From lying through his teeth to showing he is completely OUT OF TOUCH.
John McCain, September 15, 2008
Dow Jones Industrial, September 15, 2008
Let me see. Energy crisis! check. Housing crisis! check. Highest unemployment rate (6.1%) in 5 years! check. The largest drop in the stock market since 9/11! check.
And, OUT-OF-TOUCH John McCain states that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong. Well, which fundamentals are he talking about? Is anyone reading this diary really more well off now than they were 8 years ago? Has anybody who owns their own home checked the value of their biggest asset lately? If the majority of your assets are in stocks, mutual funds or other liquid assets, can you honestly say you are worth more now than just three years ago? The S&P500 is at levels lower than what it was more than three years ago (and it has a good chance to be lower tomorrow.)
If you do not own your own home or have minimal equity security investments, are you still better off now than you were 8 years ago? Or 4 years ago?
The economy has tanked. And, the panic has begun to set in--in Wall Street. But, John McCain still thinks that the fundamentals are strong. If you don't know how many houses you own and if you think what constitutes rich is if you have at least $5 million, I guess you could confidently say that:
We all know the StraightTalk Express has been running in the ditch for quite some time - bending the truth right and left, but now we know exactly just how bad it has gotten. Appearing today on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Rove declared that the McCain campaign had gone "one step too far... beyond the 100% truth test." Chris Wallace amazingly enough asks "do they need to be 100% passing the truth test." An amazing exchange to be sure:
The interview ends with Rove saying the McCain campaign needs "an adult" to help them determine how far they should go with their ads. I think we'd all agree that the McCain/Palin campaign needs a lot of adults to help them do a lot more than run their campaign.
As a proud grandmother, I have been thinking about the impact of this election on America's children. Normally, such a thought might be taken for granted; or else it would appear to be a "no brainer;" but not this year. For starters, just consider a few issues that Obama wants to talk about: global warming, health care, and education (including a program, attacked by his opponents to help protect young children from sexual predators). The McCain ticket doesn't focus on any of these things.
From the Republicans, we hear a great deal about Family Values, and it is difficult to imagine that anyone opposes this concept. However, if we examine the conduct of this year's nominees in the context of values that most Americans would say they hold, we are presented with a stark contrast.
John McBush did with local reporter Rob Caldwell of WCSH in Portland, Maine.
For those who are concerned about the rise of McBush in the polls, this should bring you some comfort. Take note of McCain's defense of Palin about 1 and 1/2 minutes into the interview.
Simply put, when McCain is forced to answer questions...he has no answers.
In this small exchange, a local reporter shows the mainstream media how to do their job by refusing to allow McCain to spin his way out of answering direct questions and with less than 55 days until the general election, this line of questioning is long overdue.
It's simple...The McCain campaign is nothing more than a list of dishonest "muddy the water" sound bites geared more to winning a 24-hour news cycle as opposed to talking about real issues. This carefully crafted spin of deceit hinders the public from having a honest discussion about how we as a people move forward and repair the eight years of damage President Bush has created for this nation (you know, the same President McCain agreed with over 90 percent of the time).
In a time in the campaign where the media is drinking the "lipstick on a pig" Kool-Aid instead of forcing candidates to address serious topics that are affecting average Americans (i.e., the rise in people unemployed, rising cost of energy, how to best address the health care crisis, etc) it's refreshing to see that there is at least one reporter who didn't fall for McCain's spin and made the honest attempt to hold "The Maverick" accountable for his past statements.
Lets hope for more lines of questioning from reporters like Caldwell and more straight talk answers like this from McCain...
Senator Lieberman makes his pitch to Democrats to vote for John McCain, a direct appeal which sounded more like a funding drive speech. For whatever reason, Lieberman's heart just didn't seem into it. Whether he had really wanted to be McCain's vice-presidential pick, or that he realized he had finally burned all his bridges, something just wasn't there tonight.
Lieberman was on Morning Joe this morning, and some other shows. In this brief clip when asked if Palin was chosen simply because she's a woman, Lieberman replied "I don't know." When pressed more:
"She was chosen because of her record as an independent fighter.... the fact that she's a woman is a bonus."
and that it is McCain who is the true agent of change, not Obama.
Lieberman gives the major address tonight at the RNC, in primetime.
In honor of Joe Lieberman making his speech tonight at the Republican National Convention I'll be rolling out a lot of video today, and of course his speech later on.
Our opponents are decent and likable men.
I am proud to call many in their party my friends.
But America must understand:
there are very real differences between us in this election.
Two weeks ago, our Republican friends tried to walk and talk a lot like us.
But let's be honest... ...we may be near Hollywood... But not since Tom Hanks won an Oscar has there been that much acting in Philadelphia.
I am glad the GOP has changed their rhetoric... ...but I wish they would also change their policies.
As my friend John McCain might say... ...and let me say that John is in our thoughts and prayers tonight --- let me now do some straight talking.
