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We've shown before that since his naming as Tim Russert's interim replacement how completely one-sided Tom Brokaw has been in terms of Republican framing.   But this truly takes the cake.  After letting McCain spokesman (and Official WATB) Steve Schmidt let loose with a bunch of lies (more on that later) against Obama that campaign manager David Axelrod easily shows for the crap it is, Tom Brokaw in the interest of fairness cites an NBC/WSJ poll that says that more Americans think McCain is "best equipped" to be Commander in Chief.

AXELROD: What has happened is, as Sen. Obama predicted from the beginning, that we got distracted in Iraq and now Osama bin Laden, who is the person who attacked the United States, killed 3,000 American citizens is now resurgent. He is stronger and that is the result of the misbegotten decisions of John McCain and he stubbornly wants to continue, even as the Iraqis won't take responsibility, sitting on $79 billion of their own surplus, while we spend $10 billion a month. It doesn't make sense. We can't take more of the same, Steve.

BROKAW: In fairness to everybody here, I'm just going to end on one note and that is that we continue to poll on who is best equipped to be Commander in Chief, John McCain continues to lead in that category, despite the criticism from Barack Obama by a factor of 53 to 42 percent in our latest NBC/WSJ poll.

See, here's the problem, Tom.  I have the latest NBC/WSJ poll (.pdf) taken September 19-22.  Guess what?  THOSE NUMBERS AREN'T IN THERE.  Pulled out of thin air, or an orifice of your choice.  In fact, in the MSNBC.com political coverage of this poll, the headline read: Obama Up 2 in NBC/WSJ Poll.  So where exactly are these numbers, Tom?  If you go to Gallup, the lead is even stronger (50 to 42%), which is pretty close to the numbers you attributed to McCain.

So Tom Brokaw -- in the interest of fairness to whom exactly, I'm unclear, since he is deliberately MISinforming the public -- tries to mitigate Axelrod's deft defense of Obama's judgment by lying and saying that most people believe McCain is still better equipped to be Commander in Chief. You can leave a comment at the Meet The Press Comment Form on Brokaw's campaigning on behalf of McCain.

And by the way, Schmidt's assertion that McCain called for Rumsfeld's resignation?  Big fat, stinking lie.  From the Obama campaign: 

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Gosh, who needs campaign surrogates when the mainstream media will only too gladly suffice?  Tom Brokaw continues in his role as Republican concern troll by citing an anonymous email from a military man (who is "not crazy" about McCain, natch; that only increases the credibility, right?) objecting to Biden's crack yesterday about seven kitchen tables because, after all, McCain was a POW.  And Chuck Todd agrees, that while Democrats--citing Maureen Dowd, who has never met a Democrat she didn't metaphorically castrate or feminize-- don't like it, it still works with voters.

BROKAW: Chuck Todd, a career military person-who is not crazy about John McCain-immediately emailed me about that crack about seven kitchen tables, saying, "Wait a minute, that's pretty gratuitous. Here's a guy who spent five years in prison, not knowing where his next meal was going to come from."

TODD: It's interesting that..that Democrats are getting a little more upset by that line of defense now. Coming, there's a column this morning by Maureen Dowd in the New York Times sort of laying out this case that you know, is the McCain campaign using the...using that defense too often to pushback everything, but it does work, I think, with voters.

You know, I normally think Todd's fairly astute, but this is just ridiculous.  I'm ready for Brokaw and Todd to appear in a YouTube video complete with smearing mascara, screaming "Leave McCain alone!" The reason that Democrats are getting upset is not that McCain is using it too often, it's that being a POW IS NOT A LINE OF DEFENSE.  Jumpin' Jiminy, these guys are clueless. 

McCain gets pulled over for speeding: "But Officer, I was a POW!" 

McCain misspells 'onomatopoeia' at the National Spelling Bee: "But judge, I was a POW!" 

McCain forgets to pay taxes on one of his multiple homes: "But Mr. IRS Auditor, I was a POW!"

