Halloween Greetings

by twit

From the Drudge Report:

ZOGBY: MCCAIN MOVES INTO LEAD 48-47 IN ONE DAY POLLING

Hooray! More Flaming Space Garbage!

by twit

Leonid meteor shower image via Eideard

Via MSNBC:

NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, an Expedition 15 flight engineer, tosses a hefty unneeded ammonia tank the size of a refrigerator overboard from the space station during a July 23, 2007 spacewalk. The tank is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere on Nov. 2, 2008.

… Known as the Early Ammonia Servicer, or EAS, the coolant tank is the largest piece of orbital trash ever tossed overboard by hand from the space station.

… Exactly where the tank will inevitably fall is currently unknown, though it is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere Sunday afternoon or later that evening, NASA officials said.

It’s shootin’ time!

You Can Vote However You Like

by twit

via Breitbart:

Time: “You Can Vote However You Like,” inspired by rapper T.I.’s hit “Whatever You Like,” has swept across the Internet over the past few days, amassing nearly 300,000 hits on YouTube and booking them upcoming appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America and BET’s 106 & Park.

the wheels on the bus

by twit

go round and round…

Even McCain can’t help but campaign for Obama:

From his interview to air tonight on Larry King Live. …

KING: You don’t believe Barack Obama is a socialist do you?

MCCAIN: “No”

while rumor has it, Palin is no longer welcome on the Straight Talk Express:

I’ve heard from one well-placed source that McCain has snubbed her on one long bus ride aboard the Straight Talk Express, to the embarrassment of those sitting nearby.

and the mad scramble is on in the McCain campaign to blame Palin for everything:

John McCain’s campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.

And it has decided on Sarah Palin.

Because it would be sexist to not ask…

by lestro

Treat her like any other candidate, right?

Ever since Clinton was asked on that MTV thing back in 1992, every candidate has had to answer the question “boxers or briefs?” and John Kerry recently joked that McCain’s answer was “Depends…”

So in the spirit of not being sexist, when do we get an answer from Sarah Palin about her undergarment preference? Thong or boy shorts? Granny Panties or T-back? Cotton or commando?

Inquiring minds want to know…

… especially what kind of underwear one gets on a $150,000 shopping spree.

John McCain should know better

by lestro

When the basis for the closing weeks of your campaign comes down to emphasizing the differences between the “pro-America” sections of the country as compared to the cities (a concept the Philadelphia Inquirer recently ripped to shreds) you should really make sure you are on the up and up yourself.

Because for the record, this:

image via The New York Times

violates the flag code.

Section 176 (”respect for flag”), subsection (g) of the US Flag Code states:

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

Johnny Mac should know better.

McCain used to be so much more than a punchline

by lestro

One of the few agreements I have with Sen. McCain is his opposition to ethanol subsidies and tariffs. Ethanol is a boondoogle, a mistake and total bullshit. It takes more energy to make ethanol than the fuel actually  produces and the production of ethanol creates more greenhouse gases than are saved by using ethanol as a fuel.

It is stupid and our investment money can better be spent on other renewable technologies.

Since half the country grows corn, it made sense to look at it as a possible fuel source. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work very well.

However, with Iowa being one of the opening rounds in the upcoming presidential contest, intelligent policy can take a back seat to the need to pander to farmers by promising them continued ethanol subsidies, even though these subsidies not only continue the farce of corn-based fuel but also ratchet up our food costs by diverting stuff we can eat – something corn is quite good it – in favor of something we can put in our cars – something at which corn is middling at best.

Obama, meanwhile, is from Illinois, which grows a pantload of corn (Iowa ranks No. 1, Illinois comes in at No. 2) so he’s totally in the tank for ethanol.

Nobody’s perfect.

Recognizing the folly of ethanol (or at least taking a stand against stupid giveaways), John McCain is opposed to ethanol. It was one of the reasons he lost the Iowa Caucus to Mike Huckabee.

Or at least, McCain used to be opposed to ethanol subsidies. Back in 1999 he was opposed, although in this election season, McCain has said with the price of oil being so high, ethanol might make sense.

