Sarah Palin Lies: Debunked

YES WE DID!

2008-11-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Go Vote!

2008-11-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the thousands of readers who have visited this blog since it was launched the night of Sarah Palin's speech at the Republican Convention. Now it's up to you so go out and VOTE!

Hoping for a big Barack win!

Palin thinks Constitution protects her from media criticism

2008-11-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

No one would ever accuse Sarah Palin of being a Constitutional genius. After all, she thinks the Constitution gives the VP power to rule the Senate. Her latest display of stunning ignorance came during an interview yesterday with conservative talk radio show WMAL-AM. Palin said her First Amendment rights are threatened by reports who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Obama:

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations, then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Poor Sarah really is clueless. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech AND freedom of the press. That means she can say whatever ridiculous nonsense she wants and the press can call her on it. Instead, Palin thinks the First Amendment was intended to give political candidates the freedom to say whatever they want without being criticized by the press.

Too bad the McCain campaign handlers couldn't give Palin a cram course in Constitutional rights since she's running to potentially be President. I suggest when Palin gets back to Alaska, she funnel more money towards education in her state, sounds like they might need it.

Joe the Plumber now on McCain's Foreign Policy Team

2008-10-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Will someone please flush Joe the Plumber down John the Toilet so we don't have to be tortured by this knucklehead anymore! Joe, whose real name is Samuel and who isn't a licensed plumber, is now on the campaign trail with McCain and Palin dispensing foreign policy opinion.

As unbelievable as it seems, McCain the Senator appears to be pinning the hopes of his entire directionless campaign on Joe's self-promoting shoulders. And "Joe" is loving it. He now has a publicist, an impending country music record deal, a spot on McCain's campaign bus and has announced he may run for Congress. Worst of all, he is offering his political opinion every chance he gets and McCain is now issuing statements agreeing with him! Joe's inane pontificating has gotten so bad that even a Fox "News" anchor had to set him straight.

In Ohio yesterday, some idiot in the crowd asked Joe whether he thought a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel. Joe gamely responded, "I'll go ahead and agree with you on that."

NO, really - you agree Joe? Gee, and I thought you had an open mind about the election which is why you bulldozed your way to the front of the line to ask Obama a question about his tax plan the infamous day he was campaigning in your neighborhood.

When Fox's Shepard Smith questioned Joe about the comment, he became so frustrated that he not only made a truthful statement about Obama's real position (a first for Fox) but he added a disclaimer after they pulled the plug on Joe. Watch the clip:

Geez Joe, you clueless blabbermouth, maybe you should take your own advice and get informed. If a Fox "News" anchor is frightened by McCain's lunatic fringe the rest of us should be horrified by the prospect of people like Joe being able to cast a ballot.

McCain's newest guilt-by-association game

2008-10-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Poor pathetic John McCain is desperately trying to conjure up a new guilt-by-association game with less than one week until Election Day. During a radio interview this morning in Florida, McCain fantasized about an absurd tie between Barack Obama and Palestinian-American activist Rashid Khalidi in an attempt to sway the Jewish vote. Khalidi at some point in his life may or may not have attended an event with - you guessed it - Bill Ayers. Khalidi, who McCain called a "neo-Nazi", is not connected to Obama but McCain is trying to create a tie via the nearly non-existent relationship between Obama and Ayers.

Got that? Here's what McCain told the radio station:

“I think the whole issue of the relationship with Bill Ayers needs to be known by the American people. Sen. Obama said it was just a guy in the neighborhood. We know much more than that. I don’t care much about an old, washed-up, unrepentant terrorist, and his wife who was on the FBI Top 10 Wanted list. We should know about their relationship including, apparently, information that is held by the Los Angeles Times concerning an event that Mr. Ayers attended with a PLO spokesman."

Who cares if Ayers attended a party with Khalidi or the boogeyman for that matter. It has nothing whatsoever to do with Obama or this election. No one has brought up McCain's friendship with convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy.

In 1998, G. Gordon Liddy hosted a fundraiser for John McCain, and last year, McCain went on Liddy's radio show and said, "I'm proud of you,I'm proud of your family. It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

Really, Liddy makes our nation great? Liddy makes no apologies for his role in engineering the illegal Watergate break-in and says the prison time he received for those activities made him a "prisoner of war" - I wonder if McCain would equate Liddy's time in jail with his time in the Hanoi Hilton? On his radio talk show, Liddy advised his listeners on how to deal with federal agents, "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches."

If McCain wants to create a relationship that doesn't exist between Obama and Khalidi, he should be ready to defend his "proud" friendship with Liddy. He should also be ready to talk about Sarah Palin's connection to the Alaska Independence Party, which preaches secession from the U.S. and violence against the government. Her husband was a member of the party for seven years and Palin herself has expressed her support for their political activities.

It's time McCain rode off on the Straight Talk Express into the Arizona sunset.

McCain adviser admits their health care plan is ailing!

2008-10-28T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today McCain's senior economic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, all but admitted the campaign's health care plan is a sham. During an interview on CNN, Holtz-Eakin discussed whether younger, healthier workers would be likely to abandon their company-sponsored health care plans and spend McCain's health care tax credit to buy insurance on the free market. He said:

"Why would they leave? What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit."

That's a great admission from the campaign since the entire premise of their plan is that people can do better on the free market -- hence the tax credit. According to McCain, a market-based system means better, cheaper health care. Now his senior policy adviser admits that's not so even though McCain wants to tax employer health benefits to push people to get insurance on the free market (where providers can deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions).

Bottom line: McCain's senior adviser says even the young and healthy would NOT be able to afford good insurance with their McCain-provided health care tax credit. Sounds like McCain put as much thought into his health care plan as he did into picking Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Corruption runs rampant in Alaska politics

2008-10-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Less than two weeks after Sarah Palin was found guilty of violating a state ethics law in the Troopergate scandal, Senator Ted Stevens (R, Alaska) was found guilty yesterday of seven counts of corruption. This morning, John McCain called for Stevens to step down from the Senate. Stevens said that not only does he NOT intend to resign, but he is also going to continue his current campaign for re-election.

If Alaskans vote to return Stevens, a convicted felon, to the Senate, it will show just how easy it is for anyone, regardless of qualifications, to get elected to public office in their state (i.e. Sarah Palin).

The McCain campaign and Sarah Palin have strangely remained coy about whether Palin supported Stevens re-election and whether she would vote for him now that he's a convicted felon. On MSNBC Tuesday morning, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds talked around the point when asked whether Palin and Alaskans should vote for a convicted felon:

"I don't expect that they [McCain and Palin) would cast their ballot for Ted Stevens if they were Alaska voters."

Seems like political spin to me, not a straightforward answer. McCain isn't an Alaskan so take him out of the equation. Palin is an Alaskan so she's either going to vote for Stevens, vote for his Democratic opponent, or not vote at all.

Yesterday, after Stevens' conviction was announced, Palin was purposely non-committal in her response to the news saying, "I'm confident Senator Stevens will do what's right for the people of Alaska." Which means what? Palin stopped short of calling on Stevens to resign or drop out of the Senate race against his opponent Mark Begich. Palin has previously declined to reveal whether or not she supported Stevens' reelection bid even though she once served as a director of a Stevens-steered 527 group.

As a fellow law-breaker, perhaps Palin has some empathy for Stevens. As a potential VP of the U.S., she should clearly state whether she supports his continued bid for re-election. It's time for Palin to step up to the microphone and speak the truth for a change.

McCain's latest "tax and spend" attack doesn't jive

2008-10-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today in Cleveland, Ohio, McCain was peddling his latest in a long line of failed campaign tactics. He is now proclaiming that Obama is a tax-and-spend liberal and the country can't survive if the Democrats control the White House, Senate and Congress.

Although facts don't matter to McCain, they do matter to most of the rest of us. The fact is the “tax and spend” label the Republicans have hung on the shoulders of Democrats for more than 60 years is a myth of their own creation. Here are the facts:

When Republicans were in control of the presidency and both Houses of Congress, neither debt, nor government spending was ever reduced.
The last time a Republican Congress reduced the national debt was in 1947, under Harry Truman.
The last time the debt was reduced was in 1961 during President Kennedy’s first year in office.
Since President Johnson, every Democrat has increased revenue more than spending.
Under all five Republican Presidents, since Nixon, government revenue has decreased and spending has increased.
Clinton raised the national debt an average of 4.3% per year. The previous and current Republican presidents (Reagan, Bush, and Bush II) raised the debt an average of 10.8% per year.
Under the first five years of George W. Bush, federal spending increased by 45%. During the eight Clinton years federal spending increased 32%.
The last year Clinton was in office the nation borrowed $18 billion. The first year Bush II was in office he borrowed $133 billion.
The increase in total debt under Reagan was larger than all the debt accumulated by all the presidents before him combined.

The truth is the Republicans borrow and spend, taking money from countries like China without devising any way to raise the revenue needed to pay off our debts. And thanks to Bush’s brilliant strategy of cutting taxes without cutting spending, in 2003 he set a record for the biggest single yearly dollar increase in debt in the nation’s history. He did it again in 2004, increasing the debt more than half a trillion dollars. Of course the debt is so large now (more than $10 trillion) it no longer fits on the ticker board in New York City.

Handing over the economy to the Republicans again would be like giving a bus load of kids a credit card and cutting them loose in a candy shop.

Telemarketers walk off job rather than do McCain's dirty work

2008-10-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Despite the troubling economy, some workers in Indiana would rather forfeit their pay than do John McCain's dirty work. According to TPM Election Central, three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in the battleground state of Indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary McCain campaign script. The workers were asked to call voterse and attack Obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger."

The McCain campaign, which apparently can't get enough volunteers to staff its phone banks, hired the Americall call center in Hobart, IN instead. The telemarketing script the call center received coincided with McCain's robo-slime call running in other states. Because robocalling is illegal in Indiana, the telemarketers were hired to read the robocall script.

One worker at the center who walked out said, "we were asked to read something saying [Obama and Democrats] were against protecting children from danger. I wouldn't do it. A lot of people left. They thought it was disgusting."

You know things are bad for your campaign when you can't pay someone to work for you.

McCain's Meet the Press interview rivals Palin's media gaffes

2008-10-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

John McCain is beginning to sound like Sarah Palin did in her disastrous media interviews. Yesterday on Meet the Press, McCain gave several incoherent, rambling answers to question posed by moderator Tom Brokaw. A very prickly McCain was asked by Brokaw to explain how he can slam Obama on taxing the wealthy when he held a similar position (until reinventing himself for the current election). Brokaw played a clip from a interview McCain gave during the 2000 presidential race where he said:

"I really believe, that when you are--reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

When asked to explain his change in positions, McCain's answer was almost as nonsensical as Palin's when she said she had foreign policy credentials because you can see Russia from Alaska. Here's what McCain said about his previous support for taxing the wealthy vs. his position now:

"Listen, even the flat tax people somewhat pay more. Even--you put into different, different categories of wealthier people paying, paying higher taxes into different brackets. I mean, and the, and these are different times, my friend. These are times of the biggest financial crisis we've faced in America...So, so let me just tell you again, I also said, when I opposed the Bush tax cuts, said--that is left out of this equation, I said I've got to--we've got to get spending under control. Spending was completely out of control. We laid a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America. We owe the Chinese a half a trillion dollars. Spending was, was the, was the, I think, the really biggest aspect, to a large degree. It weakens the dollar, it raises the cost of goods to Americans. The housing crisis combined with a, with a country that's living way beyond its means is a, is a combination which has put us into this great financial crisis we're in."

Congratulations if you can make sense of that because it sounds like complete gibberish to me. It's hard to defend an indefensible position (i.e. flipflopping completely on an issue to pander to voters) so it's no wonder McCain stumbled. Move over Palin, you've got competition from McCain in the "what did he/she just say?" department.

Palin's hometown paper endorses Obama

2008-10-26T08:00:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin's home newspaper, the conservative Anchorage Daily News, yesterday endorsed Barack Obama for president. In a week marked by major defections from prominent Republican supporters, the Alaska newspaper's rejection of their own Governor is icing on the cake. The paper's editorial statement said:

"...few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time."

Ouch! Along with labeling Palin a "risky choice," the paper heaped criticism on McCain saying he was the wrong choice for president at this critical time:

"Since his early acknowledgement that economic policy is not his strong suit, Sen. McCain has stumbled and fumbled badly in dealing with the accelerating crisis as it emerged. He declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at 9 a.m. one day and by 11 a.m. was describing an economy in crisis. He is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded Wall Street bailout. His behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery."

The paper praised Obama for his cool, steady hand during the economic crisis adding that he brings far more promise to the office. Among his qualifications, they cite his warning to regulators and the nation 19 months ago that the subprime lending crisis was about to collapse, his keen understanding of the mortgage meltdown's root causes, his ability to shape a solution, and his leadership to rally the country. They also point out his astute position on Iraq

McCain and Palin who've been beating the "maverick" theme into the ground, got the tables turned by the Daily News who said:

"Sen. McCain describes himself as a maverick, by which he seems to mean that he spent 25 years trying unsuccessfully to persuade his own party to follow his bipartisan, centrist lead. Sadly, maverick John McCain didn't show up for the campaign. Instead we have candidate McCain, who embraces the extreme Republican orthodoxy he once resisted and cynically asks Americans to buy for another four years."

The paper closed their endorsement by saying Obama is the only one who truly promises fundamental change in Washington, adding:

"You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. "

It looks like the gig is up for McCain and Palin. When your hometown paper can't say something nice and goes so far as to point out your similarities to Karl Rove, you know you're in trouble. The paper's endorsement of Obama renews my faith in Alaskans.

McCain's sleazy new robocall says Obama will endanger American lives

2008-10-25T07:39:00.000-07:00

The McCain campaign has launched yet another despicable robocall that claims Barack Obama would endanger American lives if elected.The audio of call, which ran in Wisconsin on Friday, asserts:

"Democrats attempt to cut off crucial troop funding. Accuse our troops of war crimes. And Senator Biden predicts Senator Obama will be tested. A weak president will indeed be tested. Obama and Democrat's politics endanger American lives. They are not qualified to lead our military and our country. When you vote, vote for the team that puts leadership, character and country first. John McCain."

Sadly, this latest appalling campaign tactic from McCain hasn't gotten as much coverage as the Bill Ayers robocall and others. It seems even the media is getting tired of McCain's low ball tactics and isn't wasting their time reporting on the deluge of sleaze. Let's hope the voters are more disgusted with it and reward McCain with a huge defeat on Nov. 4.

Palin says Bush is their biggest problem

2008-10-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

In tonight's interview with Brian Williams, Sarah Palin said President Bush is the number one problem for the Republican ticket. Actually, Palin is the number one problem but who's keeping count. In a new poll, 55 percent of respondents said Palin wasn't qualified to serve as president. In another poll, voters listed her (lack of)qualifications as the No. 1 concern they had about McCain’s candidacy, ahead of the economy and the war in Iraq.

McCain is also beating the anti-Bush drum this week as he sees his presidential hopes slipping away. After seeking Bush's endorsement and proudly stating he voted with Bush 90% of the time, now McCain can't get away from him quick enough now.

In an interview Thursday with The Washington Times, McCain contemptuously launched into a long list of Bush's shortcomings:

“Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government — larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America — owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously.”

McCain's comments are hilarious since he was complicit in all of the above mentioned failures. McCain voted for the war and the budgets to fund it, except for one because it had a timeline for withdrawal attached to it. He was also a rabid supporter of deregulation of the financial systems. McCain should turn the mirror on himself if he's looking for a place to lay blame.

At a campaign rally in Denver today, McCain said:

“We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: hoping for our luck to change at home and abroad.”

My sentiments exactly, which is why McCain is the last person on earth we should elect since none of his major policies differ from Bush. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck -- and McCain's anti-Bush rhetoric is all washed up.

Republican Exodus: Party Faithful Flee from McCain

2008-10-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, opening the floodgates for other defections. Today, the The Wall Street Journal reports one of John McCain's actual advisers has not only endorsed Obama, but already voted for him by absentee ballot. Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School, expressed his enthusiastic support for McCain in January and served as an advisor on McCain's Honest and Open Election Committee and Justice Advisory Committee.

This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama and asked that his name be removed from the McCain campaign-related committees on which he serves. Fried said a big reason for his defection "is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis."

Other Republicans who've bailed from the McCain campaign this week include:

Scott McClellan, Bush's former Press Secretary
Arnie Carson, former Republican Governor from Minneapolis
Former Republican Massachusetts Gov. William Weld
The grandchildren of former Arizona Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, McCain's beloved conservative role model

Don't be surprised if Palin announces her endorsement for Obama next. Ever the political opportunist, Palin surely wants to avoid the loser label that will be forever attached to her resume if McCain's flailing campaign fails.

