David Corn

"When you've lived in a box....you put your people first."

That does say it all!

Every homeless person living in a box should BE the next president.

McCain was a POW? THAT is news! Who would have thought.

Senator McCain are you qualified to be president?

McCain: "No but I stayed at the Hanoi Hilton for five years!"

lol

Thanks for all of your work and thanks for enduring the speech so I didn't have to.

No Questions, Please. We'll Tell You What You Need To Know.

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads. Here's the exchange:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhgUvX_8Joo

Wallace's bash-the-media exercise has its merits as a campaign tactic. It certainly rallies the base. But the base won't lift McCain to 50% in November. More importantly, in her smug dismissal of the media's role in asking questions of the candidates, Wallace was really showing contempt not for reporters, but for voters. I bet there are a lot of undecided voters out there who were intrigued by Sarah Palin last night, but who don't yet know enough about her -- what she believes, what she knows -- to be comfortable with the idea of her as vice president of the United States. It's important to them to know if Palin can handle herself in an environment that isn't controlled and sanitized by campaign image makers and message mavens. Maybe she can, maybe she can't. As far as Wallace is concerned, it's none of their -- or your -- business.

(Time.com)

*****

They will submit Sarah "Peggy Hill" Palin to some BS softball interview on "FAUX Spews" and claim she has talked to the "press."

Too predictable.

Arianna Huffington: McCain is Running on the Amnesia Platform, But It's Democrats Who Need to Forget Sarah Palin

During his acceptance speech, John McCain had some very strong criticism of his opponent. I'm not talking about Barack Obama; I'm talking about George Bush. After rushing headlong into the embrace of Bush and the Rovian wing of the GOP, McCain has now decided that he desperately needs to distance himself and try to reclaim the maverick mantel. Not an easy thing to do when you have sided with Bush 90 percent of the time. But McCain gave it his best shot, claiming: "We need to change the way government does almost everything." Listening to the speech, you'd think it was the Democrats who occupied the White House the last seven-plus years and it was time to throw the bastards out.

*****

At least he got the "throw the bastards out" right.

Political Wire:

We've now heard McCain's personal story as a prisoner of war dozens of times in just three days and he included again in his speech. It's truly inspiring. No one would ever doubt that McCain loves his country.

But no matter the content, McCain had serious delivery problems with this speech. Starting with the awful lime green background (that later turned to blue) and continuing through McCain's difficulties reading from the teleprompter, the speech was very disjointed and hard to follow. To top it off, the crowd reaction at the end of the speech seemed forced and staged, almost like delegates were reacting to flashing "applause" signs at the side of the stage.

Overall, it was a very mediocre performance. I'm not sure it got the job done.

Too funny:

John Bush is his own man?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6ZnHTWWErM

An essay from both candidates to the next generation.

Some good stuff.

http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/index.jsp

ABOUT McCAIN

I saw the 'Maverick' McCain tribute video. They left out the part about his napalming asian men, women and children basically because they were asian. Also not mentioned was the incident when as a USN pilot he almost singlehandedly took out an aircraft carrier. Unfortunately it was one of ours.

When dad was mentioned in the video, Four Star Admiral John S. McCain Jr., his ramrodding the coverup of the Israeli attack on a basically unarmed USS Liberty in June 1967 during The Six Days War is not noted.

Google - Admiral John S. McCain Jr. USS Liberty cover up

http://tinyurl.com/6ya454

You libs a screwed and you know it. The GOP VP candidate has more governing experience than the guy at the top of your ticket (community organizer? wooo hooo!!!). Where is Hillary when you need her?

YOUR party was the one who didn't properly vet. Only it was your pres candidate who wasn't vetted. Promising to be Santa Claus to all of your constituents only goes so far.

""The GOP VP candidate has more governing experience than the guy at the top of your [libs'] ticket""

sure!
palin has been gov for just slightly longer than obama has been running for president.

-----
family values!

http://tinyurl.com/6aaxoc

sure!
palin has been gov for just slightly longer than obama has been running for president.

Correct, and that's all he's done is run for president, ever since he was elected to the US Senate.

It looks like the GOP's efforts to persuade the public that the press has been out to "destroy" Sarah Palin are a bit of a bust. Check out these numbers buried in the internals of the new ABC News poll:

Overall, do you think the news coverage of Palin has been fair or unfair?
Fair 50%

Unfair 41%

(via TPM)

It is ironic that McCain wants to keep Sarah Palin away from the Press, but Sarah Palin is a Celebrity now and just like Paris Hilton and Britney Spears will be pursued by the Press and paparazzi! As you can see, Sentaor McCain, what goes around, Comes Around --God's Hand of Judgment is Swift!

And, You know, Jesus was a Community Organizer and Pilate was a Governor (Hah!) so was George Bush, so much for Executive Experience...

Yes, Barack worked as a community organizer but he also worked as a civil rights lawyer, taught constitutional law, 8 years as a Legislature in the state legislature, and 4 years in the US Senate where he is currently a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee with Joe Biden (an almost carbon copy resume to the great, Abraham Lincoln, America's Greatest President)! He is more than qualified to lead and bring true and positive change to this nation. Barack Obama is looking forward and wants to talk about the Future and not about the Past!

"Breaking News.....
We will have breaking news regarding an ongoing story around 10am Alaska time on Friday......"
AndrewHalcro.com, Alaskan Blogger

"He is more than qualified to lead and bring true and positive change to this nation. "

Still not one mention of an actual accomlishment in government.

Also, your Jesus/Pilot comment has already rolled off the Dem talking points sheet. Very weak. Don't really think Jesus would be for killing living babies after a botched abortion.

an American attack on Iran is imminent. Dutch intelligence service reportedly has pulled out of a covert operation inside Iran on the grounds that a U.S. strike is right around the corner – in "a matter of weeks," according to De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper.

As the story goes, the Dutch had infiltrated the purported Iranian weapons project and were firmly ensconced when they got word that the Americans are about to launch a missile attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. They wisely decided to close down the operation and pull out.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13401

The GOP have shot themselves in both feet by running with a neophyte unknown and unqualified candidate.

The "keep her from the press" is very telling indeed.

I wonder if it will work?

You guys are unbelievable. IT'S BEEN ONE DAY and you claim she's been kept from the press.

More Dem talking points.

Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain

DAYTON, TN—A steady stream of devoted evolutionists continued to gather in this small Tennessee town today to witness what many believe is an image of Charles Darwin—author of The Origin Of Species and founder of the modern evolutionary movement—made manifest on a concrete wall in downtown Dayton.

"I brought my baby to touch the wall, so that the power of Darwin can purify her genetic makeup of undesirable inherited traits," said Darlene Freiberg, one among a growing crowd assembled here to see the mysterious stain, which appeared last Monday on one side of the Rhea County Courthouse. The building was also the location of the famed "Scopes Monkey Trial" and is widely considered one of Darwinism's holiest sites. "Forgive me, O Charles, for ever doubting your Divine Evolution. After seeing this miracle of limestone pigmentation with my own eyes, my faith in empirical reasoning will never again be tested."

Added Freiberg, "Behold the power and glory of the scientific method!"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/85766

McCain Camp Says Palin Won't Talk To Media During Campaign

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

http://tinyurl.com/567upl

*****
I think it is a McCain talking point? Or a McCain "she will not talk" ing point?

"Get the facts, or the facts will get you. And when you get them, get them right, or they will get you wrong."

~ Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 - 1734), Gnomologia, 1732

More "facts"

"Mittens" Romney said: "We need change, all right change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

Facts:

George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. The mess this country is in is due to Republican negligence and abuse! Only since January 2007 have "liberal" Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate, resisted at every turn by conservative Republican obstructionists . We need change all right - we need to throw out the conservative Republicans in Washington!

Mike Huckabee said:

Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

Facts:

Huckabee's nose must have just grown 10 feet!. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

*****

The GOPhers are just not fact based. (that means they lie)

McCain said of Palin:

"She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities".

Facts:

A governor's authority over their state's National Guard units ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. Guard units that are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors.

McCain also said of Palin:

"She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America".

Facts:

McCain is clearly exaggerating and attempting to mislead. When it comes to population, Alaska is the 47th largest state. It is only the largest state in America if you are talking about geographical size. The population of Alaska is smaller than that of most major American cities.

Palin said:

"The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

FACTS:

Obama's plan would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

Obama also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

Palin said:

"I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere.

Facts:

While Palin says that she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere". She also ended up accepting those Federal monies. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million.

Palin said:

"There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform _ not even in the state senate."

Facts:

Obama has authored several pieces of legislation. From Wikipedia:

1. Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act

2. Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: "Lugar–Obama," which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons,

3. the "Coburn–Obama Transparency Act," which authorized the establishment of www.USAspending.gov, a web search engine.

4. Obama sponsored legislation requiring nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks.

5. In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the "Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act," marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.

6. In January 2007, Obama co-sponsored the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.

7. He introduced S. 453, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections.

8. Obama also introduced the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007.

9. Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges.

10. He sponsored the "Iran Sanctions Enabling Act" supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.

11. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

The Republicans are resorting to lies and insults because they cannot run on their record (a record of destroying this country for the last 8 years).

******

Anything from the Reich-wingnuttia?

(crickets chirping)

But but but, can Obama hunt moose?

lololololololo

A pretty good video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svmd6ps1BMc

"I think it is a McCain talking point? Or a McCain "she will not talk" ing point?"

Wallace sets Palin's interviews?

So I guess the VP debate will be scripted. If I were a lib I would be petrified of Obama unscripted in a debate. He's lost without a teleprompter. Something Palin overcame without any problem.

Nicole Wallace is a McCain campaign spokesperson.

I'm sure she is a liar but I think she does speak for the McCain camp.

The only question is will the media give Sarah "Peggy Hill" Palin a pass when nobody knows anything about her?

Time will tell, eh?

Senate Dems to force equal pay vote on McCain

Democrats have hammered Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) this summer over his vote against legislation pushing equal pay for women and men. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will get a second act in September, as Democrats seek to remind voters that McCain opposed it, according to an e-mail from the Democratic Senate message center. It lists "[e]qual pay legislation" as among the issues the Senate will take up in September.

http://tinyurl.com/6evplt

*****

Maybe McC(ompl)ain will put his money where his lies have been this week and vote FOR equal pay?

Some of the comedy about Palin, some very funny stuff!

http://tinyurl.com/5wnkkq

*warning this video will make you snarf on the keyboard*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6xR-_fvUOY

lol

"The Republicans are resorting to lies and insults because they cannot run on their record (a record of destroying this country for the last 8 years)."

Palin used the word "major" for a reason. The 11items Obama has sponsored (which does not neccessarily mean authored) are astounding in their insignificance.

"The recipe for perpetual ignorance is: be satisfied with your opinions and content with your knowledge."

~ Elbert Hubbard (1856 - 1915)

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The unemployment rate soared to a nearly five-year high in August as employers trimmed jobs for the eighth straight month, the government reported Friday.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, the highest level since September 2003. That's up from 5.7% in July and 4.7% a year ago.

In addition, the economy suffered a net loss of 84,000 jobs in August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, compared to a revised reading of a 60,000 job loss in July.

The U.S. economy has lost 605,000 jobs so far this year.

"Maybe McC(ompl)ain will put his money where his lies have been this week and vote FOR equal pay?"

Twenty-one States have already adopted equal pay laws. In addition, many collective bargaining agreements covering thousands of workers contain equal pay clauses and others are being negotiated each day. Many employers located in States without equal pay laws and not covered by union contracts have voluntarily established the equal pay principle as a part of their personnel policies.

Unneccessary legislation - just like hate crimes legislation, the feel good law of the left. The death penalty or life in prison is not enough for someone convicted of murder. If we can read the perps mind and determine he did it because he hated the vic, maybe we should torture him before he goes to prison.

"The unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, the highest level since September 2003. That's up from 5.7% in July and 4.7% a year ago."

Wow! And all of this occurred right after the minimum wage increases began. What a coincidence! Another example of unintended consequences of liberal ideas.

Obama Camp Has Now Raised More Than $10 Million Since Palin Speech

The cash keeps flowing in to the Obama campaign in the wake of Sarah Palin's speech, suggesting that whatever effect she's had on the GOP base has been duplicated on the Democratic side.

Obama spokesperson Tommy Vietor confirms that the campaign has now pulled in over $10 million since her speech -- a "one day record," Vietor says.

"I hope she gives a speech every day," Vietor joked.

Separately, the RNC reportedly raised $1 million after the speech.

http://tinyurl.com/5tm6gg

*****

Not what the GOP had intended, eh?

"Obama Camp Has Now Raised More Than $10 Million Since Palin Speech"

Wait, didn't Obama lie about taking only public funding? Yeah, I think he did.

http://sendables.jibjab.com/

Very funny stuff!

FOX Attacks Obama Like Kerry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM3oww9Vk-c

The retread BS ain't selling this election cycle.

McCain 42% - Obama 42%

Obama should be 15 points ahead with all of the MSM in the tank for him. Dem convention bump disappears in the blink of an eye.

Troopergate trooper speaks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7YWNKj3Y50

Hmmmm?

"Troopergate trooper speaks:"

Is this the same guy who tazered his 10 yr old stepson and made death threats to Palin's dad?

I trust what he says, how about you?

Poll: Half say Palin isn't experienced enough to be president

A new poll out from ABC News shows that Americans haven't yet fully bought in to the arguments about Sarah Palin's experience that Republicans have been making this week.

Pollsters found that a majority of respondents think Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden has the experience necessary to be an effective president; 66 percent said he does, while 21 percent said he doesn't and 13 percent had no opinion. Only 42 percent said Palin has the requisite experience, while 50 percent said she doesn't and 7 percent had no opinion.

Come on, people -- don't you realize she's from a really big state?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/

*****

Maybe McCain should reconsider keeping Palin from the media? People will never vote for an unknown, not even lock-step lemming GOPhers.