However, with Iowa polls showing a double digit Obama lead in a state with the “real America” profile Sarah Palin gets her panties in a bunch about, Johnny Mac is flip-flopping again:

But at a rally here Sunday afternoon, Mr. McCain seemed to suggest that government has a role in promoting corn ethanol.

Postcard from Colorado

by twit

From the Associated Press on October 26 2008:

Local police put the crowd estimate at “well over” 100,000 people.

sounds familiar…

Vote 4 Hope

by twit

featuring the true genius of America:

via the Viral Video Chart

Eight years later

by twit

From the NY Times blog The Caucus on October 24, 2008:

A twist on the old Budweiser “Wassup” commercials, using the same guys as the originals, and incorporating Iraq, the economic meltdown and the electrified change atmosphere of this election.

and the original “Wazzup” commercial:

Joe the McCain

by twit

He’s finally been booted out of the campaign:

Joe McCain said: “I feel terrible about having hurt the campaign over this incident. I won’t be doing any more campaigning because of that.”

… McCain’s brother has been in the news on other occasions recently.

Joe McCain, speaking at an event in early October in support of his brother, called two Democratic-leaning areas in Northern Virginia “communist country.”

“I’ve lived here for at least 10 years and before that about every third duty I was in either Arlington or Alexandria, up in communist country,” the younger McCain, a Navy veteran, said at an event in Loudoun County, Va.

Joe McCain then apologized, but the remark reportedly drew laughter at the event.

postcards from the internets

by twit

With McCain down in the polls and Obama increasingly projected to win the presidency in a landslide, it apparently is time for the kicking to begin:

Paging the gateway meme: via TPM, from The New Republic: “Charles Fried, … one of the most important conservative thinkers in the United States… announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot.” But that’s not all: “he asked that his name be removed from the several [McCain] campaign-related committees on which he serves.” and: “… he said that chief among the reasons for his decision “is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis.”  hmm. sounds familiar…

Gateway meme to the front desk, please: via MSNBC: “In the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, released Tuesday, 55 percent of respondents said they believed Palin was not qualified to serve as president if the need arose. Palin’s qualifications were the No. 1 concern voters had about McCain’s candidacy, ahead of the economy and the war in Iraq.”

et tu, Lieberman? via Politico: ““[T]hank God she’s not going to have to be president from Day One. McCain’s going to be alive and well,” he said.”

McCain is a crappy hedge fund: via Politico: “Republican donors, at the end of day, aren’t stupid,” said another Republican familiar with third-party activities this cycle. “They’re not going to throw good money after bad.”

McCain volunteer snaps, goes insane: From the Associated Press, a truly tragic story of Ashley Todd, age 20, who “will be housed in a mental health unit at the county jail for her safety and because of “her not insignificant mental health issues,” prosecutor Mark Tranquilli said.”

Maybe it was the Palin shopping spree that did it: From the Associated Press: ““That whole thing is just, bad!” [Palin] said. “Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.””

It’s easier to be happy when you are rich and ignore reality

by lestro

That’s our lesson today kids, brought to you by the letter “R”…

The pollsters were in the field asking about happiness this month, a period when economic news was gloomy for everybody and presidential campaign news seemed especially baleful for Republicans. Yet they found 37 percent of Republicans are “very happy,” compared with 25 percent of Democrats; 51 percent of Republicans and 52 percent of Democrats are “pretty happy”; and 9 percent of Republicans are “not too happy,” compared with 20 percent of Democrats.

The partisan happiness gap — unbroken for nearly four decades — is impervious to electoral ups and downs. It has something to do with worldview.

Right, because a world view in which you refuse to let facts get in the way of belief is like the Land of Make Believe (plus, the party leader is an obvious puppet…) where everything goes your way and reality never gets in the way of a good story.

But seriously, says Lehane, if Republicans are more happy, it’s because they care less.

“The typical Republican is happy coming home to a 62-inch television, pulling out a fine bottle of cognac or Scotch, putting his feet on the table and enjoying the fruits of his labor, but not caring what’s going on in the world outside their living room . . . and their gated community.”

