John McCain finally got some good news Thursday. The Gallup daily tracking poll has him gaining two points since Wednesday. Now Obama leads McCain by six points in that poll. Also, the AP poll has the race very close.
But the rest of the polling still shows Barack Obama well ahead in both the popular vote and in most battleground states. Clearly, Senator McCain needs to take some bold action.
In fact, the most surprising bold move lately has been Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama, which may influence some independent voters. Powell, a Republican, cited the personal attacks on Obama and Sarah Palin's inexperience as factors in his decision.
Senator McCain responded to the Palin deal:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN MCCAIN: I know that if General Powell had wanted to meet Governor Palin, we could have arranged that easily, No. 1. But No. 2 is, then obviously General Powell does not know Governor Palin's record.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Now I could be wrong, but I don't think Powell cares about Governor Palin's record or anything about the woman. And he certainly can't be serious about the personal attack issue.
Democratic partisans have made a big deal out of some morons yelling dumb stuff at McCain rallies. Apparently the senator is now responsible for the thoughts of every American. Quite a burden.
That kind of nonsense is just a smoke screen. McCain has publicly repudiated personal attacks on Obama, and he won't even use the Reverend Wright issue, which he certainly could use.
So when General Powell bemoaned some guy calling Obama a Muslim, "Talking Points" is a bit perplexed. Senator Obama visited the Daily Kos convention last summer and mingled with character assassins there, people who allowed Internet posts calling for Dick Cheney to be murdered and applauding Tony Snow's demise. Recently, that Web site posted the preposterous allegation that Sarah Palin's daughter gave birth to the Down syndrome child, not the governor.
Now this is from me to you, General Powell. I respect you, but they don't come more hateful than the Daily Kos. And they support your guy, and your guy lent them his statue. The door swings both ways, general.
If you're truly upset about personal attacks, check out NBC News, the pro-Obama network. It doesn't get nastier than those people. So I'm not buying any of this.
General Powell, in my opinion, endorsed Obama because the senator has been respectful to him and sought his advice quietly, while some Republicans have not been respectful of General Powell. So it's payback time. That is what's really going on here. No spin.
And that's "The Memo."
Pinheads & Patriots
Pop star Justin Timberlake also plays golf, and his pro-am for the Shriners' Children's Hospital has raised more than $1 million this year. Quite a coup. For this, Mr. Timberlake is a patriot.
On the pinhead front, actor Richard Dreyfuss plays Dick Cheney in the new "W" movie, and they say he's a dead ringer for the vice president. So we invited Dreyfuss on "The Factor." His manager sent back this statement: "Richard asks the following as a prerequisite to doing the show. Bill must put in writing that he will not interrupt Richard."
Well, I can't do that. But I can verbally say, "Hey, Richard, you're a pinhead." And I might be able to put that in writing as well.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox