How come white folks can consort with racists but blacks can't? Not that I'm conceding that Rev. Wright is a racist. But let's stick to the point.

Jonathan Stein's post gives me the perfect opportunity to kvetch about something that's been driving me crazy about the attacks on Obama via Wright.

Stein's right that vicious ads like this one will give a great many cover to vote against Obama. But here's the thing: What about the racists and loonies who helped raise most of us? My father was bitter beyond belief about white racism, even though he had white friends and volunteered to fight in WWII. I can separate his horrific life experiences (Jim Crow sharecropper) out from my own (post-Civil Rights Movement) world view, as do most other Americans. When the elders got together and ranted and raved about the white man, I didn't go upstairs, write a formal denunciation, and secede from my family. I considered the source and was grateful to have been born later. How dare you demand that we have no complaints? Church, and to a lesser and more troubling extent, certain forms of rap 'music', are places we go for catharsis. And catharsis ain't usually a pretty sight.

Jason Whitlock, whom I blogged about earlier, summarized this notion perfectly:

[Read more]

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As CBS reports, early voting has been increasing nationwide for some time, from 7% of all votes cast in 1992 to 20% in 2004. But this year, excitement over the "change" election has broken many state records for early voter turnout. In Colorado, for instance, early voters amount to more than 31% of registered voters. One woman in Georgia reported waiting more than eight hours to vote early.

And how are early voters voting? The AP reports that early voters are overwhelmingly breaking for Obama. Here's their breakdown by party in several key states:

Florida: About 2.6 million people have already voted in a state where absentee ballots overwhelmingly favored President Bush in the razor-thin 2000 election. Among those voting so far this year, 45% are registered Democrats and 39% Republicans.

North Carolina: About 1.6 million people have already voted — 54% are registered Democrats and 29% are Republicans. About 100,000 newly registered voters have signed up and voted at North Carolina's one-stop voting centers. Among them, Democrats outnumbered Republicans by about 2-1.

Iowa: About 340,000 people have already voted — 49% are registered Democrats and 29% are Republicans.

Colorado: About 815,000 people have voted — 39% are registered Democrats and 37% are Republicans.

Nevada: About 342,000 people have already voted in Clark and Washoe Counties, which contain nearly 90% of the state's population. Among those voters, 53% are registered Democrats and 30% are Republicans.

New Mexico: About 111,000 people have voted in Bernalillo County, the state's largest. Among them, 55% are registered Democrats and 33% are Republicans.

Georgia: Black voters make up about 35% of those who have already voted — a big increase from the 2004 election, when 25% of the state's electorate was black. Blacks voted for Obama by ratio of 9-1 in Georgia's Democratic primary this year.

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HOMEOWNER BAILOUT UPDATE....The Washington Post reports that the White House is getting ready to announce a plan that would help up to 3 million homeowners avoid default:

Under the program being discussed, the lender would agree to reduce borrowers' monthly payments based on their ability to pay. The reductions could be achieved by lowering the interest rate, slashing the amount owed or extending the repayment period.

....In exchange, financial institutions that agree to participate in the program would receive a government guarantee for a portion of any losses occurring if borrowers default on the reconfigured loan.

For what it's worth, a Treasury spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that media reports about the program are "simply inaccurate," so take this with a grain of salt. Still, I'll bet it's not too far off the mark, and it sounds like a decent plan. It would be nice to see a chunk of that $700 billion being put to use helping someone other than a bunch of bankers.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY #2....From George Newman, arguing that it's the prospect of a Barack Obama victory next week that's caused the stock market to collapse and the economy to go into recession:

Have you thought of how a Treasury Secretary George Soros would engineer the double taxation of the multinationals' world-wide profits, and what this would mean for investors (to say nothing of full-scale industrial flight from the U.S.)? The market now has.

Have you thought of how an Attorney General Charles J. Ogletree would champion a trillion-dollar reparations-for-slavery project (whittled down, to be fair, to a mere $800-billion, over-10-years compromise), and what this would do to the economy? The market now has.

....Have you thought of how a Health and Human Services Secretary Hillary Clinton would fix drug prices (generously allowing 10% over the cost of raw materials), and what this would do to the financial health of the pharmaceutical industry (not to mention the nondiscovery of lifesaving drugs)? The market now has.

This is from — of course — the Wall Street Journal editorial page. But will even their loyal readers swallow something this inane?

Via Brad DeLong.

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