Nordwave Florida

It’s a busy day, so brevity is a must. Let’s just check in on the latest news about Joe the Plumber, who is coming to epitomize the dearth of intellect in the McCain campaign.

It was bad enough when John McCain severely damaged his electoral prospects, by nominating, as his vice president, somebody who knows virtually nothing about domestic and foreign policy…although, in Sarah Palin’s case, one could argue that she at least has held elective office and grappled on some level with some issues. But the slippery slope to ignorance is indeed precipitous, to the point where now we have the unlicensed Samuel Wurzelbacher speaking at a McCain rally in Ohio – and agreeing with some audience simpleton that “a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel.” So said the simpleton, to which Wurzelbacher chimed in, “I’ll go ahead and agree with you on that.”

This is what happens when the clueless are given free rein, with the official blessing of the McCain campaign. Indeed, this episode yesterday was so egregious that it was even condemned, in clear and unequivocal terms…by Fox News.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/americandebate/Fox_News_versus_Joe_the_Plumber.html

HARRISBURG – A former employee of an affiliate of ACORN testified yesterday that the community group now in the national spotlight knew that most new voter registration forms it had gathered were fraudulent.

“Forty percent was OK,” said Anita Moncrief, referring to the number of bona fide registrations that officials at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now believed was acceptable.

Moncrief was the star witness yesterday in a Commonwealth Court case brought by the state Republican Party and others who are asking a judge to step in and prevent voter fraud on Election Day.

For nearly two hours, Moncrief, 29, gave a scathing, though at times vague, assessment of ACORN and its efforts to go into battleground states and help mostly minorities and the poor register to vote for the first time.

The group, she said, barely trained its workers in how to register voters properly, and would fire employees if they did not meet a quota of 20 new voter applicants daily. And, if they were caught committing fraud, the group “threw them under the bus” as scapegoats to take all the legal blame, Moncrief said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/elections/20081030_Fired_ACORN_employee_testifies.html

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Hours after a married congressman addressed a report that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about it, details of a purported tryst with a second woman surfaced.

Though Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney did not directly mention allegations first reported by ABC News that he had been involved with the former aide, he issued a statement apologizing to his family but denying he’d done anything illegal.

Later Tuesday, a person close to his campaign told The Associated Press that Mahoney also was having an affair with a second woman around the same time.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081015/ap_on_el_ho/mahoney_investigation;_ylt=ApcNRePTE7TB6g_QHTz.ue6yFz4D