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The Corner

• I Think This Is What You Call a Tie
  And check out the energy note below. Bring on Palin. The Early Line: Diageo/Hotline Tracking Poll Obama/Biden 45% McCain/Palin 44% Undec 9% - Obama and McCain are now tied 44-44% among men. Today's Diageo/Hotline poll is the first in which Obama has not led men since he trailed them 46-45% in the survey completed 9/26. - The candidates remained tied on economic issues. 42% believe Obama would do the best job handling the U.S. economy, and 42% say McCain. 62% meanwhile believe the economy is the most important issue facing the U.S. - McCain, however, now has his largest lead ever on energy issues. 46% favor the GOP nominee on managing U.S. energy policies, and 40% favor Obama. One week ago, in the survey completed 9/30, Obama led 46-40% on energy. Today's Diageo/Hotline tracking poll, conducted 10/5-7 by FD, surveyed 904 LVs and has a margin of error of +/- 3.3%. Party ID Breakdown for the sample is 41%D, 36%R, 18%I. Look for full results in today's Latest Edition and checkout Keys To The White House at any time to see how Obama and McCain are doing among key demographic groups.
• Preach It
  One last e-mail: There's a cure for all of this and it's called -Forget the polls, forget opinions, don't succumb to the depression the media is trying to promote, keep working hard in support of your candidates and GET OUT THE VOTE. Turn out is the key. If we throw our hands up in defeat now defeat is certainly what we'll reap. I'm not in a good mood myself, but I'll be damned if I'm going give up, because that's exactly what the liberals want us to do, give up, and I'll be double damned if I'll give them the satisfaction.
• Pep Talk
  From a military captain: To: Kathryn Lopez Subject: Buck Up Campers!   K-Lo- I've had it.  Look at this-2 points behind with ZOGBY-ZOGBY!  This thing is far from over.  OK so McCain is not Ronald Reagan-Got it!  However he's put in 2 far superior performances than our current president ever did.  A couple of non-politicos in my office mentioned two things-1) they both did well (believe it or not a really high standard for McCain to achieve given that the best the MSM will ever grade the debate is a tie) and 2) That buying of houses thing might work.  My wife-who still doesn't know who she's voting for said the following last night 1) McCain is energetic and 2) Obama's comment's on Pakistan proves "he doesn't have a clue as to what to do." You watch MSNBC-their reaction afterwards was all on McCain with nary a word about Obama-good sign me-thinks. He's got to pander to the middle-he's got to.  That's the way it works.  You hardly ever get zingers out of these (name any from Bush / Kerry).  The polls are always pushing Democrats this cycle-8 point leads in turnout-good luck.  Even Nixon couldn't get them there. Thanks for the vent!
• Barack Obama, Socialist
  Larry Johnson, formerly of the CIA, can be spectacularly wrong on occasion.  He does, however, seem to have nailed down that Obama was an active member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International.  His post, with lots of corroborating links, is here.
• The Perfect Obama Voter
  Was anybody else appalled by Barack Obama's approving invocation last night of his mother's having been on food stamps at one point in his childhood? Obama's mother was not a poor, uneducated sharecropper in Mississippi, the sort of person for whom the food stamp program was designed. She was a hippie dippy grad student bumming around the world, reportedly discovering the superiority of other cultures (i.e., the ones that weren't providing her with food stamps) to that of her native land. She did, in a way, foreshadow the perfect Obama voter: the callow grad student, critical of the U.S. but nevertheless unashamed to enjoy its beneficence. 
• Palin Hacking
  An arrest is made.
• Lynne Cheney on Sarah Palin
  I missed this earlier in the week, a fun interview with Tammy Haddad: TH: Well I have to ask you by the way, speaking of controversy, Sarah Palin -- McCain campaign picks Sarah Palin to be VP. Could you see her living in this house? LC: You know I¹ve thought about it many times, it¹s a great house. Some of the kids might have to bunk together, but on the whole what a great house for a big family. The wonderful yard where everyone can run around and be safe. I would look forward to that very much ­ I do look forward to it very much. TH: Have you met her? LC: Only once, and I was impressed. But still, I had no idea that she would be our Vice Presidential candidate. I was really stunned when John McCain picked her. But then I saw her at the convention. That speech she delivered ­ honestly, I¹ve seen a lot of politicians, I¹ve seen a lot of people who are very polished, who do their thing just right. But what she has is that air of "This is who I am." The authenticity comes through. I saw Bill Clinton talk about her and he said that she was one of the most naturally gifted politicians he¹d seen ­I think that¹s true. TH: Wow, and from Bill Clinton! LC: Yes, he gave a very interesting analysis of her. TH: Well there was so much criticism about Sarah Palin. LC: That¹s exactly what I was thinking. Well interestingly enough, I think there¹s a great core of good common sense in the American people. When that attack was so vicious and so over-the-top it¹s almost as though it insulated her. Because everybody said, "You¹re saying what?" ­ so people gathered around her. It had an unintended consequence I think. More here.
• The Not Quite Sunny Side
  A friend tries to make the case: Jonah: For all the handwringing on the debate, a few points. McCain did fine, Barack did fine. The questions were terrible, or loaded (how do you win the health care right vs privilege question, and conservatives should give McCain credit for not taking the easy road there). McCain did land a number of successful punches, and Barack basically played defense or counterpunched OK. All that having been said, at what point would it jave been appropriate to bring in unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayres? Or Tony Rezko? It's not like  McCain declined to swing on a mentor or character fat pitch question. Had he raised it out of left field, the storyline today would be desparation, nastiness, etc.. And that's not so good either. They've had Ayers all over the news because of Palin for the last few days showing you can hammer away even outside of a debate. Did I want more last night? Sure . But very very rarely are these things ever a "knockout" and the alternative strategy carries some risks as well.
• Re: The Debate: Bad Feelings After the Snoozer in Nashville
  So now it's Brokaw's fault? Reading the info in Byron's post, I feel like I live in an alternative universe.  Obama's people are mocking McCain for taking a shot at Obama, and McCain's response is ... to assure Obama that he meant no disrespect?  Sheesh. Folks, forget about all this policy wonkery.  McCain's policies have driven us crazy for years.  The thought that he's going to win this thing on policy is foolish.  I mean, now, Fan, Fred and $800 billion later, his great idea is to spend a few hundred bill more to buy the bad mortgages?  Really gets the juices flowing, doesn't it? McCain's only shot is/was to show that Obama cannot be trusted with the presidency.  If Obama is plausible, McCain loses.  And McCain, unfailingly, treats Obama as if he is totally plausible.  Ballgame.
• The Great Handshake Controversy
  It seemed obvious to anyone watching the debate last night that John McCain and Barack Obama had an outwardly warm handshake and pat on the back immediately after the debate ended.  The two were standing so close that moderator Tom Brokaw had to ask them to part so Brokaw could see the TelePrompter.  Yet a number of commentators on the left have suggested that McCain refused to shake Obama's hand.  "Did McCain just refuse to shake Obama's hand?" asked Josh Marshall of TPM.  "It certainly looks like McCain left Obama hanging when Obama put his hand out to shake." The Washington Post's Tom Shales said much the same thing.  "After the debate ended," Shales wrote in the edition of the paper delivered to my door this morning, "a camera caught Obama extending a hand in McCain's direction and what looked like McCain refusing to shake it, although watching at home one couldn't be certain."  The Post's Dana Milbank wrote, also in the paper edition, "The two men finished their small-bore skirmish and parted after an awkward attempt at a handshake that left p