Palin's makeup artist highest paid McCain staffer in October

2008-10-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

McCain and Palin have been barnstorming through "Real America" as the lunch bucket, average Joe & Jane candidates while spending all sorts of money on "elitist" things. Yesterday we learned that Palin spent $150,000 on clothes the past month. Today we learn that the highest paid staffer on the campaign was Palin's makeup artist. Yep, a makeup artist was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October to work on Palin the Reformer.

Amy Strozzi, a "Hollywood celebrity" makeup artist, was the single highest paid person on McCain's staff, surpassing Randy Scheunemann, chief foreign policy adviser and Nicolle Wallace, senior communications strategist.

Kind of hard for Palin to pitch herself as the average Jane when she spent more on makeup and clothes in one month than most Americans earn in three years.

Palin's twisted definition of "domestic terrorist"

2008-10-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

During Brian William's interview with McCain and Palin on the NBC Nightly News tonight, he asked Palin whether she considers people who riot and burn U.S. cities and bomb abortion clinics to be domestic terrorists, as she's defined Bill Ayers. Her rambling answer was:

"There's no question that Bill Ayers, under his own admission, is the one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There's no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities, that would be unacceptable too -- I don't know if you're going to be using the word "terrorist" there but it's unacceptable and it would not be condoned of course under our watch."

Apparently, Palin doesn't consider someone who bombs an abortion clinic, which is a "U.S." facility, and kills innocent people a "terrorist." That person is just unacceptable. The only explanation for Palin's absurd answer is that she's had one too many cocktails and is the one who's bombed.

McCain advocated meeting a terrorist group without pre-conditions

2008-10-23T16:24:00.000-07:00

McCain and Palin have been hammering Barack Obama for saying he would meet with U.S. enemies without pre-conditions. Yet in 1987, McCain advised doing just that. McCain voted several times to force the Reagan administration to meet with RENAMO, a guerrilla organization in Mozambique, without requiring they meet any pre-conditions.

McCain's support for the meeting with RENAMO goes one better than Obama, who made it clear his policy doesn't extend to non-governmental organizations (like Hamas). RENAMO was a brutal terrorist group created by the Rhodesian secret services in 1977 as a fake anti-communist black liberation movement. Their tactics focused mostly on civilians and included attacks on public transportation along with kidnapping American and other foreign missionaries. The U.S. Council for World Freedom funded RENAMO (and other anti-communist organizations) directly between 1984 and 1986 while John McCain was on their advisory board.

Palin, for her part, doesn't even have a clue what the term "pre-conditions" means. Brian Williams asked Palin during his interview on the NBC Nightly News, "what in your mind is a pre-condition?" Palin responded with one of her typical lightweight, pointless answers:

"You have to have a diplomatic strategy going into a meeting with someone like Ahmadinejad (President of Iran) or Kim Jung-Il (Dictator of North Korea) or one of those dictators that would seek to destroy America or one of our allies. It is so naive and so dangerous for a presidential candidate to just proclaim that they would be willing to sit down with a leader like Ahmadinejad and just talk about the issues , the problems that are facing them. That's some ill-preparedness right there."

Obviously, Palin doesn't know that a pre-condition means a certain condition must be met first, like - stop your plutonium enrichment program or we won't meet with you! The only thing naive and dangerous in this scenario is the thought of Palin being one step away from holding meetings with anyone besides the leader of the Wasilla PTA.

McCain was for "socialism" too - before he was against it

2008-10-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

John McCain and Sarah Palin have branded Barack Obama as a socialist because he wants to raise taxes by 3% on income earned over $250,000. Obama's argument is that wealthier people can afford to pay a little more. McCain, ever the hypocrite, made a nearly identical argument when he was running for president in 2000 - before he sold his soul to the right-wing conservative base. During a town hall meeting in East Lansing, Michigan on Oct. 12, 2000, McCain was asked by a young girl why her father should have to pay more taxes because he was successful. She asked, "How is that fair?" McCain responded:

"I think to some degree because we feel obviously that wealthy people can afford more. So look, here's what I really believe. That when you are, you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more. And frankly, I think the first people who deserve a tax cut are working American's with children that need to educate their children; and they're the ones that I will support tax cuts for first."

That sure sounds like Obama's plan, which is to cut taxes for 95% of working American families, only now, in McCain's twisted reasoning, that's called socialism.

McCain conveniently has a very short memory (or senility has set in) because he only remembers his previous positions on issues when it fits his current political incarnation - which is pretty rare these days.

McCain supporters heckle tax plan that will benefit them most

2008-10-22T13:19:00.001-07:00

On the campaign trail today, John McCain and Sarah Palin continued to beat their fear-inducing rant on socialism and the birth of a welfare state into the thick-headed sculls of the faithful who cheered them on. Palin called Obama's tax plan socialism and McCain said Obama would take money from hard working Americans and distribute it to those who don't pay taxes.

Come on people, wake up and smell the joe - and I don't mean Joe the Plumber (who isn't a licensed plumber, has a lien on his state taxes and donated money to the McCain campaign). Obama's plan is to raise taxes by 3% on people making more than $250,000 (the tax increase only applies to the amount earned over $250,000). It's the same tax plan Bill Clinton had in place and no one called it socialism then, including John McCain.

In their rampant perversion of the issues, McCain and Palin claim Obama's tax cut for 95% of working American families is for the sole purpose of redistributing wealth from hard working Americans to people who don't pay taxes. First, Obama isn't giving money to people who don't pay taxes. The people McCain is insulting pay federal taxes, payroll taxes, property taxes, states taxes and sales tax. McCain is simply distorting the fact that the lowest earners often don't owe federal taxes because they qualify for enough credits or deductions. Second, it's amusing that McCain's knuckle headed fans don't seem to realize that McCain is deriding a tax plan that will benefit THEM. Surely the people showing up at his rallies shouting death threats and racial slurs aren't in the above $250,000 income crowd.

The same people who are calling Obama the anti-Christ (as a man in Henderson, NV did yesterday) are the ones who will benefit most from his tax plan and benefit least from McCain's plan. Perhaps they haven't heard that McCain isn't "one of them." His wife is worth $100 million and he owns 9 properties and 11 cars.

You've got to hand it to Palin though, she stands on the stage attacking Obama as an elite socialist while wearing $150,000 worth of Prada heels and designer suits. What she lacks in brains, she makes us for in moxy.

Kind of a drag: Palin's negatives outweigh George Bush's in new poll

2008-10-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

How bad does it get when your negative ratings outweigh George Bush's ratings. A new NBC/Wall St. Journal poll shows that Palin's qualifications to be president rank as voters' top concern about John McCain's candidacy. Concerns about Palin rank higher than continuing President Bush's policies, enacting economic policies that only benefit the rich and keeping too many troops in Iraq.

Along with the bad poll news, today we learn the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent $150,000 in the last month on clothes and makeup for Palin, including a $50,000 spending spree at Saks Fifth Avenue and a $75,000 bonanza at Neiman Marcus.

Palin received more new duds in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people. A review of similar records for the campaign of Democrat Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee turned up no similar spending.

A McCain campaign spokeswoman, Maria Comella, declined to answer questions about the spending spree but said:

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent."

Since when are clothes and makeup "strategic?" Palin's new clothes fetish certainly goes against the Populist message she and McCain have been preaching. Their outlandish spending on frivolous items is a long way from Joe and Jane Six Packs and Joe and Jane the Plumbers. The only person who could relate to that kind of spending is Cindy McCain who spent $300,000 on her outfit for the Republican Convention.

I say let Palin keep her new baubles and send her back to Alaska with a new title: Best-dressed citizen in Wasilla.

Palin still doesn't know what the VP does

2008-10-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Sarah Palin gave a very rare media interview to an NBC affiliate in Colorado. Before you get excited about the prospect of Palin doing hard-hitting interviews, she responded to a question sent in by a third grader at a local elementary school. The questions was: What does the Vice President do? Palin, who has never been accused of being a genuis, has had two months to learn about the job she is campaigning for and she still doesn't know the answer. Palin responded that the Vice President is...

"in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes..."

Of course the VP's only official job, as stated in Article I of the Constitution, is to break a tie vote in the Senate. The VP has no vote unless there is a tie and no other official capacity in the Senate. They don't "get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes" as Palin moronically stated.

Palin has made some progress in her extremely limited knowledge about the VP's role - although she's incorrect and incredibly uniformed. In an interview she did this summer on CNBC's "Kudlow & Co." , Palin was asked about the possibility of becoming McCain's ticket mate and responded:

"As for that VP talk all the time, I'll tell you, I still can't answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the VP does every day?"

I guess Palin is engineering a new role for the VP, kind of like Dick Cheney did when he became President, I mean VP.

McCain to “spread the wealth” to pay for seniors' healthcare

2008-10-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

This week, McCain and Palin unleashed a new scare tactic on the campaign trail: Obama is a socialist who wants to “spread the wealth around.” Perhaps McCain should take a closer look at his health care program before getting too comfortable with this new line of attack. According to McCain's own definition, his Medicare program reeks of “socialism.”

McCain has proposed requiring wealthier seniors to PAY MORE for their prescription drugs under Medicare as a way to “rein in health care spending.” Under McCain’s plan, married retirees who make more than $160,000 a year would pay increasingly higher costs for Medicare prescription drug plans.

Let’s get this straight… McCain’s answer for dealing with skyrocketing drug prices is to make wealthy people pay more. Isn’t that kind of like Obama raising taxes (by 3%) on the wealthiest 5% because they can afford it? Hypocrisy is the only thing McCain is consistent about these days.

Another voter registration fraud nightmare for McCain

2008-10-20T15:40:00.001-07:00

After weeks of assaulting ACORN for alleged voter registration fraud, John McCain is sitting in the hot seat. We now learn that McCain's campaign paid $175,000 to the firm of Republican operative Nathan Sproul who is accused of massive voter registration fraud. In addition, Sproul has donated nearly $30,000 to McCain's campaign.

In June, McCain's campaign along with the RNC and California Republican Party paid Sproul's firm, the Lincoln Strategy group, to register voters. Sproul has been investigated for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and spearheading efforts to hamstring Democrats by getting Ralph Nader on ballots. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."

McCain certainly has his dirty hands full. The Republican gets a double-dose of his own medicine. As reported in the previous post, the head of a Republican-run voter registration group in California was arrested this weekend for voter registration fraud and now the Sproul connection comes to light. Let's see how anxious McCain-Palin will be to talk about ACORN now that the voter registration table has turned.

Republican Arrested for Voter Registration Fraud in CA

2008-10-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

In a delicious bit of irony, this weekend the owner of a firm hired by the California Republican Party to register tens of thousands of voters was arrested in Ontario, CA on suspicion of voter registration fraud. After weeks of demonizing ACORN for alleged voter registration fraud, it looks like karma has gotten the best of the Republican attack machine.

Mark Jacoby, owner of Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday after dozens of voters complained that they were asked to sign a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters but instead were unwittingly signing up as registered Republicans. YPM workers received $7-$12 per registered Republican.

Additional Investigations into YPM have begun in Florida and Massachusetts. Meanwhile, the California Republican party announced that the charges against Mr. Jacoby are "politically motivated." Sure, and the ACORN scandal isn't politically motivated at all.

California Republicans have had their share of sleazy political tactics recently. Just last week, the Sacramento County Republicans took down offensive material on their official party Web site that sought to link Barack Obama to Osama bin Laden and encouraged people to "Waterboard Barack Obama" – material that offended state GOP leaders and Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Let's see how loudly the Republicans continue to cry "off their heads" when it comes to ACORN now that their own dirty campaign laundry is being aired.

Robotic Palin Stars in New Robocall

2008-10-20T14:39:00.000-07:00

A day after condemning her own running mate's robocall campaign, Sarah Palin is now starring in her own. Palin, who is nothing more than a robotic henchwoman for the floundering McCain campaign, gets in trouble whenever she freelances her remarks. Yesterday, Palin told reporters in her press pool that she'd prefer her campaign not resort to robocalls calls because they are "kind of draining in terms of Americans' attention span."

Today, people in Wisconsin and Nevada were greeted by Palin's grating voice on the phone asking for their support. The robocall has Palin reiterating her and McCain's self-proclaimed credentials as "mavericks."

You'd think the McCain campaign would have learned by now that Palin needs to be muzzled unless she's reading directly off a script blessed by the campaign. Her ability to stick her foot in her mouth is surpassed only by her ability to rally the Party's radicals.

Another Republican defects and backs Obama

2008-10-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Another prominent conservative Republican is sprinting away from McCain's faltering campaign. The latest is Ken Adelman, a neocon whose resume includes: campaigner for Barry Goldwater; worked in the Nixon Administration; assistant to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld under Ford; Reagan’s director of arms control; and Defense Policy Board member in 2001 under Rumsfeld. Alelman, who has never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in his life, is voting for Barack Obama. Adelman says his decision is based on the temperament and judgment of Obama vs. McCain. Here's what he said:

"When the economic crisis broke, I found John McCain bouncing all over the place. In those first few crisis days, he was impetuous, inconsistent, and imprudent; ending up just plain weird. Having worked with Ronald Reagan for seven years, and been with him in his critical three summits with Gorbachev, I’ve concluded that that’s no way a president can act under pressure.Second is judgment. The most important decision John McCain made in his long campaign was deciding on a running mate.That decision showed appalling lack of judgment. Not only is Sarah Palin not close to being acceptable in high office—I would not have hired her for even a mid-level post in the arms-control agency. But that selection contradicted McCain’s main two, and best two, themes for his campaign—Country First, and experience counts. Neither can he credibly claim, post-Palin pick."

It looks like McCain's biggest supporters these days are Joe Lieberman, an outcast from the Democratic Party, Sarah Palin and conservative pundit Sean Hannity. The defection from the Republican camp has been steadily increasing as McCain's sleazy, directionless campaign rapidly descends into the gutter.

McCain's Sour Grapes: Campaign manager insults Powell

2008-10-20T09:21:00.000-07:00

In a pathetic display of poor sportsmanship, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis insulted Colin Powell today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. When asked for his reaction to Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama, Davis said:

"Look, I doubt if Colin Powell is equipped to do a whole lot of political prognostication [fancy word for predictions]."

Considering Powell was Secretary of State for four years, National Security Advisor for eight years and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for four years, I'd say he was more than qualified to talk politics. It's the ultimate sign of sour grapes for Davis to slight Powell - who McCain described as one of the world's most "most credible, most respected" men - simply because he doesn't endorse McCain's sleazy campaign.

Davis went on to say, "what his views are on the political scene are completely up to him." No doubt Davis would be singing an entirely different tune had Powell endorsed McCain.

McCain counters Powell endorsement with thumbs up from soap opera actress

2008-10-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president. The McCain campaign fired back with an endorsement of their own: Telenovela soap opera actress Katie Barberi. Hardly a comparable endorsement but obviously the best McCain can come up with these days. The actress, a Mexican-American, announced her endorsement and then hit the campaign trail with Joe Lieberman in Florida.

Considering McCain can't even get Florida's Republican Governor, and one-time VP contender, Charlie Crist to campaign for him in the state, he must appreciate the extra hand. It's ironic that the McCain campaign, which accused Obama of being a "celebrity" and holding "elite" celebrity fundraisers, is now digging up endorsements from anyone they can, including a soap opera actress. Barberi has about as much political relevance as McCain's running mate Sarah

Powell breaks Republican ranks to endorse Obama

2008-10-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Today Colin Powell broke ranks with the Republican guard to endorse Barack Obama for president. Powell, once heralded as a moderate leader of the GOP, told Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press this morning that throughout his campaign, "Obama displayed a steadiness. Showed intellectual vigor. He has a definitive way of doing business that will do us well."

Despite his 25 year friendship with McCain, Powell said he was troubled by the negative tone of his campaign including the injection of Bill Ayers, terrorism and other divisive rhetoric into the campaign. Powell also said he was disappointed by McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his VP:

"Now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made."

Powell's defection from the McCain camp is one of many prominent figures now distancing themselves from the beleaguered candidate, whose campaign reeks of loserdom. McCain henchmen Rudy Giuliani, who gleefully and viciously slammed Obama in his GOP convention speech, hasn't been on the campaign trail in weeks. Governor Charlie Crist of Florida, once on the super short list of VP picks, didn't join McCain or Palin when they campaigned in his state last week. Crist said he'd try to "help out" when he had time. He actually spent the day at Disney World rather than campaign with McCain. And Senator Susan Collins (R. Maine) demanded McCain stop his idiotic robocalls into her state because they were damaging.

McCain has earned his new role as pariah. After making a career out of promoting himself as a "maverick" not afraid to break ranks with the Party extremes, he is now left with few allies. The only people who are embracing McCain now are the crazies who show up at his rallies shouting racial slurs and calling for violence against Obama. The only genuine support left for McCain now is the lunatic fringes of Party.