Government-funded researchers identified the happiness gap in 1972. Since then, the Democrats have been comparatively more bummed out not just during the tenures of GOP presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush and Bush. They were noticeably less joyful than Republicans even during the GOP fiasco of Watergate, and during the Democratic Carter and Clinton administrations.

Not to mention the money. It’s a lot easier to be happy when you are loaded.

What’s the Republicans’ secret to feeling groovy?

“They have more money,” Paul Taylor, director of the Pew Social & Demographic Trends project, writes in the new report. “They have more friends. They are more religious. They are healthier. They are more likely to be married. They like their communities better. They like their jobs more. They are more satisfied with their family life. They like the weather better.”

More statement than science

by lestro

The 20th century was defined by the battle between two global superpowers; the United States and The Soviet Union. Aside from the nuclear missiles and mountains of debt, one of the most noticeable strands of the competition between the two nations was the space race.

After the USSR launched Sputnick, the first man-made satellite launched into orbit, the two nations went back and forth, launching rocket after rocket in an attempt to one-up the other.

In 1961, President Kennedy urged us on to the moon – something for which the Soviets were aiming for as well. As the two programs battled neck in neck, it forced NASA to take chances to try and beat the Ruskies, like sending the first Saturn V rocket we tested all the way to the moon with a trio of intensely brave astronauts strapped to the top.

Alan Greenspan admits a “mistake”

by lestro

I am just completely taken aback by this admission…

Facing a firing line of questions from Washington lawmakers, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman once considered the infallible maestro of the financial system, admitted on Thursday that he “made a mistake” in trusting that free markets could regulate themselves without government oversight.

Wow.  Shit must be worse than we thought.

Greenspan was all about deregulation and all about the market being the answer to the ills of the world.

But what he failed to count on was the overwhelming greed.

Which seems odd, because no one gets into the market because it is fulfilling, they get in to make MONEY. Usually at any cost.  Didn’t he see Bonfire of the Vanities or Wall Street?

The Resurrection of Hillary Clinton

by lestro

Or “Hillary comes around.”

Over the past year, we at the Kiwi have been a bit, well, harsh on Hillary Clinton, especially during the primary season.

It’s not that we don’t like her – I voted for her in 2000 – or that we did not think she was qualified for the job, it’s that (as we repeatedly stated) she did not represent the type of change the country needs at this time and because of the polarizing nature of her personality, name and history, we believed that even if she could eke out a victory (I still maintain she would have lost), it would be of the 50+1 variety, resulting in the same partisan gridlock we have seen for decades in Washington.

Plus, the country would have continued the same, stupid tye-dye era fights we’ve been waging since the Vietnam era, despite the fact that all that happened 40 years ago.

Even today, we see the attempts at this with the McCampaign’s continued focus on Bill Ayers and his doings back when Obama was 8.

That being said, as we have stated before, Hillary is absolutely needed in the Senate, where her wonkish ways, attention to policy detail and brutal political gamesmanship would come in very handy. We need her in there on Capitol Hill making the legislative sausage. And here’s hoping she becomes a Lion of the Senate in the Teddy Kennedy mold.

Sarah Palin won’t get an Obama tax cut

by twit

Not if the $150,000 or so in clothes she’s gotten from the RNC counts as income…

via Wonkette, Politico reports on Oct 22, 2008:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

and not if she’s in prison!

The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission’s long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.

image via Wonkette

Liberal media, my ass

by lestro

This time it hits home because it is coming from one of my very favorite newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer (as reported in the NY Times):

Over the weekend, the Philadelphia Inquirer joined the many newspapers that have endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president rather than Senator John McCain, contributing to the 3-to-1 advantage that Mr. Obama already has in newspaper support, according to Editor & Publisher.

Yet the Philadelphia Inquirer also endorsed Senator McCain. That’s not a typo.

On the same page that the newspaper published a 901-word editorial supporting Mr. Obama, it ran just beneath it a 391-word dissent in support of Mr. McCain.

Seriously. They actually did that. What the fuck? Officially, of course, nothing happened:

Brian Tierney, chief executive of the company that owns The Inquirer, Philadelphia Media Holdings, and who sits on the newspaper’s editorial board, would not say. In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Tierney would only say, “We don’t talk about what goes on on the editorial page.”

