I gotta tell y’all, I’m having a hard time focusing on anything other than Election Day today. After much contemplation while waiting in line to vote this morning (1 1/2 hours), I’ve decided to chill on the goss and focus primarily on what is going on in the US today. I have never experienced such a feeling of excitement in my country before. While I understand that some of y’all may be sick and tired of all the election talk of the last few days, weeks, months I just can’t get fully into goss mode today. I’m really hoping for record voter turn-out in today’s election so I’m gonna try and do anything I can to inspire folks here in the US to GET OUT AND VOTE. I’ll put up some regular stuff thruout the day but I’m entirely too preoccupied with the election to really focus.

Senators Barack Obama and John MCain (and their wives Michelle and Cindy) made their way out to their polling places this morning to cast their ballots in today’s very important election. The assumption is that each man and his wife did not vote for the other guy but … I guess we can’t be entirely too sure. Here are a few pics of the Obamas and the McCains casting their votes earlier today:

Democrat Barack Obama joined the nation’s earliest voters Tuesday as people around the nation began lining up to cast ballots in a historic election pitting Republican John McCain against the man seeking to become the first black president in U.S. history. “I voted,” Obama said, holding up the validation slip he was handed after turning in a ballot at his Chicago neighborhood’s precinct. Accompanying the Illinois senator for the trip from their home to the polling station were his wife, Michelle, and their two young daughters. He planned a final campaign event in nearby Indiana before speaking to a massive evening rally in Chicago. In Delaware, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden went to the polls with his elderly mother.

Senator McCain gave a thumbs up sign but ignored questions from reporters as he left the polling station in Phoenix, Arizona. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin told journalists in her home town of Wasilla, Alaska, that she hoped to wake up on Wednesday as the new Vice President of the United States. “We have an optimistic and confident view of what is going to happen today,” she said.

Well, the candidates at least have a couple votes each that they can count in their tally. As the rest of the country votes thru out the day (the first polls close in just 5 hours) the US and the world waits with bated breath.

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John McCain made a very funny appearance on Saturday Night Live last night where he participated in the show’s opening skit and later appeared during the Weekend Update. Spoofing Senator Barack Obama’s half-hour infomercial which aired on 3 major networks earlier this week, McCain appeared with Tina Fey (as Sarah Palin) on a late-night program airing on QVC, the 24-hour cable shopping network:

LOL! Now this skit was hilarious! I gotta give McCain props for really getting in on the fun. While I thought Sarah Palin’s appearance on SNL a couple of weeks ago was pretty lame, I think John McCain really nailed this guest appearance. I totally died when Cindy McCain made her cameo … seriously, she could get a job on the real QVC should things not go McCain’s way on Tuesday. One of the best lines of the skit, “I’m a true maverick … a Republican without money.” I gotta say, I’m really impressed that he was such a good sport:


Well done! Tina Fey killed as Palin again. I loved it when she “went rogue” — LOL! I am very impressed with this week’s SNL performances :)

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Some good news of sorts for John McCain and his supporters … while Senator Barack Obama managed to attain the endorsement of retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, it is now being reported that John McCain has attained the endorsement of a higher power (being?). According to the venerated news publication Weekly World News, McCain has won the endorsement of an Alien from outer space. And while that news alone is well and good, I think the revelation of just how McCain won this endorsement is far more interesting:

In a shocking reversal with major implications for the U.S. presidential election, political kingmaker, the Alien has switched his endorsement from Barack Obama to John McCain amid furor. Both political camps are buzzing about the implications, as the Alien has correctly predicted the winning president in every election for the past 28 years. Ongoing investigation points to Cindy McCain as being the cause for this historic shift in allegiances. Uncovered photos suggest that in a last ditch effort to help her husband’s failing campaign, Cindy McCain seduced and then blackmailed the Alien for his endorsement. At a recent McCain rally, inside sources say Cindy McCain disappeared with the Alien after sharing several champagnes with the notorious intergalactic lightweight. Ms. McCain’s alien-like good looks and natural blood temperature of 54 degrees Fahrenheit may have proved too much for him to resist as she reportedly put her cyborg husband into sleep mode and worked her charms. This is not the first time the Alien, who sources say is no prude, has been in political “hot water.” During the 2004 election he was photographed in a hot tub with Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry. As the Alien is now married with children the release of these photos could be devastating for him. What impact this news will have on the election has yet to be determined. Swing state voters, who will decide this election, have the highest rate of alien abductions and UFO sightings and are known to vote in accordance with supernatural forces.