It should be fun to see the Republican pundits spin the Powell endorsement.

Sarah Palin drags Republican ticket down the drain

2008-10-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Maybe John McCain can hire Joe the Plumber to plunge Sarah Palin from the ticket. Palin, the media and GOP darling a mere five weeks ago, has turned into a political clog that's draining the Republican ticket. Not even a (lame) appearance on Saturday Night Light can revive Palin's image among the "un-pro" American areas of the country. The only group she appeals to these days is right-wing radicals in "Pro-America" who feed off her messages of hate. Palin's unfavorable ratings skyrocketed during the last month, going from 30% unfavorable to 41% in a survey conducted Oct 10-13.

Along with telltale poll numbers, Palin has helped McCain lose the endorsements of many prominent conservative pundits including William F. Buckley, Jr., Kathleen Parker and Michael Smerconish. She has also contributed to McCain's lack of endorsements by most of the country's daily newspapers where Obama now leads McCain 58-16. Some of the commentary has been scathing. The Salt Lake Tribune, which supported George W. Bush in 2004, said,

"Out of nowhere, and without proper vetting, the impetuous McCain picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. She quickly proved grievously under-equipped to step into the presidency should McCain, at 72 and with a history of health problems, die in office. More than any single factor, McCain's bad judgment in choosing the inarticulate, insular and ethically challenged Palin disqualifies him for the presidency."

McCain surely knows he screwed up, which is the reason the campaign has muzzled Palin. She is the first VP candidate in modern history to not conduct a press conference or make the rounds of the political talk shows -- sorry, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh don't count. The only place Palin is allowed to speak these days is at carefully orchestrated campaign stops in ultra-friendly scarlet red Republican territory.

It's time for voters to send the Republican ticket down the drain.

McCain's crazy campaign mouthpiece evokes "Red Scare"

2008-10-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the McCain campaign, it's quite possible they've found a mouthpiece that is even more twisted, vicious and unethical than Sarah Palin. Yesterday on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a prominent McCain-Palin supporter, launched an unfettered, crazy rant where she said, among other things, that she's "absolutely" concerned that Obama is anti-American.

Bachmann attacked Obama for everything from Bill Ayers to his association with his wife (that's right, his wife). Evoking memories of McCarthyism, black lists and Red Scares, she even called on reporters to investigate which members of Congress are secretly against America. Watch the clip:

I know the McCain campaign is stuck in the past with old ideas and sleazy tactics, but a resurgence of the "let's get the commies" fear mantra used 50 years ago is a bit of a stretch even for them. Interesting that Bachmann, in her demented mind, doesn't think anyone should report about:

McCain's association and friendship with G. Gordon Liddy
McCain's position on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, an organization that was implicated in a secretive plot to arm Nicaraguan rebels
McCain's transition team leader worked as a lobbyist for Sadam Hussein's government
Sarah Palin was blessed by a preacher at her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, to protect her from witchcraft
Sarah Palin's husband was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), a Secessionist Party, for seven years
Sarah Palin praised the AIP in a speech earlier this year and she received praise in return from the leader of AIP who implied, on camera, that Palin was their candidate for governor but she had to "call herself a Republican" in order to win the election

I'm trying to decide who is crazier, Bachmann or that poor old woman at McCain's rally who said Obama was an Arab. If you're disgusted by Bachmann's remarks, send a letter or call her at her DC office:

412 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2331

Palin prefers to campaign in "pro America"

2008-10-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Just how politically inept and culturally stunted is Sarah Palin? Try this on for size. Yesterday at a fundraiser in North Carolina, Palin told the audience she loves to visit the "pro-America" areas of the country. I wasn't aware that there were anti-American parts of America. She must mean the areas that aren't receptive to her hate-filled ramblings. Here is Palin's full quote as reported by the Washington Post:

"We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans. Those who are running our factories and teaching our kids and growing our food and are fighting our wars for us. Those who are protecting us in uniform. Those who are protecting the virtues of freedom."

So from Palin's demented perspective, only people who live in small towns are patriotic and true Americans. That will likely come as a shock to the 80 percent of Americans living in urban metro areas. This whole time we thought we were pro-America until Palin set the record straight. Hopefully, that same 80 percent will cast their vote for Obama.

I know Alaskans have less daylight than other unAmerican parts of the country, so perhaps the lack of sun has stunted the growth of Palin's brain cells. Either that or she really is the biggest fool to ever take the national stage.

McCain once called Robocalls "hate calls"

2008-10-17T14:05:00.000-07:00

Way back in 2000 when John McCain still had some integrity, he was the victim of outrageous campaign robocalls compliments of Karl Rove and George W. Bush. One campaign claimed that McCain had fathered an interracial child, the other said Cindy McCain was addicted to drugs. McCain was outraged and said they were "hate calls".

Now of course, McCain is using the same tactic against his opponent and apparently doesn't consider them "hate calls" anymore. McCain's new robocall campaigns charge that Obama works with a terrorist (Bill Ayers) will enact an extreme leftist agenda, and has denied newborns needed medical attention. These ridiculous accusations have already been discussed and dismissed as untrue, but that isn't stop McCain.

Best of all, McCain appears to be using the same firm that was responsible for the vicious robocall campaign used against him. The firm, FLS-Connect, is run by prominent GOP figure Jeff Larson. FLS and Larson helped Bush smear McCain during the 2000 primaries.

McCain is obviously operating his campaign from the sewer these days and the stench is getting harder and harder to take. So what's next from the McCain camp? I'll bet my money that he's getting ready to release a new robocall claiming that Barack Obama is related to Osama bin Laden. With McCain, anything goes.

The ACORN doesn't fall far from the tree: Palin on the attack

2008-10-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today, Sarah Palin continued a line of attack about ACORN that McCain injected into Wednesday's debate. During the debate, McCain outrageously claimed that ACORN, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."

Palin gleefully picked up the battle cry and told the crowd at an Ohio rally that Barack Obama is in cahoots with ACORN, a group under investigation for potential voter registration fraud. Palin claimed that Obama hasn't been forthcoming about his ties to ACORN and said,

"This group needs to learn that you here in Ohio won't let them turn the Buckeye State into the Acorn State."

Palin must not have been watching the Wednesday night debate where Obama discussed the topic at length after McCain tried the same line of attack. Here's what he said:

"Now, with respect to ACORN, ACORN is a community organization. Apparently what they've done is they were paying people to go out and register folks, and apparently some of the people who were out there didn't really register people, they just filled out a bunch of names.
It had nothing to do with us. We were not involved. The only involvement I've had with ACORN was I represented them [in the early 1990s] alongside the U.S. Justice Department in making Illinois implement a motor voter law that helped people get registered at DMVs."

Following the debate , ACORN National President Maude Hurd issued the following statement:

"We appreciate Senator McCain's effort to stir up the Republican base by attacking a community organization working to increase public participation in our democratic process. However, these attacks reflect an increasingly panicked candidate. Unfortunately, the Senator McCain we saw tonight is very different than the Senator McCain who stood shoulder to shoulder with ACORN at a February 20, 2006 immigration reform event.

It is clear for us to see that John McCain was for ACORN before he was against ACORN; he was for reform before he was against reform; and he was a maverick before he became erratic. What is really going on here is that Senator McCain and his allies are part of a coordinated effort to engage in what appears to be an unprecedented effort to suppress voter turnout. Repeating a lie doesn't make it true, and the McCain campaign has resorted to the worst type of deceptions in regards to ACORN."

Here are the facts about the Republican-generated ACORN controversy:

ACORN has helped 1.3 million citizens from all parties and all walks of life apply for voter registration.
In most states, ACORN is required by law to turn in every voter registration card - even in cases where the cards are not valid.
It is ACORN that has reported almost all of the issues regarding voter registration cards to elections officials, and flagged the suspicious cards.
Invalid voter registration cards do NOT constitute voter fraud.
Even RNC General Counsel Sean Cairncross has recently acknowledged he is not aware of a single improper vote cast as a result of bad cards submitted in the course of an organized voter registration effort.
ACORN hired 13,000 field workers to register people to vote. In any endeavor of this size, some people will engage in inappropriate conduct. ACORN has a zero tolerance policy and terminated any field workers caught engaging in questionable activity. At the end of the day, as ACORN is paying these people to register voters, it is ACORN that is defrauded.

But the truth matters little to McCain-Palin who just keep spinning bigger tales as their poll number shrink.

McCain stoops to new low with inflammatory "Robocalls"

2008-10-16T18:15:00.001-07:00

During Wednesday's debate, McCain said that he has denounced untruths about Obama (despite being responsible for most of them). In true hypocritical style, McCain has now launched the most disgraceful "robocall" campaign in history. Robocalls are computer generated calls that immediately play a pre-recorded message when the phone is asnwered by a person or machine.

Yesterday, the McCain campaign launched a new robocall into swing states saying Obama has "worked closely" with "domestic terrorist Bill Ayers," whose organization has "killed Americans." The script of the call follows:

"You need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, whose organization bombed the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans. And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his democratic allies lack the judgment to lead our country."

Here's what Obama said about Ayers at Wednesday's debate:

"Forty years ago, when I was 8 years old, he engaged in despicable acts with a radical domestic group. I have roundly condemned those acts. Ten years ago he served and I served on a school reform board that was funded by one of Ronald Reagan's former ambassadors and close friends, Mr. Annenberg.

Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House. So that's Mr. Ayers."

Today, the McCain campaign released an equally disgraceful robocall claiming that Barack Obama callously denied newborns needed medical attention by opposing a measure to force doctors to preserve their lives when they survive botched abortions. The script follows:

"I'm calling on behalf of John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama and his Democrat allies in the Illinois Senate opposed a bill requiring doctors to care for babies born alive after surviving attempted abortions -- a position at odds even with John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama and his liberal Democrats are too extreme for America. Please vote -- vote for the candidates who share our values. This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee at 202 863 8500."

This issue was discussed at length by Obama during Wednesday's debate:

"If it sounds incredible that I would vote to withhold lifesaving treatment from an infant, that's because it's not true. The -- here are the facts.

There was a bill that was put forward before the Illinois Senate that said you have to provide lifesaving treatment and that would have helped to undermine Roe v. Wade. The fact is that there was already a law on the books in Illinois that required providing lifesaving treatment, which is why not only myself but pro-choice Republicans and Democrats voted against it.
And the Illinois Medical Society, the organization of doctors in Illinois, voted against it. Their Hippocratic Oath would have required them to provide care, and there was already a law in the books.

With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception."

As usual, McCain has stooped to the lowest form of fear tactics to try to keep his rapidly sinking campaign afloat. Apparently, the truth has no bearing on his rhetoric - the campaign is delighted to make it up as they go and hope they can find people foolish enough to buy it. Judging by some of the crowds at their rallies, who shout racial epithets and threats of violence, there is definitely a market for their message --the mentally unbalanced and ignorant. Way to run a respectful campaign.

In discussing the nasty tone of the campaign during the debate on Wednesday, McCain said

"But the fact is that we need to absolutely not stand for the kind of things that have been going on. I haven't."

Sure you haven't - except when you've been the perpetrator.

McCain proud of "great citizens" at his rallies

2008-10-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Last night in the presidential debate, John McCain declared his supporters above reproach. McCain, who incredibly accused Obama of negative ads, went into a tizzy when the subject came up that his supporters were shouting, "Kill him" and "Terrorist" at his rallies. McCain said:

Let me just say categorically I'm proud of the people that come to our rallies...I'm not going to stand for people saying that the people that come to my rallies are anything but the most dedicated, patriotic men and women that are in this nation and they're great citizens."

Proud, really? Besides shouts of "terrorist" and "kill him", here's what McCain supporters, captured on camera outside a rally in Ohio, said:

“I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

“When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer.”

“He seems like a sheep - or a wolf in sheep’s clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin - she’s filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she’s gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House.”

“He’s related to a known terrorist, for one.”

“He is friends with a terrorist of this country!”

“He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama.”

“Obama and his wife, I’m concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that.”

“I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash… because we’re not!”

Yep, there lots to be proud of in those ignorant, racist remarks. Great citizens indeed. Good judgement McCain.

McCain's disdain for women's "health"

2008-10-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

Along with his aggressive disdain for Barack Obama, the other thing John McCain apparently has disdain for his women's "health" issues. In his best grumpy grandpa tone, McCain mocked Obama last night for his response to McCain's accusation that he didn't support a ban on partial-birth abortion while in the Illinois State Senate. Obama said:

"With respect to partial-birth abortion, I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial-birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life, and this did not contain that exception."

McCain replied:

"Just again, the example of the eloquence of Sen. Obama. He's health for the mother. You know, that's been stretched by the pro-abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro-abortion position, quote, health." [McCain makes quote marks with fingers]

We already knew McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, isn't concerned about the health of mothers since she opposed a ban on abortions even in the case of rape or incest. Now we learn that McCain has contempt for women's health issues as well and thinks concerns about their health is "extreme."

McCain can kiss the independent women's vote good-bye after this doozy.

Pull the plug on "Joe the Plumber"

2008-10-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Joe McCain mentioned "Joe the Plumber" 22 times in last night's presidential debate. Joe, aka, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, is plumber in Ohio. McCain injected him into the debate as an example of a hard working American who would "suffer" under Obama's tax plan. It seems Joe wants to buy a business and McCain claims he would have to pay higher taxes on that business if Obama were President, something Joe doesn't like.

You see Joe isn't a big fan of taxes -- that's why he hasn't always paid them. A filing with the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas shows that he has had state tax liens filed against him because he was either delinquent or didn't fully pay taxes that he owed.

Given that Joe is in arrears on his taxes, you'd think he would actually support Obama. According to ABC, Joe would certainly get a tax cut under Obama's plan because his business wouldn't make anywhere near $250,000 in profits - which is the higher tax threshold.

For his part, Joe is milking his 15 minutes of fame. He held an impromptu press conference on his front lawn Thursday and discussed his political views, which includes lower taxes and a dislike for Social Security. I think someone should check the McCain campaign's payroll and make sure this guy isn't on it and then pull the plug on this guy's microphone.

McCain's new campaign mantra: "Anger First"

2008-10-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

The McCain campaign has been lurching wildly since the Republican Convention trying to find a consistent message or theme. After last night's debate performance, I'd say they finally found one: Anger First.

Forget the ill-conceived "Country First" mantra, McCain's entire campaign has been one long dreary exercise in anger. From the blood-thirsty crowds lapping up McCain and Palin's rants about domestic terrorists to McCain's incessant use of bellicose words to describe his policies "fight," "never surrender" --blah, blah -- this is one angry campaign and one angry candidate.

McCain's trigger-hair temper was on full display during the debate. He was openly contemptuous of his opponent, as he has been in the previous debates, but their close proximity at the interview table made his reactions even more stark. While Obama was calm and unfaltering in his responses, McCain was ready to jump out of his skin. The tight grimace, the rapidly blinking and rolling eyes and the fake laughs left you wondering when McCain was going to pop his cork. It reminded me of McCain's own description of himself as a boy, which he wrote about in his autobiography. McCain said as a child he was angry and combative and used to torture his parents by holding his breath until he passed out. I'm pretty sure his face was turning blue during the entire 90 minute debate.

Just what is McCain so angry about? Perhaps his anger is routed in his belief that he is entitled to the presidency because of his family's history of military service, his status as a POW and the fact he's been in government service for nearly 30 years. Or maybe he knows he's run the worst campaign in presidential history and is looking to blame the other guy to make himself feel better. Who knows - and who cares. The country is in too much trouble to take on the McCain's fragile psyche.

McCain debates whether to take the wrong road with Wright

2008-10-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

Need further proof that Sarah Palin is utterly without morals or integrity? The McCain camp is locked in a tactical tug-of-war about whether to drudge up Rev. Wright in tonight's Presidential Debate. McCain is against it because he fears a backlash. Sarah Palin has no such qualms. Palin has picked up the pom-poms and grabbed the megaphone to cheer her support for a sharp attack on Wright. Clearly, Palin isn't concerned if her road to the White House is paved with racial slurs and vitriol.

Here's what Palin told New York Times conservative columnist William Kristol about Wright:

“To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”

That's a pretty bold statement coming from Palin considering her own colorful church history. As a parishioner at Wasilla Assembly of God, Palin was blessed by a guest pastor who asked Jesus to protect Palin from witchcraft. Palin was in attendance when another guest speaker, David Brickner, founder of the anti-semitic group Jews for Jesus, made crazy remarks about terrorism in Israel insinuating the Jews had it coming. Finally, Palin's former pastor, Ed Kalnins, said people who voted for John Kerry in 2004 wouldn't be welcomed into Heaven.

