MAFIA LOVE

Palin accidentally reprimands VA "protesters"

RICHMOND, Va. — Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin mistook some of her own fans for hecklers Monday at a rally that drew thousands.

A massive crowd of at least 20,000 spread across the parking lot of Richmond International Raceway, and scores of people on the outer periphery more than 100 yards from the stage could not hear.

"Louder! Louder!" they began chanting, and the cry spread across the crowd to Palin's left. Some pointed skyward, urging that the volume be increased.

Palin stopped her remarks briefly and looked toward the commotion.

"I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest," she said.

Some in the crowd tried to shout toward her what was really being said, but she couldn't hear them.

On a sunny day in which many had stood in place for more than three hours without shade, at least 25 people collapsed from heat-related illnesses and three were hospitalized, according to the Henrico County fire department.

Palin had campaigned with John McCain earlier Monday in Virginia Beach, only the second time the GOP ticket has campaigned in Virginia since June. Democrat Barack Obama or his running mate, Joe Biden, together visited the state eight times during that span.

The Brawl, the Documentary, and the Polls

It’s getting rough out there in politico-land today.

McCain is traveling to New Mexico to ask: “Who is the real Barack Obama?” He also has a commercial out asking lots of other people the same question:

Meanwhile, Palin has been riling people up about the Obama-Ayers connection to such a degree that one man, at a Florida rally today, shouted “Kill him!” (In context it seems most likely to have been a reference to Ayers, not Obama.) And as the Dow tanks, Obama is hitting back with KeatingEconomics.com, where you can now watch this long video about John McCain’s role in the Keating 5 scandal:

What’s driving all this? Polls like these, showing a double-digit Obama lead in Virginia, a state that McCain cannot lose and realistically expect to win the White House.

It’s clear now that McCain hopes to claw his way back up in the polls by tearing Obama down, insinuating that Obama’s a terrorist sympathizer, continuing to call Obama naive, and unleashing Palin to rile up the base with attacks in racist code.

And Obama clearly plans to hit back hard. He’s saying that two can play the guilt-by-association game, and that McCain’s past association with a notorious financial scandal makes him unfit to lead a country in the midst of a financial crisis.

It’s possible that by going tit-for-tat with McCain, Obama will just draw more attention to McCain’s attacks as the media focuses on the brawl. But my guess is that this is going to end up being a wash: McCain said this, Obama said that, both sides are getting rough because the election’s getting close, ho hum.

Given the current polling, a wash benefits Obama.

"Don't make me hit you wit mah pocketbook!"

Even as a completely unironic, eager and devoted Jennifer Hudson fanatic, I'm not going to deny that her new album is, as the courant.com review writes, "the equivalent of Lance Armstrong on training wheels."  That said, the song "Pocketbook"?  Owns your ASS!!

http://hypem.com/track/634434/Jennifer+Hudson+Ft+Ludacris-Pocketbook