USA Today/Gallup poll: The Republican National Convention has given John McCain and his party a significant boost, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken over the weekend shows, as running mate Sarah Palin helps close an “enthusiasm gap” that has dogged the GOP all year. McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by 50%-46% among registered voters, the Republican’s biggest advantage since January and a turnaround from the USA TODAY poll taken just before

As I noted in an earlier post today, the perception of media bias is growing. And as Texas Rainmaker points out, the times, they are about to be a-changin’. — Or at least, appear as though they’re changing. I mean, you can pin a rose to a donkey turd, but that doesn’t make it any less a donkey turd. Just makes it a donkey turd what calls the movies “cinema”

Crispin Sartwell fleshes out in a bit more detail a number of the arguments I’ve been hinting at here: you’ve got to understand that “class” is not income-level. class is a semiotic system. it’s affect, diction, alma mater, what you drink. it’s how your house is decorated, no matter how big it is. it’s hair style, musical preferences. those are the ways that sarah palin is wrong and barack obama

Darleen on Skewz.com.

From Counterterrorism Blog: In a first, senior U.S. officials acknowledged that U.S. ground forces entered Pakistan to pursue high-value Al Qaeda targets, and the hunt for Osama bin Laden is moving at full speed before President Bush leaves office. “(A) small team of commandos crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan to go after an al Qaida cell operating out of a village less than a mile from the border.

From the WSJ’s Political Diary: According to Rasmussen, fully 68% of voters believe that “most reporters try to help the candidate they want to win.” And — no surprise — 49% of those surveyed believe reporters are backing Barack Obama, while just 14% think the media is in the tank for Sen. McCain. Meanwhile, 51% of those surveyed thought the press was “trying to hurt” Mrs. Palin with its coverage.