financing, safe houses, weapons and money laundering."

if you had to choose...

i case you were wondering about that Time poll which gave bush the big bounce, here is a look at the questionable methodology.

you suck, balls

its no easier pinning chris matthews down to an answer than it is the politicians he reportedly interrogates. and he is just as likely to begin sprouting his own personal talking points when pressed for an honest response. for the third time this week ive heard him bluster "my show is called hardball, not success magazine," as if stating it made it true. maybe he was still just too giddy from his made for tv movie encounter with senator zellfire to be trifling with questions about the failures of the fourth estate. that and he seems to be scared of running afoul of the republicans. message to chris matthews: the republicans are watching fox in a big way. how about a show for the rest of us. theres a reason the daily show draws better numbers than you and its not just because its funny.

taxing situation

""Bush in a kind of very secretive way has been moving us one step at a time toward a flat tax," Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth, told me last month. My piece "Hidden Agenda," from the October issue of the Prospect, gets into this in more detail."

ad count

richard linklater ad from move on. also, i think the dnc's " broken record" ad is pretty effective.

cotton mouth

i think i read about james wolcott skulking about among the liberal bloggers at the convention. maybe he was out creating a little buzz for his blog launch.

map science

looks like the election may come down to pennsylvania. and theres a fairly plausible 269-269 scenario. other states in play: florida tennessee colorado wisconsin iowa nevada minnesota michigan and arizona. possibly arkansas and virginia. my guesstimate today was kerry 270 bush 268. that required a win in nevada tennessee iowa minn michigan and penn but losses in florida colorado virginia and arkansas. click on the interactive map and make your own predictions.

demanding satisfaction

the general gives zell his due.