Why send flowers for Valentine’s Day when you can send talking disembodied arms?

This is Your Hug: Hug-E-Gram [Videogum, via Sully]

Black Eagle’s going to Massachusetts tomorrow.  We got another 72 hours to go.  Coakley et al need to get pumped to stave off a full year of complete blockitude. With that in mind:

One of the “revelations” from the new book Game Change — we’ll have a doorstop on the subject in the morning — is that Harry Reid was early to spot Barack Obama’s qualifications for President:

1. Obama is “light-skinned”.

2. Obama didn’t speak with a “Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.”

Which is an unpleasant way of pointing out that Barry isn’t Jesse, and something Harry shouldn’t have said in so many words, or words that could be accurately paraphrased as such. (Harry has apologized to Barry; Barry has accepted.)

The disturbing truth is that, if you wanna get realpolitik about it, Harry was right — Obama’s election didn’t transcend American racism, but moved it further to the shadows. A welcome development, to be sure, but let’s not declare victory over history just yet. If you want to see a real burial of bigotry, look at attitudes toward Irish-Americans instead. We’re not bothered by smelly Papists the way we used to be.

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For all we know, Bubba taped some naughty Monica parodies with Buddy and Socks, but we can only remember the horror of BarneyCam. We have an obligation to send you off for the holiday with appropriate dread, however, so here’s the White House Turkey Preview. We promise to make up for it — big time — Thanksgiving morning.

We know this gives her too much credit, but we can’t help imagine the gentleharpy from Minnesota as Anakin Skywalker:

Q: You’ve been described as Democrats’ Public Enemy No. 1. How do you feel about being a target?

A: In being forceful and fighting for the positions that I’m standing for, I obviously must pose a threat for liberals advancing their agenda. I say that because I grew up a Democrat in a Democrat family. My husband and I both worked on Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. The first time I ever came to Washington was to dance at Walter Mondale’s inaugural ball. It was a thrill for my husband and me, and we were both happy to work on behalf of Walter Mondale and Jimmy Carter. We really believed in them when we were in college. So in some ways I don’t understand why the Democratic Party would be opposed to me, because I stand for the same values that my parents stood for when we were Democrats.

Wait — Jimmy Carter? In Michele’s defense, she was 20 in 1976, and we all have moments we’d sooner forget from our college days. But if she needs a reminder why we love her so, here’s the interview that put her on the map — the one where she demanded that Congresscritters be investigated to “find out, are they they are pro-America or anti-America?”

Bachmann says she is doing what she was elected to do [St. Cloud Times, via Political Wire]

Yes, we know: musicals again. But with something appealing in upstate New York, something appalling in Maine and Washington state, something convulsive in Virginia, and something repulsive in New Jersey — we’ll grant the last two are a stretch — there’s something for everyone in our Open Thread/Sondheim Singalong. So put on your pantaloons and tunics, and let’s all hope for a happy ending.

Our special election-night Open Thread/Triumph of the Shill is less than ninety minutes away, but already supporters of Silly Party Conservative Doug Hoffman are starting up their drinking game — a swig for every hoax they announce:

“Hoffman Poll Watcher Has Tires Slashed,” blared Red State, with photos of the truck and its flat tire. And Hoffman himself chimed in.

“We just had a report that one of our pollsters in Clinton County just had their tires slashed,” Hoffman said. “So I think the Democrats are doing everything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd District.”

But the local cops disagree: “This was not a tire slashing,” said the police captain. “This was some guy who drove over a bottle and cut his tire.”

On the other hand, Hoffmaniacs are “yelling anti-choice stuff at voters,” says a Demrat on the scene. “Apparently, there’s some woman claiming to be a commissioner. Commissioner of what, I don’t know. She’s from Texas, I think, and she won’t leave.”

Hoffman Camp, Right-Wing Bloggers Accuse Dems Of Slashing Supporter’s Car — Police Say He Drove Over Bottle [TPM]

Police Called To NY-23 Polling Sites [NY Daily News, via Think Progress]

Image: Ashley Todd Halloween Mask [Bloggerheads]