When Joe Lieberman needed Barack Obama to help him in 2006 Obama was a 'Baruch'. In 2008 Lieberman has found a new host to attach himself to in John McCain. One wonders what nickname he has for McCain. This is from the 2006 Jefferson Jackson Bailey Dinner.
"As far as I'm concerned [Barack Obama] is a 'Baruch,' which means a blessing. He is a blessing to the United States Senate, to America, and to our shared hopes for better, safer tomorrows for all our families. The gifts that God has given to Barack Obama are as enormous as his future is unlimited. As his mentor, as his colleague, as his friend, I look forward to helping him reach to the stars and realize not just the dreams he has for himself, but the dreams we all have for him and our blessed country."
(Promoted, and added a new graphic. - promoted by Scarce)
You could say that headline might be about the thoroughly unqualified Sarah Palin, but unfortunately, I'm talking about another CAT 4 (soon to be 5) disaster spinning in the Gulf Coast.
McCain was scheduled to deliver his acceptance speech Thursday but now may do so from the devastation zone if the storm hits the U.S. coast with the ferocity feared by forecasters.
Bush II showed his callousness for the Katrina devastation by flying safe and sound on his big 747 above the human detritus from that unforgettable hurricane. Now, Bush III (a.k.a., John Sidney McCain, Jr.) wants to feign his humanity by using the potential destruction as a backdrop for his acceptance speech.
Give me a break! This is how a "maverick" Republican wants to show he is in touch with the country--by using people's suffering as the stage for his coronation.
John--let me give you a clue. If you really are that "sensitive to national crisis", then I suggest that you cancel (or postpone) your convention.
But, I guess judging from this picture from Gabe's diary, which was apparently taken during the last major hurricane disaster called Katrina, your empathy is as deep as the person you are firmly attached to.
Chris Shays is the co-chairman of John McCain's presidential campaign in Connecticut. Shays is also co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Animal Caucus. Well it turns out that McCain's VP pick, Sarah Palin, doesn't care much for animals, especially Alaskan wolves and polar bears.
As Alaska's governor, in 2007 Sarah Palin declared open hunting season on Alaskan wolves, offering a bounty for each animal killed, and drawing cries of outrage from animal rights groups:
Today Defenders of Wildlife, the Alaska Wildlife Alliance and the Alaska Chapter of the Sierra Club asked the Alaska Superior Court to shut down Governor Palin's $150-per-wolf bounty program citing the fact that Alaska's bounty laws were repealed in 1984 and the State has no current legal authority to implement the bounties.
"The Governor is overstepping her legal authority by offering cash payments for each wolf killed by aerial gunners," stated Tom Banks, Defenders of Wildlife's Alaska Associate. "That's a bounty by anyone's standards regardless of what they call it."
What's worse, Palin allowsed one of the worst kinds of wolf slaughter -- aerial hunting, something even sport hunters believe is barbaric:
"Aerial hunting of wolves is akin to the medieval demonization of wolves. A wolf howling at night is symbolic of wilderness. Killing an alpha wolf can disorganize an entire pack. I used to be a hunter, but I'm completely against the aerial hunting of wolves."
Palin also sued the federal government after it declared polar bears an endangered species, while also denying that global warming had any impact on the bears' habitats.
We all know that John McCain supports a lot of policies that Shays' CT constituents find appalling. McCain says he'll appoint anti-choice judges, and that the U.S. should bomb Iran and stay in Iraq for 100 years. Now we learn that McCain's VP pick also hates wolves, doesn't care about polar bears, and denies global warming.
At what point does Shays refuse to support Bush/McCain/Palin? When Roe v. Wade is overturned? When the wolves are gone? When the polar caps are melted? Or when we have troops getting killed in Iran?
UPDATE: After a lawsuit by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance, the state court forced Palin to shut down this hideous program. Nevertheless, the AWA expects the practice to continue:
No doubt next winter will find the AWA fighting the next round of creative efforts to decimate Alaska's wolves.
Barack Obama's campaign issued this response to Chris Shays' ridiculous political ad, prominently featuring Obama...
"Barack Obama has strong, positive vision for America and a long record of bipartisan accomplishment, and we are pleased that it is respected by his Democratic and Republican colleagues in the House," said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "However, in this race, the good people of Connecticut should know that Barack Obama supports Jim Himes and believes Himes is the candidate who will bring the change American families need to Washington."
About a month ago, Politico predicted that Chris Shays would air ads linking him to Barack Obama. Sure enough, Politico was right. Shays' first ad of the year leads with a photo of Barack and the words, "The Hopefulness of Obama..."
"Barack Obama has taken no position that offends his own party," Shays said. "He has not said anything that his own party finds offensive. ... Barack is as far left as any senator in the senate. Never has he shown an instant where he has come to the middle and offended his own side.
That's obviously NOT true. FISA and the DC gun ban are two examples of times when Obama "offended" progressives. What's more, the statement hides the fact that Obama has cosponsored bipartisan legislation, including to reduce the proliferation of loose nuclear material, and to create tougher restrictions on lobbyists.