But the Times has its ways:

But another member of the Editorial Board, who asked not to be identified because of possible repercussions, said that it was Mr. Tierney who pressed the case for Mr. McCain. After arriving at the meeting, the board member said, “we went around the room” and Mr. Obama was the “overwhelming winner.”

At that point, the person said, “Tierney weighed in and made the case for McCain.”

Mr. Tierney, an advertising executive who in the past had been involved in Republican politics, was among a number of business executives who bought the Inquirer and its sister paper, the Philadelphia Daily News, from the McClatchy Company in 2006 for $562 million.

So let me get this straight: It was actually the REPUBLICAN forcing his view on the newsroom and using his power and influence to try and sway an election?

A breath of “fresh” Alaskan air

by lestro

It appears that Sarah Palin isn’t the only double-talker in the Alaskan delegation.  Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who is currently defending his ethics in court, has had some practice himself, as this exchange from his trial so beautifully explains:

But Ms. Morris did highlight two other issues aimed at damaging Mr. Stevens’s credibility. She challenged Mr. Stevens about his possession for seven years of an expensive massage chair bought for him in 2001 by another friend, Bob Persons.

Mr. Stevens did not list the chair on his disclosure forms as a gift, he said, because it was a loan.

“That chair, it’s still at your house?” Ms. Morris asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Stevens replied. “How is that not a gift?” she then asked.

Mr. Stevens said Mr. Persons “bought the chair as a gift but I refused it as a gift.” He said he agreed to have the chair stored in his home for Mr. Persons.

“So, if you say it’s not a gift, it’s not a gift?” the prosecutor asked. She then confronted Mr. Stevens with a note he wrote to Mr. Persons thanking him for the chair, saying how much he loved using the chair and even sometimes fell asleep in it.

Wow, that’s ballsy.

Especially for a guy facing seven felony counts of ethics violations.

“either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian”

by twit

The de ja vu is uncanny:

via leapsecond

We must hang together, gentlemen…

by lestro

McCain’s newest Joe the Plumber line is a pile of doo-doo:

“As Joe has reminded us all, America did not become the greatest nation on Earth by giving money to the government to spread the wealth around,” Mr. McCain told supporters, referring to a quotation from Mr. Obama.

Actually, McCain has that backwards. It was exactly that sort of thing that helped lead to the US to become the greatest nation on earth (the reason the US is the greatest nation, by the way, is the philosophical idea that all men are created equal and that governments exist to protect the rights of its people; two very fresh-at-the-time ideas from the Declaration).

But let’s humor Johnny Mac:  So public education, Social Security, those tax breaks for wealthy corporations, the highway system, the military rebuilding New Orleans, that bridge in Minnesota and all that shit – not to mention the $700 billion bailout we just approved -  that’s not giving money to the government and spreading the wealth around?

That’s EXACTLY what it is and what taxes are for, Johnny. The idea that we are stronger together than we are apart is not only the very basis for the United States (remember Franklin? “We must hang together, gentlemen…else, we shall most assuredly hang separately“), but it is also the idea behind CostCo.

Anyone who has ever had to do their own shopping (or bought their own drugs) will tell you that buying in quantity lowers price. That’s how it works.  With everything.

“Good evening bridge and tunnel elite”

by lestro

From Rolling Stone on October 17, 2008:

One also can’t underestimate the ability of a ninety-minute set of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel hits to bring a theater packed full of middle age tri-staters to screaming fits of hysterical joy. “Good evening bridge and tunnel elite,” Springsteen said…

The pairing worked surprisingly well. When Springsteen sang “they’re closing all the factories down” in “Allentown,” it sounded like it could have been a Darkness On The Edge Of Town outtake. Likewise, Joel made the sweet nostalgia of “Glory Days” seem like one of his own. “Movin’ Out” was dedicated to Bush and Cheney, and featured Springsteen singing the verse about “Mister Cacciatore’s” and the “Cadillac-ack-ack-ack-ack.” Other highlights included “Thunder Road,” “A Matter Of Trust,” “Spirit In The Night” and “New York State of Mind.”

