So I have been wearing this McBush button lately in an effort to elicit a chuckle and show my disdain for the Republican ticket. Seems to be backfiring. Most people who see it assume I’m supporting the Geezer and the GILF. Perhaps it is too subtle. I can see where you might be confused. After all, who in 2008 is still invoking the name “Bush.”

The problem, though, is that the way Vietnam Vic is running his campaign he’s starting to make me miss George W. On the same day the stock market and foreign markets crashed, when Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy ever and Merrill Lynch sold for pennies on the dollar, Grampy McNumbnuts said, “The fundamentals of our economy is still strong.” And then he went outside and bought an apple from a street vendor who used to be a stock broker.

From this day forward I will be wearing a new button: McHoover.

Sarah Barracuda continues to lie her way to relevance. No, she never actually “told the congress, thanks but no thanks” for the Bridge to Nowhere funding. She actually lobbied for it. Her latest lie: her teleprompter stopped working during her convention speech so she winged it. Oh, that’s believable. Great speakers always usually avoid being interviewed. Of course, her lying seems to work well in some circles. So well, in fact, that McHoover has started telling whoppers like he invented the Blackberry. It’s one thing to take credit for encouraging American businesses to be inventive, but it’s quite another to pat yourself on the back over a Canadian company’s success. And, why in fact, would McHoover claim to even own a Blackberry when he’s previously admitted not knowing how to send or receive email? Weird

Speaking of weird, Jonathan Cohn writes in The New Republic about answering a push-poll recently. Push-polls, you may remember, were popularized in the 2000 presidential race when they were used against McHoover by the Team Bush. (Sample from 2000: would you be more or less likely to vote for McCain if you knew he’d fathered an illegitimate black child? And other classy stuff). Anyway, the McHoovers are running a push-poll in New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, four states with large Jewish populations. Not sure New York is in play, but he’d certainly pick up some political capital by winning Brooklyn. Here are the questions they are asking our Jewish-American friends which are all prefaced with “would you vote for Obama if you knew:

· Obama has had a decade long relationship with pro-Palestinian leaders in Chicago

· the leader of Hamas, Ahmed Yousef, expressed support for Obama and his hope for Obama’s victory

· the church Barack Obama has attended is known for its anti-Israel and anti-American remarks

· Jimmy Carter’s anti-Israel national security advisor is one of Barack Obama’s foreign policy advisors

· Barack Obama was the member of a board (sic) that funded a pro-Palestinian chartiable organization

· Barack Obama called for holding a summit of Muslim nations excluding Israel if elected president

This last one begs the obvious question: why would you invite Israel to a summit of Muslim nations? Sure you might invite David Brenner or KISS to perform, but I’d don’t think you’d invite actual Israeli’s. No, not even the Zohan.

7 weeks to go until the election and all I keep thinking is: How low will McHoover go to win this thing? I have visions of the “Reperations Ad” running through my head. Yikes.

At least we don’t have to wait anymore weeks for the new Okkervil River CD. “The Stand-Ins” was released on Tuesday and not a moment too soon. Will Sheff and company just seem to be getting better and better which each new effort. Here’s a photo of me and Mr. Sheff discussing why he hates the term “Lit-Rock.” Me: if you hate it so much why don’t you stop reading? Him: what does one have to do with other? Me: I interviewed Norman Mailer once. Him: hey, that’s my wallet. Police!

Finally, R.I.P. author David Foster Wallace, who hanged himself over the weekend. I’m not sure why he didn’t wait for the movie version of “The Infinite Jest” to be released, but I assume he had his reasons. Say Hi to Norman Mailer for me.