Quiz: Palin or Bush?

See if you know your hockey mom from your Dubya.

http://tinyurl.com/5rarz7

*****

Then again, I understand why the McCain camp wouldn't want Sarahcudda speaking to the press.

If people can't tell any difference between her and Bunnypants - she too will get approval numbers in the twenties.

"Joe Biden has the experience necessary to be an effective president; 66 percent said he does, while 21 percent said he doesn't and 13 percent had no opinion. Only 42 percent said Palin has the requisite experience, while 50 percent said she doesn't and 7 percent had no opinion."

The important question is about Obama's experience, not Biden's. You seem to keep forgetting that Obama is at the top of your ticket. Palin is the GOP's VP selection. BIG difference.

Fired Commissioner: Palin Hasn't Been Truthful on Trooper-Gate

It looks like the figure at the center of the Trooper-Gate probe thinks Sarah Palin hasn't been entirely honest about her involvement in the matter.

Walt Monegan, the former Alaska public safety commissioner, told ABC News today: "I think there are some questions now that, coming to light about how transparent and how honest she wants to be," Monegan said.

Monegan also said, as he has before, that he believes he was fired because of his reluctance to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper who was embroiled in a bitter dispute with Palin's family.

http://tinyurl.com/5eebhy

*****

The GOPhers should be pissed that McCain didn't vet this loser. She has some major problems coming down the pike. It will be too funny if she ends up indicted before the election!

lololololo

Archives of Alaska Papers Reveal Disturbing -- And Goofy -- Details from Palin's Past

NEW YORK The McCain team may not have vetted Sarah Palin with boots on the ground in Alaska, but the Democrats sure did -- two years ago when she ran for governor. The oppo-research, compiled in a 62-page document with countless summaries or direct quotes, largely from local newspapers, covers all of the important issues you would expect to see, from her views on abortion and abstinence to tangled oil pipeline questions.

But it also gets into some quirky, if revealing, areas as well, such as Palin founding a company called "Rouge Cru" -- what she called a "classy" way to say redneck -- in case her political career didn't work out a few years ago.

Politico.com obtained a copy and printed merely a handful of the hundreds of findings on Tuesday. These included serious matters such as her use of the mayor's office in political campaigns. But it also posted a PDF of the entire document which few have probably examined. Here some of the more outrageous, or surprising, revelations -- strictly from newspaper clips. They are posted here under their heading in the document. Note: The Frontiersman is the local paper in Wasilla.

[snip]

LYING

Palin Exaggerated Work Experience for Mayoral Campaign. In 1997, Frontiersman columnist Paul Stuart wrote that after Palin had criticized her opponent for using City Hall resources for political gain, "when Palin was asked back then (by me) why the lodge where she claimed, in her campaign, to have gained her management experience, had no record of a borough business license or of paying any bed tax, she paused and said it might have been because the place had no clients for a year or so." In an article describing the possibility of recalling Palin, the Frontiersman wrote the "reasons include Palin's alleged falsification of her credentials during the campaign last fall." [Frontiersman, 1/22/97, 2/5/97]

Frontiersman Editorial Said Palin Made Statements That Were "Patently Untrue," Said She Had Shown "Unrepentant Backpedaling and Incessant Whining." A Frontiersman editorial wrote, "Wasilla residents have been subjected to attempts to unlawfully appoint council members, statements that have been shown to be patently untrue, unrepentant backpedaling, and incessant whining that her only enemies are the press and a few disgruntled supporters of former Mayor John Stein." [Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]

Frontiersman Editorial: Palin Doesn't Grasp the Truth. A Frontiersman editorial wrote, "Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth." [Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97]

http://tinyurl.com/6hd2g8

Palin's stall

Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation

Gov. Sarah Palin is taking the wrong approach to Troopergate. She should be practicing the open and transparent, ethical and accountable government she promised when running for governor and boasts about now that she's on the national stage

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/516641.html

If Palin has nothing to hide she had better open up everything - less than 60 days before an election - stonewalling will cook her books.

Of course, if she has something to hide she could try to run out the clock - I doubt it will work.

Running out the clock will make her look guilty even if she isn't.

[...]

The Legislature's investigation is supposed to be wrapped up by Oct. 31. That's obviously poor timing from the standpoint of the McCain-Palin presidential campaign, coming just a few days before the national election.

Instead of trying to delay the whole thing, Palin should take a cue from U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who asked that his corruption trial be moved up so it would be completed well ahead of the November general election. Voters deserve to know the outcome of Sen. Stevens trial and the investigation into Palin.

When this investigation into Troopergate started, Gov. Palin's response was refreshingly open. Since she became the Republican candidate for vice president, her approach has changed for the worse. America deserves the same openness and ethics from vice-presidential candidate Palin that she promised to Alaska voters in 2006.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/516641.html

Investigation into Palin Now on Fast Track

Sources Tell ABC News that Report Will Be Released Almost Three Weeks Early

ABC News has exclusively learned that Alaska Senator Hollis French will announce today that he is moving up the release date of his investigation into whether Gov. Sarah Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired. The results of the investigation were originally scheduled for release Oct. 31 but will now come almost three weeks earlier, according to sources.

The announcement is set for 9 a.m. AKDT time.

The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin had accused the McCain campaign of using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election.

"It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration," said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation.

Palin, who has denied any wrongdoing and has said she has nothing to hide, has hired private lawyers to represent her in the matter.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/print?id=5734511

*****

It would have looked better if she called for it but the fact that she needed to lawyer-up is troubling for most people.

Wow, out of 54 posts, more than 30 are capt's!!!!!! lololo

I love the smell of DESPERATION in the afternoon.

"Troopergate trooper speaks:"

Is this the same guy who tazered his 10 yr old stepson and made death threats to Palin's dad?

I trust what he says, how about you?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It seems clear that she tried to get this trooper fired, and it seems pretty clear on paper that this guy really shouldn't be a trooper. Having said that....

The way I understand it is that she didn't succeed when she tried going through Commissioner Wooten - and I think there is proof beyond a doubt she tried to influence the commissioner to fire the trooper - so she fired Wooten and then she succeeded to get the commissioner to fire the trooper, right? I think that if Commissioner Wooten wasn't doing his job because he was letting a bad person remain on the job as Trooper, then it would seem right to fire him for not firing the trooper, wouldn't it? If it was legal then why lie and say he was fired for other reasons? And if the commissioner wasn't fired because she tried to get the trooper fired and he wouldn't do it, then so what? If it's not illegal to pressure the commissioner to fire someone, then what's the big deal?

Unless... It's illegal for her or someone from her office to pressure the commissioner to fire someone...then maybe I could see what the hubbub is all about.

So what to do? On paper, this trooper doesn't look like he should be allowed to have a gun. They say he was reprimanded for all of the things she says he did - I guess before she was even in office. So it seems that legally, he can't be fired. I bet there are a lot of police that shouldn't be on the job - there have to be legal ways to protect the public from them.

So, should governors have the ability to have someone fired that they know shouldn't be on the job, with a gun? If yes, get the law changed. I'm all for that. But work within the law. Pressuring the commissioner when it is not legal to do so - and really, I kind of understand why she did it, I'm not getting down on her for that, except that it was illegal.

As a governor, she should be setting an example of working within the law to get things done. If she felt she should have been able to fire the trooper, or have him fired, then she should have tried to have the law changed. Since she took powers into her own hands, then she should suffer the consequences.

"On the issue of 'experience' - here's a very interesting finding:

Even though Palin is the vice-presidential nominee, voters are fairly evenly divided as to whether Palin or Obama has the better experience to be president. "

Too funny - lololo!!!

"According to a poll from Rasmussen Reports, Governor Palin is now more popular than Democratic rock star, Obama. "

Palin explained why she couldn't run for the Senate in 2004..."A hockey mom and a former standout athlete herself, Palin said she understood her son's concerns. 'How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. senator?' she said." [Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), 4/24/04]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So it's ok to use the kids when she doesn't want to run for National Office, like a US Senator, but when she does want to run for VP, it's sexist to ask about the kids?

Huh?

The "job" numbers will be revised next month. It will sound better. The old tricks are not working these days.

The revised uptick will not be enough to make the numbers positive but the M$M will be saying as much.

Don't you find it odd that the "Country First" crowd always wants their taxes to be cut first before anything else? Looks to me like they are the "My Pocketbook First Party".

If they we're really for "Country First" they would want us to be strong internally and build up our infrastructure, educate our children, have a healthy populace and be a peace loving nation. But they don't.

Phil Gramm was right, and prophetic. Despite all their rhetoric, the McCain party is just a bunch of whiners looking to avoid responsibility for what they have created.

[...]

French says the McCain campaign failed to contact any of the Senators involved in the investigation during the vetting process of Gov. Palin.

"If they had done their job they never would have picked her," said French. "Now they may have to deal with an October surprise," he said, referring to the scheduled release Oct. 31 of the committee's final report.

Meanwhile, at a campaign stop today in Philadelphia, McCain told reporters that Palin was thoroughly checked out by his staff before being tapped.

"My vetting process was completely thorough and I'm grateful for the results," said McCain.

The report is a preliminary step prior to any effort to impeach the Governor, said French.

"That will be for the legislature to decide," he said.

McCain campaign officials say they were aware of the "trooper thing" but did not consider it an impediment to her selection as the running mate.

http://tinyurl.com/64ss7l

*****

Being impeached will not be an impediment but can you imagine the press if she was impeached or indicted?

I think she is going to have to face the press. I doubt the M$M will ask much of her.

One thing that I have not heard - this is the first broadband presidency for all intents and purposes.

People from both sides are better informed (or better misinformed) and the impact will be against the lies and negative BS.

I hope Obama stays positive. McCain's train already left that station, if he tries the pivot he will look like he is capitulating style-wise to Barack.

" the McCain party is just a bunch of whiners looking to avoid responsibility for what they have created. "

Yeah, what ever happened to responsibility? Personal, political, philosophically responsibility for the mismanagement of our country 20 of the last 28 years?

The one liner that drives it home is "22 million jobs" under Clinton. It isn't even populism or liberalism it is just the numbers.

Hey capt,

When the Obama speech outdrew the number of viewers for the Olympics, you posted the fact NUMEROUS times, referencing this as a sign of a clear victory in sight for Barry.

Now that McCain has outdrawn BOTH the Olympics AND OBAMA (with fewer broadcasters - Telemundo and Univision were absent, for example - and no styrafoam columns), is this a clear sign of victory for McCain/Palin?

Just askin'

Cheers
does this have the same significanc

Palin Media Avoidance Watch, Day Seven

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was named to the Republican ticket one week ago, and she has yet to answer questions from reporters.

Yes, some of the comments from the punditocracy about her have been untoward, even sexist, but given the importance of the job she accepted Wednesday night in her nomination speech, it's entirely reasonable for voters to expect Palin to answer questions from journalists about her positions and her record.

If Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or Joe Biden, D-Del., refused to answer questions from the press, the RNC and the McCain campaign would never stop carping about it -- and rightly so.

In fact, they have done so in the past when Obama has gone several days without talking to the media.

So what are we to expect from Gov. Palin?

Time magazine's Jay Carney tried to get McCain spox Nicolle Wallace to answer this question the other night.

Watch HERE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhgUvX_8Joo&e

****

Kinda like the "clocks" they harped on about Obama? Again I think the law of unintended consequences applies.

I think the McCain camp has PO'ed some in the media. It is historically a losing strategy.

The VA Continues to Abandon Returning Vets

"Supporting the troops" only applies until they actually come home from war.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/97284/

*****

Where the heck is congress on this? Don't tell me Pelosi has taken the VA and healthcare for the troops "off the table" too?

We have to do better.

The parade of Barack Hussein Obama's FELONIOUS FRIENDS continues, as Kwame Kilpatrick cops a plea and resigns.

Obama said about Kilpatrick, “I’m grateful to call him a friend.”

You can know a man's character by the people he surrounds himself with -

Ayers, Rezko, Wright, Pfleger, Kilpatrick , etc. !!!!!

I wonder if any imaginative reporter will connect the dots between Cheney taking a billion dollars to give to Georgia while the VA has to beg for a few hundred million to properly care for our returning vets?

I would like that question asked of any politician from any party. Seems like screwing over the vets is a bipartisan issue.

Gallup says:

Support for Obama since just before the Democratic National Convention kicked off on Aug. 25 has ranged from 44% to 50%, while McCain's support has ranged from 41% to 46%. Whereas the race was initially tied at 45%, Obama pulled into an eight-point lead at several points over the course of his convention. It now appears the Republican National Convention may be helping McCain to recoup some of his losses, though with Obama's current four-point lead, the entire convention period to this point has still been a net plus for Obama.

******

Still pollstrology - but interesting just the same.

""You can know a man's character by the people he surrounds himself with""

http://tinyurl.com/4mermj

http://tinyurl.com/64fomn

Are we better off?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBHuhg8Q5-g

Media Matters reports:

During their September 2 and September 3 coverage of the Republican National Convention, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News each dedicated more on-air time — significantly more in most cases — to speeches and other official Republican convention programming during the most-watched portions of their coverage than each channel dedicated to official convention programming during the same times on comparable nights of the Democratic National Convention one week earlier.

*****

I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you - there are politics going on with the M$M?

lolololo

Jim Carney on his interview with McCain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB4-OC1wbTE

Um, Jay not Jim - but you know. . .

Backlash: 2,000 People Show Up To Obama HQ Opening In L.A.

The general election has begun. On a random Thursday night, when most political junkies were watching POW McCain's cottage cheese and lime Jello speech at the RNC convention, in a town notoriously hard to get anywhere in on time, 2,000 people showed up at the opening of Barack Obama's first campaign office in Southern California.

