Best line of the day, so far

“The times ahead will be tough, but at least we won’t have George Bush as President.”

Bob Woodward on Real Time with Bill Maher via Crooks and Liars.

Confused?

Be sure to check this out if you’d like at least a clue about what’s going on.

Imagine that

Jack Bogdanski (Lewis & Clark) & Bryan Camp (Texas Tech) have independently reviewed the tax issues raised by the release of Gov. Palin’s 2006 and 2007 tax returns and financial disclosure form, as well as the remarkable opinion letter issued from Washington D.C. tax lawyer Roger M. Olsen.  Jack and Bryan conclude that there are serious errors in Gov. Palin’s returns as filed and that she and her husband owe tens of thousands of dollars in additional taxes.

TaxProf Blog

Stocks

You may have noticed I haven’t been singing the praises of Apple and Google stocks lately. Apple is at $89 and Google at $363 at the moment.

Google was at $711 when I mentioned it last November.

Apple got to $202 last December.

I bought none of either.

Best line of the day, so far

“[W]ondering…what might be left of my 401k. I’m worried that it’s now a 301k.”

Joel Achenbach

Stand and deliver

Today marks the anniversary of the first American train robbery. An east bound Ohio & Mississippi passenger train was boarded by the Reno brothers near Seymour, Indiana, on this date in 1866.

The Today in History page at the Library of Congress provides background about train robberies and early railroads including this excerpt from “The Early Days in Silver City” —

I happened to be riding that train. I had gone overland to Safford and Solemisvelle prospecting. I decided to come home Thanksgiving to be with my family at Silver City. I boarded the train at Wilcox. There was a large shipment of gold on the train. Just out of Steins Pass we could see a large bon-fire. One of the trainmen remarked, ‘Wonder what the big fire is, I hope we don’t run into any trouble.’ The bon-fire we discovered to our sorrow was on the R. R. Then as today curiosity got the best of some of us so we had to find out why the train came to an abrupt stop, and what the bon-fire was put on the track. We found ourselves looking into the barrel of guns.

Our capacity for self-government

James Fallows:

From twelve time zones away, it looks as if the United States is in one of those moments where the capacity to get serious and face big problems is sorely tested.

In the short term, a worldwide financial panic and crisis. Just beyond that, the real economic and social problems that come when large numbers of people lose their jobs, their businesses, their investments, their homes, and even larger numbers become fearful about what might happen to them. And then, when we get a minute to think, profound global energy and environmental challenges, security concerns that range from loose nukes to terrorist organizations, plus a couple of ongoing wars and ever-rising medical costs. Just as starters. The United States is still incredibly rich, powerful, and productive. But the current situation is no joke, for America or the world.

In these circumstances, and with a presidential election four weeks away, is it conceivable that candidates will waste time arguing whether one of them has been in the same room with a guy who had been a violent extremist at a time before most of today’s U.S. citizens were even born? (William Ayres was a Weatherman in the late 1960s. Today’s median-aged American was born around 1972.) Of course, it’s not only conceivable: it’s the Republican plan for this final push — “turning the page” on economic concerns and getting to these “character” and “association” questions about Barack Obama.

Grow up. If John McCain has a better set of plans to deal with the immediate crisis, and the medium-term real-economy fallout, and the real global problems of the era — fine, let him win on those. But it is beneath the dignity he had as a Naval officer to wallow in this mindless BS. I will say nothing about the dignity of a candidate who repeatedly winks at the public, Hooters-waitress style. A great country acts great when it matters. This is a time when it matters — for politicians in the points they raise, for journalists in the subjects they write about and the questions they ask of candidates. And, yes, for voters.

29 days to go

FiveThirtyEight.com now projects the popular vote in 29 days to be Obama 51.5%, McCain 47%. The electoral vote projects to 340-198. Obama wins 87.4% of the projections.

Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado are no longer in play.

North Carolina is leaning Obama. Missouri and Indiana are leaning McCain. At the moment, these are the only contested states.

Obama and Biden’s favorables out poll their unfavorables. McCain and Palin’s unfavorables out poll their favorables.

Watch Palin. She’s given up on McCain and is in the running for 2012.

And, while I think of it, thank you Hillary Clinton. You may not have broken the glass ceiling yourself, but by 2012 I don’t think gender will be much of a factor.

DJIA 9864.

Embarracuda

“But what a desperate empty embarrassment the McCain campaign has become.”

Joe Klein