the language of presidents

From 2007 -- then-candidate Obama, talking about his dislike of debates:

"So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f–––ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

what might have been

The New York Times asked several people what they would miss about President Bush. Here's the best response, reprinted in full:

I feel nostalgic about the person I knew as Gov. George W. Bush. I miss that guy. He was the best politician I ever saw. He really was ''a uniter, not a divider.'' He refused to kowtow to the far right. He worked with Democrats to strengthen public education, while Republicans were pushing vouchers. He had four vacancies on the Texas Supreme Court and he filled them all with centrist judges. The extreme right wing of the Republican Party was his enemy, not his ally. His administration was untainted by scandal. Karl Rove remained an outside consultant rather than a gubernatorial staffer.

But when he reached the White House, Governor Bush vanished, to be replaced by President George W. Bush -- a person I didn't recognize. He was never to return.

-- PAUL BURKA, senior executive editor of Texas Monthly

things to watch on your computer when you don't feel like working

Time magazine's top 10 videos from the campaign. Click here .

election day

The commish did his part for democracy by a) voting and b) running the newsroom election pool.

early voting

Here in North Carolina, 2.5 million people voted early. That's a whopping 41 percent of registered voters, and just about as many as the total number of voters in the 1996 presidential election. (It will be interesting to see if that has skewed the pre-election polls, most of which say N.C. is too close to call.)

for what it's worth ...

Former White House consigliere Karl Rove is predicting it will be Obama, 338 electoral votes to 200.

best election quote ever

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN ... THE BASTARDS.

-- Dick Tuck, 1964, after losing a race for the California state Senate.

magazine covers from the campaign

Click here to see a lot more of them.

somehow i'm not surprised

A newspaper trade magazine surveyed college papers for their presidential endorsements. Of the 64 responses, 63 backed obama. The one that backed McCain: the University of Mississippi.

charles barkley, already honing his populist message

From a CNN interview with the Alabama native and former NBA player:

Brown: So are you going to run for governor?
Barkley: I plan on it in 2014.
Brown: You are serious.
Barkley: I am, I can't screw up Alabama.
Brown: There is no place to go but up in your view?
Barkley: We are number 48 in everything and Arkansas and Mississippi aren't going anywhere.

the death of pundits? we should be so lucky

"If the mainstream media are wrong about Obama and the voters pull a Truman, that is going to be the end of whatever shred of credibility they have left." -- Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University's College of Communication.

why is mccain losing in pennsylvania?

For one person's opinion, click here .

why you just shouldn't talk politics with some people

Excerpts from an e-mail the commish received from an old friend when the subject turned to the presidential election:

"What do you think qualifies him "experience wise" for the Commander In Cheif. I do not want a "dictator" or Socialist government. ... I think it is scary how Obama is treated like the second coming of the Messiah though, it's interesting how so many people are all mesmerized. ... Given his affiliations, his pastor (really scary), his commentary on wearing the American flag pin, ACORN, his birth certificate (still not clear on that one) these issues alone ought to secure a vote for the other side. ... Yeah, like you can just sit down with terrorists leaders and drink organic tea and just talk through it. We need somebody with experience to defend our country in the next few terms especially with Russia "warming" up their engines. This past week when CommieCastro and the dictator of Libya "endorsed" Obama, that should make one shudder and wonder why they would come forward. "

you betcha!

If you missed Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," you can see the two skits here . They're pretty good.

battleground carolina

The latest polls indicate North Carolina could go either way in the presidential race. The last time N.C. went Democratic? 1976, Jimmy Carter.

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debate prep

* Number of people who watched the first McCain-Obama debate: 52 million
* Number of people who watched the Biden-Palin debate: 73 million
* Number of people who watched the "Seinfeld" finale: 76 million

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show your love for Sarah Palin

Clicking here will take you to a Sarah Palin Web site.

Then click on "Visit the VPILF Store" at the top.

If you don't know what VPILF means, ask around.

the commish gets on his soapbox (one in a continuing series)

Before this "fact" becomes ingrained in the public consciousness, let the commish just say for the record that John McCain did NOT claim to have invented the BlackBerry. Nor did Al Gore claim to have invented the Internet.

When asked Tuesday about McCain's expertise on financial markets and matters, his chief economic adviser held up a BlackBerry and said, and I quote: "He did this. Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years -- comes right through the Commerce Committee -- so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create, and that's what he did."

Now as to Gore. Here is what he said in 1999, and I quote: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." (For more on this, click here .)

By now you may be asking yourself, "Why are you ranting at us, commish?" Here's why -- while neither of these are shining examples of well-chosen words, there are so many serious issues facing this country that talking about who "invented" what is a completely needless distraction. Furthermore, given the commish's livelihood, it galls him to no end to see some members of the media play along in keeping such half-truths going.

End of tirade.

overwhelmed by obama-mccain ads?

Then go to this eye-opening site -- it has a ton of presidential TV ads from 1952 to the present.

Click here to get to it.

There's one ad in particular you have to see -- probably the most famous one of them all. Go to the year 1964 and from the row that says "Democrat," click on "Peace Little Girl (Daisy)" -- it's the second one over.

It only aired once -- you'll see why.

And to read more -- a lot more -- about the ad and the climate in which it was created, click here .

speaking of the economy ...

For a detailed (and seemingly nonpartisan) look at the tax plans of Obama and McCain, go here .

Please address any related questions to the Weapons of Pass Destruction and Taxmen owners, who are the acknowledged economic authorities for the league.