That's how ludicrous McCain's "defense" is, and yet the media sees nothing wrong with it.  In fact, they're shocked by those who point out that being a POW isn't a "get out of gaffe" free card.  It's not working with the voters, you McCain Media types, it's working with you.  You're just not on the ball enough to know you're getting played.

from Think Progress:

This morning on NBC’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory asserted that the Republican Party “used to be the party of big ideas.” Gregory then asked his guest Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), “What’s the big idea Senator McCain is campaigning on?” Jindal responded, “I think there’s several,” but couldn’t provide an answer. Gregory asked again, “Where are the new big ideas of the Republican Party that John McCain is, is championing?” And again Jindal couldn’t provide an answer.

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Mitt Romney had a similar problem with Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: All right, a serious charge. Can you cite one legislative accomplishment that Senator McCain produced during those 26 years in Washington, in order to achieve energy independence?

ROMNEY: Well, I’m not a historian that goes through all of the pieces of legislation John McCain has worked on.

On this week's Meet the Press, Tom Brokaw wondered if McCain supporter and Democratic turncoat Sen. Joe Lieberman was still planning on infiltrating caucusing with the Democrats following this November's election and got around to asking him point blank whether he planned on being this year's Zell Miller at the GOP convention:

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Brokaw: Are you going to speak at the Republican convention? [...]

Lieberman: That decision hasn't been made. If Senator McCain feels that I can help his candidacy, which I think it's so important to elect him our next President, I will do it. [...] And frankly, I’m going to go to a partisan convention and tell them — if I go — why it’s so important that we start to act like Americans and not as partisan mud-slingers. [...]

Brokaw: Sounds like you're going to go.

Lieberman: Well, we'll see.

Kerry: Sounds like that to me too.

Before asking, Brokaw pointed out the growing dissatisfaction with Lieberman's support for the Republican nominee and even mentioned the online petition 'Lieberman Must Go' dedicated to ending this poser's Democratic party leadership positions on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees. Have you signed onto it yet?

  In one segment Kerry can be really good on NBC and then be equally bad the next. On Meet the Press today, Tom Brokaw asked John Kerry about Wesley Clark's Face the Nation segment.  Why that was even on Brokaw's agenda is mind boggling since the news is clearly focused elsewhere, but I guess McCain's Media felt they could help out their guy today. Kerry immediately threw Wes under the bus. Thanks John---for getting the back of a four star general who has been nothing but brilliant for the progressive movement when he gets slimed by the press. This was a subject that Bob Schieffer made into an issue. Clark only talked about judgment qualities, as we all know. Here's the original transcript of Clark on FTN.  

<Sign the petition at Obama/Clark>

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SEN. KERRY: Yeah, I, I don't agree. I don't agree with Wes Clark's comment. I think it was entirely inappropriate. I have nothing but enormous respect for John McCain's service. I had the privilege of standing with John McCain in the, in the cell in Hanoi when we visited there together, when we worked on the issue of Vietnam together. It was an emotional moment. I, I have awe for John McCain's experience as a prisoner of war, and he, and he does understand duty and service. But...

And John Kerry debated SCHIEFFER about McCain's judgment previously when Bob tried to inject the character issue again so he knew what to say yet went out of his way to trash him.

You'll notice how Brokaw calls Bob his friend, as if he was offended because his pal was. Schieffer blew out of proportion what Clark had said and it was Bob that egged on the whole discussion. And Brokaw suddenly forgets that Obama did distance himself from Clark's remarks, but asks Kerry why Obama didn't. Wake up, Tom. Are you that out of it or did you want Kerry to say it again on national TV? He's been horrible filling in on MTP.

I have an idea, why doesn't John Kerry make a campaign ad for John McCain and praise his service? 

Obama's camp has to do a better job at surrogate selection. Not all of them, but most have been just awful either going on the offensive or deflecting a false charge. I'll have another video up on this issue shortly.

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Leave it to Tom Brokaw to further GOP media narratives.  In asking about John McCain's fifth-grade bully attack ads, he asks Obama supporter and former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry if Obama is "playing the race card."  Question: is there any way for Barack Obama to directly confront these ads without being accused of the pasty white GOP (and their mouthpieces in the media) as "playing the race card"?  I don't think so.  McCain used that whole mocking "Obama on the currency" analogy in June.  But Obama can't say that because he's playing the race card.  Project much?

Kerry, no stranger to these kind of character assassinations himself, calls it a Rovian strategy: 

KERRY: But this is, you know, this is a complete contradiction in John McCain. John McCain has said he wants a campaign of ideas, not insults. John McCain, who said the American people want a campaign that's respectful. Even you, Joe, ten years ago you went to the floor of the United States Senate and you said our public life is coarsening. You said that the society's values are shrinking. That's an ad that plays to the worse instincts in America, which is to diminish someone's character...

