YES WE DID!

A picture is worth a thousand words!

Go Vote!

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

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.

Top McCain Supporter Says Palin NOT Ready to Lead

Just in time for Halloweeen, Lawrence Eagleburger, former Secretary of State and top McCain supporter, gave a frightening summary of Palin's qualifications during a an NPR radio interview yesterday. Eagleburger was asked if Palin could take take over the reins as President if the need arose; here is his SCARY assessment:

"I don't think at the moment she is prepared to take over the reins of the presidency. I can name for you any number of other vice presidents who were not particularly up to it either. So the question, I think, is can she learn and would she be tough enough under the circumstances if she were asked to become president, heaven forbid that that ever takes place?

Give her some time in the office and I think the answer would be, she will be [pause] adequate. I can't say that she would be a genius in the job. But I think she would be enough to get us through a four year... well I hope not... get us through whatever period of time was necessary. And I devoutly hope that it would never be tested."

OUCH! With friends like that who needs enemies? McCain frequently cites Eagleburger as one of his top supporters and immediately threw out his name to counterpunch Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama. You've got to admire Eagleburger's honesty since he had the guts to say what everyone else in the Republican Party surely thinks but doesn't say out loud. Eagleburger, who served as Secretary of State under George Bush, Sr., has made it clear he doesn't think Palin is smart enough to get us through whatever period of time might be needed in a crisis. Brilliant!

Anyone thinking of voting for McCain needs to take one thought in the voting booth with them: Do you want to put Palin in the Oval Office? This woman shouldn't even have the keys to the Governor's house in Alaska much less the code to the U.S. nuclear arsenal. McCain tried to trick Americans into thinking Palin was a qualified candidate for VP - let's treat her to a one-way ticket back to Alaska.

Joe the Plumber now on McCain's Foreign Policy Team

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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"

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.