There were a couple speeches from locals (Eric Garcetti, Harb Wesson, Mark Ridley-Thomas, and a couple others) at the beginning, and they handed out a few yard signs and bumper stickers, but basically, this was an office opening. Just a walk-through of the building. And the campaign sent only one email out about it, with just 24 hours advance notice.

Two thousand people.

Wow.

http://tinyurl.com/5rk2sc

*****

That is a huge number. I know LA and that is nothing short of AMAZING!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBCUUV7pPIE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym70CoF6h44

Back to Alaska

Howard Fineman reported tonight (and I heard something similar) that Sarah Palin will, after a brief stretch on the trail, head back to Anchorage and away from the national media.

"They're basically taking Palin back to Alaska," said Fineman, citing a senior McCain campaign official.

Fineman's source (and mine) said she'd spent much of the time between now and the middle of next week (when her son leaves for Iraq) straightening her affairs, tending to her official duties and packing her bags — having departed abruptly for the national stage. She also seems unlikely to do many major media interviews between now and then, and the campaign seems to feel no urgency about putting her on the Sunday shows.

The campaign will "also use the plane time and time on the ground to begin the education of Sarah Palin," Fineman said. "They want to take that pause to train."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Back_to_Alaska.html

*****

"Pause to train?" Train what or whom? Surely Palin is ready on day one for campaigning or is this an admission of her not being ready?

Mexico Drug Plane Used For US 'Rendition' Flights: Report

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/05-3

Coincidence?

Obama speech was watched by 42.4 million:

Nielsen said that 38.4 million people watched Obama's speech as it was carried live by 10 commercial networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo.

PBS also televised the speech, but didn't pay Nielsen for a count of its national viewership. Based on a sample of several large cities, PBS estimated that an additional 4 million people saw the speech on its network. C-SPAN, which also televised the speech, has no estimate of its audience.

*****

42.4 million is HUGE! Most of those watching were supporters. The Palin/McCain numbers include substantial numbers of democrats and non-supporters because of the "tabloid" nature of the VP selection.

Palin won't be subpoenaed in 'Troopergate' probe

The state House and Senate judiciary committees will meet next Friday in Anchorage to issue subpoenas to key witnesses in the "Troopergate" investigation, but Gov. Sarah Palin will not be among those getting one, committee members just announced.

http://www.adn.com/palin/story/517135.html

*****

They are showing great deference to Palin. If she refuses to cooperate it will be bad.

The Republican Party has given us a failed war in Iraq. None of the stated Bush administration goals in invading Iraq were ever actually accomplished. No threat from Iraq existed, it was completely unrelated to 9/11,had no serious weaponry or military capability, and is not 'liberated' but rather occupied. The government installed under US auspices is best friends with the ayatollahs in Iran and may actually be taking orders from them on some issues.

McCain wholeheartedly supported that war from before it was launched. Yet McRambo is posing as a challenger of the war, and is rebranding this burned-out hulk of a country that he helped to destroy as a "victory."

The Republican Party gave us a long list of massive scandals, in which the American public was actively stolen from and defrauded, not to mention disenfranchised. That was the point of Jack Abramoff and his pyramid scheme intended to create a permanent Republican majority, so that the hogs at the trough could be propped up there and remain indefinitely a drain on your pocketbook. That was the point of Tom Delay's scam, and the many cases of embezzlement and sheer criminality by Republican lawmakers.

Rambo and the Mean Girl will tell you that they are the squeaky clean Republicans, not like all those other Republicans, and we should focus on them, not on all the crooks.

The Republican Party has massively grown the size of the federal government, including especially of the Pentagon, but Rambo and the Mean Girl are all of a sudden promising to fire every other government employee.

The Republican Party oversaw the mortgage crisis. But won't admit it, and neither will these two.

You want a narrative, about a war hero tortured by the confession he signed, or about a feisty soccer mom who cleaned out the Augean stables of Seward's Ice Box, then you have got it.

You want real policy positions and a rationale for them that goes beyond "I will make my friends rich," then you won't find that in the convention in Minnesota.

(JuanCole.com)

How transparent are McCain's bogus claims? Even Fox News has noticed. Consider this report from Major Garrett:

"Based on the crowd reaction to recent attacks from Barack Obama and Joe Biden about John McCain's tax policy, the Republican nominee may have something to worry about. [...]

The crowds roar with approval when Obama and Biden describe their plans for a middle class tax cut and boo loudly at statistics showing how McCain's continuation of the Bush tax cuts favor the wealthy. Of course, these are partisan Obama crowds. But it would be unwise for anyone seriously backing McCain to dismiss their full-throated roars for Obama-Biden on an issue that historically has favored the GOP nominee. [...]

Add to this the mounting evidence that McCain's TV commercials assailing Obama's tax policy contain serious distortions, if not out-right lies."

Wait, is that a Fox News report accusing John McCain of blatant dishonesty? Yep, I think it is.

When Fox News is slamming the Republican nominee for lying, you know McCain has gone too far.

Sarah Speaks -- Once I Was Blind

Governor Gidget appeared on screen melting my heart and conquering my soul. That was after The Mayor of America softened me up.

Once I was blind. But now I can see.

I agree with every one of their points.

Black is white.

Up is Down.

Slavery is Freedom.

Arbeit Macht Frei.

We are winning in Iraq.

The WMD did exist.

Saddam was the leader of Al Qaeda.

Torture is legal.

Mitt Romney is a populist renegade.

Running Wasilla is more or less like running New York City.

Black men who become president of the Harvard Law Review are effete snobs.

Community organizers are sinister.

The media is run by Socialists.

Ivy League universities should be shuttered and replaced by trade schools.

Writing two best-selling memoirs is, um, a black mark.

Having a baby out of wedlock or aborting the fetus is strictly a personal, private issue even when the state wants to criminalize the latter.

America's perceived economic crisis is a mental aberration curable by sexual abstention.

Reading someone their legal rights is an act of wussiness.

Sarah has had more executive experience than Joe Biden and Barack Obama combined.

Hockey moms are more intelligent than hockey pucks.

Running the PTA is very much like the CIA.

Piloting a snowboard is the same as flying an F-16.

Garnering about 655 votes to win a Mayor's seat is major executive experience.

Palin would be the perfect President to stare down Vladimir Putin.

Mike Huckabee should be named head of National Institute for Science Education.

No Alaska Governor is a member of the Permanent Political Establishment.

Sarah is more or less like Harry -- Truman.

Traveling outside the country once by age 43 makes you fit to run the most powerful military in the history of the world.

Capacity to read a pre-canned generic speech written by spinmeisters is a major qualification for national office.

The Republicans are a shoo-in to win in November.

The sun sets in the east (except in Alaska which dwells in darkness much of the year).

(MarcCooper.com)

******

Gov. Gidget!

ROTFLMAO!

Wow, lefty's are supposed to hate religious fanatics. But above is capt, using a Juan Cole quote!!!!!

"Cole's perspective on Iran is informed by his Bahá'í background. The Bahá'í Faith first arose in Persia whose government caused the exile of the religion's Prophet-Founder, Baha'u'llah, as well as family members and disciples to a prison in Akka (or Akko, Acre, Israel) in the Ottoman empire (located today in Israel), has many of its scriptures in Persian, and represents the largest religious minority in Iran. Cole's writings accordingly celebrate Persia as a source of culture. At the same time, Cole has met Bahá'ís who were later executed by the Khomeini regime"

Cole is just another fanatic follower of a Middle East-based religion, and allows it to color his opinions.

The left should check their sources before posting!!!!

Cheers

HA!!!! And now a post quoting Marc Cooper!!!!

"From 1971 to 1973, Cooper served as the Spanish-English translator for Chilean Socialist president Salvador Allende."

Change... to SOCIALISM ... that's the DEMS!!!!

Cheers

59 out of 86 posts by Capt. Great choice John! Palin has the liberals in such a panic they are being driven nuts. Note to Sarah Palin. If you were such a liability, liberals would want to keep you on the ticket. I hope you enjoy your stay in Washington, DC and are sucessful at your mission.

A Choice For Me, But Not For Thee? Or Any Other Woman In America?

http://tinyurl.com/6ob4qn

Well, that gets the point across quite well, doesn't it? Samantha Bee, gotta love her.

lolololo

Open Letter to Network and Cable Pundits: This Is Not A Game

http://tinyurl.com/6fmol6

*****

They don't care. If people stopped watching these liars THAT could change the way they do things.

So says the prophet profit.

RE "Open Letter to Network and Cable Pundits: This Is Not A Game", written by Glenn W. Smith.

Mr. Smith's Wikipedia entry was authored by he and an associate, and is currently labeled as a COI (Conflict of Interest) article. Take a look yourself!!!

"If people stopped READING these liars THAT could change the way they do things."

lololo!!!!

61 of 91. Job well done John!

RE "61 of 91. Job well done John!"

Coffee just came out of my nose!!!!!!!

Joe Biden: Philadelphia, PA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atUmBqW4Q3w

*****

About 4 minutes in Joe gets fired up!

McCain is breaking a promise he made on national television. In July, during an interview with CNN’s Larry King, McCain assured King that his running mate would appear on King’s show shorty after his announcement:

KING: We have a history on this program that whenever the vice presidential nominee is announced, he or she appears on this show the next night. It’s been going on for quite a while. We hope that Senator McCain follows that tradition since I have a hunch he will not announce tonight who that candidate is.

But how close are we?

MCCAIN: I want to say that that vice presidential candidate will be on your show. I will not risk the wrath of Larry King. I want to assure you.

Watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaWQcPOU4V0

(ThinkProgress)

G.O.P. P.O.W.

I wasn’t in St. Paul, but through the filter of the endless chatter on cable news, here’s how the Republican Convention looked: John McCain became a P.O.W. this week, at the hands of his own Party. It was Sarah Palin’s Convention, not McCain’s. His speech last night was so out of sync with the vituperative tone and stale, hard-right cultural populism of the Convention’s other headliners—above all, Palin—that he sounded less like a Presidential nominee than one of those token speakers given a spot on the program just to prove that the Party welcomes diversity. McCain stood before an arena full of stoked conventioneers, who seemed bored or turned-off as often as they seemed pleased by his remarks, and acquitted himself with the decency and honor that he summoned during the ordeal that defines his life.

This time, though, McCain is collaborating with his captors. By picking Palin he knowingly guided his campaign well over hostile territory and then aimed its nose straight down. Once taken hostage, he refused to speak his captors’ propaganda, but he allowed everyone else to shout it to the rafters. He gambled, all right, but it was in the direction of orthodoxy—for Palin is a creature and an icon of the Republicans’ evangelical base, which came into full possession of the Party this week and completed the G.O.P.’s conversion to identity politics. (See my last post for more on this transformation.) No wonder Pat Buchanan was so fired up on MSNBC, while Mike Huckabee wore the look of a man who missed his train because he was given the wrong departure time.

In yesterday’s Times profile, several observers suggested that McCain’s whole adult life has been a series of tests, and his shortcomings have been just as decisive as his victories. “He takes a past failing, hangs it around his neck, and wears it like a medal,” said a former Romney adviser. The psychological pattern with which McCain seems most comfortable holds him initially suspended in perfect tension between principle and ambition; the tension slackens, he slides into a betrayal of his ideals, and then he undergoes a searing period of repentance that ends in a renewed commitment to do what is right regardless of the consequences. It’s almost as if he deliberately sets out to fail himself in order to experience the joy of self-recovery at its fullest. No one would hold against him the fact that he broke, as he said last night, under North Vietnamese torture. His capitulation to the latest group of hard-liners to take him prisoner is a lot harder to justify. But his speech already hinted at the penitent President McCain would be if his current ordeal at the hands of his party’s base takes him to the White House.

http://tinyurl.com/6faa6f

Obama breaks pledge to use Public Campaign Funding - No response from the Left!!!!!

McCain breaks "assurance" to have VP pick appear on Larry King - LEFT IS OUTRAGED. OUTRAGED!!!

Bottom line is that Palin scares the skirts off the liberal left males and the pants suits off the liberal left women. That is fine because McCain/Palin appeals to the conservatives and also to moderates and independents. They are not in the race to appeal to the liberal left.

Just another example of leftt wing journalism at its best. They ignore the affair of John Edwards because it is a private matter when it accually occurred when he was running for president. But they will pile on the daughter of a VP candidate of a republican candidate for being pregnant without being married. Pansy journalism at its' best.

Remember the MSM going after Cheney because his daughter was a lesbian? Did one gay/lesbian/transgender group come to her defense or his?

CRICKETS CHIRPING AND CHOKING!

Actually, tons of folks came to the defense of Cheney's daughter...but not him...because as comedian Ron Shock said, "It isn't the SODOMY, it is the HIPOCRISY that gets to me, you see."

...and explain to me, please how McCain appeals to conservatives?

'Cause that's not what we've heard about him in the past...

-T

sorry...

RON SHOCK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxwcG66mUqQ

Still searching Capt?

...and it is disingenuous to say that the MSM ignored John Edwards' dalliances...

It was all one heard about for weeks, AFTER it was confirmed...and certainly kept him from being considered for the VP slot...and also from coming out for any demo candidated before it was a foregone conclusion.

He didn't get a pass...and is through in politics, at least from a "being elected to anything" point-of-view.

-T

Cheney didn't appeal to me at all and still doesn't.

I do not know who Ron Shock is but should the defense be of both? After all she is the daughter of a candidate for VP and should be off limits such as Chelsea was and all of the Gore children. Have you heard the saying"attack my family, you attack me?"

I find the MSM so laughingly funny these days that I cannot believe they even still exist. Lets see how many people actually watch them when they have to replace their rabbit ears with a digital converter. They are on a slow burn to ashes in the dust bin of history.

Note how every MSM reporter responded with their reaction of the Palin speech with the "reciting words written for her." They all know that every politician has speech writers but how dare a republican give such a great speech without mentioning it was written by someone else. Hell, even JFK's book "Profiles in Courage" was not written by him but he sure as hell gets the credit for it.

