Max Fischer

Another well thought out analysis. While away were you sharpening your your political philosophy at the University of Angry White Guys?

How would you feel if she burned the flag? (or if McCain was elected and she supported Obama?) It's understandable why people get upset when a flag is disgraced, and while I don't condone flag burning, I do believe that one our Nation's greatest strengths is to allow it as a manner of free speech. If the KKK and the anarchists want to "peacefully" march, let them. If right wing radio wants to blather on, go right ahead. If Farrakahn wants to spew his nonsense then give him room. I hope every American will fight for their right to freely express their opinions.

I suggest that everyone reads the entire article and not cherry pick sentences. Overall, it's seems reasonable enough to give a serious look.

Doubt Franken will make it up - and, frankly, as a Dem I'm not sure I want to see him in the Senate. Way too goofy. Would rather have two less Senate seats in exchange for defeating that prick Saxby Chambliss. Also, I think Dems may have a better chance of toppling Stevens when all the votes are counted. (see: 538.com for analysis).

You read all that?

I voted for Shays when I lived there (14 years ago). I'm a strong D but thought Shays was a very good Congressman. Suffered for the sins of his party.

Did you mean to infer that if you do not serve in the military you're not honorable? Isn't it possible to do other things to be "honorable?" Like serving your community for little pay while you could have easily made millions as a lawyer? Just asking.

Don't you mean, "Have quite a few drinks and take target practice?"

So you're the all-knowing Messiah all along! How ironic. Do you charge for upcoming state lottery winning numbers?

F-U chicken littles.

And I object to changing the picture on your avatar.

Blind hate and distrust isn't so great either. Unless, of course, you just KNOW things will get worse under Obama.

Agreed.

Fox News is in full hysteria mode. Fox and GOP websites are indistinguishable.

I was thinking more like Benson meets Three's Company.

"The Plumber and Ms. Palin." The Governor is having a hard time in Alaska when Joe the Plumber makes a service call. Someone makes a bad joke that Joe should be the Chief of Staff and the Governor takes this as a serious suggestion. Hilarity ensures. Lots of scatological humor, toilet jokes, riffs about cleaning out the pipes, etc. See pilot for details.

I'm betting closed casket.

Not cool.

Dogs and Cats living together . . . !!!!

Wow. The team should feel ashamed.

Take McGee out.

Defensive tip: watch Ginn.

Quite a few dropped or "could have grabbed" passes.

BO knows football LIFE OF REILLY I needed to know: can Obama pick a fantasy team? So I asked him. by Rick Reilly I have the absolute worst fantasy league football partner. Just try to get the guy to return a call. Or a text. You need a damn court order. He's Barack Obama. And, yeah, I guess he's busy, but why was I the one who had to fly to Dayton, get frisked and have bomb dogs drool on my bags just so I could meet him getting off his tricked-out, chartered 757? He can't meet a guy halfway? I asked each candidate to be my running mate for one week in a fantasy league, just to see what kind of president he'd make—how he'd handle decisions under pressure and balance a budget. (On ESPN.com's Gridiron Challenge, you get a mystical $50M to spend on a team.) Only Obama bit. We settled on the Week 6 games. Still, you talk about bossy. I thought he'd let the professional sportswriter do most of the picking while the wonk occasionally looked up from some Pakistan brief and nodded. Yeah, not exactly. When I got on his campaign bus, all three flat screens were tuned to ESPN. Obama was sitting in a black leather swivel chair, reading the paper. "Hey, man, I'll be with you in a second," he said. "I'm poring over the latest economic news." It was the USA Today NFL stats page. He is taller, grayer and quicker to laugh than I expected. Moves sort of like an athlete—cool and smooth. "Now, you're the expert," he began. "And I'll gladly be the junior partner in this, but I really think we should take Drew Brees. He could have a big week. Oakland's secondary is a wreck." Ohhhh, so that's how it's going to be. "Well, I like Carson Palmer," I said. "He's due for a big week, plus he plays in Ohio and I figure that's a state you need, so …" He looked at me like I'd stuck my elbow in his soup. "Man, this is more important than politics!" he insisted. "This is football!" This is a man who could potentially audit me forever. We paid $7.3M for Brees. He wanted Clinton Portis. I wanted Adrian Peterson. We took Portis ($6.6M). He wanted Brandon Marshall. I wanted Bernard Berrian. We took Marshall ($5.7M). Doesn't work well with others. Check. Have to admit, though, he knows his stuff. Turns out, he played a little. He was a tight end in ninth grade until a coach told him to "trample" an opponent's back. He gave up football for hoops. In 2004, when Mike Ditka considered running against him for Senate, Obama—remembering how Ditka let William Perry score a Super Bowl TD instead of Walter Payton—said that "anybody who would give the ball to Refrigerator Perry instead of Sweetness doesn't have very good judgment." Ditka didn't run. "Too bad," Obama says. "We were hoping he would." Likes to bait Hall of Famers. Check. It took us 30 minutes to pick nine slots. The man was into it. I said I'd need to talk to him the following week about how we did. "Cool," he said. "How's Tuesday?" "Sorry," I said. "Getting married Tuesday." He looked stunned. "Who'd marry you?" Wise guy. Check. We wound up in a dark tunnel under Fifth Third Field in Dayton for a campaign event. He was telling me a story about throwing out a first pitch when suddenly I heard over the PA system, "… the next president of the United States, Barack Obama!" He looked at me, said "Gotta go!" and sprinted up some steps to a thunderclap of a roar. Afterward, while signing books, he asked if I thought we'd win. "Win?" I said. "There's like a gazillion teams in this thing!" He glared a hole in me. "You think we're just messing around?" Then Sunday came. Man, did he get lucky. The guys he made us choose—Brees and Portis—went nuts. The guys I wanted, not so much. We finished 32,190th for the week. But wait! That put us in the 81.2 percentile, which means we beat four out of five teams! Of course, he already knew. Because, like so many Americans, he was checking the fantasy stats all day, even while he was supposed to be prepping for his final debate. He e-mailed to say he wished he had followed my advice on Berrian (who smoked Marshall), but he was "pumped up" about our numbers. And he congratulated the newlyweds. I e-mailed back and said that if he wins this election, the ambassadorship to Tahiti would make a nice wedding present.

"Headway" and "Huge chunks" sound awfully optimistic. Most polls have it 7-9% and almost all "gains" have McCain going from 38% or 41% to 42% and 44% -- while Obama has stayed steady over 50%. Most of the movement appears to be McCain leaners finally (and begrudgingly) moving to him.