Update: Here's the video. They definitely turned the music waaay up to drown out the boos. Considering the game was in Philly, this was probably a best case scenario for Palin. Also, please note, this was an NHL game, not an Obama rally. There were also no discernible calls for violence or accusations of mass murder and treason.

I guess this proves that all different kinds of people dislike Sarah Palin.




Update: I just watched the puck drop, and there was definitely a lot of booing, at least from what I could hear. The Flyers had the music up extremely loud the whole time, drowning out the crowd. We'll have to wait for some of those fan videos to get the real scoop. These are Philadelphia fans, so I expect there will be some raucous ones.

I received the following via email today, from PuckYouPalin.com:

It's time to hip check the right wing!

Join PuckYouPalin.com on Saturday during the Rangers/Flyers game and chant... PUCK YOU PALIN!!!!!

With the announcement that VP nominee and self professed "hockey mom"Sarah Palin will drop the puck at Saturday's Flyers/Rangers game, puckyoupalin.com is getting inundated with emails. The web site has heard its fans and will post video of hockey fans chanting PUCK YOU PALIN from Saturday night's game.

The game starts at 7pm EDT, so I guess we'll find out soon how big their email list is. I can't stand hockey or Palin, so I'm not sure I'm exactly their target audience.

Even as the news media and the left focuses on the "deeply divisive" and "ugly" tone of McCain supporters responding to his current attacks, as they all but ignore the content of those attacks, we know that there are kooks and ugly supporters, sexism, smears, etc. on both sides. As an example, my fellow blogger Tommy Christopher brings up an excellent example:

It's time to hip check the right wing!

Join PuckYouPalin.com on Saturday during the Rangers/Flyers game and chant... PUCK YOU PALIN!!!!!

With the announcement that VP nominee and self professed "hockey mom"Sarah Palin will drop the puck at Saturday's Flyers/Rangers game, puckyoupalin.com is getting inundated with emails. The web site has heard its fans and will post video of hockey fans chanting PUCK YOU PALIN from Saturday night's game.

And with appropriate sexist image:

So. Anyone want to take bets on whether anyone in the media will start writing stories about the "ugly" tone of Obama supporters or demand that Obama give them a stern talking to?

Yeah, I know ha ha. Yet we all know how the comments are here for both sides. And yet somehow, only McCain is being tasked by the media. Interesting how that works.

As Gateway Pundit noted before, when McCain supporters start printing and distributing signs saying Obama = terrorist. Then we'll know we have a problem.

Rensselaer County, NY election officials had a little bit of a controversy on their hands when 300 absentee ballots went out with a typo. Instead of Barack Obama, the ballot reads Barack Osama.

According to the Albany Times Union, it looks like just an honest mistake:

Elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist a simple typographical error caused the national embarrassment. "It was a mistake innocently done," McDonough said. "We catch almost everything."

Republican officials were apologetic. "We have three different staff members who proof these things and somehow the typo got by us," said Republican Commissioner Larry Bugbee. "We really apologize."

All 300 ballots were reprinted and redistributed.

I tend to believe it was an honest mistake. I've made it myself - maybe not typing, but definitely speaking. "B" and "S" are not really neighbors on the keyboard, but if you have Osama on your mind I can see it happening.

Time will tell, but as I said on last night's Unusable Signal, I think that the spectacle of increasingly ugly and hostile McCain crowds is going to hurt the GOP nominee badly with independents. Fair or not, it raises the spectre of two Americas, and decent people want no part of McCain's Ugly States of America.

The fact that McCain has started to fight the fire he started is creditable, if not laudable. Creditable because, by tamping down the hostility, he risks disarming the only weapon he has left: Obama the Villain. Earlier this week, I shared with some close colleagues my sense that McCain was feeding this narrative more deeply than is evident.

The refusal to even look at Obama during the first debate, his snub of the Democratic nominee on the floor of the Senate, and his reference to "That one...", when placed in context with the campaign's actions this week, send a message: John McCain is the hero who has so much honor, he can't be cordial with his rival, nay, his enemy, our enemy.

McCain has embroiled his most impressionable supporters in a badly written episode of 24. When it looked as though one of them might actually go all Jack Bauer on Obama's terrorist-loving ass, he took a deep breath and walked it back. A little. If I were forced to write a story called "John McCain is Not a Murderer," you'd probably wonder what I wrote in those earlier stories.

So, how did we get here? It's been a looong week, like many this campaign, so let's start at the beginning. Sarah Palin lost the debate, at least to the extent that she could have helped McCain but didn't. With Mac's poll numbers slipping, and no foothold on the economy, panic set in. An already dirty campaign didn't just jump the shark, it shot the shark in the leg and made it talk.

For all you history buffs, Washington Monthly has uncovered an interesting election year factoid:

The McCain/Palin ticket is the first in American history in which both candidates were found to have violated ethics standards before a national election.

