What is asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.

— Christopher Hitchens

A silly Internet poll asking a simple question:

John McCain needed to hit a home run tonight. Did he?

Yet another debate thread…

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Another thread for the debate…

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Another thread for the debate…

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This political battle of wits is about to begin. Here’s the embedded live video feed from C-SPAN; we’ll see how their bandwidth holds up tonight (it crapped out in the Palin-Biden debate). CNN also has a live feed here.

McCain is way down in the polls, as you probably know. This could be a make or break moment for him.

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So far this C-SPAN live stream is working very well at Lizard HQ. Let’s hope it doesn’t bog down too much when the debate kicks off.

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UPDATE at 10/7/08 5:07:17 pm:

Allen Forkum (of the lamented cartoon duo Cox and Forkum) emailed a photo from the Belmont University campus, with Troofers…

Here’s an open thread to check out the embedded live stream from C-SPAN. Nothing on right now but an empty set with a few people meandering around and a soundtrack of random indecipherable background chatter. And by the way, registration is open for a short time.

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UPDATE at 10/7/08 4:40:05 pm:

Registration is now closed, with 163 hatchlings.

What got into Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin? A journalist asking persistent questions about The One? This will never do.

(Hat tip: Allah P.)

Roger Simon has a new book coming out in January, and he emails that it says nice things about yours truly—but not-so-nice things about Tinseltown: Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror: Roger L. Simon.

More at PJ Media: Don’t judge a book by its cover - except this time!

Last weekend the Bush administration quietly abandoned plans to send diplomats to Iran.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or be interpreted as political meddling, The Associated Press has learned.

The proposal to send U.S. diplomats to Tehran for the first time in three decades attracted great attention when it was first floated seriously over the summer but has now been placed on indefinite hold as November’s election nears and Iran continues to defy demands to halt suspect nuclear activities, officials told the AP.

We seem to have forgotten something: Focus, People.

Since the time of Hitler, civilization has never been so close to the brink of total catastrophe.  This American election will decide whether civilization as we know it will survive.  As much as economic questions are currently front and center, with blame to go all round, this is not an election primarily about corporate greed, or individuals living beyond their means, or government neglect of economic oversight. Nor is it about whether we should have gone into Iraq where, like it or not, American boots on the ground have begun to create an emerging democracy. This election is about whether there will be a nuclear holocaust.

Alarmist? I sure hope so. Isn’t it about time that we got to the point about the stakes in this election? How many more pundits do we have to watch talking about the minutae — a candidate’s look, an accent, a stumble, a slogan? We have four weeks to talk about the thing that matters most: a nuclear-armed Iran, and which candidate will prevent it.

Barack Obama’s claims that he had no idea about William Ayers’ violent, radical history are simply false: Was Obama Ignorant About Bill Ayers? Of Course Not.

Videos: The Ayers connection; Update: Obama doesn’t read newspapers?

William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were very open, even boastful about their past. How many times does Barack Obama think he can get away with his “see no evil” act?