David Corn

DC,

Once again - I think you are right on the money.

The question is why the double standard and how to change it?

I think by and lrage most people value honesty and honor. The fact is most people favor a balance in most all things.

McCain will just ignore anything that shows his errors in judgment and mistakes - such is now the definition of "Maverick" (or like at the RNC convention "Mavrick")

Bush to cut Iraq troops strength, boost forces for Afghanistan

President George W. Bush on Tuesday announced he would cut US troops strength in Iraq by 8,000 in coming months, and that he would send 4,500 troops to Afghanistan by January, when he leaves the White House, a copy of his speech said.

Progress on the ground in Iraq will make possible the return of a estimated 3,500 support unit troops in coming months, a Marine battallion by November and an army brigade by February, Bush said in a speech in Washington.

http://tinyurl.com/5au4d3

*****

So only 3,500 coming home as 4,500 of the 8,000 are going to Afghanistan.

Pointing out the hypocrisy of the McCain campaign is like shooting fish in a barrel.

I'm afraid that 51% of Americans are too goddam stupid to understand what is going on here.

They WANT there politics told in white hat vs black hat memes. Palin gave it to them just the way the like it. "Can you believe he was a community o-r-g-a-n-i-z-e-r, guffah." A MILF VP who doesn;t get vetted, who is chosen for almost purely politcal purposes. WTF.

Corn, you have seen too many campaigns not to be prognosticating on how this race is being pursued strategically by both sides. Stand and deliver!

BLACK HAT V WHITE HAT - REMEMBER MAD MAGAZINE AND SPY VS SPY?

McCain in a true Maverick. How else would you explain a republican that takes a full disability, social security and his senate salary?

ENTITLEMENT V ENTITLEMENT V ENTITLEMENT

Doesn't he look like a proud grandpa when he stands on stage looking stupid while Palin runs for president?

A Maverick is a calf that has strayed from the herd. This one has come back and is sucking RNC udder.

lol

Federal deficit to soar to $407 billion

Deficit up by $246 billion in a year. Congressional Budget Office cites 'a substantial increase in spending' and 'halt' in tax revenue growth.

http://tinyurl.com/5a38mh

****

Interesting the oil companies are setting records? One is tempted to think the tax revenue would be huge? (sarcasm)

Nursery school personality and political orientation two decades later

Abstract

The present study reports on the personality attributes of nursery school children who two decades later were reliably stratified along a liberal/conservative dimension. An unprecedented analytical opportunity existed to evaluate how the political views of these young adults related to assessments of them when in nursery school, prior to their having become political beings. Preschool children who 20 years later were relatively liberal were characterized as: developing close relationships, self-reliant, energetic, somewhat dominating, relatively under-controlled, and resilient. Preschool children subsequently relatively conservative at age 23 were described as: feeling easily victimized, easily offended, indecisive, fearful, rigid, inhibited, and relatively over-controlled and vulnerable. IQ during nursery school did not relate to subsequent liberalism/conservatism but did relate in subsequent decades. Personality correlates of liberalism/conservatism for the subjects as young adults were also reported: conservatives were described in terms congruent with previous formulations in the literature; liberals displayed personality commonalities but also manifested gender differences. Some implications of the results are briefly discussed.

http://tinyurl.com/5ssdnw

Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics

[...]

Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 21/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears.

As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.

http://tinyurl.com/636d5x

*****

Why does this NOT surprise me?

Some interesting stuff:

http://electionlawblog.org/

Alaska National Guard General Changes Story; Palin Promotes

When John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, the campaign immediately began touting her experience--both foreign and domestic--as "commander-in-chief" of the Alaska National Guard. But the reality of the situation--that Palin actually had little to do with the National Guard quickly became apparent. In fact, the idea was undercut severely by comments made by the actual commander of the Alaska National Guard--its Adjutant General, Major General Craig Campbell. When that happened, it eventually turned into somewhat of a national joke, culminating in the humiliation of McCain/Palin campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds on CNN when he tried to promote Palin's "foreign policy" experience during the Republican National Convention.

