In this loving video tribute to the Laverne and Shirley opening credits, IAM and UAW work to get the word out about McCain's abysmal record for working families by worksite leafleting members of IAM Local Lodge 66 and UAW Local 9 at the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Enjoy!

Journal Sentinel:

Waukesha - Opening a two-day, three-city campaign swing through Wisconsin, Republican presidential nominee John McCain pledged to an enthusiastic crowd today that he win the state Nov. 4.

"We can, we must and we will win the state of Wisconsin," McCain said, opening a town hall meeting with running mate Sarah Palin.

And if you can find a Republican who will put some money on it, by all means take it.

So the second debate is in the books, my friends, and it seems that McCain is not getting out the message as well as he might wish.

I have no doubt that some of the problem is related to McCain’s policies as he presents them...but to be completely honest, there may be an additional factor.

To put it as bluntly as possible: McCain looks a little...creepy.

And it’s not just me: The Girlfriend was mentioning how creepy he looked in the debate as we talked about it this morning. Ask around, and someone might describe him that way to you.

Why is that so, how is this observation going to affect McCain going forward; and most important of all...how does this connect to the Burger King and the design of video game characters?

To help answer the question, let me introduce you to Dr. Masahiro Mori.

In the 1970s, Dr. Mori, a Japanese roboticist, used psychological research to develop a theory that has become known as the “Uncanny Valley”.

To make a long story short, Dr.

The continuing leitmotif of the McCain camp throughout the campaign has been that the McCain/Palin ticket represents Joe Six-Pack, while the Obama/Biden ticket is elitist.  I've always found this bewildering since McCain is the one with the family with the long Washington/Military Complex background, whereas the Obamas are actually an American success story of people who have succeeded through hard work and grit.  

Let's take a look at the recent article in Rolling Stone on McCain's background. Before everyone goes berserk saying that I"m quoting a die-hard drug-smoking-heavymetal-listening-pinko publication - so what?  Most of what is in the article is well-known and has been known for a long time. 

John McCain, Make-Believe Maverick portrays a self-serving man who, rather than giving straight talk, has always been willing to bend to the wind of what suits him. A volatile self-centered man with a wandering moral center. A man who makes George Bush appear to be a responsible self-disciplined individual. And a man you'd never want to have pilot your airplane. 

Get your Palin_Bingo_here! Concerned that tonight's debate party might get a bit hard to take? No worries now--play along with the debate and distract yourself.

On a more serious note down here in the Kickapoo Valley we have a great organization working for all the candidates. The State Senate and Assembly seats (currently Republican incumbents) are being challenged with great candidates, Tara Johnson and Dale Klemme.

In our efforts to bring their issues to the fore we are highlighting them on the cvdems_website. The "c" and "v" in the website name stands for Crawford and Vernon Counties that in collaboration pack a punch. At least we are trying to make that Wisconsin difference.

Securing the votes in Congress to pass real immigration solutions into law isn't going to be easy. The next President - no matter who wins - will need to lead his own party first to get it done.

Senator Obama would surely have an uphill climb, even with a Party Platform that favors comprehensive reform. But, given an enforcement-only Party Platform and the policy positions of most Republicans in Congress, Senator McCain may need to scale a brick wall to bring his party on board!

Nevertheless, both candidates continue to talk about reform (at least in Spanish).

Well, we've already heard enough rhetoric- we want a roadmap. We're asking the Senators how they will unite their own parties to pass real immigration solutions into law.

We're saying, Show America the Immigration Reform Roadmap during the next presidential debate on October 7th!

Resources

The Republican Platform

The Democratic Platform

(Cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now Blog. More than 96,000 people in Wisconsin receive Social Security and thousands more are nearing retirement.)

Monday’s stock market disaster, with the Dow plummeting 778 points—a larger drop than after the Sept. 11 attacks—may make Wall Street traders and billionaire hedge fund investors hyperventilate.

But imagine how much worse for the rest of us it would have been if, three years ago, President Bush and Sen. John McCain had succeeded in their efforts to privatize Social Security, gambling in the stock market funds that have been a guaranteed income for America’s retirees?

Many of our 401(k)s and pension plans took a hit yesterday—but no matter how our individual retirements fare on Wall Street, we would still have Social Security to back us up.

Not so if McCain became president.

So the grand plan unfolds ---

McCain suspends his campaign because the nation needs saving -- then goes in and sabotages the bailout plan by throwing in a whole new plan that nobody was thinking of - ensuring that there'll be no deal.

There's no deal - so you have to not show up for the presidential debate tonight.(and I think it's more than a little ironic that after McCain's attempts to goad Obama into Town Hall Meetings the format of the debate is probably going to be a Town Hall Meeting with Barack Obama - what else can they do?)

Then - and this is the genius part --- since the Presidential debate was postponed, Lindsay Graham now says that they want to put the presidential debate in where the vice-presidential debate should have been , thereby saving Sarah Palin from having to - you know, actually talk to people.

Lessee here - I think the next plan is to move the Vice-Presidential debate to Nov. 5. 

Seems McCain made a mistake in his VP choice, but he almost got it right...