They also did ‘Born to Run,’ ‘River of Dreams,’ and ‘Tenth Avenue Freeze Out.’

But the line of the night came from the man of honor himself:

“I just told Michelle backstage that the reason I’m running for president is because I can’t be Bruce Springsteen.”

come on, who wouldn’t rather be the Boss?  that’s where the real power is…

A United States of America

by twit

Associated Press

via McClatchy on October 18, 2008:

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Democrat Barack Obama drew his largest U.S. crowd to date on Saturday – an estimated 100,000 people who came to hear him speak at the Gateway Arch — as he campaigned in battleground Missouri just 17 days ahead of the election. [...]

Saturday evening, a crowd estimated at more than 75,000 thronged the Liberty Memorial near downtown Kansas City for another Obama rally.

via McClatchy on October 18, 2008:

Thursday’s first day of early voting drew record numbers across North Carolina, election officials said, as more than 100,000 people turned out.

[...] Across the state, Democrats showed the most first-day enthusiasm. Of the nearly 114,000 first-day voters, 64 percent were Democrats, 21 percent Republicans and 15 percent unaffiliateds

but wait, there’s more…

Hey Sarah Palin

by twit

… just because I can see the moon / doesn’t make me an astronaut, you loon…

Via the Viral Video Chart

A Vote for the American Dream

by twit

It is true that there is much to be afraid of with the ongoing demonization of Obama by the McCain campaign.  Many people are rightly concerned that it could incite people to violence against Obama.

The Politico reports on October 16, 2008:

Letterman also asked McCain whether Palin said that Obama “pals around with terrorists.”

After hesitating for a moment, McCain answered, “Yes. And he did.”

Do we want to live in an America defined by fear?  Not voting for Obama because of a fear that he will be assassinated is a vote for an America defined by fear.  It is a victory for violence and rage.

welcome to the future

by twit

We knew this was coming…

Several makers of brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs — devices that facilitate operating a computer by thought alone — claim the technology is poised to jump from the medical sector into the consumer gaming world in 2008.

and now it is here:

Photo: Jeff Mermelstein

Sixteen sensors actually read your brain’s electrical signatures to let you play a videogame by just thinking about it. Included software lets you use the device to manipulate any PC title. Think run and you’re out of there; think shoot and your enemy is toast.

So when do we get one that can surf the Internet?

Why is the Republican Party so racist?

by twit

via TPM, from the Press Enterprise on October 16, 2008:

The October newsletter by the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated says if Obama is elected his image will appear on food stamps — instead of dollar bills like other presidents. The statement is followed by an illustration of “Obama Bucks” — a phony $10 bill featuring Obama’s face on a donkey’s body, labeled “United States Food Stamps.”

The GOP newsletter, which was sent to about 200 members and associates of the group by e-mail and regular mail last week, is drawing harsh criticism from members of the political group, elected leaders, party officials and others as racist.

But wait, there’s more…

“the incredible shrinking man”

by twit

Zing.  From Editor & Publisher on October 12, 2008:

Barack Obama picked up at least 16 newspaper endorsements this weekend, including six in swing states Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Missouri. John McCain, as far as we know, gained just two.

The Wisconsin State Journal and The Sun of San Bernardino had backed Bush in 2004. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Obama’s opponent, John McCain, “the incredible shrinking man” who had made a horrific pick for his running mate.

Could the economy have something to do with it?

American racism: Not dead yet

by twit

update: Frank Rich writes for the New York Times on October 11, 2008:

At McCain-Palin rallies, the raucous and insistent cries of “Treason!” and “Terrorist!” and “Kill him!” and “Off with his head!” as well as the uninhibited slinging of racial epithets, are actually something new in a campaign that has seen almost every conceivable twist.

On October 10, 2008, TPM takes a look at recent news coverage related to the tenor of recent McCain/Palin rallies:

The news orgs are beginning to weigh in with big takes on what is unquestionably one of the most important stories of Campaign 2008: The pathologically-unhinged tone that McCain-Palin supporters are displaying at rallies of late.