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1869

Courtesy of the subscription-only Roll Call:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has decided that Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) — one of Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) top supporters — can no longer attend Democrats’ weekly caucus lunches or the biweekly chairmen’s lunches used to formulate policy, senior Democratic aides said Tuesday.

The decision comes in the wake of Lieberman’s attacks on Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at the GOP convention last week, and essentially formalizes a deal Reid and Lieberman had cut earlier this year under which Lieberman would not attend meetings that included discussions of sensitive campaign or political issues.

http://tinyurl.com/6c9non

Wow, Sarah Palin is a Quick Study

Today John McCain and Sarah Palin have a lengthly op-ed in the Wall Street Journal with their opinion on the government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, outlining what they will do to protect taxpayers from future bailouts.

Amazing, isn't it? Just a few days ago, Sarah Palin didn't seem to know what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were:

Saturday in Colorado Springs, Colo., Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said, "The fact is that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers. The McCain-Palin administration will make them smaller and smarter and more effective for homeowners who need help."

...and today she's co-authored an opinion piece on the historic role of Congress with the two lending institutions, how she will see to their restructuring and downsizing, and reforming the entire mortgage and financial markets. Amazing.

http://tinyurl.com/555dqb

ABC Interviews Palin's "Closest Friends," But Most Won't Say They're Voting For Her

Good Morning America convened a klatsch with four of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's "closest friends" for 15 years in the hopes that one of them might spill the beans on the press-shy vice-presidential contender and reveal that she is secretly having an affair with a book-banning polar bear or something. What they reveal, however, is that not all of them are likely to vote for their friend.

As it turns out, Palin's pals are a perfectly lovely quartet of women who hang out and exercise and eat chocolate, but the video is burning up the blogosphere because some of them are avowedly pro-choice -- in opposition to Palin -- and three of the four won't even say they're supporting her ticket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbxClZXzvDo

(huffpo)

(second hand from a presser)

Obama said:

"What's changed is that the Republician party that has been trying to make an argument about experience got off that and came to our field. They want to have a debate about whose going to change washington. that's a debate we welcome.

"The notion that people are swinging back and forth in the course of a few weeks doesn't bear out. there is no doubt that Governor Palin attracted alot of attention this week.

"She has been on the mind of all of you and as a consequence, on the minds of the American people she has brought excitement to the Republican party.

I think that has less to do with gender than her ideological predispositions, which are closely aligned with theirs."

"We have to see how things settle out...who has an education plan....who has a health care plan...who is better equipped to change the economy? Ultimately I think those are the issues"

TEN WAYS THE McCAIN/PALIN GOP IS NOW STEALING THE OHIO VOTE

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2008/3201

Are McCain and Palin really Republicans?

Over the years, Republicans have used lots of tactics to win presidential elections. But here's one I never expected to see: running as Democrats.

That's the idea behind the latest TV spot for John McCain and Sarah Palin. It brags about things that are generally more congenial to Democratic voters than to Reaganites. McCain, it tells us, "took on the drug industry," while Palin "took on Big Oil." It goes on: "He battled Republicans and reformed Washington. She battled Republicans and reformed Alaska." Not a word about battling Democrats. If you didn't know better, you'd think they had just been nominated by the party of Roosevelt and Clinton.

This is just the latest feint in that direction. An earlier McCain ad said, "Washington is broken," and "We're worse off than we were four years ago"--neglecting to mention that his party has controlled the presidency for the last eight years and both houses of Congress for most of the last 14. Usually, when you say the country is worse off than it was four years ago, you're asking voters to evict the president's party.

That commercial, too, sounded themes shamelessly plagiarized from John Edwards: "Only McCain has taken on Big Tobacco, the drug companies . . . He'll reform Wall Street, battle Big Oil." Anti-capitalist populism may be dead in the Democratic party, but it seems to have found new life in the GOP.

