Disgraces

John McCain:

Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.

It's not so disgraceful that he's refusing to take the hard-earned money of those "young workers."

71-year-old McCain says in Kansas City, Missouri Thursday that he’s receiving Social Security checks, but the system needs to be fixed if future generations are to enjoy the same benefits.

Not actually true, but whatevah.

How'd All That Work Out Then?

Obviously no one in Washington who promoted this diastrous war is ever going to have any kind of accountability moment except the ones that us dirty fucking hippies try to apply. It's important to remember the players because no one else will.

Please, no Evan Bayh.

What They Left Out

I'm watching the airport CNN and they did an entire report on Al Gore without educating the audience about the fact that he is, in fact, quite fat.

Bad meda.

Fresh Thread

I assume they won't let atrios use his wifi card on the airplane.

MITTENS

That was an expensive vanity project.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney, whose prospects of becoming John McCain's running mate appear on the rise, is preparing to formally declare he will not seek donations to repay $45 million in personal loans he made to his failed presidential bid - the biggest ever made by a candidate in a primary campaign.

Travel Day

Off to Austin, so not sure how much free ice cream you'll get.

Thursday Is New Jobless Day

366K new lucky duckies. High, but not super high.

And housing starts are up, but not really.

U.S. home building projects started in June surprisingly rose 9.1 percent due chiefly to a change in New York City building codes that, if it were ignored, would have seen starts decrease by 4.0 percent, a government report said on Thursday.

Money

Contrary to earlier reports, the Obama campaign raised $52 million in June.

Chapter 5

We are only on day 5 of the Washington Post's 12 part Chandra Levy story.

Early AM Thread

Sadly No goes off, eloquently, if profanely.

Overnight

One for simels, DWD, and the editors.

Phawker

Saw Chase Utley eat, drink, and tell a waiter to fuck off.

Some of that isn't true.

Right

This is indeed why people hate Matt Pressman.

Hic!

The liquor has not been "stolen." It has been "liberated."

Evening Thread

Out for the evening. Don't steal all the liquor.

Please

Make Jib Jab stop.

Yeah, That'll Work

The McCain campaign's latest tactic is stupid even by the rather low standards they've set for these things.

On a Similar Note

A polling expert at Time corrects a New York Times story about one of its own polls.

He Should Be Up By 150 Points!

Indeed, the weird way the press treats Obama as somehow losing because he's not winning by enough in national polls is quite annoying. Barring a career-destroying scandal, it's hard to come up with a scenario (aside from very popular third party candidate) such that either major party candidate drops much more than a point or 2 below 40% in the general election. In those landslide Republican wins, Carter got 41%, Mondale got 40.6%, and Dukakis got 45.6%.

Lunch Thread

enjoy.