The MSM gave him a pass when until he admitted to the allegations. If he had never owned up to the affair, it would have been filed away just like the MSM did with the Lewinsky affair. They know the information is out there and refuse to report on it. But, God forbid, that some conservative reportedly had a DUI 30 years ago it becomes major news.

All I have to say to the MSM agenda is Dan Rather and his accurate but unauthenticated proof of GWB's record in the guard. If he was so right, why is he still not the anchor? He lied through his false teeth just like his nemesis Nixon did who helped make Dan Rather who he came to be. Hell, even Brokaw is playing the bias game and I actually used to have some respect for him.

No, the defense of "both" should not be.

When one is officiating over legislation directly contradictory to one's own family...when one lovingly accepts and supports one's OWN childs' gay partnership while disparaging any and all others...that is NOT acceptable.

The primary criticism of Palin's speech was that it was written well before her selection and simply changed to reflect the gender and biography of the speaker.

It seemed to me like all the speeches were written beforehand and lots were then cast to determine who would deliver them...

...Goouliani speaking on anti-cosmopolitanism?

That's GOT to be the result of "pick a speach out of the hat!"

Ron Shock is one of the few comedians that make me laugh these days.

I saw him in Lexington, once and when I asked him to autograph a CD of his performance for Sgt. Karl in Iraq, at the time, he gave me 5 copies to send to Karl and his troops!

Funny, biting and poignant. I hear he's a great poker player, too!

-T

C'mon Hajji. A comedian at a stand up show? How many people actually saw that at the time? You Tube did not even exist at the time. I am speaking of some one in the news media, a GLT orginazation representative etc. I do not recall it happening and if it did, I didn't see it.

All speeches are pre-written. They pick and choose words that were effective before in the campaign or even in previous campaigns. To mention that Palin's words were written by others while Obamas and Bidens weren't is rank bias. It smells and people notice it, I watched both conventions from 9-11 pm every evening and not once was it said that the Dem's speech was written by "someone else."

Ty,

Shock was actually commenting on the hipocrisy of Jim and Tammy Baker, at the time, but the words of great thinkers are applicable throughout history, are they not?

I actually didn't watch hardly any of the convention coverage. I DID read transcripts of the major speeches, though.

I found a few things...

One...the people AT the conventions weren't listening, only applauding pre-set lines...almost universally...just like the "applause"...and canned laughter on TV.

Two...commentators and spinners really DO tell most people what to think...even about what they've JUST SEEN and HEARD!

Freekin' blows my mind.

But I should remember the power of the media...

Incidentally...does anybody have an answer to the question of why WOULDN'T the media have a financial interest in keeping political races as close as possible? Higher ratings, bigger audiences, more advertising revenue? And if the media, who are supposed to be the referee, has a conflict of interest isn't it ridiculous for the people help them keep up the charade?

...talk amongst yerselves...Poppi's going to bed.

-T

That is exactly why news is no longer the news. Instead of reporting what just happened, they have to proceed to tell you why they think it happened or anything to inject their opinion into the story.

G'nite Poppi.

Someone is trying to hide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AV_54517R8

Will it work?

Feds to take over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

http://tinyurl.com/5lqrno

"I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

~ Senator McCain

In His Candidate’s Voice

The speech lit a fire. Meet Obama's editor.

Jon Favreau has the worst and the best job in political speechwriting. His boss is a best-selling author who doesn't really need his help, having written the 2004 speech that catapulted him onto the national stage. At the same time, the same boss also happens to be capable of delivering a speech in ways that can give his audience the goosebumps.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/84756

Service Changes People’s Character

Jerry Kellman, Barack Obama's supervisor during the candidate's days as a community organizer, talks about the attacks from the Republican Convention—and the vital role organizers play.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157424

Fineman: Palin Taking 'Timeout' From Campaign Trail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh-HFZ8I_0Y

Who Were the Ad Wizards Behind McCain's Speech?

Yesterday’s Washington Post reported that McCain wordsmith Mark Salter had been circulating drafts of last night's speech for eight weeks, meaning he’d been working on it for much longer. After hearing the final product, I can’t help thinking it suffered from all the writing and re-writing. This was a stitched-together mess—like a Hollywood blockbuster that sucks in dozens of screenwriters, becoming a little less coherent with each overhaul.

As in Hollywood, the speech felt like it had been rewritten from one focus group to the next. Salter’s signature style is a kind of brooding lyricism. But somewhere between McCain’s second pronouncement on the changing global economy and his plug for greater community college access, it became obvious that Salter wasn’t the creative force behind this performance. Instead of Salter-esque standbys like duty and valor, the reigning theme was “me too”--as though Team McCain was surprised when Obama spoke to Rust Belt voters last week and felt it had to match him. By the time every consultant worked in a shout-out to his favorite swing state, the speech was so un-Salter-like even McCain seemed unfamiliar with it.

http://tinyurl.com/5q9xg6

Biden: The silence is Deafening

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

Palin, Biden Less Popular than Cheney

How popular is Sarah Palin? So popular that she's almost as well regarded as the original baller, Dick Cheney, at the time he was rolled out as the Republican VP nominee in 2000.

[snip]

Remember, favorability ratings should play into the strengths of a politician like Sarah Palin, who is charming and telegenic. But liking someone is not the same thing as wanting to vote for them; I have a very favorable view of my friend Eric, but wouldn't want his fingers anywhere near the nuclear trigger. And on preparedness measures, Palin polls unusually poorly: by a 42-50 margin (-8), voters in the ABC poll did not think she has the right experience to serve effectively as President; Biden's rating is 66-21 (+43).

http://tinyurl.com/6x54lq

*****

If she refuses to talk to the press she will not change the "preparedness" numbers.

Rick Davis "even if she's not on the ballot"

Yesterday, on Morning Joe, Rick Davis said something that made my ears catch fire. No not the thing about the personality test. They were talking about the historic nature of the first woman nominated by the Republican Party Davis said, "Regardless of whether she's on the ballot, it was an historic pick."
I was in there other room and by the time I got to the television, it was too late to replay. Find it here well into the discussion.

http://tinyurl.com/6pyf78

*****

Curiouser and curiouser?

If Palin is rough and tough enough to be a VP why is she scared of the media - even if the media are all real meanies?

If she can't stand up to the press she will wilt under pressure.

Can't have that in the WH. Wouldn't be prudent.

Team McCain and the Trooper

Nominee's ally moves to curb probe of Palin

Key Alaska allies of John McCain are trying to derail a politically charged investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her public safety commissioner in order to prevent a so-called "October surprise" that would produce embarrassing information about the vice presidential candidate on the eve of the election.

In a move endorsed by the McCain campaign Friday, John Coghill, the GOP chairman of the state House Rules Committee, wrote a letter seeking a meeting of Alaska's bipartisan Legislative Council in order to remove the Democratic state senator in charge of the so-called "troopergate" investigation.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/157439

*****

Maybe it will work. I think it will blow up in their faces. People just want to know - why are they trying to game the system if there is nothing to hide?

Hmmmmm

All this talk about John McCain as a hero.

I keep thinking back to a professor of mine who said the Somali words for "hero" and "poison" were the same: "it means 'kills many.'"

It strikes me as part of the detachment of our culture from real military "virtue" that suffering for five years in a POW camp makes one a hero. 90 years ago, Sgt York was a hero because he went berserk and killed a whole bunch of Germans. Today, every soldier seems to be a hero, and horrendous suffering makes you a super-hero!

Among the many reforms the United States needs is a rectification of names.

As Vets Take to the Streets to Protest the War, McCain Snubs IVAW at the RNC

"War hero" McCain voted against healthcare funding for veterans in 2003, '04, '05, '06 and '07. Now veterans are confronting him on his record.

http://tinyurl.com/6mtevo

TDS McCain bio movie!

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

McCain in his own words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NF42lsDSw

Can't hide from the tubes I always say!

lol

OK, game on!!!

1. The left is questioning Palin having amnio with her last child - this makes it OPEN SEASON on candidates' medical records. - RELEASE BARRY"S COMPLETE MEDICAL RECORDS NOW!!!!

2. The left is using comparisons to Cheney as attacks on Palin. Biden received AT LEAST AS MANY DRAFT DEFERMENTS AS CHENEY, AND CLAIMED ASTHMA AS THE FINAL OUT - RELEASE BIDEN"S DRAFT AND MEDICAL RECORDS NOW!!!

3. The left attacked President Bush's Airforce reserve record - RELEASE BARRY'S DRAFT REGISTRATION PAPERWORK NOW!!!!

4. The left attacked McCain for his house ownership statement - RELEASE BARRY'S HOME MORTGAGE PAPERWORK NOW!!!

Just a start!

Cheers

"The 30-second ad uses audio and video from a May 2007 appearance Obama made before the Detroit Economic Club at which he is introduced by Kilpatrick and, in turn, describes Kilpatrick as "your great mayor," "a friend," etc. Obama's praise then plays over a police mug shot of the mayor as a list of the criminal charges against him scrolls down the screen."

Too funny not to post!!! lololo

Cheers

Major US city loses more jobs - ALL DEMS!!!!!

"100-plus Kilpatrick appointees could face ax

The exact number of Kilpatrick appointees is unclear. A Freedom of Information Act request made by the Free Press late last year showed about 125 appointees, but some department directors were missing from the list.

The Free Press reported this spring that Kilpatrick has hired more than two dozen friends and family members, many in upper-echelon departmental jobs."

Change Detroit can live with!!! lololo

Cheers

Alaskans Speak (In A Frightened Whisper): Palin Is “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean”

“So Sambo beat the bitch!”

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”

Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

http://tinyurl.com/6o8wbd

*****

Interesting piece, I wonder if the meanie media want to ask her about her position on Sambo and the bitch?

I can verify that John has an infamous reputation for being a hot head. He has a quick and explosive temper that many have experienced first hand. Folks, quite honestly that is not the finger I want next to that red button.

It is also disappointing to see him take on and support Bush’s war in Iraq, even stating we might be there for another 100 years. For me, John represents the entrenched and bankrupt policies of Washington-as-usual. The past 7 years have proven to be disastrous for our country. And I believe John’s views on war, foreign policy, economics, environment, health care, education, national infrastructure and other important areas are much the same as those of the Bush administration.

I’m disappointed to see John represent himself politically in ways that are not accurate. He is not a moderate or maverick Republican. On some issues he is a maverick. But his voting record is far to the right. I fear for his nominations to our Supreme Court, and the consequent continuing loss of individual freedoms, especially regarding moral and religious issues. John is not a religious person, but he has taken every opportunity to ally himself with some really obnoxious and crazy fundamentalist minister. I was also disappointed to see him cozy up to Bush because I know he dislikes that man. He disingenuously and famously put his arm around the guy, even after Bush had intensely disrespected him with lies and slander. So on these and many other instances, I don’t see that John is the “straight talk express” he markets himself to be.

Senator John Sidney McCain III is a remarkable man who has made enormous personal achievements. And he is a man that I am proud to call a fellow POW who “Returned With Honor.” That’s our POW motto. But since many of you keep asking what I think of him, I’ve decided to write it out. In short, I think John Sidney McCain III is a good man, but not someone I will vote for in the upcoming election to be our President of the United States.

by Phillip Butler, PhD

http://tinyurl.com/6zm583

Obama 301 McCain 224 Ties 13

Dem pickups (vs. 2004): CO IA NV NM ND OH
GOP pickups (vs. 2004): (None)

http://electoral-vote.com/

Obama 310.4 McCain 227.6

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Sarah Palin: AWOL from Sunday circuit

A couple of major political parties have just finished nominating their candidates for president and vice president. Pretty proud, they both are.

So everyone will show up at the Sunday morning news talk shows, right?

Wrong.

Where in the world is Sarah Palin?

As our colleague, Don Frederick, notes at Top of the Ticket, Palin is a no-show on the Sunday shows.

http://tinyurl.com/5phlfb

*****

It confirms she is not ready to lead. What if (perish the thought) McCain slipped on a banana peel and hit his head or broke his hip?

Do the GOP handlers think this is reassuring the public?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw6wm3msjb0

The Sarah Palin Selection: Why McCain's Inexperienced Running Mate Falls Short of Meeting the Implicit Constitutional Qualifications For Vice Presidents

[...]

Governor Sarah Palin Does Not Qualify Under the Implicit Constitutional Standards

When Nixon selected Ford to be his Vice President, and Ford selected Rockefeller, the government was divided, with the Democrats controlling Congress. Yet a Democratic Congress approved both Ford and Rockefeller to be Vice President based on inter-branch comity. Surely no one would argue that Sarah Palin is in a league with Ford and Rockefeller when it comes to experience.

Nor does Palin possess anything close to the experience qualifications of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, or the President pro tempore of the Senate, Robert Byrd. Indeed, I feel confident that Palin could not get confirmed for any of the top presidential succession posts, namely the posts of Secretary of State, Treasury and Defense. Palin's lack of qualifications have been widely noted. Newspapers from her state have raised questions of her qualifications.

Recently, I was in Alaska, just after Palin's name was first floated as a possible McCain running mate. Although I am not a Democrat, I gave a keynote speech at the Democrats' state convention. During my visit, a senior Democratic Party official said to me that he sure hoped McCain would select Palin, because based on his observation of her record Alaska, he opined that, : "She's screwing up Alaska big time, and she could probably assure defeat for McCain." His wish may be coming true.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20080905.html

Joe Biden On Fire

This is awesome -- Joe Biden just tears John McCain and Sarah Palin apart for completely ignoring every single major economic issue facing America and for offering nothing but sarcastic personal attacks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=955Y3NJTRIE

Palin's Pastor: God Will Damn America

On July 20, 2008, the pastor of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's home church, Larry Kroon, delivered a sermon called "Sin Is Personal To God." Kroon, the senior pastor of the non-denominational Wasilla Bible Church in Wasilla, Alaska, used the book of Zephaniah as his reference point for discussing "that great day of the Lord, when God will finally bring closure to human history... a day of wrath." According to Kroon, "all things and all people" are going to bear the brunt of God's "intense anger." "There's anger with God," he proclaimed. "He takes sin personal."

