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On Thursday, John McCain at last did away with all above-the-fray pretense and added his voice to the right-wing chorus now openly trying to portray Barack Obama as a fundamentally anti-American figure.

McCain, whose running-mate previously accused the Democratic presidential nominee of “palling around with terrorists,” sought to frame Obama’s rather tenuous connection with Bill Ayers in the most sinister terms possible.

“Senator Obama says he was just another guy in the neighborhood,” McCain said. “We know that isn’t true. We need to know the full extent of the truth because of whether Senator Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not.  read more »

It seems like only a few glandular cases are obsessed with the fact that Barack Obama knows Bill Ayers, the vintage '60s "revolutionary" and former mad bomber, with everyone else including the New York Post dismissing the charge as a low blow.

But the Ayers controversy is only the spearhead of a massive Internet campaign by McCain supporters to brand Senator Obama a "socialist," the timing of which is exquisitely (if unintentionally) comic.

It goes like this: Sometime in the distant past, Obama won the endorsement of the Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, or D.S.A.—a rather moderate group of activists by left-wing standards, who have always believed in advancing such radical concepts as universal health care, green technology, union jobs at decent wages, as well as many other worthy ideas that are now boringly mainstream.  read more »

According to recent articles, the Fox Business Network (FBN) still lags far, far behind its competitors at CNBC in terms of the size of its audience.

But amid the current financial panic, FBN is hoping to win over some viewers by running a political-style attack-ad knocking the record of CNBC's Jim Cramer.

"Financially, these are crazy times," warns a scary voiceover in the ads. "The last thing you need is bad advice. The last thing you need is CNBC's Jim Cramer."

When Gib Veconi moved to Prospect Heights in 1991, he and his neighbors spent years renovating brownstones. They started with garden-level apartments, and finished each successive story with rental income earned from the ground-floor tenants.

"No one could imagine tearing down a historic building," he said. "It was a question of economics." They couldn't afford the demolition.

Mr. Veconi, the chairman of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), will tell you how the block associations of the 1990s were made up of members who had lived in the area since the 1950s, and the newcomers were like him, just looking for more space to raise a family.  read more »

Barack Obama admitted to Men's Health that he occasionally bums a cigarette on the campaign trail, saying, "I figure, seeing as I'm running for president, I need to cut myself a little slack." [People]

Diddy did not appreciate McCain's much-noted "that one" remark at Tuesday night's debate, and he's posted a video to tell you about it. [Radar]

Leonardo DiCaprio was spotted "snapping photos of the topless Brazilian dancer at the Box," which seems a little creepy. [P6]

Hotelier Andre Balazs was seen having dinner with Renee Zellweger at Swifty's. [R&M]

Hugh Hefner confirmed his breakup with Holly Madison, but filming for The Girls Next Door continues.  read more »

One of the reasons that Michael Bloomberg’s recent public efforts to change the term-limits law has been fairly successful is that it's been in the works for a long time. But despite rampant speculation in recent months, it appears that opposition emerged with force only this week because earlier this year, nobody really thought this would happen.

The New York Times reports today that the mayor’s “emissaries” were reaching out to term-limits activist Ron Lauder two years ago, and there was no real objection to it at the time. Even David Seifman's story in April, which reported that   the mayor was polling on this issue, didn't mobilize any organized opposition.  read more »

The New York Times Company has hired "internet professional" Joseph Seibert, formerly an executive at Marc Ecko. Mr. Seibert will become the company's new chief information officer.

He's been its COO since 2006 so he presumably had a role in the Air Force One ad campaign that ad guru Andrew Essex described this way: "As a result of this, Mark Ecko no longer advertises in GQ and Details, my former publications. ... If advertisers can turn themselves into news and content, what is the role of a magazine?"

(And what does that mean for the future of the Times' content?)

Anyway, Mr. Seibert will replace David Thurm, who has been promoted to a new position called senior vice president, operations, which will oversee outside printing, New York production and building operations.  read more »

On March 4, Hillary Clinton delivered the following remarks to supporters at her victory party in Columbus, Ohio:

"You know, they call Ohio a bellwether state. It's a battleground state. It's a state that knows how to pick a president. And no candidate in recent history, Democrat or Republican, has won the White House without winning the Ohio primary.

"You all know that if we want a Democratic president, we need a Democratic nominee who can win the battleground states just like Ohio. And that is what we've done. We've won Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Michigan, New Hampshire, Arkansas, California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

 read more »

Gawker's Richard Lawson points us towards a controversy brewing over this week's 12th season premiere of Comedy Central's South Park.

