McCain stoops to new low with inflammatory "Robocalls"

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

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"

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"

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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?