With so much dirt under her own pew, Palin is playing with fire when it comes to Rev. Wright. If McCain does bring up Wright tonight, he will be reversing the position he took in March when the controversy first broke. Here's what McCain told Sean Hannity on FOX "News":

“I think that when people support you, it doesn’t mean that you support everything they say. Obviously, those words and those statements are statements that none of us would associate ourselves with. And I don’t believe that Sen. Obama would support any of those. ... I do know Sen. Obama. He does not share those views.”

We'll see whose tactics prevail in the debate tonight - Palin the pitbull or McCain the erratic hypocrite who has not stooped below blaming Obama for every ill that has befallen the country and his campaign.

McCain has ties to Saddam Hussein

2008-10-14T18:38:00.000-07:00

If Barack Obama has ties to domestic terrorists, then John McCain has ties to a sadistic dictator. Believe it or not, the man John McCain just named to head his presidential transition team is a Washington lobbyist who worked on behalf of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the 1990s, McCain's lead man, William Timmons, worked to ease international sanctions against Saddam Hussein's regime. He also sought to benefit financially from the dictator through an oil deal. Since Timmons is the guy who will usher McCain into the White House, that means McCain's has ties to Saddam Hussein. See how neat the 'guilt by association' game works!

Timmons and two other lobbyists, Samir Vincent and Tongsun Park, worked on the lobbying campaign to ease sanctions and a prospective deal to purchase and resell Iraqi oil. The trio stood to share at least $45 million if the business deal was successful. Vincent and Park were later convicted of federal criminal charges that they had acted as unregistered agents of Saddam Hussein's government.

You've got to hand it to McCain, at least he's consistent in his reckless appointments of power-crazed people to high positions. McCain appointed longtime Fannie Mae lobbyist Rick Davis to head his campaign, chose a small-time Governor with no foreign policy knowledge (or any domestic policy knowledge for that matter) to be his VP - and now this.

The appointment of Timmons is particularly ironic considering that McCain fervently supported both Iraq Wars and Palin has equated Saddam Hussein's regime with 9/11. In addition to helping the Iraqi Dictator, McCain's transitional team leader has registered to work on bills that deal with the regulations of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

If McCain's choice of Timmons is any indication, he's likely to appoint G. Gordon Liddy to be his Attorney General and Michael Brown (aka "Brownie", former FEMA chief) to be his Director of Homeland Security.

McCain ready to rumble in last debate

2008-10-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

John McCain said in a radio interview this morning that he would try to bring up William Ayers at Wednesday's debate. Amazingly, McCain said his decision to inject such stupidity into the debate was Obama's fault. According to McCain, Obama's comments that "I didn't have the guts" to talk about Ayers in the last presidential debate have "probably ensured" that his name will come up in Wednesday's debate. Glad to see McCain is taking a mature approach to the last presidential debate.

If McCain does have the guts to make phony accusations directly to Obama, it is sure to excite the feeding frenzy in his blood thristy base of supporters - the only constituency McCain appeals to these days. If Ayers is considered fair game for the debate, expect McCain to also throw in Obama's fictitious connection to ACORN and relationships to the Devil, Osama bin Laden and Attila the Hun.

Obama pre-empted some of the expected mudslinging during a brief interview today in Ohio. When asked about his alleged ACORN connection, Obama replied:

"First of all, my relationship to ACORN is pretty straightforward. It's probably 13 years ago when I was still practicing law, I represented ACORN and my partner in that representation was the US Justice Department in having Illinois implement what was called the 'Motor Voter' law, to make sure that people could go to DMV’s and drivers’ license facilities to get registered.. It wasn’t being implemented. That was my relationship and is my relationship to ACORN."

Obama went on to say that ACORN is not advising his campaign, adding:

"We've got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now and we don’t need ACORN’s help."

As far as any potential voter fraud, that's a McCain myth as well. If ACORN did sign up fictional names, those fictional people aren't going to show up to cast votes. The entire effort is McCain's last ditch effort to suppress the vote and cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election.

McCain Cooks Up Economic Scrambled Eggs

2008-10-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

McCain's erratic campaign scrambled to cook up a new economic plan in response to the plan Barack Obama announced yesterday. The campaign has contradicted itself multiple times over the last few days leaving us to wonder just how carefully thought out McCain's "bold" new ideas really are.

On Saturday, McCain's campaign said they would be introducing a bold new economic agenda on Monday. On Sunday, spokesman Tucker Bounds retracted saying, "We do not have any immediate plans to announce any policy proposals outside of the proposals that John McCain has announced, and the certain proposals that would result as economic news continues to come our way." Then yesterday, shortly after Obama's speech, the campaign said McCain would reveal new proposals on Tuesday.

This morning, the campaign previewed McCain's new plan. He proposes a reduced tax rate for people 59 years and older who withdraw money from IRAs or 401k retirement plans in 2009 and 2010. McCain also tossed in a 50 per cent reduction in the capital gains tax on stock profits, from the current 15 per cent to 7.5 per cent, for a period of two years; an acceleration in the tax write-off for stock losses, allowing Americans to deduct $15,000 in losses a year for the tax years 2008 and 2009 (current rules allow deductions for up to $3,000 in losses); and a suspension on the tax on unemployment insurance benefits in 2008 and 2009.

The current incarnation of McCain's economic plan continues to provide no tax relief at all to 101 million hardworking families, including 97 percent of senior citizens, and it does nothing to cut taxes for small businesses or give them access to credit.

McCain's plan was cobbled together to give the illusion that he is proactively looking for solutions to the economic mess. In truth, McCain keeps tossing up one Hail Mary pass after another in hopes that he gets lucky and lands a game changer.

Post Troopergate: Ethics Probe on Palin Expands

2008-10-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin is claiming she was vindicated by Friday's Troopergate report while investigations into her unethical practices as Governor have expanded. Here's what Palin said yesterday on a phone interview from Philadelphia:

"Well, I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing ... any hint of any kind of unethical activity there."

The report says the exact opposite about Palin and her actions:

"Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides."

We now learn that the state Personnel Board's investigation of Palin has expanded to include other ethics complaints against her. The Personnel Board was appointed by Palin to investigate Troopergate separately from the Legislative investigation. Although the Personnel Board hasn't specified what else they are investigating, two other ethics complaints involving Palin are known. One, claims that Palin didn't follow state hiring practices when hiring a supporter. Another alleges that trooper Mike Wooten's personnel file was illegally breached by state officials.

McCain squirrels away his ACORN connection as campaign launches full-scale attack

2008-10-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

Today the McCain campaign launched a full-scale assault against ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, setting the stage for claims of a "stolen election." Attack Dog-in-Chief Sarah Palin sent an email to supporters falsely claiming that ACORN's alleged voter registration efforts are part of a deliberate strategy to steal the election on behalf of Barack Obama. Funny, but Palin's memo didn't include that fact that McCain has a recent - and real - association with ACORN, unlike the trumped up charges against Obama and his association with ACORN.

McCain was the keynote speaker at an ACORN rally in Miami in February 2006 and partnered with them on immigration issues. The rally was intended to call attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform and was attended by hundreds of ACORN members.

In the bizarro world of McCain-Palin, it's ok for McCain to work with ACORN and speak at their conference but it's treason for Obama to have no connection to them whatsoever except that in 1995, his law firm was retained to represent ACORN in lawsuit. Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer of ACORN, released a statement today saying,

"It has deeply saddened us to see Senator McCain abandon his historic support for ACORN and our efforts to support the goals of low-income Americans. Maybe it is out of desperation that Senator McCain has forgotten that he was for ACORN before he was against ACORN; he was for immigration reform before he was against immigration reform; and he was a maverick before he became erratic. We were thrilled to partner with him to help reform the outdated immigration laws in this country, and were pleased to work closely with him on this issue."

The McCain campaign's dirty tactics to associate Obama with ACORN and voter fraud comes straight from the Republican play book. In the 1960 election between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the right wing claimed Nixon was cheated out of the election because Kennedy fixed vote counts in Illinois and Texas. They blamed everyone from the mob, to the Teamsters Union to infamous Chicago mayor Richard Daley. Interesting how they didn't cry foul in 2000 when the entire election came down to miscounted votes in Florida, the state where George Bush's BROTHER was Governor.

The McCain campaign is starting to build their fairy tale...Obama was a community organizer in Chicago...ACORN is a group that does community organizing on behalf of low-income citizens....low-income people who got sub-prime mortgage loans helped bring about the financial markets collapse...Chicago politicians can't be trusted....ACORN and Obama can't be trusted...ACORN & Obama are responsible for the collapse of the financial markets AND voter fraud.

You can see how ridiculous but possible it is that the Republicans are building such a case. They've already got the radical elements of their party whipped into a frenzy over it and they will surely continue to flame the fires. The only solution is to have Obama win by a landslide of popular and electoral votes and shut down their hate-mongering machine for good.

McCain-Palin use religion as political litmus test

2008-10-13T12:35:00.001-07:00

Today, a disturbing video captured Saturday at a McCain-Palin rally surfaced and it shows just how divisive, deceptive and despicable McCain's campaign has become. Along with race baiting, name calling and terrorist finger pointing, the McCain campaign is now invoking religion as a political litmus test against Barack Obama.

Obama, who is a Christian, has been portrayed as foreign, different and not like "us" by McCain and his flunkies. On Saturday, a crazy evangelical preacher named Rev. Arnold Conrad took a giant leap of insanity forward by saying that other people around the world are praying to "their" God that Obama would win and that our God [i.e. America's God] would have to save his reputation to make sure that didn't happen. Listen to this nut case:

"Reverend" Conrad's ranting goes beyond just vilifying Obama. It basically says to Christians in America that the God we worship needs to protect us from Obama winning the White House. This is deeply disturbing on so many levels it's tough to know where to start. Suffice it to say, mixing religion and politics is McCain's last desperate hope to literally instill the fear of God in people so they will vote for him.

McCain-Palin make unethical history

2008-10-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

At a campaign stop in Virginia Beach today, Sarah Palin told the crowd, "John [McCain] has confronted the corrupt ways of Washington and the wasteful spending and the abuses of power. As president, he's gonna end those once and for all."

Palin's remarks are amusing in light of Friday's Troopergate report that found that "Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act." Along with abusing her power, Palin is also guilty of abusing the English language daily with her rampant mispernunciations and annoying colloquialisms, "nucilur" (nucelar), "gonna," "betcha," "doggone it" ...

So Sarah, does that mean McCain will have to get rid of you as VP if he's elected president since you've been found guilty of abuse of power? Better yet, will McCain even have to fire himself given he was slapped by the Senate Ethics Committee "for exercising 'poor judgment' for intervening" with federal regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, as part of the infamous Keating Five scandal.

For more than 200 years, 51 presidential elections and 102 major-party tickets, the U.S. has never had a situation in which the Presidential and VP candidates on the same ticket were both responsible for ethics violations. Bravo McCain-Palin, you go down as the most unethical presidential ticket in history.

McCain's campaign suffers from whiplash

2008-10-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at a campaign stop in Virginia, John McCain said he would "whip [Obama's] you-know-what" in the debate Wednesday night. Meanwhile, his campaign is suffering from severe whiplash from their wildly jerking positions on every issue under the sun. From saying the economy was fundamentally strong one week to declaring it a dire emergency worthy of suspending his campaign the next, McCain and his dysfunctional cronies have been all over the map.

On Saturday, the campaign leaked word to Politico that McCain would be introducing a bold new economic agenda on Monday. The next day, spokesman Tucker Bounds retracted saying, "We do not have any immediate plans to announce any policy proposals outside of the proposals that John McCain has announced, and the certain proposals that would result as economic news continues to come our way."

Need further proof of McCain's dazed and confused behavior? McCain-Palin spent last week cultivating crazed blood-thirty mobs by saying Barack Obama pals around with terrorists. When the crowds got completely out of control, shouting death threats to Obama, McCain tepidly tried to calm down the rhetoric. Yet when asked by a local Virginia news station yesterday whether the chair of the state's GOP, Jeff Frederick, was accurate when he compared Obama to Osama bin Laden because they both "have friends that have bombed the Pentagon", McCain claimed he didn't have enough information to judge whether the remark was appropriate.

Apparently, McCain didn't know his spokeswoman, Gail Gitcho, had already condemned the remarks saying, "While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign disagrees with the comparison that Jeff Frederick made."

Along the same lines, after Obama rightly criticized McCain's campaign for “riling up a crowd by stoking anger and division,” McCain adviser Nicole Wallace attacked Obama for “insulting” their supporters. She said, "Barack Obama’s assault on our supporters is insulting and unsurprising. These are the same people Obama called ‘bitter’ and attacked for ‘clinging to guns’ and faith. … Attacking our supporters is a new low for the campaign that’s run more millions of dollars of negative ads than any other in history."

Pretty funny -- I'm convinced that Nicole Miller has no soul based on the wide-ranging depraved remarks she has made throughout the campaign. The day after Miller's idiotic remark, McCain's top adviser Mark Salter was the one who really insulted the senator’s supporters. Salter said, “I think there have been quite a few reporters recently who have sort of implied, or made more than implications, that somehow we’re responsible for the occasional nut who shows up and yells something about Barack Obama.”

So according to the McCain campaign, Obama is insulting when he says the crowd is being riled up, but their own spokesman is justified to call the supporters nuts? The only thing that's nuts is McCain and his dysfunctional campaign.

Palin puts lipstick on a pork barrel pig

2008-10-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin has paraded around the country for the last six weeks as the self-proclaimed reformer, maverick and queen of budget cuts. The truth is, she has a record of pork barrel pet projects that run as long as the Alaskan Arctic night. Her budget record is no better -- during her tenure as mayor, operating budgets in Wasilla skyrocketed by 55 percent and took the city’s long-term debt from $1 million to $25 million. As governor, operating budgets in Alaska rose by 25 percent. Since taking the Governor's office, she has approved $4.8 billion in capital spending. Her average capital budget is $264 million a year more expensive than her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, whom she branded as a liberal spender during her 2006 campaign.

When it comes to Palin's pet projects, she is influenced by whatever strikes her fancy. Last year, a Pentecostal church in Juneau asked the state for money to build a new youth center. They didn't get it. This year, Plain started worshipping at the church and said the pastor was among her spiritual guides. Lo and behold, when budget time rolled around, Palin wrote to lawmakers in support of the $25,000 youth center.

Next up, Palin spent $2 million for an academic conference whose sole purpose was to debunk the idea that climate change is threatening the extinction of polar bears. Then she spent $630,000 to put a kitchen inside a $15 million sports arena she built in Wasilla.

Palin's preference for Wasilla's projects is about to reach new heights. Remember the Bridge to Nowhere? Palin eventually backed off the bridge connecting remote Ketchikan Island to even more remote Gravina Isalnd. But the Anchorage Daily News reported that Palin is quietly supporting a $600 million bridge (more expensive than the infamous Bridge to Nowhere) and highway project to link Anchorage to the 7,000 residents in Palin's home town of Wasilla.

Palin and McCain have hammered Obama during every stump speech for being a "tax and spend liberal" while they are the avengers of wasteful spending. When you drag Palin's record into the spotlight you see that her actions never match her words.

McCain sows hatred and reaps the rewards in rural Pennsylvania

2008-10-11T08:22:00.001-07:00

In case you're wondering who is voting for McCain-Palin, this video says it all. It was taken in Lehigh, PA yesterday before a McCain-Palin rally. McCain's politics of fear and hatred have reaped the results he was aiming for in rural PA...

At this point, it seems we should require IQ tests before letting anyone pull a lever, poke a chad or touch a screen inside a voting booth. How do such uniformed, bigoted, hate-filled people exist in the 21st century? This is not about a difference in political views, it's about channeling hate and bitterness toward an easy target, made easier - and welcomed - by McCain-Palin's hate-mongering rhetoric.

Palin in Pennsylvania: Promises balanced budget in 4 years -- you betcha!

2008-10-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

What is Sarah Palin smoking? On the campaign trail in Johnstown, Pennsylvannia today, she promised that she and McCain would balance the budget by the end of their first term. In light of the more than $800 billion bailout package, the additional $300 billion McCain wants to give mortgage lenders and the $10 trillion national deficit, she should have been laughed off the stage.

Palin began her speech by dragging out some very tired rhetoric from her convention speech. She told the crowd that they should be weary of someone who lavishes praise on people when they're listening and accuses them of clinging to guns and religion when they're not listening. She added that we don't like someone who says one thing in Johnstown Pennslyvannia and another thing in San Francisco. Palin then switched to pandering mode telling the crowd that McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term.

This isn't the first time they've thrown the balanced budget pledge on the wall to see if it would stick. Back in February, McCain pledged to balance the budget by 2013, the end of his first term. In April, he backed off the pledge saying at a news conference that we would have a balanced budget within eight years. At a campaign rally in July, McCain again pledged to balance the budget by the end of his first term. The next day, his top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin told Bloomberg that the senator “has always” pledged to balance the budget by the end of his second term.

