The Friday Political Thread: Write It Backwards on Your Face

Unconvincing Quote of the Week
"She was upset with the media for blowing this into a political firestorm."—Pittsburgh police Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant on Ashley Todd, the McCain volunteer who admitted lying about a pro-Obama hate crime committed against her.

The Week in Brief
– Joe Biden declared pre-emptive war on Barack Obama.
– Obamacons tumbled out of the woodwork.
– Alan Greenspan was vewwy vewwy sorry.
– John McCain got on the Joe the Plumber bus.
– Ron Paul's ghost haunted the GOP.
– Bob Barr pronounced McCain's defeat.

Below the Fold
– Nate Silver explains why westerner John McCain is losing the western states. (Reagan swept them twice.)
– W. James Antle III throws a fit in Sam's Club.
– Will Wilkinson breaks a fly bottle over Jacob Weisberg's head. It leaves a mark shaped like an "L"!
– Greg Sargent has the ugliest scoop of the week. (If, as seems unlikely, McCain loses Pennsylvania in a squeaker because he underperforms in Pittsburgh, will Ashley Todd become the Steve Bartman of politics?)
– Gerard Baker predicts a wave of Palintology to come after the vote.

This week's Politics 'n' Prog is dedicated to Sarah Palin.