The New York Times has a write-up here; The Washington Post has one here, and The Politico has one here.

Salon has a related story on October 11, 2008:

It’s no accident McCain stood up after several honorable Republicans and former McCain supporters began to speak out about his campaign’s hate-mongering. On Friday Michigan’s former GOP governor William Milliken started backing away from the guy he endorsed.

“He is not the McCain I endorsed,” Milliken told a local paper. “He keeps saying, ‘Who is Barack Obama?’ I would ask the question, ‘Who is John McCain?’ because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me.

Sarah Palin vs. The Philadelphia Flyers

by twit

“The chorus of boos” was “almost deafening“

“Palin came out onto the Wachovia Center ice Saturday night — greeted by resounding (almost deafening) boos from the Flyers crowd”

Sarah Palin thinks you are a moron

by twit

update: via McClatchy, from an Anchorage Daily News editorial on October 15, 2008:

Sarah Palin’s reaction to the Legislature’s Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report “vindicates” her. She said that the investigation found “no unlawful or unethical activity on my part.”

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

We’re through the looking glass, people.

Highlights from the Troopergate Report

by twit

What do you mean you don’t have time to read the entire 263 page report about how Sarah Palin abused her authority as governor?

Your faithful twit has collected some highlights for you:

(pdf at 8)

(pdf at 49)

(pdf at 52)

But where’s Johnny Mac?

by lestro

So I saw a McCain ad today in the Washington Post:

And according to Factcheck.org, “McCain misrepresents Obama’s tax proposals again. And again, and again.”

Want to know how John McCain voted on Senate Concurrent Resolution 70?  Well, on both March 14 and June 6, the senior senator from Arizona did not vote.

Let me pull a Biden here and say that again: Did not vote on the budget resolution in question. In March, he was one of four to not vote (there was one ‘present’ vote) and five in June (two ‘present’). In fact, so far this year, McCain has missed 81 percent of the votes including 98 percent in the second quarter and every single vote in the third quarter.

(To be fair, Obama has missed 64 percent of the votes this year.)

Save the Planetariums

by twit

The Adler Planetarium — image via Wonkette

Via the pdf statement by the Adler Planetarium:

McCain: “While we were working to eliminate these pork barrel earmarks he (Senator Obama) voted for nearly $1 billion in pork barrel earmark projects. Including $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?”

To clarify, the Adler Planetarium requested federal support – which was not funded – to replace the projector in its historic Sky Theater, the first planetarium theater in the Western Hemisphere. The Adler’s Zeiss Mark VI projector – not an overhead projector – is the instrument that re-creates the night sky in a dome theater, the quintessential planetarium experience.

Not only is it really sad that John McCain believes that funding an important community education institution qualifies as “pork barrel” spending to be ashamed of, but they didn’t even get the money.

It is like the Adler Planetarium says:

Science literacy is an urgent issue in the United States. To remain competitive and ensure national security, it is vital that we educate and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

oh, and the Adler Planetarium claims that they “never received an earmark as a result of Senator Obama’s efforts” and this “is clearly evidenced by recent transparency laws implemented by the Congress.”

Sarah Palin rallies the KKK

by twit

update: via Newsweek on November 5, 2008:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied.

You don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows:

Just wow.  Via Wonkette, the Washington Post actually reports on October 6, 2008:

“Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers,” Palin said.

“Boooo!” said the crowd.

“And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol,’” she continued.

“Boooo!” the crowd repeated.

“Kill him!” proposed one man in the audience.

So who is this nefarious Bill Ayers?  According to Palin, he is a terrorist:

“Our opponent … is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country,” Palin told a group of donors in Englewood, Colo.

A deliberate attempt to smear Obama, McCain’s ticket-mate echoed the line at three separate events Saturday.

“This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,” she said. “We see America as a force of good in this world. We see an America of exceptionalism.”

However:

Her reference to Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Vietnam-era Weather Underground, was exaggerated at best if not outright false. No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago and Ayers hosted a political event for Obama early in his career.

Obama, who was a child when the Weathermen were planting bombs, has denounced Ayers’ radical views and actions.