Screw your head down tight. You don't want it to spin off as you try to understand what John McCain thinks about the economy.

Yesterday McCain assured us that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" despite our "difficult times." Today he explained that by "fundamentals," he meant American workers are strong. Whether they have strong backs or strong stomachs, he didn't specify.

So the workers don't need fixing, but what about the economy? Yesterday McCain was all about reform. He was going to take care of the "greed, excess and corruption in Wall Street." But how? Today he explained: all we need is "a high-level commission to study the current economic crisis," kinda like the 9/11 commission. So maybe midway through his presidential term, he'll get some recommendations about what to do solve what he now acknowledges is a "crisis." Marvelous. Does this inspire your confidence in John McCain's ability to lead?

Who will he put in charge of the commission? Phil Gramm? Donald Luskin? Take a look at his economic team and try to find someone who cares about the strong workers McCain is trying to embrace.

The Daily Kos/R2000 poll (8/13-15) has Obama up 48-44, up 1 from yesterday. I won't be around until this afternoon to provide you the other tracker results. UPDATE - Ras ticks towards Obama, McCain's lead sliced to 1, 48-47. Hotline shows a big move towards Obama, 46-42, from a 1 point lead a day earlier. Gallup ticks towards Obama, McCain lead cut to 1, 47-36.

The internals of this poll seem quite plausible - McCain by 20 among whites, Obama up 94-4 among A-As and leading by 2-1 among Latinos. McCain leads among men by 4 and Obama leads among women by 12. Turnout models are determinative. Demography is, as always, political destiny.

A final note, on the legitimacy of the DKos/R2000 poll - R2000 is a legitimate and respectable pollster. It seems to have a slight Dem house effect. But those of you voicing the idea that Kos would fiddle with polls are being just plain stupid. I would stake my own reputation on Markos' integrity. I disagree with him a lot. But he would never ever fudge the numbers.

This is a polling Open Thread. Just about polls please.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers discuss the Netroots and its actions. Bowers uses the provocative title "Why Should Anyone Respect The Netroots?" It is a good question. I know I personally lost a lot of respect for the Netroots in the past 2 years. But Bowers rightly is not concerned about whether I respect him - he wants respect from politicians and the Media. But what does he want them to respect? The power and influence of the Netroots is what seems uppermost on his mind:

The point is that just doing something beneficial to a politician does not mean that politician will end up respecting you. This is especially the case when you are viewed as a bunch of amateurs who will work for free . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) Therein lies the problem. Most of the Left blogs work for politicians, not for issues. THAT is why the Netroots gets no respect. Stoller makes the point well:

TalkLeft discusses the Fair Pay Restoration Act here and here and here. Barack Obama supports it. John McCain doesn't. Maybe fair pay doesn't make a difference to voters, but it should.

Add one more misleading advertisement to the McCain campaign's lengthy list of lies and distortions. The McCain team is wasting its resources attacking Obama on immigration with a Spanish language ad on television stations in Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

A male announcer says: “Obama and his allies in Congress say they are on the side of immigrants, but they’re not. Reports in the press say that their efforts were like ‘poison pills’ that caused immigration reform to fail. The results: ‘No’ to the guest workers program; ‘no’ to a path to citizenship, ‘no’ to secure borders. The reform didn’t pass. Is that being on our side? Obama and his Congressional allies — ready to block immigration reform, but not ready to govern.”

This comes after McCain, during the primaries, disavowed the reform bill he once championed, saying he would now postpone policy reform until American borders are "secure". Does the McCain team think that targeting obvious lies to people who care about immigration reform will help him win this election? [more...]

Even David Gergen on CNN tonight said John McCain's campaign ads are false. He says the media is beginning to pushback against Palin and McCain and it may spread to the public.

CNN also had a long review of McCain's ads with reporter Randi Kaye and Factcheck.org. The upshot:

• Sex education ad: false Obama was trying to get kids to learn about recognizing improper touching.

• The Bridge to Nowhere: Palin never told Congress "no thanks", Congress had already killed it.