Will this work? There's no telling, but if McCain and Palin think it's a good idea to impersonate Democrats, Barack Obama and Joe Biden might want to make sure voters know who the real Democrats are.

http://tinyurl.com/5qyore

When the GOP can't run as republicans, when they cite a record of fighting republicans, it is a bit telling, eh?

I would have more respect for Obama and Biden if they had not planned to promote a war in Afghanistan. And in so doing, would point out the reasons. At least go down fighting (if it comes to that) with your principals intact. If it had not been on the Democratic agenda undoubtedly McCain would have brought up continuing a war in Afghanistan and then could have been rightly criticized for it. The democrats are continuing a Republican adventure there via the Bush administration and McCain can now stay out of it and watch the democrats wrestle with the impossible.

Pearl Volkov

To follow up my previous comments, please access CounterPunch and look up the current article, "It's the Issues, Stupid" by Michael Colby. An excellent analysis of the democratic waffling and avoidance of taking clear stands on many issues which caused the previous losses of democratic contenders. But we must still support the ticket, OR ELSE!!

Pearl.

Thank you for that. Well said.

-T

" And in so doing, would point out the reasons."

If elected Barack promised to get us out of Iraq.

The ongoing mess Bush made in Afghanistan and the fact that it is ongoing is not Barack "Promoting" a war there.

Why hang him as if he is starting it?

The Afghan's are almost ready to kick our sorry butts out of their country as is Iraq.

FWIW

Once again I offer the observation that Barack is not, nor will he ever be Dennis Kucinich.

Barack is not an anti-war candidate - if anybody thought he was the anti-war candidate needs to read up on who he is. Everything published before the election is consistent with his positions today.

Barack is also not the most liberal candidate nor is he even willing to embrace all things from the left.

He is a corporatist and a left leaning centrist (if there is such a thing).

Barack has many positions with which I disagree completely, he always has.

That doesn't impeach his character, honesty or his message. It also doesn't make McCain a viable option.

Barack needs clear support not some silly call for him to become something or someone he is not.

Bush will not have us out of Iraq before Jan. - think of it as one step at a time. First we get out of Iraq (24-36 months?) - by then who knows what will be happening in Afghanistan.

From the Obama campaign:

Please find our response, below, to the McCain campaign’s attack on Senator Biden’s remarks regarding stem cell research:

“Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that embryonic stem cell research represents real hope to millions of families dealing with debilitating conditions. John McCain has adopted and promises to implement a Republican platform that takes an even more extreme position in opposing stem cell research than that of George Bush four years ago. While the McCain campaign may not believe the American people deserve a debate on the issues, it’s simply insulting for them to suggest that raising a substantive difference on this critical issue is playing politics,” said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.

The 2008 GOP Platform Called For “A Ban On All Embryonic Stem-Cell Research, Public Or Private” Which Went Farther Than Bush’s Policy Of Limiting Federal Funding For A Restricted Number Of Stem Cell Lines. “The 2008 Republican platform calls for ‘a ban on all embryonic stem-cell research, public or private.’ The 2004 platform followed Bush’s policy of limiting federal funding for a restricted number of stem cell lines. The National Review’s Stephen Spruiell writes that the new platform language will read: ‘We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.’” [Think Progress, 8/28/08; National Review, 8/27/08]

Yesterday Palin didn't know a damn thing about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (gaffe about taxpayer support), now she's an expert. Her 'n mcshame have an op-ed at WSJ blaming lobbyists. haha Never mind that the main culprit is their own Rick Davis.

*Davis headed the Homeownership Alliance, a lobbying association that included Fannie, Freddie, nonprofit groups, real estate agents, homebuilders and consumer advocates. … [The group] worked to oppose congressional efforts to tighten controls on Fannie and Freddie.*

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/09/mccain-lobby-fannie-freddie/

Off-topic: the state of Georgia is preparing to execute a man whose guilt is highly dubious. Details at

action.aclu.org/savetroy

""A Maverick is a calf that has strayed from the herd. This one has come back and is sucking RNC udder.""

good one geof!

