the defense against the dark arts edition

If you're like me, you might be feeling a little like you're on a rollercoaster(never mind what's going on the markets, I can't even go there), as you look at the great poll numbers in all the swing states, the fact that we're closing in on a number of Senate races (which we need to actually get things done!), the ass-kicking Obama delivered in the last debate, and then look at the crap McCain/Palin is flinging. So I've pulled together a few links to help you focus on the light...and help you defend against the Dark Arts.

Remember: There's solid ground under these poll numbers
1) We've changed the map in terms of party identification in Pennsylvania--look how blue it is!
2) We've made amazing gains in voter registration in the battleground states
3) Early voting shows that new voter and African American turnout might be higher than even expected. Take a look at Georgia~!

Remember: This is not your father's Democratic Party--we're fighting back!
1) We know the Repubs will stoop very, very low to suppress the vote. But so far, we've battled them back in Michigan, and now we just won again in Montana. But today's NYTimes shows there's much more to be done. Want to get involved? Volunteer to be a help out in Obama's Voter Protection Program.
2) Obama and Biden are showing McCain to be a coward, criticizing McCain for talking about Ayers on the stump, but "not saying it to [Obama's] face."
3) No swiftboating here! Robert Gibbs, one of Obama's campaign spokespeople, takes it to Sean Hannity, and show's how ridiculous the whole "association politics" is. Anyone hear Tom Petty? "No, I won't back down..."

Be prepared for stomach-turning sleaze, and know that it's not a winning tactic.
McCain will be snide and mean, and hypocritical, "going along to get along" with the paranoid racist xenophobia of the Republican base, and Palin will incite her crowds (stirring it up til' they yell "treason" and "kill him," and yell racial slurs at African American camera crew staffers). And they're going to do this in a big way--with %100 negative ad buys...not a single positive ad running, at all. But remember that these tactics are just driving independents away, driving McCain and Palin's unfavorables up, and turning off the press and even the conservative commentariat.

The Truth Will Out.

• We're ready to talk about McCain's role as one of the Keating Five--and one of the Keating Five says it's fair game.
• People are pointing out that McCain is linked to an Iran-Contra organization.
• Some have even begun to question the "myth of the maverick".
• And we haven't even started on Troopergate (released on Friday), and Palin's ties to the secessionist Alaska Independence Party.

But until it does, we get grounded, get inspired, and get to work...
Some good advice about getting grounded:

Be like Barack. Brush the bullshit off your shoulder, and soldier on. Be cool. Look like you know something nobody else knows. Don't break your stride. And don't do hysterical stupid shit. That's [the Republican wingnuts'] job.

Some inspirational words: Donna Brazile tells it! "I'm not going to the back of the bus." (Very, very worth a look)

And some words to keep you working hard--it's only 26 more days!

[We need to] deliver a defeat worse than they ever imagined. We do that by winning states that have no business turning Blue -- like North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, and so on -- states that were easy Bush victories in 2004. We do that by electing a 60-seat supermajority in the Senate. We do that by defeating their leadership, like Mitch McConnell in the Senate. We do that by defeating their heroes, like wingnut go-to hero John Shadegg. We do that by making sure a record number of Americans reject conservative ideology, leaving it utterly discredited.

The day after the election, I want to see an electoral battlefield littered with defeated Republicans, their ranks demoralized, their treasury in heavy debt, and no real leadership to take the helm. I want a vacuum so complete, that a bloody leadership battle between the neocons, theocons, and corporate cons shakes the GOP to its core, and leaves it fractured and ill-equipped to stymie the progressive agenda, much less ramp up for an even bleaker (for them) 2010.

...We're not out to win this thing. We're out to crush them. And that's going to require a level of engagement beyond anything you've ever done before. It'll mean more phone banking, more canvassing, more donating.

Phonebank. Canvass. Volunteer to protect the vote. I'm happy to talk with you about what volunteering is like, and what you can expect.

And please, we're almost there...donate, once more.

Let's join hands, take a deep breath, work even harder, and crush them...