According to a post by Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke and one by Los Angeles Times Show Tracker blogger Todd Martens, some people—especially at Paramount—feel that South Park auteurs Matt Parker and Trey Stone went too far in calling Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a "rape" of a beloved movie franchise. The "joke" was compounded later in the episode by depicting George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as rapists—both of the Indiana Jones movies and of Stars Wars.

What no one seems to remember is that Mr. Spielberg was once the victim of a real-life stalker who may have threatened to rape him. Literally.  read more »

New York Times executive editor Bill Keller defended last weekend's front-page story on radical William Ayers and his connection to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Mr. Keller writes an e-mail to Politico.com's Michael Calderone:

"We've reported the Ayers relationship before, and we had it on our ‘to do’ list for a while to take a more comprehensive look... When the McCain campaign began to make it a major focal point of ads and stump speeches, we decided the time was right.”

“It didn't take any prodding... When the conversation on something controversial reaches a certain level, curious readers look to The Times to help them sort the facts from the fictions and figure out what to make of it. That's what we did.”

Midtown south, that region of heavily commercial Manhattan from roughly Houston Street to 42nd Street, may be the crystal ball for New York's financial health. It has a lot of the island’s cheapest office space; and, yet, that same space is emptying slowly as companies trickle out sans successors.

Midtown south’s scruffier buildings—think old Silicon Alley hangouts hastily rewired 15 years ago, groaning under the weights of sporadic upkeep and old infrastructure—have considerably lower rents than midtown’s gleaming towers: In September, the average midtown south asking rent was $52.86 a square foot, according to CB Richard Ellis; in midtown, it was $84.  read more »

Marc Jacobs and business partner Robert Duffy have settled on a theme of "Rock and Roll Circus" for their annual holiday party, to be held Dec. 10 at the Rainbow Room. [WWD]

Diesel will throw a 30th anniversary party in Brooklyn on Saturday night featuring performances by N.E.R.D., MIA, and possibly, Britney Spears. [FWD] 

For people in the fashion industry, seeing nude male and female models backstage at shows is hardly exciting. [NY Times] 

Vanessa Paradis, the new face of Miu Miu, on her life with Johnny Depp: "I'm really lucky. I do stay in wonderful hotels and houses and that's amazing, but we're not very social at all. We don't go to parties or premieres." [Vogue UK]

Sarah Palin wore a tote in public that reads "Real Women Hunt Moose." [Ecorazzi via Racked]

Just over a week after the top jury member of the Nobel Prize told the AP that American writers shouldn't hope to hear their name called this year on account of their collective insularity and ignorance, word comes that the 2008 laureate for literature is French novelist and essayist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio. 

According to the Times, the committee called Mr. Le Clézio an “author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization.” The prize, which was given to British author Doris Lessing last year, puts $1.43 million into Mr. Le Clezio's pocket.  read more »

Britney Spears will address the causes of her infamously erratic behavior in an upcoming documentary. Sample quote: "I sit there and I'll look back and I'm like: 'I'm a smart person. What the hell was I thinking?'" [People]

The cover photo from the November issue of W, which features Angelina Jolie breast-feeding one of her children, has been released. [Radar]

In preparation for his role in The Wrestler, Mickey Rourke cut his own forehead open with a razor blade he had taped to his forearm; how exactly this helped him to prepare is unclear. [R&M]

While touring with Madonna, Swedish musician Robyn was told "not to approach Madonna, not to speak to Madonna and, above all, no pictures.  read more »

Earlier this week, Richard Huff of the New York Daily News broke the story that conservative pundit Sean Hannity had signed a new multimillion dollar contract with Fox News, which will keep him at the cable news network through 2012.

"The new deal will keep Hannity as one-half of the nightly show Hannity & Colmes, which he does with Allan Colmes," reported Mr. Huff. "Today, the nightly show he hosts with Colmes has been No. 1 at 9 p.m. among the cable news networks for the past 58 months."

How's Mr. Colmes doing?  read more »

Rival operators appear to be scavaging over what's left of the bankrupt Scores empire.

Robert Gans, owner of Manhattan's Penthouse Executive Club, has applied for a liquor license at the former Scores West strip club at 533-535 West 27th Street.

Meanwhile, proprietors of the Las Vegas-based strip club Sapphire--who earlier caused such an uproar over plans to open a new location on West 23rd Street--are seeking a license at the original Scores location at 333 East 60th Street.

Both applicants are scheduled to appear before the State Liquor Authority (SLA) next week.