• Earmarks: McCain lied on The View today and said Palin didn't ask for earmarks while Governor. This year alone she asked for 197 million. She vetoed some earmarks but also asked for others.

• Palin claims Alaska produces 20% of the energy produced in US. It's 3.5%. It matters because they are using this in a claim that Palin is some kind of energy expert.

More...

I'm watching Weeds. It's the best season yet. Tonight the DEA questions Nancy. And Nancy is outed as a cooperator. It's the final episode of the season.

What are you watching or doing?

Update: I just noticed we wrote 25 posts today. Hope some of you will scroll down and to the next page to read them.

This is an open thread.

Sen. John McCain's campaign today announced Gov. Sarah Palin will not meet with the investigators in TrooperGate. Previously she said she welcomed the investigation and would cooperate.

The fired public safety official, Walter Monegan, is speaking out.

"She's not telling the truth when she told ABC neither she nor her husband pressured me to fire Trooper Wooten," said Walt Monegan, the Alaskan official whose dismissal by Sarah Palin is the focus of a state investigation known as "Troopergate". "And she's not telling the truth to the media about her reasons for firing me."

He'll be on Rachel Maddow's show tonight. (Update below the fold)

CNN's Randi Kaye had a great taped segment on Campabell Brown's show tonight with FactCheck.Org on Palin's distortion of her record and accomplishments. I'm going to try and find a video of it, it was one of the most comprehensive exposing of the untruths I've seen yet. Hopefully they may replay it.

How much is 500 points?

The 504-point fall is the Dow's sixth-largest point drop ever and was the biggest loss for the Dow since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

What's next?

Even as investors digested the historic news surrounding Lehman and Merrill Lynch, some were raising concerns about how it could spill over into other parts of the economy. There will be renewed pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates tomorrow at its scheduled meeting, economists said.

More...

The FBI crime report released today (referenced here with respect to marijuana) also shows a drop in violent crime. And, contrary to the notion often expressed by crime warriors that there is less crime because more offenders are locked up, this Justice Policy Institute factsheet (pdf) shows the opposite: Areas with lower incarceration rates experienced greater crime reductions.

The number of violent offenses reported to law enforcement fell 1.4 percent in 2007. Both violent and property crimes fell in three of the four regions of the country. Only the southern region experienced an increase in these two categories.

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Sam Stein reports:

During a conference call with national female supporters on Monday, Barack Obama and his aides outlined a comprehensive strategy to target female supporters who could be on the fence between his and John McCain's candidacies. The plan included intense focus on McCain's opposition to equal pay legislation, which aides to Obama believe resonates beyond female voters; sending out prominent female surrogates to serve as political "ambassadors"; limiting focus on Gov. Sarah Palin in favor of McCain himself; and breaking through the media's propensity to focus on conflicts and gaffes.

There were several issues on which the campaign suggested these pseudo-surrogates focus. Equal pay, opposition to choice, and the economy were some of them -- Sarah Palin was not. "I know we are getting a little distracted by discussion about Sarah Palin, but I think it is important for all of us to focus on Sen. McCain," said Dana Singiser, a strategist for Obama. . . . "Whether we are talking about jobs or health care or gas prices, this is what women voters and really all voters are concerned about."

(Emphasis supplied.) Amen.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

The Bush Adminstration's Drug Czar John Walters said on C-Span last week (video here) that it's a lie that 800,000 Americans were arrested for pot last year. He said folks would have better luck finding a “unicorn” in jail for pot.

NORML has the statistics:

Police arrested a record 872,721 persons for marijuana violations in 2007, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report released today. This is the largest total number of annual arrests for cannabis ever recorded by the FBI. Cannabis arrests now comprise nearly 47.5 percent of all drug arrests in the United States.

"These numbers belie the myth that police do not target and arrest minor cannabis offenders," said NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre, who noted that at current rates, a cannabis consumer is arrested every 37 seconds in America. "This effort is a tremendous waste of criminal justice resources that diverts law enforcement personnel away from focusing on serious and violent crime, including the war on terrorism."

More....