LIGHTNING ROUND: INTRODUCING JOHN SIDNEY McCAIN, DISHONORABLE MAN, LYING REPUBLICAN.

• Yesterday, David Brooks noted in his column in passing that "The Republicans are intellectually unfit to govern right now," but based on the last 24 hours, I think Josh Marshall has the more accurate take: "There's just no getting around it at this point, the man [McCain] is not morally fit to serve as president." True, McCain has successfully disassociated himself from the Republican brand and reinvigorated independent voters with his maverick image via Sarah Palin, but the campaign he is waging ranks with the worst of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. Whether it's sex-ed, lipstick, or "destroying" Palin, it's clear that John McCain is prepared to whip up as much disgusting cultural rage as he needs to win that 51 percent and that, my friends, is where this dishonorable man intends to take this election. Whatever you think of Joe Klein and Andrew Sullivan, to name two other prominent pundits who have been singed by John McCain's burning desire to put "country first," it's clear that McCain has alienated his original base, the news media, in order to steal the initiative from Barack Obama. Of course, as powerful as the news can be for creating (or reinforcing -- the debate rages on) campaign narratives, it isn't clear if that will be enough to sway the electorate at this point. I'd describe the race as 50-50 at this point.
• Responding to a CNN poll that found a not-insignificant number of Americans believe it is unfair to "raise questions about her [Palin's] experience," Steve Benen describes the American political landscape as "exceedingly odd right now." That's quite an understatement. How about this quote from a Republican strategist that the Democratic Strategist describes as the essence of truthiness: "The more the New York Times and The Washington Post go after Sarah Palin, the better off she is, because there's a bigger truth out there and the bigger truths are she's new, she's popular in Alaska and she is an insurgent. As long as those are out there, these little facts don't really matter." Oy. Taking the cake for McCain-Palin exceptionalism, however, has to be Meghan McCain, who stated as a matter-of-fact on the Today Show, "No one knows what war is like other than my family. Period." POW POW POW!!!
  
• John Ridley compiles "Palinguage" in a second volume for the Huffington Post he calls the "people's edition." The entire list is a gorgeous distillation of conservative cognitive dissonance, so you should read the whole thing, but I'll pull out one representative example: "If you are biracial and born in a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs darn near 2 years and 3 major speeches to 'get to know you.' If you're white and from a state not connected to the lower 48, America needs 36 minutes and 38 seconds worth of an acceptance speech to know you're 'one of us.'"
• Your world in charts: Continuing with today's theme of coming to grips with the degenerate politics the GOP has saddled us with once again, I present Nick Beaudrot's pie chart of "national media election coverage" and Gerry Canavan's helpful pie charts of the competing priorities of Democrats and Republicans.
• On a more serious note, John Sides uses this mysterious alchemy known as "political science" to describe, in a very accessible way, why the Wall St. Journal's "Alan Brinkley Misunderstands Electoral Politics."
• Today at the National Press Club, Ron Paul endorsed "all of the above," with "all" being pretty much any third party candidate. I'll leave up to you, dear reader, to discern what Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, Ralph Nader and Chuck Baldwin have in common besides not being named Obama or McCain.
• Time has a piece on the Obama campaign's firewall: the Fall ground game. Meanwhile, "Change We Can Believe In," a book covering "Obama's vision for change in our country," and his "plans to fix our economy, make health care affordable for all, achieve energy independence and keep America secure" is currently at the top of the Amazon bestseller list after one day on sale.
• Yesterday there were primaries in Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. CQ Politics has the details here.
• More voting rights shenanigans down in Florida. No big deal, though. The law "previously blocked more than 16,000 eligible Florida citizens from registering to vote, through no fault of their own, and could disenfranchise tens of thousands more voters in November." Democracy rules!
• Contradicting Survey USA's 20-point McCain lead in North Carolina, Public Policy Polling [PDF] gives McCain a more modest five-point lead in the Tar Heel state, 49-44. Strategic Vision has Obama maintaining a narrow, 2-point lead in Pennsylvania, 47-45. CNN / TIME / ORC has Obama ahead in Michigan, 49-45, New Hampshire 51-45, and McCain leading in Missouri 50-45, and Virginia, 50-46. Most troubling for Obama, however, is this Rasmussen poll giving McCain a two-pooint lead in New Mexico, where Obama has consistently led for months.
• And Finally, a small special interest group calling themselves the National Rifle Association is distributing 4 million brochures to members, their friends and families, describing Barack Obama as "The Most Anti-Gun President in American History." It's pretty sad that the closest we're getting to a real public policy discussion in this election is coming from the largess of a bunch of crazed right-wingers. Plus ça change...

--Mori Dinauer