State regulators earlier stripped Scores boss Richard Goldring of his license at the West Side location, after employees were arrested on prostitution charges.  read more »

George W. Bush will address the nation this morning after the Dow plummeted yesterday and global markets today are already in bad shape.

The Obama campaign bought half an hour of airtime on CBS and NBC for October 29--just before the election and the anniversary of the 1929 stock market crash.

A McCain campaign co-chair brought up Obama's drug use.

Michael Bloomberg could spend $80 million on his re-election campaign, but one aide told The New York Times, “There is no cap, there is no price tag.”

Here’s more on concerns freshman City Council members have about changing the term-limits law.

The deal Bloomberg struck with Ron Lauder is coming under scrutiny.

“These are rich men toying with the purchase of the public will,” writes Newsday’s editorial board.

"Tyranny" is how the Queens Tribune editorial board describes it.

Mike Schenkler, a fan of the mayor, writes, "Last week, Mike Bloomberg became a politician and I fear it all has changed."

Few doubt that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is on board.

The New York Times editorial board thinks David Paterson has a better approach than Bloomberg taxing cigarettes sold on Indian reservations.

Michael Bloomberg is trading at a lower price on the fantasy stock market.

The Queens Chronicle editorial board wonders if Bloomberg will get a job in D.C. during his third term, and calls Ron Lauder’s position on term limits “strange.”

The Queens Chronicle also has a front-page graphic saying nearly every City Council member from that borough is undecided about changing term limits.

Draft Eric Adams, says Rock Hackshaw.

Andrew Hawkins looks at the legal challenges facing Bloomberg and concludes none are airtight.

Here’s a cartoon showing Bloomberg as Superman.

Bloomberg gets a brief mention as a candidate to head the U.S. Treasury Department.

A frustrated Yoda suggests that it would save time and money to have Howard Rubenstein write the Charter Revision Commission report.

The New York League of Conservation Voters are endorsing both the Democratic and Republican State Senate candidates in Westchester.

Get ready for some news videos coming out of Rochester.

The Albany Project likes the sound of the gas-tax holiday coming from Democratic challenger David Nachbar.

A Republican Assembly candidate criticizes a Democrat for voting to eliminate the commuter tax. [last item]

This blogger thinks Bloomberg would be leading the presidential race if he were running.

Gary Tilzer wants U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia to investigate lots of people.

Rupert Murdoch wants to host a panel discussion about New York and stock markets.

Sheldon Silver works on a more direct way to get to Albany.

Republican congressional candidate Bob Straniere responds to Guy Molinari's endorsement of the Conservative Party candidate.

Republican Representative Randy Kuhl objects to the health care ad running in his district.

It’s good to be an outsider in some races.

This blogger isn’t upset with Bloomberg running because “it’s easy to pull the lever for the other guy.”

In the comments section, Kitchen Cynic thinks Bloomberg and others will wind up working in D.C.

And the supermarket tabloid Weekly World News "reports" Bloomberg held a secret ceremony to change Wall Street’s name to Main Street.

Fancy watch hoarder Charlize Theron will have to pay luxury watchmaker Raymond Weil for violating a $3 million endorsement deal with the designer by wearing a Dior watch in public, a Manhattan judge has ruled, according to the New York Post.

Last week, Daily Transom stumbled on the court documents on The Smoking Gun that indicated this wasn't the first time the actress has used her popularity in the press to expand her jewelry collection.

From the court filings:

She also was paid $200,000 by Chopard to wear its jewels to the 2006 Oscars and received another $50,000 from the Swiss firm for wearing its gems to that year's BAFTA awards in London.

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With atonement and repentance in the air today, the transit advocacy nonprofit Transportation Alternatives released a feature on the Web site rollingcarbon.org that calculates the carbon footprint of New York City commuters.

Visitors to the site can choose one of seven transportation options (bus, car, hybrid car, taxi, subway/train, bike, walk) and calculate the daily carbon emissions of their commute. According to the site, a 10-mile train ride emits 5 pounds of carbon dioxide, while a car commute of the same distance emits 24.4 pounds.

In addition to calculating daily emissions, the site also has a few transportation factoids (did you know that one out of four transit trips in the U.  read more »

The Dow plummeted to below 9,000.

A year ago it was at a record high.

The federal government might now just give banks a "capital injection."

George W. Bush has ordered up transition teams for both candidates, remarking, "It has probably never been more critical that a transition from an administration from one to the next is as seamless as possible."

A blogger at Second Avenue Sagas wonders if the federal government will also bail out the M.T.A., which has a worse debt problem then originally.

In another sign the economy is not recovering, more people are failing to pay their Con Ed bills.  read more »