Since I unleashed my animus for McCain all day, here's an Open Thread to talk about something else.

New CNN/Opinion Research poll:

A new national poll suggests Barack Obama is widening his edge over John McCain in the race for the White House. The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Monday afternoon suggests that the country's financial crisis, record low approval ratings for President Bush, and a drop in the public's perception of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin all appear to be contributing factors in Obama’s gains among voters.

Fifty-three percent of likely voters questioned in the poll say they are backing Obama for president, with 45 percent supporting McCain. That 8 point edge is double the 4 point margin Obama held in the last CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, taken in mid-September.

(Emphasis supplied.) Erratic, angry and desperate. McCain is headed to a landslide loss.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Via TPM, McCain, up close and personal:

Is McCain too thin-skinned for presidency?

John McCain is angry.

You can feel it in the clenched muscles in his throat, the narrowing of his eyes, the controlled tone with which he handles a question he doesn't like, as if struggling to contain something that might spill out. We've seen that body language on TV. But around a Des Moines Register table Tuesday, the anger and tension were palpable. And unsettling.

McCain's volatility has been written and whispered about by staff and Senate colleagues: the mercurial temper, the quixotic outbursts of reproach, then jocularity. But those alleged episodes were behind the scenes. The combative, prickly McCain we saw was seeking the Register's endorsement. . . . [M]aybe, a more worrisome prospect, this is the real McCain - who can't deal with stressful situations without feeling attacked, who lashes out when he feels threatened.

McCain is not fit to be President. More . . .

The McCain campaign wants voters to believe "that Mr. Obama’s judgment about his associates [Rezko, Ayers, and Wright] shows that he cannot be trusted to pick justices for the Supreme Court." An ad to that effect will begin running this week. John McCain's association with Charles Keating, Phil Gramm, and a brigade of lobbyists is apparently irrelevant to McCain's judgment. At least it won't be mentioned in the advertising.

Conservatives are particularly exercised that Barack Obama described his ideal judge in human terms:

“What I do want is a judge who is sympathetic enough to those who are on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those who can’t have access to political power and as a consequence can’t protect themselves from being — from being dealt with sometimes unfairly, that the courts become a refuge for justice,” said Mr. Obama, who taught constitutional law for years at the University of Chicago.

[more ...]

I am watching John McCain delivering his new attack speech. And he is proving himself perhaps one of the most inept politicians we have ever seen. John McCain can not even deliver a good attack speech - a Republican specialty. He is really terrible at it. Palin really is ten times the political talent he is. The GOP needs to hide McCain, not Palin.

McCain just said the country is in its "worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." Two weeks ago "the fundamentals of the economy were strong." Now he is bragging about his "suspension" of his campaign. The man defines erratic. Not only is he a reckless, feckless, blithering idiot, he is perhaps the worst politician to run for President since Michael Dukakis. He is that bad at it.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

With the global stock markets getting slammed (the Dow is down 660 points as I write), it is clear that the Wall Street Bailout was not enough or really about the real problems we face. We need HOLC and we need a new New Deal.

Tomorrow night there will be a town hall/debate involving the two Presidential candidates. I hope the Democratic candidate for President, Barack Obama, realizes that we will need bold progressive leadership from our next President.

Barack Obama needs to promise the voters and the country that he will provide a new New Deal, a Square Deal for Main Street and for ordinary Americans. He should take the ideological battle on - John McCain represents the failed policies of Conservatism, Republicanism and Bushism. Obama should argue for and represent the proud Democratic progressive tradition of representing Main Street and ordinary Americans for the Common Good. Tomorrow night, Barack Obama can win a mandate - for progressivism and the Common Good. Tomorrow night will not decide the election, but it could establish the mandate of what a Barack Obama Presidency will be about.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Just another reason not to vote for McCain/Palin:

John McCain would pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, a top aide said, in a move that independent analysts estimate could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.....Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Sen. McCain's senior policy adviser, said Sunday that the campaign has always planned to fund the tax credits, in part, with savings from Medicare and Medicaid. Those government health-care programs serve seniors, poor families and the disabled. Medicare spending for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 is estimated at $457.5 billion.

The cuts are how the McCain campaign claims its proposal is budget neutral and wouldn't cost taxpayers more money: [More...]

Digby points to the part of the progressive blogosphere I want to be a part of:

[O]nline progressives are organizing around this concept:

Anyone with common sense will vote for Barack Obama and Democratic congressional candidates this November. But it's time for citizens to fight back and take this pledge -- will you join in signing it?

"In 2009 and beyond, I will be part of the movement that pushes Democrats to be bold progressives -- and that helps pass a bold progressive agenda into law."

Sign the pledge, and then follow through with it.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Via Matt Yglesias, McCain surrogate Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), argued on Face The Nation that Barack Obama is un-American because he criticizes President Bush.

We all know McCain and the Republicans are not un-American so they must be in agreement with the Bush Administration's actions of the past 8 years. So it is official, McCain and the Republicans are running on the accomplishments of the George W. Bush Administration. Rep. Wilson's clarity is refreshing.

I happen to not care about the Keating 5 scandal myself but who am I to tell voters what to care about? But in a world where William Ayers and the Weather Underground is a topic of discussion, it seems to me that tomorrow's debate moderator, Tom Brokaw (via Atrios) has compromised himself to some degree when he agrees the Keating 5 is "ancient history:"

MR. BROKAW: John—we have to keep explaining to everyone—that Charles Keating was the Arizona developer with whom John McCain had an, a, a strong relationship, and then he got in a lot of trouble. He was prosecuted by the Feds, and John McCain said, “I made a terrible mistake here.” Yeah.

MR. YEPSEN: And it’s all ancient history, Tom.

MR. BROKAW: Yeah.

More...

Boy that bailout really did the trick didn't it? Dow down 400+.

Anyone have any cheery news? How about this - in 106 days, George W. Bush will no longer be the President of the United States.

Here is a joke to cheer you up, from Annie Hall:

Two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know, and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly.

Didn't that cheer you up?

This is an Open Thread.

DKos/R2000 (10/3-5) has Obama up 12, 52-40. Ras (10/3-5) has Obama up 8, 52-44. Battleground (9/30-10/2, 10/5) (PDF) has Obama up 7, 50-43. Gallup(10/2-4) has Obama up 7, 50-43. Hotline (10/2-4) has Obama up 7, 48-41.

Absent some miracle for McCain, this election is over. No national tracker has him closer than 7 points and there are 29 days to go in this election. What can McCain do? I know he will throw the kitchen sink at Obama but I can not imagine that being enough to turn this around. It's over.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only