300,000 NJ VOTERS TOLD THEY ARE NOT REGISTERED

http://tinyurl.com/5t944e

“The media should respect Bristol's [Palin] privacy. That’s always been the tradition and practice when it comes to the children of candidates.”
“The children of candidates do not choose to run for office and be thrust into the spotlight.”

...John McCain

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

...John McCain

It's ok to use your new-born son to promote a decision not to terminate a pregnancy of a downs syndrome baby but it's not ok to ask any follow up questions about Bristol's pregnancy when the campaign itself issued a press release? Huh?

It's ok to use your kids as an excuse not to run for Lt. Governor (it would have taken her away from her duties as hockey Mom) but it's not ok to ask about the kids when she decides to run for VP (and Todd Palin has stated himself that he is not a stay at home Dad). Huh?

It's ok for Palin to label HIllary as a whiner when she decries sexism and it's also ok to decire sexism when Palin is the one under the microscope. Huh?

flan,

And the media and the M$M just tag along and do as their GOP master tell them to do.

It is a crazy mixed up world in which we live. The media and the M$M really don't do anything except confuse and manipulate.

Grrrrr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3rkzHDSCMw

Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz is highly skeptical of the new Gallup, USA Today and CBS polls. About the latter, which showed a statistically insignificant two point lead for McCain, Abramowitz said: "One reason for the dramatic difference between the two recent CBS polls is that the two samples differed fairly dramatically in terms of partisan composition. The first sample was 35.2% Democratic, 26.2 percent Republicans, and 38.6 percent independent. The second sample was 34.9% Democratic, 31.1% Republican, and 34.0% independent. That's a change from a 9 point Democratic advantage to a 3.8 point Democratic advantage. That alone would probably explain about half of the difference in candidate preferences between the two [CBS] polls."

McCain has a new ad on the air attacking Barack Obama for voting for a law that supposedly required schools to teach kids in kindgarten the birds and the bees.

Except McCain lied - again. In fact, the vote in question was actually about (among other things) providing school districts educational tools to protect young children from sexual predators. And, there was no requirement that school districts participate in the program. The legislation merely required that if a school destrict chose to offer such a program, the program could not be mandatory.

Only a guy with McCain's complete disregard for the truth would be willing to attack his political opponent for supporting a law designed to protect youngsters from sexual predators.

“It is shameful and downright perverse for the McCain campaign to use a bill that was written to protect young children from sexual predators as a recycled and discredited political attack against a father of two young girls – a position that his friend Mitt Romney also holds. Last week, John McCain told Time magazine he couldn’t define what honor was. Now we know why,” says Obama spokesman Bill Burton in an emailed statement. "

*****

Nothing is below these GOP slugs.

Nothing is below these GOP slugs.

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HIGH-LEVEL ASSASSINATION
The Staged Event To Bring About War With Iran?

“If something happens in politics, you can be rest assured it was no accident”.
...FDR

http://tinyurl.com/5vumn

"Coincidence doesn't just happen"

~ Homer J Simpson

Getting back to McCain..

We know John McCain doesn't think Sarah Palin's ready to be President of the United States, because if he did, he'd let her do tough interviews and press conferences.

We know McCain's selection was an impulse decision. He didn't spend enough time vetting her to be able to know whether or not she was qualified.

And now, just as tellingly, we know that despite his promises to tell the truth, John McCain has repeatedly lied about Sarah Palin's record in order to cover up the weakness of his decision.

He makes poor decisions for this country, he's impulsive and he lies - AND he has a scary temper - sounds like someone I want in control of our country! Yeah, right.

please disregard the previous link.
here is the correct link:

Nothing is below these GOP slugs.

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HIGH-LEVEL ASSASSINATION
The Staged Event To Bring About War With Iran?

“If something happens in politics, you can be rest assured it was no accident”.
...FDR

http://tinyurl.com/5vumnz

The Korean stuff was interesting too!