Kroon placed Zephaniah in a modern context, warning that the sinful habits of Americans would invite the wrath of God. "And if Zephaniah were here today," Kroon bellowed, "he'd be saying, ‘Listen, [God] is gonna deal with all the inhabitants of the earth. He is gonna strike out His hand against, yes, Wasilla; and Alaska; and the United States of America. There's no exceptions here -- there's none. It's all.'"

http://tinyurl.com/6nxqbs

******

Crazy pastors are a huge issue for Obama but IOKIYAR?

The reason McCain's "Country First" is relevant AND necessary -

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2008/08/28/behind-scenes-dnc-trashed-american-flags

The Dems fail to hide their lack of RESPECT for the symbol of our great country.

Barack Hussein Obama's DISDAIN for all things American (i.e. the Military, the Flag, etc.) HAS COST HIM THE ELECTION !!!!

Cheers

Biden to impeach Bush -

"If there has been a basis upon which you could pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued. Not out of vengeance or retribution, out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no one — no attorney general, no president — is above the law."

"Asked by a TV interviewer the next day whether an Obama administration would "actually pursue criminal charges against President Bush's administration and different people that served there," Biden responded: "That's not true."

Change - yes he can !!!!! lololo

Cheers

No wonder Biden has not commented on Barry's Rezko connection -

"The Bidens live "on a four-acre lakefront estate in a 7,000-square-foot custom home" in Greenville, Del., a property worth at least $2.5 million.

Reports the newspaper: "In 1996, Biden sold a home in Greenville for the asking price of $1.2 million -- more than six times what he paid two decades earlier -- to John R. Cochran III, a top executive at the MBNA credit card bank that was a longtime political benefactor. Using profits from that sale, Biden paid $350,000 cash to real estate executive and developer Keith D. Stoltz for 4.2 vacant acres -- a long, narrow lot a few miles from Biden's old home. Stoltz had bought that same lot five years earlier for the same price…"

So, Biden sells a property he held for 20 years for a 6X profit (God bless America!), and buys a property held by a "political benefactor" for 5 years at the original price (another "Rezko")!!!

Where is the Dem outrage???

Cheers

Palin's 'Trooper-gate' Cover-up

Ripping a page from George W. Bush’s playbook on obstructing investigations, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her senior aides are maneuvering to thwart an abuse-of-power investigation that Palin initially vowed to assist.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/090608.html

****

It is hard to keep Palin and Busheney seperate when they do and act the same with contempt for the law and the legal systems they claim to be supporting.

"I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate," Biden said Thursday at an economic discussion at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia."

"lieutenant governor of Alaska" ????

Biden is OUT OF TOUCH (you know what that's code for!!).

Cheers

Wow, the junior Senator is MOSTLY WRONG!!!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122049148440397625.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Cheers

Sarah Palin's media war

[...]

At some point, certainly, Palin will answer reporters' questions, and the public will be the better-informed for it.

In the meantime, a candidate can hide behind speechwriters, as Agnew was doing when he addressed the California Republican state convention in San Diego in 1970. He said, "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the 'hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.'"

The words came from a wordsmith, William Safire, later columnist for The New York Times, then a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon and Agnew.

Palin's words this week came from other wordsmiths, and she delivered them powerfully. Still, at some point, a candidate must find her own words.

http://tinyurl.com/5hppuo

*****

Ultimately, she willl have to something other than hide from the press. That much is a given.

On Troopergate, the fired offical is speaking out and calling Palin a liar:

"I believe I was fired because of, primarily the reason of her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I think that my unwillingness to take special action against her former brother-in-law was not well received."

Monegan says he believes that the Governor has not told the truth about what happened.

*****

A typical lying politician - color me surprised!

Candidate Bush, 2000 debate closing statement:

I also want to go to Washington to get some positive things done. It is going to require a new spirit. A spirit of cooperation. It will require the ability of a Republican president to reach out across the partisan divide and to say to Democrats, let's come together to do what is right for America. It's been my record as Governor of Texas, it will be how I conduct myself if I'm fortunate enough to earn your vote as President of the United States.

McCain, 2000 acceptance speech:

Again and again, I’ve worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That’s how I will govern as President. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it.

******

More of the McSame, down to the Bush terms!

Maybe that will sell? I kinda doubt it.

A test for the media

[...]

Consider this: Wednesday night, Sarah Palin falsely claimed she had told Congress she did not want funding for the "bridge to nowhere." She didn't; that was a lie. Congress had said a year before Palin became governor that Alaska need not spend the federal funds on the bridge. And Palin had initially supported the bridge, not opposed it. And once she became governor, Palin kept the money. Palin's false claims Wednesday night were not new: She had said the same thing in previous campaign appearances since McCain picked her -- and several media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times had debunked the boast. But when Palin told the lie during her convention speech -- after days of McCain complaints that the media had been too hard on Palin -- those newspapers ignored the lie.

That wasn't the only false claim in Palin's speech that went un-debunked by the media. She falsely attacked Barack Obama's legislative record -- and media uncritically quoted the false claims. She lied about Obama's tax plans -- she said he "wants to raise" them, even though John McCain's own economic adviser has admitted that is false -- and, again, the media repeated her claim without debunking it.

Instead, much of the media gushed over her speech. If you watched MSNBC yesterday, you would have seen reporter after reporter talk about the McCain complaints that the media were too hard on Palin. And you would have seen reporter after reporter lavish praise on Palin's speech. But you wouldn't have seen them say much about the actual content of Palin's speech -- certainly not about whether she told the truth in it. At one point, Andrea Mitchell declared that "what came through" in Palin's address was "the authenticity."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200809050021?f=h_top

Are Evangelicals Really Sold on Palin?

[...]

Lost in the stampede of social conservatives to embrace Palin this past week is the fact that she is culturally outside the mainstream of Evangelicalism. Over the past few years, a growing number of Evangelicals have been consciously distancing themselves from the more extreme stands of the Christian right. They live in the suburbs, hold graduate degrees, and while they might not want their children reading certain novels, would be embarrassed by attempts to ban certain books from libraries, as Palin is reported to have briefly considered while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska. They don't attend churches where speakers charge that violence against Israelis is divine punishment for the failure of Jews to accept Jesus, as happened at one of Palin's churches two weeks ago (though Palin has now issued a statement saying she does not agree with those views). And they would disagree with Palin's decision to use her line-item veto as Governor to slash funding for an Alaska shelter that serves teen mothers.

That goes double for younger Evangelicals. These voters tend to be even more pro-life than their parents, but abortion isn't always a priority that moves their votes — it wasn't when McCain was alone on the ticket, and there's no reason for that to change with the addition of Palin. More important, Palin has problematic stances on many of the issues that do motivate young Evangelicals. Her insistence that global warming is not man-made, for instance, is unlikely to appeal to those Evangelicals who have embraced so-called "creation care" in the past few years. This is particularly relevant to the current race, as young Evangelicals account for much of that demographic's undecided bloc. No one knows what the size of their impact may be in November because young Evangelicals are consistently underrepresented in polls of white Evangelicals. (Even a TIME poll of likely white Evangelical voters conducted last month used a sample in which just 10% of respondents were between 18 and 35. That age group made up 22% of the total electorate in 2004, and its share of the electorate is expected to increase this year.)

http://tinyurl.com/5evq3f

Palin Accuses 'Obama/Biden Democrats' of Attacking Her Family, But Campaign Can't Name One

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sent out a fundraising solicitation today that charged that "the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain."

I asked spokespeople of the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee just which "Obama/Biden Democrats" they're referring to.

The response I got was that Obama spokesman Mark Bubriski erroneously attacked Palin as a supporter of Pat Buchanan.

That's it. That's the evidence.

An attack on Palin herself.

In other words, they can't name one person affiliated with the Obama-Biden campaign who attacked the Palin family.

But she made the charge anyway, to help raise money.

http://tinyurl.com/55g55q

Palin Media Avoidance Watch: Day 8

The governor still has yet to answer questions from the national media.

Politico's Roger Simon apologizes on behalf of all of us, by the way, for focusing on anything other than Palin's great speech and the tidbits of her life (however false) doled out by the McCain-Palin campaign.

What questions would you ask the governor?

http://tinyurl.com/6g8qrb

SNL couldn't make this stuff up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WslA8dPhtJE

When the coattails are a skirt

[...]

Which leads me to a final note. It is fairly common these days for a presidential candidate to take the high road while the vice presidential candidate swings from the heels and is the attack dog. Palin is an excellent choice for that role. She proved on Wednesday night that she can hit below the belt, falsify facts and slander the opposition in ways McCain could probably never do.

But in McCain we already have a man with a temperament that is often explosive, impulsive, and stubborn. Where is the word of caution, the balance to his acting on gut instinct going to come from? Certainly not from an ideologue such as Palin. She has proven in her short stint as mayor of tiny village and as governor that she can be as impulsive as her running mate and without any sugar coating to boot.

This may be the change McCain proposes – damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead to a Palin presidency.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/11181

I realize this is the all capt channel all the time, but I like to drop in once in a while anyway.

Governor Palin did what any executive would do when faced with an employee who is making death threats - have them FIRED! And if the employee's boss won't carry out the order, then that boss should be FIRED as well.

All this "troopergate" nonsense is nothing more than unfounded attacks on the governor's character.

Isn't Palin supposed to move to Cheney's undisclosed location after she gets elected, not before?

By Josh Marshall

Media Outlets Call Out Palin On eBay Story

Both the Washington Post and CNN have caught on to Sarah Palin's claim that she put a state plane on eBay, and John McCain's claim that she made a profit off of it. In fact, the plane failed to sell on eBay at the state's desired price, and it was sold at a loss through a broker.

*****

I think someone's pants/skirt are on fire. . .

RIECKHOFF: I think honestly that backdrop, whether it was Walter Reed medical center or Walter Reed middle school — that’s about as close as Sen. McCain got to veterans issues last night. He didn’t mention the word veteran once during his entire speech, didn’t talk about post-traumatic stress disorder, didn’t talk about veterans funding. I think he really forgot where he came from last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-i1SKl62cY

(ThinkProgress)

"I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That's all."

-- Former Bush speechwriter David Frum.

Obama said Republicans are targeting his character, and he criticized McCain for saying he would reduce the partisan rancor in Washington. Pretending to address McCain, he said, "Did you pay attention to the last two days of your convention? Were you not watching?"

"When you start just focusing exclusively on trying to tear the other person down instead of what you are going to do on behalf of the American people to deal with this economy," Obama said, "then that's not serving Democrats, that's not serving Republicans, that's not serving anybody."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AknbG8LaEc

(huffpo)

New Yorker cover spotlights McCain’s houses, foreclosure crisis.

The cover of the new issue of the New Yorker spotlights Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) multiple houses, contrasting his wealth with the foreclosure crisis many Americans are struggling with:

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/new-yorker-mccain/

McCain’s ‘Specific Ideas’ On The Housing Crisis Failed to Appear At The RNC»
Yesterday, the Wonk Room noted how little discussion of the economy occurred during the Republican National Convention. One facet of the poor economy in particular - the housing crisis - was almost completely absent from the RNC.

The Associated Press reported today that the housing crisis is now affecting 4 million Americans, who are “either behind on their payments or in foreclosure.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has acknowledged the problem, saying that it is having a “devastating impact on our financial markets and the household budgets of millions of hardworking Americans,” and that “we have a responsibility to take action to help those among them who are deserving homeowners.”

Still, housing was mentioned only once during the entire convention, the same number of times as “Elvis,” and “Tyrannosaurus.”

http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/09/05/mccain-housing-rnc/

Paulson to Takeover and Restructure Fannie, Freddie

Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will use his authority to rescue Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, likely placing the beleaguered mortgage-finance companies under government control as early as this weekend.

http://tinyurl.com/6dlgkz

McCain on the economy: (from ontheissues.org)

Q: Are Americans better off than they were eight years ago?

A: You could argue that Americans overall are better off, because we have had a pretty good prosperous time, with low unemployment and low inflation and a lot of good things have happened. A lot of jobs have been created. But let's have some straight talk. Things are tough right now. Americans are uncertain about this housing crisis. Americans are uncertain about the economy, as we see the stock market bounce up and down. But I think what we're trying to do to fix this economy is important. We've got to address the subprime housing problem. We need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which I voted for twice to do so. I think we need to eliminate the alternate minimum tax.

A: I think we are better off overall if you look at the entire eight-year period, when you look at the millions of jobs that have been created, the improvement in the economy, etc.

John McCain Will Finally Finish Destroying America’s Financial System

Hmm, this sounds kind of familiar if you remember the Keating Five and S&L Collapse: “Nevada regulators have shut down Silver State Bank. It was the 11th failure this year of a federally insured bank. Andrew McCain, son of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, was a member of the bank’s board, but recently stepped down for ‘personal reasons ….

Ha, whatever, McCain Crime Family. Meanwhile, the federal government is about to seize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [AP via Cryptogon/Wall Street Journal]

http://tinyurl.com/5aquad

The Keating Five

[...]

Charlie Keating always took care of his friends, especially those in politics. McCain was no exception.

In 1982, during McCain's first run for the House, Keating held a fund-raiser for him, collecting more than $11,000 from 40 employees of American Continental Corp. McCain would spend more than $550,000 to win the primary and the general election.

In 1983, as McCain contemplated his House re-election, Keating hosted a $1,000-a-plate dinner for him, even though McCain had no serious competition. When McCain pushed for the Senate in 1986, Keating was there with more than $50,000.