Scandalous! It remains to be seen if this endorsement will actually help McCain get elected but this late in the Presidential race … I guess you gotta exploit every advantage. On the plus side for Barack Obama, he has won the endorsement of the famed Bat Boy so … I guess at this point, it’s still anyone’s game.

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The New York Times is reporting that the Legislative Committee in the State of Alaska that has been charged by the Republican controlled Alaskan legislature with determining whether or not Alaska Governor Sarah Palin abused her executive power in the firing of the State’s public safety commissioner, referred to as Troopergate, has delivered its ruling. The committee has determined that Governor Sarah Palin violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by firing the public safety commissioner:

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner. The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn’t the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor. The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a commissioner to settle a family dispute. Palin supporters have called the investigation politically motivated. Monegan says he was dismissed as retribution for resisting pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor’s sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

This is finding is absolutely appalling! I cannot, for the life of me, understand how a person who was under investigation for unlawful acts could be elevated to the position of Vice Presidential nominee … especially in light of these findings. It remains to be seen what, if any, punishment will be handed down to Governor Palin for these unlawful acts but I’m just *aghast* that we are learning this information about her just weeks before voters will determine if she is fit to serve as Vice President of this country. I’m sure the denials will be coming fast and furious from her camp in the coming hours/days but if this doesn’t serve as a HUGE WAKE-UP call then I don’t know what else could. Is this really the kind of leadership we need in this country?

On the other hand, I would like to publicly commend Senator John McCain for showing respect to Senator Barack Obama earlier today when members of a McCain rally were heard shouting, in my opinion, racist epithets about Obama. After members of various McCain rallies this week referred to Obama as an “Arab”, a “traitor” and a “terrorist”, McCain very angrily rebutted against those hateful exclamations and begged his followers to show respect for Senator Obama:

The anger is getting raw at Republican rallies and John McCain is acting to tamp it down. McCain was booed by his own supporters Friday when, in an abrupt switch from raising questions about Barack Obama’s character, he described the Democrat as a “decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.” A sense of grievance spilling into rage has gripped some GOP events this week as McCain supporters see his presidential campaign lag against Obama. Some in the audience are making it personal, against the Democrat. Shouts of “traitor,” “terrorist,” “treason,” “liar,” and even “off with his head” have rung from the crowd at McCain and Sarah Palin rallies, and gone unchallenged by them. McCain changed his tone Friday when supporters at a town hall pressed him to be rougher on Obama. A voter said, “The people here in Minnesota want to see a real fight.” Another said Obama would lead the U.S. into socialism. Another said he did not want his unborn child raised in a country led by Obama. “If you want a fight, we will fight,” McCain said. “But we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments.” When people booed, he cut them off. “I don’t mean that has to reduce your ferocity,” he said. “I just mean to say you have to be respectful” … On Friday, McCain rejected [the racism being espoused from a member of his Town Hall Meeting rally]. “I don’t trust Obama,” a woman said. “I have read about him. He’s an Arab.” McCain shook his head in disagreement, and said: “No, ma’am. He’s a decent, family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with (him) on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about.” He had drawn boos with his comment: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States.”

I absolutely applaud and respect Senator John McCain for not allowing this kind of hateful ire to be thrown around during this campaign (at last). While I believe that, at times, his campaign stokes the fires of this hateful response from his followers, I commend him for being the bigger man and finally publicly chiding that hate-speech coming from his own followers. After the jump, watch video of McCain refuting the hateful, racist things that his campaign supporters are espousing about Barack Obama …

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