MORNING READ

Conservatives may love Joe the Plumber and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), but both of them are hurting John McCain just four days before the election, according to liberal bloggers. Conservative bloggers write that the press is the group that’s hurting McCain.

The plumber failed to show up at a McCain rally in Ohio, even though McCain was expecting him. While Joe Wurzelbacher and the McCain campaign traded blame for the gaffe, one thing for sure is that it flustered the candidate, who badly flubbed one of his attack lines at the rally, notes Jed L at Daily Kos. But one Barack Obama supporter has gone too far with her “campaign hate” by accessing the Ohio records of Wurzelbacher at her government job, writes RedState’s Pejman Yousefzadeh.

If conservatives want a renewal, they’ll need to get rid of Palin, shown to be a drag on McCain’s ticket by a New York Times poll, notes Andrew Sullivan. Even a McCain adviser, former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, has acknowledged that Palin isn’t ready to become president, writes The Huffington Post’s Nico Pitney and Sam Stein.

But The New York Times’ suggestion in a headline that growing doubts over Palin are hurting McCain is overstated since just 2 percent of unenthusiastic voters in the survey base their lack of enthusiasm on vice presidential candidates, writes The Corner’s Kathryn Jean Lopez. The Washington Post showed its tilt by playing up the pitfalls of the Bush administration’s latest push for deregulation instead of its possible benefits for business, writes The Corner’s John J. Miller. And MSNBC’s Chris Matthews displayed his predictable bias by describing Obama’s 30-minute infomercial as “perfect,” “fabulous” and “just wright,” according to Townhall’s Amanda Carpenter.

FROM THE BLOGS:
Plumber Joe’s Humiliating No-Show – Jed L., Daily Kos
All That Campaign Hate – Pejman Yousefzadeh, RedState
Plumber Calls McCain ‘Real’ American – J. Aravosis, AMERICAblog
Of Course She’s Not Ready – Nico Pitney/Sam Stein, Huffington Post
Making The Case – Steve Benen, Political Animal
The Palin Poison – Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish
Growing Doubts Over Palin? – Kathryn Jean Lopez, The Corner
Tilt – John J. Miller, The Corner
File This Under Predictable Bias – Amanda Carpenter, Townhall.com

OTHER NEWS SOURCES:
McCain and Obama Focus on Differences on Economy – LA Times
Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds – New York Times
A Last Push to Deregulate – Washington Post
McCain’s Mixed Messages Leave None Getting Through – The Hill