Maybe the crowd should be weary of someone who tells them one thing about balancing the budget when they're listening and sends their spokesman out to say another thing to the media knowing they could easily poke holes in the empty promise.

Palin nailed in Troopergate abuse of power case

2008-10-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

A bi-partisan legislative committee of 10 Republicans and 4 Democrats in Alaska unanimously determined this afternoon that Sarah Palin abused her power, violated public trust and broke a state ethics law when she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walter Moneghan. The committee said Palin, "unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's Public Safety Commissioner" and "exerted impermissible pressure." The report cites more than 19 different phone calls from Palin, her husband and staff to Moneghan pressuring him to fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law.

Walter Monegan , the state's Public Safety Commissioner, was terminated by Palin in July. He claimed Sarah and Todd Palin pressured him to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper involved in a divorce and custody dispute with the governor's sister. Alaska's legislative investigator, Stephen Branchflower, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

Palin, who initially said she had nothing to hide, refused to cooperate with the investigation once she was tapped by John McCain to be his VP. Since then, McCain's legal staff has desperately tried to squash subpoenas in the case and Palin herself refused to testify.

It looks like Palin's chickens are coming home to roost. Call it karma. After a week of battering her opponent and portraying him as a terrorist, un-American, and a dangerous unknown, we learn that Palin broke an ethics law - ultimately an impeachable offense. Oh Sarah, do we really know you? Who is Sarah Palin? Someone who doesn't love her own state enough to not break its laws while she's the Governor.

McCain's dangerous campaign tactics parallel hate-mongering that preceeded JFK's fateful trip to Dallas

2008-10-10T16:46:00.000-07:00

McCain-Palin are treading on very dangerous ground by falsely tying Barack Obama to domestic terrorists and treason and invoking his middle name like a racial slur. They spent the last week stoking fear and trying to destroy Obama by branding him as unpatriotic. Today a psycho at one their rallies said, "I don't trust Obama. I have read about him. He's an Arab." Over the last few days, people have shouted "kill him," "traitor" and "treason" -- McCain & Palin have stood silently by and let it happen. McCain finally tried to quell the crowd today but only after the Secret Service has gotten involved because of potential threats to Obama's life.

Want to know just how dangerous this rhetoric is? On Nov. 21, 1963 in Dallas, right-wing conservatives passed around handbills with convict-style photos of President John Kennedy and the caption: "Wanted for Treason." The next day, Nov. 22, a full-page ad appeared in The Dallas Morning News. A group called the American Fact-Finding Committee demanded to know why the president had "ordered the Attorney General to go soft on communism." The ad included the words "Wanted for Treason" and the mugshot-style photo of Kennedy. Hours later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

If that doesn't make your blood run cold, it should. By whipping crowds into a fevered frenzy, McCain's sleaze-bag campaign is one step away from the edge of no return. Let's hope McCain musters up one decent bone in his body and puts a stop to it before something unthinkable happens.

McCain hides Contra relationship from Congress

2008-10-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

As the media continues to run the Obama & Bill Ayers fairly tale unfettered and around the clock, they continue to ignore John McCain's position on the board of an organization that was implicated in a secretive plot to arm Nicaraguan rebels during, later known as Iran-Contra.

McCain, who served on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom's board until 1986 (according to their board roster), knew what this group was doing, knew it was illegal and stuck with it. In fact, he even hide his relationship with the group from Congress. McCain did not disclose his board position on mandatory congressional disclosure forms that ask about positions held outside government. The forms ask for “the identity of all positions held on or before the date of the filing during the current calendar year as an officer, director, trustee, partner, proprietor, representative, employee, or consultant of any corporation, firm, partnership, or other business enterprise, any nonprofit organization, any labor organization, or any educational or other institution.”

McCain joined the board of the U.S. Council Council for World Freedom, which is the U.S. branch of the World Anti-Communist League, in November 1981. The group's founder, John Singlaub, was later convicted of providing arms to the contras. So why did McCain fail to disclose his board position with this shady group? And why on earth is the media not reporting it?

Obama predicted current nastiness of McCain campaign

2008-10-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Back in July, Barack Obama predicted the McCain campaign would stoop to the low-ball tactics they're currently using. When he brought it up during a campaign rally, the McCain campaign incredibly accused him of playing the race card. McCain and his flunkies called Obama on the carpet saying race had no place in this election. It looks like Obama had their number all along - it's just another thing he's been right about:

McCain's disgusting antics are beginning to turn his own supporters against him. Former Michigan Governor William Milliken, who endorsed McCain in the primaries, today told the Grand Rapids Press,

"He is not the McCain I endorsed. He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me. I'm disappointed in the tenor and the personal attacks on the part of the McCain campaign, when he ought to be talking about the issues."

It's about time McCain got slapped for his scorched earth campaign tactics.

Palin clueless about energy production

2008-10-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

John McCain has bragged that Sarah Palin, "knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States of America." He has also said that energy policy will be her focus if they are elected. Unfortunately it looks like Palin, the energy czar, needs a refresher course on energy.

Yesterday at a rally in Wisconsin, a supporter asked Palin if it was true that the U.S. shipped 75 percent of Alaskan oil overseas. Palin said that was impossible because Congress put "strict bans" on the amount of oil and gas that America could export. Too bad she's wrong.

Congress has never imposed outright bans on U.S. oil exports. In 1973, they did prohibit exports of Alaska oil when the pipeline was built. They lifted the ban in 1996.

Palin has had 12 years to discover that the ban on Alaska oil was lifted and never reinstated. Considering she was appointed as Alaska's commissioner of gas & oil after her stint as Wasilla mayor and is the sitting Governor of the state, you think she would have heard by now.

Palin has also stated on the campaign trail and in her interview with Charlie Gibson that as Governor, her job "has been to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." Actually, Alaska is the ninth largest energy supplier in the United States and accounts for only 3.5 percent share of the nation's total energy production.

Since McCain has made a point of saying energy is Palin's single greatest area of expertise (besides being able to see Russia from Alaska), it's ironic, but not surprising, that she doesn't know the most basic facts.

McCain mob goes beserk in Ohio

2008-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

I hope John McCain and Sarah Palin are proud of themselves. In one of my blog posts yesterday, I described how Palin and her cohorts were whipping a crazed crowd into a blood-thirsty frenzy by accusing Barack Obama of being a terrorist. Today, McCain-Palin's continued rantings incited a psychotic group in Ohio to say some of the most disturbing things I've ever heard come out of the mouths of so-called Americans:

These lunatics are literally repeating things McCain, Palin and their flunkies have said or insinuated - everything from "we don't know who he is" to "he's not like us." This morning, McCain's smarmy spokeswoman Nicole Wallace said on the Today Show that Sarah Palin has done more media interviews in the last month then Barack Obama has - which is hilarious - and some looney on the tape repeated it.

Just how far are McCain-Palin willing to take this? Are they going to organize a lynching mob next? I sure hope the Secret Service is ramping up protection for Obama because the lunatic fringe is starting to beat the war drums.

New McCain ad sinks to all-time campaign low

2008-10-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

I wonder how the world looks from the gutter where John McCain lives these days. His campaign hit a new low today with the release of a 90 second web ad that falsely, and dangerously, ties Barack Obama to former 60s radical William Ayers. The campaign has been on a tear this week, whipping crowds into a frenzy by evoking the terrorist connection, using Obama's middle name "Hussein", and saying Obama doesn't view America like "we" do. The fevered crowds have been shouting "terrorist" and "kill him" in response.

The release of the ad shows McCain's deliberate intent to radicalize the far right. Throughout the ad, Ayers is referred to as a terrorist and friend of Obama, and it suggests the two of them have been cooking up nefarious schemes for years. The ad also claims that Ayers and Obama ran a radical "education" foundation together and "distributed more than $100 million to ideological allies with no discernible improvement in education."

The "radical" organization they're referring to is the Annenberg Foundation, founded by conservative Republican Walter Annenberg (who died in 2002). Annenberg and his wife Lee were close friends with the Reagans. Lee Annenberg has endorsed John McCain in this presidential election.

The Annenberg Foundation grants funds for reform of elementary and secondary public school systems. Given McCain's deplorable education record, that may seem like a radical idea to him but to most Americans it's considered a lifesaver for our crumbling public education system. Since the Annenberg Foundation appointed William Ayers to their board, does that make the Annenbergs terrorist symphathizers? And using McCain's twisted logic, since he is endorsed by Lee Annenberg and Ayers sits on her board, does that mean McCain pals around with terrorists too?

In an article published October 4, the New York Times reported that "Mr. Ayers played no role in Mr. Obama's appointment" to the Foundation. Archives of the Chicago Annenberg project, which funneled funds to schools from 1995 to 2000, show both men attended six board meetings early in the project -- Mr. Obama as chairman, Mr. Ayers to brief members on school issues."

Sounds nefarious alright. You would think McCain, who was accused by Bush's campaign in 2000 of fathering an illegimate black child, would have an aversion to brutal, violent political attacks based on nothing but a blind desire to win. McCain's contrary actions underscore that he truly is an extension of George W. Bush along with his failings as a person and as a president.

McCain's mortage idea to cost taxpayers $300 billion

2008-10-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

John McCain, self-proclaimed maverick of less government and lower taxes, slide a debt-loaded missile under the radar yesterday that would cost taxpayers about $300 billion. During Tuesday's debate, McCain throw a wild pitch about his new plan for the government to buy up bad mortgages. McCain offered few specifics and appeared to staking a much needed claim on originality (even though Hillary Clinton proposed a similar idea in March).

When McCain announced his idea at the debate, his campaign released details of his newly dubbed American Homeownership Resurgence Plan online and sent it to reporters. The plan would enable the government to buy up bad home mortgages at a discounted rate while forcing lenders to "recognize the loss that they’ve already suffered.”

Lo and behold on Wednesday, after the media glare died down, McCain quietly reissued the plan and removed the language about lenders recognizing their lose and selling the mortgages at a discount. That means the government would pay face value for the bad loans.

Obama Campaign Economic Policy Director Jason Furman released a statement about the plan:

"John McCain wants the government to massively overpay for mortgages in a plan that would guarantee taxpayers lose money, and put them at risk of losing even more if home values don’t recover. The biggest beneficiaries of this plan will be the same financial institutions that got us into this mess, some of whom even committed fraud."

McCain's proposal coddles financial institutions while saddling taxpayers with $300 billion on top of the $800+ billion bailout bill. His so-called Resurgance Plan is a resurgance alright, of McCain's true positions - less government, more business.

McCain's Stepford Wife Joins Mudslinging Fest

2008-10-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

John McCain's wife Cindy usually stands woodenly and silently behind him on stage while staring vacantly at the audience -- today, she heartily joined in on the McCain-Palin Mudslinging Fest. At a rally in Pennsylvania, Cindy McCain basically accused Obama of being a budget-hatcheting boogeyman who is threatening the life of her military son. Of course when it comes to John McCain, every issue eventually leads to the military and/or his POW status, so this comment from Cindy shouldn't come as a surprise:

"The day that Sen. Obama cast a vote to not to fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body let me tell you. I would suggest Sen. Obama change shoes with me for just one day. I suggest he take a day and go watch our men and women deploying."

Hmmm, maybe Cindy's blood should have run cold when her husband voted to send their son to an unnecessary war. Contrary to Cindy's histrionics, Obama voted to oppose funding a mission that had no timetable. I guess bubble-headed Cindy doesn't realize her own husband OPPOSED funding the troops in legislation that had a timetable.

Keep spending $300,000 on Chanel suits Cindy and leave the speeches to someone who really knows how to go for the jugular, like Sarah Palin.

McCain's health care scare

2008-10-08T11:48:00.000-07:00

In his best fear-mongering style, last night John McCain described Barack Obama's health care plan as a big brother program mandated by the government and controlled by fines. It's humorous that McCain had the chutzpah to deliver such a blatant lie with Obama standing 10 feet away - further proving to me that he has lost all sense of reality.

An audience member asked a question about whether or not health care should be treated as a commodity. Instead of responding with a meaningful discussion of his ideas, McCain took the chance to cast the long, dark "socialist" shadow on Obama's plan:

McCain: But what is at stake here in this health care issue is the fundamental difference between myself and Senator Obama. As you notice, he starts talking about government. He starts saying, government will do this and government will do that, and then government will, and he'll impose mandates.

If you're a small business person and you don't insure your employees, Senator Obama will fine you. Will fine you. That's remarkable. If you're a parent and you're struggling to get health insurance for your children, Senator Obama will fine you.

After some more rambling, McCain summed it up by saying, "But they certainly are a little nervous when Senator Obama says, if you don't get the health care policy that I think you should have, then you're going to get fined. And, by the way, Senator Obama has never mentioned how much that fine might be. Perhaps we might find that out tonight."

The Associated Press released a fact check on McCain's claim, saying: "Obama's health care plan does not impose mandates or fines on small business. He would provide small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on health premiums paid on behalf of their employees. Also, large employers that do not offer meaningful coverage or contribute to the cost of coverage would be required to pay a percentage of payroll toward the costs of a public insurance plan. But small businesses would be exempt from that requirement."

McCain is eager to invoke fear about Obama's plan while trying to keep his own intentions under the radar. A top aide told the Wall Street Journal that McCain aims to pay for his health plan with major reductions to Medicare and Medicaid. Independent analysts estimate such a move could result in cuts of $1.3 trillion over 10 years to the government programs.

No doubt the McCain campaign doesn't want to broadcast these intentions, especially while they are battling for Florida, with it's huge retiree popluation - most of which depend entirely on Medicare and Medicaid.

McCain-Palin: The politics of self-destruction

2008-10-08T11:10:00.001-07:00

Watching McCain-Palin these days is like watching a case study in self destruction. Day by day, these two merrymakers are dismantling any premise of a legitimate campaign through their gleeful, hate-filled attacks designed to incite anger and bigotry. Behind all the vitriol, they offer nothing new, positive or productive about their own candidacy. Instead, they are creating political caricatures of themselves, made especially evident last night when McCain, very inch the angry old man, pointed to Obama and snidely called him "That One."

Today in Pennsylvania, the campaign's horrific ugliness was in full display again. For the second time in three days, a speaker at a McCain-Palin rally snidely used Barack Obama's middle name "Hussein" to incite the crowd of conservative loyalists. Monday it was a Sherriff in Lee County Florida. Today it was the GOP Chair of Lehigh County Pennsylvania.

Make no mistake about it: McCain-Palin are fully aware of that evoking Obama's middle name is designed to promote fear and hate-mongering. They know it's wrong and already condemned this tactic as unsavory. In February when a conservative radio talk show host referred to Barack "Hussein" Obama, the McCain campaign said the use of Obama's middle name in an inflammatory fashion was inappropriate and not reflective of the race they are seeking to run.

All that has gone out the window as McCain faces rapidly falling poll numbers. The only kind of race they're interested in running now is one that insults, belittles and stirs crowds to dangerous levels of bigotry. Audience members have shouted "terrorist,", "kill him," and "treason," in response to McCain and Palin's stump speeches. Instead of condemning the comments immediately, these two soulless clowns thrive on it.

A look at "That One" (John McCain's) debate performance

2008-10-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

John McCain's hostile, snarky and shaky-voiced performance during tonight's debate paints a clear contrast between him and Obama. McCain came across as out of touch, erratic and just too old for the job. Obama was calm, cool and collected. Ironically, McCain ended the debate by saying the country needs a steady hand on the tiller while he appeared unsteady, tired and directionless.

It was hard to follow McCain's train of thought, or lack thereof, when he answered questions. He would start and stop and quickly change directions until you forgot the original question. One long-winded response about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sounded like a stream of consciousness. In fact, McCain's entire performance was like watching one long 'senior moment.'

Throughout the debate, McCain's ill-fated attempts at humor sounded mean, not funny. When Tom Brokaw asked him who he would consider as his Secretary of the Treasury, McCain responded with a deadpan, "Not you Tom." The one thing McCain did seem to thing was funny, although no one else does, is his bomb, bomb Iran "joke" as he called it. Yes, that was hilarious...

The most obnoxious moment came when he referred to Obama as "that one". This belittling remark shows McCain's clear disdain and disrespect for his opponent. McCain's breathless voice added to the awkwardness of the night; he sounded like he didn't have enough juice to finish his sentences.

Along with not providing substantive answers, most of McCain's responses were so canned and repurposed I could recite them along with him. How many times can he bring up "Obama will raise your taxes," "Obama can't admit the surge was successful," "Obama wants to bring the troops home in defeat." McCain's rhetoric is as tiresome as his condescending phrase "my friends," which he used at least 697 times tonight.

Terror, Treason, Insurgency - Palin's Alaska Independence Party has it all

2008-10-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin's audacity and hypocrisy is epic and awe inspiring. She's been gallivanting around the campaign trail the last few days trying to tie Barack Obama to domestic terrorists; meanwhile, her hubby was hob-nobbing with them for seven years.

