Polls continue to show Obama outpacing McCain -- including a new WSJ/NBC News poll that places the Democratic nominee ahead by double digits. Meanwhile, McCain has continued his negative assault on the Obama campaign. Today's buzz:
- The NYT's Maureen Dowd wrote about how the death of an American soldier who was Muslim and pushed Colin Powell to endorse Obama as he watched his party relentlessly discriminate against Muslims. Take-away: "[Powell] has dealt with prejudice in his life, in and out of the Army, and he is keenly aware of how many millions of Muslims around the world are being offended by the slimy tenor of the race against Obama."
- The prospect of Joe Biden being a heartbeat away from the presidency should frighten you, wrote Michelle Malkin in the National Review Online. Take-away: "Biden's erratic and gaffetastic behavior is the least of America's worries. He's worse than a blunderbuss. He's an incurable narcissist with chronic diarrhea of the mouth."
- Obama has won the fundraising race but his tactics -- opting out of the government-run program and declining to release the names of those who have given $200 or less to his campaign -- demand further scrutiny, editorialized the WSJ. Take-away: "A Republican would have been tarred and feathered by the media, with reports night after night about the 'fat cats' funding his campaign; Mr. Obama got a pass."
- McCain's attempts to paint Obama as a socialist and the negative tone of his campaign will cause long-term damage to the country, wrote Ruth Marcus in the WaPo. Take-away: "Ominous talk about socialism and welfare, about pro- and anti-America, threatens to make that task harder, no matter who is elected."
- The blue-collar affirmation Joe the Plumbers of the world provide the GOP are part of the "perception of reality" that Republicans are authentic and Democrats are not, wrote Thomas Frank in the WSJ. Take-away: "The country is divided into a land of the soulful, hard-working producers and a land of the paper-pushing parasites; a plain-spoken heartland and the sinister big cities, where they breed tricky characters like Barack Obama."
- Spoiler alert: The NYT Magazine is slated to publish an "explosive" story on the rancor within McCain's ranks titled "The Making (and Remaking and Remaking)."
