Majikthise

Sen. Ted Stevens guilty on all charges

Sen. Ted Stevens and Gov. Sarah Palin, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens was found guilty on seven counts of fraud for accepting home renovations paid for by VECO, an oil services company looking for Stevens' help in the senate.

Stevens faces a maximum of 35 years in prison.

[Image: A screencap from this video of a joint press conference with Ted Stevens and Gov. Sarah Palin, who was chosen as John McCain's vice presidential running mate today.

In the clip, a reporter asks whether it's true that there's a rift between the two. Both deny any such rift and insist they are as close as ever.

"I have great respect for the Senator," Palin says in this clip, "He needs to be heard across America. His voice, his experience, his passion needs to be heard across America--so that Alaska can contribute more."

Palin added, "There's a big difference between reality and perception regarding our relationship."

The press conference took place in early July, several days later Stevens was indicted on federal criminal charges.]

Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

MANHATTAN, NY.

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone introducing cartoonist David Rees at a reading/cartoon showing at the Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan to promote Rees's new compilation of "Get Your War On" cartoons.

McCain Fetus Flag Sign (Not a Joke)

McCain Fetus Flag Sign (Not a Joke), originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

This is a sincere sign, not a parody. Details at Campaign Silo.

Satirist David Rees

David Rees, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

MANHATTAN, NY.

David Rees creator of the satirical comic strip Get Your War On showing cartoons from his new book at the Bowery Poetry Club on the Lower East Side.

Obama helped ACORN register fewer voters

The GOP is making a big deal out of the fact that Obama was part of a team of lawyers that represented ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit against the state of Illinois.

The McCain camp is insinuates that Obama's lawyering helped ACORN perpetrate voter registration fraud. The irony is that ACORN was suing so that it could get out of the voter registration business and leave the paperwork to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Federal law requires DMVs and social service offices to provide voter registration assistance, many states disregard the law. ACORN's victory in the 1995 lawsuit meant that more Illinois residents could register under the disinterested gaze of some clerk at the department of motor vehicles, leaving ACORN organizers free to actually organize people in their communities.

The GOP is trying to slander ACORN the organization and Barack Obama because some low-wage part-time employees tried to game the system by registering imaginary voters. The bad actors are the equivalent of those annoying people in chain stores who pressure you to sign up for a store credit card.

Sears probably has thousands of these people at stationed at stores around the country. Sooner or later, some rep who isn't meeting their quota is going to sign Mickey Mouse for a Sears card at 17% interest.

This is deplorable, but Mickey Mouse is not going to charge a power washer. Also, anyone who claime that Sears the company was therefore guilty of massive credit card fraud would be dismissed as a lunatic. It's not Sears' policy to give credit cards to beloved animated icons, nor is it in Sears' interest to be ripped off by slackers who can't sign up real people.

The GOP is demonizing ACORN because they don't want poor people voting. It's that simple.

Our Own Texas Tina

Palin with Secret Service, originally uploaded by Amanda Marcotte.

Amanda does Palin Pandagon-style.

The McCain Mutiny?

Shorter Sarah Palin: I hate you, and you, and you, I don't even know you and I hate your guts.

The blogosphere is buzzing over Ben Smith's new story about the growing rift between the top and bottom of the Republican ticket.

According to Smith's four unnamed sources, Sarah Palin is increasingly disregarding the advice of McCain staffers and going off message.

Smith's sources speculate that the Palin and her partisans envision a political future for her as the leader of a conservative Republican party.

An unidentified McCain aide told CNN that Palin is more interested in her own political future than the wellbeing John McCain's presidential bid. "She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else." (Ouch, that's harsh.)

Anonymous sourcing is always problematic. However the fact that two major publications are reporting this much undisciplined, backbiting talk from so many people in the McCain campaign doesn't speak well of the operation.

Joe the Brother quits McCain campaign over 911 abuse

John McCain's brother Joe resigned from the campaign Friday after it was revealed that he called 911 to complain about traffic, cursed out the operator, and called back to complain when the operator informed him that frivolous use of 911 was illegal.

McCain campaign worker confesses to making up racist mutilation story

The McCain campaign worker who claimed that a black Obama supporter carved a "B" into her face during a robbery in Pittsburgh now admits that she made the whole thing up.

Clarification: Initial media reports described Ashley Todd as a McCain campaign staffer, but that's not quite right. She is a full-time political operative, a field organizer for the College Republicans who has taken a year off from her studies to help the GOP.  She was phone banking for McCain the night she scratched the B into her face.

Confessions of a campaign reporter

Convention Floor, originally uploaded by Lindsay Beyerstein.

Michael Hastings was hired by Newsweek to write the inside story of the 2008 presidential race, to be published after the election. Hastings quit because he couldn't stand life on the campaign trail. His essay about the ordeal in GQ is one of the funniest and most insightful things I've read about political journalism.