Todd Palin's former politcal party, The Alaska Independence Party (AIP), was founded for the sole purpose of seceding from the union. Todd Palin, a member from 1995-2002 (according to the Division of Elections in Alaska), no doubt was aware of that - and so was Sarah.

Governor Palin actually praised the AIP in a speech earlier this year saying, "Keep up the good work and God bless you." She received praise in return from the leader of AIP who implied (wink, wink) she was their candidate for governor and she won because she "called herself a Republican". Watch it here:

The AIP was founded by a fanatic named Joe Vogler who built the party's membership to 20,000. Vogler had many memorable rants against the U.S. government, including an appearance in 1993 before the United Nations where he denounced United States "tyranny" and demanded Alaska's freedom. Vogler had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American diatribe. That's right, the same Iran who took American hostages, arms Iraqi insurgents and boosts about obliterating Israel. Yes, that Iran.

Vogler's other maniacal rants include:

"I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."

"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government."

"And I won't be buried under their damn flag. I'll be buried in Dawson. And when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home."

Kind of like saying "God damn America" (a la Rev. Wright), isn't it...

Along with a fanatic zeal for independence, the AIP also advocates increased Alaskan control of Alaskan land, gun rights, privitazation, home schooling, and reduction of governmental intrusion in the private lives of its citizens. All in all, this group sounds like it promotes treason (treachery to one's country or its government), terror (consorting with the Iranian government, state sponsors of terrorism), and insurgency (rebellion within a group, as by members against leaders).

The next time Palin seeks to tie Obama to terrorists, she better come up with a good reason why her husband belonged to a political party that promoted insurrection against the U.S. government.

Shocked by the Sherriff at McCain rally in Florida

2008-10-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

At a rally yesterday near Fort Myers, Florida, Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott made a shocking introduction for Sarah Palin. Sheriff Scott inexplicably played the racial, terrorist, anti-American, fear-mongering and ignorant cards all at once for a straight flush of idiocy designed to incite the crowd.

Sheriff Scott, an elected official, revved up the audience by saying in a snide, demeaning tone:

“On Nov. 4, let’s leave Barack Hussein Obama wondering what happened."

The horror of his words lie not just in what he said, but in the fact that this man is an elected law enforcement official. For him, or anyone, to invoke such hate-filled language that was clearly intended to link Obama with Muslim terrorists is appalling. It shows how dangerous the McCain campaign is willing to get with their below the gutter tactics.

Scott, who became Sherriff in 2005, has a quip on his Web site that says, "People could say running for sheriff took either courage, ignorance, or a combination of both."

I vote for ignorance as this man takes the cake. He is a disgrace to his office. If you are appalled by Scott's hate filled remarks, drop him an email an let him know at: sheriff@sheriffleefl.org.

McCain's descent into political madness

2008-10-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

McCain's campaign has quickly descended into madness. Palin and McCain are amplifying their violent rhetoric about Barack Obama's imaginary ties to terrorists and inciting right-wing nuts to near violence at their rallies. This is a serious situation that needs to get maximum media exposure.

Today, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank reported about an incident at a Palin rally that should make the hair stand up straight on the back of your neck. Palin gave a fiery stump speech where she falsely claimed that Obama has close associations with a "terrorist" who sought to bomb the Pentagon and the U.S. Capital:

"Now it turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers...And, according to the New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, 'launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol."

The crowd responded with boos and threats to Obama's life. One lunatic shouted, "Kill him!"

Instead of stopping the rally right then and there and calming down the crowd, Palin threw fuel on the fire by saying:

"Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers's living room, and they've worked together on various projects in Chicago. "These are the same guys who think that patriotism is paying higher taxes -- remember that's what Joe Biden had said. And -- I am just so fearful that this is not a man who sees America the way you and I see America, as the greatest force for good in the world. I'm afraid this is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country."

Besides the complete fabrication of her tale of terrorism, Palin's attack verges on criminal. Along with the nut who shouted "Kill him!", another crazie in the crowd turned to an African-American man who was recording the rally for a TV station and hurled a vicious racial epithet at him. Disgusting.

And the campaign's response? "It's a dangerous road, but we have no choice," a top McCain strategist recently admitted to the Daily News. "If we keep talking about the economic crisis, we're going to lose."

McCain's hands are just as dirty. While he isn't overtly calling Obama a terrorist on the stump, he is instigating the crowd so they gladly do it for him. In a clip that ran yesterday on MSNBC, McCain asks the fevered crowd, "Who is the real Barack Obama?" A nut in the crowd shouted, "Terrorist!" McCain just stood there and smirked.

God forbid some crazy person left their rally and tried to hunt down Obama and inflict harm, how would McCain and Palin live with themselves? Probably the same way Bush does when he goes to bed every night knowing he's responsible for needlessly killing tens of thousands in Iraq -- he pretends the end (his ideological desire) justifies the means.

The gutter politics of Sarah Palin

2008-10-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin continued her scorched earth campaigning through Floriday today. The newest attack dog of the Republican Party is using the stump to denigrate Barck Obama and divert attention to nonsense rather than deal with her own lack of qualifications or policies.

In a rally in Jacksonville, she said people will make their final decisions on Nov 4 based on candidates' personal qualities. Palin must be getting this election confused with the Miss Alaska state pageant. Sorry Sarah, but competence and leadership trump personalities when picking a president.

Palin diverged briefly from her rants about Obama by offering an elementary-school explanation about what a McCain-Palin Administration would do for the economy:

“We have to do this because we have to get in there and review every federal agency, every part of federal government, and improve those parts that need improving and eliminate those parts that aren't working for the American people.”

After this brilliant dissertation, Palin moved right back to slamming Obama. She accused him of buddying around with William Ayers, a "domestic terrorist." Of course this accusation is completely trumped up by McCain-Palin and has been branded as a lie by every media outlet. After the Ayers garbage, Palin assaulted Obama with a new claim, attempting to tie him to another radical, Iranian President Ahmadinejad. Palin babbled,

“Since he got called out on his plans to meet unconditionally with terror state leaders like Ahmadinejad, will he now claim that he was unaware if his radical background?”

This woman is shameless, power-hungry and completely without integrity. Gee Sarah, your husband belonged to a political group that supported Alaska's secession from the union. Does that make you a terrorist - or a just an enormous hypocrite and liar?

McCain invokes fear tactics to reverse plunging polls

2008-10-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing the Republicans have excelled at in the last eight years, it's invoking fear to get Americans to bend to their will. Iraq was one step away from obliterating humanity (despite having no weapons of mass destruction); if we didn't fight the terrorists where they live we would have to fight them at home; if we don't bailout Wall Street today we'll be in a massive Depression by tomorrow.

Sound familiar? Now John McCain, an increasingly desperate and tragic figure, is digging as deep into the well of dirty politics as his small frame will allow him to reach.

The message coming from McCain-Palin this week is to run for your lives if Barack Obama is elected! He consorts with domestic terrorists...he is a terrorist himself because his middle name is "Hussein"...he doesn't see America like you and me...his former pastor will turn the country over to violent Black Power radicals.

McCain-Palin's blind ambition to win at any cost means they will hold no mud-filled punches from now until Nov 4. McCain has completely sold his soul in the process. A victim of Bush's scoorched earth campaign style in 2000, McCain said then:

"Sooner or later people are going to figure out that if all you run is negative attack ads you don't have much of a vision for the future, or you're not ready to articulate it."

Bingo Johnny! You have no ideas and Palin can't even articulate what newspapers she reads so you two are in big trouble. McCain isn't above contradicting himself at every turn to cast a fearful glare over Obama. In April, McCain responded to the initial Rev. Wright media lynching by saying, "there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it."

The public still doesn't want it but McCain sure does because he has nothing else to talk about. Invoking fear is McCain's Alamo-like strategy for winning on Nov 4 - a last desperate stand to win the ultimate prize. Let's make sure he doesn't win it.

McCain has voted to protect domestic terrorists

2008-10-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

The McCain campaign's efforts to slander Obama by connecting him to former 60s radical William Ayers may backfire based on McCain's record of supporting domestic terrorism.

This morning on CBS’s Early Show, McCain-Palin campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer attempted to defend the smear tactic and added that if McCain “hung out with somebody who had bombed abortion clinics” it would be a legitimate topic of discussion.

Oops. Looks like Pfotenhauer has egg on her face. When it comes to abortion clinic bombers (domestic terrorists), McCain has repeatedly defended them, not the victims. On multiple occasions, McCain sought to limit the government’s ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics:

McCain voted AGAINST making anti-choice violence a federal crime in 1993 and 1994. On each occasion, McCain was one of thirty radical anti-choice Senators to oppose the bill which made it a federal crime to engage in “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions.”
McCain voted AGAINST the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which makes it a crime to forcibly interfere with women's access to reproductive-health facilities.
McCain voted to ALLOW perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them by declaring bankruptcy.
McCain said he OPPOSED Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. – Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy.

Given McCain's unsavory record, he's either stupid, reckless or both to attack Obama on trumped up charges of chumming with domestic terrorists. McCain actually voted to support them.

God help us if Palin is elected

2008-10-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Today during a campaign stop in Florida, Sarah Palin and chief McCain flunkie Joe Lieberman invoked God about 4 times in five minutes. Was this a political speech or church sermon? Sometimes it was hard to tell. More importantly, haven't these two heard of separation of Church & State? I realize Palin is no Constitutional scholar but Lieberman, who's been in the Senate 20 years, should have an inkling.

Lieberman, the Democratic outcast who sold his soul to campaign for McCain, introduced Palin as someone who is "so strong, she's so capable, she's so competent." I'm not certain how he said that with a straight face before adding that Palin is someone who "with your help--and God's help--will be the next vice president of the United States."

Really Joe, with God's help? Does God pick sides in U.S. presidential elections? If so, I should have done a lot of talking to him before the 2000 and 2004 elections. After Lieberman's nauseating intro, Perky Palin hit the stage. Upon seeing the waving American flags in the crowd she remarked, "God bless America--you guys get it!"

Get what exactly? That you're not American unless you wave your patriotism in someone else's face?

After Palin unleashed her new vitriol about Obama and his imaginary ties to terrorists, the devil, Big Foot and the boogeyman, she segued into a discussion about the potential for wind and solar power in Florida and said: "God has so richly blessed you here!"

Good God, give us a break. The God-faring, flag pin-wearing and waving crowd may have loved it but this isn't a church revival, it's a political campaign for President & VP of the United States. Give Palin her own TVangelical Reality Show if you want, but not a shot at top job in the country.

McCain's Keating Five past finally comes back to haunt him

2008-10-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

At long last, the Obama campaign hits back at McCain with the Keating Five scandal. The move is in response to McCain's current blitzkrieg against Obama's character. This weekend, the McCain camp hurled everything at Obama from a resurgence of Rev. Wright to insane claims that Obama "pals around with terrorists." Today, Obama counter punches with something much more damaging - the truth!

At noon Eastern time, the Obama campaign launched a new Web site, KeatingEconomics.com. The site provides a documentary and information about McCain's relationship with Charles Keating and his implication in the Keating Five scandal. For those who don't remember, Charles Keating was a McCain pal and chairman of the Lincoln Savings & Loan Association. On Keating's behalf, McCain intervened with federal regulators tasked with preventing banking fraud and championed legislation to delay regulation of the savings and loan industry. Keating's Savings & Loan empire eventually collapsed and cost taxpayers more than $120 billion. McCain was reprimanded for his conduct by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee.

Given the current state of the economy and the deja vu quality of the current bank failings, McCain's involvement is the Keating scandal is relevant and important. McCain supported deregulation even in the face of the Lincoln Savings & Loan failure. He continued to support deregulation until last week when he tried to reinvent himself as a champion of regulation.

The truth counts for something; it's about time the McCain campaign was schooled on it.

Media kept away from Palin at Florida rally

2008-10-06T09:28:00.001-07:00

The media was kept far away from Palin and the crowd at a rally this morning in Clearwater, Florida. Picking up on a theme she started over the weekend, Palin tried to falsely tie Obama to former 60s radical William Ayers and regurgitated worn-out stories of his former pastor, Rev. Wright.

During a rally in California yesterday, she accused Obama of "paling around with terrorists." The mainstream media blasted her and pointed out that Obama was eight years old when Ayers was involved in radical activities. This morning, Palin toned down her remark slightly saying:

"[Obama} is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country."

By "working" with him, Palin is referring to the fact that Ayers and Obama sat on the same board for a non-profit organization attempting to raise money for education projects in Chicago. Of course Obama didn't appoint Ayers to the board and had no control over who else was on the board.

Besides Palin's scathing, patently untrue statements, what's stunning about the Florida rally today is how tightly the campaign is controlling media access. The St. Petersburg Times said reporters weren't permitted to come inside the venue to to talk to Palin's audience. When reporters tried to leave the designated press area, someone from the campaign would escort them out. St. Petersburg Times staff writer Eileen Schulte wrote that one reporter asked an escort why the press wasn't allowed to mingle and she responded that in the past, negative things had been written about the campaign.

What does the McCain campaign think this is - the former Soviet Union? We have something here called the Freedom of the Press, it's covered by the Constitution. McCain's desperate attempts to control every aspect of media coverage is evidence of how perverted his campaign has gotten.

Palin opens to door to Rev. Wright despite her own scary church history

2008-10-06T08:35:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin told conservative New York Times columnist Bill Kristol that she thinks Rev. Wright should get more media play.

"To tell you the truth, Bill, I don't know why that association isn't discussed more because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that -- with, I don't know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn't get up and leave -- to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."

Gee Sarah, I think you did just bring it up although I can't imagine why. Palin is opening the door to a review of her own scary church associations, which oddly haven't' gotten the same scrutiny as Rev. Wright.

Palin has quite a colorful history at her Pentecostal church, the Wasilla Assemby of God. For starters, she was personally blessed by a guest pastor who asked for her protection from witchcraft. Another guest speaker, David Brickner - founder of Jews for Jesus - conducted a sermon where Palin was present and made crazy remarks about terrorism in Israel where he seemed to say they had it coming:

"Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. It's very real. When Isaac was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it."

Along with the kooky guest pastors, Palin gave a speech at the church and said the Iraq War was a mission from God. She also thought God had a hand in her proposed $40 billion gas pipeline. Her former pastor, Ed Kalnins, said people who voted for John Kerry in 2004 wouldn't be welcomed into Heaven.

With so much fodder, why would Palin bring up Rev. Wright except out of complete desperation? The Rev. Wright thing has already been played out ad nauseum but I imagine the media could take from now until the election to discuss Palin's freaky church associations. Bring it on.

McCain's closet of skeletons includes ties to radical group and Iran-Contra Scandal

2008-10-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

John McCain's pit bull running mate Sarah Palin is launching full-scale attacks to tie Barack Obama to former 60s radical William Ayers - already debunked as nonsense by major media outlets. Before opening the Pandora's Box of scandals, Palin should have taken a closer look inside McCain's own closet of skeletons.

First, there is the Keating Five scandal. McCain enjoyed a long friendship and other dealings with Charles Keating, who was responsible for the largest Savings & Loan collapse in U.S. history. McCain was investigated for attempts to influence the Federal Trade Commission to make favorable judgments for Keating and his Savings & Loan banks.

Then there is McCain's association with an ultra right-wing group called the U.S. Council for World Freedom (USCWF). As revealed on NBC's "Meet the Press this morning, McCain sat on the board of USCWF, a group led by retired Major General John Singlaub who was later indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal. This is a complicated story, but stick with it...

USCWF was founded as the Council Against Communist Aggression. They chaged their name in 1980 but maintained a close affiliation with the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), their parent organization. The Anti-Defamation League characterized the WACL this way: “[WACL] has increasingly become a gathering place, a forum, a point of contact for extremists, racists and Anti-Semites.”

The USCWF was almost entirely funded Joesph Coors, of the Coors Beer family, and a slew of oil barons including oil fortune heiress Tarlton "Topsy" King, Scott Parrott of the Parrott Oil fortune, John Howell of Howell Instruments, Burt Hurlbut of First Texas Royalty and Exploration Co, and Dallas oil tycoon Harry Lucas.

The USCWF, in conjunction with the WACL, supported the contra forces in Central America after the U.S. Congress cut off all military support in 1984. Singlaub helped establish a company called GeoMiliTech Consultants Corporation (GMT) a Washington-based arms trading company. In 1984 it is believed that Singlaub organized a shipment of weapons, ammunition and C-4 explosives to the Contras. In January 1985, Singlaub went to South Korea and Taiwan to obtain money and weapons for the Contras. Singlaub also procured $5.3 million of Eastern bloc arms for the Contras through GMT. In addition to arms dealings, Singlaub developed a large military plan called the "Rainbow Mission" which involved the invasion of Nicaragua by Americans and Contras. The plan was approved by General Oliver North.

