Midday open thread

• Bowers gets appropriately sarcastic:
  

  First Read has a serious question about current polling:

  But do consider this question: Which candidate has the bigger problem in the polls — Obama (who seems to have hit a ceiling in the high 40s) or the better-known McCain (who’s stuck in the low 40s in many national or state polls)?

  Yes, do consider this question.

  Is it better for a candidate to be polling in the high forties or in the low forties? Seriously, think about this one for a while, because the answer isn’t as obvious as it seems.

  If you are trying to win an election, is it better to be ahead, or behind, in the polls? This question has haunted philosophers since Kirkegaard.

  Let me rephrase: is it better to have more public support or less public support?

  Yeah, I’m torn as well. Punditry is hard work!

• Hate mail of the day:
  

  I can only hope that Obama is elected president.  Then maybe he and his liberal friends (including you assholes) will let in enough terrorists who will blow some shit up.  They won’t go after middle America (in which I live in) because we’re not a large enough target.  No, they will want more dead bodies.  That’s where you come in.  I spent a few minutes on your site and realized that you’re all fucked in the head brainless pussies.  I’d like to personally kick the shit out of you.  But since you’re probably in New York or Los Angeles, that’s not going to happen.  I’ve been to Los Angeles.  What a shithole.  I’d like to get some good pizza in NY, but not at the risk of running across assholes like anyone on the New York Times, Madonna, David Letterman, or any other cocksucking liberal.

  One day, I’ll pick up the newspaper and it will say, Muslim terrorists blow up Manhattan, Boston, Detroit, Los Angles, and Washington, D.C.  As sad as it will be that those stinky ragheads will have spilled precious American blood on our soil, at least most of you liberal assholes will be burnt to a cinder.  Just keep up your liberal ways, letting all the illegal aliens in, handcuffing our military and police, and you’ll see what happens.  I’ll have a box of tissues for my tears, mourning the lost lives, and also a nice bottle of wine knowing that most your you asshole libs are now feeding the worms six feet under.  And in closing, fuck you!

  What score does this email get?

• John Cole on the Monica Goodling/Justice Department scandal:
  

  This is the kind of crap you need to keep in mind when you hear the braying jackasses accusing Democrats and other of not being patriotic. These scumbags, these perfect examples of the modern GOP, have routinely put party over country. The fact that they have the nerve to even show their faces in public, let alone accuse others of treason or treachery or question their patriotism is enough to make your blood boil.

  The modern GOP absolutely puts party over country, and has for the last, oh, forever. Ideology trumps everything. Even reality.

• As much as the McCain camp claims it will run a “respectful” campaign, and as much as the press carries water for him, the American people are seeing through it.
  

  QUESTION: Which candidate for President has run a more positive campaign?

  OBAMA   MCCAIN   NOT SURE
      50%        31%       19%

• I’ve always said Bob Novak was my favorite conservative columnist. He has been hospitalized for a brain tumor. That would explain his running over a pedestrian last week. And having lost my father to a brain tumor, this sucks for him.
• A look at the Obama’s campaign tabloid strategy.
  

  It’s official. The Obamas are just like us. With their latest PR move — being photographed as a family for this week’s People magazine cover story titled “The Obamas At Home” — it’s apparent that Team Obama has a clear and clever presidential marketing strategy: present Michelle and Barack as the beloved Brangelina of the political world [...]

  If humanizing celebrities sells magazines and movie tickets, why wouldn’t some “Obamas are just like us” stories help make voters feel more familiar and comfortable with the Obamas? After all, it’s widely believed that George Bush managed to beat out Al Gore in the 2000 presidential campaign because Americans thought he’d be more fun to share a beer with than with “elitist” Al.

  “More than most presidential candidates, the Obamas have to introduce themselves and make sure the American public is comfortable with them. They haven’t been on the national stage that long,” points out Michael Ferrara, senior VP-marketing for Coty. “And they need to go in short-lead publications like People and Us Weekly — they can’t wait another month or two for monthly magazine interviews. They want the American public to understand who they are and who they are as a family immediately.”

• Poblano explores Romney’s effect on the map if he were McCain’s veep nominee. The conclusion? Romney could help in Nevada, Colorado, and maybe Oregon, Michigan and perhaps New Hampshire. He’d hurt the ticket in the South, and specifically Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Georgia. He might also hurt the ticket in the midwest, outside of Michigan, New Mexico, and states with large Hispanic populations (because of his strident anti-immigrant rhetoric).
  

  Overall, placing Mitt Romney on the ticket would tend to produce a very broad map. Several “Lean Democratic” states — Michigan, Colorado, New Hampshire — would tend to be pushed closer toward toss-up status. But likewise, there are areas where Romney might be harmful, and some “Lean Republican” states — North Carolina, Indiana, North Dakota — could also become toss-ups.

  For the record, I am of the school that believes that a veep nominee is utterly irrelevant to the map. People vote for the presidential candidate, not the vice-presidential one.

• Poblano also links to a study that argues that there is no longer a “Bradley Effect” in American politics — where people would lie to pollsters about voting for a minority candidate.