By 1987, McCain had received about $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.

McCain also had carried a little water for Keating in Washington. While in the House, McCain, along with a majority of representatives, co-sponsored a resolution to delay new regulations designed to curb risky investments by thrifts such as Lincoln.

[snip]

The Keating Five became synonymous for the kind of political influence that money can buy. As the S&L failure deepened, the sheer magnitude of the losses hit the press. Billions of dollars had been squandered. The five senators were linked as the gang who shilled for an S&L bandit.

S&L "trading cards" came out. The Keating Five card showed Charles Keating holding up his hand, with a senator's head adorning each finger. McCain was on Keating's pinkie.

[snip]

On Oct. 8, 1989, The Arizona Republic revealed that McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators.

The paper also reported that the McCains, sometimes accompanied by their daughter and baby-sitter, had made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. Three of the trips were made during vacations to Keating's opulent Bahamas retreat at Cat Cay.

McCain also did not pay Keating for some of the trips until years after they were taken, after he learned that Keating was in trouble over Lincoln. Total cost: $13,433.

When the story broke, McCain did nothing to help himself.

"You're a liar," McCain said when a Republic reporter asked him about the business relationship between his wife and Keating.

"That's the spouse's involvement, you idiot," McCain said later in the same conversation. "You do understand English, don't you?"

He also belittled reporters when they asked about his wife's ties to Keating.

"It's up to you to find that out, kids."

The paper ran the story.

In his 2002 book, McCain confesses to "ridiculously immature behavior" during that particular interview and adds that The Republic reporters' "persistence in questioning me about the matter provoked me to rage."

http://tinyurl.com/3a5t48

****

Failed financial institutions? Sounds too familiar.

Presidential temperment? HA!

Palin church promotes converting gays

[...]

Gay activists in Alaska said Palin has not worked actively against their interests, but early in her administration she supported a bill to overrule a court decision to block state benefits for gay partners of public employees. At the time, less than one-half of 1 percent of state employees had applied for the benefits, which were ordered by a 2005 ruling by the Alaska Supreme Court.

Palin reversed her position and vetoed the bill after the state attorney general said it was unconstitutional. But her reluctant support didn't win fans among Alaska's gay population, said Scott Turner, a gay activist in Anchorage.

"Less than 1 percent of state employees would even apply for benefits, so why make a big deal out of such a small number?" he said.

"I think gay Republicans are going to run away" if Palin supports efforts like the prayers to convert gays, said Wayne Besen, founder of the New York-based Truth Wins Out, a gay rights advocacy group. Besen called on Palin to publicly express her views now that she's a vice presidential nominee.

"People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House," he said

http://tinyurl.com/6dhm4w

*****

This is no way to win over the indy's and the center.

Maybe the hard Reich turn will work?

I for one am looking for a candidate that DOESN'T pander to homosexuals or worry about offending Muslims by talking about the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalists.

Come to think of it, I'm looking for a candidate that will refuse to support things like foot washing stations in public buildings!

I'm curious about Obama's lack of transparency concerning his year's of working with William Ayers on the board of the foundation in Chicago that doled out a lot of money to socialists and the likes of Reverend Wright.

Why doesn't Obama use this executive experience in his resume? More pointedly, why is he doing everything to hide the truth?

It sure is interesting how the records from the foundation were spirited away to a college library for safekeeping. When an investigative reporter tried to get a look at them, the library suddenly declared the collection "closed"

Where there's smoke there's fire.

“Governor Palin is an inclusive Republican who will help Sen. McCain appeal to gay and lesbian voters,” said Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon. “She’s a mainstream Republican who will unite the party and serve John McCain well as vice president.”

http://tinyurl.com/6jeadw

Sarah Palin Is Not a Hockey Mom

[...]

Sarah Palin is a person who by her own admission found out about the Iraq surge – the centerpiece of the McCain judgment argument – from television. Apologies to conservatives, but technically, objectively, inarguably, this alone makes her unqualified to be President. But we don’t live in that technical or objective world. Political campaigns – as distinct from policy and governance – are the NHL playoffs. It’s only about who survives the war of attrition to the finish line first. Is Brett Hull’s skate still in Dominik Hasek’s crease and was that same situation disallowed in every previous instance throughout that season? Yes, but so what? Dallas had a parade.

In the hockey analogy, Palin wouldn’t get within a thousand miles of an NHL All-Star Game because she’s not a scoring talent. She’s a role player, an emotion-rouser. Emotion messes with the chalkboard-drawn game plan and thus achieves a specific strategic objective. She can make game-changing agitation plays that rouse her home team and provoke the other side into counterattacks that – 100% of the time – end up punishing the team who hits back. Democrats would be smart to understand her as such, and I see a lot of reaction that doesn't seem to grasp what Palin is doing and the value she's providing. I see a lot of Democrats taking a lot of bait.

This applies more to Democratic surrogates than it does to the top-ticket duo. Joe Biden had the smart response yesterday – naming the behavior – expecting it, and then riding through without taking the bait:

http://tinyurl.com/5dytc2

Here's McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt today:

In what represents a marked shift from the Republican campaign rhetoric of 2004 – where some George W. Bush advisors stoked anti-gay sentiment in an attempt to drive social conservatives to the polls – Steve Schmidt, senior campaign strategist for the McCain campaign, stopped by a Log Cabin Republican luncheon Thursday to welcome the group to the convention.

“I just wanted to take a second to come by and pay my respect and the campaign’s respect to your organization and to your group,” said Schmidt, who many view as the new architect of the Republican Party. “Your organization is an important one in the fabric of our party.”

(huffpo)

Here's Focus on the Family's James Dobson during the 2000 presidential race, condemning John McCain (R):

McCain has accepted huge contributions from the gambling industry and apparently is comfortable with the proliferation of gambling in American society. He has also accepted large contributions from producers of alcohol. McCain is in favor of combat assignments for women in the military, and has sought and received enormous financial and political support from the Log Cabin Republicans and other homosexual activists. McCain also supports Most Favored Nation status for the brutal regime in China, and voted against our nation's monitoring of Communist Chinese commercial fronts operating in the United States. He seeks to appease the bloated Federal public school bureaucracy and has refused to support vouchers.

"The Senator," Dobson said, "is being touted by the media as a man of principle, yet he was involved with other women while married to his first wife, and was implicated in the so-called Keating scandal with four other senators. He was eventually reprimanded by the Congress for the 'appearance of impropriety.' The Senator reportedly has a violent temper and can be extremely confrontational and profane when angry. These red flags about Senator McCain's character are reminiscent of the man who now occupies the White House."

(huffpo)

A Happy Ending: McCain Campaign Now Contributing to Obama

As noted in yesterday's Midday Open Thread:

The ladies of Heart have contacted the McCain/Palin campaign and asked them to immediately cease and desist from using their song "Barracuda."

Unfortunately for the Wilson sisters, "as the song is licensed for public performance under a blanket fee," and since the McCain campaign paid those fees to use the song, there is nothing Heart can do about its use. But there is a bright side to this story. Roger Fisher, the band's former guitarist and co-writer of the song said that:

...he strongly endorsed the Democratic ticket, and would donate a portion of royalties he receives from the Republicans' airing of "Barracuda" to the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama.

"With my contribution to Obama's campaign, the Republicans are now supporting Obama," he said.

Rock on.

http://tinyurl.com/6klpmx

oh suddenly mccain wants to "change"?
maybe he should change his 'depends' diapers because he is totally full of shit!

Sarah Palin for President.

You leftists are so funny and idiotic at the same time.

If she is such a bad candidate, why even bother mentioning her? She scares you to death and you do not even have the courage to admit to yourselves that she does.

What does that say about you?

You can lie to yourself just as much as you can lie about Sarah Palin.

Frank Rich: This is one column that shouldn't be abbreviated. A taste:

McCain is now the man of James Dobson and Tony Perkins. The "no surrender" warrior surrendered to the agents of intolerance not just by dumping his pal for Palin but by moving so far to the right on abortion that even Cindy McCain seemed unaware of his radical shift when being interviewed by Katie Couric last week.

That ideological sellout, unfortunately, was not the worst leadership trait the last-minute vice presidential pick revealed about McCain. His speed-dating of Palin reaffirmed a more dangerous personality tic that has dogged his entire career. His decision-making process is impetuous and, in its Bush-like preference for gut instinct over facts, potentially reckless.

******

Anybody with an iota of intellectual honesty would have the same questions for an unknown if it was Obama's choice. All the whining and and whatnot is just more insincere crud. If you want to be taken seriously you have to try to sound serious. Honesty is obviously above some folks pay-grade.

If Barack had picked an unknown, then tried to hide from the press the Reich-wingnuttia would be as curious - if they actually care about the country.

Jessica Reaves:

Sarah Palin is a woman. Hillary Clinton is a woman. Women just love voting for other women. Women candidates are interchangeable. Therefore, women who would have voted for Clinton are obviously going to vote for Palin.

If this syllogism strikes you as stupid, that's because it is. Not to mention cynical and not a little bit sexist. Yet it also appears to be one of the reasons behind John McCain's choice of a running mate.

John S. Baick (Professor of History, Western New England College):

As the shock of her pick wears off, I wonder how this ticket can work when it sends conflicting messages. How can McCain talk about fighting government pork when his running mate comes from the state that is a symbol of lobbying and earmarks of which she seems to have played a part? Revelations about her record as a mayor and a governor badly undermine one of McCain’s central crusades. How can McCain talk about experience when he chose as his running mate perhaps the least experienced candidate of the 20th century? Putting aside the question of how much experience matters in terms of presidential success, the entire theme of experience has been badly undercut. The McCain campaign clearly hoped that the pick of Governor Palin would bring in new enthusiasm and new voters, creating a ticket whose appeal to different groups—veterans, libertarian conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and hawks for McCain; social conservatives, rural voters, and perhaps some disaffected Clinton supporters for Palin— but I think it is quite possible that the whole will not be equal to the sum of its parts in the long run.

Virginia Adds Many New Voters

Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is "very much on track toward its goal of signing up 150,000 new voters" in Virginia "by the early October voter registration deadline, on top of the 142,000 new voters who registered during primary season," according to the Washington Post.

"There is no way of knowing how many of the newly registered will vote for Obama, especially since Virginia does not record voters by party affiliation. But the campaign is encouraged by the demographic profile of the new voters -- about 40 percent of those who registered in August are aged 25 or under."

(CQPolitics)

http://electoral-vote.com/

Obama 301 McCain 224 Ties 13

Dem pickups (vs. 2004): CO IA NV NM ND OH
GOP pickups (vs. 2004): (None)

Intrade State Contracts Predict an Obama Win

The betting site www.intrade.com has contracts on who will win individual states. Thanks to Frank Solensky for collecting the (rounded) prices yesterday for the individual contracts, as listed below. For example, if you want to bet that McCain will win Alabama, you can buy contracts for $96 and if McCain wins, you collect $100. A contract that Obama wins Alabama costs $5. Clearly a lot of people are expecting a McCain win there. The last column is positive if Obama is leading the state, negative if McCain is leading. The sum is 84, which means the bettors are expecting Obama to win a net 84 electoral votes, that is, an Obama win 311 to 227.

****

This day in 2004?

Bush 275 vs. Kerry 237

No, Actually, It's that the Economy is Falling Apart

[...]

The vast bulk of mainstream media reporting has been about Palin's record as a public servant and her personal beliefs as a politician. The tabloid media are treating her precisely as the tabloid media treat everybody. Steve Schmidt has done a brilliant--fabulously dishonest--job of setting up straw men, but it's a smokescreen to hide the fact that McCain rushed into this choice and didn't vet her properly. All these vast requests for personal information about Palin's family have produced--what? No major news outlet has gone with the various personal rumors that Schmidt is trying to promote. Only Sally Quinn and a few others raised the question of whether Palin should be home taking care of the children--although when the noted feminist Rudy Giuliani made that a part of his speech, the cable networks suddenly took it up, in their reliably Pavlovian fashion.

Maybe I'm getting old, maybe it's that I've seen this act so often before, maybe it's that the people I talk to when I go out on the road really are having a harder time paying for things like health care, gasoline and college tuition, but I'm finding the Republican attempts to derail the conversation from the actual state of the country really depressing and disgraceful this year. They practice Orwellian politics of the crudest sort. They are trying to sell a big lie--that the election is about the social issues of the 1960s, or Barack Obama's patriotism or his eloquence, or the "angry left," when it's really about turning toward a more moderate path after the ideological radicalism and malfeasance of the past eight years.

http://tinyurl.com/6fqm9g

Sarah Palin had turbulent first year as mayor of Alaska town

Sarah Palin's first year as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, could easily have been her last as she became embroiled in personnel challenges, a thwarted attempt to pack the City Council and a standoff with her local newspaper.

http://tinyurl.com/6jxv6x

*****

The risk McCain takes by hiding her from the press and media is that they will have a free hand in defining her.

I wouldn't want to be defined by the media - they do a horrible job.

Maybe it will work in McCain's favor. I don't think the attacks on the media will help him but he is desperate and has to try something unconventional because conventional wisdom says he has lost if he doesn radically change the landscape with regard to EV's.

This cynical choice has left McCain’s honour in shreds

[...]

I had thought that McCain was, for a politician, an honourable man. Certainly honour is one of his top selling points. But who can think so now? In choosing a woman he doesn’t know or understand, purely for electoral advantage, he reveals a dishonourable lust for office, a disrespect for women generally and a dishonourable indifference to the future of his country. After all, if this known unknown woman does become president, it will almost certainly be because he himself is dead - quite possible given his age and health - and past caring.