Singlaub was indicted in 1986 and 1988 over USCWF activities in support of the contras. McCain was listed as board member until 1986; the organization was disbanded in 1987.

This makes Obama's tenuous association with Ayers (they sat on a board in Chicago that raised money for schools) look like the nonsense it is. McCain sat on the board of a radical right-wing group whose leader was indicted in Iran-Contra. The group worked under the radar to fund and arm counter-revolutionaries in another country.

A word of advice for McCain-Palin: Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw boulders at their opponent. If guilt by association is how they're judging Obama, then McCain has more dirt on his hands than a child making mud pies.

Palin offers new reason why women should vote for her

2008-10-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Of all the stupid, shocking, uniformed comments Sarah Palin has made, this one vies for the top spot. At a rally in Carson, California yesterday, Palin offered a shocking justification for why women should vote for her. Claiming she was quoting former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Palin said:

"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women."

Albright didn't say that, and certainly not in a political context. Albright, in a 2005 with the American Association of University Women publication, gave a wide ranging interview about how women can advance through education. She said,

“Mainly we’ve got to get women into the pipeline—many, many women—and then women have to help each other. My real motto is: There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.”

Palin is now evoking fear-of-God tactics as a reason to vote for her. Sarah - I'll gladly meet you in hell before I ever cast a vote for you.

Palin unleashes "Swiftboat" tactics during California rally

2008-10-05T07:27:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin showed up in Carson, California yesterday with one goal - to unleash a vicious, dirty attack on Barack Obama. The McCain campaign's last desperate Hail Mary pass is to tie Obama to "terrorists" in their hope of scaring up votes. The Bush Administration has ruled on fear for the last eight years and Palin-McCain seem content to carry on with the tradition. Palin told a crowd at the Califorina rally:

"I was reading a copy of The New York Times. I was really interested to read in there about Barack Obama's friends in Chicago. Our opponent is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."

Palin is referring to William Ayers, a 60s radical who participated in bombings of New York City Police Headquarters, the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Ayers later become a college professor who lived near Obama's neighborhood and served on the same board for a foundation focused on school reform in Chicago in the 1990s. The McCain campaign's assertion is guilt by association because Obama lived in the same place and crossed paths with Ayers. Nevermind that Obama waas eight years old during Ayers radical activity.

Using a tried and true Republican smear tactic (remember Willy Horton and the Swiftboat Vets), Palin-McCain will continue to denigrate Obama so they don't have to address their own faltering campaign, Palin's incompetence, McCain's erratic behavior, and their complete lack of new ideas.

McCain gets further in the gutter during the final 30 days of campaign

2008-10-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

John McCain's campaign is openly admitting they plan to get down and very, very dirty in the last 30 days of the campaign. One of McCain's top advisers, Greg Strimple, put it this way:

"We are looking for a very aggressive last 30 days. We are looking forward to turning a page on this financial crisis and getting back to discussing Mr. Obama's aggressively liberal record and how he will be too risky for Americans."

Incredible to think McCain wants to 'turn the page on this financial crisis' considering the country is still in the throes of it. The truth is McCain is losing big on the economy and is getting clobbered in the polls. People seem to understand his economic policies are the same as Bush's policies; you can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different result.

Instead of talking about issues that matter, McCain would rather engage in a total character assassination of Obama, the lowest form of campaign tactics. A senior Republican operative, told the Washington Post:

"We're going to get a little tougher. We've got to question this guy's associations. Very soon. There's no question that we have to change the subject here."

Look for McCain to sling every ounce of slime available - from calling Obama a tax and spend liberal to trying to associate him with convicted Chicago developer Tony Rezlo, who was involved in local Chicago politics, and former radical William Ayres, who lives in Obama's neighborhood.

How sad that McCain knows he can't win on his own merit. His campaign is admitting the only chance he has is to denigrate his opponent. What an incredibly dishonorable strategy for someone who paints himself as the ultimate American hero.

McCain's former Brazilian girlfriend offered as evidence of his foreign policy experience

2008-10-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

First we learn that Alaska's proximity to Russia gives Sarah Palin foreign policy experience. Now we hear from McCain's foreign policy advisor that McCain's romance 50 years ago with a Brazilian woman is evidence of his foreign policy experience in Latin American. Just how shameless can the McCain campaign get?

The Miami Herald reports that while speaking at an Americas Conference panel discussion Friday, McCain senior foreign policy advisor Richard Fontaine was asked about McCain's experience in Latin America and said,

''Talking a little about his personal experience, he was famously born in Panama and has traveled all over the hemisphere for many years. In fact, I saw, I guess it was last week, that his old girlfriend in Brazil has been found from his early days when he was in the Navy and was interviewed. She's a somewhat older woman now than she was then, but it sorta speaks to the long experience he has had in the region -- in the most positive terms.''

When questioned by the Herald about the ridiculous comment, Fontaine backtracked saying:

''The only thing I was trying to convey was that his experience goes back a long way. He was born in Panama, which illustrates a lifetime spent in Latin America. He has known a lot of people. The thing about the Brazilian girlfriend was in his first memoir, and it stuck in my brain. Look at the two candidates and contrast his extensive experience. That's the only point I was trying to make.''

McCain was born in Panama and left when he was still a child - some 60 or more years ago, so I'm not sure how that illustrates a lifetime spent in Latin America. As for the Brazilian girlfriend, they met in 1957 when McCain's ship was docked in Brazil. Hardly a triumph of foreign policy expertise. Let's see, I had Italian food last night, does that make me an expert on Italy?

The McCain campaign's illogical fairy tale spinning is understandable when it comes to Palin, otherwise they would have nothing to say. But do they really need to falsely boost McCain's resume too? I guess once you get in the habit of compulsive lying, it's hard to break.

Palin cries foul on Katie Couric

2008-10-04T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sarah Palin went on uber-conservative Fox "News" yesterday and said Katie Couric didn't play with her fair during her widely panned interview last week. She basically accused Couric, not exactly known for being a rough-and-tumble reporter, of roughing her up. Palin obviously agreed to the interview expecting it would be reminiscent of Couric's style when she was still hosting the Today Show. She probably expected to talk about her favorite moose hunting spots and recipes for salmon stew. Instead, she's angry she had to actually answer relevant questions about important issues.

Palin told Fox "News" Correspondent Carl Cameron that she was "annoyed" with the way Couric handled their interview and complained that she couldn't talk about what she wanted to talk about (Sorry Sarah, that's not what a news interview is all about). She said Couric's questions put her in a lose-lose position.

"The Sarah Palin in those interviews was a little bit annoyed," she said. "It's like, man, no matter what you say, you are going to get clobbered. If you choose to answer a question, you are going to get clobbered on the answer. If you choose to try to pivot and go to another subject that you believe that Americans want to hear about, you get clobbered for that too."

The "clobbering" questions Couric asked where things like what type of newspapers does she read, why Alaska's proximit to Russia gives her foreign policy experience and what you thought of the financial market bailout. Whew, those are tough. A VP, and potential President of the U.S., shouldn't have to answer such tricky questions. Get real Sarah.

Here's what Palin thought would have been better questions for Couric to ask:

"In those Katie Couric interviews, I did feel that there were lot of things that she was missing in terms of an opportunity to ask what a VP candidate stands for, what the values are represented in our ticket. I wanted to talk about Barack Obama increasing taxes, which would lead to killing jobs. I wanted to talk about his proposal to increase government spending by another trillion dollars. Some of his comments that he's made about the war, that I think may, in my world, disqualify someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of the comments that he has made about Afghanistan -- what we are doing there, supposedly just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That's reckless. I want to talk about things like that. So I guess I have to apologize for being a bit annoyed, but that's also an indication of being outside the Washington elite, outside of the media elite also. I just wanted to talk to Americans without the filter and let them know what we stand for."

Basically Palin wanted an opportunity to rip into Obama and not have to answer any questions about her merits as a leader. That's why she showed up on Fox, to get her side of the story out without answering one substantial question. Look for Palin to start making the rounds of the conservative talk and news shows only since she can't afford another disastrous performance like her one with Couric. Not only is Palin unqualified and incapable of stringing together a cohesive thought, she's also a coward.

McCain bails out on Michigan: Palin Clueless

2008-10-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Of all the many things Sarah Palin is clueless about, it's stunning to learn she didn't know until today that McCain had pulled up his campaign tent and left Michigan. Palin said she read it in a newspaper -- and we all know how rare that is since she couldn't recall for Katie Couric the name of a single newspaper she reads. After picking one up for the first time this morning, Palin learned of McCain's Michigan bailout and promptly criticized him and said she fired off a quick e-mail" questioning the move.

The fact that Palin had to find out about the Michigan decampment from a newspaper shows just how disorganized the campaign is and how insignificant her role. She's clearly being minimized to reduce the harm she's already inflicted. Palin told Fox News of her disappointment in McCain's decision this morning, adding:

"Todd and I, we'd be happy to get to Michigan and walk through those plants of the car manufacturers. We'd be so happy to get to speak to the people in Michigan who are hurting because the economy is hurting."

Palin parading through a car plant isn't going to turn around McCain's falling poll numbers in Michigan. His campaign decided Wednesday night that the $1 million a week it was spending in Michigan wasn't worth it. I guess they also figured it wasn't worth telling Palin, since she now seems to be limited to the role of campaign cheerleader only.

Palin's Troopergate scandal just won't go away: dirty politics at play

2008-10-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Peter Michalski threw out a lawsuit filed by Republican state legislators in an attempt to halt the Alaska Legislature's investigation of Troopergate. (Remember, Palin is the one who asked to be investigated and then refused to cooperate). Today, lawyers for Palin filed an emergency appeal with the Alaska Supreme Court asking the court to decide by the close of business today whether it will hear their appeal.

Kevin Clarkson, the attorney representing the Republican legislators, wants the state Supreme Court to decide their appeal by Thursday. That's because investigator Steve Branchflower is scheduled to finish his report by next Friday, despite the fact that Palin, her aides and her husband refused to cooperate or testify under subpoena.

Lawyers working on behalf of the Republican legislators aruged if the investigation proceeded it would threaten their right to a "fair and just" investigation. They also said the Legislative Council overstepped its authority, even though Palin invited their investigation. The lawyers went on to say:

"The plaintiffs and Alaskans will suffer irreparable harm if the investigation at issue continues and if the resulting investigative report issues as planned on Oct. 10, 2008."

Supreme Court Judge Michalski, in dismissing their lawsuit Thursday, said the conduct of the Legislature's investigation did not violate the right to fairness. He ruled that most the anti-investigation arguments were for the legislative branch to decide, not the courts.

Palin and McCain are the only ones who will suffer if the investigation moves forward, and they are the ones not playing fair. If Palin has nothing to hide, she has a funny way of showing it. She has done everything possible, since being chosen as McCain's running mate, to subvert the investigation she initially agreed to cooperate with fully. Since joining Team McCain, Palin has recused herself from any responsibility to cooperate and has left the matter in the hands of McCain's attorneys and handlers.

We can only hope the Alaska Supreme Court will throw out today's appeal so we can find out what Palin is hiding - before Nov. 4.

The only thing Palin proves in debate is that she can be folksy

2008-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

The bottom line on last night's debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden is this: Palin gave folksy (often annoying) anecdotal responses to serious questions. She clearly lacked the knowledge to give substantive responses. Instead, she just tried to charm the pants off the public. Luckily, this time, it appears it didn't work except with the die hard Republican faithful, who were never going to be swayed anyway. Every major post debate poll shows Biden a clear winner, even the uber-conservative, barely real news Fox Network.

Palin had a lot of ground to make up after her amateur-hour interviews with Katie Couric, which she tried to write-off by saying, "I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they've just heard." But Palin came off looking like a beauty pageant contestant (something she actually does have experience doing) earnestly pressing the case that she understands world issues. Where Biden gave serious, detailed answers to questions, she offered an anecdote and skipped right past the substance to offer nonspecific, generic, lightweight responses.

Her other strategy was to just ignore the questions altogether on issues including global warming, an Iraq exit strategy, the nuclear threat in Pakistan v. Iran, Bush policy failures in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and her "Achilles heel" - a lack of experience. She contemptuously stated, " I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also." I think the point of a debate is that you answer the question you're asked, not freestyle discussions that suit you.

Palin's annoying colloquialisms were off the Richter scale last night. Every answer was peppered with a "you betcha", "darn right", "bless their heart", "doggone it" or a reference to Joe Six Pack and hockey moms. But her attempt at folksiness couldn't hide the fact that she doesn't know squat about major issues and that holds scary beliefs like the Constitution gives her "flexible" powers as VP (something Cheney ascribes to) or that climate change isn't man made. Palin said, "I'm not one to attribute every man -- activity of man to the changes in the climate."

Some glaring examples of Palin's lightweight answers include her reponse to Gwen Ifill's question about whether Bush's policy with Israel and Palestine had been an abject failure:

"No, I do not believe that it has been. But I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that is a good thing to get to agree on, Sen. Biden."

What kind of answer is that to one of the most pressing issues of the day? Another gem was her response to Ifill's questions about nuclear interventionism. Besides being unable to pronounce the word "nuclear", like George Bush, Palin gave an inane answer to a serious question:

IFILL: Governor, on another issue, interventionism, nuclear weapons. What should be the trigger, or should there be a trigger, when nuclear weapons use is ever put into play?

PALIN: Nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be all, end all of just too many people in too many parts of our planet, so those dangerous regimes, again, cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, period.

Palin also tried to distance herself and McCain from the Bush administration while Biden kept pointing out their similarities. During one exchange, Palin said:

"Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferences your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education and I'm glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? I say, too, with education, America needs to be putting a lot more focus on that and our schools have got to be really ramped up in terms of the funding that they are deserving."

Palin's ridiculous example of education being a cornerstone of a McCain-Palin administration isn't viable. McCain has one of the worst records on education spending/advancement and has voted down nearly every bill that would raise standards and provide additional opportunities like pre-K and after school programs.

So while the Republicans are spinning Palin's performance as a victory, the truth is she did nothing to prove her qualifications and grasp of the issues. Send this hockey mom back to the $15 million ice rink she built in Wasilla so we can get on with the serious business of turning this country around.

Biden debunks Palin's repetitive claims of "maverick"

2008-10-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin tried to insert the word "maverick" into nearly every one her responses during the VP debate tonight - no doubt it was written on the palm of her hand as a key talking point. Finally, even Joe Biden had enough of it. In one of his best moments in the debate, and he had a lot of them, Biden put to rest the "maverick" claim:

"Look, the maverick -- let's talk about the maverick John McCain is. And, again, I love him. He's been a maverick on some issues, but he has been no maverick on the things that matter to people's lives.

He voted four out of five times for George Bush's budget, which put us a half a trillion dollars in debt this year and over $3 trillion in debt since he's got there.

He has not been a maverick in providing health care for people. He has voted against -- he voted including another 3.6 million children in coverage of the existing health care plan, when he voted in the United States Senate.

He's not been a maverick when it comes to education. He has not supported tax cuts and significant changes for people being able to send their kids to college.

He's not been a maverick on the war. He's not been a maverick on virtually anything that genuinely affects the things that people really talk about around their kitchen table.

Can we send -- can we get Mom's MRI? Can we send Mary back to school next semester? We can't -- we can't make it. How are we going to heat the -- heat the house this winter?

He voted against even providing for what they call LIHEAP, for assistance to people, with oil prices going through the roof in the winter.

So maverick he is not on the important, critical issues that affect people at that kitchen table."

Biden's brilliant response will hopefully quell the notion that McCain has any viable credentials in that area - especially now, since he has acquiesed to the far right on nearly every issue of importance in this election.

Palin mangles Afghanistan issues

2008-10-02T20:32:00.001-07:00

Someone please tell Sarah Palin that the commanding general in Afghanistan is McKiernan, not McClellan (he was a general in the American Civil War), which is what she called him multiple times during tonight's debate. Palin also got her facts wrong about the General's position on the situation in Afghanistan vs. Iraq. She claimed the surge principles "that have worked in Iraq" need to be implemented in Afghanistan and would be under McCain. Palin also contradicted Joe Biden's assertion that Gen. McKiernan said an Iraqi-like surge in Afghanistan wouldn't work.

Apparantly, Palin didn't do enough cramming for the debate. The Commanding General in Afghanistan, David McKiernan, said yesterday that more American troops are urgently required to combat a worsening insurgency, but stated emphatically that no Iraq-style "surge" of forces will end the conflict there.

McKiernan went on to say that Afghanistan is “a far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq. The country’s mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war all make for unique challenges. The word I don’t use for Afghanistan is ’surge.’ ”

It just goes to show that Palin's "knowledge" doesn't go any deeper than surface level on any issue. She gamely recites the talking points she's been given but can't deviate from them in any way because she has no direct knowledge of any major issue.

