SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:53 P.M. ET: 

TRAIN WRECK – Much buzz on the internet and on TV today about Field Marshal Obama's confused statements in Estonia about the Islamic State and the Ukraine.  No one knows what our foreign policy is.  I'm not so sure the field marshal cares.  I really don't think he has any desire to take on the IS or Russia.  I think he's the political Greta Garbo.  He wants to be alone.  And he is.

MADNESS – The saying goes that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  Looks like they're heading in the same direction.  From the Jerusalem Post:  "Hamas's popularity has skyrocketed in the wake of Operation Protective Edge to the point where its deputy political bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, would win the presidency of the Palestinian Authority if elections were held today, according to a new survey of West Bank and Gaza residents.  The poll, which was overseen by Dr. Khalil Shikaki of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, indicates that Haniyeh would attract 61 percent support among prospective Palestinian voters, easily outpacing incumbent Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah (32 percent)."  This would be like the Germans in 1945 entrusting their future to Adolf Hitler.  All Hamas has brought to the Palestinians is death.  I think even many Arab nations are tired of Palestinian delusions. 

AMERICANS DOWN ON THE ECONOMY – From The Hill:  "People in the U.S. remain generally pessimistic about the state of the economy, according to new data from Gallup. The polling company said Tuesday that its economic confidence index remained at -16 in August, and has hovered within a three-point span for all of 2014.   Gallup's latest numbers underscore that the economy might not give Democrats the assistance that party leaders had hoped for this midterm year.  Democrats are much more likely to be bullish on the economy than Republicans or independents, Gallup found. Higher earners are also more confident than lower earners, a finding consistent with other consumer surveys."  People must see their own circumstances improve before they'll believe that the economy itself is improving.  Most people don't see it.

A SHOT IN ALASKA – There's a close Senate race in Alaska, with incumbent Dem Mark Begich holding his own in the polls.  But Begich just blundered badly, opening a chance for his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan:  "Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich is retracting a television ad that an Alaska family said was exploiting a tragedy for political purposes, according to KTVA in Anchorage.  The controversy began Friday when Begich published a TV spot which blamed his opponent, former state attorney general Dan Sullivan, for reducing the sentence of Jerry Active, a 25-year-old man accused of murdering an Anchorage couple and sexually assaulting their 2-year-old granddaughter on May 25, 2013.  In a rebuttal ad, Sullivan vehemently denied Begich’s accusation, pointing out that he was not attorney general in Jan. 2009 when Active committed a series of crimes for which he should have been sentenced to at least eight years in prison Instead, a state database search failed to find that Active had a previous felony which would have triggered the minimum sentence."  Some observers sense trouble in the Begich camp.  Sullivan is up in the latest poll by two points.

September 3, 2014