BROKAW: But what Senator...

KERRY: And then Karl Rove turns around, and Karl Rove brings up another statement, saying Obama's like the guy at the country club with the beautiful date and a martini and a cigarette in his hand. What are they trying to do? They're trying to say to America, ‘Somehow, he's not like you; he's not like us.' Last point, Joe...

LIEBERMAN: Karl Rove doesn't work for the McCain campaign...

Is that right, Holy Joe?  Liar, liar, Democratic turncoat pants on fire.

transcripts below the fold

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Barack Obama's trip overseas is off to a great start -- with Prime Minister Maliki endorsing his withdrawal plan and the White House accidentally informing every news organization about it -- and Chuck Todd is hearing that Republicans are starting to worry.

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MR. TODD: Republicans are panicked about this trip because they think that this is going to be a home run. And arguably, you've got some Obama folks who actually think he ought to come home right now. It's never going to get as good as it's gotten in the last 48 hours. You've got McCain suddenly in the White House parroting what Obama has been saying in Afghanistan. The McCain folks will say, "Hey, we're not parroting. We've been there before." But they clearly caught McCain flat-footed there. And then what Maliki did, even in the backtrack statement that the spokes--the government spokesperson over there said, he threw in the word "timetable."

In order to really appreciate the importance of the Maliki development, consider what would happen if the opposite occured:

To really understand the importance of Maliki's comments, you need to consider their opposite. Imagine if Maliki had walked in front of the cameras and said, "at this stage, a timetable for withdrawal is unrealistic, and we hope our American friends will not bow to domestic political pressures and be hasty in leaving Iraq just as the country improves." It would be a transformative moment in this election. John McCain would talk of nothing else. The cable shows would talk of nothing else. Magazines would run thousands of covers about "Obama's Iraq Problem." Obama would probably lose the race.

Exactly. And this is what Marc Amibinder has to report:

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fu*ked."

If McCain loses the foreign policy debate, which is becoming increasingly likely, he'll have an insurmountable problem on his hands.

On Meet the Press, Sen. Graham flopped on his original positions on off shore drilling in his neck of the woods and Sen. Biden laughs at his phony argument at about the 2:40 mark of the clip and cuts his flipped positions into itty, bitty pieces. Most of us know that we can't drill our way out of the problem, but McCain and Graham are turning into Wall Street Zombies that now believe ANWR and off shore drilling will be the answer.

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MR. WILLIAMS: Senator Graham, this is what people are talking about. Myrtle Beach Sun News, "The Senate ... may consider lifting bans on exploring for oil and natural gas along the East and West coasts of the [U.S.] ... `I feel terrible about that,' Graham said. `The worst thing we can do as a nation is taking the easy way out. ... If you start opening up offshore drilling, then you are buying time and you are not addressing the fundamental problem with fossil fuels.'" So you see the argument, you made it.

Biden: hahaha

Goober Graham says that the price increases on oil and gas have changed his mind and position. Why should it? Before he didn't want to take the "easy way out" on our energy crisis, but know....well...McCain needs his help. The prices reflect badly on conservative principles that have governed our country under Bush. Since Graham is a co-conspirator to the Bush administration---why should we even consider his views on energy and oil at all? They have no credibility and should be ignored. At least they should be challenged by the media instead of having two different camps debating about it. Change in leadership and political philosophy is needed not Lawrence Kudlow talking points.

If only the media would take the time to explain the issues to the peeps instead of reading press releases. As Biden said---it'll take ten years to even begin getting any oil. And why didn't Williams ask Graham to explain himself after Biden's answer? He went to another topic. Full transcript below the fold via MSNBC:

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Brian Williams announces that Tom Brokaw will take over Meet the Press until after the election. I knew they would never go with the crew they had on hand.

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NY Times:

Tim Russert, the host of “Meet the Press,” and NBC’s Washington bureau chief, has died. He was 58.

Mr. Russert was a towering figure in American journalism and moderated several debates during the recent presidential primary season.

Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, came on the air at 3:39 p.m. and reported that Mr. Russert had collapsed and died early this afternoon while at work. He had just returned from Italy with his family.

