I’m really enjoying Brad’s “Fuck the Rats” posts over at S,N! The latest, on the coming Palin fiasco, is everything an aspiring Liberal version of Rove will need to propel herself (or himself!) to the top of the Democratic Party machine.

But going after political personalities is far too typical to truly hack an election, i.e., influence media-friendly events to wildly change the dynamics of an election. The infamous October surprise is a well-known example, but not all encompassing, and it is a commonly held belief that Ross Perot hacked the ‘92 election.

None other than Prime Minister Putin is accusing Dick Cheney of inciting war to benefit McCain. The Guardian reported the following yesterday:

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, said yesterday that the Caucasus crisis was started by the US as an election ploy.

As Moscow found itself increasingly isolated internationally for invading Georgia and recognising two breakaway regions of the country as independent states, Putin suggested that the Georgia war had been cooked up in Washington to create a neo-cold war climate that would strengthen Republican candidate John McCain’s bid for the White House.

…
In an interview with CNN, Putin, seen as the main force behind Russia’s hammering of Georgia, amplified conspiracy theories aired in the Russian media - that the war was created by Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, and McCain to create an international crisis and fan anti-Russian hostility that would undermine Barack Obama’s chances of getting to the Oval Office. “The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict to make the situation more tense and create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president,” Putin said.

The Bush White House is denying the accusation, so that clearly bolsters Putin’s claims, although it does smell like bullshit from afar. (Also, Bob Scheer floated the election hack accusation balloon weeks ago in The Nation, and truthout lays out the publicly available evidence to support the claim.)

What does this have to do with Himmicane Gustav, as my wife would say?

It will be obvious to all wingnuts, if indeed the coverage of the storm and its aftermath overshadows that of the Republican National Convention, that Barack HUSSEIN Obama asked Rev. Jeremiah Wright to confer with God on the possibility of reprising Katrina and the Republican embarrassment thereof. Much uncompassionate whining will ensue. The MSM will be blamed. Obama = Landslide. QED.