So Shays is ...
A. lying about Obama's record, and
B. an obvious phony for implying that he supports Obama -- especially when you consider that Shays is also co-chair of John McCain's CT campaign!
"People are purple," Shays said. "They do not want red or blue. The problem is Barack Obama is talking purple but he is blue as you get."
And that's what this is all about, Shays trying to come off as "purple," when deep down he's as red Republican as you get. As his voting record makes obvious:
On the closest votes - when his vote has the most power to affect the outcome, when the Republican Party most needs his support, and when 4th District residents most need him to make the right choice - Shays has lined up behind his Party's leadership 89% of the time, or nine out of ten times.
So it turns out that Shays supports Obama in the same way Shays supports the environment, health care, economic reform, etc. - with empty words.
Important. This is not the national Green Party but a splinter group that left the Green Party and allied themselves with the Independence Party in what no doubt was a spectacular frenzy of bad feelings and nasty schisms. However, they got way over the needed 10,000 sigs to put Bloomberg on the ballot, certainly quite an accomplishment.
However, did they do that via volunteers or are they bankrolled to the point where they can afford paid signature gatherers? If so, who are the donors?
HMMM? An antiwar right wing libertarian coupled with a more fiscally sane version of a republican party conservative than the GOP has to offer anywhere on any ticket?
Joe Lieberman hates people who buy elections, but that isn't stopping him from letting billionaire election buyer Michael Bloomberg buy one for him.
Joseph I. Lieberman is deploying a secret weapon in the race's closing days: a sophisticated operation to identify and turn out voters, courtesy of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York City.
The Bloomberg group includes several top-level operatives who played key roles in the mayor's decisive re-election last year or who are in the administration, and have taken leaves from their jobs to work on Mr. Lieberman's campaign.
Since Mr. Lieberman lost the Democratic primary in Connecticut to Ned Lamont, they have helped open campaign offices, devised a strategy to reach voters and are corralling enough volunteers to cover 2,800 shifts at more than 700 polling sites on Election Day, Nov. 7.
As a former New Yorker, I can tell you that "coralling enough volunteers" is New Yorkese for "paying the ethically-challenged out of a slush fund."
Sounds more like something to give disgruntled republicans another option beyond the fiscally irresponsible and warmongeringly insane McCain, a candidate too many GOP voters do not like. I would call that money well spent if some Obama supporters payed the bills. That ticket on every state's ballot could do a lot of damage to the GOP, IMHO.
"If it is an issue that a candidate is put forth, we assume that the internal communications have happened. But if we were to receive a letter from Mayor Bloomberg that he doesn't want his name on the ballot, we would have to look into the matter to see why the nominee for a party doesn't want to be that nominee," said Matthew J. Abell, the Assistant Manager at Virginia's State Board of Elections. "It is a free country and if chooses to not have his name on the ballot he has every right to do so."
Campbell acknowledged this possibility and said he would not feel slighted if the mayor, simply by asking for his name to be removed from the ballot, were to undermine months of efforts.
"Yes, Bloomberg must consent to this and it will be up to the Board of Elections," he told the Huffington Post. "But we made a promise and we wanted to keep it and we have."
UPDATE: Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser emails: "He hasn't made any decisions and hasn't had a chance to speak with [party chairman Carey] Campbell yet... But this is a call for post-partisanship that Mayor Bloomberg hopes the major parties will hear."
LATE UPDATE: Turns out Liz Benjamin had this report up for the New York Daily News earlier today. We did our own reporting but she still deserves credit.
The Independent Party of Virginia has collected 70,000 signatures - seven times as many as necessary - to nominate Ron as vice president and Michael Bloomberg as president. The wrong order, of course, but still very neat. Could this ticket actually carry Virginia, and turn a close election over to the House of Representatives? We can only hope. Then McCain can really become a Georgian. Note, unlike in most states, Ron and Mike stay on unless they ask to be taken off. Ron will not ask, and apparently, neither will Mike.
Bob at polizeros seems to think Bloomberg may have financed the whole signature effort. I really think it is more likely Ron Paul supporters. They have shown some proven organizing skills in their internet efforts (see their successful moneybombs, etc.).
In the end the more important thing is that, regardless of who did it all or paid for it, this could really hurt the GOP in almost any state the ticket appears on the ballot. Throw Bob Barr into the mix and there is a potential for libertarians to walk away from the party of spying and endless war, and "more traditional" conservatives to walk away from warmongering neocons and their fiscal insanity. These tickets give the people these realistic options.
(originally brewed in new milford)
Inspired by a recent video by Robert Greenwald, and an earlier one by JedReport, I slapped together some video and audio to make this. Obama, who owns one home on the Southside of Chicago (with a 5.625% 30 year fixed mortgage, we were duly told was "outrageous"), and until 2004 was still paying off student loans, is called an Elitist by the McCains.
Video used is by Brave New Films. Audio by Politico.com and John Sidney McCain III.
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