Though he didn’t know Palin personally, he must have known a few facts about her. He must have known that she compares feebly with previous vice-presidential candidates. Her education is minimal, her real political and managerial experience very slight. The only previous woman candidate for vice-president, the Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, was well qualified, well educated and experienced; Palin can’t hold a candle to her. Palin’s experience is as nothing compared to that of Dick Cheney (congressman, secretary of defence and White House chief of staff), Al Gore (senator and congressman) or George Bush Sr (congressman, ambassador to the United Nations and China, head of the CIA). Being a vice-president is not just a matter of PR and homespun rhetoric, or used not to be.

Even a brief consideration of Palin might suggest that she is not the straightforward redneck hockey mom she claims to be. It’s not possible to be much of a mom to five children, including a baby with Down’s syndrome, if you have a more than full-time job. Like other people with working responsibilities, you have to hand your children over to someone else to bring up. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it denies you the right to exploit your image as a yummy downhome mummy.

In short Palin is an ill-educated, inexperienced hypocrite. The Republicans are trying to sell her to the voters as something she isn’t, and McCain hardly cares what she is. It’s a bad day for my native land.

*****

I might have even voted for McCain in 2000, sadly since then there has been nothing honorable or thoughtful from him.

Um,

http://tinyurl.com/5pu8ec

For the:

This cynical choice has left McCain’s honour in shreds

Playing politics with family values

WITH ONE important exception, what we have learned about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family does not reflect badly on any of them. What the Palin family story does do is underscore the flaws in the political philosophy that was critical to her being selected by John McCain.

The exception, of course, is the allegation that she tried to get the Alaska public safety commissioner to fire her former brother-in-law and fired the commissioner when he would not give in to her wishes. Public officials cannot use their official positions on behalf of family members in a domestic dispute.

http://tinyurl.com/6q4qn9

"Today's Zogby poll shows McCain and Palin ahead of Obama and Biden by four points.

Rasmussen Reports has the tickets tied for the first time in a long while, maybe ever, with one more day to go before the Republicans' convention bounce is fully reflected."

The American public now judges Barry's experience on a level with the Republican VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate!!!!

Paraphrasing the Dem nominating commitee -

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" !!!!

FLORIDA BALLOTS GO MISSING!

what a shock!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3960679.stm

COLORADO ELECTIONS DIRECTOR RESIGNS AMID INQUIRY!

wow am i ever surprised!

http://tinyurl.com/5o7suw

NEARLY 600,000 VOTERS SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE 'CAGING' IN OHIO!

what already? the selection is still 2 months away!
neocons have to steal it because they would never win if they actually counted all the votes!

http://www.miller-mccune.com/article/662

Republicans' Senate campaign arm called off television ads Tuesday that were to air in New Mexico in the run-up to Election Day, an indication that it's leaving the GOP candidate there to fend for himself as the party braces for losses.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee's decision to cancel the New Mexico spots reflects its priorities during a tough year for the GOP, with the party lagging badly in fundraising and resigned to losing seats in the Senate.

(via MyDD)

Obama is ahead by 14% here (last poll) and "Democratic Congressman Tom Udall is leading in the fundraising race and in the polls, the seat in New Mexico is a Republican seat and has been for the last 36 years"

The best thing to happen to us here in NM Dist #1 is getting rid of Heather Wilson. (who might have made a better VP candidate for McCain)

Woot woot!

Ohio voting law may be a boon for Obama supporters

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Never mind the last days of the presidential campaign. The busiest days for Barack Obama's campaign in this perennial swing state are likely to be a month before Election Day.

Ohio has created a window in the election calendar that would allow residents instant gratification — register one minute, vote the next. It's also given the campaigns of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain a chance to bank thousands of first-time voters during that Sept. 30 to Oct. 6 window.

The move will benefit Obama, who enjoys a 2-to-1 lead over McCain among 18- to 34-year-olds, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last month. If Obama's campaign were able to tap into college campuses with one-stop voting, it would add thousands of votes to his tally in a state where, in 2004, John Kerry lost to President Bush by only about 118,000 votes, putting Bush over the top in the electoral count.

http://tinyurl.com/6ltnsr

*****

Same day registration puts the nix to the caging except for troops overseas - funny how the GOP trashes the troops . . . Shameful, eh?

"Involvement in the Chicago political machine would in all probability stop most people from seeking the presidency. How has Obama been able to avoid substantive questions about his relationship with not only Tony Rezko and Bill Ayers, but other unsavory characters like Emil Jones and Todd Stroger?"

Yea, how????

"Jones was a sewer inspector prior to becoming President of the Illinois Senate."

Oh, OK.

"Chicago firm Infrastructure Engineering Inc., submitted the highest of three bids to design and build a parking lot at one of Cook County's facilities, but it won the $298,000 contract anyway.

The firm, which has made campaign donations to county board President Todd Stroger and several commissioners, was awarded the job yesterday to build a 500-space parking lot at the county's Hawthorne Warehouse."

Yea, makes sense!!!

"For Mr. Obama: You have touted your "comprehensive energy plan" that you claim will create 5 million new jobs over the next 10 years by "catalyzing private efforts to build a clean-energy future." That is 10 times more workers than currently employed in the U.S. automotive industry. Where will those 5 million new workers be working and at what kind of salaries?

— Health insurance premiums increased by 78 percent between 2001 and 2007. Even as the number of people covered by private health insurance decreased slightly, insurance company overhead soared. Why do you think insurance companies could play a productive role in solving the nation's health care crisis?

— In your eight years in the Illinois Senate, you maintained excellent relations with Democratic power brokers from Chicago, including U.S. Rep. (and now Gov.) Rod Blagojevich, Mayor Richard Daley, state Sen. Emil Jones and Tony Rezko, a businessman and fundraiser who has been convicted of bribery and corruption. Have you ever spoken out about Illinois' culture of political corruption?"

Cheers.

Palin used state funds for trip to speak at her former church

ANCHORAGE — Gov. Sarah Palin used state funds in June when she traveled from Juneau to Wasilla to speak to graduating evangelical students and urge them to fan out through Alaska "to make sure God’s will be done here."

State records show that Palin submitted a travel authorization for a quick round-trip visit to attend the June 8 graduation of the Master's Commission program at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the church where she was baptized at age 12. The only other item on the agenda for that trip was a "One Lord Sunday" service involving a network of Mat-Su Christian churches earlier that morning at the Wasilla sports complex.

The records show Palin flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Saturday, June 7. She returned to Juneau that Monday afternoon. The plane tickets cost the state $519.50, and she claimed an additional $120 for meals and other expenses.

Palin couldn't be reached for comment Friday as she campaigned for vice president. Her spokeswoman at the McCain campaign said she wouldn't grant an interview.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/51956.html

*****

This is what happens when McCain wants to keep her from the media - they will define her and it will be less flattering than if she spoke to the media.

John McCain Losing His Cool

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CazKanlYDg

****

Temperment is a critical issue. Nothing Palin can say or do will change that.

US mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae taken into public ownership

The US government today announced the biggest financial bailout in the country's history as it took troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into temporary public ownership to save them from collapse.

The US treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency, hitherto the two companies' regulator, would henceforth run the companies in a state of "conservatorship" and the two chief executives would be replaced by new men.

Paulson had briefed presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain over the weekend about the plan. McCain gave it his immediate backing but Obama said he would reserve judgment until he saw further details, adding that determining the future of the companies would be a top priority if he won the White House.

"We have to protect taxpayers and not bail out the shareholders and management," he said.

http://tinyurl.com/6nyjqm

*****

Privatize the profit - socialize the debt.

Typical.

Hi, I'm John McCain, & I'm voting for Barack Obama

John McCain is voting for Barack Obama - and he looks like him, too.

Only this McCain is Johnathan B. McCain, a Brooklyn-based musician, not the Republican presidential candidate.

"I travel to Europe a lot, and a few people have said I look like Obama," said McCain, 40. "When people ask me my name, I always say John McCain, like the senator."

http://tinyurl.com/625khc

Obama-Biden camp turns reporters' gag into attack on Palin

http://tinyurl.com/5pkqg5

"Mr Obama was asked by George Stephanopoulos of ABC's "This Week" programme whether he'd ever thought about military service and replied: "You know, I actually did. I had to sign up for Selective Service [a means of conscription in case of war] when I graduated from high school."

Let's see the paperwork, Barry!!!!

"And I actually always thought of the military as an ennobling and, you know, honourable option. But keep in mind that I graduated in 1979. The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it's not an option that I ever decided to pursue."

"All male American citizens are legally required to register for Selective Service within 30 days of their 18th birthday."

"Mr Obama is more vulnerable than most Democrats on the patriotism issue because of his exotic life story, his past radical associations, his previous refusal to wear an American flag pin - though he has since relented and is now seldom seen without one - and inaccurate smears that he is a Muslim."

Seldom seen without one - lololo!!!!

Change - yes he can!!!

NEARLY 600,000 VOTERS SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE 'CAGING' IN OHIO!

The Ohio Secretary of State has records on the previous elections. In 2004, registrations increased by 16% in the largest Ohio Counties. The exception was in the counties with Cleveland and Columbus where 320,000 less voters show as registered in 2004.

You can copy the data from the site directly into a spreadsheet and then analyze the data.

This explained how Kerry lost Ohio, though nothing will ever explain why he wasn't prepared to challenge and why he stepped aside.

If there is anything the M$M needs to learn about and report on its elections. Exit Polling is still, and always has been, the most statistically accurate polling done. If the exit polls are wrong the election was tampered with. There is no other explanation.

And this is where we need to be prepared and ready to take to the streets on Nov 5th if president Palin is elected.

BTW - great work capt., I always salute you!

As always!

*high fives*

Treasury to buy $5 bln in Fannie, Freddie MBS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury expects to purchase $5 billion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities within the next month as part of its takeover of the mortgage finance giants.

Senior government officials told reporters in a news briefing the program would be the first taxpayer cash outlays associated with the plan to put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into a government conservatorship.

The purchases will be on the open market and will be managed by a private investment manager appointed by the Treasury.

This week, the Treasury will receive $1 billion in a new class of senior preferred stock from each of the two companies as "compensation" for signing the agreement to support the two main sources of U.S. mortgage liquidity, the officials said. This stock has a 10 percent coupon.

http://tinyurl.com/567fq6

*****

Only $5 billion? I bet it ends up being more like $500 billion. The piece mentions $100 billion each.

The economy can't take four more years of this.

Palin will meet media in a "few days": McCain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has not faced the U.S. media since her surprise pick to run for vice president 10 days ago, will begin giving interviews in a "few days," Republican presidential nominee John McCain said in remarks aired on Sunday.

As a newcomer to the national political stage, there are many questions about her background that have been answered about the other candidates in the race who have been in the public eye for some time.

"Eventually she is going to have to answer questions and not be sequestered," her Democratic counterpart, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Eventually she is going to have to answer questions about her record."

McCain, who along with Palin was nominated last week for the top spots in the November 4 election, was asked by Bob Schieffer on CBS' "Face the Nation" when that might be.

"Within the next few days and I'm strongly recommending that she come on 'Face the Nation' with Bob Schieffer," McCain said in an interview that was taped on Saturday.

But McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, would not go that far.

"She'll agree to an interview when we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it," David said on "Fox News Sunday."

http://tinyurl.com/5g6o3b

*****

I'm sure she has no choice. The M$M will treat her with kit gloves - she will also do well and answer all the questions. This will be free press coverage. The MCain camp would be crazy not to take advantage.

Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said that his team was not concerned that independent voters and undecided women might be drawn to Ms. Palin, and that the Obama camp did not plan to run hard against her.

“As the post-convention dust settles, we believe a lot of the battleground states will be close, and that this will remain a race between John McCain and Barack Obama,” Mr. Plouffe said. “She’ll be out there promoting John McCain’s economic message, which is fine by us because it is so bad for middle-class voters.”

(NYT's)

Voting software does not ensure accountability

The state Board of Elections needs to immediately cease its plans to use optical scanners and return to safer lever machines or hand-counted paper ballots used successfully across our nation.

Software experts have proven that votes cannot be secured on any electronic voting equipment. Vote manipulation was found despite these machines being certified, which discredits the position of New Yorkers for Verified Voting that optical scanners can be "verified" as secure. Recently, top Internet security specialist and FBI consultant Stephen Spoonamore came forward with new evidence that our e-voting system is hackable.

So why do NYSBOE and NYVV keep ignoring experts? The elections board has a duty to run transparent public elections. Scanners, memory cards, and USB ports are not transparent. It's secret vote counting.

Citizens, not election officials, must oversee vote counting and verify (with human eyes) in public view that votes are counted accurately with results posted at precincts before any data transfers occur, or ballots or levers are allowed to move.

A voting system should not be about the ease of officials to run elections. It must be about protecting the fundamental basis of democracy — every citizen's right to trust that his or her vote is counted as cast.

Secret software has no place in elections.

http://tinyurl.com/5odaa3

Former McCain Insider Charges Election Fraud. Implicates McCain, Bush, Cheney and Rove

Check out the revelations of Stephen Spoonamore -- a lifelong Republican, erstwhile member of McCain's campaign, and a prominent expert on computer fraud. Spoonamore has copious hard evidence revealing that Bush/Cheney stole a number of key races, starting with Florida eight years ago. He has named names, and has the goods to back up every claim. Plus, he knows quite a lot about plans to use illegal methods to make McCain America's next president
(which is the reason he quit McCain's campaign).

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/prosecute_rove/

Auto industry to press Congress for $50B in loans

WASHINGTON - Auto industry allies hope to secure up to $50 billion in government loans this month that would pay to modernize plants and help struggling car makers build more fuel-efficient vehicles.