Palin says she wants to continue Cheney's free agent reign as VP

2008-10-02T20:19:00.001-07:00

During tonight's VP debate, Gwen Ifill's asked Sarah Palin about Dick Cheney’s contention that the vice president was a “free agent” unrestrained by laws governing either the legislative or executive branches. Palin's reponse is stunning. She said the Constitution was “flexible,” adding a McCain-Palin administration would do “do whatever we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans for this nation.”

Biden countered that “the Constitution is very clear” about the VP's role in the Senate - which is to break a tie vote only. He also said the Constitution made it crystal clear that the VP is part of the executive branch -- there is no ambiguity about the VP straddling both the legislative and executive branches. Biden added:

"The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous."

It's amazing that Palin would choose to defend the dangerous position of Dick Cheney, the most unpopular, reviled VP in American history. Neither Palin or McCain have ever mentioned Cheney - not during the convention or at any campaign speech. The fact that Palin would agree with Cheney's over-reaching goals as VP is stunning. Cheney has accumulated unprecedented power as VP, for himself and for Bush, by playing light with the law. His counsel has been responsible for writing dozens of "special executive orders" to get the Bush agenda under the radar of the law. I guess we know what type of VP Palin would be if (god forbid) she were to get the chance.

How much dumber can Palin get with Katie Couric?

2008-10-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

Tonight on the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin about current VP Dick Cheney - who Palin and McCain have never mentioned by name, ever. This exchange may be one of the most startling dumb of Palin's many, many dumb remarks:

Couric: What do you think is the best and worst thing that Dick Cheney has done as vice president

Palin: Worst thing, I guess that would have been the duck-hunting accident, where you know, that was an accident. And that I think that was made into a caricature of him. And that was kind of unfortunate.

So, the best thing though, he's shown support, along with George W. Bush, of our troops. And I've been there when George Bush has spoken to families of those who have suffered greatly, those who are serving in the military. I've been there when President Bush has embraced those families and expressed the concern and the sympathy speaking for all of America in those times. And for Dick Cheney to have supported that effort of George Bush's. I respect that.

During the eight VERY long years Bush & Cheney have been in power we've experienced 9/11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, $140 a barrel oil, the collapse of the financial industry, Cheney's legislative intrusion into presidential powers, the conviction and pardon of Cheney's Chief of Staff (Scooter Libby) in the Valorie Plame CIA scandal, etc., etc., and the worst thing Palin can think of is his duck-shooting accident! What planet is this woman from? What a tragically ludicrous thing to say in light of all things that have happened.

And the best thing Palin can think of is the Cheney helps Bush speak to the families of the soldiers who have been killed in Iraq - a war Cheney orchestrated and helped his friends and former employer (Blackwater, Haliburton) profit from. This woman's stupidity knows no bounds.

McCain Camp furiously pre-spinning the VP Debate

2008-10-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

Today, McCain's flunkies have been working themselves into a frenzy with pre-debate spin. In an obvious attempt to make up for Palin's comedic performance with Katie Couric, they are now basically saying it's irrelevant if she has a handle on the issues because all Americans really want is to connect with someone who is like them.

On CNN this afternoon, chief McCain flunkie, Senator Joe Lieberman, said Palin was a victim of college test-like questions from the "gotcha" media and she shouldn't be expected to know "four points of every issue" since she's a Washington outsider. He then repeated his theory on NBC with Andrea Mitchell, saying Palin's lack of national knowledge was ingratiating her to everyday people. Lieberman told Mitchell,

"She's not lived in the world of Washington, so she doesn't know every detail of all the questions senators deal with. But, frankly, that's her strength. I think that's why a lot of regular people out across America think she's going to be their voice."

Mitchell countered with, "Senator, she wants to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. You know, that doesn't mean just being an average mom, it means bringing other skills."

Lieberman wouldn't sway from his talking points and later said,

"I think tonight is not a kind of final college exam. I think the point is who is she as a person... Whether she can answer every detailed question, I don't think that ultimately matters to the American people so long as they think she passes those other personal thresholds."

So, now this election is about personalities? Just how low does the McCain camp think they can lower the bar for Palin - it's already on the floor. You can just hear the post-debate spin now from McCainites... Palin is a Washington outsider, blah blah, she shouldn't know every national issue, blah, blah...she's a maverick and reformer, not a policy wonk, blah blah...she's an everyday person so she understands everyday issues, blah blah...

Let's see, I own a home with a mortgage, does that make me qualified to handle the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? And I know how to fill up the propane tank on my gas grill, does that make me an energy expert? That the kind of idiotic il-logic is what the McCain campaign is now using to justify Palin's spot on the VP ticket. The truth is, there is no justification.

John McShameless strikes again

2008-10-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

It's obvious that John McCain has forfeited every ounce of integrity to win this election. Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, McCain accused Obama of "phoning in" his input when it came to negotiating the bailout bill. If you recall, just yesterday McCain said now was the time for bi-partisanship, not finger-pointing, and his characterization of Obama is ridiculous. McCain said:

"I am proud of my work. Suspending my campaign, coming back to Washington, getting the Republicans at the table, which they were not, improving the bill, and I believe it will pass. Senator Obama phoned it in."

The truth is, McCain likely hindered, not helped the process when he parachuted into Washington last Thursday amid much self-created drama and threats of cancelling the debate. The House Republicans actually pulled out of White House talks after McCain arrived. Before arriving in DC, McCain was also working on the bailout over the phone. His senior strategist, Mark Salter, said as much this weekend. Like McCain, Obama went to Washington last Thursday and actually participated in the talks at the White House while McCain sat in silence for 40 minutes.

Along with the bailout questions, McCain's interview on MSNBC included questions about Palin's disastrous interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. When asked if he thought the campaign had mishandled the Alaska Governor's media rollout, McCain said no, adding:

"I think we have handled her fine. I think the criticism and attacks have been unprecedented. She'll be just fine. She'll do fine tonight. Whenever it is between her and the American people, she does just fine. She's experienced, she's knowledgeable, she's a very strong person. I'm proud of her record and I'm proud of her."

And boy, have they ever "handled" her, Palin's the politican Pillsbury Dough Boy. She was kept from the media for weeks, won't take questions from pool reporters on the trail and has been receiving near roudn the clock tutoring sessions to fill in her gigantic gaps on knowledge. Amid all that handling, she still fell flat on her face during her two network interviews. As far as the so-called "unprecedented" media attacks - remember the 24 x7 coverage of Reverend Wright that lasted for about 5 weeks? That was pretty unprecedented.

Palin's enlightening views on Hamas

2008-10-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

In a segment that hasn't aired on CBS yet, Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin about Hamas and Palin tripped all over herself trying to come up with an answer that sounded like gibberish. We should be getting desensitized to it by now, but it still evokes wonder that someone running for VP could be so uninformed. Here's their exchange:

Couric: What happens if the goal of democracy doesn't produce the desired outcome. For example, in Gaza, the U.S. pushed hard for elections and Hamas won.

Palin: [Head bobbing furiously up and down as if she understood the question] Yeah, well, especially in that region, though we have got to protect those and support those who do seek democracy and do seek protections for the people who live there. And you know, we saw today, here in New York in the last couple of days, a speaker, the President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, who would come on our soil and express such disdain for one of our closest allies and friends, Isreal. And we're hearing the evil that he speaks and if hearing him doesn't allow Americans to commit more solidly to protecting the friends and allies that we need, especially there, in the middle East, then nothing will. If Americans are not waking up to understanding what it is that he represents, then nothing is going to wake us up and we will be lulled into some kind of false sense of security that perhaps Americans were part of before 9/11.

Palin is the one who needs to wake up and either get a clue or listen to the question. Not only did she not answer Couric's question, she seemed to support Hamas' win -- Hamas was elected democratically by the people in Palestine, that was Couric's point -- by saying we need to protect and support those who seek democracy. Somehow from that response she launches into an incoherent, non sequitur about Ahmadinejad (she probably just wanted to show she could pronounce his name). She proceeds to refer to him as "evil" (remember the axis of evil anyone?) and ends the enlightening exchange by chastising the American public about needing to wake up to reality.

Here's a reality check for Palin -- you are way out of your league. Go back to Alaska, take care of your children, go hunting and snowmobiling, check the skies for Putin flying overhead -- do anything but continue to make a joke of this election.

Palin's next painful forray with Couric: Supreme Court decisions

2008-10-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin must be the most incurious, unengaged politicians ever to seek national office. If something didn't occur in Alaska, it's news to her. She's been busy shooting moose and wolves in the wilderness that she can't even recall a single thing the Supreme Court has done, expect for Roe v. Wade. The following is an exchange she had with Katie Couric during their disastrous interview series on CBS:

Couric Why, in your view, is Roe v. Wade a bad decision?

Palin: I think it should be a states' issue not a federal government-mandated, mandating yes or no on such an important issue. I'm, in that sense, a federalist, where I believe that states should have more say in the laws of their lands and individual areas. Now, foundationally, also, though, it's no secret that I'm pro-life that I believe in a culture of life is very important for this country. Personally that's what I would like to see, um, further embraced by America. [So Palin thinks that states are the ultimate authority on whether or no a woman as a right to choose?? What makes states more equipped to deal with it than the federal government?]

Couric: Do you think there's an inherent right to privacy in the Constitution?

Palin: I do. Yeah, I do.

Couric: The cornerstone of Roe v. Wade.

Palin: I do. And I believe that individual states can best handle what the people within the different constituencies in the 50 states would like to see their will ushered in an issue like that. [So Palin believes in the underlying rule for Roe v Wade -- right to privacy -- but thinks the states should regulate privacy?]

Couric: What other Supreme Court decisions do you disagree with?

Palin: Well, let's see. There's, of course in the great history of America there have been rulings, that's never going to be absolute consensus by every American. And there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but …
[She's clueless and rambling]

Couric: Can you think of any?

Palin: Well, I could think of … any again, that could be best dealt with on a more local level. Maybe I would take issue with. But, you know, as mayor, and then as governor and even as a vice president, if I'm so privileged to serve, wouldn't be in a position of changing those things but in supporting the law of the land as it reads today. [Still clueless and rambling]

Do we really want the person in the second highest office in the country to not know a single thing about the highest court in the land? I realize it may have been tough for Palin to keep up with American History since she changed colleges colleges five times in six years, but there is still no excuse. How about the Dred Scott decision Sarah, which said black Americans weren't included under the word "citizens" in the Constitution. Or Plessy v Ferguson which allowed for separate but equal (segregation). Or Korematsu v. United States, which allowed for the internment of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII. And there's my all-time favorite, the decision that gave the Presidency to George W. Bush in 2000.

Most high school kids could probably reel off one or two of those. Palin's vast lack of knowledge about the basics on nearly every topic make you wonder just what they're teaching those kids in Alaska.

Palin, the average "Six Pack Joe," is worth much more than average Joes I know

2008-10-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

John McCain and Sarah Palin may actually have something in common - besides their blind desire for power and to win at any cost. Both are wealthy people who try to pass themselves off as the everyday man, or "Joe Six Pack" as Palin described herself today during a conservative radio talk show interview.

This morning on Hugh Hewitt's syndicated radio program, Sarah Palin called herself "an everyday working class American," despite the fact that her family's annual income is $250K and she owns five properties, two watercraft, and an airplane. Here's part of Palin's exchange with Hewitt:

Hewitt: Governor, you mentioned the people who are struggling right now. Have you and your husband, Todd, ever faced tough economic times where you had to sit around a kitchen table and make tough choices?

Palin: Oh my goodness, yes, Hugh. I know what Americans are going through. Todd and I, heck, we’re going through that right now even as we speak, which may put me again kind of on the outs of those Washington elite who don’t like the idea of just an everyday working class American running for such an office.

First, lose the Mayberry RFD act unless you're running for town sherrif. The "aw hecks" and "you betchas" make Palin sound unworldly (oh that's right, she is). This isn't a 1950's sitcom, although Palin is turning her candidacy into quite a joke.

The truth is, Palin hardly represents the everyday working man/woman. According to the Washington Times, Sarah and Todd Palin earned a combined income of nearly a quarter-million dollars last year, five times the median household income for Wasilla's 7,000 residents. They own a single-engine plane, two boats, two personal watercraft and a custom-built home sitting on two acres of lake property that was appraised this year at $552,100 - three times the average of other homes in town. They also have a 401(k) retirement account compliments of Todd Palin's years as an engineer with BP, the gigantic oil company. The couple also own four lakeside lots that were appraised this year at $102,700.

State records also show that Todd Palin has a pilot's license, owns a 320-series Piper single-engine airplane, a 22-foot Pacific Skiff fishing boat and a 22-foot homemade aluminum fishing boat. He also owns two Bombardier personal watercraft, valued at about $7,000.

The person Palin most clearly resembles is John McCain, who owns 9 homes/properties and 11 cars. That's not quite fair, McCain is actually worth far more than Palin if you count his wife's estimated $100 million inheritance. Yet McCain-Palin accuse Obama of elitism and pass themselves off as in-touch with the needs of everyday working Americans - and the Party faithful continue to eat it up!

McCain said he relies on Palin for foreign policy advice!

2008-10-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

If McCain's erratic behavior and political stunts last week didn't convince you he isn't fit enough, or possibly even sane enough, to lead - this ought to do it. During an interview on NPR this morning, McCain said he has often turned to Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) for foreign policy advice:

NPR: Given what you’ve said Senator, is there an occasion where you could imagine turning to Governor Palin for advice in a foreign policy crisis.

MCCAIN: I’ve turned to her advice many times in the past, I can’t imagine turning to Senator Obama or Senator Biden because they’ve been wrong. They were wrong about Iraq, wrong about Russia –

NPR: But would you turn to Governor Palin?

MCCAIN: I certainly wouldn’t turn to them, and I’ve already turned to Governor Palin particularly on energy issues and I’ve appreciated her background and knowledge on that and many other issues.

Just how many times in the 'past' McCain has turned to Palin for foreign policy advice since he's only known her about 4 weeks? And if he has, that's reason enough to vote against him. Palin didn't own a passport until last year, had never traveled anywhere except to visit the Alaska National Guard at an outpost in Kuwait, and had never met a foreign leader before inserting herself into last week's United National General Assembly session for some speed-meetings with McCain's foreign allies.

Beyond that, Palin's vast foreign policy credentials include the fact that you can see a remote, virtually unpopulated area of Russia from a remote, virtually unpopulated island off the coast of Alaska (a place she's never set foot on). Palin claimed, and McCain reasserted on NPR, that she is also involved in mysterious trade missions with Russia. But once again, it looks like McCain-Palin fibbed.

There's no mention of trade missions with Russia on the Governor Palin's web site or in any press releases since the time she took office. When asked by a reporter for examples of trade missions with Russia that have taken place under Palin's watch, gubernatorial spokeswoman Kate Morgan refused to answer the question. According to the reporter, Alex Koppelman:

"Morgan said she could not legally discuss any trade missions with me because she's a state employee and I had first heard this claim through the Couric interview, which was part of Palin's campaign for the vice-presidency. When I pointed out that any trade missions that occurred would have been official state business, Morgan again noted that I had learned about them in the context of the campaign. 'The law is very stringent,' she said, and recommended that I contact the McCain-Palin campaign. Two spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment."

Two weeks ago, the Seattle Times published an article quoting one of Palin's trade specialists as saying that no trade missions with Russia are currently on the agenda: "I am not aware of any plans but that doesn't mean she wouldn't [arrange any]."

If John McCain is turning to Palin for foreign policy advise, he is not just reckless, he's stupid.

Palin claims media bias even though they haven't lambasted her pastor's witchcraft blessing

2008-10-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

In Sarah Palin's brief radio interview yesterday with conversative, evangelical host Hugh Hewitt, she implied that the media is biased against her because of her religion.

Hewitt: "Do you think the mainstream media and the left understands your religious faith, Governor Palin?"

Palin: "I think that there's a lot of mocking of my personal faith, and my personal faith is very, very simple. I don't belong to any church. [Except the one in Wasilla where she received a blessing to keep her free from 'witchcraft']. I do have a strong belief in God, and I believe that I'm a heck of a lot better off putting my life in God's hands, and saying hey, you know, guide me... And you know, so bet it, though I do have respect for those who have differing views than I do on faith, on religion. I'm not going to mock them, and I would hope that they would kind of I guess give me the same courtesy through this of not mocking a person's faith, but maybe perhaps even trying to understand a little bit of it."

The real media bias seems to be against Obama, not Palin. Can you imagine if a You Tube video existed of Obama standing on the stage of his church receiving protection from witchcraft? He was crucified for things his pastor said when he wasn't even in church. Here's Palin's witchcraft video - the "blessing" comes around 1:41 seconds into the clip:

Why isn't this clip running 24 x 7 on the news channels? Where's the media bias now?