McCain, of course, was admonished by Senate Ethics Committee "for exercising 'poor judgment' for intervening" with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.

And now McCain's running mate has also been found to have violated state ethics laws and abused the powers of her office, as part of the "Troopergate" scandal.

The nation has had 102 major-party tickets covering 51 presidential elections over more than two centuries. And we've never had a ticket in which both candidates on the same ticket were responsible for ethics violations before a national election. McCain/Palin is the first.

They really are mavericks.

UPDATE

Statement from the McCain campaign:

"Today's report shows that the Governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan. The report also illustrates what we've known all along: this was a partisan led inquiry run by Obama supporters and the Palins were completely justified in their concern regarding Trooper Wooten given his violent and rogue behavior. Lacking evidence to support the original Monegan allegation, the Legislative Council seriously overreached, making a tortured argument to find fault without basis in law or fact. The Governor is looking forward to cooperating with the Personnel Board and continuing her conversation with the American people regarding the important issues facing the country."

Also for those in the comments who did not care to read the wikipedia article, The investigation was led by a Democrat, the lead investigator is a Democrat. It is his report.

___________________

As Tommy has been following the story, and I have too, thought I'd better put my two cents in. It's a big shock I know, but Democrats in Alaska, with possible collusion from that old boy's network that Sarah rails on against, have found her guilty... of firing a dude she had every legal right to fire.

The findings were released after lawmakers emerged Friday from a private session in Anchorage where they spent more than six hours discussing a politically charged ethics report into the firing by Gov. Palin.

The legislative panel began its public session by discussing whether to release the report's findings. The investigation was examining whether Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, fired a state commissioner to settle a family dispute. The report also is expected to touch on whether Palin's husband meddled in state affairs and whether her administration inappropriately accessed employee medical records.

Critics claim Palin fired Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan after months of pressure on him to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper involved in a nasty divorce and custody dispute with the governor's sister.

"I think there are some problems in this report," Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens. "I would encourage people to be very cautious, to look at this with a jaundiced eye."

Not the least of which is that Hollis French, the lead legislator and Branchflower, the investigator, are both big Obama guys. And if you're one of the sick, twisted individuals who is interested in this story (like me!), you'll find all you want and more at the appropriate wikipedia article. And of course there is the other side of the story.

What happens next? Nobody knows from what I can see. I suppose there is a statute on the books for abuse of power that a prosecutor could try, but do the legislators in Alaska (most of them GOP) really have the gumption to go after a governor on this flimsy of a deal given that she has a 70% approval rating? But maybe they're not needed to authorize an investigation. Who has jurisdiction? Lots of questions there.

I think she is going to get her hand slapped and told to build a better paper trail next time. And this is why the old boys network, stays the old boys network. They have a way of closing ranks. So Sarah supporters will be convinced this is a witch hunt, Sarah haters will be convinced they found a witch, and nobody else will care much, cause they just see a lot of politicians doing what politicians do.

Update: 8:33 pm - The bipartisan panel has concluded that Palin did abuse her power. From The AP:

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.

Update: 8:18 pm - The council has voted unanimously to release the report.

The Anchorage Daily News is covering the Alaska legislature's meeting, in which they will decide whether to release the "Troopergate" investigator's report:(all times AKST)

4:11 p.m.The Legislative Council just voted 12-0 to release the report, except for certain parts they consider confidential.

3:55 p.m.: You can stream audio of the meeting here.

3:45 p.m. The leg council just opened it's doors. We're expecting a vote ...

3 p.m.: So here's something to consider while we wait for the Legislative Council to vote -- and yes, we're still waiting:

The council needs eight votes to release the investigator's report. Three members of the 14-member council aren't here

Rep. Ralph Samuels, Rep. John Harris and Sen. Gary Wilken. === Unless they called in after the meeting started, that means they're automatic "no votes."

Here's a link to the live audio, but the server seems to be slammed, so you might not be able to get it.

Palin had very little to lose, politically, by cooperating with the investigation. Refusing to appear before the legislature was a political misstep for the Republican's VP nominee. The contents of the report might actually help Palin, if they spin it right.

Check back here for updates as this story develops.

Update: Here's another clip of McCain trying to dial back a hostile crowd. As I said before, McCain is making a good start, but he has to follow through with some acknowledgment of his part in this ugliness. The McCain that many Americans used to admire would do it.




I want very much to give credit to John McCain for finding his sense of decency. In my kindest thoughts about the GOP candidate, I think he was an honorable man, being pushed by rabid strategists into an ugly, incendiary strategy.

At a rally today, McCain was forced to defend Obama, and I think I detected sincere regret in McCain's voice and visage. His actions going forward will be the crucible of that sincerity.

I think McCain has been hit squarely in the face by just how dangerous his and Sarah Palin's recent character attacks on Obama have been.

Here's the video:

A new joint ad by the Republican Natinoal Committee and the John McCain campaign has been released titled "Ambition." It is :30 seconds.