“Our beloved colleague,” a grave Mr. Brokaw called him, one of the premier journalists of our time. He said this was one of the most important years in his life, with his deep engagement in the network’s political coverage, and that he “worked to the point of exhaustion.” Mr. Brokaw said Mr. Russert was a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots and “the ethos of that community.”

He said Mr. Russert had just moved his father, who is in his late 80s, from one facility to another in Buffalo. He said he loved his family, his Catholic faith, his country, politics, the Buffalo Bills, the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals.

“This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice,” Mr. Brokaw said.

As with all announcements of this sort, we ask that your comments stay respectful.

Update: John Amato. Wow, what shocking news. My heart goes out to his friends and family. When moments like these arrive, it's a reminder to us all just how precious and fleeting our lives really are..

Do you think so? Appearing on MTP this morning, Scotty told Russert that Rove should have been fired over his roll in the Valerie Plame leak case. We all remember the changing narratives that Bush put forth in regards to how he would handle anybody that leaked Plame's name who were part of HIS administration.

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Via MSNBC:

MR. RUSSERT: The president said at the time that "if someone committed a crime, they'd no longer work in my administration." Do you believe the president should have fired Karl Rove?

MR. McCLELLAN: That's a, that's a question that the president had to make, and he chose not to.

MR. RUSSERT: But what do you think?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I, I think he should have stood by his word. I think the president should have stood by the word that we said, which is if you were involved in this any way, then you would no longer be in this administration. And Karl was involved in it. That would be a tough decision. I don't know if, if there was any crime committed. I don't--I say I just don't know that in the book. But we had higher standards at the White House. The president said he was going to restore honor, integrity. He said we were going to set the highest of standards. We didn't live up to that. When it became known that his top adviser had been involved, then the bar was moved. And the bar was moved to "if anyone is indicted, they would no longer be here."
MR. RUSSERT: So you think they should've been dismissed.

MR. McCLELLAN: I think so. I mean, Scooter Libby was, and I, and I think that he should..

MR. RUSSERT: Well, he resigned. But you...

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. But that was pushed out.

MR. RUSSERT: But you believe Rove--Rove should've, should've left?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the president should've stood by his word, and that meant Karl should've left.

How many times have major Dem elites been given a chance to tell Russert the truth? He never takes questions on his show and is often brought on NBC and MSNBC to impart his truth to us. Given a chance to finally smack down Tim Russert on MTP with an opening bigger than a super highway to drive his very nice car through, Bob Shrum demonstrates why the liberal elite think it's more important to kiss the ring of the High Commissioner of the Beltway weenies rather than stick up for the awful treatment Democratic Politicians have received for decades. He may know a lot about politics and the history of the party, but watch and recoil.

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This isn't about supporting Hillary or Obama because they will turn on Obama versus McCain in due time. In Schrummy's mind he'd rather let them walk all over Dems, assist in hiding their roll in the process, then dare tell Russert the truth. Hillary Clinton actually took an ad out against Tim Russert and he felt so bad about it, but fear not Tim, you had Schrummy to comfort you and caress you. Please make sure you have me back on the show Mr. Russert, so I can bill many more millions of dollars to another Dem candidate. You see, I have a seat at the table. Don't let Harold Ford take it from me, Tim, PLEASE!

MR. SHRUM: And if she wants to get mad, she ought to put a picture of Euclid up there, because the problem is the math doesn't add up. No matter how you do this, this race is fundamentally over. She's not going to be the Democratic nominee for president, Barack Obama is. And we need to go into a process of healing. And I want to say, on her behalf in the last week, the, the level of the rhetoric has come down, the level of the attacks have come down. She's making an electability argument. I think she really cares about the Democratic Party, and I hope that, in the end, whether she's mad at you or not, she can somehow or other help unite this party and move us toward victory in November.

Sure Bob, she shouldn't be mad at the network over this? Or this one either. The Daily Howler: "Russert Wept:

Is there no decency?This would not stand! Helping us understand “her problem,” Bob Shrum rushed in to succor his friend—to pander, kiss, smooch, fuss and fawn."

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It shouldn't surprise anyone when Meet The Press assembles a panel of four spin doctors* that they will furiously try to out spin one another, though in at least one instance there was a qualitative difference. Three were selling old models, John McCain and the DLC , while Bob Shrum was more or less left on his own to paint rosy pictures of that New Kid on the Block, Barack Obama.