With Congress returning this coming week from its summer break, the industry plans an aggressive lobbying campaign for the low-interest loans. The situation is growing dire after months of tumbling sales, high gasoline prices and consumers' abandoning profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Lawmakers authorized $25 billion in loans in last year's energy bill to help the companies build fuel-efficient vehicles such as hybrids and electric vehicles. With credit tight, automakers and suppliers now want lawmakers to come up with the money for the program — and expand the pool of money available to $50 billion over three years.

http://tinyurl.com/62ldup

******

$50 or $100 billion here and another $100 or $500 billion there and pretty soon we are talking about a bunch of money.

Every dollar of deficit spending, every dollar of bail-out money, every dollar loaned that we don't have is a tax - it has to be paid back.

The GOP is for big government and deficit spending. That is borrow and spend. Then as a dog whistle for the base they claim to cut taxes while spending another $10 or $12 billion a month in Iraq?

Palin Continues to Smear Catholic Action

Catholics across the country continue to be outraged by Republican politician Sarah Palin who repeated her smear against Catholic Action by mocking Barack Obama’s service as director of a community group sponsored by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (an arm of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and led by eight Catholic parishes on the South Side of Chicago.

http://tinyurl.com/6c6wtc

****

Kinda make ya wonder what kind of Christianity the religious right is talking about? It is all Hate the gays and abortion? Hate helping people? Let the hungry stave so the billionaire can make more profit?

That is the oppostie of what I understand Christianity should be.

Intrade State Contracts Predict an Obama Win

The betting site www.intrade.com has contracts on who will win individual states. Thanks to Frank Solensky for collecting the (rounded) prices yesterday for the individual contracts, as listed below. For example, if you want to bet that McCain will win Alabama, you can buy contracts for $96 and if McCain wins, you collect $100. A contract that Obama wins Alabama costs $5. Clearly a lot of people are expecting a McCain win there. The last column is positive if Obama is leading the state, negative if McCain is leading. The sum is 84, which means the bettors are expecting Obama to win a net 84 electoral votes, that is, an Obama win 311 to 227.

http://electoral-vote.com/

You are acually quite funny Capt. All you are doing is preaching to the non-McCain vote choir. Conservatives are not listening to you or any other MSM idiot spouting lies and dirt. I hope you find your misspent time well worth it. I am getting a kick out of it myself.

The MSM attempts to clarify what they view as the difference between a Dem and a Repub -

"The Geraldine Ferraro Democratic Vice Presidential nominee appointment was an inspired stroke of genius that advanced the cause of feminism; Palin’s was tawdry tokenism.

Edwards was a social reformer brought down by the tabloids; Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is white trash and fair game.

Insulting “small town mayors” and “good looking” women is funny; suggesting that “community organizing” is often a farce is a felony.

Obama’s violation of drug laws with a “little blow” was youthful exuberance; Palin’s husband’s DUI was more proof of a working-class messy family.

Joe Biden bravely continued as Senator after the tragic death of his wife and daughter left his injured young sons with a single parent; Sarah Palin selfishly shorted her children by running for VP and endangered her infants by flying while pregnant.

Criticizing Clinton’s engaging in sex in the oval office and lying about it to the American people were once “the politics of personal destruction”; lying that Sarah Palin might not have been the mother of her 5th child is the mere overreach of the blogs caused by the improper vetting of the McCain campaign."

'Nuff said!!!

Cheers

"For folks who suddenly have tried to grab the change banner, you know, they've got a very traditional view of what service means," Obama said. "You know, it means, running for office and being a politician, I guess. Or serving in the military. I mean, those are the two options that I think they've talked about."

Barack Hussein Obama's DISDAIN for the US Military has cost him the election!!!!!

Cheers

Republicans have Surrendered

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkNQY-oWFh4

From today's appearance on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer:

SCHIEFFER: When will you let her out to campaign on her own? When will she start having news conferences? When will she start doing interviews?

MCCAIN: As you know we just finished the convention. Within the next few days. I'm strongly recommending that she come on "face the nation" with Bob Schieffer. That will be the first of her 65 appearances.

SCHIEFFER: All right. We'll make a place for her here.

And a few hours later:

Republican vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin is offering her first televised interview to ABC News in the coming week in Alaska. [...]

A McCain-Palin adviser says an interview was offered to ABC's Charlie Gibson several days ago and that they expect it to happen in the latter part of the week in Alaska.

http://tinyurl.com/6gpqg8

And this from the Dem who leads the House Ways and Means Committee -

"Representative Charles Rangel's Dominican Republic villa continues to be scrutinized as it's now reported the interest on his mortgage was waived. This comes a day after his lawyer also revealed the powerful Chairman of the House's Ways and Means Committee did not report $75,000 in rental income (over the past 20 years) from the villa.

Last Sunday, the NY Post raised questions about income from the villa, which Rangel allegedly doesn't consider a second home but an investment, being missing from his 2006 and 2007 returns. Lawyer Lanny Davis said Rangel would file amendments to his returns and that he did not believe Rangel would need to pay federal taxes."

Well, at least we know who the rules DON'T apply to!!

"OBAMA AND DNC SERVED TODAY WITH BERG LAWSUIT:

For Immediate Release: - 09/04/08

SERVICE OF LAWSUIT CHALLENGING SENATOR OBAMA’S RIGHT TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE DOES NOT MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS HAS BEEN COMPLETED

( Lafayette Hill , Pennsylvania – 09/04/08) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s eligibility to serve as President of the United States, has received confirmation from his Process Service Company that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Senator Barack Obama were served today, September 4, 2008, with the legal documents
pertaining to Berg vs. Obama, Civil Action No. 08-cv-4083. The DNC was served at 12:00 p.m. and Senator Obama was served at 1:00 p.m. The U.S. Attorney’s Office accepted service on behalf of the Federal Elections Committee (FEC) on or about August 22, 2008."

This sort of thing is SIMPLE to resolve. Barry should produce the paperwork, and get back to assailing Sarah Palin!!!!!

McCain whiner:

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

Gibbs Shreds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l304a7nGk44

"And now, here’s Maureen Dowd of the New York Times (otherwise known as the Fox News of the Left), commenting on a future Palin v. Clinton in 2012 in her latest column:

Now, alas, we’ll have to wait until 2012 when the two fiercest competitors on the trail will no doubt face off in the presidential debate, with Palin still riding high from her 2008 field-dressing of Obama (who’s now back in the Senate convening his subcommittee on Afghanistan)."

"2008 field-dressing of Obama " lololo!!!

Too funny not to post.

Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave: New Video Documentary

Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K_1Eit0pxM

(huffpo)

Palin's Hockey Rink Leads
To Legal Trouble in Town She Led

WASILLA, Alaska -- The biggest project that Sarah Palin undertook as mayor of this small town was an indoor sports complex, where locals played hockey, soccer, and basketball, especially during the long, dark Alaskan winters.

The only catch was that the city began building roads and installing utilities for the project before it had unchallenged title to the land. The misstep led to years of litigation and at least $1.3 million in extra costs for a small municipality with a small budget. What was to be Ms. Palin's legacy has turned into a financial mess that continues to plague Wasilla.

"It's too bad that the city of Wasilla didn't do their homework and secure the land before they began construction," said Kathy Wells, a longtime activist here. "She was not your ceremonial mayor; she was in charge of running the city. So it was her job to make sure things were done correctly."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122065537792905483.html

******

Ouch, The executive experience is not so successful, eh?

The WSJ even? The media is being so mean to her.

And now on to joe's adult son, Hunter Biden -

"The initial reporting on Mr. Biden the younger has produced some interesting information:

• The law firm he co-founded, Oldaker, Biden and Belair, was paid $1.8 million to lobby Congress during the first six months of this year, according to USA Today.

• Senator Biden’s two campaign funds have paid the firm $208,000 for legal services since 2005, USA Today reported.

• Senator Biden worked to defeat a bipartisan bill to curb asbestos lawsuits even as his son Beau’s law firm was filing them in Delaware and a former Biden aide was lobbying against the bill, USA Today reported.

• Senator Biden helped the credit-card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, at the same time his son Hunter represented one of the largest companies seeking the changes, The New York Times reported.

• Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, sought more than $3.4 million in earmarks for clients of Hunter Biden, and succeeded in getting $192,000 for one of his clients, St. Xavier University in suburban Chicago, The Washington Post reported.

• Hunter Biden and Senator Biden’s brother James were accused in two lawsuits of defrauding a former business partner and an investor of millions of dollars in a hedge fund. Hunter Biden was made president at a salary of $1.2 million despite his inexperience in the hedge-fund industry. A lawsuit filed by their former partner said the deal was crafted to get Hunter Biden out of the lobbying business because his father was worried about its impact on his presidential run, a charge Senator Biden denied, according to The Washington Post."

Change - no they can't!!!!!

Chris Wallace v. Rick Davis on bridge to nowhere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG7WGVmVl-4

Marrin: Choice of Palin Dishonorable

A conservative Republican woman who idolizes Margaret Thatcher decries McCain's choice of Palin as cynical and dishonorable:

' In choosing a woman he doesn’t know or understand, purely for electoral advantage, he reveals a dishonourable lust for office, a disrespect for women generally and a dishonourable indifference to the future of his country. After all, if this known unknown woman does become president, it will almost certainly be because he himself is dead - quite possible given his age and health - and past caring.'

http://tinyurl.com/68dal7

Blip.tv user “George McCain” has posted a video shot September 3 at the Republican National Convention in which campaigners handed out stickers to RNC attendees that read “Proud Bush-McCain Republican” and filmed them discussing why they’re proud to wear the badge. The stickers look like official McCain schwag, but the message is a tad unclear: Some interviewees seem to be aping a line used by McCain’s opponents — that he’ll simply continue Bush’s policies (one woman slips up and refers to McCain with that first name, George) — while others seem to struggle with reasons to support McCain. Making cameos are Denny Hastert and Minnesota’s own Norm Coleman, who seems intent on mimicking a rubber-faced Jim Carey as he struggles to answer a question about how he feels about the past eight years of Bush.

http://tinyurl.com/55tj9r

DC good thing for "McCain's lousy speech" - If McCain had delivered your version he could be up by 10 or more points instead of the 3 that Gallup has him at today.

I can only imagine how far ahead McCain would be polling today if he had just listened to those that wanted him to pick Lieberman.

Of course it's a lousy speech. Without his trophy VP holding his hand, he has nothing of value to say.

As far as Gallup, it's possible that Obama has his own October surprise, so don't be surprised.

http://electoral-vote.com/

Obama 301 McCain 224 Ties 13

Dem pickups (vs. 2004): CO IA NV NM ND OH
GOP pickups (vs. 2004): (None)

This day in 2004:

Kerry 237 Bush 275

*****

National polls are a popularity contest that has nothing in common with the electoral college. EV's have to be calculated state by state - and it actually takes more than a few in each state to identify a trend.

National poll numbers are interesting and fun but EV's are the only game that matters.

FWIW

*McCain had criticized earmarks from Palin*

Three times in recent years, the Arizona senator's lists of 'objectionable' pork spending have included earmarks requested by his new running mate.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-na-earmarks3-2008sep03,0,5932587.story

Official: Palin's never issued an order to Alaska Guard

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — When presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain introduced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate last Friday, the Arizona senator emphasized her role as the commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard.

Later, when questions were raised about Palin's lack of experience in national and international affairs, the McCain campaign pointed again to her military command experience as governor. Some reporters have tried to follow up.

"Can you tell me one decision that she made as commander in chief of the Alaska National Guard?" CNN journalist Campbell Brown asked Monday while interviewing McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds. "Just one?"

Bounds couldn't, because Palin has never personally ordered the state guard to do anything.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/51665.html

*****

Maybe she just forgot she never gave any orders?

It would be, Tom, as if on the eve of the IT revolution, the revolution of PCs and the internet, someone was up there standing and demanding, “IBM Selectric typewriters, IBM Selectric typewriters.” That’s what “drill, drill, drill” is the equivalent of today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHxSLLSn2Ec&eurl=http://thinkprogress.org/

lol @ "military command experience as governor"

They would've used the "dodging sniper fire" thing too if Hillary hadn't beaten them to it.

One Friday in June, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the chief of the state prison system on a tour of the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm, a 90-minute drive north of Anchorage. It was a routine visit but for the presence of the governor's infant son, Trig.

Palin held her baby in her arms as the warden drove a short distance around the facility, said corrections director Joe Schmidt, who sat next to Palin. A few days later, the governor got a warning from her public safety commissioner that someone had complained that she did not strap Trig into a car seat for the ride.

Palin dismissed the complaint as petty, and the commissioner, whom she appointed, took no formal action. But the incident shows the degree to which family and politics are bound together in Palin's career.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26583001/

*****

Those petty petty little laws for the little people.

The definition of elitist.

Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

http://tinyurl.com/5ws58g

Well that does it for me...

Cheney gives Palin his seal of approval!

Maybe Palin and Cheney can go elephant hunting together?

How many states will hold primary elections on Tuesday?

a) 2

b) 3

c) 5

d) 7

Answer: d) Seven states — Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin — will decide nominations for congressional and state offices Tuesday, the last big multi-primary day of the 2008 campaign year. The District of Columbia also holds its primary elections that day.

CQ Politics will provide live coverage of the results of all key races Tuesday night.

Lazy Days as Commander-in-Chef: Palin never fired chef, only worked part-time

Aside from having listed a state plane on eBay, the most popular anecdotal example of Sarah Palin’s credentials as a reformer has been her firing the governor’s chef. This has been quickly seized on by clueless Lower 48 Palin partisans as a colorful example of belt-tighting via downhome folksiness: Palin didn't just kick out the "uppity" gourmet chef, she claimed she planned on cooking herself, with her kids chipping in to make sandwiches.

As you might expect, this turns out to be another Palin fabrication. The 6/29/07 Anchorage Daily News article about the firing actually reveals the shocking truth behind the deception.

http://tinyurl.com/6cwn5j

******

Seems like these "cons" can't tell the truth about anything?

http://tinyurl.com/65zdvo