I'm sure the RNC is officially cutting off aid. However we can count on multiple non-RNC sources for money to keep going. The Republicans need the seats too much and will be able to count on her 100% loyalty to the party line thereafter: Sort of the way Joe Lieberman rewarded Republicans when he failed to get the Democratic renomination for the Senate.

When our pundites, like our media reporting in general, pretend that merely repeating talking Points supplied to them by the White House, what do you expect?

So why are we surprised at religious bigotry in the Republican Party? They have made hatred of "others" a base part of their belief since Richard Nixon.

The only difference now is that Republicans no longer feel constrained in expressing their hate.

Of course Jon McCain hates the media. Along with appointing a fundamentalist Christian as VP it was one of the requirements of the Republican Base in return for the Presidential Nomination.

Of course Newt Gingrich says it is all the Media's fault that Sarah Palin is not the most popular person on the planet. When did you ever see Conservatives hold themselves accountable for their words and actions?

This is nothing new.

Re; "One other interesting tidbit from the AP's report on this: It appears that the image is actually originally the product of a Democrat, Tim Kastelein, who says he intended it to poke fun at conservative pundits afraid of Obama."

Just like the cover of the New Yorker.

And the McCain campaign by constantly painting Barak Obama as a "foreigner", is providing a veneer of legitimacy to voters who are clearly making their decision on a racial basis.

But, of course, Republicans never exploit race in their camapigns, do they? Only Democrats do such evil things.

We'll just ask Rev Pat Robertson to pray the insects away fromt the olive groves, just as he prayed away that Hurricane from his headquarters.

If you're Sarah Palin, they're all the same.

Ann Coulter better watch out, she may find herself displaced. Ms Palin, having acquired a taste for $150K wardrobes and New York City, will likely find a nice home as an "impartial" political observer on FoxNews, displacing Ms. Coulter and a slew of others on the various right-wing, but "non-partisian" panels that tell the Faithful what to think about the day's news every evening.

From that perch, she can displace Brit reading the daily news and asking "objective" questions.

There are big $'s in Ms. Palin's future, courtesy of the political right. She may never lower herself to actually run for office again.

Re: "The cluelessness with which these two operate is nothing short of breathtaking."

Republicans are not clueless. They know exactly what they are demagoging. They just do not care if the results of their campaigns is that 100% of scientific advancement is shifted to Europe, India and China because trhe US Government is too busy funding wars in Iraq and Bridges/Roads to nowhere in Alaska.

The real danger will come when the McCain campaign starts to include the phrases "prevent socialist takeover" and "whatever it takes" in the same speech.

I disagree.

The Grover Norquist and James Dobson wings of the Republican party (and that is about 100% of the party now) have forged an alliance that have made both very rich and powerful.

Given the fact that the Republican party cannot go below 35% nationally, no matter what, this alliance will continue in the future, counting on garnering another 10+ % to just eke out an electoral victory (with the help of theSupreme Court, if needed) once or twice every decade.

And that will be enough to keep them powerful and their friends rich. Why should they change?

Thinking that George W. Bush was dumb is why it is not "President" Gore or "President" Kerry.

I agree tht Sarah Palin is smart. However she panders to and encourages wilful ignorance and fear. That is why I, unlike those being paid by the McCain campaign as advisors, advise against voting for Sarah Palin and John McCain.

Republicans will react to a loss in November by declaring that John McCain was not "pure enough" to win, and that the only solution is to be even more dedicated to the Grover Norquist/James Dobson axis.

Sarah Palin will not be nominated for president in 2012 or 2016. She will almost certainly settle into FoxNews where she will form a triumvirate between Sean Hannity and Bill O'Rielly: Thundering to the faithful what treasonous, unholy actions are being taken by Godless Democrats.

The Republican nominee in 2012 will be even more radical that Sarah Palin, but also quicker on his (it will be a male) feet and able to rattle off (made up) facts with aplomb. And the campaign waged by Conservatives will be more vicious and mean spirited than anything we have seen before because a re-election of Barak Obama would grossly violate God's will for America and cause the downfall of world civilization (those are the words we will hear): Culminating with exhortations that “true Conservatives must do whatever it takes to bring God back into the White House” (with the full implications, but none of the accountability).

It will be ugly.

As an add-on, Farnsworth is correct to warn against gloating. I am still not confident that a combination of the Bradley Effect and Republican voter intimidation won't allow John McCain/Sarah Palin to squeak by, with whatever aid a 5/4 Supreme Court can provide.

I won't gloat afterward either. We need to bring America together and not show the kind of behavior that Republicans did after taking over Congress in 1994. Conservatives will still, naturally, seethe with hate, and there is nothing we can do about that. Hate is a bedrock tenet of Conservatism and they will not give it up, every. But I, for one, will not contribute to the river of venom that will be the Conservative movement after Election Day.