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Former republican presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee and political consultant Mike Murphy (hired gun in the past for both John McCain and Mitt Romney, among others) were bemoaning the fact the republican brand was damaged, while trying to sell the idea that John Sydney McCain was just the tonic for a beleaguered party. Huckabee's spin was the usual tired and worn "Maverick" nonsense, McCain as the non-traditional traditional republican. Or something like that. Murphy's hyperbole would extend further, calling McCain a "Change Agent," a centrist who would bridge the partisan gridlock in Washington. (Murphy said all that with a straight face, too.)

Harold DLC Ford, Jr came in, chomping at the bit, when the conversation moved to the three recent congressional losses by republicans in heavily red districts, seats in Illinois, Louisiana, and Mississippi. In each of the races Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were used by the RNC in tv advertising as the scary 'libruls' to dissuade the republican districts from voting for the democrat. This strategy was a dismal failure. But to Harold the real lesson to be gleaned from all this was that moderate democrats were on the ascendant, and that presumably the democratic party should not stray too far to the left lest it implode. The party brand might be a problem but as long as the candidate running was not 'threatening' everything would be fine.

Each selling an idea without any real facts to back up their assertions. One could ask, for instance, how Sen. Barack Obama became the most liberal in the U.S. Senate with a collective rating (80%) from liberal interest groups similar to that of Joe Lieberman (78%), while John McCain's rating (9%) by the same groups is down near the bottom of the barrel of true lunkheads like Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-SC), all at 8%.

Beware of salesmen selling you a bad bill of goods is an old and in this case, apt piece of advice.

*Informal a person who provides a favourable slant to a news item or policy on behalf of a political personality or party [from the spin given to a ball in sport to make it go in the desired direction]--Collins Essential English Dictionary

Jim Webb, (who is one of my picks for VP) makes an excellent case for his GI Bill on MTP this morning and calls out the GOP on their negligent behavior and the threatened Bush veto. John McCain and George Bush say they support the troops, but when it comes to stepping up and doing something tangible, they are striking out. How dare they say these benefits are too costly when we're spending millions of dollars a day to occupy Iraq? And as Webb says, this will be used on the campaign trail. And a watered down substitute by McCain and his pal Graham is not the solution.

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Webb: No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who've served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, "This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great." And then we see this president, he's fine with sending these people over and over again where they're spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He's fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, "Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have," and they say it's too expensive.

Think Progress has more:

The Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous in conferring benefits to soldiers after “only” two years of service. However, as Webb pointed out, soldiers would still have to finish their enlistment term. What’s more, as a recent CBO report showed, any loss in reenlistment rates is entirely made up for by increased military recruits.

Full transcript via MTP below the fold:

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Tim Russert asked Huckabee about the very dangerous joke he he told about Barack Obama at the NRA dinner in Kentucky. The one where Obama gets assassinated.

“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he’s getting ready to speak,” said the former Arkansas governor, to audience laughter. “Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.”

He responds by bringing up Bobby Knight---saying he'll say stupid things again and he thought John McCain's "bomb, bomb Iran song parody was a hoot.

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Huckabee: There was a Bobby Knight incident going on back stage with a chair that fell and made a terrible noise, distracted the crowd.

I apologized for it immediately. I would never ever try to inject something like that to create an endangered moment for any candidate. I don't care who it is. And ah...you know, it wasn't the first dumb thing I've ever said and let me go and announce it on this program, it won't be the last dumb thing I've ever said. We all in politics do, Ronald Reagan had an open mic and said "I'm gonna launch a nuclear attack against Russia." I remember John McCain sing "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." I thought that was funny, but I mean a lot of people didn't.

Didn't Bobby Knight get fired from Indiana for his horrible behavior? I think that's a bad starting off point, Hucky, comparing yourself to Bobby Knight, who choked a student too. Maybe you should be fired off NBC and start over on Glenn Beck's show---you know, something well-regarded. Then he says that McCain singing "bomb, bomb Iran" was funny. Sure, McBush singing that he wants to bomb a country that has already been targeted with sour rhetoric like Bush and Cheney do despite little to no evidence of what they're being accused is something we should all laugh at. I'm sure the leaders of Iran thought it was well done too.